Canning Cabbage into Saur Kraut

I made sour kraut with the cabbage that grew in my garden...this was my first time attempting to can a vegetable, I've just tried fruits and chutneys at this point.
I started by sanitizing twelve quart-sized regular mouth canning jars and lid rings.

I used the sani-rinse cycle on my dishwasher...the alternative would be boiling the jars in a water bath.Then I cut my cabbage into small pieces. To start, I had four large purple cabbage heads and two small green heads (I forgot to take a picture before this step - oops).Once the cabbage was cut I put the lids into a kettle of water - the water doesn't need to be boiling, just hot.

This is also a good time to fill up the canning kettle and get it onto the stove, it's quite a bit of water so it will take a while to boil.

Then the cabbage was stuffed into the jars. I pushed it down to make sure it was tightly packed in.

The next step was to put a teaspoon of salt (I use sea salt) and a teaspoon of sugar into each jar. It is okay just to dump it on the top, it will dissolve in when the water is added.After this, I put a teaspoon of vinegar into each jar - I used half each of white vinegar and apple cider vinegar, but using either one alone would work also.

An optional step is to put pickling spice into the jars as well - I happen to like it quite well. I also put about 5-7 peppercorns into each jar.

Water is the next step, pour hot water into each jar up to it's neck.

Place each lid on a jar then screw on the lid rings.

Put the jars into the canning kettle and boil with the lid on for 25 minutes (about 5 minutes longer if you live at a high elevation).

Remove the jars from the canning kettle and listen for the pop they make as each jar seals.
This sour kraut is supposed to sit for at least 8 weeks before it can be used to get a proper fermentation,...this should be just in time for Octoberfest! My inner German girl is definately excited!

Anniversary Images

Images of celebrating two years of marraige: Sunflowers for the vase in my kitchen, a single romantic rose for my bedside, red salt container from Le Crueset, blue dress with yellow shoes, linen on the husband, new music on the iPod, favorite Bellingham restaurant, rosemary lemonade and sunglasses at dinner time, the best damn pizza in the state of WA.

Not shown: New wrench for the husband (practical gifts are our specialty these days), lots of cuddle time, stop at the food co-op for a few essentials, new lime oil to use when washing my hair

All in all a good day, two years well celebrated!

Cilantro = Corriander (part 2)

Remember how I shared that I'd learned that cilantro and corriander come from the same plant? Well, here are the first of the corriander seeds from one of my cilantro plants.

It's Been Two Years...

Since I married my best friend. Our wedding was held on the beach in front of a house we'd rented in the small town of Hau'ula on the windward side of the island of Oahu.
One of my wedding flowers was liatris. When I found out that I could grow it here in the Pacific Northwest, I had to plant some. It came in so-so last year, the few stalks that came up bloomed right around the beginning of September. This year though, the plant's growth seemed to happen earlier. I have had a suspicion for the last several weeks that it may just be in bloom on our anniversary. I don't know if it will continue to do this every year, but I hope it does! That vibrant purple color and tall fluffy stalks bring back memories of our wedding day. The photo below is of my wedding bouquet.
I began taking pictures of the liatris growing in my garden about the middle of June...here's how it progressed:

The last picture is from today, July 22nd.

Since we met about 4 years ago, we have traveled together to many places. I like the idea of our feet together, touching land all over the globe.

My dear husband loves a good list, he is the type that feels like much more has been done when he's made a list. So here my dear, is a little gift for you, a list of places we've been together...I'm sure I've forgotton some places so I'll have to go back and edit the list as I remember (or as you point out what I've forgotton!)

Las Vegas, NV - November 2005

Whistler, BC - January 2006

Southern/Central Coast CA - January 2006

Washington DC - April 2006
New Orleans, LA - May 2006

Portland, OR - June 2006

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - July 2006

Leavenworth, WA August 2006

Victoria, BC - August 2006

Las Vegas, NV - October 2006

Oahu, HI - November 2006

Whistler, BC - January 2007

Portland, OR - February 2007

Breckenridge, Colorado - February 2007

Oahu, HI - April 2007

Oahu, HI - July 2007

Whistler, BC - August 2007

Las Vegas, NV - October 2007

Whistler, BC - November 2007

Portland, OR - December 2007

Lake Chelan, WA - March 2008

Washington DC - April 2008

Oahu, HI - April 2008

Southern CA - May 2008
England, Italy, France, Germany - July 2008

Whistler, BC - 2008

Cancun, Mexico - November 2008

Whistler, BC - December 2008

Lake Tahoe, CA - December 2008
Park City, Utah - January 2009

Mammoth, CA - February 2009

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - April 2009

New York City - April 2009
Oahu, HI - June 2009

Our four years together have been busy! These years together have also been full of fun, lessons learned, many goals set and some of those goals met, new skills learned, bad habits broken, laughter, tears, family, friends, airports (!)...mostly these years together, especially the last two, have been years when I've felt more loved than ever before in my life. I never imagined that someone could love me so deeply, quirks and all, and that I'd feel that same kind of love for him.

Peppers

I've never [successfully] grown peppers before...so understand that spotting this gorgeous peppers the other day brought me joy. I have seven different types of peppers growing in the garden right now, these are by far the furthest along. Can't wait until next month when it's time to start bringing everything inside!

Beauty in the Small Things

From time to time the eaves of our house become the home to families of yellow jackets. When the weather warms up and we start spending more time outside, these little creatures become an issue and their homes have to be removed. Usually these evictions are taken care of by the husband. Once their nests are no longer inhabitated, I like checking them out. I guess the geometry teacher in me likes seeing natures examples of regular hexagons...just how do those little guys know exactly how to build such intricate nests? I suppose questions about the architectural abilities of yellow jackets are better left to a biology teacher to answer.

Four!!

Today we have a family reunion taking place at our house for some of my husband's extended family. This will be my first time meeting many of the folks coming, though I have met a few over the past several years at different events and holidays. When they have had reunions before, they took place in Oregon with a different family member hosting. In years past they had a multi-generational baseball game. We decided to do things a little differently, the husband's idea was to make a 9-hole golf course over our field. We've collected old golf clubs and balls from nearby junk stores. For each hole we bought metal construction stakes and I sewed hole flags from felt. It was pretty easy, just two layers of felt sewn around some heavy interfacing. Each flag has a number sewn on. Originally I thought I'd do all of the flags in white with black numbers. But, I love color! I think they turned out quite nice!The husband and stepson weren't home when I finished the flags, but they'd already set out the stakes...so I decided to suprise them by having the flags on when they returned.Figaro decided to join me at the 3rd hole, he likes going for walks around the field with us. Bambino was out with me too, it didn't take long before the two of them were chasing around the field...the shot makes me laugh, that's pretty much an everyday sight around here. At least these days it's all in good fun for both of them, that wasn't always the case...