Saturday Adventures!

I had a little adventure yesterday morning.

I got up, got my coffee and breakfast, got the laundry started, got dressed, and headed out to the Farmer's Market. My main agenda was to get some meat from the pasture-raised beef people. They are not at our FM every week, so it was important to get there. After the FM, I was going to go to my church knitting group (I started a small project 18 months ago and still haven't finished it!), and then in the afternoon a friend or two were coming over to start some lactoferments.

Occasionally when we put the key into our car's ignition, it just spins, and doesn't "catch" to crank the engine. This is usually fixed by taking the key out, turning it over, reinserting it, and trying again. Yesterday I put the key in, it spun a bit, but then it caught. It was unusual for it to do that, but the car started just fine, and off I went. I was listening to Car Talk as I drove, and when I got to the FM, I stopped the car, but left it running while I put up the window shade (heat index 104 yesterday!), got my cash in my pocket, stowed my purse, and listened to the tail end of Car Talk.

The program ended, and I went to turn off the car, and the key would. not. budge. In either direction! Wait, that's not true, it wouldn't turn. It would move - it easily pulled right out of the ignition!

There I sat, engine running, key in hand - going, "Um, this is NOT good!"

I was pretty close to our mechanic's shop, and I've been using them long enough to know that they are usually there on Saturday mornings, but being officially "closed", they won't answer the telephone. So, I took down the sun shade, put my seatbelt back on, and drove away to the shop. Thankfully, they were in. The mechanic worked on it, but was also unable to get it to turn off, so he drove it into a bay, and disconnected the battery cable. But of course, once the car is running, it's not running off the battery, so it didn't kill the engine. He finally got it to stop by pulling the fuse to the fuel pump, and it petered out. We were all laughing and shaking our heads.

I called The Daughter to come and get me, which she very kindly did, and we went off back to the Farmer's Market and the natural food store, and back to my house. Thank goodness we recently had our truck fixed up, air conditioning and all!

Needless to say, I didn't make it to the knitting group. Which is really too bad, as I'd hoped to *finally* finish the small project in time for the intended recipient's birthday on Wednesday!

However, my friend Justin did come over as planned, and we started 4 quarts/flavors of kombucha, 4 pint jars of pickle spears, and 3 jars of sauerkraut! I also made some cabbage sauteed with bacon and onions.YUM. And managed to feed us a spot of lunch AND dinner in there, and of course cleaned up & got the dishwasher running. I was exhausted and my feet were killing me when we were done, but so happy to get all that done! It's so much more fun cooking with someone else. Justin and I seem to collaborate well, so that was fun. Maybe Justin is used to that, since he works in commercial kitchens. Husband and I cook together all the time - but usually not working on the same recipe. For example, he grills the steaks and I fix the vegetables, or something like that. So working with someone else on the same recipe was a different sort of adventure!

Why I decided to write this post before showering and getting dressed to go to church, I can't tell you (Procrastination Queen, that's me!), but if I don't get that done NOW I'm going to miss church, and that's just not an option! See y'all!

Homemade Dill Pickles

One of the cornerstones of Traditional Food is homemade fermented foods. On Ash Wednesday, I finally took the plunge and made some dill pickles. It couldn't be easier! Today I tasted them when I transferred them to the fridge, and guess what? They tasted like pickles! Amazing!

Photo tutorial of this recipe can be found here.

I followed the recipe in Nourishing Traditions, and did it thus:

3 English cucumbers (these are the long, skinny ones - unwaxed, smaller seeds, don't need peeling)
2T mustard seeds
4T snipped fresh dill
2T sea salt
1/2 cup whey (Here's how to get whey)
4 pint-sized, wide mouth mason jars with lids. I bought mine in the grocery store next to the vinegars.

Unwrap and wash off the cucumbers. Cut off & discard the ends. Slice the cucumbers at 1/4 inch intervals. Distribute them among the 4 jars. I had a few left over that I just put in a container in the fridge to eat raw. (They are great with yogurt dip!) Add 1 1/2 teaspoons (1/2 Tablespoon) sea salt to each jar. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons (1/2 Tablespoon) mustard seeds to each jar. Add 1 Tablespoon (or so) snipped fresh dill to each jar. Add 2 Tablespoons whey to each jar. Top each one up with 1 cup filtered water. Add more water if needed to cover your cucumber slices. Put the lids on, and let the pickles sit on the counter for two days. After two days, transfer them to the refrigerator. You can eat them then, but I expect they will improve with age. Exciting!