Butter, Part 2

Well, I did it!

It was a heck of a lot easier than I ever expected it would be. 

You folks who bought a Shake Weight? Suckers! This is waaaaaay better because you get fresh butter out of the deal!

A few people have said "You can buy that at the grocery store, you know." or "They have that at Kroger."  Well, no shit Sherlock.  I know that but I am practicing my Pioneer Lady Skills.  Or as I more commonly refer to them Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Survival Skill Set or PAZSSS for short. Will there be cows post-apocalypse? I dunno', but I know how to make butter if there are.  And I survive.  And I can figure out how to pasteurize the straight from the cow stuff. 

I didn't do it because it saves money (it doesn't), I didn't do it because I have loads of time to do nothing (I just have evenings when Mr. Wonderful is at work), I did it because I can and can now brag that I've done it.  That and I'm cool.  I think.

1 pint of room temperature cream in a quart jar

So as it turns out all you need is cream - pasteurized not ultra-pasteurized.  And something to shake the bejeezus out of it.

As you can imagine it's sloshing around in there so you shake.  And shake.  And shake.  And shake.  And ...

At about 3 minutes in something weird happens and feels like the jar is packed full of wet stuffing and there is no sloshing.  Imagine my surprise when I realized that it has become whipped cream!  Now, I've made my own whipped cream before but that was with a mixer.

Anyway, I got a second wind because I'd been told that soon after it would soon start to resemble butter if I kept shaking.

Somewhere about a minute later suddenly and miraculously it all changed.  There was a thunking going on in the jar.  It felt like a potato ploping about so I stopped and looked.

Would you look at that! It's butter!

Really, look again!

Mmmm, But-tah!

You then pour off the buttermilk.  Now, people better than me use the buttermilk for biscuits or pancakes or whatever you use buttermilk for but, I just put it in this dish to give over to MommaBean who will use it eons before I will.  Maybe one day I'll use it for something completely awesome.

Next comes the most tedious part - washing the butter.  You pour cold, icy cold, water over the butter to get the most buttermilk you can out of it.  I have read that it keeps longer and tastes better the more you wash it.

After the first washing - notice the milky color of the water?

And you continue to pour water in there and smoosh, smash, stir and scrape until the water turns clear.  Then you keep going, just working the residual water out.

Now to get all the water out

When that was done I stirred in a 1/2 teaspoon of salt --



The results of all my hard work:

Yummy, creamy butter,
Made by me!

The Butter Gods have smiled upon me.

Maybe I'll make "fancy" butter next time, now that I am firmly on my way to Butter Goddess-dom.

Butter

Tonight, I (attempt to) make butter.

I drove 45 miles to a "local" dairy to buy the Cream.

Let's hope the drive was worthwhile.

Updates and pictures (of course) to follow!

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

My work peeps love me.  They bring me beautiful flowers.

Book List

It's going to be one busy summer!

Other than everything else going on in the next four months, I have books, loads and loads of books that are on my Summer Reading List.
 
Not only to I have books to read but audio books to listen to.  The audio books I get from the library.  That is of course until I figure out whether Audible.com is the thing for me.  Sometimes the library just doesn't have what I am looking for.

I am currently listening to the second book in the Flavia De Luce series - The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag.  I love it!  I positively couldn't stop listening to the first book - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  And I've already downloaded the third - A Red Herring Without Mustard.  But, that wont take me much further than next week or so! Then what's a girl to do?!

A few months ago, when I thought I would be having a lot more time (long story, even longer post, which I still haven't edited it down), I went on this whole Householding/Homemaker/Self-sufficiency kick and I bought:

1. The Radical Homemaker (I have to come back to it when I'm in a different mood - it seems a tad too feminist, or it did when I first started..)
2. The Vegetable Gardeners Container Bible (We live in a condo so this is great, so far love it and it's working out great!)
3. Possum Living (Very interesting but, I don't think I could do it unless we're in a post-apocalyptic world.)
4. The Beginners Guide to Preserving Food at Home (I have to make my garden a success first.)
5. The Backyard Homestead (Mr. Wonderful enjoyed it - I haven't read it yet.)
6. The Householder's Guide to the Universe (It's pretty good - I plowed through the first part and am now meandering my way through it.)

On Friday I was in a book buying mood again and got these three:

Casting Off -- because I love knitting (which I have been blase about lately?).

The Winter Sea -- because I just need a good fiction book to read.

The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking -- because I am hip & I am a girl. Plus I like the whole homemaking thing.

And those are just the books in my visual field.

So yeah, getting off the blasted computer now and going to read.

Well, at least one page of this:

So I have this post...

And it is one doozy of a post!

Stupidly long, actually.

Needs massive amounts of editing.

I've been distractedly working on it for an hour and a half.

Doesn't explain my abscence, really. 

I've just been lazy.

Allow me to share a picture that will dazzle you and make you forget how apathetic I've been of late.

My new Salt & Pepper Shakers!

The alien is the salt & the spaceman is the pepper - aren't they're just perfect!?

Sickly

The Plague.
The Bubonic Plague.
Yersinia Pestis.
Or,
Bronchitis.

Whichever name you choose, I've got it.  Had it since Easter Monday actually. 
I've somehow finally found the strength to type.

I should be right as rain and fit as a fiddle shortly.

If you'll excuse me, I have to look up the origin of those sayings now.

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

Unknitting at work.  Some patterns stink.

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

I've seen folks do the Wordless Wednesday or the Silent Sunday.  But, God knows I can't keep my mouth shut for any stretch of time.

But, I'll do a (nearly) Wordless Wednesday meaning I'll put a caption beneath the photo.  I'll even go so far as a short caption.

Enough babbling -- On with the show!

Volunteer Crocuses in my front yard

Sleeping in

Let me start by saying that I wake up Monday through Friday at 3:30 a.m. Why so early?!, everyone usually asks in dismay.

Well, it's because I:
Hit the snooze once and it's about 3:40 when I get up out of bed.
So by the time I'm done with my shower and downstairs staring at the coffee machine it's 4:00-ish.
Which leaves me 45 minutes of "me time" to drink coffee, watch the news, check e-mail and give myself a pep talk before I get dressed, do my hair and head out the door.

So, last night the plan was when going to bed, I was so psyched , I was going to sleep in this morning.  Bound and determined I was to not wake until at least 6:00 a.m. 

All week long I dreamed of finally sleeping in.  Being a lazy bones.

And this is how my morning ended up in reality:

4:53 am: Eyes open of their own volition
5 seconds later: Realize something large & heavy is laying across both legs/shoulders
5 seconds after that: Realize Mr. Wonderful is sleeping next to me? He is supposed to be at work... (he got cancelled which left him on call for today and tomorrow - gag.)

4:54 am: Furious toe wiggling commences as getting up to pee is considered & delayed as long as possible
5 seconds later: Black flying furball launches itself at wiggly toes beneath the blankets
5 seconds after that: Dislodge claws from toe & begrudgingly stumble-limp out of bed to bathroom

4:56 am: Walking back from bathroom step in something cold & wet in the hallway - pray it is a stray penny on the floor
5 seconds later: Grab cell phone to use a light so Mr. Wonderful isn't wakened and investigate hallway blob
5 seconds after that: Realize a cat ate random yarn & regurgitated it

4:57 am: Grab wad of toilet paper and pick up cat yarn-goober & pitch it
5 seconds later: Crawl into still warm bed next to space heater-esque husband
5 seconds after that: Crack open right eye and stare into cat face 2 cm away from own


It looked something like this
(This is Icky the day we moved into the house - I woke up to his face this close)



4:58 am: Give up all hope of going back to sleep & trudge downstairs to make coffee

Yeah, I was out of bed by 5:00.  Not leasurely lazing about in bed at 6:00 trying to decide if it's still too early...

Maybe tomorrow though.  Hope springs eternal.



Out of Whack

I don't know about anyone else, and it may be that I am a complete weirdo, but as I get older if something disrupts my "routine" then I'm all out of whack.  For days.

Well, that's what happened over the weekend.

I forgot, until late Friday, that I had a knitting class to teach on Saturday.  Right smack dab in the middle of my afternoon.  And only one student showed.  But, and it's a mighty big but, it was a student that I had taught in my Knitting 101 class less than a month ago.

She thought I did a great job and had been practicing so she signed up for another! WooHoo!

Then yesterday we drove up to visit Mr. Wonderful's Dad. 
We had a scrumptious meal and then Mr. Wonderful's dad took us on a tour of

 ::drumroll::









Flint. 

Yeppers...

Flint Town.  Buick City.  The Birth Place of General Motors. 

Mr. Wonderful's family is from Flint, when it was a thriving and vibrant city.

Is it possible that Flint is more dead than Detroit? I seem to think it is.  I started taking pictures but had to stop because it was so sad.

There is a 130 acre lot called Chevy in the Hole. It's called Chevy in the Hole because it is quite literally located in a natural depression of the Flint River.

There, in the heyday, there were GM plants running full tilt 24-7.

Now, it's a brownfield. 130 acres of cement and weeds.  The land is so contaminated that it is difficult to redevelop.  For the longest time no on wanted to own it.  But, I believe the city of Flint has bought it.

Hopefully they will be able to remediate it and move ahead with plans to build a park there.

Here are a few pics that I got

They take out the doors and windows to discourage squatters and the like

There were huge depressions on either side where other houses used to be

Just another random, abandoned factory

Maybe that's what happened to Flint, they got out of whack.  On a grand scale.

Things I Love: Day 10 (missed!)

Nike.
Nike Celeste! (usually said in dismay)
The Huntress.
Nike Nuts.
What the?...
Itty Bitty Black Kitty.
Princess Pukes-A-Lot.

A rescued barn kitty.  The runt of the litter.

Nike is nigh on six years old and still barely five pounds.

She is the quintessential scaredy cat.

Unless your a bird, squirrel or bug.

(She only gets to "hunt" from the inside safety of the glass)



Of note:

For the very first time in the six years I've had her, today she is sitting here on my arms as I type this.  She never really comes around me for longer than 6.3 seconds worth of petting then disappears again.

But, she loves Mr. Wonderful.  Unless he's standing. 

Sitting or laying is how she likes her humans.

Things I Love: Day 9

Door to Door Organics.

Look at the yumminess they deliver to my door!

Asparagus, Cherry Tomatoes, Lettuce,

Pears, Bananas, Oranges, Apples,

Mango, Yams and Red Skin Potatoes.

Honest to goodness,

I lost the yams.

I will have to look for them again tomorrow.