Thanksgiving and Fresh Starts

As usual, months have gone by with feeling guilty for not updating the blog, and thinking about how I need to update the blog, and putting off updating the blog. But as all my travels for the year are complete, including Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, UK, and various parts of Europe, and the summer has officially come to a close, I'm finding myself with a bit more free time and the motivation to really get back into the kitchen.

I'll keep it simple for my first post in 6 months. Oct 1st was my 26th birthday and I spent it in Toronto with my three best friends having a great birthday weekend and eating lots of delicious Toronto eats. I arrived home on Friday, and Saturday my parents had the family over for a feast of the usual; turkey, stuffing, veggies, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and pecan pie. We had a break on Sunday but Monday we were out at Ryan's aunts for our 2nd feast; all the usual plus ham that Ryan can never get enough of.

Ryan's aunt is a great cook and a fellow foody - although far more experienced than I. Ages ago she started up a kefir culture that she's kept going and has offered us many times. In my usual procrastin-atory fashion, I kept putting it off until she managed to get it into my hands today.

So, using some of her grains, I've got my own kefir finally on it's way. For those who don't know, kefir is a cultured and microbialrich food that is amazing for our bodies. With beneficial yeast and bacteria, it has antibiotic properties. Using kefir grains and good quality milk, you mix them together, allow it to culture for 12-48 hours, then stick it in your fridge and use it as a type of milk product or to make other dairy products like yogurt, creme freche, cream cheese, or cream. Every time a batch is finished, you strain the grains, put the kefir liquid in a fresh jar in the fridge, and re-culture another batch of milk with the grains in a new jar. You either need to immediately re-use the grains or store them in the fridge or freezer.
*If you plan to start making you're own kefir, please seek out more exact instructions such as http://www.kefir.org/kefir_manual.htm

Aside from just thinking about getting things moving here again in blogland, I've also been slowly collecting new and wonderful kitchen toys - some hand me downs, but I'm not complaining. And finally, I'm hoping that within the week I'll have the majority of my supplies purchased for starting my indoor garden - my birthday present from my folks. This will be the first time I've ever attempted an indoor set-up so I'm expecting a slow start and plan to begin with some easy herbs and hopefully move up to a salsa and salad garden. Hopefully in my next post I can show off my new set up.

And Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians!