Food Blog

So now that I have an iPhone ($.99... the cheapest most complicated piece of technology I've ever purchased) I am able to take pictures of my food like the rest of the world.

Vegan apple pie: our hand-picked apples + a pie crust made with Earth Balance Buttery Sticks. Sweetened with honey and maple syrup instead of white sugar. Hand-ground cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.  

Red beet eggs: a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty that I brought to a "cultural" potluck/wedding party with some of my work colleagues. First time I've made them, and successfully! Fresh boiled beets, a little sugar, white vinegar, salt, hard boiled eggs. My grandma's recipe called for canned beets but I think using fresh ones was really essential.

Sauerkraut: red and white cabbage in a canning jar. This is my third attempt at homemade sauerkraut, and it finally worked -- the problem was getting the fermentation right, which means making sure no other airborne bacteria/fungi/yeast will find their way into your cabbage, which is essentially open-air for about a week. This was once crunchy raw cabbage, and now it's soft, tangy, and a little salty. Wild fermentation!


How am I managing to cook so much when I have so little time??

Harvest

Don and I went apple picking with Viv and Nicole last weekend... I told my French teacher about it and she said it was a "very American and city-person thing to do."

 Taken by Nicole

 Taken by Nicole

Glorious Macintosh tree


I've so far made a batch of apple butter and some air-dried peels (for snacking during hikes...). Vegan apple pie is next!

Sax Russell the Hedgehog

We got a hedgehog! His name is Sax Russell.

He's from a breeder on Long Island. Don and I rented a Zipcar and drove out to the breeder's place of work in Maspeth to pick him up. We were inspired by watching YouTube videos of people giving their hedgehogs baths...

Everyday, the Wizard tries a new way to figure out how to eat him, to no avail. See below for Sax's defense technique.

He's a bit of a grouch, but I think he's getting a little better. We take him out at night and he runs around and tries to find spots to burrow under. He runs like a maniac on his wheel when we're sleeping. It's like having a little alien in the house!