Greek Yogurt at the table

The Greek yogurt made it from stove to table!



This was our first attempt at making any kind of yogurt, and it proved that we could do it with local ingredients, and a lot of patience.

Here is what we did.

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon whole milk
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup plain yogurt with live cultures

food thermometer
mason jars

a large piece of cloth (like an old T-shirt)

a large bowl

a cooler (for keeping the yogurt warm)

Pour the milk and cream in a big pot. Heat it (scald it, really, under low heat) to 180 degrees farenheit. Stir constantly. Take pot off the stove, and let it cool down to 110 degrees. Take a little bit of that 110 degree- milk mixture out to combine with the yogurt and pour it all back into the pot. Mix well.

Transfer the mixture to clean mason jars.

In the cooler, put about 3-4 inches of 110 degree water on the bottom. Place the jars in the cooler with lids on. This will be their 'warm bath' for next many hours.

Keep checking to make sure that the water in the cooler stays about the same temperature by adding more hot water if it's getting too cold. Do this for about the first 3-4 hours.

After 6-8 hours, the yogurt should have set. Now it's time to strain.

Put a thin cloth over a large bowl (not cheesecloth), and pour your yogurt into the cloth. Let the whey drain out for a couple of hours.

Gather the yogurt in the cloth and put into a jar. Your Greek yogurt is now ready for consumption. It will harden more in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Addendum: We have made this twice now, and it has turned out both times! Success!

Hockey and more

We are expanding in the sports world around here. Roller blading? Sure! Hockey? Why not! And who is to say one can't combine the two?

Homemade Yogurt

Though we don't have the results to prove that we indeed made yogurt, at home, we have photos to prove that we did make an attempt at it.

The setting of yogurt, you see, takes hours. So there is a lot of patience involved, which is the most difficult part of the process!

We didn't make just any regular yogurt...we attempted at making Greek yogurt! If you have had it, you will know that Greek yogurt is superior to regular yogurt. It is thicker, smoother, more flavorful.

If our batch turns out to be anywhere near success, we will let you know, and will spell out what we did so that you, too, can make yogurt, in the comfort of your own kitchen!

Maple Sugaring in Ohio

There are two reasons to rejoice if you lived (which we do, amazingly, we do) in Ohio today.

One: it's warmer here than it is in Northern California today! 60s, to be precise. And with sunshine. Yup. Not kidding.



Two: we live just north enough from the equator that there are sugar maple trees can grow here -- they are the ones that produce the sugary sap for maple syrup making!



The weather forecast this week is perfect for tapping. The cold nights, and warmish days, cause the sap to run wild inside the trees.

It's not just the trees that are going crazy. People are too! We think Spring is coming...and oh wouldn't it be nice? We are all cautiously optimistic knowing full well that we could still get another cold snap (or two or three), or another winter storm, or another ice day.

One can only live one day at a time, however. Rejoicing in tapping the maples is just what I did today.

We made butter!

It was 8:30pm. Bed time for most seven year-olds in the world, on a school night.

We were having one of the last chit-chats of the day on the couch.



I was re-telling the story about our missed-opportunity to attend a butter-making class over the weekend. And how our friend down the street, Linda, had taken her kids. And how she was telling me the simplicity and speediness of butter-making.  She even went through the steps with me. It sounded almost too easy.




"She said it only takes about 7-8 minutes of agitating the cream!" I told the family. Their eyes widened.


"That's all? Can we do it now, Mommy? Do we have cream? Can we do it NOW?" Inquired both children.


"Yes, we have cream! And yes! Let's try it!" Who was I kidding? I was as excited about trying it as they were.

And just like that, we were all in the kitchen putting cream in a glass container. With the lid closed, we began to shake.



And we shook, and we shook, until there was nothing more to shake (the cream had solidified. It didn't quite look like butter yet, but something more like cream-cheese. We were a little puzzled, so what did we do? We googled.

That was when we learned that one can also make butter in a food processor. And that the cream will go through different stages...until, poof!, butter and buttermilk separates.

So, leaving the cream-cheese that we made earlier, we gave the more modern method a try.

Before 9pm rolled around, we had made butter. And those little sleepy hands rolled some into balls.



Why had we not done this before? Who knows! We had our own homemade butter with toasts this morning.  "This tastes like real butter!" The happy children exclaimed.

Up next... cheese and yogurt. If butter is this easy... those can't be that hard, right?

Paperwhites

It has become a tradition of sorts...to grow these winter flowers indoors during these bleak months. I think I even did it in California, during those oh so not bleak months in retrospect!

It's all relative, isn't it?

These fragrant flowers sure add a bright spot to our grey days here. But I hear that some groundhog, or is it a woodchuck, predicted an early spring around here.

I will be the first to give that animal a big hug, if that is true. He might not want it, though...

New Sled

Well...that was quite a week!

Storms plowed through much of the country, leaving Ohio with some...ice.

And then, there were two Ice Days when the kids stayed home from school because it was just too dangerous for them to trek the block and a half over to the front steps of the school building. Hmmm.

Today, I found myself saying, I am not ready for the weekend! The week had just started!

There is always next week, I guess.

Never mind what day it is. Look at what I found today at an Antique Mall...an old fashioned sled, engraved "Larry R. Chilcote 12/67".

Not sure if something that is younger than my husband can be considered an antique...but what I do know for sure is that we are ready for that next snow fall. Bring it on, Ohio winter. We are ready to go!

Happy Eggs

I had the pleasure of taking some photos at this bakery today, amidst the ice, under the grey, still threatening skies.

You would think that out of all their baked goods: their lemon bars, their brownies, I would prefer those photos to this one. Nope. These eggs, in this blue container, made me the happiest.

Ice Day

Today was one of the few days of the year that we overslept. One of those days you wake up and go: "Whoa...what day is it? What time is it? Where am I? WHO am I?"

It was 7:45am, an hour later than when we should have been up and about drinking coffee, making lunches... I sprang out of bed, woke up the kids and apologized for my tardiness.  All the while, still wondering who I was.



Then came the voice of reason.

"There are no cars parked on the other side of the street. Is there a way we can find out if school is closed?"

Jim was the one who made the notice, and saw every little thing outside covered with a layer of thick ice.



Well, indeed, the phone message light was blinking. We had not heard the phone ring either! The message said: No school today.

So, ice-day, it is.

And isn't it pretty? Oh sure. Very pretty...

Until you step out onto the ice rink that used to be our driveway... or our sidewalk...or our street! Somehow, I think a snow day would have been more fun.