Last fall, while I was deep in the trenches of recipe testing for my book, I found myself frequently confounded by dinner. Now you might think that, after 12 hours of recipe testing, dinner would be totally easy because I’d just serve the recipe tested food to my family, right? It rarely worked out so conveniently. Oh, sure,…
Help! Why Do My Canning Jars Keep Breaking? – Reader Question
It’s time for a reader question! Bay emailed to ask, “Help! My jars keep breaking when I put the wire basket in the boiling water. What am I doing wrong?” Thanks for the question, Bay. Let me guess – pickles? It’s almost always pickles. I’ve heard from several readers with this same jar breakage problem, and…
What Makes A Cocktail A Sour?
Many of the cocktails I share here are subtle variations on a theme. That theme has a name: The Sour. Ignore, for now, drinks with “sour” in the name like The Whiskey Sour or The Pisco Sour. While these drinks are in fact sours, not all sours announce themselves so obviously.
On Mint Patties and Book Launches
When I was in 3rd grade, I was pudgy and had a classic bowl home-haircut and I was in Camp Fire. Camp Fire is like Co-Ed Girl Scouts, except it ends up being all girls anyway, because the boys all join Boy Scouts. In Camp Fire you volunteer and earn badges and sing songs and go…
Miso Sesame Kale Salad Kraut
This is one of many similar fermentation experiments I make that I think of as “Salad Kraut.” The idea here is a moderately fermented condiment that you can enjoy as a ready-to-go vegetable side dish. It’s somewhere between a salad and a sauerkraut…so, Salad Kraut. This particular variation was so good I had to share. Miso,…
The Aronia Gin Cocktail
“This one’s a keeper. What should we call it?” I asked my husband after our initial tasting of this shockingly pink cocktail, a classic gin-and-citrus shakeup made interesting with aronia berry simple syrup. “We should name it after the ducks!” My husband suggested. “Aronia….Ancona…very similar!” “Nothing about this drink is duck-like,” I argued, and took another sip.
How To Freeze Garlic
So you dug up your garlic, cured it, and realized you have so much fresh garlic you cannot possibly use it before it all starts to sprout. Yup, been there. Done that. This conundrum is particularly problematic with the hardneck varieties that I prefer to grow. While hardneck’s have a more attractive form factor and (I…
Let's Hang Out! Hands-On Home Giveaway & Events
Hello, you gorgeous and witty people. As of today it is officially one week until the release of my book! Now, I know you guys all have your pre-orders in for [easyazon_link identifier=”1570619913″ locale=”US” tag=”nortediblife-20″]The Hands-On Home[/easyazon_link] (thank you, thank you!) but it’s something of a tradition around here to celebrate big events by giving away…
Muscle-Soothing Eucalyptus Bath Soak
On Monday a super nice lady from Seattle Magazine came over to photograph me in my garden. This is all part of La Grande Promotion for my new book. So, I did what any gardener faced with the prospect of a professional photographer in their yard would do – I spent all weekend trying to hide…
Lacto-Fermented Tomatillo Salsa
No shock to any of my regular readers – I pretty much want to ferment all the things, all the time. I’m basically a jewel case away from being a Portlandia sketch. My new favorite fermented condiment is this Lacto-Fermented Tomatillo Salsa. It’s super easy. You just chop up a bunch of stuff in a…
How Much Salt Should I Use For My Fermentation?
Controlled fermentation is one of the easiest, cheapest, lowest-tech ways to preserve the harvest. With nothing more than salt, water and the microbes already living on your vegetables, you can turn highly-perishable cucumbers into long-lasting pickles, raw cabbage into more-digestible sauerkraut, and churn out dilly beans without ever heating up the canning kettle. Plus…yum! Fermented food…
How To Make All Natural Beeswax Lip Balm
Give me 90 seconds and I’ll teach you how to make your own all-natural lip balm. This recipe comes from my new book, The Hands-On Home. and is great for chapped lips, holiday gifts and more. If you need a cost-effective stocking stuffer or appreciation gift for the upcoming holiday season, I highly recommend getting a bunch of empty…