Kimchi

I tried my first recipe from the book Wild Fermentation (http://www.amazon.ca/Wild-Fermentation-Flavor-Nutrition-Lve-Culture/dp/1931498237/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279897882&sr=8-1). It's kimchi, a Korean pickled brine-fermented vegetable dish flavoured with ginger, garlic, and hot pepper. I used bok choy, daikon radish, and carrot.

I started it last week, tasted it every day and decided it was fermented the right amount yesterday. It's pretty good. Except both Kevin and I preferred the taste last week before it was fermented.

We ate it with a hot and sour soup (don't have a recipe to reccommend because we didn't really like it) and steamed buns. I just used my usual bread dough and steamed it for 15 minutes which turned out alright but didn't have the right taste. It was pretty cool so I think I will try steamed buns again but will use a recipe for the right dough.

Another stegasaurus friend

Henry is so into playing with toys right now that I wanted to make him just one more. This one has crinkly sound, a bell, and tags. He threw up all over it last night - I think that means he likes it.

Kitty Slippers for Henry

Finished these kitty slippers for Henry last night. I think they will be the right size for him this fall and winter. Will have to sew on non slip bottoms if he starts walking!

The pattern:
http://www.knittingdaily.com/media/p/31791.aspx

A chef's hat

A chef's hat for my 3 year old neice in LA. I hope she likes it.
I used the excellent instructions here:
http://www.ikatbag.com/2008/09/how-to-make-adjustable-chefs-hat-for.html

In the garden...

The garden is in full bloom but we are not eating too much from it right now. Everything is a much slower start than last year. We are eating the last of the peas and the raspberries and I have one zucchini waiting for me, should be loads more soon.


And we are very patiently waiting for the tomatoes to ripen.

In the brewery...

Kevin and I have been doing lots more brewing. Right now on the go we have raspberry and red currant wine using fruits from the garden (just one bottle because it uses a lot of berries!), a wine from pineapple and orange juice, clove and ginger wine, and in the big 5 gallon jug a ginger champagne. Of course we have to wait and wait and wait to try them.

We are drinking the cocoa vanilla stout and it is good but we are still hoping it will get better in another month or so. And we have tried some flat cider that we made and it was very good. So far we are fans of home brewing. And it lets us make use of our humungous laundry room, nowo laundry room/brewery.

Henry's New Room

We finally set up Henry's room. We didn't want to lose the queen bed we had in there while we were having lots of guests after Henry was born but we have become ready. And it was so much fun setting it up now because I've made it a little more of a little boy's room than a baby's nursery. He has a book shelf with all his books and a rug to sit on and read and play with his toys. And it's decorated with toys that I've made and been given. He has all his naps in there and on friday he slept the first half of the night in there before he came to bed with us. We will be working on having him sleep in there more often.

Henry`s Swing

We went out and bought an outdoor baby swing for Henry on Sunday after we discovered that he loved being pushed really crazily on his mechanical swing. He seems to enjoy it but we are still trying to get that picture of him swinging with a huge smile on his face.


This morning he played happily in his swing the whole time while I hung up laundry and I was able to keep him happy in there by giving him the occasional swing while I did some weeding too.


And what a tree that maple is! It is now holding up a hammock, a tire swing, a baby swing, and a laundry line. What would we do with out it!

Learning to Sit

Henry has been working on learning to sit over the past few weeks. He is definitely getting better but still has work to do.

Shelling Peas

We have been eating peas out of the garden for a couple weeks now. But just yesterday we gathered enough to cook for dinner instead of a snack. It was nice sitting on the front porch shelling peas. Henry even cooperated and played in his bouncy chair by himself while we did it.