Monday, December 8, 2008

kefir learning

An update on my growing things inside menagerie. I have been googling and have found some information on kefir from a very enthusiastic man called Dom. I've joined a yahoo group of making kefir as well. Now I need to read at least some of the messages.

Today I drank some of the kefir drink which you strain off the grains and I liked it. A very pleasant way to substitute for expensive probiotics from the health food shop. My grains seem to be growing and I've transferred them to a larger jar and added more milk. That's three days I've kept them alive for now.

I used the chicken stock to make risotto for dinner. When we were a gluten free, egg free household, we had risotto every week. I still like it, but I love having more options on the dinner front. I used the first zucchinis of this season in the risotto. From my own garden of course. This year I have an heirloom kind called costata romanesco which has a ribbed outer. I do apologise that that sounds like a description of the fancier kind of condoms. My zucchinis were very nice and I look forward to many more this season. From my one plant. The others died.

I've just finished making up the baked beans recipe and have put it in the slow cooker to cook overnight. I had to adapt it a bit for the slow cooker and for the unhelpful measures in the recipe. It is the first time I have cooked from my Sally Fallon book, Nourishing Traditions and I have a couple of niggles. A "small can of tomato paste" is not a helpful measure in an internationally marketed book. Not that it mattered too much as we had no tomato paste of any kind in the house and I snaffled a jar of pasta sauce from the charity Christmas giving bag to use instead. I used some apple cider vinegar and presumed rather hopefully that it would not matter that it is three years old. My other niggle is that a cup is not the easiest way to measure sticky liquids like maple syrup and molasses. By standing on chairs and searching behind the old kitchen chippy chimney, I managed to find our maple syrup and molasses. I hope this recipe is yummy, as it could be the answer to using up more things which have collected in my cupboard. The odd ingredients retirement home needs an overhaul.

I bought a gingerbread man cutter because I have this probably overblown, optimistic idea that Fionn and I will make gingerbread men and send up to his whanau (extended family) up north for that day.

I sneaked a bit of weeding in before it started to rain this morning. Christy I am sorry that your garden is dry. I am feeling like we can't possibly live in the same country - there has been absolutely no need to water here and our garden produce is a long way behind yours. My raspberry plant is still only ten centimetres high. But I did find an actual fruit as differentiated from merely some flowers on one tomato plant this morning. So there is hope.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

But what does kefir taste like? Possibly nasty as you have left us wondering.. I have thoughts on a few posts but am putting them all here as I'm lazy:
1.Secret Santa is the condescending hippy's dream - I'm giving organic rocket seeds.. Ha ha. I know I will get some crap in return but maybe I will plant a little mind seed for some blatant consumerist?
2.Gingerbread people are great and they make you feel really good when you make them and give them. You can have gingerbread hippys and gingerbread punks and read the gingerbread man story before you make them so that your child is breathless with anticipation when you open the oven.
3.Catholicism and food denial/guilt/excess are inextricably linked. Look at all those people who think 'The da Vinci code' is true and think wheat/sugar/caffiene in any form is evil.
Ooh and have fun being number one good child this christmas.. XXX

Marino said...

sp is kefir kinda like yoghurt?

Sharonnz said...

Dom's site is pretty comprehensive eh? Let us know how your baked beans go - we're huge fans of the "real thing" here now!

Sandra said...

Kefir tastes nice. I like it much better than plain milk, which I haven't been able to drink with pleasure for a trillion years. It is close to the taste of a yoghurt drink.

I've only dipped into Don's site, but indeed there is much more to read.

I am thinking gingerbread people could be made here sometime soon. I bought a gingerbread man cutter earlier this week.

Joe, the no. 1 good child. yeah yeah yaddy yah. I'm going to pay Cathy to come and clean the house the day before Christmas. Which no doubt Fionn will explain to Mum. She isn't a good daughter - she is a cleaning FAKE!!

Christy said...

you must have sent some rain up our way as we've had a decent amount in the last 24 hours which my plants are very grateful for (and me as it takes a fair while to get round them with a dribbly gravity fed hose). i do admire you for living where you do!

Rach said...

OK time to come clean.....I've been thinking about it for ages....but first, isn't Dom a legend? He's my kefir guru!!!
But, yes, back to the issue at hand. Sally Fallon. I recommended her book to you wihtout even having read it all. I had read Mary Enig's (much less emotive, more scientific) book Eat Fat, Lose Fat and was convinced by *her* arguments. Then I came across Fallon and delved into her book for recipes to implement the Enig-ideology (they're same school). Finding that Fallon had far far far more recipes than Enig's (and because it had a title that didn't make it sound like a diet book), I then started singing the praises of NT. (plus I actually *like* the diet dictocrat bit - heehee) BUT I willingly concede, she makes some wild claims in those sidebars.....and you didn't like the book and I felt bad for raving about it (even though I still live from it myself). But maybe, just maybe, she may redeem herself. And now that I've confessed (instead of merely thinking about confessing) and done penance with well-soaked sticky rice for a month in Laos, you will be able to ease my even-though-I'm-not-a-catholic-guilt for me!!!!! (no not a catholic, and yes, have eight kids - hahaha - it must be getting late, I'm cracking myself up too much)