The Final Menu

After a very busy 24 hours, Thanksgiving is officially over and went off without a hitch! I really can't complain about how anything turned out. Family arrived and departed safely, all the dishes were warm and yummy, and everyone had a great time. That's about all you can ask for when running a feast like this.

The menu changed slightly on the day of, but not too drastically. This was the final run-down of our dishes (linked to recipes where I have them) -

Appetizers: Hot mulled cider, freshly baked wheat bread, parmigian red-pepper twists, carrots & broccoli, bean dip, spinach feta dip, and maple-cheddar cheese paprika spiced popcorn.

Main Course: Locally bought, brined turkey

Sides: Garlic mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes stuffed in oranges, maple glazed carrots, mixed greens salad with pears, pomegranite seeds, and freshly made croutons, baked spinach, homemade cranberry sauce, an assortment of rolls, stuffing, and corn.

Whipped Butters (so good, they deserve their own category): Plain, thyme & garlic, cranberry orange, and honey cinnamon.

Desserts: Pumpkin pie, chocolate pecan pie, and apple pie/gallette.

Hope your Thanksgiving was as delicious and heartwarming as mine!

- Cait

43 hours and counting

We're now less than 48 hours from Thanksgiving dinner being served. I feel ridiculously behind, though I think most rational people would contest where I placed the word 'ridiculous' in that sentence. I think I may be getting a poor example from the food bloggers that I follow, because they're prepared almost to the minute for this single meal.

I now have an hourly schedule, and I bought a white board for my fridge to keep me on-schedule during the actual day. I have a grocery list that will be completed when I go to the store in an hour. I'm making cranberry sauce tonight, finishing the polishing, and trying to organize my ingredients in a reasonable way.

Two days ago my husband and I worked on setting up the dining room. This included adding the two leaves to the table, moving a bench in to serve as seating, and double-checking all of our serving bowls and platters. While I knew what I wanted my menu to look like, I hadn't checked if I actually had dishes to serve all of the courses in.

This was my dining room table decked out with basically every bowl and platter I could find in my cupboards. It's already quite a lot (though my cacti are in the middle there), but I found out I was one or two servers shot, especially for appetizers. Otherwise, things broke down like this -

Yes indeed, I did label my photograph of serving bowls, because otherwise there's about a 95% chance I would forget half of what I planned and have a few panicked moments before dinner.

As it is, I feel very nicely prepared to serve the meal. Now all I have to do is cook it!

- Cait

Polishing Silver

When my mother-in-law visited in September, she brought her mother's wedding silver to us, because we had upcoming events where we might use it (hello, Thanksgiving). I was really blown away by this, and told her I'd do what I could to take care of the set. It hadn't seen much use recently, and could use a good polish, so I set about finding out how best to do this on the cheap.

The silver wasn't in bad shape at all. Probably more dirty than tarnished, but the set does have some patterning that would be hard to get at, and so washing wouldn't be good enough. I needed something that would really polish the pieces.

I knew of two methods immediately. One involved using cloths like these, which I've had on hand for my bassoon keys for many years. I ordered four, and they arrived within a few weeks. I gotta say though, they are tough to use, and take more hand strength than I seem to possess (after going through a few pieces, anyway). The way they work is that the white side is more abrasive, and will remove dirt, grime, and tarnish; the black side is a soft polishing cloth that you use after the white side.

The biggest problem so far is that the cloths have gotten dirty faster than I had expected. I still had well over half the set to go, and I had used 3 of my 4 cloths up.

So, on a recent trip to walmart, I picked this up to try as well -

I used it last night on the remaining butter knives, and I have to say it was much easier than the cloths. And lining them up next to each other, I couldn't tell the difference between the cloth and the cream polished knives. Given the time crunch to Thursday, I'll probably keep going with the cream, and use the black sides of the cloths to give each piece a finishing touch. And, because I'm hyper-compulsive like this, when I place the silverware on the table for the official meal, I'll be using the black cloths so I don't leave any fingerprints.

Overall, these two things together work really well. Not professionally well or anything, but absolutely passable for a family meal. It's hard to see, but this picture shows you the before and after of polishing. The before is on the bottom, and the after is on top. Look how shiny it was with some polishing, I could barely photograph it!

I probably should have done more research ahead of time, but life's been pretty busy recently, and while I wanted the silver to look spectacular for Thanksgiving it wasn't a top priority. One thing I wish I'd found earlier was this article here, from the Society of American Silversmiths. I have an especial fondness for this piece of silver guidance because it comes from a museum conservator, a group that I admire and greatly respect. The author recommended for basic polishing needs that washing the set frequently was the best way to avoid tarnish, and to otherwise use one of these creams: 3M's Tarni-Shield Silver Polish, Twinkle Silver Polish, Blitz Silver Care Polish, and Weiman Silver Polish. Sounds like they should be available at most commercial hardware stores, and I clearly found the Weiman at Walmart. I feel lucky that it comes highly recommended afterall!

My total cost to care for the silver set? $12.93. To try two different methods, this wasn't a bad price to pay. And I think the silver is going to be a really outstanding addition to the table. Thanks again to my mother-in-law for bringing it!

- Cait

Six days to go

As you already know, Thanksgiving has been at the forefront of my domesticated mind the past few weeks. Even with getting furniture into our sparser rooms, the goal has been to make guests as comfortable as possible. That's meant pulling the guest bedroom together, trying to find chairs that will match the living room, etc. We haven't been entirely successful so far (especially in the chair department), but I'll be making another stop at the Habitat for Humanity store before Thursday.

In the meantime, Thanksgiving prep is all about food, as it should be. I've done some reading into how other cooks have prepped their Thanksgiving meal, and the advice was pretty much the same across the board -

1) Clean your kitchen and fridge well in advance.

2) Make a menu and a full grocery list, and buy things in advance if you can.

3) Make sure you have the dishes and platters to actually serve the dishes you've selected.

4) Set a schedule for the week leading up to the big day, and know what you can prep in advance (pie dough, vegetable chopping, etc).

5) Do a dry run of setting up your table to double check whether you have enough dishes, silverware, and space on your table.

Despite my planning and reading, I have to admit I haven't done a great job with this list so far. I've bought some things in advance, and I have a menu and grocery list, but I haven't set my schedule or checked my dishes. Cleaning the kitchen will happen this afternoon, and I've been plowing through the dishes every day. I've also been polishing the silver set we just inherited from my husband's grandmother, and bought extra plates and bowls where I knew I needed them.

Once I have things that are more photogenic (like setting up my table), I'll be sure to post pictures. I'll also include my schedule, once I've written it down!

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Are you cooking the whole thing, cooking parts, or blessedly being cooked for? Being a bit of a Thanksgiving nerd, I'd love to hear about your plans!

- Cait

Craigslist and Restore Magic

In my constant preparation for Thanksgiving (in less than 3 weeks! Ack!), I'm constantly scouring craigslist for deals on the pieces of furniture I still need. This week I got lucky, and found a simple wooden hutch for $35, with a $10 delivery charge. It was in my dining room half an hour after clicking the craigslist link.

It's not fancy. And it's a little short, actually. But overall, it's exactly what we needed. I've filled it up with a few things to just get them out of the way in other cabinets, and you can see what it would look like filled. Designed it is another matter though.


Instead, I've been trying to make up little designs in other areas of the house. Like on the mantle, where I've started a collection of blue glass and fake flowers. I think it looks cute in this close-up, but the mantle is reeeeaaaallly long, so it actually ends up looking a little empty. But I can pretend that the picture is the way it looks in real life, right?

Right.

- Cait

Menu Planning

My husband doesn't know this yet (hi honey!), but I've made it a goal this week to not eat out for a single meal. Our finances, while ok, aren't where I'd like them to be, and eating out is getting cut from the menu for the next 6 days (yesterday was Day 1). I have a lot of food in my pantry and fridge, and along with the new kitchen appliances I got for my birthday I think I can manage to use up all my ingredients creatively.

Did I tell you about my new appliances yet? No? They are already starting to revolutionize my cooking. My new slow cooker helped me make my own chicken broth last week, and the ice cream maker has produced a beautiful batch of honey ice cream. The food processor is the only one I haven't tried yet (there are so many attachments...) but I'm going to give it a whirl tonight to help make dinner.

This week has the potential to be culinarily unsatisfying (like the frozen pizza last night), but with a little bit of effort I think it will be great. To help me along, I'm working on developing a menu plan, at least for dinners. There are any number of menu planners available online, but I think my plan will be to work with an old-fashioned white board on the fridge. Simple, cheap, and completely editable. But since I'm not set up with that yet, I thought I would share my dinner plans with all of you!

Monday: Creamy Cauliflower Soup, from Annie's Eats, with homemade croutons (and maybe biscuits!)

Tuesday: Pork Roast with Apples made in the new slow cooker

Wednesday: Spaghetti with homemade sauce

Thursday: Steak, creamy garlic shells, and salad

Friday: Chana Masala, our favorite indian dish

Saturday: Our fake hormel-based cincinnati five-way chili

Many of these are our basic recipes, and I'll eventually want to break away from that. But for now, in my first week of menu planning, it's simpler to start with what I already know and can do without too much stress. From there I'll branch out to newer and exciting things. Like this Blueberry Brie Galette recipe. Or perfecting this absolutely yummy Orange Chicken recipe.

Or maybe I'll just forget about dinner and make this instead.

- Cait

Cranberry Season!

Hello dear readers. I have to say that things have been very busy around here, for any number of reasons, and that business has unfortunately taken away from my time to blog. But I wanted to share two things with you quickly while I had a moment.

The first is that, as many of you predicted, the benzoyl peroxide was the worst bleacher in my bathroom. But! It certainly wasn't the only one. My face wash and body wash both had some minor bleaching associated with them, which would explain the bleaching on my bath towel. The b.p. is certainly to blame for the discoloration on my hand towels though. Home science to the rescue once again!

The second is that, thank the gods, cranberry season is here! I told my husband that I had been day-dreaming about this day for weeks, which isn't an exaggeration. I love cranberries. I love them in breads and muffins and smeared on top of pork and chicken. I love craisins, though I usually think they're too expensive. But I know that autumn is here, and that Thanksgiving is quickly approaching, when the bags of fresh cranberries appear at the grocery store.

Today was that day, dear readers. Or, if it was earlier I hadn't noticed, so for me it was like the first day of cranberry season. I promptly bought two bags, and a few other things I needed for one of my alltime favorite recipes -fresh cranberry sauce.

I have to tell you, folks, my cranberry sauce is a killer. I've been making fresh cranberry sauce for years, though I'll admit to previously being obsessed with the canned stuff. I would eat whole-berry cranberry sauce like it was pudding (and it was probably a little healthier at least). One year, though, my mother came home with a bag of cranberries and said we were going to make our own for Thanksgiving. I was very skeptical, but went along with it. That first time we just used the basic recipe from the back of the bag:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 bag cranberries

Boil water and sugar together until dissolved, throw in the cranberries, boil for about 10 minutes until they've all popped.

Super simple. And pretty delicious, I have to say. But after making it that way for a few years, my darling mother found another recipe, and this is the one I've been working at for years now. The updated recipe looks like this:

1 cup merlot

2 tablespoons high pulp orange juice

1 cup maple syrup

1 bag cranberries

You can put in a little more or less maple syrup, depending on how sweet you like it. But the wine and the orange juice provide some sweetness as well, so I tend to do more like 3/4 cup maple syrup for one recipe.

Seriously, this cranberry sauce will have you eating the entire batch and licking the bowl when you're done. If you're responsible for any side dishes at thanksgiving this year, I recommend giving this a shot. It can be a little expensive, especially with the maple syrup, but I swear it's worth it.

There are other alternate cranberry sauce recipes I can think of. Using any number of juices would probably be delicious, and any sort of sweetener. You can do the whole thing with orange juice, and I bet it would be great. Let me know if you try any other combinations, I'll be happy to hear about them!

Happy cranberry season,

- Cait

Science Experiments

Something is bleaching my towels. Not my husband's towel. Nor my towels downstairs or at the bedroom sink. But every towel I touch in the bathroom becomes bleached. It's becoming pretty annoying as I happen to really like my towels, and prefer they not become stained with unsightly yellow blotches. I'm hoping to figure out what's been going wrong so I can fix the problem.

This is clearly a case for SCIENCE!

Since my husband's towel isn't affected, I can pretty assuredly say that this is the result of something only I'm using, which rules out a few things. I also suspect, based on the bleaching "pattern" that this is either my conditioner or my body wash. But, to be thorough, I'm testing just about everything I use on a daily/weekly basis.

Here are the possible culprits. One of them is, without a doubt, the guilty party.

My experiment is being done on the very towel that fell victim to this accursed crime. Since it's already bleached, I figure a little more can't hurt. Plus, I'd already replaced it for being a pretty ineffective towel ($5 target purchases sometimes aren't the best plan), but don't tell it that. I wouldn't want to hurt it's feelings.

Instead, I think that covering it with sharpy and bits of goop is just what the at-home scientist ordered. I found the least bleached section of the towel, made a box for each product, as well as one for water and one as a "control" which got nothing added to it at all (my 5th grade science fair training is clearly coming back to me) (or, you know, that BA in biology) (maybe).

I then dabbed each product at the top of it's square, and added a label at the bottom...

...until each product had it's own space.

And there we have it. Clockwise from top left we have water, body wash, hair gel, conditioner, control, shampoo, skin cream, facial wash, and benzol peroxide. I put the towel in a dry, draft-free area to sit for a day or two, at which point I'll wash off the products and see if any of them bleached the part of the towel it was sitting on. My money's on the conditioner, but we'll see.

In the meantime, I'll have to think of something terrible to do to the product that's to blame. It can't just get a slap on the wrist for something like this. I'm open to creative suggestions from my readers, so if you have any ideas let me know in the comments!

Hoping to be bleachlessly yours,

Caity

Down on the Farm

This past Sunday my husband and I took an unexpected trip out to see his aunt and uncle who have a farm east of Indianapolis. I had never been to the farm before, despite hearing about it almost since we started dating in our freshman year of college. Literally three weeks after we started seeing each other (at the still awkward age of 19) he rolled through Chicago with his dad and grandma on their way out to Indiana. We all went out to dinner, some of us more terrified than others, and they described the farm to me. Somewhere between the haze of meeting my future in-laws for the first time and the delicious Italian food, the farm really stuck out for me. It sounded like a little slice of heaven.

In my wildest dreams I abandon my lifestyle to run a farm. I don't know where my compulsions to raise chickens and bees and goats come from, but they've been a persistent desire of mine for many years. Whenever things get rough professionally or personally, there's a tickle at the back of my mind that somewhere, somehow, there's a tiny parcel of land that could have my name on it.

I don't know if my daydreams will ever come true, but in the meantime I was thrilled for the chance to visit with my husbands' relatives. His aunt and uncle are truly spectacular people, who will always have a special place in my heart for playing Irish music at our wedding ceremony. Spending time with them was a pleasure, and getting a trip to the farm was like icing on the cake. We visited their larger fields, which are mostly the midwest standard of corn and soybeans, but they also have beef cattle, chickens, and an incredible vegetable garden.

We met some new friends...

These were the young ladies, who were still growing and maturing.

Some of them were very excited to meet me.

This was The Bull and His People. Apparently this bull really likes to have company?

There were also chickens! Lots of chickens, though I only got a good close-up of this nice lady. When I saw them I got very excited (they're mini dinosaurs!), and my husband warned that I should "not chase the chickens." His aunt, thinking he was telling the dogs, said that they were pretty well behaved and didn't normally chase the chickens. We had to explain that this was in fact not who he was referring to.

Then there was the vegetable garden. With the 200-250 tomato plants, of over 70 varieties.

And all this for a household of three.

Which meant there were lots of tomatoes. LOTS of tomatoes.

Also, some funky squash, some of which had decided that the tomato cages were the perfect place to grow.

I'm sharing the tomato garden pictures to help explain how this happened -

This is what my husband's aunt and uncle sent us home with. A dozen fresh eggs, a bag of potatoes, 28 ears of sweet corn, and what we estimated was 50 pounds of tomatoes. Plus a whole bowl of incredible cherry tomatoes.

It's not hard to guess how I spent my labor day.

With about eight hours of work, we managed to can about 90% of the tomatoes (the other 10% got thrown in bags in the fridge). In total, we got six cans of salsa, and twelve quarts of tomatoes for lunch and dinner recipes.

Here are the salsas, which had a little corn thrown into them. The more yellow one on the right came from the cherry tomatoes, and is a lot sweeter than the other jars.

These are the stewed tomatoes, some of which got herbs and onions thrown in and some of which were just regular. The jar of golden tomatoes may be my favorite. I think it's going to make a stunning pasta during the winter.

By the end, I was pretty tired of standing over a hot oven, and started hot packing the smaller tomatoes whole. Took less time, but I'll end up working harder when I use them in meals. It's funny, I think they look like a taxidermy jar with floating specimens in it (though don't tell my husband that).

Now I just have a greater itch to homestead. It might be time to really develop those gardening plans for the spring and summer, though I'll be restricted to container crops. For now, I can be satisfied that I'll have tomatoes until probably the next growing season, all thanks to the incredible generosity of my aunt- and uncle-in-law. Thanks guys!

- Caity

Tomorrow's Post

Also, here's a sneak peak at the topic of tomorrow's post.

And that's all I'm going to say for now.

- Caity

Holiday Planning

As you can probably tell, I get a little goofy with planning. When I have a clear, simple goal to work towards, I am much more productive and creative. That's why the general task of "decorating the house" is a little overwhelming to me, because it's a bit too big. I have to tackle it in small chunks, isolating trouble areas a few at a time.

You can also tackle the problem from the side, and instead of saying "Today I'm going to work on the living room, tomorrow the dining room" etc, you can choose projects that will contribute to large problems in small ways. My favorite way to do this is to decorate for holidays, and then throw parties for friends and family. I did this last Christmas, in an effort to improve my glassware and platter collections. And I would throw a house-warming party to have an excuse to round out the living room, but we don't know many people here yet.

Instead, I'm hugely preoccupied with Thanksgiving. It's without a doubt my favorite holiday, and this year I've volunteered to host my entire family. This includes my parents, brother, and grandmother, as well as my husband's mom, dad, sister, and grandmother. With the two of us, that makes ten people. Yikes! It'll be quite the undertaking, but I'm excited about it.

It's a big task, starting from almost nothing, and I've already been putting together everything I'll need. The dining room table was an important step, and we'll be trying to find a buffet to match it soon. The guest bedroom is another project, but we have a bed frame that just needs a mattress. I ordered the turkey on Saturday, from a local farmer that's raising the birds right now, and I feel great about that.

I've also been assembling some odds and ends that we'll need -

From the left is my wonderful $1 roasting pan from the Habitat for Humanity Restore, a carving set that my husband got at an antique store, a set of 10 white cloth napkins I got for $2 each at Pier One, and a few vintage Thanksgiving postcards for decorations.

Here's a close-up of the postcards. I love the ones with the giant white turkeys, I think they're so fun.

And here's the carving set, which we need to get sharpened somewhere, but will make a great addition to the table setting.

On a general decorating note, since the overall "completion" of the house affects the success of Thanksgiving, I wanted to show you one of my little terrariums.

This is my cactus terrarium, in a glass bubble jar I got for $3 (another antique store find, such a bargain!). The tall cactus is already almost too tall, but for now I think they look nice together. Paired with the frog, they make a cute and simple centerpiece for my dining room table. For Thanksgiving I anticipate they'll move to the living room.

And here's a close-up of the cacti. I liked the slight variations in color they have, especially against the wood on the table.

That's it for now! I'll keep you updated about how plans progress in the next two months. Especially on the matter of my delicious cranberry sauce.

- Caity

The Domestic Plan

Looking at my life, I am surrounded by plans right now. In my capacity as a museum professional, I'm currently writing both an Interpretive Plan and a Business Plan for the places I intern. And my thesis (which is still in the writing phase) is about Strategic Planning. You would think this means I have enough planning on my mind, but no, of course not. When I come home I launch right back into perfecting what I will henceforth call my Domestic Plan.

My last post outlined the plan for the kitchen appliances, though that didn't include my desire for pots and pans (Double boiler? Asparagus steamer? Crepe pan?!?). Nor my interest in expanding our dishware. But right now, the non-appliance kitchen matters are secondary on the list.

Instead, my thoughts have strayed to my garden plans. Since we arrived in July, there wasn't enough time to get started on any serious plantings. I've been very jealously watching my landlord's tomatoes and basil, and she was nice enough to give us a cucumber the other day.

For now, I dreamily await the day I can start growing my own fruits and vegetables. I have grand ideas of onions and garlic, potatoes, snap peas, carrots, herbs, and my personal favorite - blueberries. What I'd like to do is start seeds myself in the basement, which will require setting up tables and lights, and possibly a heater in the late winter.

There are two things I want to procure in advance of this endeavor - a rain barrel and a compost bin. These two purchases will be useful beyond gardening, which is part of their appeal. I'm currently researching at Lowes, Target, and Amazon, looking for good deals. If I find any, I'll be sure to let you know.

Next up, how to stain a shelving unit, details on the decorations, and preparing for the biggest meal of the year!

Warmly,

Caity

Appliance Envy

As you can probably tell, I spend a lot of time either in my kitchen or obsessing about my kitchen. I think this is sort of strange for someone who would never describe herself as a "foodie," but it's an interest I developed after getting married and it seems to have stuck around. Cooking and baking are my favorite non-professional hobby, and one of the best ways for me to relax.

Part of what I'm trying to do in my new kitchen is to really get set up to make a greater variety of foods, and to make my normal foods better, faster, stronger than they were before. In my mind, this means assembling the right set of ingredients and tools. The former is a gradual process, and has involved switching to more organic and bulk food purchases from the "whole foods" style stores in the area.

The latter (tools) is a lot harder, and a lot more expensive. We kept very few of our appliances when we moved. Most of them had been the cheapest versions from Target or Walmart and were already in sad shape, or they were so easy to replace that we just didn't worry about it. I think we only had a waffle maker when we arrived, and that was because it was expensive to begin with (also, a christmas present to my husband). Everything else would have to be purchased when we got here, and hopefully upgraded from what we had before.

So far we've bought two appliances - a coffee maker and a rice cooker. The rice cooker almost wouldn't have made it onto my original list, but after making rice in a pot twice in the last month, it went straight to the top. But these are far from my ideal in the kitchen, and there's a lot of work left to be done.

There's also a lot of appliances to choose from, and while it's fun to wander aimlessly through Bed, Bath, and Beyond to see what strikes my fancy, it's not very prudent to do so. I recommend instead having a plan of what will be most useful and most practical for your needs. In a very particular order, here are the top five appliances I want for my kitchen right now -

1) Food Processor: How could I have never had a food processor before? I don't know, but it's true. I had a blender in California, but it was never useful in the way that people dreamily talk about food processors. Especially now that I'm branching out into the world of canning, I feel like a food processor is a necessity. Oh, and if you need information about whether to choose a blender or food processor? Check out this link here.

2) Stand Mixer: So wonderful in baking. My favorite double chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for mixing the batter for 13 minutes straight, whipping tons of air into it. Lots of bread recipes instruct you to use a stand mixer in place of kneading. I've had a hand mixer before, but I think it's time to bump it up to the next level. The stand mixer is where it's at.

3) Bread Maker: My grandmother-in-law bought me a fabulous book about bread making for christmas this year. It follows the no-knead method from Jim Lahey, and it's astonishingly good. But that's more of an artisan, dip-in-olive-oil sort of bread, and wouldn't be great for making sandwiches. I'd like to stop buying bread at the store altogether, but sandwiches are a staple lunch food for us. Enter, the bread maker. This would be the perfect addition to helping us become more self-sustaining, especially if I can learn to make a whole wheat bread at home.

4) Slow Cooker: Mmm, slow cookers. To me they imply chili and stew and shredded bbq pork. Don't get me wrong, I love my dutch oven, but sometimes I need something easier. The idea of putting dinner on to cook at 8 am is just luxurious.

5) Ice Cream Maker: This is pure indulgence here. One of my loveliest friends pointed me towards Annies Eats a few months ago, and Annie celebrated National Ice Cream Month throughout all of July. Different types of ice creams, sauces, and toppings, and it all looked incredible. I have been craving the ability to make my own ice cream ever since. It just sounds like so much fun!

That's my current plan of attack for filling out my appliances. It's probably going to take months to accomplish (as this lot together? Probably $1000 worth of appliances right there), but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. There's a nice looking stand mixer for $40 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. We'll see how long I can avoid the temptation.

- Caity

My "Pantry"

I like my new kitchen. It's got a good amount of walking space, and not a bad amount of cabinet space. But I am quite the hoarder when it comes to my kitchen, and since arriving in Champaign I've been trying to buy in bulk when I can. I'm also trying to stock up on some of the kitchen appliances I've never had before (slow cooker! food processor! stand mixer!), and those take up space. What's a girl to do?

There's a fairly awkward space in the first floor bathroom, right off the kitchen. It's an old shower, but I would never suggest anyone use it for that purpose. And instead of just wasting the space, I've erected a set of shelves, and am using the area as a "pantry." Putting my canned, jarred, and otherwise sealed food items in there.

Take a look -

Here's the entrance to it, wedged between my stove and fridge.

And the inside! It's a bit cramped, but it adds about 16 square feet of storage space to the kitchen, which isn't insignificant.

The bottom shelf is storing my cat food and large canning pot. And apparently my worchestershire sauce, which I should move to one of the upper shelves...

And here you can see all my lovely jars of peaches and tomatoes! We did eat one of the tomato jars, and had no ill effects we could determine. And it took a bottle opener to get that lid off, it was sealed so tight. I bought strawberries at the store yesterday, so hopefully I'll be making jam in the next two or three days. I'm excited!

If you have any creative space tricks, please leave a comment! I'd love to hear about it.

- Caity

Peaches and Tomatoes

We have no internet at home right now, so I'm ensconced in the Champaign public library a few blocks from my house. The library (or Panera) is where I always go when I have need of internet. Comcast is coming tomorrow, which is great, but I had a few things that needed taking care of today. One of which was sharing my great adventure in canning this weekend!

This is the canning set I got from amazon, courtesy of my fabulous former co-workers at the historical society (thanks guys!). It includes, clockwise from left, the giant canning pot, the jar rack to go on the bottom of the pot, a funnel, a magnet for picking up boiling lids, a lid tightener, tongs for lifting potential hot foods, and a jar lifter. I also got the "Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving" to get me started.

These were the poor fruits (yes, tomatoes are a fruit) that would be the subject of my experiment. I had been scouting out the Urbana farmer's market the first few weeks, and noticed that many stands had large bins of "seconded" produce. Meaning they were either unattractive, bruised, or overripe. The tomatoes I got at $1 a pound ($6 total for that pile there), and the peaches came at $5 for a large bag (the bowl).

The peaches were in worse shape than the tomatoes, so I started with them in case I only had time for one group on Saturday. First I boiled them to get the skins off, and started the "simple syrup" (water and sugar) that would go into the jars to fill them.

What I quickly learned about canning - and I imagine it'll get easier with experience - is that it was a lot like juggling. I had so many things heating on the stove at once, as well as all the chopping, washing of the jars, and tracking times, that it was a little overwhelming. Here I've got the peaches boiling, the syrup thickening, and the canning pot boiling to heat up the jars (you heat them so they don't crack during all the heat transfers).

I was also cutting up the peaches that had their skins removed, and trying to estimate how many jars I would need.

Once I was done prepping jars and peaches, I removed them one at a time from the canner's bubbling water, using my jar lifter tool.

Filled them up with peaches and simple syrup, wiped off the rim, and placed the lids on top.

And placed them in the canner, got the water boiling, and let them cook until they (hopefully) sealed.

And here they are! What I approximate was five pounds of peaches made four jars! I'm looking forward to making a pie or cobbler, and putting peaches in my oatmeal in the dead of winter. One of the lessons here though? I can pack my jars much tighter with fruit.

I did wind up canning the tomatoes that day too, though the process looked so similar I didn't bother with pictures. Boil the tomatoes to get the skins off, chop them up, fill the jars with boiling water, seal, and boil in the canner. These took a lot longer though, boiling for 45 minutes as opposed to the 20 that the peaches took.

$6 of tomatoes turned into four (much more packed) jars, which will be delicious in spaghetti and other dishes.

I'm not convinced I did this correctly, as the lids don't seem as concave as the books all tell me they should be. But I was still happy to give this an honest shot, and keep working towards buying locally and seasonally. I promise to make updates as I continue canning and preserving, hopefully with jams up next!

- Caity

The latest addition

Today I'm going to take a bit of an interlude from my usual postings to tell you about the latest addition to our household. My most recent lizard, Neb, didn't make it during the journey from California. It was shocking and heartbreaking, and I felt incredibly guilty over it. The cats arrived safe and sound, but I'd had Neb for almost seven years. He wasn't just a creature kept in a tank, he was my companion. I loved him to pieces.

I wasn't sure when I would get another lizard. But as so often happens, when I made a tentative inquiry to a breeder a few weeks ago about whether they might have the next species I wanted to keep, of course he had a baby and would I like it? He was born last year, and ready to go, and they can ship him to me tomorrow if I really wanted. All this while my brain was still reeling from the loss of my other pet.

I took some time to think about it, and decided that it probably was a good opportunity to get a new friend, especially in case I didn't get another opportunity like this one soon (they're not the most common species). Even once I'd said yes I asked if he could be shipped in two weeks, so that I had time to prepare a tank and put together the lights he would need, etc.

Well, today was the big day. I got up at 8 am, just to make sure I didn't miss the fedex guy, and sat on my couch staring anxiously out the window with every vehicle that drove down the road. And then, just before noon, the fedex truck pulled up. And my husband and I held our breaths as the man got out with a small white box in his hands, stood in the middle of the street looking at the addresses, and then confidently walked up to our door.

I carried the box upstairs, absolutely terrified, and imagining a scenario like Schrodingers Cat playing out inside the cardboard. What would I find when I opened it?

Inside that box there? Was a styrofoam box, which was packed with newspaper, under which was a plastic box, in which was a lizard.

A pretty unhappy little lizard, who we promptly removed from the plastic box and let warm up in our hands for a few minutes.

And here he is, safely deposited in his tank and rather grumpily warming up under his basking light. He has slightly prettier colors than that (his face became white with yellow stripes with the heat), but after being in a box for 24 hours he was a dull gray.

Now, you're probably asking yourself what he is (besides a lizard). Our new friend is an Egyptian Uromastyx, which is a type of vegetarian desert lizard. They like it hot and they like to eat mainly dandelion greens, endive, and seeds. Very low maintenance once you have the proper set up. And this little guy, being from the Egyptian species, will grow over two feet long. How awesome is that?!

Now, how does my new lizard fit into my domestic theme for the blog? Simple. My pets are a daily part of my home life, and a place doesn't feel like home without them. I've kept lizards since I was eight years old, and have no intention of stopping anytime soon. This little guy is going to live in the guest room for as long as he fits in there, and I sure hope my visitors don't mind sharing their room with a scaly friend.

While I'm certainly worried about my new companion and his health and comfort, I already feel more at ease for having a lizard again. He doesn't have a name yet, though I'll let you know when he does. I've been looking at north african deities, but don't like anything so far. Now I'm looking at general baby names with meanings like "plants" and "gray" and "huge." Any of which I think would be appropriate for our (for now) tiny friend.

- Cait