What-What?! Week of February 11th

Alright, so this week let's talk about hard cider.  Now my husband can't drink beer, as the hops makes him sick, so I don't have any in my house.  On account of this, it's all hard cider, wine, and spirits, with hard cider being what we drink most often.

Last week, the husband and I picked up some new cider from a local liquor store (the nearest Bevmo is in Seattle or Redmond -- too far), because we wanted to try something new.

I like my hard ciders on the dry side; many ciders are way, way too sweet for me.  Beyond that, I like a nice, full-bodied cider with a lot of apple flavor.

Angry Orchard Old Fashioned
From the manufacturer: The Old Fashioned is made with a blend of American apples and is aged on oak with dried tart cherries, California grown navel orange peel, and charred bourbon barrel staves, offering citrus and cherry aromas with a bright apple flavor and slight vanilla notes. It has lasting tannins and a full, round mouthfeel.

In Short: Current favorite

In Long: This is my current favorite hard cider; it's a nice balance of not-too-sweet, not-too-dry.  The oaky-woodiness is a lovely counter to the apple flavor.  Wish you could taste the orange and cherry a bit more, though.


Washington Gold Cider Golden Delicious
From the manufacturer: Bright and crisp with a touch of golden sweetness, our Golden Delicious Cider is the first flavor we’ve offered in 12 ounce cans. Let yourself be transported back to a time when classic apple varieties dotted the orchards and crisp, sweet apples were the afternoon snack of choice.

In Short: Bit too sweet, very nice apple flavor; second favorite

In Long: This is my current second favorite, and has the best apple flavor of anything on this list -- it really is very reminiscent of fresh apples.  It is a bit too sweet, but honestly when you have it with a meal, it's perfectly fine.  I would really like to try this company's original variety, but I don't recall having had seen it at the store.  The apples for this cider are grown north of Wenatchee, right on the edge of the Wenatchee National Forest.


Tieton Cider Works Apricot Cider
From the manufacturer: Crisp apple cider infused with just the perfect amount of apricot. Expect a perfect level of apple tartness coupled by the dry and fresh flavors of apricot. The marriage of these two fruits makes for the perfect cider. Not too sweet, yet not too dry – perfectly balanced.

In Short: Nice apricot flavor, quite dry

In Long: This is a local brand, made from apples grown in the Yakima valley.  It is quite a bit dryer than anything else on this list, but has a really lovely flavor.  I would prefer something a bit sweeter, but overall this is perfectly drinkable.


Angry Orchard Green Apple
From the manufacturer: Angry Orchard Green Apple has a bright, fresh apple aroma, with notes of honeydew melon and kiwi. This cider is slightly tart with balanced sweetness, reminiscent of a fresh green apple.

In Short: WTH happened to it?!

In Long:  I could swear up and down that Angry Orchard changed the flavoring for this cider.  It used to be my favorite before their Old Fashioned variety, but we picked up a case recently, and it's actually pretty gross.  We used to like this one specifically because it wasn't as sweet as Angry Orchard's main cider variety (Crisp Apple), and had a mild green apple flavor.  Now, it's like eating green apple candy -- has that fake flavor, and is much too sweet.

What-What?! Week of February 4th

It's been pretty quiet around here; life's been routine.

Last night, though, the husband and I went on a date.  We hit up a local liqueur store and picked a variety of hard ciders to try (more on that next week!), bought some furniture from Goodwill, and had dinner out.  Which brings me to...

Jeff's Texas-Style BBQ Review

This is a little hole-in-the-wall place at the southern end of town, but well worth visiting.  Getting there early is important; they start cooking in the morning, and when the BBQ is gone, it's gone for the day.  When we got there at about 6 o'clock, they had already run out of sausage for the day, but luckily still had brisket and pulled pork.  So we ordered a combination of:

• Pulled pork
• Brisket
• Potato salad
• Brisket baked beans

Both of our meats were delicious, though in my opinion the brisket beat the pulled pork soundly.  It was so good.  I wish we could've tried the sausage, as that is made fresh everyday and varies by day depending on what's available.

Now, I'm pretty picky when it comes to potato salad; too much dressing or too much sugar are the most egregious offenses, but happily this one had neither.  While it could've used some dill pickle, overall is was perfectly fine.

The last side we had was the brisket baked beans; I have never had baked beans like this.  It had large chunks of brisket, and of all things, small pieces of pineapple.  It had a great mix of sweet, peppery-spiciness, and acidity.  To me, the brisket and these beans were the stars of the meal; it is going to change how we make our own baked beans, for sure.

Unfortunately, we got the small meals, so between the two of us eating, there wasn't any leftovers.  Next time, we'll probably pick up large meals, or if we're feeding the family, buy it by the pound.

Either way, we are going back.

What-What?! Week of September 13th

This week, I set out to do three things.

I'm not done with one of them yet, and haven't even started the other two.

One of my favorite of Murphy's Laws of Combat is "No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy".  Probably one of the most applicable to everyday life, as well.

Anyway, what adventures have we had this week?

I found out that the odd little plant with red berries that's coming over the back fence (tagging along with the blackberry bushes) is a bittersweet nightshade.  It is poisonous.  This is bad.  So I (carefully) dispatched it.

There's another berry bush around on the side of the house that is a common snowberry.  It is also poisonous.  This is bad.  I am dispatching it today.

I suddenly feel the need to look up every other plant in our backyard now.

I also made a pizza.

 

The big kids decided to joust.  Surprisingly, no one was hurt.

Movie Review: Song of the Sea

This is a recent addition to Amazon Prime, and made by the same studio and director that did the Secret of Kells.  The story follows two somewhat-disagreeable siblings who free the fairy people and ultimately save the spirit world.  It is classic hand animation, and quite beautiful to look at -- like watching a children's book come alive.  I liked the story of this film much more than the Secret of Kells, simply because it felt way less depressing.  There's a lot of great mythology to it, and it felt like the story took place in a complete world; it wasn't just a little make-believe corner or something.  It all fit together believably.  The innocence of the main characters and how they get swept up into the adventure reminded me strongly of My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and other Miyazaki films.

The children and I all thoroughly enjoyed watching Song of the Sea, and would highly recommend it.

What-What?! Week of October 12th

This week seemed to go by about as fast as molasses.  Not good, not bad, just interminable.

I got confirmation that I will be starting my new job on Monday, so that's exciting!  It will be good to work again, both in terms of money and maintaining my sanity.

Started working on Saffron's dress earlier this week.  I spent about 20 minutes cleaning my sewing machine after I pulled it out; the move and sitting around made it get pretty dusty.  I'm at the point now where I have to iron things.  I don't like ironing, so I'm procrastinating a bit there.

We went to the Lowe's Build and Grow clinic for October.  The big kids had a good time making their own haunted houses.  We brought them home and they played with super heroes and their spooky houses.

Review:  Digimon Tamers

Earlier this week, the kids and I finished watching the third season of Digimon.  The first two seasons were pretty classic kid show stuff -- lots of humor and creepy-cute monsters fighting bad guys.  The third season, though, Tamers, is made of different stuff.  It's darker and more serious than the earlier seasons, and spends more time looking at the nature of Digimon as monsters.  The show is more complex, though it does suffer from a slow start, it gets better as it goes along.  The fact that the season is 50 episodes hurts it quite a bit -- it could pretty easily be edited down by a third, maybe even a half.  Even still, my kids, especially Saffron, fell in love with it.  Saffron is currently obsessed with Renamon and Rika, who are the strong female leads in the series.


Lopmon and Terriermon.

She also likes Terriermon and Lopmon, but that's because they are glorified rabbit Digimon.

(Images via  digimon.wikia.com, deviantart.com: angel-in-disguise234)

EZ Squeezees Reusable Baby Food Pouch Product Review and Recipe

I like buying the individual pouches of baby food and applesauce for my kids, because they are incredibly convenient, and best of all, not messy.  It's something I can hand to my littlest, and not have to worry about the mess he'll make while I take care of the big kids (or even eat my own lunch!).  There are two problems with these pouches, though; they are expensive, and they are terrible for the environment.  To give you a cost comparison, the Plum Organics brand Morning Mash-Ups that I like to buy cost $1 to $1.25 per pouch; over the course of a month, this can add up to as much as $37.50. Granted, that's not a lot, but considering that's only feeding my baby one pouch of bananas and oatmeal a day, two very cheap foods, the markup is significant.

With this in mind, I went looking for alternatives; looking on Amazon, there were many options for reusable baby pouches. The majority of them have great reviews, though the poor reviews are telling; the options that zip closed on the bottom tend to leak, the ones that zip closed on the top can be difficult for some babies to eat out of. Top and bottom opening ones both were reviewed as difficult to fill. After doing a few hours of research, I picked the EZ Squeezees Refillable Food Pouches because of the side-opening feature, as well as the gusset side allowing it to hold more; these were also some of the larger pouches, holding over 6 ounces, and only cost about $10 for 3 pouches, much less than the $4-5 that other brands cost.

Overall, I have been very pleased with these; the size allows for a full meal for my baby, and the zipper stays closed, and they are easily washable. Filling them is still somewhat of a challenge (I shudder to think how hard it'd be with a bottom loading pouch), but I discovered a great trick for that: Use a canning funnel! As you can see, a canning funnel fits perfectly in the opening on the pouch, making it much easier to fill. If you don't have a canning funnel, look online or at your local grocery store.

Recipe: Banana Oatmeal Yogurt Baby Food

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oats (rolled or instant)
• 1 cup water
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1/3 cup yogurt of choice (I prefer a full fat Greek-style yogurt)
• Pinch of salt
• Sugar or maple syrup (to taste)

Boil water in a saucepan, and stir the oatmeal, banana and salt. Stir constantly until the oats are cooked, then remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled, stir in yogurt and sweetener (if desired). Makes approximately three 6-ounce servings. Enjoy!

(Please note that this is an older article, originally posted via Yahoo! Voices.  Yahoo recently shut down Voices! and removed the content, so I am reposting my old articles onto this blog).