Author: iagardener55

Today is kimchi day. Finally. And, I cannot begin to tell you how good it tastes, just with the combination of ingredients!

We started out cutting up the cabbage more than we had originally, the carrots too. Then, we watched the video, twice, and jumped in with all four feet. (Ivan’s and mine 😉

We began by making the rice paste, which is simply one half cup of water, and one heaping tablespoon of rice flour. Combine those, off heat, until all of the flour is incorporated. Then, over medium heat, stir until thickened, just about five minutes. In the last minute, add one tablespoon of sugar, and remove from heat to cool.

Here comes the fun part. We mixed together half of a small onion, grated, five cloves of garlic, peeled, and pressed, one inch of fresh ginger, grated, three tablespoons of fish sauce, one half cup of gochugaru, Korean chili pepper flakes, and the rice paste we made earlier.

Wearing a pair of disposable gloves, I mixed the above with the cabbage, et. al., and put it in a bean pot we have had since forever. It will sit on the shelf, fermenting, for two to three days, or until we feel it has the correct amount of zing. Then, into the fridge it all goes.

As I said, in two, or three, days, this kimchi should be ready for the fridge. Then, whenever we have piece of sourdough bread, with anything, and everything on it, we can have a side of kimchi for extra flavor. We cannot wait. Well, he has to wait until his mouth heals. I will have to let him know how it tastes.

Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: you might consider buying a copy of your favorite books, and movies, while they are still available. It appears the latest news is that many of them will be discontinued because they are racist. Gone with the Wind; Dr. Seuss; several movies as well. Think of Fahrenheit 451.

Soon, Ivan, and I, will be making kimchi- a fermented cabbage dish that he first ate when he was stationed in Korea, during his Army stint.

We have seen multiple YT videos on it, and have gone to the Oriental Market, as you may recall, found the Napa cabbage there, and have been waiting for the right time to start it. Well, that day is still undecided, but soon.

So far, he has cut up said cabbage, soaked, and, salted it. Next, he turned it over every thirty minutes for two, or, maybe it was three, hours, to remove the excess water from the cabbage. Then, I cannot remember what to do. Another video watch in the future.

Today, however, I am making another loaf of sourdough bread. This time, however, I am freshly milling the sprouted Einkorn berries into flour, adding that to bread flour, with the sourdough starter, water, and salt, and will see what happens in the end.

Here are a few photos of the process I just described. You have already seen the soaking, and sprouting of said berries, so I will show you, now, the milling, and combining of them.

So far, that is the process for my making bread. After the last photo, the stretch and fold process takes two to three hours. As it was getting late, I covered the bowl, and put the whole business in the fridge overnight. I will finish it tomorrow.

While I am waiting for the bread to proof in the fridge, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Right now, we are, both, at the dentists office; Ivan is having more surgery with regards to his implants, and me, to replace my temporary crown with the real one.

After we are finished at the dentists office, we will be heading to Superama for a few carrots, and scallions for the kimchi, some gruyere cheese for the egg bites, and bananas for Ivan.

We got consumé for Ivan as well, to go with some crackers for him to eat for the next few days. He came through everything very nicely, as usual, and is on track for the top implanted denture. Soon.

Nothing else to report. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Happy St. Patricks Day, everyone. Irish, or not.

Today, right this minute, anyway, and, the hundreds of minutes that went before this one, has been one super duper day.

It feels like Spring; I guess, because it is Spring. The temperature is seventy five, outside, and, I am guessing, around seventy inside. The air smells clean, and fresh. The sun is shining, and I just fit into a Mexican blouse that I bought three years ago.

It has been hanging in my closet since moving here, and that is where I expected it to be until mid summer. How fun is that?

Last week, (I forgot this), I took apart our Shark Duo Clean vacuum cleaner, and cleaned it completely. There are certain filters one is supposed to clean on a regular basis, well, everyone except me, I guess. You may recall, in a prior post, that I actually read the top of the vacuum cleaner, which said exactly that; clean filters every six months. Duh!

So, now I have, and will, do that, regardless. But, the other day, I took apart the vacuum head, (where you see the orange and black roller brush), and, cleaned it, so it looks like new. Then, I removed the battery from the hand held portion, (the whole thing comes apart), and washed that like no one’s business. When I put it all back together the next day, it looked like I had just bought it, (if you did not look too closely).

Another follow up; here is what the second loaf of sourdough looks like, and then I am moving on. You can see more open holes in this crumb, which, I think will multiply, and become larger, if I do not add a different, stronger type of flour, such as Spelt, Einkorn, or Whole wheat.

Half of this loaf is going to la Dentista tomorrow, and the other half to her assistant. I have learned that one does not need to offer an entire loaf to someone, leaving ones own home without. Actually, even a quarter loaf is acceptable. Yay.

Ivan and I are going to start emptying more totes, rearranging them so that stuff we do not need now, or in the foreseeable future, will go up to the rooftop storage unit. Sounds like a fun day, for sure.

I am not going to comment, much, on the news about what is happening to the US since President Biden was elected. I think, if you watch any decent news shows, you will be saddened. We are so glad we have moved. It is too hard to believe the things we read, and see, in the news channels we watch. Be careful, everyone.

Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Here are a few photos of the blouses, and the other things, we bought at La Ciudadela, yesterday.

The black material for the blouses, and one of the dresses, is a very light weight cotton, similar to a mans handkerchief, or, better yet, silk, and can be worn in either direction.

I will need these, very soon, as the heat, outside, is already becoming increasingly hot. Inside, here, it rarely gets above seventy two, or, seventy three degrees. The Vornado air circulator helps keep it cool, too; also, I should mention, we are on the West side of our building, with another building, again, to our West, blocking the sun in the afternoon. Yay!

Above, are all of the things that came back, with us, from La Ciudadela. We are sure glad they did, too. We will, however, have to go back, because several items did not make it into our trunk.

We have yet to buy a few tablecloth’s, placemats, wooden spoons, small terra cotta dishes to hold salsas, salt, etc., and, a new blanket for our bed. Also, planters to hold the larger, and smaller plants that will be in other rooms of the condo, not just in the living room.

Until we get all of that done, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

I DID IT. Well, I did a couple of things, actually.

I managed to make a beautiful loaf of sourdough bread, that actually has a decent “ear”. The ear is the flap you can see in the above photo. I will be working towards a larger ear with all successive loaves.

Also, I will be changing the contents of each loaf. The next loaf will be five hundred grams of all purpose flour, with one hundred grams of freshly ground Einkorn berries. I cannot wait to see how it turns out.

We are on our way to un mercado, called La Ciudadela. I am looking for blouses in the Mexican style, and some small terra cotta dishes, for salt, and salsas. If we should happen upon other things we did not know we needed, even better. I will post anything we end up buying, if they are worth posting.

We ended up buying three blouses, and two shifts, all of which, with one exception, I will need to work towards fitting into.

I told Iván, today, again, that when I lose a certain amount of weight, which will not be divulged here, I am cutting my hair short again. I want to see if it will get a little bit thicker if I am not pulling it all out with my comb.

We are in traffic four lanes across, bumper to bumper. So, until we can make our way to the market, and back, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

As promised, I have a few more photos of the install. Everything is coming along beautifully. I wish you could see the craftsmanship that has gone into everything Martín has made. He does such a wonderful job.

They need to come back, again, as there are some things that need to be finished, and one item that needs to be changed.

The cabinet under the fermentation station was just a centimeter too wide, and two millimeters too tall.

Not to worry, though. Martín is all over it.

While we wait for him to adjust that, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

They have arrived; the guys; with some of the things we need for this, phase two, of the remodeling. I am doing my best to stay out of their way, and not “help”. It is very difficult, I must admit.

Before they got here, however, I noticed, in the kitchen, the grossly greasy, and dusty, exhaust hood. Not to mention the front of the fridge. I could not let them in here with that disgustingness. (Yes. I noticed it every time I went into the kitchen, but chose, successfully, to ignore it).

The front of the fridge is aluminum, as best I can tell, as magnets do not work on it. The ability to actually get it clean has eluded me for a whole year. Fingerprints, Kombucha spray, you name it. Nothing would get it clean, and shining. Now look. Like brand new.

This morning, I tried, of all things, the citrus spray that I normally use to get the stains out of our clothes. Would you believe it? Worked like a charm.

At the moment, the guys are putting up the shelves in the living room. When they are finished, I will take more photos.

Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Well, folks. We have been without electricity for over an hour now, and the whole condo is silent. There is the occasional sound, from downstairs, in the garages, somewhere. Eerie, I am telling you. It is as if everyone is still sleeping, while it is just after noon.

I do have to tell you, though, I went to check the fermenting vegetables this morning. When I opened the jar with the yellow, and, green bell peppers, the whole top of the liquid starting spewing these tiny effervescent bubbles, by the thousands. It was very impressive, and satisfying, to say the least. A few hours later, when I showed Ivan, they were still bubbling, profusely. Amazing, is all I can say.

The power returned for about two minutes, then went off again, for another forty five minutes, or so. Now, we are all good.

Here is a photo of the Einkorn berries having sprouted. Now, they are in the Smart Oven, dehydrating, getting ready to be hand milled into flour.

Einkorn is a difficult grain to bake with as it has a different type of gluten structure; one that does not allow for much rise, or spring, in a bread loaf. It is that fact, the difference in gluten structure, that allows most people, though, not those with Celiac disease, to eat it without gastrointestinal distress.

Now that the Einkorn is sprouted, it changes the grains’ ability to be digested more easily, and has gone from a complex sugar, (carbohydrate), to a more simple sugar, again, easier to digest. Lovely, do you think?

Anyway, now that it is being dehydrated, it will be shelf stable in this form for quite a long time to come. Yay!

On to making bread, but only with one to two hundred grams mixed with four hundred grams of all purpose, or bread flours. I will let you know, in words, and photos, how things progress.

Until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: the bird song today is absolutely fabulous. It is so completely different from the birds in the Midwest. Both are beautiful in their own ways. As I mentioned, they are just different. Both make my heart lighter, and bring a smile to my face.

A grilled slice of sourdough bread, half of an avocado, applied like butter, egg salad, and alfalfa sprouts. Need I say more? What a lunch.

E’s blood pressure is holding steady, so, that is a worry done, thank the good Lord.

Oh, Luis, and Martín are coming here in the next week. They have phase two of our remodel almost finished. Let me show you what is going to happen.

As you can see from the photos, we will have more storage, and, more space to display our much loved Mexican artifacts.

The flower box is deep enough to hide the plastic window boxes I bought to plant anything in, from herbs, to flowers. The dirt will all be contained within the plastic boxes, and those placed inside the wooden box. In the long run, dirt, directly in the wood box, would rot the wood, and that would not do.

Originally, we had thought that the hutch would have a black granite top on it to meld it with the kitchen countertops, and clear glass on the doors. We have changed our minds, about the granite. Now we think that, as it will be in the living room, with the oak shelving, etc., we will leave it plain. We will use it to display all of our beautiful Japanese, and Mexican dishes.

There will be the domino effect, once these few things are installed. The dishes will come out of the kitchen, and go into the hutch. The food staples, in the pantry, will go into the kitchen; the small appliances will come into the kitchen, into the cabinet under the fermentation station.

Where there is a drawer, holding the two plastic garbage buckets, there will be two drawers, like the two to its left. We need drawers, not garbage buckets. Those we have hanging on the drawers themselves; one for food wastes, and one for paper, and plastic, etc.

We are really starting to get organized, and will continue to do so when the new furnishings are installed. While we wait, patiently, for that to happen, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.