An INTERESTING Weekend - As in the Ancient Chinese Curse

You're surely familiar with the so-called Ancient Chinese Curse, "May you live in interesting times."  Well, I've had an "interesting" weekend!!!

The Bridgeton covered bridge.

After the irritation of my glasses and sunglasses trying to self-destruct, and the amazing news that That Man had decided to spend the day spectating drag race qualifying in Indianapolis, I thought I'd take a little field trip on Saturday to Parke County, "the covered bridge capital of the world."  I drove to the Bridgeton covered bridge and mill, where I picked up a map of the driving routes that take you to the 31 covered bridges in the county.  I drove the Red Route and visited several of the bridges.
 

The Bridgeton Mill

The Zacke Cox covered bridge.

The Harry Evans covered bridge.

It was a bright, clear, sunny, mild day.  While I wandered the back roads of Parke county, always on the lookout for wildlife, I encountered a white-tailed deer, a bald eagle, loads of turkey vultures, and a tree full of eastern bluebirds.  I ate a little snacky lunch at a picnic table by one of the bridges.

The Rosedale covered bridge.

The Mecca covered bridge.

It was a perfect day, exactly what I needed.  All good things must end, though.  As I got closer and closer to home, the sky clouded up, and eventually, rain spattered the windshield and then it started raining for real.  And blowing!

Pulling into the garage, I saw our neighbor on our front porch talking to That Man.  She was telling him one of our trees had split and was about to fall, and to be careful around it.  Once inside, we watched the rain wind whip the trees on the street behind us into a frenzy.

After the storm passed, we went outside to see what was what, and sure enough, our buckeye tree had been totally decapitated, the missing top on our neighbors' roof and gazebo.  Plus, their big sugar maple had split and blocked the street.  I called a tree service, and that's how we spent all of Sunday - supervising the removal of those two trees with our neighbors and picking up leaf litter and moving "smaller" branches around.  We had several branches blown out of the top of our 90-foot tulip tree, too, and they ended up scattered around the back yard - knocking down our cable TV connection, hitting my boat, and landing on the tomato plants in my garden. 

 And then the cherry on the top - when we woke up Sunday, we had no power.  A tree down the street had been struck by lightning Saturday, caught fire, and during a second storm that night fell and took down the power lines.  We didn't get power back until nearly 5:00 Sunday afternoon. 

In the meantime, we got out a generator for us and another for our neighbors so our refrigerators and freezers would stay cold.  It was a mild day again, so we just opened the windows to keep from suffocating in the house.  It could have been much worse - the temperature could have climbed into the 90s like it did earlier in the week.

The tree guys brought a truck with a grappling arm to remove the top of our buckeye tree from the neighbors' roof.  It was fascinating to watch, as attested by the number of rubberneckers driving by, slowing down, and taking pictures, but I'd really rather not have that kind of activity in our yard again soon. 

Here's the pile from the neighbors'
tree, after the street had been cleared.

Here's the pile from our
buckeye tree.

I Almost Made a Spectacle of Myself!

Well, maybe I didn't make a spectacle of myself, but I could have! 

Upon getting into the car for a foraging trip, I pulled my sunglasses out of their case, unfolded them, and the left temple piece came off in my hand, while the hinge pin fell into my lap.  I felt it, but I couldn't see it until I got out of the seat and searched around.  The pin went back into the hinge easily, and I found a tiny screwdriver to tighten it up.

All fixed - YAY!

The next morning I got up and started to put on my regular glasses and they BROKE right in the
center of the bridge.  What the heck???  I haven't broken anything on my glasses for YEARS (1982-ish?) - so how come I've had TWO incidents in two days???  And I've only had these glasses (both of them!) since mid-September!

Thank heaven I still have my old glasses to wear and the broken glasses were covered by a protection plan, so the frames can be replaced at no additional cost to me, but the question is will they still have the same style of frames I bought?  And if not, will they have any frames that will fit my lenses?  I'll find out on Monday.

I guess we will SEE what we SEE when we SEE it!  Ha!

My Favorite Summer Soup - Gazpacho - A Quick and Easy Pantry Recipe

I learned about gazpacho (gahs-PAH-cho) in high school Spanish class.  It's a tomato-based cold soup (stay with me, here - it's delicious!) originating in Andalusia (southern Spain) that's perfect for those hot hot hot summer days when nothing much sounds good except a plunge into a bathtub full of ice water.  When I first served it to That Man, I told him to think of it as a salad, because that's basically what it is.

The original recipe I have is preprinted on a 3x5 card.  I'd sent away for a packet of these recipes from Campbell's - yes, the soup people!  I tried a few of them and kept a couple - one for fettuccine alfredo and this one for gazpacho.  The original version makes quite a bit - just about 9 cups counting all the vegetables (which is nearly half again as much as what the recipe says it will make!), but I'll give you my cut down version first.  You'll need a blender that can crush ice for my blender version.


Quick Blender Gazpacho

1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed tomato soup
1 c ice and water (I put crushed or cubed ice in a measuring cup, then fill it with water)
1/4 t garlic powder (or more, if you're a garlic aficionado like I am!)
1 slice bread, toasted
4 t vinegar
2 t olive oil
1/3 c chopped bell pepper (any color)
2 T chopped onion
2/3 c chopped cucumber, divided

1/3 c chopped tomato

Put everything in the blender except for half of the chopped cucumber and all the chopped tomato.  Put the lid on the blender and puree until everything is well blended.  By the time you serve the soup, all the ice should be melted, and the soup should be good and cold.  You should be able to get 3 to 4 small bowls of soup from this recipe.  Serve the soup topped with the remaining chopped cucumber and the chopped tomato.  If you want, you can omit the toast and add some croutons to the toppings. although authentic gazpacho has bread in the soup.  Because I use ice as part of the water, you can serve this right away, instead of having to chill it for 4 or more hours before serving.


Here's the original recipe, as printed on the card from Campbell's:


Gazpacho (soups / sauces)

2 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cans (10 3/4 ounces each) Campbell's Tomato Soup
3 cups cold water
1/4 cup wine vinegar
2 cups chopped cucumber
1 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
Croutons

In a small saucepan, cook garlic in olive oil; combine in a large bowl with soup, water, and vinegar.  Chill for 4 hours.  Serve in chilled bowls.  Pass chilled vegetables and croutons for garnish.  Makes about 6 1/2 cups.

Blender Version:  Cook garlic as above.  Combine in electric blender with 1 can soup, 1 cup water, 1/4 cup cucumber, 1/4 cup green pepper, 2 tablespoons onion, and 2 slices toast.  Blend until smooth; combine in a large bowl with remaining soup, water, and vinegar.  Chill as above.  Garnish with remaining vegetables.

TESTED RECIPE / HOME ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT / CAMPBELL SOUP COMPANY

An Instant Pot Experiment - Yogurt!

I have an 8-quart Instant Pot Duo, which has a yogurt making program, and lots of people say it's a great way to make homemade yogurt.  I remember back in the Dark Ages (the early 1980s!) having a "yogurt making kit," which consisted of 6 little containers that looked just like the little containers for commercial yogurt sold at the grocery store (they were for putting the yogurt into after it was made - duh!) and a larger (1-quart) container that again looked just like the large commercial yogurt containers in the store.  The difference was, of course, no label AND the containers were even more cheaply made than the ones that commercial yogurt was sold in - really thin plastic.  Plus, the large container had a color-changing "thermometer" stuck on one side, reminiscent of the old strip fever thermometers you held on your forehead for a minute to get your temperature instead of sticking a mercury thermometer under your tongue for five minutes - ooooooh! - high-tech!!!

I actually used that cheapo kit to make yogurt for several years!  The problem with it was it wasn't very sturdy, you had to watch the milk boil, and it was difficult to keep it at the correct temperature so the yogurt could form.

Needless to say, it didn't hold up, so got pitched long ago, and I just started buying yogurt again.

Then along came the Instant Pot and all the reviews about how great the yogurt-making function was.  Well.  I just had to give it a try!  The whole process took me about 19 hours, counting the minimum refrigeration time (1 hour to boil, 12 hours to ferment, and 6 hours in the fridge).  I used 1% milk that was JUST at its sell-by date.  It may have fermented a little quicker if I'd used newer milk, according to some articles I read later on.  But it was a fun experiment and most of the time the process was hands-off.  I like that!

So here's how you do it!  (This is for the Instant Pot Duo; I don't know how it would work with other electric pressure cookers.)  You will need an instant-read thermometer.


Yogurt in the Instant Pot

2 quarts milk (you can actually use 1 gallon, and use the same amount of starter)

2 T starter (this isn't anything special, just PLAIN yogurt made with milk and active cultures - I used Fage Greek yogurt from the store but some people order starter online)

Put the milk into the Instant Pot insert, put the insert into the Instant Pot, and close the lid.  If you use the regular lid, it doesn't matter whether it is sealed or vented.  You can use a glass lid instead if you have one. 

Select the Yogurt program.  Press the Yogurt button repeatedly to select the "More" mode.  After about 10 seconds, the cooker will beep 3 times and the display will say "boiL."

When that step is done, the cooker will beep and the display will say "Yogt."  Check the temperature with a thermometer.  It will probably be around 165 degrees.  You really want it to reach 180 degrees, so turn on the "Saute" function, and periodically whisk it and check the temperature until it reads 180 degrees.  Keep it at 180 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes, then push the "Cancel" button.  If a skin forms on the top of the milk at any time during this entire process, remove it and throw it away.  It won't hurt anything, but if you let it remain, it will make the yogurt's texture a little weird.

Remove the insert and place it in the sink with cold water or on a wire rack to cool.  This shouldn't take long!  Keep whisking and checking the temperature.  You are looking for 115 to 118 degrees.

When you're at the right temperature, take about 1/2 cup of the heated milk and put it in a small bowl.  Add your starter and whisk it together (this is called tempering the starter), then add it back to the rest of the heated milk and whisk to mix well.

Place the insert back into the cooker and close the lid.  Again, the steam release valve can be set for either venting or sealing, or use a glass lid.  Select the "Yogurt" program and adjust to Normal mode.  Press the +/- to set the fermentation time to 8:00 (8 hours).  You may want to check it at 4 hours, just in case it goes crazy and ferments quicker!

When the program is finished, the cooker will beep and the display will say "Yogt."  To check whether it's truly finished, nudge the cooker slightly to see whether the yogurt has set.  DO NOT STIR THE YOGURT AT THIS POINT!!!  It should jiggle slightly as a mass, sort of like soft gelatin.  There will probably be some whey (clear liquid) on top.  If it hasn't set, repeat the previous step, but set the time for 4 hours, and check it every hour. 

When the yogurt is set, press "Cancel," remove the insert, cover it with plastic wrap or the glass lid, and refrigerate it for at least 6 hours before you stir it. At the end of that time, you can put it into a storage container.   I poured the whey off the top first and didn't strain it.  It was creamy and thick.

If you want it thicker, or want Greek yogurt, line a colander or mesh strainer with cheesecloth or a big coffee filter or a couple of layers of flour sack towels and set it over a large bowl.  Spoon the yogurt into the colander and let it drain (covered, in the refrigerator) for up to 6 hours, depending on how thick you want it.

Reserve 1/4 cup of the yogurt or whey as starter for your next batch!

To eat, I added a tablespoon of raspberry preserves to about 3/4 cup of yogurt.  I didn't have any fresh fruit to add, so I made do with that.


AFTERTHOUGHTS:  Next time I make yogurt, I MAY use 2% milk instead.  And fresher milk, too, for sure.  I also MAY strain it for a short time to make it a bit thicker, but other than those two things, I wouldn't change anything.  It really did come out well, and I was impressed by my first attempt.  I had eight 8-ounce cups of homemade yogurt (which typically comes in 6-ounce cups in the store) for around $2.00 total (about $1.00 for the milk, which I had bought in a gallon container, and about $1.00 for a single-serve cup of Fage plain yogurt).  If I had remembered (brain fade!!!) to reserve some of my yogurt to use as starter for my next batch, the cost for that new batch would only be about $1.00, since I wouldn't need to buy anything to use as starter.