Ground Meat

We haven't boughten ground beef in about a year. We do get ground buffalo on occasion but because buff is handled and processed differently from beef (or so I've been led to understand) buff is considerably safer in its ground form. Ground beef, on the other hand, is a scary amalgamation of bits and pieces from many different animals, frequently including parts of the spinal column, where mad cow disease lurks. About this time last year, Ranger Daddy came home and made me promise we wouldn't buy anymore ground beef because overnight at work he'd heard a program about what is in ground beef. He's had a few restaurant burgers since then and the occasional bison burger but he really hasn't had his beloved burgers in a year. Until yesterday. Yesterday, we did what foodies all over the country have already done: We bought a meat grinder. Now in our case, we didn't buy an overpriced brand new one because the design of hand cranked meat grinders is virtually unchanged from a hundred years ago. We bought a 1890's model from an antique shop for $10. :=D Unlike some we've seen, this one is completely rust free and the mechanism works perfectly. We know because we tested it out on a couple pounds of just purchased beef shoulder after Yeled went to bed last night. I have freshly ground, burger shapes in the freezer now. You know, fresh ground meat somehow smells better than its pre-packaged counterparts.

Museli

Yes, I know this stuff has a bad rap but keep in mind, enterprising business people have tried to to take a cheap, simple breakfast and double its price by putting it in a box. I am convinced granola and museli are two breakfast cereals that can only be properly made from scratch at home. Otherwise, they take on the taste of cardboard.

In any case, my mix consists of the following:

6 cups rolled oats (old fashioned please, not quick)
2 cups each any or all of the following rolled wheat, barley, rye, or spelt
2 cups dried fruit
1 cup nuts

Put it all in a big jar and shake it up.

To serve, start the night before. For each adult, soak 1/2 cup of the dry mix in 1 cup of water. In the morning, spoon into bowls and top with fresh fruit and/or veggies. (The program I saw this on suggested topping with apples and carrots.)

For 12 cups worth of dry mix, I spent all of $8 and this jar will feed the two adults and one baby in this house at least 12 breakfasts. A half cup of soaked grains is a really big serving so I may cut down the serving size a bit and add some toast or an egg on the side.

Cold Begone

If you wake up feeling a cold coming on, scratchy throat etc, drink one of the following remedies as soon as possible.  Make it again the following day, if you continue to feel "beginning of a cold" symptoms.  But you probably won't need to.

Citrus Blast

Equal parts citrus juice (we use lemon in this house, a friend uses OJ, the point is straight up citrus juice, the fresher the better) and honey, with 1/4 to 1 teaspoon ground ginger, according to taste.  You can also use a few slices of fresh ginger if you prefer.  Put the juice, honey, and ginger in a mug and top off with the hottest water you can stand.  I've kept two colds from going nuclear this winter and successfully avoided getting Yeled's cold over the past couple days with this drink.  Also got Yeled's cold to heal up faster by getting just the slightest amount into him yesterday afternoon.

Garlic Tea

 I haven't tried this one yet but it sounds promising.  Like the citrus drink, make it as soon as possible after feeling the first symptoms of a cold.  You're far less likely to need this one more than one morning but if people in your house are already sick, drink it several days in a row to prevent yourself from getting it.

Smash 3 or 4 small garlic cloves, peel, and put in a mug.  Add lemon and honey to taste.  Top off with the hottest water you can stand.  Drink the water, then chew and eat the garlic.  I'm told that by the time you get to the bottom of the mug, the garlic has partially cooked and has the mellower taste of cooked garlic instead of the sharp raw taste.  With honey involved, I'm not sure you can go wrong!

Salt Gargle

If you lack the ingredients to put together either of the above drinks (last two colds I had, would you believe I didn't have garlic in the house?????) there is always the tried and true saltwater gargle:  Gargle the hottest, saltiest water you can stand several times over the course of the first day you feel symptoms.  I've never used this one, mainly because I always gag instead of gargle, but numerous friends swear by it.

New Manufacturing Regulations

I am, as you're probably well aware by now, a huge proponent of shopping used.  Thrift stores, junk shops, pawn shops, and garage sales:  If they have what I want, I'm buying it.  Over the past few years, we've suffered through a scary number of issues dealing with lead and other dangerous chemicals being found in children's toys and clothing, most of those incidents dealing with toys/clothing manufactured overseas.  This past fall, Congress did something about it, though without consulting manufacturing industry experts and without the hearings and testimony that normally accompany sweeping changes in policy.  I call it "see, we're doing something," without taking the time to make that "something" practical and effective.

The resulting new regulations, which are scheduled to go into effect on 1 February 2009 are broad, vague, and outrageously expensive.  They require rigorous testing of ANYTHING that a child 12 years or younger might come in contact with.  They also dramatically reduce the tolerance of lead in these items.   The current allowable standard for lead is 600 ppm.  Come 1 February, the new standard will be *90* ppm.  This, in and of itself is a good thing.  There is a lot of lead floating around and lead does cause developmental delays in young children.  Reducing their exposure is an excellent public health strategy.  

However, the new regulations are *not* retroactive at this time.  This means anything made prior to 1 February 2009 cannot be sold legally because it hasn't undergone the new test procedures.  Further, they apply to items manufactured overseas AND domestically, at all levels of production, from work at home moms to huge corporations.  

The new regulations require testing of absolutely anything a child 12 and younger might come in contact with.  This includes obvious items like children's clothing and toys.  But it also includes buttons, snaps, and zippers.  It includes things like pianos.

Third, the new regulations do not allow for third party testing; defined in the following way.  A sewing factory cannot take the manufacturer of purchased fabric at their word that the fabric tests within the allowable limits.  The sewing factory has to test the fabric themselves.  They also have to test all notions (snaps, buttons, zippers, interfacing, elastic, bows, lace, etc) themselves.  I suspect this is out of fear that at each stop along the way, a manufactured item could pick up lead from the environment.

Finally, the testing required by these new regulations is insanely expensive.  An example I came across last night is that it costs a clothing manufacturer $30,000 to test lead in ten pieces of clothing in three different colors (30 pieces all together).  And that's just for lead.  The other chemicals that have to be tested for are 3 times as expensive!

these regs affect me on a somewhat personal level.  My parents run two businesses.  The Strip Shop, which does furniture refinishing and barely runs in the black and Neff's Piano Shop, which sells a full range of pianos from low costs used pianos to high end imports and keeps them in business.  If these new regulations actually go into, and stay in, effect, my parents will have to test every piano they buy direct from the factory and they will no longer be able to sell used pianos because the used ones were not manufactured with the new tolerances in mind.  The expense of testing alone will probably put the shop out of business.  Even if they can afford that testing, they'll lose a large percentage of their market because not everyone can afford the expensive pianos they showcase in the front window.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say the new regulations were brought in precisely to force people to buy from large corporations instead of bypassing the system to buy at garage sales (illegal if one wishes to stringently enforce the code), through WAHM's (how many WAHM's can afford the testing?), and thrift shops (selling clothes and toys made before the new regs went into effect, oh my!).  Since the corporations directly or indirectly support both major political parties, it would be in the best interest of the government to boost the profit of these corporations to ensure that the parties get further monetary support.

Please please please contact your representatives in office and explain to them why these regs are a very bad idea!

Steamer

A steamer, in coffeehouse parlance, is basically hot milk with or without flavoring added to it.  A steamer generally requires the use of a steam wand, which is attached to an espresso machine.  Now an inexpensive espresso machine can be had for under fifty bucks and will make you coffee, espresso, all manner of coffee drinks, and steamers.  But maybe you don't like coffee, already own a coffee machine and are unwilling to buy a new one, or you just don't want to buy any appliances right now.  I understand.  I've devoted great thought to the following recipe, meaning I thought it up on the fly one night and it worked and now I'm all proud of myself.

Heat up some water.  You don't want it to boil but you do want little bubbles forming along the sides and bottom.  Put dry milk powder in a mug.  You need 3 tablespoons of powder for 1 cup of water so adjust accordingly to the size of your mug.  Add any flavoring you desire.  The coffeehouse standard is 1 oz (2 Tablespoons) flavoring for 12 ounces of liquid.  I find this too sweet and generally use about 1 Tablespoon flavoring for 12 oz mugs.  My favorite flavoring is honey.  Molasses and sorghum syrup are yummy also.  If you use homemade syrup or coffeehouse syrups (Torani et al) make sure the flavoring goes in BEFORE the hot water.  Many of these syrups curdle if added after the liquid.  Okay, you've got powdered milk and flavoring in your mug.  Now add the hot water, stir and enjoy.  If you've had a coffeehouse steamer, you'll be amazed at the similarity to the real thing.  If you've never had, you're getting something as good or better for pennies on the dollar.

Bonus Tip of the week:  If you drink milk, big tins of powder can be infinitely cheaper than liquid milk.  However, it depends on what you buy, what your family likes, and where you shop.  Here in the US, about the only option available is skim dry milk, packaged by the name brands as well as generics.  Problem is, skim milk is not suitable for young children, which Yeled is.  But, go to a decent sized Hispanic grocery store and you will find NIDO (a Nestle subsidiary if you care about the on going Nestle boycott) and the interesting thing about Nido is that it is dry WHOLE milk.  At Rancho Liborio, the giant (reusable*****) tin costs $12.99 and makes 14 quarts.  Three and a half gallons of liquid whole milk cost around $16 so I'm easily saving three bucks.  Mixed up, it tastes just like liquid whole milk and doesn't have that dreadful reconsituited milk taste you get with the skim version.

Double Bonus Tip:  Cook with your milk instead of drinking it.  Milk goes MUCH further cooked into food than it does chugged down by the glass.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Since late fall, I've been collecting seed catalogues, with plans to grow a balcony vegetable bonanza this upcoming summer.  I just got my latest catalogue this week and I literally cannot put it down.  I've put in my order but I still flip through the thing at least twice a day.

This is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  It's an *incredible* catalogue.  They have heirloom varieties from all over the world, and I mean that in the most literal sense of the phrase.  They have varieties that aren't even being grown in their native countries any more!  And even if heirloom, rare garden species aren't your thing, this catalogue is well worth getting (it's free) for the photographs alone.  The owner of Baker Creek is also a stunningly competent amateur photographer and his work is liberally sprinkled throughout the pages.

I don't agree with their politics but I'm also not a huge fan of modern hybrid garden seed.  I'm very thankful for companies like Baker Creek who are keeping non hybrid seed in circulation.

Bay Rum Procedure

Bay Rum is, of course, *the* classic men's after shave.  It's one of very few that Ranger Daddy likes and now I know how to make it.  Yay!  I have never been so excited to go to a liqueur store and buy cheap spirit.  Here's how it works.

1)  Buy a big bag of bay leaves.  Hint:  Asian food stores sell big bags of these for small bucks.

2)  Break up the leaves and put them in a jar that has a tight lid.  Add any other aromatics you like.  Whole vanilla bean and citrus rind are excellent choices.

3)  Pour enough cheap dark rum into the jar to cover all the stuff.  Screw on the lid and put in a cool dark spot for thirty days.  Mark the date on the calendar and DO NOT TOUCH until the appointed day.

5)  Spend the next month looking for fancy pretty bottles (best are ones with narrow necks) to pour your finished product into.

6)  On the appointed day, pour the rum through a strainer and into a second jar (or through strainer, into a funnel, and into fancy bottles).  Discard the aromatics.  Seal the bottles tightly and place strategically where you'll remember (or your husband will) to use after shaving.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm