Friday, September 28, 2012

Onion snack

We love vinegar. Vinegar is so good for you. I grew up eating vinegar carrots, cucumbers, onions, cabbage, lol you name it! I love all sorts of vinegar, red, balsamic, apple cider, white, etc... This week, while I walked by these pearl onions at Sprouts Farmers Market, my mouth watered for those awesome vinegar onions we used to eat, so I bought these and just put them in white vinegar, water, salt, sugar, pepper. The most horrendous part is the peeling. It didn't make me tear up but my fingers were frustrated. I think I have to wait 2 weeks. but... YUM!!!!!! 





I think he saw and smelled the vinegar.... yes my husband went and got the vinegar cucumbers while I was making vinegar onions. lol my family loves this one. I put cucumbers, onions and garlic. What kinds of weird homemade snacks do you like to make?? Share your recipes with me!


Monday, September 24, 2012

Wreath Making

So.... I am not so much into decor either. But since I want my kids to "DIY", we are making a wreath together. We took a trip to Hobby Lobby and spent less than 20 dollars on a letter, wreath, leaves, and 3 fall decors (acorns, pine cones, flowers, corns, etc). It took less than 10 minutes to do this. Not bad, eh? Kids were happy, now we have something to hang outside our house! ;)



Thursday, September 20, 2012

Growing Bacteria - Challenge #1

SURPRISE!!!! I am not a natural homemaker like many other women. I am an awkward musician/photographer! These posts on "Domestic Affairs for Dummies" will focus on monthly experiments for myself, and for all those women out there, who are also challenged in the homemaking business.

This month, for fun, I will be growing a sourdough starter. The Koo family loves sourdough bread. I used to have this starter my friend gave me but I somehow killed it. So, this time, I'm gonna grow it. Ha! :)

I found this recipe on a website and I am going to follow each day to the T. I hope you will join me! I will come back and post on how mine is growing each day. Let me know how yours turns out. :D

Here's the sourdough starter website:

DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

DAY 4

DAY 5

DAY 6 n 7

HAVE FUN!

Jo Jo

My Day 1 - Sept 21 PM

Told you I'd be back! Here is my little photo-biography taken in my Domestic Affairs Cubicle (kitchen) from tonight:

Got all my stuff ready: 6 pint jar, cheesecloth, whole wheat flour, rubber band, water

Put 2 cups of flour in the jar

Stirred in approximately 3 cups of filtered water and mixed till consistency is soupy

Put cheesecloth on the top and rubber band at the mouth

THE END! :-) Easy Schmeasy. Not too bad.

My Day 2 - Sept 23 AM
 I forgot to take a picture of my separated mixture but here's the jar after I poured out the liquid

I put the stuff in a clean jar

Added a cup of flour

Added a cup of cold water (the website said cold so I actually got fridge water)

Stirred it in

Replace the cheesecloth and put it in a warm place!

THAT'S IT! Piece a cake! Only difference I see in mine and on the website is mine has already filled half the jar. Hers looked like just 1/3 of the jar. We'll see what happens! 

MY DAY 3 - Sept 24 AM

Can't believe it's day 3 already!! We are half way done. 

I poured out the abscess and poured the good stuff in a new jar.

Stirred in 1 cup flour and 1 cup cold water.

I replaced the cheesecloth and put it right next to my Scoby/Kombucha. :)

I CAN'T WAIT to bake with my very own sourdough!!! By the way, I already picked out next month's challenge. We are going to be making Balsamic Vinegar Pearls!!! Watch this video. 

My Day 4 - Sept 25 AM 


Seriously, I did the same thing today again. Only thing I did differently is I put my sourdough in a much warmer place. We'll see if it makes a difference! 

Did you check out the Balsamic Vinegar Pearls we are going to make next month?? Video is at the end of Day 3. Who's with me? :-)

My Day 5- Sept 26 AM

Look at my bubbles!! yay!

looks a bit frothy. i did not pour this stuff out. i just mixed it in. I also switched my sourdough to a bowl.

it smells sweetly sour today. i mixed in my 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup water today. the website says that if you want your sourdough sour, make it soupy, if you don't, then make it thick.

cheesecloth on top. VOILA! 

END DAY 5!!! 3 days before I can make sourdough bread and other yummy food!!!!

My Day 6, 7 - Sept 27, 28 AM

I had family coming in town so I did not have time to do pics. all I did was repeat the process! It smells so good. The website says it starts to smell bad like vomit. Mine does NOT smell like that. It smells sweetly sour. :) I think I am going to continue feeding my starter until I feel it's ready for cooking. I have read some articles that says to let sourdough sit for at least 2 weeks before using it. So... maybe I will play it by ear.

My Day 8 - Sept 29 AM

This is my bubbly sourdough!!! For the past week, it has always smelled sweetly sour. This morning when I took a whiff, I was gonna puke!!! It FINALLY smells like what it's supposed to!!! Like VOMIT! hahaha

I repeated the same step but 1.5 cups of water to it cuz I wanted it to be a little more soupy. I can't wait to make bread and pizza dough and all sorts of stuff!!!! :) YAY!