Let Them Eat Cake

Flourless chocolate cake to be exact. A dear friend celebrates a significant birthday this year. To celebrate, I presented her with a flourless chocolate cake. Our dear friend Phoenix has been making quite a few lately. I used his recipe. Wonderfully easy to make. And the product is tastebud poppingly delicious.

What week doesn't deserve a bit of celebration? Wednesday for being Wednesday. Birthday optional, I say. Give yourself a gift and make a flourless chocolate cake.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
12 oz. chocolate (I use the dark chocolate chips from Whole Foods)
1 cup Earth's Balance (butter for dairy eaters)
1 1/2 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 dairy free milk (or regular)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Oil and dust 9" spring form pan.
2. Melt chocolate.
3. Cream butter, add sugar, eggs, melted chocolate, cocoa powder and milk. Transfer batter into prepared pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes. Although in my oven, I bake it for a full hour until the top cracks. Let cool on a cake rack. Break from spring form pan. Dust with powdered sugar. Eat and be happy.

Cork Bandolier

Pirates, or at least pirate weaponry, are hot again at Camp Ramshackle. My youngest son with his art director sensibility decided he would like to make a bandolier. We talked about the project and came up with this idea that made for a fun afternoon project. Plus, he looks pretty wicked and ready for the high seas now. Calico Jack, take note.

Materials:

29 corks

2 toothpicks

tape

2 pieces twine, approximately 48" each

Drill

Steps:
Tape the toothpicks to the end of the twine. This will serve as a sewing needle to attach the corks. We color coded the toothpicks, which helped us assemble the corks without twisting the bandolier.

Drill two holes in each cork about a half inch from the ends. I used a larger drill bit so it would be easy to pass the toothpick needles through the holes.

Sew the corks together using both twines parallel to each other.

To secure the cork in place, loop back into the same hole.

And tighten. Once all your corks are on, size the bandolier to fit your pirate, then tie off the ends.

Return of the Bed Top Bivouac

My youngest son has been lobbying for a bed top bivouac off and on for months. Eric built one for our oldest son long ago. I attempted a rebuild a few months ago, but the sticks I used were not stable enough and the bivouac fell apart after a week or so.

My youngest woke with a singular focus: to rebuild the bivouac. Before the heat settled in, I cut some branches from a small Eucalyptus and removed the secondary branches and leaves.

We moved the posts inside and assembled a new, much sturdier, bed top bivouac.

Graciously received and thoroughly appreciated.

Previously:
Bed Top Bivouac

Another Shiitake Mushroom Harvest

Eric's shiitake log continues to produce beautiful mushrooms. Check out those gills. These tasty spores went into a homemade pho (or a scrumptious interpretation). Ever since trying Happy Pho, I've been obsessed with the Vietnamese noodle, hitting up local restaurants and hoping that Happy Pho is soon distributed in Southern California.

Don't be fooled by the box, Happy Pho is no top ramen. It is the ground work for a really yummy meal. Throw in a few homegrown shiitake mushrooms, spinach, scallions and mint...I might just have to make it twice in one week.

Lemon Preserves

After tasting the most delicious lemon preserves made by Homegrown Neighbor and Full Circle Gardening proprietress Lora Hall, I was inspired to make some with the fruit of our prolific lemon tree. Instead of a sweet spread, the lemon preserves were tangy and salty and fantastically delicious over beans and quinoa.

I plucked a hoard of lemons from our tree and followed Hunter Angler Gardener Cook's recipe. The recipe calls for an enormous amount of salt. Frankly, a horrifying amount a salt. Enough salt to make me think that the results will be unpalatable. I've put them aside to cure until early February. I'm looking forward to trying them when they are ready.

The Important Work at Hand

:detailing cars:

:anchoring boats:

Our Neighborhood Adventure in Pursuit of Figs

Over the weekend, I saw a post on our local freecycle offering pick-your-own figs. I think this is the best offer I've ever seen on freecylce. The owner of the tree, a few miles from our house, said we could come over on Monday.

Baskets in hand, the boys and I marched to our car only to remember the car seats were in Eric's car. We modified our plans and took the Dash bus. The Dash small bus local transit system is the jewel in the crown of Los Angeles' public transportation program. They run every twenty minutes. We're lucky to live a few blocks away from a stop. And the figs growing on our new found freecycle friend's tree were within easy walking distance from a stop.

The boys loved riding without being strapped into a car seat. Our small adventure seemed quite grand to them. We acquired some delicious figs from a small tree.

And made a pit stop at Café de Leche for drinks and cookies.

Then we headed homeward.

At home, I cleaned the figs and embarked on my maiden solo jam making experience (without grandma or my sister). I loosely followed the recipe from www.pickyourown.org. Seven cups of sugar seemed excessive, especially for the very sweet fig, so I only added four cups and about a 1/4 cup of inadvertently added apple juice (I thought I was adding the fresh squeezed lemon juice rather than my youngest son's beverage.) The results are unbelievably delicious. Fig jam is where it's at.

Homemade Sling Shot

The young gentleman on the right of this photo has been making sling shots out of found branches and rubber bands. Eric suggested we ask Mister Jalopy for some used bike inner tubes to craft an industrial strength sling shot. Inner tubes were graciously donated. Sturdy branches were acquired. The pull was cut.


The branch and pull were threaded together.


And the product was tested.

Homemade Beeswax Furniture Polish

Making beeswax furniture polish has been on my list of aspirations for a long time. The idea intimidated me, so I circled it for a year or so. Some methods recommend grating the beeswax, then pouring turpentine over the shavings and placing the mixture in a capped glass container in the sunlight for a few days until the wax softens. Perhaps it was the threat of grated bloody knuckles clutching a very hard puck of beeswax or the wait, but this method did not appeal to me.

I found a more promising method at UK's Honeyshop. The recipe began with a disclaimer accepting "no responsibility for any damage to property or person in any form whatsoever and you follow this recipe entirely at your own risk". Somehow it allayed my fears. Into the gates of hell, rode I.

I melted a puck of our beeswax, removed the double boiler from the stove, then added the turpentine (just a little more than equal the amount of beeswax). I poured the polish into two stainless steel containers. Let it harden & put a lid on it. Easy. No damage to person or property. Beeswax polish aspirations attained.

I've been happily waxing some very dry furniture.

Dark Teff Grain Bread

The dark teff grain bread is another gluten-free bread from the Flying Apron's Gluten-free & Vegan Baking Book. I tried using teff flour to make injera, Ethiopian flatbread, in the past...a complete utter messy failure. This loaf was much better. Even with this teff success, I think I'll return to the Flying Apron Bakery house bread next baking day. But I might even attempt injera again.

The Flying Apron Bakery House Bread

Isn't she a beauty? Not only is this bread good looking, it is delicious. One of my resolutions this year was to make more bread for my family. I figured that was an attainable goal as I made all of three loaves or so last year. I like making resolutions I can keep.

Making bread for the guys has pretty easy. I've been using The Tassajara Bread Book with great success. But I've been wanting for a good gluten-free bread for me.

At the suggestion of a neighbor, I bought a cookbook by Jennifer Katzinger Flying Apron's Gluten-free & Vegan Baking Book. Katzinger opened a Seattle bakery in 2002. Her goal was to provide healthy whole grain foods to customers. Although the Flying Apron did not start out as a completely gluten-free and vegan bakery, it evolved into that over the years.

I have not had the pleasure of visiting the Flying Apron Bakery, but thanks to this cookbook, the house bread and I are friends. The recipe was unfussy (one of my complaints of many gluten-free baked items). And the bread has a rich nutty flavor that isn't overpowering. The texture is moist and surprisingly light. I had to keep myself from eating half the loaf after it came out of the oven. Fortunately, I left a slice to dip into my warm bowl of soup. Such a treat.

Homemade Necklace

My oldest son made this elaborate necklace as a gift for me. Due to it's delicate nature, I thought it best to preserve an image of it in pristine condition.

My pajama pants are my finished project from Machine Project Sewing 102. I made the pattern from an existing pair of pajama pants to make these and used a thrifted bed sheet for material.

First Brew - Ramshackle IPA

Well, it's finally, officially here: the first Ramshackle Home Brew. This weekend marked three weeks (the recommended time you're supposed to wait) since I bottled the beer with our friend Andrew. I've been drinking it for a week and it's been good though I have noticed a slight change for the better over the course of the additional week.

Jeremy from Rancho Garvanza was asking for tasting notes in the comments on that post so here it goes with a caveat: Since Julia's gone gluten free she doesn't drink anything but sorghum beer. We haven't had any other beer drinkers over to taste it with me either so it may just be the blind pride of creation but I think it's good - something like a Lagunitas IPA maybe? Not as hoppy as Stone IPA but still a nice hops finish.

It's just slightly sweeter than I would normally like which may be a result of some of the hops boiling over the edge of the pot when I added them. I want to get another batch going as soon as I can but it looks like it will be at least next weekend before that happens. I think I'll either try another IPA or a Lager (actually probably both) since those are the beers I drink most often but I'd love to try get a Porter something like my favorite Black Butte brewing.

Gallon Jug Explosion

I'm back on the search for a wide-mouth gallon jug after last night's Ball jar explosion. I poured hot water in it (The jar was room temperature. I've done it before.) and it just kept pouring all over the stove and floor. Fortunately, I was able to avoid the hot water. I'm brewing two gallons of kombucha at a time now. The other gallon jar fared just fine (the one that came with the house). The jar that broke was the one recently purchased from Michael's.

I have many good leads on where to find my next kombucha brewing jug thanks to Ramshackle readers. My first quest will be for a gallon jar of pickles. I've got a scoby waiting for a home.

Stock Tank Pool by Waldorf Modern

We are fans of outdoor baths at Camp Ramshackle. Eric and I have talked about making a larger stock tank bath/pool for ourselves. Waldorf Modern has done just that.

Details and more photos at Waldorf Modern.

Link via SouleMama.

Brew Update

Our kombucha brew has expanded to two gallons.  To meet demand at Camp Ramshackle, I suspect one more gallon is in order.  I've had the hardest time finding a basic glass gallon jug in Los Angeles.  The jug on the right is a ramshackle heirloom that came with the house.  The one on the left was bought at Michael's.  But it cost what four basic gallon jugs cost online...without shipping, of course.  If anyone has a tip on where to find glass gallon jugs in LA, please let me know.  I'm thinking it might be a good product for Coco's Variety.

Eric's beer is now in the second fermenter.

Our thirst will soon be quenched.

The Baking Bird on Kombucha

photo by The Baking Bird

I recently discovered the lovely The Baking Bird blog. What's to love? Santa Cruz, Shopper's Corner, food, food and more food, great photographs and kombucha. Kylie shares well researched information on brewing your own kombucha with many helpful links, especially one on balancing your kombucha. I look forward to adding more fizz to my fermented tea.

First Batch of Kombucha

My fondness for G.T.'s Organic Raw Kombucha is an expensive habit. I love the fizzy fermented tea and recently discovered Botanica No. 9. I've read about making your own kombucha, but I was intimidated by the process. After reading Mark Frauenfelder share his kombucha tales, I thought I take a shot.


Eric and I bottled our first batch. And it is surprisingly delicious. I bought the culture from KombuchaAmerica. With the bottling of this first batch, the purchase has paid for itself. Now, I'll enjoy kombucha daily without breaking the bank.

Weekend Sewing Projects

On Sunday, I finished a few projects that had been swimming in my head. The shirt pictured above is for my oldest son. It is an American Apparel shirt with applique patches. I made the patches from recycled t-shirts. The shirt was inspired by one I saw in Mini Boden.


The Mini Boden shirt is called a Tipped Applique T-shirt and it's on sale if you're interested.


I also made sleep pants for both my sons. As we move into hotter weather, I had been looking for some cropped pants or short sets. I looked in some stores, but I realized I should just make them myself. I used recycled/repurposed t-shirts (also used on the bulls eye t-shirt).


I drew some inspiration from this sleep set also at Mini Boden. I don't think I've ever bought anything from the Boden empire, but I get a lot of ideas to include in my own sewing.

Accidental Baking Day

That mountain of egg shells is what inspired the accidental baking day. Somehow in my early morning stupor, I ended up bobbling two dozen eggs. The one in my right hand survived in tact. The rest were salvaged from various degrees of cracked. The slightly damaged were retrieved for scrambled eggs.


Some eggs went to cupcakes. Great gluten-free recipe from GlutenFreeGirl.com.


A quiche for dinner was made early with fresh basil from the garden. The most damaged eggs went to the dogs who happily enlisted themselves for floor clean up.