Storage/Pantries

This is all of the "pantry" space in this apartment. Because of this major lack of storage, the tea and random stuff is stored on top of the fridge,



pickles, extra sauce, sodas (basically if it's sealed) are stored under the sink,



root cellar veggies are stored in a basket also under the sink,



and we have a fruit bowl on the dining room table.



I really, really would prefer proper pantry space, and frankly, I'm not above storing 3 gallon buckets in the closet. I just feel that Mister is NOT a fan of such things. I think I'll start small, with stuff that only I eat. I think that 7-8 of the cardboard canisters of oatmeal will fit in one of those buckets, so I'll get one of those filled, and keep it in my closet (of course, I'm not fully moved in...)

So my plans involving food storage for this winter are: bring my food stores from my old apartment (black eyed peas, lentils, rice), get a 3 months supply of oatmeal (1 bucket), incorporate pickles and applesauce into meals, get more storage for beans.

Baklava

So, on Friday I made baklava as per my plans. As I took pics of some of the processes, let's do a photo recipe!

Ingredients
1 pound phyllo (filo) dough
1 cup butter, melted and made into clarified butter*
1 cup pistachios, plus another 1/4 cup for garnish
2 cups walnuts
1 scant teaspoon cinnamon (okay, I just shook in however much I wanted, but it was around that much)
1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar (I used somewhere in between)
1 tablespoon rose water
1 batch of syrup (recipe follows)

[These are the original ingredients -- I subbed in ghee rather than clarify the butter myself -- why make more work?]

Preheat oven to 350F.



Combine nuts, cinnamon, sugar and rose water in a food processor and pulse until you have a nice, crumbly mixture. Or, alternatively, you could try to chop the nuts in the coffee grinder, and kill the motor, having your fiance continue the nuts by chopping, and then mixing my hand.

Melt the ghee in a small pan, and keep it on low/turn on or off repeatedly.

[There are no pics of the next steps, as my hands were covered with ghee and powder from the phyllo -- but it's pretty simple.]

Brush the bottom of a 13x9 pan generously with the clarified butter, then layer in 16 sheets of phyllo dough, brushing each sheet generously with the butter as you layer along, including the top sheet. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture evenly on top of the phyllo, then repeat the process with the next 8 sheets (don't forget to keep brushing on the butter!). After those 8 sheets have been added, evenly sprinkle the remainder of the nut mixture. Then layer the remaining sheets, brushing with butter in between. Some people like to pour the remaining clarified butter over the top, and some people do not. I like to brush on a little extra. You should do it the way you like to. Cut the baklava (if you wait until it's cooked, it won't go as well), either in diamonds or squares. Put the pastry in the oven.



Start making the syrup.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 small cinnamon stick (1-2" long)
10 cardamom pods
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon orange blossom water
[I added a little less sugar, and a bit of honey.]

Combine all of the above, and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until the sugar melts. Let it continue to cook without stirring for 10-15 minutes, or until it becomes thick and syrupy.



Remove from heat, remove cinnamon and cardamom, then let stand until room temperature.

Bake for about an hour, or until it's nice and golden brown (but not too much so).



As soon as it comes out of the oven, pour the syrup evenly over the baklava and let it hang out overnight at room temperature to soak in. Makes 1 tray.



Verdict? Delicious. A little sweet for me, and I'm not overly a fan of the rose water/orange blossom water, but Mister and his sis were like OM NOM NOM.

Goats!

This is a post that I planned to do about a week ago, and never got around to it as I was a little busy. So Goats!

For some reason, not only have I been seeing goats in a lot of random places, but Mister seems to be half on-board for goats. It's hard to judge, but it's not like he's anti-goat, just doesn't want them right now-ish...?

Anyways. I got an email from my dad (one of those chain emails of course), that had goats in it. Check these pics out!







These pics were taken at the Buffalo Bill Dam, over the Shoshoni River in Cody, WY. Crazy wild goats! I personally love the one on the little ledge in the third pic going "hmm... now how am I getting down from here...?"

Having received such a lovely email, how could I get any more goats? Good question! Turns out, I found a lovely pic of crazy goat antics in a National Geographic at my doctor's office.



Apparently, goats in Morocco love the fruit of argan trees so much that it even makes the wiki page!

Oh crazy, silly goats! How I want thee!

Wtf

This, is a squirrel. We are all familiar with squirrels. With what they do. With what they don't do. This is the story of a squirrel that did what it is not supposed to do.

So I'm walking down the sidewalk, a beautiful fall day (today). The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I'm on the phone with a coworker. As I walk, an acorn falls out of a tree. I start to think to myself 'ha, I love it when that happens', when the acorn is followed by a squirrel.

SPLAT!

The squirrel lands not even three inches from my toes. I shriek OH MY GODS into my phone conversation (amusing, I am sure), and the squirrel skedaddles.

Squirrels are not supposed to fall out of trees.

When I recounted this to Mister, he starts laughing, and comments "That squirrel was going for that nut!" I suppose that is the only way to describe it.

Dulce de Leche

How to Make Dulce de Leche
Also, see below!

Subject: Dulce de leche
Well! I never knew this was a South American candy! When I lived in England 20 yrs ago, I was introduced to a pub desert called "Banoffi Pie" that used the same long-cooked tin of sweetened condensed milk. After boiling for 3 or so hours, then cooled, the tin was opened and the contents were spread into a prepared 9" crumb pie crust. Cover with 2-3 thinly sliced ripe bananas, followed with a topping of whipped double cream (48% BF). Sprinkle with chocolate curls. Yum!

Laundry Day

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thought that today was laundry day. My LL is also doing all of her laundry. And won't be done until about 4:30.

Man, I am feeling so lazy today, knowing that I can't do laundry yet, but not wanting to clean...

Pillow

Since I was thinking on it, I put a pillowcase upon the pillow that I am going to use for Mister's kid sis. I did this ahead of time, because I love the way that I put pillowcases on. I'm not allowed to do it for our bed, as Mister grumbles about how uncomfortable he thinks it is, etc., etc.



Look at that cute, adorable, plump little pillow! You'd never guess that it had a King sized pillow case on it!



Here's where it's all neatly tucked in, and smoothed down. I don't talk about it much, but my first job was as a housekeeper with my best friend. She showed me how to tuck pillowcases like that -- and it really makes a difference, appearance-wise. Because I shake the pillow all the way down, it also plumps it, and tucking the end in keeps that lovely plumpness.

... I am overly proud of this, which is why I wrote this post. :-P