Lodge Cast Iron again....

I will freely admit that cast iron takes a while to get used to.  When you hit your cast iron groove you wonder how you ever lived without it.  I had to learn like everyone else, from other people, how to take care of cast iron to make it into a life long cooking tool and an heirloom to be passed down.  Cast iron has become more mainstream with recent magazine publications, books, prepper/survivalist blogs and forums, etc.  I am not an expert, but I am at least helpful.  I am in awe of chuck wagons, campers and dutch oven enthusiasts everywhere and to see what they cook and how they enjoy cast iron, makes my heart sing.  So, I was sad to see that Turtle over on Ramblings on Cast Iron took yet another hit from Lodge.   Her post from the latest ban is here  and my addition is here, continued in comments.  To save time, Turtle suggested to someone looking for the value of their pans to go to the WAGS forum.  The WAGS forum caters to collectors of old cast iron, mainly Wagner and Griswold but you will find it all on there.  It helps feed my addiction.  I suggest you read her post because it's a little more in depth or go to the past post I listed and read comments.. but I will tell you this, I would not suggest olive oil to season cast iron, any cast iron, I don't care what brand it is.  Best thing for seasoning cast iron?  Bacon grease or lard.  It's my "opinion" and I stand by it.  Now with cast iron becoming more mainstream there are different dietary habits involved.  Vegetarian?  Vegan?  Vegetable shortening. 
Some people know their stuff and are willing to share their knowledge, and reactions from a reputable company who makes cast iron in the U.S. akin to a high school spat is not very encouraging.

April Showers brings a New Sewer Line?

The coast, like the rest of the country is having some very cool weather.  I am not complaining because soon enough it will be hot.  I know it's been a while, this is the time of year where schools are not only cramming in what they can for the end of the year but are already starting on next year.  I think "Parent Meeting"  is code for bring your check book. 

The evil F's, flood insurance and furlough.  Flood insurance has thankfully stayed the same.  Furlough remains to be seen. 

So the new big expense will be for a sewer line.  It seems the old cast iron pipes gave up the ghost.  It is only on the kitchen side of the house.  That is the good news, the bad news is that we have to reroute the pipe.  We are lucky that we can tie into our main line through the drive way and not down the middle of the house.  They came yesterday to cut the slab and even though everything had plastic around it, it is still a big mess.  Hopefully they will finish today. 
The weather has been so nice I have been outside a lot, unfortunately I have not worked on my rug.
My container garden is up and going, I have some peppers, slow bolt lettuce, spinach and tomatoes.  The mockingbirds have been busy.

 

Lynching Party for the Groundhog?

I've been seeing wanted posters for Punxsutawney Phil all over.  My oldest son simply stated "That is what you get for listening to a groundhog".  We had a freeze last week and since it is raining today, it's a little nippy out. 
Last week I decided to tackle this meatloaf sandwich recipe from King Arthur Flour.  Everyone liked it and it does make a lot.   Here is proof that I pulled it off, lol.

Homemade potato chips and salad rounded this off.

I have also been working on my peg loom rug and it is nearly finished.  This is variegated cotton yard and I am on my second cone.  I could have had this completed months ago had I been more diligent but it's coming along nicely.  Next one will be made with sheets, a thicker material will make a project like this fly by.  Soon there will be a picture of the completed rug.

A tip, if you tend to wrap your pegs tight, only weave half way up the pegs before you remove them to push your work down.  It's getting there!

Spring is trying to happen, this picture is of a begonia that resides in my greenhouse.  A finch has made a nest in there.

 

The Other Big F

The first one is Furlough.  Even though the senate passed a democratic version of the budget, congress is having a cooling off period before it tackles both plans.  So, it is full steam ahead for the furloughs to start the end of next month. 

I think I finally exhaled after holding my breath for a couple of months over the second big F.  Flood Insurance.  It isn't cheap.  Families along the coast have been getting a nasty surprise, instead of flood insurance going up into the hundreds, it has been going up into the thousands.  Two families in our neighborhood so far have been hit with an $8,000 increase in flood insurance.  You would think it was beach front property.  I spoke with another neighbor who said that you had to be a certain elevation for an increase and thankfully we are at that elevation and have a recent certificate to verify this.  It's all apart of life in the flood zone, I know, but WOW. 

I have working on my peg loom rug and building up on food storage.  I am hoping that Spring will come to stay soon because we might freeze tonight.  Another bright side, the hummingbirds are here!

I've Been Nominated

D.Marie from Lessons on the Cheap, has nominated me for a Leibster Award. 

If I don't get this done now, I'm going to forget so.... if I tag you this is what to do if you want to:

1.  Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.

2.  Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions to ask your nominees.

3.  Choose 11 bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.

4.  Go back to their page and tell them about the award.

5.  No tag backs.  Which means don't send it back to me.


Questions from D.Marie :

1. In 5 words or less why do you blog?     I meet amazing people.
2. Are you a spend-thrift or a cheapskate?  Cheapskate about most things.
3. I follow your blog, do you follow mine?  Yes, great blog!
4. Most productive time of day to blog?   Morning
5. Do you want to have a big money making blog one day?  Haven't thought about it.
6. What is your favorite comfort food?  Onion soup.
7. Do you have a piggy bank?  Same smiley faced bank I had as a child.
8. Do you have a garden?  Yes, not as large as I would like.
9. Are you one of those preppers??????  Yes ma'am, proud of it.
10. How cheap are you?  I don't reuse toilet paper.
11. What color are your eyes?   Brown eyed girl here.

My random facts:

1. I am a researcher (procrastinator)
2. I love to read
3. I don't sew as much as I should
4. I live for yarn
5. I would like to grow more vegetables.
6. I am plain
7. The kitchen is the center of my home.
8. My biggest fashion statement is an apron.
9. I love my family
10. I consider close friends my family

Okay, my questions for those I tagged are pretty simple:

1. How long do you wait before purchasing non-essential items?

2.  Why are you cheap?

3. Processed, from scratch or both when you cook?

4. Manufactured or homemade (non-food)?

5. How handy/creative are you?  1-10 scale.

6. Books or movies?

7. Why blog?

8. Dogs or cats?

9. Do you use Google to spell check?

10.  Cast iron cookware, yes or no?

11. What did you want to be when you grew up?


Here is who I am nominating:

Digging Out From Our Mess
Big Food, Big Garden, Big Life
Living Rich on the Cheap
Tales From The Scratching Post
Surviving the Suburbs
Slay the Monster
Canarella
Framboise Manor
Dehydrating Way Beyond Jerky
Ramblings on Cast Iron
The Cranberry Chronicle Continues

O.k.  I did discriminate,  I did not include any of the gentlemen that I read or who read me.   I hope they are relieved and if not, c'mon guys were you really going to do this? 

Thanks for the nomination it was fun!















 

Bread and Bitten by the Knife Bug

It has been busy here, this past weekend we had a boy scout camp out and a pizza making party for the now 15 year old.  I rolled out 24 pizzas for 15 teens.  They loved the pizza oven and want to know when the next party is.  


I have a new bread staple in the fridge along with my starter.  This bread recipe is courtesy of October Farm under her post It Snowed.   Make a batch of this, put it in the fridge, pull off a pound at a time, let rise and you are good to go.  Quite possibly the best loaf of french bread I have baked.  Here is a picture.

The only request I have by my family about this bread is that I make two instead of one!

Then came Ciabatta Rolls from King Arthur Flour turned out well, sorry no picture.  The dough has a mild sour taste and after my children got over the weird looking flat roll, inhaled them.   I will try to remember to take a picture when I make them again.

Also from King Arthur Flour, I made Caraway Rye Bread.  It tastes great, though I did not get the rise I would have liked, it is not going to waste.

I have also been working on my peg loom rug, I would have like to have made more progress but haven't had time so I am putting off pictures for a couple of days.  I have a new toy related to this also.

My husband bought me a new pocket knife.  He said that is what he gets for looking a magazines in the dentist office.  He bought himself one also and I am at fault for this lol.  I was over at the American Grouch blog, (great post on Inherent Rights), and was browsing some of his links last week.  I went to ML Knives Blog.  Wow! He has a website also and this is where DH comes in and is looking over my shoulder.  He asked if I planned on skinning a deer, I just responded that there were all kinds of knives on there.  He thought about it for a second and said I don't use my knife nearly enough.  He is right, I don't.  Enter in the new pocket knife. 

Opinel Carbon Blade No8,  when open it has a ring that slides around to keep the blade open and closed.  The problem with my ring is that it is too tight to turn.  DH will fix it, his is fine.  Now when I pause, when I am working on something, he passes by reminding me to use my knife.  I am hoping that once it becomes second nature he won't look surprised when I am on a site like ML Knives.  Either way, it is a purchase that won't be made in the near future unfortunately.

On to politics, the Bonehead of the Week award goes to Colorado Senator Evie Hudak for holding women in the status of victim.  You can read about it at the Denver Post.                                                    

 

This, That, Prepping and the F word

It's been a little while.   The yard sale was a success for all those involved.  It is amazing to me what people buy.  I also had a decent sized donation for Goodwill.
Over the last two years I watched two different shows on prepping, one was a family learning how to make and do things, interesting vs. another show that revolves around a company building shelters.  The first show I don't think is on any more and I only watched one of the second show.  One thing that surprised me, is the exposure of the people prepping were willing to endure.  It's one thing to blog but this to me would be invasive.  I would take it as a security risk.   Also my children know how to do things but it is not pushed as a SHTF scenario.  It has been my experience that the more you push in one direction with children they beat feet in the other direction.  I try to let them come to things as they need to unless circumstances prevent it.  Some of the time it takes a person outside the family to influence them.  When my oldest was growing up he often stated that our house was like a grocery store.  I would just smile and people assumed I just shopped a lot.  Now, at a whole 24 years old, I receive a phone call,  "Mom, how much water should I have stored, and do you have a shot gun recommendation".   Not my average mom phone call.   My son works for someone who is of the preparedness mindset.   A bunch of questions followed by the ultimate question, how do you know all this?  That was explained also and I have a new admirer in my son's boss and possibly my son.  I gave him the don't panic speech and start slowly but the reality is, where he lives he will have to bug out.  Small doses, he will get there.  
I have been working on my rug on the peg loom, it is nearing the point where it is more than half way finished.   I will post a picture soon so you can get a better idea of what comes off the loom.
Now for the F word.  Not the F word but it might as well be.  Furlough. We will be hit by it possibly starting in April.  There have been many scenarios  floating about what will happen since November of last year and you would think we are burned out.  The reality is the vein in my forehead that is threatening to burst and cause me a stroke has calmed down a little but the knot my stomach won't untie until next year.  We will be o.k., it's my new mantra, and the alternative could always be worse.   John Boehner said the Senate needs to get off their ass, I couldn't agree more, but from the President all the way down they should all stop being one.