2nd Ferment

Imagine: it's 9:00pm at night, the kitchen is clean and the evening is coming to an end. 

But wait, what would be a perfect ending to this night you ask: pureeing mango and starting the second ferment on my kombucha. Obviously. 

It only dawned on me after I began the process just how tedious and messy pureeing a mango is. 

Then came the fun part: gently scooping the Mother and "baby" SCOBY out of the jar. (Los wouldn't touch it so he took the picture instead)

I added about 5 ounces of mango puree and the juice of one lemon to each bottle. I had enough kombucha left over to fill another bottle and just put that one straight into the fridge without any extra fruit or flavoring. The flavored bottles will stay out for a few days to ferment a little more before moving to the fridge and hanging out until I get back. We'll see how this all turns out. I've got to pick up some more black tea to start the next brew; this batch took about 3 weeks to create a solid SCOBY and turn a bit tart. 

I'm headed to California tonight to visit family for the weekend and few days. There will be plenty of cooking, shenanigans (a graduation and a baby shower!) and pictures to follow. 

Tuna and Fennel

The warm weather lends itself to lighter meals and less time in the kitchen. I especially love grilling because I don't have to do any of the work. It's just a matter of getting together the ingredients and letting Los know when dinner is ready to be cooked. I've come to realize how essential marinades are for grilling and I've definitely begun to experiment more with them. I have a few recipes that I use on a regular basis, but I am always looking for new combinations. 

These are two of the tried and true recipes. Los is not a huge fan of fish, but he loved the tuna steaks from first bite. The fennel salad was the same way, it is one of his absolute favorite side dishes (and he can make it all by himself!). 

Marinating

Fennel Salad

Vegetable Kebabs

Tuna Steaks

Tuna Steaks

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon dried oregano, divided

1 teaspoon dried thyme, divided

Salt

Black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

4 tuna steaks (about 3/4 inch thick)

4 lemon wedges

Directions:

1. Season one side of the steaks with half of the herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil. 

2. Turn steaks over and season second side of steaks with remaining herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil.

3. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. 

4. Grill or pan sear tuna until desired temperature. 

Fennel Salad

Ingredients:

1 to 2 fennel bulbs

Olive oil

1 to 2 Lemons

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

1. Clean and halve fennel bulbs; slice or mandolin fennel to desired thickness.

2. Drizzle with olive oil until the fennel is coated and then juice lemons to cover. 

3. Season with salt and pepper, mix and let marinate for at least 30 minutes. 

Art Walk

I had coffee for the first time in 4 months on Sunday. It was heavenly. I gave it up with every intention of doing away with all caffeine. Slowly but surely, it started making it's way back into my regular routine in the form of tea. First it was white and green tea, then Chai and black. Instead of drinking water throughout my day, I found myself making tea instead. I don't think it was something that I thought about doing, it just sort of happened. Any who, long story short I figured it was better to return to my one cup of coffee in the morning with breakfast and then actually drink water during the day. We'll see how it goes.

We went to Art Walk in Ballard on Saturday. One of the artists, who is also part of the Chamber of Commerce, asked me if I was taking pictures for any special reason. I let her know that I has been to the event previously with my point and shoot camera and wanted to get some better shots of the artists and their work for my own use. She passed along her card and said they are always looking for photos of the event. I think it would be totally rad to have photos up on the Ballard website. We'll see! In the meantime, I'll post some here. 

Mount Vernon

We made our way up North to Mount Vernon yesterday. Our first stop was the Skagit Valley Co-op for some charcuterie and then we headed over to Edgewater Park to enjoy our spoils. 

Lunch

 Vitamin D

We saw an amazing global public art project while we were walking downtown: http://beforeidie.cc/. It was inspiring to read everyone's contributions and think about I want to accomplish.

Collection

Contributing

"Personally help 1,000 kids live better lives"

We explored the antique stores in downtown before heading home to go to the Ballard Art Walk. 

Toys

Blocks

Washington

Milkshake

Dinosaurs

Cards Against Humanity

Have you ever played Cards Against Humanity? If not, I feel obligated to warn you that it is not for the faint of heart. Think offensive Apples to Apples, really offensive. After playing yesterday, I decided that I must own this game. It was a great way to start the weekend.

Grillin'

 Sunset

Los finally got his French Toast this morning for breakfast and it was delicious. 

The day is young and I have no idea what we're doing today. Bring it on Saturday.

Ballard Farmer's Market

I started my first batch of home brew kombucha (KT if you're a cool kid) on June 21st, it's been 2 and a half weeks and it is slowly making progress. I'm not really sure what I expected, but I feel like it is taking FOREVER to get sour enough to begin the second ferment. I'm hoping that by this Sunday it is at the point where I can add the juice and at least have it bottled before I leave for California. Mango is the first flavor I'm going to try, then it's onto ginger. Check out Gold Finch if you're interested in making some 'bucha at home. They are based in Seattle and I found one of their kits at Whole Foods. 

This week is Teacher appreciation week at my school and I decided to bake cookies tonight for the ladies (and a couple of gentlemen). I fully admit that they were from a box, but I did use good butter. I will also fully admit that I love the smell of cookies baking in the house; while I do enjoy me a good gluten-free baked good they definitely do not smell the same. I felt obligated to give Los one of the broken cookies, hopefully it will make-up for the fact that there is pureed liver in the burgers he is cooking for dinner tonight. 

Chocolate chip

Sugar

It's been crazy hot in Seattle since Sunday. Please note that I am not complaining, I am so excited to have the sun and warm weather. I only wish that I had been able to make it through the whole Body Pump class at the gym last night. It was too hot in the room and I couldn't stand it after 30 minutes, I shouldn't be dripping sweat from lifting weights. At least I went for part of it, that's better than nothing right? It has started to cool down and it feels more like Spring. On Sunday we rode our bikes around again in Ballard and went to a new spot, Ballard Annex. Their oysters were good and their sangria was even better (which was the inspiration for the homemade sangria we had with dinner).

Ballard Annex

Palm Room I

Palm Room II

Makings for Sangria

First grilled dinner of the season!