Outside The Box and Working: A Full Service Independent Gas Station

 This is an older, independent filling station. They have a convenience store ("Cheap Smokes, Pop & Snacks"), but that's not the principle draw for their business. It is located on a busy but out-of-the-way road through an older, declining neighborhood in a small town in Oklahoma. Their gas is priced about the same as the other self-serve stations in town. It is 100% gasoline, no ethanol.

The owners, a man and his wife, pump your gas for you when you drive up.  They took my out-of-state check without question.

 

Because they pump the gas, they are VERY fast and my car is filled up & I am on my way "sooner" than if I were doing the work myself.  At 105 degrees, I was able to sit in my cool car while they put the gas in. Last winter, I stayed in the warm vehicle and didn't have to hold that freezing metal nozzle!

An outdated building, an outdated location, an outdated concept.  I am betting they don't have a Facebook page or business Twitter account.

And there is a double line of cars three deep every time I go there. These pictures were taken at different times on different days.

People, THAT is customer service. THAT is figuring out a way to make a living with what you have.

American Free Enterprise is stubbornly alive and well and working hard, despite the best efforts of marketing sophisticates and government bureaucrats.

God bless America, and Americans like these! :-)

Linocuts and Letterpress: Printing Seed Packets and Cottage Food Labels

I've been having fun this year in the print shop, turning out seed packets for saving seeds in.  The Pecan Corner Press is a hobby, and this kind of ephemera is what I usually produce. I use handset type and some fun old cuts.  I've been taking these to the local Farmer's Market since the grasshoppers and deer have eaten all my gardening efforts this year.  The empty ones are great for saving seed and tucking into a get well card or garden club seed exchanges. Some people even said they were going to use them in their little miniature display cabinets.

My Swiss Chard went to seed this year (it is a biennial, and can be harvested as long as it lives - it is never tough or bitter), so I made the linoleum cut and filled these to see how the seed would sell. This is the old variety, Fordhook, and they can be planted in Texas all the way though the fall.

I didn't take a press but I have taken a locked-up chase and it has drawn a lot of interest.  I have a ways to go before I sell enough to pay for my market fees, but this is a good way to support our little market and help it grow.

 
 When September rolls around, I'll be able to offer more items - we all will. Texas passed a Cottage Food Law a couple of years ago that made it possible to open one's home to sell baked goods and jams. It is a common-sense approach that recognizes that if we know the person doing the cooking, we can decide for ourselves whether we want to eat what they have cooked.  The newest version, which takes effect Sept 1st 2013, is pretty exciting, because it expands common sense to foods that are pretty much going to be safe to eat and allows us to take our products to Farmers' Markets and locally sponsored Fairs, as well as sell from home.

 Here's another place where we - Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Tea Party, Occupy... pretty much everybody but the Socialists and Communists - can come together, I think. We all want personal sovereignty over our food!!!!

 So, in anticipation of HB 970 (still awaiting the final rules to define exactly what items we can sell), I have been carving linoleum blocks to use on labels for my homemade jams, jellies, relishes, sauerkraut, syrups and baked goods. The linocuts, combined with Art Deco era typefaces, give the labels a fun old fashioned look. These are the first proofs of a few of them, printed on dry-gummed paper. I will tweek the colors and ink coverage a bit for the final labels.

Kitchen Sink Band Plays Cigar Box Blues At Common Grounds Coffee House

Every once in a wonderful while, the local blues band "Kitchen Sink" plays at a Brownwood Texas coffee shop (Common Grounds Coffee House and Deli) and we always try to go. We are early-to-bed people so these 5-8 shows are a real treat: live music that actually happens while we are awake and alert to enjoy it!

Kitchen Sink adds musicians from time to time (they are looking for a drummer and bass player), but the heart and soul are a Father Daughter Friend trio: Aaron McNeely, Moriah (aka Rye) McNeely, and Noah Pieprzyza.  They cover an upbeat mix of standards ranging from Noah's gravelly-voiced version of Muddy Waters' "Blow Wind Blow" to Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band's "Blue on Black" in a memorable Aaron/Rye duet, along with postmodern gospel like "Even When The Rain Falls" (NeedToBreathe).

This time we also got to hear an original song: in true old bluesman tradition, Noah took us along on one strange fishing trip with the humorous and toe-tapping "Nuclear Chicken". I look forward to more as they increase their exploration of original music and lyrics. 

Band leader Aaron McNeely sets the tone with his good, strong voice ("Ain't Much Left of Me") and solid guitar. He switches instruments even more frequently than Noah changes harmonicas, and plays them all with abandon. Loved the great covers of "Big Yellow Moon" (especially good timing too), "Layla", and interesting "Tulsa Time/I Walk The Line" medley. 

His song choices show off the band's versatility and he gives each artist continual opportunities to shine at their best.

A gifted vocalist with a truly good voice and a strong range, Rye McNeely can belt out a song like nobody's business. When she sings the Elvis-inspired "Black Velvet", she hits notes that give me chills. I love to hear her sing. Her harmonies with dad Aaron are lovely and melodious, and their voices balance each other well.

Plus the camera loves her - her face lights up any picture she is in. You've heard the saying about taking all the air out of a room? Well, Rye draws all the light in the photograph. Look through the band's Facebook page and you will see what I mean. Agents (and modeling agencies) take note.

Noah Pieprzyza (that is pronounced "Pieprzyza") usually hides - expertly - behind a hand-held harmonica or two. Or three.  As they set up to play "Bell Bottom Blues", he commented "There's a reason nobody plays harmonica on Eric Clapton songs..." and he proceeded to juggle two French harps through the key changes as though it's not unusual to play like that every day.

In true washtub tradition, you never know what kinds of instruments these guys are going to drag out of the "magic Mary Poppins Guitar Case" (as Aaron referred to it during set up).  This time, both the ridiculous and the sublime sounded... sublime.

While the new star might have been Noah's beautiful & haunting steel dobro slide guitar (gotta hear that porch swing on "Summertime"), the "novelty act" proved, in capable hands, to hold its own with the best: an eBay seller's homemade electric guitar made out of a wooden cigar box. Aaron about played the strings off of it and it sounded good!

 Kitchen Sink is a local band and that gives lots of heart to their music. Here's a little taste, a cell phone recording from last year.

The tip jar is out there, and they all have genuine talent, but their big edge at this moment in time is that they are alive and real when not much else is. They are singing live, for fun, in venues you can take the kids to.

They are people who have work-a-day jobs and local lives and families that fill up their venues with cousins and babies and old ladies...everyone goes to Kitchen Sink shows.

That's worth a Hallelujah.

Paula Deen, Rush Limbaugh, Shirley Sherrod: Honest Victims of Infantile Management

Paula Deen testified truthfully when under oath. She was asked "have you ever [in your whole life] said [that word]?"

Unlike the US Attorney General, she answered honestly while under oath.

Unlike the head of the IRS, she answered honestly while under oath.

Unlike the woman our President wants to make "National Security Advisor", she answered honestly when asked a direct question.

Unlike the current or recent Secretaries of State, she answered honestly when asked a direct question.

Maybe that is why she is being villified: the left is outraged that a member of their party tells the truth.

A culture that has renounced Christianity is not capable of forgiveness. A culture that has renounced reason in incapable of rational thought. 

I have written before about this disturbing habit of firing people for short term PR news bursts. It is a symptom of an infantile corporate management that allows immature Public Relations groups to run amok.


Instead of building their own legitimate company reputation on old-fashioned principles like giving customers what they pay for, honoring guanrantees, honestly representing the product, working to produce a unique product that can stand on its own, remaining loyal to existing employees and customers and suppliers, treating everyone fairly and equitably no matter who they know..... instead of building a great company themselves, companies like Food Network  are trading on other people's reputations, rubbing elbows and bragging about Who They Party With, but it is all a shell game, and no one can trust them.

The Supreme Court may have ruled that in law, corporations are people, but they are not human.

And they have no souls.

Meaningful work and the chance to use our talents are among the great blessings God has given us in this life.  They are blessings regardless of whether we get famous or rich in doing them. To make a living is a lovely thing. And good, honest, ethical people who put people and honesty and truthfullness above expediency and PR crap.... well those good people will always come out in the end with happy personal lives because no one can control them. They understand that their joy does not come from any corporation.

Never jeopardize your own soul for any "thing" on this earth.

Homemade Sweet Cherry Ice Cream: First Freeze of Summer Fresh Fruit

 I know it isn't quite Summer yet, but it is here since I have made the first batch of homemade ice cream. It is cherry season, at least in those places where they grow cherries. Central Texas doesn't get cold enough and gets too hot for the quaint stone fruit, so this is something we must import from places like.... New Mexico*, which I think of as close enough to be almost local.  Anyway, whereever they come from, fresh cherries are abundant and relatively inexpensive right now.

I found a bargain on some that were past their prime, and had been drastically discounted. For ice cream, we want them cut into quarters rather than halves, plus they need to be fully ripe, so this is a good use for imperfect fruit that has reached full flavor. The necessity of tiny pieces of fully ripe fruit I discovered last year when I made the mistake of using commercially frozen peaches in large chunks. They froze so hard that they were not pleasant to eat.

My recipe is a custard-type. It uses egg yolks and is cooked. This makes a luscious, rich ice cream with just the right amount of body. Mema used flour to thicken hers, but I never liked that, I prefer the smoothness of the eggs. The fact that we can buy yard eggs with golden yolks from our neighbor's happy hens is a bonus.

It takes a little practice to learn how to make a custard. There isn't really any secret, just have to be whisking the eggs really fast while pouring a stream of the hot milk into the eggs to "temper" them, then whisk the hot milk really fast while you pour the tempered egg yolk back into the pot and finish cooking. Until you get the hang of it, pour the whole cooked batch through a strainer when it is cooked. That will remove any "scrambled eggs". Eventually you won't need that step any longer.

*(*THINK FOR YOURSELF TIP O' THE DAY: I won't go into the politics of the northwestern state fruit growers and the unreported twists in a lot of the mess our domestic food and immigration policies are in but it is something worth researching sometime. Hint: you will learn a lot if you read news from about 1995 through 2005 on sites sympathetic to Migrant Labor, Fruit Growers, etc. )

Now without further ado, on with the recipe!
 

Fresh Cherry Ice Cream
Makes about 1 1/2 Quarts

1 1/4 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Whole Milk or Half and Half
5 Egg Yolks (freeze the whites to use for meringue)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Heavy Cream (Whipping Cream)
2 Cups Cherries, pitted and coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 pounds)

Pit and chop the cherries, stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and set aside until the end.

Scald the milk in a 2 quart saucepan ("scald" means heat to steaming but do not boil).

Whisk the egg yolks and 1 cup of sugar in a mixing bowl.  Temper the yolks by pouring about half the hot milk in a thin stream while whisking the egg yolks very fast. I like to use a pyrex measuring cup for this, just dip it out (careful not to burn yourself) and pour. Makes it easier to keep whisking if you don't have someone to help you.  A stand mixer is also a good helper for this task - it can be beating the eggs whilst you pour.

Then pour the tempered egg yolks back into the rest of the milk while whisking the milk. Cook and stir, to prevent boiling, for 3 or 4 minutes until the mixture has thickened some. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temp. It is at this stage that you can strain it if you wish. 

After the custard has cooled, add the heavy cream and the vanilla extract.

Freeze in your ice cream freezer, following manufacturer's directions. Pay special attention to the need for salt in the freezing process - it is the salt that lowers the temperature below that of ice alone to enable freezing.

When the custard is frozen, remove the dasher and fold in the cherries. At this stage, I transfer my ice cream to freezer containers and put them in the chest freezer. If you want to finish the freezing in your ice cream maker, leave the canister set in the ice, remove the lid and the dasher, stir in the cherries then replace the lid securely, fill the whole bucket with more ice and salt, cover with a towel and let it sit for an hour or two until you are ready to serve, adding more ice as necessary.

I used to use a hand-cranked freezer, but last year I bought an electric one - mainly because my little manual one was not large enough. The electric one seems to take longer to freeze, but since I am not powering it that doesn't hurt! :-)

Enjoy!


About the photo:  Fresh Cherry Ice Cream gets pride of place for its picture in my great grandmother's Pink Cherry Blossom Depression Glass. Big Granddaddy gave this set to Big Grandmother for one of their anniversaries, and I inherited it from her.   Isn't that vintage spoon adorable? It says "Betty Lou" on the handle, and is Carlton Silverplate. I have a funny little collection of figural spoons. I'll take pictures and show them here sometime.

A Little Help That Makes Me Happy Every Time I Load The Dishwasher

Here's a little organization tip. A while back, we found a bargain on a huge box of Cascade. I don't remember what size it was, but I think it must have weighed ten pounds. It took both hands to lift it out from under the sink! And I almost needed a counter-weight to pour it!  With that much volume, it would be a long time before the box weighed much less.

Solution? An empty liquid coffee creamer carton. We used a funnel to pour it full and our problem was solved. The one we use is from Coffee Mate Brand, but probably any of them would work.

What is crazy is, we both liked this solution so much that we continue to transfer the dishwasher detergent powder into this bottle regardless of what size box we buy. It is amazing - I can pour the exact amount of powder into the little well. I never waste by pouring too much, and I never spill it.

I never knew that putting soap in the dishwasher was a chore until we found an easier way to do it. Now every time I load the dishwasher, I smile when the last dish is loaded and it is time to pour the soap!

As my little bio over there in the sidebar notes "I am easily amused."  Especially when things are nicely organized. :-)

How to Make Homemade Sauerkraut from Scratch

Sauerkraut, drained, rinsed and ready to eat!

 My family made pickles, but never sauerkraut. We ate it though: a regular weeknight supper at my grandparents' house was "weenies and sauerkraut". Paul's mother, Thelma, made her own kraut when he was a baby. She said when he was toddling around, he would reach into her crocks and get handfuls of kraut to eat! Cabbage in any form is still one of his favorite vegetables. We have sauerkraut fairly often, cooked in lots of different ways or on hot dogs (Hebrew National, thank you!).

 The health benefits of fermented cabbage or cucumbers are huge. But we don't get the same benefits when the pickles are made with vinegar or the kraut has been processed to death and treated with all kinds of "preservatives". The Lactic Acid that turns cabbage into kraut, makes it sour, and prevents it from spoiling once it is fermented, comes from the action of lactobacilli. These little friendly bacteria keep our digestion working properly, help remove toxins from the blood (sauerkraut was an old staple in hospitals that treated alcoholism), and now it looks like sauerkraut can even help prevent cancers. AND fermenting the cabbage bumps up the Vitamin C content tremendously (is there nothing Vitamin C can't do? ;-))!

 

Usually by the time I think of doing things that require time to ferment, it is already the height of summer and too hot for things to "bubble" properly. But one day in April, I took advantage of the very cool Spring we had this year and tried my hand at it.

For this batch, I used a gallon glass jar. Next time, I am going to use one of Big Grandmother's crocks - I am sterilizing it in the dishwasher right now. You could easily use one of the old style "crock pots" without plugging it in. You would still need to use the plate or bag method to weight down the cabbage to keep it under the brine. Be sure to read up on how to use various containers and weights BEFORE you get started. The National Center For Home Food Preservation is a reliable reference for safe canning and preserving methods.

[July 5, 2013 UPDATE: Second batch completed, as easy to make as the first, and we enjoyed some of it yesterday. But I learned I cannot use antique crocks. They have crazing that absorbs the liquid and that would also prevent them from being sterilized. Stick to glass or modern options such as the crock pots mentioned above, or brand new crocks. Thanks to everyone who has stopped in to read this! I hope it has been useful to you :-) ]

I got my recipe from here,  and they also detail the method: it is originally an Extension Service recipe from the University of Georgia. It is the same recipe that is given in many cookbooks and other websites, but I chose this one because it is very simple and the instructions are complete and matter-of-fact. I've added my notes within it, and given the lower portions for making a small batch.

I loved that there is also a recipe for making sauerkraut out of Collard Greens! It is too warm here in Texas for cabbage to do well, but we can grow some collards. Collards are one of those biennial vegetables that you can keep alive all through the year, making it possible to have fresh home-grown veg even in the dark of winter.  The Collard Sauerkraut Recipe is just below the one for cabbage. I haven't tried it yet.

 

Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

1 head of cabbage or about 5 pounds
3 tablespoons of canning or pickling salt (you could use kosher salt but not sea salt or iodized salt, the iodine will interfere)

Discard outer leaves. Rinse the whole head under cold running water and drain. Do not use disinfectants or vinegar rinses on it, just a simple wash with plain tap water.

Cut the cabbage in quarters and remove cores. Shred or slice to a thickness of a quarter (about 1/8"). You can use a knife if you don't have a mandolin but don't chop it into little bits. Long shreds are what we want. I used one head of cabbage, and shredded it fine with a mandolin (be REALLY careful with those and always use the safety guards, make sure someone else is in charge of the kids while you are using it, etc. Most important: THINK and pay attention - don't get distracted by anything.).

Add 3 tablespoons of salt. If the weather is very warm, you may need to use a little more salt. Toss well and mix thoroughly with your hands, then pack it all into your fermenting jar or crock. Leave space at the top, maybe 4 or 5 inches, for the brine to cover the cabbage completely.

 Here is the hard work part: beat it down firmly to bruise it and start drawing the juice out.  I used a wooden meat pounder, or you could use a jelly mortar. I hammered on it a while until I was tired. Then I made a brine of one quart filtered water and 2 tablespoons of kosher salt, brought it to a boil, and let it cool to room temperature.  After it had cooled, I poured it over the cabbage.

I added a round piece of plastic that was the diameter of the jar and sealed weights inside a freezer bag and put them down in the brine to hold the cabbage down under the brine.  This time I used brine in a gallon freezer bag (actually two of them in case one leaked) and put it inside the jar to seal
the whole thing. You use brine in the bag in case it leaks because plain water would dilute the sauerkraut causing it to spoil. If you use a crock, you can put a plate inside it instead.

"Add plate and weights; cover container with a clean bath towel. Store at 70 to 75 °F while fermenting. At temperatures between 70 and 75 °F, kraut will be fully fermented in about 3 to 4 weeks; at 60 to 65 °F, fermentation may take 5 to 6 weeks. At temperatures lower than 60 °F, kraut may not ferment. Above 75 °F, kraut may become soft. If you weigh the cabbage down with a brine-filled bag, do not disturb the crock until normal fermentation is completed (when bubbling ceases). If you use jars as weight, check the kraut two to three times each week and remove scum if it forms."

I set my jar back in the floor in the guest room. That part of the house, on the south side, is always shaded so it stays pretty cool back there, especially down at the floor level because that room, one of the originals from about 1895, is on pier and beam foundation so cool air can circulate below.

It took right at 4 weeks for mine to be done, and I could tell it was done because I started smelling it! Mine did form some scum (scary looking stuff) but I just scooped and wiped it out before moving down to the good kraut.  

 

 I transferred the kraut and its juice directly into sterile pint jars, and stored them in the refrigerator. My head of cabbage made 3 full pints of sauerkraut.  To can for pantry storage, you would need to process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, just like any acidic food - there are specific instructions at the original link.

   

As promised above, here is the recipe for fermenting collard greens!

Collard Kraut Recipe

A big bunch of fresh collard greens, about a gallon when cleaned.
2 or 3 Tablespoons of canning or pickling salt for each one gallon of collards.

Procedure: Wash the greens well, and shred. Use the same process as given for Cabbage Sauerkraut above. Store at 70 ºF for fermenting. At this temperature it will take approximately 3 to 4 weeks to ferment. If any scum forms above the plate or weight, remove it about 2 to 3 times a week. Taste in about two weeks. Allow collards to ferment until desired flavor is reached. 

Store in refrigerator or process in boiling water bath, as directed at original link or at the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

~~~~~~~~

If you try making the collard kraut before I do, or the regular cabbage kraut, please post and let me know how it turns out!