this and that

I tried a new recipe from Lahey's "My Bread" book - stecca or stick bread.  This whole book is all no-knead bread which is the only kind I can make since my lungs were damaged, but now that I make this kind I can't imagine why I ever made the other kind to begin with.  I made it whole wheat and didn't follow the directions very exactly at all, but yet it turned out pretty good. :)

 

Awhile ago I ordered  a kombucha culture, and it has been sitting in my fridge waiting for me to make time to work on it.

This is what the dehydrated culture looked like when I took it out of the package.  It will take 10-28 days to rehydrate and be ready to make kombucha. 

The black tea (I used oolong) is steeped in sugar and water and then cooled to room temperature before putting in the culture.  For this rehydration process it was necessary to add some vinegar to make the mixture acidic.  After this when actually brewing kombucha you just add some of the last batch of tea to make it acidic.  Now it sits in a darkish corner on my kitchen counter slowly becoming rehydrated.

The western tanagers arrived a couple weeks ago.  They love to eat suet!  They are such beautiful birds and I have enjoyed having them visiting my yard.