Metheglin, Luminary, and 50 Card Project

Metheglin Update: 

Well, something's happening. I left the metheglin in the kitchen overnight and when I came in the next morning, it was alive. It was foaming so much I took it into the bathroom and put it into the shower. That way if it exploded at least it would be easier to clean up! I was also so shocked by the drama I forgot to take pictures until a few days later. 

Here is an image of the foaming still happening, although much subdued. This was probably last Wednesday. 

By this morning the bubbles have slowed considerably and the liquid has cleared. It is quite the lovely caramel color. Dare I sample some? 

I opened the cork and sniffed. It doesn't smell bad. I went and got a straw and did the old, dip and pull method because I didn't want to disturb the sediment at the bottom. And what does it taste like?... beer. 

blech. 

Okay Okay, I'm not a beer drinker, but I can manage a pale ale and that's what this tastes like at the moment. A very pale, light, ginger beer. I still have to add the cinnamon, lemon, and raisins. That might change the flavor a little. But as soon as I have another bottle, I'm making straight mead. I've got to see what the difference is. Project for this weekend? Figure out how to bottle this up. I'm planning on letting it sit for longer than the "fortnight" suggested by Mrs. W's book. 

In related news,  I have great news on the bee front. I will pick up my bees tomorrow! This was not guaranteed because I was a real ding-a-ling about ordering them. I sent my check and application well before the deadline. We're talkin' weeks here. I really wanted my bees early so they could get a head start on everything and I might get a summer harvest of honey. 

I forgot to put a stamp on the envelope. 

It came back after the notice was put up on the website that there was only a waiting list for bee packages this weekend. I was so bummed. I stuck the entire envelope in a new envelope and wrote a pitiful message on it pointing out that technically I did mail it before the deadline. I also mentioned that if someone didn't show up for their order, I would be more than happy to drop everything and come pick them up. My bee man is the best and put me on this weekends list. I am very excited! That's what I will be doing for most of today... reviewing my notes and remembering what to do for this whole bee thing. 

Luminary

Last weekend, I got lost in the studio to edition my book Luminary. 

 It was accepted into the Guild of Bookworkers traveling exhibition, Formation. I only had the one copy and before it leaves me for two years, I really needed to make another for reference.

There are 15 pages and my goal is 10 books. They are all sunprints which is quite an ambitious project let me tell you! The sun and clouds are not exactly ideal studio mates. It's taken almost two years just to print the spreads. And of course, I already have to print more due to stupid mistakes.

I got three put together last weekend. And before I forget what I did, I want to finish as many others as possible.

 The wonderful Silhouette Cameo cutter Ann gave me for Christmas a year ago, is an absolute life saver.  It took some fiddling, but it is cutting a perfect circle in all of my spreads exactly where they should be. Big sigh of relief.


50 Card Project
I received a wonderful surprise in the mail this week. In response to the election last year, my friend Melanie did this project. 

It was a monumental undertaking funded by Kickstarter.  In spite of so much misery for the past year, she managed to find quotes and responses to the madness that were positive and uplifting. More information about the project can be found here: http://melaniemowinski.com/the-50-card-project/

You can find (and purchase!) your own copy here: http://melaniemowinski.com/product/printed-book/ 

Congratulations Melanie! It is really fabulous!

Vacation Week

I took an extra week off to ostensibly "get so much done". 

Well....

While I did a lot - I didn't actually get much done. I chipped away at my list and got to about half of things I wanted to get to. 

 

First was making a huge dent in getting these mittens finished. I've been wanting to make them for more than two years. But with projects for other people and other things needing to be finished first - they had to wait. I started one before heading to California but didn't finish it until I got back here. I had to knit the top several times. And then the cuff was knitted afterward and I didn't have the pink yarn with me. I thought I 'd wanted an orange yarn I had - but it wasn't right. This took some serious doing to get the color variation the way I wanted it. In the end, it was worth all the extra effort and re-dos.  The second mitten is going much smoother but is still quite a project. I'm working on the cuff now and hope to finish them this week. Can't wait to wear them!

The second priority was to make sure the Silhouette cutter was working and it is!!!

 

I've cut a few things out and am excited to plan some new projects. In case you aren't familiar with these, they are just like printers, except that instead of printing on the paper, it cuts out shapes you have set up in the software that comes with the machine. You can cut paper, vinyl, stickers, and ??? I'm looking forward to finding out.  

I did get to one of the essential projects on my list: fixing the love seat! Remember this crazy project?

Well, I didn't put enough webbing on the bottom and pretty quickly it all popped off. The sofa was really saggy and becoming quite uncomfortable to sit in.

You can see in the above image how much the black part is sagging or popping out.
Last time, I did the whole thing by hand, from pulling out all the old nails and staples, to putting it all back on with a regular old staple gun. This time I got smart. I went to the trusty West Philly Tool Library and checked out an air compressor and staple gun. 

Holy Moly did that make a difference! You just squeeze the trigger and BAMphfft. Staple in. The only thing is the noise. The generator is loud loud loud! But some little ear plugs help.

I wasn't taking any chances this time, the base is plastered completely with webbing. And it's not coming off this either. Ever. Right now I am thrilled. Talk to me when I try to reupholster this sucker again. Then I won't be so happy.

But for the moment the base is flat like it should be and it feels much more comfy.  

Today was Stitch & Bitch our monthly knitting and political discussion group. I really look forward to it. We always bring something to eat and it has sort of become my job to bring the sweetie. Well fine by me. I tried one of the "Cocoanut Pudding" recipes in Ellen Emlen's cookbook. It's really more like a giant macaroon in a pie crust than a pudding but maybe I'm doing something wrong. Tasted just fine though.




Cream 1 cup (two sticks) butter with 1 cup sugar. Add 2T cognac 1t. rosewater and 2T coconut milk beat smooth. 
beat 8 egg whites to a snow, (and here's where I think I went wrong) add 3 cups unsweetened coconut.
combine the two mixtures. I think I should have added the coconut to the butter mixture and then folded the egg snow into that mixture.
Put it into a pie crust and bake for 50 minutes at 350F. I had to tent it after 30 minutes. It's very tasty, but I think it needs something. 

I drizzled chocolate over it but that's not quite right. Maybe I need thicker chocolate, but I was also thinking something very light like a pineapple sorbet. Or maybe even just some lemon zest in the crust could do? Not sure. At any rate - definitely a recipe worth working on.