New Year's Addendum

I had made plans to start the week off on a slightly different footing, but Kethry (check out her site over in the side bar- Urbania to Stoneheads... well worth the read) made a good point in the comments from my list and I instead have decided to address those and move my plans for today to tomorrow. (Might have a small amount to do with both the Prime Geek and myself battling a stomach bug at the moment... I am incredibly grateful my father finished the install on our bathroom. A flushie is a vital piece of modern life.)

When I stated that one of the goals for the year was to put up as much food as I can, I should have gone on to say we will be tip-toeing into multiple aspects of the make it at home world as well. Yogurt is first up on the block, although I'll be finishing off what is currently lingering in the fridge first. But once the cartons are gone (properly recycled, of course) I'm going to give this ancient art of spoiling dairy a shot. The PG and I are planning to follow in food Guru Alton Brown's step and rig up a makeshift yogurt maker at first. If all goes well, and we like it better then the store bought stuff it will be one of the first items to remove from the grocery list. I may even be temped to buy one of those nifty gadgets that lets you make 8 individual servings at a time. (the fewer times you can cut into yogurt the better, unless you really like yogurt flavored soup.)

Brewing at home? Already to start production in fact. I bought the Prime Geek a mead kit for his birthday (thus establishing me in the eyes of many of his male friends as the coolest wife ever.) and h hopes to start putting a couple of bottle down each month. Me? I may just try my hand at a few cordials, as there are fewer things that can cool a heated brain faster then an iced spritzer of blueberry cordial and seltzer. Although Kethry's mention of ginger beer does make my mind buzz a bit in planning.

Breadmaking? Already done... I just have to get better at keeping up on it. We suffer from two issues in the maintaining the staff of life in the house. One is the common one which seems to strike most bread bakers. We tend to not eat a few slices as we do with the store bought fluff... instead the smell of fresh bread baking drags us back to our cave nerd roots and we end up devouring it in a single sitting. The second is easier to handle, it just will require I use some (gulp) discipline and start my dough off before I head to bed. The spirit is there... but the flesh tends to get scattered. Looks like I have some sign making in my future.

The only thing I think I will be giving a pass to is butter making. With milk prices on the rise (I've seen it on sale as low as $2.88 a gallon at our neighborhood drive-through liquor store with spikes up to $5.99 at the grocery. Toss in the price for organic is often as high as a soul shuddering $8.99) we tend to only buy milk to drink. I buy butter only rarely... and freeze it whenever it goes on sale. At the moment, I tend to cook with olive oil most of the time. Perhaps when we sell our home and get to move out into the country I'll take a look at this again.

Any advice, suggestions, or info is happily taken. I'm enough of a nerd to confess a certain joy in studying. Weird, I know... but what's a nerd to do?

Tomorrow? The first Naturally Nerds product review.