Good Ol' Uncle Amos

Awhile ago I mentioned to my dad that I was thinking of learning to play the banjo. And he said, "Oh. I have a banjo." I was really surprised! I mean, I know my dad and step-mom combined have a lot of stringed instruments including an upright bass, a harpsichord, a mandolin, and a few guitars. But I seriously had no clue about the banjo. It turns out that my great great Uncle Amos (my grandmother's uncle) played the banjo and my dad had inherited that very one. I begged my dad to let me borrow it. Heritage is really important to me and knowing that music flowing in my blood went as far back as a great great uncle was totally awesome! And I could hold his very banjo in my arms and strum on it just like he did was so exciting! He told me that as he got talking about the banjo he wasn't sure he wanted to let it go. So, I kind of gave up on it (secretly thinking I'd beg him some more later. heh heh heh....)

Well, while we were out staying with my dad for my brother's wedding he said he had the banjo all tuned up and ready to go. Whew, was I excited! I went downstairs, took it out of the case and then cradled it in my lap. Holding onto the neck, and not knowing what the heck I was doing, I started plucking away making tuneless music. And I was sold. That sound was so beautiful. I knew it was what I wanted to learn.

Now, banjo music has usually annoyed me. Come to find out, it's the Bluegrass style that is notorious for the bright-sounding feverish plucking that rubs me the wrong way after 5 seconds. I had heard about the clawhammer technique which involves more strumming and it was what I was interested in. Luckily, there's an Appalachian string shop not too far from where I live (yippee!), so I headed out there solo since my husband was a sweetie and watched the kids. 

I stepped into a cozy shop full to bursting with the rosy, gleaming woods of guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, fiddles, dulcimers, and banjos. It was a beautiful sight and I felt totally lost. I wandered for awhile soaking it in, and wishing I could just soak in the stringed instrument vibe. I stopped in the ukulele room, and was pleased to hear someone in the banjo corner pick one up and start strumming away. I was totally riveted. It sounded just like what I wanted to play! He stopped playing and I finally wandered over to the counter to ask one of the shop guys for a banjo mute (since they're kind of loud and I have kids and neighbors) and he offered to show me how it worked. I agreed and we went back to the banjos and he showed me how to slide the mute on and off the bridge. I asked if they offered lessons and he said they did. When I asked if they taught clawhammer, he said no, they only had instructors that taught Bluegrass. Bummer!

Then, out of the blue, a guy behind us said, "I teach clawhammer." The shop guy left, happy that I'd found someone into clawhammer too who could answer my questions. This guy was a student who taught clawhammer banjo on the side and even though I hadn't seen the mysterious banjo player's face from before, this guy must have been the one playing. He was really nice and was so willing to talk to me about the banjo and showed me the differences between the Bluegrass style verses the clawhammer style. He shared tips and played a little. The music was sweet, mellow, and melodic. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard and I was blown away. I had no idea the banjo could sound like that (aka not annoying)! Man, if I hadn't been sold before I was sold now. He gave me his contact info for lessons during the summer before he goes back to school.  

It has been awhile since I've had such a freakish meeting with fate. Of all the days to wander into that shop. Ha! But, boy am I excited! I'm hoping to have a couple lessons to learn some solid technique and then be able to teach myself from there. I can almost feel the banjo cradled in my arm as I strum out an old mountain tune. :-) Good ol' Uncle Amos! (And thanks, Dad!)

Root Beer Sherbet

Do you love root beer? Do you love ice cream? Do you love root beer floats?

If you answered yes to any or all of those questions, then you have to make this stuff. Yes, you have to!

We tried making this in our ice cream maker and since it was our first time using our ice cream maker, somehow it didn't turn out. Undaunted, we just poured the mix into a baggie, froze it and then scraped it out. It was uber crystallized, but it didn't matter. This stuff is amazing. It takes like a frozen root beer float. HEAVEN! 


Root Beer Sherbet

2 – 12 oz bottles of GOOD root beer (Virgil's is an excellent choice. No corn syrup too!)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup whole milk or half and half

Open the root beer and let it sit in the fridge to get a little flat and get well chilled. Make sure all your other ingredients are chilled too. Mix up all the ingredients. Let the foam die down a little.

Pour into your prepared ice cream maker. It takes about 20 – 30 minutes, I’d say. Enjoy it pure and plain with a honkin' big spoon. Nothing else needed but a bowl. Or you could just eat it out of the ice cream maker. It's up to you.

From JustJenn Recipes with my own comments added in. :-)

Vacuum Sealing

We've been out of town for my brother's wedding and the summer has been a little crazy, so I haven't posted in awhile. Right before we left I used some of our budgeted "emergency preparedness" money and got a FoodSaver vacuum sealer. I found a fairly inexpensive one on amazon and am super happy! My 4-year-old son and I have had lots of fun sealing up jars of nuts, raisins, grains, etc. This vacuum seal thing is going to be great in helping me cut back on my plastic bag useage. Now I'm going to have to get some more glass mason jars!

We've also had a few trips to Larriland Farms to pick our own cherries and raspberries. I had to stick everything in the freezer because I couldn't mentally deal with canning that much fruit. (I picked waaaaaay too many cherries!) I finally got around to canning half the cherries as cherry pie filling. I was forced into it really, because I needed the freezer space. :-) Next I need to can my raspberries into jam, because I can't live without my raspberry jam! And then at the farmer's market yesterday they had a big box of tomato seconds (imperfect ones) for $10 and I couldn't refuse! I'm going to skin and can these as diced tomatoes and I'm going to do that sometime today or tomorrow.... (yeah right!) Here's hoping anyway, because I seriously do not have any freezer space. Man, it's hard canning stuff all by your lonesome. Where's the group of women that come by and can stuff all day together?? Please come to my rescue, ladies! haha!

And The Winning Border Is...

Peacock Blue!

I love this fabric. It reminds me of looking into deep space and seeing a beautiful galaxy. It's even got gold flecks in it. Thanks for voting!

The Top is Finished!

Hooray!!

You'll be nice and ignore the non-matching corners, right?

I used a rotary cutter and ruler and everything.

Don't even ask me how the corners didn't match up, because I don't have a clue!

I didn't have enough of my gorgeous floral fabric, so I had to improvise and add some green squares on each side.

Now all I have to decide is what my border color should be: bright orange, peacock blue, fern green, or soft tan. I need help to decide. So, take my poll over there! ---->

If it helps, click on the middle picture to analyze the colors better.

Sugar Alternatives

I've been working to eliminate corn syrup from our diet. The movie King Corn helped this desire along. They have a section in the movie where the two guys who are hosts of the documentary try to duplicate the process it takes to make corn syrup. It's a tricky food science feat with obscure chemicals added to succeed; chemicals that I personally have never heard of before. And yet corn syrup, now so much cheaper than cane sugar, not to mention honey or maple syrup, has found its way into almost everything, even spaghetti sauce and bread!

Recently I ran across a corn syrup alternative. I've known you could use honey in place of corn syrup, but if you don't want that honey flavor in what you're making, here's another option:

1 cup sugar + 2 cups water. Cook til thick.

And there you go! Corn syrup replacement!

If you're looking to replace cane sugar with honey in baking, here is a helpful conversion:

Use 3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. honey in place of 1 cup sugar, then subtract 2 Tbsp. of liquid from the recipe. (since honey is liquid and sugar is dry) "Unless the recipe calls for sour cream or buttermilk, add a pinch of baking soda to neutralize the acidity."

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/baking-with-sugar-and-sugar-substitutes/detail.aspx

The above link is where I got some info and has other sugar alternatives/substitutes to use in baking.

The Garden

My happy dill is growing tall! 

My garden is going fairly well these days. My only insect problem so far is the black flea beetles which seem to adore my potato plants. I've tried a garlic tea, but I'm not sure it worked so well because it rained the next day and washed away all the garlic smell. I've heard planting radishes draw them away, but I have planter boxes, not a whole garden in the ground. I'll have to think on some new tactics.

My pickling cucumber plants are about 8 inches tall. It looks like my dill will be ready for sure! I've already hung and dried some dill, waiting for that happy pickling day.

I finally broke down and bought some gardening gloves after one too many times of digging dirt out from under my fingernails. Best $5 purchase EVER! I don't know what I was thinking all those years digging around without gloves. It's amazing the different they make.

I feel very lucky to be living in a more southern state. Already we have cucumbers, rhubarb, strawberries, lettuce and other odd produce at the farmer's market. The past couple weeks my family and I have been out to Larriland Farm picking strawberries and a boatload of sweet cherries. Hello, cherry pie filling! Oh yeah!

(However, I'm waiting on getting my Clear Gel in the mail. I had no idea they don't sell modified corn starch out here! How crazy is that!)