*zy·mol·o·gy

Cabbages grow so beautifully in the garden.  The grandness of the outer leaves are just beautiful, actually quite ornamental.  Of course, the outer leaves are very useful here as rabbit food and do not go to waste.  

This year we planted 15 or more heads of cabbage over a course of a month, so we have some coming ready at different times.   Our first 5 heads were harvested just a few days go in order that we could make our attempt at sauerkraut!

You not only need cabbage to make sauerkraut, but you also need a crock. OK, so you don't NEED a crock, you can make the kraut in a glass container, a food grade plastic pail but not in reactive metal containers.   We found this 3 gallon crock at an awesome hardware store ( Halls Hardware of Milton, Fl) in a neighboring town in our area.  Hall's had crock as large as 5 gallons available as well, but I felt like the 3 gallon was sufficient. 

We  ended up using only 3 of the large cabbages that we picked before the crock was full.  The other two heads of cabbage will go in a gift basket for two of our neighbors along with other veggies and some fresh eggs as an early Christmas gift.

Shredding with a knife as fine as we were able, then layering half of each cabbage head with a sprinkling of salt and caraway seeds until we reached the top.  We also added some onion about mid way through the crock. 

Now we just wait.  I hope to be able to report back to you on how delicious our kraut turned out!  We will likely freeze some of the finished kraut as well as can some.   We visited many different websites before we proceeded with this exciting venture. Yes, I said exciting. It seems anytime I have something new to embark upon, I feel excitement.  

 Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin is actually an excellent book on fermenting foods. 





zy·mol·o·gy (Source: Dictionary.com)
[zahy-mol-uh-jee] –noun Biochemistry.
(formerly) the science dealing with fermentation and the action of enzymes; enzymology.


 

*happy birthday to me from Magnolia Grill

The Magnolia Grill of Ft. Walton Beach Florida (built in early 1900's)

The charm to the outside of this dated building gets even better as you walk through the front doors.

This past week my sweet husband took me to The Magnolia Grill for my  birthday. The quaint restaurant was all dressed up for the holidays. 

Isn't this mantle just gorgeous!  We sat for lunch at a little table just in front of this fireplace.  I love how they have used the crystal dishes to be the centerpiece of the decor adorning the mantle.

Each little nook and corner was dressed with small taste of things from yesteryear.  It was not too much, the areas were not clutter, but rather tasteful displays done to perfection.

There is an upstairs area that is dedicate to a "museum" of the past. It was fun to look at all that was on display.  Many things from my own childhood years, and other things dated from years before.

This lamp of course caught my eye and reminded me of  The Christmas Story.  That ridiculous lamp!

Merry Christmas!

I don't think this picture looks that appetizing.. but truly both the fries and the shrimp were delish.   Their menu is very versatile and has anything from burgers, to seafood, to Italian dishes to suit your pallet!

More of what is on display upstairs...

Wow. We had one of these in our house when we were growing up.

I loved looking at all the cameras! 

These are the plans for the house that is now known as The Magnolia Grill, this house was ordered through Sears Roebuck, and was delivered in parts.. and built onsite by the owner (back in the early 1900's).  To get all the correct facts about the establishment known as The Magnolia Grill of Ft. Walton Beach, go HERE

This is one of my new favorite places to go for a nice calm atmosphere that serves good food, fair prices and great care by the server. 

*christmas table runners to give

Each year I pack up our fall decor and put it away in order to pull out the Christmas boxes.  We have three or four different fall table runners for the various tables/side tables throughout our house. Once  I pack up the fall decor the tables look naked!  I give some thought to quilting some runners each year about the same time - first of December when I put away the fall runners. It hasn't happened yet.  Sigh.

When talking to my BFF the other day we both realized that we had tons of fall runners and decor but no winter/Christmas table runners.  Funny thing is, that we both love autumn and all that season holds We are usually together at some point during that season, quilting.  Thus one of the reasons we both have numerous fall runners.
 

With this info in my arsenal, I set out to make this situation remedied!  I went shopping through my wonderful stash of fabrics to find just the right shades of greens and reds to make some Christmas runners.  My dear friends birthday is coming up and I am thrilled to be making these for her.  Her love language is not gifts, not at all. Her love language is quality time, so when she gets them this week, it is my desire that she will just imagine that she and I were working alongside each other sewing away when these were made.  I know she will love them just the same. 

The first one up was to fit a round dinner table.  I gave a quick look through several quilting magazines, but was not able to come up with a pattern.  Then I remembered that I had bought the Nifty Notions, Cut for the Cure ruler set a few years ago which had several wedge rulers. I pulled out my 22.5 Wedge ruler and cut 16 slices out of my chosen fabrics.  This ruler is so versatile (as most are of course) that I could choose how big I wanted the circle to end up being by the size of the wedge I cut.   I am so thrilled with this table topper that will fit nicely on top of my BFF's dining room table there at Hawks Nest.

In my BFF's home they have a large oak sofa table that also needs dressing up for the season.  I had to put in a secret text to her youngest daughter and have her measure the length of this table as well as one other one.  The sofa table has rounded ends and I thought I could  use the same ruler (cutting a smaller size) and make half circles to connect to a rectangular length that would fit the measurement of the table.  It worked out perfectly!  I love it. I did machine applique the words "Merry Christmas" onto the center of the runner. It was a bit difficult to get the two words lined up, but it is good enough.   Binding  on all three of these was really fun and easy.

The last runner to be made was for the cute little chunky oak table that sits in the beautiful foyer of their home.   I continued using the same fabrics so the runners have some kind of continuity throughout their house. I am even sending her the left over fabric just in case she wants to whip up something else.  For this one, I simply sewed strips of fabric together, sliced it up, sewed it back together and then I added a border.  Again the binding was fun and easy.

Once again, all of these fabrics were pulled from my existing supply of fabrics from the shelves.  For backing I chose some unattractive fabric that would have likely never gotten used for anything else but backing on a runner of some sort.  The only time you will see the back is putting out time and putting away time.  I can't wait to hear what she thinks about them!

*quick bread

Have you ever had beer bread? My beloved's mother made beer bread when he was growing up and it made a huge impression on his taste buds. I have tried and tried to make beer bread over the years and it is always a FAIL. The loaves of beer bread I have mixed up have ended up as bricks. I had even began to grow weary of even trying to make this particular bread successfully. Some how we weren't able to track down the recipe Eric's mom used.

Eric made a challenge to me that he would master this bread thing, so I took him up on it. After he tried 5 different recipes over a course of several days we narrowed it down to one modified recipe. We make a loaf of this bread a week, it is so moist and chewy. It is considered a quick bread and it truly does mix up and bake up in right at an hour, from start to finish.

Beer Bread

3 cups of self rising flour (very important that you use SELF RISING)
1/4 sugar up to 1/2 cup  (we prefer only adding 1/4 cup)
1 can or bottle of flat beer of your choice (we experimented with stouts, lite beer, flavored beer)
 optional additions : dill, cheese, or what ever suits your fancy!

Mix the ingredients together, pour into loaf pan and bake at 375 for 50 minutes. Take out brush bread with 1/4 cup of melted butter then put back into the oven for 5 more minutes. Then voila.. your done!

Our favorite of all the loaves we tried was the lite beer and the lower amount of sugar.  We even swapped out the sugar in one of the mixes and used molasses instead.  The bread had a stronger flavor and it was a bit heavier than had hoped for.  If you want to add a delicious bread to your meal, but don't have time to wait for the gluten to develop in a yeast bread, choose this beer bread.

We even baked Frayja some "bones" which she happily consumed in record time.