But it just so happened that this past week we made a lot of hummus, and one of the key ingredients in our hummus is cumin. (To quote Rob: I’d rather make hummus without the chickpeas than without the cumin). And on Saturday night, as we were making a new batch to take to a party, we realized that SOMEONE used up most of our cumin for a previous batch, and forgot to pick up more on the chickpea run. (Confession: It was me.)

So then we had this sort of frantic what-do-we-do-now moment — we were already running a little late, so a store run was going to put us even further behind. In searching for any hidden stores of cumin, I found that we had a jar of whole cumin seed. I believe we bought it for some fancy special curry recipe that called for toasting your own cumin and coriander seeds (because I found whole coriander seed, too). And while we don’t have a spice grinder, we do happen to have a mortar and pestle. It’s probably one of the most beloved and least used kitchen tools we have. I put it on our wedding registry because it makes me feel all old-time-apothecary, and it gets used mostly for making a coarse guacamole. But here! The perfect opportunity to use it for spices. Yay.

And so, I ground cumin seed in our mortar while Rob roasted garlic, and our chipotle-red pepper hummus was saved. Huzzah.

And that lead me to wonder whether maybe it’s actually worthwhile to hand-grind some of your spices?

Challenge: Ground Spices

Pre-ground and home-ground cumin both contain cumin and nothing else.

To grind cumin with a mortar and pestle, add a single layer to the mortar and start by gently crushing the seeds with the pestle. Use little taps, not big great smashes to break things up. When everything’s a little crushed, grind the seeds between the mortar and pestle by using a stirring motion with the pestle. Stop when the seeds are ground to your desired texture. You cannot overgrind.

(You can also just toss the seeds into a spice grinder, in which case I hear you can overgrind, so watch the texture. But we don’t have a spice grinder. So, work with what ya got.)

Ta-da!

 Time and Cost Comparison

Pre-ground cumin (we use Tones, because the factory is just outside DeMo and it’s everywhere) costs $0.99 for 17 grams of ground spice. That works out to $0.06 per gram. It’s sitting pretty in the spice aisle at the grocery store, and is easy to find if you can figure out the alphabetical organization system. One teaspoon contains about 2 grams.

My whole cumin seed came from Penzey’s Spices, and cost $2.75 for a 25 gram jar.  That works out to $0.11 per gram. To grind it myself, I spent about 15 seconds gently crushing the seeds and another 60 seconds grinding ‘em. It took 4 grams of home-ground cumin to fill a teaspoon.

Taste Test

In this case, it’s actually a scent test, because most of what you taste when it comes to spices is actually what you smell.

The store bought cumin smells like… well, cumin. It’s bright and a little citrusy and a little bit earthy. Yum.

The home-ground cumin smells like magic. It’s like the pre-ground cumin on steroids: Bright, citrusy, spicy-hot and like a walk in the forest in autumn. It’s a richer, more layered scent, and much stronger than the store-bought. Rob though it almost had a minty undertone. In prepared meals, it would be totally kick-ass.

PITA Factor

5. Once you have the cumin seed, the PITA factor is lower. I don’t live close to a Penzey’s, so going to get it was a definite 5-to-6 on my scale (it was something like 15 minutes out of my way. I must have really wanted to try that curry). And while I totally had a blast playing with my mortar and pestle, if I had to grind spices for every dish I made, I’d go nuts.

DIY or Buy?

Oh, foodies, I’m sorry but this is a total Buy. It’s not that grinding the spices is hard; it’s more the extra hassle of finding whole spices to grind, and the cost of said whole spices. For special meals, I’m for it. But for everyday life, the flavor boost doesn’t outweigh the PITAs.

Anyway, good tomato soup is a distinct pleasure, especially when the weather is cold and rainy, as it’s getting right about now. Plus, tomato soup is versatile: Pair it with grilled cheese, dress it up with beans and pasta, throw in a few handfuls of veggies, top it with sour cream and cheese –it’s hard to go wrong.

And about once a year (usually right around this time, once the leaves are gone) I get this intense craving for tomato soup. So I open a can, add some milk and adore it for a day. Then the next day, the leftovers make me sort of squinch up my nose and I opt for something else, and the soup ends up getting fuzzy in the back of the fridge. It’s a yearly ritual.

Well, this year I decided to try an experiment with homemade tomato soup. I know I don’t eat leftover canned soup – will I eat leftover homemade soup? Can it really be that much better? So this week, our topic is:

Challenge: Tomato soup

The classic can o’ tomato soup contains tomato puree (water + tomato paste), water, high fructose corn syrup, wheat flour, salt, ascorbic acid and citric acid.

My homemade soup follows a recipe from a Cuisine at Home: Soups, Stews and Chilies book:
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup minced garlic
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 cup dry white wine
2  28 oz. cans of tomatoes (they recommend whole, I had crushed…either works)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 Tbsp. dried basil
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Start by chopping your garlic and onions. Throw the onions in a big pot, along with some olive oil, to sautee until soft, for 5-ish minutes. Then toss in your chopped garlic and the red pepper flakes, and let them get all toasty for a minute or two.

Deglaze the pot with white wine. Stir to get all the brown bits off the pot’s bottom, then cook until the wine is mostly evaporated. I used a wine blend that we’d had hanging in the fridge for a few days. Dunno if it was dry or not, but it was tasty.

Once the wine is mostly gone, add your tomatoes (with the liquid – just dump it all straight into the pot) and the chicken broth and the basil. Turn up the heat until the contents are boiling, then turn it down and let it simmer for 10-20+ minutes (10 if you’re hungry now, 20+ if you’re waiting for company to arrive). Then puree up your soup with a hand-held blender or in your regular glass-bowl blender.

Last but not least, add your sugar and balsamic. I swear, the balsamic vinegar is key to this recipe – it totally plays off the sugar and brings out the tomato-y flavor. Season with salt and pepper. Then plate up, and enjoy!

(Note: The original recipe called for adding a bag of fresh spinach at the very end, which I’d recommend. It makes the spinach all wilty and delicious. But I skipped that step because you cannot buy canned tomato-and-spinach soup).

Time and Cost Comparison

The canned soup was easy to find, although I went with generic because the Campbell’s was out. I tell you, it’s tomato soup weather. A can cost $0.95, and if you mix it with water, that’s all it’ll cost. Add an extra $0.50-ish if you mix it with a can of milk. You end up with about 3 cups of soup, making it about $0.50 per cup (assuming you use milk).

The homemade soup took about an hour to make, from chopping the onions and garlic to adding the balsamic. The total cost was $8.04 for the ingredients in this soup, and it made a huge pot (8 cups). That means the total came out to about $1 per bowl. (Take that, fancy restaurant soup for $3!)

Ingredient Comparison

The canned and homemade have several things in common: a tomato base (puree vs. chopped tomatoes) and a sweetener (high-fructose corn syrup vs. sugar), a volumizing liquid (water and milk vs. broth) and salt.

The canned soup has wheat flour and the ascorbic acid and citric acid – both basically vitamin C, used as  preservatives and perhaps as flavor-ers.

The homemade soup has onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, wine, basil and vinegar as flavor-ers.

Nutritional Comparison

The canned tomato soup rocks 80 calories per cup, 0 grams fat, 710 grams sodium, 18 grams carbs and 2 grams protein.

The homemade tomato soup offers 99 calories per cup, 3 grams fat, 346 grams sodium, 14 grams carbs and 3 grams protein.

Taste Test

The canned soup tastes like… generic tomato-y product. It’s tomato-y and sweet and kind of classic, kind of comforting. It tastes like childhood. Rob compared it to the sauce found in Chef Boyardee Ravioli – but it’s also pretty flat and one-note. The texture is much smoother, and much thinner than the homemade, which may be a plus.

The homemade soup tastes rich and layered – tomato-y and garlicky and a little bit spicy and tangy, but also with a hint of sweet. It’s like a really good marinara, but thinner. I used crushed tomatoes, and I didn’t bother to blend it, so this version is a little chunky, which further enhances the marinara feel. But that could be easily resolved by actually following the recipe.

PITA Factor

3. The soup is easy to throw together, but it’s not effortless. You have to stay close and keep an eye on it. That said, you really don’t need any particular talent or skill beyond can opening and onion chopping to make it work.

DIY or Buy? 

Oh, for Pete’s sake, make yourself some dang soup. Homemade is SO MUCH BETTER than the canned stuff and it only takes an hour. Yes, it makes a  lot. Invite friends over to help you eat it; or make it on Sunday and have 8 healthy lunches ready to go for the week; or freeze the leftovers in individual portions and have delish soup whenever you get the craving. Seriously, you won’t regret it.

Oh, my goodness, they’re gorgeous!

I cannot recommend following this procedure, unless you have several hours of spare time (from supplies shopping to completion, I believe it took us 8 hours, although we also took breaks to show CK the chickens and to grab lunch) and a desire to really show up the neighbors. Or, a child like CK who REALLY wants to flap her arms like a butterfly.

We used:
4 yards costume fabric (a synthetic, slippery, shiny fabric labeled… costume fabric. )
1 hot glue gun and 10 sticks of hot glue (could be replaced with a sewing machine, if you have one)
old newspaper
fabric pins

We used a photo of monarch costume as our inspiration, and chose the black fabric for the base. CK chose the bright orange and the bright blue as the colors. Cool! We purchased 2 yards black, 1 yard of orange and 1 yard of blue, and could have done with less of the blue, at the very least, and probably less of the orange, as well. The total cost of all the supplies came to about $15, give or take a little. Here’s how we put the wings together:

We did not measure exactly. We simply had CK stick out her arms and then held up the fabric and sort of estimated.

Then we cut the fabric to size. In fact, we cut two panels of fabric to size. I think this is when we decided that it would be best (or, at least, look the cleanest) if we made a front panel and a back panel and connected them so that there was a hem, rather than a ragged edge.

Next, we pinned together the two panels, and practiced drawing our butterfly-wings shape.

We folded the pinned-together fabric panels in half, and cut a template from a piece of newspaper. Then we cut out the wings, making sure to leave the folded edge uncut (so the wing  halves remained connected).

Then we made sure the two halves were pinned together just as we wanted them, with the right side (shiny side) out and the cut edges tucked in, to create a hem-like look.

After that, it was just a matter of gluing together the halves.  A thick bead of  hot glue sealed them together. Notes: This would likely be much easier if you just sewed, but my sewing machine remains stuck in reverse. Also, we tried using Liquid Stitch, but it was a no-go. I think the heat of the hot glue sort of melted the fabric, making it really seal well. Also also, don’t be stingy with the hot glue – you can always peel away the excess that seeps out of the seams.

To create the monarch-like pattern on the wings, we drew more pattern pieces on newspaper. There was lots of sketching and re-sketching to get the shapes right (using photos of monarchs and other costumes as our guide), and we did a trial layout on the black base wings.  Then we numbered each piece, top to bottom, so we knew how they all went together, and cut out the pieces. Because we wanted the wings to be mirror images of each other, we didn’t fold the fabric in half. We cut out one set of orange pieces, then flipped the patterns over (so the numbers were face-down) and cut out the next set. Then, we laid out the orange pieces on the black base wings, and hot-glued them into place.

They really needed that punch of blue. So we cut out a few circles and oblong pieces, and added them around the edges.

Last but not least, we used a thick band of blue fabric to cinch up the middle and add a bit more contrast. It was, of course, hot-glued into place.

Ta Da! The wings are now ready to be pinned to CK’s shirt (at the wrists and across the shoulders – you could also just buy a shirt and sew the wings in place).

I know the real photo here should be CK wearing the wings, but we’ve run into a few issues with that. Namely, that CK won’t wear them until it’s Halloween… because they’re her HALLOWEEN costume, not her every-day costume. Ha. But trust me, these wings are stunning. Shiny and big and totally flappable. Success!

So when my friend Hannah mentioned that she wanted to make butterfly wings for her 3-year-old daughter to wear for Halloween, I practically BEGGED her to let me help, and she was kind enough to agree. But then we got talking and one thing led to another and a simple set of wings made with wire and pantyhose turned into a set of eight-hour black-orange-and-blue monarch wings that can flap whenever Cute Kid (CK) acts like a butterfly. They’re utterly superb and so much more than any sane person would make, and most definitely without counterpart in the For Sale world. Not even on Etsy. (I looked, believe me).

Because of that, I decided that for the kids that come around, I’m going to be a bee. And rather than buy bee wings at the Super Discount Halloween Store (or whatever it’s called), I would make a set using our original plans. Thus we have:

Challenge: Halloween Costume Wings

So, these wings here ( http://www.spirithalloween.com/product/ht-honey-bee-adlt-wings/) are my  comparison. I’m using the idea of the materials, more than the color and shape, as the comparison, because you know what? With DIY you can choose pretty much any color and any shape that suits your fancy. Which I did!

Anyway, to DIY wings I turned to the DIY guru, Martha. And then I kind of did whatever I thought was best. To make wings, you need:

2 wire hangers or a spool of 18 gauge wire (available at craft or fabric stores)
1 pair of nylon stockings or tights, in a color of your choosing
A wire cutter (if you use hangers)
1 to 2 feet of elastic
Scissors
Duct or packing tape
Glue (hot or otherwise)

Very Important Supplies, right here.

Okay! This is pretty easy to do. First, bend your hanger/wire into the shape you want. There are LOTS of forms you can print out and use to shape your wings, if you’d like. But I just pulled down one side of each hanger to give me a wing-like shape.

Pull one side of the hanger to shape the wing.

Then, if you’re using hangers, cut the hook part off. You can also loop the wings together at this point, to keep them connected.

The less tape you use, the better the final product will look.

Tape the wires’ cut ends together to hold the wing shape. I also taped my wings together where they crossed, to make them stand up a bit more. (No droopy wings for me!)

Cut off the excess stocking after you've tied it off to create a sleeker profile.

Cut one leg off your pair of stockings, then slip it over one wing form. Pull tight and tie off, moving the knot to the side of the wings that will be against your back. Repeat with the other side. If you hooked the wings together, the second stocking will cover the knot of the first – that’s okay. Tie it tightly and it’ll all stay put.

Ready for your creative input. Or simple yellow stripes.

Ta da! Your basic wings are done. Consider them a blank slate – you can now decorate them ANY way you’d like. Glitter? Sure! Fabric paint? Okay! Fake jewels? Whatever your heart desires. I went very basic and just added a few fuzzy yellow stripes. (I’m not being literal with my bee-dom here. It’s more a hint ‘o bee.)

Does this say "Bee" or what?

Last but not least, cut your elastic in half and stitch or glue it into circles. Then slip the circles over each wing. The elastic will come to rest in the center of the “V” of the wings. Then slip one arm through each elastic and wear your wings like a backpack. They’re lightweight, comfortable and oh-so charming – whether you’re 3 years old or 30 years old.

Time and Cost Comparison

My comparison wings are $8.99 for the set and they take no time at all to pick out.

These wings cost a total of $3.66, but I had just about everything but the stockings on-hand. However, if you have to buy the stockings, the wire and the elastic, in Des Moines you’d spend something close to $7.94. So… pretty comparable. As for time, a lot of it depends on what you want to do. The simple wing shapes and decorations I used went together in about 15 minutes. However, for more elaborate wing shapes and decorations, I could see spending an hour getting it right.

Product Content Comparison 

Both sets of wings are made with a synthetic material stretched across wire – not very environmentally friendly, I’d wager, although the DIY can really be made with stuff you have lying around the house, so they’re kind of recycling. And neither set is horribly durable, either. One snag and the DIY wings are going to fall to pieces. The material of the store-bought wings is a little sturdier, but not by much.

Appearance Comparison

Both look cute from afar, and a little chintzy up close. The DIY wings look DIY, but I feel like there’s a sort of charm to them, and they would look better if you invest a little more time and energy into dolling them up (which I really did not). Also, if you were careful to match your wire to your stocking color, and you used an appropriatly colored tape (or no tape at all, even) to hold the wire together, it’d go a long way to making them look sharper.

The store bought wings look and feel kind of cheap – I wouldn’t expect the elastic arm loops to last more than an evening, and I can’t figure out what that flower in the middle has to do with anything, except it holds the elastic in place. And the glitter in the wing design comes off all over your clothes (but so would glitter on your own wings).

PITA Factor

2.5. Cutting the hangers kind of bends them out of shape, so that takes a little reworking. And getting craft wire to trace around the edge of a form isn’t easy – there’s lots of reworking there too. But it’s not hard and it goes fast.

DIY or Buy? 

Buy if you don’t care what they look like or if you don’t already have the hangers lying around the house. DIY if you have a specific look you’re going for or you’ve recently been to the dry cleaners.

So, what’s your Halloween costume? And are you DIYing part/all of it? Do share!

And, to celebrate the greatness of autumn, I just discovered a thing called Boiled Cider. This is actually a very old-fashioned syrup-type product that’s made from apple cider. It used to be super-popular, especially along the east coast, but has really fallen by the wayside. UNTIL NOW.

I’m telling you, I’d like to start a boiled cider renaissance. This stuff is like autumn, in edible form. Now that I know it exists, my life is forever changed, for the better.

But before I get to making boiled cider, let’s discuss the name. Boiled cider sounds… unappetizing, I guess. Boiling is one of those terms that makes me think water-logged and flavorless, while this stuff is pretty much the exact opposite: thick, sweet and so full of pure apple flavor that you’ll be knocked sideways. I prefer to call it cider syrup, but according to my sources, actual commercially produced cider syrup is cut with cane sugar and sometimes maple syrup. You could also call it Sweet Cider Reduction, Apple-licious Sauce or Liquid Apple Goodness. All are accurate, and in my opinion, much better names. But because this is a very old-fashioned treat that (apparently) has not yet been seized by marketers, it’s called boiled cider.

Begin here: A potful of cider.

I will give “boiled cider” this though: It’s a pretty accurate description for how this stuff is made. You pull out a big pot, fill it with pure apple cider and boil it for three to four hours, until it’s reduced to a syrup-like consistency. How will you know? Two ways: Big, stacked bubbles, and/or gauging the depth. It should be reduced down to one-seventh the original amount.

Boil down until the bubbles are thick and threaten to overflow

Mark one skewer with the starting depth, then mark one-seventh of that height. Use another skewer to dip into your boiling cider (to keep ink out of your food). Measure.

The finished cider will hug a spoon (or spatula).

That’s pretty much it. I packed mine into a stolen (from my husband’s beer-making supplies) and sanitized Grolsch bottle. In this, it’ll be good for, like, ages. You can also store it in an un-sanitized Tupperware container in the fridge for a few months. Like I said, easy.

But it’s also a product you can buy. Everything between commercially made boiled cider and DIY boiled cider is the same: It’s cider, boiled. (Now, if you buy cider syrup, that’s a different product.)  DIY and Buy will have the same ingredients, the same nutritional facts (which are basically: sugars, sugars and more sugars) and the same flavor. So, we’ll skip the super-deep analysis this time.

Taste Test 

The two-person taste test found cool boiled cider in every form (DIY and buy) to be AWESOME. It has the consistency of honey, and tastes like… well, apple cider and fall. They taste fantastic. Both.

PITA Factor

2.5. You don’t have to do anything, really. Just boil cider, on the stovetop. EASY. However, you do want to check on it, and as you hit the 3-hour mark, start watching it closely. Those bubbles can overflow, and then you have a sticky mess. But avoid that by stirring down the bubbles.

DIY or Buy?

Um. Either, depending on your level of ambition and whether you have a spare 3 to 4 hours to spend watching stuff boil.

BUY: Woods Cider Mill in Vermont sells a pint of boiled cider for $7.50 (plus shipping). They’re totally authentic, making their own cider from their own orchards the same way since the 1800s (and also making MAPLE SYRUP, yum).  I’ve heard they’re one of the few commercial cider mills still making this old-fashioned treat, so if you’re feeling busy, go ahead and buy it from them and feel good about keeping one of the last remaining small producers in business.

DIY: I made a pint (plus a few ounces…) of it myself, for the $5.99 that a gallon of cider costs (in Iowa). It took about 3 hours and 25 minutes, with some stirring at the end to keep stuff from burning, and about half an hour to let it cool/bottle it. It’s pretty effortless and it makes the whole house smell delish.

And what do you DO with boiled cider? Add it to baked goods. Here are some of the places I plan to use my boiled cider (either added in or drizzled over): Apple pie. Applesauce. Ice Cream. Steel-cut oatmeal. Biscuits. Blondies. Frosting (as a flavoring). Apple crisp. Pear crisp. Pear pie. Baked beans. Roasted ham. BBQ sauce. Candied bacon.

I’m sure there are others. These are just off the top of my head. Possibilities, endless, etc…

What do you love best about autumn? And what’s your favorite autumn treat?

But that isn’t to say that it’s perfect.  In fact, parts of it were quite a mess when we got here. Now, I’ve never moved into an empty house before (our last home was Rob’s before I came along), so I have absolutely ZERO frame of reference on this. I just know that whenever I moved into an apartment, it was clean-ish. This house, not so much. I mean, most of the stuff was gone, but there were some glaring messes. Like inside the oven. I don’t know how long it had been since that oven was cleaned, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say A VERY LONG TIME. Like, years. We turned on the oven, and everything smelled like burning. We turned off the oven, and it smelled like grease. Eeeeee-ew.

Anyway, I really shouldn’t complain, because PERFECT CHALLENGE OPPORTUNITY!  Exactly what is the best way to get an oven clean? I know ovens have those self-cleaning mechanisms, but I’ve never used one and they frankly scare me a bit. (800 degrees is really, really hot, and I don’t entirely trust smoke detectors). So, removing that as a cleaning option, which would be the better choice: a can of spray stuff, or washing soda with some steel wool and a little elbow grease?

Challenge: Oven Cleaner

The Easy Off Fume-Free spray foam includes water, butoxydiglycol, ethanolamine, paraffin wax, magnesium aluminum silicate, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, fragrance and propellants (isobutene and propane).

My homemade oven cleaner was a combination of washing soda, water and steel wool. (Side note: Washing Soda has become my go-to cleaning product lately. It makes dishes ungreasy, it cleans stains off kitchen counters, it’s part of my laundry soap… this stuff is AWESOME).

For photography purposes, I’ll show just the oven door, because it was challenging to get the inside of the oven to photograph well. But please know – I cleaned the whole dang thing. I promise!

Step One: Washing soda.

To test the cleaners, I used each product on one-half of the oven – door glass, oven insides, and oven racks.

The left half was the DIY half (plus one of the two backing racks), and I started there. I didn’t actually combine the washing soda and water – I wiped off as much excess gunk from the oven as possible (which was a disturbing amount of gunk, honestly, and it was pretty darn gross) and then sprinkled the washing soda directly over the wet-ish surfaces. Then I scrubbed with steel wool – my theory is that the washing soda works as much as a scrubbing agent as a cleaner. Then I rinsed and repeated. Until… clean! (Or, as close as I can get to clean.)

Step Two: Spray Foam Cleaner.

To test the spray, I simply sprayed it on the right half of the oven (there may have been some rogue spray that got to the left side, but that part was already as clean as it was going to get with the soda solution). Then I closed the oven door, and walked away for two hours, as the instructions recommended.

After two hours, I grabbed myself some paper towels, and went to town on wiping up the gunk (ugh) and then rinsing with water.

Et Voila! Oven cleaned and experiment completed. (Results below.)

Time and Cost Comparison

I purchased one box of washing soda a long while ago for about $3. I’d like to tell you exactly how much I used, but I really didn’t keep track. I sprinkled some on; scrubbed it around; and when it looked like I needed more, I added more. For cost purposes, we’ll assume I used 1/8^th of the box (I probably used a little less, but who really knows?), which would work out to $0.37 worth of cleaning product. To get half the left half of the oven and one baking rack clean, it took me probably 40 minutes of scrubbing and rinsing – not easy work.

The Easy Off cost $3.59 at the grocery store. I used a small portion of what was in the can – we’ll assume 1/6^th, which makes the cost about $0.59. It took about a minute to spray over the oven, and then two hours to just sit there. (I spent the two hours catching up on email and watching True Blood.) When the time was up, I wiped down-slash-scooped out the oven (ugh), which took about 15 minutes. Then I spent another 5 minutes spraying down the oven rack in the sink. Total: 20 minutes of work.

Ingredient Comparison

Washing soda is made of sodium carbonate, which naturally occurs in places like Wyoming and in the ash of burned seaweed.

Easy Off is made with petroleum, chemical cleaners, foaming agents, natural abrasive/thickening agents and lemon fragrance.

Effectiveness Comparison

OBVIOUS WINNER. But only for the door.

There were three different types of surfaces to be cleaned (window glass, porcelain oven interior and metal oven racks), and I’m not going to lie, I was surprised at the results. I totally expected the spray foam to beat the pants off my soda-and-elbow-grease method. But as you can see, the washing soda kicked a whole lot of ass on the window glass. I even went so far as to follow up the spray with washing soda to get a better clean – it’s super effective.

On the oven interior, it was a draw – both worked pretty darn well.  And when it came to the oven racks, the spray stuff was by far more effective at getting into the nooks and crannies than the soda and I were. So, overall, each method has one point in its favor, and the third was a draw. Hmmm…

PITA Factor

7 for the DIY, 4 for the spray. Either way you have to scrape gross glop out of the oven, and then wash down the inside of your oven with lots of water. It creates a mess, it smells greasy (even with the lemon-fragranced spray) and the gunk can stain your clothing. It’s not fun. The DIY also involves a great deal of serious scrubbing, which is why it gets the higher PITA rating.

DIY or Buy?

Ooof. I guess it depends a little bit on what you want to clean. If all you need cleaned are the oven racks, then the spray is more effective and less work. But for overall oven cleaning, I’m going to say go with washing soda. Yes, it’s more work and more of a PITA. But you aren’t putting chemicals in your oven (you know – WHERE YOUR FOOD GOES) and your window glass will be much, much cleaner.

So here’s my question:  How often do you clean your oven? And do you use the in-oven-super-hot-burn-it-all-away feature?

Okay, so we’re working through the slow, slow process of getting settled into the new house. Which is taking FOREVER and keeping me from doing the things I want to be doing (cough cough BLOGGING cough). But no matter – it’s all worth it and we’re almost all settled and cozy in our new digs. And I don’t know if I properly shared my complete excitement about the flora the previous owners left for us – namely several mature Concord grapevines, and a pear tree! The grape time has passed, but the tree is  FULL of pears! (Well, okay WAS full of pears. I may have attacked it last night.) I kept waiting and waiting for them to ripen, which they stubbornly refused to do, so I finally gave up and did some research on how the hecks to manage a pear tree.

Turns out, pears are basically alien fruit. They behave differently from almost every other fruit out there. Which is a little frustrating (I think I let them sit too long on the tree) but also really, really fascinating. Here are five interesting and strange things to know about pears.

1. Pears are one of the only fruits (the only fruit?) that won’t ripen successfully on the tree. They MATURE on the tree, but don’t ripen. Left to their own devices, they’ll… fall off, I guess.
2. They also have to be chilled in order to ripen! All those pears you buy at the market have already been chilled (likely during transportation to your market) which is why they get soft and sweet on the counter. But when you grow your own, you have to chill them yourself, in the fridge (or if you’re really awesome/alcoholic, in the kegerator).
3. Pears (and other fruits) can withstand cold to 30 degrees without freezing. The high sugar content protects them from frost damage.
4. These goofy edibles ripen from the inside out. So the way to tell if a pear is ripe is NOT to squeeze the fat bell part of the pear, but rather to push gently on the top of the pear, right next to the stem. If that’s soft, the pear is ripe enough to eat. Wait for a soft-fat-bell pear, and you may find that the core is overripe.
5. Pears – especially too-long-on-the-tree pears – can be used to make hard cider (like Apfelwein… but with pears. Birnewein!). And regular old non-alcoholic pear cider. And also, boiled cider, which is like maple syrup made with cider instead of sap. YUM.

So, there you have it. Five awesome things to know about pears. Do y’all grow any of your own fruits? Any surprising fruit facts?

(P.S. Hi! I missed you all! It’s good to be back.)

A power tool should not be so difficult to use that you blister in the attempt

Now, I like our drill well enough. It’s a Black and Decker 12v Battery Operated Drill, small and lightweight and efficient. HOWEVER. As demonstrated by the wicked blisters on my hands, it’s not made for people with less-than-masculine grip strength. To wit: To secure a bit in the drill, you must turn two tumblers in opposite directions until they sort of click into place, thus securing the bit. When the bit is not secure, you hit one knot in the wood, and suddenly your drill is turning but the bit is not. Often, the bit is then stuck in the wood, and you have to rescue it. I cannot, for the life of me, get the tumblers tight enough to secure certain small (9/64ths) bits; nor can I loosen the tumblers to change bits when a small bit is secure.

I have to go ask Rob to help me when ever I need to change a bit – he is able. It’s really inefficient when he’s manning the saw and I’m manning the drill. Plus, it’s frustrating and infuriating and makes me all “This is a sexist drill!” Which it probably isn’t. It was probably just not designed with a less-than-super-strong grip in mind. (I will not say “weak grip” because I don’t like thinking of myself as weak.)

Does anyone out there have a drill that’s easy to use? I would love recommendations. Or ideas/tips for how I can make our existing drill work for my (evidently) puny little hands?

Now, I was going to do fried Twinkies. But at the last minute, I changed my mind. Why? Because 1) That required me to buy Twinkies, 2) It also required me to freeze Twinkies overnight. And I was absolutely prepared to do that, until an Anon (Hi!) posted the fried peach idea and I realized that I HAD fresh peaches on hand and could successfully avoid another trip to the grocery store PLUS have a fried peach right away. Laziness and Impatience for the win!

And, oh, what a win.

Challenge: Fried Peaches

I actually piggy-packed my fried peaches onto the corn dog makings. I had a bunch of batter left after the dogs were done, so I added a heaping tablspoon of sugar to it and stirred it up again. That original recipe actually had cayenne in it, which was actually really interesting, but next time I might replace it with ginger, and then add some cinnamon.

So, starting from scratch, that recipe would look like:

Dry Ingredients
2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of yellow corn meal
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4  teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of ginger (or more, to taste)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (or more, to taste)
1 Tablespoon sugar (or more, to taste)

Wet Ingredients
1 egg
3/4 cup of whole milk

You could also find a funnel cake recipe and run with that, to get the sweetness right.

To make this breading, mix your dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix your wet in another. Add together, and quickly stir until the batter JUST comes together. It’ll be a little lumpy and uneven – that’s okay. Then, let the batter rest for about 10 minutes.

You get two servings from each peach. What a deal!

In the meantime, you need to peel and pit a peach. I just used the old-fashioned knife peeling method, but you could also boil a bit of water, drop the peach in for 30 seconds, toss it in a bowl full of ice water and slide the skin right off. Either way. Peel the peach, then cut it in half, and remove the pit.

And, like everything else this week, you need hot oil for the frying. Either turn on your fryer, or put vegetable or peanut oil in a pan, a few inches deep, and heat it to 375-ish degrees.

My batter was already in a glass, so I went with it. However, a bowl would work much better.

When the batter has rested and the oil is hot, drop the peach half into the batter, use a pair of tongs to spin it around and get it good and covered, then quickly move it to the hot oil. Let it fry up until it’s golden brown – about 5ish minutes. You may have to turn it a time or two to make sure all sides get golden.

Then, remove to a paper-towel-covered plate and let it drain. (I went so far as to blot it. Ooooh.) Yay, you have a fried peach! I served my peach half sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with honey, but I suspect caramel sauce or cool raspberry sauce would be delightful alternatives, too.

Taste Test

This is what my "oh, my goodness, this is so, so, so good" face looks like. Sort of.

Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe I’ve never had this before. It’s like a small piece of peach pie… fried. The crust is crispy and then soft and bready, with a hint of sweetness that compliments the inside peach. And that peach – it’s moist, slightly sweet and slightly tart (like all good peaches are), tender enough to cut with a fork but not fall-apart-all-over-the-place sloppy soft. The honey adds the real shock of sweet here, and the cinnamon played with the cayenne to bring just a hint of heat. All in all, it’s a complex dessert with lots of flavor and great texture contrast. This is something I will absolutely be making again. And next time, it will be served with either vanilla whipped cream or cool ice cream. Mmmmmm…

And that, folks, ends STATE FAIR WEEK… but only for this year. Next year, we’ll tackle new stuff. As for next week, it’ll be a moving related topic, because I’m moving (I hope, I hope, I hope…). Got any tips that make moving houses easier?

I’m originally from the awesome state of Minnesota, where, for whatever reason, there are a few things that are just said differently. For example, growing up, I played Duck, Duck, Gray Duck (rather than Duck, Duck, Goose). It wasn’t until I was in college that I learned about the goose business. And it’s the same way with corn dogs: In Minnesota (and especially at the Minnesota State Fair), these babies are Pronto Pups. Not that you can’t find a corn dog in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but you’re more likely to encounter a pronto pup. It’s just the way it is.

But no matter what you call them, the hot-dog-wrapped-in-corn-batter-and-dipped-in-hot-oil is a quintessential fair food. It’s fried, it’s on a stick and it’s delicious. And so, of course, I had to make one for STATE FAIR WEEK. After the dual appetizers of fried pickles and mac and cheese on a stick, a pronto pup (a.k.a. corn dog) dinner is just about perfect. So, here we go!

Challenge: Homemade Corn Dogs 

In the interest of not being laughed at by the blogosphere for my funny verbage, I shall refer to the pronto pups as “corn dogs”. To make my very own dogs, I followed the recipe and instructions over at A Cozy Kitchen.

Ingredients
A plate full of cornstarch
2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of yellow corn meal
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4  teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne
1 egg
3/4 cup of whole milk
4 hot dogs

Why turkey dogs? I don't know either. But that makes this meal healthy, right?

To start, make sure your hot dogs are thawed and supple and ready for their big show. Turkey dogs were the only hot dogs we had on hand. Work with what you’ve got, I always say! While they were defrosting in the microwave, I started prepping. First, pour some cornstarch out onto a plate. This will (eventually) coat the dog and make the batter stick better.

Pour wet ingredients into dry. Stir.

Then, mix together all the dry ingredients for the batter (from flour to cayenne in the ingredient list). In another bowl, beat together the egg and milk. Then, quickly, combine the wet and dry ingredients, mix gently until it just barely comes together – you’ll have a batter that looks like pancake batter. That’s good. It’s better to undermix in this case than to overmix, so the breading stays fluffy and tender. Trust me.

Batter. In a glass. Yes.

Now, the batter goes into a tall, skinny glass or cup. A champagne flute would have worked, but ours are packed in boxes somewhere, so I used a water glass. Then, the batter rests.

Now, the dogs are thawed. Skewer them (I used kabob skewers, but I hear that cheapo wooden chopsticks work wonders), and roll them in the cornstarch (tapping off the excess). And now’s also a good time to get your frying setup ready too. If you have a fryer, set it to 375 degrees and remove the basket. If not, heat 2 to 3 inches of vegetable or peanut oil in a heavy, deep skillet. It should reach 350 to 375 degrees.

Rollin' rollin' rollin'

Ready? This part moves fast: Dip the cornstarched and skewered dog into the glass full of batter and give it a few twists, so it’s all covered in batter. Then quickly, quickly slide it into the hot oil. The batter really won’t want to stick, so you have to move fast so the dog stays pretty well covered. Once it gets into the oil, it sets within a second. Let it fry up for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown. I had to turn my dog a few times with a set of tongs, so each side got equally golden.

Pronto Pup Rescue!

When done, remove to a plate covered with paper towels to drain off the grease. Then slather in mustard and enjoy!

Taste Test

As Rob said, They’re Dee-lish. The breading on these puppies are absolutely spot-on: Crispy and crackly on the outside, soft and spongy on the inside, the dog inside steaming after you bite into it. The corn-sweetness of the breading is a perfect contrast to the vinegary mustard, and the whole thing stays put on the skewer, thanks in part to the little nub of breading that ends up wrapping around the skewer. That’s one of my favorite parts of the corn dog experience, and the last bite on any good dog.

The only complaint I have was the turkey dog had a different taste than a regular beef dog does. But that was my own fault, and it brings up a good point: Vegan and vegetarian and hot-dog purists can all ensure the quality and diet-friendliness of these babies. So, win.

I suppose I could also complain that our grocery store doesn’t sell foot-long hot dogs, so I can’t make foot-long corn dogs. But then again, I could make a half-dozen of these (approximately) for the cost of a single fair dog, so I’ll let that slide.

DIY or Buy? 

Yes. Both. During fair time, Buy, because no trip to the State Fair is complete without a corn dog. It’s like going to France and avoiding wine, or going to Hollywood and ignoring celebrities: Wrong all around. But for the other 50-ish weeks out of the year, DIY is the only way to go. (Even if the bar down the road is selling them. DIY.)

Okay, obviously I have a special place in my heart for pronto pups/corn dogs. What is your can’t-miss-it fair/carnival/celebration food?

And TOMORROW is the last day of my State Fair Extravaganza! I shall be sad to see it go – my fryer and I were really getting along. But I’ll end on a high note with dessert – not fried Twinkies, but here are some hints: In involves a stone fruit, honey and (of course) a fryer. That’s all I’m saying.