Making Fresh Cream Butter

I recently  learned how to make butter from my friend Ashlie. It's very simple to do and delicious!

The first thing you need if you are making butter at home is whole milk with the cream. Ashlie bought hers from a man who has his own milk farm down the road (and a license to sell to the public.) If you have never tried fresh whole milk- a note of warning: You might become addicted, it is nothing like the white-colored water sold in plastic gallon jugs at the super market. ;)

 You can (barely) see the line towards the top where the cream has separated from the milk.

 You will need a clean container with a good lid like the glass jar above to shake the cream in.

 Get a scoop, we used a 1/2 measuring cup, and carefully pour the cream into the shaking jar.

 Your jar needs to be about half full, not more or you will not leave enough room for good shaking and expansion of the butter as it expands with air. (Hi Ashlie!)

 Screw the lid on very tight and....

 ...now you are ready to shake the cream!

(Better than a shake weight because it's obviously productive...
then again, it produces butter which gives you more calories... hmmmm.)

 After about 6 minutes, the cream is looking frothy and expanding with the bubbles.

 After about 12 minutes, the cream is turning yellow and starting to clump together in little butter balls.

 Here you can see the butter starting to stick to the sides of the jar.

 After about 15-20 minutes of constant shaking, you can see yellow creamy butter.

Now the butter can be scooped out into a container to be washed...

 ...and the whey can be poured back into the milk jar. 

A wide-mouthed jar is appreciated for this step, since you have to scoop the butter out.

 If you do not wash the milk out of the butter, as Ashlie found out the hard way, you will end up with spoiled-milk tasting butter- yuck!

 Here is the butter before washing.

 To wash, run clean water over the butter...

 ...and press the milk out of the butter with your spoon.

 You may need to repeat this step 3-4 times.

 When the water runs clear, you will know it has been washed adequately. Press as much of the water out as you can. If you would like salted butter, now is the time to add the salt and mix well.

 If you have a butter bell, now you will scoop all of your butter into the bell part...

 Compact the butter into the bell so that any excess water rises to the top and can be poured out.

 Next fill the bottom part of the butter bell with 1/4 cup of clean water and...

 invert into itself to seal the butter, keep it fresh and soft.

Remember to change the water in your butter bell every other day to keep your butter fresh.
Thanks, Ashlie, for the lesson in making butter!

Enjoy!

One of the ways we enjoy fresh butter is with fresh homemade flour tortillas and honey!

Things I'd Forgotten About Newborns

Since our daughter is 4, it had been a while since I'd been constantly around a newborn. It's crazy how many of the little details get fuzzy with time... even simple things like:

* They eat FREQUENTLY. Yes, I knew they ate, but when their food comes from ME it is impacting just how often. (I'm so grateful that breastfeeding is going well, there's no way I'm complaining about that.)

* They get rid of what they eat just as frequently...

* They make adorable cooing noises when they're nursing.

* Everyone and their dog wants to hold a newborn. Maternal instinct, especially around winter germs, does not mix well with this.

* Newborns grow so quickly!

* Their heads are really wobbly.

* Their cry sounds like a kitten's mew.

* They tend to gather lint between their toes and fingers.

* Their milky smell is the best!

* They sleep a lot!

Little man is already a month old and changing quickly. He's gaining weight and filling out with cute baby fat... I have the sneaky suspicion that HE will be 4 before I know it.

Lychee, Zapote, Guisquil, and Pitaya: Fruit and Vegetables Introduced to me in Guatemala

There are four types of fruit or vegetable that I was introduced to in Guatemala: Lychee, Zapote, Guisquil, and Pitaya. Because I learned of them in Guatemala, I know them by their Guatemalan names; with the exception of lychee... I'm not sure what it's called in Spanish since a fellow expat introduced it to me. So let's start with that one:

Lychee: a colorful, reddish fruit on the outside with a grape-like inside surrounding a seed, is quite sweet! You just peel off the red part, eat the white and spit out the seed. I think the flavor is similar to that of a grape as well.

Image: piyato / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Zapote: From the outside, I think this looks like a sweet potato or tuber but it is actually considered a fruit. It has thick brown skin on the outside with an orange flesh surrounding a large dark brown seed. I wasn't impressed with the mild, slightly sweet flavor, but I figure it's something one must develop a taste for. (Image from A.M. Costa Rica)

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Guisquil: Known in English as "chayote," this light green squash-like vegetable has a white meat and an interesting juice. When we cut it, if it got on our hands it made them feel like the skin was drawn up very tight, like something you'd expect a fancy spa to put on your face to make you look younger. ;) (If you try that, let me know if it works. That'd be a great natural alternative to Botox for interested people!) In Guatemala we would peel, cut into large round slices and boil the guisquil. Then, we would coat it in the same egg mixture used to make envueltos de ejote, (green bean wraps) and fry in olive oil. It was very tasty this way or boiled like any vegetable in a soup or stew.

Image: anankkml / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Pitaya: Known as "dragon fruit" in English, what points this exotic fruit gains in appearance, it loses in flavor. It's bright magenta skin with green-spiked leaves are peeled away to expose a white or magenta flesh filled with little black seeds. The flavor is not sweet, and reminds me of a raw potato. It is sometimes made into chips or cut up raw and added to other fruit mixtures or covered with sugar to give it some flavor. There should be a proverb about the pitaya... something like, "Though it looks as exciting as a pitaya, it is as flavorless." (Maybe you can come up with a better one. ;))

Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Have you tried any of these fruits or vegetables? Did you like them? Where were you introduced to them?

Homestead Heritage: Forge

The last workshop I will share from our homeschooling field trip to Homestead Heritage in Waco, Texas is the forge.

Here the blacksmith started with a metal rod...

and while his assistant pumped air through the bellows to increase the heat,

He gradually beat the piece of the metal into a:

deceptively delicate looking leaf key chain.

Homestead Heritage: Woodworking

Another workshop we visited on our homeschooling field trip to Homestead Heritage in Waco, Texas was the woodworking shop.

Both the stained glass and the doors were created by craftsmen in the community.

Inside was a spacious workplace with a wood stove to keep warm in winter.

Some of the beautiful things they have crafted in the woodworking shop include
a prize-winning violin, (among other instruments,) and really nice furniture.

One such piece of furniture is this handmade wooden bed frame...

which reminded me of a handcrafted wooden bed frame we had in Guatemala. 

Here's a photo for comparison:

Homestead Heritage: Pottery

This is a continuation of our homeschool group field trip in Waco, Texas to Homestead Heritage touring different workshops. Here we visited the pottery shop:

 At the Potter's House we watched a clump of clay turn into a vase...

 We saw how this lady used a combination of clay and weaving to create...

 this two toned basket that is still in the drying, unfinished process:

 The yellow minerals on the pottery below, after fired in the kiln, turned into...

 the beautiful brown and copper tones seen in pottery like this tea set:

There were many other beautiful pottery colors available as well, like this deep blue:

This is a class I would love to take, though I'm sure my product wouldn't look as nice as some of these!

Homestead Heritage: Gristmeal

This is a continuation of our homeschool group Homestead Heritage field trip in Waco, Texas through the different workshops. Here we visited the gristmill:

Outside of the gristmill, you will find...

this waterwheel, which powers...

these wheels and pulleys so that...

the grindstone can grind the wheat, corn or other grain.
The craftsman in charge of this workshop told us that the freshly ground flour is extremely flammable and that many gristmills in the past went up in flames. From this comes the saying: "Keep your nose to the grindstone..." because that was how the miller could sense if the flour started scorching.

The grooves in the grindstone, combined with centrifugal force, 

push the freshly ground flour off of the grindstone into a collecting place.

Unless the grindstone gets too old to use and then it can be...

turned into a flower planter!

Homestead Heritage: Fiber Crafts

In October several homeschooling families went on a field trip to Homestead Heritage in Waco, Texas. This is a place committed to sustainability and community that I recommend checking out if you're ever in the area. As reflected on their website:

"Our Traditional Crafts Village showcases a community of craftsmen who have returned, not to the past, but to the enduring values exemplified in handcraftsmanship. True craft requires more than skill: it expresses the craftsmen’s care and concern, their personal investment in everything they do. You can visit the shops of our crafts village, watch our craftsmen work, even attend classes to learn craft skills and, in all this, experience with our craftsmen the joy and fulfillment of returning to craft, the art of work."

Because there was so much to see that I think a single post with all of it would be picture and information overload, I'm going to separate the different stations they had into different posts for this week.

One of my favorite workshops to visit was the Fiber Crafts shop.

 

Here we were introduced to...

 

a beautiful selection of naturally dyed fibers.

The loom.

I liked the useful decoration of the wooden ceiling beam.

Just looking at the beautiful colors makes me want to make something.

Foot pedals on the loom.

 Batya measuring her weaving.

I loved all of the colorful yarn and threads displayed throughout the shop.

There were many looms for when there is a class.

For comparison, a piece of Guatemalan textile patchwork and...

 a Swedish version of a patchwork weaving.

SagaUnscripted: The 3rd Chapter- Abu Dhabi

We now know where the next chapter in our saga will probably take place, as Ben has been hired to teach High School English in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Here's a map:

The United Arab Emirates is a federation, or group of 7 state-like smaller governments that bind together for certain things but still have their own individual governments/supreme courts etc.

November-March seem to be the spring-like temperatures, around 70*-80* and then April-October are scorching 100+ temperatures. Since Ben will get there in January, he will get to experience some of the nicer temperatures.

Something Ben's been interested in since we left Guatemala to have the baby in Texas, besides learning Arabic, is the selection of fruits available in Abu Dhabi; he really misses the variety. He asked some of the teachers who are already there and this was their response:

"apples
pears
strawberries
oranges
lychee
breadfruit
durian
bananas
blueberries
raspberries
dragon fruit
kiwi
strawberries
watermelon
cantaloupe
honeydew
prickly pears
mangosteen
rhabutans
papaya
mango
guava
lemon grass
...and about twenty fruits I have no idea what they are called. The main thing that is hard to find is berries, so I stock up on frozen when I'm in the city."

And, yes, he was very excited to hear this!

I expect to learn a lot of new things about this part of the world and plan to blog about it as I go.

Narrowing International Teaching Options as an Expat Family

Knowing that there are always trade-offs with any international teaching position, with the multitude of options that are seemingly available, it helps us to have a way to narrow options. All of the following criteria does not have to be met, of course, but it does help serve as a filter! (So, in no particular order:)

1. Do they pay for everyone's flight, not just the person who will be teaching?

2. What other benefits are offered? (Summer flights home for the family, housing, insurance, etc.)

3. Is there enough religious freedom in that country that there is a church we could attend?

4. What does the culture have that would benefit our family or that we would find interesting? Languages, useful or easy to learn? future business opportunities?

5. Are fruits and vegetables readily available? How accessible is a healthy lifestyle?

6. How large is the expat and/or Spanish-speaking community? (If it is not a Spanish-speaking country.)

7. How does that country view child-rearing? Homeschooling?

8. Is there a supported midwife community? Is home-birth available or even legal?

9. Is freedom of speech and technology available? (Are certain sites blocked on the internet in that country? If so is there a way around it?)

10. What is the teaching position available and would the person applying for it enjoy it, or simply endure it for the experience in another country.

He's Here: Meet Little Man

Saturday: my mom knew somehow that the baby would be coming soon. She began preparing food to have on hand for afterwards. Sunday and Monday were full of irregular baby contractions until around 7 p.m. when I went into active labor with contractions 4 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute by midnight. We called the midwife at 12:40.

I labored all night. It was difficult, but more manageable than people make you think. ;) Elias was born the next morning, Tuesday, December 6 at 10:31, weighing 8 pounds 12 oz and 21 inches long. Talia is fascinated by him!

Homebirth was an incredibly difficult, but very rewarding experience. If you live in North East Texas and are interested in midwife services, I'd recommend Childbirth Services.

We are all doing well and are happy that our little man is here!