(Mis)Adventures

The other day I was reading a blogpost on a friend's myspace, and it made me laugh. Her 5 year old daughter was into one trouble after another, including writing on her new fancy couch, spilling a large bucket of beans on the porch and flinging them into the yard, and flooding their bathroom with water, conditioner, and mouthwash. The hilarity was that this sounded so routine to me (though not typically with my 5-year-old)!

I gave the girls a bath tonight, and got them dried and in their jammies. I paused to check email and let them play with Daddy (who had just gotten home) downstairs. I guess Daddy was in the bathroom, and the girls went outdoors to enjoy the warm evening. I heard their voices thru the window, and looked out to tell them to come back inside. There they were, sitting in the lawn, freshly washed and in their jammies, playing contentedly with.... something. "Okay, let's give them back to the kitty" my oldest said. "What are you playing with?" I asked as they returned their treasures to the cat. "Mouses!" my 3-year-old said. "What?!? Mice???" "Yeah." "Are they... alive?" "No," my daughter said, "they're dead. They don't bite." Good grief. My kids had three dead mice to play with on their laps in the twilight. Of course.

I've been asked about the mayonnaise I made for the potato salad last weekend. This recipe is out of Nourishing Traditions which I absolutely recommend if you have any sense of caretaking your health so as to be effective in God's Kingdom!

Mayonnaise
Makes 1 1/2 cups
1 whole egg, at room temp
1 egg yolk, at room temp
1 t. Dijon-type mustard
1 1/2 T. lemon juice
1 T. whey (optional)
3/4-1 c. extra virgin olive oil or expeller-expressed sunflower oil
generous pinch sea salt
In your food processor, place egg, egg yolk, mustard, salt and lemon juice and optional whey. Process until well blended, about 30 seconds. Using the attachment that allows you to add liquids drop by drop, add olive oil and/or sunflower oil with the motor running. Taste and check seasoning. You may want to add more salt and lemon juice. If you have added whey, let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature, well covered, for 7 hours before refrigerating. With whey added, mayonnaise will keep several months and will become firmer with time. Without whey, mayonnaise will
keep for about 2 weeks.

My experience: I use Grey Poupon, and it's almost a little TOO much of a mustard-y flavor for mayo. Great in egg-salad though. My mayo comes out decidedly yellow, not because of the pale mustard, but the egg yolks. Most commercial brands use more egg whites than yolks, but the yolks (of decent eggs) are full of good vitamins and enzymes. My egg yolks are quite orange, so this adds to the color. The whey thing is cool; Whey is a by-product of making cheese, and it includes some of the cheese-making bacteria.... particularly lactic-acid-producing bacteria. This is special because lactic acid actually inhibits the growth of many kinds of bad bacteria (same stuff in sauerkraut, etc). Sitting the mayo out for a while lets these good bacteria grow and make the acid; therefore even in the fridge for months bacteria won't be able to spoil your mayo! Why bother? Well, the oils in store-mayo are less than good for you. Even canola is controversial. And 80% of soybeans are genetically modified, so... And if I can't pronounce it, I try to avoid it.

A note on whey: apparently it is also the 'watery stuff' on top of yogurt. Try to find an organic or natural brand (I use Nancy's - well, I did before starting to make it myself), line a colander with cheesecloth and pour in the yogurt (I use plain - not sure if the fruity/sugary stuff would even work). Let it drain all day (into a bowl or jar!). Tie up the cheesecloth and hang it (I tied it to the handle of a wooden spoon resting across the top of a large pot) overnight. What you get in the bowl is whey, what you have in the cloth is cream cheese, albeit a little tangy, but softer to spread. And NOT 'manufactured' in the way it's done commercially.