DIY Yogurt

I grew up on home made yogurt, but (no offense, Mom) our home made yogurt was never my favorite . Since then I was relatively ambivalent towards the food in general until I discovered Greek style yogurt. The health benefits of Greek yogurt have been extolled far and wide, so I won't go into it here. Greek yogurt had me at the creamy texture and only improved when I tried honey yogurt (I eat it like ice cream). 

The high cost of Greek yogurt, plus my love of all things home made, led me to give home made yogurt a second chance. This method is a combination of several I discovered online. Do some research and figure out what works for you. And don't be intimidated, all you need is about an hour of time, 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt, and 2 quarts of milk. 

I started out with a make shift double boiler and a candy thermometer. 

You don't need anything fancy, just a thermometer that goes up to 180 degrees.   

Fill the bottom pot of the double boiler halfway with water. Put it on the stove and bring it to a boil. Since you have to boil the water anyway, you might as well sterilize your utensils. Put a 2 quart oven safe container and metal spoon directly in the water. Turn the inside pot of the double boiler upside down on top of the pot. The steam will sterilize your yogurt making gear and help ensure a creamy, tasty product by minimizing sources of contamination.

 

Once the water has boiled, remove your newly sterile equipment and turn the inside of your double boiler right side up. Pour 2 quarts of milk into your pot (I actually use powdered milk: 2 1/4 cups of powder to 2 quarts, a larger ratio for higher fat content).


Bring the milk above 180 degrees. It is not a big deal if you go above 180, but you must hit 180 to denature the milk proteins and prime them for yogurt culturing. 

Meanwhile, bring 2 tablespoons of plain non-fat yogurt to room temperature. For best results, buy a yogurt starter with active cultures and no pectin. Yogurt with pectin will result in a slightly slimy texture for your first few yogurt batches. 

When your milk reaches 180 degrees, take it off the heat and let it cool to 110 degrees. 110 is the ideal incubation temperature for yogurt bacteria, so you do not want the milk temperature to dip below 110. The rate of cooling doesn't matter, but for expediency I typically surround the pot of milk with ice packs. 

Pour the milk into your oven safe bowl, mix in your yogurt starter. I also like to add another 1/2 cup of milk powder for extra creaminess, but that is a personal preference. 

Cover the bowl with tin foil and incubate yogurt mixture at 110 degrees for 8-12 hours.  I use the pilot light in my gas oven to maintain the temperature, but according to my internet research any of the following will work:

1) A crockpot, filled with water, on low.

2) Make the yogurt in a thermos.

3) Place the bowl in your hot water heater closet.

4) Use an electric blanket

Try not to disturb the yogurt while it is incubating. After 8 hours (ish) it will have solidified. 

You could call it a day there, but I like to strain it for an hour for a more Greek style texture. 

With the exception of one mishap that resulted in ricotta cheese (hello happy accident!), I have been very pleased with the texture and taste of my yogurt making endeavors. Overall, it is very little hands on time and it is much cheaper than buying Greek yogurt. I set aside a couple of tablespoons of each batch to act as the starter for the next batch.  Or share some of your yogurt and start a trend akin to Amish friendship bread.

Good luck!

Friendly Friday: Mer and Ben Part 2

For some reason I thought I had scheduled this post to go up yesterday, so I apologize for the delay. At long last, I have Meredith’s Christmas Craft, a supplement to Ben’s woodwork last week. It has been a long day of sanding (more on that later), so without further ado: home made candles.
Mer writes:
Meanwhile, I tried my hand at candle-making! After failing to find any local candle supply stores, I ordered soy wax, wicks, and fragrance online from Rustic Escentuals. While there are a plethora of materials made specifically for home candle making, I went low-cost. I bought a $6 stainless steel pot that I knew I could use as a double boiler with another pot I already owned, and got a $3 candy thermometer.

I started with the candle containers – found this eclectic mix at an antique store downtown – Two Gals’ Junk.

Then I had to secure the wicks perfectly straight in the middle of the containers. I used needle-nosed pliers to guide the wick, with a dab of hot glue on the end, into the bottom of each container.

Use a clothespin or tie the wick to a pencil laid across the top of the container to secure the wick firmly in the middle.


Now comes the messy part! You can use a scale to measure out the perfect amount of wax, but again: I went low cost, and I don’t currently own a kitchen scale. Instead, I just used all the wax I had bought and figured I would fill as many containers as I could. The soy wax flakes generally melted to about half their original volume.

I read over and over again how important it is to be cautious when melting wax – it has a flammable point, so I used a double boiler and this candy thermometer to monitor the temperature as it melted. I also covered my workspace with old sheets just in case I spilled anything!
Here’s where you can add fragrance and coloring if you want – I added just a few drops of pumpkin scent, but decided to go natural with the coloring. I’ve read that while crayons do work for coloring candles, they can sometime harden differently than the wax and make candles more difficult to burn – so I think I’ll probably buy the coloring if I go that route in the future.
Once ready to pour, I used a plastic measuring container with a spout. It takes 24 hours for the wax to dry completely.

I packaged each candle a little bit differently – some I decorated with cloth and ribbons and gave as a pair, others I sent separately as a small thankyou for the light that my friends are to me.
The only candle I didn’t end up giving away is the strange blue one that is a hand holding a cup (review candle pic #2) – I thought it was so fun and funky in the store, but the longer I looked at it, the weirder it seemed. My husband and I laugh about it now, and shoved it behind some other decorations on a bookshelf. Ha!


Isn’t this a great idea? I will probably channel this next year for Christmas. Also, I was the loving recipient of that teacup candle in the bottom left corner and it literally brightens my day every evening when I light it.

Want to post on Friendly Friday? Email me at sitwithmeawhile(at)gmail.com.

Happy Valentine’s Day

…aka another day to embrace creativity.

One of the many things I love about my family is that we tend to run with the philosophy of “why buy a card when you can make one?”  Along these lines, my valentine’s card/gift from my mother came in this form:

And inside it was a Valentine making kit!



I had a lot of fun after a dreary day of work putting together some valentines for my loved ones. I did not have the foresight to photograph each valentine before I sent them off, but my favorite one used the heart stencil and those extra paint chips from the 2012 Calendar.


The inside reads “You’re the perfect paint color on my wall”.

So Happy Valentine’s Day, dear reader. You truly are the perfect paint color on my wall. And on my furniture. And on my clothes.

Third Time’s the Charm

…aka coffee table re-do.  As with most of my furniture, I inherited my coffee table from some friends. At the time, the coffee table was a significant improvement from the Rubbermaid bins that previously served as a footrest/coffee table surface.

After a while, however, the worn state of the coffee table just wasn’t doing it for me.

I really liked the texture of the table top, so when I was brainstorming up-cycle ideas, I wanted to keep this principle in play. My first idea was to use PVC pipe to make a surface, akin to Alicia’s mirror or Mandy’s dresser. I guess I should have been wary when everyone I told about this idea was skeptical. The boyfriend even (lovingly) refused to do this project with me. 
Round One:
I forged ahead anyway, and 40 feet of PVC later combined with 20 minutes with a rotor saw left me with this:

Hello my pretties!
Anyway, I got right to work laying out the PVC inside the newly deconstructed and painted coffee table frame. This blue-gray color is another treasure from the the “oops” paint section.

At this point, the coffee table is upside down with some scrap boards underneath to support an even lay of the pipes. So far, so awesome, right? I was having visions of an epic brag blog at this point. But pride comes before the fall, my friends. The idea was the glue the pipes together with a high strength epoxy and between the tension and the glue there wouldn’t be any need a base support. The guy at the hardware store (reluctantly) recommended an epoxy, so I went to town. In an attempt to make a uniform pattern, I worked from all four sides inward. And, to my utter dismay, I ended up with this:

A mid-table gap. Bad news bears. I am not quite sure how this worked out, since it all fit perfectly when I did the dry run.
So round one, fail. I can speak to the strength of the epoxy, however, since it took a hammer to crack out the pipe slivers when I went to break them out.
Round 2:
Next thought was the painted wood grain plywood table top. The best example is Mandy’s lamp shade (minus the glitter).  My landlord generously showed me how to use his fancy table saw so that we could get straight cuts for plywood piece. However, three seconds of the plywood placed in the table frame told me round two was a no go.

Round Three: Fence Fence Planks
My next idea was to use some old fence planks from my landlords’ fence (lucky for me, they are extremely generous with their tools and old materials). Fortunately, they were the perfect length for the coffee table. With my newly acquired table saw skills, I took a bit off the sides. Then it was a matter of nailing the boards together. I wanted to keep the rustic nature of the planks, so I just did  a quick sand to remove splinters and then used a gray wash (gray paint + water) to antique the color a bit. Two coats of polyurethane, and ta-da! I am in love.

This was by far my most time consuming and expensive failure. Fortunately, the final fix was free and perfect. In retrospect, the table now reflects the style of the house more than the PVC table would have. I do have a box full of PVC slivers and a large piece of plywood at my disposal now. Napkin rings for all?
In conclusion, this table is the poster child of the iterative creative process and how it behooves the artist to be flexible and generous to the inevitable flops that may precede the final beauty.

Friendly Friday: Meredith and Ben, Part 1

Happy Friday! Today’s Friendly Friday comes from my dear friend Meredith and her husband Ben. This week I’ll feature Ben’s Christmas crafts and next week I’ll unveil Meredith’s creativity. Meredith is a beautiful writer, so I will just leave you with what she wrote up.

Now that the Christmas trees are departed; the lights stored in attics, I think a short reflection on the beauty of gifts that still provide meaning is in order.

Gifts like the pear jam that my college roommate, Emily, made from her grandmother’s pear tree that my husband Ben and I now savor on toast and biscuits.

Or the plaque with mod-podged old music sheets and a cute bird stencil that my friend Leticia designed, now hanging in our bedroom.

I love the time that went into these gifts. It puts a little bit of the giver into it, and I am reminded of that every time I see (or taste) the gift. It brings to mind the best of the Christmas spirit.

It was based on this sentiment that my husband Ben and I attempted to make 2011 a good year in the Bergstrom household for gift-making. My husband is a carpenter and has been blessed with a great shop he can use at work. As for me…well, I have no specific talent or workspace, but I do have a willingness to try!

Ben spent a good number of his December evenings working on these projects for family:

An 8” x 10” chalkboard – so fun for the kitchen or living area! Ben used cedar fence planks left over from our summer garden to make the frame. The backing is thin masonite from the local hardware store, painted with leftover chalkboard paint from when he made a larger version of this for our kitchen.

Coasters: I love how simple these are, perfectly accentuating the beauty of natural wood. Ben made three sets, experimenting with leaving or removing the bark based on the type of wood and finish. He found the oak logs at his workplace – a camp set in a pretty valley just west of Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

Napkin holder: This one is super fun. We agreed it looks like an alien. Last year, Ben made coasters with this white finish for his sister and brother-in-law, and they had requested a matching napkin holder. The dowel rods and tiny log cross-sections tie this together with the coaster design. Lift up the tamp and you can fit a good stack of napkins in here!

Here’s the crown jewel: a lamp! Ben has wanted to try a lamp for a while, and this white oak log proved to be really beautiful sanded down. The base is also white oak. The wood has two coatings of paste wax, buffed before it dried completely to ensure smoothness. We cheated on the lamp shade and got it at Lowe’s!

All gorgeous, right? Stay tuned for Mer’s creations next week. I can’t wait to see more from these two!

One Year In

I have been living in Winnemucca for over a year now, which sets the record for the longest contiguous stay in one place since I was sixteen. Overall, it has been a good year. I have thoroughly enjoyed nesting and exploring my creative horizons. Professionally, Winnemucca has brought numerous opportunities and challenges which have led to some stress but ultimately, great fulfillment.  Living in a small town is wonderful when you want to commute to work in under three minutes, walk to every conceivable location, and enjoy a quieter lifestyle. But with this comes the limitations of breaking into a community that is either highly transient (I have now been in Winnemucca longer than half of the employees at my office) or completely entrenched (half of those who have temporal seniority on me have been here for 15+ years, if not their whole lives). It is an awkward place to be as a twenty something in a long distance relationship. While I have not given up on a rewarding social life, most of my rejuvenation and outside of work activity revolves around the art projects that I produce. I am so grateful to have the tools and time at my disposal to learn new skills. I am also deeply thankful for those of you who read my blog and provide a community, albeit a virtual one.  I am not writing this to whine, but to be honest and dispel any illusion of perfection in my life.
And while we’re on the theme of imperfection, I thought I would give you a little house tour. I did not clean up in advance, and the photography is far from ideal. I love this house. As with my personal life this place has come a long way, but is still a work in progress.
Here is the dining room in 2011:

And in 2012:

The camping table, and first roommate are gone. The deceptively comfortable white chair is now in the room of Roomie #2.  Yes, that is a tequila bottle covered fake plant in the corner. It does not belong to me, if there were any questions. Let’s play ‘I Spy that Project’:

1. Suitcase stool
2. Half finished dining table set. The table used to be the yellow oak color of two of those chairs. Eventually they will have the walnut/white combo.
3. Vintage mirror from my Christmas candle display.

Ok, not much going on in the dining room. On to the living room.
2011:

2012:

In the living room, let’s spy:

1. Brand new fake fire place/gas heater.
2. The other half of the Christmas candle project.
3. The desk turned cabinet. While the construction of the desk is solid, I still am not crazy about the color combination. Furthermore, one of the re-purposed handles fell off today, so I may be back to the drawing board on this one. At the very least, I won’t be sad to part with it if I move away from Winnemucca.
4. Dr. Suess lamp. Half way through its transformation from your yawn inducing college kid lamp to a more interesting and austere light fixture.
5. Part of a crocheted rug. Here’s a hint: it won’t end up as a table cloth.
6. A blank wall, desperate for some Sarah-Do: February art action.

And into the kitchen! This might be my favorite room in the house.
2011:

2012:

I have probably put the most effort into this room, and it is the closest to “finished” as I have right now.  There are now cabinet doors (and drawers!) installed. We also ditched the avocado refrigerator in favor of a more sightly, and most importantly, functional appliance. You will also see:

1. The hand built kitchen table and chairs that started my DIY frenzy.
2. Microwave stand that I painted red. I also painted/decoupaged some old oatmeal and spagetti sauce jars to create cheap yet decorative storage containers for my beans, nuts, and other bulk items.
3. Wine bottle art! I am not sure if I ever blogged this particular installment in which I glued buttons and handmade flowers onto the wine bottles.
4. A Quagmire Halloween costume. Unfortunately, not mine.

Here is another view of the kitchen. For your viewing pleasure:

1. Barnyard bench, designed to contain our recycling.
2. One moderately contained craft supply corner.
3. A pumpkin shell turned bowl.
4. Safety gear. Don’t forget to wear your earplugs and safety glasses!

I don’t have a before picture of my bedroom, but here is how it looks now:

I Spy:

1. 2 lamps, halfway completed.
2. Hand made wall art, never blogged.
3. My first curtain sewing attempt, crafted from thrifted sheets. All in all, a success. At the time, I did not know the golden rule of curtain hanging: high and wide. Learn from my mistakes, gang.
4. A mirror, in need of a home on a wall and possibly a home made frame.
5. 1 slightly tacky throw pillow, that might get a make-over one day.

My bedroom used to be part of the wrap around porch.

And last, but not least, is me! 90% of my weekends are spent looking like this:

All this to say, I am not perfect nor am I the perfect crafter. It may look like a half-baked disaster around here most of the time, but I enjoy it, and I hope you do to.Before my projects make it onto the blog they usually sit around incomplete while I wait for the final flourish of inspiration to hit me. Art is messy, but in the mess I find a peace and quiet joy in my life here. And at the end of the day, that is all that matters.

Gorgeous

Hand carved spatulas. Gorgeous party favors from our office Christmas party.

Desk Upcycle

For months now, our TV has rested on a government surplus desk. Surprisingly, the desk is made of wood and it is not in terrible shape. However, as a piece of living room furniture it could be more functional and decorative. And so, the cabinet idea was born. Here is the original desk, already prepped for transformation. 

 We couldn't paint or restain  the wood because of some strange divets and stripping that was carved into every part of the surface. It looks ok, but mostly it would require more wood filling than I was willing to invest in, so I just applied a coat of polyurethane and then we moved onto the siding and doors. Here is the end result:

We bought the plywood for the sides and doors, but the rest of the wood came from scrap one by twos. We were really able to expand our skills in this project as adding supports called for new creativity and learning the functionality of new drill bits. Let me just tell you, I am the drilling queen.

On the inside, we Mod-Podged fabric to particle board to make the shelves. Does the fabric look familiar? I  am still in love with the pattern and I am so happy we incorporated it into this piece, even if it is hidden from site.

The hardware came off of a salvaged end table. Originally the drawer pulls were just side bars, but with the help of a hidden nut, they function as a handle.

In many ways, this was our most involved project yet. I love how the lines turned out, but I am on the fence on the color combination. The gray (thank you Mr. Oops Paint) is wonderful, but the orange feels a bit too juvenile to me. At this point I am thinking that a burnt orange might be better option for the hardware. Or maybe the Pantone Color of 2012, tangerine tango?

Thoughts? Tango it up, or leave the pumpkin orange?

Here is the cabinet again

The Sarah Adventures

My dear friend  Sarah came to visit a month ago. Right before her visit, we had a text conversation that went something like this:

"Hey, do you know how to crochet?"

"Nope. Why?"

"Oh, I was just going to have you teach me this weekend."

"Well, I've been wanting to learn too, so lets figure it out when you're here."

And figure it out we did. Together, we picked out our yarn colors and watched YouTube videos to figure out the basic crochet stitches. We decided that a scarf was an easy place to start, and Sarah had the genius idea to make an infinity scarf. Since we live in separate states, I hope she doesn't mind that I did the same. Well anyway, after some hemming and hawwing, Sarah got the hang of it and took off. During my flight home for Thanksgiving, my own scarf began to take shape, although I got lazy decided to make scallops by chain stitching out for 10 stitches and then securing the end to the previous row. I am very pleased with how it turned out. It really is more of a scarf necklace, but our office is always frigid, so this is a perfect winter accessory. 

Oh, and for our moms, here is a picture of us at Lake Tahoe

Let the crochet insanity begin!