Hi! It's been awhile and I apologize for that. But, here I am. It's June and the summer has been, if not officially, as its 70-odd degrees here, the birds are going nuts and the Gypsy Moth caterpillers are eating all of our trees.
Some updates for ya:
*I'm working full-time and taking a Pharmacology Calculations course at the local community college, hence why I have neglected my blog. Time is short.
*I still haven't been taken off the wait-list at the 2 schools I applied to, which is good, I guess, but bad because I haven't been accepted yet and the WAIT IS KILLING ME! >< I can't make any long-term plans until I know about school and they have until September. UGH.
*My health is fair. Meds have been changed, PT for my back starts soon, and life goes on.
How about some talk of food, as this is a food blog? Lol. I picked up some O'doughs Gluten Free Flax Bagels at my local Shaws last week. Never heard of em? Me either. I wonder if its because it's a Canadian company. Anyway...
They are frozen, whole bagel thins. They cut easily with a bread knife once thawed. I was skeptical, as I always am about gf bagels, but these are great. Plus, the 1st bag I bought had a $1 coupon inside it! These flax bagels are soft, doughy, and toast very well. I like to eat them toasted with almond butter (I'm currently using Justin's Maple Almond butter) and raspberry jam. Such a good on-the-run-to-work breakfast!
Here is O'Doughs website
http://odoughs.com/products/. Their products are also available at the
Gluten Free Mall, Check out their website and product list because there is a LOT more available than just bagels!
Kombucha
The post title mentions making your own
Kombucha. Well, I am doing that now! What is Kombucha? Well, it's a fermented tea drink that has a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast; apple cider vinegar like Bragg's, also has a mother). Basically it contains tea, sugar, and water. I made it when I live in Providence, RI, and forgot about it, so I had to discard my SCOBY then. At work we sell several kombuchas, from GTS/Synergy and Katalyst, both of which are great, but at about $4 a bottle an expensive habit. So the solution is to make my own. A regular customer makes his own and he brought me a SCOBY mother, which I set to brew last Sunday. This morning I skimmed off some of the tea and bottled it with mango puree, to get somewhat close to my favorite kombucha, Synergy Mango.
Why does anyone want to drink this? Well, there is some debate about its benefits, of course. Kombucha popped up in the US in the 1990s, but the origins are
probably Japanese. Kombucha is full of awesome probiotics and gut bacteria, such as
Saccromyces and
Gluconacetobacter xylinus.
It's been touted as having all sorts of benefits, such as curing AIDS, cancer, diabetes, and boosting the immune system. These are unfounded and untested. BUT it's very tasty. I like to use it because 1) it's tasty, 2) it seems to help with my gut, and 3) I like it!
LOTS of resources (mostly pro, sorry):
http://whatiskombucha.com/
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/11/kombucha-really-good-you
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/what-is-kombucha-10-facts-need-to-know/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/2014/10/28/7ba5f68a-5ad6-11e4-8264-deed989ae9a2_story.html
How do you get started? Well, you can always use a search engine. You can find SCOBY's in lots of places. A great website to start with is
Kombucha Brooklyn which sells SCOBYs and LOTS of other stuff, plus great FAQ. Ask around your area, neighborhood, local health food store; you never know who has one.
I'll let you know how mine turns out! Here's a picture of the set-up I use.
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| Day 7 |
OH! You know I LOVE Neil Gaiman and he just put out a new book:
The View from the Cheap Seats. Here is the link on his website
http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/The+View+from+the+Cheap+Seats%3A+Selected+Nonfiction/.
CHECK IT OUT! Also, read this great article, where Neil talks about his book, Ray Bradbury, and other stuff.,
Brain Pickings article
OFF to work. love, love, love
K
