my fix

After my morning workout and a regular day with a slight headache I just had my first and only half cup of coffee for the day at about 3 PM. This is a good thing. I'm doing it!

So.
Delicious.

...and I am slightly embarrassed at how good I feel right now...

Cranky panda

I am Geo's soon to be conquered caffeine addiction.

To try and learn more about why my self enforced caffeine withdrawal is so much "fun" (if by fun you mean cranky exhaustion...sigh) i put on my investigating hat. Turns out caffeine is addictive because the molecule  fits perfectly into our brain's adenosine receptors. Adenosine is responsible for signaling the brain that it is time to rest or sleep. Since these receptors are blocked with caffeine molecules, dopamine (the happy time brain chem) works more efficiently. Add to that the fact that excess adenosine signals the adrenal glands to release adrenaline and you feel more alert too. Happy and energetic! What could be wrong with that?

Well, over time, the brain adds more adenosine receptors to compensate for the caffeine, which causes a tolerance to build up to the caffeine molecule. So you can drink a tonne of caffeinated beverages to feel normal or don't even feel it's effects anymore (ahem. me.) So when I have the order to cut back to a cup or less a day like I have been the last 3 days, my brain is then flooded with adenosine, and dopamine doesn't do it's job properly for a while. The sudden drop in adrenaline levels my body is accustomed to has produced many of the caffeine withdrawal symptoms I have read about. Thankfully keeping a strong cup of Earl Grey in the am menu has staved off any particularly evil headaches and I have tried to fill my days with things I enjoy to be occupied. Even so-I am glad J is working all weekend. I have been a cranky moody tired little hermit and I dearly hope I level out soon and get back to a more decaffeinated normal. 

Thankfully I found some really good swiss decaf. I am one of those  weirdos who really loves coffee and tea. Hot drinks comfort me. I actually drank a cup of hot water with lemon like a granny on friday at work because I had no herbal tea. I am a (sad to admit) caffeine addict. I get a warm rush when I smell roasted coffee...feel elated when I have a sip. To think I drank almost double this to cope with grad school...jeez. I thought I *was* cutting back...

 I am glad my doc told me to do this or I don't know how well I would comply otherwise...

My peeps, I am a sad jittery cranky panda at the moment. Wish me luck.

Berry nice

My sister in law works weekends at the local strawberry u-pick ranch. She texted me a few times today saying I should pick some since there were so many ready. Usually I am not a berry farm person, but I decided to come by since today was pretty mellow for me. 

She was right. The strawberry Ranch is a few minutes out of town so came out to visit her and leave her a cup of some great locally roasted decaf I had been drinking in my kitchen which she sipped while I picked...for all of 10 minutes. I kid you not that there were so many berries ready that I picked 8 Lb of strawberries (which was all I had $$for) in under 10 minutes. I would pick berries more if it were that easy all the time! She didn't even finish her coffee before I headed back home. I was making meat buns and they were rising while I was out so this was a perfect tasty diversion.

I have eaten my fill of them by now and think I will can some in light syrup (I am all jammed out) and freeze the rest...I might make 1 or 2 jars of jam...honestly not sure if I have any jars left, so that will be the deciding factor.

I am on a strawberry thing today...even racked over my strawberry beer for one last settling out to get it off the fruit after a few weeks into the carbuoy. It smells delicious. The few mouthfuls don't seem to have as much fruit flavour as last batch tho where I put the fruit in the primary with a wheat beer though...we'll see.  This time it's a lager style-I was hoping it would let the fruit shine thru more...we shall see.

After all that, I'm off for some beer and craftiness in the craft pit. J needs a thingamajig for the 200th episode of his show tomorrow and I'm gonna try and make with something...

Later! 

It's true

It's for your own good you know

So if anyone feels like buying me a birthday gift (aw come on you know you want to) please consider this apron. I makes me larf like a little kid and I do need a new kitchen apron, so hey - everyone wins (Well except maybe you because you'd be spending $20...but come on - it's for me and you *love* me...don't you? *blink blink*).
Really - you'd make me smile. I'd even make you cookies of your chioce...and then mail them to you before I ate them all. Honest. *And* I'd think of you whenever I cooked with it. True, yes, I realize that making and mailing you baking is probably the same cost of me just buying the apron myself but I don't want to deprive you of the warm fuzzy feeling you'd get doing it (in addition to some damn tasty baked goods).

This is why I can't have nice things

This weekend, while racking my really small batch of apricot wine I somehow managed to get fermented fruit on the walls, my hair and in at least 3 cupboard drawers.
And on the cat.
He tastes delicious...

At this rate I will be lucky to have enough left to get a few bottles out of it once it's *ready* to bottle in a few months and rackings. 1 gallon test batch. Pff.

Do we know how to party or what

Well the beer is on the berries. Tonight I'll rack the apricot wine.
That and have a nap.

Yup - swinging friday night :)

leaks. I haz dem.

Last night we met with the contractors to finalize the re-shingling and resurfacing of our roof, capping off the chimney and installing new eavestrough. I am satisfied we will get the best quality materials and the company seems decent enough and doesn't appear to be gouging us...I just wish it didn't come to $10K with tax, but what can ya do? The roof is rather important on a house and ours is in pretty terrible shape...it's also low sloping so it's prone to leaks and needs particular kinds of roofing materials. Meh. Just crossing my fingers everything will go well and we'll be set for another 20 years or so. I kinda had to arrange it mostly on my own, so I worry that I somehow screwed up, but you do what you need to do and then move on. With amounts that large floating around I get all nervous...a friend of a friend works for a roofing contractor so we could pick his brain about things and he thinks things seem reasonable so I'm not going to worry...much...

On the upside - gonna put my strawberries in my beer tonight. With all this hootch I'm a-brewing we should be able to drink away our winter woes in our dry new roofed house

*hic*

White Minstrel brewery at your service

Well...I'm really going crazy with the brewing. Just started up some beer tonight. Will rack it onto 6 Lb of pasteurized strawberries in 5 days or so once the krausen falls...and the cider is starting to clear, the apricot wine has started fermenting nicely and the blueberry wine is looking nice in the carbuoy.

Giggedy.

Beer should be ready by my birthday.

For the rest?

Patience...

wine update

I racked the blueberry wine into the carbuoy last night. Not really sure of the alcohol content since there was too much berry goo to take measurements, but we'll see. It's been ~ 2 weeks so I figure primary fermentation shoudl be nearly doneby now, if not done already. Next racking in a month or so I'll have a look at the SG and make sure it's fermented out. I managed to not get blueberry goo everywhere and tried to keep everything clean and sanitized as I did my best to squeeze some of the juice out of the floating blueberries and not get get too many in the carbuoy. Used a strainer and a cheesecloth. Hoping I didn't muss with it too much to contaminate it. We shall see. Messy business this winemaking...

Also started some apricot wine. Apricots were cheap at the market on the weekend so I set up a 1 gallon batch with the following recipe:
2 Lb apricots (20 decent sized apricots, washed and cored and diced up)
1/2 Lb chopped golden raisins (1 1/2 c)
3 Lb sugar
juice of 2 lemons
1 t pectic enzyme
7 pints (14 cups) water
1 campden tablet
1/4 t tannin (didn't have so didn't add...may add a bit of tea when I rack it)
EC-1118 yeast
I combined the raisins sugar and hot water (I boiled it first) and stirred to dissolve the sugar. Then I chopped and added the apricots and lemon juice and other items except the yeast and stirred and let it cool covered overnight. Tomorrow I'll pitch the yeast. We shall see what happens...

Plan on starting up some strawberry beer on the weekend. The cider seems to be slowing on it's fermenting and is starting to clear. Man, I feel like a distillery here...I'm going to need some help with all this hootch!!

Apocalypto

Ever been to a junkyard? I hadn't until this weekend. It's a crazy place...acres and acres of abandoned, slightly stripped vehicles. Sad and intriguing, and very dusty.

You see, about 3 weeks ago I ran an errand and left the car unlocked overnight. Someone took advantage of that and looted our car. Thankfully it had nothing in it but parking change and an old stereo so all they snatched was the spare change...and the ashtray. Yes. My ashtray. A new ashtray for my car is $40, so to try and get a cheaper one I headed out to the auto wrecker junkyard 10 minutes outside of the city to get a used one for $5. J had to work so I set out on my own adventure and it was one interesting day let me tell you.

I got there on a nice sunny day and after waiting in line with some other characters I talked to the corset lady and the snake arm tattoo guy and told them what I wanted and they grinned and said "well that should be easy - we'll get you fixed up". So they gave me a photo map of the junkyard telling me where the Mazdas were and I wandered off in to the wasteland and found a few Protege5 and luckily one of them had an unused matching ashtray I could take back and buy for $5. Yup - you needed a map for this place. It was HUGE. All was well and I put it in the car and left to go back to take a few pictures of the strangeness of it all and pet the 3 legged yard dog they had on the lot (you can't make this sh*t up...and he was a friendly little guy)...and realised shortly after I had locked my keys in the car.
Yes. Good one.
So the yard looked at it and after a bit of head scratching realized they couldn't help me because of a lack of proper tools ("generally when we unlock a car ma'am we don't try and keep it pretty") so I called CAA and hung out in the sunshine with the 3 legged dog, watching the scavengers and chatting with the local colour. Kind of absurd, but not a bad day for it. I had nowhere urgent to be and in about 40 minutes the tow truck came and freed me and I was sheepishly on my way, new ashtray installed. After a few errands I headed home and as an apology to the car washed it and cleaned it inside and out, touching up the trim and vacuuming the interior.
The rest of the weekend was much more mellow,  using a rainy day to start up some cider mini-batches and relaxing with J. My blueberry wine is bubbling along nicely and the cider (1gallon with white sugar, 1 with brown sugar, 1 with a star anise tossed in) was fizzing away this AM too, so the brewing is well underway. Still plan on rhubarb cider, a gallon of apricot wine and some strawberry beer by the end of the month...I have to juggle my brewing gear to stagger it all but we should be well n our way to a full wine cellar come Christmas. As it should be. :)

Hope your long weekend was equally exciting :)