How to: take 13 people camping

I am exhausted. In the emotionally, mentally, physically kind of way.

So, what better time to blog, eh?

The past two weeks have been ( and will continue to be) insane. I've been off camping in the woods with 10 of my students, am moving, getting ready for the worst planned audit ever, farming, getting ready for a friend's visit, a camping trip to see Dave Matthews and Ben Harper and potentially sleeping in the midst of all this.

Which brings me back to blogging. I searched high and low for a helpful page somewhere that would assist me in packing and planning food for this trip. No such luck, which is why next time you take 10 teens, 3 adults and 3 dogs camping come here first. I've got this down.

THE GEAR:

Camping stove and propane
Grill
Griddle
Pan
Soup pot
Coffee pot
Skewers
Marshmallow roasting spikes
Metal spatula
Metal tongs
Sharpest knife you can find
Pot holders
Tents
Sleeping bags & pads
Water cooler
Three coolers
Camping chairs
Foil
Zip locks
Wet wipes
Paper towels
Trashbags
Toilet paper
Sunscreen
Bug spray
Aloe
First Aid Kit
Flashlights
Lanterns
Scrubbing brush
Dish soap
Cord for washing line
Hammer/mallet for tent spikes
13 plates, bowls, cups, and cutlery(awesome enamel sets available everywhere)

THE GRUB:
6 loaves of bread
20 hotdog buns
13 tortillas
12 English muffins
2 boxes Graham crackers
3 bags of marshmallows
20 Hershey bars
12 chicken breasts
6 multi-color peppers
1 pineapple
4 boxes jumbalaya rice
1 bag coffee
1 box Swiss miss
1 container lemonade mix
2 packets bacon
4 dozen eggs
1 quart milk
6 onions
4 sticks butter
1 jar peanut butter
1 jar jelly
1 bottle olive oil
13 potatoes
13 corn cobs
20 bratwursts
1 block sharp cheddar
1 container thin sliced turkey
2 large bags salad mix
2 cantaloupe
1 watermelon
Salt
Pepper
Sugar

THE MENU:
Monday Evening - chicken kabobs and rice, salad, s'mores, coffee or cocoa

Tuesday Morning - bacon and eggs on toasted english muffins, cantaloupe, coffee.

Lunch- sandwich & fruit

Dinner - bratwurst, potatoes wrapped in foil and cooked on coals, corn halved and steamed in pot. Salad. S'mores. Cocoa.

Wednesday Breakfast - breakfast burritos filled with egg and potato hash using left over corn, potatoes, onions and any other veggies and cheese. Cantaloupe and watermelon.




The camping stove is a lifesaver in the mornings, for coffee and boiling water for dishes.

We also went through 12 cords of wood in three days. Perhaps a bit excessive, but the kids loved sitting up to the wee hours chatting around the fire.

Overall, an excellent trip, and now with my handy planning list I know what to pack next time! : )

The list is your friend.

Kitchen Ninja Out.

bombs away!

what's that you say? it's almost fall? time for bomber hats!!

credit where credit's due: the pattern comes from threadbanger.

ingredients assembled and pattern cut:


also, things that make me an idiot? on a list - not paying attention to how many of what pieces i need and cutting two of pieces i only need one of. such a waste!

pieces pieced together:


ready for tassels:


finish it off, and hat complete!


i didn't take a lot of photos of the process...i had already made one previously that didn't turn out nearly as well. i attempted to enlarge the pattern as i was cutting out, which made the hat WAAAAAY larger than needed. and crooked. see?



i promise it's not just his head that make the hat look strange. it's the hat that makes the hat look strange. :) anyway, this is me...signing off. i'm working full-time, schooling full-time and have a 15-hour-a-week practicum that i have to do...so you probably won't see me around these parts often. good thing kitchen ninja has our backs with updates.
dang!
j.me

"it's my party, I can make cheese if I want to"

And, so I did. Four gallons of mozzarella. The only question, why did I wait so long to try this? On a sidenote, I'm lactose intolerant. Funny, right?

On to the cheese making.

You will need:

A lot of pasteurized (NOT HYPERPASTEURIZED) milk (at least a gallon)
Rennet tablets
Citric acid
Cheese salt
A big ol' pot
A slotted spoon
A thermometer
Rubber gloves ( very important)
A microwave safe bowl



Pour the gallon of milk into your big pot.

Heat milk to 55 degrees.

Dissolve 2 tsps of citric acid in 1/4 cup of cold water. Add to milk once dissolved. Stir like crazy.

Wait till milk hits 88 degrees. It should start curdling and look like this




Then, dissolve 1/4 of a rennet tablet in 1/4 cup of cold water. Add to milk and stir again. Keep stirring. The curds and whey should start separating.




They should look like this. Take milk mix off heat once it hits 100 degrees. Wait until whey is clear before scooping out the curds into your microwave safe bowl.

Now, put on your gloves.

Squeeze out any excess whey. Then, microwave for 35 secs on high.

Knead like dough.

Microwave again for 35 secs. Add cheese salt now. Knead.

Microwave for one minute, cheese should feel like taffy. Stretch it, and then either roll it into a log, or into tiny balls.

Drop into ice cold water/salt mixture ( aka a brine).




It'll look like this.


Mozzarella. Then, eat it. We had it in pasta...


And on pizza. And just fresh.

It's easy, it's impressive, it's delicious. It takes less than 30 mins from start to finish.

Go forth and make cheese.

Kitchen ninja out.

Location:Snowden Rd,White Salmon,United States

How to refinish a table and make the perfect bite

You should all get to meet my dad. There is nothing he loves more than a project ( please refer to my Pa's Day Pie entry and the prototyping we did ALL DAY- which was fun). So, when my mum bought a worktable for $20 and I mentioned wanting to refinish it for my new apartment, my dad said " well, I've got news that will make you happy, there's an orbital sander WITH sandpaper sitting in the garage". Of course there is.

So began the sanding project.




This was about 2 hours in.Whoever owned this sucker before lacquered it to hell and back. I will not be surprised if the table is 20x lighter when it's all done.

After about 6 hours of orbital sander bliss, I got to staining. I chose a cherry stain, mostly because I'm not a fan of light colored furniture, and also because I NEEDED to stain.




Stained! Sidenote, if you haven't youtubed Stains + Cupcake...do it now. I'll wait.




Wasn't that awesome? Anyway, then I sanded again, this time with 120 grit (fine grit sandpaper)
And then, polyurethane!




Isn't it pretty?


The polyurethane is a satin finish, so once it dries it won't be all that glossy.

On to the perfect bite.




Today I harvested 1 medium zuchinni, 1 med patty pan squash, and 10 almost ripe cherry tomatoes. I made 1 bag of cavatappi pasta, sliced and then sautéd the squashes, tossed in the pasta, salt, pepper and 1 small log of goat cheese. Garnished with the cherry tomatoes and BOOM! The perfect bite.

Which I will now return to.

Kitchen Ninja out.

GraaAAARRRrrr!

Craft ninja here. You know. The one who sews. And doesn't really post things to the blog. Because she is a forgetful-face. Yeah. You know the one.

I'm just checking in to remind you all that, yes, I am still alive. And yes, I do intend on posting something here soon.

I just started a new job (hooray!) and am trying to knock out the rest of the first draft of my thesis (hooray?), so both the brain and the free time tend to be consumed by writing. I've had a week to adjust to the work/writing schedule change, so I'm optimistic that I can perhaps get some sewing done this weekend.

I need to. Or else I will go crazy from craft-withdrawal. And that won't be pretty. Rehab's expensive, you know?

Ninja (who will someday think of a cool nickname like Kitchen Ninja has) out!

Chocolate Panna Cotta

I made a big Italian feast for my fam this past weekend, and for dessert I made panna cotta. It's so dark and delicious!

Chocolate Panna Cotta

1 c. Marscapone
4 c. Heavy cream
1 bag 60% cacao dark chocolate chips
8 tablespoons sugar
5 tsp gelatin
Pinch of salt
Optional - half dark chocolate bar, grated.

1. Oil 8 tea cups or ramekins

2. Pour out 1/4 cup cream, and sprinkle gelatin on top. Allow gelatin to soften, 10 minutes.

3. Pour marscapone, cream, sugar and salt into a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

4. Pour in chocolate chips, stir until dissolved and incorporated.

5. Place bowl of cream/gelatin into hot water. Stir until gelatin has dissolved.

6. Add gelatin mixture to marscapone mixture. Pour panna cotta mix into teacups or ramekins. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.

TO SERVE:

Put cup/ ramekin into hot water to allow panna cotta to melt a bit. Loosen edges with warm knife. Put saucer on top of cup, turn upside down, and panna cotta should flop out of cup. Sprinkle dark chocolate shaving on top and serve.




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