New Steam Juicer in Use now

***CAUTION*** THIS POST IS WRITTEN IN STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS MODE, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Today I've just been dying to write something. There are so many things to say. James is almost 2 years old! I just can't believe it. He is such a sweet little boy. JB and I have been very blessed with him in our lives. I want to write about him and about JB and my relationship and the things that I have learned from it already. I want to write about how I just realized a couple of days ago, that I really like my job, that I don't need to try for all the "better" job openings that would pay more money. I like what I do, and I like who I work with and I like how I'm treated and you can't ask for much more than that in a job. I have been given 3 pay increases in the last year and a half and promoted to HR Associate just recently. That is pretty amazing in this economy. I want to write about knitting (i'm a seasonal knitter: I only get excited about knitting in the fall/winter and if the project I start is not finished by springtime, it is unlikely to be finished until the next knitting season, at best) ( I just started a project, making a Cat in the Hat hat for James for Halloween. He loves loves loves the Cat in the Hat show. he'll walk into the living room and see the TV and will start calling out "Hat, Hat, Hat" and of course we know what he means. He gets so so so excited. I love having little James around, did I tell you has the most beautiful blue eyes and long long eyelashes to go with them? and he gives the best hugs and kisses, albeit wet kisses, and when he smiles, oh he lights up the room. He is so friendly, and says "Hi" to everyone. And now he says "howwyou? gut". He loves talking on the phone

As I said, I could go on writing about James for a good deal of time. But I will move on: I am writing today because we have a new Steam Juicer, which we purchased at Smithfield Implement today for $64.99. It steams fruit into giving off its juices and there is a spigot (well actually a tube with a clamp) at the bottom where the juice pours out and you can aim it right into your canning jars. It is on the burner while I'm writing right now. I have 2 pint jars already full of grape juice from our very own grape arbor. The grapes are mostly small and round and purple. but some are small round and green.
Ever since January 1st, my nose has not functioned properly. I can smell some things, or better said there are odors in my nose, but they don't seem to relate to what I am smelling. Sometimes when I sniff things there is no scent at all, but other times there is an over powering stench. Most chemicals are in the hideous category, garlic and onion have their own unique smells and as does yeast. One might think that this would put me off the onion/garlic/yeast items, but no, my head overrules my nose in these cases.

I just ate a slice of the most delightful bread (minus the translated yeast smell my nose gives me of course.) When we got married 3 years ago, JB had a bread maker. I had never been impressed with the resulting bread that came from a bread maker. So I strongly urged him to give it up. Which he did. he gave it to his previous fiance. A while back he found another one at DI and called me see if I would let him buy it. He told me it was $15, and I remembered how ever since I had asked him to get rid of the one he had had, he had reminded me repeatedly about the chasm in his life because of it, so I said go ahead, and rolled quietly rolled my eyes to myself, because I knew it was going to take up valuable shelf space and not get used.

Now a few months back, I was trying to find a recipe for some sweet rolls or something like that, and there was a recipe that called for the bread maker, curious, I read the instructions and realized that the machine made the dough and then you rolled out the cinnamon rolls there after and proceeded as normal. Eventually we came around to the idea that the dough could be made in the bread machine and then cooked in the oven as normal bread. This was major break through for us in 2 ways.

First, JB has always been scared of using the Cuisinart to make bread dough, partially because he doesn't want to ruin the Cuisinart. I have to admit that I encourage this feeling. We don't have so much money that I want to replace that which works very well as is. So using the bread maker which is difficult to break, (just throw in the ingredients and let it go) makes JB a lot more comfortable. Also, we would like to be quite a bit more self sufficient in our life style. JB does not like waste of any kind (which exceeds my "lets try not to waste stuff" attitude) so when we were buying a loaf of bread a week and sometimes going through two a week, and sometimes not going through one at all and ending up with moldy bread that needed to thrown out. Well now we had a way for JB to produce the bread at home with the bread maker.

Second. The bread has a most exquisite softness and texture! Not the dry crumbly stuff that you have to eat within 3 hours or it turns into a stale block. I believe that the there are 2 possible explanations for this yummy delight. And more likely they work together to get the right texture. First because the recipe calls for Dough Enhancer and Vital Wheat Gluten and second because the dough has a very controlled rise and second rise. I believe that the second rise is very important at this elevated location. I read something about it not too long ago, but of course I did not write down what I had discovered and have lost it now...anyway, amazing slice of bread. JB would like to get us right down to 100% whole wheat bread from our storage, but I have not quite arrived at that desire and find the White bread most desirable and the the 40% wheat ok.

So What did I really want to sit down and write about? well yes, the grape juice and the steam juicer. But there is more to it then that. We have have had a good harvest this year. I planted Potatoes, onions, garlic, peas, carrots, peppers, green beans, strawberries, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, corn and tomatoes ( the tomatoes have been my delight this year, and I can't wait to write a post about them). In the orchard, the pears are doing splendidly and the apples which we over pruned are doing fine, though there are many many fewer this year as compared to last year. ( I will be very gentle with the pruning this time and I hope that we will have a large crop again next year, I sprayed for bugs only once this year-finding it quite unpleasant to have the chemical blow back into my face and because I worry about chemicals a bit, I didn't prioritize spraying them again, I would like to discover some other form of pest control for the next season. The plum tree is in a sad state. It seems to be dying. it produced lots of nice yummy plums, I'm not sure what we are going to do with them, but they are very nice. Earlier this summer I made some red current jelly 2 pints, I think, didn't do much with the gooseberries except find out thats what they were, and made a couple rhubarb crisps this spring too. Oh and one of them major discoveries was that we have an apricot tree already on our property, a producing apricot tree. JB's mom gave us a gift card to a local nursery where we purchased an apricot tree this spring, not knowing that we had one already. but this is a good thing as Apricots are one of JB's most favorite foods ever. This coming year I will have to do some thing with the one on the front line to make sure that the apricots are good.

I'm pretty sure I have not spent time telling you about our house search last year from April to August and now we have a house and have been in it for a year. A lovely house - just wish it were clean and tidy and organized. that we could always find what we were looking for in the same place etc. argh. [James will copy me and say that too "Argh" too cute, just so so cute!] I can't wait for more little ones like James and hope they will all be as sweet and intelligent and wonderful.

I must get myself off to bed as I have been typing for about an hour and a half, and have to get enough rest to work in the morning at the job I now know I like.