Other than me when I was a kid, the girls love to eat their vegetables 🙂
Morning Cuddles
The Lady of the House demanding her due morning cuddles 😍
Nata-Style Hatchet
I stumbled across an article on a special type of a traditional japanese hatchet, the “Nata“. It derives from the use as a garden tool, but it seems to also gain increasing popularity in the bushcraft and knifemaker scene. I liked the form and the unpretentious design and wanted to try my own version.
New Fishing Spot
I finally found a ravishingly beautiful and also promising fishing spot in close vicinity from where I live here in northern germany. It provides absolute remoteness, quietude and an overwhelming feeling of pure nature. So what else do I want?
Vegetable Gardening Progress, May 2022
I often envy people growing abundant amounts of veggies in their garden with seemingly no effort (I know that’s not true). As of may now, I don’t have anything to harvest yet. Well, I don’t seem to be the best gardener before the Lord, but undoubtedly, at least there IS some progress 🙂
Smoked Char
We got two beautiful chars from our favourite fishmonger and brined (see below) them over night. Then they were “hot smoked” – a fast and delicious cooking method, but not suitable for long-term preservation.
Hot smoke for about 30++ minutes (depending on the size of your fish) at up to 90°C/195 °F and until golden on the outside. Add your favourite smoking wood after 10 minutes for a nice aroma. They’re done when you can pull out the back fin very easily and can be served for example with toasted bread, salad and horseradish. They’ll keep in the fridge for max. 2-3 days.
We’ve got a Greenhouse! Yay!
Last year we got a greenhouse for a very reasonable price compared to now and we finally managed to set it up (with oooonly just a little help…) Oh, and the door is still missing 🙂 I’m a complete newcomer to greenhouse gardening and now I’m very hooked about the first try!
How to Defrost Your Freezer
Uahhhh… 🙁 I went to the basement today and discovered this. Seems I’ll have to defrost the fridge (actually, both of my fridges) to make sure they work properly again. Here’s how to do it (this is a manly hint):
Pickles Taste Test
After 4½ days in the fridge I went to try the pickles I made last week. Summary: Really not bad at all, but of course improvements are possible.
Asparagus and onions are perfectly ok; Crunchy, fresh and bright. A great addition to “Brotzeit”! I won’t do it again with green onions though, they became rather mushy and even got a little brown. Absolutely edible but not very appealing.
Also, I’ll try some more sugar next time since that distilled white vinegar is very acidic and needs to be balanced out a little more.
Hilde’s Visit to the Vet
Lovely Hilde had to visit the vet a couple of days ago – she seemed a little lethargic and passive in the last few days and we wanted to avoid a catastrophe as with Schakkeline at all cost. I assume she wasn’t exactly happy about having to sit in her travel box and being transported in the car, but eventually – after a profound examination and survey – it turns out she might well have been just a little bit lazy… 🙂
