how (and why) to make homemade mayo.

i started making my own mayo when we did our whole30 back in april/may and it is the best thing ever. i have always like mayo, but i can also take it or leave it. i realize people have crazy strong opinions about mayo, but i think even people who aren't mayo lovers would get behind homemade mayo. it's super versatile and one of those fabulous healthy fats. mayo (and the process of making it) doesn't photo very well (and i am not a food photographer in any capacity), but this is for instructional purposes.

homemade mayo (unlike store bought) has only a few ingredients:
- 1 whole egg
- 1 1/4 cup of light olive oil (seriously, do not use extra virgin! i've heard avocado oil works well too, but i haven't personally tried it yet)

- juice from half a lemon
- salt (to taste)
- dry mustard powder (to taste - i usually just sprinkle a lil in there and don't really measure, but i think a quarter to half teaspoon is plenty)

that's it! no additives, sugar, creepy preservatives, etc.

the secret to good mayo that's the right consistency is starting with ingredients that are all at room temp. so, take your egg out an hour before you're making this, or just plop it in a cup of warm water for 5-10 minutes. make sure your lemon is room temp too, if you keep your citrus in the fridge.

so, just whip out your food processor (i have tried to make it with an immersion blender and that works well too, but i like the more hands-free method with a food processor).

put the whole egg, 1/4 cup of the oil, lemon juice, salt and mustard powder in there. put the lid on and turn that puppy on. while it's whirling away, drizzle the remaining cup of oil into the top slooooooowly. seriously. it should take you more than a minute or two to drizzle all that business in there. your arm will get tired. but slow is what you need for that perfect texture (in addition to the room temp thing). once you've finished drizzling all that in there, you can stop the food processor.

use a spatula or a spoon to transfer all your gorgeous mayo into a cute mason jar. label it if you think expiry will be an issue - it's not at our house since we go through a jar in about a week here, but homemade mayo will last one week past the expiration date of the egg you used. so, a while.

some ideas for tasty mayo use:
- use a dollop with an acid (citrus, some form of vinegar) and a little sesame oil to make a creamy and delicious salad dressing (especially perfect for cole slaw)
- toss a little with sauteed veggies and fresh dill for breakfast or a side dish
- dip homemade sweet potato fries in it
- make a variation - i love cilantro lime (add cilantro and garlic to your food processor at the beginning and use lime juice instead of lemon), dill, garlic, and any other herb variation
- mix it with roasted red pepper sauce for the most delicious sauce of all time, perfect for zoodles

bon apetit!

how to blurb a blog.

this is a DIY post. what what?! it's mostly for emma, but i thought maybe there are some other people who might want to do this too.

i've been making our blog into a book since 2010, so this year's will be our fifth book. it's awesome. it is totally the best/easiest way for me to record/keep track of our lives (mostly) and have something pretty and nice to show for it. plus, i think it will be a nice thing for the kids to look back on in years to come since, let's face it, it's mostly about them.

so. here's a brief tutorial on what's worked for me. i use blurb's booksmart application and have loved it so much/been so pleased with the results, i haven't tried anything else.

step one:
go to blurb.com and click on booksmart under the "create" tab.

step two:
download booksmart!

step three:
the booksmart app will launch and you should choose "start a new book". one of the best things about this software is that it auto-saves your project so you don't have to freak out if things are buggy. i will say the software can be kind of slow/buggy, but just give it a minute...it's going to space.

step four:
slurp your blog! i use blogger and just enter my email address and pw for that and click continue.

step five:
choose the blog/blogs you're making into a book. i have a second random blog that i don't publish from or talk about, so i de-selected that one and clicked continue.

step six:
select all your entries. this is awesome the first year (select all! yay!) and less awesome in subsequent years. i choose select none and then manually check all my posts for the year i am documenting. click continue!

step seven:
get coffee or tea while photos are importing. this can take a while, especially for a whole year.

step eight (optional):
if you forget a post or posts, you can highlight them in the left tool bar and click "add to book" and it will add them. make sure you have selected where you want to add them (chronologically or whatever) in the book or it will be a pain to move the posts. this year, i started the 2014 book in june and uploaded the first half of the year then and just added the rest of the year. it may help to batch-add posts (highlight 5-10 at a time, then click add, and so on) if you have lots of posts because it is pretty slow during this part.

if you are uploading everything at once, it just takes a while, but you shouldn't have to use the "add to book" feature - you'll just select your template and go from there. i always use the viewfinder template/theme because it's simple and clean and i like it. but there are some other nice ones too.

tips:
you'll get some warnings/heads up stuff from blurb. they'll tell you your book has 9 million pages and you'll need to pare it down. duh, you haven't even started editing yet. just click ok and move on. cool your jets, blurb.

step nine:
edit! you really will need to go page by page. editing is neither quick nor painless, but it's also not awful. the drop downs under each post have the text and pictures separated so you can move them when you pick the layout you want for the post. i use the text layouts for my pages of wordiness and then throw in cute montages from all the picture layouts usually at the end of the word parts of my posts.

possibly the best thing in booksmart is the edit layout piece. it's helpful to start with a layout that looks close to what you're looking for, then edit from there. you can adjust picture sizes, text boxes, etc. then, you can save your layout and use it again and again by going to "my page layouts". this is especially great for stuff like instagram photos which are square and don't fit into the pre-fab photo templates in the existing layouts.

and that's basically it! i usually do my covers last and i delete extra pages as i go. my 780 page book will likely be pared down to about 120-200 pages. at the end, you select what type of pages you want (matte, glossy, etc). i think i've always done matte on standard paper and been totally pleased with it, though i'm sure the premium paper is a lovely upgrade. 

good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

ordinary.

kombucha.

several weeks ago, justin's stomach started giving him grief.  he isn't sick, per se, but he just feels not super great in the tummy rather frequently.  we are pretty sure this is related to our lack of any form of exercise and our inability to eat a consistently healthy diet (i swear, it's like we can do SO well for a few days and then we get suckered in to eating mexican food AGAIN.  stupid texas and your delicious chips and queso.).  anyway, since we've been so unhealthy, we've been on a quest to re-balance our systems.  enter kombucha.  kombucha is a weird probiotic tea drink that you can buy for $5 a pint or make for yourself for pennies.  so, that's what i decided to do.  it tastes kind of like a vinegar-y ginger-y tea...but i really like it.  it also has an organism in it sometimes (that's the scoby - more about this later).  kombucha is a raw food and it's kind of an acquired taste, but it does help replenish the good bacteria in your digestive tract and it also has health benefits for your skin, etc.  so, if you are like me and you want to make your own kombucha, here is how you do it.
supplies you need:
- 1 gallon glass jar (i got mine at wal-mart for like $5 - it should have a pretty wide mouth.  you do not need a lid).
- black tea (any plain black, non-flavored tea will do.  i think i use twinings english breakfast.).
- filtered water.
- 1 cup of sugar.
- 5-6 empty, clean kombucha bottles (or other glass 16.9 oz. bottles).
- ginger, fresh berries, or other mix-ins.
- a scoby with some starter tea.  a scoby is the organism that ferments the tea to turn it in to kombucha.  you pretty much have to get this from someone who already makes kombucha (each new batch of kombucha produces a new scoby).  my friend alison gave me mine and taught me all the ins and outs of the process.  if you live in austin and want to do this, i will hook you up with a scoby...if not, you should consult with your local health food store or hippie friends...
- a piece of cheesecloth.
the process:
first, fill a kettle with filtered water and bring to a boil.  next, fill your gallon jar not quite halfway with filtered water.  pour boiling water into a container and steep four bags of tea and cup of sugar for a minimum of 20 minutes, making sure the sugar dissolves completely.  do this while the filtered water is coming to room temperature (you want the tea to be at room temp when you add your scoby, as too-hot water will kill it).  after at least 20 minutes (i have waited as long as an hour when i get distracted by other things), add your tea to the filtered water in your glass jar.  this should leave the jar near full but with some room at the top.  place your scoby into the tea.  pour starter tea on top.  place cheesecloth over the lid of the jar, securing with a rubber band.  place in an out-of-the-way area for about 10 days, but up to 30 (the longer you let it ferment, the stronger and less sweet the kombucha).
after the fermentation process, pull out your clean kombucha jars.  add grated ginger, blended berries, citrus zest, or whatever other tasty treat you want to the jar.  remove your scoby and then decant the tea into your jars, making sure to fill them.  close them tightly and leave them out overnight for the final fermentation.  put them in the fridge, then drink whenever you're ready for some awesomeness!
you should always save a small amount of tea from every batch for your next round of starter tea.  it also keeps your scoby happy.  if you don't start your next batch while decanting the previous batch (this is the easiest, quickest, and least messy way to deal with all of it), store your scoby and starter tea in a jar in the fridge (mine is in a clean pickle jar) covered with cheesecloth (scoby needs to breathe) until you're ready to make the next batch.
enjoy!