What Child is This - Lindsey Stirling

A lovely version of the classic carol and one that isn't an earwig.

Tales From the Green Valley

Huzzah! "Tales from the Green Valley" is back up and available from Dailymotion.com.

This is a documentary about living a year on a small farm in Wales set in 1620. It has historians, Ruth Goodman and Stuart Peachey, along with archaeologists Peter Ginn, Alex Langlands and Chloe Spencer. They dress in period clothing and use the available housing and tools of the period.

Max was here this weekend, the first weekend in October, and he spent Friday night and Saturday night watching all of them.

I've included an embed of Episode 1 here to bookmark it for myself. If you click on Dailymotion in the lower left-hand corner of the video, you'll be taken to the website where you can pick up on the following episodes.


E1 Tales from the Green Valley by zodiacza

Lindsey Stirling New Video

Lindsey Stirling has just uploaded another eye- and ear-candy video. Just love that gal!

How to Celebrate at a Wedding

Okay, so I've been spending a lot of time watching youtube vids. Feeling kinda trapped with Lola lately - can't do a lot of going, shopping whatever. So I've been surfing around watching whatever catches my interest.

Now this is the way to do a first dance at a wedding. You'll have to click on the link inside the video to watch it I think.

 

and this:



And to have had a dad with a sense of humor:



Not the best dancers in the world. You can't find fault with the sense of humor, love, caring and joy in living, though.

Eggs - Storage at 4 Months

Here's the video that imstillworkin just posted about her experiment with storing eggs. From this video, I get the idea that if you want to store eggs, coating them in mineral oil is the best option, and if kept at a fairly low temperature (between 60-65F) you can hope for them to last 4 months.

Best of Laughs 2011

Sigh. I said I wasn't going to do this to Jill for a while. I'm sorry she has such a slow internet connection, but really, this is my blog to record the things I like. Sorry, Jill.

It's ridiculously hot here for May 2, and I've been surfing youtube for mindless stuff to occupy my time while I sit in front of the fan, because our !@#$'g A/C has blown another fuse. We gotta replace that ancient fuse box. At least it's finally down to 81F in the house.

So I came across this really long video that is so hilarious. It's funny, and it's kind. That's rather difficult to find anymore. Probably it's Canadian, but I could never tell for sure. It says kurdistan.tv in the upper left-hand corner, but that's likely where it was recorded. It seems to be an updated Candid Camera, and it's great.

Cousin Julie

Here's a video of my cousin Julie doing an interpretive in a Wearable Art Show in Sitka, Alaska, March 2, 2012. This is the whole video that the photos I posted earlier are captured from. Julie is water; she is the blond in blue that comes out first.

Cats Video

After going to Jill's to visit and seeing how long it took her computer to download my simple website, after I'd loaded it with a bunch of videos I wanted to keep, I swore I cut it out. But I have to break my oath. I came across this compilation of cat videos that actually had some of the funniest ones I've ever seen all put together in one video.

So for your viewing pleasure and Jill's frustration, here is one video with cat clips that will have you rolling on the floor laughing your proverbial ass off.

Cajun Cooking with Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse

I'm embedding this video because I want to keep the ingredients for Cajun spice so that I can make it myself, and, LOL, reduce the amount of cayenne pepper. Maybe then I can enjoy the flavor of Cajun without being turned off by the heat. This video is from 1993, and my, oh my, doesn't Emeril look young! in this video, he shows how to make a Shrimp Etoufee and a Crab Boil.

Watch Cajun Cooking with Emeril Lagasse on PBS. See more from Julia Child.

The Fresh Prince of Downton Abbey

Ran across this spoof on the BBC show "Downton Abbey" that was just too cute to resist.

Oh, and I've thoroughly enjoyed the first season of "Downton Abbey."

Things People Say

This is a hilarious satirical video about the things people say to homesteaders and/or people who like to be prepared. Apparently she'd had more than she could take of her family laughing at her and did a little relief therapy for herself.  It's really so much about the difference between city people and country farming people.



The gal that did this titled it "Things Sheeple Say." To those that don't know, preppers call the mass of people who are oblivious to the need to be prepared for the unexpected "sheeple," as in people who wander around oblivious as sheep. To me, that's a unnecessary demeaning word. I was glad to watch a follow-up vid she did expressing that same sentiment. In that vid she said she wished she hadn't used that term and wouldn't again.

Okay, so here's a little of my philosophy about prepping. To me, it's only wise and prudent to be fairly well prepared for whatever disaster that might befall us. Am I a die-hard prepper preparing for the end of American Society? Nope. However, if we have another ice storm that knocks out the electricity for two weeks as we had a few short years ago, I can:  warm and light a room; cook and have decent meals; drink, bathe and flush the toilet.

Why am I not a die-hard prepper? First, I can see the possibility of our society crashing; however, it's a real crap shoot to predict such a thing. I'm not as convinced as die-hard preppers are that it's imminent. Second, I'm nearly 60, without a large family clan or neighbors I've lived with all my life, so actually, I think I'd be killed by looters.

Of the numerous other scenarios that could happen, I don't know if I'd really want to live through that. Nuclear bomb? I don't think so. Asteriod strike - maybe if it's on the other side of the planet. EMP - whoof, maybe. Again, I'd likely die rather quickly - looters, stroke, heart attack.

Why am I soft prepper? Mother Nature can give us a rash of bad events, and I'd like to be able to ride them out without having to scramble just to survive until recovery happens. In our area we have bad storms, ice storms, tornados, and being by the New Madrid fault, we've even had some bad earthquakes.

To me it's wise to have enough preparations on hand to be able to live without electricity, have first aid supplies enough to take care of minor injuries, and have enough water and food to not starve in a couple of weeks.

Now if a tornado blows my house away, none of that will help. If the New Madrid fault goes, I might or might not be in good shape.  If a sand blow comes up under my house, I'm pretty well screwed, or if the house falls down, likewise. If my house survives, but the bridges are out, I can make it - even though I'm in an area that can't be reached from any direction, north, south, east, or west, without crossing a bridge. The groceries will be empty of food within 3 days, but I have enough to hopefully survive until lifelines can be established. If we have an ice storm that takes out the electricity, I'm set. Likewise with a bad storm.

So anyway, that's my little op ed for the day.

Broccoli and Pasta - Tom Colicchio of Top Chef

This is a video of a one-pot dish of broccoli and pasta by Tom Colicchio of Top Chef.

Egg Dish - Tom Colicchio on Top Chef

This is a video of a breakfast dish that is a favorite of Tom Colicchio of Top Chef. It's an oven-baked egg dish with bacon, mushrooms, leeks and eggs. Since leeks are sparse where I live, I'd likely use green onions or sweet onions.

Spicy Cole Slaw - Gail Simmons on Top Chef

This is a video of making a spicy cole slaw that I wanted to remember. It's by Gail Simmons on Top Chef. It uses peanut butter as the base. She adds enough Sriracha to blow the top of my head off, so I think I'll be skipping that. Max loves it. It's so hot it ruins anything for me to eat. Crystal sauce or Cholula is about as hot as I can go. I know; I'm a wimp. I also think I'd slice everything more finely than done here; certainly on the carrots. I'm simply not a fan of a lot of carrot in any salad.

Fish Recipe - Tom Allen on Top Chef

This is a video of a method of oven-cooking fish in parchment which I want to remember. This method cooks the fish in parchment and calls for a fish fillet, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives (or whichever olive you like), some lemon zest, and a sprig of fresh thyme if you have it.

Pork Roast - Tom Allen on Top Chef

Here is a video I'm embedding to remind me of a method of roasting a pork shoulder. Yum.

Onion Soup Mix

This is a video by BexarPrepper from youtube.com on how she makes onion soup mix.

Beef Wellington by Gordon Ramsay

This recipe for Beef Wellington makes me drool. So I'm putting it in my blog to keep for easy access. It's a 2-part video.





While Max was in this weekend (3/11/12) we explored a new-to-us meat market, Hughes, outside of Paducah and got the beef and bacon for the recipe. We went to Kroger for groceries for the mushrooms, etc., and about a mile from home I realized I forgot the puff pastry. Grrrrrr.

Oh, well! I froze the beef, and during the next week I'll track down puff pastry, hopefully in Bardwell, and pick up another package of mushrooms and do it next weekend for Saturday supper.

Laundry Soap

This is a video on how to make laundry soap. There are various links on the internet one can find. This one is from BexarPrepper on youtube.com, and is very concise. I also like the fact that this recipe only uses 1/2 cup of Borax as Max is fairly sensitive to Borax. I'm hoping that the ratio of Borax to other ingredients will dilute it enough he won't break out in a rash from it.

Right now I'm having trouble getting to a place that sells washing soda and either Fels Naptha or the Zotie soap used. I know there's a store in Martin, TN, that sells it, and if I can get down there, I'll give it a try. You end up getting 10 gallons of laundry detergent from a half bar of soap, 1/2 cup of Borax and 1 cup of washing soda. Can't beat that price.

Egg Storage - For Jill

My cousin was wondering about saving eggs without refrigeration the other day. She lives in a very rural area, and if there was an ice storm or damaging wind storm, there's every possibility that she might be without power for some time.

Imstillworkin, on  youtube.com has been conducting an experiment comparing different ways of storing eggs. She's trying refrigeration, non-refrigeration, coating with mineral oil and vacuum sealing. She posted a two-month update the other day, and I've embedded it here for Jill.




If I had more half-gallon jars, vacuum sealing might be a good option.  Personally, I'd opt for coating in mineral oil. I've also seen posts about people coating with butter, but I'm leery of the small amount of butter going rancid. Years ago many people used sodium silicate for storing eggs; this was called waterglass. They'd mix a solution in a big crock and immerse the eggs in there. If one googles "water glassing eggs," enough results show up to satisfy curiosity.

Since mineral oil is easily obtainable, and water glass is something: 1. I don't really know where to buy and 2. don't seem to have many uses for, mineral oil would be my medium of choice. We've enough junk around the house without adding something else that is one-use specific.