If only I knew German

Or, "How to (attempt to) make yogurt"

Last time I thought about posting this tutorial, the yogurt ended up on the floor. We'll see how it goes this time (cue prophetic music: dum dum DUM)
Since I get milk every week as part of my WIC allowance and can't seem to go through more than a half-gallon a week (jealous, mom?), I have about 3 gallons of milk in the freezer any given day. Next time I have an appointment, I'm asking if I can get dry milk some of the time instead, but that's not until December. Until then I'm trying to find as many recipes that use a bunch of milk as I can. My favorite by far is yogurt, because it's easy and yummy. I haven't made any in quite awhile, not since I broke my candy thermometer in a pregnant moment a few months ago, so when I picked up a replacement thermometer this weekend, I knew exactly what to do with it. Step one: Re-read the directions.
1)heat 5 c. milk in pot over medium heat to 185 degrees.
2) Let cool to 110 degrees.
3)add 1/4 c active culture yogurt to milk slowly with whisk.
4) cover with saran wrap, poke a few holes for ventilation, and let sit until set, about 5 hours.
5) refrigerate at least overnight, up to 2 weeks.
EasyPeasy, right?!
Step two: get some milk out of the freezer and thaw it in cold water in the sink.

Step three: heat it up, remembering to stir every now and then so as not to burn the bottom.
Step 4: turn off the heat under the pot so it can cool down.

Step 5: decide that this is taking WAY too long and it's time to make some cookies.
Step 6: look around the kitchen and snort as you realize that your husband is right, you do tend to open every single cupboard door and leave them open until further notice.





Step 7: wash your hands before actually handling the dough and realize that your towel holder is no longer listening to the running commentary on how to make peanut butter cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar and is, in fact, about to pass out from sheer boredom. At least the cookies are yummy.






















Step 8: add yogurt, being careful not to add the fruit at the bottom.










Cover with saran wrap and forget.













Go play on the floor with the boy.














Step 9: put the yogurt in the fridge overnight, ignoring the fact that it still looks a little...liquidy...
Step 10: contemplate making homemade granola as you open the fridge to check on the yogurt the nexxt morning. Realize it is not even remotely set and come to the conclusion that the active cultures must not, in fact, be active in this particular brand. I woulda read the label, but turns out it's in a language only the do-it-all cousin knows. bummer. Well, yogurt flavored chocolate pudding is good, right?

Women, Infants, and Children

When I took my one week old baby to the local WIC office to update my paperwork, I informed the staff that I would be nursing exclusively. "That's great, now how much formula do you want?" was the response.

The USDA has recently proposed a change to the WIC food allowance for nursing moms, to the tune of "fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lower fat dairy products, and dairy alternatives such as soy beverages and tofu!" There are also more options for the nursing baby after he/she has begun to eat solids.

November 6 is the deadline for supporters of this new food package to submit their comments in favor of said revisions. If you're interested, you can comment online here, or read the whole letter and see other info and ways to show your support here.

bon apetit =)

more pictures

My boy is a professional slouch.

















I can't imagine where he would have got that from



















He is getting pretty good at sitting up straight.




















And here he is at his first "Autumnfest." It's sort of like a halloween party/ car show/ fund raiser. All the Commands (i.e. Security, public works EOD etc...) set up booths to sell stuff or hand out candy and what not. Funny story concerning the security and EOD booths. (EOD, by the way, stands for Explosive Ordinance Disposal, they are quite hardcore and let's say, protective of their CO) Security had a Jail-n-Bail booth set up where we would take money ($1 per minute) to put people in our smelly makeshift jail. If the arestee wanted to they could pay their way out for twice the cost. I thought it was fun. Anyway some anonymous person paid to have the CO of EOD thrown in jail. Of course he didn't go quietly, so a three on three or four (security to EOD) brawl ensued when my partners and I went to pick him up. I picked the CO up by the waist and proceeded to haul him the fifty some odd feet to our jail while the others pummeled each other, much to the amusement of everyone else around them. I made it about five feet away from the jail door when someone snuck up behind me and put me in a nasy UFC-esque choke hold. Now with no oxygen to the brain I surged foreward the last few feet with the help of my cohorts and tossed the CO in. HA! we win. Until EOD came back while we weren't looking and busted everyone out of the jail. Oh well, we'll get 'em next time

my mommy went to houghton,

and all I got was this diaper.

sunday afternoon in Sicily

three months old, and I can....

not your mama's prefold and plastic pants

my first sewing project in Sicily, made from a receiving blanket and a prefold that was getting a little worn:














here it is on the boy:













and the cover he's in today because I'm washing my wool








yes, yes he IS the cutest baby you've ever seen, thank you for noticing.

why I CD

http://www.borntolove.com/wrong.html

in case you're interested (Sam).

the "how" is yet to come.

taste of home

anyone want to give me the number off the back of their magazine so I can look at recipes online? Apparantly they figured out I'm no longer a subscriber, so they took some of my privileges away =(

speaking of recipes, I have got to find a good one for tiramisu. We bought one in Motta (couldn't figure out how to ask for a piece, so we bought the whole pie. stupid americans.)

it was worth every penny though ($13 euro for 12 average sized slices).

muah! perfeto.

for those who are interested....

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/flash/

this is a short video about the differences between italians and the rest of Europe

I laughed.

The Cat: Everywhere You Want to Be

Honestly - on my computer chair, on my bed, on my fave TV seat. . .then yesterday am Carolyn said that she "couldn't" brush her teeth because:

I haggled

we needed area rugs.

I found them; an Italian guy was selling them on the side of SP.106 SP is short for "Strada Provinciale" or something close to that, which basically means county road. So the wife and I were heading down county road 106, the one that gets you from one part of the base to the other, and on the side of the road a bunch of these rugs were hanging. We decided to stop as there was a particular rug that E and I had both independently noticed on seperate occasions and mentioned to each other. Since we were on a time schedule--the thrift store has dollar bag saturdays every payday weekend and we received a three dollar coupon as part of INDOC--we kept going, deciding to stop on the way home. After getting E's hair cut, sampling some local wines at the NEX, and realizing that the thrift store wasn't open this particular saturday, we headed back, in the rain (another side note: Catania flooded last night. Somehow I'm glad we're this far up the hill).
By the time we reached the rug guy it had slowed to a slight drizzle but the rug we wanted was gone. grr. We realized this only after parking precariously on the side of the road and investigating what other cool wares the man had to offer. We told him about the green rug that we had previously laid eyes on adn he informed us that he had sold it, the last one of its kind, to "Americano." He took us to the back of his truck to show us more of his stuff, and we noticed a very similar rug to the one that we had in mind. Turns out it was the same pattern and colors, but this one had tassles on either end. "Cool, I can live with tassles."
The man was willing to part with said rug for 70 Euro ($84ish US). Another rug however, came with his recommendation as it was bigger than most of his stock and thus more suitable for the Americanized homes that we live in. He offerd that rug to us for 200 Euro (approx $240 US.) The wife and I really liked our original choice but this new option had its appeal as well. The concessionare could see the hesitation and said "for you my friend, both for 200 Euro." E and I decided that this was a stellar deal, but it was too bad that my wallet was lacking the funds for this. I told the gentleman that I only had 145 Euro on my person, otherwise we would gladly take him up on this great deal. He replied that he would also consider any american money we had ($5) and any gas coupons we might be able to part with. (side note: gas coupons are like little pieces of gold. I buy coupons good for 5, 10 or 20 litres of gas at about two thirds of the cost that gas would cost on the economy. These coupons are rationed out based on the size of your vehicle and its horsepower. For my Nissan I am afforded 300 litres a month. I pay about $210 for the 300 litres which ends up costing me a little under one euro a litre.The locals pay about 1.22. Since these coupons are rationed and signed for with serial numbers it would be a bad idea to use these as currency. I was told stories about people paying "umbrella girls*" with these tickets. Anyways, thankfully I had left my coupons at home so this was of no further issue.) We thought briefly of buying one rug, or coming back some other time with more money, but as we were trying to come up with a way of phrasing this in Italian the man offered to sell both rugs to me for what I had on me.

Hooray cheap rugs from Italy:





this is the one that we really like.










this is the big one, we also like it. The boy is thrilled to have something else to sit on other than tile.

















So I guess I didn't really haggle, per se, but I did get a great deal. I think.



*Umbrella girl = lady of a certain class who sits under an umbrella by the side of the road waiting for passers-by, get it?

a few of my favorites

I'm not sure if this is a sign of endearment or dominance:














how the kid spent most of each flight:


















how I spent most of each flight:



















bathtime in the sink at the TLA:














slingin' it in Catania:


















one unlucky chick at the fishmarket:














check me out, I got my chair back!


















and, finally, the only house pics you're getting for awhile: from the front (our yard and house line is right down the middle of the two sets of windows on the left and over to the line down the middle of the carport on the right of the car), and the back yard

our baby in some compromising situations, and some country side

the boy is very happy to finally be off the plane













the boy is also very happy that almost all of our stuff made it here









this is our neighbor's garden in Motta

















here are some of the fabled "geep" going down the road, also in Motta. On a side note, you don't want to hit and kill one because it will cost you at least a hundred euro









and finally a father son moment where I teach the boy all about the tuck. Don't look Little B.
















more to come later. you may actually get to see some pictures of the house as soon as we get rid of all the boxes and come up with some way to arrange the furniture we have.

Arrivederci

where do I sign up for that?

apparently the Oklahoma State Police don't believe in scrapping anything, so they took this repo'd bike put some decals on it and pull people over with it. I want one.

The Daily Waasup clipping

so, we have internet now*

I would post some pictures but my computer is being stupid. It may be the DSL connection that it doesn't like but as soon as I figure this out I will post some pictures

I added a new link in the side bar :)

were you able to get to the honey festival last weekend? (not for the baby, as noted previously)

or will you plan to
ride your bike through Etna park on the 9th? (okay, the idea of a park and a volcano is somewhat creepy)

or perhaps you are thinking of attending the ricotta cheese workshop on the 10th? (this has to be my choice)

or visiting the scrapbooking/fellowship time at the Mineo Community Center on October 13?

or go on the Taormina Day Tour on the 21st?

or join the cooking class on the 31st?

or go "shopping for local food" on November 7?

Looks like lots of fun!
While I was composing this post my mom called. She was looking at the map of timeshares to start planning a visit. Lipari (island on the North coast I think) and Messina (on the northeast tip) were mentioned.