We be {brewing} beer, ya'll!

So, if you didn't know....booze is EXPENSIVE in Canada.  I am talking like $15 for a 6 pack...and it doesn't matter what of...could be Busch Light or Kokanee or Sam Adams.  My $10 bottle of wine from the states cost twice that here.  Crazy!  Anyway...because of this...the hubs and I really don't drink a whole lot.  A glass of wine here or there, maybe a beer on a Friday night, and I can't remember the last time we "went out" for just drinks...the prices at restaurants and bars is crazy!

Every time we come back into Canada, you can bet we import the allotted allowance of alcohol free of duty and taxes.  That means we can each bring 1 bottle of wine (750 mL), 1 liter of booze, or a case of beer.  Ugh....and who has room to pack a case of beer in checked luggage?!?!

Because of this, and Dan's beard, we decided to brew our own.  Dan's parents gave us money to go buy a home brew kit, which includes all this:

We don't have all these things, but most of the big things you see...we do...

Brewing beer is quite the process, with the hardest part being making sure everything is clean and sanitized and rinsed...alllllll the time.   This project started about a month ago, and we just bottled our first batch on August 22.  We are a bit worried that there is no alcohol in it, which there is, but according to our little gravity reader thing, it is only a bit over 1%...ha! 

This batch will definitely be a learning experience, and we are going to have to go ask the dude that sold us the stuff what we did wrong.  Ha...anyway...here are some pics.

UPDATE:  The home brew is not bad.  Very light and refreshing, but gets more flavor the longer it sits in the bottles.  Still not sure if it has alcohol in it.  I guess we didn't do the gravity reader right.  It is something you have to check at the beginning (who knew)!??  AND the end.  So there's that.  We have another batch in the carboy right now, and it smells delish.  We will be bottling this Thursday!

Have any of you brewed your own beer?  Any tips??

--E

In a bit of a {jam}

So Canada is known for it's berries...strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc.  Did you know that?  I didn't. So my friend, Sixteen Sunbuckles, her daughter, and I went to Prairie Gardens Adventure Farm, where they have a u-pick strawberry field.  We spent the morning picking strawberries, or in this little girl's case...eating them.

Dan loved making fresh strawberry milkshakes, and I enjoyed gulping them down.

Then at the end of a week, I noticed the store bough jam jar was in the sink.  It was gone.  So, I had to be true on my word, and make the homemade strawberry jam that I had been talking about.

Sixteen Sunbuckle's Mom's 

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Ingredients:

Strawberries

Sugar

Lemon Juice

Jars

Step 1

Mash 4 cups of strawberries.  Mine were frozen, so I just put them

 in my Ninja and pushed a button.  Easy peasy.

Step 2

Put in a pot with 2 cups of sugar, and heat to a full rolling boil.  

Stir constantly and keep at a boil for 2 minutes.

This is what I consider a full rolling boil to look like.

Step 3

Add 2 cups (yeah...that is 4 cups total...yikes!) sugar, and heat to 

a rolling boil again and keep it there for 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Isn't my spoon cute?  My sister in law gave that to me!

Step 4

Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice.  The recipe called for fresh, 

but all I had was the stuff in the jar.  Then pour into a bowl and

skim foam off the top.  

Let sit overnight and then pour into jars in the morning.

This is after I skimmed most of the foam off.

Step 5

Put jars in the freezer.  You don't need to use actual canning jars.

I used an old salsa, saurkraut, and pesto jar that had been rinsed

out really well.  We kept one jar in the fridge for eating now!

My freezer jam, next to the raspberries I picked, and need
to do something with...raspberry jam??!  Maybe...

Dan's pb and j in the morning.

I thought this would be a lot harder than it really was.  Jam is runnier than jelly, which I learned after this...I was thinking I did something wrong, which I could have, but there is so much sugar in this that no one would be able to tell!  There is an easier version of freezer jam that involves pectin and no heating (this was my original plan), but I started following the recipe from the first.  Whoops!  The husband has no complaints about my mishap!

--E

{Revamp} your lamp!

Lamps are expensive, and anyone who knows me, knows I HATE spending money.  It drives Dan crazy because I will literally drive across the street to save 5 cents on a can of soup.  I get this from my mother. I am sure he secretly appreciates it.  So, after spending more than enough money on a wedding,  I am back to my frugal way of life.  I had the same bedside lamp since 2007, you know, the one from Target?!  This exact one. Works great, but I am married now (good excuse, huh), and I wanted grown up lamps.  So here is what I did....

I bought 2 of these...

and turned them into 2 of these...

following White House Black Shutters' directions on her website. 

One key step...don't forget to wipe down!  I forgot to do this on one of my lamps, and you could see the layer of dust on the bottom after I painted it!  I had to sand down, and redo...don't make the same mistake I did.

This project cost me around $40 for both lamps.  I bought the lamps for $15 off of Kijiji, and the two shades at Target for around $15 a piece, and the spray paint was around $7.  I used Rust-oleum Painter's Touch Semi-Gloss in Ivory Bisque.  It dried quickly, and went on smoothly (minus the dust mishap!

What have you "revamped" with paint??

--E