Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2
Week 50: December 17, 2022

The vast majority of coffee drinkers use a drip coffeemaker, but perhaps there is a sweet spot in your heart for a percolator due to memories of grandparents using one. Watching coffee bubble up through the glass knob is a cheerful way to start the day.

Let me start by saying I am a tea drinker. My husband Samuel is the coffee drinker. I do like to make coffee for him occasionally, so I am interested in making *good* coffee.

When our last programmable coffeemaker went downhill, to my surprise Samuel chose a percolator to replace it. The Beautiful coffee maker (yes, that is its name) is indeed attractive and simple to set up. By the time the 90-day warranty had expired, it was taking well over half an hour to brew a pot of coffee.

Samuel researched percolators online for various features and flaws and eventually chose the 12-cup Farberware stainless steel model.

Key features:

easy to use

makes very good coffee

all stainless steel, no aluminum parts

easy to clean

keeps coffee warm for a while

fill directly from the faucet

shatter-resistant plastic knob rather than glass

Drawbacks:

not programable

slightly more fiddly to set up

missing the view of perking coffee afforded by a glass knob

He chose stainless steel specifically to avoid adding traces of aluminum to his coffee, which I think is wise. Most percolators used to be aluminum and aluminum has been shown to be present in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains.

The lack of a programmable timer is an obvious setback, easily remedied by purchasing an appliance timer, which we still need to do.

The shatter-resistant knob on the lid should hold up much better than the traditional glass knob, but it isn’t see-through. A big share of the fun of a percolator is being able to watch the coffee bubble and perk through the knob.

I’m interested in all of your coffee wisdom. Tell us about your coffeemaker and why you like it (or don’t). Have you considered a percolator?

All parts that come in contact with coffee are made of stainless steel. Parts appear to be well-made. Using a paper filter in the filter basket may not be needed; Samuel is using up fine coffee grounds left from the drip coffee maker.

Samuel likes being able to fill the pot directly from the faucet instead of filling a carafe and pouring into a reservoir.

Samuel has used the new Farberware percolator for three weeks and likes it. It takes one minute per cup brewing time and he says the flavor is very good.

Saturday Date Day

Fun fact: Samuel and I met at a Grange Co-Op store! Mutual friends TJ and Charity Weber played matchmaker and we met at my place of employment. A brand new Grand Co-Op just opened in a nearby (50 minute drive for us is nearby) town and we made a date to go check it out.

Who is that be-spectacled woman with the cartload of boxes? Me – Michele! Samuel and I decided to give each other practical gifts this year and my “pick” was a pantry makeover!

What is in the boxes? You’ll soon see!

If weather cooperates, we will begin reorganizing the pantry between Christmas and New Year’s. I will bring you along and can hardly wait to show you!

Exciting presents don’t always come in little jewlery boxes. Sometimes they look like tools, supplies, and work.

In the kitchen

WHY WAIT TO EAT HEALTHY?

Here’s a thought. Instead of waiting until after the holidays to eat healthy, consider starting now.

Typically I indulge in too many treats during the Christmas season and end up not feeling my best on the holiday itself. I always tell myself it’s okay – that I’ll get back to healthy eating in January.

This year I am doing it differently. I’m starting now.

The plate you see in the picture was a recent lunch plate. It was as delicious as any charcuterie board I might encounter at a party and it was all mine.

I do plan to allow myself occasional treats, occasional being the operative word.

I’m not here to tell you how to eat, though I am a nutritionist; instead I am encouraging you to eat in a way that makes you feel your best. What does that look like for you? Do that.

In case you’re curious what’s on my plate,

(Clockwise from the top): sliced 1/2 apple with cinnamon, celery and sharp Cheddar, golden sauerkraut, purple carrot coins, slice of peeled kohlrabi. Enjoyed with a big mug of bone broth.

I am on a mission to declutter the house, so one-pot meals like this one that feed us for a few days are especially welcome as they free up time. This scrumptious Chicken Pot Pie with einkorn crumble crust lasted for 3 dinners and 2 lunches.

TIP FOR FRESHER HARD COOKED EGGS

Have you ever found a bowl of hard cooked eggs in the fridge and wondered how old they were and if they were still safe to eat?

Here are a few helpful tips to ensure your hard cooked eggs are fresh and delicious:

Date the eggs – that’s right, write the date they were cooked right on the shell with a pencil.

Refrigerate the cooked eggs within 2 hours and make sure your fridge is set to 40F / 5 C.

Store in a sealable container.

Wait to peel them until you are ready to eat them or use them in a recipe.

Freezing cooked eggs is not recommended.

Samuel’s projects

In addition to putting in overtime as a County grader operator plowing snow this week, Samuel kept the “woodbox” full, and kept the front porch, patio, sidewalk, and steps free of leaves after work. Here he oils his boots and my work gloves to keep them flexible and waterproof.

LEARN TO BLEND YOUR OWN HERBAL TEAS

Winter is a wonderful time to study. The busyness of the garden and harvest season are behind us and our attention naturally turns indoors.

I you are interested in herbal medicine and have ever contemplated making your own tea blends with herbs, I have an idea for you:

Give yourself the gift of a special online course in medicinal tea blending!

I have taken and personally recommend this course. It is FANTASTIC!!!

My very smart, capable, talented, and hard-working friend CeAnne Kosel created this class and included everything you need to be successful at making your own medicinal herbal teas. She walks you through step-by-step via video!

Students receive a sheaf of tea recipes for specific health ailments AND learn to create their own custom tea blends too.

A mini-class in dehydrating herbs is included. If you grow or forage your own herbs, this will be especially helpful to you!

Class materials are neatly organized for printing. Simply place them in a 3-ring binder with the printable cover sheet and you’re set!

I’m such a big believer in this course I am sharing my affiliate link to her class. Using my link will earn me a commission and doesn’t change your price. Thank you! If you have questions, feel free to ask. I am happy to help.

Seed saving

These are so fun to grow and eat, have you tried them?

Lacy vines with that quintessential cottage garden look are easy to grow on a tomato cage or piece of wooden lattice.

Tiny fruit grow about an inch long, resemble miniature watermelons, and taste like cucumber with a touch of spritely lemon – so unique!

Wonderful added to salads (fruit or green), pickled or fermented like old-fashioned sour dills, also fun to eat out-of-hand.

I saved enough viable seed to equal 3 commercial seed packets worth $10.50. That’s money saved.

Bookshelf

1. CHRISTMAS IN MY HEART by Joe Wheeler

Author Joe Wheeler brings together the best old favorite stories and fresh new ones from master storytellers like Temple Bailey, Madeleine L’Engle, Pearl S. Buck, and O. Henry alongside special writings from literary unknowns.

Each story contains a spark. They come from the heart, reminding us of the generous love that Christmas embodies. It is the gift anyone can give and these stories beautifully demonstrate that.

A few of my favorites include: The Candle in the Forest, The Gold and Ivory Tablecloth, A Father For Christmas, The Gift of the Magi, The Last Straw, and A Full House. (I love them all!)

2. THE PIONEER LADY’S COUNTRY CHRISTMAS by Jane Watson Hopping is brimming with old fashioned recipes and charm. Anticipation abounds in this book! Memories of family feasts, complete with relatives from far away, and a country cook’s best tried-and-true dishes. Enjoy poetry, line drawings, and really good recipes that work in today’s kitchens.

Both are perfect books to take to bed – or the bathtub – or read aloud to the family.

Christmas in My Heart and The Pioneer Lady’s Country Christmas are available inexpensively from used booksellers.

Best wishes to you this Christmas season!
Michele and Samuel

Note: This post contains links to products and vendors I use and appreciate for their quality and usefulness. Some are affiliate, some are not. I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases when you use the links I provide; this does not change your price.

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary, Volume 2
Week 32: August 13, 2022

The screen door is open most evenings, a small holiday in itself. The yellow Adirondack chairs are pressed into service, the front porch is abloom with pink and red geraniums. It is too warm for supper there, but the garden teepee is becoming a favorite comfortable spot again as greenery wends its way up.

Could anything be more fitting than zucchini, in some form, for dinner in the teepee? That’s how Sam and I celebrated our First Date Anniversary, with grilled burgers served on zucchini slice “buns.”

Sam and I met through mutual friends, TJ and Charity Weber, who thought we were perfect for each other and decided to play matchmaker! I worked with Charity at the local Grange Co-op, Sam and TJ worked 2 jobs together at the time.

Sam came to meet me for the first time at work and asked me out to dinner. Our first date was to take place Sunday July 13, 2003. Tragically, my Dad died unexpectedly the night before our first date.

We didn’t go out until more than a year later, August 14, 2004, after a chance meeting at the Post Office. Coincidence is God’s signature and we quickly fell in love.

We celebrate all the special days: First Date Anniversary, Proposal Day, and our Wedding Anniversary. And we celebrate many other small things!

We have invented a basketful of small holidays and sprinkled them through the calendar:

First Day of Summer – with homemade ice cream

First Zucchini – with fried Zucchini Moons

First Tomato – we share it

Wisteria in Bloom – with pictures

Locust Tree Flower Flurry – grilled supper under the falling petals

Final Load of Firewood – a nap and a movie

This is just a sampling of small holidays of summer. We also celebrate clean floors, internet outages, and new baby animals of all kinds.

We are ready to mark any occasion, especially the small ones, with a special dessert, a picture, a picnic, a walk, or whatever suits.

How about you? Do you celebrate any private or “made-up” holidays? Do tell!

First sunflower… another small holiday? Chocolate Cherry Sunflower is a show-stopper.

Thornless blackberries mingle with wild ones along our garden fence. First ripe berries means blackberry cobbler or pie!

Gorgeously flavored Amarylla tomatillos are best when fully ripe, so sweet! This Polish variety was bred to thrive in the cooler summer conditions of inland eastern Europe. I didn’t used to consider tomatillos desirable as an out-of-hand snack, but these have changed my mind.

Our little dog, Squirrel loves to spend time in the garden with me, nose in the dirt. On this day, she uncovered a treasure: skin shed by a snake!

Small Chamomile harvest to be dried for tea. The variety is called Zloty Lan and I appreciate the extra-large size flowers. Larger flowers equal more tea. They have a fruity floral scent that is calming to the tummy and the disposition. I left plenty of flowers to self-sow. 

Another variety of chamomile, Kelway Golden, used for dyeing, is just coming into flower against a backdrop of Persian basil.

Goldenrod – a gift from a friend, Michael Villareal. In search of a cup of red wigglers (worms) for a new worm bin.

New video

A garden tool basket is almost like having an extra set of hands in the garden! No more lost time hunting for missing pruners or gloves; you will know right where they are. All those small items, too, like a tape measure for measuring off planting spaces, pencil for making notes in your garden journal, and more. You can bring your water bottle along, effortlessly, so you stay hydrated in the heat!

Zucchini Slice is a dish that Australian friend Amanda Roberts has been prodding me to make for a while. I finally made it and it was an instant hit. Sam makes waffles for breakfast.

Mix up a big batch of bread dough once a month with my Whole Wheat Freezer Bread Dough recipe, either by hand or using an Ankarsrum mixer. You can thaw and bake a loaf each week to keep fresh bread in the house and if a piece of dough hangs around too long in the freezer, it’s still great for pizza night!

Recipe for pizza sauce made from a can of tomato sauce or from tomatoes you’ve dried from your garden (pictured) is included in the pizza recipe! Make pizza just the way you like it.

A delicious summer meal of tabouli salad made with spelt grain, spiralized curly fries cooked in a cast iron skillet, and grilled steaks. Feeling blessed.

We said goodbye to our beloved Pastor Dennis Mortimore and his wife Joy as they retired to Grants Pass. Tom and Sheryl O’Neal, Pastors of a neighboring church, gave a beautiful tribute to Dennis. 

We make Tea and lunch at Mom and Rolly’s a small holiday. This week included a bunch of grandkids, so fun! Sisters Savannah Hulce, and Gigi and Alyssa Hill, Miriam and Mom’s BFF Joy Longiotti joined in the fun. Joy brought a newly finished quilt top to show and lunch was open-face egg salad sandwiches, fruit salad, sliced garden cucumbers, and iced tea.

Thanks for stopping by, see you next week!
Blessings,
Michele