Anika’s Potluck Dishes

Those who know me know I love to cook, and I’m always up to something in the kitchen. You might think that would make it easy to come up with dishes to share at potlucks and parties, but I’ll be honest — I actually find it challenging. A lot of things I like to make just don’t have great visual appeal or aren’t that portable, and potluck dishes are like jokes — if you have to explain it, it’s not good.

I now have one spring/summer dish and one fall/winter dish that I’ve deemed successful on all fronts — people try it, people like it. If you’ve found this page you’re probably one of them, and have asked me for a recipe. Here’s an attempt to get you on your way. I promise I’ll try not to turn this into a food-blogger-esque, story-time nightmare, but as long as I’m going to write this all down I might as well be thorough, right? Bear with me. (If you don’t want to read the following notes scroll down for the actual recipe.)

Chicken Curry Salad

I’ve been making this dish for at least 15 years, maybe closer to 20. It started on a trip I took from Philly back to Michigan to visit my folks. My mom served this for dinner one night. In full disclosure I was a little wary, as I really didn’t like mayonnaise, nor anything “-salad”. Potato salad, chicken salad, pasta salad, egg salad. Bleck, no thanks. But I tried it… and…. it was amazing! Not too goopy, not too bland. I liked it so much I started making it myself. It became a go-to dish to share, too. This stuff is so good I had a friend contact me out of the blue after we hadn’t spoken in quite some time just to ask for the recipe.

Having been asked for the recipe after bringing the dish to a BBQ recently, I thought it high time I recover the original recipe to share and stick it here on the website for easy access. I asked my mom if she had the recipe handy, and she sent me a scan of the cookbook page (plus the title page). It comes from More Remarkable Recipes by Antionette Kuzmanich Hatfield, or as the byline indicates, “Mrs. Mark O. Hatfield”. (Mark Hatfield was a senator from Oregon who served in the role for like 30 years.) I expected to find that I’d strayed so far from the original that it might not even be worth sharing, but I think it’s still pretty close to what I do. The handwritten notes on the scan are my mom’s. I think her adaptations and adjustments have followed my own pretty closely. I don’t know that I’ve ever done the toasted almonds, but I bet that’s good! I’ll have to try it next time. Here are some of my own notes:

  • I tend to put whatever I think it needs in there or I happen to have handy. This recipe lends itself to adaptations. The batch I made for my friend’s birthday party recently included parsley and green onions because they’re growing in the garden.
  • I tend to think that red onion is better than sweet or yellow onions, but either is good. I think I use more than the recommended amount, too.
  • I use homemade broth which is an entirely different “animal” than boxed or canned, but you can use what you want, and I’ve even made this before without the broth — just cooking the rice in plain old water. The dish is still good, but it’s a little bland.
  • Speaking of the rice part, don’t let the mention of “uncooked” rice in the ingredient list confuse you — the first of the directions is to cook the rice. Both the rice and the chicken should be cooked and cooled before you put all the ingredients together, so plan ahead to account for that.
  • Adjust to taste as you’re going, but remember that the flavors meld as it chills in the fridge after assembly. If it seems too lemony or you think you overdid it with onion bits give it some time before being disappointed or trying to fix it.
  • Chicken breasts look nice cut into little cubes, but I like rough-chopped thigh meat better.
  • I like to use jasmine or basmati rice. My mom likes brown rice. Whatever you use just make sure to not overcook it!

OK, all that said, here’s the original recipe. Have fun making it your own!


Coming next….. The dish for fall/winter: Pumpkin Pie Dip

Sourdough

I made a post for kombucha a while back to provide a one-stop spot to describe my process, as I was sharing a SCOBY with a friend and figured I might as well get my advice all down in writing in case I share in the future. Now it’s time to outline my sourdough process for the same reason.

WARNING — I have never tried to mail a sourdough culture before, but I’m about to send a friend in Calgary some of my starter from Winnipeg. At first I was going to send a sealed bag of fresh fed starter in the mail. The more I thought about it, the less that seemed like a very good idea. I had visions of the starter expanding — as starters do — and then exploding… my friend on the receiving end just getting a messy envelope of goo and having to face down one pissed-off mail carrier. I read that dehydrating the starter is the best plan for culture-sharing long distance with sourdough, so that’s what happened. My friend will now be receiving this:

Dried SD in bag

This was about 350 grams of starter when it was hydrated. It reduced to about 150 grams dried. I then put the dried chips in a coffee grinder and made a powder.

Rehydrating will be an experiment! I’ve had good luck with instructions from Cultures For Health before, so I’m going to suggest we use the technique outlined on this tutorial:
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/sourdough/activating-dehydrated-sourdough-starter-video/
(I saved some of the dehydrated starter. My plan is to try the re-hydration on my end too. I’ll update this with photos and commentary when the experiment is complete.)

Note that this bag contains about 150 grams of starter. The Cultures For Health kits contain just 5.4 grams (yes, five-point-four)! So the first step is to measure out just over 5 grams. That’s like a scant tablespoon.

Now…. Assuming we achieve a successful reactivation of the culture through this process it will need to be maintained. I’m going to describe my process. This can be used to maintain any viable established culture, whether you start from scratch or from a culture sharing exchange.


First…. Anyone who knows me know I’m WORDY. I think I have some good info to impart, but I’ll admit it can get to be a little much. For that reason I’m providing links to a couple websites that also describe how they maintain their sourdough starters. If the details of my process are too verbose to be of much use at first, perhaps later it will make more sense. If you run into problems, perhaps what I wrote will help. Sourdough is definitely one of those “learn by doing” things, but you have to start somewhere! As with my disclaimer on the kombucha brewing and care, I promise you this is not hard or time consuming, I just make it seem like it!

www.weedemandreap.com/feeding-your-natural-yeast-starter/

https://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=maintainingastarter
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/feeding-and-maintaining-your-sourdough-starter-recipe

Maintaining a sourdough culture is a cycle, but I have to pick a starting point, so I’ll begin at the point that you remove your starter from storage in the fridge, and we’ll end at putting it back into the fridge.

If you want to bake a loaf of bread or other sourdough recipe you’ll need to take your starter out of the fridge and start the feeding process. Even if you don’t want to bake, you’ll still need to feed your starter every week or two in order to keep it healthy. I try to feed mine every weekend whether I’m baking or not, though I’ll admit that often it’s every two weeks now that it’s strong enough that I can get away with it! Keeping a sourdough starter is like keeping a pet. It is alive, after all. Your starter is a community of yeast and bacteria. Without them you’d just have paste!

After your starter has been living in the fridge for a week (or more) it might have a variety of appearances, many of which are OK. Ideally it looks more like the picture above, though it might not have as many bubbles. It may even have a layer of liquid on the top which is yellowish or even gray. All of these descriptions are fine. If there is any mold (mold is fuzzy), if it’s pink in color, and/or if it smells TERRIBLE, sadly your starter has died, or is at least terminally ill and should be put out of its misery). Don’t worry, you can start over. Incidentally, I’ve got a little photo-essay on how not to care for a sourdough starter where you can see what happens when starter is starved. I’d say it’s not pretty, but it actually kind of is. Check it out if you’re interested.

In order to rise a loaf of bread or any other baking projects that require leavening, your starter will need to be strong and active. (Without a doubt, my biggest hurdle in bread baking has been not working with an active enough starter.) In order to get it to this point after it’s been sitting for a week or more in the fridge you’ll have to feed it.


Sourdough “food” is simple — it’s just a mixture of flour and water. You can use different kinds of flours to keep your SD (short for sourdough) happy and healthy, but the easiest and most common is an all-purpose white flour. I use the PC Organics All-Purpose Flour that comes from Superstore. Your water source should be considered, but I don’t find that it’s a make-or-break distinction. I use Winnipeg tap water that’s been run though a Britta pitcher filter. I’m aware that this water still contains chloramine — which can inhibit the microbial activity of ferments (including sourdough) — but it hasn’t seemed to be an issue. If you know your water to be particularly high in certain minerals or additives you might choose to use bottled or more carefully filtered water.

If you get really into bread baking you’ll learn that different recipes call for different hydrations — how thick or thin the starter is when you use it in a recipe. I keep mine at approximately a 100% hydration, which is to say equal amounts of water and flour by weight. Note I said “approximately”. I do not actually weigh out either one when I mix up my starter “food”. I go by texture.

Maintaining too much starter is just a waste of flour and space, but trying to keep too little going results in having to feed more often, and overall a less vigorous starter. I’ve found that for me mixing up 200ml of water (approximately 1-3/4 cup) and 200 grams of flour make for a good amount overall. My actual technique is to pour about that much water, then slowly stir in flour ’til it’s the right consistency. Measuring the flour might be helpful until you learn to ‘eyeball it’. I use a two-cup glass measure to do my mixing.

Mixing Sourdough “Food” (Flour/Water) from manteega on Vimeo.

Once you have your “food” mixed up, it’s time to add the starter. I like to let my starter come up to room temp before feeding it, so take it out of the fridge a couple hours before mixing up your “food”.


I’m going to now go off on a little aside, but I think it’s important. Almost every set of instructions I’ve ever read on maintaining a SD starter tell you to add your “food” — flour/water mix — to the existing starter, but I like adding the starter to the “food”. Though technically either way should result in the same thing in the same amounts, I think it’s far easier to discard enough starter when you do it like this. Your discard is VERY important. This was a huge stumbling block for me for a very long time. Most instructions say to discard half the starter, to which you then add an equal amount of flour/water SD. Intuitively I was constructing a visual image of feeding the starter, with the emphasis on giving food to the starter microbes, much like adding food to a fish tank. In this visual the fish are analogous to the microbes in the starter. Keeping fish just requires adding enough food often enough that the existing fish stay fed. I was off-base in that I was thinking that the established starter was the important thing. No vigor? Must need to keep more starter and feed those guys. What I was totally neglecting to consider is how fast my “fish” are supposed to multiply and what kind of environment I was fostering! By keeping more starter at feeding time, I was causing a big overpopulation problem, and the whole system was crashing. Their “tank” was choked with dead “fish” and the food I was adding was more of a mean taunt than enough nourishment for the population.

A better analogy is to think of feeding your starter as a wildlife re-introduction operation. Your flour-water mix is like an ecosystem that’s overrun with food, but doesn’t have any predators. What you’re aiming to do is to inoculate this environment with critters who will then be able to eat to their heart’s content, have lots of babies, and contribute good things to the system. You wouldn’t want to straight away add so many that they’re competing for food and starving. Do that and there’s no room for growth. Just adding back a viable population but not too much keeps the environment healthy and balanced. Well, as much as you can manage in a Mason jar. My analogy kinda falls apart here, as in a week or two your reintroduced “predators” will have depleted the food source and you’ll have a microscopic version of the French Revolution on your hands. That’s when you do it all over again.

A wolf walking down the park road with a caribou leg. (NPS Photo / Ken Conger. I believe this photo to be eligible for non-commercial reuse.)

Back to actual technique… You’ve got your “food” all mixed up and your starter has been out from the fridge for at least a couple hours. Give your existing starter a stir and then pour anywhere from just a half-cup or so to a full equal amount of the starter to your flour/water mix and give that a good stir. THIS is your fed starter. If you don’t want to do any baking you can leave this out for a few hours more, then refrigerate. If you’re not going to use it more or less right away you’ll need to feed this mix again in a week or two if kept refrigerated.

Feeding Sourdough Starter from manteega on Vimeo.


Wait, so now you have fed starter mixed up in your cup, but more old starter still in the jar. Clearly you can’t put your fed starter back in the jar to work ’til you do something with that! What do you do with it?

The remaining starter is your discard. It is spent and won’t have much if any dough-raising power, but it’s not useless! There are MANY things you can do with spent starter including my favorite, pancakes! (My favorite recipes at the end of this article.) I will caution you NOT to say to yourself, “Well, why don’t I just feed that and have lots of starter?” Unless you’re planning on doing LOTS and LOTS of baking and will actually need that much active starter, be strong and commit the discard to a recipe or even the compost or trash. You will become overrun with starter if you don’t. Trust me.

Pour your discard into another container, then return your fed starter to the jar. I, personally, perpetually use the same jar for my starter until it inevitably gets so crusted up with dried starter that I can barely screw the lid on. If you’re more fastidious than myself you could clean your jar each time, but there’s little need. (If you do choose to use a clean jar each time, make sure that it’s very well rinsed. Soap residue could harm your starter.) One of the cool things about sourdough (and other ferments) is that the proper bacterial balance keeps the organic matter from spoiling by altering the pH from one which would foster bad bacteria and mold, to an acidic environment which keeps those things at bay.


It’s ready! Pardon the photo quality, I had just woken up and this is what I found in the kitchen!

If you’re going to bake with it now, you’ll want to let it work ’til it at least doubles in volume — in other words it should get REALLY bubbly and rise in its jar by quite a lot. If it doesn’t get really really bubbly and expand ’til it’s about squirting out of the jar (or actually does) within about an 8-hour time frame it’s probably not ready. In this case you’ll need to feed it again before starting bread. Unless it’s really exhausted, two feedings should get it active enough to bake. If you need to do a second feeding, you just repeat the steps from above. Use as much fed starter as your recipe calls for, and don’t forget to save some to feed and put back in your jar. You will put this back in the fridge until the next time you want to bake or need to feed it.


RECIPES:

If you’re going to keep a sourdough starter the main goal is probably making a really awesome sourdough loaf of bread at least sometimes. I’ve tried quite a few recipes and techniques, but for a basic loaf of bread, this recipe continues to give me REALLY GOOD results. It’s my go-to for a traditional loaf of sourdough bread.
http://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beginners-guide/

Unless I’ve got way too much going on and just compost my starter discard, pancakes are my go-to for using discard. They’re easy, tasty, freeze well, and you can do anything with them. I put in fruit sometimes, or even spinach! I tend to ‘wing it’ on the ingredients these days, but this is a good jumping off point for SD pancakes:
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/sourdough-recipes/sourdough-pancakes

This is my own recipe adaptation and one of my favorite things to do with SD starter — crackers!
https://www.manteega.com/cracker/

Tortillas are another fun thing. I think I use this recipe, but fully with all-purpose flour. They’re a little time-intensive but SO TASTY and they freeze well.
https://www.growforagecookferment.com/sourdough-tortillas/

So many awesome things, actually, and the sky is the limit. You can adapt ANY yeast recipe to use sourdough starter instead. There are a lot of guides online, but this page I have found to be the most useful, and I’ve adapted several recipes from commercial yeast to sourdough using it.
https://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=convert

Speaking of so many things, I keep a running Pinterest board for recipes and techniques for not only sourdough, but all kinds of fermenting projects. There are some recipes using sourdough there that I don’t count as essential, but are good, and I’m finding new stuff all the time.
https://www.pinterest.ca/manteega/yeastsourdoughbrewingfermenting/


I think that’s pretty much it! I always re-read these things down the road and cringe at grammar or realize I left something important out, but hopefully there are some useful take-aways here. Good luck with your sourdough!

October 10, 2018

Starving Sourdough Starter

My friends two provinces over recently tried to start a wild sourdough starter. It sounded like it was off to a great start, then the report was that it started to get liquidy, then look funny, then it got STINKY. Poor sourdough. My diagnosis was that it was so vigorous given the very strong fresh-milled flour they were using that it needed to eat more than once-per-day, which is what the instructions they were following dictated. Becuase it was ‘starving’ it succumbed to bad microbes which caused it to rot.

Sourdough starter needs to be kept in a “fed” state or the “good” bacteria and yeasts that define a sourdough culture cannot keep invaders at bay and the mix will turn bad. An active culture kept at room temp needs to be fed once per day, but sometimes it can be more often depending on some variables. One kept most of the time in the ‘fridge can be fed just once per week; The cooler temps slow the metabolism of the bacteria and yeasts and they will work through nutrients more slowly. I’ll add that the ‘discard’ process is important — always discard at least half of the starter and replace with the same amount of fresh flour/water.

I will soon make a post that details how TO care for and bake with a sourdough starter. This is what happens when a starter starves. Sorry to the starter I sacrificed for this experiment — science thanks you!

Day 1 SD starter
Day 1 — 11pm. This is some sourdough starter that I poured off my main batch, which was then fed. It is slowing in activity, but still has a bit of body and a few bubbles.
Day 1 -- 11pm, top view.
Day 1 — 11pm, top view.
Day 2 -- 10am
Day 2 — 10am. Starter is starting to get thinner. No new bubbles have formed, a sign the mix is lacking in nutrients for the “good” bacteria and yeast that define a healthy sourdough starter.
Day 2 -- 1pm
Day 2 — 1pm. “Hooch” or liquid is starting to form on the surface of the starter. This is a telltale sign of starter that is “hungry”. It’s natural for some to form between feedings, especially if you’re keeping it in the fridge. Starter is still viable at this point, but losing potency. A couple feedings will be required to bring it up to the strength to raise bread dough. You can mix the hooch  back in to the starter when feeding or pour it off.
Day 2 -- 6pm
Day 2 — 6pm. More hooch is coming to the surface.
Day 2 -- 11pm
Day 2 — 11pm. Even more hooch. No bubbles. This is not a happy starter.
Day 2 -- 3am
Day 2/3 — 3am. I’m up late. I’m tired and the starter’s exhausted!
Day 2/3 -- 3am side view
Day 2/3 3am — side view. Note the clear presence of the liquid on top of the starter.
Day 3 -- 2pm
Day 3 — 2pm. More of the same, but getting more pronounced. It still wouldn’t be too late to revive this. A couple “power feedings” every 6-12 hours and it would probably bounce back fine.
Day 3 -- 2pm
Day 3 — 2pm side view. Note that things are settling and layer of hooch is more defined.
Day 4 -- 2pm
Day 4 — 2pm. WHOA! What’s this? It’s neat looking, but it smells like gross sweaty feet. This is likely kahm yeast. This is an opportunistic yeast that is taking advantage of the change in pH in the spent starter. Kahm yeast is not harmful but it does not taste good and it’s virtually impossible to actually remove once it sets up camp. There is a chance that at this point the culture could be saved with some power feedings, but it’s pretty far gone. The presence of this yeast is a sign that the culture is also open to mold.
Day 4 -- 2pm, side view.
Day 4 — 2pm, side view.
Day 5 -- 5pm
Day 5 — 5pm. The yeast layer is taking on a pink hue with is NOT a good color to see in ferments. I’m not sure if it’s the kahm yeast itself or a sign of another microbial invader, but at this point I would call this un-salvageable. The smell is increasing in strength and unpleasantness.
Day 5 -- 5pm, side view.
Day 5 — 5pm, side view.
Day 6 -- 2pm
Day 6 — 2pm. Kahm yeast is in full force. It looks really cool but smells awful. From looks the kahm layer is just on the surface of the hooch, but with things like yeast and bacteria, once they’re on the surface they’re likely throughout what they’re growing on too. The color has deepened. R.I.P. sourdough starter. I’m calling it quits on the experiment. Likely within days or maybe up to weeks mold would move in and this would be a disgusting soup of things you do NOT want to eat!
Day 6 -- 2pm, side view
Day 6 — 2pm, side view
Day 1 compare
Back to day 1. This is a side-by-side comparison of the experimental starter and my main starter, which I had just fed. If you look closely you can see the line the fed starter comes to in the big jar — about half-way.
Day 2 compare
About 12 hours after the last photo. You can see that the small jar of our experimental starter looks pretty much the same, whereas the fed starter has doubled in size and fills the jar — what a healthy starter should do after a feeding.

Sourdough Cracker Recipe/Technique

I have tried unsuccessfully to make nicely textured sourdough crackers several times using various recipes I’ve found online, but have never been happy with the results….. ’til now! I belong to a couple online fermenting groups where the subject comes up sometimes and I have a few friends who I think will be interested so I thought I’d write up the recipe and technique notes. Enjoy!

If you’re like me and just use recipes as general guidelines and you don’t care about all the commentary here’s a super simplified version. The complete description and photos of the whole process follows below.

Super duper simplified non-rambly recipe:
Mix 1 cup SD starter, 1/4 softened butter, and about a cup of flour.
Let it rise at room temp for 8-12 hours.
Sprinkle dough with 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp salt.
Knead on floured surface.
Roll out sections, perforate, egg wash, sprinkle with more salt.
Bake for 10 minutes @ 350F, flip, bake 3 more minutes.
Cracker Time!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 20180108_165301-300x300.jpg

Now for ALL the details:

SUPPLIES :

  • You’ll need an established sourdough starter for this. (If you don’t have one going, start one using any technique you like or ask me about it.)
  • Measuring cups and spoons
  • Large mixing bowl (probably the one with your mixer)
  • Stand mixer that can do bread dough or very strong arms and a wooden spoon
  • Plastic wrap or cover
  • Cutting board or counter surface for working dough
  • Pasta-machine is a huge plus, or a rolling pin
  • Bench scraper or knife
  • Brush for egg wash
  • Cookie sheet with silicone mat or parchment paper
  • Oven
  • Wire cooling rack

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup sourdough starter. This can be fed starter or a relatively eager unfed starter, but unfed sluggish starter straight from the ‘fridge isn’t likely to give you the best results.
  • 1+ cups flour. This can be white or whole-grain or a mix. I have used mostly all-purpose white flour (organic, but that’s up to you of course), with a bit of rye or whole-grain.
  • 1/4 cup oats. This is optional, but I think it’s a great add-in. If you don’t use oats you’ll need more flour.
  • 1/4 cup softened butter.

…….

  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt. You can use less or more to taste, but this is where I think it’s best. I also recommend an unrefined salt like Redmond Real Salt, the various sea salts, or Himalayan pink salt.
  • 1 egg plus some water for a wash to brush on top. This is optional but will help the salt stick and will make them brown better.
  • More salt for sprinkling on top. A nice coarse specialty salt is good, or more of the same of your regular salt. Again, optional, but this is how I make them.
  • More flour for dusting your work surface and working into the dough ball. For this I use whole-grain flour to give them a little more texture. White would be fine too.

TECHNIQUE:

The night before or early in the day (or whatever schedule allows lots of rising time) mix together the sourdough starter, cup (+) of flour, oats, and butter. I use a KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook. I’m sure you can mix by hand (if you’re really strong!) or use any other type of processor suitable for dough. Mix ’til it’s a nice stiff dough ball that cleans the sides of the bowl. If it’s too wet, add more flour little bits at a time. If it happens to be too dry to incorporate all the flour, add a splash of water ’til it’s right.

Let this sit covered for 8-12 hours or so at room temperature. It won’t rise like regular bread dough, but it will increase in size and when you poke it you should be able to tell that bubbles have developed. It will be stickier now than it was when it was first mixed. Scrape it out of the bowl onto a floured surface. I have been using whole grain flour for this. Because the dough has become softer and stickier you will be able to incorporate more flour into the dough, and I think the whole grain offers a nice texture and flavor. At the same time start pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees (F). The rack should be in the middle.

Before you start kneading measure out your baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stretch out your dough a bit and sprinkle about half of the salt and soda onto the surface. Fold it over, and sprinkle on the rest. Then fold and knead, working the salt and soda through the dough and incorporating the flour from your surface into the dough as it will take it. If your work surface gets sticky put down more flour as needed. Knead and fold until the ball is not sticky anymore and a it’s a nice solid but stretchy consistency.

Form an even shape and use your bench scraper or knife to cut the dough into four even sections. Keep out two, and return two to your bowl and cover it. This will keep them from drying out while you work with the other two.

Then it’s time to roll out your crackers. This is a CRUCIAL step, as crackers that are too thick will be dense and more like a hard bread. My first few tries I thought I was doing well, but they all ended up too thick and dense. I thought they were awful, but my boss’s dog loved them, so maybe not all is lost if you mess up a batch. Crackers that are too thin won’t have much substance and will not be good for eating with dips or toppings.

I use a pasta roller, which makes the rolling VERY easy and very even. If you don’t have one but have thought about getting one, well, DO IT! Best kitchen gadget you never thought you needed. This is an older Marcato model from Italy with a hand crank that I think dates to the 70’s or so. The new versions look pretty much identical — if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — and I’ve seen them new for about $100. That’s a little spendy for a kitchen utensil, but I’ve found mine to be really useful for many things including tortillas and every kind of pasta you can imagine (which can all be made with sourdough). I’ve thought of other uses but I’m too afraid my “creativity” might damage the rollers to try! If you’re hand-rolling the crackers you’ll have to figure out what the right thickness is, but you’ll want to roll them out quite thin — just 1/8-inch or so.

Back to the pasta roller, I squish my quarter-sections and run them thru on the #1 setting.

After the first pass at #1, cut your strips in half with the bench scraper or knife, then you can run these sections thru at #3, then #5. (Don’t try to run dough thru at your desired thickness without working through the other steps up to it — it doesn’t work.) I have decided #5 is the perfect thickness for my crackers, but you might try something else.

Put your rolled strips on a cookie sheet that has a non-stick silicone mat (like in the picture below) or greased parchment paper. The silicone mats are great because you don’t have to mess with grease, they’re reusable, and they don’t curl up like parchment paper does.

I’ve chosen to keep my crackers pretty “rustic” in shape, mostly because it’s easier. If you want to make perfect shapes you can — use a pizza roller or knife to cut even pieces. Ball up your trimmings and run them thru the roller again and again ’til it’s all used. Give each shape a poke with a fork in the middle so that you don’t end up making bubbles instead of crackers. I just keep mine like in the picture, and perforate them with a fork so I can break somewhat even shapes after they’re baked.

I’m getting ahead, though… Once your shapes are on the cookie sheet, mix up the egg and a splash of water with a fork. You want a thin consistency. Brush your proto-crackers with just a touch of the egg wash, then sprinkle with the coarse salt or whatever you choose to use. (This includes dried herbs or seeds if you want to get all crazy.)

If you’re keeping yours in large strips like this, use a fork to make perforations. When baked the crackers can be broken along these lines. They also serve to keep large bubbles from forming in your crackers.

Then into the oven! All ovens are a bit different, but mine turn out best if baked for 10 minutes at 350, then flip them, over, and bake for 3 minutes more. That’s it! They’re done when they’re slightly browned and you can tell they’re crispy and not bendy. Repeat the process with the other two dough lumps in the bowl.

Break along the perforations into cracker shapes, and….. Enjoy! One batch makes between 315-350g of crackers, which is 11-12 ounces.


Kombucha!

Firstly, what’s kombucha? I’m assuming if you’ve landed here you probably already know, but maybe you don’t. Simply put, kombucha is a drink made by fermenting sweetened tea with a specific combination of yeast and bacteria. If you want to know more than that I’ll suggest an internet search. There is a ton of info on the web with everything from basic explanations of what it is, to troubleshooting, to creative ways to use extra SCOBYs. (Like as “living band-aids“, no joke). I have pinned my favorite resources and articles are on a Pinterest board I keep for fermenting/brewing/etc. Find it here:
https://www.pinterest.com/manteega/yeastsourdoughbrewingfermenting/.
You might have to scroll down the page. I do a lot more to harness the awesome powers and benefits of micro-organisms these days than just kombucha, and am always trying to learn. The top pins will be whatever I’m most interested in at any given time. The kombucha stuff is there.

I’m about to share a kombucha SCOBY so a friend can get started on her own journey with this amazing fermented tea drink. I thought I’d write down some steps and tips here so that they’ll be here for any future kombucha SCOBY sharing I might do, or in case anyone else is interested in my particular routine with kombucha.

If you don’t know me personally and you’re interested in brewing kombucha, you’ll need to acquire a SCOBY and starter tea before you can begin the process. There’s a culture-sharing group on Facebook simply called, Kefir Grains, SCOBY, and Others To Share where you can almost surely find someone local to give you a SCOBY and starter, or at least arrange for someone to mail you one. You can also buy one online, and some health food stores are now carrying kombucha kits. Once you have your SCOBY, starter, and supplies (see below) you can follow these instructions.

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

Kombucha brewing is a cycle. The directions below are for regular brewing once you’ve started, though I’d recommend reading through the entire process first so that you have all the things you’ll need on hand, and have cleared up any questions before you start.


THE FIRST TIME with your SCOBY/starter tea pack, make your sweetened tea following the directions in part (1), then add your starter tea (this is extra-strong kombucha and will not taste very good to drink, by the way) and release the SCOBY into the brew once it’s cooled. Cover with a loose cloth, wait for a week or two, and then you can follow the directions from start to finish. This first batch will be drinkable, but note that your first several brews might not be totally stable. This could mean kombucha that is a bit yeasty tasting, or might not carbonate as well as you expect. This is just the microorganisms stabilizing in their new home. Within a few more brews your microbes should have adjusted to their new environment and you should be getting good results.

If you get your SCOBY/starter tea and don’t start kombucha making right away that’s totally fine, but don’t let it sit for more than about a week or you won’t have very much starter left. I probably gave you at least a full cup of starter with the SCOBY, but if you’ve waited to start your brew it may have been turned into SCOBY mass. Measure the amount of liquid starter tea you have before making your first batch of tea, and only make as much sweetened tea as that will allow. You can always bump up to the full amount you want the next time around by reserving more of the tea for starter. DO NOT REFRIGERATE the SCOBY in the mean time. Never refrigerate your SCOBY or main brew. The cool temps cause the good bacteria to go dormant, which leaves the door open for bad bacteria and mold to grow. Always keep your main brew and SCOBY at room temp. Once a batch has been bottled for drinking it’s OK to put in the fridge, though.


The following is going to seem like A LOT of steps and info, but the whole thing is really easy. Don’t let my wordiness turn this into more than it is! Chances are if I gave you a SCOBY you know who I am and my propensity towards verbosity. It doesn’t even take me a half-hour to bottle my KT. Maybe like 15-20 minutes tops.

(1) Make sweetened tea in the amount you want to brew. This will likely depend on how big a jar you have. I use a gallon ‘sun tea’ jar (the one with the flowers in the picture). This makes about 6 Grolsch-bottles of ‘booch’ on bottling day.  For my gallon of kombucha I put about 14 cups of water into a large stainless-steel pot and bring it to a boil. As soon as it boils I turn off the heat and pull the pot off the burner. I give it a minute or two while I get the tea out. Then I add the tea. When the time is up, I fish the teabag(s)/ball out then add one cup of sugar. (I get the bags of organic cane sugar from Costco. They work great. You can use any other refined sugar source, though.) Stir the mix thoroughly to dissolve all the sugar.

Then let the tea cool to room temperature. I’ve gotten in the habit of making tea the night before I want to bottle. A gallon of boiling hot tea takes a LONG time to cool, and if you put your SCOBY into tea that’s too hot you might kill it.

www.manteega.com

Here’s a chart from a page on the Cultures For Health website for the ratios of water/tea/sugar for different amounts of final KT:

One-Quart Batch:

  • 1½ teaspoon loose tea OR 2 tea bags
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2-3 cups water
  • ½ cup starter tea

Half-Gallon Batch:

  • 1 tablespoon loose tea OR 4 tea bags
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 6-7 cups water
  • 1 cup starter tea

Gallon Batch:

  • 2 tablespoons loose tea OR 8 tea bags
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 13-14 cups water
  • 2 cups starter tea

A note on tea: Kombucha likes plain black tea the best, though I’ve heard of people doing mixes of herbal teas with black tea and or/green tea with success. I’d recommend letting your SCOBY grow another one and use one to experiment and one to keep doing the “tried-and-true” in case you kill it if you want to try different teas. So far I have used a couple different sources of tea. One was a box of loose organic black tea from Portugal I got at that GJ Andrews place on Academy road. It worked really really well. When I ran out I needed tea like right now and got a box of T&T brand organic Chinese loose black tea at Superstore. I found the taste was kinda blah after using it a couple times and the SCOBY didn’t seem to like it as much, either. I picked up some different organic black tea bags at Vita Health a while back and it’s become my regular tea for kombucha. It’s called “Ridgeways Organically Grown Black Tea“.

(2) So, the next day when I’ve got my room-temp tea ready I gather the things I need to bottle. This is what I use. Use anything similar to suit your situation:

6 Grolsch bottles
A 2-cup glass measuring cup
My trusty enameled metal 4-cup measure
A little plastic 2-oz measure (oops — not pictured)
A little tiny funnel
A plate
Whatever juice/syrup I’m using in my second ferment (see step 5 for more info)
The jar of kombucha that’s been brewing
Paper towels and/or a clean dish rag
Labels and a marker (optional but recommended)

KT_bottling
This pic shows most of what I use when bottling. It’s taken mid-process.

(3) I take the cover off the big jar of ready-to-bottle kombucha and lay it so that I remember which side is “up” in the interest of not flipping it over and accidentally introducing dust or anything I don’t want into the kombucha. I guess if you’re the fastidious type you could use a clean fresh piece of whatever you’re using as a cover each time. Then I reach in with clean hands (soap and water is fine), fish out the SCOBY and put it on the plate. (See step 12 for what to do in the case your SCOBY has grown or duplicated itself over the brewing process.)

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

 

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

(4) I pour 2 cups of the kombucha tea (shortened to KT after this) into the glass measure and set it aside. This will be my starter for the next batch. Starter tea is important, as it immediately acidifies the brew so that “bad” microorganisms can’t take hold and ruin your KT. I read somewhere that pouring it off the top of the jar is best, as free yeast tends to settle in the bottom of the jug and using that can throw off the balance. I poured off the bottom of the jug for the first several months I was doing this, and it did fine, but I do notice that my SCOBYs tend to be cleaner and happier looking since starting to pour from the top for my reserved starter.

www.manteega.com

(5) Then I put my juice/syrup into the bottles using the little funnel. I do all the bottles at once, so each of the 6 bottles has a little bit in it, and the KT goes on top. Efficiency, baby. I use my little bitty 2-ounce cup with tablespoon marks for measuring juice. I’ve been finding that anywhere from one to three tablespoons of juice/syrup is perfect. 4 is too much. (Both taste-wise and carbonation-wise…. more sugar = more bubbles = explodeyness when opening bottles = KT on the ceiling = friends/family/pets that are surprised/amused/scared and/or pissed off depending on how well KT comes off the kitchen ceiling.)

Use less of things that are sweet and/or concentrated (like syrups and fruit “juice” that’s more like a puree), and more of things like actual juice. I have used SO MANY different things for my second ferment (called ‘2F’ from now on). You can use pretty much anything, even whole pieces of fruit, though I prefer liquids/purees. They’re much easier to clean out of the bottles, and I don’t like drinking chunky stuff. If I wanted fruit salad I’d eat fruit salad!

So far my favorite 2F add-ins are cherry juice (either store-bought ‘tart cherry juice’ or from actual cherries) and strawberry juice made from fresh strawberries. I thought blueberry juice would be really awesome but I didn’t like it. Apple juice was a total fail. I think because KT tastes reminiscent of apple on its own that it conflicted. You can even use jam/jelly globs. I used the Ikea lingonberry jam for a couple batches. It was pretty good and the closest thing to whole fruit I’ll use.

Last year I picked up a juicer at a thrift store and this has been great for my kombucha-making. Juiced fresh fruit has a much more complex taste profile and tends to be a little more tart than commercial fruit juice. Obviously when you’re juicing your own fruit you can make kinds and combos you’ll never find on the shelf at the store. I juice odds-and-ends and make use of seasonal buys then freeze it for use throughout the rest of the year.

In summary, you can get super creative, OR you can also bottle it plain. That’s good too. If you’re bottling it before all the sugar is spent in the brew it will carbonate fine. You can always add like 1/4 teaspoon of granulated sugar or honey to the bottle if you want to make sure it’ll carbonate. (Not too much!)

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

Oh, I guess I’ll mention that the 2F juice/sugar is for added taste, but also to give the yeast a little extra snack so that they make you bubbles. The carbon dioxide the yeast make when they eat sugar can’t escape the bottle, so it’s forced back into the KT giving you a delightfully bubbly drink. It’s really easy to get awesome bubbles, and the *pop* of the bottle and sight of the poured KT is as satisfying as actually drinking it. It’s sure to impress anyone, even if they don’t actually like the taste of kombucha.

(6) Then I take whatever clean implement is closest — fork, spoon, knife, whatever — and give the big jug a stir. Doesn’t have to be thorough, all you’re doing is giving it a little mix to pull some of the yeast from the bottom and distribute it throughout the KT. Don’t worry about fully mixing it up — sediment staying at the bottom is fine.

(7) When you’ve got your bottles each with the 2F juice in them, you’re ready to pour in the KT from the brewing jug. I pour from the big jug into the 4-cup measure first and pour from that into the bottles — it’s a lot easier to manage. The KT will tend to foam up in the bottle as you’re pouring unless you’re better with the little funnel than I am. Be careful not to lose precious KT to overflowing. You want to fill the bottles to about 1-inch from the top. With the actual Grolsch bottles that’s easy because that collar at the top of the bottle-neck is about an inch. If you fill it to less than an inch it might not carbonate properly. If you fill too much you’re in ceiling-stain territory, or, worse, bottle explosion. I have yet to experience that, and hope I never will.

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

(8) When the bottles are full, wipe the top with a paper towel or cloth and clamp down the top. Use a dampened towel to wipe the bottles and clean off any drips. (Unless you want ants… because that’s how you get ants.) Labeling is a good idea unless you like surprises or your memory is a lot better than mine. You can get these awesome dissolving labels at Canadian Tire in the canning section made by Bernardin. They wash completely off in warm water, but actually last as long as the bottle’s dry.

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

(9) You can then put the bottles anywhere to do their 2F thing — I put them in my large pantry space that’s above a set of stairs in my kitchen. I’d recommend keeping them at ‘room temp’, not anywhere too cold or too hot. Too hot and it’ll work too fast (KT on the ceiling), too cold and it won’t work fast enough (weak bubblyness).

(10) Then you’re ready to set up your next batch. I just give the big brewing jar a thorough rinse with warm water. I don’t use soap. You could, but if you do MAKE SURE to rinse it really really well. Anything like soap or cleansers that can leave residue could kill or really inhibit your brew. The jar comes nice and clean with just a rinse. If there’s any hanger-onner bits just use your finger to loosen them. If you’re squidgy about not really cleaning the jar each time you could  swish some white vinegar around in there. Vinegar will clean, but is just an acid and any remnants won’t negatively affect the brew.

www.manteega.com

(11) Add your reserved starter tea to the jug, then pour the sweetened tea that’s been sitting overnight (or is at least cooled to room temp) to the jug. (Be careful. I’ve found I can maneuver my pot pretty well, but I’ve poured tea all over the counter once or twice!) I used to fill it damn near the top of the brewing jar, but recently I had a SCOBY that tried to escape! It was kinda cool, but messy. The jar was so full that the SCOBY was able to ‘grab on’ to the cloth cover, and from there it grew and oozed up over the side. Presumably it pulled liquid with it that gathered in the bottom of the plastic basket I use under the jar (good thing it was there!) It actually created a thin SCOBY film on the entire bottom of the basket that peeled off like a fruit roll-up. Like I said — cool, but kinda messy. Now I leave it about 2 or 3 inches of room from the very top. No travelling SCOBYs since!

(12) After you fill your jug with the starter and the sweet tea, you can return the SCOBY that you took out of the jar at the beginning. Just slip it back into the jar. It might float right away, it might sink, might go sideways. Healthy SCOBYs will usually level out on top eventually. If for some reason it doesn’t, another one should form. (If neither happens that might be a sign of trouble, as in your SCOBY community is out of whack and not thriving.) SCOBYs will last a LONG time, but they’ll grow in size by either adding layers onto the surface, or sometimes if the SCOBY was in the jar crooked you’ll have a brand new independent SCOBY on the top of the brewing vessel. The bigger the SCOBY the faster the fermenting happens. In order to keep a nice balance, you’ll want to just use one ‘layer’ of the SCOBY — whatever part strikes your fancy.

Any ‘extras’ — be it the new or old — you can do whatever you want with. You can start a “SCOBY hotel” in another jar to keep extra SCOBYs alive and working so that you can give them to friends or do something neat with them. I just made SCOBY ‘candy’ that’s like mildly KT flavored gummy-bears — really freakin’ good! I’ve dried some just for kicks — it’s kinda like rawhide. I’ve read about making savory ‘jerky’ out of SCOBY — might try that next. Some people feed their extra SCOBYs to their dogs or chickens. You can compost them, too. Of course you can trash them, but that’s boring.

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

www.manteega.com

(13) Replace the cover. A note on covers: Kombucha is one of the very very few ferments that actually requires an aerobic environment to work. It actually likes a fair amount of air-flow. This is why you want to use a wide-mouth vessel and not a juice jug or anything with a narrow neck. The cover should allow air flow, but keep out dust, pet hair, fruit flies, and other floaties. I have used an old clean cut-up T-shirt, and now I’m using some porous organza-type fabric. The holes in cheesecloth are too big, and I think tea-towels are too thick. Coffee filters don’t last long enough. Whatever the top, I just secure it with rubber bands.

(14) Return the jug wherever it’s going to ‘live’ and let it work ’til the next time you bottle. Timing will be a personal thing based on a few factors — mainly how you like your KT to taste and how warm or cold the area is where you’re keeping your KT brew going. This, of course, may change seasonally. Here in my house in Winnipeg I have a large pantry thing in my kitchen that is the space above the basement stairs, so it’s high-ceilinged in there and presumably there’s quite a bit of air-flow. I’ve read that closets, cupboards, and smaller enclosed spaces aren’t great for kombucha because of their air-flow needs. Mine are in the dark in that pantry, but you can supposedly keep them in the light or the dark. (I’d imagine direct sunlight probably isn’t so good.) Keeping the KT in close proximity to stored vegetables is supposedly also not good given potential yeast and bacteria and mold-spores they might have on the surface. My pantry stays between 20 and 22 degrees (Celsius) all year given heat and A/C use, BUT I’ve noticed that despite barely fluctuating temp that the brew has been working faster in the summer. I like my KT fairly strong, and given work and stuff time is a factor. I tend to let my brews go anywhere from one week to two, often somewhere in between. I think about a week-and-a-half is actually my taste ideal. You can sample the KT to get a taste for how it progresses with time, or — what I do — just do it when time allows and learn from there. The worst that happens is that it turns really vinegary due to a long brew time. If you have a batch that goes too long it won’t hurt the SCOBY. You can actually use the resulting vinegary tea as you would apple cider vinegar, either in cooking or other household stuff. I’ve started using the super-strong tea from my SCOBY hotel as a conditioning hair-rinse (diluted with water at the time of use). You can also use the yeasty dregs and strong KT as a sort of faux sourdough starter to make bread or pancakes (see my Pinterest board for recipes and techniques). The possibilities are seriously endless.

The bottled KT I let sit for 3-5 days depending on the sugariness of my  2F juice and the season….and if I remember that it’s time to move it. (I’ve let batches go a full week, and without total disaster.)  After the 3-5 days I move it all into the fridge and then it’s time to actually DRINK it!!!! Since carbonation is building in the bottles, if you let it go too long it will be too fizzy and overflow when you open the bottle. If it doesn’t go long enough it won’t be fizzy enough. Of course the desired fizz level is personal. Maybe you’ll like yours a bit less fizzy. I’ve noticed that most online directions for making KT say only to let the 2F go at room temp for 24-48 hours with horror stories about exploding bottles, but I can only imagine that they’re in warmer climates or something. That amount of time has never resulted in fizzy enough KT for me, and I’ve talked to other Canadians online who concur.

(15) Drink your bottles of kombucha and enjoy, then in a week or two do it all AGAIN! I’ll mention that it’s totally normal for a little tiny baby SCOBY to form in the bottle. It’ll plop out of the bottle into your glass when you pour. You can just drink it down or fish it out.

KT_glass


A note about my current SCOBY (the one you’re getting a version of): I got my first one from a lady from the online culture sharing group mentioned at the beginning who lives in Steinbach. I drove down there in January 2016 in a snow storm and met her in a gas-station parking lot. Unfortunately the transaction was quick and I didn’t get to ask where she got her original from. I’ve been brewing with the generations of microorganisms from that original SCOBY since — it’s August of 2016 now. (Update — It’s almost November of 2018 now. Still going strong!)

In 2017 I mailed a descendant of this SCOBY to a friend in Laval, Quebec. She’s been brewing since, and has given her SCOBY’s ‘babies’ to friends there! So your SCOBY has French-Canadian cousins!

If you get all into this and want to talk about it or ask questions (of people besides me) or get into other fermented drinks and foods there’s a couple awesome forums on Facebook you might want to join:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/WlidFermentation/ — This is an AWESOME group about all things fermenting. It’s big and active and there are some really amazing people who use it. Before joining the group I had NO IDEA what all was possible!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/fermenterskitchen/ — This is a slightly smaller (at like 28,000 members!) and more loose group than ‘Wild Fermentation’ and totally awesome in its own right.

CHEERS!


 

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Spoofwafel Productions

 

spoofwafel_WEB

I first met Kevin Page through the forum related to the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise. It was 2010, the year before the maiden voyage. None of us knew what to expect from the event itself, but we were all bursting with anticipation. Many of us spent countless hours on that forum, and friendships and partnerships started to develop before we even set sail. The fun didn’t stop after that first cruise, and that’s when it all started to happen when it comes to what has turned into an almost-annual design collaboration between myself and Kevin, something that I decided to give its own name and logo — Spoofwafel Productions. (If you don’t ‘get it’ now, keep reading and it’ll all come together.) Over several years and projects Kevin’s been the idea guy, and I develop those ideas and create the graphics using, well, just about anything I can get my hands on. Normally I’m of the mind that true originality is always something to strive for and appreciate, but I’ve really enjoyed these projects as an artist and a metalhead. The opportunity to learn from other artists by mimicking their techniques and manipulating their original works has been both fun and valuable.

Hagelslag of Bullets
Want your own Hagelslag of Bullets T-shirt or tote bag or other item? Click on the picture to go to the Society6 order page.

I honestly don’t quite remember how it started, but “Hagelslag of Bullets” was born in 2011, and we made it a reality for Kevin to be able to wear it as a T-Shirt to Maryland Deathfest in 2012. If you’re unfamiliar with the components of the joke, Hail of Bullets is a Dutch death metal band, and a good one, too. Hagelslag is a Dutch way of serving toast — with chocolate sprinkles!

*** Design now available for purchase as T-shirts (in men’s or women’s styles and long-sleeves), hoodies (zip or pullover, front or back print),  tote bags, art prints, even throw pillows and more! Clicking links will take you to the Society6 page for ordering. Thanks! ***


KEVIN:
So how did you create the photo anyways? I’m stumped as I don’t think you had bread and bullets lying around the pantry.

ANIKA:
Asking me to divulge my secrets, huh? Nah, just kidding.

The first one I did by simply copy/pasting images off the ‘net, seeing as I was at work and didn’t have actual bread or bullets at my disposal. I imported them both into Photoshop, layered them with the bullet one on top, and to put it easily I “cut” around the bullets in the bread shape so the right part of the bread would show thru using several different tools. I was going to leave it at that, then thought it would be SO much better to have the actual “Hail of Bullets” logo say “Hagelslag” so I took that off their website and then sort of re-built the letters using cut pieces of the original and some other tools.

Since I was stealing photos off the ‘net the resolution was really low and the size was small, so when it came to the shirt I wanted to start from scratch so I’d have a bigger and better image. I actually went and bought a loaf of white bread and took an actual photo to work with. (I also made the mistake of eating a piece — YUCK! Good thing it was on sale and only cost me $1.) I was then stumped on how to get a good bullet image, as I learned that Canada’s stringent gun laws require a full firearms license to buy ammo, nevermind it probably costs an arm and a leg. I wrote my ex-brother-in-law in Alberta who owns guns and asked him to take the photo of the shells for me, which he did. I couldn’t get across to him to email the file instead of posting it on an online sharing site to preserve resolution/size, though, so the image was still a little small, but I made it work.


Of course the namesake band, Hail of Bullets, was playing MDF that year and the inspired graphic was shared with them. Fun stuff! Here’s Kevin in the shirt with drummer Ed Warby.

kevin_ed_hagelslag

We gave Hail of Bullets a bit of a break in 2012 when Kevin’s obsession with the salty savory Australian spread, Vegemite, took the spotlight for a while and we made Kevin another T-shirt that was part of his “Viceroy of Vegemite” ensemble that he wore proudly on the second voyage of 70,000 Tons of Metal. The original work was a vintage Vegemite ad. A mutual friend, Marlo, had a hand in this project. Kevin is fond of his “minions” who help him realize his visions. While the T-shirt was a little more straightforward, this alternate take is my favorite.

vegemite_mat_kevin_web

In time for Maryland Deathfest 2014 Hail of Bullets was once again the subject of a spoof. This one honored both their new album, The Rommel Chronicles, and their Dutch heritage. Another one of Kevin’s favorite foreign snacks was featured — the stroopwafel. For those who may be missing out on this treat, stroopwafels are thin sweet waffles with a caramel filling. Rommel turned to “caramel” for this spoof of the album cover, and just about every element altered within the original design just slightly.

HOSW

The latest in the series is a piece Kevin conceived when it was announced by Hail of Bullets that the bad was parting ways with band member Martin van Drunen and bringing on board vocalist Ben Ingram. Ingram happens to be a huge Dr. Who fan and is to make his debut with the band at Maryland Deathfest 2016. Another image was born…

HOT-FINAL-ONLINE

Thanks to Kevin and Hail of Bullets, and to everyone who’s cracked a smile at the work we’ve done so far.

— Anika
May 2016


 

FREE Valentines for online sharing!

Need a unique valentine to share online? Please feel free to use one of these! For more information about these images or to order actual cards please see this page. Have fun! Share, share, share! (Free license is valid only if whole image is used without cropping or editing.)

I heart you

WEB-kvass_valentine-manteega

 

WEB-scoby_my_valentine-manteega

Valentines Here! Get Your Valentine’s Day Cards!

In January of 2016 I started using Society6 as a way to make my designs available as prints, shirts, tote bags….. and greeting cards! Here’s the selection of Valentine’s Day cards.

Cards are blank on the inside and include a soft white European-fold envelope. $12 USD for a set of 3 cards. Click on the image to take you to the order page.


I-heart-you-card

Tell anyone you “heart” them anytime of year with this image as a print or card. Especially great for Valentines Day, though! This is a photo of a cross section of a real elk heart, an animal that was ethically harvested and every last bit of it used. (Used for more than just greeting cards, too.)


beet-kvass-valentine-cards

Kvass is a healthful fermented drink that can be made from red beets. Show your love for any fermented drink aficionados in your life with the help of this fun card.


scoby-my-valentine-cardsSCOBY is pronounced “sco-bee” and stands for “symbiotic community of bacteria and yeast”. It’s a slimy gross looking thing, but what makes regular tea into good tasting and good-for-you kombucha tea. This particular SCOBY is shaped like a heart and will warm the heart of your fermented food and drink loving Valentine.