I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I certainly did. I made two apple pies as my contribution to the family repast, and also created lots of ornaments. My sales on etsy are now up to 20, which pleases me. But, I must say, I have been spending so much time on ornaments that I haven't had time to draw or paint anything else! So, I've decided to dedicate some time today to painting another landscape. I don't know what yet, but it will be something to do with trees, since that seems to be the one obsession in my life that remains constant.
On another note, back in October I blogged about learning to make yogurt. I have since made it twice, and it turned out spectacularly both times! It is creamy and delicious and mild, not too tart. I like to eat it with a drizzle of maple syrup to sweeten it, although I'm sure it would be good with fruit or jam or some other such thing. My elder brother, upon his first taste of plain yogurt (which, incidentally, he thought was vanilla) exclaimed vehemently his dislike. Then he tasted mine, which had maple syrup in it, and said, "That's not so bad." I will take that as a compliment, and a recommendation for everyone to try it. Here is my recipe for yogurt:

Make sure all containers and utensils are sanitized in the dishwasher or with boiling water.
Heat 2 cups of milk on the stove to 170 degrees. Pour into a bell jar and allow to cool to 120 degrees. Add 1/4 cup of dry milk powder and 1/4 cup Stonyfield Farm plain yogurt. Put into a small cooler with two other jars filled with boiling water, and allow to set for several hours, not more than twelve. You can use other plain yogurt as the starter, but make sure it doesn't contain gelatin. After you start making yogurt, you can use your own as the starter. The measurements are approximate, since I don't really measure. Milk is much cheaper than yogurt, so it makes sense to me that this would be cost effective.

Homemade

I've been educating myself lately on how to do things. Here's how it all came about: I was browsing through various etsy shops, as I am wont to do, and found a shop called Theraganics. This shop makes home made soaps. As I was looking through her very attractive products (yes, it's has always been difficult for me to resist bath products), I thought that making soap could be a useful skill to have. What if our government collapsed and chaos ensued? Then what would I do about personal hygiene? So I decided to learn. I read up on it, and now consider myself adequately knowledgeable on the subject. But then, I thought, if I can't get soap, I'm probably not going to be able to get lye, which is the essential ingredient. So, accordingly, I learned how to extract lye from the ash of hardwood. Who knows if any of this knowledge will be useful? I had better learn something a bit more applicable to my life. So, my new project will be to make my own yogurt. I like yogurt. So does Dan, in smoothies and what not. So, I'll give it a try, and calculate the expense to see if it is cost-effective. And I will let you know how it goes.