Failed Experiment

Think it was around 2007 when I toyed around with the idea of a bit of online writing. Apparently I have neither the interest nor the commitment to online content. It was a worthwhile experiment, but one I'm nearly ready to pack up. Only thing is, committing to taking it down means either abandoning the content or figuring out a way to archive it in case, someday, maybe I'll wish to pick up a thread. 

Alas, "Change is hard."

Writing and Editing Basics

I was wrestling with some writing and editing at work and chatting with a colleague when I blurted out four statements: 

• The main point of a document should show up in the opening paragraph.
  
• The supporting points of a document should show up in the structure of the document.
  
• The main point of any paragraph should show up in the topic sentence. 
• The main point of any sentence should show up in the subject and verb positions. 

I hadn't spend time consciously articulating any of this; it just came out. But it accurately summarizes my stance on writing and editing--for technical or business or academic audiences, that is--it's no treatise on poetry or creative writing.

Sauerkraut recipe

This is a simple, beginner's recipe for homemade fermented sauerkraut that can be made in a quart wide-mouth mason jar.

Ingredients:

• Cabbage(s)
• Canning salt
• Water

Instructions:

1. Pull a couple of the outer leaves off the cabbage(s) and set aside. 
2. Shred cabbage (75% green and 25% red) and soak in a brine for an hour or two (brine = 1 tsp. canning salt per cup of water).
   Don't use too much brine--otherwise you'll just end up pouring most down the sink; use enough brine to cover about 1/2 the depth of shredded cabbage in the bowl.
   Stir it around with your hand before you let it soak.
3. Drain & set aside the brine; pack jars tightly with cabbage.
4. From the set-aside leaves, cut or tear pieces that are slightly larger than the jar mouth and tuck one into the top neck of each jar. This is a sacrificial piece--when you open the jar, you'll toss it.
5. Top off with brine, leaving a bit of head space in each jar.
6. Put on bands and lids snug (tight but not over-tight--they need to bleed pressure later) and let set a week at room temp (70 F). Avoid direct sunlight.
   Put them in a glass dish or something similar--because the jars will overflow and make a mess.
7. After a week, wash up the jar tops, lids, and bands, re-tighten, and put in the cellar for 2 months or more. (You can add brine if any jars need a bit.)
8. In a couple of months, open a jar, toss the sacrificial cabbage leaf, and dig in.
   Refrigerate after you open a jar. This kraut is not heat canned, so the lids won't seal--this is expected.

Notes:

• Roughly 1.75# of cabbage fills a quart mason jar.
• Most of the initial fermentation that causes the jars to spill over will usually take place in the first three or four days.
• The flavor develops over time (3 months, 6 months, a year).
• If you don't have a cool basement or root cellar, you can refrigerate.
• Dogs love the sacrificial leaf.

Thusly

When did "thusly" become a word?

My trusty old Merriam Webster edition ten with a 1995 copyright says that thus and thusly mean the same thing, and both can be defined thusly: "in this manner."

If one were to ask, "In what manner?", we'd be stuck in a loop--like when "Pete and Repeat sat in a boat--Pete fell out; who was left?"

Thus and thusly are also both adverbs, which throws me a little more, because I find it difficult to define adverbs. They modify or qualify...um...well, just about anything--adjectives, nouns, other adverbs, other collections of words, snow, birds, space, time, and so on.

Word use charts on the internet suggest a gradual increase from around 1900 for thusly, whereas thus has much more use back to 1800 and before.

How do you plan to pay for that?

There's a tendency, in political arenas, when someone wants to do something (medicate for all, for example), to ask the question, "How do you plan to pay for that?"

Peter Block writes about when time or money enter the conversation as reasons not to do something: "The problem here is one of motivation, not time or money."

Here's another avenue--we're already paying taxes--wouldn't it be nice if something like healthcare were taken care of as part of the bargain?

Fermented Red Cabbage Salad

Adapted from an online recipe for Danish red cabbage, this is a sweet & sour flavored salad ideal for the holidays. The fermentation adds the sour without vinegar, and the currant syrup adds the necessary sweet without additional sugar.

1 quart of fermented red cabbage (a.k.a. red kraut, 3 month aged or more)
Steam kraut until soft, let cool, and then mix with:

2/3 cup currant syrup
1/3 cup currants
apple cubes
walnuts
1/4 tsp ground clove (substitute cinnamon if you prefer)

The red cabbage kraut:

1.75 pounds red cabbage, thin sliced
Soak in a bowl with salt water for an hour or two: 1 pint water (let water sit overnight to let chlorine dissipate) and 2 tsp. canning or sea salt
Drain salt water and set aside
Pack cabbage tightly in quart jar and top with brine (3/4" head space)
Lid finger tight and put in a dish (because fermentation will cause it to burp and spill over)
After 1 week sitting at room temp (~70 degrees), clean top of jar and  lid, and re-pack cabbage, adding brine if necessary to cover cabbage, lid tightly and put in cool basement temperature space for 3-12 months

Tip: if you bring it to a non-Danish party, don't call it "Rødkål."
Phonetically sounds too close to "road kill" for English speakers.

Fermented Potatoes?

I'm a big fan of the homemade sauerkraut--easy to make with only salt, cabbage, and time. A friend told me about fermented potatoes. Doesn't sound quite right, right? I read two articles on the topic--Traditional Potato Preparation Reduces Acrylamide and Crickly, Crackly Fermented Potatoes.

First article talks about how grandma used to soak spuds before we knew why--and it goes into some of the why (soaking/fermenting reduces a carcinogenic compound during cooking and converts sugars). Second article describes a chef's comments (quoted from another source) about soaked potatoes being the only way to achieve excellent potato results--and this second article offers a roasted potato recipe.

I tried the a batch of roasted potato wedges tonight after a 3-day brine; didn't get a huge hit of tangy taste of fermented vegetable, but the potatoes were delicious and they took a bit of time to brown up--a successful experiment that I'll try again soon.

PS: If you find the math behind brine solution a little annoying (3.5%, or 4.2%, etc.), my go-to brine is 1 tsp. canning salt per cup of water.

Red potato wedges in a half gallon mason jar
in saltwater brine, with a cabbage leaf atop