Lacto-Fermented Green Beans

About a week ago, my Aunts and Uncle gave us a bunch of homegrown Green Beans that they just harvested. Since only two of us in our household can eat beans, I wondered if I can pickle some. I haven’t seen Lacto-Fermented Beans sold in any store, so I didn’t know if Beans made good Pickles. This is how I made it…

My Aunts and Uncle grew these Green Beans and gave us some... so I gave them some Kimchikraut.

I washed the Green Beans and cut the top tips off. I blanched them in boiling water for only 2 minutes, then immediately drained the hot water and placed the Beans in a cold water bath to stop the cooking process.

While the beans cooled off, I made a brine by dissolving 2 tablespoons Sea Salt into 1 quart Water (bottled or filtered)… and set this aside.

To the bottom of a quart mason jar, I added the following:
– 1 or 2 Bay Leaves (or you can use a Grape leaf) These help keep the pickled vegetable stay crisp.
– 1/2 teaspoon Peppercorns
– 1/8 teaspoon Caraway
– 1/8 teaspoon Fennel Seeds
– 3 cloves of Garlic cut into halves

You can use whatever herbs and spices you like. Dill would be perfect, but we didn’t have any (my Dill plants are still small). Chili Flakes, Mustard Seeds and Coriander would be good too.

I stuffed as many Green Beans that will fit into the jar and then a few more. You want them crammed in the jar so they don’t float up once the brine is poured in.

I have glass weights (Crock Rocks) made specially for pickling that goes over the vegetable to keep them submerged in the brine. If you don’t have these, you can use a shot glass, or a small 4oz canning jar, or a cabbage leaf… anything to keep the vegetable submerged in the brine.

Pour in the brine until it’s about an inch from the top of the jar. I then sealed the quart mason jar with a pickling lid (Kraut Kaps) and set it aside to ferment at room temperature for 5 to 10 days.

Making lacto-fermented Green Beans and Lunar White Carrots.

After about 8 days, I tried the Lacto-Fermented Green Beans and they were perfect… and sooooo good!

These Lacto-Fermented Green Beans

Store the Pickles in the refrigerator.

Frustrated with Junk!

I have to rant, because I am really frustrated.

Some background: we have so much stuff in our house, because my brother buys so much stuff… and things just get dumped in the living room, in back of the big screen TV, in the garage, in the family room, in the patio, everywhere!!! It’s like a junk yard. His room is so full that he sleeps on the living room sofa!

I want to try to clean our backyard patio because it’s getting harder for my Mom to get around and it’s just a mess. One of the things that takes so much room in our patio is an old lawn mower. I takes about 3-4 by 5-6 feet area and it’s a irregular shape, so things get dumped on it and falls down and it’s just a mess. I want to get rid of the lawn mower, because I don’t use it… and when my brother mows the lawn, which he rarely does, it take like half a day to get the damn thing to get started and it just stinks of gas fumes and exhaust.

I want to get a small reel mower, the kind that you push manually. Our lawn is small so it’s just too much trouble for a gas mower. A reel mower will occupy a much smaller space that we can use for something else… and it can be stored upright. Plus, you can use it right away, because you don’t have to add gas or try to get it started because it wont start up.

So my plan was to get rid of the gas lawn mower and replace it with a smaller reel mower. My cousin even said that they are having a big garbage collection day coming up so he can take the gas mower off our hands.

My Mom was even ok with getting rid of the mower, because she says it doesn’t even work…

But when she confirmed with my brother that it didn’t work… My brother say that he think he can get it to work… meaning HE WANTS TO KEEP IT!!!…

Oh my gosh!… this is so frustrating. It’s so hard to get freakin’ crap out of this house!!! For example… We have a microwave oven that doesn’t work well. We already replaced it with a new one and the “broken” one has been sitting in the patio for several years. One day, I wanted to bring a bunch of dead electronics to the e-waste disposal. My brother wouldn’t let me take the old microwave oven… He told me to leave it here, so being frustrated, I left it there near the front door. If he wants to keep it, he can deal with it… It’s still in the front patio to this day!

So that’s my rant… I’m just frustrated.

My ‘Shrooms Are Finally Growing…

My 'shrooms are finally growing

The Mushroom Kit (that my Nephews and Niece gave me for Christmas) was not growing, so I was about to remove it from the kitchen counter and put it outside in the patio. I placed it near the patio door to remind me to take it outside… then a few days later, I noticed that suddenly there was growth… Now it’s back to the kitchen counter…

3.7

Wow! We just had a 3.7 magnitude earthquake… and it was the first one I’ve felt in years… additionally, I don’t think I ever remembered an earthquake centered in Vallejo.

I was watching TV and the house shook really hard! I was scare and though something crashed into our house, but how could that happen. The first thing I did was run to my Mom in case I had to get ourselves under the table. Glad everything is ok. I don’t think there were report of damage or injuries…

Mahliyah’s Rag Quilt…

Mahliyah's Rag Quilt

I made this quick rag quilt for my great-neice Mahliyah for Christmas… and I think she loves it :)

Xtranormal

I discovered a website called Xtranormal, where you can create animations that speak your text… So I gave it a try and made a birthday greeting for my friend Janet.

Isn’t that too big for your bed?

So, I showed my Mom a portion of the quilt top I’ve sewn together and she says, “Isn’t that too big for your bed?… because, if it is, it’ll fit perfectly on mine.“… hahahaha

Getting Ready for Lola Celay’s Burial…

So today is the day. It is Lola Celay’s burial day. We are getting ready now and getting ready to go to the mortuary.

Last night, we had the viewing and rosary at the mortuary. It was mixed feelings. It was sad to see Lola in the coffin, but it was very nice to see all the people, both relatives and friends, come to pay their respects to Lola Celay.

My relatives told me that I was saying the eulogy and at first I didn’t want to say it, because I didn’t have time to prepare and I didn’t know what to say… but once the time came at the end of the rosary to give the eulogy, it felt good to share how I saw Lola Celay and tell everyone how thankful I was to her.

After the rosary, my Aunt’s cooked tons of food for everyone. Pancit, Dinuguan, Kare Kare, more Pancit, Menudo and other tradition Filipino foods that Lola loves. It was hectic trying to fit everyone into that small section with the food, but it was so nice to see everyone enjoying the food, meeting each other after a long time apart and talking about Lola. Lola’s viewing really brought together so many people.