Some Updates

I know all of you stay up a night wondering how Mr. Chop's kraut came out. I am happy to report it did come out wonderfully, but sadly, the persistent human need to mess with perfection won out in the end. The kraut was really good, it tasted quite a bit like "Bubbie's Sauerkraut" the specialty natural kraut we found from the health food store. Fresh tasting, crunchy, slightly sour, and generally yummy- not like that steamed, mushy, vinegary glop you get on top of a ballpark frank. It didn't even smell up the house! Anyhow, the only problem was that there wasn't quite enough kraut juice to cover the cabbage, so Mr. Chops figured he'd add some more water and salt to the crock the way he did when he first put the mix together. Well, within days the cabbage was a slimy moldy mess. Sniff! Sniff! In hind sight, he admitted he should have boiled the extra brine before adding it. I guess there's always next time when we'll use fresh cabbage from the garden. This way, we'll be sure to have plenty of cabbage juice.

Also, we are on day 15 of brewing sake, with a month and a half left to go. So far, I'm still playing with fermented rice porridge, or, as the Japanese say, "moto". Ooh, the anticipation! Actually, this is torture for me, I am not really into deferred gratification.