Geranium Lake Easter Eggs

Easter is a week away and it is time to dye those Easter eggs, but this year we decided we needed to add a little twist so we stopped by Geranium Lake Flowers (503-228-1920) to get some ideas from one of the most creative people we know, Kim Foren. She brought out her recipe for ‘botanical inspired’ Easter eggs. These eggs are made by using onion skins or beets to create a dye. First you need to get some raw, unboiled eggs. Then you take some small, pressed flowers and foliage from your garden and then hold them in place with a small piece of nylon. You pull the nylon tight over the egg (don’t break the egg) and tie it tight with zip-tie or string. Then you boil the water with vinegar and the onion skins in the water bath. After it boils about 10 minutes you pull the egg out and let it cool down. After it cools, cut off the nylon and rub a little vegetable oil on it to give it a sheen and you are done. People will be amazed how great they look and they add a great touch to your holiday table!  You can find the step-by-step directions here: word document - pdf file

The taste of homemade sourdough is fantastic.  A couple of weeks ago we showed you how to make your own Sourdough starter.  It is really easy to make and we promised you that we would show you some recipes for how to use it.  For his first ‘sourdough’ recipe Chef David came up with a tasty one, Sourdough biscuits.  This recipe is good for a leisurely Sunday breakfast or a compliment for a dinner.  He made a ‘savory’ biscuit with chives which means it isn’t a ‘sweet’ biscuit, but still very flavorful.  The ingredients include flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, shortening and the chives.  Once those are all blended together you want to add a couple of cups of the sourdough starter. Gently mix that together and add a tiny bit of milk until you have a nice dough that is not too wet or too dry.  Roll it out to a half inch thickness and then use a round cookie cutter to make your biscuit shapes.  Put them in the oven for 15 minutes and they are done.  We will have more sourdough recipes for you in the coming weeks.  Here is the recipe for Sourdough Biscuits.  You can also check out this link for recipes for making your own starter!

Things are heating up in the kitchen!  This week we stopped by Standard TV and Appliance (503-619-0500) to learn about the newest in cook tops.  Tony Gayaldo took Robin through a couple of their design kitchens to show us the ‘hottest’ in gas and electric stove tops.  First we looked at gas.  Gas is great for most cooks because it is so responsive and it heats up quickly.  The only problem is that they wouldn’t go very low for simmering.  The newest models have a feature that allows them to barely have a flame so they can do the low simmer that you may need sometimes.  Also the materials have improved.  You now have brass fittings that will resist corrosion and the surfaces allow for better cleaning and they also hide the smudges better!

Next we moved to the latest in electric cook tops.  We checked out the induction cook tops.  These burners are actually magnets that place all the energy at the base of the pan and so none of it is wasted heating the air around the pan.   It was really freaky when Tony actually touched the stovetop near the pan while it was in a full boil!  The whole crew had to touch it!  It showed that all the energy was just going to cooking the food and none to heating the unused surface.  Tony also showed us how responsive the burner was.  He turned the heat down and it went from a full boil to a simmer in just a few seconds!   To see these and the newest in other appliances, stop by Standard TV and Appliance.

With all the disasters around the world in the last few years we can see how important preparedness is for the safety of your family.  We took a cue from the recent Japanese earthquake and Tsunami to pay a visit to the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross to get some tips on putting together a preparedness kit for your family.  We met with Steve Eberlein who does preparedness talks for the Red Cross and he walked us through the steps of putting a kit together. 

The first place to start for preparedness is with 5 simple rules…   Talk, Train, Take Stock, Tell and Test. 

First you want to talk about what disasters could happen in your area.  For some it would just be an earthquake, for others it could also mean a tsunami or a wild fire. 

Next you want to train.  In this case you need to train in how to use a fire extinguisher.  Locate your shut-off valves and also to train in how to evacuate from your home or office in an emergency. 

The 3^rd step is to take stock.  Check the supplies you have on hand.  You may already have supplies that you can use, but you want to make sure that you have enough for 3 full days.

4^th, you will want to tell everyone about your plans.  Everyone in your house should know where the supplies are kept, who your emergency contacts are and what to do for any emergency in your area. 

Finally, you will need to test… this means reviewing your disaster plan with your family and updating your emergency kit and supplies on a regular basis.