Steven Harper's Blog, page 57

The Yogurt Master

I have totally mastered yogurt.  You may bow before me.

It's the Instant Pot for the win, of course.  A couple weeks ago, I researched a bunch of yogurt recipes and compiled them into One Recipe to Rule Them All.  Yogurt is easy to make when you have a little cooker that will control the temperature to half a degree!  Yogurt basically goes like this:

--scald a bunch of milk
--let it cool
--whisk in some existing yogurt (for the culture)
--let it sit a very low cooking temperature for eight hours
--cool it
--strain it

But some experimentation has taught me a few other tricks.

--There's no difference in taste or texture between 1% and 2% milk, so we may as well stick with 1% to save a few fat grams.
--Since it takes about ten hours to make yogurt in an Instant Pot, it's best to do the initial scalding and cooling close to bed time, then let the milk yogurtize overnight in the Instant Pot.  In the morning, just dump it into a sealed container and fridge it until you get home from work.
--I can do huge batches of yogurt.  At first, the main bottleneck was straining because I was using my wire strainer and a single coffee filter, which won't hold much yogurt.  Then I hit on lining a colander with a bunch of coffee filters and standing it in my big mixing bowl.  That lets me do most of a gallon all at once!
--Straining works best in the refrigerator.  The resulting yogurt is thicker and creamier.
--The strained yogurt has almost the consistency of sour cream or even soft ice cream.
--Adding a drop of vanilla, some artificial sweetener, and a sprinkling of fruit creates a fantastic bit of culinary delight with low fat and few carbs. Darwin loves it.
--When I have some for breakfast, I'm not starving by lunch time.  Big plus!

My next project is to put some into my ice cream maker.  I want to see what happens!

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The Soul Jar

I've posted my weekly story at Curious Fictions.  Go see!  https://curiousfictions.com/authors/560-steven-harper

Last week, I posted "Thin Man," a dark fantasy set in Victorian London about a climbing boy named Dodd. Decades later, I was invited to submit a story to THE SHADOW CONSPIRACY steampunk anthology, and it occurred to me that Dodd's story wasn't finished yet. So I wrote "The Soul Jar." Out of all my short stories, this one is my favorite. See if you agree.

THE SHADOW CONSPIRACY is still in print at Book View Cafe: https://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/book/the-shadow-conspiracy/

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Such a Day!

Yesterday I taught in the morning, endured staff development in the afternoon, drove home, went for a long run, took my husband to supper, set up a BVC Membership Meeting on Skype, sent the grocery list to the store, and put the final touches on Saturday's gaming session. Oi!

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Taxes 2018

Taxes are done. The verdict: we owe a little on federal and are getting slightly more than that from the state. This is good news. Darwin and I both told our respective payroll offices to deduct extra for taxes after last year's debacle, but I realized halfway through the year that the payroll secretary had massively screwed up and failed to put through the extra payments. (You can be sure I won't ever forget she did that.) Darwin and I were afraid we'd be socked with another massive tax bill, but we barely escaped.

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BVC Book Blast

To show our appreciation for all the readers who have stuck with us through our move to a new server, we at Book View Cafe are holding the BVC Book Blast. This week, and this week only, every book in the bookstore is 20 percent off. https://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/

You don’t have to do anything to get the discount; it will happen automatically at checkout. So use this time to browse through the authors on the bookstore page and try something new. You can even pick up my book DANNY, which is one of my favorites. https://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/book/danny/

This sale won’t last long, so take advantage and fill up your e-readers!

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Thin Man

I've posted another story at @curiousfictions . "Thin Man" first appeared in MZBFM as the cover story. I hope you like it! https://curiousfictions.com/authors/560-steven-harper

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More Pots!

A while ago, I tried my hand at yogurt in the Instant Pot.  It came out very while, though it was a little tricky.  The little cookbook that came with the Instant Pot has a yogurt recipe in it that doesn't once mention the YOGURT setting on the pot.  WTF?  I did some searching around on-line and read a dozen or so recipes that do mention it, and they all say basically the same thing: scald a bunch of milk in the Instant Pot, let it cool, stir in a little yogurt (kind of like putting some previous sour dough into your current batch of sour dough), set the IP to YOGURT for eight hours, and strain the stuff when it's done.

I did all this, and it came out very well.  Once I get this down pat, we won't ever have to buy yogurt again.  The only real snag is that it sucks up the Instant Pot for an entire day.  I also came away with a huge container of yogurt whey, a byproduct of the straining.   I was just going to dump it when I learned it's actually good to use in place of water for things like bread and pancakes.  So I saved it.

Which leads us to today.

I'm making ribs today, because I like them and because Darwin can eat them all he likes.  And I have all this whey to use up, so I figured I'd make whey pancakes for breakfast and some bread maker bread.  And I could make yogurt, too, since we're running out of what I already made.

And then we ran into the problem. 

First I made the whey pancakes.  They turned out ultra-fluffy and completely delicious, especially since blackberries are in season in South America and the store had them on sale and I could sprinkle them into the pancakes.  Darwin and Max liked them very much, and I was impressed with the "whey" they cooked up light and fluffy.  :)

Then I turned to the other projects and ran into the problem.

Yogurt is a ten-hour process for the Instant Pot.  If I set up some yogurt, I wouldn't be able to make the ribs! 

I told Darwin I needed another Instant Pot.  He was shocking unreceptive to the idea.

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Darkover Interview

I have a story in the upcoming CITADELS OF DARKOVER anthology, and editor Deborah Ross interviewed me. Check it here:

https://deborahjross.blogspot.com/2019/03/citadels-of-darkover-author-interview_11.html

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Sandwich!

I made a sandwich and somehow managed to dirty:

--one cutting board
--one bread knife
--one paring knife
--a cheese slicer
--two sandwich plates
--one butter knife

It took longer to clean up than to eat!

 

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My Stories and Curious Fictions

I've joined Curious Fictions.  And what is that?  Curious Fictions lets me post my work and make it available to my awesome readers.  I've written over 50 short stories, but they go out of print quickly.  Curious Fictions lets me put them out there easily.  I'll also be mirroring my blog there, so you can see what I'm up to.

My plan is to post one of my stories every week and later to start serializing some of my novels. I've put up the first story: "Bait and Switch." It appeared in FANGS FOR THE MAMMARIES, part of Esther Friesner's series of suburban fantasy humor anthologies.  I think it's one of my funnier pieces.  I hope you do, too!

You can find my Curious Fictions page at https://curiousfictions.com/authors/560 Go see, and tell me what you think!

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