Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Riley's Rhubarb Kvass was ready just in time for Jake's birthday! Here's how he did it: Day One and Day Two . Once the raisins sink to the bottom, it's ready. That can take four to five days. After the raisins sink, filter the brew one last time and pour into sterilized bottles. Refrigerate before pouring Unfortunately, our Hungry Scientist couldn't try his own concoction. It has between 0.7% and 2.2% alcohol. But Jake and I tried it and really enjoyed it. It's refreshing! We'll definitely be making this again.

Here we are at Day Two of the rhubarb kvass. Click for Day One's instructions and the ingredients list . I think we're calling this 'Bedhead Brew.' What do you think?! So this is what it looked like after 8 hours... Place your rhubarb and raisins in the bottom of your sterilized jar. Add in a strip of lemon zest and one mint leaf. Strain the mint leaves out of the brew. Pour the strained brew into the jar with the rhubarb, mint, and lemon. Close the lid... The instructions read: "when the raisins float to the top, the kvass is ready." Okay. First I wasn't sure we could actually see the raisin. But he spied them on the bottom. "There they are, Mommy!!" Into the fridge it went. I'm sure he'll be checking for those floating raisins everyday. Stay tuned for the next steps. I'd get in about 3-4 days.

My Precise Kitchen Elf read a recipe for a fermented fruit drink and decided that that was his birthday present for Daddy - rhubarb beer. Okay. At least I get to try it, too. Can't wait! Actually, I just read the recipe and it's a kvass , identified as "a lightly alcoholic beverage, similar to some of the lambic-style beers of Belgium." He's calling beer. He found this recipe in The Hungry Scientist Handbook: Electric Birthday Cakes,Edible Origami, and Other DIY Projects for Techies, Tinkerers, and Foodies  by Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns. It's his favorite cookbook of all time. Ingredients 1 lb rye bread, staled* 16 C hot water 2 T active dry yeast 1/2 C organic cane sugar 5 T water 1 bunch organic mint + 1 leaf (keep separate) strip of lemon zest from an organic lemon 1 C raisins 1 stalk rhubarb, chopped *To stale bread, lay it on a cookie sheet. Place it in a 170 degree oven till it's dried. Procedure Place the bread in a ...

The Precise Kitchen Elf's second project from  The Hungry Scientist Handbook: Electric Birthday Cakes,Edible Origami, and Other DIY Projects for Techies, Tinkerers, and Foodies  by Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns: Edible Origami! There is no real recipe. But here's the process... Fold wonton wrappers into whatever origami shapes you want. We did frogs, cranes, airplanes, and snails.   Lay your origami on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray the pieces with cooking oil. We used olive oil. Bake until crisped and browned. The thinner pieces were done in 12-15 minutes. The thicker folded pieces took an additional 5 minutes. Keep a close eye so that they do not burn. Sprinkle with salt. Eat and enjoy!!

The Precise Kitchen Elf is on a mission - to cook from his  The Hungry Scientist Handbook: Electric Birthday Cakes,Edible Origami, and Other DIY Projects for Techies, Tinkerers, and Foodies  by Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns - and he's whipping up some mad scientist kitchen fun this afternoon. First up: Fizzy Lemonade. He adapted the recipe because he wanted to use agave syrup. Ingredients  makes 4 servings juice from 1 organic lemon 2 C cold water 1/3 C blue agave nectar 4 1" pieces of dry ice pre-chilled glasses Procedure Measure out all of your ingredients. Pour the lemon juice, water, and blue agave nectar into a jar. Gently shake the jar to mix the nectar into the juice and water. Now for the fun part... Pour the lemonade into pre-chilled glasses. Wearing gloves and using tongs, cut 1" pieces of dry ice from the chunk. Carefully drop the dry ice into the lemonade  Sit back and watch the magic! Enjoy the fizz...

We gave this cookbook to the Precise Kitchen Elf for Christmas.  The Hungry Scientist Handbook: Electric Birthday Cakes,Edible Origami, and Other DIY Projects for Techies, Tinkerers, and Foodies by Patrick Buckley and Lily Binns. Today, he wanted to start playing. So, we did. Stay tuned for some hungry scientist capers...this book even got my cooking-averse husband across the threshold of the kitchen.