Do you make yoghurt/yogurt?

EDITED March 2019

I am now using the amazing PUHOI Organic Half & Half (that's half cream and half milk). So my basic Reuteri yoghurt recipe is now:

• approx 1/2 cup of current yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons inulin
• approx 1500ml half & half 
• for the first batch that I make in the beginning of the month, I add one or two crushed reuteri probiotic pills

ENJOY! But don't eat too much if you're new to it (side effects require regular visits to the toilet!).

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Do you make your own yoghurt? And have you tried making the WheatBelly doctor's probiotic yoghurt? It's pretty amazing, click here to read all about the benefits... And then if you like playing with strange lifeforms, here's your chance to brew up some weird stuff!

You will need these:

And a Yoghurt making machine - I used this one as it makes fermented food as well as yoghurt and has several pre-programmed cycles. This yoghurt needs about 30-36 hours to create the mega-probiotics and this machine has a yoghurt cycle (10 hours at 42 degrees C) and a natto cycle (24 hours at 42 degrees C) so I just do the 24 hours and then another 10. And yes I do write on my appliances. You should see my sewing machine and overlockers!


I made the first batch with:

• 10 crushed probiotic pills (you must use this particular strain from BioGaia. Flavour makes no diff so take what you can get, it's all gone by the time it's fermented)
• 1 tbsp inulin
• 1 litre of UHT milk
• 300 mils cream

That created a thing that was very curdled, lots of whey, and smelt like parmesan. I'd picked up in the blogs that this may happen so I continued. 

Second batch was:

• about a cup of the whey from the previous batch
• 1 tbsp inulin
• 1 litre UHT milk 
• didn't bother with the cream as I was guessing this wouldn't be yoghurt either!

This batch was better but still very curdled/cottage cheesey - was nice enough on crackers when drained!

Third batch was:

• half cup of whey from batch #2
• 1 tbsp inulin
• 1 litre of UHT milk
• 300 mils cream

This batch was perfect thick yoghurt.

Since then I've used 1/2 cup of the previous yoghurt, inulin, UHT milk, cream. I added one crushed probiotic on version #5 and will add that every 4-5 batches to keep the strain up. You can crush the probiotic in a plastic bag (with a gin bottle) and then you look like a druggie which makes it even more exciting.

This yoghurt does have a weird 'stringy-ness' so I tend to use a knife to spoon it out of the big container and cut it off. 

Why don't you read the wheatbelly blog and give it a try?  

Ree

xox

DIY Studio 3 - the last report

Doing well with the studio DIY but I guess I'm just not cut out for all this hard work! And my hammer skills are seriously out of practice. I could feel my arm seizing up as I hammered away and dreamed about having a Nail Gun. And I'm not even doing the whole job on the walls, just putting up enough ply panels so I can carry on with getting the shelving units in, getting organised, and moving the stash out of the bath!

So here are the plywood panels leaning up against their 'Forever Home'. I did get these pre-cut and delivered and the nice delivery guy helped put them in place ready to go. (Even though they were having a bad day and were 4 hours late!)

I decided to take Safety a little more seriously than usual and did not do the next stage in my jandals. Shoes are quite handy for climbing up and down the step ladder and kicking things in to place!

Here are the first two shelves in place. There are three more to go. Unfortunately they are not new ones but are spread throughout the house and are very, very full! So each one has had to be emptied, cleaned and then moved out to the studio. I have discovered lots of fabrics that I had forgotten about so that has been quite exciting. I am developing a filing system so all the fabrics will be stored by their intended design/style/use - a shelf for each one. Quite OCD (according to some rude people) but I don't do cleaning so I'm fine!

So where do you think the fabrics ended up while waiting to transition to their new home??? 

In the bath of course!!




I have just put together the kitset for this lovely thing. It will become home to all the threads, tools and other little things that seem to hang out in my sewing room. It will also be a good chance to get rid of some junk!








And one thing that won't be making it to the new studio is this Cover Stitch machine. I don't need it and rarely had the patience to use it anyway. 

So if you want to buy a hardly used machine that is comfortable with swear words let me know.


So tell me - are you a Konmari sort of declutterer or more of a Sarah Knight type? (Warning - Sarah is also very comfortable with swear words.)

No more pics of the studio now until I can do a Big Reveal and show the finished thing...
Ree
xox

DIY Studio 2

This is what happens when you watch too many DIY upcycling programmes on TV!! When I first started doing the demo on all the man-shelving in my garage (studio-to-be) I quite liked the huge, old, solid, work bench that was at one end. It was the right height so I had an idea to convert it into a huge, old, solid, cutting table. 

Apart from being very dirty it was also attached quite robustly to the wall (why??!). I nearly gave up then but managed to get it off. Wow, it was so heavy and I had no idea how I was going to move it around. But luckily I have a Dad who loved garage sales so in my tool box was a set of wheels. So I charged up my trusty old drill, flipped the bench on its side (more like let it fall onto a pile of old carpet next to it), and attached the wheels. Magic!

I scraped down the top a little - just to remove lumps as it will have a new top. Then scrubbed the whole thing, I'm not keen on cleaning but I think this thing hadn't been cleaned since it was made and I'm okay with once every 50 years or so.

 Then it was looking a lot better ...

And I had an idea that it would look better if I polished it or something. "Something" turned out to be an expensive ($36!) can of Liming Wax that I had bought years ago for some unrealised project so I thought I would give it a go. It certainly got that "chalk paint" look to it. There was a can of plain furniture wax with the liming one so I decided to give it a coat of that too. By then I was absolutely knackered and will not need to join a gym until this project is over! 

And here she is back in the garage studio all shiny and clean. And she smells fabulous ... wonder what that wax is made of?!





Then I just had to give it a new (huge) MDF top and it is all ready for work!

As soon as I finish off the floor, walls, shelving ...

Ree
xox

DIY Studio

As Minnie + Ree has grown it has taken over too much of my house! We reached the final straw in December when I had to use the Emergency Storage Space (ESS) for the second time this year to store fabric deliveries. ESS is ... the bath!!

So I have embarked on a mission to convert my garage into a proper studio. This would have been a lot easier if it hadn't become the dumping ground for quite a few UFOs over the last few years. But here is my progress so far:

1. Take a good solid 1960s garage. Spend too many days demo-ing the man-shelving that has been built over the years across two sides of the garage and made from an eclectic collection of materials and about seven thousand nails and screws.

2. Buy a bargain second hand glass door and window unit on Trade Me and get it installed. 

 3. Also get builder to turn old leaky door into a window frame and have it glazed by your fabulous friends who just happen to own a glass business. Luckily there is already lots of lighting in there and now lots of natural light too!

4. Finally get around to installing underfloor insulation in your house and get the garage walls done at the same time. I can't believe how excited I got about that insulation. It made the space feel so unshedlike. And yes that is a proper word, well kind of.

5. Then start painting the concrete floor but don't finish cos you have to pack the car, put on proper clothes and go to a market!

Can't wait til it's finished.

Ree

  

Working from home - PJs all day or are you a bit glam?

Everyone who works from home has those occasional days when you just don't care how you look and you get dressed in whatever you can find that's quick and clean(ish). Well hopefully everyone does and it's not just me!  And then you have to go out for something and you really hope you won't bump into anyone you know.  Especially someone who usually sees you on your more stylish days. 

My answer for the instant glam up when I go out is my favourite big scarf.  

I love this scarf so much - it is bright and colourful, it goes with nearly everything in my wardrobe and it is in the Spring colours that really suit me. And it's warm but not too heavy so can be worn all year round. 




I've been reading a few blogs lately that talk about how to amp up your Work at Home style.

This one from YOU LOOK FAB was a real favourite.  She suggests that you go for:

1. Dramatic Hair
2. Dramatic Eyewear: Be bold with your specs
3. Lighten Up your colours
4. Statement Knitwear & Tops - with colour, pattern and shine.
5. Dramatic Pants - again, think colour, pattern and shine
6. Lippie & Finger Nail Polish

Other than the nail polish which I don't seem to have time for at the moment I am 100% with her on this list.

As I mainly work from home I have developed some clothes that I wear all the time at home and I am now starting to make for others.  

Each article of clothing has to be comfortable, flattering and in our usual flexi-sizes since I can't stand all that rubbish around having "fat clothes" and "skinny clothes".  And I do not look good in yoga pants!!!


So here are my No. 5 Dramatic Pants. 

I've worn these so much and I love them. They should be up on the Minnie + Ree website soon...








And here's another pic of the Perfect Scarf.  I hunted this down after having my colours done for me by Sherna from Your Style Journey. I had done the colour thing years ago but I think I was mis-typed as I never really felt good about being a summer - too many pinks for me!  Sherna's advice was the best info I've had about what to wear - it makes a huge difference in how I look and feel. 

Do you know what colours make you feel great??