jaysaint Getting it all down on paper…

Trying something hard and failing, I am well used to that. Trying something easy and failing… Apparently that will put me off this little life list program for a long time. I made mustard, if you want to be generous and call it that, last year. I spent some time searching through recipes online and found one that felt interesting but do-able. I didn’t keep the link, but what I do recall is that it required an absolute ton of mustard powder. So there’s your first warning. There wasn’t a second warning. I (think) I followed the directions to the letter, and wound up with a paste so searing that I think it singed away my nose hairs from the inside. And I did let it rest first. Heavens knows what it was like on the first few days. Just to smell it made my eyes water. So my process was: research –> shop –> make –> wait –> garbage.

This came not too far on the heels of the fish tank failure, which was much greater in that it was very expensive and included a fatality. What I learned from that is that my life list goals a better to not carry an ongoing obligation. I’m pretty much filled up on ongoing obligations right now.

So. To return. Right back to the mustard. And this time… easy peasy. I did exactly the same kind of random poking around the internet and found these mustard recipes. This time I felt much more free to tinker around a bit. I used yellow mustard seeds in hopes of a less firey result. I used beer as my liquid, since it gave me an excuse to go hand Damon (who was doing manly yard work) a nearly full cold bottle, and I randomly poured in honey a few days later because I thought that would be tasty. And it is, the whole lot. I soaked the seeds as instructed. Then I went out of town and forgot the whole thing in the refrigerator for another week. Then I threw it all in the blender. The next day I added the honey. And now we have homemade mustard. I can’t promise I’ll keep it up, but it’s at least a little bit possible that I will make another batch when we finish this one. Tinkering around with the recipe would be fun.

Now I am back on the horse, so perhaps I’ll find it in me to tackle something else on the list before the year is out.