Matthew Nistico

Nice video.  Hope your workshops this fall went well.  Gotta pay for that 100-story megaplex somehow  ; )

Anne Miller wrote:Winter Simmer Pot

Boil water in a large pot. Add orange peel, apple peel, lemon peel, cinnamon sticks, vanilla extract, star anise, and pine sprig to the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer. Check water levels every 30 minutes, adding water as necessary, to keep mixture simmering 8 hours to all day.

I can imagine one of these sitting all day atop a wood stove : )  Perhaps not quite so much an RMH, as they are so much more of an intermittent direct heat.

Anne Miller wrote:Winter Simmer Pot

Boil water in a large pot. Add orange peel, apple peel, lemon peel, cinnamon sticks, vanilla extract, star anise, and pine sprig to the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer. Check water levels every 30 minutes, adding water as necessary, to keep mixture simmering 8 hours to all day.

Anne, great suggestions all around!  About the "winter simmer pot," I'm guessing the purpose of this is to humidify the air...?  You didn't actually explain the purpose.  If so, then I think your version is a great idea, since it will also perfume the air at the same time!

I haven't actually tested this recipe yet, but this is what I am planning to try:

1 part fire cider solids
1 part shredded cabbage
1 part chopped shrimp
1/2 part shredded carrot

Wrap in a spring roll wrapper and enjoy with your favorite Asian dipping sauce!

NOTE: I shredded my fire cider ingredients - onion, chile pepper, garlic, ginger, horseradish, turmeric - before soaking, with ultimate reuse in some recipe similar to this in mind.  Besides, I figured why not?  The extra surface area surely won't hurt the fire cider soaking.  I also kept additional ingredients - pepper corns, lemon wedges, juniper berries, cloves, allspice, rosemary sprigs - inside a mesh bag while soaking, so that I could easily separate these from my reusable pulp afterwards.

paul wheaton wrote:I think I am all caught up on answering stuff in this thread.  Did I miss anything?

Seems like you have covered all of the bases now.  Thanks for the specificity!  And for the numerous options to help everyone select what works best for them.

Hehe, this last-minute bump phenomenon is kinda fun.  Watching the dollars scroll upward in real time on the Kickstarter campaign page is addictive.  It's like watching a telethon.

Philipp Mueller wrote:For me all of Pauls mentioned substitutes for the DVDs sound sweet. If you could make it happen, I would gladly spent sleepless nights over the decision between pie and WDG.

I totally agree.  Unfortunately, the email distributed an hour ago still says "PIE or maybe some other digital content."  It remains unclear if "the WDG option" in lieu of shipping would be for streaming, for download, or if it would be available to ALL backers or just backers outside of the USA...?

paul wheaton wrote:For $40 and up I added a destination for "Virgin Islands" that has $0 in shipping.  If you select that, then I will treat it as "I don't want stuff shipped to me."

For now:  does that work?  Please test and tell me.

Success!  I am now a GLORYGLORY backer at $40 total, including $0 shipping to "Virgin Islands, US."  FYI, everyone, you can change your backer status thus by clicking the green "Manage your pledge" button at the top of the Kickstarter campaign page.  Thank you, Paul, for this simple and effective work-around.

So I'm at Kickstarter right now, trying to gather info.  I already am a backer at HD-DOWNLOAD level, and I'm in the USA.  I am considering upping my buy-in to the GLORYGLORY level in order to reap the deyhadrator plans, as so many others seem to be doing.  Kickstarter informs that my total cost would be $45.  Like the others, once I get the HD download I have no need of a DVD (I would just rip a DVD to my HDD anyway; it's more convenient).

Do I understand the options correctly: if I back at GLORYGLORY for $45, decline the physical DVD, collect all other rewards, then Paul would keep the DVD and keep my shipping fee but offer me a choice of pie OR the World Domination Gardening set?  Would those be my choices?  And in what format would WDG be available?

Thanks for clarifying.

And congrats on another spectacularly successful Kickstarter campaign!  I've backed you in the past for playing cards, Wood Stoves 2.0 DVDs, and PDC/ATC DVDs.  Always good to see the Empire expanding  : )

If you have the patience, I have found the best way to get clean bottles and jars is just plain, unadulterated, room temperature water.  I let mine soak for up to a week, and then the labels usually slip right off without leaving any residue to scrub.  It's that simple.

I have been a happy repeat customer of StoneCreekTrading.com for high quality, traditional ceramic fermenting crocks and related gear.  Most of theirs are the advanced kind, sometimes called "German style," with built-in air lock via a water-filled gutter in the rim.  I would never buy any other kind - who wants to be constantly skimming mold from the top of their food?!   I remember my parents dealing with this problem on summer pickles they used to make when I was a kid.  Eventually, the inconvenience and "yuck factor" spelled the end of their fermenting efforts.

And StoneCreek has a wide selection, too; many sizes and styles to choose from.  Specifically, I have bought their factory 2nds sale items and been pleasantly surprised with the results more than once.  Good company, good packaging, good customer service, and a retail web site easy enough to navigate.  Not to mention, the solid glass crock weights they sell are brilliant!  Why didn't anyone think of that sooner?  Regular "stone" weights are actually, at least from my personal experience, not stone but unglazed ceramic.  Which means they are porous.  Not smart.

To be sure, even the factory 2nds are expensive, but certainly no more so, and usually a little less than, any similar high quality imported crocks (these are Polish) on Amazon or anywhere else that I am aware of.  Get on their email list and you can count on a 10-20% discount code a few times a year; enough to at least cancel out shipping on these heavy items.