Pure Vanill-ahhhh

About a year ago I decided to buy some vanilla beans.  Then I got to thinking:  "hmmm you mean I can buy Madagascar vanilla beans and make my own vanilla extract?"

It costs between $12. and $18 for 8 oz. of vanilla.  If you have a budding baker/gourmand/experimenter in the family you know 8 oz. of extract lasts...oh...about one week!  So I decided to make my own extract.

After perusing many sites and comparing prices and harvesting conditions I decided to make my vanilla bean purchase here at:  Beanilla. I bought the swing top bottles at various places:  TJ Maxx, Home Goods and Marshall's but the bottles are not regularly available in retail shops so I now buy them here:  Specialty Bottle.

Once you have the vanilla beans and bottles you're ready to make the extract.

Ingredients

• 24 vanilla beans
• 2 bottles good quality vodka (I prefer using Bourbon)

Directions

Combine the 3 - 4 vanilla beans in each 8-12 oz. swing top bottle and fill with vodka or bourbon. Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for at least six weeks until the vodka or bourbon becomes vanilla extract and the beans are soft enough to cut the end and squeeze the seeds (caviar) out. Add more vanilla or beans, as needed. The extract can sit at room temperature indefinitely.
 
Purely speculation on my part but I think I'll be making more extracts in the future.

Pot Stickers

I buy my orchids at Trader Joe's.  They come in terra cotta pots which are too small to reuse for growing bulbs so I've collected a slew of them.

Over the weekend we brought in the pots, rummaged through the glass and ceramic tiles and went to work.

1. Purchase ready-made tile adhesive in a tube.
2. Create your mosaic design by spreading a dot or layer of adhesive on the back of each tile piece and one-by-one affixing the piece to the flower pot.  Press the piece of tile firmly against the flower pot and hold for a couple seconds.  Leave ¼ inch space between pieces of tile to make room for the grout.  After you've adhered all your tile pieces allow the pot to dry 4-6 hours.  
3. Make the grout once the mortar is completely set. You’ll need your work gloves for this project as you’ll be placing the grout on your pot with your hands.  Combine water to the grout to create a mixture of peanut butter consistency. You’ll want the general same type of consistency you achieved with the mortar. Scoop a handful of grout and slather it all over the pot. Be sure you take care to fill in every section between the tiles. Use a clean, damp cloth to wipe excess grout from the pot, taking extra care to remove grout that was smoothed over tile/stones.

The same process works on table tops, too.

I'm only speculating here, but I think there's more sticking-of-tiles -to-things in our future.