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this section
incomplete...everything in this section will eventually be accompanied
by photos
Pergola
Constructed primarily for
shade.
It gets
so oppressively hot here in the summer that our back deck turns into a
hot plate in the late afternoon when it gets full sun. This
massive Pergola fixed the problem completely...well our deck is no
longer
a hotplate, but it's still opressively hot here in the summer.
The top of it is covered in a tightly stretched outdoor nylon
"fabric" that is something like 85% UV resistant. (please excuse
the mess...these pics were taken in the middle of December and we've
not used the deck in a few months)
 
Treehouse,
Sandbox, Play Yard
Every parents dream...a
caged-in play
area.
I used some old fence boards for the walls, but all the
framing
is new wood, and much of it was just laying around left over from other
stuff i've built. The inside is 4x6 feet, and the bacony is 2x4
feet. I covered the roof with galvanized tin, but in the back i
stuck 2 pieces of traslucent corrugated plactic to let in the light
(second shot). Rowan has her little kitchen set in there and a
few chairs. She likes to make dirt pies for our dog.
 
My Redneck Nutcracker
Being
that the day after american thanksgiving is the official day to drag
out all your xmas decorations I unearthed my old pal...my redneck
nutcracker. I was inspired by some $50 nutcrackers I
saw at Dillards department store back when we lived in North Carolina.
I thought I could make something cooler out of a hunk o' 2x4, and
indeed I did. He's a bit flat, but otherwise pretty cool looking.
I like to make his teeth chomp while hiding behind him, and going
"GNNAAWWW, GNNAAWWW, GNNAAWWW, GNNAAWWW"
and scaring Rowan. It's all just a hunk of 2x4 with a metal rod
going through where his shoulers are that allows his arms to move back
and forth, and his nut chomping mouth to chomp my nutz.
 Seitan
Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow, and I'm making some Seitan.
Seitan is essentially a fake meet made out of wheat gluten.
Wheat gluten is what's left of wheat flour if you make a ball of
dough, and rinse it a billion times until most of the starch is gone,
and what's left is a very high protein flour. That's too much of
a pain in the ass so thank Satan it's readily available in grocery
stores in a power form. It's like a small bag of flour, and is
usually on the baking aisle or maybe in the health food section.
We always have it in the house because it's awesome for baking
bread with. Just a few tablespoons added to bread recipes gives
the finished bread a fantastic elasticity...think chewy rather than
crummy.
So it's meat made from wheat. It's amazing how much of the effect
you get when eating meat is the texture. most of the flavor
comes from what you add to the meat...salt, onions, pepper, a-1
sauce. Hamburgers and hot dogs are ridiculous. We put so
much crap on them it's near impossible to taste the actual "meat"
burried beneath. I eat vegan bratwurst, and weiners in hotdogs
and the satisfaction comes from the bun and all the condiments...what
the stupid little weiner is made from is inconsequential to flavor or
satisfaction (not inconsequential to other things like ecology or ethics),
and all we really notice is the texture...beef weiners are usually more
solid while chicken, turkey, and pork weiners are usually more
mushy...soy weiners are normally more solid in texture than beef
weiners...the vegan brats we get are so dense they slaughter me.
I make veggie burgers from chickpeas, black beans, and other veggies,
and if i get the patty dense enough I can hardly tell the difference
between it an meat...the absence of grease is the main difference.
Anyhow Seitan is cool. I'm
making a turkey-flavored version of seitan to take to the inlaws, and
vegan gravy to boot. If the similarity between seitan and meat is
uncanny, the gravy is almost mind-blowing. The gravy recipe below
is made as a "fat free" recipe which makes it even more amazing...even
without the vegan margarine that I add this gravy is awesome.
Being vegan, fat consumtion is not on my list of concerns so I
add a gob of vegan margarine to make it a bit greasy. I also add
my own fresh herbs (sage, thyme, oregano, and rosemary grow like weeds
in my backyard) and skip the wine (tastes a bit crappy with the wine in
it imo although just a splash might be OK).
The seitan recipe called for chickpea flour so i made some by tossing a
bag of dried chickpeas in a blender and running it until they were
reduced to powder. (shitty blenders need not apply).
The gravy recipe requires nutritional yeast flakes. It's probably
available at cooler grocery stores, but since Atlanta sucks ass we just
order it online
once a year or so in a massive bag. We use it mainly for our
nacho cheese recipes, garlic bread, it makes a kick-ass macaroni and
"cheese", AND it's super-healthy.
I have found that I prefer my seitan more dense than what you'll get
with this recipe so I reduce the broth by half a cup and the wet mix by
half a cup of water.
I'm getting the recipes below from Bryanna's Vegan Feast
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BRYANNA'S NEW VERSION OF SOY AND SEITAN "TURKEY"
Makes about 3 lbs.
The
combination of tofu and soy or chickpea flour with the gluten makes a
seitan that is tender, not rubbery, and which slices easily, even in
VERY thin slices. The long kneading, resting, and slow-cooking method
partially adapted from recipe by Ellen from
http://www.ellenskitchen.com gives an incredible juicy, tender
meat-like texture. This recipe makes outstanding sandwich material.
DRY MIX:
2 c. pure gluten powder (instant gluten flour; vital wheat gluten)
1/2 c. full-fat soy flour or chickpea flour
1/2 c. nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic granules
1/4 tsp. white pepper
WET MIX:
12 oz. firm regular (NOT silken) tofu
1 and 1/2 c. water
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. olive oil
BASTING BROTH:
2 c. hot water
1/3 c. "chicken-style" vegetarian broth powder
2 T. olive oil
OPTIONAL: 4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2-1 tsp. poultry herbs (sage, thyme, rosemary), crushed well
1) For the Wet Mix, in a blender, blend all the ingredients until very smooth.
2)
Mix the Dry Mix ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer with
dough hook attachment, or place them in the bread machine in the order
given. Add the Wet Mix and knead for about 10 minutes. (If your bread
machine has a dough cycle-two kneads with a long rest in between-use
that cycle. Otherwise, just run it through the kneading part and then
unplug it and let it rest in the cover container, then plug it in again
for another knead, then remove it,) Let rest for about 1 hour, covered.
You can make your Cooking Broth at this time and have it ready. Then
knead it for 10 more minutes.
3) (NOTE:
You can knead by hand, too, but it's tougher than bread dough. You may
want to let the seitan dough sit for a while to soak up the liquid more
thoroughly before you starting hand-kneading.)
4)
The dough should be quite shiny and smooth. Avoid breaking it up when
you take it out of the bowl. NOTE: I like to line the pan with cooking
parchment to avoid sticking and tearing, and make the loaves easier to
turn, by whichever method.
5) COOKING METHOD #1.)
Flatten the dough out into a long piece. Form the dough into one large
loaf. Place into a oval greased clay cooker or claypot that has been
soaked for 15 minutes in cold water (bottom and cover), and lined with
cooking parchment. DO NOT PREHEAT OVEN. Pour the cooking broth over the
roast, and cover. Place in oven and turn to 325 degrees. F. Bake for 3
and 1/2 hours, turning the roast over twice (ALTERNATE TO THIS METHOD:
If you don't have a clay cooker, you can use an ordinary oval meat or
turkey roaster, medium size, with a cover. PREHEAT THE OVEN FIRST WITH
THIS PAN.)
6) COOKING METHOD #2.)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Flatten the dough out into a long
piece and cut in half equally to make two rectangles. Form into 2
loaves. Place each loaf in an oiled 8 and1/2" x 4 and 1/2" loaf pan and
press down a bit with your hand. Mix the Cooking Broth ingredients in a
small bowl and pour 1/2 over each loaf. Cover each loaf pan with foil
and place in the oven. Immediately reduce the oven heat to 200 degrees
F. Bake for 3 hours. Turn the loaves over, carefully loosening around
the edges and from the bottom with a small, thin spatula first. The
loaves will have puffed up quite a bit by now, but they will flatten
out as they cook further. Turn heat back to 325 degrees F. Cover loaves
and bake for 30 minutes. Turn them over again, cover and bake 15
minutes. Turn them over again and bake 15 more minutes, covered. Turn
them over one last time and bake 5-10 minutes.
7
) Either way, the loaves should almost completely soak up the broth by
the end of the cooking time. If they don't, cook until they do. There
will be a bit of sticky "sauce" left in the bottom, which you can use
to glaze the loaves. Remove from the pans and serve, or let cool.
Seitan is generally better when cooled first, then reheated-it firms
up. So, it's a good idea to make it a day or more before serving. Can
be frozen.
and the gravy...
BRYANNA’S RICH BROWN (FAT-FREE!) YEAST GRAVY
Makes about 2 and 1/2 c.
2 and 1/2 c. water (OR use 2 cups water and 1/2 cup dry sherry, port or Marsala)
1/3 c. unbleached white flour
1/3 c. nutritional yeast flakes
2 T. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
Add sauteed mushrooms to the gravy, if you like.
OPTIONAL: a few shakes of gravy browner, such as Kitchen Bouquet
In
a heavy saucepan over high heat, whisk the yeast and flour together
until it smells toasty. Off the heat, whisk in the water, soy sauce,
salt and Kitchen Bouquet, if using. Stir constantly over high heat
until it thickens and comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for
2-5 minutes. This can be made ahead and reheated.
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 Buddha
I
carved this Buddha a few years ago with a hammer, a 1" chisel, and a
skillsaw. No dremmels or special carving tools. I've never
carved anything before...well i made a nutcracker out of a 2x4 once,
but that's about it I think. He's a tad over 2 feet high.
I carved him out of a 2x8 pine board that i cut up
and glued together to form a big block(if you click on the
image you can see the lines).
 I
started this guy a few
days after Alaina and I happened to see a shop with some wooden buddha
statues in it. We saw it in the window, and Alaina was
considering getting one but they cost like $185 or something.
I told her I could make a bigger and better one for a few
dollars worth of lumber. She said something like "yeah
right". The gauntlet was thrown down, and I had to accept the
challenge. The results were bigger and better than what we
saw in the window, and the total cost was about $7 i think.
Rock Garden
Rock garden i created, and planted with
moss and some other little plants.
Bunk
bed
I made this for Rowan. I was going to make a normal bed but
figured it would be great to use that space as a play area by elevating
her bed. It has a little bookshelf that doubles as a puppet
theater, and is made almost entirely out of 2x10's and lag bolts so it
is indestructable. The whole family can get up there and this
thing would be solid as a rock.
Bonus
Room
Used to be our carport, but now acts as a computer room, playroom,
weightroom, and laundryroom. The roof was there (held up by
3 poles), but i did
everything else...also had to run plumbing in for the washing machine,
and the bricks out front are from the little room that was where the
laudry room now is.
Bar
Made this bar in an afternoon a few
years ago out of some old fencing i ripped down. It was for a
big party we had.
Haven't used it since.
Shed
First
thing I built after we moved here. Couple thousand bucks gave
us
massive storage, although it's now mainly filled with project overflow
and tools.
Hole
in the Wall
I built us a hole in the wall!
And also
knocked out the adjacent doorway. I also made the counter top
out
of a 2x12 cut in half, and glued together. Opens the kitchen
onto
the living room, and gets rid of the claustrophobic effect these old
houses have.
What it used to look
like...
And
now...
 
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