Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Mr. Coffee


Mr. M is rather picky about coffee.

He doesn't drink a lot of it - usually just a cup a day - but he wants that cup to be as good as possible. Not only must the beans be freshly ground, they should also (ideally) be freshly roasted (within the last 4 days, according to Mr. M).

The first is easily accomplished; the second is rather more difficult. Unless you happen to live near a roasting company (we don't), or can afford to have coffee roasted to order and shipped the same day (we can't), you are dependent on the freshness of whatever your supermarket or coffee vendor has available. And while some sellers can tell you the date their coffee was roasted, many cannot. What's a coffee lover to do?

For years Mr. M had been reading about the coffee roasting process, and dreaming of one day roasting his own. With a very modest investment (about $32, most of which came from a Christmas gift of money), that dream finally came true.

Would you like to see how it's done? Of course you would. Note: Because the smell of roasting coffee is very strong, Mr. M does his roasting in the garage - hence the bike parts and random manly gear which you'll see in the background of these photos.

The equipment list is very modest: A hot-air popcorn popper (with optional glass chimney made from a recycled jar, bottom cut off and edges smoothed), a long-handled wooden spoon, a heatproof bowl, a mesh strainer, and some green beans.


(Green beans? Yep - coffee beans really are green before they're roasted. Mr. M orders his from a coffee importer in Madison. For the truly coffee-minded and curious reader, I believe these are Kenya AA beans.)


A stopwatch is optional, but helpful for the novice roaster. Mr. M starts the watch...


...dumps the green beans into the popper, and turns it on. He puts the strainer over the top and lets the beans jump around for about one minute. (The strainer, and the chimney, keep them from flying out.)


Then he removes the strainer and starts stirring. Soon a popping sound is heard...


...and chaff begins to fly as the beans shed their outer layer.


After the inital "pop" comes a pause; then the beans begin to crackle. At this point, they're roasted - and Mr. M must use his eyes and nose to decide whether to leave them for a few seconds more, or take them out. (The longer they're left, the darker they'll be - and if they're left in too long they'll begin to smoke and get very dark indeed.)

Mr. M likes a medium roast, so he stops the popper and dumps the beans into the strainer.


They're piping hot and on the verge of smoking, so he swirls them around as they continue to cook under their own heat...


...then he pours them back and forth, back and forth, between the strainer and the bowl, to cool them down and stop the roasting.


From start to finish, the entire process takes about 6 minutes. (Actual roasting time is even shorter - about 2 minutes. Correction - more like 4 minutes. Thanks, Mr. M!)


And here's the finished product:


The just-roasted coffee has a strong burnt-sugar smell (which also permeates the garage and trickles into the house). But over the next few hours, as the coffee emits carbon dioxide, the smell gradually changes to a divinely rich and nuanced aroma that even a tea-drinker like me finds appealing.

Mr. M roasts just enough coffee to last him a few days and no more - by this means assuring that his daily cup will be truly fresh. He's already placed another order with the coffee importer, taking advantage of a sale to buy a year's worth of assorted green beans. The overall cost per pound is about the same, or a little less, than buying his coffee from a good supermarket or coffee store - but the pleasure he gets from roasting his own beans, and the quality of the finished cup, are worth more than money to him.

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Is there a product or service that you could buy, but that you prefer to do for yourself? (Such as baking your own bread, making your own pasta, grinding your own peanut butter, roasting your own coffee, sewing your own clothes or home furnishings, etc.?) If so, I'd love to hear about it.

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63 comments:

  1. What a marvellous coffee roasting kit your husband has made up! I love freshly roasted coffee beans too and am lucky enough to have a coffee shop in my neighbourhood where roasting takes place in the shop itself!

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    1. Lucky you, Sandra! If we had a roaster in the neighbourhood (a professional one that is) Mr. M would probably have never tried it. As it is he's enjoying it no end. :)

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  2. Go Mr M., master of ingenuity and (I feel sure) the best cup of coffee in Wisconsin!

    I could pay to have my skeins of wool wound for me by most stores, but I'd far rather wind them into cakes (I do have a ball winder) and proper old fashioned balls myself. There's nothing like an hour spent communing with your yarn, letting your hands discover what it wants to be, before you break out the knitting needles.

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    1. I understand that - and I enjoy the yarn-winding process too (except when the darn stuff tangles). :)

      Over here the yarn shops wind the yarn for free. Interesting contrast. (We get free water in our restaurants too. Go figure.)

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  3. Interesting! I love the smell of ground coffee but do not like the taste and absolutely hate it when a box of chocolates contains coffee creams and I inadvertently pop one in my mouth, yeuch!

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    1. Oh, I love everything coffee-scented and flavoured except the drink itself. Coffee creams are wonderful (to me) and coffee ice cream is one of my favourite flavours. Strange, isn't it?

      :)

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  4. I would love to have a cup of Mr Ms freshly roasted beans right now,,mmm I can smell it from here. Just a thought when buying the beans should they not be fresh too, would the quality not deteriorate over the year, of course I haven't a clue about such things but I had to ask, as for making things from scratch, I would love to bake my own bread now that's a smell that's amazing freshly cooked bread BUT if one made it then one would have to eat it and well the zumba classes are barely helping the waistline as it is haha

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    1. Yes, we love home-baked bread too. The trouble is, when we make it we eat it (as you said). So I don't make it as often as I used to.

      Green coffee beans will last for a year, even more, if properly stored. Mr. M told me that some people even age their beans on purpose to get a certain flavour.

      :)

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  5. I like to bake bread, but I do not do it very often. I would really like to make my own jams. I think I would rather sew or play with yarn though...;)

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    1. Home-made jam is, for me, like sock-knitting - rather a fearful prospect. For some reason I'm afraid to try it - though of course with products like Sure-Gel (or whatever it's called) the process is probably painless.

      I'd rather play with yarn too.... :)

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  6. "Uncle A." is particular about his one cup of coffee a day, in the morning, too!

    And he feels that no one but me, can brew him a "perfect" cup. :-))))

    Wow! Roasting your own beans! Me thinks I will not tell him about this. -grin- Well, not until he runs out of his gotta'-do-list and is looking around for something "to do." Which may not be for about 50 years. -grin-

    But hooray for Mr. M. One cup a day. It should be perfect!!!!!

    Oh how I wish I could still drink REAL coffee. -pout- Decaf is blahhh... But decaf does not make my chest hurt, by interfering with my Mitral VAlve Prolapse. As REAL coffee and any form of caffine does. (So no chocolate or caffinated sodas, etc.)

    Such is life. :-)

    "Auntie"

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    1. Oh dear, Auntie. Sometimes I think you must live on carrot sticks and lean chicken breast cutlets baked in the oven. But those are good things, right? ;)

      (P.S. Don't pay me no never mind. I'm just jealous of your dietary self-control.)

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  7. "Is there a product or service that you could buy, but that you prefer to do for yourself?"

    Do not buy EVERY single bit of canned/packaged food!!! Only purchase Real Food. (The kind which does NOT come, with an ingredients label) Yes, ideally I'd be ABLE to handle life, way back when wives and daughters cooked ALL family food, from scratch.

    I'm too old, to begin. Don't have the stamina.

    But also! Who today, was taught how to live like that???????????????????????????? Such instruction, has been phased out of our life.

    Kinda' weird and sad, when you stop to think of it.....

    Yeah, "Auntie" is on a nostalgic roll here. -giggggles-

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    1. Should have added "Grandmothers," to the list of people, who used to cook for the house hold. :-))))

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    2. Hear hear! (Blogger stands up and applauds.)

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  8. That is so cool!! My hubby and I just moved our three kids from NC to Wi last month. Hubby and I are big coffee fans, and were delighted to find Cedarburg Coffee and Roastary at the Milwaukee Public Market. We are finding a lbs lasts us two weeks, and then I get to make to the trip down to the market again for more. I am thrilled with this arrangement, as we had nothing like this where we lived in NC. However, I have to try this! lol Could you tell me where he gets his beans from?
    Thank you! I enjoy reading your blog too. :)

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    1. Oh, we've had Cedarburg Coffee (or rather Mr. M has). Good stuff! We've visited the store too, some years ago. The roaster is immense and very impressive. Cedarburg is a fun little town to visit if you ever get the chance.

      Mr. M orders his beans from Burman Coffee in Madison and has them shipped. (With the cost of gas, the shipping costs about as much as the gas would to drive there ourselves.)

      Welcome to Wisconsin, and thanks for commenting! (I'm from out of state myself - we came from Southern California about 20 years ago.) :)

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    2. Thank you for the information, and for the welcome. :) I may just drive there for the first time. Just cause I want to see as much of the state as I can. Once it warms up, we plan on going to door county, and Wisconsin Dells. Do you have any other recommendations of places we need to see in the state? I love it here so far. :)

      Thanks again!

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    3. Gosh, I've never even been to Door County myself. Any travel we do tends to be to visit relatives out-of-state, so our in-state travel has not been very extensive. I would love to see the Apostle Islands, way up north. Wisconsin's western border, along the Mississippi River (the Great River Road), is beautiful. If you go to the Dells, be sure to take the boat trips - they are worth it. And Milwaukee has lots of fun things to do. We love the Milwaukee Art Museum (that's the one on the lake that looks sort of like a giant sailboat); there's a Harley Museum if you're into motorcycles; Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory (the Domes) are very nice; and you can tour various breweries if you are interested in beer.

      P.S. Kopp's Frozen Custard has the best burgers, fries, and shakes in the Milwaukee area. There's one on Blue Mound not far from 90/94, and one on Layton in Greenfield, also just off the interstate. (Check their website for a third location.)

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    4. Thank you for all the info! We will try Kopp's this coming weekend I think. We live close to the one on blue mound. I'm scared. :)

      I'm going to research the places you mentioned, and fit them into our plans. :)
      Thanks again!

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  9. Uh Oh my husband saw the picture and he's intrigued, he is fussy about his coffee too.

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    1. There are several ways to roast at home ... another is to use a stovetop popper (a pot with a lid and a handle that cranks a stirrer around the bottom of the pot - that sounds very incoherent but I hope you know what I mean). If he Googles "home coffee roasting" I'm sure he'll find other suggestions too. And there are of course serious dedicated machines available for the home roaster - with serious prices to match. :)

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  10. This is so cool!!!! I never thought about roasting my own coffee. I wouldn't have guessed that you can use a popcorn machine either. :-)

    I sometimes make my own bread, but bought one this morning (dunkles Schraubenbrot) at our local bakery. This bread is sooooooo good. :-)

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    1. It is VERY cool - and so quick and easy too. :)

      I sometimes make bread too - it's so much cheaper and always better than what our local supermarket has available. But my favourite is sourdough, and that's easier to buy from a reliable baker than to make myself.

      I don't know what dunkles Schraubenbrot is, but it sounds fascinating. :)

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  11. A new meaning to the words "home brew" ;-) which is usually beer here in the midwest!! Coffee would be better than beer to sip with homemade bread and butter made (small amt of cream, shaken in a container) by grandkids! You two are something else with your DIY projects! Thanks for sharing yet another useful idea.

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    1. One of my nephews by marriage has made beer....

      Thanks, Sue! And homemade bread is always good. I've made butter once, I think - more as an experiment than anything else. :)

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    2. Butter made by grkids is just for fun, to let them have new experiences. My nephew (turned prof baker for a time), age 5 at the time, never believed I made the unsliced bread I brought to his house. "Bread comes from the store!" 8-)

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  12. Fascinating!!! Good for Mister!
    I bake my own bread often or I use the bread machine for a nearly as good product.

    My nephew brews his own beer....says its time consuming

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    1. That's what my nephew-in-law says too (who has also brewed his own beer).

      Homemade bread is the best! :)

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  13. We do not brew coffee since my hub discovered Nestle instant cappuccino. I do make my own Greek yoghurt from scratch every 10 days and No-Knead bread every morning. Recipes on my Wetcreek Blog.

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    1. I should look into the Greek yoghurt making - although Mr. M has only a cup a week (what is it with him and the 1-cup thing?). :)

      No-Knead bread sounds good - our problem is that half of my family has celiac, which - for no reason - has made us feel guilty about gluten consumption. So we tend to avoid it for a while and then go overboard by eating huge quantities within a few days. And of course homemade bread is irresistible. I'll be over to check out your recipe. :)

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  14. I have never, ever been a coffee drinker in my life, but I've always thought the smell was nice. So as you described his finishing aroma, I could almost smell it in my head, and I thought maybe I should have The Lizard read this, because I bet he'd enjoy a cuppa this, too! Might even end up with our own self-styled roaster in his bike shop!

    And you know me. DIY queen. All of the above and everything else I can think of. :) But I think homemade bread has always been my favorite of all my homemade stuff.

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    1. Bread seems to be the most popular DIY project, at least among these responses! And you are the DIY EMPRESS. :)

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  15. That is SO fascinating! Thanks for the detailed photos and captions. Is that really just a popcorn popper??? I might have to try this. :) I spent the last four years as a barista at an independent coffee shop that we've finally had to put out of business. . .We never roasted our own, but I find one of the things I miss the most is coming home from work smelling like a coffee shop. This, perhaps, would help. ;)

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    1. Yep - the popper was bought at Wal-Mart (I think). Get the highest wattage you can.

      And your house WILL smell like a coffee shop - for the first day or so after roasting. A really great coffee shop. :)

      Thanks for commenting!

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  16. I think I need to get to know Mr. M much better. Perhaps he would roast me a few Peanuts. How different could it be???

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    1. Actually we HAVE roasted Peanuts in our day. And also made our own peanut butter (and nut butter).

      And homemade peanut clusters.

      I think you need to move to Wisconsin. :)

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  17. By the way, I DO wish you and the SnowCatcher would stop disappearing from my reading list. It is a conspiracy. I'm sure of it.

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    1. A double-sided conspiracy, as YOU keep disappearing from MINE.

      Very frustrating!

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    2. Yes. I put you both back in yesterday and you had the audacity to disappear again overnight! :)

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  18. The Goatfather gets his roasted beans from a small vendor in Seattle, which is close enough that he can order early one day and have them in house the next.

    And the Goatmother/father get unsalted roasted peanuts for Marigold from Costco. Plenty fresh enough for a goat -- eating shells and all, freshness can't possibly count for much.

    And how does Mr. M (for Medium roast? heh, heh) execute that equally important aspect of the Art of Coffee, to wit, brewing? The Goatfather discovered the Aeropress about a year ago, and has used nothing but since.

    What do I wish I could do for myself? Throw a boomerang. For now, I have to rely on the Goatfather to throw Frisbees and whatnot for me, and he is notoriously undependable, what with getting engrossed in his computer and all...

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    1. Mr. M brews his coffee in a KitchenAid countertop coffee maker. On occasion he uses a stovetop Moka (I think that's the name) from Italy - a gift from my nephew - it looks like a small coffee pot and works by percolation. And sometimes he uses the pour-over method. He has said that when the KitchenAid dies he's going to simplify his life and go with a French Press. We shall see. (He's never mentioned the Aeropress - I'll ask him about it.)

      Could you not pick up a boomerang with your mouth and just fling it with a toss of your head? I think you should try. It might get the Goatfather's attention - especially if you fling it towards his office window. :)

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    2. He should consider the Aeropress -- the Goatfather likes the reduced acid and the absence of grit in the finished product. I myself am partial to the Aeropress because it is made by Aerobee, the same wonderful folks who make my favorite toy, the Frisbee. (As an aside, for an example of a good think taken a bit too far, see here.)

      With a toss of my head? I fear the consequences of puncturing the Goatfather's concentration (and his office window) -- and the directional accuracy of such a throw would probably resemble that of the Goatmother's attempts with my Frisbee...

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    3. Heeeeyyyy!!!!! The Goatmother doesn't throw that badly. I've seen her throw Peanuts quite well.

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    4. All right, you two, behave. No arguing on MY blog, if you please. :)

      And I will definitely mention the Aeropress to Mr. Coffee. I mean Mr. M.

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    5. P.S. Is there a US Aeropress championship? If so you should definitely enter. I mean the Goatfather should definitely enter. Or you could both enter - what the hay.

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  19. That sounds delicious, roasting your own coffee beans...
    We make our own bread, in a bread baking machine. We get our flour at the mill in the village and bake one bread a day. It smells sooo good!

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    1. Lucky you to have fresh-milled flour! We thought about buying a grain-grinding attachment for our Kitchenaid mixer, but it was too expensive.

      Thanks for commenting! :)

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    1. I have read them! (Sorry to be so dilatory in visiting. I am way behind on blogreading. AGAIN.) :/

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  21. I lived across the street from a coffee roaster once (I mean a coffee roasting place--not a DYI guy like yours!) and I loved the smell in the mornings when I walked the dog. Mmmm. I own an air popper and a garage. Maybe I'll give this a try sometime.

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    1. We had an air popper already, but Mr. M bought a dedicated one so as not to flavour the popcorn with coffee oils. :)

      Your neighbourhood(s) are much more interesting than mine!

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  22. Dang! I posted a long comment and then our internet stopped working. :/

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  23. So, here goes again ...

    That's some setup. Sounds like a lot of work for a cup of coffee. I only use Maxwell House. 2 rounded scoops per cup of coffee. My friends tell their friends about my coffee and I have a few friends who specifically let me know they are coming so I can brew a fresh pot. Ha!

    My husband ground his own beans when we were dating. Love that smell. My mother-in-law used to roast her own beans for Turkish coffee. The aroma permeated the house and the neighborhood when she did that.

    Hope you are having a great weekend. Tammy

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    1. Thanks, Tammy! Hope yours was good too. Sounds like the Maxwell House is popular in your neighbourhood. :)

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  24. I am excited! Thanks for sharing Mr. M's method. I think it would be fun to try now that I know how he does it.
    Confession: I have gotten hooked on Starbuck's instant Via decaf coffee. I drink tea more than coffee, but Via is the best instant coffee I have ever tasted :-)]
    xx,
    Gracie

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    1. It's really very quick and easy - so quick that you have to pay close attention or the beans could burn. Mr. M bought a dedicated popcorn popper for this, as we decided that coffee-flavoured popcorn might not be as delicious as, say, coffee-flavoured ice cream. :)

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  25. My brother-in-law was just shown this method by our local coffee shop who roasts their own beans! I love living in a smaller community these days where people are willing to show you a few tricks (especially they could have the potential to cause them a business loss- which isn't actually the case because we spend MORE time at the shop now!) A little tip they gave us, because the hot-air poppper is unable to sustain long periods of heat numerous times (they will, eventually, give up the ghost) is to buy you popper from the secondhand store. We've got two now for the purpose of coffee-roasting and they cost less than $5 each :)

    I tell you, variations in the amount of stirring and the EXACT time you roast after second crack makes HUGE differences in the taste, as well as where the beans are from. We all spent a weekend just trying different variations and sampling them when we were done :)

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    1. Claire! How are you? So nice to hear from you again. :)

      It's very true about the poppers - luckily Mr. M only does one small batch every few days, so with luck the popper will last a while. Great idea about getting some from a secondhand store.

      And everything you say in your second paragraph is exactly what I've heard from Mr. M - I will have to show him your comment. So nice to know that there are coffee kindred spirits out there. :)

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  26. I LOVE that you posted this. I've been wondering how Mr. M. accomplished it - and the green beans look nothing like what I would have expected, while the roasted beans look like something out of a fancy coffee ad! So professional.
    I used to make cherry preserves every summer until the orchard went out of business. And I've made applesauce every year for more than 20 years, because Gerrit loved applesauce; I used to freeze it but now I can it.

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    1. Cherry preserves - those are lovely words. They just sound and look as beautiful as the actual product must be. :)

      We have made our own applesauce in the past, and now Mr. M is on a crockpot kick and is talking about making it again.

      So glad you enjoyed the post. :)

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  27. Just found your blog whilst looking for crochet slipper patterns. I like to make hamburger buns. Either to the dough stage in a bread machine, or completely by hand. I can control ingredients and sneak in the "healthy" ingredients my husband dislikes. Things like flax seed meal, wheat bran, etc. fresh ground beef Humberto on the grill and homemade buns, yummy! Now I want to learn to make pickles.

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    1. Homemade burger buns are the best! So much nicer than those cottony things sold at the grocery store. :)

      Thanks so much for commenting.

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