Canning Artichokes

NOTE TO SELF: Before embarking on a canning journey, you should probably learn how to cook the food for real. Also, you should probably not be hungover.

Yesterday, was a series of disasters as I attempted to can a food that I had never actually prepared in real life. Being completely unfamiliar with the artichoke was only part of the problem. First, artichokes have spikes everywhere. Ugh! Second, there are different types of artichokes so writing on your shopping list '6 lbs artichokes' is not sufficient. The recipe called for baby globe, and I bought globe. I am not sure how big of problem this ended up being and I suppose I will never know. Third, artichokes have tufts of hair in the middle of them! This was the biggest surprise of all. I cut this plant in half and a purple flower with hair comes out, it was quite an unexpected sight.

After cutting the artichoke in half, the recipe did not become much easier. The recipe said that I should pull back all the green leaves until I reached the yellow ones. Sounds easy, except my artichokes only had like 10 yellow leaves each (about 20% of the actual plant). So, I was all "that cant be right", and decided to add a bunch of the previous discarded green leaves in.? Now, I am wondering how those super tough green leaves are going to pickle the same as the dainty green ones. Also, what are you supposed to do with the fuzz that is in the inside? I took it out as I couldn't imagine eating it-but why would you not mention in a recipe that an artichoke has a massive, hairy pit and that you should take it out? Anyways, I followed the directions, made some more up, and then put the artichokes in the vinegar/oil mixture.

Yay. Easy. done. Except for the fact that the vinegar fumes gave me a MASSIVE migrane. I mean, it could have been coincidental that I chose to do canning project at the very same time that all drops of 'fireball whiskey' left my body and thus, I was just suffering a normal, alcohol induced headache. But, this one was BAD. I had to leave my canning station, dig around for advil, cry to Dustin, and then resume. Really the whole canning process, took longer than usual. So. with all these new experiences, I did manage to the get the artichokes canned in olive oil and lemon. I am still a little apprehensive about the end result, but I suppose we will see. 

Sorry that I do not have pictures of my canned goods. It really doesn't look that interesting, trust me. I would have taken pictures but I was too busy being upset about my horrible headache. :(. Next project, more carrots! A vegetable I am COMPLETELY comfortable cutting and cooking.

Rachel

I know why the Caged Bird Sings

Finally! Today, I just finished a really great book! At a slower than normal pace (as a result of not being on buses as much as usual, and the coincidental phone call while I am trying to read), I finished I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Now, I didn't know much about Maya Angelou except that she is popular and inspirational to the African-American community, and intimately knows a lot of famous people like Oprah and the Clintons. I had assumed that her book was going to a story of moving up in society despite all racial/gender hinderances, but done in a way that would make me as a white female disconnected. I mean, I have been reading a fair amount of literature recently written by African-Americans about the past tensions (and blatant explotion) of blacks and whites. While, I try my hardest to empathize and associate myself from the protagonist's point of view, I feel that some authors let me in (as an outsider to the culture, the 'race' and the experience) to the story better than others. In this regard, I felt that Maya Angelou did a great job with her autobiography. She was able to portray the racial tensions and stories that she had witnessed in her childhood, but still relate to my experiences and my personal, coming-of-age tale. Alternatively, through my journey with African-American literature I could just be becoming more aware of the injustices and the history, that with each book it becomes to easier to see the narrator's point of view. I apologize if my thoughts are kind of muddled, I have not done much (or basically anything besides a few conference lectures) on racial history or race in general, so I feel like its hard to articulate my thoughts succinctly or in the most correct way possible.

Anyways, I particularly enjoyed the stories from when Maya was living in San Francisco. I also found her perserverance was extremely inspirational. She also notes her mistakes and her flaws and relates those in her book as well. I will definitely read her second part.

My next book choice is Santa Maria. It is a Latino, fictional story (my favorite!) centered around the tale of Eva Peron and what happened to her after death. Besides that, I don't know much about it-so I will let you know how that goes. :)

Alright! Back to work!
Rachel

Pickled Carrots.

The most gorgeous weekend of the year so far (not much competition there) has come and gone. I had a wonderful weekend starting off with Happy Hour with free 'munchies', doing the Troll Stroll to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis and seeing Cabin in the Woods last night! Meanwhile, getting some color back into my skin and wearing a spring dress without tights for the first time! It was definitely an eventful weekend.

On Sunday, I made some spicy pickled carrots! I have now made every canning recipe that I loved as a kid. Although, my green beans (my first pickles) won't be ready until May 5 and the carrots wont be eaten until after Sasquatch. I remember circling the 'end date' of the preservation period on the family calendar as a kid, and counting down the days. Now, I have gotten a little smarter and write the date to be opened directly on the labels, so I can be reminded and excited everyday! Simple pleasures, but I can't wait to eat my pickles! My next one is to try some new recipes that I did not watch my dad make, like artichokes in oil. I love to eat those on my salad.

Henrietta Lacks

Happy Friday!

Yesterday night, I went up to the Central District in Seattle to attend a lecture series put on by Seattle University's 'Center for the Study of Justice in Society'. The conversation was with David (Sonny) Lacks, son of Henrietta Lacks who unknowingly donated the HeLa Cells that have made Modern Medicine what it is today. My fascination with Henrietta Lacks started a year or two ago when I saw the book at the University bookstore. I kept trying to buy it and read it, but something always seemed to distract me. Then last September, I finally took the plunge and bought it on my Kindle. I read it in less than a week; I was hooked. Quickly, the book tells a true story of a woman who died at the age of 31 of cervical cancer. Being a black women with a poor economic background, she got seperate and un'equal' health care from John Hopkins. At the time she went in for care, they took some of her cancer cells and attempted to grow them in a petri dish. Scientists had not yet been able to get human cells to grow outside of a human body and for some mysterious reason, Henrietta's did. Her cells ended up helping all medical developments/cosmetic developments (anything used on a human) for the last 50 years. Her cells also grew into a multi-million dollar industry, being sold by medical supplies to scieentists and researchers. The family has been mostly unaware of this and uncompensated, bringing up many issues of  patent laws, consent for research and healthcare for all. For more detailed information and background, go here (a video).

So the talk was Question and Answer session between David (Sonny) Lacks and another women. The crowd was a mix between African Americans and White ethnicites, although being in Seattle there was a very liberal air to talk. I just wanted to share some parts of the talk that I found good/interesting. The issue is extremely complex, and if you read the book you will probably be like "hmm....eh, I agree but like not really."

1) The introduction of the HeLa cell put the Polio Vaccine ahead by 5-10 years.

2) Her cells were essential to create Gardasil, the vaccination that essentially eliminates the HPV that killed Henrietta Lacks in the first place (Thank you Henrietta Lacks!!)

3) Mr. Lacks was talking about watching her mothers cancer cells under a microscope approach another cell in a petri dish and overtake that cell, and begin to divide. Mr. Lacks describes this as "My mother had attitude after death. She doesn't want anyone invading her space).

4) Mr. Lacks was talking about how racism was today "The world is now high-technology. Racism is just now high-tech."

These are just some of the highlights of the talk. There were also other issues that people tended to think were 'unfair' or 'outrages', but I didn't particularly think that was the case. It's hard to get a lot of people in a room who feel very personally affected by this and have an unbiased talk about all the issues surrounding such a complex, controversial issue. Overall, David Lacks was happy and proud that his mother has virtually saved/helped every person in the world by contributing greatly to modern medicine and vaccinations. Just something to think about when you are getting that next shot/ putting on that new layer of makeup.

Sorry for the long post!

Rachel

Books...meh.

I have some down time before I sign off from work for the day, so I just wanted to write a quick update. First, today I went down to the YMCA tech lab today and decided to see if they had some speakers for my computer I could borrow. For the whole year, I have not had speakers-and I LOVE them. Work has gone by much faster with Pandora and me rocking out to my favorite jams. I am also more voluntary to do busy work that I would normally put off. So, this is great for my productivity!

Over the weekend, I finished two books over the weekend, and I found both to be pretty blah. First I read Fool by Christopher Moore, for the April book club read. This book is supposed to be a satire off of Shakespear's King Lear. I have not read King Lear, but I really didn't find this book to be funny, nor really that amusing. The story is told from the point of view of Pocket, King Lear's jester. Basically, there were a lot of farting, peeing and sex jokes. A few of the jokes were funny and clever-but the majority of the humor in the book was elementary. Now, I am not a pretentious reader-I think Sophie Kinsella books are pure genius. However, in Moore's defense, I have never found "poop" and "sex" jokes to be funny en masse. They might get  a smile from me. I prefer book humor to be more witty and involved in the plot (meaning that a joke or a funny situation can take a while to reach the punchline). So, maybe this was not my thing and might be yours.

Okay, anybody who has been reading the women-oriented blogs is probably rolling their eyes right now. This book (part of trilogy) exploded into the internet/book scene a month or so ago as the new "mommy" porn. Essentially, since the advent of Electronic Readers, erotica fiction geared towards ladies has risen some crazy number like 300%. The idea is that since women don't have to show what they are reading anymore (via book covers), they are feeling more comfortable buying smut. They interviewed one lady who has a kindle exclusively for naughty books, and averages reading 11 a week (INSANE!). With all this background, I had to read the book that got everybody all up in arms/hot and bothered. I found the book to be a lot like Twilight (it originally was Twilight Fan-Fiction) in that the writing was simple and at times, bad, the story was basic, the man controlling, and the fact that I was in no way jealous for the protagonists' life or situation. All that said, I couldn't put the stupid book down (another similarity to Twilight). I also wrongly thought the book was going to be all smut-but there actually is an honest attempt to unmask feelings and emotions of a burgeoning relationship. 

Note: The book does try to address BDSM. I have no idea if they do accurately or not, but have heard mixed and very passionate reviews on the internet. If you read my review and are intrigued, wanting to secretly give the book a try-I would suggest reading some of the blog articles on the book, as well as reviews about the couple's relationship.

Alright! Work is almost done. 

Lastly, I just wanted to share that I have been shopping diligently to put more color in my wardrobe. Whenever I do laundry, I feel like I am just hanging out a bunch of blacks, grey's, and dark red shirts. I have started to go to H&M due to budget constraints. Not sure if that's a good idea yet, but I am happy now because I can get so much more for my buck! Hopefully, the clothes don't unravel the second time I wear them. 

Happy Wednesday!

Sauerkraut...check.

Well, another weekend has come and gone. Safe to say, I am pretty bummed. I am ready to move onto the next chapter of my life-and I am anticipating a slow week at work. Furthermore, the weather has been getting nicer and nicer and so that has made me have a bit of cabin fever. My office has a 'stained glass' window, or one of those windows that lets light through (a huge glare on my computer screen) but doesn't allow me to actually see outside. So annoying. When I try to look out of the window, I figure 'that's how princesses must have felt'-as the window does resemble one on a castle. hehe.

This weekend I did not do much cooking-as I have a surplus of food. I came up with some new cooking projects, and so I have to go get supplies for those, but I spent my evenings watching movies and my days laying outside in the sun, socializing and reading. I did, however, get to finish canning my sauerkraut. I ended up with 2.5 jars worth of kraut, so I refrigerated the half one and canned the other two. I also threw some Carraway seeds in the sauerkraut before I canned it. I am not sure what taste they add, but the recipe I was using recommended it. So, we will see.

The first picture is the kraut in the sauce pot. The recipe I was using wanted me to boil the kraut for 5 minutes. The internet, however, disagreed with that-saying that naturally fermented kraut has probiotic bacteria and is thus, a super food. Most sauerkraut in the grocery stores are vinegar brined, and not fermented-so you can't just go to the store and pick any old random stuff. The internet was pretty strict on this. So, I kind of mixed the two ideologies and half boiled it. haha. I then added some brine to the cans, that I made out of salt and water. Again, I couldn't find much about this on the internet (do I make sure brine covers the kraut or no?), so I just guessed that it should be preserved in some sort of liquid. So, I made that too. I know the one in the fridge tastes good-but we will see how the canned ones taste with my additions to the recipe.

Anyways, I hope everybody had an awesome weekend in the sun! Rachel

Strawberry Jam

I had an early day off of work today because I was the only one who showed up to the office. heh. I arrived there at 9am, sat there for an hour and was like 'wow, everybody must have slept in.' And, speedily walked out of the office to quickly run an errand (buy Justice concert tickets). I came back and was still alone. At around 12.30 I called my boss just to be like 'oh shoot, was I supposed to be somewhere else?', but I guess it was just that fate collided and everybody else decided not to come to work today. :(. Alas, I decided then to take a field trip to H&M and then go home early.

I am about to run out to have dinner, but I wanted to share the pictures of the Strawberry Jam I made last Tuesday (another quick day at work due to a dentist appointment). I was shocked to discover how much sugar was put into jam. With the recipe that I used, the sugar amount is almost the same as the actual fruit. In the future, I am definitely going to find ways to make jam more healthier-and until then, I will think twice about licking the knife (well actually I probably won't..hehe)

I also want to just state that I made a HUGE mess while making this jam. At one part the recipe said that I had to keep the jam at a rolling boil for 1 minute. Seems pretty simple, except when the jam boiled it increased in volume by about 5x. It bubbled up out of the huge stockpot and fell over the oven. Meanwhile I am dodging giant, popping jam bubbles while trying to stir, counting the minute down. I came out with only one injury and I was happy about that! Nevertheless, I now have enough jam to last for a really, really long time.

I read after I made the jam that with butter/margarine, I could have limited the increase of size and foaming action. Note to self: this is a mandatory extra step.

The smashed strawberries and the sugar. It needs to be constantly stirred. 

All of my hardwork

What an individual jar of jam looks like, and behind: the bleach wipes that I used to scrub down the entire kitchen!

My next canning project is going to be salsa! Yay! And, I am in need to make some bread this weekend for lunches. It's going to be a cooking weekend-and the weather is gorgeous!

Rachel

PS: You probably all thought I forgot about my saurkraut. I have not. I have been checking on it for almost 3 weeks and it will be ready to be put into jars/eaten this Sunday! yay

Blindness

I don't think I mentioned this before, but I randomly joined a book club on meetup.com, a site where people can plan activities and clubs and random other people can join in on them. It's a great way for people of all ages to come together. I understand that some people have big reservations about meeting strangers on the internet, whether it be for dating, becoming roommates or friends. I, however, have embraced it (well not dating...). Seattle can also be a pretty unfriendly city, so its great to have an online portal of people who want to meet up (hehe) and do something! Anyways, after sitting and following the group for a couple months, I finally took the plunge and went to a book club meeting. We discussed the Novel Room by Emma Donoghue, which I had read last year. The people there were of all sorts of ages, and I tending to navigate only to people my age, had a little trouble expressing my thoughts. However, by the end of the conversation I felt comfortable with all the people in the room and helped vote for the book, Blindness to be our June book read.

Blindness was intense. Basically, the book is about an epidemic that sweeps the nation that leaves every single person blind...except one lady. The government, in the beginning, attempts to thwart the burgeoning epidemic by quarantining the blind people-and this is who the book follows. It illustrates how much of our society is done by seeing and through the feelings of shame, accountability, responsibility and judgement-all of which are primarily done by seeing others and others seeing you. Without this, things can go haywire. The book at times was scary and was very harsh on humanity. Eventually, everybody goes blind-and the book continues into how the group carries on in the real world. It is definitely a must read. There is a definite reason why this book won the Novel Prize for Literature; it captivates the reader, and scares the hell out of them in illustrating how much of our society and sense of 'self' and propriety is based on the judgement of others. Without these judgements, accountability is lost-and where does that leave us? Do we take care of ourselves and others because we are humans? Or, do we do it so it will reflect well upon us-when others SEE us do it? Anyways, just read the book.

Lastly, one thing that was interesting about the book was the fact that the author wanted to write as if he were blind-and thus, no dialogue. Entire conversations are catalogued in the book, but since the narrator cannot see who is saying what there is very little "Hi" said Bob, "Hey babe" said Julie, etc. Rather, it is a block of conversation separated by commas. At times, this can be confusing and daunting (pages with no paragraphs or dialogue indentations), but it also allowed the book to be read as if you could not see who was saying each part. Most of the times, you could get it, but by taking away the visual sense of the book, it made the narrative more authentic.

Alright! I need to head to bed, busy day tomorrow with an alumni social and all!

This is my favorite picture on the whole, wide internet. 

Movies part deux.

I have been watching a lot of movies recently. My shows have been on a spring hiatus, and with it staying lighter and warmer longer into the evening I feel that I can actually stay up to enjoy a movie, instead of just falling asleep to Teen Mom 2, Army Wives, or some other Emmy-winning materials such as that (haha). Anyways, I just like to go through and review some of the recents.

I actually just finished this movie, so I am going to start with this one first. This move is on Netflix, so you can watch it for free. I was pretty excited to see it available because I had read the book by Tatiana De Rosay (?) approximately two years ago. I remember sitting outside in my Front Yard at my house junior year. We only got sunlight in one specific spot in the front yard, so I would lay a mexican blanket out, tan, smoke/drink and read. You don't typically see many people sprawled out, soaking up the sun in their FRONT yard, haha. But, I guess we all had to make do with what we got, especially in Seattle! Anyways, the book was an easy read, obviously written for the general public. However, I remember being emotionally attached to the characters and surprised at how invested I was in the book at the end. It is a truly good, but tragic story. I don't want to give too much away, but it centers around World War 2 and an incident in French History, where they (the French) rounded up their own jews and relinquished them to the Nazis. I suppose it was meant to secure some sort of brownie points amidst the threat of occupation. The story delas with a girl who deals with the 'roundup' and a family that is affected by it indirectly. It's a good movie and I recommend it. One quick note, it IS in French subtitles. I know that some of my friends who read this blog probably won't mind that at all though ;)

This movie was unexpected. I didn't read any reviews prior to watching it, but I did catch the word 'comedy' in the synopses on Itunes. Furthermore, Diablo Cody wrote it (she also did Juno, Whipit, and United States of Tara-all of which I <3 a lot) so I had high expectations. The output, however, was a little lackluster. I thought that the movie in itself was good, and I was engaged throughout the whole movie. Yet, the movie wasn't really that funny. I found the story to be a bit sad as well. I did like how Mavis, ie. Charlize Theron, interacted with the other main character, Matt who has a cripple. The guy who played that was also in United States of Tara. It was cute that in the end, Mavis finds companionship in him-instead of her weird, bizarre fantasy worlds-however, it didn't have all the elements to be a true romantic comedy. All in all, I suppose the movie was good-I just may have been expecting something more funny. Instead, it was kind of sad and not really romantic -ish in any way. :(.

I don't really know what to say about this movie. Now, I do not know much about Freud or the other dude (they may have said the main characters name like two times, and I missed it both times. I managed to watch the ENTIRE movie without knowing who the hell the protagonist is). After watching the movie, I don't really know much more than I knew before. Keira Knightly confused the hell out of me. She starts the movie as a hysterical woman who is bathing herself in mud and convulsing when sad memories are brought up, and she finishes the movie as a proper, pregnant, female psychiatrist who is famous for her work. I understand that mental health issues can be overcome, but the movie really did not illustrate how she overcame all of her mental disabilities in the first place. Unless the hysteria was all an act or the only way she knew how to act (because woman didn't have a lot of say....thats my guess), but then that should have been brought up too. I was pretty disenchanted by this movie.

I was going to delve into the inconsistencies of the Russian accent in the movie, but then I remembered that the new Footloose was even WORSE, so I will save that musing for another day. All in all, bleh.

Yay-Tomorrow I only have to work a half day (if that) because my saga to the dentist office continues. They will be deep cleaning more of my gums and stuff. I have started using my SonicCare toothbrush but I have also upped my sugar dosage because of the Easter weekend. So, I bet that just negates everything. But, off to bed and to a half, easy day at work! Hiya!

Rachel

Easter Weekend

Well, another weekend has come and almost gone. I was super excited for this weekend because the weather in Seattle was promised to be sunnier and warmer than any other weekend this year. I wanted to go on a long, day hike and explore the area and then on Sunday, head to a potluck to celebrate Easter. However, the hike plan was foiled because I came down with a HORRIBLE cold on Friday night. I went to bed with my throat a little scratchy and woke up miserable. I spent most of Saturday sitting in the sun (did manage a walk around Greenlake and U-Village) and napping. Still feeling bad, I have managed to make my potluck contribution and will head to socializein a little bit. I am worried for Monday because I have to deal with super-hard-to-handle students, but I'm sure it's nothing that Dayquil can't fix.

So, I made 'Easter Egg Nests' for my potluck. I forgot to buy the food coloring, so I didn't get the real effect of the colored grass but I thought they turned out fine anyways. I ate so many of the 'cracked, mistake cookies' just a little bit ago, that looking at these pictures actually makes me a little queesy (and my super stuffed up sinuses don't help), but I hope that other people like them. :)

Cheers and Happy Easter!

Rachel

The House of The Spirits

Wow, Today was one of those days where you don't really do anything but yet you are totally exhausted. Yesterday after work, I went on a treadmill run and then did this 'age-defying' workout. I figured it was a set of moves for older people that want to look younger, and thus, the workout would be easy peezy. In fact, I even added extra reps. I woke up this morning and my butt muscles were on FIRE. It was painful to sit in the dentist chair today and the muscle soreness just got worse through the day. Oh man! I am not exactly sure what particular exercise I did to give myself such a sore butt-but I hope that means that I just instantly toned up some muscle I didn't know I had (yeah right). My workout was simply.

Do the circuit 3 times:

10 skaters (10 right, 10 left)

20 jumping jacks

1 around the world plank (plank off of an exercise bench and use your hands to walk around the bench

10 squats.

It doesn't seem too hard, but yeah-kicked my butt (literally!)

I also just wanted to comment on this book that I just finished. I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy the book before I even started it, given on how partial and in love I am with South American literature. I thought the story was a drawn out a bit, but overall I enjoyed all parts. There was plenty of romance and mysticism-two key elements of a Latin story. Yet, it also conveyed the upheavals of South American politics throughout the 20th century. It followed a man who became involved politically later in life, and watch him battle the socialist revolution and the incidental military coup that a lot of the countries in the area experienced in that time. The country in which the book is set is not named (and I looked it up on the internet and it did not specify; I assume the author meant for it to be fictitious) but I chose to identify Chile because that was where the author is from (although there are clear similarities and differences between the book's political upheavals and Chile's historical ones). Nevertheless, the book is about have morals and ideals, living with passion and believing in things such as spirits, love and fate. It's a wonderful read and I recommend it.

Rachel

My first attempt at canning.

This weekend was kind of slow. Dustin and I had plans to go skiing, but he stubbed his toe and his snowboard boot wouldn't comfortably fit on his foot, so we had to scratch those plans (:/). But, it turned out to be okay because I got to socialize with some new people and stay in town for the weekend. On Friday, I went to Ballard with my co-worker Colleen, her roommate and some random kid Colleen had met on the bus. We went to a couple of different bars and just had a great time. It was really nice to hang out with a new crowd, hear all their stories and just be chill. And, I tasted Cheese Curds for the first time! Saturday night, I went out with Dustin and we met up with my friend Camille at Lobby Bar. That was definitely a shorter night (and it was pouring rain at times), but fun nevertheless.

On Saturday, I got some goodies in the mail. Sadly (but maybe not so sad because I need to curb the spending) the dress I posted below by Quiksilver was way too big. I have not yet decided if I am going to exchange it and try for a smaller size or just return the thing and forget about it. Also, a few days ago I was working and urgently had to use the restroom. The closest acceptable place for me to go happened to be Nordstroms (uh-oh). I went in there, did my business, and a few days later-got these shipped to my beautiful house. Aww I'm such a sucker! But Dustin says I look like Janis Joplin, which I guess is okay...

Sorry, Sunday night Sweats!

I really need to figure out a better picture-taking situation. The IPhone an my trembling hand is not cutting it. 

Anyways, I knew I shouldn't have bought them, but at least I LOVE them, right? 

This weekend I also canned my first batch of 'dilly beans' or bean pickles. It took me hours because I really didn't do a lot of research on how to can, but rather, just jumped into the process head first. So, I had to spend a lot of time flipping through multiple canning books and internet FAQ's. I also had to quickly run out to Ace Hardware for a rack to help sterilize the cans. But, after hours of learning and then actually preparing the recipe-I think the bean pickles came out great. I ended up with 6 jars and 1 jar or extras that I have been snacking on the last couple of days (The extra jar is like 'pickle' light, kind of tastes good but I know the pickles will taste a million times better). Anyways, I hope that the more I practice, that faster I will get at the process. I think my next goal is to make some strawberry jelly (either this weekend, or next). Wish me luck!

I added some red/orange/yellow bell peppers in the mix for color! 

They will be ready May 5. Aww Cannot wait. 

Rachel

PS. Sauerkraut is doing great and there is no bacteria 'scum'. At first I was worried, but I read that some batches don't have scum and it tastes like sauerkraut-so yay!