Where I've Been. Where I'll Be.

Updates...updates...
Well I'll start with this, happy mothers's day! Moving on...

Speaking of moving... I'm moving to Minnesota in about a month! I'm about 40% excited, 50% terrified and the other 10% is just filled with a proportionate mixture of stress, joy and some panicked moments. I think at this point I am most stressed about finding a stinken place to live! ( which makes me even more excited to see the tail end of summer so I can find a place to stay-stay for more than just a year.)  Let me elaborate more about my internship, which is not much of an elaboration.
This summer I'll be working with Land O' Lakes in the Continuous Improvement department. For the duration of summer I'll have three (maybe two depending on how fast I work) projects to work on. L.O.L.'s ( as it's casually called) headquarters are in Arden Hills, MN. As far as I know, I'll be commuting between Arden Hills, Spencer (in Wisconsin) and Pine Island (which is in Minnesota and is also not an island as far as I'm concerned). The Spencer facility produces powdered cheese (I think...) like the stuff that makes your fingers orange, post Cheetos massacre and the Pine Island facility makes processed cheese ( I.e. The stuff that turns your insides orange, post nacho massacre).

That's basically all I know for now. Next I have to plan my trip for getting out there. Yay for road trips! As I project that I'll be having some quality me time in Minnesota (I promise I won't be too much of a turtle) I'm going to try to keep this more updated, if anything so yawl can see more Minnesota! Maybe I'll call those entries 'Life at L.O.L' or  'Mini-Sodas' or 'Wait, this isn't California'. Whooooooo knows. Until next time....

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!
-Taryn Julia

Churn Baby, Churn!

If you are any where around my age you know how to finish "In West Philadelphia born and raised...." And that means you probably remember this scene:

And while this post has nothing to do with corndogs (which I love) or lemonade, the whole "Churn baby churn" does!

Today, at school, we made....butter! Surprisingly ( or not) this isn't the first time we've made butter. The first go around looked like this: 4 grad students, 10 mason jars and 1 gallon of whole milk followed by at least three days of sore arms. If you are of the ambitious type you can make butter at home; just fill a mason jar with some whole milk, tighten the lid REALLY tight and shake shake shake shake (all bar tender like!). You'll start to notice that it'll change from a liquid sound to a sloshy sound to a definite ball of something sound. You could probably stand to drain it then shake it around some more. During this process the milk fat globules are being broken down and sort of huddling together. While this is happening all of the water in milk (which is about 80%) is being squished out so at the end of the butter making process you'll have the butter and the buttermilk! (Just a small nugget of info: the cultured buttermilk you find at the grocery store is just skim milk with some bacteria or acid). Its' that easy!
That brings us to today, our second round of butter making was WAY less labor intensive but still as interesting! Today we used a commercial (pilot scale) continuous butter churn which basically looks like a missile launching submarine. These churns usually consist of three main parts: the balance tank which feeds the milk, the sieving/raking tube which does all the work of separating and huddling the butter grains and finally the texturizer which is a line up of plates with different sized holes that makes the butter smooth and pack-able (like what you see at the stores). Our texturizer section of our machine was maybe a foot long however some texturizers in big butter making plants can be upwards of 35 feet! The principle of the continuous machine is basically the same as the hand churning.

Those are butter grains. They're usually about the size of golf balls before they fall into the texturizer. 

This little window looks into the texturizer after they've been passed through the sieves. Those squigglys fall into another section that has counter rotating screw-looking things. After the butter's passed through the screw-looking things they come out of a nozzle! 

Nifty huh!? Well this post has another butter related purpose too. If all goes according to plan I will be working for Land O' Lakes this summer as a manufacturing intern! YAY! 

Go make some butter!

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

HI!....

.....atus!
IT'S ALREADY FEBRUARY! That's three months of me being really neglectful and lazy. I don't really have a direction for this/my next post, so think of this as filler or a postcard of sorts until I have a pocket of time until I can share more yum-yums with you! Here's a quick peek at what has happened within the last three months (food wise, that is)

And in the words of the great OutKast.... "So fresh and so clean"...milk! 

Gigantic red bell peppers! 

Salami, oven roasted tom toms, Prooosciuuutto, toasty bread topped with Camembert. We may need to monitor my charcuterie obsession. 

Beautiful friend Jess T. with my "You Can Stand Under My Chanterella" at our fave spot- Sally Loo's. AKA the place where 1/3rd of my paycheck goes...

Shoefly Pie. One day I'll lament about how much I hate making pie. 

Kimmy Giblets, the turkey from this years lack of a full house Thanksgiving. 

My littles Sous Chef, A. Yee! Look at those recipe notes! 

Some delish sandwich, again at Sally Loos

Sister, at Umami Burger in Oakland. Can you say Truffle Overload. I hope not cause that's not possible! 

Mocha-choco-latte-ya-ya. At Wes Cafe in Alameda.

Scoop of T. J's vanilla ice cream with a sprinkle of homemade Sriracha Lime Salt (that everyone got for Christmas). *Recipe coming soon! 

Again, a lil charcuterie!

My entry for Sakura of America's favorite quote competition! 

Aebleskivers-a loverly dutch pancake! 

Oh look. All caught up. So with this coming year I really hope to not only share more recipes (cause there's so many in my head) but also some more personal musings of what it's like to be a youngish food scientist; my hopes, my dreams, my fears, but most importantly my favorite dessert. For now you can look forward to recipes for....

• 'Oh Mah Goodness' Carrot Everything Soup!
• Sriracha Lime Salt and other yum yum seasonings 
• How to Grow and Re-grow and Re-grow again Green Onions
• Not-so-rustic-but-down-right-tasty 'Cowboy Quiche'

And hopefully in the near-to-far future experiments on....

• Cheese-you can cut it like the pros.....
• TOFU!- its the new frontier! 
• Bread-cause, ya know, carbs!
• Meal Planning?-too grown up?
• Smoothies?-how much whey protein is too much whey protein!?

So I hope your new year has brought you plenty of joy, good health but most importantly delicious food!

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

Falling Into Fall...

Here in California, especially the Central Coast, we are fortunate enough to have pretty mild and consistent weather throughout the year. Unfortunately for us that means not witnessing leaves really, really, really changing colors like they do on the East Coast. That's okay though, I'll make-do with our sunny skies and snow-less winters.

So to get into the Fall spirit a gaggle of my friends and I decided to visit Slo Creek Farms for a little apple picking! 

On 40 acres, there were aisle and aisle of apple trees chalked full of apples. With the exception of other apple pickers, it was pretty quiet in between the apples trees; really serine and placid. The tall, bushy trees really separated us from the rest of the farm, the cars, the road; making it a really nice escape from the bustle of life. 

I could probably stick my hands out, close my eyes and pick a dozen apples without even trying.

For the dozen or so apples that I actually picked there had to be at least two dozen apples that were too heavy or old and would just fall down. This made me sad to know they won't reach their full apple potential (or as I like to call it "apple-tential") but then I thought about it and at some point they'll turn into dirt and eventually turn into an apple tree again! The circle of life! 

At the end of our excursion I came home with a few bug bites (this was a last minute adventure and I was wearing a skirt) two apples in my tummy and a dozen in a brown bag.

Apple Picking. How much more Fall can you get!?

Till next time!

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

*I would like to dedicate this post to the amazing Food Science legend, Dr. Hany Khalil, whose absence will be felt around the world and beyond. I am so fortunate to have met this man on the very first day of my food science career, a career that will truly be forever shaped by his guidance. I have learned that the world is a big place, so you have to learn as much as you can in order to help as much as you can. So Dr. Khalil, next time we meet, lunch is on me.* 

How Gourd-geous!

Fall is here! Yay! That means sweaters and red leaves and lots of tea! It also means gourds!!  
My love for winter squashes and melons has been a bumpy one. Our first affair was one of hatred because of the laborious hours put into roasting them and risking chopping off my fingers. Now our love has turned into a relationship of adoration and amazement.
I love squash! Plain and simple. This past week I have roasted two different gourds. One being butternut squash the other being an....I don't know. It was just at my house so I had to make it. Maybe you can help me identify it!

Here it is all naked and de-seeded.  I have no idea what it is! Its sweet and has a really soft inside, not to nutty, not too stringy. Help!

For my butternut squash.... I cut the top and bottom off. Scored it in a criss-cross fashion and smothered it in olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic for about 45 minutes  to an hour at 425°F in the oven.  And then I demolished about half of it in 15 minutes. 

S'marvelous crackling pepper and salt in oil.  *drooooool*

Poor lil guy didn't even stand a chance. The scoring helped the squash roast a little faster and made it easy to pick, pull and eat right off the plate. 

What's your favorite fall dish?

Coming soon-Fall Time Carrot Soup! 

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

Oktoberfest!

Happy October everyone! Here at The Bean House we decided to celebrate October with a Oktoberfest inspired gathering.
On the menu for this lovely meal we had homemade Spatzel (recipe to follow!), bratwurst, pretzels, sauerkraut, homemade Obatzda, semi-homemade strudel, rustic vegetables and of course beer!

Pretzels! We paired our pretzels with Obatzda. Now I had no idea what Obatzda was until that day but let me tell you, if you like cheese, cheese, butter, cheese, beer and onions, this stuff is THE BEST! Obatzda is of Bavarian origin and is made up of two parts soft cheese (we used Brie) and one part butter. Its then seasoned with some some salt, pepper, onions, paprika and beer! I couldn't even get a picture of it, it disappeared that fast!!! 

Really authentic German vegetables

I looked at our menu for the day and realized we needed some veggies! So I decided to whip together rustic, German inspired veggies! I threw together some potatoes, onions, celery, carrots, rosemary, thyme and chicken broth in a Crockpot and let it hangout all afternoon. With our flavorful mains, this was a good, neutral, hearty side to have.

SPATZLE! I have had Spatzle only a few times in my life and somehow in my crazy head decided it would be a good idea to make it for the first time for a bunch of people! Lucky for me Spatzle isn't that hard to make! I'm planning on doing a Spatzle post soon because its so yummy and fun to eat! But if you can't wait that long, check out one of my favorite Youtube channels, My Drunk Kitchen, who celebrated Oktoberfest recently too! 

Two kinds of homemade Mustard graced our table that night; Spicy Beer Mustard and Sweet Agave Mustard. Yum!

What is Oktoberfest without some BRATWURST!? As the centerpiece of our meal, we boiled our little brats in a pool of onions, chicken broth, water and BEER! We were going to be ambitious and hand make some bratwurst but that...never..happened...Onwards! 

....SAUERKRAUT! Once again, we had plans to make our own but that never happened so we bought it from the store and let it hangout with some sliced apples. Oh! and I would officially like to declare my love for Sauerkraut. 

And to complete the meal; our interpretation of Apple Strudel! I'm pretty sure that so long as it's made with butter, sugar, butter, some kind of pastry dough, more butter and a handful of apples it can be called a Strudel. 

I would have to say that this was one of the best meals I have been apart of in a long time, not because my tummy was full or because I got to spend the entire day in the kitchen but because I was surrounded by some of my favorite people. I love Oktoberfest!

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia

We're Going On An Adventure!

Grab your safari gear guys, we're going on a hunt! A wild yeast hunt!!!!

My friend Robert Alan invited me to go wild yeast hunting with me the other day and of course I couldn't say no! Robert Alan works at local brewery and is fortunate to be given the task of hunting for yeast! Many breweries use yeast as a flavor component where as others simply use yeast as a fermenting agent, relying on their hops and wort as the major flavor agent. Our job for this adventure was to locate a wild yeast, local to this area that will highlight the terroir of the area. (Terroir or terre is french for "land." Essentially, it is a group of characteristics of a native area that impart a distinct attribute on local agricultural products). This yeast will hopefully be used for beer!
Yeast is a unicellular organism that changes carbohydrates like sugar into carbon dioxide (bubbles) and alcohol. Beer is just that, bubbly alcohol! Perfect! Let's get on with this adventure..
Being in the San Luis Obispo we are right in the heart of the Central Coast's wine region. After stopping at the brewery in Paso Robles for some yeast hunting gear (portable flame torch, sterilized wet swabs, and gloves) we headed west! Robert Alan has a family friend, a singer-song writer, who owns Poalillio Vineyards and welcomed us onto his estate so we could hunt some yeast! This was our view for the afternoon....

Real rough life....

After taking in the beautiful Paso Robles country side we trekked into the wilderness to gather the yeast....

Real rough conditions....

After randomly scientifically selecting the right sample vine, it was time for business

Using sterilized swabs in broth we were great scientists and made sure to follow protocol in the field. First we started with flaming the mouth of the tube (with gloves on!) in order to reduce cross contamination from the air and from us. 

After flaming, we got right into the thick of things, literally...

We decided to harvest yeast from the skins of the grape as well as the grape vine stem. Yeast, as I was told, grows naturally in the microflora of grapes. Who knew!? Well, I mean, can't you just see it all over them!?

After repeating this a few times (Repetition is the science behind statistically reputable data!) we headed back to the lab in order to plate our samples. 

Using a Schwarz Differential Agar plate and accurate precision, Robert Alan plated four samples of our harvested wild yeast.

After plating and carefully labeling our samples, we let them hang out in the cozy incubator and then we waited....

Update! Three days after our wild yeast hunt there was growth on the plates! (And I'm proud to say that the sample I harvested was one of the two that was showing growth. Yay!) Now we just have to hope that it a usable growth and not a bacteria-mold-yeast-fuzz cocktail growing on agar! *Fingers crossed!*

Update! Four days later....Robert Alan and the lab found usable yeast colonies! 

Update! Five days later.... The usable yeast was mixed with wort (unfermented beer). And now the lab just has to wait for a lower degrees Brix and a lower pH (Brix measures the amount of sugar solids in a solution. So a lower Brix means that there are less sugars in the wort which means the yeasts are eating them! And that's a good thing. Remember when I said that yeast breaks down sugars and make by-products? Some by-products like carbon dioxide lower the pH. So a lower pH could also signify that the wort is being eaten by the yeast! Yay!)

I'll keep everyone updated on the wild yeast hunt! But look! We actually did some real science stuff! Woopie!

So until next time

Stay tuned! Stay hungry!

-Taryn Julia