Now that you’ve gathered ingredients and supplies, it’s time to start brewing! Ingredients and supplies are listed in Part One of the EZ Kombucha Guide.

Part Two: Fermentation

1. Put your SCOBY aside in a glass bowl. I use a Pyrex measuring cup. Keep it in the fridge until it’s ready to use. No need to cover it unless you’ll be storing for more than the time it takes to cool the boiling water (Step 2) and/or your fridge really smells.
2. Boil 3 1/2 quarts of water in a large pot. I actually have a 1.8-quart Le Creuset tea kettle (right), so I just use two kettlefuls of tap water, which makes for easy pouring later. Distilled water is recommended by some folks, but if your tap water is good, then that’s fine. It’s wasteful to buy bottled water unless necessary. If you have a home filtration system like Brita, then of course use that.
3. Let the water cool until it’s not scorchingly hot, and then pour into the glass jar. Careful! I actually pour the boiling water right into the jar so I can start boiling another kettleful, and I haven’t had any problems at all, but Meatloafing readers may want to use more caution. Fill the jar to the point where it starts to get smaller, near the lid.
4. Add 5-6 tea bags* and let steep for 5-8 minutes (5 if the water’s boiling, 8 if it’s really hot but not boiling). Discard tea. Continue for photos!

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As many readers of this site know, we’ve been homebrewing kombucha for over a year now. After enjoying GT’s kombucha a few times, we quickly realized it made more sense to brew our own; GT’s costs roughly $4.50 per 16-oz bottle, and a gallon of homemade kombucha can be produced for mere pennies—water, sugar and a few tea bags are the only ingredients. Homebrew also tastes better! We’ve always been self-taught in the kitchen, but due to the weirdness of the beverage, we decided to take a kombucha class from good friends The Brooklyn Kitchen. The class was really helpful, but we’ve fine-tuned our recipe and process a bit since then. This EZ Guide will help you make the most delicious, refreshing and fizzy kombucha. If you need more detailed instruction or want to learn about the history of the beverage, there’s plenty of info out there (warning: the Wikipedia entry is pretty gross). This guide is suited for people who are comfortable in the kitchen and can follow simple, clear directions from the Meatloafing perspective.

Part One: Supplies

You will need:

• One-gallon pickle jar (and lid) from your local deli or bodega. Wash it out with soap and water and then give it a vinegar rinse to remove soap residue (pour white vinegar and a little water in the jar, swish it around, and dump out.).
• Regular white sugar. Buy Krasdale or Key Food brand. It doesn’t matter.
• Organic black, green, oolong, or white tea bags. I use the Whole Foods brand of green and black and also another brand of organic white tea. You can also obviously use loose tea, which I may try when the tea bags run out, but the bags keep the process simpler. Don’t use Earl Grey, herbal, or anything else that’s not real tea (Camellia sinensis). Just don’t.
• SCOBY* (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. the pancake-y blob, aka starter, mother, etc.). LMK if you want one. You can also make your own (will explain later, or just Google it).
• Starter tea. One cup of finished kombucha for each gallon you’ll make. If you get a scoby from me, starter will be included.
• Unbleached coffee filters or a small piece of clean, breathable cloth (like linen)
• Rubber band

*Tip: The SCOBY will keep for several weeks (or more, probably) if refrigerated. Just put it in the jar with the starter liquid (use extra if you’ll be storing for awhile, because the SCOBY will start to absorb the liquid and you don’t want it to dry out) and cover with lid.

Next up: Part Two: Fermentation! (coming soon)

Hello friends! We haven’t been Meatloafing much—or meating, for that matter (Except for burgers. We always need burgers.). It’s hot out, so that means we’ve been jumping off cliffs, riding the Cyclone with best friends, riding bikes, homebrewing kombucha (the ancient Asian wonder drink [note: future Meatloafing post about this]), and sprouting. Hippies. Summer! We love it.

Summer Fitness: Guide to Arms

Today we will focus on the core and upper body. Pushups and situps are classic. When done properly, you will strengthen your abs, arms, shoulders, and back—all while watching tv or hanging out in the park! Here is a video demo of Meatloafing-style pushups. Please note that in this video, my form is perfect, but my execution could use some work.

Here, a frank exchange between two friends about bedding. Commenters, please add your thoughts about memory foam.

WARNING: light adult content

PATTY: where can i find a decent mattress pad
RON: what’s your idea of decent
k-mart or bb&b really
PATTY: bbb is expensive isn’t it?
i thought c21 would have some but theirs sucked
RON: do you want memory foam?
i would try overstock.com for memory foam
brad pitt swears by it
a standard firm mattress topped with 3″ of memory foam
it’s the pitt-rest
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• The Brooklyn Kitchen First Birthday Party & Bodega Challenge is TONIGHT!
• Especially relevant to me: Curing Insomnia Without the Pills [nytimes]
• Adrian Grenier: Hot or Not?* The Entourage cast held a book signing yesterday and there were like 20 people standing in (on) line, as compared to more like 200 for The Sopranos book signing. I love the show but am simply having difficulty categorizing him as hot or not. Thoughts?

*As Adrian Grenier (the actual person), not as Vincent Chase (who is obviously hot)

It’s that time of the year again. As the temperature drops, we suggest 10 ways to boost your mood* and stay healthy throughout those troublesome winter months. Act now—before you’re too depressed to do anything about it.

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Combining the slightly sweet sauce of the Chicken Tikka Masala with the sugar-glazed goodness of the Popem, the ChickNut brings East and West together, resulting in previously uncharted flavor combinations. You might think it’s crazy but that’s only because you haven’t tried it yet. Just another day in the Meatloafing kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 piece of Chicken Tikka Masala from the Indian food cart on the southwest corner of 46th St. and 6th Ave.
• 1 Entenmann’s Glazed Popem

Directions

1. Insert clean index finger into Popem, creating a hole large enough for the piece of chicken.
2. Insert chicken into hole.
3. Enjoy.

Note: This recipe can also be made with meats other than chicken. BeefNuts, PorkNuts, and GoatNuts are not unheard of. Feel free to experiment and don’t forget to share your favorite Meat + Donut combinations in the comments section of the post!