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)

Today Mat asked us “What are Meatloafing’s tips to fight the recession?” His own tips included bringing lunch to work, composting, and gardening. We couldn’t agree more.

Our answer? Pickling: a simple luxury that’s cheap, low-stress, and extremely fulfilling. And lately we’ve really been into the kind of cooking where you just throw some stuff into a jar and let it sit for a couple weeks. Inspired by Yossi—who recently pickled some beets!—as well as the recipes in Arthur Schwartz’s Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited, we finally picked (heh) up some green beans and made these deliciously snappy pods. Yep, it’s true: pickling is the new plaid.

Filling the jars with brine:

Pickling from Mollie Lauffer on Vimeo.

Continue reading for photos and recipe!

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Last weekend marked the unofficial (but basically official—get real) start of summer. We enjoyed a BBQ, a cutthroat game of Apples to Apples, a leisurely bike ride to Rikers Island, and beautiful weather. Meatloafing offers 7 tips for a sensational summer:

• Work on this season’s “it” muscle (according to Maggie, it’s the semitendinosus, the semimembranosus, and the biceps femoris, all of which make up what’s commonly known as the hamstring)
• Bike often and wear a helmet
• Don’t wear leggings as pants
• Make sun tea in your office windowsill if you cannot actually go outdoors
• Mollie’s Famous Lemonade
• Constantly over-meat
• Enjoy this timeless, yet often overlooked vegetable: Radishes!

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Continue for a vaguely NSFW video of good friend Pete “holding” an explosive at the BBQ (more…)

‘Tis the season to relax and possibly hermit a little. But we also enjoy getting out of the house sometimes. Hopefully you’ll find inspiration in some of these 10 simple suggestions.
Compiled by Barrie, Mollie, and Todd

1. Ice skating ♥

2. Marvel at the Grand Central kaleidoscope light show

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The Pond at Bryant Park opens a week from this Friday. Last year was great fun. I went twice: once after my company’s holiday party when I was drunk, and another time I don’t remember. This year, we’re celebrating opening day—and also the fact that since it’s still October, we can skate without being blanketed in down, wool, Gore-Tex®, and so on. Come out and wear your best tube top.

What: Meatloafing on Ice
Who: You!
Where: The Pond at Bryant Park (entrance near 41st between 5th & 6th)
When: Friday, October 26th at 5:30 or 6 p.m. (or something)

Please RSVP in the comments!

PLUS: A nice little video I made of people skating in Central Park. You can see The Gates in the background! (more…)