Ground Control to Major Mom

I recently tried kombucha for the first time and it wasn’t bad! However, at $2-3 per 16 oz. bottle, it wasn’t exactly something I’d buy to keep on hand all the time.

Note I didn’t say “I think it’s the most delicious thing ever!” It wasn’t bad.

I’ve been trying to cut back on drinking diet soda, and these days I only have it when I’m getting a “combo” of some sort at a restaurant and they hand me a drink cup for the soda fountain.

Kombucha is an interesting hybrid: slightly carbonated, and slightly sweetened, thanks to the fermentation process required to make it. I’m not going to explain the whole thing here, but feel free to read more about it.

This made a good alternative to soda. I’m not going to speak to whether this beverage is going to save my life, cure cancer, or whatever. I’m just looking for something relatively low calorie to enjoy. Since the fermentation “eats” most of the sugar in the sweet tea, you’re left with something more tangy, but still very tasty with very few calories. I’ll take it!

For the cost of two bottles of kombucha from Whole Foods, I got what I needed to make my own at home.

The fuzzy white thing in that bag is the SCOBY, which stands for “symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast”. I ordered this one through Amazon for about $6. The liquid it’s suspended in is raw kombucha and is critical for a good start to your own fermentation.

I had this other stuff on hand: a 1/2 gallon jar, coffee filter for the top, 5 tea bags (I used Twinings Earl Grey, since it’s what I had on hand), and sugar.

I brewed the tea at a concentration of 5 tea bags per 4 cups of water. I then mixed in a cup of sugar, stirring it to dissolve the crystals. I then added it to the jar with enough ice to mostly fill the jar. This cools the tea enough such that you can add the SCOBY and raw kombucha that it came in without killing the bacteria or yeast.

Use a coffee filter, tea towel, or some other porous covering to allow gases to escape.

The SCOBY is floating on top here, but within a few minutes it sank to the bottom.

Fast forward one week…the original SCOBY is still at the bottom, but this new one formed on top. So there are now two in this jar.

In one week this kombucha is ready to enjoy…you can allow it to continue to sit at room temperature and it will continue to ferment, or you can pour off the tea and allow the SCOBY to sit at room temperature in a cool dark place until you need to use it again. I’m letting mine continue to ferment for now.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun read for those who crave the nostalgia of the original Harry Potter novels. But don’t expect much more than that in terms of significant creativity or mind-blowing plot twists.

This isn’t a novel. It’s a screenplay that’s been published in book-form. Open up the book and you will find that settings are succinctly spelled out, there are stage instructions, and each character is listed with his/her dialogue. No back stories, no exposition, no clever punny geography lessons.

Because this is a screen play, you’ll hear that the reviews of the West End production are fantastic. You’ll read about how death-eaters will emerge from the aisles and audience, for example. I’m sure those visuals will be wonderful to experience in person.

As for the story itself, there’s a lot of back-and-forth in time and settings, and really, only those who are familiar with the original 7 novels are going to truly understand and appreciate what’s going on. For example, there will be mention of the Triwizard Tournament from the mid-1990s, and numerous scenes (due to time travel) where the Beauxbatons Academy female students’ cheers are half-hearted compared to those from Durmstrang’s. I feel that only those who have read Goblet of Fire will fully understand the irony and humor of those scenes.

The relationship that Harry has with his middle son Albus is worth exploring more deeply, but as a screenplay this will be difficult. You will only know what the stage directions and dialogue tell you, compared to how a novelization might present the story: filled with glimpses into Harry’s and
Albus’s inner conflicts about whether their relationship has a future or not.

However, if you take a step back and just enjoy the story, this is a fun, fast summer read. I read it in 5 days, my sons will probably read it in 1-2 weeks each.

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