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Proper culture for soy yoghourt

monocultured — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:35:18 -0800

Trying to make my own vegan soy yoghourt from scratch, I ended up with an uncultured mess. Please advise on proper microbial use, or improvements upon whatever else it was that I mucked up. I have a 1 litre yoghourt machine which plays a tinny "Macarena" when the 5-11 hour timer runs out, although I'm not certain of how exact the timer is. It does seem to keep the temperature constant at above room temperature though.

I made 2 litres soy milk — this I've done before since I occasionally make my own tofu — and let it cool. Mixed one litre into the machine with one sachet of the stuff in this picture and let it sit. After ten hours there was a 1cm gelatinous strata on top of the stuff, but below it was mostly curdled, like what you might expect if you mix soy milk with hot drinks.

The images below are after 24 hours. There's a slight tangy taste to the liquid, but it's nowhere near yoghourt levels of awesome, nor is there any texture except the grain you see. Looks like seperation, not a healthy process.

Texture 1 & 2
Separation 1 & 2

Possible stuff that has gone wrong:

1) Wrong kind of bacteria (intended for dairy?)
2) Contamination in the bucket (didn't wash it with boiling water)
3) Soy milk too watery or too thick

I'm in Sweden, so there's scant competition among the makers of soy products and I haven't found any starter kits to buy. The Alpro soy yoghourts are excellent, but I've read that they don't contain "live culture" so won't work as starters. Their yoghourt is what I ideally would end up with, so have that in mind, not the more gelatinous products out there.

What to use and where to get it would be appreciated — European stuff preferably — as well as any primers on the noble art of ennobleling the bean of soy by means of bacterium.

I need to dress for success, but in the office not at the bar

stormygrey — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:02:06 -0800

Can you help me get dressed? First off, I am sorry for another one of these questions. I usually dress myself fine, but my new office is a little more formal and well, I got a little talking to.

We dress buiness casual for the most part, however, my job puts me in the public eye occasionally. I have a bigger chest and more importantly they sit relatively high on my chest so many v-neck or scoop tops look a bit more revealing on me than other people. In addition I have an ass, so sue me. That means I have to wear skirts that brush my knees at least, or once again, I look a little young and immodest. Oh yeah, and I have tatoos, so I have to wear either a longer short sleeve or a 3/4 sleeve top at all time.

So this is hard because I am pretty hip and fun and have never thought much of showing a little leg. I literally wear the same thing to the office as I wear to the bar. I almost always wear a knit top and a kneelength a-line skirt, I mean 7 days a week. I am 5'8 and wear a 10/12, but hoping to be an 8/10 soon enough.

I love dresses and skirts and "girly" details like lace and bows, a genteel victorian look is pretty much up my ally, but as long as my boss doesn't think my boobs are hanging out, pretty much anything would be ok.

I am looking for a place where I could get maybe 3 dresses, 3 skirts, some pretty sweater tops, some cardigans, and then layering tops and be done with the whole thing. ( I don't wear pants, but I am willing to try them).

What to wear in court?

LadyBonita — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 08:12:58 -0800

How do I dress for court? I'll be a factual witness against the defendent, and may or may not be asked to answer questions, dependent on how everything goes - if I testify, my input is extremely important to the case. It's important that I appear (in both manner & dress) as respectful, calm, matter-of-fact (casually confident), honest, ladylike, etc. I am all those things, but... The hearing is before an older male judge (age 50-60) in a small court serving a small rural county. I'm a woman in my early 40's, I rarely 'dress up' and I've never been into fashion - I'm 5'7" and still have what I call my 'mommy' figure, a few pounds overweight, nursing breasts, wider hips & a little belly.

I'm unsure if I should wear a skirt/dress, or not. And I have no clue what style or how to accessorize, which shoes, etc. I'm very nervous about my role in this hearing (I've never even been inside a courtroom & this is way outside my daily life as 'mom'). I know that if I feel confident and comfortable in my clothing, then I'll feel better about the whole thing.

To make it more complicated, the nearest 'nice' shopping I can get to this week is JC Penny's. Any help for me? Thank you.