DIY BARISTA STAND

This fall I had the opportunity to build a barista stand for a collegue at work. It was a new experience for me because I have never built something this before. In reality it wasn't that complex but just time consuming. And because I was building it for someone, there were times when there was a lot of thinking and planning and very little building involved. For this project I was also very particular with the color patterns of the wood so it took some time to find the right pieces. But as soon as I found the right colors, it made for an exciting building process.

After the sketching was done and the length and width determined, all of the wood for the frame was cut to length. I used a different technique for this table because I didn't want to compromise the "face" wood. I glued and nailed a second piece which was also the piece used to secure the frame. This meant that there was a bit less routering. Although I was very excited to use the new router that I purchased for this project. 

The next step was gluing and screwing the whole frame together. This by far was the most tedious part as well as the most exciting. I was a bit nervous with how well the wood alignment would turn out because none of the pallet wood is perfectly straight. It turned out well at the end. A great technique that I learned from a friend was to pour some wood glue into the screw holes.

The front frame looked promising and a relief at the same time. The most important part of the table. 

I then put together the back frame. To temporarily secure the front and back I braid nailed the top and bottom side pieces. Later after the side pieces were screwed in,  the nails were easily removed with pliers. 

I also added some support beams down the middle, especially the bottom shelf where there would be storage. Then I did the back wall of the storage cabinets, followed by the bottom shelf. 

Then the middle shelf was installed. It was nice to have the center beam to secure the boards well. 

There are many options when it comes to designing the doors. I really wanted it to maintain a square shape without any fancy look and match the colors of the stand. Then at the store it was difficult to find the best fitting handle and hinge. It was nice to get a second opinion from a sales person at the store. 

The installation process of the hinges and handles was straight forward. 

I considered placing granite or marble for the top, however it was pricey option that would have also required changing out the casters to a larger size to accommodate the heavier top. So the final decision was to make the top wooden and place a glass on top. 

YUMMY FALL APPLESAUCE!

Before sitting down to write this post, I had to enjoy a few tablespoons of our homemade applesauce. Truthfully it was eaten a lot quicker than I had expected. We have eaten over 5 pints so far with a few more to go.

It all started earlier this summer when Lesya and I decided to make some jam from gooseberries and later blueberries. Both turned out really well. The more labor intensive one so far has been the blueberries because we decided not to add any pectin into our recipe to make it as natural as possible. In order to do that, more juice has to be extracted or squeezed out of the blueberries after sugar was added. So that required getting sticky and blueberry stained as the blueberries were allowed to drain through cheesecloth. However all of the hard work paid off because we had some of the best gooseberry and blueberry jams. 

So as fall came around, I decided to make some applesauce since our kids really enjoy eating it. After looking at a couple recipes online, I quickly realized how simple the process was and it didn't require that much time. I also came across a chart that graded many different types of apples and if they are good for sauce. Obviously one could use any kind of apple, but it was nice to get the opinion of someone who may have done this before. Therefore, since we live only 7 minutes from Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, I decided to make sauce with 2 different apple combos: Gala & Jonagold and Gala & Fuji. 

Our first trip to the orchard was in early October and we picked Gala's for sauce and Honeycrisp for eating. I learned that the farms in Syracuse and the surrounding areas had a 100% crop, which rarely happens, and therefore it meant there would be plenty of great apples to choose. We were able to pick all the apples we wanted in about 30 minutes, with plenty of time to savor them and just hang out in the orchard. 

Gala apples

The tree branches were straining and bending due to the quantity of apples on them. As soon as you picked one apple, another apple or two drop to the ground just from a gently touch. We found the ground around the trees covered in slightly bruised apples.

Gala and Honeycrisp

When picking the Honeycrisp, I searched for palm size apples because it would be really difficult for our kids to finish a larger apple. Adrian had at least one apple completely eaten by the time we finished. 

Adrian picked up the fallen apples under the trees into his own bag

waiting for the tractor to pick us up

The applesauce recipe that caught my attention can also be found by CLICKING HERE.

I made 3 different types of applesauce by just varying the amount of cinnamon. I will make a side note to all of the changes that I made to the recipe from the website. 

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lbs of apples (about 7 to 10 apples, depending on the size)
• 4 strips of lemon peel (use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths, zest only, not the pith)
• 3 to 4 Tbsp lemon juice (more or less to taste)
• 3 inches of cinnamon stick (used ground powder)
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar (used light brown for 2 batches)
• Up to 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method

1 Place the peeled, cored, and quartered apples into a large pot. Add the strips of lemon peel, the lemon juice, cinnamon stick, sugars, water and salt. (You might want to start with half the sugar at this point and add more to taste later.) Bring to a boil on high heat, then lower the temperature, cover the pot, and maintain a low simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the apples are completely tender and cooked through.

2 Once the apples are cooked through, remove the pot from the heat. Remove the lemon peels and the cinnamon stick. Use a potato masher to mash the cooked apples in the pot to make a chunky applesauce. For a smoother applesauce you can either run the cooked apples through a food mill, or purée them in a blender. (If you use a blender, do small batches and do not fill the blender bowl more than halfway.)

Add more sugar to taste. If too sweet, add more lemon juice.

Alexis didn't get a chance to go apple picking with us this year, but she really wanted to help. So she helped pour the ingredients into the pot. 

There were a couple things that I did differently in regards to the ingredients. At the time I didn't have dark brown sugar nor cinnamon sticks so I substituted with light brown sugar and one tablespoon of ground cinnamon. The first time around I used the exact amount of water for the Gala and Jonagold sauce. In the second batch I added a little more because I had almost doubled the amount of apples but what I didn't realize was that the Fuji apples were a lot more juicier. Halfway through the cooking process I had half a pot of juice. At the end I removed about 2 cups of juice so that the sauce wouldn't be as runny. 

In the second batch I only added half a tablespoon of cinnamon. And in the last batch I didn't add any at all which made a tarty, natural apple tasting sauce. The last one was Lesya's and my favorite. 

Fishing out the lemon peels after all the apples were cooked wasn't exactly easy because the apples were really hot and you had to feel around the whole pot. In the following batch I skipped the lemon peel and added a little more lemon juice instead. 

In the next two batches I also cut up the apples into smaller pieces, dice size, which allowed me to fit more and they didn't have to cook as long. 

I found that the cooking time was a bit longer then indicated above but it may have been because the apples were larger. 

In the following batches the cooking time was a bit shorted and I had the pot filled to the brim. 

After they were cooked through and very soft, I used a handheld blended to create the sauce like consistency. 

Roughly 20 minutes before the sauce was finished I sterilized the glass mason jars at 220 degrees F for 20 minutes. As soon as the sauce was blended I transferred into the jars. I found it easier to deal with hot jars and sauce instead of worrying about putting hot sauce into cold jars. 

Summary

16 lbs of Gala, Fuji, and Jonagold apples

8 x 1.5 pint jars

about 4.5 hrs total spent peeling, coring, cutting and cooking

Best results were personal satisfaction, happy kids, and of course the most important of all, happy wife!