the disgusted observer

hot shots

2010-05-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Back in the cold months of January I could think of nothing more than warming up. This coupled with my new found love of a local spice shop led me to make a bottle of chili-infused vodka. My ultimate goal was to let it infuse for one year and give small bottles of it away for x-mas, paired with a kick-ass bloody mary recipe. Last night we just couldn’t wait any longer and broke into it early. I poured a round of shots for a few friends. As soon as the alcohol passed our lips there was a quick moment of anticipation as we all experienced nothing but the taste of vodka. Then the heat happened. It became more and more intense until the whole group had tears in their eyes. It was a nice lingering heat that wasn’t over the top (I’m kind of a wuss about spicy things). It was pretty fun, but I couldn’t convince any one to have another, haha.

(adding the red pepper flakes and shaking the bottle)

To make the infused vodka, I took a 750ml bottle of 80 proof (though 100 proof would definitely be better for this purpose) medium quality vodka (because I’m cheap and this was kind of an experiment). I’m pretty sure you can use any other higher proof booze in place of vodka for this such as bourbon, etc. I poured out about a 1/3 to ½ cup and filled the bottle with that much crushed red chili flakes. I replaced the cap and shook it up a bit, then let it settle for a couple hours. By then the trapped air bubbles will have worked their way out and you can fill the rest of the bottle with vodka to the top. I kept it in a dark place (my pantry) and shook it up a couple times a week.

(the chili flakes settle in the bottle)

The end product is a beautiful orangie-red color and smells faintly of chilis, but gives no hint of the heat til you drink it. I want to try this again wih a different type of hot pepper, something that might lend more flavor in place of ass-kicking heat.

the first harvests of the year

2010-04-17T09:54:00.001-07:00

Things are starting to turn green! Yaay! After two weeks the seeds I planted in the backyard have sprouted to reveal (somewhat unstraight) rows of organic mesclun lettuce, English breakfast radish and peas. The organic carrot seeds haven’t shown a sign of growing and I’m beginning to get concerned. I’ve never attempted to grow carrots before, so maybe they are picky about where they want to grow? I’ve tried yelling at them AND asking nicely but so far no dice.

My tiny garden is about 5ft x 7 ft. So far we’ve worked on roto-tilling it, removing the ridiculous number of rocks, putting a brick border around the edge, and planting seeds. By far, thinning out the seedlings has to be one of the hardest things for me to do. I can’t kill my babies!! But in order for the majority of the plants to prosper, I have to thin them out so they don't become over-crowded. Fortunately radish seedlings are edible and yummy.

"Micro greens" is the fancy term for tiny seedlings of radish greens (and lots of other vegetables). They are a dainty but tasty addition to salads. I enjoyed the thinned out radish micro greens in a vegan bbq pulled pork style sammich.

Harvest number two: Portobellos! The mushrooms in my kit grew surprisingly fast. I picked 3 big ones the other day. The biggest one had a cap 4.75 inches across! A second group of several more mushrooms are on their way, though I think they will be smaller in size. The kits are about $30-40 and totally worth it, both from the amount and quality of organic mushrooms, and because its really fun for dorks like myself to watch them grow.

cool!

it's so beautiful outside

2010-04-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

...that I think I'll stay inside and blog about it.

Actually just got back from a beautiful walk around the river feeling much like a caged animal being released form the first time in months. It smells like spring outside. I love it.

the anticipation might kill me.

2010-03-08T07:18:00.000-08:00

We have experienced a beautiful couple of days this weekend and now I am so anxious for the arrival of spring I can hardly stand it. What can I do to pass the hours and make the long wait more bearable? Garden planning! (this is what excites me, oh well). I have already acquired some organic seed for my tiny garden and have started a few of them indoors.

Even more exciting than that is my mushroom project. I read an article on growing your own mushrooms in a copy of Mother Earth News' Organic Gardening Guide (which is a great resource on gardening info for beginners by the way). It really interested me, so I checked out a bunch of companies that sold kits. I ended up ordering a portobello kit. The first ones just started popping up! So cute!

baby mushrooms!!!

bottlecap magnets

2010-01-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

Bottlecaps. They are just so perfectly magnet-sized. I had been thinking about doing this for a while but had hesitated because, well, it's just so damn simple. I almost felt like it was a craft more suited to first graders. Screw it, the finished product is cute and I am not too good for any craft! Pipecleaners still have a million uses and googlie eyes on anything still make me chuckle.

I filled the bottlecaps about halfway full with hot glue, let that set and then stuck the magnets on. I wanted to make sure the magnet was sticking out enough to make contact with the fridge for maximum holding power. I bought the thickest magnets I could find but they still don't stick that great. Ideally I would like to find some industrial bottlecap sized magnets that could stick an entire novel to the fridge, but the ones at the craft store will do for now. You can use classy obscure microbrew caps to impress your friends with your fine taste!! No one will be bringing PBRs to your house any time soon!

it is January

2010-01-10T13:42:00.000-08:00

Sooo cold outside. I wish to remain curled up in the fetal position under many layers of blankets until the sun shines and the earth is warm again. No such luck though. At least I can keep the house toasty by baking things in the oven all day.

Baked a couple big braided honey wheat loaves for the house and a few baby loaves for my neighbor, mother-in-law, and a friend. Share the wealth..... and if you have no wealth, bake something and give that away instead.

Yum yum yum.

fused plastic

2010-01-02T05:58:00.000-08:00

I am in love!! It's a very simple technique in which you melt layers of plastic bags together to form a thick kind of plastic cloth that is sewable. I first heard of it on x-mas eve, when I recieved a hand-made wallet from a friend made from fused plastic. Every wallet was unique in that it was crafted from only one type of plastic shopping bag. Mine was from Market Basket.

It was such a cool gift. I was so excited to find an article about it in GreenCraft magazine the next day (I love when that happens). I decided to try it out for myself and made a change purse. Fusing the plastic together is really easy. I heated up my clothes iron to the wool setting while cutting the plastic grocery bags into roughly the same flat square-ish shape. I layered three of these in between two sheets of parchment paper (not waxed paper... the wax melts) on my kitchen table. I slowly ironed over the layers. The resulting product feels like a weird plastic paper. I felt like it wasn't thick enough and added on a couple more layers. Being x-mas time still, I have candy wrappers of all sorts laying around. I tried to incorporate the plastic mesh (that chocolate gold coins come in) by laying it flat between plastic layers before ironing. It looked pretty cool, almost like snake skin. I cut out some zebra stripes from light red plastic and sandwiched those in there too (though with the tiny-ness of my project it was hard to see the pattern really). I feel like the possibilities for this kind of project are endless.

Sewing the change purse was easy. I did it by hand since I am a cave man and can't work a sewing machine. Since the "cloth" is plastic, I didn't reinforce the button hole because it won't fray. I used a sweet skull button I had kickin' around originally from a children's stretchy bracelet. I have no idea how durable this will be, but my friend, the crafter of the plastic bag wallets assured me they would last for around 7-8 months or so. We shall see if my cute lil' change purse can survive the harsh wilderness of my purses, tote bags and jacket pockets.

I love that there is a crafty thing I can do with plastic shopping bags. I always hated seeing them get thrown away. Plus, crafting materials don't get any cheaper than free.

gingerbread dolls

2009-12-19T12:36:00.001-08:00

I know I shouldn't be posting x-mas gifts on here yet in case anyone I know reads this thing, but I can't help it! These are super cute and I want to give them away right now (though they aren't even dry yet, hehe). I had found some cutters meant for fondant I had in the shape of people and clothes the other day and thought "gingerbread paper dolls!!". Though I think they might look cuter with tabs like real paper dolls have, I didn't have the patience to cut them out by hand. The dolls are 3 inches tall and were made to resemble the recipient (who changes hair color often - hence the two different looks). The details on the dolls represent tattoos.

This recipe is very molasses-ie. I found it in my recipe archives, I have no idea where it came from. I used leftovers of the dough (this recipe makes a lot) to make tart shells for cranberry mousse. Way yummy.

Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

½ cup vegetable shortening
½ cup packed brown sugar
3 ¼ c sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
¾ tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
¾ c molasses
¼ c water

Cream the shortening and sugar, add water and molasses and mix. Sift dry ingredients. Blend dry ingredients with wet. Form dough into a ball and chill at least one hour.

Oven 350 degrees. Roll dough to ¼ inch thick and bake on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake til cookie just barely springs back when touched, don't wait til the edges brown or they will be over-baked. Wait til cooled and decorate with icing.

For icing take sifted confectioner's sugar and add a little bit of water at a time til it is a consistency that is easy to work with. I use parchment paper triangle bags to decorate with to make the teeny tiny details.

This project was a good remedy for the aggravations of the day.

fire up the glue gun!!!!

2009-12-01T06:18:00.000-08:00

As the temperatures drop and the seasons change, the call of the garden fades. In its place: the call of the craft stores. But I shall not give in so easily this year. I am attempting to use mostly things I already have for crafting during this most hellish season of holidays. Buying loads of craft project supplies in an over-crowded craft store blaring x-mas music defeats the purpose of making hand-made gifts to me.

I made some gift tags the other day for cookies and other gifts I plan on making. Each one has a front and a back. I utilized rubber stamps and ink I bought a couple years ago (to make x-mas cards), a fancy paper punch (on the heart shaped tag, leftover from making our wedding invitations) and a bunch of scrap plain and patterned cardstock. The dark green tags with the bronze stamped pinecone is my favorite!

its that thyme again

2009-11-16T06:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I really can't help myself when it comes to puns sometimes. So as much as I hate to admit it, harvest season is over. Over over. I held on and tried to stay in my cozy denial as long as I could, but winter is on its way. Sadness. When I saw the frost on my car windshield a couple weeks ago I knew what had to be done. I picked everything I could from my herb plants and brought them inside. The longer stems are rinsed, patted dry and tied in small bunches to dry in the pantry (out of the sunlight and heat). The smaller stems go directly in a baggie in the fridge, where they will stay fresh for recipes. Parsley stays good for a surprisingly long time in the fridge, as long as I keep an eye on it and take out any stems that might start to go bad before they ruin the whole bunch.

thyme hung in bunches to dry (top), rinsed oregano (above), fresh sage (below)

On a completely seperate note, I'm finding it harder to have time for blog posting. I don't mean this as if I were thinking about the end of this blog, rather as a happy exclamation of my amazement that I have been occupying my time with things other than staring at the computer screen. What an accomplishment! Yaaay! This fall has been amazing. Sometimes you have to just take a look around and appreciate what's going on. The bad times are often spent daydreaming of better times to come. When they do come, recognize it and bask in them. Oh, and take lots of pictures.

fall collage - Motorhead live, demolition derby, Topsfield Fair, Halloween fun, and walks in the park

ultimate SoWa fun

2009-10-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

What kind of event features hand made crafts of all types, a farmer's market with fresh produce, farm products and baked goodies, a antiques market featuring vintage clothes, jewelry and collectible whatnots....and zombies? Yes, zombies. Only in daydreams until today. It was the last Sunday of the SoWa open markets, and being near Halloween it was spookily-themed. All of the vendors dressed up and Halloween music blasted over loudspeakers. Fake blood and scary props decorated this etsy come to life. I had wondered if it were possible for this heavenly assembly of ways to spend all of my money to be even more amazing. YES.

open market section with antiques market (brick building on right) in the background

left: typical shoppers, right: produce market

If you live anywhere close to Boston, or hell, the east coast in general, I suggest checking this out next season. It's every Sunday and from what I have experienced there is something new to see each time. www.sowasundays.com.

the produce was fresh, local and far more reasonably priced than the typical farm stand

Highlights of this particular visit to the SoWa markets for me were:

-a beautifully detailed scene carved into a giant pumpkin! (above)
-$1 cups of pumpkin soup with fresh croutons - yum

-Medical prints from Germany circa 1843 of skeletons and arteries found in the antiques market. A really cool find. (below)

-knowing that it will all happen again next year!!

i heart you, SoWa.

the move.

2009-09-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

We moved!! So happy to be someplace new! It has been one full week in our new place...almost finished unpacking the ridiculous amounts of useless material objects we have accumulated over the years.

I am continuously pleasantly surprised with things I like about my new surroundings. We are so much closer to everything now, including my favorite coffee shop (yaaaay!). There is a small farmer's market a mere walking distance from the new apartment. I caught the tail end of it after work the other day. I was so excited to stock the fridge with fresh local veggies. I also happened to spend about a half hour chatting with a bee enthusiast about the bee keeping industry (a topic exciting to weirdos like myself)...

the farmer's market down the street

bunches of sunflowers for sale at the market

The apartment is equipped with a big sunny kitchen with all new appliances and a small pantry. At the first sight of this I fell in love and had to have the place, despite the fact that I hadn't really seen the rest of the place yet. I'm pretty sure I could sleep on the floor of a closet and be content as long as the kitchen was big and beautiful and allll miiine. Plus, not only do I have space in the back for my container garden, it will be joined by plants the previous tenants offered to us while they were moving out. The plants were grown in recycling bins and were a bit neglected, but I still managed to harvest from them. Veggies for free. Good deal.

a variety of hot peppers, eggplants, red onions and cherry tomatoes from the old tenants

mustard: part deux

2009-08-05T16:22:00.001-07:00

I found that my mustard seeds are black mustard seeds due to the fact that they turned… black. Go figure. When the seed coats started to dry out and become hay colored, I assumed they were ready for harvest. The seeds fell out of the pods quite easily. I rubbed the pods lightly to release the seeds, then blew away the papery coats with a breath of air. I'm now letting them dry out a bit more on a sheet pan before I store them.

Black mustard is apparently spicier than yellow mustard, so I’m wondering how to best utilize my small harvest. Perhaps in the making of pickles or for just making a pickling spice blend. I am wondering also how easy it would be to grow mustard from seed next year.

separating mustard seed from the tiny dried pods

spicy black mustard seeds

dude, seriously

2009-07-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

I know that bowl is not comfortable to you. You are only sitting in it because there are important documents in there. This assures me that my hypothesis is correct: wherever there are papers of any significance whatsoever, the cat will lay on them. Maybe to absorb information through osmosis? Further study may be needed…

mystery mustard-ry

2009-07-25T18:09:00.001-07:00

Drum roll if you please… I picked my first tomatoes today!! You cannot imagine the excitement. Three unscathed jewels off of my one lil’ patio tomato plant. I had been trying to not get too pumped about it since I half expected my heart to be broken. It has been raining almost non-stop this season and I figured the tomatoes would rot off of the vine before they got a chance to be ripe. So far so good. The plants I have in containers have ample drainage so they aren’t completely saturated with water all the time. Most of the things I had planted in the earth, however, not so good. There are not one trace of the pea plants left. Curse you, infinite rain clouds.

...more to come. I eagery await...

So I didn’t have the heart to eat all of my mustard greens (even though they were very yummy) and some started to go to seed. Hmm. So I am now wondering if I can harvest the seed and dry it and grind it to make my own condiment. Anyone know about this?? I am aware that there are different types of mustard, but I have no idea what type this is (despite searching through internet pictures, none seem to definitely match up with what I’ve got). The only thing the tag read when I bought it was “mustard”. Can you definitely tell by the color of the seeds?? Can you use any old kind of seeds to make condiments with?? I must find this out.

mustard pods of mystery

pyo peas?

2009-07-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, 'pick your own' is not just for apples anymore. I got to go "veggie hunting", as my husband calls it, the other day during a brief break in the soggy, rainy weeks we have been encountering. This term is apparently used to describe hitting up the farmer's markets and farm stands for local produce. My friend T and I saved a dollar per pound picking our own peas in the field. I de-shelled them in the sun and ate most of them plain. They were so sweet and yummy.

And don’t even tell me I should be growing my own. I currently have 5 sad little snow pea pods hanging off of the few survivors of dozens of over-rained-upon sickly plants. That's just sad when peas don't even have a chance. Heheh, 'give peas a chance'. Seriously though, everything is drowning! This is going to be a crappy season if this rain keeps up.

scramble my brains

2009-06-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

On my top ten all time list of things that most definitely rock my world are tofu scrambles. They have the power to transform a miserable morning with a hangover into the best day ever. Allow me to share this magic with you.

tofu scrambles with home made home fries and toast

breyanne's favorite tofu scrambles:

1 lb of extra firm tofu (the refrigerated kind packed in water)
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 small red pepper, chopped fine
1/2 cup sliced fresh asparagus
1 t chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 t chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
1/8 tsp tumeric
1/4 t salt
1 t soy sauce
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Drain the liquid from the tofu package, rinse the block of tofu and gently press the block in a clean kitchen towel to squeeze out some of the extra water. Set aside. In a large saute pan (I like non-stick for this), heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and add the onion and red pepper. Cook on medium heat until softened (about 5 minutes). Add sliced asparagus, cook 5 more minutes. Crumble the tofu (keeping it somewhat chunky - it will break apart more as you stir it) into the pan and add fresh herbs and seasonings (except soy sauce). Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tofu starts to turn golden brown. Add soy sauce at the end and adjust seasonings if needed.

Variation:
Mexican fiesta tofu scrambles: Substitute the asparagus for 1/2 c of canned black beans (drained and rinsed) and substitute the basil and thyme for 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro. Add 1/8-1/4 t cumin. Serve with salsa.

get cookin'.

This recipe is for Courtney. I hope you make it and love it!

red clover tea

2009-06-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Red Clover tea is the first recipe using foraged ingredients I had ever tried. I first came across it in an issue of Ranger Rick magazine (a children's nature magazine named for a cartoon racoon) when I was a kid. Today I reminisced on those childhood days as I gathered bunches of red clover blossoms from a bulldozed lot which will soon have condos built upon it. The dwellers of the adjacent condos which already have been built watched my husband and I suspiciously as I do so. Down with gated communities! Up with foraging!

white clover (left), red clover (right)

Red clover has been known through history as a women’s herb. It is said to help ease pms, menopause, and aid in fertility problems. These days there are all sorts of women’s supplements which include this herb, though I’m not sure how many studies have confirmed these claims. I don’t see red clover often in herb reference books. I just like making the tea because it is free and tasty.

Red Clover Tea Recipe

2 cups water

3/4 c fresh blossoms

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Take off the heat and add the blossoms. Cover the pan and let steep for 7-10 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth. Add honey or lemon if desired. This tea has a very earthy taste with a slight sweetness.

Variations: add a few sprigs fresh mint or german chamomile flowers in with the brew. Yum.

the harvest!

When picking clover flowers, make sure the clover is growing in a place which is definitely not sprayed with pesticides or is near chemicals (or near busy roadsides). Pick the biggest blooms (ones that haven’t started to brown yet) and inspect them for bugs. Rinse thoroughly in cool water and leave in a colander for a bit before laying them on paper towels in a shady cool spot to dry (this will take a couple weeks). When dry, store them like any other dried herb, in clean glass jars labeled with the contents and date and keep them out of direct sun light. I use them for dried herbal tea blends.

flowers in the window boxes

2009-06-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to pick up a six pack of mustard greens at a farm stand the other day. When the cashier began to ring them up, she looked at me with a concerned look and said "I can't sell you these, they are about to flower. Just take them and eat them tonite". Sure. They were spicy and delish. The plants remaining produced these beautiful white flowers with maroon veins.

Chive flowers. I love 'em. I add them to salads (just rinse them and snip the petals off into a dish. They have a mild chive taste) This past weekend I used them as a pretty and edible garnish for veggie platters.

The survivers of the nasturtium baby disaster have begun to flower. The first bloom garnished this fruit platter for a party, along with leaves from the top of a pineapple. I had never eaten a nasturtium before and was surprised by how spicy they are (not hot pepper spicy... its just that they look so cute and mild. They look like they should taste fruity I guess).

Anyone that comes over is forceably fed flowers now, whether they like it or not, heh. "TRY IT!! It's edible!!"... My friends think I'm a weirdo.

down on the farm

2009-05-26T11:16:00.001-07:00

Well, not really a farm. My mom’s house.

She has a couple dozen laying hens (which are spoiled rotten…and yes, I’m jealous..). They run around digging for bugs and awkwardly lunging for flying insects passing by. They are always tricked by my offers of imaginary food long enough for me to catch one so that I may have a fluffy pal to walk to the garden with (suckers, heh). I get as excited as a small child to collect eggs from the hen house and marvel at the gigantic or tiny ones.

violets

2009-05-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

YAY! The first edible flowers of the year are out and free for the takin’. Violets are in abundance right now in parks and parking lots so I picked a bunch for salads and …hehe.. for making candied violets.

Violet flowers can be eaten raw and make a really pretty addition to salads (especially those with dark greens that compliment the deep purples). Rinse the flowers, gently pat dry and clip the petals off with kitchen shears. I was curious how they would hold up if I wanted to save them for later so I experimented. I put a few (with stems still attached) in a small glass of water, and a second group in a plastic baggie in the fridge. The ones in water wilted and then were promptly eaten by the cat (I wonder if other scientists have to deal with this crap). The fridge group stayed fresh for a week. Success!

As for making candied violets, I asked around for recipes until I decided on using meringue powder (which is essentially dried egg whites and sugar. It can be found at craft stores) instead of the traditional fresh egg whites.

materials needed:
fresh violets, very small paintbrush (one reserved for food purposes), meringue powder, water, small bowl with granulated sugar, and a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

what to do:
Mix a couple tablespoons of water with an equal amount of meringue powder in a small bowl, making sure to get out all the clumps. Handling the flower by the base (where the stem ends and flower begins) carefully paint the meringue mixture onto each petal of the flower, coating both the back and front. Sprinkle the granulated sugar over the flower, making sure you cover every bit of it. Resist the temptation to just dip the flowers in the egg mixture because this will result in an amorphous sugar blob bearing no resemblance to a flower. I speak from experience. Gently place the flowers on a sheet pan with parchment paper. I put the flowers face down so they would stay open when dried, but this makes them kind of flat looking. They should be dried in a couple of days. The finished product is a pretty, sparkly, purple decoration, which should be handled very carefully. I have heard that they keep up to a year, but I will certainly use them up before then.

the sugared flowers layed out to dry

finished product ready to decorate petit fours with

"damping off"

2009-05-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

Since I am mostly self-taught as far as gardening goes, I have a looootttt to learn. This month's lesson: damping off. I started a variety of seeds indoors a few weeks ago to get a head start on the growing season and to save money on buying plants. Suddenly, most of the seedlings desintigrated one day and I noticed what seemed to be a thin film on the soil. I researched this and found the term "damping off". Turns out that a lack of air circulation combined with damp soil is what mold particles in the air need to party hard. And they did.

I re-planted seeds in new soil and sprinkled some cinnamon over the top of the soil (this is recommended because it has anti-fungal properties). I took the clear plastic top off the seedlings whenever possible so the plant nursery could breath. I also utilized the fan in the room to keep air flowing. Sadly, most of the first wave of plants didn't make it, with the exception of parsley, which is apparently unstoppable. As I write this, it is unseasonably warm, so I have moved the whole deal outside and no longer have to worry about the mold issue.

r.i.p. nasturtium babies

its all about the cut and paste

2009-04-22T04:35:00.001-07:00

Made a greeting card out of cut-outs from a seed catalogue for my friend in California. Sometimes the simplest of things can kill the stress of an entire afternoon. Junk mail + glue stick+ scissors = craft fun.

poaching to sacrilege

2009-04-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

Is there a better way to make desserts than by the sweet sounds of metal? I think not.

chai poached pears with strawberry rhubarb sauce

- 2-3 big Bosc pears
- 7 Tb sugar, divided
- 4 Chai tea bags
- 1 large stalk of rhubarb (weighing about 3-4 oz), rough chopped
- 5 cups of water, divided
- 2 cups of frozen whole strawberries, defrosted
- 1 tsp cornstarch

In a small sauce pan put 2 cups of water, chopped rhubarb, and 4 Tbs of sugar. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the rhubarb is falling apart (about 5-7 minutes). Strain rhubarb through a fine mesh strainer, save the juice and discard the rhubarb pulp. Cut pears in half lengthwise, core each half (using a round measuring spoon is best for this task) and slice each half lengthwise into 3-5 pieces depending on the size of your pears. Put these aside.

Brew the tea: Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add the remaining 3 Tbs sugar and the tea bags. Let steep for about 5-7 minutes. Remove tea bags and bring tea to a boil. Carefully add the pears, and lower heat to a simmer. Simmer until soft but still firm (you don’t want pear mush) about 8-10 minutes. Using a blender, puree the strawberries with the rhubarb juice and strain through a fine strainer. Put this mixture in a small sauce pan and gently heat until simmering. Add the tsp of cornstarch to 2 tsp of cold water in a small bowl and add this mixture to the pan. Whisk until thickened, then take off the heat.

Cool both the sauce and poached pears (with its tea) to room temp, then refrigerate til cold. When ready to serve, use a slotted spoon to gently retrieve the pears, plate them with a few spoonfuls of sauce and maybe a sliced strawberry or two.

***note: You may want to add more or less sugar to both the pears and the sauce, I was going for a dessert which wasn't too overly sweet here. Try the recipe with other teas if you don't have chai. Or maybe omit the rhubarb. Go crazy. Feel free to tweak the recipe as needed.

survived the week

2009-04-12T09:25:00.001-07:00

I usually hate Gerber daisies (in my mind they are associated with cheerful, happy people), however, they were on sale at Wholefoods and the pale pinks were so pretty I couldnt resist. I had no extra money for flowers or foliage to accompany them, so I collected some dead twigs outside instead. The combination could be said to reflect the in-between stage of winter and spring where color begins to take over the dead-looking world outside.

seeds

2009-03-23T11:30:00.001-07:00

On my day off I got to shop around for more seeds to start early. I was surprised that there aren’t more organic seeds available in stores this year since I assumed there would be a bigger demand for them. Eh well. I did pick up a couple of packs, but still need to find a place online to get loofah seeds. Ever since I found out what exactly a loofah was (a member of the squash family that magically turns into a shower sponge), I have become obsessed with the idea of attempting to grow it.

pretty organic mesclun lettuce seeds

Lettuce and Nasturtium join the other seeds I started a little while ago. Most of them have germinated, yay! Sadly, I think all the basil (3 varieties) are duds. My mom had given me a multi pack of last season's seeds and I am still hopeful, but bought a new pack of organic basil seed just in case. Speaking of 'just in case', I am growing some insurance (catgrass) to ensure the kitties don't try to hard to get into the tiny greenhouse of herb and veggie seedlings. Packets of catgrass seeds make me giggle because they usually depict a kitten within a pot of grass, as if catgrass literally grows kitties. Only in dreams.

successful decoy: organic catgrass

parsley babies

bad-ass groceries

2009-03-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

I think it’s really great that everyone has jumped on board with the re-usable grocery bags. It’s about damn time!! Personally I have run out of uses for the flimsy paper and plastic types, and they had begun taking over. However, I’ve noticed that the majority of re-usable shopping bags that come from supermarkets and box stores look as if they have been made out of ugly colored dryer-sheet like material. Blech. I went to the craft store, bought a couple of cheap but durable canvas bags ($2-5 each) and had fun making them my own.

painted canvas shopping bag:

step 1: draw out design with pencil by hand or with a stencil

step 2: put cardboard inside bag so you have a flat surface to work with and the paint won't run through the other side

step 3: outline with thin-tipped fabric paint, lie flat to let dry

step 4: fill in design with acrylic paint (most are fine for fabric), lie flat to let dry

step 5: let the compliments on your sweet shopping bag roll in.

You could also try the spraypaint and stencil method. My sister and I made shirts like that once. It was cheap and fun. The shirts were pretty fade-resistant considering they were washed so many times. Use different colors and stencils for a layered affect. (note: This project is best done outside. It's messy and stinky) Another idea is to sew your sweet punk rock patches on canvas shopping bags. I may be getting to old to put back patches on my clothes, but my groceries don't seem to mind. Though I do occasionally get strange looks from cashiers that happen to glance at the impaled skull bag.

dear mother nature,

2009-03-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

I would like to congratulate you on one of your most soul-crushing winters ever. However, there are a few things that you forgot to factor into your equation of sorrow (endless freezing temperatures + a million feet of snow and ice = sadness). One being that I am almost 98% sure that summer will once again come to this region of frigid hell, and two, I bought a five dollar seed starter kit. I no longer need to wait for your okay to begin my gardening fun, hahaha. Don’t get me wrong, I have no intention of visiting the local garden stands and greenhouses to shop for seedlings less than usual this year. This will just be a cheaper alternative for me to get plants that are easily started from seed. Plus I am too damn impatient for to wait for them to open their doors and begin the season this year. The most useful part of the kit is a clear plastic top, which creates a little greenhouse for the seeds, but more importantly, keeps kitties out!!! When I see baby plants begin to pop up I will proudly post their photos. Meanwhile, I have tiny chives and marjoram to tide me over.

That, and a cute little pot of daffodils that were gifted to me a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised to find that once they were done flowering, the dried flowers stayed perfectly preserved instead of rotting off. Pretty!

to be a cake decorator again

2009-02-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I begin a new job and I hope like hell that this one works out. I want to be a cake decorator again!!! I'm pretty sure that it's the only job in the world I could enjoy while being paid a terrible wage. I walked in the interview with my resume and pictures of some cakes that I have done. Apparently that, and the cake that I was directed to decorate as part of the interview process was good enough to get a shot at this place. I'm excited but intimidated because the cake decorators there are amaaazing. I hope I can keep up. Then again, I doubt if any of them has had the experience of making an amoeba cake, heheh.

...wish me luck

cheap plant homes

2009-01-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

Well, free actually. Out of all my house plants, only one resides in an actual pot. The rest are content living in the random dishes, glasses, etc. that I have gotten for free when boxes of things were left on the curb after yard sales. I wouldn't suggest this with all plants, just the ones that don't really need drainage, like the money plant, aloe, and mother-in-law tongue pictured. It is a cute way to get plants to develop roots. Just take a clipping and put it in a teacup of water until it has enough root to plant in soil. Its great for Salvation Army/second hand store junkies like myself who need an excuse to peruse the kitchen goods section.

soo cold...

2009-01-17T12:04:00.000-08:00

Totally hating winter, but making the best of it.

Was very pschyed yesterday to visit a yarn shop that does *gasp* FREE basic knitting classes! That happens to be the perfect price for my budget right now! I vaguely remember how to knit nothing but square shapes from years ago (I once knitted an extra long scarf for my extra tall husband when we were first dating). I need a project to help me through the loooong cold days of this miserable winter. At least I have a Chia herb garden, given to me at x-mas, as a small reminder of what the color green looks like. Goddamn it, I can't wait to start gardening!!!

Speaking of to-do projects, I have been seeing lavender dryer bags all over the place lately and wanted to make my own. In case you haven't heard of them yet, the product is a small muslin bag filled with real dried lavender flowers. Its purpose is to take the place of chemically scented dryer sheets for laundry. I saw some in a natural foods store the other day which claimed you could use them for at least 10 loads of laundry each. I wonder if I could use a combination of lavender and other dried herbs for this.

killing boredom

2009-01-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

As I dug through the piles of junk we have been collecting over the years I came across pieces of a guitar that Thom had smashed (strangely this is not the only dismembered guitar victim hanging around the house. I don't know why we are saving them. Perhaps to make a guitar frankenstein?..guitarenstein?). I decided against throwing it away and made this out of it. I painted the background first using my beloved cheap acrylic paints (I have no patience for oils to dry). I used a glue gun to stick the guitar piece to a canvas I had. Since the guitar neck was curved, I used layers of junk cardboard on the back for more surface area to stick to the canvas (I don't want it to fall off one day). I cut the strings short (leaving a couple longer and wrapped them around the edge of the canvas and glued them to the back). My cat loves to chew on guitar strings (which is once of the most disgusting sounds ever) and shoo-ing him away was the most difficult part of this project.

Gotta love recycled art.

the void

2008-12-28T08:53:00.000-08:00

This Christmas season was particularly challenging for me. Quit my job, worked (overworked) in Boston for about a week, then left that job as well. Overdue bills and car problems aplenty added to the usual holiday stress. However, a strange feeling of contentment still remains as my husband and I actually get to spend some much needed time hanging out together. And my super-needy cat finally gets to have all the attention he can stand. The best gift this year is being able to enjoy my new cappuccino maker, my new records and books, and my favorite mixtapes found after a year of being lost...nice.

"give me more attention or I shred your presents"

x-mas gift tea

2008-12-22T10:52:00.001-08:00

herbal tea blend with rose and chamomile

Today, as I was snowed in by a couple feet of white doom, I made a couple x-mas gifts for the tea drinkers in my life. This was a fun and inexpensive project. I found some "press 'n brew" tea bags (paper tea bags you can fill with your own brew and iron closed) in the Mountain Rose Herbs catalogue the other day and couldn't resist. I filled some with a blend of red clover flower (that I forraged for this fall), rose petals (again, from Mountain Rose Herbs), lemon balm, and chamomile (from my garden). Some tea bags I put in little jars that I found cheap at the craft store (which I washed first), and some bags I made individual packets for. I used pretty craft paper and did my best to mimic the envelopes that commercial teas come in. I glued them together with a glue gun, using only one little drop of glue to keep the opening shut. To give them a professional looking touch, I printed out labels for them (with the tea blend names for each one and listing all the ingredients) on sticker paper sheets.

tea making: finished tea bags in labeled jars, loose herbal tea, tea bags in individual paper envelopes

Another idea, which I made as party favors a couple years ago, is to fill small glass jars with a loose tea blend you make yourself, label the jar and buy drawstring muslin tea bags or a small tea ball so the gift recipient can assemble the tea as desired. This is especially nice for tea blends with floral elements because you get to see the tea in the jar. Make sure to include brewing instructions (how much tea to use per cup, how long to brew it for, etc).

As far as tea recipes go, I just blend what I feel like. If I ever have a doubt, I brew what I just made to try it. The key to good herbal teas is to trust your source of herbs. The best source being your own garden. You don't want pesticides, chemicals, and who-knows-what in your teacup. Check out Mountain Rose Herbs catalogue here.

Here are some great ingredients for herbal teas that I use a lot and brief notes about their properties:

-chamomile (floral taste, calming properties)
-catnip (minty taste, calming properties)
-echinacea (earthy taste, good for preventing colds)
-peppermint (stimulant, good for headaches, stomach aches)
-spearmint (stimulant, good for headaches)
-lavender (floral taste, calming properties, good for headaches)
-lemon balm (fruity taste, good for concentration/focus)
-sage (earthy taste, good for colds)
-rose hips (sweet-sour taste, excellent source of vit C)
-rose petals (floral taste, calming properties)
-red clover flowers (earthy taste, good for women's health)

If anyone has any tea-making tips, send them my way. Happy tea-making!

mmm...free time

2008-12-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

I don't get a whole lot of it during the month of December, as I am sure everyone can relate to. Today is a perfectly crappy day. Perfect for making presents, wrapping presents, cooking and enjoying a hot coffee while the world outside is damp and miserable. My coffee is extra yummy now that I have become completely addicted to home-made spiced simple syrup. I started making when I ran out of the Starbucks brand Gingerbread stuff. It is sooo much better and so easy to make. It would make a sweet (pun intended) x-mas gift.

spiced simple syrup recipe

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 Tbs honey or corn syrup

8 whole cloves

8 allspice berries

2 cinnamon sticks, broken up

6 black peppercorns

1/2 whole nutmeg (or 1/2 tsp ground)

8 green cardamom pods

1 vanilla bean, split
1 piece (1 inch x 1 inch) fresh ginger

Heat the water, sugar, and honey/syrup in a saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add all the spices and let simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes (it will thicken a bit more once cool). Let cool down to room temp (about 15 minutes). Strain it through a fine mesh strainer with a couple layers of cheese cloth inside. Don't be afraid to smush the spices a bit to get all the flavor out.

notes: Bottled spices can be ultra expensive. I go to the bulk spices section of Whole Foods and only buy exactly what I need (one or two nutmeg, a few allspice berries, etc). The honey/corn syrup is in this recipe for the purpose of preventing the syrup from crystalizing (becoming granulated and thick). I put one batch in the fridge and it crystalized anyway. I now make only as much as I will use in a week and keep it at room temp. (I'm curious how long it would be possible to leave it out). Yum!

chaotic mind

2008-10-29T10:59:00.001-07:00

dried sunflowers grown at my mom’s house

Now is a transitional phase for me, as far as daily thoughts and daydreams go. I still mourn the end of gardening season, and at the same time bask in the simple pleasures of fall (the foliage has been amaaazing this fall!). Yesterday I picked through about a billion sunflower seeds from dried flowers (way more tedious than I thought). I've also taken down the last of the dried herbs for the season and put them in labeled glass jars. Plus, I've had time on my hands enough to bake some fresh bread and vegan pumpkin whoopie pies (the recipe will be posted when I'm done tweaking it).

Today it dawned on me upon walking into a store that the dreaded time of x-mas shopping is drawing near (nooooo!!!). Thankfully, my husband's family has decided to go with a "green"/recycled/hand-made theme for the holidays. I've been going nuts (in a good way) thinking about what I want our contribution to be. So far, I'm thinking an assortment of herbal blend teas (from my garden) and maybe a bath tea (sachets of rose petals and lavender, or mint to steep in the hot water of a bath), or maybe even blends of culinary herbs. Making presents is way more enjoyable than shopping for them in the overly-crowded stores of the traffic-packed commercial strip. Just thinking about it makes me anxious. Blech.

no toxins or carcinogens, please

2008-10-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday work was benevolent enough to give me the day off for a class that I’ve been pumped about, “Luscious Lotions, Simple Salves”. Although I already make my own lipbalm and have a basic knowledge of that stuff, the class was really informative. I try to gain as much information about things like this on the internet, only to be confused by a bombardment of conflicting ideas and ingredients (lotion making has always seemed like somewhat of a mysterious and difficult task until now). In the class we all formulated our own lotion, salve, and lipbalm from base recipes of natural ingredients (infused olive oil, bees wax, etc) and the essential oils of our choice.

(cinnamon lipbalm, tangerine-lime rosewater lotion, lavender-basil salve)

I had always wondered what a lot of the ingredients in commercial cosmetics actually were. There are a lot of harmful substances out there in things we use every day. Its scary. The class introduced us to natural and not-so-natural body care ingredients. Aubrey Organics' (a natural body care company) website has a dictionary of commonly used natural ingredients here. To me it only makes sense that we know exactly what goes in and on our bodies, even if the label says "natural". I have another class coming up which will be along the same lines. I'm excited.

my favorite letters

2008-10-05T14:12:00.001-07:00

The last couple days I had off were super productive but fun (I can’t seem to have one without the other really). Baked off the first Halloween gingerbread men to sell. Hopefully I will get a lot of orders in this season, but who knows how eager people will be to buy cute cookies with the economy in its ever-plunging state. Anyhow, I’ve definitely had no time to contemplate (rather, worry about) the doomed state of things lately. It’s fall, damnit, and I will put off those thoughts until I’m thoroughly done enjoying this season!

pyo flowers: can’t beat 25 cents per stem!

Went farm stand hopping with T yesterday, which is always super fun. We gathered some PYO flowers at Barker’s Farm, then some 'cut your own' herbs at Paisley’s. I couldn’t resist a few tiny gourds to decorate my kitchen table. I’m a sucker for gourds no matter how insane the prices. Also grabbed a couple of dark red mums to replace the perennial herbs in my window boxes. I had transplanted the herbs to what I consider is a safer winter home at my mom’s garden. I figured they’d be goners by the end of the winter if they stayed here in the tiny window boxes. They will have a better chance in the ground. While at mom’s, I said a sad farewell to my rows of basil for the season and comforted myself by harassing the chickens. By the way, freezing minced basil in olive oil in plastic baggies (with the air bubbles squeezed out) is working out great. I just break off a piece and throw it in the pan while cooking and it smells and tastes fresh!

autumn in my apartment

I've been cooking all day today, listening to Hellshock and Napalm Death. Apple crisp with pecans and cranberries is in the oven right now, along with some roasting pumpkin for soup I’ll make tomorrow. I don't know which is more comforting to me, the aromas coming from the oven or the pure anger blasting from the speakers. The apple crisp was made on a whim without measurements, so no recipe for that one (...who doesn’t know how to make apple crisp anyway?). I realized today that roasting pumpkin with the skin on is sooo much easier than bothering to peel it before hand. After it comes out of the oven and has cooled, just peel the leathery skin right off by hand, no peeler required.

pumpkin soup recipe

2 lbs fresh pumpkin, roughly chopped, unpeeled
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 Tbs + 2 Tbs olive oil
1 (14 oz) can vegetable stock (or about 2c home-made stock)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350. Coat diced pumpkin in 2 Tbs olive oil and roast in shallow baking pan. Roast 20 minutes or until pumpkin is soft (turning pieces in pan at least once). Cool to room temp, and peel off skin. Meanwhile, heat 2 Tbs olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add onion and carrot and cook til soft. Add vegetable stock to deglaze pan and take off heat. Allow to cool. Combine pumpkin with veggie and stock in blender, working in small batches. Put soup back on the stove and heat til warm, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh chives. Simple but delish.

notes: At the end of the recipe you can add 1/4 c soymilk to make it more creamy. If it becomes too thin, add 1 Tbs cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbs water and add to soup. Heat, stirring, until thickened.

ahh fall...

2008-10-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

(a PYO pun'kin patch at one of my favorite farmstands)

I love fall! I butchered my first pumpkin of the season yesterday. It was a cute lil' sugar pumpkin that yielded me enough flesh to make pumpkin butter and enough seeds for roasting myself a crispy snack. I had never made pumpkin butter before, so there might be a better way of going about it. It was a fun and somewhat messy experiment (the majority of my workspace was orange afterward). Here's the formula I used:

pumpkin butter recipe:

-1 lb peeled, diced fresh sugar pumpkin (no guts)
-3-4 Tbs brown sugar (depending how sweet you like it)
-pinch salt
-pinch cinnamon or more to taste
-pinch ground cloves or more to taste
-1/4 tsp lemon juice (optional)

Simmer the pumpkin, sugar, and salt in a sauce pan on low for about 20-30 minutes. Pumpkin should become soft. Continue simmering and stirring for about 20 more minutes (when the mixture started to stick to the pan, I added a tiny bit of water - this will evaporate off later). Remove from heat and transfer to blender. Process til smooth and return to pan. Heat on low for about 10 minutes or until it reaches desired thickness. Mix in lemon juice and spices. This makes a small sized jar of scrumptious toast topper.

notes:

For the first try at puréeing the mixture I used a blender and that failed. There wasn't enough liquid in the mix for that to work, so I transferred it to a food processor which yielded better results. At this point it was still a tiny bit lumpy, so it went back in the pan for another 15 minutes or so to cook the lumps into mush and evaporate excess water. I ended up processing it again after that and the texture was perfect. My advice to you is don't be impatient with the cooking process, and try the pumpkin while cooking to make sure it is really soft. Next time around I think I'll be grating cinnamon sticks and whole nutmeg on a microplane to give it more flavor than the pre-ground spices. I wonder if this is the type of thing that can be home-canned... I have yet to explore that territory...

pumpkin seeds:

In case you've never roasted your own before, you're in for a damn good (and healthy) treat: seperate seeds from pumpkin guts and goo and rinse thoroughly with cool water in a strainer. Spread on a sheet pan (no grease needed) and sprinkle with salt (and/or other seasonings: cayenne pepper, curry powder, etc). Roast in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 6 minutes. Flip seeds with a spatula and stick them back in the oven until they are crispy (I like them just barely golden brown). Sooo good... In the rare case you don't eat them all when still warm from the oven, wait til cool and store in air-tight container for a day or two (they get rubbery).

preserving the herbs: part deux

2008-09-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

The other day I was stripping dried herbs off their stems and thought to myself, “why am I throwing the stems away?”. The stems also contain essential oils, and thus, scent and/or flavor. So I started saving them in a muslin bag (I buy them in bulk for making tea). Today I made a killer veggie broth (carrots, onions, mushrooms, celery, and parsley scraps) with dried rosemary, thyme, and oregano stems that I later strained out. Yum. My only advice here is dont use too much rosemary. A little goes a long way.

I'm saving other fragrant stems (mint, catnip, lemon balm) as an experimental gift for my mom. She has a woodstove as her primary source of heating and uses a pan of boiling water on top as a makeshift humidifier. I figure a muslin bag with the minty herbs could be tossed in there and scent the air a bit. If the herbs don't happen to be strong enough for a room freshener, then that's fine too. I love the smell of a wood stove.

One last idea: herb stems are a great addition to potpourri. If you dry your own flowers or arrangements, use dried herbs too! A couple of years ago I used dried roses, eucalyptus, cinnamon sticks, and dried thyme to dress up grapevine wreaths I made. All of these things can be grown yourself, found in a craft store -or in the case or cinnamon sticks- in the grocery store (I saw some cool 12" long cinnamon sticks in the produce dept. the other day... I love fall).

"hellz yeah"

2008-09-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Got some serious apple picking time in today with my friend, T (who is also a foodie and farmer's market junkie). I like how we have to be able to reach the tops of the trees furthest from the parking lot to get the best apples. Lazy pickers have already gotten to the fruit closest to their car and within arm's reach. We talked of fantasies of giant gardens and canning all our own produce. Some day...

On my day off, I also got a chance to mess around with some lip balm recipes. The last batch I made I gave out to friends. Since most of my friends are guys, (I could foresee many eyerolls handing punk dudes a fruity lipbam) I wanted to make a more gender neutral flavor this time around. I love the earthy scents of olive oil and sage together. Honey is a natural skin conditioner and adds a tiny bit of sweetness to the balm. This recipe makes about 5-6 lip balm tubes (which you can acquire for super cheap on ebay). You could also store this in little tins as well.

Honey Sage Balm Recipe

2 Tbs grated bees wax
2 Tbs sweet almond oil
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp honey
2 drops vitamin E oil (optional)
6 drops clary sage essential oil
2 drops lavender essential oil

Heat the wax, almond oil, and extra virgin olive oil in a double boiler til melted. Stir in the honey and mix away (use a spatula, not a whisk, you don't want too many air bubbles). Take off the heat and stir in the drops of vitamin E and the essential oils. Quickly use a funnel to fill lip balm tubes or canisters. If your funnel get stopped up, keep a chop stick on hand and poke through the coagulated mixture or heat it for a couple seconds in the microwave til the mixture melts (but not long enough so the funnel does!). Allow the balm to cool completely before you use it. My experience with this is that you should use the balm within a few months. Over a year or so and the essential oils lose their scent and the texture gets less smooth and more wax-like.

not a total loss....

2008-08-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

We have indeed had a strange summer this year weather-wise. Overwhelming heat and daily sudden thunderstorms have given my garden a hard time. Heavy rain drowned radishes and herbs, and all the long-awaited tomatoes split open and dropped to the ground before ripening (there is one comically pathetic tomato plant with only one tomato and two leaves left on it resembing Charlie Brown's x-mas tree). Bummer. Thankfully my pepper plants are loving the craziness and I have more green and purple peppers than I know what to do with. And then there's sunflowers.

My mom grew some sunflowers this year (her first successful year, since squirrels and other animals kept stealing the seeds. Mom set up a bunker around them this year just short of land mines and barbed wire). I've never had home-grown sunflower seeds, so I'm pretty psyched about it.

I am soooo excited for fall!! When I drive by the apple orchard on the back way to work I strain my neck (and swerve a bit into the next lane) to see if there's a PYO sign out yet. Last year my sister and I went together. I'll never forget the way the farmers stared at us as we drove up blasting Bad Brains in the car. You'd think they had never seen a couple of crazy-looking tattooed dyed-hair punks pick apples before. My sister walked the orchard in high heels juggling her cigarrette, iced latte, and cell phone with a big bag of apples as we joked about knocking down little kids to get to the best apples. It was a good time.

preserving the herbs

2008-07-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

Today I processed some herbs I’ve been drying. Above is some dried sage. I’ve been growing herbs in my window boxes and at a surrogate garden of mine a couple towns over (I don’t have any yard space at my apartment building, sadness).

I dry herbs in the bedroom because the kitchen and living room are always either humid from steam (doing dishes, cooking) or drenched with sunlight from our over-sized windows or under attack by my little monster cat. Even though herbs look so natural (so country-chic!) drying in the kitchen, it is likely that molecules of grease and food will stick to the herbs helping them to go rancid instead of preserving them. Herbs like a cool, dry, dark place to dry out. I pick what I can from the plants in my garden, making sure I've left enough of the plant to not kill it (regular trimming actually help the plant produce more). I then rinse the dust and buggies off the sprigs and dry them lightly with a clean towel (be gentle). I tie them in lil' bunches and hang them upside down (I think twist ties from garbage bags best suit this task). During the peak of the season, I'll hang a curtain rod on the wall to attach the twist-tied herbs to. I figure a couple nail-holes in the wall are better than a couple dozen tack-holes. After a couple weeks they are crispy and the stems are no longer pliable, this is when I know there is no moisture left in them that will later rot them in their jars. I crumble them over a dinner plate and separate the leaves from the stems (except in the case of catnip, I found that kitty loves the stems too). I put them in clean jars using an impromptu funnel made from a piece of paper. I label and date them because I always think I will remember which is which but never do. I try to grow enough herbage to use fresh though summer with enough extra to dry for the long winter months.

Herbs that dry well:
- sage
- rosemary
- thyme
- catnip
- lavender
- oregano
- any kind of mint (i grow several for yummy tea blends)

Herbs like chives, parsley, and basil have a high water content and are terrible for drying. Last year I tried to dry basil anyway and and the leaves all fell off. The survivors did ok though, and provided me with enough dried herb for a couple winter pasta sauces and soups. This year I'm going to try the method of freezing chopped basil in olive oil in ice cube trays. Supposedly it works great and you can just toss a cube or two into whatever you're cooking.

Q: what to bring to the sex toy party?

2008-07-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

A: tiny cupcakes! This is my answer to most questions. These vegan coconut lime mini cupcakes were adored by the hostess of the Athena's toy party I went to last night. These are a great summertime cupcake that are delightfully moist thanks to the coconut milk. When you rip into one of these babies the flaked coconut and lime zest give the cupcake a beautiful texture and appearance.

Vegan Coconut Lime Mini Cupcakes

Makes 12 mini cuppies. Double the recipe to make 12 regular cuppies.

3/4 c flour

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c flaked coconut

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1/2 c coconut milk

3 T light veggie oil

1/4 t lemon extract

1/4 t vanilla OR coconut extract

1 t lime zest

1/2 t white vinegar OR lime juice

Heat oven to 350. Sift together dry ingredients. Add coconut flakes and lime zest, mix. Mix together coconut milk, oil, vinegar/lime juice and extracts. Add to dry ingredients and mix just till combined. Spoon into muffin tin (either lined with paper baking cups or sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, keeping an eye on them. When cupcake tops spring back when touched, they are done. tips: Dont leave the batter sitting around or the baking soda/vinegar mix will activate prematurely and the cupcakes will be flat when baked. Likewise if you are doing multiple batches, wash out the bowl each time you start a new one or the ingredients will activate before you get them in the oven.

I topped these with vegan frosting and toasted coconut. They were delish!!

My vegan frosting is never measured, just kind of thrown together in the amount I estimate I will need.

Vague frosting recipe: Cream equal parts vegan margarine (room temp) and veggie shortening together in a mixing bowl till blended (Using all margarine will be tastier, but adding shortening will stabilize your frosting so it is less likely to separate or melt). Slowly add in a good amount of powdered sugar and mix till absorbed. Add water, soymilk, or in this case coconut milk to make a creamier consistency frosting. Add a pinch of salt and whatever flavoring you will be using (vanilla, lemon, coconut, etc) to taste. Whip everything a few extra minutes to get a fluffy consistency and you're done. If its too soupy, add more sugar. If it is pasty and not sticking to the cupcakes, you need more fat. Just cream up some more margarine, add it to the icing and whip for a couple of minutes.

so it begins...

2008-07-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

I am a wife, a vegan baker, a self-sufficiency gardener, a record collector, a crafter, a punk. I often fantasize about survival after the collapse of civilization or a world-wide zombie attack. That, and vegan cupcakes.

Having immersed myself recently in the world of blog, I've decided to start my own. I figure if a few vegan or gardening blogs can inspire me to try new recipes or techniques, then maybe i could do the same for someone else. Here's hoping.

love,
breyanne thrax.