Experiments update:
I'm not sure if anyone could have guessed, but I sort of gave up on jogging. My hip kept giving me grief, and then I got out of the habit for a couple days and then... well, that was a month ago. We'll see what happens in the future, but for now... yeah. Lazy butt.
Sourdough also didn't go anywhere, but I finally managed to bake bread this last Tuesday (Tassajara basic bread recipe with half wheat/half white flour) and it turned out as good as it did in my bread-baking heyday when I was making bread every 10 or so days.
Still doing OCM, not quite daily, (more like every fourth daily?) and my skin seems to be enjoying it.
Experiments part 2. Saturday, June 27, 2009
Business Saturday, June 13, 2009
http://www.7printciples.com
Same stuff, new and easier to remember address!
Vegan Tom Kha Mushroom Soup Friday, June 5, 2009
6 cups veggie stock (I use the Veggie Better Than Bouillon goop. It comes in a little jar in the soup aisle at Freddie's)
2 cans coconut milk
2 whole stalks of lemon grass, cut into 1/2 inch pieces with bottom, top and outer layer removed
1 medium galangal root (cut into about 12 slices)
6 kaffir lime leaves, hand torn
4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 medium onion, cut into long, thin pieces
4 spicy Thai chilies (also have seen them called Birdseye chilies?), cut into easy to find chunks
2 tomatoes, cut into big chunks
Juice of 2 limes
1 tsp brown sugar
6 or so stalks of cilantro, hand torn
Whole lot of crimini mushrooms, quartered (maybe 4 cups all cut up?)
~1 tsp chili paste
Boil veggie stock, then add lemon grass and galangal root. Let boil while you prepare other ingredients, then add lime leaves, chilies and garlic. Add mushrooms and onions, then after about 5 more minutes add the coconut milk, lime juice, brown sugar, chili paste. Let simmer until all the flavors are nicely mingling, like pretty ladies at a cocktail party. About 10 minutes before serving add the tomatoes and cilantro and let cook a little bit longer. Serve hot, and don't eat the lemon grass or galangal root - think of them as bay leaves!
Pretty much one of the tastiest things to ever come out of my kitchen. Totally vegan, and tastes as good or better than restaurant variety Tom Kha.
Experiments. Sunday, May 31, 2009
I am undergoing several experiments at the moment.
1) Exercise.
Anyone who's known me for a while knows that I am notoriously un-athletic, but, as most do, I have a desire to be in shape. I'm just lazy and have hip problems and don't have proper shoes and don't have time and don't have blah blah blah any number of excuses. I've decided that June is going to be the month when I make an effort to jog or walk every day. I'm starting off slow - just a mile a day for the first week until I get used to it. I got lost on my loop yesterday and ended up going almost 3 miles. I am extremely sore today.
2) Oil cleansing method - OCM.
I have never had problem skin, and I'm not a big fan of talking about beauty procedures in public forums (besides hair dying... that's different!), but I read something online recently about the Oil Cleansing Method for face washing and I was intrigued.
Here are the steps:
Make a mixture of castor oil, extra virgin olive oil, and maybe some other oils/essential oils. My mixture is 50% castor oil, 25% extra virgin olive oil, and 25% grapeseed oil, with some tea tree oil added.
Rub this mixture on your face.
Get a washcloth wet with hot water and lay it on your face, let it cool to room temperature.
Rub in the oil again.
Washcloth steam again. (repeat these last two steps as many times as you want)
Get washcloth wet one last time and gently wipe away all excess oil.
Rinse face with cold water to close pores.
You're supposed to do this anywhere from twice a day to a few times a week. I'm going to try it every evening and see what happens. Supposedly it's lifechanging or something? Also, it's cheaper than facewash, more gentle, and way greener.
3) Sourdough.
I still haven't made my old bread recipe since my sad experience a few months ago. Heidi, my sister-in-la-la (I challenge you to tell me a better term for your sweetie's sibling's sweetie), gave me some sourdough starter last week at Folklife and I tried it out today. I used the Tassajara recipe and it was ok, but it came out really, really dense and I was expecting something a little... fluffier.
Today is day 2 of both OCM and excercise. I'm feeling good. My skin feels excellent and my legs are hella sore.
I've decided I want to post more recipes I use or make up here. Let's see how that goes.
Also, I can't stop watching West Wing. I can't believe I never watched it before now.
toothpastefordinner.com
tee hee.
Folklife was fun. Now I am exceedingly tired and not desirous of living a real life.
Live music! Thursday, May 21, 2009
John Vanderslice show tonight! I got to preview his new album (which came out on Tuesday) and it's fantastic. I only really know two of his other albums, but all the reviews I've read say it's his best yet and I wouldn't doubt it. Also, there are supposedly going to be copies of Moon Colony Bloodbath (the EP he recorded with the Mountain Goats earlier this year) available and I'm hella excited for that too.
And Folklife is this weekend! We went the year before last, when Rob was still living in Port Townsend and I was in Portland, working at Lewis and Clark for the summer. The festival is in downtown Seattle and runs Friday through Monday of Memorial Day weekend. I got up to Dev's house Friday night, and Rob had work and was supposed to join us Saturday. He even requested work off. And then they didn't honor his request because they were lame, and he didn't think he could drive to Seattle after working a full shift... so I took the ferry to Port Townsend, picked up Rob at 11pm, and took the ferry/drove back to Dev's. We didn't get to go last year because I got really sick at the last minute and was just miserable. So this year we're going for reals and I'm excited and I haven't been to Seattle in forever.
I made the best lentil chard soup EVER the other night. Absolutely delicious. I followed this recipe and added some cumin and pepper (and obviously used veggie stock instead of chicken stock).
Catch-all. Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I've been sick since last Thursday. That was five days ago. What is up with this cold? Just let me gooo! I guess five days is actually a pretty standard length for a cold, I'm just ready for it to be over.
I've been exceedingly lazy and out of my element since con. I've had a hard time finding the energy to do my usual activities and have had the need to push myself back into them. Make an awesome dinner, even though I'd rather go out. Garden, even though I don't feel like it. Clean, even though I'd rather just sit on my butt. I'd been getting back into it slowly, and then I got sick, which threw a total monkey wrench into the machinery. Who wants to cook when they're coughing and sniffling all up in there? And we've gone back to buying Dave's Killer Bread. I messed up the baking time the last time I made bread and it turned out awful and underdone. I haven't made bread since then. I really just need to push myself back into it, and I thought this would be the week I would do it. We'll see. It might have to be next week.
Part of the problem is that I've lost my good bread baking window. I've been helping out at an urban farm in Sellwood that has work parties Wednesdays and Fridays from 9-1pm, and I've had a regular tutoring gig Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30pm. And I have class Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4pm (but because of the bus schedule, it's more like 12-4:30pm). Baking bread takes a really big window - something like 5-7 hours, but I've never timed it. The time I made the awful bread, I told myself I could do it on a Wednesday between garden and tutoring. I was wrong :(. And I'm rarely in the mood to do it Mondays or Fridays. Luckily now that the big work is done at the farm, we're only going to have work parties on Fridays from now on. There's 3 of us regulars, plus the guy who's spearheading, and just not enough to do to meet twice a week. So perhaps Wednesday will be bread day from here on out.
And then, of course, everything will change as soon as school lets out.
It's been really eerie seeing all the "woo I'm graduated!" posts on Facebook from my friends a year younger than me at LC. Did I really graduate a year ago? Well, no, I didn't. I walked a year ago. I finished my classes at the end of June last year, and my diploma date is August 31st, 2008. But that whirlwind of graduation activity and parties and goodbyes to friends and moving in with Rob and Peej - that was a year ago. Wow.
On another, craftier note, I've been working on a lace crochet hat for the last month and a half. I wanted a light cotton hat I could wear when I wasn't ready to shower, but my hair was greasy enough for me to be self conscious*. At first I worked on the hat feverishly. Then sporadically. Then sluggishly. Luckily, getting sick (and discovering the HBO series 'Big Love') kicked me back into overdrive and I finally had the will to finish the project through to the end. And here is the final product! I'm particularly pleased with how the top turned out.
(sidenote: holy crap my hair is long! No one ever notices because I almost always wear it in a ponytail - but really, when was the last time I was able to wear my hair in a ponytail??)In other news, Cubby has been sleeping in a tiny box. It's extremely cute.
And finally - Beaverton Farmer's Market has started again! My life is complete!
*I've been showering every 4-5 days. Partially to conserve water, partially because the less you clean yourself, the less you need to be cleaned. As I pointed out the last time I did this, it's like the chapstick cycle. The more you use, the more you need.
The ground is so proud just to hold us up. Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wow, where have I been the last several weeks?
Well, there was preparation for con, and then there was con. And then there was recovery from con.
I didn't talk so much about con because I wasn't extremely involved in the planning. I was the site coordinator, which really just involved securing the reservation and talking to Yaney, the Corvallis church's secretary. Yes, we had a con at the Corvallis church, which is why I am site coordinator. I was also t-shirt bitch, as per usual (or bandana bitch, as the case may be) and the chaplain. The two weeks before con were mostly filled with bandana-ing: Cutting the bandanas to size, ironing, sewing the edges, designing the logo, learning the art of photo-emulsion, making the screen (three times), learning how to screen print, doing the actual screen printing, and finally heat treating the finished product. And now I know how to screen print, from beginning to end! The other thing I really got into the week before con was starting to plan a con-planning bible that thoroughly explains the process from beginning to end, contains con resources, and has stats on the last several cons. The youth have something like it, the YAs don't.
At con was interesting. It made me pleased as punch that everyone loved my home church so much, that's one thing I can say. I met some really wonderful people, saw some really amazing things happening, and felt the love of a wonderful community. But it turns out that being the site coordinator ended up entailing a lot more than I thought it would, and I wasn't able to chaplain as well or as much as I would have liked. I also didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked.
All in all, the weekend was a very positive experience. The biggest thing to come out of the conference was the decision to split from the district as an organization. During the planning we were advised by Tandi, the district program consultant, to not go through the district this con, and it was actually a pretty painless process. Considering the district hoops we didn't have to jump through this time, and the stress we didn't put on the district during the planning, I'd say it was a positive experience for everyone involved. During the con we had a business meeting that started with a video conference with Tandi so that she could answer questions. We took a vote on an official split from the district and it was unanimously approved by everyone at the meeting. Then we voted on interim position for the new organization (PNW UU Young Adults). PJ was voted treasurer (duh) and I was voted Con Coordinator (so basically I'm doing what I was already doing, I just have a title now). Sweetawesome! Once we had positions we got staff figured out for the next con. We already have the ENTIRE STAFF figured out SIX MONTHS OUT. Wow. Effing sweet.
Then we came home and then some con people joined us and then they left and then more con people came and now I think home is back to normal for now.
And then I caught up on sleep and I'm now finally resuming my normal life. I cleaned today, am going to see a capella later tonight. And then there's all this con coordinator hoo-ha to figure out.
Sigh, life is good.
Conconconconcon Friday, April 24, 2009
Holy crap con is today!
I haven't been posting much. I promise I will try harder.
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