Crows 'n Squirrels

Quince Paste (membrillo) Redux

2011-11-14T15:13:00.001-08:00

I was recently blessed with seven pounds of quince from a neighbor's tree. Beautiful, golden fruit that is almost inedible in its raw state as it is hard as a rock and full of mouth puckering tannins. Cooking quince, however, will turn it into a luscious, melting fruit, sometimes turning a deep orange or rose color as the tannins oxidise.

Membrillo (the name of quince in Spanish) is what I've generally heard quince paste called when it is classically paired with manchego cheese, but I think that the term is really dulce de membrillo, meaning candied quince. It's true, it takes a lot of sugar to make quince paste, and in some places people roll the paste in more sugar to eat as a dessert.

I have made membrillo before and shared the recipe here, but I think I've learned a few things by making it again.

1) Using a scale is the best way to figure out the fruit to sugar ratio. Most recipes call for cooking the quince, using a sieve or food mill to make a sauce, and then figuring out how many cups of mushed fruit one has in order to figure out how many cups of sugar you need. Total mess. It's really just a one to one ratio of fruit to sugar in order to get the paste to set. So just figure it out before you have to mess up measuring cups and spoons and you lose half the fruit. Sometimes I've used less sugar, but I always worry that I'm pushing it on being able to form a good gel and the paste having a long enough shelf life. The stuff is sweet, no doubt about it, so go ahead and use all the sugar.

2) Use no more than 6 pounds of fruit. That's what they always say about jams, because the fruit and sugar both melt turn mostly into water that has to be driven off by heat before the jam can gel and set properly. The more you have, the longer it will take to drive the water off and in the process the pectin can be lost, resulting in a bad set. Plus, it will take forever to stir. Believe me, six pounds of quince and six pounds of sugar results in more membrillo than most people ever want. You'll end up begging people to take some even after the holidays are over.   Four pounds is probably more reasonable.

3) Give the fruit time to oxidize so that it will turn a deep orange or rose color. My last batch was a pretty orange color after much cooking, but it could have been a deeper color if I'd let the cooked quince rest in the pot for eight hours or so, according to some cooks.   I've used a crockpot to cook the quince before, but it seems like a hassle to then turn it out into another pot for the rest of the cooking. I've also cooked the quince whole to get all of the pectin out of the seeds and then tried to sieve them out. Not worth it; the quince gels just fine with only the skin on and that can be mixed in with a stick blender quite easily.

4) Be prepared to stay at the cooking pot for a long time- up to two hours. Use an apron and have lots of towels around. The jam cooks down and starts to pop like an active volcano spewing out some sort of napalm. It sticks and burns, so have a damp cloth around to wipe off the burning quince paste and be prepared to wrap your stirring hand in a cloth as the paste starts to pop. I got some pretty bad burns from the popping paste and a blister from the wooden spoon I was using to stir. Luckily Chris stepped in with his longer arms and took a turn stirring for a while. Keep the burner turned as low as you can while still cooking the fruit and sugar mixture down.

5) When you can slide a spoon through the mixture and see the bottom of the pan, the membrillo is a deep orange or rose color and it has stopped popping so viciously in the pan, turn it out onto the prepared parchment paper and spread it around. If it gets too sticky and cooked down, it can be hard to get out of the pan.

6) Leave the membrillo to cool completely in the pan before turning it out and cutting it into squares. Wrap tightly in plain parchment paper, then in plastic and it will keep in the refrigerator for at least 3 months.

Finally, the recipe!

Ingredients:
Quince, sugar, lemon peel and juice. Butter or vegetable oil and parchment paper.

Instructions:
1) Cut parchment paper to fit one or more flat bottomed pans. Lightly grease parchment paper. Some people grease molds for quince paste. If you have trouble getting a thick portion of paste to set, try leaving it in warm oven or putting it a into food dehydrator until the middle is set.

2) Gather quince, wash and rub all the fuzzy fur off. Cut quince into quarters with a sharp knife and take out the seeds. Determine how many pounds of quince you have.

2) Cook quince and lemon peel in enough water to cover it by half an inch or so until the fruit is tender (30-45 minutes). Use a heavy bottomed pot to keep the jam from burning after sugar is added later. Make sure the pan is large enough to give the jam space to bubble and be stirred.

3) Drain quince (some people keep the water for jelly, some highly energetic people).   Put quince and lemon peel back in pot and blend with a stick blender until a fine, applesauce like texture is formed. Alternately, put softened quince through sieve or foodmill.

4) Add juice of 1/2 to 1 whole lemon (depending on how much quince you have). Example- 2-4 pounds, half a lemon, 5- 6 pounds, a whole lemon.

5) Stir in sugar, a 1 to 1 ratio with quince. If you don't know how many pounds you have, use the measuring cup method with the quince sauce you've just made.

6) Cook on medium high until the paste thickens, then turn down to low. Stir constantly and vigilantly. As the paste thickens it will burn easily.

7) Watch for color changes and thickness. This can take anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours in my experience.

8) Turn paste out into prepared pan/pans. Let cool thoroughly. Turn out finished brick of dulce de membrillo and cut into squares or rectangles for storage.

9) Eat with cheese, put in a sandwich, or melt some in a pan with vermouth and ham after browning chicken in a pan with butter, garlic and onions.

Nocino- Italian green walnut cordial

2011-11-14T13:59:00.001-08:00

Nocino, an Italian green walnut liqueur, is I am happy to say, worth the stained hands and the wait.

I have had about a liter of nocino waiting to fully age since September and today is the first day I've tried it, though it should steep for another month. The flavor is already deep and a bit sweet and slightly winter spiced. The idea is to sip tiny drams after a meal to aid digestion. Green walnut hulls are also made into medicinal tinctures in much the same way to rid the body of parasites. Soaking herbs, roots, bark or walnut hulls in alcohol is a way to extract and preserve their healing properties. So, as with most European cordials, you get to double your pleasure- a tasty after dinner treat that's also medicinal.

I was able to harvest the green walnuts in early September when they were about the size of a golf ball. At this point the hard brown shell has not yet formed and the meat inside is still gelatinous. Keep checking the walnut trees at the end of summer to see if they are ready. One recipe I read said that the nuts are collected in late July, but here in Oregon, the nuts were not ready until September. I got lucky because the electric company sent out a tree trimming crew to cut branches back so I was able to pounce on the walnuts on the ground without having to get a ladder out in the street. A Portlandia episode was being filmed a few houses down and when I explained to the tree crew what I was doing with the nuts I was gleaning from the neighbor's trees, they sort of rolled their eyes and muttered that I should be in the next skit.

Warning, green walnut hulls are also processed into ink. Anything the walnuts or liqueur touch from beginning to end of the process will be stained a golden brown color since the walnuts almost immediately start to oxidize into a dark, almost black color. Use plastic gloves to handle the walnuts and always have something that you don't care about staining to work on and keep under the jar- such as an old plastic cutting board. I specified English walnuts because we also have Black Walnut trees on our block which are an indigenous American tree. While the trees are beautiful and have many fine, but messy qualities, I think that the taste would be completely different than when using the much milder English walnuts.

Ingredients:

30 or so immature English walnuts
1 liter of vodka (or other high test clear alcohol such as Everclear)
3 cups of sugar
2 cups of water
10 cloves
2 sticks of cinnamon
zest of one lemon

Step one: Gather about 30, or a colander's worth, of green English walnuts before their internal brown shells have hardened and the meat has solidified. On a cutting board that you don't care about, while wearing plastic gloves, quarter the nuts with a sharp knife and toss them into a large widemouth glass container. You will be shaking the liqueur daily- or whenever you remember to, so leave a few inches of headspace. I had to transfer mine to a larger container with a tighter fitting lid.

Step two: Add water, sugar, spices and lemon zest.

Step three: Leave tightly covered jar in a dark place for 3 months. Some recipes call for shaking or turning the jar every day. I kept the jar in a place that I pass on my way to the basement and every once in a while, I'd give the jar a good shake or swirl to help the sugar dissolve.

Step four: After 3 or 4 months, strain liqueur through a coffee filter into a pretty bottle. Some recipes say you can steep the nuts again if you retain the hulls and spices. Drink cold in tiny, dainty glasses during the cold winter months or whenever your children have come home from school with worms (again).

Grab and go raw granola snacks

2011-07-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

I keep these raw granola bars in the freezer for those times that we need a quick snack, especially if we're taking them on the road. Perfect park snacks.

There's really no recipe. I know, you want measurements; cups, ounces, fluid ounces vs. dry. Nope, I'm not doing it. Just throw what you have together and feel when it's done. Well, okay, I did start with about 5 cups of oats and then just went from there.

The first batch had rolled oats and puffed kamut cereal as a base, with sesame, hemp, flax and sunflower seeds for some crunch and minerals. Coconut flakes and shredded nori adds some flavor along with a few pinches of cinnamon. Honey and coconut oil were gently warmed and added to almond butter to bind the dry ingredients together. After mixing thoroughly (I end up using my hands), pack it all into a shallow pan and press down with all of your strength to compress the disparate ingredients into a cake. Freeze until firmed up. Take out of the freezer and wait a few minutes before cutting into squares (if you don't wait, you risk breaking your knife like I did). Wrap in foil and store in the freezer or fridge for snack time.

I forgot the puffed cereal for the second batch, had fewer seeds and used peanut butter instead of almond butter. I also used Jen's 7 spice powder instead of cinnamon for a different flavor. The bars were a bit softer and crumblier than the first batch. I like them both, but play around with it until you get the texture and sweetness you like. I'll try baking them next time, I think, but they're pretty good as is, if a bit crumbly.

Snap pea and pickled beets salad-or what to do with those pickled beets

2011-06-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

I pronounce the pickled baby beets and onions a success! I'd eat 'em straight out of the jar, but since I had a bounty of snap peas from the garden, I figured I'd try a combo- and it works!

The beets and onions are sweet and sour and the peas add a nice snap.
Just add one half pint of pickled beets to a pound or so of blanched snap peas and you get a quick, colorful side salad.

I blanched the peas for about 30 seconds in boiling water, drained them, and then ran cold water over them. An ice water bath would have been even better, but I'm lazy. I dried the peas on a towel after they cooled, gave them a good slug of olive oil and then spooned all of the beets and onions with most of the juice over the peas, avoiding the star anise and allspice. The salad was a good side for chicken sausage, but I could eat a whole bowl of it alone for dinner and call it good.

Red

2011-06-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

I must not think bad thoughts- or should I?

2011-06-22T03:24:00.000-07:00

I woke with a jerk tonight, sweat covered, cold fear spreading through my solar plexus.

In my dream I’d been in some sort of hospital or public building; shiny waxed floors, tall doors, everything beige. Someone was yelling at me not to run. Start over. This time, don’t run when the men burst in with machine guns blazing. I kept thinking, what the hell do I do then, just stand here and take it? Do it again. Of course, this being a dream, it happened over and over until I woke up queasy with terror.

I lay awake for a while, calming down, trying to assess what the hell had just happened to my psyche. It occurred to me at some point that I’d stopped protesting the wars that my country has been instigating for, let me see here, about 21 years. The apathy must have gotten to me somewhere along the way as it seems to for most Americans.

I remember when I first started protesting in 1990. I was in college watching the first bombs go off on CNN, my high school boyfriend's mother called me as her son had just deployed with a tank unit. I remember exactly when I stopped actively protesting on the street, 2004, when my husband and I deemed it too dangerous to protest in a group. We were living in L.A. with an infant, and neither one of us felt safe enough to take him to a protest where we might have to protect him from tear gas or police in riot gear.

That was, I realize, seven years ago. In that time, I’ve often thought I should publicly protest these wars again, but I felt out of the loop about when the organized protests were happening in downtown Portland where I live again. A fleeting thought goes by every now and again that I should just take a sign down to the corner of Hawthorne and stage my own protests, but the thought dissolves as quickly as it comes. I have things to do and I’d only be preaching to the choir around here. The apathy is quiet, but deep.

It hits me, thinking about my son, that I heard the childish imitations of pistols and machine guns for hours today. A playdate had culminated in shoot ‘em up games. In the past, I’ve had a rule of no shooting each other, but after many friends have pointed out that they themselves had played shooting games as children and not ended up as gun wielding sociopaths, and that repressing those games are what could lead to a fascination with it, I decided to let it go. So it was that I ignored the game, and even tried to assure my son that it was fine with me when he saw me come out to the yard. Well then, there at least was my explanation for the dream.

The wars that I quit marching and signing petitions against seven years ago have continued unabated since then, something that I never would have predicted. They just keep rolling along, ruining people’s lives in what is now many countries, including ours, while emptying our coffers. I am also selfishly astonished to discover that I have reason to be fearful for my son’s life. Who would have thought that we’d be sending our young people into battle for this long? Who’s to say that in 10 more years we won’t still be embroiled in battles for resources? Will they be conscripting by then or will my son join up for the college money as education dollars are channeled to buy more weapons?

Perhaps the selfishness of mothers is required for us to finally make the politicians stop. I had my son at the start of a mini baby boom, so there are many of us that have children of our own to protect. Will that be the starting point for waking up and clearing away the lethargy that has overtaken us?

Guess I'll go listen to some X , start my letter writing to Congress and try to find out if anyone is still protesting downtown.

Reduce/Reuse- Preserve Labels

2011-06-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

Hmm, this blog is somehow becoming all about food and preserving. Well, write about what you know, they say, and this is what is taking up my spare time these days. Of course, with preserving, one has to make the spare time because when the produce is ripe, it's time to can, dry or freeze it. Fresh food waits for no one.
So, here's my problem. I get really into the production that is canning- choosing the recipe, gathering the jars, lids and implements of can-struction, and ultimately, making a terrible racket and mess in the kitchen. When it's over and the jars are prettily resting and pinging, I'm done. Over it. I figure I know what I put up and what year it was, so why bother with tags- plus, I hate trying to get the old glue off later. However, it sometimes takes me a few minutes to remember- which summer did I can that, the last one or the summer before? My husband goes down for a jar of raspberry jam and inevitably comes back with a jar of strawberry; he seems congenitally unable to tell the difference between any the canned fruits or pickles. Lastly, if I'm giving them away, I will eventually have to deal with labeling anyhow. In light of these truths, I solemnly swear to label my jars immediately after (or at least within a week) of canning my produce. There, my pledge hath been written, and possibly read and witnessed by others.

So, what to do about the labels? Recycled paper and string, something I always have lots of at hand. My favorites are paint sample squares and security envelope linings. While I have felt foolish and frivolous buying shaped cutters from craft stores, I've ended up using them for myriad labelling projects and have saved myself the hassle and money of running out to buy labels for presents and projects. This enables me so to mostly ignore the fact that I'm adding to Martha Stewart's Friesan horse fund or fifteenth manor house. I've snapped up a few template cutters at thriftstores as well.

The pictures are pretty self-explanatory. Cut out the shape, punch a hole in it and write on the tag. Choose your favorite method of attaching them to the jars, leftover string or yarn, tape, or just trapping the edge of the label between the lid and the jar ring. Sometimes the name of the paint sample serendipitously works with the jam for presents, which is fun. "Sunporch" for grapefruit marmalade, etc. Now, if my handwriting was just legible...

Depression Pickles

2011-06-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

Whew, I've got a lot of posts lined up, but instead of getting one of those out, I've gotten myself into another pickle. Baby beet and onion pickles, green onion kimchee and Chinese pickled beet greens to be exact. I really just meant to make some baby beet pickles after trying the awesome pickle plate at Olympic Provisions, but you know how it goes with produce and a canner.

I'm sure that my Grandpa Bill, who grew and pickled his own beets every year, would have laughed at my two bunches of baby beets and tiny clutch of baby onions- from the farmer's market no less. However, when I thought of him, a child of the Depression, I couldn't just compost the onion and beet greens, and we were all tired of sauteed beet greens, soI had to find a way to preserve them too.

I remembered a recent reference from Food in Jars to an intriguing green onion kimchee recipe at Tigress in a Pickle. I added tall onion greens from our overwintered garden onions to the baby onions from the market to make about 1/2 a pint. A recipe for Chinese pickled mustard greens from Food Mayhem was then found, and I'm hoping that it will adapt well to the beet greens.

These fermented kimchee recipes would not have gone down well with Grandpa, as I remember him telling me about smelling and trying kimchee when he was stationed in Korea. Spicy and long fermented in jars dug in to the frozen ground, kimchee was neither familiar nor comforting to his Arkansas palate. However, I'm sure he would be happy to see nothing going to waste either then or now.

The baby beet and onion pickle recipe is mostly from the Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving, but I swapped out the spices for ones that I had on hand and flavors that I think I remember from Olympic Provisions pickle plate; star-anise, cloves, allspice and a pinch of my friend Jen's (Lambaste) five-spice powder.

The problem with pickles and kimchee, of course is that you don't know what they'll taste like for at least a week. Was it worth it to destroy the kitchen for these? Did the beets die in vain? The proof will be in the pickles next week, not such a long time to wait.

Muffins, not Vegan, Not Weston A. Price, but a strange combination

2011-04-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some muffins that are crisp outside, while staying moist and bran muffin-like on the inside. I started with a recipe for pre-cooked oatmeal and banana muffins from Kim Boyce's cookbook, Good To the Grain, Baking With Whole -Grain Flours, and then took off from there with things I had in my pantry. One item I had on hand was pre-soaked, pre-cooked 5 grain cracked cereal from local Gee Creek Farm. Other things were raw goat's milk, homemade unsweetened apple sauce and coconut oil. I'm sure that the recipe would work using any kind of non-dairy or dairy milk, cooked whole grains and butter.

I've been looking into the Weston A. Price Foundation since I found an old book at a friend's house about Price's findings that indigenous people didn't have many, if any, cavities or need braces for cramming their teeth in to their mouths like those of us who eat refined foods do. The book was an old one from a book exchange, and when I Googled Price, I was really surprised to find out that there is a huge movement in the natural foods world connected with his findings- I am so not on the cutting edge of food.

Simplifying here, but Price found that by eating fewer grains (and those being whole grains, of course) and more fats and animal organs, people were healthier and able to remineralize teeth and bones, as well as regulate hormones. Of course, this is another controversial subject, and while I would be interested in trying out the diet, I realize that I would never be able to stick with a restricted regime of any kind, as I'm too much a product of my culture, and croissants, muffins and the like call my name.

However, I have been willing to try a few things out. One of these things is the notion of *'properly' soaking grains to neutralize the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors in grains and beans. According to the Foundation folks, until fairly recently, most people fermented their grains or at least soaked them for a period of time in an acid to unlock the nutrients in them, so that the body can uptake minerals from the food. This makes sense to me when I consider all of the starters, beers, nixtamals, etc. that people around the world have used. Ahh, it's all making sense now- I always wondered why people of European descent have so many dental problems compared to all of the people with gorgeous teeth in the National Geographic magazines. Some people say that an overnight soak is not enough to ferment and really do the job of neutralizing enzyme inhibitors, but I did notice that the sesame seeds in my grain mix sprouted a tail, so that's something.

The other thing I've been willing to try is raw goat's milk. It is legal in Oregon to sell raw goat's milk, but not cow's milk. That's fine with me, because as some people have pointed out, goats are easier to keep clean than cows which makes it easier to keep their milk clean. Plus, they're smaller, and need less forage to provide the milk. I found that I like the taste of it, it's a bit salty, then sweet, and then slightly goaty, but not as strong as many goat cheeses. I've been giving my family rice milk for a long time because I didn't like the taste of cow's milk and didn't want to give my son estrogenic soy milk. Now, I feel like it might have been beneficial to him to get more calcium and protein, but I'd just as soon not give him 'dead' milk. The farm we've been getting the milk from through our local co-op is State certified, so I feel fairly confident that we can avoid listeria. Apparently, one is more likely to get listeria from lunch meat and produce, anyway.

So, if anyone is still with me here, back to the muffins! I was planning to make these with no milk because I wanted to share them with a friend who has a milk allergy. I started them with coconut oil instead of butter- but then I remembered that I'd soaked the five grain cereal with water and yogurt the night before I cooked them, so I decided to throw some goat's milk in as well. If you have an extra coffee grinder (I just got one) to grind whole spices, it really makes a difference. Next time I'll try to grind my own grains to get the most out of them, and that is going to take yet another lifestyle change, but maybe it'll offset the rest of the stuff I eat.

Here's the deal on the muffins in my non-professional style:

Makes medium sized muffins
Heat oven to 350 degrees

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rye flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom

In a stand mixer bowl, or mix very well by hand:

Cream together-
3/4 cup unrefined coconut oil
1/3 cup evaporated cane sugar
Add-
2 T molasses
1 egg
2/3 cup raw goat milk
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup cooked whole grain cereal
Add nuts, seeds, dates or raisins if you have some on hand.

Spoon into coconut oil greased muffin tin. Bake for 30- 40 minutes. Kim had a great suggestion to twist the muffins out of the tins and cant them on their sides to cool after they are baked. This way they keep their crisp outer layer.

* To soak whole grains, add yogurt, kefir or lemon juice to soak water, leave over night, cook the next day. There are many whole food sites on the net explaining the process in detail, and a few refuting it, so go check them out if you are interested.

Spring and Stinging Nettles

2011-04-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, our small farmer's market had the first of the stinging nettles. The farmers also had shitake mushrooms and kale to sell, so I picked up some of each to dry in the food dehydrator knowing that we couldn't eat them all quickly enough.

A few days after dehydrating the food, I heard about the compromised Fukushima nuclear plant. I figured from the reports of a possible meltdown that we might be getting some radiation our way in Oregon- and now, of course, we know it has arrived everywhere in the rain. While they say the amounts are small, ingesting the radiation, especially concentrated in milk, is something that I'd like to avoid. Nettles, greens and shitake mushrooms are some of the best foods to have around when there is radiation and heavy metals to be gotten rid of in the body. I picked up some miso and seaweeds as well. Japanese researchers have suggested that regularly eaten, seaweed is effective in blocking the radioactive iodine from our thyroids, and that miso can help the body to get rid of radioactive isotopes. I can't say that we are normally daily eaters of any of these foods, but I figure that it can't hurt to get them in to our diets now, and we do love miso soup.

I thought that the nettles' stinging action would be stopped with the dehydrating, but they still retained a bit of their sting when touched by a soft part of the body, like the side of my finger or my husband's throat after I convinced him to eat one (oops, maybe I chewed mine more). Once they are doused with boiling water or sauteed, they are definitely okay to eat. They have a nutty, artichoke- like flavor, a beautiful deep green color, are full of vitamins and minerals and are used by herbalists to treat a variety of ailments. I drink them as a tea and will try them in a pesto with the next fresh batch that I get.

I've been making miso soup for years in a quick, simple way, just filling a tea strainer with bonito flakes and adding it with a 2 inch piece of rinsed kombu to a medium size pot of water, boiling gently for a few minutes. Sometimes I add thinly sliced veggies and tofu near the end. When I take it off the heat, I add the miso. Saveur has a recipe which sounds more authentic, involving soaking the kombu overnight which would probably give the soup a lot more minerals.

So make sure to eat your greens, miso and mushrooms for a while- it can't hurt.

Serious Seed Saving

2011-03-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

The seeds are calling to me. From the basement seed storage box to the grocery store aisles to a seed co-operative, I have a greedy yearning for more seeds. Too many to use myself, really, so it’s just my squirrelly hoarding instinct kicking in with Spring.

I’ve been trying to save seeds from my garden for the last two years. I’ve taken it a bit seriously, learning to save tomato seeds by the fermentation method, letting the greens go to shabby seed in the garden beds, and drying the beans on the vine much to my neighbors’ consternation- she’s letting those beans go bad, we should pick them for her!

However, after attending a seed saving lecture by the Seed Ambassadors, Sarah Kleeger and Andrew Still, of Adaptive Seeds, I am humbled by how much there is to know about real seed saving, and sad that I really don’t have the space to do a right proper job of it.

I was inspired to attend a seed co-operative meeting with Grow Portland and the seed saving lecture hosted by our local Master Gardeners after listening to a talk by Vandana Shiva at PCC Cascade a few weeks ago. The Indian physicist turned environmental and social justice leader got my blood boiling again about the tragedy of genetically modified seeds for farmers and the social impact of corporations controlling food sources and prices worldwide.

While I knew that my backyard seed saving was little more than me being a rebel in my own mind, giving me a delusional sense of security that I could save non-GM seeds for the day that Monsanto wins the legal right to dictate what seeds backyard growers use, I didn’t realize that it is almost impossible for me to save ‘good’ seed in our tiny yard with a handful of raised beds. The adorable and inspiring young couple who run Adaptive Seed are doing the real work of going around the world to find the seeds that haven’t been hybridized or lost. They have the acreage and know- how to save seed from plants that have been isolated to prevent accidental hybridization and to grow enough of each plant so that they don’t become inbred. Now I realize that the seeds I’ve saved could come out as odd, bad tasting crosses or may have become genetically weakened because one needs to plant at least dozens of the same variety to ensure good stock. Oops.

I’m still planning to save seed from things like bush beans that stay pretty true genetically, and I may still plant some of those saved seeds out for fun. I am still interested in trying to grow one type of brassica at a time to save seed from, even if it takes two years and a lot of precious garden space. After all, I don’t really feed my family off of our garden alone, even though that image is still frolicking around in my fantasy life.

My new plan is to buy seeds from small, local farms to support the people who might really be saving the world. In doing so, I will be getting seeds that are already adapted to the area that I live in. The plants are also more likely to be hardy since the small farmer is able to inspect the plants they grow for seed better than a large seed farm that harvests hundreds of acres of plants and doesn’t bother to rogue out inferior plants before saving the seed.

If you’re interested in saving seed, or just the concept of how seed is saved and what is involved, check out the Seed Ambassador’s free downloadable ‘zine’. They also have a seed saver’s reading list on their blog.

Now, off to drool over my Oregonian small-farmed, much loved seeds, pray for sun, and finish reading Vandana Shiva’s book, “Earth Democracy”. Here’s a link to a Yes! Magazine interview with Dr. Shiva.

Pantry Rummaging- Tuna and Preserved Lemon Salad

2011-03-03T18:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's that time of year (still) in the Pacific Northwest. I don't want to go out in the weather to shop and I end up rummaging through the pantry like a squirrel digging up its cache of nuts.

One of the things in my cache is a jar of Moroccan preserved lemons that I made before Christmas. I gave some out as gifts even though I knew that they risked lingering uneaten in the backs of refrigerators all over Portland. Preserved lemons add a wonderful citrusy spark to any dish and don't have to be saved for the occasional Moroccan stew.

The pantry inspection also yielded cans of tuna, butter beans, Hatch green chiles and some leftover pasta. Some good, birthday present olive oil, and a sprinkling of bright red ground sumac that Chris brought back from Morocco, finished off a satisfying, protein rich salad. I didn't get to go to Morocco, sadly, but I was easily consoled with some spices and an orange pouf from the souk.

For the salad:

1 can of solid chunk tuna, drained
1 can of butter beans*
2 or more tablespoons of green chiles **
1 tablespoon of chopped preserved lemons***
A couple of good glugs of olive oil. Use less if you are using tuna in oil.
Leftover pasta if you've got it
Fresh ground pepper
Ground sumac if you have it. **** Hungarian paprika is nice, too.

*Eden brand has no BPA (bisphenol A). I buy a bunch when they go on sale.

**I wish I had a freezer full of frozen Hatch New Mexican chiles. The canned chiles are convenient and easier to get in Oregon, but they retain their 'canned' taste more than I would like. However, they are still surprisingly high in vitamin C, making them a good winter food. To avoid having the leftovers taste even more tinned, make sure to store them in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

*** Preserved lemons are easy to make and very convenient to have on hand for any dish that needs to be 'brightened'. Meyer lemons make the tastiest preserved lemons that I've tried. Most people cut the lemons in quarters almost to the bottom of the lemon and then stuff them with salt and add lemon juice to fill the jar. I decided this year to cut thin slices of lemons into quarters and layer them with salt to avoid the hassle of cutting up a whole lemon every time I wanted a bit of preserved lemon for a dish. After pressing the salted lemon bits down with the back of a spoon, I filled the jar to the top with more squeezed lemon juice. The lemons need to sit and ferment for a few days to a few weeks before use. They end up a bit syrupy and the rinds become very soft. Just chop them up rind and all to add to food. Be wary of adding salt to the dish when using preserved lemons as they are essentially a brined food and very salty. Most people say to rinse the lemons first and some say to remove the pith or rind. Sometimes I rinse these and sometimes I don't, but I always use the rind for its wonderful flavor and texture.

**** Sumac can be found in Middle Eastern markets. It is a small dark red berry that is usually ground and added to soups and stews. It is a bit sour, astringent and earthy. The first time I used it was in college when the owner of a Lebanese restaurant finally gave me her 'secret' ingredient for the lentil soup I was obsessed with. I had made the simple soup at home over and over to no avail until she told me to add the ground sumac.

Preserving the last of the Hood Apples

2011-02-23T16:07:00.000-08:00

We went to the last winter farmer's market in the Montavilla neighborhood a few weeks ago intending to pick up a box of apples to dry for snacks. For some reason I thought they'd be cheaper this late in the year, but of course, supply and demand usually works the other way.

I told the vendor that I was looking for apples to dry and asked what the best variety would be- and the cheapest. She explained that all of the apples were $35.00 per box, but motioned over her shoulder to a big plastic sack of apples left by the truck. I could have 25 pounds of 'ugly' apples for a mere five bucks- and she'd throw in another half sack to boot. I bit, of course.

Insert Portlandia dumpster diving skit here. When I got them home, I had to sort them by rank of most to least rotted. The completely rotted ones went straight to the compost and I tried to work with the next worst load first. To my surprise, even the ones that looked like they'd just gone three rounds with Mohammed Ali were pretty good inside. In fact, it took us a week to dry them all and we made a few quarts of apple sauce.

We've managed to go through several jars of the apple snacks already. They're like chips- hard to stop eating once you've started. And really, you'd never know they were 'ugly' apples- some of them real ugly. The best part is that Will is a champ at placing the apples on the screens.

You'll need a super sharp knife if you plan to cut them by hand like I did. I had to cut off the bruised bits, so it made more sense for me to use a knife to slice them in to thin rounds than a food processor. Also, there is only so much room on the trays, so it seemed like a bit of overkill to get out the machine, plus, I like the zen of slicing and trying not to cut my fingers off. If you'd like apples with no browning at all, soak them in lemon juice while you are slicing more for the dehydrator. A dash of cinnamon can make them even more irresistible.

We use an Excalibur food dehydrator, a real workhorse. The square trays fit more on them than the smaller, circular dehydrators, and it has a bunch of different heat settings for everything from vegetables and fruits to jerky so that I don't have to look up the suggested settings every time I work with it.

What's the outlay of energy with procuring, handling and using electricity to dry the apples? I'm not sure, but I do know that it keeps a six and a half year old awfully busy and makes them mighty proud of the snacks they eat. If you want to know what your kitchen might look like after a week of drying apples and an evening of making marmalade, look no further:

The Marmalicious

2011-02-22T16:36:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not saying that Marmee from Little Women was hot. I'm saying that using marmalade as a base for a hot toddy is delicious.

I made a few half pints of this tangerine based marmalade a few days ago and started using it on everything. Piled on crackers with goat cheese- check. On buttered breakfast toast-natch. Hot toddy- oh yeah.

Lacking meyer lemons, I used a little more than half a grapefruit instead. It made it more on the bitter side, more of a 'Vintage Oxford' style of British marmalade. I also substituted honey for a quarter cup of white sugar to give it a richer flavor.

For the toddy: A spoonful of marmalade, hot water, a glug of bourbon. Not an exact science for me, obviously. I do prefer bourbon to whiskey, though, because it rounds out the marmalade nicely- but I'm sure that whatever you've got on hand will work well on a cold night.

The Year of the Kitchen

2011-02-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

I've been all talk with the kitchen and no show. I'll share a few before and after pictures so that you can see what we've been doing around here for the last year. We have a tiny point and shoot camera, so don't go expecting Vogue Living pics, here. As a matter of fact, I haven't gotten around to taking pictures of the pantry and other areas, mostly because we still need doors, trim and shelves in some spots.

Before we moved in, during the 'house tour'.

Today. The stove is a story in itself. Saved from an old bachelor logger in the wet hills of Oregon, rusty and filthy, it had a mouse skeleton embedded in grease inside. Chris scrubbed it down and we had it re-chromed and converted back to gas from propane. The stove really became the impetus to rip out the kitchen. Once it was in everything else looked even darker and dingier.

The pictures we have taken don't show all of the cool schoolhouse lights we found at Goodwill and the Rebuilding Center. The black stone surround on the sink is textured soapstone from the Rebuilding Center. Our friend and amazing craftsman, Vincent, recut the stone for us to work with the twenty dollar single bowl stainless sink (also from the Rebuilding Center). We got the wooden counters at Ikea and sanded the heck out of them. The wooden floor is the original doug fir flooring, sanded and finished by our friend Brian in exchange for the use of a car for the summer. Doors from Rebuilding Center and garage sales. Range hood from Ikea's As-Is section- over half off. Lowe's subway tile installed by us. It was a mad scramble to get the grout off before it dried- always do a small section at a time! The doorway was widened by a few feet to let light in from the dining room. We saved the bottom cabinets since they were still functional, solid wood; but new sliding drawers would have been nice. Chris did all of the millwork in the kitchen himself. The island is an old worktable we found for a dollar at a rummage sale with a stone top from the Rebuilding Center that Vincent cut for us.

So, here's a year of pictures. You might want to check them out before you get the sledgehammer out and go all DIY on your house. I sincerely thought we'd be done in 3 months, but as they say, it always takes longer than you think.

After we moved in. Same kitchen, different hippies. This is where the refrigerator will end up. It lived in the Willster's room, the old breakfast room. I'm glad we got it out of there before tried to get himself a beer in the middle of the night.


I ripped the faux wood panelling off the wall about a year or so before the kitchen remodel. Who knew what was lurking under there?


Door was removed and doorway widened by several feet. Right hand wall, cabinets removed and wall destroyed to make way for pantry and refrigerator (goes into weird bathroom closet space).


We found old knob and tube wiring in the wall by the sink-also an old hornets nest and ivy. No insulation, of course.


Doug fir floor under the linoleum.


Before the tile, after the new drywall.


Wet sanding the soapstone with fine sandpaper.

Finished product minus a few doors.

Making ravioli with my dad and Will on my grandma Mary's old pasta machine.

Hello out there!

2011-02-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

A DIY kitchen remodel is a time, money and energy drain along the lines of a long illness, pregnancy, divorce or grad school. Even when its 'done', there are still the nagging bits left that still need finishing, but are now low priority as life goes on (how many people really managed to do those sit ups and kegels after the baby was born?). The last bit of trim, a few shelves and a couple of doors to be painted. Almost there!

Now that the kitchen is functional again after a solid year, the new projects begin. Check out the new Etsy shop next week, gFound, specializing in vintage finds. There should be a few things stocked by the middle of next week if I can get the hang of the technical side of photographing and uploading pictures.

Stay tuned!

List of Free, Cheap, and/or Neat Things To Do in Portland This Summer

2010-06-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the economy, right? We've all got to pull our belts a little tighter and figure out how to make do. The thing is, I see it as a challenge, a test of my ability to ferret out cheap fun and learn new things about my adopted city.

It also fits right in with my obsession with Western American history. Most museums are relatively cheap or have free days, and state parks are usually free, so I will be dragging the boy around a bit unmercifully this summer to all of the historical sites around. I was going to do it anyway, but now I can feel a bit smug about saving money on day camp, too.

There is actually more to the list than museums. There are free things to do all over Portland- music and movies in the parks, art shows, craft demonstrations. There are hikes and berry picking and alpaca petting.

If you have any desire to learn more about Oregon's history, boogie to live music, go to farmer's markets or hang out in beautiful places, check out The List. It's kind of big, but that just means that there is more of Oregon to love. Let me know if you have anything to add to the list, please!

Gina’s List of Things to do this Summer.

Mostly Free or Cheap! Kid Friendly! Learn your Oregon history! Click on links to find out more about an event.

Kruger Farm - Thursday Music Nights- Sauvie Island

June 24 � Lisa and Her Kin

July 1 � The New Iberians

July 8 � Midnight Serenaders

July 15 � The Buckles

July 22 � Los Cowtones

July 29 � Ashleigh Flynn

August 5 � Felicidades

August 12 � Bill Rhoades & the Party Kings

August 19 � Joy Wilson

August 26 � Shanghai Woolies

September 2 � Jackstraw

6:30 p.m. $10 per car
Music, hayrides and farm updates all hosted by Farmer Don, the roaming chickens and Matilda the pig.
Food, beer and wine available.

Sorry, OLCC regulations prohibit outside alcohol.
Dogs are normally welcome on the farm, but we ask that you leave them at home on concert night.

Free Music In The Park (more n, ne and sw online at parks and rec)

Sellwood Riverfront Park - SE Spokane & Oaks Pkwy, 6:30-8:30 PM

July 12: Mingo Fishtrap (funky soul)
July 19: Windermere CCRG, Moreland Branch presents Sanyu (gospel, R&B, and more)
July 26: Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside (alt pop)
Aug 2: Casey Neill & the Norway Rats (left coast rock)

Free art activities for children will begin at 6:00 PM each week.

Mt Tabor Park - SE 69 & Taylor, 6:30-8:30 PM
July 6: Warner Pacific College presents Paula Sinclair & the Pistols (Americana rock)
July 13: Lloyd Jones Struggle (swingin’ blues)
July 20: Melao de Cuba (salsa dance party)
July 27: Craicmore (kilts-on Celtic)

Willamette Park - SW Macadam & Nebraska, 6:30-8:30 PM

July 7: National College of Natural Medicine presents Rich Layton & the Troublemakers (rock & roll)
July 14: The New Iberians (zydeco)
July 21: Oregon Health Sciences University presents Darrell Grant (jazz)
July 28: Portland Water Bureau presents Misty River (Americana)

Free art activities for children will begin at 6:00 PM each week.

Free Movies in the Park (parks and rec (check online for one near you. Parks and Rec)

Free Washington Park Summer Festival (parks and rec)- 6pm

Th. Aug. 5- Taiko and Lions of Batucada- Drums

Fri Aug 6- Opera

Sat Aug 7- Jazz Women

Sun Aug 8- Portland Festival Symphony

Mon Aug 9- Ty Curtis Bankd- blues

Tues Aug 10- carrie Cunningham and the six shooters – blues, alt country, swing

Wed Aug 11- Apple Jam- Lennon/McCartney songs

Th Aug 12- Loveness Wesa- African dancers and drummers, marimba

Fri Aug 13- Do Jump and Klezmocracy

Sat Aug 14- Felicidades- salsa and calypso

Portland Art Museum

Free Days

The Portland Art Museum offers free admission on the fourth Friday of every month from 5-8 p.m. The Museum also offers four free Sundays a year scheduled in conjunction with Museum Family Day.

Portland Public Library-

Paper Crafts for All Ages with Colleen Cavin- Free

Sundays, July 18–August 1, 2010, 1–4 p.m.
Central Library, U.S. Bank Room

Have some papercrafting fun this summer — and learn a little bit of history, too! Colleen Cavin is a fifth generation Oregonian. She studied calligraphy and book binding in Portland and then armed with a BA in art history and a Fulbright scholarship, she went to England to hone those skills. In 2003 she was elected a Fellow into the prestigious London–based Society of Scribes and Illuminators. She teaches calligraphy and book binding (and their respective histories) in the Portland area

Paper Marbling

Sunday, July 18, 2010, 1–4 p.m.
Decorated papers were used in book making at the time for the endsheets and fly leaves of books. They were either marbled or were paste papers. We will make marbled papers, floating watercolor pigments on the surface of water and,laying a piece of paper on top of that, transferring the pattern to the paper. Each participant will be able to make a maximum or three marbled papers to take away.

Printmaking

Sunday, July 25, 2010, 1–4 p.m.
Of course, everything was manually printed on presses those days...books, daily papers, broadsides and "bills" (you know those signs that said post no bills here? they were about adverts), even "wanted" posters. The purpose of printing was to make multiple copies. In this workshop, we will draw into art foam to make our printing plates from which to pull our prints. Each person will take away a number of prints made from their one printing plate

Simple Book Making

Sunday, August 1, 2010, 1–4 p.m.
John Adams had a great library, as did Thomas Jefferson and other prominent people of the time. The books were handbound, from the book binder in the village or town or city. In this workshop, we will make two types of books...a sewn pamphlet–style and a concertina–style book.

Reptile show- Saturday, July 10 1-2 Sellwood Library- Free tickets 30 minutes before program.

Check out a pass to the Portland Children’s Museum for Free from the Library. Put a hold on it in the library catalog.

Oregon, My Oregon - History and Beauty

Fort Vancouver

Fees- Throughout the year an entrance fee is charged at the reconstructed fort. The entrance cost is $3.00 per individual and $5.00 per family, and is valid for seven days.
During the summer season, a fee collector will greet you at the fort and collect your fee. Otherwise, a self-serve fee station is located at the Contact Station inside the fort.
The McLoughlin House unit is free to the public; no entrance fee is charged.

Willamette Falls Locks-

Museum of the Oregon Territory – Wednesdays- call

Oregon Trail Museum

Willamette Mission State Park

Champoeg State Park

Macleay Park

Kelly Point Park ( beach is rocky and driftwoody fun- confluence of Columbia and Willamette)

Tryon Creek Park

Columbia River Discovery Center- (the Dalles)

The Museum at Warm Springs (between here and bend- 100 miles)

Maryhill Museum of Art- overlooks Gorge, says it has children’s room

Other Oregon Amusements-

Berry Picking

U-Pick- tri-county

Hood River Fruitloop- Can do this any time. Check out the alpacas while you’re at it. Big dates below.

2010 Hood River County Fruit Loop Celebration Dates

Wine Celebration June 19-20

Cherry Celebration July 10-11

Gravenstein Celebration Aug 21-22

Pear Celebration Sept 18-19

Heirloom Apple Celebration Oct 23-24

Free Music in the Park- the Dalles June-September datesGorge

Gorge Hikes (anyone know any good kids hikes?)

Horsetail Falls- the Gorge

Coast- agate hunting, seaweed gathering, make a driftwood shack

Oaks Amusement Park and roller skating- Summer Discount Days

Wednesday night Bi-Mart card deal

Pickathon! Kid friendly, music festival on an 80 acre farm- you can camp or go for the day. Put on by awesome locals.

Tears of Joy Theatre- puppet shows- Saturday morning puppet making activities before show.

Do JUMP- Kids program in acrobatics/trapeze. Shows as well.

NW Trackers- still spots available for awesome summer day camps. Sellwood/West Moreland/ Oaks Bottom

PNCA Youth Classes- art classes and summer workshops for kids

Farmer’s Markets- many more at link

People’s – 3029 SE 21^st- Wednesdays, 2-7 Year round

Portland Downtown- SW Salmon and SW Park- Wednesdays 10-2

Buckman - SE 20^th and SE Salmon St – Thursdays 3:30-7

Portland State- S. Park Blocks- Saturdays- 8:30-2

Hollywood –NE Hancock and 44^th/45^th- Saturdays, 8-1

Montavilla- 7600 block of SE Stark St – Sundays 10-2

Hillsdale- 1407 SW Vermont- Sundays, 10-2

This reminds me of that time...

2010-05-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

Chris just turned me on to the site, 'Shit My Kids Have Ruined'. It's a site of pictures of things kids have ruined including couches, cars, toys, boobs and pets. I need to send in a picture of our car - ruined by two boys with rocks exactly two weeks after it came back from the shop picture perfect (okay, that was from when I ruined it by sideswiping a work truck in the snow). There is zero chance that we'll be fixing the numerous dents along the whole side since we'd just used our insurance and payed the deductible.

It reminds me of the time that my Dad found me with his gold pocket watch as I was trying to put back the innumerable tiny cogs and wheels that I'd taken apart. I was pretty little and he'd shown me how to open the back of the watch to look at the moving parts to amuse me at some point. Sorry, Dad.

Or the time I put a cooler into the back of our new Volvo for a picnic outing. I slammed the trunk closed and it bounced back. So I slammed it again a few times for good measure- surely the thing should stay closed. Finally, my Dad got out to check and immediately noticed a large dent in the trunk where the handle of the cooler was preventing it from closing. Oops, again.

Don't get me started on how having a kid has ruined my boobs, given me stretch marks and a muffin top. Never fear, I won't be sending those pictures in to the website. Or wearing a bikini any time soon.

Thanks, Wilma Mankiller

2010-04-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Thinking about Wilma Mankiller, who just passed away yesterday after a long illness. She was a strong leader for her tribe and an inspiration to men and women worldwide. She started programs for self-sufficiency, healthcare and education. She was the first woman elected leader of the 72,000 member Cherokee Nation, head of the tribal council and guardian of the tribe. She held the position for ten years, leaving only after her health concerns grew.

Here she relates a bit about what becoming the elected leader for the Cherokee people was like for her;

"The only issue in the first election was my being female," she said. "That was a total — a total issue in the entire election. There was incredible opposition because of that. But the people who stayed with me in the '83 election and who stayed with me through today, 10 years later, have been the older people in the tribe and the more traditional elements of the tribe. I've always found that fascinating. My husband and I have talked about it and I think we've come to the conclusion that maybe older people have a greater sense of history and understand that there was a time when women played a more significant role in the tribe and there was more balance and harmony between men and women in the Cherokee Nation." (NPR)

DIY Mini-Greenhouse

2010-03-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

After the squirrels dug up my planted pea seeds last month, I decided to get them off to a good start by planting them inside. Now all I have to worry about are the slugs and pill bugs.

Here's a cheap and 'green' way to start your seedlings off right. I started mine in our sunporch- essentially an unheated greenhouse, but you could put yours in a sunny window in the house.

1) Go to your grocery store recycling bin (or ask friends and neighbors) and pull out a few of the clear plastic boxes that held pre-washed salads. For tinier greenhouses that will fit nicely in your kitchen, try clear plastic clamshell take out containers.

2) Gather up all of your toilet paper and/or paper towel rolls. Try to remember to save them before recycling them. You'll need about ten per large salad box. If you are chomping at the bit to get started on your seeds and don't have the patience to collect the toilet paper rolls, use the small plastic nursery plant pots (2"), or just fill the smaller clamshell type containers with dirt and just put a few seeds in each. The advantage to the toilet paper rolls is that you can plant the seedlings in the ground with their collars on and the paper will disintegrate in the ground without disturbing the seedlings roots. You could also peel the paper off carefully and compost it.

3) Label your seeds. I used some tongue depressors we had for arts and crafts. I labeled the types of peas and the date we put them in the greenhouses. I failed to remember to keep the labels with the seedlings when I planted them in the garden. Oops. Oh well, they are all peas of some tasty type, right?

4) Cut toilet paper rolls in half. Fit them tightly into the plastic box. Fill with seedling mix. Press seeds in to dirt, or leave some room and then cover seed over with dirt. Spray with water. Cover box with lid and leave in a sunny window.

5) Spray with seeds with water every few days- they need to be kept 'evenly moist". The plastic boxes keep them pretty moist, but they do need to be checked on every few days.

5) Take the lid off as the plants get bigger. Leave plants outside during the day and bring them in before it gets too cold at night. Do this for a few days. It's called 'hardening off'. Now, plant!

P.S. When I went out to plant the new pea seedlings, I discovered that the squirrels had only dug up a few of the peas. Quite a few were just starting to come up and some were just sprouting under the surface. Some had already been beheaded by slugs. It took the peas twice as long to germinate outside as they did in the greenhouse. Wow! Now I'll have to see if the greenhouse ones are as strong as the ones germinated outside.

I Love Kim Stafford- State of the City Poem

2010-03-25T20:13:00.001-07:00

City of Art & Culture

for the Portland City Council, 17 March 2010

Beside the OMSI submarine, docked for good, the beaver
whittles a willow stick, while at Brooklyn School, a girl shapes
her poem, gnawing the pencil to think the words just right.

On Ross Island, the heron shouts a guttural cry
while outside City Hall, with his mandolin, Alonzo,
fingers cold, brimming with song, plucks his life tune for tips.

Mother coyote hops on the Red Line, sits tall, gazes far, leaps off
at the next stop, while a dancer at Jefferson seeks in his bones
the coyote gesture that turns pain to grace.

In the way water moves along the restless hem of Johnson Creek,
the painter finds a line thattransforms confusion into a map
of the possible. Without the poet's right word, the musician's

aching song, the dancer's feral reach, the painter's sure line, we lose
resilience at the downturn, we lack verve at the decision point,
we falter when our children beg for joy in spite of all.

It is for these reasons, friends-the way the creative heart
and mind can find a dancer's path through tough times-
that we are practical about our work in the City of Art.

- Kim Stafford

Baking With Whole Grains

2010-03-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to pass along the words of a super cooking blog about the new great baking cookbook by Kim Boyce. The book is now out. The reviewer, Heidi Swanson, and her readers' comments have said it all at 101 Cookbooks. Sorry about the grainy (sorry again) picture, it was pilfered from Amazon.

P.S. If anyone who has a working oven would like to borrow this book from me and try some of the recipes, feel free. Especially if you have a few leftovers you wouldn't mind sharing! Kitchen update coming soon!

Hand Carved and Letter Pressed

2010-03-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, when I see handmade art like this it makes me wonder why I even try. It's true though, that even the most crude stamp produced is wondrous when it is inked and stamped. Art crudely carved out of a hunk of rubber is wondrously transformative to me in the same way that a gorgeous loaf of bread from a bowlful of flour, yeast and water is.

I want one of each poster from Roll and Tumble Press.

I love the WPA/ '60's album cover vibes they have going.

Here's a little background on the artists from their etsy shop profile:
Charming painter turned letterpress printer + Art school dropout turned tattoo artist bond over a love of music, quirky collections and dusty junk shops. One, big, drafty house, three rescue dogs, and a chance meeting with a true old time printer............Roll & Tumble Press is born. (all pictures from Tumbling Dice Press).

Another favorite is Maya Donenfield of Mayamade. She carves beautiful stamps and prints on both paper and fabric. (Picture from Mayamade blog.)

Thinking of stitching

2010-03-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

I have a cigar box to make into an art project for the Buckman School auction. Yikes. There's a bit of pressure, coming up with something that someone would want to bid on.

A few years ago I saw some pictures of cross stitched ikea stools and other wooden objects. Last year I came upon a sewn hardwood floor on Design Sponge- hard to clean, I imagine, but gorgeous and a bit dizzying in it's scale.

Just as I was thinking of getting out the old dremel drill and having at it, I came across this today at Design Shimmer.

I guess all signs are pointing toward this project. Someday if this works out on the box, I'd like to try stitching vintage leather Coach bags like this. They are so sturdy and well made, and basically never wear out, but I hate the little "Coach" tags and their seriousness. I picture them with exploding, colorful blooms stitched on them like one of those old raffia grandma bags.

13 Grandmothers Council, Grandma Aggie in Portland

2010-02-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of the 13 Grandmothers? They are 13 indigenous women elders from around the world that have each had visions or were handed down prophesies in one way or another that they would gather with 12 other women of knowledge to help rebalance the world.

These elderly women have been traveling around the world for 6 years now, speaking and praying with people all over to create awareness we are related to each other and the earth, and how to help heal the earth and each other.

Grandma Aggie, also known as Taowhywee, or Agnes Baker Pilgrim, is from Southern Oregon. She is the oldest member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. She's funny and tough and full of urgency to get us all up to speed. Will and I had the honor of tying tobacco ties for a ceremony she led in Ashland a few years ago, and I know that she has been working to the ragged edge of her strength to bring her knowledge to people in Oregon and the world.

She is going to be speaking on Friday, February 12th at the Main Sanctuary, First Unitarian Church, 1211 SW Main Street, Portland, OR 97205

In the Grandmothers own words:

WE ARE THIRTEEN INDIGENOUS GRANDMOTHERS who came together for the first time from October 11 through October 17, 2004, in Phoenicia, New York. We gathered from the four directions in the land of the people of the Iroquois Confederacy. We come here from the Amazon rainforest, the Alaskan Tundra of North America, the great forest of the American northwest, the vast plains of North America, the highlands of central America, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the mountains of Oaxaca, the desert of the American southwest, the mountains of Tibet and from the rainforest of Central Africa.

Affirming our relations with traditional medicine peoples and communities throughout the world, we have been brought together by a common vision to form a new global alliance.

We are the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers. We have united as one. Ours is an alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children and for the next seven generations to come.

We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth, the contamination of our air, waters and soil, the atrocities of war, the global scourge of poverty, the threat of nuclear weapons and waste, the prevailing culture of materialism, the epidemics which threaten the health of the Earth's peoples, the exploitation of indigenous medicines, and with the destruction of indigenous ways of life.

We, the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, believe that our ancestral ways of prayer, peacemaking and healing are vitally needed today. We come together to nurture, educate and train our children. We come together to uphold the practice of our ceremonies and affirm the right to use our plant medicines free of legal restriction. We come together to protect the lands where our peoples live and upon which our cultures depend, to safeguard the collective heritage of traditional medicines, and to defend the earth Herself. We believe that the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future.

We join with all those who honor the Creator, and to all who work and pray for our children, for world peace, and for the healing of our Mother Earth.

For all our relations.

Margaret Behan-Cheyenne-Arapahoe Rita Pitkta Blumenstein–Yup’ik Aama Bombo–Tamang,,Nepal Julieta Casimiro-Mazatec Flordemayo-Mayan Maria Alice Campos Freire-Brazil Tsering Dolma Gyaltong-Tibetan Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance-Oglala Lakota Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance-Oglala Lakota Agnes Pilgrim- Takelma Siletz Mona Polacca-Hopi/ Havasupai Clara Shinobu Iura-Brazil Bernadette Rebienot- Omyene

State of Emergency on South Dakota Reservations- Donations Needed!

2010-02-08T10:14:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

When things get overwhelming, it's good to remember that there is plenty to go around, it's just a matter of will and logistics. The will to have equity in the world, for everyone to have food, shelter, warmth and medicine. The logistics to get it to the people who need it. Go here for a list of ways to get help to the reservations immediately and in the future. The Daily Kos, and One Spirit.

The governor of South Dakota placed the entire state in a state of emergency last week because of unrelenting storms and cold. Unfortunately, since December the people on the nine Reservations (you may have heard of the Cheyenne River Reservation in the news, but there are 8 others) in South Dakota have been suffering for lack of water, heat, shelter and medicine. The dialysis patients have just been moved out of the local hospitals and families are in desperate need of heat (many folks have had their heat shut off in below freezing temperatures due to lack of money to pay for it), many are without water because the water pipes have frozen and broken.

These reservations have already been in a state of emergency and now are in full crisis mode. It would be nice if the news outlets would cover the suffering as they have in Haiti and the celebrities would hold phone drives for donations, but it doesn't appear to be happening- as usual.

I found out about the present crisis there through friends I was visiting in Ashland. They have a friend on one of the reservations who was trucking water from the spring where he lives to people without water on the rest of the rez. I was able to send money through them, but I had to do a little digging on the internet to find out how to donate through a program. If you can take the time, check out the links above for more info and other ways to donate. Otherwise, I have copied the list from Navajo' on The Daily Kos.

* WIND CHILL VALUES OF 25 TO 35 DEGREES BELOW ZERO ARE EXPECTED TODAY.

Below are updated links organized by reservation:

Rosebud Reservation
Power:
No online donation links at this time for Rosebud, we'll put one up as soon as available.
St. Francis Energy Co. 605-747-2542 9AM - 5PM MST (Native owned)
Normally a minimum order is $150, but they have set up an account so that people wanting to donate less can and as it accumulates to a minimum order, it will be delivered. Ask for Sherry or Patsy, who can process this type of payment. Credit Cards ok.
Cherry Todd Electric 605-856-4416 9AM - 5PM MST
Tell them to direct your donation to LIHEAP.
Ask for Samantha. Credit Cards ok.
If you can only donate by check which will be used for future propane deliveries and other necessities send a ck to:
LIHEAP, attn Eileen.
P.O. Box 430
Rosebud, SD 57570
Cks payable to: Rosebud Sioux Tribe LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program)

Monetary Donations:
Rosebud Sioux Tribe President's Office
P.O. Box 430
Rosebud, SD 57570
Monetary donations (checks only right now) can be made to help the various emergency programs - from social services to energy to the emergency preparedness program, which may be providing extra food or plowing roads to diabetics and those needing dialysis, etc. Monetary donations can include a note specifying how you would like the funds used.
The tribal chairman's office also accepts clothing donations.
Clothing is passed out to those who come into the offices in need or through the tribal social services office.
Clothing:
White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc
291 N. Main
P.O. Box 227
Mission, SD 57555
605-856-2317
Paypal link at www.wbcws.org

Pine Ridge Reservation
Power:
Lakota Plains Propane Company 605-867-5199 9AM - 5PM MST
Takes major credit and debit cards
Minimum ordering $120 for one weeks worth of propane
Tell them you want to donate to a Lakota family on their list.
Lacreek Electric Company at 800-655-9324 or 605-685-6581 9AM - 5PM MST
You need to have a name of a family when you call. Please email KentuckyKat, (kentuckykatonkos AT gmail DOT com) she has the list of names from Autumn and you can be matched with a family.
Clothing Donation:
(Clothing must be clean or it will be thrown away!)
Lakota Oyate Wakanyeja Owicakiyape
East Highway 18
IHS Compound, Box 604
Pine Ridge, SD 57770.
See changingwinds.org for addresses of other agencies participating in the Winter Warmth Drive for the people of Pine Ridge.
Special thanks to Autumn Two Bulls who has been our contact from Pine Ridge. Autumn is completely a first responder volunteer, she is not getting paid nor profiting from this effort. She knows her people well and has driven all over this vast reservation which is nearly the size of Connecticut to check on families in need and collect their names for the power companies. She is currently working on plans to bring solar energy to the Pine Ridge Reservation, and also the construction this summer of an entirely green homeless shelter -- projects that, when completed, will serve as a model for other reservations.

CHEYENNE RIVER RESERVATION
FINANCIAL DONATIONS:
The Tribe has depleted its emergency budget with the two blizzards that already hit the reservation since December.
Donate ONLINE to Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
WIRE DONATIONS TO:
Cheyenne River Sioux 2010 Disaster Account
Direct to: United Bkrs Bloomington ABA # 091 001 322
Beneficiary Bank: Account Number 250 3373
State Bank of Eagle Butte
Eagle Butte, SD 57625
Final Credit: Account Holder @ UBB Customers Bank
Account Holder: CRST 2010 Disaster, Account Number 103173
MAIL CHECK DONATIONS TO:
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe/2010 Disaster Account
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman's Office
Attn: Ice Storm Emergency Fund
PO Box 590
2001 Main Street (Tribal Offices)
Eagle Butte, SD 57625
CHEYENNNE RIVER SIOUX CONTACTS:
Robin Le Beau, Chairman's Assistant c (610) 568-2101
Joe Brings Plenty, Tribal Chairman c (605) 365-6548
CRST Emergency Coordination Center (605) 964-7711 (7712)
CRST 2010 Disaster Relief Press Release, Background, Assessment and Public Service Announcement for local residents. Slide show of power line damage there.

Umbrella Groups
You can double your donation and use a credit card.
The (Archibald & Edyth) Bush Foundation is matching gifts to relieve suffering on SD Indian reservations following an ice storm that will leave many without heat, electricity and food for weeks. The Foundation will give up to $25,000 in 1 for 1 matching dollars.
The Minneapolis based foundation announced today that it will match gifts to Native Americans in Philanthropy which has created a special fund to assist the Cheyenne River Tribe of the Lakota Nation.
You can donate here thru Native Americans in Philanthropy
Progress:
$3,766 Jan. 31st
$7,866 Feb. 1st noon PST
$11,200 Feb. 2nd AM
$13,040 Feb. 4th 10:58 AM PST
$15,330 Feb. 4th 02:38 PM PST
$16,745 Feb. 5th 11:12 AM PST
$18,930 Feb. 7th 11:37 PM PST raised to date
Razoo's and GiveMN's funding partners will cover all transaction fees (Network for Good credit card fee rate is 4.75%) to ensure that 100% of the donations go to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
UPDATE FEB. 3rd 2:00 PM PST:
The (Archibald & Edyth) Bush Foundation has added another $25,000 in matching funds thru the South Dakota Community Foundation
Progress:
$665 Feb. 3rd
$985 Feb. 4th 11:00 AM PST
$1,135 Feb. 4th 2:40 PM PST
$1,224 Feb. 5th 11:12 AM PST
$1,919 Feb. 7th 11:37 PM PST raised to date
The Native American Heritage Association (NAHA) (NAHA) is a very reputable organization with a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator, so if you're looking for a way that you can donate online, and want to be sure your donation is going to a legitimate charity, this would be the organization to send your donation to. NAHA provides food, clothing, heating assistance, etc., to the people on several South Dakota reservations.
The Native American Advocacy Program (NAAP)
302 East 2nd Street
P.O. Box 527
Winner, South Dakota 57580-0527
Phone: (605) 842-3977
(Not so much for emergencies, but they help our tribal members with disabilities.)
Native American Rights Fund
"Our Mission: preservation of tribal existence, protection of tribal natural resources, promotion of Native American human rights, accountability of governments to Native Americans, development of Indian law and educating the public about Indian rights, laws, and issues."

Web Contact Page
E-Mail: pereira@narf.org
1712 N St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-785-4166
Fax: 202-822-0068

Be sure to run all other donation sites through Charity Navigator to make sure they are reputable. There are many scams, old and new out there.
Please see Aji's diary for links to contact information for state and local officials. For a list of federal agency contacts, go here; for a list of national media contacts and a template for a letter to the editor, gohere.

BACKGROUND
There are nine reservations In South Dakota. News reports are covering only two reservations, Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River.

Full size photo
^{courtesy of South Dakota Office of Tribal Government Relations}

Got the SAD

2010-02-01T09:50:00.000-08:00

Excuse my absence, but the SAD has gotten me.

Sadness over Haiti made me feel ridiculous every time I thought about writing another frivolous post.

Seasonal Affective Disorder disabled me (as it does every year here in the Pacific Northwest, despite the Vitamin D supplements). I get very little done and just want to hide under the covers.

Home being topsy turvy with the kitchen out of commission and basement being filled with junk has been disorienting. It makes me realize how much our little kitchen really has been the command center, and now I feel relieved of duty since it is blocked off by the "Cheney wall" as Chris calls it (plastic and duct tape- it's what Dick Cheney told everyone to use in case of chemical attack- he'd be in a nice bunker, of course.).

(Will's first horse ride, Ashland, Or. )

SO, in order to give my hero of a husband a chance to work without distractions (um, that would be me and Will), and maybe to recharge my batteries, Will and I are going to Ashland, Oregon for the week. Open spaces, horses to look at, and good friends to visit with.

See you soon, and hopefully, fully charged again.

Multnomah County Food, Warm Clothing, Blanket Drive

2010-01-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

Just in case there are some folks reading this blog who live in Portland-

Hi All,

Some of you may already have gotten this spiel from me (sorry for the double whammy, if so), but just in case I missed you, here it is again.

In support of the Multnomah County food, clothing and blanket drive, I'll be searching our house this week for warm clothes and blankets that haven't seen much use this year. I would imagine that warm kids clothes would be especially appreciated since the number of families with children who have become homeless this year in Portland is still going up.

If anyone has coupons for non-perishable foods that they will not be using themselves, this might be a great time to use them up and donate the food (think of all the leftover coupons in those Chinook books every year!).

I will be glad to take your donations to my nearest donation site on Tuesday, January 19th. Just drop them off on our porch if we are not home. Otherwise, if you live in the neighborhood, or I see you at Buckman, I could pick them up from you.

Here is a link for other donation sites around town: Multnomah County food, winter clothing, blanket drive.

Best,

Gina

New tradition? Making cards

2010-01-05T19:53:00.000-08:00

Will and I made cards for the holidays- my second annual attempt and his first. I had forgotten that I started the project right around the time we started to tear the kitchen apart until I saw these pictures and the stuff from the cabinets piled on everywhere in the dining room. It's not the optimal way to start a project, but I made a hole and went for it. If I have an urge to create in the winter, it's better to act on it right then and there before the winter lethargy takes over again.

I cut the skiing squirrel into a rubber stamp block and printed it onto old, heavy Italian cardstock leftover from my time at that fancy paper store on Melrose in L.A. Working there, it was hard to leave with a paycheck, but luckily they were gave generous discounts. A few years ago I finally bought the speedball cutters and this year I got the platen to squash the stamp down- man, the right tools make everything easier!

Will wanted to try his hand at carving a stamp, so I gave him some pointers on how to carve away from himself. The trick is to turn the stamp, not the guiding hand, and to keep the stabilizing hand away from the blade. He got a few nicks but came out with a cool spaceship. He later added some stars and ground. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it when we printed it out in bright yellow ink on a blue card- really cool!

I'm generally a nervous nelly mom, but for some reason, letting him cut with super sharp tools didn't bother me too much. It was just really exciting watching him have an idea and then make it happen. I love the instant gratification projects!

Chaos for Christmas

2010-01-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

No, not a new punk band, but life here at the casa, and most of the reason I've been a bad blogger.

This is me relaxing with my dad and Will in Southern California on a trail in 80 degree weather at Thanksgiving.

This is me looking half-crazed next to a crumbling kitchen wall a few days before the solstice in Portland.

Remember, Winter Solstice in Oregon = NO LIGHT and almost constant rain. This can cause changes in your brain chemistry. Now normally when SAD (seasonal affective disorder) hits, it causes me to want to sleep, eat pastries, and drink a lot of coffee and hot toddies. It's taken me quite a few years to realize that it's not just me being depressed, it's a way of life here. Sometimes, though, instead of 'just' getting depressed, you can get Cabin Fever.

This is what happens when you decide you can't take the dark kitchen anymore, the place where you spend most of your time in the darkness of winter (and you can talk someone handy into making it happen). I think it was the constant refrain of "we'd get so much more light in here if that wall was gone" that did it. Or maybe, "Jennifer didn't have a budget for her kitchen and look how great it is."
*Note to self, do not covet thy neighbor's kitchen or bathroom. It could be worse for your relationship than coveting someone elses spouse. So far, so good here, and only one lost day of work recovering from a live band karaoke New Year's eve party. Ya gotta let loose during the dark days of winter and home improvement.

These are the faces of the husband and child about to embark on the craziness that is kitchen remodel 2009-2010. It's more disturbing and jitters inducing than I would have thought. The last minute, no plan, no budget kitchen remodel. Details and pictures to come.

P.S. Thanks, Mom, for letting us commandeer your apartment. I'm sure it's a thrill to have three extra people in your 700 sq ft part of the duplex all day during Winter vacation. Thanks to my mom and Nini and Papa (Chris's folks), for Christmas presents and donations for the remodel. Thanks to Vince for making yourself available to help us with the really important stuff like wiring and load bearing walls. Thanks to Chris for being the amazing workhorse and handy guy you are. Thanks to Will for letting us take over the Cat Lounge- also known as the closet.

Now, let's get down to business.

Comments or Questions 101

2009-12-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm back! Our lovely driving holiday in California has come to an end and I'm back home, trying to find the groove again.

I've had some requests for a tutorial on how to leave a comment and how to subscribe so that the blog title ends up on your toolbar (when the title is clicked a list of new posts is shown). I think that folks who have wanted to leave a comment have been clicking the comments subscriber button. I can't get rid of that button, unfortunately. I mean, who wants to subscribe to the comments on this blog, especially if there aren't any?! Unfortunately, I only know how to drive an Apple computer, so these directions are all in Mac.
I was recently paid a tidy, if unsolicited sum (thanks Van and Kathleen at Livingdojo!) to set up a blog for a business... so don't laugh at my directions, I'm a paid professional now!

Comment away, it's the only way that I know there is anyone actually out there reading this thing!

Subscribe:

1) Click on the Subscribe button on the right hand side of the page. A drop down menu will appear. Go to the bottom of the menu and click the Atom button. A pop-up window will ask you where you want this to go. Choose toolbar and it will appear on your toolbar with your other most looked at sites:)

If it is not appearing, click on the right arrow at the end of the toolbar- you may have an overloaded toolbar and the blog title might be hanging out there.

You can change these around or delete some items if you need to by going to Bookmarks, then Bookmarks toolbar. Click on site name you want to delete, then click the gear symbol at top left, click delete on drop down menu.

Comment:

Scroll down to the bottom of the post you are reading. You should see:
Posted by Gina at 12:23 PM 1 comments Links to this post

Most of the time it says 0 comments. You can change this by clicking on the word 'comment'. A window for your pithy comment, outraged reaction or intellectual observations will be provided. It may ask you to select a profile. Go to the bottom of the drop down menu and choose name/url. Write your name. Hit post comment when you are finished writing.

Your comment will show up soon after I 'moderate' it. I'll post anything, even your crankiest comments, but it lets me know you've commented, even if it's on an old post that I might not go back to look at.

Hope this helps!

mtDNA Baby Urge

2009-11-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Chris and I aren't planning on having anymore kids (although the snip would be a great way to make double dog sure), and I haven't really had a big baby urge in a long time- or at least since Will stopped wearing diapers.

After a chat with our mailman today about human ancestors and DNA, I went to check my facts on the theorized common human ancestor, an African woman who lived 200, 000 years ago whose mitochondrial DNA is in all of us. Curious about how mtDNA works, I found this tidbit about how it is passed down from NOVA:

Whenever an egg cell is fertilized, nuclear chromosomes from a sperm cell enter the egg and combine with the egg's nuclear DNA, producing a mixture of both parents' genetic code. The mtDNA from the sperm cell, however, is left behind, outside of the egg cell.

So the fertilized egg contains a mixture of the father and mother's nuclear DNA and an exact copy of the mother's mtDNA, but none of the father's mtDNA. The result is that mtDNA is passed on only along the maternal line. This means that all of the mtDNA in the cells of a person's body are copies of his or her mother's mtDNA, and all of the mother's mtDNA is a copy of her mother's, and so on. No matter how far back you go, mtDNA is always inherited only from the mother.

If you went back six generations in your own family tree, you'd see that your nuclear DNA is inherited from 32 men and 32 women^[1]. Your mtDNA, on the other hand, would have come from only one of those 32 women.

So what about all of the mtDNA of the other women who lived during "Eve's" time? What happened to it? Simply this: Somewhere between now and then, they had female descendants who had only sons (or no children). When this happened, the passing on of their mtDNA halted.

So, if I don't have a girl-child, there goes my mtDNA swirling down the drain of time. Dang, that makes me feel left out of the women's lineage group! It also leaves me feeling somewhat unsettled with a greater sense of my mortality and impermanence on earth- that's probably just from approaching 40, though.

The Milk of Human Kindness

2009-11-18T00:03:00.000-08:00

For someone who used to be a self-described luddite (with major exceptions for cars, planes, phones and electricity), I'm amazed at how much I love my computer for helping me to connect with others. Of course, it's just a tool like any other that we use to reach other people. Case in point, I have reconnected with friends I made when Will was a baby in Los Angeles while using the somewhat silly, time-wasting "social-networking" site Facebook.

We hadn't been in L.A. long when I got pregnant, and we knew almost no one. We had left our baby bearing friends back in Portland along with the midwives, independent coffee houses and 2 dollar movie theatres where you can have a slice and beer with your second run film.

After our move to the Silverlake/Echo Park area, I met a woman who was about as far along as I was with her first. After I had Will, she convinced me to get out of the house and go to a breastfeeding group with her. I was so freaked out and overwhelmed that I couldn't drive myself there because of overwhelming anxiety about having a tiny, defenseless, screaming 5 week old in the car. My sweet dad ended up driving 70 miles up from Orange County to take me to the group and wait in the lobby. The facilitator invited him in, but I honestly couldn't imagine a more uncomfortable situation for my father than sitting in a room full of women breastfeeding- especially the sloppy new mom breastfeeders that we were. All crying and laughing and leaking, sitting indian-style on the floor packed into a little tiny room over Malo, a hip taco restaurant with an apt name. Thanks to that group of women and my dad, I ended up driving the two or three miles once a week for months to that group until it ended, and was able to get out of the house again and learned how to breastfeed Will without him projectile vomiting and colicking after every feeding.

I met some really great, interesting women and their families through that group, the Malo Mommies. At some point during that time, we started a walking group. A gang of mom's with strollers who took over the road around lake Silverlake. The hip, young childless folks lounging at cafe side tables were amused a perhaps a little horrified to see us and our squalling spawn coming at them, and so the Booby Brigade was born. We had potlucks and coffee klatches where we could whip out our boobs and feed the kids, however awkwardly, without grossing out the denizens of cool. Of course it all sort of ended as mothers went back to work at 6 weeks or 3 months, and other families moved to more chill places like Marin, Maui and Berkeley.

Around the same time, I also started to get to know the folks in our quickly gentrifying neighborhood- many of whom were around our age with their first baby, most in the 'industry'. It was great fun to stroll around in the glorious sunsets the L.A. smog produces, kibbitzing with all of the sweet parents of babies around Will's age. Baked goods and baby clothes were swapped, advice given and taken, glasses of wine snuck in between the myriad sleep schedules.

In the end, we left to go back to the land of boobies, co-op preschools and hippy grocery stores. The mama friends in the neighborhood had an unexpected, touching, and sweet goodbye party for us. Somehow though, moving back to Portland in January in an uncertain financial position, and living in a dark rental house, threw me into an emotional black hole. By the time Spring came around, we were busy with Will's co-op and a decrepit new house. It just seemed like there were too many changes to report back to the L.A. friends, and not all of them were uplifting. The move back wasn't quite as rosy a picture as I'd imagined. Then, as time slipped by, it was just too embarrassing to call since it had been so long- even though I thought about everyone often.

So, this is what I have to thank my computer and goofy FaceBook for- helping me to reconnect with people that I thought must surely have a low opinion of me for not calling or writing. I realize now that we are all busy and head down in our own often messy lives, and that the milk of human kindness can allow for lapses in communication and judgement of friends, especially those that knew us when our first babies were still searching for milk themselves.

No More Sick Friends-check it

2009-11-16T09:25:00.000-08:00

I just found this new blog, Get Better, by Zachary Adam Evans, through Bread and Honey. Seriously funny advice for eating mushrooms, turmeric and other foods in nature's medicine cabinet to keep you well. If you're feeling sick, you might try his, "Fuck This Sickness Soup Recipe". Mr. Evans goes through each ingredient, listing it's benefits and giving clinical warnings about some.

Get Better is an inspiration to me to add something like his disclaimer (below) to the elderberry syrup and tincture recipes I posted last week:

"I'll do my best to make the information as accurate as possible, feel free to let me know if I'm missing something. I'm not a doctor, especially not your doctor, so if you have some weirdo issues, or allergies, or whatever, maybe talk to your doctor and not just listen to some shit I write on the internet.

Seriously, though, great info and recipes. I'm gonna go down to People's bulk section right now and get me some turmeric and mushrooms for dinner. We've got a long road trip ahead of us next week, and I don't want to take any chances on getting sick!

wrap love

2009-11-13T16:12:00.000-08:00

Love this from Artlab on Etsy. If I wasn't on the new economy austerity plan, I'd surely justify buying it by saying that it's at least three pieces in one. As it is, maybe it will just remind me to look at things I have in a new light.

Smell of Elderberries-syrup and tincture

2009-11-10T14:29:00.000-08:00

Even Monty Python would love these elderberry concoctions-elderberry syrup and elderberry tincture.

The elderberry syrup recipe is from Camille, mama and craftress extraordinaire, in Mill Valley.

Elderberry Syrup-
-1 cup of dried elderberries boiled in 6 cups of water- a few tablespoons of dried astragalus is a nice addition.
-Strain through a sieve, pressing juice out of berries.
-Add 2 cups of raw honey to cooled juice.
-Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
-Enjoy 1 tablespoon twice a day for kids, 2 tablespoons for adults- more if sick. Try it in tea.

Elderberry Tincture-

1 cup of dried elderberries, 2 tablespoons dried rosehips, 2 tablespoons dried echinacea, 1 quart of vodka. Let sit for 30 days, strain and decant. Take when you are feeling like you might get sick- it's strong medicine!

Faux Lara Bars

2009-11-09T17:13:00.000-08:00

I wish I could figure out how to do the cute umlaut for Lara Bar, but you get the idea. Dates, nuts and dried fruit. About 1.50 per bar. How many do your kids go through a week? I'm pretty sure that in the old days, these kind of treats were only given out at Christmas. My great grandmother Clark always made a really wonderful date and pecan roll for Christmas that was my favorite out of all of the sweets in the tin. While a bit sweet, these bars can be a lifesaver during those times of sugar low melt down (sounds like a '60's psychedelic band, doesn't it?).

I decided to check the net for recipes- someone out there had to be making these things at home. Sure enough, a bunch of folks are. I looked at a few how-to's and then came up with something that had a little less date sugar. Dates are high in sugar, around 4 teaspoons per 3-4 dates (they are also high in nutrients and their sugar metabolizes more slowly than cane sugar). In comparison, a Hershey bar has around 7 teaspoons of sugar- the empty calorie cane sugar kind.

Lara Bar lists dates first on their ingredients list, and I soon realized that the dates are what holds the mixture together, so lowering the amount of dates creates a crumbly bar. The first time I made the bars I used finely chopped apples, pecans, dates and shredded coconut. The apples took the place of about a cup of dates and tasted great. Since they were still a bit crumbly, I made them into balls and rolled them in unsweetened cocoa powder. Because of the fresh apples, they only lasted about 4 -5 days in the fridge before getting a bit mushy.

This time, I went for more dates (still less than the original bar, I think) since I didn't have any diced apples on hand. I also added a tablespoon of coconut oil for moisture and flavor. They held together in a bar, but I still ended up rolling them into balls in unsweetened cocoa and some coconut- because I could.

Here's what I did:

In a food processor- blend 2 cups of pitted (don't forget this part, the cuisinart does not like pits) dates. Process on high until they form a ball. Take ball out and put into a medium size bowl.

Process about 2 1/2 cups of any kind of nuts and seeds into a meal. The texture is up to you, finer or chunkier- just don't make nut butter. I used about 1/4 cup each of hazelnuts, almonds and cashews with about 2 tablespoons each of sesame, sunflower and hemp seeds.
Add nuts to bowl of dates, a dash of sea salt if you like, and a tablespoon of coconut oil. Cream dates, coconut oil and nut mixture together.

Roll into balls, then roll in unsweetened cocoa powder and unsweetened shredded coconut.
Alternately, press into a pan and cut into squares.
Store in a covered glass or metal container in layers between waxed paper.

Oh, nuts!

2009-11-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

The crows and squirrels have got nothing on me. I bought a variety of nuts, seeds and nori through the Our Community Pantry Co-op, and we picked them up in the rain on the bikes yesterday. That's forty pounds of boy and 20 pounds of nuts- go extracycle! The folks who run the co-op are raw foodists, and they have a great selection of fresh nuts and seeds available at a group discount rate. The only catch is that there is a $50 dollar minimum to order. I easily surpassed the minimum on my own, and am now the owner of a lot of nuts and seeds. We also have walnuts we've gleaned from the neighbor's trees and a lovely gift of in shell hazelnuts. I'm afraid the squirrels will find out about our haul and commence with a hostile takeover!

The FoodSaver vacuum sealer has been a great thing to have since we've gotten a freezer. While I would love to put everything we freeze in glass containers, the space in the freezer would be used up really quickly, so berries and nuts are going in the super sucker vacuum bags. These are heavy duty plastic bags that they say you can actually boil food in. All I can say to that idea is yuck. I've become a pro at bagging and labeling, though, and have learned to measure food items before bagging, usually in 1 or 2 cup increments, and label, label, label! No matter how often I tell myself I will remember what is in this bag or that- within a week, or lets be honest here, a few days, all of those bags will look alike to me.

Here are a few things I've made with the nuts and seeds so far: Dukkah, faux Lara bar balls, and a nut and seed/chocolate/coconut facial scrub.

Ironically, I had no pistachio's for the dukkah, so I used a mix of hazelnuts, almonds and cashews and added some dried herbs from the garden. We used it as a dip for raw veggies, which was great, but somehow I read the recipe wrong and added olive oil to the dukkah and the nuts sank to the bottom of the oil. Of course. Next time, dip in oil, then nuts.

The facial scrub was made from leftovers from the Lara bar balls- a byproduct, you could say. Ground nuts and seeds, cocoa powder, dried coconut and a teaspoon each of olive oil and honey. As Miss Piggy used to say, if you can't eat it, don't put it on your face.

Faux-Lara Bar recipe coming soon.

Big Doin's

2009-11-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

20 lbs of nuts and seeds- picked up on bike
2 lbs of green coffee beans and a new stainless steel moka pot- ordered
40lbs of fresh Jonagolds, 10 lbs of slightly overripe asian pears
1 half finished neckwarmer in "olive oil" colored wool,
2 lbs of elderberries, 1/2 ounce astragalus, 2 cups of fresh local honey.

Stay tuned...

Kir

2009-11-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

When a chance for a date night rolls around, Chris and I usually head straight to Kir. Romantic, unpretentious, fabulous, fresh, thoughtful food, a killer wine selection- and Amalie.

We met Amalie at our neighborhood low-key nightspot that she and a business partner started a few years ago. We were really excited to have a place with small plates, good cocktails and wine to walk to. The best find, though, was Amalie. She made us feel at home, gave great wine advice and is a terrific conversationalist. When she left the restaurant, the old place lost most of it's charm for us. We were reduced to wandering aimlessly about town on nights out, employing the old, "where do you want to go- no, no, you choose", strategy.

Luckily for us, we soon ran into her and found that she'd started her own place, Kir, on Burnside and 7th. It's an obvious extension of her love of food and wine, the Mediterranean and Oregon. Though small and romantic, there is nothing stuffy or pretentious about the place. There is often a well known musician or two hanging around waiting to go on at the Doug Fir, or a chef from one of the other places in town. The two burner hot plate is pushed to the limit turning out Spanish tinged dishes prepared with lots of local produce and love.

While the menu is always changing with the availability of seasonal produce, my must haves when I can get them are; the mussels with chorizo, salads with local beans or Spanish tuna, and any of the bruschettas or housemade pate's. With a glass of wine or cava, a great conversation and whatever tunes come up on Amalie's Pandora mixes, I'm happy.

Catch up on what's going on at Kir - seasonal menu, special events and Amalie's travels in European wine country by checking out the the Kir blog.

Good to the Grain

2009-11-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

Good to the Grain: Baking With Whole Grain Flours is here! Well, at least you can pre-order here from Amazon like I did if you can't wait for it to be in stores.

Kim Boyce, one of our mama friends from the L.A. days, has just put this new book out. The author blurb on Amazon says she's a former pastry chef (at Spago and Campanile), and they list the numerous famous chefs she has cooked with. Former? Seems like she's been rocking the pastries, to me.

I had no idea when we lived in L.A. that she was a pastry star- just that she was a great cook with an adorable baby and sweet chef husband- whom we almost never saw because, like our husbands in the other "industry" (film and tv) he was working insane hours at Spago.

I'm hoping this book will eventually help me get through the hundreds of pounds of whole grains we have stored in the basement "just in case". As soon as the grain mill comes in and we run out of the whole grain flour stored in the freezer, I'd like to get a feel for what types of flour grinds I can get with the the mill. I'm hoping to taste a big difference between freshly milled flour and stored flour. We'll see!

Congratulations, Kim, what a sweet success!

Portland Live/Work space

2009-11-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

What a great live/work space right here in SE Portland. Check out more of it at Design Sponge.

Photos: Design Sponge.

Fall Feast and Membrillo Fiasco

2009-11-03T20:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I know I promised there would be no more talk of beans. I lied. There should at least be something about how they cooked up.

Last Friday's meal came together as a special fall feast using what was at hand. Bean stew with beet greens and chicken sausage, sweet squash of a volunteer butternut variety from Michelle's garden, roasted jack-o-lantern seeds with salt and paprika, and membrillo with manchego cheese.

The membrillo (quince paste or jelly) was made from quince from our local farmer's market. I'd never tried making it before. It took me days to make, and then I noticed the premade stuff from Spain was about 3 dollars in the cheese section of our market. Of course, now I have enough to last us forever. If you invite us over for a potluck, this is what we'll bring! I will say that it tastes really fresh and floral with a little zippiness from the lemon.

I used a few methods gleaned from internet recipes to make the membrillo. If you have any interest in making it, here's what I did, for better or worse.

-Chop about 2 1/2 pounds of fresh quince, fuzz rubbed off.
-Throw into crockpot (leave seeds and skin intact- they contain most of the pectin) with the zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon, cover with water. Leave on high for a few hours until the fruit is very soft.
-Drain fruit in a fine meshed colander for several hours or overnight.
-After draining, if you have a food mill, use it! I was working with only a fine meshed sieve, so I took some internet advice and threw the fruit in the food processor and then tried to push it through the sieve. I finally gave up and commenced to cooking. The skin was not a problem, but the seeds, though softened, are not usually part of the refined membrillo landscape.
-Add as much sugar as fruit (by volume I had about 2 cups) and cook on the lowest flame possible. -The fruit and sugar mixture will get extremely hot and will jump and try to burn you when you stir, which should be often. Cook and stir until the wooden spoon leaves a good clean swipe on the bottom of the pan when you scrape it through the thickened slurry.
-Turn out into a buttered or parchment covered pan.
-Let sit for at least a day or so. I got anxious when the membrillo started to sweat, and then realized that the inside was not as set as the outside. Perhaps too deep of a pan (1 1/2 inches deep). I spread it out onto fruit leather liners for the food dehydrator and left it for a day on low heat. It finally set all the way through. I also tried putting some in a little tin mold. It worked, but needed quite a bit of drying time.
-I'm storing it between sheets of waxed paper in a ziplock bag in the fridge. The mysterious internet sources say it should last for a few months as it is mostly sugar.

*The bean stew recipe was requested. I'm pretty sure this was all there was to it!

Brown bulk chicken sausage in a tablespoon or so of olive oil in the stew pot, breaking into bite size pieces. Add a large minced shallot and several cloves of garlic partway through browning sausage. Add fresh beans (I had about 3 cups) and minced fresh herbs and pepper, cover with an inch or two of water and a goodly splash of red wine. Cook until beans are soft, but not mushy, about 20- 30 minutes. Add chopped greens and allow to soften- about five minutes on very low heat.
To round out the soup the next day, try adding fresh fusilli or steamed yellow potatoes- they're both great.

There's Alpacas and Apples in them Oregon Hills!

2009-11-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

The household took a trip to Hood River for fresh apples to eat and store throughout the season. Last year we were lucky enough to be invited down to Chris's sister's family land to pick apples. This year there was some sort of apple blight and there were almost no apples at all on the same trees that were loaded down last year. We did get to pick bags of succulent Asian pears, but the call of apples for sauce, drying and eating was still strong.

We must have picked the most gorgeous day in Fall to go. The fog burned off as we wended our way through the Columbia gorge, past Multnomah Falls and in to Hood River. By the time we climbed up out of the river bottom and into the foothills of Mount Hood, the hills were thick with apple orchards. Our first stop was a farm where we checked out a diorama of Oregon happenings made completely out of gourds. Worth the trip right there.

A fruit loop map pointed the way to one of the only organic apple orchards in the area, but before we got there, we saw signs for alpacas and alpaca yarn. After a few miles through the country, and a long winding driveway, we found ourselves in a parking area between alpaca pens, a house, and a little store/fiber studio. It was as if we had entered another world. The Great Pyrenees dog that guards the alpacas didn't even lift it's head when we came in (it was raised with the alpacas and only guards them from threats like coyotes), but the two fluffy cats came running for pets.

The owners of Foothills Yarn and Fiber, Thomas and Connie Betts, have an idyllic spot nestled in the hills, warmed by a woodstove in their comfortable studio/shop. We arrived out of the blue on a Sunday afternoon, and they treated us to petting the baby alpaca, Jonathan, and to demonstrations of weaving on a small heddle loom and spinning yarn with a spinning wheel. They sell alpaca yarn from local alpacas, as well as yarn from other places. My mom bought a hat for Will knitted out of the softest, non-itchy alpaca yarn.

Our next stop was Mount Hood Organic Farms and Cottages. The view of Mt. Hood is breathtaking. It was such a beautiful place that I wanted to get married again- if I'd only known about it then! The owner was a charming, twinkle eyed man who really wanted to talk about his building more than the apples. I couldn't blame him. He'd been working on making the apple storage building look better in between farm duties for years, and claims to have no previous carpentry experience. The intricate geometric pieces of wood covering the structure are amazing, as are the salvaged pieces of the original Victorian house they saved.The apples were crisp and fresh. We bought forty pounds of Jonagolds, some Mountain Rose's ( pink fleshed apples grown only at that farm, according to the owner), and two sacks of pears.

Last stop, Mt. Hood itself. We had lunch at Timberline Lodge, and as usual, were astounded by the workmanship of the WPA craftsmen who built the structure. There was some snow already, and a boy who had brought a little sled kindly gave Will a ride down the icy berm behind the lodge. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

Fright night

2009-11-02T18:10:00.000-08:00

I always sort of view Halloween as a chance to touch base with the neighbors. Look, here's my kid, we live on the corner- watch out for him as he grows up- let us know if he's doing dangerous or obnoxious stuff, say hi because you know him, etc. Of course, it would help if he didn't have a mask on, but with everybody in the neighborhood so busy, you've got to take things as they come.

Our favorite neighbors even gave Will the coolest little stuffed animal they made for him in lieu of candy. Will calls it "love kitty".

After a couple of pieces of commercial candy, we couldn't stand it anymore and went to People's Co-op to get him some chocolate covered raisins and coconut haystacks. I was trying to go for the balance between not letting him have any of the snickers and mounds bars and letting him eat everything he gathered. Our good intentions will surely be undone as soon as he can walk to the corner store by himself, but maybe his body will have something of a good foundation before that.

Staycation at Evoe's

2009-11-02T17:24:00.000-08:00

All his bags are packed, he's ready to go.... okay, I won't go on with the maudlin Bob Denver tune that is the theme song to our lives.

Suffice it to say, it is becoming an anniversary tradition for C. to be off somewhere for work. This year, we took advantage of having a child in school to go to Evoe's on Hawthorne for a preemptive celebratory lunch. Seven years since the vows and big party at the Fez Ballroom downtown. Woohoo!

Evoe's, attached to Pastaworks, is helmed by former Castagna co-founder/chef Kevin Gibson. The restaurant is devoted to presenting local, seasonal foods in beautiful, deceptively simple, small plates. We like to sit at the prep table and watch lunch being prepared, but sitting in the sun at the big table by the south facing window is nice, too.

Lunch that day started with a cheese plate featuring three different cheeses, fresh fig spread, marcona almonds and fruit. My favorite kale, walnut and cheese frico salad was next. We split the cubano sandwich- a grilled pork loin, cheese and housemade pickle extravaganza of richness. A glass of wine and I felt like I was on one of those trips to Europe that Chris talks about. Without having to get up at 5 am to carry 100 lbs of gear around. Sweet.

Booklust

2009-10-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

Photo: DesignSponge

The holidays approach- how about these gorgeous books for gifts? Of course, you almost need a full set of them for your bookshelves. With literature going straight to the web now, it's comforting to have something beautiful and inspiring to look at in person. How exciting that someone is once again putting the effort into making books scintillati

I've been picking up vintage books for a long time because of their beautiful cloth cover designs or amazing color plates inside. It's sad how many of the old beauties are mildewed or moth eaten. I had to get rid of more than a few old books before learning that if they have even a hint of mildew smell in the store or garage sale, they'll never get any better at home, no matter how much airing out is done. The mold can also infect your other books and, of course cause allergies, so be wary of those garage sale books in damp climates!

DesignSponge has an interview today with the artist, Coralie Bickford-Smith. The Penguin Classics, previously released in the U.K., are now available in the U.S.

The Magical Fruit- last bean post, I promise!

2009-10-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

I've decided that when I grow up I want to be a bean farmer. Well, maybe a farmer of things native to North America, just for good nutrition. The pictures show what the beans look like as fresh shell beans to eat now, and dried beans for storage. I had to rescue the dried beans on the vine before they rotted in the rain. Whew, just in time! I also discovered a good reason to shell beans on your porch and not on the counter. Ants! They had been happily scouting in the bean plants and even munching some of the overripe, wet ones when they were brought in. Oops.

The bean plants were some of the most gorgeous, vibrant things in the garden this Summer. They draped over the fence and covered upended tomato cages placed as trellises. A 6 foot bean tipi was covered with wild green finery and surrounded by bush beans. Beans were nourishing other plants in the garden through nitrogen bearing nodules on their roots, and bees were loving the flowers. There were at least 8 different kinds of beans planted, though I promptly lost track of them due to moving them about and being too impatient to tag them. It doesn't matter, they are all beautiful and tasty. Next year, I'm planting more (and labeling them). Anything we eat that is organic, non-gmo, and tasty- hopefully everything, will go in the ground, just like last year. We'll live in a veritable jungle of bean vines! Ahahah!

I love the story of the 1500 year old jar of viable Anasazi beans found by archaeologists in a cave. I just read that it's probably a myth- damn, my fantasies of archaeology dashed again! The truth is, though, that beans can still be germinated for at least fifty years if they are stored correctly. Oh, the potential in these little packets of goodness!

Other foods native to the New World; tomatoes, potatoes, beans, corn, sunchokes, peppers, squash, 'weeds', garlic (wild garlic native to N. America is also called crow garlic). These plants are all so easy to grow and don't seem to be much affected by diseases or bugs besides the ubiquitous NW slugs. I have to admit though, after growing the smallest corn in the world two years ago, I haven't yet had the heart to try again. It was like the proto-maize found in archaeological digs in Central America. I may even end up encouraging the native pigweed, chickweed and plantain taking over in the grass out back, as I've read that they make a pretty good nutritious salad or pesto and have great medicinal value.

The kale and swiss chard, part of the kohl family from Europe, barely braved a munching by leaf miners, and don't get me started about the how the aphids sucked the very life out of the brussels sprouts. I spent most of summer handpicking little critters and their eggs off the plants. This seemed to help control the leaf miners, but just seemed to make the aphids more determined.

Of course, the dandelions and catsears growing all over the yard are from Europe, but I may as well make good use of them, since I can hardly eradicate all of them by hand. Hmmm, I've read that's what many of the First People's leaders said about Europeans when they first arrived at different points around the New World- and look what that lead to.

Preserving Fall Leaves

2009-10-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

This Summer Will and I made several kinds of fruit leather (fruit roll-ups) and pounds of dried fruits and vegetables which now stand lined up in glass jars in the basement.

Wanting to preserve the beautiful colors of Fall without resorting to books stuffed with leaves that I forget about for years (although they are always charming when discovered), I decided to try dehydrating them.

Put leaves on a mesh insert covered tray. Cover with fruit leather liner- I'm sure a silpat or something else that has a little weight to it would work and maybe even make them flatter. Dry at lowest setting until leaves are dry.

Use dried leaves for cards, wreaths, King of Fall crowns....

Fall is here.

2009-10-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

The garden is mostly going to sleep for the winter. I just added some greens to round out our meals- two kind of kale, beets, arugula, romaine. It was amazing how much the greens produced last year, and what I had heard from gardeners was true, the kale was sweeter after the snow.

We are definitely going inward already. The days are getting darker- my SAD light is going on, and I'm supplementing with Vitamin D like crazy. The best thing would be to get outside before it gets colder, but when I look out the window at the gray sky, I shudder and have another cup of coffee.

We did make it to Mt. Tabor the other day and it was beautiful. A little foggy and quiet. It was a Monday and Will had a fever on Sunday, but seemed fine the next day. We took him out of school that day because of the fever in 24 hours rule. That night, we realized we should have let him rest- he started up with the fever again and has been home all week. He's in good spirits most of the time and recovering well, I think.

I've been getting a few things done since we've been stuck inside. Masks for Halloween and a quiver for play, trying to make a batch of quince membrillo (we'll see how it goes), cleaning out the closet and making a Goodwill run- without going inside!

Okay, I'll fess up, Chris went to the Goodwill for me- I would never have the willpower not to go inside and bring home more stuff.

Big bag of love

2009-10-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

A big waterproof satchel. It's that time of year again when leather purses are sometimes clutched under big, ugly waterproof Goretex jackets. Well, that's what I tend to do, anyway.

If I ever get on my bike again (what with the rain and Chris's spectacular flip over the bike on to the pavement trick), this bag would come in handy as the bike's panniers are not covered. One has to wonder why the saddlebags aren't covered- I guess it's because the bike was made in

California, so it never crossed their minds that someone might be riding with buckets of rain dumping on them. Argh.

Check it out in all the colors on Etsy at Moop if you're looking to keep your laptop and lunch dry this winter. The bag is lined with waterproof cordura material and made to order in Pittsburgh.

I think it would look great with a peacoat, but I've learned that in Portland, peacoats generally end up heavy as a sack of cement and smelling like a wet dog in about an hour.

Pictures by Moop

the dreaded swine flu hits the homestead

2009-10-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

I've been a bad, disinterested blogger. Sorry! It's the weather. Fall has started in earnest in Portland and we had a few days of dreary weather- bummer, dude.

Will is now sick with the dreaded flu. Yes, probably H1N1 as that seems to be the only one floating around out there right now. So far, so good. He has intermittent fevers and a bit of a cough, but he's mostly in good spirits. The word is that this flu is tricky. The fever stops for a day or so, then comes back, sometimes stronger and then the respiratory system is affected. The word on the street is, stay home for 5-7 days after you get it even if you're feeling better. Hmm, I could go crazy being stuck in the house by then.

Just hoping I don't get it, too, since Chris will be on a trip next week. I'll have to invest in lots of snacks that Will can open with his little paws.

U.S. Blows Up the Moon

2009-10-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

So, WTF? NASA is going to blow the moon up at 4:30 tomorrow morning. I really should have written to my Congressman, or at least to the BOregonian about it, but, as usual, I got busy.

It's not that I'm not outraged that the United States thinks it owns the moon and can blow the shit out of it with a rocket booster, throwing moon dust six miles high. It's just that it's so typical. Was anyone else on this planet consulted about this? I know the American people didn't vote on it, and I'm pretty sure that other countries weren't consulted. It's safe to say, I think, that indigenous cultures around the world were left out of the plan.

I wonder if there is anything in the Hopi (or other people's) prophecies about it. I'll have to go back and finish reading, The Book of the Hopi, by Frank Waters one of these days. That is one deep and dense read. I do know that one interpretation of parts of the prophecies are that the U.S. will be blown up by nukes. Live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess.

I'm hoping that the space dust doesn't cause changes in the light we receive, or throw the moon off kilter and mess with our gravity, tides, or my menstrual cycle- that wouldn't be good for anyone.

So, I'm going to try to stop being incredibly angry about this raping and pillaging, and do what some friends are urging me to do for Grandmother Moon. Join people in spirit around the world and surround her with a web of love and light.

Photo credit: NASA. Taken From: Christian Science Monitor

My alter ego

2009-10-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hmm, it's like someone looked in my brain and saw the visions of my alter-ego that I keep there. Well, a girl can dream, can't she? Found these pictures on Etsy's blog mini-magazine today.
Love the one below, too. Okay, not sure about the black visor, but I'm not going to quibble. I'd eat a few more bites of cake if I were her, too.

Run, Will, Run!

2009-10-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

This boy ran flat-out for the arts. Will's school had a run to bring in money for artists in residence to come to his school. We used to call our boy 'The Veal'. He was white, soft, refused to walk even around the block. Even a few months ago a walk around the block with the dog would turn in to a whine-fest with me carrying him. No more, a corner has been turned.
Will ran ten laps around the field and was still raring to go later. Unfortunately for us, Chris bet that he'd only complete a lap or so and pledged ten bucks a lap. Ha, ha, jokes on us. Maybe the school will be able to hire my mom as the mosaic artist in residence.

The Waffle Wagon Welcome

2009-10-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Ah, they welcome you at the Little Blue Waffle Wagon with a steaming cup of Stumptown coffee and a smile. This little roadside attraction is within walking distance of the homestead, just down from *Pok Pok on Division and 33rd.

The first time I saw the little blue and white Shasta trailer I was both excited and envious. Vintage Shasta trailer, cage free eggs, great spot on Division, the perfect working hours of 9-2pm! Of course, the ladies who run Little Blue Waffle Wagon are surely working more hours than those posted, preparing the handpicked fruit offerings to go on the yeast waffle batter, whipping mounds of pillowy cream, and procuring the eggs and maple glazed bacon.

It's probably just as well that the Little Blue Wagon doesn't offer a plain, unsweetened waffle or I'd be there everyday. The waffles are all yeasted and sweetened, though there is the choice of plain or whole-wheat batter. Both are piled high, folded in half and slipped into a gingham paper and tinfoil wrap like a big Belgian taco. These are messy street food fare that makes for dog heaven when Nikki gets to tag along.

Chris is a fan of the egg and bacon waffle, but I can really only get behind the all fruit and whipped cream whole wheat waffles. I shudder at the thought of sweet and savory in the same bite- it's a culinary curse like my hatred for nutmeg (please, Little T Bakery, quit putting it in all of your pastries).

So go on down to the waffle wagon and get yourself a breakfast treat. I love to support these guerrilla restaurants that are popping up all over Portland. It's proof that a great meal at a decent price is possible without the owner's having to go into huge debt to cover the building expenses and employee payroll (Cava, we miss you!) They add such vibrance to our community, and a self-made job at a time when folks may as well try something new.

*PokPok, a Thai streetfood inspired, now superstar restaurant, started in a trailer-sized hut in the driveway of a house on Division street. It eventually took over the basement of the house with the "Whiskey Soda Lounge", serving cocktails and food, while continuing to serve food outside on picnic tables with heatlamps. Now, the old Globe Slicer building across the street is being retrofitted into an expanded version of the Whiskey Soda Lounge.

Should be interesting to watch the folks who have had a few cocktails try to get from one side of Division to the other when their table at PokPok is ready. Perhaps a new free spectator sport in these troubled economic times?

Globe Slicer building before... waiting for afters.

Red Screen Door

2009-10-02T22:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, Poppytalk chose another picture from Crows'nSquirrels today to be on the red tile of love. Sweet!
That was a really fun week of seeing the world through a colored lens- made me feel like I was back in UCLA Design School art class for a minute. Without the morning sickness. Too bad I didn't make it through the whole program, more of that would have been fun (the art not the nausea).
It's funny, I would have thought one of the more "arty" shots would have gotten in, but it's the sweet picture of a neighbor's screen door- the artists' house of course.

Red Skies At Night

2009-10-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, there aren't any pictures of red skies at night here, but I did manage to complete my week of color while using all band/song names. I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The color red really pops here in the NW against all of the green- and we need it for the warmth in the winter. Here are some photos I took yesterday (trying to get ahead of the game since we're headed down to Salem today for some birthday fun for Aunt Stephanie and apple picking).
Enjoy! Hmm, wish I had a Coke ad here for color and cash. I don't guess they'd care if they knew I'd almost just as soon drink lye as that caustic, sweet carbonated stuff- well, almost.
Oh! Will took my favorite picture here- the one with the tips of my clogs showing with a green walnut between them.

Brown, brown is the sky

2009-10-01T21:57:00.000-07:00

If it's Thursday, it must be the color brown for the Autumn Colors Flickr group at Poppytalk. It was a gorgeous day for playing, "I spy something brown" in the neighborhood.
I promise tomorrow is the last day of the color game and we can get back to our regular programming at this station. Whatever that may be. Probably involves food dehydration or walnut collecting... maybe I need to get out more-like to Tahiti.

The kidmobile is famous- sort of

2009-09-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hey, Crows n' Squirrels made it on to Poppytalk's tile of orange love! Thanks! Of course, that's the picture that Chris took- it shows he's the professional in the family! It's cool to see the Kidmobile there!
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look at the picture in the middle of the tile with the orange stripes. That's the Radish that carries young Will and me all over Portland- well, SE Portland, anyhow- and I help.

photo tile by Poppytalk

I had a great time looking through all of the photos and checking out people's work. Two of my favorites from this week are Dingbat Press and Radio Choci, a letterpress and a painter, respectively.
Have any favorites yourself?

Orange Crush

2009-09-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

Day three of Fall color week here and at Poppytalk. Orange, my favorite color! It makes me so happy to see it on our doors and windows everyday in the form of a deep, red orange. There are over 180 members now on the Autumn Colors group on Flickr. It's really fun seeing what images others are coming up with.

The pumpkins are all in. I picked them a few weeks ago during a damp spell because I was worried about them rotting. I guess I should have looked around at the other urban farmer's fields in the neighborhood. All around us, pumpkins are still laying in quiet, orange repose among their withering vines. We've had weeks of temperatures in the high eighties since I picked them- oops.

Yesterday we had our first big rain storm, the kind where you can't see to drive and everyone is running around trying to find cover- not a great combination at school pick-up!

I've managed to ride Will to school on the bike almost everyday since he started two weeks ago. It's been great exercise hauling a 40 pound kid up the hills. I'm hoping to keep it up now that the weather has turned, and especially when Chris starts traveling again. It makes it so much easier having a bike buddy in the morning to get us going (and to make breakfast and organize us sleepy-heads). Warm, waterproof clothes will be key- I just wish that clothes with the word "bike" or "performance" in them weren't so expensive. I learned last year, though, that jeans get super cold and soggy fast around here.
Can you see our new pirate flag?

Green Day

2009-09-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

Color of the day is green- not a problem here in rainy Portland!
The crows and squirrels are busy fighting over nuts- it's officially Fall to me. I hope they can gather enough to keep them fed over the winter- they'll have to fight it out with the little Chinese grandmothers again this year. I think I 'll stay out of it this time even though it looks like a good year for walnuts. Last year was terrible- hardly any nuts and those were withered.
I was just about to take my collecting bag yesterday when Chris (who took the great crow picure for me) announced that the ladies were out in force collecting nuts. I'm pretty sure I don't want to get into a turf war with them, they look like they have pretty sharp elbows!
I wish I liked black walnuts because our side of the street is lined with those instead of the English walnuts. The black walnut trees make a huge mess and drop far more nuts than the others- maybe I could learn to like them (and crack their incredibly hard shells).
There are more green pictures of the homestead on Flickr.

And it was all yellow

2009-09-28T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here are few sunny, warm spots of color around our house this Fall- as indeed, the light and weather has rapidly changed from Summer to autumn here.
Poppytalk has called for a week of Fall colors and I'm happy to play along.

Today's color is brought to you by Yellow.
Yellow, fresh or mellow, can't be beat in the Northern reaches of Oregon. I sometimes have plans to paint the whole interior of the house a bright yellow to simulate the sun we lack all winter.
Chris used to have a bathroom in his Sellwood house that was so bright a yellow people would gasp as they walked in. The gasp would often be followed by Whoa! I grew to love the color after spending a winter using the cold bathroom built on what used to be a porch back when folks still had outhouses.
I'm trying to grow the knitting into a neckwarmer for Fall bike riding, but I've unraveled it so many times now that it seems I never get passed the starting point. Someday I need to learn to fix my mistakes rather than just unravel the whole project. That would be a great skill for the other parts of my life, too, I suppose.

Galettes- and I'm not Martha

2009-09-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

These galettes remind me of an incident that happened at Will's new school last week. A woman I'd never met loudly complemented me on the dress I was wearing over a pair of jeans, and then asked where I'd gotten it. I stammered out that I'd bought it at the "evil empire"; Walmart. She recoiled and sneered (yes, really), and made a beeline for the door. I tried calling after her that the rest of the outfit- shoes and jeans, were from Goodwill. As if it would make a difference, but somehow it did to me. Something 'bad' balanced by something 'good'.

The pesto in the galettes was made by me from homegrown basil, the other veggies were grown in the garden, too. The spectacular, golden, flaky pie dough? I'd love to take credit, but I have to admit to people that it's from a local bakery (Grand Central if you're interested). I just discovered that they sell it in pre-rolled rounds- two in a package, perfect to throw in the freezer until you need them.
Why premade pie dough? My aunt can make pie dough in her sleep. According to her, there's nothing easier than homemade pie, and my grandmothers on both sides would never dream of buying pie dough.

That may be, but I've decided, for the good of my family not to make myself insane over pastry dough anymore. I've tried making Martha's "perfect pate' brisee'", and Ruth Reichl's 'all butter pastry dough'. Every attempt leaves me frazzled, stressed out about how cold the dough is, how long I've worked it, why it's sticking to everything, and ultimately, why it's sort of oily and not light and flaky. All that work for tough pie, a messy kitchen and my nearest and dearest wondering why I have become a crazy-mean mama, is just not worth it. So, I've decided to pony up the 7 bucks and have a happy life.
The same thing was true of the dress. I only have so much energy and money. While I'd love to always shop local and handmade, the pocketbook and my thrift search time are limited these days. We all have our own lives to balance and I'm hoping that the garden and Goodwill balance out the occasional pre-rolled pie dough and Walmart foray in mine.

Sigg Water bottles and BPA

2009-09-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

If it ain't one thing, it's another.
Am I the only person who hadn't heard about the Sigg water bottle debacle until just now?   The linings were made with BPA.
So, of course, I bought expensive water bottles for the family a few years back- that we use basically everyday, and they have BPA in them.   Truthfully, I didn't do any great research on them before I bought them. For some reason I assumed they were stainless steel and only figured out later that they were aluminum. I kept using them, though, because I figured they were better than the BPA leaching hard plastic bottles we all used to use (ha ha), and were lighter than the stainless steel bottles.
I've read in a few places, like Mother Source, that New Season's market will exchange them for the new BPA free Sigg's . Unfortunately, I've read comments from folks on other sites that say the new liners crack and peel- yuck. Who knows what's in those?   I'm going to see if I can get mine exchanged for plain steel bottles (pretty much all made in China). I'll let you know if you can still exchange them at New Season's with no hassle.

easy ways to subscribe and comment

2009-09-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

I finally figured out the subscriber button! Since I've had a few folks asking how to subscribe and leave comments, here's the scoop...

Go to the 'subscribe to' button on the right hand side of the page. If you would like to have the blog name displayed on your toolbar with a button that takes you to the site, choose the 'atom' button. You can also click on a homepage button (like Yahoo or Google) if you sign into a homepage every day and the website will appear there.
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To leave a comment, go down to the bottom of the blog entry and choose 'comments'. If it says zero comments, bingo, yours is the first. Hit 'comment' and let me know what you're thinking.

Giving Monsanto Hell, or A Tiny Insurance Policy For the Future

2009-09-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

I know, the Monsanto Corporation probably doesn't really give a damn if I save my organic tomato seeds. Somehow, though, learning to save seeds from the food I grow is making me feel the teensiest bit better about being on our beat-up world for maybe the next 50 years.

Monsanto (originally a pesticide company and maker of Agent Orange) genetically engineers seeds to be "Round-Up ready", and patents their genetically modified seeds, thereby forcing farmers to buy seeds from them year after year. According to Greenpeace, "ninety percent of all GE seeds planted in the world are patented by Monsanto and hence controlled by them."

There is a new French documentary about how Monsanto got so much control over the world's foodsource and the consequences called, “The world according to Monsanto”. I'll try to see it when I have the emotional energy for it. At this point, I have a bad case of ' the world is collapsing' fatigue.

Here is one way to save tomato seeds. I chose this method after reading that the fermentation process and resulting mold helps to kill pathogens that may affect the seeds' growth later.

Directions:
- Cut open tomatoes and extract their gelatinous seed packet with a quick flick of your finger or thumb, dropping it into a small cup or glass. Add as much water as seed goo.
-Set glass in sunny window and cover with waxed paper or something that keep flies out, but lets air in. If you are saving the seeds of more than one kind of tomato, label the cups. I have learned the hard way that after a few days I can't remember which is which. Perhaps that is just my own unbelievably bad short term memory problem.
-Stir once a day until a skin forms over the seeds. A black fuzzy mold will start to grow. When you see this, lift the mold mat with a spoon and discard- I put it in the compost.
-Pour tomato slurry into a sieve and run water over it until the seeds are clean. If you look closely, you will see that the seeds have plumped up, grown tiny hairlike projections, and created a protective gel coating over themselves.
-Dry them on a plate for a few days.
-Package and label them with the type of tomato and date. Store them in a cool, dry place. I make packets out of waxed paper and tape. I've read that plastic can cause the seeds to mold if they have any moisture left in them.

I plan on keeping these seeds even if I get lazy next year and buy tomato starts. The seeds should stay viable for years. You have to start the tomato seeds mighty early in Portland to get tomatoes that have a chance to ripen during our relatively short summers. We have a sun porch that does a pretty good job, but there is no temperature control, so a seedling heating mat may be in order this year.
Don't be too surprised if you get seeds in your stocking from me this year. Just think of it as a tiny insurance policy for the future.

White Bean and Roasted Tomato Sandwich

2009-09-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

I just got back from taking Will to school on the bike. He was all smiles on this fourth day of kindergarten. He said that he was "confident", and I even got a thumbs up. Whew!

I was so hungry when I got back from my ride that I could barely pull open the fridge door. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I ended up eating two of these because they were so delicious. It makes me want to have a party just so I can serve them as appetizers- maybe with prettier bread. It can all be made ahead as evidenced by the fact that cold leftovers were thrown together in less time than it took to toast the bread.

White bean puree topped with roasted homegrown roma tomatoes on toast with salt and pepper. That's it, and it's heaven. Two days ago I pressure cooked the cannellini beans, immersion blendered them up with some fresh garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper (we ate that with chicken sausage and sauteed greens the first night, with dollops of pesto and roasted tomatoes). The whole wheat bread left over from this morning's breakfast was toasted to give it some crunch.

Easy as peanut butter and jelly, but the textures of silky, pillowy white beans and sweet/tart tomatoes on crunchy toast- so much more interesting.

peach vodka

2009-09-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

After all that crying about sending my baby off to school, I need a drink. Unfortunately, this peach liqueur won't be done for three months. Dang.

Last year I made three vodkas for Christmas gifts; thyme and chocolate mint from the garden, and peach from the farmer's market. The peach made me swoon, and while I gave some away, I hoarded half the bottle for myself to get me through the dark, Portland winter.

I used no sugar, just peaches or herbs and vodka, so it was great for delicate sipping or adding to fizzy water. A soft amaretti cookie dipped in peach vodka is my idea of heaven.

The thyme was really great in tiny amounts added to a martini or tonic water, but otherwise, it was so strong that it would probably be a really effective mouthwash. Chocolate mint is always yummy, and in this case, bracingly strong. Added to coffee or hot chocolate, it was a hit.

Needless to say, tiny bottles of this stuff was enough and turned out to be a fun stocking stuffer. I hope everyone drank theirs and didn't save it for "special" or for gazing at like all of those vinegars and oils that end up going bad in people's kitchen windows. Little gift tags with mixing suggestions were included in case folks didn't know what to do with it.

This year I saw a recipe on Put Up or Shut Up for blackberry hooch. She uses a bit of sugar, I'm guessing to smooth the flavor out a bit. I added a couple of teaspoons of sugar this year just to try it out. Last year I only left the peaches in for a week or so, but this year I'm going the distance at three months as Put Up suggests.

I learned last year that strong herbs, especially the thyme, only need a day or a week depending on the strength of the herb. The thyme may have only needed a day, but it got a week in the heat of summer. Medicinal strength!

I'll do my best to stay away from the peach liqueur until December so I have some to share.

All-Star kid

2009-09-14T14:16:00.001-07:00

His look says it all. Apprehensive, but stoic.
Luckily, his good friend Dakota was there on the steps, too, and they ran inside the school together, running right into the classroom. The teacher had a little leaving ceremony involving imaginary hearts sent to parent's pockets, of course, most of the adults were fighting back tears by then. Chris and I did not manage to win the battle and were sent off to the parent orientation with tears running down our faces. Sadly, there was no whiskey to go in the coffee- we could have used a good, stiff belt by then. I was in luck with the soy milk, though, this being Portland and all.
We took him to ice cream after class with his grandma. I told him that his teacher seemed very nice and he replied, " She's not as nice as you might think". I guessed that she'd gotten on him for not raising his hand or talking, and he admitted as much, but added that others had the same problem. My gregarious and confident son will probably always have the "talks too much" label applied unless they beat it out if him, I guess.
Today he didn't want to go back and asked me if he had to go "by law" . I tried to brush the question off- it's hard when I don't want him to go to school any more than he does. I heard Pink Floyd's song about the bricks in the wall yesterday, and cliched as it is, I still had to turn it off. The indoctrination has begun. He has to sit on a spot on the floor every morning and at a certain place with his name at the table. Rules are being learned and memorized. 6 hours a day, five days a week. The grind has started. Or, as my mom yelled to him the first morning of school, "20 more years of school!". Uh, thanks, Mom!
I'm not opposed to taking him out of school and keeping him home if he is miserable in 6 months- 6 months being my own personal test of how things are going in a new place. I hope he likes it- he's not even excited about the art, dance, singing or theater classes right now. The arts magnet school seemed like the most laid back school I could find with the least amount of soul-sucking. I guess we'll see.
I'm going to pick him up right now from his second day of school. I'll try not to feel like a traitor this week, and I'm resolved to get him out to the park with big Doug Firs and ponds as much as possible after class. I know I need to get out in nature after being stuck in a building all day.

Cheap Thrills at Egg Press

2009-09-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

The family made it down to the Egg Press sale today to stock up on cards and get our t-shirts printed with cute designs for five dollars a shirt. We picked a pretty quiet time around noon on the first day of the sale and had a great time watching the shirts get screen printed, looky-looing at the other creative businesses in the warehouse, and petting a very sweet dog.

We chose the dachshund character, Frank, and the bicycles designs. They also had cute red mustaches and a "hello" design. The cards were wonderfully creative as usual, and perfect to have on hand.

I love the fact that the Egg Press folks had their kids with them while they rang up orders. I'm always impressed with the way the business is run by people with kids and busy home lives, and the creative artists and letterpressers at the shop. It does do my heart good, though, to talk to them about all of the projects they have waiting in corners at home- sound familiar?

Dinosaur Kale Smoothies

2009-08-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite smoothies around here is the emerald green kale smoothie. I found the recipe in a Mothering magazine way back when Will was a toddler in L.A., and we walked to the farmer's market in Silver Lake for our kale. Now, we have an overabundance of it in the backyard, and though we may have to share it with some aphids, we get to have all the kale smoothies we want.
I can't remember if our recipe has changed over the years, but if you've got some extra kale to eat up, here's what we do.

8-10 branches of dinosaur (lacinato) kale- tough rib stripped out, 1 banana (not strictly neccesary, but good to use up ripening bananas), rice milk and coconut-pineapple juice to cover, and a few ice cubes to make it good and frosty. Throw it in the blender until smooth. Yum.

Egg Press Warehouse Sale

2009-08-29T11:05:00.001-07:00

Summer Sample Sale at Egg Press Studio- September 2nd-4th, 10 am- 7pm.

I love Egg Press cards, they are always so fresh and full of life. I used to sell them at an expensive 'paper store to the stars' I worked at on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles (what funny stories), and I was always really proud to be able to tell people that they were designed and hand letterpressed in Portland, Oregon. Bought for a dollar a card at the warehouse sale, I'm now able to keep a big folder full for every occasion- no more running out to the store in a panic at the last minute for a card. Thanks, Jenny T, for tipping me off about the sale a few years ago.

My favorite thing about the Egg Press warehouse sale (where the cards are letter pressed) is the t-shirt screening. Oh, and the baby onesies- so cute and very affordable.

Every year our family has t-shirts screened, and we always wear them in preference over all of our other shirts. I think my favorites so far have been the snail and the baby seal, but Chris's was definitely the cat. Just bring in a t-shirt, dress shirt, or just about anything that they can get into the silk screen, and for five dollars, you've got some fun, original art to wear around.

The baby onesies are super to have on hand. It seems like we had a huge run of new babies being born around us for a few years (although it has suddenly slowed down, I guess we're getting to that age). Having those cute, silk-screened onesies on hand, along with some sweet cards and gift tags, made it way easier for me to get something in the mail to congratulate friends in a timely fashion- like before the kids were 18.

Grillos Secos

2009-08-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

We had grilled grasshoppers tonight at one of our favorite restaurants in town, La Calaca Comelona (the hungry skeleton). They are very self-righteous about not serving any gringo food. They don't put burritos on the menu, nor do they slather food in melted cheese. They do, however, serve a pre-conquest food; grillos secos, or grilled grasshoppers with chili and lime. I imagine, though, that only the gringos order them. This gringa also had a very nice mojito with lots of mint.

I've been wanting to eat fried grasshoppers since grade school. While studying the history of Southern California, I read that a fire would be started, and then a whole bunch of people would walk in a noisy circle, driving the grasshoppers in to the ring of fire. The fatty, protein rich bugs would be crispy and oily; a taste sensation hard to come by in those days before deep fat fryers. I was never able to figure out how to get enough grasshoppers together to eat, though, especially since there are very strict laws in California about starting fires in fields.
I've been predicting for some time that we'll all be eating insects before long if everyone continues to have more babies. They are tiny, protein and fat rich bombs that hardly take up any space, and don't eat much or put out a bunch of methane. My favorite book about entomogaphy is called, "Man Eating Bugs", by a writer and photographer couple who went around the world cataloging and trying out the different kinds of bugs people eat. There were lots of grubs, worms and tarantulas, beetles and scorpions. Folks gather them in the wild or keep them in terrariums to eat at will.

Chris said he wasn't feeling up to trying them, but Will ate one and tried two more. He said they were pretty good, but too spicy. I ate them like popcorn and then rolled a bunch up in tortillas with cabbage and hot red salsa. If I didn't look too closely, they were just like any other fried food doused in chili and lime- yum. I have to say though, that I enjoyed the pork and pineapple tacos and nopales sope the most. It's good to have crossed something off my list of things to do, though.

Will is now looking forward to telling his chums that he has eaten grasshoppers- reason enough for him to try them, I guess.

Earl Boyles Community Garden Volunteers

2009-08-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hey all you Portlanders,

I've got some tomatoes, yellow squash and seeds going to the Earl Boyles Community Gardens tomorrow. Remember the community garden vandalized at the peak of harvest season? Volunteers are coming together August 22nd from 10-12 to replant it! Starts and tools are needed, and garden produce is appreciated. SE 11oth and St Francis St.

Nelson bubble lamp sale- in L.A.

2009-08-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hey, friends in L.A. Modernica is having an open box sale on Nelson bubble lights- wish I was there. (Picture Modernica website).
August 22.

Porch sitting and bean shelling

2009-08-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

The pole beans are in. I wish I could remember what kind of shell beans these are, but honestly, I made a total rookie gardening mistake this year. I used dried organic beans from the store that we liked and ones from several different seed companies. The ones for our meals obviously didn't come with any instructions on whether they would be pole or bush beans and several of the packaged as seeds beans didn't either. These last ones were from the local health food store, packaged by farmers who must have figure everyone already knows what to do. As a third year gardener, I assure you I don't.
The upshot of it all is that I had to dig lots of little plants up and move them when it became obvious that they needed trellising or space to bush out. They also got replanted when the scourge of the pillbugs and baby slugs came in early spring, after I had put out a thick layer of straw mulch- and apparently made a nirvana for these beasties in the wet Pacific Northwest Spring. When I replanted, I was too lazy to label the beans- so it's anyone's guess as to what they might be. They were prolific, though.
Shelling these beans brought back memories of picking and shelling beans in the South with my grandmother. I remember getting up very early to go out to the giant bean field of some farmer she knew. I think we went with a friend of Grand's and they were both amused that I had never been in a field of any kind of food to pick, even though I grew up around fields of strawberries and green beans in what is now super-suburbia in Orange County, Californial. Grand wasn't so amused after about an hour when I started to whine about the heat (Alabama in the summer hot), the mosquitos, and my sore back. We had several giant baskets to fill and we weren't going home until they were full up. I thought they were bushel baskets, but I haven't seen any like them since. They weren't short, fat bushel baskets, more like tall cylinders, wider at the top, and they were nearly as tall as I was (in my memory). What is more than a bushel? I do remember paying by the peck, because I don't think I'd ever heard the word before. We slowly filled the baskets up and made our way back to the old avocado green Ford FTD. We got home, and I thought, ahh, we're done, but we weren't. There were still all of those beans to shell and freeze. My thumbnails wore down from splitting the butterbean pods, and the skin there was tender and red for days. We did eat a lot of butterbeans that year, though. My grandmother almost always had a big bowl of beans on the table at supper every night, I'm sure it never ocurred to me before where they came from, or how much work and how many bean pods that nightly staple represented. My whole little harvest adds up to about one of Grand's bowl of supper beans for the 3 teenagers left in her house, plus me and Grandpa and Grand. I can't imagine how many she'd had to shell when there were still 7 kids in the house. That's a lot of cornbread and beans with ketchup.
Instead of having boiled beans with ketchup, I think I'll be cooking pairing these with olive and some sort of vegetable this winter. The "Apples for Jam" cookbook has some good recipes, and I'm sure that Jennifer over at Lambaste will have some good ideas as well.

P.S. I didn't know that the purple skinned ones would be white beans, and the white skinned, purple beans. Cool. They'll all be greenish white when cooked, though, I think. And yes, it still made my thumb sore shelling just a bowlful of beans.

Rosehips are itchy

2009-08-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

Walking in the neighborhood today I discovered a huge rambling rosebush full of succulent roships- my favorite red orange color (much redder than in the pictures). Figuring that they were full of free vitamin C and bioflavinoids, I picked a bowlful- and there were still enough leftover for a flock of birds to dine on this winter.
The usual way to store rosehips is to cut them in half, scoop out the seeds and furry hairs and then dry them. One of the herbals I've been looking at mentions that for generations boys had used the tiny hairs inside of the hips for itching powder. Now I know why. My hands are still itchy an hour after cleaning those little fruits.
It took me at least 40 minutes to cut and scoop all of the rosehips, and they still need to dry- no problem in this heat. I think I'll stick to buying dried rosehips at People's market from now on, but it's good to know where your food sources in the neighborhood are. I try to keep a mental map of all the food in the public right of way or that looks like no one pays attention to. I'm usually too shy to pick fruit in the parking strips, but I'm amazed at how much of it is falling on the ground here. One thoughtful person left a sign in their front yard telling people to pick the bounty of lemon cucumbers. Thanks, neighbor!
I think I'm starting to learn what takes more time than it's worth to make- maybe. I'll still champion making blackberry jam at home even though it's probably worth $100.00 a jar by the time you've picked, cleaned, jammed and canned them. Nothing compares. As my mother always tells me, anyway, my time isn't actually worth anything since no one is paying me. Ohhh, yeaah, I forgot.
Is there anything you've learned the hard way that takes more time than it's worth to make at home?

Wealth is Health

2009-08-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

I've become apathetic. The only thing I can come up with in response to the greedy politicians (both parties) canning the public healthcare option is, "Well, if they think I'm going to vote for them next time, they've got another think coming.". Where's my pitchfork and bullhorn? Is the guillotine going too far? Apparently that actually scares them into going the other way on issues, as seen in the town hall "forums". Really, though, it's obvious that big business is keeping politicians in the dough and why mess up the status quo? I am so very disappointed in our newly elected 'leaders'. While I wouldn't want another administration to independently enact laws or change the constitution, a little more leadership here would be great. And what has happened to us, the "liberals"? How did we get so mealy mouthed and apathetic? Remember when the Bushes wouldn't come to Portland, or "Little Beirut" as they called it? It's time to get really mad again- it seems to have worked for the far right again.

Nearly everyone I know is an independent contractor or small business owner. Our family's privately funded healthcare (read 5,000 dollar deductible, no co-pay visits) has gone up three times this year. The greed is astounding. We have never, ever reached our deductible; they have never shelled out a dime for our healthcare, and yet, the premium has gone up 3 times in a year! Yes, we need to leave that insurance company behind, but it's such a pain to change it- and we're are admittedly pretty lazy when it comes to serious paperwork. Plus, there isn't much out there that is better.

There seems to be some sort of moral issue with healthcare in this country as well. Conservatives have been saying that it is the parent's responsibility to provide healthcare for their children with their last dying breath if need be. To get any sort of healthcare from the government (a giant co-op, really) is lazy and morally decrepit- being on the dole as an able bodied person. It's a very Puritanical sort of thought process. The Europeans must have been thrilled when the Mayflower and her sister ships left the harbors of Europe for the New World. Don't let the door hit you in the ass! Americans are not to worry about whether our children have at least one parent at home to care for them- especially nursing infants, just go back to work to pay your taxes- which shall not in turn pay for any healthcare or maternity/paternity time off. That's for lazy Eurotrash only. Go to work, pay the babysitter or preschool teacher most of your earnings instead, and make sure you have a job with benefits- even though those are almost extinct these days; except, of course, for government jobs. The tax money you pay will, however, go for any kind of war or 'police action', wars on drugs, lobbyists, failed banks and banker's payouts, sending people to space and fixing toilets in space, etc., ad nauseum.

Wishful thinking, but perhaps 'healthcare co-ops' will work in this country, eventually. It is the only way I can see us taking back healthcare- in a very Libertarian way, I guess. Whatever, any way I can stick it to the insurance companies and make sure that my family is healthy. I will definitely continue to study ways to care for my family at home- herbalism, diet, exercise, homeopathy, first aid. Sometimes, though, you need an eye exam, dentist, or check-up that won't break the bank. Maybe someday.

P.S. The picture above was the only one I could find of me with a weapon. The knife is for cutting a birthday cake. Maybe I'll start a branch of radical liberals known as the Long Knives (like George Rogers Clark, a Revolutionary leader, although things didn't turn out so well for him in the end). I should probably worry about getting put on some government list for posting this, especially since I'm not sure that Habeus Corpus has ever been reinstated. So,in closing, ha,ha, about those guillotines and long knives, but watch out for middle aged mom's with signs, bullhorns and the occasional pitchfork- but the government is used to those from the Sarah Palin crowd already, right?

Maybe someday...

2009-08-17T16:24:00.001-07:00

Okay, if we ever win the lotto and something similar to this place goes on the market (it appears to be an old church on really big acreage), I'm there. I just hope I can still walk to get a cup of coffee. Design Sponge also has sneak peeks of a Spanish house that I think I could live in quite easily.
The pictures above are of our house before and after. I guess I should take a few more pictures of the front since I couldn't find a shot of the whole thing in summer. Unfortunately, not much has been done inside yet- but at least it looks somewhat inviting to walk in to now. And yes, I'm hanging out on the computer to avoid cleaning inside the house. Sorry about the weird picture arrangement- I still can't figure out how to control that aspect of Blogger.

Tomatoes, Tomahtoes

2009-08-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

How many tomatoes do you need to have to make those rows of jars of tomato sauce you see in old photos of grandma's cellar? More than I grow, apparently.
A kitchen counter full of tomatoes makes a little more than two pints of crushed tomatoes or sauce at our house. It seems wasteful of time and resources to make so little at a time, but what else do you do with that many tomatoes? I've run out of room in the freezer to freeze them whole, so sauce is it. I even managed to slip in the tiny Walla Walla onions and big yellow squash from the garden. Maybe I'll be more excited about it in the middle of winter!
I'm off to get Will from his first day of trackers camp. 4 hours learning about tracking animals and being forced to be outside in nature is good for a city boy! Of course, that leaves me time to sit on the porch and work on the computer. Hey, I wanna go to camp, too!!

Bargains 101 Galore

2009-08-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

The Historic Crystal Ballroom in downtown Portland, Oregon.

My friend Patrice and I headed downtown yesterday to the Bargain Hunting 101 event, at the historic Crystal Ballroom, while her husband watched the kids- who watched my kid (thanks, Tim and Aislinn!). What a gorgeous, serene space to have a sale; old wood bars, murals, huge windows. I'm sorry that I didn't get any pictures of the top floor where the concerts are held. The high ceilings, murals, and chandeliers are lovely- but, I was in full shopping mode by then. The Crystal is usually packed full of concert goers with beer, the sprung floor bouncing in rhythm to the music; watch out if it's punk because getting off the beat can be like being the small one on a trampoline.
The sale was a great slice of Portland. Lots of handmade items, my favorites being the ones that reuse old things. Also, a full bar on each of the two floors- very Portland. A Jack and Coke always makes shopping easier.
The Dana Herbert booth was my first of the day. The upholstery fabric purses and silk scarves were perfect Christmas present items at a great price. Everything was $2 to $15 bucks -for handmade bags. I'm ahead of the game now, right?
Since I was wearing a fully hand-me-down outfit that day, I somehow felt justified in buying myself clothes and jewelry.I grabbed a boucle skirt with a new applique and hot pink lining from BellaSisters at the discount price of 40.00. I did not buy the amazing repurposed blazer with hoodie and octopus applique, but it was coveted.
It wasn't hard to talk myself in to getting a necklace from the Tilde booth, either. I've been casing the jewelry section at Debbe's brick and mortar shop in Sellwood for a few years, and a big sale was all the excuse I needed to grab this charming necklace that can be adjusted to any length. See, versatile! I left the totem pole stacked white porcelain cups regretfully, but knew that the projecting wings and beaks would be sheared off in minutes as Will would probably try to use them as toys or someone would put them in the dishwasher. Maybe next year.

Bargain Hunting 101

2009-08-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

Just saw the news about the Bargain Hunting 101 event at the Crystal Ballroom. "The mother of all clearance sales with merchandise from local boutiques, artists and designers"http://www.bargainhuntingpdx.com/ .

Sunday the 16th of August, 12-5 pm. Free admission. Full bar.(!!!!!) Women's clothes, jewelry, shoes, kids, garden, art.

They are still looking for vendors if anyone has anything they'd like to sell.
I'm definitely going to try to make it; sounds like fun to me.

Vandals and Hooligans, Oh My

2009-08-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

I padded into the kitchen this morning as usual in my big, fuzzy mom robe to score some coffee and almond butter/jam tortilla roll-ups from Chris. I began to blearily peruse the newspaper, all in my usual trance, when I spotted the article about a community garden that had been vandalized in the night. The garden is located in outer SE Portland, an area not far from where we live, just a few miles, really, but it seems like another world. Gang and drug violence, families stacked in crowded apartments with absentee landlords, shtetels of recent immigrants trying to get a toehold in their new country.
The garden has been attacked 5 times since April, according to the article. This time, the carefully tended plots were yielding their ripe tomatoes, the corn was just about ready and the potatoes that the Russian ladies had labored over were ready for harvest. The water lines were slashed and left to run, tools were taken. One single mom of two said that she hadn't been able to buy fresh corn in years, and now her family would be eating on rice and beans the rest of the year. And how do you explain to your kids why someone would do this? How do you find the time, energy, money and will to do it again? Some folks didn't want to talk about it for fear of retribution.
So, it seems obvious that it was someone from that neighborhood who did it. Someone whose lack of self-worth spilled over into what may have been the only beautiful, cared for thing in the area. It makes me realize that the mostly lovingly tended houses, yards and parks in our neighborhood would be painful for some to see; emblematic of the money, time and energy that some folks have leftover from their everyday lives to spend on aesthetic concerns. The aesthetics may even be projected self-worth; shields against the poverty and violence not so far away.
Well, it's obvious that I didn't take psychology in school, but I do have some produce in the garden that I have been famously bitching about and a call into the community garden office of Portland. If there is any way to heal some of the spiritual wounds of those families and to help fill their crispers, I'm there. I think that sometimes we want to help others, we just don't have a concrete direction as to how. This one is a no-brainer.

Addendum to kick-ass boots

2009-08-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

Oh, here's my addendum to the kick-ass boots post. Yes, the first post that was months ago.
I took them back. Not because they weren't cool, but because they got a tear in the butter soft leather during the first day of wear. Careful wear. So careful that Chris carried me from the car to the house when it started to sprinkle because I hadn't sprayed them with water repellent yet.
So, back they went to Imelda's. They took them back, no problem- except that they only give store credit. Including the gift certificate and money I put with it, I have a huge store credit with them and nothing I want to spend it on. Those were really the only Frye's that fit my skinny feet and I don't need 4 inch heels for anything in my neighborhood-gotta go to 82nd Avenue for that action.
Next time I guess I'll go Zappos or Endless online where you get free shipping and your money back. So much for trying to help the local economy out.

Cool stuff and hot zucchini

2009-08-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

I Just saw these bread bins by Joseph Joseph at shelteriffic via Anh-minh. I want one, but don't want to pay in British sterling and have to pay shipping. Plus, the bread always seems to do best in a paper bag- but, I'm sure it would get me to start baking again. Uh huh. Well, maybe Fall will.
Right now, the shredded zucchini from earlier today is steaming in a giant colander (will the top blanch?) and eggplant is dehydrating. Then it's time to pack the zuch shreds in to bags for the freezer. I doubt I will ever know what is in the giant freezer downstairs, but we won't starve unless the power goes out. MMM, need generator. There are also zucchini and eggplant chips now. I'm at least using the canning jars up since I've been to lazy and hot to do any jams this summer. Oh well, who needs all that sugar anyhow?

I love how these popsicle pies look, too. The odds are that I'll never make these, but maybe one of you will and I'll get to try them? Luxi-rare has full instructions. I still suck at making pastry, but I'm going to find a good cuisinart recipe and try again. Truthfully, I hate seeing how much butter is in piecrust. I always do better going to the bakery where I can lie to myself that it's not that bad, and I don't have the rest of the pie at home begging me to eat it.

What do you do with Zucchini?

2009-08-12T11:24:00.001-07:00

What to you do about zucchini? Sung to "Maria" from the Sound of Music- no nuns habit necessary.

We went to visit Chris's family outside of Salem, Oregon yesterday. They have many acres and the whole place looks like an Andrew Wyeth painting, especially on a rainy summer evening. The hay bales were picked up right before the rain started by a strapping young man who I waved at as Chris's sister zoomed me around the property on a 4 wheeler. Will fished in the creek and almost caught a crawdad on a string. I wandered around the garden which looks smallish until I remember the scale of things is skewed by the size of the house and trees and borrowed view of other fields. Their little garden is actually about the size of our entire yard- maybe bigger. It's just not crammed with plants jockeying for light- they are all laid out in huge raised beds, evenly spaced.
I spied 3 enormous zucchini laid out and wondered what they were going to do with them. The answer was, 'let them go back to the earth', so I nabbed them and Will is helping me cut them up with the Cuisinart for dried zucchini chips and shredding them for god knows what. I can steam blanch them and freeze them for later use in baked goods. I can stir fry them, fritter them. I just need to remember that they are sitting in the sink and use them fast! Oh, and try not to think about the 8 ball zucchini and yellow butterstick squash in the crisper.

Two peas in a pod

2009-08-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

I really need to learn some html- because that last post was wonky. However, I'd rather be sitting with the guys in the bean pole tipi.

2009-08-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been awhile. Many things have happened that have not been blogged. So be it.
The garden this summer is beautiful; small, but growing powerfully. I've been overwhelmed with produce and the beans will have to be shell beans or dried beans this year. The pumpkins are taking over the world and the tomatoes are a close second. The tiny Walla Walla onions were harvested and dried and hung in their old pantyhose cozy on the wall in the basement. The purple potatoes were made into veggie soup- some eaten, some in jars in the freezer. Yellow butterstick squash was cut up and brought to the beach for a camp lunch with our old preschool co-op. I think there are still leftovers in the fridge. Too much squash.
My five year old told me that restaurant food is much better than food cooked at home. I guess it's time to start eating home more before his palate is so jaded with salt and fat that he can't appreciate anything else. I often try to tell him how much better food is fresh from our own garden, and I think back to when I was growing up and had no idea what most food plants even looked like. Then I see the glaze over his eyes and realize that I sound like the Peanuts kid's parents to him- but that's about 75 percent of the time anyhow.
Sometimes I fantasize that if I lived in the country I would pay more attention to the fruiting plants because I would stay home and work all day in the garden and house with no interruptions. Instead, I feel a bit harassed by the gorgeous red Early Girl tomatoes that keep ripening and menaced by the eight varieties of beans I stashed everywhere- and can't remember which is which. It was thrilling to play hide and seek with the green beans and cherry tomatoes at first, but now it's a bit of a horror to find more, and guilt inducing when I find pods that are grossly swollen and too tough to eat.
I got lucky tonight and friends stopped over to inaugurate the new thrift shop fire bowl/pit I found last week. The 4 ripe figs were almost falling off the little tree and I wouldn't have managed to get out and eat them if we hadn't been looking around outside. We managed to not let any kids fall into the firepit or throw any toys into it. Whew. We did manage to try a little of the 18 year old Panamanian rum that Chris brought back from his last trip- it was velvety and brown sugar reminiscent, but not sweet. Perfect. The s'mores were definite overkill after that.
Too many distractions living in the city. We go out for coffee or lunch or dinner and leave behind all of the hard won food in the back yard- even though we know that we can ill afford to do so. After building and moving planter boxes, hauling dirt and manure, watering for hours, one would think we would be eating as much of it as we can. Instead, the thought of processing all of the food makes me tired and lazy, perhaps a bit bored after the excitement of getting the seeds and plants in the ground.
Really though, I've made kale chips in the dehydrator, canned two measly pints of tomatoes (another story), and have some swiss chard drying now. I'm trying to decide what to do with the latest crop of tomatoes- not enough to can, but too many to eat fresh. Dry, freeze? The freezer is stuffed with 60 lbs of raspberries, blueberries and marionberries that mom and I picked, washed, flash froze and then vac sealed and refroze. So, maybe I'm just already tired out.
Looking at these pictures, it's obvious that if I had a country garden, I would be waay overwhelmed with produce. I have a tiny, tiny garden in the city. Maybe that's just right for now.

39

2009-04-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

My Dad says that it's the "un-year"- no one is ever really 39. It's sort of the default year after a certain point, I guess.
I'm trying to ignore this birthday for the most part. I'm all for celebrating the hell out of 40- women only Breitenbush hot springs trip, big everyone invited potluck when we get back. But 39?
Sadly, I don't feel so much, hear me roar- more, oh shit, I forgot to have a career or specially nurtured money-making talent and I've got an almost five year old- and it's the "worst depression since the 1930's".
I do however have gift certificates, birthday money and a womanly obsession with finding the
perfect boots- and we all know that there is no one perfect boot for every occasion. So, enter the long coveted Frye Carson boot. Cool boots definitely perk me up.
But, I'm not getting any younger, so this is the year to get going (even though my horrorscope today said that I would have to work very hard this year and that I might get some reward for it-possibly).
I'm going to enjoy this year with Will, and not feel guilty for working on some projects that I've been putting off because they are too enjoyable and would thereby make me feel guilty for doing them. Things like crafting, painting, trying an Etsy shop, and seeing more historic markers in Oregon- maybe even while unschooling!
Maybe I'll be as kick-ass as my boots by 40!