knithead

Daddy's Home!

2009-02-14T10:32:00.001-08:00

Another frustrating shopping experience

2009-02-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

My youngest daughter has decided to be a vegan. She has been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for 10 years. Anyway, I’m trying to be supportive and keep food on hand that she can quickly eat without much preparation due to her busy school schedule. I’ve been experimenting with new vegan recipes and have been looking for spring roll wrappers, I found them today at a small local grocery store. Unfortunately they are heavily packaged in plastic and are imported from Viet Nam! My reason for going to this store in the first place is they have locally grown fruit and vegetables at a very reasonable price and then I buy the Vietnamese wrappers. I will keep looking for a more local alternative. We have a large Asian community nearby so the next time I’m in that area I will check their stores.

One more impact lowering behavior: start using a French press again for making coffee. No filters to buy or throw away or compost.

I am researching homemade laundry soap recipes as well as shampoo and conditioner.

Hooray for rain! except for the driving part

2009-02-06T07:44:00.000-08:00

Yes we do get rain here on occasion. Our poor landscaping really needs it too. We made the mistake of putting in a large lawn in our investment property. It is about 8 miles further inland and up on a hill, the lawn has a southern exposure so gets lots and lots of sun. In other words it needs a lot of water and is not in keeping with my eco-friendly lifestyle.

Lola is just not feeling the love

2009-02-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

Homemade cat treats! What a great idea, Greenies cost about a buck an ounce and I figured i could make a pound and a half for about $3 so that comes to about 12 1/2 cents an ounce. Not too shabby! Tuna, cornmeal, flour, canola oil what's not to love? Well these little tidbits were not readily chowed down by my lovely Lola. She gave them a quick lick and then showed a complete lack of interest. Drat, i may need to up the tuna ratio-- I won't give up that easily.

Pondering

2009-02-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thinking about packaging in general not just plastic. I bought a box of pretzels and some cereal hoping that the contents would be in something other than plastic like maybe a waxed paper bag. But no, it was not so, definitely in plastic bags. So then I was thinking how I would have been better off just buying the plastic bag of pretzels in the first place cuz at least then there'd only be one package. In an effort to avoid plastic i ended up with double the packaging definitely not my intention. Then I started thinking of what exactly is the best package as far as the earth's impact. We've all heard how paper bags use way more energy to make than plastic bags, but wildlife aren't choking and dying with hundreds of paper bag bits in their guts. My first choice is no package so that will be my ultimate goal. Second will be reusable packaging like a plastic container of cheese that can be used to store leftovers or as a portable food container for meals away from home. My third choice is the least packaging available if i can't find the product without packaging or in something reusable. Unless i decide to go without.

Looks like i'm going to have to try making my own pretzels.

So I'm out of Sequence

2009-02-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

This was supposed to be included in my February 1 post.
I made homemade dog biscuits last month but I didn’t determine the yield so I will make again. Today has been a struggle not to go anywhere! The Super Bowl is on and I’m not a fan of either team so I’m not interested in watching. My husband is still in Brazil so normally I would go to a shopping center and look around but I decided to stay home and do some yard work instead. It was a beautiful day so I didn’t mind at all. Besides tomorrow I have a Starbucks meetup and have to take Michael to school and back so I can combine trips to stay with my plan of conserving energy. Still there were several times I was tempted to jump in the car and had to control my urge!

I am not a consumer of bottled water so that is a vice I don’t have to worry about but I did give up soft drinks partly because of the aluminum cans used.

Animals products today: milk in coffee, butter in homemade World Peace Cookies and a little cheese on top of my tofu chili. Not bad! I should mention that I do not expect to be perfect in my goals so I’m sure there will be occasions when I “fall off the wagon” so to speak.

Plastic, plastic everywhere!

2009-02-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

Wow what a different experience it is to go grocery shopping with a conscious mind to avoid plastic. It was bizarre to stand in a far corner of the store and do a 180 degree look around and feel like I was in plastic land! I figure today I used 5 less bags of plastic than I normally would have. 3 produce bags -- I just plopped the food into my cart bare naked. and eliminated 2 plastic shopping bags cuz I brought my handy dandy canvas bag that is extra large and went without a bag for the 2 kinds of flour that I bought. Arrowhead mills organic whole wheat pastry flour on sale for $3.29 for a 5 pound bag! Same price for the organic unbleached all purpose. Woo hooo tasty treats are on the way! I seem to use a lot of exclamation points.

Look no plastic! Packaging made for a compost bin...perfection

New, sort of, Year's Resolutions

2009-02-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

I know it's already a month into the new year but hey I tend to procrastinate a bit. I can't be perfect! I've been reading some really inspirational blogs about people trying to make a difference in this sad world's situation, trying to eliminate plastic from their lives or going whole hog like "No Impact Man" and drastically reducing their carbon footprint. I can't commit to go as far as they have but I am definitely going to try and lead a more conscious earth friendly life. First off I have made a vow to absolutely eliminate my use of plastic shopping bags. I have some old ones in my car I can keep using until they fall apart but otherwise I'm not going to get any new ones. I have plenty of tote bags that i can keep in the car. In the past I'd leave them in the car and then say "oh well next time" but now if I forget I go back to the car and get them. My daughter visited Midway Atoll a few months ago and saw the effects our plastic mania has had on the albatross. The birds' decaying bodies reveal a belly full of plastic!

Here's my list of goals for 2009

1. Eliminate my use of plastic bags
2. Attempt to only purchase products that are minimally packaged
3. Reduce our families use of processed foods which will also reduce amount of packaging
4. Find alternatives for zip lock bags and plastic containers
5. Repair rather than replace whenever possible
6. Eat and prepare healthy whole foods in place of prepared and/or fast food
7. Reduce the amount of animal products I consume
8. Collect gray water for use on outdoor plants
9. Use less electricity by using sunlight when possible and less lighting in general
10. Be more conscious of combining car trips for shopping, errands etc., carpool

So basically follow a reduce, reuse, recycle lifestyle. One of my biggest challenges will be the resistance of other family members to follow in my footsteps. I need to remember that I can't control the decisions they make but I can lead by example. I will try to track my progress and have updates and post ideas I come across. I think we can make a difference if we all try. This morning I was about to turn on a lamp to read a book and realized if I moved into the family room it is nice an sunny and I don't need to turn on a light. I collected the water in a large bowl in the sink when I washed my hands and used that water on a plant in the backyard. Its a glorious day outside so instead of driving to the mall for some window shopping I will go out back and pull some weeds.

Pretty flower but oh so fleeting

2009-01-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

This Christmas Cactus was a real beauty! A lovely friend of mine gave me this plant for a house re-warming gift when we moved back into our home. Unfortunately shortly after taking this picture the many, many buds simply dried up and fell off. So sad for me, I followed the directions on the little tab on the plant but alas it wasn't meant to be.

Boo hoo feeling sorry for myself...and cookies!

2009-01-15T13:16:00.000-08:00

Youngest daughter is on a trip today with another 18 year old girl and I think I'm going to make myself nuts! They are driving 500 miles to visit friends at college, then snowboarding. Of course all i can think about is how many things could go wrong instead of how much fun they will surely have. I guess its the mom thing because I wouldn't have thought twice about doing something similar a her age. Of course Iasked her to check in every few hours and it's been over 2 so i'm anxiously waiting for her to call. She packed a cooler full of vegan goodness so I'm not worried about them having enough to eat that's for sure. I made them some delicious vegan chocolate chip cookies this morning so they took those along also.

Here's that recipe:

Vegan Chocolate chip (more appropriately "chunk") cookies

1/2 cup brown sugar (I was out of this so used 1 T less of raw sugar and added a Tablespoon of molasses)

1/4 granulated sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup soy milk

1 T cornstarch

2 tsps. vanilla extract ( I use the amazingly delicious vanilla bean paste)

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips (I didn't have vegan chips so chopped up a chunk of dark chocolate*)

depending on how chocolatey you want your cookies.

I use a stand mixer to beat the oil with the sugars (and molasses in this mornings case), milk and cornstarch for a good 2 minutes to get this mixed really well. Mix in vanilla. I then remove from the mixer and do the rest with a wooden spoon and/or good-sized rubber scraper, one of those spoony shaped ones does the job really well and scrapes down the sides of the bowl as a bonus. Add about 1/2 the flour and the baking soda and salt, mix well and add remaining flour; fold in chocolate chips/chunks.

I use a disher or scooper or whatever you call it size 50. I forgot to count the number of cookies i got but I'm guessing around 30. use a parchment paper lined cookie sheet or not. if you don't use parchment paper you might have to scrape the cookies off the sheet but it will still work ok.

Bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes. Baked mine for 12 and they were perfecto! I have checked my oven temperature recently I know its accurate. Let them cool on a wire rack or eat immediately if you like them hot and squishy!

* Whenever I chop a large piece of chocolate I get quite a bit of shavings along with my chunks but i just throw them in too. i think you'll find the different sizes of chocolate chunks are wonderful in these cookies.

Shall we try again?

2009-01-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

Good lord it's 2009! I've decided to stop saying "...it'll be here before you know it" because it always is and its starting to make me a little crazy. i get these notions in my head that before you know it something I'm looking forward to (or not) will be here and gone and then what? What I'm trying to say in my long winded way is that I am going to try to live each day to its fullest potential and stop lamenting that time is absolutely flying by! There, that is as close as I get to making a New Year's resolution. I am going to try to start blogging more regularly too because I've noticed that I haven't come across many bloggers in my age group. The over 45 age group that is... ok not going to think about the time moving fast thing, not going to do it!

I made some bread from the book "Artisan Bread in five Minutes a Day". I have been thrilled with the results. I can't figure out how to get my pictures in the right place on this blog. I try to drag them around but they don't seem to want to go where I tell them! I solved the problem I think by deleting one of the pictures. Apparently I need more experience with the blog world. These are pictures of the dough in midrise and the finished load of 100% whole wheat sandwich bread from the aforementioned (is this a word?) book. Delicious! My only complaint is the recipes are a little too salty so I reduce the salt called for by about 1/3.

One down about 23 to go

2008-10-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well I finally rejoined Weight Watchers and lost a whopping 1 pound this first week. Down isn't up so I'm pleased. I certainly didn't suffer to lose that pound so I'm sure I can keep up this pace.

My tomato plants have a visitor. Noticed some chomping marks on some of my tomatoes and it appears I've found the culprit. I suppose someday he will be a beautiful butterfly or moth or whatever but right now he/she is a tomato plant foe!

Starting almost 2 weeks ago now, I made/grew/built whatever, some "wild yeast" sourdough starter and tomorrow will try to remember to take some pictures so I can post about my bread making attempts. i want so badly to tear into a homemade loaf and find that wonderful, holey, delicious texture I'm so desperate to achieve. So far my loaves are always too dense; I guess it takes one to know one. I have made some really good pizza dough and focaccia though.

Fat, fat the water rat

2008-10-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

Oh man! What a difference a year makes! Back to weight watcher's tomorrow morning for me. Ever since I started perfecting my baking skills, cupcakes in particular, I have seen the pounds piling back on. Less exercise too in the land of constant heat so I'm getting the double weight gain whammy. more food, less exercise. Soooooo, it looks like self-discipline is not my forte and I need the extra nudge that a weekly meeting gives me. Not to mention the competitive spirit that goes along with the weigh-ins. This picture will have to do as my "before" because it's all I have at my current rotundity. Wish me luck!. OINK!

woe is me

2008-07-24T19:43:00.001-07:00

I've decided I'm going to do this blog for me and me alone so whatever I say on here is straight from my mind to the keyboard.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all that is required to start a biz and not entirely sure its what I want to do anyway. I mean I love love love to bake and could do it all day long but I have never spent an entire day baking so maybe I wouldn't love it as a job, career, etc. I just don't know. My life has been filled with child rearing and wifely duties for more than 25 years so this is all a big life change for me. I think I've decided I will charge forward with my plans and just see what happens. If we end up not being able to afford it then oh well that's the way it goes. I'll find something else to do. I'm still practicing my decorating skills as you can see practice is still needed.

Hmmmm guess I'm not very dedicated to blogging

2008-07-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

Can't believe it's been 12 days! Seems like every day goes by faster than the one before!

Trying hard to make some important decisions and having difficulty. Still making cupcakes every day and need to figure out what to do with all of them. Throwing away old stale cupcakes makes me feel really bad, surely I can find someone to eat them. I think I will make that mandatory before I make any more.

These are pina colada cupcakes. I think they need a pineapple garnish so they look more pina - ish. Wow that picture is sure dark, better make sure the flash is on next time. Today I'm doing a taste test of vanilla cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting. Same frosting on 2 different vanilla cakes.

Mr. Beardie Von Dragon has disappeared somewhere in our yard out back. One minute he was enjoying some mint and the next gone! He left a large poop on our patio yesterday morning but no sign of him today. I hope he shows up soon, he must be missing his tasty worms.

To Blog or not to blog

2008-07-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to decide if I should rejuvenate my blog. So much has happened since last September and my last post. The Witch Fire and renting our home to friends whose home burned down, the loss of our cat Chico who was featured back in September, my employment and now back to unemployment, obsessive knitting and now finally cupcake OCD. I don't know how to add captions to my pictures yet so I will explain. Lola on the stairs, and today's cupcake flavor: chocolate mint cupcake with a layer of mint royal icing and topped off with mint chocolate buttercream.

In honor of talk like a pirate day

2007-09-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what the title of today's post means but my son assures me this is true. So here is my cat saying "Blargh" in honor of the above day.

Anyway... in knitting news I have gotten started on the Candy Wrapper Sachets I am making for Christmas gifts. The pattern is from "One Skein" by Leigh Radford. I love, love, love the patterns in this book. The sachets are recommended to be knit with Jaeger fingerweight silk but I could only find DK weight so will see how they turn out. Beautiful yarn and got it from Jimmy Beans Wool.com for 50% off. Still 12.95 per skein for 50 grams but so lucious it's definitely worth it. And can probably make 6 or more sachets from a skein. I will let you know and will take some pix. There is a lavender farm here in San Diego county and I want to fill the sachets with dried lavender from them so will find the details regarding that for a future post also.

I am noticing my novice knitting skills are improving and I am finding myself drawn to more detailed patterns so am quite excited about this. Still anxious to have a completed garment under my belt and will drag out the incomplete cardigan when I am closer to having my Christmas gifts done.

In other news I am normally not much of a beer fan but recently have been enjoying Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale mmmmmm

AHHHH Cheap Yarn and Wine

2007-09-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

What is better than finding bargains on wine and yarn all within a few feet of each other. We have a Henry's Marketplace and a Tuesday Morning adjacent to each other and I hit the jackpot today. Found some scrumptious Concannon Petite Sirah from the lovely central coast of California at Henry's and then trotted over to TM and was delighted with some gorgeous yarn.

The light green and rust yarn is 85% merino, 10% silk and 5% cashmere. The purple, blue and cream colored yarn is 70% merino, 20% alpaca and 10% silk. $2.99 per skein!!! Can yarn be delicious? Yummy!

The head has arrived!

2007-09-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

My daughter says I'm a creeper but I think this head is wonderful.

She is a cosmetology head so she has real human hair ready for styling, which she apparently needs! Anyway I had a very good reason for buying a "head". And here's a picture to show you what I mean.
Now I don't need anyone to model my knitted hats and scarves, I'll just put them on "Bridgette". I'll have to keep my eye out for a good price on a complete mannequin when my knitting skills improve and I start making sweaters and other clothing items.

My son says the hair probably came from a dead person but I certainly hope not. Don't some people have quickly growing hair and the sell it for this purpose? Whatever, I think it's great and I just may give her a curly new do or maybe some bangs...hmmmm

Brand spanking new blogger

2007-09-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've already lost the first blog I tried to post so please bear with me on this. I am a techno "doofus" (sp?) so I am sure to make many mistakes along the way. My kids and husband are my tech support so hopefully I'll get something readable on here eventually. Warning: much rambling is about to begin, I almost called my blog "she whines and complains" but was afraid no one would ever read it :)

Anyway, I love knitting and that’s why I’m here. My renewed interest in knitting began about a year ago when I was attempting to work as a real estate agent. (Background information ahead). The high end company I worked for had a mentoring program and after nearly a year I had only one transaction so my mentor was searching for an explanation. Many mentoring sessions later, in desperation, my mentor asked me to make a list of everything I was passionate about and everything I wanted to accomplish in my life. Great assignment, I highly recommend this to everyone, and lo and behold nowhere on my list was anything even remotely close to selling over-priced homes to whiny, buyers with bad credit. Nor was listing over-priced properties owned by pretentious, delusional, greedy sellers anywhere on my life goals list. But learning to play the guitar and knitting a sweater were near the top of the page on “My dreams of someday accomplishing…”

So here I am today, unemployed, in the midst of what could be a midlife crisis and have yet to take a guitar lesson and the sweater is in a tote bag. I’m waiting for the time when I get someone to explain to me how I “…AT SAME TIME bind off center 7 sts for neck and working both sides at once, bind off from each neck edge 4 sts once.” I don’t get it, and this pattern is in Very Easy Vogue, sure would hate to see Extremely Difficult or even Mildly Challenging Vogue. But not to worry, tomorrow I am going to my first yahoo meetup knitting and crocheting group so I am hoping to get some help or at least some advice. In the meantime I have knitted a few hats for my kids and their friends. I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of most of them but from now on I will be much better about documenting my accomplishments.

Here's a picture of a hat I knitted for a little 4 year old. If I can get her to wear it I'll post a new picture. Next time looks like I should get a little closer when I take the photo.