My new year's project.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Scooter Models
One of Amanda's Christmas gifts was a skein of un-knit yarn with a tag that said it would turn into something soon. It did today, a seed stitch hat. Amanda isn't home to model, so Scooter took over.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Potato Leek Soup
Eric and Margaret had me over for dinner, which is always a good thing because Eric is a phenomenal cook. We had several courses, but I got so excited about them that I only remembered to take a couple of pictures. This was the potato leek soup (it was more fancy than it sounds, and incredibly yummy).
Monkey Business?
I had everyone model the gifts I made them for Christmas. Chris and Bray were showing off their hats and the nappy bag & changing pad with the monkey Amanda got "from the baby". I think Chris knows not to do this with a newborn...right?
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Oh No Mr. Santa!
We woke up Christmas morning to my dad saying "There's been an accident with the gingerbread house!" Fearing the worst we sped to the kitchen, only to discover that Chris & Bray had added their own touch of decor. Santa ran into our chimney and was beheaded! There were even little wrapped packages strewn about the grounds of the gingerbread house.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Best Christmas Present Ever
Amanda gave me a "naked" gingerbread house for Christmas, along with all kinds of supplies for decorating: fairy dust (sprinkles), peasant housing (ice cream cones), devil mud (magic shell) and more. I opened it Christmas Eve and we stayed up late decorating it. What an awesome daughter I have...
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
One More Sunset
What can I say? I work in the Berkeley Hills and leave every night at sunset. The colors are just too much to resist.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Ouch!
Who knew yoga could be so dangerous? I was coming out of a handstand last night in class and instead of a nice, graceful landing I came down straight on my toe and jammed it into the ground. I can't really bend it, and it looks pretty funny.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Local Thanksgiving Fare
My local contribution to our family Thanksgiving dinner, brussel sprouts. Steam first, then saute with lots of garlic and vegan butter. Even people who don't like them, like them. Know what I mean?
Scooter Meets O-Chem
I was working at home today on the kitchen table, only to discover that Scooter things carbon molecule models are very exciting. He kept trying to steal them (look closely, you can see one in his mouth) while I was trying to build molecules.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Shower Cupcackes
The cupcakes, and the shower, were a success. I landed up with three vegan recipes, all from the marvelous Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and one non-vegan from Cupcakes Year Round. Can you guess which goes where?
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Baby Sweater
The baby gift is done! My first finished sweater. I highly recommend starting with a baby sweater, it goes very quickly.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Napkin Tags
Instead of cheezy shower favors, we opted for donating chicks to Heifer International. Each person will get a tag with their napkin letting them know that a chick has been purchased in their name, for Chris & Bray's new baby.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Pumpkin Cupcakes
I'm testing cupcake recipes for the baby shower. Bray's been craving pumpkin, so I'm trying a vegan pumpkin cupcake with chocolate chips and a "regular" pumpkin from Martha.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Another Sunset
On my way home from work I took a pit stop to watch another glorious sunset from Grizzly Peak.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Shower Invites
I'm making baby shower invitations...for my little brother! Chris and his partner, Braylene, are expecting in January. They're both water people, so Mom, Jo & I thought whales were a good choice. My current task? Tying lots, and lots, of little, teeny-tiny, itty-bitty bows.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Sweater Starts
I'm taking a sweater class, in an attempt to make a seamless sweater for myself. The class is at Marin Atelier and the owner, Amanda, is teaching it. I'm taking it with my friend Georgia, and so far it's going well. There's a lot of homework though.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Last Slice
Yummy frittata...this time with local spinach and potatoes. There were more leftovers than just this, but it looked kinda cool with the last slice left in the pan.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
19 Too Many Candles
We celebrated Amanda's birthday for the third time, at Mom & Dad's with Chris & Bray. Chris made an amazing chocolate cake with berry coulis. Lots of candles, which took a few tries to blow out completely...
Monday, September 24, 2007
View From Work
How could I not love my job when this is the view from the parking lot? The view from the cafeteria is even better but tough to photograph through the tinted windows.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
First Load
I started emptying my "outbox" today, with a carload of stuff for the goodwill & used bookstore. I'm loving getting my apartment de-cluttered, but it's a lot of work. Worth it in the end...right?
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Birthday Cupcakes
Amanda is turning 19 tomorrow, and I made her favorite vegan chocolate cupcakes to celebrate. We had a picnic in her dorm room complete with apple cider. They weren't local, but this was one of my exceptions.
On the local front, I've been doing well, but nothing blog-worthy. Lots of salad & simple food. Yum.
On the local front, I've been doing well, but nothing blog-worthy. Lots of salad & simple food. Yum.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Smut Loves Company
My corn that I turned into corn soup tonight had smut. No, I'm not getting fresh with the corn (pun really intended). That black fungus is called smut. Apparently some people eat it (hmmm...there's some really bad jokes in there...). Minus the smut it made some really, really good corn soup from the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook. If you look up the recipe be advised I left out the pig's foot, being as I'm a vegetarian and didn't really like the sound of feet in my soup anyways. It was still delicious.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Apartment Therapy
I started doing Apartment Therapy last week. For those of you who think I'm off the proverbial rocker, it's not nearly as cheesy as it sounds. Eight weeks, and it totally walks you through (in my case) decluttering & really cleaning your home and making it work for you. I've gotten really into it. This week I'm working on the kitchen. These are the main cabinets before the clutter gets cleared. I'll post the after pictures soon...
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Zucchini Frittata
My dinner tonight was another frittata. One of the challenges as a vegetarian-almost-vegan is getting local protein. Eggs have proven to be my friend (good thing I'm not completely vegan!). This made up for the garlic fries at the Stich 'n Pitch, which were decidedly not healthy and most likely not local.
Stich 'n Pitch East Bay
Kathleen and I went to the Oakland A's Stich 'n Pitch today, where I made great progress on the baby sweater I've been working on. I highly recommend that you try a baby sweater if you've never made a sweater. It's my first, and it's proving to be much easier than I had anticipated. Ask me again when it's done if I still think that.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Wedding in the Redwoods
We went to a lovely wedding for two friends, John and Petra, today. They were married at Stern Grove in one of the most amazing ceremonies I have ever seen. It was mostly buddist, with a few other touches. I got to read the part of the pussycat in Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat" towards the end of the ceremony. Then there was lunch catered from Pakwan. That evening just before sunset the reception continued at the DeYoung in the Observation Tower with cocktails, appetizers, cake, and dancing. It was lovely. Congratulations John & Petra!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Local (?) Zucchini Pasta
I needed carbs and I'm out of my local rice, no potatoes in sight, and the bread's basically gone. So I bought some fresh, locally made pasta. Does that count as cheating? It's from The Phoenix Pastificio in Berkeley. It's organic, and I know they try to use local ingredients. Did I cheat on my challenge?
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Rice Salad & Then Some
Using more of Dad's tomatoes, more of the Scooter-shucked corn, and a few other goodies I made a rice salad. The rice is from Massa Organics. I recommend cooking it in vegetable broth. It's more addictive than chocolate.
Scooter Shucks Corn
Continuing with his fascination with local food, Scooter "helped" me shuck corn tonight. He's turning into quite the sous chef.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Local Stash from Dad
I spent the day over at my parent's house working from "home" while my car was being tuned. Dad was home so we got to have lunch together and he got to show off his garden, and I got to take home a serious pile o' local, homegrown, organic goodness. Dahlias, tomatoes & a bell pepper. A pile of tomatoes. So, naturally gazpacho was made. And I still have a bunch left.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Spigariello Kale
I tried a different type of kale tonight, which I'd never noticed at the farmer's market before this past Saturday, although I'm sure it's been there. It's Spigariello Kale. I just steamed the heck out of it (it was still bitter at just a regular state of steaming) and put some white wine vinegar (yes, local) on it. It looked a lot like the green algae known as Sea Lettuce, but tasted much better.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Opera In The Park Eats
Yesterday I went to Opera in the Park in Golden Gate Park. My contribution was local crudites & white bean dip made with Stone House Blood Orange Olive Oil. We all brought our knitting, enjoyed the great weather, the music, and the two beagles that joined us.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Eat Local Challenge Day 9
Scooter was intrigued by more local food. This time it was Aracuana eggs, berries, and Arizmendi sourdough with Marshall's Honey. Thanks to Woolfairy for giving me the name of the eggs!
Saturday, September 08, 2007
It's Here!
The pear sorbet is ready. It's a great golden color, with flecks of lemon zest, and it is so very, very tasty. I just might eat the whole batch tonight.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Waiting for Sorbet
It's Eat Local Challenge Day 7, and I've made pear sorbet. BUT it has to freeze before I can eat it. I was intensely disappointed to realize that many recipes for pear sorbet require corn syrup. ICK. But after some frantic searching (I really had my tastebuds set on pear sorbet) Moosewood came through once again with a great, easy, no corn syrup included recipe. You just peel then boil the pears until they're soft, make a sugar syrup, chill those two parts, juice & zest a lemon, blend it all together and freeze. I don't have an ice cream maker, so it won't be as pretty as it could be, but I'm still looking forward to tomorrow night's dessert.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Eat Local Challenge Day 6
When I decided to join the Eat Local Challenge, I thought I might encourage some other folks to join me at least in part. Maybe my mom and dad (they've recently joined a CSA, woo hoo!), my brother, some friends. Little did I know that my kitten Scooter would be the one to leap (yes, he leaps, but it's impossible to catch on camera) on board. This is the second night in a row he's stolen a locally grown green bean while I was trying to get them ready for dinner. It's raw, there's nothing on it, not laced with fish or butter or cat nip. He drags them around and attacks them like they are his prey. I don't know that he actually consumes them. They do disappear, but I have my doubts that they landed up in his stomach. Most likely under the dresser or some other place that I won't look until next Spring. Maybe he's hording beans to dry for winter.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Eat Local Challenge Day 5
Summer produce means succotash made with fresh corn, early girl tomatoes, fresh green beans, lima beans, red onion, garlic, and a wee bit of white wine vinegar. All local except the leftover frozen lima beans, but as per my own set of Eat Local Challenge rules I'm allowed to use what I already have as long as I replace them with local ones. Shouldn't be a problem...
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Eat Local Challenge Day 4 - Part 2
Frittata with potatoes (from Green Gulch Farm), dry farmed early girls, dill, and fresh farm eggs
Eat Local Challenge Day 4
Broiled grapefruit with a touch of brown sugar & cinnamon. OK, so the sugar & cinnamon aren't local...they're in my exceptions category.
Green Eggs...No Ham
Yep, they're green eggs. Sadly I didn't write down the name of the type of chickens that laid them. Next time.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Eat Local Challenge Day 3
Not quite like the stuff from SOOP, which is pure bliss, but a pretty decent imitation if I do say so myself. I macerated half a shallot in white wine vinegar, blended it with a bunch of heriloom tomatoes, some basil and some sea salt. Simple & so, so yummy.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Eat Local Challenge Day 2
Today I made rasberry jam from local rasberries I got at the farmer's market. I used the recipe from the CUESA cookbook, which turned out a little thick, but quite tasty.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Eat Local Challenge
I've decided to try the Eat Local Challenge for September. I'm going for 75% of my food grown within 100 miles of Oakland, with a few food exceptions (coffee, soy milk, salt, sugar...) and event exceptions (my friend's wedding on the 15th...). So I went a little nuts at the Farmer's Market today. Here's just part of what I came home with:
And here's some of the ingredients for my first dinner (lunch was salad):
And here's some of the ingredients for my first dinner (lunch was salad):
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