From Scratch

Front porch herbs

2010-07-19T22:14:00.000-05:00

Four types of basil (cinnamon, lemon, Thai and Genovese), two types of oregano (blue and Italian), parsley, peppermint and aloe. Also my strawberry plant, and a left over hanging basket from our wedding last summer.

And this is my favorite re-use project. These are mini kegs that my Dad gets, and when the beer is gone they make beautiful planters!

Harvest Time

2010-02-26T22:24:00.001-06:00

This is what we had left after eating out of the garden for three months:

two bowls of lettuce, a bowl of broccoli, a basket of chard and a basket of kale

Chard is my husband's favorite vegetable. When he saw this pile he said it was "a dream come true".

So needless to say, we're eating a lot of greens this week. Last night I sauteed a shallot and some chard in white balsamic vinegar (my favorite). Tomorrow I'm going to try this recipe, only with chard and onion. I'm also going to make this recipe, which my friend Lisa (of Sippel Family Farm) recommended to me. And that's just the chard! I've lost my recipe for sweet potato and kale soup, but if I can find it, that and kale chips are where the kale will go. The broccoli will be eaten with hummus, and the lettuce will be used in salads.

After we were done with our harvest, my husband and I sat down and planned out what we're going to plant next, and then today, list in hand, we visited Austin's Natural Gardener. It was too early for pepper plants, but we were able to get tomato plants and lots of seeds. My only request was that we plant so much basil I get sick of it (impossible!). We came home with 3 types of basil, 6 different types of lettuce, spinach, squash and zucchini, two types of beans, and 4 heirloom tomato plants.

*Edit: I found the sweet potato and kale soup recipe I love! The only thing I change is I use homemade veggie stock.*

Frustrations with Food

2010-02-06T09:51:00.003-06:00

I've been feeling disconnected and frustrated with the people around me lately. Brian and I have been very dedicated in our workouts and eating habits in the hopes that someday soon we might be moving near some mountains. We've also discovered the most awesome restaurant in Texas, Casa De Luz. They are a vegan, macrobiotic restaurant, and their food is amazing. We've taken to going once a week. They also introduced me to my new favorite obsession, twig tea. I love tea, but am sensitive to caffeine and so have to be careful about what I consume. I'm so sensitive that even a cup of green tea around eleven in the morning will affect my sleep at ten or eleven that night. Sadly, that means no green tea for me, and I've been bummed about missing out on its healthy benefits. But enter twig tea, made from actual twigs of the tea plant and containing no caffeine. It has a slightly nutty flavor, and many of the same health benefits of green tea.

So while we are doing so much for our health, it upsets me to watch people around me who are so disconnected from themselves and what they eat. I know several people who have had to have major stomach surgery lately, but then afterward go off and do things like consume fast food. One person literally said she stopped on the way home from her surgery. Now, I believe everyone has the right to do what he or she wants with his or her own body. But it hurts me to see people doing such harmful things and not even realize it. You're carrying around a colostomy bag, and you're not even going to try to eat better? I have another friend who is allergic to wheat, and her undiagnosed allergy was even a factor in her cancer (which is back), yet I see her eating sandwiches and animal crackers. What has happened in the last 50 years that had caused us to become so disconnected from our food and our bodies? I remember as a child, my grandmother had all kinds of home remedies that she used, weird things she wanted us to eat to fix this or that health problems. Food used to be our medicine, our fuel, what brought us together with friends and family. Now it's become the enemy, something that harms us, something we have to fight against.

Our Garden in January

2010-01-19T12:39:00.000-06:00

Winter garden with broccoli, kale, chard and lettuce.

broccoli

golden chard

lettuce

Thanksgiving Confessions

2009-11-25T10:21:00.000-06:00

For two people (my husband and I) who love to cook, we made an odd decision this year involving Thanksgiving. This year we decided not to cook. We made this decision for several reasons, but our main two were that my husband has to work Thanksgiving night, and that you could order a vegan Thanksgiving meal from our co-op, Wheatsville. It's currently looking like we won't be in Texas next Thanksgiving, so we wanted to take this chance...it's not often that you can get a totally vegan meal cooked by someone else!

We're spending Thursday in Austin, but then Friday heading out to the the family farm for my husband's birthday. Since everyone out there is a proud meat-eater who refuses to touch anything even remotely vegetarian, we'll both have plenty of chances to cook for ourselves out there.

Our fall garden is growing strong, so I'll post some new pictures in a few days:)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Soda is like Cigarettes, or Why I avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup

2009-08-15T11:22:00.005-05:00

I'll admit that I've never been much of a soda drinker. I grew up on apple juice, and while there was a time we bought Diet Caffeine Free Cherry 7up, it's not something I ever consumed much of. So I don't understand why people "need" a Dr Pepper, or a Pepsi, or a Diet Coke. I had a teacher in high school who carried around her own cooler full of Pepsi, just to get her through the day. But I will admit that there was a time I smoked. I have ADHD and am terribly shy, so smoking both calmed me down, and made it easy for me to talk to people I didn't know (other smokers). But when I met my husband, and we both really considered the long tern health effects of what we were doing, we quit.

But back to the soda (or pop or coke depending on where you're from). My husband and I have, for most of the last year, been avoiding high fructose corn syrup. This began after watching the movie "King Corn" and seeing the complicated and dangerous process of making high fructose corn syrup, and was supported by the studies that came out recently about the mercury levels in corn syrup. Since neither my husband or I drink soda, or even eat much processed food, avoiding high fructose corn syrup isn't a terribly complicated task. We already read labels, and apart from the few times we couldn't find a vegan/corn syrup free bbq sauce, or the time I discovered it in my almonds, it hasn't changed our habits much.

A few weeks ago my husband and I took a trip to the coast. We camped on the beach, and I enjoyed a few rum and Blue Sky cola's. Driving home we had terrible car trouble that really slowed us down. Our jeep is sans air conditioning, and so it was a long, hot journey. About an hour outside of San Antonio, we were both dying of thirst, and the only thing we had was a few leftover Blue Sky cola's. So we split one. And I noticed something I never had before. I could only have about half a can before the sweetness was too much for me, and I just wanted a glass of water. Not something I ever remember experiencing with a conventional, corn syrup filled cola. And I got to thinking about what I've read about corn syrup, how your body absorbs it differently than sugar. Now, if you're, say, a soda company in a capitalist system who wants to sell lots and lots of your product, making something that people can only drink half of before they want water isn't really the best idea. Think about the last time you drank soda with corn syrup in it. I could drink and drink and drink it and never felt it was 'too sweet' and I sure never wanted to stop. That's dangerous to your health, and also reminds me of another addictive substance another large group of companies put into a common product: nicotine.

So this brings me around to something that happened the other day at my job. I work with kids at a recreation center. In our kitchen we have a drink machine, but my former boss would only put sports drinks and juice in it. My new boss, who is one of those people who has a rough day and just needs a Dr Pepper, filled it with soda. And I find this to be a terribly negligent act. We might as well have a cigarette machine in the building. I read an article the other day that said 40% of our health care costs as a nation are related to obesity, and that as a nation we average 60% of our caloric intake from soda. Hell, if you even just crawled out from under a rock after the last 20 years, you know obesity is currently a huge problem in this country. Not unlike smoking was a huge problem, and led to many long term health problems. High Fructose Corn Syrup has only been in our foods since the mid 90s, so we really have no idea what the long term health effects are. And from the way my co-workers who are addicted to soda act, it reminds me of when I used to step out to have a smoke. Corn syrup just makes you want more and more corn syrup, because you don't know when to stop, unlike real sugar. So why are we making this available to our kids? Why do people buy this stuff? Isn't your health worth more than drinking a can full of chemicals and a little instant gratification?

2009-07-25T11:10:00.009-05:00

As a Midwest gal growing up, my family always had a garden. Summers were spent outside in the dirt with my parents. There was always something to harvest, something to can, something to eat. I grew up loving homemade ketchup in the summer, cherry pies in the fall, and strawberry preserves all winter. Gardening in Texas and the gardening I grew up with are two very different beasts, and I'll admit I'm (we're) not doing too well this year. We got a late start (what with all the wedding planning and all) and then my husband forgot to add our organic fertilizer. So our garden was a bit of a disappointment this season. I'm already making plans in my head for our fall garden, but being in an extreme drought right now, we might wait until next year to plant anything more. But what has turned out well this summer, is my herbs. I've really taken to doing pots of herbs. They're mobile--so if my basil is getting too much sun on one part of the porch, I just move it--and they take less watering than our in-ground garden. I've been using the water after washing my dishes to water them, and it helps remind me to do it! I really enjoy having fresh herbs nearby to add while I'm cooking, and it smells so yummy every time I walk out the door.

one of my basil plant

Italian oregano

spearmint

and mr caterpillar enjoying my parsley

Wedding

2009-07-03T15:55:00.007-05:00

So I've got an awesome half written post about pesto, and one about our new dehydrator and all the yummy stuff we'll be making to take on our honeymoon (we're backpacking 30 miles in the Tetons). But for now I just wanted to share a few wedding pictures :)

This is the bridesmaids, me and my flower girl.

Here's my Dad and I going down the isle

Yay we're married!

My family.

and we're happy :)

Wedding update

2009-05-03T17:31:00.005-05:00

I'm glad I'm only getting married once. It's lots of work!

We sent out the invitations, which we got from this amazingly awesome website. I can't recommend them enough! They were nice and quick and our invitations turned out wonderful. And everyone can recycle them by planting them and growing flowers. What could be better?

Brian and all the boys got their tops (Brian in white, the rest of the guys in green) from The Hempest, and then they're going to just wear jeans. I keep telling Brian that jeans in June in Texas isn't a good idea, but he wants what he wants.

My dress is *amazing* and was handmade by Melanie over at Hippieclothes.com . She is also doing the bridesmaid's dresses, which will be green, and my little flower girl's dress. And I'll be wearing my beloved Chacos sandals that I've had for years. I guess they can be my "something old".

Lots of the decorations my best friend and I will be doing. We're going to have a big wooden peace sign wreath, and ribbons to guide you along the path to the stage. The table centerpieces will be pint glasses from Michigan, Kansas and Texas with flowers in them and river rocks around them. The flowers I'm getting from Blue House Flower Farm, who I've been buying flowers from at the farmers market for years.

Dinner is going to be vegan lasagna, salad and bread, catered by All's Well Catering. I'm so glad we found our awesome, Harley Riding former Raw vegan/vegetarian Jane to cater our wedding, because she's thought of so many things Brian and I would have forgotten, or didn't even consider, and she is totally dedicated to making it our day, and our way.

My best friend Livi is making the wedding cake and groom's cake. I love cake, and I love Livi like a sister, so put the two together and we can't go wrong. They'll be vegan and possibly gluten free.

My Mom is making heart shaped soap favors, since she is the diva of soap making. They'll be in my and Brian's favorite scent, patchouli lime.

A good friend of mine, Andy, who does wedding photography will be professionally photographing the wedding. Brian's dad and many others will also be taking pictures like crazy:)

We are getting several kegs from local breweries to drink at the reception. Probably something from Live Oak Brewing Company, (512) Brewing Company, and Independence Brewing Company.

The rehearsal dinner is going to be in our back yard, with vegetarian food from our local Co-op, Wheatsville, and a pony keg from NXNW Restaurant and Brewery. We're going to get disposable picnic-wear made from corn that is biodegradable for everyone to use them compost it in our compost pile.

We're not going on our honeymoon right away, we're waiting until the end of the summer, and then going to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We're spending two nights in the Old Faithful Inn , and then camping the rest of the time. We're planning on backpacking the Grand Teton Loop while we're there.

I think that's everything. Our original goal was to have an earth friendly wedding that represented Brian and I, and wasn't over the top and didn't put anyone in the poor house. With the help of our friends and family, I think we've done pretty well. Now we're just finishing the final preparations, and keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes well.

behind the times

2009-04-21T20:12:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been a while. Between working and working out more, and trying to save money to put towards our wedding, I haven't been doing much. But I've been working on a post all about our wedding and what we're doing, so I should have that up by this weekend. Stay tuned!

Purple Vegetable Soup

2009-03-15T16:14:00.007-05:00

Last week we experienced what I hope was our last cold streak. It went from being in the mid 80's to a high of 45 degrees in twenty four hours. The result of this--besides a stuffed nose--was me craving some hearty vegetable soup. So Brian and I went to the co-op, bought a bunch of veggies, I browsed numerous soup/stock recipes, and this is what I came up with. The purple carrots made it very purple, but oh so delicious.

Purple Vegetable Soup (makes 10 servings)

You'll need:
6 purple carrots
1/2 onion
4 cloves of garlic
8 stalks of celery
5 red potatoes
2 cups of peas
a handful of each of the following (soaked overnight)
red lentils
green lentils
white beans
kidney beans
black beans
pinto beans
2 cup vegetable stock
half a bottle of beer (or wine if you're so inclined)
1 tbsp olive oil
water

Cut up the carrots, celery and onion, and saute it with the crushed garlic cloves in olive oil in the bottom of your soup pot. Once everything begins to soften, add the beer and turn it down low. Let it simmer for like 45 minutes.

Drain the water from your beans, and boil them in fresh water until soft (about 45 minutes). Then drain the water and add them with the stock to the soup pot. Chop and add your potatoes. Add a little water to cover everything, and whatever spices you like, and add the peas. Then bring it to a boil, turn down the stove and let the soup simmer until the potatoes are soft. Don't serve it too hot or it masks the flavors.

A word of caution: this makes a lot of soup. It barely fit in my huge Le Creuset pot. But it's so good we've gone through it amazingly fast. In fact for dinner tonight we should finish it up. Enjoy!

You're my blue sky, you're my sunny day

2009-02-13T20:07:00.007-06:00

Because it was 80 degrees and sunny today, and my sauerkraut was ready, Brian and I decided to cook "brats" on the grill. While we're not huge fans of "vegetables masquerading as meat", we do occasionally eat them--for several reasons. I'll admit it's nice sometimes, especially during large family functions, to just lay low and eat something that looks like what everyone else is eating. I get tired of the horrified looks on peoples faces when they realize I don't eat dairy or meat or eggs, and the questions we have to answer. And sometimes I miss the familiarity and comfort of the food I was raised on (my Dad was a brat loving man).

So tonight we grilled up some fake hot dogs and brats, along with my homemade sauerkraut and some onions. The sauerkraut smelled awful when I first opened the jar and all the gas escaped. And then it bubbled up a really pretty purplish pink for a minute. But once it settled down and I got my courage up to try it, it was delicious! Mixed with onions, grilled, and used to top my fake hot dog--it was the best.

So yay for Meghan and her blog. I think I'm going to try sprouting next, since Wheatsville didn't have my favorite sprouts this week.

Here is the sauerkraut and onions grilling:

And here is the rest of my yummy sauerkraut:

Sauerkraut and Laundry

2009-02-09T19:39:00.005-06:00

So yesterday was the type of Texas day that I love. Mid-February, 70 degrees and wind blowing like crazy. I love the wind here, it never blew like it does here when I lived in the Midwest unless it was storming. Sunday was our crazy cleaning day. We went to not just one, but two concerts this weekend, and so Sunday was our back to reality day. I spent a lot of it doing laundry, which I actually love. Not so much the washing part, but the drying part. There is something about hanging your clothes on a line in the wind that is immensely satisfying. And the line dried smell is *wonderful*, breezy peppered with a dash of campfire.

Then early in the morning we got some much needed rain. I woke to the sound and wished I could just curl up in bed all day.

When I got home from work, we had to run to the store for soap, and I took it as an opportunity to buy some supplies and try a recipe I have been thinking about for a while. I love reading "Making Love In The Kitchen", not only because Meghan is adorable, but because I've learned some cool stuff from her blogs and videos. Her ketchup and blueberry jam recipes are on my list to try, but since cabbage is in season I decided to try her sauerkraut tonight. The recipe was relatively simple, and I totally enjoyed massaging my cabbage to get the juices flowing. It's now sitting on my fridge waiting for the three days to pass so that I can eat it. Here are some pictures (sorry for the terribly quality, my camera is still broken so currently I'm using Brian's cell phone for picture taking):

Mmmmm! Can't wait. It was good when I was eating it off my hands after all the massaging, so it should be amazing in a few days time. If you're looking for a fun and easy recipe to try, this one fits the bill, and right now in Texas it's in season too!

Baby Quilt for Arthur Trucks

2009-02-01T11:28:00.003-06:00

Between our visit to Brian's parents over New Years, and coming back to work and more wedding prep, I've been a tad bit busy lately. Brian is working on his thesis and applying to PhD programs, and I've been trying to pick up the slack around our place. I have been enjoying the wonderful Le Creuset set my Mom got us for Christmas, and I'll have to post about what yummy things we've been doing with those. I've also been trying to make vegan yogurt with the yogurt maker Brian gave me for Christmas. I haven't gotten the recipe perfect yet...it's very challenging to get soy or rice yogurt to the same consistency as milk yogurt. But I think I'm close.

My trusty old digital camera, that made it through years and years of backpacking trips and accidental falls from the kitchen counter finally clicked it's last picture right before Christmas, so Brian and I have been using his old non-digital camera for the last month. It makes turn around a little slower, so you'll have to forgive me for that. But I did want to post a picture of the baby blanket I made for Aaron and Maggie's son Arthur Trucks. It turned out much better than I ever imagined, and I'm very proud.

Christmas is in the air

2008-12-15T21:48:00.008-06:00

Since Brian and I aren't going home for Christmas this year, we decided that we should get our first tree and start our own traditions. My Mom has been giving me ornaments for years, so I have a small collection started. I researched some local tree farms, and we found a family owned farm not too far away.

We found our tree and cut it down,

Here I am after putting the tree into the jeep,

and here is our tree all decorated...

We also decided to make our favorite vegan lasagna on Christmas, and I'm planning to surprise Brian with his favorite cinnamon rolls that morning. I made some presents, bought some presents, but am totally done with shopping. What I did buy I made sure it was useful and earth friendly. A few days after Christmas we're traveling to Kansas to visit Brian's family and friends for New Years.

just a quicky

2008-12-05T20:17:00.003-06:00

I've been working on a project for work that has been sapping my time and writing skills, but I did want to post a quick picture of our Thanksgiving bond fire. And I should have a post up in the next few days about our trip to get our first Christmas tree:)

Pumpkin Muffins, and learning to love cooking

2008-11-18T20:21:00.009-06:00

This post was inspired by two events. The first was my friend saying she is having a hard time with cooking. The second was watching--and being horrified by--the movie "King Corn". I needed some good ol' fashioned baking to cleanse my soul.

But first I should mention that I didn't always feel that way. I didn't used to be vegan, and I didn't used to be healthy. Though I grew up with two wonderful, involved hippie parents who used to cook and garden with me as a child, by the time I was old enough to actually *learn* we were so busy with soccer and ballet and art classes that we didn't have time to cook. Like most families today we cut dinner time to make time to drive to all the places we had to be. My family fell back onto frozen meals, and I never really learned to cook much else.

I became vegetarian in high school, and happily lived off a diet of veggie burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches. For the next eight or so years I alternated between being a vegetarian and a vegan, but because of my lack of cooking skills was never able to pull of being vegan and healthy for long. When I eventually got my own apartment, I ate lots of processed meals, salads with lots of ranch dressing, and not much in the way of vegetables besides what was hidden in meat substitutes.

Then I moved to Texas, and started getting more involved in what I was eating. I learned to read labels, began to go to a farmer's market. I worked mornings, and had my graduate classes at night, leaving me with afternoons free to cook. What *really* got me cooking, I have to admit, was watching Rachael Ray on the food network. She really took much of the mythical "mystery" out of cooking. And she gave me ideas to try and courage to experiment.

A lot of my food sucked at first. I remember the first time I made hummus, it was horrible. I burned things, undercooked things, added tablespoons when I should have been adding teaspoons. But through all of that I learned what was important in a recipe, and what could be 'fudged'. I also learned what I enjoyed making, and what wasn't worth it for me.

When Brian and I met, he already knew how to cook. He had been heading the same direction as I was, away from processed foods and towards healthy whole foods. Brian's Grandfather was a farmer in East Texas. He had lived off the food he grew, and lived on a mostly vegetable diet. Three years ago at the age of 96, having beaten cancer twice (once in his 90's), he finally passed away. Brian was very close to his Grandfather, copied his diet, and actually listened to him.

It's taken me three or four years, but I'm just now starting to be really comfortable with my abilities in the kitchen. Cooking makes me feel excited and creative, and I'm not afraid to play with recipes because I feel like I know what I'm doing.

So tonight, I made pumpkin muffins from Post Punk Kitchen. The only things that I changed were that I used applesauce instead of oil, and added raisins. They are so delicious that I'm not sure I'll be eating anything else for days. Here are some pictures:

I love those little paper cups.

Fresh ground cinnamon!

Filling the muffin tin.

And of course, the finished muffins, fresh out of the oven.

Farmers Market

2008-11-16T23:44:00.001-06:00

A pretty haul from last Saturday. The local apples taste amazing!

Cooking and Quilting

2008-11-11T11:54:00.007-06:00

This past weekend I went on a cooking binge. We have a new community right next to our neighborhood that is being built where the old airport used to be. This weekend they had a special farmers market, and Brian and I went and got some yummy fall vegetables. This inspired me to use up some of what we had lying around. I made caramelized squash from this recipe and some rice with tomatoes and pineapple in it.

We've just recently cleaned, seasoned and started using an old cast iron pan that belonged to Brian, and I've been trying to come up with a recipe where I can use it on both the stove top and the oven (because that's just part of the fun!). I ended up veganizing a recipe for something like a chili pie with cornbread on top. Just onions, red pepper, garlic, tomatoes and beans, with Brian's favorite cornbread recipe on top. It turned out fantastic.

Then Sunday morning, because I know how much Brian loves them, I made cinnamon rolls. They were eaten very quickly.

Though I've been fooling around on my own with patchwork and quilting, I decided that it would help me along if I took a class. So Sunday I went a took a quilting class at Craft-O-Rama in South Austin. I learned some things I didn't know, improved some of the things I had already figured out, and ended up with a pretty fall table runnner.

Now I'm all set to get working on Christmas presents for everyone.

inspiration and Obama art

2008-11-03T21:02:00.009-06:00

I am usually an outsider when it comes to major elections. I haven't voted for a major party candidate since Bill Clinton, and that was when I had *just* turned eighteen, and both the world and I were very different. I don't really believe in our two party system, and in the past have felt that the things that were important to me were never important to either of the major party candidates. I've been longing for a real grassroots candidate. It killed me to watch both Bush elections and see someone so conservative be able to 'energize the base' and make it into the white house. Why couldn't someone equally as liberal do that same thing? Why do Democrats always feel like they have to play it safe and be moderate, when their counterparts are so conservative it's scary?

But then, this election I began to notice things that made me feel like maybe this time around things were different. It started with a handmade sign down the street from where I work. I rode my bike by this house, and noticed an obviously child-made sign for Obama. And it floored me that someone could insight such excitement in a child that they would sit down and make a poster to put up in their window. It's not easy to get kids to sit still and do just anything, and I know because that's how I spend most of my time. I remember elections when I was a kid, and I would have never sat down and made a poster for anyone who was running.

I think I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Etsy. I love searching through all the amazing art that people make. While searching through listings on Etsy I started to notice the large amount of Obama related artwork. Patchwork skirts with the Obama logo on it. Copies of his 'Hope' posters done in oils. I am an artist, and inspiration is an amazing thing. Here were artists, being inspired to create Obama art. That's incredible.

And then the ongoing battle people in Austin have been having with people stealing their signs. People feel so strongly they've resorted to making their own signs, and even painting their lawns. The first link is right around the corner from me, and the second link is west of where I live in Austin.

So tomorrow I'm voting for Barak Obama--not just because I believe he'll reform health care, not just because he respects and wants to protect the earth and our resources, and not just because he believes in trying to solve problems with words and not weapons. I'm voting for Barak Obama because he is inspiring.

unexpected joy

2008-10-27T20:16:00.008-05:00

This past Wednesday Brian and I drove down to San Antonio to see Willie Nelson in concert. We had a great time, heard him sing all his classics and a wonderful rendition of Woody Guthrie's "City of New Orleans" and the hymn "I'll Fly Away". We spent the night at an RV park that was kind enough to allow us to pitch a tent and not treat us like we were trouble.

We had planned on using the next day to visit with my best friend Livi who I don't get to see very often. But she's just started working and doesn't get off until four thirty, so we had several hours to kill until she was done.

First was lunch at Green. They're a nice change of pace from usual ultra healthy food Brian and I are used to...I've never had tofu buffalo wings before, and they were delish! But after a while the grease was a little much for me. While we were having lunch, I happened to pick up a flier about an exhibit at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. Brian and I, both having grown up in families where most vacations were centered around learning something, are dorks of the first order. We love museums, science centers, art exhibits, but botanical gardens are our favorite. And since it was relatively inexpensive to get in, we decided right away that was how we were going to spend the next several hours.

Brian and I visit the Zilker Botanical Gardens several times a year, and our favorite there is the Japanses Garden by Isamu Taniguchi. So the Japanese Garden was the first place that we headed. It was much smaller than the one at the Zilker gardens, and sectioned off from the rest of the park with a bamboo fence. But I think that actually helped create the mood, because it blocked some of the outside noise, and you could hear all the water on stone noises that are so relaxing.

Afterwards we headed to what was my favorite part, the Conservatory. Here they had the artwork of Susan Budge--a San Antonio resident--worked in throughout several different room displays of different environments. I love her artwork, and really enjoyed the flowers and especially the orchids in the exhibits.

We spent the next two hours wandering around other sections of the park, visiting a bit of one exhibit and a bit of another. We did enjoy a walk around the lake and feeding the ducks in the East Texas Pineywoods section, which we had to visit because East Texas is where Brian is from.

So even though it was unplanned and spur of the moment, it ended up being one of the most enjoyable afternoons Brian and I have had in a long time. And we're for sure going to return the next time we're in town. If you're super interested, I have more photos here.

patchwork

2008-10-17T22:17:00.009-05:00

I had knee surgery last week, and since I'm normally a super active person the last week has been hard for me. I was used to working out daily (it really helps with my stress), riding my bike to work and all over our side of town, and going hiking on the weekends. So I haven't really adapted well to being sedentary. Especially last week, when I was still unable to do much more than sit in bed, I would get really frustrated. And poor Brian, not only did he have to help me out by doing almost everything, he also had to put up with my sour mood. In an effort to cheer me up, Brian surprised me with a sewing machine.

I love patchwork and handmade clothing and patchwork quilts, and have always wanted to learn to sew. My grandmother could make anything with her sewing machine, so I always had the best costumes come Halloween. Sadly, she was too crippled by arthritis to teach me by the time I was old enough, but the memory of what she could do has always inspired me.

And Brian comes from an old time farm family, and his grandmothers both made their own clothes and quilts. He loves the idea of taking our old clothing and reusing it like his Grandmothers did. So with his gift and support, I've been experimenting and trying to teach myself.

I've been working on making a patchwork scarf. I'm just starting out so I figured a scarf would be easy enough, and not take me forever to finish. And since I know I'll be living in Texas for at least the next 9 months, I wanted to make a scarf that was light enough to work as more decorative that warm, so I could wear it now. I followed this how-to from the Sew, Mama, Sew! Blog. Mine is a little thicker and longer than theirs.

I picked one solid color for the back (I actually changed it after I took this shot, I didn't like the grey, now it's purple and green polka-dot pattern) and then pieced together random pieces on the other side.

I then sewed it together and top stitched a decorative vine on the top (I used mostly greens so I figured the vines fit).

And then here is a terrible picture of me in the finished product.

I have to admit I'm insanely proud of myself, and wore it all weekend even though it's still in the 80s here in Texas. Next I'm going to try to make a baby quilt for Brian to give his best friend Aaron and his wife Maggie for Christmas. They're expecting their first child, a baby boy next week. Hopefully I can stitch straight!

The List

2008-10-13T20:02:00.004-05:00

While I am quite happy with my simple MFA degree, my (future) husband is not. So (unless we're lucky and he gets into UT) chances are we'll be moving next summer so that he can get his Phd in Literature. We've been throwing around schools and locations for a while now, and have come up with a wide range of schools (average to really tough lit programs) in a variety of cities where we wouldn't mind living. There was some give and take in this list (Kansas and Rochester will be hard sells), each of us picked a school by our respective families. And if Brian leaned towards programs with mountains of some type nearby, who am I to argue?

Anyway, here's the list:

Boulder, CO--University of Colorado
Minneapolis, MN--University of Minnesota
Rochester, NY--Rochester University
Lawrence, KS--University of Kansas
Eugene, OR--University of Oregon
Austin, TX--University of Texas
Ann Arbor, MI--University of Michigan
Knoxville, TN--University of Tennessee

There are goods and bads about all the places on the list...Boulder is my dream town, but expensive, Minneapolis is cool, but cold. Rochester is really cold, but beautiful, Kansas is kinda boring, but close to Brian's family and friends (and my favorite band plays there all the time!). Oregon would be cool, but expensive and very far away from our families. Texas would involve no moving, and I could keep my current job, but we've already been here for five years, and I'm ready to move somewhere new. Michigan is close to my family, but I've lived in Michigan already. And Tennessee would be be close to mountains, but I've heard the pollution is awful.

So we'll see what happens. I told Brian as long as we could rent a house and get a dog, I'd be happy. It'll be an adventure. And if we end up not liking wherever we end up, we'll be moving again in three or four years.

Vegan Pizza

2008-10-11T11:02:00.006-05:00

I think that I mentioned before, that one of my favorite childhood memories is making pizza with my Dad every Saurday night as a child. With three girls it was too expensive to buy pizza, and much more fun to make it. My Dad would make the crust from scratch, and then stretch it onto one of several circular pans. He would help us spread out the sauce, layer it with cheese and toppings, and put it into the oven.

As adult vegans, Brian and I have tried to keep up the tradition of making pizza. There are places in town where we could order vegan pizza, but it tastes better when we make it. The first thing we do is make the crust in our bread machine. Our bread machine is the best Christmas present ever, since I use it weekly throughout the fall and winter. Just drop the ingredients in, set the cycle and boom, an hour later we have pizza dough. I spread the dough on our circular pan, and bake it for about fifteen minutes. Then I slide it off the pan and onto a cutting board to cool (and also so I can bake the second shell...we only have one pizza pan...)

While it's cooling, we make the cheese in our food processor. After being vegan for several years, I find that I enjoy nut cheeses more than I ever did real cheese. The nut flavor it much more satisfying that the rich flavor cheese had. Plus it's such fun to make! The recipe we use (found here) my friend Estella gave to me, and it's both delicious and works pretty well for pizza. It has red pepper in it, and that give it a unique and tasty flavor. You have to glop it on and be careful not to mix it with the sauce too much, but mmmmm it's worth it once it's baked.

After putting the sauce and 'cheese' on, we move on to the toppings. I *love* pineapple and olives on my pizza, so we always do a pineapple/olive pizza, and we had some fresh mushrooms so we did a mushroom/olive one too. We need to get more creative with this, I've been planning to try a bbq tofu pizza for a while now.

The picture above is before cooking. The 'cheese' tends to darken and thicken when you cook it. Below is the pineapple/olive pizza after it's been cooked. And partly eaten...I wasn't quick enough with my camera to catch it before we ate some of it.

Better late than never...

2008-10-07T08:21:00.006-05:00

I hadn't realized I hadn't updated since June! There is plenty going round in my head right now, so I will be updating more regularly. Especially since summer camp is *over*.

The wedding planning is coming along. I have to say, though, that I resent the cultural implication that women should plan their own weddings, and should enjoy it. I have a job, and a decent part of my job is planning. Planning preschool, planning summer camp, planning day camps. I don't need more planning, or even more work, in my life. But we really want to have a wedding. It might not be traditional, it might not be expensive, but we want *something* for us. I go back and forth between criticizing myself for wanting a wedding, and being angry at myself for criticizing myself. But the simple truth is that I love Brian in this deep, unexplainable, unutterable way and I want to celebrate that love. We want a night filled with our family and friends where we celebrate our love, and then drink some good beer. And lucky for me, Brian is a fan of bucking cultural stereotypes, and will probably end up planning just as much, or more, of the wedding than I will.

We've whittled our budget down as low as it will go. My friend Livi is baking the cakes, my Mom is making soap for our favors. Our flowers are local and my new aunt is going to help with arranging them. Our site is a nature preserve that works for both the ceremony and the reception. We were briefly even considering doing a pot luck, but with so many people coming from out of town, I really feel like we need to feed them. But that might change, depending on what we've got to spend.

The other issue is that Brian is applying to PhD programs, and we've very likely going to be moving next summer. So we need money for moving. I'm both excited and dreading moving. I have an awesome job here, one that satisfies my need to make an impact, with a boss that really listens and co-workers who are easy to work with and fun. But the call of the unknown is seductive, and I've never liked staying in one place very long. The chance to move somewhere new, like Boulder, Colorado or Minneapolis, Minnesota, is really tempting. Maybe finding a job that is a bit more outdoorsy would be wonderful. But, much like I did when I was applying to grad schools, I'll leave where we end up to fate. If we're not meant to move, Brian will get into school where we already live. And if we are meant to move, he'll get in elsewhere. No matter what, it'll be an adventure.

Come on, into my kitchen

2008-06-26T08:23:00.013-05:00

Brian and I don't watch much television. We don't have cable, but we do own a TV for movies and the occasional PBS show. Our set will quickly become obsolete when they switch everything over, but at that point we'll probably just give it up totally. But I digress.

Without regular television, I usually live in a commercial-free void (except for those annoying dancing aliens on websites that keep telling me interest rates are down or something) , but the other night as we were getting ready to watch a movie, I happened to catch a few commercials, one of which irritated me to no end. The commercial was for Church's Chicken's take home dinner, or whatever fancy name they call it. What they were implying with the commercial is that if you stop and buy dinner at Church's, you'll have more time to spend with your family, not slaving away in the kitchen.

It really makes me mad that cooking is portrayed like a chore that females must do alone in the kitchen...and if they really wanted to spend their time with their family, then fast food it is! Cooking is something that can be an enjoyable, shared experience with the whole family. Growing up, my sisters and I made pizza with our Dad every Friday night. We made ice cream and popcorn and helped my parents can strawberry jam, zucchini pickles and homemade ketchup. Looking back as an adult, these are some of my fondest memories. My family hardly ever went out to eat, because it was too expensive. And I don't think I ever noticed. Even when we went on vacation, we'd cook our own meals. I remember one summer we spent with my Grandmother "Gran" and her best friend, my "Great-Grandmother" Helen. My Dad cooked scrambled eggs ever single day (we were totally sick of them by vacations end).

Even now Brian and I often spend time cooking together. Lately we've been on a sushi kick, where we've been preparing the vegetables and then rolling the sushi for dinner together. But even when we're not making something special, or even when one of us isn't doing the cooking, we usually just keep each other company in the kitchen, or help out with dishes. The work isn't so daunting when there are two of us to do it.

My point with all of this is, that fast food doesn't equal spending more time with your family, and cooking isn't just for the ladies. Especially when both parents work--like mine did--it makes sense to share the cooking duties. And if you can make it fun and involve the kids, all the better. I work with children and I cook with them all the time. They love it!

And really, if you're looking for a way to bring your family together and spend more time with them, instead of giving up cooking for fast food, give up television. Giving up television, I suddenly found that I had time to do all those things that I had wanted to do for years. And no more commercials means no more slick advertising making me want things that I don't really need. Or thinking that I have to go buy fast food in order to enjoy quality time with those I love.

Wedding!

2008-05-31T11:23:00.005-05:00

So now it looks like we're going to be planning a wedding! Brian asked me to marry him last Wednesday, and of course I said yes. And while we're looking at dates next spring, there are a few things we've decided on already. First, that we want our wedding to do the least harm to the Earth as possible. What I mean is that within our price range and scope of influence, we'll do everything possible. We're not lucky enough to live near all our family and friends, so they'll be flying in (although I'll probably put a note on our invitations about taking the train) and that's no good, but I also want our parents and closest friends to be there. We are also going to try to do everything local: wine from the hill country, locally brewed beer, flowers from the lady at the farmer's market (who was thrilled when I told her this morning). And if Brian gets his way, then all the food will be vegan (with wheat-free options).

And Brian got my wedding ring from a locally owned shop, although I'm not sure if the artist lives in Austin or not. But we'd been to Clarksville Pottery before and loved their stuff, and we'd both talked to Tom and Connie, the owners before. There is something about going into a store and being able to talk directly to the owners, and they were able to tell Brian all about the artist, and make the ring to his specifications. Currently the ring has a cubic zirconia stone in it, because Brian knew I didn't want a diamond, and wanted me to be able to pick out my own sapphire. I love it, and we're thinking about getting the 'tree of life' wedding rings from the same place.

Spring Storms in Texas

2008-05-16T15:31:00.012-05:00

Sorry for the lack of new posts, I actually have several I'm in the middle of writing. But last week I graduated, which meant family in town and lots of running around with them. And then the other night we got hit by a violent storm.

It took out several windows

downed about half of our beloved pecan tree in our front yard

and smushed our garden.

Luckily one of my herb boxes survived, and Brian and the cats are all safe. We're hoping that at least some of the garden will recover. The tomato plants just need to be propped up, and we're going to wait on the rest and see how it does, before we plant anything new.

eat me, I'm organic

2008-05-03T11:13:00.006-05:00

I looooove going to the Farmer's Market every Saturday. I never thought I would be one of those people able to get up early on their day off just to go buy produce. Suddenly I am. But it's so much more than that. I grew up going to art festivals, cultural festivals, county fairs. My Mother and Grandmother used to pack me and my sisters into matching dresses and strollers with big diaper bags hanging from their shoulders, and off we'd go. So going to the Farmer's Market each week is like a continuation of that.

Going to the farmer's market also allows us to be purposeful and aware of our food in a way that the grocery store, and in some ways even our beloved co-op, doesn't let us be. It gives me one on one contact with the people who grown what I eat. I know that the lady I buy peppers from every week picks them the night before and stores them in her garage , which is right next to her greenhouse. Sometimes she ever tells me about what was going on when she was picking them. Today she told me she got them picked just before it started to rain last night. A few weeks ago she told me she had picked them three hours before, by flashlight. The stand where I get my onions and carrots is run by a lady who's dream was to own an organic farm. Every week she tells people how happy she is she took the chance and gave up her desk job. The guy I buy radishes from wears a cowboy hat and has a dog named Buddy. Buddy loves people, but obediently sits on the back of his owners truck the whole morning. The lady I buy flowers from every week laments the fact that she's too busy selling flowers to go buy stuff herself. I could go on and on, but my point is that I know these people now. I know where my money is going, and it's going directly to the people who sell or make what I'm buying.

The other thing I really enjoy about the market is that it's guilt-free shopping. Instead of buying more t-shirts or brick-a-brack that I don't need, I'm buying carrots and zucchini that will feed and nourish my body all week. Brian and I try to be very purposeful about what we buy, and the market--while feeling like a weekly shopping spree--is really just 80% of my grocery shopping.

Next week my sister and father will be in town, and I'm planning on taking them with us to the market. My Dad really enjoys the same type of things that I do, it's just sometimes it takes a little push in the right direction to remind him. So I'm hoping that visiting the market will be a push, and that he'll go home and start going to the local farmer's market with my mother.

don't fear the beer

2008-04-30T21:28:00.001-05:00

I come from Michigan. In Michigan it hits 90 maybe twice a summer. Winter lasts for nine months out of the year. So people have a lot of time to do thing...such as brew beer. Michigan is full of breweries and brew pubs, and people who home brew. But I never really understood why that was (beyond people wanting to drink more because winter is loooong) until this weekend when we tried to brew our own beer. I only say "tried" because we won't know for another few weeks if we were successful or not. I'm hoping we were:)

First off, it took us much longer than we thought. Brian leaves for work around 5:30am, so between 9-10pm is our normal bedtime. We thought if we got started after dinner, that we'd still make it to bed on time. In reality Brian took a nap around 11:30pm, and then we finally turned in close to 1am.

Second, it was much more confusing than either our friends who encouraged us, or the guy at the brew store let on. In his book, "How to Brew" Palmer relates making beer to making cupcakes, and says if you had never baked before, making cupcakes would be really confusing. Well he was sure right, because cupcakes aren't half as hard as making beer was.

We sanitized everything with iodine, and then boiled the water. After that you let the grain soak in the water like a big tea bag. Then you boil again and add the malt. More boiling, and then what really caught us up was the "hot break". I think we were both expecting something more...drastic? Pretty much after an hour of boiling and waiting for the hot break, we realized that the hot break was just the tiny bit of white foam on top. So then we added the hops, and more hops and then more hops. Then we had to get the wort (the "pre-beer") from boiling down to around 80 degrees as fast as possible. Brian insisted that we buy four bags of ice for this step, which I thought was a little excessive. But good for Brian, we needed almost all of it, packing it in water around the pot in our sink. Then when we got it to around 80 degrees, we transfered it to our bucket, added the yeast, and sealed it up.

That was Saturday. As of Monday it was 'bubbling', which means it is generating it's own CO2, and so far all is going according to plan. But we've got to keep it at a constant temperature, and that would be much easier during a Michigan winter where you have the heat on all the time, than it is here in Texas where we're struggling to not turn our air on this early. And since we had a cold front go through Monday night, Brian is worried the cold might have killed our yeast, and that we might need to add more. We'll have to see what the guys at the home-brew store recommend.