angry chicken

peanut butter chocolate cups

These peanut butter cups were made last week ago or so when I was jonesin' bad for a treat. The recipe is with mailorder #8 (over on the sidebar there to the left) and unfortunately uses ingredients that I have all the time and requires no cooking (well, melting chocolate) so, it's bad news. I wanted to make them smaller—so I busted out the mini-muffin tins.

I think I like them this way better than in the bar shape.

Unrelated, I am researching pressure cookers and pressure cooker cookbooks and information about cooking beans in pressure cookers and pressure cooker/canning type things. I have a stack of books in hold at the library right now. Excitement!

a bean discussion

Here's dinner. I wonder if the girls think everyone takes photos of their dinner. I plan to tell them yes if it comes up. The lentil soup is from Ina (I think I have posted about it before) and the bread is from the book, and is the rye loaf. A new loaf I tried, the oatmeal loaf, I will write about soon, but I need to focus right now on beans. I am trying to keep my posts about 1 or 2 items (except for when I don't) so I can remember what I was going to write about.

Beans. I have been cooking beans on the weekends and am really digging it. I got some e-mails a bit back about soaking. I feel like I change my thoughts on this every time I do it. At first I soaked all my beans in the fridge overnight before I went to bed. Then in the morning I would cook them. The soak was about 8 hours. Then Mr. Rick Bayless mentioned in one of his books that no one in Mexico soaks beans and throwing out the soaking water is lame. (Not his words.) So I stopped too, and since we eat mostly black and pinto beans, this has worked well because they are a bit more sturdy and seem to deal with a long simmer just fine. More importantly, they are still great if they accidentally get overcooked, so I don't stress about it.

When I made a white bean soup however, I did go back to soaking because I didn't want the longer simmer to break up the beans. Some recipes even call for baking them in a casserole to keep them intact. This works well too. I then did a search last night on Chowhound about soaking beans and holly molly. There is a whole lot to say about this (more than 2500 discussions about it) and Rick Bayless's book is mentioned along with 1000s of comments, which leads me to where I have started—I cook them differently depending on how I am going to use them. Of course, lentils you would never even soak, you just throw them in the soup. I find it so comforting that the minutia of my life, like bean soaking, can have more than 2500 discussions somewhere. That's awesome.

I freeze my black beans in smallish quantities (about 2 cups) with a little of their cooking liquid. Then when I need them, I either defrost in the fridge a few hours before, or thaw them in the microwave. I have only frozen black beans because that's what we eat the most of and seem to always need them.

And thank you so much for the merbaby love and the plethora of information about hair rinses!! I want to try the hair rinse tea recipe real bad. I realize now I was using way too much vinegar. After greatly reducing the quantity and adding more essential oil, it's all good. I no longer feel all foody and pickled in the shower. And, for those of you skeptical about this with long hair, my hair is past my shoulders and I have had no tangle issues.

Mermaids, & more importantly, the Merbaby.

I know this is a little weird. Especially maybe for people without kids, or people without girl kids, or non-doll people, or non-mermaid people, but for anyone who is into these things, either by natural proclivity or by default because of your offspring, you can see the importance of these removable mermaid tails.

They fit all the major dolls in the house and are interchangeable and even fit the baby dolls, creating the main player of all underwater play here— the Merbaby.

I made the first tail before Christmas but never finished the second one and the holidays got a little out of hand anyway. I sort of remembered them around Easter, but again, couldn't finish them and then about 2 weeks ago finally finished them after I had to make the shell-shaped bras, which I discovered are almost as important as the Merbaby herself. There was a lot of pantomiming here, "The shell-shaped bra, Mom, you know??" Yes, I know. So, both girls got the tails and the shell-shaped bra. They do know the real Little Mermaid story, where she turns into seafoam (minus some details) not hanging with prince Eric on some crazy boat or whatever.  And there is no Merbaby. I am thrilled these have been well received considering how close they are to a major licensed character, and yet are not that licensed character. The only issue is they don't go into the bathtub, but that seems to be okay. The middle child told me her Merbaby takes her tail off to pee. Ha!

Here's how to make the tail suitable for Mermaids or Merbabies-

Supplies:

1/8" elastic for the waist
velcro for the shell bra
wool felt and cotton velour (I got mine from Wier Dolls and Crafts)

*quantities depend on your doll size, but 1/4" yard of cotton velour is ample. I used one piece of 8 x 10 felt for the tail (folded in half) and another sheet for the bra.

1. Measure your doll, or if you need the tail to fit several dolls, measure the biggest one, or at least hold the fabric up to the doll and eyeball it. Measure the waist as well. You'll want the tail a bit longer and barely wider then the doll.

2. To avoid swearing, draw the tail shape on the wrong side of the velour, stitch on the line to another piece of velour (right sides together) and then trim. No shifting fabric that way. Now turn right side out.

3. Fold a piece of felt in half and draw the fin shape with a fabric pen/pencil, or something you can spritz out with water. Top stitch the lines through both layers and then cut out, leaving a scant 1/8" edge. The top will be on the fold, so carefully cut that open.

4. Stuff the tail in the fin opening, pleating it if needed, and top stitch through all layers, be sure to check the back. Put this on your doll to test the length and waist, if it's all good, fold down a bit of the top hem and zig-zag narrow elastic to the inside stretching the elastic (not the fabric) while you sew.

4.5 Make the shell bra by cutting out the shape in felt on the fold—this length is longer that you think to make it in all one piece, you might have to make the bra and straps separately.

5. Sew velcro on the back and cover your naked mermaid immediately.

living in a sea of crayons and glue sticks

Things are nutty around here. That baby is 10 months old now and into everything. The girls had to move their entire paper doll stash from the floor, to the small table, to the big table all in about 10 minutes yesterday after the baby doggy was tearing them to shreds. We moved onto other activities, this one being a favorite—it's called Shopping List.

Here's the 3.5 year old version. It involves the morning newspaper paper, glue sticks, scissors and paper. What's awesome is they take these with us when we go grocery shopping. I had all these big plans this week to try some projects from this lovely new book you surely are all familiar with—

The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections, by Amanda Blake Soule, but life got the better of us. But, I have been able to put Amanda's wonderful ideas into good use around here in the form of making it easier for all of us to make a mess. This means changing around tables, making it easier for the girls to get out their own supplies and facilitating a quicker clean-up, which is the real clincher. We live in a small house and there is a lot of bumping and tripping on chairs, crayons, and papers, and it can make me crazy. My parenting style is following the path of least resistance, so if it's hard for me to set up the girls to get crafty—things need to be organized differently. If I'm thinking "if I trip over that flippin chair one more time, I'm gonna chuck it outside"—yeah, that's a clue it's time to rearrange the furniture.

Amanda has this brilliant setup in her book with this huge table next to an armoire with all her family's craft supplies tucked inside, and it has doors. Thank god for doors. Two of the projects/ideas I want to try first in her book are the henna tattoos and providing photo albums for the girls and letting them have at it with the camera. I can't believe they don't have their very own photo albums yet, I think this is such a great idea. This book is full of ideas like these— very, very cool.

In my constant attempt to keep the girls involved in decisions about their creative areas, I did have them help me rearrange the coloring station and put their names on boxes so there are fewer coloring book infringements (middle child running amok) and because they helped with it, they seem more interested in taking care of the area. They also insisted that the boxes have not only their names, but princess stickers adoring them, of the Disney variety. Not my first choice on the lovely unfinished wood Ikea boxes, but hey, whatever works, man.

Congrats Amanda! I wish I could bring you a cake. No, make that pie!! Your book is wonderful.

melts for the tub

Here are some bath melts we made last week. They are divine and very oily. I used the chocolate mold from Easter for these, so that's why they look like eggs. The recipe is here. I did find super cheap citric acid at the market attached to Ya Halla on SE Stark Street, thanks for the tip you guys.

I only made about 1/3 of the recipe because I had only a little coco butter. It made about 6 melts, which is perfect because I will want to switch scents by then. They would make amazing gifts, I am sort of shocked at how easy they are and how luxurious they turned out. I need more oils though, which will set me back a little $$.

Baking soda shampoo update:

I have tried it twice now, and since I don't wash my hair very often anyway (I have really dry skin) it's been about a week. It seems fine, but the apple cider vinegar rinse is too stinky. I am really loving my sugar scrub and the nice smelling homemade soap I have in the shower. I add a bit of rosemary essential oil to the baking soda/water paste and it's all smelling great and wonderful—and then I rinse my hair with very diluted apple cider vinegar and wow, the shower just sucks after that. All the nice smelling stuff doesn't matter any more because I feel like I am swimming in easter egg dye or salad dressing. There is absolutely no vinegar smell in my hair afterwards, it's just the application I find so stinky. So, I need to try a different rinse that won't involve vinegar. I love vinegar in food—I am surprised how much I dislike it on my head. I am going to search for a new hair rinse recipe and will report back. Tips?

seriously.

Key Lime Bars. From this book.

The tart key lime was the perfect taste on the only sunny day we have had recently, about 10 days ago. These bars were also amazing because the whipped cream was barely sweetened. Really, they were so easy it was almost criminal. The only thing stopping me from making them more often is juicing 20 key limes.

-I have watched the first 3 episodes of Slings and Arrows and love it so much. I am so happy to have a new show to get into.

-This new header is inspired by my new favorite kids book, Sparkle and Spin: A Book About Words. Amazing.

don't fear the stretch

It's out (early on Amazon, I don't know if it's in stores yet) and I got mine Friday—the much anticipated new BBW book, Sew U Home Stretch: The Built by Wendy Guide to Sewing Knit Fabrics. I knew it was coming soon so I ordered some cotton knit from SewZanne's from the previous FOE freak-out. I have no idea when I will start a new project, but a comfy knit skirt sure sounds good to me right now.

I read this cover to cover and I love it. Similar to sewing with wovens in her first book, she explains all ways to sew with knits and is very reassuring. I am SO HAPPY there is a cool knit book out there. Ribs, hemming while keeping a stretch, ball point needles, all the things that can seem freaky when sewing with knits are clearly explained here.

Here's what is so rad about this book: she tells you straight up, you don't need a serger, seriously. However, If you do have a serger, she describes handy stitch info and techniques to use it the best way. You get the low down on knit fabric types, you get 3 basic patterns (included in the back—full size tissues) a basic t-shirt, a raglan sleeve t-shirt, and a dress/skirt. Then, just like in her first book, she provides a gazillion variations. Sweet. She also has a bit on altering existing knits, so you don't even have to go to the fabric store to start sewing. All the patterns are designed by Wendy, so take a look at her site and this book (if you can look before you buy) to check out her style if you aren't familiar with it. I dig it a whole lot. The knit designs in this book have a sporty vibe which is totally adaptable, but is very1980s, just so you know.

The patterns come in XS-L. She provides a measurement chart in the book, but for reference, the XS fits a Chest 32", Waist 25", and Hip 36" Large fits a Chest 38", Waist 31", and Hip 42"—so get out your tape measure. Of course these stretch and are all very easy to alter— she emphasizes doing your own thing and making fabric changes (like silk jersey vs. sweatshirt fleece) to change the look of a pattern. Even if you wouldn't make everything in this book, it's still an amazing resource if you are willing to learn about altering patterns, which she describes thoroughly. That said, she describes how to alter style not size, so you will have to experiment if your size falls outside of the XS-L range.

This is a great sewing book. I highly suggest you get her first book and at least read it before you start this one. Not because this one is more advanced, it's actually easier to sew with knits, but because I think the whole serger/sewing machine techniques will be easier if you are familiar with basic garment sewing to start with.

OMG, FOE is my new BFF!

I am loving these types of tops, the ones that are everywhere right now. Hopefully I don't look pregnant when I wear them. Let's not answer that question for now and thank god when I do go out that baby is in the sling, which is the perfect camo for my empty baby house (my soft tummy.) The thing I don't love about these tops is making the casings for the elastic. I don't hate making the casings, but it's not my favorite thing to do. I made a lot of these tops for Sadie last spring and am now making them for me too, and just found my easy answer—ditching the casing all together and using fold over elastic instead. That's FOE for all you sewing peeps (I didn't make this up, it is really referred to as FOE on some sites)

Before I switched to this, I actually made another casing variation using hem tape on the inside (instead of turning the fabric over) and then threaded the elastic through the casing made by the stitched hem tape. That worked, but then I was still threading the elastic. When I use FOE, it finishes the edges AND is the elastic all in one. Dig? It's awesome, and very unscientific.

I trimmed the edges of the farbic where the elastic was to go because I wasn't folding it over twice anymore. Then I stitched on the elastic, folded, with the fabric sandwiched in the middle. I stretched the elastic while I stitched it down knowing how much I needed it to gather, less in the arms and a lot around the neck. I used a wide 3-way zigzag.  I did this all in one pass by machine, even easier than my tutorial for seam binding.

The elastic comes with an indent down the middle for easy folding. There is a shiny disco/ice skating costume side and a dull side, I opted for the dull side on this top. I am in love with this stuff. Even on the dull side there is a glittery sheen which is slightly gaudy, but it's still wonderful and comes in a million colors, and is way cheap, so what's not to love? I plan to use it a whole ton for all kinds of things. It's really popular as a way to finish the edges of sewn diaper covers, but not this exact kind, a thicker type is used for that.

Some specs:

The fabric: Nani Iro Double gauze. I'm not finding this exact pattern readily right now, but a google search will get you some patterns similar. I have used this double gauze for a few garments and although I love the way it looks, I am not a huge fan of the drape. It's pretty clingy and is so light it just sort of sticks to my body. Hard to explain. I think a linen or a cotton knit would be a better choice.

The blouse pattern: McCall's #4685 pretty altered, but it's where I started from. It's view D without the buttons or the elastic around my empty baby house.

Fold over elastic: From Sewanne's. All these color choices make me so happy. She also has some great fabrics too, so look around.

 

scrub from the kitchen

The sun came out over the weekend (it's gone now) and the whole town woke up. It was wonderful. More skin was showing on my body than usual (meaning more then my hands and head) so I decided to make a sugar scrub just in case the sun comes out again. It's hiding again for the next 10 days, but you never know.

This is coconut vanilla sugar scrub. I used the recipe here and added what I had in the house—coconut and vanilla extract, not essential oil. I also used mostly canola oil, with a tad of vitamin E oil because that's what I had and my precious olive oil is too foody smelling for me to scrub with. I have a lot of essential oils in the house but I wanted something warm and tropical smelling, so I raided the kitchen. The sugar scrub scent is a bit more alcohol-y with the extracts, but it mellows out in the shower and smells great. I used it this morning and LOVE it! I have pretty dry skin, so it's wonderful for me, but it could be a tad oily for other people, you can adjust the oil amount as needed. Also, different oils coat differently, you know? So an almond oil might be a nice choice.

Now I am all excited to make a ton of stuff from this site. Bath bombs, body butters, you name it. There's a huge amount of them here, and most have reviews, which is sure nice. I was so excited to find this recipe site today because whenever I look for body/bath recipes online, the sites are so weird and crazy —so full of junky ads and pop-up windows, they make my eyes hurt. This site seems very cool, and I didn't even check out all the food recipes—look out!

I picked up some citric acid last night at Wild Oats along with coco butter, and dang citric acid is expensive! I am thinking of Mother's Day gifts here, sorry to ruin the surprise, Moms. I will report back. I also have a bee in my bonnet about not using shampoo anymore (using backing soda and apple cider vinegar instead) and making my own deodorant and toothpaste. As far as I can tell, these all will involve copious amounts of baking soda, which is thankfully much less expensive than citric acid.

random item:

Does anyone have this composter I link to on the sidebar here? The NatureMill? I am so interested. I know I can just put all our food garbage in a hole with worms or whatever, but dang. We compost all the food scraps we can easily—which is a ton, but the weird/non-veggie food goes in the garbage. If we had this thing, we could easily change our garbage pick-up to once a month. I feel bad using electrical power to compost, but it seems so cool! I should read about worms and dirt and holes, but I am a little freaked about rats, to be honest. We should get chickens, they could eat all our food scraps, right? I wonder if I am spreading total mis-information here. Can chickens eat anything? Like lentil soup? Cat food? I need to do some research. Or perhaps a dog? Our dog ate everything. In fact, I don't really want to think about all the things he ate right now. Wow.

**update:

Brown sugar will totally work in this recipe! Thanks for all the compost/chicken info (awesome!) and the citric acid was WAY more at wild oats. I need to high tail it to that grocery. Also, I see there is a tag going around and I am so lame at tags/memes/ and all that, so I pass on them now. I have been tagged 3 times this week, which is totally flattering, but also makes me feel even worse that these things make me feel so impaired. Sorry!

new cookbook excitment

I have had this book, The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show for about 2 weeks now and I keep talking about it to anyone who will listen. This usually means Pete.

me: Honey, try this rice, really you have to. . .(me putting a wooden spoon in his face of very hot brown rice while he has other non-compatible food in his mouth) I cooked it a whole new way!

husband: (Taking a very small nibble) Um, okay. . . .it's good?

me: Yes! And, you know what the key is to everything?

husband: Money?

me: No, Fish sauce! Umami!

husband: In the rice?

me: No, salad dressing!

husband: Um, what? Hmmmm. . .wow. (Not listening, feeding the baby.)

me: I seriously can't believe this rice cooking method they talk about. This has changed my life, you know? Amazing! Oh! we need to get the little mesh sink drains at the Asian market, that would change ours lives too. They mention that in the book.

husband: Which book?

me: That new Splendid Table Book, you know, from the radio show?

husband: Right.

later that week-

me: In that book, it has a master salad dressing recipe and then 10 variations! And they also crush garlic with a rock! That is so great.

husband: Which book?

me: That How to Eat Supper Book. And we can now make our own pho!

husband: hmmm

the next day-

me: I think Sadie is a super-taster. They have a test you can do to see if you are, but we need to go to an office supple store to get something for the test. I don't think she'll put it on her tongue, either.

husband: What? Um. . . .what? Did you say super-taster?

me: Yeah, from that new cook book.

husband: Which book?

me: That Lynne Rossetto Kasper book.

Not that he doesn't like food or talking about food—to give him credit, I do have conversations in my head and forget how much I have said out loud, so there is confusion sometimes. Add two loud kids and one crazy baby and the fact that I can never refer to anything, like a cookbook, by the same title. It's a gift of mine.

I will try to describe it-

It's a book for home cooks, even beginners, but it's not too basic. There's a wonderful equipment list, book recommendations, quotes from other chiefs, amazing recipes, advice on navigating ethnic markets, the list goes on—tons and tons of tips, shortcuts, and cool things I had never heard of. It somehow melds Italian, Asian, Indian, & Mexican recipes without it being the kitchen sink. It also has a list of favorite vegetarian cook books, and hooray, most of them are not vegetarian, you know what I mean? My favorite cookbooks save one, are not vegetarian.

I have learned so much from this book already, like a whole new way to cook rice (Seriously!) umami, (So cool!) and I am now using way more raw red onion. (With tips to make it less raw red onion-y.)

It's an intuitive cooking book. That's the deal, and that's how I cook. It describes basic preparations but then suggests many variations. The dishes sound amazing, but honestly, there's so much to read (without it being too text heavy, somehow) I haven't made many recipes from it yet. But I will report back on that.

It's by Lynne Rossetto Kasper from NPR's The Splendid Table, along with her producer Sally Swift (who, after reading this book, am convinced is my cooking doppleganger) and I think this is why the book is so pleasant—it's like their laid back food loving radio show in book form, minus the caller asking how to cook tongue or cow brains. Very nice. I read cookbooks in bed, I'm one on these people, and this is perfect bedtime reading. It's right next to Anna Karenina, a good balance right now.

Actually that's an interesting idea—to read a cookbook along with fiction, especially if it relates somehow. I need to remember this.