More proof why flying sucks

I don't think theft of airport luggage is anything new, but what is new is just how prevalent it is. Really, something needs to be done about the airline industry as a whole.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/26/exclusive-the-stunning-jfk-airport-baggage-scandal-200-thefts-per-day/

Parents swarm an Easter Egg hunt!

Seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY!?!? WTF!!
So many parents swarmed the easter egg hunt that the hunt was cancelled, pretty much ruining it for everyone.
The parents were supposed to stay behind the ropes but as soon as one parent jumps it, others joined in. The mentality seems to be that the kids can't "fail" at anything - not even an easter egg hunt at the age of 4!
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2012/03/26/20120326colorado-parents-force-egg-hunt-cancellation.html

Eco-Friendly Laundry Day

I don't use commercial detergents or soaps. I use castile soap with a very light sprinkling of borax and washing soda. For fabric softener, I add white vinegar to the rinse cycle. I consider what I have been doing more eco-friendly than what I was doing before, which is using commercial detergents, but I am still using a washing machine and dryer.

We could go a step further and air-dry our laundry and also hand wash our clothes like this:
http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/2007/04/a_grape_stomper.html
But then we are denying ourselves the reality of living in an age of modern conveniences. With both hubby and I working full time with long commutes, who has time and energy to then also stomp on laundry, hang it up, and then fold and put clothes away? When I come home, I barely have enough energy to dust a room after cooking and eating dinner. I have way too many things and projects I want to do and just not enough energy to do it.

I imagine that if I could be actively working on something every waking second, I could get around to doing everything I really want done, but the truth is, I get really tired. Working and commuting takes a lot out of a person. For me, I usually don't get enough sleep so I'm fatigued all the time. Foregoing modern conveniences for the sake of being eco-friendly in a world that depends on modern conveniences can often seem daunting or impractical.

So as much fun as air-drying and laundry stomping seems to be, I just don't think I have the energy for that at my current point in life. Also, I'm not sure how hubby would feel about stomping on laundry.

Vegetarian Paella

Hubby's stepdad makes the most amazing paella. Hands down, it is the best paella I've ever had anywhere! Totally inspired, I wanted to try to make my own. However, there were certain things I had to mull over before making the attempt. Hubby's stepdad uses seafood and meats in his paella. I want to attempt a vegetarian paella, which would taste fundamentally different from non-vegetarian paella. I also wanted to mix white rice with brown rice to make it a bit healthier.

Anyways, here's what I did:

Ingredients
1 can of artichoke hearts, artichokes cut into quarters
1 roasted red bell pepper, diced
1 zucchini, cut into half or quarter rounds
1/2 spanish onion, diced
5 small cloves of garlic, minced (we love garlic!)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups cooked rice
1 to 2 cups vegetable stock
5 sticks of small vegan breakfast sausages, cut into rounds or roughly chopped
1/4 to 1/2 cup tomato puree
a pinch of saffron
Hungaria paprika
salt and pepper

I didn't have a paella pan so I used my wok. Heat up the wok on medium high and then add some cooking oil. Once the oil is heated up, add the garlic. Once the garlic is fragrant, add the onions. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the zucchini and vegan sausage. Cook for another couple of minutes and add the tomato paste, tomato puree, artichokes and bell pepper. Toss for a bit and then add the rice, veggie stock, saffron, a sprinkling of paprika and salt and pepper. Toss until the broth is soaked up. Add more tomato puree or broth to get the taste and consistency you want.

The result? Not bad! Hubby thought it was pretty good for my first stab at paella. I would definitely make this again in the future!

Microwave potato chips

I have made these and they turned out pretty decent. Like the post says, it's not a really fast way to make lots of chips, but it makes enough to satisfy a small craving. I don't recommend skipping the cold water soak step as it definitely makes a difference, but if you're in a really big hurry, you can skip it in a pinch.

These chips go really good with Alton Brown's Onion Dip from Scratch, by the way.

Microwave potato chips:
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-crispy-potato-chips-in-the-microwave-166718

Onion Dip from Scratch:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/onion-dip-from-scratch-recipe/index.html

DIY Clothespin Starburst Mirror

Not a bad project. You can get pretty creative if you paint or add glitter to the clothespins.
http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2012/02/make-a-clothespin-starburst-mirror/

End of 2 weeks at a Standing Desk

It's now been about 2 weeks since I started trying out a standing desk. I rather like it, actually. There are definitely some benefits to this, but there are also drawbacks.

First of all, I haven't lost any weight from doing this, but I have gotten hungrier and have been eating more. I guess I can say that I haven't gained any weight either, even though I've been eating more. Lol! So this is not really a good way to lose weight. However, it does actually make me feel better at the end of the day than sitting all day.

Anyways, let me talk a little about the drawbacks. The biggest issue for me are my knees, which get very sore and tired. I try not to lock them so they're slightly bent most of the time. I also try to stand evenly and not place weight on my hips too much. Unfortunately for me, my knees have been an issue for the past several years due to overuse and since taking the desk job, it has gotten better. Standing at my desk has brought back some of the old feelings of soreness, though it is still nothing like it was before. I am worried about my knees deteriorating from soreness to pain again. So I have been alternating between sitting and standing. I stand for an hour and then I sit for an hour. This has made my knees much happier.

Another drawback, in the beginning, was that I felt a little weird standing in a sea of mostly sitting cubicles. Luckily, there were already a few others in my department, including my boss that is doing the standing desk. In fact, my boss is an avid advocate of the standing desk and was quite happy to have me try it out. After the initial comments of things like, "So, you're trying the standing thing," the awkwardness has subsided.

As for the benefits, I have to say that my head, neck and shoulders feel great! This has been good for my posture for when I was sitting, I was hunched over my computer all day, which caused tense muscles and fatigue. I am also more likely to move around and get a drink of water, since I'm standing already, which helps keep me from getting dehydrated, another tendency I have at the office. Overall, I actually do feel better at the end of the day and maybe even healthier too.

So I think I'll continue doing this on and off for a while. I have my work laptop propped on a big cardboard box that I can put away when I'm tired of standing, so I'm free to switch any time. Generally, I'm feeling pretty good about a standing desk!

Knit your own wrap cardigan

If you're feeling ambitious and don't want to spend lots of money on a DKNY Cozy, you can make your own wrap cardigan! It's literally nothing more than a long wrap with sleeves and you can make it any length you want, if you find the DKNY Cozy too long or others too short.

The knitting pattern can be found here:
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90135AD.html
It's a free pattern, but you need to sign in to view it.

Once you get the gist of the pattern construction, you don't really need to knit the fabric. Any fabric will do, as long as you cut the pieces according to the pattern and its measurements. So if you're good with knitting, crocheting or sewing, and want to make your own wrap cardigan, this link's for you!

Enjoy!

Declutter your user manuals

Hubby and I have two big binders/folders of user manuals of various appliances and knick knacks that we've accumulated over the years. Those things take up a lot of space! Well, with the advent of digital readers and digital formats for books, you can probably download many of your old manuals as an e-book or PDF file. Whatever isn't digitized, you can scan the pages and read them as a JPG or image file. This makes things easier to organize, back up and it takes up way less space!
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-turn-your-owners-manuals-into-digital-files-for-your-ipad-166391

Raw milk

There has been a lot of hoopla among some circles about raw milk. Advocates of raw milk claim that pasteurization destroys valuable nutrients and enzymes, making pasteurized milk a less healthy food. The CDC thinks raw milk is dangerous. I did a cursory search on the debate and was not able to find much that was not biased or without agenda.

Personally, I wouldn't drink raw milk. I wouldn't mind tasting it out of curiosity, but I wouldn't make it lifestyle habit. One reason is because I believe that many of the things we're doing in our modern times must be right if we are enjoying extended life spans and more leisure time. Food safety and medical science have come a long way since a mere one hundred years ago and new advances will continue to be made one hundred years from now. I'm not saying that some of the things we've embraced have not had ill-effects on us, but I am saying that not all modern things are bad.

There seems to be a trend towards the cave man way of life. There's even a fad diet call the Cave Man's diet where you only try to eat food a cave man would have been able to have, or something like that. Raw foodies go even farther and try not to eat anything that had heat applied to it, claiming that the cooking process destroys nutrients in food. Then there's the supposed benefits of barefoot running over running in shoes, and don't forget the movement against vaccines. Did the cave man really have a better and healthier life than the modern man? How much of our modern luxuries are we willing to give up in the name of healthy living and sustainability?

Anyways, I happen to be okay with the pasteurized milk I get from the supermarket. Pasteurized milk has been around for a couple hundred years at least and has yet to cause a worldwide epidemic of disease and malnutrition. I drink it cause it tastes good in my coffee and my cakes. I also happen to believe that pasteurized milk is safer to drink. However, if my neighbor wants to drink raw milk, I honestly don't see why I should stop him/her. I think the government has more pressing concerns than to outlaw raw milk for the few that are willing to drink it. Let's say that drinking raw milk is as risky as the CDC says it is. If so, what does it matter to me if someone wants to indulge in risky behavior that will only harm themselves and not me? If you can climb a tree at your own risk, why can't you also drink raw milk at your own risk? I support my neighbor's right to drink raw milk should he/she desire to.

Just my two cents on the matter.

Giant paper rose

These look so whimsical and cute!
http://greenweddingshoes.com/diy-giant-paper-rose-flower/

Cooking with a wok

Cooking in a wok is different from cooking in flat-bottomed pan. You can stir fry using a flat pan, but it's not the same and doesn't impart the same flavor. Wok cooking requires high heat and a well-seasoned wok uses less oil than a flat pan. I don't toss my food in my wok as that will invariably cause food to shower down on my whole kitchen. In fact, I don't know anyone who actually tosses food in a wok. I, like my mom and many other moms, shovel the food around in the wok to keep it moving.

Here is a tip about making several dishes in a wok. Always start with the cleanest dish and end with the dirtiest and sauciest. Meaning, if you're having for dinner Ants Climb on Tree, Scrambled Eggs with Tomato, Plain Stir Fried Bok Choy (meaning just bok choy and salt), you should start with the bok choy dish, then the eggs, and then the Ants Climb on Tree. Another example would be if you're serving Stir Fried Corn with Pine Nuts, Tofu and Mushrooms with Brown Sauce, and Breaded Seitan Chops, start with the corn dish, then the seitan dish and then the tofu with mushrooms dish. The idea is to keep the flavor of the previous dish from contaminating the flavor of the next dish without rinsing the wok in between. Ideally, you never turn off the heat and just toss ingredients in, cook, plate it and toss in the next set of ingredients. I usually cook at medium high to high heat and I keep the food moving with my shovel (aka wok spatula). This prevents the veggies from soaking up too much oil, which allows you to use less oil to cook.

Another tip is that sometimes, you can cook more than one item at a time. The wok is pretty big and sometimes, you need to cook or saute different elements of a dish before putting it together. For example, let's say you want to make fried rice. You can dump the leftover rice into the wok, smoosh it to the side and then pour in the beaten eggs in the space to make scrambled eggs. When the eggs are just about right, just mix it all together and add in the other, already cooked leftovers. Serve when everything is cooked through.

Well that's all I got for now! Happy cooking!

Ants climb on tree

Growing up, my mom used to make this wonderful dish with rice vermicelli noodles and bits of ground meat. There are days when I crave my mom's cooking and this dish in particular. One day, I finally asked my mom what the dish was called. She said it was called Ants Climb on Tree. I stared at her. Surely she must be joking because that is a pretty unappetizing name. But no, my dad confirmed that this is the actual name of the dish!

Anyways, so now I make my own version with TVP instead of bits of ground meat. I take a packet of vermicelli rice noodles and soak it in boiling water mixed with a few tablespoons of soy sauce. Meanwhile, soak 2 or 3 tablespoons of TVP in boiling water and soy sauce as well. Let it sit while you prep for other dishes. Chop up some scallions and set aside. When you're ready to put this dish together, Pour the noodles and TVP into a strainer to strain the water out. Heat up the wok and then heat up sesame oil in the wok. Toss in the scallions and when they're fragrant, toss in the noodles with TVP. Add soy sauce and sesame oil to taste and serve when everything is heated through.

Obviously, this isn't a meal in and of itself. You have it with rice (preferable the short-grained sticky kind) and other dishes. Because this dish is so flavorful and deep, it's best to serve it alongside something green like bok choy or spinach and something with protein like tofu with mushrooms. When I make it right, hubby goes Mmmmm!

Cultured dairy

I've made posts in the past on how to make butter and cultured buttermilk from cultured buttermilk. I was in a bit of a craze and made all kinds of things that I don't think I actually posted about. In addition to shaking a jar of heavy cream until it separated into butter and traditional buttermilk, I've made cultured butter, sour cream and some kind of soft cheese. All of these were made using cultured buttermilk as a starter.

So let's recap. Cultured buttermilk is not the same as traditional buttermilk. Cultured buttermilk is milk that has been thickened and innoculated with a kind of bacteria. Traditional buttermilk is produced in the process of making butter. Cultured buttermilk is the stuff you find in the supermarkets.

From cultured buttermilk, you can make more cultured buttermilk the same way you make yogurt from yogurt. I like to use a 1 to 3 ratio, that is one cup of cultured buttermilk to 3 cups of milk. You can use skim milk, but the resulting buttermilk will be thinner than using full fat milk. Mix the two together and let sit in a warm spot for at least 24 hours. It shouldn't take more than 36 hours to get thick. You're done with the buttermilk coats the side of a glass. You can view instructions with pictures here:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/buttermilk.htm

With cultured buttermilk, you can also make sour cream. Mix 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to a cup of heavy cream and let it sit for about 24 hours. Then place in the refrigerator to chill.

From the sour cream, you can make cultured butter, which tastes heavenly! Just put the sour cream in a jar and shake it past the whipped up stage until it completely separates into butter and traditional buttermilk. Pour out the buttermilk, which can be used to make pancakes and other baked goodies, and fill the jar with cold water. Shake again and pour off water. Repeat filling jar with cold water, shaking and pouring it out until the water pours out clear. Getting all the buttermilk out will prevent your butter from going sour.

You can also make cheese from buttermilk. Mix a quarter cup of buttermilk with half a cup of milk and let sit for 24 hours. Then add 2 cups of warm milk and wait another 24 hours. Now gently warm it up over pot of hot water for about 30 minutes. Pour the mixture into a cheesecloth and strain for at least an hour over the sink or bowl. Add salt and herbs to taste.

I have not played with cultured dairy since we moved and now I'm having the urge to start again. Think I'll get some cultured buttermilk this weekend...