Last night I went to a "Kombucha Party" hosted by Rebekah.  I, along with 5 other friends, learned how to make the fermented beverage and walked home bearing slimy bits of starter that look like sliced ham.  It sounds like loads of fun, I know.  The starter is called a "mother," and looks like solidified loogies.

Anyhow, I brewed up a big pot of ( Read more... )

After several nights of staying up obnoxiously late, I finally got to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour last night.  The recent series of relatively sleepless nights clouded my days into one vast, blurry fog.  But this morning I awoke feeling refreshed -- almost energetic.

It was a good thing, too.  I stayed busy with work most of the day, and will ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I walked past the produce aisles at my local H.E.B. and read some signs.

Above the bananas:
"Yellow bananas are ready to eat today and tomorrow.  Green bananas are ripe and ready to eat in 3-5 days."

Above the lemons:
"Room temperature lemons yield more juice."

Above the pears:
"Press gently around the stem with your thumb.  Pears are best ( Read more... )

Sometimes I concoct a new dish that looks, smells, and tastes so beautiful that I long for a camera to capture the image of it.  My camera is in hiding.  Steve knows where it is, but I keep forgetting to ask him.

In any case, the inspiration for this delectable fare came from some recent explorations into Ecuadorian cuisine.

Scrumptious Sweet ( Read more... )

Saturday, Steve went with Baker to pick up our year's supply of beef, along with beef for four other families.  We packed the MacDonald's meat into our freezer, along with our own, and they came by to pick it up Saturday night on their way back from a dinner date with the Falkowskis.  They arrived around 8:30, just after we put Isaac to bed.  Of ( Read more... )

1.  The whole wheat no-knead bread came out okay.  I liked the texture, but the average rise and mediocre flavor left me wanting more.  Next time I will add molasses, flax seeds, baking soda, and salt to give it a bit more pizazz.  I may also let it rise longer before baking it.  I recently read some sage bread-making advice: Don't flit from recipe ( Read more... )

My teeth still hurt more than 3 hours after eating a bowl.  When I'd surreptitiously tasted the kishk before drying it, it reminded me of a tangier, softer version of Grape-Nuts.  I assumed drying it would make it crunchier, but in a pleasant, more Grape-Nut like way.  The prospect excited me, and I wrote a journal entry about it as the kishk dried ( Read more... )

I like planning menus for the upcoming week.  I started the practice a little more than a month ago, mostly to help me economize and take the last-minute guesswork out of eating.  Instead of wondering what on earth to make while fainting with hunger, I discovered that simply planning meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner kept us eating wholesome ( Read more... )

Feeling creative recently -- and conveniently out of peanut butter -- I made my own with coconut oil.  Among the many virtues of coconut oil, its ability to stay solid at room temperature without being hydrogenated (and thus full of nasty trans fats and mostly rancid oil) makes it a great choice for smoothing out peanut butter.

After my success ( Read more... )

Autism used to be a rare disease affecting 1 in 10,000 children in the U.S. These days, the autism rate in the States has risen to 1 in 150. In the U.K., it's a shocking 1 in 58!

Since researching vaccines and the autism/vaccine link, I've blamed soaring autism rates on two things:

1. Heavy metal poisoning (most notably from mercury and aluminum ( Read more... )