Fairytales, French Fries and Little Baby Kisses

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 44

2012-01-29T11:48:00.000-08:00

1. An interactive map, showing you when solar electricity will be cheaper in your area than grid electricity.

2. Unsettling and yet mesmerizing proof that five people can play one guitar.

3. Are there more people these days with autism? Or just more people diagnosed?

4. Lentils are a dangerous food. Best make into meatballs and covered in delicious sauce. Lentil meatballs with lemon pesto sauce.

5. Throwing a gourmet dinner party anytime soon? Serve these delicious Mayonnaise Mounds (and peruse other equally horrifying vintage recipes... there's even beige macaroni'n'cheese if regular macaroni is too exciting for you).

6. I (Bethany) don't use Pandora, but if I did, I bet you my experience would be just like this. Also, the reason why I use emoticons is because I really DO look like this. ;)

7. I (Esther) bet you could totally make these Sand Imprint flip flops. You can't help but notice footprints while meandering along a beach, and these would definitely be hilarious.

8. A tutorial for a pleated bow tie...for all your costuming, photoshoots and party needs.

9. Sometimes I can so relate to this turtle. Like when housecleaning with a toddler, for instance.

10. Alien brain hemorrhage cocktail. Intriguing. I bet you could figure out how to make it non alcoholic with chocolate milk, red punch and blue food coloring. Totally gross, but cooking with boys? Bet they'd love it.

11. Too many plushies around the house? Here's a creepy but awesome way to recycle stuffed animals.

12. There have been a flurry of awesome blog posts for moms recently, some of which I've seen reposted over and over on facebook. Two of my favorites are Child Guilt by Stephanie and Masking Anger as Justice by Rebekah. The former addresses the elephant in the room for so many of us who have dealt with the ups and downs of wanting, trying to have, having, and losing children.... and being close to others who are going through the same thing, but at different times. The latter blog post title pretty much tells you what it's about. As someone who rarely gets externally angry, it's a good reminder that "under control" does not equal disciplining rightly.

13. Catechism Question for the week: What does the preface to the ten commandments teach us?

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 43

2011-12-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

1. The sad truth you discover after spending $$$ on baby's first Christmas...

2. These tiny stories are absolutely perfect and pretty to look at too. Anthropologie should sell them.

3. How to dice an onion like a professional. ...or just skip onions altogether this season and make Esther happy.

4. Learn to let your kids be a kids. A journey in lessening the helicopter syndrome.

5. How to take pictures of your Christmas Tree.

6. Feel insecure from all those perfect model bodies when you're shopping online? Turns out, they often really are fake...as in completely computer generated with photos of real heads edited in for variety.

7. You know how they say people start to look like their dogs? Well this is what happens when people start to look like their fish.

8. The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook. Anyone up for some Lamb Stew with Dried Plums?

9. Genius. Rubberband+photography= a macro lens for any camera phone. At $15 I'm wishing I'd seen this in time for a few Christmas presents.

10. Catechism question for the week. What is the preface to the ten commandments?

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 42

2011-12-04T11:23:00.000-08:00

1. Is that monastery for real? It sure is fun to look at .

2. Skinny crockpot recipes. As the recent queen of the garage crockpot, I like that these recipes are "slightly" healthier and use less packaged products than most crockpot recipes.

3. How to make a pocket sized espresso machine. Why is workable tiny stuff so fascinating?

4. You know that closed off section of old libraries where they have store old manuscripts under lock and key for only scholars to examine? Now you can go back there yourself....virtually. Hi-res images of the Voynich Manuscript online.

5. A stroller that is self folding, has a sun powered generator, pedometer, lcd screen, headlights and can probably also perform cpr and babysit your kids.

6. It's rare to find such a detailed tutorial for a very boutique like skirt. The Pinwheel Skirt

7. Play Angry Birds in real life (although I'm thinking maybe something squishier would work better for actual shooting?).

8. Whatever would you DO if the internet were to disappear??

9. From two women with a total of four kids and a collective one full length labor.... this is still the truth about contractions.

10. Catechism question for the week: What is the sum of the ten commandments?

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 41

2011-11-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

1. Haven't seen this optical illusion until now. Groan. It's so darn cool, but also so darn nauseating.

2. If you enjoy a good anthropological story... A lot of missionary and humanitarian organizations have to come up with creative ideas like creating lucky iron fish to stave off anemia in Cambodia.

3. 38 things to do with Thanksgiving leftovers... ideas include hockey pucks out of overcooked rolls and face powder made with dried out turkey (jk).

4. Regardless of global warming. These environmental images from the 70's are historical and breathtaking.

5. Decorating on a budget? Martha Stewart has the best line up of homemade ornaments.

6. The second I feel better (Esther) I am eating like a clean freaking machine. For those who already eat healthy and want something to bake this holiday season. Lemon Almond Cinnamon Cookies. Gluten free and Vegan.

7. After a printer malfunction that required crawling through the mass of chords under the desk, using bread clips to label things seems both easy and brilliant.

8. A great roundup of homemade advent calendars... for even the most stressed and busy. I like this one a lot...

9. Awesome restaurants. Not sure how the food is, but the ambiance?!

10. 10 great science books for kids.

11. It's universally known that natural deodorants don't work for the majority of mankind. But this homemade pro-biotic deodorant looks incredibly promising.

12. Catechism question for the week. Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 40

2011-11-20T21:12:00.000-08:00

1. Start scheming now. Tips for prettier Christmas Trees. Big ornaments are a win win. Love it.

2. A photo album for babies. Tutorial on how to make a fabric photo album. Super cute.

3. Dunh. Dunh. Dunh. (cue music) The full Hunger Games trailer came out this week. If it doesn't make you tear up you either a) didn't read the books b) have no soul.

4. Shiveringly stunning time lapse video of the earth from space. It's amazing how populated it looks from way up high.

5. Ten Anime Films you should see before you die. I know Avatar The Last Airbender doesn't really count, but if you are a fan of that show, then you should check these out too.

6. Still munching on leftover Halloween candy? Here's a PH acidity chart for all your favorite candy. Don't read it unless you want to feel guilty for your skittles.

7. You don't have to be into cross-fit to be astounded by the world's largest 3D painting. It will make you stare at your computer screen for way too long.

8. Are you absolutely sick to death of playing Candyland? Here's a whole round up of other games you can play with small children.

9. Even cooler candy-collecting than trick-or-treating: Operation Little Vittles.

10. The sad truth of facebook feeling vs. reality.

11. A multi-purpose bag for photographers who are parents?

12. Catechism question for the week: What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 39

2011-11-13T20:29:00.000-08:00

1. Lululemon is the obsession of choice these days when it comes to workout wear. Ironically, it held no temptation for me until I stopped working out and became pregnant (Esther). Now I am casting puppy eyes at nearly everything. It's pretty much the most comfortable and flattering maternity/postpartum clothes ever.

2. Weather all across the country this week is calling for soup...soup...soup. This caramelized cauliflower soup looks inspired.

3. You know those decorative pillows you see at Anthropologie that cost more than your car payment? Here's a free tutorial on how to make something similar.

4. If you like to geek out over typing aesthetics... here's a fun read on the 8 worst fonts of all time.

5. How to bake a brownie in an eggshell! Total ignorance this was possible. The novelty of it is tempting.

6. The most honest (and hilarious) used car commercial ever.

7. For those with preschoolers or school aged children (who live in an area with actual autumn leaves). Here's a great little field trip project and free printable.

8. Incredibly weird and yet mesmerizing music video.

9. Laptop owning parents, is this not so true?

10. Stunningly gorgeous time lapse of the Paris area.

11. Shorter catechism question for the week: What is the duty God requires of man?

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 38

2011-10-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

1. Triticum fever. An interesting article on modern wheat that will have the Gluten free'ers nodding their heads and everyone else humming lalala.

2. Behold the steampunkin. A very detailed pdf on creating your very own steampunk pumpkin. Ha.

3. If you have trouble coming up with inspiration for packed lunches. Here's 30 delicious and fresh looking options.

4. In keeping with this blogs love of shoes (and handmade shoes). We bring you DIY sandals. The options are endless.

5. Modge Podge strikes again. Tinted mason jars tutorial. So pretty.

6. Have you seen ManBabies? Oh me, oh my. This site makes me laugh so hard my sides ache.

7. Do you ever feel that your GPS is like this?

8. When the Milkshake Runs Low - Oh so true.

9. Catechism question for the week: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 37

2011-10-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

1. A bunk bed playset. Way too much fun. My kids saw these over my shoulder and have been drawing up their own plans for one.

2. 45 free photoshop actions. There are some pretty good ones in there. Not the usual menagerie.

3. This is billed as a sand castle cake (which is pretty fun in and of itself), but I think it holds great potential for an epic gingerbread house this Christmas.

4. 50 different foods you can serve in little mason jars. Everything from white chocolate lemon trifle jars, to herb cheese jars.

5. What's the best way to escape a high speed police chase? Head for the airport?

6. A handy list of when and how to grow vegetables.

7. An anthropologist claims that too much alcohol doesn't make someone act drunk. They do that to themselves.

8. The coolest blog for people who like to sew: Make this look. They take current fashion and tell you which pattern to buy to make what you're seeing in the magazine.

9. How awesome would it be to dress up as Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory?

10. DIY rope words. I can see this being useful for parties, kids crafts, Christmas and a whole myriad of other things.

11. Did you know you could make your own homemade porcelain? I did not, and now my brain is obsessed with all the possibilities.

12. Nanowrimo starts in 8 days, 11 hours and 30 minutes. It's the only sporting event you can do while passed out on the couch after gorging yourself on turkey and pie. Do it! Here are a bunch of helpful preparation tutorials if you do decide to succumb.

13. Catechism question for the week. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?

Dressed On A Dime Fridays (on Saturday)

2011-10-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

This time in my life has granted me a new appreciation for smocked-neck items. Where have they been all my life??

Smocked-neck top - thrifted ($2)

Striped layering tank - Old Navy ($4)

Shorts - thrifted ($5)

Matching necklace and bracelet - Mommy Necklaces (28.50)

Total = $39.50 (can you tell where I prefer to spend my money? Haha)

Esther:

I always feel slightly guilty for wearing flats with a long sweater, I think I've watched too many "What Not To Wear" episodes. But I do love this outfit. So comfy and Fall-ish. I bought the sweater last week in Palm Springs when it was ironically 102 degrees outside.

Striped Sweater-(some random boutique in Palm Springs) ($10)
Tank top- handmedown
Black pearl necklace - gift
Jeggings- Forever 21 ($5)
Flats- Converse (thrifted NWT) ($2)
Total: $17

Kombucha

2011-10-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

I know I'm behind on this trend, but I've finally looked into the kombucha tea phenomenon. In case you are as unenlightened as I was, kombucha is a type of mushroom, and tea is well...tea. You let the two marry for a week on your counter, and tada! You have a drink that's yummy, non alcoholic and loaded with probiotics and enzymes. The trend follows right in the footsteps of the country's current obsession with "live" food. Food that's been soaked, sprouted, fermented etc within an inch of its life, into living breathing bacteria laden dinner (or in this case, beverage). Once upon a time, bacteria was a bad word, but now hip and healthy people like to sort their bacterium into two categories "Bad" and "Good". Good bacteria is in short supply in most of our digestive systems these days...hence crunchy America's fascination with all things probiotic.

If I'm being entirely honest, the process of making kombucha is disgusting. Also, there are several doctors that think the whole thing is deep hooey. You are forewarned.

Here's the recipe I followed.

You can buy a SCOBY ( Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). Or you can just pick up a bottle of Kombucha at Whole Foods, and grow your own from the mushroom floating around the bottom of the bottle. I did neither. Rather my sister Liz did the ugly job, grew one massive mother of all SCOBY mothers, and gave me one of her many many many SCOBY babies. (note: these are her hands. My hands are at a safe distance pushing the shutter button on the camera. I must confess I gagged when I touched the SCOBY. It feels both alive and dead...basically a zombie mushroom).

Here's my SCOBY baby hanging out with the tea. (note: The term "baby" is strictly used scientifically by me and in no way denotes endearment for said zombie mushroom).

I happen to like the taste of kombucha tea, it tastes kind of like a cross between soda and beer to me. But if you don't like beer, you're probably going to want to add some flavoring when you bottle it. I did raspberry ginger kombucha for fun.

After my kombucha was done brewing, I used recycled bottles to bottle up my own and store in the fridge (note: the row of pretty bottles in my fridge is finally the first attractive thing about this whole process).

I should also note, that I most definitely would not have survived this process without my sister's help. Besides the SCOBY baby, she also provided the bottle caps and bottle-capping-apparatus. Plus, she has bizarrely strong hands that can manhandle said bottle-capping-apparatus that was apparently designed to be used only by Samson. Me? Not so much.

See? Pretty. Whew.

Portraits of a Marriage - a review

2011-10-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

After we read and discussed Embers, my husband noticed another book by Sándor Márai at the library. It didn't look terribly interesting to me, but I cracked it open to scan the first page.

Look, see that man? Wait! Turn your head away, look at me, keep talking. I wouldn't like it if he looked this way and spotted me; I don't want him to greet us. . . .

Wow. Have you ever read a story written like that? It's almost impossible for me to not notice what kind of voice a writer is using, what with so many first person and present tense novels out right now, and Sándor Márai certainly ventures off the beaten track in this book. The reader is basically eavesdropping on three different conversations (four, if you count the epilogue) that all in various ways give personal portraits of a marriage.

Most briefly, the marriage spoken of in the title is that of Ilonka, a beautiful and passionate middle-class woman, and Peter, a serious and distant man who twice proposed to his mother's servant, Judit, an independent and strongminded survivor.

Through the contrasting perspectives of the three main characters, Sándor Márai explores different views on what leads to breakdowns in class communication, marriage, family, and ultimately culture.

It's not quite as soap opera-y as it sounds, though. Although the first section does seem to set up a melodramatic love triangle (as does the somewhat misleading title of the book; really the thing that ties all the stories together is less "a marriage" and more each of the characters' respective friendships with a writer, Lázár), the story itself is more linear than repetitive. While the following perspectives do go back and reflect a little on what happened during the timeline of the previous perspectives, for the most part they move forward. The first speaks of the marriage disintegrating and why, the second speaks of how things got all messy from there, the third speaks of the affect of the war, and the fourth wraps everything up.

I've come to the conclusion that Sándor Márai was brilliant at very subtly and accurately displaying quirks and qualms of different personalities. Each of the voices telling his or her story feels strong, unique, real. And misled. Just like our own internal monologues, we see what each character feels they way he or she does, but as an outsider we can also see the flaws and the shortcomings. None of the viewpoint characters are noble or even likable all the time, but they all have moments where they pull on the readers' sympathy. And each of them can see the exact same event and confidently come to a completely different conclusion.

Most interesting at all is the glimpse of something mysterious and ephemeral, a slice of history in a place generally not much represented in fiction: life for Hungarians before, during, and after World War II.

Gently, as if talking to a madman, I asked why he thought that olives, of the kind I had actually eaten some time in the past in a small Italian restaurant in that part of London known as Soho, were destined to play such an important part in my current and possibly future life. . . .

"Because that culture is over," he said in a friendly, patient manner. . . . Taste is an aspect of culture," he said, and raised his hand, like a conductor in a concert waving in some crescendo of destruction, "And it's all vanishing. It will vanish even if elements of it remain. They may still be selling olives stuffed with pimientos somewhere in the future, but the class that cultivated the taste for it and understood what it meant will have vanished. There will remain only the knowing about it, which is not the same thing. Culture is experience, I say," he intoned like a priest, his hand raised. "It is living experience, timeless as sunshine. To know about things is to know merely secondhand. It is like wearing secondhand clothes." He shrugged, then added courteously, "Which is why I am glad that you did at least have the opportunity of tasting olives." And as he finished the sentence, a shell burst nearby, like a precisely placed period, shaking the building.

If historical and personal navel-gazing is like pulling teeth to you, well, I don't need to tell you to avoid this like shrapnel. If this sort of history and character study fascinates you, though, I would highly recommend Portraits of a Marriage. It is beautifully written and translated and will haunt you in a good way.

Dressed On A Dime Fridays (on Saturday)

2011-10-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Esther:

I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I happen to like shorts a. lot. They're not as constrictive as pants, but often more modest than skirts or dresses. (for me anyway, I seem to be a walking wardrobe malfunction on some days). So when the weather gets cool, I typically add flats and a cardigan and call it a day. (it helps to live in San Diego)

Tank top: Kohls $1.99 (clearance bin)
Cardigan: Christmas gift
Necklace: Thrift store - $1
Shorts: (I ripped the tag out a long time ago) $7.99
Shoes: Thrift store $2
Total: $12.98

Bethany:

I definitely prefer skirts whenever possible, and this one's perfect for a warm but breezy day, as the length is comfy in hot weather but the fabric is heavy enough to stay put in wind.

Eyelet blouse: thrifted $5

Layering shirt: thrifted $1.50

Skirt: clearance $3

Flip flops: Old Navy $2

Necklace: secondhand $9.50

Total: $21

All things Pumpkin

2011-10-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

Esther:
Even though it's over a hundred degrees here at the moment, the Ramsey household is obsessed with pumpkins (read: Jamie..and thus Charlie). We're deep in pumpkin decorating lore, trying to figure out what to do with our pumpkins. It doesn't help that no matter where we go, Jamie somehow wrangles another pumpkin in our cart.

I am over the traditional Jack'O'Lantern lantern this year. So here are some other ideas I'm thinking of trying. Anyone else tried these and have words of wisdom to share? Do tell.

Vine and leaf carved pumpkin

Once Upon a Time Game - a review

2011-10-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

Bethany: My family loves games and so does Kevin's, so it's not surprising that we give and receive them on every occasion and get together to play them every week. With Christmas coming up (or so the stores all tell me), I thought now might be a good time to start a series of reviews of the games we own and love. Just a glance at the one I most recently received will show you why I thought it a fitting introduction here.

Once Upon a Time is not a strategy game, and in my opinion it is not for the super competitive who rely strongly on enforceable rules. Each player receives an assortment of cards representing various stereotypical fairytale story elements and one card providing an ending. The goal is to use up all your element cards (by playing them as you mention what is on them) in a group-told fairytale and achieve your provided ending in a way that is entertaining and makes sense. Since everyone else is also trying to use up their cards and reach their endings as well, you have to be quick on your toes and ready to dive into the story at first opportunity and ramble on as quickly as possible. If you are not the current storyteller, you must wait until one of the elements on your cards is mentioned, at which point you can play it and take over until you mention something on a card somebody else can play.

Of course, whether or not anyone's interruptions and interpretations actually fit and make sense is a matter of interpretation. It is embarrassingly easy to fall into cliches, so the first few rounds can be painful, but it is a lot of fun once everyone gets into the storytelling aspect and starts making up hilarious alternatives to the easy route. And if you like to plot stories, it's rather inspiring (can't you imagine a children's book about a heroic squirrel on a quest?). On the other hand, if you have a bunch of shy, slow playing people who don't like to interrupt each other, one person could easily win this in about two minutes, which would be quite boring. I'd recommend this for people who enjoy games like Cranium and love traditional children's stories.

Dressed On A Dime Fridays

2011-10-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

Esther:
This outfit is waaayyy out of my comfort zone, but I finally found comfy thigh high boots for under $40 and couldn't resist. After looking through my closet this morning, I concluded I really only buy jeans and shoes. Everything else is either secondhand or birthday/christmas gifts.

The Breakdown:
Dress- Target (hand me down)
Cami- Forever 21 ($2.50)
Navy stockings- (gift)
Boots- Urbanog ($35)
Jacket- The Buckle (gift)
Necklace - BKE (.25 cents)
Total: $37.75

Bethany:

For those of us who don't get hand-me-downs, thrifting is a great way to try stuff that is out of the comfort zone for minimal investment. Button up shirts were pretty much completely gone from my closet, but they seem like they'd be practical now, so I have been on the lookout for some to try and see if they're as convenient and comfortable as they seem like they'd be for this stage in my life.

Pretty sure I never ever wore any shirt with this kind of styling before. We'll see how it deals with the beating it's going to take in my house.

The Breakdown:

Button up shirt - Ashley, thrifted ($2)

Layering shirt - Mall store ($5)

Cargo skinnies - DD's ($10)

Boots - Merrell (gift)

Necklace - Mommy Necklaces ($14)

Total - $31

How to work out and do school at the same time.

2011-10-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Esther:
I've discovered that HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) works great with small children. Why? Because their attention span is measured in minutes, just like HIIT. Tell them to color all the squares red, and then go see how many pushups or walking lunges you can do.

Of course sometimes this happens.

And sometimes this happens.

But that's ok. ...right? Right.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 36

2011-10-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

1. Pancake floor pillows. Awesomeness! I dare you to not want pancakes now. I think I've come up with a way to make them for less than $600, but I'm not sure I have the wherewithal to try. They would be perfection for a bookstore, library or kids room.

2. Remember reading Trapped At The Bottom Of The Sea as a kid? Now you can buy your own life preserving tsunami pod that's basically the same thing (minus the lasers). Sometimes I'd like to strap Charlie in one of those for long car trips (and think of how safe it would be!).

3. Anybody tried kombucha? I have a very disgusting looking mushroom in my fridge, begging me to get over myself and try my hand at brewing it.

4. Three letters to and from Mister Rogers to warm the heart.

5. DIY Hobbit houses. All you need is a chainsaw and a pipe to smoke.

6. Bye bye boys, have fun storming the castle. A Princess Bride Monopoly would be pure genius. My game piece would be the six fingered glove.

7. Since nobody likes to wake up and find their toothbrush has been moved to the refrigerator. Here are Five Things You Should Know About The New Facebook.

8. I succumbed to buying a pumpkin while it was still 94 degrees outside, so this recipe for caramelized pumpkin seeds (on the stove top instead of the oven) was a lifesaver. So scrumptious, and so fast, I don't think I'll ever cook them in the oven again.

9. Ungraceful parenting. Ouch.

10. Catechism question for the week: What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

Dressed on a Dime Fridays #2

2011-09-30T15:54:00.001-07:00

Esther: The weather report said it was going to rain today which is why I dressed thusly... what the meteorologist meant was it was going to be so hot and humid it would feel like it was raining. I always wonder why I always hate all my jeans come Fall and it's because I haven't worn them for 4 months. Now I remember why. Sticky, clingy jeans has got to be the worst clothing for hot weather. Long live skirts and Summer dresses.

Linen shirt $5 (from one of those cheap clothing kiosks) Lucky Jeans: $40 (Nordstroms Rack) Roxy Flip Flops $2.99 (TJMaxx), Necklace (homemade), NY&Co Cardigan (hand-me-down).

Total: $47.99

Bethany: The weather here was similar, so when I got home from running errands and such with two babies in two carriers, I immediately changed (although I wasn't wearing jeans. Scar is not a big fan of constriction right now).

Ruffled tank: $5 (laceaffair.com), Layering tee: $5 (one of the many mall stores), stretchy waist shorts: $4 (Old Navy), flip flops $2 (also Old Navy), necklaces: $27.

Total: $43

Ah, sweet comfort.

Silly Voices Cube

2011-09-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

Getting stubborn preschoolers/kindergarteners to do what you want them to, is somewhat akin to people who insist on driving 65 in the fast lane. It drives you crazy and there's nothing on heaven or earth that can induce them to do otherwise.

For school this year, we're doing Classical Conversations and consequently Jamie has a ton of memory work. I think the idea behind the classical method, is that small children naturally repeat everything they hear, but I'd revise that to say mine mostly just repeat everything they're not supposed to. I can recite Latin vocabulary all day, but the only word Jamie remembers at the end is that "sed = but" (which is not nearly as funny as he thinks it is).

So I go through great lengths to try and involve all the five senses and make learning as fun as possible (to balance the times when I want to bash my head against the wall). Someone around here tossed out a delightfully shaped amazon box, that was just begging to be torn apart and reborn into something new. A quick (ahem, not so quick) dance with google images and photoshop, and I proudly bring you this (now) simple means for manipulating children.

The Silly Voices Cube.

Materials:
Box
Knife
Paint
Tape/glue/some other sort of adhesive
Silly Voices Print-out

Directions:

1) Unless you are lucky enough to come across a perfectly square box (like an Einstein bagel box), you'll first have to cut the long sides of your box and re-tape it so that it is perfectly square.

2) Paint it. For optimal success, let children pick the colors and paint it (it doesn't turn out quite as pretty, but it's more fun).

3) Print and cut out this Silly Voices Sheet and be grateful you didn't burn dinner while searching for a DRM-free robot picture.
(note: make sure you save it and print it out as an 8x10 or a fit to margins option)

4) Glue or tape your voices to your cube. I wanted mine to be fairly waterproof (drool proof, throw up proof...whatever), so I laminated mine right onto my cube.

5) Ta-daa. Super easy.

We gave it a practice run by counting by 5's in a monster voice. Too hilarious.

I dare any 5 year old to try and recite the Pledge Of Allegiance in a baby voice without busting a gut laughing.

Postpartum Binding: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2011-09-27T04:59:00.000-07:00

Hospital binder vs. the Belly Bandit

Bethany:
My vanity wanted to put this post off till twelve weeks postpartum or at the very least six weeks, when hopefully I would have stunning results to showcase, but since I have so many friends due in the next month or two, I guess a post now would probably be more useful.

I’m one of those people who went into pregnancy having no idea whatsoever what “postpartum” entailed. Hormone swings? Stretch marks? After pains? Constant bleeding? Incisions or degrees of tearing? You name it, I’d never or only vaguely heard of it. Like many pregnant women, I happily dove into research once such topics were more relevant to me, but it was not until my husband and I attended birth classes that I first heard about abdominal binding.

(What do you mean, I'll have the baby and still look pregnant??)

The name is somewhat self-explanatory, but basically what I’m talking about here is less Spanx and more medical grade.

This is mainly a comparison review of different binders for anyone who has wondered about Belly Bandit vs. Squeem, etc, so I’m not going to delve deeply into all the reasons for this practice, but I’ll make a simple list of the basic top reasons for postpartum belly binding.

Healing
Support
Comfort
Vanity

History:

Our birth class instructor considered it a must-have, and her descriptions of how much it helped with postpartum healing made us bump it up to the top of our list of essentials. Since we were nearing both forty weeks and the outer limits of our interest in researching more products, we just went with the brand she mentioned so as to not have to go on a full fledged search for something that met all the criteria she listed.

That’s how we ended up with the Belly Bandit for after Jack’s birth.

Preparing for Dominic’s birth, I wanted to try something new, so I bought a Le Leche League binder. Then of course I had a prolapsed cord and emergency c-section, so I ended up being given and using a hospital binder.

After comparing the various problems of all of the above, I decided I wanted to try the generally very highly rated Squeem compression vest and lucked into a flash sale on one.

For kicks and giggles, I also tried out the authentic corset I have for costumes. Isn't that supposed to squash everything in?

Authentic corset vs. Squeem

The Good
Just having a binder in general, any kind, helps in terms of comfort and support so, so much. I personally would wear one all the time if it were possible, because it makes that much of a difference in terms of how I feel. And I’m not talking about it making me feel skinnier, because at least in my experience they definitely are bulky under clothing. Just having a loose belly jiggling around in the wind tends to make me feel tentative, like every movement is going to mean that I’m going one direction, my deflated belly is going another direction, and my poor innards have to choose which to side with. That’s even more painful after a c-section when every extra waggle tugs at the incision. There were times in the first few weeks I could barely sit up without the supportive compression of my binder. It pulls everything in so that I feel functional much faster than without it. That being said, each binder had different pros.

Belly Bandit - This thing does whip the belly into shape. It is a thick, very solid one piece contraption that puts constant pressure particularly on the belly. The support is amazing. I would probably (in my uneducated opinion) choose this one as best for healing. Putting it on makes me go instantly from feeling very postpartum to feeling almost normal.

Le Leche League binder - I did not end up even trying this on, but I bought it because it was longer (12”) and contoured to fit closer over various widths of the body. It is made of a thin soft fabric, which probably wouldn’t show as much under clothing and would probably be very comfortable.

Hospital binder - Much stretchier and softer than the Belly Bandit but far sturdier than the LLL binder, this is a dream to wear. It is soft, super comfy, super adjustable (it's impossible to shrink out of it, as the velcro will attach anywhere onto it), and super affordable (even if you didn’t get it for free; it's only about $20 from a medical supply store). The support is great, and it trims the waist like a miracle. At two weeks postpartum, my natural waist measured the same as it did pre-pregnancy. I’d definitely choose this one for comfort.

Squeem compression vest - This definitely is a tight squeeze all over. Its heavy material and contoured fit mean that it gets both the belly and the waist. The vest style means that there won’t be a problem of back fat bulge over the top, and the shaping makes for far less bulk under clothing. I’d probably choose this one for overall support and vanity.

Authentic corset - Super heavy duty and full of metal boning, this is practically a suit of armor, and it definitely won’t buckle or roll or bend in any sort of way. It sucks the waist in to tiny proportions and enforces mega support whether you like it or not. And it’s much prettier than the rest of them, haha.

The Bad:
Not all binders are created equal though. Although perhaps something is better than nothing, it's kind of hard to know where to throw your money, especially when shopping online.

Belly Bandit - Since this is made of a solid piece, it holds the belly in beautifully, but if you have any sorts of curves, it’s only going to really compress your widest part. For me, that meant my natural waist was not supported, and there was no way to prevent the thick material from buckling and rolling, which was not exactly smooth under clothes or comfortable at the end of the day.

Le Leche League binder - Again, I didn’t wear this, and one of the main reasons was because it felt so thin that I couldn’t imagine it actually doing any binding. No wonder the price seemed too good to be true.

Hospital binder - Although this is pretty much my favorite of all the things I tried, its biggest downside comes from how incredibly comfy it is. The material is just not quite as heavy duty as the Belly Bandit or Squeem, so after a few weeks I noticed that my belly wasn’t quite going down in size like it had the first time. Of course, there could be many other reasons for that, but I think the fact that the binder is stretchier and more accommodating accounts for at least some of that. Even with a little contouring, this binder does roll on shortwaisted people like me, which is annoying but not as constricting as with the others.

Squeem compression vest - The biggest downside to this one is how limited the adjustment is and how difficult it is to get on and off. Maybe velcro has spoiled me, but two rows of hook and eye just seems like not enough of a range for postpartum initial massive size and subsequent rapid shrinkage.... and hook and eye is just a pain to deal with on a compression garment anyway. I’m reduced to chanting “I think I can I think I can I think I can” as I desperately try to stretch the two sides of the vest to meet, hoping the first few hooks don’t snap in half while I connect enough to give a secure hold. Once it’s on my short waist, it does buckle and roll and ride up, alas.

Authentic corset - Ha ha ha. Besides being incredibly uncomfortable, I’m not sure that my particular era of corset was designed to compress the belly. It aims to make the waist as small as possible, and part of that is pushing everything under the waist down down down. So in a sense my belly ends up bigger and rounder, while my waist is all delicate and tiny. Not helpful. And laces may be a notch above hook and eye in terms of ease and adjustability but they still leave much to be desired.

The Ugly:
My conclusion is that there really is no perfectly fitting binder that won’t crease or ride up at all on a curvy, shortwaisted person like me. It’s just.... gravity or something.

My ideal binder would be the material of the Belly Bandit with the fit of the Squeem with the soft adjustable velcro of the hospital binder and the aesthetics of the corset.... at the cost of the Le Leche League binder. Hey, a girl can dream, right?

In Conclusion:
Apparently there is a new Belly Bandit option called the BFF that incorporates some of the elements of my ideal binder, and I am looking forward to hearing more about it and maybe trying it next go round. In the meantime, I’m generally compensating by wearing two at a time when I can and enjoying the comfort of being postpartum and having a sweet little baby but still feeling semi normal and functional.

Stop and Smell the Skunk Cabbage, Vol. 35

2011-09-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

1. Glorious shoes.

2. Turn a bar of soap into liquid hand soap. Really? Going to have to try this.

3. I could listen to this over and over. Glass Mozart win.

4. Seven Little Men Help a Girl and other unimpressive alternatives to Disney movie titles.

5. Now I want furniture that lives a double life! Stealth coffee table.

6. The world's smallest hotel.

7. You have to read down a bit, but I love this idea for an awesome spare room.

8. Red rubber bookshelves! Mine would be so deformed...

9. Catechism question for the week. What is sanctification?

Daughter Of Smoke And Bone - Review

2011-09-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

First off, we got ARCs...as in advance reading copies. We're not nearly cool enough to warrant an ARC for a major book and in this case a book we've been dying to get our hands on for quite some time, so needless to say there were some seriously nerdy happy dances taking place across the state of California when we got the chance to read this highly anticipated novel by one of our favorite authors.

After the first nerd gasps... we thought:

Esther: This book is beautiful, and I'm not talking about the cover (although the cover is perfectly fine). If you can compare the written word to food, then some food is tasty even if it's not that pretty. Twilight (in my opinion) would be the book equivalent of potato chips (right down to the adage on the back of the bag of "I bet you can't eat just one."). But if some books are a bag of sour cream and onion Lay's, then Daughter of Smoke and Bone is like going to the Bellagio and ordering this. The words almost taste delicious as you're reading them. If novel reading is a way to escape real life and all its drab woes, then Daughter Of Smoke And Bone is like being a jet-setting movie star at Paris Fashion week. Deep, rich and saturated with colors, sensations and emotions.

Bethany: Beautiful is the first word that came into my mind as well, but instead of food I thought of travel. It's Saint Paul's Cathedral or Schonbrunn Palace or Yosemite or the night sky way out in the middle of nowhere or Monterey Bay (ok, I haven't visited all the world's most impressive sights, but you get the idea) where you can just stare for half an hour, look away for a moment, and gasp in awe again when you turn back because it's just that stunning and surrounding every single time. It's so beautiful it hurts, a good ache that keeps the memory lingering long after the experience is over.

The real dish on the story:

Esther: The basic premise revolves around a blue haired girl named Karou, who lives in Prague and goes to art school (which, let's face it...is pretty dang cool to begin with). She has your normal teen problems with boys and friends, but she also has a few very abnormal problems. Namely, her unconventional family owns a mysterious shop that barters with teeth and trades in magic. Karou traipses all over the globe running errands and getting into all kinds of scrapes until one day the door to their shop suddenly sports the burned outline of the hand...the wrath of God? Judgement? Karou finds out she doesn't even really know who she is, and anyone reading the book is kind of dying to find out (me!). Plus, the whole world traveling + super hot boy + magic sort of hits a frenetic pace that had me burning through every last enjoyable page. Aghhh...I want lots of these types of books to exist.

Bethany: On a shallow level, I really shouldn't have loved this book. Despite the fact that I've had a streak of blue in my hair now for over four years now and wear a lot of black, most paranormal romance is a bit too hip and gritty for me. I read the genre anyway, and I often enjoy it, but like traditional chick flicks, it often leaves me peeved by plot points that tend to rub me the wrong way. And without mentioning spoilers, Daughter of Smoke and Bone does include several plot points I usually don't care for. But Laini Taylor's storytelling is so fresh and vibrant that she swept away my preconceived notions. As lovely as the writing is, the technical aspects of the story are perfect as well. Pacing, plot twists, depth of ideas explored, ratio of humor to drama. The blurb on the back of the UK edition is by Patrick Rothfuss, one of my husband's favorite authors, and it says simply, "Wow. I wish I had written this book."

The consensus:

Bethany: Laini Taylor could rewrite the phone book in a way that would make it completely mesmerizing. I know both texting-addicted teenagers and literature snobs who would love this story. I am with Esther in asking (begging?) for more of this, please. I've generally been patient about book releases, but I can already imagine myself lining up outside a bookstore in the wee hours of the morning waiting for the sequel that will tell me what happens next....

Esther: Laini does have a way of writing anything in a brilliant way. I know we're kind of gushing a lot here, but we can't help it. We've been following Laini for years and gobble up her blog entries like they're from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. In fact, I'm kind of loathe to share her, so let's go with... you'll probably hate this book. Romance, art, and magic doors. Who wants to read about that? Move along, move along.

But if you absolutely must know...the book officially comes out next Tuesday. I'll loan you my copy if anyone wants to come and get it. *grin*
It's signed (another nerd gasp), and hiding out of reach from my children.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 34

2011-09-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

1. 21 Questions to ask your kids. Little kids rarely say anything that's not hilarious. Maybe this will help you remember them.

2. This DIY for a treadmill desk, made me laugh. Mostly because I sympathize. Once I tied my laptop to the treadmill and was reading a novel, walking, and chatting on IM at the same time. This looks much safer.

3. Riesling Strawberry Slushies? Oh yeah. They'd be absolutely perfect for a girls party. (and it's still hot here)

4. I think it's so cute when women do something artistic with their whole pregnancy. I've tried twice now and failed both times, but I thought I'd pass it on in case anyone else is inspired to try.

Because it's Fall... or almost Fall (we have to pretend in California). Super adorable and modern pumpkin carving ideas.

5. A level of cheap airfare wizardry that's on par with hardcore couponers. Step by step instructions and insight on how to maneuver your way into cheaper plane tickets. Warning: Not for the faint of heart. (and certainly beyond my attention span)

6. For the medical geeks out there. Women with IUD's have less cervical cancer than those without. The possible hypothesis is kind of icky. The body is so busy fighting off the IUD it creates an immune response against cancer as well?

7. I don't know what's more interesting. That scientists found a planet with two suns, or that they actually call it Tatooine.

8. Catechism question for the week. What is adoption?

Dressed On A Dime Fridays

2011-09-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun with Secondhand Fashion Week last year, we couldn't help jumping on the bandwagon with Cori's linky party. It must be a dress sort of day in California...

Bethany:

Dress: online garage sale ($8), pink sleeveless blouse: walmart ($3), layering tank: old navy ($4)

Total cost: $15

Esther:

Dress: Speed Control ($10), converse ballet flats: nwt Thrifted ($2), necklace: Michaels (50cents)
Total cost: $12.50

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 33

2011-09-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

1. The best, best coffee I've ever had was not just freshly ground, but freshly roasted as well. Now you can do it yourself. How to roast your own coffee in a popcorn popper.

2. Do you call your carbonated, high fructose corn syrup "Pop" or "Soda".   It's one of those questions that's related to "How's the weather?".   Here's a pretty map answering that question. The random chunk of yellow in south Illinois and Missouri is odd to me.

3. Such a sweet little pattern for a baby girl dress. And free! I love the rose petal layering in the back.

4. Fascinating article about using chili peppers for pain relief.    The bit about it being more effective than morphine makes me really curious to try it.

5. I'm always coming across enormous old sweaters at thrift stores for a dollar.   Here's a tutorial that turns that giant old cashmere sweater into a cute new cardigan (with anthropologie-esque sleeves!)

6. It's not even remotely Fall here yet, but the only thing better than Pumpkin Pie Spice Latte's has to be Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes.

7. Catechism question for the week. What is justification?

Ribollita

2011-09-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

Esther:
It's been a hectic Summer and hectic Summers are known for their poor consideration of your pocket book.    Thus, I find myself on this side of the holiday weekend, with two thoughts when it comes to food.

1. It needs to preexist in my garden and/or pantry (preferably the mold can be cut around or out).
2. It has to at least feel healthy and sustaining. If I see another cold cut tray or breakfast pastry, I'm going to turn into a giant kolache.

I've been gone for most of the month (on and off) and consequently had to ward off a cloud of fruit flies, and battle a bag of rotten potatoes before I unearthed a beautiful and entirely unexpected loaf of sourdough that I have no recollection of buying. Fortunately it had not gone bad, unfortunately you could probably render a rabid rottweiler unconscious with a swift smack of my sourdough baseball bat.
I set it on the counter with the rest of my garden plunder. Zucchini, tomatoes, swiss chard, handfuls of herbs, a (non-fruit-fly-infested) bag of potatoes, and some other assorted veggies that hadn't succumbed to wiltiness in the fridge.

It turns out, if you google "what to do with vegetables and day old bread" you get...

                                     Ribollita

It sounds magical! And it gets even better when you read about it. Italian food dating back to the Middle Ages, eaten by peasants and travelers, it's basically a hearty soup poured over crusty bread.

Soup! Peasants! Hobbits! This is Lord Of The Rings food come to life.    How I, the-great-lover-of-soup did not know about this until now is mortifyingly humiliating.    Of all the times I drooled over the food in A Wise Man's Fear, or Once A Princess, wishing I could pop through the pages and partake along with the characters, there was something equally good in real life with the tantalizing name of Ribollita.

I'm so enchanted with the name, flavors, history...everything. I almost feel like propping my feet up and telling a Canterbury Tale.   ....almost. Instead I'll share a few of the best looking recipes.

Ribollita with herb pesto

Tuscan Ribollita Soup

Real Simple's Ribollita

I basically threw everything from the garden in it and called it done. We loved it. I could eat it for every meal. If you've always known about this dish and never told me about it...shame on you.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 32

2011-09-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

We're (hopefully) back in business. Summer is over, babies are here and life can begin whatever new normal it wants to.

The kid should see this. All the cool things you see on the internet, collected in a place where you won't accidentally see boobies.

Love milkshakes. Love pie.   Lemon meringue pie milkshakes? Yes please.

This is a bridesmaid shoot, but I also think it holds a ton of inspiration for a sisters shoot.   I love whimsical photos like these.

Speaking of photography. An English photographer has taken up teaching photography courses at an old theater... for free. You can join his class via the internet or follow along with the app, i-tunes, etc.

Manifest destiny in the form of post offices.   You know those flip animation books you could watch Mickey mouse on as a kid? This is almost like doing that with your history book.

Eye candy. Painting on stacks of books. I want to know. Can you still read the books? Can you have a conversation with your child along the lines of "did you leave the cat's eye at school again?".

Cheese plates always feel tricky to me. Like one of those simple Bach pieces you learn on the piano that sound so breezy, but have fingering from hell. These cheese combinations basically number all the fingering meticulously for you. A masterpiece of flavors, the yellow tomato balsamic reduction over fresh mozzarella looks to die for.

Catechism question for the week. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

Plum Rumminess

2011-07-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

Ok, so I'm running out of names for these posts about the plums off of our backyard tree, but I promise this recipe is worth any cheesiness of my titling.

True connoisseurs like Esther might prefer the non sweetened alcoholic plum infusions, but every other recipient of our experimental plum beverages last year preferred this plum rum by far. It barely tastes alcoholic, and you can drink a ridiculous amount of it without tipsiness; it's like a beautiful nectar.

So you start with a jar (learn from me and don't use an old pickle jar or other very smelly container!). Fill it loosely up with halved or quartered plums layered with sugar (I used a cup of sugar per half-gallon jar). Pour in enough rum to fill in all the cracks and cover the plums (a surprisingly little amount), and close the jar. Give it a good shake to mix in all the sugar, then try to remember to roll it around a bit every day for the next few weeks (or months, if you're devoted). Once you crack it open around Christmas time, it's best to refrigerate it, since it will be mostly plum juice by then. The plums themselves aren't a waste either; you can eat them right out of the rum (they taste amazing) or put them on ice cream or bake them into a pie or cook them into a sauce... yum.

The hardest part is not breaking into them before December!

Future Plummy Yumminess

2011-06-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

Has it already been a year? I look in the backyard and see once again a tree full of ripening plums. Some of you may recall the insanity of last year (here, here, here), something I decided was not quite worth repeating in the heat of summer. There was one project that was rather more successful, but I didn't write about it in the summer since it took a lot longer to complete than the other ones, and I wasn't sure whether or not it would turn out.

It turned out though, just in time for Christmas, and received far more compliments than any of our other plum projects.

So this year we are throwing the majority of our plums into, well, jars of alcohol. Pick (or even better, recruit a bunch of bored teenagers to pick for you!) bags full of unblemished unripe plums. Wash them, remove stems, and dry them carefully. In half gallon glass jars, layer plums (about half the jar full) with a cup and a half or so of raw sugar. Pour cheap vodka (Trader Joe's!) in a bit short of the neck, pop the top on the jar, put in a dark place, and forget until Christmas or next year or even longer.

The result is so yummy that even I who generally have no interest in any kind of vodka based drink think it is amazing on the rocks.

Next week will hopefully begin the plum rum project....

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 31

2011-06-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

1. Vintage pictures of children. But not just any children, street urchins... in London! I think if you've read any Dickens, you'll be mesmerized. They're so raw and real, you can almost feel like you can see their little "tough" personalities shine through.

2. The word "dangerous" and "murder" only make this abandoned power plant look even more appealing to explore. The main attraction is the gorgeous graffiti art.

3. How would you like to manage your books with a chain hoist and bosun chair. I just want an excuse for having something like that in my house.

4. This isn't exactly what you picture when you think of magic carpet, but I'm a big fan of unusual furniture and this magic carpet looks great for watching movies with lots of kids sprawled around your living room.

5. Good ol J.K. was up to her old tricks again this week, baiting us all with melodrama. This time, there were no new characters coming out of the closet, instead she's launching an interactive website called Pottermore. I have to admit, I'm intrigued.

6. Banana republic launched a Mad Men line. Save your pennies for all your retro inspired clothing needs.

7. Recipes for the week. It's finally hot here and the basil and tomatoes are eating it up like children with popsicles. Basil and tomatoes call for variations of caprese salad. aka. Caprese grilled pizza and caprese skewers. Yum.

8. I'm kind of obsessed with yellow and gray right now. Bedroom, bathroom, swim suit, fabric.

9. Catechism question for the week: What is effectual calling?

Homemade Pullups

2011-06-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

or... how to turn fitteds into training pants.

I've half heartedly had Charlie potty trained for awhile, but last Saturday I woke up and decided it's time to stop changing diapers for good. I never really hated the diaper stage (as much as I hate say...reality television or traffic on the five), so I wasn't in a terrible hurry to potty train. I think my ambivalence this time definitely had to do with cloth diapers. They were so cute, and soft I didn't want to give up that last vestige of babyhood. (even though in full disclosure, I switched to disposables after Charlie turned two)

Charlie, like his brother before him, transitioned fairly seamlessly to life in underwear, unlike Jamie, it did not require shooting Charlie's diapers with a 12 gauge to accomplish the transition. However, sometimes you just need pullups. Naps, road trips, gymnastics, life is too full of opportunities for major accident catastrophes, but pull ups are outrageously expensive. So I pulled out a box of half-made fitteds, back from Charlie's newborn days and re-purposed them into training pants.

Charlie was born before I finished these and quickly discovered two things. There was no way my five pound newborn was going to wear those diapers, and I became addicted to pocket diapers instead of fitteds. The pattern I used was for a small, but clearly I did something wrong, because they fit Charlie fine right now at over two. These aren't water proof, but they do have four to five layers of microfiber wash cloths in them. Charlie doesn't even come close to soaking through the layers when he has an accident (and thus saving his pants), but that might be abnormal...I'm not sure what the peeing volume statistics for toddlers are.

Two layers of flannel, one layer of decorative stretch fabric for the outer layer, five layers of the aforementioned microfiber as a super soaker layer, then I turned it right side out.

Sewed up the tabs where you would normally apply velcro or snaps, and put elastic around the waist.

And ta-da! Homemade pull ups. They would never be suitably leak proof for a baby, but in their new life as training pants for a toddler they are a lifesaver.

Help for the Halvah-Less, Part 2

2011-06-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

Nearly a year has passed since my ill-fated attempt to make halvah, and I am embarrassed to say that up until two days ago, I had completely given up on making or even finding this elusive deliciousness anywhere locally. If Whole Foods and Trader Joe's don't carry something, who does? I'll confess I browsed Amazon and various international food bazaars online, but shipping is quite a deterrent, and for some reason it didn't even occur to me that there are international food bazaars right in my own neighborhood. I pass by them all the time and don't even notice.

Scattered all around town are these little hole in the wall grocery stores with big open bins of fruits and nuts and beans. I might have never thought outside the commercialized box, but my dad suggested I drop into one, and lo and behold I discovered huge slabs of halvah-y goodness.

So I guess this is really a no-brainer, but I learned that there are a lot more options for buying exotic treats than just the big name grocery stores and the health food industry. If my palate were a bit more sophisticated, I'd probably be able to rave about how this deli-fresh halvah is even SO much better than the prepackaged stuff as well, but even as a foodie philistine I can say with starry eyes that it is just as amazing as I remember.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 30

2011-06-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Flower fairy lights using Christmas lights and an egg carton! I love it, but I'll need google translate if I actually ever try it myself.

A new addition to my never ending search for cute boy nurseries.

Zucchini is the bane of every gardeners existence at some point during the summer. It doesn't matter how little you plant, it will find away to provide you with more zucchini than you could ever eat. So make the zucchini version of potato pancakes! Extra bonus, you can use the mint that's taking over the other half of the garden.

We've all heard how not using sunscreen will give you cancer, and we've all conversely heard how terrible it is to slather chemicals all over your body. This article on sunscreen won't resolve the issue for you, but it is one of the most balanced articles I've read, and therefore merits mentioning.

A new kind of bookshelf that combines a bit of the ancient. Scroll bookshelves.

If you know what luteinizing hormones are, and reproduction science in general makes you cackle and read textbooks with delight, this article on why we don't have male birth control is a must read.

A few cool things that turned up in a suggested fathers day list. A record player that plugs into your usb port. And scotch on the rocks...literally rocks for all your manly drinks. ( I think the point is they won't dilute your whiskey sour, but I think they just look supremely fun.)

Not only are the colors on this vintage map of undersea cables beautiful, but it's crazy to think that this was once how the world "twittered".

This year has been a year of grieving for me and those close to me. If that's you too... this poem was a balm-like representation of my feelings.

Catechism question for the week. How does the spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

John Frieda Full Repair - Help for the Desperate

2011-06-15T17:06:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

My hair has been in dire straights for quite some time. No, I don't curl it or straighten it or color more than a small portion of it or even blow dry it or overwash it, rather more the opposite. Instead of being smothered by love, my poor hair is pining in neglect. It has been, oh, a year or so since my last haircut, and that's only if we say that deciding at midnight to hack haphazard layers counts as a haircut. Go ahead, cringe away. When people tell me I should just cut it all off and donate it to locks of love, I joke that just my split ends are long enough to donate. I have split ends that each have their own baby split ends.

When I brush it, it immediately re-tangles. Forget it for a day, even in a braid, and I have rats' nests. More than a day? I have the beginnings of dreadlocks. I'm embarrassed to admit that the smooth hair in Tangled made me a little envious.

So we've established that my hair is pretty much beyond saving. By now I'm sure the question is why don't I cut it? I've chopped it from past-the-waist to mere inches before, so I've basically tried nearly every normal length in between the two, and I just don't love short on me. So, I just try to ~~grin~~ gripe and bear it for as long as I can before I ultimately give in and chop again.

Until I read this post.

I had heard about Moroccan Oil, but with hair as long and thick as mine is, I have learned to interpret "you only need a coin size amount!" as "you're going to need at least a dollar bill size amount!" so I never got around to giving it a try. The John Frieda Deep Infusion treatment was priced a little more appropriately for experimentation.

At our local Target, you can pick this up alone or bundled together with a full size conditioner.

Since the packs are currently being clearanced out, it was actually cheaper to buy the set than just the infusion. After I washed and conditioned and infused my hair, it was beautifully soft and silky as promised. It really seemed like a shame to braid it up the next day, but in the heat of summer it's really not at all enjoyable to have a thick mat of hair cascading down my back while I chase around a wily toddler, no matter how silky smooth that cascade might be, so up it went.

And then I discovered a second benefit to this hair treatment. Not only does my hair feel better, it behaves better. All that silkiness means that there is a drastic decrease in the amount of snags and tangles at the end of the day. I tell ya, this product is worth it just for that in my opinion. Perhaps Rapunzel hair really is possible.

I just can't imagine how many dime size dollops she'd go through.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 29

2011-06-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

I just watched The Young Victoria, and so this letter from Queen Victoria to Mary Lincoln Todd felt like a tangible connection to the real person and story.

My kids love those bath body paints Avon sells, but these look even more fun. Homemade bathtub crayons.

I didn't even know I wanted homemade churros dipped in warm dark chocolate sauce until I saw these on Joy the Baker.

Just in time for mommy and me swimming lessons. Swim suit tutorial, and swim diaper tutorial. I haven't found too many patterns and instructions for swim gear online, so I found both of these intriguing.

Not your average police dog. Police in Germany now have three Police Vultures.... their names? Sherlock, Miss Marple and Columbo.

Fabric you can color in like a coloring book. I would have been over the moon with something like this as a child. Right now I'm thinking birthday party craft/favor, or room decorating possibilities, or custom doll clothes... tons of things that make me wish I was ten again.

I know this is kind of late, but this photo of tornado weather in Kansas city almost makes you feel like you should be able to see Frank Peretti's demons and angels battling it out in the skies.

I want to call this photo essay on child brides "chilling", but that doesn't really do it justice. This one especially struck me. Why is she just sitting there covered in blood? Why is no one rushing around helping her?

Catechism question for the week: "How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?"

Soft Lips - The never ending quest for chapstick

2011-06-07T07:18:00.000-07:00

Esther:
I'm starting to think chapstick is like underwear. Nobody agrees on which style or cut is the best, and what works for you, doesn't work for someone else.
The chapstick I discovered recently is like that $5 walmart bra you love, compared to the $60 bra you splurged on that fell apart the first time you washed it.

It's sort of half lip gloss, half chapstick, and I am in love. It costs $1.98 and considering all my more expensive lipsticks and chapsticks have been neglected and ignored, I think it's a pretty good deal. If I were to compare it to something more name brand, it reminds me of Mary Kay's satin lip line, but I like this one better (and it's like a fifth of the price).

Curly hair is notorious for being zapped of all moisture, my skin is practically allergic to Winter, and my lips resemble a prehistoric riverbed in the mojave desert. The plus side to this is, when I was shooting a wedding last weekend in Virginia, and everyone else was dripping in sweat... I was dancing around like the humidity was manna from heaven.

Needless to say, this chapstick had a tough job cut out for itself after it went through the checkout line and ended up in my greedy, skeptical hands.

I have their Pearl and Rose, which are tinted chapsticks. Things I like about them:

They are really smooth and light feeling, but still do the job.
They are not sticky or cloying
They taste yummy
They have just enough color to make your lips look fantastic without looking overdone
Like most lip balms these days, they have spf 15 in them (they do have an all natural line if that's more your thing)
They work great over lipstick or under lipstick

Things I don't like about them:

I wish they had more colors
While they do last more than most chapsticks, they do need to be reapplied regularly
They are kind of hard to find. They're at walmart, walgreens, CVS...etc etc, but you have to search for them sometimes.

I always hate recommending makeup because there are so many better experts. I'm the type of person who takes over a year to go through a container of bare minerals foundation, and was the last person on the planet to discover gel liner. So if you love your MAC/Smashbox/Bobbi Brown lip stuff, then you might not be as impressed, but if you're stuck in a rut and have a 1998 tube of cover girl still in your bathroom drawer... You might fall in love like I did.

Entwined - A Review

2011-06-07T04:26:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

You'd think I'd get tired of reading versions of the twelve dancing princesses fairy tale, but I must admit I love experiencing new perspectives on it. The more I read, the more I am interested when I hear of a new one, and when I saw the cover to this rendition, I immediately reserved a copy from the library and read it up.

The story follows Azalea, who as is traditional is one of twelve princesses. As the oldest daughter, Azalea vows to her dying mother that she will care for the rest of her sisters. When the strict rules of the kingdom demand that the girls publicly abandon their favorite recreation, dancing, it seems like a perfect coincidence that Azalea discovers a magical passageway that leads to a pavilion where a mysterious gentleman welcomes the girls to dance to their hearts' content.

The story reads very quickly and yet feels long and detailed in the good senses of those words. Although the premise itself sets up for a huge cast, the character arcs are in my opinion the best parts of the book. I loved how many of the people who initially seem to be stereotypes show hidden depth in an eye-opening, realistic way. Not only does time reveal that people do change, it also shows that they sometimes never really were the cliches we assumed they were from first glance.

Despite my use of the word "realistic," this book is not a gritty YA paranormal romance. Although it has its dark moments, it is infused with a refreshing sweetness.

Awhile back, I tried to give my sad sad reading list a boost by reading a fluff novel, and that tactic failed miserably. When I read something that makes me cringe every few pages, it doesn't actually encourage me to read more, no matter how easy it is to speed through. In Entwined I've found the perfect boost, a light read that is still well-written, intriguing, and full of vibrant characters.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 28

2011-05-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

1. Geek out moment of the week. A cross section of a leica lens. So awesome. I had the basic mental picture of how a camera lens worked, but this blew me away.

2. A crystal clear diagram on how spam works. A picture is worth a thousand words, but if you prefer the thousand words, you can read the whole research paper here.

3. For all the poetry lovers and writers out there, here is a go-to website for all things poetry. Contest information, advice and news.

4. How to make an x-wing fighter out of a sharpie and some rubber bands.

5. Speaking of beards last week... here are pictures from the 2011 beard championships. I don't know whether to be impressed or horrified.

6. For anyone who has weather geek tendencies (our meteorologist may or may not write the only twitters I read), weatherspark is a fascinating new website where you can compare multiple forecasts side by side, historical averages, records, graphs...everything. It is addicting.

7. If you ever buy spaghetti squash in a spontaneous moment at the grocery store and then don't know what to do with it? Here is a delicious butternut squash casserole recipe. I recommend adding two more varieties of cheese. *cough *cough

8. This is by far the most unique nail polish art I've ever come across. We've all painted sparkles and flowers on our nails (perhaps only as children), but did you know you can print things on your nails using newspaper and vodka? In English: 1. Put on nail polish and let dry. 2. Dip fingernail in alcohol-basically any will do, vodka is suggested. 3. Press a strip of newspaper big enough to cover the whole nail on to your alcohol soaked nail. 4. Pull off slowly and be really impressed with yourself. 5. Paint top coat if desired.

9. Catechism question for the week: Where does Christ's exaltation exist?

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 27

2011-05-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

1. Need a good book to read for free? Ten websites where you can download free books. (P.S. I'm pretty sure Gutenberg has most of L.M. Montgomery's books if you're looking for some good old fashioned comfort food).

2. An interesting article on getting cheaper airfare. The gist? Buy a one way ticket and get off at your layover.

3. Looking for a particular movie or TV show? Tell this website what you're looking for, and they'll email you when it shows up locally on your TV/Dish/Online/Whatever.

4. Because of the book I'm writing, I have a current and ongoing fascination with beautiful trash. This flickr series is eye poppingly colorful.

5. Speaking of Flickr. Here are photos from pre revolution Russia. Crazy! It sort of feels like peaking in on Cinderella before a social atomic bomb went off.

6. A handy beard chart. If anyone knows anyone with a wizard beard...I want to know.

7. If anyone has half as many plastic Easter eggs as I do, this snake craft is super fun. And hey, even if it only lasts a few days before being crunched by the boogey man...at least now you have an excuse to throw them away.

8. The least appetizing recipe I have ever come across: Hardtack.
All these years of book reading I pictured a dried out biscuit, which is bad enough, but the real thing is decidedly worse.

9. Wherein did Christ's humiliation exist?

Fluffy, Cuddly Appa

2011-05-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

I challenge anyone to watch Avatar: the Last Airbender and not at some point wish they could give Appa a big squishy hug.

And if at this point you are a little confused, I am definitely not talking about this Avatar:

No, I'm talking about the amazing anime series, but the details of my love for that perfect TV show are for another post. Suffice it to say that if you think Appa is adorable on screen, imagine how cuddly he is in real life! Or as "real life" as plush is.

I bought a trio of these when they were available from Nickelodian and Amazon.... last month, that is, with some cash and many saved up swagbucks, and they have been worth every penny and random search. I see the price has gone up quite a bit since then, so I'm not sure if I swooped in at just the right time or what, but I can highly recommend these 18" and 30" plushies for Appa fans everywhere. Practically speaking, the main difference between the two sizes other than, um, size, is for some reason big Appa gets cute embroidered eyes and little Appas get regular beady stuffed animal eyes.

Somehow my son manages to get his stubby toddler arms around all three (whom he has affectionately named a gutteral "Waa"). He loves to cuddle them, arrange them, pretend to take a ride through the air on them, and that pretty much sums up what I do with them too when nobody's looking. Seriously. Appa is irresistible. Flying bison should definitely replace unicorns as the go-to awesome imaginary pet.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 26

2011-05-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

1. Overwhelmed by Moby Dick or the Count Of Monte Cristo? Here's a list of 20 classic novels you can read in one sitting.

2. For all of us who ever tried to dig a hole to China: Vintage How-To plans for an underground pirate cave.

3. I discovered this week that I cannot quilt. Quilting is to sewing what baking is to cooking. If I could quilt however, I would make this totally awesome Mad Hatter Tea Set.

4. If anyone else finds dyeing stuff as addicting as I do (must resist dyeing bedsheets). Here's a ton of resources all helpfully linked together on one page.

5. Most homemade gifts for guys don't really work for the men in my life. Homemade sweater? Book bag? Cufflinks? Can't really picture it. This chess set made out of bullets though would totally fit the bill.

6. I know paint bag writing has been around for awhile, but I just rediscovered it. I'm thinking the kids school hour will get a much needed infusion of fun this week.

7. I need these chutes in my kitchen... one going to the compost/chicken scraps and one going to the garbage can.

8. After years of never having it on hand, I finally broke down and bought sesame oil (major confession since there are several recipes I have that absolutely require it). Consequently, sesame peanut noodles are a constant lunch companion these days. (I use soba or mung bean noodles for the GF factor)

9. How does Christ execute the office of a King?

Reviewing Maple Planks - Bacon Slather Chicken

2011-04-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

I sort of did things backwards in terms of plank grilling. The cedar wraps I tried first seemed more exotic than plain, old, plank grilling (as if). And they also seem like they should be more complicated.

But it turns out pepper jack stuffed chicken, with chipotle bacon slather, is actually quite a bit more complicated than it sounds.

First of all, a secret about chicken. If you really cannot risk having tough chicken, (like when you buy all sorts of special ingredients and so that chicken gosh-darn-better turn out moist). Marinate it in buttermilk. I learned it from Giada on the cooking network years ago and it has never failed me. Something about the buttermilk breaking down the fibers in the chicken and making it super tender and flavorful...I don't know. Ask Alton Brown. All I know, is when you need to make sure your chicken cooperates...soak it in buttermilk.

Also, see that little can of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce? For some reason I was under the impression they were some gourmet, expensive commodity. Turns out they cost less than a buck and will last you forever (unless you're a sucker for melting your insides). I groan when I think of all the recipes I've skipped or modified, and I have no excuse.

You soak the plank for an hour, and unlike the cedar wrappers, you can use these planks again presuming you soak them good enough. I soaked them in water, but Jim poured a shot of brandy in because he's wild like that. Honestly, I couldn't tell in the end product, but it sounds cool.

Unlike the cedar wrapped shrimp, this dish took quite a bit of prep work. It doesn't help that raw chicken is kind of gross and I felt like I was getting chicken cooties everywhere. The wild natives* and my caffeine crash were partially to blame, because I quite literally flung raw chicken everywhere. Raw chicken is disgusting. Not only does it feel like you are spraying salmonella perfume around your kitchen, but it also looks like dead human flesh. (I'm quickly talking myself into being vegetarian here I realize). I had to completely bleach and disinfect my counters and throw everything in the dishwasher for a sanitary rinse before I could make the salad. It was that bad. I was not on my A game.

On a less disgusting note. I didn't have pepper jack, but I did have jack, jalapenos and anaheim chilies, so I chopped them up and stuffed them in the chicken breasts for a homemade pepper jack. I have to say it was much tastier than even the store bought kind.

Bacon. Bacon makes everything better.

I was really surprised by how powerful the maple smell was. Open the grill up to check on the chicken and BAM, you get a full wave of all your favorite campfire memories. Thankfully, right about now it was looking a lot more appetizing and smelling even more amazing. Maybe all that work was not for naught.

I served it with these mashed potatoes with garlic, mascarpone, and caramelized leeks.
And I have to admit it was all pretty spectacular. But not in a comfort food sort of way, but more like South America meets the Old West in a clash of fireworks. If this meal were an outfit, they'd be stripped stockings, under a Victorian lace dress with an opera mask and stilettos.

Recipe:
Maple Plank (soaked at least one hour)
Chipotle Bacon Slather:
-1 C. Mayo
-1/2 C. crumbled bacon
-1/4 C. chopped green onion
-1 chopped Chipotle chile in adobo sauce

four 4-5oz boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
8 slices pepper jack cheese

1-make indirect heat in your grill
2-to make slather: combine all ingredients
3-cut a horizontal pocket into each chicken breast without cutting all the way through. Stuff each pocket with 2 slices of cheese, then place chicken breasts on plank. Spread each breast with the slather, making sure to spread it so as to seal the edges of the chicken to the plank
4-place the plank on the indirect side of the grill. Close lid and cook until the part of the breasts register 160F (25-35 min)
5-Serve the chicken

* (Picture of a wild native)
Between potty training, rolling in the dirt, and screaming like a banshee, I have no idea what happened to Charlie, but he has been replaced by this sarcastic, little, non chicken eater.

Reviewing Cedar Wraps

2011-04-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

Cedar wrapped balsamic shrimp, with peppers and cilantro.

This is one of those things where it felt like my sock drawer had a collision with the ocean and my kitchen. Shrimp and cedar? Weird right?

I've heard of grilling salmon on planks, and even found a really sweet recipe last Christmas for planked figs and pancetta. I didn't know however, you could buy sheets of wood so thin it's almost like paper. But I'm always up for new things, even though cooking meat successfully is difficult for me (I almost always ruin it or overcook it), and I definitely can't grill. What could be difficult about wrapping up some fresh seafood in paper and grilling it?

Nothing actually. It was as easy as it sounded.

The idea with cedar wrappers (or any plank grilling) is to soak the wood in water/juice/wine/whatever. Then when you grill your food on the soaked wood, you infuse your food with all the smokey goodness and flavor of the wood. I'm a newbie at this, so I soaked the cedar wraps in water for 20 min.

Probably one of the reasons I'm so bad with grilling, is I tend to forgo the recipe. In this case however, my lackadaisical cooking paid off, because this shrimp could not have tasted better.

I tossed together some olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with shrimp, cilantro, red bell pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic. And that was that.

I really wish I could say it was harder, that I slaved away, or that it took an incredible amount of skill, but honestly it took about 10 min. The filling was ready to go by the time the wrappers were done soaking.

I arranged the shrimp mixture on the cedar wood like I was making a burrito.

Then wrapped it up and tied it with twine.
The hardest part was finding the end to the twine. (don't judge me...ahem)
Grilled it on med high...three min on each side and it was done!

I served it with wild rice pilaf and salad with a cucumber dill dressing (the coolness of cucumber dill dressing helped tone down the spiciness of the shrimp).

Jim gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up...the kids liked it ok, but weren't a fan of the spiciness.

I can't wait to try planked chicken next.

Serves 2

1/2 lb Shrimp
3 T C balsamic vinegar
2 T olive oil
2 cloves of garlic minced
half bunch of cilantro chopped (if you don't like cilantro, you could use parsley)
1 t red pepper flakes (ommit these entirely if you don't like spicy food)
half bell pepper diced
Salt to taste

Combine in a bowl, put half of mixture on each cedar wrap. Roll with the grain, tie with twine. Grill on med high for 3 min/side.

I used Outdoor Gourmet's Cedar Wraps.

~Esther~

Embers and the Question of Foreknowledge

2011-04-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

If you can't judge a book by its cover, how do you decide whether or not to read it? Reviews? Blurbs? Recommendations?

Although I tend to theoretically favor recommendations, I must say that I am a bit of a blurb addict. Whenever a story doesn't capture my attention immediately, I catch myself flipping to the front flap or back cover to remind myself why I thought the book looked interesting.

But sometimes it is hard to explain why a story is worth reading. Even trying to explain would interfere with the artistry of the telling.

I found this most strikingly the case in a documentary my husband and I watched recently. It had been recommended, so we watched it with very little idea of what to expect, and that was perfect. Every twist and turn of the story was entirely unexpected and thus packed with all the intended emotional weight of first discovery.

But I've found that whenever I try to tell people about it, I seem to only have three options. Give a blank recommendation (ha! as if anyone would trust me that much), try to explain the basic premise without spoilers (met with glazed eyes), or ruin the emotional impact of an unspoiled watch-through by just spitting out the mysterious reasons that drag in the viewer.

This goes back to Embers, I promise. A friend recommended it, and because I do trust that much (er, and it was a fairly short book O:), I picked it up and read it without any research and thus hardly any foreknowledge. Wow. Talk about a reading experience. From page one, the story pulls the reader along with deft hints and foreshadowing, promises of mysteries and then mysteries as promised.

It is a very satisfying read, especially if you have someone to discuss it with afterward.

The only problem was that once again I was left at a loss for how to make the book sound amazing to others (besides, you know, just saying "guys! it was amazing!" Because everyone has a different definition of amazing). So I googled it and discovered that apparently I'm not the only person with that problem, because even the blurbs nonchalantly blurted out the book's secrets as if there were no reason why they had been artfully woven into the heart of the story.

Not to say that a story can't be well written and worth reading with foreknowledge, but how many people are going to be interested in picking up a murder mystery if they already know whodunit, and can you really feel the intended tension of a thriller if you already heard what the big reveal is and know who the double-agents are?

I'm not sure where the balance is for recommendations, blurbs, and reviews, but it feels like a huge responsibility to try to give enough info to catch a person's interest but not enough to undo all that hard work the writer put into crafting the perfect story. Perhaps the best thing really is just to say, "it was really good - read it!" and just hope that a few people take your advice like I took the advice of my friend.

So Embers. It was really good - read it!

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 25

2011-04-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

1. A couple of weeks ago I linked an etsy store that made vases out of recycled old books. I also wished I could find a tutorial. Now I have a tutorial!

2. Theobromine. The thing about chocolate you didn't know you loved. Apparently scientists are testing chocolate as an effective cough medicine. The plus side? No known side affects...except well, maybe a few extra lbs on your hips.

3. Use hairpins to pit cherries or olives, and pie birds? I'd never heard of such a thing, but so cool to bake a black bird in a pie.

4. Pretend to be a hobbit for a few minutes. Or at least pretend you're hanging out behind the scenes on the set of The Hobbit. I was was geeking out, and may or may not have watched it twice. Is it bad I wish I could be an employee in the wardrobe dept?

5. Space invader fabric. For all your vintage, computer game, sewing needs.

6. I've often wondered how you draft patterns onto pdf... or draft patterns period. There's an excellent series of blog posts on just that over at sew mama sew.

7. Wonky google satellite images. Something went wrong with these pictures, but they're fun to stare at and pretend they really exist somewhere.

8. I don't have a nursery... or a baby to put in one, so there's no reason I should keep fawning over them. Sometimes I find ones that are too good to pass up. Like this one. Love, love, love the alphabet cards on the wall. Also the color of this nursery looks like it would calm even the most frazzled postpartum hormones.

9. A gothic treehouse? This stairway only looks like a fraction of what I instantly imagined and want to build...if we had trees.

10. I didn't know you could make marshmallows. Marshmallows in general are disgusting, but this recipe looks like a fun science experiment. Also, my kids did not inherit my distaste for the choking, nauseating texture of these little buggers of sugar.

11. Catechism question for the week. How does Christ execute the office of a priest?

The $5 Picnic Game

2011-04-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

I've had a couple of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.
The weather had the audacity to be gorgeous, flaunting its prettiness in my misery. As much as I'd like to punch Spring in the face, I decided instead to use it as a much needed hole to crawl into. Since our house backs up against the Cleveland National Forest, there's really no excuse for not walking out my back door and leaving civilization and all its drama behind (forest in this sense is a strictly bureaucratic term, since there isn't much in the way of trees).

Not making dinner + laying on a picnic blanket with my husband, children and dog, sounded... better than wonderful. But could it be done for less than $5? Inexpensive recreation is sort of a must for us (it helps if we think of it as a game).

The menu:
French Baguette (.60)
Dill Havarti Cheese (1.93)
Turkey Pastrami (1.50)
Strawberries (1.60)

Total.................. $5.63 (so close)

Fruit, bread, meat and cheese. Life really doesn't get much better than that.

Things that made it possible:

1) Snatching the bread off the clearance shelf.
2) Buying the featured cheese Sprouts puts on sale (the nice thing about bulk cut cheese is you can dig around until you find the smallest...and therefore cheapest chunk)
3) Going with pastrami instead of salami (pastrami was on sale this week for $3/lb and a half pound fed our family just fine).
4) Buy 'in season' and local fruit. In this case...strawberries. Oranges and mangoes are also ridiculously inexpensive right now, but I went with strawberries.

Mostly because the boys are strawberry mongers.

And Charlie, who hitherto disliked cheese with a passion...

...seems to have finally connected with the 18% Italian blood he has. I'm pretty sure he and his dad are guilty of consuming the most cheese.

This dead Yucca got a brief moment of afterlife glory. Approx 20 seconds after this picture was taken, Jamie smacked me in the head with it, knocking my cup out of my hand, and sprinkling our picnic with a generous shower of strawberry lemonade.

Which speaking of... was my one cheat. I have all those frozen lemon cubes in the freezer from the week of lemons, and I may or may not have used those with some of the strawberries to make homemade strawberry lemonade. For the record, it was way way better than any of that stuff you get at Sonic or Chili's.

We also brought our personal rattlesnake guard (not me... but the one hiding behind the lemonade). You can see he's taking his job very seriously.

We had so much fun, I think we're going to make $5 picnics a permanent part of our menu rotation. (at least until it hits 100 degrees outside)

Any other ideas for what you could pack on a $5 picnic? Because really, at that price there is no excuse not to go for a hike and eat yummy food.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 24

2011-04-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

1. A new cosmetic bag can make you feel better about all the broken pencils and shattered eye shadow you dump into it. Here's a free pdf pattern and tutorial for a really cute one. They make great gifts too.

2. Anti-wine. "Free from any dictates of tradition." Apparently they mix up different grapes all willy nilly without any attempt to "color within the lines". Their red wine is "Johannes Brahms’ Double Concerto in A Minor meets Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys.” Uber cool or a potential subset of snobbery? The coolest thing however are their wine labels which sport Bruegel the Elder's "beekeeper". He was one badass artist in the 16th century.

3. OCD chef cutting board. If you are obsessed with cutting your vegetables exactly perfect...they now have a cutting board for all your psychiatric needs.

4. Cuddled eggs. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? Have I been missing out this whole time? Huggled hash? Cozzied pie?

5. We've been sick so much this year, that I have to say I was almost tempted to buy these nostril filters. Just tape these bad babies over your nose and wha laa... a proverbial castle gate against allergens and viruses. Add rubber gloves, a face mask and protective eye goggles and I think we might be able to go out in public.

6. The mom's eyes in this picture have gotten a hold of me and are haunting me. She's holding her dead baby, and it's such a horrifyingly private and grief stricken moment to have preserved. Apparently collecting pictures of dead babies is a hobby, and has a thriving business on Ebay. The whole article is morbidly fascinating.

7. Catechism question for the week. How does Christ execute the office of redeemer?

Windy Day Braids

2011-04-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

I love Spring, but it does seem like a cycle of sunshine, wind then rain. (I like the first and the last...like bookends)

Braids are really really hard to pull off. In my head they're magical, whimsical and so full of potential. In real life, it's hard not to look like you're twelve.

In fantasy I imagine heroines looking something like this...

I guess I should find it heartening that those looks are at least possible?

These look a little more every day doable.

Whatever the case, I need someone ( sister/sister-in-law *cough* cough* ) to come experiment with me.

Guest Post - Entertainment Recap

2011-04-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

(Esther: Some of our all time favorites have come out of Kevin's recaps. He covers pretty much everything that comes under the heading of 'entertainment', which mostly includes movies, books, comics and TV. Read through it, skim through it, or use it as a reference. He's so good at writing short synopsis I know instantly whether or not I need to check something out for myself. )

Recommendations: The Secret Speech, a great thriller and mystery that discloses a place we should all know more about; The Lost History of Christianity, a readable history of the church in the east; Notes from the Tilt-a-whirl, great reflections on the beauty of creation and the perfection of our God.

1. Astonishing X-men, Joss Whedon - While I have read a few graphic novels, I have never been a big comic book guy. But, since I generally like Whedon and I generally like superheroes, I figured that I should give this one a shot. It was entirely worthwhile. The plotline covers four volumes, and mainly follows Kitty Pryde as she returns to Professor Xavier's school, though now as a teacher. Professor X is gone, and the school is in the charge of Cyclops, Wolverine, Emma Frost, the Beast, and Kitty. Soon, they find themselves under attack from a government seeking to rid itself of mutants, powerful aliens with an inexplicable hatred of mutants, and an unknown threat from inside the school. However, the story line is not really about all of these exterior threats, but about Kitty growing up and stepping into her role as a hero. I will give the caveat that if you are an "S" personality type, this may not be a great read. You have to be willing to guess or ignore a lot of references to backstory that a casual acquaintance with X-men will not help with.

2. Alcatraz versus the Shattered Lens, Brandon Sanderson - For those unfamiliar with the series, this is the continuing story of Alcatraz Smedry, a young man who finds out that he has an amazing talent: he can break anything. His family helps lead the war between the Evil Librarians and the Free Nations. Now, rather than being an object of rescue, Alcatraz begins to assume his place as a genuine martial leader in this war. To say much more than this would spoil the previous volumes. Of course, this book continues in the same tone, addressing the reader, often approach nonsense, much like the Series of Unfortunate Events. It is still funny and enjoyable, but if you do not like that style, you won't have much taste for this book. One additional warning: This is the fifth volume of what looks to be a six volume series. However, there seems to be some conflict between the author and the publisher about getting the sixth volume out. If you haven't started the series yet, you might hold out for that publication before diving in.

3. Uglies; Pretties; Specials; Extras, Scott Westerfeld - Even when I consistently get to the end of dystopian youth fiction and find that I retrospectively did not enjoy it all that much, I still burn through it and enjoy it while reading. (Hello, Hunger Games.) This was precisely my experience with the Uglies series. The story follows Tally Youngblood, a teenager anxiously awaiting the day when she will receive the operation to become a "Pretty." The operation will remove all defects and build her face to be the model of attractiveness, just like everyone else over the age of sixteen. Until then, Tally lives in a dorm with the other Uglies, who are largely ignored by society. Tally, however, has a penchant for pranks and when she meets Shay, another Ugly, they have a great time. Shay wants to avoid the operation, so when her day comes, she leaves for a rumored town of rebels who refuse to submit to this rebuilt society. The government then co-opts Tally's operation, forcing her to hunt down Shay and the other rebels before she can become a Pretty. The following volumes reveal more about this remade world and give Westerfeld's world-building a real chance to shine. In the end, I think that's why I tend to burn through these books and enjoy them as I read. I like interesting worlds centered on interesting ideas. Westerfeld does a great job of that, far superior to the Hunger Games, in my opinion, and much more comparable to Gregor the Overlander in the level of detail and thought given to the world the story portrays. But for one of these books to really stick with me, I think that I have to find a character that I truly like. That was the massive failing of Hunger Games, and while I like the Uglies characters better, it is still fairly marginal. (Gregor had the best characters by far in this set of comparisons.) In the end, Uglies and its companions are good for a fun and fast read, but will not be lifelong friends.

4. The Secret Speech, Tom Rob Smith - This volume is the sequel to Child 44, another murder mystery set in Soviet Russia. Two years have intervened between the two volumes, and Khrushchev has taken control. Most importantly for Leo Demidov, Khrushchev has issued a secret speech, denouncing the activities of the secret police during Stalin's reign. Leo and other past and present officers soon find their past misdeeds crashing down on their heads. The novel is tense and gripping and full of action. Leo and his wife are great and complex characters and as the action moves along, the reader gets a tremendous view of life in the oppressive USSR. Child 44 was great, and The Secret Speech is a worthy successor.

5. The Lost History of Christianity, Phillip Jenkins - Jenkins, a history professor at Penn State University, gives the reader a great survey of the first millennia of the church in Asia and Africa. Our western-centric histories and traditions largely ignore the early spread and success of the church on those continents, which lasted far longer than many credit it with, well past the dawn of Islam. While I am not certain that Jenkins is a believer, his study is readable, informative and fascinating.

6. Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl, N.D. Wilson - I am conflicted about this book. Nate Wilson studies the world around us, telling short stories about his life, communicating poignant analogies, and quickly piercing the heart of many of the complaints made against God. He seems to ramble at times, but usually comes back to the point. His prose is beautiful and many of the vignettes were powerful. He does particularly good work addressing the problem of evil. In almost every objective respect, this is a great book. I can think of a number of people that I would give it to with little or no hesitation. My personal hesitation is almost so insignificant that I hesitate to mention it, but there is just a little something in his voice that annoys me. It was not there in his fiction, but here I just feel an edge of pretentiousness. Still, I doubt this is something that will annoy most readers, and on that basis I do recommend it.

7. Among Others, Jo Walton - For a little more than a year now, I have been greatly enjoying Jo Walton's book reviews on Tor.com. I feel like she has a generous perspective that I truly appreciate, and her vast knowledge and reading of speculative fiction has introduced me to several works that I have greatly enjoyed. Plus she hates Stranger in a Strange Land, and that makes anyone better in my eyes. So, when many, many people began raving about her latest book, I felt like I should pick it up right away. Among Others is a few months from the journal of Morwena, a teenager, a twin, who has just lost her sibling and much of the use of one leg in an accident. She lives in Wales and England in the late seventies, in a world almost exactly like our own. (Or maybe even exactly like our own?) The only difference between her world and ours is the very unobtrusive presence of fairies, who Morwena has seen all her life, though most people either do not see them, or see them and forget them as they grow older. The few months we see involve Morwena growing and changing, and the great mystery of the book is in finding out what exactly has happened to her. The driving force of the book is in her constant reference to the great works of speculative fiction, which frame her view of the world. This is definitely a good and interesting book, especially for anyone who has grown up enjoying fiction. I would only selectively recommend it, though. I think it takes a particular type of person to really enjoy it, and I think that I am right on the cusp of not being one of those people.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 23

2011-04-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

1. Beet root pesto. I know it sounds weird, but it's oh so beautiful. Such a rich gorgeous color you almost never see in relation to dinner. I want to plan a whole party around the notion.

2. More kids room decor. Good boys themes are sometimes hard to find, but I don't know any boy (or girl for that matter) who wouldn't think this room looked super fun.

3. Nerd out over a cross section of a wok and how it works.

4. A cool interactive map of changing demographics. Watch population growth and decline, changes is racial and ethnic concentrations, and patterns of housing development. Is it worrisome that it looks like everyone is moving out of the central U.S.?

5. Mintronics. A fully stocked electronics kit contained in a mint can. I mention this for anyone who's married to someone like Jim.

6. For everyone who gets a high out of a good deal. There is now a site that tracks and projects price drops on Amazon. I can see this being a huge help for finding the best deal on Amazon.

7. The idea of using Golden Book pages to create a storybook gown reminds me of several ill fated project runway dresses, and one in particular. But I can't help but think this golden book gown is charming and well done. Somebody definitely made it work.

8. Using tampons to get drunk? Apparently teenagers are soaking the things in vodka so they don't have to worry about the tell tale alcohol breath.

9. Transglutaminase. The glue that holds your chicken nuggets and california rolls together. Meat glue! It's all very facinating in an Elmers meets Betty Crocker kind of way...a new twist on kindergartners glue and pasta.

10. Prevue your child in utero. A belt that you can strap on your growing belly and watch your child. If I understand correctly, it uses ultrasound technology to create a simulation of what your baby is doing. Seems perhaps like a land mine of extra worry?

11. Magnetic paint. Seems like this would be a useful commodity in kids rooms...from toddler to teenager.

12. An inflatable carseat. Is that like sitting on an airbag or more like trying to protect your kid with a balloon?

13. Whew, catechism question for the week. What does Christ do as our redeemer?

Taking a Break

2011-04-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

Due to technical difficulties (read technological incompetence) Fairies and Frenchfries will be back this Sunday after a two week (yikes) break. Blurgh.

How The Lost Gate taught me how to make pie crust

2011-03-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

Esther:

You know, I never thought Orson Scott Card would ever teach me how to make a decent, flaky pie crust, but I was wrong.

I feel sometimes like I learn all my important life lessons from fiction. (pie is definitely important!) I know authors are supposed to try to write stories that feel real, but I find that real life often feels like fiction. Like falling in love. When I met Jim I couldn't believe how true all those stories and books were... except that it feels so much more electrifying when its yourself experiencing life.

But back to pie crust... baking is really difficult for me to grasp. I know all the rules. Weigh your ingredients carefully. Don't mess too much with things that will get tough and hard easily (most pastries). But it wasn't until I read a passage between the king's head baker and an apprentice, that it occurred to me to really feel the dough, treat it gently, and notice things about it. The result was chicken pot pie that melted in my family's mouth and had everyone clamoring for thirds and fourths.

How does Orson Scott Card know this stuff? I have no idea, but the fact that somewhere in the midst of a story about a teenage boy learning about girls and magic, OSC sneaked in a passage about baking. I also learned how to handle needles without freaking out, what a stone mage was, and that you really don't want a nasty uncle who can turn into an eagle.

This was definitely a boy book though. I'd like some guy to read it and tell me if it rang true for them. The (awkward?) exit from boyhood. I'm not sure I'd ever wished before to be in the head of a teenage boy, but it was a fascinating ride nonetheless. It helps that Orson Scott Card develops disgustingly cool magic systems. This one is based on the premise that the Olympian gods of yore are really just people from a different world where magic is more prevalent. There are lots of a different kinds of mages, and they strengthen their power by going from their world to our world. But something happened a long time ago and the gate was closed up, lost forever. The gods (i.e. mages) have been floundering here on earth ever since.

Enter Danny North. Almost your typical homeschooled kid, if you discount the fairies, ghosts, talking animals, living stones, walking trees and gods who call the wind and rain.

Not exactly the type of story you'd expect to learn baking in.

The Lost Gate Orson Scott Card Book Trailer from cosproductions on Vimeo.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 22

2011-03-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

1. These Hoof shoes are admittedly weird, and at first glance mildly disturbing. But somehow I got to thinking about Narnia inspired looks, or costume parties.

2. Has anyone ever heard of a shooter sandwich? Is this some sort of delicious Joey type thing I'm entirely missing out on? I really love the principle behind this sandwich, even though I probably wouldn't pick steak and mushrooms.

3. Always on the look out for new things to do with my hair. ( an ongoing losing battle). The easiest hair do in the world? Hm...

4. There's the "when-I-get-my-***- together" dream house, the "if-I-win-the-lottery" dream house, and the "when-I-fly-to-the-moon-for-weekends" dream house. This pool belongs in the last one...with mermaids.

5. If Mario bros were a first person shooter game.

6. Gotta hate it when you find amazing things on Etsy, and sit there wondering how in the world? Vases made from vintage books.

7. This nursery rhyme app is getting a bad rep for absentee parenting. But I can see it being really useful for deployed dad's.
*cough* One of the many ways e-readers will probably change the way we read *cough*

8. If you're looking for ways to break into your phone/computer/whatever, without scratching it and voiding the warranty: Apparently old credit cards do the job nicely.

9. This looks like a fun, colorful and cheap twist on the old chore chart. Job balls. Odd name.

10. Catechism question for the week. How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

Cybele's Secret - A Review

2011-03-15T00:29:00.000-07:00

Bethany:

Amazing stories have different effects on different people, and sometimes different effects on the same people. Sometimes when I finish an amazing book, I want to run out and read everything else by that author and even in that genre, hoping for more of the same. Other times I want to take a break from reading anything, even other books by the same author, just to savor the memory and give myself a chance to return to realistic expectations. Because really, some books are just so good it seems impossible that others will measure up to their standard.

Wildwood Dancing was one of those books for me. I finished it, and I knew I need a breather to before entering into any other fictional world. When I did return to reading, I did not pick up the companion novel for a long time.

Then one day I decided I was ready. I picked up Cybele's Secret, and I read. And read. And read.

It might be awhile before I read again.

If I had any subconscious fears that Cybele's Secret would not live up to Wildwood Dancing, I was happily mistaken. Although this companion novel is set in a completely different part of the world, following the story of a completely different sister with a completely different personality, this story has equal heart, wisdom, and beauty.

Set six years after Wildwood Dancing, Cybele's Secret tells the story of Paula, know as the scholarly sister in the family, as she sets out on a journey that takes her from her home in Transylvania to the far off and intriguing culture of Istanbul. If able to obtain the highly mysterious ancient artifact known as Cybele's Gift, Paula's entire family will be set for life, and her dream of becoming a trader of books and manuscripts, despite being a young woman in the early 1500s, might become a reality. When it becomes clear that familiar magical forces are at work, Paula sets out on a quest to assist them in the hope of ensuring her family's fortune and her own future.

Strong female leads and love triangles are cliches that crop up so often I am embarrassed to admit they are tending to peeve me a bit these days, but Juliet Marillier knows how to write both with the depth and purpose that makes me remember the power behind those two themes, the oomph that inspires such repetition.

I think one of the biggest strengths of the writing is its subtlety. You never feel like the themes are punching you in the face, yelling for your attention as if you never would have noticed without such harassment. As in real life, realization dawns slowly, naturally, and with the pure delight of discovery. As Paula's eyes open, we see and learn alongside her. And what she sees is amazing.

I am weird in that often chick flicks depress me. Stories filled with emotional manipulation, constant breakups, and "following the heart" on wild goose chases make me feel like true, lasting, meaningful love is dying. That doesn't mean I don't like romances though. A well written romance is beautiful and triumphant. Even if it does (as real life does) include bits of what I hate from chick flicks, it doesn't hold that up as what we must resign ourselves to if we want to be with another person. It reminds us that true love requires sacrifices and selflessness but gives us a world greater than we could have ever imagined. Great romances counteract the messages of the crappy romances and give us hope if we haven't found it or remind us of how blessed we are if we have found it.

I hesitate to comment on female strength in fiction, but let me at least say that in this area as well Juliet Marillier brilliantly unveils multifaceted gems rather than cardboard cutouts, and she does so without ever resorting to a soapbox. I was quite curious to see the direction she took the story, and she never took an easy or disappointing way out.

So needless to say, I highly recommend Cybele's Secret, of course after you've finished Wildwood Dancing. If I have done a poor job making the books sound incredible, just take a closer look at their covers! Kinuko Y. Craft's stunning artwork is not only breathtakingly gorgeous, but the detail is mindboggling. After finishing the books, I can't stop peeking over at them and noticing more tiny and yet brilliantly accurate details. I have never seen a set of covers that seemed more like an author's perfect dream. I would love to hang these on my walls.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 21

2011-03-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

1. Decorate with vintage doilies. These lace vases almost looked like they were carved out of white bark or something. I was surprised how whimsical they looked, although I imagine in real life it might be difficult to keep it from looking cheesy, it's nevertheless a cool idea.

2. Adorable Miss Eyre crocheted wristwarmers/cuffs. I'm sure these would look ridiculous on me (not Bethany) but they make me want to attempt learning (yet again) crotchet.

3. Dude took photos inside a glacier. They look unreal. As in, something you dream about or see Hollywood make up on a computer. I almost want to take a spoon to some of them...they look like blue raspberry jello.

4. A clean house is the sign of a wasted life. I need to get me one of these posters.

5. Total sucker for these sort of maps. Here's a gorgeous history and timeline of Science Fiction. Lest you think it's all Darth Vader and Star Trek... Alice In Wondeland and Edgar Allen Poe weave through it as well.

6. Salted caramel chocolate tart. I am not into chocolate much these days, but salted caramel? Wow.

7. Hitlers girlfriend apparently was quite the budding photographer. The personal photos of Eva Braun are now viewable here, and are...I don't know... unnerving? Haunting?

8. One of our favorite authors Laini Taylor, just announced the impending release of her new book. Daughter of Smoke And Bone. Yes, that's impending...it's not even out yet and it's already irresistible to me. I might just sell Charlie for a chance to get an ARC.

9. Underwater Hockey. Requirements include but are not limited to...drysuits, holding your breath for a long time, and being crazy enough to play hockey upside down.

10. Heavy metal meets fairyland? Christina Hendricks (The chick who plays Saffron in Firefly and Joan in Mad Men) models a new line of jewelry from Vivienne Westwood.

11. Catechism question for the week. Who is the Redeemer?

Lemony Snippets Week - Day 2- Preserved Lemons

2011-03-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Sometimes taking care of food is like taking in a lost kitten. It got below freezing here last week and I went around rescuing lemons by the bucketful. As a miser in good standing, and the president of penny pincher anonymous, I believe letting fruit die on the tree earns you a special kind of hell. Somewhere in the world there are pirates dying of scurvy while my children play in vitamin C.

Of course letting it die in your fridge and pantry is perfectly ok.

I invited (begged) my sister Liz to come up and help me process all my orphaned lemons. In an unprecedented move, I ended up letting her do all the work while I helped...some. "We" made enough marmalade and lemon curd to potentially use them as Christmas presents.

I did however make preserved lemons all on my own, but I somehow exploded a glass jar with my mind powers and in the process ruined eight lemons. Eight lemons. Horrifying. My soul is consumed with guilt.

I didn't have any idea what preserved lemons were or what you do with them, but since it included copious amounts of salt, I couldn't resist. Turns out it's a North African thing... Morrocan in particular, and they're basically lemon pickles. You use them in marinades, salad dressings, chicken, lamb and seafood. They're so easy to make and such a nice way of using up extra lemons.

I used this and this for inspiration, so if you want a better tutorial, go there.

Step 1: Wash lemons and sterilize your jar(s)

Step 2: Cut a dime sized plug on each end of the lemon.

Step 3: Cut four slits (like you're going to cut the lemon in quarters, but don't go all the way through)

Step 4: Stuff all the cracks with salt. (at this point, I probably could have started snacking on them, but I resisted)

Step 5: Stuff them into jars, pressing down so you squeeze the liquid out (you want the lemons to pickle in their own juice). Add extra lemon juice if pressing them in the jar doesn't release enough to cover the rinds.

Step 6: Screw on the lids and put them in a cupboard somewhere to pickle for the next 4-6 weeks. After opening, make sure you keep the opened jar in the fridge.

I can't wait till they're done, my mouth is watering to try some of these recipes.

Moroccan lamb chops with herbs and preserved lemon

Preserved lemon vinaigrette with parsley and mint

Spicy crab spaghettini with preserved lemon

Chicken tangine

Lemony Snippets Week - Day 1- Lemon Cleaner

2011-03-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

Charlie tried to commit suicide today. They have one of those sky trams at the zoo, and since two year olds climb everything, Charlie had to try (repeatedly) scaling and hurling himself off a swinging bucket 300 ft in the air. I don't normally go all dizzy and pasty faced around heights, but apparently that all changes when you're trying to hold a kicking, screaming, back arching tornado. All I can say is there's a good reason God made toddlers small enough that the death grip is still effective.

But we had fun at the zoo. So much fun, I didn't strangle the dog with my bare hands when I came home and discovered he ate all the Munster cheese, and I didn't get one single morsel.

I didn't even kill my sister when I found out I had to redo three loads of laundry (white loads... sock and underwear purgatory).

But when I went to make homemade lemon cleaner and discovered almost all the white vinegar was gone... man, there was hell to pay.

also, the creepy boy statue in my front yard annoys me.

I had forty five pounds of lemons hiding in a giant cardboard box, and gosh darn it, I wanted homemade, non toxifying, germ annihilator.

The recipes I found on the internet said to put one lemon peel in a jar with 3 cups of vinegar. One lemon? One? Are you kidding. I have enough lemons to wipe the ridiculous smile off Dora The Explorer, and pucker her incessant shouting into silence. That is a lot of lemons.

So I did four. You can't have too much lemon oil in a vinegar based cleaner can you?

Then I introduced the lemons to their new slave driver. I had to use an old pasta sauce jar since Ionly had about a cup of vinegar.

Even future toilet cleaner looks pretty next to flowers.

Like a nastier version of Limoncello, you have to let this cleaner sit in a dark corner and think on its sins for a couple of weeks, giving it a good shake every once in awhile.

After its more citrusy than stinky, dilute it one part cleaning solution to three parts water, put it in a spray bottle and kick your house into shape.

4 lemon peels

1 jar with lid

white vinegar (fill to top)

Sit. Shake. Wait. And turn your four naked lemons into lemonade.

I only have approx 44.5 lbs of lemons now. Awesome.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 20

2011-02-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

I finally remembered to "like" things this week on my google reader, so there should be something interesting in here.

1. How to start a garden. A post for beginners.

2. Upcycled T-shirt dress for little girls. Tutorial.

3. Mc Donald's oatmeal has 11 extra ingredients in it. How can you possibly screw up oatmeal+water?

4. Fertility and life expectancy graph from 1960 to 2008. Oddly beautiful and sad.

5. Taking snow shoveling to a whole new level, The Snow Man Slide. Makes me wish for a teeny tiny second I lived where there was this much snow)

6. Avatar the Last Airbender has been picked up by Dark Horse comics. Will this convince Jamie to read? I think so.

7. Landmarks around the world. Surreal art made from hundreds of tourist photos.

8. Button Purse.

9. Marchesa Fall 2011. Inspiration was Mis Havisham from Great Expecations. To. Die. For.

10. Catechism question for the week. Did God leave all mankind to perish in an estate of sin and misery?

Winner for Court Duel/Crown Duel

2011-02-26T12:40:00.001-08:00

Mother Superior

...paging...

Mother Superior.

You have found favor from Google's random generator, and your book is waiting for you. Shoot us an email, and the book fairies will get right on it.

May your fingers get stuck to the pages and your brain get sucked inside,

fairiesandfrenchfries@gmail.com

Celebrity Death Match - Head Cold vs Stomach Flu

2011-02-23T19:49:00.000-08:00

First pain killers and now viruses... next up will be appendicitis vs kidney stones or prostate exams vs mammograms.

Unlike Tylenol and Advil, the two celebrities facing off today are more notorious and wicked vs. anything resembling Anne Hathaway or Christian Bale. Stomach Flu is a vicious, overgrown lump of a villain who has a hot temper and goes for the gut with teeth rattling punches. Head Cold is a soulless hermaphrodite from Paris who plays and tortures its victims with cool detachment. Regulations require they shouldn't even be allowed to play celebrity death match here at Fairytales and Frenchfries, but my immune system needs a break and if they're pummeling each other, maybe it will distract them from me.

As expected, Stomach Flu takes the first swing, but Head Cold dodges it easily. The Stomach Flu always hits without warning and when it's most inconvenient, but the Head Cold sneaks into parties, schools and work disguised as "allergies". It's used to creeping into places, plus people have a high tolerance for it (whereas you can vacate a room and offer bleach showers if someone shows the slightest hint of the flu). But then, when you least expect it, Head Cold tiptoes in and slyly WHAM! It's got a machete named Pnuemonia.

Consequently Stomach Flu has just been dealt a deadly blow, and he's on the floor ( machete wounds are never pretty), but he doesn't stay down long. Everybody knows that Stomach viruses are if anything, disgustingly determined. Just when you think you've thrown up everything you could possibly throw up... Stomach Flu kicks you in the back, burns you up and gives you a swirly.

Head Cold is weaving a little now, Stomach Flu may be big and stupid, but he's twice as despised and his fists are as big and ugly as minivans. Head Cold makes one last go of it, throwing a barrel of pepto bismo at Stomach Flu's head, but Stomach Flu just laughs and turns on a hose of Nyquil, Sudafed and Advil. It's a deadly cocktail of acid for poor fashion concious Head Cold, and the fight is over.

Because you can always drown out a cold with enough drugs, but nothing stands a chance against an out of control stomach bug. Plus, nobody...nobody likes to throw up.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol. 19

2011-02-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

1. Making homemade slime is a hallmark of childhood and DIY science projects.

2. Owl costume tutorial

3. How to get the perfect mermaid curls.

4. Old sweaters, new pillows.

5. An awesome Star Wars universe map.

6. More and more citrus pouring out of the produce drawers. Trying Tangerine Lemon Curd.

7. Catechism question for the week. What is the misery of man's fallen condition?

Crown Duel and Court Duel - A Review and Giveaway

2011-02-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

{Esther}

homina.homina.homina

That pretty much describes my relationship with Sherwood Smith books. But since that isn't very helpful or informative, I'll try my best to do justice to an author who deserves (in my opinion) to be up there with Neil Gaiman, J.K. Rowling and Susanne Collins. But don't take the word of a frizzy headed mom... you could also hear it from a much more knowledgeable (and cool), frizzy headed mom. Shannon Hale. Or, climbing up one more stratosphere, you could go read Orson Scott Card's own homina.homina.homina about Sherwood Smith.

I stumbled across Sherwood Smith, after going over Bethany's book list from last year. There was some hopeless confusion, where I thought Sherwood Smith was a tall, dashing, man who wrote Science Fiction. Instead I found "he" was a "she" and her books were something more akin to Jane Austen meets Merlin in King Arthur's court. Happy mistake, since I like SciFi about as much as I like taking the kids to the park on a holiday. But historical romance with a kickass heroine and a bit of magic? Bring it on.

These books aren't nearly as popular as I would have expected, and I think part of the problem is they're hard to describe. They aren't what some call "high concept", and you can't really describe them in one sentence

But if you can, imagine a story told from the perspective of a girl who's technically some sort of princess in a place that's so poverty stricken, it's like Detroit's alternate reality twin (if you can imagine Detroit with crumbling castles). She fights like a girl...which is to say...not that great, but she's so pissed at the man responsible for tearing apart the kingdom, she rushes headlong into doing whatever it is she can. She will not to go down without a fight, and since she's smart, naive, and hopelessly determined, you can't help but bite your nails and turn pages as fast as you can.

Now imagine that story told with all the subtly of Pride and Prejudice, with characters you bleed and die for. Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks it sounds interesting. (Bethany's note: I agree so much that although I read some great books in 2010, this was the only one I put on my Christmas list. In fact, it was the only item on my Christmas list.)

Court Duel/Crown Duel was originally two books, but current edition has both books together under one cover. The second book is just as good, but with a lot more pretty dresses and court intrigue.

If I'm being entirely fair (which is only an attempt), there are some things that might not appeal to everyone. For instance, Jim would not be a huge fan of these books. Plot is king for him, and Crown Duel/Court Duel definitely is stronger in characterization than plot. Not that the plot is bad, it's just not the complicated puzzle that attracts some readers. It also starts kind of slow. It wasn't boring necessarily, it just didn't reveal it's true potential until a few chapters in. I know I could be snarkier, but how can you not love an author who has had her world building all drawn out on a beach ball since the 70's? Seriously.

Full confession:

a) I have studied and memorized the timeline and sections of history for Sartorias-Deles (the name of her "earth")

b) I bought this book for my family to read aloud (which speaks volumes). It's the rare book that is clean enough for my mom, romantic enough for my dad, and adventurous enough for my brothers.

c) Since January I have read almost all the books Sherwood Smith has published.

I'm kind of desperate for other people to read these books, so I can talk, make jokes, and elude to things without looking like I'm talking to myself. Clearly, I'm much more dependent on the whims of mainstream than I thought I was. So I'm giving away a copy of Crown Duel/Court Duel to someone. If you want that person to be you, leave a comment saying so before next Friday (the 25th).

Rules:

a) Only ask to be included if you really don't mind giving the book a try.

b) If I've oversold the book, don't blame me. I have fairly simple tastes.

c) A winner will be chosen by the random generator at midnight Friday, February 25th.

Fist to heart!

A bit of Pretty

2011-02-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Inspiring photography is a subject all to itself, but for a brief, toe-dip in the water....

Exposure, composition, white balance are all simple enough to learn in theory, but these photos go the extra mile for me. The love in them jumps right off the page and smacks you.

{mommy}

{graceful}

{underwater ballet}

{little book love}

{Audrey and Fred}

Happy Valentine's Day.

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol . 18

2011-02-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

1. Can't get into heart shaped candies this Valentines day? Try strawberry margarita jello shooters instead.

2. The kind of valentine Jamie is thinks hilarious.

3Baby girl nurseries that aren't overly cheesy are hard to come by. This red one however, manages to be both refreshing and classy. (Although no self respecting parent would put their child in a room with floor to ceiling french windows/doors unless they enjoyed getting up at 5 a.m. or planned on installing black out curtains.)

3. Quilts are another tricky thing to decorate with, but you can't help but mentally design the perfect Harry Potter/Nanny McPhee room when you check out this owl quilt.

4. Ever gone thrifting (or hit a huge sale), and were unable to resist buying a pair of shoes too small for you? Here's a tutorial on how to stretch them and make them the correct size.

5. Something I wish there was a tutorial for... This film photograph bracelet is amazing and if anyone has any ideas how to make one, I'm begging you to email us.

6. Neil Gaiman talks about how piracy helped sell his books.

7. Ironic but unrelated to the above, Catechism Question for the week. What is sinful about man's fallen condition?

Celebrity Deathmatch - Twilight vs. Harry Potter (the movies)

2011-02-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

Grab your rotten fruit.

Bestselling books have an annoying habit of going to Hollywood where they end up looking like a forty year old woman with too much botox and sparkly, hot pink lipstick. In the real world, this would make me secretly sympathetic, but in the writhing mass of producers/writers/actors/cameramen/scorers that live in my DVD case, I consider all adaptations to be fair game (unless your name is Hayao Miyazaki or Tim Burton and you are taking utterly senseless but charming liberties).

The cellulite sagging, twinkie stuffed celebrities facing off in each corner today deserve at least some measure of respect. Both dearly beloved, but each with a score to settle, one with a reputation of cheap, emotional porn, and the other accused of the dark arts.

Twilight has the roughest time. The book relies on its angsty, first person point-of-view to sell you on its personal form of sparkly crack. Movies on the other hand, are shot in omnicient POV which means poor Kristin Stewart spends a lot of time sitting around trying to infuse lots of backstory and emotion into a series of looks. Mostly she just looks constipated.

The movies feel lazy, like the actors depend on their hotness to carry the story (which is shortsighted considering there's no way any normal human actor can look as hot as Stephanie Myers vampires).

Which is why Harry Potter wins this round. It also had a hard job this last movie. Since the story only covers the first half of the last book, they were forced to make a blockbuster without the golden carrot of resolution to offer the audience. That and the last book is dreadfully dull in the middle, with Harry, Hermione and Ron wandering around in the forest arguing with each other for chapters upon chapters.

Lord Of The Rings gets around it by making everything as visually stimulating as possible. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows gets around it by having Emma Watson. (that and a super talented group of musicians scoring the film) It was the first movie where I realized the music was making me feel whatever emotion would normally be communicated by internal dialogue in a book. Brilliant.

I know Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows isn't even close to the best example of a film score being used to communicate depth, but when you compare it to all its peers (bestselling books that have been turned into mediocre movies) you find yourself actually understanding and sympathizing with all the teenage drama instead of being annoyed by it.

Plus, I agree with Orson Scott Cards. The Weasley twins really were hilarious this time.

{Esther}

Stop And Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol . 17

2011-02-06T20:53:00.001-08:00

1. A free Amy Butler Purse Pattern, that doesn't look homemade.

2. Favorite Super Bowl Commercials. The one with the dog and doritos, and the one with Darth Vader.

3. Fried egg rug.

4. For those in the parenting trenches... great child rearing advice on stopping crankouts before they turn into tantrums.

5. Lemon trees around here are sagging on the ground with fruit. If you need help using up all those lemons... Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie in a Toasted Pecan Crust.

6. Learn how to do the splits in 6 weeks.

7. Funky ruffled pillows.

8. As hardcore Sanderson fans, we would be remiss not to link Brandon Sanderson answering every question imaginable.

9. And last, but certainly not least... catechism question for the week. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

The post where Bethany and Esther actually finished something they started

2011-02-02T11:58:00.001-08:00

During Christmas vacation, while Bethany and I were sitting around eating bon bons and watching old Christmas movies, we somehow motivated our lazy selves to join a fiction swap

over at Wickfield.

Like gifts of tacky sweaters or awkward lingerie... swapping stories for Christmas carries some potential for embarrassment and blushing.

It was fun though, and good motivation to finish a goal.

Bethany's story prompt: "A story set in the 1930's (late or early, it doesn't matter), with whatever characters, based on the song Brielle by Sky Sailing."

Bethany's story: Drifting Away

Esther's story prompt: "A story about whatever characters in whatever time period, inspired by this song by Florence + the Machine, Rabbit Heart (You Raise Me Up)"

Esther's story: Rabbithearted Girl

***

Note: In full disclosure, Bethany's is more true short story size, and mine is either a monstrous short story or a baby novella.

Reviewing Legal Painkillers

2011-02-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

Hats off to people who don't need painkillers, and gold stars for everyone who is in pain, but prefer instead to muscle through their reminders of Eve's preference in produce.

As someone who recently burned a hole in her stomach from Advil... it's high time I reviewed all the cute little pills in my cupboard that can be identified as "over the counter". Which somehow translates too "You can't kill yourself too easily with them." Starting with...my new found favorite: Poor man's crack.

BC Powder (Aspirin):

This stuff comes in questionable little packets of white powder that you probably don't want the police finding. You can tell yourself it's healthier than the competition, because technically it's made from white willow bark and has no additives or preservatives. Add a good ol' shot of caffeine (pre-mixed in for your convenience), hold it under your tongue for super fast headache relief, and you will start worshiping this lesser known evil. It's a painkiller that rivals Excedrin...minus the guilt.

Tylenol (Acetaminophen):

The goodie two shoes of the medicine cabinet. A puny little girl who does the least harm in terms of bodily damage, but also packs about as much punch as a ribbon twirler. Technically it's not very good for your liver... assuming you're one of the few people left in the world who actually take it more than twice a year, only to remind yourself it doesn't work. Good to keep stocked in the cupboard for children.

Excedrin:

This is the Darth Vader of socially acceptable meds. That is, if you put Darth Vader in a black tutu and gave him a caffeine addiction. Excedrin infamously packs enough stuff considered "bad for you" to give it a questionable edge. Although the package only claims three ingredients, acetaminophen, aspirin and caffeine, so maybe it's undeserving of it's bad boy reputation. If you live among health nuts, then you will think twice about being seen in public with it. Secretly though, you carry a torrid love affair.

Advil (ibuprofen):

The Jock and self proclaimed snob. Ibuprofen...it's not just a painkiller, it's also an anti-inflammatory. Go on a long bike ride, or work yourself into a backache, and this is the breakfast of champions. Since it's regularly perscribed by doctors in 800 mg doses, no one feels guilty for self medicating the same way. Unlike Tylenol, it isn't hard on your liver, instead choosing to bully up on the stomach. Everyone knows that stomachs are less important than livers, so it's much easier to get carried away with this painkiller-that-is-also-an-anti-inflammatory (It doesn't just mask the pain...it heals). You can buy it at Costco in pirate treasure quantities, but remember... if you regularly take four at a time for more than three months, you will end up with an ulcer. I knew this, but somehow wasn't paying attention.

The good, the bad, the ugly.

It isn't alcohol or vicodin, and they aren't smuggling it over the border, so come... partake.

Stop and Smell The Skunk Cabbage Vol . 16

2011-01-30T12:39:00.001-08:00

...Taking a moment to look back on a week's worth of interesting/beautiful/quirky things.

1. In wedding dress news, Vera Wang released a collection for David's bridal. Love this dress. Also squeal worthy, Anthropologie announced they are unveiling a bridal line on Valentine's day. Almost makes you want to get married again.

2. Pride and prejudice plate from Pottery Barn.

3. Cool pillow tutorial.

4. What Esther's parents do when they're in Guatemala, and not crashing her house on furlough.

5. Made and consumed: Amazing gingerbread waffles.

6. Keep your feet warm with completely unintelligible old English. Beowulf sock pattern.

Catechism question for the week. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?

Happy New Years To Me

2011-01-28T17:16:00.000-08:00

The last of my family and guests made their exit this morning, and I ushered in my New Year by paying $87.95 to the San Diego County Library.

My "foolproof" method of borrowing and returning library books has failed me. I'm trying to think of it as a "Christmas Tax". A penalty for insanity.

But a new year calls for a new system. Someone have pity on me and tell me how to organize my book life so I don't end up forking over such an exhorbitant sum again.

(oh and this is definitely Esther writing... this would never happen to Bethany)

The books of yesteryear

2011-01-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

Esther: It is not January yet. Or if it is, my year doesn't officially start until my family goes back to Guatemala in a few weeks. Maybe I can get off the crazy train, and start over.

Until then, my calendar is locked shut, and I won't believe anyone who tells me otherwise.

Sooo.... books anyone?

2010 is the first year I kept track of everything I read, which sort of blew all kinds of illusions I had about myself. I thought I read hundreds of books a year. I am a reader after all. I set my goal to match Bethany's...one book a week for a total of 52 books a year. Since most books can be read easily in less than a week, it sounded like no problem. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. It's like eating a Coldstone ice cream and finding out later it had 2,700 calories in it.... same feeling, opposite numbers.

Another false assumption? Bethany and I thought we'd read mostly the same books. I would have put the shared number of books read around 70%.

Turns out our reading lists only had 13 books in common.

Books we both read:

Books Bethany read

Books Esther read

Anybody have reading goals for 2011? I'm a bit wiser this year, and am keeping it at 52 with snobby assumptions. Lets hope my e-reader will continue to make my reading life easier.

Welcome, 2011!

2011-01-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Bethany:

Whew, where have we been??

Well, I have been to Washington and back, the 20 hour roadtrip back on Jack's birthday completely overshadowed by the over 36 hour trip there starting at 7am Christmas day.

Oh yes, this is one of those trips that make you laugh, cry, or both at the same time.

My family celebrates on Christmas Eve, so it made sense to leave for Spokane early the next morning. What we didn't factor in was that pretty much everything from McDonalds to Sears is shut down on Christmas Day. Brilliant. Of course, without the ability to make frequent stops, the drive goes by fairly quickly, right? We were making good time.... until the car started bumping ominously.

Kevin pulled off at Hood River, about an hour out of Portland right on the border of Oregon and Washington, and we spilled out of the car in front of a racy wine shop and stared mournfully at the remains of our front tire through steam clouds of breath. Our flashlight was mysteriously missing, but fortunately all our cell phones had power because we were able to use a car charger. By their light, I directed what little traffic wandered by while Kevin and my brother put the spare on (after we had unloaded all our luggage and wrapped gifts out onto the sidewalk). Then began the frantic calls to every possible local tire place, punctuated of course by posts on facebook.

Remember the part about it being fortunate that our cell phones were all charged? That ended up not being as fortunate as it originally seemed. When we finally hopped back into the car and Kevin turned the key, nothing happened. Yep. The battery was dead.

So now we were truly stranded.

Let me say now that I am hugely grateful to people who are willing to work holidays. A very friendly driver arrived with tow truck to give our car a jump, and we limped on down to one of the closest motels, which smelled of cigarettes but was affordable and had a gorgeous view of the river and brightly lit homes of people having real Christmases.

The next morning, Kevin and Matthew went on a wild goose chase around Hood River trying to find a place to fix our tire. Then Kevin spent a frustrating half hour on the phone with Sears, who informed us that the ONLY way for them to honor the warranty on our ridiculously worn out before their time tires was if we brought the actual tires into Sears. That's right, we would have to load two tires into the Mazda3 along with the four passengers and their luggage. Pictures and a detailed report from Firestone would not be enough evidence.

Since that was physically impossible, we began the wearisome and semi dangerous trek back to Portland.

There we were informed that we had not taken advantage of Sears' free alignment services often enough to qualify for the warranty, therefore it was voided.

But finally we could get back on the road. We pulled into snowy Christmas card Spokane at long last and enjoyed a visit that made even that roadtrip worthwhile.

So, thumbs up roadtrips, thumbs down Sears tires.

And...... the drive helped me complete my 2010 reading goals. Which means book reviews coming soon!

But in the meantime, happy new year, everyone! If you've resolved to blog more often, I should probably get on board with you!

Attack on El Schloss Dulce

2010-12-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

Once a year....for a few weeks around Christmas, thousands of little spicy worlds get their one chance at living. Some are gorgeous and ornate, others resemble a cottage Hansel and Gretel would dig into.

Ours was made by giants with left thumbs and spatulas.

Most giants are content to create and watch their tiny decadent paradises, but El Schloss Dulce has a continuing problem with giants. Namely the three feet tall kind with curly blonde hair.

Santa and his dog sled had to make a dash for it.

Even bricks were being eaten...and not just by the three foot curly giant.

Saraphina and Marytoto were watching the ducks ice skating on the frozen blueberry pond and enjoying a bit of Christmas gossip when a giant hand reached down and stole half the strawberry pebble path.

The chocolate stallions in the royal stables kept an eye on the drawbridge and gate. They were fiercer than any mythical horse with half a body, horn or wings.

The goatherd watered the goats and gave Giant Curlyhead the stink eye whenever he came too close.

Widow Martini moved her house inside Schloss Dulce's walls...moving houses are convenient like that.

And El Schloss Dulce's gumdrop halls survive another day.

Cranberry Sauces

2010-12-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

Bethany:

Oh what a week. Family visiting from all over, horrific shopping experiences, poison control, sewage spewing in the backyard, and a car accident. I'll let you guess what happened to which (or both) of us. Needless to say, writing has fallen by the wayside.

Back before I got the memo that this was going to be Insanity Week, I innocently planned a Thanksgiving-esque dinner as an excuse to squeeze in a few more chances to gorge on turkey before it disappears along with candy canes and giant cartons of whipping cream and the other winter holiday specialty items.

Like cranberries. Right now, you can pick up enormous sacks of them for just a few dollars at Costco. Kevin loves cranberries, so I decided this would be the year of learning how to make cranberry sauce.

I received the recipes from a friend who is an excellent chef, but these are so simple they're foolproof. All you need is a bag of cranberries, sugar, and an orange (and a pot, and a spoon, and a food processor).

First, the cooked sauce. Pour berries and sugar into the pot over medium heat, and stir. They even look Christmassy! Keep cooking and stirring until the berries burst and reach desired consistency. Add more sugar if necessary, otherwise it's done.

(I have not yet learned to make sauce in the shape of a can, so I had to buy that one to go alongside the homemade ones. Harhar)

The cooked sauce is cosy and traditional, but what Kevin really loves is raw cranberry dressing.

I can't believe I never tried making this before. If anything, it's even easier than the cooked sauce, although harder to find in stores and generally much more expensive.

My friend's pro tip was to freeze the cranberries beforehand. I poured frozen berries and sugar into the Vitamix, tossed in a whole orange (yes, peel included), and processed away (although carefully, since the Vitamix is on loan and somehow I've already broken it and overheated it, separately). In a minute or less, the ingredients turn into a fantastic frosty delight that sent even my unsophisticated tastebuds into the wild dances of a Ratatouille-like fireworks display.

Unfortunately it's not terribly photogenic, but the taste really is amazing.

If you've been making your own cranberry sauce for years, you can laugh at me for taking so long to convert, and if you have never gotten around to trying it, give it a shot! And if anyone has a recipe for the canned jelly stuff, I'm interested.... ;)

Four Hot and Unpopular Drinks

2010-12-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

Esther: Everyone who's an adult and the least bit cool drinks coffee. If you're extra enlightened, you also think Starbucks is pond scum, you drink your coffee black and you act like anything not freshly roasted will kill you (the freshly ground part is a given).

And then there's me and Bethany who have been excluded from mainstream society for individual reasons. We drink tea instead.

I for one happen to enjoy my exile into dry leaves. And so we bring you four of the delectable concoctions that currently tempt us.

Green Chai with Pumpkin Pie Spice and Cream/Eggnog

Make no mistake, besides the plausible antioxidant qualities of green tea...this drink is about as good for you as a giant gingerbread cookie. Although it should be lauded for keeping me from chugging large tumblers of eggnog.

If you are prone to sneaking christmas cookies and eating far more than you promised yourself you would. Let me introduce you to a satisfactory drinking companion.

1 bag of this

A couple seconds of this

A dollop of this

(or if you dont' like eggnog) Then this...

It's like a hug, an enticing book and a cozy day...all in one. Plus, it's might tasty, and is an elixir even the Grinch couldn't stay cranky with.

Bethany:

My top favorite tea drink is embarrassingly close to Esther's, perhaps the pauper lookalike or the country cousin.

The perfect cup of Genmai-cha

Start with the good old Japanese standard, genmai-cha.

I wasn't kidding about the pauper part; genmai-cha was supposedly invented as a way to stretch a supply of green tea by the addition of toasted brown rice. In my opinion, the rice gives the tea a deep, hearty flavor that makes it much more satisfying than plain old leaves. The fact that you can buy it dirt cheap and still delicious definitely is an added plus.

I make my genmai-cha a little differently from other teas. When I worked at a Japanese restaurant, we simply poured hot water straight through a strainer full of tea leaves into the pot. Tables we liked got fresh leaves..... most of the time people got pots full of steaming liquid that had been strained through very wet and used leaves though. Fun fun, right? (Good old behind the scenes info) Anyway, the first water through the fresh leaves is amazing, with a perfectly clear taste. So now I treat my genmai-cha like a rare steak, I let the hot water just barely touch it, but no lingering allowed. Definitely no soaking or steeping. The flavor is worth it, and the price is completely justifiable.

The tea is amazing on its own, but I'll admit I love it with a splash of.... milk. No frills, but hey, you can drink it all day with no apologies to either your tastebuds OR your arteries.

Esther:

I dance an ambiguous waltz with coffee and wine (both of which I do enjoy). I've never been able to tell you what I was drinking without much practice, book reading, and effort. All those subtle hints of caramel, oak, raspberries, chocolate...dark roast, nutty roast are not innately easy to pick up on. I have no doubt they exist and that connoisseurs can taste them, but some of us are making it up with all the subtlety of the Emperor who had no clothes.

I hope I'm not offending any tea lovers when I say this, but tea isn't nearly so profound and complex. English breakfast does not taste anything like Raspberry Zinger. Even my children can tell the difference between Country Peach and Constant Comment.

I think the variety is one of the things that makes tea amazing. Plus it's warm, and is a pleasurable way to trundle water to starving cells.

My other current favorite is White Tea With A Hint Of Peach. I have it in loose tea, Lipton, and some organic/breast cancer awareness version. It's not overly tangy, and tastes like a gentle summer day. I could (and do) drink gallons... plus it comes in shiny triangle tea bags, which are magical and extra thrilling.

Bethany:

Esther and her sophisticated anti-anise taste will hate this one, but oh is it yummy. Since my reaction to black tea is almost-but-not-quite as bad as my reaction to coffee, I can only drink a small cup or two of this at a time, but I do fully enjoy what little my body can handle. (For anyone concerned about the anise flavor, for some reason it tastes completely different from black licorice in tea, and I do have friends who hate the taste generally but love it in teas like this or even when it's more prominent as in the stuff Aveda offers)

The first time my friend mentioned to me that she loved That Tea, I must admit that I thought she was mispronouncing Chai tea. And since then I've had my fair share of being misunderstood as well, receiving cups of Chai instead, and having to convince skeptical baristas that it is on their menus.

Like Masala Chai, Thai tea is generally a basic black tea flavored with a variety of spices. You can start from scratch and toss in the spices yourself.... or you can pick up pre-seasoned bags at your local Asian market, tea specialty shop, or apparently Amazon.

In the opposite method of my genmai-cha, brew up a cup of tea so strong and hot it could fistfight with an energy drink. Add a ridiculous amount of sugar and coconut milk if you have it.

Condensed milk works as well, depending on your personal taste preferences. (If you don't mind the flavor of powdered creamer, which I don't, you can scratch all of the above and take the even easier route of simply dumping a packet of powdered tea into a cup of hot water. Did I say that?).

While many people drink it iced, I love it hot too. Mmmmm.

Esther:

It's true, I hate anise flavored things and I think Thai tea tastes like orange dirt with too much sugar. But in my family I am very very alone in that opinion. So don't take my word for it. It looks so pretty when you order it in a restaurant, all swirling and exotic looking. Every now and then I convince myself I must like it, so I sip it again only to be reminded it tastes something like liquid frog.

Try it and tell us what you think, and while you're at it, we'd love to hear any of your favorite hot non-coffee drinks.