New Ventures

Tif, Danielle, and I have started up a site called "Novel Props," wherein we will craft items from some of our favorite books.  A broad example of a novel prop would be the One Ring from Tolkien's books, though that one has been created and recreated, so I doubt any of us will bother tackling it. 

My first endeavor was a brooch from Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy.  It turned out in general as I'd envisioned it in my head, which is a good thing. 

Hopefully this will keep me crafting on a regular basis, as well as giving me an excuse to build a big nest of books and never emerge.

If you have suggestions for novel props, by all means, I would love to hear them!  I'm able to do basic jewelry, cold cast "metal,"  some woodworking, and a bit of needlecraft, so not too many small props should be entirely out of reach.  If I don't have the skill for it, I'll beg Tif for help, and learn something in the process.

Friday I'm in Love

Now, here's a clever t-shirt!

The Super Secret Diaries of Bella Swan

So, to start... I'm not a fan of the Twilight series.  Let me just say that up front.  I bear no ill will toward those who like it, but god knows I can't stand characters like Bella--self absorbed, morose, helpless twit.  I prefer my female literary characters with a little brain and backbone, thanks.  That's just me.

Anyway, knowing this, my friend Tif commissioned a Twilight themed birthday package from a young friend of hers in high school who makes some lovely jewelry over at Etsy.  She'd like to become a writer someday, and I think she has the talent and cleverness to do it!

In any case, the most amusing thing in a pile of amusing things was a beautifully made replica of Bella's very own journal.  I was most moved by the contents, which I will transcribe here for all to see. I was so moved that I had to immediately call Tif to do a dramatic reading.

____________________________

When I opened it, a pile of glitter fell out.  The inside cover says in red marker:

This UBER SPARKLY diary belongs to Bella Swan.  If you don't return it, I'll sick my super sparkly boyfriend on u!!

First entry:

Today I arrived in Spoons.  It's pretty lame here.  My lame mom dropped me off then Charlie - my dad or whatever - picked me up and gave me this crappy truck.  I told him I liked it.  Loser.   Anyway, it's pretty depressing with all this rain.  I think I'll begin my role as the weak 2d character by bitching some more and then crying myself to sleep.
       Later,
              BS

First day of school sucked.  Everyone hates me.  Like, even the teachers.  Good thing I'm really smart and hot though. One good point was seeing these gorgeous, if stuck up, peeps at lunch.  One of them is in my biology class.  What a prick.  I hope he stalks me.
        - BS

Charlie's making me cook and clean.  Srsly, I hate Spoons.  Edward--that one hot guy--talked to me today.  It was magical.  His lips change colors and he ditches class a lot to go frolic.  He also watches me sleep.  How sweet is that??
        -BS

Sorry I haven't written in a while, but I've been obsessed trying to figure Edward out.  I've been like researching everywhere. I don't know why I didn't like see it before.   Pale skin....  color changing lips...  the frolicing....

Edward Cullen is a unicorn.

When I told him I knew, he asked if I wanted a ride.

Of course I did, lol! Right before my eyes he totally changed into a white horse with a rainbow tail and shiny horn on his head.  He began running around, ripping up twigs with his hooves and stuff, saying I should keep away, because he's way too magical for my human mind or whatever.

So we rode on for like ever --which is how long he'll live, BTW.  Nice.
    - BS

PS. OMG HE SPARKLES!!!

A list:

he's hot
he's gorgeous
he's godly
he's hot
he's beautiful
he's made of alabaster
he's sculpted from marble
he's hot
what personality?
he's magical and hot

I'm, like, running out of nouns to describe him!

OMG, hang on I need to go cut my wrists--running out of ink.   (blood splotches)
 Better!  <3,
             BS

Flaxseed Adventures

Well, I tried the whole flaxseed hair product thing today with mixed results. I organized the project implements on the counter: A pot, measuring cups, a bowl, and a fine sieve. In the pot, I put one cup of water and a quarter cup of whole flaxseeds. it may look as though there are a ton of seeds, but they're actually just floating on the surface of the water.



I brought it to a boil while whisking it slowly, and then turned the heat down. It was amazing just how quickly the seeds began to thicken the water. It took about five minutes from start to finish. But here's where I think I went wrong: I left it on the burner too long. Once the seeds began to slow their movement in the thickening water, I should have taken them off. They say you can tell when you see after stirring that the seeds are suspended in the liquid, rather than just sinking right away. I thought it looked too liquidy, so I continued to cook a bit longer. Mistake. You're supposed to dump the seeds and liquid through a strainer into a bowl immediately, which I did. However, the consistency of the liquid was to the point of a goopy, stringy egg white, and it was exceedingly hard to put it through the strainer, no matter how I pushed and prodded. Next time, if I accidentally overcook, I'll use a cheesecloth, dump a blop into it and squeeze it out. I added water to it, and that helped move enough of it through the strainer.



Once I'd strained enough, I saved the seeds in a ziplock bag in the fridge to boil again, and I inspected the gel. It really had no smell to it, so after cooking, I added a drop of cedar essence to it. Apparently you can add any essential oil you'd like at this point in the process. It makes a nice neutral base for a scent, and holds the smell really well so far. I whisked a bit more water into it to make it easier to work through my hair, and voila! It's done.



Now for the usage review: I tried washing my hair using only conditioner, as was suggested by a sister (thanks!). I also found it mentioned on several sites I'd seen about hair health. Apparently if you do that a couple times a week, it strips less of the hair's natural oil. Curly hair is supposed to be prone to dryness, and this is supposed to help. That said, this isn't exactly a pure test of the flax gel because that element of the process is different than usual.

I squeezed most of the water out of my hair and worked some of the flax gel through to the ends with my fingers. It's nice and slippery stuff-- it feels like the silicone hair serums that actually do work on my hair. I usually use two products after washing my hair--one to control frizz (like the serums) and one to hold curl (usually gel or curl spray). I've never found one product that can cover all the bases I need dealt with for this mop.

As my hair dried, I noticed it was really soft and fairly shiny. One other thing that stood out is how bright the color seemed. I dye my hair, and the flax gel seemed to sort of enhance that.

However, within an hour of being dry, my hair was starting to frizz. I went back and added more flax gel, and that calmed it down a bit, but it still is a little less controlled than if I'd used my regular regimen. I'll try using a lot more next time, and we'll see how it goes. It may end up being something I use in tandem with another product, but I do like the feel of the flax gel, and knowing exactly what's in it, so I'll give it a few more shots before I give up.

I could imagine this also being a really nice thing to use on naturally wavy hair... or any hair, actually. It defines just a bit, doesn't dry hard, and is no doubt FAR better for your scalp than a bunch of chemicals. I think it also makes hair color look a bit richer.



You can see the frizz at the edges, and it's more noticeable from the front, but I think the flax gel did a decent job. It was super fast to make--it took less than 10 minutes, so I certainly don't have an excuse not to try again.

Updates and Such-like

It's been a busy month. A busy, busy month. This fella is something we bought a while ago with our tax return, but I love it so, and thought I'd post a bit about it. It's a full 88 weighted keys that feel very much like a real live piano, and the sounds it makes are quite satisfactorily piano-y as well. It has MIDI outs, so I can theoretically plug into the computer and record various things as I think of music. While nothing can replace the creaks and warmth of an ancient, slightly out-of-tune upright piano, this is a perfectly great digital stand-in for now.

Other (not really that momentous) events:

We now have a second car, so exploring a wider area of the city during the day is possible. Thrills! I'd like to do some camera excursions in order to take photos with which to play with HDR and fake tilt-shift photography. I will not let the ridiculously awesome examples of these things I've seen online make me throw up my hands and read a book instead.

Holy cripes! I went to the dentist today. For the first time in...well, a shamefully long time (as in, years). Thankfully, (and somewhat shockingly) there was absolutely nothing wrong with my teeth a little plaque removal didn't fix.

Speaking of teef, this is a sweet little comic I linked from Facebook a little while ago. I really wish I knew where the little ceramic figurines came from. I know they're vintage, but I had no luck finding out about them online.

Speaking of Facebook, that's where I've mostly been in the past while. Because of my lack of time, bite (or byte--haw haw) sized updates are what work best right now. The ability to pop online, check on what people are up to, dash through a sentence-sized updated and be off... is a good thing at the moment.

Projects currently on the go:

I found a shirt I particularly liked the cut of, except that that fabric was super-cheap and kept getting holes in it. So I dissected the shirt, made a pattern from it, and have been working on modifying it to make new shirts. It's actually pretty simple, but I'm sure I'll manage to screw it up somehow. I've done one new shirt so far. It turned out okay for a first attempt, and I see what I need to change next time around. At $1.25 / yd, it's not very costly to make a mistake.

I've also gotten some t-shirts and fabric paint and will be doing some shirt illustrating. Hopefully there'll be something decent enough to post a picture of.

Miniatures: The Boy bought a bunch of tiny Eldar Army figurines which need to be assembled and painted. Since he would like the stategy-gaming with them, and I would like the painting better, guess who's doing what?

Homemade flaxseed hair gel: I know this sounds kind of awful. I was talking to a sister today about exactly what chemicals we dump onto our scalps, and after consulting the Internets, I figured I'd try making something a little more simple. If you've ever eaten a plain Flaxseed, you've probably noticed they're a little ...slippery is a good way to describe them, I guess. It's very slightly tacky, and has a very slight oiliness to it. Mostly, it's just slick. It shares the same properties as silicone, which is in a lot of the styling products I use for curly or frizzy hair.

When boiled, Flaxseed (or Linseed in England) emits a substance that thickens the liquid and makes it usable as a de-frizzing gel. You can cook it to the right consistency, strain the actual seeds out, cool it down, and add essential oils for a nice smell. The flax seeds are re-boilable as well. You can keep them in the fridge and boil them three of four times before they "stop working." If you leave it cooking on the stove, it practically turns into a firm jello, I hear. (Off-topic--I wonder if that would be a tasty base for vegan jello rather than animal based gelatin? ) I picked up some seeds tonight, and I'll be boiling them down tomorrow. I'll try to do picture documentation, and I'll relate my findings.

And now...bed, bed, bed.

Many Happy Felicitations to the Lovely Couple!

Here's a creative way to invite people to your wedding--make little a stop motion film.

Ault Park is a couple minutes from us. I love to see creative things happening in Cinci!

Gnocchi-dokie! (Butternut Gnocchi in Sage Sauce)

I tried my first gnocchi a couple nights ago, and it turned out to be quite a success despite me. Rather than a traditional potato gnocchi, I made a butternut squash version (simply because that's what was on-hand).

Using squash limits you just a bit in terms of the range and intensity of flavors you can add to the sauce--the squash itself is mild and vaguely sweet almost, and it would get overwhelmed by a sauce with heavy flavors. I ended up staying very simple, and it turned out to be really tasty.

One of the great things about gnocchi is that they keep for quite a while in the fridge or freezer. Up to 6 months in the freezer, if packaged properly, I've read. I made these a couple nights ago, and when dinner fell through, I stuck them into the fridge in a ziplock. We had them last night, and they were still great.

Here's the scoop:

• 1 butternut squash (doesn't have to be huge)
• plenty of wheat and white flour
• 2 eggs
• a shake of salt
• various spices to taste--I added a dash each of cinnamon, curry, and nutmeg
• a shake of pepper

For the (clearly very complicated) sage sauce:

• 4Tbs butter
• cream
• pepper
• fresh sage leaves

Cook the squash however you'd like, but without adding water--it just has to be soft. I cheated--I cut it down the middle, scooped the seeds, and cooked it in the microwave, cut side down, until I could easily dent the shell with a spoon. You could also roast it if you have time. I bet it would be even better.

Once the squash is cooked and soft enough to scoop with a spoon, do just that--scoop the flesh out into a decent sized bowl. Mash the heck out of it and spread it around and let it cool down a bit. You don't want it so hot the eggs cook immediately when you add them.

Meanwhile, beat two eggs together until mixed. Once the squash has cooled enough, add the eggs and work them through.

Add your spices at this point.

Now was the time of second guessing for me: adding flour. It took so much more than I thought it would that I didn't even bother putting an amount above. I had a false start where I added when I thought was enough, but it was too sticky to cut, and not a proper dough. Lesson learned.

Start by adding a cup of white flour, then alternate to 2/3 cup of wheat, back to white and so on, until you have a nice, flexible, workable dough. You'll know when you've reached this point--it'll be sticky and awful to try to roll and cut before then.

Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on, salt the water, and begin bringing it to a medium boil. Make sure you have a place to roll and cut the gnocchi, something to scoop them out of the hot water with (I used a large slotted spoon) and a platter or bowl in which to keep them after you pull them out.

Once you have a workable dough, take a golf ball sized chunk and roll it into a snake, and cut pieces about an inch long. Mark the tops of them with a fork so the sauce has something to grab onto. Once you've done this lot, drop them into the now boiling water, and let them cook while you make the next lot. The gnocchi float to the surface of the water once they're done.

Now it's all about a little assembly line involving only you. While the first batch is cooking, cut another batch. By the time those are ready the cooking gnocchi will be ready to scoop out. Voila! You'll be kind of amazed how much gnocchi this recipe makes. I have a whole bag in my freezer still.

Sauce time:

Once all the gnocchi is done, you can package some up for later, and try to get the rest of them as dry as possible. I ended up tossing ours in the frying pan. While the gnocchi were turning a lovely golden brown, I put the butter in another saucepan, adding the sage leaves and letting them bubble away in the butter to imbue it with flavor. Some people might want to take the sage out, but I left them in because they were pretty. I then added some cream and a shake of pepper and let it all bubble together while I plated the gnocchi. I poured the sauce at the table. Simple.

The gnocchi had a subtle, round butternut flavor with just a hint of sweetness, and the texture was chewy and substantial, like gnocchi should be. The sauce was surprisingly flavorful, for how simple it was, and it complemented the gnocchi really well. Gnocchi is pretty filling, so a little goes a long way.

Overall, I'd recommend this recipe if you have the time to invest initially. It wasn't quick, and it wasn't a no-brainer, but I came away with probably three meals worth of gnocchi, and the later meals will be incredibly simple and quick--just brown the gnocchi in the frying pan while making the sauce.

Lovely Things Intermission...

Here's a beautiful thing that I'll be saving my pennies for from Motawi Tileworks. It's been a while since I've poked around their site, but I was reminded of it today, and spent a while ogling their work. They have as many gorgeous pieces of art as I remembered. It would be neat to have the tools to make the frame on my own.

Total Turtle

Remember Oskar the tiny turtle? Well, he's managed not to shuffle off this mortal coil for an entire season, and now that it's Spring, life has become much more interesting for him. A while ago I ditched the coconut husks he dozed the winter away in, and replaced it with an actual dirt and plants terrarium. He's been in absolute heaven. Though, to my knowledge, he's never laid eyes on a bug in his short life, the moment I dropped a worm in front of him, he rushed over to chomp on it immediately. Today I refreshed his bug supply with more worms, a bunch of sow bugs, and a random assortment of creepy crawlies from the garden. He was napping in his water bowl when I dumped everything in, and his eyes immediately went wide, and he immediately leaped out and began chasing things around. As the bugs started finding hiding spots, he began crawling up onto the highest rock in the vivarium, craaaaning his little neck in every direction to catch signs of movement, and then rushing off to snap up whatever unlucky critter made the mistake of moving.

When it comes to entertainment, TV has nothing vs. real live nature.

Arctic Summer

Here's a lovely little piece that shows the path of the summer sun in the Arctic Circle--threatening to set... but never actually doing so.

Thinking of you, Woman North!

Wintergreen -"When I Wake Up"

I know this came out in 2006, but I was talking about it with someone the other day and thought I'd post it.

Here's a neat music video that tells the story of what is probably still the most enduring video game urban myth of all time. Technically, the information in the text in the video is true, but the whole "going out into the desert with shovels" is not something that can be done in real life, since the cartridges were destroyed before being confined to the landfill.

In any case, it's whimsical and a fun little reminiscence. It says, "If you blow into an Atari cartridge, even 20 years worth of sand and grit won't keep it from playing again!"

Cheats, delicious cheats...

I'm sure this has nothing on the type of ginger ale that you let carbonate by itself--that stuff sounds fabulous. But if you want a neat drink without 2 weeks of letting it bubble away, here's a quick and quite tasty way to go about it.

Homemade ginger ale in a (sort of) jiffy:

Make a simple syrup. (2 parts sugar to one part water) While it's bubbling away on the stove, put a bunch of peeled fresh ginger (or candied ginger) in a bowl with a bit of water, and pop it in the microwave enough to soften it. Then dump it into your food processor (or sturdy blender) and whiz it with a bit of water into a medium paste.

(Alternately, if you can find a ginger-only paste in the herb section, you can just use that. Make sure it's not the Indian version with salt and vinegar added!)

Add the ginger paste you just made to the simple syrup as the sugar is working on dissolving. When it's done, put the ginger syrup you just made into the fridge and cool it down. Once cooled, (assuming you didn't use the smooth ready-made paste) strain the ginger bits out of the syrup, mashing them about to get more liquid through. Save the ginger mush in the fridge or freezer for adding to gingerbread or ginger cakes--mmm!

Add the syrup to carbonated water for a lovely, fresh tasting ginger ale with just enough real ginger bits floating in it to make it interesting.

Soothes overheating on hot summer days, and tummy aches.

Fickle Fate

The other day I was poking at random through the This American Life archives, as I am wont to do if I spend any length of time doing non-computery things in the room that contains my computer.

Let me first say: I love this radio program. Love. It. It pretty much perfectly encapsulates everything I love about stories and storytelling. If you're not familiar with this gem of the airwaves, here's a little rundown of what it is. Each week, the show follows a theme, and the stories that are told follow that. The stories are mostly true, and mostly told by the person or people involved. They're at once hilarious, sweet, intriguing, and touching. It's hard to explain what makes them so appealing, so I highly recommend you go to the website and listen to some of the shows online for free. (choose the "full episode" option, and it will open a player.)

The point of this post, however, is that I, at random, chose an episode that contained a section about a semi-documentary film that won some awards at Sundance Flm Festival several years ago. The film is called the Beaver Trilogy, and is actually three separate short films that were stuck together. The first is a documentary made in 1979. It's a chance meeting between the film maker and a young man who's an absolutely entertaining character. Without going into too much detail, he's an average kid from the town of Beaver who just happened to be in what might have been the right place at the right time. As the story progresses, the film maker does something that affects the kid, and he later regrets it. It haunts him so much that over the years, to clear his conscience he has to remake the little documentary movie in 1981, with an actor, and add a happy ending-- the ending he wanted for the Beaver kid. But that's not enough. He actually makes the film for a third time in 1985, with yet another actor. These are the stories that are cobbled together. So it's not just the story of the Beaver kid, it's the story of this director trying to clear his conscience, and failing.

As with many This American life shows, I felt compelled to research. The film's not available anywhere. It screened only a few places, it's never been sold on dvd (except for on occasion when the filmmaker personally has sold a copy he's made to someone) and it's no longer available on Youtube to watch. So I have a little mission to find a copy.

Also interestingly, in the process of poking around, I found that the Beaver Kid passed away just recently. RIP, Beaver Kid.

I'm not sure what it does, but it does *something*.

I admit that I have a weakness for "home brewed" beauty stuff. My sisters and I used to make our own facial masks out of oatmeal and god-knows-what-else, and we'd steam the heck out of our faces using my mom's big mixing bowl full of hot water. Ah... those were the days.

I have to give credit where credit is due, here. It was actually The Boy who showed me this. He stumbled over it on the vastness of the internets, and immediately knew I'd be fascinated with it.

Remember how Beta Hydroxy Acid became one of the big catch phrase in facial moisturizers and cleansers a few years ago? Also, remember Salicylic Acid--the active ingredient in all kinds of expensive facial cleansers and products that tout abilities from clearing up acne to preventing razor burn to "resurfacing" skin? Well, surprise--both of those are basically the same thing. And double surprise--they're basically both aspirin. I suddenly saw my budget bottle of plain Target brand aspirin in a whole new light.

It looks like people are starting to catch on to this fact, and I found a bunch of places talking about using uncoated aspirin tablets to make an exfoliating facial mask. Of course, I had to try it.

What I did:

I used just one tablet--put a few drops of water on to it, and it started dissolving into mush almost immediately. I dampened my face a bit, and used my fingers to smooth some of the mush around my face, concentrating on where I tend to get redness from a mystery allergy. The aspirin mush is just grainy enough to exfoliate pretty nicely. I left it on for a few minutes and rinsed with warm water.

The verdict:

Okay, I might be imagining this, but I felt like the redness in my face had evened out noticeably. My skin was nice and smooth, and felt just a bit tight, so I moisturized right afterward. I'll definitely try it again.

Oh--Also, I guess you're not supposed to do this more than a couple times a week or it becomes less effective.

Comeuppance

I was poking around RateMDs.com today at random, checking out some of the doctors in my area. I found one who seems like kind of a jackass, but he's kind of good-looking, and everyone agrees knows what he's doing. As long as I don't mind submitting to random, seemingly unrelated tests, being condescended to, and having MRIs like they're going out of style, I think he'll be fine.

Here are some of the reviews (both positive and negative) people gave this doctor:

“I just came home from a two-week stay in the hospital. My initial complaint in the ER was pain in the inside elbow. Next thing I know I awake in intensive care with a tube in my nose, 5 IVs and a foley bag that Dr. House bumped with his cane. I developed this funny rash on the opposite elbow. Then I get a call from my husband wondering why two people in lab coats were trying to break in our house to look for anything suspicious. He tearfully let them take one our koi from the backyard pond for any clues to my illness. I fall asleep to the words, "this may sting a little bit." After I awake I see Dr. House looming over me inspecting the inside of my eyelids. With a big grin he looks at his staff and orders broad spectrum antibiotics, IVG, Interferon, steroids and Kool-aid (for himself). I ask through my grogginess, "What did you find?" Dr. House replied, "You have Koipondimylitis. You've been using too short a fish net to clean out your pond." And he left. And I got better.”

“House is brilliant! After the much-repeated lumbar punctures, MRIs, CTs, 14 incorrect diagnoses (including the ever-present vasculitis), Cameron's amateur physchotherapy, Foreman's condescending crap, and Wilson's very very soft hands (you can do that test again, Doctor!), my problem was finally resolved. I needed new glasses.”

“This is a doctor who understands chronic pain.”

“First of all, this guy was late. Then he said I was obviously a hypochondriac. However, his staff noticed several symptoms I couldn't possibly make up, even subconsciously. After fifteen diagnoses and the removal of an equivalent number of vital organs, I was pronounced to have a terminal illness. Thank God I don't have to live with the pain of losing everything. Now, that's my family and the government's problem. “

“I was amazed at the way Dr. House treated everyone. But he did cure me. They thought it was Lupus but turned out to be an in grown toe nail. Thank you Dr. House. “

Hymns of the Deep

It's clear and cold, and the carillon bells are ringing out songs, as they do every Sunday afternoon here. For some reason the carrilloneur is playing an old ocean hymn my father became familiar with while living in Newfoundland--land of sailors, whalers, and their often grieving families after sea tragedies.

Eternal Father, strong to save
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep--
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea.

Simple Comfort Food #324

Both of us are incredible phlegm factories this week, though the Boy has it worse with a deep chest cold that has him hacking like a consumptive Keats. Ironically, the weather is gorgeous and mild--and perfect for walking.

In the mean time, we've been subsisting on soups, tea and decongestants.

Here's a simple, cheap, and quick recipe for a delicious Greek soup: Avgolemono (or if, like me, and you pronounce it differently each time--lemon rice soup). Sadly, I never remember to write down amounts, so I'll estimate. This simple, meatless version of Avgolemono is really very flexible though, and hard to ruin.

Lemon Rice Soup

Ingredients:

3 eggs
several chicken bouillon cubes
cooked rice - leftover rice from Chinese takeout? Perfect!
lemon juice

The reason I use bouillon with this soup rather than a lovely homemade stock, or an organic thing out of a box is simple: Remember--the idea is that you're a snot zombie flailing around the kitchen for something warm and comfort foody. The easier the better. Also, for this soup, it has enough salt and flavor that it's not necessary to mess with spicing or salting the soup at all.

Put water in a pot and turn on medium high. Drop in bouillon cubes and dissolve them. Drop in the rice (I added about a cup, so there was some good substance to the soup). In a separate bowl, crack the eggs and whisk them together. When the soup is hot, but not quite boiling, pour in in the eggs and stir immediately. They'll cook right away, making the soup thicken. Add lemon juice to taste. Try a tablespoon, and work up from there. We like ours with a definite lemon tang to it.

You just made tasty soup in under 5 minutes! Take the bowl back to bed and read while eating it.

A Sweet Valentine's Day

The Boy and I went maple sugaring at the Cincinnati Nature Center for Valentine's Day! The center has their own classic sugar house with the boiling facilities and all amid a bunch of maple trees that they're just beginning to tap for the season. The class took us through all the steps of picking a tree, tapping, collecting, and boiling the syrup down. It was really fascinating. Here are some steps for tapping:

1. Pick a tree that is at least 10 inches in diameter at chest height.
2. When deciding where to tap, take into account large roots and branches, and try to tap above or below those a couple feet off the ground. That's where the sap supply is sure to be strong. If it's possible to tap on the south side, that's a good option, since it warms up, and the sap will flow more steadily.
3. Sterilize your drill bit in alcohol between each tree, since bacteria can be transmitted from tree to tree.
4. Drill--angling very slightly up and about an inch and a half in.
5. The taps are also called "splines." Spline is apparently a corruption of the word "spill," which is literally what the sap did when we drilled the hole.
6. When you pound the tap into the tree, listen for it to hit the back of the drilled hole--the sound of the hits becomes more resonant.
7. Hang and cover the bucket. Voila!

The sap flowed out completely clear and the consistency of water. It had a very very mild maple flavor, and just a hint of sweetness. We were told that making tea out of maple sap is absolutely fantastic, and I believe it! The folks working in the sugar house confided that in the mornings they sometimes scoop out a ladle or two of the hot sap before it gets boiling and pop a tea bag into it. The sugar house smelled absolutely like heaven--the wood fire, along with the mild smell of maple syrup cooking was wonderful.

Sap needs to be treated like milk when it comes to how perishable it is. It should be refrigerated if you're not going to boil it the same day, and once it becomes any color other than clear (brownish, or milky) it means bacteria's beginning to form, and the sap is turning.

You need about 5 gallons of sap for a pint of maple syrup--that's a whole lot of evaporating. The syrup boils in a massive vat with a series of trenches the sap moves through as it cooks. They stand by to skim off the impurities that rise to the top, and it slowly becomes one of my favorite flavors. They recommended that if you're going to make syrup on your stove top, you use 4 big pots, and slowly transfer the syrup around from pot to pot. If it stays on one place too long it darkens too quickly. How long it takes depends on the humidity, your stove, etc.

One thing I found interesting is that the thing that decides the grade of syrup is the color. "Grade B" maple syrup is simply darker and more caramelized. It also is supposed to have more maple flavor to it. That sounds great to me, yet it's the cheaper type--go figure!

Apparently there's a class on cooking with maple syrup coming up at the Nature Center, and I think we may need to get in on that too.

Why I like browsing Vimeo:

I stumble over little gems like this. Not to mention the fantastic absence of Youtube commenters.


Light-Paint Piano Player from Ryan Cashman on Vimeo.

Man on Wire

We recently watched the documentary Man on Wire, which is the story of wirewalker Phillipe Petit's quest to secretly string a wire between the two towers of the World Trade Center, and walk it. Petit suceeded--on August 7, 1974 he and some friends managed to sneak into the unfinished towers, went through the ordeal of placing the cables, and he stepped onto the wire, and into history. The documentary is really beautifully filmed. There is a lot of footage of a young Petit and his cohorts, and that, combined with some treated new film make a fantastic visual feel. It's just plain pretty to look at.

However, The Boy and I being the nerds we are, were equally interested in what the documentary said by omission.

One thing I'm sure was intentional was that the film, though it was an homage to the Twin Towers, said not a word about September 11. I'm sure it was because they didn't want to dilute their story, and this makes sense. I appreciated it. It allowed us to look at the massive scope of the towers and feel the loss of the lives, the buildings, and that day the world changed in a very subtle way. In a way, the film is about a love story between this man and the towers. They make him breathless. He speaks about them in poetry. It makes the viewer love and miss them as well, if only as a symbol of a time when the world seemed safer and happier.

Something the film covered only briefly was the effect of Petit on the people around him. He's a sort of rock star--charismatic and convincing, talking people into helping him possibly lose his life. What nobody says is that he's also probably also an egomaniac who, in this stunt, simply used the people around him as a means to an end, letting relationships die in the process.

In the interviews, Petit seems enamored of himself. He doesn't doesn't speak much about the friends who were crucial to his stunt, and who worked for years so that he could step out onto a wire and take the glory. He's thrilled to tell you he's a visionary, and that the world will remember him. The man who was his best friend struggles to hold back tears, and fails, saying that after the stunt, everything changed. Their friendship changed. The woman who was his girlfriend at the time politely looks away, and says that once Phillipe found fame, she realized it was time that their relationship moved along so he would be free. It's pretty clear that this means, "He immediately began screwing groupies (which he actually did, while at the same moment, his friends--the people who made the stunt possible--were under arrest and being deported from the country) and he decided he was too famous to be with me."

It's a fascinating and sort of sad story. An interesting film--well worth watching.

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie

This is a clever music video, and fun to look at. Stop motion animation isn't something that gets done with actual people often enough.

Fine. I concede.

It's winter. We have about four inches of snow, a layer of ice, and another couple inches of snow that's still falling.

I just watched someone ski past my house.

Awesome.

Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith:

Well, that was quick. Microsoft only recently came out with their new "creative" program, Songsmith, and already people are using it to its full potential.

Songsmith is an absolutely fantastic tool for musicians who are tired of writing all those troublesome songs themselves. Are you bored with songs that have "soul" or "matching chords and vocals?" No more!! Songsmith smoothly and magically transforms any song into a glorious, steaming pile of sterile and soulless elevator muzak!

All you have to do is sing or provide the vocals, and Songsmith will take care of the rest. Wow!

Sigh of (semi) relief

Update:

After a barrage of complaints, federal regulators shifted gears Thursday and said they would no longer require that used children's clothing, toys and other items sold at secondhand stores be tested for lead.

While this is good news for resale stores and such, people who make handmade children's items are still under the strain of having to comply with testing laws.

Little Quail

Here's a sweet little thing... It's a tiny zither. From the info I've been able to find on them, they're often made of birch or ash (this one seems to be birch?), and they have several names throughout the world--board zither, kantele, lap harp, etc. This one is a simple little instrument with 15 strings (7 wrapped around to double up, and one single) and tuned to either G or C major. It hails from Belarus via Перепелочка (or Perepelochka), whose logos I've discovered I love. Perepelochka means "Little bird" or "little quail" in Russian, and is also the name of a traditional Russian folk song. (Sadly, the zither is not represented in the recording I linked, though it is a fun song.)

It'll be interesting to see what sorts of sounds I can get out of this little fella.

Christmas Crafts

This Christmas, we were low key and made gifts for most everyone. One of the things I gave was jars of home made bath bombs (or in this case, bath bonbons), which fizz luxuriously when you drop them into the tub. I used this recipe. However, for citric acid, which really should have been simple to find near canning supplies in any of the FIVE places we had to go to find it... I used Sour Salt from the kosher section. Same thing. Much easier to find. Rather than using an essential oil to scent it, I used rose water, which was a bit touchy to stir in without everything bubbling up, but seemed to work fine. I wanted the smell to be a bit subtle.

I also baked some rose petals on a baking tray until they dried out (surprisingly quickly) and crushed them to add to the mixture. Who doesn't like rose petals in their bath? They added nicely to the scent as well.

I pressed them into candy molds, using a pestle to put enough pressure on them to make them firm. I had to try some, of course, and I was pretty pleased with the result. I dropped in three bonbons, and they fizzed away in short order. It was a pleasant smell--not overwhelming or chemical--and there was just enough oil in them to leave my skin feeling nice and soft, but not enough to leave a mark on the tub. Whew. These would also make a good foot soak, I think.

One other thing, if anyone's planning on making these--humidity can do really wack things to them. They need to dry for a while before being packaged, but leaving them out for too long makes them puff up. After opening a jar of bonbons I'd closed tightly and having it hiss like a bottle of soda, I decided I needed a dessicant in there. I got a little box of it from the craft store--the kind used to dry flowers--and made a little sachet for each bottle. After that, voila! No more pressure and hissing, though I was too late on a few of the bottles, and the bonbons looked more like macaroons than sleek candies.

Buy them while you can...

Go shopping for children's clothes and toys before February 10!

A new law that calls for every child's toy and article of clothing to be tested for lead and phthalates is about to make it virtually impossible to buy handmade or used children's toys or clothes from places like Etsy, resale stores, or small businesses. Sellers are going to be required to pay for testing on each item they create or sell--sometimes hundreds of dollars per piece. And who's going to shell that out, when the sale price of the item likely brings in a fraction of that?

Long story short: It's good to have safe toys for children. But the majority of the problem was found in imported toys (specifically from China). This is taking it too far. Hundreds of small businesses will have to close. Resale shops for children will not exist. Goodbye, mom-to-mom sales, and the children's departments of Goodwill. Children's toys and clothing are about to become a LOT more expensive. Maybe most gallingly, items that haven't been tested will be automatically considered unsafe and must be thrown out, so landfills will be overflowing with perfectly good items that people couldn't afford to test.

Many small businesses and resale shops are unaware of the law as of yet, which means they'll be slammed with fines when they're noticed.

Way to go, government!