Forget Roses

I discovered protea (Pro-tea -uh, I believe) in the bouquet section at Costco today. I can't find any online photos that due it justice, but I think I'm in love (and with my luck, I'm probably allergic as well). The Blooms are like the size of my fist. Nature is so creative, I don't know why society has latched to Roses so much.

I passed

Aren't I amazing, I got a 70% and I didn't even study... heck, I didn't even go to class!


In celebration, I tried to bring sexy back... but my arm was to short. Oh, ya, and I wasn't that sexy.


So instead, after I had some time to recover, I found a mirror and made some modern art to commemorate my victory. It's a shame though, that it had died down.


Good news is that I am no longer allergic to Dogs (yeah! Polo can stay).

Bad news is that, as far as local pollen goes, I'm allergic to every thing except pine. Lucky me.

Oh, and I am allergic to Timothy, so obviously ruled that one out as a baby name.

Freekanomics

Yesterday I watched freekanomics. Parts of it were pretty entertaining. Some parts though, they clearly spent too much time on (boring) and other parts seemed interesting that they simply glanced over. However, I enjoyed this part, thoroughly:

This time tomorrow

My back will probably look something like this

still catching up

Still catching up on summer photos (and hoping to make a few more) and I wasn't going to post any photos from the reunion until I got to fixing up the reunion photos, but I decided to cheet and post 3 of my nephew J# J#### (that's right, they named him ju Jubee). I also have some adorable ones of my other Nephews and nieces, but I didn't have time to mess with all their photos yet, and I set the lights up for these ones, so I couldn't help checking them out.


or maybe I made an exception because he intimidated me with the the gangster pout he made in the middle image.

I still know what I did this summer...part 2.

In June Carrisa and I went to Lagoon, for FREE, and since Brett didn't come (party pooper) I got to stay at a theme park for 6 hours, and not just 2.5 hrs.

I only took photos on one ride, and we got pretty stinkin' wet.

My new Favorite Snack

...is this dried mango: sulfer free (no toot-toot syndrome), no sugar added, great clean dry food for road trips, stores well in my purse to stave of hunger on long prop-shopping days, and marvelously distracts me from candy cravings.

The problem with an at home studio...

Is that some people think they can sit right in front of your camera


The Pro is that if Polo ever gets lost, I'll be able to put up posters with rather detailed photos of his anatomy.

Rejuvelac

In relation to my last post on fermentation I thought I'd share that earlier this year, I tried to make my own Rejuvelac (fermented tonic which is more or less the water you've sprouted sprouted grain in), and when it was done, I was afraid to drink it.



I did muscle up the courage to try a few tiny sips here and there, but Until I better understand the fermentation-alcohol relation, I'm a little leery of Home fermentation... except with dairy, I'm all about making my own buttermilk and yogurt... I've done that a few times, but haven't mastered it.

Mostly though, I wanted to share the photos of my rejuvelac that have been sitting on my computer since May.

I just realized my external monitor interpret's these photos REALLY YELLOW, which makes me seriously worry how bad my photos might look on some of your computer screens...

Fermentation

I've become fairly interested in learning the Old ways of cooking things... you know, doing things like you were a pre-industrialized farmer:

• eating food as if 90% of your meals did not contain Soy and corn that has had it's genetics altered in a lab (and shown to cause infertility in rats that ate it),
  
• drinking raw milk that hasn't had been homogenized and pasteurized until the good bacteria (that helped you process the lactose) had been destroyed,
  
• eating jam that does not contain (cleverly renamed on the label) bever anus juices to enhance that strawberry flavor
  
• and eating Ground beef that grew up (Baby Ground beefs are so cute!) with room to walk and a diet that wild ground beefs would actually eat...AND NOT ground beefs that were raised eating scrap pieces of it's brother ground beef (who died from mad cow disease)

So one of these pre-industrialized food concepts I am I'm still trying to understand is span style="font-weight:bold;">fermentation. Fermentation has become so uncomon in modern culture, and because of it's unfamiliarity and it's association with alcohol, it kinda freeks me out. Fermentation can be non alcoholic. It all has to do with what you are fermenting, how long you ferment it, etc. Some Fermented soda's have no alcohol—others have the alcoholic content of drinking a smoothie with a stitch of vanilla extract. If I understand my reading correct, some fermentation produces alcohol as a by-product, while others produce lactic acid... or maybe it produces both simultaneously. I'm pretty confused

Anyhow, I've been trying to consider these things as I try to decide whether or not I will drink fermented sodas and such, especially if I decide to try and make my own—the concern being that I am quite happy being a good little mormon girl and I fully intend on staying that way, but I also don't think it is right to be one of those crazies who make up their own commandments and scorn others for using face cream with (gasp) green tea in it.

Some thoughts:

• The LDS apostles haven't advised against use of buttermilk (fermented milk) or vanilla extract (alcohol), or Niquil, so fermentation itself is not evil, and minuscule amounts of alcohol are probably Letter of the Law vs. Spirit of the Law issues... This is why I will occasionally cook with alcohol (but if I share those foods with others, I tell them first so that they can make an informed decision on whether they are comfortable with eating something with alcohol cooked out. )
  
• Prior to the days of CO2 cartridges, Sodas were carbonated using light fermentation. These were considered children appropriate.
  
• LDS Pioneers made their own fermented root/ginger beers
  
• Fermentation contains bacteria live active culture, which is is supposedly good for your intestines, because it helps replenish the Intestinal FLORA you used to have to help you digest foods, but antibiotic meds kill off


Anyhow, I've kinda come to the conclusion that I, personally, am comfortable with fermented sodas. Many, like these Cas Cal's, are NON alcoholic:

So far I have tried 3 of their flavors: I don't like the Light Red flavor ( notes of black currant and mirabelle), I've liked the Crisp White 1 out of the 3 times I tried it ( notes of pear, apricot and Magnolia), and I actually enjoyed the Ripe Rouge ( notes of cherry , chocolate and rose) the one time I tried it (and chocolate soda sounded creepy to me after that last chocolate soda I had, yuck)

I also recently tried three varieties of Fetiman's fermented sodas. These ones contain LESS THAN .05% ALCOHOL. It scared me, a lot so I sipped slowly at first. Tried the Ginger beer and the Dandelion and Burdock. It didn't alter my mood (like Chocolate), Impair me physically (like my allergies do), and it wasn't addictive (like sugar, gotta get me some SUGAR). Oh charlotte, you think you are sooooo clever and funny. I decided I feel okay about (well, technically "less than") .05% alcohol content (I put vanilla extract in my smothies.. so that's probably about the same alcohol content), but it didn't really matter because that I didn't really like either one of those sodas.
So, so far, not much a fan of the the fermented sodas, though B's mom bought this one that I Rather liked and would like to try again. It's a Rose LEmonade. As opposed to Rose Lemonade


It's also a fentiman's brand, but for some reason the company doesn't list it on their website

reminiscence

I miss doing stuff like this.

Oh, Costco

Yes, because the first place I would look, if I was in the market for such things, would be Costco. Way to know your target audience! You know, cause millionaires shop at Costco.

He takes what he can get

... and all he wanted was a little sun

Wildflowers

I've taken a lot of my work photos outside this summer... and I keep getting distracted by the wildflowers.

It seams like every ugly weed around here eventually blooms: Thistle, evening primrose, milkweed, mallow, dandelion, wild alfalfa etc....

I think this one is canaby's lovage, though it could be gairdner's yampah, yarrow, or poisonous hemlocks..


And this is some form of thistle (edible!)


It makes me happy when I figure out their names, and sad when I can't.


Then there is the time I spotted a quail on an electric box (the lazy bird mustered up the strength to leave the ground), and when I looked at the photo later, I realized I caught him pooping.

Garden 2011

This year, our Bishop never cleared our garden plot, and I didn't feel like driving a mile to weed the stake garden, So Brett talked me into container gardening in his dad's back yard. It's sad because I don't get to walk out and see it every day, and when I do go to see it, I forget my camera.. so I finally borrowed an Iphone

My little crowded corner:


My swiss chard isn't very happy with this new arrangement, but everything else is:

• I'm getting a pumpkin that might actually get bigger than a ping pong ball before the frost(last year I got a 2 inch one just before it froze)
  
• I'm getting 3 watermelons that are already a few inches long( They kept dying last year)
  
• I've gotten about 6 Pickling Cucumbers( last year those died repetedly too) and they grow so fast that I can't pick em while they are picklin' sizes.
  
• I've gotten only 3 squash (less than last year, but that one is about 7 inches long instead of 4... so probably not as prolific because that one got too big)
  
• Before I could get a good look at them, Brett harvested8 cherry tomatos (I only got one last year before they froze.) I'd show you, but Brett made haste to eat them...though he did let Carissa have one, and gave me a bite (I don't like tomato's in their fresh form, but I did actually not hate this one... would have preferred it dried on a pizza, but I can see the potential in it)
  
• There are a handful of( large but still green) Black Cheroke tomatoes that are full of promise
  
• I've gotten a good ziplock baggie ful of snap peas
  
• and my hot peppers actually made int into a cute little bush that is flowering.

Ohhhhhhhhhh!!!! AND THE HERBS ARE ACTUALLY GROWING.

• The Basil is healthy, prolific, and very motivated and is very persistent in its endeavors to bolt.
  
• I have leeks.... though I don't know when to harvest them
  
• Cilantro!
  
• Parsley!
  
• Chives are there, but not really growing
  
• Sage is small, but usable and smells lovelier than any sage I've ever bought

It's kind of a hollow victory though, because what is the fun of having fresh homegrown herbs if you have to drive 30 minutes to get them... kind of takes the spontaneity out of cooking.

Biggest disappointment of the gardening year is that someone stole my yogurt cup of my growing green beans and i never got to transplant them (I put all my seeds in yogurt cups that were aranged in a shallow box. I kept this box in an empty dumpster cage at our condo's so that it would get sun and be protected from the violent local wind. It was within brick walls and had no feet to sneek over the gate on it's own).

Brett assembled a timed drip system that keeps my roots moist and happy. Not sure if we will get it's money's worth of veggies out of it this year (plus, even though we re-located pots from our balcony, we still had to buy several more AND a lot of potting soil to fill it), but hopefully we will be able to use it again for several years, even if it moves to a different location.

And this is where I stop boring you with my garden info.

Loving Nowhere

I'm always saying how much I like where I live... sure we don't have a lot of comercial, but we are so close to the freeway, and 5 min in either direction and BAM. We are 15 min south of b's work, about 18 min North of mine., 35 min South of B's dad and sister, 25 Min North of my brother... It's like being in the middle of nowhere and the middle of everything at the same time.

Plus, I love the 5 minute drives to great hikes, such as this one near battlecreek that I've mentioned before. Plus, at my brother's recomendation, I found another 5-minute-away hike that turned out to be an absolutely fabulous sunset hike... but I didn't bring my camera.

Yesterday, I was reminded of how much I enjoy the fields around me when I was out photographing jewelry outside for work (ahhh.. there is my necklace! On the sewer grate, just where I left it...) The sun was ready to leave work before I was, so—with not enough light to photo the jewelry by— I went for a quick little scouting drive over the finally finished Sam White Bridge... and it reminded me that I once road my bike out here, and that I should DEFINITELY do that again.



I'm not usually one for landscape-ish photos, but I took some anyways, to remind me that a lovely evening bike ride is literally just around the corner.

And that is my quickly post to keep my mommy entertained.