Bachelorette Tiara

Last weekend was Eco Yogini's bachelorette party. In true Eco-Yogini style, every attempt was made to keep the party as environmentally friendly as possible. Without the typical bachelorette penis-paraphenalia (paper plates, balloons, cheesy games), it was a bit of a challenge to make it feel like a bachelorette party, and not just a girly-gathering. We decided to stick with one hallmark of the typical bachelorette party - the tiara.

However, we decided this should be no ordinary tiara, and we should avoid the cheap-plastic variety. Instead, I got to thinking about a hand-made wire/bead tiara. I have a big box of wire and beads from my jewelery-making hobby, and had a few ideas spinning in my head. Then I found this lovely tutorial which confirmed my suspicions that it was indeed possible to make a pretty tiara out of just beads and wire.


I carefully selected some pretty, earthy-coloured (green, blue, white & iridescent) beads from my stash. Within a couple hours of bending and twisting wire, the tiara emerged. I wrapped it up in a paper-bag, with some pretty black ribbon strung through holes at the top of the bag.




To attach it to her head, we threaded the same pretty black ribbon through the holes at the ends of the tiara and tied it on at the nape of the neck (like putting on a bandana, or a kerchief). We used a few bobby pins for good measure too. (Here's a picture of our bachelorette, all decked out and ready for the party)

And, since we had planned a wine-tasting - I also made a matching wineglass charm for the bachelorette's glass.


The whole evening was pretty fabulous. We had lots of local wines, and a great spread of food including local cheese, fruit, and bread, as well as home-made potato skins and fabulous jello-shooters (made inside of hollowed out fruit rinds instead of using plastic cups). Check out the evening at Eco Yogini's blog.

Saying goodbye to summer with a homemade peach pie

After a week or two of 30+ temperatures and humidity, Hurricane Earl swept through Halifax on labour day weekend, bringing autumn with it. Since the storm, I can feel the fall winds along the coastline of Point Pleasant Park while I'm out for a run.

With a bowl full of over-ripe sub-par peaches on my counter, I decided to bid summer farewell by baking one last summer dessert - peach pie. Something about home-made pie has always been elusive and daunting to me. I have always thought it would be too difficult to do, so I stuck with home-made cookies and cakes for dessert.

It wasn't until this year, that I made my first-ever pie from scratch. It was a gluten-free strawberry rhubarb pie to share with a celiac-friend during our ritual John Cusack movie night back in March. It turned out pretty well, a bit lopsided, and leaked all over the bottom of the oven, but it tasted okay. The gluten-free dough was difficult to work with though.

So, what better to do with a bunch of rotting peaches than try to make my second-ever pie from scratch! And, this time I challenged myself to a lattice crust on top. I browsed the internet for recipes, as usual, and found a nice looking recipe at one of my favourite food blogs, Dinner with Julie. But, I made some changes to that recipe. So, look below for my version of the ingredients, and follow her instructions if you'd like to use up some peaches in your own kitchen.

Jen's Peach Pie

Pastry for a double crust pie, chilled (I use the recipe from Dinner with Julie for Never Fail Pastry. I usually add a bit more sugar for a sweet pie, and leave out the sugar for a savoury pie or quiche)

Filling
- 10 ripe peaches
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger

After that, I pretty much just followed Julie's instructions, except that I blind-baked the bottom crust for 15min at 400°F before adding the fruit filling. The lattice crust on top really wasn't so difficult, and it sure looks fancy!

We'll be enjoying this pie all week, an excellent way to say goodbye to summer and welcome the fall.

Now, bring on apple and pumpkin pie season.

Jewelery Display Board

I never used to wear jewelery. I bought it. I received it as gifts. I liked it. I just never WORE it. I'd usually forget that I owned most of it. I'd misplace it. I'd stuff it in a drawer or box. It was out of sight - out of mind. Really! I needed some way to display all my favourite pieces for daily wardrobe accessorizing.

One of my favourite spots to find funky jewelery in Halifax is the Black Market. While shopping for some new wooden earrings a couple years ago, I noticed that a lot of their jewelery was pinned up on boards on the wall. It was a pretty effective way to show their entire jewelery stash.

So, when I was still a student, I salvaged an old water-damaged bulletin board from a garbage pile, and brought it home with intentions of remaking it into a pretty jewelery display. It sat around for a while first. I tried hanging up just the board, but it was a pretty big eyesore on it's own (lots of water damage). So I wrapped the whole thing in blue fabric (frame and hooks and all) - an improvement, but not perfect.

This week, I finally decided to do it right. I took the frame off the board, with a slot-head screwdriver and a pair of needle-nose pliers. This involved removing a few long-skinny staples that were holding it all together. I covered it in some blue jersey fabric (scrap from a dress I made once), and staple-gunned it all into place.

I replaced the frame, using some finishing nails and wood-glue to keep it tightly together. I carefully placed t-pins into the board, measuring spaces between them for earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces (since I had a lot to fit on there). The t-pins have a great shape for holding items on the board, as compared to regular straight-pins.

And now it hangs in my closet, right above my dresser - so I am reminded to accessorize when I get dressed in the mornings.

One small corner is conveniently reserved for broaches and pins. The majority is taken up by earrings and necklaces. But there's a small selection of bracelets and rings too.

Conveniently, it also encourages me to put my accessories away at the end of the day, so I don't misplace them.

the long awaited couch reupholstery (part 2)

continued from part one.

on my evenings and weekends from work, i managed to complete the rest of the project.

new fabric: i laid out my fabric on my living room floor and placed all the old upholstery pieces on top. i pinned them into place, and cut around them, creating a duplicate piece out of my new fabric. i labeled the new pieces with the labels from the originals. some of the old fabric was so worn that it needed to be thrown away. but, some has been salvaged by a friend, who wants to use it to make pillows for her couch and to reupholster a couple seats on wooden chairs. i approve of this fabric in small doses such as these. i don't think it will be so hideous in these amounts.

piping: i'd never made piping before this project. so, i called my aunt to find out why it was important that piping be made with bias cut fabric. really, what i wanted her to say was that it wasn't important at all, and that i wouldn't have to cut 20 feet of 2-inch bias strips (pain-in-the-butt!). but, she informed me that it was important for durability (longevity), and for flexibility (going around corners). so, i used bias-cut strips, and the previously salvaged piping cord, and made enough piping for my cushions and the arm-facings.

padding: i hadn't planned to re-pad the couch. but, when i removed the original fabric, the padding looked so old and thin - it needed some love. i happened to have a bag of quilt batting in the closet, so i added a layer of that to the arms and to the back of the couch.


cushion covers: these were, by far, the most challenging portion of the project. my cushions are box-shaped, so they are easier than some couch cushions - but sewing around corners and through several layers of thick fabric (top/bottom, side & piping) is challenging, even with the necessary zipper foot attachment. in addition, box cushion covers have zippers, and i think this was only the second (and third) time i'd ever installed a zipper. i really just used the original cushion cover as a guide. they turned out a bit uneven, with a few puckers - but you can't really tell once they're filled with foam and in place on the couch.


reconstruction: piece by piece, the couch was finally reupholstered. i used a craft-sized staple gun, and followed the order pictured by my library book. it was nice to have and extra set of hands for this part of the project. chris was able to pull the fabric tight into place for stapling. i was pretty sure there would be staples showing when it was done, because i hadn't thought of a better way. but, at the last minute i raided our stash of thumb tacks and used them as makeshift upholstery tacks. we carefully hammered them in, and we broke a couple in the process, but we had spares. someday, i'll replace them with real upholstery tacks, but for now - these look much better than visible staples.

and that's it!

in summary, here are my tips for your amateur reupholstery project
1. check your local library for upholstery books and find one that has a similar project to what you're planning
2. take digital pictures along the way to help you reconstruct your furniture
3. buy a bit more fabric than you think you'll need
4. reuse as many materials as you can (piping cord, foam , etc - it's already the perfect size/shape for your piece of furniture)
5. have an extra set of hands to help with the actual upholstery stuff - pulling fabric to the right tension for stapling. the extra set of eyes is also helpful to let you know if it looks too tight or too loose.
6. have spare sewing machine needles, and make sure they are heavy-duty ones for upholstery fabrics. i broke 2 or 3 needles during this project and had to run out to buy more.

the long awaited couch reupholstery (part 1)

i had big plans to reupholster my couch when i started this blog during my last bout of unemployment. however, i didn't accurately estimate the time it would take me to complete the project, and all i really did during my unemployment was the preliminary stuff: fabric shopping and deconstructing the old couch. these preliminary tasks happened in a couple days toward the end of my unemployment, and i didn't take the time to document them properly here, until now. so, here's part one of my couch reupholstery adventure.

the original couch: when chris and i moved into this apartment, the previous tenants had left a little couch. it certainly wasn't pretty, and it wasn't super-comfortable; but it was free and it was something else to sit on. the upholstery pattern was hideous, and it was worn, ripped, and frayed in so many spots, that even if it wasn't so hideous, something would have to be done about it. my mom and i created a slip cover for the couch, to cover its ugly and fraying upholstery. but, i eventually grew tired of constantly rearranging and fixing the displaced slip cover. so, i decided to attempt amateur reupholstery.

preparation: i googled a lot about upholstering a couch, and i didn't find much - just one useful blog from someone who had previously undertaken the amateur upholstery adventure. i also picked up a book from my local public library. this was a very helpful resource. i had little-to-no reupholstery experience. the only thing i'd ever done before was reupholster a weight bench with some pleather as a birthday gift for chris. but, that was really just a rectangular cushion, not too tough!

fabric shopping: halifax has a very limited selection of fabric stores. in turn, these fabric stores have a very limited selection of fabrics. i managed to find a denim-ish upholstery fabric at Atlantic Fabrics. it was pretty much the only thing i even remotely liked at the fabric store - the only thing that didn't feel so plastic or synthetic. it was nicely priced at $9.95 per metre. i had calculated i would need 4 metres (after measuring each pieces as per the book's instructions), but i bought 5 metres, just to be safe. the store was having a sale, so i spent just over $50 on the fabric and two spools of thread.

de-upholstery: it probably took me a good 4-6 hours to really pull off all the old upholstery fabric. i could have done it faster if i was more destructive, but i was trying to save each piece to use as a template for my new fabric. i starting removing staples, taking the outside back piece of fabric off first, and then removing whatever whole piece i could get to next. each piece i removed, i marked with a piece of paper pinned onto it, so i could remember where it belonged later. i also took digital pictures to help me with the reupholstery process. i'm very glad i did this - since the couch sat naked/unupholstered in my office for over a month before i began really reupholstering it.

i didn't purchase any special tools. i used some small needle-nose pliers and a slot-head screwdriver that i had on hand. in hindsight, a pair of light work-gloves would have been handy too. i definitely scraped and poked my hands with staples and pliers while pulling out the staples and pulling off the fabric. this was a VERY dusty job, and i kept the cordless vacuum handy at all times. inside the couch, among the dust bunnies, i also found a quarter, a pen, and a crochet hook - nothing too exciting unfortunately.

i took apart all the piping on the couch, and saved the cord to re-use to make piping with my fabric. i took apart one of the cushion covers to use for as a template (x2) for the new cushion covers. i left one cushion cover together to use as a construction example.

and that's where it stopped, for over a month. the couch and all my fabric sat in the office until i found some evening and weekend time during the month of july. i completed part two completely in my spare time from work.

DIY by someone else?

as much of a DIYer that i am, i just can't do everything myself. it is not realistic for me to make all (or even most) of my own clothing/accessories. but, i can support handmade/small-run businesses (other DIYers), especially if they have eco-friendly practices; and find beautiful unique items to add to my closet.

fiveseed is having a lovely giveaway. it's for a very pretty scarf from foulard threads. i am embracing the world of bloggy-giveaways and posting this entry earns me an extra entry into pretty prize potential.

see here:
http://fiveseed.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/giveaway-foulard-threads/#comment-210

funemployment over, already?!

i've been neglecting the blog this past week, mostly because reupholstering a couch is a lot of work, and has been taking up all my project time. i've finally got all the old fabric off the couch, and am going to sit down to cut out new pieces from the upholstery fabric i bought.

i imagine it will take a while. especially since i go back to work today. i've got a contract to take me until june 25 (and potentially until august 13). so, my time for blogging will be less. but i'm gonna try to keep up one crafty project per week. there's still lots of things i'd like to do that didn't get done during my 5 weeks off.

stay tuned.

DIY pain au chocolat

 last week, chris and i watched an episode of good eats, and i became convinced that making my own puff pastry was a bad idea - too much effort and poor results likely. according to alton brown, the store bought frozen puff pastry is made with big machines that can control the laminated pastry dough layers much more easily than the average amateur pastry chef can in their home kitchen.

but, the next day, i started reading a blog called dinner with julie, and she made it seem so easy! her recipe and blog entry really convinced me that i (an average person with no pastry-chef training) could do it. i threw caution (and all of alton brown's warnings) to the wind and got started on the dough.

things i learned:
- rolling out refrigerated dough is hard work. and requires significant upper body strength. i do not have much of this strength. chris was recruited to help at times.
- my oven is very temperamental, and cannot keep a consistent temperature (it wavers back and forth by 50 degrees). this results in dark-bottomed croissants if you don't watch carefully.
- alton brown was right, puff pastry is hard work. but, i'll probably try it again sometime when i have a few days to spare.

  overall, my first attempt at puff pastry was not too bad. there's definitely things i'll change when/if i attempt it again (mostly relating to technique rather than ingredients).

but, they were certainly edible - and disappeared quickly in the grad student office (although, that may not be the best way to judge their quality). they were even flaky, and i could see a few of the laminated layers.

the chocolate ganache centres were delicious (a modification i made to the original recipe). much better than using regular chocolate which hardens when the croissant returns to room temperature. the chocolate ganache centres stayed soft and creamy until the last croissant was gone.

yum.

urban gardening

in spring of 2008, we built one large planter (to hang on our balcony railing) out of some found/salvaged soft wood. that year we grew mint, chives, and basil in our balcony planter, and we officially caught the urban-gardening bug.

last year (2009) the planter started to give a bit from the weight of the soil and a year's worth of slow decomposition (soil + water + time = decomposing wood), so we reinforced it with some plywood pieces along the bottom. at the same time, chris built us another planter out of salvaged/found plywood and we expanded our urban gardening adventures. we grew chives, mint, and basil in one planter; and attempted nasturtiums and morning glories in the other planter. we spent hours building an elaborate fishing-line trellis for the nasturtiums and morning glories to climb. we attached it to the planter and to the top of our balcony; planted our pre-started seeds into the planter; and waited for the beautiful climbing vines to begin. they didn't. instead, over a matter of days, starling came and clipped off all the nasturtium and morning glory sprouts. we tried some visual and auditory starling scare tactics, with no luck. we gave up on the trellis and vines. we did still have success with the basil, chives, and mint. we also had some success with thyme and cilantro in pots on the balcony. although, our basil got aphids and we made the mistake of bringing it into the apartment, and aphids transferred to a few of our indoor plants. the removal process has been long, and tedious. but we think we finally got them all.

this year, our original planter (circa 2008) was looking pretty rough. i was not very confident that it would make it through the season without the sides falling off, leaking its contents onto the driveway/balconies below. we spent last sunday on the balcony, inspecting, repairing and rehanging the planters. the original planter required some serious repair/reinforcing, but it's much more structurally sound now :)

 we emptied out the old soil (for fear of aphids) and filled the planters with a mixture of pro-mix and organic compost to get our balcony garden started for the year. we bought all our seeds and soil from halifax seed this year, and we've been very impressed with their wealth of information and the time that they spent helping us in store. they've also got great tips on their website, including seed starting/sowing dates.

we planted the spinach seeds which will get one whole planter. the chives wintered over well and have started to come up again already. we'll start our basil indoors this week. and next month we'll sow the parsley, thyme, and coriander outside. our balcony doesn't get great sun exposure, so we're limited in what we can grow there. but, we're going to try some hot peppers indoors this year, on the shelf/ledge of a south-facing window.

 if all goes well this year, we'll have:
- chives for using fresh
- basil for using fresh and for making pesto
- parsley for using fresh and drying
- cilantro for guacamole and salsa making
- thyme for using fresh and drying
- spinach for eating/freezing

next year we might even try to secure a plot in a local community garden that's just a few blocks away from our apartment.

DIY dinner

chris and i have been watching a lot of jamie oliver's food revolution lately. it continues to astound us just how many people there are in north america who rely on fast food, pre-packaged foods, and processed/frozen foods for a majority of their meals.

i've seen supersize me and i've read excerpts from fast food nation; but i'd never realized that people really DO live that fast-food/convenience food lifestyle.

moreover, i can't believe that people regularly feed their children that crap. the brown-bag lunches featured on the most recent episode of jamie's food revolution were full of convenience foods, and therefore full of: sugar, sodium, preservatives and additives. see the lengthy list of ingredients on this pre-packaged/frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich. and i thought a simple PB and J sandwich was already a convenience food (ie. it's easy to make?!)

chris and i both grew up with daily home-cooked meals, and brown-bag lunches filled with sandwiches, apples, carrot sticks and the occasional cookie/treat. for my family, fast food was a treat, happening only every second thursday of the month. the other 28 meals per month were home-made.

so, until watching jamie's food revolution, i probably wouldn't have considered making a healthy dinner as a worthy adventure in DIYing. but now, i guess i do!

 so, here's what we had for dinner on friday night. i made my first ever french onion soup. using alton brown's recipe. there's a few things i'd change about the recipe. overall, it was a bit too thick for us (a few too many onions, and not enough broth); and maybe a touch too sweet too. i'll go for more beef broth, less apple cider and less onions overall next time.

we didn't own french-onion soup crocks until friday morning, when i found some handmade ones at value village for a mere 99 cents each! they've got great character - little imperfections and signs that they are obviously hand made.

i also made some fresh garlic bread to go with the soup, and topped it with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. i tossed a few local salad greens in our home-made salad dressing and sprinkled with a few roasted pumpkin seeds. overall not a difficult meal. just a bit time consuming - but that's what funemployment is about.

 

project updates

washable cosmetic squares - and the lucky winner (chosen via random number generator) is a green spell.

thanks for sharing all your eco-friendly cosmetic ideas and products. and much thanks for reading my blog - yay new readers! one thing i have noticed, is that the felted wool can get a bit "hairy" with aggressive use - but it can be trimmed back with some scissors. some thick flannel might be another good fabric option for the pads. i say go with what you have, or can find second hand - re-purpose something!

yogurt - i implemented the modifications i mentioned in my DIY yogurt post, with GREAT success. this time, i held the milk at 185°F for 30 minutes prior to adding the starter. once it was cooled to 115°F, the starter was added and i put the whole thing in a thermos that we bought at MEC for a mere $15. we'd been considering one for our camping trips anyhow - so now it will double as a yogurt-making "machine"! when i screwed the cap on the temperature of the liquid was 114°F. after 12 hours of letting the bacteria do it's thing the temperature inside was 106°F. in 12 hours, the thermos only lost 8°F. so, the yogurt stayed within the sweet spot (100-115°F) for yogurt magic to happen. after a few hours of refrigeration in glass jars, the yogurt was the perfect consistency - probably twice as thick as the last stuff we made. it actually stays on the spoon, rather than dripping off! yogurt success!

cinnamon buns

i'm taking advantage of this funemployment to try new baking adventures that i probably wouldn't try otherwise. i've always wanted to make home-made cinnamon rolls, but the time required and possibility of failure has kept it off my baking radar until now.

then, last week one of my favourite baking blogs, bakerella posted about her attempts at making pioneer woman's cinnamon rolls. they looked delicious. but, like bakerella, me and bread-doughs don't go so well together, and i resort to my trusty bread machine to do the "dough" portion of the recipe.

i found a recipe on allrecipes.com that was highly rated and allowed for use of a bread machine. i added a bit of cinnamon and ginger to the dough ingredients, and used a bit less flour (as per some reviews of the recipe). i set my bread machine to dough setting on tuesday night, and awoke at 6:30am to the grinding sound of the bread machine spinning. i dragged myself out of bed to shut the bedroom door and then went back to sleep. by 8:00am, the dough was ready, and so was i.

since my plan was to make some half-sized cinnamon rolls, chris and i spent a bit of time the night before trying to calculate the appropriate length and width to roll the dough out in order to achieve the correct size (when rolled) cinnamon bun. we settled on 16"x32". we also calculated the size i should cut each cinnamon roll to achieve maximum uniformity. i am nothing if not a chronic-over-planner.

 when i began rolling the dough out on the counter, i realized - we don't actually have a portion of counter that is 32" in length or depth. oops. the largest portion of counter is the top of our portable dishwasher at 24"x26".

so, with some quick math and a knife, i revised my dough into two 16"x16" squares. and began spreading on the buttery-cinnamon-sugar goodness and rolling into 16" long cylinders. after that, i threw my plans for cinnamon roll size to the wind, and cut them to try to get at least two dozen similarly sized rolls.

i baked in muffin pans rather than in a 9x13" pan, so that they would be easier to get out of the pan, and more "single-serving" friendly.

 i packaged (most of) them and poured on some maple & cream-cheese icing. being a keen supporter of science research (and a thoughtful girlfriend), i walked them over to the SMU astronomy & physics grad students office so they could enjoy some tasty free food.

they've been getting a new home-baked item weekly in their office. which is nice of me, but also an excellent way to practice self-control. baked goods are definitely for sharing.

and here's one with icing, that i'm going to take to share with a friend today.
 

TOMORROW: cloth napkins; and a winner for the DIY cosmetic pads.

happy earth day everyone!

DIY cosmetic rounds (or squares)

lately i've been (slowly) switching from regular cosmetic/bath products to ones that don't contain nasty chemicals (which can be harmful to both me and the environment). if you want to read more, the campaign for safe cosmetics has a lot of great information about what's inside your shampoo, make-up, and perfume.

we now use a shampoo bar (no plastic packaging!) from a local soap maker; and i've pretty well stopped using conditioner (most days). our soap is DIYed from last summer's adventures in saponification. i'm playing around with a couple hair products that i've purchased from pur alternatives. and i recently purchased the burt's bees rosewater & glycerin toner which isn't perfect in terms of ingredients, but it's better than most.

 but, to use that more eco-friendly toner, i've been buying disposable organic cotton cosmetic rounds. unfortunately, they just pile up in the garbage can because they can't go into our municipal compost system. i figured there had to be a better way, and decided to make my own washable cosmetic rounds.

i headed to the salvation army for inspiration, and came home with some second-hand wool sweaters - to shrink and turn into lovely soft felt. crafting in a green world has a good felting tutorial.

 
i found that my sweaters needed two rounds in the hot washer and two rounds in the hot dryer to get felted to my satisfaction. i felted a whole bunch of sweaters (for various crafting projects) at once, so i feel less guilty about the energy required to hot-wash and dry (usually we'd cold-wash and hang-dry our clothing). one important thing to note: your sweaters need to have a high wool content, i'd say at least 80%, and the closer to 100% wool you can get, the better the felting results.

so, once my sweater was felted, i cut it into small squares (about 6cm x 6cm each). you could stop here, and have perfectly functional make-up removal/toner pads. however, i decided to dress mine up a bit. so, i cut squares of fabric (from my scrap bin), about 7cm x 7cm, and ironed down all 4 edges on each fabric square.

  i attached the fabric squares to the felted wool pieces, pinned in place, and then sewed the fabric to the felt around all 4 edges. the ones pictured are all plaid, but i've also made some baby blue and navy blue ones to mix-it-up and give as gifts. i'll be giving them in sets of 16 (enough for 2 weeks use plus a couple extra), in an assortment of fabric-scrap colours/patterns.

 
i'm also planning to make little mesh-bags for washing. these can go into the washer and dryer with your socks and underwear. they'd probably even air-dry pretty quickly (wool is great like that!).

and now for the fun part! i've made an extra set to give away. it's my first blog giveaway!

leave a comment telling me your favourite eco-friendly beauty product (or one you'd most like to try). i'll pick someone at random on friday april 23rd at 10:00am EST. if you don't know me personally, be sure to leave me some way to contact you. if you do know me personally, you might not win - but might get some of these as a gift for your next celebratory event :)

DIY Yogurt

 as previously mentioned, i love granola. and i love it most with a bowl of good yogurt. so, when my most recent readymade magazine arrived, i was excited to try the yogurt recipe on page 44.

lots of big-name brand store-bought yogurt contains food additives like gelatin, aspartame, guar gum, locust bean gum, artificial colours/flavours, etc. i prefer my food to just contain food, without all the extra things that i don't understand. i also find that gelatin (used as a thickener in many store-bought yogurts), triggers cold sores for me (probably because it contains lots of the amino acid arginine).

lately we've been buying yogurt from a foxhill cheese, who sells cheese, yogurt and gelato at the farmer's market. they make a really delicious vanilla yogurt, and it's only ingredients are: milk, sugar, vanilla and bacterial cultures. i used some of this yogurt as the starter for the yogurt i made myself.

the recipe from readymade makes it all look pretty simple. and it was! it uses 2% milk, a little bit of plain yogurt, a thermometer, a pot, a big jar and a towel. most of these were things that i had around my kitchen to begin with. i didn't have a jar big enough for the whole litre of yogurt, so instead i used two smaller jars (re-used salsa jars).

there's not a tonne of hands-on time required to make this recipe, but the waiting is tricky (for me, i'm inpatient). the yogurt needs to sit for 5+ hours, and then refrigerate overnight before you eat it. last night at bedtime, i was a bit too excited for breakfast time to come. i kept myself awake thinking about possible flavour combinations for my yogurt.

 it was worth the wait (and the little bit of lack-of-sleep). the end result is pretty tasty! i flavoured mine with some local (frozen) blueberries, and maple syrup. yum! chris flavoured his with the dregs of a jar of apricot jam from our fridge. it tasted great with the granola i also made yesterday.

one thing to note - the yogurt was considerably thinner than what we're used to. so, i did some google-troubleshooting and found a few tips that i'll try next time i make it to help get a thicker yogurt.

 a different method of incubation. readymade magazine's recipe suggests you just wrap the jar in a towel, but that probably doesn't maintain the heat as well as using a double-walled stainless steel thermos, or using the oven, crock-pot, or a heating pad. i'll probably try the thermos next, since it's the most energy efficient of the methods. the idea is to maintain the yogurt temperature at about 110 degrees F for 5 hours or more so the bacterial cultures can do their job.

holding the milk at 185°F for thirty minutes before cooling and adding the starter. according to makeyourownyogurt.com the extended heating denatures the milk proteins, and enables them to sequester more of the water in milk, and you lose some more to evaporation.

 there's also some other suggestions, like using some powdered milk - but i don't think i'll try that. it increases expenses, complexity, and food miles. i'll put the other suggestions to the test this weekend, once we eat up all the yogurt from this batch (which won't take long).

a quest for tasty granola

i love granola. but only if it's home-made-style granola. i really dislike the taste of the cloying-corn-syrupy boxed granola available in the grocery store cereal aisle. and it all seems so expensive for such an inferior product. so i usually just make my own.

over the past few months or so, i've been perfecting my granola recipe. i used to make a recipe that i stole from the local coffee establishment that employed me during my masters degree studies. it was pretty good recipe. but something about it reminded me too much of early saturday morning shifts at the cafe.

and then i had some incredible granola from another local establishment - the coastal cafe. they serve it with fresh fruit and vanilla yogurt. they call it "the steph" and it is delicious! i've been attempting to replicate it ever since i tasted it last summer. i purchased a bag of it, brought it home to analyze and made a list of what i thought the ingredients might be.

then i also found this granola recipe and enjoyed it too. it seemed to include a lot of the ingredients that i had guessed were in coastal's granola. so, i thought i'd merge them to see what i produced. the result has been tasty!

now i've created my perfect granola recipe. i don't think it replicated the coastal's granola exactly, but i do think it's delicious (and probably a bit healthier than theirs is - less sugar).

 

this granola (baking in the oven, in the picture above) is full of wonderful stuff. nuts, seeds, oats, maple syrup, coconut! of course, you could always change up the main ingredients to suit your tastes. i'm a big fan of this combination of ingredients - but you might not be. make it to suit your tastes and what you've got in your cupboards. here's my recipe:

 ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp water
1 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup wheat germ
4 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp ground flax seed
1 cup coconut
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup almonds (whole)
1 cup walnuts (chopped)

instructions:
- preheat to 275 degrees F
- grease two cookie cookie sheets with cooking spray or oil and set aside
- bring oil, syrup and water to a simmer in a saucepan over low heat
- mix all other ingredients together in a large bowl
- pour oil/maple syrup mixture over dry mixture and stir to combine
- pour mixture onto two prepared cookie sheets
- squeeze granola in handfuls to form small clumps
- bake for 30 minutes
- stir and continue to bake until golden brown (15 minutes longer)
- let cool, then store in an airtight container
- makes approximately 12 cups

it makes a lot of granola. so there's always some for sharing. although, i must admit - i'll eat this granola for breakfast every day until it's gone.

i also made an attempt at home-made yogurt today. if all goes well i'll blog about it tomorrow over a delicious home-made breakfast of yogurt and granola. yum!

upcycling shirts into belly bands/haramakis

my sister is pregnant, due in august. i've been trying to help her increase her maternity wardrobe by picking up fun maternity clothing pieces from second-hand stores. i managed to find some great deals at my local salvation army and value village stores on some nice pieces to add to her collection.

the other day, i contemplated buying her a haramaki, to add to her maternity wardrobe.

a haramaki is a belly protector, originally a component of samurai armour, and made of silk and lined with chain mail or iron. these days, the haramaki is a japanese fashion accessory, which is essentially a tube-top worn around the midriff.

bella bands are a similar product, specifically marketed at pregnant women. it is supposed to allow them to extend the life of their pre-pregnancy clothing by hiding open buttons and zippers; and by covering the belly that won't fit under non-maternity shirts.

in addition to extending the functional wardrobe, the haramaki/belly band keeps the belly warm and protected. it also provides light support to the belly and lower back. according to Haramaki Love, these belly bands also aid in digestion and circulation. see their list of benefits here

both products retail for around $30. i figured i could make something for a small fraction of that cost. i did some searching on the internet for belly band tutorials, but i didn't find anything i loved. so i decided to play around with it a bit.

 having recently cleaned out my closet, i had a bag of items ready to send to the women's shelter. from there, i chose 4 shirts, all made of 2-way stretch knit material (so it will stretch over the belly in length and width). i wound up using two identical tees from RW&Co (teal and red); a grey tee from Joe; and a white tee from the Gap. at this point, i decided to make 2 reversible bands, with 2 layers of fabric each, rather than 4 individual bands. the teal and red shirts even had some funky ruching along the sides which i managed to preserve for the belly band.


 the next step was to decide on a length for the belly bands and cut off the tops of all 4 shirts accordingly. i chose approximately 14", which was about the distance from armpit to hem on all 4 of my shirts. the finished belly band will be slightly less than 14", depending on your seam allowance. i paired up my shirts, and got started on the first double-layer belly band.

but, for a single layer belly-band, you could just fold over and finish the raw edge. then you'd be done. for a reversible band, keep reading...

 
turn one band inside-out (white) and keep one band right-side-out (grey). put one band inside the other, with the right-sides facing each other. the inside-out band (white) will be on the outside, and the right-side-out band (grey) will be on the inside (insert head-scratching here).

pin the bands together, and then sew them together, sewing around the top of the unfinished edges only. be sure to use a stretch stitch.

turn the bands around so that they are now wrong-side facing wrong-side (right-sides outward), and sew the bands together along the bottom (finished edge). this line of stitching will show on both sides of the fabric (depending on your thread colour). my stretch-stitch is kinda decorative, so i don't mind it that way.

that's really all there is to it. once i'd planned it out in my head, making these bands didn't take long.

 
for now, this is the best finished-product photo i've got. once my sister receives her reversible belly bands in the mail, i'll post a haramaki action-shot. ;)

if you don't have a sewing machine, or can't manage a DIY belly band/haramaki. you can order one from Haramaki Love. their product is proudly made in Canada.

not so funemployment...

my DIY projects met a few road-blocks late last week and over the weekend. as a result, it's taken until today for me to get back on track.

in trying to make the best of my current unemployment situation, i neglected the nagging feeling of decreased self-worth that seems to come with unemployment. last week, i applied for EI; i started a few projects; i took care of some car-related paperwork and appointments; i gathered up income tax stuff; i got some exercise; i cooked and i cleaned; i did laundry; i came down with a cold.

after spending sunday on the couch, sick and drinking cold-fighting herbal tea, with my trusty box of tissues nearby; this overwhelming feeling of worthlessness appeared. it came after spending an evening with a person who could make the queen of england feel worthless without even trying. one of those people who just crosses the line with their opinions, over and over again. and it just sort of put me over the edge.

despite all this free time i have, unemployment is making me feel sort of inadequate and expendable. who knew that i would actually long for my busy work schedule, full of appointments and meetings keeping me busy for 8+ hours per day. my job, as hectic as it could be, gave me value, and a sense of importance.

i let those feelings get the best of me this weekend. but they're gone now. i also used them as motivation to get myself up and going this morning. and i scheduled some (important) things to do today.

one of those things, is my next DIY project post. which is coming later today - an up-cycled gift for my pregnant sister.

baking with butter, because it's locally made...

in our quest to eat locally, chris and i recently made the decision to switch to butter from margarine. there's a great debate about which one is healthier, and i won't get into that here. just google "butter vs margarine" to see for yourself.

we both grew up eating margarine, because it's what our parents bought. in my family, we only had butter for two occasions: family gatherings (because some extended family members wouldn't eat margarine); and in november/december (aka shortbread baking season).

in the small amounts that chris and eat of it (on toast in the morning), we feel better purchasing a locally made product with minimal packaging (butter), rather than something that comes in a non-recyclable plastic tub via truck from somewhere outside the province (margarine).

at the same time, i've also been on a quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. i wondered if my use of margarine rather than butter or shortening was affecting my cookie outcomes. every time i make my chocolate chip cookies, they're delicious right out of the oven. BUT they quickly harden and aren't as soft and chewy the next day. i could really use a cooking/baking chemistry course. but instead, i resorted to the internet to tell me what i'm doing wrong.

alton brown says that there are 3 things that will make your cookies stay softer for longer:

1. using more brown sugar in place of white sugar
2. using a higher-gluten flour (ie. bread flour) instead of all purpose flour
3. extra egg yolk

a few baking websites on the internet also recommend these things for a cookie that stays softer for longer:

- melting your butter before using it
- carefully measuring flour
- refrigerating the dough prior to baking
- "undercooking" your cookies (removing them from the oven just before they're done because they continue baking on the pan for a minute or two after they're out of the oven)
- using half vegetable shortening and half butter (the shortening is supposed to keep them softer?)

all that being said. i certainly realized the major flaws in my cookie making...

 
i've been trying to get away with using egg-whites only, to make a lower cholesterol cookie. i've also been using margarine instead of butter and/or shortening. i am not particularly strict with my ingredient measurement - i tend to use very loose measurements. i'm impatient - so i rarely refrigerate the dough prior to baking. and, on top of it all, i'm pretty sure i'm a chronic over-baker - meaning, i always give my cookies "just one more minute" in the oven, and the bottoms always wind up a bit dark. my oven is about 50 degrees hotter than it's dial reads, and i don't always take that into account either.

however, i already use all or mostly-all brown sugar in my cookie recipes. so, i do get a few bonus points for that.

so for today's cookies, i put aside my cookie baking habits and tried to follow the suggestions of the wise old internet.

 
here's the recipe i used. i made some changes, to reflect the above suggestions for softer cookies. (1/3 cup of brown sugar in place of the 1/2 white; and 1/4 cup shortening in place of some of the butter) i also added 1/2 cup walnuts. i made my cookies smaller than the ones in the original recipe.

and, now to put them to the test. i baked a double batch. you should all come over and eat some :)

but really, most of the cookies will go to school with chris tomorrow to feed the hungry grad students in his office. chris has graciously volunteered to eat at least one cookie every day until they're gone, to test for cookie softness decreasing over time.

Coat Rack & Shelf

Last Friday I took care of my blog layout and designed a pretty banner (see above). So, now it's time to get down to business.
 
Saturday morning (after our weekly trip to the Halifax Farmer's Market) Chris and I went to Piercys to buy some pine boards for our coat-rack-shelf-thingy. We spent $22 on wood and then headed to the north shore to visit Chris' parents, and take advantage of his dad's workshop and tools.

Now, seeing as this is my DIY blog, I must confess that I could not have done this shelf on my own. It was really a joint project for me and Chris, with him doing anything that required a finer-woodworker's touch/extensive upper body strength. I did lots of planning, measuring, basic cutting, sanding, and applying the finish.

Chris and I did up our initial plans using Google Sketch-Up, which made it really easy to conceptualize what we'd need for materials, and gave us a clear picture of what we would be building.

Since I don't imagine anyone desires our exact plans for building this particular piece, I'll spare the detailed step-by-step and just provide a quick run-down of the process.

We cut the boards to size for the pieces of our shelf, using the table saw, radial arm saw, and the surface planer. We used the band saw and the belt sander to create the curved pieces for the shelf. We drilled pilot holes before screwing the main pieces of the shelf together. Then to fill those holes, we used small pieces of dowel cut to size on the band saw.

The coat-pegs were also done using dowel, which had been cut to length and scored on one end. We drilled holes for the 6 coat pegs, inserted them, and then wedged them open on the back so to keep them tight (+ lots of wood clue for added sticking power).

We sanded the whole thing, and rounded the edges with a router. We applied 3 coats of polyurethane finish, leaving each coat to dry before applying the next (which didn't take long in the warm weather we had on Sunday!).

We brought the coat-rack home on Monday and hung it up. And now our coats and bags hang up neatly in the hallway, rather than being strewn about the living room.
 

For more photos, you can check out my Picasa Album:

blogging and baking...

today is my first official day of unemployment. i just finished up a contract and don't have another one beginning until may 10. so, i've decided to try to resurrect my blogging abilities and dust off my basic html skills.

i don't think i was ever a particularly interesting blogger before. mostly i blogged about my melodramatic undergrad university life and some nice friends read it and commented on occasion. livejournal was so hip back then (everybody had one!). i've tried to keep blogging with my same old old livejournal account, but i've been sporadic at best. i also think i've lost most of my lj readership - and it's hard to keep writing when it feels like no one is reading.

since i don't own a cell phone, nor do i "tweet" - i do enjoy the occasional updates from good friends via LJ. but, i don't check my livejournal friends-page obsessively anymore. in fact, all my LJ feeds come to me via google reader, along with my favourite webcomics and DIYer blogs. i keep myself updated every morning while i eat my multi-grain raisin bread with a glass of local apple cider.

fortunately for all of you (and for myself really), my excessively emotional early-twenties are over. i've analyzed my google reader feed and thought a bit about popular blogs like the hundred mile diet and the julie/julia project and, i've come to realize that a good blogg(er) needs a defined topic and perhaps even a vision or a path.

so. here we are. i'll be crafting, cooking, baking and generally DIYing my way through the next 5 weeks of unemployment. i'm going to try to take on a new project daily (or at least 3-5 times a week) and then tell you all about it here.

for today, i did something kinda simple. i baked a cake (rhubarb-blueberry almond with cream cheese icing). it's chris' aunt's birthday tonight and we're going over there for dinner. blogging is a great thing to do while the cake is baking! i'll post pictures later when it's all put together (but before it's all eaten).

tomorrow's DIY project will be playing with my blog, to make it prettier and give it some sort of relevant banner/pictures etc. as well as planning out some upcoming projects. stay tuned.