From Hippie Rooftops in Berlin

What Ten Trillion Dollars Looks Like. . .

A Sunny Day Along The Harbo(u)r

Movie: In Debt We Trust

my yogurt experiment. . .

Using whole milk and my crock-pot


Photo isn't great but the resulting yogurt was fantastic!



So yes…the result of my yogurt experiment was fabulous (on the second try though-the first try I didn’t follow the recipe that closely and used skim milk for half of the milk, so it took FOREVER to firm up and I didn’t like the runny result). I don’t mind slightly bragging about it-the yogurt came out creamy, silky and dreamy. I’ll be eating yogurt at every meal for the rest of the week.

I forgot to look at the calendar and am now “stuck” with nearly 2 liters of yogurt and I go on vacation next Sunday. The idea popped into my head-“what about frozen yogurt”. . .and I started looking for recipes. Then I thought. .. what about chicken marinades, smoothies (and no, not chicken smoothies), other stuff. . .now I'll be in homemade yogurt heaven for a while. . .

Here are some yogurt recipes I found:

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt Recipe


Making Greek Yogurt Cheese


Yogurt Chicken


Yogurt Cheese-similar to cream cheese

New Mexico Hatch Chilie Sauce

I made New Mexico Hatch Chile sauce today. I'm not sure what I am giong to do with it yet, but "have sauce, will eat" is my motto. First time I've done a sauce like this from NM Hatch chiles, although I have done it several times from chipotle peppers.


Sidebar: I found a very interesting recipe for homemade yogurt using a slow cooker (crock pot) that I am maybe going to try today as well....

And also lusting after this awesome candied yam recipe. . .and this chicken recipe. . .

Update: Got an urge try making hommade mayo later in the afternoon . . .I'll never buy the jarred stuff again.

Just read that Sade is releasing their next album in late 2009. I'm just about ready to do the happy dance.

Shia LaBeouf

I'm in love...seriously...

But he'll never knock my #1 (behind my guy) out of the box...

Got Milk?

A friend of mine had a baby about a month ago. She has another son aged ca. 1.5 years old.

She buys a lot of milk at once- ALOT!

If slaughterhouses had glass walls. . . .

If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian. ~Paul McCartney

The last few months I’ve been thinking about going vegetarian. This isn’t a new thing for me though; I was a laco-ovo vegetarian (dairy, eggs and honey-just not animal flesh) for 7 years and a non-pork and non-beef eater for a year before that. I do have a confession though, despite popular belief, some folks don’t become vegetarians because they disapprove of the practices of the meat packing industry or because of animal rights. They become vegetarians for purely selfish (and totally valid) reasons like; they get grossed out by raw meat, think meat is too expensive or don’t want to fill their bodies with pesticides, hormones or carcinogens. For some folks, vegetarianism is all about them and not so much about the saving animals.

It is kind of funny that I was a vegetarian for so long, considering that in the household I grew up in, meat was considered a well-prized and well-deserved luxury. The ability to eat steaks 7 days a week (not like we ever did, but I’m just saying) and not eating meat every day at every meal meant you must be “crazy”, “insane”, or “loco in la cabessa”. No joke. How many times did I hear “…all of this good food…and you are going to turn your nose up at it? Girl, you MUST be crazy!”-too many. Way too many.

I lost track of how many times not indulging in the Christmas ham got me cussed out or skipping the ham hock laddened greens at dinner got me side-eyed up and down all night.

You wouldn’t know it now but I used to eat tofu steaks and 3-bean chili routinely for dinner and ate vegan banana cake for dessert (yes there is such a thing as vegan cake!). Mind you, I made all of my meals from scratch-every single meal for 2 years (my last two years in high school). I have no idea what my inspiration was, I guess I really liked the taste of kale (ha!). Or maybe it was the twinge of self sufficiency and independence I felt doing something just because I wanted to, especially since my folks didn’t “get” why I was a vegetarian. Or maybe I just felt better eating a veggie diet than eating a meat-based one.

So for 7 years, my lips never touched a slice, bit or fibre of anything that used to belong to an animal’s body. I toyed with the idea of becoming vegan for 2 weeks, but then got very tired of eating peanut butter and beans every meal to fill up. Looking back, all of my veggie experiences seem like a lifetime ago.

But, change has come to my kitchen (as it has come to America)…and I am feeling inspired. I’ve bumped into a few cool blogs about eating healthy and cheaply (and some mostly vegetarian as well).


30 Bucks a Week




Cheap, Healthy and Good


A Year of Slow Cooking

Happy Loving Day

Loving Day was this past Friday but time got away from me and I didn't have time to mark this splendid day with a post. So now I am.

A little history from the web site:
At the time of the Loving decision, sixteen [U.S.] states from Delaware to Texas had laws banning interracial couples. Loving v. Virginia (1967) made it illegal for these states to enforce those laws. This ended a long era of laws that were enforced in forty-two states over the course of American history. These laws did not only apply to black people and white people; many states also restricted relationships with Asians, Native Americans, Indians, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups.

Happy Loving Day!

Loving v. Virginia: Supreme Court case that legalialized interracial marriages in the U.S.

Loving Map
Shows the dates and legal statues banning interracial marriage

I've been trying to up my veggie quotient for the past few weeks and have been trying some new simple recipes. Found Maldon smoked sea salt in one of the local stores and I almost died. This stuff on roasted veggies with black pepper is to die for! Yummy!

Yeah...that's about right....

Source

My First Lobster

Tasty!