For Ashley

Dear Ash,
These are the tulips I mentioned in our phone conversation last night. You called me to tell me you'll be moving to Santa Cruz in September... finally you'll be on the west coast! In my time zone! A 5 hour drive away, instead of a plane ride. Can it really be true?


See? Aren't they magical inside? These tulips cost $4 at Trader Joe's... I know I should buy potted plants instead, but these were so pretty and so cheap! Here's the full view of my bathroom wall... you get the idea now.


You said you were excited for year-round farmers' markets, and living by the ocean, sunshine, camping trips, dinner parties... yes.

This will be good.

Fancy Frills : Why Vanilla Milk?

Today's quandry can be filed under definition #11 (and possibly #14), as it focuses on a matter that demonstrates the unnecessary, unquestioned aspects of consumer America. I consider myself to be a relatively healthy person. I happen to not eat meat (technically a lacto-ovo-pescatarian, or as I like to think "no legs, sometimes a face"), but my general outlook on life is that of being physically fit, reducing my carbon footprint, and eating things that are not just good for my body, but good for the world. Of course, my attempts could be better made... I often buy and consume products that I know do not support the people and practices that I wish they did. It's usually a decision between spending extra money and putting in extra time, or taking the easy route. I'm sure anyone reading this can relate.

What I can do, however, is question and research my environment. Which brings me to today's question: why do manufacturers of soy, almond, and rice milk feel the need to flavor their products with vanilla?

I suppose that the effort is to draw dairy milk consumers to their products and sweeten the deal with vanilla. But most people seeking out alternatives to cow's milk, for dietary or political reasons wouldn't need the extra sugar and flavoring to switch what they're consuming. The very addition of vanilla to these products, to me, says "We know you're going to probably hate the taste of soy milk (or almond or rice), and we know you love sweet things, so here's a vanilla milk product so you can enjoy it, and get your kids to enjoy it too."


In researching this topic, to see if there were any published articles that answered my query, I came across a boatload of debate over the benefit and dangers of non-dairy milk. It's a confusing and frustrating world to live in as a health-conscious person.... What's best to consume? What's best for farmers? Who do I support? Those are big issues, and not my focus here. (But if you want to educate yourself, check out organicconsumers.org or cornucopia.org. This was one such fascinating article from 2009.)

I have not found any articles on the "vanilla flavoring" subject, yet. Perhaps it's not a health issue at all. I don't think that flavoring these non-dairy milk products has any inherent negative health effects, but it rankles inside me. When I see vanilla-flavored non-dairy milk products for sale, I immediately think how insane it would be if vanilla dairy milk were popular. I think about how even the alternative consumers in America need to be won over with sweet flavors, and how no one questions these products. And then I start thinking, how can any of us change society unless we begin questioning what is marketed to us, questioning where products come from, caring about health effects in future generations (even if only ideological!), using our money to vote for changes in food marketing, and on and on...


(P.S. I have tried this new product from Silk. It is gross.)

a formal introduction

Meet Monstro Peckinpaws (left) and Neptune Catsavetes (right). Brother and sister, friends at naptime, foes at playtime! Josh and I have had the pleasure of their company since October 2008, since they were barely 3 months old.

When I work 12 days straight, I miss these little furry things. They're animals that live in my apartment, which is bizarre to me, but they're intensely cute, so it works out well for everyone involved.

Park City, UT

January is a fancy time to be in Park City, Utah.


Sundance Film Festival draws dreamers and bards from worlds away to this magical ski town, just to watch films! I took some time away from the hustle to enjoy the cold and the cinema...



I didn't have much time to snap photos during the festival, but the town is so darling, it was hard to resist capturing at any opportunity!

sun break through

It's been raining for days and days. On my way home Wednesday, the sun checked in to see if we were surviving!

It was lovely, but it didn't last. The rain moved back in after about ten sunny minutes.

I decided to head for the snow instead, a much fancier precipitation. Photos from the snowy film fest to follow, or you can read a play by play here.

my fancy man

It's exciting.

a winter barleyland

I call this Winter Barley.


I have no winter here, not really. It's downright warm in the daytime, and not even cold enough at night to warrant me getting the heater fixed.

But the leaves have fallen, and it's January (the coldest sounding month), and it's nice to make a big barley dish to last for leftovers and over and over.

The book I found this recipe in is called Super Natural Cooking. It was a gift from an enchanting lady, and I do love it.

Having said that. This cookbook is quite insane and doesn't make sense sometimes. In fact, I've made a few unforgettable disasters by following its instructions. I had to make a few revisions and additions to perfect this barley dish, and now I love it. It's a healthy alternative to risotto, and the bitter/sour/creamy flavors combine to startling perfection.


Chop up 3 cloves of garlic, 1 yellow onion, and 1 shallot.

In your biggest saucepan, heat up 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Then add the garlic, onions, and shallots, and cook until the onions are soft. This is when your neighbor will super-naturally pop their head inside your door and say something like, "Something smells AMAZING!", cause garlic and onions have that magical affect when combined.

Next, add 2 cups pearled barley to the pan, and stir until it's all "glistening". I seriously hate that word, but it's very accurate in this case.

To that, add 1 cup dry white wine and simmer for a few minutes, until the little barls have absorbed the liquid. The whole mess should be at a gentle simmer.

Here comes the real challenge: one by one, add 6 cups of water to the pan, letting the barley absorb the liquid between cups. (The challenge is to remember how many cups you've poured in.) Make sure to stir it periodically, for reasons that should be obvious, but the cookbook explains for a paragraph. I will spare you. This should take about 40 minutes, and the barley will be chewy but soft when it's done.

While the water is slowly absorbing:

Zest 1 lemon.

Then, peel and segment 1 grapefruit or any citrus you enjoy. Cut up the segments and reserve the juice.

Chop up 2 or 3 big handfuls of arugula, possibly the most amazing leafy green in recorded, and even unrecorded history, I daresay.

AND, toast a cup of walnuts or pecans. I swear you'll have time.

When the barley is finally done, mix in the lemon zest, the citrus, the arugula, as well as 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream. I know creme fraiche sounds super fancy, but they sell it at Trader Joe's, so fear not.

I like to add 2 cups of shiitake mushrooms to this recipe, just saute them on the side and add.

It should look something like this:


Garnish with your toasted nuts (reserve some for garnishing leftovers, let's face it: soggy nuts are never fun) and enjoy!

golden days

There's not a thing more dreamy to me than old photos:

Find more of these family photos here.

These portraits call to mind one of my favorite photographer friends. Some recent works:


Now go write a story or song, cause I know you're inspired!

I've tried my hand at polaroid picture-taking, with a 600 I got for pennies at a flea market. Here's a sample from this year:






And my most favorite, always, the boy:

a fancy office

Here's where I'm working this week:


No one is here today, so I decided to case the joint with my camera. I feel like I'm sitting in a design magazine...

I'm absolutely in exposed-brick-and-browny-orange LOVE with this office.


(I won't say who owns it, but you would know his wild works!)

Yours truly, staring at the internet machine, bouncing christmas music off the walls and counting down the minutes until my holiday starts:

I simply remember:

and then, I don't feel so bad!

oh what fun it is!

Fancy a yule log?


Looks like a fresh snow flurry fell on your dessert!

I followed these fantastic rules, with a christmasy cognac variation for the filling.



Oh, did I mention that I love the holiday season?

o christmas tree, o christmas tree!

Long we wait for the winter holidays... after summer ends the daylight shrinks away... but the cold makes the end of the year seem so long.

Then suddenly it's Thanksgiving and the days between then and Christmas rushbylikeablizzard! There's not enough time for all the holiday parties and present shopping and decoration... let alone jobs and chores and normal life. I wish everyday lately had at least 6 more hours for me to bask in my Christmas lights, wrap presents, or just sleep.

Amid the lovely bustling, I was invited to partake in the Phelan family tradition of making homemade ornaments for their tree.


It's a simple recipe for the dough:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
(although Lucas just went off of a "dream of a memory": follow your dreams kids, it works!)

While your hands are still nice and clean, turn the oven to 300 degrees.
Mix the flour and salt, then mix in the water a little bit at a time.
Knead it like you need it, which might take a bit.


Roll out the dough with flour all over your surface and roller.

Then comes the fun part: mold the dough according to your personal fancy!



Tips:
-You really can't have enough flour on your hands.
-To make bonds, rub water on the seam.
-Don't make your ornament too heavy! You'll be sad when it breaks.
-Make sure there's flour underneath your ornament while you assemble it. If it gets stuck to the surface, just use a spatula to ease it off.
-Use toothpicks to add detail.
-Poke a hole somewhere in your ornament so you can hang it!

Put all your gorgeous doughnaments on a baking tray.

At this point, your creations are going to look a lot like cookie dough. I promise you-- unless you crave the taste of damp paste-- you won't want to eat this dough.

Instead, press some beads or buttons down (hard) into the dough to decorate!

Now put them in the oven for an hour or more, until they are crackly and dry.

Take them out and let them cool. When they've cooled, it's time to paint!
You can use acrylic paint if you're superfancy, but we just used food coloring and water, which made us feel like little kids, and that's a very good feeling.

Here's how we did:


One last step: trim the tree!