Extras

I'm upping the ante!  If 25+ people enter for the Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar Giveaway I'm going to also send a 4oz bottle of homemade vanilla extract to the winner.  If 30+ people enter- I'll do a second drawing, and someone else will also win a 4oz bottle of homemade vanilla extract!  Get on it!

Giveaway! The Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar!

After falling so in love with the art and recipes in The Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar, I contacted the creator, Christina of Nettletown and Foraged & Found Edibles to see if she'd be interested in doing a calendar giveaway through my blog.  Whatever I said - it worked!

I first discovered Foraged and Found without realizing it- when I bought fiddleheads from them this past spring.  I came across Christina's blog about a month and a half ago, via Fat of the Land and instantly fell in love.  I bought three copies of her calendar right away.  She and her partner sell their calendars and foraged foods at the Sunday farmers market in my neighborhood, and she also sells via her Etsy store.  I do sound a bit like a creepy secret stalker, considering that we've never actually met!

The calendar features 18 recipes, 12 different foraged foods (native to Washington), and gorgeous illustrations by Emily Counts for each month.  Mine is going up in my kitchen, where I will hopefully be able to avoid sloshing food and dirty dish water all over it! 

If you're interested in winning yourself or someone else a copy of this lovely, lovely calendar- all you need to do is comment on this entry- telling me where you'd hang it!  I will randomly pick a winner next Tuesday, December 22nd around 3PM Seattle (Pacific Standard) time, and announce it here.  You should be able to comment via your Google account- unregistered users please be sure to use your real name.  Also, please be sure to check out The Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar Fan Club on Facebook!

 ♥ R.

Oh Brother

So, funny story.

Remember that post I wrote less than a week ago about some alternatives to chopping down a live tree, where I also mentioned that I had ordered something, but I wanted to wait until it got here to tell you what?

Well, it showed up yesterday.  In a very, very small box.  Much smaller than expected.  Oops.

My plan was to buy a live, rooted tree, so that I could just plant it in a large pot and then we could continue to use the same tree year after year, until it needed to be put into the ground.  I found a seller on eBay who had an assortment of different types and sizes of rooted trees, for super cheap.  The problem was that she had two sizes listed under "small", and I happened to buy the smaller of the smalls.  Meaning that it's about 5 inches tall.  YES!  I win again.

I kind of love it, for what it is.  I went ahead and potted it and decorated it with my smallest snail ornament.  Matao, however, was not impressed.

Luckily, Urban Weeds just so happens to be located across the street from his work.  They also happen to sell organic trees... I gave in.

It's only 3 feet tall, and we are using a terracotta pot with dirt and rocks as a tree stand... so it's still a little "Charlie Brown"-esque.  But I love it, and Luna has only tried to attack it once.  So far.

People for Puget Sound: Stand for Clean Water

We're at 6:48!

Trees!

Pink Tinsel Tree by Patrick and Lindsay

 Aside from the hot pink tinsel tree that Renee bought for us a few years ago that we covered in snails and giraffes, I haven't had much of a "Christmas" tree in years. 

Matao wants a tree this year.  At first I was hesitant, then excited, and then just conflicted.  I love the idea of having this big wonderful smelling tree in our apartment- but I hate the fact that we have to kill one to do so.  Plus, the cleanup is awful, and I'm pretty sure we'd have a wild cat beast climbing up it and knocking it over.  Probably only onto my things and not Matao's, in typical Luna fashion.

Me, being me- I'll show you what we ended up doing once it gets here (yes, I ordered something).  But aside from that I wanted to suggest a few good alternatives to a real "live" (aka soon to be dead) tree.  Especially if you live in an apartment, or somewhere with limited space.

- This is my absolute favorite thing.  I can't get over how cute it is!  It would be darling with a tiny strand of white lights, and some felt berries.

Two Storks In a Weeping Willow by Intres

- Etsy is an absolute mecca of vinyl wall decals these days, but if you can manage to weed your way through some of the cheesy crap, there are a lot of really great finds.  I love the idea of a giant tree taking up half of your wall.  Some of my favorites: here, here, here, here, and here.  Phew.

- I love this, and I think they would also be incredibly easy to make, if you had the right materials.  She has a few in other colors and patterns as well, and you really can't beat the price at $12.

Simple Gray Felt Trees by Milk Bubble Studio

- This seller has an entire shop full of wonderful tree alternatives.  I really love the idea of a wreath, that can be used year after year (also: this, this, this, or this).  Or a teenie tiny pinecone fruit and spice tree that would work perfectly on a shelf or tabletop.  If you aren't hung up on having a tree tree there are a lot of other directions to go in.

Gone Loopy Wreath by NH Woods Creations

Moving on to lights- I don't have a lot of crazy or unique ideas, but I do have one long standing favorite:

 

 Renee Marie & Renai Marie

Origami balls!  These are SO easy (and fun) to make, and if you use neutral colored paper you can leave them up year round.  I've seen these exact same lights sold on Etsy and a local art gallery for $35+, which is insane considering that you can get a strand of white lights for $2 and origami paper for about the same.  All you do is fold your paper following these instructions, and then place each ball (where the hole is) over a light.  Easy peasy and they're so beautiful once up.  If you live in Seattle, Uwajimaya is probably the best place to pick up origami paper (as well as heaps of udon mmm). 

My next post, which I was intending to focus entirely on gifting books- is quickly evolving into something else (surprise!), as I realized that I have far too many favorite sellers on Etsy to cut my list short.  Too bad!

More on Paper Grocery Bags

Oops.  My b.

When I got home tonight Luna reminded me of the other, better use for paper grocery bags:

Silly me.

And yeah, she hates me... and the flash.

Gifting: Part 1

Random Presents from Irina Troitskaya

December has officially begun, which means that people have suddenly all gone crazy with holiday shopping.  I am a bit of a freak, and have been doing my own version for several months now.  The reason being that I plan/coordinate all of our holiday events and corporate gifts in the office, which takes months of work- so my mind is in the holiday gutter long before most anyone else's.  It would be exhausting, if I didn't absolutely love it.

The reason why I love it, though- is because I (now) only give handmade, local, environmentally friendly, and/or sustainable gifts.  Which equates to me spending hours (and hours and hours) browsing Etsy, thrift stores, farmers markets, and local bookstores.  Hi there, Heaven.  Now, this doesn't mean that I buy heaps and heaps of stuff.  More or less, it means that I put a lot of thought, effort, and heart into the gifts that I end up purchasing.  Because, after-all, I am perfect, and that's what perfect people do.

HA HA.

Did you throw up yet?  No, but seriously.

I am so happy this year about the gifts that I am giving people, and I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite ideas, both things to make yourself, and lovely things to pick up elsewhere.


- Gift In a Jar: Vanilla Syrup from Food In Jars.  While I haven't tried making it yet, I am currently in the process of making a beautiful half gallon of homemade vanilla extract.  While her proportions are quite small and she uses rum- I used a handle of super cheap vodka, and 8 vanilla beans (split) from PCC ($.98 each!)  It's been sitting on the bottom of our bookshelf for a few weeks now, and I'll portion it out into small bottles once Christmas is nearer.  It smells and looks so wonderful, it's ridiculous.  It's also very hard to photograph!

Vanilla syrup, from Food In Jars

- Homegrown Evolution has set up their own little shop at Amazon, with a lot of really wonderful handpicked items.  

- Hand Milled Soap is a super genius way to turn basic soap into something really lovely.  I'm completely intimidated by soap making, so I'm going to give this a try sometime this week.   Lavender, tea tree oil, and peppermint!  Of course.

- Decorated gingerbread cookies are always fun to make, and even better to eat.  Another idea is to mix together only the dry ingredients from a recipe, then package them up nicely with instructions for adding wet ingredients and making cookies.  I do this for my moms partner, and include "Be nice to my mom" as the first step.  Yes, I do think I'm funny.

Good Things Catered does it right.

- There are also THESE. 

- If you live in/near Seattle, Urban Craft Uprising is this weekend, and has a ton of really great vendors this year (duh).

- DIY Cheese Kits!  !!!!!!!!!!!

- I already posted about air plants, but now I've had mine for a bit, I love them even more.  They're the perfect plant for someone who sucks at keeping things alive (ahem-Becca-ahem), and I've used tiny little candle holders, egg cups, and vases to hold mine, since they don't actually have to be practical planting containers.  So, $11 for three plants, plus about $1 - $3 at Goodwill for containers, and you're golden.  Or, there's always something like this.  You can also find air plants locally (usually) at places like Whole Foods or nurseries... but sometimes knowing is easier than hunting.

- The Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar is so lovely.  I bought 3.  Oops.

Illustrated Wild Foods Recipe Calendar from Nettletown

- Organic Komucha Culture Deluxe Kit (Plus 1/4lb Green Tea).  HI!

- Mibo Studio only has a few items for sale, but they're all darling, plus they're set up to be downloaded, so there aren't any shipping costs or wasteful packaging.

Christmas Creatures from Mibo Studio

- And, lastly- is wrapping paper.  For which I don't think I need to link you anywhere.  I made all of mine this year using paper grocery bags and rubber stamps.  Just cut the bottom and handles off the bag, and stamp away on the blank side.  I tied mine up with scraps of yarn that I had leftover from projects (plus a lot more, but shhh).  You can also use butcher paper or tissue paper, twine or string, and any kind of ink and homemade stamps that you can think of.  I've had a lot of fun making mine (Luna has been a HUGE help, might I add), and now Matao is bugging me to help him make his own (by "help" he means "do it for me" but still).

Part 2 coming soon!  Including trees, decorations, and more paper (as in- books)!

Thanksgiving Menu

Since Full Circle Farm is now offering delivery of their CSA boxes, and not just pick-up, we signed back up about a week and a half ago.  In perfect timing to plan most of our Thanksgiving cooking around fresh, organic, and local ingredients.  This is the first year that I'm spending with Matao's family, and the first year in quite a few that will be a bit more civilized.  Hah!  Dinner + party vs. dinner party... there's a big difference.  I'm grateful to not have to worry about the turkey or mashed potatoes (I'm not a fan) this year, and instead I get to focus on making exactly what I want to make.  I am cooking with meat this year (as opposed to last year where everything I made was vegan!) but I did a quick walk through of Ballard Farmers Market this afternoon and picked up some locally raised sausage from Skagit River Ranch, which I feel more than okay about serving.  I also picked up the very last jalapenos that we'll see for a while, and a couple of apples for a quick snack this afternoon.  Anyway... here are the dishes that we'll be making, along with Matao's goat cheese stuffed and prosciutto wrapped jalapenos, mulled wine, and the side of wild king salmon that we've been saving.


- Country Bread Stuffing with Smoked Ham, Goat Cheese, and Dried Cherries ... I made this a few years ago, substituting good quality bacon for the ham, and cranberries for the cherries.  I seriously could have just sat in the kitchen by myself and devoured the entire pan.  This stuff is wonderful.  My love muffin Amy had a great hookup at the time for goat cheese, and we added much more than the recipe called for.  I don't think you can ever go wrong with that.

- Cranberry Sauce with Port and Cinnamon ... This is more of just an approximation.  I'm not much of a recipe follower when it comes to cranberry sauce.  I made some last night for a "practice" version of Thanksgiving, with red wine, fresh orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon sticks, and fresh ginger.  Absolutely wonderful.  Honestly, I'll probably just eat cranberry sauce and stuffing on Thursday and be happy as can be.

- Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms ... This is one of those recipes that relies 100% on the quality of ingredients that you use.  This is where locally sourced Italian sausage comes in, as well as (hopefully) homemade soft cheese.  If I don't have the time for cheese making I'll be tracking down something else that's soft, and much nicer than basic cream cheese.  This is another recipe that I've made before, and it really does turn out beautifully if you pay attention to your ingredients.  I can't even go off too much on that though, because the last time we made it I brushed the mushrooms with PBR instead of wine.  Oops. 

- Herbed Goat Cheese Tart  ...  Yes, more goat cheese.  I've been dying for a reason to make this, and if Thanksgiving isn't it, then I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. 

- Sweet Potato Pie with Three Nut Topping ... I'm using ginger cookies for the crust, rather than graham crackers.  I've never actually made or had sweet potato pie before, but I thought I'd mess around with something other than pumpkin or pecan.  Plus our CSA is coming with a ton of them, and I'm not a big fan of candied sweet potatoes/yams. 

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As is typical with me- more will come about as I get to cooking.  We'll also be seeing an abundance of squash and potatoes with our CSA and I know I'll be hard pressed to really leave them alone.  We'll see!  What are you planning on making?