Thursday, July 30, 2009

Just thought I'd drop by

I haven't been posting lately because I finally have a job. I'm a cashier at Safeway. I haven't actually started real work yet. I'm just training.

Anyways.

I've been eating mostly nourishing food. Right now we are very very very strapped for money, so we are just making sure to eat fresh food, not necessarily organic. Rene actually enjoys the bread that I make, so he's been eating that too. And we found some wonderful cheese from the organic store just down the street. It's very close to the flavor of Oka, so I love it.

I was catching up on my reading and I saw that Rachel at simple notebook wrote up a post on making Kombucha It's a very informative post! I'm really excited about it because she explains how she grew her own SCOBY. I'm going to be sure to try this as soon as I can get my hands on.... everything you need to make it. We don't have sugar in our house, nor do we have black tea, and I need more money to make it okay to buy these, BUT! It will happen and I will drink Kombucha fresh from my fridge!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

I made sourdough pita breads last night. :)

I really really love that I have sourdough, because (1) it's better for you than using bakers yeast is and (2) I don't have to buy bakers yeast because I have sourdough, which means I get to keep the whole 3.50 I would have been spending on yeast.

I just had the last pita with tzatziki for breakfast. Yummy.

For anyone who is interested, here's where I got the recipe. It's a great site.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

Saturday, July 25, 2009

One last though...

Yesterday We were walking around Southgate Mall looking for jobs.(Not much luck their, got a lot of dirty looks, I think it's because I look like I'm 15 or so...)

Anyways, I've been reading No Impact Man every chance I can get lately and one of his big things is that the government wants you to spend your money just to throw most of that stuff out and get new stuff. This "cycle" is very well illustrated here as well. I LOVE that video.

So back to my story, we were walking around the mall looking for those wonderful 2 little words "Help wanted" and I was just reading every sign that was up, just in case you know. One sign actually said "The more time and money you spend with us, the more points you get for the rewards you want" I saw a few other signs that had the same gist to them, but this one was so blatant. It should have just said "Hi, we are selling happiness. Come spend lots of money to get some."

Just something I noticed and wanted to share.

My(mostly) nourishing dinner(and lunch)!



Mmmm Rene and I enjoyed a(mostly) nourishing dinner of homemade pizza the other day!

The dough was homemade sourdough, the basil was organic, the tomatoes weren't exactly organic.. nor was the cheese made with raw milk(Hence the mostly nourishing part) but I made the pizza sauce!

It's really easy!

Pizza Sauce:

1 Medium onion coarsely chopped
4 Tomatoes coarsely chopped
2 Bay leaves
Fresh Oregano
Fresh Basil
Agave Syrup(Might not need it)
Dash of Olive oil
Small amount of water(Or chicken stock)

Put the onion and a little bit of oil in a sauce pan and gently fry until very soft and fragrant. Then add your tomatoes, oregano(Just the leaves, no stems, and add as much as you want, I used about a generous table spoon) Basil(Same thing as the oregano) and your 2 bay leaves. Also add about a shot glass full of water or chicken stock to this. Turn the heat down enough that you don't have to worry about the sugar in the tomatoes burning to the bottom of the pot, but hot enough to still cook your sauce(This was a lower medium high on my stove). Stir it every once and while, but for the most part you can just let it do it's thing. Once the tomatoes have dissolved for the most part, you need to make this sauce consistent, I have a flotte lotte that I use for this but you can use a stick blender, or whatever you have(Make sure you take the bay leaves out first). Then return it(and the bay leaves) to the heat and season it to your tastes, you can add pepper and salt if you like, or agave syrup if it's not sweet enough(Mine was fine without) you could also add garlic at the beginning when you add the tomatoes if you like. Let it simmer till it's a nice thick consistency, then use it. Simple.


The crust was just sourdough starter with some flour till it was a consistency I though was nice... and I let it rise for probably 5 hours. Not very precise.. and it ended up being almost too crunchy, we enjoyed it, but it wasn't how I wanted it to turn out. I'll use a recipe next time.

Then I assembled the pizzas and baked them :)




We liked it.


So an update on the laundry situation. I've been getting up, finding the laundry I want to wash, throwing it in the tub with some cold water and some soap. Then I let it sit for... like an hour or so. Then I stomp it and shake it till I figure it's washed, drain the tub, add some fresh water, repeat. Then it's a matter of wringing it out and hanging it.

Yesterday I had another brain wave though. Why can't the "rinse cycle" occur while I'm showering? I shower every morning anyways. There isn't anything in my shower routine that would mess up my clothes, or make them not clean. I tried it yesterday, it was perfect. Once I figured my clothes were good I just hung them up on the handy towel rack that someone installed in our tub(Kinda weird..) and finished up. Less time and water used.

I'm also going to start saving some of my shower water for rinsing my feet off during the day. It's super hot here in our lovely south facing apartment that doesn't have curtains, and my only salvation is dipping my feet in some water once and a while. But I feel bad using water just for that so if it was water that I used once already I wouldn't feel nearly as bad!

Perfect!

Isn't it?

P.S. I still don't have a job. I'm thinking about starting to sell some stuff...

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

We're gonna make it?

... I think I have a job...

Safeway called me back about my resume, I didn't get a chance to answer it when he called, Rene and I were having an argument, it over now though.

So I have to call Mr Robyn at Safeway back this morning to see just what he wanted to talk to me about my application. Hopefully he'll say "Hey, so... wanna start work in about 20 minutes? And of course I will say. "Why yes, thank you sir for this wonderful opportunity." And all will be well.


I made sourdough bread yesterday, It was really really good. It's the first time It's actually turned out for me. I don't know if I can convey just how excited I was that it did. It was basically the best day ever.

Things are looking up.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Picklezzzz

My pickles turned out great. I've been resisting eating them all right now. My only beef is that I used salt that is not refined at all, and there seem to be little chunks of dirt in my food as a result. Whatever, I can totally get around that. They are super yummy!

My Sourdough is also looking healthy now. Which is a big relief to me, it was looking kinda bleak for a while. But I've been feeding in 3 times a day for the past week(wasteful I know, but I'm determined to keep it alive) and it's been growing to at least double it's size in between it's meals. I think I will start some sour dough tonight before I go to bed! :3 And I will give a loaf to my uncle as thanks again for helping us move.

The house is still a mess.

I still don't have a job(I've been applying at new places every day.. what is going on here)

And I haven't tried any laundry yet. We'll see how that goes when I get to it. Anyways I'm trying to make hash browns now. Off to do that.

Just wanted everyone to know I love pickles!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

What a smartie pants!

I had a total revelation this morning. And it's ALL thanks to no impact man! I was looking at his recent posts and one of them is about the documentary movie of his that is coming out soon(Which I'm super excited about) and while I was watching the preview it shows a quick clip of his whole family stomping around in the tub, and it looked like they were cleaning clothes, which gave me a revelation, WE COULD DO THAT! You see in our wonderful new living arrangement, you have to pay 2 freaken dollars to wash your clothes and I'm not okay with that, that is a lot of money man. I've been looking at the costs of getting a portable washing machine, but the cheapest one I saw so far is 200-ish dollars, but that's in american... and I frankly don't have that kinda money, so I'd like to introduce you to my new washing machine:



She's a bute. :3 Best part... NO electricity. Just the water I need to wash and rinse the clothes.

I'll update you all how this experiment goes...

... I still don't have a job...



My pickles are... coming along... I'm assuming... It is very hard having to wait to eat them. I really really want to try them. I'm just hoping the little system I have going here isn't going to kill us... I know it's open, but there aren't any bugs in out apartment. So it should be alright. Right?

I've got 2 days of nourishing eating under my belt. My tummy feels great. My broth turned out great. I've discovered a great new snack, A cup of broth with salt and pepper and a small handful of green onions. Yummy. It was really nice. Rene even liked it.

We are going to be participating in the buy nothing challenge:

Buy Nothing Challenge - August 2009

This should be interesting for Rene and I, but I think it will be a good thing for us. Teach us not to buy stuff so impulsively and whatnot. And we will eat out, Plus if we don't find jobs.... we are gonna have to play "Buy nothing for the rest of our lives challenge cause we are living on the street now challenge."

...

I'm a positive person I swear....

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Hello world...

went out and applied for jobs today. Sent out 4 whole resumes into the world. Everyone can cross their fingers for me. I need a bloody job.

All the jobs I applied for were at clothing stores... This is a new job for me. I've done tons of customer service jobs before, but never a clothing shop.

Anyways.

I've started so lacto-fermenting. We are going to have radishes in a few days. I'm drooling just thinking about it. MmmmMm. I've also started putting some life back into my sourdough starters. AND I'm making broth. All this in the last few hours to be honest.

I'm excited to start eating some good food again. I'm tired and irritable right now and I don't like it at all. I know part of it is because I'm not sleeping right(there is no existing schedule anymore)but part of it is because we have been eating out and when we eat at home it's not great food. Oh just thinking about all the good food I will be eating soon makes me tummy happy with me.


In other news, Rene is going to try washing his hair with baking soda and vinegar. He's hoping it will help with is dandruff I don't see why it wouldn't. It's SO much cheaper than shampoo too. We bought a box of baking soda for less than a dollar.(Mind you it's not the aluminum free kind, we tried but it was like 10 dollars for about half a cup of it.... not really plausible for us.) So anyways I'm very excited that he's on the bandwagon with me. He kinda started today. Since he's got really short hair. I doubt he's going to have to much trouble with the whole thing.(Lucky guy)

Alright. That's all I got for now.

Monday, July 13, 2009

I'm kinda alive...

I'm freshly moved, sick and jobless.

I will post some new stuff in a day or so, right now I'm feeling the no job crunch!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Ohhhhhhh my tummy

I am currently on vacation with my family in Hawaii(I know I know, I don't wanna hear about it) and I AM DYING! We have been eating out a lot and cooking here, the only thing is. It's not any of the "Nourishing" foods my tummy is used to. So I am not feeling the greatest to tell the truth. It's impressive how quickly you get used to good food when it's around, and how spoiled you are for the crappy food there is around you when you don't have the choice.

On the plus side, the local grocery store sells a lot of organic foods so I've been buying some of that for myself and eating it when no one is looking(My family thinks I'm a freak now since I don't wash my hair or eat sugar(Which has completely gone out the window lately)) and I have found kombucha and will be making it once I get home, moved and settled. It's great, I did't think that I would be a fan of it when I heard about how it can have a sour taste to it, but I was wrong, and me oh my is it ever refreshing when it's hot out. MMmMMmMM.

Anyways, apparently I'm sitting in the wrong seat as my sister keeps walking past me and sighing as loudly as she can, so I'm going go get ready to go home!(as much as I love vacations, I love being home and I am missing Rene so very much!)