Look what I bought: I LOVE the farmers market!

It is in fact. The best thing ever. You get fresh food. You get to be outside while you are buying your food. ALSO at the farmers market we go to, there are people playing music all the time. What more could you ask for?(Other than growing your own food I mean)

This week we bought!

A flat cabbage(We're gonna make some more of the cabbage soup! We both loved it!)
Blueberries(We want more ice cream)
Nectarines
Ranier Cherries
Cucmbers(I want to make Sweet pickles)
Potatoes
And!

Eggs

I think that's all we got this week

We still have a few things from last weeks farmers market. Like dragons tongue beans, one lonely pepper(I have plans for it), some carrots and parsnips that are going with the lamb into a shepherds pie!

Ohh all this lovely food! I'm so excited!

The ice cream turned out!

It's really really really good.

So I have been lacking in the whole nourishing thing the past few days.


We had pizza from pizza hut the other night. What a terrible idea to be honest. We both waited until it was way too late and we were both way too hungry.

I was full too quickly and I was hungry again way too quickly.

I was looking for a snack 2 hours later. That's not right at all. When I eat properly. So lesson learned right? So to fix this I've got a yummy smelling pot of potato leek soup on the stove, and I'm going to try to get a lamb shepherds pie started for sunday(I think Rene and I are going to be working opposite shifts at work on sunday, so we are going to have to eat at work. Ugh. Unless I can pack something easy for us before.... like the end of tonight... probably not.(but that's not sayin' I won't try)

We've managed to buckle our drying rack... Which sucks, because now one side doesn't support anything except socks... and I dunno if I have that many socks. But we are making it work. I've been trying to do my laundry every few days to make sure there is less stuff to stack on that thing. Rene is a just a lazy boy(Which I don't blame him for) so he lets his stuff pile up.

I've started writing letters again, I know it's not really very good for the environment, but it's very good for my heart. I love writing letters, and now that Feline(a very very very good friend of mine) is in japan, I'll defiantly be writing her more often, for the support. It's a hard place to be a foreigner.

I'm starting to get very excited to go to school again. And my sister is coming up here to visit next week so things are on the up and up.

Now if Rene can just get hired somewhere, life will be grand!

I'm trying to make some ice cream...

Except my ice Cream maker sucks... so I've resorted to leaving in in the freezer and running it in there for 10 minute spurts... I'm hoping it's going to work. I'll update on this later.

I emptied the fridge for breakfast this morning. We just had a big old hodge-podge of stuff fried up. I liked it. It was basically fried veggies with mushroom cream sauce on it.... Mmmmmm. Delicious.


So I found out why my pickles are hollow. There are 2 causes for this. Improper salt to water ratio and leaving the cucumbers too long in between harvesting and pickling are to blame for this. I found this answer in a book I bought yesterday. It's called the forgotten arts yesterdays skills adapted to today's materials It's a little 3 pack of books; "Jellies, Jams, Preserves, Conserves, Marmalades, Butters, Honeys and Leathers" and "Pickles, Relishes, Chutneys, Sauces and Catsups, Mincemeats, Beverages and Syrups" And Finally "The forgotten Arts. Growing, Gardening and Cooking with Herbs"

They are all really interesting. Lots of very good ideas.

(I just checked on the Ice Cream, it seems to be working)

Where does the time go?

I could swear I just posted last night! I apologize...(to all those people who don't actually read this, so I'm actually apologizing to myself haha)

I made sour pickles A la Nourished Kitchen

Very easy recipe. Ours have just come to fruition today... Well to be honest I didn't actually look at them till today.

Here's some pretty pictures of them.









Okay so... I'd like to point out that in the first picture the pickles actually look like they are trying to jet-pack(It's a verb now) out of the jar... In the second picture it looks like the juiciest pickle on the planet... Then... we look at exhibit C and notice my pickle is hollow...

I have no idea why this has happened... I though it was kinda weird when I tried to snap my pickle in half and it sounded like a car tire slowly deflating.. Not to say it has altered the flavor at all. It's just really weird. I'm going to try to figure out how and why this happened.

In other news.

I made this GREAT cabbage soup

I kinda followed this recipe. I think I used more milk and cream. But either way. It was great AND it lasted us all week eating for lunch and dinner, and neither of us got sick of it. I suggest it for everyone.

We've done the majority of our shopping at the farmers market the last 2 weeks. Which has turned out great. Food is just so much better when it's local. I'm sure there isn't a soul who would disagree.

I quit my job at safeway. The manager actually told me to quit. Then when I did the actual quitting, he told me I was making the biggest mistake of my life... right.

Rene and I are starting to realize the things that we need to have a smooth running house. a few of those things are a toilet brush, a vacuum(we are borrowing my uncles right now) and we've both mentioned wanted a blender(or something similar) in the past week. So I guess we start saving.

I've been brushing my teeth with soap for about 2 weeks now.(we're running low on toothpaste and to be honest. I don't really like the flavors we have... I don't really like the taste of any toothpaste....) I like it, my teeth feel cleaner after I'm done brushing. And... I dunno. My mouth isn't all minty and gross for HOURS(which is when you end up having orange juice for some reason right after and it's all.... you know the flavor). And I do really like the "olive oil" bar soap that I've been using, BUT I found these on Etsy. The seller is great and answered any questions that I had, and it sounds like they might taste a little bit better than what I am currently using. I'm really excited for it to come.


I think that is all that is new here. I really do have to try to update more often. I think the problem is that I've been trying to not turn my computer on some days so that I can encourage Rene not to(He's simply addicted to screens) so we do things like play cards instead. Then I get tired early.

Well. Hopefully I'll post again tomorrow or soon at least.

Have a good one!

Allright! Here's the score!

I started to write out a big post... then I clicked a link on a different page, and it opened in the window I was using to write. It's late now so I will be writing it out again tomorrow instead of now.
















:3 I'm making pickles tomorrow... I'm excited.

Rainy day :)

I love rainy days, it's the perfect excuse to snuggle up in a blanket with a nice hot tea and read a good book or watch a movie or just talk to someone. So I'm kinda happy that my day off is on a rainy day.

I'm going to go to the library, return my old books and get some new ones. Should be a good day!


One green thing I have already done today, is I deleted a BUNCH of emails I wasn't using. Like 3000 or so. All from .... Facebook. Horrible I know I know! I hate myself a little bit for it too don't worry! Most of the other emails I have are from my Dad, he likes to send all the corny forward emails. Some of them really make me laugh. It's a little pick me up some days.


Alright before I go I have some cute little comics from Sinfest(Don't read into the name too much):


Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Enjoy!

Hong Kong Phoey

My little Vietnamese boss LOVES ME and so does his wife.

Working for them is pretty damned cool the only thing I don't like is that their restaurant is DISGUSTING. And when I say Disgusting I mean it. I can handle some pretty dirty stuff. Any holy lots of waste. It kills me.

Either way. He's told me that if I ever have trouble with bills to tell him and he will help me, which is so sweet. He's a good guy.

He was also telling me about when he left Vietnam, he was on a boat for 7 days and all they had for food and drink was a tablespoon of water at night and in the morning. Jeeze!


ON to Other news!


I made pitas the other day.



I LOVE making these, you pop em in the hot oven and watch them for like 2 minutes and they get all puffy. Sometimes they look like they are going to explode like in the cartoons when characters are blowing bubble gum and it ends up all over the place.

Yeah. Pitas are the best.

We made pizzas with them after



Very yummy.

OH! And I finally managed to make a "dispenser" for my butt wipes (:P)



I've tired to make a smaller one for my nose wipes, but I didn't put a bottom on it so it just doesn't work. But I found a good way to cut out the box so next time I have some cardboard for recycling, I can make a good one for the nose wipes.

Right now we just pull them from the pile, but because they are flannel they really stick to each other. It frustrates me to no end when all I want it one and I get a string of 98 of the little suckers!


Has anyone heard of Retire your ride?

It seems like a cool idea. I would like to retire my ride, but I still need my beauty of a neon, plus I think the insurance company might be peeved since they just paid for like 9000 bucks worth of repairs in the past year.(Neither time was my fault. I wasn't even in the car for the one time)

ANYWAYS I'm rambling.

I'm going to bed.

I found the post!

That originally hooked me onto Nourishing Traditions!


Over and Nourishing Days

You should go read it if you have the chance.


And my new job is alright, the only thing is that it`s a little bit sketchy, because, from what I understand, they like to fire girls without any reason.

They just fired one guy today because he sang an "F sharp" in the kitchen.

Neat.

I have a mouth like a trucker.


I'll be fired tomorrow probably.(I'm working in the kitchen tomorrow, and I'm prone to cussing when I burn myself.

Should be fun

I've got another job

And I start in a few hours.

I will post after I get home.

The photos from yesterday

Here's my Vinegar and the Kombucha mother I'm trying to grow.



This is the loaf of bread that I made(It's almost gone :()





And finally this is the soup!

Changes and updates

I changed the name of my blog.... :3

I like this one a little bit more.(It's just Qute-er is all)


An update on our no spending and all that jazz.


We've spent no money yet(Wow, made it a whole 3 days) We have bought groceries though. I think this no spend thing is going to be really good for us because... well to be honest... We have no money. I'm only working part time, and Rene still hasn't had any luck with a job. It's pretty sad, but even if I didn't spend a dollar this next month, I'd still have to borrow money from my mother... Whom I love very very much and think is the best...

So. Not spending can only help.


In the kitchen.

I made the best loaf of sourdough today(well I baked it today) It's not SUPER dense like all my other loafs have turned out... I used a lot less flour than was called for, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it... Whatever it was, it worked!

So I had poached eggs and bread(I didn't want to toast it, it was so fresh and delicious) for breakfast, and just a bowl of yogurt for lunch, dinner was fresh, cabbage and pork soup.(I'm going to put some pictures up tomorrow. It's dark right now and I'm tire) It was delicious! I actually want some more soup right now. :P I'll have a banana instead.


I'm going to make some more pita bread tomorrow, so that We can have pita bread pizzas later in the week when the soup runs out. I'm excited to make them again.


In terms of laundry things are going good. There are only 2 very very small hiccups in the plan. 1 is that we can't squeeze all the juice out of out clothes so they are wet for a LOOOOOOONG time(It doesn't help that it's so darned cold not smoking hot out everyday now. I can't come up with something that we already have that we can use. If we had a real mop bucket that would work, and I can't really come up with a way of making one with what we have... Something will come up... It's just not coming right at this moment. The other thing is: everything feels kinda stiff, I think this is partially because of all the water that is in the clothes when they go out to dry. I can fix it a little bit by smashing my clothes around a bit when I take them off the line. They just aren't all fluffy like when you dry them in the dryer, Or even when they get washed in the washer... I'm going to figure this one out. It's not that I care THAT much about it, It's just so much of a challenge now. I want to figure it out. Any ideas?

Buy nothing Day 1

So yesterday was the fist day of the buy nothing challenge.

I'm proud to say that I didn't buy anything(Except groceries)

I'm in the middle of stomping my laundry and trying to make break at the moment though so I should get off the silly computer.