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Showing posts from March, 2011

DIY tins

Little tins are so useful! You can put your dried citrus peel in them, or tea, or herbs...so many things! And there are lots of ways to come by them without spending a lot of money. Here are a few ideas: Make your own: Reuse empty packages, like this baking powder tin. All you have to do is glue some cute paper to the outside of the tin. (Hint: Lots of packages have very shiny or coated paper on them and glue won't stick well to it. So use a medium to light sandpaper and rough the surface up a bit first. Then use a very thin layer of white glue, spread it out with your finger or a clean paint brush and stick the paper down!) Reuse a tin Tea and other products sometimes come in really nice tins. Reuse them! Unfortunately, they often have yucky, ugly glue even after you tear the label off. With a little elbow grease, you can usually get if off though. Rubbing alcohol or fingernail polish remover can help. (Be careful though, it sometimes takes paint or color off too, like t

The Wondermill Junior Deluxe Hand Grain Mill

I've been wanting a grain mill for a while and this week my husband Jay bought me one: the Wondermill Junior Deluxe Hand Grain Mill . I love it! I've already set it up and, quite literally, given it a whirl. Some specifics: It's very sturdy, with all metal working parts. It's got a heavy duty clamp to attach it temporarily to a table, or you can screw it down permanently. It comes with stone wheels, or burrs as they're called, for grinding grains, as well as stainless steel burrs, for grinding oilier things, like nuts. (Make you own peanut butter!) After the easy set up, you pour grain in the hopper and set the tension for a course or fine grind. And you're off! You're off, yes indeed. Some would say off your rocker. I mean I'll be honest, it's work. I had to take off my sweater after a minute. I had to switch arms several times. Just think about the size of windmill or a water mill. That's the kind of force people have harnessed throughou

Spring Reminders

There was a bird in the basement this morning. It was a sparrow. It didn't seem hurt or sick; it was just a normal little sparrow. When I approached, it flitted from the floor to the sink to the top of a shelf. "Why are you here, little bird? It's beautiful weather outside. Spring's coming!" I opened the door to garden and went back upstairs, closing the basement door behind me. When I went back down an hour later, it was gone. I wondered how long it had been down there. How hungry was it? Or thirsty? That made me think of my ceramic birdbath, which I store under the porch over the winter. I dragged it out, washed it and filled it with water. As I turned around, there was another bird. Not the little sparrow, but a robin. It was in the bed where the garlic is just starting to peek up and it was eyeing me, curiously. I wondered what it was thinking. "Why are you here, little lady? You've got a nice basement in there. And laundry's piling

My new, old house

The envelope was addressed to "Occupant." It was from California. I know no one in California. I was in a bad mood. I'd dealt with annoying, stupid things at work all day. And now this. I opened it suspiciously but as the contents slipped out, my mood changed completely. There was a picture of my house. Well, it was my house, but not quite. There was no front door. No stoop. No neighbors. Not even a road. It was my house, when it was still being built, back in the 1940s. There was a letter too. It was from the man who'd lived here as a boy. He'd been going through old photos and thought maybe whoever lived here would be interested. Interested? Uh, just a little! Over the next weeks and months, I emailed the man repeatedly, begging for more photos, asking questions about the house. I love old houses in general and mine in particular. I think they have stories, secrets, souls. And here was my chance to discover a few. That was several years ago. I recentl

Cookbook review

These cold rainy days we've been having are perfect for baking and one of my favorite cookbooks is King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking book . It's packed with tons of delicious recipes, like this Lemon Poppyseed Bread I just made. Other favorites include: Banana Crunch Cake, Parmesan-Pine Nut Biscuits, Cornmeal-Maple Biscuits, Lemon Barley Scones, Whole Wheat Pretzels, Chocolate Graham Crackers, Cranberry-Apricot Chocolate Chews, and Molasses-Rye Snaps. And I haven't even started on the sections about pastry, or yeast breads. There's a huge chapter on sour dough too. The tone of the writing is friendly and ingredients are listed both by volume and by weight to help you get even better results. There's lots of information about flour and ingredients but never does it feel like an advertisement for King Arthur's products. I also appreciate what a wide range of grains are included and how they talk about substituting whole grains into other recipes you l