PETSPETSPETSPETS.

by Anna Posted on March 13, 2012

How are the pets, you ask? (Well, pretend you asked — I am.)

– It’s been ridiculously nice here lately, weather-wise. So I’ve sat outside with Henny and Beany the past couple of days (Birdy is less interested in the great outdoors), which Beany loves. It’s impossible to catch her to make her go inside, though, so the trick I’ve discovered is leaving the door open and then getting behind her and clapping. Sometimes that doesn’t work, though. I was scolding her yesterday, which Henny thought was hilarious, and she decided to help by cornering Beany and barking at her. She did something similar a few months ago, when I scolded Birdy about chewing on the Christmas tree. My little enforcer.

– The nighttime routine for the pets goes like this: After I wash the dishes, I get the cats to go downstairs. Beany would rather not go, so I do the clapping thing (it can be the most unenthusiastic clapping, too, not forceful), and she reluctantly heads down. Birdy, on the other hand, loves it in the basement — every now and then I find her in the cats’ bed in the middle of the day — so she makes a beeline in that direction when I say, ‘It’s time to go downstairs.’ I think the cats spend most of the night cuddled up together, which is why Birdy likes it. I let Henny outside (and back in again) while I’m brushing my teeth, and when I’ve finished straightening things up, I tell Henny, ‘It’s time to go to bed,’ and she hops off the sofa and trots into my bedroom and inside her pup tent. Except now I don’t even have to say anything; as soon as I walk to turn off the last lamp in the living room, she’s on her way. It’s nice to have pets who are such sticklers for routine.

– Things about Henny: She likes bananas and kale. She knows the sound of a yogurt container from a room away. If I offer her a big treat (something she has to carry away to enjoy), she’ll sniff while I hold it and then look expectantly at the spot on the ground where I should put it — she’ll take small stuff from my hand, though. She’s learned to leave treats until I say ‘okay’. Once, when I was working in the basement, I heard her barking, and then I saw her at the top of the stairs (she won’t come downstairs). It turned out the mailman was at the front door (on the other side of the house), and she hadn’t been barking at him but to let me know.

– Things about Beany: She loves to be pet, but not on top of her head. You can work your way there, but if you come at her to pet her head, she’ll duck. She’s so friendly that when the neighbor dog (a little Westie) was sniffing her through the fence today, she flirted with him instead of running away. When I brought Beany to the vet right after adopting her, he said to watch out, because she would become a biter. Nobody has ever been so wrong about a cat.

– Things about Birdy: She has a fuzzy head, a whiny voice, and she’s always sitting on whatever I need. But I’m still pretty fond of her.

Posted in cats, dogs | 1 Comment

Never Try Anything New (Not)

by Anna Posted on March 12, 2012

– When I decided to bake something sweet this afternoon, my first thought was to make a batch of the chocolate chip cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance. With the exception of a few substitutions here and there (replacing half the margarine with applesauce for the cookies, so they won’t feel so greasy, for example), I’ve found Isa’s recipes to be completely reliable and pretty darn good. So I was led astray from the cookie recipe when I saw the one for date bars, and I realized I had everything I needed to make them. But, whoops: the recipe calls for an 11×17″ pan, so I tried an 11×15″ baking tray, burned the base (which you bake first), started again with a 9×13″ pan, and then found that there was enough topping to cover only half of that. So presumably the recipe should have called for an 8×8″ pan. They’re still pretty tasty, though.

– When my friend Alex and I tried going to a different apple orchard a few years back, we were sorely and sadly disappointed with it, which led us (maybe just me) to declare that one should never try anything new, because it will always be bad. That was how I felt after the date bar debacle, feeling as though I should have just stuck with the chocolate chip cookies. For dinner, I went with the tried-and-true lentil and rice soup from Appetite for Reduction (also one of Isa’s books). One of my favorite soups, for sure. I think I added zucchini the last time I made it; this time I threw in some kale.

– I’m not serious about never trying anything new, because if I were, I wouldn’t be dabbling with woodworking. And I’m glad I am, because I really love this radio I just finished. I picked up a $3 clock radio at the thrift store (see the before and after here) because I needed one, planning on just using it as it was, despite its extreme 70s/80s un-flair. But when I started looking at it, I imagined building it a new body, and I just had to follow through on that idea. I used about $10 of red oak for the case, except the piece that has the radio frequencies on it — that’s a cheap pine shim, sanded down to be super smooth (it had to be thinner than the oak to fit in front of the display but behind the pointer). The construction is very simple — just glued butt joints, so it’s sturdy enough for the usual life of a radio, but it probably wouldn’t survive a sudden trip to the floor. (The next thing I want to try is making finger/box joints by hand.) There are more photos of the radio here and here. And here, because I like it so much, is the top button panel, which I covered with red wool felt — the letters are Helvetica transfers that I bought ages ago:

Posted in baking, cooking, woodworking | 5 Comments

Handmade is Best-Made

by Anna Posted on March 7, 2012

– Breezing by yet another absence, take a look at this tiny cactus in a piece of pottery that my friend Ann made! She’s been taking pottery classes for a few months now (and she just started weaving classes — get out of my brain and stop doing everything I want to do, Ann!), and she gave me this little white bud vase two weekends ago. You can see it here, too. The problem is that I rarely buy cut flowers, so my vases live under the kitchen sink, and I didn’t want this little pot to be hidden away. So I put a mini cactus in it! Naturally. In the photo above, it’s sitting on a tabletop I made with ‘reclaimed’ wood trim from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

– With the leftover scraps of trim, I made this plinth/coaster thing, just as an experiment. You can see the top here (I took these photos in the last bits of sunlight one evening). I glued the pieces together and then clamped them tight and sanded it down after the glue had dried. Instead of staining it, I just rubbed some mineral oil in, and I like the way it turned out, especially (surprisingly) the pieces of plywood that I used in it.

– I’ve been playing around with woodworking, as you can see. I like to create useful things, and I’ve sewn about as many bags as I could ever need, and I don’t have the time/patience for clothes right now. Teaching myself this sort of carpentry reminds me of learning to sew, though, and I can imagine how I’ll look back someday (assuming I stick with this for a while) and see how clumsy my first attempts were. I’ve already learned how much of a difference the right tools make. (Not used on the plinth or table, but for other projects: a corded drill — battery-operated is for chumps.)

– The ten-day forecast looks pretty agreeable (all 60s next week?!), and it’s got me thinking about how this has been such a fake winter. It’s helped that I’ve been busy, but it still seems like it’s flown by with very little winter-y weather. Soon (well, soon-ish), it’ll be time to plant seeds, but I’ve been enjoying my houseplants for now. I used to think of myself as not very good with houseplants, but I’ve got so many that seem to be doing well, so I’m pretty sure that’s an outdated image of myself. This little baby spider plant is now this one (actually, there are two in the pot in that second photo, but they were the same size when they started). Did you know that spider plants produce flowers? I didn’t know that before I had my own, but they do — so they make seeds AND baby spiders. See?

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Some Stuff

by Anna Posted on February 27, 2012

– Stuff I’ve said many times before: I’ve been so busy! I can’t believe this month is almost over! I hate that I haven’t been writing more here! It’s all still true. I’ve hardly even been taking photos; I have just a handful from the past week. Luckily, my teaching schedule slows down after this week — just in time for other busyness to take its place.

– I got the above plates from a thrift store this weekend. Four dinner plates, six snack plates, six berry bowls, and two cup-and-saucer sets for $28. I figured out that it’s a pattern by Stetson Pottery, from the 1950s or ’60s. It seems like I got a good deal according to the prices dotted around the internet — a really good deal if you go by this site, which lists a dinner plate for $12. I usually like plain white dinnerware, but I needed to get some new stuff, and I’m kind of enamored with this pattern, now.

– Seriously, tofu. It’s so good. If you don’t like tofu, you haven’t had it prepared properly; I just can’t believe otherwise. This was about as simple as it gets: I pressed the tofu (half a block, sliced down the middle for two big, flat pieces) wrapped in a flour sack towel for 30-45 minutes, then cut it into pieces and tossed it with 2-ish tablespoons of soy sauce. After letting it sit for a while (15-20 minutes) I put a small amount of sesame oil in a hot pan and sauteed the tofu on at least two sides (I get really fussy and turn each piece individually, but that’s just because I’m… like that). Then I added some cooked broccoli and poured over another tablespoon of soy sauce. Adding that extra bit after the tofu has already been cooking seems to flavor it differently (and it gets in the broccoli, too, plus I think the heat punches up the soy sauce flavor). The way I feel about savory tofu is what I think crazy bacon people must feel about bacon. (But I have the good sense not to put it in cookies and other unwelcome places.)

Posted in bits and pieces | 8 Comments

Two-Pastry Weekend

by Anna Posted on February 19, 2012

– Ah, the weekend. I got a lot of cleaning done, although there are still quite a few un-ticked boxes on my great big chore list (a perfect use for my chalkboard wall). I started writing the list on Thursday, and I was reviewing it yesterday and found myself getting angry about items like ‘Kitchen Closet’. What! I don’t want to clean that! Who put that on there? So there are still quite a few things I haven’t gotten around to yet, but I’d have to say it was a productive weekend, nevertheless.

– I had been thinking about going to Whole Foods today, and when my grandma called to ask me to pick up her prescriptions, I figured that was a sign (WF is less out of the way if I’m already at my grandma’s). I needed some organic dairy products, but mostly I wanted to get lunch from their salad bar. I also treated myself to a kombucha, and I got this pain au chocolat to have with my afternoon tea. I’m not sure why there was a compass rose on it (slightly smooshed from my grabbing it out of the bakery case); the others had mathematical equations written in chocolate on top. Mysterious. At any rate, it was delicious, with crispy edges, and my lunch was good too. The perfect treat after a busy week and a weekend of cleaning.

– Actually, it was a two-pastry weekend! I ran a couple of errands (I say ‘errands’, but really I mean I went to the thrift store and Half Price Books) and stopped at Wuollet’s on the way home. This was okay, but it didn’t have the same je ne sais compass as today’s treat. I think I’m pretty much set for pastries for a while, now.

– I’ve long been a Josef Frank fan, and when I saw this cabinet (in ‘Miracle Brown’) on-line, my grabby hands went into overdrive. I think it would be fun to find an old piece of wooden furniture and try painting my own Josef-Frank-esque design on it. When my mom and I were at my folks’ cabin last weekend, she wanted to get rid of a little wooden box (she’d thrifted it a while ago; it had a ceramic duck glued on top; the duck fell off; she kept the duck and didn’t want the box anymore), so I took it home. Using my kitchen houseplants for inspiration, I made this. I’m not happy with the red I used on the elephant ear leaves, but I think I’ll touch that up with another color and then spray some glossy sealer on top. It’s definitely no Josef Frank, but it’s a lot cheaper!

Posted in bits and pieces | 4 Comments

So Busy

by Anna Posted on February 17, 2012

– When I was in college and blogging, I used to say that there was a direct relation between how busy I was and how often I posted. It didn’t make sense, but for some reason I always seemed to get really verbose when I had a big to-do list (maybe because many of those to-do items were essays I had to write, so I was already in typing mode). I’ve been busy this month, but these days that doesn’t translate into more frequent blogging, sadly. A lot of the busyness is work-related, which isn’t exactly great blog fodder (well, some of the teaching stuff is, but I daren’t write about it), and I’ve barley even been taking photos of meals, since they’re thrown together after I get back from class (see the umpteenth veggie burger I’ve had this week above). But now I finally have a weekend with no plans… except crazy amounts of cleaning.

– One complete task on my cleaning check list is the oven. I’ve been meaning to try out this trick using ammonia to clean the burner grates, although it took me a long time to get around to it. My grates are too big for plastic bags, like that how-to suggests, but I found that a big Tupperware-type container could fit two grates at a time. I also used ammonia to clean the pans that go under the burners — on my stove, there are two long pans for either side, so I had nothing that they would fit inside. Instead, I sandwiched them in cling film (with ammonia sitting in/on the pans themselves), which I sealed along the edges by tucking it underneath. The trick worked pretty well for the burners and awesomely for the pans. No scrubbing! If you decide to follow that how-to, they really aren’t kidding about ventilation, FYI.

– I keep a tube of chapstick in the pocket of the sweatshirt I usually wear at home. And today I was lying on the sofa, proof-reading, and the chapstick must have rolled out of my pocket at some point. After dinner, I walked into the living room and saw pieces of something I couldn’t immediately identify on a sofa cushion, and when I got nearer, I realized it was the tube of chapstick — with the twisty end piece (and the screwy part that goes up into the body of the tube) removed, sitting next to it. What amazed me was that there were only the slightest of tooth marks on the tube (obviously, Henny had been the dismantler), and she hadn’t chewed it up at all. In fact, I was able (with quite a bit of force) to get the twisty part to snap back in, and it’s as good as new, now. I don’t think that I, even with my cleverly evolved thumbs and everything, could have separated the two parts the way Henny did. What a funny/weird/smart dog.

– Look, it’s like a Pusheen comic about my two cats! Remember when Birdy was only leetle? I mean, really. Birdy turned two years old a couple of weeks ago. And she’s currently sleeping on her back, paws twitching as she dreams. Little baby cat.

Posted in bits and pieces, dogs | Leave a comment

Pizza Time

by Anna Posted on February 12, 2012

– How good does that pizza look? It was really, really good. I made it on a whim, using Bisquick + salt + garlic powder + oregano + thyme + milk to make the crust, which I rolled out reeeeally thinly (it barely approximated roundness, but that’s okay). I topped it with some sauce I made, onion, green pepper, black olives, veggie pepperoni, and sharp cheddar. It was SO much better than any of the frozen pizzas I’ve had in the last few months. I might be ready to say that I’m not too bad as a cook.

– I use my hand-me-down iPad (a Christmas gift from Rob) a lot — and for a lot of different things. I like to keep it on the kitchen table during the day, in case I want to check something when I’m reading the paper or eating lunch, say. Unfortunately, Birdy is obsessed with the cat game (appropriately called ‘Game for Cats’), so she’s always trying to monopolize the iPad time. Fortunately, it’s super funny when she gets into it.

Posted in bits and pieces | 4 Comments

Sandwiches and Oranges

by Anna Posted on February 8, 2012

I think my camera might be stuck on the ‘dramatic lighting’ setting, don’t you? Seriously, what’s up with the moody atmosphere, sandwich? (Okay, the sun had just gone behind some clouds when I took that shot.) I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m part of the BzzAgent program, and from time to time I get samples of things to test out. A lot of it has been non-food items, so I’ve been reviewing the products elsewhere, but the most recent product was Brownberry’s new Health-full bread. I got a coupon for a free loaf and bought the ‘Nutty Grain’ variety to try — just at the right time, since I’m going through a sandwich phase. I try not to pay attention to calories-per-slice, but this stuff is only 80 calories, which is good, if you’re trying to watch your intake, and it’s not dry or ‘weird’ like a lot of the low-cal breads. Something to look for at the supermarket!

This isn’t really a review, but I’m loving oranges right now. I’m more of an apple person, usually (duh), but Sam’s Club has giant bags of big oranges right now, and they’re surprisingly good. My mom had bought a bag and shared a few with me, and then I had to get an entire bag for myself when I was at Sam’s Club on Monday. I also finally figured out a good coffee-to-water ratio for my little French press (it seems to change every time I switch coffee brands), and I thought it looked oddly red-orange while it was brewing.

So, that’s all. Bread and oranges and coffee.

Posted in reviews | 3 Comments

Oh Yeah, Blogging

by Anna Posted on February 7, 2012

– Don’t you wish I’d update more? I wish I would update more. (I guess you wish that if I’m lucky. You might have just given up on me.) I’ll tell you this: Being sick and starting a new teaching gig can really take it out of a person. Luckily, my germs are slowly receding, and I can only hope that teaching will get easier as I get the hang of it and have more energy. (It’s fun, but wrangling so many 1-5th graders even for an hour and a half is work.)

– I made these chocolate crinkle cookies for my grandma’s birthday. I’ve been wanting to try that recipe for many months, and my grandma loves chocolate anything, so it seemed like a good match. At first, I only made a quarter batch — enough to give to her and a couple left over for me. But it quickly became apparent that a couple wasn’t going to be enough, since they’re the Best Cookies Ever, so I made another half batch a couple of days later. I shared some with my mom and stashed a bunch in the freezer.

Posted in bits and pieces | 3 Comments

Sicky

by Anna Posted on February 1, 2012

– Blah. I was going to write a new post last night, but I’ve been sick the past few days — a horrible, congested, cloudy sort of sick. And then I got one of those awful, mysteriously sore tastebuds, which was driving me crazy. And then, right around the time I was going to start my new post, I started getting heartburn. I just gave up at that point and went to bed. Bah. Who has time to feel gross? (The almond croissant has nothing to do with being sick, but it’s prettier than a photo of a Kleenex pile.)

– Henny playfully chases Birdy around most days, just for a little while, and Birdy never seems too bothered by it, but I also didn’t think she was really part of the game. But I’ve been working in the living room the past couple of days (just for a change), which is where Henny hangs out all day, so I’ve had a chance to observe her more closely. Or maybe I should say observe Birdy more closely. Because Henny was just sitting on the rug yesterday, minding her own business, and then Birdy started talking to her. Birdy is a very vocal cat, and I swear for about a minute straight, she was looking at Henny and meowing and walking around. Then she walked into the other room, and — boom! — Henny bounced after her, barking. The same thing happened today. So now I think Birdy really is instigating things, at least some of the time.

– I haven’t made my own yogurt or bread lately, but I did make deodorant this weekend. I’d been thinking about using Amy’s recipe for quite a while, and then Shreve of Daily Coyote wrote about it more recently (she lists her measurements in the comments of her post on the topic), and I finally ordered some shea and cocoa butters on-line. I had everything else I needed, including an empty deodorant container, and it couldn’t have been easier to make. I’m not 100% in love with the scent of shea butter, but I can’t actually smell it when it’s on. I’ve been using the deodorant all this week, which included two days of teaching in warm schools (= super sweaty me), and it really, really works. I haven’t used an antiperspirant is years, so if you do, this homemade stuff might be an adjustment. But I think it works even better as a deodorant than the Tom’s of Maine stuff I just ran out of.

Posted in bits and pieces, cats, dogs | 3 Comments