Home-made food

I've been reading Wild Fermentation lately. Inspired by the book, Cathy helped me make some kimchi. And a few days ago I made a ball of Farmer's cheese.

So...making these things is very cool, but I don't always know what to do with them. Tonight I decided to dive in.

I started by sauteeing the "paneer" with pepper and celery salt and then I dump quite a bit of the kimch into the pan and stir-fried them together. To round it out, I added a package of commercial vegetarian kebobs -- some textured wheat gluten magic.

It was actually quite good.

(Also, this is me blogging from my iPhone for the first time -- it's a bit awkard, but cool.) (And as it turns out, I haven't yet figured out a decent way to add images...I had to come back in and edit...grr!)

Random RPG entry

Over at Story Games there is a thread about creating random RPG covers. Some of them are really funny. Mine's not so much, but I followed the instructions and got what I got. Behold:

Our lost decade

Over at Daily Kos, there is a GREAT essay on the last ten years and what we did with it. Go here. Read it. Thanks to JWalt for pointing it out.

Discs looking for a home

Hi all, we're getting rid of a bunch of old CDs that we don't care about. We'll donate them to the library or school district and write them off for a bit over $2 each. I figured I should offer them to people I know who might want them. So, if anyone wants any of the following CDs for say US$2.50 plus shipping, they're yours (assuming they're not already claimed).

Genre	Artist/Group	Album title	Notes	Composer	Performing group	Conductor
Alternative	Suicidal Tendencies	Suicidal Tendencies
Alternative	Suicidal Tendencies	How Will I Laugh Tomorrow...When I Can't Even Smile Today
Alternative	Sex Pistols	Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols
Alternative	Skinny Puppy	Too Dark Park
Alternative	Pailhead	Trait
Alternative	Meat Puppets	Forbidden Places
Alternative	Meat Puppets	Monsters
Alternative	Meat Puppets	Too High to Die
Alternative	Ween	Chocolate and Cheese
Alternative	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Mother's Milk
Alternative	The Clash	The Clash
Alternative & Punk	Jesus Jones	Liquidizer [Bonus Tracks]
Alternative & Punk	Screeching Weasel	Anthem For A New Tomorrow
Classical	Tokyo String Quartet	String Quartets Complete		Bartok / Janacek	Tokyo String Quartet
Classical		Bernstein Favorites: Overtures		Various	New York Philharmonic	Leonard Bernstein
Classical		Varèse: Arcana; Holst: The Planets		Host/Varese	Philharmonia Orchestra	Leonard Slatkin
Classical		"Grieg: Symphonic Dances, Norwegian Dances, Lyric Pieces"		Grieg	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	Neeme Järvi
Classical		Johann David Heinichen: Lamentationes Passionsmusik		Johann David Heinichen	Musica Antiqua Koln	Reinhard Goebel
Classical		"Dvo?ák; Symphony #9, Slavonic Dances"		Dvorak	New York Philharmonic Orchestra	Kurt Masur
Classical	Heinz Holliger	"Handel: Oboe Concertos, Concerto Grosso"			English Chamber Orchestra
Classical		Bernstein Arias and Barcarolles			London Symphony Orchestra	Leonard Bernstein
Classical	Andre Rieu	The Vienna I Love: Waltzes From My Heart			Johann Strauss Orchestra
Classical	Modl & Windgassen	Wagner Tristan und Isolde Highlights
Classical		Romantic Overtures: Wagner and Mendelssohn			Philharmonia Hungarica	"Arthur Gruber, Alois Springer"
Classical		Mozart Orchestral Legends
Classical	Pablo Casals	Casals Early Recordings 1925-1928
Classical	Steven Isserlis	Boccherini: Concertos and Sonatas for Cello		Boccherini	Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
Classical		Cantus Arcticus		Einojuhani Rautavaara
Classical	Bryn Terfel	Opera Arias			Metropolitan Opera Orchestra	James Levine
Classical		"Copland: El Salón México, Music For The Theatre"		Aaron Copland	New York Philharmonic Orchestra	Leonard Bernstein
Classical		Haydn: London Symphonies			Philharmonia Orchestra	Leonard Slatkin
Classical		Dvo?ák's New World Symphony & Other Orchestral Masterworks		Dvo?ák	Chicago Symphony Orchestra	Fritz Reiner
Classical		Russian Choral Music - Music of the Passion			Glinka Choir Of Leningrad
Classical		Russian Choral Music - Russian Easter			Choir of the Trinity - St. Sergius Laura and the Moscow Theological Academy
Classical		Russian Choral Music - Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom - Tchaikovsky		Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky	USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir	Valery Polyansky
Classical		Russian Choral Music - Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom - Rachmaninov		Rachmaninov	Moscow Chamber Choir
Classical	Russel Brazzel	Twentieth Century Cuban Music
Classical		"Mozart Concerti K242, K365, K466"		Mozart	English Chamer Orchestra	Sir Georg Solti
Classical		Gorecki: Symphony No. 3		Henryk Gorecki	London Sinfonietta	David Zinman
Classical	Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim	Mozart: Die Sonaten Fur Klavier Und Violine	4 discs	Mozart
Classical	John Williams and Arthur Fiedler	America The Beautiful			Boston Pops Orchestra
Classical		The Wedding Album	Compilation of music played at weddings.
Classical	Carreras Domingo Pavarotti	The Three Tenors in Concert				Mehta
Classical	Koechlin and Zinman	The Jungle Book			Berlin Symphony Orchestra
Classical	Various	Maxiplay: Go For the Gold	"""Greatest Hits"" of classical music. It's a good disc, though many music snobs would dislike it."
Classical	"Cecilia Bartoli, Myung-Whun Chung"	Chant D'Amour - Mélodies Françaises
Classical		"Ravel: Boléro, Rapsodie Espagnole, Pavane, Alborada Del Gracioso, Daphnis Et Chloe"		Ravel	Chicago Symphony Orchestra	Daniel Barenboim
Classical		Sibelius: Syphonies Nos. 2&6			London Symphony Orchestra	Sir. Colin Davis
Classical	The Met Orchestra	Don Quixote and Tod und Verklarung		Strauss	The Met Orchestra	James Levine
Classical		Richard Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder; Tod und Verklärung; Metamorphosen		Strauss	Berlin Philharmonic	Von Karajan
Classical		"Strauss (R): Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Juan"		Strauss	Berlin Philharmonic	Von Karajan
Classical		Tchaikovsky Symphony #5		Tchaikovsky	Radio Symphony Orchestra	Anton Nanut
Classical	The Soloists From Zagreb	The Best of Vivaldi: 7 All Time Faborite Concertos		Vivaldi
Classical	Nigel Kennedy	Vivaldi: The Four Seasons			English Chamber Orchestra	Nigel Kennedy
Classical	Itzhak Perlman and Israel Zohar	Tradition: Itzhak Perlman Plays Poplular Jewish Melodies			Israel Philarhmonic Orchestra	Dov Seltzer
Classical	"Eveline Schuler, Folk Harp"	Sound of Austria: A Treasury of Alpine Folk Music			Schuler Folk Ensemble
Classical		Music Of Bulgaria			Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic	Philip Koutev
Classical		The Best of the German Marches II			The Maritime Self Defence Force Band of Tokyo
Classical		Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries	"""Great Orchestral Music From ""The Ring"""""	Wagner	Cleveland Orchestra	George Szell
Classical	Simon Dent	Greatest Oboe Concertos (Die Schonsten Oboenkonzerte)				Vladislav Czarnecki
Classical	Gil Shaham	Violin Romances: Romances for Violin an Orchestra			Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Classical	Various	The Magic of the Cello		Various	Various	Various
Classical	Charles Gerhardt	Classic Film Scores For Errol Flynn			National Philharmonic Orchestra
Electronica/Dance	Front 242	Geography
Electronica/Dance	Front 242	Tyranny (for you)
Electronica/Dance	Front 242	05:22:09:12 Off
Electronica/Dance	Nitzer Ebb	As Is [EP]	stained case in poor shape. CD fine.
Electronica/Dance	Nitzer Ebb	ebbhead
Hip Hop/Rap	Beastie Boys	Licensed to Ill
Hip Hop/Rap	Beastie Boys	Check Your Head
Hip Hop/Rap	Digital Underground	Sex Packets
Hip Hop/Rap	DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince	"He's The DJ, I'm The Rapper"
Hip Hop/Rap	Digital Underground	This is an E.P. Release
Jazz	"Harry Connick, Jr."	When Harry Met Sally Soundtrack
Jazz	Louis Armstrong	Laughin' Louie
Jazz	Kenny G	Duotones
Jazz	Charlie Parker	Bird: The Original Recordings of Charlie Parker
Jazz	Natalie Cole	Unforgettable With Love
Metal	Twisted Sister	Big Hits & Nasty Cuts
Pop	Neil Diamond	Heartlight
Pop	Elton John	The One
Pop	Phil Collins	Serious Hits… Live
Pop	The New Christy Minstrels	Greatest Hits
Pop	The Mamas and the Papas	16 of their Greatest Hits
Pop	Carole King	Tapestry
Pop	Jefferson Airplane	Jefferson Airplane
Pop	Carly Simon	My Romance
Pop	Generation X	Perfect Hits 1975-1981
Pop	Aretha Franklin	What You See is What You Get
Punk	Danzig III	How the Gods Kill
R&B	Aretha Franklin	The Best of Aretha Franklin	Still in shrink
R&B	Sly & the Family Stone	Greatest Hits
R&B	Ray Charles	My World
R&B	The Drifters	Golden Hits
R&B	Righteous Brothers	Anthology 1962-1974 Disc 1
R&B	Righteous Brothers	Anthology 1962-1974 Disc 2
R&B	Ray Charles	The Best of Ray Charles
Rock	The Association	Greatest Hits!
Rock	B-52s	Cosmic Thing
Rock	Bow Wow Wow	I Want Candy
Rock	Oingo Boingo	Best O' Boingo
Rock	Blondie	The Best of Blondie
Rock	T-Rex	The Very Best of T-Rex
Rock	Styx	Come Sail Away: The Styx Anthology
Rock	Mekons	The Mekons Rock N'Roll
Rock	U2	Rattle And Hum
Rock	The Tubes	The Best of the Tubes 1981-1987
Rock	Steve Winwood	Roll With It
Rock	The Rembrandts	LP
Rock	Men at Work	Business as Usual
Rock	Elvis Costello & The Attractions	Armed Forces [Bonus Tracks]
Rock	Eric Clapton	The Cream of Clapton
Rock	George Thorogood & The Destroyers	The Baddest Of George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Rock	Rush	Moving Pictures
Rock	Rush	2112
Rock	Sammy Hagar	Unboxed
Rock	Don Henley	I Can't Stand Still
Rock	Jerry Lee Lewis	18 Original Greatest Hits
Rock	Jethro Tull	Thick as a Brick
Rock	Jethro Tull	Aqualung
Rock	Jethro Tull	Original Masters
Rock	Various	Punky But Chic: The American New Wave Scene
Rock	Soundgarden	Badmotorfinger
Rock	Creedence Clearwater Revival	Chronicle
Rock	Elvis Presley	The Top 10 Hits disc 2		Rachmaninov	USSR Ministry Of Culture Chamber Choir
Rock	Elvis Presley	The Top 10 Hits disc 1
Rock	Elvis Presley	The Number 1 Hits
Rock	Golden Earring	The Continuing Story Of Radar Love
Rock	The Guess Who	Tack Record: The Guess Who Collection	2 CD set
Rock	Bob Dylan	Under the Red Sky
Rock	Aerosmith	Big Ones
Soundtrack	Various	Pump Up The Volume Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack	John Williams	Star Wars Original Soundtrack		John Williams	London Symphony Orchestra	John Williams
Soundtrack	John Williams	Star Wars A New Hope Soundtrack		John Williams	London Symphony Orchestra	John Williams
Soundtrack	John Williams	THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score		John Williams	National Philharmonic	Charles Gerhardt
Soundtrack		Braveheart Original Motional Picture Soundtrack		James Horner	London Symphony Orchestra	James Horner
Soundtrack		Independence Day Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		David Arnold
Soundtrack		Jurassic Park Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		John Williams
Soundtrack		Mission: Impossible - Music from and Inspired by the motion picture
Soundtrack		Hamlet Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		Ennio Morricone
Soundtrack		Dances With Wolves Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		John Barry
Soundtrack		Wyatt Earp: Music from the Motion Picture		James Newton Howard
Soundtrack		Wolf Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		Ennio Morricone
Soundtrack		Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace Original Motion Picture Soundtrack		John Williams	London Symphony Orchestra
Soundtrack	Various	Music from the Films of Clint Eastwood		Various
World	Buckwheat Zydeco	Taking It Home
World	Hebrew National	Kosher Classics

Charlie's Soap: Best Laundry Soap ever!

Ok, I feel a bit silly blogging about a laundry soap, but I really like this stuff.

It's called "Charlie's Soap," and it's a small family-owned business. The soap is biodegradable, hypo-allergenic, and has no dyes or perfumes. The clothes come out of my dryer smelling... clean, not perfumy.

I got some of the soap because I'd heard that it actually eliminates the sour smell that comes from leaving laundry in a front-loading washing machine too long. I love my front-loader - it gets things cleaner than any other washing machine I've ever had, but if you leave a load in the washer for more than 4 or 5 hours, the clothes get stinky, and I'm TERRIBLE about starting a load in the evening, and forgetting about it until the next morning. Sigh... all that water savings goes right down the drain if you have to re-wash your clothes all the time. So, I'd taken to using the delay wash feature for when I started a load relatively late in the evening, so that the clothes would actually start washing the next morning. And I try to be prompt about transferring the clothes to the dryer.

Anyway, Charlie's Soap doesn't fully eliminate the mildew smell if you leave it overnight, but it's enormously better. And best of all, once you've used it awhile, you can stop using fabric softeners. Most of the stiffness in the cloth comes from all the chemicals and detergents and surfactants that never really get rinsed away fully (some fiber artists told me that it takes 15 rinses before it's all actually gone).

I asked why it works on the mildew smell, and it's because things like bleach and mildew killers actually kill or dessicate the mildew organism, but don't actually wash it away. So the mildew is still there, just in a dead form. And dead mildew is an EXCELLENT medium for growing new mildew. Charlie's Soap actually breaks up the mildew and washes it away. Mildew, if you leave wet clothes sealed up in the washer for long enough, will still happen, but it takes longer. Leaving the washer open when not in use also helps.

Charlie's Soap has very little suds, and rinses away completely, so no soap is left behind, which is why it helps those with chemical sensitivities, or dry or sensitive skin.

Even the pickiest members of my family agree that the clothes are coming out softer - plenty soft enough that we can discontinue the dryer sheets.

It comes in two forms - Powdered and Liquid. The latter is better for washing Gortex fabrics, but the powdered is great for just about everything else. And best of all? You use only a tablespoon per wash, and it really does dissolve completely. I can detect a faint odor when I stick my nose very close to the powder. The liquid has a more noticible scent, but it just smells kind of soapy to me. I'll be using the powdered most of the time. It's more concentrated, and you can buy it in 5-gallon buckets, which is good for well over 1000 washes (the price ends up being $0.11 per load if you buy it in that quantity at full price (I bought a few other items, which dropped the price on the big bucket even farther), which is better than 1/2 the cost of liquid purchased at a grocery store. I got some of the all-purpose cleaner to use as a spot cleaner.

Shipping is always free on the big buckets. Right now, through the end of February, shipping is free on any item, but it's goes back up to free shipping with orders greater than $25 or thereabouts, in March.

Best book for learning to knit?

I'm learning to knit.

I've learned one cast on stitch (I think it's called the "slingshot" cast on), and I know one stitch - the "knit" stitch. Instead of doing 10 rows as my learning piece the way the little manual said, I've kept going with it, aiming for 10 rows with no mistakes before going on to the next stitch.

I've found the little books on knitting to be confusing and hard to follow - it wasn't until I watched some videos on Youtube that I was able to figure out how to cast on, or how to do the knit stitch.

There's a video at Amazon that people seem to like a lot (110 reviews, and rated at 5 stars):

My main gripe with this, is that I don't think I'll be going back and re-using it over and over once I've learned the basic items. I like the fact that once I've SEEN how to do something, the pictures in the books all start to make sense. I'd pull out a book and glance back at it regularly, but a DVD is less handy.

And then I found this book:

It's relatively new and so has no reviews yet. But it looks REALLY cool.

My husband says the Teach Yourself Visually books are pretty good:

It's got pretty good reviews (4.5 stars in over 70 reviews) but there are comments that said it was hard to follow the pictures.

Anyone have any suggestions for the best overall book for beginners?

Snow Tubing and Girl Scouts

Kivi is a Girl Scout Daisy (Daisy is the group before Brownie), and tonight we went to Buck Hill in Burnsville, Minnesota to go tubing for a Girl Scout event. We got the group rates ($12/person), and everyone on the tubing hill was either a Girl Scout, or a family member of one.

It was insanely fun.

First of all, they had a pull lift that towed you up the hill on your inner tube. So that was kinda fun, but a little slow (it took 2-3 minutes to get to the top of the hill). Then you rolled off your tube, and towed it over to the edge of the hill. Then when the attendent said "Go!" you got on your tube and slid down the hill. Really, really fast. So fast that my shoulders, incased in a long-sleaved Tshirt, a sweat shirt, and my Maine Warden Parka from LLBean, got a little cold. So fast that if I'd wiped out, I could have broken my neck. So fast that if I didn't get onto the tube right, and my knees could drag, it was like slamming them repeatedly into rocks (well, ice and snow chunks).

I have to say it again. It was insanely fun. And cold. And tiring. But after 2 hours, I was good to go another few times down the hill despite being 50 pounds overweight, and my 7-year-old daughter was asking to go home (though she asked if we could return the following night). Wow. I could really get into this.

Oh, and my new mittens did a pretty good job - it was 1 degree above zero Fahrenheit, and pretty cold, but my hands stayed pretty warm.

It was really fun. Wow.