Making things!

As I am an upstanding, anti-capitalist, feminist youngster, this past Sunday I held to my beliefs and did not watch the super bowl. Well, except for a few passing glances that I couldn't actually control-- every TV in my parent's house was on, after all. Instead of partaking in the screaming and avid commercial-watching, I took advantage of a visit to my parent's house, and spent the whole afternoon playing with herbs with my Mom.

My Mom is a big fan of herbs and all things natural (including childbirth...she's a midwife, in case you didn't know), and makes amazing salves, lotions, toners, etc. out of organic herbs. Most of the time she has at least a few jars full of suspicious liquids and floaty things, but they always turn in to magical salves that cure practically anything.

Her herb collection is so extensive that I was able to make some cooking goodies that I've been pining after for a while now! AND, I have pictures!

Remember that lavender rosemary salt that Kate and I used in our hummus? Well, all I had to do was mix together Kosher salt, dried rosemary, and dried lavender, and my Mom and I now have beautiful (and oddly fancy for me) savory salt!

Making vanilla sugar was even easier. Somehow I hit the jackpot when I stumbled upon vanilla beans in my mom's collection, so I made us some vanilla sugar simply by cutting the beans in half, and places two halves in each jar with some sugar. The sugar takes on the scent & flavor of the vanilla, and the jar can be re-filled with sugar until the beans loose their scent.

I'm going to use this in whipped cream, coffee, ice cream, etc.-- I won't even have to add vanilla extract!


The next mini-project was some "woman tea". It contains a whole mess o' herbs that promote health in womanly-bits, and is not just for crampy times. I mixed together:
Nettle-- one of the best all-around herbs for women.
Dandelion-- improves breast health, can lower toxins in the body and assist with digestion.
Lavender-- for aromatherapy, blood health, mental health, headaches, and easing muscle tension.
Rosemary-- Reduces inflammation.
Chamomile--Calming.
Rosehips-- High in Vitamin C and Iron, aka sweetness when you have your period.
Stevia-- Umm...sweetness :)

I added near-equal parts of everything, but took it easy on the lavender, rosehips, and stevia. Should be delicious!

My last little project won't actually be ready to use for another 3-4 weeks, but I am SO EXCITED!
Olive Oil + Rosemary + Garlic + 3-4 weeks of soaking = rosemary-garlic cooking oil! I'll strain it in a few weeks and make delicious things!

Another exciting thing: I finally got the cookbook I've been lusting for ever since Kate showed it to me:

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone has over 1,400 wonderful recipes, and encourages you to shop for groceries that look fresh, interesting, and delicious-- and cook from those ingredients. Time for me to start cooking!

In other news, I quit my ultra-corporate job at Borders...yes, after only 1.5 weeks. I just couldn't stand the way the whole corporate system worked. It made me sick to my stomach to try and sell people things they didn't want, just so my "numbers looked good". Still, the silver lining is very shiny on this one: I got a job at my favorite coffee shop, Victor's Coffee Roasters!

We roast our own beans in the store, and the whole environment is really relaxed and fun. Sooo much better than being watched all the time by somebody at "Corporate". And I get to learn to make coffee-- and become a coffee snob! The perks are endless.

Well, I must leave you now, and of course I'm leaving you with a TED talk. Although she is a bit dorky, this woman really does tell a fascinating story about what it's like to experience a stroke.



Last thing-- let me know if you end up making herby things! I would love to make more!