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!

Secret Project

Some exciting things today:

Brain researchers in Toronto have developed a new brain imaging device that lets you see the activity all throughout your brain in real-time. This is highly advanced, compared to fMRIs, which only measure changes in bloodflow in the brain; something that is not actually quite accurate. This new imaging device shows the electrical signals that your brains uses to communicate with itself and the rest of your body. Not only that, the device can show the activity in real time. Of course, there's a whole lot of debate over the machine's accuracy, but it's still pretty sweet.

In other news, I found an amazing cooking site. 101 Cookbooks is a site made by Heidi Swanson, an author of a few cookbooks on natural cooking. Her recipes are fantastic, and she has endless vegetarian and vegan recipes. Definitely worth checking out.

Final thought for the day: I have a super secret project I am going to get started on. I can't say much, you know, with it being...secret...and all...But, it will involve: watercolors, garlic, beeswax, and clay. I know, you're on the edge of your seat. Try and control yourself.

Final final thought: This video is worth watching and considering. Block off 20 minutes today to think about the educational system and its values and faults.

Brainy Badassery

Time for me to force you to love brains as much as I do!

I am going to try and post a good brain-related video every week, just because I need you to understand why this stuff excites me. First, Ramachandran. Enjoy.


TED talks are incredible-- look up TED on youtube and you can find an interesting talk on just about anything!

Pictures galore!

Finally, a collection of the promised pictures I owe you all.

Here are the mountains I had the good fortune to stare at for four months:

...And again, with a creeping snow line:

So beautiful.

Also, thought I'd put up a few pictures of things I've painted (sorta). I went through a phase of boredom at Quest, and started mixing cut-and-paste with colored pencil and acrylics. They don't mean anything, so don't read too deep...

Apologies for the poor picture quality...

These two go together-- Put up like the girl is having a dream.

I have another to put up, but my camera just died...So, in good time.

I spent a solid 4 1/2 hours in the ceramics lab yesterday, and threw a good amount of things on the wheel. I am getting the hang of it...even starting to make multiples of the same items. Hopefully I can start making dish sets to sell at farmers markets! I am saving up for the cheapest potter's wheel on the market, so I can start making things at home.

Another update: I have found not only what I want my major to be, but where!! Only two Universities in Washington have Neuroscience degrees: Western Washington University, and Washington State University. You can probably imagine that I really don't want to be in Bellingham or Pullman...BUT: WSU has a campus in Vancouver, WA (ahem, about 15 minutes from Portland)-- and they are going to have their Neuroscience major program approved this fall (so says my inside information, aka an advisor). AND: they allow people living in Portland to go to WSU for in-state tuition! So, basically, shabacon. (noun; an exclamation of achievement). I can study brains and live in the city that's stuck in the 90s! Dream of dreams!

Well, I have to go brave the nasty, stormy weather to go to work, but in the meantime, enjoy this follow-up to the last video I posted...A neuroscience follow-up that is!