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Canada Day in the Wild East & I’m Not Dead Yet

domestika — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:22 +0000

Canada Day in the Wild East & I’m Not Dead Yet

Happy Canada Day!

We’ll get to the low-key-Canadian-patriotic celebrating stuff in a minute.

First, I want to say thanks to all you lovely Internet People who sent emails, noticing that the Domestik Goddess was uncharacteristically quiet and wondering if I’d died… got me all misty-eyed, some of you!

“Rumours of my death are greatly exaggerated,” to crib from Mark Twain.

The truth is that I’ve been working super-long hours on a big new project, and it’s almost done. Well, done enough that I can come back to the real world now that the end is in sight! (Did I just call the Internet the “real world”?!?) Anyway, today I celebrated that long-awaited “Almost Done” milestone (and Canada Day, too) by spending a little quiet quality time with dogs, food and the traditional Maritime icons of beer and music…

Healthy Outdoor Exercise

The best part of the day for me (and, frankly, the most productive) was taking my dogs for a long long long walk in the gentle warm rain. Three white-tailed deer stood and watched us wander out from the woods trail into the open fields, and didn’t seem at all troubled by the presence of the dogs. I do believe that they couldn’t even see the Golden Retriever over the tall grass, and they think the long-legged Greyhound is just another deer!

Here are the dogs, at home — I didn’t have the camera with me, so you’ll just have to imagine the deer:

Food!!

For supper, I invented a new recipe. The dish is too simple to deserve to have a name, but it turned out very well for something so very healthful and high-fibre/low-calorie, so I thought I’d share it here:

Cooked chicken breasts (I had some waiting in the freezer, previously cooked for just such an occasion): thaw and slice thin. Thin-slice some carrots, celery, yellow bell peppers, and onions. Heat a splash of olive oil in a giant frying pan, throw in the veggies and cooked chicken, and sort of stir-fry them for a few minutes until the carrots start to soften. Salt and pepper to taste. I also sprinkled on just a touch of cayenne. Then splash in just enough gingerale to moisten, and cover the saucepan. Let it simmer until heated through. At the last minute, toss with about a tablespoon of lemon-poppyseed salad dressing. Serve over flax/whole wheat spaghettini.

The Traditional Brewski

And afterwards, a refreshing glass of Dooryard Summer Ale. Yes, that really is the name of a beer — I’m not making it up. It’s an organic wheat ale made by Picaroons, a micro-brewery here in our region.

What goes with a brew?
Tunes, of course!

Sing Along!

Because this is Canada Day, I was digging deep at Blip.fm for some dusty Canadian classics and having a great time doing it — but the song that summed up the whole mood of the day, for me, is this one by Julie Doiron that I heard for the first time today on CBC radio’s all-day CanCon programming, part of the Canada Day celebrations.

Here’s my new favourite song, “Nice to Come Home” by singer-songwriter Julie Doiron for your listening pleasure:

And there you have it.

If you’re not Canadian… so sorry you didn’t get a holiday today!
(Your turn is coming, right?)

And tell me, my fellow Canadians — how did you celebrate? Drop a note in the comments (since I’m not actually dead, and thus able to read it) and share the joy. And if you blogged about your Canada Day celebrations, leave a link so I’ll be sure to come visit your blog and read all the festive details!

Braised Asian Lemon Seitan

guest — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:54:08 +0000

Braised Asian Lemon Seitan

Mmmm… Chris Perrin is back this month with his recipe for Braised Asian Lemon Seitan to make you tastebuds do a Happy Dance, while you feel all healthy and full of nutritional virtue! When our favourite certified cook isnt busy serving up veg*n goodies at DomestikGoddess.com, Chris writes for BIAO Magazine, food-blogs at Blog Well Done, and is working on his own vegan cookbook. Enjoy! ~ Jen

Braised Asian Lemon Seitan

Braising is one of my favorite cooking techniques. It’s a wonderful way to get a bunch of flavor into a dish and it’s really simple. The good news is that seitan, my favorite vegan meat replacement, with its firm texture, stands up to braising extremely well. In fact, a good braise can loosen the sietan, make it more receptive to the juices you’re cooking it in, and improve the overall texture.

For those not familiar with the term braising, it means cooking food partially submerged in a flavorful liquid. The most important part is the “partially submerged”. The food is not completely covered by cooking liquid (that’s boiling or stewing). Instead, the food is usually covered half way so that the bottom is in the liquid, while the top is exposed to the air. The second most important part is “flavorful liquid” because whatever you are cooking will absorb the tastes of the liquid in which it’s cooked. Good braising liquid makes for a great braised dish. We’re going to use that to our advantage!

Photo: moria

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
1 package seitan
1 lemon, juiced and zested
6 green onions
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (can substitute regular)
1 tablespoon Sichuan bean paste
8 tablespoons broth*

*Depending on the size of your pot, you may need more or less broth. The key is that the food is only covered halfway with liquid.

Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a high sided skillet over high heat and wait for the oil to get hot. Add the seitan and lemon juice and cook 5-6 minutes per side. Sauteing the seitan first gives it a better flavor and improves the texture after the braise. Remove the seitan from the pan and set aside.

Cut the greens of the green onions into 2 inch pieces and finely slice the whites of the green onions.

Put the final tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet, turn down the heat to medium-high, and let it get hot. Once hot, add the diced onions, green pepper, carrot, and the whites of the green onion. Saute until the green onions turn soft, maybe 5-6 minutes. Then add the green onion and cook for 30 seconds.

Add the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, bean paste, lemon zest, and the seitan. Then start adding the broth. You should need about 8 tablespoons, but pour slowly to make sure the food is only half covered. Mix well.

Cover the skillet and let the liquid come to a boil. Cook uncovered for 3-4 minutes after that and then flip. Cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Serve in a nice bowl over rice or noodles and enjoy!

For more of what is going in Chris’ lunchbox, on his dinner table, and on his party menus, as well as thoughts on food and culture, food in the media, and even the occasional recipe featuring meat, check out Chris’ food blog, Blog Well Done.

5 Tutorials to Make a Zig-Zag Quilt

domestika — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:36:54 +0000

5 Tutorials to Make a Zig-Zag Quilt

If you’ve seen a zig-zag quilt, you’ll immediately see the fascination. It looks like giant bands of rick-rack trim sewn into a quilt — but really, the zig-zag effect is achieved with a series of triangles and a trick of the eye.

Now, you might look at a zig-zag quilt and figure it’s pretty straightforward to make — but it turns out there are a couple of different ways to cut your triangle pieces and a couple of different ways to assemble them, too.

Check out these quilt tutorials for great instructions and, better yet, for the photographs and illustrations that are soooo essential to make sense of each quilter’s cutting and piecing methods —

I love the way this shows how quilting community tends to share ideas and build on each others’ creativity, too:

Taylor Groneck has a quick tutorial for a zig-zag quilt based on a pattern in Denyse Schmidt Quilts, and with the advice of…

Nettie Pete (of Etsy and A Quilt Is Nice fame) who shares her Zig-Zag Quilt Tutorial for the quilt inspired by…

The Purl Bee’s Zig Zag Quilt. The Purl Bee is the blog of Joelle & Jennifer Hoverson’s awesome and inventive crafty-sewing shop, Purl, by the way — and if you visit The Purl Bee, better plan to set aside a couple hours to explore… and you’ll want to check out their Triangle Tutorial, too, if you’ve ever had trouble making nice trim corners.

In fact, most quilters (except maybe the real quilting divas among us) agree that the main challenge of a zig-zag quilt — once you’ve picked the fabrics and planned the colours layout — is to take care to get the points of the triangles lined up right when you’re sewing them together.

Another help for this might be the triangle templates and clear how-to illustrations in a new free zig-zag quilt pattern that Anna Maria Horner, author of Seams to Me: 24 New Reasons to Love Sewing, offers as a free PDF download on her blog. “The Folk Dance” is what Horner calls her version of the vintage zig-zag quilt pattern.

A Handkerchief Bunny for Easter

domestika — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:08:53 +0000

A Handkerchief Bunny for Easter

Remember when hankies were made of fabric — for every day use, not just “for show” or for special occasions like weddings? When I discovered the handkerchief craft tutorials at Bumblebee Linens, it was an instant trip down Memory Lane…

As a small child, I learned to iron (a skill I seldom practice these days!) on Dad’s big cotton handkerchiefs. More interesting, however, were the hankie dolls and animals that my mother showed me how to make when I was confined to bed with chicken pox (or possibly mumps, one of those childhood illnesses, anyway) for what seemed like weeks…

The handkerchief-craft tutorials at Bumblebee Linens include a mouse, an angel and the cutest little Easter bunny you could ever imagine making from a rolled-up and folded piece of embroidered linen.

I distinctly remember making a handkerchief mouse from one of my father’s big plaid hankies, and feeling slightly outraged that he didn’t have any that were more appropriately mouse-coloured. There was a doll, too — just big enough to fit in the palm of my young hand — but I’ve long since forgotten how to make it, and haven’t yet found the instructions anywhere…

At the moment, though, hankering for spring, I’m all about this handkerchief bunny –

All you need is a hanky (or a hanky-sized piece of lightweight fabric), a length of ribbon, a handful of cotton balls, and a needle and thread — but don’t worry about the needle and thread, if sewing’s not your thing or you want to create an Easter Bunny as a project with your kids, because that’s just to fasten on the little cotton-ball tail. (The instructions say to pin the tail on the rabbit, actually, but you might as well take a couple of quick in-and-out stitches with thread and not worry about having a stray pin falling out on the carpet — not that this is something that would ever have happened to us!)

Full instructions for making a handkerchief bunny — with step-by-step photographs — are at Bumblebeelinens.com Hankie Bunny tutorial.

Enjoy!

Say Hello to SpongeBob Camera Pants

domestika — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 23:10:24 +0000

Say Hello to SpongeBob Camera Pants

I saw a promo for this SpongeBob SquarePants camera on a CNet video round-up of new tech toys, and the guy had it hanging around his neck on a cord.

Hey, I thought, who couldn’t use a camera on a cord (less fumbling for a camera in a pocket, for those spur-of-the-moment candid shots)?

But I’ve looked and looked and looked, and I don’t see a cord mentioned anywhere in the specs or ads.
Disappointment!

More second thoughts — a bright yellow camera in the form of a cartoon character might be a bit noticeable to pull off the truly subtle snapping of blackmail-worthy pics.

And there’s nothing subtle at all about the shutter sound-effects that come with — you get to pick your choice to suit the mood: Marimba, Ukulele, Foghorn blast, or Seagulls squawking their heads off.

On the plus side, there’s the fun of slipping off SpongeBob’s pants when you want to reveal the USB thingie, to plug in and download your photographs to computer.

It takes photos up to 640 x 480, which is plenty good enough for the aforementioned candid snaps you might want to embarrass folks with on Facebook or your blog. (”You’ll do my weekend shift for me, George, won’t you? Oh, lookee-lookee who ol’ SpongeBob saw together at the club last night!”) Not that we would. Ever.

But, c’mon, it’s SpongeBob.

And the camera’s cheap enough for butterfingers like me — which means the price is not out of line for kids, if you yourself are more into the suave DSLR sort of thing. Running $26 at Amazon, with some serious discounts — even some that are under $10 — from third-party vendors…

Sadly, however, Memorex is only shipping its SpongeBob SquarePants to customers in the US at the moment.

And no, Hello Kitty is not a fair substitute!

Real World Organizing: Drawer Dividers

domestika — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:22:02 +0000

Real World Organizing: Drawer Dividers

Drawers collect junk. Small junk gets messy. Before you know it, you can’t find a thing. Dresser drawers seem to be the worst for this (except maybe for those kitchen drawers that catch all the bits and pieces of your life), for many of us. It’s a constant struggle against chaos.

I’ve used cut-down milk cartons to make drawer dividers, and Kleenex boxes with the top cut out. Any kind of square or rectangular box that can be made to fit snugly into your drawer — that’s a big help in getting organized. No one’s going to see them, but you can always line with fabric or sticky-backed vinyl shelf paper or such, if you want to pretty it up.

Storables has a nice simple 32-compartment diamond drawer organizer on clearance sale right now for $7.95, plus shipping. It measures 18.5″ L x 14.25″ W x 2.75″ H and can be trimmed down to fit smaller drawers.

But if you’re feeling particularly crafty, you can make your own “diamond” drawer divider. (The name refers to the shape of each cubby, but there’s no reason you can’t use it to keep your pieces of shiny-shiny away from the rest of your personal gear.)

Have you seen the cardboard inserts for wine boxes or boxes that are used for shipping glassware? That’s the kind of thing we need to create here… just like the store-bought drawer dividers, only made of sturdy cardboard.

Cut strips of cardboard that are just a little bit less than the height of the sides of your drawer, and as long as they’d need to be to fit your particular size of drawer. For the longest pieces, measure your drawer on the diagonal, inside, and cut two pieces of that length. (You can figure out how long the other pieces need to be quite easily as you go along, once you’ve got these first two cut and assembled.) Look back at the picture of the Storables unit, above, to see what pieces you’ll need.

At the mid-point of one of your longest cardboard strips, make a cut that goes from one edge straight in to the centre. If your cardboard divider will be 2 inches high, for example, this cut will be about one inch long — maybe just a bit more. Do that on both of them, then fit the two cuts together. Beginning to see how this works? Repeat with more strips of cardboard, spacing out the cuts to match the size of drawer compartment you’ll need and fitting one piece of cardboard into another.

Voila! A diamond-shaped drawer organizer!

And if plain brown cardboard isn’t doing it for your decor, you can always cover the strips with sticky-backed vinyl shelf paper (Mac Tac or that sort of thing) before you make the cuts and fit them together.

Greater Love Hath No Fan

domestika — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:48:24 +0000

Greater Love Hath No Fan

Crafter whateverjames loves Star Wars. Loooooves it. He’s got the Star Wars requisite tattooes, sure — but we’re talking, like, name-your-kid-after-a-movie-character level of fandom.

Yet, so great and earth-shaking is his love for his fiancee — James actually sold off most of his Star Wars action figures to buy her an engagement ring.

That be T.R.U.E. L.O.V.E., right there, people!

Now, as you might suppose, True Love (geek style) calls for a truly awesome, hands-on personal, knock-her-socks-off Valentine, not just some mass-produced store-bought card or last-minute long-stem bouquet.

“I decided to make her a valentine that would be simple, with the most powerful and honest statement I could give her,” James told the admiring crowd over at Craftster, showing his heart-felt orginal cross-stitch pattern: I love you more than Star Wars says it all.

“Plus,” he says, “once I came up with the idea for little lightsabers bent into hearts there was no going back!”

Dust Furniture One-Offs and OutTakes

domestika — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:42:01 +0000

Dust Furniture One-Offs and OutTakes

If you’re a fan of craft artist Vincent Thomas Leman’s “abstract traditional” style — the heart of the practical yet whimsical Dust Furniture — you won’t want to miss the Etsy outlet for handcrafted “prototypes, web exclusives, extras and sometimes, mistakes…”

Right now, the online shop is showing four gracefully curved tables, three funky clocks, and this fascinating two-part cabinet called “Crook and Cranny”:

This cabinet is comprised of two sections, a taller bookcase portion with shelves for storage or display, and a smaller cabinet section with a door and one interior shelf. The pieces interact with each other in an interesting way, with the taller section resting on the shorter section. The two parts are permanently secured together.

For a look at the fun-loving furniture pieces in regular production, and a list of boutiques and galleries where they’re available, visit www.dustfurniture.com.

Wookie of Your Dreams

domestika — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 12:08:28 +0000

Wookie of Your Dreams

Lookee here…
It’s a heart-hefting Chewbacca, Bringer of the LOVE!

This polymer-shaped, Sharpie-enhanced tribute to the Wookie of your dreams is available as a magnet or a pin, and evokes the spirit of Valentine’s Day with handcrafted humour.

And much like love itself…
this wookie is flexible, but fragile.

By BicycleOcean (Naomi) of West Palm Beach, Florida.

Romantic Paper Fortune Teller

domestika — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:06:45 +0000

Romantic Paper Fortune Teller

Do you remember those folded paper fortune-tellers from back in the old school yard? This romantic version of the origami toy is at Colloco Homeware & Gifts (UK). It’s both a toy and an art object — and maybe an imaginative 3-d greeting card for Valentine’s Day?

There was always one kid in the crowd who knew how to fold one. At our school, it was Judy (who grew up to make her living from an interesting balance of crafts and computers). She wouldn’t tell anyone else how to do it, and drove us all nuts — you know how 10-year-old girls can be! — but I picked up a fortune teller that she’d dropped, took it home, and dissected it carefully to figure out how it all worked.

You want to know how to make one? No secrets here!
Here’s a video I found that gives particularly clear instructions for how to fold an origami fortune-teller:

At recess or lunch break, or sometimes in a slow-moving math class, Judy would pull out a neat square of folded-up notebook paper from her back pocket and open its corners to slip in her index fingers and thumbs. The other girls in our group would gather around…

First one, then another of us would “pick a number” — the number of letters in the name of the boy we liked best, most often — and Judy would open and close the paper fortune teller, one direction and then the other, while counting down the numbers.

Well, here’s how Wikipedia explains the rules:

The player first asks a question to the person holding the fortune teller. This question will be answered by the device. The holder then asks for a number and/or color. Once the number and/or color has been chosen, the holder uses his/her fingers to switch between the two groups of colors/numbers that occupy the inside area of the device. The holder switches these positions a specific number of times, which can be given by the amount of letters in the color selected, the number originally chosen, or the sum of both. Once the holder has finished switching the positions of the fortune teller, the player chooses one of the flaps that has been revealed. These flaps often have colors and/or numbers on them, and the chosen flap often is the same as the color/number originally chosen. The holder then lifts the flap and reads the fortune that is underneath. Any one of these steps may be repeated to suit the user.

Remember it now?
I’ve been thinking a lot about fun grown-up crafty versions of old schoolyard games and toys lately, so we can expect to take a few more little trips down memory lane in the next few weeks. What other cool homemade toys and impromptu games do you remember, from when you were a kid?

Vitality and Triumph: a True Tale of Dental Hygiene

domestika — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:18:20 +0000

Vitality and Triumph: a True Tale of Dental Hygiene

Usually, my dental hygienist and I have conversations that sound like a couple of pals getting together in a coffee shop to chat. But yesterday, our conversation sounded more like a poorly scripted television commercial from the 1970s or ’80s.

Usually, we talk about dogs and crafts and fitness, or whatever music’s being piped in to the dental office in the half-hour I’m there, or she tells me about the fall-out when her in-laws gave her 16-year-old a brand new car without consultation, that kind of thing…

Yesterday — wonder of wonders — we actually talked about clean teeth and healthy gums. Dental health, in fact — go figure!

Do you remember those TV ads where the uber-annoying Madge kept sticking her ditzy friend’s hand in a bowl of dishwashing liquid, while disclaiming about its virtues? A fly on the wall (not that there was one, but if there was — and if it could understand English — do flies even have ears?) would have heard something like this:

Me: You probably won’t have much cleaning to do this time.

She [with one dubious eyebrow raised]: Why’s that?

Me: I’ve been trying out an electric toothbrush for the past month, and my teeth seem pretty clean to me…

She: What kind of electric toothbrush are you using? Is it the Oral-B Vitality? We usually keep some of those around here, for sale.

Me: Actually, I’ve been testing two different Oral-B toothbrushes. One’s the Vitality with a ProWhite head. The other one’s that super-dooper Triumph brush that does everything but pour the mouthwash for you…

[Dental hygienist nods knowingly]

Me: …the one with the wireless unit to monitor your brushing time and tells you when to move on to another quadrant, makes a smiley face when you brush your teeth properly?

[Dental hygienist nods knowingly]

Me: It’s got two different brush heads with it — ProWhite and Floss Action — they sound like dorky superheroes, don’t they? And different brushing modes for polishing and sensitive teeth and like that, base station, recharger that works in different countries with different power systems for when you travel, and a travel case, too… The flippin’ toothbrush has a bigger instruction manual than the one that came with my blender!

She: You do have a thing for gadgets, don’t you?

Me: Um, yeah…

She: My husband, too. He would probably be more fussy about brushing if he had one of those… but he just went out and bought himself a new phone, so he’s going to have to wait until Father’s Day to get a Triumph.

Me [mumbling because the dental hygienist has her hands in my mouth, poking about the molars with a pointy metal thing]: Mhmmphh.

She: You know, your teeth really are pretty clean — I really don’t have too much work to do here. Actually, I think we can skip your next appointment, if you’re going to keep using a power toothbrush.

Me: Mmm-hm-hmm-huh!

She: What’s that?

Me: I just saved 75 bucks!

She: Yeah, you can’t go wrong with Oral-B. Did you know that they’re the only ones who have that patented thing where the head of the brush oscillates and pulses, both at the same time? It oscillates and pulses! [I swear, those were her exact words -- told you, our conversation sounded a whole lot like a vintage TV ad!] And the small head on the brush makes it easier to get in there and do a good job on your back teeth, like this spot right here… see?

Me: Mhmm-hee!

She: Rechargeable, right?

Me: Mhmm. Yes, both of them.

She: What do you think about the vibration? Some people find it feels weird.

Me: The Vitality’s just got a nice little hum, kind of nice. But the Triumph has, I don’t know, the vibration is stronger or deeper or something…

She: Too much?

Me: No, not bad… but you wouldn’t want to use it with a wicked hangover.

She: Just a guess, but if someone’s that hungover, their dental hygiene may not be right at the top of their list, right at that moment. Coffee, more likely. Lots of coffee!

Me: At least they’d be able to get the coffee stains off their teeth. You know, later, when they felt up to it…

I’m pretty sure we’ll be back to the normal frivolous non-product-oriented chit-chat, next time I’m hanging with the dental hygienist — but here’s the bit that’s vitally important here, in case you glazed over and missed it:

I just saved $75 — being able to skip my next appointment for a professional cleaning, with the dental hygienist’s blessing — because the power toothbrushes do a better job of cleaning teeth than the old-faithful manual units that I grew up with.

Yes — like you — I laughed myself silly at the super-dooper Triumph when I first read about it — and rolled my eyes at the hefty price tag, too! (The suggested retail price is $179.99 — yikes! — but you can do much better if you shop around: Amazon has about the best prices I’ve seen, around US$107.)

Love gadgets as I do… honestly, I thought it was a case of Oral-B going mad with the microchips and accessories, trying to find a new-and-improved product that no one really needs all that badly. It seems that I may have been a tad hasty in that opinion, however… because it’s really quite something.

On a budget, however, or for those whose very souls revolt at the idea of over-the-top technological wizardry in the bathroom cabinet, the modestly priced and lightweight Oral-B Vitality Pro-White is the winner. It runs about $25 in stores in Canada; I’m not sure if this exact model of Vitality is available in the US yet, but I think you might be able to fake it quite nicely with the Precision Clean model and just sub in the Pro-White replacement heads for that spiffy tooth-polishing effect. For my money, it’s effective, efficient, and not too self-indulgent a personal-care tool for this thrifty gal to face down in the mirror each morning.

In short, Triumph rocks for sheer macho gadgety-goodness, and I’m irresistably attracted to that for some reason; but the low-key Vitality was simply electric love at first brush.

Terra Cotta Girl

domestika — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:56:53 +0000

Terra Cotta Girl

This whimsical Girl with Ladybug Necklace vase goes very very very high on my shopping list (the one I keep for when I win a lottery) and already decorates the house of my imagination…

Just look at her, flaunting a pair of fishy earrings and a wild ‘do’ of whatever bright flowers you’ve got in bloom… Terra cotta, about twelve inches high (before you fill the vase), it’s made by one of my favourite indie ceramics artists, Natalya Sots.

Natalya’s wildly distinctive colourful ceramics are found at arts-and-craft festivals in the Chicago area, online at Etsy), and in her fascinating Flickr photostream where you can also catch a glimpse of her works in progress.

If this winter gets any colder, I swear…

domestika — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:06:37 +0000

If this winter gets any colder, I swear…

I’ll spare you the rant about how cold it’s been this winter, and how the wind never stops blowing, and how my hands are now a permanent frost-bitten mottled white and purple (not attractive at the best of times), and just say this…

If this cold weather keeps up, I’m investing in a Lippi Selk Bag.

Dental appointment?
Client meeting?
Night out with friends?

Sure… but I’m coming dressed as the Abominable Michelin Snow Man, but in tasteful eco-khaki green instead of white. Because I’ve just about had enough of white for the moment, what with all the snow…

Picture it. I’ll make one last half-frozen parka-wrapped dash down to the post box to grab my package, scuttle back home and rip into the wrapper, clamber into the sleeping-bag-suit… and never come out until spring. (Except for the call of nature, of course: you gotta unzip and pull down for that — they even say so in the FAQ.)

Fashion, thy name is padded comfort!

Laugh if you will, but I’m declaring a whole new Nordic fashion trend… and I’ll be the only one who’s not standing about turning blue from the cold.

Vegan Goes Cajun: Seitan Jambalaya

guest — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:05:27 +0000

Vegan Goes Cajun: Seitan Jambalaya

What could be better on a cold winter night than hot Cajun? This month, our certified cook Chris Perrin offers his recipe for a Seitan Jambalya to warm you from the inside out! When he’s not feeding veg*n goodies to us here, Chris writes for BIAO Magazine, food-blogs at Blog Well Done, and is working on his own vegan cookbook. Enjoy! ~ Jen

Seitan Jambalaya

I have been on a real Cajun kick recently and for some reason, I cannot seem to stop making jambalaya. Since I’ve made it a habit to share my culinary obsessions on DomestikGoddess.com, I see no reason not to talk jambalaya! So today, we are headed to the bayou, but it will be a vegan bayou, thanks to our good friend seitan.

Still, the key to making this dish work, though, is not my favorite use for wheat gluten, but rather liquid smoke. Traditionally, most Cajun food is made with andouille, a smoked sausage, which blesses whatever it is cooked in with a slightly smoky flavor. Until we can find a good source of ready-made smoked seitan, we need to fake that andouille flavor and liquid smoke is just the thing to do it. Still be careful with it. Liquid smoke is potent stuff and a little bit goes along way.

Ingredients:

Photo: RBerteig

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 package commercial seitan
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon black pepper
1 onion, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup, white rice or cooked brown rice
1/2 can of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon cayenne
2 cups veggie stock
Salt to taste

Add the olive oil to a skillet and let it get warm. Add the seitan, 1 tablespoon of black pepper, and the liquid smoke and cook, stirring occasionally, until the seitan browns. This should take about 3 minutes.

Remove the seitan. Add the onions, celery, green peppers, and garlic. Cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the rice and toast for a minute. Then add the tomato sauce, cayenne pepper, and the remaining black pepper and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Finally, add the veggie stock and cook covered for 25 minutes or until the rice is cooked and has absorbed all the liquid.

After the rice is done, add the seitan back to the dish and stir to incorporate. Cook until the seitan is warm, about 3 minutes.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies

domestika — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:55:16 +0000

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies

Is there such a thing as a non-tasty shortbread cookie?
We think not!

But when you make these sweet delights with brown sugar and cinnamon… ah, that takes the classic shortbread to a whole new level of yummy.

Shortbreads can be frozen in air-tight plastic containers, to be pulled out later when company comes over unexpectedly — but don’t count on having any cookies left over to freeze unless you make a double batch.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup (dark) brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups white flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon (or more, to taste)
icing sugar (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.

(Yes, you’ll want to use parchment paper — it helps to keep the cookies from browning too much on the bottom. Did you know that you can use parchment paper more than once, sometimes even a couple of times? True. And if you’re out of parchment paper, you can substitute waxed paper instead — not quite as good, but it will work in a pinch.)

Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla, beating until it’s very light and fluffy. Beat in the flour, cornstarch, and cinnamon until it’s all well-blended into cookie dough.

(For some reason, my corn starch always seems to have tiny lumps in it, so I like to put it through a sieve on its way into the mixing bowl.)

Form the cookie dough into 3/4″ balls between your (clean!) hands and place them on the lined cookie sheet. They can go quite close together because the cookies don’t tend to spread out very much as they bake. Flatten the balls — just a little, just enough so they don’t roll — using the bottom of a glass or the heel of your hand.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then remove from the baking sheet and cool them on a wire rack.

Optional: when the shortbreads are cool, dust them lightly with icing sugar. This is something I don’t usually bother to do, except when I’m trying to be fancy, but it does makes them feel and taste a bit like cinnamon-enhanced polvarones (only a lot less work).

This recipe makes about 40-50 ladylike little cookies.

Dress for the Recession

domestika — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:58:46 +0000

Dress for the Recession

The Big Discount Store is apparently taking a lesson from history, which teaches us that women get girly when money gets tight. For £9.99, they’ll fit you out with this little 1950s-inspired number called the Red Recession Dress.

Maybe not a totally new concept, creating fashion to match the mood of the times — Asda launched two versions of the classic “little black dress” for £12 in November, followed by its £20 little black “City Suit” — but, hey, it’s RED!!

Now, at first blush this would seem to be a brilliant idea, and I totally agree with Ladyblogger Wendy Sullivan:

Personally, I love that retro look. The 50s were a time of great beauty in women’s fashion, and I am bored to death with having the 70s come back every few years. It’s really refreshing to see a much classier decade return. And frankly, the prices are pretty close to the same as they were then.

But let’s look a tad more critically at this specific retro-fabulous red dress, shall we?
Ignoring for the moment the misspelled “seam” in the product description…

Fitted knee length dress with cap sleeves and shaped neck line, waist seem and back split. Concealed back zip fastening. Belt not included. 48% Polyester, 48% Vicose, 4% Elastane Dry Clean

… and assuming that we can find enough of a waistline, after the excesses of the holiday feast season, to rock a fitted dress, check out the fabric:

If you’ve ever made the mistake of trying to wash a polyester-viscose-something garment (hands up? yes, me, too…) — even if you hand-wash it carefully in cold water — you’ll know that forever afterwards your once-stunning poly-viscose fashion statement will droop like a sad dishrag. So, when they say “Dry Clean” — you’d better believe it, that does mean “Dry Clean only“!

Twenty bucks (ish) for the dress — but what will you spend on the dry-cleaning?

There’s a difference between cheap and frugal, that’s all I’m saying. And a bargain is only a bargain if (a) you can and will use the item, and (b) it won’t keep racking up a lot of extra cost for maintenance through its lifespan.

Ah, but it’s RED!!!

Storm’s Dog Boots

domestika — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:09:25 +0000

Storm’s Dog Boots

There have been so many lovely stories of dogs who’ve been helped by the dog boot pattern I scribbled out and posted when I had to make a quick set of winter boots for my greyhound, Casey — it’s really pretty heartwarming.

Old dogs who slip on the ice…
Dogs with injured paws in need of protection…
Dogs with tender toes who are sensitive to cold…
Outdoor sporting dogs who need a little extra warmth and traction…

Like this GSD beauty, Storm, who lives in Canada’s cold far north:

photo: YKStorm

Pat’s daughter took her German Shepherd dog out on a rescue mission — looking for a lost Corgi pup who’d bolted in a panic when he got scared on a trail. The pup was found and brought safely home — “fine and much more obedient after 3 days out in -40″ — but Storm lost one of her boots in the snow.

Pat used my pattern to make new doggie booties for her: a beautiful blue colour, extra tall for use in deep snow, with reflective patches for safety.

photo credit: YKStorm

Pat’s one of a growing number of clever and caring dog lovers who have improved on my simple pattern to suit their own dogs’ needs — by adding extra length or a stretchy cuff, experimenting with different non-slip materials on the soles of the boots, and sewing up waterproof versions of the fleece original.

Best yet, these dog lovers are very generous in sharing their ideas with others through their comments.

But that’s not the end of the good puppy karma. Some people — with Casey’s full blessings — are now making these dog booties for sale to help other dogs who have non-sewing owners, dogs in foster homes, and even as a fundraiser to help a greyhound adoption group! You know, I said that it’s heartwarming, all this sewing and creative adaptation… but it’s the sharing that really brightens up a dark winter day and gives hope that, even in tough times, we self-involved human beings can learn to be as giving and caring as our dogs.

Draftstopper Door Snakes

domestika — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 03:45:20 +0000

Draftstopper Door Snakes

Not everyone likes snakes, I know that — but here’s a little fellow who has a lot of appeal — to the eye, the ankles, and the bank account.

Those of us who live in old houses know all too well that an under-door draft can make you cold and uncomfortable in even a well-heated room. And the air that seeps through the crack where window sash meets window sill? Chilly! Before you know it, you’re reaching out from under your afghan to turn up the heat…

In fact, ECOutlet says as much as 20% of heat loss in a typical home can be due to drafts. They’ve got a line of dandy draft-excluding psychadelic snakes (made with vintage fabrics) that are stuffed with eco-friendly buckwheat husks, natural and biodegradable.

Saltylemon’s 36-inch-long door snake is made to lie along the bottom of a door or windowsill, stopping cold air from sneaking in and cranking up your heating bills. A practical bit of whimsy? Why, yes! And this one has a nice touch — it’s got a velcro fastener, so you can remove the stuffing for easy cleaning.

Over at Amethistle, tie-dyer Sara went DIY and recycled jeans and old socks into a draftstopper snake. She explains how she did it on her blog, if you’re interested in sewing your own. Sara does make the point (which I have learned, too) that you need to have a lot of stuffing to fill out a snake — more than you’d expect to need.

The trick to stuffing your draftstopper is to add something that will give a bit of weight to the snake, to hold it snug against your drafty door or window sill. Beans and rice are popular choices. You can certainly stuff with fibrefill or scraps of old quilt batting, etc., but the draft stopper will work best if you add in an old length of curtain rod, or last summer’s collection of beach pebbles, or something of the sort.

A door snake draftstopper is a fun, quick, inexpensive sewing project that’s all straight-line sewing, making it easy enough for kids and beginners to do yet offering all sorts of opportunities for exercising your creative vision. Big buttons for snake eyes? Tag ends of shiny ribbon for the forked tongue? Sequins for a rattler tail? Have a look around and see what materials you have that could be repurposed into a one-of-a-kind draftstopper.

Whether your decorating taste runs to the whimsical door snake, or to an elegantly simple tube of fabric, like TheMorae’s draft dodgers or TuttieLou’s antique handwoven linen with dainty appliques (both available on Etsy.com) — it is one simple, doable way to be green and frugal, to save money on heating costs, and to keep your home a bit more cosy this winter.

Cash for Your Broken Gadgets

domestika — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:30:55 +0000

Cash for Your Broken Gadgets

You know how at the start of each year we all seem to resolve to be better? (For some reason — although some of us really don’t like resolutions! — it just happens!) We’re going to be greener, more frugal, more efficient, free of clutter and confusion, and just generally a better human being?

Yeah.
Well.

I’ve got something like a Museum of Home Computing up in the back bedroom, and still haven’t found a solution. What do you do with an old 386 Acer, anyway? And that monitor that’s got a weird green glow. Oh, and the dot-matrix printer… In these parts, there’s no recycling depot for such stuff, and there’s no way I’m dumping them in the local landfill… so I’m still working on that issue.

But I did just come across a solution for all those smaller dead electronics that drift in odd corners of our lives. Sell them!

BuyMyTronics (I found it listed recently as one of the perky new business startups in trend-spotting Springwise’s newsletter) will buy a whole bunch of your broken, used, and otherwise unwanted gadgets.

Anyone in the world can send ‘em in, gadgets in any condition, and get cold hard cash. Doesn’t that sound appealing?

I know, I know what you’re wondering:

What do you do with the broken electronics I send you?
Many wonderful things. We are actually building a utopian society and sanctuary for electronics from around the globe. Actually, if you must know, we take your broken electronics and swap out parts to fix others, then resell your gadgets…

And by gadgets they mean most kinds of cell phones, and every kind of iPods, iPhones, and Game Consoles. And did I mention, they’ll buy electronics in any condition? Drop your cell off a 6th floor balcony and watch your neighbour’s SUV drive over it? Well, it probably won’t be worth a mint, but these guys say they want to buy it anyway.

You get rid of crap. You get a bit of cash — or you can have it donated to the charity of your choice. The landfill gets to live a little longer. And the useful electronic thingummies get recycled and reused to make spiffy refurbished gadgets, bringing pleasure and convenience to others.

Perfect.

Well, maybe not quite perfect.

I have a GPS device, Laptop, digital camera and/or other electronic device. Do you take those too?
Soon, very soon. Keep checking out our site. We plan a steady and continued expansion into everything, then world domination. We will probably be adding a new gadget every month or so. So check back soon, and often.

So a lot of those wired retirees up in my back bedroom may have to wait a while before they’re back in demand — but I’ve got hope!

Dogs in the Performing Arts: the PuppyCam Tale Continues

domestika — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:01:44 +0000

Dogs in the Performing Arts: the PuppyCam Tale Continues

If it broke you up to say good-bye to the Shiba Inu litter whose “Puppy Cam” webcam broadcasts stole hearts through the holidays, fear not — a new pooch passion’s here. Once again, we’ve got a chance to watch fuzzy adorable pups of exotic breeding as they romp and snooze and rip apart toys in the nursery — awaiting the time of weaning and adoption — but this time it’s a litter of Thai Ridgeback puppies.

Online video chat by Ustream

If you’re still pining for the Shibas, however — and who wouldn’t? — you’ll be glad to know that the original Puppy Cam madness continues. Richard Gere and the Puppy Cam Shibas are teaming up in a remake of Hatchiko, the Japanese tale of a brave and faithful little dog…

I’ve not seen the Japanese film, but a dear friend with whom I shared the love of a Shiba for a number of years gave me a copy of a children’s book called Hachiko Waits that tells the dog’s story — and if you’re a dog lover, and if you’re lucky enough to come across a copy, I’d grab it. (And if I were a publisher, I’d be haggling for the reprint rights, before the Hatchiko movie is released!)