WORK+HOME

my one small counter.  it needs to get tiled.  but it's big enough to make my favorite bread:

windowsills collect things.  unripe tomato which fell too early, a 1970s sprouts book i picked up at the dump swap shop:

some dried herbs:  

favorite photographs.  one of my kids when they were little.  the other of my grandma alice:

enhabiten will be very black this fall and winter.  i've been working in the dye pots.  i truly love it.  the new stuff i'm designing is making me really happy:

pale mossy green on black:

flowers brought in:

 my small work area with drying herbs.  the bare wood door leads to what will be my bedroom but the space needs work.  like, um, windows:

i'm sure i've mentioned that my place is small.  my living room is my kitchen is my studio is practically my bathroom.  i'm serious.  the bathroom is right there on the right with the green door and the walls only go up about 3/4 of the way to the ceiling.  if you come to visit know that there is no room for bashfulness.  i can play loud music for you when you're in there if that helps.  or step outside for a minute.  but we're casual here so let's just have a couple beers and get to know each other better.

xx

Hi friends.

I've been keeping busy in a steady, methodical, home-based sort of way.  I just read my August horoscope prior to communing with you, dear reader, and it seems being practical and down to earth is the way to be for us Gemini this month.  The horoscope says I've been to Planet Hell and back the past few months....Ha Ha Ha Ha.....HAHAHAHAHA!  Maniacal Emphatic Laughter.  And now is my chance to catch a breath.  THANK GODDESS.  Plus I may even come into some money around August 18.  Looking forward to that.

So anyways, in addition to general scrub and brush clean up and weeding and such outdoors, I've been canning and freezing and not wasting a bit of what's coming out of the garden or from the farmers' market.  You want pickles?!?  I got enough for an army.  Fancy peach, lime and cardamom sauce?  Probably a dozen jars for January and February eating here at Chez Enhab.  Plus I've frozen some loaves of zucchini bread.  So far so good.

I also started making this bread again.  You are making a grave mistake if you do not try to bake this yourself.  It's so easy a turkey could make it.  Plus it tastes fabulous.

Ok, before I lose you I also want to share this herbal tea blend I made recently.  Pictured above.  I didn't  measure or anything but here's what's in it: blueberry leaf, bilberry fruit, red rooibos, cinnamon chips and stevia.  This tea is good for regulating blood sugar and as a digestive aid as well as having abundant vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.  and I made a lot of this so I thought I might work up some trades for some of it.  If you want an 8 ounce jelly jar of this loose tea blend and you have something I can't live without send me an email: enhabiten@live.com and let's barter.

Now go read your horoscope and stay away from planet hell.  Ok?  Ok.

kiss kiss,

liane

kitchen hippie

in the kitchen:

my first batch of kombucha came out great.  if you aren't familiar with kombucha it's a fermented tea beverage.   i think i've added a link for more information about it before but i'll do it again here.

pictured above is some bread i baked this morning with some sourdough starter from my friend jason.

i also wanted to just talk about buying local meat.  i don't buy or eat industrially-raised meat anymore.  if you recall, the final straw for me was reading the book eating animals.  but i know buying local can give a person sticker shock.  here's the thing though..there are lots of ways to make ethically raised meat worth the price.  often times i will just make a meal with less meat.  so a casserole is one way to do this or a salad with a smaller portion on top. 

but here's another example of stretching and using thoroughly.  i recently bought a chicken raised on a small farm in new hampshire for $20.  I baked it and we had a chicken diner the first night.  we still had some leftover meat so i put that in the fridge for another meal.  i simmered the carcass in a big pot of water with a quartered onion, a couple celery stalks, a couple carrots and some garlic to make stock.  if you buy chicken stock in the store it can get pricey so this alone was a big money saver.  i used maybe a quarter of the stock and picked the carcass to make soup.  and i still have a gallon of stock to put in the freezer for later use.  all in all i'm guessing we got 5 meals from that one chicken.  i do understand that all this takes time.  but in terms of money, it's really pretty inexpensive if you use the whole thing efficiently.

ok, now i'm going to take my kitchen hippie/home ec./little house on the prairie apron off.

xx,

me

ps- i also want to share a link to this time magazine article about how real food champions and environmental activists are 2 sides of the same coin.

no knead bread

i want to strongly suggest you try making this no knead bread.  soon.  we demolished half this loaf before i could even grab my camera to take a picture.  i added some flax seeds to the dough. and we ate it with butter and homemade peach jam.  fah-bu-lous.  a couple notes...my mum gave me one of those large ridiculously expensive le creuset pots and that's what i used for the baking.  mine has a plastic knob on the cover though and i had to take it off the pot (it's just screwed on) before putting it in this hot an oven.  i think it would melt otherwise.  also, i only baked it a total of 35-40 minutes.  only 5-10 minutes with the top off at the end.

yum.

xo

me