July 2008

Homegrown Fried Okra

Garden

The okra has started coming in. Just a handful, I only have a few plants, but I wanted to show them to you. This is the first year I have grown okra. I love fried okra and remember my grandmother and my mother making it in great quantities. We popped them like peanuts, barely patient [...]

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Homemade Sourdough Bread

Breads

When I run out of an ingredient or a supply my first thought isn’t necessarily, “Gotta hop in the car and go to the store.” It’s, “Can I make this myself out of stuff lying around the house?” Although I consider myself environmentally conscious, it isn’t a particularly eco-minded or righteous impulse. I just hate [...]

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Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Home Preserving

Dear Ivory, I love the chicken house!! And the photo–the wind gently swaying the willow. I feel transported to the–you know, that area of land of low topographic relief supporting grasses and herbs and having a mesic climate–what is it called? Never mind, it’ll come to me. I love the chickens!! They are such big [...]

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Homemade Vanilla Extract

Flavorings & Condiments

Hey Ive, Oh no you didn’t re-use a disposable bottle of Stuff. Don’t you know how many meetings and memos and how much high technology went into preventing you from pulling a stunt like that? Stop it. Stop it right now. And here I’ve been making vanilla extract, all innocent-like. I have had one poor [...]

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Homemade Wet-Jet Pads and Solution

Cleaning Products

Dear TL, I know it irks you as much as it does me to BUY swiffer pads and solution. So, I created a pictorial tutorial on avoiding the refill monster entirely. You will need: swiffer wet-jet microfiber washcloths (scrubby kind if you want to be FANCY–5$) good scissors frayblock, fraycheck, or the like cup of [...]

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