A Birthday Fit for A Vegan Queen

So, recently my impossibly lovely friend Tessa started the exciting journey of going vegan. It's one of the things she discusses on her brand spanking new blog, in addition to a whole host of other cool topics. So far she's loving it, and, needless to say, I'm pretty pumped. While most of the people in my life tolerate my veganism, and do so cheerfully enough, it's awesome to have someone to share the lifestyle with, especially because Saturday was her birthday, and for the first time ever it was significant that the cake I baked was vegan! At her request, I made an Italian rainbow cookie cake, and she wins award for Best. Idea. Ever.

Few things in life are better than almonds, and a cake made entirely out of chocolate-covered, multilayered almond cookie goodness?

Yes, please.

While I was researching different rainbow cookie recipes to cobble together a vegan version, I didn't make any changes so it would be more cake-like. I really wanted the consistency of the classic cookie, making this recipe a twofer; make one layer (or one set of three layers, really), for cookies, and two (six) layers for a cake!

Venetian Rainbow Cookies/Cake
(1 dozen cookies or one layer of an 8 in. cake)

8 oz almond paste (NOT marzipan)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup Earth Balance, soft
4 1/2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer (you could also use three eggs' worth of flax seed and water, but I can't vouch for that method)
6 tbsp warm water
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup AP flour
Food coloring of your choice (classic combination is red, white, and green)
Apricot preserves as needed (1/2 to 1 cup)
Chocolate as needed

Preheat oven to 350F, and put parchment in three 8 inch pans (square or circle, up to you), and grease the parchment.
On medium speed, beat almond paste until broken up into small pieces, add 1/3 of the sugar and 1/3 of the softened butter, beating until the mixture blends together. Add rest of sugar and butter in one or two additions and beat until everything is mixed and there aren't big chunks of almond paste. Mix the Ener-G with the water and add to the almond paste mixture along with the extract, scraping down the sides and bottom. Sift the flour into the mix and beat until just blended. Separate into three equal amounts and color to your liking (classic combination is reddish pink, white, and green, but play around with it!)
Spread into three prepared pans and bake 12-16 minutes, til the sides are browned and middle is starting to firm.
Let cool in pans for 15 or 20 minutes and turn out. Once cool, assemble layers, spreading apricot preserves between them. Melt chocolate and spread over top, and even the sides if you'd like! If making cookies, cut into desired shape, if making a cake, repeat whole process and place second layer of cookies on top!

Then share with some beautiful people!

Day One!

Last time, I mentioned that replacements for the rods that came welded onto the wrong part of my trailer have arrived. So yesterday I finally started real construction! And lemme tell you, it was NERVEWRACKING. Drilling holes into my precious trailer (and my second most expensive belonging) made me more nervous than I have been in recent and not-so-recent history. But once I got used to it (and with the Fella's help), I calmed down and started to simply enjoy the feeling of progress.

Albeit slow progress.

Day one we accomplished exactly this:

And this: 

And the one on the other side, obviously.
Hardly leaps and bounds. By all rights, I should be frustrated because after day one I've only just got my trailer to the state in which it was supposed to arrive. But I'm actually pretty damn happy about it. Baby steps are still steps, and this baby step was a big one toward keeping my house from falling off somewhere in middle America.

Worth it, no?

(Mis)adventure No. 1!

Well. Last time I posted I was all full of excitement to show off pictures of my new trailer.

By Monday I realized something is very, very wrong in those pictures.

You see those rods, circled in blue? Definitely supposed to be where the arrows are pointing.

I was preeeetty heartbroken about it. I've already attached to my trailer like a mother hen, and the thought of her being faulty is awful.

I gave a call to BWise, one of the companies Tumbleweed works with to actually manufacture the trailers, and though they're incredibly friendly every time I've called, I never actually got a true "sorry" for the fact that they messed up, and the replacement rods they agreed to mail out to me ASAP took two and a half weeks to arrive.

But at long last I have all my bits and pieces, and once I attach those bad boys, I can officially start in on turning this baby into a house!

Today is the Day!

Trailer day is here!

I don't have accurate words to express my excitement at finally seeing the very core of my home in person. As well as a hefty amount of excitement and trepidation at the next bit, where I have to teach myself how to build a house. I'd say we're working with an 80/20 split, and I can work with that.

Earlier this week, I went out to double check that the lot I'll be building on is still in good shape, no downed branches and such.

It's still pretty damn beautiful.

After several frustrating skirmishes with National Grid that got absolutely nowhere, walking the property turned out to be the perfect antidote to those stresses. It's heaven out there.

Then this afternoon, I got a lovely sneak peek from my friend who kindly agreed to pick her up for me:

And around eight it was finally here!

It's the easiest step, and therefore one of the littlest, but having the trailer here in person is both exhilarating and soothing. Like a mountain view. It's a lot of work, but it's reassuring knowing you'll get to it one step at a time.

The Basics: Bechamel Sauce

You can't really get more basic than a mother sauce, and bechamel is my very favorite mother sauce. It's the base for a whole horde of other sauces, is marvelous to add to the vegetables in a pot or shepherd's pie, and is a great way to add richness to recipes in a pinch. Plus, in learning to make bechamel you also learn how to make a roux, so really today is a twofer!

Bechamel Sauce
2 tbsp Earth Balance
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1.5-2.5 cups almond milk
1/2 small onion
2 cloves
1 bay leaf

Press the cloves into the onion and set aside.
Heat a pan over medium-low heat and completely melt the Earth Balance. Add the flour and whisk to combine, whisking near constantly. Make sure to completely blend the flour and "butter." It will be clumpy, but don't worry!

It will start to bubble up and after a couple of minutes will have a kind of light, toasted smell to it. At this point add 1/4-1/2 a cup of almond milk in a steady stream, whisking while you pour. Completely blend the mixture, breaking up and lumps. Slowly add the rest of the milk, in two more additions. Once you've added 1.5 cups of milk, add the clove-studded onion and the bay leaf, and adjust the heat so the sauce is at a very mild simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes, whisking frequently and adding more almond milk if you'd like to keep the sauce a little thinner. For most of my uses I like a thick sauce so I usually only use 1.5 cups.

Remove from heat, remove the onion and bay leaf, and you're all set! You now have a classic and heavenly base from which you can create endless variations!

A Quick Getaway

At my job, I don't get weekends. It's a fair trade because I have a lot of flexibility, so with planning I'm able to work pretty much any kind of trip into my schedule. But not having two consecutive days off can make spontaneous adventures difficult to maneuver.  Or so I thought.

Yesterday around 11, I was puttering around the store, frequently glancing at the windows and thinking about how badly I wanted to get out in the gorgeous sunshine. I only work til 2 most Wednesdays, and while that leaves plenty of daylight hours in which to recreate, I didn't want to repeat another short, local hike. I wanted to really be in the woods. I wanted to fall asleep snug against the cold ground and wake up to the silent sleepiness of sun-warmed trees. 

So that's what I did.

I have exactly 19 hours between my shifts on Wednesday and Thursday, and that was just enough time to pack up, pick up some supplies, drive to the adorably teensy Cole Hill State Forest, and hike in a few miles.

The trees don't even have leaves yet, and I still reveled in the simple and staggering beauty of them.

I also took my stove out for it's very first adventure! Ultimately, that was the most exciting part of this miniature adventure; I'd used my gear a fair amount, but never for real backpacking, nor had I ever gone true camping by myself before. This was my very first night in the woods without either my father or my trusty Subaru several feet away. 

I would like to be able to proudly say that I was fearless and calm and the entire experience chockablock full of serenity. But that was only the case until about 10:00 pm. Truth be told, after falling asleep around 9:30, happy and cozy in my tent, I woke a mere half hour later, considerably chillier and suddenly aware of JUST how many more noises echoed in the woods now that the sun had set. For the first time in my life (one in which camping and hiking have always been a pretty common occurrence), I found myself afraid of the forest. Every rustle sounded ten times louder, and my robust imagination did a great job filling in lots of creepy possible perpetrators. 

The worst was when the owls started calling. I've never witnessed a forest full of wide awake owls, and the sounds they make are eerie as all hell. Beautiful. But eerie.

After expending considerable effort to calm down, as well as keep warm, I exhausted myself enough to fall back asleep, and in the morning woke up to once again sunny and silent woods. 

That's the wonderful thing about spending time in nature; it pushes you to uncomfortable places, and then rewards you with warm sun, cool water, and unfailing beauty. And it does all of that simply by allowing you to exist within it. 

A Tiny Slice of Heaven

Last weekend, I did an unlikely thing- I had a terrific vacation in Long Island.

Now, before I offend any Lawn Guylan'ers, I do realize there are very beautiful parts of the island, but those aren't generally adjacent to LaGuardia, which is where I spent April 25th and 26th. In the basement of  Marriott, to boot. It was a most unlikely venue for one of the most magical weekends I've had, but it just goes to show you- life is odd.

For once, though, it wasn't me that was odd, and I have Tumbleweed to thank for that. I attended one of their workshops, and all weekend no one thought me strange for being a crunchy, vegan, tiny-house-building, business-hippie. That's what happens when you get about 50 tiny house enthusiasts in one room; open-mindedness doesn't have to be sought out or cajoled- it's already present in spades! As soon as everyone started introducing themselves, I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer like-mindedness. As is almost always the case when you talk with tiny housers, the idea kept cropping up again and again of creating a smaller home in order to live a larger life, and ultimately, that's what brought each of us there and why I felt the presence of such kindred spirits; we truly value life, and the idea of cutting down on costs, both financial and environmental, so that we might spend less time administrating our lives, and more time inhabiting them fully, drives us.

In short, it was brilliant. Not only was the workshop cram-packed with a ton of information, most of which backed up what I'd already researched, and the rest of which I would never have come across on my own, but it was also quite touching and a massive stress relief to spend time among people to whom I didn't have to justify my decision to live in a 150 square foot wheeled house with a composting toilet (read: bucket).

They even found a tiny house for us to explore! The lovely couple behind Runaway Shanty agreed to tow their gorgeous house halfway to us.

Absolutely beautiful. Even though I ultimately decided against a gambrel roof for my own house, it was nice to see one in person. I also found great comfort in finally seeing the real life actuality of the dimensions I've had in my head all this time (we chose the same size trailer), and I no longer have even an inkling of a doubt in my ability to roost happily in such a small space.

I seriously couldn't have imagined a more useful or delightful weekend. It shone so much light  and confidence in my plans and capability, a lot of respect and gratitude for the company that sold me my trailer, and, best of all, a network of tiny housers in the Northeast.
I canNOT wait to get this project underway!

I still have a bit to wait until my trailer arrives, but I'll update soon!

a huge tiny announcement!

A little over a year ago, I wrote this post.

In it I listed my wistful desires to live in an adorably tiny house, outfitted with a chic little couch and an espresso machine.

At the time I thought owning a tiny house, much like dropping $2000 on a coffee maker, would always remain a daydream. I've loved small spaces and miniaturized paraphernalia my whole life, and I used to live for the RV and houseboat shows at the local mall, when I could spend hours exploring every carefully thought out nook and cranny. I'd grown so accustomed to associating small and efficient homes with childhood play and dreams that when I fell in love with the tiny house movement nearly ten years ago, it took ages before I realized, not only how easily I make this happen, but the complete and utter sensibility of making it happen.

someone else's lovely tiny house!

I finally saw that it wasn't only the allure of something being child-sized that has always drawn me to cosy hideaways, it was my respect for the sheer efficiency of it all. On some level, I've disliked excess my entire life, and as I grew older and more aware of the millions of starving people and dying animals, on this planet that we're quickly demolishing, the sight of enormous new developments and overflowing landfills sent (and sends) shivers down my spine. I started giving more and more thought to ways in which we could live on this Earth without doing it quite so much damage.

Discovering towns like Prospect New Town, seeing the tiny house movement gain momentum, and traveling to parts of the world where living smaller isn't a revolution, but the way it's always been, has really brought home how doable this is, and how deeply I believe in paring down to what we need in order to live the lives we want.

Colorful houses in Prospect Newtown

Which brings me to what I DO want in my life:

1. To have genuine interest in the field in which I work
2. To travel
3. To move to someplace without snowy winters
4. To spend as much time as possible outdoors

That's it. Linnea's recipe for sheer and utter happiness. Time spent outside in above freezing temperatures, and enough spare cash to hop the pond once in a while. Making more than enough money to get by is never something I've desired, and that's good, seeing as my industry (hospitality) is not one in which you're prone to doing that.

Almost every tiny houser I've read or seen interviewed at some point says something along the lines of, "when I started living tiny, my life got so much bigger." Instead of being weighed down by the minutia and constant, nagging responsibilities of working a 70 hour job to pay for a 3.000 SF house, a person who has pared down to 100, or 200, or even 1000 square feet, has significantly cut the financial, temporal, and emotional cost of their home. And when you live differently, you can work differently. Many tiny housers live small so they can keep or switch to the career they want rather than the one they previously needed. Building a tiny home frees me to take risks with where I work and where I live.

So last summer I decided to take the plunge. I've sketched up endless plans, done a ton of research, signed up for a workshop, and today, I've done it-

Tumbleweed Trailers

In less than two months, the very foundation of my future home will be winging it's way to me! Actually, winging it's way to Pennsylvania, and I'll take it from there.

She's a beaut, 20 feet long, with a full porch, and already flashed and insulation-ready. I am beyond excited, and just a dash nervous. I'm making up for lack of building experience with enthusiasm, research, and, frankly, an innate ability to figure shit out. So while lord only knows what this summer will hold in terms of learning curves, unforeseen obstacles, and inevitable weather issues, I'm completely determined, and ready to work my butt off.

I plan to archive the whole process on here, as well as more thoughts on tiny houses, and downsized living in general, as well as post the odd recipe when I can.

In love with this company's aesthetic

This is the biggest and most expensive project I've undertaken, and it will be crazy, and like all good adventures, difficult.
I cannot wait. And, who knows, by this time next year I could be building that espresso machine.

Happy Sunday!

Fried Oatmeal

Oh, man. This is it. This is the breakfast to end all breakfasts. 

I adore both making and eating breakfast food, especially the kind that is awful for you, like waffles drenched with cream and syrup, and french toast stuffed to the gills with juuust about anything.

...In essence, a massive food coma waiting to happen. It's an impossible way to start a day. But I have found a solution so simple and seemingly sinful, that I'm going to have to add another meal to my day in order to cram even more oatmeal into my diet.

Behold - Fried Oatmeal!

This little lovely has the decadence of a plate of french toast with all the nutrition of a filling bowl of oatmeal! All you have to do is take five minutes to throw it together before bed, and it's a breeze to cook it up in the morning!

Makes 4 Servings
- 3 cups oatmeal
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3.5 cups water
- topping (fruit, agave nectar, maple syrup, honey, jam, chocolate, etc!)

The night before:
In a medium bowl, mix the cinnamon into the oatmeal, then add the water, give it a good stir, and microwave for three to five minutes. You want it to be much thicker and firmer than regular oatmeal, so that it holds together, like a dough. Spread evenly in a loaf pan, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The morning of:
Divide into eight slices, and melt a tbsp or so of Earth Balance in a large skillet or griddle over medium high heat. You can also use cooking spray if you're looking to eat less fat. Cook each slice til heated through and browned, about 6 minutes for each side.

Truth time? When I'm in a super rush I microwave the slices first, and cook them just long enough to brown the sides a little.

Pile high with fruit and a drizzle of maple syrup, or whatever floats your boat!

Happy breakfasting!

Spring Getaway

Last weekend, the fella and I went to Boston to spend Easter with his family and visit a childhood friend of mine. Those of you stuck in the same polar vortex of prolonged wintery hell as us will empathize with the hefty portions of cabin fever we've both built up this year. It's pretty bad. So we decided to muscle through the cold and celebrate this Someday Spring by taking a wee trip to Newport, Rhode Island.

It was EXACTLY what my mind, body, and soul needed. Sunlight. The sound of waves. The smell of salt. Pure magic.

Winter may be doing it's damnedest to keep us in an iron grip, but slowly and surely we're thawing out. There's nothing like some strong sunlight after deep cold, and it started to really bring me back to myself.

On our way back up to Boston we stopped outside Providence at a pretty awesome vegetarian place, Garden Grille. Funky decor, delicious food sourced from local farms, and a vegan Brandy Alexander? Yes, please.

We started with some root vegetable cakes, which were to DIE for. Carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, corn meal, and a little bit of heaven. Then I got seriously killer butternut squash and black bean quesadillas:

...and the fella had an open-faced BBQ seitan sandwich that, to be honest, left a bit to be desired, but has inspired me to start making barbecue sauce ASAP.

After a coffee and quite tasty raspberry whoopie pie at Wildflour bakery next door, we headed back to Boston to meet with good friends of mine. Good because I've known one of them since I was eight, and extra good because they took us to Trina's Starlite Lounge.

Oh. My. This picture doesn't do it justice to what was A) a veritable feast, and b) AH-mazing.

The meat eaters among us went with Starlite dogs (a must for first-timers and veterans alike, I'm told) and the dog of the day, which was topped with caesar salad. I had undoubtedly the best tofu pup of my life, and did cheat with a couple bites of non-vegan cornbread and parmesan tater tots that transcend the category, and are more accurately described as somewhere in between the perfect tater tot and a heavenly potato hush puppie.

All in all, I couldn't have wished for a better weekend. I'm not remotely religious, so an Easter sunday celebrated, not within the stifling confines of a liturgy, but at home, with the fella's lovely family and some seriously good food, completely relaxed and renewed me. I can almost believe it's Spring!

Happy Thursday!

The Basics: Croutons

Almost nothing in this worlds beats the perfection of a good crouton. A crusty, peppery outside and a chewy middle is simply the ideal companion to soups and salads. And let's not kid ourselves, I'm not above a handful as a snack.

Homemade croutons beat the boxed version by far, and are an important (and beyond simple!) staple to know how to whip up!

Classic Croutons
- Bread, cubed (Some swear by Italian, some by baguettes, and there's a heated debate over whether or not the bread needs to be a bit stale. Frankly, I'm not picky. I think any and all bread makes a tasty crouton.)
- olive oil
- couple of cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper

Heat a pan medium high heat, and coat the bottom with olive oil. Add the garlic and let heat up. Once it starts to sizzle, add the cubed bread, turning or tossing to coat, and adding more oil as needed. You're gonna use a lot of olive oil. Don't think too much about it. Sprinkle salt and pepper, and saute the bread until all sides are browned and crunchy. Sample to see if they're as crunchy as you want, and enjoy! If you have any leftover (not a common problem in my house), store in a sealed container once completely cooled. They'll last for a couple of days at room temperature.

Happy crunching!

Presque Printémps

You may not believe it, but it's somehow April. It was 27 degrees when I got out of bed this morning, and yet they tell me we're nearly two weeks into spring.

It's pretty dismal, I'm not gonna lie. While the sun makes a lovely change, it's still downright frigid outside, and I'm too tired to even have cabin fever anymore. 

When my winter (excuse me, SPRING) blues have me this low, I have two coping mechanisms, and they're both essentially rooted in denial. This week I have relied on both of them:

Method One: Test Out All Your Camping Gear Indoors Like a Madwoman

...Done and done. It took a fair amount of self control not to hide in one and wait 'til May.

Method Two: Go About Outdoor Activities As If It's Not F**king Freezing

Also done. And while a GREAT deal chillier than method one, it was a lot more effective. I walked part of The Long Path starting south from the Paint Mine at Thacher, and it was icy, and in places there were still several feet of snow, but, dammit, I was outdoors and away from everything, and nothing beats that.

In a few places there was even mud, and that was a blessed sight. So maybe, JUST MAYBE, things are beginning to thaw.

I hope your day is full of something as satisfying as hot chili on a cold and snowy trail!

Happy Wednesday : )

Adventures in Eco-Friendly (Feminine) Hygiene!

Alright, I'm going to give you some fair warning- this is a post for the female readers. I am going to talk about getting ALL UP in our lady bits, and while that should by no means frighten men off, they may find it a tad irrelevant.

Ladies - if it frightens YOU off, then I'm disappointed, and feel bad for your poor vagay, who isn't remotely scary, and with whom you should be BFFs.

For a while now, I've been trying to find a better way of dealing with my period, as I find it completely unacceptable that we're expected to spend 1/4 of our days in misery. For 40 years. That's TEN years of menstrual f*ckery, and it's not cool with me. 

While the birth control pill I'm on helps fix some of the problems (namely Von Willebrand's sponsored Niagara-level bleeding), it also brings with it a whole host of other issues (cramping, bloating, and digestive weirdness), so it's really only half of a solution. But I can live with that- although not ideal, the pill has at least brought my period into the realm of manageability.

So my next, and biggest, problem- what to actually DO with the blood. I've never really felt great about sticking factory-produced, bleached cotton up into sensitive body parts, and don't even get me STARTED on the scented ones. Blech. I just feel like it's a great way to throw off your pH balance at the very least, not to mention the possibilities of tearing yourself or TSS. But over the last couple years I've felt myself also growing uncomfortable with the thought of all the waste I was creating. Every tampon applicator I tossed away made me cringe guiltily. Even after a switch to applicatorless tampons, I knew I was contributing to a problem that's growing daily. So I researched other options.

I know a fair amount of women who swear by Moon Cups and Diva Cups, and while I very much trust their judgement, I have a couple qualms- the chance of me spilling blood on myself is NOT one I'd like to take. Also, I would feel a little weird rinsing it out in public bathrooms, though it does seem like they hold enough that this is something you could plan to avoid.

Then I stumbled across what seemed a potential dream come true- sponge tampons! These bad boys have no grody string hanging out of you, are pretty easy to put in, and, best bit of all, can be worn during sex. I tried a small box of Beppy tampons to test out, and was immediately sold on how well they work. Trouble is, these are disposable, too, and do nothing to keep more synthetic scariness out of our landfills, or, for that matter, my body; I still wanted a more natural solution.

Enter the natural sponge tampon. Sea sponges have been used this way for ages, which makes total sense. You can buy precut, individual sponges, but I opted to buy a large one and cut it down into six or seven.

 

It looks big at first...

...but it bunches up super small

While QUITE firm and rough at first, never fear- as soon as you get it wet, sea sponge becomes incredibly flexible and soft. Make sure to soak your sponge in warm (but not boiling) water and 1/8 cup of white vinegar when you first get it, so it's nice and clean for your sensitive bits.
To put one in, wet it, then squeeze out all excess moisture. Scrunch up as small as you can, pinched between two fingers, gently push inside, and then use one finger to push it all the way back. You'll feel it sort of...lodge itself. The sponge will expand perfectly to stay in place, and is good to go! Sex, yoga, and cardio haven't budged it.

Now, removing it is probably what wigs women out the most- it'll be messier than when you put it in, and there's a (completely irrational) fear that you won't be able to reach it. But we're not an endless tunnel, ladyfriends. While it's true that it's quite a reach, if you kegel down on that sucker, you can push it toward your fingers, and gently pull it out.  You'll probably freak out a bit the first time, but really quickly it becomes old hat. Wash it out with warm water, squeeze out excess moisture, and pop back in! I find they last 5-8 hours. At the end of your period, wash it out one last time, and then leave it in 1 cup of warm water and 1/4 cup of white vinegar for 10 minutes.

Overall impressions: AWESOME. A million times more comfortable than cotton tampons, I couldn't even feel the thing. It absorbs blood a hell of a lot better than cotton, too, and unlike tampons, which I found were almost always either overflowingly wet or uncomfortably dry when I removed them, the sponges are so soft that it doesn't matter if you bled less that you expected, it's never dry and rough on the way out. And best of all, no waste!! I've read lots of different sources claiming anywhere from a 3-12 month lifespan for one sponge, so at the very inside number I've got almost 2 years of tampons out of one $15 sponge. I'll certainly take it.

So, that's the whole, bloody story. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and would love to hear about your experiences with "alternative" period control!