Friday, June 15, 2012

PEARS IN HEAT


Slow Cooker Chai-Spice 
Pear Applesauce

Ingredients:
5 medium apples (I used Granny Smith)
5 medium pears (I used Bosc)
1 tsp lemon juice
5 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract 


Do this:
Peel, core, and cut the apples and pears into half inch chunks, then combine all ingredients into in your
slow cooker. Heat on low for 4 hours, stirring about once an hour. Use an immersion blender, food processor, or blender to puree fruit. For a chunkier version of the sauce, remove half of the mixture before pureeing, then recombine.

Yield: 6 half cup servings.  


Enjoy! As with any of the recipes, let me know how it goes if you choose give it a try. Thanks for stopping by!
xKlara 


Saturday, June 9, 2012

BICYCLE TREATS
Human-powered, pedal-driven eye candy



BIKE PORTER:


"Copenhagen Parts proudly presents: the Bike Porter – an integrated handlebar and basket."

WEBSITE: http://copenhagenparts.com/products/bike-porter


"REEL" 
by Yeongkeun Jeong
"'Reel' can transform the main triangle of the bike frame to store your belongings. The silicone stickers are attached onto the frame and the elastic band is wound up between them. Unlike common bicycle accessories, the flexibility of the band allows the user to express their style by customizing the shape of ‘Reel’."
Collaborated with Aareum Jeong

WEBSITE(scroll to "REEL"): http://yeongkeun.com/





BUDNITZ BICYCLES No. 3 Honey & Black

"Model No.3 Honey & Black is our ultimate all-around city bicycle, now with an elegant European make-over.
Includes the same features as our Model No.3 Black Steel, including our handmade titanium handlebars and seatpost, with the addition of beautiful German-made cream performance-rubber tires, a honey-leather Brooks titanium saddle, and matching Brooks leather grips."

BLOG:http://blog.budnitzbicycles.com/

WEBSITE:http://budnitzbicycles.com/bicycles

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Homemade Soy Vay Chicken

A week has passed since my first posted recipe. I have yet again fumbled around in the kitchen and happily come away with a favorite! This week's recipe is not vegetarian, but it could easily be adapted to fit such a diet. I discovered the recipe during my quest to determine wether Soy Vay offered any low-sodium alternatives. (NOPE).  Please, do not surrender, keep your chin high. I have tidings of joy: you can make your own!
P.S. I know that this image does not inspire mouth-waterings. The dish actually turned out kind of ugly, so I just put the lid on it. Ugly or not, it will be invited back.
xKlara

INGREDIENTS
4 Skinless chicken thigh
2 tbsp San-j low sodium  wheat free tamari
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp dijon originale mustard
2 tbsp clover honey
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp orange peel
1 tbsp lime juice
1 raw clove




Directions
Mix together all the wet ingredients.
Pour over chicken.
Place in a 350 degree over for 45 minutes. 
Periodically spoon the sauce over the chicken to help to glaze. 
Enjoy!


This dish is not low-sodium, but it is a healthier alternative to a Soy Vay brand marinade.



Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 chicken thigh

Amount per Serving:

Calories 175

Calories from Fat 71.5

Total Fat 7.94g

Saturated Fat 1.82g

Cholesterol 0mg Sodium 421.03mg

Total Carbohydrate 10.6g

Dietary Fiber 0.48g

Sugars 8.07g Protein 15.35g

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Hail and farewell...


Thank you Mr. Bradbury, for your contribution to the world's collective imagination. Your footprint, so distinct, is palpable and unmistakeable within my own musings. For me as it was for my father, star-gazing will never be the same again. Those ancient Martian cities, their silent dry canals, and your “balm of sun and idle august afternoons” are such striking inventions of fancy and fable, fantasy and nightmare, and are such I could never hope to build. You will always stir and move me.
So long, friend... 
-Klara
-----------------------------------------------------
 A few favorite excerpts.

(Illustration by Joseph Mugnaini)


The small boy, on the country road looked up and screamed. “Look, Mom, look! A falling star!” The blazing white star fell down the sky of dusk in illinois. Make a wish, “ said his mother. “Make a wish.”

-Bradbury, Ray. “Kaleidoscope.” The Vintage 
Bradbury. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. pg 242
Yes, even Grandma, drawn to the cellar of winter for a June adventure, might stand alone and quietly, in secret conclave with her own soul and spirit, as did Grandfather and Father and Uncle Burt, or some of the boarders, communing with a last touch of a calendar long departed, with the picnics and the warm rains and the smell of fields of wheat and new popcorn and bending hay. Even Grandma, repeating and repeating the fine and golden words, even as they were said now in this moment when the flowers were dropped into the press, as they would be repeated every winter for all the white winters in time, Saying them over and over on the lips, like a smile, like a sudden patch of sunlight in the dark. Dandelion wine. Dandelion wine. Dandelion wine.


-Bradbury, Ray. “Dandelion Wine.” The Vintage Bradbury. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. pg 207

(Illustration by Joseph Mugnaini)
A carnival should be all growls, roars like timberlands stacked, bundled, rolled and crashed, great explosions of lion dust, men ablaze with working anger, pop bottles jangling, horse buckles shivering, engines and elephants in full stampede through rains of sweat while zebras neighed and trembled like cage trapped in cage.
But this was like old movies, the silent theater haunted with black-and-white ghosts, silvery mouths opening to let moonlight smoke out, gestures made in silence so hushed you could hear the wind fizz the hair on your cheeks.”

-Bradbury, Ray. Something Wicked This Way Comes. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962.

(Illustration by Joseph Mugnaini)
Who wants to see the Future, who ever does? A man can face the Past, but to think--the pillars crumbled, you say? And the sea empty, and the canals dry, and the maidens dead, and the flowers withered?” The Martian was silent, but then he looked on ahead. “But there they are. I see them. Isn't that enough for me? They wait for me now, no matter what you say.”

Bradbury, Ray. “August 2002: Night Meeting”. The Martian Chronicles. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1950. pg 85


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ray Bradbury's Night Meeting, by Daniel Torres.
See More HERE

Friday, June 1, 2012

Awesomeness.

 "Hack things better"
Sugru was a happy discovery during my internet travels. What an inspiring bit of creativity! Sugru allows you to repair and even improve the stuff you already own, rather than having to go out and buy new things to fit your need. I have felt increasingly frustrated that most of the items we use in our day-to-day lives are designed to last only a short time. Sugru in a sense allows you to reclaim the item, make it work for you and add to its longevity. 
                        
       -"Sugru is the exciting new air-curing rubber that can be formed by hand. It bonds to most materials and turns into a strong, flexible silicone rubber overnight".




Sugru's exciting material properties:

Sticks to almost anything

Hand Formable

Flexible when cured

Waterproof

Air cures at room temperature
Removable

Stable at high and low temperatures

For more information visit the website: sugru.com

Thanks for stopping by! I hope Sugru inspired you in some way. It has left me with some ideas for
improving a few of my things. Until next time.       
xKlara

Monday, May 28, 2012

Foodie feature:



Hiya, folks.
      Nourishment has been on my mind a lot lately. It can be difficult to find and prepare healthy, whole food meals all day, everyday. If I forget to prepare a lunch for myself in the morning before I leave for work, I am left settling for the least offensive choice I can find. Depending on where you live, work and play, the choices available will vary, but prepared foods tend to be poor. My relationship with food has changed a great deal in the last year, and my frustration with heightened dietary needs has moved me to consider new avenues of exploration.
     A wee bit of back story: I was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) as a college freshman. However, it wasn't until a few years ago I began to show some signs of organ involvement. At first there were traces of protein in my urine, indicating my kidneys were affected by the disease. Then last winter I was faced with a serious flare. It's not clear why the flare was so aggressive, but suddenly my kidneys were unable to regulate blood pressure, which went through the roof. Climbing just a couple stairs was exhausting, I slept as much as I could, I had constant headaches and severe nosebleeds, my ankles were swelling, and I was losing an alarming amount of weight. I learned during the first hospitalization that I was experiencing kidney failure, and that my poor little kidneys had been damaged so severely that they would not recover. I will need a new kidney, but for now my kidney function hovers around a happy 30%, and with that I can live.
      This is where nutrition comes into the story. I am on a special diet for folks with kidney disease. This includes a drastically reduced sodium allowance, as well as restricted potassium and protein levels. The most difficult part so far has been finding foods that fit my sodium requirement. Salad dressing, pasta sauce, bread, and soups all contain very high levels of salt. Grrrr. I want to learn to make most of my own food from scratch. It will be healthy, delicious and good for my kidneys. I have decided to highlight the process in a weekly post where I will feature a recipe, give it a try, and report back with results.
xKlara


CUT TO: Wednesday evening

This dish is simple, light, sweet and perfect for summer. The hardest part was peeling the orange.  I doubled the recipe so I could enjoy the leftovers for a few days. The only suggestion I have to offer: make sure that you rinse your quinoa prior to cooking. The grain has a bitter coating called saponin, that doesn't jive well with the rest if the flavors. Enjoy!






            *Recipe for the week of 5/28/2012*

                                   Cool Quinoa

3/4 cup quinoa
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1 large navel orange
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 avocado, diced
1/4 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp. kosher salt (optional)





Prepare the quinoa according to package instructions, then allow to cool. * Combine the onion and vinegar in a large bowl and set aside until the onion turns pink, about five minutes. * Cut the peal, pith, and outer membrane off the orange, then slice it. cut the slices into bite-size pieces. * Toss all the ingredients except the salt in the large bowl with the onion, then season with up to 1/2 tsp. salt (I will leave out the salt in my preparation). 

Serves 4

(per serving (1 cup): calories 260; total fat 13 g; sat fat 1.5 g; protein 7 g; carbs 30 g, fiber 6 g; cholesterol 0 mg; sodium 250 mg with salt added).

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

How does your garden grow?

My lovely readers (all two of you), hello! I have been distracted by procrastination and other weaknesses as of late. I have been as busy as a bee working on the house and yard. Most of my free time has been lent experimenting with gardening and landscaping. In our small backyard plot I planted several varieties of basil, cilantro, onions, beans, multiple rows of brussel sprouts, carnival carrots, heirloom tomatoes, white cucumber and a few types of squash. Adrian and I also plan to build a large raised vegetable garden in the front yard, where I will go overboard in planting everything that I see at Northwest Seed and Pet. Here are some highlights:
This is the "door" to our under-the-porch compost bin. Belle the dog decided that our compost is pretty amazing, especially the kitchen waste bits. To keep the little lady from making a mess, I bought this lovely old window at Brown building Supply and created a gate.
The littlest rhubarb.

Beans and their little ladder

                                                          Brussel sprouts
Minty mint.
Pear tree!
I hope looking at pictures from another's garden isn't akin to your Great Aunt's Floridian vacation pictures. Thanks for looking in!
xKlara