Pumpkins!! Glorious Pumpkins

I've been thinking about pumpkins a lot, especially so close to Halloween. The whole month of October seems dedicated to these wonderful orange fruit that have so much character. According to the top paragraph that appears when you Google pumpkins, they "are members of the enormously diverse Cucurbitaceae family, which contains more than 100 genera and over 700 species" including other squash and gourds. Continuing with my research, I discovered that gourds may have been planted and carved as early as 8,000 BCE. Our American Jack o' Lantern tradition comes from Celtic Irish traditions of carving scary faces, but they used turnips and other root vegetables. It wasn't until colonists arrived to the Americas that pumpkins were used as Jack o' Lanterns. Can you imagine carving into a turnip? It sure would be difficult, but then again maybe a better use for turnips than actually eating them... (no offense to turnip lovers!). Here are some more pumpkin facts from the History Channel.

Glorified squash really..

I looooove pumpkins. They are the friendliest fruit, and certainly have a nice range of uses, from decoration to delicious foods. Recently I was in a bind with a small pumpkin I got from the farmers market. I thought it was a baking pumpkin, the super hard and small kind that you bake into a sweet mush to be used for pies, cookies, bread, muffins, etc. However it was more fibrous and stringy inside, like a regular carving pumpkin. You can still use this kind for baking but it isn't as good, so instead I tried this casserole, making some adjustments. It was seriously one of the most delicious casseroles I've ever made!

1 and 1/2 cups of cooked black beans (or a can)

1/2 cup of corn

1 onion, chopped well

1 red or green bell pepper, well chopped

garlic cloves to taste, minced

2 or 3 large tomatoes, chopped well

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon Red Chipotle pepper (or any other chili spice you like)

salt and pepper to taste 

1 lb pumpkin  (a small pumpkin)

3/4 cup milk or soy milk

3 or 4 tablespoons corn starch or flour

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1/2 teaspoon Paprika

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of grated cheese, I use combo of Pepper Jack and Cheddar

Bake the pumpkin by cutting it in half, and putting it in the over at 400 F for 45 mins to an hour. Another option is to peel and cut the pumpkin into thin slices. Layer the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish with the baked pumpkin or the raw slices of pumpkin. In a bowl, combine the first 9 ingredients, mix and then pour over the pumpkin. Combine the milk, corn starch or flour, and spices into a bowl and you can microwave or heat on stove top until it thickens a little (this is optional). Pour the milk sauce over the casserole, and top with cheese. Bake at 425 F for 20-30 minutes, until it's bubbly and the cheese is browned. 

Don't mind the mate in the background :P

To all a Happy Halloween and enjoy your pumpkins, whether to eat or to carve!

TP Rolls: Halloween Crafts With/For/Without Kids

I've been saving toilet paper rolls for the past few weeks intending to do something with them. Our bathroom looks like we are living during the Great Depression and we may have to warm ourselves up by burning them in the fire place (this could end up happening some day).

If you google TP Rolls and Halloween, a wonderful variety of ideas come up. My brother and sister in law and nieces were visiting this past weekend, and I thought it would be a perfect time to experiment with the rolls and see what we could make, using some of the googled ideas as a starting point. The main benefits for TP roll crafts: free and easy. You may need to invest in some acrylic paint, pipe cleaners and googly eyes, but that's about it!

"Helllooooo there, nobody puts ghost in the corner!"

Children's heads in photos prove that children made these crafts!

Here is a list of some creatures we made, using paint, googly eyes, glue, cardboard and pipe cleaners:

• Bats

• Pumpkin Heads

• Mummies

• Ghosts

• Monsters

• Spiders

Googly eyes make the world a better place...

Yes, that's a second green monster, not a repeat photo.

Bat and Spider! A power couple!

Mummies certainly look confused about being alive...

Purple guy is so happy!

What else what can make with TP rolls? Basically anything. You can use them for Christmas crafts, Fourth of July, Easter, Lughnasadh, Diwali, Mother's Day, Summer, Spring, list goes to infinity. TP rolls are like the most useful base for any crafts that I've ever found, besides the fact that they are cardboard and everything soaks and destroys them. But you get my point...

T-shirt Shrug: Good Wearing for the Fall

With the fall weather changing constantly, you can never be sure if you'll be hot or cold. That's why its good to have a little shrug ready to take with you to work, the park, or pumpkin hunting.

This is a simple sewing project that my friend found on Pintrest. It's very easy and I even sewed it by hand! Because I don't have a sewing machine (shocking for a modern domestica, I know!).

Here is the tutorial by Cut Out and Keep. The instructions are very simple so I thought there was no need to re-write them. However here are some tips or ideas I had:

• You can use a T-shirt or a long sleeved top, but you want it to be slightly loose. If its too tight, then the shrug will be even tighter. 
• Once you have pulled the ribbon through the casing, sew it in one spot at the top of your shirt, were your neck will be. That way when you wash it the ribbon won't come out. Trust me, redoing the ribbon every time you wash is no fun.
• You could sew this shrug to a strapless or spaghetti strap dress in order to give it sleeves. 
• For a fun look, add pom poms, tassels or other fun things to the ends of the ribbon.

Hand sewn!

How to Keep Halloween from Making You SCREAM (from the expense)

Decorating for Halloween is really fun. But like most holidays, it can get expensive super fast. Here are some options for decorations that you can make for free or almost no money. And some involve reusing plastic bags, yay!

Hooded Figure

• Brown, black or gray fabric. You can use an old bed-spread, thick sheet, etc. 
• Triangular trellis
• Tree branches
• Short stick or wood dowel
• Lots of plastic bags, and one black bag
• Wire for attachments
• Remnants of black tulle or netting
• Plastic Tupperware you don't mind cutting, or a Baseball cap
• Safety pins

Selecting the branches took some considerations, because you need them to handle the pressure and weight of the fabric. However if they are too heavy, they may topple the whole figure over. Once I found them, I attached them to my trellis with some wire.

I am now very knowledgeable in tree branch selection.

Ignore the pretty flowers hanging from the ceiling...

To make the head, I stuffed my black bag with several other plastic bags until it was full and rounded. This is a great way to reuse those plastic bags that are dirty or torn! I stuck the wood dowel in the center of the bag, and then tied the bag around the dowel. I also used some tape to make sure the head was stable. To make the hood drape over the head at the proper angle, I needed an edge for it to drape over. I actually used a bike helmet visor that is detachable for this, but you can also cut a plastic Tupperware container or use a baseball cap.

Actually, he's facing away from us because it's hard to tell where a plastic bag is looking.

The head is then ready to be attached to the trellis with more wire. I draped the black tulle over the plastic bag head to add the effect of smoke or emptiness and draped the fabric over the whole thing. This step took some adjusting and I also used some safety pins to make the hood, and make sure it draped nicely over the head.

Close-up!

Creepy Owl

• Plastic bags
• Black trash bag
• Felt scraps in white, red and orange
• Wire
• Glow in the dark spray paint, optional
• Glue

This was is pretty easy and was a quick idea I had after making the head for the Hooded Figure. I stuffed one plastic bag with the other bags until I had a slightly oval shape. It's better if you stuff a sturdier plastic bag, because the trash bag is too easily ripped. I then placed the stuffed bag inside the trash bag, and tied the leftover bag in a not and tucked it in. I cut two large circles of white felt and spray painted them with glow in the dark paint, but this isn't necessary. I cut two smaller circles in red, and a triangle in orange. Finally, I glued the face on the body and attached my owl with wire to a tree limb.

Bats Flying Over You

• Black netting
• Black foam sheets
• One white foam sheet
• Wire

Another easy but very cool one. I cut several bats of different shapes and sizes from the black foam freehand, but you can find several templates of bats online. I also cut a round-ish moon out of white (just because I can't be bothered to get a dinner plate to use as a template doesn't mean you can't!). I attached all the bats in random spots on the black netting by poking a hole on each side of the bat and looping the wire through it and the netting, and twisting the ends (the netting I used was actually from Lowes and meant to be draped over plants to protect them). I also attached my moon with some bats around it. I hung the whole net from my roof, and whala! When I'm done, I simply fold the net until next year and don't have to individually attach each bat to my walls. The net could also be placed so it's free hanging and people have to walk through it, or between it. 

You could attach spiders and other creepy crawlies instead. 

Little Personality Ghosts

• Plastic bottles
• White sheet
• Black paint
• Thread or rope

I call these little personality ghosts because you can paint so many faces on each and they are meant to be cute. I cut several circles out of the white sheets, keeping in mind the radius of my circle needed to be long enough to cover the bottle from top to bottom. I covered the bottles with the white circle, and then tied the thread around the bottle and fabric, squeezing them to create a head. I painted a face on each head, and again you can always find templates online if you need to. To attach the ghosts, I wrapped more thread around the neck and then hung them from trees.

They're having a party! And you're invited....

I made a graveyard scene this year for $0! It included many of the projects above. It's true that I happened to have many of the materials available. For example, my gravestones are gray paving stones which would normally be a little expensive to buy. But you can still have a great setup for little to no money if you think outside the box.

My graveyard scene: Come, stay a while... Or forever! Muahaha.

It's Too Early, But I Can't Help Myself: Halloween!!

My favorite time of year is coming! Nope, not summer. Or spring. Okay, I've got lots of favorite times of year. I mean HALLOWEEN!! I know it's a bit early but when you DIY you need time to make things. So I started now! (You can tell I love talking about Halloween from the over-abundance of exclamation marks. Just count them).

I started with a list of Halloween crafts and domestic pursuits:

1. Costume: If you love Halloween, you need one. We figured ours out last year, and they are already made so this part was easy. All I needed was to buy face-painting makeup. I usually have to spend about 3 weeks gathering clothing and making props, etc.

2. Decorations: Always adding more! This year I have tons of ideas, and will probably do at least one more post about decorations. Check out below for what I'm working on!

3. Party: Time and date set, need to send invitations. And figure out food!

4. Get in the mood: Halloween-themed playlist made! It's too early to watch scary movies, but October is almost here...

On to DIY decorations!! This year I'm big on Dia de los Muertos, since our party will be themed after this holiday and it's super fun. I decided to make the traditional Catrina y Catrin figurines which seem to be part of the typical setup of decorations. On my trip to Michaels, I told myself I'd spend less than $20 and basically wandered through the store taking pictures of things, picking them up, cradling them like a baby and then returning them (negative shopping is so hard). I did finally settle on these little plastic skulls, $1.99 for a pack. They would be the head of my Catrin y Catrina.

I painted my skulls white and added flowers and other fun embellishments. Then I used a wire and a Barbie stand as the body, securing them together with bread bag ties.

See the bread bag plastic ties?

Even though they are skeletons, I wanted them to have some shape, so I wrapped the structure with plastic bags. Reusing bags yay!

It is important to note the lip-balm in the background. Never do crafts while dry-lipped! It messes with your concentration.

I found small flowers for the bouquet and for the veil, and more plastic ties for the skeleton hands.

I used white fabric scraps and lace scraps to make the dress. Added a veil, a necklace (made of beads strung on thread), and a ribbon belt. Beautiful dead bride!

I then made the Catrin the same way, sewing a suit for him and making a top hat. The top hat I made with cardboard. I cut out a circle for the brim and a rectangle which I glued into a tube for the top. I covered both with black felt, adding a felt circle on top of the tube to finish the hat. Finally I added flowers and sequins for embellishment.

My husband said it was more of a robe-suit.

Aren't they creepy-beautiful together?

I also made a third Catrina wearing a traditional dance outfit, to add some color and variety.

She's watching you!

Tune in for more Halloween DIY projects soon!!

Strong Chemical Cleaners: Don't Want 24-Eyed Spiders (They Are Scary Enough with Eight)

We have been in the process of installing a nitrogen-removing component to our current septic tank as part of the Maryland Bay Restoration Fund Grant Program. By "in the process" I mean playing phone tag with the contractor. While reading about septic tanks I realized there's a lot more to them than just a tank in the ground that collects gross stuff, especially if you have a fancy nitrogen reducing system like the one we want to install. For example, you shouldn't dispose of paper that isn't TP down your drain. Or egg shells. Or large quantities of hair (define large quantities? I have cats and long hair!). But most importantly you can't flush strong cleaning products with chlorine, phosphates, bleach, etc. All of the strong chemicals in the cleaning products we typically use disrupt the natural process that takes place in your septic tank and not only cause a malfunction, but may end up in the groundwater we drink! Or the bay! Yikes!

I've never been very big on strong cleaners. Bleach has always given me a headache and one time when doing a thorough clean of an apartment we were moving out of, I almost passed out after using a deadly combo of products in the small, windowless bathroom. I'm pretty sure I've never been the same since (it explains my terrible math and measuring skills).

My most recent attempt to do math.

I'm a big fan of the more frequent and less intense cleanups. I try to just wipe surfaces often with water and a little bit of dish-washing soap to keep them clean and don't worry too much about bacteria, since they are everywhere anyways and a little bit is good for your immune system. Usually, if you scrub most surfaces long enough they end up nice and clean. For example, our sink is spotless after a good scrub and regular dish-washing soap. I also use dish-washing soap diluted in a bucket of water to mop our floors, and it works well. That way, I don't worry about what the chemicals do to our kitties (who are closer to the floor after all) and feel alright when it's time to wash it down the drain because it's safe for the septic tank and it's not terrible for the environment. We do wash our dishes with it after all!

Maybe George was also exposed to too much bleach in his life.

But what about more through cleans? I'm finding that household consumption products work pretty well in most cases. For example, blood on my white gi? Used plain toothpaste and an old toothbrush and it came right off! Toilet bowls? Baking soda and a little bit of white vinegar for extra umph.

The Chobani container is where I mix my cleaners. I've tried using yogurt to clean, and it's not worth it because of how expensive it is.

I recently bought some neat outdoor chairs from the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and one was especially dirty and stained. Used a combo of baking soda and toothpaste and it worked wonders! Had to scrub a bit, but they cleaned up really well and I had no fear of the cleaners killing my plants nearby or running into the stream by our house.

Pretend this is a "Before" photo and the yellow chair has black spots...

After: awesome finds for $5 each!

I'm sure there are situations in which you may need stronger cleaners, but for general cleaning purposes baking soda, white vinegar, dish-washing soap and toothpaste work wonders. Especially toothpaste! (I don't know whether to be happy it works so well, or scared that I use it to clean my teeth twice a day...). As much as possible, I'd like to keep from flushing anything in our water that we wouldn't want to drink later on, since some of it will ultimately make its way back to you (or someone you know).

And if you ever need a super strong acidic cleaner to clean rust off nails, don't worry! I'll supply you with some of our cans of Coke, which seem to have been made for that purpose!

Cooking is Like Making Art: Just Go Crazy!

With all the cooking I'm doing, I've been noticing that colors make a big difference to both the healthiness of the food and the taste being awesome. Not rocket science, I know. Many people have said this, and I will skip the part where I give you proof, because I'm going to assume we all mostly agree that eating lots of vegetables of different colors is good for you because you get different nutrients from them I'm also not a licensed Nutritionist). What I will muse about is how much cooking can feel like making art. Nope, I don't mean literally getting some brushes (although I do own a nifty silicone brush that I use to brush pastries and such with milk, oil, etc.) or sculpting your food (again, I have done this with pies and cakes, but that's an entirely different genre). I mean try to look at your food with an artistic eye.

- Pay attention to colors: Composition is very important, so maybe use complimentary colors. I don't just mean so that your food will be pretty, although that will help you feel accomplished about making it and happy about eating it. Complimentary colors like green basil leaves, red tomatoes and white mozzarella cheese also signify food groups and nutrients that you are getting. Yum!

Notice how the yellows, greens and white splashes compliment the red sauce. And the circular theme kindoff gives my pizza a 60s look.

- Think about textures: Combine mushy mashed potatoes with crisp green beans. Or crunchy multi-grain pizza crust with soft and fibrous zucchini. Again, we are getting pretty but also healthy. For example, if everything is soggy, you may be cooking all your veggies too long and they are loosing some of their nutritional value, not to mention their flavor.

I seem to be on a pizza binge. Notice how the bean "sauce" is soft while peppers are crunchy and the avocado adds a creamy touch. 

- Keep proportions in mind: In most art compositions, you don't want all one color and a tiny dot of another (unless you are doing Modern Art but that's another thing entirely and not always your friend, in my opinion). So go ahead and plan your proportions. A giant pot of yellow mac and cheese with three green peas in it doesn't equal good nutrition. Try to use quantities of ingredients in such a way that the color amounts equal out.

Oops, being repetitive. And this photo mostly shows cheese hiding all the good veggies underneath. But you get the idea... Sortoff...

Try to cook so that the dish or your plate looks like it could be hung up on a wall to admire. It will all end up looking disgusting in your stomach but trust me, your appetite and body will appreciate it!

Cooking Improv- What I Learned as a Dance Major

This summer, like the last, we have been trying to grow our own vegetables. That means we have stuck with easy-ish stuff, like tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and some herbs. By non-easy stuff, I mean the whole broccoli/cabbage/Brussels sprout family which in past experiences has wildly attracted a crowd of caterpillars and other insects who hide while the plant is being picked and washed but make a showy appearance as soon as the plant is being sauteed (cue traumatized-vegetarian music). I also mean things that are more finicky, like basically any fruits, or generally  complex to grow in small quantities, like corn.

Surprise acorn squash from compost pile!

But I digress. One of the things I love most about gardening is that you often get what you get, when you get it (nice metaphor for life). It's hard to tell the plants to produce more tomatoes, or less zucchini to suit your needs (trust me, I've tried, but all I got was strange looks from the neighbor). It's the same situation if you shop at farmer's markets, which I also do to get my fill of non-easy plants so I don't have to be a traumatized vegetarian (see above). Because of this, you often have to plan your meals based on the ingredients you are able to get from your garden, hence the improvisation. I know this contradicts my previous post about planning meals ahead of time, but it's always nice to take more time during the summer to cook because all of the produce is so fresh and delicious. Plus, when you are in a hurry, there's nothing quicker than dashing to your backyard and grabbing some veggies and herbs to make a fast meal.

Tomatoes that will not traumatize a vegetarian

As a Dance major in college, one of my favorite classes was Improvisation. I had been improvising for a while before college, but that class really opened up the idea of "tools" that help you improvise, which made the whole concept less scary and a lot more successful (as an aside, if you ever see me perform a solo, 98%

I'm smiling because I don't know what I'm doing next!

of the time I am improvising). The "tools" were basically structures which helped you, so instead of coming up with everything from scratch, there would be smaller sections to improvise. The same concept can be applied to cooking, or pretty much anything else, although the guidelines will be a bit different obviously. My idea of realistic cooking improv is not to find a ton of random ingredients and make something completely made up, and hope it tastes good (this is simply the food you find in cafeterias and jails). Instead, you find a main ingredient and compliment it with "sidekick" ingredients, and then spice it up with some herbs. Done!

For example, our zucchini plant has been very prolific this summer, and we frequently get two or three zucchinis a week. One of my improv meals was stuffed zucchini. The zucchini was the main ingredient, and I used fresh corn and soy "beef" from my freezer as a complimentary ingredients. I sauteed those with some onions, and seasoned with oregano and basil from the garden. That was the stuffing for my zucchini, and I topped the whole thing with some leftover feta after I took it out from the oven (baking it at 350 degrees for about 20 mins). And whala! Improv meal. Another time, I sauteed a zucchini with some garden tomatoes and onion, and of course seasoned that with more garden herbs, and tossed it with some pasta.

Yum!

Here are my "tools" for cooking improv:

- Keep side ingredients in stock like pasta, frozen protein, maybe some cheese, and always keep onion and garlic around
- Become familiar with recipe categories and their general cooking times/temps: sautee over pasta or rice, stuffed vegetables that are baked, casseroles, pies/quiches, raw/room temp salads/mixes, etc. That way you have a general idea of how to cook what you are making without having to follow a specific recipe
- Keep it simple! Use few ingredients, and always season with fresh herb combinations that you also keep simple (don't feel like you need to do a thyme and bay and basil and dill combo to be fancy, just go with two herbs at a time).

Those are just some ideas, but the possibilities are endless. What's neat is that you get to experiment, and each meal is completely different and unique. Almost like an artist with a blank canvas, if you have delicious ingredients you'll probably get a delicious and healthy meal too, improved and based on what you got, when you got it. That's why summer is so great!

Making a Bed, Finishing a Room, Feeling Acomplished

As the summer draws to a close, I have been scrambling to finish house projects before it's time to go back to school. The end of this season always makes me a little sad, a little nostalgic. That's why finishing big projects and feeling accomplished is so much better because it distracts me of the philosophical thoughts about life's shortness, how there's never enough time, and so on.

One of our big projects was to decorate our guest bedroom. I wrote this post about making the curtains for the room, but we also needed a bed. We already had a mattress from our deceased futon (it served us well, but had a fatal accident during transport to our house which frankly was too much trouble to repair; the accident was convenient too as the futon had been slowly falling apart). All we needed was a bed frame. As usual, it's so much more fun to make your own!

This became a joint project with my husband, which was great because he had been wanting to do more carpentry and I always like bonding over power tools and slight danger in the garage! I asked him to choose what bed he wanted to make (it can be scary to say "honey, do whatever you like!" but trust me, it sometimes always works out). He chose a simple and low waste platform bed design that has a rustic look but gets the job done. We didn't mind that it had a less-finished look because it complimented the simple look of the bedroom well and then it looks homemade, which earns you more compliments.

Since I'm writing the post and you all know by now how awesome I am at measuring and detailed instruction-following completely messing up specific directions that involve engineering, I will just send you to the tutorial link from Instructables.com. We did make some changes:

• added a bar down the middle for extra support
• 12 slats instead of 10 for more stability
• shrunk the size of the frame by 5" on each side to match a full size mattress (tutorial is for a queen)

Needless to say, my husband did all the planning and most of the measuring, but I got my fair share of power tool action!

The first surprise in this project was how little wood we actually needed to buy. We bought three 2"x4"x10', six 1"x4"x12' and exactly 100 #10 2" screws and 12 #10 3" screws. That was it! I was amazed at how little that was in terms of materials. We had all the necessary power tools back home, including a drill, an electric sander, a circular saw and clamps. We spent $70 in materials (instructions says $30 but perhaps they had a cheaper supplier or live in a different dimension where dollars are worth more).

The second surprise (which was no surprise to me but may be to anyone new to DYI projects) was that the tutorial says an hour for this project. Ha HA with capitals. It took us about four hours total, although some of that time was waiting for the drill's battery to charge and a little bit of it was redoing work because of stupid things, like drilling the frame together with one of the sides going through a stool we were using as a horse ("er... the stool appears to be attached to the bed").

No step-by-steps photos this time, but that's so you can't see all the messy closeups.

Regardless of the attached stool, the project was relatively simple and very fun to do together. We felt so accomplished when we had a sturdy, good bed! Carpentry seems scary because of the measuring (no one else has nightmares of rulers and levels?) but it truly isn't so bad, especially when you aren't as concerned with the perfect look and finish but instead happy with sturdy and homemade (also applies to cakes). Next we would like to try making some benches for our yard and maybe someday a gazebo!

Welcome to our guest bedroom!

The bed meets with the very rigorous George Certificate of Approval for Napping Locations