You know who's awesome? This guy!

You hear a lot about him, but don't get to see him often- this is Christopher! Why is he awesome? Well, aside from being a super partner (six years! Aww), an excellent cook, and fun cycling-adventure buddy, he's also good at fixing things. Like my computer, which makes Spice n' Stitches go!

For the last week, the computer has been crashing left and right, has had stuck keys (due to a tapdancing cat) and a myriad of other problems. I can fix holes in the wall and sew curtains, but anything beyond occasionally dumping the recycling bin on this machine is beyond me. So...Chris to the rescue! The computer is now fast, working, and bug-free. Yay! Blogging will now resume!

In other news- sometime soon, we plan on adopting a baby kitten for Theo to be friends with. He needs a buddy, especially since I'll be working some crazy-long shifts this week which means leaving him alone in the apartment. Poor kitty. He misses his brother, but soon we'll have another friend for us all to love. 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Rachel eats...ALL THE GREENS!

Just a quick foodie post to make you jealous. I'm trying to incorporate a bigger variety of greens into my diet, so my fridge is currently filled with an awesome variety of leaves and the biggest bunch of kale there ever was.

Lightly cooking greens with a nutty grain like barley and some spices brings out their different natures- pleasantly bitter kale, bright bok choy, and sweet spinach. Have fun experimenting in the kitchen, and don't be afraid to try some unusual veggies!

Base: Sauteed red onion, kale, baby bok choy greens and bases, just-wilted spinach, dried sesame seaweed, cooked pearl barley, hemp hearts.

Flavors: Rice vinegar, tamari, whole-grain mustard (lots!), ground black pepper, light sea salt.

A lovely book

I was recently in need of some retail therapy, and my cure is generally a beautiful book (or a nice pair of shoes!) Books make me feel a bit less guilty though, so I had to go with that.

After making an impulse-buy based on the pretty pictures (hey, I love pictures!), I can definitely recommend Ripe, a recipe book filled with beautiful photography and quirky, offbeat stories. What I like about Ripe is the way the book is organized; instead of putting items in order by season (which is nicely practical), it is instead put together by color. Inspiration and information abound, giving a twist on classic favorites like carrots and bananas as well as introducing more unfamiliar produce (radicchio, pomelos, squash blossoms and persimmons anyone?)

Alongside the great veggie photography are interesting recipes sure to impress in-laws. Each veggie has one full recipe, and additionally has three "inspirations." For example, the asparagus page features "grilled asparagus with chopped egg and champagne vinaigrette," but also lists less fleshed-out ideas for risotto, soup, an a baked tart. Throughout this lovely piece, the author uses a lighthearted, quirky style to keep her audience reading and smiling. 

Overall take? I love it! This book is about eating your veggies because they're yummy and beautiful, not just because mom told you so. Check out Ripe, from author Cheryl Rule and photographer Paulette Philpot. 

In Memoriam

For those of you that are out of my Facebook loop, I have some sad news. We lost a very dear little cat on Monday- a small cat who was a big, mischievous part of our tiny family at the apartment. It's been a rough couple of days. 

A recent trip to the vet after we noticed some chilling symptoms revealed that Ari had been battling an internal infection since he was just a little guy- probably a souvenir from living as a stray when he was less than a month old. It was impossible to diagnose until now, and uncurable. Chris and I made the tough decision to let him rest and be out of pain. He was very brave, quietly snuggling into me until the end. He had a short life, but he was a spoiled, loving little boy while it lasted. 

Although Ari's quirky personality is irreplaceable, 

we do realize that Theo needs a friend and won't be happy living by himself, especially with the work schedules that Chris and I have. When we're ready, we plan on adopting another shelter kitten in need of some parents and a lazy, striped older brother.

We love you Ari, and we'll miss you. 

Community Gardens

I'd like to talk a bit about how awesome community gardens are. Many cities and campuses have programs, and require little to no money to reserve a patch of fresh dirt for the growing season. Since I'm living in an apartment with two curious cats and no balcony, it's pretty tough to grow any of my own herbs or veggies at home. I'll miss the big garden I've been working on with my dad for the last few years, but a 10x10 patch of garden like I've planted can actually produce a lot of food in one season. Utilizing techniques like square foot gardening and staggered planting (I'm doing three rows of salad, three weeks apart and replanting as each row goes to seed) can increase yields and crop variety.

I'm gardening with Campus Grow, one of the surprising number of gardens in the Mount Pleasant community. CG is an organic program located at Central Michigan University, and is student-run. It's a pretty young program, but has been growing rapidly. The garden had just a few active plots last year, but this year there are around 50 that have been requested. People from many walks of life come to the garden to participate in the therapeutic, methodical, and sometimes tough work of making their garden grow. (Believe me, I have the blisters on my hands to prove it!)

At this point in the year I've got a few seeds in the ground, but I'm waiting until the last frost date to move my precious tomato seedlings. I have plans for kaleidoscope carrots, yellow and green beans, basil, nasturtiums, mesclun salad, tomatoes, peppers, and whatever else I have room for. If you've got the garden bug but no place to grow, look around in your community for an opportunity, or start one yourself! This website is a great resource: http://www.communitygarden.org/learn/starting-a-community-garden.php 

Community gardens are a great way to learn new gardening techniques, mentor those who are just starting, and to make friends. Happy Gardening!

This little garden will grow big things!

Don't forget to bring your compost from home! This neat bucket is made of recycled materials
and bamboo fiber. It also features a filter in the lid. (that way my apartment doesn't smell like compost)

I've got visions of pesto dancing in my head

Check out this awesome setup for sifting compost. Look at that garden gold!

Watch out for nettles! I learned that lesson the hard way  (ouch!)

What are you growing in your garden this year? Do you have a favorite veggie you couldn't go without? If you have any experience with community gardens, feel free to share! 

Out of Season-

 Spring Harvest:

Canning and carrots are both words that are synonymous with autumn, at least among those who are gardeners. (It's hard to tell in our seasonless supermarkets.) This year though, that's not the case for me! The cool thing about growing carrots is that mother nature creates the perfect conditions to let them stay underground all winter. The cold makes the carrots sweet, and the outdoor refrigeration means that I have more pantry space- for the win! I let them overwinter with some mulch on top of the bed, and with a little help, dug them up and sorted them this spring after the ground had thawed. I got a 5 gallon bucket halfway full- and for me, that's a lot of carrots!

Ari wants to know what mom made for him!

Preserving the Flavor:

This unexpected bounty gave me a lot to work with, and I wondered what I could do with all that vitamin A. It's been awhile since I did a major canning project, so I was itching to do something fun in the kitchen. After setting aside a good portion for a carrot curry (yum!), I perused my trusty Ball Blue Book and some fun online canning blogs and decided that carrot pickles were in order. It was a lot of work to scrub all those carrots clean, but I got 8 pint jars out of the project- a gallon of yummy carrots! I put up two varieties- one, a traditional accompaniment to Mexican dishes, was processed with jalapeno pepper slices, red onion, black peppercorns, and oregano. With the rest of my jars, I went with an Asian theme, adding sliced ginger, red chilies, green onion, rice vinegar, black peppercorns, soy sauce, and a few cloves. In a few weeks, they'll be a perfectly pickled, cool and crisp addition to a summer meal. Nice!

Pretty Cloth Napkins

A simple project to make the home a bit more eco-friendly, and well, home-y. Throw them in the wash after use, and they're as good as new. Yay for less trash!

Fabric scraps and project leftovers could be used to make these, but store-bought fat quarters are inexpensive and work great too. Coordinates could be used to make a great matching set for a holiday table setting or would be cute for gift-giving as well.

I've been toying with the idea of making cloth napkins for awhile, so this weekend I finally decided to sit down and get sewing. I was done before I knew it! These end up being a little smaller than a sheet of paper.

To make a set of 8, I used:
4 fat quarters of cotton fabric
Brightly colored thread
...and that's it!

How-to:
 Cut each fabric quarter in half with a rotary cutter and iron flat. Place two pieces face-to-face, pin, and use a straight stitch to sew together. Remember to leave a small opening to turn them right-side out! To straighten the edges,  insert a chopstick or pencil in the opening you left and push the corners out. Iron again.
To finish, stitch around the edges with bright thread in a decorative pattern.

I'm back!

Finals week is (finally!) over, I've gotten back into the swing of things, and I'm feeling a bit more spunky than I have in a long time. I've just completed my third year of college, celebrated six years with my sweetie, and have finally gotten settled into "life outside the nest." My two jobs are excellent, the kitties have grown, and I have a ton of projects, ideas, and discussions planned to share. Friends, family, and followers- I've missed you!