WTF did THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pics from July 7 - 10

They think it was a microburst that hit this area of NY - hail, rain, thunder, lightening - neighbor's tree came down and messed up our cars (two cars).

No power for two days or so because the tree yanked out our connection to Con Ed.

more pics to come as I sort thru all the 'recovery' issues from this

It has been nearly a week since I fell

I did not think I would blog about this.

Last Tuesday I was over tired, it was wet and the silly shih tzu got under foot. That plus the MS I guess I simply shifted my weight wrong while standing too close to the edge of the front step and down I went like a tree felled on Ax Men. Thankfully I basically "relaxed" thru it - tucking my arm to my side and let it happen - though it meant hitting the ground hard on my right side, especially my shoulder.

Of course no one was around so it took me a moment or two to get up but I did get up on my own, got in the house, and took some arnica montana. NOW THAT STUFF is why I decided to blog.

I did not have a bruise though I did hurt like hell and I was not too stiff. It has been less than a week and I am significantly better.

Arnica montana is a great item to have around the house for all kinds of things -

OK - here are some pics of the accident scene

This is too good not to share!! from Anna the Red

bento#53 google chrome bento June 11, 2009

Posted by AnnaTheRed in bento blog (all), bento blog - American characters.
Tags: bento, charaben, google chrome, kyaraben
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A little while ago, I received an email from someone who was doing a promotion for Google, asking me if I wanted to participate in a promotion for Google Chrome. The event was called “make the Google Chrome icon,” and he’d seen my bento somewhere and wanted me to make the Google Chrome icon with food. There were three conditions: the first was that I had to keep it secret until they began the event. The second was to make the Google Chrome icon with food. The last condition was that I had to videotape myself making it.

Bento #53: Google Chrome bento (actually it was “Bento# 48.5″)
Created on: 5/17/2009

See my video and other entries on the “Make the Google Chrome icon” event page! (the link should go live in about a couple of hours)

As I told the interviewer on Wired.com, I lack of finesse. That’s why it takes a long time for me to make a bento, and I wouldn’t make good how-to videos. So I was kinda reluctant to do this project at first, but my boyfriend was excited about it. Fortunately, he is a video editor, and the video needed to be only a couple of minutes. So I said I’d do it if he’d make everything look pretty, and he said “of course! “

Usually, my boyfriend is not allowed in the kitchen when I make bento. The main reason is that I like keeping each bento a surprise, but another reason is that the process of making bento isn’t as impressive and exciting as the final product.

I had a rough idea of what I’d do, but the bento box I use is a rectangle and Google Chrome icon is a circle. I doodled some flowers and bugs around the logo’s sketch, and I began making it.

I’m not going into too much detail since you can see that in the video. But, since I’m moving pretty fast in the video, I’ll just write what I did. First thing I did was to soak a hard boiled egg in red cabbage juice for the blue orb in the center. (see “how to dye eggs naturally”) I boiled broccoli for the green part, pan fried red peppers for the red part, and scrambled an egg for the yellow part.

Then I proceeded to make asparagus wrapped in bacon, sausage sunflowers (see “how to make a sunflower”), and cut snow peas. And I cut one side of ham, rolled it and made flowers.

After most of the ingredients were ready, I used a plastic bottle to mold the rice into a circle (see “how to make Totoro sandwich” for the plastic bottle cutter), and put broccoli, red pepper and scrambled egg on the rice. Then I put black sesame seeds between each color to make the black line. Finally, I put the dyed egg in the center, and carefully removed the plastic. It was nerve-wracking to remove the plastic. I was worried that the red pepper or broccoli or scrambled egg or rice would come apart, but it held up. Phew!

Red pepper on the edge of a cliff

Then basically I just tried to fill in the spaces with everything I made, looking at the color of each food, trying to balance it out.
To pretty up the bento, I made a ladybug with seaweed on a cherry tomato, and a bee with seaweed on cheese.

A lady bug!

A bumble bee!

Looking back now, this bento seemed so easy to make. In fact, it was far less complicated from other bento I make. But when someone’s watching & video-taping me while I’m making something was very… different from what I was used to, and I felt like it took a lot longer than it should’ve taken.

I was exhausted when I finished making this, and I wasn’t sure if I was 100% happy with it. But then my boyfriend used a little magic, and voila! In the video, I’m moving at the speed of lightning and look like I know what I’m doing. Not to mention the awesome music from Giant Robo. (It’s an epic anime show from the 90’s. It is composed by Masamichi Amano, performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.) I get chills every time I hear this music, and it’s playing on the video of me making a bento! How amazing is that? My boyfriend used to work for a company that made trailers for movies, and he’s got mad skills.

I want to thank Jason for putting this event together. I guess this bento is considered a “requested bento” or “how-to bento” and it’s something that I would rarely do. But honestly, I wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t ask me to make a video of myself making it. I mean, my boyfriend and I use Google but it’s not like it’s a video game or anime. (we’d often imagine how cool it’d be to work at the Google office, though. ) But I love a challenge, and I was also curious to see how the bento making process would look in the video. Besides, now my parents can see and believe that I really make those bento.

Ta-da!

See my video and other entries on “Make the Google Chrome icon” event page, or just go straight to the Google Chrome Channel on youtube. (the event page should go live in a couple of hours)

Unfortunately, Google used the darkest part of my video (we were losing light) in the main event video which they put all entries together and edited into one video. =/ Oh well, but it was still tons of fun.

For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.

I wish I was this creative!!!!

This is from What's for lunch at our house My newest hobby and since we do need to eat, it's technically a cost-effective one.

( I love the blog's name !!!!!!)

"Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A New Take on Bento, the Muffin Tin Meal

Since we are home for the summer, the need to make bentos has been few & far between. It's hard to get on board with handwash-only items when we are eating at the kitchen table.

On my travels around the web, I did find a fun site that talked about Muffin Tin meals. It's similar to a bento concept, I suppose, but in muffin tins--one compartment per item. And muffin tins are dishwasher safe.

We've done it twice already, with themed meals!


Alphabet theme--Apricots, Bananas, Cheese, Donut, Egg, Fish


And a number theme--1 cupcake, 2 carrot sticks, 3 slices of turkey on kebab sticks, 4 pieces of cheese, 5 crackers, 6 chunks of canteloupe

Despite the fact that my children take bentos for school, they were thoroughly impressed by these."

Blogging can be feast or famine - now I found something I have to highlight!

This is from Escape from Obesity

I am looking forward to trying it.

"Yum

Today, I tried something new. Homemade, raw, "Veggie Cereal." Yeah, I know you're going "WHAT?" just like I was when I read this recipe on MckMama's blog. But it sounded so healthy, I was intrigued. Today I tried it, and I think it's blog-worthy. I even took a picture, which I will add later when I get it off my camera. So the next time you are feeling hungry, munchy, or like you need more veggies, try this!

Veggie Cereal

3 T raw pecans
3 peeled baby carrots
1/2 c. raw cauliflower
1/2 c. raw broccoli
1 large apple, cored, peeled
cinnamon

Put the nuts and carrots in a food processor and pulse until they are in small pieces. Add the cauliflower, broccoli, and apple (I cut these in chunks) and pulse until the size of couscous. (For those of you who are not into couscous, it's like a half grain of rice or so).

The original recipe says to scoop some into a bowl and top with cinnamon and almond milk and eat like cereal. I mixed cinnamon into mine first, and I used vanilla (sweetened) almond milk because I am a wuss about trying a Veggie Cereal with plain almond milk. It was really good!! It's crunchy and a bit sweet and apple-y. She says your kids won't even know what they are eating, but my kids knew really fast. "What are those green things mom??? THAT'S BROCCOLI!!!!" and "Hey aren't those orange things carrots?? Mom is this cereal made of VEGETABLES??" They were good sports and tried it but my daughter hauled butt to the nearest trash can to spit it out before she gagged up her entire lunch, and my veggie-loving son turned it down after a taste. He just likes his veggies straight, I guess. But anyway my point is that this is really yummy to ME, but if you think you're going to trick any kid over the age of 3 into thinking this is "cereal," don't bank on it.

Still, I enjoyed it a LOT and I am going to be making this often!

The original recipe can be seen here.

I'm doing great with my eating, updating on Twitter, and feeling amazing :)"

I think I want to try this --

My Bento Diet: Okonomiyaki Bento Recipe: What I Like...

One day I will make my own bread --

and I will catch some local wild yeast to do it!!!


"How do you catch wild yeast?" you ask --

"Isn't wild yeast a protected species?" you then inquire --

"Is yeast a renewable resource?" our green newbie contingent asks boldly

(without knowing what a stupid question that is)

Lest you eat yourself up with worry here is some information courtesy of How Stuff Works:

"....before there was packaged yeast, bakers used sourdough starter to keep a supply of yeast alive and handy. They kept a pot of live culture in a flour/water medium, and "fed" it daily or weekly so that the yeast remained alive and active. To understand how sourdough starter works, let's look at how you can create a batch of starter using live yeast that is floating in the air!

To perform this experiment you will need:

• A pottery crock, plastic container or glass jar, preferably with a loose-fitting lid
• A wooden spoon
• A piece of cloth
• Some flour (preferably without any preservatives in it) and water

To start a culture, mix two cups of flour and two cups of water in a glass or pottery bowl (in the old days, a baker probably had a special clay crock for starter). Lay a cloth over the top and let it sit on the kitchen counter. It turns out that there is yeast floating in the air all around us all the time, and some of this yeast will make its way to your flour/water mixture. It will then start growing and dividing.

After 24 hours, you pour off about a cup of the mixture and feed it with another cup of flour and another cup of water. In a few days, the mixture will become frothy as the yeast population grows. The froth is caused by the carbon dioxide that the yeast is generating. The starter will also have a bacteria, lactobacilli, in it. This lends to the slightly acidic flavor of the bread by creating lactic acid! The alcohol that the yeast creates and the lactic acid together are the source of sourdough bread's unique flavor!"

Here are few sites to check out for more information:

Norwich Sourdough Bread Recipe | Wild Yeast

Let the dough rest (autolyse) for 30 minutes. ... A More Sour Sourdough. Fendu, and a Bit About Spiking ... Wild Yeast blog, a fantastic resource for all bread ...
www.wildyeastblog.com

HowStuffWorks "How Sourdough Bread Works"

Catching the Wild Yeast. Baking Sourdough Bread. Lots More Information ... bread, you add a cup of this live culture to the dough to provide the yeast ...
recipes.howstuffworks.com

Sourdough Bread with Roasted Potatoes | Wild Yeast

... Wild Yeast inspired me with her entry of Roasted Potato Bread, but ... The Sour Dough. Toxo Bread. use real butter. Ye Olde Bread Blogge. baking communities ...
www.wildyeastblog.com

Sourdough - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

... batter or a stiffer dough; as a general rule, more sour breads are made with ... Wild Yeast Blog - A blog covering all aspect of Sourdough bread as well as ...
en.wikipedia.org

Science of Bread: Basic Sourdough Starter Recipe

... make sourdough, bakers use a "starter," a piece of dough in which yeast is ... Grape sourdough starter, or biga, uses the wild yeast naturally present in grapes. ...
www.exploratorium.edu

Bake on the wild side: Part 1, the sourdough starter :: The Ethicurean ...

.. sourdough starter many years ago, I have exclusively used commercial yeast in ... might create a very sour bread like the classic San Francisco sourdough. ...
www.ethicurean.com

Sourdough Starter

Home Lifestyle Recipes Bread and Grains Sourdough Starters. Advertise on this site ... are that they will all be equally efficient in attracting wild (sour) yeast. ...
www.stretcher.com

Sourdough Starter

... you make a sour dough starter, you are actually attracting the wild yeast that are in ... of wild yeast(sourdough) starter became famous for the bread they ...
www.castbullet.com