Tortillas

Tortillas are very much a staple in our house. Quesadillas are the catch all lunch when no one has any ideas. Now, as delicious as Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Tortillas are, it is easy to make your own delicious tortillas at home.

Tortilla Recipe

1/4 c. oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 c. warm water
2 c. flour

This recipe makes aprox. 4 tortillas, (depending on how big your like them). Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, etc. to make more!

Mix the ingredients together to form a stiff dough; using a mixer/kneader machine always makes this easier.

Cut dough into pieces. As I mentioned above, the basic recipe makes about 4. I usually quad the recipe and make 16.

Roll each piece out to about an eighth of an inch think, (adjust this depending on your preference).

Heat on a griddle or skillet until cooked through. Watch your heat carefully! If it is too hot, your tortillas will burn before they cook. Ideally you want them just beginning to brown when you flip them.

These tortillas are best for very simple meals. I don't recommend them for burritos, as they are prone to tear. But they are so delicious, that all you really need is a pot of beans, a bowl of hummus, chopped tomatoes & basil, or any other simple topping

and...

Voila! You have a fabulous lunch.

Apple of a Different Color

"Sometimes the only thing to do is to start looking at everything again until you forget what you're supposed to see



& actually see what's there."

storypeople

Some days, you can't help but look at everyone else (very objectively, of course) and decide that you are very glad that you are you and not anybody else. You then turn and look (very objectively) at yourself, and realize that there are certain things about yourself that you very much appreciate. Things that are distinctly you.
At this point you must lay aside all manner of characteristics that others have projected onto you; and look quite simply at yourself as a whole individual person, independent from all others.
You are not what-you-do. These things, rather, proceed from who you are, that mystery of soul and spirit housed by and piloting your body. Because of the way YOU are, you choose to play music, or to dance, or to write. Because YOU have likes and fears and desires and strengths, you will choose how and where and with whom to spend your future. Because the people-who-have-been-there-all-along have helped shaped that which is YOU (your spirit and your soul), YOU are now an
individual.

It is a "which comes first" scenario.
Entering in the midst of your life, one may see the space which you occupy and think they see you. They see the place you fill on the stage, at the podium, or on various teams, and say "Ah, this then is who they are!"
But with time, this same person may come to see the shape of your spirit and your soul, and the effect of those-who-have-been-there-all-along ; at this they will say "Ah, this then is who they are!" and "This is why they occupy that place in the world."

Now in the course of this train of thought, you may pause: you may look at everyone around you and think (very objectively) about how glad you are that they are them. For the people-who-have-been-there-all-along, because of their them-ness, have helped to shape your you-ness and make you an apple of a different color, shiny and unique to everybody else. You look at them (very objectively) and realize that there are certain things about them that you
very much
appreciate.
And you realize, perhaps you're not so independent from others after all.

Alone Way

Cheerful morning walk
down the orchard alleyway.
Breathing chilled new air.
Illuminated
Trees and fog and golden dog;
Startled flock of quail.
Footsteps in the earth:
Someone has been here before.
(Maybe it was me.)

But I'm alone.

Squinting in the sun,
Making my alone way home,
welcomed by the cat.

The Certainties of Caring for Children

If a child asks you, "Guess how old I am, four or five?"Always guess five.

If a child is taller than your waist, don't offer to spin her around. By the time she asks for a fifth turn, you will probably scrape her knees against the ground from exhaustion.

As dirty as a child gets, they can always be cleaned again, so make your decision: would you rather have happy children playing harmlessly out side making blackberry jam with their fingers and a cereal bowl and not bothering you? Or would you rather impatiently tell them not to make a mess of themselves and then have to answer their subsequent complaints of "I'm bored"?

If you pick up an adorable small child and he tells you with an innocent sigh, "My mom can't hold me anymore, only my dad." Know that he loves being held as much as you love holding him. Just be prepared to carry him for the rest of the evening.

If one child asks you to blow up one of the long skinny balloons meant for pumps and sees you succeed, take a deep breath: you will probably be asked to blow up at least five more.

(If I have missed any, let me know.)

100th Post.

I thought the day would never come: 100 posts. I guess that means I've Collected 100 Thoughts? (Though I may change the name; be prepared.)

If I were to have a 100th Birthday Present~



~this would be it!
I absolutely love this blouse, and find it very inspiring. I am going to try to semi-recreate it with what I have on hand. It may look very different, but know that this was the inspiration.

I originally found this item in the Anthropologie store with Sarah Mitchell. We spent nearly 4 hours in the Santana Row location, and although we didn't buy anything we came away with a million ideas and a throbbing in our hearts for the love of Anthropologie.

Enchanted Life, (with the most innocent use of the word).

I am convinced; my little brother is my enchanted prince, and little sisters are princesses.





My home is my enchanted palace, with spacious room on the front porch balcony to bask in the summer evenings.





We live in the midst of an enchanted forest (which is proved by the fact that it worked it's way onto a board game in our closet which you see the royal children playing), and we are free to stroll the grounds at any time.



If this is no enchanted life in my restless eyes, I would be restless in any quarter of this fragile globe on which we live.

Paisley.

I finished a dress today. I made the bodice using a pattern I already had, and the skirt is just a big rectangle.
In hindsight, I should have made the skirt a bigger rectangle than I did, because I ended up having less room to gather than I thought I would.



Much of the dress is machine sewn, but when it came time to attach the skirt, I switched to hand sewing. I wasn't liking the way it looked with a machine gather, so I ended up sewing the skirt with a needle & thread making little pleats as I went. It's not perfect, but I was happier with the end result.



I also hemmed the skirt by hand. I originally cut the skirt piece with room to spare, but realized it isn't so easy to make a straight cut after the fact; so instead I made a deep hem and stitched it by hand.

Thank you little sister for taking the photos. It was a painless 2 minute snap of a "shoot". Pretty good, yea?

Hello all,

I have been playing around with my blog template, and some diy techniques. Now I am learning how to post bigger pictures.
Here is the full image used behind my header.

Bread.

If you go to India, "food" means rice. I also find it interesting that when ancient Israel experienced famines, they were still able to offer nuts & fruits as gifts to Egypt . Evidently, in Israel, "food" meant grain; for grain makes bread, and bread... well bread is food.

Food staples are inevitable. Though America lacks no eatables, I think it safe to say that to many Americans "food" is bread. Cinnamon toast in the morning, a turkey sandwich or pb&j come lunch, and hamburgers for dinner.The unfortunate fact is that most available bread is sadly lacking in nutrients. Most commercial flour may as well be dust; if I remember correctly, 80% of the nutritional value is lost with the 40% of each grain kernel that is discarded, (but don't quote me on that).

The main thing I am trying to say, is that I love bread. Really love bread. But not the bread I mentioned above. Not even the expensive kind, though that is good as well. I will, rather, thank my mother for my whole life for teaching me how to make yummy, whole, affordable bread worth eating, (and worth every effort to have a steamy slice fresh out of the oven). This bread is simple, it is versatile, & I love it.

Exibit A:
I'll throw this tantalizing beauty together anytime we have the ingredients on hand.


Toasted Bread with Olive Oil
Fresh Basil
Sliced (cherry or full size) Tomatos
Plain Yogurt


Exibit B:

The credit for this goes entirely to the genius of Heidi Swanson and the determination of my brother, Jared. He found her blog and has found a way to recreate more than one of her amazing recipes. This one was memorable:


Marinated Tempeh
Oven Baked Tomatos
Fresh Lettuce
Avocado

Find the complete recipe on Heidi's blog! (linked above)


So yummy. A worthy way to use a good loaf of bread.

Should I post the recipe?