dani in davis

"I feel like the whole trip was us stopping to pee"

2011-07-26T00:04:00.000-07:00

It was.

We spent at least 5 hours in the car, driving to Point Reyes, then to Stinson, then to Mill Valley and San Rafael, then finally home. So we did pull off to the side of the road many times for quick bathroom breaks in the bushes, or even right next to the car...

Weekend adventures have been my norm the past month.

I'm taking weekend near-cations because I can't seem to pull myself together to organize a week-long holiday.

Scenes from this weekend.... Yes we did go swimming, and yes it was 60F when we did it! ;)

Where are you going this weekend?

shattered

2011-07-11T20:00:00.001-07:00

Long story, so I'll keep it short.

My windshield shattered.

Fail.

$250 and tomorrow I will have a new one.

water sports

2011-07-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

"I didn't know the sun could do that, it's so far away."

This week, my friends learned an important lesson in personal skin care after spending 4 hours kayaking with me on Cache Creek - always wear sunscreen.

Unlike my friends, I did wear sunscreen and re-applied, and still received a major sun burn. So imagine them without it... oh boy!

Kim and I went skydiving today for the second time (her third). Fantastic as usual. I had the same tandem instructor, which was great because of our first jump together and the fact that he is Brazilian.

Just to keep it simple, there was a malfunction resulting in the chute not opening my first time jumping. Good thing there is always a reserve chute! And, thankfully, my instructor is quite the experienced skydiver.

The other instructors kept poking fun at us, "oh man, she's back for more." I'm his "good luck charm." ;) I think they were just jealous I requested him over them.

Dirty bulbs

2011-07-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

This was the first year I attempted to grow my own garlic and onions.

How to grow garlic - take a head of garlic, break it into individual cloves and stick each clove in the ground about 2" apart. about 4-5 months later, and you've got new garlic!

The onions I started from mini onion bulbs. You can buy these at local nurseries.

Harvesting was fun... especially mining for the garlic heads that I had misplaced in my bed.

I let the dirty bulbs dry on my porch for about 2 weeks. I just cleaned them tonight by dusting off the residual dirt and trimming the dead stalks and roots.

Can't wait to roast some garlic!

Sausalito and Succulents

2011-07-05T00:08:00.000-07:00

I'm growing succulents on my front porch.

Breakfast this morning: avocado and fresh bread on a house-boat dock in Sausalito. It was part of a whirlwind bay adventure. Think lots of vegan dessert, jazz music, a yellow sun dress and stilletos in the Mission district...

Summer post

2011-07-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

I promise I will update more! It has been nearly a year since my last post, and that is not okay, I know.

But, just a start.

Hello, friends and family! Hope you are well. Summer is Davis is hopping!

Today is Saturday and I spent my entire morning at the Davis Farmers Market, eating some delicious organic apricots and meeting with some awesome women who have made incredible change in the food system here in Davis. Inspiring!

By 11am it was already over 90F in Davis! Hope you are all staying cool!

Love and hugs,

Dani

Healing

2010-09-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

A series of fun photos from my healing process. =) Enjoy...

I'm several days out for removing my stitches. Yippee! No more wearing that ugly bandage too - I have been bandage free for two days.

One brief note before I sign out...

During our last day in Kauai Nico and I drove nearly the entire Kauaian shoreline in one day. All the way north to the Napali coast, then all the way south to Poipu. We were going to go further to Waimea, but decided to sneak back into the Marriott to enjoy the apacaterrace and one last drink in Kauai.

On our way to Napali, we stopped at the Kilauea light house and nature preserve. We got to check out binoculars. While peering along the coastline I was able to see people enjoying their privacy on the beach. I wonder how many time's I've been peered at while I'm laying out on a beach thinking no one is watching me.... ;)

Nico accused me of being a voyeur.

We saw baby birds too!

I wish human babies were this fluffy when they are young...

Also - I posted all of my photos from the Kauai trip. You can see them here.

Vacation Fail Update

2010-09-03T16:09:00.001-07:00

Stitches. That is what my new Doctor, Dr. Schumacher, said I should get. So I did it. I didn't want to, and was terrified of the numbing shots, but all in all it went pretty well.

I woke up Thursday morning and immediately began mentally preparing myself for the follow up visit. After bathing, re-dressing my leg, dressing myself and eating a small breakfast I waiting for the Nico man to crawl out of bed. Remember, we are on vacation, so any sense of urgency has been dissolved into the Kauian air. =)

What to do when Nico lazes around in bed?
Cover him in pillows, of course!

We finally arrived at the Urgent Care center, right next to the ER where I had my initial visit post gash. It was suggested I visit the UC instead of the ER because it would cost less for my insurance. We waited for about 10 minutes in line at the UC only to find out that my HMO plan wouldn't cover the visit ($245 base price) because the UC doesn't bill as an UC, but a family physician. Oh, insurance.

So, we hiked next door to the ER.

I'm waling again, btw. More like trolling. I feel like I have a club foot, but at least I am out of crutches and the wheel chair.

We waited about 30 minutes in the waiting room at the ER before we were called in. The nurse took about 1hr to see us. A cruise ship had just arrived, and there were lots of people rushing into the ER for things like shortness of breath, swollen ankles, etc. Mind you, I was the youngest one there.

Finally, after waiting for about 1.5 hours, Nico and I playing Boggle and reading to pass the time, we decided to have Camilla and David pick up the rental so they wouldn't have to wait around for us. Nico left while I continued to read, and wait.

After about 2.5 hours I was starting to get hungry. Nico, who had returned from dropping the car of with the parents, volunteered to swing by Walmart to pick up some snacks for us to munch on while we waited. I was worried that he would be gone for the shot... well, he was.

About 10 minutes after Nico left, Dr. Shumacher came in and undressed my leg. He took one look at it and said I needed stitches. OH NO! He said he would be back in about 5 minutes with the numbing shot, then he would have the nurse irrigate it once again before he sutured it up.

I hurriedly pulled out my cell and turned it off airplane mode so I could send Nico a quick text.

"Stitches! Come back! =("

Five minutes passed and no response from the Nico. I was going to have to brave this one on my own. I had Dr. Shumacher grab me a tissue and close the door "just in case I start screaming, and I will probably cry, too!"

I held tight to the bed while he injected the numbing serum. The nurse walked in and grimaced at my shots and my gaping shin. I didn't cry. Be proud! I didn't scream, either!

The shots and the irrigation went smoothly, and the suturing was fine. I couldn't watch it. Nico finally walked in about 1 stitch in and sat next to me while I squeeze his hand and watched him play Boggle on his phone.

The Dr. laughed at us because neither of us wanted to watch him stitch my hole closed.

Finally - after about 4 hours - Nico and I were able to leave the ER. We called a cab back to hotel, and I am all done. I have to get the sutures removed in 10 days, but I am sure I can do that on my own.

Waiting for the cab, outside the ER.

Still no swimming. No alcohol (although I had a beer when I got back to the Marriott!). No getting the suture wet for 2 more days. No hiking. No running. And worst of all - no zip-lining - which is where Nico and the fam are off to today.

Oh well, I have myself, my laptop, some books and a kitchenette. I already finished off three books this trip. I have watched 3 episodes of House, and I just finished making Thai food.

At least I am in Kauai. Even if I can't enjoy any of it. We are leaving tomorrow for Davis.

Life can't be all that bad. =)

Vacation Fail

2010-08-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

Hi friends, family,

Vacation fail. Many of you know I am spending the week in Kauai with Nico and his family. I didn't expect my vacation to end up quite like it has.

Nico pushed me off a cliff, and I landed in the ER. Ha ha ha... kidding. Nico had nothing to do with my gashed shin.

I fell while on an awesome hike (for experienced hikers!) through the Kauaiian rainforest. I knew as soon as I looked down at my shin post fall and saw my adipose tissue bulging out of a large gaping hole in my leg and blood gushing everywhere that this was going to be serious. Luckily we had already reached our destination and were on our way back when this happened or else I would have been even more disappointed.

I quickly closed the hole with my hands. Natalie, a family friend, donated her shirt to wrap around the laceration. Nico got all Eagle Scout and ripped his shirt into strips to tie up the wound, too. Nico's sister, Jill, held me down while I screamed my lungs out while they were tying my wound up. As you can imagine, it hurt like hell. Camilla, Nico's mom, gave me a plant to bite down on. She squeezed some ginger soap plant onto the laceration hoping it would work as a simple antiseptic/antibiotic until I got down the hill.

Given the nature of the hike, we were all covered in mud. Hence, my legs were covered in mud. I was one dirty Dani. Not such a good thing for an open wound.

After the shirt donations and the screaming, we finally got my leg all tied up, super tight. I had enough adrenaline to make it the mile or so down the rest of the trail. It took us about 1 hr to get back down, Nico carrying me across streams so I wouldn't get my leg wet. Me crawling with one leg over, across and through boulders, trees and bamboo forests. It was like an episode of Survivor. I think the one thing that kept me going was knowing how expensive (and impossible) it would have been to have to be air-lifted out of the rainforest.

We finally made it to the car, and I was exhausted. It was a long ride to the ER, but we finally got there. We took pictures when we arrived (of course!) of my t-shirt bandage and me in the wheel chair with Natalie and Jill posing.

My Dr, Dr. Lee (white like me... super cool to meet another white 'Lee'), was really great. The nurses were super sweet. I had also stubbed my toe prior to the major fall that took out my shin and was covered with millions of mosquito bites (you know how much the mosquitoes love me), so ER staff kept joking about the need to treat not only my injured toe and my mosquito bites by my massive laceration.

After taking a look at my legs, Dr. Lee asked if I was even wearing shoes since every inch of my legs were covered in mud, including my feet. Yes, I was. I was wearing my Chaco's my hiking sandals, which don't provide much coverage to my feet. When I asked about scarring, he laughed and said there was no way of getting out of this scar. Nico thinks the scar is going to make me even sexier, more rugged. I think not. Sad face.

My nurse, Amy, came back in to clean me up a bit. Then Dr. Lee gave me local anesthetic before cleaning out my laceration. The local anesthetic hurt just as bad as Nico tying the t-shirt bandages onto my legs on the trail. I made Dr. Lee shut the door before he administered the anesthetic knowing I would be screaming my head off. Luckily, Nico was there to hold me while I was administered 8-10 shots around the two areas that needed the most cleaning. Not a happy experience. The nurses joked afterward that they heard me screaming down the hall. They said they weren't sure if I was laughing or sobbing... silly.

Luckily, I got a tetanus shot right before India two years ago, so I didn't have to get another shot. =) =) =)

Because I was so dirty, Dr. Lee decided to NOT suture my laceration until Thursday. So, Amy irrigated the two lacerations with saline solution and bandaged me up. They prescribed me with Vicodin (yippee!) and sent me on my way with a large hole in my shin, and strict instructions to change the bandages and clean the wound 2x a day. I can't get the laceration wet. I can't drink alcohol while taking Vicodin. I can't walk (it hurts to bad!). I can't do ANYTHING!

After we left the ER we went to Longs Drugs to pick up additional dressings and my drugs. Nico carried me through Longs since I couldn't walk. Back home at the Marriott, we checked out a wheel chair and got me back to the room. Jill and Natalie made us sushi for dinner. Then I went to bed after taking two Vicodin and experiencing my face going numb from taking too many pills.

This morning I woke up before anyone else and hobbled my smelly self (I still hadn't been able to shower) to the bathroom. I plopped myself into the tub with my right wounded leg propped out. Unfortunately I still got it wet, so I had to change the dressing, which was probably a good thing because it was pretty nasty from the last 12 hours.

Nico, Jill, Natalie, David and Camilla are all taking great care of me. David checked me out a pair of crutches so I wouldn't be so debilitated on the wheel chair (YAY! FREEDOM!). I'm just going to take my Vicodin and read my books and hang out by the pool for the next three days. I'm pretty sad, and depressed, but I'd much rather be here in Kauai, healing, than back in Davis not being able to bike or get up and down my stairs.

Stitches on Thursday. More news to come.

I'm sending you lots of love and hugs and good vibes from Kauai! Send me the same, and hopefully I will be able to walk/bike when I get back into Davis. Work is going to suck if I have to hobble around on crutches for the next couple of weeks.

I included a few pictures (and reserved the most gruesome ones for later, upon request, for those who want to get up close and personal with the hole in my shin), below.

Love, and lacerations,

Dani

The end of our hike - three waterfalls in the background. It was beautiful!!!

About 10 minutes pre-fall, hiking through a TREE!

Just arrived at the ER - check out Nico and Natalie's shirts...

The laceration peaking out the top is the smaller of the two that will be stitched.

Not too happy to be in the ER, but was able to grimace a smile.

DON'T LOOK TOO CLOSE.... I made this one smaller for a reason.

Clean and bandaged. =) Happy Dani.

They gave me a fun little boot to wear. I look so fugly.

A Very Public Haircut, and other such excitements!

2010-08-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

A very public hair cut.

Nico needed a haircut, bad. Don't get me wrong, I love Nico's long flowing locks. But there is something super attractive about a nice clean-cut look as well. And working at the capitol means that long flowing locks aren't exactly smiled upon. ;)

So, he finally enrolled our dear friend, Megan, a fellow N Street cohousing member to trim his trailing tresses.

What ensued was a very public hair cut.

We had a large potluck last night in the community, including a celebration of Megan's partner's (Dan's) birthday. Dan isn't actually in Davis right now. She actually video skyped him in so he can partake in the celebrations including eating dinner, lighting of the candles, singing celebratory birthday songs and the cake cutting (SO CUTE!). But I digress.

Throughout the potluck, Nico had his locks severed. In phases, of course. So at certain points during the evening he was walking around with a mullet. Then a mo-hawk. Then a faux-hawk. Then, finally, a nicely trimmed head of hair.

Photos were a must. Nico, with a mo-hawk! I begged him to keep it, but alas, he decided even one day at the office with a mo-hawk might not be the best idea.

My very dashing, Nico!

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Summer Colds and Dani's Solution.

I tend to get sick around this time in the summer. I haven't quite yet figured out why. It may be allergies. It may be a cold. But, never fail, I always come down with something during the months of August/September when my head becomes foggy with grey and yellow phlegm, my voice turns into a toad croak, and my head pounds with pressure.

I stayed home, ill, today after waking up and not being able to talk nevertheless breath comfortably.

Dani's remedy for congestion?

Netti Pot
This little baby hurts like Hell but feels SO GOOD after you do it. Basically, you run warm saline solution through your nostrils. It kinds feels a little bit like drowning, but don't worry, you wont. It goes in one end and out the other with lots of 'debris' included. Yummy!

Lots of WATER
Self explanatory. Helps flush your system.

Vitamin C
In food form, of course. Peppers are a great source of V. C. Eat lots of red, yellow and green peppers. Higher in V. C. than our fave citrus pals.

Sleep
I slept a total of 12 hours today. I still feel pretty shitty, but hopefully tomorrow I can hit the ground running (and breathing!)

Umcka
This one is new, and actually I can't say that it works, yet. I just tried it today after being sad about my sinuses not clearing up with my netti and decongestant pills routine. So many of my friends rely on this, so I'm giving it a try. News soon if it works!

Tea
Of any kind, typically an herbal tea. This just kinda loosens up my sinus pressure.

ACV Short for apple cider vinegar. A quick-fix for clearing up your sinuses. Take a shot's worth of this lovely vinegar and you are good as gold (at least for about 15-30 minutes). Some of my friends carry around watered down ACV with them to school/work when they are cold and sip it throughout the day. ACV doesn't taste very good, btw, but it does work.

With all of these 'natural' remedies, I tend to feel better within a week. This is better than taking some pill that a doctor prescribed me. If thinks don't clear up within 2 weeks, then the DR is my last resort. We will see how this one plays out... =)

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End for BB, Beginning for Droid.

My lovely pink Blackberry Curve decided to die. This one didn't last as long as my first one (which had a fatal accident when I biked to work in the rain one day... drowning must not feel very good for a phone). I got my 'new' Blackberry in February and it is now broken. It lasted 6 months. Not so good, technology... I'm a bit disappointed in you.

Good news. I've had my lovely pink berry contract for over 2 years, I guess, because I had the opportunity to upgrade for FREE to a new phone. I found this out Monday night at 11pm when I called Verizon to file a claim on my BB.

I went for a Droid. It still cost me (nothing is free these days) $200, but this is more than half the retail price ($550) for a new one.

My Droid arrive today. Overnight delivery, so I was only without a fully functioning phone for about 12 day hours. My Droid is pretty sexy! I'm not going to lie! Much better than my pink berry, and much lighter too.

BB Curve vs Droid Incredible
Notice the missing track ball in my old BB
epic tech fail

I've only had it for 4 hours, but I'm already pretty smitten. Yay, Droid Incredible. It blows Nico's original Droid phone out of the water (ha ha!). ;)

I'll have to think of a name for it. Keep in mind my past tradition for naming things I own that I use regularly:

Felipe Alejandro - my blue Miyata road bike
Antonio Roberto - my green Schwinn road bike
BebBe - my Pink iPod Nano
Enrique - my black Toshiba notebook
Beems - my grandma's black 1990 BMW that I now drive
??? - my new Droid Incredible

Any suggestions, friend and family? I will give the person who comes up with the most creative (and fitting) name a jar of apricot preserves that I canned this summer! Lucky you if you haven't received this already!

Sew Weekend: Skirts

2010-08-08T15:26:00.001-07:00

I made three skirts this weekend. Two were for me, one was for Lauren. I will have Lauren model hers later, so check back in for photos of that! =)

I have a dress code at work that limits me from wearing a lot of my fun skirts from high school and community college, so I decided to make some simple skirts that I could wear to work. The rule: knee length and made from material that is business-y. Since the second part of that rule (business-y material? wtf!) is a big ambiguous, I decided to interpret that one on my own. ;) The apple/pear skirt probably isn't too 'business-like' but we have chefs that get to wear cool chef scrubs with flaming pepper print and more! I think I should get to wear a fun foodie skirt to work. This is just the start... next up is vegetables. =)

I used basic cotton jersey fabric for the green skirt and a fun fruit cotton print for the ruffled skirt. No patterns - just free hand.

Jersey was a bit hard to work with, it kept bunching when I didn't want it to. I learned how to use interfacing when I was making Lauren's skirt, so her waist band is a bit more defined than my jersey skirt.

Thanks, Gran, for teaching me how to sew so many years ago!!! It is really coming in handy.

Business Casual?

Maybe on a Friday... ;)

A bit more business appropriate

Kyle Visits!

2010-08-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

This post has been in draft form for a while... my computer decided to retire, so I have been without a laptop (and internet) for about 2 weeks. I just bought a new Toshiba (!) and am all set! His name is Enrique. =)

Kyle is moving.

He wants to live in San Francisco where all the cool people hang out. Reedley - he's done with that scene, and has been for a while. Fresno - no place like home, but needs a change of scenery.

Destination - San Francisco

As many of you know, Kyle is studying to become an architect, something that I am super excited about (he's going to build me a house someday) and super proud of! I'm most excited about his interest in building environmental footprint and overall efficiency and sustainability. Kyle recently was certified as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)Associate Professional, a program of the US Green Building Council.

Kyle at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) building in
Sacto - soon he will be designing LEED certified buildings like this one. =)

Basically, he is an environmental design expert now, and can get paid the big bucks. And is now interested in many of the things that I work on every day.

Kyle came to visit so that he could:
(1) hang out with his awesome sister
(2) get a feel for a college town
(3) drop of resumes in San Francisco at leading architect firms
(4) learn more about San Francisco

Of course, Kyle is still in school so he will be working part-time while finishing his education in architecture and design (YIPPEE!!!)

Above is how I prioritized Kyle's visit, but in actuality his primary goal for the weekend trip was #3. That boy needs a job if he is going to live in the big city where cost of living is crazy insane. $1,000+ for studio apartments, closets being converted into bedrooms, you get the picture.

Kyle thinks I'm quite the hippie because I grow my own food...

So we got him all dressed up, got his hair cut, printed out his resume and cover letters, loaded up Beems with Antonio and Felipe (my bicycles!) and headed into the city of fog.

On the way in I found out that Kyle had never really seen San Francisco before. I was shocked.

Grandma and Grandpa took me when I was a young girl, and I have been visiting the city quite frequently ever since with school trips, friends, and Nico, of course, who lived right across the Golden Gate Bridge in Mill Valley.

Kyle never had any of those privileges.

After arriving in the city we hit up three architectural firms and dropped of two of his four resumes. Being a Friday, many of the firms were closed or the leaders were in meetings. It wasn't quite a bust, but Kyle wasn't too thrilled with his prospects.

After the laborious task of skirting around the city traffic and one-way in Beems with Antonio and Felipe strapped onto the back, we finally pulled off into Alamo Square near Haight-Ashbury district and unloaded the boys.

Kyle, photographing the sweet architecture at the de Young.

We stopped at Haight, biked through Golden Gate park to the de Young and CA Academy of Sciences then headed toward the Marina. We trekked up and down hills and across the Warf to the Embarcadero. Up to China Town, then finally to Union Square. We hit up all of these places in THREE hours and arrived back at Beems quite tired and pumped to have seen the most beautiful and culturally rich places in the city.

Outside the de Young

Kyle is super excited, and loves the city now just as much as I do.

We are still waiting to hear if he got a job, and he plans to return soon to drop off more resumes. I'm just very excited about the prospect of having my baby brother 1.5hrs away, and in a place that I actually enjoy visiting! =)

Cheers to Kyle's new life, hopefully in the big City!

Of course, a trip to Davis isn't complete without taking Kyle to "Yo Berry"

New Desktop

2010-07-13T22:38:00.000-07:00

I often use photos of things I love as my desktop wallpaper. For the longest time it has been piglets, asleep in a pile of hay.

Recently came across these images in several of my blogs. New fave desktop! The photos are courtesy of Debbie Carlos.

Not Bon Bon, but I am thinking of taking some Bon Bon portraits soon and making something similar and framing it.

Nico and I took Bon Bon out to the garden tonight so I could spend some much needed time ripping out my old janky fence and re-doing my entire gardenscape. She had a great time mingling around in the plants, eating kale and enjoying a light shower from the sprinkler. Such a cutie!

I don't need children when I have a Bon Bon!

Falling in love

2010-07-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

I fell in love.

Me, in love.

Literally.

Never before have I experienced a moment so peaceful, so fulfilling, so beautiful. This was love, for me.

I jumped out of an airplane and free-fell for 70 seconds. Then sailed in the sky for 5 more minutes.

Life can't get any better than that!

It was all Kim's idea...

Kimber recorded her experience. I opted to not have a camera man in my face the whole time for two reasons: (1) it cost an additional $100 and (2) I thought it would distract me from the entire experience.

Check out her video.

Go sky diving. Or miss out on true love.

Stone Fruit and Dirt

2010-07-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

It is the first weekend of July, and I have returned to my roots for a brief weekend trip. I have returned to stone fruit and dirt. Well, at least that is what reminds me of home sweet home.

Conventional grapes in Reedley

Nico and I were driving down the 180 into Reedley from the Shaver Lake area and the smell hit me like a brick wall. Then the memories started flooding in. Sweet stone fruit aroma mingled with the valley air filled with dirt, pesticides and tree scents. This reminds me of countless summers growing up in the valley.

Shaver Lake

Welcome home.

I actually stopped at the corner fruit stand right outside of Minkler on Reed and picked up 15 lbs of conventional stone fruit to take home to turn into preserves. At $1/lb I question the externalities that weren't included in that price. Yes, quantities of scale can help drive down the price, but there is also the cost to the environment, the field laborers health and livelihood and the grower's health and livelihood.

Minkler Fruit Stand

The fruit is sweet, but not yet ripe. After biting into a ripe Blenheim apricot from a local grower in Northern California my taste-buds are now spoiled and bias against anything less that perfect. And the apricots from the corner fruit stand outside of Minkler are just that - less than perfect. BUT they will make some rather tasty preserves, I am sure!

Less than perfect apricots

As we drove through the heart of conventional agriculture and passed by contract laborers in their caravans, I couldn't help but smile at the United Farm Worker's upcoming campaign, 'Take our Jobs'. I wish all of the people that I grew up with who complained about immigrants 'taking our jobs' will take this campaign to heart, and question their own assumptions. =)

From Reedley with love, dirt and stonefruit.

Photo Update

2010-05-31T23:09:00.001-07:00

Four words can sum up my lack of posting:

spring.has.been.busy

So busy in fact that I am leaving a photo update instead of a post. Click on the titles for the entire photo stream.

Mendocino Birthday:

Mom's Day:

Work:

Photo taken by Jeremy Raff

Photo taken by Jeremy Raff

Photo taken by Jessica Beckett

Capitol Images

2010-03-30T20:53:00.001-07:00

I don't feel like writing much. I am tired, and am about to go to bed.

A photo collage will suffice. One thing about DC - the buildings are all about the same height. Interesting...

DC Rain

2010-03-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

DC rained. All day. Well, not in this picture, but most of the day.

More news later - lots of busy conferencing.

My first time seeing the capitol. Oh, hello, Mr. President!

Garden Fare

2010-03-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

It is spring break here at Davis. I decided to work through spring break so I could get holiday time for Mexico. The campus has been quiet, which is nice. After too long, though, the quiet can get boring. Spring break is always a nice break from the buzz for me when I stay in Davis. Because it is short enough that the quiet doesn't get boring.

Because the students are gone, the dining rooms are closed. I depend on the dining rooms for lunch every day.

I almost forget what it is like to pack a lunch. On Monday, my lunch fare was slim and plain. Two pieces of bread and half an avocado will not cut it, that is for sure. I decided to take my slim fare out to my garden plot (two blocks away from my office, lucky me) and enjoy the beautiful spring air and sunshine, hang out with my squirrel friend (yes, the one who eats all my baby plants...) and weed a bit.

Hello there, pretty! I am going to eat you!

My lettuce and strawberry bed

I think I should get props for the wheat bread in my lunch for Monday. I made it myself - my first time using a bread maker (thanks Uncle Steve and Aunt Pam!) I decided to spruce up my avocado and wheat bread sandwich with some calendula flower and lettuce from my garden.

It was a great lunch.

Again - half an avocado, two slices of whole wheat bread, some calendula petals, and several pieces of lettuce did not cut it. So I resorted to junk food. After I got back to the office, I ripped into the sample of Sun Chips I was given - the bag is now 100% compostable. Thank goodness for Sun Chips.

Compostable Sun Chip Bags

School has Ruined Me!

2010-03-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

How is this for crazy...

I woke up last night to a nightmare. I had just missed my final, and it was the last class I needed to graduate. I was pretty much SOL.

Thank you, public education, for making me an anxious mess even TWO years after having finished my B.S.

I've heard this is quite common, actually. Any related stories you would like to share?

Not my graduation - Kyle's, three years ago.

Health Care

2010-03-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

Bill Passed. Celebrate! 219 to 212. I'm glad that it doesn't take a 2/3rd vote like the budget does in Cali, or we would have been SOL.

Yipppeeee!

Here's to health care reform!

On that note - don't wait for health care to be reformed. Start now with your health. Eat better. It is that simple. And move some, stop sitting on your butt and reading this post. =)

Some inspiration...

Agritourism and Upholstering

2010-03-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went on a field trip to various farms across Sacramento. I felt like I was back in High School or Jr. High, piling into a bus with a hoard of other people off to live vicariously through the farmers who feed us.

The food movement has made visiting farms haute culture. Meet your local farmer and you are part of the in crowd. Saying that you know the person who grew your strawberries and that you have been out to the actual strawberry patch will make your neighbor drool with envy.

It is definitely trendy right now. And there is a word for it. Agritourism. I took part in it this weekend with a group of other people for were taking part in a regional conference to educate about and advocate against the use of pesticides in agriculture, schools and our homes.

Lo Saeturn Strawberries

Community Garden lettuce

We visited various places - a community garden in Sacramento, strawberry grower Lo Saeturn, Soil Born Farms and finally Otow Orchards. Lo's strawberry patch was awesome, and the reason I liked it so much, well there are two... (1) We actually buy Lo's strawberries for the students to eat at UC Davis (hey, I met the grower! drool with envy now!), and (2) I found a dead rat. Dead things fascinate me... so I took a picture of it so you to be fascinated as well.

Soil Born Farm - chicken!

Soil Born Farm

Otow Orchards - their trees are 100 years old!

I enjoyed my field trip. I went an hour later than expected, so I was very happy that the last stop, Otow Orchards, had a fruit stand. I had two dinner on Friday night. First - fruit stand fare from Otow... I gobbled up a bag full of dried Asian pears, at a raw Asian pear and an orange. Second dinner, or supper I guess, was awesome Mexican food at Zocolos in Sacramento with Nico post agritouring... and then topped it off with some Coconut bliss at home. Agritouring can make you hungry, very hungry.

Otow Orchards

On Saturday I attended the conference. It was my first bi-lingual conference.

Amazing.

One of my biggest issues with foodie-related conferences is the lack of representation from the farm worker community, the people directly affected by issues within our food system. This conference proved that it is possible (though, not without a lot of technical difficulties, c'est la vie).

We sang De Colores together... I remember learning that song in kindergarten!

I applaud the organizers for providing a space for farm workers to share the floor with other communities who are learning about and trying the change the way our food system works.

After the conference I swung by a fabric store to pick on some cute fabric to re-upholster a chair. Why? Well, let me put it this way... I asked Nico to wash and bleach the original slip-cover to a chair in my living room. Bleach + Nico = ruing slipcover. It is my fault, really, given the fact that I didn't tell him how to bleach something. =)

Anyway, out of that came a new chair slipcover... and pillows!

Bon Bon approves

Beach Art and Family Visits

2010-03-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

I turned some of my treasures from Stinson into art. For my neck. For my piano. And for my wall. =) It was really funny actually... when Nico and I were at Stinson we were dragging this driftwood all across the beach. People kept staring at us, but I kept thinking to myself... 'Let them stare. They aren't going to have fun wall art in their homes, will they? NO!'

Stinson gem

So, drum roll please, my wall art....

My wall hanging... made from driftwood.

I actually saw this on a design blog. A necklace holder. I used some of the string I bought to string up my beach necklaces.

My mom, Ted and Shannon came up to visit this weekend. First stop was Sam's, Mom's fave Mediterranean restaurant in Davis. Then a quick stroll through campus and the arboretum. It was Shannon's first time on campus so I wanted to give her a taste for the college life. We watched the ducks for a while, then I took then to Yo Berry (fondly renamed by Kyle).

UC Davis Egg Head

Yo Berry time

In the evening we headed off to Sacto for Second Saturday. It was our first time the Second Saturday, although we had heard about it quite regularly and have always been encouraged to go. It was great! Random music and art all over down-town Sac. Bag pipes. Drum Circles. Photo Galleries. Art Exhibits. All between the hours of 6pm to sometime after midnight I am sure.

random drum circle in sacto

Shannon and I picked up some cute earrings. I bought a pair as a tribute to Bon Bon. So cute.

Bird earrings!

Bon Bon earrings...

Sunday came and went. I took the fam out to the garden to transplant some flowers and an artichoke and bell pepper. It was also the same time as the community garden potluck, so the fam got to meet a lot of my community gardeners.

And finally - squirrels. They are sterilizing the invasive squirrel population on campus. We came across Mr. Spots while walking the arboretum. Either he is a new breed of dalmatian squirrel, or he has been marked and is now sterile. Regardless, he was quite a spectacle.

Mr Spots - probably sterile

Impromptu Getaways

2010-03-11T22:42:00.001-08:00

The beach was calling me...

... so Nico and I visited the bay this weekend. We needed an impromptu getaway. We decided against a bungalow in cozy Tomales bay for two reasons: (1) price - it is like $300/night, yikes!, (2) weather - it was predicted to be stormy.

So we stayed at David and Camilla's for the evening. Nice and cozy.

Arriving later Saturday afternoon, our first stop was Stinson beach to walk the surf and find precious things, like driftwood and potential necklace items.

The beach was beautiful at that time of day, and the foam was incredible. It was the first time I witnessed sea foam wash up to shore in such large chunks. The ocean looked like a big glass of frothy soy milk. We walked the entire beach nearly to Bolinas - as far as we could go until the water prevented any further steps.

Sea Foam and Nico Feet

Returning to Mill Valley we took the 1 north instead of heading through Muir Woods. It was a beautiful drive and suprisingly the first time both Nico and I had driven on that section of the 1. We passed Slide Ranch and Green Gulch - two of these magical places that I have always envisioned but never had actually seen.

We had a lovely dinner at D'angelos in Mill Valley. Lucky me, they had a butternut squash ravioli made without cheese, and instead of the Parmesan sage sauce it was originally menued with, I requested basic marinara. Nico chose pesto gnocchi and a blood orange cheesecake.

Butternut Squash Ravioli

Blood orange cheescake

Sunday morning we biked in and around Tiburon, one of my favorite bike rides in the bay. Beautiful morning too - no rain all weekend!

Tiburon View

We stopped at the regular cafe, lattes and tiramisu are a must in Tiburon. Then off shopping for some new cookware (my Teflon set is nasty flaky, and needs replacement).

Wonderful weekend getaway. I fall in love with Marin the more and more I visit it. I'm looking forward to this weekend - my family will be visiting from Fresno and we are going to pack my townhouse full! I am anticipating lots of good food and fun.

Queen of the garden

Oh, and I took Bon Bon to the garden today to romp around. She did very well and actually ate some herbs and peas. So proud!

You can see more of our photos here: Impromptu Getaways Album

Living Life through a Fringe

2010-02-27T22:54:00.000-08:00

I cut my hair - my 'bangs' to be specific.

I haven't had bangs since I was in Jr. High. I remember when mom would double-layer my bangs. She would curl the top layer up and the bottom layer under, then rat it and make it big and poofy.

This is my hair after a full day of work and cycling

Bangs have changed a lot since then.

What inspired me to cut bangs (or 'fringe' as Lauren calls it)? Lots of stuff, but mostly one person. Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine. She has not only beautiful bangs, but amazing red hair! That, and Nico cut his hair off and was getting all the attention, so I decided to do something just as drastic.

Florence Welch has AMAZING hair

I have had the hair now for over a week. Lauren and I went and watch An Education at the Varsity, and throughout the film I was not only completely enamored by the amazing young actress, Carey Mulligan, but also her bangs. Now being a bang woman myself, I can begin to see how fun they can be....

Carey Mulligan in An Education - go watch it... amazing!

Not only do I have new hair, but I also have some new stuff in my house! Yay! Lauren and I went shopping and invested in some lovely items for our new place. A chair, an awesome rug and a pretty table cloth.

Mission Chair from World Market

the new rug...

Bon Bon has gotten more use out of the new chair than any of us. She has somewhat claimed it as her new throne. The has been in a bit of a bitchy mood since the arrival of Liath, so she is doing her best to maintain the dominance in the household. It is funny to watch her get all pissy when Liath is out with us. It is going to take some time for her to adjust to Liath, but I am hoping they will soon be able to share space.

Nico and I bought tickets for our trip to Puerto Vallarta tonight. I am getting really excited! I have been practicing for my time there. I have a pretty low tolerance to alcohol and am trying my best to become more of a seasoned beer drinker before the trip. I am bound and determined - Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Aunt Pam and Uncle Steve - you WILL NOT drink me under the table. =)

Mexican beer and new table cloth

Oh, and Nico bought me flowers. Because he loves me.

Money Can Buy Happiness and Liath the Grey

2010-02-23T22:29:00.000-08:00

It is officially over. Well, almost. I have finally filled my 'old' room and am done with the sticky, shifty, shady dealings I had with the landlord/housemate.

It is true. Money can buy happiness. And in my case, it was over $2,000 that purchased my happiness. Honestly, this is the first time I have dealt with real-world conflict.

Was I prepared? Not in the least.

I am too nice and honest of a person, so it makes it easy to walk all over me and take advantage. Given my level of maturity in this given situation, I feel like I deserve an award or something. Well, at least a glass of wine and a vegan cupcake. Don't worry - I had both in a sort of celebratory move toward freedom.

And for the person who slighted me (or the people... soon to be determined, that is why it is 'almost' over) - karma is a bitch and it is going to come back and bite you.

I am a grown up and can take care of myself. But I wonder what would have happened if I sent my mom and dad into the situation. Messy. It would have been fun to watch.

Sometimes it is best to fight your own battles. You learn more from that. And I have.

Mom, Dad, you totally would have kicked some ass, but your little girl has now come to full adulthood now that she has experience her first shady dealings with the real world.

Here is to happiness. $2,000 worth. And karma. Gotta love that karma.

---

Lauren and I will soon be having a christening for our house. We need to name it. Something artsy and foodie related. And maybe rabbit related. We have a new housemate - her name is Liath (Irish for grey), and she is ADORABLE!

Lauren and Liath at the nursery

Liath came to us from a plant nursery in Los Angeles. Lauren found her when she was visiting her mom, Sharon, before Sharon was to head back to Ireland.

Bon Bon isn't too fond of Liath yet. We introduced them in the bathtub and Bon Bon went straight for the face, claws and all. It may take a couple of months for the two to be civil. I am having horrible memories of Truffle, and don't want to repeat that.

Free Food

2010-02-21T15:13:00.000-08:00

Back to the apple pie.

On Friday night I screened the documentary DIVE! in the residence halls for the first-year students as part of an educational campaign about food waste. We had about 50 community members show up to watch the film.

DIVE! is a movie about food waste in America. Jeremy, the film-maker, and his crew of dumpster diving friends, give us the inside look into the life of a freegan. The film is great in challenging norms many people have about who dumpster divers are, as Jeremy and his family are pretty 'normal'. The film shows viewers how much waste occurs by grocery stores each day in American, targeting Trader Joes as one of the largest wasters. The wasted food is edible food, near its expiration date or having slightly damaged packaging. This food could go to a local food-bank, but instead ends up in a dumpster.

As part of the education at the film screening, my interns went diving on their own as 'research' for the topic they were presenting. They ended up harvesting loads of wasted food and turning it into a pretty sweet display. I brought along my salvaged apple pie, made with salvaged apples, flour and sugar. The pie was for display only (liability reasons), but my interns and I had at it after the screening. It was delicious, of course.

A friend commented on my previous post and mentioned that salvaged food is hard to come by in Sacramento where she lives. This may be a good thing - this may mean that the food that would have otherwise ended up in the dumpster is being donated to a food bank or shelter. It may also mean that there are other, better divers out there reaching the dumpstered food before she has. The second tends to be true for me and my experience diving. But I hope the first reason is the case.

Having conversations about salvaged food with people who salvaged has led me to think more critically about salvaging for food. Here are those thoughts....

(1) If I am dumpster diving and I can actually afford to buy food, am I taking food from others who need it?

(2) Grocery store food is already at the bottom of the nutrient density scale given how long/far it has traveled to reach the store (mostly for produce). By replacing my otherwise fresh, nutrient dense, organic, local veggies with dumpstered food, am I at risk for nutrient deficiency?

(3) By replacing food that I buy from the farmers market from local farms with the dumpstered food, will my lack of purchasing from local farmers hurt my local economy.

(4) Is my salvaging for dumpstered food really a solution to the problem of food waste in America?

I can't answer the first three thoughts without further, in depth writing, so I will skip those. BUT I will answer #4. I think the answer to this thought is NO, it is not a solution. A solution would be to work with the grocery stores to make donating these food items a priority. Another, long-term solution would be to take a look at WHY there is so much overproduction in our food system right now... and change it.

After feeling a little blue after coming to the realization in number 4's thought, I had the opportunity to act, directly. I joined my friends this weekend on our annual Tour de Citron - a gleaning tour (on bicycles) around the community. Collectively, we gleaned 2,025 lbs of citrus fruits to donate to a local food bank from trees in the community that would have otherwise not been harvested, and rotted.

Volunteers were able to take the culls home since we couldn't donate those. So, I made some orange juice for breakfast for myself and Nico.

Salvaged Food

2010-02-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

yep... the apple, peeler, corer, slicer

I eat a lot of trash. Literally.

I made an apple pie tonight out of dumpster apples!

Yum...

More soon on this topic, but here is a picture to tantalize your tastebuds and blow your minds...

dumpster apple pie

Valentines Day Chalk Art

2010-02-15T22:21:00.000-08:00

Unless you weren't already convinced... Nico loves me. And I love him!

For Valentines Day (and our 3yr anniversary) Nico made a chalk-art Valentine for me.

Follow along!

Yes, Nico did get his kiss! =)

After the chalk-scavenger hunt, Nico and I headed to a wellness center for a couples hot-tub session and massage in Mill Valley. It was amazing! (Thank you, David, great Christmas present!)

After the massage we headed into the city for the Great San Francisco Pillow Fight! It was our first year going to this annual event. We have cool friends who invite us to cool events, which makes us look cool!

It was totally amazing. And it felt like we were in a secret club. Everywhere you looked in the city that night there were random people holding pillows. We knew why. =)

Thousands of people showed up... it lasted forever!

Loads of destroyed pillows

After the pillow fight, Nico and I headed across town to Cafe Gratitude, my fave restaurant, where Nico had made us special Valentines Day reservations. The place was packed, of course. But it was delicious as usual.

The Valentine/Anniversary weekend ended with a home-delivery of a dozen hand-made chocolate, raspberry-filled vegan cupcakes from Whimsy Cupcakes in Davis.

Nico knows the way to my heart... through chalk, and cupcakes!

I love you!

Whimsy Cupcakes - chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling

Nico's Birthday and House Pictures Debut

2010-02-07T23:49:00.001-08:00

Nico turned 25 on Monday. He is getting too old for me. We are only two years and three months apart. But 25. It just seem so... adult. I am not into dating adults. =) Well, maybe.

The birthday boy...

For his birthday we decided to relax a bit and hold off celebrations until this past Friday. He was busy with work, school and his non-profit. So I decided to buy myself flowers (yep, I did!), make us dinner, bake him his fave dessert, and enjoy a quite evening with my 25 year old ADULT.

My flowers. Nico's sparkling apple cider. Happy Birthday!

Nico loves his raspberry bars. He could live on these...

Don't worry, Friday made up for our lack of celebration on Monday. We hosted a party at my and Lauren's new place, complete with lots of food, dancing, folk music, lemon cake with buttercream frosting, and more more more!

Post party, I really got into the cleaning and the beautification of our new place. This weekend was the first weekend where I finally felt like our house had finally reached its peak of put-togetherness. With Lauren's mom bringing us bathtowels and floor mats for our bathroom, my purchase of a new toaster, the framing and hanging of some significant art pieces and Dad's sponsorship of an air mattress for the guest bedroom and a used dining room table ($75 on Craigslist... woot!), our house is finally reached its debut.

My house is finally my home. It is filled with love, happiness, community, friends, food, Bon Bon and most of all, LOVE again. This is something I have been craving since my move in September into the N-street community. I was a bit disappointed and disillusioned after several months in a dark, cold, dreary, love-less house. But now I am feeling amped and full of love love love! Yay!

For those that need my new address:
748A N. Street
Davis, CA 95616

So with that... drumroll please.... I bring you my new place.

My very own table! Happy Dani. Happy Dad!

The 'dining room'

Kitchen! With GAS stove! Woo hooooo!

Living room! Nice BIG bright windows!

Kinda dark, but this is the piano and stairs in the living room...

Top of the stairs, my room is on the left.
Bathroom in the middle.
Lauren's room and guest room on right.

Bedroom, with my very own walk in closet!

My room...

The queen of the house. She now has free
roam of the whole house! A first for both of us!

New House and Website!

2010-01-26T21:33:00.000-08:00

I moved. Yes. I. Did!

This weekend was the first that I really felt it. I came home from EcoFarm, an amazing conference about ecological farming, food systems, social justice and the like. When I walked in the door after a long, inspiring, beautiful conference and a three hour drive from Pacific Grove, I immediately felt a sense of home. This is what I have been wanting since moving to N-street, and now I feel like I finally have it.

My new housemate is Lauren. You may remember her. Nico and I visited her in Ireland before my trip to India. She is now back in the states completing a graduate program in creative writing. What is amazing about Lauren, well a lot of stuff. She is an artist. She is a poet. She can come home and dance with me in the kitchen while we whip up some awesome vegan goodness on our new GAS BURNING stove! She likes to bake bread with me. She likes to shop with me. It is like having the sister I never had. Borrowing clothes. Sharing food. Sharing space. Being happy.

I am happy. Please come and visit! We may have a guest bedroom, and if not then you can sleep on our love seat. =)

I will be posting pictures soon. Yay!

Also - I haven't told you yet, but I put together a personal website. Kind of like a living resume. It helps me to express my narcissism. Check it out! If you want me to help set one up for you, let me know. I would love to.

Enjoy!

Check me out at www.daniellelee.org

Moving, again

2010-01-14T23:26:00.000-08:00

Yep. Moving. To a house of my own!

Never before have I rented an entire house before. Of course, I will be sharing it, with some dear friends. But a house of my own. I can't wait to nest!

This year is the first year I am living in a house. But it is a house already owned by someone - which means... limited nesting. =(

BUT. New house = nesting! =)

Move date is set for Monday night. Wish me luck. And wish that Bon Bon will be comfortable there too!

Because it is my (and my good friend, Lauren's) whole house, Bon Bon will be able to roam free in the living area. Something that I have always wanted! It makes more sense anyway since the living area is all tiled, and my bedroom is carpeted.

Bon Bon found a new hiding place in my closet,
and yes my closet is usually this disorganized.

Oh! And my new bedroom has a walk-in closet. First one of those too!

Christmas Cheer and New Year Beer

2010-01-02T15:42:00.000-08:00

Ha. No I actually didn't consume any beer on New Years, I am not a big beer fan. But I did consume some sparkling wine and also my 7th and 8th shot. Sorry, gran, grandma and grandpa, I am an adult now. But keep in mind, this is ONLY my 7th and 8th shot EVER. I took my 5th shot with Mom on Christmas eve at Acapulcos and my 6th shot with Josh and friends at my Dad's house after Christmas.

Did you know when you order a Cadillac Margarita at Acapulcos you get
a shot of Grand Marnier? Well, I didn't... heres to a shot with the mom!

So I guess my title should say Christmas Cheer and New Years Shots. But that doesn't rhyme. =) I am typically not one for hard alcohol, but I shared them with family, and friends. I probably wont take another shot for some time. Being one who loves my body, shots are typically taboo. But every once in a while it is necessary to let your hair (and inhibitions) down and take a shot with someone you love!

With that, Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year!

Mom's beautiful Christmas tree - it now has ornaments that are
23 years and older! One for each year that we have been alive...

Christmas this year was pretty fantasmic. I came home, with Bon Bon, two bikes and a car load of food, on Christmas Eve. Beems made it safely, but as we were pulling out of Whole Food upon my arrival, she decided to DIE! Yep, it wasn't just the lack of fuel in my tank, there was something seriously wrong... more on that later. Bon Bon is still in rehabilitation mode, so she traveled with me everywhere. She wasn't too happy about that, and she sure let me know. But once the car ride was over and she was released from her travel cage she was delighted to spend time with the family she never sees. She absolutely LOVES Ted! I think she has a thing for men, because she adores Nico too. And she bit my mom... it must be a woman thing.

Bon Bon and Kyle, in sepia

Bon Bon loves Josh too...

Bon Bon, too, understands the horrors of a visit to the valley... little
did she expect the torment she was subjected to during her visit.

Christmas Eve was the night of my first shot with Mom. We had dinner at Acapulcos, a really good Mexican restaurant in Fresno on Blackstone. We ordered Cadillac Margaritas and were surprised when the came out each accompanied with a small shot of Grand Marnier. Way to get the holidays off to a good start. After dinner, we all drove down Christmas Tree Lane...

First shot with my mom...

Freshly made guacamole at Acapulcos... divine!

Christmas Tree Lane down Van Ness Ave. in Fresno, an annual family tradition

Mom made us get out and pose with the Christmas decorations. =)

Dad and Mom celebrated Christmas with me, Josh, Kyle, Ted and Bon Bon at mom's house on Christmas morning. It was nice to have the family in one place and not worry about leaving someone out. Thanks Mom and Dad! After having an amazing traditional Christmas breakfast complete with Mimosas and mom's amazing Cinnamon rolls (not vegan, but we will veganize them next time!), we enjoyed a trip down memory lane watching home videos Grandma collected for us and transferred to two DVDs.

Mom made her famous cinnamon rolls - big hit!

Grandma's home videos, on a DVD!

We colored wooden cut-outs that Grandma sent from Florida...

It is funny to have physical and visual proof of the memories you hold dear to you as you are growing up. One of those memories was a visit up to Whidbey Island in Washington to visit Uncle Steve and Aunt Pam. This was when Josh, Kyle and I were pretty young. I think I was around 8 or 9 yo. This visit was the time of the infamous theft of the raspberries that Aunt Pam still talks about to this day. Thanks to Grandma, we have record of the aftermath... =)

Other memories, like squeezing my Uncle Rob's finger when getting my ears pierced for the first time were captured. Kyle winning Pretty Pretty Princess, wearing long earings, rings and a tiara on Christmas eve back when I was about 7 years old. My first track meet and relay race. I came in second after using the baton to scratch my back and coming to a slow walk at the finish line (come on, Dani, it was only a 100m dash!)

Recollecting my first track meet

Kyle, Mom and I visited Aunt Pam and Uncle Steve in Paso Robles for a night. We had an amazing meal of Pan-Seared Polenta with Spicy Tomato Sauce and also a Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Orange frosting. You can read more about the visit and those recipes here. I haven't been to Paso in over a year, so it was great to return and see the winery and vineyard, the dogs and the family. Aunt Pam and Uncle Steve had just attended a workshop on Riedel wine glasses, and taught us the art of sensory experience with the different shaped Riedel glasses. Uncle Steve and I pulled out some flute music and brushed up on our rusty flute playing. It was a great visit.

Sensory testing with the Riedel glasses

Uncle Steve made Pan-Seared Polenta with a Spicy Tomato Sauce

Posing in front of the winery and tasting room...

Uncle Steve and I made a chocolate orange cake... delicious!

The vineyard in the winter

Back to Beems - Mom is dating this awesome guy named Ted. Well, Ted just so happens to be more than an awesome guy, he is also an awesome mechanic. Being super amazing, Ted borrowed Beems while we were visiting Paso Robles to try and diagnose her problems. Turns out, Beems has a broken fuel pump. =( Thankfully, Ted was able to order a part in and fix her up before I left Fresno. Thanks, Ted! You are amazing!

The broken fuel pump... in all of its glory!

Upon our return to Fresno, I picked Nico up from Merced. He just spent the week with his family in Yosemite. We spent the next two days visiting friends and family in Fresno and Reedley, hanging out with Bon Bon and enjoying a lovely bike ride in Reedley with Dad. After our visit we loaded up Beems with three bikes, all of our luggage and gifts, and Bon Bon. Yes, grandma, there were THREE bikes in your BMW. The day has come...

Bike ride in Reedley with Dad

Beems, loaded!

After leaving Fresno, Nico and I drove north to the bay to visit Nico's family. The drive took us over some treacherous hills, and I am happy to report that Beems has never run better. She was accelerating up those hills like no ones business, passing up other cars and getting up to speeds like 80MPH! 80MPH! Never in her life has that been possible. Ted thinks the fuel pump has been broken for some time, which explains A LOT! Don't worry grandma, I only had her at 80mph for a short time. I was just testing out her new capabilities. =)

Nico and I spent New Years Eve in San Francisco with some of his High School friends. We party hopped, spending the first of the evening at a very nice place in San Francisco. We had a very traditional party complete with sparkling wine, noise makers, party hats and sparklers at the stroke of midnight. The second party was more modern, complete with dancing, the two additional shots, and more.

New Years sparklers!

We are still in the bay, hanging out with Nico's parents and celebrating Camilla's birthday. For her birthday, Camilla took us on an 8mi trail run along the Estero trail near Point Reyes. It was absolutely beautiful, and so peaceful. Probably not the best day to go trail running... the trail was muddy and slippery and the mist was very heavy. We were pretty much the only people on the trail. It was perfect weather to find some awesome mushrooms! Don't worry, Gran, we didn't eat any. We just picked some. Camilla and I ran back to the car carrying our beautiful Amanita muscaria, a hallucinogenic and poisonous mushroom.

Running shoes... post 8.5mi mud run.

Gran, don't worry, I didn't eat it! =)

It has been a great holiday, and I am lucky to be able to spend it with the people I love, both in spirit and in presence. Thank you all for making my holiday super amazing!

Love!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from the Lock Lee Family!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from the Lee Family!

To check out more photos from my holiday adventures, visit my Picasa Christmas 2009 web album...

Beems

2009-12-21T12:16:00.000-08:00

This is my nickname for my new car. Beems. Affectionately named so. I grew up calling it the Beemer, which I still do on occasion. But Beems has been its name since its epic transition to the college town of Davis, CA. Grandma told me car ownership would be hard. Grandma also told me that BMW ownership would be harder. Grandma, you were right.

This post will not only shock you into truly understanding how naive I am about cars, but should also give you a good laugh. You can now make fun of me, endlessly, for this one. =)

So here we go, another epic adventure with Beems, starring Bon Bon, Nico, Dani and a big hill in Sonoma county.

Part one.
Dani decides to take Beems into the car doctor. Although Beems has been running pretty smoothly, she knows that a decent checkup with the doctor is essential especially after sitting in storage for quite sometime. Beems has been idling a little rough lately, so Dani thinks it is a good idea. Dani assumes that Beems' doctor visit will cost her a small fortune, given that fact that it is a foreign car and replacing her windshield wipers alone cost her $80.

After a thorough inspection from said car doctor, Beems has her spark plugs replaced, some wiring that go to the spark plugs, fuel filter replaced, and more. Car doctor gives Dani a good deal, a discount on the proposed $900 estimate turns out to be $745. No sweat. Dani got Beems for free from Grandma and Grandpa (aren't they amazing! I think so!), so she is okay with paying this small fortune. And remember, she was anticipating it!

Part two.
Cut to Dani, Nico, Bon Bon driving to Mill Valley late Friday night. Dani, Nico and Bon Bon are heading to Mill Valley for a visit to Nico's parents and also a couple of friends' holiday parties. Happy with the way Beems is running, the ride goes smoothly, until....

Cut to a large hill just past the Sonoma County line, on Hwy 37. Dani is accelerating Beems up the hill. Beems hiccups, and then stops accelerating. 60mph. 55mph.... 45mph.... 35MPH on the freeway! OH NO! Check Engine light flashes on. Beems hiccups, shakes, and groans as cars are passing her up the large hill in Sonoma. Dani is freaking out. Bon Bon is freaking out. Nico is calm, as usual, telling Dani not to freak out and NOT to stop on the freeway. Dani is flooring the gas pedal. No response..... 25MPH.

Finally, Beems makes it to the top of the hill and seems to be doing fine as she coasts down. Back up to speed - 70mph with traffic. Accelerating. Braking. Check Engine light flashes off.

Dani and Beems think they are in the clear, but little do they know this scenario is soon to repeat itself along the hilly Highway 101 into the bay.

Another hill looms ahead. Dani gently chides Beems, telling her she can make it up the ominous hill that is quickly approaching. As Beems accelerates up the hill, things start taking a quick turn for the worse. Check Engine light flashes back on. Beems is down to 45mph. As cars are passing angrily on both sides of her, Dani slowly pulls into the slow lane. 35mph. 30mph. 25MPH!!!! Again. Not good. Dani is scared. Nico is calm, as usual. Bon Bon doesn't know WTF to think anymore...

Dani, Nico, Bon Bon and Beems finally arrive safely to Nico's home in Mill Valley. Shaken. Frustrated. Angry. And the like. It being midnight, there are no auto mechanics open. Dani's auto mechanic is closed on the weekends as are many in Mill Valley.

Part Three.
After doing some online research and talking to some friends, Dani thinks that her car is either 1) dead because her main cylinder blew, 2) sick from something that the mechanic in Davis did when he changed out Beems' spark plugs and fuel filters, 3) unhappy because Dani has been filling her up with regular fuel instead of premium. Dani is able to drop Beems off at a mechanic on Sunday night for them to check out on Monday morning when they open.

Beems' fuel tank is at about 1/4 full, and Dani considers fueling up with Premium before taking Beems in. After a short discussion with Nico, Dani decides not to, especially if #1 is true.

Monday comes and Dani calls the auto mechanic to find out that Beems is happy and ready to go. Baffled, she and Nico arrive at the mechanics to pick her up. What was wrong?

Beems

There wasn't enough fuel in the tank.

After an additional $145 later, Dani and Nico drive Beems back to Nico's home in Mill Valley.

Lesson learned: top her off before driving up hills.

Welcome to car ownership, Dani. Hope it treats you well!

Bon Bon and the vet's office

2009-12-21T01:05:00.000-08:00

Bon Bon's car ride to the vet - not happy!

Bon Bon recently had her first visit to the vet this past Tuesday. It was a routine checkup (a routine checkup that cost me $45) to get her cleared for spay. She is a healthy rabbit. She has nothing wrong with her. Absolutely nothing.

We got some literature to read from the vet - Bon Bon studied up before the surgery.

Bon Bon will probably never have another interaction with a male rabbit. So why am I getting her fixed? Well, female rabbits have a very high risk for uterine and ovarian cancer, which can drastically decrease their life span. Spaying them will drastically increase their life span - upwards to 7-10 years.

Bon Bon is on cage-arrest. Again, not happy.

Her sutures will take about 7-14 days to heal. That means
no jumping up on my bed at night and cuddling with me. =(

When I first got Bon Bon, she was a rescue. And she was knocked up. She popped out three babies about two years ago exactly. Right before Christmas. Awesome Christmas present. My present to her this year... a vet visit, surgery, and cage-arrest for the next 7-14 days. What a stinky mom I am! But it is better for her. And, this gives me an excuse to bring her home with me over the holidays. =)

Dani's dream list

2009-12-12T17:42:00.000-08:00

This is a list of things I want in my life (material and not). Items in red have already been accomplished.

Sometime in life...
- chickens as pets (Nico can eat the eggs!)
- have a cat, maybe Munchkin (our family cat)
- my own small cottage-like house, cozy is a must!
- a Vespa, so I can look like a star!
- to fall in love - already have this one!
- have a vertical garden in my backyard
- grow all my own food, well, maybe at least 80% of it
- learn how to make soap
- have a fire place
- invest in property outside of the U.S. so I can up and leave whenever I want
- work on an organic farm in India, Spain, France, Italy or Mexico
- travel to India - DONE!
- go on a yoga retreat, by myself
- practice yoga every day for a month, then 6 months, then a year
- run a half-marathon - DONE!
- run a full marathon
- bike 50 miles straight on Felipe (my bike)
- bike 100 miles on Felipe
- repaint Felipe
- make a lunch bag for my bike
- have all of my favorite fruit trees in my backyard
- become a decent bread maker
- start a vegan cafe or bakery
- meditate, regularly
- climb Mt. Shasta
- study in an Ashram in India
- skydiving (with Kimber in June 2010!)

Material things I just can't get myself to actually purchase...
- Ipanema flip flops, sz 9
- tofu Xpress
- cycle shoes, sz 41
- Droid phone
- Cannon EOS Digital Rebel T1i
- Dessert Decorator
- Dolce and Gabbana's Rose the One perfume

Rainy Day? Make a scarf rack!

2009-12-12T17:04:00.001-08:00

It is raining, sad face.

How to make a scarf rack, on a rainy day, in Davis:

1) get bored because it is raining and you are stuck inside

2) realize that your scarf bin is cumbersome, overflowing, hard to find scarves in, too high to reach in the top of the closet

3) decide to go shopping; pop into Grandma's BMW like a pro rain shopper, be prepped with cuffed pants and an umbrella - watch out for puddles!

beems

4) first stop - thrift store; try and find something appropriate for a scarf rack in your room; buy a poncho (a cute one, not a rain one!)

poncho!

5) second stop (if #4 fails you) - ACE hardware, browse housewares for cheap items to make a scarf rack with

drying rack dividers make pretty cheap, nifty scarf racks

6) stop on way home - International food mart; buy some snacks, like a samosa and some vegan Indian junk food

7) get home, make some tea, rip open junk food, find hardware to hang scarf rack

portion controlled to avoid boredom binging

8) pull up chair, hang scarf rack.

nicely hung empty scarf rack

9) last step - hang your massive collection of scarves. be grateful that you only purchased two of these scarves and know the rest you received as gifts. consider a scarf swapping party and just swap all your scarves for nothing. think about how the scarf rack may give you nightmares because it looks like a person. maybe two people.

its a MONSTER!

Total spent on scarf rack adventure: $9.20, including Indian snacks and junkfood

Entertaining yourself by creating something on a rainy day: priceless

PS - my wish-list is coming soon, Mom and Dad. =) Scarves are not on it.

Wine Tasting

2009-12-11T23:04:00.000-08:00

I went to my first wine tasting party tonight with my friend, Jen. I guess at wine tasting parties all you drink is red wine. Well, I'm not such a big fan of red wine - it makes my jaw hurt (all the tannins, I suppose). No wonder I have such a inclination for sweet, dessert wines. However, I endured, and enjoyed, 5 glasses of red wine tonight.

Here is to a good glass of sweet, sparkling wine! You will always be my favorite!

Risque by Toad Hollow - my favorite sparkling wine.
I have definitely posted about it before.

Although I am not a student anymore, I tend to enjoy celebrating the end of finals week with my colleagues who still are in school.

While at our wine-tasting extravaganza, we bumped into a person who was actually about to leave to proctor our friend, Katie's, final exam. Jen sent him to the class with a lovely announcement to make to the class wishing dear Katie good luck. She really enjoyed that one. =)

Interesting, when hanging out with grad students and undergrad students at the same time, it is really hard for me to describe what I am to others, and why I am still in Davis post graduation. Most people assume, given my age, that I am still a student - be it a grad student or a super senior. I'm such a 'tweener' - between undergrad and grad levels. Not sure if I quite will ever reach that grad level, but who knows. So, I typically introduce myself as a 'young professional' because that is what I really am. But it gets awkward, because many people don't quite grasp the concept of someone so young already being in somewhat of a career.

I am bending that norm. As well as many others. Like enjoying a wine tasting party even though I don't like red wine.

Congrats Katie and Jen for finishing up another quarter... here's to more school!

Bon Bon!

2009-12-06T23:16:00.000-08:00

Bon Bon loves to play. Here she is playing with paper...

Pineapple Guavas

2009-12-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Forage Sunday.

The amazing pineapple guava

My housemate, Katie B, and I went on an awesome bike ride to various foraging destinations in Davis (undisclosed, for obvious reasons!) First, we hit up an abandoned grapefruit tree Katie found a couple of weeks ago. In its neglected state, Katie has been able to benefit with loads of free grapefruit. She put her foraging to use and made grapefruit marmalade as Christmas presents for friends and family.

Second stop - the infamous pineapple guava bushes by my old apartment complex. I used to pass by these nearly every day on my way to school. It wasn't until I saw them for $10/lb at the CoOp that I realized that 1) they were edible, and 2) they were free!!!! Free sure does beat $10/lb.

Sliced in half...

Pineapple Guavas, also known as Feijoa or Guavasteen, are related to regular guava. They are such a delicious LOCAL treat when craving something tropical. The skin isn't edible, but the inside gritty flesh is, and boy is it delicious. Pineapple guavas grow in warm climates, so Northern California is ideal for them. Eat up - these babies are loaded with Vitamin C - I think they have more vitamin C than your average orange.

I haven't experimented much with the flesh of the guava other than making juice out of it, and eating it raw. But, given the load I have now, I may try a few recipes.

This one is for Jen and Katie - my biggest fans! Ha!

Olives and Persimmons

2009-12-03T21:34:00.000-08:00

It is olive season. And persimmon season.

UC Davis olives, ready for pressing...

I went out to an event that I covered for Local Dirt. The event was hosted by the UCD Olive Center, and it was featuring a mobile olive milling service - Olive to Bottle. It was fun being outside during the work day. I took nearly the entire day off from work to record the event and edit it in the studio. Fun stuff! You can check out the finished product here.

The mobile mill - pressing out the liquid gold!

I interviewed the Master Miller - he has some great body art!

Its a lot of fun being at an event as a 'media' person. In past events, I have event gotten to use a 'press pass'! I feel important. =)

My friend, Colin, gave me a bag full of fuyu persimmons today. I made some milkshakes with one of them. Yum! Check out my recipe for those here.

Get your persimmon milk shake on!

Central Valley Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T22:47:00.001-08:00

- Fallscapes -

I don't remember Thanksgiving being so hot. It was 72F in Fresno on Thanksgiving day....

A train-ride in, I stumbled across some awesome images. A salt shaker and cigarettes, a group of men celebrating Thanksgiving with a 24-pack of beer resting on one of their heads... Symbolic of many things. Keep your minds open, and let me know what you think these could mean.

- Cigarettes and salt shaker -
two common vices for humans; we are addicted to nicotine and salt

- 24-pack of beer on Thanksgiving -
no family to celebrate with and not enough
money to cook up a fancy 'American' holiday meal...

Riding the train is actually quite relaxing. Pop a video in and put on your cordless headphones (a la Nico) and you got the ride covered!

I celebrated Thanksgiving with family. Roasted the animal in the oven inside a paper bag. Mom and I found creative ways to veganize family recipes - like our Blue Grass Sweet Potatoes. Yum! In all, Thanksgiving was very food and family filled.

When in Reedley, you have to hang out in the persimmon orchards! We spent some time photographing the beautiful Haichiya persimmons in the fields. Dad, Kyle and I played soccer and made our World Famous! sugar cookies - vegan of course!

FEAST

Beet stuffed delicata squash

Walking the dogs - Kyle biking

The fam!

It is so hard NOT to play with them!

Persimmon Glory!

When without a rolling pin, use a wine bottle!

Good Food Night!

2009-11-23T23:07:00.001-08:00

Our 'kids' in the dining rooms like to say things like, 'oh, tonight looks like a good food night in the DC.' The term DC is referencing the dining halls. And this is also insinuating that there may be 'bad' food nights. Not something that I completely agree with... especially given the variety of food we serve them.

Tonight was a good food night in the house of Dani!

I was too lazy, and enjoying my company too much, to take any pictures.

So you will just have to imagine....

hand-made sweet potato gnocchi served in a
home-made roasted tomato, pumpkin and cream marinara sauce
with a side of mandarin balsamic garlicky purple cabbage greens

Oh, and of course, a glass of my fave sparkling wine - Toad Hollow's Risque. I came to the sad realization that it is imported from France, so my carbon footprint just sky-rocketed. =(

Good food night! Good wine night!

Then a good movie to follow - we watch Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.

Love

2009-11-22T18:06:00.001-08:00

Just in case you weren't already convinced, here is proof that Nico loves me, a lot.

He made a collage of just US! =)

Here is his blog post all about the software he used to create it.

He loves me.

Putting things in perspective... on UCD fee hikes

2009-11-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

I'm proud of my fellow Aggies. Their voices have been heard across the nation following the recent UC Regents approval of a system-wide 32% fee hike... raising tuition to $10,000.

Take a look at what they are fighting for...

quality of education
access to affordable education
avoiding the privatization of a 'public' institution

... these are all things I believe are worth fighting for.

What are the students demanding - that their fees not be increased. Are they providing a solution to the problem - yes and no. They suggest cutting from the top - the chancellors' high salaries, the presidents salary, the big wigs of the UC system.

With budget cuts state-wide it is no surprise to me that the UC system hiked up tuition. And not only are they hiking up tuition, but they are cutting staff as well. Meaning fewer faculty and staff to provided a quality education and services for the students.

But where should the students really be protesting? The state capitol. This is where this whole problem began. And the state capitol is where it needs to be solved. The UC system relies heavily on funding from the state, and with our state in the crisis it is of course it is going to be hard for the UC Regents to find the funding for students educations.

Honestly, I have the UC Regents to thank for my education. They paid my full ride to UCD. And I also have the state of California to thank for funding my community college education as well.

I do not think the fee increases are fair, but they are obviously necessary or else the Regents would not have made this decision. The Regents are here to support students, not bring them down.

For my fellow students - keep on fighting. And transfer some of your energy to Sacramento. It is only 20 minutes away, and holds a lot more power than our Regents.

In solidarity.

Check out the video of our students protesting.

Long day - make chili - the world is all of the sudden a better place!

2009-11-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Short and sweet - I had a long day. I kinda rant about it here, so if you are interested in learning about what I do for fun, ha, (with food waste) check it out...

Nico had to pull my lazy bum out of bed at 7pm to force me to eat. I hadn't eaten lunch or dinner - no wonder I was feeling the force of a long days work.

Food is rejuvenating. I wish I could force myself to eat more often when I don't feel good and don't have an appetite.

Warm Nico hugs + some yummy pumpkin chili made completely from foods I canned and cooked myself!!! = a happy Dani. =)

So good, I would almost starve for it... maybe not.

Check out the pumpkin chili recipe here.

My blog - in a word bubble!

2009-11-18T00:47:00.000-08:00

Have you checked out Wordle yet? It is pretty awesome - this is what I created from my blog postings...

Makin' pasta and expanding minds...

2009-11-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

At work, I usually don't get to do much hands-on food stuff, unless we are doing a taste-test or a demo related to what we are serving that is 'sustainable' - be it local, organic, grass-fed, etc.

Tonight in the resident dining rooms, we celebrated one of our many theme meals throughout the academic year - Italian Night. Dining Services likes to spice things up every once in a while for the students and guests, so we have special nights when students are exposed to the culinary delicacies of specific regions and cultures. This is a great educational opportunity, not only for students' pallets, but also for their world-view.

The Italian theme meal was pretty awesome. We serve dinner in the dining rooms from 4:45-8:00pm. I returned to the dining room around 6:15pm, after my radio show on campus.

Our general manager, Brenan, wanted to demo hand-made pasta, so he set up a station inside the dining rooms for a pasta demo. He prepared the dough in advance, around 2:30pm, and had it all ready to go by the time the dining rooms opened.

Being a demo station, we were not anticipating a high volume of takers - we were assuming the students would get their regular entrees at each of the platforms, and swing by our table for the demo. Quite the opposite happened - you can't be dishing out hand-made pasta paired with our amazing roasted organic tomato sauce made from local ingredients without EVERYONE wanting it. Our total guest count for the evening was around 1,800+ students and guests, I believe. I wouldn't be surprised if more than 80% of them came to the demo station for a 'sample' of the pasta we made... it was definitely one of the most popular stations of the night.

We were cranking the pasta machine all night!

The fresh, hand-made pasta

Although the pasta wasn't vegan (eggs in the dough), our general manager made me a special batch at the end of the night so I could experience the amazing food that I was serving up for the remainder of the meal. =) So thoughtful... I work with some pretty awesome people!

The best part of the entire meal was engaging students while we were serving them. It was really great to be able to share hand-made pasta with the students - many of them had never seen pasta made before, nevertheless tasted FRESH pasta in their lives. It is so wonderful to be able to work with a group of people and program that fosters such an educational environment.

Serving it up to the students with our
house-made organic roasted tomato sauce!

Epic Fail

2009-11-15T22:50:00.000-08:00

Before you read this post, be sure to read the one before it first...

Truffle went home - about 20 minutes ago.

This picture is worth 1,000 words...

Bon Bon is not a rabbit-friendly rabbit.

Rabbit Friends

2009-11-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

Bon Bon needs a friend. She is pretty lonely, especially when I am gone all day at work. She is always so happy to see me at the end of the day, but it breaks my heart to think she has been home alone ALL day without any interaction.

My sweetie! Bon Bon!

Solution? Another rabbit.

A friend of a friend found a rabbit in her grandmother's garden on Easter of all days. Said rabbit was pregnant like Bon Bon was when I found her. Several months and no home was found for the mommy rabbit. A word was dropped about a need to find a home, and a desire for a friend for Bon Bon was met.

Truffle is her name. We just renamed her from Fumiko. As you can tell by the renaming, I am already attached (and, I like to name my animals after food). She is spending the night tonight for a 'test' period. Bon Bon is priority here, and if she doesn't get along with Truffle, then its a no-go for Truffle. The reason I am getting another rabbit is for Bon Bon, so she won't be so lonely. I don't want to bring in a threat... so let's hope for the best.

Bon Bon, scoping out the new friend...

So far, so good. Bon Bon and Truffle met this afternoon on my bed. Truffle is about 1/3rd larger than Bon Bon, and I was worried that Bon Bon would be intimidated. Opposite of my fears, really - Bon Bon hopped right up to poor little shocked Truffle and started sniffing, licking and marking her.

What does 'marking' mean for a rabbit? Rabbits have three pairs of scent glands used in scent-marking behavior. Since rabbits are so territorial, they use these glands to define their territories. There are chin glands, anal glands and inguinal glands. The size of the glands and the amount of marking behavior are related to the level of sexual activity of each intact rabbit. Male rabbits, bucks, mark more than females, does, and dominant rabbits mark more frequently, and most often, in the presence of subordinates. Does also use the scent glands to mark their kits. Courtesy Exotic Pet Vet

Bon Bon, marking Truffle with her scent glands in her neck and chin...

Bon Bon is definitely a dominant rabbit. And she is not fixed. In my old apartment, two years ago, there was another rabbit in the house, Twix. Twix was terrified of Bon Bon, and Bon Bon would chase Twix around the house when they were both out of their cages... oh, rabbit hormones. Twix (a male rabbit) was fixed...

Bunny Friends!

My biggest concern so far? Bon Bon's dominance. She has already marked Truffle, and she also started HUMPING Truffle too! I had to sit her down and give her the Birds and the Bees talk - and tell her that she is a girl, and girl rabbits can't have babies with other girl rabbits. She didn't seem to care and went right back to her rabbit ways - looks like I have a bi-sexual rabbit!

More news soon - hopefully good news!

Truffle!

To check out the entire Bon Bon lovin album, go here.

Fine Dining

2009-11-11T23:51:00.000-08:00

Nico and I were living the high life last night - we at out at a fine Italian restaurant in Davis, a place he and I had been wanting to go to for a while. The dinner was in no-way planned, it was definitely on a whim...

It was my turn to treat - I just got my annual $70 bonus from work. That is our tradition... =) My entire bonus, plus some, went to our meal... hmmm.

Check out my post about it on my vegan blog.

Here is a picture to tempt your senses....

Roasted red pepper stuffed with spinach risotto and wild mushrooms

...In Bed, and more pumpkins!

2009-11-09T20:22:00.000-08:00

You will find yourself congested, bored, tired, unproductive, frustrated, and moody... in bed.

If you don't know this already, add 'in bed' to the last part of your fortune cookie fortune and the fortune will bring a completely new meaning (sorry, folks and grandparents... dirty joke.)

No, that was not my fortune, but it could have been. I had an amazing girlfriend-filled weekend, and it ended rather miserably last night when my glands decided to swell up to the size of golf-balls, and I found myself sick in bed ALL DAY today. I actually did wake up every two hours or so, but in reality, I slept for over 16 hours.

What is wrong with me? God only knows... I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I have been battling some upper-respiratory congestion and coughing for the past four weeks or so. Probably a nasty sinus infection - paired with lethargy, headaches, and weakness.

Bon Bon kept me company all day - I don't think
she was quite used to having me in bed for so long.

After sleeping for so long, I'm doing pretty well right now, I can actually sit up in bed. I woke up around 5:30pm, took a painful shower and ate some food. I finally took some of these killer decongestants that I got in Indian - they make every one of my mucus membranes in my body completely dry - so hopefully that will help!

Enough mucus talk... lets talk pumpkins!

This weekend I visited my friend Katie in the East Bay. She lives in Dublin, and we had a fun-filled Sunday. Katie lives in a pretty awesome apartment complex with a lake and wildlife! Think geese and wild turkeys. When we woke up, she prepared us a lovely breakfast with almond butter, apple oatmeal and some English breakfast tea. Bliss!

We went on a hike/walk up the hill adjacent to her complex. Its been a while since I have climbed anything except stairs (damn you, Davis, for being so flat!), so the short 'hike' up the hill was something I was definitely feeling in my booty today while laying in bed.

Katie had seen a posting on her local Freecycle network for free sugarpie pumpkins and knowing my love for free produce she decided on of our activities for our lovely Sunday would be a visit to the nursery. We drove a short distance into her hometown, Livermore, where she showed me where she grew up. The nursery, Alden Lane, is a couple of blocks from where she grew up. She and her mom used to visit every once in a while. When we came the place was filled with Christmas decorations and fun produce ornaments. So fun. We filled up on the free chocolate chip cookies and the spiced apple cider. Yum!

The mass of sugar pie pumpkins at Alden Lane nursery...

If you are in the Livermore area, I am sure there are some pie pumpkins left. The load that Katie and I took didn't even make a dent!

Katie, modeling the butt pumpkin.

The load of pumpkins that Katie and I took!

What to do with loads of pumpkins?
I cooked up five of them last night and pureed their flesh. I froze 3 quarts of it, and turned the other two quarts into pumpkin bread and a savory pumpkin puree to go with Lauren and Nico's lunches for today.

The rest are sitting on my windowsill, beautifully waiting to be carved and cooked for future pumpkin deliciousness!

Pumpkins on the windowsill

Easy Spiced Pumpkin Bread
1 cup organic evaporated cane juice (granulate sugar is fine for all you non-vegans)
1 cup fresh cooked, pureed pumpkin
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water
2 egg replacers
1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan (or one Valtrompian bread tube).

Combine all of the wet ingredients. Then add in the dry ingredients. If the batter seems a little too 'sticky' then add some more water, but only by tablespoon full. You don't want it to be too liquidy.

Pour your batter into your loaf pan and bake for 65-70 minutes.

Cool, then remove from loaf pan. Super yummy and moist!

Mini pumpkin muffins (made with the leftover pumpkin bread batter)

Pumpkin Bread in my Valtrompia tubes

Bake your pumpkin seeds!
Don't waste those lovely seeds when you are cooking your pumpkin! I challenge you to come up with a super yummy recipe for your seeds. I would love to hear what you come up with. Here are two of mine.

Sea Salt and Cayenne Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Spread your cleaned seeds on a cooking pan. Drizzle about 1 tsp of canola oil over the seeds. Sprinkle with sea salt and cayenne pepper. Bake at 375F for about 5-10 minutes, or until the seeds are fully roasted and still appear to be pretty white (be careful not to burn them!)

Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Spread your cleaned seeds on a cooking pan. Drizzle with 1 tsp canola oil. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Roast at 375F for about 5-10 minutes. When finished roasted, sprinkle about 1 Tbsp granulated sugar or evaporated cane juice over the finished seeds. Yum!

pumpkin seeds with cayenne and sea salt

Fall Beginnings

2009-11-08T22:28:00.001-08:00

My friend Lauren and I planted our fall garden two weekends ago, and I am starting to see the 'shoots' of our labor! The garlic is a poppin', the beets and spinach are a peakin', and the greens are strong and aboundin'...

My favorite thing about my fall garden - it is nearly in my backyard. My awesome neighbor, my friend's housemate, lent me his backyard raised beds to grow some fall/winter veggies! I have never had a garden so close to where I live...

Don't get my wrong, I love my garden plot, but it is a bit of a inconvenience to visit everyday. It is near work, but it is not on my way to or from work. I typically only swing by on the weekend, or if I never need to take a trip out to the student farm.

Because my new community is so awesome, I now have a garden in my backyard (well, nearly). I'm getting closer and closer to the 'domestic' life. It is so much easier to water on a regular basis, and I can see the daily (slow) progress of my seedlings.

Here is a sneak peak of my fall/winter garden. I can't wait to start using these babies in some of my cooking!

Soon to be - Mighty Spinach!

My luck with spinach crops has been great! This is the giant Japanese spinach. And boy, is it awesome! I usually start spinach from seed, because it thrives pretty well in its most vulnerable stage. I am hoping the slugs and the birds don't go after our babies any time soon - my worst nightmare!

This is bok choi - we transplanted these from packs from our local nursery

Russian Kale! Yum!

Garlic, peaking out!

Garlic is SO easy to plant. All you need to do is take a head of garlic, separate the cloves (no need to peel) and pop them in the ground, with the 'top' of the clove pointing UP... try it at home!

This was a random onion we re-planted. Found in on the side of the raised
bed - rejected. It has come back despite its hurt feelings and dejected state...

Red 'Rhubarb' Chard - my FAVORITE!

Not in 'my' garden - but these are the persimmons growing right
outside my back door! I am excited for harvest! Persimmons
are by far my favorite fruit. Persimmon recipes to come!

Creamy Orzo Alfredo with Sauteed Mushrooms

2009-11-06T22:14:00.001-08:00

Cashews are the key to this creamy dish...

I really wanted to make a creamy 'alfredo' esque dish. So I came up with this one.

It was potluck night at Katie and Jenn's, so this is what I brought. I decided to make orzo, because I love this shape of orzo. And I love the feel of orzo in my mouth... kinda like rice, but a pasta texture!

Yummy orzo! So cute!

The orzo is always a tempting item for me to pass by while I am at the CoOp. It tempts me with its cute little shape - but its price shies me away. $4.35/lb for the whole wheat orzo! OMG! I couldn't help it this past time... I gave into the temptation, and went ahead and bought it. Feeling a little more financially secure now that I have received a promotion and pay-increase for my job, I do like to splurge on these pleasures every once in a while.

Creamy Orzo Alfredo with Sauteed Mushrooms
1 cup cashews
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups whole mushrooms
1tbsp olive oil
1/2 chopped onion
3 cloves garlic
3 cups orzo

Begin by chopping up the mushrooms and onions. Sautee them in a deep-dish cast-iron skillet with the olive oil and pressed garlic gloves.

Boil a medium pot of water, and add in the orzo when boiling. Cook until tender, but not too soggy. Strain.

The make the sauce - blend the cashews, butter, soy milk, nutritional yeast and seasonings in a blender. Blend until completely smooth and creamy. If you don't have a good blender, try doing it in a food processor or you will end up with a chunky mess!

When the mushrooms are tender, and the orzo is cooked, add the finished alfredo to both in the deep-dish cast-iron skillet. Cook until the Alfredo sauce is warm. Serve with additional ground pepper, to taste.

Nutritional Yeast!

Nutmeg and the Parprika give this dish a great taste...

Pumpkin Pie!!!!!

2009-11-02T23:25:00.001-08:00

How to roast a pumpkin...

Step One: slice pumpkin in half

Step Two: scoop out seeds and strings - reserve them in a bowl if you plan to make roasted pumpkin seeds from them

Step Three: line a cook pan with foil

Step Four: spread canola oil over each bare side of the pumpkin; place each half cut-side down on the baking pan

Step Five: roast in the oven at 425F for about 30-40 minutes or until fully tender

Step 6: remove from oven and let cool; scoop out flesh and puree in a food processor or blender until smooth

Voila! Roasted pumpkin!

Now take that roasted pumpkin and put it to some use! Make a freaking pumpkin pie FROM SCRATCH!!!!! No canned pumpkin ALLOWED!

Scrumptious Pumpkin Pie
2 cups roasted pumpkin
1 10-12oz pack of Mori-Nu silken firm tofu
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup organic evaporated cane juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tbsp molasses

Crust...
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp all-spice
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup canola oil
1 Tbsp molasses
2 tsp cold water

Preheat the oven to 375F.

In a food processor or blender - blend all the ingredients for the pumpkin pie together.

Combine all of the ingredients for the crust in a medium mixing bowl, adding in the liquid ingredients last. Continue to add water until the mixture is crumbly and somewhat sticks together. Transfer the crust into a deep-dish pie dish and press the crust into the pan evenly and all the way to the top of the pan.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes at 375F. Remove the crust, and turn the heat up to 425F.

Pour the pie filling into the crust once it has been removed from the oven. Return the pie to the oven, and bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 and bake for an additional 45 minutes or until the center of the pie is firm.

Enjoy with some vegan whipped cream!

Yummy!

A Super Secret Date!

2009-11-01T22:18:00.000-08:00

Friday night - it happened. The super secret date that Nico had planned for me for about a month. He blocked off my schedule way in advance (we share our Google Calendars, so he can add/change events on my calendar) for four hours this past Friday night. He was really good at keeping the super secret details from me... 'All in time, my dear' was his response whenever I pestered him about it. 'But what am I supposed to wear?', 'All in time, my dear.', 'But what if I overdress?', same response...

A letter arrived in the mail for me on Wednesday from my secret admirer. The letter detailed out instructions for Friday's super secret date. Arrive at the intersection of 20th and Xst in Sacramento at 6:00pm - any earlier and all will be foiled.

Friday came, and I was really excited! Traffic is usually hell on Fridays - typically taking up to 1 hour to get from Davis to Sac, which is typically no more than a 20 minute drive. Accounting for traffic, I left Davis at 4:45pm, hoping to arrive a little earlier than 6:00pm. Traffic was amazingly light, and I arrive in Sacramento at 5:10pm! 50 minutes to kill! Being near Target, I decided to window shop while waiting - I did end up buying a winter hat, but more on that later.

While I was driving into Sacramento, I received about 20 emails with random numbers for each subject. I wasn't supposed to read the emails (on my Blackberry) until I was told what to do.

At 6:00pm I arrive at the intersection. Upon my arrival, I was instructed to call Nico. He answered and told me to check From then on, here is what took place.

Email 21
Hello, Dani! I hope you're up for just a little walking, because I have a bit of a scavenger hunt set of instructions for you.

Here's how it will work: I've emailed you a series of photos and instructions, but not in any particular order. At each step, you will receive instructions for which email to read next so you'll know how to continue.

Sometimes this will mean finding a sign taped up somewhere; other times it will mean texting me to find out which email to read next. As you go along, take good pictures of what you're doing - we'll want to share this on facebook! And I'll want to know what you see, and what you're doing.

Here's the first picture (in this and all future emails, don't forget to check for instructions below the picture!):

Find this house at 20th & Yale. Out of curiosity, is the dead praying mantis still clinging to the left side of the staircase? If so, make sure to photograph it! (It wasn't there, but I did find some pretty sweet trees!)

Take a picture of anything interesting, then take a right around the building. Don't go too far, though - check email #14.

Email 14
Find this sign:

Go over to it, and check on the back side of the pole. You'll find a message there.

Email 26
Check out this house - it looks like a birdcage!

Now check Email #12, and remember that you should be photographing every step, as well as anything else interesting you see!

Email 12
Isn't this house cool?

Quick, go to email #79!

Email 79
Look for this:

This house is misfortunate indeed. Inside the sign is a message for you.

Email 40
As your approach the corner of X st and 21st, watch out for falling branches. This branch was on the sidewalk when I was here a few days ago.

Not the branch, but something interested I found on the way...

Stay at the corner and check email #18

Email 18
While standing on the corner, look for this:

You'll find something written on the opposite side of it.

Email 30
Hey, baby, look for this, not too far from the last photo.

Look for something on the back side of the pole.

Email 65
Walk to Yale, and cross the street - be careful, there's no pedestrian walkway! Look for this:

Read the note on the back of it!

Email 33
Look for this sign, and walk north toward X.

Enjoy the interesting shops. Check email #41.

Email 41
Hang a right when you see this:

But don't go anywhere before checking email #72!

Email 72
If the shop has still left any chairs out, take a seat in one or two of them. Relax a bit! Remember to photograph the one you sit in! Continue to walk East along X, and check out email #99.

Email 99
Enjoy the interesting vine tree!

Also, is the green truck still parked in the driveway? Now hurry on, but check email #88 first!
Email 88
You'll find a note on the back of this column:
Now don't despair, you're more than halfway done!

Email 34
Take a right around the corner, and look for these:

When you find these, hang a right down the street/alley. Check email #29.

Email 29
Notice this graffiti:
Couldn't identify it... can you?

If you can identify what it says, kudos to you! You'll get an extra kiss from your Nico. Check email #39

Email 39
Look out for this:

There should be a note rolled up in between several of the stones - look for it for your next clue!

Email 52
Walk to the end of the alley (back to 21st street) and take a left. Don't cross over 21st yet! When you get to the intersection of 21st and Broadway, look for this:

Underneath the hedge you'll find another message.

Email 4
Cross 21st, and keep an eye out for this:

You'll find a message at the very base of this column (the column nearest to Broadway).

Email 64
Keep an eye out for this on your right.

Just for looking - no need to look for a note. Continue on to email #16!

Email 16
Just beyond the field, notice this graffiti:

Look for a message taped underneath the lip of the brick.

Email 42
Step inside the brick walls, and look for this:

You're here! Open the door, and Nico will be waiting!

My secret admirer, waiting for me!

Nico met me at the very end of my scavenger hunt. He picked out this really great restaurant that I have been wanting to eat at for a while - Andy Nguyen's - a gourmet vegetarian restaurant with awesome Vietnamese food. Nico was actually following me the whole scavenger hunt within a blocks distance - I was just too caught up in his game to notice his stalking.

It took Nico several days total to put the whole scavenger hunt together, and the day of the date he came out an hour early to prepare the notes. I kept several of the notes for myself, but left a few up for some pedestrians could see it! =) Hope the love spreads!

Andy Nguyen's menu

He is an amazing man! Boys, take note! I love him so much!

At the restaurant, we ordered three dishes... Crispy Lotus Rolls, Awaking Mind Chow Fun, and another dish I can't quite remember the name of, but it was awesomely awesome!

Awakening Mind Chow Fun

Un-named delicious dish - fake beef

Mushrooms on the side - for Nico!

Crispy Lotus Rolls

An empty plate = a happy Nico and Dani

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

2009-10-29T23:50:00.001-07:00

It is definitely squash time - I am having it every night of the week, just about!

AND! I had some for breakfast when I ate one of my leftover pumpkin butternut squash cupcakes... naughty vegan. Not the healthiest choice, but definitely portable when I am rushing out the door to get to work... and easy clean-up too!

For this amazing little ditty, I use the best bouillon out there. I am a fan of making vegetable stock from scratch, but I can't seem to store it very well - and given that my freezer is currently packed full of frozen chicken (housemates, don't you love 'em!) for who knows how long - I don't have much choice but to buy some compact bouillon. I get the 'Better than Bouillon' brand of certified vegan vegetable bouillon. It takes me a while to get through, but it is very easy to use and add into anything and everything that you want to enhance the flavor of.

Better Than Bouillon - Vegetable stock

Risotto is typically made with loads of some sort of stock - typically chicken - but vegetable stock has been my staple for risottos and pilafs for about 10 years now, and no one knows the difference, really!

When making risotto, you need to use a special rice to give it that creamy texture - Arborio rice. This is a short-grain rice specific to Italy that has a really high starch content, making the finished product creamy and chewy. I also like to use Arborio rice for rice puddings. =)

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto
makes 6-8 medium servings

1 medium butternut squash, roasted
6 cups vegetable broth
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp canola oil
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1 tsp freshly chopped/ground sage or oregano

Cut the butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Brush about 1tsp of canola oil on both of the sliced sides and place faced-down on a foil-covered baking pan. Roast in oven at 425F for up to 30 minutes, or until tender. Cool.

In a large saucepan, saute the onions, garlic and sage in canola oil until golden and translucent. Add in the Arborio rice and stir for about 1 minute. Add in the vegetable broth 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly with each addition.

Add and additional cup of vegetable stock each time the liquid becomes soaked up in the pan. Continue until the rice is creamy and al dente.

Peel the squash and cube it. Add the cubed butternut squash into risotto and stir.

Serve warm!

Mine is a bit charred because I have a crappy oven.
I just peeled off the charred part - I don't want cancer!

This is what your risotto will look like at the very beginning stages of thickening.

Cube the squash...

About half-way there...

Add in the cubed squash when the risotto is
just about to get to that perfect creamy level!

Finished! Look at that creamy amazingness!

Making Apple Pie!

2009-10-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

Life is like a bowl of apples...

Yum yum yum!

Easy apple pie, so good that it knocks your socks off!

I mixed this recipe up a bit. I used the hot water pie crust recipe from How It All Vegan, and the Gingerbread Apple Pie filling from Vegan with a Vengeance my two fave vegan cookbooks. The only two that I have unpacked from my moving boxes. Unfortunately, I don't have as much kitchen space as I used to, so I can no longer display my lovely vegan cookbook collection.

Enjoy!

Pie filling...

More pie filling...

Check out those spices!

The legendary crust cutter...

Rolling dough between wax paper is so
much easier, and easy to clean up too!

Pie, filled and ready to be topped...

Cutting the crust.

Baked and ready to eat! Yum!

On Apples... and butter

2009-10-23T23:45:00.001-07:00

I don't eat butter - but I do eat apple butter!

After the harvest last week, I decided to make some apple butter and apple crisp. If you don't quite remember, these apples were the rejects, the ones with the blemishes and the worms in them. So much care was taken to make sure no worms or mold cores went into the butter and crisp.

For the apple butter, the apples had to be peeled and cored. My good pal, Lauren from Ireland, helped me with that for the first batch. For the second batch (the pictures below), I did all the coring and peeling as Nico and I were watching Primer, a sci-fi movie about time-travel. That took me about a good 2 hours, given the extra time we took to pull up the Wikipedia article to follow the plot.

Getting ready to peel some apples

Apple crisp is much simpler, and only slicing and coring needs to happen. So, short on time, go for the crisp.

Apple Butter
recipe from Ball Blue Book, borrowed from Maggie

6 quarts of apples, peeled and cored (about enough to fill up a large pot)
4 cups organic evaporated cane juice
2 cups water
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
4 pint (16oz) jars, lids, rings

Place the apples and water in a large pot (or pressure cooker) and stew (or pressure cook for 7 minutes) until the apples are soft.

Using an immersion blender, or a food processor, blend the apples and water together.

Add in the sugar and spices and cook until thick. This took me about 30-45minutes. The Ball Blue Book recommended cooking it down until it mounded up on the spoon. Also a good sign it is ready to be canned.

Sanitize the jars, lids and rings in a hot (steaming, not boiling) water bath. Using a wide funnel, fill each jar with the warm apple butter mixture. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

I made two batches of apple butter - the first batch made about 3.5 pint jars, and the second batch made 4 pint jars. Of course the first batch I didn't fill the pot all the way to the top as I did in the second batch.

Jars, getting ready to be filled with delicious apple butter!

Cooking up the apple butter in the pot that I pressure cook

Sanitizing the rings and lids in a hot water bath...

Large pot... boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Finished product!

Apple butter, almond butter, toasted wheat bread

This is something that can be enjoyed all year round, but I definitely enjoy it the most around the fall and winter months. Cloves, cinnamon and apples are definitely a cool-weather food for me! The apple butter goes great with almond butter on top of toasted whole-wheat bread. I am still finishing off my Full Belly Farm crunchy almond butter (such a treat, I only get it once a year!!!), and am savoring each and every slice of toast that I enjoy with it, and my home-canned jams and preserves.

Here is a recipe for the apple crisp, I made this for work. I don't have any pictures from the one that I made with the gleaned apples - but you can imagine it tasted pretty damn good. I made two batches of this for the community meal that I cooked last Sunday night for my new community. Enjoy!

Apple Gleaning, a litter garden and Vegan Soul Food!

2009-10-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

Fallen fruit...

Saturday was the apple glean. There is an orchard in West Sacramento that is going to be demolished - why? Well, they need the dirt beneath it to reinforce the levees. =(

Levees are important, yes, but so is farmland. And especially this farmland. Because it was BEAUTIFUL!

The orchard we gleaned in was not strictly apples, but also had some pomegranates, Asian pears, plums, and lots more. The weather was appropriately warm, and I made sure to wear fitting head-covering. Bad idea to wear my brand-new white hat though - being up in the trees definitely turned it a not-so-white color.

in the treeeeees..... where I always want to be.

We arrived at the orchard at 9am sharp, and got to it. Nico designed a pretty ingenious fruit plucker that he was piloting at the glean. He used a milk jug, a bamboo stick he harvested a few month ago, some zip ties, my old bedsheet (notice it is awesomely pink!) and a stapler. The invention worked great, and the sheet was stapled together to create a funnel and trap for the apples to roll down... It lasted most of the day, but we are most definitely planning on sewing the sheet chute, the staples didn't hold so well.

Nico's home-made fruit plucker

Nico, testing out his invention.

The sheet acts as a chute to funnel the fruit down the pole.

We gleaned for a good three hours before stopping for lunch. It was hard, physical work - something that I am not quite used to, but was exceptionally fun. We took about 120lbs of apples back to Davis to donate to a local emergency aid center. We also took a case home of the 'rejects' to make awesome apple goodness - like apple butter, butternut squash and apple soup, and soon some apple pie mix and apple sauce.

Fall harvest

What a load.

Fully loaded Beemer - about 120lbs of apples.

Over the weekend, I also decided to build Bon-Bon a litter garden. This idea came to me from my friend Meredith who found in on a blog. It is not quite finished - I still need to get a plastic mat to place underneath the litter garden. And I want to build some steps for her to cover up the nasty black plant-holder thats propping the box up. This is a nifty little system - when she uses the restroom, her urine and poo fertilizes the plants. Whatever is extra can be harvest and tossed into the compost, or directly into the soil where plants are growing. She hasn't quite nibbled on her herbs yet - I think she is still trying the garden out a bit.

Bon Bon's litter garden!

Sage and parsley... rosemary and oregano on the other side.

Busy weekend - I also road into Oakland for a concert - Monsters of Folk - starring my fave Conor Oberst. Prior to the show, my pal friend Brennan and I went out to eat at Souley Vegan in Jack London Square, Oakland! Vegan soul food rocks. Given most soul food is already vegan (think collards, black eyed peas, etc. without the lard of course), I was happy to see other 'soul foods' on the menu including BBQed tofu, fried tofu, mac-n-cheese!, yams, omg!

So Brennan and I each ordered what we wanted and shared it - so what did we have? The finger lickin fried tofu, BBQed tofu, collards, black eyed peas, yams, mac-n-cheeeeeeeese!

BBQed tofu, Fried Tofu, Yams

Mac-n-Cheeze, collard greens, black-eye peas

So good. Go there if you are in Oakland. It is worth it! =) And the people that run it are super nice and chill.

Oh, and one last note. I got a promotion. =)

Celebration!

Davis is a Stormin... and local dirt goodness!

2009-10-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

So it was a good thing I bought my rain gear on Monday. Tuesday's storm was insane!

Biking to work that day was crazy. The roads were a mess with tree limbs blocking much of Davis. Power out. Debris flying through the air, branches getting caught in my spokes, horizontal rain pelting against my face, people getting hit by tree branches (including Nico's car, oh no!), 30mph wind.

90,000 people without power, including my house from about 11am-midnight....

Unfortunately, Nico's car didn't hug enough tree's - bad tree karma man...

This week on my radio show, I was really excited to interview a professor from UC Santa Cruz about the politics of obesity and the taxation of processed foods. You should check it out, my piece is the last 30 minutes of the show. In the beginning, Natalie talks to a guest about wolf conservation, and that is also another pretty cool interview.

Oh, and to celebrate the fact that October is Fair Trade Month, I hosted a Fair Trade chocolate tasting in each of the dining rooms for work... here is a fun photo from that!

Signs of fall

2009-10-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today, it rained. A celebration of fall, my roomie Katie and I decided to jump on the trampoline. It sounds more epic than it really was - the rain wasn't falling quite hard enough yet, so there was no cold and shivering involved.

Many things remind me of fall.

blankets...

Fall blankets on the bed. I decided that last night was too utterly cold, so I added a layer to my blanket load. N and I went camping this weekend, and I was definitely ready for the fall chill - I packed 8+ blankets, and I was far from cold. The comfort of the weight of 8 blankets on top of you is something that everyone should experience... at least once.

The fall throw grandma gave me before I returned home to Davis

fall clothes...

Bringing out the fall clothes. This included unpacking my hat-boxes filled with heavy sweaters, long sleeves, vests, 'wool' items, and wintery skirts. Out with the fall, in the with summer. My colorful summer wardrobe found it's way back into my hat boxes... also, a trip to REI was a must. I needed to purchase my 'rain' gear for biking to and from work. Last year I put it off because I was super close, but this year, I need the heavy duty water-proof stuff. These items were on sale! Also - knee-high socks and slippers. I only wear socks when the weather gets cooler...

socks + slippers = blissssss

sporting the new rain coat, the pants are in the black thing I am holding

hat boxes, now filled with summer's slinky clothes

pumpkins...

There isn't much explanation for this one...

hoes down harvest festival...

This happens every fall, and I have been helping out for the past two years by helping coordinate the volunteers for the children's area... Hoes Down marks the coming of fall for me. Although the weather is really mild, and normally sunny, it tends to be the last weekend of 'good' weather before the rain and clouds and chilly breezes come. Hoes Down is my last weekend to celebrate the 'summer' that I don't want to end. I biked to the festival this year, something that I have been wanting to do. 45+ miles. I went one way, and was given a ride back into Davis two days later (it was too dark to bike by the time we had finished breaking down...)

Grain grinding...

Gourd and pot painting...

.ice cream churning.

dunk tank

felipe in capay - beautiful

Road Tomatoes

2009-09-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

Dude! Living in Davis is super duper awesome, especially when you have friends who have friends working on agricultural studies. We just had 1,000lbs of processing tomatoes delivered to our community from a recent study in Davis.

What to do with 1,000lbs of tomatoes? Well, since they are processing tomatoes, the likely solution is to can them. I decided to hoist 20lbs from the delivery to can in my house. I didn't end up canning all 20lbs - I canned about 2/3rds of it. The rest is still sitting in my colanders on my counter or in the fridge as a yummy chunky salsa I made.

- Processing tomatoes -

Tomatoes are in season in California during the summer months - July through November usually. In the Davis/Yolo County area most of the tomato crops are for processing because there is a tomato plant located in Woodland, about 7 miles north of Davis. It is really funny, during these summer months, to see loads of processing tomatoes traveling along the 80 and the 113 toward Woodland, tomatoes spilling out over the side of the uncovered truck bins. The tomatoes aren't really edible, in fact when they fall over the sides and slam onto the ground many of them remain intact.

- Photo from Erika's post on Sunset-

How to process/can tomatoes...
The easiest way to process tomatoes is to can them. What I do is start out by quartering the tomatoes and cooking them down until their liquid is boiling. Once boiling, load up your tomatoes (now like a stew) into sterilized pint or quart jars and seal them with sterilized lids and rings. Tomatoes need to boiled in a hot water bath for 40 minutes min. So grab some of your raw tomatoes and chop up while you are waiting for the other ones to cook in their hot water baths.

The tomatoes can sit on your shelves for at least a year, I am sure. What is better in the winter than some summery tomatoes?

You can't really tell in this photo - but the sink is completely filled.

Cookin' up the tomatoes...

Finished product!

I made fresh salsa with the rest of the processing tomatoes. Here is a simple recipe!

Basic Salsa Recipe...
1 qt. chopped tomatoes
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tsp. chopped jalapeno peppers (or to desired hotness)
1/4 c. vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin powder

Mix yo ingredients up, and eat them! Yum!

Fresh salsa... so goooooood!

Here is a sneak peak of this weekend - the upcoming Hoes Down Harvest Festival!
Super excited, and happy for the event to come. More on that after this weekend....

Cow! Love the nose!

This is the start of the hay fort - they used 600 bales of hay total!

Eggplants and Baba!

2009-09-26T23:19:00.001-07:00

It's eggplant season!

Yo! Baba Ganoush is the best!

What is Baba Ganoush? Pretty much humus with eggplants in it. It has a different taste and texture than hummus, but is also pretty awesome.

Nutritional benefits of eggplant? Well, unless you eat the skin, eggplant isn't very nutrient dense. In Baba Ganoush, the skin isn't used, so pretty much depend on the nutrition in everything else in the recipe. Chickpeas are a great source of fiber and protein. The sesame seeds (tahini) is an excellent source of calcium, as well as fiber. The olive oil - heart healthy fat there!

I made 16 cups! of Baba Ganoush today for a work party, and I documented the process. Here is the simple recipe, and some pictures to go along!

Baba Ganoush
makes 4 cups; serves 8 people

1 large eggplant
1 can chickpeas, drained (garbanzo beans)
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tbsp tahini
dash sea salt
1/8 cup olive oil

Slice eggplant in half, and roast in 400 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes, or until soft.
Allow to cool slightly, then scoop out inside of eggplant, leaving skin behind.
In a blender or food processor, combine eggplant and remaining ingredients, except oil and parsley, until smooth. Mixture will be somewhat thick. Add in the olive oil and continue to blend/mix until fully incorporated.
Serve with chips, pita, crudités, in wraps, etc. Yummy!

After roasting the eggplant, you can use your clean hands (let cool first!) to scoop out the flesh.

Ready to be pureed.

Inside the blender:
- roasted eggplant
- lemon juice
- garlic
- chickpeas
- tahini

You can press the garlic, or add in whole, skinned cloves.

Pouring in the olive oil - I use about 1/2 of what is called
for in a regular recipe to make mine less calorie dense.

I enjoyed some of the Baba Ganoush with my fave Red Hot Blues chips by Garden of Eatin! Delish!