Yo No.

Well, I must have angered the yogurt gods with my over-confidence and blase attitude toward measurements, temperatures and times.  A few nights ago, I made my second batch of attempted yogurt, and was even foggier than before about following directions.   I'll tell you what -- when I opened my oven door in the morning, I was greeted by two warm bowls of milk.  Oh no!  

I was determined not to let all that milk go to waste.  Perhaps, if I boiled it again, I could start over?  I put the milk in an extra-big soup pot, turned it on high and covered it.  And then the phone rang; my milk and good intentions were completely forgotten.  About ten or 15 minutes later I returned to find a pot of very hot milky water and what looked like giant cottage-cheese curds.  Again, oh no!  But perhaps all was not lost -- cheese is made from milk too, right?  Maybe I've accidentally made cheese?  I scoured the internet to try to discern what happens to milk when it is boiled and separates, but came up empty-handed.  Certainly, cheese is made from milk, and you can make it at home, but the information I found about that made it seem like a far more complicated process.

 

At any rate, I strained my cheese-like concoction through a colander and refrigerated it.  At lunch time I made a cold pasta salad with whole-wheat penne, black beans, sunflower seeds, balsamic, olive oil, avocado and my curds.  Absolutely, completely delicious. 

 

I have no idea what this is -- cottage cheese?  Ricotta?  Whey?  A completely stumbled-upon creation.  Yogurt gods, I promise to amend my non-measuring ways.  Cheese gods, thank you for stepping in and opening the door to a whole new realm of experimentation.

Seedling Giveaway (And the Winner Is.....)

After 7 looong days of rain, the sun is finally shining again here in Nelson.  We're celebrating by hanging out, oh, five loads of laundry, and of course by drawing the winner of the Seedling Clothing giveaway!  I've been really excited about this giveaway.  It's been wonderful to interact with all of you and to hear your feedback and suggestions.    I've loved reading your ideas and can't wait to get to work on some new designs.  Thank you all for taking the time to share your thoughts with me!

This morning, I decided that the fairest way to pick a winner was to draw names out of a hat (or basket, as it were) rather than by random number selection, seeing as I had left a few of my own comments as well.  If you left a suggestion, I wrote your name down twice, regardless of whether the suggestion was in a separate comment box.

The winner of the giveaway is Cami, of Palma De Mallorca, Spain!  She is pregnant with her first girl, due in August.  It's so exciting to think of one of my organic kimonos going across the world be be worn by a soon-to-be baby in Spain.  Congratulations, Cami!  If you could send your details to me at seedlingclothing@gmail.com, I would be much obliged.  In the meantime, I'll get your parcel all ready to go.

And thank you again to the rest of you!  I'm sure to hold more giveaways in the future -- it's been a wonderful experience.  I hope you all are having lovely weekends and that the sun is shining where you are, too.

~ Jen

Last Day of Giveaway....

Hello!  Just want pop in quickly to say that today is the last day to leave a comment for the Seedling Clothing Felt shop giveaway.  If you haven't yet entered and want to, all you need to do is visit this post and leave a comment about which piece in my shop you'd like to win and why.  I'll draw the winner at noon on Sunday, May 30th.  Thank you to all of you that have entered and good luck!

Happiness is....

....the house smelling of baking bread....

....a fresh blade on my x-acto knife....

....talking to my family on skype....

....naps and time-to-work coordinating perfectly....

....a new print coming out in a way I didn't expect....

Of course, there are so many other things that make me happy, but these particular things are the ones I've been lucky enough to experience today. 

Last night, I had a heap of work to get done to prepare for my next My Baby and Me collection.  I dutifully cut a few designs and did some sketches.  But then, I just didn't feel like working any longer.  I felt like messing about, trying out new designs without worrying too much about whether they were actually usable.  I tried to resist self-editing and allowed myself the indulgence of an hour of "wasted" time if it came to that.  I found that I was cutting a lot of symbols that represented the beauty of the natural world and I came to imagine that they were a "welcome to the world" message for a very new baby.  All the things a new person has to look forward to seeing and experiencing....

I'll be honest, the cutting and individual painting for this piece took me ages.   Definitely a few solid hours.  But I'm happy with the result and I love to think that a special new baby will wear this one-of-a-kind design during his or her first months on the outside.  Perhaps I'll continue to do these in some sort of customizable way?    I can see a whole range of colors and imagery working.  It's exciting to what comes out if I just relax my expectations a bit!  I'll update my Felt shop over the weekend and include this new "Welcome to the World, Little One" sleeping gown.

(Doesn't it look cool this way?  Just experimenting with my camera, trying to figure out what all of the different settings do and how to take better photos.   Still have so much to learn.)

** By the way.... Just two days left to submit a comment for the Seedling Clothing giveaway.  I'll draw a winner Sunday, May 30th around noon.  Good luck everyone!

Yo.

Despite New Zealand's thriving dairy industry, purchasing quality yogurt can feel like a bit of a luxury, and the cost of organic yogurt here is nearly prohibitive.  Nonetheless, I'm a huge fan of the taste, nutritional value, and health benefits of natural yogurt, so I was game to try out this incredibly straightforward recipe I found in one of my most beloved magazine subscriptions.   (Um, actually my only magazine subscription.  Only and most beloved.)

The above (plus an oven, a saucepan, a towel, and a few extra bowls) is all that this recipe requires.

Preheat oven to about 100 degrees C (200 F)

Heat 1 liter (1 quart) of milk (non-fat or full-fat, depending on your preference) in a saucepan until it reaches the boil.  Keep a close eye on your milk -- it's liable to boil over quickly (as mine did.)  Once it boils, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and let stand until the temperature cools to 43-46 degrees C (110-115 F) -- if you don't have a thermometer, just wait until the milk feels warm, but touchable.  If a skin has formed, try to skim off most of it.

Stir about 1/4 cup of natural yogurt into a bowl with about 1/2 cup of the heated milk, then transfer back into the saucepan and blend.

Turn off oven.

Divide milk/yogurt mixture into two bowls, cover with plastic wrap (or I used re-usable, shower-cap type covers) and then a towel.  Put into oven and allow to sit overnight (6-15 hours - - I erred on the lengthier side.)

I was a bit surprised at how well this worked.  I even fudged all of the particulars (amounts, temperatures, times....) and it still set.  Amazing!  I mean, of course -- yogurt has been around for about 4,500 years.   Long before grocery stores, yogurt makers, or mixes.   

 This yogurt was a bit runnier and milder than store-bought, but apparently, the longer it stays in the fridge, the tangier it gets.  S ate his for morning snack with cinnamon, I put some in the black bean soup I made for lunch, and baby A had hers straight -- the milder taste suited her just fine.

At a fraction of the cost of  ready-made yogurt, we're definitely signing up to be card-carrying members of the culture club.  (Yes, Groan.  Sorry, couldn't help myself.  Yogurt jokes abound!)

Pass it On.....

Yesterday, while browsing the lovely blogs from Kiwi Mummy Blogs, this post from Dear Colleen caught my eye:

I got an email this morning from Rebecca Marshall a student who follows me on facebook. She was just asking for five minutes to help her with a project. When I was studying I was forever trying to get people to help me with this sort of thing so I really understand what an uphill struggle it can be. 

CAN YOU HELP? Here's the brief: 

The theme is "because we are all different and need different things"....and she needs participants to write anything they want, on anything they like (on the above theme). then scan or photograph it and email it to her by hum, sorry tuesday.  (From Jen: actually, this deadline has been extended - - Friday of this week, but the earlier the better.)

The above is what Colleen creatively came up with, but all I did was take a photo from my sketchbook - - a note I'd written to myself the night before about some things I want to refocus on.  I titled it "wishes," but I think of these as needs.

 This really only took me a few minutes.  Like Colleen, I well remember being a student and trying to get help for these sorts of things.   If you have something you think could help Rebecca, please email by Friday at: iamrebecca@live.com

Also, if you are so inclined, feel free to re-post this, and widen the circle of helpers. 

Thank you so much!!

P.S.  Rebecca is not only an art student, but a new mother as well.  Kudos to her!  I am so impressed.

Cozy Monday

Outside it is wet, wet, wet;  The weather reports are predicting record rainfall for the next three days or so.... Second to sun, I love a good rainstorm next -- preferably with thunder and lightning, though we haven't seen those yet.  I resign myself happily to a few days of indoor activities, and sigh, the inability to do laundry.... (Conveniently, we've never purchased a dryer.  We just use a laundry line, which I love, but which also certainly has it's limitations during a rainy stretch.)

This morning, I had the chance to sit at my desk while the rain pounded outside.  The kids colluded wonderfully with my desire to do a few sketches -- baby A took an extra long nap, while S sat with his headphones on, listening to one audio book after another. **

I have an old book with gorgeous photographs of trees and shrubs that I picked up ages ago at a garage sale -- long before Seedling was even a glimmer in my eye.  I used a few of the photos for a mobile when S was a baby, and I think I planned to cut out others and use them for cards or mix-cd covers, but I'm so glad I never got around to it. 

This morning I cozied up with a hot mug of tea, an Anzac biscuit, and a notebook.

I have new stock arriving from My Baby and Me this week, and I'm feeling full of ideas and creative energy.  I can't wait to get to work!  I've absolutely loved hearing all of your suggestions in the Seedling giveaway comments.  Thank you so much for taking the time to share them with me. 

Hope you are all having lovely Mondays also.....


P.S. ** Audio Books -- these have continued to be a wonderful discovery.  On a whim, I did a search for kids' stories on itunes, and found an incredible (free) collection from many different sources.  We've now increased our audio book library by about a hundred-fold.  Of course, S wants to hear the same stories over and over, but we're gradually increasing our repertoire.