P&PS

One of my initial goals for my 101 in 1,001 was to learn to identify the most common flora and fauna in the state. While this is something I still want to do, I’ve begun by expanding the criteria a bit. Local flora and fauna are important to me, native species are important to me, but as I’ve travelled more I’ve begun to realize in a concrete way just how interesting species variation is. It’s not just their adaptations and the more subtle changes between related species in different places but their interaction with their changed environment as a whole. Noticing these changes and making comparisons between these new species and the ones I’m more familiar with has definitely piqued my scientific curiousity, particularly when I stop to consider the larger, global picture. I’ve always been interested in environmental issues, particularly climate change, but it wasn’t until recently that I stopped to think the effects this has on a day to day level, not in my life but environmental...

Back before I discovered I'm lactose intolerant I used to make my own yogurt.  It was something I loved doing not only because it was easy and thrifty but because it felt like I was doing something good for myself.  When I cut out dairy I felt a bit lost for a while.  I tried making dairy free yogurt, but while it worked, it wasn't the same experience.  Kombucha sounded promising but I can't tolerate caffeine, so I considered giving up on this particular probiotic avenue until I discovered water kefir. For those of you who are unfamiliar with water kefir, it has the same probiotic and digestive benefits as milk kefir or yogurt without dairy.  The consistency of water kefir is similar to that of soda or carbonated water.  While initially I missed the creamy goodness of yogurt, thinking of water kefir as a totally different experience (aka extra healthy juice) really hooked me. Not only is water kefir addicting, it's really easy to make. To make your ...

It's been awhile since I talked about traveling, more recently I talked about being a traveler, I talked about the packing or the waiting in line or how incredibly tiring a long day, or night, on the road can be, but that isn't the important stuff.  Yes, it's par for the course, and yes sometimes that all loses it's appeal, but the new places and experiences, that never gets old. Thinking about this, a year and a half ago when I was making up my 101 list, I listed the places that immediately came to mind.  I didn't stop to think of Europe or the UK since that was supposed to be a one time thing, I stuck in Australia because I figured I should at least to some extent dream big. Now, over a year later, Australia looks less possible, but life has up until now always managed to surprise me and I assume it always will.  I'm not writing it off, just thinking and planning.  I wish I had included the U.K. another trip to London, Scotland, a weekend in Wales or I...

I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks lately.  Between all the knitting I've been doing, and the fact that work has left me feeling a bit under the weather, I've had a lot of time to sit and listen. I've always been a bit picky about audiobooks.  I'm very particular about what I like in terms of narration: the accent of the narrator, the rate of speech, and the amount of inflection and added emphasis all play a role in my enjoyment of the book.  Over the last couple of years I have gotten less picky. I've learned to listen to anything questionable before bed when I'm half asleep and disinclined to complain, leaving everything else for when I'm traveling or otherwise looking to be entertained. More specifically, I like audiobooks with narrators who speak a bit more quickly or at a rate at which I can speed the audio up a bit and still not lose anything.  I dislike added dramatics or emphasis in either places where I don't think it's n...

 The two new recipes from last time were a smash. The meatball soup was a particular favorite of mine. Garnished with a little bit of coconut cream it was perfect for a cold night. I didn't end up making the truffles but made two cakes instead. I also added in some waffles, pork ribs, and a loaf of bread. For this next installment I'm getting a bit wiser to the way things work and I'm starting quite a few things on Friday night. With the roast (I'll stop eating these when they stop tasting so amazing and/or summer starts) and ground beef a la homemade sausage, I'm cooking up a couple of acorn squashes and making up the chocolate for the chocolate chunks in my cookies. I'm mainly sticking with old favorites from the last couple of installments since I've been, and will continue to, work really long hours at work. I'm going to need portable comfort food and lots of it. Breakfast is the usual deal so I'll skip over that and get to the chicken ste...

Current Obsessions (On Repeat) Pork Roast and Sweet Potatoes Winter/Root Vegetable Stew Audiobooks before bed Yoga Working overtime Coworker's 90's radio station Favorites Book(s): The Girl Who Played with Fire (Stieg Larsson) and Coming Apart: The State of White America (Charles Murray) TV Show(s): Film(s): Music: Touch (Shura) and You Call and I Come Running (mix tape) Recipe(s): Dill cauliflower mash , crockpot chicken and gravy, roast sweet potatoes, Arabic meatball soup , coconut coconut flour cake, this chicken soup Social Media: Pinterest and Feedly (blog rss) for inspiration Game/Software/Tech Thing: Diaro (organized and synced writing ftw) "Analog" Thing(s): Ceramic waffle maker, sweater defuzzer Item of Clothing: Black suede leather boots, Canadian mittens Wellness Related Thing: Yoga videos (specifically this and this ), small attainable daily/weekly goals, consciously taking time off of work to regroup On Going Project(s): My e...