Tenuousness...

I figured I'd share a bunch of things I've baked over the year. It's just a snippet, really, as I've made loads of things, as well as the same things multiple times but with slight variations, such as different flavored scones, or different foccacia, biscuits, rolls, etc... I just thought it'd be fun to do a little round-up.

Bread pudding + homemade applesauce.

Cinnamon raisin bread.

Oat soda bread with sesame seeds.

Pumpkin bread.

Fig galette.

Dark chocolate confit with plums.

Thyme blackberry honey peach pie, from scratch, with fruit I got to pick during my birthday. :)

Wheat baguettes, from scratch.

Basic rustic bread from scratch.

English muffins from scratch.

Wheat foccacia with thyme, grapes and sugar. I've also made a sundried-tomato basil variation. Super tasty.

Soft cheese herb breads. Thyme and Parmesan and basil cheddar.

Ginger rhubarb crisp.

Thyme sable breton cake with chai poached plums.

Apple cardamom cake.

Bagels from scratch. Cinnamon sugar and everything.

Carrot cake.

Chocolate ginger chai scones with a ginger rhubarb compote. I've made this scone recipe with all kinds of variations this year. It's wonderful and they always come out well! Strawberry hazelnut, dried cherry almond, cocoa almond, lemon poppy-seed, etc.

Song of the day: "Tenuousness" by Andrew Bird.

I alone...

Home-made bread, egg whites, spinach, cranberry sauce, ricotta and apricot jam, cara cara orange and tea.

I made two different fillings for these, one with caramelized onion and a mustard sauce and the other with sauteed mushrooms and goat cheese. Sooo good, but so labor-intensive to cut the dough and fold them. I also made a dessert version with a poppy-seed filling.

Whole wheat cous cous, almonds, golden raisins, arugula, cooked onion. Coffee.

Homemade raspberry coconut bars.

Song of the day: "I Alone" - Live

You can not escape.

JOAN SALÓ does neat complex pen drawings.

Song of the day: "Kiss of the Spider Woman" - Chita Rivera

Let's have a kiki...

Exploded Flowers have been deconstructed into neat more abstract forms.

Song of the day: "Let's Have a Kiki" by Scissor Sisters.

Through the crowd I was crying out...

Becca Stadtlander is a wonderful illustrator. I can't remember if I've already blogged about her, but I love the intense attention to detail.

 United Thread is a beautiful artist. Her style is very similar to what I try and do with watercolors, with detailed, flat studies of animals like in old scientific journals. Her color pallet choices are so great, and she's lead a pretty cool life.

Geninne predominantly illustrates birds. Some of them are pretty nice.

Fennec Design Co makes amazing artwork and prints. Super neat. I bought this shirt.

Pachamamita Design Shop makes bags using traditional Andean materials. They're so cool and practical and I want one.

I know I've been gone a while. Life and stuff. I find that even though I'm on the internet, I lack the motivation to make any posts on here, though I come across so many things I want to share. I also don't have the energy to go through all my old entries and fix the pictures. I wish I knew why flickr has blocked them. They're public... Ah, well.

Conversely, I really want to get off the internet as much as I am. I've been trying to read more again, and I've been working out more than ever. Currently I've lost 66lbs total since my peak. Still working on it. My old goal of fixing my hands and giving them some TLC has been working! Some of the damage I had thought permanent is beginning to fade. It's lovely. I made tacos for lunch today, from scratch. Perhaps tomorrow I'll remember to post a picture.

Song of the day: "No Light No Light" Coachella Sampler.

Hm. Well. In terms of my goals, I failed at the making lunches for myself. At least, so far. Sometimes I'd bring left-overs, which was nice, or a thermos of tea and a piece of fruit, or honestly, much of the time I don't bring anything at all.

Haven't picked up my guitar. I don't know what is stopping me. I've been working out a lot more, though. That's something.

I do wake up earlier, but not as early as I should. I start work an hour later than I used to, though, so I actually get some things done in the morning, which is quite nice.

I'm currently making bagels from scratch. This will be my second time doing so. The first batch was wonderful, so I've been craving them again. I don't always, but since I pledged last year to start making my own bread from scratch, I feel I've done fairly well for myself. So far I've made all kinds of things, like English Muffins, sourdough (although that one didn't rise properly, but it tasted just like sourdough), rye, basic rustic bread, French bread, cheese pesto loafs, challa, honey wheat, and foccacia.

I find that food is one of the most predominant things on my mind. I'm always thinking about growing my own food one day, and recipes and what I'll cook. I would really like an ice cream maker, a proper food processor, and a pasta press! It'd just be so wonderful to be able to start making even more from scratch. This summer I should hopefully get the opportunity to go to some local farms and pick berries and the like and make some sorbet and pies, etc. Weee.

Hear my train a'comin'

Normally I'd say I can't believe it's April already, but March actually felt like the entirety of the month of March! So I'm just slackin'. I'm also...working full-time again! I know, I know. I got my job back. I'm very thankful, because a source of steady income is quite nice.

To recap on my March goals-

Since I got my job back...I'm pretty much still ruining my hands. Sigh. I try and use cream every night, and it does feel quite nice.

I've been reading more, for sure. I'm still behind on my 1 a month, as I started late, but so long as I get 2 read this month, I'll be caught up. Reading is wonderful.

I've been eating less sugar, although it's not been cut out completely, as I still enjoy making baked goods on occasion. I've always used less sugar than what is called for, though. (1 whole cup sometimes? Jeez.) I have however been using more honey instead and it's nice.

This is back when Mr. T had his haircut. Look at his ridiculously adorable rabbit feet! I have loads of pictures to post, eventually...I promise I'll post more than just my cats, haha.

April goals:

Since my lunch break is now shorter and I can't bike home for lunch anymore, I want to start making myself lunches ahead of time to bring. So far I've just been making peanut butter honey and banana sandwiches with tea and an apple, as it gives me lots of energy for the remainder of the day and is easy to make. But I'd like to take more time on what I bring.

Start trying to practice my guitar...even just fiddling. I had back in January and it's so FUN.

Wake up earlier in the day, more regularly... I struggle with this. So far, I have been waking up earlier just because I have a regular work schedule, and weekends I work at 7am. But it'd be good to be up earlier so I can start my morning earlier and get more done.

Must we do as we're told?

What is this nonsense? For some reason Flickr has blocked a good majority of my photos from the blog, although my setting is still public to everyone. :( What happened? I don't want to redo each blog post...

Israeli couscous cooked in brown sugar and cayenne pepper, cut up peach cooked with raisins and walnuts until soft, bit of corn and green tea.

Baked brussel sprouts and sweet potato fries, sandwich with cooked onion and green pepper, lettuce, salmon burger, mayonnaise, mustard, and easy over egg.

Throw together soup cooked in water and spices with tea and soymilk.

Take off those glasses, let down your hair for me.

I have a whiteboard in my room which is divided into three sections. One has a to-do: section, for tasks/chores, one is my workout regiment, which I'm going to organize by days of the week now, and the last has a daily reminder for drinking at least 2 cups of tea, 3 glasses of water and 2 servings of greens, and then recipes I've chosen to make for the week. So in that way, I will be tracking myself on those things. For here, I figured I'd just write a few easy to accomplish goals, so I could feel like I'm doing something and not make anything stressful or overly eager. There is nothing wrong with big, powerful goals, but I think I'll be more satisfied with small things I know I can do.

1) Since I no longer have a job working with my hands, I'm going to start a new care routine to bring my hands back to a better state. They're by no means horrible, but I want to nurture them a little.

2) Read a book a month. (This has always sorta been an overall goal of mine, but I seem to end up waffling on it and a month will go by and I haven't read...) So far I've read one book this year. D:

3) Cut out white, refined sugar, and start using healthier substitutes. I don't like those fake sugar alternatives. More like - muscovado sugar, brown rice syrup, agave and molasses.

In other news, look how adorable my cats are! Don't be fooled, Mr. T is just stretched out. Buster weighs a lot more.

Song of the day: "Librarian" by My Morning Jacket.

As it goes.

Many more on my flickr.

This was back in November, before Thanksgiving. My fam and I went on a hike outside of town and ate lunch by this river. The height of fall. So beautiful. I wandered on my own for a good hour or more taking photos.

How do...

Mm. Life is a bit...weird, lately. I'm unemployed again... I suppose this gives me time to work on other things. I've boosted my workout regiment again, as of the last two months, and it feels wonderful. I'm hoping to look a bit into non profits around the country, and see what they have to offer/if I find one in which I'm interested/qualified to work for.

I think I should start using this space to help me get more organized with my life. At least, a little bit. I'm going to write a few goals I have each month, and then hopefully at the end of the month, I will have done a few of them or be in the process of working on them. Since it's the last day of this month, I'll wait until March to begin those posts. In the meantime, since I worked with dogs for so long, I've been somewhat daydreaming of owning my own. I wouldn't adopt a dog until I were financially stable and had a place with a yard. These are my two favorite types:

Australian shepherd/blue heeler mix:

Dutch shepherd: