Finding Consonant Resonance

I find it really funny that you can sing for years and then someone ill finally explain a basic concept in a way that really strikes you in a whole new way, and opens up new areas of understanding.

I had a breakthrough this week in my singing because my teacher explained something about consonants and was able to help me feel in in a physical way that I never had before. We were working with a basic warm up which was a closed mouth hum that alternated over the scale degree of a 5th. I had always been told to feel the M consonant buzzing on my lips before and so I dutifully did so. Then my teacher stopped me and asked me to try and feel the buzzing sensation of the consonant in my palate area. 

So I thought about it and experimented and I was able to feel sensation in the areas highlighted in red above. As soon as I did so my resonance opened up and I had considerably more sound with much less effort. When we opened up into other vocal exercises I found that if I could feel the M, N and L buzzing in my soft palate as well as my lips the consonants were consistently clearer to the listener and it helped my voice to be much more easily produced and have more volume and clarity. Through the week I experimented in my speaking voice with using a "Muh" to help me become open and relaxed and well aligned for speaking any time I felt like my voice was getting tense, breathy or difficult to produce, and I noticed significant improvement.

This whole experience was amazing to me. I sometimes think that when we try to explain things we become accustomed to using a certain set of words that eventually become like a short cut to us. We tend to forget that other people are wired differently and don't have the instinctual understanding of what we mean that we have built over time. For them, those words have no meaning. 

I love the title that I came up with for this entry because it feels sometimes like my whole experience of singing is a journey to try to find consonance with myself and resonance with others in a world full of dissonance.

Taco Deli

Ok, I have to say I am a total TacoDeli fan. I tend to like restaurants with really fresh, healthy delicious food that are reasonably priced and not pretentious, and TacoDeli absolutely fits the bill. Above you see the Migas Royal, which is the Saturday special, along with a side of sauteed veggies. The sauteed vegetables are without a doubt the best I have ever had in my life. Fortunately the people are really nice and are willing to answer my questions about why their food is so good. They let me in on the secret of the veggies which I will now pass along.

TacoDeli Veggies

Ingredients:

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup yellow sweet onions chopped fine

1/4 cup chopped zucchini

1/4 cup chopped squash

1/4 cup chopped carrots

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

1/2 cup chopped cabbage (getting a precut slaw mix is a lot easier than chopping up a whole cabbage)

1/4 cup chopped mushrooms (I use baby bella)

2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tblsp cooking sherry (to taste)

salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and saute until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add all the other vegetables and begin to saute. Add cooking sherry as needed for liquid and flavor. Saute until the vegetables are just tender but still have a bit of crunch, about 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper if desired.

These vegetables have a subtle enough taste that they go with just about any dish. I try to use organic vegetables whenever possible because I find they have much more flavor than conventional vegetables. ¡Olé!

Mobile Blogging Test 2

Well, this is the second iPhone application that I am trying out to see if I can use it on the Egypt trip. Once again I am not finding any kind of interface for adding photos. Sigh...

OK for further update this particular program is terrible and I am very frustrated. I may have to transfer my blog to Word Press just so can use their application. Grr...

Jim's Family Cookie Recipe

Cookies are really more of a christmas thing for most people, but for us we bake and ice them year round. My husband collects cookie cutters and he has little boxes of cutters for every season. As we are heading toward Valentine's day that will likely be the next holiday we bake for. These particular pictures are from Thanksgiving two years ago.

Barnes Family Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cup flour (all purpose)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup Sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

We use real shortening from Spectrum Organics with no trans fats, available from Whole Foods. Here is their website with nutritional information. In the 1930's-50's when this recipe was formulated it was before the age of Crisco and this is the closest to what they would have really used. It makes a huge difference in texture of the cookie. They turn out amazingly light and crisp whereas with Crisco or butter you get a lot heavier texture. Not to mention Crisco is something you really don't want to put in your body if you can help it. You do have to throw out the shortening and replace it about once a year because it has a more limited shelf life than Crisco, but it is well worth it.

Directions:
Remove all ingredients from the refigerator and allow to come to room temperature. This is especially important to create the right cookie texture and a dough that is easy to work with. Preheat your oven to 350°. Combine the Flour, salt and Baking Powder and sift into a large bowl. (Yes I know sifting is a real pain, but trust me it makes a difference.) Cream the shortening and sugar together in another bowl and then slowly add the eggs, vanilla, and flour mixture. Carefully blend each ingredient in before adding the next. Chill the dough for about 1 hour before rolling. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness on a marble slab or floured surface. (Be careful of adding to much extra flour or the dough will be stiff.) Cut shapes from the dough and transfer to cookie sheets with a metal spatula. (We prefer Airbake cookie sheets because we find they give the most consistent results. Find them here from Bed, Bath and Beyond.) Then bake the cookies at 350° for 10-15 minutes. Cookies are done when they just begin to turn gold around the edges. It helps to add some little scraps of dough onto the cookie sheets because they will brown faster than the regular cookies and show a better indication of doneness. (Not to mention giving you something to munch on when the cookies come out.)


Powdered Sugar Icing Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
2 teaspoons vanilla
lots of small bowls, butter knives, spoons and food colors

Directions:
Mix all the icing ingredients together until it makes a smooth runny soup. Split up into small bowls and add food coloring. While the icing is wet it will be runny and once it dries it will be hard. While wet you can use a knife to combine different colors of icing for water color or marbled effects. You can also add sprinkles or candies to the wet icing which will adhere when the icing dries. Over the course of working the icing will begin to dry in the bowl. If this happens just add more water until it becomes spreadable again.

And then of course, there is the eating. Enjoy!

Pizza Recipes

Pizza is my husband's favorite food, sans doute. However I find most restaurant pizza tedious at best, and finally last year I determined to learn how to make my own. After all I make bread, surely it cannot be harder than that. And so one day as we were in Bed, Bath, and Beyond I saw a pizza stone. I called my husband over and showed him and he agreed that it would be a fun addition to our kitchen. Then we looked at the price. An entire pizza kit with a stone, carrier and peel was on $14.99. Needless to say we snapped it right up and thus began the odyssey to create perfect pizza.

The following is my favorite crust recipe along with sever of my favorite pizza recipes. The crust recipe was modified from the one on the Whole Foods website, whereas the others are all made up by me.

Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients
1 teaspoon Honey
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 1/4 cups bread flour (or vital gluten flour)
Pinch of sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for coating
Cornmeal as needed

Directions
For the dough, put 3 tablespoons lukewarm (around 100°F) water, honey and yeast in a small bowl, mix well and set aside for 10 minutes. (I use a microwave to warm up the water for 10 seconds and this ends up almost the perfect temperature.)

Meanwhile sift flour and salt together in a large bowl. Place 2 1/4 cups of the flour mixture into a mixing bowl and set remaining flour mixture aside. Mix 1 cup lukewarm water with 3 tablespoons of the oil and set aside. Pour yeast mixture into bowl with 2 1/4 cups of the flour mixture and add 2/3 of the water-oil mixture. Mix well with your hands, adding more of the remaining water-oil and flour mixtures as needed to achieve a soft doughy consistency. Knead for about 10 minutes, adding more of the flour mixture if needed, just until it is no longer sticking to your fingers.

Place in a bowl coated with oil and lightly rub oil over the top of the dough. Cover bowl with a moist towel and set aside in a warm spot to let rise for about 1 1/2 hours. (I set it just beside the oven and tuen the oven on to 200° for about 15 minutes.) Once risen, give one punch to the dough ball, remove from bowl and divide into 3 pieces. Gently roll your dough into a ball, then stretch the top of the ball down and around the rest of the ball, until the outer layer wraps around the other side. Pinch the two ends together to make a smooth ball with a tight outer "skin." Set your ball seam-side down where it can rest. Dust your pizza balls with flour, and store them under a damp towel, in a proofing tray, or under plastic wrap. This will prevent the outside of the ball from drying out and creating a crust, and becoming difficult to work with. The top of the pizza ball should be soft and silky. Allow to rise again for about an hour.

Sprinkle some cornmeal as needed to the working surface to avoid sticking. Pull the dough ball gently out into a disc with your hands. At this point you can pretend you are italian and through the dough up in the air spinning and catching it (if you are coordinated). I usually use a rolling pin to flatten each dough ball as much as possible and to roll each out into a 12-inch circle, sprinkling from time to time with cornmeal. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400°F, with a pizza stone placed in the middle rack. Wait until the pizza stone is thoroughly heated, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle a wooden pizza board lightly with cornmeal and place one 12-inch circle of dough on top. . Place crust on peel and brush top of crust with olive oil. Sprinkle the pizza stone with cornmeal transfer to the hot stone and cook for three minutes. Turn crust and cook for around 3 more minutes or until crust just begins to brown. (I cook my crusts separately before I cover them with ingredients because it helps prevent soggy crust in the middle of the pizza). At this point you can remove the crust add ingredients and cook for 10-15 minutes until browned and bubbling, or cool the crusts and refrigerate or freeze for use later.

Pizza Margherita with Proscuitto
Ingredients:
1/4-1/2 cup fresh mozzarella
1/4-1/2 cup goat mozzarella
1/4-1/2 cup 3 cheese blend (parmesan, romano, and asiago for example)
1 small roma tomato (sliced thinly)
2-3 slices of prosciutto (sliced thin)
1 sprig fresh basil (washed and dried)
1/4 cup spaghetti sauce (I use Mom's organic sauce available at Whole Foods and HEB http://www.foodlocker.com/brands-m-mom-s-spaghetti-sauce-co-.html)
Basil pesto

Directions:
Brush the crust with with olive oil and then with pesto. Cover the crust with a thin layer of Pasta Sauce. Crumble the fresh mozzarella and goat mozzarella over the crust and then fill in the spaces with the three cheese blend. Place the sliced tomato around the crust. Tear the prosciutto into small pieces and place around the crust. Tear the basil into small pieces and sprinkle around the crust. Cook at 400° for 10-15 minutes until the top begins to brown and the cheese is bubbling.

Vegetarian Pizza
Ingredients:
1/4-1/2 cup fresh goat cheese
1/4-1/2 cup goat mozzarella
1/4-1/2 cup 3 cheese blend (parmesan, romano, and asiago for example)
1/4 cup chopped zucchini, squash, onions, mushrooms or other vegetables.
italian sweet pickled peppers
1/4 cup spaghetti sauce (I use Mom's organic sauce available at Whole Foods and HEB http://www.foodlocker.com/brands-m-mom-s-spaghetti-sauce-co-.html)
Basil pesto

Directions:
Brush the crust with with olive oil and then with pesto. Cover the crust with a thin layer of Pasta Sauce. Crumble the fresh goat cheese and goat mozzarella over the crust and then fill in the spaces with the three cheese blend. Place the vegetables around the crust. Tear the sweet peppers into small pieces and place around the crust. Cook at 400° for 10-15 minutes until the top begins to brown and the cheese is bubbling. (The sweet pepper are the secret ingredient to the pizza, without them it is pretty bland.)

Organizing For Small Spaces: Laundry Room

My husband and I own a small house in North Austin that we love dearly. Our house is about 1200 square feet, which should really be enough space for two people; however, we tend to accumulate stuff and so we are always having to pare down and carefully organize so that our lives do not become swamped with clutter. 

We did most of the remodeling on our house ourselves, but after 10 years of work, we finally had a professional company named At Your Service come in and finish the last remaining work about 3 years ago. The best thing we had them do was to close in the part of the garage that used to hold our washer and dryer, and actually turn it into a laundry room. It is so wonderful to have a clean, warm place to do laundry. However, it is a very small room, so we had to come up with some creative ways to to fit everything inside.

We started with a modular shelving system from Lowes that allowed us to have storage space above the washer and dryer and along one wall. Then my amazing husband figured out that we could use the same shelf brackets to hold up laundry baskets (also from Lowes.) We did a test run in the store to make sure the rim of the basket would stay on the bracket. It was very successful, and so we created a double row of hanging baskets which we use to sort the clothes into loads. The baskets are easily removable so they can also be used to carry clean clothes into other rooms. For linen storage, I use boxes from the Container Store for the table linens we use every day, and then on the high shelves above I have space to store my family's prize winning quilts. I also adopted a pretty and useful notion from a set of sheets that I bought, and I now tie my clean sheet sets together with a ribbon which makes them easy to grab and carry into the bedrooms.

Behind the washer and dryer, we added more shelving which allowed us to store laundry soap, cleaning supplies, and the bulk organic liquid soaps and lotions that we use in the kitchen and bathrooms. Then my husband had the second amazing idea to add a hanging bar for clothes drying over the washer and dryer. This was actually very easy because the shelving units from Lowes have an application for closets and so they make clip on units that allow hanging bars to be added directly to the shelf. Having this space for drying works perfectly because the air intake for the house is also in this room so it ends up being one of the driest places in the house. I actually seldom use the dryer, because I find that it is very hard on clothes.

On the third wall we set up a rack that would hold all of our mops and brooms, as well as an ironing board rack. The room is so small that I can't get far enough back to get a picture of this wall. And then we finished out by adding a pocket door to lead into the breakfast nook area, which works perfectly because it doesn't intrude on the eating space when opened. 

The final wall was an odd deep space created by the necessity of carving out a chunk of the room for the water heater closet. We were able to find a deep set of shelves at the container store which is perfect for long boxes which store wrapping paper, and more archival boxes for my wedding dress and some 19th century dresses from my husband's family.

So, one very small space with many useful ideas. I find it amazing how a little creativity can make the most out of great limitations.

 

How to Keep Your Hands From Cracking

I have a terrible problem in winter in Austin with dry skin. My skin will get so dry that it cracks. I put on lotion every time I wash my hands but it just doesn't seem to be enough to keep up with the weather and total lack of humidity.

I finally found a solution through trial and error that really seems to work to keep my skin in good enough condition that it doesn't crack. Right befor I go to bed at night I use a really heavy hand cream. I really like the J.R. Watkins that you can get at Walgreens, Ulta, and I think HEB. It is all natural with a lot of shea butter in it, and does a great job on my skin. Then after a few minutes when the lotion has absorbed I rub a shine serum into my hands. This is actually product that is sold for hair and is mostly silicone derivatives. My favorite is Shikei shine serum from Whole Foods which has silk protein, but the Neutrogena shown here works pretty well. The shine serum locks the moisture into your hands and makes the skin soft and supple. This also works really well for softening callouses.

I usually do this in the morning as well, but you have to be careful not to pick up anything that you like in one piece for about 15-20 minutes until it fully absorbs into your skin, unless you want to destry

Cats for Dummies

About 4 years ago we lost the second of our two cats. Charcoal and Grace had been with us for 16 and 18 years respectively and when Grace finally passed away, it was really hard on us.

But in time I began to heal, and about 6 months later I started wanting kittens. Everywhere I went, I saw kittens. It was like an obsession. However, Jim was very unsure about getting kittens, because he had only ever had cats that people had given him when they were adult.

So we went back and forth for a while, with me wanting and him doubting until finally on one of our trips to the pet store so I could pet the kittens, I hit on the perfect solution. I bought him a book called Kittens for Dummies by Dusty Rainbolt. 

My husband and I are alike in that if you give us a "How To" book, we can rule the world. Now, as cheesy as this book sounds, it actually had some incredible information in it that has really helped us (when we finally did get the kittens) to raise the healthiest, most active, most relationship-oriented cats that we have ever had in either of our lives. And so I'm going to paraphrase some of the most important things we learned from the book, and from Athos and Porthos our two kittens who will be 3 years old in March.

The first and most important thing we learned was what to feed your cat. Cats (unlike humans or dogs) are obligatory carnivores. They cannot eat anything except meat and are used to getting all of their food and water from their kills. The ideal food to feed your cats would be ground up mouse or bird. However, that is not so easy to find unless you make your own (Eeeeuuuuwww!) The second best thing to feed your cats is a combination of wet and dry food with as much protein and as little of anything else as possible. 

However, if you actually go and read the ingredients in most cat food the primary ingredients are usually various types of corn or grains which cats cannot digest. If your cat is eating what he cannot digest it is going to come right out the other end as stinky poop, and you cat is going to put on weight because his body will think he is starving. (This works exactly the same way for humans when we eat a lot of sugar and nutritionally empty carbs.) So my husband and I went on a label reading expedition to the various pet stores and grocery stores to find the highest protein content foods with the least amount of chemical additives. We came up with three options, Purina Pro Plan (not the regular Purina), Eukanuba, and Blue Wilderness that had 40-50 percent protein. A lot of the big name brands like Science Diet, are quite frankly absolute junk, if you stop and read the ingredients.

We started with the Eukanuba when they were kittens and it did really well for us, but then they had the big recall and so we switched to the Purina Pro Plan. They actually like the Pro Plan much better, although we found we had to buy the dry food in small containers because it would actually spoil in the time it took to use a large container and would make them sick at the end. Well, experience has proved very successful. Out of all our friends we have the thinnest, and most active cats for their age (though you couldn't tell that from the pictures I've put up).

The second most important thing we learned was how to communicate with your cat. Cats have a hierarchical society and certain behaviors like staring are dominance behaviors. If you stare at your cat, you are being very rude in cat language. That is why cats will always go over to the person who doesn't like them and isn't looking at them, because that person is actually being polite in cat language. If you do stare at you cat, you can break up your dominance message into one of affection by long slow blinks. These are like kitty kisses (if you have cats, I bet you see them doing this to you). My husband and I tried experimenting by meeting the kittens' eyes from across the room and then doing a series of long slow blinks. Almost every time, the kittens would make little proots of affection and coming running over for attention.

Also, cats usually grow to understand some human words, but "NO" is not one of them. If you want to discourage a bad behavior the best way to do so is to stare furiously at the cat and hiss long and loud. It makes perfect sense, if you think about it, to communicate with them the same way they communicate with each other rather than expecting them to learn our language. After all we do have the bigger brains... I think.

The third tip we picked up that was invaluable was about personal space and relating to young kittens. The book suggested that you never rough house with kittens with your naked hands. You can still play with the cats, but the suggestion was to always use a glove, or play with them under the sheets because that way your kitten only associates naked hands with petting, and never with biting. We have done this and it works like a charm. Our cats may have other bad behaviors, but they never, ever bite, not even when they are under a lot of stress. From experience we also learned that if you let the kitten walk all over you and climb on you when they are young, they will have much less sense of personal space be much more physically affectionate when they are older.

We have also picked up some wonderful ideas for cat grooming and maintenance along the way. We have tried about every type of cat litter and litter alternative in the universe and Fresh Step (the unscented and undyed version is by far the best.) It has almost no odor even when the box is full, and is the closest to what cats are used to using in the wild to bury their poop. Also when it comes to living with cats, on of the best tricks is to gently trim their claws with a nail clipper once a week. If you establish trust early on, this is easy to do when they get in a sleepy mood and can be a great time for petting as well. I think declawing a cat is just cruel. How would you like to have all your fingers amputated at the last joint? Thanks, I'd rather buy new furniture.

And for behavior, cats are smart. I mean really smart. And unlike dogs, they get bored easily, and do not necessarily need your attention. So if you want to play with your cats, you always need to be slightly changing the game to keep it interesting. For example, if they get bored with a toy, take a box an cut some holes in it and but the toy inside it. You can also teach them to do things like fetch little toys or pieces of paper. Dingo kitty treats which are made from dried beef and chicken are great for cat training. We have trained ours so that when we let them outside in the back yard, they will come when they are called.

The last interesting that we learned is that cats tend to be matriarchal. Our kittens have pretty much adopted my husband as their third brother, but they have a much more complex relationship with me because for them I am the one in charge. (Or maybe that is just about me :)

If you have female cats this dominance can become an issue between different female cats, or between cats and humans. Our last two cats were both female and during the 12 years we had them together they barely grew to tolerate each other, and refused to share the same space. It was very sad.

But now we have our mouseketeers and they are absolutely the delight of our lives, and God willing, they will be with us for many years to come.

The Great Yogurt Conspiracy

I don't understand why anyone would buy flavored yogurt at the store. I think plain fat free Horizon Organic yogurt is one of the world's most perfect foods. It has a wonderful, thick, creamy texture with just the perfect amount of tang, and it is absolute comfort food to me.

If I feel like sweetening it, I can easily add a teaspoon full of jam or even better yet lemon curd. You haven't lived until you have tried this yogurt with lemon curd. It is also very easy to add your own fruit, especially in the summer when berries are in season, and you don't get all the sugar and preservatives that are in the flavored yogurt versions. If you want to be shocked and horrified, read the labels and the calorie counts for some of the Dannon or Yoplait "low fat" options. Here is an example from Yoplait light yogurt: Cultured Pasteurized Grade A Nonfat Milk, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Peaches, Modified Cornstarch, Whey Protein Concentrate, Kosher Gelatin, Citric Acid, Tricalcium Phosphate, Aspartame, Potassium Sorbate Added to Mantain Freshness, Natural Flavor, Colored with Annatto Extract, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3. Yikes! I try to never eat High Fructose Corn Syrup, and Aspartame gives me awful headaches and tastes nasty. And why exactly do you need cornstarch and gelatin to thicken yogurt? Did you not make it right?

And last of all there is the price difference. I can pay $.80-1.20 for single flavored 6 oz. packages, or 32 oz tubs at around $3.49. What an easy choice.

Well as an update my friend Melissa turned me on to another fantastic yogurt choice. Fage (pronounced fay-ee) is a greek style yogurt available at HEB and the non fat version is so creamy it literally tastes like pudding. And it has no ingredients except Milk, no additives at all. Fantastic. I still like the bit of citrusy tartness with my Horizon yogurt better, but this is a great option as well especially for cooking I would think.

And here is my current favorite recipe for a quick dip goat cheese and yogurt dip that I made up.

Goat Cheese and Yogurt Dip

Ingredients:

1/4 cup herbed goat cheese (Pure Luck Farms from Whole Foods is my favorite, but Ile de France is good also)

1/4 cut nonfat plain yogurt

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

pinch of paprika

1 tsp lemon juice (to taste)

1 tsp honey (to taste)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and serve with Naan (Tandoori Brand from HEB is delicious) toasted and cut into quarters. Garnish with pomegranate kernels or mint leaves. Can you get any easier than that? And here is a photo of the dip from our last dinner party.

Take a Pinch of Salt and Call me in the Morning

I have struggled with insomnia most of my adult life. Ever since I entered the working world, discovered caffeine, and began bringing my worries home with me I have gone through monthly cycles of waking up between 2-4 in the morning and not being able to get to sleep. 

In the last 2 years however I finally beat this problem. Now it is an incredibly rare event when I cannot get to sleep by following the routine I have developed. In general:

• I pay attention to my caffeine intake. My body is simply much happier if I only have two serving of caffeine a day. It also prefers that I do not drink the second serving after 2:00 in the afternoon. And so I try to pay attention, and give the body what it wants.
• I try to eat a health diet without a lot of highly processed carbs and sugar. The crazy energy cycles that lots of sugar make you go though can really mess up your sleep.
• I pay attention to  my sleep cycles and try to honor them. I spent some time observing them, and realized that I have a typical sleep cycle that starts around 10 and ends at 12-1, I have another that starts around midnight and ends around 2-4, and a third sleep cycle will start around 4:00 and go through 6 or 7. I try very hard to actually go to bed around 10:00 most nights, although I may not go to sleep till around midnight.

Specifically when I get ready to go to bed: 

• About an hour before bed, I start to wind down and try to do less exciting things. A little reading, some browsing, maybe a little watching TV. I try not to do anything that will get too interesting, or get me too emotionally involved. I especially can not work on anything, even something I like, because it will stimulate my brain and make it hard to shut down.
  
• About 30 minutes before bed, I take my multi-vitamin and mineral. Taking a Calcium and Magnesium supplement at night can help with cramps in your muscles and help relax you. Also if you don't get enough vitamin B you will have a hard time with a normal sleep cycle.
• Then I transfer into the bedroom and do all my nightly routine. If I am not slowing down enough by this time, sometimes I will bring out my steamer with a little lavender oil and give myself a five minute facial steaming, or go make a cup of chamomile tea and bring it back to bed.
• Then I head for bed. Once I am in bed, I sit up and drink a half glass of water. Then I take a pinch of salt and let it dissolve slowly on my tongue. This helps me fall asleep better than any medication I have ever tried. I have read numerous theories as to why this works but the one that makes the most sense, is that most of us are dehydrated and that makes it harder to sleep. If you take a tiny amount of salt in with your water right before bed it make you absorb the water faster and be more hydrated. (I do however eat a very low salt diet. Some people with a very high salt diet may find that it is the salt in their diet that is causing the problem)
• Once I take the water and salt, if I am not sleepy immediately and I stay up, I cannot do anything interesting. Deep conversations with my husband, reading or blogging are out. I have found that the best thing to do is something really repetitive like some kinds of prayer or meditation, or even playing a game of solitaire on the iphone. Usually within 15 minutes I am drooping and ready to turn off the light and head for bed.
• If for some reason I can't sleep, I take an inventory of how I feel and try to solve any problems. If you are hungry, need the restroom, are too hot, or too cold you will not be able to sleep. It is better to get back up and solve these problems and then come back and try again.

I think the best idea for insomnia comes from Bing Crosby in the wonderful movie White Christmas when he sings:

When I'm worried and I can't sleep,

I count my blessings instead of sheep,

and I fall asleep counting my blessings.

To conclude, as I sing in Compline every week:

The Lord Almighty grant us a peaceful night, and a perfect end. Amen.

iBlogger for iPhone

I'm experimenting with a new program that will allow me to blog from the iPhone in preparation for going to Egypt.

Right now Jim and I are driving to Hobby Lobby because we are framing pictures and hanging them all over the house.

I can't seem to figure out how to add a picture though, which makes me sad because that will be a necessity in Egypt.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

New Life for Old Roses

Along with my grandmother's Franciscan Desert Rose china came an adorable pair of saltshakers. As I began using the china on a daily basis, I decided I should fill up the shakers and use them as well. However, it was easier said than done. The shakers had small red cork stoppers in their bases that were ancient and crumbling. I managed to get one of them out fairly intact, however the other one pretty much disintegrated. 

So now what? I wondered. Could I carve a new stopper from a wine cork? And so as usual when I have a problem and need a solution, I went to the web in a flurry of searching. Low and behold, after nearly an hour's ceaseless searching I found Rubber Age a small company who has been making lamp parts, cork stoppers and seals for almost 50 years. I sent an email with a photo to Angela Mandic the owner, and found out that this was indeed the company who had made the original stoppers for my china and she was happy to let me order two stoppers by mail. It was really neat to happen upon the original company, almost like a little touch of the past brought into the present.

So yesterday on my trip to Whole Foods I stopped by their bulk spices departments thinking I would quickly pick up some ground sea salt and white pepper to fill up the shakers. Silly me, as I looked around I found that there were dozens of kinds of salt in every color of the rainbow from all around the world. I actually thought for a moment about filling the shaker with pink salt from the Himalayas because it matched the rose color, but then gave myself a good shake and decided that was just too girly even for me.

I finally settled on a fine ground Sel Gris (grey salt) that is hand harvested from the coast of Brittany near the town of Guérande because it reminded me of my trip to Amiens, France in 2007. I found a picture of the marais salant (salt marsh) where the salt is made from Google Earth.

My husband wants to actually put in black salt from Hawaii and white pepper, just to confuse the guests. That is a small sample of my husband's sense of humor.

Vintage Linens

Many years ago my lovely, step-aunt Betty gave me a pillowcase full of vintage linens that she had bought from an antique shop for Christmas, because she knew that my husband and I love antiques and that we were creating a victorian feel for our home (I'm talking true Victorian here, not tea party kitsch, steam punk, or pseudo goth). We pulled them all out and exclaimed over the beautiful cutwork and delicate stitchery, and then after Christmas they went into a box in our laundry room and proceeded to stay there untouched for years. 

This year as I reorganized the laundry room I finally wondered why I had all these beautiful things and was not using them. It is not as if they were heirlooms from my family that I wanted to preserve for generations. They were a gift, and were meant to be loved and shared with others to make our lives more beautiful. And so I brought them out and cleaned them up and began to use them with my grandmother's desert rose china, and the new crystal that my husband and I gave ourselves for Christmas because we had broken the few wineglasses we had. And I realized two things. The first realization is that I love vintage linens. I love the whole process of caring for them, and using them, and enjoying them. And the second realization is I have become a complete girly-girl. 

When Jim and I got married, we laughed at the thought of registering. We were more interested in hardware stores than china stores. Plates from Target seemed just fine for us as long as they held food, and considering how hard I am on breakable things, at least they were easy to replace. I completely blame my mother for girlifying me. For the last couple of years she has been giving me boxes of china, silver tea sets, and the like (mostly to make more space in her own house, I think). Last year we started using them in pure self defense (because they were taking over the entire kitchen and garage) thinking we would break them all soon enough. And then it happened, I was suddenly and irrevocably hooked. sigh...

And so, about the vintage linens. To clean them I either had wash them or use my washer on it's low agitation/delicate cycle. I use a small amount of Woolite in cold water, for the wash and then if necessary I add a small amount of Clorox color safe bleach (peroxide based). I always hang them dry on plastic hangers. Dryers are really hard on clothes in general so anything I care about I tend to hang dry. One wash with this treatment took the linens from yellow to white and took out all the stains except the worst and most persistent.

For those persistent stains I am going to try a treatment that many websites recommend. You dampen the stain area with water first. Then you mix salt and lemon juice together and apply  to the area of the stain and place outside on the grass in the sun for several hours to sun bleach. I will document this process as I do it.

After I wash the linens and before I store them, I iron them so that I can pull them out and use them quickly with minimal work. I prefer to iron linens when they are slightly damp because they get a smoother more polished finish. 

I have several tools that I use when I am ironing. I love Niagra non-aerosol spray starch (the aerosol kind is evil, hard to use, and will leave spots on clothes and linens, just say NO!). I also mix up a spray bottle with filtered water to which I have added a few drops of essential oil of lavender. I used an empty Niagra bottle for the lavender water which worked out perfectly because it is a very attractive heavy weight bottle with an easily removed label and an excellent non clogging sprayer. In addition to these I like to have a regular bottle of drinking water close at hand so I can both take a sip if I get hot from the iron and refill the iron when it runs out of water.

I always iron linens on the highest steam setting. Anything that is linen or cotton (unless extremely fragile) responds better to high heat and steam. If I am working with a non natural fabric, then I keep the heat low and rely on spraying the lavender water to help create steam. I usually only use the lavender water on napkins and tablecloths, but I will add a little starch to place mats and runners for a smoother more polished finish. Starch will yellow linens over time, and so I don't use it on anything that I am storing for a long period, only on the pieces I use frequently. Also, I do not press folds into my napkins with the iron because this can weaken the fibers along the fold, but rather press them flat and then hand fold them and gently press the folds in with my fingers.

For linen storage, the optimal container is an acid free cardboard box with acid free tissue. You can buy kits at the container store or from www.lightimpressionsdirect.com for this kind of storage, and I use it for my family's prizewinning quilts and the really special things. For my frequent use linens I use plastic storage boxes lined with acid free tissue. Storing linens in plastic can develop moisture and mold problems and so I leave the linens out for several hours after ironing to make sure they are completely dry. I also make small sachets of lavender in cheese cloth to add into the boxes both for sent and to repel insects. Just cut a circle fine woven cheese cloth, add a teaspoon of lavender blossoms, and then use a scrap of ribbon to tie it closed.

When I get ready to use the linens, they usually come out of the box ready to go on the table. I may have to press a few fold marks out of table cloths, but it is usually pretty minor. And so they come out in all their glory, and give a wonderful grace and old world elegance to any meal. 

A Trip to Egypt

Well after resting most of yesterday I went into full productivity mode today. I made a lot of appointments, and got the Prius inspected to make sure it wasn't hurt from the tiny fender bender I had last week. Everything looked fine except for the license plate which was slightly bent. Hopefully the other car will also have minor damage as well.

We got really exciting news today that we are confirmed going to Egypt in March and I can't wait. And on that note, here is a recipe for Moroccan chicken that I adapted from a Whole Food Recipe for Cornish game hens. 

Moroccan Chicken

Ingredients:

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon brown sugar

6 chicken breasts cut thin

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup white wine

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons dark honey

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

lemon slices

Directions:

Combine spices and brown sugar and coat chicken breasts with spice mixture. Place in cooking pan and drizzle with olive oil lemon juice and garlic. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake the breasts for 15 minutes to brown, then remove from oven and drizzle with white wine. Return the breasts to the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes until the breasts fall easily off a fork when speared and lifted.

Allow the breasts to rest in a covered serving dish while making the sauce. Collect the pan juices and place in a small saucepan with the butter honey and cinnamon. Stir until melted and combined. Simmer for about 5 minutes until sauce is slightly thickened and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the chicken breasts either drizzled with the sauce or with the sauce on the side and garnish with lemon slices.

Tri-Colored Grapes with Pomegranate, Honey and Mint

I finally got the house cleaned up from the production meeting on Sunday. Sometimes I can't believe how much fabric, and how many costumes I have until they all come out and get strewn around the floor. I have an audition tonight at 7:00 and then I will be back at work cleaning up the music room to get ready for this busy spring.

And so to celebrate here is another recipe from the Sunday night shindig. The Tri-Colored grapes I just made up because I wanted a way to enjoy eating pomegranate and I find them overpowering juiced, or by themselves. 

Tri-Color Grapes with Pomegranate, Honey and Mint

Ingredients:

1 medium bunch green seedless grapes

1 medium bunch red seedless grapes

1 medium bunch black seedless grapes or merlot grapes

1 medium pomegranate

1-2 tsp honey

1-2 sprigs of spearmint

Directions:

Wash the grapes an separate all the grapes from the stem. Cut open the pomegranate and remove all the red kernels by hand discarding the white pith. Wash kernels and combine with the grapes in a large bowl. Add 1-2 tsp of local honey to sweeten to taste. Tear up the mint into small pieces and add to the bowl. Stir and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving for the flavors to meld.

Seven Vegetable CousCous with Yogurt Garlic Sauce

We had a lovely girls night out last night to come up with ideas for costumes with an asian/indian/middle eastern for the upcoming Baron's Men production of the Tempest. And so of course I had to cook an appropriately middle eastern inspired feast with some of my current favorite recipes. Here is a recipe for 7 Vegetable Couscous that makes a delicious side dish or vegetarian main course along with a Yogurt Garlic Sauce that is very easy and delicious. 

Couscous Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large yellow onion, minced

4 large garlic cloves, smashed and minced

2 1/4 cup chicken (or vegetable stock for vegetarians)

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup butternut squash, diced to half inch cubes

1 medium yellow squash, diced to half inch cubes

1 medium zucchini, diced to half inch cubes

1 can garbanzo beans, drained

1 teaspoon hot Madras powder

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup diced seeded plum tomatoes

3/4 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous

CousCous Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a very large skillet or dutch oven over low heat. Add the onions and garlic, cover and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the stock and the next eight ingredients to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 5 minutes until vegetables are crisp tender. Mix in tomatoes, peas, cilantro and then couscous. Turn off heat and cover. Allow to rest ten minutes until the couscous has plumped. Fluff couscous with a fork, transfer to serving dish and garnish with lemon wedges.

Yogurt Garlic Sauce Ingredients

1 cup plain, organic, fat free yogurt ( I highly recommend Horizon brand for excellent flavor)

juice of 1 small lemon, (Meyer lemons are the best, but any will work)

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed or minced

1/4 tsp sea salt

pinch of paprika

pinch of sugar

pinch of white pepper

Sauce Directions

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Place in a  small, covered container and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. Allow to come to room temperature before serving. Serve with warmed Naan bread (Tandori brand from Whole foods or HEB is excellent) and 7 Vegetable couscous.

The Eternal Battle of the Nose

I am a singer, and one of the downsides of that particular profession is that when you are sick, life is pretty unbearable. We singers tend to have a deep spiritual and emotional connection to our voices and when we are sick and can't sing we not only have physical misery, but also emotional, spiritual, and financial misery.

Needless to say we will do almost anything not to get sick, or to get over being sick quickly. This can lead down some dangerous paths of overuse of antibiotics and steroids. Having been down that path myself and gotten myself in big trouble, I'd like to offer some alternatives.

To begin with let me offer my experience. I got a small cold in in December of 2008. It was the first time I had had a cold in a year and a half, because I have several good habits that help me not get sick.

• When I was in school, I didn't care what I ate or how I took care of myself and I was sick almost every other month for weeks at a time. When I decided to fix my overall health habits, that pattern stopped almost immediately.  Now I eat mostly organic, and I read the labels on everything I eat to find alternatives with as few manmade chemicals as possible. If you put crap in your body you are taking away one of its greatest resources for fighting diseases.
• I take a multi vitamin and a mineral supplement every day. The mineral supplement is particularly important because there are some really interesting studies that show that supplementing selenium, magnesium, and chromium in your diet can actually help prevent you from catching viruses. 
• I wash my hands obsessively. Most mothers teach their kids to wash their hands before every meal and after going to the bathroom, well I have also started washing my hands every time I return to the house from errands or after being in a group of people. That was actually how I caught my cold this December because we did a performance and every one was hugging on me and spreading their germs. I was so tired that night that I forgot to wash my hands afterward and sure enough I was sick a few days later.
• I keep a hand sanitizer in my car, and use it whenever I get in my car. 
• I always wear a scarf around my neck. The winters in Texas are this bizarre bipolar weather that can be cold one minute and hot the next so I am forever are trying to adjust clothing layers to be comfortable. I have found that a scarf is the one accessory that keeps me warmer than anything else, both in winter and in crazy summer air conditioning.
• I alway carry kleenexes. Nothing is asking for germ trouble like not having a kleenex when you need it and trying to find some way to wipe your nose.

OK so if in spite of all this I do get sick, here is how I deal with it in a more natural but very effective way.

• As soon as I feel anything wonky going on in my nose or throat, which is usually a day or two before the real symptoms start, I immediately start using Zycam (or Zinc Losenges) and taking Echinacea/Goldenseal extract. I usually make a cup of green tea and add the recommended dose of the Echinacea with some Agave nectar, Stevia, or local honey to cut the bitterness. I'll do these two things this morning and evening.
• A day or so later when the real symptoms start I pull out all the stops. I continue to use the Zycam twice a day for the first couple of days of the symptoms, but then stop because it is most effective right at the beginning. I usually use Dayquil and NyQuil for the bulk of the symptoms because I haven't found a more natural alternative; however, I supplement with several natural products that I get from Whole Foods. 
• For a sore throat my best remedy is Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat Tea. It has a pretty strong Licorice flavor, but the slippery elm and other herbs it contains are a godsend to a stressed voice. Also instead of cough drops I use Spicy Apple Ginger Chews available from Whole Foods or at www.gingerpeople.com. These are amazing. First of all they taste fantastic. Second the ginger in them will completely clear your head and bring extra blood flow for healing into your throat with numbing/tingling effect that helps to relieve soreness. Third they won't dry out your mouth like regular cough drops. I had to sing two weekends of full day rehearsals while I was sick in December and the combination of the Ginger chews and Throat Coat saved my voice, and actually let me be a valuable contributor in spite of my sickness. I also got almost everyone in the San Antonio Chamber Choir addicted to the ginger chews because they work so well.
• In about 3 or 4 days my symptoms will usually start to wane. If I develop a cough I know that I am in the clear. To treat the cough I use Naturade Sugar Free Cough Syrup. Not only does it taste considerable better than normal cough syrups, it also contains Licorice and Horehound which have been treatments for colds from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. I will also continue to use the Dayquil/Nyquil if the cough is really bad because the Naturade is herbal and will not have a drug interaction with the Nyquil.
• If my symptoms start to wane but then come back and my head starts getting really stuffed with very thick mucus I know I am headed for the land of sinus infection unless I can head it off. I stop taking the Dayquil/Nyquil and take Guaifenesin with a lot of water instead to help keep the mucus liquid. I start using a Nasal Spray by NutriBiotic that contains Grape Seed extract as many times a day as the directions allow. Grape Seed extract is a fantastic antibacterial and irrigating the nasal passages helps loosen things up and keep everything moist. Then I take a facial steamer from Walgreens and add water and a couple of drops of Tea Tree oil and inhale the vapor every day for at least 15 minutes. Tea Tree oil is another great antibacterial agent, and breathing it in with hot steam clears my head and provides a tremendous amount of relief. 

By doing this regime, I was able to keep my December cold from becoming a sinus infection and also maintain my voice well enough that I could sing through it without hurting myself.

Lemon Curd in Pictures, Part 2: The Cooking

Kitchen SetUp: 

• I put kitchen towels down on both side of the counter for several reasons. Lemon curd is sticky and hard to get off the counters. Also the jars are wet when they come out of the canning bath and can slip around. Also you can use the towel to protect your hands from heat. 
• Spoon holders are a must. Lemon curd is sticky, I cant emphasize that enough.
• I keep the tongs and canning tools as close to the canning bath as possible, and put the jars and rings and vinegar for wiping on the other side where I'll be ladling into jars.
  
• I usually make two triple batches of curd at once (about 8 or 9 8 oz jars). I have tried 3 simultaneous batches and it is just too much multitasking. I have also tried quadrupling the recipe but I have found that if you try to make more than a triple batch in one pot it just doesn't set up right.

Stove SetUp: 

• Here is a close up view of the stove set up. My two batches are going merrily on the left, while my canning bath with jars is boiling away on the right and my sauce pot with lids is on low heat. I am actually right about to start ladling into jars which is why the lids are heating. I typically don't put them on the stove till the curd starts to thicken. 

Consistency of Curd when ready: 

• This was the hardest thing for me to learn, when the curd is ready to put into jars. It should be a thick custard-like consistency. When you stir it it will leave traces which will take a while to incorporate. Also if you dribble it back into the pot you will see traces like the picture above which will take time to reincorporate.
• It will also coat the back of the spoon in a thick coating as in the picture below. One sure sign that you are close to ready is if you spoon begins to stick to your spoon rest when you put it down.

Filling the Jars: 

• I have a couple ways that I have done this. Here you see me using a ladle to fill the jars. It works but has a tendency to dribble so be sure to wipe your rims before putting on the lids.
• I have also poured the whole pot of lemon curd into a large pyrex measuring cup and then used it to pour into the jars, or just poured from the pot itself on small enough batches. The pyrex measuring cup with spout was the least messy. I am looking forward to getting my canning set which includes a funnel.

Burping the Jars: 

• Take a butter knife and stick it down to the bottom of the jar in a couple of places to release any trapped air bubbles.
• This is not as obligatory with Lemon Curd as it is with Jam and Jellies because Lemon Curd tends to be thinner and not trap air bubbles. However best to do it, just to be safe.

Wiping the Rims: 

• Using plain white vinegar on a clean cloth wipe the rims to make sure no residue or grease is on them.

Placing the Lids: 

• Using tongs or a magnet stick pull the lids out of the hot water and gently shake off extra drops.
• Handle the lids by the extreme edges and try not to touch the plastic seal as you place them on the jars.

Placing  the Rims: 

• Gently screw on the rims, and take care because the jar will be almost too hot to touch. Screw the rims on until tight.
• Don't force the rims or over tighten them because this will prevent the seal from forming.

Processing the Jars:

• Place the jars in the canning bath on the rack amid try to make them not touch each other.
• Bring the water to a boil and boil 1o minutes.
• Remove the Jars and place on towers to dry.
• You should head each lid pop as the vacuum begins to form. This will take several minutes. Do not touch the lids or jars or play with them in any way during this time

Labeling the Jars: 

• After the jars have formed a vacuum, you can dry them off and label them.
• I use a full sheet label though my printer with a 12 to a page template that I have created and then cut the individual labels out with scissors and stick them on. I will put the template up soon as a .pdf file and have a link to it here.
• You can also tie a small ribbon around each jar for a beautiful presentation.
• The foldable divider that comes in the package when you buy the jars can be placed inside a decorated basket to provide a great way to protect the jars in transit.