I have always been obsessed with arts & crafts, stuff I can create with my hands, but lately it is getting ridiculous. I recently checked out a few (bajillion) books from the West Seattle library about screen printing, knit toys and home dyeing using sustainable methods.
The amazing book describing the latter is by an amazing woman named India Flint and her book is called Eco Colour: botanical dyes for beautiful textiles. I do not want to give this book back, no joke. It describes easy methods for using common weeds, compost, fallen leaves and branches to create incredibly vibrant colors and stunning designs. Since picking the book up at the library last Monday, almost every thing I see (grass, dandelions, ivy, dirt, old rusty pieces of metal, tulips) I want to slip into my giant bag and take home with me to experiment with. I find myself imagining various concoctions and wondering what the resulting colors would be. I have secretly been trying to find an old t-shirt of Remy's to experiment with, but unfortunately we got rid of all of our old clothes before moving back from France.
And then I got the perfect excuse: our good friends' Sam & Mariah up in Bellingham have the most adorable almost-two-year-old on the planet, and his birthday is coming up. I know it is an ambitious project, but I have decided to try to knit him two stuffed animals from hand-dyed yarn; a monkey (because that is his favorite animal right now) and a lion (because it is my favorite animal right now). I have a pattern for a bear family, and I figure that a monkey is just a bear with a tail and a lion is just a bear with a mane. We'll see if I'm right.
The first step, however, is choosing yarn and colors. The ladies at Seattle Yarn up on California in West Seattle were very helpful in showing me the organic options available today, and the yarn I ended up choosing is Lion Brand Yarn Organic Cotton. I chose this for its softness; because when choosing cotton, especially for anything children will touch, organic is the only way to go (conventionally-grown cotton takes up about 2% of crops world-wide, but uses 25% of the pesticides and insecticides used annually in the world and 5 of the top 9 pesticides used on cotton in the US are known carcinogens.); because there were no colors added - there were a few colors possible, from white to off-white to tan, all just from varieties in the natural color of cotton; and last but certainly not least, because it wasn't made in China (it's grown in Peru).
The colors I decided to try to concoct in my kitchen are a nice deep brown for the monkey and a nice golden yellow for the lion. I am in the middle of brewing / concocting right now and am so excited to show you the results!! Check back soon for an update!!!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
on chickens and oatmeal cookies and freedom.
So this guy comes in to work the other day. He had a backpack and a whole bunch of junk in his hands he throws down on the counter, including a giant clipboard. Some part of me thinks to myself "Oh great, another guy with a petition. Don't talk to him too much or he'll try to get you to sign something."
He just wants some food. A slice of pumpkin bread and an oatmeal cookie. It's when I'm ringing him up that I get a good look at his petition sheet. It's one of those intense animal rights activist forms, with pictures of chickens cramped in cages and such. I like leading by example, personally. I'm not the biggest fan of violent tactics (and I personally think bloody pictures or videos of pigs being slammed into the ground or shot in the head with spikes or whatever is pretty violent... for a peaceful message - i.e. be kind to animals - it's an odd way of making your point in my mind), but I figure, hey. We're on the same side here. Usually animal rights activists love to hear about you being vegan.
So I casually mention, "Well hey, the only vegan food item we've got here is the molasses cookie, but it's damn good. Want me to switch out your outmeal for the molasses?"
He makes some comment about how molasses is gross and says he'll just go with what he ordered. On a for here plate so as to not create waste, of course. BUT he wants a copy of his receipt. No saving trees there. (I watched him later throw these away.)
As I'm swiping his debit card I look down and see the pictures of the chickens and I jokingly say, "I still can't believe you didn't go with the vegan cookie, man. I mean you're here for animal rights, with pictures of chickens, and you go ordering Starbucks oatmeal cookies and their corporate eggs?"
He looks up at me, straight in the eyes, totally 100% serious and he says, "There are eggs in this?"
(beat)
(another beat)
(not sure how to respond)
Part of me is thinking "He's got to be joking." But he's not. Has he never made a cookie before? Has he never seen anyone make a cookie before? Is he really trying to get people to sign something against hurting chickens and he doesn't know that caged chicken eggs are in cookies? Especially big chain processed foods cookies?
He seems really upset about this. He all of a sudden wants to change his order. Switch out the oatmeal cookie for another slice of pumpkin bread. My mouth drops. My coworker slides up next to me and states in the perfect tone, "Ummm those have eggs in them, too, you know?" (Thank god for Nick sometimes, seriously.) He is outraged. Eggs in bread?!!! "Is this a common thing?" he wants to know. Well, usually not in standard bread (although there's almost always milk products), but sometimes, yes. But this is a pumpkin loaf. It's basically cake, but with a sly name that gets you to think it's healthier than it is. Almost all of the food items sold at Starbucks have either eggs or milk products in them. "Oh, well it's not the milk industry I'm up against. I trust those guys. It's the egg industry that's truly evil."
No words. I guess in the animal rights world some animals are worth sparing pain more than others. Whatever. Animal rights is not why I'm vegan. Let's not go there.
I apologize for our products having eggs in them. Ask him if he wants a refund. He looks around at the other customers, then back at me. No. He just wants another slice of pumpkin loaf. "I mean, it's bread. It's got to have less eggs than the cookie." He covers up his petition with his jacket and walks over to the corner table, scarfs it down and leaves in a hurry.
This might sound weird, a vegan dogging on an animal rights activist. But it's not about the cause. It's about integrity. If you want to get passionate about something, especially something radical, DO IT! Educate yourselves and then yeah, spread the word! Educate others! But don't go out and force intense ideas on other people, trying to change their minds and behavior about something as big as what we put into our bodies on a daily basis when you don't even understand the basic fundamentals. It is hypocritical and it is dangerous. Don't sell shit you don't know how to work yourself, you know what I mean? That's why we all secretly hate the slick salesmen. Because they pitch us shit we know they'd never use personally. It's sad that activism has come to that, too.
And it's sad that our solution is not to change our actions or even - gasp! - the system, but instead to make ourselves feel better. We learn "eggs are bad" and we agree. We want to do something about this terrible outrage. But then instead of opting to not eat eggs anymore, we choose the product with "less eggs" or "cage-free eggs" (which means absolutely nothing... it is a piss-poor excuse of a step in any direction and the fact that people buy into it is so laughable it makes me want to cry inside a little bit) not because it actually makes a difference (it doesn't) but because it makes our conscience feel better about it. We can say "this egg came from a free chicken" and we picture in our minds a happy chicken scratching away for worms in the sunshine somewhere next to a picturesque red barn or maybe a water-soaked wheelbarrow even though 90% of us have never seen a real live chicken in our entire life.
We have become so far removed from our food and what's in it and where it comes from that feeding ourselves has become totally and completely controlled by media and advertising. It's crazy!! So break free, my friends! Educate yourselves! Take a second to read one of those ridiculously long novel-like labels on your favorite foods and be amazed! Be appalled! Be moved! And please, above all else, don't be a hypocrite!
He just wants some food. A slice of pumpkin bread and an oatmeal cookie. It's when I'm ringing him up that I get a good look at his petition sheet. It's one of those intense animal rights activist forms, with pictures of chickens cramped in cages and such. I like leading by example, personally. I'm not the biggest fan of violent tactics (and I personally think bloody pictures or videos of pigs being slammed into the ground or shot in the head with spikes or whatever is pretty violent... for a peaceful message - i.e. be kind to animals - it's an odd way of making your point in my mind), but I figure, hey. We're on the same side here. Usually animal rights activists love to hear about you being vegan.
So I casually mention, "Well hey, the only vegan food item we've got here is the molasses cookie, but it's damn good. Want me to switch out your outmeal for the molasses?"
He makes some comment about how molasses is gross and says he'll just go with what he ordered. On a for here plate so as to not create waste, of course. BUT he wants a copy of his receipt. No saving trees there. (I watched him later throw these away.)
As I'm swiping his debit card I look down and see the pictures of the chickens and I jokingly say, "I still can't believe you didn't go with the vegan cookie, man. I mean you're here for animal rights, with pictures of chickens, and you go ordering Starbucks oatmeal cookies and their corporate eggs?"
He looks up at me, straight in the eyes, totally 100% serious and he says, "There are eggs in this?"
(beat)
(another beat)
(not sure how to respond)
Part of me is thinking "He's got to be joking." But he's not. Has he never made a cookie before? Has he never seen anyone make a cookie before? Is he really trying to get people to sign something against hurting chickens and he doesn't know that caged chicken eggs are in cookies? Especially big chain processed foods cookies?
He seems really upset about this. He all of a sudden wants to change his order. Switch out the oatmeal cookie for another slice of pumpkin bread. My mouth drops. My coworker slides up next to me and states in the perfect tone, "Ummm those have eggs in them, too, you know?" (Thank god for Nick sometimes, seriously.) He is outraged. Eggs in bread?!!! "Is this a common thing?" he wants to know. Well, usually not in standard bread (although there's almost always milk products), but sometimes, yes. But this is a pumpkin loaf. It's basically cake, but with a sly name that gets you to think it's healthier than it is. Almost all of the food items sold at Starbucks have either eggs or milk products in them. "Oh, well it's not the milk industry I'm up against. I trust those guys. It's the egg industry that's truly evil."
No words. I guess in the animal rights world some animals are worth sparing pain more than others. Whatever. Animal rights is not why I'm vegan. Let's not go there.
I apologize for our products having eggs in them. Ask him if he wants a refund. He looks around at the other customers, then back at me. No. He just wants another slice of pumpkin loaf. "I mean, it's bread. It's got to have less eggs than the cookie." He covers up his petition with his jacket and walks over to the corner table, scarfs it down and leaves in a hurry.
This might sound weird, a vegan dogging on an animal rights activist. But it's not about the cause. It's about integrity. If you want to get passionate about something, especially something radical, DO IT! Educate yourselves and then yeah, spread the word! Educate others! But don't go out and force intense ideas on other people, trying to change their minds and behavior about something as big as what we put into our bodies on a daily basis when you don't even understand the basic fundamentals. It is hypocritical and it is dangerous. Don't sell shit you don't know how to work yourself, you know what I mean? That's why we all secretly hate the slick salesmen. Because they pitch us shit we know they'd never use personally. It's sad that activism has come to that, too.
And it's sad that our solution is not to change our actions or even - gasp! - the system, but instead to make ourselves feel better. We learn "eggs are bad" and we agree. We want to do something about this terrible outrage. But then instead of opting to not eat eggs anymore, we choose the product with "less eggs" or "cage-free eggs" (which means absolutely nothing... it is a piss-poor excuse of a step in any direction and the fact that people buy into it is so laughable it makes me want to cry inside a little bit) not because it actually makes a difference (it doesn't) but because it makes our conscience feel better about it. We can say "this egg came from a free chicken" and we picture in our minds a happy chicken scratching away for worms in the sunshine somewhere next to a picturesque red barn or maybe a water-soaked wheelbarrow even though 90% of us have never seen a real live chicken in our entire life.
We have become so far removed from our food and what's in it and where it comes from that feeding ourselves has become totally and completely controlled by media and advertising. It's crazy!! So break free, my friends! Educate yourselves! Take a second to read one of those ridiculously long novel-like labels on your favorite foods and be amazed! Be appalled! Be moved! And please, above all else, don't be a hypocrite!
Monday, May 2, 2011
tap into it!
I know I have already tried to make all y'all watch this, but I really do strongly believe this is the best commercial ever made. Ever. And it's for a good cause. So watch it again, y'all!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
CABD
So while I feel that bus drivers in general tend to fall under the "quite a character" category (who knows, maybe it's one of the qualifications or in the job description), there is a certain driver on the 125 route from downtown Seattle to Burien and vice versa that is for serious crazier than a shithouse rat. (Ten points to whoever gets that reference, by the way.)
Tonight on my bus ride home from downtown was my second encounter and it was equally terrifying/entertaining as the first, so I thought I'd get a running list going on of some of the crazy ass shit that comes out of his mouth. He may have one of the coolest 'staches around (which makes him look strikingly like a walrus), but my oh my is he batty. I don't usually like swearing on this blog, but holy mother this guy is effing insane.
Run-in #1:
(A Saturday night, 9pm-ish, on my way up to the Shanty Tavern on Lake City Way to see my friend Sam play his last gig with his group before they break up. By myself. Just finished talking to my sister about going out alone in sketchy areas as a single female.)
[Bus pulls up. I get on & flash my Orca card.]
Me: Hi there.
Crazy Ass Bus Driver (CABD): Do you know where the 120 is? (Another route that runs by my house to/from downtown.)
Me: Umm, nope.
CABD: Me neither, but everyone keeps asking me, like I'm supposed to know every goddamn bus route on the road tonight.
Me: [I look around at "everyone", which seems to be two timid Latino girls.] Hmm.
CABD: Probably just got held up somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if the same shit that happened last night happened again tonight. You know?
[Beat. I ponder this. He keeps turning his head to look at me, to see if I'm interested. I bite.]
Me: So... what happened last night?
CABD: Oh, two stabbings up on Delridge, right near the community college.
(This is like half a mile from my house, even less from the stop where he just picked me up. I suddenly remember I forgot to lock the back door & realize I am screwed if I want to come home early; Remy doesn't get off work until 11pm, & I certainly don't want to go back home & walk around Delridge by myself.)
Me: Hmm.
[Long beat.]
CABD: [turns his head toward me again] You smell amazing. What fragrance is that?
Me: Ummm, hunh?!
CABD: What perfume are you wearing?
Me: [realizing he's totally serious] Well actually, it's slightly embarassing & you won't believe it, but it's Paris Hilton.
CABD: Well hot damn! Now there's somebody I'd like to see run for president, you know? She'd sure give that Sarah Palin a run for her money!
Me: Umm ok! Have a good night! [runs off bus terrified]
Run-in #2:
(Saturday night, 10:30-ish. I'm on my way home from work, heading back towards White Center from downtown. The bus is late. The 120 is right behind the 125. As I get on, CABD is in the middle of a heated conversation with a random passenger it appears sat in the "hot seat" by accident and is now nodding & smiling at the verbal diarrhea projectile vomiting from CABD's mouth. Here are some verbatim quotes that I had seared into my brain. I have no context & have no idea what they were talking about prior to my entrance on said bus, but somehow this guy seems to start conversations in the middle, if you get what I mean. It seems there rarely is context.)
CABD: Well, I think we need more human sacrifice, you know? There are like three different ways to kill a guy, then throw 'im in a bog up in Canada somewhere. Dig 'im up eight months later and we're all saved, you know what I mean?
Random Guy: Mmm-hmm.
....
(Bus stops at the last downtown stop. No one gets on. The 120 is right behind us & everyone flocks to hop on.)
CABD: Everyone always wants the damn 120!! What's so special about the 120, hunh?
...
CABD: That earthquake's coming and it's gonna be about a 9 and all these buildings here in downtown, they're only ready for an 8... All the Native Americans are still talking about the last one, and it was like 400 years ago... It's gonna be really messy, man... When it starts shaking there's this process called liquefaction that happens and basically everything solid turns liquid. All this land's gonna turn to quicksand & we're gonna be in deep shit... When you hear them tellin' you to have enough water & food for three days, that's what they're talking about man, but they don't want the public to get all worked up about it. (At this point, the random guy gets off the bus, and CABD keeps talking as if he is still there.) Three days? When this shit happens, three days ain't gonna cover it. [laughs, shaking his head] Three days?
...
(We pass a billboard for some new Jalepeno chicken sandwich thing at McDonalds. There is NO one at the front of the bus.)
CABD: Mmmm!!! SPI-SAY!!!!
Tonight on my bus ride home from downtown was my second encounter and it was equally terrifying/entertaining as the first, so I thought I'd get a running list going on of some of the crazy ass shit that comes out of his mouth. He may have one of the coolest 'staches around (which makes him look strikingly like a walrus), but my oh my is he batty. I don't usually like swearing on this blog, but holy mother this guy is effing insane.
Run-in #1:
(A Saturday night, 9pm-ish, on my way up to the Shanty Tavern on Lake City Way to see my friend Sam play his last gig with his group before they break up. By myself. Just finished talking to my sister about going out alone in sketchy areas as a single female.)
[Bus pulls up. I get on & flash my Orca card.]
Me: Hi there.
Crazy Ass Bus Driver (CABD): Do you know where the 120 is? (Another route that runs by my house to/from downtown.)
Me: Umm, nope.
CABD: Me neither, but everyone keeps asking me, like I'm supposed to know every goddamn bus route on the road tonight.
Me: [I look around at "everyone", which seems to be two timid Latino girls.] Hmm.
CABD: Probably just got held up somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if the same shit that happened last night happened again tonight. You know?
[Beat. I ponder this. He keeps turning his head to look at me, to see if I'm interested. I bite.]
Me: So... what happened last night?
CABD: Oh, two stabbings up on Delridge, right near the community college.
(This is like half a mile from my house, even less from the stop where he just picked me up. I suddenly remember I forgot to lock the back door & realize I am screwed if I want to come home early; Remy doesn't get off work until 11pm, & I certainly don't want to go back home & walk around Delridge by myself.)
Me: Hmm.
[Long beat.]
CABD: [turns his head toward me again] You smell amazing. What fragrance is that?
Me: Ummm, hunh?!
CABD: What perfume are you wearing?
Me: [realizing he's totally serious] Well actually, it's slightly embarassing & you won't believe it, but it's Paris Hilton.
CABD: Well hot damn! Now there's somebody I'd like to see run for president, you know? She'd sure give that Sarah Palin a run for her money!
Me: Umm ok! Have a good night! [runs off bus terrified]
Run-in #2:
(Saturday night, 10:30-ish. I'm on my way home from work, heading back towards White Center from downtown. The bus is late. The 120 is right behind the 125. As I get on, CABD is in the middle of a heated conversation with a random passenger it appears sat in the "hot seat" by accident and is now nodding & smiling at the verbal diarrhea projectile vomiting from CABD's mouth. Here are some verbatim quotes that I had seared into my brain. I have no context & have no idea what they were talking about prior to my entrance on said bus, but somehow this guy seems to start conversations in the middle, if you get what I mean. It seems there rarely is context.)
CABD: Well, I think we need more human sacrifice, you know? There are like three different ways to kill a guy, then throw 'im in a bog up in Canada somewhere. Dig 'im up eight months later and we're all saved, you know what I mean?
Random Guy: Mmm-hmm.
....
(Bus stops at the last downtown stop. No one gets on. The 120 is right behind us & everyone flocks to hop on.)
CABD: Everyone always wants the damn 120!! What's so special about the 120, hunh?
...
CABD: That earthquake's coming and it's gonna be about a 9 and all these buildings here in downtown, they're only ready for an 8... All the Native Americans are still talking about the last one, and it was like 400 years ago... It's gonna be really messy, man... When it starts shaking there's this process called liquefaction that happens and basically everything solid turns liquid. All this land's gonna turn to quicksand & we're gonna be in deep shit... When you hear them tellin' you to have enough water & food for three days, that's what they're talking about man, but they don't want the public to get all worked up about it. (At this point, the random guy gets off the bus, and CABD keeps talking as if he is still there.) Three days? When this shit happens, three days ain't gonna cover it. [laughs, shaking his head] Three days?
...
(We pass a billboard for some new Jalepeno chicken sandwich thing at McDonalds. There is NO one at the front of the bus.)
CABD: Mmmm!!! SPI-SAY!!!!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
houses, promotions & life - oh my!
Well time just flies by, doesn't it?
I can hardly believe it, but somehow in the craze of moving to our own place, getting jobs and starting our new life as young adults in Seattle (& all that jazz!), free time just went out the window. Not only did I somehow miss the one-year countdown mark (I currently only have 340 days left!!! How is that possible???) but this is the first time EVER I have been behind in the percentage race (where I have more time complete than tasks - eek!!!)!!!
So for those of you who follow, here's the Cliff's Note version of life with the Coutarels these days:
A VERY long time ago (we were still crashing with Mama Smith in Bellevue at the time) we were invited over to the Nesteroff's and made some HOMEBREW!!! They were amazingly nice, gave us a sweet Homebrew book and explained it all. It's super fascinating & I've been meaning to do a full-on post just on the process, but since I'm sure I won't get around to it for a while, here are a few pics to summarize.
I can hardly believe it, but somehow in the craze of moving to our own place, getting jobs and starting our new life as young adults in Seattle (& all that jazz!), free time just went out the window. Not only did I somehow miss the one-year countdown mark (I currently only have 340 days left!!! How is that possible???) but this is the first time EVER I have been behind in the percentage race (where I have more time complete than tasks - eek!!!)!!!
So for those of you who follow, here's the Cliff's Note version of life with the Coutarels these days:
A VERY long time ago (we were still crashing with Mama Smith in Bellevue at the time) we were invited over to the Nesteroff's and made some HOMEBREW!!! They were amazingly nice, gave us a sweet Homebrew book and explained it all. It's super fascinating & I've been meaning to do a full-on post just on the process, but since I'm sure I won't get around to it for a while, here are a few pics to summarize.
cooking the grains.
getting my stir on.
malt for daaaays.
straining the grains.
the nesterbrocks!
agitating the brew.
adding the magic.
getting yeasty.
ready to stew away!!!
a taste test & our new book!!!
Of course we still haven't made it over to taste the final product yet... :( We're working on it. But a big thanks to Mike & Kimm for having us & teaching us!!! It was a blast & we'd LOVE to brew again!
But... WE MOVED!!! (Finally!) We now have our own place over in West Seattle on Pigeon Point. We love it, and so does Tippen, who even has his own little room.
us looking glamorous on our first eve home!
(thanks for dinner, dad!)
Remy got his physical greencard super fast & we both have jobs. Remy's at the Seward Park PCC & I'm hustling it back at Starbucks in Bellevue again. AND (cat's out of the bag so I can go public now) I just got promoted! Shift supervisor, woo hoo! I'm working on grad school applications to go back & get my Masters in Teaching French & Remy's working on his English & his graphic design portfolio.
Somewhere in there I turned twenty-six (!!! I'm more than half-way to fifty - WHAT??!),
thanks, mom, for the delicious vegan cake!!
and thank you friends (& too much beer) for helping us celebrate!
/ happy 26 to midnight birthday twin + bff rae!!
(horrid pic, yes, but the only one of us two from our special night!)
/ happy 26 to midnight birthday twin + bff rae!!
(horrid pic, yes, but the only one of us two from our special night!)
mastered vegan cupcakes,
chocolate coconut & chocolate sprinkles
vegan muffins,
lemon poppyseed
and vegan scones,
chocolate chip
inherited a new old bicycle,
may i introduce y'all to peter rabbit, my new used bike!
(a big shout out to previous owner jill - SO generous & don't worry he'll be put to good use!)
(this would be us at the tulip ride in skagit valley, by the by)
and discovered Mighty O Donuts, which just might be my new downfall. Not only are they ridiculously delicious, they are organic AND vegan!!!!! If you're ever in the Greenlake/Tangletown area (just east of the zoo) be sure to check them out.
apple fritter & grasshopper donut = heaven
Not long enough post for you? Haven't had your daily dose of cute? Well Tippen made a new friend, Solomon,
best buds (until sol wanted to play baseball with tippen - then it got a little complicated)
and Remy made a new friend at Mt.Si.
i guess the birdies like my vegan scones, too!
Well there you have it. I promise to try to update more frequently and less schizo-y. Until then, That's all folks!
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