I discovered a neighbor was moving out when I discovered trash bags full of dry goods (gasp!) outside their door. I couldn’t keep myself from asking if it was fine for me to take what I wanted (the answer was “yes” and I was even offered my pick of furniture), so I ended up with this haul:
Let’s see, from left to right, there’s cereal, spaghetti, butter, cornmeal, cashews and almonds, water chestnut flour (used as an alternative to cornstarch, I think?), a “string” of fig “buttons”, various Indian spice mixes, salsa, jaggery (unrefined sugar), olives, chickpeas, cooking oil.
I love getting stuff I wouldn’t normally buy. It’s a treat 🙂 I especially enjoyed the salsa.
The day the neighbors moved out, I dug through the apartment dumpster, and additionally got a chair (for putting my “in use” clothes on), an apparently never-used yoga mat, laundry detergent (never get Gain original scent… On the plus side, I hear Gain is super strong), and a single handkerchief.
Use the cinnamon roll dough recipe. Add some amount (about 1/3 cup) of diced candied fruit and currants when you are ready to shape the dough and make about twelve rolls. The egg wash is very important to give the right look. Whisk together an egg (whole, yolk, or white) with a bit of salt; this is brushed on just before baking.
1/2 package of yeast (this would be 1 1/8 teaspoon but my mom uses 1 1/4 teaspoon)
1 1/2 Tab water
1/2 cup milk (can be whole or low-fat)
2 1/2 Tab butter
1 1/2 Tab sugar
1/2 of a large egg
1/2 teas salt
2 cups (or a bit less) bread flour
1/8 teas cinnamon
1/16 teas nutmeg
1/16 teas ginger
For cinnamon rolls:
1 Tbsp (or maybe less)Â softened butter to spread on the dough
Cinnamon and sugar mixed — heavy on the cinnamon
nuts — preferring pecans and preferring cookie-size pieces
currants
For icing:
1 teas butter (this keeps the icing soft)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp milk or cream
Pan:
Well-buttered (glass is good) baking pan about 7×11 inches.
Use a standard bread maker mix cycle to make the dough, or without a bread maker: Make the dough and let it rise until doubled, the punch down and shape. Once the dough is ready, roll it into a rectangle about 14×12 inches. Butter the dough with the softened butter. Sprinkle on the cinnamon-sugar, then the nuts and the currants. Roll up and then slice off the cinnamon rolls. Nine or twelve rolls is about right but this can vary quite a bit, depending on your preference. I like to refrigerator overnight so that the rolls are ready in the morning. In the morning, warm the oven to a low (not yeast-killing) temperature, turn off the oven, and put in the roll pan. I like to cover with a cloth. When the dough is light and the pan warmed, remove the pan from the oven. Then heat the oven to 425°F. (If you like the look of an egg wash, see the Hot Cross bun instructions.) Bake for 15 minutes. If the rolls start to get too dark, make a foil tent to protect them.
After the rolls are done, swirl on icing and serve.
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Frankie, one of my favorite musicians, has a new song about ghosting, “breaking off a relationship (often an intimate relationship) by ceasing all communication and contact with the former partner without any apparent warning or justification, as well as ignoring the former partner’s attempts to reach out or communicate”. The song is really good, plus the music video is a gender-swapped allusion to Grease 😀 Enjoy (and listen to Frankie’s other songs)!
Here are more resources related to corporate responsibility and extended producer responsibility:
The Electronics TakeBack Coalition “promotes green design and responsible recycling in the electronics industry”. They write various articles on green electronics, including how to recycle and proposed laws.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics campaigns for the removal of toxic and harmful ingredients in cosmetics and personal care products. The website includes information about what ingredients to look out for.
The Environmental Working Group does a lot of different stuff. Broadly, EWG monitors ingredients and contaminants in products that consumers use, including food, water, electronics, etc. The company promotes safe and sustainable products, and they produce many different consumer guides to help do this. EWG is most famous for their extensive Skin Deep cosmetics database, which includes extensive ingredient information and safety ratings.
The Bottle Bill Resource Guide compiles information about regions of the world with current or proposed bottle bills. Bottle bills (or container deposit laws) require consumers to pay a small, refundable deposit for every bottle purchased. When the bottle is returned for recycling or reuse, the deposit is returned. Bottle bills significantly boost recycling rates. Here’s a cool history of the switch from reusable to disposable bottles and cans.
I got: local beeswax, local honey from bees that ate yaupon (a plant native to Texas, and the only caffeine-containing one native to North America), a stainless steel soap dish, multi-colored peppercorns, and a gift card to Blue Apron (that meal kid company).
US-grown purple popcorn! I sometimes have popcorn as a low-effort dinner.
US-made scrub brush. The fibers are tampico (made from agave), so I figure they’re from Mexico. The brush sheds a little; hopefully that dies down as I use it more.
Heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo! An essential part of my diet 🙂
A lot of y’all probably know that I use handkerchiefs in place of (disposable) tissues. I find them very convenient and, since they’re such a foreign concept to most people, I want to explain the ins and outs of their use and care!
What do you use hankies for?
I treat hankies as a cross between a tissue and a cloth napkin. I use them to blow my nose, and occasionally wipe my hands and mouth, but appropriate use varies by culture. For example, in Japan, it is rude to use your handkerchief to blow your nose (or to blow your nose in public at all); handkerchiefs are meant only for drying sweat or your hands. And in the US, handkerchiefs are just not used (except in hanky code by the gay and BDSM communities), so there is no particular etiquette I am aware of.
How many handkerchiefs do you need?
I carry one handkerchief in my pocket every day. I use it until it gets too dirty, then I switch it for a new one. Unless I’m sick, I usually use the same one for a week. I carry a couple backups in my backpack in case I suddenly get hit with allergies, or a friend needs a tissue.
I have about 20 hankies in my personal collection, but that’s way more than I need for day-to-day use. If you’re gonna switch to tissues for a really runny nose, 5-7 hankies should be fine for the rest of the time.
What do you do when you’re sick?
I use hankies when I’m sick too! I’ve never needed more than my 20 hankies in a single day. If it looks like I’m going to run out, I wash some handkerchiefs by hand and let them dry overnight to use the next day.
How do you wash handkerchiefs?
You can wash hankies either by hand, or by machine in a mesh lingerie bag. I usually put mine in with the rest of my laundry. In either case, unfold each hankie and soak in water for a few hours before washing. This rehydrates dried mucus so that it can be washed off 🙂 Handkerchief fabric is very lightweight so they dry super fast. I always air dry them.
Where do you get hankies? What should they be made of?
My handkerchief collection is all from my maternal grandparents’ estate. My grandparents had a huge number of handkerchiefs and bandanas. Apparently, they had grown up using handkerchiefs (during the Great Depression) and continued to do so until disposable tissues took hold.
Some of my collection. Almost all are embroidered. Some have crocheted or tatted edging. A few have handmade lace!
Because of the switch to tissues, there are lots of old hankies available at thrift stores, antique stores, creative reuse stores (I’d say this is your best bet), and on eBay. You can use thin woven fabric, like a bandana, or t-shirt material.
The fabric should be natural (cotton and linen are common) and not a satin weave – your snot will slide right off 🙂 (Pocket squares make poor handkerchiefs because they’re usually made of glossy fabric.) A color or patten will help hide stains. If you’re worried you’ll look weird using a hankie, use white ones; they’ll look just like tissues.
How do you fold handkerchiefs?
I fold mine into sixteenths (in half, in half hamburger-style, in half the same direction, then in half hamburger-style again) to make a sort of “book”.
Each time I use the hankie, I use a “page” of the book so that I have a new surface available. I use the main fold of the hankie booklet for wiping my mouth so that I can keep food and mucus separate. To keep the outside of the hankie clean, don’t use its “cover”.
A lot of people think hankies are gross, but you’ll be fine if you’re used to washing other cloth items that come in contact with bodily fluids, like cloth menstrual pads, cloth napkins, even underwear. If it really bothers you, you can also use each hanky just once before washing (but then you’ll need a lot).
Here’s the full article (and another with more info). In short, several large companies are partnering with TerracCycle (about), a company that recycles hard-to-recycle items, to offer waste-free versions of their normal products. This will include ice cream, deodorant, and shampoo in returnable, refillable metal containers. Although the program is currently just a pilot, it’s a step in the direction of extended producer responsibility!
There are a few big downsides to this approach, however.
Metal and glass containers (most plastic is not acceptable for commercial reuse because it is porous and can’t be completely cleaned) take a lot more resources to make than plastic, so using them is only more sustainable if they are actually reused and reused a large number of times. (The containers require a security deposit to receive which hopefully will mitigate this potential problem.)
The pilot program relies on door-to-door delivery, which introduces a last mile problem. The “last mile” refers to the last part of a delivery network. It is often the most complex and expensive (and thus energy- and resource- consuming) part of the network. Instead of going to the grocery store (which, by the way, is another “last mile”), each household gets individualized delivery, so someone still has to drive around. And since the program only includes a small number of products, the delivery route will be in addition to households’ normal grocery trips.
For my friends in New York, maybe you’ll get to try this out soon!
It’s been quite cold the last few days, so cold that classes were canceled. The low was -2°F, or so, with windchill down to an apparent -20°F! I walked to the grocery store just to experience it (with an additional scarf and a pair of thermal ski pants added to my everyday winter wear).
“The coldest location in the U.S. on Thursday was Cotton, Minn., where the temperature reached minus 56°F. The coldest location in the U.S. on Wednesday was Norris Camp, Minn., where it was minus 48°F, with a wind chill of minus 65°F” (source: various news websites).
Since I’m trying to use up the merino wool from the failed sweater, I’ve been asking if anyone has knitting requests! Sibling C is perpetually cold and tries to avoid using a lot of energy on heating in the winter, so she requested a sleep hat.
I modified this baby pattern (pictures of the finished product here) by casting on 107 stitches and using short rows to make the top curlier and pointier and more elven (:
I-cord ties! They are knit top-down, with the initial stitches picked up from the edge of the hat.
Stockinette with a garter stitch border in a smaller needle size (3 mm).
Looks kinda dorky…
The hat has three points; one comes down on the forehead, the other two create ear flaps and allow for I-cord attachment.
