Beneath The Tree Setup 2013

I am happy to be selling at Beneath The Tree again this year.  Look for my vanilla extract, liquid soap, and bar soap in the kitchen, and a selection of my fiber art in the dining room.

Setup went smoothly and it was great to chat with the designer and hostess.

There are only 3 more days to the big event!  I am volunteering at house #6 as well, so I hope to see you on Friday!

I Am A Triathlete

I completed my first triathlon on September 7th, 2013, and I'm excited to do more!

Let me tell you how I got here.  After my daughter was born things took a while to go back into place.  I had to hold my belly when I walked for about a week.  I wish someone had told me about some kind of belly support back then.  There are bands sold for just that purpose or a sheet or a wrap baby carrier would work too.

A while later, I was looking for something to do for exercise that I could do with a baby.  I wasn't into running and I wasn't good at running before.  Running sounded like something I could do without too much trouble or added expense: put baby in stroller and go.  I quickly discovered that I needed a jogging stroller as regular strollers have crappy plastic wheels.

When I first started running, I couldn't run to the end of the block.  I set small goals, each time I ran I'd try to run farther than the last, even it was just one driveway farther.  It felt like a long time while I was doing it, but soon I could run a half mile and then a mile.  My brothers in law and husband were talking about a 5K race.  That sounded like something I could do.  I trained for it and felt ready, but that race was hard!  I had horrible blisters on my feet.  I got new shoes right after that, and running socks not long after that.

The next spring I was still running and picked a longer race, a 10K.  I did it and felt better afterwards than after my first 5K.  I signed up for that same 5K again, and beat my time by 2 minutes!

I was looking for more races and saw a triathlon mixed in with the runs.  The distances didn't sound that bad.  Swim .5 miles, I'd swam farther than that before, although not this decade.  Bike 17.2, I'd biked 70 miles in a day before, but again not in a long time, and run 4.9, that was less than the 10K (6.2 miles) I'd done that spring.  I added biking and attempted swimming workouts.  I got one really good swim in.  A boater freaked me out by heading straight for me, turns out, he thought I was drowning.  I know I was going slow, but I'm just going to go with he doesn't see people training for triathlons that often.

Race day: I got up at 5:30 in the morning!  Who schedules races where you have to have your stuff there by 6:30!?  All the athletes were ready, but then there was lightning, so we had to wait an hour.  Then it was time to go.  I was in the second heat (by age group).  I really didn't want to get run over so I started towards the back and outside of my group.  It was great swimming with the women there, they seemed more aware of their surroundings.  Three minutes later the next heat started.  Soon men were passing me.  I did get bumped into and kicked a few times, but it wasn't like I had feared.  My swim time was 24:37!

I had trouble tying my shoes, but soon was on my bike.  People passed me constantly and many said stuff like "keep it up", "nice job on the mountain bike", "last big hill", etc.  My chain fell off 3 times.  Ugh.  I had taken the bike in to get that fixed, but nope, the chain fell off during the race, repeatedly.  My bike time was 1:17:28, which is about what I was doing in practice.  I was starting to think everyone had passed me, and was happy to get to the run.

I got to transition and the people around me had put their bikes too close together.  It took me a long time to get my bike on the rack.

Then I was running.  I was a bit tired and still damp.  My shoes were still damp from the rain.  I was glad I thought ahead to put anti-chafe stuff on my feet, sooo worth the 5 seconds it took.  I actually passed some people in the run!  I averaged just under an 11 minute mile with a time of 53:32.  That was faster running than my 10K earlier that year!

My final time was 2:41:12!  Now to pick out my next race...

Infinity Scarf Fresh Off The Needles

That's me, as artist, model, and photographer.  One has to be a jack of all trades on this budget.

This is a really long garter stitch scarf, using a provisional cast on.  Knit till its about 70 in long, twist one end and then Kitchener stitch the ends together.

It can loop around my neck 2 or 3 times.

Yarn: Knit Picks Suri Dream in Tiramisu
Needles: US 15

Yes, its another mobius.  I think its so cool that they only have one side!


Want to buy this scarf? https://www.etsy.com/listing/158785173/soft-chocolate-brown-alpaca-infinity?ref=shop_home_active

Burnside Tunic is Finished

Detailed cable patterns are not the thing to knit when you have a toddler around, which is why this took me about a year to knit.  It was a fun project to work on, and I definitely enjoy the finished sweater.  More pictures to come!

Want to knit this?

Avocado Doubled Eggs

These are delicious!

Ingredients:
8 eggs, boiled
1 avocado
1/4 cup (4 tbsp) lemon juice
salt to taste
paprika for garnish

1. Peel the eggs, cut in half, and scoop the yolks into a bowl.
2. Add the avocado, lemon juice, and salt to the yolks, and mash it until smooth.
3. Spoon the mixture into the egg whites.
4. Sprinkle the paprika on top.

and enjoy!

This makes a lot of filling, there would probably be enough filling to use 12 eggs with the one avocado.

I know many people call them "deviled eggs".  I don't care.  "Doubled" is better, because it refers to what you are doing, cutting the eggs in half to make twice as many.  Plus, my family has always called them "doubled" eggs.

This is not normally a cooking blog, but I've been looking for healthier foods and thought I'd share some.

Adventures in Baking: Gluten Free Edition

I don't usually do much baking but when it comes to birthdays, I think they deserve more than a store bought sheet cake.  I also like to make things that all my guests can eat which lead me to look for a gluten free cake recipe.

This Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake with Semi-Sweet Chocolate Icing looked like a good place to start.  I work with what I have on hand unless I just have to run to the store for something; I don't like to put so much sugar in my food; and I tend to be adventurous with straying from the recipe so this is what I ended up with.  

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
For a 9x13 in pan.

Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons agar powder
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter (I didn't set it out ahead of time, I just melted it)
1/2 cup brown sugar (lessened the sugar here)
1/4 cup white sugar (and here)
1/2 cup stevia powder (I was concerned that guests/husband might want things sweeter than I do)
That's a half cup less sweetener than originally called for, plus not all of it is sugar now.
4 eggs (I had 4 eggs left, not five)
2 tablespoon vanilla extract (I like vanilla)
1 1/2 cups whole milk with 2 tablespoons lemon juice added, let set for 5 min and then add to the other ingredients (I didn't have buttermilk, so used this common substitute.)
I didn't have sorghum flour or xanthan gum, but I did have coconut flour and agar powder from previous adventures in gluten free and vegan baking.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the brown and white sugars and stevia; whip until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla. Add the milk and dry ingredients. Pour batter into prepared pan. I don't have a stand mixer so just mixed things in with a fork.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan.

Frosting

I was inspired by the Coconut Honey Frosting found here. I did not have palm shortening and wanted it to be strawberry, so I did this:


Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 can full fat coconut milk
2 tablespoons honey (I was running out, plus less sweetener)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (yum again)
8 oz frozen strawberries

Directions
1. Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Pour the frosting on the cake and put in refrigerator to cool and set the frosting.  

If I made this again I would probably put some agar powder in my frosting to help it set better.

It turned out delicious and way better than store bought.  If I had more time I would have done another frosting in a different color to add "Happy Birthday" to the cake.

Homemade Playdough

Have you ever wanted to make your own playdough?  It's pretty quick

 (about 10 minutes from start to playing with it).

Homemade Playdough Recipe

3 cups flour 

1.5 cups salt 

6 tsp. cream of tarter 

3 tbsp. olive oil 

3 cups water 

food coloring or koolaid

Mix all the ingredients in a large pot.  This makes a lot of playdough.  You may want to start with a half batch.

Stir over medium heat until the dough sticks together.  The dough on the bottom of the pot cooks first so keeps stirring and pull the bottom dough up so it can cook evenly.  It will only take a few minutes.

For even color, add the food coloring or koolaid in your pot before the dough starts to stick together.

For swirly colors, add the food coloring after the dough is formed.  I made indents with my finger, put a few drops of coloring in and then squished the dough around it.  Then I kneaded it to mix in the color.

I added the yellow color in the pot and mixed the blue and green in after the dough was formed.

Store in an air tight container.

You don't have to be exact on the salt.  I ran out on my second batch and only put in half a cup.  It was a little stickier mixing, but the finished dough was just like the first batch.

Kiddo decided to mix all the colors together.

Announcing Beneath The Tree

Beneath The Tree is a holiday home tour and art sale and I'm very excited to be a part of it this year!

If you'll be in the Grand Rapids, MI area November 9th or 10th check it out!  This is really different than any shows I've done before.  The art is set up in people's homes and there is one checkout per house!

I've been working hard to get my stuff made and tagged.  I have scarves, hats, bar soap, foaming soap, vanilla extract, toothpaste, and braided roving rugs!

Look for RainyDayArt and Mel's Naturals at house #1!

They're still looking for volunteers if you'd like to work a shift or bring a meal.