Recipe - Tostones with Sauce

Tostones Sauce

Ingredients:
3 garlic cloves
~ 1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp white vinegar
8 oz. can of tomato sauce

Directions:
In mortar and pestle, crush garlic and salt into a gooey paste. Add olive oil and white vinegar and stir. Add tomato sauce and stir until well mixed.

Here is a nice little video on making the twice fried tostones: http://video.about.com/latinfood/Fried-Plantains.htm.
The sweet ones are called maduros and the recipe can be found here: http://icuban.com/food/platanos_maduros.html.

Decluttering and found money

It has come to me that decluttering may be a lifelong thing. I mean, I don't really want it to be...but I always seem to have piles of things to clean up. How do I keep the piles from existing in the first place? I still have no idea but I have managed to get better at going through stuff and getting rid of it.

In the past week, I have gone through 3 boxes of stuff. I made mountains of stuff to shred (which I have been doing little by little). This has given me some room on my shelves. I can actually see the back of some of the shelves! (Meaning they are not so piled with stuff that I can't see the back). I have a shelf for sewing stuff and a place for all my music books and equiptment. W even provided me with a hook for my borrowed bass guitar.

Hey! Only 3 years and my office / music room is starting to look better. Sigh...

I found a ton of mula in this decluttering. I found cash! I found gift certificates! I found old, old checks! It is crazy and I have already decided that I am changing the way I handle these type of things as they come into the house. My problem is that I often will leave a check in a card until I have the chance to write a thank you note. My mom pointed out that if I just keep some thank you notes by the mail slot, as soon as I get a check I can just dash off a quick thank you and put the check in my wallet. Voila! I am definitely trying it.

Ok - that is all for now. I will post some photos of the chickens soon.

Chickens

Mariposa
James (front) and Violetta (I think)
Hiro (front), James, Mariposa, Violetta.







We recently got some baby chicks which have astounded us with how fast they grow. W built a cool coop using some old cedar fencing from a friend (thanks D and D). Our chicks are all female despite the names!

During our "chicken investigation" W found a cool blog where a photographer took a picture of his chicks every day for 8 weeks. The blog, 3chicksaday, is awesome. Check out the fantastic photos of Noodle Soup, Salad Sandwich and Pot Pie.(It is also finished - but he just started a new blog, The Occasional Chicken.)

Nature Scavenger Hunt

I love the idea of taking the kids on a Nature Scavenger Hunt. Here are some ideas on how to make it a success. Have you ever done one of these?

Blue Sky

We received a "2008 Blue Sky" report from Pacific Power. If you haven't heard of it, Blue Sky is our local program for supporting renewable energy. We pay a small premium to ensure that we support using Green-e Energy certified renewable energy. Below is text taken directly from a letter from Pacific Power.

Our details:
"Our total 2008 Blue Sky purchase of 12,833 Kilowatt-hours of renewable energy avoided the release of 15,548 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions into the air. This represents environmental benefits equivalent to not driving 15,767 miles. I believe this cost us $100.00."

Blue Sky details:
"67,000 Blue Sky customers supported 490 million kilowatt-hours of Green-e Energy certified renewable energy. That is equal to the output of 107 wind turbines. "

Do you support renewable energy?

On a roll

Last September I started taking bass guitar lessons. I have been taking them ever since (with a brief holiday related hiatus in December). My teacher is super fun and basically makes it what ever I want it to be. We have worked on technique, scales, jamming, and learning other people's songs. She definitely keeps things interesting. In November my homework was to go write a song. I basically went home, asked my daughter what to write about (mermaids) and wrote out the lyrics. Soon after I had a bass line and started to sing along with it. At Thanksgiving this year I made all our guests listen to it. :)

Since then, I have been inspired to work on more songs. I completed another song (which I am still not perfectly happy with), and have started working on 3 more. Today on the way to work, I wrote some more lyrics and am eager to put them to music.

I am not sure what is inspiring me. It could be longer days and more sun. It could be that I have started drinking honey ginseng tea again (seriously). It could be that I am working out way more than I have in a long time. Whatever it is, I am happy to have that inspiration right now.

Maybe you'll get to hear one of my songs one day?

Try a Tri(athlon)

In an effort to help create a new habit and lifestyle, I am planning to participate in a novice triathlon. In support of this, I have started a new blog where I will be posting daily progress. You can check it out here: Triathlete or Mathlete.