Lemon Infusion

 We ended up with a bag of lemons the other day: one of those substitution things from the on-line shopping at the grocery store. We hadn't ordered them, but since we had them we needed to use them.

As luck would have it, I just happened to come across an article on Lemon Infusions. And we just happened to have a bottle of Everclear on hand!

So of course I had to try it.

First you have to peel off the outer layer of each lemon. I would caution you: try to avoid peeling off the outer layer of your hand while doing so! Not only does it hurt afterwards (my hand is ripped to shreds) but you get lemon oil all over the wounds, which really stings.

Then, once you have them all peeled you put them into a jar and pour the Everclear over them. You can also use Vodka if you prefer - but Bryan says Everclear is better.

Then you put it into a cupboard where it's nice and dark and let it soak for a good 4-6 weeks, shaking the jar occasionally to make sure it soaks up the good stuff.

Once it's to the consistency you like, you strain out the peel and store the alcohol either in the fridge or back in the dark cupboard again.

Playing with Paper

 I spent most of the day today playing with paper. I have recently bought quite a few new dies so had to play with them awhile and see what I could come up with.

This first set is made with four leaves, both "inside" and "outside" cuts. I really like these, and have so many ideas in my head for them!

I originally intended to fill in some of the stained glass parts on this card with another color - and may still do that at some point in the future. But today I was shaking too much, so opted to leave it as is for now.

This card is made up of two separate dies, one for the inside and one for the outline. I love the finished look of it - but the dies don't cut very well so I have to go over it later with an X-acto knife, which is very hard to do and is quite annoying. 

Last but not least, these last two are just odds & ends that I had laying around. 

Yahtzee!

One of the games we like to play is an old favorite = Yahtzee! 

Each time we go on one of our little mini-vacations (otherwise known as our Weekend Get-Aways) it always comes with us, along with the cribbage board and a deck of cards.

It's usually fairly close as to who wins more often: it actually seems like we trade off each time. First he wins and then I win, and then he wins again.

But sometimes - like last night - he thoroughly beats me. Like, completely and unequivocally beats me.

The score pad for that game showed 5 out of 6 games in his favor.

Jackfruit

Have you heard of Jackfruit? 

It's a giant fruit from south Asia that is related to the fig but is a whole lot bigger. The fruit can be used as a meat substitute since it's texture is very similar to pulled pork or shredded chicken. 

Since Bryan mentioned the other day that we always tend to cook the same foods over and over again, I thought I'd shake things up a bit and try this out.

The recipe I found called for chicken, but we switched that out for the jackfruit and cooked them in the air fryer instead of deep frying them in oil. We ended up with a really good meal - with the added bonus of having a lot of fun assembling them!

First you take your egg roll wrapper and wet the edges. Then you place your filling inside diagonally. 

Fold the edges over to cover the filling and roll it up into a burrito.

Pop them in the air fryer for a few minutes on each side, and voila! 

Jackfruit Eggrolls!

My Senior Prom

Do you remember your high school prom? 

I remember being so excited about it. My boyfriend at the time was from Talkeetna and was a year older than I was, but he agreed to take me since I had gone to his with him.

I picked out some beautiful deep maroon silk material and an elegant dress pattern for Mother to make my gown for me.

I had my hair done at the salon (which coincidentally was the same salon my sister ended up buying a decade later) so I would be so pretty.

About half an hour before time to go, I was all dressed up and sitting at the hearth in the kitchen watching out the window for his car to come down the driveway.

An hour and a half later, Mother finally convinced me to go with her down to the hotel for a cup of hot chocolate. He never did come down the driveway.

Yup. I was stood up for my high school prom.

Three days later, I got a phone call from him saying that he'd gotten a job up on the slope. I honestly don't think he even remembered that he was supposed to take me to my prom - and I never told him.

Life Without Plastic

 One of my goals for Life is to minimize my use of plastics as much as possible. To that end, I have made all the usual switches that everyone hears about: a reusable water bottle instead of one-use bottles purchased at the store, beeswax wraps instead of sandwich baggies, and saying "no" to straws and/or buying metal ones (and using them).

I'm also doing a few other, not so mainstream things like: using a bamboo hair comb & hair brush, using bamboo toothbrushes, using tooth tabs instead of tooth paste, even switching from dental floss in a plastic carton to floss in a small glass vial. 

Two items I have found recently are in the trial stages right now, and if they actually do what they say they do I'm pretty excited about them.

The first one is a laundry detergent called  True Earth  It is a dehydrated detergent sheet that goes into the washing machine either whole or ripped up. The packaging is not only a LOT smaller than those huge plastic tubs, but it's also biodegradable and compostable! I have washed three or four loads with it so far I have no complaints at all: the clothes are clean and smell good.

The second one is a line of cleaning supplies from a company called  Blueland  At first I was a little put off by the plastic squirt bottles that arrived in the mail. I mean, the whole point is to NOT have plastic bottles. But they are refillable, so theoretically I will not have to buy another one ever again. The cleaning solution is what you buy over and over again - and this arrives in a biodegradable & compostable packaging in the form of a tablet that you dissolve in water. It took a good hour to desolve the tablets this morning, but once they were gone I went through the house and tried each one out. I am happy to say my house is quite clean now. The mirror in the bathroom is shiny and the vanity is sparkling, the counter tops in the kitchen are squeaky clean and even the ancient faucet in the sink looks like new again.

Next on my list of products to try is a solid shampoo & conditioner by the company called  HiBar   I've heard good things about them and am eager to try them out!