Packing light: 9 days in 1 backpack - Business travel/ Winter holiday trip

I seem to always make a mistake when packing for travel. Usually, this mistake is overpacking certain items. And who wouldn't? Packing light seems even harder for a variety of dress codes and weather.

My most recent trip was 9 days long. The first 5 days involved work-travel while the last 4 days were social. My travel bag is my new 24-liter backpack. I chose this backpack because it has a good pocket for my laptop and a bit of extra room to stash outerwear. 

My aim was to be as productive as possible, stay appropriately dressed, warm, and happy during my trip. Who wouldn’t want that? Here is how I planned my minimalist travel capsule wardrobe:

Packing Light – 5 Days in Baltimore, MD, 4 days in downstate Illinois over the winter holidays

Wedding in the City: Growing Your Own Wedding Flowers - Part 1

Last year, we organized our own wedding. That included growing, begging, and borrowing some of our own wedding flowers. I am considering chronicling what went into our experience in this project. Who's coming along?

Little Garden in the Apartment

These are only part of the lovely potted jungle inside our apartment, but so far it's our favorite these days, a cheerful welcome at the end of the commute.

We walk home from the train stop, parking space, or bicycle spot. Lately, on this walk, our boots have been squishing the mushy, wet, icy, snowy winter sidewalks. Some days we push against the wind, our heads in our hoods if we have them. If we are lucky, our feet are dry, wrapped in woolens, hands in pockets. We are not all always so lucky. We see our block down the street, then our building, at last. We smile slightly, briefly at the promise of nearing shelter. Finally, the door is within sight, within reach.

As we turn the knob, a faint, fresh, floral, spring-like smell whispers to us as we push in, nose first. It becomes spring, at last. The season of joy visits us, if only inside our home.

A bit of greenery is a nice memory aid as we live this long night. Because yes, winter was coming, and winter fell, but spring is coming too.

Pan con Chocolate

With a thick blanket of snow falling on the city, and the road outside our window barely visible, I headed to the kitchen and grabbed the beautiful loaves of whole grain homemade bread.

Growing up, our family used to sometimes serve fresh bread with real, dark, local hot cocoa. This is still a go-to breakfastnor snack anytime there is a large-ish crowd. We made a "chocolate de agua" and thickened it with a bit of almond butter and peanut butter and coconut cream. I pinched in some cardamom from a recent trip. The combination is warming, yummy, and comforting -- perfect on a snowy day.

HOT COCOA

I would not fret if all ingredients are not available. Make it with what you have and tinker with it. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups of water or vegetable "milk"

2 Tbsp almond butter or peanut butter (or tbsp of each)

2 Tbsp dark cocoa powder or 2 oz bittersweet or dark chocolate

3 Cloves

1 Tsp cinnamon

1 Tsp powdered or freshly ground ginger

1/2 Tsp freshly ground cardamom or 1 freshly ground cardamom pod

1 Tbsp condensed milk, flavored syrup, or sugar

1 Tbsp corn or potato starch (optional)

1 Tbsp hot pepper jelly or 1/2 tiny hot pepper (optional)

Loose Instructions:

In a saucepan heat the water until it boils.

Dissolve the almond and/or peanut butter until it looks milky. 

Lower the heat to a simmer and add the remaining ingredients. 

Cover and steep for at least 10 minutes, or as many as you can wait. 

Add water if you feel the mix is too thick. 

Steep longer for a deeper flavor.

A Healthy(er) Chocolate and Beer Cake For Hosting Dinner

Since about age 6, chocolate cake has been one of my absolute favorite foods in the world. My older sister, and best friend, used to make me chocolate cake on special occasions - from scratch. One of the many reasons she was my favorite human. My favorite part? She used to let me lick the bowl. Talk about love and friendship!

We had some very lovely company this evening, a dear friend, and one of the kindest people we know. I also had a snow day due to the storm this morning. So, we made chocolate cake.

Thanks to a few changes we made to the original recipe, we also felt better about eating it. Perhaps we felt a little to good about eating it, since all that's left is a tiny piece. This tiny piece, will likely not see the next day.

This recipe is inspired by Flora Shedden's "wardrobe cake", but with a few changes to suit us. We used whole wheat flour in place of white, half the sugar than the original, mainly dark chocolate, unsweetened cocoa powder. We made a frosting with yogurt, peanut butter, cocoa powder, and cacao nibs. It all came out moist and fluffy and the IPA and whole wheat flour gave it a bready, hearty quality.

Signs of life. Breaking the ice.

Hello and welcome back! There has been a long hiatus while work and life were happening, and so much was changing. During this time, I became more interested in slow fashion, tried to grow food and flowers in earnest (in the unlikeliest places), decorated the city apartment, traveled, and experienced various life and priority shifts.

It is possible that layout and feel of this blog might change somewhat. Figuring out how to dress and how to live are continuous journeys. We might have more posts about the greenery, especially in these winter months. You may read about the "gardens" in the tiny balcony and windowsills. What's new about this: There is also a 4'x8' raised bed at the allotment with a low tunnel for season extension (I may unpack these in upcoming posts).

Substance and Beauty

The material substance of an object may be the absolute most important aspect of it. What something is made of is, usually, the hardest thing to change it. Arguably, the most important aspect of food is what is in it: what makes it, and in turn, what it will make you. Will it make you healthy?

But here is yet another aspect of food: Will it make you happy? Besides its chemical composition, will it appeal to your senses: Will its beauty make you, or a loved one, happy?

This meal certainly makes me happy. Those of us who have the privilege to enjoy it are so lucky! The Cream Pot may be my absolute favorite restaurant in Honolulu. It is owned by a wonderfully kind young couple. Lovely.