It's dark-thirty, midnight, the house is silent. And I just had a conversation with a lump of sourdough. It may not have been as much me conversing with the dough, but the dough working magic - some alchemy of yeast and flour - pulling thoughts from my brain, through my fingers, and soaking them up with each push and turn. Its pale beige innards becoming outards with a twist. My innards becoming outards in synch. "Why," I asked the sourdough, or the sourdough made me think I asked, ... Continue Reading
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MANhand Salve – The Perfect DIY Father’s Day Gift
My father. Bless his heart, but for as much as he tries, he's so predictably underwhelmed when he receives gifts. If you give him a tie, with a crooked smile, he'll say, "Oh. Wow. Okay. This is great. Thanks." If you give him a spice rack, with a raised eyebrow, he'll go, "Oh. Wow. Okay. This is great. Thanks." If you give him a new car, he'll go ... well, okay, I don't know how he'll go. I've never given him a new car. But I'm pretty sure he'd go, "Oh. Wow. This is great. Was the store ... Continue Reading
12 Things You Should Know About (and Do With) Your Eggs
A long time ago, in a land far, far away I had a friend who hated chickens. She loathed them. Every time we'd go out to eat, she'd say to the waitress, "Don't bring me anything with chicken. Chickens are disgusting, vile animals." And then she'd tell a story about her uncle, who was a CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation - so, a factory farm) chicken "farmer," and how when he was upset with her, he'd send her into the chicken "camps" and make her touch them. They would peck at her and ... Continue Reading
The Roofarm and Recipes for Not-Just-For-Gardeners Salve
Until about five days ago, if you'd have said "have some gardener's salve," I would have been all "Pssht, what do I need gardener's salve for? For when I fall in the dirt after tripping on my shoelaces?" (Who am I kidding? I don't have shoes with shoelaces. I just trip. On cracks or curbs or air. Mostly air.) But, see, there's really not much of a difference between "gardener's salve" and, say, just about any other kind of salve out there. Put the word "healing" in front of it instead of ... Continue Reading
Stop Procrastinating and Easily Remove Candle Wax From Your Carpet
Procrastination is a little like candle wax, when you think about it. One day, you're sitting on the couch and something you need to take care of comes to mind. You think, "I'll do it tomorrow" and the fuse on the candle is lit. The longer you put off your thing, the more the need to do it melts into your brain. And then there's another thing, and another thing, and another thing - and all the things gloop together in a very immovable blob. Sooner or later, you have procrastination melted ... Continue Reading
What’s All This Crunchy Betty Stuff, Anyway?
The very first entry in Crunchy Betty's Food On Your Face category was written on May 9, 2010. It was called "Five Good Reasons To Put Food On Your Face." At the time, I was fumbling around in the world of blogs. I was dipping my proverbial toes in the metaphorical pineapple juice, often for the first time right before I blogged it. Some of you were there with me then. A few of you remember the first header Crunchy Betty ever had. I can't believe you're still with me ... Continue Reading