So I thought: how can I combine these three things?
Image: A close-up view of the seamless linen stitch square block
And the seamless linen stitch square was born. It’s worked in the round with linen stitch, and the colors are carried up one of the corners, so you only have to weave in ends when you start a new color or new ball of yarn. Because the colors are carried in the corners, the slip stitches for the color change are hidden so there’s no obvious seam. (I’ve seen a few other similar projects, but most are either worked in rows, involve weaving in zillions of ends, or have a noticeable seam — thus the need for the seamless linen stitch.)
I spend a fair amount of time daydreaming about the homestead I’ll have one day. Thinking about all the things I’ll do, the skills I’ll have, foods I’ll eat — my homestead dream helps keep me going through the drudgery of ‘meetings that should’ve been emails.’
In my daydreams I magically know how to do all these things; in real life, of course, I need to actually learn them.
It’s tricky trying to figure out how to get from here to there, but I’m working on it! Here’s my guide for building my ideal homestead — really, for building my ideal life.
Grab a mug of something hot, a notepad and a pen (or a computer), and get ready to reflect…
Image: A photo of the two cookbooks described in the post.
I only have two cookbooks that I reference regularly (not counting the family recipe book). The first is Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat and the second is An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler. (Interestingly, both the authors worked at Chez Panisse before writing their books.)
Neither is an ordinary cookbook; instead, they’re both more like how-to guides for the kitchen. Between the two, they’ve got everything you need for a good meal.
Salt Fat Acid Heat
Salt Fat Acid Heat talks about the science of food and how adding each of the titular elements in different ways makes different meals.
You don’t just learn that you should salt your meat early before you cook it, you learn how it makes a difference in the food and why it’s important.
Knowing the “how” and “why” when cooking lets you improvise and teaches you what you need to know in order to consistently make meals that taste good by explaining what it is that makes food become meals.
Plus if you like science you’ll find it interesting — and you might recognize certain aspects, like the overview of osmosis and diffusion on page 29, from your high school biology class!
She doesn’t call it an eco-friendly book, but Adler wrote a book about cooking in an eco-friendly way.
She also shows that eco-friendliness doesn’t have to break the bank; the subtitle of the book is “Cooking with Economy and Grace,” and it’s inspired by a Depression-era cookbook.
The prose is elegant and it’s worth reading over and over again for that alone, but the recipes are also both inventive and delicious.
Takeaways
The two cookbooks both contain recipes, but more importantly, they tell you how to think about food and how to transform it into a meal (or two, or three). Local and in-season food is emphasized, and each discusses the ways your senses can help you in the kitchen.
Most importantly, each tells you that anyone can learn to cook good food, and that what you do with the principles inside each is up to you. There are no limits on where your culinary adventures can take you, they say, nor should there be. Armed with these two books, your imagination and the contents of your local grocery store are your only limits.
So you’ve decided to go nightshade-free. Congratulations!
Maybe you did an elimination diet and found you’re sensitive to nightshades, maybe you have an autoimmune issue and heard from a friend that cutting out nightshades helped them, or maybe you have a loved one who can’t eat them and you’re just wondering what that means for Thanksgiving dinner.
This article will serve as a primer on nightshades and going nightshade-free, and will be regularly updated with additional specific recipes (though all recipes on this blog will be nightshade-free).
There are about a million different reusable items that can help someone on a journey towards zero waste.
It’s hard to know where to start or what to do — I know I felt pretty overwhelmed at first. To help you get started, here are five things I use every day.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, Old Bay is a seasoning mix originally from Maryland.
It’s often used on crabs and shrimp or in seafood soups, though you can put it in or on pretty much anything — french fries and other snack foods are popular choices.
Last but certainly not least for our purposes, it’s made with red pepper flakes and paprika. A tin of Old Bay is a no-go for anyone going nightshade-free.
If you’re not much for seafood, you might be able to go your whole nightshade-free life without missing Old Bay. If you like seafood, however, or if you’re from an area where people use it liberally (I grew up about an hour’s drive from Baltimore, so my family always had a can in our pantry), you’ll want an alternative.
When I was growing up, my dad always made a big pot of chili once it got cold. He actually won a neighborhood contest for it once! Filled to the top of the massive stockpot with meat, beans, spices, and tomatoes, it was delicious… and, once I realized nightshades were exacerbating my health problems, off-limits.
I needed a nightshade-free chili, even though the name “chili” itself is a nightshade! I knew it wouldn’t be easy to find something similar that omits half the key ingredients.
I wasn’t going to let that stop me, though! Instead of swearing off eating it forever, I figured out how to make my own nightshade-free chili. It tastes like ‘regular’ chili but omits the ingredients I can’t have. Now, every fall, my dad and I both make pots of chili. They’re different, but both still good!
I’ve never done this before — heck, I barely even use Facebook — but here I am. I’m ready to share my hobbies, my recipes, and my life with strangers on the Internet. Hopefully you won’t be strangers for long, though! My goal is to make connections with others out in the world who share my interests and dreams.
My plan for this blog is to talk about the projects I work on, the recipes I come up with (and since I cook from scratch due to dietary restrictions, I come up with a lot of them), and things that I’ve found help me live a more mindful and joyful life. I’m passionate about a lot of things and I want to share them all. I also love trying new things, so this blog will evolve and grow alongside me as I do.
This blog will also serve as a sort of diary as I work toward my long-term goal of homesteading — my “homestead dream” of simple, natural living and a joyous home. I have a ways to go and a lot to learn before I get there, but with hard work and a little luck, one day I’ll be writing posts from a kitchen table laden with produce from my own garden, typing while I wait for fresh bread to finish baking and getting ready to host some friends.
I’m looking forward to the journey of blogging, and I hope you’ll come with me!
-Jay
(About the title: traditionally in computer programming, the first thing you learn in any new language is how to produce the phrase “Hello World!” I always thought this was a wonderfully human impulse. When we’re learning something new, the first thing we try to do is reach out and say hello.)
