AfricanKelli

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My neighbors carved pumpkins this weekend and asked me to take photos for them. Isn’t this amazing? I’m a huge weenie when it comes to carving anything. I don’t really like using my rotary cutter when I sew. Apparently I’ve got a sincere fear of slicing off a digit. Exacto knife + pumpkin + Kelli = disasterous finger amputation.
So, instead I admire other’s work.

I’m trying to view Halloween as an earthy/spiritual celebration day, rather than a plastic costume, junk candy kind-of-day. Today I’m particularly thankful for cooling weather in Phoenix. I’ve been driving to work with my sunroof open and letting the cool morning air blow dry my hair for me. I’m enjoying the pumpkin peanut butter cookies I brought into work. I’m loving the one tree in my courtyard that is dropping bright yellow leaves all over the walkway. Fall in Phoenix is fabulous. Spooktacular, one might say.

~K

Ryan’s birthday is this week and it presented me with the perfect opportunity to be creative and dig through the scrap bag. His nickname is Rhino and the boy loves to BBQ.

I printed a rhino out of clipart and used it as a stencil.

I created a large hand out of cardstock and used that for the mit pattern. With a bit of thermal lining and some heavy black trim, voila — a bbq mit.

Cute little rhino.

Also, I sewed up some scrappy aprons this weekend for a cooking group I participate in. These help explain why I regularly use my JoAnn’s coupons for 5 yards of canvas.

Do you get the same sheer joy I do from creating something from scratch with the supplies you have on hand? Whether it is a new outfit, a sewing project or a meal — I love going through what I already own and making it work.

~K

I’m currently trying to read three books at once — something I do not recommend. On the nightstand is Food Politics. I heard Marion Nestle speak in May and purchased her book on nutrition at the conference. It is good, but dry. We eat too much, especially processed foods. And the big food companies spend billions marketing the latest junk food. She makes some great points about not falling for buzz words like, “No trans fats!” and “Whole Wheat!” The food with these labels can still be total crap.

I picked up The Omnivore’s Dilemma at the suggestion of Jessica, who blogs about following a raw diet. This book I simply cannot recommend highly enough. It has taken this blogger, one who is well known for her love of all things fileted and barbequed, to looking and meat with disgust — not just for what they are doing to the animals but for what the current farming system is doing to the earth in her entirety. I’m not calling myself a vegetarian yet, but I’m on the highway to organic vegetableville and this book just stamped my passport.

I consider myself nutrition savvy. It’s something I’m interested in and is part of my job. And yet, Omnivore’s Dilemma taught me more than a thing or two. For example, did you know before WWII eating meat in the United States was a once-a-week luxury, not a three-times-a-day routine? After the war, the US government had an overstock of chemicals, which were given to farmers. The result was a mass crop of corn and the possibility of an agricultural market that could crash from too much product. The government, in turn, purchased the surplus corn and looked for very creative ways to get rid of it — including giving it to ranchers to feed to cows. Viola, we now have a system where animals that should naturally be grazing are living in pens being fed corn. When you change nature in such a way, you get all kinds of strange effects like the recent Ecoli outbreak in California that contaminated our national spinach supply. The Ecoli was tracked back to runoff from nearby cattle plants (you wouldn’t believe how much waste is produced in meat production thanks to the corn diet change). Another interesting note — you wouldn’t believe the amount of oil required to feed cattle corn. From the oil used to make the chemicals farmers have grown dependent on, to the transportation of corn to the farms to the transportation of the meat to market, there are barrels of oil spent on every stocked deli counter.

And if you are saying to yourself at this moment, “Ah! No worries. I eat chicken!” well, brace yourself. If you are paying for organic or free-range chicken, know that this USDA title means that the animals must have the ability to be outside and not living in pens like the good old standard Tyson chicken. All chicken producers feed chickens grain (corn!) until they can no longer stand on their legs. Then they are slaughtered. This typically takes about 7 weeks. Organic chickens are kept in pens with a tiny door at one end. After week 5, the door is opened. However, their bird brains are accustomed to being inside and so, even though the farmer keeps a teeny tiny lawn perfectly groomed in case a chicken decides to bravely venture where no chicken has gone before, your organic free-range chickens are only roaming in their indoor pens. Granted, organic chickens are not fed grain that was grown or treated with chemicals, but they certainly are not free-range cockadoodle-doing on a cute little farm before being rounded up for the ax.
Old McDonald has long since fled the farm. Instead, four large meat producers have moved in and are handling our nation’s meat in its entirety. You want to talk about national security? Eee, ay, ee, ay OH!
On a lighter note, the third book on the nightstand is Lost Continent by Bill Bryson. I’m participating in Finny’s online book club and have embarrassed myself more than once by guffawing loudly in public while reading this book. Bryson’s dry sarcastic humor is hilarious. Four out of five bananas, absoloodle.

~K

p.s. The even more frequent blogging? I’m trying to do a month of daily blogging along with Mrs. Kennedy.

Amy’s Tie One On is a monthly apron sew-along with a theme. October’s theme is costume aprons. I have no costume-wearing plans this year, so instead I raided my stash to figure out how I could create something from what I already had. (Minor victory: I am doing a pretty good job this month of sorting through the ridiculous amounts of craft supplies in my studio to create projects, rather than rush out to shop with my growing stack of JoAnn’s coupons.)

Viola. The Stepford Wife apron. Pour yourself a glass of wine, bounce a baby on your hip, pull cookies from the oven and put a nutritionally balanced meal on the table, all while wearing a cocktail dress, heels and pearls. This must be a costume because God knows no such woman exists.

And yes, Amanda, you are right. I do need a tripod. Otherwise, I have to photograph such items while they are tied to pillows. Apron details: one Isaac Mizrahi cloth napkin from Target paired with about 3/4 a yard of grossgrain pink ribbon. Tres facil!

In other news — a super easy autumn recipe:
Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:
1 store mix for peanut butter cookies (I like Betty Crocker)
1 egg
1/3 cup of oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1 cup of pumpkin puree.

Mix thoroughly and place in large globs on a ungreased cookie sheet. Cook at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until the tops are browning, but the cookie is still squishy. Give them 15-20 minutes to cool on the cookies sheets before moving them to a serving platter. The pumpkin gives them a moist, muffin-like texture and these are delicious. Anyone who likes a peanut butter cookie will appreciate the seasonal twist. Seriously, the guys at the bagel shop ate 10 of these the other morning before I’d ordered my bagel and sat down to chat. I’m pretty sure they would have inhaled another dozen if I’d obliged. Enjoy!

~K

My mom sent me a lovely lap quilt for my birthday. She spoils me with these beautiful creations. I have a hope chest full of quilts of all sizes and colors. I can’t wait to have a home one day (full of wee ones) to really show off her artistry.

Yep, not going to lie. I sat down and cried my eyes out when I opened this. It is hard to receive such a sentimental and thoughtful gift and not be able to hug the person who gave it to you. I truly miss my family.

Have you seen Jan’s quilts? I think if she and my mom ever met, they’d be thick as thieves. Her work is so pretty too. I simply don’t have the patience for this type of art. I think it really takes a special person to piece together fabric with such precision. It makes me respect the Gee’s Bend ladies and women everywhere who’ve taken on this practical art form as a way of expressing their creativity.

The yellow in the quilt matches my living room perfectly. Thank you again Mama!

~K