Five Things I Will Totally Definitely Do This Summer...For Real.

Summer. We are moving. We are welcoming an 8 week old puppy (Don't worry, Leon is in charge of obedience as I have an awful track record). We are having another baby in November(I do however, have a good track record with this task...phew). Dahlia is about to get her drivers license(well it feels that way now that shes walking). Life as I know will soon be a thousand times more chaotic....wait...er, I mean exciting!

I must understand that the next four months will be my opportunity to get things accomplished before the season of winter as well as the winter of my leisure time sets in. This level of urgency is all this procrastinator needs to identify and say aloud a couple of things I will commit to doing this summer.

1. Pick Stawberries at Maxwell's with Dahlia and make a good Jam.

2. I have made up my mind to do away with supermarket bought vegetables. We will subside on only what I will grow and what I will purchase from farm stands and local markets this summer.

3. I will make an article of clothing for myself. A skirt, or better yet, A Mu-Mu might be more appropriate for a preggalicious(pregnant) summer.

4. I will make a pair of earrings exclusively from 100% re-purposed materials....this should be interesting.

5. Root Cellar! I have a HUGE soapstone double bowl troff sink in my new basement just waiting to be filled with beets and carrots...don't forget the sawdust.

Deadline: September 26th. Hold me to it.


What is everyone else doing during their glorious summer months??

Goat Cheese Fresh from an Epic Procrastinator...

I am the ultimate procrastinator. Just ask my mother and my husbands unmatched sock pile. I spent most of my early twenties scorning myself for this trait and trying to work against my natural grain. Motherhood and a dose of some serious love taught me to just relax and enjoy myself. I have finally embraced that I'm really good at starting things but not so awesome at that finishing part. However, I have figured out that when the moment finally does strike, to just go for it!

I have been itching to make some homemade goat cheese for months. I had been researching some ways to curdle the milk without chemicals by using some lemon juice or vinegar for a while now. I had sourced the goats milk during a Maine winter which was probably the hardest part, yet I hadn't found the time...

Today I put Dahlia down for a nap, and saw the quart of goats milk in the fridge...judging me for my endless procrastination. I gathered the few ingredients and went to town... until the goats came home...

Ingredients

A. One quart of Goats Milk ( I used ultra-pasteurized as its easier to find this time of year but obviously I would have enjoyed some fresh local goats milk more)

B. Juice of two lemons (I used two and a half for the curdle process)

C. Salt and other fresh herbs and seasonings ( Dill and cracked pepper for this round)

Supplies

A. Colander with three layers of Cheese Cloth set over a deep mixing bowl

B. Thermometer (I used a candy thermometer but an instant would probably be best)

Instructions

1. Prepare your colander and juice your lemons; set aside

2. Heat the Goats Milk to 180 degrees and remove from heat

3. Stir in the lemon juice and let stand for 30 seconds (add more lemon juice if necessary to separate, it will look like there is a thin oil in the milk)

4. Pour the milk over the colander lined with cheese cloth

5. Drain for two minutes and then tie four corners around a wooden spoon

6. Hang to drip dry for about an hour or two; you are looking for the consistency of cottage cheese. I hung mine and waited until it looked and felt like a creamy goat cheese; about and hour and forty five minutes.



7. Place the cheese in bowl and spice it up!



Here are some Cheese making Resources via the World Wide Wonderful Web

Martha Goat Cheese

Vinegar Curdled Goat Cheese

Etsy...you are a special kind of girl...

Etsy.com needs no introduction, especially if you are reading this Blog. However, here is a great article link from Readers Digest on Etsy Creator, Rob Kalin. It really illustrates just how ready the interweb was for an artists marketplace.
Readers Digest Article on Etsy Creator

I think that a persons Etsy shop preferences say a lot about them and I have compiled a few of mine.... so without further adieu...


RubyLemons
I am a sucker for Milk Glass, I cannot tell a lie. It is at times consuming. I love the shiny hobnail details and the 'Grandma like' sensibility of it all. This store is the spot for vintage glassware lovers like myself. Vintage aqua Pyrex? I needn't say more.

MonsterTime
It's no secret, I don't do the whole cat thing. People whom I know and love do, it's cool. There is a few reasons why I might have a cat; This Etsy site is one of them. The bright, eye catching, organic cat-nip filled toys are irresistible. I kind of wish I could buy one for Dahlia, but I'm not sure if shes into the nip, she better not be yet anyways. She's also not a cat.

koalachickens
Garden or terrarium adornment, Plant 'Vessels', bird figurines...the list of what you will find inside this shop goes on. In fact, I received a little Herb garden for a Birthday with an item from KoalaChickens keeping my thyme company. Word on the street is that this shop is introducing all new items for Spring...awesome.

Purplebean Bindery
Fascinating and well made books are in abundance here! I stop by this shop periodically to check out the colors, fine paper, and unique bindings. I have dabbled in book binding myself but never like this. It's awe inspiring to say the least.

SuspectShoppe
Whimsical prints that often involve elephants. This shop is a must for the modern nursery or the casual and creative workroom. These prints have a collaged fairytale type theme and I can't get enough; the elephants don't hurt the appeal for me either.

laurrose
Romantic and saucy jewelry is in abundance in this all time Etsy Fav of mine. I plot my mothers day, Birthday, Christmas, and Anniversary gifts here. Jadeite, Quartz, Adventurine, OH MY!

Yvette Inufio Photography
I stumbled upon this shop on a whim. I was pouring over a favorite Blog House Of Turquoise
and I saw these striking photos and immediately went to the Etsy Shop. The photos all have different personalities, some are a bit too pink for me but as I have stated before...I don't Judge.



Share your Favorite Etsy Shops in Comments!!

"One" is the Happiest Number...

On a Saturday in February we welcomed Dahlia's first birthday with some family and friends. It was a whirl of pinkness, shiny cupcake printed gift bags, hearts, hats, and a birthday crown.

I made the cake from scratch and it was a heavy vanilla pound cake of sorts. Amazingness. I have included the cake's concoction plan at the bottom. It is a must have at your next soiree.

The presents were plentiful and the love was palpable. She made her rounds to all of her guests in her pink monkey birthday crown from a favorite Etsy Store of mine.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/drfeltgood
My mother found this crown and knew that Dahlia had to have it. It is a fantastic Etsy store that really can give you a fresh take on the "old girl scout craft material" AKA... Felt. I have another Etsy store that uses felt in new and awesome ways but I will save that for my Etsy Fav's post.




Amidst the plethora of gifts I had tucked in a hat that I had been working on for her. A friend of mine is a fiber artist (whatever that really means I'm not entirely sure) and had given me a small sample of her wares. I was quite pleased with the wild and fuzzy stripe of hand dyed and hand spun texture. It contrasted the polished fingerling weight yarn that the remainder of the beanie was comprised of nicely.

Here's the link to this super simple toddler sized hat... link is half way down the page, click next to pattern...I used this pattern for the detailed fit instructions but obviously did not choose a self striping yarn.
http://www.twistedknitter.prettyposies.com/2008/11/selfstriping_hat.html

Dahlia-Ahlia's-Magic Cake Concoction

(Quick!! Put that Betty Crocker Crap Down!)

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar the white and yummy kind
  
• 4 eggs Fresh room temp.
  
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk( Not skim...how dare you!)
  
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
  

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans or one 9x13-inch (23 x 33 cm) rectangular baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan well.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't overbeat. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan(s).
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean. (A single rectangular pan will take longer to bake than two round ones.) Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Let cool completely before covering with frosting, if desired.

Servings: Two 9-inch (23-cm) round layers, or one 9- x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) rectangular cake.

I doubled this recipe and had enough to make the double layered cake and 12 cupcakes. Choose your own favorite icing. I would recommend going with anything except a light whipped cream icing as it doesn't have enough body to stand up to the dense cake.

Just For Fun...Videos and Birthday Plans!

Good Bones...

This is our house "in the raw". We close in about two weeks. I am incredibly excited and a bit scared. It's going to take a whole lot of work, but what else do young married couples with a baby do, right?

It's a foreclosure with the most random assortment of things....such as cooking oil on a washer that someone decided should go in their glorious kitchen... hmmmm.

Obsessive Decorating...this could become an issue.

Decorating With Blue | Real Simple


I have been faced with the lovely task of decorating 2000 square feet of riverside ancient house. Its daunting to say the least. You can't go all IKEA cheap'n'minimal. You can't (or at least I won't) do all over the top French or Queen Anne. It's a careful balance of clean yet historic. Period yet contemporary. Child accessible yet not looking like an in-home daycare. Oy.

I have many grandiose ideas that would work perfectly if it wasn't for that man I call my husband. A two thousand dollar bed frame is out of the question, and I have to say that the good little Mainer in me just won't allow it anyways. So I must conjure a full house decorated on a shoe string budget while satisfying my goal of creating a cohesive, functional, and aesthetically pleasing home. It is consuming my thoughts to say the very least.

There's a few other issues that one might have to overlook, such as raw crumbled plaster in a few places, Vines protruding into my Sun Porch, and a few Squirrel friends in the cavernous attic. However, I don't find these issues anything that elbow grease, hedge clippers, and a pellet gun can't fix. (relax animal lovers, I won't use a pellet gun...promise).
Vintage Martha Stewart Image (true love)

I will be updating the ol' blogster with my victories and forfeitures in the realm of interior design as I am certain there will a lot of both. In the next few days I will posting images from Highland House, and Yes, I have named my house.

Avgolemono: A Hellaluva Good Soup Recipe...even if I can't pronounce it.

It seems like a life time ago that I was sitting in our tiny apartment nursing Dahlia, looking out the window at the snow, waiting for my far away friends to welcome the baby and bring me some much needed soup and conversation.

They came with paper 'Whole Foods' bags in tow; filled to the brim with beets, goat cheese, leeks, lemons...etc. I was blissfully exhausted in my new role as a Mamma but I will always recall those days as the sweetest days I had yet to taste. As sweet as it was, my body ached for sleep and nutrients. My friends were taking care of the later half of that last sentence. There were hugs, Oooo's and Ah's over Dahlia's most obvious talent at being the best looking infant ever, hand made gifts to unwrap and more Ooooo's and Ah's.

My kitchen was filled with the scent of sauteed leeks, mere poix, and lemon. I was being treated to their vegetarian version of the traditional Greek soup, Avgolemono. It is a delicious soup with lemon and a frothy egg tempered in among the leeks, carrots, and onion topped with a coarse chop of fresh mint and parsley. It fills a house and a belly with that wintery soup feeling.


This summer I was feeling a detrimental lack of inspiration and nutrition so I turned on NPR and opened the fridge. I saw all the ingredients for Avgolemono and a glass container of cooked wheat berries. Wheat berries are a hearty grain and I quickly realized that they had to fill the shoes of my non-existent pastine that the original recipe called for. The makeshift grain adds a more satisfying texture, protein, and fiber to the soup. However, you can use just about any small pasta or grain in this soup. The traditional Avgolemono has shredded chicken and uses Orzo, there are so many great renditions of this classic. Give this one a try...

2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 Leeks(white parts finely Chopped to equal 4 cups)
1 Onion (smallish)
2 Carrots diced
6 Cups Broth (veggie broth works well)
1/2 cup Wheat Berries
2 Big Eggs
3 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 cup chopped Parsley
1 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp chopped Oregano


1. In a small Pan Saute leeks, onions, carrots, and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook 5-7 minutes.


2. Stir in all of the Broth(chicken or Veggie, I don't judge). Season with the good old S and P. Simmer for 11 minutes. Add your wheat berries and simmer for five minutes and remove from heat.

3. Whisk eggs and lemon juice in medium bowl. Eggs should be room temp! Add three (non boiling) ladles from soup pot to the bowl with eggs and whisk very rigorously so the eggs do not cook. Whisk the egg mixture into the big Soup Pot and cook over VERY low heat for 2-3 minutes. If you boil the soup you will have a weird srambled egg soup....and nobody wants that. nobody.


4. Sprinkle the herbs over just before serving. Yes, I was reticent about the mint too, but Don't omit it thinking the soups taste will be the same or better off...it won't.



5. This is an optional step, for myself its essential. Feed a certain someone kale puffs so you can enjoy the lemony goodness in peace, fingers crossed.


Thanks Kara and Amanda for the recipe!

"Maybe I drink tea with Criminals...Or I play cards with Grandmama"...Ira Atari

I have a friend. Her name is Amanda and I  have always secretly thought something about  her and I. Its that we are musical twins. My definition for musical twins is this: two people who are on the exact same page when it comes to the notes. I truly think this. I have never told her, but I am sure of it.  When a local Dj posted this on Facebook, I couldn't save it for those Wiley musical elite who think they guard the underground funk. This woman, Ira Atari, is ridiculously ridiculous. She's Talented as all hell and I know you and Amanda will love it as much as I do. If I'm wrong.... well then Amanda, maybe we are not music twins after all. 

Okay. Okay. I will also address the elephant in the room. I know I haven't been keeping up with the bloggy blog. I miss it. I assure you. However, when I look at my Dahlia, it's hard to part with her sweet smelling hair and double chins on my precious down time. But there is good news too, I received a project idea book which is brimming with amazingness, from my mother who is pretty amazing herself.  My inspiration is 'abrewing' like a good tea or ale...just you wait. Here's a few key words that describe several things in the Circus' future.....

Refinishing  and Reupholstering an Asian Toile Dining Room Set

A raised bed vegetable garden

New Samurai Bamboo purses

A kitchen utensil charm bracelet

and...Birds. Lots of them. Lots. 

Five Things You Should Never Say To Me or Anyone Else...

So, its been a while since my last post. I went back to school and am currently spending my days under fluorescent lights doing a whole lot mundane tasks. ____ Me.

My inspiration has been a bit lacking due to six A.M. wakings and no coffee allowed in the classroom. I talk to mannequins and cut imaginary hair. It will get better, This I know. Starting what you want to do is always tough. Becoming a Mom was hard. Resigning to letting go of the single life was tough as well (maybe even a bit harder than the mom thing). Ultimately they are all worth it. Very, Very worth it.

I was day dreaming during the perm lecture today and came up with a list. A list of things I never want you to say to me...OR anyone else...

1. "That was Delicious! Is that a Rachel Ray Recipe?"

2. "You paint just like Donna Dewberry!"

3. "Do You Scrapbook?"

4. "I got this cute shirt at Wal-Mart"

5. "What does your Tattoo mean?" ohhhh that's the worst!

I will try to keep up the Circus better. Those recipes for the tea infused oils is coming. I am making lapsang suchong tofu this Sunday.

Vintage Martha...

             I was a weird kid. I admit it. I liked things that kids weren't really supposed to "get" at my age. I had a subscription to "Victorian" Magazine and loved it. I poured over the pictures and was borderline obsessive of those smelly folded perfume pages. I collected the ripped out advertisements and sniffed away. After my "Victorian" stage ended, I decided I wanted Martha Stewart's "Living" Magazine. I had just baked my first cake from scratch while my mom napped, and I wanted more culinary challenges. In particular, I loved the perforated square recipe cards. If you ever find her recipe for her "Easy Spanikopita", try it!

    

During these times, my mother owned her own quilting store and was quite the quilter. I spent a good deal of time going to her quilting clubs and trying to avoid the old ladies that smelled like cat food. I was surrounded by all types of fabrics, sewing tools, and quilting notions. I took a liking to these little tomato pin cushions she sold in the shop. They were bright red with a Crayola Green top. I used to love to push the flat sewing pins flush with the firm cotton surface. It is always funny the random things that I remember from those times.

So, You are most definitely asking how these two random paragraphs relate. Well...here it is. I have a close friend who loved to take baths in the antique tub in her old apartment. I could tell this by two things: She would often answer her phone while she was "tubbing" and a weird watery echo then ensued for the length of our conversation. Also, by the enormous collections of magazines watermarked and crinkled from their occasional splashes and dips into the bath laying in her palatial bathroom. The magazines were a mix of Vegetarian Times, Domino, and my favorite, Martha Stewart "Living".      

       The other day she called and said she had a project for us to work on for her day trip up to Portland. It was a feature on heirloom fabric tomato pin-cushions from a very old issue of Martha's "Living". I tried to hide my giddiness because no one is supposed to be that psyched about a pin cushion OR an old Martha issue. I was. 

      While I waited for her to arrive I put the monster, Oops I mean baby, in the swing praying for quiet and ran to my craft room. I outsmarted the wiley pile of Leon's old computer parts to grab my fabric stash and set up shop in the living room. As my friend unpacked her pile of textiles the contrast of our palette choices was obvious, but we did have a few of the same patterns.

        A fun day of obsessive crafting, wine drinking, rocking babes to sleep, and "coffee talk" followed. Take a look at the "fruit" of our labor.   Just let me know if anyone wants detailed instructions. 

These below were our first attempts. No comment.

Not your Gramma's Canape'

One fateful summer in Maine, a Democrat actually tried to run for Congress...Go figure. Of course I had the pleasure of being an indentured servant to one of his top "people". A few hours before a large fundraiser my job description of nanny changed...to caterer? I had the task of preparing several different types of appetizers to be passed. It was a fundraiser set against the backdrop of a private beach estate and many people in attendance would not be impressed with Tostito's and salsa for the cost of their invites. They talk about champagne taste on a beer budget. Well, I had to have gourmet hors d'ouvres on a cheese 'n' crackers time frame. 

My Employer gave me a recipe she insisted I "whip up". I glanced at the list of ingredients...the words "Hell No" came to mind. White bread and cream cheese? However, I didn't care enough to scour Epicurious.com for the perfect canape'. White bread wrapped canned asparagus with cream cheese spread would have to do. While reading the recipe in detail I became, as I often do, a bit defiant to this dish's lack of character. I opened the fridge looking for some small additions and got down to business. That is how one of my favorite dishes was born. Forty minutes later I pulled my Siracha and blue cheese asparagus bites out of the oven and plated them for the Soiree'. A few days later, I was writing the recipe down for my boss to email to the several guests who raved about my pinch hitter canape'.  Was that last sentence me being a bit too braggy? I guess you'll just have to deal and then make these.

Gather:

Softened cream cheese (a small tub)

Four tablespoons Blue Cheese (you can add this to taste)

A loaf of the whitest, grossest bread you can find

Siracha Hot sauce 

Half cup melted butter

Fresh Asparagus cut as pictured above

Mix the cream cheese with the blue cheese and add the Siracha to taste. Cut the corners off the bread and flatten with a rolling pin (or hands). Spread a generous amount of blue cheese mixture on the flattened piece of bread. Put two or three asparagus spears in the middle and roll up. Make the roll as compact as you can. Cut the "log" in three pieces as shown below. Place on buttered baking sheet and brush generously with the melted butter. Put in freezer for twenty minutes to firm up and bake at 375 until golden brown. 

This weekend I had a friend visiting for some wine, sewing ( I couldn't bring myself to say crafting), and baby Dahlia time. I woke up and had a mere thirty minutes to go to the grocery store before the man had to leave, so I made these. My friend doesn't even like blue cheese which I remembered on my way home from the supermarche'. She loved them, at least she said she did. Also, unfortunately the Democratic candidate didn't win... hope it wasn't the food. 

Cast Your Old Tea Bags Aside and Solar Infuse Olive Oil With Your New Loose Leaf Tea...

It's no secret, I love me some tea. Not that dust and catnip that comes in bags, but fresh and robust loose leaf tea.  Tea isn't just for sipping when you have a cold, you can do all sorts of things with it. As I was putting together a friends tea themed Holiday present, I came up with the idea to delve into the world of cooking with tea. Numerous devilish and delicious deserts call for green tea in their mascarpone or mallow.  In reality, I don't bake. Never have, never will. In fact,  I am diabolically opposed to a recipe telling me in absolute terms what I can and cannot do. I don't play that. So, I have decided to solar infuse olive oil with a few different types of tea for marinades and sauteing savory dinner entrees. 

   

Below there are three kinds of tea. 

The left is a lapsang suchong, or Pine Smoked black. It is a BOLD black tea with a smoky infusion. My friend calls it camp fire tea. 

The middle is a white Earl Grey. White tea is a light tea from the newest tea leaves. It is highest in antioxidants and it is crisp with a sharp bite. This white tea has a bergamot citrus essence as is traditional for Earl Grey teas.

The right tea is a lychee fruit essence black tea. Tea producers will infuse a tea with a flavor, like bergamot, during the drying or fermentation process of the leaves. Lychee is a strong citrus like fruit that will pair well with salmon or other types of fish. 

           DIRECTIONS

1. Gather the ingredients: 

A glass bottle with stopper. 

Mid-grade Olive Oil. 

Good organic loose leaf tea.

Later you will need a fine strainer.

2. Wash and dry glass bottle. Fill two inches from mouth with Olive Oil. BTW, I will never use the terms EVOO. Neither should you. 

3. Fill with approximately two tablespoons of the tea leaves. Use your judgement when utilizing smaller or larger containers. Note:container should be clear for solar infusion.

4. Cork container and place in moderate sunlight for a week and a half. Oil may become cloudy, don't worry, oil with preserve anything and cloudiness doesn't effect the flavor. 

5. Strain the oil with a fine strainer and return to container. 

Above is the Lapsang Suchong Oil

White Earl Grey Oil Above

My first inclination is to use the oil in a marinade for fish and tofu. When my oil is fully infused I will get in the kitchen and post a recipe that worked. In the meantime, I suggest googling some tea recipes to see what you can with your leftover tea. You can make a hell of an alcoholic punch!. Put your tea bags down, loose leaf is where it's at.  

Make Your Mark...On a Plant Pot...

          One summer I went to Sweden on an extended trip. It was an unforgettable adventure featuring abundances of weird sausage plates, 30$ dollar kamikaze shots, bizarre Scandinavian night clubs, and a Nas concert in a huge open park just hours before my flight back.

   Back home, in a less exciting Portland, I had a glorious kitchen full of tomatoes, peppers, and herbs graciously about to bear the fruit of my high hopes. Starting tomatoes and peppers from seed in Maine indoors is no easy task. They habitually become too leggy and mine had fought a bitter battle for limited window space & sunlight but they had prevailed.

       While In Sweden I had trusted my apartment, mail, AND my precious plants to a friend who was sick of staying at her parents house before she moved cross country.  After several calls back home to my makeshift "house sitter" went unreturned I feared the worst...and I was right.  The sweltering heat of a closed up third floor apartment had stolen my cherry tomatoes and my green thumb for that summer...to be a bit dramatic. 

     In a forced and sheepish attempt to apologize for the agricultural mishap, my scatterbrained, plant killer friend procured some new greenery in an ugly pot. Uggghhh. Not one to throw things away, no matter how ugly something might be, I kept it. But today I decided to give the pot and some others a makeover. And yes, we are still friends.

      The Offending Plant Pot

       Of course it won't be an ordinary craft paint and polka dot plant pot spruce up. I am going to use the chalkboard paint I purchased to make chalkboard pots. This way I can remind myself of re-potting dates, type of plant, and origin of possession. Oh, and maybe I will write a reminder for Leon to be more careful when vacuuming and just plain walking near the plants. My Terra Cotta graveyard needs no more additions. 

 So here's the basic directions because it's a basic project. Get to it, Summer is peeking round' that corner, promise. 

                      

•  Spray your clean, dry plant pot with chalkboard spray. Decorate as you see fit.  You will need heavy coats as the porous terra cotta is thirsty.   

             It was good idea to give the ugly duckling pot a paint job hoping to turn it into a swan, however, it didn't work. I underestimated my loathing for the color combination of black and red. So, in the end it's still ugly, but at least I tried. Here is the repeat offender...

• The whole endeavor wasn't a complete bust. See for yourself, I might not believe me if I were you after the last pot re-decorating disaster. 
  

             

Read These Books...For Real...

"The Secret Life Of Plants" 

by Christopher Bird and Peter Tompkins

This book is a 1978 non-fiction about the crazy experiments on plants and their "personalities". It is also the name of a damn good Stevie Wonder album. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_secret_life_of_plants

"Paris Underground" (2005) By Caroline Archer and Alexandre Parre'

 

A crazy dope non-fiction pictorial book about the history of the art ridden tunnel complex under Paris. It interests the history buffs and the street art crowd. 

                        

            

"The Organic Suburbanite: An Environmentally Friendly Way To Live The American Dream"

By Warren Schultz...The way we live our lives and run our home are heavily influenced by the American Dream and its ideals. This book brings it all into perspective to give us some tips to alleviate the tread on the earth.

An excellent non-fiction novel that I picked up in an old resale book shop..."Waiting by Ha Jin"

It's a simple tale of a Chinese military officer caught between two worlds (and obviously two chicks) during  the beginning of the Socialist Government in China. 

AND FINALLY...My Number One Recommendation for EVERYONE...

"The Wu Manual"   by the RZA

I bought this book for an old boyfriend at his request and I would soon find myself being read bedtime stories from this ultra handy manual. It includes everything from how to wear your pants,to explaining Wu Tang lyrics, all according to the RZA...PRICELESS! I bought it at the same time as I bought the "Organic Suburbanite"...quite the Juxtaposition...read it...don't judge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/the_wu_manual

Enjoy-Kate