Posts

My first blog post just went up on It's Getting Hot In Here. Here's an excerpt from the post about the Do Not Mail campaign's recent victory in Seattle; you can read the rest of Seattle Takes on the Junk Mail Industry over there.

Seattle Takes on the Junk Mail Industry

When it comes to curbing climate change, some things are easier to do than others. As activists, much of what we work towards involves large-scale, industrial change and tough decisions from consumers, legislators, and industry. But sometimes solutions are really simple. Reducing junk mail is one of those no-brainer policy changes that helps get us closer to the planet we want to see.

Just two weeks ago, the Seattle City Council took an important stand against deforestation by adopting a resolution calling on the state of Washington to create a Do Not Mail registry. The registry would create an enforceable system to allow residents to choose to keep their mailboxes junk mail free. Currently, there are various ways to reduce your junk mail, but unlike the popular national Do Not Call Registry to stop unwanted phone calls, none of these options are enforceable–and some are even industry sponsored.

Read more on itsgettinghotinhere.org

I finally uploaded food pictures to Flickr. Eventually, I'll get around to putting up some more recipes. (Andrew has been really into grilling pizzas, and he just started making his own pasta.) For now, check out these highlights.

After deliberating for nearly six months, I finally decided on fabric for the living room curtains. Now I can focus on important projects, like making the perfect pair of pajama pants.

I've been playing around, learning how to use my sewing machine, and I think this turned out pretty well. The tote bag pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter's book, Simply Sewing.

I haven't sewn anything in years and years, but there are various projects I've been thinking about lately: tote bags, wallets, simple skirts, and (ultimately) curtains. Last week, I bought a sewing machine, and once I got the hang of how the machine basically works, I hit Goodwill for some fabric and picked up a beginner's book.

For my first project, I picked something absurdly simple: napkins. I know, not very exciting, but it was good practice measuring fabric, hemming, and then replicating it. (Not to mention threading the machine and figuring out what the bobbin does.) Next, I'll have to focus on sewing straight lines.

And, of course, Mr. Bunny wasted no time deciding this is all an exercise for his benefit. Maybe I'll prove him right and make him a cat bed.

Here's another great meal prepared with recipes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Pictured: Ricotta Dumplings with Quinoa and Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnuts.

These two recipes together were absolutely perfect. This is my new favorite way to eat brussels sprouts!

Ingredients for the dumplings:

• ricotta cheese

• milk
• salt
• bread crumbs
• eggs
• roasted red peppers

Ingredients for the brussels sprouts:

• brussels sprouts

• olive oil
• salt
• chopped hazelnuts
• shredded mint, dill, or parsley

Andrew is a big fan of food acclaimed foodie Mark Bittman and recently picked up his book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It's fantastic. There are pages and pages of great recipes that are either IC-friendly, or could be with just a little tweak of ingredients.

While I'd guess that Bittman would be happy to have his recipes reposted (he shares recipes on his blog, Bitten, freely), I'm just going to list the ingredients. I'll leave it to you to either pick up a copy or check it out from the library.

In this recipe:

• olive oil

• small potatoes
• garlic
• salt
• quinoa
• red bell pepper
• cheddar

It's been a really long time since I've been to Hawaii, too long. In 2004, I spent a month on Oahu helping recruit organizers for the fledgling ACORN office in Honolulu, and during that stint I had the great pleasure of escaping to eat Thanksgiving dinner with friends on the Big Island. But that trip was work. This trip was the first proper vacation I've taken to Hawaii since I lived there seven years ago.

I'll write more on this later. For now, check out my twitter feed, and follow me there for more timely updates. Eventually, I'll install a module to publish my feed here, but it'll have to wait!

One of the things I love about the work I do is constantly learning new things. Usually, I'm learning tweaks and tricks, but today I got to play with audio files--something I've never done before.

ForestEthics Sierra Campaigner Josh Buswell-Charkow was interviewed on Against the Grain, a show on KPFA yesterday, and he did an amazing job. Since our web content guru is on vacation, it fell to me to figure out the best way to get Josh's interview on the ForestEthics website.

The audio clip could have been added without any editing, but I really only wanted to post the 34 minutes that Josh was on the show. After a quick search for the best audio editing software, I installed Audacity and the LAME plugin (so the file could be exported as an MP3).

Once I edited down the clip and put it on the server, I wanted to actually embed the audio file on the page. In the past, our audio clips have just been links to the file, which pulls up a new browser tab with the audio player. That works just fine, it's just not very elegant. Instead, I grabbed the ODEO code.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out:

In the seven years I've lived here, Portland has shut down numerous times due to snow. But this winter marks the first time I've literally been caught in a snow storm. That's right--Andrew and I drove straight into Arctic Blast 2008.

We were attempting to drive from Portland to Salt Lake, which we do most years, to visit friends and family over the winter holidays. With snow covering the route most of the way, we obviously didn't make it to our destination, but ended up having a great impromptu vacation anyhow: playing in the snow, watching silly movies, listening to This American Life episodes, and generally relaxing. And Charlie, who normally has to share his people with three cats and two other dogs, was happy to have us all to himself.

Here's the slide show from our drive. Pay close attention to the meal Andrew prepared on Day 3: Roasted red pepper sandwiches with pesto, asiago, and artichoke hearts on french bread with carrots on the side. On the way home, I dubbed this trip Best Botched Road Trip Ever. With better luck, we'll see our Utah family and friends in the Spring.