REAL Milk

If you have been following my blog and Duncan's Blog - you may have noticed that I have become an omnivore. I started craving meat about 5 months ago (I think my body starting craving "real" protein when I started weight training), combine my craving with a most excellent book Real Food by Nina Planck, and my fabulous doctor's nutritional supervision, I made the decision to incorporate meat back into my diet.

I tell you all of this because on this meat journey, I learned about the benefits of real dairy foods (mostly from Nina - she is very convincing). I've been drinking soy for a few years because I felt like I might have been mildly lactose-intolerant, plus most commercial milk is full of terrible things, but with incorporating meat, I have also added in the most delicious thing EVER (in my opinion)... real, raw milk from grass-fed, pastured cows. It is sooo good; Dunc and I have decided that you almost have to drink it like wine, smelling and savoring every sip. Although I don't drink any other milk, Dunc assures me that the taste is dramatically different.

Now, I thought it would be really hard to find RAW milk, mostly because of the whole unpasteurized deal, but lo and behold, farmers can sell it in stores and at farmers markets in this lovely state o'mine. Dunc, the dairy man, informed me they sell raw milk at Whole Foods, but it is not from grass-fed cows (important because cows were meant to eat grass -not grain- and the grass-fed cow's milk contain's more omega-3 fats, vitamin A and beta-carotene - also "butter and cream from grass-fed cows are rare sources of the unique and beneficial fat CLA." - Nina Planck, Real Food, pg. 68). After a bit of research from "Where Can I Find Real Milk?" I learned of a fabulous farm on Vashon Island, Seabreeze Farm, that sells their grass-based farm goods at our local farmer's market every Saturday. YAY! 

So if you haven't ever tasted the tasty tastiness that is raw milk, I encourage you to find yourself a good grass farm and partake! Yum yum! 

*If you've heard that raw milk is bad for you and causes tons of diseases, and want more information from someone who isn't a super gung ho raw milk fan, check out these guys:

http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/

The Forgotten History of Modern Milk

Got Raw Milk?

I can bake!

So this may or may not be over a week late, but I find it very hard to sit down at a computer anywhere else besides work. But today I have found myself home and in front of our computer. With this special occasion, I thought it was finally time to reveal the most delicious dessert I have EVER made.

I recently started following a number of blogs - mostly cooking blogs - like Bakerella, Orangette and Tartelette. I was inspired by their food photography and delicious recipes to create a Valentine's Day treat for Duncan. We personally think our anniversary (Feb 29th) is waaay cooler than Hallmark's Day of Love, but we can't ignore it, so we made a great dinner (I ate meat!) and followed it up with these tasty bites that took about 3 hours to create (including fridge time, not all work time).

Behold... Red Velvet Cake Balls!!!

For the first time in my life, I made a cake from scratch. Turns out Red Velvet takes FOUR TABLESPOONS of red food coloring - I cleaned our house out!

Baked me a cake, cooled it and CRUMBLED IT! Very satisfying.

Mix that crumbled cake with cream cheese frosting (not made from scratch...)

Roll into balls and refrigerate!

Then the best part, dip in delicious melted chocolate. And I decided to be festive and cover with love sprinkles.

Last step, CONSUME!

Oh cakes...

Just a short one, but I need to spread the love. The love of what? Of cakes. Specifically, cake wrecks.

I never thought I could get such a kick out of cakes, but through some web surfing I came across this blog: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

The premise of the blog is to mostly feature cakes gone wrong, really wrong. This ranges from gross spelling errors, i.e "Marry Christnos", to grammatical errors, i.e. "Let's Snow!", to just really ugly cakes:



That one is for you, Chris and Lindy. A "beautiful" representation of a Longhorn...

A number of these cakes come from super market shelves, so I am pumped to run to the nearest Safeway and peruse the pre-made cakes.

At first glance, it doesn't seem that awesome, but I honestly am having trouble getting back to work and have had to stifle a number of giggles.

Also, it is up for a number of awards for the 2009 Bloggies http://2009.bloggies.com/. If you enjoy this blog, I encourage you to give it a shout out at the Bloggies.

Numéro Deux

Oh man, who didn't love Tuesday? I totally spent the most time ever in my life in front of the television, well I wasn't necessarily in front of the television the entire time, but today was perhaps the longest time period our TV has been on continuously. The reason? The Most Bad Ass swearing in of a President EVER. I watched everything from the arrivals, to the official Inauguration, to Barack and company saying "Peace!" to W, to the luncheon, to the parade. Ridiculous I know, but I just couldn't get enough of seeing President Obama in action.


So to stay in the spirit of my last blog, here are some recent events that gave me joy:


On MLK Jr Day - a day that I have I tried to make a day of service, my roommate Anna and I volunteered with a group of mostly older women making baby blankets and baby bunting for a non-profit called Westside Baby. Last year, Anna and I planted trees with the Friends of the Cedar River Watershed and since we are super hard workers, we ended up doing most of the work and planted enough trees to meet our quota for a few years. This year we wanted to do something more people-oriented and the 5 hours we spent baby-blanketing totally met our demands. It could have been more awesome if we got to wrap babies up in the blankies, but I guess I can survive without it.

Obviously, Tuesday, January 20th gave us all a TREMENDOUS amount of joy. Here are some of my favorite shots of President Barack Obama, our fabulous First Lady, Michelle, Malia, Sasha, and someone leaving:





























Bye Bye Bush!!!

Numero Uno

Hello Blogging World. I am up and running. Not literally, I am in fact seated and typing - but this brand spankin' new blog IS! Huzzah!

I have no plans as to what this blog o' mine will entail, or what it will evolve into. Only that I would like to have one and I, at times, enjoy writing.

For today, here are some recent events that made me happy:

Slumdog Millionaire Winning BIG at the Golden Globes!!!

This film was one of my four favorites films of 2008 (others include: In Bruges, The Dark Knight and WALL-E). Based on the book, Q & A, the film follows the story of how a "slumdog" - a kid from the ghettos of Mumbai - knows all of the answers on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Also, it is directed by Danny Boyle, who apparently has directed a number of my favorite films without my knowledge! Sneaky bugger! Fabulous film, if you haven't seen it. DO. NOW. Thank you.

January 1st, I made the incredibly wise decision of running the Resolution 5K and Polar Bear Dive. Yep, I ran 3 miles in 40ish degree weather, wind and rain added for a little spice, ran down a boat launch into Lake Washington, which was nice and toasty at 42 degrees, "ran" in and out of neck high water, and finished the last 100 meters in style. By style, I mean wet and cold. However not awesome that description may sound, do not be mislead; it was one of the best ways to start out the New Year and I fully plan to do it again next year. I am also looking for volunteers to join me! Duncan would have been there, but was scheduled to work, but makes mega bucks working on holidays. Jump in the lake in January, or go to work and rake in the dough?

Oh, and I totally beat that guy (1259). No one else seemed to really care to run after the "dive"...
And voila! My first blog! You are witness to it.