Planted 10 Onions Today

little baby onion bulb

I got a bunch of little onion plant starters but didn't put them in the ground the other day when I planted the broccoli, carrots, and cilantro. But they're probably heartier than anything so I went ahead and got them in today after work.  I just did one row beside the carrots, about  8-10 onions.  Basically, as they grow, layer after layer keeps adding up until they get big enough to eat. You can help them grow by keeping the soil around the bulb as loose as possible. I did grow these same onions once back at Beeler, so I think they'll turn out well! And I use onions in, like, everything I ever cook, so, awesome. On a related note, how come my camera gets all "blueish" when I use digital macro mode? It takes great close-up pictures in that mode, but it gets a blue tint. Hmmm

I put a row of about 10 onions in the garden today.

Making Candles

"My obvious conclusion was, Fuck Etsy! I'll make this shit myself!" 

-- Joe Valeri 

One night I lay in bed shopping online -- browsing I should say. Someone had posted a link on Facebook to their friend's Etsy site, and I had started browsing around for various things. Eventually I concluded that I wanted to buy something local, something affordable, something practical. Maybe candles... 

My first ever candle - with homemade hemp wick

I clicked around for awhile, checking the prices of various candles and vendors, until I saw one person selling these mismatched, unmelted "candles" made in salsa jars. She had merely collected all the leftover chunks of wax from the other candles she made and tossed the chunks into her husband's used salsa jars. Each "candle" had several chunks -- of different colors and scents -- piled into the jar, with a wick in the middle. But then she didn't even re-melt them. It would be like dropping a bunch of crayons into a juice glass, sticking a wick in it, and selling it online for 6 bucks (plus shipping :O).

My obvious conclusion was, Fuck Etsy! I'll make this shit myself! 

... Candle making ensued ... 

I really enjoyed it, and now I have a dozen candles around the house. I can burn candles constantly and it's basically free. Any color, any scent, any size ... it's very cool -- definitely a hobby I will return to. (Click here to see a photo essay of my first candle.)

My first set of candles in progress - I even decoupaged the glass on some of them.

I'll do more candle making posts to show all the pictures I have. I think I should do one post with all the supplies and instructions for how to make them as a reminder to myself. And then another post with some of the finished the products -- although several of them have been burned by now.

Add JoeSoCrafty?

"In the interest of interdisciplinary inspiration, to cultivate creative crossbreeding ... the blogs will be combined!" -- Joe Valeri

When I started doing this blog (and a couple others) the idea was to create different blogs to document different hobbies, projects, phases, etc. I haven't yet created a "Crafting" blog, but I've been meaning to -- and I need to decide whether to create it separately or fold it into the mix here. My thinking has evolved a little bit, and I'm not so sure I want to create a new one. I can see reasons to keep them separate -- and I can see reasons to combine them.

I already added the gardening stuff into this one. Originally this was called JoeSoBakery, and it was going to be just about baking. But I realized that was retarded because I only bake something a couple times a year. I cook fairly often -- both trying new recipes and mastering those I already know -- so I ended up expanding to include all cooking in general. 

I have a separate one for my radio show podcast and DJ mixes. But what should I do with crafting?  I feel like the radio show and the DJ mixes are their own separate thing -- they're a product, almost a brand name, so to speak. So I think it makes sense to package all of that together. It's still "JoeSoHeady," but the weblog remains strictly dedicated to the radio show and DJing. If you want to listen to the show or check a set list you won't have to scroll through posts about planting broccoli or sewing pajama pants out of flannel sheets.

Right, so that brings me back to the crafting.

When I don't have a lot to do (e.g., single and lovin' it) I tend to do more of these hobbies and projects. A couple years ago I did a few sewing projects. Recently I went through a candle making phase. Cooking -- that's an ongoing thing -- but getting into cooking -- that's something I could say goes in phases. So all these things fill the same kind of role -- hobbies, interesting things to do, skills to learn, serious yet fun, practical but whimsical, etc.

I probably do anywhere from 1 or 2 up to 10 or 12 crafty projects over a year. Sometimes I'll stick with the same craft for a while and do several projects, and sometimes I'll just kind of check it out and move on. So it doesn't make sense to have separate blogs for each craft. I would only have 1 or 2 entries each. 

It does make sense to keep crafting separate from cooking just because they are clearly two different things -- but they do fill a similar role for me. It makes sense to combine them because there aren't going to be a ton of posts to either one. If I only do a handful of cooking blog entries and 2 or 3 craft projects over the course of a year, those would both be pretty weak blogs. 

But what about the practical purpose of making the blog in the first place? I mean, who cares if the blog is "weak" because it only has 3 entries over a year and a half period? If the point is to have a place for me to document what I'm doing -- for all the normal, general reasons one would document their hobbies -- then why not keep them separate, for organizational purposes? 

On the other hand ... what about some sort of cross-craft creative inspiration that might occur by combining them together? Crafting projects inspired by work in the garden -- recipes discussed while working on the sewing machine -- furniture ideas hatched over tight quarters in a hot kitchen....

I think that paragraph is the winner! In the interest of interdisciplinary inspiration, to cultivate creative crossbreeding ... the blogs will be combined!

With that in mind ... introducing JoeSoCrafting to the JoeSoCookbook network! Should I start thinking about changing the name again? I do kind of like cookbook still because "cookbook" could be used as a general term -- a collection of ideas for how to make things -- whether you're making a  meal, a dessert, a candle or a pair of pajama pants!

JoeSoCookbook ... a collection of things I've made? 

JoeSoCookbook ... recipes for hobbies? 

JoeSoCookbook ... what's cookin in the mind of Joe?

I'll keep working on the tag line....

Adding JoeSoGarden to JoeSoCookbook

I started a backyard urban garden this Spring and I want to include it in my diverse set of irregularly updated weblogs -- but I didn't want to add another one. I've actually been thinking about consolidating them all together into one JoeSoHeady blog, but I don't know. Anyway, as you may know, I have this one, my cooking blog, which I use mostly to document recipes for myself -- so I have a central location to look up recipes that I've made before, a place with notes and pictures, memories and advice, and if other people can get any use out of it, that's even better. 

So I figured it sort of made sense to include the garden blog in the cooking blog. I mean, I will end up cooking what I grow, so it makes sense. I have one blog for DJing, which includes my radio show podcast; an anti-cable-TV weblog documenting my experiences going off the "cable TV grid" and still trying to watch the shows I like and live sporting events; a blog for keeping track of whenever I exercise or participate in athletic endeavors, like kickball and softball; and of course the blog that started it all in the Summer of 2012 -- Season Tickets, Baby -- documenting my experiences as a new Pirates season ticket holder during those few exciting winning months.

Yesterday I started the garden, took some pictures, and made a blog post in JoeSoCookbook -- and I plan on updating it throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Expect to see many JoeSoGarden posts in JoeSoCookbook!

My yard had this planter box, so I cleared it out and started a vegetable and herb garden!

Crock Pot Roast

ingredients ready for the crock pot

I'm getting ready to load up the crock pot before heading out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day Pittsburgh Style. Well, hopefully I personally won't be celebrating in the full Pittsburgh vomit-inducing, public-urination style tradition. I've actually only been "out" for St. Patrick's Day once in Pittsburgh. It was moderately fun. 

But anyway the point is to load up the crock pot with a nice hearty meal for when we come back. We have some nice pieces of steak that I browned. I cut up a few potatoes and carrots and a couple stalks of celery. I made a low sodium chicken based broth and spiced the steaks very simply with onion salt and gourmet white pepper.

All loaded up!

It's all ready for assembly as desired, and then we'll have a delicious meal waiting when we get back later today!!  

Oh, FYI, it's a rather cool, gloomy morning, so I've been listening to James Taylor while prepping this meal, drinking coffee, and Pomeranian snugglin'.

Almost ready!

So, we ended up staying in all day since it was so gloomy out. We both felt like lounging rather than partying. We finally got the crock pot loaded up around 1. Of course we forgot to turn it on until about 2, but that's ok.

After it finished cooking in the crock pot, we strained out the veggies and made amazing gravy with the liquid. It was all delicious!

Yum!

Introduction to JoeSoCookbook

Two things I do are: 1) dabble, and, 2) go in phases.  This means I try a lot of new things but don't necessarily master them.  I don't mean to suggest this is unique or special to me, but it means I need to document what I'm doing because I don't always commit a new skill to memory -- physically or mentally.  The mechanics don't become permanent; instructions are not ingrained.  I think this type of hobby-ing lends itself well to keeping a weblog.  Other people can read it if they want to -- but it's a way for me to keep track of what I've learned and experienced in a particular hobby.  What projects I'm doing, what I still need to do, what has been put on hold...and why.

I went through a sewing phase in the Fall of 2011 when I bought a sewing machine and turned an old flannel sheet into a pair of pajama pants.  I did a few other projects, helped with Halloween costumes, made a few mistakes, learned some lessons...but it was only a phase.  I stopped after a few months, and I'll go back to it at some point in the future.  I'll have to relearn how to set up the freaking bobbin and all that crap again --  should have kept a blog.

In the Summer of 2012 I become a season ticket holder for the Pittsburgh Pirates -- I went into a going to 2 out of every 3 Pirates games and selling a third of my tickets for a good profit phase.  I was hoping they would have a magical season and make the playoffs.  I was hoping they would end 2 decades of losing, so I bought tickets in July for the rest of the season and kept a blog of my experience.  I think it turned out really well and I want to apply a similar approach to some of my random hobbies.

One thing I was doing a lot in the Winter and Spring of 2012 -- after the sewing phase and before the Pirates phase -- was baking: pie, cake, and bread.

I was really working on making a good, classic pie: Dutch Apple, with that cinnamon-y crumbly crust.  SOOO GOOD!  Making a really good pie crust, it turns out, is not easy.  And when you do manage get it right, that doesn't guarantee you will get it right the next time!  One technique I tried was shredding frozen sticks of butter with a cheese shredder to try and ensure the flakiness of the crust.  I also made some blueberry, raspberry, and regular apple pies as well.

I focused on two other recipes besides the pies: banana bread and cinnamon crumb cake.  I do have to say I got really good at both recipes.

The banana bread was really easy and really good.  You just mush up a few bananas, mix in bunch of other stuff, put it in the bread pan, and bake it!  Hahahaha I know those are really thorough instructions, and, you know, you would think -- in a baking blog -- you might see an actual recipe posted, with real tips on preparing it, but I will get to that eventually.  I'm just saying the banana bread was easy.  The recipe fit on a small post-it note and I could always make it without having to go to the store (if I had bananas), which is huge.  I need simple recipes.  When I get the inspiration to bake something, I want to already have all the ingredients. Simplicity is key.

This principle also applies to other hobbies.  When I went through the sewing phase, I would have a moment of inspiration when I would want to work on something, but then I would realize that the sewing machine wasn't set up -- I had to wind the bobbin, thread the needle, all this crap you have to do to get it ready.  I would just want to sit down, line up some cloth, step on the peddle, and go!  A sewing machine can be pretty bad-ass if you're not always fucking around with everything!  I mean, it's loud, sharp, dangerous, it moves pretty fucking fast, and you can make some really cool shit.

So yeah the banana bread had really basic ingredients and was really good.  Here's a confession.  I love to eat junk food.  Well, it doesn't have to be junk.  I just like to eat sweets from time to time.  I often found myself stopping off at a convenience store to grab some Little Debbies or stocking up on Entenmann's at the grocery store.  So I decided to make a little deal with myself.  I said I could eat as much "junk food" I wanted -- IF -- I made it myself.

One of my favorite little convenience foods is Hostess apple pies.  So I was like, alright, I gotta make my own apple pie!  And I did a really good job.  What did I learn...?

You can cut way down on the amount of sugar -- it doesn't have to be syrupy sweet!

Crust is hard to make

Doing the criss-cross crust across the top looks classy and rustic

Crumbly top on the Dutch Apple is amazing

Frozen berries work fine in a pinch

You can make multiple pies at once and freeze before baking!

I learned about this great, simple Mark Bittman recipe -- apple pie pizza.

The other recipe I worked on was cinnamon crumb cake.  The one thing I came up with on my own for this was to add chopped apple.  It worked out really well and added a juiciness to the cake.  And again, you can cut down on the sugar if you use fruit!  Also with this cake I realized that you can mix all the dry ingredients ahead of time.  So I would prepare 4 to 6 cakes worth at a time, then whenever I wanted to whip it up, it was like I had a cake mix already prepared -- my own cake mix!  So this is another great principle that I came to appreciate.

My "principles" as a baker are evolving:

• Junk food is ok when you make it yourself!
• Simplicity: use few ingredients.
• Lower the amount of sugar by 25% and increase fruit.
• Prep extra dry mixes (cake, pie crust, bread) or full pies (and freeze) ahead of time.

So, what will I do in this blog?  Whenever I get back into a baking phase (or just have an isolated baking event), I will document my experiences.  I will add the actual recipes I was using for pies, banana bread, and cinnamon cake, and I'll take pictures of course!  I can pose questions when I need help in case I have any readers who can help me (or any readers, period).  And I will, of course, promote my other blogs, which are going to start popping up now as I go through phases and dabble.