The Magical Soybella Machine

I finally got a chance to play with a new toy of mine.  As a wedding gift we got a Soybella machine which I was super excited about.  I got it because I wanted to be able to make my own almond and coconut milks at home, they are rather pricey in the store.  When I was flipping through the instruction manual I learned that this machine it truly multi purpose.  It can make soy and nut milks, but it can also make soups, broths, purees, chunky soups, rice paste (whatever that is) and grind things like coffee, nuts etc.  Well now I am ecstatic about this little device.  It is smallish and light weight, surprising for all the tasks it can perform. 

I made three items today.  1. Coconut milk, 2. almond milk and 3. potato leek soup (c'mon, an Irish girl just cannot resist!)  A brand of coconut milk I particularly like is "SoDelicious"  It is very thick and creamy which I love in my coffee, I looked up what makes it thick and found that the magic ingredient is guar gum, a natural food thickener. 

I followed the instructions to make coconut milk and then after 15 minutes heard a glorious little BEEP and knew I may have made by first batch of "milk."  I transferred the liquid to another container and added the guar gum, cane sugar and vanilla flavoring.  I then put the lid on and proceeded to try to shake this lava hot concoction up......BIG, BIG, HUGE MISTAKE!  The lid popped off and I got burnt, I think I will survive but if you have never had to rip a scalding hot shirt off your body be thankful and just take my advice to not shake hot liquids.  After my quick recovery and generous application of aloe vera gel I decided to whisk my mixture because the guar gum kind of became a guar ball instead, mixing it helped but I recommend putting it in a little at a time and whisking.  But hey, guess what?  It worked and tastes pretty good too!

Well now I am on a roll, I cleaned my new toy up and started my almond milk recipe, I followed the same steps then transferred the liquid to a container DID NOT SHAKE IT and slowly added the guar gum as I mixed, it worked much better.  I also added almond flavoring and maple syrup, it's pretty good but I think the coconut milk is the winner for me.

Ok so for my last item of the evening the potato leek soup, this device makes it so simple it's just scary, literally I had to cut up some potatoes, onions, garlic and add some spices......then press "paste"......I am sitting here impatiently waiting for my new favorite sound....BEEP!!!!

While I wait I will share my recipes since, as always I make changes to fit my needs.

Coconut milk
1 cup* shredded unsweetened coconut  (there is a special measuring cup included)
fill vessel to .8 L (there are markings on the inside of the container)
press the "mill" button  I don't think I needed this step since the coconut was already shredded and will skip it next time
next press the "milk" button and the machine takes it from there
15 minutes later BEEP and there was a milk like liquid in the container
transfer to another container and add:
1 tsp of guar gum slowly as you whisk - this is my first time using guar gum, next time i will try 1/2 tsp.
1 tsp of vanilla (i think i may skip this altogether to see what it tastes like without)
3 TBSP cane sugar (i will cut this down as it was a little too sweet for me)

All in all I like it very much and will continue to tweak the recipe to see what flavors I can coax out of this mixture.

Almond Milk
1 cup almonds
fill vessel up to .8L
"mill"  i pressed this about 5 times, the book said the more times pressed the thicker the mixture
"milk"
this mixture had a sort of thin, watery smell to it
1 tsp guar gum
1 tsp almond flavoring
3 tbsp real maple syrup

mix and enjoy.  It thickened up nice and tasted pretty good, like i said, though, i do like the coconut milk a little better.

Potato Leek Soup
2 smallish potatoes diced
1 shallot, diced (i confess i don't have any leeks in the house)
3 garlic cloves chopped
pepper
sea salt
dash of cayenne pepper

place all into the machine, put lid on and press "paste" 

It beeped a few minutes ago and I opened 'er up.  While it does not look as thick as some cream based soups would, the potatoes should thicken the mixture up nicely, I did add more salt and think that I put just a tad too much cayenne pepper in it to begin with, hopefully that will dissipate a bit.  All in all it tastes great, I really cannot complain, I just made a fabulous soup in 20 minutes total! 

Well ta-ta for now!  If anyone has any recipes that they would like to share please feel free to post or email me.

~CM

9/11 - Nine years later

This old tree was completely uprooted and died, an artist created a sculpture to commemorate it's long life in NYC.

As I sit here in my Brooklyn kitchen on September 10th, I am reminded that tomorrow is 9/11 and the anniversary of when the towers fell. 

Now I could sit here like many other bloggers and people who like to "yell into an empty room" about the conspiracies and Bin Laden but I would rather discuss what is really on my mind and ask a few questions which no one can seem to answer, not really.

First by living in New York I learned to view 9/11 in a different way.  In a more personal way.  Every single person that was here when those planes crashed into the towers has a story to tell, they remember exactly what they were doing at the moment they either HEARD the noises or SAW the smoke and BREATHED in the debris.  I know that everyone in our country can remember what they were doing also but to actually hear or see a plane crash into a building, it's not something you can ever un-hear or un-see. 

A former co-worker of mine who lives in Brooklyn but was in class in the city got stuck and could not get home, she had to WALK from 68th street up to Harlem where her boyfriend lived, she could not get in touch with her mother and could not get home for 2 days!  During this time a lot of people really did not know what was going on and if there would be more attacks, it was very unsettling for her, basically life stopped and there was nothing she could do about it. 

In an excerpt from a book called "Subwayland" by: Randy Kennedy.  I read a story about the train conductor on the No. 1 line, that was one of the train lines that went right under the towers.
The excerpt is entitled "Last Train" and excuse the pun but it really drives the point home.

"When Carlos Johnson woke at his usual hour- 3:30a.m.- on Tuesday, September 11th, he did not know that hundreds of miles away, a 190-ton jet sat on the runway in Boston, bound for the very place he was bound that day.

He did not know, as he parked his No. 1 subway train at its terminal in the Bronx, as he took his morning break, going downstairs for a bowl of oatmeal and a slice of toast, that the jet was closing its doors, about to pull away from the gate.


And he did not know that when he rolled out of the terminal for his second trip that day-his train designated Van Courtlandt 748, for 7:48a.m.-that it would be the last time he would travel to the end of the 83-year-old subway tunnels that have been his office and his occupation for the past nine years.".......

..........."Like hundreds of thousands of people in the city Mr. Johnson remembers events that morning with powerful clarity.  He remembers that when he pulled into the Chambers Street station, one stop north of the World Trade Center, the digital clock at south end of the station clicked 8:45 as he watched.

The doors closed and he sped south.  He pulled into the Cortlandt Street stop and brought the train to a halt at exactly 8:48, just as the first jet slammed into the north tower.  But he still had no idea of the role he was playing in that day's events, taking one of the last trains through that would later be known as ground zero."

Johnson said, "People who had gotten out of the train started running back down the stairs,"......."And there were other people still trying to get up the stairs.  I saw people get knocked down........and I heard someone say: 'They're shooting upstairs!  They're shooting!  Someone has a gun!' "

.......he envisioned the gunfight spilling down the steps and onto his train, he didn't feel the building or tracks shake and the lights never even flickered.  He and his partner decided to close the doors and get the train out of the danger of said gunfight.  When Mr. Johnson got his train downtown he got in touch with a supervisor who told him it was not a gunfight but some sort of explosion.  It was all very confusing but he had to get back to work and take the no. 1 train back up town....

"The strangest thing he remembers now is that he headed north again, taking his train back toward the burning tower just as another plane was minutes away from hitting the other tower, he saw no pandemonium.  In fact, he picked up only a few people beneath the World Trade Center, and no one on the platform seemed panicked anymore.

Johnson said, "I guess it's kind of like the eye of the storm.......it was almost peaceful."  Johnson finished his run and five minutes after he pulled into the terminal he ran to find out what happened, he watched on television as the first tower collapsed.  Then he heard word on the radio that the tunnels had also collapsed.

"That's when it hit me," he said.  "That's when it finally dawned on me that I was right in the middle of it.  And right then and there, I said a prayer for all those people I saw going up the stairs that day at Cortlandt Street.  I hope every one of them made it out."

As transplant residents in Brooklyn we have been touched by these and many other people's stories and appreciative that they shared them with us.  On our first year that we were here for 9/11 we went straight to the core of the matter, we went to ground zero.  There is a small museum near the site which has remnants of that day along with photos and videos.  It was really hard to go through seeing the items left behind, a child's teddy bear for example among many other personal belongings.  Not one person left there with dry eyes.  We left there and walked around a bit, I heard bagpipes and we decided to follow the sound, it led us to this tiny back street about a block from the site, there was a little Irish pub and it was absolutely FILLED with cops, firemen, etc from all over the country, they all were in uniform and were singing and dancing and really just there to show their support for their fellow officers.  It was awesome to see and be a part of, I will never forget that day.

Last year we went back downtown on 9/11 but this time it was to take part in something much bigger than ourselves.  We went down to sign a steel girder which will be used as part of the construction of the new towers.  It was a very powerful moment knowing that a piece of us will forever be in New York. 

My name on the girder.

We later walked around and looked at a memorial that had the names of all the victims on different flags, it was a sea of flags, it was very quiet there and felt really sad too. 

This is the memorial, the ball was a piece of art which was damaged in the crash, it was re-erected in battery park along with the eternal flame which is in memory of the firemen who lost their lives trying to save others.

This year I am not sure what we will do in memory of this day.  I like to be near the site, there is a lot of energy down there, people are united in New York and for this one day everything else is just forgotten, there are no race issues, no class separation, nothing, just a  bunch of Americans standing side by side, sharing in joy, pain and sadness but also sharing knowledge that we survived, as a nation we were able to pull together in a time of tragedy and uncertainty and help those in need and were happy to be able to do so, some of our brave rescuers lost their lives but it will never be in vain, they will never be forgotten, they are our heroes.  It is times like this that I am proud to call myself an American and to truly understand what that means.

Some day we will see the new towers in New York's skyline, they are not to replace what was originally there and erase what happened but they will be there as a confirmation that we were able to recover and move forward.  They will show the world that we cannot be held down for long.

~CM

Market Day!

One of our favorite days here in Brooklyn.  We woke up to discover that it was absolutely beautiful out, no rain, no humidity, just sunny with fluffy clouds.  We decided to take a trip to the farmers market located in the park near our house.  What a great idea that turned out to be! 

The market was absolutely hopping, the fruits looked beautiful, we got some great meats and even placed an order for a whole rabbit which should be ready next weekend.  There was a live blue grass band there which was pretty good.  We chatted with some of our farmer friends and got some really great, fresh yummies.  Our cheese maker friends had some fresh goat cheese which is just divine, I see that working its way into a tapas plate sometime this weekend.  We also scored some great looking duck legs which will make it into our tummies this evening along with the potatoes and perhaps the peaches will be featured in the sauce, who knows, the possibilities are endless!  Oh I also got some crème fraichè which of course we will eat a little bit, but I was feeling crazy and thought I would put some into a soap recipe, it will make a rich creamy lather, I promised the girl at the table a bar to try if I did this.

To finish off our trip I got a bunch of gorgeous, bright flowers, they are sitting on the table and I am enjoying their bold colors as I write this.  They are a good reminder that fall is actually coming and the weather will just be getting better and better.

Well I am off, enjoy your labor day weekend - and YAY to fall!

~CM

Zinc Oxide the miracle cream?

I have been having some skin problems around my nose area, it's been dry and flaky and frankly pretty painful.  I have been trying different things to heal the area and finally broke down and asked my teacher, I am in school for skin care so who better to ask right?

She's a great instructor and very knowledgeable about just about everything skin related especially products.  I don't mean the designer overpriced ones, I mean the core ingredients that are really the reason the designer products work at all.  She quickly reminded me that my skin is very sensitive and that getting facials all the time (the students practice on each other daily) is very hard on the delicate skin on my face.

As usual she wowed me by recommending that I try zinc oxide.  That's it, pure and simple. Easier said than done as I found it somewhat challenging to find pure zinc oxide.  Well today I had success and am sitting here happy as a fat cat with my little zinc tube.  I just put it on and am happy to report there is no scent and no tingling or burning on my damaged skin.  I will update on the final result in a day or so.

Zinc Oxide by definition is a mineral.  It is a common ingredient in sunscreen products and according to my cosmetic ingredient book is is somewhat astringent, antiseptic, and antibacterial.  In sunscreens it provides both UVA and UVB protection it can also increase the SPF (sun protection factor) in sunscreens.  It is also used in products when an opaque white color is desired.  This mineral is also relatively nonallergnic.

This is all great news, I like what I have read and of course wanted to know more so I zipped on to the highway of mis-information......um....I mean the Internet to see what people say about it there.......
I found a pretty funny you tube clip on zinc oxide which you can view by clicking on the post title.  One of my favorite mis-information web sites is currently down maybe the jig is finally up for them, who knows.  If their site comes back up I will check it out and share.  They are a real fun bunch, basically everything will kill you unless it's an ingredient used in one of their funder's products, but that is for a whole other post.

Well this is my story for today, I amazingly did not find a lot of controversial information on zinc oxide, if I do I will add it as an edit at the bottom.  After using it I will also report results.

TaTa for now
~CM

UPDATE!  9-4-10
Yes I know, it's been less than 24 hours.  I put a generous helping of the zinc oxide on my damaged skin last night before bed.  Guess what?  I woke up to no redness or soreness and the dry skin is going away!  YAY!  So in conclusion I have to say yes it IS a miracle cream.  This can also be used on baby bottoms I read.  Happy zinc-ing!

The Safe Cosmetic Act of 2010

This absurd, obnoxious bill was placed before congress this week.  It is unrealistic, un-American and another of the many ploys to put small businesses out of business.  In some instances it is a direct violation of our rights as Americans touching on freedom of the press and I am sure some others. 

"But it will make consumers safer" you say?  I am sorry but this is an illusion, it may be called the safe cosmetics act but it should really be called the tyrannical rules and regulations of big government goons who have no idea what they are talking about.  There is actually a part of the bill which would require us to list ALL trace elements in ALL ingredients, including things like water, think about it, even bottled water companies do not have to do this and WE DRINK THAT WATER! 

It's ridiculous and that name of the bill will make the average consumer believe that this is in their own best interest.  This bill will sink the small companies and leave only the large corporations, it will limit your choices and cost more for you in the end as the price for cosmetics will rise in order for everyone from the vendors to the manufacturers to comply with this pile of crap (aka "the bill").

Why am I touting and spouting about this?  I am a small business owner, this affects me, my family and my wonderful and loyal customers.  I know many soap makers, lotion makers and cosmetic manufacturers.  The people that make these products, make them by hand, with the utmost care and consideration, they are overly cautious because they know their customers, they speak with and interact with them regularly, their customers are their neighbors, friends and family.  These small time manufacturers ARE NOT the ones to worry about.  These are the people who already list everything on their labels, they do extra research on products, vendors and methods to ensure that they are always making the best possible item for their customers, their friends.  We do not have some fancy legal team in our back room that will tell us how to skirt around an issue so we are just honest and straightforward. 

We got into this business because I was tired of not being able to pronounce some ingredients on labels, I was tired of wasting my money on the newest miracle cream only to find that it was just a lot of fluff.  I was tired of the largest organ on my body (our skin) taking the brunt of misinformation.  So I read, and I read, and I read some more and I scoured the internet and I found forums and read their threads, and I would sit and think and make notes until one day I just did it, I made my first batch of soap.  It was the ugliest looking thing I have ever created but it was also the best thing, it was bubbly, moisturizing and made my skin feel like a rockstar!  I took that experience and ran with it and hence the birth of Serendipity Soapsmiths. 

We have a wonderful company, we have great customers who interact with us regularly and challenge us with questions which I love, they make it so that I want to and need to continue to learn so that our products are better for them.  There is no large corporation who does this.

Please read the petition and review the bill, please help us to stop this, I don't want to have to run off and join the circus to make a living.

Thanks

~CM

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/oppose-hr-5786-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2010/671435043/taf