building some mad skillz on the domestic front

Catching up … May and June happenings.

I have recently embarked on the “journey to zero waste,” which I’ve discovered is no small feat. I have many excellent mentors in my school community, who have come together in a group called “Global Ripple.” On May 18, a few of us met in a Nido science classroom for a workshop on making eco-friendly products for the home: laundry soap, cleaners, and beeswax covers for containers.

Ingredients
Coop sawing soap.
Ali stirring, stirring, stirring.
Our teacher
Sarah gets a bunsen burner … much faster!
My finished product!
Stella irons her beeswax cloth.
The Gibbs family: eco warriors!

I actually went home and made two more beeswax covers, which we now use instead of foil. Yay me!

In addition to my quest to reduce our household waste, I remain committed to vegetarianism. Since Tony – who has been the boss of the kitchen for our whole married life – is most definitely NOT interested in giving up meat, I have been forced to learn some cooking skills. I’m not going to lie. I don’t love cooking. I suck at chopping. I can’t deviate from a recipe without panicking. I get so frustrated when I can’t find the ingredients I need in Chile, and I don’t know how to make substitutions. So, clearly, I have a long way to go.

After making eco-friendly household products in the morning, I headed to a friend’s house in the afternoon for an Indian cooking class. Renu guided a group of ladies in whipping up a legit collection of delicious dishes. I mostly sipped wine and watched, although I did grate a lemon at one point. Everything seemed a little too complicated for me to ever reproduce on my own. However, in the next couple weeks, I actually made paneer (first try bombed, second try was a winner), chickpea masala, cucumber raita, and kachumba (marinated onion salad). Pretty dang proud of myself.

fresh ingredients
spices for garam masala
busy, busy, busy
Dinner time!

On June 2, another friend, Samantha, offered a bread-making class. We learned how to make a basic dough, and she provided some sourdough starter with the steps for keeping it alive. I tried to make sourdough bread at home, but it was less like bread and more like a tree stump. However, I succeeded with some mouth-watering dinner rolls. Is there anything better than hot, fresh bread with butter and honey?

Look what we made!
Mmmm … perfecto.
Taking it all seriously, as always.

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