living in less than 400sq feet.

Husband and I live in roughly 350 square feet. If that sounds small, our last place was 180, basically a closet, so actually 350 is lovely. This is how it works..



Welcome to our barn. We saw the place on Craigslist, sort of hesitantly went (it didn't show the front otherwise there would have been less hesitation), and instantly fell in love. How could you not? It's an old tool shed the landlord completely redid in the way far back of his property. We are surrounded by old eucalyptus trees that occasionally have iguanas in them (more on that later), roughly 15 sweet chickens, more feral cats than we know what to do with, and the occasional stray exotic parrot. Life is always an adventure.


To the left: the kitchen. Skylights throw plenty of lovely natural light throughout the place. Not so good in August and the house is an oven, however.
To the right: "dining room table" is a loose term, more like bar, art supply desk, produce aisle, wedding topper holder(those cute little lovebirds up there), and of course a place to house a giant amp, cause who doesn't need a giant amp in 350 square feet?

Past the kitchen: the living room, where none of our average height guests can stand up straight(i think it's about 6 feet, this place was apparently built for hobbits) houses our little gas heater, handmade shelves, another guitar, a banjo, more art supplies, Ugandan trinkets, my bone collection, the ring bearer "pillow" i embroidered for our wedding, and husband's closet. Our first home didn't have any closets, this one having two is an absolute dream (i'm very easily pleased as you can tell). And a photobomb by my sister's wedding bouquet.

Upstairs: bedroom, which is too small even for hobbits but it works out. also the stairs slide over so that's neat and fun

From the living room: my one thousand aprons hanging from the front door. All in all having a tiny space is great, you can clean the whole thing in 20 minutes tops, I can't be tempted to buy useless decorations or things we don't NEED, I learn to make do with what I already have, and we can't stay mad at each other and go away into another room cause well...there is no other room. Not that we're ever mad...

To the East

Sometimes in the beginning of June, despite what you might think (documented here), you just need to take a vacation for no reason. I am very much hoping this becomes a tradition. Alas, I never got a chance to get batteries for that Canon, but I guess iphones can be lovely in their own way.





I really am going to post about our barn...eventually..

Travels

Almost every summer since husband and I first began dating (5 years ago now) we have gone on mission trips, once to the hauntingly beautiful country of Uganda, and a handful of times to one of my favorite places on earth, the Czech Republic. Our summers have happily been for others, working with our hands and our ecstatic yet tired bodies in order to support those who serve year round. It is something that I have loved beyond words and have become so accustomed to doing, that taking a vacation for ourselves feels almost...wrong. We've taken exactly one, a weekend trip to San Francisco for our one year anniversary. Yet a wise woman once told me "it's the sweetest thing to get in an airplane and go someplace with your honey". And that's exactly what we'll be doing this week. Taking 4 days off work after taking so much time off for all the weddings (everyone's married!) seems positively sinful, but with all the ups and downs this year has given us, we desperately need some time to ourselves and I hear the east coast is lovely this time of year. Everyone has been asking us what we have planned, and I excitedly respond "Nothing but good eats and maybe a flea market or two". It's going to be grand. Also i'm hoping the Canon AE-1 I found at my parents house works.

When we return: how to live in less than 400 square feet.

a simple dinner

Someday I will be able to divert my office 9-5 energies and they will be better used by making homemade everything. Bread, yogurt, cheese, almond milk, soaps are just some of the ideas I have swirling in my head.  Using my hands to slowly create nourishing things for my family is something I am so excited to do. But right now I am in a place where I have to be more choosy about the foods and projects I tackle, and dinners simply can't take 3 hours to make. That doesn't mean they can't be just as healthy, however! This recipe I found at this gluten free mostly vegan free blog, has it all. Allergen free(neither of us are actually allergic to anything, except cats*, but I try to limit allergen foods when I can just because), nutritious, made in less than 30 minutes, and a whopping 4 dollars for the whole pan and like a dollar more to make this recipe organic(I used organic beans, but I forgot to buy the organic chard, and the organic potatoes at trader joe's only come in a huge bag not individually and we wouldn't have gotten around to eating them all), and it also makes a couple servings of leftovers. Here is the recipe.

Potato, Black Bean, & Swiss Chard Hash
Serves 4, or 2 with leftovers
2 large russet potatos, chopped into a small dice - 39 cents each
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1/4 cup white onion chopped small
1 can black beans rinsed and drained - 1.19 organic can
1 bunch Swiss chard (I used half a trader joe's bag), sliced into ribbons & thick stems diced - 1.99 a bag
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika, optional (I didn't use it, instead added a bit of garlic powder)
Generous pinch of salt
Plenty of black pepper

Place olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and a generous pinch of salt, toss to coat. Cover the skillet and cook for 9 minutes (mine took more around 11), tossing occasionally to ensure that all sides of the potatoes are browning and getting crisp.

Add the onions and Swiss chard stems to the skillet and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until softened.  Add the black beans to the skillet and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes, flipping once or twice, to ensure that the beans are heated through.

Add the ribbons of Swiss chard and cook briefly until wilted slightly. Remove from heat and sprinkle in the spices, black pepper, and additional salt to taste. Ben added sriracha because duh.  Serve immediately, preferably with a side of Arrested Development Season 4.

Could also use: sweet potato, any other green veggies you happen to have on hand, crumbled sausage, corn, this recipe is super versatile. Enjoy!

Potato, Black Bean, & Swiss Chard Hash

*there are definitely no cats in this recipe.

Diets and lack thereof

There's always something new. Juice. Don't juice! Paleo. Gluten Free. Raw. None of these are inherently good or bad, despite all the very opinionated soapboxers who have nothing to do but put down other people's idea of healthy eating. I'm just glad that the conversations have shifted its focus from low fat, low carb, low taste, to what's natural and whole. I feel like that's why people inherently don't like 'healthy' foods anyway, cause they eat the ones that are just as processed as the junk food kind, or even more so. For either health or personal reasons, i'm glad that people are starting to care more about food overall in its natural state without unnecessary processing. Being mindful of what you're putting in your body is a beautiful thing. I grew up eating boxed mac & cheese, junk food, canned vegetables, steak steak steak and more steak. Even though I guess I turned out alright (I dunno, you tell me), I am so fascinated with the idea of eating holistically and naturally. Being fully in charge of what I consume now has made me much more aware of everything food companies shove into those cardboard boxes.

One of the simple things I've discovered is instead of looking at the calorie content and nutrition facts, looking at the actual ingredients. Often I would hear people say "oh it has only 2 grams of fat!", but if they had looked at the ingredient list they would have noticed the second one was high fructose corn syrup. And i'm happy to see people slowly shifting towards the latter. Or even better, not buying things in a box at all. It is amazing how easy that is! My new rule of thumb is if I want something sweet/salty/bready, I have to make it myself. It's loads cheaper, my family is only eating ingredients we can pronounce, and most of the time i'm so dadgum lazy I just end up eating a banana anyway. Win win win.

A 'diet' (if you would call it that) i heard about recently is called VB6, or vegan before 6. And I realized that's almost exactly my lifestyle, in my case it's mostly vegetarian though. Eat nuts, whole grains, fruit and veggies for breakfast and lunch, and whatever you want for dinner. You probably think "ohh but it's bad to eat all your fatty foods at night", but after eating wholesome foods all day, your actually probably less likely to binge knowing you can eat what you want every night, not just on a giant binge cheat day one measly time a week. You can enjoy whatever tasty delicious real healthy foods you choose during the day, and then get to enjoy social gatherings to the fullest without worrying about calories. I don't know about you, but that sounds awesome.

All this to say that I got this dream of a blender system and i'll be occasionally posting recipes I make up. I haven't done a juice fast/cleanse as of yet, still researching and deciding which one would the best fit for me(and would hopefully tempt husband to join), but I definitely am a fan of morning juices. Today: one banana, one teeny organic apple, one carrot, some grated ginger, ground flaxseed, and a big bunch of kale.

#morningjuice #hello_juice

On being 25

No not me. Husband turned 25 yesterday. And even though that's not really an 'old' age, I still thought that life would have been very different by the time we got here. How time creeps up on you. But this isn't about being old, it's about husband! Here are 25 reasons I love him, i'll try to not make it too mushy:

-He does the dishes cause knows how much I loathe them (i'd rather clean the toilet).
-His middle name is Laurence, I just think that's so cute.
-He is hands down the most creative person i know. I feel bad, I kind of loan him out to friends for creative projects, but I just love seeing his handiwork! And I pay him in cookies and pancakes.
-I love cooking with him. It's so relaxing and satisfying to create a meal almost silently, knowing what the other is going to do and how they're going to do it. Often the recipes are completely made up and although simple, those are my favorite.
-We both get just as obsessed at good television.
-I love that he always always has music playing. I usually forget about music completely, or can't think of anything good to play, and he somehow always picks some slightly obscure tune that fits perfectly with the day. Lately: this song
-His mustache. Self-explanatory.
-He doesn't mind that I fall asleep during ever. single. movie.
-It's funny and nice that we are both are kind of against the idea of "favorite" bands, movies, books, etc.
-One time he let me french braid his beard.
-He lets us share our meals...(well, he's still getting used to the idea)
-We have the exact same taste in children's names. Ha. I just hear stories of other people never coming to agreements until they practically have a nameless 6 month old (not really), and ours have been picked out for years and they're still perfect.
-He wears funny socks
-He has even more wanderlust than I do. Next stop: the concrete jungles of New York & Philadelphia.
-I just found out he (illegally!) skateboards all over campus.
-He wants a big beautiful goldendoodle. Can't wait till we have a house that will fit one!
-He doesn't mind that we don't have an iron and all his clothes are always wrinkly (actually he probably does but he's really good at not showing it).
-He waters my plants when I forget, which is pretty much every day.
-He has better handwriting than me.
-He folds sheets better than me.
-He wraps presents better than me.
-He does most things better than me, actually.
-He is always encouraging me to be creative, currently trying to teach me guitar (unsuccessfully so far, i'm a forgetful one)
-He has been the most supportive husband I could possibly imagine, during the fantastic times as well as the low times. I can't imagine going through life with anyone better (I was doing so good not being mushy!)
-He married me! That's a pretty good reason eh?



-R

two of my favorite men, who just so happen to share a birthday.

Dinner Misadventures

I decided to bust out my yeast last night.

Almost 5 years ago I went to Uganda and learned that people have ways of making very delicious things with much less than what was in my parents kitchen that was always stuffed to the brim and yet had nothing appetizing to make. Long sentence short, I had great aspirations to bake bread every day and live more simply. Last night, nearly 5 years later, I opened the bottle of yeast I bought for the first time. 

So I made pizza. Unsure as to whether it was still good, my first attempt at proofing the yeast went awry as I missed the fact you were supposed to put sugar in the water. Fail #1. Second try seemed also unfruitful but there was at least some action so I mixed the rest of the ingredients (oil, flour, salt) and things were lookin' good. I made a HUGE pizza crust, piled it high with fresh mozzarella, kielbasa and sweet potatoes. Excitement began to grow slowly, just like the yeast. Then I looked at the size of my little oven....fail #2. I decided to cut it into two pizzas, and with much difficulty put said pizzas onto their own cookie sheets. I got them onto the sheets with the help of husband, and (tried) to stick them in the oven.

And then I remembered the cookie sheets i'm using, the ones our landlords gave us for a Christmas present (what landlord gives Christmas presents!?), are too big for our oven. Why they gave us cookie sheets that are too big for the oven they know we have is another mystery. But by now, I had stared rather sadly at the cookie sheets that are sticking out of the half shut oven door for too long, and now the sheets were white hot and the dough had already begun to soften. We tried to slide the pizza onto a proper cookie sheet, and I watched it falter and the pizza started falling both slowly and quickly towards the floor, kielbasa strewn and mozzarella dashed of all its pizza hopes and dreams. This is where I just burst into hysterical laughter and instead of being normal people, we threw it back onto the sheet and shoved it in the oven hoping the 450 degrees kills anything gross. 

And it was delicious. And much more fun than going out and getting a pizza.

What did YOU do for dinner?