Poisonous Food Journal turned Healthy! #1

Because hubby has been tested to have high blood pressure, and both our families has a higher risk of heart disease, we have decided to get back on the health wagon when it comes to dinner. I cheated all the time during the day on my own with chocolate, eggs and cheese, but he does not have to know.

Anyways, I want to share with you one of my BEST experiments on my lab rat husband. Yes, he is a brave man eating food cooked by the girl who penned the Poisonous Food Journal. Look I'm very nice to not try the coffee maker cooking recipes on him. Let's just say the blood pressure report actually saved him.

This one took nasty extra lean ground turkey breast, small sweet peppers, kale, and black beans into town!

Turkey stuffed peppers

Ingredients:
Extra lean round turkey breast - 90-100g
Small sweet peppers - a dozen or more (you can also replace with bell peppers)
Soy sauce (low sodium) - 1.5 tea spoon
Soy sauce (dark - get that from Chinese grocery stores) - 1 tea spoon
Onion powder - 1 table spoon
Galanga ginger powder - 1/2 table spoon
Ground black pepper - as much as you like
Sesame oil - 1 tea spoon
Olive oil - 1.5 table spoons
Egg white - 1

Instruction:
Marinate ground turkey with onion powder, ground pepper, ginger powder and sesame oil the night before. Mix in egg white before stuffing.
Cut sweet pepper in halves, and stuff the turkey meat in with either a fork of a spoon. Add olive oil in a flat non-stick pan and wait for it to get pretty hot. Put the stuffed peppers in meat side down and let it sizzle for 1-2 minutes with lid on with high fire. Turn peppers and lower heat and let it sit for another 2 minutes. Check to see if pepper are burnt and shift it a little and let it sit for another minute and serve!

Nutrients approx.:
Extra lean turkey breast ground = 120 Cals. (Sat.Fat 0.5g, Cholesterol 41mg, Sodium 58mg)
Soy sauce = Sodium 600mg (that's more than 25% of daily, so be fugal with it!)
All oil added = Fat 30g (stinker, that's almost 60% of daily! See how it all adds up!)


Kale
1/3 of a bag of kale, chopped into 1 inch sections
Wait for water to boil, then put stems in first, and then leaves. Keep it in water still under heat for no more than 2 minutes, take out of hot water, and rinse under cold water. Tastes real good with some sesame oil (1/2 tbsp), Worcestershire Sauce (1 tbsp, Sodium 65mg) and a bit of sugar.


Black Bean Rice

Ingredients:
Black bean from can - 1/2 (Make sure to look for the ones that have the lowest sodium level! I was unpleasantly surprised by the nutrient labels on some of these well known cans!)
Rice - slightly less than 1 cup

Instruction:

Cook rice in rice cooker with half cup of water. Wait until water is boiling, then stir in black bean and some of it's water from the can into the rice cooker. Then wait for it to cook and viola! Delicious!

Who are the bunnies behind Bunnies Can Dream?

As a tribute to Toffee, who passed away 3 years ago, I am doing a rabbit highlight here on Bunnies Can Dream's blog!

Yes, Toffee will always be my special boy. 

He and Charcoal were the original inspiration for the name of the line, Bunnies Can Dream. They are also the two bunnies in the logo my husband and I created together.

Toffee was born as a harlequin (because of the mixed colors in his body) and a dutch (according to my vet) in 2001. He and Charcoal moved with me from HK to NY. It was a terrible trip for them but they took it like solders. Toffee developed head tilt syndrome back in 2008. The little trooper, being always positive and kind, and could eat like a pig, bounced back with a tilted head the same year, and continued to eat like a champ until his last day on earth. His kidneys were attacked and crystalized, a painful illness that he managed to hide and continued to live with happily until both of them gave up on my high spirited boy on Sept 6, 2009. He has since then lived between Rabbit Heaven and on earth in our hearts and possibly sometimes late at night in our house. Recently, I suspect he is either reincarnated into Roxy or my new baby niece. Both are equally happy, energetic and hungry like Toffee.

Charcoal is such a strange creature.

Charcoal was born a lionhead angora mix a few months later than Toffee but he looks much smaller and acts younger somehow. Charcoal has a princely air about him. More like a cat than a rabbit, he is the fuzziest rabbit ever.  Grooming for his appearance was his most favorite thing to do in the world until Roxy came along. Charcoal is also a very emotionally sensitive creature, although he may not be very sensitive about YOUR emotion. He went into a period of intestinal statsis problem when he was living with us alone after Toffee died. When he was turning 11 last year, we got so worried about his health that we finally decided to get him a friend. It was very hard for me to accept a 3rd rabbit and I think it probably wasn't very fair to Roxy when she first joined us. But the addition of this new young playgirl to Charcoal's rabbit mansion seems to have given him a new found joy in life.

Roxy Rock Rock, my girlie girl

Roxy is my first shelter rabbit. We didn't know how old she is but the vet said she was probably 1 or less when we picked her up Sept 2011. I looked it up and she is a british butterfly dwarf. She has almost symmetrical pattern on her body and her face. We thought she looks like a cow, but she is a bit sazzy so we thought we will have to name her something with an attitude. We called her Roxy, short for rorschach. And then it evolved from a simple Roxy to "Roxy Rock Rock" which is what I usually call her around the house, when she is not a girlie girl. This kid has a strange crush for Charcoal when they first met at the shelter. She was obviously keen on playing with Charcoal, who was only keen on having sex with her (oh well can you blame the poor 11 year old virgin?) She kept pushing him off but kept going back to him. We thought, here is a rabbit who knows what she wants and can keep her man in check. That's my kinda girl. And in the 12 months she was with us, she literally took over the place, turned it into a dirty quarter and put on one full pound (that is like 1/3 of her original weight, say equivalent to 30+ pounds?) Talking about white trash...oh well. We only love her more.

So here you go. The inspiration as well behind these animal necklaces I recently made. Both silhouettes for Toffee and Roxy found a nice home last week. And I have decided to keep the Charcoal silhouette to myself. I am looking forward to some toasty down time this X'mas with Charcoal and Roxy. And if you see a cloud in the sky that looks like Toffee, say hi and eat a carrot!

Meet me in Brooklyn this Sat!

Dekalb Market I am back!

I will be at this great gem of Brooklyn on Sat. Come say hi!


Date: August 25, 2012
Time: 11am - 6pm

Where:

138 Willoughby Street (@Flatbush Ave)

Brooklyn, NY 11201

How to get there:
B, Q, R to Dekalb Ave
A, C, F & R to Jay St. Metrotech

A little adventure into an out of city handmade market

I made a new friend on Sunday at the organic farm, Garden of Eve, in Long Island!

This creature is the funnies thing ever - a rooster (or hen) and a rabbit combo it seems to be. There are 3 of them (see below) and they are so super fluffy if it is not because of the beak I would really touch it. 

They were really noisy too roosting all day long. But it was more hilarious to me than annoying. Despite the super fatigue I was experiencing, from only having 2 hours of sleep.

It was all for the fundraising event for the Forgotten Friends of Long Island. Me and Jessica, who owns Hans-My-Hedgehog Illustration and was also the driver for the trip (because I failed my to-do list for the year and didn't get a driver's license yet), started off 5:15am to pick up our rental car. Drove all the way from Queens to Long Island to be at this lovely little farm where the event was hosted. 

Not only do they have a chicken coop, lots of beautiful herbs and vegetable for sale, a lovely barn turned cafe with great quiche, they have a small lavender patch made into a labyrinth for children to play in! And on the day of, they have a little birthday party and a pony was brought in to let kids have a taste of riding.

We were there to work so I didn't get to enjoy much of the farm but people were just all very nice. I had my tent up, and from time to time when the sun was gentle we would just sit in front of the booth at the wooden table and chairs provided for patrons to sun bath a little. I had my lovely organic meal of the day and helped out the animal organization a little with my sales. It was a great day for Bunnies Can Dream and Harlequin&Lionhead!

BTW, my mascot porcelain rabbit has retired. I have this constant fear I would break it one day so I got this carved wood rabbit in Hong Kong instead. It has a black friend who crouches. I'll show you next time :) 

Meet me in August at these locations

August brings some really exciting events. First off is a very meaningful one for animals in need of adoption and the kind people who take care of them in the interim. 

Event: Fundraiser for Forgotten Friends of Long Island

Date: August 18, 2012 (rain date: Aug 19)
Time: 10am - 5pm
Location: Organic Farm - Garden of Eve
4558 Sound Ave, Riverhead, New York 11901
(At the intersection of Sound Ave and Rt 83/Northville Tpk)

Forgotten Friends of Long Island was established in the spring of 2008 as a rescue organization that would help the neediest animals in our municipal shelters. Their mission statement was to reflect the belief that all lives should never be forgotten. The folks at the organization decided to rescue the animal that was continuously overlooked by others or the one in need of medical care. They constantly host adoption events. Check out their website here.

Garden of Eve kindly offers their space for this coming fundraiser. For more info regarding the organic produce, click here.

For this special event, proceeds of all vendors' sales will help support the organization and their efforts. Bunnies Can Dream and Harlequin&Lionhead will be donating 20% of all sales. I will also have (very) limited quantity of these lovely animal silhouette pendants available at my booth.

These little pendants are all about 3/4 of an inch tall or less, made in brass with satin polish, hung on a delicate plated ball chain of 16 inches long. Do you see your favorite animals here?

By Upstate

Yesterday I went to a fabric dyeing class in Brooklyn, taught by Katrin Reifeiss. It is about a specific Japanese technique called the Shibori. It involves binding techniques, stitching, folding and pole-wrapping. Here is a quick introduction of Shibori based on what I learned. For a thorough introduction, you can also view videos by Narablog on youtube.

Katrin Reifeiss, who also teaches at Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn if you are interested for the full course. But ours was just 3 hours and it flew by like an hour! Here is our table. There was a bucket of squeeze bottles of dyes we could have used for direct dye method but it would have taken at least 12 hours for the fabric to cure in dyes to complete so we opted for the tub dye method, using buckets of dye water and submerging our fabric in it for a few minutes to 45 minutes to achieve the dye.

There are 4 types of methods as I introduced at the beginning of the post. Below is the Pole-Wrapping Shibori technique called the Arashi "Storm" Shibori. It involves some folding of the fabric (or not), then wrapping it around a pole (you can get the PVC pipes from Home Depot) and then stringing the thread over in horizontal lines tightly, then pushing up the fabric to bunch it up before dyeing. Katrin was demonstrating on a scarf she has made before the class. The red scarf is then dyed in navy so you can see the black lines which is the bunched up fabric exposed to the dye, and the lighter red lines which is covered by the thread (i.e., the resist) which is not dyed. 

The other method is called the Binding techniques. Below are some examples:

Ring Shibori - a string is tied to a little bit of fabric bunched up. The white line seen here is created by the resist of the string.

Shell or Spiderweb Kumo Shibori - It is basically a larger Ring Shibori, and the string is wrapped around the bunched up fabric in horizontal lines to create the white line you see over the orange here.

My attempt at the Spiderweb Shibori was ok. The strings were too thin and the color is a bit too light so I cannot really see the horizontal lines. But the ombre effect of yellow to green is very nice in reality. 

My classmate of the day, Christina, is working on her skirt here to try and create an ombre effect. She did a combination of Spiderweb and Arashi on her scarf below and it came out really beautiful.

Another example of the binding techniques is the pleated stripes. Here Katrin made an example for us using this technique, which starts off with pleating your fabric and securing it with rubber band or a string, then you wind the string down the folded fabric to create the horizontal lines you see here. I tried but mine was horrible. Note to myself, must fold my pleats a lot tidier next time and tied the string tight around the fabric!

Then there is the Stitching Shibori Method and this is called the Ori-Nui. You start with drawing a pattern on the fabric, then fold it up a little into a ridge, and stitch running stitches in regular intervals right under the fold line, pull tight to bunch up, then dye. After you dye it, the pattern will emerge as white dots. It is absolutely beautiful.

The last method is called the Folding techniques. Below is my work (yay!) from yesterday which is a not very regular Tortoiseshell Kikko Pattern. The folding techniques involve pleating the cloth, then folding it in triangles or squares, and clamping it down sometimes on its own, or sometimes with a resist material. To achieve the tortoiseshell, I used a pair of chopsticks clamped on both sides of my folded triangular shaped fabric and submerged it into the dye to get all the fabric colored, except for the part where the chopsticks were clamped in tightly. The yellow is actually part of the black dye which somehow got separated from the black and the effect is random but lovely.

Here is my friend Atsuko, and our teacher Katrin. Atusko's dress was dyed using the folding technique, and then using a plastic resist in the shape of a circle but somehow it came out square...?

Fabric dye is fun and I love the surprise you get everytime you unwrap a piece.  Of course, the masters can always control the dye. But for me, it is like magic!

Things I learned in the past few months

By Microzoa

Well in January I have set up a to-do list for 2012. 7 months later I have only achieved 2 of them, but probably the most important 2 items to me. And I learned a ton so far. Most important lesson of all, is never under-estimate what each opportunity brings to you.

1) "When a door opens for you, walk through it." - Joan Rivers

OK, I didn't get to see her at the Barnes and Nobles in Manhattan for her book signing. But I read about this from Ellese Launer's blog post. But it is so true. Last year I went to a workshop hosted by a friend, Holly Luttrell of Edward Owl. She is also a jewelry designer in NY and has experience in the retail fashion world. She taught a few of us designers how to approach a buyer at an interview and I was told that Henri Bendel hosts open see for emerging designers twice a year. All I needed to do was to line up and bring my A game. And I did. I figured, "I have nothing to lose but my dignity, which is worthless if I cannot sell." I took the chance, and I got in to their 2F for my 3-day trunk show.
One day you will look back at all the choices you made and doors you went through, and see that some doors opened for a reason and that was how you get here. Then you should be grateful and continue on with confidence.

2) Be grateful for what you learned. Be generous with your knowledge.

So pt 1 leads to pt 2, I am grateful for the things I learned from my fellow designers and peers. Do not feel that you don't deserve help or sympathy. A little advice goes a long way and everyone deserves it. Because we can always pass on the knowledge and help to someone in need. And that is how the world gets better. But never take things for granted.

3) Do not evaluate the success of a single event with the immediate return.

Every opportunity leads to the next one. That is a lesson I learned from going to the Arts Business Institute workshop during BMAC, a wholesale show designed for artists to sell to boutiques and art galleries. Like wholesale business, the world runs on relationships. No one will trust a newbie on the block with no credibility. You have to keep doing things a few times at your own expense, and get people to hear about you more, before the real volume of wholesale orders or sales will come in. Like this trunk show at Bendel, I didn't make as much as I would in other trunk shows, but I learned a lot. And I met a great designer friend, Brandy Pham, who is not only talented but generous and kind, taught me a lot about breaking into the fashion jewelry world. That is invaluable.

4) Sometimes it is ok to just do it.

I had always been a control freak (maybe still). I planned a lot before I act. And I think impulses were dangerous. But a person can only see what are in the present. We plan for our future based on what we can see right now. So in a way, planning gives us a false sense of security but in fact, it is just another gambling on our lives. Yes I agree that some level of planning is needed to ensure we eliminate the 100% chance of failure. But when you are faced with a dilemma and things can go either way based on what you see in front of you, then just follow your heart. The only way to not regret an action is to be able to answer to yourself, that you have tried your best to make things work, to make yourself happy. If it does not turn out the way it should be, maybe it was never meant to be. And it is ok. Because now you can move on.

5) Failure is ok. It is not permanent either.

After I got in Henri Bendel, I applied for Zappo's emerging designer contest. I didn't get picked. I also applied for a scholarship, and I didn't get picked either. I was a bit disappointed (but it is easier to overcome because I got rewarded anyways). But then I got a nice email from both contacts, saying that they wish I would continue and that they look foward to seeing my new collections. I am sure they say that anyways to everyone. But you know what? It is true. I can still submit my new work next time. And I may still be picked. Today is just not the right day for me. That's all. And that is how I will keep working, until I think I have done enough. Which kind of brings me my last point, ironically...

6) Never say enough.

That includes "Enough I can't do it anymore." "I have hear enough and see enough, I think I get it." "I have said enough." "I know enough about (this and that) to know this is (right or wrong)." "I have done enough for now." or even "I have enough stock." "I have enough SKUs." "It is bold enough."
Because, it is never really enough. Well, maybe "I have said enough" could really be "enough." Sometimes.


Well, I think I will stop here for now and maybe do more of this later. I need some chocolate now...

By HandMadeByTammy on Etsy.com