Solar Oven Triumph: Fluffy Egg Strata

July 5, 2016

...how long any dish should spend in the oven. Imagine if back when you were making your first batch of cookies, your mom’s old Betty Crocker told you they would be done anywhere between one and four hours. Or perhaps the recipe would not even include a time or temperature recommendation, but just said the cookies would be done when they were done. Can you imagine your tears? Welcome to solar cooking. Recipes are guidelines or even hints rather than...

Read…

Gourmet Foraging and Advanced Acorn Processing

Mrs. Homegrown

October 24, 2013

Food, Foraging, How-to, Preparedness

31 Comments

...is. You should be aware that acorn weevil larvae will likely emerge, from time to time, from any collection of acorns., especially the fresher ones. (Older acorns may have acorn moths in them, though. These moths move into the holes left behind by the weevils. Nature is beautiful that way.) They are harmless to you, pets, carpets and furniture. They are edible, even tasty, I hear. If they end up in your house they’ll probably dehydrating to death...

Read…

Beans 101 (Return of Bean Friday!)

Mrs. Homegrown

March 1, 2013

Bean Fest, Food, How-to

21 Comments

...it takes time to make beans, it doesn’t take effort, or even brains. Prep time probably totals around 5 minutes, and add to that whatever time it takes to keep half an eye on the pot. What it does require is a small amount of pre-planning. You need to remember to soak beans. That’s the tricky part. Yes, there’s speed soaking techniques and pressure cookers but…whatever. I can only hold so much information in my head. I pre-soak my beans. Beans ne...

Read…

How much time do you spend cycling in the city?

Mr. Homegrown

June 18, 2018

Bikes, Transportation

7 Comments

...tize walking and cycling over driving. This involves slowing down traffic, making parking expensive and difficult, installing bike and bus only lanes and heavily penalizing anyone who texts and drives. Unfortunately, these are unpalatable and career ending policies for our council members and mayor. But we can’t give up hope. I was a small part of the push, ten years ago, to make things better for cycling in Los Angeles. I feel like contributing t...

Read…

Warning: This Blog is Based in a Mediterranean Climate

Mr. Homegrown

January 16, 2013

Gardening

24 Comments

...Why? Because it’s really, really boring. Nothing ever happens. Most of the time it’s sunny. Around this time of year it rains occasionally. In June it’s kinda cloudy. That’s all there is to say. For those of you who live here in Southern Calfiornia I’ve found a few good sources for edible gardening information: The Digitalseed Vegetable Planting Calendar and the Digitalseed Flower Planting Calendar Books: The New Western Garden Book: The Ultimate...

Read…