Choosing the Perfect Tortilla Press

April 9, 2014

Food

...the food at this place was substandard was the store bought tortillas they used. For some reasons, few Mexican restaurants here make their own tortillas. Tired of substandard Mexican fare, I resolved to make my own tortillas. Thus began Root Simple’s “Taco Tuesday.” The first step was to find a tortilla press. I got a great tip from a library cookbook: get a cast iron tortilla press. Unlike the flimsy ones I found at our local market, a cast iron...

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How to Make Amazake

Mr. Homegrown

September 9, 2007

Fermentation, Food, Recipes

16 Comments

...boil in 2 cups of water. Turn down the heat and simmer for 50 minutes. We used sweet rice, but any kind of rice and if fact almost any grain will work. 3. Cool the rice down to 140º F (60º C). Mix in 2 cups of koji and put it in a sterilized wide-mouth jar. 4. At this point you need to incubate the concoction for 10 to 14 hours at 131º – 140º F (55º C – 60º C). We accomplished the incubation by placing the jar in a small cooler filled with water...

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Ghee for the skin

Mrs. Homegrown

January 30, 2015

Body Care, Herbal Medicine

11 Comments

...ly soothes dry and chapped skin. For instance, during my last head cold, I used it on my much-abused nose. The ghee saved my nose and my lips from a terrible case of chapping. I always keep my lips and nose balmed-up during a cold, but the ghee worked better than anything else I’ve ever used, in terms of absorption, relieving discomfort and quick healing. Since then, I’ve been using it on my face and hands to fend off the dry, itchy skin of winter...

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Stencils as Garden Art

Mr. Homegrown

August 7, 2013

Garden Design, Gardening

10 Comments

...l “edge” that Mark Lakeman of Portland City Repair talks about. So let’s make some stencils! Here’s how I do it: Image processing First step is to find a suitable image. This tutorial shows you how to use Photoshop to make your stencil. Materials and tools I used acetate, but it’s expensive. Bruce used old manilla folders. A cheaper alternative is freezer paper. I cut my stencil using an exacto knife. Painting First I spray the surface I’m stencil...

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A Brief History of Secret Drawers

Mr. Homegrown

August 13, 2018

Design

2 Comments

...nt of papers with mysterious writing and symbols. At some point their maid used around half of the papers to bake some pies before the couple decided to put the papers back in the chest. Some years later when the great fire of London broke out Susannah, now a widow, had the sense to take the papers with her. It turned out that those papers were John Dee’s account of his conferences with angels. Secret compartments like this used to be a common fea...

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