[Food + Drink] Homemade Holiday Gifts from the Kitch

Welcome to the final part of our sustainable, homemade holiday gifting series! Here are some of my favorite gifts to get (and give) for the holidays. 

My overall advice with this stuff is to always go with things that are easy to package, like cookies and barks and not cupcakes with buttercream frosting. In most cases, those just make a big ol' mess and then whoever gets the messy gift will be all pissed off at you as the new year rolls around, and who wants that?

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies with Pecans

Start with GOOD white chocolate

Add pecans and cranberries at the finish

Package in a cute recycled basket

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or smart balance
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon brandy or vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup white chocolate, chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the egg and brandy.
3. In another bowl, combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the sugar/butter mixture.
4. Mix in the chocolate, cranberries, and pecans. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Take them out while they are still a bit doughy for the best results. Otherwise they tend to get a bit dry and no one wants that!

Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread (you can gift this right in the bread pan). This recipe adapted from Cooking Light. 

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar or Splenda

1/4 cup butter or Smart Balance

3 mashed bananas (the riper the better, but lessen the sugar if they're super ripe)

1 tbsp flax seeds

3 tbsp water

1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 

2. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a whisk.

3. Place sugar and butter in a bowl. Beat until well-blended. Add banana, flax, water, and yogurt and beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed JUST until moist. 

4. Microwave chocolate chips on High for 1 minute or until almost melted. Stir and let cool slightly. 

5. Add 1 cup of the batter to the chocolate and stir until combined. 

6. Spoon the chocolate batter alternately with the plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch bread pan. Swirl batters together with a knife.

7. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely. 

MORE AFTER THE BREAK!

[Travel Saturdays] Santa Cruz, California

This post is a bit of a misnomer. I didn't actually visit Santa Cruz, California once. Or twice. Or even three times. Over the past two years, I have been there a countless number of times to visit my bro and our amigos. And I have compiled a few of my fave places in the area:

Verve: Free wi-fi, plenty of outlets, good light and art. And the coffee is bomb. Expertly roasted and brewed. The best latte I've had in NorCal. 816 41st Ave.

Cole's BBQ: A little shack on the East Side. Great to sit outside on a warm day. Just order everything -- succulent meat bathed in BBQ sauce. Need I say more? 2590 Portola Dr.

Lillian's Italian Kitchen: New and crowded, but worth the wait. It can be a little noisy, but the food is stupendous. I would have to say some of the best Italian gnocchi I've ever had (and I've been to Italy.) Order the Gnocchi with the Cremini Mushrooms. If you're in for a long wait, grab a drink at the Crepe Place down the street. 1116 Soquel.

Pacific Ave: The main downtown street in Santa Cruz. Packed with independent bookstores, Lulu's (order the Bowl of Soul,) and the cutest vintage stores and boutiques known to man.

Love Dog: Got my first tattoo here. Experienced, efficient staff and pretty legit prices. Sure, Staircase is more famous, but the wait and cost just aren't worth it. 1115 Soquel.

Westcliff: I'm jealous that my bro lived a block away from this amazing street. It runs along the bluffs with beautiful ocean on one side and architectural gems on the other. I would usually do a morning run from Natural Bridges (the beach) to the Lighthouse. Beautiful sea air, hot surfers and a nice running path? Sign me up.

[Friday Link Round-Up]

1. PERUSE Le Wedding Party: One of my favorite bloggers, Elsie of A Beautiful Mess, has a new wedding blog. I now have my entire wedding planned; I just need a groom... takers?


2. READ "Bold Crossings of the Gender Lines" : Fascinating article from the New York Times about the "year of the transexual."


3. READ this post: Heartbreaking article proving that despite the "year of the transexual," Americans still have a long way to go regarding acceptance and openness. The article discusses the case of Akasha Adonis, a transexual woman who is standing up to police bullying.

4. LISTEN to the solo work of Julia Stone: I think she sounds like Ingrid plus Lykke Li with a touch of CocoRosie.

[Scissors + Glue] Sustainable Holiday Gift Tags

Welcome to Part 2 of 3 of the sustainable, holiday gift-giving series! This installment offers some creative ways to add tags to all your gifts without lotsa waste. (Read Part 1 here)

Leftover felt. You've got to have some leftover felt from all your other crafting this season. I cut mine into ornament shapes, attached some fun ribbon with a hot glue gun, and glued a paper label onto the back. 

Construction Paper + Ribbon. Can't get any easier than this. This idea is from Martha Stewart, but you really don't need to print the clip art tags if you know how to use scissors and draw basic shapes. Don't be lazy.

Etsy shopping. Buy your tags from crafters (I especially like the vintage-y ones below as they can be used all year long) instead of Walgreens. Sorry, Walgreens. You know I love you.

 Clothespins. Absolutely genius, and you really don't have to use a stamp. A Sharpie could do the trick. Then just clip it onto the ribbon on the gift or anywhere else it fits. Below is from craftlog.

Stay tuned for the next installment, where I'll share some of my favorite homemade gifts from the kitch!

[Green Thursdays] Pretty Bikes

I never rode a bike in LA, but moving to London and travelling around Europe, I have begun to understand the appeal of it. It's fast, easy, and people look adorable riding bikes. In addition, Barclays Cycle Hire has over 315 docking stations all over Central London; you pop in your card and you can rent a bike for the day and return it to any docking station. Although I like those bikes, I'm thinking when I return to the States, I'd like to invest in something a little less... blue? branded? and something a little more... me? cute? cream? with a basket and a puppy?

Biking provides exercise, eco-friendly transportation and fun - what more could one ask for?

Here are my wishlist bikes...

Velorbis Studine Classic Ladies Bicycle - $1259
In my defense, I did say this was a wishlist bicycle. The website says this is the perfect bike to get to and from university. Since I plan on being a student for the rest of my life, this bike seems pretty fitting. It's lightweight, upright, with an aluminum frame with enclosed gears.


Bowery Lane Bicycle Bronks Raw - $595
This bike is bare steel with a clear coat finish and features the a leather saddle, sustainable cork handles, chain guard, fenders, kick stand, rear rack and hand-crafted wooden crate. In addition, Bowery Lane produces the bikes "conscious of [their] impact on the country, the environment and the local community."

Elizabeth Edwards 1949-2010

A fantastic piece in honor of Elizabeth Edwards, who passed away today.

http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/brave-elizabeth.

[Scissors + Glue] Sustainable Holiday Gift Packaging

Welcome to Part 1 of 3 in the series of sustainable, homemade holiday gifting! This installment is all about packaging your gifts with thrift store finds. (Read Part 2 here)

This Christmas, I plan to give a lot of my friends and co-workers gifts from my kitchen. This is not only because I'm totally broke, but also because I'm pretty awesome with an oven, measuring cups, and a mixer. I'm tired of buying people DVDs they lose or don't really want.

The problem for me is not thinking of unique recipes, but thinking of unique ways to package said recipes using sustainable materials. All that wasted wrapping paper and all those torn-up boxes really creep me out. 

I'm here to the rescue (as per usual) with some thrift store packaging finds.  

Baskets (I am adding my own ribbon to each basket like so)

Tins  + currogated cardbook makes the best mix-and-match packaging. See more details from Martha Stewart online. I don't recommend buying from the sites listed though. I think you're more resourceful than that.

Jars. This hot cocoa gift idea is from Sunset. Homemade granola, bark, etc. would also work great in recycled jars.

Refurbished bread pans + a little wrapping paper and ribbon. Check out this one on The Crafter's File Box. I found quite a few bread pans at my local thrift store. 

CD Sleeves. I LOVE this idea. And now all my co-workers can expect cookies for the holiday season. Check out this example from Intimate Weddings or this example from Martha Stewart.

There are TONS of other packaging finds at your local thrift store. I challenge you to use ALL recycled materials to package your gifts this year. You'll be rewarded with smug, self-satisfaction and the admiration of all your jealous (and now totally guilty) friends and relatives. 

[Get Involved Tuesdays] The Wide World of WWOOFing

I lived here for free for 4 weeks

For those who don't know, WWOOF stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. And if you don't know what it stands for, you're also missing out on a world of opportunity to learn how to milk goats.

Well, not just to milk goats. You're also missing out staying with families all over the world, taking care of their animals, plants, children, or whatever else you feel like doing, and learning about sustainability, farming, design, crafts, cooking, and secret recipes for Devonshire apple cake.

I WWOOFed my way around New Zealand for about 5 months, working four hours per day in exchange for a place to live and free meals. I stayed on the beach, near the mountains, and in the middle of nowhere and spent virtually no money.

Get involved in WWOOFing and give back to family farms who supply us with so much happiness with their wares at farmer's markets and specialty stores. It only costs about $40 to join each country's network (or join the US one because that's probably the best deal in terms of sheer volume of experiences) and that fee gets you access to all the farm resources you need.

WWOOFing tips and tricks after the break!

[Music Monday] British Radio Hits

Since I've moved to London, I've become addicted to Xfm, which is a British radio station. You can stream it online and I essentially listen to it whenever I'm in the library. And I'm in the library at least 8 hours a day. So I listen to it a lot.

This is a list of the song's they've played recently that I'm now addicted to and some of the matching videos

radiohead - fake plastic trees

Frankie and the Heartstrings - Ungrateful

florence and the machine - heavy in your arms

the xx - VCR

mumford and sons – rollaway your stone, the cave

show me the light – mystery jets

dandy warhols – bohemian like you

carl barat – run with the boys

biffy clyro – mountains

[News] Afghanistan's Not-So-Giant Leap for Womankind

Credit: Yuri Cortez/Getty Images (from the Chronicle)

After reading Gayle Tzemach Lemmon's article in the Huffington Post about the recent ABC News poll in Afghanistan, I'm not left amazed or flabbergasted. I'm just scratching my head.

See, I had read this article in the San Francisco Chronicle in September, and I find it hard to believe that the ABC News poll reflects any substantial change in the way women are treated in certain areas and by certain groups in the Middle East. Maybe people think women have a chance at equality, but that means very little will ever be done about it.