Mmm... here's how I make good Split Pea Soup

Split pea soup has become my favorite for cheap, easy and satisfying eating in the winter.

I throw some split peas, salt,* diced onions, celery, and carrots in some homemade vegetable stock or water and let it gently boil until when stirred, the peas disolve a bit.

Then I make it really good.
I add a spoonful of greek yoghurt, a dash of tamari, and some diced cheddar cheese.
Before I started adding those, I used to add toasted sunflower seeds or wasabi paste. Those are good too, but now the yoghurt/cheese wins out every time! (but maybe that's because I don't have toasted sunflower seeds or wasabi right now...)

*always use moist or mined salt that has not been refined or kiln dried.

Mascara that is heads above any other

I found this online a long time ago and got to try it the other day and it is indeed fabulous because it does not smear at all, ever, yet it comes off very easily and does not irritate my sensitive contact-wearing eyes, plus it looks really good and natural. They also have some other innovative products for eyes and lashes.
blincinc.com

J. Lynne Cosmetics

I haven't tried mineral makeups, but this is the one I would try, based on the research I've done and this company's reviews, purity, cost, tone selection, and that it is a small business with one owner.
www.jlynnecosmetics.com

New recipe of mine -- Stroganoff

or as my boyfriend would say... never mind.
I successfully cooked meat without a recipe yesterday. I haven't cooked much meat in so long that it's a foreign thing to me now, and I haven't been proud of my recent efforts, brought on by wanting to increase the iron in my boyfriend's diet. But I bought some meat at a mexican grocery; I'm not sure what kind of cut it was because they don't speak a word of english, but it looked like maybe flank cut thin and pounded. So I cut that up into quarter-size pieces and marinated in some tamari and fresh pineapple juice which I had because I was making some pinapple vinegar and used because I remembered pineapple being a tenderizer and I was afraid to use vinegar because my boyfriend (the intended consumer) hates it. Then I got scared that the pineapple would be discernible and undesirable in a stroganoff dish, so I added some of my soured raw milk and then tried to pour it off thinking I could still use it if I changed my mind, which I did, because it didn't want to pour off much anyways. Then I remembered that yoghurt is also a tenderizer and stirred in a big spoonfull of greek yoghurt and some tamari and worchestershire sauce. (Mmm...greek yoghurt! You've got to try it; it's dense and mellow and rich and has more cream than whole milk. I don't need ice-cream anymore.) I let that marinade for a half hour and then fried up some yellow onions and mushroom pieces in some ghee, mixed them into the meat, and stuck it in the oven at 300° oven in a small casserole dish for an hour or two. Then the intended consumer got home and wasn't hungry so it sat in the fridge like that for 2 days and when I was ready to serve it, I cooked up some noodles, warmed up the meat to a temperature I hoped wouldn't kill the pro-biotics in the dollops yoghurt and sour cream which I then stirred in before serving. It was really good. The sauce tasted great, the two days in the fridge helped the mushroom flavor come out, the meat was tender, and my boyfriend loved it. It was also very simple, really, though the length of this post might lead you to guess otherwise, because it was mostly an oven dish, and because it keeps well in the fridge.

My favorite Indian Cooking Site, with the recipes demonstrated on VIDEO!

"Oh I am trying to selling the world on healthy, authentic and fresh cooking with fresh ingredients and today it was "Chicken 65" which I just finished demonstrating and recording", he says with a faint smile."

"Vahrehvah.com has the potential to shake up the Internet food portals like no other Food site has."

Vahrehvah.com is my favorite cooking site! If you would like to learn authentic indian cooking simply and easily and like being around happy, fun, glowing, passionate people, even if they are virtual, then you will love it too! Actually, it is not just for indian food "Your vah-reh-vah chef" teaches indian foods (he comes from Hyderabad) and is growing the site to include many other cuisines and even asks you to post your recipies.

I coppied all the rest from an interview on the site, if you want to read some more, but really, you should just get on there and get cooking!

"...the layout and design is built intuitively with allocated space for recipes classified by their origin and place on the food chart as well as by course on the menu. So for instance if you were to have a craving for Shahi Nizami cuisine and had some Chicken in the freezer and felt like making a lip-smacking entree out of it, all you have to do is access vahrehvah.com and search by chicken for an entree and Voila! You not only have the detailed recipe and cooking method and ingredients listed out but the amazing thing is you also have a video demonstration of the dish being prepared in Sanjay's chirpy and laughingly humorous manner. That is what is interesting too."

"...What I like about Sanjay's site is that the video actually takes me through a step-by-step process to explain exactly how to go about acomplishing this. For someone like me-and for you too I am sure, looking at it being prepared tells you exactly when to throw onions into the pan or why does mustard have to crackle or even what exactly goes into the Tandoori Masala you go and buy at the store. To me that rocks! It quite simply allows Mr. Nobody to impress friends and family with learnings from a gourmet. Suddenly I am chef somebody and my kids love it. I dare say I even have my wife talking about it with her girlfriends.

"...What I truly like about the site also is that it is participative. It does not lock the user out. In fact it locks them in. They register, they get hooked on his easy style and humor and ability to laugh at himself. Before they know it they are enthusiastically commenting and he is inviting them to post their own recipes on the site. A separate section on the website allows the user to claim their own spot of fame by posting recipes and videos that contribute to even more participation from fellow users. "This is going to be a food community soon" I inform him.
"I know", he says"

Bremerton is starting a FOOD CO-OP! omg!

I am emersing myself in a good cause with like-minded people so that means I don't hate living in Bremerton anymore! Well, between that and having a computer-portal to the rest of the world in my own home. I was so eager to get started that I showed up for the first core-group meeting a whole week early!

http://www.kitsapfoodcoop.org/