Spicing (and baking) it up

There's been a transition since I started a new job 2.5 months ago -- we have less time to cook with both of us working full time.  However, we still spend a lot of time in the kitchen and cooking/baking continues to be something that Erin and I enjoy doing together.  This post is about a few things we do to try to be a bit more self-sufficient.

First, something that's been a project years in the making is my habit of reusing old glass containers for spices, lentils, flours, etc.  Sure, you can buy matched sets of Tupperware, glassware, and all that.  But how much more interesting to clean out jam and pickle jars and reuse them!  To this concept, Erin added a brilliant touch -- chalkboard stick-on labels.  Thus, our mini-pantry looks like this:

It's a hodge podge, to be sure, but we like it.  We look forward to having a bit more space than this in the future since this is only about half of it.  Anyway...

Another thing that's been fun is that we've stopped buying bread.  Erin got me a great book for Christmas about bread making.  The first 10-14 days of the year, I "caught" wild yeast from the air and developed it into a perpetual starter.  Once you have this going, you just feed it 2-3 times per week.  As a result of this, I tend to bake two loaves of bread every Sunday.  This necessitates buying white and whole wheat flour in bulk.  We get great organic flour in 25-lb sacks from a little local shop:

I like to think that the bread baking has been going pretty well.  We eat some, we freeze some, we give some away, and we find create ways to use the rest (think: croutons -- and this fantastic recipe for Spring Panzanella that we made the other night).

Here's one of my loaves:

What's brewing

It's been a few weeks since our last update and we wanted to write a quick update about what's brewing. Literally.

As part of our project this year, we decided that we would NOT purchase any wine or beer (or other alcohols) for consumption at home, but instead stick to drinking what we already have and making our own beer and wine.

There's a few reasons for this - 1. Erin has a drinking problem.... no just kidding. But, she does like her coffee and wine. Not willing to part with either of these vices, even though they are consumables, her commitment for this year is to not purchase take away coffees or store bought wine.

2. There are considerable cost savings in going this route. Average price of a bottle of wine in BC is $20. Average cost of home made wine is $3-$4.

3. Brian has long brewed his own beer, and it's an activity that we've discovered we quite enjoy doing together (even more so now that we have concrete floors that are really easy to clean up).

For the wine, not having all of the equipment, I opted to go in with Sarah on a batch of Okanagan Pinot Noir from a local U-Brew company. We recycled wine bottles from friends and neighbours and Sarah and I spend a great afternoon together bottling (and tasting) the wine.

Friends have all been surprised that it's not store bought, as are we impressed with the quality and flavour. There's more in the works - Chilean Sauvingnon Blanc (shared with Sarah and Darlene) and Chilean Malbec (still looking for a friend who may be interested in sharing...). I'm excited for the day when we have the space where I can complete the whole process - start to finish - at home. For now, the U Brew option is a great solution and I highly recommend you checking out what's available in your locale.

As for the beer, right after we moved into our new place in December, we brewed a batch of Juniper Berry beer which turned out really nicely for a winter ale (and is almost entirely depleted). Inspired by Spring, Luke and Brian brewed a honey, coriander, vanilla, and orange peel "experiment". The reason it's been dubbed an experiment is because we're not sure if we should classify it as an ale or lager, and it fermented a little more vigorously than anticipated (thanks again, Derek, for helping clean up the beer explosion)...

And thanks to a really thoughtful gift from Tara, we have some other recipes we're really excited to try out - including root beer and limoncello!

All in all, the period of time where we didn't have any wine was a bit of a challenge, but this project has been very fruitful!

Cheers!

Perfect Sunday

10:30 a.m. - Roll out of bed (Hey, we don't have kids!).  We recognize that someday we won't have the luxury of sleeping in.  But for now, we will occasionally indulge.  Besides, we were out last night until almost 2:00 a.m. at a concert downtown (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, if you care); the choice/convenience of being able to walk there and back is another luxury we don't take for granted.

11:00 a.m. - Begin a nice 7 mile run around False Creek on a beautiful sunny Vancouver day.

12:30 p.m. - "Breakfast": multigrain pancakes from scratch, served with sliced bananas and real maple syrup.  Erin also prepped some food to eat later on in the day.

2:00 p.m. - Walk 2 miles or so to Downtown Eastside.  We stopped by the home brewing shop to pick up ingredients for our next batch of beer.  And the Homesteaders' Emporium for beeswax and soy wax for our next batch of candles.  And Sunrise, a great Asian market where we picked up fruits and veggies for the week.  We'd brought a backpack with us, so we loaded it up with all of our purchases and walked 2 miles back home.

By the time we finished all of our "To Do's," it was close to 5:00 p.m. before we could "relax."

Now, we understand that an alternate version of this day could have been:
8:00 a.m. - Wake up and run.
9:00 a.m. - Quick breakfast out or from a box.
10:00 a.m. - Hop in the car for groceries and beer.
11:00 a.m. - Start "relaxing."

The thing is, everything we did was part of a nice day.  That run wasn't obligatory -- it was fun.  Cooking wasn't a burden -- it was fun.  Spending a few hours getting groceries and supplies wasn't a chore -- it was fun.  Slowing down and enjoying every piece of the day is...fun.

Candle light Friday nights

This Friday I will be waiting for my husband to return home from a long week of travel. The sun will be setting and I will be lighting candles all over the house. Sounds romantic, hey? Well, not entirely – it’s all part of our year of living with less. We’ve introduced “Candle Light Friday Nights”.

Why are we doing this?

1. We own a lot of lamps (7 in total – remember we live in 620 square feet). I like to turn on said lamps. According to the all wise internet, using a lamp for two hours a day will consume nearly 220 kilowatt hours of electricity in a year, at an average cost of $18.
2. A former co-worker of mine, Denise, first introduced me to the concept of limited “screen time” that she used with her children, and I really liked the idea. I spend most of my day on the computer and I want to try it myself.
3. We watched No Impact Man a few weeks back. This family went 6 months with no electricity in New York. The idea is admirable but totally impractical for us, hence, we picked one night (and leave our fridge running).

How are we doing this?

Everything is done by candle light after dusk – no lights allowed and no electronic devices (no phone calls, texts, e-mails, or internet surfing allowed). We made our way through all of our candles a few weeks ago, so were faced with the choice to purchase or make our own. This made for a welcome challenge. I purchased a pound of beeswax, some wick (both for under $15), and started collecting empty votive holders and small jars. I picked up a book from the library about candle making, but as it turns out, these simple candles don’t require much instruction. Simply melt the wax in a double boiler, set the wick, pour in the wax, and let cool. I’ve made eight small and four medium sized candles, and have half of the supplies left.

The benefits?

I can’t say that I have seen a difference on our hydro bill yet, but candle light Friday nights have been a great way for us to wind down from our busy week, get caught up with each other, and make sure we spend the night focusing on what’s most important – each other. I won’t attempt to liken it to having the same religious importance, but I enjoy how it fits with the Jewish tradition of lighting candles on Friday night for the sake of harmony in the home and joy on the day of rest. We look forward to having some company over some Friday night and sharing this new found tradition. I might even send you home with a candle (this means you, Felix!!! – we’re really looking forward to having you over!).

So, Shabbat shalom! Wishing you harmony and joy this Friday, and signing off in anticipation of another great Candle Light Friday Night!

Bye bye, George! (We're now a one-car family)

The dust has settled and we sold George, my Honda Fit.  Selling a car privately is a pain, but we Craigslisted it and got lucky; a local engineer and his wife test-drove it the day after we listed it, liked the car, and moved quickly to close the deal.

I loved that car, but Erin's car makes more sense for the future -- it's got all-wheel drive, snow tires, and is a bit bigger.  And Erin doesn't drive stick shift.  Fuel economy?  The Suburu can't compete with the Honda -- not even close.  But hey, you can't have everything.

It made sense to sell one of our vehicles on so many levels.  First, with me biking to work and Erin taking the train, we only drive about once a week, anyway.  Second, there's a government monopoly on liability insurance in British Columbia, so we pay about $180 month per vehicle to keep them insured (it's for this reason that my Honda Fit has sat in storage for the past six months).  So there's some nice cash savings.

Anyway, sharing one vehicle is actually not a sacrifice at all.  And since we only have a single parking garage space at our flat -- and George has been stored there -- it means no more battling with street parking for the our Suburu.

It feels good to be a one-car family.

The Shower Timer - Friend or foe?

One idea/tool that's great in theory but made me a bit leery is the shower timer.  Erin and I both love long hot showers.  I'm not talking about 30-minute endeavors, but I know that I'm a regular exceeder of the 5-minute guideline we all learned about in grade school.

This winter, I was doing some consulting for a local company that involved brainstorming recommendations for an energy/water/comfort efficiency assessment for residential homes.  When I stumbled across this simple, non-electric, inexpensive (< $5, check Amazon) timer, I knew that it'd be a good idea for others to implement:

-- since shorter showers not only result in less water usage (water efficiency), but a lot less energy required to heat that excess water (less electricity or natural gas, depending on your water heating system).

I admit, though, that for me, I had some resistance to the idea.  I/we have made a lot of choices to reduce waste, but for some reason this one seemed a bit tougher and more personal.  Nevertheless, about a month ago, I picked one up and stuck it on our shower wall.

And?  It has certainly changed things for us.  And it's been far less painful that I/we thought it would be.  I've learned that:

1. While I didn't time my showers before, they were surely longer than 5 minutes.
2. It actually only takes me about 2-3 minutes to get clean, followed by time that I just stand there and enjoy scalding-hot water running over me.

I've found out that I'm quite happy with a 4-minute (or so) shower.  In fact, I frequently find myself jumping out at about the 3-minute point simply because I'm more cognizant that I'm "done" and it feels nice to be wasting less.  Erin, too, has had no problems adapting.

In short, I thought it was going to suck to be "forced to" take shorter showers.  It hasn't played out that way.  It's not bad at all.

Driving less

In follow up to Brian's recent posts about commuting to work on bicycle, I wanted to share my thoughts on one of our undertakings that I am really enjoying...driving less.

I'll start with a disclaimer: we no longer live in climates where we risk freezing our limbs, and our recent move into a very walkable city/neighborhood makes this undertaking much easier than it would be if, say, we were still living in Alberta, Minnesota, or even a suburb in greater Vancouver.

Driving less does come at the expense of convenience and requires the commitment of time and planning - and we have dedicated to doing it, rain, wind, cold, or "slushing" (since it doesn't really "snow" in Vancouver). However, the payoffs are much better than the sacrifices. We are consciously trying to get where we need and want to go WITHOUT getting into the car. Here's how:

Getting to and from work - Brian has already shared his strategy for his commute to work; cycling is great exercise for him, and far less stressful and frustrating than navigating through congested Vancouver traffic. I commute from Vancouver to Surrey via Skytrain, and have taken advantage of the work and tax subsidized transit pass. While the commute is much longer than I am used to and would prefer (45 minutes each way), I'm using this time as an opportunity to read (and can report that I have finished more books in the last 3 months than I did all of last year). We're saving on the cost of gas, toll bridge fees, and parking passes (and reducing carbon contributions). When I have to get between the corporate office, hospital, and ambulatory care center in Surrey, I take advantage of the health shuttle (again, reducing carbon imprint AND saving BC taxpayers by reducing my mileage expenditures). I try to take advantage of the working from home policy whenever I can and remotely commute into the office when I don't have meetings.

Getting groceries - We walk. We make frequent small trips together and carry our groceries home. For solo or larger/heavier shopping purchases, we bring along our hiking backpack.

Seeing friends and running errands - We walk, cycle, or run. It definitely requires us to plan out our schedules to leave extra time for getting to and from places, but we cherish this time to connect with one another, shake off the stiffness from sitting at our desks and computers all day, and burn off some of the calories from the decadent meals our friends have been treating us with!

On vacation - We recently made a trip down to Oregon and Coastal Washington to use the generous "mini-honeymoon" getaway that my coworkers gave us as a wedding present. While we did require the car to get to and from these destinations (we did investigate taking the train... unfortunately, it didn't stop where we had to go), we made a commitment that we would use the car as little as possible. While we were in Welches, OR - we did our best to walk and NOT take the car around town. While we were in Long Beach, WA, we stayed at the Inn at Discovery Coast and took advantage of the neighboring Adrift Hotel (www.adrifthotel.com) beach cruiser bike loans. I'm pretty sure that I had a perma grin on the entire time - I loved the one-speed, banana-seat, upright-handle nostalgic ride. We rode along the boardwalk and the paved trails all the way to the lighthouse. We stopped to enjoy the beach and explored the towns in search of a perfect spot to stop and get lunch. It was pure bliss!

The Adrift Hotel and Inn at Discovery Coast are noteworthy - using a lot of reused objects to finish, furnish, and decorate the rooms, and offering local, organic, vegetarian, and environmentally sound food and products, all at a great value. AND they are pet friendly - with some really loveable resident canines. Much to my dismay, I didn't manage to convince Brian to bring one home. But I think he's warming to the idea...

I estimate that I have gone from using the car 5-6 days a week to once every two weeks. Soon, we will be selling Brian's car (which has been parked for almost 5 months) and officially become a one car family! (Anyone who is in the market for a fantastic Honda Fit, stay tuned!)