Came across this image recently. Had to share it.
SEASONS
November 23, 2009
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Photography | Tagged: season | 
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Posted by gilliebean
ORU: PASTOR BILLY JOE
November 21, 2009You may have heard this already, but in case you haven’t…
Pastor Billy Joe, of Victory Christian Center, was diagnosed with lymphoma last month and is currently in the hospital being treated for complications resulting from an infection, according to articles by KJRH and News9.
The community is praying.
2 Comments | 
ORU, WWJD? | Tagged: billy joe, lymphoma, ORU, victory christian center | 
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Posted by gilliebean
Personal Pumpkin Cheesecake
November 20, 2009Here is my husband holding up last night’s dessert.
I’d made personal pumpkin cheesecakes using a variation of Wardeh’s recipe. I used stevia instead of the syrup and honey, and I used almond meal and water instead of the almonds. Also, instead of putting them in a graham cracker crust, I put them in muffin cups!
We whipped up some real whipping cream (it unfortunately wasn’t raw but it was still real organic cream) and put some of my homemade chocolate chips (I make mine with stevia and cocoa) on there. Mm-mm-good!!
It was a completely sugar-free dessert!
2 Comments | 
Food! Glorious food! | Tagged: almond, pumpkin, stevia | 
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Posted by gilliebean
MILK
November 18, 2009I once read a piece written by a person opposed to dairy consumption which said that man was the only mammal that drinks the milk of another animal. And I believed it. For a time.
However…
Also, I read recently that “even the horses ridden by the Arab chiefs in moving their camel herds across the desert are often dependent, sometimes for as long as three months, upon the milk of the camels for their nutrition.”
Fascinating.
1 Comment | Food! Glorious food! | Tagged: animal, camel, cat, dog, fawn, goat, horse, milk | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
FOOD FACTORY
November 17, 2009I’ve currently got five containers on my counters that are various food things in various stages of completion or fermentation.
(from right to left)
Sauerkraut – I just threw this one together a few minutes ago – cabbage, chiles, sea salt, and whey. I mashed it all together and then smashed it all into a jar. In a week or so, I’ll taste it. Yum! Last time was too salty. I used less salt this time. We’ll see how it turns out.
Yoghurt – I’ve got a jar of milk and greek yoghurt that’s culturing into a full jar of yoghurt.
Kishk – I’ve got a cracked wheat and rolled oat mixture fermenting with some homemade yoghurt in order to make a Middle Eastern food which will become kishk granola on Thursday when I add coconut and raisins.
Sourdough Sponge – my sourdough sponge is proofing. Tomorrow I’ll add the rest of the whole wheat flour and water and let the dough rise its first rising.
Hazelnut-Cocoa Spread (aka Primal/Vegan Nutella) - I roasted my Hazelnuts today. They’re cooling on the stove before I grind them into paste tomorrow!
Besides the large mound of rabbit-like dishes, that’s what’s happening in my kitchen!
This blog post is a part of GNOWFGLINS’ Tuesday Twister!
8 Comments | Food! Glorious food! | Tagged: food, granola, kishk, kitchen, sauerkraut, sourdough, starter, yoghurt, yogurt | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
GRACE
November 17, 2009
Let nothing upset you,
let nothing startle you.
All things pass;
God does not change.
Patience wins all it seeks.
Whoever has God lacks nothing:
God alone is enough.
~ St. Teresa of Avila
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Posted by gilliebean
WHY I LOVED THE NBC DRAMA “KINGS”
November 12, 2009Months ago, while zonked on the couch waiting for my body to repair the giant holes in my gums where I once stored my four wisdoms, I caught up on some Netflix selections. After watching a few choices from my Instant Queue, I decided to check out a drama about which I’d heard good things from my momma and my friend Mike Ford.
Ryan and I had seen the previews for Kings early in the year and were intrigued. Truthfully, I’d hoped beyond all hope that it wouldn’t be another show geared toward Christians within which the bar of quality is set so low that even the most forgiving of us can’t watch. That hope was fulfilled.
Kings was a smart, well-written, fascinating, suspenseful drama and I already knew the whole story! Once I got beyond the fact that EP Michael Green got a “created by” credit for a bible story, I was held rapt for 43 minutes (I watched it on Hulu.com). The show was well shot. It was well paced and edited. Well performed and well written. The story was fascinating. And I was emotionally connected. It had an unearthly sort of raw, yet fantastical quality to it. The writting sounded shakespearean. The cinematography was beautiful. And I could watch Ian McShane for hours and hours.
Why on earth was it cancelled?
Perhaps it was because the character that Ian McShane played was carrying the series and, unfortunately, he needed an equal. The character of David was written as meek and gentle, but I think a powerful, reckless David would have been more interesting to watch. Chris Egan was a delight to watch, mind you. And what’s up with all the hot, young blond actors coming from Australia?
Perhaps it was NBC.
While the show was on the air, NBC hosted (and still hosts) a blog by the writers called The Court Historian. I thought it was a rather clever little way for the audience to sneak behind the scenes and learn about television production. The latest post, written by creator Michael Green, is a fascinating look into the cancellation of the show. He shows great restraint and with this quote:
Even if it is tempting to trash NBC, we do owe them gratitude. Writing, acting, filming is about the work, not the reward, and NBC allowed us to make the best possible show we could. They let us film in New York. They let us assemble a cast without equal on the network landscape. A group of actors who came ready every day to spin the broken-meter mouthfuls we wrote for them into song. Ian McShane, Chris Egan, Susanna Thompson, Sebastian Stan, Allison Miller, Dylan Baker, Eamonn Walker, Marlyne Afflack, Becky Ann Baker… Every one of them suffered long hours, cold nights, and still came prepared, passionate, elevating every piece of material put to them. They made us look better than we deserve.
Read the rest of the post if you’re at all interested in the inner workings of the entertainment industry.
I had considered writing a spec for Kings. But alas, that would be pointless now.
I am gonna buy some butterfly stickers. Just for kicks.
2 Comments | Hollywood | Tagged: cancel, kings, nbc, television | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
Three Kinds of Popcorn
November 5, 2009I don’t normally eat popcorn. I like to avoid corn products usually. But tonight we had an Open House here at Club Fritch and popcorn is a rather inexpensive and (other than not having a chip-like snack food at all) a relatively healthy alternative to other snack foods. And we have an air-popper.
But I didn’t want to serve bland, plain popcorn, or even just buttered and salted popcorn. So I got out the air-popper and the corn and opened my kitchen shelves to see what fancy things could season my popcorn. A while back Amy Mac had given me a shaker of fine-ground salt. So I started with that. Butter and salt is a mainstay; so I made that and called it Movie Popcorn.
Then I remembered that I’d added parmesan to popcorn before and it’d been yummy; so I pulled out the parmesan. But I didn’t want just the cheese flavour. So I pulled from my favourite potato chip flavour and added black pepper. I seasoned that one with a little salt and mixed in some melted butter. It was cheesy and spicy and I called it Peppered Parmesan.
And I’ve recently fallen in love with a salty-sweet chocolate covered almond snack at Trader Joe’s, and people love kettle corn, so I wondered what I could make that was salty and sweet. I knew that when we’ve made our own granola we’ve mixed molasses with maple syrup to get a lovely sweet drizzle that covers most everything. So I mixed a little molasses (1/4 cup?) and a little Grade B maple syrup (1/4 cup?) in a saucepan and melted it together. I drizzled that over the freshly popped popcorn and added the finely ground sea salt and ta da! I had a salty and sweet snack that I called Salty Molasses.
Looks like the Salty Molasses was the favourite!
Recipes for Peppered Parmesan and Salty Molasses are after the jump.
Enjoy!
Leave a Comment » | Food! Glorious food! | Tagged: corn, molasses, parmesan, pepper, popcorn, salt, sweet, syrup | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
FREE FUN
November 2, 2009Ryan and I have been on a tight budget. That is not to say that we’re broke. In fact, our giving is up, we’re making respectable contributions to our IRA and we’re paying down our debt in a responsible fashion. But because we’re doing all these things, what’s left doesn’t leave much room for shopping sprees or reckless recreation.
So back in June I did a search of some blogs and discovered a few ideas for how to spend my time and not my money! Here’s a few of my favourites:
1 Comment | Life | Tagged: free, fun, suggestions | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
Real Ice Cream
October 30, 2009I’ve started shopping recently at a little market called Figueroa Produce. They’re located in Highland Park (or is it Garvanza, I can’t tell) on a busy little corner across from a park. They have Jones’ Coffee, the best (and cheapest!) beef jerky around, and raw whole milk from Organic Pastures for less than Whole Foods! They also sell organic produce from the South Central Farmers and grass-fed beef from Open Space Meats. Finally, their price on GT’s Kombucha is better than I’ve seen it anywhere.
But here’s what I want to talk about. Figueroa Produce carries ice cream from McConnell’s in Santa Barbara.
I brought home some coffee ice cream last night. Here’s the ingredient list:
- Fresh Cream
- Milk Solids
- Sugar
- Egg yolks
- Coffee
That’s it! Nothing else. No soy lecithin, no high fructose corn syrup, and no yellow No. 5! A week or two ago, I brought home some pumpkin ice cream. Can you guess what was in there? Yup – replace coffee with pumpkin and you’ve got it right.
This ice cream is sooo good! It tastes right!! Not like a snickers bar.
I’ve emailed them to see if they could make a version that is sweetened with stevia or agave syrup for those of us who are trying to avoid refined sugars. Yes, I understand that this is somewhat of an ironic move; but hey, why not ask, right?
McConnell’s has a brick store in Santa Barbara. Next time, Ryan and I are out that way, we’ll definitely make a stop there for a cafe affogato!
Leave a Comment » | Food! Glorious food! | Tagged: ice cream, ingredients, meat, produce, stevia | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
L.A. Bento – Update
October 8, 2009The L.A. Weekly food blog has done a piece about L.A. Bento. Read it here!
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Posted by gilliebean
L.A. BENTO: Redefining Lunch in a Box
September 24, 2009I live in Northeast L.A. When my husband and I moved here from Hollywood (a whole 7 miles), someone suggested we join the NELA Yahoo Group. I’m so glad we did! We’ve found out about great events and restaurants and stores in our area that we’d have no idea existed otherwise.
A few days ago, I came across this post from the NELA list. It’s about L.A. Bento, a neat little lunch-in-a-box place that just opened up in Glassell Park! Bento is a Japanese word for single-portion takeout and L.A. is the word for… Well, you decide. Together, they mean “really yummy gourmet lunch!”
I went there this morning to meet some friends and got a coffee, and because I’d heard from Ara on the NELA list that the croissants were “out of this world,” I had to try one. Ara was right. The croissant was perfect. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Rebecca, you would have been drooling! And the coffee was fresh from Jones in Pasadena. ’Nuff said.
While waiting for my coffee, I asked the very friendly Matt about how the lunch-ordering thing works. He pointed me to the menu.
That’s it! Choose a sandwich and side. Everything is $10. Also, they will deconstruct the sandwhiches and serve them as entree salads, if requested. They have:
- Turkey
- Roast Beef
- Tuna
- Muffletta
- Chicken Salad
- And a vegetarian option
But it’s not that simple. The turkey has oven dried tomato, homemade pickles, havarti, and remoulade. Yum! I ordered the muffletta. It was salami, capicola, ham, provolone, muffletta relish, pepperoncini and it seemed like there was a garlic spread as well. Here’s my lunch (at my desk later this afternoon):
For my side I ordered the Quinoa salad. They also have Orzo and Cous Cous.
When lunchtime came I found myself going “mmm” and “m-mmm” with each new bite. The sandwich was perfect and the Quinoa salad was amazing! The potato chips were fabulous and I’m a potato chips snob. And the cookie was the right kind of soft. A perfect-tasting, perfectly-sized little chocolate chip cookie. Ooo, it was a good lunch. Gotta treat yourself once in a while right?
So the idea with these guys is that they are there so that if you live in the Glendale/Glassell Park/Highland Park/Eagle Rock area, you can drive by there in the morning from 7 AM to 10 AM and pick up your gourmet lunch for the day. But it gets better! All their proteins are hormone-free and sustainably farmed. All their breads are baked daily at Breadbar (artisan bread-makers). And they use 100% recyclable paper products for their packaging!
Furthermore, L.A. Bento delivers! Both figuratively (in all that I’ve mentioned above) and literally! If you get your order in by 11:30 AM! For orders of 10 or more, the delivery fee is waived. This would be a great way to cater an office lunch or a small (or large!) film shoot. Healthy and yummy!
Or just come hang out on their sidewalk, listening to the Glassell Park roosters, from 7 am to 10 am and enjoy some great coffee and an amazing croissant.
You might wonder why I have no picture of the box, since it *is* a “lunch-in-a-box” place! Well, these guys are so fresh-on-the-market that their snazzy boxes haven’t arrived yet. They arrive Tuesday September 30th. But no worries about this food establishment, it’s run by the creative and passionate minds behind Room Forty. Check ‘em out!
Here’s the deets one more time:
- 7 am – 10 am – buy coffee, pastries and an awesome to-go lunch at the window
- until 11:30 am – order lunches for delivery (for orders of 10 or more, delivery is free)
L.A. Bento
3329 Division St, LA CA 90065
323-221-1060
1 Comment | Food! Glorious food!, Neighbourhood | Tagged: cater, Coffee, croissant, delivery, lunch, sustainable food | Permalink
Posted by teamfritch
Soap!
September 21, 2009I have several friends who make soap; but one particular friend (who just moved west – you know who you are) who makes gorgeous-smelling soaps! Her soap company is Luka Organics.
We had her and her husband over for a little get-together recently and she brought me two bars! They smell awesome. The green one is spearmint-eucalyptus and the orange one is honey-almond-oatmeal. They’re heavenly!
I had purchased a whole bunch of these for myself and for friends just before Christmas. They were awesome. I’m looking forward to using these soon. After all, soap was made to be used and enjoyed!
We’re finishing up some organic oatmeal soap bars that I’d purchased from Whole Foods right now. After that, honey-almond-oatmeal! Yum!
Leave a Comment » | Life | Tagged: homemade, organic, soap | Permalink
Posted by teamfritch
STATION FIRE
September 9, 2009
Along with the loss of life and homes, this photo encompasses the reason I feel great sadness regarding the Station Fire. As of this post, here’s the information from the incident report (note that the Est Containment Date has been pushed back one week!):
Basic Information
| Incident Type | Wildfire |
|---|---|
| Cause | Arson |
| Date of Origin | Wednesday August 26th, 2009 approx 03:30 PM |
| Location | Los Angeles River Ranger District / Angeles National Forest |
| Incident Commander | Dietrich / Fender |
Current Situation
| Total Personnel | 4,497 |
|---|---|
| Size | 160,357 acres |
| Percent Contained | 62% |
| Estimated Containment Date | Tuesday September 15th, 2009 approx 06:00 PM |
3 Comments | Animal Kingdom, Neighbourhood | Tagged: Angeles Forest, arson, fire, los angeles, sad, station, wildfire | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS
September 4, 2009One of our two RED cameras for Duncan Christopher came from Josh and Rebekah Weigel. Josh and Rebekah just finished production on a short film called:
It’s a short film featuring Nick Vujicic along with Eduardo Verástegui (Bella) and Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Fantastic Four). Our friends, Elizabeth Pennington and Dan Amos were also in the film at the beginning as a poor depression-effected family.
The synopsis: at the height of the Great Depression, the showman of a renowned circus leads his troupe through the devastated American landscape, lifting the spirits of audiences along the way. During their travels they discover a man without limbs at a carnival sideshow, but after an intriguing encounter with the showman he becomes driven to hope against everything he has ever believed.
3 Comments | Hollywood | Tagged: butterfly, circus, dan amos, doug jones, eduardo verastegui, elizabeth pennington, film, josh weigel, nick vujicic, short | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
Eagle Rock ‘n’ Rollin’ Along!
August 27, 2009A while back I posted about the Eagle Rock ‘n’ Roll Farmers’ Market. It was their second week and I think it was a slow start…
I returned this past Sunday and I found a much more vibrant, busy, eclectic and populated farmers’ market. Well done guys!
Their signage has improved and is pointing in the right direction finally.
Also, instead of hiding back behind Macy’s they’re now out front, along Colorado, in plain view and easy for newcomers to find!
They’ve got about five times as many tents/vendors as before.
There’s now a fish guy, a guy who sells eggs (I’m planning on getting to know him)…
…more prepared food vendors, more clothing vendors…
…and more for the kids to do.
They even have a live rock ‘n’ roll band.
I was looking for the cheese guy and couldn’t find him so I stopped by the information booth and no one was there… But then I found the manager looking after someone’s table and he told me that the cheese guy would be back “next week”. Yay!
All in all, I think the Eagle Rock ‘n’ Roll Farmers’ Market is doin’ great and here to stay!
Leave a Comment » | Food! Glorious food!, Neighbourhood | Tagged: farmers, food, market | Permalink
Posted by teamfritch
PRIMAL BLUEPRINT RECIPE: HOMEMADE NUTELLA
August 27, 2009As you know, I’m participating in the Primal Health Challenge hosted by Mark Sisson and his Worker Bees over at Mark’s Daily Apple. The challenge has daily contests from big prizes to little ones. One of his contests is the Primal Blueprint Recipe Video contest.
So I made a recipe video for my homemade nutella.
The winner of the contest will receive:
1 Excalibur Food Dehydrator
1 pair of Vibram Fivefingers
12 canisters of Damage Control Master Formula
1 bottle of Vital Omegas
1 canister of Responsibly Slim
1 “Grok On!” T-Shirt (your choice of size and color)
1 copy of The Primal Blueprint (Mark’s book)
I don’t think I have a great chance of winning (there are already tons of great videos submitted), but I had fun making the video and it’s fun to share recipes with people in such a unique way! But I really want that food dehydrator. And a pair of VFFs for my husband.
6 Comments | Food! Glorious food!, Video Killed The Radio Star | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
I’LL SHOW YOU MINE
August 12, 2009Wednesday is grocery day. Depending on the week, I get up early (earlier than normal) and trot to Trader Joe’s. Sometimes I head to Whole Foods or Ralph’s if necessary. If I’m really good, I’ll make it to my local farmers’ market. At Trader Joe’s, I typically purchase organic and local (if available). I also try to avoid products with stuff in them I can’t pronounce (and some stuff that I can but I want to avoid). Trader Joe’s has lots of options.
One reason why I can’t get into the habit of going to the local farmers’ markets and I’m reluctant to join a CSA (or something similar) is because I LOVE LOVE LOVE my weekly grocery trip. When I lived in Vancouver, I signed up for a Local Organic Food Delivery Service. Every two weeks, my basket of local, organic foods would show up at my studio apartment’s door. But I often found myself at the grocery store on a weekly basis (often oftener), to pick up this or that. I missed the shopping!
When I get home from my shopping trip, I have a routine. I call Ryan from about 2 minutes away and have him (and Justin or “the intern”) come out to help me bring in the bags. I usually have four heavy bags. Once they’re inside, I move all the food from the bags to the counters. Then I move them from the counters to the fridge, freezer, and cupboards.
In that lovely middle space, when the food is sitting on the counters, I like to take a brief moment to admire my bounty. It’s usually subconscious and lasts only a few subtle seconds. But for those brief seconds I feel somewhat like a hero coming home from a successful battle. I enjoy the visual luxuriousness of all my spoils (yet unspoilt) spread out before me on my counter.
A while back, Time Magazine had a photo essay called What the World Eats. It was a look at other people’s bounty on dinner tables from around the globe. The photographs were by Peter Menzel. I found this photo essay fascinating and enlightening. A friend commented that he was going to buy stock in Coca-cola because of the number of photos that included the nasty stuff! Some of those families could have made use of a good nutritionist.
Speaking of, I’m participating in the Primal Health Challenge hosted by Mark Sisson and his Worker Bees over at Mark’s Daily Apple. The challenge has daily contests from big prizes to little ones. One of his contests is called “Show Us Your Groceries.” Mark found Time Magazine’s photo essay just as interesting as I did. And he wants to see what his online community is eating!
I had wanted to shoot this photo when I first saw the Time Magazine’s photo essay but Mark is offering an opportunity to win 5lbs of fresh Kenai River Sockeye Salmon overnighted to my home! I’m so down with that!
And today is grocery day!! So once I got home, I put all the groceries on the counter like I normally do. But this time I arranged them so that they all faced one direction. I pulled stuff out of the cupboards and snatched stuff from the freezer and the fridge. I pulled Ryan away from his work (for only 2 minutes, Justin!) and set up the timer on my Nikon D70.
What’s pictured here is more than a week’s worth of groceries. But you get the idea!
Isn’t it gorgeous?!
Any comments or questions?
8 Comments | Food! Glorious food!, Photography, Potato Without A Couch | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
An Infrequent Contribution
August 7, 2009Who says I can’t make a comeback on the ol’ blogsky once in a while, eh?
Gillian found this video this morning and I thought it was pretty high on the “zero to awesome” scale, so here it is – you should watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFQkMAPVoIo
Peace out homeezz.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by fritch
PRIMAL MEANS FIRST
August 5, 2009Recently I’ve been reading and learning about the primal/paleo “diets.” I use the quotation marks because if you follow these eating plans, you can’t really call them diets. You have to call them life-style changes.
Over at Mark’s Daily Apple, Mark Sisson has started a 30-day Primal Health Challenge. Since I’ve been following his eating suggestions for several months now, I decided to try the Health Challenge.
My goal for the challenge is simple: to lower my body fat from 26% to 23%.
When I joined Weight Watchers in July 2007, I was about 41% body fat. Last year I ran a half-marathon (at 38% body fat). This year I competed in a reverse sprint triathlon (at 27% body fat). I’m currently 26% body fat.
Let’s see if I can drop 3% points in 30 days!
Go to my Primal Challenge Journal to see my progress.
Leave a Comment » | Food! Glorious food!, Potato Without A Couch | Tagged: challenge, health, mark sisson, paleo, primal | Permalink
Posted by gilliebean
