Aquanetta’s blog

I am really good at my job, and I feel pretty accomplished when I leave every day because I get to do actual science: lab coat, gloves, safety glasses, test tubes, lasers, the whole bit.  I still think what I can do is really frakking cool. But most of the time, I also feel overworked, under-appreciated, and underpaid.

Every once in a while, I really feel like I'm making a difference in the world, finding the cure for AIDS. If we haven't already, we are really really close. This feeling makes it all worthwhile.

One of the best things about living in the Pacific Northwest, other than being in the company of beer nerds and self-confessed nerds of all sorts, is the hiking. The forests are lush with trees, ferns, bushes, frogs, wildflowers, and moisture. When we went backpacking last year, we drank water out of bubbling streams (after purifying, of course), and no hike is complete without snacking on various berries: blueberry, cranberry, thimbleberry, blackberry (invasive), huckleberry, even an occasional alpine strawberry. And there are so many hikes within an hour drive or less.

If you've watched those Man vs. Nature shows, you know how they survive on all kinds of foraged and hunted foods,  edible but just barely.  I've slowly become aware of a subculture surrounding foraging for food, it is the ultimate of sustainable, local, and seasonal foods. Sustainable because most people don't know these things are edible or are scared, thank goodness. We first started with berries, which were easy since Tim is from Alaska and has identified all kinds of edible berries, then we moved onto fiddlehead fern. There are actually commercial foragers who make quite a mint at the local farmer's markets and even supply to restaurants.

Then I took a mushroom identification class, and apparently, there are all kinds of edible and delectable mushrooms that grow in the area and some in great abundance: morels, porcini, chanterelle, TRUFFLE, matsutake, and oyster. Free for the taking. You just have to know how to identify them or know someone who can identify them. One of our class instructors harvested a huge basket of morels growing from landscaping bark used at a local park and the other instructor showed slide after slide of her car-trunk full of porcini mushrooms, both of which they cooked for us as part of the class. We learned a little about how to find mushrooms, but mostly about how to eat (and how not to eat) mushrooms. I've also learned a little bit of orienteering to help with not getting lost on the forays.

So anyways, two weekends ago, we went on a hike, not to look for mushrooms, but just to be out during the warm dry Spring weather. Since it's been so warm and dry, finding mushrooms of any kind to identify would be nice, finding edible mushrooms would just blow our minds. And on a well-used trail? Highly unlikely. So we went on a hike called Old Robe Canyon, as recommended by Tim's coworker's wife who works at the Washington Trails Association (Photos taken by Tim's coworker Dan and wife Rebecca):

In addition to the stream and log "bridge", there were also tunnels and old railroad ties since this trail is on a former gold rush mining railroad. Lo and behold, we came upon some dead trees bearing oodles of oyster mushrooms. Here's a picture of Tim harvesting oyster mushrooms:

We got around 4 pounds of oyster mushrooms. I had them positively identified by a coworker (trained mycologist) then we had a mushroom oyster feast at Dan and Rebecca's house:

The smaller oyster mushrooms were sauteed with garlic spears (unopened flower buds of elephant garlic, taste like slightly garlicky asparagus):

The larger mushrooms were brushed with herbed olive oil and broiled to brown the edges:

But foraged food can be found in your own backyard. We were weeding the garden this past weekend and Tim picked the stinging nettle, which are edible after brief parboiling. I made a stinging nettle pesto using this recipe:

Fat of the Land - Stinging Nettle Pesto

What were your first words? If you have children, what were their first words?

I have no idea. Nobody in my family talks about it. I don't even know if pictures of me as a baby exist.Maybe I was never a baby, I'm a Cylon.

Jack Bauer wouldn't be able to get anything done in 24 hours. That's also why there are no science reality shows.

From PHD Comics:

I may have mentioned it before, Tim and I are growing a lot of our own vegetables this year, the aim is to eat what we grow. It started back in late March when we started seeds indoors, the only plants we're buying are herbs since those can be used immediately and not needed in great quantities. Not feeling like building anything or buying more than what's necessary, we grew everything on Tim's windowsills.  Since most of you have not been to Tim's place, it helps to mention that Tim has tiny 18 inch by 18 inch windows, and every windowsill with sun exposure is taken up. But we have a really big plot, about 25 x 30 feet.

Here's a list of things we've started growing in no particular order:

Tomatoes
Peppers
Eggplant

Beans
Peas
Carrots
Potatoes
Spinach
Radishes
Sunflower (for snack seeds)
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Brussels Sprouts
Broccoli
Leeks
Hops
Mustard greens (these we didn't plant intentionally, they went to seed last year and are now growing like crazy)

I'm not even going to bother listing things we are still planning to grow, the list is too long.

Last but not least, we have chickens!

Here's a picture our little bundles of joy:

They are only a week old, and they're extremely entertaining. Should I even bother mentioning that they're adorable? They're living in a big cardboard box right now, but we will build a coop for them out of an old dog house. That's about it so far in our efforts to become self-reliant as far as food goes.

Have you ever walked out of a movie?
Submitted by Jack Yan.

I walked out of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The camera work made me sick to my stomach and I found the characters hard to identify with, even though I had also recently gone through a breakup. What a bunch of whiny losers.

If you were sent to prison for an undefined amount of time, what would you miss most?
Sponsored by “Inside Guantanamo” on National Geographic Channel. Premieres Sunday at 9P et/pt.

Freedom, duh.

March is Humor Society Awareness month, so what are you waiting for? Show us something that will make us laugh!

This made me laugh really hard:

I found it through the Archie McPhee blog. Here's the story about the cat attack snow globe:
Failed Snow Globes

For the past month or so, I've been very behind on TV and internet. After I get home from work, I've been hiding in my basement.

Sewing.

I took a class at a fabric shop near my house and learn the basics of garment construction. In other words, I made a very basic pair of pajama pants for $25 in cost for materials when a better made pair of pants can be had for less than $10 at Old Navy. It must've somehow appealed to the engineer side of me, maybe the scientist side too. For a while now, even before the sewing class, I've been buying fabrics with cool prints from Stitches, because I thought I'd eventually do something with them. Now I'm obsessed with buying patterns, notions, fabrics, sewing tables, even a Project Runway Limited Edition Sewing Machine.

It is madness.

I advise anyone who wants to take up sewing, it's not a good way to save money, at all, to make your own clothes.

After examining the details on clothes, I'm amazed at garments that would take me 4+ hours to make + material cost can be purchased for so little money, and the clothes I make aren't necessarily better in construction or fit. Seriously, if it wasn't for the cheap labor in China, industrial machines and assembly lines, clothes should clost 4 times as much. At the same time, most of the stuff at Anthropologie & Urban Outfitters are ridiculously overpriced when you look closely at the construction and durability.

But then again, I can curate fabric and make clever things that are one of a kind. Like with the faux bois print fabric, I can make a yoga mat bag (Log Lady, anyone?), or boxer shorts for Tim (got wood?).

At the very least, I can hem all those pants that's been sitting around waiting to be hemmed. Maybe someday I'll get around to posting pictures of the stuff I've made/in the process of making..