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One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2016 – Week 5

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I actually have TWO this week for One Local Summer, so I’m jamming them into one post instead of splitting them into two.  This week was husband’s final week home before going out to a ship for quite a long while, so he took advantage of the time home to cook up a storm.  This is me, not complaining.  First up!  A house favorite, biscuits and gravy with a side of yogurt and strawberries and of course, coffee.  We made our biscuits with lard – I have no idea where the recipe came from, but if I find out, I’ll add a link  – and they come out so delightful.  We had the buttermilk for the gravy and it felt like it would be a slight not to include it in the biscuits as well.  The flour is probably my favorite part of this.  We actually have an old stone mill locally that buys their wheat from PA farmers and then mills it with a gigantic water wheel just a few minutes down the road.  They sell it, along with cornmeal, to help fund the mill’s educational programs and it’s SUCH a delight to have locally grown and milled wheat available to us, not to mention the historic aspect of the fact that it was ground in  a mill that’s 250 years old!   In order to make the meal just a little more healthy, we added the side of strawberries and yogurt.  The coffee?  Not local, but I dare you to tell me that I can’t have it with breakfast.

Ingredients:
Lard – M&M Creek Valley Farm
Sausage – M&M Creek Valley Farm
Flour – Mill at Anselma
Strawberries – Hoagland Farm
Yogurt – Seven Stars Farm
Buttermilk – Maplehofe Dairy
Non Local – Coffee, Salt, Pepper

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I did mention this was a two-fer, right?  Second local meal for the week features ribs with grilled vegetables, a cucumber salad and CHEESE.  The ribs were cooked in the slow cooker first and then given a quick roast in the oven with our own homemade fruit ketchup using tomatoes and apples from the farmers market and peaches from our own tree.  Pretty sure this is the same recipe we used from the Ball Canning Book  for the ketchup.  The veggies on the side were carrots, snap peas, and zucchini.  Then there was the classic cucumber salad – cucumbers soaked in vinegar making not-quite-pickles, but a nice refreshing not-lettuce sort of salad for the side.  Then there’s the CHEESE – I believe that’s all Birchrun Hills cheese between Fat Cat, Red Cat, and some Clipper.  REALLY a good dinner – the ribs were absolutely perfect and it was a nice way to end a stormy evening.

Ingredients:
Ribs – Countrytime Farm
Cucumbers –  Jack’s Farm
Zucchini –  Jack’s Farm
Snap peas –  Jack’s Farm
Carrots –  Charlestown Farm
Cheese –  Birchrun Hills
Non Local – Homemade Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil

Subscription Boxes

Espionage Cosmetics Nexus – June 2016

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Welcome to Espionage Cosmetics’ Nexus, first of its name.  This offshoot of the BOOM!Box features a monthly delivery of two nail wraps in a slick black bubble mailer.  The cost is $15 per month with discounts for longer subscriptions, and you receive two  brand new designs before they’ve been released to the public as well as a chance to vote for which will go on to permanent sale  on the Espionage Cosmetics website.  This month’s theme was “Formulaic” and I think both wraps fit the theme perfectly.

  • Chemistry Nail Wrap – Super nerdy nail wrap featuring the periodic table in white on an atomic orange background.  They even have a neat glow in the dark design!  There’s a little bit of reverse chemistry at play if you look closely.
  • Euler’s Formula – I’m not a math nerd, but I can appreciate that complexity of  such a concept.  Another glow in the dark nail wrap, this one looks like Euler’s Formula written in chalk on a chalkboard and I love how this came out.
  • Nail File – Obligatory.  So nice to get a fresh nail file  in every subscription delivery.

The nail wraps usually go for $10 each on the Espionage Cosmetics website, so the value already exceeds the cost of even  the month-to-month subscription.  Getting access to new nail wraps first?  PRICELESS.  I’m so in love with all of their nail wraps, and it’s super fun to get all the new ones before they’re released to the public and decide which one of the two makes the cut to regular production.  July’s theme has already been released, “Passport to Nihon,” and I can’t wait to see what they come up with for next month!  In case you’re thinking about subscribing and want to send me some love, hit up my  referral link!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 334

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Only a day late which isn’t too bad for Sepia Saturday given how busy this week was!  Our prompt image this week featured a man jumping over a towel held by two women.  I went with the jumping part of the photo and found these ladies in my stash of family photos.

Going Left to Right, we have…

  • Laura Esther Johnson, born 7 March 1905, died 25 June 2006.  First wife of Harry Oscar “Fritz” Powis, married 12 March 1926.
  • Olga Mary Louise Powis (my great grandmother), born 27 August 1900, died 29 July 1987.  Sister-in-Law to the other girls in the photo.
  • Goldie Patchin, born 19 March 1893, died 13 March 1975.  Wife of Alfred Herbert Powis who died 6 July 1926.
  • Irma Catherine McGarvey, born 2 December 1910, died 4 November 1976.  First wife of Waldo Orvis “Jack” Powis, married 10 April 1926.  I’m pretty sure that’s her – I only have one other photo of her to compare to, but the timing is just right for her to be included in this photo.

The back of the photo reads, “What you can see so much of us bloomers.  Har Ha.”  Then there’s an errant “One” or “On ‘E'” at the bottom – it’s hard to tell which it is.  With two  weddings and a funeral in one year, the family was together often, so I have to imagine this was taken sometime during 1926 or possibly a year before or after.  The smile on Olga’s face is just delightful, and it’s pretty amazing given the cameras of the time that they were able to capture the girls in midair.  The photographer was likely one of Olga’s brothers or possibly a parent.  You can see Olga’s bloomers peeking out of the bottom of her dress, and Goldie’s dress appears to be an olive print which I’m rather smitten with.  It’s just such a joyful photo, and I’m glad the girls stopped to take that photo and that it survived about 90  years at this point!

Sepia Saturday

Sepia Saturday 333

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Another Sepia Saturday, this week featuring a prompt image of a water mill taken 136 years ago.  I didn’t have any mills in my family photographs, but I do have lots and lots of buildings.  Here, we even have two of the same building, taken at slightly different times and from different angles.  I know I’ve posted about Nellie Eimer before, a woman who shows up in lots of photos, but I don’t quite know the specifics of her relationship with my family.  I suspect she was a family friend, but the circumstances of how they met aren’t clear.  Anyway, this was Nellie’s home where she lived with her father and later, her husband, until her death in 1930.  The address is 3 Dixon Ave, Carbondale, PA, and as far as I can tell, the house still exists, though it’s a smaller street that Google Street View seems to have skipped, so I can’t tell if the house still looks like this or not!  The photo on the left was likely taken between 1914 when her mother (Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith) died and 1920 when her father (William Howell) died since that’s Nellie and her father sitting on the porch.  The label on the back of this reads, “Nellie Eimer and her father, home in Carbondale, PA.”  The one on the right may have been  taken between 1920 and 1930 since the man seated on the porch has darker hair and was likely her husband, Frank Eimer.  The label on the back reads, “This is our home,” with, “Aunt Nellie Eimer, Carbondale, PA” written below in a different hand and different ink.  If the photos were taken 10-20 years apart, it appears not much changed during that time between the flower boxess out front, paint and whatnot.  It’s really rather neat to see them side by side like this and I’m really rather curious to see if the house still looks the same or not.  It’s possible to sneak in a side trip some time since it’s only 2.5 hours away, if we ever happen to be driving past that area.  I’ll have to report back if that happens!

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2016 – Week 4

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Week four, cooked and consumed already during our One Local Summer.  Husband was home again this weekend, so I was happy to step aside and let him take charge of the kitchen!  The vegetable supply is really starting to diversify since so many farmers start seeds early, so we already have zucchini and snap peas available.  The meal is a veal chop marinated in vinegar, salt and pepper, cider, and cilantro then grilled with some cheese on top.  On the side are  grilled carrots, snap peas, and zucchini and some more cheese (because there can always be more cheese), paired with a nice leafy green salad tossed with some olive oil and vinegar, and a glass of homebrewed cider.  The cider we had here actually finished off a 5 gallon keg we’ve been nursing for over a year now, but fortunately  we have the next batch ready to go, made from apples picked at my grandparents’ home some four hours west of where we live.  Since the apples followed us on a trip we would’ve made anyway, I include them into local summer since their “food miles” didn’t count as just transporting food.  We crushed and pressed the apples into cider ourselves, gave the juice some yeast, and let it do its thing.  The resulting cider came out tart and dry, just how I like it, so while I’m a little sad to see this keg go, I’m also eager to see how the second batch tastes!  Anyway, enough about the cider, the meal was a nice way to cap off the long holiday weekend since this was Monday’s dinner before husband left again for the week.  Hopefully he’ll get in one last OLS meal before heading out on a long stretch for work, and then it’s all on me!  I may have to entice some guest chefs to visit and contribute  (read: beg friends to cook for me) during the summer.

Ingredients:

Subscription Boxes

Benevolent Beauty Box May 2016

 

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This is a new subscription for me, the Benevolent Beauty Box!  The first ever box from this company went out last month, so this is their second ever box.  I’m pretty impressed with the value and products they included!  My box arrived Tuesday, May 31st, right at the end of the month as specified.  The box arrived un-taped – there was a shipping label on the bottom, but the top wasn’t taped closed.  Fortunately, nothing escaped from the box!  Inside was a large product sheet with product information and retail values as well as where to find the companies online (websites, twitter, instagram, facebook, etc).  On to the contents!

  • Bellapierre HD Makeup Primer – 30 mL / $75 – (Full size product, caveat on value is that it sells for around $30  on amazon)  The ingredients are mostly silicones, and unfortunately, I noticed that it has an ingredient I know irritates my eyes, cyclopentasiloxane.  I think as long as I keep it away from my eyes, it’ll be fine, and I’ll basically not have to buy any sort of primer for the near future since this is HUGE!  It goes on like silk and feels nice and matte to create a good base for makeup.
  • Cailyn Pure Lust Extreme Matte Tint – 3.5 g / $19 – (Full size product)  The color I received is, “Hospitable,” a pale dusty rose sort of color.  This absolutely isn’t my sort of thing at all between the color and formula. I gave it a quick try and once it dried, it dried REALLY durable, so durable that I had a hard time removing it between using an oil based makeup remover and finally giving in to a sugar scrub to basically exfoliate it off.  The color is absolutely terrible on me – it ends up fairly closely matching my summer skin color and nearly completely erases the line between my lips and my skin.  On top of that, the formula sinks into every crack and line in my lips and it looks weird to me.  So, this is just not a product I like from the color to the formula.  In a way, I’m glad I got to try it because now I know for sure, but oh man it’s just not me at all.
  • Gourmet Body Treats Agrimony Eye Cream – .25 oz / $18 – (Full size product)  Okay, so the size on the website says it’s .25 oz, but the size on the container says .5 oz.  I calculated out the volume (hi, I’m a nerd) and it comes out to .25 oz.  The container may be a .5 oz container, but it’s only half full (which is normal for this type of container), so I’m leaning towards this being .25 oz despite the information on the sticker.  The ingredient list is nice and simple, and even if I’m skeptical that it will have an effect on my dark circles and lines, it’s not something that can do any harm, so I’m okay giving it a try!  There’s no discernible scent, though it is a little greasy and is probably best for using overnight rather than during the day.
  • Trust Fund Beauty Lipgasm Lipstick – 3.6 g / $22 (Full size product, value given in product card is $10)  I received the color, “Try to be Nice,” in my box which is a cool lilac purple color.  I  couldn’t find these on the Trust Fund website at all!  The color might be  a little too purple and pastel for me – just a little bit back to red and this would’ve been a nice rich berry, perfectly up my alley.  But purple?  I think that might be a little outside of my color spectrum comfort zone when it comes to lipstick shades.  I think maybe it clashes with my skin tone since I’ve got pretty rosy cheeks and the cool tone of the lipstick just doesn’t look right next to that.  The verdict is out as of yet – I can still use this over lipsticks that are more red or bring it up with a red tinted gloss, so it’s not a total loss I think.  I do like the creamy formula, and it does have a nice scent, smelling sort of fruity and sweet.
  • Vapour Organic Mesmerize Eyeliner – .8 g / $20 – (Full size product)  I received the color, “Truffle,” a medium brown.  One end is a pencil that glides on easily and smoothly, and the other end is a smudger tip.  The ingredient list is a perfect, super simple list of oils and waxes which means this won’t irritate my sensitive eyes and is easy to remove.

The value comes out to a whopping $154 for this 5-item box!!  The box costs $29.95 for a single month with discounts for longer subscriptions which means this is an incredible value even at full price.  I probably would’ve liked to have seen something else for variety’s sake instead of getting two lip products in the same box, especially since the one just doesn’t work for me at all.  The rest of it is pretty awesome though, and even if I’m not 100% sold on the Trust Fund color, I do like the formula and may spring for one in a color that better suits me (however, I can’t find them on the Trust Fund website).  Looking forward to see what next month brings!

Subscription Boxes

Kloverbox May 2016

 

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May’s Kloverbox just came in today, Tuesday May 31st, the very last day of the month.  I’m SUPER underwhelmed.  Out of four products, I’ll keep and use one, and the box had no product card, so I guess there are no discount codes this month.  Kloverbox seems to run hot or cold with little inbetween and this  is definitely a “cold” box for me, which given the cycle and since last month’s box was pretty awesome, I guess this is to be expected?  I’m just not pleased this month, at all.

  • eSCENTials Aroma Don’t Bug Me Insect Repellent – 4 oz / $15 – (Full size product)  I gave my clothes a quick spritz to see what it smells like.  It mostly smells like citronella which is one of 6 oils in the spray along with lemongrass, lavender, lemon eucalyptus, clove, and peppermint.  I’m a HUGE mosquito magnet – when I’m around, no one else gets bitten since I’m the one attracting all the bugs.  I don’t have super high hopes of this working that effectively given how strong my natural mosquito attractant is, but if it fends off even a few potential biters, I’m okay with that.  Plus, it’s all natural, so it’s not like it can do any harm!
  • Zoe Organics Breathe Balm – .6 oz / $14 – (Full size product)  I have absolutely no use for this.  I’d rather not be able to breathe than smell like eucalyptus – I can’t even stomach those eucalyptus cough drops, my hatred of eucalyptus runs that deep.  When I’m sick, there’s no way I want to be around a smell that makes me feel worse, so this is going to the trade/share pile.
  • Harvey Prince Hello Shampoo – 15 mL / $3 – (Sample size, sample price)  Sixth ingredient in is Acrylates, so this is a nope for me.  Oh, sure, it doesn’t contain sulfates or parabens, but acrylates are arguably worse since they’re a plasticizing polymer that will build up in your hair and get sticky.  There’s no way at all I’m putting that into my hair.  This is going straight to the trade/share pile.
  • Harvey Prince Hello Conditioner – 15 mL / $3 – (Sample size, sample price)  This is not as bad as the shampoo, but at this point, I’m not trusting Harvey Prince to use good ingredients.  Plus, I already have a conditioner I use and love and have no reason to change.  Also, the scent is really overpoweringly perfumed, and it’s just too much for me.

So, that’s that!  The value of the products comes out to $35 which is SUPER low for a  box that  costs between $25 and $22.50 depending on subscription length.  It just BARELY covered the cost of the box, and for me personally with the one item I’ll keep and use, didn’t even do that.  SUPER disappointed this month.  I think my current round of my 3 month subscription is  due to rebill at the beginning of June for July’s box, and I have to say that I’m seriously considering cancelling after this delivery.  When the boxes are hits, they’re big hits and are amazing boxes, but the misses are also really big misses like this and January’s box.

UPDATE, 1 June 2016: I just got an email with a digital version of what should’ve been the product card in the box.  The theme was, “Let’s go on an Adventure,” and it lists the Harvey Prince shampoo and conditioner as a “set” which then would make this a three item box?  I’ll admit that I like getting this in email instead of wasting paper, but maybe for the first time out, we could’ve had some notice that there would be something new with this box.

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2016 – Week 3

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Moving right along!  I’m a little late posting this (a theme you’ll see as we get into mid and late summer and I just get too busy to blog), but it was definitely made during week 3, I swear!  Here we have my sad attempt at an omelette and roasted asparagus.  I learned that while I make tasty omelets, they’re not very pretty to behold and probably work better as open face egg creations more than properly flipped and perfect omelets.  Presentation is just not as important as the flavor, and I can assure you that this disappeared pretty quickly!  Inside the egg are scallions, spring garlic, mushrooms, goat cheese, and spinach.  On the side is sliced asparagus, roasted with some salt and olive oil, and then given a little cheesy topping for the last few minutes.  You guys, I may never eat asparagus any other way ever again.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s great grilled, but roasted?  It comes out so much more tender and crisps a little on the edges which is so wonderful.  Of course, you can never go wrong with putting cheese on top!  I plan on doing this for breakfast a few more times since I still have spinach and goat cheese, but it will probably be more of an unsightly scramble than a nicely plated creation.  Did I mention that I’m a lazy cook?  Oh, and the coffee, not local, but absolutely necessary for  survival.

Ingredients: