The Damsel in Dis Dress
Posted in clothing, thrifty, Uncategorized on Jun 24th, 2009
The Damsel is bemused by the word “unravel.” So what’s “ravel” then? They seem to mean the same thing–to untwist, pull or rip out some yarn work. (by the way, the current term for pulling out knitting is “frogging” because you rip-it, rip-it, rip-it. Don’t be a hater. The Damsel did not make this up.) [...]
The Damsel hopes you will forgive her if she confesses she has tried to make yogurt many times. It worked occasionally, but most of the time, it turned out pretty runny. She tried to convince the husband it was “drinking yogurt” like he had when he lived in Denmark but he had a crush on [...]
Posted in cooking, term research project, thrifty on Jun 17th, 2009
When the Damsel ponders things Grandma used to make from scratch, a few dairy items come to mind. The sour cream we made, for example. There’s yogurt. There are also a few soft/farmer style cheeses we could learn. But in order to do that, there’s a couple of things to be clear on. Some of [...]
The Damsel has a few rose bushes at her cottage. She loves her pink one, and her yellow one, and her minature rose, and her old-fashioned rambling rose. Of course she loves the old-fashioned one. But her red one, an Abraham Lincoln, is the only one that really has a nice rose scent. Apparently, when [...]
The Damsel’s mother has long sung the praise of homemade mayonnaise. Making her own is an especially useful skill while on a mission to Spain. Apparently a person can’t easily buy it there. It’s nice to know that when Armeggedon comes and the grocery stores are emptied, we can still have mayo. Whew! Provided we [...]
The Damsel went out to her herb garden and shook her head in dismay. As usual, the peppermint was out of control. Why can’t the cilantro grow like that? The Damsel can think of many delicious solutions to an out-of-control-cilantro problem. But what do you do with peppermint? The Damsel has used a leaf or [...]
Today’s class is on patching jeans. The Damsel has patched jeans a couple of ways, and has a certain method she likes for knee patches. Today’s class is for holes in places other than knees. This method is . . . how shall we say . . . a utilitarian method. Not a beautiful thing, [...]
In the olden days, people made scarecrows to protect their crops from birds. The Damsel thinks that sounds sort of charming but a whole lot of work. This is what the Damsel’s Knight in Shining Armor put in their garden to scare away the birds: It’s hard to see, but yes, those are old CD’s [...]
What do you do when your jeans have worn through the knees, and summer is right around the corner? Make cut-offs. It’s so easy! The first step is to lay the jeans out so the legs are very flat, next to each other so you can eyeball where to cut. If you’re Daisy Mae or [...]
If you ‘ve ever bought one of those spiral-sliced hams, you know how easy and good they are. The slices come off so nicely—well, up to a point. Then the thing starts looking pitiful. There’s a lot of meat left on there, you’re thinking. But how do you use it? What would Grandma do? She’d [...]
