Over the years Steven and I have putting together our dream kitchen. Our goal with our kitchen is to have cutting edge materials that are used in energy efficient ways. Recently we summed this up with the phrase “high concept :: low tech”. It’s about not wasting lots of energy to heat up enough steam for a latte, or plugging in a rice cooker that’ll take 30 minutes. Instead we’ve been switching to gadgets that are the results of research that’s interested in a more manual approach to cooking without sacrificing taste, and in some cases improving taste greatly. We haven’t managed to switch over to the low tech completely, but we’re working on having fewer things in our kitchen that plug into walls.

I think it’s generally well known by our friends and family that we’re coffee snobs. We love smooth, rich, non-bitter cups of coffee. We’ve been using French Presses (we have 7) since we left college, but sometimes we just want a latte or a jolt of espresso in the morning. Several months ago we got rid of our huge espresso & coffee machine that had a foot long foot pad and switched to a nifty little gadget called an Aeropress. Then we picked up a milk frother. Et voila. The best cups of coffee we’ve ever had. The best part is the clean up. It’s a few easy steps and then we’re done.

Take off the little black filter cap to reveal the re-useable (!) paper filter beneath, and rinse cap.

Slip the paper filter off. We put it into our old canister for spent coffee grounds for our old espresso machine, so that we can use it again at a later time.

Reveal the coffee grounds.

With the coffee grounds up, push down, and the puck of grounds will be pushed up.

Knock off the puck, and rinse the bottom of the plunger.

That’s it. Nothing else will need to be cleaned.

We picked up ours (we have 2) at ThinkGeek.com for $25.99 each, and our milk frother came from a local store for about $20. A reliable coffee maker for $46 is really hard to beat considering that most of us spend at least $10 on cups of coffee through out the week.

I think that going ‘green’ is far easier than most people would believe. It doesn’t mean sacrificing taste or experience, it just means finding alternative ways to get results, and then using them every day, not just when we want to feel like we’re doing the right thing. If we can integrate these actions into our lives seamlessly, and not feel like we’re missing out, then maybe we have a better chance of giving future generations a clean place to live, and instill upon them the idea that being ‘green’ is natural.

To see all of the steps that go into our perfect cups of Joe, click here.

cheers,
danielle

*the coffee beans that we use are locally roasted by Dalton DuPuy of DuYu Coffee, usually a day before we buy them, and we switched to UHT milk a few months ago. Part of going green is finding local vendors and I think Alice is really lucky to have Dalton and his Alice Blend, PNY and other fabulous blends; he usually has 10-18 different blends that he can match up to the drinker that he’s roasted that week ready for you to take home. Never mind that he has a delivery service available to residents, hotels and cafes; the man is truly a god of coffee.

{a bit refined}

Saturday I had some time to myself, and that strong desire to use up some of the materials in my studio; my yarn stash isn’t the only stash I have. Time to break out the jewelry supplies.

{faceted smokey quartz roundels}

Simple. Glittering. Sparkle.

{grey pearls}

Light. Delicate. A bit of playful texture.

{knobby}

I love getting to use up materials in wearable ways. With all the fiber, and jewelry materials that I have right now, I’m thinking about opening up an Etsy store when we move back that’ll sell the results from both. In the next few weeks I’m going to do my best to dye up all the fiber and use up some of the other materials.

cheers,
danielle

Around this time last week I stated that I wouldn’t be casting on any new projects; never mind that I’ve had to rip out and restart two of the four projects. I have a real problem with needing to start new ideas, and yet I’m unwilling to break my previous promise to myself (and you). What’s a girl to do? Swatch of course!

This is a top that I sketched a year or so ago, but only just got around to swatching. I wanted to wait until I had yarns that were a bit more wearable in the spring and summer months than straight up wool or mohair. The body would be knit out of Vermont Organic Fiber Company’s O-Wool Balance; which is a 50/50 blend of wool and cotton. The yarn is really round and substantial feeling, so I’m not sure that I want to add the picot edging which would double the thickness of the fabric around the edges. The other yarn that I’ve chosen is Louet Sales’ KidLin Lace Wt.; which is made up of two strands of yarn, one mohair & nylon strand, and one strand of linen. The fabric is lightweight, and floaty; the linen adds a nice cohesiveness to the fabric that makes this ideal for the ruffles I have in mind. I know this top looks girly, and it is, but I think it’ll be great paired with a dark tailored jacket and dark jeans.

I’ve been knitting up other swatches for other designs that I have in mind, but they’re not ready to go public yet .

cheers,
danielle

{♥}
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