Composting

Ah, forgot to mention in my "life so far"  post on our new recycling and composting practices..
In our city apartment we now collect paper, glass and also few plastic rubbish as 'normal people'.. but since most of our rubbish apart from diapers consists of kitchen waste- some food remains, lots of peels, tea etc. And I just hate it that there's no composting opportunities like we had in London (we used to take our compost to wildlife Phoenix garden where it was welcomed). In countryside it's so simple.
So I came up with a plan! During cold months we now collect the kitchen waste in the Moltex diaper bags since they are bio-degradable. When it's full we put it out on a balcony to freeze and then I take it with me to the countryside where I can put it in our compost.

During the warm spring-summer-early autumn we will take one box of my mom's little worm compost farm and keep it on our balcony to have immediate composting spot for ourselves. My friend loved this idea so much that she already asked me to have one box for her too! I'll keep you updated on how we're doing when the warm weather finally comes!

Life so far... and review- Yantra mat!

I apologize for leaving you all for so long, it's been happy and sad times on green carpet in the countryside.. And busy times as well... As they say- thief takes only as much as he can carry, but fire takes it all.. that's for one of our family businesses- our loved guest house that was beautiful and full of fond memories.. But we're all fine and buried ourselves in other things like my little one that takes lot's of time and attention now and gives plenty of happiness to everyone :)

The month before a birthday is usually the one we feel 'blue', tired, empty, exhausted... But now it has passed, it's a night before my birth 26 years ago, when my mom was happily eating ice cream in a cafe with friends.. but  what she didn't  know that I was there in her bump, busy to prepare to greet this world next day, already full of energy.. That's how I feel tonight! So I'm returning to my beloved blog world as well!!!

To get through cold and tiring February I've tried to re-start my yoga practice. I signed up to yoga class for mom's with babies. Ehh, the idea is beautiful, but the teacher is very.. hmm.. unqualified would be understatement.. disappointing.. Well, since I know what to do and how to do it, I'll just use rest of the classes as a place to have time for yoga with my little one by my side. But it was as a good kick for me to do it more at home again, feel fantastic again!

My new best buy- Yantra Mat! MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm! Soooo goood! It truly is.. I do feel more relaxed, and I especially love it for my feet during this cold time when walking barefoot outside for more natural acupressure is impossible. It takes away the heavy feeling in feet and legs after the long day. I also like to lay down on it while watching TV in the evening.. and roll it as a pillow for my neck.. mmm, lovely! The very green people would resist since it has plastic spikes, but I think if you take care of it properly it will last 'forever'. And I share it with my mom and every one who visits us and wants to try, so it's greener, like- 'yantra-mat-pooling', hehe.. It's easy to take care of it, take it with you when going somewhere and great for people who have less time to relax otherwise or no time to go to massages!

About the rest of the life- I've been busy also with some DIY stuff like painting the my old vintage bed for my baby with no-VOC paint, knitting some quick warming items while we had the freezing -25C, squeezing vitamin juices, sewing new bed sheets for the little one and cooking more spicy jellos for my fans :) I'll probably share all of it in coming posts!

Ahh, I've also been shopping. To be greener on the items I needed- I was online shopping and had my friends delivering!

Yesterday I enjoyed my birthday party, which was incredibly nice thanks to all my dear relatives and friends. Their presence and lovely words made me so happy! And this year I've been particularly happy for every single gift I received, no useless staff or clutter at all, only wonderful experiences, new DIY and hobby items, knowledge increasing books (one on raw food!!!!- not going raw yet, but will be welcomed and wonderful addition to our diet), 'wearable things' that I adore and even lovely pieces for my princess.. Ahhh, what a lovely, lovely year this is to be! Thank you, thank you, thank you my dearest, I love you all and I am thankful for you being in my world!

I wish happy, green and DIY (my) birthday to everyone!!!

Winter delights II- Home made Ice Cream

Hmmm... isn't that a little funny that in summer we make hot apple crumbles, berry puddings, but in winter- ice creams? Well, I think it's not really important. What is really important here on green carpet is that we treat ourselves with something good. And that is- home made from scratch, only natural ingredients, delightful tastes, fun of making and that long "Mmmmmmm" while eating later with family and friends. Yes, I'm really talking about Ice Cream.
And a green bonus point- if you're an Ice Cream lover like me, home made from scratch is another step up against boosting consumerism of unnatural products.
Our customers in the guest house order Pavlova once in a while. That is also always my birthday cake. And what's usually the 'problem' with it? It takes many, many egg whites and leaves yolks unused. So we dived in the sea of Ice Cream recipes and picked our favorites that all have the Custard base (Fatty Milk-Cream-Sugar-Egg Yolk-Vanilla Bean).

Various recipes require various amounts of eggs, milk, cream, sugar, so we use this Custard base and modify it to every recipe afterwards by adding extra ingredients. It's much easier to do so if you have about 50 egg yolks and you want to make some 6 or more different Ice Creams.

After few evenings of making Ice Cream, our favorites so far in no particular order are:

Pure Vanilla Ice Cream
Rich Chocolate Ice Cream with Whole Cherries
Green Tea Ice Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream with Wild Strawberries
Masala Chai Ice Cream
Black Currant Ice Cream
Dark Bread Ice Cream with Roasted Hazelnuts
Vanilla Ice Cream with Cherries
Lavender Ice Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream Ice Cream with Nuts and Raisins
Saffron Vanilla Ice Cream
Cow-berry Ice Cream (recipe in Autumn Delights post)

I thought it would be too long to post all the recipes here since it's quite easy to make Ice Cream according to your own tastes, but if you want to know specifics, let me know!

Nothing compares to home made Ice Cream and it is really easy to make! And you do not have to own an Ice Cream making machine to do that, just a regular freezer!
Warning: it's delicious in all its forms, so be prepared to eat lots of it!