Happy 2012!

Happy New Year! 

This year was a big one, involving many big changes including leaving my job and moving across the country. There have been setbacks and challenges but I have been moving forward and have big goals for 2012, especially for my design work and this blog. I'm excited to continue exploring what community based design means to me and how design can make a difference. There will be more learning sf posts as I explore my adopted home, more recipes, more tumblights and, I truly hope, more conversations.

Looking forward to sharing 2012.

sharing the holiday spirit with blog swaps

I'm very excited to be participating in two internet swaps- a Holiday Gift Swap and the Great Food Bloggers Cookie Swap. You don't have to be a professional crafter or baker to participate so sign up!

The Holiday Gift Swap is open for sign ups through Friday, November 4th. You'll make five items to send out to five participants (on November 7) and you'll get five goodies to keep or give as holiday gifts. The goal is to simplify your holiday shopping while allowing you to give homemade artisan goods to your loved ones. The Great Cookie Swap is similar, but you send and receive three batches of a dozen cookies. Sign up by Friday, November 18 and send your cookies out by December 5th.

Which swap do you want to be part of?

for cod and country

Barton Seaver's For Cod and Country makes cooking seafood easier to do sustainably. Seaver, Chef at Hook in DC, Seaver is a "firm believer in eating lower on the food chain than we do now, Seaver eschews large predatory species like bluefin tuna and sharks. His recipes stress fish like anchovies, herring, catfish, mahi-mahi, and mackerel, used in ways that are anything but mundane: a Mackerel Melt with smoked canned mackerel in place of tuna; braised greens with anchovy purée; Pacific cod with ginger braised asparagus; sardine and capered egg salad sandwiches." I'm not a big seafood eater so won't invest in this book, but I love the concept.

Speaking of the Northeast, a college friend has recently started a blog Rebecca Eats Rhode Island, where she documents trips to area restaurants and creations she make with seasonal and local ingredients. Check it out, I'm going to try to kale soup soon.

Originally found in and image from The Atlantic.