Tuesday, April 13, 2010

My sewing machine is fixed

My new old sewing machine is fixed! The man who came out to fix it said it's a good sewing machine, better than the new ones they make nowadays. It's probably from the 1950s, possibly the 1960s. I paid $35 but he said it was worth a few hundred dollars. Even if it was worth only $100, then with his service call, I paid exactly what it was worth.

Now I can sew something. I really want to make a Ray Jardine bomber hat or perhaps even better, an insulated balaclava that my friend has a pattern for. But I'll probably start with boring stuff like hemming my pants.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Hummus

Hummus is a paste of chick peas and sesame seeds with a little garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Maybe other things as well. You can buy powdered hummus in boxes in the supermarket or in the bulk bins at the health food store. All you have to do is add water. Olive oil is optional. A little hummus powder goes a long way and takes more water than you think to reconstitute.

Hummus is like miracle food for me. I ate it often on my PCT hike with crackers or fried pita chips. I could just crumble the crackers into it and eat it with a spoon. Add olive oil for extra calories.

Now that I'm not living on the trail I put hummus in a big tortilla with fresh onions, lettuce, tomatoes and anything else that looks good like cabbage or red bell peppers.

I can eat a hummus burrito and hike for hours with no hunger and plenty of energy. Of all the foods I ate in the middle of the day, hummus seemed to provide the best energy to lack of stomach rumbling ratio of anything I ate.

Broke my sewing machine.

Well, I already broke my new sewing machine. I don't know what I did but nothing works now. The feed dogs won't come up, the needle hits the bobbin case and I can't put the bobbin in anymore. I hope it's repairable. At least I fixed my thrift store pants and can wear them to work.