Food In Soap

I was going to title this post Food In Soap: A Journey, but I thought that was a little too serious :P

If you have read this blog before, you know I love food and I love making soap, so it's not a big jump to putting food IN soap.  There are many reasons to put food in soap, antioxidants, minerals and skin soothing or smoothing or purifying.  I put food in soap, because #1 it is fun and #2 it's a challenge. 

So here are all some of the soaps I have made with food ingredients.  These are only the recent ones, because I got tired of looking for pictures. 

Pureed Organic Banana

Fresh crushed gooseberries.  These gooseberries were from the bush I planted in my yard a few years back.  I can't wait to try currant soap with some of my currants this summer.

Honey, propolis, bee pollen.

Crushed frozen lingonberries. 

MN goat milk.  I make a lot of goat milk soaps - not that unusual, but I included it anyway :)

Beer.  Also, not that unusual.

Dried, crush kumquats.  I LOVE kumquats.  

Dried, crushed dandelions.  Some people eat dandelion salad, so I thought this one could count as a food ingredient ;)

Pureed Organic Cucumber.

Black tea and goat milk.

Fresh pureed avocado.

Organic carrots.  These carrots were from my Dad's garden and they must have had EXTRA beta carotene, because they made the soap very yellowy-orange. 

Hemp Milk & Beer

Venison tallow and sunflower oil.

Coconut Milk and ground Jasmine Rice.

Buttermilk.

Almond Milk.

Organic Egg Whites.

Chamomile and Oatmeal.

More Organic Carrots.

Cow's Butter. 

Organic Pumpkin.

Coffee (espresso) & oatmeal.

Hard Cider.

Rhubarb leaves and stem.

Rhubarb root infusion.

Want to try a food soap?  You can find my little shop here Kiyi Kiyi

Homemade vs. Qudoba vs. Chipotle

For my parent's anniversary I tried to make a Chipotle-esque meal.  Our family is a big fan of Chipotle's veggie bowls.  And their chips.

However, a Qudoba opened in town a few weeks before my parent's anniversary and I was curious to see what they had to offer.  Turns out they didn't have much.  I really, really wanted to like Qudoba, because the 'local' Chipotle is an 2 hour drive round trip.  The Qudoba is only 10 mins. away.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed by Qudoba.  Not only are the portion sizes half the size of Chipotle's - Qudoba is more expensive and the food is very flavorless.

I tried Qudoba twice, because I wanted to believe that the first time was just a bad mistake.  The 2nd time I took some 'authentic Mexicans', as in friends visiting from Mexico.  They also thought the food was flavorless and we all walked away disappointed and still hungry.

I wish I had weighed the 2 meals!  The Chipotle one was MUCH heavier.  The round bowls are deceiving.

Qudoba: Veggie/Naked bowls $6.29 each + .69 for veggies (stupid) = $6.98

Chips - $1.99

Chipotle: Veggie bowl $6.25

Chips $1.25

After eating the Qudoba meal I was still hungry.  I could only eat 1/2 of the Chipotle meal.  

I did the testing on 2 different days - to be fair ;)

So could I make Chipotle at home???

Well, I tried.  I made a Cuban black bean recipe that had green olives and chocolate in it.

I had corn, olives and queso fresco - which is tasty with lime squeezed over it.

And I made fruit salad.  Bonus fruit salad ingredient picture!

I sauteed onions in achiote oil - achiote paste and olive oil.  It makes a tasty red oil.

I pan seared peppers and onions.  Plus added a little bottled smoke flavor to give them that grilled smokiness.

And we had a delicious meal.  BUT I would still drive 2 hours to eat Chipotle.  It just can't be replicated!  Or replaced!

40th Anniversary

It was my parent's 40th wedding anniversary in May.  These are pictures from the anniversary dinner at my house.

Flowers from my garden.

The dinner. 

Pike's Market: Savor Seattle Tour Part 1

Start of the Pike's Place Savor Seattle Tour
We met at a Starbuck's outside the market and the tour guide passed out ear pieces.
The ear pieces were really nice, because you could hear everything the guide was saying without being right next to him. If you fell back to look at something, you didn't miss any of the tour. The only strange part: I went to the bathroom and could still hear the tour. Little bit creepy. :P

After a frozen treat at Starbuck's we had donuts here.

Then we went to the Spice Market. This is such a great store! We had samples of Spice Market tea, which has cinnamon oil in it. I hate cinnamon teas like the Good Earth tea, but this was yummy! Sweet, but not sugary.

Lots of spices and teas.

Then we had 3 samples of smoked salmon.

Lots of tourists.

Piggy bank. People put in money and the money goes to pay for food and medical care for the (homeless) people that live in the market.

Fruit!

The next stop was Frank's for some grapes and cherry samples.

See part 2 for how delicious these morels were.

We didn't really stop at this both and there wasn't any sample, but the guide told us a little about the chile garlands. I don't know what he said, because I was still distracted by all the gorgeous fruit and vegetables!

They sure are pretty!

Another store. I just snapped pics of everything.

Next stop was the Pike Place Chowder. Soooooo good. I didn't get a pic of the actually chowder, because my hands were full with the 2 cute little cups of chowder that we ate as samples. The best chowder EVER!!

Post alley.

Why is it called Post Alley?

Because there is a post.

People hitched their horses to posts in this alley instead of paying for a stable. Probably a good place to hang out if you were a horse thief.

The Sanitary Public Market.

Sanitary because hoofed animals weren't allowed inside.

Lots of flowers!

Next stop: Chukar's Cherries.

We got to go behind the counter for our sample of chocolate covered cherries and cherry salsa! Which I found super exciting.

See how excited I am!

See we were behind the counter!

Dad thought it was neat too!

Next: Beecher's Handmade Cheese.

Cheese makers making cheese.

Wouldn't it be fun to dive into those cheese curds?!?

Mac and cheese made with Beecher's Cheese.

So yummy, but may I suggest a little bit of thyme added to the recipe?

Cheese and crackers.

Mom trying a sample.

I thought this was impressive. Hula hoops, harmonica and guitar.

The buskers pay for a spot and time to play in the market. Not everyone gets a spot they have a kind of board that decides who gets in.

Next stop: Piroshky Piroshky.

Salmon and veggie.

They were OK, but I thought the pastry was a little soggy. I wouldn't wait in the GIANT line to buy one.

That was an especially nice thing about this tour, we didn't have to wait in line for our samples.

Different view - moving down through the market.

Those piroshkys (piroshkies?).

The 'first' Starbucks.

The original logo. Hmmmmmm.

Last stop: Etta's.

Crab cake with tomatillo salsa.

The salsa was good, good, good - the crab cake was OK.

The END.

This was a FUN tour! I was sad when it was over and wished it would have lasted a little longer. We saw, ate, learned and heard so much that, without this tour, we never would have known about.

Highly reccomended!

*sigh* I LoVe tours.