Drawing from Life

Minimalist Running Footwear

I read the book "Born to Run" and it changed my whole outlook on running.

I did a lot of research on barefoot/minimal footwear running and ultimately made my own huaraches out of some vibram rubber sole and cotton cord. And I love it. I will never go back to running shoes again. The overbuilt, super-padded running shoes actually only came into existence in the 1970s. Our feet, which ran strong and barefoot for millions of years, have been turned into wimps in 30 years. Here are some pictures of how I run - and I've never felt better as a runner! If you Google or YouTube barefoot running and huaraches you will find a ton of info about barefoot running, making your own footwear and the research to support it. I've put some of my own favorite articles below.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

Here are several articles about barefoot running (they are interesting, really, not dry and technical):

A Harvard Study

A Penn State Study

Popular Mechanics

Science Daily

Great Daily Mail article!

And Another Boat

This boat type is called a "Micromouse" and it is just over 6 feet long. I built it in about 2 weeks, working for a short time each day. It was fun and easy to build. Thanks to Gavin Atkin for developing this great series of boats and publishing free plans! This was my 3rd boat, and by far the quickest build.










It is called "Lotus" and this is the design on the foredeck.












All painted up and ready to go.

Is it a Mouseboat or a Catboat?













Listing a little but what great fun! Paddles wonderfully!

Darn! I forgot the skegs and it weaved a bit. Back to the boatshop!

Faux Brick Tutorial

Well, what a mish-mash this blog is! I really need to stay focused. But hey, look what I did here.

Larsen Bakery's Vegan Donuts

These donuts are brilliant. They are nothing like the dense, cakey, vegan donuts I've tried in the past. Yes, they do violate almost every nutritional principle I've come to believe in, but they are unbelievably reminiscent of the donut-store pastries I enjoyed in my pre-vegan days. And to top it off, they are only 160 calories each.

You can get these Bavarian cream-filled donuts at Vegan Essentials. Eat them quickly after they arrive (no problem there) since they are shipped fresh and contain no preservatives. After putting a dollop of the chocolate frosting on top, we just warm them up for a few minutes in the toaster oven, then spread the gooey frosting around. Amazing. With products like these, there are fewer and fewer excuses to eat animal-based foods.

Daiya Cheese

Daiya is an unfortunate name for a spectacular cheese substitute. So far, I have had 2 grilled cheese sandwiches (using the cheddar) and 2 small pizzas (using the Italian/mozzarella). Pros: it does melt and stretch, is delicious, and the grilled cheese is EXACTLY like I remember. Cons: it is very expensive and hard to find (I got mine from veganessentials.com), and the mozzarella, while extremely good, is not a replica of the mozz I remember on pizzeria pizzas. That said, if you are a committed vegan, this 'cheese' is a dream come true. I highly recommend the splurge!

By the way, the photo shows a skillet pizza I made using the Mother Earth News recipe by Genie Dickerson. I doubled it.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

There are lots of vegan pumpkin pie recipes out there, but I'm in the process of developing my own because I have yet to find one with a somewhat creamy filling, that is not derived from silken tofu. This recipe, therefore, is in its beta form. Although it firms up nicely the day after it is baked (be sure to plan ahead), the unbaked filling is alarmingly liquidy. Also, although my daughter thinks it is just fine, I feel it is a little too sweet. So I may tweak it to include less soymilk and sugar, and a bit more cornstarch. Even with its slight imperfections, I can't seem to stop picking at the leftovers.

Pumpkin Pie

8 oz Tofutti cream cheese
2 cups pumpkin (or one 15oz can)
1/2 cup each white and brown sugar
3 Tbs cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup soymilk
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (we like Frontier)
-or- 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp each cloves, ginger, and nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Add pumpkin and keep mixing until combined. Add remaining ingredients and pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Cover pie edges with foil if they start to get brown. The pie may be a bit wobbly in the middle, but will firm up when cool.

I use the pie crust recipe from good old Betty Crocker:

2 cups flour
2/3 cups shortening (I use Earth Balance sticks)
6-7 Tbs cold water.

Put the flour and shortening in the food processor. (or cut in the shortening) until crumbly. Add water until a ball forms. Roll out and shape into 9 inch pie pan.