Think you can read me like a book?

Maybe! But you can definitely read me like a blog post at the Raige Creations blog where I'm honored to say I am a Featured Creator!

Read more: Biologie In Art - Featured Creator

Rebecca @ Raige recently awarded me with the Sunshine Award. I'm feeling the love. Everyone needs sunshine and all the blogs I follow deserve this award so I nominate them all! To see a list of the blogs I follow please see my Profile.

My Home-made Kim Chi

Kim to the Chi!

If you've been following my blog you know how much I've been craving homemade Korean kimchee.

I developed a taste for kim chi in high school while living in Japan. All of my close friends from that time in my life are of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese descent so I experienced a lot of delicious, authentic oriental dishes and I miss them (and my friends).

Now that I'm in Texas I can't find kim chi anywhere so I learned how to make it from scratch at Koreancuisine (Anna Kim) on YouTube! I've been eating it plain on top of steamed Kokuho Rose rice, spooning it into my Roo Hoo Rook Korean noodles, and making kim chi potato salad. I still have quite a bit left to use up so I'm constantly searching for more recipes to incorporate the kim chi!

Okay, back to my homemade recipe, the first thing you have to do after you've chopped all your veggies is soak the cabbage in salt water (brine) to pickle it, the process not only leaves a tasty amount of salt within the leaves but causes them to remain crunchy. I bought a big beverage party-bucket to soak my Napa cabbage in and it worked great! The chopped cabbage soaks for two hours then you rinse it in fresh water. It is imperative that you remember to rinse your cabbage three or four times in fresh water after it has soaked in the salt solution or it will be entirely too salty to eat. While it's soaking you get to make the "good stuff" which is a mixture of chopped green onion, daikon (Korean radish), and a sauce of apple, apple pear, garlic, ginger, and salty fish sauce (or anchovy sauce). Sounds pretty crazy, huh? It's so good!

I used my food processor to puree the sauce. It looks like applesauce when it's done but it sure doesn't smell like applesauce! I didn't have any daikon so I substituted red radishes (not the same but they will do in a pinch). Next time I make kim chi I'll be sure to have the correct type of radish, although Anna Kim did mention in her video that you can use any type of radish in the recipe. The puree, the chopped green onions, and the radish are mixed together by hand (wear rubber gloves) to complete the sauce for the kim chi.

If you suffer from heartburn while eating spicy foods you better take your antacid medicine before eating kim chi! Anna's recipe calls for 1 1/4 C of red pepper flakes! Oooo, yeah, you better believe that's hot stuff. I love it but I'm one of the lucky people who can eat spicy without detriment. Keep in mind it's a side dish and served in small portions with rice or a meal so a little goes a long way. After I rinsed my Napa cabbage and mixed the sauce into it, I spread it out in a 9x13 inch dish, covered it over with cling wrap and then put the lid on my casserole dish to sit overnight at room temperature. This allows the fermentation process to occur. Think of it as "ripening". Store the kim chi in the refrigerator for three days before eating. You can eat it right away but it will not achieve full flavor until it's allowed to chill.

Here's the recipe by Anna Kim:

:: Favorite Things ::

The amount of talent found at Esty.com is boundless.

There are just too many wonderful artists out there! I can't even scratch the surface but I wanted to shine my little bitty blog spotlight on just a few of my personal favorites, all found on Etsy.

Check it out!

Etsy Buy Handmade Biologie

From Coffee Beans To Carbon: How Big (or small) Is It?

Mini Science for the scientifically challenged and science aficionado alike!

The University of Utah has a zoomy window to demonstrate the different sizes of a few everyday items like a coffee bean and a grain of salt all the way down to the picometers of a carbon atom. In case you were wondering, they even have a reference table explaining that a picometer is a trillionth of a meter. In other words, really, really, ten-to-the-negative-12th mini small.

This. Is. Awesome.

It definitely helps put things in perspective and is a great learning tool to introduce the little things in life.

See it here.

Rockport, Texas: Flying South for the Winter

A little town on the coast of Texas, Rockport is the place to visit if you ever plan a trip to nearby Corpus Christi.

The beach I visited this summer with my mom and my nephew was clean, beautiful and the water at that time of year is calm and warm. We left at sunset and I took this picture of their little painted amphitheater.

This September 17th through 2oth, Rockport is holding it's annual Hummer/Bird Celebration. The birds begin flying South for the winter and bird-lovers from all over the country come to see them off. There are tours, seminars, artists, bird experts, and beach-goers intermingling for a wonderful September celebration at Rockport.

If you saw my recipe for Hummingbird Cake you know that the teeny "Hummers" have been on my mind lately. It's raining outside due to the tropical disturbances and they flit around in the rain like it doesn't bother them at all. I saw them this morning. I think I have about 6-8 hummers visiting my feeders each day (or it seems like that many).

Click here if you'd like to visit the Rockport-Fulton area website.

A Cheerful Candle: Green Tea Goodness

It was a dreary rainy day until I went to check my mail. I recently placed my very first Etsy order for a soy candle handmade by Buzzabee. The package arrived today!

Buzzabee is a fellow Etsian and blogger who makes yummy soy candles and awesome bookmarks.

This is my "Thank You" photo for Buzzabee. The 7.5 ounce candle with the cute little bee is called Green Tea Goodness. I don't know her formula but, to my nose, the candle smells warm and comforting; green and down to earth. My husband says it smells fresh, like a "day in the hammock" or "a cool breeze". Interesting! We don't even own a hammock but the scent brought the vision of relaxing in one to his mind. It just goes to show how good it smells! Also pictured is my blue tea light votive holding a "freebee" and my celadon glazed teacup and teapot. My mom and dad gave me the teapot and set of cups for my birthday last year.

I've heard a lot of good things about the benefits of choosing soy over traditional paraffin wax candles. I'm no expert on the matter but apparently there is a lot of debate over which type of candle is best for your home. If you were to walk into my house today you would sniff out a number of different types of candles. In the past I never gave a second thought to what kind of candle I was buying, however, I've decided I prefer soy or beeswax candles for no other reason than because I like them!

I love getting packages in the mail, even if I know they are coming because I ordered them! I especially enjoyed this package because the seller sent me a note right away to let me know when to expect it to ship. The shipment came via USPS Priority Mail and the candle comes in it's own cute little box, wrapped securely. As you open the box the scent of the candle greets you. I was delighted to find the "freebee" too: a Sweet Summer Melon tea light candle from Buzzabee. What a nice surprise!

Now I'm eyeballing the Rejuvenating Mint Julep! ^-^