the ugly truth about my chocolate

In reference to the last post about cheap chocolate:

Immediately after calculating the cost of the one chocolate chip yesterday, I realized that the chip from a 10 lb bag would be much less costly than a chip from a regular 12 oz bag (which is the standard size that most people purchase). So I set off to discover the unsettling truth about the cost of one chocolate chip from the bag in my cupboard.

My bag was a 12 oz Western Family bag of chocolate chips which cost me $2.99. Using the data from yesterday in terms of the number of chocolate chips in a 1/4 lb (252 chips), I calculated the cost of each individual chip in my bag. Behold the ugly truth: one chip = $.003955! Almost four times as much as Sarah's chocolate chip.

Grrrrrrrrrr.

Cheap Chocolate

As we were finishing lunch yesterday at Lavender Wind Farm, Sarah spontaneously offered Stacy and I some chocolate chips for dessert. Stacy and I make it a practice to never turn away anything sweet, especially chocolate, so we gladly accepted the offer. Out of the pantry came a huge, 10 lb bag of chocolate chips. I have seen this bag in Sarah's kitchen on a few occasions and each time I see it, I am astounded at the size of the bag!

Those of you who know me well, know that my mind is always working, questioning, processing. Therefore, upon seeing this ginormous bag of tasty treats once again, my never resting curiosity blurted out, "I wonder how much each chocolate chip costs?"

Everyone stopped and looked at me, and then we went to work, calculating the cost of one chocolate chip. Sarah immediately grabbed her kitchen scale and measured a 1/4lb of chocolate chips. She divided into three portions and she, Stacy and I ate our pile, as we counted our chips. In the 1/4lb we had 252 chips (I had 101 in my pile, while they each had 73 and 78 respectively). We multiplied the 252 chips by 40 (4 quarters to each of the ten pounds) and figured that the 10 lb bag contained 10,080 chocolate chips.

We weren't sure how much the bag cost, but we knew Rick had bought it at Costco. While Sarah phoned Rick at work to get the cost of the bag, Stacy and I continued to eat the delicious chocolaty morsels. Off the phone and down to business, Rick's contribution was $14.49 for the bag. And that was the last bit of data that we needed to find out the worth of one Costco chocolate chip in a 10 lb bag. The last calculation revealed to us our sought after solution. One chocolate chip from a Costco 10 lb bag cost $0.0014375.

Can you imagine chocolate being so cheap? It's like those little bits of semi-sweet chocolate are almost free! We were delighted!

the sense of sight

I'm thankful for the sense of sight today. And yesterday, and tomorrow.

A rather dramatic view of the Cascade Mountain Range, which can be viewed from the eastern part of Whidbey Island. I live on the western edge of the island with the Olympic Mountain Range within view.

Evan and I spotted this sand dollar when we were walking the beach at Fort Casey State Park a few weeks ago.

the transformation

In honor of spring's arrival, but mostly because she is addicted to buying plants, Suzie spent her last day on Whidbey preparing this flower bed. Weeding, transplanting, and spreading manure, she has turned this bed from something that look liked Medusa's hair into something beautiful. I wish I had a "before" picture. But you'll just have to imagine that box completely filled with weeds, where a few random bulbs were trying their hardest to eek out a living. And somehow in all that mess, the deer still found the tulip leaves and feasted solely on them. The unpredictability of nature leaves me with no words. hmmm.

V is for Vermicompost

For all of my faithful blog watchers, today you will learn a new word: vermicompost.

Vermicompost (also called worm compost, vermicast, worm castings, or worm manure) is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by some species of earthworm. Vermicompost is a nutrient-rich, natural fertilizer and soil conditioner.

Suzie and I have approximately two pounds of worms working for us to produce vermicompost. In a few months we should have a dark, rich, substance to use in our vegetable garden that will thrill our wee little plants.

By the way the picture above is totally unrelated to this post. I just thought it was cool. It is a large rock that is covered in barnacles and mussels (the mussels are the black things). The green is seaweed that has been washed ashore.

Bush Point (my neighborhood) Update:

1. Our three rows of peas have made it to the light.


2. We have recently introduced four cherry trees, two pear trees, a peach tree, a goumi berry tree, two apple trees, and six blueberry bushes to 307 Spyglass.


3. Stacy and I have decided to try riding the free transit to and from work to save money ($3.65/gal. today)


4. I met a local chocolatier, who had just been to italy for a series of chocolate workshops. Her 850 lb order of Italian chocolate is on its way to Whidbey by freighter.

the putrid smell that arose

I arrived home from work yesterday evening and Suzie (who is visiting until next Wednesday) was busy with supper preparations. Reheating black bean soup, cooling the oven fresh corn bread, and keeping a close eye on a mystery substance under the lid of the skillet. As she raised the lid, a billow of steam along with a wreaking smell arose from the skillet and filled the kitchen. What is that? Evidently Suzie had discovered some stinging nettles growing along the bluff.

I had been hearing that new nettle leaves were a good additive to a meal, low calorie, high nutritional value, but I had no intentions of harvesting them and eating them. Mainly because I've had my run-ins with the stinging nettle before. And every time I had lost the futile battle. Fleeing with small, burning lumps on hands, legs, or buttocks (hazard of peeing in the woods).

But deep in my adventurous spirit, I knew I would try the furry little leaves, even though they did smell horribly inedible. Surprisingly, I liked them. They were a good addition to the meal.

After dinner I looked up the facts about stinging nettles from two sources : The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening and Herbal Medicine by Diane Dinsin Buchman.

• According to old herbalists - nettles are an effective weight reducer, nettle water is said to be good hair tonic and cologne supplement (I cannot imagine the smell of that cologne)
• Medicinally - anti asthmatic, used in treatment for consumption and rheumatism, the seeds counteract venomous bites, cleansing cure-all for stomach, lungs, and intestines, used as a blood cleanser
• Today wild food enthusiasts believe - boiled or steamed nettles make a tasty vegie, light and low in calories

So maybe I'll be adding nettles to my weekly diet. Who knows. I guess I'd have to put up with the putrid smell of the boiling leaves. No t looking forward to that!

my reality

• two things I've decided I can not have enough of:

1. wool socks
2. anything fleece (ex: hats, socks, pants, jackets)

(and this list, of course, does not include food items, it would be much longer with edibles included)

• Some of you may have read my sister, Lana's, blogged account of her black bean soup failure. I am, as I type this, attempting to successfully recreate the soup that she has sworn to never cook again. Maybe this Gottschalk can outsmart the wee little black bean!
• The heating blanket under my seedlings must be working. I have Yellow Cherry Tomatoes, Mustard Greens, Radishes (I'm not sure why I planted these, I can't stand radishes), Paste Tomatoes, Kohlrabi (don't really know what that is), Tri-color Tomatoes, Japanese Mizuno Greens, and Cilantro all popping up out of their warm soil home!
• The rabbits, deer, and voles are doing a number on my crocuses, primroses, daffodils, and tulips. Tulips seems to be the favorite. As soon as a little tulip leaf pokes through the soil, it is mowed off to a stub.
• I think the word, 'thistle', is a cute word. I wish the weed was just as cute. It's not, and it's invasive. I'm battling it's proliferation in the yard. I'm declaring war, and I will win. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will be eradicated.
• I used to dislike pears. My love for them has recently blossomed. I think I'm finally getting my adult taste buds. It's about time.

the filling of life

• my 5 year old niece calls me to find out how magnetism works


• my Bozeman buddies love to inform me when they play Settlers of Catan in order to entice me to move back to the Gallatin Valley


• a random comment from a long-distance friend helps me fix my errant computer


• Amber and Dan's world travel plans make my blood pump faster


• fruit trees being delivered to 307 Spyglass - our orchard is taking shape


• connecting with an old IWU friend in Seattle, who randomly looked me up this week

and last but not least

• chocolate chardonnay ice cream made by local Whidbey Ice Cream

self reflection = I am crazy after all

It has never been hard for me to adjust to new surroundings, to meet new people or to try something I've never tried before. I think my comfort zone is quite large in that respect. I'm comfortable just about anywhere. In most cases I would rationalize that this is a good trait to have. It has allowed me to adventure to new cities, new states and new countries, it has urged me to try new jobs and eat new foods, in fact. But just recently I've realized that sometimes being comfortable with your surrounding may be risky in some situations.

Evidence: I keep forgetting to lock the door of public restrooms . This happens almost every time I go to the bathroom in a "one person" public bathroom (coffee shops, the library, convenience stores). I walk in like it's my personal bathroom, drop trou and then as I'm settled on the toilet, that's when it hits me that the door is unlocked and open to anyone interested in going. So of course frantic moments of life pass as I'm hurrying to do my most natural business.

How can I be that comfortable? Weird.

More thoughts:

• My hair is too shaggy but I hate paying for haircuts. Time to learn a new skill.
• I'm giving up my electric blanket to be a warmer for my germinating seeds (am I crazy?)
• I hang my trash from the garage rafters because I don't want to pay for trash service (I am definitely crazy)

the surprise. the shock. the compromise.

Suzie surprised me when I came home from work on Tuesday, with the news that she had procured for me, from our chef-neighbor, a five-gallon bucket of food scraps per day for our worm farm! The worm farm that ironically, we hadn't started yet.

I was appalled and repelled by her enthusiastic assurance that the worms (again, the worms we didn't have yet) would and could take care of five, five-gallon buckets of food per week. My mind instantly shouted out against the foolhardy idea. I think my exact verbiage was, "WHAT? Suzie, no!". I'm pretty sure I slightly offended her by my adamant negative responses to her insistence that I wouldn't have to do a thing, the worms would do all the work.

All my mind could picture was the number of rats and other critters I'd have to fight off because of the smell of rotten food which would be wafting from the garage. I could see myself tying a rag around my nose and braving the stench to "turn" the worm compost that would be falling out of the worm bin with every turn. None of my visions were pleasant, all were nightmares.

Thankfully, after frantically digging up information on worm consumption (1 lb of scraps per week for a one square foot area) we were able to come to a compromise that in my opinion is much more realistic!