I found this in the house yesterday.

The story:
Her plan was to come over on the Titanic, but there were no first class tickets left. She was considering going middle class but her husband convinced her to instead choose the R.M.S. Corsican because they still had first class available.

If she didn’t, Tom might not be here, and that would make me sad.

"Luck of the Irish" is what the family says to that.

My sister Kiki (we’re two years apart) writes the best letters. She has beautiful penmanship and covers the letters in doodles like the grammar fairy (our inside joke- he’s a man in a tutu) and her attempts at cooking and she just lets me know how it really is. We never really wrote letters before. I’m not going to say that I’m happy that we live far away and now we have to write letters- but I do enjoy being pleasently surprised by an envelope addressed to “Number 1″ from “2, 3, and 4″.

Obviously the contents of the letters are quite personal (I don’t think she’d want me posting them on the internet) so the sample I have is a recipe she’s given me that I’m excited to try tomorrow. (We’re exchanging recipes because we’re both getting into cooking.) To be honest I always thought she would be a great cook. That probably sounds ridiculous but it’s true. And I can’t elaborate anymore because I’m not allowed to write about what I’ve written in a letter until AFTER it’s been received.

(The ice cream truck is driving by. I think of her every time.)

So here’s her beautiful penmanship and some closeups of the doodles she sent me.

For my reply I practiced doodling foxes for about twenty minutes before I gave up and just went with it. No, I didn’t scan any of those because I FAIL.

(In her next letter she’ll probably write something snarky about how she won’t draw me any more pictures because I plastered them all over the internet. But I can’t help it. I like them. I want to remember. So NYAH.)

The Topic:
Film this video outside if possible! Let’s talk about your area’s take on the planet. How do you feel about the recent talks of global warming, etc? Do you pay much attention? Do you try to recycle? Is it because it’s convienient or important? How do you feel about the consumerism approach on how it’s now fashionable to be recycable? Discuss!! (July 5th is World Environment Day!)

PS: If anyone would like to do a guest video on this topic, both Saturday and Sunday are open. Feel free to email latu.videos@gmail.com!

Bronwyn has rescued a sparrow. And I hope she names him Napoleon. Assuming he’s actually a he. Anyway, I’m exhausted, I’ve had a very busy last two days (Bronwyn’s yesterday, Royal Botanical Gardens today, Tom’s sister’s show tomorrow) but I want to try and sum up my day yesterday because it was like a mini vacation fell out of the sky.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated, aside from videos, which is ridiculous because I’ve been taking photos so there’s no reason why I have been slacking. I fail, sorry.

Anyway, I didn’t take as many photos as last time, actually, it would technically be the time before last. I think we were a bit distracted by water as water and cameras tend not to get along.

First we took a trip out the barn for rope, a mallet and a wooden steak so that we could swim out to the dock and tie it down. I’m glad Tom and I were there because I couldn’t imagine B stuck doing that all by herself.

It was a bit later when we finally got there because we have to arrange use of a vehicle before we’re able to head out, but one of these weekends we’re going to go camping and the like and it will be fantastic. We had great discussions on the dock, snapped photos, and Bronwyn and I were ATTACKED by black flies and mosquitoes while Tom remained untouched. Please, someone explain this to me. Shampoo? Deodorant? Just… girl smell?

At one point Tom saw a crayfish in the water and Bronwyn and I both dashed for our cameras, but were a little too late, the crayfish had crawled under a rock. So Tom hopped off the dock and tried to get him to come back out so we could take a picture. Because he’s that adorable. (The crayfish wasn’t tricked by the stick.)

Also, Bronwyn just noted that this is the only picture of just the two of us. And it’s our shadows. I love the contrast between our poses, and you can just tell I’m holding my camera at my chest (at least I think so).

Anyway, I’ve been really enjoying life at the moment. I have some good news but I can’t share it until later. And I’m dying about it, really, you have no idea. Tom’s been taking a lot of shots lately as well, on manual, and we concur that 2.0 is our favorite F/stop, currently. (He took this picture of the daisy, by the way- amazing, right?)

I keep gently reminding him that if he becomes a better photographer than me I’ll never forgive him. Then we laugh and pretend I was kidding. (Of course I was kidding, there’s no need to pretend. No really, I’m not that competitive. I promise. What? I’m not. It’s fine.)

We also had dinner with Bronwyn’s mum and dad, which was delightful! We were honored they wanted to meet us and after dinner they let the three of us sit at the table and talk away. (We saw a doe in B’s backyard!) And we talked until well after midnight. We did this last time too, and we would have stayed but we had to get up early this morning to go to the Botanical Gardens. We just feel very relaxed and comfortable with B that we can just talk and talk and talk. Which is awesome, because we don’t have any other friends here, really. We’re very thankful for B.

OH, and if I didn’t mention already- the strawberries here are fantastic. (Which is great, because that’s my favorite fruit.) I can quote B’s mum, "It’s this time of season where I say to myself, this is why we’re hear. The strawberries are big and fat and so flavorful compared to the U.S. strawberries. It’s fantastic."

WOW.
My mouth almost exploded when I had some. I had some a few weeks ago at Tom’s mothers and they were fat and juicy and I couldn’t understand why they were so good. I thought it was just that they were in season. Well, now I know!

Anyway, enjoy these photos, please- obviously the ones taken of us (and of Tom photographing the daisy) were taken by Bella B.

Some of you have already seen this recipe for the fruit filled squares, but this video took a lot of time by both Tom and I! And we’re happy it even turned out at all! Give a watch if you can, it’s short. =)

★ 1 ^1/2 cups (6 ounces) dried noodles (macaroni, shells, etc)
★ 2 tablespoons (^1/4 stick) unsalted butter
★ 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
★ 1 ^1/2 milk
★ 2 cups (8 ounces) lightly packed, coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
★ 1 cup (4 ounces) lightly packed, coarsely grated secondary cheese (Swiss, Mozzarella)
★ ^1/2 cup cream (I used 18%)
★ 1 cup fresh (soft) bread crumbs
★ ^1/3 cup freshly and finely grated Parmesan cheese
★ 8 strips of bacon, cooked until lightly brown, and then crumbled. (This is optional for you vegetarians.)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles of choice and cook according to package directions, unless the noodles are homemade. =) Drain the noodles, transfer to a large bowl, and set aside.

3. Melt the butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk constantly until smooth and thick, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk while whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Cook, stirring frequently, until the white sauce begins to simmer and thicken, 3 to 4 minutes. (If you used 1% milk or skim, the sauce might be a tad thin. 3-4 minutes is plenty, don’t over cook!) I like to add a pinch or two of garlic (or one clove!) here as well, because I love the stuff, but that’s up to you. It’s good without it too.

4. Add the cheddar cheese to the white sauce and stir constantly until the cheese melts. Add the cheese sauce to the noodles and stir to combine. Season the noodles now with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Transfer the noodles and cheese to a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Evenly sprinkle the second cheese of choice on top of the macaroni and drizzle the cream over the top. The noodles and cheese can be prepared up to this point and refrigerated, covered, for up to two days.

6. Combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl and sprinkle this mixture over the noodles and cheese.

7. Bake 25-30 minutes, until it is hot and the top golden brown. (15 minutes longer if it’s been refrigerated) Serve hot, of course. Serves four-six.

Facebook and Prototype, A LATU Extended Director’s Cut

★ 1/2 cup salted butter, room temp
★ 1 cup light brown sugar
★ 1 egg
★ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
★ 1 1/4 cups flour
★ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
★ 2 cups oats
★ 1 cup jam/preserves of choice (homemade or store bought)
★ 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon*

*I have used all sorts of jam for this recipe. Raspberry, cherry, pear, and now apricot. Usually I only add the cinnamon when making this with the lighter jams like pear or apricot. =)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Prepare a 9×9 inch square pan with butter or cooking/baking spray
3. In a medium size bowl, mix your butter and sugar. (2-3 minutes)
4. Add the egg and your vanilla and remix.
5. In a separate, smaller bowl, mix your flour, baking soda, and optional cinnamon
6. Add to your butter mixture and mix. You can use a mixer, whisk or fork to mix these. ( I just used a fork.)
7. Stir in 1 3/4 cup of your oats, set the rest aside and remix.
8. Put about 2/3 of your dough mix on the bottom of the pan, flat like a pizza, and then spread your jam on top.
9. To the remaining dough, add the rest of your oatmeal oats and either spread or crumble on top of the jam. What I usually do is flatten the mixture either with a rolling pin or my hands and then gently place it on top of the jam.
10. Bake 25-30 minutes
11. Enjoy!

New house shoes! They’re made entirely of recycled yarn and that makes me warm inside. Here’s a strange quirk for me, I try to keep my footwear as eco and animal friendly as possible. I’m not vegan, and I’m not big on the animal rights part of vegetarianism (sorry my veggie friends) and the only reason I prefer vegetarian foods is because I don’t like the hormones and the crap that industries put into the food. I don’t mean to say that I enjoy or support animal cruelty, because I don’t, but I’m fine with eating free range meat and I don’t mind diary if it’s organic and the like.

But something I did want to bring up is something I’ve sort of been a little confused over the last few days. I get upset, really upset, when I’m in a store and I see pretty much everything being advertised as “Eco Friendly” or “Green”. It’s been happening a lot lately. This shouldn’t upset me because it means we’re being good to our environment, right? Right. But I look at places like Claire’s, or big companies who have done absolutely nothing over the past years except be terrible to the environment suddenly pushing the “Green” agenda and it. infuriates. me. I get so mad that I want to kick stands over, which is so unlike me. Why? Because in my heart I know the only reason why they are suddenly making things like recycled slippers, or recycled cloth bags with the words, “No Plastic Allowed!” on it because it’s the fad.

That whole indie, be good to your environment, I like tea and floral print is the hip and in thing right now and because of that, it’s everywhere. But the confusing part is that this should make me happy, even if it’s only here because of a fad, it’s here all the same. But I’m not. It just infuriates me because I think, it was this easy all along. It was this easy to use recycled materials for our clothes and shoes and make up products. But we weren’t doing it.

It just makes me feel a bit heavier.

On a related note, check out these awesome wrap boots, or these ridiculously awesome vegan boots: