Sunday 6 April 2014

Updates and a Little Mail Art

Stevia Extract Update
A couple of posts back I was making Stevia extract, but hadn't got to the final part, which was to simmer the vodka, after straining it off the leaves, for about 5 mins to concentrate the liquid, and reduce the alcohol. 
Well that's all done and bottled, and I have tried it in my coffee (about 10 drops) for half a teaspoon of sugar equivalent. It is nowhere near as sweet as the bought stevia powder or liquid. 
And for Sandra, it's just to get an early morning hit of vodka  to sweeten my coffee. I need to use it a bit longer before I decide if I would do this again - it changes my coffee just a little - not bad, just different.

Stevia extract - it looks like a witches potion!


(Not the) Best Ever Cleaning Powder

Last week I made a batch of my Best Ever Cleaning Powder - (put that into the blog search if you want to try it). I was rushing and made it by memory (mistake number one), then had to go look up the recipe and try to correct it. 
Number two mistake was that I put it in the food processor to pulverize the washing soda crystals. 
I quickly threw it into a container, but when I went to use it, I realized that the washing soda was still in big lumps that would scratch a fine surface.
Last time I made it I used the mortar and pestle to grind it to a powder. I think I will look out for an old coffee grinder to do this job better.
That all said - when it is made properly it is superb. I will be using this lot to clean the loo, and I have used it to scour some cups clean of coffee stains.

Ingredients for best ever cleaning paste


Mail Art
I love sending mail art. This one was sent about 2 years ago, and the recipient loved it so much that he didn't actually open it, for fear of destroying the artwork, until last month. So he had no idea what was in it.
After carefully opening the parcel he repackaged it as it was - I just got a photo of it today. It still sits on his mantelpiece.

Mail Art

Waste Not Want Not

One day as I was removing nail polish with a cotton wool ball, I thought - this is silly, why not use little squares of old cotton t-shirt to do this job. So now I keep a bag of these cut up ready to go in the bathroom cabinet.

Squares of old t-shirt to remove nail polish



 
I saw this quote today on an art shop in Ponsonby

2 comments:

  1. thats a lot of techniques there

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah - it was random musings this time. I like to mix it up sometimes.

    ReplyDelete

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