American Cinnamon Rolls with frosting

I am travelling in the USA for a family reunion in Utah. Before and after, I am visiting all my bros and sisters at their houses, and learning lots of new things that they are doing. My sister-in-law made these amazing cinnamon rolls. I thought she had bought them from a bakery - they are so yummy! Also, her sister had worked at a famous cinnamon roll bakery called "Cinnabon" here, and the frosting is her own version of their frosting.

Here is the recipe, makes 24 rolls:

Dough
1 .5 cups milk
3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons yeast
2 cups of warm water
1/2 cup butter
9-10 cups flour

Filling
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon

Frosting
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
8 oz (226 g) cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon sour cream or buttermilk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla

Instructions:

- Scald 1.5 cups milk, 3/4 cups sugar, 1/2 cup butter for 2 minutes in the microwave
- Cool by adding 1 cup of flour, then 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of salt. Let cool.
- Dissolve 2 tablespoons yeast in 2 cups warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar, let sit 2 minutes.
- Combine yeast and sour cream (or buttermilk) mixture.
- Gradually stir in 8-9 cups flour, let double (1 to 1.5 hours)
- Divide into 2 parts, roll out 2 long rectangles (about 9 cm wide)
- Slice each rectangle into 12 rolls. Spread on filling. Let rise 1 to 1.5 hours.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (260 Celsius) for 25-30 minutes in two 9x13 inch pans.

You spread on the frosting after they have been baked in the oven.

First sewing practice doll - buy a premade doll form to decorate and sew a dress

My mother made me the doll on the right, "Raggedy Ann". She had taught me to sew when I was little by helping me sew a simple doll's dress for my doll. They were selling doll forms at a local craft depot, and I got one for Troy - thinking of that. This is "Raggedy Mary".

Troy designed the doll first, which was sweet. She drew the face on with pencil, and then sewed the nose and mouth herself. I did the eyes and hair. She also sewed a few seams on the dress and apron, and sewed a button on the dress. I really had to hold myself back and let her do the parts she did do, thinking - the whole point of this is for Troy to learn. It can be difficult when one wants to make something perfect yourself - but then what is the point? Passing on skills is far more important. So with great difficulty I held myself back....

And it was great.

Troy threading a needle - children are better than adults at this anyways!

Note: For the dress and apron, I looked at a doll dress pattern I had and replicated the steps, but tailored for this doll. (I would get a doll pattern of some kind with a few clothing options to choose from - aprons, pants, dresses for example.) I didn't have elastic in the house which turned out to be great because I used thin hair elastics and they were perfect!

How to make a rainbow dress (dyeing calico)

I had a vision of a rainbow dress for an upcoming work party. I looked around a bit, but didn't find anything that suited my vision. Then I thought I would go find a beautiful rainbow print from Spotlight and make a simple dress out of it.

A day prior to the function (of course), I went to Spotlight. I searched high and low but there was nothing like I had imagined. I knew that I didn't have the extra money for buying a dress at the shops. After awhile at the store I got the idea of making the dress in plain calico (100% undyed cotton), and then dying it myself. I chose the primary colours (red, yellow, blue) of Dylon dye (the hand-dying variety, there is also one you can do in a washing machine), and envisioned dipping a side of the dress in at a time. The dyes would fade upwards and blend into each other to create other secondary colours, green and orange and purple. I didn't buy a pattern because it was out of my budget (some were $20-30).

The 3 dyes, a dress zipper, and 1.5m of calico fabric came to $31 NZ.

It took me all night to make the dress from a pattern I had that was far too small that I visually sized up looking at a dress I had that fit me - so made my own pattern by following the structure of one, and the look of an actual dress I had. I had to play with it, tailoring it, but eventually made one that was good enough. I was very out of practice! So this was the weak part of my project - and can only improve the next time I do it (I think I will then just use a pattern which fits me).

But the dyeing went great. See the photo below. I dyed in our basement garage, which is perfect for dyeing - just concrete and metal down there. I repurposed a container for the dyeing that I usually used for recycling. Then I had to find a way to the dress dipped for at least 45 min (one side at a time), so I used laundry clips and string, and tied them up to a pole at the right lengths so the dress was suspended evenly in the mixture.


What I did:
First I had washed the dress in the washing machine on hot - so it shrunk as much as possible and wouldn't shrink any more later (my mom's tip). After it was dry, it was wrinkly so I ironed the fabric before (and as a tool during) making the dress.

After the dress was made, I got the dress wet and wrung it out. After dipping the side of the dress in the first colour, I rinsed the dress out in cold water, then warm. Then another side of the damp dress got suspended in the next colour. I was even able to make the fade (which naturally happened anyways) more extended by raising the container up higher for a few moments (so the dress was submerged for a short time deeper in the dye) so the colours blended more.



Important: Dyeing is very fun and easy - IF you are dyeing a natural fabric. It's pure cotton, or wool, or linen etc, it will be great. If it's polyester or viscose or something plastic - the dye won't take.

To hope or not to hope at the butchery shop

I went to get my meat at the butchery, getting it put directly into reusable plastic containers, as I always do now. A new employee served me, and I explained what I wanted to do that was different and why (zero waste). He used tongs a few times, then used a sheet of plastic to grab and weigh one of the meats, which he then threw away. I (uncomfortably) asked him if he could use tongs next time, otherwise it defeated the whole purpose.

He said he would, but also communicated to me that he couldn't see what difference it made. "One person doesn't make a difference", he said, saying he did know each person's "carbon footprint" was great. "But there's too much greed", he said. I did try to tell him, we had to try, saying frankly that if we didn't we were all fucked (probably too loudly, in the shop). I told him that slavery used to be accepted - and if it weren't for all the conservationalists nothing would be saved. "There's good and there's evil." But then I scanned his soul, looking into his eyes. He had no hope. There was no point trying, at least until he was open to it - maybe even a few years from now.

I would have told him that if you give up you are assured failure. At least if you try there is hope.

Later... it has surfaced that I actually found that annoying. If you can't help, at least don't discourage those that are!

The Fall by Red Hunter, album Alien Sun

Listen to this. The Fall by Red Hunter, album Alien Sun.



A million tents and trailers will cover the open desert your kids will learn again how to build a fire where to look for water and the families are bound together now by the fall of all the great cities finally to sing out their stories and the histories of hunger and a victories back into the old gypsy circles where the swaying girls will play out the old rituals the boys will be delirious the desperate and serious the chasing will be furious. The drums and the rain will come out and the cities are all lost but the circle is found that'll tie us together... ooh my kind of town.

Who were you before the fall I was a singer I saw the future laid out in dominoes now I hunt the buffaloes and my darling who are you behind the counter with the day memorized and those cold vacant eyes well you swore you were free, swore you could see him coming it was Old Angel Midnight staring you down, he's stealing the water right out of the ground, and the newses are true but the views are unsound, the market is dead and the phone lines are down, but it ties us together, ooh my kind of town.

"Putting the hard word on Cottonsoft" (Good magazine, issue 24)

This one-page article was featured in Issue 24, page 22 of Good magazine (NZ). I like it as it explains what has been going on behind the scenes with Cottonsoft (although I have heard of it in the headlines.) This is why not to buy Cottonsoft toiletpaper - if you like biodiversity, and rainforests. I reproduce it here for benevolent purposes only.


Loo roll hit the headlines in recent months with the epic tussle between environmental groups, led by Greenpeace, and the paper giant Asia Products & Paper (APP), on behalf of their toilet paper subsidiary Cottonsoft. Caught in the middle of the debate are various sustainability certification schemes.

Indonesian-based APP has been targeted by environmentalists for ItS felling of forest habitats essential to the survival of critically endangered Sumatran tigers and endangered orangutans. And APP in turn is part of the Sinar Mas group of companies that have been key players in rainforest destruction for palm oil production.

The campaign against APP began when forensic testing carried out as part of an eight-month investigation by Greenpeace, the Green Party and WWF New Zealand discovered the presence of mixed tropical hardwoods in a range of Cottonsoft products. Cottonsoft hit back, saying the testing was carried out by inexperienced researchers, and did not prove that the wood matenal found came from protected Indonesian rainforest. They also claimed that Cottonsoft retail brands are sourced from sustainable forest locations independently certified by the international organisation Programme for the Endorsement
of Forest Certification (PEFC).

With large parts of the North Island planted in pine trees and other plantation forests, you might ask.why a Kiwi company would need to cut down
tropical rainforests to make toilet paper?

In round two, PEFC told WWF they didn't cover Cottonsoft’s claims of sustainable production Indonsia. And the conservationists pointed out that APP ad pledged, and failed, to switch to 100 percent plantation sourcing of timber for major pulp mills three times: missing self-imposed deadlines to stop using
native forest timber in 2004, 2007 and 2009.

The public campaign has certainly had an impact. In 2011 Cottonsoft laid off seven workers in Dunedin and two in Auckland, blaming it on the effects of the campaign, and has said it will now seek New Zealand’s official Environmental Choice certification for its retail products. In the meantime, another Greenpeace investigation claims to have acquired video evidence of APP timber yards containing large amounts of legally protected ramin hardwood, and PEFC say they are investigating this as a possible breach of APP’s certification.

Consumers would do well to stay tuned, as it appears this particular battle will continue for some time yet.

Can’t remember what’s what? Go to www.good.net.nz/toiletpaper to download Greenpeace’s guide to rainforest friendly toilet paper

ENDQUOTE

Greencane Ecopaper toilet paper review (sugarcane-bamboo)

There are no trees involved in the making of this toilet paper (which is important, as some companies even use old growth rainforest - ahem like Cottonsoft, of Asia Products & Paper (APP)...mentioning names).

Greencane Ecopaper is made up of (up to 70%) recycled byproduct of sugarcane processing and bamboo. The back is complete with a picture of the makers hugging trees (Geoff and Helen Arden).


I used it, and couldn't tell the difference. In fact it was really soft. That was good enough for me. 4 rolls were $4-something at the New World supermarket. According to Good magazine (Issue 24), it is $1.23 per roll (as apposed to $0.89 cents per roll for Purex). Other brands of eco toilet paper available in NZ are Safe (Australia, $0.94 cents per roll), and Earthcare (Australia, $0.74 cents per roll).

Further from Good (Issue 24): "Made of: up to 70 percent recycled fibres from crushed sugarcane residues, mixed with timber pulp and then put through a chlorine-free bleaching process. Greencane's plant based material breaks down fast, so it's particularly suited to composting toilets, older plumbing and septic tanks. It's rolls are 30% bigger than the average roll (300 sheets instead of the standard 230 sheets) and are ink and fragrance free. Made in: Asia. Certifications/accreditations: The Greencane factory has ISO14001 environmental quality manufacturing standards."
So, it's really neat - but is more expensive. I like the accreditation of Purex (and price) better, but I do hate the plastic packaging it comes in each time... Greencane's packaging is 100% compostable - which is important to me.

Well whatever you choose - just don't buy Cottonsoft. Article about Cottonsoft's use of old growth rainforest trees in their toilet paper here.