Non-Consumer Photo Essay

by Katy on January 14, 2015 · 28 comments

The Non-Consumer Advocate has a number of different variations. There’s the blog proper, but then there’s also the Facebook group and my Instagram feed. Sometimes it’s personal pictures, but mostly it’s stuff related to non-consumerism.

Like this succulent planter I assembled the other day using a vintage McCoy planter I usurped from my mother’s house. I filled it with hens and chicks from my garden, potting soil from my dead fuchsias and gravel from an unused aquarium in my basement.

Something pretty for my home without a spending a penny.

Hens and Chicks

Or dealing with my five open jars of jam to construct some jammy scones.

Too much jam!

They were absolutely delicious, especially the peach ones. This photo was taken right before I popped them in the oven, so you’ll just have to imagine them a bit browner as they were scarfed down before I could get them properly photographed.

Jammy scones

Or this arrangement of rosemary in vintage jars that sits on the table in my entryway. It was just a matter of grouping like items and then snipping a few stems from the neighbor’s overgrown rosemary bush. (With permission, of course!) I’m hoping it roots, so I can plant it in my garden!

Rosemary

Or when this frugal blogger was craving Japanese food and got out her supplies for a sushi rolling session.

Making sushi

They might have not passed muster with a true sushi master, but they sure tasted delicious and there were certainly no complaints from Casa Wolk-Stanley.

sushi

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }

Diane January 14, 2015 at 10:53 am

That sushi…amazing!

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Katy January 14, 2015 at 10:58 am

Super easy and cheap. Just look up how to do it anywhere. I used the fake Krab stuff with avocado and cucumber in that photo.

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WilliamB January 15, 2015 at 6:52 am

I have tried making sushi at home – I can make a whole platter of inari for what 2-3 orders cost at a restaurant – but I can’t get the rice right. Perhaps because I don’t spend 5-20 min fanning the rice? Whatever the reason, I can make it either too wet or not flavorful enough.

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Katy January 15, 2015 at 10:58 am

I just make the rice in in my rice cooker and them spread it out in a 9 X 13 pan to cool. I add a few capfuls of rice vinegar and mix it around and let it cool.

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Isabelle January 14, 2015 at 11:00 am

Sushiiiiiiiii!!!! Love it!!
Tried making it twice, and with all the ingredients I found it still pretty expensive…

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Katy January 14, 2015 at 11:14 am

I bought a $2.99 packet of imitation crab, an avocado, a cucumber and the nori sheets. They can be purchased inexpensively at Asian markets, although I paid through the nose to buy these at Fred Meyer. I already had the rice and rice vinegar, (to sprinkle over the rice) and I bought the wasabi and pickled ginger directly from a Japanese restaurant.

Maybe $9.00 for everything and I made a second platter from the same ingredients.

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Monica January 14, 2015 at 12:01 pm

I love your little marble table lamp. My grandmother had one just like it in the guest room at her house–I just loved it.

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Katy January 14, 2015 at 1:35 pm

Yes, I have thing for alabaster lamps. I have five of them!

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kathleen January 14, 2015 at 12:44 pm

Everything looks wonderful!!

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Lauren January 14, 2015 at 1:34 pm

Sushi is so amazing. I could eat it every day if there weren’t dietary guidelines warning against over consumption of seaweed. YUMMO!

I roll my own also 🙂

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Jennifer B. January 14, 2015 at 2:12 pm

Do you have a specific recipe for the scones, or did you just take regular old scone recipe and plopped some jam on top? 🙂 They look super yummy, and I definitely have jam that needs using up.

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The Frugal Shrink January 14, 2015 at 2:54 pm

I love that succulent planter and the rosemary jars! So pretty.

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Katy January 14, 2015 at 4:35 pm

Thank you, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.

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Christina neumann January 14, 2015 at 3:48 pm

I just discovered you blog and really enjoying your take on the world. Quite refreshing.
I noticed though in the back pictures a menorah and christmas stuff, plus the ham think. I’m curious about that since I celebrate hanukkha and Christmas and I’m neither Jewish or Christian , kinda an agnostic. So I just wondered your take on it.

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Katy January 14, 2015 at 4:35 pm

I am officially half-Jewish, although I consider myself Jewis, and we always had a Christmas tree growing up. My husband grew up having a tree as well, so we have a tree. However, I identify with my Jewish heritage and family members and we always have a menorah. But since I don’t keep kosher, I have no problem with ham.

Clear as mud, right?

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Marcelle January 15, 2015 at 4:47 am

I love making sushi at home too. Yours looks delicious!

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Andrea January 15, 2015 at 7:43 am

Here is a little tip I learned in a sushi making class. Put that rolling mat in a gallon size plastic ziploc. You will never have to clean rice out of the bamboo slats again!

Just don’t cut on it…cut on a cutting board.

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Emily @ Simple Cheap Mom January 15, 2015 at 8:55 am

We make sushi at our place too. The only problem is that we always make too much then get too full. So full.

Beautiful planter.

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Katy January 15, 2015 at 10:58 am

You must not have teenage sons.

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Madeline January 15, 2015 at 11:11 am

My husband is our resident sushi maker.We don’t use any meat or fish in it–strictly veggie, so it’s pretty cheap! We use short grain brown rice, no problems with too wet.. maybe that’s the trick? I live 2 hours away from the town where I used to have a huge Asian market at my disposal, a mile away! Now, we shop for ingredients when we go down once a month to do house rental maintenance, so we always have the ingredients plus a bottle of SAKE at the ready!! Even if I WANTED to spend money OUT on sushi
, there are no Japanese restaurants where I live now.. I save a lot of money NOT going out to eat since we moved!

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Lisa January 15, 2015 at 1:25 pm

I love your Rosemary arrangement, but my eye immediately went to the lamp. We had a set of those lamps when I was growing up. Wish I had them now….

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Kelly in MA January 16, 2015 at 1:32 pm

I love that planter! I didn’t realize you could do Hens and Chicks indoors like that!!!

Thanks for the inspiration! I just adopted a new plant that an office mate had sorely neglected and I will be replanting it this weekend. I also have a snake plant that has a off shoot that needs to be split and replanted and I need one more plant for the office. Hi, My name is Kelly and I have a plant problem! I didn’t want to do ivy again (have 2 in the office already) but I defiantly need something for an empty corner shelf. I can’t wait to hit the store and see what they have now!

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Katy January 16, 2015 at 2:25 pm

My experience is that you can’t kill hens and chicks, but I guess I’ll find out!

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Kelly in MA January 20, 2015 at 8:08 am

You and me both, I managed to get my hands on some this weekend. I love my future MIL! She has the best gardens!

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laurie January 28, 2015 at 7:43 am

Could you share your recipe for the scones? I have some jam that needs to be used up and this looks like the perfect way to use it!

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Katy January 28, 2015 at 9:20 am

My scone recipe is from the NY Times cookbook I bought in 1989-ish. I found this on the internet, although it calls for “heavy cream,” I simply use whatever milk I have on hand.

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016082-master-recipe-for-biscuits-and-scones

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laurie January 28, 2015 at 9:22 am

Thanks! So do you brush the tops with egg whites and then put the jam on top?

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Katy January 28, 2015 at 10:30 am

I don’t bother brushing the tops with anything.

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