Non-Consumer Photo Essay
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.
Or dealing with my five open jars of jam to construct some jammy scones.
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.
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!
Or when this frugal blogger was craving Japanese food and got out her supplies for a sushi rolling session.
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.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
That sushi...amazing!
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.
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.
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.
Sushiiiiiiiii!!!! Love it!!
Tried making it twice, and with all the ingredients I found it still pretty expensive...
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.
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.
Yes, I have thing for alabaster lamps. I have five of them!
Everything looks wonderful!!
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 🙂
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.
I love that succulent planter and the rosemary jars! So pretty.
Thank you, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.
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.
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?
I love making sushi at home too. Yours looks delicious!
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.
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.
You must not have teenage sons.
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!
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....
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!
My experience is that you can't kill hens and chicks, but I guess I'll find out!
You and me both, I managed to get my hands on some this weekend. I love my future MIL! She has the best gardens!
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!
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
Thanks! So do you brush the tops with egg whites and then put the jam on top?
I don't bother brushing the tops with anything.