Taking The Long Way Home

I started another blog, The RVegan Kitchen, last summer when we were living in the trailer in Oregon. Then I stopped. Too much work to cook and photograph at the same time. So I've been watching that sad little blog sit there, with a whopping 12 followers, and about 2 hits -- accidental, most likely -- a week. I really don't need to be reminded of my failed projects. Hey, some things work, some don't. And today is the day to say,  Off with her head, to the RVegan Kitchen. I've transferred 3 entries over here, because I see no reason to write these recipes again. Next I'll delete the cooking blog, and set those 12 hungry people free. I will, however, continue to post recipes for you here every so often. This blog is about my life, which includes cooking, and maybe, someday, a completed cooking book. I'm still making food and taking notes. But I have to admit to being totally baffled as to how to turn it all into an actual book. I'll know when I need to, I g...

For those of you still holding out, and not joining Facebook, the update for today is... New Candles! Just in time for Mother's Day! I'm having a lot of fun with these, and will SOON have some of my own designs, printed on fabric, for the coolest candles ever! Get them HERE !

Springtime in the high desert climate of New Mexico can be pretty psychotic. One day it's sunny flip-flop weather, urging us outdoors to sip margaritas on the patio, and the next we're back inside, next to the fireplace, riding out a thunder-snow storm. Today is one of the cold days, so I made a nice soup for breakfast -- yes! breakfast! -- to sooth and warm us. Miso Happy Soup is good for lunch or dinner too, of course, but I especially like it in the morning. As a fermented, live food, miso is an easy wake up call for the digestive tract, and is loaded with all sorts of nutrients and health-promoting qualities. I think of it as chicken soup for body and soul, only without anything... uh... dead. As with other recipes I share, you don't have to be vegan to enjoy this soup. And it's super fast and easy to make, so let's get cooking. Always use the best organic ingredients you can find. If you have some leftover brown rice, you're in luck! If not, cook some ...

I'm still tinkering with links and attempting to get everything to line up properly in cyberspace. No small task! Why do I create these jobs for myself? Well, creating is creating, I guess. I really like having all my "stuff" in one place. Well, except for the blog. The blog works best here, but the website is another entity all together. A lot of people ask me for advice on site building. The long answer has taken me almost 15 years so far to figure out. It could be a book, but it probably won't. The short answer is: Weebly.com . I'm really not a computer genius. I just pretend to be. I am, however, a firm believer in building one's own website. I've seen too many friends depend on someone else to do it for them, and then dangle helplessly out of control of the whole thing. If you do it yourself, you can make updates and changes any time you want. And it's much cheaper. That matters to some people. I've moved my site from Earthlink to Homestea...

A quick update on Taos Light Works ... I've got it up and running! I spent all weekend re-creating my website, and convincing all my creative efforts to peacefully coexist under one roof at KimMiles.com . With so much going on, it just makes sense to keep it all as streamlines and simple as possible. Now when you visit my main site, you'll find links to Taos Light Works, Alchemy Jewelry, and Art Glass Beads. Have some fun wandering around in there, and if you find any typos, please let me know... I'm a bit bleary-eyed at this point and might have missed something!

I've had a new Bright Idea. Literally. You know those Virgin of Guadalupe candles you can get at the grocery store? I like them so much, I always have at least one around, and when we were trailer-traveling, we used an empty one as a night light, with a rechargeable, battery operated candle inside. They're nice enough, those candles, but they're kind of crummy when you look at them long enough, and they're intended to be disposable, which troubles me. I found myself wishing for a nicer version of the Virgin. I googled all over the place, and spent hours on Etsy and Ebay. I didn't find anything I liked, so, as usual, I decided to make one myself. It came out so beautiful, I quickly cranked out about a dozen, wondering what I was going to do with all of them. And then it hit me. Not a light bulb moment, but a candle moment. The model for a nice new little business was right there in front of me, glowing quietly, waiting for me to notice it. And so, I'd like to i...

Lasagne. Oh, where to start? With the spelling, I guess. I've always spelled it with an "e" at the end, but I know a lot of people prefer an "a". As I understand it, lasagnE is Italian, and lasagnA is American. Also, lasagnE is the plural of lasagnA, so unless you're making the dish with only one big noodle, you're making lasagne. So much for grammatical correctness. I've always used the Italian spelling because I like to pretend I'm Italian. I think I'm entitled, since my Dad spent two years in Trieste when he was in the Army. He came home with some Italy on him, and in some kind of alternate reality quantum physics way, that would surely be passed on to his eventual children. I am a big fan of quantum physics, although the learning is slow. But if I wake up one morning fluent in Italian and dashing out to buy a pasta maker, don't be surprised. Anyway, I made lasagne last night, as a special Sunday treat. It's a special food, isn...