pasta with vegan sausage and greens

I had some Italian-sausage-style tofurkey sausages leftover from when my father decided he wanted to grill me something meat-like, so I whipped up a vegan version of this quick dinner recipe from the kitchn, simply substituting the vegan sausage for the meat sausage and leaving out the parmesan. Next time I think I'll try a bit of nutritional yeast as well. 

my neighbor totoro animated gifs

My Neighboro Totoro, is not only my favorite movie, it is also one of the greatest movies of all time. So here are some Totoro-related animated gifs. If you haven't seen this movie, PLEASE SEE IT. Unless for some reason you don't like giant trees, buses that are cats (and cats that are buses), gorgeousness, wonder, magic, and nature. (Look, I don't like children. This movie is about children. There are forest spirits only children can see. And it is my favorite movie. Okay? So even if you don't like catbuses and giant trees, which, what the fuck is wrong with you, you should still like this movie.) Just look at those totoros blinking at you! Look at Totoro with his little umbrella! 

The first is via monster munch, the others via the lovegifs tumblr.

(update on 7/25/10: I've made another post of My Neighbor Totoro animated gifs. Keep checking the animated gifs tag for more!)

little red by Shlomi Nissim

I love the uncanniness of this photograph. So much to love here: the linear perspective of the trees; the contrast between the red dress and the green grass; the way the figures are framed by the trees; the movement of the wind and the wolf.

By Shlomi Nissim on 1x.com. Originally posted on my tumblr, via saintstigersloversart.

clothes from shopruche.com

Contemplating this cherbourg dress. Not quite my ideal white linen day dress, but it's made of beautiful material and has large pockets. 

Love this gorgeous easy weekend white linen blazer! If only it were a dress...

I've been wanting some bright, cadmium red shoes like these restricted scrabble oxfords, but they're currently out of stock in my size. Waiting for them to come back in stock will give me a while to decide, I suppose. 

shopruche.com discovered via lushlee.

wooden structures

I've been looking lately at images of wooden buildings; I'm trying to get more into landscapes and depicting whole scenes. These are some images that have been inspiring me along those lines:

Wooden Siberian houses from vladstudio.com, found via laceandflora.

Wooden church photographs by Richard Davies, found via moon river.

The world's tallest wooden house.

More buildings are on my tumblr under the "exterior" tag.

food processor and spice grinder!

I just came back from Williams Sonoma, where I got my graduation presents, a beautiful new food processor and a spice grinder. I can't wait to make nut butters and grind my own fresh spices and curry!

favorite bibliodyssey posts at the moment, and a general link round-up for myself

I'm still in the planning / designing / pseudo-research stages on a new book project. I expect there will be sketches posted on naomese soon. For now, these are the images and sites that are inspiring me right now. 

The images above are from the bibliodyssey post botanical beasties.

The image below is from tribes of Burma.

Other bibliodyssey links I'm looking at right now: imagining midwifery; the pseudo-apuleius herbarium; Kyushu medical books two; early herb and gardening books. 

Onto other, non-visual links and quotations. From the history of birth control:

In German folk medicine marjoram, thyme, parsely and lavender in tea form were used. The root of worm fern was used by German and French women and was also prescribed by a Greek physician in the time of Nero; in French it was called the “prostitute root”. Other ancient recipes called for a paste of mashed ants, foam from camels’ mouths, tail hairs of blacktail deer dissolved in bear fat. In modern times, women have been reported to use turpentine, castor oil, tansy tea, quinine water in which a rusty nail has been soaked, horseradish, ginger, epsom salts, ammonia, mustard, gin with iron filings, rosemary, lavender, and opium.

From Ailments and Cures of Medieval Women:

To abort a fetus at three months, the following receipe was used: 1 drachma each of cardamom seeds, wallflower (or stock,) myrrh, and wormwood. Let a woman insert it before taking a bath and drink pennyroyal wine. (Riddle, 1992, p.62) ... In addition to abortions, there were some natural anti-fertility medicines to avoid pregnancy. Some of these included fenugreek, mallow, pennyroyal, rue, birthwort, cyperus, arum root, cassia, reed, valerian, calamint root, and myrrh. 

From Birth Control in Antiquity: 

The Greeks used Silphium, known commonly as giant fennel. Its pungent sap was good in cough syrups and gave food a rich, distinctive taste. These plants were also known to have contraceptive and abortifacient properties. ... The demand for the plant was so great that by the third or fourth centuries, Silphium was extinct. Related plants survived, but were less effective.

The seeds of Queen Anne's Lace (a wild carrot) may have also been effective. Studies in rats show that the seeds inhibit both fetal and ovarian growth. 

Other links: Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance; abortion in the ancient and premodern world; natural herbs for contraception and abortion; silphium on wikipedia.

And one more pair of images, these are from a post titled aggregate.