Rag Wreath

     A cheery rag wreath is a great way to make your house feel like a home, as well as an easy craft that will make a dent in your scrap stash! You will need 1 wire wreath frame from your local craft store (I used an 18" one), as well as color-coordinating cotton fabric scraps. Be warned, depending on the depth of you stash you may need to purchase more fabric to finish your project out. If you are buying fabric for this project you will need an estimated 2.5 yards total.

     Once you have your wreath frame and fabric it's time to get ripping! Or cutting, if you prefer. However, with the woven nature of cotton, ripping is more accurate, as well as more time and energy efficient. If you have not ripped fabric before, it may be a little intimidating. Feel free to test out your technique on a separate piece before beginning. Make an incision into the fabric a couple inches, where you want your rip to be. This gives you a start and something to hold onto - your fabric will rip along the grain!

     Whatever your method, figure out a process, because we will be ripping a lot of strips! Your strips will need to be 1.5" X 8". I recommend ripping a long 8" wide strip and then cutting that strip into 1.5" lengths. This seemed to be the most efficient process.

My strips are in a summer-fall color scheme.

     Once you have all your strips ripped, it is time to begin tying. Using the wire wreath frame, you will have three rows of strips. Pick a starting point and first tie a strip around the two outermost wires. You'll need to do a double knot to keep the tie in place. Your next strip will be tied around the two middle wires, and your third strip on the two innermost wires. Obviously, your strips will be overlapping each other to some degree. This helps to evenly disperse the strips. Continue this pattern around the wreath.

Here is my wreath, partly finished,

     It may take a while, but the result will be worth it! When your wreath is complete and all the wires have been covered, fluff out your ties a bit and hang your new wreath proudly on your door!

Corn Dog Muffins

Corn Dog Muffins
     This recipe uses a boxed corn bread mix to make simple 'corn dogs.' It's like hamburger helper! Just add hot dogs!

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/2 package hot dogs
8 muffin liners

     Follow directions for boxed mix. Place mixture into lined muffin tin, filling liner up about 2/3 full. Cut hot dogs into appropriately lengthed segments and place in batter. Bake according to directions on box.

Note: Needing something to do with the other half of your hot dogs? Either make another batch or try out this recipe for easy Hot Dog Dinner!

Hot Dog Dinner

Hot Dog Dinner
     This meal creatively uses hot dogs for a unique spin on a one-pot dish.

1/2 package (1 pound) hot dogs, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1 celery rib, coarsely chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, julienned
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Hot cooked noodles or rice

     In a a large skillet, cook and stir hot dogs in 1 Tb butter over medium high heat until lightly browned; remove and keep warm.

     In same skillet, sauce the onions, celery and green pepper in remaining butter until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the tomatoes, oregano, paprika, pepper and hot dogs. Cook and stir until heated through. Serve with noodles or rice.

Note: Recipe can be altered to cater to serving amounts and taste preferences.

My Top 3 Artifacts

     An artifact is defined as something made by humans, usually for a practical purpose. Looking at artifacts is an excellent way to study another’s culture because each culture creates artifacts that are unique and special to that people group. Over the years my family has gathered many different artifacts from various cultures. For example, on our fridge we have 12 international magnets from 5 different countries. Many of the artifacts we have come from personal travels or as gifts from friends. Some of my favorite artifacts include a basket from Zimbabwe, ceramic ornaments from the Czech Republic, and a carved nativity set from Israel.

     The basket from Zimbabwe came into our family through my mother. She taught science in Zimbabwe for four years and was given the basket by a villager during her time there. She considers the basket a piece of art because it is very beautiful and intricately crafted. The bowl is made with coiled bundles of grass laced together with strips of plastic sacking. Basketry is a traditional art form that spans the entire continent of Africa. Attaining the status of ‘master weaver’ in a community requires the highest level of skill in fiber preparation, dyeing, and weaving. Most of the people who attain this status are women.

     The decorative ceramic ornaments were brought back as souvenirs from a trip my mother and I took to the Czech Republic. They are designed to look like buildings in the town square of Litoměřice, a town we visited. The ornaments are displayed on a shelf in our dining room where we can admire them and be reminded of our trip. Buildings in Europe are much older than those in America. The buildings the ornaments were inspired by are probably 400 years old. While in the country my mother and I enjoyed Czech architecture, especially the many colors. A lot of the buildings are painted in shades of pastel. At one point we visited a manor that was pink. Blocky utilitarian buildings that were built during the Communist era have now been enhanced with strips of yellow or peach.

     The third artifact is a hand carved nativity set made in Israel, with olive wood. Although it was made in Israel, my parents bought it at an international fair sales craft store in Newton, KS. We use it every Christmas and it is a central decoration. The olive tree is a symbol of Israel and has been a native plant since ancient times. Olive trees have a high endurance and fruitful capacity. It is considered a sign of peace between God and mankind. Also, many of the carvings made from olive wood use trimmings from when the tree is pruned. This keeps the trees healthy and means that no tree is damage or destroyed to make the carvings.

     These are just three of the many international artifacts my family owns. However, they are some of my favorites and portray a good variety among the three, coming from three different continents. Our artifacts remind us of our travels and of the connections we have to others around the world. They carry both cultural and sentimental significance, as well as help to decorate a diverse home.

     Note: This is an assignment done for my International Communications class at school.

My Food Culture

     I would like to think that my food culture is wide and a bit more varied than the average American. While my family eats meals that comprise of the meat and potatoes so often found in American comfort foods, we also derive inspiration from other differing sources. My food culture has been influenced by my ethnic origins, American culture, and international tastes.

     Growing up in the United States, my food background was fairly common in some ways, but in other ways it differed. My dad grilled steak and hamburgers and my mom packed us sandwiches for lunch and made casseroles. When I began to learn how to cook, a casserole was one of the first things I learned how to make. There isn’t anything much more American than casseroles. Other American or Americanized dishes that we commonly eat are hamburgers and fries, pizza, or meatloaf.

     Even though a lot of the food we eat in America has foreign influences, those influences have been watered down or altered so that once international dishes have become something traditional to America. An example of this is pizza. My family does similar things to food and recipes, like stir-fries, but there are some foods that have retained their originality. One of these dishes is kima, an Indian curry. The dish came into our family from a family friend who was Indian so the dish is fairly authentic. Another international food that has come to be a cultural symbol in our home is the Mediterranean salad, tabbouleh. It was inspired by a vegetarian restaurant in New York, where my aunt went to college. My mother tried it out on my brother and I, and we really liked it. Now, tabbouleh is a common offering from our family at family gatherings and potlucks. They wouldn’t be the same without tabbouleh.

      Another part of my unique food background hit a little closer to home. My mother's side of the family are German Mennonites. Through this group I have access to a culinary heritage unique to a specific people group. These dishes are different from average American fare, and have interesting names, like verenika (cottage cheese dumplings served with ham gravy) and borsht (cabbage soup). Dishes like bierocks (buns filled with meat and cabbage) and german sausage are common additions to our supper table and my grandmother brings zwiebach to almost every family meal. For Christmas my mother makes peppernuts (small anise cookies), but with her own twist. My Mennonite heritage has played a big part in diversifying my food culture.

     Although my food culture takes references from vastly different sources, they all combine to create one big beautiful and diverse experience. My childhood and my life now would not be the same without these foods. They have had a vast impact on my life. I am able to retain some of my ethnic roots through food, consider myself to be a true American, and am still able to appreciate foods made by other cultures.

Note: This is an assignment done for my International Communications class at school. Some of it was inspired by an assignment I did for my Language and Food class several semesters back, since they were answering the same questions.

Semester #6

     This semester I will be finishing up my junior year as well as applying to my program (fingers crossed that everything goes well). Also, if you are wondering, I have decided to put aside my ambitions of getting a Spanish minor. I guess you could say my last Spanish class quenched what desires I had left, but honestly, it was getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying it as much and was starting to struggle more. I decided it wasn't worth it and while I am glad for the learning and experiences I underwent previously, I am also glad to have that load taken off my back.

     This semester I am attempting to tackle the remainder of my general education credits. I'm pretty excited about my classes and I think this will be a fun semester (if I can survive getting through the program that is).

1. International and Intercultural Communication
     I'm not completely sure how to describe this class. It seems to be a seminar learning about how society is structured and how different cultures interact. Most of the time in class we watch related videos or have group discussions about our own personal cultural experiences. So far, it seems pretty manageable for a 300 level course.

2. Art History: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture
     Similar to my previous art history classes, this one is taking on the theme of sculpture, especially more recent works of art. The first artist we looked at was Rodin, who is most famous for his sculpture "The Thinker." This class also has the most lengthy readings of any other classes so far.

3. Intro to English Linguistics
     Some may remember that a year and a half ago, I took a linguistics course about food. Well, this class was inspired a bit from my experiences with that course. It is taught by the same professor and it is a common class for education majors, so I have gotten to see some old friends.

4. Book Design/Production
     Last semester I thought I had my class schedule all figured out. But then I found out about this class. I really love books and I didn't know when the class would be offered again, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and jump in. It took a little bit of finagling to get it to fit into my schedule but I am really glad it all worked out. We are learning how to make our own books by hand! It is also an upper-level course with a smaller class size, so that is a fun experience as well.

Ham and Potatoes Casserole

1 pkg (1 lbs 10 oz) frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/8 tsp pepper
2 T onion, chopped
1 c. sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 lb ham, diced
1 1/2  c. cornflakes + 1 1/2 Tb butter for topping

Mix thoroughly thawed potatoes and all the ingredients except cornflakes. Place in 9" X 13" pan sprayed with cooking spray. Top with cornflakes. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.