China Survival Guide with Kai Ryssdal

I did a little intro animation for a short series of web videos from Marketplace (which you can hear on your local public radio station or check out online).


Check out the intro by clicking this link, or take a look at the videos on Marketplace's website (just search for "China Survival Guide") or check one of the segments out by clicking here.

Elephant

This is the second elephant I've made. I tried a different technique with the ears this time, and just made little circles that I sewed on.

The littlest pumpkin

Ok, this is the last of the things-I-grew posts (at least for a couple weeks), but I wanted to share because it's so cute. This is one of two pumpkins that have started growing off a vine I planted in the front yard. It fell off the vine, so all my hopes now lie with the one that's still attached. Wish it luck!

Crocheted owl

I made this little owl as a thank you for my friend Laura, who looked after the little guy in the background for a three-day weekend when we went camping in Algonquin. Thanks, Laura!

Tomatoes

Home-grown tomatoes - so satisfying! They don't look (or taste) like the uniform ones they sell at the grocery store, and I count this as a good thing.

Watermelon

I decided to try growing watermelon. It started out great, but seems to have stalled out with fruits that measure 3-4" across. A squirrel (or another creature) decided to liberate one of them from the vine, so I had a good excuse to slice it up and see if it was indeed pink inside. It was! It was just like a regular watermelon, but teeny tiny.

Purple snack

Again, this isn't exactly a creation, but it was so beautiful I wanted to share. Check out the intensity of the purple color! I found it in a market in Chinatown and baked it in the skin. It had an unusually sweet, floral scent, even before I baked it.

I really want to figure out something to make with this potato so I can take advantage of the color and flavor. It might be a great addition to a sweet bread recipe, or mashed potatoes.

Sprouts

I decided to give sprouting a try and recently bought some organic mung beans, since I read that they were a good beginner-sprout. I used 1/3 cup of whole mung beans.

After washing them, I soaked them in water for eight hours.

I then placed them in a nylon mesh bag, which I tied up and allowed to drain into a bowl.

Over the course of the next couple of days, I rinsed the beans with water every eight hours.

They sprouted very quickly. I should have eaten them right away, because as they continued to develop, they grew more bitter.

They expanded so much as they sprouted - the initial 1/3 cup yielded a huge amount of sprouts.