Ear cuffs and long necklaces

So..I am really excited about some new things i will be selling in my bead shop www.starbazaar.etsy.com which are finally out of production and on the way here. Ear cuffs. I used to love ear cuffs when they were popular in the 90's, and then again when i was in my 20's... then i forgot about them until i was watching Star Trek the next generation one day and was reminded by Something the bajorans wear (see this board on pinterest for examples). I have a plan for some finished jewelry, and also to sell the others.. as i ordered 2000 cuffs in two colors...

Further, I have been struggling with my loss of a workspace when i decided to close my market stall at the public market. My apartment is not exactly the right size to set up... and i discovered that the things i didnt like when i was able to spread out are actually better for an apartment lifestyle.. I have been doing more time consuming and materials consuming projects. Long necklaces with no clasps, strung on hemp, made with ancient style beads, but with a more contemporary layout... less hippy and more universal.. but still with my cultural touches... This one is made with cast brass African discs, unfinished wood, African pipestone, old rusted prayer malas from Ethiopia, and brass cubes. the color scheme is neutral and soft. And in making that one, i was inspired to make this one. made with brass spacers from Ghana, and Sono wood saucers (my best sellers in my bead shop), as well as brass discs from india. I will be making more of these, and listing them... in my jewelry shop www.nedjmabazaar.etsy.com see ya!

The life of a bead seller can be insane

Selling beads involves a lot of tedious work... counting out little tiny beads, preparing packets of several styles for people (also the fun part, seeing peoples combinations) preparing a TON of photos and listings... searching and searching.. managing inventory of often thousands of beads... if not 10's of thousands is not easy work. Occasionally i get to a point where i have put off a little bit of organization here and there for so long that it is a disaster... It happened while my husband was away at truck driving school in Iowa... and my son was at grandmas in seattle... i had two months of not being accountable to anyone else.. so my beads took over the living room... and never recovered. So this week when it came time to do my annual inventory... well... it was quite a chore. I browsed pinterest for ideas for organizing this madhouse... and after i saw a million ways to organize if i have a million dollars... i settled on mason jars. (a few good runners up can be found on this pin board .)Pint sized mason jars made sense for my budget and size needs. Plus I think pint jars are the cutest. The jars will be somehow stored out of sight but easily accessible... hopefully in some cute way.. .but i havent decided yet. Anyway... my progress was cataloged on facebook with quite a bit of interest so i though i would share the photos here of my progress. my iphone makes every photo taken in my house turn yellow... maybe because of the yellow walls... so forgive me. also what looks like dirt all over the carpet is beads and bits of cording and labels... it was, as i said, quite a chore... but it feels great!

Slow Cooker Beans, Algerian style (Mimi's recipe)

So... I have never much cared for beans... outside of green beans. To me the beans have been too chalky, or too sweet, or too something. so I shy away. But my husband likes them. And he likes them like his mom makes them. So i learned. and for the longest time I made them for him, or let him make them for himself since it is one of the three things he knows how to cook, and i would have a few bites and then something else. But then I got a slow cooker. And since I realized that some of the things I normally don't like are transformed into magnifique when cooked low and slow. So I gave his beans a whirl today in the good ol' crock pot. I know, beans are beans... this is nothing new... but i want to eat ten bowls of these... it is like food heaven. Another thing about this dish... if i add up the cost... since i buy my lamb in roasts, cut it in portions, freeze, and keep the end pieces for soups... it ends up being pretty reasonably priced for feeding 4 people or so. i would say this dish cost me less than $5.00 total, and who doesn't need a recipe to feed the family for less than 5 bucks... ? Here it is

1 package beans of choice, soaked overnight (i used great northern because i like them) 1 piece lamb or beef 3-4 oz (optional) 2 soup spoons tomato paste 1/2 onion 1 parsnip, quartered and peeled 2 carrots , quartered 3 cloves garlic 1 soup spoon of cumin 1/2 tsp coriander 2 beef boullion cubes pepper to taste italian seasoning, a couple tsps i suppose. (i just throw some in) salt if needed throw everything but the beans in the bottom of the slow cooker. cover with beans. cover with water. if you ever over salt your soup. chop up a potato and throw it in. cook on high for 6 hours or low for 8-9 hours (I did high so not sure about low)

Hello again. I have decided to give this blogging thing another try. Recently I had to let the booth at the Spokane public market go. I had been attempting to make money there for a year, but after that year was up, my assessment was that the traffic was just not sufficient to make it worth the money i put into it. I was ok with the time. 3 days a week, 8 hours a day. I liked it because it got me out of the house, talking to people, having fun goofing around the market during slow times... but out of all my venues it took the most money to run, but with no payoff at all. so buh bye wonderful fun place to work... hellllllooooo being home all day and cabin fever... on top of that it is cold and snowy so it is time for me to talk to someone. even if nobody reads. keep the ideas flowing, stop posting incessently on facebook... stop pinning to nobody on pinterest all day (i like pinterest but it does lack the ability to ramble on about things) all those things that writing helps with... I think what i intend to do this time is write as if nobody is listening, and write about everything, as if i dont have the ulterior motive of promoting my business. I do have such a motive, I will not lie. I do not want to ever have to get another job working for someone else. so i must promote... but... really, I just want to have a chat with nobody or everybody. So i will use my blog to do so... or i wont, because if i am truthful, i tend to start these things and then stop them on a whim... so i am not making promises this time.

New Beads, Czech Glass!

Czech glass beads are more than the average glass beads. They are of great high quality, unique colors, finishes, and patterns. They are extremely popular now, and are a great way to add value and interest to your creations, from the simple spacer to the gorgeous rondelle, faceted and polished. I added Many new styles of seed beads, spacers, coins, and rondelles at www.starbazaar.etsy.com.

In Shopping Heaven at Bay Market (Best Asian Market)

My favorite job site was when I started work at Verizon Wireless, and they posted me as a customer service rep at their Uwajimaya kiosk, located in a GIANT Asian grocery, complete with restaurants, gift shop, and deli counter, as well as aisles upon aisles of fun new things to try... I was in shopping heaven, as i am constantly searching for something I have never tried before, and Asian groceries are the best place for culinary adventures.

Today i wandered into the Best Asian Market (yes, that is their name, as well as, apparently Bay Market) and was transported in time to my lunch hours, which were spent reading the fine print on packages written in Thai, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Japanese...

The building is in a neighborhood few seek out, that stretch of East Sprague that people would rather just... drive on through with the doors locked.. which to some is a drawback but since i was born in that neighborhood, and well frankly, have seen much worse, I am charmed by the art deco buildings and spattering of ethnic markets, thrift shops, and fledgling specialty shops which pepper the often empty storefronts and failed nightclubs and restaurants. Yes, Best Asian Market is not a place you would just wander by and visit on a whim, Yet judging by the traffic inside, it surely is a place to seek out.

The market is a big Art deco corner building in cream and pink, The inside is a simple setup. freezer cases full of frozen fruits, vegetable, ice creams, cakes, pork buns, spring rolls, onion pancakes, and more lead you to a produce section with prices not to be beat and a selection of fresh baby bok choy, shitake and other mushrooms, sprouts, ginger root, herbs, radish... The aisles are filled with sauces, seasonings, canned fruits and vegetables, teas and more, and a plethora of noodles... so many i was stuck in that aisle quite a while trying to decide. Finally, proteins. feezer cases of frozen fish from the common to the um... what was that? and then the even more adventurous, frozen snail, even insects, soft shell crabs (i will buy them some day!), fish cakes... and we wont talk about the meat case but lets just say... the pork hocks looked good but, i am not so adventurous for the rest.

This was a great find for me, and i will be back regularly, the only complaint i have is the aisles are so narro it is hard to navigate with a shopping cart, but next time i will just take a basket.

If I have to choose one product to highlight it would be:

Huy Ky Bakery's Dau xanh nhun mut or Winter Melon and Bean Hopia
a flaky but not too sweet pastry filled with sweet mung bean paste and bits of winter melon. This was my favorite purchase today. It is a perfect blend of richness, powdery softness, and just a little crunch and freshness.


and i think todays adventure will lead to regular installments, maybe not so long, of great finds at great markets.

Best Asian Market is found at 2020 E Sprague Ave Spokane, WA 99202
They service restaurants and individual shoppers.

Thursday is Market Day

One of the benefits of selling at the Spokane Public Market is that i get insight on all the vendors and their goods.. i try all the tasty foods, and getto know the artisans and their crafts.

on a normal thursday i will be spotlighting a different vendor each week. this week i will be giving you a broader look through photography at some of my favorites...

Wednesday Wandering Day

There has always been an intense wanderlust in me. I started travelling at 16 when i hopped trains and hitchhiked up and down the west coast for a couple years. Discovery is what makes me feel alive, and the need for intense change is a complicated but fun part of my personality.

Wednesdays, hence forth, will be a day to reflect on what i have seen this week, what i wish to see... something new that i discovered, either close to home or far away...

it will be fun :) i promise. I will be back later with my first installment.

Tuesday Tasty Treat Day

Whether it is a sweet treat to remind you of a far away home, or a long ago childhood, or a sugary taste of a far away land, dessert can be more than just a cavity creator and evil plan hatched by grandma to make your children hyper before dropping them off at home...

Tuesdays will be all about tasty treats. how to make them, how to eat them, where to buy them...

Today I would like to highlight super easy recipes made with bananas and coconuts. these recipes require minimal ingredients, time, and money... yet are huge on flavor... they are also relatively inexpensive and can feed a crowd of people on less than $10.00

Pani Popo - Polynesian coconut rolls

I actually tried this a few weeks ago at an ethiopian restaurant, and not when i was in hawaii last year... still. the result is the same. Pani popo is a simple dinner roll smothered in coconut cream. It is made with two whopping ingredients!

2 cans coconut cream
1 package frozen dinner roll dough

prepare the dinner roll dough according to the package. when the dough has risen, pour one can of coconut cream over the top, evenly. bake according to package directions. to serve, heat the remaining can of coconut cream in the microwave or stovetop. place each roll in a small bowl and pour warm cream over the top.


Thai Banana rolls -

This one takes a little more time due to wrapping and frying but it is so worth it! This was one of my favorite treats to buy when i worked in the international district in seattle. it is sweet, stick, crispy, amazing.

bananas
spring roll wrappers
honey
oil for frying
toasted sesame seeds

Cut the bananas into pieces 1/2 the length of your wrappers. Heat oil for deep frying. Set up your station with banana pieces, wrappers, and a small bowl of water. place a banana on one half of the wrapper, fold in the sides and roll the wrapper around the banana. wet your fingers with the water and seal the edges. fry until golden and bubbly. repeat. when finished, drizzle honey or simple syrup over them, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds. serve warm.

Enjoy!

sunday monday happy days...

So, This time i swear i will do it better. my last blog was shut down as it was linked to my yahoo web hosting account which was a waste of money so i cancelled it in favor of email and routing my website to a place where people could actually buy things, that is, my etsy page.

But I suppose that was a good thing, as i never ever remembered to do anything with it, which I think is due to the fact that I just never ever knew what to say that could possibly be interesting enough to get people to read it. So I said nothing.

Many things have changed with my business lately. things that could be useful to the average person, especially that i leave the house sometimes now and go sell things to people i talk to in person.. and so my venturing outdoors leads to more discoveries and more stories.

so wheeee! :) let us have some bloggy fun.