DIY Dina is Live!

My first post of my new blog. Why must I blog? I'm not sure. Lately I've just started really getting into lots of DIY stuff, and although I feel a little self-indulgent, I've decided to start blogging about them. Then I'll have a record of my projects, and if anyone else is interested, they can read and comment.

I've spent the past year finding my inner voice. Yes, it sounds really cliched, but somehow, when all your friends move away, you have to make your own fun. So, I started reading like crazy, cooking, knitting, and on Monday I'm going to learn to sew. I'm incredibly excited about my class, and I'll definitely post a picture of my tote bag after the class. It seems that an inner calm has bubbled up from slowing down and engaging in projects that yield something.  There's a sort of meditative calm that comes over me when I spend weekend afternoons or evenings cooking.

In the past month or so I've made: gf bread, pesto, mayonaise, pickled vegetables,  muffins, zuchini bread, cookies, rolls, black eyed pea curry, minestrone soup, black beans from scratch, the list goes on. I get excited about my csa box delivery every single week.  I think food just makes me really happy. Especially fresh, delicious, food that I can eat!  So, I'll try to start blogging my weekly creations, which will  hopefully help me keep track of everything. I've got about three weeks of vacation and then school starts again, at which time I'll probably be too busy to blog or cook.

Speaking of bubbling, check out my pizza!  Being gluten and lactose intolerant, going out to eat has gotten a lot less fun. There are a lot of options out there, but in general, my stomach is happier when I cook for myself. So tonight I made cow dairy-free, gluten free pizza. It turned out quite well. I made the crust from a slightly adapted recipe in Shauna Ahern's cook book, Gluten free girl and the chef. Then I added fresh buffalo mozzarella (no lactose in buffalo milk!), tomato sauce, some grated pecorino romano and manchego, fresh tomatoes and basil from my csa box. Voila! Pizza. And it's pretty darn good. I think even non-dietically challenged folks would agree. Unfortunately, I have no self control, so I at the whole thing and now I feel incredibly stuffed.

I also wanted to post a picture of the sweater I made for my niece. She just turned two. I made it big, so she'd have it for a while, since it takes such a long time to make these. Hopefully I'll be able to add a picture of her in it at some point, maybe this fall.

Tomorrow I'm going to get yarn for a new project, beginning the yet another  baby present. It seems like my friends are spawning like crazy.