New Book of Days

Assorted lifehacks and oddities. NO KINGS

recent posts

To see full images right-click them and click “Open Image In New Tab”

    • The Fake Wine Attempts Continue

      The Fake Wine Attempts Continue

      March 17, 2025 by HTV9

      Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying a mix of cranberry and grape juice, equal parts of each, or on their own, or diluted in a lot of water to help me drink more of it. So far so good, but it does not taste remotely like wine. On its own it’s way too sweet so I decided to try a cold infusion of tea in equal parts cranberry apple cocktail and grape juice. What this meant in practice was leaving a black teabag in a cup of this mix, covered with an upside down plate in the fridge, overnight. My hope was for it to be less sweet and more flavorful. It didn’t work. Will continue to try to improve on it.

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2025

    • Sandwich Spread

      Sandwich Spread

      March 17, 2025 by HTV9

      This was an experiment to try to replicate the flavor of the mayonnaise I tried in Japan. On that front it was wildly unsuccessful. However it did improve my turkey sandwich. Here’s the recipe:
      1/8 cup (2 tbsp) mayonnaise, I used a vegan brand
      1 pinch of sugar
      1 tsp grated apple, I used a nondescript stripy red-and-yellow kind with a balance of sweet and tart. Probably Gala.
      1/2 tsp yellow mustard
      1/8 tsp soy sauce, I used a Japanese brand
      1 drop of bottled lemon juice, probably not necessary
      1 pinch of sea salt
      1 tiny sprinkling of onion powder
      Mix well with a spoon. Makes enough for 2 sandwiches, at least

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2025

    • Fizzy Ginger Tea

      Fizzy Ginger Tea

      March 3, 2025 by HTV9

      On a hunch, I added some ginger ale to this pitcher of iced tea. It’s better than I thought. Ratio is about 2 parts iced tea to 1 part ginger ale. This pitcher happened to be half-sweetened half-unsweetened iced tea, which probably equates to 4 tablespoons sugar per 7 cups of iced tea, but if I was doing this again I’d just leave it unsweetened since ginger ale’s plenty sweet on its own. In future I’d also like to use a far stronger brand of ginger ale. The more gingery the better. But if you make this, do what you like here. If this sounds bizarre, you can just splash some ginger ale in your next cup of iced tea and see what it does.

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2025

    • Bamboo Solar Crosses

      Bamboo Solar Crosses

      Feb 24, 2025 by HTV9

      Many religions have their own traditional versions of protective amulets. This is a Pagan one. They’re called Solar Crosses, or for whatever reason, Alrums. So in my particular kind of Paganism, the purpose and intention of these is to protect you and your loved ones, your hearth, your home and all that matters most to you from evil and invoke the presence of Good. These are called Solar Crosses because they mimic the perceived meeting points of the paths of the Sun and the Moon (scientific accuracy might not be great here, but eh), as well as the cardinal directions, and the perfect timing throughout the year of two Solstices and two Equinoxes. They have long been believed to symbolize and invoke the positive, life-giving powers in Nature, especially that of the Sun. Rowan twigs are the most traditional material for making these, but in Asian folklore bamboo is also said to be quite protective and is said to ward off evil. So what material in modern life fits the bill? Chopsticks.

      To make:
      Find twigs of Rowan, or in this case bamboo chopsticks, and cut them to size. Supposedly oak or ash could also work but I’m not a big fan of that idea because the idea here is serious protection, and I see those more as blessing type trees. Anyway I used kitchen scissors, keeping my eyes closed and allowing that bamboo to fling away with each cut. Probably not the safest, but meh. Safety glasses and someone else to hold the other side of the chopstick, and pruning shears instead of kitchen scissors would be safer. Or, spending time sawing away with a serrated-blade pocket knife or small saw.

      For the thread: Loop on with diagonals for three loops, one on each side (you’re making an X three times, once per loop, doesn’t really matter how you do it except don’t tie knots til you are done), then around the ends once or twice. Keep each loop as tight as you can. It’s tricky. Tighten as you go. Try to make the final meeting point of the two sides of yarn, cord, or thread at the middle of the X.

      Tie off only at the end of the looping process, three granny knots. Lick your finger and dab it on over each knot. Right over left, right over left, right over left. The idea is “right over wrong, right over wrong, right over wrong.”

      It’s best to request the holy Powers That Be in your tradition or belief system to bless this. The most traditional blessing requested was for a Solar Deity such as Helios.

      For alrums the tradition goes something like:
      One at the hearth
      One at the heart
      One for your lover, never to part

      Although that one can be on a pet, or your children. Can also be on your spouse and children; just make enough for everyone in your immediate family. Since children and pets are notorious for losing things, if you’re going to make these for them, you might want to make duplicates. Some for the little cretins to carry around in their bookbags or on a necklace or whatever (I’d recommend some sort of durability treatment for that if you made a necklace), and some to keep at home, say on an altar or shrine. A small version of one of these can also be carried in a wallet or purse. As for pets, I’d just make one of these and put it near my altar in a drawer with prayers for the pet’s well being. Reason: pets can and will eat these. In fact, for that reason I like to keep the hearth one also in a drawer near the hearth but not actually over it unless I suspend it from a nail on the wall or something.

      Once you’ve got these down, you can make smaller more inconspicuous ones and put them wherever you like, especially over exterior windows and doors, in glove compartments, over garden gates, etc.

      After they sit around for a week or so you can use clear all-purpose glue to help glue down the thread. I suggest this.

      Traditionally when these start to fall apart is when it’s time to make new ones. Same deal if the red color of the cord or thread starts to fade. Burning the old stuff is considered best and no need to take it apart first. You can also bury it or throw it away, but I prefer burning it.

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2025

    • Wine Analog 1

      Wine Analog 1

      Feb 6, 2025 by HTV9

      This is not wine. It’s nonalcoholic. It consists of:
      1/3 c. pomegranate juice
      1/3 c. cranberry juice cocktail
      3 tbsp ginger ale
      1 tbsp black tea
      It’s passable. Next time I’ll add some grape juice and skip the ginger ale in favor of 1 teaspoon of juice from grated fresh ginger. Since this has ginger in it avoid it during pregnancy. Come to think of it pomegranate can also be sus during pregnancy so I think at some point I’ll make a version of this stuff without either of those things.

      I tried it with some Cheddar type cheese and bread with caraway seeds. Went well. It would go well with a whole cheese plate like this one https://newbookofdays.com/2025/07/10/simple-cheese-plate/ or with some cheese, crackers and fruit.

      Nonalcoholic Wine Version 1

      • Servings: 1
      • Difficulty: easy
      • Print


      Since this has ginger and pomegranate in it avoid it during pregnancy. Goes well with a cheese plate, or with Cheddar cheese, crackers or bread with caraway seeds, and fruit. Source: newbookofdays.com

      Ingredients

      • 1/3 c. pomegranate juice
      • 1/3 c. cranberry juice cocktail
      • 3 tbsp ginger ale
      • 1 tbsp black tea

      Directions

      1. Mix all ingredients in a glass

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2025

    • Body Butter Attempt (dangerous)

      Body Butter Attempt (dangerous)

      Jan 22, 2025 by HTV9

      Ok so this is an idea I had for a while. Unsweetened chocolate for baking is basically just cocoa solids with cocoa butter, right? Well what if I used that instead of cocoa butter when making body butter? Here’s my super dangerous double boiler setup for that purpose. Broken chopsticks at the bottom of a saucepan that I should not have filled with that much water, with a too-large glass heatproof vessel on top of the chopsticks. The extra chopstick on the top is for stirring the stuff as it melts. Water in the mix is bad because if it works, it will make it spoil faster. As you can see, it’s on too high a heat, with bubbles at the bottom. Right after I took this picture I turned off the heat as the chocolate had almost melted and the residual heat would take care of it. Anyway, ideally, I would use a safer double-boiler setup, wait til the stuff had cooled off a bit, then stir it all together and hope it would work. I won’t tell you what I did to wrangle the inner bit out of there and off the heat, without getting water from the double boiler setup into the mix, and how long I waited to do that. But I got it out of there. Here’s the recipe:
      7 tbsp sunflower oil
      1.5 ounces unsweetened chocolate (each chocolate bar has ounces written on there)
      If I was more patient I could have used broken, or neatly sawn in half, chopsticks at the bottom of a slow cooker on low with water in there topped with a loosely closed heatproof jar, since I tend to use slow cookers on low as simmer pots in the winter anyway. Maybe later. At any rate if this stuff even works remains to be seen. Will let you know in an update on this post.

      January 23, 2025 Update: I have inadvertently created a very effective nontoxic self-tanner. After letting this stuff sit overnight and cool in my fairly cold kitchen, I mashed it against the sides of the container with a wooden spoon to get the consistency kind of whipped up. Looked like brownie batter. To be honest it is the absolute perfect consistency for body butter, and I’ll use that ratio of wax to oil in each subsequent attempt. So I put a dab of it on and – hey presto, hands look like I spent a week at the beach in the middle of January. It looks entirely natural too which is kind of amazing. It also smells distinctly of cocoa powder when it’s worn. Since the sunscreen I have to use due to chemical sensitivity is the “bleach your skin” type with zinc oxide, I might just double it up with some of this.

      January 24, 2025 Update: This stuff has some unusual properties. It is moisturizing, so there is that but there are others.
      1. Stains clothing
      2. Keeps skin looking tanned for a good day at least afterwards, even after washing the stuff off
      3. If used as foot cream, seems to make you feel warmer
      4. Gives you a bunch of energy, probably the caffeine getting absorbed into the skin

      July 10, 2025 Update: Shoulda stored this in the fridge and used it faster, for it went bad in about 3 months. Ah well. Still is a good base recipe for moisturizer salve. I’ll try using cocoa butter or beeswax instead of the chocolate next time.

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2025

    • Fail

      Fail

      Jan 14, 2025 by HTV9

      Ah yes, an auspicious start to the New Year. My husband brought me a glass of orange juice with this inch-high froth on it. Apparently he’s been shaking each bottle of orange juice up like crazy before pouring it ever since he was a kid since it amuses him. I thought it meddled with the flavor and made it worse so I decided to “improve” it. A pinch of cinnamon, guzzled that, then added half a cup of cold black tea. It did not improve the flavor. In fact, it’s really bad.

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2025

    • Beans

      Beans

      Dec 20, 2024 by HTV9

      Beans, or as I see them, the sadist of the kitchen. Superfood, really good for you, and absolute nightmare to cook. I had this idea of combining all the softening methods for beans I’d heard of into one and it worked to make the total cook time 1 hour, including the time it took to bring the pots up to the boil, which was about 15 to 20 minutes. It is still not very accessible for someone with limited mobility, but it is a little easier than the usual methods. Here are the steps:

      1. Pour out the beans on a baking dish. I used 2 cups or so. Discard any beans that have holes in them, any rocks or grit, weird bits of grass, etc. I poured them directly out of the dish into a big bowl and regret that, since some weird bits of grass wanted to migrate over so I’ll pick them out of the dish handful by handful next time.

      2. Cover them in lots of tap water. Discard any beans that float to the surface using a slotted spoon. Swish them around, drain it.

      3. Distribute the beans into containers that won’t affect their flavor. Since they’re headed to an 8 to 12 hour soak they’ll take on the flavor of what they’re soaked in. I skipped a stainless steel bowl in favor of three glass containers with plastic lids available, but left the lids off. Ceramic would also work as would a bunch of glass jars. So, making sure there’ enough room for three (ideally four) times the volume of water as of beans, distribute them into enough soaking vessels for that purpose. Top with that much water and put those in the fridge. Soak those overnight.

      4. In the morning, pour the beans into a strainer and let that water go into the sink. Then set the strainer over a bowl. Wait half an hour. Yes, this step is important. Softens the beans more. Save that strainer, you’ll need it relatively clean later

      5. In however many nonstick, cast-iron, or enameled cast iron pots you need (ideally, I’d have used an 8- to 10-cup nonstick pot, but we don’t have one yet), or stainless steel if that’s all you have, bring all that to a boil in at least 3 and preferably 5 times as much water, by volume as you have beans. You can estimate the volume. You have to sit around waiting for it to boil, and don’t cover it. Or it will boil over like mine did. Ugh, beans.

      6. Continue to boil it for at least 1 minute. 2 minutes is enough. Turn off the heat, then when it stops threatening to boil over put lids on it. Wait an hour. This is the “quick soak” method you’ve probably heard about. Yes, this step is important too.

      7. Last stretch, and this is important: drain the beans in the strainer, then put them back in the pots and cover them with at least 3, preferably 5 times as much water by volume as beans. Bring that back to a boil, which will take about 20 minutes, then add the seasonings you want because they’ll be done in 40 minutes tops. Maybe 30. I used, per pot, a few grinds of black pepper, a bay leaf, and about half a teaspoon of onion powder. Each pot is about 1 and a half cups’ worth of cooked beans. Check on it when you can, and when they’re done, add as much salt as you want. Let them sit there and absorb the salt, which will take like 10 minutes, and you can do whatever you want with them. Any leftovers can go into containers and get stored in the fridge.

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2024

    • An Expanding List Of (in theory) Hardy Trees & Shrubs For Texas

      Dec 4, 2024 by HTV9

      Okay so this is embarrassing. As someone who cares about the environment and also a Wiccan I’ve tried to plant a whole lot of trees in my backyard. Because of course I would, it’s part of my religion to honor the Earth, right? Guess how many have died? All but one. Something about the crazy climate and soil conditions here. We have: drought, heat, frost, crap soil, deluges of rain for weeks on end when it does arrive, mold, mildew, invasive snails, and very large bugs. So this list is gonna be a list of trees that in theory work here, and also a list of the (RIP) trees and shrubs that I planted with my husband. I’ll add to the list of potentially growable trees as I find some and any trees that do manage to make it here past a few years of life after we plant them. And moving forward I plan to use a lot more mulch, like 3 inches thick. It’s surprisingly hard to find this information because most of the resources about it are pretty unrealistic about how “easy” they are to grow here. Why? Who knows? Planting season for trees in Texas is late November/early December so we’ll see what happens in late 2025 and through 2026.

      Survivors on May 18, 2025:
      This year I didn’t want to lose anything. Therefore I fertilized, put mulch around, and generally slaved over whatever I planted. Here’s what is still alive.

      Additional elderberry cuttings
      Holly bush
      Bitter orange
      RIP: River birch, oak, elderberry cuttings, pear, osmanthus, peach, holly, mandarin orange, and that one apple sapling that sprouted from a buried apple core which I actually saw a bird carrying away in its beak for some reason. Unbelievable.
      The Survivor: A mandarin orange tree, which we’re going to have to keep alive through the Winter somehow.
      RIP (April 4, 2025): It died. Darn!
      It Lives (May 18, 2025): Kinda. The bitter orange tree that the mandarin orange was grafted on is now growing and sending out shoots. So earlier this year I pruned the dead mandarin orange off of it, and it’s doing surprisingly well

      Didn’t plant but still grows here: Texas ash, mulberry, catalpa, crepe myrtle

      In theory could work:
      More Texas ash, mulberry, catalpa, crepe myrtle
      Oak, just about any kind of oak
      Albizzia
      Pine, whatever will actually grow here
      American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana)
      Shore pine (Pinus contorta ‘Spaan’s Dwarf’)
      Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii ‘Banshosho’)
      Common juniper, unfortunately, which causes cedar fever aka The Pollening here every single Springtime. Tempting, and traditional for burning the foliage of for blessing a place and spiritual protection in some kinds of Paganism, but the Pollen.
      Apple

      Attempting:
      Holly bush. Planted. As mentioned above, in May 18 2025 is still doing pretty good. This is American holly by the way.

      Edits added 6/2/25 and 7/21/25

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2025

    • Dusting Tool

      Dusting Tool

      Nov 18, 2024 by HTV9

      This is more experimental than anything else. It’s three chopsticks rubber-banded together, with one of those knit dustrags I made kind of wadded at the top and attached to it with a hair tie. Does it dust more easily and effectively than just the dustrag itself? Only time will tell.

      Edited, December 20, 2024: This thing doesn’t seem to help as much as just the knit portion.

      © http://www.abrandnewbookofdays.com 2024