Vegan Planet: 400 Irresistible with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World

Where to buy: www.amazon.com

Vegan cooking doesn’t have to be difficult or boring. With a bit of imagination and some help from cookbooks, you’ll be well on your way to enjoy the advantages that a vegan diet can bring you. The Vegan Planet cookbook offers, in my opinion, a wide range of different tastes for all types of palates. I am sure you can please even your non-vegan friends with a scrumptious selection of some of the 400 recipes in this great book.

I like it that the book provides recipes from different ethnic kitchens adapted to be vegan. There is a section on soups, salads and slaws, sauces and dressings, grains, pasta, beans, grilling and stir-frying, stuffed, pizza, smoothies, shakes and not forgetting delicious vegan desserts. You also learn tricks of the vegan trade on how to make eggless Hollandaise sauce or vegan Bechamel Sauce.

Overall, I think this cookbook appeals to people who either want to sometimes incorporate vegan foods into their diet due to health reasons or people who are vegan and in need of some new recipe ideas. Don’t you think Vegetarian Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce, Basmati-Stuffed Grape Leaves with Pine Nuts and Dill, Luscious Lemon-Cranberry Cooler or Nut and Date Truffles just sounds delicious?

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How Efficient Are Home Wind Turbine Kits?

Home wind turbine kits are cropping up all over the place. They can be bought off the shelf at large retail stores and installed by the homeowner or professionally. But how much power do they produce? Are they worth it? Here are some things to consider about home wind turbine kits and their efficiency.

A wind turbine’s efficiency depends upon several factors, such as the size of the building being powered, the strength and frequency of the wind, and the size of the turbine itself. It also depends largely on your surroundings.

How They Work

Wind turbines have either a horizontal or vertical axis. Horizontal-axis turbines are the ones you generally see in modern wind farms; the blades look like a propeller. Vertical-axis turbines are more likely to be seen in residential models. These upright turbines resemble egg beaters.

No matter what the design, the principle is the same: the blades are attached to a shaft, so that when the wind turns the blades the shaft turns. The shaft runs into a generator inside the turbine, and as it turns it makes electricity.

Generally speaking, the larger and faster the turbine, the more electricity it can produce.

Residential Turbines

If you live in the city or anywhere that has a great many neighbors and buildings nearby, your wind turbine won’t be able to power your household. It will, however, be able to supplement about 10 percent of your power usage. The reason for this is the presence of buildings that break up wind patterns. This makes it much harder to generate large amounts of electricity reliably.

Urban and suburban turbines are generally more expensive; their design is more specialized to compensate for the lack of steady, strong wind. However, it is not out of the question to install a turbine if you live in the city; just be prepared for it not to be your sole power source.

Rural Turbines

In remote areas, winds are more reliably strong. You can buy a cheaper model of turbine for your rooftop if you live where there are few buildings to obstruct the winds. If your surroundings are such that winds are predictably strong and straight, a wind turbine kit could be quite efficient. Flat terrain works best; mountains and hills break up wind patterns, too.

Increasing Efficiency

In order to increase the efficiency of your home wind power system, consider installing more than one turbine. You should also have a battery connected to the turbine in order to store extra electricity to use on non-windy days.

Tax rebates, a new incentive, also add to the efficiency of a home turbine.

Home wind turbines are durable and will last for years.

Alternative Wall Coverings

These days, the creative, individualized look is in. Do-it-yourself projects that are eco-friendly are hip and modern. So if you’ve wanted to cover your walls with something a little different, now’s the time!

There are a lot of interesting wall covering materials available nowadays. And you don’t have to use a “proper” wall covering purchased from a store; you can use materials you have on hand. Let’s take a look at some of these possibilities and their costs and durability.

1. Papyrus

This ancient Egyptian paper can be purchased in sheets of various sizes. The larger the size, the greater the cost – a sheet about 2 feet x 3 feet costs around $7. It is said to be quite durable and lends a mysterious air to a room.

2. Cork

A thicker wall covering than paper, cork is a cozy-looking wall covering that is fairly durable, but subject to damage from being bumped or gouged. It is fairly expensive at $325 to $450 for a 3×60-foot roll.

3. Recycled paper

Some commercial wall papers are made from recycled paper. But if you really want to save money and get creative, recycle paper yourself by using it to cover your walls. Some ideas of recycled paper wall coverings include:

* Newspaper – use the comics or newspapers from other countries, or headlines only; the wall’s the limit on this one!

* Photos – print photos out on paper and cover your wall with them; or dig out those paper photos sitting in boxes in your closet and paste them to the wall.

* Magazines can provide beautiful, colorful wall coverings in any theme you choose.

* Brown paper bags can make a really lovely, textured wall covering that can be stained to look like leather.

* Postcards – create a wall of memories with a postcard wall covering.

* Business cards, if you have enough of them, can make a unique and fun wall covering.

* Encyclopedias are obsolete, but you can use their pages to cover a wall. What an informative wall that would be!

* Holiday cards can make a festive wall cover, and make good use of those cards that are too beautiful to throw out but too numerous to keep.

4. Rice paper

Rice paper is surprisingly durable and washable, and comes in a variety of colors. It is affordable at around $25 for a 39×94-inch roll.

5. Fabric

Using fabric to cover walls is a fairly easy way to create a panel that can then be mounted to the wall. The price of this sort of wall cover will vary enormously, depending on the fabric you use. If you use an old sheet, your cost will be nil. You can dress up an old sheet with dyeing techniques like tie-dye or batik.

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