Hanging up those invisible shoes

I finally hung up those invisible shoes that kept creeping onto my feet so often. Here I am back in India, in the city where I was born, grew up, went to college and got married. It feels great to be back after leaving this lovely city almost 9 years ago, right after I got married.

The past month was exciting and chaotic and I barely had enough time to breathe. After our tenants moved out, the house had to be painted and cleaned and furnished, well partly-furnished...I still have a ton of things to buy. I hated and loved every minute of the past month though. Hated that I had to get all the things done by myself in the fantastic heat and humidity, but loved laboring to get the house my husband and I so dearly dreamt of, in order.

Now that I have time to breathe and a little more to spare, things are going to get soapy again. :)

Before going back to Austria in January I made a couple of batches of soap so they would be cured and ready to greet me on my return to India. I tried my hand at the spoon swirl and let's just leave it at that. The color contrasts were very subtle, almost too subtle to notice any swirls. Plus I just wanted to finish using up the Lemon-Eucalyptus EO.

Another one was a coffee soap, made with brewed filter coffee. I love the scent and surprisingly after 3 months of curing it still smells like coffee. Maybe it is due to the 20-30% chicory added to the coffee beans in India. The soaps got generously showered with coffee beans for decoration, which have been falling off with every fondle.

Some of these coffee soaps I gave as Mother's Day gifts to my aunts and a cousin, all wonderful mothers who spend so many hours in the kitchen.

I leave you with a picture and promise to be back soon with more soap pictures of new creations.

Please don't notice the ribbon edges...again no time to breath
applies plus couldn't locate the scissors.

Soda ash on the top.... not too bad.
Missing coffee beans....no comments!! :D

Minty Coffee Soap

 Made on: 16.02.2011

After a tea soap, I thought, why not coffee!! I love south Indian filtered coffee...made with a thick coffee brew, freshly boiled milk and lots of sugar....mmmm Heaven!! For a great cup in the morning, ground coffee is put into the top vessel with tiny holes, the filter is placed on top, boiling water is poured over it and then the lid is fitted so that the water seeps through the coffee with the help of gravity and collects slowly in the bottom vessel through the night (actually a couple of hours). Me thinks nothing says 'Good Morning' better than a cup of filter coffee. Here's a picture of the filter if you like:

Not my picture, found it on the internet

They are also available in brass in pretty designs and I plan to buy myself one (when I go to India). I like things made of brass, because they have a traditional Indian feel.  Back to my coffee soap! I heard coffee soaps have the power to rid the hands of ugly fish, onion and garlic smells to name a few.  I formulated my own recipe this time.

Coconut oil - 32%
Palm oil - 32%
Canola oil - 32%
Sunflower oil - 5% (I don't know why I thought of that 5%)

A very basic kitchen soap. The lye solution was made with very strong coffee brew and the coffee grounds were added towards the end into the soap for a scrub effect. I also added some ground cinnamon. I love spices! :)

When I wrapped up the soap in a fleece blanket to gel, it became really really hot. It must have been the cinnamon. The soaps gelled wonderfully...

Soap going through the gel phase

Before(left) and after(right) gel

Mint, lime and clove (more spices, why not?) essential oils make this soap smell really fresh and clean but also warm (and spicy?). I love the fragrance! Just wish I had used a more skin caring olive oil or some butters instead of so much coconut oil. My hands feel a little dry after washing, but the food smells really vanish.  My minty cinnamon-y coffee soap says 'Good Morning'!