Shall we play a game?....

I know that really dates me...
I did love that movie though...

...but that's not the game I wanted to play - I've been to the closest Health Food store - 90 miles away - and I always come home with this big bag of vegan goodies...

...and I thought it was time we did another giveaway chez affectioknit...

I left the photo big - so you can click on it and get a better view - If you want to play the rules are simple - just post your guesses to all of the vegan foods above - if only one person gets it right - they will of course win - but if not we'll have a drawing - and you'll get an extra entry if you follow this blog - and a third entry if you follow The Vegan Version - and a 4th entry if you post about it on your blog - so play along - it'll be fun!

WHAT YOU'LL WIN!

...a brand new copy of Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest !

The Drawing (or announcement of the winner and all the correct answers) will be St. Valentine's Day!

Italian Slipper Bread - AKA - Ciabatta

I love the name Ciabatta - so named because the bread is said to resemble a well loved and well worn slipper...

I used the recipe in this book
but I found a link to this one online for you - Ciabatta-Italian-Slipper-Bread - it's much the same.

Make sure you allow plenty of time - the sponge has to 'develop' for 12 hours - so probably best done the day before...


It really is a wet dough and difficult to manage - make sure you flour your hands very well when you shape the loaf - and resist the urge to add any more flour.

But it is so worth it!

This loaf was perfection - crispy on the outside and a little bit chewy on the inside...

Check out The Vegan Version to see what we ate this with today...

The Vegan Version

Yep! I did it - I've got a brand new blog out there...

It's called The Vegan Version and it will be dedicated to my attempts to veganize some/most of Julia's recipes - come on over - it'll be fun!

Make your own Aquarium Background

Now that we've painted the walls - the aquarium needed a background to hide all of the wires - we looked a several online - but none of them fit the ancient ruins 'theme' that Scout had going in the aquarium...

...so we discussed what he wanted - same colour as the walls - thought about just painting some poster board with the room colour - thought about just black (the rocks are black) - or black with some specks of neon green to match the rocks - or pale blue - it was hard to decide...

...but we finally rolled out some newsprint...

...painted that the same green as the room...

...let it dry...

...then sketched an ancient ruins scene with a sharpie - in case it gets a little splash of water it won't run...

...it's sorta hard to see throught the bubble curtain...

...let's turn that off - Scout is pretty pleased with the new background - it's hard to tell about the fish...

The Green Room - repairs

We had a huge hole to patch in one wall of Scout's room (sorry I didn't take a before picture) - Mom and Karen will remember what it looks like - because it was exactly like the hole I kicked in my bedroom wall doing gymnastics on the bed - ha!

So I filled in the hole and then realized that I didn't have any of the textured paint that was used on the walls - so I improvised, of course - I painted the spackling with primer and then I just rubbed on some of the sand left over from the big pyramid project - let that dry and then painted on another coat of primer...

...it's a pretty good match - and no more hole in the wall - YAY!

The Green Room and the Great Fish Tank Caper

Y'all know I'm a white wall kinda gal...

...I would seriously love pure white walls with walnut trim throughout my house - for some reason this does not appeal to everyone...

...Scout wanted his room painted green - it was white of course...

...so we went to the local paint store - our small town still has one - and perused the paint chips...

...Scout settled on a colour somewhere between neon and celadon green - it's really an odd shade - and the pictures don't really do it justice - I'll try and get some of the finished room in natural light...

...Scout is such a helper - and so thorough - he loved the little trim painter thingy (he must get his gadget-loving gene from me) - and the roller - back and forth and up and down - making sure no white was left showing at all...

...the painting was the easy part - in order to paint the wall behind the aquarium - we had to move it - 55 gallons of water up the hallway and back - I would have strung the garden hose in the window but it's frozen...

...and he's such a good fish-parent as well - gently moving the fish in and out of the tank - all survived the night...

Another Swap

Sweet Magarida at By Daisy and I did a little swapsie - I sent her one of my Peace ornaments and she sent me this lovely bag - can you make out the little stitched heart - such attention to detail and such a perfect little bag - how come it always seems to me that I get the better end of any swap...

Thank you so much Margarida!