Tuesday, July 31, 2018

...Birthday Week...Sister Presents...

...y'all know that birthdays around here often spread out a week or more...
...this was the first gift to arrive...Jack was very interested...and the 'traveling birthday card'...is in there...
...such a pretty thing...I love it...
...I talked to my sweet sissie...and she said it is a sugar shaker...most of my other Blue Willow...including my great grandmother's plate are Churchill...but a quick search of the interwebs tells me that this one is Moriyama from Japan...
...it didn't have a stopper...so I made one from a wine cork...
...just trimmed it down to fit in the hole...it's not actually cork...so I'll try and get a natural one soon...
...it fits perfectly and keeps the sugar inside...
...and the pretty little shaker holds the place of honor in my kitchen window...where I'll see it every day...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, July 30, 2018

...Birthday Week...the Cards...

...I know it's not a card...but this was on my Bing homepage on my birthday morning...
...when you click Make a wish...it blows out your candles...
...and then a comet flies off.... with your wish presumably...
...and Bing wishes you a Happy Birthday...isn't that nice...
...my dear friend Amy gave me this sweetly hilarious knitting themed card...
...I'm such a sucker for a good card...I can spend hours looking for just the right one...and the funny thing is that I often choose the very first one I picked out...so I guess I could save a lot of time...haha...

...Thank you all for the cards and Birthday wishes...and have a lovely day!

Saturday, July 28, 2018

...Birthday Week...the Dinner...

...there was no movie...just a super nice dinner out...
...my salad...
...and my favorite entrée...capellini with vegetables...the chef makes it special just for me...it's not on the menu...
...and proving that I can take a goofy photo even when I'm not the one snapping it...our server took this one and she even counted so I'd be ready...haha...

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, July 27, 2018

...Friday Favorites...More Mango...

...last week my grocery store had the Honey's...this week they had Tommys...so I thought I'd do another little taste test...
...sliced into them both...and the Tommys are little bit lighter in colour...
...the taste is very pleasant...sweet and a little bit more tart than the Kents...and a little more pineapple-y than peachy...
...and they're a little bit more fibrous too...
...so again I prefer the more readily available Kents...

...this time I decided to cook my mangoes and I made a...

Super Simple Small Batch Mango Chutney

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
2 mangoes peeled and diced
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 T minced fresh ginger
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of mustard
pinch of red chili pepper flakes

...put all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer gently for 45 minutes or so...
...this really was super easy...I just tossed everything together...
...and cooked it for about 45 minutes...until everything was 'done'...
...put it into a jar...
...and served it over grilled tofu...of course...
...it was sweet and tangy and delicious!...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, July 26, 2018

...W.I.A.Y. ...

...another abbreviated What I Ate Yesterday...

...for brekkie...just coffee and cashew creamer...because I was leaving at 11 to meet Amy for our annual Birthday get-together...

...her birthday is in June and mine is fast approaching...and we usually try to meet up in between the two...

...and that being said...I can finally show you her little pressie...

...naturally...I couldn't show you before on W.I.P. Wednesday or she would have seen it...

...the last time we met for lunch she was admiring my little Bikinisocken...

...so...of course...she's getting a pair of her own...
...also...I made quite a few adaptations to the original pattern...

...first of all...I knit them on 2 needles instead of in the round...which I found to be quite fiddly...especially around the toe...
...and I only cast on 48 stitches as the pattern seems a little bit loose on my feet...and I don't have particularly narrow feet...

...so just a few rows of K2P2 ribbing...then a band of stockinette...
...then I knit the toe portion in the middle...also in K2P2...
...stitched that closed and picked up the stitches for the rest of the band....
...and knit a few rows of ribbing for that...
...and a simple side seam and they were done...
...and of course I made two...and tucked them into a matching pair of flip flops...
...and I was ready to go...

...and lunch was at our favorite Thai place...
...I got mixed vegetables with tofu...I usually get curry...but this was good...
...and dinner was a delicious bowl of veggie goodness...Brussles...carrots...broccoli...sweet potato...grilled tofu...and homemade sauerkraut...

...what did you eat yesterday?...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...progress so far on the PLARN beach bag...
...I had exactly one black bag in the drawer...so I used that for two thin black stripes flanking the wider blue stripe in the middle...

...still no real pattern...I've done 20 rounds of white one of black 15 of blue and one more of black...then back to white for at least 20 rows...until it's about the right height...I'll leave holes for rope handles a few rows before the top...and that's about it...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...I'm still working on the pretty Purl Soho Circular Yoke Summer Shirt...my goal there is just a couple of 300 stitch rows a day...haha...

~Have a lovely day...

Monday, July 23, 2018

...Over the Weekend...

...it seems like it was a busy weekend...so let's jump in and see what we accomplished...
...I did the weekly shopping...of course...and when I got home...I washed and trimmed the greens for the week...haha...
...and cooked those in the Instant Pot...
...as soon as they were done...they only take a few minutes...I cooked a bag of garbanzos...
...because I wanted to make the quick and easy Hummus recipe from my Vitamix cookbook...
...just a few ingredients and a whirl in the blender...
...and we have a nice tub of hummus...
...to snack on through the week...
...then I froze the rest of the beans and the cooking liquid...aqua faba...
...for later use...
...and because I had gotten several 49¢ avocados and I knew we wouldn't be able to get them all eaten before they went bad...
...so I used the handy-dandy little tool Mom gave me for Christmas to slice them up...
...put them on a tray...
...and froze them...

...now...I'm not sure you actually can freeze avocados...but I thought I'd try it and use them for toast and guacamole...surely they'll be all right for that...
...and...speaking of avocados...
...the little guy we sprouted in the window is getting quite tall and spindly...so we transplanted him into some soil and put him on the back porch for now...his name is Douglas...
...and then I cleaned the blinds in the den...Kitten was fascinated...
...the cords were a bit stained...so I put some soapy water in a ziplock baggie and zipped the cords up for a soak...it worked pretty well...they're still not snow white...but...much better than they were...
...I mixed up a 5 lb. bag of self rising flour...using aluminum free baking powder...recipe here...
...I made Scout a pan of his favorite Brussels Sprouts for snacking on...they're like popcorn...haha...
...Jack-Jack enjoyed a sunny afternoon outside...
...I made some super easy Vegan Mayo...

...I've been making it like this in small amounts because I just don't eat that much mayonnaise...and I hate to buy the big jars at the grocery and then have it go bad before I use it all up...
...this is super thick and creamy...
...and I just store it in a little jar...
...that way I use it all up...and then I just whip up a new batch...

Super Easy Small Batch Vegan Mayo

1/2 cup neutral oil
1/4 cup vegan milk
1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
scant pinch of mustard
salt to taste...I used about 1/4 teaspoon for this small batch...
...and then I sliced some extra firm tofu really thinly...
...two pans full...
...got a packet of leftover vegan bacon seasoning out of the freezer and let it thaw...
...then when the tofu was sufficiently crispy...
...some pieces are crispy and others are more chewy...
...I poured over the marinade...
...and let it cook until it evaporated...

...now I'm ready to use my vegan bacon and vegan mayo for a VEGAN B.L.T. with some of those delicious tomatoes we've been receiving...
...and finally...I used up the last of a watermelon...
...by making a refreshing watermelon smoothie...one ingredient...watermelon...haha...
...and then today...we are having the first rain we've had in weeks...so that's a refreshing start to the week...

~Have a lovely day!