...9.16...Over the Weekend...

...for breakfast...vegan biscuits and gravy...

...and for the gravy I wanted to try Jill McKeever's fat free cauliflower gravy...

...it sounds crazy I know...cauliflower cooked in soymilk...with some herbs...that's it...blended up...it's amazingly like gravy...I actually liked it...the Man...not so much...haha...

...I just made a sort of a scone-like biscuit...as I couldn't be bothered to roll it out and cut it into biscuits...I should have used my cast iron biscuit pan...but it won't fit into my outdoor oven...haha...

...we also had a tofu scramble...and some strawberry jam...for the biscuit that didn't get covered with 'gravy'...

...I'll make the cauliflower gravy again...the Man said he'd rather not...

...sort of a normal shop...the Aldi brand stuffing appears to be vegan...and a quick internet search tells me that this cornbread variety is accidently vegan...so YAY!...

...and now on to the SAD part of the weekend...

...the Lavender project is officially OVER...remember when they were beautiful...

...well...they're not anymore...

...so we dug them all up...

...I'm going to try and save these two nearest to the house...a little more shade and shelter there...so they are still (barely) alive...

...so I emptied out the green bean pots...because I wanted their dirt for potting the lavender...

...and here are the lone survivors...if I can keep them alive I'll give them to Mom...and maybe she'll have better luck with them in the mountains...

...the sad little row where the lavender used to be...

...but on the positive side...we can now spend hours deciding what we want to put there to replace it...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...9.14...Dinner and a Movie...

...to my sweet sissie Karen who blogs from her boat at McCraw Sails...Hey K...I do LOVE the photo of you and Daddy outside the Church at your wedding...so sweet and beautiful...the toilet cleanout is a chore I'm sure...but your cover looks awesome...we've gotten very little rain so far...hopefully we will though...Love, T

...to karen from Pumpkin Sunrise...Hi Karen...wow...you're so close to finishing your cardi...it's gorgeous...I'm still working on the Grandbabe's Norther Lights sweater...just a few rows really as we're so busy with the bathroom reno...

...to Éphée from L'éphémère quotidienneté des repas et autres trucs de magie...Hi Éphée...your zucchini is such a perfect idea...we often just sauté it but stuffed would be even better...what a beautiful place...and I agree October is nicer...

...to Penny from Snap That Penny...Hi Penny...your veiw is gorgeous...and the weather here is much cooler...and things are starting to feel a bit fall-like...we'll still have a few hot days...but summer is pretty much over...

...on the reading front...I've just finished Sketches by Boz...next up is The Mudfog Papers and Other Sketches...another collection...probably another ebook...but I've had very little time for reading...or knitting...

...and it was Spaghetti Night...I love spaghetti night...

...the Man made his delicious marinara sauce...

...and instead of sautéing them I roasted some zucchini in the outside kitchen...

...along with some eggplant...

...and we topped out spaghetti with that...

...for the movie...we watched an episode of Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries...it's fun to see all of the sixties clothes and cars and decor...but the actual storyline...well...it's not Agatha Christie...maybe my standard is too high...this episode was about a murdered show dog handler...but a sort of lighthearted mystery is sometimes good...not at all like the dark/chilling/suspenseful Broadchurch or Shetland...those are sometimes difficult to watch...

...what have you been watching lately?...

~Have a lovely weekend!

...9.13...Friday Update...

...we've accomplished a lot in the Hallway Bath...we removed the vinyl flooring...

...it was only stapled down...so we were really happy about that...no glue...

...the Man got the new lights installed over my patched walls...funny you can see a blurry photo of me taking the photo...haha...

...I really like the new lights...sort of a 20's vibe...

...and so much better than the bar lights that hurt my eyes...

...the floor is ready for new tile...

...and the Man installed these retro push button lights...I love them a lot...

...and matching plates for the outlets...

...in the water closet/bath area...a double one with the fan switch...

...not sure you could see it very well in the floor photo above...but there was a sizeable gap between the luan and the wall...as it was covered by over an inch of baseboard and quarter round it was not an issue...but with mosaic tile...I wanted a solid floor all the way to the wall...we're going to be using Ditra for the first time...and there's a band that makes the room 'waterproof'...so...I used an Ardex floor leveling compound to fill in all the gaps around the room...

...and then it was time for the really stressful job of removing the countertop...remember the Man had just busted up the faded yellowed one in the Master bath...but this one is salvageable/usable...so we're trying to save it...but make it small enough that we can carry it...it really weighs a lot...

...we managed to slide it out from under the mirror without breaking the mirror...so a huge sigh of relief...

...the Man prepped the little saw we had gotten for the tile cutting in the Master Bath when we bumped the cabinet out to make a larger surface for the countertop...

...and made a neat cut up to the backsplash...where the countertop broke in two...rather cleanly...I think it's still usable as the new owner can either sand that or cut it to fit their new cabinet...

...and so we have two single vanity tops to donate instead of one double...and we can easily carry each piece now...it still takes both of us...

...and finally I primed the cabinet...

~Have a lovely day!

...9.12...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...this is the recipe that I got the mint for...it's called the Jennifer Anniston Salad...and it's funny that she says she never actually ate this salad...haha...

...I was never a 'Friends' fan...were you?...I was aware of the show (of course)...and I've seen a few episodes I'm sure...but I had friends who planned their week around being there to watch each episode...funny...I did like the theme song though...

...I think I've shown you my vegan feta/cottage cheese method before...but I just take a block of tofu...and dice it up really tiny...into 1/8 inch little cubes...

...and then I cook it in boiling salted vinegar water for about ten minutes...about a tablespoon of salt (so really salty) and about 1/2 cup of vinegar...

...then I strain it and put it onto a (as Julia would say) 'scrupulously' clean kitchen towel...for vegan cottage I'd mix it with some vegan cream at this point...

...but for the firmer texture of vegan feta...I baked it for about 15 minutes to dry it out and firm it up...

...the recipe calls for pistachios...but I'm using almonds instead as I don't have any pistachios...

...it's really easy to make...you just cook your bulghur...and put everything into a big bowl...the recipe calls for a half cup of both mint and parsley...but I didn't use nearly that much...as I'm not a huge fan of parsley...and a half cup of mint just seems like way too much...

...the simple dressing is delicious...and I do mean simple...it's just lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper...

...add your cooled bulghur...and give everything a good stir...

...then add the dressing...

...and for such a simple salad...it's really delicious...

...I'll definitely be making it again...probably won't add the almonds again though...not that they tasted bad (or really at all)...I just didn't particularly like the crunchy bits...

...I ate that bowl standing at the counter when it was just made...and then I had it as a proper side dish with my sammie at lunch...so yummy!

~Have a lovely day!

...9.11...Happy Birthday Daddy...R.I.P. ...

...Daddy would have been 85 years old today...

...he was born on a Monday...at home...Nanny said after many hours of hard labor...he was a breech birth...

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living.
But the child that is born on Sabbath day,
Is bonny and blithe, good and gay.

...and Daddy was definitely "Fair of Face"...

Requiescat in pace...

...9.10...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made a cream filling the Vegan Fondue de Volaille...

...and served it over biscuits sort of like a gravy...but it was really tasted like a good pot pie...I'd definitely make this one again...

...and all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

...9.9...Over the Weekend...

...this will be mostly a Hallway Bathroom update...but I'll start off the 'regular' way...

...with breakfast...I had some of the Violife cream cheese on an everything bagel...it was delicious...not sure it's any different from the plastic tub variety...

...and then I did the regular weekly shopping...nothing really of note...

...but I got some mint for a recipe I wanted to try...they have this little area in the veg department with these little baggies...I was telling Mom about it...as I had pulled up a mint plant and stuck it into the baggie...and she said I wasn't supposed to do that...but only snip leaves off...uh oh...sorry...

...I stuck it into some water and I'll plant it in the pot with the remaining basil, parsley and chives...

...I think the only food prep I did was to bake some vegan cornbread...I'll need it for the leftover pozole soup this week...

...and I stuck the muffins into an empty cereal bag...I'm loving using these bags instead of ziplock ones...

...and then before we get started on the Hallway bathroom...we finished up just a few little things in the Master bath...for some reason...those last few little things take forever to accomplish...

...but I really needed to caulk the mirror frame we built...in hindsight...we should have painted the back of the molding we used...because the back is reflected in the mirror and it's unfinished wood...

...but caulking helps...

...the Man drilled into the shower frame...and added this nifty three pronged towel hook...

...and a neat little hand towel rack beside the sink...and you can see the mirror with the finished caulk and paint...

...now you can just open the shower door and reach your towel...easie peasie...

...and that's the final reveal of the Master Bath...I don't think there's anything else that needs to be done in there...

...so now...on to the Hallway bath...we're kind of putting the kitchen project on hold for a bit because my old school chum Amy is coming for a visit in just a couple of weeks...and we wanted the hallway bathroom finished for her visit...

...so we lugged the new countertop out into the yard to cut it to size...

...just a long straight cut...

...the Man at work...

...measured and laid out the template...

...drilled the corner holes...

...and the Man at work again...cutting out the openings for the sinks...

...back inside...the lights were removed...

...and the molding...

...which left rough areas that needed to be patched/spackled...

...so I did some patching...as the tile won't come that far up onto the walls...

...just working my way around both rooms...oh...you can also see where we removed the toilet...as we'll be replacing it later...

...the Man cut out and framed an opening to install a proper electrical box as the contractors who built the house had just pulled the wire through the wall without a box and wired up the light...those light bars don't require a box because they are lightweight and you can position the hole anywhere behind the bar...

...see what I mean...

...the neatly framed box...

...I cut a piece of sheetrock and spackled that into place...

...there was a stud behind the other hole...so the Man put in a shallow box...

...and I pieced and patched that hole as well...by placing a small piece of wood behind the hole and a small piece of sheetrock over that...

...and a first coat of spackling...

...first coat sanded...

...and second coat applied...

...next up will be the removal of this cultured marble sink...remember the Man just busted up the one in the Master bath...as it really was not worth saving because it was so yellowed in a weird pattern from the sun shining in the window for 20 years onto it...but this one was in a windowless room...and we'd like to salvage it if possible...

...so we removed the little side backsplash pieces...a little worried about the fact that the mirror seems to be sitting on the actual backsplash...yikes...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!