Friday, April 30, 2021

...4.30...Friday Favorites...

...first of all...I meant to show y'all the goodies that Mom brought when she came for a visit last weekend...

...a sweet hand-me-down red dress...it's just a simple A-line dress...I may wear it over some black leggins...or maybe not...we'll see...and some of her famous cookies...(Ritz crackers and peanut butter covered in vegan white chocolate and sprinkles)...there's a bag for me and one for me to put in the next APO box to Our Airman...and also a box of vegan Girl Scout cookies...a couple of Blue Willow saucers and a bowl that match the plate that Grandma gave me that belonged to Mommaw...(Mom spells it Maw-Maw)...and a jar that I left up there...
...apparently when Malin over at Good Eatings mentioned that Swedish pancakes are a Thursday night tradition...the Man went online and ordered some supplies for a Thursday night pancake supper...
...and also apparently...he's not very careful about reading ingredients...haha...so these will have to be donated to the food pantry...
...so he re-ordered the components that we needed to make the original version of pancake mix for the recently renamed pancake mix that we grew up with...(wheat, corn, rice, and rye flours)...
...and we got those mixed up and in the pan...
...the first pancake is never perfect (for me anyway)...so I always just eat it out of hand while I cook the rest of them perfectly...haha...
...the lingonberry jam that he ordered was vegan...
...and we had a delicious Thursday night pancake supper...apparently the Swedes often eat pea soup with this meal as well...so maybe we'll add that next Thursday...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, April 29, 2021

...4.29...What I Ate in a Day...as a Vegan...

...I had made a big cake of vegan cornbread the night before...and I had about half of it leftover...
...so I had a delicious bowl of 'Cornbread and Milk' for breakfast...it's just cornbread...warmed and buttered with Earth Balance...then crumbled into a bowl of cold almond milk...then the whole thing gets a good dowsing of salt...I love Cornbread and Milk...and I don't usually have it for breakfast...but it makes a good one...the slight sweetness of the milk...juxtaposed against the warm(-ish) buttery saltiness of the cornbread...it's good anytime...

...we always called it 'Cornbread and Milk' when I was growing up southern-country...but the Man's family always said "Milk and Bread"...I guess they didn't need to differentiate the cornbread part of it...because that's the only kind of bread you put in milk...right...haha...
...I had a gala apple and some pecans for a snack later...
...then for lunch...we're still trying to use up all of those staples we kindof overbought at the beginning of the pandemic...and this box of sloppy joe mix was still in the cupboard...
...so we mixed that up...
...and had it on toast for lunch...it was really quick...and good...
...and then dinner was ...some grilled tofu...nice and smoky...topped with A-1 sauce...and fried cabbage and stewed potatoes on the side...delicious...but nothing special...

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

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

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

...now that I don't have a fever...and my thumb is not throbbing...
...I was able to get a little bit of knitting done...not sure I'm happy with the alternate (Sharpie dyed) colour change...as it's a little bit too light...I may go back and try to 'overdye' it...you know colour with the sharpie again and spray with alcohol...haha...
...anywhoo...a closeup of the beloved princess sole...the bumpy side is out-facing so the nice smooth stockinette stitch is against the bottom of my foot...sooooo comfy...
...in other news...they've come back to work on taking down the two trees that are damaging the septic system and the foundation...arghhhh...
...so it's pretty noisy around here...with large thuds every few minutes as huge limbs are dropped...
...they are very careful though...tying off any limbs that might damage anything...
...and the trees that will stay...the ones they trimmed earlier are definitely still alive...and putting out new growth...

...what's in your workbasket?...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, April 26, 2021

...4.26...Over the Weekend...

...Friday night...their Saturday morning...we had such a sweet FaceTime with Our Little Family in Okinawa...just days away from New Baby...

...Our Girl was being so silly...(southern word coming up)...wallering around on the fold out chair...it made her hair stand on end...like at the school science exhibition where they always asked a long-haired girl to come up and touch the ball (Van de Graaff generator)...haha...
...it was hilarious...
...and then Sunday Mom came for a quick visit...

...and in between was just a feverish fog...as I had my second Covid vaccine...and spent all day Saturday with a 101° F (38.3° C) temp...seriously I didn't do a single thing...no cooking...no InstaCart...very little eating...anywhooo...I hope that doesn't discourage anyone from getting the shot...because I'm seriously glad that I did...and any reaction seems to be very hit or miss...as the Man felt a little tired...and that was all...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

Saturday, April 24, 2021

...4.24...Dinner and Movie...

...we wanted a big ol' plate of veggies...so I washed some rainbow chard...
...and sauteed that...
...and cooked a little tub of mushrooms...
...and fried some squash...
...added some baked tofu...and that was a perfect dinner...

...and the movie was my pick...it had just showed up in our queue...and I said...oh...I remember trailers for that from when we lived in North Dakota...and I was kind of surprised that we'd never watched it...I think it was a pretty popular film when it was released all those years ago...and I think I'm about 15 years behind the times...mostly...haha...

...have you ever seen The Devil Wears Prada?...

...I thought it was good...I generally like Meryl Streep movies...it was pretty predictable...and not sure the Man cared for it at all...

...what have you been watching lately?

~Have a lovely weekend!

Friday, April 23, 2021

...4.23...Spring Progress...

...I thought it might be fun to look at the progress of springtime here...
...these pictures are from the Friday after Easter...we had a bit of a cold snap then...
...then about a week later things warmed up and the trees really started to leaf out...
...and all of the oak catkins began falling...covering everything...they're all over the car and the back of the truck is full of them...haha...the Man is not happy about it...
...and then this one is from yesterday's bike ride (all of the photos are taken from the bike - in about the same location)...the leaves are a darker green now...and much fuller...and most of the catkins are gone...it's really cool again today though...we didn't have frost last night...but it got down to 36° F (3° C)...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, April 22, 2021

...4.22...what I ate in a day...as a vegan...

...I took my vitamins with some hibiscus tea that I'm trying to use up...just still trying to use up some of my tea stash...it's gotten out of hand...apparently I'm willing to buy more tea than I'm able to drink...haha...
...then for breakfast...I made half of an everything bagel and spread on some Violife vegan cream cheese...
...for lunch I used some of the weekend's garbanzo beans...some nori and pickles to make a sort of deconstructed vegan tuna salad...and I ate the last of the vegan bread Amy and I got at the chocolate shop...incidentally...they used to make a vegan dark chocolate...but when I asked about it they said that all of their chocolates now have a 'trace' of milk in them...not sure what that means...if they used to make sure that there was no trace in the dark chocolate...or if they are actually adding a trace of milk now...anywhoo...he said that the only vegan item they had right now was the french bread...so I got two loaves of that...he also said that I could call ahead and they'd make some vegan chocolate if they knew I was coming...so that was super nice...
...I found this packet of spinach/artichoke dip lurking in the back of the cabinet...not even sure when I made the first packet...before Christmas maybe...and it's out of date...but I mixed it up with some vegan mayo and tofu anyway...
...and used it as a dip for some crudites for a snack...and it still tasted really good...
...don't know if I've mentioned it before but Thursday is our garbage pickup day...haha...so we often go through the refrigerator and try to use things up before we take the trash out for the last time for the week...so that's what this odd hodgepodge of foods is...leftover noodles...leftover rice and beans...and leftover collards also from the weekend...and I'm happy to free up all that space in my fridge...haha...
...and finally before bed...I 'used up' the last of the box of bran flakes...the Man doesn't like the 'crumbs' that are left in the bottom of a bag of cereal...but I couldn't care less...I just dumped those in a bowl and topped it with some homemade vegan blueberry yogurt...and that made a nice bedtime snack...

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

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

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

...well...I got almost NO knitting done this week...

...because I mashed my finger...and it throbbed horribly for two whole days...I had to take painkillers and it kept me awake at night...so it was pretty horrible...

...you know how you can carelessly hurt yourself...well...I was moving a sawhorse...ours are x (scissor) shaped...but the top part of the x is very small...just a couple of inches...anywhooo...I lifted it with my thumb inside the top x and when I lifted it the bottom part fell down...closing the top part ...on my thumb...OUCH!...
...but now the pain has subsided...YAY!...and I'm back on it...I've finished turning the heel...
...and I'm pretty happy with the Sharpie dyed yarn for that portion...and hoping that will give me enough yarn for an extra inch or so at the cuff...

...what's in your workbasket?...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

...4.20...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made another vegan soufflé...this one has more of those candied Christmas-y fruitcake fruits in it...
...I like pudding-y desserts...but thought this one was just OK...like most of these glacéed fruit recipes...

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

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, April 19, 2021

...4.19...Over the Weekend...

...bright and early...I did the InstaCart shop...
...a small one...we didn't need much...and we still had a bunch of stuff that we needed to use up...the Man put the peppers, lemons and tomatoes in the cart for a recipe...
...they included this sweet little satchel...
...and this is what was in my little thank you present...the Honey Combs are not vegan...I think I'll send the water bottle to Our Airman...as he used to work at Food Lion...
....and I was in a hurry to get that all stowed because I had to be here...(the library) at 11 to meet my dear friend Amy...
...we ordered takeout from our favorite local Thai restaurant...Amy got tofu pad thai...she always does and she says that this restaurant has the best pad thai...
...and of course...I got the same old curry that I always get...I almost tried Massaman...but in the end I ordered my favorite...

...I brought napkins and silverware from home...and we at at the memorial park across from the library...the spring weather was perfect...I wore my hippie jeans with the flowers on them...and Amy and I laughed because 4 complete strangers complimented me on my jeans...so funny...
...after our picnic lunch we walked the length of the historic district...just chatting about things the way old friends do...and marveling at the spring flowers...
...mostly azaleas...
...which are in full bloom right now...
...so gorgeous...
...but when we approached this clump of bearded iris...the air was heady with their perfume...which always reminds me of home...because Mom always grew iris when I was little...they are so sweet smelling and pretty...
...when I got home...the Man had messed up the whole kitchen...ahem...the Man was busy making ketchup...which I thought was really strange...because there is exactly one kind of ketchup the Man will eat...and that is Heinz...haha...
...but he said he needed a lot of ketchup to make BBQ sauce...and he had ordered all of the above for his BBQ sauce...and that's what the tomatoes were for as well...
...and he literally spent hours in the kitchen making these sauces...his is very very spicy...
...and mine is not...haha...
...after cooking away for hours...there was exactly one quart of each sauce...one labled HOT and both in the fridge...it'll be fun to try it out on some tofu...but it's an awful lot of work...time and money...for some BBQ sauce...I hope the Man thinks it was worth it...
...while the Man had the kitchen monopolized...I washed some greens...
...and set the InstaPot up on the back porch...it only takes 19 minutes to steam the greens...
...got them packed up in jars and into the fridge...I ate the stems out of hand...love those...
...and then I just rinsed the pot...and put a pot of garbanzos on to cook...
...and they too were done in just a few minutes...
...Kitten's new water fountain came from Amazon...
...so we got that set up...
...she approaches cautiously...
...all aquiver...
...but in the end she likes it a lot...
...the only other semi interesting (haha) thing that we did over the weekend...was to try the Birdseye Buffalo Cauliflower...
...it came with a sauce packet...so I sampled it...just in case it would be too hot for me...
...baked them up...and whipped up some vegan Ranch dressing for dipping and cut some celery sticks...
...we both really liked these cauliflower bites...so we'll definitely be getting them again...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!