...8.31...Dinner and a Movie...and Blogger Comments...

...to my sweet sissie Karen who blogs from her boat at McCraw Sails...Hey K...what a great book club you've got...and yummy treats...I'll have to try that idea with the simple syrup on the cake...Love, T

...to karen from Pumpkin Sunrise...Hi Karen...I'm so glad you had a visit with your family as you continue to heal...that photo with the trains brought back a lot of memories too...

...to Éphée from L'éphémère quotidienneté des repas et autres trucs de magie...Hi Éphée...your Korean crepes look amazing...

...to Penny from Snap That Penny...Hi Penny...I know...it's crazy that August is over...we've had an amazing spell of cool-ish weather...with highs only in the 70s F (low 20s C)... fun...

...I've finished Our Mutual Friend...and started No Thoroughfare...it was a screenplay (written with Wilkie Collins) as well as a short novel...I'm reading the novel...and as I've already read The Mystery of Edwin Drood along with one of the modern day 'finished' versions...I'm all done with Dickens' novels...there are a couple of Short Story collections I'll try to find...but may have to read them as E-books...

...our sweet next door neighbor went to a garden show...and brought us a nice little pot of chives...

...so we had a simple dinner with a baked potato with vegan sour cream and some snipped chives...tofu, fried cabbage, salad, and Brussels sprouts too...

...and the movie was the first episode of the '98 BBC Our Mutual Friend...it was an hour and a half...I was surprised it was so long (there are four 90 minute episodes)...it's really really good...I recommend it...the Man said...everything is so dark...and a lot of the scenes are pretty dark...but that's probably what it was like...haha...

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

~Have a lovely weekend!

...8.30...Friday Update...

...more 'progress' in the kitchen...

...I know you can't tell it but the cabinets have been lightly sanded and wiped down...and they're ready for a coat of primer...

...and just like that...primed...

...the Man permanently attached the crown by screwing it up from the bottom...

...and then I removed everything from the cabinets...not sure why I didn't do that earlier as it's hard to work around...and I just put it all on the floor in the den...

...when we get to the other side I'll probably put all of the foodstuff into boxes instead...

...and then we covered everything up and gave the primer coat a light sanding as well...

...and the first coat of the actual urethane cabinet paint is done...the colour is White Snow...and it will probably take three coats for perfect coverage...

...already it has brightened up the kitchen so much...I love it...

~Have a lovely day!

...8.29...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...y'all know that we have four big pots of beans growing in our 'garden'...two pots of bush beans...and two pots of Rattlesnake runner beans climbing up strings on the fence...and every day or so...I pick a good handful or two of beans...

...and then I store them in the fridge in a recycled cereal bag (which are awesome for reuse like this - good in the freezer too)...this day's pickings included these three dried up rattlesnake beans that I must have overlooked in the foilage as they are quite dried out...that's ok though I'll just shell the beans into the pot as rattlesnake beans are a lot like pinto beans...

...when the bag is full I know I have enough beans to cook a pot...so I give them a good rinse...although they are completely organic...

...these are the dried up ones...see what I mean about them being like pintos...

...there's something so satisfying about breaking beans...the beans in the bowl decrease as the pile of trimmings grows and the pot fills...

...and out to the back porch kitchen...

...to cook for a couple of hours...until almost all of the water is gone...

...because that's the southern way...and we love it...but we also love the barely cooked steamed green beans and the crispy stir fried ones...I may never have met a bean I didn't like...haha...

...how do you cook your beans...barely?...or cooked to death?...

~Have a lovely day!

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

...I've finished the bottom part of the first sock...with the purple toe...not really sure I'm in love with the sort of speckled lavender yarn though...and I did the Kitchener-ing at the breakfast table...haha...

...but I do love the 4-3-2-1 toe...it's a nice rounded roomy toe area...

...the finished bottom half...I'm sure now that I've not got enough yarn for very much of a cuff at all...and the yarn is (of course) unavailable now...which happens when you put yarn into your 'stash' and leave it there for years...

...so I've started the second bottom half with a provisional cast on...and then I'll decide what to do with the tops...just end it at the ankle...or do some sort of stripes with the lavender yarn...we'll see...

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

~Have a lovely day!

...8.27...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made Julia's VEGAN MOUSSE DE FOIES DE VOLAILLE

...it was really good on toasted French bread...

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

~Have a lovely day!

...8.26...Over the Weekend...

...we had brought vegan croissants back from the mountains...so I made waffles...and a croissandwich (remember those?)...scrambled tofu with vegan cheese...I've been calling it Violife aged cheddar...but it's actually 'mature'...with some vegan bacon bits on a toasted croissant vegan croissant...so yummy...

...and then I packed us a couple of water bottles...so we could enjoy this crazy cool less humid weather we've been having with a nice long walk on the Riverwalk...

...then of course...it was time to do the weekly shopping...a pretty normal week...the Man prefers the tomato paste in the little tube...and it must say it's a lot more convenient as we rarely use a whole can of tomato paste all at once...

...and...we got a super deal on some "Oops we overbaked" bread at Stuff-Mart...I love when that happens...

...and I needed some new unders...so I ordered them for in-store pickup at Kohls...and we stopped in there to get them...they were on sale $14.99 marked down from $27---YIKES!...it's been quite a while since I've purchased unders...and I didn't know they were so expensive...but seriously if you divide that by the 6 pairs and the frequency of wear...that's really not that expensive...

...and then I had a random $10 Kohl's cash to use up...so I actually got the unders for $5.34...the Man always laughs and laughs when I complain about how expensive something is...haha...

...btw...does anyone know why ladies unders are not sized like normal clothing...it's so weird...

...and then on the food prep front...I made another 'run' of pickled beans...

...blanched the beans and the corn...

...and sliced it off the cob...the best thing about the corn in pickled beans was getting a 'slab' of corn...so I tried to keep as many of those intact as possible...

...two half gallons should last a while...and when the first one is empty...I'll start another one...

...and the only other thing was some tofu...just baked in the outdoor oven and ready for the week...I did the pickled bean prep outside too...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...8.24...Dinner and a Movie...and blogger comments...

...to my sweet sissie Karen who blogs from her boat at McCraw Sails...Hey K...so sorry to have just missed you at Mom's...looks like you had a great visit...and Mom showed me all of the comments on the awesome photo you posted of you two...that's so sad about the accident at the airport...and I'll not mention the other event there...haha...the book club bag-o-books is a genius idea...Love, T

...to karen from Pumpkin Sunrise...Hi Karen...I'm so sorry about Frodo...I know how hard the loss of a beloved pet is...peace be with you...

...to Éphée from L'éphémère quotidienneté des repas et autres trucs de magie...Hi Éphée...so much delicious food...your charcuterie board looks awesome...and you're experiments with pesto too...not sure I'll try fennel as I don't like the licorice flavor...I've never had Bouyiourdi...but it looks awesome...I do love vegan feta...and that pup with those eyes...so sweet...kitty too...

...to Penny from Snap That Penny...Hi Penny...that is a pretty hibiscus...such a pretty colour...our's are a deep red...it's amazing how many different colours there are...we're STILL waiting for our morning glories to bloom...

...to Beth from BLD IN MT : LIVING A SIMPLE LIFE IN THIS INTERCONNECTED WORLD...Hi Beth...WOW...now that really is a bountiful harvest...and your fair looks awesome...ours is not until October...but they are always fun...

...I've finished Great Expectations and now I'm reading Our Mutual Friend...I don't really remember reading this book...but I do remember a late nineties mini-series on PBS that was really good...so I'll have to find that one and watch it again...the Man will be thrilled...

...a dinner you've seen (at least) several times here...beans and greens and cornbread...one of my favorite meals ever...even as a child I loved this meal...and it reminds me of going over to grandma's when I was at university...she made the best great northern beans...and we had this exact same meal...

...and for the movie...we just finished up some of the dvr's speeches from the DNC...some of the people we wanted to hear spoke so late that we just couldn't stay up for all of it...

...we'll get back to our regular 'movie' watching next week...maybe with Our Mutual Friend...haha...

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

~Have a lovely day!

...8.23...Friday Update...

...I got new glasses...goofy photo of me wearing them I know...excuse the old pink paint spattered shirt...and so far I love them...

...I was so unhappy with the last ($1200) pair that I'd gotten at the optician in Charlotte before we moved that when I chose a new eye doctor here...I asked for my prescription "to go"...

...and I just plugged that in online and ordered a new pair of glasses for about $300...with all of the bells and whistles my old pair had...the price difference is astounding...and that probably makes me like them even more...

...the Man has devised an ingenious way of building out the crown molding BEFORE we install it...basically you just measure the cabinets and make a base of 1/4 with about a 3/16 inch overhang...and then attach the crown to that...

...you get the adorable little boxes that you just lift into place and screw from underneath...

...we just set them in place to check the fit...

...I think they're perfect...and so much easier than trying to install the crown on the face of the cabinets...

...we took them back down to prime them...I think they're going to make a huge difference in the look of the cabinets...

...I got a fancy-schmancy new caulk gun...

...and I'm using it to caulk the cabinet doors...the Man has already primed this first set...

~Have a lovely day!

...8.22...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...I actually have three meals photographed...haha...

...first up...I made Bryanna's Microwave Granola...I posted about it years and years ago...I often use my blog as a recipe database...😁...but when I went to the link I found that it's no longer valid...so I got out my trusty binder of recipes...and sure enough the recipe was in there...so I'm posting it here...

BRYANNA’S MICROWAVE FAT-FREE MAPLE-COCONUT GRANOLA
2 c. oatmeal (or other rolled wholegrain cereal)
3/4 c. wholewheat or other wholegrain flour (can use 1/2 c.flour and 1/4 c. wheat germ, if you prefer)
1/2 c. bran (wheat, oat, rice)
1/3 c. maple syrup
1/4-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each salt and coconut extract
Optional: 1/2 c. dried fruit
1/2 c. chopped nuts, seeds, or unsweetened shredded coconut, or a mixture

Mix well with fingers. Spread evenly on waxed paper on the microwave carousel (this amount is for a large microwave). Cook on HI for 3 minutes. Stir and spread out evenly again. Cook on HI 3 minutes. Let stand 3 minutes. Add the optional dried fruit, if you like. When completely cool, store airtight.

...it's a delicious recipe...this time I omitted the cinnamon...and added raisins and walnuts...

...for lunch I made some edamame from the freezer and an avocado sushi roll...the Man had something else...as he can't stand to be in the same room with Nori...haha...

...and this is what my 'garden' is producing every other day or so...and I currently have a gallon bag of green beans in the fridge that I need to cook...

...but these green beans and corn were both sent home with us last weekend by the Man's Mom...all delicious...I have tmj...so my corn is sliced off the cob...but the Man's is in the cute little corn trays...and that got me thinking about a childhood memory as I was cutting my corn off the cob...Mom used to cut my baby brother's corn off the cob when he was little...and I was wondering at what age that right of passage occurred when she stopped doing that and he ate his corn 'on' the cob like the big kids...I'm assuming she did this for each of us when we were little...but I only remember l'il brother's...

...what delicious food have you been eating lately?...

~Have a lovely day!