Friday, January 31, 2025

...1.31...Friday Update...

...all of the little baby bonsais are up and growing...you don't really do anything to them now until they're about 2 years old...it's a slow process...
...one of my sweet little nieces asked me to show her how to knit at the Christmas party a few weeks ago...and I gave her a skein of yarn and a pair of needles to take home with her and practice...
...and her sweet parents sent me this pretty colourful set of needles to replace the set that I gave away...so nice...
...and I cast on for a quick pair of mittens for a lady in our neighborhood who walks past our house with her caregiver twice a day...I've spoken to them several times and it was so cold and the lady wasn't wearing any gloves...but her caregiver had them in her hand and said that she pulls them off and then she has to carry them...so I thought I'd make her a pair like I made for our grandbabes (bigger of course)...but on a cord that can go through her sleeves so she can't lose them and they'll be there if she wants to wear them...
...and I finally finished the $10 tan socks...haha...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, January 30, 2025

...1.30...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...it was time to make Pick Up Limes' chow mein recipe later in the week...which has the pretty impressive title of "If I could make only 1 noodle dish for the rest of my life… "
...first I got everything chopped up...and made the sauce...
...cooked the noodles...which only took 3 minutes...
...stir fried the veg...
...added the noodles tofu and sauce...
...and plated up...it really was that delicious...

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

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

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

...I started...
...and finished a cute hat for Mom...

...it's the super soft and squishy Gia Chemo Hat...

...it was really easy...

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

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

...1.28...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made a pretty 60s style recipe...VEGAN FOIES DE VOLAILLE EN ASPIC...

...things is aspic definitely went out of style didn't they?...

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

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, January 27, 2025

...1.27...Over the Weekend...

...it was just a quiet weekend at home...
...we had toasted vegan croissants for breakfast...we had brought two packages of these vegan croissants back from our trip to the mountains...they have them in the bakery section of a grocery store there that we don't have here...so I always try to get them when we're there...and then I freeze them and portion them out until they're all gone...
...we did the weekly house cleaning chores...the Man did all of the vacuuming...
...and I followed up with the mopping...
...everything nice and spruce...we headed out to do the weekly shop...
...and got a LOT of stuff...
...all of this is for a Pick Up Limes chow mein recipe later in the week...which has the pretty impressive title of "If I could make only 1 noodle dish for the rest of my life… "
...I got these little stretchy silicone covers...the Man sometimes makes cold brew coffee in our French Press coffee maker...but the lid on that doesn't have a very good seal...I actually thought these would seal better than they actually do...
...but a rubber band holds it in place quite well...the spout makes it difficult to seal...
...and I found another use for my recycled cartons...the silicone lids cling to the carton really well...and it makes them easy to store in my tupperware bins...
...soaking the non-organic fruit in baking soda and water...
...grapes...
...and blueberries...
...and the Man wanted to try these Cara-Cara oranges...so I searched the interwebs when I got home to see what's different about them...and it's fascinating that they are a natural mutation from a single parent tree...
...our Christmas Amarylis is blooming...
...greens from the garden cooking in the 'outdoor kitchen'...alongside an instant pot full of white beans...
...and speaking of the garden...everything made it through the storm and the temps in the teens...about 13° F here (-11° C)...
...I've been picking a few lettuce leaves for salads...
...and lots of greens...you think there are a lot but when you pick a whole potfull then they cook to just two servings...
...and I've also been plucking a couple of beautiful (and not too spicy) radishes for our salads every day...
...and I ended the weekend with a nice long soak in the tub...which is something that I don't do nearly often enough...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

Saturday, January 25, 2025

....1.25...Dinner and a Movie...

...starting with some Blogger comments...because my blog has just been crazy the last couple of weeks...

...to my sweet sissie Karen who blogs from her boat at McCraw Sails...Hey K...your hikes look great...I love hiking in the wintertime because you can see things so much better...in the summer you're much more closed in...I felt bad for you staying in the airport overnight...I just thought it would have been so cold...crazy about seeing an actual working phone...great cardinal photo...and I loved the photo of you and Rob...Love, T...

...to karen from Pumpkin Sunrise...Hi Karen...your sister's Evergreen is going to be so pretty...and your snow is beautiful...

...to Éphée from L'éphémère quotidienneté des repas et autres trucs de magie...Hi Éphée...your lentil ragout looks delicious...such a nice combination of flavors...and those dogs...they will make their bed anywhere won't they...

...to Penny from Snap That Penny...Hi Penny...I loved seeing your city Christmas lights...it's so much driving or walking around with all the festive lights...

...to Beth from BLD IN MT : LIVING A SIMPLE LIFE IN THIS INTERCONNECTED WORLD...Hi Beth...your German inspired dinner looks great...

...I took a little break from Maupassant to read Diary of a Nobody because I'd never heard of it before...kind of like a comedy (and much shorter) version of Pepys' Diary...we were watching an interview with Patricia Rutledge on PBS and she mentioned that she and her costar Clive Smith were the principal characters in a stage version of it...it was pretty good...

...and then back to Maupassant...

The Test
Found on a Drowned Man
The Orphan
The Beggar
The Rabbit
His Avenger
My Uncle Jules
The Model
A Vagabond
The Fishing Hole
The Spasm
In the Wood
...dinner was a delicious one of the Man's creations...a greek inspired black olive and tomato pasta dish...

...and the movie was Black Narcissus...recommended by a friend...I'd never even heard of it before...it's about a group of nuns who set up a school in the Himalayan mountains...it's classed as a psychological drama...it is, of course, a movie about some people...I may circle back and read the 1939 book...

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

~Have a lovely weekend!

Friday, January 24, 2025

...1.24...Friday Update...

...there's not a lot going on here...the birds are loving the feeder...they line up on the fence for their turn at the feeder...there are actually 4 birds there...but I couldn't get them all in the frame...
...and we are making slow progress painting the guest room...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, January 23, 2025

...1.23...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...we had almost a whole bag of leftover hamburger buns after our smash burgers Friday night...
...so I used this recipe from Those Annoying Vegans to make a bread pudding...
...unlike a lot of videos this one doesn't list the ingredients in the description...so I just took a screen shot of their mise en place...
...the recipe doesn't say to...but I cubed the bread and gave it a light toasting in the oven...just because I thought it would be better that way...
...and did one layer of bread and raisins in a casserole dish...
...and then a second layer...
...poured over the liquid mixture...
...gave it a pat...amazed that it all fit...
...and then baked it...it smelled delicious...
...I don't think it looks particularly delicious...but it was...

...the Man loves bread pudding...and I've never had it or made it...it just wasn't something we had growing up...and of course it probably wouldn't be vegan if you ordered it out...

...but I'll definitely make it again...

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

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

...1.22...another Winter Storm...

...we really did get measurable snow this time...it's very pretty...
...and it's really cold...
...it's very quiet because the roads are so icy that no one is out...
...and hopefully the little winter garden will survive...

~Have a lovely day!