11.29.2008

Christmas List

Even though it is not even December yet there have been a lot of requests between mine and Philip's families for Christmas ideas. Here is what I came up with in addition to my Amazon wishlist and my wishlist at ReBelle. Additionally, everything on last years' list minus the handcards and the skein winder still apply. As usual, new or used is fine and I would prefer you buy me smaller gifts from local merchants than larger gifts from chain stores and online retailers.

Steamer- There is a two layered steaming pan by the checkout at Yu-yu Asian market that I have wanted for months. It is around $30 and looks like the one in this video (and can be seen in the background of the still shot.) Right now I use a steaming basket that is far too small for my needs.

Queen sized heated mattress pad- If you want to get something for Philip and I to share, this is the gift. We keep talking about it and it sounds like pure heaven.

Ride passes for LexTran- Not really fun, but since I ride the bus regularly this would be a super practical gift. A 20 ride card is $15 and it never expires.

Share of the Good Foods Co-op- All or part of a co-op share would be an awesome gift.

Gift card to Lasting Legacy- No I am not taking up the hobby that I find most vile, but I do want some stamps and that is the only locally-owned place I can think to get them. Gift cards ranging from $5-25 would be perfect.

Anything handmade- I love it when people make gifts for me so if you want to avoid the shopping madness you can always stay at home and make me something pretty.

11.28.2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Since moving back to Lexington, Philip and I have made hosting a vegan Thanksgiving dinner an annual tradition. This year marks Thanksgiving number four and I must admit that they get a little easier every year. For dinner we decided to go traditional with a few non-traditional additions; it was an ultra carbohydrate fest. Sadly, I was to busy cooking and greeting everyone that I didn't get a chance to take any pictures. Hopefully someone will send me a few that I can add later.

Here's the menu...
Tofurkey with cranberry glaze (made by Philip's mom)
Green Been Casserole
Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Mushroom Gravy
Best of Both Worlds Potatoes Anna
Garlicky Brussel Sprout Saute
Cranberry Sauce with Mandarin Oranges and Walnuts
Amazing Spiced Bread (made by Philip's aunt)
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin Ice Cream
Spiced Apple Cider

I didn't get too daring this year except for the brussel sprouts. For the past couple of years I have been trying to make friends with this vegetable that I have always hated. Honestly, I haven't been trying very hard, but when you can't stand the taste of something it is hard to make yourself buy it at the market. After shredding and sauteing the sprouts yesterday I ended up with a vegetable that I didn't absolutely hate (though I didn't love it either.) My next step will be the roasted brussel sprouts that people are always raving about.

The tofurkey was prepared by Philip's mom because I have Tofurkey issues. Philip loves the Tofurkey roast so my goal for the next year is to find a substitute for the Tofurkey that Philip will like as much or more. There are several recipes that I would like to try as well as a few commercial roasts such as the Garden Protein stuffed veggie turkey breasts. Over the course of the next year, the fourth Friday of each month will be the day when we try a new turkey substitute and the best one will be the one we serve at Thanksgiving, even if it is a Tofurkey. Game on!!

The contenders:
Bryanna's Seitan Turkey
Seitan Rolade with Braised Leeks from Vegan Menu
Seitan Roulade with Chestnut Stuffing from Vegan Yum Yum
Vegan Turkey Roast from Everyday Dish
The Great Glutan Turkey by Miyoko Nishimoto
Seitan Roast with Orange Cranberry Glaze from Your Vegan Mom

11.18.2008

Gingery Butternut Soup

The past few days have been dark, cold and wet. The newspaper calls this weather cranky, but I call it soup weather. These are the perfect days to curl up with a nice hot bowl of soup so after an afternoon of walking around in the bitter weather I decided to make a pot of soup. I had a butternut squash and my goal was to make the soup using only the ingredients that we had on hand since I didn't want to go out to the grocery store. This was my first time cooking butternut squash so I was really surprised at how well this came out. I will definitely be making this soup again.

Gingery Butternut Soup
1 medium butternut squash
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2-3/4" ginger root, grated*
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. ground cardamon
salt and pepper to taste
oil for sauteing
1 Tbsp fresh chives (optional)
soy yogurt or vegan sour cream
Peel and cube the butternut squash. In a stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions in oil until they start to turn translucent. Add the squash, ginger, garlic, and cardamon to the pot and continue sauteing for 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetable broth and lower the heat to medium low. Let soup simmer for 20 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup to a nice smooth consistency and add the salt and pepper according to your taste. Serve with a dollop of soy yogurt or vegan sour cream and a sprinkling of fresh chives. Makes 6-8 servings.

*I made my soup very gingery, but I realize that it might be too much for some people so use less ginger if you aren't a huge fan.

11.14.2008

Back to reality

Today marks the official end of our vacation, Philip and I both returned to work today. It is a little sad since it also means that Robert and Bambu are heading back to Oregon this afternoon, but it is also a bit of a relief since we will finally get a chance to get some much needed rest. Yesterday was Philip's birthday which we started celebrating on Wednesday and ended when Philip started feeling ill yesterday afternoon. We ended up spending the rest of the evening watching movies with Robert, Bambu, and Shaun so it was really kinda fun. Tonight the big plan is to make a Greek feast and hang out at the house watching Friday the 13th movies. Philip wants to avoid people this weekend so we plan to stay in and enjoy each others company. The house is clean so nothing should distract us from relaxing.

My big plan for this weekend is to get some of the consignment I planned for the holidays finished so that I can focus my energies on my Christmas presents. Originally, I planned to have my etsy shop back up and running by this time, but it's not so I am just going to put a few things on etsy and everything else will go to ReBelle for the holidays. Last week I added some monster dpn holders to the shop and I have some cute rings made from vintage buttons that should be in the shop by early next week. I will post pictures of some of the stuff near the end of the weekend.

11.09.2008

Nothing exciting, just an update

The past week has been a bit of a whirlwind. First, Philip and I spent three days getting all of the stuff done around the house that we had been putting off since we moved in. We decided that November 4th, the day that his brother Robert and sister-in-law Bambu flew in, would be our goal date for getting all of this done and of course we waited until the last minute. Procrastination or not, the apartment looks really good now and we were done by the time they flew in on Tuesday. We hadn't seen Robert and Bambu since their wedding a year and a half ago so we have been looking forward to this visit for a couple of months now.

The past few days were filled will family activities, hanging out, playing Rock Band and lots of drinking which was really fun. Yesterday Robert and Bambu left to visit some friends in Ohio for a couple of days so last night was Philip and my's first night alone. We were planning to go to the Dressy Bessy show at Al's bar, but when I got home from work Philip was really wanting to stay in for the night. Since I was a little tired from work and all the socializing this week I eventually caved, but on the condition that we go out and get something for dinner so I didn't have to do the dishes. He agreed and we went to Ali Baba, the Mediterranean grocer on Southland Dr, and picked up a ton of premade food for dinner. We got hummus, a pound of olives, pita, dolmas, falafel, and a kinder surprise egg all for under $15. We also found several other items that we would like to try at a later date and we discovered that they sell vegan jello. When we got home we put everything in fancy dishes and created a beautiful spread to eat from. It was amazing and we have tons of leftovers to snack on this week. After dinner we curled up on the sofa and watched Friday the 13th, part 4 (we have a tradition of watching a series of horror movies every year around Halloween and this year's theme is Friday the 13th) while we picked out all of the inconsistencies in the series. After the movie we curled into bed with lots of blankets and fell asleep before 10:30pm, it was really a perfect night.

This coming week is going to be more craziness with a possible day trip to Louisville, two birthday celebrations, a game night with some friends, and more family time so I am really glad that we took last night off. Plus, Philip had to work today (the only day he couldn't get as vacation) so if we went to the show he would have been dead tired and probably hung over this morning. I am off to do some shop projects before I go in at noon. If anyone wants to come in and knit with me this afternoon I would love the company; yesterday was insanely busy so I expect today to be a little slow.

11.06.2008

A rant

First, I want to express how excited I am to finally have a president coming into the White House that the rest of the world can respect. In these turbulent times, we as Americans really need to work on our international perception and I think that Obama is the man who can make that happen. I also want to remind everyone that one man is not going to make all of our problems go away, we need to pull together as Americans and start working toward a brighter future. We can't sit on our asses and expect someone to do it for us. One of my favorite things about Obama is his emphasis on community service. Building strong communities will ultimately result in a stronger country. There is no reason that anyone in this country shouldn't be volunteering at least a little of their time working on community building activies whether they are organized or not. Take some time out and make the world a more beautiful place, a place where you want to live. Imagine what would happen if every American spent one hour a week volunteering in their communities, that would be over 15 billion hours spent making this country a better place.

In addition to community service, I really think that we as a people need to spend a little more time thinking about how and where we spend our money. Spending our money in local small businesses instead of national chains keeps more of our money in our communities, which helps to build stronger communities. One of my New Years Resolutions for the past few years is to buy more locally. Every year, a larger percentage of my purchases come from local retailers which means more of my money is staying in my community. Last Christmas Philip and I managed to buy 100% of our Chrismas gifts from local small businesses, a first for us. This summer 95% of our produce came from the farmers' market which was a substantial improvement on previous years.

Finally, buy American or sweatshop-free whenever possible. Buying American supports American communities and American jobs and buying sweatshop-free protects foreign workers from being exploited just so we can have cheap crap. In the current environment of big box retailers and everything $1 stores it can be a little harder to make responible decisions, both monetarily and in regards to availability, but there are options out there if you just look. This is definately the thing that I struggle with the most. In the last year most of my shoe and clothing purchases have been sweatshop-free, but I still have trouble finding things like jeans and bras that aren't from big box stores and aren't made in third world countries.

11.04.2008

Sweet sammie goodness

Last week I posted about making the chicken-style seitan cutlets and using them to make a batch of hot wings. We had seven large cutlets left after the hot wing experiment as well as a few hoogie buns from a meatball sub experiment so I decided to try a little pan frying. For this recipe I simply mixed a little flour, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and cajun seasoning in a bowl and coated two cutlets with the mixture. Then I pan fried them over medium heat for about five minutes, or until they were brown and a little crispy. I served them on hoagie buns with Veganaise, Roma tomatoes, and the fridge pickles that I made when it was cucumber season.

The verdict: Although the cutlets were a little big for the buns, the flavor and texture were amazing. Since this experiment we have almost used up all of the cutlets for sandwiches.

In election news, after talking to my dad on the phone this morning I am incredibly optimistic about this election. My dad rocks!!!

The polls are open

Get off your ass and vote!!

11.03.2008

Music to make you forget

I am totally stealing this idea from my fried Colleen who is making a five song mix tape everyday. I won't be posting mixes anywhere near that often, but today seemed like a good day to post one since the impeding election has me terrified about the future of this country. This is a mix of upbeat 1960's French pop songs to make life seem simple and fun, at least for the 15 minutes you are listening. Enjoy.


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