Sweetness and Light Saturdays 29 November 2008

Now that’s my idea of a Thanksgiving “turkey“!

Warm and fuzzy birthday love.

Moonbeam Keeps Warm

Gorgeous sand prints and creative Mamas.

Virtual advent calendar.

You know, I really must make get my sister to make a banner so I can spread Sweetness and Light Saturdays around the blogosphere.  (mumble. mumble. add to “blog maintenance list”. mumble.)  Until then, please feel free to share some sweet and illuminating things from your week here, or let me know if your own blog includes a round up of your most tasty Thanksgiving week nuggets so I can pay a visit and gobble them up.

Thankful Thursday 27 November 2008

Lots of Thanks to be Giving this Day for…

shelter

warmth

water

fire

food

love

laughter

books

nature

crafts

kittens

cuddles

Even if this isn’t a thanksgiving holiday for you, what are you grateful for?

Time is running out! 25 November 2008

I’ve given myself until 1 December to come up with a theme for this blog. I’m getting closer,

Vegan Menu Plan Monday 24 November 2008

Things are a bit out of order this week because of the holiday.  Even though I’m not doing our usual spread, there’s still lots of pumpkins in our future (no canned pumpkin allowed in main dishes as per JumbleSpouse’s puritan tastes, but I do sneak it in baked goods – there’s only so much chopping, cooking and pureeing I can do!).

Might be fun to pop on over to I’m an Organizing Junkie to see what others have planned this special week.

Menu Plan Monday

Pizza Monday Hummus with veggies

Souper Tuesday Roast Pumpkin Soup with Lemongrass and Ginger (from Vegan Cooking by Amanda Quinn and Diipali Lilburne)

Leftover Wednesday

Thanksgiving Thursday Vegetable Bake (from Vegan Cooking) made with Wild Mushroom Gravy (from The Candle Café cookbook) and Green Salad with Toasted Seeds, Balsamic and Mustard Vinaigrette (from Vegan Cooking).  If I’m feeling really ambitious, might make Robin’s Ginger-Dusted Pumpkin Cheesecake or experiment with chocolate peppermint pie.

Leftover Friday

Carry out Saturday

Instant Sunday Pasta, instant sauce and frozen veggies

Thanksgiving Postponed 23 November 2008

The feast we like to put together for Thanksgiving takes two people and three days of part-time prep, plus the day of, to complete. I love Thanksgiving, but JumbleSpouse is Australian, so he’s not super attached to it.  Still, he’s normally more than happy to help in the cooking and feasting.  But, this year, he has a huge project due on Thanksgiving day (what sort of twisted professor would make that a deadline??), so he’s not available for any of the prep.  Even if JumbleSon would spend his days happily self-entertaining, I think I’d be hard pressed to pull it off.

So, we’ll save the feast for Yule, give thanks over something relatively simple by comparison, and celebrate having the rest of the weekend together.  What about you?  Do you have special Thanksgiving plans, or a similar holiday tradition another time of the year where you are?

Sweetness and Light Saturdays 22 November 2008

Here’s my weekly round up of things that made me happy.  Please add your own to the list…

This Solstice calender made me squeal with delight!

Ahhh, to be so clever!  Check out this letter.

Mama power.  (Amy, you ROCK!)

Cookstr.

German hedgehog haven.

The Morning After 20 November 2008

The gluten free cake was far better than this one, I’m sorry to say (since it was the one most people ate as it was adorned with candles and cello).  Too dry for my taste.  The sugar free icing was okay on the cake, but I am very much looking forward to birthday cake next year and the addition of cane sugar to JumbleSon’s diet because this frosting was certainly not bowl-lickin’ good as icing should be.  And, speaking of icing…

Icy balloon

Our house was full of balloons yesterday, but a few escaped in to the wild.  We found this poor lass covering in ice this morning.

JumbleSon was pretty excited and a bit overwhelmed by the entire party experience.  Still, he had fun (and, for the record, paid no attention whatsoever to the cello on his cake).

A highlight for me was the photo slideshow of the first two years of JS’s life that JumbleSpouse put in full-screen mode on my computer in the party room.

I need to look at the progression of pictures more often.  To remind me of where we are.  To remind me of where we’ve been.  And, most importantly, to remind me of how far we’ve come.

A special night 19 November 2008

In just a little over one hour from now just two years ago, I was awakened from a deep sleep by a sharp pain that made my toes curl.  Thinking it was a call to visit the toilet, I did what I thought needed to be done.  Moments later, another shuddering wave of something came over me.  I can’t say it was pain, exactly.  Just a strong wave of energy that shook my entire body.  Not long after another one came.  I went into JumbleSpouse’s office where he was slaving away in the wee hours and said something along the lines of, “I think we’d better get ready to have a baby tonight.”

81/27 This Day in Mid-November 18 November 2008

81F or 27C.  THAT is today’s temperature (and feels like 95 in the sun which is nearly impossible to escape).  I am not pleased.  Winter here is very long.  But summer is interminable. I know I should be grateful for these on-going opportunities to run JumbleSon around outside.  However, since I refuse to subject myself to such conditions, that will not happen until dusk (when the temperatures will radically drop to 40C/4C and feel like 32F/0C).  So what good does it do me?

I’m sure that it’s in my best interest (and that of you, dear readers) to focus on the positive.  But I’m just so in shock.  I’ve lived here since August of 2006.  If I live here until August of 2060, I don’t think I’ll ever make peace with the climate and terrain.

I feel so exposed here.  And not just because I live on the edge of the open prairie.  The sky is so vast and high.  The blanket of clouds that kept me so snuggly in the Maritime Northwest rarely covers me.  If I lived under a  canopy of leafy trees, that would be a comfort.  Alas!  I do not.  South-facing Sun exposure without a single blessed tree.

While our plans are to move back to Seattle as soon as our lease is up next July, I admit to fantasizing about places that get even MORE rain like Ketchikan.  If it weren’t for the predominantly right-leaning political climate of Alaska and the limiting size of the city, I’d plan a scouting trip immediately.  Portland is an excellent second choice as it gets more rain, has lots of crunchie edges and the added bonus of being the vegan capitol of America.  However, there isn’t any salt water touching it’s shores.

Abroad, we could easily choose Melbourne, Australia, but for a serious lack of hills/mountains to nestle in, not to mention the problem of the Holiday Season being in the middle of Summer – can you imagine anything less cozy??  I’ve heard there are spots in Scandinavian countries with moist, mild climates.  Immigration would be nearly impossible, though.  I have a friend in Ireland who is doing a fine job of tempting us that way and I think we’d love Scotland.  But short term, I suspect we’ll just stay in the country.

Now if I can drag myself away from these fantasies, I must go make birthday cake for a certain little cutie.

Vegan Meal Plan Monday 17 November 2008

Lunch/snack topping of the week – Sundried Tomato Pesto – inspired by the old days at Strawberry Fields.  Life-alteringly delicious on their seeded sourdough baguettes still warm from the oven, it was.  Ok, maybe it wasn’t radically transformative, but it was central to courting life with JumbleSpouse .   This dish turns out differently every time I make it because I don’t really measure any of the ingredients. And yet, each time I make it, we’re transported back to 1995 (good for the marriage, even without baguettes .

Here’s my best shot at the recipe.  I can’t promise it will improve your sex love life, but give it a go and let me know!

2 1/2c. sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated

1c. toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

3/4T fresh garlic, minced and toasted in a little olive oil

3/4c. fresh basil, chopped

2T fresh sage, chopped

salt to taste

1/2c. olive oil

Put sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, sage and salt in food processor.  Drizzle in olive oil as it blends.  Clean off the sides of the bowl, add walnuts.  Process for about 15 seconds more.  Serve on everything from bread to pizza to pasta (with a little extra oil added).

Dinners are shaping up like this:

Soup/Burger Monday:  Garden Vegetable Soup

Leftover Tuesday

*Party* Wednesday

Cake: GF Carrot Cake (from Gluten-Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly) & Sugar Free Carrot Cake with SF Icing

Beverages: Warm Cinnamon-Spiced Apple Cider, Sparkling Cranberry Juice, Coffee and Pumpkin Spice Nog

Dinner: Fantastic Falafel Sandwiches

Carry Out Thursday

Pizza Friday: Artichoke, Sundried Tomato and Roasted Garlic Pizza

Full Meal Saturday:  Potato & Kale Enchiladas with Roasted Chili Sauce from Veganomicon

Leftover Sunday