Vegetarian Foodie

Christmas Hangover Walk

I hope your holiday was wonderful. After the festivities and the candy...and the candy...and more candy... we decided to walk it off.

Happy Holiday Weekend

 

Photo credit: Miss Martha Stewart

I hope your holidays are spent with much cheer. For Christmas brunch round here I plan to make the above Apple Crostada with a Cheddar Crust... (recipe HERE).

Here are a few bits and pieces:

This Seasonal Cleanse looks divine.

Loving the AudioBook: In A SunBurned Country by Bill Bryson (a fabulous book even if you are not moving to Australia-on your left)

Feel as though I need to purchase a bottle of Cassis and make myself a Kir.

Smitten with these handmade bags and aprons on Etsy: Seedling Design

Will be sifting thru all the recipes on this site over the week end: Sprouted Kitchen

 

 

Pixel Graphics and a Hazelnut Liqueur follow up

Pixel's desk on any given day.... my children are very familiar with the term 'Mise en Place' in theory...

I love this project Pixel has been working on nonstop- her version of a polaroid camera:

These are a few of the photos that the camera takes:

The cookbook I spoke about so poorly on Monday has a winner recipe (sort of). The Hazelnut Liqueur turned out fantastic. Now, the ingredients did not yield as much as the recipe stated (in fact it yielded about half of what it should have-that is why I give it a sort of). 

I doubled the recipe and a small bottle of liqueur was produced (maybe 2 cups total).... lovely to sip neat.

Hibiscus Marshmallows

This is a page from the recipe book I recently purchased (on the left) HomeMade. While I adore the photos, font and layout...

The recipes overall have been underwhelming: Sad but true. I know the book was translated from French into English so I suppose there could have been a few issues there.... not sure. While I understand recipes being bland or boring... having something totally not work out and actually taste bad is very strange. There is actually a moment in the marshmallow recipe in which I think there is a comma missing and it confuses the recipe immensely. I have tried about 10 of the recipes and will continue before I just turn around and sell this book on Amazon..... I am anxious to be be won over.  

No rose petal tea so I settled on hibiscus.... Gelatin is gross and not vegetarian true.... but seeing that I am the only veg in the house and marshmallows are a hit with kids.... right?!

I am not printing this entire recipe because it sucked. The kids didn't even like the marshmallows.... But, here are photos of the marshmallow process. Don't be surprised if someday I try a different marshmallow recipe.... I have heard there are some good vegan recipes.

Have a Perfect Friday...

Decoupage Journal for his Sister

Thanks again to Design Mom for her gifting suggestions.... She has 6 kids so she is pretty expert in this department. Like most 9 year old girls the daughter adores journals, paper and pens. So this decoupaged notebook is a superb gift for a four year old to handle in the gift giving rhelm. 

Anything involving cutting and glue is fun for Robert and so this gift was a delightful project to sit and do together. I am pretty sure she'll love it.

Christmas Gifting...

Avatar, The Last Airbender has been a very popular series around here (I must admit it is a great cartoon and it is on Netflix watch instantly). Pixel has become so inspired by the show that these drawings she did are hung above her bed. When I saw these Bleached Out Tees I knew that working them into the Christmas gift scheme was required. Pixel had the idea of printing the elements of choice onto her brother and father's shirts. 

Although I smelled bleach for hours after this project it was so fun and easy. the end result is very satisfying.

Hazelnut Liqueur

Hazelnut Liqueur from HomeMade by Yvette Van Bovan

• 2 Cups Hazelnuts
• 1 Cup Vodka
• 2/3 Cup Cognac
• 1 1/4 Cup water
• 1/2 Cup Granulated sugar
• 1/2 Cup Raw and superfine sugar

Coarsely chop nuts in food processor. Place in a large jar (I used Mason jars) and cover with vodka and Cognac. Leave for 6 weeks...

Strain then through a sieve and then again through a coffee filter.

Leave to stand for 2 more days. Strain last of the residue through a coffee filter.

Heat water and sugars to majke a syrup. Combine cooled syrup and nut drink into a bottle. 

Drink it up!

Brewing up a bit of liquor as a gift for the holidays..... I will follow up on the taste of this... my six weeks is almost up!

Decision Made. Done.

After weeks of discussions and wrestling with details we have arrived at a decision: We are moving to Australia for 1 year. 

Spending a year in a different country has been on the table for years and years. It is a topic we have discussed on and off for as long as I can remember. Our trip earlier this year to Costa Rica was a bit of a trial run.

While we adore Costa Rica, we feel that at the end of the day the infrastructure lacks in regards to day to day for an entire year.

I have never been to Australia-nor has husband. Australia offers warm water and a tropical climate... we have our eyes on a small town on the beach called Byron Bay.... (South of Brisbane by an hour). The idea of getting around on a bicycle to do my shopping at the farmer's market makes me feel very happy. 

Now, to wade through Australian visa paperwork...

Vow of Silence (follow up)

(Photo taken right before a haircut)

Thinking about how we communicate around our home has been a hot topic as of late. As I mentioned in a previous post (the vow of silence) it has become all to easy too shout and mindlessly subscribe to reactionary speech. 

Additionally, we are in constant discussion about "what ifs" and "we coulds" as we are standing at a fork in the road (sorry for the cliche-more on that soon). These 'what if' and 'we could' discussions are fun and required but sometimes feel like verbal clutter. 

My day off from speaking aimed at a bit of calm and insight.

• The day was playful. The kids were amused and interested in the idea of a vow of silence and the elements of communication  
• I forgot about the vow a couple times and started to speak -there is that mindless speaking again
• I missed reading books to the littlests...words can be so useful
• I took the 3 littles to the grocery store (I didn't say a word the entire time). When the kids said, "Can I have this? We need this..." etc. I could only shake my head yes or no... not using words felt so much easier
• Rather than shout across the house I was forced to stop what I was doing and enter the room in which the person I needed was. Communication involved making eye contact and charading the situation

Calm and insight achieved.