Vegetarian Foodie

Greetings....

Hello, It has been a long time. Since the last post in August there have been a few happenings. First off, a ruthless heatwave set in and devastated my garden-the lovely watermelon I was caring for (pictured previous post) split straight in half. Tomato horn worms set in and ate the few remaining tomatoes on the vine. Pictured here is the final salad of the season with our tomatoes...

Red and Yellow Tomatoes, Feta Cheese, Red Onion Slices and Basil.

 

I also found out some fabulous news-I am with child (a boy!) once again. shortly after finding out the exciting news, I turned into a pregnant zombie and barely ate a thing (thanks to a hideous bought of morning sickness) and slept most of the time (day and night).  I have emerged somewhat from this zombie like trance and now have a bit more energy. I am hoping to step once again into the kitchen and greet my cupboards with enthusiasm.

I recently read and recommend Omnivores Dilemma by Micheal Pollen which is such a body of information in regards to food and farming in the US.

Articles like this...(yikes):  Junk Food Turns Rats into Addicts inspires us around here to plant our fall crop (now that the weather has cooled) as well as look forward once again to our CSA box every week.

So that is that and where it stands for now. 

Vamos A La Playa!

Summer has arrived and I am wearing my flips flops. The daughter is home from school as of this week and the days are spent. Now, I love having her home... sure there is the "I am Bored" chatter as well as breaking up fights between her and the boy but mostly summer is about lounging, baking, sewing, art projects and reading outside in the sun. Oh, and road trips (more on that soon).

I love this post about summer rules and I am sure to steal a few for our house. I find summers do go smooth with a bit of structure on hand. Here, we have set snack and meal times with a generous fruit bowl for in between. We also have a three things to-do list which will include chores, writing thank you notes and school worksheets.

But the only rule for this moment is to have fun because today we are off to the beach for the week end with family. We have a little cottage right on the sand next door to cousins and friends. The menu is planned, the shopping completed. The ingredients are available to settle down in the sand with one of these YUM . The magazines in the backpack alongside the digging pail and shovel. 

Have a splendid week end!

Do You Cook in Costume?

I myself, wear an apron.

The young lady however, would never even think of preparing chocolate chip cookies without proper attire.... here, she sports her Care Bear uniform:

Um, that is so rad that Wikipedia has an entry for Care Bears here. The entry is complete with details about the Caring Meter.

It's a Rainy Day....

and a holiday.

So for the daughter, making Valentines Day Cards for the class party Friday is on her to-do list (usually pleased about such art projects, today she is groaning and complaining about it all...)

For me, lots of strong coffee drinking and plotting my grocery list to make this delicious rainy day treat (scroll down on link page for chocolate example)

I hope you have a lovely holiday in your socks.

Saturday Morning with Coffee.....

Gorgeous: The Face of Experience  -be certain to click about and read the bios

Also, I nearly spilled my coffee at this: (What will they think of next?) Personalized M & Ms! Have your face printed on individual M & Ms....

Bork!

Really? Is it really November 22? Is it really time to plan and plot the Thanksgiving menu? What have I been eating this month? A lot of homemade Pizza, Delicious Soup (that I have been preparing for coming week's lunches), and all the while craving a Chili Dog  .

We did host the Murder Mystery Dinner party that took place in 1985 Wisconsin. The Mystery Dinner party is a game not unlike the board game Clue (Remember?). The guests receive an invitation describing their character and along with prompts the mystery reveals itself a murderer by the close of dinner. The guests are required to arrive in full costume and character (which they did).

Lots of fun...The menu consisted of, being Wisconsin in the mid eighties, Tofurky Sausages, Boiled Potatoes, pickles and mustard, salad and Galette as an appetizer.... The galette was a leap but so was the wine we poured and guzzled.

Meanwhile...it seems as though a lot of this has been happening:

and this:
 


I hope your week end is filled with Bork!

Make a Pinata

Okay... this has nothing to do with food. However, while we are on the topic of weddings and time spent preparing for weddings...and love and decorations: Pinata qualifies.

A few of us spent many weeks and a day and several nights making the pinata for the kids at Catherine and Luis' wedding reception.

Here is a step by step guide on how we made a pinata:

We started with a balloon (in this case) and a mixture of flour and water that forms a gooey paste. Use the paste to apply newspaper strips to the balloon.

 

Allow the gooey strips on the balloon to thoroughly dry before applying paint.

A moment after this moment, the pinata fell and a big hole suddenly busted through. We had to step back a bit and re-apply more gooey strips to cover the hole.

Then repaint....

Catherine and Kirstin look so anguished just after the project fell..

Time passed (as in days) and after several additional layers of gooey paste and newspaper had been applied we filled it with candy and toys.

We then began the re-decoration of the pinata.

Alas! The earth has been saved! And then the kids at the wedding party busted it open with a big wooden bat for the candy inside, what fun!

Thank You Green Bag Lady

I would like to shout out to the Green Bag Lady.... "Hello Green Bag Lady, Thanks for the Bag!!!"

The Green Bag Lady is committed to doing her part in the reduction of paper and plastic. She will make you a bag and send it to your home as long as you promise to use it rather than paper or plastic while shopping.

Last I looked, she had made over 1000 bags.

Easy, right? Significant reduction of paper and plastic on a day to day basis? Yes. I do agree.

Green Bag Lady I celebrate your creativity and generosity!

My bag is number #879

Mystery Dinner Photo + Emergency Solution Dinner

= a quick post before I make tonights dinner....

I was just looking through photos and about to post when I realized I have a photo with a casserole (?) and now I have no idea what this dish is (see below).

I love the kids in the background. Look at how much corn the daughter is hoarding on her plate.

Here is a photo that has collected a lot of unworthy dust- did you ever put pasta in a frittata? One night I realized, much to late, that I didn't have enough eggs for a proper spinach and cheese frittata so I boiled some noodles and tossed it in the mix. It was splendid!

Speaking of dinner.....

What the F?

I just spent the last 47 minutes organizing photos and posting an extended catch up post only to find after I save it... it is where? Gone? Adonde?

What happened? Typepad has shifted their platform and I guess I pressed something wrong.....

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