list thingy

I saw this first on but did they eat it? and then saw it on a few other blogs. I like lists so here is mine!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk? Soy milk, usually unsweetened (Trader Joe's or 365 brand). I like the red carton of Silk for drinking, but the unsweetened is better for cooking which is what I usually use it for. And I like it fine for drinking too.
2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook? when? I don't have a timeframe, but cupcakes, potato soup, and a casserole of some sort have been on my mind.
3. Topping of choice for popcorn? I don't really like popcorn. I might eat a piece or two if it is plain.
4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure? Potato soup made with sweetened soymilk. Yuck!
5. Favorite pickled item? cucumbers
6. How do you organize your recipes? Some are in cookbooks, some are in a recipe box, some are saved on my computer, they are in various notebooks and stacks of papers. So umm, they aren't organized at all!
7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? trash
8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)? strawberries, potatoes, and spinach
9. Fondest food memory from your childhood? my dad teaching me how to make rice with raisins for breakfast in the microwave when I was in 2nd grade, or making cinnamon rolls with him in the evenings (even though I don't like cinnamon)
10. Favorite vegan ice cream? depends on if I'm having it with cake or without
11. Most loved kitchen appliance? my red mixing bowls and heavy duty whisk
12. Spice/herb you would die without? garlic granules/powder
13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time? The Student's Vegetarian Cookbook and some vegan cookbook whose name I can't remember were given to me for my 18th birthday, right before I moved into dorms with a kitchen, I think they were my first 2 cookbooks.
14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? crabapple jelly, raspberry jam. Must be homemade
15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend? I expect them to eat any weird vegan food I serve.
16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh? Tofu, then seitan, then tempeh.
17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)? dinner, in the evening
18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator? Peanut butter puffins, frosted shredded wheat cereal, and my roommate's box of some sort of hot cereal.
19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. TJ's meatless meatballs, chocolate chips, spinach
20. What's on your grocery list? I tend to not bother with lists, but I always buy cat food.
21. Favorite grocery store? I shop almost exclusively at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. I don't really have a preference and they do carry a little bit different stuff.
22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet. A yummy cake made with a box of cake mix, a can of pie filling, and eggs that I ate for breakfast every day during my last year of high school.
23. Food blog you read the most. Or maybe the top 3? I read a lot of them.
24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate? Candy Cane Jo-Jo's right now. Usually Boston Cookies. Not a huge candy/chocolate person, I tend to like baked goods better.
25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately? Candy Cane Jo-Jo's, 2 boxes which is what made it extravagant
26. Make up your own question to put here (and answer it). I used the one that was already there.
Are you a Lover or a Hater?
Garlic - LOVE!
Kale - love
Eggplant - hate
Celery - love
Brussels Sprouts - love
Cilantro (Coriander) - tolerate in small amounts

Reading Update

Previous ones here and here.


The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. Two scientists, a reporter and a sportsman go off to find the lost world that the one dude had already found, but nobody believed him. It's in South America and there are dinosaurs. The reporter is doing it for a girl...does it win her over?

The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 4th in the series, read from Project Gutenburg. What you would expect from Tarzan's son. Back to the jungle with them and of course, a happy ending.

The Sportswriter by Richard Ford. Divorced man who is a sportswriter and has an interesting view on things. Very, very well written. I almost quit reading it a few times cuz I wasn't interested. The end was much better than expected so that redeemed it a bit. I'd be interested to read other stuff by this guy.

Not a lot of reading. I've been busy doing a lot of other stuff and the book I'm currently reading is taking a while.

iPod

I think it is time for me to get a new iPod. I have a 1st generation mini. Which means that it is outdated for those of you who still used a diskman :)

So I'm going to get a black 80GB iPod classic. I'm stuck though. I can get stuff engraved on the back of it. 2 lines. 20ish characters each (it depends on capital letters or if there are numbers or stuff in there).

What should I get engraved on it? I could be boring and just get my first name. Or I could be cool and get something else. Any ideas? If you have my email address and want to make suggestions that way instead of in the comments, feel free.

Embroiderying

I got it in my head a monthish ago that I wanted to relearn how to embroider. I did some when I was in elementary school. I remember hand sewing little pillows, doll sized I'd say, and then embroiderying them to give to my grandparents as gifts when I was in 2nd-4th grade. The fabric was checked so I had a line to sew along and it made embroidery easy (I think I only learned one stitch, probably the only one that my mom knew to teach me).

In 5th or maybe 6th grade, my grandma on my mom's side taught me a bit more embroidery. I think I got as far as buying one of those pre-stamped pillow cases, doing an hour or two of work on it and then getting bored with it.

I don't think I've touched it since then. But I had a sudden urge to learn. I bought supplies on my way home from work one day - needles, hoop, red floss and black floss (I won't mention the snap attacher thingy that jumped in my bag or the tatting thread). I went home and did this...



and with a flash...you can see the stitches better in this maybe...it is small, maybe an inch and a half square...


I have a ton of tannish colored cotton fabric (it was a skirt I made in high school that has been cut apart and used for sooo many things, it was floor length and super gathered, so it is a ton of fabric). I drew the Pi on freehand and backstitched.

Later I bought the Sublime Stitching book. I'm doing a modified version of the sampler in that now on the same cotton fabric. It is almost done and has been a lot of fun to work on.

I'm really glad that I was introduced to all of this as a kid. It makes it so easy to jump back into it now. I still enjoy the same parts that I did then (I love having a needle and thread in my hand) and I've changed enough to enjoy the parts that I didn't enjoy then (that it takes forever is one). I'll have to find out if anyone still has any of those little pillows...I'm sure that my granny kept hers somewhere, it is entirely possible it is still on the guest room bed where it was everytime we visited when I was young.

Columbus Day

I know, I know. That was like weeks ago. So I'm a bit behind.

Batman and I went on a "vacation" for Columbus day since it is a somewhat recognized holiday here. Side note - we didn't celebrate it anywhere that I lived growing up, they get out of school for it here. He had it off, I took it off.

We packed a bag and walked to downtown Boston for our vacation. We got a sweet deal on a room at Nine Zero.

View from our room

We had dinner at Mistral. It was very nice (I wore my heels and a cute, clingy green dress!). We each got a salad, mine was lambs leaf lettuce with pecans and something else (Batman's had cheese too). Then for the main course they brought us a veggie plate. Roasted red peppers, green beans, little roasted tomatoes, yellow beets, mini onions, squash, maybe something else. It was all done perfectly and while a bit uninspired, was very tasty. Dessert for me was a dark chocolate sorbet...OMG yum! Batman had some oozing chocolate cake thing. Service was great and it was fun.

We walked back to the hotel through the Public Gardens and the Common. The rats were all out, it was cute. There were a ton of them in the trash cans and when Batman tapped it with his foot they would run out of it one at a time.

The next morning we had a late breakfast (nothing great), and then went to Newbury Street. We window shopped and each bought some jeans, had lunch at Trident and then made our way back to the hotel to pick up our bags. I haven't had a good chunk of time to spend on Newbury St. in a while, so it was lots of fun. Actually just being able to enjoy our time and not worry about doing anything else was great.

This is in the Public Garden...so tropical looking!

So overall a very successful local vacation!

Catnaps

What I wish I could be doing right now.

Mac and Cheese

New Farm Mac and Cheese, recipe from the PPK.

I ate a whole pot of this stuff about a month ago and here I am doing it again! It has a great texture. The flavor is great the first day. I add some salt and pepper to it when I'm reheating it after that though. I also like it with the Trader Joes meatless meatballs (or anti-meat spheres as Batman referred to them).

With a chocolate cupcake for dessert, I'll be eating pretty good for a few days!

Recipe changes: I just dumped in a whole pound of pasta, I don't know how many cups that is. I cut the oil in half at the end this time and I like it better that way.

Some crafty stuff is happening. Not much, but is there ever much. I'll see what I can do about getting pictures of it tonite or tomorrow nite.