Merry Christmas!

And for our blast from the past, here's Richard and Buttercup singing a little Christmas carol for you all...

Thanksgiving Tree Tray

Okay, so I unintentionally left out one of the lovely dishes served on Thanksgiving...  Here's a picture of Jen's cheese tray.  See anything special in the cheese?

Go ahead, look again.  See anything now?

Hmmmm... I wonder what she would do with the deviled eggs at Easter?

For All of the Veg-Curious Out There...

So many people ask me what I eat on Thanksgiving, so I thought I would give everyone a run down of my annual tradition, the baking of the Tofurky.  Yes, Virginia, there really is a Tofurky and here it is...

You can buy the Tofurky roast at Raisin Rack or Mustard Seed in the frozen food section and it comes either in the small "roast" box or you can buy the larger "feast" package which includes gravy and other things I really don't bother with...  It's a soy-based roast molded around a stuffing center.  I really don't like the stuffing part, so I usually eat around that.

I usually start with carrots and add onions and the roast, then use the package baste recipe made from olive oil, soy sauce, and sage. Here's the roast about to get basted and put into the oven...

And here's the roast after baking for an hour and a half...

Then it's time to slice...

Then I assemble my dinner to take over to Mom and Dad's, complete with vegan mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms...

Then it's off to dinner with my own original turkey, Richard.  Thanksgivings are always very exciting and you never know what will happen.  Here Dad tries to lure Richard onto his cutting board...

Dad was able to track down the elusive Christmas Ale after receiving a hot tip from a stock boy at Beuhler's.  It was really good...

I couldn't resist trying on the turkey hat.  I enjoyed the irony of it...

What happens when the Godfather is on TV on Thanksgiving?  All of the boys get sucked in front of the television...

Then it was dinner time...  Mom and Dad really know how to do it right.  Did you notice that Mom somehow managed to be outside the frame of all my pictures?  That woman has honed this skill over many holidays and this year was no different.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, fun, and maybe a little molded soy product!

This weekend I hope to bake up some new delicacies from my new cookbook I got on Wednesday for FREE (50% coupon, $10 Borders bucks...) 

Monkey Stars in "Paranormal Activity 3"

Well, if we weren't sure before that there was an entry point in our roof for water to gather and leak in our living room, we know now that the hole is large enough for a squirrel to come inside from the cold.

While we were watching Glee and election coverage, the cats became intrigued by some noises coming from the ceiling.  I don't think you can hear the goings-on (we think the critter is rolling around an acorn) Monkey is very freaked out.



Don't worry Mom and Dad... We're having someone out this weekend to look at the roof. Maybe he can bring a have-a-heart trap, too?

Halloween 2010

Richard and I headed out to a party at Jeph and Brett's Saturday night.  We were thrilled to be invited and to FINALLY meet them in person after being blog buddies for quite some time now.  They know how to throw a Halloween bash... Lots of fun people in very funny costumes, and lots of really good food.  I'll share a few pictures and a video here, but be sure to check out Jeph's Halloween Party blog for a link to the web album with lots more pictures.

After vetoing almost all of my ideas for costumes this year, Richard and I settled in on Glee-themed costumes.  I went as Sue Sylvester and Richard pulled the artist card and made a "Grilled Cheesus" costume (Season 2, Episode 3).  Too bad... I don't think my Tea Party Protester costume will be as relevant next year....

Check out the picasa album, "Halloween 2010" to see our pictures of the evening.

Halloween 2010

We had a wonderful time and met lots of fun people.  Here's one of the highlights of the evening... The reveal of the winners of the costume contest!

Scout vs. Coffee Maker Box

Whenever we have an empty box in the living room it's always the object of attention for the cats.  We never know how they will play with the box, but it's always entertaining until they destroy it.

Here Scout explores the box that our new coffee maker came in.  We had to cut off the UPC symbol from the bottom of the box to send in for a rebate, so Scout decided to turn the hole into a new game.



Sorry about the coughing fit... It is allergy season!

For other cat in the box shenanigans, see the new "Simon's Cat" cartoon:

Adventures in Potato Harvesting

A couple weeks ago I decided it was time to dig out the potatoes before it started getting too cold.  By the way, potatoes are WAY fun to grow...  If you ever dreamed of being an archaeologist (and be honest, who doesn't dream of being an archeologist? HELLO???? Indiana Jones???), growing potatoes is pretty darn close. 

The real adventure occurred when I stuck my trowel into the ground and a giant toad jumped out at me.  Yes, I screamed really loud and probably gave my neighbors one more reason to cross the street when they walk their dogs...

So what does a gardener do when she uncovers a huge toad?  She yells for her husband to grab the camera, that's what!

Meet Humphrey, our new slug-eating friend.  He's welcome in my garden any time... I just wish he wouldn't jump at my face when I'm digging.

City Girl Goes to the Fair

On Sunday I performed my annual duty of manning the Wayne College booth for a few hours at the Wayne County Fair. This is a great excuse for this city girl to go an hang with some livestock and eat some very unhealthy food...

Just a quick clarification, though... We are not related in any way to the Lerch's doughnut company. I can't get anyone any free doughnuts :-)

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone walking around the fair without a box of Lerch's doughnuts. In addition to the main Lerch's doughnut stand there are smaller vending trucks placed strategically throughout the fairgrounds.

Of course one of the highlights of the fair are the many animals raised by the 4H kids. You can tell how much love and effort go into raising the animals, but I have to admit that I didn't realize you can walk a chicken (or is this a rooster?) on a leash!

And here's a boy giving his turkey a bath... Or maybe are they sizing him up to see if he'll fit in a pot? The turkey seemed to be enjoying his bath!

These fancy geese were very cute... They seemed to want to be in the cage with the other two very badly.

There's also plenty to do for the kids and this game really cracked me up so I had to take a picture... Yes, those are kids in giant plastic hamster balls floating in a pool of water. I'm certain I've seen something like this on a reality TV show!

These sheep were just chillaxing after having their coats shorn.

And, this sheep is all shorn and ready to to head out to a, um, Klan rally? No, just kidding. Maybe they get a little cold after their wool is shorn? He seemed pretty proud in his fancy outfit.

And of course one of the other highlights of fair is the extremely unhealthy food highlighted by the various vendors. This cart offers the usual elephant ears along with deep-fried s'mores, cookie dough, cheese cake, Captain Crunch (??) and candy bars.

So, my fair companions sacrificed their stomachs and volunteered to sample some of the more unusual confections.

This was Richard's choice of deep-fried cookie dough.

And who doesn't love food on sticks? Here's the deep-fried s'mores...

And strangely enough, the deep-fried cheesecake cubes were the the tamest of the treats... They were small enough to pop one in your mouth and not end up wearing it on your shirt.

As with any large gathering of people one of the best parts of the fair is the people watching. What are the fashion trends of the people in Wayne County? Well, this year we found far fewer mullets (although Jen spotted a baby with a mullet... What???) Most kids were in the usual t-shirts and shorts, but we did see a couple shout-outs to the Jersey shore... Sorry, I wasn't quick enough with my camera!

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

I'll admit that I've been intimidated by the tomatillos I've been receiving in my Working Gardens CSA share... But no more!

This recipe is so easy and wouldn't you know that I had everything I needed on hand from either my garden (the chili pepper), the farmers market (the onion), my CSA share (tomatillos, garlic, cilantro), or my pantry (everything else).

I used a recipe I found online: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tomatillo-Salsa-Verde/Detail.aspx
Since I never use a recipe as it is, I of course tweaked it a bit. I didn't have a full pound of tomatillos so I reduced the amount of cooking liquid. I also didn't put the cilantro into the cooking liquid. Instead, I saved it until it went into the food processor so it would keep it's fresh taste. I also added the juice of one lime into the food processor. It turned out really yummy and it was very easy... Intimidated by tomatillos no more!

Here are all my ingredients all ready to go:

Bringing the ingredients to a boil:

The finished salsa:

I plan to use the salsa as a regular salsa and also as a topping for enchiladas later this week. Yum!

My customized notebook

I've been searching high and low for a notebook to keep all of my work notes. I've had a couple notebooks I've really liked in the past, but for some reason I haven't been happy with anything in the stores.

So, when I was at Borders last weekend I found a very plain notebook with the pages that I like, so Richard offered to make it a little less plain for me:

The inspiration for the cover is, of course, Scout. She seems to imagine herself in all kinds of adventures when she's romping around the house with Buttercup and Monkey. Now I know why she looks so noble while charging at Monkey...

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

This weekend I was surprised to see how many vegan cookbooks have popped up in the bookstore and was excited to see a couple new ones by a couple of my favorite cookbook authors. I decided to get vegan cupcake cookbook by the authors of my favorite cookbook, Veganomicon.

It's a tiny cookbook, but it's chock full of cupcake recipes and most of them use ingredients most well-stocked pantries will have on hand.

I decided to start out on the easy side and made the "Golden Vanilla Cupcake" recipe. They turned out really nice and I can see this would be a good base for lots of variations.

For the frosting I made the "Chocolate Buttercream Frosting" which took a little more effort to prepare. Lots of mixing with the hand mixer and more than a little bit of frosting ended up around the kitchen. I'll probably try a different frosting next time since this uses a lot of cocoa and is very sweet. I'm also going to need a bit more practice with my mechanical pastry bag... I'm not very confident and I think it shows!

This Year's Garden is In!

Since we finally had some lovely weather today I was able to get the rest of the garden in. So if all goes well this year, we'll have any or all of the following:

• Green beans
• Onions
• Fingerling potatoes
• Three kinds of squash (green zucchini, yellow zucchini, pattypan)
• Cucumbers
• Lettuce
  
• Ten kinds of tomatoes (cherry, grape, roma, slicing, in a variety of colors)
• Cubanelle, jalapeno, and serrano chili peppers
• 5 varieties of basil, and the usual herbs
• Maybe some blueberries

Not to mention all the goodies I usually get from my Working Gardens CSA subscription...

Ummm.... Perhaps this is the year I actually learn how to can. Anyone want to teach a newbie?

I don' t have any exciting pictures of the vegetable garden since there's really not that much to look at right now, so here are some pictures of other pretty growies around the yard...

Centaura
(A recent purchase from the Working Gardens plant sale)

Snow in Summer

Taste Test

Did you know that most wine isn't vegan? I discovered this a while back and have been interested in finding some tasty organic / vegan wine. I think I tried a vegan wine about a year ago because I remember that Fisher's has an organic wine section. While at Raisin Rack last week I picked up a bottle of Orelans Hill California Syrah and wanted to see how it stacked up to my favorite Funky Llama Shiraz from Argentina.

This particular wine spoke to me because of the label. Who could pass on a bottle with a picture of Don Quixote approaching the windmills???

So what's the verdict? I'm going to stick to my Funky Llama. I'm not a wine person so I have a hard time putting my finger on why I didn't like the vegan wine. I guess all I can say is that it seemed weak or watery... Maybe too sweet? I just prefer the fruity / peppery taste of the Funky Llama. Oh, well... So, I'm not a perfect vegan. I think I'll try a different variety next time.

Want to know more about why some wine isn't vegan? Check out this online article from VegNews.

Happy Composter

Yesterday Richard snapped this picture of me on my way back to the house from the compost heap. Yes, I am that happy about my compost bucket from Gardener's Supply Company. And yes, that was Richard's voice yelling, "Damn dirty hippie!" But he meant it affectionately, really...

The compost heap is looking really good, by the way... I can't believe how much all of those leaves, grass, weeds, and veggie scraps changed over the winter. But I will spare you all a picture of that :-)

Sure signs of spring...

First, as noted in my last blog entry, I did a bit of Spring cleaning, and Scout was all too happy to assist. She is a very good supervisor...

"You've to a major problem, lady... Time to call the Hoarders show... STAT!"

Next, I received email notifications that my seed potatoes and onion sets had shipped from Johnny's Seed Company. I was so happy to hear this, but really disappointed with the delivery from the U.S. Postal Service. No, I didn't stage this photo. This is what I came home to find at my mailbox.

And another sure sign it's Spring: I've started my regular trips to Donzell's. This week I picked up a few blueberry plants. Three varieties should get me started, but Richard was very interested in the grape vines. Who know's? Maybe next year we'll have a mini-vinyard on Deerfield Lane?

The last sure sign of Spring: A trip out to the asparagus patch revealed some spears peaking out of the leaves. At first glance it didn't look like much:

But a closer look revealed about 10 spears poking through:

Since this is the second year of the asparagus bed, we'll be able to harvest only for two weeks. Now I just have to get the potatoes and onions in the garden, the blueberry plants in the ground, and we're off to a fantastic gardening season!

How can I tell I haven't moved in a few years?

If you've ever had friends ask you to help them move, the first thing you should consider is if they love books... If so, try to have a quick response about having your gallbladder removed next weekend, or some other such excuse.

I like to take the opportunity to weed my books before moving because I know it's such a pain. Well, looks like I've gotten comfortable in our home because the books are starting to take over!

Looks like it time to make a trip to Goodwill or Books in Stock... Anybody interested in some gently used books leftover from my bookclub? Anyone interested is welcome to come and help with my spring cleaning!

When mom gives your free asparagus...

Make a stir-fry!

I have a new favorite sauce recipe that I'm using all the time. It all started with this recipe I tried from Vegetarian Times: Stir-Fried Shiitake Mushrooms with Tofu and Bok Choy.

I really liked the bok choy, but I like to make a stir-fry with whatever I have on hand. I've been changing it up, trying different mushrooms and different veggies, and tonight I decided I wanted to use the bunch of asparagus Mom gave me as part of a Buehler's BOGO.

I started with the tofu and added half an onion, then stir-fried shiitake and baby portabella mushrooms, then tossed in the asparagus. Last I added a variation of the sauce from the original bok choy recipe.

My sauce variation:

• Stir 1 tsp of cornstarch into a couple tablespoons of water. Add the following:
• 3 Tbs light soy sauce
• 2 tsp Thai sriracha chili sauce
• 1 Tbs fresh grated ginger (I've also substituted Penzey's granulated ginger when I didn't have fresh)
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil

I first purchased Huy Fong sriracha chili sauce for this recipe and have been using in anything that needs a little heat. It's my new favorite condiment, so I was so excited to see this post on the Bitten Word championing the virtues of Huy Fong chili sauce. I can't wait to try their brussels sprouts recipe. I haven't been able to find the chili garlic sauce they use in this recipe, but when I do, watch out! If any of my bloggy friends out there see it, please let me know!

Tree Removal Videos

It took a few days, but I put together a playlist on youtube with footage from the tree removal.

Strangely enough, several of the videos already have a number of views. There must be people out there googling "tree removal videos." I'm now regretting not selling tickets to the big event!

http://www.youtube.com/user/reenie716#grid/user/6876F67D0DBC2206

Goodbye, Mr. Oak Tree!

I posted the pictures from this morning's tree removal. I really didn't expect it to be so interesting... Three guys showed up and took the tree down in a few hours. One guy climbed the tree and cut down limbs with ropes, and the other two guys helped guide the limbs come down and worked on chipping and clearing away debris.

The pictures are available in Picasa, so you can follow this link and view the slideshow:
http://picasaweb.google.com/reenie716/TreeRemoval
2010?feat=directlink

Here's the before picture:
And after:

This will take a lot getting used to... We'll miss the tree terribly, but are happy not to come home and find it in the middle of our chimney!

I'll post some video when I get a chance to piece through the footage and load them into Youtube.

This Post is NOT for the Easily Grossed Out

Okay, here in our little neck of the woods it could be said that this has been one of the nicest weather days of the year so far. Lots of the snow is melting and uncovering the lawn and revealing all kinds of things.

When I was standing on the driveway looking around the yard I noticed something strange about the tree that is in our backyard, about halfway up the hill.

Strange, right? So I decided to trek up the hill (in my work shoes, of course) to take a look. Here's my up-close inspection.

So, I guess we've had some deer rubbing up against the tree. Anyone know why they do this? I have no idea. Why do I think it's a deer?

Yes, this is one of the OVER FIFTEEN piles of deer poop piles I counted in the immediate area. This is crazy! The deer are lovely and all, but do they have to poop all over my yard?

If anyone has any advice on how to make them "go" elsewhere, please let me know. But if the solution has anything to do with the droppings of any other animal, I think I'll pass!