Outstanding day off

Today was day one of my two days off. It was great. I slept in for the first time in months. It felt great to roll out of bed when I was ready and not when I had to get ready. It is such a nice feeling.

Then I piddled around the house for an hour or so and headed out do some shopping. I love to shop but generally hate buying anything. It is a strange dichotomy. I suppose that I just like to see what my options are if I were interested in spend my money.

I did hit up a thrift store. It has been a bit of a bust recently with regards to thrifting. The last dozen or so stores have resulted nothing worth me opening my wallet for, until today. I got 2 mirrors, a picture frame, and a new baking dish. Exciting!

I got home in time to check my mail before Ashley arrived to begin making dinner. The mailbox is becoming an exciting place day by day. Not only am I (like most people) waiting for the almighty tax returns but I am also looking for an approval letter from the real estate commission so that I can get my license. Today I got two dvds and some junk mail. You can not win them all.

Ashley pulled up shortly after 4pm and we chatted a bit and started cooking. I had soaked some cashews the night before so I threw together some mac and cheese that rivals that of a local vegan spot here in Atlanta. I also made an entree with some red quinoa and black eyed peas. I got to use my new toy that Jamie got my for my birthday to make the plate look even better!
It was another dinner on the patio day.


Spicy Black Eyed Peas and Quinoa

5 cloves of garlic (chopped)
5 pieces of asparagus
2 baby bella mushrooms (chopped)
1 carrot
10 oz of black eyed peas (cooked)
1/2 cup of cooked quinoa
1/2 cup of vegetable broth
2 tablespoons of onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon of oil
1 tablespoon of oregano
1 teaspoon of jalapeno pepper (chopped)
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of paprika


Strain and rinse the black eyed peas.

In a saute pan, heat the oil on med - low heat. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic, onion, jalapeno, and mushrooms. Let fry for about 5 minutes until the mushrooms are soft. In the meantime, chop the tips off the asparagus spears and set aside. With the remaining spears, chop and add the oregano, cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme, to the oil and mix well.

In a food processor, add the carrot and chop. Once the carrot is in small pieces, add the saute mixture and process until well mixed (should be about 1 minute). The return to the saute pan, add the black eyed peas and quinoa (i used red) and mix well. Add the vegetable broth and sugar and let the mixture heat up until most of the broth has cooked off, do not let it dry out.

Serve topped with the asparagus spear heads.


After dinner Ashley wanted to show me the vegan ravioli that she had made. We made a few her way and topped them off with some of the remaining "cheese" from the pasta. Then we came up with the idea of taking some fruit as filling, then once the dough was cooked, fry it and toss it in some cinnamon and sugar. They were very good. Almost like a pasta tart.

After dinner, I took the trip to see Jamie and Tato. I shared some leftovers from the outstanding earlier dinner and we settled in to watch a movie. It turned out to be one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time but we made it through by joking and laughing about it. Sometimes it is more about the company than the activity. That is what makes days like this great.