Topless!

Ashley and Kaleigh came over for a visit on Wed night.  We watched another old kids movie that I grew up with, played with Tato and made some blueberry muffins.  Strangely, I was missing a few minor ingredients and substituted some like ones but the muffins did not rise.  It may have been because I put a foolish amount of blueberries in them.  These sad muffins are topless, and delicious.

The three of us even joked a few times that we each got bites that we were pretty sure had no muffin, just baked blueberries!  I can not decide if that is a bad thing...

Dinner with the Cracks

Last week I was robbed of a day off due to a silly meeting at the jobby job.  It was a real downer and disruptive.  The highlight of that day was that I was able to go see some friends after the meeting.  Adrienne and Nate (Crack the Plates) and I had some breakfast for dinner!

We had some great salad, a wonderful tofu scramble and blueberry pancakes!  I am a huge pancake fan and these hit the spot.  I really want to do more breakfast for dinner so this was nice.  After dinner we played some silly old school video games projected on their wall.  It was a nice opportunity to relax after a crummy meeting at the jobby job.

News!

I feel that most of my blogs recently have been lacking in content.  I realize this and it is something I am working on.  Saying that, I do have some news to share.  One of the many financial operations I have been working on recently has come to fruition.  I have a new (sort of) roommate.

Jamie has opted to rent my downstairs room for a reasonable fee.  This means some extra income for both of us and I get to live with my buddy Tato again!  Jamie and I have lived together for a couple years, a couple of years ago.  Our lives have gone in different directions since then but it should work out fine.

Personally, beyond the financial benefits ,I hope that this will encourage me to cook more.  I get really unmotivated when I am cooking alone.  Even if Jamie and I do not eat many meals together, I think having someones else to try dishes will motivate me some.  I am hoping for some great dishes to come forth soon!

Recently, I roasted some potatoes in garlic, and rosemary to take to work as part of my meal.  They came out great.  Sometimes I forget how much I like potatoes.  I may even post a recipe for this as it was fantastic.

Back in the rotation and an upcoming trip

Well, I had been drinking mainly fruit based smoothies for several months now.  The green smoothies have been on hiatus for no particular reason.  I have just recently started making them again and it feels great!  There is not much as refreshing as a glass full of raw spinach.

In other news, I have booked a spring time vacation.  My old friend Pari, from my days living in Mass, now lives in Spain.  I picked up my air fare tickets the other day and in late April, I will be taking a trip to Barcelona!  I am pretty excited.

Although it does not come at the most opportune time financially, I am not sure I should pass up such an amazing opportunity.  Hiking in the mountains in northern Spain and southern France seems worth a slight financial stress.

It will be great to see my friend as well.  I have not seen her in years.  I can recall sitting in NYC apartments making Indian food and eating with our fingers, causing trouble in prospect park, and marching through the streets at the 41 shots march.  It will be a great trip!

A gift of bedtime snacks!

With all the time I have been spending at work it has been hard to get good bedtime snacks.  I have been eating to much store bought stuff.  My good friend Patricia regularly calls me to ask if I would eat this or that.  She is not vegan but tried hard to accommodate in her joy of cooking.  Rarely does she bring me what she asks about so when she asked about cookies I did not get my hopes up.  That made her gift extra special!  She used the PPK recipe for chocolate chip cookies and brought me the dough!

It was a bedtime snack in a bucket!  Perfect!  The following day I baked them up and it was a great homemade bedtime snack.  It really it the spot.  Patricia is a champ.

The other morning I awoke with dried blood crusted on my lower lip.  Concerned, I was checking my pillow and bed to see what may have cause the bloody lip.  I thought I may have bit my lip in the night but there was quite a bit of blood so I thought I would have woken up if that had happened.  Upon further inspection, I realized it was just chocolate.  I like my bedtime snacks.

Valentines Day Pizza

I am not much for holidays.  Often, I work most of them so that my co-workers can go do what they want.  This year I worked a 14 hour day on Valentines.  As most on my double shifts, it was a long day.

The monday prior, I was able to spend some time with a couple of my favorite folks.  Ashley and her daughter (Kaleigh) came over for dinner and a movie.  The three of us made some nice vegan pizza and watched a movie I grew up watching, The Black Cauldron.  I also threw together a little salad for the added veggies.

I was a fun time and made me wonder if I should be taking more holidays away from the jobby job in order to spend them with the folks I like.

Eating well and staying on task

I have been trying to make myself better food to take to work.  Lunches are not always the easiest when trying to avoid "going out" for lunch.  I have slacked a bit and eaten some foods that were not very good for me to eat and even a day or two that I did not eat anything at all.  I am trying to get focused.

I recently made some simple rice and beans and it has been fantastic to have at work.  It makes a great lunch, even cold.  I also picked up some organic greens to be able to pack some nice salads to go for my lunches.  Trying to eat well and stay on task is not always easy.

a friday at the house

Friday was a relaxing day.  I spend some one on one time with Ashley.  We watched a movie and made some dinner.  She wanted potato salad so we did it up.  Always a fan, not to mention making extras for work lunches!

There has been a strange appearance of vegan chickin legs appearing in some local shops here in Atlanta.  As s glutton for odd items, I tried them.  They are pretty great for a nice quick food and they paired perfectly with the potato salad and some butternut squash.

It ended up being a nice evening and we had so good conversations along the way.

Dinner and Popcorn

Thursday was my turn to host a dinner with Adrianne and Nate (from the Crack the Plates site).  I had a dinner plan that went south very quickly when i realized that I did not have a key ingredient.  As any marginal cook would, I improvised.

What came out was a surprisingly delightful meal.  I ended up roasting some vegetables and white beans with a bushel of basil and some tempeh.  I doused it with some oil, salt, and red wine vinegar and served it over brown rice.  It is nice when it all comes together.

For desert, since my baking skills are defunct, I made my secret recipe popcorn!

We had long talks into the night as usual.  The discussions got a little heated but it is still great to have motivating conversation.  It seem like much of my life is spent without it.

Smoothie Salvation

I have had a lot on my mind recently and there seem to be many changes on the horizon, some good, some we will have to wait and see.  I have not been cooking as much as I should or want to.  I have lacked the motivation and time.  I have however, consistently been making smooithes.

Each day prior to work, I blend some juice and frozen fruit together to take with me.  It makes me feel good.  I missed a day last week and my entire work shift was crummy.  They make they day go by with less trouble.  Hurray for smoothies!

Great week in Atlanta

I have been picking up a little in the Real Estate business.  It will hopefully be a good year for me there.  I have been busy all week doing things to get deals in order.  It feels good, light at the end of the first tunnel good.

I have also been cleaning around the house a lot and trying to get outside on some of the amazing days we have been having in Atlanta.  I may try to get out and do a small hike before the weather turns again. 

Tonight, Ashley and her daughter came over for a brief dinner.  I made a simple stir-fry, nothing fancy.  I did use my Stir-Fry Sauce recipe, which I am a big fan off.  Not to mention so soy chicken (Ashley's favorite) that I found at the store.

I tried some new tofu noodles that I found at the store but they did not go over well.  They were kind of rubbery and tough to chew.  I gave them a shot and am very glad I had rice already going for a backup plan.

After dinner, Kaleigh and I did some arts and crafts in the garage and she showed me a book she got about Maine.  It has been an eventful week to be sure.