Houses, Dogs, and Chocolate

Holy cannoli! The past few days have been very full, with lots of meetings with kitchen designers and shopping for flooring, straddling two houses and lawns (despite not living there anymore we're still being held hostage responsible for the cleaning and upkeep on our former rental till May 1 and since it's still being shown despite being under contract, that's a burden we could do without!) And we're at that awkward stage of most moves where we've got most everything unpacked and stuffed somewhere, but rarely remember the where part, so there's lots of "honey, where's the tape measure?" and "have you seen the corn meal?" It doesn't help that the kitchen is so tiny we're having to use a bookcase, stereo cabinet and hutch, plus garage shelves, to store most of our food and several kitchen gadgets. And then we had the added excitement of coming home from errands yesterday to the shattered remains of a lightbulb all over the freshly cleaned and dusted dining room (the overhead light fixture it was in wasn't even on, and why the bulb exploded is anyone's guess!), and a phone call from our contractor first thing this morning needing to know pronto what size windows we wanted on either side of the fireplace (a custom addition we'd requested a while back that will look something like this) and where on the walls we wanted them placed. YOU try figuring that out early in the morning without being able to see the windows or the yet-to-be constructed wall they'll go in! (I'm a visual person so I need to see what I'm talking about, so thank goodness for the brilliant Houzz and their bazillion photos of house interiors and exteriors, landscaping and products!) After finding the right sized windows on the manufacturer's web site, getting entangled in the ("honey, where's the") tape measure, and checking some photos on Houzz, we came up with an answer that we ended up changing about 20 minutes later, but are pleased with now. We think. :-) Whew!

Anyway, I guess now it goes without saying that they've started framing our house. Here's how it looked last Saturday, with the crawl space framed and the sill plate (the boards bolted to the top of the foundation walls) installed and ready for floor joists...

It was a dark and stormy day, as you can see from the view of the mountains from our lot (for you, VioletSky!), and we ended up with some real gullywashers over the rest of the weekend. If it's going to rain, then let it be when they're not working on our house!

Yesterday dawned cloudy and raw but turned beautiful by mid-afternoon. We were in the area dropping off a wedding present so drove by building site again, snapping this photo on the way a couple of blocks from our lot... 

And then we turned the corner and were amazed to see this! Our garage was nearly framed!..

As was the chimney, off to the right behind the red dumpster. I think there's something inexplicably charming about that chimney standing there by itself, seeming to supervise the building of the garage while it waits for the living room walls that will keep it company. It obviously wasn't lonesome long, since one of those walls was what required the quick window decision this morning...

And this is how it was looking about two hours ago. The windows on either side of the fireplace that were merely theoretical this morning are now manifested (or at least framed) - if you know where to look, they're both visible in the second photo...

Took this from the elementary school parking lot,

hence all the cars. Kind of looks like our house construction 

has drawn a crowd of spectators though, doesn't it? :-)

In dog news, Josie got a clean bill of health at the vet last week when she had her annual heart worm test and a follow up urinalysis, about 5 weeks after her last dose of antibiotics to treat the urea plasma infection our vet thought might be the underlying cause of her years of recurring bladder infections. We'll have her checked again in early June, but this is a good sign!

I sometimes (especially lately) feel like the last person on earth to see some things, so some of you may already know about this viral video of Fiona the rescued blind dog that I just learned of this morning from the Freekibble site (where you can answer free daily dog and cat trivia questions to raise money to feed shelter dogs and cats). It has the most heart-wrenching beginning but the most heart-warming end - keep a hanky ready, you'll most likely need it!

Major kudos and good karma points to Hope for Paws Animal Rescue! 

And also to the makers of Rescue Chocolate, who donate 100% of the net profits from sales of their vegan chocolate bars to animal rescue groups! I also learned about them just this morning, from the wonderful folks at Vegan Cuts who are currently offering a sweet deal on a variety six-bar pack...

So there you go! You can provide a loving, forever home to a furbaby from your local shelter if you're able, play Freekibble every day to help feed critters in need, reward yourself for your good deeds with some vegan Rescue Chocolate and help even more critters, and make everything else you eat (and wear) vegan too, to help billions more critters! Talk about a sweet deal!

Mmm, a chocolate lab! :-)

Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone, and I'll be back as soon as I can with more house updates and other goodies!

Lights, camera, giveaway action!

I hope everyone enjoyed a festive, happy holiday weekend! Ours was restful and ridiculously balmy (shorts-and-tank-top-on-the-deck-balmy!) We enjoyed some good hikes with the dogs, cooked, baked, and ate lots of goodies, and on Christmas night we took the girls (decked out in their snowman bandanas, of course) and drove around looking at people's lights and decorations. I did my best to get good photos, but in such low light without a tripod I fear I mostly got unintended special effects. :-) Still, I think they're pretty, so here are three of my favorites from three different neighborhoods...

While Christmas is over for another 363 days, the pretty lights are still aglow and so is the spirit of giving. One of my Christmas gifts from my friend Jo was Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews by Nava Atlas (and boy am I eager to dig into it!), we bought Viva Vegan last month, and I plan to buy Color Me Vegan with Christmas money from my mom. So to make some room and keep our cookbook collection under some semblance of control, at least one of my previous cookbooks must go!

Vegan Delights by Jeanne Marie Martin is one of the many vegan cookbooks I got early on, but it's one I just never found myself using. So it's in pristine condition and I'm offering it as a Happy New Year giveaway, just in time for all those resolutions, fresh starts and new experiences. Perfect time to explore vegan cooking and baking if it's new to you (and a great time to sign up for PCRM's third 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, which begins on Jan 3)... or a great time to add to your recipe repertoire if you're already vegan. Actually, any time of year is a great time to do these things, but the beginning of a new year is especially auspicious.

A caveat: since this cookbook was published in 1993, some of its nutritional advice is outdated or questionable, and her lists of vegan web sites and cookbooks are quaintly brief since there has been an explosion of both since 1993. But plenty of the information in it is enduring and always useful, especially for beginning vegans.

Since I've never made any of the recipes, I can't speak to how easy or tasty they are. For anyone with food allergies, intolerances or other concerns about certain ingredients, several of her recipes contain soy, a few contain wheat (or other gluten-containing grains), and many contain oil (sometimes in large quantities), which in most cases can simply be omitted or easily substituted. And plenty of recipes contain none of those ingredients.

If you'd like to enter the giveaway (open to US and Canadian residents), please leave a comment about your favorite vegan delight: recipe, cookbook, food blog, web site, restaurant, city, animal sanctuary, quote, person, vegan-friendly kitchen gadget, vegetable, fruit, bean, nut, seed, legume ... well, you get the idea. :-) And if I don't already know it, please leave a way to contact you.

I'll randomly draw a name at 9pm MST on Dec 31 (I'm getting too old to commit to staying up till midnight, lol) and will announce the winner shortly thereafter.

So let's get cookin'! :-)

Unrelated P.S. - I hope everyone in the path of the huge nor'easter blizzard is staying safe and warm!

So Cool (Totally) Spaghetti Squash

Since it's the last day of November and the final day of Vegan MoFo, I wanted to squeeze in this final food post, with its Fall decor, before the calendar turns to December! (Not that I never plan to share more food posts in the future - there were several I'd intended to post this month that I didn't get to, like my other two sandwich salad recipes and BW's homemade pizza. This is why I didn't officially participate in Vegan MoFo! As a blogger, I'm totally unreliable). :-)

And so is my ISP, which has been down since 1:30 this afternoon. I was beginning to think I wouldn't get to squeeze this in today at all! But I'm up and running now, so here's my little homage to spaghetti squash, which I think is such a fun dish I seriously have to wonder why I don't make it more often!

Last week I had some leftover pasta sauce from our dinner the night before, so I cut a small spaghetti squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and baked it at 350ºF in a shallow glass baking dish for about 30 minutes on each side (starting with the flesh side down, skin side up) till the skin was tender. After a few minutes when it had cooled enough to handle, I scraped the slightly crispy, slightly sweet, pasta-like flesh out with a fork, put my reheated sauce on it, sprinkled a little nooch on top and voilá...

While spaghetti squash is usually served like, well, spaghetti, here are a few other ways to enjoy it...

Spaghetti Squash New Mexican with Black Beans + Lime

Santa Fe Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Moroccan Spiced Spaghetti Squash

And here's a closer look at the adorable card by my plate of squash...

My generous and thoughtful friend Rose (who had the most awesome Vegan MoFo posts with her Random Road Trip, which you really must check out if you missed it) sent it to me along with a gift of adorable recipe cards last month, all the terribly cute creations of Michelle at My Zoetrope. I've had this card displayed on our dining room table since it arrived in mid-October and packed it away with my fall decorations today to enjoy again next year. Not only are the colors festive and the illustration charming, who doesn't love to be told they're "so cool, totally" and "'ed" several times a day? :-)

Rose, you are so cool, totally too, bless your ! (And I'll be making that vegan pot roast recipe you included with the card very soon!) :-) xoxo

I Am Not An Ingredient

I found this illustration on a blog two or three years ago and absolutely fell in love with it...

There was no attribution given, and I can't quite make out the artist's name (Hill? Hall?), and all my internet searches have thus far yielded nothing.

I've always thought it would be adorable on an apron, but had no more luck finding that than I did finding the artist's identity! Until this morning, when I happened (for no particular reason) to click on the PCRM's shop tab, and there, at the very bottom of the page, I struck gold!

(Click on the image to view and/or purchase)

Not only is this illustration on an apron, it's on a whole bunch of other stuff. And there are other cute goodies for sale, including merchandise with other illustrations by this same (still unidentified) artist. And 15%-30% of the sale proceeds go to PCRM and their work.

So half of my wish came true, I've found my wished-for apron! (I wear my beloved Compassionate Cooks apron every time I cook, and find it not only adorable and useful, but I swear it makes my cooking and baking more inspired. I feel like a chef!) :-)

(Chef Laloofah making McDougall McVeggie Burgers, Nov 2007)

But when it's in the laundry, I'm bereft. And splattered. :-) So, time for a backup!

Alas, the other half of my wish remains unfulfilled, as I'm still wanting to know who this wonderful artist is. I emailed PCRM this morning and asked them. I'll post the answer if/when they reply, as this talented person deserves credit!

Update: The artist's name is Doug Hall.

Pics for Marla (& A Plug for Vegan Street!)

Okay, Marla ~ here's what I looked like on that record hot day in LA eight years ago! (Marla and I met at WorldFest in Sept 2001 and just reconnected through her blog, so we're engaging in a little memory-jogging here). I have no idea who that guy is standing next to me. (I sent this photo to a friend shortly after WorldFest and he said, "Wow, your husband sure looks like John Robbins!" LOL!)

And I thought you'd like to see me modeling my Vegan Gym tank three years later. (In rural Alabama! Perhaps the first vegan message clothing ever worn there! Perhaps by the first vegan to ever set foot there! Insert "Deliverance" banjo music here!) Just kiddin'. ;-)~

If you want your own Vegan Gym tank (which I highly recommend!), visit the Vegan Street Market. If you want to enjoy your own WorldFest Los Angeles adventure, keep an eye on this web site in the coming months. If you want to have your own photo taken with John Robbins or visit rural Alabama, well... you're on your own. :-)

It's 20ºF, we've gotten probably 7-8" of heavy, sticky, wet snow, I've shoveled the deck twice (so far), and our power went out for an hour and a half. So I'm just a leetle bit cranky and a leetle bit behind. Assuming our power stays on, I will be back for a second post after I get some stuff done around here. (Wow, two posts in the same day? Who IS this crazed blogger and what has she done with Laloofah?!)