Kale Quiche

I made it. It was delicious, but I maybe used too much kale so mine turned out kind of crumbly. Used frozen and used the whole bag. I guess that is equivalent to more than one bunch. But seriously, a bunch is a pretty vague unit of measure. Anyway. Tasty.

(not my picture)

Here is linky: Kale Crustless Quiche

Also I am interested in trying: Gatherer's Pie and Mushroom Thyme Gravy.

NBPM: Recipe - Pumpkin Bread

This is a recipe that kind of developed over the course of several batches. It started from a google search for pumpkin bread recipe, involved accidentally adding twice the amount of pumpkin the recipe called for (2 cans instead of 2 cups OOPS) and went from there, including a new type of flour, and a reduction in sugar. The result is a moist and hearty spiced bread.

Pumpkin Bread

4 eggs

1C sugar (brown or white, I prefer brown) 

1-3T maple syrup (or you can skip the syrup and add up to another 1/2C sugar, if you like)

2 cans unsweetened plain pumpkin

1C vegetable oil

2/3C almond milk (or regular milk or water)

3 1/2C flour (I use barley flour but whole wheat or white works too)

1/2t baking powder

2t baking soda

3/4t salt

1t nutmeg

1t cloves

1t cinnamon
1t ginger
1t allspice

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Mix eggs and sugar. Add pumpkin, almond milk, maple syrup, oil. Mix thoroughly.

3. Combine all dry ingredients in separate bowl. Mix together with with pumpkin mixture.

4. Pour into greased baking pans. Begin checking large loaf at 50-60 min. Begin checking smaller ones sooner, perhaps 35-45 min. The above makes one loaf pan and three small loafs. I like it because the big loaf is for me to eat and share; the small ones can be for gifts! A half recipe makes one loaf. 

Variations 

Sprinkle top before baking with a bit of cinnamon sugar and some sunflower seeds and chopped pistachios. Press it into the batter a little bit with your fingers. You could probably use slivered almonds, other chopped nuts, and/or oats, I am thinking of trying that next time. 

or

Mix 1C chopped nuts into batter when combining wet and dry ingredients.

NBPM: Totally Cheating

This is totally cheating as a blog post, but I came across this tutorial on how to do a really cute bun using only a sock:

That was actually going to be my whole post but then I thought of something else I want to say.

I was thinking about crafting, art, on the way home. How I really enjoy it. Almost more than anything. By myself or with other people, doesn't matter, both are nice. Even if whatever it is comes out super crappy (a lot of the time it does - a lot of the time it comes out fantastic too), it is still just enjoyable to be MAKING. Like the process itself is pleasurable. So, as I was walking I was thinking or wondering if it isn't because there is no pressure to perform in that type of situation. Nobody's counting on me, there's no deadline, there's no need to be accurate or money will be lost or someone's reputation will be damaged. It's just nice, like how eating is nice, or running is nice, or jumping or singing or swimming in the waves of the sea. My pace, my vision, just see what happens. You know?

Potato print pillow in progress

Finished product!

NBPM: Life Flashing Before My Eyes

Did one from October for today's: If your life flashed before your eyes, what are 5 moments you know would be included?

Things that have taken up a somewhat depressingly large portion of my life and therefore would be more of an honest representation of how I have spent my days:

• Studying or attending class, daydreaming or doodling
• Sleeping, trying to avoid waking up
• Cleaning, cooking, eating, pooping, showering, etc
• Riding on a train/bus/bike or in a car
• Sitting in my office cube, working on the computer

Things I'd actually want to remember:

1. I'm small. My hair in a long braid down my back. My grandpa, my mom's father, drives me and my brothers and sisters in the back of his rusty pickup truck up a dirt road in the mountains. The air is breezy, whipping strands of hair as we bump over potholes. He pulls over finally to a place with thick green beneath the trees. Gives us each a tin coffee can with a loop of string to hang around our neck. We pick blackberries - hundreds of them. So sweet. So fat. Careful of the thorns! Fill the cans up. Dump them into a big plastic bucket. Pick more. Empty the cans again. Almost as many going into my mouth as into the coffee can. Come home. Make blackberry crisp and jam and pie.
2. At my parents' house. It's dinner time, maybe thanksgiving, maybe a birthday, maybe a relative has died and we are telling our favorite stories in rememberence. Piles of food, all types. Maybe there is a debate. Maybe there are some passions flying. Maybe we are laughing. Loosening our belt buckles or changing into sweat pants to make room for more food.
3. I'm scrambling up a rocky mountain, half graceful, half totally out of control. There's a bit of wind rustling the leaves and there is some moss but not too slippery, and I'm feeling my way up and over and around boulders. Breathing slightly heavy from the intensity. Get to a clearing. The sun bursts out over the valleys. The view is extraordinary. I almost want to die from how awesome I feel.
4. Sitting with friends or family around a campfire, possibly on the beach. Wearing a cosy sweatshirt. Breathe in. Smokey on the breeze. A tiny bit chilly on the backside, warm on the side facing the flame. Crunchy pine needles or damp cool sand underfoot. Sky getting dark. Stars coming out. Some mosquitoes coming out too but we swat em. Maybe we are lucky, see some fireflies.
5. Probably if anything important or life-changing ever happened to me, like meeting the person I was going to spend my life with or seeing my son or daughter for the first time, that would be the fifth thing.

NBPM: Last Meal

Ok so it is national blog post month (similar to the novel writing one but seems like somewhat less work, since they don't have to tie together into a coherent story). I just found it out from Cinderella's Pear. Anyway I missed the first two days and kind of don't really love the prompt for today, so I'm going to go with yesterday's prompt:

If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be?

This is soooooo difficult to me.

Probably it would be an around the world vegetarian buffet. That is probably cheating. But I have no idea how I'd choose something. I love pretty much all vegetarian Indian food. I love lasagna and pizza. I love greens and mushrooms and cheese and fruit. I love different types of hearty bread. Hummus. Lentil soup. Stuffed peppers. And some nice red wine.

For dessert, pumpkin pie. Whipped cream. Berries. Mmm I'm sort of salivating thinking of it all.

Ok yes I definitely choose around the world vegetarian buffet. Haha I am such a cheater! I would go out with a bang. And of course everyone I love is there eating with me.

 

New Bucket List

I think I posted one on here before at some point, but here's my new, expanded one.

   1. Get photobooth shots done
   2. Have a bakery or sandwich shop or cafe
   3. Have a flower shop
   4. See northern lights
   5. Own a property - condo or small house - have fun making it quirky and homey
   6. Publish a writing piece, my own ideas or experiences
   7. Photos published somewhere
   8. Learn woodworking
   9. Use pictures to tell a story - children’s book (or an adult book)
  10. Go backpacking
  11. Have kids, get married
  12. Go to Europe to visit EK, the Danes, others
  13. Go to VA to visit LP
  14. Go to Antarctica
  15. Go to Columbia, hike, see Machu Picchu
  16. Road trip or train trip across USA
  17. Ski the Alps
  18. Hike the Alps
  19. Teach an artistic class (silkscreening, woodblock printing)
  20. Help make blankets for people who need them, babies or people in the hospital
  21. Climb Mt Washington

Weekend Update

Due to a series of unfortunate incidents I ended up not being able to go out to NY to participate in the field hockey alumni game this weekend at my alma mater.  Anyway, it was only a bummer for a short while. I did a lot of fun things instead.

Hung out with many, many Danes. Very hyggelig.

Got my hair cut. Got some Indian lunch buffet.  Spent some time at K + T's and baby M's for awhile. Installed the Bum Genius for them (attaches right to the toilet supply line!)

Took the first nap of the season in the back porch hammock. Had two of my sisters over to make these little chocolate coated cake owls and cake-filled easter baskets.

Creepy-cute. My favorite.

Also I met with one of my new roommates.  It's sad that the Danes have to go back to Denmark mid-June... but he will hopefully be a fun and responsible and easygoing roommate.

More pics from creep-cute cake time:

Saw off the bottom of ice cream cones.  Fill with chocolate to create bottom of "basket."

The handle is chocolate twizzler, miraculously

.

Owl body in melted chocolate coating.

Dane food.

  

Some of my favorite creepy-cuties.

Goodbye Week, Hello Weekend

This weekend we have a baby* party at my apartment for Kaci + Tom.  My littlest sister sings in West Side Story.  I get to see almost my whole family.  And dear dear dear Rachy comes to stay for a few days! 

Goodbye week, hello weekend. 




*That baby's gonna be here so soon...

Modified Sugar Cookies

We wanted to make sugar cookies, but didn't have all the ingredients AND we didn't want to refrigerate the dough for 2 hours. Also we didn't have an electric mixer.  Here's the modified recipe.  Delicious.  Not too sweet, a tiny bit biscuit-y, and the icing adds a nice touch of sugar.

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour (we substituted 2/3 cup whole wheat pastry)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• Scant cup brown sugar, not packed
• 1/4 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  Combine butter and sugar (since the brown sugar was pretty much solidified, we put it in the microwave with the butter and kept stirring occasionally until the sugar and butter had formed a warm brown liquid - then we had to put it in the freezer for a couple minutes).  Add banana and cream.  Mix to combine. Add flour; mash with fork and then with your hands until it's all mixed.

Plop dough onto parchment paper and put in freezer until it feels cold when you touch it. 

Bake ~9 minutes.  Makes about 30 cute little cookies. 


Icing 

• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon cream
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together and add food dye as desired.

What Happened to the Strainer?

It melted. 

We made a big brunch with kale, eggs, fruit salad, and potatoes. Somehow the plastic strainer was on the back of the stove for too long.

Cool, huh?


p.s. sorry - not sure what's up with the formatting here

Impulse Purchases Today

Today was so so so nice (like 55 degrees).  I got done with work and wandered a little bit, popped my head in different places.

-Little purple shoes
-A whole pineapple
-Poached eggs
-Lava cake

The first two I purchased on the way home, the second two were at a Greek/breakfast restaurant I passed in my wanderings.  Only one of these I regret. 

Can you guess which? 

Snow Miracle

It snowed here. A lot.  I might write about Christmas holiday at some point, but now I am just so happy about this beautiful snow.  Here's something I wrote about our first, little snow last week, it still applies, perhaps more:

AHHHH snow is so pretty! Walking to the train this morning was a little bit thrilling. Neighbors out shoveling. Little doggies making tracks on the sidewalk. The ice on the river, covered in white, except for a few swirly patches here and there. The roofs of the buildings, white. The swings in the playground, people’s front steps. White. Also, I like that the snow kind of shakes everyone back to reality. Everything looks so different. The world looks so different, the same trees, cars, sidewalks, but somehow all brand new.

Snow found its way everywhere. 

Not even the birdhouse was spared.

Three in a row. 

Ice, ice, baby. 

Drippy.

The snow collected in a narrow cap along the top of the fence.  

Trees.  Branches. Snow.  Sky.

Snow barf on everything.

View from front porch.

I have a ton more where that came from, but those are just some highlights.

I woke up with a killer headache and called in to work saying I needed to go back to bed.  When I awoke for real and had something to eat and drink, I checked to make sure it was fine if I took a 'snow day' for myself.  I then proceeded to lounge around for awhile as snowy wind howled around the apartment.  After I had enough of coziness, I bundled up, went out on foot with my camera and my HP7 book, sat in a cafe for awhile, sipped some hot cider.

Bubs and I tried to go skating but it was closed because of THE WEATHER.  Silly.

So we found ourselves having Vietnamese and watching TRON: Legacy.  We both ended up pretty happy with that series of events.  Movie recommended if you're in the mood for a fun, action-y film with fun,  action-y soundtrack.  3D not required.


A song my mom used to sing.

It snowed last night, it snowed last night.
The sky bears had a pillow fight,
Tore up all the clouds in sight, tossed down all the feathers white.
Oh, it snowed last night, it snowed last night.

Another Recipe

Made this tofu mash and broccoli last night, then I ended up eating it for breakfast and dinner as well.

I heated the following:

• 1 package tofu, drained and crumbled
• 1/2 onion chopped fine and mostly-cooked (in olive oil)
• 1/2 t turmeric
• 1 T soy sauce

in a skillet and added oregano, taragon, paprika, salt, and black pepper, to taste.  Also a bit more olive oil and a little water.  Then I lightly steamed some broccoli, added olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper.

I ate it with buttered wheat bread, but I imagine it could go well with some brown rice or something too.


I wrapped some of my presents and put them under the little tree in the living room.  Festive!  Time to go get something for the office yankee swap gift exchange tomorrow.   I feel like my blog posts are kind of dumb lately.

In case you were wondering...

...Starbucks does not make as good donuts as 7-Eleven. 

Conrbread Pudding

This recipe we based off of something from online that was a little more bland, but we spiced it up a bit.  I think it could stand to be a little more spiced, actually.  I can't find the recipe we based it off of though.  But it's a lot different from that original recipe.  The end result was hearty and pretty tasty. 

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the following ingredients in a large bowl:

•  Stick of butter, melted
• 1 c cornmeal
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 c buttermilk (we used 2 c regular milk + some lemon juice)
• finely-chopped veggies, just whatever there was, which happened to be approximately:

- 1/2 red pepper
- small red onion
- 3/4 c black beans, drained
- 1/2 c corn, drained

• 1 t baking soda 
• 1/2 t salt
• black pepper
• some Boursin cheese, about 1/2 package

Pour into buttered skillets or baking pans (we used two large cast-iron skillets), but two 9" rounds would probably work as well.

Top with:

• small can mild green chilies, drained
• 1 c shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

Bake for 45 min or until egg is set and cheese is golden brown.

Gratitude

Anyway, a couple friends on FB have been posting things they’re thankful for, and Rachy just made a Thanksgiving post. I think it’s good to do that. It really gives you perspective on your life, and a lot of joy to realize how much you really do have. So, things I'm grateful for:

• My fun, loving family - they are not perfect, they occasionally drive me crazy, but I have to say they are one of biggest factors in who I am today
• Friends - I have been blessed with kind and funny and supportive friends who make life not only tolerable but oh so joyful
• Wonderful living situation
• Employment
• Enough to eat
• Overall health
• Modern utilities, including the internet
• Facebook
• Walking
• Warmth
• The rain
• My hands
• Love
• Discovery
• Seasons, time, days, nights, cycles 
• Plants
• Colors
• Dunkin Donuts hash browns (not gonna lie, I am grateful for them) 
• The new day that always comes
• And eyes to see, ears to hear, skin to touch all the beauty that exists in the world around me.

Craft Time

How to mount photos on foam core: step-by-step instructions with pictures (!) by Newt. It doesn't have to be photos, it could work with anything paper-y really. 

1.You will need: glue stick (not shown), metal ruler, utility knife or X-Acto knife, pencil.

Glue stick not included. 

2. Measure the width of the photo.  These were standard 5x7 photos, so the width is 7".

 Seven inches wide. 

3. Draw a line that distance from the edge of the foam core.  I measured 7" at several points and used the ruler to connect the lines.

It is tough to hold a ruler with one hand and take 
a photo with the other. 

4. Place the foam core on a large piece of cardboard or something else destructible so you don't ruin your floor or table.  

5. Hold the ruler along the line you drew and use it to guide your knife as you cut along the line.  Foam core has three layers: foam sandwiched between smooth paper on either side. Be sure to cut through all three layers.

See?  It is the same width as the picture.  
If you measured correctly. 

6. Measure the height of the picture (5" on these) and make perpendicular pencil lines at that interval across your entire strip.

 

I sure hope the lines show up in this image.   

7. Cut along your pencil lines, again using the ruler to guide the blade.  Cut all the pieces in this manner.

The foam pieces also make great toys for children. 

8. For each photo, apply glue to one of the faces of the foam core AND to the back of the photo.  Be sure when you are applying the glue to the photo that you place it face down on a smooth, clean, dry surface so you do not damage it.  I made a box with the glue to get all the corners and edges and then added some squigglies inside. 

9. Place the photo onto the piece of foam core so the two glue faces are touching.  Do it slowly so you can move it around a little before it sticks.  Press it down carefully - I used the sleeves of my sweater so as not to smudge it with fingerprints. 

Voila!  You now can display your works of art.

See them on the floor? Maybe some 

day they will be on the wall...

All You Need Is...

It is a tiny bit depressing when it's all couples in the house (even though they are all amazing and delightful people).  I feel like I'm generally a pretty content person, but my body and heart do crave that kind of companionship. 

I am concerned I'm a little too picky about men.  I find a lot of them attractive, but I just don't know how many would make a good partner based on the way they behave.  Really, if I am in a relationship with somebody, I don't want the relationship to cause more problems in my life than the person helps me resolve. I've reflected a lot on past relationships, what worked, what didn't, what I would like, what I wouldn't, etc. Specifically, I'd want to date somebody with similar values in the following areas:

• family and relationships
• faith/spirituality
• attitude toward life
• similar sense of humor

Other qualities I would like:

• kindness and respect
• spend time with me doing fun and interesting things
• discuss problem situations and work toward solutions
• give and receive physical affection

Also, as mentioned, I definitely do not want someone who causes more drama/problems than he helps resolve.  The bolded somehow seems to be particularly rare, among the men I've dated at least.  Since I'm not really involved in the LDS dating scene these days, I'm starting to feel ready to use my OkCupid account again, at least as a way to expose myself to new people.

UGH I guess the annoying part is that based on past experience it's such a big time suck with very low chances of return. So maybe I need to have a more efficient approach/screening process.

• Update profile to more clearly reflect those specific criteria I just listed
• Remember that I don't have to message everyone who messages me
• Ask people about their family, their view on spirituality in a message
• Go on 2 dates per month

Dearest readers, give me feedback on these criteria, this plan.  Is it even viable for a person to be trying to 'find' love, since so much depends upon chance and upon another person anyway? 

All Is One

I just blew my nose and a tiny purple piece of cabbage came out.  There was cabbage in my salad at lunch.  I guess everything in the universe really IS connected. 

October Mountain

Family campout weekend. This place was called October Mountain. Fitting, huh?

We went hiking on Saturday.

The noteworthy things which happened or which we saw included a sprained ankle, lots of 'poison ivy', a sick sister, a cell phone falling into the marsh (gone forever), four different people reaching around in the muddy water for the cell phone, fraudulent leech scare... another sister throwing up, some landscapes, another sister working on a grant application on her laptop, and some fungus/leaves/trees.  Beth somehow managed to look SASSY in all the pictures in which she appears. 

I came. I saw. I conquered.

Amber waves of grain.  

 

Fungus 1. 

Fungus 2. 

Pretty.

Sasseh. 

Birches. 

So intense.  So vivid. 

Sickie/sprained ankle pup. 

'Oh. My hair doesn't look that bad'. 

The roots from a fallen tree provided a lot of entertainment for us.

Their new album cover.  

Why hello there father o' mine. 

Time for walkies. 

Marshlands.  Formed by beavers.  We did not see the beavers. 

Beth carried little gimpy pup.  You know you're loved when...

Tinfoil dinners.  YUMMY. 

And milk.