I Learned a Few Things Tonight

Tonight Cyndi and I took a vegan cooking class taught by Nikki Gardner who created the recipes.  Now, before you say, "Blech!" let me tell you that the food was/is delicious! 

Those of you who know me well, know that I am a full fledged, card carrying carnivore.  In fact, you can give me bacon any time of the day.  Bacon wrapped around chicken with a side of steak would be fine too.  Dessert would be ribs.  Okay, you get the idea. But I decided that it wouldn't hurt me to try some vegetarian dishes.

Well, vegans are special. They not only come from the planet Vega, but they also do not eat any form of animal products.  So not only do they eschew (no, Sharon, that does not mean take teeney tiny bites) meat, but they also do not eat milk nor eggs of any kind.

We ended up forming teams of two and each team worked on a dish.  Cyndi and I made an Artichoke, Chickpea, Olive Tagine.  (I didn't know what a tagine is either -- it's the type of bowl they usually use to serve it.  Here is our creation.

That's couscous mounded in the middle.  The whole thing is topped with a mixture of garlic, extra virgin olive oil, chopped parsley and cilantro, kosher salt and lemon juice.  That's the dark green stuff.

I loved the Sweet Potato Yukon Gold [potato] Shepherd's Pie.  Unfortunately, it came out last so I didn't get a picture of it because I was too busy eating and saying, "yummy, yummy!"  I think I would like that better without the sun dried tomatoes in it, but the woman next to me kept talking about varied textures and depth of flavor.  She and her husband had brought their own designer beers.  Hmpf.

Below is the Spinach-Vegan Feta Casserole.  It was absolutely delicious! It had basmati rice which gave it a very interesting texture.  However, Nikki made "cheese" from tofu and it is WAY too labor intensive for me.  Besides, I like feta and I could use that right from the sheep.  Er, from the shepherd who made it into cheese.  Whatever.

But my very favorite was the Eggplant Seitan Moussaka!  They used vegan parmesan cheese (aka gomasio) in it.  What you may ask, is vegan butter? It's ground up toasted sesame seeds with sea salt. Aye, there's the rub: there was a lot of salt in these recipes and my ankle looks like a football.

Eggplant Tempeh Moussaka (We should have peeled the eggplant!)

Next comes the enchildas.  They were spectacular.  The mole sauce was a bit spicy for Cyndi, but she scraped it off. If she made this dish, she should decrease the peppers by half.  I loved it though.

The Mole Sauce is on the left under someone's elbow and the enchiladas are ready to go into the oven at this point.  It took a long time for the woman to saute the tortillas in oil before stuffing them.

Avocado, cilantro, lime and scallions are accompaniments for the enchiladas with mole.

So now you have the essence of my Monday night!  I think I'll crawl into bed so that when I fall asleep with the TV on, I'll already be in bed! Good night!

Yesterday Was Pi Day

So, of course, we had pie after supper!  But before that, Lisa, Cyndi and I went to the annual spring bulb exhibit at the Smith College conservatory.

These pictures loaded backward, and we made a couple of loops in the conservatory so that we could see everything.  So the first picture is toward the end of our tour.

I had never seen coeleus in orange before!

This pitcher was about four and a half inches long.  There was a dead bug in one of them.

These orchids were not so delicate!

This lily was about three and a half feet tall.

This is the beginning of the exhibit.  They painted the columns in addition to the paintings you see above so that you felt as if you were in Monet's garden.

The aroma of many perfumed flowers was intoxicating.

Yes, that tulip on the right was almost black.

This is a better view of the painted columns.

I love the curly petals -- it's almost as if someone cut the petals with scissors.

And that, my friends, is how you brighten up a rainy, chilly day!  We had a great time and we are very grateful to Roxanne who told us to go after 5 p.m. when it was less crowded.  It still was very slow going due to the numbers of people, so it must have been a snail's pace at 10 a.m.  Their suggested donation was $5 and 2 two foot square donation cubes were almost full to the very top showing that a lot of people had been there in the morning.

Cosy Sunday

It's snowing and there's about 4 inches so far and I know because I just wheeled the trash out.  I missed putting it out last week because I was too sick, so this week is a must!

It is day 9 of my cold and I keep hacking up goop and am really tired. In fact, I have slept most of the day on and off today.  Maybe this will heal me!!

But on to happier things.  As most of you know, I turned 65 yesterday and I decided it would be fun to have a party.  There were 14 of us and everyone had a glass or two of champagne and mini crab cakes and Swedish meatball appetizers. Everyone ordered their own lunch and Deb and Paul had brought a wonderful double chocolate cake. Deb and Paul also brought the most gorgeous flowers for the table including yellow roses.  I expressed surprise at the flowers and Deb said, "Mom! We had this whole conversation and you said you love yellow roses!"  Well, yes, I do, but I had thought she meant on the cake.

Later on today, Emily said, "I just said that."  I think I'm missing whole sentences.  I don't think it's my hearing, but I do think that's when I'm off in another dimension.

Sharon (my boss), Emily, Me, Tomi, and Tomi's daughter, Juli

Yes, I was the queen and I thank Sue for the crown, sceptre, and many other goodies!  Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of the whole group, but we had a great time! 


I did not expect any presents and I got the BEST presents ever! 

Isn't this scarf great?  Thank you so much!

I am so thrilled to not only get one but two beautiful bracelets that actually fit me!! I love them and seahorses have long been a favorite of mine.  How did she know?

How do you like that? Somebody read my struggles with the corkscrew and got me one with a battery!  The wine on the right came with it.  The Brut on the left was from someone else.  Thanks a million!

I am so thrilled to have another hand decorated flower pot from my friend who is a much better artist than I.  I just hope I can keep the flowers alive!

The sayings in the book are just as true for a library! They are very funny.  The lemon soap was accompanied by jars of lemon hand wash and hand lotion.  I am set for life! This friend knows how much I love lemon!

We played some trivia -- several people had printed out trivia questions. That was fun.  But what was the most fun for me was that we had wonderful conversations afterward.  It was very entertaining and relaxing.  I enjoyed myself immensely.

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Emily stayed overnight which was wonderful! She hooked up a new Roku so now I can watch Netflix in two different rooms. I started on a "House of Cards" marathon, but it became too wordy for me and I only watched 3 or 4 episodes.  I could never wait a whole week for another one, so I'm very glad to have the whole season.  I can't wait for more of my other favorites such as "Orange Is the New Black."

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I'm about to start "Danger at the Gate" by Dusty Miller.  She is my next Mystery Book Club author.  She lives in Belchertown.  The book's heroine Miss Ott, is modeled after Francis Crowe, a local long time antinuclear activist and peacenik.  The book references a 'soon to be deactivated' nuclear plant that sounds very much like the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant about 45 minutes away.

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Tomorrow I will look for blank cards so I can make my own thank you notes.  That should keep me out of trouble for a while!

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Victor Borge is on PBS.  He was such a funny man!  Makes me remember that I not only loved him, but also Danny Kaye.  And the dancers ... Some time I should have an old movie party, but how do you choose between Fred Astair, Donald O'Connor, Shirley Temple, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charise ... ?

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Now it's time to switch the laundry before I settle in for Downton Abbey.  Have a great week!