See Yuh

A and I are headed to LA until Monday, so until then... Well I'm sure you can dig up another source for Mary iconography humor!

Some Funny

Source unknown/forgotten

If you don't think this image is funny, let's just not be friends. I'm kidding. I want to be your friend so I can convince you that jokes like this are hilarious. By jokes like this I mean religious jokes inspired by CCR.

We're pretty busy on this side of things, I'm sure everyone is busy actually. The summer always feels hectic, but when I can steal some quiet moments I like to spend them outside-eating, drinking, reading, hiking and snapping photos. Unfortunately it's about a million degrees here in sunny Jackson, so I spend most of my time outside sweating. I know, you needed that clearly stated, right?

*If you know where this image is from, let me know. I put it on my computer many moons ago and never noted the source, which I realize means I shouldn't use it, but ya know...sue me. Just kidding. Do. Not. Sue. Me.

Weekend in Review

We've had kind of a whirlwind weekend, there have been lots of events with A's family and some out of town family members have been here. I forgot my camera for a lot of the events, and even when I brought it with me I forgot to snap any photos. Luckily, I was the "official unofficial" photographer for graduation and one party, so we've got that! Not shown: A family wedding on Saturday followed by a short bar crawl, a trip to the zoo, lots of overdue chatting, intense Wii playing, and plenty of dancing.

Grads

Nephew, going about his business

Spread at one of about six parties we attended

Living in the pond outside our apartment. June is thrilled.

Friday Five

This is a guest post from my sweet friend Andrew, who's located in the Keystone State! Don't know which state that is? Time to Google, friends. Anyway, he's got great taste, and he's funny and smart. What more could you want in a guest poster?

So D asked me to write up a Friday Five for her. Some of these things are part of my daily life, and others are treats that I only get once in a while. Luckily they have all happened in the past week so that has been wonderful. Ed note: It's actually from last week. Blogger was broken last week!

I eat this yogurt for breakfast or a snack. The yogurt is produced by Pequa Valley Farm and it comes in some great flavors. My favorite is the black cherry with lemon coming in a close second. I still have a few more flavors to try and am trying to figure out how to use their chocolate flavor as a base in a fruit dessert. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Onyx, the most beautiful sound I ever heard. This is the dog that I have the pleasure to live with.

Just Dance 2 might be the best cardio workout program I have ever done. It works up a great sweat and I know that dancing to “It’s Raining Men” by the Pointer Sisters will really help my moves on the dance floor. Summer weddings here I come!!

Sweet Potato Fries + Dipping Sauces + Raspberry Wheat Beer = Great Dinner at Iron Hill Brewery. Here’s a stock photo from their site, I didn’t have the camera with me.

Ed note: That's actually Andrew in this photo. Right? Go on, email me, I'll pass along all his contact information.

I think of tank tops as my greatest downfall. I have no need for them but for some reason own way to many. It has finally gotten warm here in PA and I have been breaking out the tank tops all week. Once again, summer weddings here I come!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Groundnut Stew

Vegan groundnut stew

I had planned on posting a recipe for a light summer pasta today, but the temperatures have dropped here and it's been almost chilly. So, I made a version of groundnut stew, which I originally had at a West African restaurant back in March. My version uses setian as the protein, but you could easily sub in chicken if you prefer, or just skip over the protein all together. It'll still be really filling.

I just used a few internet recipes for some inspiration, and mixed things up for my own liking. It's all super flexible, so I'm just going to give you a starting place and you can up the spice or use a different vegetable to liquid ratio if you want more of a soup.

1/2 lb. seitan
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into inch pieces (you can use a mix of waxy and sweet, or just all sweet)
1 yellow onion, diced
3-6 cloves garlic, pressed
3 inch piece of ginger, grated or 3 t ginger juice
1 T ground coriander
1 t cayenne pepper
1 t crushed red pepper
1 can (15 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 quart vegetable broth (really, you just need enough to cover everything, so reduce if you're making a smaller pot)
1 cup peanut butter, crunchy or creamy will do
1 cup peanuts, roasted but not salted

If you want to make a smaller pot of stew, just use fewer potatoes and adjust everything else accordingly (ie. less liquid, tomatoes, cut the spices in half, you get it!)

-Brown seitan in a tablespoon of oil, then set aside.
-In a bit of oil, cook onion for 2 minutes, add garlic and ginger (if using grated kind). Cook for another 2 minutes.
-Add spices, let toast for 30 seconds, add in potatoes and stir well. Add in the rest of the ingredients, stir well. It can take a few minutes for the peanut butter to stir into the rest.
-Bring to a simmer, test for salt. Add more if needed.
-Cover and let simmer for 40 minutes-1 hour. Check at 40 minutes to see if potatoes are broken down. 10 minutes before taking off the burner, add your seitan to the stew and stir well.
-Add as much black pepper as you can stand, this stew is supposed to be peppery, sweet and just a bit salty.

Serve as is, or as we had it at the restaurant: with simple rice and ginger beers.

There you go! It's really pretty simple and it makes a ton of leftovers. So, if it's suddenly gotten a little chilly where you are, give this a try!

Weekend in Review

I spent some of this weekend resting to try and force my body to get over this lingering sickness. And, for the most part, it worked! We've got a busy week ahead of us with a graduation, a wedding and a few parties with A's family, but I've got some nice posts already lined up and a guest Friday Five! Here's the weekend:

Cotton candy+disco nails

Jalapeno plant from our balcony

Apprehensive June

Skirt making prep

Zucchini/Squash draining

The jalapenos have been thriving on our balcony, and Andy picked a few Saturday and made these pepper bites that I'll tell you about later this week. They were super simple to make, but don't worry, I've already typed up a full page of recipe directions just to make it seem complicated. You're welcome in advance.

I made a simple circle skirt, shorter than the one you can see in that book. It came together surprisingly quickly, I just need to finish it off with some kind of waist detail. The book is The Sewing Bible and it's such a great guide for sewers who are learning on their own. For some reason the trend amongst "bloggers" seems to be to use vintage sewing guides. This really only makes sense if you have an older machine, but if your machine was made after 1980, get an updated book! They're a bit more expensive but you'll use it all the time. Also, the clothing in those old books is kind of scary. No, I don't want to learn to make my own jumpsuit, but I will make a circle skirt. Please and thank you.

Have no fear, I'll show you what that bit pile of zucchini and squash was used for. Mostly because I imagine that those of you who get CSA boxes are overrun with the stuff, but also because I assume the curiosity is killing you.

Loving Lately

I guess this isn't so much "lately", but I love Michel Martin, particularly her show on NPR Tell Me More. If you haven't ever heard her, the show's backlog is up on the NPR website. I love that she treats her guests with respect, and tries to cover issues honestly. I love that she's also not afraid to call someone out if they're being hateful, lying or attacking others. She's also incredibly well versed in issues related to religion and spirituality, and I always appreciate hearing her interviews when those two topics are involved.

Here's some video of Michel talking about her entrance into print and radio media, her take on the male dominance in the field, and using her radio show to represent those who are too often silenced.

Weekend in Review

Not a ton of photos from this weekend, I spent most of my time working and trying to catch up on sleep. Not shown: Andy and I finally saw The Town, it was excellent. Ben Affleck, you're far more talented than I ever thought. Also, me scouring the Mother's Day weekend farmer's markets for nice strawberries to make strawberry shortcake only to decide I was too tired and too full to actually make any. Look forward to a post about it this week though, because I have the entire last 1/2 of the week off from work related stuff.

Lentil tacos

Late afternoon reading

Soup prep

"What I See Without Glasses"

Messy Turtle Sundae

To be framed

Notes:
The lentil taco recipe is from here with some slight changes. We topped them with some lime juice and Daiya cheddar cheese, pretty delicious.

I picked up the Encyclopedia Brown book on super sale at our Borders, thinking I'd pass it to our nephew in several years. I still will, but in the mean time I'm enjoying reading the little 1-2 page mysteries. I devoured these books when I was a kid. Also, I finished Dead Reckoning, and I'll probably post some thoughts later this week.

The "What I See Without Glasses" photo is my trying to express to A what it's like when I don't wear my glasses or contacts. But, we've decided to make a whole series of them and sell them for about 2,493,889 dollars a piece. Takers?

The Jackson map is from this artist. I'm thinking about ordering her maps of my two alma maters as well. The other print is from here and was a very sweet wedding gift from a dear friend.

Friday Five

Gift giving

 This book, The Complete Manual of Woodworking, was a gift for A. He's been making some really beautiful things in his woodshop these past few months, and I'm going to try to put up some photos of the chairs and frames he's making.

New shoes

These will make an appearance at the billion summer weddings we are going to. Something about the wedge actually makes it easier to walk with my banged up knee. The angle? Something about pressure? Who knows!

Current favorite products

This is pretty much all I've been using, and all I'm really planning on using this summer. Mostly, it's because I live on the surface of the sun.

Perplexus Ball

Puzzle ball! Hours of entertainment and frustration. Mostly frustration.

Current favorite spice

This Mexican oregano is so good, and so so strong. I've been adding it to several dishes and it's most delicious on mushroom tacos, which I'm serving up tonight as a belated nod to Cinco de Mayo! The oregano came as part of this giant gift package:

Rancho Gordo goodies

Because nothing says Love like some heirloom beans!
This weekend brings some work, some margarita sharing with friends, reading lots, maybe seeing a movie and catching up on some much needed sleep.

On pain, yoga and knees

I banged up my knee fairly recently, and I missed a few yoga classes. I just this week got cleared to start classes again. I met with my instructor beforehand so we could run through my actual range of motion and I could quickly learn some easy modifications for the poses that would cause discomfort and possibly make the injury worse. That all seems super normal, right? Until the end of the meeting, when my super wonderful, absolutely graceful and perfectly kind instructor said this "Remember, embracing pain is essential to happy living."

Right. I'll happily embrace the "pain" of a flat tire or bread dough that won't rise. But a screaming knee while trying to do my best unmodified Chair pose? No way, lady. Not even a little bit.

June the Terrible

"I hated this, so I tore its legs off."

June decided to show us just what she thinks of the new fleece monkey toy we picked up for her because it said "indestructible" and "for aggressive chewers". I guess she showed them. As a little bonus, you can see a little bit of my new favorite maxi skirt in this photo. Don't you feel like you've been awarded a bonus with that tid-bit? I can tell you do.

Also, yes, I do just snap photos of my dog while I play with her. Should you have any reflections on my behavior that you think you might like to share, send them to idonothaveaproblem@hush-child.com.

Some not so guilty pleasures

Mango "gelato"

 When I wasn't feeling well, I was trying to stick to the B.R.A.T. plan, so that I'd only be taking in gentle food. My friend Michelle suggested I take a frozen banana and blend it up to make a kind of banana soft serve. Well, it was delicious. All of the delight of eating ice cream, but I was still being kind to my stomach. Then, things got real. Why, you ask?

Listen, you start freezing some fruit to make soft serve, and you wonder what other fruit would be good. We keep frozen mango on hand because I like it for my smoothies (and frozen adult beverages, because sometimes you need a vessel for a paper umbrella straw!). So, I just blended it up with a little bit of mint and popped some mint leaves and raspberries on top. We had some red wine reduction sauce in the fridge, so I mixed a little of that in also. I have no idea where that wine reduction was from, but is that something that really goes bad? It was delicious, so I hope A is prepared for our freezer to be filled with all manner of frozen fruit this summer. Next idea: frozen, pitted bing cherries. And then raspberries. Then pinapple. How about lemons with a little honey? You haven't heard the last of this!

Today! Yes!

Next, the Sookie books are a guilty pleasure/beach read favorite. I say beach read, but for that to happen I'd need to be at a beach as soon as this is delivered to my Kindle. I won't be. I'll actually be working, and since I feel like I can't really read this aloud to a sweet two year old, I'll be waiting until I get home to kick back and read it. All in one sitting. Maybe. I don't know how long it is. Or how tired I'll be. The point is this: I don't care how cheesy, predictable or overly mushy these books are. A very kind guy I dated in high school bought me the first one and I've been hooked ever since. "Sookeh"!

Weekend in Review

It was a weekend filled with beautiful weather, plenty of downtime, finally feeling less under the weather and lots of sweet friends. So, as close to perfect as you get, really! Not shown: my new favorite shoes (worn to A's friend's wedding), finding an incredible new restaurant that's about seven minutes from my apartment, the ridiculously strong old fashioned served at that restaurant (Table 100, for you Jacksonians!) and a miniature shopping spree with a best friend.

We spent Friday with friends, lounging outside, cooking, and then A headed to a bachelor party and I soaked up some much needed alone time. Saturday was filled with his friend's wedding, having both human and dog guests for dinner. Sunday was prime nap time, shopping time and the discovery of Table 100 (which will probably be an entire post eventually).

Turtles sunning in the pond outside of our apartment

Perfect margaritas*

Lights at dusk

Caramel cream pie**

Sunday naptime (guest bedroom)***

*These margaritas were the best I've ever had, I think it was the combination of barely sweet lime juice and fancy schmancy tequila. We used Milagro and it was awesome.
**I picked this up at the grocery store, because I love caramel and had never had caramel cream pie. I'm trying to figure out the next event when I can try to make one because it was delicious.
***I always nap in our guest bedroom because it gets such nice afternoon light, which usually wakes me up after about an hour. Or, you know, three hours.