We had a nice, mellow Thanksgiving with Meg and Cory.

Sides were readied.





"Turkey" was prepared.



Soon it was time to feast!



After dinner we relaxed.



We got back to Portland at lunchtime and ate some leftovers. Now we're hanging out for a bit before a bike ride on the Springwater Corridor.

For the cost of a shower curtain, aluminum foil, and some nails, we built ourselves a cold frame.



All other materials were salvaged from various friends' yards. It would look tidier without the foil, but we have that there to help with light reflection. The top is actually clear, it was just all condensationy this morning when I snapped the picture.



Inside, we have some happy, healthy Brussels sprouts hopping to it. There is also broccoli, chard, and kale. I scattered in some lettuce seeds, but it's way too late for those; perhaps we'll have some micro-greens.



If all goes accordingly, I'll be bragging about my fresh vegetables in the dead of winter. If nothing goes accordingly, I'll have created a box.

Tonight after work I made us a dinner of a casserole sort of like this one. Except I improved upon the recipe by adding in fresh tomatoes and carrots and a can of chickpeas. The chard, peppers, and tomatoes were plucked from the garden. It was served with the wheat bread that Todd baked fresh this afternoon. And wine, of course.

I'd love to stay, but there are still-warm chocolate chip cookies to be devoured now.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to come across this brownie recipe. When things go according to plan, the recipe produces the tastiest brownies. But other times they turn out all crazy oily and not very appetizing. I'm still trying to figure out how to get it just right without relying on chance.



Tonight I served these with chocolate peanut butter coconut ice cream. Mmm....

It's October. Let the VeganMoFo-ery begin!

This is a small sampling of the tomatoes picked from our back yard. We also had plenty of peppers! And when life gives you tomatoes and peppers, you make salsa fresca. It lasted less than 24 hours. Time to make some more...

I. love. having. a. yard.

On Friday morning Megan, Rachel, and I set out for some campin'. (Meg and I have been friends since the dawn of time in fifth grade. And we met Rachel when the three of us were camp counselors at Camp Namanu ten summers ago.) Once a year is not enough for this sort of awesome to occur!

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My melanocytes are such the disappointment.

I am at the point in the hair growth cycle where my hair is a very big mass and I can't decide to cut it or let it grow some more. I have the same dilemma over and over again.

In order to reduce the volume of the hair mass, I start pulling back parts of the front. I started doing this a couple weeks ago. And, to my horror, I started finding a multitude of wavy gray hairs. Several per day.

I've been plucking them and pretending it's just a nutritional deficiency that popping multivitamins will eliminate. After all, the internet agrees that the typical age for women to start going gray is 34, and I'm not yet 30. Clearly it will go away if I ignore it awhile, right? Right?

Hmm... I've always said that I won't give in to the vanity that is dying ones hair to hide the gray. But I always assumed I'd be closer to 40 when the pigment left me. Woe is my hair.

I guess I know I'll be a wavy haired old middle-aged lady, anyway.

For the last few weeks I've been on (unhealthy) carbo-overload, so I've been making an effort to eat a diet that is comprised mostly of fresh fruits and vegetables. I would eat more on a typical day, but it was a non-running day, and I'm semi-fasting. Do not try this at home. Here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast upon arrival to work: banana
Snack: excessively juicy nectarine
Lunch: Giant, giant salad from Whole Foods. Romaine lettuce, spinach, green onion, broccoli, olives, tomatoes, edamame, carrot, chickpeas, green peas, kidney beans, black beans, vegan Caesar dressing. Flax crackers. Oh, to have my own salad bar at home.
Snack: plum
Dinner/Snack: Giant avocado. Yellow and red tomatoes just plucked off the plant (eaten in the manner of an apple). Flax crackers.
Splurge: hot cocoa made with almond milk (for my short excursion across the street to watch Casablanca at the park)

And I drank lots and lots of water. And therefore made many, many trips to the bathroom. But I slept like a champ and woke up for good when the alarm went off at seven. Usually I hit snooze a few times until the alarm won't let me anymore.


*RT @sweetpeabaking "Tonight a customer called to place a special order, found out we are a vegan bakery, said "oh gross!" and hung up. Ha!"

According to Google Reader, 50 people subscribe to the feed for my public posts here on LJ. I'm guessing most of those are carry-overs from last year's VeganMoFo, but you never know. Maybe someone out there actually finds me interesting. Weird. In any case, I feel like it might be time to start a blog elsewhere to increase the popularity/publicity and get some comments going. I might have to narrow my focus. But I'll have fun things to focus on when my tiny house design and planning and building all become reality. Not to mention homesteading and other such trendy topics.

I know my photos are getting blogged and tweeted, too, based on Flickr stats. I've been thinking of trying to take myself more seriously and starting a photography site. Just myfirstandlastname.com or something bland like that. Or even just a separate Flickr account to use as a portfolio, since my current account is used as a dump site for all my photos. And then I need to recruit friends and family and strangers to build up more of a portfolio and get some practice in. Not to mention take classes and save up for software and photography doodads...

Yay or nay?