Tempeh chili

I have a tainted memory of tempeh...the first and only time I ever tried it was when I was in my first trimester pregnant with Lola. Kinda around the time that everything smells and tastes nauseating. Anyway, let's just say that tempeh didn't go over very well, not just for the barfy pregnant girl, but for Dan either. I haven't been able to get over that since. But last night I thought I would give it another try so I make a chili and, taking the advice of veganmomma, I pulsed the tempeh into tiny bits in my processor first, then sauteed it along with my onion and garlic. I used a chili recipe from vegnews magazine that included chocolate and coffee. I really thought I would have a hit on my hands....I actually really liked it, but Dan and Lola didn't care for it too much. They ate some but without much enthusiasm.

My "goat" cheese was definitely not successful either. It was a blend of pine nuts, lemon, garlic and nutritional yeast. I'm bummed it didn't taste better because pine nuts are ridiculously expensive! They are over $14 a lb! You have to be kidding me!
So the end result tastes ok, but definitely nothing like cheese, never mind goat. I just don't know where and how I'll use it. It was kind of like a really expensive hummus. Maybe I can add more garlic and olive oil to it and use it like a veggie dip.

Back to the drawing board for me!

Blessingway

Last weekend, I flew to Idaho for 2 days to attend Dan's cousin's wife's (also my very good friend) blessingway. I have been to a couple of these now and I much prefer them to a baby shower. They are incomperable, really, but the whole idea of the "regular" baby shower thing with games and a bunch of pink and blue ribbon-adorned presents just doesn't have quite the appeal of the calm "sisterhood" atmosphere of a blessingway.
We strung beads into bracelets that we will all wear until Shantel has her baby. This way we will all think about her everytime we look at our bracelets. I'm particularly fond of mine so I'm sure I will wear it beyond the birth. Some of us also got henna tattoos. We prepared birth affirmations on one card, then Shantel's strengths on another card. We read them aloud to her and her friend collected them all to make a keepsake for her. It was really nice. We all shared our birth stories too. I especially love that part because I will share my birth stories with anyone who will listen!

Idaho was snowy and cold, but it was still nice. Well, for me, anyway. Most people there are pretty sick of the cold weather and since a good percentage of the folk work in construction/developement, well, a long winter can mean some lean times.
Dan's cousin and wife were even tossing around the idea of moving to So Cal and I never thought they would even consider that. They've always loved northern Idaho. Guess that weather can really get to you after a while!

Now I've been tagged.

I'm going to play the game! Here are the rules, per veganmomma:
Rules:Link to your tagger and post these rules.Share 5 facts about yourself.Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Ok, 5 factoids:
1. I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. Oh wait, that's on my blog so it's probably nothing new to you all.
2. I was heavily involved in Army cadets from age 12-19, my last year was served as a Civilan Instructor. It was like a huge family there and I still keep in touch with a few people.
3. In high school I wore all black and had purple hair that was often in pig tails.
4. I saw bands that I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime, like the Specials, the Selecter, Exploited and the Buzzcocks.
5. That said, Pete Shelley gave me his guitar pick at the end of the one and only Buzzcocks shows I've ever seen. He probably felt sorry for the lunatic girl who had pushed her way to the front of the stage and sang every word to all their songs at the top of her lungs.....

Ok, now for the tagging....

A Night Out!

We went to a wedding on Saturday night. Dan's brother, Phil, and his expectant wife, Kristina were also there. They are due with a little baby boy any time now so we are all really anxious for the "THE" phone call!

We had fun at the wedding, but later on, I got really sick and started throwing up. I'm finally feeling better today, but I wonder if I had a touch of flu or some food poisoning....banquet style dinners always make me nervous! It was a nice night, in all. The last picture is Dan's brother, Phil.

Cake or Death!!!!

If you know me really well, you'll know about my secret obsession with Eddie Izzard. I've done crazy stuff like stand in line for hours in L.A. to get an autograph, hop a plane nearly 9 months pregnant to catch one of his shows in San Francisco, etc...well, at least this was all before I had kids. Now, it's not so easy to just hop a plane. Dan is totally accepting of my little obsession and goes along with me. I think he's secretly obsessed with him too. ha ha!
Anyway, for the first time that I know of, Eddie Izzard will be HERE! yay! The show is not until August, but I already have my front and center tickets bought and I'll be counting the months.

"Well, do you have a flag?"
Eddie Izzard - Dress to Kill

My Girls!

I took a bunch of pictures of the girls last Friday. These are my two favorites. Elise is really hard to take a picture of these days. She moves like lightening!

Saturday was Dan's birthday. He played golf in the morning and I threw a party for him that night. It was really fun, lots of people were here. We bought "American Idol" for the wii, so we had everyone whooping it up on the mic. Good times!

The Problem With Fish

So I stopped eating meat, poultry and pork. It began with the beef scandal here in CA, but it expanded after reading John Robbin's book, Diet For a New America. There are minor parts of the book that I didn't like, but overall, you kind of have to admit that the guy has a point, a very valid point that I couldn't really ignore or argue. "So", I thought...."at least I still have fish". I knew eventually, I would have to look into it and see the problems there too, but at least for a while, I wanted to pretend that I was perfectly ok eating it. Well, I still am ok with it, but I did some research and I will focus on the fish species that aren't in danger of being overfished, have the least environmental impact (in farming or fishing them) and have no bycatching (poor little fishies that are caught in the bottom trawls of another 'target' fish).

Well, I guess I'll start there. Maybe I'll change my mind down the road, we'll see.

A side note, Dan is quite happy with my new dinner creations. I'm glad because I thought he would give me grief for not serving meat anymore. He even approved heartily of the Indian meal I made last night and he generally does not care for Indian food so much. Bonus!