a wee little update. (for the love of moleskine)

I just love those journals. It's my dream spot, my prayer spot, my day timer, my "what happened today," my list of to-do's, it's just a good place to write things.

So here's whats going on in my head, outside of cooking, knitting, wedding plans etc.

1. I feel like in the past couple of weeks (I'm catching this early) that productivity has sort of exceeded my spirituality which, is not in balance, so, I'm going to try to get back to that.

2. I really want to teach vegan cooking classes, and let people know how EVERYTHING we put in a meal could truly be beneficial for us. Where teaching a literal cooking class may be out of the question, hosting one on a YouTube channel (thanks Maria) may be a possibility. I'm doing research into recipes, finding out as much as I can about the ingredients (nutritionally) and considering having someone on the video with me making the food as well. It could be an interesting venture.

3. I love love love cooking, but I feel like my art has suffered. I need to make time every day! Why is it so hard for me to keep a schedule?

4. Alright this sort of overpowers no. 3, but these are some things I want to make time for each day:
-walking/running/working out
-time with God/bible
-art time
-social time
-cooking time and research on nutrition
-music

5. Yea, I don't know if I can get that all in in one day. Perhaps a week?

6. I imagine starting a YouTube channel would take up a lot of time editing, filming, etc. Perhaps Tal would like to help?

7. I found this website sporkonline.com that hosts online cooking classes, and their students pay money, monthly, or yearly, in order to take part...hmmm.

8. I want to have people over more often. I want games nights, and potlucks to be regular occurrences.

9. I want to get over my fear of buying alcohol. Every time I do, I feel like they think I'm trying to get away with something, and I'm not, and it's uncomfortable all the same. (not that I want to be drinking all the time, but I figure being able to buy alcohol without going into anxiety-mode is part of growing up).

10. If I can even attempt some of these things, I will be a happy woman.

Hopefully I'll have a video up soon and you can cook with me! I think that would be super fun!

Anyways, it's a gorgeous day, I'm going for a walk.

Peace.

Dreams.

I want to write a book.
I want to sell my art.
I want to know more about photography.
I want to learn to sew.
I want to record my music.

First in the morning.

This fall weather and the promise of a beautiful winter has made me so happy.

Sure there's days like today when I sleep in and then regret it for the loss of productivity, but then there's also days when just the cold autumn air makes everything okay.

Productivity can sometimes become a god.  If you serve it all day you feel good, and if you don't you feel like you could have done better. I don't think that's healthy, because there is only one God, and he's not productivity.

I do however want to learn to not be so lazy, to take better care of my things, and to be more accountable. These are preschool lessons, but I'm 20 and I still have to learn them.

(The other day someone asked me how old I was and it was the first time I literally forgot. Remember when you were little and you asked your grandma how old grandpa was and she'd say. "well let's see, he was born in '39 so..." that's what I felt like. I said, "23, no wait, 21, no sorry, I'm 20 and I can't believe I forgot that.")

I had a dream that I was part of this weird cult. It was super scary, because the main guy could kill you if you didn't obey, and what's creepiest about it is that when I finally did escape with a few of the other girls, we tried calling home from our cellphones, and the sound when they picked up was in the same bathroom as us... Meaning the creepy cult leader had programed our phones to only call his phone some how and he was somewhere in the same bathroom (with multiple stalls) as us. When I finally did get a hold of my parents, they didn't believe it was me and told me to leave them alone, because it had been so long and they thought I was dead. Bad dream.

There's some first in the morning thoughts for you. I hope to have a God-centered day that doesn't rely on productivity for fufillment (but at the same time, I still want to get things done).

Have a good day!
Peace.

A green tea affair.

As usual there's a few things on my mind that I want to talk about, the first of which being green tea and my disastrous relationship with it thus far.

Green tea is like the cool kid of teas. Well at least it used to be. Growing up I always loved black teas, Earl gray, orange pekoe, and English breakfast. Mix up a cup of half weak black tea, the other half creamo, and 2 large spoons of sugar, and I was happy (and hyper). When I first heard of green tea I thought, "wow now that's a sophisticated tea," but by this point I already had a horribly abusive relationship with coffee. There were some days in highschool when I would work out that I had had 1.5 - 2 liters of coffee before lunch! These cups were paired with copious amounts of creamo and sugar as well. Anyways, so green tea was cool, but what would
it taste like?

I thought I'd start my artistic tea phase with some herbal teas of the fruity variety. These types of tea (the raspberry, lemon, and peach zingers) are nowhere close on the cool scale as green tea, I do believe that even black teas are cooler than them, but I thought if I was going to ditch the creamo and sugar drinks for a more sophisticated cup that I should start with something that at least sounded appealing, "raspberry zinger anyone?"

Don't be fooled! Even when steeped for a full 4 minutes these herbal teas never taste as good as they smell. You can pretend to love them, but I'll never be fooled because they are disgusting and will never be loved.

So after a few months of faking a love for raspberry zinger, I thought, "yes now I am finally ready for the ever intellectual and intelligent green tea." I bought myself a "stash" green tea sampler. Even the names of the tea sounded grown up, "organic Japanese green tea, traditional ancient green tea, exotic blend green tea," etc. and the descriptions on the back of the tea bags were even better, "an exotic blend of 4 ancient green teas grown organically in the foot hills of (insert gorgeous place), a light tea with hints of dark rich nuts and fresh green leaves." Alright so it sounds grown up, but still I must try it before I can become an expert on the matter. I pick an original green tea from the sampler, it's described as light and nutty (similar to the rest). I steep it for the recommended time, let it cool down a bit, and go in for the first sip...

BLECH!

I described it out loud to my friends (I was 16 at this point) immediately after swallowing as, "it tastes like the water that you'd boil asparagus in!"

Needless to say I went back to my black tea, coffee, creamo and sugar. I left the green tea affair for several years, until recently where I've thought that maybe my pallate has matured and that I may like it now. I should mention that green tea has been out cooled by the ever exotic yerba matte which you drink out of a hollowed gourd from a silver diffuser straw, so even if I liked green tea, I still wouldn't be at the top of the sophistication charts, tea-wise.

So after many different types of green teas sampled, I have finally found a love. I thought that green tea would never be lovable, but I've found one. It may not be from a classy brand, or even blend but it's delicious, especially paired with a little bit of organic honey (from
happy bees and groovy beekeepers)! Are you ready?

Drum roll.

Lipton ginseng and lemon green tea paired with honey is actually delicious, and I am very happy that green tea and myself are finally in a happy, healthy, loving relationship.

Oh I know I said I was going to talk about more, but the tea affair took too long.

Enjoy some tea on this rainy November 1st!
Peace.

whats in my head.

I'm going to be Tal's wife.
Tal is going to be my immediate family.
I'm Tal's next of kin.
If Tal is homesick, I won't have to bring him soup, because he'll be home already.
Tal's going to be my husband.
Tal is going to be my kids dad.
I'm going to have my own little immediate family.
I'm going to grocery shop for our kitchen.
I get to do our laundry.
We're going to share a bank account.
I have to switch all my I.D to say Carmen Humphrey.
I get to decorate our place.
I'm going to have a husband.
Tal's going to have a wife.

food, the wedding, and other things that occupy my mind.

Every time I go to write a blog lately, I get about two sentences in, and then BOOM! I feel uninspired. I hope to complete this blog and finally post it! (I've reached the two sentence mark!)



Alright, so "the wedding" has been occupying my brain a lot lately... and although it seems forever away (279 days I believe...) I feel overwhelmed at what has to be done, and at the same time... feel like it's too far away to do anything... oh well. One thing I have decided is the colour scheme that I like. I was sort of wishy-washy on it... and I have it picked out.. FINALLY! We're all going shopping tomorrow (Jenny, Allie, Theresa, Cady, Katy, Charlotte, Mom, and Grandma) and now that I have a scheme of sorts, at least we can look for dresses along those colours, and it won't just wandering around blindly in shops... which is my fear.

I'm horrible at planning things. Absolutely horrible. If you know me very well, you know that I don't much like to take charge in these sorts of things, and don't like to make everyone do what I want to do. Getting married seems to have a lot of situations where I have to take charge of planning things, and get people to do what I want them to do... (bah). I love it all the same though, and I hope that it all goes well.

NOW.. that the wedding stuff is over with...
oh wait.
I want to mention that Katy's little baby Charlotte and my sister Theresa's babies Taylor, and Lexington are going to be the cutest gnome fairies around and I can't wait to see them with their wings and flowers, and balloons, and face paint. (at the wedding)

and my adorable mad-hatter ring-bearer.

Alright moving on.

A lot of people have been asking me recently why I'm vegan, and even though it seems like I'm always blogging about it, I thought I'd put it into a few simple statements that make sense to me. Also, veganism is not a religion of any sorts, and I don't believe that spiritually I'm "awakened" or any of that mumbo-jumbo, I just feel, healthier as a vegan.

Here's my reasons.

1. It's better for the planet. If less cows/pigs/chickens were produced we'd have way less pollution (raising them, feeding them, cleaning up after them, and transporting them). That's not saying, get rid of all the animals, but there's absolutely no need for the mass production of them, they're not products.

2. It's better for my body. North Americans put SO many chemicals into their bodies daily, not only through animal products, but through most packaged foods (hi-fructose corn syrup anyone?) and I feel a lot better about my diet when I watch more closely as to what goes in. At the end of the day, if I can list (or at least try to) all the ingredients in my food, I feel healthy, and better. Also, it's better for your immune system, your heart, your skin, your weight.. (the list goes on). For more information check out The Kind Diet , Food Rules , The China Study or many many others.

3. It really inspires me to get into the kitchen and create. I love cooking, and I love it even more as a vegan. I feel empowered, and excited at the prospect of a new recipe.

(for those of you that are still fuzzy on the vegan issue it's no meat, no fish, no dairy, no eggs ... and as much as that sounds like deprivation, I actually enjoy food more now!)

Alright, some recipes for you. I said I would post my dragon bowl recipe earlier on Facebook, but I got uninspired to write it... so here goes. It's long because there's a lot of components, but it's really mixy-matchy, so usually whatever you have in your kitchen will work. Oh! and if you find any alterations that are super tasty, post them so I can try new things!

alright.

DRAGON BOWL! (the recipe)
So dragon bowl is a really popular interchangeable vegan dish, and it usually compiles of three parts, brown rice (or other whole grains), tofu (or other vegan protein), steamed veggies, sprouts, and a fabulous dressing. The rice I've found is quite time consuming, so I like to make up a huge batch and keep it in my fridge, then to heat it up, I just put as much as I want in a bowl, put about a Tbsp of water in it, and put it in the microwave. The tofu takes about a day to marinade, and can continue marinating for up to two weeks, SO you can make a whole bunch and use it in other recipes, or just eat dragon bowl for two weeks straight (you may want to)! The veggies/sprouts/dressing are easy and can be prepared right before you eat! (well unless you're growing your own sprouts.. I have this really cool sprouting jar, and it usually takes me about 3 days to grow fabulously tasty sprouts! you can buy the jars and the sprouting seeds at the health food store!) If you want to know why I'm so enthused about sprouts click here.



part 1. TOFU skeptics listen up! This tofu recipe blew the socks off of me! I hated tofu, like gagged when I smelt it.. and then I tried this recipe, and I'll never go back. It's so good that even Tal loves it! (anything that is fiance approved is got to be yummy!) I found this recipe at Everydaydish.tv.

(this is what the tofu looks like)

you will need:
1 1/2 to 2 pounds of extra firm (or firm) tofu cut into strips (good for burgers, or a yummy side to mashed potatoes) or chunks (good for kebabs, dragon bowl, stirfrys ..etc)
1 and 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
2 teaspoons dried sage leaves, crumbled (or 2 T. fresh, chopped)
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary (or 1/2 T. fresh)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1/2 T. fresh, chopped)
1 small onion diced very fine.. basically minced

Cut up the tofu however you want it, or maybe do some strips, some chunks.. however you like.. Oh! but I should mention, it's good to blot some of the water out of it before you cut it up! Then mix together all of the other ingredients and put it into a large shallow dish that has a lid (I used a casserole dish) and put your tofu in. Make sure they're all covered, and stick it in the fridge (these can stay marinated for up to two weeks so you can just pull out whatever you need to cook).

When it comes time to cook the tofu you will need:
1 -2 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of whole wheat flour (or any type of flour)
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

Mix together the flour and the nutritional yeast in a shallow dish. Dredge the marinated tofu in the flour mixture and fully coat it. While you're doing this, heat the oil in a large skillet. When the tofu is coated, place on the skillet with the oil, and cook on either side until it is golden brown and delicious!

Alright, so now that the tofu is marinating, you can make a big ol batch of brown rice. A good ratio for brown rice is 1 cup of rice for 1.5 cups of water. For a big batch I use:
3 cups of brown rice (long grain or short grain)
4.5 cups of water

Put the rice and the water in a big pot and place on the stove. Bring the rice and water to a boil, once it's boiling, cover and simmer for twenty minutes. Do not! I repeat do not OPEN THE LID OR LET OUT ANY OF THE STEAM! This will ruin your rice. Once the 2 minutes is up, keep the lid on, and fight off any temptation you might have to peak at it, and let it sit in the pot for another 20 - 30 minutes off heat. Then, finally after all the waiting, check out your perfectly cooked rice. If you have a gas stove like me, you may want to use a flame deflector while it's simmering for twenty minutes... you don't want the heat to burn the rice. Once the rice is cooked, put in large containers in the fridge for future use. Earlier I mentioned how to reheat the rice when you want to eat it!

So, you've prepared the tofu, you've grown your sprouts, and your rice is ready to go. Now all you have to do is cook the veggies (not too much.. it's better if they're still a little crunchy.. in fact I usually shred the carrots or beats and don't cook them at all) so here's a list of veggies that work in dragon bowl:

shredded carrot
shredded beats
sprouts
bok choy
kale
chard
broccoli
cauliflower
mushrooms
pea shoots
bell peppers
(or basically any other veggie that you can think of.. although tomato or potato I don't think would work.. neither eggplant of zucchini.. no night shades..)

and last but not least.. the most amazing dressing I have ever made! It's good on basically anything that could possibly ever need a dressing! It's from a book called "How it all Vegan" which is full of absolutely delightful recipes! This one's called "Sarah and Tanya's You must-make-this-dressing"!

You will need:
1 stalk of green onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp of maple syrup
4 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
1 tsp of fresh chives
1 tsp of fresh dill
1 tsp of fresh parsley
1/c cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp of salt

Basically chop up the onion, mince the garlic, and throw them and everything else into a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth and delicious. It should make about 3/4 of a cup.

TIME TO ASSEMBLE!

Start with a big bowl of brown rice (that's been reheated), add your cooked (and not cooked veggies), then you're pan-fried tofu, your home grown sprouts, and top with the most amazing dressing you've ever tasted! Ta-da! Dragon Bowl!

Alright, I think that's all I'm going to post for now! Have a fantastic Sunday! (try dragon bowl (or some sort of variation of it!)

Peace.

A little something I picked up.

So, as most people could imagine, when you take ALL the animal products out of your diet you can swing one of two ways. The hardest but most beneficial way is to being super conscious and thoughtful about what you're eating and how it's helping your body and the environment, and the easier way is to start with good intentions, and then to eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches 3 meals a day! If I've learnt anything in all of this, it's that it pays to be prepared. When you eat animal products, you can always just cook up an egg, or have a slice of cheese for protein, but when you're vegan, and you need quick food... Well what are you gonna do?

All that being said, here's a few tips/tricks/ideas for really healthy vegan eating!

1. Whenever you make a super delicious meal, ALWAYS prepare 2-3 times as much as you need. If it can be frozen, freeze it and reheat it for a quick meal, or put it in individual portions in your fridge for later use.

2. Whenever you have to prepare any sort of whole grain or bean, prepare them in SUPER large batches that can be frozen or refrigerated.

3. Make soups and stews in large batches. Soup is my ultimate quick food, I love heating up something super delicious and healthy and being able to eat it within 3 minutes.

4. When you marinate tofu, only cook the tofu that you're going to eat, and leave the rest of the tofu in the fridge in the marinade, covered, for up to a week. Pull out more tofu whenever you want and quickly pan fry it.

5. Miso paste. Quickest, healthiest soup. It takes about 3 minutes to make from scratch and is as satisfying and comforting as your memories of chicken noodle soup growing up.

6. Make batches of granola that you can store in big cannisters. I could eat granola every morning with a little splash of almond milk.

7. Make dressings (salad dressings, dragon bowl dressings, sauces) and dips (hummus!) in batches that you can store in your fridge. Store bought dips and dressings don't taste as good as homemade, and they're definitely not as good for you!

8. Cook leafy greens into whatever you can. It's a quick way of getting essential nutrients and loads of calcium!

9. Try new recipes and re make ones that were a hit in large quantities.

10. Start your day out with something very quick and delicious like a bowl of miso soup, a fruit, or a bowl of granola. Then your eating mindset for the rest of the day will be healthy.

If you're a vegan whose trying to be as healthy as possible, go for it! Don't let people get you down! I always remind myself thar if there's sceptism towards whether you're getting all the vitamins and nutrients you need, most people eating carnivorous diets don't pay attention to their food groups all that much and are probably missing loads of things too! So if you slack off and don't eat well for a couple days, don't cry over it! It's not like eating unhealthy as a vegan is any worse than eating unhealthy when you're not vegan!

So hopefully some of these tricks sparked some inspiration to get into the kitchen and make some large batches of healthy nutritious food! I just love that God made all this delightful food for us to eat that is so full of everything we need to physically live!

Peace.

hot pot party. favourite soup potluck, and other festive food activities.

HOT POT PARTY!
I was reading a back issue of "veg news," (a vegan magazine PACKED with recipes), and I came across this super cool idea of having a HOT POT PARTY! It's sort of based around the fondue idea, except WAY healthier! It's basically a super yummy veggie soup broth that you have in a little pot on a burner in the middle of the table, a bunch of fancy sauces, raw veggies, and Korean hot pot party pancakes! Basically you cook the veggies in the veggie broth and dip it in hot sauces, and the hot pot party pancakes, are sort of like Jewish latkes, but instead of just potato, you cook with cabbage and bok choy as well! I really hope to have a HOT POT PARTY before the end of the year!



FAVOURITE SOUP POTLUCK!
I'm pretty sure everyone has a favourite soup. Mine kind of varies, I LOVE BLACK BEAN SOUP, but I also love Kobacha squash soup, and butternut squash soup, and ALL SORTS OF OTHER SOUPS! (miso soup!) Anyways, the idea would be, I would provide a variety of breads and buns (what is soup without tasty bread and buns?) and a soup that was my favourite, and everyone else would bring their favourite soup! Then we could all have a ladle or two of everyones soup, and get a taste for everyones favourites!



Vegan Dinner.
I want to have a vegan dinner that is super extra tasty and delicious that will knock the socks off of any skeptical carnivore out there. The cool thing about it would be that everyone would cook together.. like get together a couple hours before dinner, and actually cook the yummy things that you'd be devouring.. I think it would be super fun to get together and cook with people, and have delicious, healthy food.

I think all of these dinner parties could be followed by a delicious vegan dessert, coconut icecream, tea, and a movie. Perhaps Christmas movies!



Anyways, I'm excited about planning these!
Eat yummy food tonight!
Peace

P.S Tal and I are in love with the indian restaurant by superstore (12 vegan samosas for 5.95!!!!) and now they've opened up their floor for dine in! WOOHOO another option for going out! (Mission's small... :( and when another vegan friendly restaurant opens.. I get excited!)

more inspiration to dress vintage/2nd hand.

Thanksgiving! (and new honey moon plans?).

My grandma and I worked out a really awesome cooking partnership for Thanksgiving this year. My parents were going to be arrive home from Austin (Texas) (they saw devendra banhart by the way... and I'm insanely jealous.) Anyways, my sister and her husband were traveling home from Penticton, so everyone was really super tired, which doesn't make an excellent situation for a big dinner.. but it worked out. Grandma decided to make a ham,prepare hors d'oeuvres, bring cornbread muffins and bring pumpkin pie, and I decided to make the mashed potatoes, the roasted veggies, vegan corn bread muffins, and a vegan dessert. It took a lot of stress off to have half of the dinner done for you! Everything turned out beautifully, and I am very excited about some new recipes that I tried!


YUM.

So here's some recipes. The Scarlet Roasted Veggies are from Alicia Silverstone's book "the Kind Diet." (buy this book! even if you're not vegan, or not even interested in being vegan, the recipes are FABULOUS!)

These go really well as a vegan side dish to any big meal, or even just when you need veggies to go with your protein for dinner!

You will need (totally substitute different veggies if you don't have these ones!)

4-6 shallots, pealed and halved lengthwise (these are like a combo garlic/onion thing.. so regular onion, and garlic will work as a substitute)
3 large beets, cut into 1" chunks
2 parsnips, quartered lengthwise
1 large fennel bulb, halved, cored, and thickly sliced (this is delicious)
1-2 cups of butternut, acorn, or kobocha squash, cut into big chunks (only peel if the squash isn't organic)
3-4 celery stalks, cut into 1" pieces
3-4 dried bay leaves
1/2 cup pecan halves
6-8 dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1-2 teaspoons soysauce (shoyu, or tahini)
grated zests of 2 lemons
2-3 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
juice of one lemon
2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley (for garnish... and it tastes good)

Preheat your oven to 350, and oil a big baking dish. I used two 9x11 dishes, and it worked really well. Half the recipe if you only want to make one big dish. Combine ALL of the ingredients (except the lemon juice) in a bowl, and transfer it to the baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes with tinfoil on top. Then after the 40 minutes is up, take the pans out, take the tinfoil off, stir around and put back in the oven for 20 more minutes without the tinfoil. The first forty minutes is to make them soft, and the next 20 is to make them a bit crispy. Once they're done, toss with the lemon juice, and garnish with the parsley! YUM! It was like a combo stuffing-esque dish, with the sophistication of gorgeous healthy roasted veggies, a perfect vegan side dish to a big meal... and filling too.

Now, onto the PIE! (The vegan cornbread muffins are delicious too, and I'll post about them in a different blog!)



This pie is filling, beautifully textured, decadent, and basically to die for. It's also from Alicia's book (buy it!).

2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
3/4 cup vegan margarine, melted
1 bag of nondairy chocolate chips
1/2 cup soy milk or hemp milk (but not rice or nut milk)
1 1/4 cups peanut butter, divided
1 box of silken tofu (firm)
1/4 cup syrup (maple or jemima :P)
1-2 tsp vanilla extract

FIRST! preheat the oven to 375. Mix the cookie crumbs with the melted margarine, and press that mixture into a pie plate, creating a crust going slightly up the pan. Then bake that for 15 minutes or so. Once that's done, take it out and let it cool completely. Next with a small sauce pan, mix the chocolate chips, and the soy milk, on a low heat, keep stirring, and don't let it burn, until it makes the most gorgeous chocolate mixture you have ever seen. Take about 1/4 cup of this mixture out, and set it aside. Take the rest and evenly spread it in your pie crust.

Put this in the fridge for an hour or so, and get ready for some peanut butter action! In a food processor blend together the tofu, 1 cup of the peanut butter (save the other 1/4 cup for later :)) the syrup and the vanilla extract. Blend this together until your ears cannot handle listening to the food processor any longer (or about 8 minutes). Scrape the sides down periodically, you want it mixed really well... no one wants to find a big chunk of unflavoured tofu in their pie... :( Once the crust and the chocolate filling has been chillin' for an hour in the fridge, take it out and scoop the peanut butter mixture in, pressing it down into the pie lightly as you go. Then put this back in the fridge for an hour. FINALLY when you're ready to serve it, well almost ready, mix the chocolate sauce that was left over and the extra peanut butter in a small sauce pan, and heat until it's pouring consistency (and add a little soymilk if it doesn't get thin enough to pour).. then put this on top of your pie, either decoratively in swirls, and designs, or just spread it evenly! Then put it back in the fridge for about 20 minutes... THEN YOU'RE DONE! and you'll be super happy and content! It was amazing.

Okay moving one.

Honey moon plans. Plans were to go to San Fransisco... but now we're thinking... and decided that we'd rather go to.... EUROPE!

We're going to back pack through Europe for a few weeks, and do it super cheap, and have a huge adventure! More on this later! (but I will say that both of us agree, that if we don't go now, we probably won't.. and we both would LOVE to see so many places... so.. EXCITED! if you have any tips, or cheap ideas, or books, or tours or whatever that you want to suggest, let me know.. I'm going to do LOADS of research!)

Alright, well I'm going to go let my tummy rest, and get ready for the next week with a really long luxurious sleep. Hope your thanksgiving was awesome.

Peace.

when we get rich.

When we get rich (unlikely). This will be our home.

maggie trudeau (margaret sinclair trudeau).

This morning on CBC there was an hour long interview on the Sunday Edition with Margaret Sinclair Trudeau. Being a Canadian, you'd think that I may have known, studied, or at least heard of her, our former Prime Ministers wife. Anyways, the interview followed her life as the Prime Ministers wife during "Trudeaumania" and her bi-polar syndrome. It was a beautiful interview.. but there was one thing that really struck me as beautiful.

I should rephrase that, everything that came out of her mouth was beautiful and well thought out, and I respect that, because most of the things that come popping out of my mouth are garbled and noisy. Anyways, she mentioned that she had always been a mom. Ever since she was a child she had been obsessed with dolls, and made it her life goal to have children.

She said her dream, where she'd be happiest was to have, "a baby on one hip, and a wooden spoon in the other serving the family a delicious dish of something." That is my dream.

She is gorgeous, educated, smart, and a mom, and I love that so much. I know a lot of moms, and there are very close friends in my life that are making beautiful moms and I can't wait until it's my turn.

I guess I can wait and get married first.

I'm always jumping ahead to the next thing.

I can't wait to raise children.

Peace.

androgyny. tailoring. and environment friendly clothing.

As you may or may not have read, I'm doing this experiment where I dress-up or at least put care into my clothes/makeup etc. for 2 weeks... everyday/ no exceptions. It's day 5 today, and I must say that I'm really enjoying it. I don't feel under dressed when I go out with Tal (he's an amazing dresser) and I don't feel fat and frumpy all the time. It's funny how wearing only stretch jersey and cotton will make you feel sort of frumpy after awhile...

Anyways, I'm going all out with this dress-up thing. I'm branching out into different styles, being creative, and even wearing lipstick at times. I feel a lot more confident.

I looked through the Sartorialist again, and was incredibly inspired by the individual style that was represented. One thing that really stood out for me though was the structure in a really well designed outfit. Tals being ragging on me for a year or so, about how style is all about the cut, the tailoring, and how you wear it.. and I usually shush him up and say fashion is vain. It turns out it's quite an art... who knew? Anyways, after flipping through the book and seeing all sorts of gorgeous women with all different styles, I noticed that although they all seemed to have a different spin on the clothing they wore, they all had mixed a perfect blend of good tailoring, individual accents, and excellent shoes... all things I never thought about before.

Another thing that I noticed was how the combination of androgyny and good tailoring made for gorgeous, beautiful, elegant outfits. I've always thought androgyny was cool, but never really tried it... perhaps in the next 9 days I will... Tal's been telling me to experiment with different silhouettes in my style for a long time, and I guess I've just never been interested... but lately it makes more sense.. it's like a whole new world of art to explore.

So. After getting inspired by clothes and well made clothes at that... I went to the shop I worked at and picked up a military style blazer, that (and I can't believe I'm saying this) actually does make you look thinner, because it's been tailored for a woman. This womans jacket though, paired with more masculine bottoms, could make for a really great androgynous outfit.

Today, I got my very first trench coat. It's really beautiful as well, and I can't wait to see the outfits I can create with it.

Environmentally friendly clothing. 2nd hand is where it's at. It's cheaper, you get to be more creative.. create more outfits, right from your imagination, instead of right off the mannequin. It doesn't have to be shipped here from China, because it's already been shipped here. You're keeping something from getting trashed. DID I MENTION HOW MUCH CHEAPER IT IS! I got my blazer for really cheap, and my trench coat today for $10!

Anyways, here's some picture of what I mean.













It's a lot more grown up than the looks I usually go for, but I'm excited to try.

Alright, well have a good thanksgiving, eat lots of veggies, and buy a second hand dinner outfit!
Peace

what has inspired me lately.

So Carey Mulligan has been inspiring me lately.



I just love how much fun it looks like they're having. It's inspiring to see a couple whose sort of childlike. It makes me really happy. It helps that Carey is so adorable as well....

I'm doing a 14 day experiment, where I try to dress-up everyday. I'm doing it for two reasons. One because, Tal dresses up, and he likes it when I dress up, and there's been a lot of times lately, where we go out, and he's all dressed up, and I look like I rolled out of bed. Looking like you just rolled out of bed, is also not very good for my self-esteem. Lately, I haven't cared too much about appearances, which I'm happy about, but if it gets to the point where I feel ugly, and I know it's because I'm lazy, and that it can be fixed... well...

It's day 4 and so far, I've felt much better putting in an extra half an hour or so in the morning to put makeup on, do my hair, and plan an outfit (I know these are all normal girl things (which I used to do regularly) but if you start to not do them for a long period of time it becomes a pain in a way...)

Anyways, today I'm in the city, working at the shop, and I have found a few things that would work quite well into an outfit.. so I'm excited. I love new projects/experiments!

Have fun today. cook something, dress up, and have a date.
peace.

decor around the place.

when weddings were simple.

So lately, I've become a little bit overwhelmed by how much MONEY weddings cost! Tal and I could put a down payment on an apartment for what the average cost of a wedding is nowadays. IT'S ONE DAY! ONE SPECIAL DAY OF YOUR LIFE!

What matters, the marriage or the wedding? I'm excited to be married to Tal, to have our own little life together, the wedding doesn't mean all that much.



It didn't always used to be this way. It used to be easier for young couples to get married, and most of them are still together today. Now we spend $10,000 average on a wedding, and then breakup 2 years later. hmm. Weddings used to be affordable, the women would get together and cook, they'd have them in backyards, little country halls, and it wasn't ridiculous.

That's what I want.

We're engaged, we're broke, and life is wonderful.

It's funny how something that I never used to do, became so much a part of me that I'm going through weird withdrawal not doing it.

Nowadays, we can post memories, photos, videos, thoughts, anything to facebook literally seconds after it happens. It's strange to not know what to do with the photos on my iPhone. It's become second nature to just automatically post them to facebook. SO!

I'm going to start a photo album. Not on facebook, not with a flikr account, not on a photo blog, but a true honest to God photo album, with paper photos. An album that withstands any computer crash, that will show our future kids what we were like, when we were engaged, broke, and life was wonderful.

Walking day 1. Vegan day 20.

It's pretty much agreed that it takes about 21 days to start a habit, where all your little changes become concrete. So one more day and I'll be vegan by... habit? lol

My walk was glorious this morning! It was probably one of the best feelings I've ever felt. As far as walking to make sure I don't get depressed and groggy in the morning when I sleep in...? I think it will work! (20 more days.. until it's a habit)

On my walk, I noticed that it was garbage day, and since I was just sort of letting my mind wander and not really contemplating too much, just allowing, I started noticing what people threw away in their recycling bins. Juice boxes, yogurt containers, cereal boxes, milk cartons, pop, beer, and juice cans, laundry detergent bottles... etc. Then I started thinking about the economy and how most of us our kind of low on cash these days.





When my grandma was little, growing up in Nelson B.C, it wasn't abnormal to be incredibly frugal, actually it was common, because.. well it makes sense! When the sheets on the bed wore out, her mother would cut them in half down the middle (where they were most worn) and sew them up on the other sides.. so that the outsides which were least worn were now in the insides, and the children could get another year or so out of them. Paper was re-used, string was re-used, vegetables were grown, etc.



Nowadays, we have the convenience factor to deal with. After the depression, and the wars people started wanting to spend, because they had money, and convenience was...convenient. Fast food restaurants started to spring up EVERYWHERE, food started to get processed and frozen, and everything just became... easier! It still was understood though, that if you were light on cash, those conveniences got left, and you opted for the cheaper option.

In my generation, I think we see "conveniences" as absolutes. We can't live without them. We can't imagine living without them, because, they were there all our lives. Paper towel, paper napkins, cotton balls, cotton swabs, windex, packaged bread, frozen food, macaroni and cheese, "just add water" meals, juice boxes, individual yogurts, microwave popcorn, microwave dinners, CARS!, internet connection, cable t.v, canned food, fast food! Everything that we want, we can get, pretty cheap whenever we feel like it. But all these things add up to a lot of money... and aren't really good for our bodies... or the planet.

It would be nice, if everyone over night just, STOPPED. But that's naive. People aren't going to just stop using all these convenient things, because they're convenient, and the owners of McDonalds, CocaCola, Kellogs, Kraft, Pepsi, etc. know this. They aren't in it for us, or the planet, but more for money, which is what most people are striving for anyways.


That's disgusting.

I don't think I could ditch all those things all at once, or even all of them all together. But I do think that I could ditch one thing at a time. It takes 21 days to form a habit, I could ditch paper products that I don't need (paper towel, paper napkins, kleenex, cotton balls etc (everything but toilet paper :P)) and use alternatives like, dish rags, cloth napkins, a hanky, etc, and by the end of that, I will have successfully given myself a good habit, and used renewable resources. One hanky, dish cloth, and cloth napkin thrown in with my laundry, won't raise laundry costs, and it will lessen my family's grocery bill, maybe not by much, but at least a little.

I want to slowly get rid of not needed conveniences until I am more frugal, and happy with my effect on the planet. Right now, I throw too many things away. (It's funny how many recycle, yet, the slogan goes "reduce, re-use, recycle" meaning first we reduce our use of things, then when re-use whatever we can, and if we have to we recycle... it's almost as though those first two words don't exist...)

I have a plan that in the end of the summer I will have gotten rid of a lot of not needed things, and that I will be able to do a one week retreat where I don't use any conveniences. I think it would be good for clarity, peace, and will just take me out of the influences of marketing, etc. So I'm excited about that! But I do need to work up to that point... Starting.. today! No more not needed convenient paper products!

one more thing!

I don't want this walking things to become a vigorous exercise, or me trying to raise my heart rate, or trying to burn calories or any of that other stuff, I simply want to enjoy being outside, and see how my body and mind react, therefore, I have put these simple guidelines into place, in my cluttered head.

The morning sounds so pretty, especially in spring, birds, rain, wind etc. So, since I have the WHOLE rest of the day to listen to music, I won't be using my ipod. There's something really pure about being one person, walking, outside, without something making music in my ear. However, I love music!!! A bunch, and I think it's awesome to work out to it, and to walk to, and to listen to all the time... but for this exercise I won't be!

I love walks that are adventures, so I'm not going to plan a route. Each intersection I will decide where I want to go, and see where I end up. With a route in mind, I end up working towards something, and then it becomes just that... work! I want this to be peaceful and more meditative than working out, or walking to get somewhere.

Because I want this to be peaceful, I don't want to force myself to walk for a certain amount of time. If I walk for half an hour one day, one hour the next, and twenty minutes the day after that, I think thats okay. As long as it doesn't start to conflict with my other day plans, I think that peaceful walking should be as long or as short as it is, although I would imagine to the end of the driveway and back, is sorta a cop out lol. I also can't imagine it conflicting with any other plans, considering I usually don't roll out of bed til around nine...

So thats that. No music, no direction, no timeline. Just thoughts, peace, and being grounded.

Walk. Walk. Walk.

Since I've gone vegan (a total of twenty days) I've tried to incorporate a lot of healthy habits (for me and for the planet) but I have to be honest, even though I've cooked, composted, gave up meat, cheese, eggs, and milk, and started a vegetable garden, I haven't done that much walking. Walking often fills me with clarity and sort of grounds my thoughts and settles me out. Usually when I walk, I've got a goal, I'm going somewhere, but walks without a goal are usually much more... Exciting and peaceful!

Therefore, twenty days into being vegan (which definitely won't be stopping after thirty days... I still don't miss any animal products, and now when I see a cow I know that I won't be eating it later) I am going to do thirty days of morning walking, rain or shine, weekend or week day, tired or not. Our human health is super important and we're given everything we need to keep ourselves healthy, no gym memberships or fancy diet meals/shakes whatever!

God gave us earth and plants and good amazing yummy food! So for the next thirty days I will walk in the early morning and see if it makes me feel any more grounded, clearer, and more peaceful than sleeping in until nine and feeling muddled and befuddled about the day.

Starting tomorrow morning, after I get some sleep!
Peace.

P.S
I like blogging about these things, because, even if no one reads them, the chance that someone might read it is there, and then if I run into them they might say, "hey! How's the walking thing?" and if I haven't been walking, well it would be embarassing lol, so in a way, you're keeping me accountable to my healthy habit goals, by sitting at your computer and glancing at your facebook feed! It's also pretty cool if anyone gets inspired by any of it! Because it's so good for us!

my bedroom

My bedroom hasn't been very peaceful or inviting since I moved out last spring, and moved back in in the summer. It's still pretty ramshackled and pieced together. I have taken everything out of my room that isn't in my colour scheme... and I hope that after I paint it all comes together.

Here is my absolute dream bedroom!

Garbage.

So all this vegan talk and how healthy it is for my body is great and all, but by just not eating meat or dairy products, is that all I'm doing? I'm going to list all of the things I typically use and throw out in a day, including this I must use (ie toilet paper) and things I don't have to use! Then I'm going to go through it and see what is essential and what could be changed to either preserve, or eliminate wasted materials!

What I've come up with is pretty substantial! I use cotton balls to take off my makeup, when I could use a cloth or rag, I take long showers, I use lots of toilet paper, paper napkins, paper towel, with the exception of toilet paper I could completely eliminate those! Our great grandparents were great preservers because they understood the value that reusing can hold! Our generation basically just buy new! We can't even Wash our floors without using a swiffer and a swiffer pad and swiffer solution, and when that swiffer gets old and dusty we buy new ones!


(it's hardly "green" if in order to use it you have to buy four other products that can't be reused :P)

We eat food and throw away left overs, we unwrap food and throwaway excessive packaging! Bah!

So... The list goes on a mighty bit... And it's not good.

I'm going to promise to make an effort to stop wasting and to start thinking of creative ways to preserve and reuse, ultimately leading up to sustainability!

Vegan Lasagna!

My parents have invited my grandpa and Tal over for supper, and they're having regular lasagna, and blackberry cream flan for dessert :( Two of my favorite non-vegan things. SO! I've checked out a couple of vegan lasagna recipes and have decided on this one!

Tomato Sauce:
2tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic
6oz can of tomato paste
three peeled tomatoes chopped with juices reserved
1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsely
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt & Pepper

Lasagna:
1tbsp sale
1 pound dry uncooked egg less lasagna noodles
2 packages of firm tofu (drained)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt & Pepper

For the sauce, eat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, and cook stirring frequently until onion is soft (about 5 minutes). Add the tomato paste, and cook, stirring, for one minutes, then add the tomatoes with the juice, the basil, parsley, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cover and let this simmer at low heat for about one hour. After this season with salt & pepper.

While this is simmering bring a large pot of water to boil, and add the salt and the noodles. Cook until noodles are soft but firm, then drain, rinse with water and drain again. Preheat the oven to 400*. Crumble the tofu into a mixing bowl, along with the garlic, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper, stir until this is well blended.

To assemble, spoon 1 cup of sauce over bottom of baking dish, add a layer of noodles, and top with one third of the tofu mixture. Spoon over a cup of sauce and top with another layer of noodles then use another third of the tofu mixture. Top with remaining tofu mixture and the sauce. Cover with foil and bake for thirty minutes. Once it has finished cooking, let it stand for fifteen minutes, before cutting. Serve with any of the remaining tomato sauce!

This lasagna is 219 calories per serving, whereas regular lasagna can pack in as much as 400 calories per serving, and the tofu in the vegan lasagna has just as much, or even more protein than the regular lasagna... however, will it taste as good?

The miso soup was amazing this morning by the way! I have a new favorite breakfast!

Miso for breakfast.

So, in Japan, it is actually really common to have miso soup for breakfast. I've never had miso for breakfast, I've
never made miso soup, and up until last night I didn't know you could buy miso paste, oh the interesting things I'm learning. So on this glorious morning where no one feels like it's the time that it is, and loads of people are hungover, I'm going to try making miso for
breakfast!

I found miso paste at save-on foods. It came in a tiny tub and was $5.99, but from what I'm reading from all sorts of recipes is that you don't use very much. For example 2tbsp makes soup for six!

The tofu I bought was $1.98! I love cheap things!

So essentially the recipe says to boil water with the onion and once it has boiled, put in the desired amount of miso mixing it in very slowly... I hope it works. If it's anything like the miso you get at sushi places, then it kind of sounds good right now!

I'll post later with how it turned out!

Make your own peanut butter.

Basically everything that should be in peanut butter is peanuts, a little peanut or vegetable oil, and sugar if you want it, but most commercial peanut butters contain tons of chemicals to preserve shelf life. While it may be cheaper to buy peanut butter in mass quantities and have it last a long time, is it worth putting harmful chemicals into your body?
Luckily lots of brands of peanut butter have recently put out a "natural style" peanut butter, that has less chemicals, and sometimes even only list peanuts as ingredients (always check ingredient lists, and if there are either a: things that a third grader can't pronounce or b: things that would not be seen in a well rounded kitchen, then don't buy it, it's not worth it to your body... This can be applied to everything you eat).
Homemade peanut butter is absolutely delicious, and because it's homemade, you know exactly what went into it, the only downfall is that it may not keep as long as a commercial brand peanut butter, but it seriously is so yummy, it will be gone before it has time to go bad.
Using homemade peanut butter in baking is awesome too because the fat is all natural and healthy for you!

Ingredients:
2 cups of peanuts
1 1/2 tsp of peanut or vegetable oil
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

First make sure the peanuts are roasted, if not spread out on a baking tray and heat your oven to 350*. When it is heated roast the peanuts for 8 minutes, shaking the pan around every two minutes to prevent burning. Once the peanuts are roasted dump into food processor or blender and blend away. After awhile add the oil and continue blending until your desired consistency. If you opted for the sweeter peanut butter, add the sugar when you add the oil. Next time I'm going to try brown sugar to see if there is a taste difference!

I'm experimenting with a homemade Graham cracker recipe so that I can make Graham crackers with peanut butter and raisins as a snack that is FULL of protein!

Today I am off to buy seeds for the garden! I just learned all about sprouts, sprouting, and wheat grass, and I think I'm going to start my own little crop of alfalfa, soybean, and lentil sprouts. The crops take five days! I just read a recipe for lentil and alfalfa sprout veggie burgers and I want to try it out after the sprouts have sprouted!




Anyways I'm super excited about growing things that are amazing for my body! Oh yeah I have the list of veggies and berries I'm going to try to grow:
For the herb garden I'm growing Rosemary, thyme, chives, and whatever else I find interesting while shopping for seeds.
For the side garden (partial sun) I am growing bush peas and beans, soy beans, carrots, potatoes, and all sorts of leafy greens.
For the balcony pots I am growing tomatoes and strawberries!

I've got to find out the last frost date so I can plant three weeks after that. I read that all of the plants (excluding the bush peas and beans) should be started inside, which is what I'm starting today!

Oh the yummy things we'll grow.

My great grandpa was a master gardener. He grafted a pear tree onto an apple tree, so there were pears, and three different types of apples growing off the same tree. He also trained his squashes to grow up the tree and hang from the branches. He is inspiring me to start my own little vegetable garden this year. I haven't decided on the particular vegetables I would like to grow yet, but I am doing a lot of research on which vegetables would grow the best in our climate.



I'm very excited to see what yummy things I can grow.

what I would do

Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring 2010

Here I am.
Sitting on a couch at my grandparents house.
I'm in an old painting shirt.
Emily Haines is haunting in the back ground.
I'm painting the kitchen.
Dreaming of feeling,
different.

What would I do if I had more money?
What would I do if I was thinner?
What would I do if I had more responsibility?
What would I do if I had less responsibility?

I can't answer them.
The list for each exceeds my typing capabilities.

Lately I've been inspired by clothes, music, and beauty.
Well, more like the beauty of clothes and music.

Humans dress themselves for beauty sake.
I find this interesting,
You'd think as a mammal, we'd dress for protection,
etc.

Sometimes we do.


Beauty is something.
Beauty is real.
Beauty is important.
Beauty is inspiring.

and I think the dress looks nice on you

Here's to not falling short of gorgeous.

casting a dusty light over the dining room table

I have been inspired lately by all things beautiful.
Sometimes I hit phases of clutter and distraction, and sometimes I feel
streamlined, and beautiful things are important.

Finding a subtle combination of the two,
is my life's work.

I do feel though that my living space, has some room for growth.

I need to find that perfect balance.

Currently painting.
Later will head home and make this magic happen.
Breath in.
Breath out.

CHANGE.

Rogue wave in the bathtub.

Everything is a fantasy, are you with me?
Places, places, all other faces.

La, la, la, la, la.

Cucumbers in vinegar.

I have to.
Be different.
See different.

Constant change.
It's a fantasy.

Rogue Wave and cleaning the bathroom.
Rogue Wave and vacuuming the floor.
Rogue Wave and tidying up.
Rogue Wave and cake.

Is this a phonytown?

currently being inspired by