From the turkey and stuffing to all of the fixin's... Who's cooking your Thanksgiving dinner this year? What dish are you most looking forward to?
That would be me. :-)
Hard to choose a favorite. Maybe stuffing... I'm making a leek and wild mushroom stuffing that I made last year and loved. I'm also going to try out a vegan pumpkin pie recipe that uses gingersnaps in the crust and silken tofu in the filling. Sounds yummy to me!
New Moon broke The Dark Knight's single day box office record. Are you planning on seeing this teenage vampire love story? If so: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Must admit I did see it. Hard to choose... love Edward's face, but Jacob has a beautiful body in this one. I have to admire how much work Jacob put into this movie. Their different beauty actually reinforces the dichotomy of vampires and werewolves in this universe -- experienced old solitary predator versus young pack predator.
What’s the perfect gift to give to the person who has everything?
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Cheese. Or socks.
What’s on your “to-do” list to prepare for the holidays? How will you use technology to help you get everything done?
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Maybe this will help me get organized. See, I'm using technology!
- plan Thanksgiving menu, with an emphasis on easy food. While I'm at it, plan food for the entire week.
- plan schedule for that four day weekend.
- figure out gifts for overseas family and get package together before Dec. 1.
- figure out gifts for US family and order by Dec. 10.
- find out when we're supposed to be at the ranch for Christmas and plan the roadtrip.
- finish stockings by Dec. 1 so that they can be displayed.
- fill stockings with fun treats. Decide when the daily treat can start -- a week before?
- think about New Years. Maybe a champagne and foie gras party? I have both in the fridge...
How can it nearly be Thanksgiving already? There are turkeys everywhere in the grocery stores. The stores are full of Christmas decorations!
I have no idea what I'm doing for Thanksgiving yet... first I need to get through next week, which is overfull: start of preschool, in-laws visiting, third birthday party... you may mock me for wanting to see New Moon, but by the 20th my brain will be so fried it'll be such a relief to sit back alone in the dark with a mocha frappachino...
I really need to finish those stockings. Maybe I'll work on that tonight while watching something easy like House. I have a crush on Hugh Laurie again. :-)
I bought a dozen wide mouth 16oz Mason jars yesterday to hold smallish amounts of grains, seeds, etc. Currently they are all in plastic bags in a bin, and I'm always forgetting what I have on hand. I buy them in bulk from Whole Foods, often in fairly small amounts.
Next challenge: organizing the jars...
Are you prepared in case of a natural disaster? What do your plan and preparations include?
Oi, this one has been on my list for a long time. I want to get my kit together by the end of the year, so I'm running out of time. I have a large plastic container to hold disaster kit supplies (currently holding a flashlight that doesn't need batteries). Clearly that needs some work. I also want to buy proper camping gear, both for camping next year and disasters. That might be a Christmas present to myself. :-)
The preschool we're going to attend is nicely organized for disasters. They have a large plastic baggie to hold clothing and supplies, and a bunch of forms for medical authorizations, out-of-state family phone numbers to pass messages, and instructions on what to do for pickup.
I've been thinking about our living situation for the next year, since our lease is up at the end of February and we still don't have any firm plans to move out of state. As I see it, our options are to stay in our current apartment (lease terms are the sub-point, short or long term renewal?), move to another rental (apartment or house?), or do the big jump and move out of state (dependent on Donut's career choices).
The downside to staying in this apartment is the size; a two bedroom with two small children is tiring. I don't know if an extra room would make a huge difference, though. The tiring part may solely be due to their being children. :-) I also wouldn't mind living in a place that is walking distance to more interesting places -- parks, in particular.
One big upside to our situation, at least in my opinion, is that it is more energy efficient than living in a house. Our utility bills are small in the winter, since we get so much warmth from our building and the western-facing windows. Summer time is perhaps debatable -- the western windows means it gets hot fast, and even with the thermostat set to 78 we still use the AC a lot.
I'm also kinda picky about the appliances -- I'd want to live in a place with a fairly modern kitchen and a good layout for the rooms. I'm imagining that is going to be difficult to find in a house around here. Maybe a townhouse? So many have been built in the last five years around here, maybe we should rent one. Though most of them are not really walking distance to anything either.
What was your favorite class in high school? (And no, lunch doesn't count.)
Art class, closely followed by physics. I took art for four years straight, loved it. The last year I was just independent study; I negotiated to do economics independently so that I could skip the classroom and go to the art room instead. Good times.
I made a red quinoa pilaf tonight, experimenting with the red quinoa I found in the bulk bin at Whole Foods. The pilaf recipe came from my new cookbook, Clean Food, and it's really simple -- you saute a small onion in olive oil, add 1/2 cup of currants and some herbs (it calls for summer savory, which I do not have, so I used a mix of sage, thyme, oregano, and basil), add the cooked quinoa, then sprinkle some ume plum vinegar and more olive oil on it and serve. The quinoa is a pretty rusty color, with the dark little currants providing a nice contrast. The dish is flavorful and bold, with the nutty quinoa and the sweet currants and the onions all competing. As expected, neither child liked it, though they ate some of the currants.
I also made a leek potato soup, and the boy actually ate some willingly! I required him to take two bites, and on the second one he started to like it and ate about half his bowl quickly. Then he stalled out, but it's progress!
