growing: house plants (in november)

I almost have paperwhites blooming.  Just in time for the doldrums of winter to set in.  Our little house does not have the best light for growing plants, so I am always pleasantly surprised when some botanical experiments actually work.  The paperwhites were a gift from my mother-in-law and they are sitting on our coffee table in the living room (north and east exposure - blah).  But the low light seems to please them just fine for now.

The begonia in the kitchen, on the other hand, is faring far worse.  I think she needs a little trimming to get back her bushy figure.  The old gal is getting a tad leggy (east exposure there).  But apparently begonias can do just fine with low light, so maybe I just need to find her a better spot so that she's not all lopsided.

And the orchid, oh the orchid, in the office (gloomy north exposure only) needs some repotting.  Major repotting.  She came home with me from a friend's wedding back in 2010 (maybe?) and has been doing pretty well, but now is producing all runners/roots and no blooms.  Once I get my act together, I'll be following the great directions on Plantgasm on repotting orchids (and by the way, I love that site name).

Needless to say, my green thumb is itching just a bit.  I'm making note that when we move that I need some southern exposure windows for some serious house plant love!

november

You know how the days fly by and then you look back and think, huh, nothing exciting really happened, but man that was fast?  This is how I've been feeling the entire month of November so far.  For instance, I am finding it very hard to believe we are pretty much halfway through the month already.  Where did the days go?  The weather is cold and rainy today.  We have the big duvet on the bed now, and the cats are now attached to it like glue.  And normally are so "helpful" when we are making the bed in the morning or trying to turn down the covers at night.

We had our first Halloween together in our little house and I had major high hopes for trick-or-treaters (given that I ran out of candy last year).  Such high hopes that I bought three jumbo bags of candy at Target.  And we had maybe one dozen kids all night.  And all night the mister paced outside to the front stoop to look up and down the street for kids to flag down.  It didn't help that the large majority of houses on our block were boycotting the holiday (even the lady who already has her Christmas decorations up seemed to have no interest in celebrating).  So now we have chocolate and Sour Patch "Zombie" Kids to last us through the winter.

This past weekend we had the mister's mother over for dinner.  He made stuffed mushrooms and fancy drinks for cocktail hour and I made successes from the past for dinner - Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes and Kale & Potato Gratin.  Yes, we fed a meat-eater tempeh and she actually ate it and seemed to like it!

Other things on the menu these past couple of weeks:
~ Breakfast for Dinner with Blueberry Oatmeal Waffles and apple-sage Field Roast sausage 
~ Spaghetti and Beanballs (from Veganomicon p. 189)
~ Butternut Squash and Apple Soup (from Ina; I use about half the curry) with crusty bread and salad

And now we are gearing up for Thanksgiving.  Spending the day with the mister's family in Richmond, Virginia.  A football game and oyster roast followed by traditional dinner.  Should be fun to have our first Thanksgiving as a new family.  Especially considering that last year I was in Texas for my grandmother's funeral, this year should be full of lovely new traditions.

a snoring cat and married life

For the first time since we got married one month ago, the mister and I actually had a weekend together where neither one of us had to work.  A lazy Saturday morning in bed for me with a snoring cat (ahem, Gracie) and some back issues of People magazine.  Followed by a breakfast I didn't have to make.  Glorious.

Now I am hunkered down for the Frankenstorm with two consecutive days off work and the mister is at work safe and sound (working for a hospital means no days off for silly severe weather).  Tofu slices baking in the oven for sandwiches in case we loose power.  Catching up on some laundry.  And a pile of thank you notes from the wedding that need to be written.

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to settle into married life.  Well, it's not really the married part that has been a challenge, it's more the co-habitating part - the part where we have twice as much laundry and dishes and the bathroom just won't stay clean.  I feel like I'm always doing laundry and know that when we have kids it'll get even crazier.  For the meal planning, I've started using our shared Google calendar, which is helping a lot.  We now have a sub-calendar called "What's for dinner" where I list web links or cookbook references for new recipes based on our seasonal produce and staples.  He can move things around or add in ideas.  Plus, I can set certain meals to repeat every third week or so, which makes it nice when I can't (or am too lazy to) think of new things to make.

Some of the highlights over the past couple of weeks:
~ Colcannon made with potatoes, kale, and sauteed veggie chorizo (perfect comfort food)
~ Chesapeake tempeh cakes (I baked them instead of frying and oh my goodness these were good!)
~ Maple sweet potato pecan burgers topped with cashew "sour cream" (cream recipe from Vegan Table)
~ Chickpea & rosemary baked fritatta (so simple)

All I have to say is thank heaven for Pinterest for gathering meal ideas.  Now if Pinterest only had some magical perpetual bathroom-cleaning solution, I'd be all set!

a wedding and one (very short) mini-moon later...

Well, I'm back to my normal life now, and I'm going to admit that I feel a little bit of a let down.  I mean we've been working on planning a wedding over the last five months or so and now it is all over and I don't know what to do with myself.  The day was beautiful and joyous and ended all too quickly.  The weather was overcast with some spots of sunshine and in the low 70s.  My dress was gorgeous (made by a good friend and colleague using pieces from my mother's 1968 wedding gown) and the flowers were bright and fun (the mister wore an air plant and the groomsmen thistles; I had fiddlehead ferns in my bouquet for goodness sake!).

After the marathon wedding weekend where we had friends and family from across the country surrounding us with lots of love, we took a little trip to the mountains of Virginia for a mini-moon.  Just two nights, but good food and some nice time for relaxing were just what the doctor ordered.  And boy, it was pretty romantic with the leaves turning and the bed so comfy.  But now it's back to work...and laundry...and unpacking.

thinking back

Autumn officially starts tomorrow and so I've been thinking back on the summer that we've had.  Boy, I wouldn't say that it was boring.
~ We made wedding decisions and sent out invitations for our September 29 wedding (right around the corner!)
~ We had a beach vacation with my family and a trip to Staunton, Virginia for the beau's birthday
~ We moved in together and began negotiating the whole co-habitating thing (schedules, cleaning, cooking, etc.)
~ We survived some family drama, like my grandmother's health complications and move to assisted living, as well as some other things
~ We enjoyed our respective bachelor and bachelorette events with our good friends

And now we are heading into a new season and a whole new set of experiences:  newlywed life.

But before that happens we have some good friends getting married this weekend (one of our matchmakers, to be exact) and so we are looking forward to a weekend of fun.  It is a potluck wedding in Eastern Virginia and I'm making my friend Christine's Chickpeas with Couscous to take along.

Have a great weekend everyone!

crowder peas and time to myself

For the first time in quite some time I have a weekend mostly to myself to do with as I see fit.  The beau works both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, so we'll have breakfast and dinner together, but otherwise I'm on my own.  And aside from running errands and cleaning the house, I have absolutely nothing planned.  This morning I ventured out in the heat to the farmers' market and stocked up on farm eggs, crowder peas, green beans, and some tomatoes (that I've set on the windowsill to ripen a bit more).  This past week we had a meal of crowder peas on cornbread that was very tasty.  So I truly stocked up this week around and we may have enough to freeze for later in the year.

Note to self: plant crowder peas next year.

We both took off and spent much of yesterday doing wedding stuff:  going over shot lists and venues with the photographer, doing a walk-through with the caterer and site coordinator, and buying 14 tabletop frames at Ikea for the food descriptions, favors, guestbook, etc. at the wedding reception.  The frames seem to be a favorite with many for weddings (I've seen them all over Pinterest), but at $0.99 a pop they are a trend worth embracing.

Ikea can be a bit dangerous, but we limited our purchases to just the frames and a new pendant lamp for over the dining table.  Now that night-dining is the norm, we discovered we needed just a tad more light.  The new lamp had to be something we could easily install at a rental (i.e. not hard-wired) and wouldn't overwhelm our little table.  I would have normally gone for a black or a white option, but the beau pointed out the aluminum version of this lamp, so we'll see how it goes.

Now, I have whole wheat bread baking in the bread machine and then I'll head out and run some errands.  Might fit in a little reading this afternoon.  From an actual book.  I'm kind of excited.

so far, so good

Table set for breakfast with my parents:  over easy eggs on toast with mimosas & coffee

Over the years I've used this blog for a variety of purposes, from documenting trips and family events to documenting what I picked up at the farmers' market.  As I begin this new phase of my life (that of a "newlywed" in less than one month), I don't know what I'll be moving on to, but in the meantime meal planning is at the forefront of my mind.  I "pin" things to Pinterest for our quick weekday mealtimes, but feel the need to wax poetic a bit right here about the good, bad, and ugly of our weekly menus.

Last week, we had a lentil walnut loaf that knocked my socks off.  And a kale potato gratin that I made all pretty-like in my new tart pan (shower gift from my friend Abby).  On Wednesday night, the peach and tomato pasta we found interesting and it may make one more appearance before summer is over.  Tuesday and Friday turned into quick beans/rice/veg and leftover nights respectively; Saturday and Sunday we had my parents in town so we ate dinners out (although hosted breakfasts in).  So while we didn't follow the plan to the letter, we used what we had and had some pretty nice meals together.

The beau went shopping at the farmers' market on Saturday and purchased the following fresh produce that we'll need to incorporate in this week's meals:  crowder cowpeas (southern peas); kale; parsnips; fresh lettuce mix; one dozen farm eggs.

This week's menu (the beau is working the weekend this week):
Monday:  Tofu, Broccoli, and Cauliflower Masala over Noodles [holdover from last week; just meh]
Tuesday:  Artichoke and Olive Pizza [making the dough in the bread machine; will make enough crust for tonight and to freeze]
Wednesday:  Crowder Peas with Bacon Salt over Cornbread with Chopped Tomatoes [going for a "Southern" night]
Thursday:  Parsnip & Quinoa Burger over Lettuce mix with Citrus-Cumin Dressing
Friday:  Out
Saturday:  Mexican Night - Black Bean & Kale Quesadilla
Sunday:  Breakfast for Dinner - Frittata with leftover Veggies and Potatoes

I'll need to pop by the market at some point for onions, faux cheese (optional), and tortillas in addition to our normal bread, butter, and almond milk supply run.  But I continue to try to challenge myself to cook what we have in the pantry and freezer, adding fresh produce and "dairy" as needed.  So far, so good...