Throne of Cookies

Sunday night we held a "special" Game of Thrones night.  We called it Throne of Cookies, and it ruled.

Everyone brought cookies (each car group, at least), so we had TONS of cookies.  There was also wine, fruit salad and vegan ice cream.

We had spicy mexican chocolate cookies, chocolate chips, chocolate oatmeal, chai snickerdoodle, gingerbread with lime glaze, and homemade graham cracker vegan smores.

I, unfortunately, forgot to get a photo until after our guests had feasted (the first round).

We devoured our treats and quaffed our wine while watching the newest episode.



What was left of Throne of Cookies after the first helping.



The wine was drained by the end of the night. We polished off a Cabernet, an Rkatsiteli, a sweet red, and a fruity pomegranite.

It was decided that we'd save the last two episodes for a double header, with a southron-themed pot-luck which has evolved into a Mexican feast by the sound of things.  It sounds like schedule issues may push it off another week, which means most of us will have seen both episodes already, but it'll still be a blast. GoT night is always much fun. 

Insect Bigotry

I've just had a realization.  I am perpetuating bug stereotypes.  How utterly crappy of me.

Saturday was a lovely day, sandwiched nicely between two other lovely weekend days.  We scurried over to the awesome garden shop to buy lots of soil and a few more veggies and flowers for the yard and garden.  Then we hopped on our bikes and headed over to Rasoi for brunch and a walk to the Hope Street farmer's market/craft fair.  After visiting with friends and wandering around for a little while we were back on the bikes and headed home.

I was in the garden planting butternut squash and trimming dahlias by 4 while J took the mower out for a tour of the neighborhood (he does half the neighbors' yards for them).  I was fussing with our giant planter of peas, nestled in the corner of the back fence when I noticed very fine sawdust falling just in front of me.  I looked up to see more of it coming out from a 1/2" hole in the underside of a cross plank in the fence.  I knew it was not a good sign, as there was obviously some sort of insect boring it's way through the wood, yet I couldn't help a small giggle at the way the saw dust was being kicked out of the hole in frantic plumes.  Then it stopped and I went about my work after making a mental note to let J know about our possible pest problem. 
I was 12 feet away, tending to some garden marigolds when I heard buzzing.  I followed it back to the hole in the fence.  There was no sawdust coming out, but the buzzing was coming from a little deeper inside the piece of wood.  I was both impressed and concerned as I'm pretty sure that one wood boring insect is usually the tip that you have many wood boring insects to contend with.  Moments later, the sawdust was poofing out of the hole again.  I peeked around for more holes in the area and found nothing.  I looked, from a distance, at the hole and noticed something rather large and dark looking like it was starting to back out of the hole.  I stepped back a few feet and waited.  Nothing.  The buzzing started again, then more sawdust.  I was pretty impressed by the tiny worker bug.  But I was also starting to think it was likely a wasp, and wasps are evil, awful, terrible bugs.

I went about my gardening until J got back, at which point I took him to the spot where the fence was being drilled and relayed my story of saw dust and buzzing emanating from the depths of the fence.  We both had work to do outside so we decided to keep an eye on it and hopefully catch the culprit in the act.

About a half hour later, I was across the yard when I heard the buzzing again.  I looked over toward the fence and spotted Ollie standing and looking toward the hole in the fence.  I called him to me and glanced over at the fence just in time to see a winged insect crawl inside the hole.

J and I reconvened at the site of the activity and discussed our options.  We didn't really want to spray the thing and kill it.  Closing the hole up with another piece of wood would hardly be effective since whatever was in there was making short work of tunneling through the wood that was already there.  And then even if we did manage to prevent the bug from getting back to this particular place on the fence, we have a whole lot more wood for it to choose from between the fence and the house.

We had managed to convince ourselves based on the size of the hole, the quick glance at the culprit, the sound of buzzing coming from inside the tunnel, and some quick internet sleuthing, that this was indeed a wasp, a horrible, nasty, yucky wasp that would exact its revenge upon us and our poor pups if we disturbed its work unarmed.

J located a can of wasp-specific insecticide, the foamy kind that makes it hard for them to retreat from the hole once you spray it in there.  I moved the planters away from the spray fallout zone and told him to go for it.  J voiced some trepidation at killing the thing, to which I replied with something along the lines of "whatever, it's a wasp, spray it."

He sprayed inside the hole until the foam started to build up around it.  Then he proceeded to spray every other crack or hole in the fence within the vicinity of the sawdust spewing hole.

Later that evening J noticed that something was starting to make its way out of the doomed hideout in the fence.  He positioned a big bucket under it to catch it when it finally fell out.

The next morning I peeked into the bucket to view my fallen foe.
It did not appear to be a wasp.
I felt a slight twinge of discomfort that comes from being wrong -especially about something upon which I pretty much sanctioned the unleashing of chemical warfare.

I got to work and googled a bit(I think I've learned more from Google than I have from my many years of schooling) and determined that it was, without a doubt, a carpenter bee.  A crafty little furry bugger who is more or less the elephant of the insect world.  The ladies tend to hang together in the nests burrowed into whatever wooden structure they choose.
I killed a big furry elephant bee.
I suck.

Hopefully this will be a lesson learned and I will have a little more tolerance toward members of the insect kingdom.  Except for mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, chiggers, aphids, roaches, wasps, and other multi-legged pests that aren't bees, lady bugs, or "good" spiders (anything that won't bite me and cause my skin to erode).
Yes, definitely a lesson learned.

Toast

I am highly food suggestable.
From the time I was old enough to operate an oven, right until 2000 when I adopted a vegan diet, I would be compelled to make an egg in a basket (fry an egg into a hole made in a nice thick piece of toast) nearly every time I watched Moonstruck (and I do love that movie).  There have been many other examples of TV/movie inspired impromptu dining, but the most recent came from last night's viewing of the most recent episode of Mad Men.

J and I had just eaten dinner when we cozied up on the sofa and turned on the episode (Mad Men gets a Monday viewing each week due to GoT night on Sundays).  When we got to the part where there was a brainstorm session over margarine and everyone was snacking on toasted white bread bathed in faux butter, my highly food suggestable belly perked up and demanded some.  I can't remember the last time I ate white bread (though it is one of the tastiest empty calorie foods known to man).  I do make every effort to snack smart and not go carb crazy because carbs are glorious, delicious, happiness and I would gorge myself on them if they didn't go right to me arse.  So I told my belly to pipe down and get over it.

I got out of the shower this morning and heard the clanking of kitchen activity downstairs.  Not long after, I was greeted by J who presented me with a bowl of delicous cooked oats with fresh fruit and a tiny bit of brown sugar.  What a sweet surprise and a perfect breakfast.
I got to work 45 minutes later and the belly voices started demanding toasty white bread with melty earth balance once again.  What the bloody heck, belly?  Get a grip.  Normally a breakfast like the one I'd just eaten would have chased away all food thoughts until well after noon.
It was an hour later that I broke down and toasted a piece of rye bread.  The voices are silenced, my angry, demandy belly has been appeased.

I think I'm watching too much television these days.

Rainy Spring Weekends

We got spoiled.
The weather has been bright and sunny, and for the most part even pretty warm, each weekend for quite a while now.  We've been riding our bikes starting up a pretty sweet garden and thoroughly enjoying the weather as much as possible.  Unfortunately, I had two recent weekends in a row where health issues put me out of commission (miserable reaction to antibiotics followed by the toothache from hell) and then I was down in CT for most of the first weekend of May, so there is still quite a bit we want to do as the weather continues to get warmer and more perfect.
Then the rain came.  A whole weekend forcasted for grey cloudy, rainy days.  I think we made the most of it and really, the weekend was one of the best in a while.  Friday night we went up to Boston the see Ghost at the Royale (old Roxy).  We got a great spot and the show was amazing.  They are such a great live act.  We were both very happy we made the trip to see them.  After the show we ran down the street and around the corner to one of my favorite Boston vegan restaurants, My Thai.  Dinner was beyond delicious, the show was awesome, ...not a bad Friday night.

Saturday was rainy, dark and stormy.  We did the weekend super-clean, ridding the house of every trace of dog hair.  I cooked up a tasty brunch of spicy carrot vegan Belgian waffles (with gimme lean and some fakin bakin) while J made powerful and delicious mimosas.

We found a movie, cozied up on the sofa, and both passed out.  We wound up having a fun day of movies at home while the rain blasted against the windows.  I love a good lazy day every now and again, and a good stormy weekend day is the perfect excuse for one.

Sunday started out gloomy with hope of clearing later in the afternoon.  We got started after noon and headed out to Garden Grille for brunch.  After brunch we took a trip up to North Attleboro, first to Lowes and then to a wonderful little plant nursery, to stock up on more supplies to finish up the garden.  We got home and mixed up the soil in the raised bed, then planted everything that will be residing under the bird/squirrel netting..  A few more plants were added to the container garden, and we have just a tiny bit more to do before I shift focus to flowers.  We are now growing two types of basil, three types of tomatoes, green bells, orange bells, jalapenos, thyme, oregano, rosemary, lavender, mint, sage, onions, chives, two types of kale, spinach, lettuce, beets, green, yellow and purple beans, peas, and cucumbers. We also added new dahlias (of course), daisies, and a gorgeous white peony, along with an extensive spattering of marigolds and nasturtium to the yard and garden.  We finished as the sun set, rather proud of our handy work and hopeful that everything grows full and healthy this summer.

He Makes Me Laugh, Too

I woke sometime around 4:30 this morning to J asking me "what time is your dentist appointment tomorrow?" (the scheduled part 2 of the root canal started two weeks ago)

I thought for a second, half asleep and replied "two-thirty"

J: "tooth hurty?" 

me: "yeah, two-thirty"

J: "tooth hurty? you're scheduled for your root canal at tooth hurty?"

me: giggles uncontrollably until fully awake

Today I raced to complete payroll for CA & RI and then to find 40 or so missing China employees who've disappeared off the headcount over the last couple months.  The later is a project that has been making me want to bang my head against a wall for two days.  Today I found all but one of them.  

I had to cram as much as I could into the earlier part of the day because I had to leave around 2 for my tooth hurty root canal appointment.

I fully expected to be home fairly early and put some extra weekday warmth and daylight to use.  Instead, everything took longer than expected.  I then had to pick up a prescription on the way back, and I got home after 6.  

Now my jaw is achy and it won't open very far.  This happened last time, just after RC pt1. And hopefully, much like last time, it'll be fine by tomorrow.  For now I am anxiously awaiting the return of the world's coolest man who has run out to get us a pizza from Nice Slice.  

It was determined that pizza is a proper size for my temporary lockjaw state.  It will fit through the 3/4 inch space currently allowed for food entry.  I'm stoked for some Earth Crisis super vegan veggie pizza awesomeness.  

I will suck on it or blenderize it if I have to, but it is going in my mouth tonight.

Early Mum's Day

I hopped on a train Saturday morning to head down to Connecticut for a bit.  I read a book on my kindle while taking long breaks to stare out the window and take in the beauty of the RI/CT shoreline.  I think this is my new favorite way to travel to visit family. 

My brother picked me up at the New Haven station and took me to my parents' house where we marveled at the awesome cake my mom made for my sister-in-law's baby shower.

How cute is this thing?

(The bear looks exactly like the pilot teddy on the crib sheets and room decor of my nephew-to-be)

After the shower, my mom and I went to dinner and talked about everything from her impending grandmother title to J and me and our plans for the future, complete with guesses as to where we may land and what sort of preparations we'll need to make if we wind up far from home.

My mom and I headed up to northwest CT Sunday morning to visit my grandmother.  She has Alzheimer's and it's progressed quite a bit over the past ten years.  We brought her a pretty and very hardy yellow and orange blossoming plant for Mother's Day to brighten up her room.  We sat and talked with her for a while as best we could until the nurses had to take her away for lunch (the disease has progressed to a point where she now has difficulty eating on her own).

My grandma used to be such a spunky little lady.  It's so hard to see her in her current state and not even know what, if anything, really registers with her.  She seemed to recognize me and she told my mom how beautiful she thought I was (my grandma used to say that sort of thing all the time.  I was her first grand child and we had a special sort of bond).  She would nod and giggle sometimes when I'd ask her if she remembered certain things that were significant memories from our past like going to the beach, big family dinners on Sunday, or Kristy, the German Shepherd she had for most of my early childhood.  It's hard to tell if things sometimes really struck a chord, or if she's just gotten good at faking it.  We went through the same photos over and over and answered the same questions about who was who.  It's really quite heartbreaking to see her like this. 

On the way home my mom and I talked of other things for the most part, not talking too much about the visit other than to agree that I should probably get back up there to see her again soon.

When we got back to my parents' house, my mom opened a bottle of wine and we sat and talked for a little while.  My brother showed up not long after and needed to steal her away for a bit to run an errand, so I took my wine and a small piece of cake and sat out on the back deck in the sunshine as I waited for J's arrival.

My night in shining silver CRV appeared just before my mom and brother returned.  We all gathered in the kitchen and talked for an hour before J and I decided to finally hit the road to get back in time to prep for Game of Thrones night.  We made a stop at Mamoun's, of course, because that is what we do when we are on our way through New Haven, complete with a quick walk around the Chapel/Yale area before heading back.

GoT night involved a smaller group than usual and a couple bottles of wine.  It was a very fun night and a prefect way to cap off my somewhat hectic weekend.

Gingerbread!

Gingerbread rules.

It is one of my most favorite things in the world of food.

J also rules.

He is my number one most favorite person ever.

Last night, after dinner, I visited a sweet sleeping Lucy on her little pillow nook.

I gave her a hug and put my head down next to her for a moment.

An hour and a half later J woke me (still on the floor next to a still sleeping Lucyfur).

He had made a batch of gingerbread muffins and thought I should try one.

It was a fantastically delicious gingerbread muffin.

I woke up this morning to a baggie with two muffins and my name on it.

I ate one already.

(That's a tasty Stumptown cold brew next to it. A perfect combination.)

The sun is shining.

It's warm and toasty.

I'm in a sun dress.

And I have a baggie of tasty gingerbread love.