Scraps and Snippets ~ Coming Soon....

So. I have been debating whether or not to participate in Vegan MoFo this year. Last year, the 20 desserts, nearly killed us all. Ha. Ha. It was tough to eat all those goodies. 

This year September brings Vegan Month of Food and I sought some suggestions on Facebook. 

From 20 appetizers, restaurant faves,  to all about Vegan proteins, to casserole makeovers, I've found a theme that will touch on all of these. 

I'm taking on the challenge of making over some comfort foods, including appetizers, casseroles, and with plenty of protein rich options. I'll use classic cookbooks, recipe websites and even some of the big food manufacturers recipe ideas and I'll kind em up and make them tasty. 

So coming to a blog near you this September - - Americana Vegan, the things we love to eat made over with love. 

Two trials that will be appearing soon. And they were keepers. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Want to Be Interesting?

How to be Interesting. 

http://how2beinteresting.tumblr.com

Someone tagged me on Facebook about this book. 

At first I was a bit concerned...was this person singling me out as someone who needs lessons on how to be less annoying and more interesting? 

Oh my!

But then I decided that he already considered that some of what I was doing was covered in the book, and that I might enjoy what else was inside. (Aren't optimists more interesting, right? And proof that I try to live in the overlapping bubbles above...even if it was meant as a "get a clue, Lady." moment.)

Here's a link to the article that went viral and resulted in the book. I borrowed the picture above from the book blog. 

On a related note. Our sermon on Sunday included a comment that made me pause. I think it ties into the discussion of what makes a person interesting. My pastor went to a leadership conference last week. One of the speakers was a psychologist who broke down human needs into the following categories.

The need to be loved
The need to belong
The need to chose to be brave

We are designed to want to live our lives, not use them up as spectators, or in bitter regret. Fascinating er interesting. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A New Adventure Afoot...Or Uhhh....CHALLENGE

My teacher moved me into a new violin book. I am so excited and so terrified. 

After a few weeks (I lost count, hmmm, let's say three and let's guesstimate 500 minutes) of practice and the nine notes played endlessly during my lesson last week, I got to leave behind my minuet and the William Tell Overture. And they were the end of the first book I got way back in December. 

EXHIBIT A

So. Look at the difference between these two books. Both are pictures of Page 13. 

Exhibit A is the book I'm done with. Look. Jingle Bells. I was working on that around Christmas...how nice. Ehhh? 

Exhibit B is some crazy practice book written in 1905. He read the introduction and I made a mental note to look up a full quarter of the words he was spewing. They were wicked smart with words back in the day. Note to self: vocabulary word a day app pronto. 

EXHIBIT B

So part of my lesson yesterday was passing my test with the minuet and William Tell Overture. He only made me repeat a few rough patches, deemed it good, told me to slowly play my other thorn-in-the-side song (which I'm still working on for another week) while he ran upstairs to the music showroom. He came back down with a gleam in his eye and my new book. He kind of played the new book as a really big exciting deal, read the intro then showed me the first page. 

He asked for my violin and showed me what I'll eventually be doing with all those TEENY TINY closely spaced dots and lines. And showed me some fun things they did with music back in 1905 when they didn't have video games. Ways to practice creatively to learn new skillz and discover how music can change radically with just a tiny bit of change. I may not be moving to a new book in this decade. I did enjoy watching and listening to him give a mini-concert. Sure hope he's ready to listen to my "art" for a very long time. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Shirt Off My Back...

Tuesday I ran to a thrift store and found a cute top. As I'm so inclined to do when I go shopping, I washed my finds and laid them neatly in a pile waiting to be put away upstairs. 

& brings the girls, Lily and Lola over to my house when she's going to have an abnormally long day away since she works in the neighboring city and my work day is generally kinder to their bladders. 

So I got a text with this picture. And the words. "For me?"

"Well, it's my size so it's going to be too big for you. Do you want it?" 

I get a text a few hours later with a selfie, wearing my shirt and the words. "Well, this is awkward!" 

So. I guess she did. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Little Step Forward..

Around Thanksgiving I began my violin journey. 

I remembered precious little from my short violin career nearly four decades ago. I knew there was a bow, that the strings had names, as did the little dots on the page. I remembered the combination of fingers on the strings and sliding the bow across the strings made sounds. Some not so pleasant, some amazing depending on who played them. 

In February, when I barely knew a dozen notes and couldn't count to four and play at the same time, and couldn't recognize anything I was playing beyond the occasional kid song, I went to my teacher's concert. 

They played William Tell Overture and I was amazed. So fast, so crisp, so entertaining. And as I watched their fingers fly I thought I'd never be able to play that song. 

Rusty. Rough. Squeaky and HARD... here is what I've been working on. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ A Few More Memories

The last flowers from my grandma's funeral bouquet...

My grandma's grandmother's coffee grinder...

My mom's metronome passed to Grandma and then to me. I used it in one practice session and then I did something to make it no longer work. Sigh.
Anyone know a metronome-smith? 

One of my favorite childhood memories...the hourglass. I don't know that I ever visited my grandparents without flipping the hourglass over. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Jacksalad Salad Sandwich Ring

My second experiment with jackfruit -- Jacksalad

I drained one can of immature unsweetened Jackfruit and dumped it in a crockpot with two cups of vegetable broth. I cooked it on low for 7ish hours while I was away. It darkened and softened enough to shred with a fork and the inside was nicely white. It looked a lot like shredded chicken. 

I let it cool and drained off the broth. 

To the Jackfruit I added approximately 1/4 each of the following:

Craisins (or diced fruit of choice such as apples or grapes)
finely diced celery
finely diced onion
chopped cashews (or other nuts of choice)

I made a dressing of :

3 TBSP Vegan mayo
1 tsp of brown mustard
1/8 a teaspoon each of 
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
dill weed
agave

Mix all together. This is great on crackers or bread. But, to make a ring, do the following:

Two cans of Vegan crescent rolls (I found some that just list "wheat" on their allergy labels). Not healthy ingredients, mind you, but this is for an occasional treat like the picnic I took them to. 

I didn't try to make it a beautiful wreath because I was going to just cut it into slices. Separate each triangle and place them side by side, touching with the flat end in and the points out. Press together very well. Scoop the Jackfruit salad onto the flat inner ring. Then fold the point over the Jack mixture and fold under or twist, overlap and tuck. 

Bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes. The dough will get golden. If you don't bake it long enough (the package says 12 minutes, but that's unstuffed bread) the bread doesn't cook all the way through.