Friday, July 30, 2010

This is just going to be another short post.

I worked last night and the night before. It went well, no major problems. I'm exhausted though, and am heading to bed.

I opened up my birthday parcel from Jenny and am in love with everything.

I bawled my eyes out when I opened up this rag quilt. I know how much work these darn things are - I've made five! That she took time out of her hectic life to make me this just reduced me to tears. I love it. Mom said I'm crying because I'm overtired... I disagree. I'm crying because I love it!

She took at trip to PEI and while she was there she bought me the most delicious blueberry tea. Its like drinking blueberries, I swear! So good. And the Anne of Green Gables mug and coaster are so nice, too. She knows me well - Anne of Green Gables is easily my favourite books and movies of all time.

Bed is calling me, though, so I should go 'surrender'.

Hope this finds you all well.

Moving Forward with Joy!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Hope you're all well.

Just finished updating the look of my blog. I got a note that said my cutestblogontheblock.com background was going to expire and that I should do something about it. I opted for one of the fancy-dancy new backgrounds being offered by Google... I hope its easy to read/navigate.

Its been a wonderfully cool day today. It was almost chilly this morning while I sat on my patio, waiting for the gal who picks up the work phones. That could also be because I climbed out of a nice warm bed shortly before (just long enough before to get dressed!).

Work is going well. I enjoy it! Its a quiet night so far. Am going to go scare up some supper and wait for the phone to ring.

Moving forward with Joy!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Vegan Perogies

Hello!

Hope you guys are all doing good.

Its been a great day in my life - I saw A earlier today and we hung out. Mom and dad smoked some salmon to give as gifts so they gave me a good-sized chunk for her. Dad and I vacuum-sealed all of it so it'll freeze better. Pretty darn tasty! I came home and made a double recipe of my tomato soup for Rebecca and her fiance Ben. It was so awesome to meet him! He's a really great guy and I'm so happy they've found each other. The soup was a hit. I have one bowl left that will make a great snack either tonight or tomorrow. While they were here I put them to work peeling and chopping potatoes for tomorrow's perogy-a-thon! Michelle and her friend are coming over at 1:30 and we'll make perogies til the cows come home. I'm making two batches - one vegan, one regular. The vegan one is onion and vegan-cream cheese (plus vegan mozzerella). The other is baccon and cheddar. Mmmm!

I just finished perfecting the vegan filling. Claire came over tonight for a movie and ice cream but I made a batch of dough so we tried out the vegan filling... it needed a little zip so I grated and friend some onion as well as some minced garlic and added them to the potatoes with a little salt. Michelle is bringing over her vegan Mozzarella so we'll add a bit of that to the perogies and then we'll be good to go!

I tasted the regular filling and its pretty yummy. I'll add some salt tomorrow before we start rolling the dough. All the dough is vegan. Michelle and I are both allergic to egg so I got Claire to pick up some tofu on her way over. I wisked the life out of it with a little water to make a paste and it has held up really great. You couldn't tell the difference when we made our tester perogies - they taste just like regular pergoy dough. Mmmm!

Surprisingly, making everything was less work then I thought it was going to be. It helped that Rebecca and Ben helped me peel and chop 14 pounds of potatoes!!! I guess I'm so used to spending oodles of time in the kitchen that this just didn't seem like hard work. It also was great that I could make the dough in my kitchen aid mixer... it kneaded it for me. (I'm spoiled, I know! Thanks mom and dad!). So really, some Ukrainian woman is cursing me for taking the easy road and for ruining her recipe with tofu!

Here's the recipe:

Vegan Perogies

Dough:
In your handy-dandy kitchen aid mixer, put 1 cup water, 3 cups flour, 2 tbsp oil, blended tofu (2 large tbsps tofu plus 1 tbsp water), and 1 tsp salt. Mix until well blended. Take it out, make a nice ball and let stand 10 minutes before working with it.

Filling:
6lbs potato, peeled, chopped and boiled til they fall apart
2 onions, peeled, grated and fried with 2 cloves minced garlic in 1 tbsp oil til golden-ish colour
1/2 of a small tofutti cream cheese container (about five tbsp)
5 large tbsp vegan margarine
3 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper (to taste)
1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese (optional)

Mix it all together with an electric mixer til really mushy.

Find a circular shape that you like (a glass, can or jar) use it to make your circles. Put about 1 tsp of filling (or more depending on the size of your circle). Pinch close or use a fork.

We're going to try using actual perogy makers... I was given a dozen or so of different sizes. Pic of one: http://www.polandbymail.com/item.asp?n=435820&pcc=%23FFFFFF&tc=%237E7E7E&tfc=%23FFFFFF&t=Pierogi+Dumplings+Molds+Set+of+3&showbig=1

Well. I think that's it for now. I've got an eye doctor appt tomorrow and then Michelle and her friend are coming over. I'm SO excited except that I have dishes coming out my ears! Will do those in the morning.

Moving Forward with Joy!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Hello folks!

Hope you're all doing well.

Things here have been good. I've been thankful for the cool weather! It got a bit warm today but wasn't unbearable. Its supposed to be much warmer this weekend but still not scorching. That will come, no doubt.

Last week I gave my BBQ away. I've never been a BBQ kinda gal. Mom and dad cook all their meat that way but while it tastes good, I've never been one to light it up and cook it that way. I gave it to some family friends but not before dad gave it a once-over with the pressure washer and diagnosed that it needs a new burner. Still, its a good BBQ and I'm happy it went to great people. In its place mom and dad gave me their small patio table. Its adorable and I've been enjoying sitting out there with iced tea in the mornings and evenings (until the mosquitoes and ants start eating me!). There's some really awful astro turf on my deck that I was told when I moved in I could rip it up. I plan to do just that one evening. Maybe early next week?

I'm excited for Tuesday. My dear friend is vegan and I'm always trying to think up interesting and tasty recipes that are vegan-friendly. My next project is vegan perogies. I've got a recipe and I've dreamed up some tasty options. Monday night I'm going to cook it all up and then Tuesday afternoon my vegan friend is bringing one of her other friends with her and we're going to make perogies til the cows come home. I'm also going to make a non-vegan variety for me and my vegan friend's friend. It'll be great! I have two perogy makers but was just given about a dozen more from one of mom's friends who makes them like they're going out of style. I guess she just had extra? Who knows. I'm thankful for them at any rate.

I've been busy crocheting monkey toques, too. I put a pic of this one on Facebook and I've now got 7 orders. People are actually paying me for them. It always baffles me that people would want to pay me for the stuff I make. I learned how to crochet just so I would have something to do in the evenings. As I got better at it, I figured out that I could save a lot of money by making my own gifts. But people obviously like this toque. I can also make it on a boy version with red instead of pink and a tassel instead of a flower. I gotta get crackin' on these orders. Three are for Christmas but two of them are for next weekend. I'm charging $10 for them but my Aunt Bev saw them at a funky store on the Island for $25! I guess I'm under pricing but at the same time, I don't have a store-front to pay for so it just makes sense that I charge less.



Work is going well. I have the phones tonight. I'm going to go dream up some supper and then I think it'll be time to hunker in for the night and see how many documentaries I can watch between now and 1am! Its a very educational way to spend the evening.

Have a great evening! Enjoy the cool weather while it lasts. :o)

Moving Forward with Joy!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Hello!

Its been a busy couple of days here.

Dad and I worked great-guns on my buffet and got a lot done. Dad did the finishing touches and then, the night before last, he and mom delivered it to my humble apartment. I'm SO excited about it and have been enjoying reorganizing things in my kitchen... I'm going to make this my baking station so will move all my bake ware, mixers, etc over. It'll make so much more room on my kitchen counters! Yay!

The drawers are HUGE... each bottom drawer can fit a 25lbs bag of flour and sugar laying down. I've got more storage space then I know what to do with! (Its a good problem to have.)


This was our first experience with tile and I think we did a good job! I love how it turned out. My job for today is to seal the grout. You can't see it in the pictures but my entire kitchen and dinette match now. That was totally unplanned. I prefer things to not coordinate - gives it a more organic look - but I must admit that it is kind of cool to have things go together (my kitchen chairs are white and my table is the same rusty-salmon as the tile and the darker trim goes well with my kitchen cabinets).

I've had the phones all night. It was steady until about 1:30am and then was quiet til 6:50 when some total hoser called and wanted us to tow his neighbour's car. Not likely to happen, buddy. He used some choice language with me and I cut the conversation off. How charming. I work again tonight.

I should get a move on... one of the office gals should be here shortly to pick up the phones.

Moving forward with Joy!