HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE 2021

 I decided to make a Cherry Crumble today. It is delicious. It is huge so I am going to freeze some of it for a later date. I did this before and it defrosted very well. 

 Lucky and I took a short walk today since it stopped raining. We kept away from other dogs since she can't go near them. Her medicine came today so she is on the antibiotics now. Hopefully it makes her better quickly. 

I did my annual tradition of writing down what I want to get rid of in 2021 and what my intentions are for 2022. This year I added what I am grateful for in 2021. I then went down to the little clay chimney in the backyard and burned them. It sends them into the universe. 

Now I am watching yet another Christmas movie (almost my last from the 35 Lifetime Christmas movies of 2021) and then I am going to watch something not Christmasy. 

I wish you all a happy, safe and peaceful New Year!

Until tomorrow...

VEGAN MUSHROOM SPINACH TOFU QUICHE

 I felt like baking today so I made a Vegan Mushroom, Spinach and Tofu Quiche. It looks super delicious but I am waiting until tomorrow to eat it. I can't wait until tomorrow's brunch.

The rain finally subsided for part of a day.

Last night we were visited by two very large and fat raccoons. They came to my lower balcony at 6 am in the morning to look in the door and then puttered away down the stairs and over the fence to my neighbors yard. They were bigger than Lucky!! 

Until tomorrow...

BOXES, BOXES, BOXES

 I had a good night's sleep now that Lucky got a bit of cough medicine before sleep. It helps with her congestion. I hope the medicine shows up soon. 

I am trying to clean up the house from the mess I made around Christmas. Boxes, dishes, etc. everywhere. I got more deliveries today. I have so many boxes laying around. I have to recycle them. 

Another day of rain. Ugh! 

Until tomorrow...

LUCKY HAS AN UPPER RESPIRATORY INFECTION

 Another crazy day. I want a calm boring day. All night Lucky, my dog, was unable to sleep. Then at 5 or 6 am she started coughing and shivering. She coughed for about an hour. It was horrible. She had a hard time catching her breath and she was coughing so much she was almost vomiting. I finally called the veterinarian's office when they opened to get an appointment. They told me I had to wait until tomorrow afternoon for the first appointment. Then I called back and asked about an emergency appointment and they said come in immediately and the doctor could see her. It costs more money but I was nervous about waiting until tomorrow. I threw on clothes and brushed my teeth, we got Lucky in her harness and grabbed my mask and keys. We were just getting in the car when the phone rang. The vets office called to say there was a cancellation at 11:30am. We went back in the house to wait. Lucky had stopped coughing by then with all the adrenaline pumping. 

We drove to the office at 11am and the doctor took her in to see what was up. Of course she was not coughing but the doctor made her cough. Turns out she has an upper respiratory infection. So now she has a UTI and an upper respiratory infection. Poor thing. She is now forbidden to be around other dogs until she is better or one week. She could be infectious. Lucky will not be happy that she can't go out and play. Today she mostly slept under a blanket.  She is not coughing and the shivering has subsided. She ate dinner so that is good. I have to give her cough medicine tonight and when the antibiotics arrive I need to give her those. They need to come from another pet pharmacy.

 That was basically my whole day. Babying the baby. Making sure she is okay. 

Until tomorrow...

ART PROJECT

 I bought an art project to do over the Christmas break. I wanted to make my own T-shirts. I found a way to print photos on this transfer paper and then you transfer it onto the T-shirt. I tried it today and it worked. I was so happy. I don't know how long it will last but it looks really good today. I ordered some short sleeve and long sleeve T-shirts to make more custom T-shirts. I think it is really cool. 

I spent another day with my knee elevated and I think it is feeling better. I am hoping the inflammation is decreasing.

I contacted REI and had them find the lost e-gift card for my step-sister. It turns out her firewall was blocking it. They resent it to me and I forwarded it to her. My step-sister was very nice on Christmas when her present didn't arrive. REI was very nice about the whole thing.

Until tomorrow...

HAPPY BOXING DAY

 The day after Christmas is called Boxing Day because this was the day the masters of the mansion would allow the servants to go home to visit their family. They would give each servant a box of gifts, bonuses and/or food. If you have watched Downton Abbey you will remember the family giving the downstairs servants the day after Christmas the day off and the family had to fend for themselves while the cook made them cold platters to eat sandwiches for the day.

I spent the day on the couch relaxing. I finally made some vegan sweet potato, mushroom and broccoli curry at dinner time. It is really good. I made some rice to eat with it. 

Last night at around 11pm I heard a loud bang. I thought someone was trying to break in to my downstairs door. I went to go look and it wasn't my door but the fence between my yard and my neighbor's yard. A portion of the fence fell down. It was half laying down in their yard and leaning on their tree. The fence is also a security feature because their downstairs apartment has windows and a door on the ground floor. If someone got over the fence it would be easy to break in the apartment. I called my neighbor (not realizing what time it was) and texted him. I didn't get a response until the morning when he went out and did a temporary fix. He said they are going to install a new fence soon. It is clear the fence is rotted. He understood why I called at 11pm and was not angry. 

Until tomorrow...

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2021

 Merry Christmas! It is late because I was watching a Christmas episode of a show and right at the end I heard a loud boom crash and I thought I was getting broken into but it was the fence between my house and my neighbors. The fence fell down. It is a wooden fence and it crashed. Now I am not sure if it came down from the weather or someone pushing it. We will never know but the noise was really loud. Without that fence the downstairs neighbor's apartment is exposed since he uses the surrounding fence as his security. Now any Tom, Dick or Harry could break into his apartment very easily since he is on the ground floor with windows and a glass door. 

Anyway, I alerted the neighbors but it is Christmas night and no one answered their phones. 

Today was a day of resting my knee. Although with Lucky running me ragged I am not sure how much I rested. She was not happy that I wanted her to sit still today. She is tired of sitting still. It has been three days since she had a proper walk. She has energy to spare.

Lucky got a very nice food bowl for Christmas. I got so many wonderful things. My neighbor (with the fence) made me a wonderful vegan crumble cookie. Every year since I moved in he has made me a breakfast treat delivered on Christmas morning. This year he made me a vegan treat. He is so nice.

It was a relaxing day with Chinese food for my meal. 

Until tomorrow...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE

 I am still resting my knee. I am seeing that it feels better when I keep it elevated and rested. I just need to keep off it. It will be easier after Christmas. There have been so many deliveries and I have to keep getting up and down.

Lucky is not happy that the dog walker took today off. She has so much energy. She walks more than 6 miles per week and she gets antsy when she can't walk her miles. With me laid up she is climbing the walls already. She is going to drive me crazy by Monday. She took her second dose of the medicine. The first dose did not get in her mouth. She is so fast! 

 I decided to get Chinese food delivered for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I am not going to stand up and cook food

I did get out my vegan eggnog and make a cup of eggnog for myself for National Eggnog Day. 

Merry Christmas Eve!! 

Until tomorrow...

TWEAKED MY KNEE

 Today was an interesting day. I tweaked my knee. I don't know what I did but I am having a hard time walking and going upstairs without pain. Since it hurts I spent the day on the couch or on the bed with my knee elevated. I am trying to decrease the internal swelling. Since I am on so many anti-inflammatories, I don't swell outwardly but I know there is internal swelling. When I rest my knee I feel much better. 

Basically that is all I did. I shopped for food online and I watched Christmas movies. 

I did not rain today but there are rainy days ahead.

Until tomorrow...

EPISODE ONE OF RAIN THE CHRISTMAS VERSION

 The rain has begun. This is day one of eight days of rain expected. We need it but I am not happy about eight days of rain. Ugh. 

I went out between the rain drops to deliver some more plates of cookies. Happy faces all around. One neighbor told me she was not eating any of her cookies because she wanted to share them with her family in a few days. She normally does not want large amounts of sweets so I didn't give her many cookies. Today I gave her a whole bowl of cookies to share with her family. 

I worked on a big project today and it took a bit of time. Work. Always at the end of the year, right before I leave for vacation and right before something important. Ain't that the way.

I got the call from the veterinarian today. He says Lucky's tests came out great. He says the only thing is that there is a little bacteria in her urine. He thinks she has a UTI. So I am going in the morning to get her medicine. She is not going to be happy. 

That was my whole day. Sitting in front of a computer. 

Until tomorrow...

DELIVERED SOME COOKIES

 I called the veterinarian today and the test results were in but the doctor was out so I have to wait until tomorrow. The person at the desk did tell me that Lucky does not have Giardia so that is good news. 

I also did call the police about the incident I witnessed. Unfortunately since I was not with the people who had their car broken into I could not make a report. The car had driven off before I got back to the scene. The police told me to call right away if it happens again. I hope it doesn't happen again. Plus I was on a busy street, where was I going to pull over and call the police? I guess I could pull out my phone and call the police while driving and one would show up to ticket me! For those of you who know me, I have a 20 year old car with no hands-free bluetooth phone in my car. To make a phone call I have to actually hold the phone and get a $250 ticket. By the time I found a parking spot the people were gone. Anyway I did my civic duty or tried to. 

I packaged up the cookies and took them to a few neighbors today. One of the neighbors texted me that she ate "a couple of the shortbread cookies and they were really good!" She said she was going to wait and share them with her family who arrives in a few days. I told her I have extra and would be happy to give her more but not the shortbread, the orange cookies. She was so happy. 

 Tomorrow I will deliver some more.

Almost forgot: the rain has begun. We are supposed to get eight days of rain. I know we need rain but golly, eight days of rain. Ugh! A white Christmas, okay. A dreary, wet, cold Christmas, not what I signed up for. 

Until tomorrow...

VEGAN SUGAR CHRISTMAS COOKIES

 What a day. I called to see if the veterinary office had any cancellations this morning and they didn't. Then 20 minutes later they called me back with an appointment. It was so nice they remembered me and could get Lucky in. Unfortunately it screwed up my plan for the day. 

I couldn't really get to the icing of the sugar cookies before the vet appointment because I didn't have enough time. So I did some more decorating. I put more ornaments on the tree. 

When we went to the vet appointment, I was driving and I looked ahead of me. There was a person standing between two parked cars like he was waiting for an Uber. I saw a car pull up and once again I thought it was an Uber. Then in seconds the man smashed a parked car window where he was standing, grabbed a suitcase type bag, and jumped in the car that pulled up for him. It happened in seconds. Since I was sitting at a stop light and my light turned green I ended up right behind him. I grabbed my phone and took a photo of the car and license plate. The car was caught at a red light for seconds so I got a good photo. Thank Android for the shake feature that turns the camera on. Then he turned on the same street I wanted to turn on but I thought he saw me take the photo so I didn't turn on that street and went to another street. I went back to find the car with the broken window but by the time I made it back the car had left. So crazy! Don't leave anything in your car in sight! People will steal anything.

Lucky had an appointment where the tech took fluids and checked her Giardia. I wanted the Giardia check after she got sick again this weekend again. It is an non-invasive test.  

 

When I got home I started the icing process. With royal icing the best thing to do is to make the icing thick and outline the cookie. I did that first. Then after my doctor's appointment, I did the other part, the flooding. That is where you fill in the part you where you outlined. The icing is thinner and the outline keeps it inside. I think the cookies look pretty good. I realized half way through I was unprepared. I didn't have the necessary tools and that made the process take longer. I know better for next time. 

 Until tomorrow...

NAKED VEGAN CHRISTMAS COOKIES

 Today was a difficult day. Poor little Lucky woke up sick again. All she wanted to do was sit or lay on my lap covered in a blanket. It made it difficult for me to get anything done. I feel so bad when she is not feeling well. She just looks at me with those big eyes and implores me to do something.

 I did get to make vegan sugar cookies. Currently they are naked and undecorated. I ran out of time in my day since I spent so much time taking care of Lucky. I will have to decorate them tomorrow. 

Then I did some decorating when I got Lucky to sleep a bit near the heater. I got the lights on the Christmas tree. This is always the hardest part in my opinion. I figured out that I could plug my JOY sign to the plug at the top of my tree because they are so close and that way I didn't have to run an extension cord. I have them all plugged into a timer so I don't have to worry about unplugging them. It is a fake silver tree. I was so excited to put our 2021 ornament on the tree. Every year I buy an ornament for that year. It makes the tree so memorable. 

Lucky and I walked around the block in the afternoon to see if it made her feel better. It did not. The city is empty. I think many people left for the holidays already.

Until tomorrow...

CHANGE IN THE COOKIE PLAN

 I don't know about you but I never got the notification about my post yesterday. If you didn't either, here is the link. It was a good post. I am not sure what happened. A glitch, a mistake on Google's end, who knows. 

I was going to make some Chocolate cookies from my cooking course but the cocoa margarine that I made a few months ago went bad and I didn't feel like making more so I couldn't make that recipe. I also can't bake the coconut cookie I wanted to make. I have to rethink the cookie plan.

Today I baked another type of cookie: Vegan Cinnamon Stars. It looked like a simple recipe. I got as far as the batter and I thought something was wrong. It was quite wet. I was concerned that it was too wet (especially after my epic fail with the cookie a few days ago) so I added more flour. It was still wet but just sticky. I cooked the first batch too much. I probably have about 35 cookies. The are little cookies. I put a lemon icing on them. 

While the batter was chilling, Lucky and I took a walk and saw some neighbors. We mailed some mail but did not go in the crowed post office. I need to wake up early and get my mail. 

Then we decorated a bit. I put lights out back on the deck and on the front railing on the stairs. I set up my little Christmas tree on the front porch. I put lights and garland on the fireplace and around the doorway. The tree was set up yesterday but I need to find the lights. I put my JOY in the window and will connect to the Christmas tree when I put the lights on. 

I am now relaxing with my feet up.

Until tomorrow...

VEGAN LINZER COOKIES

 I made vegan Linzer cookies today. They are Christmas cookie number 2. I filled them with Chia Cherry Pomegranate jam. They are so tasty and pretty. 

I used my heart and star cut outs for Christmas.

I had a good day today. I did a big project for work over the last month and today I was told that the project was correct. That validation really felt good. 

Until tomorrow...

THAI FOOD ORDERED IN

 I wanted to make another set of cookies today but I used up all the almonds yesterday so I had no more. I had to online food shop instead. Luckily I got a delivery this evening so I will be able to bake tomorrow. Instead I set up the Christmas tree and worked on the puzzle for a few minutes. I also had a three hour workshop this morning. It was a busy day of not baking. 

Now I am behind on my baking plan. I am ditching the complicated cookies that I had planned and go with some more simple cookies. I think I am making Linzer cookies, cocoa shortbread cookies (maybe with some candy cane on top) and coconut cookies. 

I decided to celebrate the holidays today by ordering Thai food this evening. I was so excited to eat my favorite Thai food again. It tasted so good. I haven't ordered takeout food for over a year to try and be thrifty since I can make most of the food myself. It was nice having someone else cook for a change.

Until tomorrow...

EPIC FAIL OF THE CHRISTMAS COOKIES

 I started out my day with a plan to make a new recipe of a cookie. It was a non-vegan cookie but it had a vegan variation. I had to run out to the post office to mail some letters and luckily ran out before the torrential rain came down. I made the dough for the cookies, I rolled them into balls and added the almonds. Then I put the baking sheet in the oven. 10 minutes later I look and the cookies are no longer balls but flat. These cookies are supposed to be balls. I pulled the cookies out and thought maybe the oven temp was wrong. I changed it and did another sheet of cookies. You can see I learned from when I made the pies and only put one sheet of cookies in at a time. 

The second sheet of cookies came out better but still spread too much. Then I decided maybe I didn't put enough binder in the dough so I put a little bit more in. Then I put the dough in the freezer after I made the balls. I put them in the oven and this was the worse spreading ever. It looked like honeycomb. 

The funny thing is that the non-cookies tasted great. I gave some to the dog walker because he said he was interested in taste not looks. I ate too many of the non-cookies. I got rid of the sheet that looked like honeycomb but the non-cookies I kept to give to my neighbor and to eat. So it was an epic fail.

I am going to be more conservative tomorrow and make a cookie that I know has been done before by another vegan chef. My fourth cookie is now going to be another cookie that I made before. I wasted a whole day today.

Until tomorrow...

VEGAN ORANGE BISCUITS

 Today I started my Christmas cookies after a morning of work. I have a cookie plan that will take this week to complete. I figure I can make a batch of cookies a day and work. Today I made vegan Orange Biscuits. They are super good. I made them in shapes instead of just circles. They are a cookies with fresh orange juice and zest with an icing with orange juice and zest. 

I had a very nice phone call with my niece today and I got to hear her sing Christmas carols on her way home from school. It was very sweet to hear her sing. 

That was my exciting day.

Until tomorrow...

NATIONAL COCOA DAY

 Today is National Cocoa Day. What? You didn't know? I didn't know either. I made hot cocoa when I found out. I added vegan marshmallows and shaved chocolate. Yummy!!

Today I had to work on a hard spreadsheet project and it took hours. I am not a spreadsheet expert so I was so excited when it worked out. 

It rained all day today. Lucky went to the park with the dog walker. When she returned he said she was so unhappy all afternoon. She was covered in mud so I threw her in the bathtub and gave her a quick partial bath. She seemed pretty happy once it was over. 

Until tomorrow...

ATMOSPHERIC RIVER HAS RETURNED

 It started raining at midnight last night. It has been raining all day today. It is supposed to rain for the next three days because the atmospheric river has returned. Lots of rain. I charged all my devices so I am ready if the electricity goes out. 

Today I worked again on my Christmas project. I am almost complete. I am very excited.

I cleared out my living room so I can bring up my silver Christmas tree and get some lights up in this room. The living room looks so much better.

I have been working on the puzzle. I was on the phone with my cousin and I got about 6 pieces. I was happy. 

I made Cannellini bean, carrot and kale soup for dinner. It is really tasty. It is also very fast to make which was key. 

That was my whole day. Once I finish my project I am starting on Christmas cookies. I decided I am going to make the rest of the cooking course items closer to Christmas. If I am going to give out cookies, I need to get going.

Until tomorrow...

GRATITUDE

 Gratitude. I want to speak of gratitude.  A few months after the pandemic started I began a gratitude journal. It is different than a diary or a journal where you write in what you did that day or what your dreams or wishes are. At least my gratitude journal is. 

Every night I open my journal and I write at least three things that I am grateful for. I try to not just write one word like "air" but have it be meaningful for the day. An example would be "I am grateful for Suzie calling me to ask how I am feeling." I don't actual write the "I am grateful for" part at each item. I write it at the top of each day. 

I find that it helps me feel gratitude for the things in my day. People who call to see if I am still okay. My dog Lucky being in my life and giving me such entertainment. My dog walker taking Lucky three times a week so I can run the Roomba. A beautiful sunny day so I can go take a walk. A wonderful rainy day since we need the water. The nice customer service person who made me smile. A lovely postcard from a friend. It is so easy to find things to be grateful for. 

Today I swept up the leaves in my backyard. It was covered in leaves and tomorrow we are expecting a giant storm. If you didn't know, leaves on slate become slippery when it rains. Then if they sit on the slate they decompose on the slate and make it slimy with the mold. I am trying to avoid this by gathering up the leaves. I know the storm will make the rest of the leaves fall but at least the 2" of leaves that were there are gone. I was going to try and use the leaf blower I got from a relative but I decided to sweep and pick them up instead. Afterward I took a nice long bath to soak my aching joints. I did secretly want to jump in the pile of leaves but then I would have to sweep them in a pile again and I was too sore to do that.

I am working on a secret Christmas project. So far it is going along well. I hope it all works out. I have been thinking about it and planning it for months.

Until tomorrow...

DAY TWO HUNDRED OF COOKING COURSE

 Today is a momentous day. I am celebrating my 200th day of my cooking course. In just over one year I cooked 200 days of the cooking course. I have cooked about 53 dishes through this course in 200 days. Some of the dishes take multiple days. Like the croissants took two days. 

Today I baked a vegan savory sweet potato strudel. It has a yogurt topping. It is simply delicious. It has quinoa, red peppers, parsley, and sweet potato. It was so good I ate two pieces for dinner. The topping really makes the dish. It is slightly lemony. 

It was a whole day adventure making it. 

I had a zoom with a woman from the arthritis group I am in. She was just diagnosed and I thought getting some perspective might help. I wish someone had spoken to me when I was first diagnosed.  I was convinced I was going to be in a wheelchair in 10 years. I let her know she was not alone and that what she sees now is not what the world would be like in 10 or 15 years in the future. There are new medicines every few years. New breakthroughs. I told her she needed to be kind to herself now and figure it all out. 

Today my annual ornament showed up. Yay! Only it wasn't the ornament I ordered two days ago, it was an ornament I ordered about a month ago. I forgot I ordered an ornament and when I looked in my email I didn't see a receipt, so I ordered another one. So this year we will have two ornaments!! Luckily the second ornament was inexpensive and 50% off. 

That was basically my day. 

Until tomorrow...

NEW PHONE SYSTEM IN PROGRESS

 A few months ago I decided I wanted to cut the cord on my second phone line for my business but I still wanted a phone in the house. I thought cellphone but I needed a phone with longer term battery life than a cellphone offers. Sometimes I am on 2 hour phone calls and sometimes cell service can be difficult. I researched all types of VoIP, to Google to other types of phone systems. I settled on a VoIP system. I got it about two weeks ago and I installed it today. I now have to wait a few weeks for my phone number to be ported over. I get to keep my phone number. I just have to wait. 

I decided that I need to finish the puzzle that I started on March 26, 2020. I am tired of having a card table in my living room. I moved the puzzle from place to place on the felt mat it is on. I don't know why I decided to start a 1,500 piece puzzle. I started a vegan cooking course and everything else fell by the wayside. It is time to finish this puzzle.

Until tomorrow...

CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENT

 I decided not to bake today. I had a lot of work to do and I was meeting with a consultant at 5pm. I didn't want to get part way through and get stuck. This next recipe can not be stopped part way through. I will see about doing it tomorrow. I am trying to get a lot done.

I am updating a website that needs to be fixed.

That is basically my whole day. 

I ordered our annual ornament for the Christmas tree. Every year we (me, Lucky and Sunny) get an ornament to hang on the tree. I was a little late purchasing the ornament this year. I hope it gets here in time to hang on the tree. I like to have all my yearly ornaments on the tree front and center. This year's is not as exciting as other years but as I said I was late and begs can't be choosers. It will be nice and has the year and our names on it. That is what matters. 

Until tomorrow...

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS GROUP MEETING

 I had my Rheumatoid Arthritis Group meeting tonight. I haven't attended for a few months because I haven't gotten the link to attend. Tonight's meeting was a virtual holiday party. First we introduced the new folks. Then we did an ice breaker: where do you want to go for a holiday vacation? or what kitchen appliance would you be? Then we played a game of RA/Holiday Jeopardy. Then we swapped holiday recipes and talked. 

It was nice to be around others who have RA and know what I am going through. I brought up the problems I have been having with my medication. Others talked about being new to the RA world. 

Lucky and I took a walk to the post office today. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED NINETY-NINE OF COOKING COURSE

 Vegan Croissants!  I finished the croissants and they are amazing!  After 5 hours of work yesterday laminating and rolling and rolling the dough, I had 2 more hours of rolling and cooking today. The outside is flaky and the inside is soft. I made eight croissants. I gave two to my neighbor and I ate one. If I ever make you croissants, you are a special person.

Besides my work, I made croissants. That was my day. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT OF COOKING COURSE

 I don't have a photo of my baking today because it is chilling in the fridge. I spent my day with a rolling pin and dough rolling out the dough. Over and over. Roll it out, put it in the fridge, roll it out, put it in the fridge and over and over. Instead of baking it today, I took a break and will bake it tomorrow. 

I took two pieces of the apple strudel and two spinach pies to my neighbors. I hope they like them. 

Last night. Well, it was a night with little sleep. Poor Lucky had another tummy episode and it went on until 4 am. The poor baby was so miserable. I am going to call the vet tomorrow and make sure she is okay. 

That was my whole day rolling dough. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED NINETY-SEVEN OF COOKING COURSE

 Okay, here are the photos of my cooking from yesterday. I made Vegan Blitz Puff Pastry Spinach Pies. 

Don't they look delicious?  They are so good.

Today I made an Vegan Apfelstudel. Have you ever seen a grown person lick a plate clean? If you haven't, you should have been at my house this afternoon. I baked my first Apple Strudel and it came out fantastic. It was so good in fact, I licked my plate clean. 

 

 First, the apples🍎 were soft and warm. I used Craisins (dried cranberries) instead of raisins to give it a tartness. Not strudel realness, I know but I love Craisins. The chopped almonds gave it a bit of a crunch. The outside of the strudel was so thin and crispy that the minute my fork touched it, it cracked. It was sweet and tart and luscious. Then add on the Vanilla Sauce (the little pink bowl in the photo). OMG! The hits kept coming. It was creamy and oh, so vanilla. I swear if I eat another piece I will be in a strudel coma. But I hear the strudel calling out to me. Ich bin hier...

Besides doing Christmas cards the only other thing I did was follow around a little sick dog. Yes, her tummy was acting up again so she was walking around the house being miserable. Poor little doggie. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED NINETY-SIX OF COOKING COURSE

 YES! I am back to the vegan cooking course!  I don't know if you are excited but I am. First, I wanted to take a little break from the pressure of the cooking course (I'll explain later) and the there were all sorts of tech problems. Why I wanted to take a break? I wanted to take a break because for just under 12 months I completed fifteen chapters of the cooking course. I should probably count the number of dishes I cooked but if it helps I have over 380 food photos of the food I cooked. Now not all of them are from the cooking course but I would say 98%. So about a dish per day for a year. Some of you will say, I cook dinner every day big deal! I get that. But those days that I cooked/baked; I made things like vegan sushi and then I made dinner. It was a lot of cooking/baking. I needed a break. I was tired of the pace not the cooking/baking. I was also holding down a very part-time job. Plus I did a lot of baking and cooking the week of Thanksgiving.

Then before Thanksgiving I had some tech problems with the program that had nothing to do with the actual program but with my gift cards that were not working. I had two gift cards and for some reason both of them didn't work. One was for one month and one was for one year. It took a bit of time to work it all out and I didn't want to get in the middle of a recipe and have my access turned off so I waited until the problem was fixed. It was fixed this week and I am ready to go. 

Today I made Vegan Blitz Puff Pastry Spinach Pie. They are cute little individual spinach pies. They taste so good I ate two of them right out of the oven. They are the savory opposite of the Pasteis de Nata - Blitz Puff Pastry with Vanilla Custard. These would make a great appetizer or party snack. 

 I would have a photo here but Blogger is having problems inserting photos. I will post it tomorrow.

I took a walk today to post a bill. I should not have done it because I should have rested my knee. 

Until tomorrow...

COOKING COURSE DISASTER AVERTED

 I finally got the situation with my cooking course sorted. I have another year to cook to my heart's content. Which is good because I am so looking forward to making croissants and baklava and strudel. I think a strudel for Christmas would be nice! Then the chocolate course!  I can't wait. Then cheese and bread. So much to learn!

I planned out the Pastry Essentials chapter today. I also planned out my Christmas cookie baking. I had to calendar it all out with the work I have to do. I am a planner. I make lists. It soothes me. 

Lucky and I took the second longest walk we have taken in a long time. Lucky gets so mad when we get home. She stands at the bottom of the front stairs and won't come up. She wants to walk more. I need to take it easy on my knee for now. 

I started taking Orencia again so I hope it will calm down the pain in my knee. I think using the stool to give Lucky her meds is helping the most. Squatting was really not good for my knees. It reminded me of when I was playing softball and I was the catcher and how my knees hurt. 

That was pretty much the day.

Until tomorrow...

CHRISTMAS CARDS AND COOKIES

 Just another day of getting things done. I put my photos in my online Christmas cards and ordered them to be delivered. Over the weekend I took the photos and I am excited. Two of them would not shrink in the program so they aren't exactly the way I wanted them but I gave up after 40 minutes of fiddling with it.  Sometimes I have to learn that good enough is good enough. 

I had no time to cook today. Plus today was the day that my cooking course end and last night I tried to enroll for another year but there was a glitch. I contacted them and they said they would fix it. I didn't want to get started with a recipe and have it stop in the middle. Instead I researched vegan cookie recipes for Christmas. I figure I am going to make some cookies for my neighbors like every year. 

I did all that and a lot of work. 

Until tomorrow...

GOING BACK ON ORENCIA TODAY

 Today was a very busy day. I worked a lot, went for a walk to the post office, made a stir fry for dinner, and took care of some stuff for my ex-foster kid. My stir fry was made with butternut squash, zucchini, tofu, and broccoli. I ate it with Udon noodles. 

I am going back on Orencia today. I am hoping that it helps with some of my pain. For about two months now I have been having lots of pain in my knees. My left knee hurt so much I was wondering if I hurt it somehow. I knew I didn't fall or trip or twist it. I decided I needed to rest it and elevate it. So I stopped walking for my challenge and walking the dog. I put pillows in my bed so I could elevate my knee. I tried not to go up and down the stairs as much. I stopped squatting when I give Lucky her medicine. Instead I got a little stool to sit on. 

Just this week I noticed that my knee is not bothering me hardly at all. I think it was inflammation and not an injury to my knee.  In fact today Lucky and I walked longer than around the block for the first time in almost two months. So Hurrah!

Until tomorrow...

CYBER MONDAY

 Cyber Monday. I did a little shopping. A little work. It was a day of doing small things that added up to big times. I started watching a new old series. Hot Zone. If you like apocalypse type shows this is for you. I have almost completed all my Thanksgiving leftovers. One more serving and I am done. The food was so good. 

I did order more Orencia. I decided to go back on Orencia now that my tooth infection is cleared up. I guess I will go back on until the next booster shot in January or February. There is no point in changing medicine during this endemic since I am going to on and off repeatedly. 

A boring day for a change. 

Until tomorrow...

VEGAN CHRISTMAS DOG BISCUITS

 Today was a day to make some vegan Christmas dog biscuits. I wanted to make them today so they are ready for Christmas for a present for Lucky. I am going to freeze some of them for the big day. I will surprise her with some biscuits. 

I will be using these in my annual Christmas card. I needed a prop for my photo. 

Lucky loves these cookies so much. She loves them but I need to limit the amount she eats since they are made with pumpkin. The pumpkin I had was so difficult to cut that I just only got the amount that I needed to make this recipe. It was the thickest pumpkin I ever had. I ended up putting the rest in the compost.

Until tomorrow...

VEGAN KABOCHA SOUP

 Is this a lazy weekend or is it just me?  I feel like I just don't want to do anything major. I know I need to get my Christmas game started but I just don't feel like it. All I did today was wash dishes, turn on the dishwasher, do a load of laundry, walk around the block with Lucky, take my neighbor a slice of pie, and make kabocha soup. That is it in 10 hours. 

The kabocha soup is really kabocha/butternut squash soup. My kabocha was starting to go bad so I had to supplement the soup with some roasted butternut squash. It turned out very tasty but a bit thin. That is okay, I can drink it in a mug. It will freeze nicely and will be good if I get sick. All that ginger is good for a stuffy head. 

Until tomorrow...

MY DAY OF REST

 The day after Thanksgiving. I call it "My Day of Rest". I do not go out shopping even pre-Covid. I stay home and away from stores and people rushing around. I watch TV, movies, take a bath and eat leftovers. That is exactly what I did today. 

The only variation today was that I got an unexpected delivery. My power washer showed up today. My old power washer died and I recently had a large garbage pickup and had them take it away. I loaned my old power washer to a neighbor a couple of years ago and unbeknownst to me when he returned it, it was broken. About a year later, I went to use it and it didn't work right. It has been sitting broken for about two years waiting for me to get rid of it. I have a small car so it is hard to remove large items like that. Today the very nice UPS man arrived with my box, went to deliver another package while I made room in my garage for my box, then carried the box it into my garage and placed it in the spot I cleared out. Wasn't that nice?! My Fed Ex guy could learn a thing or two from him. My Fed Ex guy threw my box of canned dog food up my front steps (there are 12 of them) one day. We have come to a truce since then. I think I won him over with with my sparkling personality. Maybe I should try my baked goods??

That was basically my day. It is what I wanted to do and I did it. Tomorrow I will get going on other things like shopping and baking and Christmas stuff. I just wanted one day to tune out the world. 

Until tomorrow...

UNPLANNED THANKSGIVING DAY

 What a day! I had a whole plan for today and you know what: shot to h-e-double hockey sticks. The plan went awry when I took the job to make the pies. I have been planning my menu for Thanksgiving for a few weeks but it meant I had to start on Wednesday. Since I made those 5 (really 7) pies on Monday and Tuesday I was exhausted on Wednesday so I did not cook. Instead I had to do everything today. I got my self together and started cooking around 11 am. That was enough time to get it all done if I stayed focused. That lasted about two hours when my friends son called me and said he wanted to come by for a visit. He may not be able to before Christmas due to his new job. I said that would be nice. He and I sat out back for 1.5 hours with our masks on 6' apart. 

When he left I started cooking again but then my mother called and I spoke to her. Then a bit later my brother called. It seems my headset broke this week so I could not use it. Then my cousin called. It was so nice of all these people to think of me on this holiday. 

In between I was putting things in the oven and putting things on the stove and stirring and pouring. I finally got everything done when my cousin called and I ate through our phone call. Sorry about that but I was hungry and it was 7:30pm. 

I made a vegan Thanksgiving. Gratin Dauphinois, Pumpkin Quiche (but I used butternut squash because it was late and I already had some butternut squash cut up) and Wild Rice and Butternut Squash Bake. It all tasted delicious. I have leftovers for tomorrow. I am about to eat my lemon tart with a cup of tea. 

Until tomorrow...

DAY OF REST

 I was hoping to have a day of rest and recovery. I was doing really well at this but then I decided to make a quick curd to fill my empty pie crust. I had one "mistake" pie crust that I never filled with curd, so today I filled it. 

That was basically my whole day. I gave my dog walker his pie and he was so happy to get it.

Until tomorrow...

THE PIES WERE DELIVERED

 Today was a whirlwind. I got up early and took a shower to get the day going. I fed the animals and started in on my plan. First up was the whipped cream for the banana cream pies. Well, that was the first problem. It wasn't my fault but I guess not all coconut milk is the same. I had to buy another brand because I was short a few cans and cans for the second pie didn't whip up like the cans for the first pie. I tried a few different things and ended up ditching the whole batch. Then what to do? I had only a very small can (always check the ounces when buying things online) of coconut milk. I went down to my pantry and found some cans of coconut cream. I never made whipped cream with coconut cream but cream is in the name so I took a chance and it worked. I finished the pie in time to let it chill for 2.5 hours.

I then got to take a short break. I needed it after whipping cream for 1.5 hours off and on. I garnished the lemon pies with the candy lemons and made the garnish for the banana cream: chopped pecans and almonds with chocolate shavings. For one of the pies I put the shavings in a baggy because I know the person's son has allergies. I figure I will let them decided if it is okay for the kiddo. 

 Then the hour arrived. I garnished the banana cream pies, carried them all upstairs to go in the boxes and then put them all in a Chewy box that held them perfectly. I put the box in the car and drove to their office.

 These pies were a surprise for the staff members so I stood outside the office and told the receptionist I was outside. The dentist came out and was so pleased with how they looked. She told me she was going to tell her friends. She also said I needed to charge more. I am going to research more about cost. I did this for her as a friend and to start out. Boy did I learn some lessons.

The things I learned: 1) always have extra ingredients on hand, 2) you never have too much time, 3) always make extra especially when you are trying a recipe for the first time, 4) when you make something for the first time assume the first one will be the "first pancake" the throw away, and 5) don't try and bake two pies at the same time when it is the first time you are baking that recipe. I ended up with two "first pancakes". One will go to my dog walker. It isn't horrible, it just wasn't perfect to sell. He will be happy with it. I am keeping the other. 

 I am happy it over and I think I would do it again with more planning time. I would charge more too. 

Now I have to think about Thanksgiving.

Until tomorrow...