DAY ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-THREE OF COOKING COURSE

 Yesterday I mixed together Vegan Mango Passion Fruit Candy. It had to refrigerate for 12 hours.  Today I cut the fruit candy into shapes and rolled those shapes in citric sugar.  It made cute little candies where the taste reminds me of Sour Patch Kids.

I also made cookies but I will show you those tomorrow after I dress them up a bit. It was a busy day.

Last night there was a huge lightening storm and then a down pour.  So very strange for this time of the year.  It was so loud it woke me up.  Then today it was so overcast and cold most of the day. Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of the orange sky day when it looked like the apocalypse was happening.

I didn't get to walk with all the baking going on.  

Until tomorrow...

VEGAN STUFFED RED PEPPERS

 Tonight I looked around to see what I could make for dinner. I saw the red peppers in the fridge and thought stuffed peppers. I cut the peppers in half and put them in a baking dish. I took cooked wild rice, diced teriyaki tofu, diced green beans, corn, and diced zucchini and put them in a bowl.  I added garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika and sriracha.  I added this mixture to the half of peppers and put vegan cheese on top.  I put the baking dish in the oven and cooked it for 35 minutes.  I like my peppers crisp.  It came out great. It made a delicious dinner.

Lucky and I took a walk today. 2,000 more steps.  

I had a bunch of work to do day.  

I did a cooking course project but it needs 24 hours to chill before I can unveil it.  

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-TWO OF COOKING COURSE

 One of the steps of the cooking course was to make a Vegan White Coconut Chocolate.  I thought how great it would be to put the white coconut chocolate on top of the Hazelnut Crumble Shortbread Cookies.  So I iced the cookies and it turned out amazing.  The cookies are melt in your mouth.  

I walked early today because I had things to do later in the day. It was a busy day with work.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-ONE OF COOKING COURSE

 I am back to baking the Italian Pastry course.  I got some good news that I will be continuing this cooking course past the one year that I originally signed up for.  I am stoked mostly because I don't think I will be able to finish the current number of chapters in the original twelve months and the added another chapter and are about to add another chapter.

Today I baked Vegan Hazelnut Crumble Shortbread Cookies.  I had the option of making a hazelnut crumble that I would put on something like a cake or to make shortbread cookies.  I decided to make cookies and then tomorrow add something to those cookies.  It could be fun and exciting and delicious or it could be a complete fail.  Who knows?  

These cookies are crunchy and sweet.  They are rough and crumbly but really good.  They are not delicate cookies in that they are made from three different types of grain: rice flour, hazelnut flour and cornmeal.  

Lucky and I took a 2-mile outside walk today.  The air was very clear and we needed to get outside.

Until tomorrow...

APRICOT & LEMON VEGAN PROTEIN BARS

I got up early this morning because today is my first masked, distanced backyard visit. I fed everyone (me, dog, bird) breakfast and then started to get ready. My visitors are notoriously early so I knew I needed to hustle. I put the umbrella on the picnic table, picked up dog poop, set the chairs 6' apart at least and started bringing things downstairs. My backyard is downstairs. I got all the food ready and had it waiting in the kitchen on a tray. I brought out the pitchers of iced tea and water. 

Then they arrived and I opened up my side entrance so they didn't have to come in the house. We met out back and sat down for four hours. I brought the food down and they ate. It was a pleasant afternoon. The smokey air disappeared for a day so we could enjoy being outside for their visit. 

The best part was that they understood the need for me keeping safe. It meant a lot since so many people do not understand why I have stayed in my bubble for so many months. People in my family and friends have gotten Covid and, yes, they have recovered. But will the same thing happen to me? Do I want to take the chance? No, I don't. 

I made these fun apricot and lemon protein bars. They were a hit.

After my guests left Lucky and I went for a mile walk. It felt good to walk after all that sitting.

Until tomorrow...

SPICY PEANUT DIP

 I finished my deep clean of the downstairs and vacuumed the stairs coming upstairs. I cleaned the birdcage and washed the dishes. Then we moved outside to clean up a little of the mess out there.  I did a little garden work, swept up, and cleaned off the furniture.  

The air is the worse so far.  It was in the dark red all day (140s) I had a mask on the whole time I was outside. It was 80 degrees and I was sweating. It was not a fun time.

I decided to make the spicy peanut dip for my company.  I have some guests coming to do a distanced outside visit.  I thought it was going to be today but it is going to be tomorrow. So I made the dip for something to nosh on. I already have the sweet cake Pandolce Genovese ready to eat and some homemade iced tea. But I felt more was needed.  I made some protein bars that I will show you tomorrow.  I figure with some sliced apples, nuts and pretzels that should be enough.

I started watching Only Murders in the Building with Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short.  It is really good. I wasn't sure what to expect but I am enjoying it. There are funny parts but most of all it is keeping me entertained. It is a whodunit but also like a cozy murder mystery.  the premise is that three strangers who live in the same building and, it turns out, listen to the same podcast get intertwined in a murder investigation. I am done with episode three and I will be watching more.

I did a 2 mile DVD walk.  This is the first time in a while.  I didn't carry my phone or wear my watch yesterday so my walking while I cleaned for 4 hours didn't log.  I am sure I walked at least 2,000 steps!  

Until tomorrow...

DEEP CLEAN AND SOUTHWEST SALAD

 My task for today was to deep clean the downstairs.  I got started early which was very good since the deep clean took 4 hours.  I dusted and boy did it need it.  Piles of dust everywhere.  I am sure the fires are not helping with the dust.  Then I cleaned the bathroom and that took a bit of time since I had to dust/clean in there also.  Then I went to putting things away and finally to vacuuming.  Oh, I almost forgot the almost 15 minutes I spent figuring out how to disassemble the wire dog cage so I can store it.  I had two dog cages for the last year and half in my bedroom and finally figured out how to store one.  I didn't have space to store it without disassembling it.  

Good news is that my ex-foster kids boxes are supposed to finally be moved after over 2 years out of my garage.  I am so happy.  They are taking up so much space that I could use to organize things.  What with all my Covid paper supplies taking up much needed space too.

After my four hours of hot, tiresome work, I took a shower to get all that dirt off me.  I felt so disgusting especially since I can't open the windows since the smoke in the air is over 100 (that is full on orange). Right now it is at 110.  That is not good for people with breathing problems.

Then since it was so hot I made a gigantic Southwest salad.  The salad had: tofu, lettuce, black beans, green peppers, parsley, tomatoes, corn, vegan cheese, and I made baked tortilla strips.  I made a dressing out of vegan mayo, ketchup and sriracha.  It was sweet and spicy.  It was a huge delicious salad.  

Then I sat down and watched Bombshell.  I never watched it before.  It was good.  Sad but good.

Until tomorrow...

CURRY AND FIXED WASHER

Today was a good day.  I had the tech show up and he could fix my washer.  It was more expensive than I wanted but I don't have to worry about having to buy a new washer while in lock down in Covid. It was the pump.  He showed me all the stuff stuck in the pump.  Obviously my ex was not as careful as I was about emptying our her pockets as I am.  There was a tile, plastic bag, hair clip and other things.  I wonder if the tile is the Ipod that was lost years ago. It makes sense.  I told her she put it in the washer.  We looked everywhere in the house for it. The washer works and I am happy.

Once the washer was fixed I decided to make Potato, Green Bean, Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry with Wild Rice.  It turned out amazing!  I have plenty left over.  I just love curry.  I can make it as spicy as I want (or don't want).  

Now I am watching Cinderella on Amazon Prime.  So far it is okay.  Entertaining.

Until tomorrow...
 

DAY ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY OF COOKING COURSE

 The Italian Chapter of the cooking course is treating me much better.  I started the Italian Chapter and I already baked my first recipe.  I made a Vegan Pandolce Genovese.  This is a sweet cake that originated from Genoa in the 16th century. It is traditionally served around Christmas time.  It can be made with dried fruits, raisins and spices.  It has a tradition where the first slice is given to the first person in need that you see, the second slice is wrapped up and saved until February 3 which is the day of Saint Biaggio, the protector of the throat and other ailments. The third slice is finally for the family, starting with the mother as she is usually the one who prepared the cake.

My Pandolce Genovese was made with chocolate chips and pistachios.  This sweet cake is round and has a thick brown crust and a light and fluffy interior.  It is so good.  The chef in my video said to eat it for breakfast.  

I also made coconut margarine.  It is an ingredient in some of the Italian recipes.  It was a science experiment.

I also had a tech come to the house for all of 5 minutes to fix something.  Nothing makes you feel more incompetent than when a tech shows up when you can't do something and they do it in less than five minutes.  But it is fixed and he fixed another one that I have too.  

I ordered all the Italian ingredients today and had some of them delivered today.  The rest will be arriving over the weekend.  

The air was orange today so going out was not in the cards.  

I was supposed to be on a virtual meeting with RA folks but there was no link in the invite and I didn't realize until 5 minutes before.  Probably just as well.  It was a busy day.  I have to spend tomorrow morning getting the garage ready for the washing machine tech to fix my washer.  I want to make the space easy for him to get around and right now it is not since my paint cabinet (right next to the washer) collapsed in the middle of the night and paint and paint cans went everywhere.  I think I am going to try to breakdown the cabinet tomorrow.

Until tomorrow...

DAY ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-NINE OF COOKING COURSE

 Today was a roller coaster of a day.  I found out my Covid test results arrived this afternoon.  I am negative for Covid.  That is a relief.  I didn't think I had Covid but these days it is better to get a test and know for sure than to worry for weeks if I have a serious disease.  I am now sure I had an infection in my tooth that caused the fever last week.

I had a customer service rep call me today when I had a phone call scheduled for tomorrow to "see if I had time today" to deal with the issue.  I was eating lunch but sure.  There went 45 min of my day dealing with that and it was not fixed and now I have to have a tech come to the house tomorrow.  Ugh.

I tried to cook the final two French Pastries in my cooking course.  Once again it was a fail.  I was very disheartened when it was a disaster.  I bought a special baking powder that said it was phosphate free only to open it today and see it has phosphates.  Ugh.  The eclairs and paris-brest both fell and came out a funny color.  They were a mess.

It was a disappointment.  I was looking forward to a eclair.  I am not moving on to the Italian Pastries and Desserts.  I am leaving French Pastries behind.  Au revoir!

I had many family and friend communications today with Covid situations and weather issues so I ran out of time to walk. 

Until tomorrow...