134 posts tagged “life”

Did:

 

1. full-house cleaning, which made the house almost spotless and me achy everywhere.

2. grocery shopping.  I bought so many things unexpectedly that I was worried I didn't have enough money to pay at the register and started thinking which item to cancel just in case.

3. too much bleaching and I breathed in quite a bit and felt like a sick dog.

4. uninstalling Babylon 6 because I really hate it now.  It's become too expensive for me to feel comfortable supporting it.

 

Attempted:

 

1. to make a Japanese dessert but ended up buying and inhaling a packaged one.

2. to make a blueberry pie but ate all of the fresh blueberries in 5 minutes.

 

Failed:

 

1. to wipe out my whole Windows system and transition to Ubuntu completely.

2. to reorganize all of my books and other stuff in the bookshelves.

3. to venture into the green world and try out some new green leafy vegetables.

4. to continue the success of my diet.  I had my dinner rather late.

 

Planned:

 

1. to make a new quiche.

2. to reformat my notebook and install only Ubuntu on it.

3. to push my diet forward.

4. to continue reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

5. to learn more about my digital SLR camera.

..., try to say this out loud a dozen times or more.  You will feel better afterwards.

 

 

Make it into a mantra.  Whenever you feel there is no way out, there is nothing else you can do to help the situation, everything seems to go wrong, or you are too worried about something (or everything), this mantra will help.  Let go and let God.  Believe that good things will happen, and they will.

I went to Purplesque's blog and got myself all hungry looking at her food porn.  And it almost seems like I was often waiting for her food photos to be uploaded so that I could make another banner and make myself even more hungry staring at the banner.

 

I took a photo of the tree right outside our house without even knowing what kind of tree it is.  I was also too lazy to look up.

 

And another shot, just because I didn't find a reason to delete it from my album.

 

I was really determined to make the Lemon Coconut Custard by Kittee (Kittee's Papa Tofu Ezine).  I was so happy with the final product that I decided I had to make a cake for it.  I was overwhelmed and moved by the white purity this custard showed me.

 

Veganomicon came to my rescue again.  The Coconut-Lemon Bundt Cake (Veganomicon, page 256) seemed to be a perfect cake if I made it into a round cake.  There was my Coconut-Lemon Cake with Coconut-Lemon Custard Frosting.  Moist and fluffy, full of rich coconut flavor and lemony freshness.

 

I just came back from a long trip, for business.  The good part is that now we know for sure that we will be relocating in the summer.  Relocating to where is still up in the air since we don't really know which of our options is the best.  I still feel really tired, physically and emotionally.  I don't take changes very well, especially in the beginning.  But now that it's certain we have to move, I'm slowly warming up to the idea of seeing new sceneries and embracing a new environment.  My birthday is also coming up really soon.  As my life has always been in full swing (maybe still an understatement), I usually just look back, on my birthday, and feel amazed that I have survived till this day without a major setback.  So thank God for everything and every day.  The only little regret is that I don't feel I've grown a little wiser.

 

Anyway, I'm glad that I'm back to Vox again.  Sorry for being such a lazy neighbor, and I wish everyone a happy day.  Hopefully we can continue to share something beautiful and special here while I make the necessary preparations for moving.

It feels like ages before I blogged again.  April went by really fast without me noticing much what was going on in Vox.  I hope everyone had a wonderful April.  I'm learning to live more in the present, so May will be a little different.  I haven't been cooking much at all, but I finally caught up a little yesterday.  I made a big pot of soup, potato-pea-quinoa soup.  I eyeballed everything so the recipe gives you a lot of room for customization according to your own taste.

 

 

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 large carrot, finely chopped

1 orange (or green) bell pepper, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into consistent 1-inch pieces

4 plum tomatoes, chopped

3/4 cup yellow split peas, rinsed

3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed

8-9 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked for 30 minutes and reserve the soaking water, finely chopped

2 1/2 tsp. tarragon

2 1/2 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. sage

1 tsp. oregano

2/3 tsp. parsley

1/2 tsp. rosemary

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 tsp. paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

 

1. Over medium heat, sauté onions, pepper, carrots and garlic for 8-9 minutes until carrots get a little soft.

2. Add potatoes, tarragon, thyme, sage, oregano, parsley and rosemary.  Stir once and cover.  Cook for 3-5 minutes.

3. Add tomatoes and 3/4 cup of boiling water.  Bring to a boil and lower to simmer.  Cook covered for 5 minutes.

4. Add peas, quinoa, and chopped mushrooms and the soaking water.  Add 2 bay leaves.  Add plenty of water (according to your own preference for the thickness of the soup).  Bring to a boil and lower to simmer.  Cover.  Let the soup simmer for 45 minutes.  Stir a few times and check the thickness.  Add water or uncover a little to achieve your own desired result.

5. When the soup is done, remove from heat.  Add paprika and salt and pepper to taste.  Remove bay leaves.

 

Serve with croutons or over rice.  We had our soup with some steamed broccoli and raw walnuts.

1. Try to eat moderately and stop eating after 5 PM.

2. Walk every day.  I used to walk at least twice a day.  Now I'm trying to do this again.

 

We both have to lose some more weight before my stepsister's wedding at the end of May.

I'm back.  Unfortunately, I feel more strain and stress than before I left because I'll have to travel again soon, to finish the unfinished business.  Oh well, the Lord works in mysterious ways and I know things will fall into places at God's pace.  I haven't slept well at all, and I'm haunted by my own to-do list.  It's a result of lacking faith and having too much fear, I'm sure.  On a good note, I've been steadily losing weight because I'm too stressed out to enjoy my food.  I guess it will be a good thing if my mood finally changes in the good direction.  Maybe 2008 is really one of the biggest turning points in my life.

I haven't done anything special for the 100th post of my food porn and recipe series.  So here it is.  I did try Bryanna's recipe and make the no-knead yeast bread.  I made a pizza and a foccacia with the dough.  I still have some of the dough in my fridge that will go to good use.  It was a great experience.  I can't believe half whole-wheat pizza dough can still be so good, better than the non-whole-wheat dough.  The topping was a marinara sauce with two large zucchini.  I loaded on lots of herbs.  I mean really a lot, which was the key.  Great topping and great dough made a great pizza.  My husband said it reminded him of an authentic Italian pizza.

 

I accidentally took out more dough and I had some fun making a foccacia I didn't really intend to make.  I used coarse salt and chives, which gave the foccacia a really good smell.  I'm really in love with the no-knead yeast bread now.

 

I'll be gone for several days, maybe a week.  Traveling, but not for pleasure.  After next week, I'll feel a lot better, I hope.  I've been really under a lot of pressure and stress, because I can foresee great changes in our near future.  After next week, our life will be very different, in a fantastic way, but still, I don't take changes well.  But when I was watching a good movie - Romulus, My father - yesterday, I heard an important line that made me feel much better.

"Things change.  But our life is what our thoughts make it."

 

So, I'll be going with a little more self-assurance.  And with God's grace, I'll be returning with a better feeling.  Until then, I wish all of my neighbors and everyone a happy week and a productive blogging week.  God bless!

 

I had a little conflict about joining Great Cooks Blogroll.  I'm not a great cook, so I was looking at Jill McKeever's blogroll for a while, a very long while, without any action.  (Jill has a great blog Simple Daily Recipes.)  But everyone's food seemed so good, I was more and more tempted every day.  Finally, I reached a point where I could justify to myself that I had the goal of becoming a great cook.  Here I am, proudly annoucing my new membership in the blogroll.

Well, nobody actually said that I had to be a great cook to join.  I was just making fun of my indecision for no reason.  So, don't be like me.  If your blog is 80% about food, recipes, cooking, baking, food photography, food news, etc., you can join right away!  And, please, do join right away.  It's a great resource for meal ideas and restaurant reviews and other food-related stuff.