Category: Production

Poetry flows…

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Wren’s recent poetry assignment turned out this gem…

	I looked in the corner and there sat fear, small and hunkered,
	His big, googly eyes darting around the room, not missing a thing.
	I heard him, quietly, slowly mumbling to himself, staring blankly at the wall.
	When he stood up, his eyes darted toward me and stayed on me.
	He slowly strode across the room with big steps.
	Although his head was facing straight, his eyes stayed turned to me.
	I felt a little bit sorry for him, 
	But when he shut the door without a sound, I got the chills.

Ghetto Garage Band liftoff!

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I got duped into cleaning out the entire garage last weekend, under the pretense that I was setting up the music studio I’ve been dreaming of for decades – how could I resist? Well, it was a lot of work, and we threw away a trash container and recycle bin’s worth of old crap, but Andrea remained true to her word – we have liftoff! Here’s the barebones gear of the current setup. Everything is scrounged from ancient cruft, with the exception of the acoustic pickup (the little white circle on the cheapass video mixer), you stick the gum right on the guitar body, it works great! Everything is mixed and amped to match the level of the drums. The girls and I practiced up and cranked out Yellow Submarine in no time, and Nick stopped by to belt out the vocals. Yeehaw!!

Girls ham it up

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The girls have been whipping up creative little plays for us ever since they had a “dress-up bin” from which to pull costumes.  Here are scenes from “Little Dead Riding Hood” (with the Prevost clan) and “The Noodle Master” (with the Dobbs clan).  Best entertainment around!

Andrea heads to the beach

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Andrea packed her bags and headed to the beach with her book club buddies this weekend. The girls and I (and Grammy on occasion) had fun playing Age of Mythology, Tribes, soccer, wrestling, cooking cinnamon rolls, walking the dogs, getting takeout at the Gillespies (including Guitar Hero and Carcassonne games), going for pizza with the Prevosts… wow, we did a lot! :>

Seitan from scratch

~ m ~ 4 Comments

My favorite cookbook is called Friendly Foods, by the best vegan chef I know, Ron Picarski. I’ve sworn to cook everything in it before I die, but I’m not even halfway done. Ron turns non-vegetarian fare into “friendly” fare with style – his goal is not to imitate but to improve. One important ingredient he uses is called seitan, a great meat alternative made from the protein in flour. I’m currently obsessed with cooking, and because my zeal is an order of magnitude beyond reasonable, I attempted to make seitan from scratch.

Here’s the whole seitan production line.

Crispy Okra Stir Fry

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With all my troubles recently, I’ve been doing a lot more fantasizing about eating than actually eating. Made for a perfect time to plan out some great meals! And now that I’m on the road to recovery (WELL on the way, actually – thanks friends for all the support!), I’ve had some time to put the plans into action!

I’ll try to start posting some of my more interesting recipes here, but a warning: I really don’t play by the measurement rules very well. I think every cook should feel free to play, that’s the whole fun! I’ll try to post pictures so you get the general idea.

This afternoon, our neighbor Shelley graced us with some fresh-from-the-garden okra, tomatoes, hot peppers and a 40-lb watermelon, and I jumped into action. Because, hey, free okra! (gratuitous obscure jack handy reference)

Here’s the recipe page!

Thanks Shelley! It’s good to have friends (or friends with friends) with gardens. :>