Cramming a lot of fun into a little time

Back in May, I told my mom that for Mother's Day, I was treating her to a trip to a casino that is just a few hours down the road. The only problem was finding the free time to go. We have had the busiest summer *ever.* Plus we had to coordinate around my husband's and my sister's work schedules. At first I thought it would be just mom and I, but I'm so happy all four of us were able to go! We finally found a couple days we could all go, and it just so happened to be on my birthday too!

This is the room my husband and I had. It was so nice, and frankly-- cheap. We stayed for $30, and my mom and sister's room, with 2 queens, was just $40. I tell you, a casino is a cheap place to stay if you just want a day or two away from home and don't intend to do any gambling.

The view from our room. I didn't even bring my bathing suit, but after seeing this, I kind of wished I had!

We did gamble a little. I spent a few hours there, mom and S spent a bit longer, and Mr. GV never even went inside. Instead he spent his time napping, reading, and running.

My mom, excited to hop on the shuttle from the hotel to the casino for the first time.

Trying to get a "normal" picture of my mom and S together is not easy. But these are more fun anyway!

Exhibit A: Kissy face.

Exhibit B: Mom has horns.


Exhibit C: S has.....antlers?

And then apparently I had some kind of issue with looking straight at the camera. I think it had to do with my glasses, which I had not worn in a while. At any rate, I kept looking up.

The next day, mom and S went back to the casinos and had breakfast and did a little more gambling. By 11 we were checked out and headed toward Memphis. We had decided to see Toy Story 3 in 3D, so we picked up our tickets for a later showing and then needed somewhere to chill.

Yep, Starbucks it was, where the one coffee drinker in the family, Mr. GV, could get his favorite, an iced soy latte with peppermint. And we all geeked out with our electronic gizmos. Actually, we could be an ad for the Ipod Touch, because we had 3 of them out, checking in on Facebook, email, and blog feeds.

Soon it was time for the movie.

It's not easy to pull off the 3D glasses look---you gotta have attitude!

Me and Mr. GV, sans glasses.


The day before we left for our time away, Mr. GV did some online investigating and discovered a new-to-us restaurant called DeJAVU. They serve Creole soul and vegetarian food. He managed to keep the type of restaurant a secret from me until we pulled up in front. This is a Big Deal, because Mr. GV has trouble keeping things a secret from me, just because he wants to share them right away! :)

Three of us had vegan food:

S had the Mushroom Hoagie Roll, and chose Sweet Potato Fries and Roasted Garlic Potatoes as her sides. She enjoyed the first two items, although the garlic potatoes were a little too garlicky for her.

Mr. GV chose the Veggie Rolls, along with Collard Greens and Candied Yams. He enjoyed his meal. But it was spicy, even for him!

I decided on the Tofu Your Way, teriyaki-style. My two sides were Veggie Brown Rice and Smothered Okra. It was all yummy, but the okra was especially good!

Mr. GV and I also shared a slice of chocolate cake with strawberry sauce. The cake was good, but the sauce was a little.....odd. It had a strong mint flavor. Just not what I expected.

All in all, the meal was very good. We will definately be back to try other dishes the next time we are in Memphis.

Mr. GV and I outside the restaurant, apparently squinting into the sun.


We had a nice little rainstorm. And then we saw this as we headed towards home:

A rainbow was a nice way to cap off our time away.

Front porch guests

A few weeks ago I posted a picture like this, to show our elusive front porch visitor. I looked at that nest often, hoping a bird would show up. What a thing of beauty that nest is.





One morning I peeked through the dining room window and saw this:




And a few days later I was delighted to see this:

Then this:

And best of all this---four lil' birds!

Gabby was happy to see them too.....she is watching mama, who at the time was off the nest.

At this point, the nest was starting to look a little bit crowded. I saw mama (or I suppose it could be papa, as I saw the pair together a lot) bringing them food, but at this point I never caught her sitting on the nest.

A few days later, they were gone. Hope I have more front porch guests next year!

Magazine mania

I admit it---I love magazines. It's neither environmentally friendly nor frugal. I fully own up to that. But the fact remains, it's a vice of mine. Right now I receive:

VegNews
Vegetarian Times (free)
Organic Gardening (free)
E! (in place of another magazine that went out of business--Plenty, maybe?)
Entertainment Weekly (extremely cheap 2 year renewal)
Mother Earth News (cheap automatic renewal)
Body and Soul (free)
Reminisce
Reminisce Extra--I was born in the wrong era, I tell ya. Love the 40's and 50's.

My mother-in-law usually gives me a few magazines at Christmas, just random issues of a few different subscriptions, so there's that too. And my mom gives me her weekly copy of my hometown newspaper.

But I do my best to decrease the environmental aspects of my magazine-loving self:

-When I'm finished, I give them to my mom or sisters if they want them. Those they return, plus the ones they don't want go to the Friends of the Library bookstore, where they bring in a quarter each, and benefit the library.

-I very rarely clip an article/recipe, instead choosing to type the information into my computer, so that I can leave the magazine intact and donate it.

-If there's an article I really want to read in a pop culture magazine (People, for example) I trot myself down to the library and read it for free.

-I have always been a fan of Archie comics, ever since I was a little girl. While they aren't magazines, per se, they're still made of paper and ink, and are expensive considering how quick a read they are. For years I rarely bought them, but recently discovered I can buy them much cheaper and paper-free through the app store for my Ipod Touch.

-I stopped getting our local daily paper delivered when they started offering a pdf version online. Love that!

-My husband was inundated by free professional magazines at work. Trust me, nobody but those in his field wants to read those, and frankly my husband rarely cracked them open. I went online and got them all to stop sending, except one. Still working on that one.

How about anyone else? Can't get enough of a good magazine or think of them as clutter and don't want them in your house?

Deceleration

Eventually it was time to leave Summerfest. At lunch on the last day, we receved a rave review of a restaurant that was on our way home. And so that night we decided to give it a try:


The vegan selection was good, and the food truely was delicious. Mr. GV had the lentil soup


and a pita pocket.

I had the mujadara, which is lentils and rice, topped with salata and fried onions. Delicious! We also had some hummous served with pita which was devine.

We left completely satisfied, and found our hotel. I guess we should have known the evening wasn't going to end well when this happened right after we arrived:

As I about to check us in, the fire alarm began going off. People started filing out of the hotel, and soon 2 fire trucks arrived, and men in gear trooped inside. Thankfully it appeared to be a false alarm. But just in case, I made sure I knew where all the emergency exits were before went to bed!

Shortly thereafter, Mr. GV started feeling pretty rotten. It was soon evident that he had a full blown case of food poisoning. The restaurant had been very clean, service was spectacular, not to mention it had been voted Best Mediterranean and Best Vegetarian in an area paper. I suppose it can happen even at the best of places, but naturally we won't be eating there again!

The next day was a fairly uneventful 8 hour ride home. Mr. GV went to bed in the early evening and when he woke the next morning he was much better.

Celebration

I think for both of us, the best part of Summerfest was the new friendships we made. We are all from different walks of life, different parts of the country, and different backgrounds. But the things we have in common--compassion, veganism, dedication--were enough to draw us instantly together.

Monday supper

Monday I decided to try out one of my new cookbooks, Vegan on the Cheap, by Robin Robertson. She also wrote Vegan Planet, my favorite cookbook, so I've high hopes for the new one.

I decided to start off with Walnut-Dusted Fettuccine with Caramelized Vegetables, mainly because I had 2 boxes of spinach fettuccine I wanted to use up. The recipe called for everything you see below:

Many of the ingredients were staples I either already had or buy regularly anyway. The butternut squash, mushrooms, and fresh parsley were the only items I bought specifically for this recipe. The only modification I made was to cook the onions in water instead of oil. We just didn't need that extra fat, and the end result is the same.

The finished product. I have to say, I was skeptical while I was cooking it. I just didn't think it was going to be something I would love. And my husband wasn't sure that it would be filling enough for him.

But in the end we were both wrong! I *loved* it, and my husband did also, and found it very hearty. I described the dish over the phone to my mom and she said it sounded good to her! I will most definately be making this dish again, most likely when we are sharing a meal with my mom.

Saturation

Durng our 4 days at http://vegetariansummerfest.org, there was constantly something to do:


Demonstation: I went to only one food demonstration, which was given by Terry Hope Romero. She has a new cookbook entitled Vegan Latina (http://veganlatina.com.) She showed us how to make seitan tacos (with homemade corn tortilla) and we all got to try a serving. Yummy!

Illumination: This is Mr. GV having a free cholesterol check from Dr. Greger www.drgreger.org. His cholesterol was fine. Mine was OK compared to the typical American cholesterol, but not for someone who has a family history of heart disease. I was glad to hear from Dr. Greger that in just 2 weeks I could begin to improve my cholesterol level, and came home with a new determination to do just that.

Situation: We found ourselves in a new situation---being interviewed for a vegan radio show! I was a bit nervous, but think I made it through OK. That's our new friend C being interviewed and Mr. GV looking a bit stunned after it was all over. lol He did great though!

Identification: I took a class all about identifying wild edibles. After some education inside, we moved outside for some real-life experience. While I already knew about dandelions and a few others, there were many weeds that I did not realize were edible. My plan is to order one of the recommended guides and start checking out wild edibles in my own yard!

Exploration: Mr. GV and I had many opportunities at Summerfest to explore new ideas, including eating raw. Here is Mr. GV waiting to ask some questions after the presentation. We plan to incorporate some raw dishes into our diet in the near future.

Destination

This is the view from our hotel on the second day of vacation, in West Virginia. It was a gorgeous day!






This car was in the parking lot of the hotel. I hope they had a successful and fun journey from North Carolina to Los Angeles!




When we arrived at our destination, The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, we checked in and went to our room. And this is what we saw:

Yes, I knew this was a university, but somehow when I booked a double occupancy, I got the idea of "double bed" stuck in my mind. Silly, I know. I got a good laugh at myself because of that. I referred to these beds as our "Rob and Laura" beds, Rob and Laura from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" that is.

Rob, er....Mr. GV planning out his schedule for the week.

Anticipation

A couple weeks ago, Mr. GV and I headed out for our much-anticipated vacation. The drive there was easy enough. We spent one night on the road, then drove a few more hours the second day.

Here I am on the first day. We were so excited to be going on vacaton!

And here is Mr. GV taking the first (long) shift driving. Yep, this time one of us sat in the front and one in the back. It allowed us to have a bit more space on the drive.

And it let us have comfy naps. :)


We weren't sure how far we would make it the first day, so we didn't make a hotel reservation. I took along my laptop and when we were ready to stop for the night, we looked for a place that offered free wi-fi.

That place was a Panera in West Virginia. We used our Vegan Express app on my Ipod Touch to see what we could get that was vegan. (Fabulous app by the way. Loads of restaurants listed, and you don't have to have internet to access it once you have the app downloaded.)

We each chose the Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean soup, with some yummy bread on the side.


Part 2 of vacation coming soon.

Pickles again

I've had a few people asking me for the icebox pickle recipe I mentioned a while back so thought I'd post it here. It is so simple, and I'm sure the same as a million other recipes out there.

Annette's Ice Box Pickles

1 c sugar
1 c vinegar
1/2 c water

Boil together until sugar is dissolved. Pour over sliced cucumbers. The amount of liquid in this recipe was just enough for me to make 2 pint jars of pickles. You can eat them as soon as you want, but they will be better after a few days.

And that's pretty much it, folks!

Now, a couple notes from me:

I like to add celery seed, but it's optional. The same with onion sliced into thin rings. I think it adds a nice flavor. But please do not add red/purple onions, unless you want pink pickles. My husband and I could hardly choke those down a couple years ago. Our brains were up there saying "Sure, it's FINE" but our eyes were saying "Uh, I don't think so!"

Long live family tradition

My family's Independence Day tradition goes back quite a few years. Thirty-four to be exact. My father's aunt and uncle started having a potluck dinner and fireworks on that day. They had 9 children, so the family has grown quite large through the years as you can imagine. Add to that many friends of the family, and you have quite a large gathering.

My great-aunt and uncle passed away a few years ago, but the gathering simply moved across the street to my cousin's house, and for the most part has continued on in the same fashion. Something new that was added a few years back was a family tree shirt. I'm proud to say that my family has a branch on that tree. This years shirt was dedicated "In memory of Bobby." Bobby is my father, who passed away in March. I think he loved this holiday best of all, because it was filled with his favorite things--family, good home-cooking, and lots and lots of laughing and talking.




J wearing this years shirt.

J playing in the sand, around what I think is a horseshoe stake. I believe he was building castles.

J and his daddy climbing a tree.

J, with a bad case of cupcake-face and sunblock/bugspray/sweaty little boy hair, and a juice box courtesy of his Nana.




J and his daddy, with a really big sparkler.

Hey look, I snuck a picture of my husband in amongst all the pics of J. My wonderful husband had to work all day, then drove over to the next county, out into the boonies with little cell phone reception. (Important because he was on call at the hospital.) All just to spend a couple hours with my family, because he knows how much it means to me!

One of the more tame pieces that we did early on. This one was great, by the way. The name had the word popcorn in it, and it went on and on.

J and his uncle, Mr. GreenVeggie.

The boy is crazy over watermelon.