happy (f)easter!

i think i started revving up for easter some time in mid february. i fell for the seasonal shopping trap of jumping from one holiday to the next in the blink of an eye. unfortunately by the time easter actually got here, nearly all of my interest was gone. i had been so excited to see family and keep our traditions alive even after my uncle had passed. i was eager to don my rabbit ears and give my niece a big basket of nonsense and bite the head off an organic dark chocolate easter bunny from sjaak's. i had even agreed at the last minute to join an easter morning soccer game my sister's boyfriend was planning. for whatever reason i just couldn't maintain the excitement and motivation i had earlier in the season.

last night i made a late trip to the grocery to get makings for bean salad since i could not show up empty handed. i think i stayed up until around two dragging it out since i was tired but also didn't want to rush it and ruin it. going to bed so late made me not want to get up to play soccer so i flaked out like a jerk. it sure was nice to sleep in though. i had breakfast and walked the dog, then started getting ready to head out, but not before putting a basket together and hiding some plastic carrots around the house for my niece.

as we rounded the corner of my uncle's street and started to see everyone's cars it all came back. there were so many people and so much food i think the first ten minutes or so were solid hugging/greeting time. we didn't have all of the original activities, but we still had an egg hunt for the kids, tug of war and my unfavorite, the raw egg toss. we used to also have sac race or three legged race but not for a few years now. one or both will be back next year according to my cousin. my niece found 29 eggs in the hunt, with a little help from my sister, her boyfriend and myself. i didn't last too long in the egg toss but at least i didn't get any egg matter on my outfit since our egg hit the fence. i was on the winning side of tug of war, but my one of my havianas lost on the second round. i was able to fix it, thank goodness.

for dinner we had a fast food feasting frenzy after forty days of abstaining. we had taco bell and pizza. i must admit it was disgustingly delightful. i also enjoyed my easter chocolate, perhaps a little too much. i had two rounds of peppermint tea and a long walk with the pup afterward since we missed the usual 4 o'clock park trip. i make sure she gets all her walks in, or rather that we get all of our walks in, sometimes they're just shuffled around.

it was a great day but i am glad it is over. i'm updating my playlist and i'm out. happy easter everyone.

where have you bean? (vegan mofo day 9)

today was a vwav night. we had scrambled tofu, which i haven't made in a while, and tempeh bacon which i made for the first time. it was only my second time working with tempeh so i know i could have done a lot worse. next time i will use a bigger skillet and put the flame a bit higher. due to the crowding, some of the thinner slices broke into shorter pieces, but it was okay because i always break them up to put them in my burrito anyway. i thought of making some potatoes, but good thing i didn't start up since i was already behind schedule and i had another recipe to make after dinner.



i normally wouldn't push myself so hard. by the time i make dinner and do the dishes, i am equally done. this week i've been super low energy, but yesterday i had the best bean salad ever. a coworker went to a seminar about isogenics (first time hearing of it) and they had this salad. since i've been sharing my soup surpluses with her, she said she was going to make some and bring it to work the next day. everyone who tried it wanted the recipe which she gave me today so i absolutely had to make it tonight. it's fairly easy, two cans black beans+ two cans corn,(drained). chop 1 red bell pepper, 1 bunch green onions, 1 bunch cilantro. the dressing is 1/3 cup olive oil, juice of three limes, 2 cloves minced garlic and salt/pepper/cayenne/cumin to taste (she put 1 tbsp each so i did that too). i'm thinking about adding an orange pepper and cubed tofu and serving as tostadas. oh and i forgot, the most important thing, the avocado. i chopped and forked that in last for fear of smashing it up too much while mixing. i scooped out the last of one of the halves and thought this looked like a heart, or maybe africa. who doesn't heart africa?



p.s. this is great conditioning for the holiday cooking to come.