Goin' dress shopping!  It's been a while since I've put anything up, and I know this isn't the most fabulous, hair wise, but I felt like posting.  One might note the splotch next on my right cheek.  No, I didn't miss-apply the lipstick.  I did, however, push myself too hard a week ago and get a monster cold sore.  Auto-immune diseases are weird.  I'd have thought my super-powered system would have squished that pesky herpes virus on its route from my spinal column to my face.  I have so much left to learn about human anatomy.  It's fascinating.

Nose to the Grindstone

I'm four and a half months in!  I can't believe it!  I also can't believe how slack I've been as of late; no new photos, no regular styling of my hair.  It will be sad if I lose now.  I have decided that I don't have enough on my plate with a three week trip to Sweden coming up, the flooded basement project, and Christmas looming around the corner.  So to pass the time, I've joined some Falcon discussion forums.  I hope someone takes pity on me and takes me under their wing (hint hint to anyone who knows about cars!!!!).  E-bay has some Falcons for sale, and I can look at the pretty pictures, and scan the text to see if it runs or now, and that's about it.  I feel hopelessly uneducated.  Each one is lovelier than the last, but that's no way to make a financial decision!  It's nice to finally start the ball rolling, though, albeit very slowly.

Thanksgiving Review

I don't know why, but we failed to take any pictures at this year's Thanksgiving gathering.  I and my cake were both lovely, I can assure you.  The Millennium Cookbook's pumpkin cake recipe was a hit, at least for Per and I.  It was a bit much for my family, with all the chocolate and sugar.  If I was making it for just five people again, I'd half the recipe.  It's so rich and fabulous that when it says "10 servings," they actually mean it.  Gluten-free baking can tend to be a little bit dry, so the coffee sauce was a perfect addition.  I made it a day ahead of time.  Overnight it congealed a little bit. In the past I've been irritated at cinnamon for causing a mucousy consistency, but in the case of this sauce, it worked perfectly to the cake's advantage.  And the cake itself would make a great informal addition to a coffee date.  The batter was very quick and easy to make.  The flavor is interesting enough to stand alone without the need for frosting.  I highly recommend!

In the manner of a good housewife, the christmas decorations are up and the stockings are hung.  We're going to Sweden this year, but we still have two and a half weeks to enjoy our home being all christmas-y.

That's all the updates I've got for now!  Happy December everyone!

Thanksgiving Eve (Also Birthday Eve Eve)

My dear friend, Katrina, sent me this cartoon.  I can't paste it here, but it's worth checking out.  My family, immortalized.  Per and I are vegan, I'm off sugar, Per doesn't view pumpkins as a dessert meal, Dad's off nightshades, Mom and Sister are off gluten, Mom and Dad are off alcohol and caffeine, and Dad can't have chocolate after 6pm.  Soooo... Root mash instead of mashed potatoes (yams, turnips, carrots; it's actually really good), tofurkey for Per and I, vegan mock shephard's pie for the others, agave chocolate cake for breakfast on my birthday because we can't have it for dinner, gluten-free biscuits for dinner.  I feel like that covers it.  The two things everyone agrees on are roasted brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce.


And here's my Thanksgiving fashion inspiration.  The hair, at least.  The outfit's a tiny bit inappropriate for the weather.

Mushroom Gravy

I'm posting this partly to share, because it's great, and partly so I can access this recipe from any computer.  I could make a google doc, but if I'm typing it anyway, why not put it here!  I feel like a true American cook should be able to make a gravy without a recipe, but I didn't have biscuits and gravy until I was 17, and it's only made a sporadic appearance since then.  I hope you enjoy, and I hope not sporadically (Clueless reference).


Mushroom Gravy
From Vegan Brunch, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup flour
2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced into 1/2 inch long pieces
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced (4 cups)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 t thyme
1/2 t sage
1/4 salt
sever dashes of fresh black pepper
1/4 cup white cooking wine

Mix the flour into the broth until dissolved and set aside.

Preheat a large nonstick pan over medium heat.  Saute the onion in the oil for about five minutes, unitl translucent.  Add the mushrooms and saute for five more minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.

Add the garlic, thyme, sage, salt and pepper.  Saute for another minute.  Add the wine and turn the heat up to bring to a simmer.  Let simmer for about a minute, then lower the heat and add the broth mixture.  Stir constantly until thickened, about five minutes.

Birthday week!!!

This is my favorite week of the year.  It's even better than Christmas, because I have to share Christmas.  I love thanksgiving because I get to eat all my favorite foods.  And I'm an adult now, so there's no one to tell me to stop eating before I puke.  It's my prerogative if I want to eat till I throw up.  I've been known to do that, and I'm okay with that.  My mouth likes food, and my stomach just has to deal with it.  Although Per doesn't seem to like it too much, and in fact banned me from blueberries this year.  The past two years that I've gone blueberry picking has resulted in a bit of over-indulgence.  I'm like a carnivore; I'll just eat until the food's all gone.  But I feel this is a valid point for Thanksgiving, because when it's gone, it's really gone, for a whole year!
The other awesome thing happening this week is my birthday.  I'm going to make the following cake.  That's right, I'm making my own cake.  I'm not a total control freak, but this way I get to know if it sucks, it's my fault.  Plus if it's fabulous, I get all the praise.  It's hard to find a recipe that I want to eat, that my family will eat too.  I don't think they'll go for the coffee sauce, so I'll have to figure something else out for that.  And my dad can't eat chocolate after 6pm or he is kept up, so maybe we'll have cake for breakfast.  It's a make-ahead-of-time cake, so that'll be perfect.  I'll post photos when it's actually materialized.

Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate-Hazelnut Ganache and Cinnamon-Coffee Sauce
The Millennium Cookbook

Chocolate-hazelnut ganache
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
2 cups soy milk
1 pound semisweet nondairy chocolate, melted

Chop the hazelnuts in a blender or food processor.  Add the soy milk and combine with the nuts.  Turn the blender on and slowly pour in the melted chocolate.  When fully blended, pour into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until firm, about four to six hours.

Cinnamon-coffee sauce
3/4 cups freshly brewed coffee
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons Sucanat or Fructose (I plan to try Xylitol and hope for the best)

In a bowl, combine the coffee, cinnamon, and Xylitol.  Whisk together and cook over medium heat.  Let cool and refrigerate until needed-- up to two days if you make it ahead

Pumpkin Cake
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I'm going to use Arrowhead Mills gluten-free flour mix)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup pumpkin puree (After we went to Sauvie Island Farms, I roasted and pureed some acorn squash to freeze, so I'll use that)
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup soy milk
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (I dislike mincing.  I'm a grater)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Oil an 8 inch round springform or false bottom cake pan.  Into a large bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda.  Stir in the salt until well combined.  In a blender, combine the pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup, soy milk, ginger, vanilla, and lemon juice.  Blend until well combined.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cake cool completely in the pan, then remove it from the pan.
Slice the cake horizontally into three even layers (that should be fun!).  Place the bottom layer of the cake on a cake pan.  Drizzle 1/4 cup coffee-cinnamon sauce onto the bottom cake layer.  Spread one half of the hazelnut ganache on the cake layer.  If the ganache is too hard to spread, place the container in a warm water bath.  Place the second layer of cake on top of the ganache layer.  Drizzle 1/4 cup coffee-cinnamon sauce onto the middle cake layer and spread it with the remaining half of the hazelnut ganache.  Place the third layer of cake on top.  Wrap the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.
To serve, cut the cake into ten pieces.  For each serving, place slices of cake on serving plates and garnish with chopped fruit or fresh berries and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

How-To

Some time ago I got a book called "How to Develop Poise and Confidence," by Michael Drury.  I don't remember if it was a sarcastic gift or if I bought it for myself to increase my quirkiness, but I've had it for probably ten years.  Published in '63 and aimed mostly at house wives, it's a window into another time.  While it at first seems trite, the advice it contains is really well founded.  Here are some thoughts for the day.

Believe in Yourself

How can a woman give herself to her family, her work, or anything else if she hasn't got a self to give?  To be self-confident, you have to believe in a self, in its reality and importance.  The self you are is unique.  Your ears, fingerprints, the swirl of your hair are distinctly your own, not only different from anybody else's but different from any that have existed throughout history.  It is reasonable to assume that what is inside--your sensibilities, talents, tastes--are equally special.  If you do not value them and use them, they will be lost to the world, for nobody else has your particular combination of abilities.

Perhaps it can be said this way: Taking pains with your outside appearance lets your real self come through, as a sparkling window lets in the sun. If there are pretty curtains blowing softly in the breeze and a bowl of flowers on the sill, so much the better.

I'm still not good at spending time on my looks every morning.  Partly because my mornings don't have much of a pattern to them, but I won't blame that entirely.  It's just been a hard habit to build.  But I do try to remind myself that taking care of the outside of my body isn't all that different than taking care of the inside.  Jeans and over-sized hoodies (like I'm wearing right now) are super comfy, but they put me in the mind set to flop around all day.  Putting on get-up-and-go clothes makes me feel much more inclined to be a productive member of society, and that makes me feel good about doing my face and hair.  It's a positive feedback loop.

Crock Pot!

I didn't make any sort of fancy barbecue sauce today, but I did make bbq tofu.  In the crock pot.  With ketchup.  Don't knock it till you tried it.  I'm a fan of this recipe.  I've probably made it half a dozen (6) times.  So I just wanted to share it.

2 containers firm tofu, pressed
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3 T agave
2 T Braggs
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T red pepper flakes
1/2 t garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Stick it all in a slow cooker and let it go for 5 hours.  It gets a little caramelized and tasty.  I love it!

I've lost track

How many days has it been now?  I don't remember.  Since August, so coming up on the half way mark.  I'll figure it out. 

I really liked my plan of Thanksgiving-themed food every day, but it didn't last long.  I did bump up my cooking, though, trying new recipes or making complicated ones that I usually leave for special occasions.  I also realize that I have had the same thought just about every November 1st.  But it's back to basics: protein, carb and steamed greens.  I have been spicing up the veggies with different sauces.

Monday's Honey Mustard
Big blob of stoneground mustard
Medium-sized blob of agave
Small blob of Veganaise
Dash of balsamic vinegar
Mix and pour.

Tuesday's Hoisen Sauce
6 T Miso
3 T agave
2 T vinegar
2 T sesame oil
1/2 t dry ginger
1/4 t cloves
1/2 t cinnamon
2 t tamari
Garlic to taste
Water to desired thickness
Mix and pour.

Today is Wednesday.  I haven't decided on a sauce yet, but I'm leaning towards barbecue.

My First Quiche

Time for comfort food.  This quiche from The Millennium Cookbook hit the spot.  I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was, and how normal the ingredients were.  This book is full of craziness, but the quiche was simple and great.


(Per says I'm not really rockabilly enough today and I'm getting a warning.  So maybe I'll notch it up tomorrow and post some photos while I'm at it.  Then again, maybe not.)

Polenta, Tofu and Vegetable Quiche

Serves 6 normals or 4 hungry cyclists, or Per and Amelia for dinner and then again for lunch.
Polenta
4 cups water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup polenta
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp minced fresh rosemary

Tofu-Vegetable Filling
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch of basil, stemmed
2 tbsp light miso
1.5 lbs firm tofu, crumbled
2 tsps wine vinegar
2 tsps brewer's yeast
1/3 tsp ground nutmeg
2 leeks, white only, washed and cut into 1/2" slices
1 clove garlic minced
2 tsps olive oil
8 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 tsp sea salt
.25 tsp ground pepper (That's 0.25, not 25, okay)

1 tomato thinly sliced
handful of chopped herbs (oregano, parsley, basil, tarragon, rosemary, thyme, etc)

To make the polenta: In a medium heavy pot, bring the water to a boil and add the salt.  Gradually whisk in the polenta.  Reduce heat to low, add the oregano and rosemary, and whisk for 5 minutes.  Cook the polenta for another 10 minutes, or until it pulls away from the sides of the pot.  Pour the polenta into an 8 inch square baking dish and smooth the top.  Cool for at least an hour.

To make the filling:  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine the garlic, basil, miso, tofu, vinegar, yeast, and nutmeg.  Transfer half the misture to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Return the puree to the bowl and set aside.
In a large saute pan or skillet, saute the leeks and garlic in the oil over medium heat until the leaks are just wilted, about 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and zucchini and saute until the vegetables are soft and the liquid has evaporated.  Add the salt and pepper and remove from heat.  Add the tofu mixture and stir well.  Spread this mixture on the polenta in the making dish.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove the foil and top with the tomato slices, herbs, and bread crumbs.  Remove the foil and top with the tomato slices and herbs.  Bake, uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned and the filling is firm.  Let cool for 15 minutes to set up the filling before serving.

Peach Cardamom Biscuits

The house is in shambles and it's raining cats and dogs.  Perfect time for some baking!  I found this recipe online the other day and wanted to try it out, but when I went to the store, I couldn't remember all the ingredients, so I kind of mixed it with a scone recipe by Isa Moskowitz.  I still wanted it gluten-free, and I forgot the coconut flour and amazaki, so I improvised.

Amelia's Slap-dash Peach Cardamom Biscuits

Mix together and let curdle:
2 cups soy milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Sift in a large bowl:
1 1/2 cups rice flour
1 cup soy flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 heaping tsp cardamom
3/4 cup xylitol
1/2 tsp salt

Make it fluffy:
Whip 2 tbsp of egg replacer into the sour soy milk.
Add in 1/4 cup agave

Peaches:
I used about a cup and a half of frozen peaches. I melted them on the stove and broke them into half inch pieces.  Even if you're using fresh, I'd cook them just a bit to get the peachy syrup well distributed in the biscuit.  Stir this into the soy milk mixture

Mixing it together:
This is why these are biscuits rather than scones.  I got ahead of myself and mixed the wet into the dry straight away.  To make pastries more on the crumbly end of things (and correct me if I'm wrong), the oil needs to be mixed with the flours before the water stuff.  The oil (butter, margarine, whatever) will coat the dry stuff and then the water-based stuff will hold it together.  When you want moister cookies, you massage water-based stuff into the flour, getting the gluten sticky, before adding the oil-based stuff.  Water's hydrophilic, oil's hydrophobic.  That kind of stuff.
Anyway, I forgot about the plan to cut some margarine in, and mixed the wet straight in.  No point in dealing with the hassle of cold margarine at that point, so I poured in 1/6 cup canola oil. and mixed well.

Putting it in the oven:
The oven should be preheated to 350.  Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a greased cookie sheet, leaving some space between.  They hold their shape a little bit, but do expand some too.  I was worried they'd make one solid biscuit, but they stayed separate.
Sprinkle each one with a teaspoon of xylitol for added yum.
Bake for 20 minutes or till golden, and enjoy!

I think this recipe would also work for muffins.  They have that kind of consistency.  It would be worth a try. 

You may be concerned that I am not following through with my falcon project, but I would like to assure you that, even with all the crap going down, I have managed to dress appropriately each and every day.  I'll post photos soon, I just haven't had the time/confidence lately to look camera-ready.

Dinner, delayed

So the whole "I'm gonna be a good blogger" thing fell apart pretty quick, didn't it?  With a sick hubby and the basement (where our bedroom, library and computer room are) flooding, it's been a busy week!  But I'm back!  Dinner is cooking, dishes are done, and what better thing do I have to do than blog.

When we got back from Portugal, our eggplants had ripened!  We've got four, but for tonight's dinner, I only brought two in.  I have paired them with tempeh, glazed carrots, and mashed potatoes.

Baked Eggplant
Cut some eggplants cut into 1/3 inch slices.  Salt them on both sides and let sit for 30 minutes.  Everyone says to pat them dry, but I always just rinse and shake, and that works fine for me.  So do that.  Then lightly oil a baking pan, and put them in.  Spoon tomato sauce over, and pop them into an oven preheated to 350.  Cook for 20 minutes, flip, sauce the other side, and bake for another 30 or so minutes.  I sprinkled Daiya cheese over in the last 5 minutes, but they'd taste good without.

Savory Tempeh
Cut the tempeh into strips.  Steam them over a high boil for ten minutes.  Take a big old sauce pan.  I used a nonstick this time, but cast iron works well if it's well seasoned (which mine is not right now).  Put enough water in the pan to cover the bottom to about a quarter inch.  And two tablespoons of soy sauce (or Braggs) for each pack of tempeh.  Then put in whatever combo of italian-ish spices you want to.  Probably about a tablespoon of spices would be a good total.  I put in some black pepper and hot sauce too.  Add about two tablespoons of oil.  It's kind of like you're making a tea for the tempeh to get seasoned from.  Put the tempeh in and cook over high for ten minutes.  As the water evaporates, the flavor will go into the tempeh.  Don't let it evaporate too quickly.  If it's getting dry, add more water.  You've got to give it time to get to the center.  When the water's gone, you've got some very well distributed oil for the tempeh to fry in.  Cook till crispy.

I added a nice cocktail to dinner.  I muddled a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger with a little bit of agave and mixed that with some sparkling water and Absolut Citron.  Pour over ice and it's very tasty.

Dinner last night

Again, no photos.  Sorry about that.  Per flew in from Switzerland last night and at his request I made his favorite comfort food.  Dinner was ginger baked tofu, maple glazed Brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes.  Good fall food.  We are eating dinner out tonight, so nothing exciting there, but I am planning to make a shiitake winter stew with roots and soy puffs.  Plus salad.  We've been lacking in fresh vegetables pretty seriously lately, so salad will be nice.  I'll post the recipe for the tofu and Brussels sprouts soon.  Also I've got four egg plants out in the garden that I need to make.  It'll be fun to try to find a hearty, Thanksgiving-ish recipe with egg plants...

Breakfast at Home

Even though I wasn't gone from home for very long on this last trip, I sure got to missing my kitchen.  Per's still traveling, so my first meal back was a solo adventure.  When I woke up this morning the first thing I wanted was a breakfast cornbread.  I like to indulge my travel-induced food cravings.  One time I absolutely had to have squash pancakes.  Nothing else would do.  So today it was cornbread.
When one takes the summer essentially off all exercise and subsists on coconut ice cream, one will inevitably pack on some extra baggage.  So here I am, on the first real day of the off season, with a few pounds too many.  Dropping back to my ideal weight isn't something I ever enjoy, but it's not too terrible either.  Without being able to eat gluten, which is low in carbs and high in protein, this year will be extra challenging.  On top of that, it's Thanksgiving Month!  I am going to make thanksgiving foods every single day this month.  It only comes around once a year, and it's my absolutely favoritest holiday.  Plus my birthday is the 26th.  Soooo...  That leaves me with the challenge of finding weight-loss foods that taste super yummy.  Cornbread is not one of them, but I made it anyway.  I'll start tomorrow, right?

Skillet Corn Bread, from the Veganomicon, plus my modifications
2 cups plain soy milk
2 tsps apple cider vinegar
2 cups corn meal
1/2 cup gluten-free flour mix by Arrowhead mills
     This stuff bakes almost just like wheat flour.  It's what I made Per's birthday cakes with
1/2 cup soy flour
     I actually only had 1/2 cup of the flour mix, so you could just do 1 cup of flour
1/4 cup xylitol (or sugar)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp molasses
1 apple finely diced
     It calls for 1/3 cup of oil, but if you mix in the diced apple, it'll taste more breakfasty and still be moist
     I got this substitution idea from Per's mom's Apple Cake which was made back when butter was rationed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a cast iron pan and place it in the oven to warm while it preheats.
Combine the soy milk and the vinegar in dish and set aside to curdle as you prepare everything else.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the cornmeal, flour, xylitol, baking powder, and salt.  Create a well in the center and add the soy milk mixture and molasses.  Use a wooden spoon to mix together until just combined: some lumps are okay. Fold in the apple bits.
Pour the batter into the prepared cast iron skillet.  Bake for 32-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Enjoy!

Bubbles

Yesterday was pretty rad.  I got up early, got clean and pretty, and wandered out to find an infamous flea market.  Once there I realized that there was pretty much no way for me to buy anything.  All I had was a little bit of change and a ten euro note.  Hard to haggle when you don´t share a language and can´t count out exactly what you want to pay.  So I just browsed.  After some time, I got tired of holding my  wrap around dress closed every time the wind picked up, and it was time for lunch, so I headed back to the flat.  That and my victory curl wasn´t obeying me very well.  The combination of no curling iron and no hair product made for a very floppy curl that just wanted to unwind itself.  Nothing undoes a good outfit faster than always self-consciously fixing it.

Side note:
I have a book from the 50s on how to have poise and confidence.  In one section the author is talking about how she has a friend who is a wonderful professor, but who doesn´t take time with her outfits.  She wears navy tights with a black dress, for example.  And as a result, she never feels quite comfortable when dressing up.  You can´t take shortcuts.  I think it´s important to figure out how nice you want to look, then do it all the way.  That´s not to say, as the book states, that one should wear  heels and an evening gown to the grocery store, but if one wants to wear a house dress, one doesn´t pair it with rubber boots.  The outfit must fit the situation.  It´s true that I feel most confident when what I am wearing fits with what I am doing.  Yesterday my outfit of a black skirt paired with walking shoes, a red t-shirt and Per´s bailout bag made me blend into the crowds both around tourists and local shoppers.  At least I didn´t stand out blaringly as being American and therefore and easy mark.

My new gps device needs to find satelites before it can give me any maps.  It told me to find an area away from tall buildings.  Here.  That was a special little challenge.  I grabbed my paper map and headed up the mountain.  I finally emerged at an overlook where I could see the Atlantic, a lovely suspension bridge, and gigantic cross.  The gps finally figured out that I wasn´t on Lombard street anymore, and cleverly told me how to walk to Jorge´s castle.  It was spitting distance, but I still feel much more confident about driving 200 km north into unknown territory with the machine´s help.

Castelo de Sao Jorge was super fun.  It´s the most castley castle I have been to!  The fortress at Pus Mountain in Sweden was cool, and the Tower of London was cool, but this one was way better.  I will post pictures when I get home just to prove that I am not over-selling it.  They had a museum with archeological finds from the past two thousand plus years.  One display was of animal bone fragments.  I was really bad at guessing what bones they were part of.  I think I got four out of twelve.  Not stellar for someone who constructed a skeleton.  I guess some actual book learning could help in that deparment.

After the castle I wandered over to a health food store, buying some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor on the way.  I got a block of six dollar tofu and almost got some vegan cheese but didn´t have enough money on me.  I love trying fake cheeses.  They are usually terrible, but it´s interesting to see how different companies interpret cheesieness.

I only interacted with a few people today.  Wandering through the alleys, twice there were bubbles floating down from top floor windows.  One boy caught me watching, giggled, and disappeared inside.  Another time I was getting ready to make a left down a particularly narrow pathway when one of three old men sitting at a table playing dominoes, rattled off some quick warning with a shake of the finger and a point to the nose.  I thought that was very nice.  I don´t need to smell bum pee mixed with fish guts.  I am okay without that.

The day of walking and looking and learning really wore me out.  My stomach hurt pretty much the whole day, so I know that didn´t help.  I had tried to massage it earlier in the day but it hurt too much to even touch.  Oddly my digestion is fine, so I won´t complain.  I called it an early night, watched a movie.  I drifted to sleep lulled by a melatonin and some port, listening  to the sounds of people enjoying their Saturday night.

Fashion and travel

Somewhat like fashion and cooking, I do not mix well with travel.  I am not the one emerging from the plane fresh as a daisy, handling my carry ons and checked baggage with grace.  Rather, I spill out with a lap full of breakfast´s orange juice and a fresh face of white-heads.  Why do they always happen on the plane?  Didn´t I suffer enough already with the moist lap?  And to add insult to injury, I dropped Jane´s hard wheel case full of 50 pounds of food, tools, and obviously wheels, onto my high-heel damaged acheles tendon.  The actual event did occur before the insult, but the injury was lingering.  Turns out a bruised and swollen ankle doesn´t, in fact, get any better when you sit on a plane for nine hours.  Who´d have thunk?

All griping aside, I am on hour 26 of no more then twenty minutes of sleep and I still got out of the apartment for an evening march around the neighborhood.  I was too nervous to explore anything, though, because the streets are so illogical and twisty.  It´s built on the side of a big hill and there are tons of Fado restaurants that all look the same.  I just picked one street and followed it more or less for a while then turned right around.  I don´t need to be that exhausted American girl, lost in Alfama all night.  Not my plan.  But tomorrow I am going to go to Jorge´s Castle!  Whoopie!  Also, hooray for not speaking a word of Portuguese.

Day two. So sad.

October 19th

Today I've been a very good housewife.  Plus, I started weight lifting again.  Slowly.  If I rush back in in the fall, I inevitably hurt myself and have to take more time.  Nonetheless, it felt great to be back in the gym.

With Per in Switzerland for the next few days, it's my responsibility to post either photos or a video proving that I'm keeping up with the bargain.  "Keeping up appearances," if you will.

What's black and white and red all over?

A newspaper.  Without any pictures.  Like this.

So hide your mock surprise because there's more.  Seven years ago I dumpstered a pair of carhart shorts.  Too ugly to wear, they were promptly ripped and resewn into a skirt.  Being a skirt, with nothing to chaff on a saddle, this article of clothing has stood the test of time.  Appropriate rockabilly wear?  Probably not.  But still, this is what I'm wearing.  I have, however, topped it it with some very classy hair and makeup, so it's flying under the radar.

Nationals was last week.  I did manage to dress appropriately.  It's easier with nice weather.  LA felt like a balmy Oregon fall, as opposed to the real fall we are going to be looking at pretty soon here for the next seven months.  You know it's coming.  And I certainly need to figure out a coat situation.  But back to Natz.  Bringing curlers to our vacation rental full of racers trying to pump up for the next challenge seemed a little over the top.  I opted, instead, to sleep in big, bouncy pin curls.  Worked like a charm!  And my hair loved the weather!  Not so much the pain in the ass of setting my hair after each dip in the ocean, but life goes on.

I understand that team pride is an important thing to exhibit when standing on the podium, but I sure wished I could have dressed up a little.  I did what I could, but it didn't turn out looking so hot.  I will never try to make my hair look "nice" again.  It just looks out of place being down.  Like a gym teacher in pumps.  Again.  But standing on the podium, in my bright red ballet flats, felt pretty damn good.  Last year I was only next to the podium in the team sprint, but this year Nissy and I clocked in at third and got up onto a step!  I won a metal last year, but nobody knows what you call the metal for 5th.  3rd, however, is Bronze.  Say it with me.  Bronze.  Pretty swell.  I had practiced trying to punch it hard out of the last corner, to drop my second lap rider off at the highest possible speed.  During the final (which was .7 seconds faster than our qualifier!) I got it into my head that acting like I was at the bottom of a particularly hard squat might make that last burst a little faster.  Trying new things during a race is rarely a good idea, but something worked.  Right as I was starting to see my final straight, I took a big breath, tensed everything like I was pushing against a belt, and poured everything I had into getting my legs to spin as fast as possible.  I shot out of the corner and dropped Nissy off a lot faster than before.  That felt really good.  So I either owe my stellar start to that or to Per and my recovery ride in a pedal boat the day before.  Pelicans, anchovies and sea lions, oh my!

Photos to come soon.  Hopefully.

Henry the Crow

 Evidently the white crow that lives on my block is named Henry.  He's well loved by the patrons of the Farmer's Barn tavern across the street.  Here's some shots of him that don't look like Big Foot photography

 

 

And here's me next to the track record board with my team sprint record from 2009.

Morning curls

Last time I tried pincurls, I made them super tight and small.  They left my hair frizzy with bobby pin marks.  Last night I put my hair up in big, loose curls, probably eight total.  The result is quite nice.  This is an early-morning photo of me, pre makeup, but you get the gist.  I'm pleased.  We are leaving for LA on Tuesday and I'd wanted to figure out a way to get curly hair when we're there without schlepping my curlers down.  On October 21st I'm heading to Portugal for Per's racing, and the less I can bring, the better.  A handful of bobby pins and a hat to sleep in almost as good as hot curlers.

Birthday Fun

We had a small birthday party for Per last night.  It gave me a perfect opportunity to try out my cake-making skills.  Instead of making one of my two favorite cakes, I combined them into one fabulous, layered cake.  I think we might have missed taking any pictures of it, but it's turned out pretty nice.  And it tasted great.  And I got to answer the door when guests showed up still wearing my super-cute polka dot apron.  The hair worked out well.  Per took an iPhone picture, but it didn't really show the hair very much.  I managed to redo the do that was done when I had my hair dyed and styled last month, but I added a little curl in the front.  It held all night, too.  It was like a sculpture, stiff with hairspray.   You can't see, but I got a nice bump in and a ponytail where I wrapped the base with hair from the bump, and it all held!  Even the ponytail curls stayed bouncy all night.  A success!

Pincurl results are in.

Not so fabulous.  When I took the pincurls out they were just kind of frizzy.  I think I need to put just a little bit of pomade into the mix before putting them up.  I put my hair into a ponytail and they have added some nice bounce, and I think they'll last longer than hot curls.  But nothing fabulous at all.  And here's my non-fabulous shot to illustrate the point.

Pincurls!!!

 I decided that it was high time to try pin curls instead of hot curls or wet-set curls.  Hot curls fall quickly, and the wet-set took sooooo long!  Not a fan of having them on my head for 6 hours.  So we'll see.
The process was pretty simple.  Same theory as victory rolls, but more of them, and making them flat instead of a stand-up roll.  And I didn't have to hide any bobby pins.  They're kind of sloppy.  If I can get it down better, I could wear them as a style on their own.  It wasn't easy, though.  My burly arms got sore holding them over head.  My wrists, that made it through three madisons with Per last night got tired with all the twisting.  Yup, I'm tough.

 

This was my going-to-the-store-for-cake-ingredients outfit.  Thanks to Lisa Graham, I finally went out and bought some skinny jeans that fit sprinter butts.  And don't they look hot with heels.  The facial expression is in response to Per saying, "Show me concern for the national space program!"  So there you have it.

I try to be my best.

I managed a cute outfit today, even though I was in a rush.  Cuffed, tight jeans.  Sleeveless button-up.  Jean jacket.  And to tie it together, mary-jane heels.  I was too rushed to do any more than a pony tail, but the look still held together with the help of liquid eyeliner, rouge, and cherry-red lips.  All this while trying to cook dinner and pack for madison practice at the track.  I had to leave by 3:45 to pick Per up in Hillsboro, and didn't start getting ready till 3:20.  But it all worked.

The one catch was that I was left with only my heels to strut around in at the track.  My track cleats don't do well on pavement.  Fortunately I was wearing my knickers, which almost look like capris, so you'd almost not know the difference.  Almost.  But really, there I was in spandex and heels.  It's not too bad at our super-insular little Alpenrose family, but shopping for post-race munchies is a different story.

Jocks in heels never set well with me.  It's like seeing your butch PE teacher all dressed up to chaperon a dance.  Not hot.

On the plus side, I made it through 30 minutes of madison racing without a stomach ache!  My Crohn's is the best Crohn's I've ever heard of.  If I didn't hate it on principle, we could almost be friends.

Don't Cry

September is here.  That means it's time to shop again.  I've got to get suited up for rain.  Any suggestions?

My dad and I built a bench.  Out of wood.  With real tools that run on electricity.  This is the first thing I've EVER made out of wood.  The staining is taking a long time, but I'll put pictures up when I finish.

I have to go eat now.

Quiet Day

It felt like fall today, which I combated by wearing a short skirt and a tank top.  I'm not ready.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: A must-see.  I've watched this film a few times before, but not in a while.  I'd forgotten how fabulous Jane Russel is.  I love her down to business attitude.  And the musical number with the US Olympic Team working out where she sings "Isn't anyone here for love?" is just perfect.  Also I like how the team is outfitted in very short, skin-toned shorts.  Those men were ripped for their time, but by today's standards, what they have would be bare minimum for any male actor.  The men got bigger and the women got smaller.  Marilyn's waist is pretty itty bitty, but that's got to be due to a corset.  I bought one, just to see.  It certainly improves how dresses hang, but, to be honest, it hurts my Crohn's, so I don't wear it.  Maybe later when I'm all better.  I'll wear my corset while enjoying half a dozen vodka tonics and munching on a tofurky sandwich.  Till then, tofu. rice and steamed veggies.  Um, yum?

Calorie Counting: Am I Starving?

I've lost a little weight since the diagnosis.  Nothing dramatic, though.  My stomach was rumbly this morning, and I had a hard time getting food in.  As a result, I've been spacey and had a headache all day. I was pretty sure that I must be starving, so I decided to count how many calories I'd had.  It wasn't hard; I haven't eaten that much.  I had a little bit of rice porridge for breakfast, two bananas for snack, a carrot juice, some tofu and polenta, and a protein shake.  It all added up to 1600 calories, which is a lot more than I expected.  I'm glad I go by, "eat when you're hungry," because, even though this is right on track for a 2000 calorie diet, this was an unacceptably small amount of food to be eating.  I haven't counted what I eat on a good day, but even with the crohn's, it's got to be up somewhere around 3000.

Also, I bought shoes today.

Dinner with Camille

What a great day!  We woke up, had breakfast at the classic-car-themed diner, Beaterville, I took an hour long nap, then lunch, lazing around, and dinner with Camille.  We got take out and biked to an overlook point to munch.

I'm thankful for leggings.  They make it possible for me to ride my cruiser while wearing a form-fitting dress.  Granted, I hike the skirt part up to above the saddle.  At least I look good when I get off the bike, and no one gets to sneak a peak.

The result of yummy Thai take out is that I got so full that my tummy hurt really bad and I had to miss a workout.  But that paired with the unusually long sleeping periods, maybe putting the workout off till tomorrow is a good decision.

PB&J Smoothie

Stomach was super grumbly today, so after a morning of watching Per race, we headed to Laughing Planet for some easy-on-the-tummy food.  This dress pictured, by the way, didn't fit me before Crohn's.  There's always a plus side!  Also, I have only three huge fingers, which is pretty amazing.

Tonights Dinner

Here's the dinner, and me, flanked by monstrous tomato plants.  You can even see that squash's home plant peeking out in the background.

Food and Fashion

They don't mix very well, at least not for me. I started sewing an apron last week but have yet to finish it.  I made some amazing food today, and looked great doing it.  Now I need to go explore Freddy's stain-removal aisle.  Per took some pictures, and when I get around do uploading the camera, I'll post them.  Also in that collection is some nice ones of me in makeup doing box jumps, before the stomach said "absolutely no."

Dinner tonight was four dishes, as followes:

Marinated tomatoes--
    A bunch of tomatoes*
    A fistful of basil*
    Olive oil
    Balsamic vinegar
    Lemon juice
    Salt and pepper to taste
    Pine nuts
Start this first so it can sit for half an hour or so while everything else gets ready

Baked Yellow Squash
    Two over ripe crookneck squash* seeded and sliced to 1/2 inch
    Tablespoon of Olive oil
    Tablespoon of Agave
    A thumb of grated fresh ginger
    Salt
Mix thoroughly and put in a baking dish.  Bake at 400F till soft, somewhere around half an hour

Tofu and Beef Tips in BBQ Sauce
    Pound of firm tofu
    Package of beef tips, frozen
    One cup of BBQ sauce (I used the apricot recipe from Veganomicon)
Dice and fry up the tofu till crispy.  Add the beef.  Fry for another three minutes.  Turn heat off and add the sauce. Let that simmer for another five minutes

To round things our, we had two heads of broccoli, steamed.

* All that stuff is from my garden.  Not a lot of variety growing out there, but what I got, I got plenty of!

I love meals like this, that turn out so good and have such vibrant colors.

My dress loved this meal much less so.  I'm a little bit of a sloppy cook, and it shows.  But I swear I'm gonna go set up the sewing machine right now!

Doctors?

Anyone out there know of a physician who knows about both sports and gut diseases?  I'm trying to figure out how to race and train with Crohn's, and could use some professional advice.  "Listen to your body" can only take me so far, you know?

My Inspirations

I grew up on Danny Kaye movies.  Specifically, three of them.  I didn't know who Micheal Jackson was, but I knew the Court Jester by heart.  I'm not a connoisseur of musicals, I'm more of a specialist.  What I have seen, I've seen a million times.  But with this new project, I've decided to expand my repertoire.  So here's a basic rundown of the history of the musicals that I care about:

Okay, I lied.  I have to include this even though it's not about musicals.
Late 20s, early 30s:  Mae West moved from stage to film.  She's like nothing else I've seen.  Bawdy, broad, and full of wit.  She rocked the film industry!  This was pre-censorship, and she was full speed ahead.  "It's not the men in your life that count.  It's the life in your men."  One after another.  Gotta love her.  Oh, also, the New Old Lompoc on 21st has one of those cardboard cut outs of her from I'm No Angel, but they've stretched her.  She was actually kind of chunky, like a box, and they made her much more modern-sized.  Kind of irritating.  I'm not going for a fat-positive lecture here, it's just that so much of her appeal was in how she carried herself.  And her size was part of that.  So, grrr.

The 1940s:  A lot of good stuff, but not a lot of movies that I've actually seen start to finish. Danny Kaye got his start here.  Up In Arms, Kid From Brooklyn and others.  I need a refresher on early Kaye films.  Also, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and Fred and Ginger.

The Glorious 1950s:  I've been boning up a little bit on the history here, and learned that the process of making a musical back then was a lot different than the way movies are made now.  The big studios would have a talent pool of actors and actresses, and just kind of cycle through them.  One interesting example is Debbie Reynolds in Singing In The Rain.  She didn't know how to dance but Arthur Freed at MGM decided it was time for her to have a leading role.  Evidently it was rough going, but she was able to learn the moves with the help of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.  She said, in an interview, that she passed out one time while rehearsing the Good Morning number.  Here's another number with Kelly and O'Connor from a TV clip.
White Christmas came out in 54.  It's great, any time of the year.  Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and George Clooney's aunt, Rosemary Clooney.  I always love it when these musicals work in a performance, as a way to show some song and dance numbers that don't really fit with the plot.  This one has one of my favorite numbers of all time, where Danny Kaye is making fun of the advant garde theater movement.   "Sisters," as done by the boys, is another great one.

I could ramble on more, and probably will do so in later posts, but for now, let's move on.

The 50s was also the end of the musical era.  Everything changed with television and rock and roll.  The teenagers had never before been a leading consumer group.  Adults and children more often stayed home and watched the TV, while the teens were the ones going out to the movies.  The stars of the time had expected to be able to keep going for years, like those before them had, but the carpet was pulled out from under them.  They were on top of the world one year, and then the next, no one's contracts were renewed.  Gene Kelly made twenty movies in fifteen years, from 1942 to 1957, then only made three after that.  And it wasn't for lack of talent.  Just watch him soft shoe with Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu.  There just wasn't an audience for him anymore.

While I do adore these musicals, they aren't really pertinent to the rockabilly movement.  That's a little more about Buddy Holly, Elvis, and the like.  Here's Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers singing Teenage Delinquent.  So good!  And here he is at 13 talking about how he wrote "Fools Fall In Love."

In 1990, John Waters came out with Cry Baby featuring Johnny Depp.  Waters said that he wanted to show how kids new how to be bad, even before rock and roll hit the big time.  It's also got Ricki Lake, Iggy Pop, Tracy Lords and Mink Stole to round out its awesomeness!

Yesterday I finished watching "Cover Girl," a 1944 musical with Rita Hayworth.  It was the first movie of her's that I'd seen.  Gene Kelly's in it as the male romantic interest.  She's good.  Brassy, and pretty close to being a strong female role model.  She does cry into her liquor a little bit over her man, but she also goes against what folks tell her to do, which is pretty good for that time.  She's also super adorable.

I'm halfway through "No Business Like Show Business" with Donald O'Connor and Marilyn Monroe.  Ethyl Merman is in it too, and I feel like I should care about her, but I just don't know enough to be partial.  She's funny, but I haven't gotten much more from her.

That's all for today.  I'm going to be a good little wife and go clean the house in my curlers now.

Morning Makeup

This is my morning makeup routine. I've started by doing all my base stuff and one eye.  I'm sorry the quality isn't better.  

Day 28: a recap

Rolling into the Hood River Valley High School parking lot in my 84 Dodge Aries, I got my first glimpse of an early-60s Ford Falcon.  Its polished black paint contrasting against the gleaming chrome was just too much for my teenage heart.  Quiet and alone on my bench seat, I swooned.

Ten years later I am a somewhat respectable adult with a husband, a house, and a car all my own.  We are Portlanders.  We are practical.  We have four bicycle racks on the roof of our Subaru station wagon.  We own a house in North Portland, the popular home of many young successful, but still slightly hip couples.  We garden, compost, and recycle.  And still, every time I pass a Falcon, my heart flutters just a bit and my knees shudder.  For the seven years that Per and I have been together, he has had to listen to me wax poetic about these cars.  At the end of his patience, Per decided that if I really want one, I'm going to have to earn it.  And so we struck a deal. 

The contract is this: if I can dress in the rockabilly style, complete with makeup and hair, each and every single day for six months, then we will buy a 64 Ford Falcon.  If I skip a day, it starts over.  I've never been one for subtlety, and any excuse to have fun is a welcome one right now.  It keeps my mind off the my recently diagnosed Crohn's disease (ulcers in my little gut) that is keeping me from racing or even riding my bicycle.

The rules are kind of hazy and weird, especially considering that the rockabilly movement was in its peak in the 50s, the car's a 64, and I am working in some of the glamor of the 40s.  The color palate is essentially black and red.  Polka dots and gingham are great.  Victory rolls and pompadours work for the hair, liquid eyeliner for the eyes, and very, very red lipstick.  Also, all twenty of my nails must be kept in good condition with cherry red nail polish.  And let's not forget the shopping.  A whole new wardrobe!  Dresses, shoes, girdles, the whole deal!  Skinny jeans are a no-go for me (deadlift butt) so I'm stuck with pencil skirts and lovely dresses.  It's not that I don't like how I look in skinny jeans, it's that I have yet to find any that are sewed for sprinters.  But I don't usually mind the shopping.  Naked City on Hawthorne has been a good source, as well as the occasional vintage stores.  Finding clothes that fit has been a little bit of a challenge.  I know everyone has a unique body shape, but I definitely have had an easier time of it in the past, pre-weight lifting.  My lats are too wide and my tits are too small.  My waist is too solid and my glutes stick out too much.  All these things are great for going fast, but not so good for taffeta.  Cotton/spandex blends are my friends.

Some photos from my facebook posts: