Wool cupcakes...

The fifteen knitted cupcakes are done and they're cute!
Somehow I ended up with a couple more than a baker's
dozen, but, as with real dessert, more is merrier.

Gnomes in the Cupcake Forest

With a digital camera, a tripod, some Mac software, and a little set I sewed/built, I'm making my first stop-motion animation. It is a million times more fun than I expected (especially since I thought it would be soul-crushingly wearisome), and this week I'm in the process of turning nearly 1,000 stills into a moving picture. It's an uhurried process, but check up on me in December, when I'll debut your new favorite 1-minute movie about gnomes who live in cupcake houses.

Re-living Thanksgiving

It's Friday morning, and Ben and I are already relishing the
leftovers of last night's breathtaking vegan Thanksgiving fete.
Here's what we made! If you want a recipe, leave a comment.


Homebaked bread!


Ben's sweet, cinnamon-y yams. I had some for breakfast today,
with strong coffee: my favorite post-Thanksgiving breakfast.


Mushroom stuffing made with homemade bread. Dreamy.


I pickled beets for the very first time, remembering Gram, who
pickled them (& hard-boiled eggs!) every Christmas and Easter.


Hello, welcome to Mashed Potato Mountain.


Giant tub of mushroom-onion gravy! Hecks yes!


Ben invented this savory almond-breaded tofu dish,
a new holiday favorite, on Thanksgiving morning.


We heart fresh green beans.


My fella makes a truly heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth
pumpin pie.

Naughty, nice, or neutral?

Okay, okay, my list for Santa is up, underneath
the funny "WIPs" bar graph to the right. But you
really don't have to buy me anything. Happy holidays!

Wanna peek at our table?

Ben, who is usually the quintessence of moderation and the avoidance of excess, ate four of these fluffy vegan pancakes with oven-baked potatoes, then didn't eat again for like eleven hours.



On Friday we made tomato-balsamic pizza and garlic-sauce pizza on homemade bread.


Vegan macaroni and cheese, veggie burgers, and seasame broccoli surprise! The "surprise" is that I accidentally sprinkled Scottish oats on it because I thought they were sesame seeds. Still delicious, Ben said.

Turkey = iPod Touch

Remember the knitted gobbler I made for the turkey design
contest? It won first place and now I own an iPod Touch! Oh
my god, right?

When that stupid "music is my boyfriend" song from the commercial got stuck in my head five weeks ago, I never thought I would soon be the owner of a device with a "revolutionary multi-touch interface." The funniest part is that I recently asked a young comrade and classmate what an iPod Touch even was. (The
eighteen-year-olds are very, very patient with me.)

Check out the online gallery of turkey submissions. Art school crazy, yo!

Done, done, and done!

Knit turkey! Don't eat
him, he lurves you.















Ribbed laptop cozy for my
cutie-cute white MacBook.











Felted bird ornament... a little wonky but sweet & Christmas-y.

Gravy, baby

Ben and I eat admirably, I admit. We love to cook, love to turn the kitchen upside-down, love to polish off delicious vegan dinners followed by exquisite vegan desserts. Here's what we cooked together last night: savory baked tofu, ginger mashed potaoes with mushroom gravy, and fresh green beans. Tonight we're using the leftover mashatatoes to make the filling for some curry buns!

And don't even get me started on brunch.

Update on June 4, 2010: here's my mushroom-onion gravy recipe! You can make mushroom-leek gravy by substituting one thinly sliced leek (white and green parts) for the onion.

Vegan mushroom-onion gravy

2 T. canola oil
1 small onion, diced
5-7 button mushrooms, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1.5 T. tamari or soy sauce
1 T. sesame oil
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. dried basil
1 dried bay leaf (optional, I usually leave it out)
1/4 c. nutritional yeast
3 T. all-purpose flour
1.5 - 2.5 c. water (start will less & see how thick you want it)
Sea salt to taste
Splash of soy milk or soy creamer (2 T. or less)

In a heavy pot (or whatever you have), heat the oil over medium heat and saute the onion and mushrooms for five minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. The mushrooms will start to release their liquids. Add the garlic, tamari, sesame oil, spices, and nutritional yest. Whisk everything together in the pot and continue cooking over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the flour one tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly. The mixture in the pot will become thick and pasty. Turn heat up to medium-high and cook the paste for a minute or two, stirring a few times. Finally, add the water a little at a time (might not need all of the water), whisking. When the gravy is about the consistency you want, or slightly thinner than you want (because some of the water will cook off), turn heat up to HIGH and bring to a boil. Once it has been boiling for a minute or so, cover and reduce heat to medium-low until almost ready to serve, then blend to desired consistency with a hand-held immersion blender (optional -- it's great without blending, too_. Add salt to taste, and stir in a splash of soy milk or soy creamer to give the gravy a creamier consistency (and the lighter color that I associate with traditional gravies).

We love this gravy on biscuits for brunch, too!

Bare X-mas tree = pathetique

I signed up for the 2007 Christmas Ornament Exchange at
Kathleen-Marie's blog. You can too!

Sign up by noon on November 16, then Kathleen-Marie will use random.org to figure out who gets whom. You'll send someone a Christmas tree ornament you make or buy, and someone will send you one!

"Reader, I married him."

Last weekend Ben and I saw an adaptation of one
of my favorite novels, Jane Eyre. It was our first
use of the season tickets we gave ourselves as a
joint birthday gift, and the play was lovely even
though the actors were too attractive to play our
plain Jane and Edward "nothing striking" Rochester. But, O,
Charlotte Bronte--my sister! Your work is a pleasure in any form!