Houston!

This week is the Houston International Quilt Show.  And this year I get to go!  So no more blogging for the rest of this week.  I'll be busy looking at quilts from all over the world, at the world's biggest quilt show.

Vegan Cookbook Review

The Happy Hervivore by Lindsay S. Nixon is a cookbook with all kinds of recipes.  From Vegan Worcestershire sauce to tofu chocolate icing, Lindsay has it all.  I tried out her recipes for cornbread, tamale pie, and blue corn chickpea tacos.  They were good!  There are lots of recipes that call for tofu or seitan or nutritional yeast, which I'm not quite ready to eat yet.  The recipes are fairly simple - some are so simple they are more ideas than recipes: like fresh applesauce made from fresh apple slices ground in a food processor, or salad made with "dinosaur" kale and salt.  But those are good ideas, and I had not thought of them before.  One recipe, the "5-Spice Harmony Bowl" is a lot like what I cook when I'm not using a recipe (minus the spices).  Overall, I liked this book because of the wide range of recipes, the simplicity of the recipes, and it has things that I may be able to try someday if I get up the nerve to eat tofu or nutritional yeast.  The recipes I tried turned out well.  You can see her recipes and try them for yourself on her website, www.happyherbivore.com

The asters are blooming!  Like all my favorite plants, these asters are easy to grow.  Once you plant them you don't have to do much at all, and they reward you by blooming every fall.  

Scary Spiders

This is a great activity to do with grandchildren.  We started with styrofoam balls and washable poster paint.  I didn't have black, so we used purple.  (The other Halloween color)  After the paint dried, we glued on two googly eyes and poked in 8 black pipe cleaners.  It's kind of tricky getting them to stand up, but don't they look like they could skitter around pretty fast on those long spider legs?  Scary!

Quilts, again

Today I worked on a quilt for a friend with cancer.  Hoping to send a little comfort her way.  Also, still basking in the glory of the two ribbons my quilt won at the quilt show.

Greens

I love greens!  This is a basket of swiss chard my granddaughter and I picked from the garden.  There is also  basil, rosemary, oregano, chives, thyme, and sage in there.  We sauteed onions and the herbs and greens, and added those and some tomatoes to our lentil soup.  Yum!

Ribbons!

My little kaleidoscope quilt won a blue ribbon and the Judge's Choice award at the quilt show!  I knew the quilting turned out well, but it's so different from what a judge usually chooses, so I was very surprised.  And happy!