new subway tile in the kitchen!

backsplash: BEFORE

one of my least favorite things about our house was the half-assed backsplash behind the sink, which was made out of those sticky floor tile squares. i hated it. yet, it took us almost 6 years to do something about it.   my dad & i both came to the conclusion that we loved the look of white subway tiles & hired his neighbor's brother-in-law (who used to build log cabins in colorado) to install them for us.  we both wavered back and forth on the grout color - settled on gray at first, but after talking to carolyn, i realized i really wanted white.  so i changed my mind. and then my dad did too.  i am super happy with the results.

new backsplash: AFTER! 

behind the stove before & after:

katie's seitan reuben recipe

 

katie's seitan reuben (makes 2 open face sandwiches. probably enough for 2 people but i usually eat the whole darn thing myself).

ingredients:

-1/2 small yellow onion 

-2 oz (approx 1/4 package) of Westsoy Seitan strips

-1 tsp (or a nice, healthy squirt) Bragg's liquid aminos

-1 slice of swiss cheese

-2 slices of rye bread

-mayo/ketchup or mustard

-sauerkraut 

directions:

• thinly slice half a small onion and saute in a nonstick skillet (with a little olive oil or cooking spray) over medium heat - for about 10 minutes, or until the onion gets nice and brown.
• add the seitan and the liquid aminos and cook 2 minutes.
• meanwhile, toast the rye bread and coat with a thin layer of "secret sauce" (mayo + ketchup) or mustard. 
• turn down the heat & put the cheese over the seitan/onion mixture. cover and cook until cheese is melty - about a minute.
• put that on the bread and top (or serve with) sauerkraut. 

notes: i am fortunate enough to have a husband who makes his own sauerkraut, so our fridge is usually stocked with the stuff. for you "regular" sauerkraut-less folks, i suggest Bubbies.

vegan potluck & blueberry buckle recipe

last week, we were invited to a vegan potluck dinner in honor of a friend's birthday. the food spread was unbelievable - lentil stew, cashew cheese, samosa pie, spicy greens, beet chocolate cake, brownies, lemon cookies... the mister contributed chana masala and i brought this blueberry buckle. recipe can be found here. 

(notes: i used frozen blueberries instead of fresh - i don't think they were defrosted enough and as such, the batter was really cold. consequently, this needed to bake WAY longer than called for (like, 30 minutes more). the next day when i removed it from the springform pan, it still didn't seem done enough, so i put it on a cookie sheet and cooked for 20 MORE minutes.  leftovers were stored in the fridge - really good warmed up in the toaster oven w/ a little earth balance).

eggless french toast

i'm not crazy about eggs, so i looked around for recipes for "eggless french toast".

single serve (2 slices) eggless french toast (adapted from various online sources. can be vegan depending on your bread):

ingredients:
-1/2 banana
-1/4 cup almond milk
-big dash of cinnamon
-sprinkling of cornstarch
-little bit of vanilla
-2 slices of bread

directions:

• combine the first 5 ingredients in a small food processor for a minute. 

• pour mixture over 2 slices of bread - smush the bread slices together so that the bread soaks the mixture in a little.  

• cook in nonstick skillet (coated w/ cooking spray over medium heat) until brown (approx 5 minutes each side - until the bread firms up a little and gets nice and toasty).  

• top with your favorite toppings. i used powdered sugar, more cinnamon and earth balance. nutella or maple syrup would be delicious too. 

salt & pepper shakers

and now for an update on my salt & pepper shaker collection. i've run out of room atop my kitchen cabinets, so i've been more selective about purchasing/displaying them. my dad (bless his heart) buys me gas station s&p shakers whenever he goes on road trips, but i don't have the heart to tell him i am only interested in old ones. anyway...my interests now lean toward the weird, bizarre vintage ones.

not that weird, but cute: 

mama polar bear holding her cub (estate sale, murfreesboro, $2)

Can't really tell what's going on here:

c

cats? with monocles? (estate sale, murfreesboro, $2)

JFK on Rocking Chair (yes...this is meant to be JFK. it says so on his rocking chair)

i like how his eyes make him look slightly doofy (antique store, nolensville, $12)

(vegan) lemon poppy seed muffins

i've made a few things from isa chandra moskowitz's "vegan brunch" cookbook & they've all been great (pumpkin bran muffins, zucchini spelt muffins). some other vegan baked goods i've made have turned out too gummy and you could definitely tell that something was amiss; not so with the muffins in this book. these are as easy as can be and delicious!  and you don't even miss the eggs and butter (i promise).

recipe can be found here.

ps: i might have asked/pondered this before, but what are the 'rules' about posting a recipe from a cookbook? do you have to ask permission? can you get in trouble if they were to find it?

relatively healthy peach dessert crumble

Ginger Peach Crumble (adapted from moosewood restaurant low-fat favorites)

ingredients:
1 pound frozen unsweetened sliced peaches or 3 cups peeled fresh peach slices
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup crumbled gingersnaps (about 8 gingersnaps)
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts (my addition)
1 tablespoon butter or Earth Balance (my addition)

method:
-preheat the oven to 425.
-Evenly distribute the peach slices in the bottom of an unoiled 8-inch glass square baking dish. -Sprinkle the lemon juice over the peaches.
-Combine cinnamon, gingersnaps, brown sugar and hazelnuts in a small food processor. add the butter & pulse til crumbly.
-Sprinkle on top of peaches. Bake for about 25 minutes until the peaches are tender.

i used one of those recipe calorie analyzer thingys and came up with approx 700 for the whole dish. divided into 4 servings, that's only 175 calories per serving. now, you shouldn't necessarily eat the whole thing by yourself (like it did), but it was last night's dessert, today's breakfast, and tonight's dessert...  you don't even miss not having a crust and vanilla ice cream.

Master Bathroom re-do

realized i never shared before-and-afters from the "great snowstorm of 2010 master bathroom re-do"(back in january). i removed the grody wallpaper, primed the walls and painted them a nice greyish color ("100 acre raindrops" from the disney color collection by behr from home depot). it was a little more purple than i expected, so i was afraid it was going to clash with the brownish counter & shower, but i found a good shower curtain (on sale from urban outfitters) that actually tied the room together.  i wasn't 100% in love with the color but kept it anyway, thinking we were gonna put the house on the market soon. but...doesn't look like selling is in our near future, so i guess i'm just going to live with it for now.

Tulum vacation

view from our room

we just spent a week in tulum, mexico. the trip came together quite quickly (booked just 2 weeks before departure) and we decided on that locale because 1) flights to cancun were relatively cheap 2) it came recommended by a few friends 3) we tend to enjoy places that are more "off the beaten path".  

(hotel's private beach)

day 1, tuesday the 8th:

our flight left at 6:15am & our awesome pal melinda drove us to the airport (at the crack of dawn-she rules).  layover in miami; arrived in cancun around 1:30pm. the line to get through customs was very disorganized and snaked around all the baggage claim areas and whatnot. in an effort to save some money, we decided to take the bus into tulum rather than arranging for a private transport. bus #1 to playa del carmen, bus #2 to tulum, taxi to hotel.  we were exhausted and hungry, so we immediately ate dinner at our hotel's restaurant. 

tulum is divided into 2 areas - the "downtown" city center and the hotel strip (but no mega-resorts - a majority of the hotels are small, boutique cabana-type places, and ours was no exception).  piedra escondida has 8 rooms, directly on the beach and a small restaurant on premise (that 1st dinner we had was a little disappointing so we only ate there once - although we did take advantage of the free breakfast every morning).  we conked out pretty early that night. 

(our room)

i was a little concerned that i wouldn't be able to deal with the lack of A/C in the room (there's no electrical grid for the beach hotels, but they use solar and wind power for "other" electricity).  since the cabanas are right on the beach (i counted 40 steps between our room and the beach chairs), the breeze was definitely strong enough to keep us cool at night. it was great falling asleep/waking up to the sound of the ocean. we were on the 2nd floor and had a thatched roof, and so we heard lots of birds at the crack of dawn too. they were kinda obnoxious but i got used to them. 

day 2, wednesday:

bad idea - applying SPF 50, then swimming in the ocean, then not re-applying for the rest of the day. i was ok, since i had a little sun exposure prior to the trip, but R was not so lucky & got really sunburned. 

that afternoon, we went into town that day to exchange dollars to pesos - ate lunch and got some gelato (i had key lime pie, it was awesome) - wandered around a bit.  that night we discovered a restaurant up the street from our hotel called Zamas. we ended up eating almost every subsequent lunch and dinner there. i had a pizza w/ gorgonzola, pine nuts, zucchini and R had a steak over gnocchi. this place was fantastic because 1) they changed up their menu w/ specials every night 2) they accepted US dollars 3) tons of vegetarian options 4) fresh ingredients 5) super friendly wait staff.  i was worried how the whole vegetarian thing would play out (worried i'd have to eat nothing but cheese quesadillas every day), so it was incredible to have so many choices at this place.  over the course of the trip, i had a grilled vegetable sandwich, veggie tacos, spaghetti, margarita pizza, jicama salad, asparagus salad, veggie enchiladas. R had a burger, braised short ribs/pasta and other meaty dishes that are escaping me right now.  one night we shared an order of churros w/ a spicy chocolate dipping sauce - SO GOOD!  everything was just top notch so we didn't even find it necessary to try any of the surrounding restaurants - especially since this place was no more expensive than the others. 

that night, we decided to play "pizza crab" and "cookie crab."  what is this game, you ask? PETA would definitely disapprove of our actions, but here's how you play: find a crab and offer it a keebler chocolate chip cookie. find a big crab and offer it leftover fancy pizza. shine flashlights and take pictures of crabs with the food. i was the designated photographer/crab spotter, while R was the flashlight operator/crab feeder. 

PIZZA CRAB

we also star-watched that night. i haven't had such awesome star visibility since my family's trip to Yosemite in the late 80s. 

day 3/4 = sunburn:

R had a bad sunburn, so we just chilled out under the umbrellas and read lots. we also played ms pac man on his PSP. 

day 5, saturday:

this day was the only overcast/rainy day, so we ventured up the street and climbed up some rocks. saw lots of locals fishing. 

R climbed down to this rocky thing and sat as the waves crashed into him. he had a blast. 

day 6, sunday:

took the bus to Coba to see some ruins. it has the tallest temple pyramid on the Yucatan peninsula and you get to climb it! 

we rented bikes when we got inside the grounds, and that was a lot of fun.

 the pictures don't do it justice - but that damn pyramid is super tall (138 ft) - getting up wasn't so scary, but the climb down was a little freaky. at the top you get a great view of the jungles. we were hoping to see monkeys (no luck) but we saw a ton of lizards. 

(that's me standing at the base of the steps, on the right)

day 7, monday:

more beach time. 

day 8, tuesday:

bus to playa del carmen - we walked around the shops a bit. i got some sandals and a wooly owl stuffed animal. bus to the cancun airport. what a nightmare that place is - with it's margaritaville restaurant and mall-like food court. seeing all that touristy crap made us so grateful to have stayed in tulum. made it back to nashville around 11pm. 

other tidbits/highlights:

• the cleaning staff made towel animals

• i read 2 books: man walks into a room by nicole krauss, and don't get too comfortable by david rakoff 
• i managed to NOT check my email at the lobby computer - we used it only to check bus schedules and look up random things on wikipedia (such a stringrays - which rollum encountered when swimming at the neighboring beach area).
• no clocks/watches/cell phones
• after the coba trip we stopped in an air-conditioned convenience store. it was our first/only exposure to A/C the whole trip. R stocked up on random sodas and we tried dulce de leche reese's peanut butter cups (thumbs up!)
• can't remember what they called it (cheladas?), but it was a salted-rimmed glass with (lots of) fresh-squeezed lime juice and you poured your beer into it. 
• kinda felt like a schmuck not being able to speak the language better. i only knew how to ask for the check, look if the "tip" was included, and say please and thank you. 
• i used to hate bananas, and thanks to this trip, i like them now. one of the breakfast options was a fruit plate (with bananas, papaya, cantaloupe and apples) covered in yogurt and granola, and i got way into the bananas. cantaloupe is still horriblel, though. 
• i'm probably forgetting other stuff, so there may be a P.S to this post...

ISFJ

the mister & i have both been obsessing a bit over our myers-briggs personality types after taking the assessment found here.  both of ours seem to describe us to a T. his is particularly revealing, and he's found comfort knowing that there are others (uh...1% of the population) like him.  see for yourself: 

ISFJ - me

follows the rules, polite, fears drawing attention to self, dislikes competition, somewhat easily frightened, easily offended, timid, dutiful, private, lower energy, finisher, organized, socially uncomfortable, modest, not confrontational, easily hurt, observer, prone to crying, not spontaneous, does not appreciate strangeness - intolerant to differences, apprehensive, clean, planner, prone to confusion, afraid of many things, responsible, guarded, avoidant, anxious, cautious, suspicious, more interested in relationships and family than intellectual pursuits, not adventurous, fears doing the wrong thing, dislikes change

INTP - him

loner, more interested in intellectual pursuits than relationships or family, wrestles with the meaninglessness of existence, likes esoteric things, disorganized, messy, likes science fiction, can be lonely, observer, private, can't describe feelings easily, detached, likes solitude, not revealing, unemotional, rule breaker, avoidant, familiar with the darkside, skeptical, acts without consulting others, does not think they are weird but others do, socially uncomfortable, abrupt, fantasy prone, does not like happy people, appreciates strangeness, frequently loses things, acts without planning, guarded, not punctual, not prone to compromise, hard to persuade, relies on mind more than on others, calm

here's a few other things that stood out to me about fellow ISFJ's:

• they do not usually express their own feelings, keeping things inside. If they are negative feelings, they may build up inside the ISFJ until they turn into firm judgments against individuals which are difficult to unseed, once set.
• good at taking care of practical matters and daily needs
• Usually good (albeit conservative) at handling money
• Unlikely to express their needs, which may cause pent-up frustrations to build inside 
• Not likely to be very wordy about expressing their love and affection, they're likely to do so through their deeds, and will deeply value their partner's responding affirmations. 
• It's a common problem for ISFJ's to not express their feelings until pushed to some limit, after which they explode in anger and say things which they later feel they shouldn't have said.  
• they hate confrontation; if you get into a fight, don't expect them to jump in after you. You can count on them, however, run and get the nearest authority figure 
• ISFJ personality types have difficulty delegating things to others.

If you're inclined to take the test, I'm curious to see where you fall - feel free to share in the comments or email me.  i know some people don't put too much clout in these sorts of things, but it's just kinda interesting. it's definitely made me more aware of some of the negative things about myself (the whole "keeping things inside" thing) and i hope i am able to work on changing this. maybe this explains why i am such a poor blogger (ha ha)...