Post-Thanksgiving thoughts

Me and the pumpkin pie.

Me and the turkey I made.

My Mary Engelbreit tree.

Hard to believe it's actually been 10 days since the last post. But then again, the time has also flown by. This is the time of year when I get slammed with one of my quarterly projects - translating a magazine on home décor and Oriental rugs. I don't remember November ever being this busy before though. Since my last post on Nov. 19th, the rugs have literally been rolling in. I've translated well over 2000 lines of rug texts alone (as well as a few other texts here and there) and I even managed to take off last Thursday for Thanksgiving and most of Friday, except for yet another rug text that had to be turned in by 11 a.m. I had 400 more "tufted" lines this past weekend, but it seems that with a little over 300 lines left to go, the end is slowly drawing near (at least until next quarter). It seems I'm becoming an expert in the floor covering industry - at least in terms of marketing texts. I've been regularly translating articles for the magazine (and often the entire magazine) since 2007. In the midst of all the rug commotion, I somehow managed to find time to meet up with a friend from college who stopped by last Wednesday, have a relaxing Thanksgiving (which included spending plenty of time behind the stove!), figure skate, exercise for at least 30 minutes every day except Sunday, read, watch most of "Pillars of the Earth" series with my mom (read the book in 2003/2004), help my mom decorate their tree, and put up my little Mary Engelbreit tree. The Thanksgiving cooking was divided up equally between me and my mom - I made the turkey, stuffing, gravy, pumpkin pies (with homemade French pastry crust), and cranberry sauce; my mom made the sweet potato casserole, green beans, and corn pudding - my stepfather made his famous creamed potatoes. Somehow we actually managed to finish off all the leftovers by Saturday without throwing anything away. For those of you who are wondering, I made a few little dietary exceptions for my favorite holiday, but am back to my regular diet once again.

Today's agenda features translating some more rug texts, proofing, figure skating this afternoon, and hopefully finishing up my article for the GLD newsletter Interaktiv. Knowing how I love working under tight deadlines, I have a strange feeling it might not be done until tomorrow since the deadline is Dec. 1. Time to get started!

Spicy Eggplant and Veggie Medley Curry

For dinner tonight I made a spicy eggplant and veggie medley curry from the many veggies I had in my fridge.

Ingredients (mostly from the Produce Box): onion, garlic,
ginger, hot pepper, habanero pepper, red bell pepper,
sweet potato, green beans, cabbage, mushrooms,
eggplant, baby corn, yellow squash, ginger curry spices,
cumin, soy sauce, coconut milk, oil, salt and pepper

In a wok, heat vegetable oil, add onion and garlic, saute. Next add chopped sweet potatoes and green beans. Add the ginger curry and cumin. Chop the bell pepper, hot pepper and habanero pepper (remember to wear gloves when chopping the hot peppers), and add to the wok. Chop eggplant, squash mushrooms and cabbage and add to wok. Cut baby corn in half and add to work. Grate ginger and add to the work. Mix everything thoroughly and stir fry. Add coconut milk and cook until the sweet potato is thoroughly done. Add a little less than a tablespoon of sugar and some salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice (I used frozen brown rice from TJs).

Delicious!

Making more of mornings / Pumpkin Spice and Pecan Oatmeal

I have completed week one of my "making more of mornings" regimen. Those of you who have read some of my earliest posts know that I have had the tendency (or habit) to climb right back into bed after waking up to take care of the dogs around 5 AM each day. No more! My neighbor and I have agreed to be gym buddies and starting this past Monday, we start the day together by meeting outside at 5:15 and walking over to our neighborhood gym. We work out for at least 30 minutes and start the day off right. I find that I now have even more energy to get things done in the morning, rather than climb back into bed. Eventually it does catch up with me and I take a nap later in the day, but at least now I feel like I deserve it. I have also started eating breakfast earlier - or at least having an earlier Primo Colazione (as the Italians call first breakfast), sometimes followed by a Secondo later in the morning (around 11 AM, which was my usual breakfast time). I've come up with a wonder fall oatmeal variety that is absolutely scrumptious: Pumpkin Spice and Pecan Oatmeal. Thank you Trader Joe's for providing most of the ingredients: frozen steel cut oatmeal (already pre-sweetened with maple and brown sugar), pumpkin butter, pecans and a splash of almond milk. Simply heat up the oatmeal per the instructions, then stir in a tablespoon of pumpkin butter, sprinkle some chopped pecans, and add a splash of almond milk. Sooooo yummy and perfect on a fall morning!

This week's Produce Box November 17, 2010 (aka Kiwis grow in North Kakalaky)

Pardon for the delay, but it's been a rather insane week (again). This week's Produce Box was the last box of this year's growing season and included a special treat: NC grown kiwis! They are still ripening up in the bag, so I haven't had a chance to try them yet, but I bet they are delicious! I also now have a ton of beets for juicing and making a warm beets sauteed with fresh squeezed orange juice. The remainder of the items were green beans, eggplant, radishes and apple cider. The next Produce Box installment will be back in April. Until then I'll have more recipes and other things on my mind. As always, here's a few pics for you to enjoy. 

Beets, green beans, radishes, cider, eggplant, KIWIS!

Closeup of the Kakalaky kiwis!

Eat your greenies!

In last week's Produce Box I got a head of bok choy. Thankfully the newsletter included a couple of recipe ideas. Seeing that it was starting to wilt and needed to be eaten ASAP, I made a plate of oven roasted bok choy seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. I basically used the idea from newsletter but added garlic. It couldn't have been easier. I pulled off the individual leaves, then washed and dried them. Next I put them in a bowl and added olive oil, 2 pressed cloves of garlic, salt and pepper, and the juice of one lemon. Next I laid the leaves out on a greased cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and baked at 450 for about 10 minutes. The result was delicious. What a nice, green afternoon snack! (Perfect before taking a light nap!)

Shoebox Packing Party!

This year's collected boxes. 13 in all!

Today was my 2nd annual shoebox packing party - i.e. a get together with a small group of friends and family to pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child. This year's party put together 13 boxes to be sent to needy children around the world. Items in the boxes included candy, small toys, games, school supplies, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and washcloths and soap. I first began doing these boxes when I was a child and it has since become one of the things I most look forward to each year. In 2008 I was even able to go to the distribution center in Charlotte to help with processing the boxes from around the country before they were shipped. Last year's party was my first, which was also a bit of a delayed housewarming party. It was also the first year that the shipping labels included a tracking bar code. Shortly after Christmas I got an e-mail to let me know that my boxes had gone to Ukraine. Where will they go this year? I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

Of course no party would be complete without food and beverages. The featured items were my vegetarian chili (also made in the mountains last month) served with tortilla chips (Archer Farms black bean and jalapeno flavor from Target - the best!), homemade Glühwein (mulled wine) and hot apple cider. I made Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Brownies for dessert, but was a bit delayed in putting them out, so I had to send some home with the guests that were still here when everything was done.

It was a great afternoon - beautiful weather for the kids who were here to play outside and cool enough to enjoy the chili and hot drinks.

I'm already looking forward to next year and hope that even more people will be able to come. I also found out that the church I've been attending does not have OCC in it's ministry program, so maybe I'll be able to do something about that. This is one of my favorite things to do every year and want to share it with even more people!

This week's Produce Box November 10, 2010

Just a brief post with pics of yesterday's Produce Box. It's been so busy around here lately, it's hard to find time to blog - even those 15 minutes I'd hoped to find each day somehow keep escaping me. This week's box contained: Bok Choy, sweet potatoes, an eggplant, RASPBERRIES!!!, garlic (hidden under the radishes), red bell peppers, radishes, and a sample of candied pecans. I already used the bell peppers last night making stuffed peppers with leftover eggplant filling I froze from the last time I made the recipe a couple of weeks ago (recipe to follow soon). BTW: The raspberries are absolutely delicious!

A happy ending

This morning the SPCA called to let me know a man had reported a lost dog matching the description of the boxer I found yesterday. Within 30 minutes the owners were here. Her fear was instantly transformed into happiness - her stub of a tail in rapid motion as she jumped up to reunite with her owners. What a happy dog and a happy ending. So glad she made it home safe and sound! Turns out she hadn't gotten too far away - the owners and their four children live on the street behind my section of the neighborhood. Leila (her real name) certainly had a night outside of her comfort zone. Having been used to sleeping on a faux fur blanket at the end of her owners' bed, she spent last night outside in the cold wrapped up in a fleece blanket after refusing to come inside. I'm sure Leila won't be so eager to run away from home again, and her owners will take better precautions to make sure that never happens again.

A traumatized boxer

This afternoon as I was driving home from skating and running errands, I saw a dog on the side of the road not too far from the entrance to my neighborhood. Roadkill kills me. I can't stand the sight of a dead deer or raccoon, and the sight of a dead cat or dog breaks my heart. I quickly drove to my house, grabbed one of my dogs' leashes and went back to rescue this abandoned dog. When I finally caught up with it, it was clear that this was a female boxer, spayed, perhaps around a year old and she was terrified. She barely let me come up to her, but finally gave in. She had no identification, only a shoestring tied around her neck. I managed to put the leash on her, got her in my car, and drove her back home where she's been in my fenced-in backyard since around 3 PM. I have an ad on craigslist, several posts on Facebook and have called both the boxer rescue and the local SPCA to report her. I made the mistake of trying to bring her inside to get warm, but my ferocious dachshunds traumatized her. They both bark incessantly at her and Quintin tried to attack her several times. I really wish I could bring her in out of the cold, but she is so scared of Quintin that she refuses to come back inside. Tomorrow I'm going to go see if she is microchipped and hopefully reunite her with her owner. One person in the neighborhood who is already a boxer owner has potentially agreed to take her if no one comes forward. She is a really sweet and smart dog. I wish I could keep her, but that would never work.

Applesauce and other things from the last few days

As I write, I have a pot of apples on the stove - 1 kg of sliced apples (peel still on), the juice of one lemon and 3-4 Tbs. of sugar to be more exact. They will cook for about 20 minutes and then I'll mash everything up. I love homemade applesauce, so I can hardly wait!

This past week has been extremely busy as I've been trying to catch up with my real work and my work-related activities. On Friday I finally managed to finish at least one thing on my list, the new resume, and have already started sending it out to contacts I made at the conference. Saturday I addressed my house - mainly the downstairs, replacing the spring tablecloth and couch pillows with my winter red tablecloth and pillows more appropriate for fall. The best part was lighting the apple cider scented candles and dancing around the house to Bollywood music as I cleaned and rearranged. I also made some more progress in the de-cluttering department and have a whole pile of stuff ready to put in a yard sale. There are still several boxes of stuff that I need to go through and/or put in the attic.

As far as de-cluttering is concerned, some other de-cluttering took place in my personal life last week. After privately reaching a decision to end a 10-year friendship a couple of months ago (having heard very little from this person since May), the other person in the friendship contacted me to let me know that he had been having similar thoughts. What a relief to learn we were both on the same page. Had I been wiser and listened to common sense at the time, the friendship never would have progressed in the first place.

Applesauce is almost done - time to get back to some proofing!

Today's Produce Box! November 3, 2010

Since getting back from Denver, it seems as though my life has been in a whirlwind! I have a to-do list a mile long that takes into account pretty much everything that I learned last week. Add to that the real work that was waiting for me, and I've been going non-stop since Monday morning. Today I should have a couple hours of time for me, which really just means time to work on some of the items on my to-do list, most importantly getting my translation specific resume ready to send out to potential new clients. I've started decluttering so that I have some things to put in a yard sale this weekend - the declurring and organization in itself could almost be a full-time job for a few days.

Since I've been so busy, it's a good thing I don't have to go to the grocery store to get fresh produce. My refrigerator was almost empty since I didn't get a box last week. Thankfully replenishment arrived today and one item in particular makes me want to sing "What do you do with a Daikon Radish?" to the tune of "What do you do with a drunken sailor?" I'm going to have to search for some ideas, but if you have any, let me know. That said, this week's box included a huge Daikon radish, apples, yellow squash, cabbage, zucchini, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. I made a couple of recipes before going to Denver that I still need to post, and I'm sure I'll be making some yummy things with the contents of this week's box.

Time to work on that resume! So much to do!