alright gang, here’s the christmas debriefing   slept at the martin household christmas eve night in order to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for christmas round 1.  santa visited sometime in the night bringing all sorts of goodies for our stockings.  the very first things i opened came from lex—matching ugly christmas sweater t-shirts from woot, LOL!!  among a plethora of excellent surprises,  i received a new battery charger and batteries for my camera—just what i needed!  it’s been getting pretty unfortunate lately, digging through my old camera bag in search of some combination of ancient AAs, hoping that i might come up with a winning pair that would hold some sort of charge.  no more worries on that front—i’m all set!  also got a particularly awesome reusable water bottle (with my name on it!  i’m such a sucker for that kind of thing!) it even has a top that will accommodate a carabiner clip, so i can hook it right to my pack when we hike.  hooray!

over at nit’s (christmas round 2), my brother and my future sister-in-law racked up a set of schmancy silverware from my grandmother—plus pretty much the rest of their table spread from me.  napkins, placemats, napkin rings, etc.  they seemed excited to get some stuff from their registry—i think that worked out well!  i got my irish import perfume—nit always stocks me up on it at christmas.  this year, i got an additional bottle, as the company just launched a new fragrance.  i’d been hoping to get a chance to sniff it out—i love it!!  gave my mom a certificate for her salon and a couple new headbands for the gym.  gave nit a receipt showing that i’d paid extra into her electric bill, since our christmas tradition looks like this:

 

3750 lights.  ornament count won’t be final until we take ‘em all off!

i also gave lex the requested “craziest thing you can find in a thrift store in florida” gift:  hanukkah sand art.  he laughed appropriately

over at mom and daddy’s place (christmas round 3!), the christmas haul was in great danger of causing the front of their house to erupt, as usual.

a brief, and therefore, not anywhere near complete list of items received there:  books, jewelry, hiking/camping gear (including spandy new sleeping bag and funky hat, woo!), makeup stash for the year (plus a whole heap of new nail polish in ridiculously awesome colors), purse stash for the year, a bunch of snacks from earthfare, gift cards and a bit of cash.  i know it sounds like i’m glossing over all the good parts, but if i listed every single item i got, we’d be here for days!!

awesome things that others received:

lex got a grow-your-own portobellos kit and a gigantic wok from my folks.  he just served lunch out of the wok for the first time today—that was an intelligent investment!  also, mom gave him a vertebra mug.  it’s pretty cool stuff.

my folks gave my brother some heirloom paintings of our family crests.  i think he liked them a lot.  i’m really glad they gave them to him, because i think that’s such a nice gesture for a guy getting ready to start his own branch of the family tree!

my dad gave my mom a pretty, sparkly ring

       

and james, erica, and i gave daddy a brand new bike—complete with a matching bell!

after all the gift-giving was done, james and erica headed out to do christmas round 4 with her family, while lex and i stayed to have lunch with my folks.  mmm, tofurkey, lol.  mom had a surprise for all of us—she’d used the handmade ornaments that nit’s been making for the past few christmases to decorate the shelves in their dining room:

here are some other shots of how their house was done up for the big day:

 

   

 

in the evening, lex and i headed back to see his family for christmas round 4.  vegan bbq, brownies, and cookies for dinner, yum!!  it was so good to see everyone—i hadn’t seen that side of his family for a while!  libby’s boyfriend, chris, even made it down and i know that made her so happy   lex and i got to show off our ugly christmas sweater shirts—they were a big hit, lol.

excellent gifties all around, including a heap of new (and much, much needed!! jeans for me), a really super black vest and shirt combo, some wicked cool scarves (including an infinity scarf, which i’d had in the back of my mind to purchase for myself soon), a booklight (finally!  one that works!!), and a vegan cookbook, which thrilled me to death.  i’ve already bookmarked the first five recipes that will be made from it, lol.  and one of the best parts of the evening?  as we were opening presents, it started to snow!  that’s right, all of my silly predictions of a white christmas actually came true!

and after all that, i still have christmas round 5 left!  lex and i save our christmas for a quieter, calmer time when we can really sit down, appreciate exchanging gifts, and enjoy just being together.  poor kitties—cat santa waits until these cat parents celebrate christmas

ahh.  that’s the rundown.  even for making each round as short as i could, it’s still a long post.  and the shortening i did doesn’t really let any of the excitement of the day shine.  i suppose, in summary, all i can do is assure you all that it was the most wonderful, happy, thrilling, surprising, exciting christmas i’ve had so far.  and after 26 years of wonderful, happy, thrilling, surprising, exciting christmases, you know that’s saying something.

so, to my immediate family, my family of friends, and my friends of family, thank you, far more than these few words could ever express, for making it the best one yet.

i live in a nice neighborhood, on a pretty street, only blocks away from a college campus.  i haven’t noticed this phenomenon across the whole city i live in, but in the few blocks i occupy, there is a ton of litter.  and it’s not just the odd soda bottle or scrap of paper.  it’s can after can of beer and fast food bags stuffed full of meal packaging. 

first of all, i have to point out that it’s really disconcerting to imagine that many people drinking while they’re driving—there is an unbelievably vast quantity of empty alcohol containers out there!

but what i’d really like to know is:  what the hell kind of person is such a neat freak that he cannot bear to contain trash in his car for one second longer—yet is untidy enough to toss the garbage out into the street?

i just don’t get it.  i rarely have trash in my car—a book, a spare jacket, an umbrella, or a tire gauge, sure!  but i don’t eat fast food, so i don’t amass piles of fry boxes.  i get my mail in a mail box at my house, so i don’t have old envelopes scattered around.  in fact, honestly, i don’t really have a concept of trash in my car.  but if i did have trash with me–for whatever reason–and i was suddenly surprised to find myself in my vehicle, i’d wait until i was near a trash can, and i’d dispose of it properly.

so why anyone would see it necessary to throw trash out the window of a car is a concept completely lost to me.  it’s the same as the jerk lex stopped that day at the grocery store—the guy who didn’t bother with trying to aim his cigarette butt anywhere even close to the vicinity of the smokers’ station that was right by the door he had to use to enter the store.  it was just the friggin’ laziest thing i had ever witnessed.

i’ll be honest:  if i ever see someone toss crap out of their car, i will not think twice about chasing them down.  i know i’m a little bit militant, but i have absolutely no tolerance for lazy people who take steaming dumps all over the face of mama nature.  besides, i’d really like to get face-to-face with someone who is so honest-to-God inept at common courtesy, lazy to the point of hardly qualifying for life, and dichotomous in terms of cleanliness.

seriously.  someone please, please explain to me why litterers exist!

i know, i know, it’s not even christmas yet and i’m already trying to haul you into a new year!  but never fear, i’m not determined to whiz through the last few weeks of this year.  i’m just starting to look ahead to the new goals that i might make for 2011. 

as for this year’s goals?  well…LOL…i think the vegan thing is about as close as i got!  i guess that’s why one of the goals that i’m planning on taking on has to do with my ongoing veganism.  you see, the end of this year has found me comfortable in my vegan status and wishing for more playtime in the kitchen.  there are so many things that have become go-to foods for me in my nearly (gulp!) 27 years.  but in my one year of full-fledged vegan fun, i haven’t come up with any new standards to replace those old ones—what a bummer! 

for thanksgiving, i managed to use one of the easiest vegan recipes i’d learned this year to substitute for my family’s traditional dressing—and other than missing out on a bit of salt, it turned out to be quite lovely!  that episode, combined with an article in the latest issue of veggie times, got me thinking that it would be really cool to make up my own cookbook.  my idea was to combine some new personal favorite recipes with the family standards i could perfect.

so, since i’ve had a little bit of free time (for once!) on this trip to florida, i went over to my favorite online publishing company (lulu.com) and started a new file.  they have lovely themes and plenty of flexibility when it comes to creating something unique and classy.  i’m really thrilled about the options i have and hope that, by next christmas, i might have something of a complete volume.

i’ll definitely have to up the time i’m spending in the kitchen and work on my food photography skills, but the prospects are certainly exciting!

between now and the new year, are you looking ahead to the goals you might make or just trying to survive the last days of 2010?

since i have a little bit of free time left in beautiful, sunny florida, i’m going to go enjoy myself.  see you guys when i’m back in the subarctic south!

my mom, bless her, is pretty much a saint.  sure, as her kid, i can whine and complain about all the various injustices i faced while i was growing up:  the relatively relaxed curfews, the constant show of support for my artistic pursuits, or the endless hours spent caring for me in the sickly winters of my youth (you know, all those terrible, lame, unfortunate things that loving moms do, lol).  at the end of the day, though, i will always, always be proud of her and thankful for everything she does in the world.  which brings me to this post.

you see, my mom has been working tirelessly with her crochet hook and yarn for several weeks now.  i finally had to know what sort of project she was so invested in.  turns out that she was making a granny square lap blanket for each of the workers at the nail salon she goes to for her pedicures.  apparently, they had all gone crazy over the random handmade things that she’d had with her on several visits.  so, she just decided that she wanted to give them all something handmade for the holidays!  

my favorite part about this is that she doesn’t expect any sort of reciprocation.  these aren’t her close friends that she’ll be meeting for gift exchanges over lunch at a restaurant downtown.  and she didn’t make a bunch of afghans in the hopes of getting free services or anything.  she just wanted to do something special for these people who are a tiny part of her life.  i think that’s such a cool concept!  

i don’t know if i’d have the guts to just do something like that.  i’ve often thought that it might be nice to make an extra goody bag of baked goods for the mailman at christmas, or to send thank you cards to people who’ve been friendly and helpful in the stores i frequent.  but i have always been afraid that it would just be, well…creepy.  i’m ridiculously impressed that my mom just goes for it.  maybe i will leave a gingerbread man for the mailman this year (if i ever actually manage to get around to baking them)!  either way, i can make sure to spend the rest of the holiday season passing on some good cheer to the people who work hard to keep the world moving.

so, take a moment and think about the service people around you.  is there anything nice that you could do to show them that you appreciate what they do?  even just an extra smile and a friendly “thank you” might brighten the day of someone who makes your day-to-day life just a little nicer.

one thing about being vegan at christmas is that it confuses my sense of gift-giving.  since i love to bake, my go-to gift for family and friends has always been a heaping helping of assorted baked goods; however, when you’re vegan, not everyone is apt to trust your baked goods.  heck, they sketch me out sometimes, lol.  it’s been a busy year trying to figure out where i stand on all the various vegany traits and customs, especially since our area tends to be about as unfriendly to counterculture as it comes.  go ahead, try to find organic brown rice syrup or spelt flour at the average grocery store in small-town southern america.  LOL.  anyway, one of my goals for next year is to reinstate myself as a baking wizard–or at least to become accomplished enough at vegan baked goods that people will try them (and therefore, perhaps, enjoy them)!  

peanut butter oatmeal cookies.  as low fat and low cal as a peanut butter cookie can get–and you’d never know they were vegan!

thanks to a challenge (of sorts) put forth by lex to head in the direction of consuming less preprocessed foods, i’ve been feeling pretty creative this week.  so yesterday afternoon, i thought:  okay, what’s one vegan thing that i have a ton of that would make a good dessert?  not surprisingly, my answer came down to peanut butter.  i always have a giant tub of peanut butter around (makes it super-easy for me to get protein and fat that i don’t get otherwise.  oh, on that note:  other butters are better for you than peanut butter, but i live on a pretty tight food budget…not a lot of sense in grabbing that eight buck cup of almond butter when i can get about twelve gallons of crunchy pb for the same price.  maybe one day, lol.)  anyway, as always i turned to the internet for answers–and, as always, the internet provideth!  peanut butter oatmeal cookies–coming in at just under ten ingredients (all normal and easy to locate!) and with a description that sounded irresistible–i had to give them a shot  since i’m sharing, you know they must be good!

vegan peanut butter oatmeal cookies

• 2 c. flour (i used 100% whole wheat, because it’s delicious!)
• 2 c. oats (again, 100% whole, steel cut)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. peanut butter (i chose chunky, because i like the crunch )
• 3/4 c. applesauce (opt for the plain, no sugar added kind.  it’s so yummy!)
• 2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. milk substitute (i use silk’s original almond milk for pretty much everything)
• 2 tsp. vanilla (go for pure extract instead of imitation if you can.  it’s worth the extra two bucks.)

***note***  for a richer flavor, you can use 3/4 c. peanut oil or use a 3/4 c. combination of peanut oil and applesauce.  making this with applesauce only is the lowest fat, lowest calorie way to go.

1)  preheat your oven to 350F.  

2)  in a large bowl, mix the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt.

3)  in a second large bowl, mix the applesauce, peanut butter, sugar, milk, and vanilla until well blended.

4)  combine the dry and liquid ingredients and mix until moistened and combined thoroughly.

5)  according to the original recipe, you should be able to roll this mixture into balls and flatten them with a fork…my mixture was the consistency of a drop cookie.  i dropped the first pan, but then tossed the mix in the freezer for about an hour after which i was able to roll it with no issue; however, i think the drop cookies looked much more appealing.  to kinda quote lex, the drop cookies look better to me, but the rolled ones would be better if you’re serving them to an omni.

6)  flatten the balls with a fork first one direction, then the other direction (like an X).

7)  bake 10 to 12 minutes (or until cooked through) and let cool before removing from the pan.

i used a silicone baking mat, which seemed to work perfectly for these.

if you make ‘em and love ‘em, then pass ‘em on!

i got this recipe from theveggiegal.com, but the comment thread at the end indicates that she, perhaps, found it somewhere else, so i’m not sure who to give original credit to.

lex and i actually had a whole evening of vegan culinary excitement.  here’s what he was up to while i was making cookies.

lex working on the sauce for his pasta.  he makes the most amazing pasta dishes!

mmm, fresh off the burner!

yes.  those are vegan brownies.  and they are to.  die.  for.

well, that’s it, folks.  i’m off to do various other things now.  enjoy the rest of your sunday!

’tis the season for christmas decorating–especially around my folks’ and ninja’s places.  between mom’s biltmore-esque use of a tree in (almost) every room and ninja’s landing beacon, it’s safe to say that christmas is Serious Business around those parts.  as i was putting the 18th strand of lights on ninja’s tree today (and no.  by no means is that an exaggeration.  or anywhere close to the last string that will adorn the eight foot arbor) i started to wonder if there were any places that accept old christmas lights as donations.  when i got a chance, i skipped on over to the internet to test rule 34.

sure enough!  within moments, i’d found myself back at a favorite hub, earth911.com.  if you’re not familiar with this site, you should take a quick second to check it out.  it’s super easy to search pretty much anything you can think of to recycle, and you can filter those into categories including mail-in programs and curbside pick-up.  so simple!  

anyway, there are four major acceptors in the us.  here’s one that seems promising for sure:  christmas light source.  yes, they’re purveyors of christmas lights–but this is a good thing.  a mailed-in light donation will get your 10% an order of new led lights from them.  they send the lights to recycling centers that break down the bulbs, strip down the wires for copper, and shred the plastic.  in return, they receive money for the donation–which they turn into books (from usborne books, who matches every donation by 50%) that go to toys for tots.

these aren’t the droids you’re looking for

i saw that other places–local places for us–like sears and home depot also run deals where you can bring in old incandescent lights for credit towards new led ones, but the deadlines on these were all back in november.  well, there’s always next year!

when you get out that box of lights and find a knot of unwound, incapable, and ancient bulbs, don’t get frustrated!  send them away for a better reincarnation as educational fun for the youth of america.  it’s a triple gift!  you save money; the proceeds from the recycled lights go to charity; the earth is happier in the long run!

well, it has finally arrived.  that’s right, i’m typing this one on my new computer!!  i’m absolutely thrilled with it, and thanks to my amazing, sweet, and wonderful boyfriend it’s all set up and running like a dream  now it’s time to address one looming question:  what on earth to do with the old one.  in my case, it’s a simple answer.  my mom wants to introduce my grandmother to the world wide web.  a reformat (thank you lex!) should get it back in tip-top shape for that sort of use.  it’ll be fun to see what she gets up to–for those of you who know my ninja, you can just imagine, lol.

anyway, if it turns out that the internet just isn’t her thing, then here’s my second option:  the world computer exchange.  here’s a great upcycling opportunity–it keeps old electronics out of landfills and put them in use in developing nations.  to quote their site, “World Computer Exchange believes that exposing youth in developing countries to a 21st century education by bridging the digital divide makes for a better world.  Being better educated means that these youth will be more equipped to fight poverty, disease, injustice and instability.”  the great thing is that they don’t limit donations to just an old laptop or two.  they keep a running wishlist on their site that notes all of the gear they can currently put to use.  

take a peek and see if there’s anything you might have sitting around, just waiting to get a new life in a community far, far away!