Gravy and Life
Nov. 2nd, 2019 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseWoke up this morning to a light dusting of snow.
I spent Friday driving around (and goofing off). Shawn had two appointments yesterday: first a continuation of her back pain PT and the second a dermatology "skin check." They were at the same building, so I dropped her off and went and did a bunch of errands that needed doing (cat food/litter, bread at the bakery, and grocery shopping.) I had just finished putting the last of the groceries away when Shawn called to tell me she was done. We were going to go out to lunch after that, but, by chance,naomikritzer texted to see if I was planning to stop by the coffee shop for our usual Friday gossip session.
Shawn and I shifted plans and headed to Claddaugh.
Unfortunately, after finally finding a place to park across the street, Shawn managed to take a HUGE tumble. It was strange, because I turned to see her catch her foot in a pothole and I kept thinking she was going to pull out of the dive, but then, swoop, she went into what looked like a perfect martial arts roll. She's okay, only really, really bruised. Falls are scary now, because Shawn is on a blood thinner, since the hospitalization for the clot, and so when I say REALLY bruised, I mean, seriously black and blue. We laughed that of course this happened AFTER the back physical therapy.
Shawn decided that this fall required retail therapy, so she checked out the nearby thrift store (St. Vincent's) and the antique mall, Sophie Joe's. Of course, she managed to find some things, including our SIXTH glass mixing bowl. She always carries her Christmas money around, so it didn't even cost us "real money." Plus, it was probably actually good for her to stay up and moving. Once we were at home, she took a hot bath, had dinner, and went to bed. She woke up stiff today, but seems to be otherwise okay.
Meanwhile, for Friday night dinner, I tried out a vegan gravy.
Picture: thin gravy in boat.
Once again, like I do, I followed the recipe as it was printed the first time through. I will say that the taste and color were actually very good. In the past, when I tried out vegan gravy, I made a mushroom based one, which, when I made it ahead and froze it, it turned a very unappetizing grey. This, I suspect, would actually keep its color. The only thing I didn't like about it was how thin it was. Not looking for advice right now. I got flooded with advice on Facebook, most of which I knew, as I make gravy a lot, but neglected to note that I always follow the recipe as printed the first time I try something like this and that my complaint wasn't a OMG HOW DO I DO?? but just a "huh, not as expected."
I also got less helpful recipes for _vegetarian_ gravy, which looked delicious, but which had butter as a first ingredient. I can make ANYTHING tasty if allowed to use milk and butter, friends. Ah, well.
Tonight, I'm going to try baking the vegan sugar cookies. I may also force my family to try the vegan eggnog.
Anyway, I was going to tell you about today, too. Shawn and I dropped Mason off at his work at 10 am. Shawn came with because she wanted to show me some bowls she'd seen at the thrift store to see if I wanted them for cat bowls. So, we stopped in, bought those, (because I did), and then we got fancy coffee at the coffee shop, and then headed home... only to run into an estate sale. Apparently, Shawn had seen the listing for the estate sale, but ignored it, because the ad said, "world travelers" but then only showed pictures of stereotypical souveniers. We stopped, anyway, and it was a maze of a house full of... literal egg cups. Like, there must have been thousands of these things. Some of them even had receipts showing where they were bought and how much they paid for them. It was kind of unreal. Shawn did find a cool copy of "A Christmas Carol" from 1919 and one of our cranberry king glasses. I found a small box of stamps (as in postage,) and we explored the nightmarish basement, but only came out with a wicker basket for some of Shawn's looming fabric.
While in the basement, I also saw this:
Image: clearly cursed doll in a high chair.
It's only too bad that the estate sale wasn't on Halloween. I mean, probably the doll would have gotten up and walked away.... YIKES.
I spent Friday driving around (and goofing off). Shawn had two appointments yesterday: first a continuation of her back pain PT and the second a dermatology "skin check." They were at the same building, so I dropped her off and went and did a bunch of errands that needed doing (cat food/litter, bread at the bakery, and grocery shopping.) I had just finished putting the last of the groceries away when Shawn called to tell me she was done. We were going to go out to lunch after that, but, by chance,
naomikritzer texted to see if I was planning to stop by the coffee shop for our usual Friday gossip session.Shawn and I shifted plans and headed to Claddaugh.
Unfortunately, after finally finding a place to park across the street, Shawn managed to take a HUGE tumble. It was strange, because I turned to see her catch her foot in a pothole and I kept thinking she was going to pull out of the dive, but then, swoop, she went into what looked like a perfect martial arts roll. She's okay, only really, really bruised. Falls are scary now, because Shawn is on a blood thinner, since the hospitalization for the clot, and so when I say REALLY bruised, I mean, seriously black and blue. We laughed that of course this happened AFTER the back physical therapy.
Shawn decided that this fall required retail therapy, so she checked out the nearby thrift store (St. Vincent's) and the antique mall, Sophie Joe's. Of course, she managed to find some things, including our SIXTH glass mixing bowl. She always carries her Christmas money around, so it didn't even cost us "real money." Plus, it was probably actually good for her to stay up and moving. Once we were at home, she took a hot bath, had dinner, and went to bed. She woke up stiff today, but seems to be otherwise okay.
Meanwhile, for Friday night dinner, I tried out a vegan gravy.
Picture: thin gravy in boat.
Once again, like I do, I followed the recipe as it was printed the first time through. I will say that the taste and color were actually very good. In the past, when I tried out vegan gravy, I made a mushroom based one, which, when I made it ahead and froze it, it turned a very unappetizing grey. This, I suspect, would actually keep its color. The only thing I didn't like about it was how thin it was. Not looking for advice right now. I got flooded with advice on Facebook, most of which I knew, as I make gravy a lot, but neglected to note that I always follow the recipe as printed the first time I try something like this and that my complaint wasn't a OMG HOW DO I DO?? but just a "huh, not as expected."
I also got less helpful recipes for _vegetarian_ gravy, which looked delicious, but which had butter as a first ingredient. I can make ANYTHING tasty if allowed to use milk and butter, friends. Ah, well.
Tonight, I'm going to try baking the vegan sugar cookies. I may also force my family to try the vegan eggnog.
Anyway, I was going to tell you about today, too. Shawn and I dropped Mason off at his work at 10 am. Shawn came with because she wanted to show me some bowls she'd seen at the thrift store to see if I wanted them for cat bowls. So, we stopped in, bought those, (because I did), and then we got fancy coffee at the coffee shop, and then headed home... only to run into an estate sale. Apparently, Shawn had seen the listing for the estate sale, but ignored it, because the ad said, "world travelers" but then only showed pictures of stereotypical souveniers. We stopped, anyway, and it was a maze of a house full of... literal egg cups. Like, there must have been thousands of these things. Some of them even had receipts showing where they were bought and how much they paid for them. It was kind of unreal. Shawn did find a cool copy of "A Christmas Carol" from 1919 and one of our cranberry king glasses. I found a small box of stamps (as in postage,) and we explored the nightmarish basement, but only came out with a wicker basket for some of Shawn's looming fabric.
While in the basement, I also saw this:
Image: clearly cursed doll in a high chair.
It's only too bad that the estate sale wasn't on Halloween. I mean, probably the doll would have gotten up and walked away.... YIKES.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-03 02:46 pm (UTC)... I always follow the recipe as printed the first time I try something like this ...
Yay, I'm not the only one. How else does anyone figure out that they like a recipe if they fiddle with it right away? (Sometimes the differences are subtle.) And why yes, many things are better after you add butter or cream.
Mmm, cookies. What do you do for the fat in your vegan cookies? I usually buy the expensive Earth Balance sticks, but it's occurred to me that good ol' Crisco would probably work too. (It just reminds me so much of the 1970s and my childhood.)
Also, as supporters of science, isn't your family eager to try all of your recipes?! Research. They're supporting research.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-03 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-03 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-04 02:38 am (UTC)This was an estate sale being run by an estate sale company, yeah? They're usually supposed to do enough staging that I'd have expected them to dust off the doll and put it on a shelf or something and the fact that they didn't makes me suspect they looked at it and thought, "yeah, NOPE. Not gonna be the one going home with a curse, NOT PAID ENOUGH FOR CURSES."
no subject
Date: 2019-11-04 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-04 03:53 pm (UTC).......
Did you buy anything (anything at all) from this estate sale? Have you double checked your pockets and bags to confirm nothing snuck in? I'm pretty sure you just had a walk-on role in a horror movie.