Monday, July 31, 2006

A Quick Lunch Break Post

As usual, I ended up having a pretty busy weekend.

Let's see, my tomato plants have their first baby toms growing which is pretty cool!

A package arrived from Leslie this weekend. She sent me a funky quartz bracelet that she made. I really dig the colors and natural stones. I'm definitely going to order another bracelet or perhaps a necklace soon.

Also included was a lavender and flax eye pillow which smells wonderful. To the left is a quick photo of the bracelet and pillow.
I'll try to take a better pic of the bracelet tonight.

Tommy my cantankerous cockatoo is not fond of any jewelry. As soon as I wear a watch or bracelet she attacks. I'm not sure if she thinks the jewelry is attacking me and is trying to protect me...or if she is afraid of it. I put on the bracelet without thinking and during our snuggle time (she gets 30 minutes of pure Jody time every night) she tried to take a bite out of the bracelet. She narrowly missed and I have large beak mark on my wrist. Today, I put the bracelet on before I left the house and after Tommy was in her cage.

I was in Maine for meetings all day Friday. Friday evening I met a good friend of mine for dinner in downtown Portland. We had a nice meal at Natasha's on Exchange St. They had vegan pot stickers and a funky tofu veggie bowl.

Before I left Maine, I stopped at the Whole Grocer and picked up some of my favorite Little Lad's vegan tarts. This time around they had cherry, bumbleberry, and blueberry rhubarb. I've finished off a cherry and a bumbleberry. Cherry is definitely my favorite now. I've not tried the Blueberry Rhubarb.

This weekend, I got very little cooking done. Last night when I was cleaning out the fridge, I found some tofu that needed to be used ASAP. I don't know what my problem is sometimes! I buy things and note that I have tons of time to use them and some how I end up letting them expire. Tommy and I both love the oven fried tofu recipe that I tried previously, so I cooked that up this morning after letting it marinate overnight. My lunch is the tofu and some strawberry applesauce. It would be a pretty boring photo, so I didn't bother.

Also, some of you have been emailing and asking about my handmade soap. I did start up a soap blog and put a link to it on the right nav bar. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to post what kinds I have at the moment. However, I did post a photos of how I make soap and also an article about why handmade soap is better. I'd say always buy handmade soap whether it is from me or a local soap maker in your neck of the woods. It is better for your skin and the environment.

Last thing...cookies! I'm going to talk/email with Harmonia and ask about setting up a cookie swap area on veggin' out.

11 comments:

Harmonia said...

Hello there! Just swinging by and catching up. I had a semi-humourus food post today. Hope to see you in vegginout soon!

KleoPatra said...

Wow, busy lady. Groovy quick post, thanks for stopping here to say hi to yer fans such as myself.

Still loving Summer's End of the Jody Hope Soap kind. It's spectacular...

I would love to try the blueberry rhubarb tart, how wonderful that must be. You might try one, do you think? I would imagine Tommy is not used to seeing you with much jewelry and since you touch him with your hands, when sees something different on your wrist, close to his eyes and body he reacts out of confusion. I love the bracelet. Leslie is such the artiste!

Workin' on your package this week, Jody, so stay tuned. Or if you visit my blog, stay "tooned."

Anonymous said...

Cookie swap.... I could get into that!

urban vegan said...

Great post. I loved hearing what you're up to. The bracelet is pretty--too bad your birdie doesn't think so.

funwithyourfood said...

I like the cookie swamp idea!

Teddy

Anonymous said...

Can't wait for the cookie swapping to begin! I love me some homemade cookies. I'm going to hop on over to your soap blog. I've been very interested in learning about soap making lately.

TS said...

I've seen soap making kits at the craft store, and thought about trying that. I'll look forward to your bloggiing about it. :)

You've now given me a craving for sweets, and I've found a place that actually sells vegan sweets nearby. Darn you...

Very nice bracelet. Hope you manage to keep Tommy away from it. ;)

Eat Peace Please said...

Thanks for showing this off Jody. It looks great and fits great! Enjoy!

Jody from VegChic said...

harmonia - I have been lurking at your blog (& other's blogs)and not posting comments...bad I know. Sometimes I only have time to read, but I try to comment as often as I can.

kleo - glad you dig the soap. Summer's End is one of my favorites. The scents melded together beautifully...into something that smells nothing like the individual ingredients. I am amazed by it everytime I smell it! I've got no idea where you find all the veg toons, but I'm glad you post them for us.

megan, teddy, crystal - Harmonia is working on setting up trading area on vegginout. We can im or email addresses and figure out cookie trading logistics there.

uv - I wish Tommy did not hate my watches or bracelets, but she does. Leslie did an awesome job picking out a great bracelet for me and the beads are so pretty!

crystal - making soap can sound scary. Especially for those of us that weren't fond of chemistry in school. It is not really as difficult or as scary as it sounds. If you have questions, drop me a line. If it is something you'd like to do...you should definitely try it!

tara - The soap making kits at the craft stores will make cute soaps, but they are melt and pour, not made from scratch. You'll want to be careful. Check the ingredients to be sure there is no animal fat in their pre-made soap. (Tallowate or sodium tallowate) Glycerin is another problem. It can be derived from animals or vegetables. If it does not specifically say vegetable glycerin, then you might want to stear clear. Also the fragrances are almost always chemical fragrance and not essential oils and the colorings are chemical dyes. Check out my soap blog for more explanations about many of the soaps we buy.

Leslie - No problem, thank you. It does fit great and I love it!

MeloMeals said...

You were up in my neck of the woods.. (I live in Portsmouth, NH)..

Love the tofu pie.. I make a similar one for my cooking classes and people go nuts for it. It's sooo great to see more vegan options out there in the "real world"

karen said...

The oven fried tofu sounds yummy. I copied the recipe to try it.

That is wonderful that Leslie sent you a beautiful bracelet. Your handmade soap looks so great and prob smells wonderful with the ingredients you use...