2010 Personal New Year's Resolutions

So I have been thinking that I have worked a LOT this past year, and the imbalance of work/play has been drastically skewed. With this in mind, my resolutions this year are to bring more balance to my life, not necessarily by working less, but by weeding out some of the wasted time (I'm looking at you internet!) in favor of fun things that are new to me or that I haven't done in a long time (and that make me happy! Sometimes you forget how certain things make you so happy!) Quitting my day job is a big goal for me this year, as it's been really difficult to balance a full-time job and then come home and work on my personal business and then any freelance work that I have. Don't you just hate it when those pesky day-jobs get in the way?! I know that I'm lucky to work in a creative field, but after five years, it has taken it's toll on me and I'm ready for a change. Plus, the fashion industry isn't really where I want to be anymore. It's just overcoming that security job fear and taking that leap that stands in my way. Anyways, I started thinking of all the FUN things that I want to do or feel like I'm missing out on and decided to make them my resolutions for this year. I made a little doodle so that I can hang it up above my desk at home as a reminder too.

I hope everyone has a fantastic New Year and I want to thank you for reading my silliness and looking at my photos and art this past year. Hooray 2010! (don't you just love the positivity that comes with a New Year? Yay momentum!)

xo
Michelle

Holiday Sweets (and some other food)!

S'mlove love!!



Espresso Chip Oatmeal Cookies (from Vegan Cookies Take Over the World)


Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles (from Vegan Cookies Take Over the World)


Gingerbread Biscotti! (from Vegan Cookies Take Over the World)


My Mom made an apple pie! She even put 'lil cut-out heart pieces on top; She's the cutest, right??



Annnnnd some Tester recipes for Joni and Celine's new book of Vegan Substitutions!

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom, onion, and Sage Sauce:


Green Tempeh Casserole! Yummmmmm!


And I made some spicy tempeh tonight (simmer tempeh in water until all absorbed, then mix with a few TBS of Vegan Mayo, some sriracha, some nooch, and salt/pepper) in these 'lil baby pitas that I found at Whole Foods. Super-cute and bite-sized! Nik almost knocked me down trying to get more. Served with a side of raw cabbage/carrots/onions in oil/vinegar/herbs to counter all those sweets I have been eating pictured above. :P


1/2 day of work left this year, huzzah!! Happy New Year friends!

Daring Bakers-December 09 Challenge-Gingerbread Houses!

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.



The options for this month's challenges could have gone into the crazy zone (I had visions of a cuckoo clock gingerbread house or a whole miniature village), but I decided that since this was my first gingerbread house EVER, I should probably just keep it simple to start. Good thing, because I learned a whole lot, the most important is that gravity was not my friend. I used Vegan Dad's recipe and advice, with good results. Dough was awesome and strong, and bonus, tasty! The icing ended up being my enemy, pairing with gravity. I countered this by decorating some, sticking in fridge, repeat, until things had somewhat solidified on. Toothpicks also helped to hold things together, and were later removed after chilling.

I'm not so sure there are any cuckoo clock gingerbread houses in my future, but it was a fun project (also, it was waaay fun visiting Economy Candy!)

Kitty Love

This past weekend, Nik and I drove to his parent's house for an early xmas celebration. While I was there, I got to play with the cuuuuuutest little kitty. Seriously, LOVE!





We visited a wind farm! Huuuuuuuge!


And then...we came home to this. But seriously, the drive home was a record-breaker in terms of driving back into NYC. No traffic and none of that storm stuff everyone was talking about.


I'm excited to visit my family this weekend! Nik and I are taking a train (I couldn't handle driving two weekends in a row, haha.) I'm doing some last-minute baking this year. I have some Gingerbread Biscotti and some Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles in the oven as we speak! A few more batches of cookies and some S'mlove pie and I'll be ready for xmas.

I know New Year's Resolutions are totally lame, but I'm taking them seriously this year and am working on a list of goals that I want to accomplish this year. Most center around my business and making it more "serious." This blog is a big part of this and I hope to make it a bit more focused and regular. Blahblah, I know, I know, resolutions are boring. :) But! Expect lots of new things!

Happy holidays everyone! I'm signing off until after it's all said and done with!

peace,
Michelle

Chocolates and tester recipes

Nik and I recently got to check out the new vegan chocolate cafe, and we picked up a few select chocolates. This was a few weeks ago, so I only slightly remember the names of each, but here goes nothing:

Peanut Butter (Nik tried this one and didn't like it; said it was dry)

Chocolate covered edamame (was my favorite)

Jasmine (It was okay, nothing special)

goji berry and vegan bacon (disgusting! I spit it out! I NEVER spit out chocolate!)

So, alas, although pretty, I think they need to iron out their flavors a bit more before I would go back. I did get a few more flavors, not photographed, and I don't even remember what they were. I did pick up some of their spicy hot cocoa mix and this stuff is AMAZING! Super-spicy and flavorful, you only need a little bit. Hot cocoa is the best.


Here's some tester food from Celine and Joni's last book of Vegan Subsitutions.

Spring Rolls

Butternut Lentil Burger

Bust Craftacular 2009 and Give-away winner!!

Hello! I'm fully recovered now, from a totally awesome day at Bust's Holiday Craftacular, last Sunday. Lots of fun, happy people with incredibly nice things to say, lots of sales, awesome neighbors and location, and just overall good vibes everywhere. Bust even interviewed me! Here's some pictures of my table:






Also, I picked a winner for my Give-away! With the help of Random.org, commenter #4 is the winner! #4 happens to be the super-fabulous Jeni Treehugger! You should all check out her blog, because she's awesome and funny and makes delicious food!

Thank you to everyone who entered; I think you are all pretty super-awesome and wish I could give a calendar to all of you. I will definitely have more give-aways in the future!