seitan

i made my first attempt at making seitan today. i've been trying to clean out the cupboards lately. so in an attempt to use up some of my wheat gluten, i decided to try it out. boy, that's some weird stuff! it's like mushy sponge from outer space. but it worked. and it even tasted yummy.

so i'm going to make my favorite vegetarian reuben sandwiches with it this week!

homemade seitan. homemade bread. homemade russian dressing. not homemade sauerkraut. (but i did doctor it up a bit, so maybe that counts.) can't be beaten!

unimportant blog post

i haven't been posting a lot on this blog lately. so i thought it'd let you know that i think i worked out so hard in my cycle class this morning that i busted a blood vessel in my eye.* that's tough!


*it's actually a very small blood vessel. and it doesn't hurt. but it sure sounds cool. and tough.

valentine's dinner

the hubby and i don't really get into valentine's day. not that there's anything wrong with it, but we're just not really a sentimental type couple. but i have been a bit obsessed with a variety of cooking related tv shows lately, so i've been jonesing to cook. so i found what i thought to be a few yummy and sort of valentine's-ish recipes online and decided to try them out tonight. it was the yummiest dinner! i totally recommend it for your special someone.

we had artichoke stuffed shells in ricotta cheese sauce, recipe courtesy of my favorite food blogger, with a salad and homemade bread (not made by me but by a friend of ours who just so happens to be a trained pastry chef.)

for dessert we had mexican spiced chocolate lava cake which was so rich that i thought i was going to die after eating it. (that's not to say it wasn't the best thing in the world.) we also had homemade whipped cream with it, which really helped to balance out the sweetness.

ny weekend

did i mention that we made a trip to new york a few weekends ago? we managed to squeeze a visit in when it wasn't a torrential downpour of snow and/or ice. of course, the snow was already on the ground, so it was a winter wonderland. but we got in a visit with family and friends, which was great. and, despite our flight home being canceled, we managed to escape the northeast before the crazy ice came down.

i have a whole set of pictures on flickr, but here are some highlights:

we stayed on long island with melissa, tim, and ann so there was plenty of time to play and hang out.


ann's quite busy, but she sure is a cutie!


i can't remember a time when there's been this much snow on the ground!


who are these toys for anyway?


we got in a nice visit with americorps friend, elizabeth and her fiance, dan. we hadn't seen them since our wedding almost 8 years ago.


and, we got to hang out for an evening with the nyu crew. theresa even was able to make it in from massachusetts.




the bald husband side of the room


we had a great time (though i'm getting old because it took me like 3 days to recover from being out late)


paulie and eric


the whole crew (minus my sister who had to take the picture because we couldn't figure out how to work the timer)

phone out of commission

i (unknowingly) accidentally dropped my phone last night when i was running through the pouring rain from the car to the house. when the hubby found the phone on the ground next to the car this morning it was soaked through, thanks to the torrential rain we received last night. so, needless to say, my phone isn't currently working. an internet search offered several suggestions to put the phone in a bag of rice for a little while and let that absorb the water. we're trying that today in hopes that it'll do the trick.

so for now if anyone needs to reach me you'll have to call the hubby's number or send me an email.