august 25, 2009 1026pm

This past Saturday, I went with the Kagan family to Arthur's soccer class. He is just shy of 3 years, so the kids do not actually play the game of soccer; they just get familiar with the ball and do different drills.

We had another Annie Street Arts Collective show this past Saturday. Here is what our collective looks like at night from the outside: (I live upstairs, of course.)

Some Say Leland played the show along with Nick's (From the Weird Weeds) side project and two travelers from Washington State. The Collective puts on these house shows to give traveling bands a quaint place to play where people will listen. All too often bands are recruited to play in atmospheres as merely back ground music. I mean, Jimmy Buffet is background music, not Some Say Leland.

On Sunday, Kristen and Meredith came over to makes some grub. Kristen made a sautéed pear salad with these parmesan chips. I made a vegan Asparagus Tomato Quiche (veganomicon) and Meredith made pear and banana dessert cups with ice cream on top.

Recently, I accidently bought a head of cabbage instead of a head of cauliflower. I did not notice till I was well on my way to making this Coconut Cashew Korma (twoveganboys). I started to peel the "cauliflower" thinking "man, this cauliflower has quite a bit of leaves surrounding the florets." Come to find out, it was cabbage. So, sadly, my korma was not AS good as it COULD have been. Though, the cashew-coconut sauce WAS BRILLIANT. Really. I ended up adding more frozen vegetables I had on hand. Next time I was to put peas, chickpeas and cauliflower in it. You may (or may not) be wondering, "What will marylamb do with this cabbage?" Never fear, I found a great vegetarian recipe for cabbage rolls. I will let you know how it works out, having never really cooked cabbage before. I thought about boiling it, but then that would be a little TOO British. I already get made fun of on daily basis for occasionally sounding like one. Thanks Dan.

Here is your cuteness fix for the week:

august 20, 2009 1008pm

I went to the Kagan's Sunday for a small family dinner. Our friend Molly decided to come out of hiding after a year, so we thought we would show her some love. I made a Roasted Portobello Salad with a vinaigrette dressing from Veganomicon. Krys made some BBQ tofu, potatoes and veggie kabobs. Molly brought some corn to grill, which was BY FAR, my favorite. I need to buy a little grill JUST so I can make grilled corn. You think I am kidding...

What started out as a girl date between Kelly and I turned into a family dinner with a dozen or so in company. I like how that always happens at Annie St. I made roasted garlic pasta sauce (a whole crock pot full!) and some vegan chocolate chips cookies. My friend Trevor brought a yummie gluten free pear pie and Lindsey made some bread. We talked about exploiting our first friend who has a child to put together the "Best Nativity Scene Ever" and sexting... you know, the usual.

Speaking of the best nativity scene ever, I decided to google various Jesus and Santa together and came across these disturbing images...

august 15, 2009 1239pm

I need to go to Happy Hour with girls more often.

Where's Jabba?

august 12, 2009 303pm

I am off work today and definitely still in my pjs. I have had about 3 cups of tea and some OJ, still not real hungry. I love days like this. They remind me of summer days when I was wee. I should probably shower soon though.

I made another recipe from the September Vegetarian Times magazine, Mango-Avocado Spring Rolls. They turned out great. The filling was a combination of avocado, cream cheese, bell pepper, cilantro, lime juice and spicy chili sauce. Then, I topped it off with sprouts and fresh mango. I like the idea of eating lighter lunches so I do not have to go back to work feeling sluggish and sleepy.

Kathryn, Kelly and I took a little road trip over to Nacogdoches, Texas (about 250 miles away). Kathryn is from a little town called Chireno, just outside of Nacogdoches. My graduating class was larger than the population of Chireno. It was pretty out there, lots of trees. We drove through the Davy Crockett National Forest in route to our final destination. We arrived at about 1130pm, and Kathryn's little niece and nephew were still awake. They went ape shit when we arrived. They like new faces and lots of attention. James (18 months) pretty much fell in love with me right away. I mean, who could blame him? He would run at me and plant his face in my crotch and crawl up in my lap when I was sitting on the couch. Once Payton saw this, she would get a bit jealous and try to get in my lap as well.

Saturday we went into "town" which I loved to say. We checked out some shops and a few historical things before eating some grub at El Ranchero. They do not have a liquor license, so they give you 2 free margaritas with each meal. Too bad I am not a fan of margaritas. They were a bit weak, but free, so to complain would be silly. We visited with Kathryn's grandma and then went to feed the cows at her dad's house. Did you know that you could call cows, just like dogs? Seriously, her dad walked up to the fence, the cows were 100+ yards away, and started yelling "WHOOOP WHOOOP!!" and sure enough, they starting running over to us, mooing and all. It was quite cute. I was real excited about feeding them, until I found my whole hand inside a cow's mouth. I settled for tossing the pellets at them. After taking a short dip in the pool, we headed back to GiGi's (that is the name the little ones gave Teresa, Kathryn's mom) house for some grub and booze. It was an interesting mix of people. Kathryn's Uncle Larry is a biker and comes to the yearly biker rally in Austin. He had a few of his friends there as well; all chain smoking and having a good ol' time. I only felt uncomfortable once, when one of the biker guys started giving me shit about being a vegetarian. He kept asking me why, and I would respond and he would keep pestering me. He did finally drop it after I walked away to eat at the table. Then, this conversation began after I brought up how the Gay Pride parade is always the same weekend as the motorcycle rally:

• Him: "You don't support that, do you?"
• Me & Kelly: "yep"
• Him: "Well, I just go by what is in the bible. They should not flaunt it in public."
• Me: (nodding stuffing food in my mouth to keep from talking, wanting to say something but realizing that I was a guest in someone else's home)
• Him: "But, I am not a God fearing man..."
• Me: (more nodding. Did you not JUST say you go by what is in the bible? I am pretty sure it teaches you to fear God.) At this point Kelly was kicking me under the table and we were both trying ruthlessly to change the subject. Somehow we were successful.Needless to say, I avoided that guy for the rest of the night.

august 06, 2009 732pm

Last night Dru and I rode bike over to the Flipnotics to watch Sick's Pack and a Brass Band play. If you have ever been to Flipnotics, you know that it is a SMALL room. Well, 6 or so horns in that room was REAL loud, BUT great. I love horns. Sick's Pack played and then they combined forces to for Sick's Science Project. I only stayed half the set because my ears were not prepared to deal with the loudness.

I made another recipe from Vegetarian Time's September issue, Vegetable Fried Rice. Yummmm. Robert, the roommate approved. "Very tasty" he said. I added some cashews to it for a bit of protein. It turned out superb. Fried rice is a guilty pleasure of mine. Well, anything fried is a guilty pleasure of mine. I try to keep my fried food intake down to a minimum, but sometimes, you just GOT to.

Sometimes it is hard living away from my family, especially when something scary creeps up into my life. I am grateful for my close friends in Austin, they are like family. My dad raised me to be quite independent, but sometimes I need a shoulder to lean on, someone to take care of me, you know? I am talking about people in my life that allow me to be weak when it is appropriate and encourage me to get through hard time. Thanks.

august 05, 2009 515pm

"I don't want universal health care. That is for certain, but now my tax money is going to go to women that want to have abortions. I'm gonna be funding murder?" Facebook status updates like that make me cringe at the fact that I use to be friends with certain people. Thank you facebook for unbiasely giving people an outlet to say dumb offensive things.. I wonder if this person, who lives in Texas, is just as worried about his tax dollars that are going to fund 30+ executions by the state of Texas this year, some of which are executions of innocent people. I bet not. I bet he is pro death penalty. Figures.

I have today off. Entire days off give me the chance to cook, which I hardly have the energy for after a long day or work. I got my September issue of Vegetarian Times in the mail and found a great little recipe that will be helping me get some raw greens in my belly, Ginger-Miso Yam Wraps. I just finished eating one of these wraps... SO GOOD. They are packed with protein and fiber as well. A nice light lunch. I will definitely make these again.

Does anyone else want to confess a current dream they have had about me? Last night a random person that I have not talked to since I was 18 messaged me to say that he had a dirty little dream about me. And then another friend today said he had a dream about me, not quite as dirty, but it did involve me being partially naked.

I got my hair chopped up a bit today. I am slowly becoming a blond, it seems. Every time I go in my stylist encourages me to add a bit more. It always turns out quite nice though.

august 03, 2009 911pm

Working at the Blood Center gives me the chance to talk to people that I would otherwise not. There is this certain donor that I have a love hate relationship with. On one hand, he smells REAL bad. Like, get one whiff and I dry heave smell. Like old man dirty sweaty crotch smell. On the other hand, he is very nice and I get the feeling that all his life he has been treated badly. Every time he comes in to donate platelets, he reveals little snipits of his life that seem to be unfavorable. Today, he asked me if I had ever gone to Catholic School. I said no, but asked why. He said that I look like girls he went to Catholic school with. I was not sure where he was going with that comment. Any minute it could turn down Inappropriate Rd. I prodded a bit, and come to find out his reasoning was that I had rosy cheeks and was always happy. It was quite sweet actually. Then he followed that up by telling me that the girls in school were similar to the girls in Mean Girls, and they were always mean to him because he was an outsider. Argh. I blushed a bit and said thanks.

Robert's friend Neil is in town for that weekend, or was in town for the weekend. He brought his dog, Hank. Hank is a Blue Heeler and completely deaf. It is quite fun watching his interact with my cats. There have been many stare downs, and Jabba and Socrates have gotten a jab in here and there.

We had a grilled cheese making party here last Thursday to welcome back the housemates that have been gone, and to celebrate Grizz's 27th birthday. It was BYOC&B (Bring your own cheese and bread.) I made some vegan cheese sauce for mine and I also put together an ice cream sandwich cake for Grizz. Basically it is a layer of mini ice cream sandwiches, cool whip, chocolate syrup and diced peanuts. yummmm.

I have been working on eating out much less (coffee does not count). This week, I made a pound of Cowboy Pinto Beans in the slow cooker. I also made some cornbread. That should hold me for a few days. This was my first time baking in my lovely cast iron skillet. I love that thing. YUmmie beans.

august 01, 2009 505pm

Before I start into the tale of my lovely trip over to England, I want to do a current status update. I was riding my bike to the HEB, enjoying the cloud cover and slight breeze when I started to realize how much I love my life here in Austin. I will have to admit, I was a bit bummed to leave the UK. Not only was I sad to leave a good friend after a great week, but also, the weather was my ideal. It was similar to Seattle, which is where I have always wanted to live. I am so very lucky to live near all my friends, I have the best housemates and I can ride my bike and walk to most of my hangouts. AND, I am surrounded by great music. So yeah, glad to be back.

ALSO, I found out this past week that I am a possible bone marrow match for a 65 year-old male. I am assuming he has luekemia, but due to patient confidentiality, I do not know any more about the person who needs the marrow. My tissue type has been identified as a possible match but more testing needs to be done to make sure that I am a close enough match to donate. How exciting is that?!? I have been on the registry for over 5 years now. I have to wait about 6-8 weeks to see if I am a match, so keep you fingers crossed. I would be honored to donate my marrow to help possibly save someone's life, as corny as that sounds.

I am going to break my trip up by days.

Monday: My flight left from Houston, so I spent Sunday night with the Hazel family. Sara and I got up Monday morning and road our bikes around running a few errands of mine. I was also introduced to Reese and Sara's most excellent homemade wheat bread. Seriously, It was the BEST. I definitely ate a dinner of bread and butter Monday night. (Send me that recipe Sara!) We also made some fresh carrot and cantaloupe juice. yummmm. My flight left Monday night at 730pm and landed in London, England at about 1130am Tuesday. The flight was not the best. I kept waking up with leg cramps, but I did not want to stand up because I was in the middle of the row and people were sleeping, making it difficult to get through. The flight, however, was infinitely smoother than any domestic flight I have had. I did not really feel like I was flying, just in a small room filledwith chairs and sleeping people. And a few crying babies.

Tuesday: After a bit of phone tag, Dan Edwards and I finally found ourselves together at the airport. I was a bit nervous thinking that maybe I would not recognize him or he would not recognize me.. When we saw each other, Dan had the biggest grin on his face and I am sure my face was similar. There is nothing like reuniting with a close friend after many months apart. I chatted his ear off about current happenings on the 1.5 hour drive back to his parent's house. He assumed that I would be knackered from jet lag, but I told myself that my desire to sleep all the time was not going to get in my way of hanging out this trip. So, we bused into Brighton (his parents live in Rottingdean, a 10 minute bus ride to Brighton) and headed to a pub, of course. The first pub was his favorite I think, the Great Eastern. I was anxious to try a true English beer, warm and flat. I was thinking it would be our Texas-heat warm, but they keep the kegs in the cellar, so it was actually a perfect temperature. I found out that England also has their share of crazies. A crazy looking woman came in the bar trying to use the toilet, slurring her speech all over the place. Sara, the bartender, denied her access and the woman began shouting "You cold hearted callus bitch!" in regards to Sara. It was quite comical and a bit uncomfortable. I have had similar experiences riding Austin's capital metro. After the Great Eastern, it was more pints and no food for Mary, which left me quite pissed up. Dan had to work so I hung out at his bar as long as I could. I decided that I am not a fan of Shandys, which is what people drink over there when they are driving or need to not get wasted. Also, half pints are way more popular over there. I use to think they were for puffs, but I definitely took advantage of them in order to stay on pace with Dan.

Wednesday: We took advantage of the fact that Jack Tuggle, my housemate, was going to be in London for the day. It was my first time in a train, uneventful but nice. Dan and I happened to make it to Buckingham Palace in time to see a bit of the changing of the guard. I could not see a thing, being the short one, so Dan snapped some photos for me. We walked around looking for something to eat, awaiting a call from Tuggles. It was pretty much beer and walking around with Tuggles, which was actually what I wanted. I was not real interested in going inside places when there was great company and beer to be had. I finally had a proper pint of Guinness, which was delectable. Dan ordered some pork scratchins, which are the US/Mexico equivalent to chicharrón. The ones at the pub still had little hairs on them. SICK. The boys still ate them, of course. I stuck to my Guinness. After Dan and I parted with Tuggles, we caught a train back to Brighton to meet up with his siblings for dinner and drinks. They are all quite a bit older than Dan, in their upper 30's or so. They were all lovely and funny, and all had the same nose as Dan too.

Thursday: We got up early Thursday for a run. Dan said he would come along and show me where to go. He lasted about 3 minutes running along, which impressed me. I went ahead and circled back to walk to the house with him after. Running along the sea was a great feeling. You could smell the salt in the air. It smelled of seaweed, which is a soothing smell to me. We went into town to meet his brother Stewart for coffee while his wife was getting a haircut. We went to the park to play with his little niece and then moseyed on over to the Brighton Pier. They were selling some stomach turning items along the way, such as jellied eel. Needless to say, I did not purchase a jellied eel. I have been dabbling in a bit of fish every now and again, so Dan picked a good spot for my first fish n' chips experience. It was quite tasty, but you could deep fry a shoe and it would be good. I discovered that I like vinegar as a condiment and pickled onions.

Friday: This was probably my favorite day. We got up early and headed out to Arundel Castle, about 20 miles from Brighton. The weather was threatening to rain on us, but luckily it was an empty threat. After getting a coffee, we headed to a pond walking distance from the castle where we rented a boat for a half our. Dan rowed us around. We could not have asked for a better day, weather wise. The sun was out, not too windy and it was a nice 70 F. We took a tour of the castle, which was interesting. We climbed a long skinny stairwell to the castle's keep, which had some great views of the land. Afterwards, we grabbed a curry for dinner and then went out on the town with his mate Will and company. Friday night was definitely my get wasted night. The latter part of the night is very fuzzy, but somehow we made it home in one piece.

Saturday: We both woke up to a nice little hangover on Saturday. We stopped for a pint at the Black Horse, the pub where Dan works. I had the opportunity to meet a few barflies, including Dickey. He was interesting, and LOVED America. He also liked to refer to himself as "trailer trash" because he lives in a trailer, though I reassured him that 1. He was nowhere near trailer trash and 2. In America, being trailer trash is not really a good thing. We then met Dan's mate Liam and a few others on the beach. All of us continued to get wasted. I paddled on the water a bit, just to say I had. The water was colder than Barton Springs, and people were out there swimming in it. It was also barely 70 F and really windy, but people were definitely in their bikinis and such, sun bathing. It would have had to be about 20 degrees hotter in order for me to think about braving the waters full bodied. After the beach we went to a Karaoke bar, got more booze in us. Dan ended up getting sick in the bathroom of the next pub. The bartender made him mop up his sick, which was quite hilarious. It was only about half 7, but it was definitely time to head home. I practically carried Dan home and we crashed on the couches watching King of the Hill.

Sunday: We both slept quite late on Sunday. Dan's sister Joann picked us up for lunch in the late afternoon. We met her partner (this is the word people in England use instead of boy/girlfriend, which makes me think of a gay/lesbian couple) and his son for a traditional English roast. They had a nut roast for me, which was really good. Joann's boyfriend, Mark, took the piss out of me pretty hard for wanting water with my meal. Is it really that weird? One cannot drink booze all the time. Well, I guess they can. Then I tagged along for Dan's band rehearsal. It was nice to hear Dan play again, though he does not play banjo in the band. Afterwards we met Malclom, the banjo player of the band for a drink. While walking to the bar however, we passed a place where Django Reinhardt's grandson was playing. It was far too packed to get in, but I at least got a glimpse of him. No photo though. Malcolm was such a nice guy, and really funny. We sat around talking about funny phrases that British people say such as: Crafty Bugger, Rotten Sod and Nob Jockey (one that Dan says often). A favorite of mine is something that Dan's dad said when referring to an alcoholic beverage that is weak "I could piss something stronger than that on a Sunday morning".

Monday: The day we both were dreading, my last day in Brighton. We got up early to take advantage of the day. Dan took me to a place that served a traditional English breakfast, veggie style. We rummaged through a junk shop and then headed to the Royal Pavilion. I could not take photos of the inside, but words could not describe how awesome it was. While the architecture was Indian in nature, the inside was Chinese decor. I seriously had a couple jaw dropping moments while taking the tour. In the gift shop we read a children's cook that was for sale about George, the Pavilion cat. He was a stray and lived in the Pavilion for about 12 years. We decided to walk over to the Preston Manor Garden, where he was laid to rest. It was a nice walk, and we went to the Preston Park Rock Garden on the way. We ate our last meal at a pub that sold vegan and vegetarian foods. I had a vegan pizza. Then, per Dan's request, we made some vegan white chocolate chip cookies before watching Little Miss Sunshine and calling it a night.

Tuesday: We had to leave the house by 6am to get to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye. Every time I think of goodbyes at airports that are emotional for me, I think of the scene in Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carrey drops the girl off at the airport and says "I hate goodbyes!" that makes me smile, and then I feel a bit better.

july 19, 2009 404am

Yep, I am awake at 4am. Just now packing for my trip to England. I leave Monday night out of Houston, so the plan is to go to Houston sometime today and stay with the Hazel's. We will see how that works out.

I spent the better part of this past Wednesday with Krys and the boys. It was great. We first met for coffee at Bouldin Cafe. Adam came along. Krys has to meet all the new boyfriends and approve (which she did). Adam, my little godson, kept grinning and drooling at Adam Rader. It was cute. We headed back to Krys, sans Adam Rader. I tried my best to distract the little ones while Krys unpacked boxes. Arthur and I half watched Spiderman 1, the movie. We played checkers, according the Arthur's rules. Adam also tried to help us play. Then Arthur and I took a most excellent nap together. Krys made us lunch and fed is vegan tofu jerky. Ahh, the life of a toddler. Eat, nap, play, eat, nap play...

We have had a couple house shows here at the Annie St Arts Collective. A few work friends came to the most recent one, which was pretty neat. I like combing my friends from various places.

Also, something very exciting, I finally have a ceiling fan! My room has terrible ventilation, so this makes sleeping much more comfortable. You know you are cool when getting a ceiling fan makes you days.

I am still sans a working digital camera, so I am short on food photos. A platelet donor at work brought us some fresh figs. I brought them home since none of my coworkers seemed too interested in taking them. I had never seen, much less had an actual fresh fig. My fig knowledge was limited to Fig Newton's. I remembered Krys talking about fig jam a while back, so I decided to turn them into jam. Man, was that a good idea. I think I am in LOVE with fig jam. I also made some vegan chocolate chip cookies for the house show this past week. The photo is a bit blurry because my camera chooses when it wants to focus properly.

Lastly, I will leave you a cute little ditty about Socrates. Whenever I can drag my ass out of bed to go for a morning run, he likes to chase my shadow. He is not REAL bright, but he IS adorable.

I am off to Brighton, England for about a week to visit British Dan. I will have plenty to share when I return. Cheers!

july 07, 2009 137pm

Ok, well, after posting the other day, I got the itch to post a bit more. I love keeping up a website. I use to be WAY better at it. It has definitely turned into JUST a blog though. Oh well. Sooooo I have been meaning to make these for quite some time now: whole wheat tortillas. And, today, I did just that. I got the recipe from happyveganface. They were super easy to make, just a few ingredients. I have slowly been getting in to food blogs. I initially resisted, because I get over whelmed easily, and all those recipes would cloud my head. You may laugh, but I am being serious. It is already hard with all the great cook books I have laying around. I used the tortillas for my lunch today: hummus veggie tacos. I also threw in some veggie meat I made from a vegandad recipe. That stuff freezes and reheats well.

july 05, 2009 616 pm

I am still alive. Promise. There is proof below. I am just RRREEEAAAALLLL fucking busy. Expect a big update Sunday. Yep.