Old Dog Haven

Pascal says good morning. He is the only peppy one this morning. Between the morning darkness (thank you time change) and the rain, this household energy is low.

I am still a Teaching Assistant for several accounting classes and it is nearing quarter end. So usually when I get home from one job it is on to the TA job. Nim hasn't been thrilled about this. This week he has taken to unloading a shelf full of toys and spreading them around the house. We are supposed to have a dog living with us most of May. Maybe Nim will enjoy hanging with her and sharing his toy system.

As usual, I had a hard time deciding which organization I wanted to talk about this Friday. So many I care about. But last night I got the Old Dog Haven newsletter and the decision was made.

If you are local - mark you calendars! The Walk for Old Dogs happens Sunday, July 20th. I don't plan on missing it. It is a fun collection of senior dogs doing their thing. They accept Nim. :) What is crazy is this year by the time the walk happens he will be 4! Not a senior dog yet, but definitely settling in as more of an adult.

I am no where closer to taking in another dog, let alone a senior in need, than I was last year but I love what this organization and their network of homes do. No animals should be in a shelter, but when seniors are surrendered I often find it even more heartbreaking.


"Helping Senior Dogs Live Their Golden Years in a Loving Home" - Old Dog Haven. 

Old Dog Haven is always in need of foster or final refuge homes as well as financial contributions.

Kindle Fire, Cooking CSA Box #5, The Stages of Snuggling

In honor of my new job I finally got myself a Kindle Fire. I even managed to order it on Fat Tuesday so I got my indulgence in right before Lent started.

My first book purchase? "To The Nines." Yes, another Stephanie Plum book. Not really a literary masterpiece maybe, but always entertaining.

I love how you can look just about anything up on the Internet such as "can I read my Kindle in the bathtub" and you find tons of people out there with your same concern and with their own experiences and solutions.

Thanks to the Internet, my Kindle Fire was used in the tub safely in a Zip lock.

This week was week 5 of my CSA subscription. My most favorite thing in there is actually the Burdock Root. I don't even have a recipe for it, I tend to use it in stir-fries.

There was no cabbage in this box (phew) but I did get a lot of greens, carrots, onions, fennel, cauliflower, and other items.

I roasted up the Cauliflower, some carrots, and another bag of shallots from last week and tossed with a double batch of Lemon Tahini Sauce. It came out wonderful. This is a dish I am very familiar with and always enjoy. The shallots added some bite, but I found them good.

This week also included fennel which was much harder for me to deal with. I am not a huge fan of fennel flavor or smell. I settled on this Carrot and Fennel recipe and it is OK. The problem is definitely me. I will say that roasting down the fennel and adding Almond Milk definitely mutes the anise flavor.

And finally. Enjoy these stages of snuggling photos...

Valley Renewal Center

So I didn't manage to post this morning as I had hoped, but it is still Friday!

By some miracle it we even got a break in the incessant rain today.

This Friday I would like to feature the Valley Renewal Center here in the Snoqualmie Valley. This local organization is in its second year of hosting an emergency homeless shelter during our cold and miserable winter months.

I would love to see them eventually have year round options too complete with case workers like Congregations for the Homeless (Congregations for the Homeless is a partner with Valley Renewal Center and helps manage the shelter) currently offers in the more suburban east side cities, but for now they offer a very needed service in a relatively rural area.

I have had the chance to meet some of the staff and volunteers and they are all great people. I am grateful for the very needed service they provide.

Have a great Friday night!

Start of Lent

As many of you know, I do love the season of Lent. I am really hoping to do my every Friday feature of some organization that I admire. Maybe that will be my Lent goal. We all know cutting chocolate and peanut butter doesn't work for me.

Last night I amazed myself by actually studying. Despite being done with school I am working on a couple other professional designations that I think will be helpful. I haven't touched the study material in about a week a half. 

Study partners were present.

Sadly they probably took this as a good sign that I was resuming "normalcy" of studying at night. :)

Fat Rainy Tuesday

You can't tell from the photo (except maybe by Nim's body language) but it is pouring. Basically it rains unless I am stuck in the office with no hope to take time for a walk and then it clears up.

Happy Fat Tuesday! Zucchini bread being eaten over here as I am not in a pancake mood.

Hello March!

Poor Nim. He is a trooper but not a happy dog right now adjusting to my new working schedule. We are doing the best we can and I know this will get easier.

We are already into another month. Two good things about March:

1. Another month closer to nicer weather and longer days.
2. Fat Tuesday (March 4th, remember to eat your pancakes) and the start of Lent.

It is snowing right now and has been all day but not accumulating. It is just really cold. It is a good day to cook as much as I can for next week.

This week the CSA included among other things more Scarlet Runner Dried beans and another head of cabbage! In my entire life I don't think I have ever eaten this much consecutive cabbage.

I do love these beans. I cooked them for awhile and as they were getting soft I added leeks and some shallots.

Followed by a head of cabbage and a couple of smaller cans of tomatoes. I added more plain water. Fortunately the bean cooking water added some really good flavor. This made so much soup I will probably have to freeze half of it.

I made the peanut butter crusted parsnips again, the mashed rutabagas, and I am boiling up all the beets.

I didn't get zucchinis in the CSA but I bought some today anyway. I think next week needs zucchini bread.

The cats continue to refuse to touch this pillow, but Nim sure gets a lot of use out of it. His eyes say this weather better warm up so we can get in more hiking!

The Quilting Never Ends...(and neither does the cooking): Cabbage Casserole and Broccoli Peanut Soup

So today I was looking at the back of my quilting work to assess how things were going and discovered this:

I have managed to quilt one of my knitting projects into the back. There is just not enough room for this quilt!

I am anxious to get it done too because I pretty much spend every day chasing the cats out of the tunnels they have burrowed into it while on the machine.

That would be the indignant look of Leela after she retreated back to her dog when I chased her off the quilt. Again.

My CSA box on Wednesday included more cabbage, a shocking amount of broccoli and more carrots. There were other things as well, but these three items were the focus of tonight's cooking.

The Broccoli, Apple, and Peanut Soup recipe is from "Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons." This is a great soup. I highly recommend it. I omitted the apples and more than doubled the carrots. Basically I needed to use up some carrots in a serious way.

The second dish is a Vegan Cheesy Rice and Cabbage Casserole recipe. I was beyond desperate to burn through cabbage in new and exciting ways besides variations on coleslaw and cabbage soup. 

The casserole is ugly and as a general rule photographing anything involving vegan cheese is best avoided but otherwise this is a good recipe. I had eaten such an alarming amount of soup by the time it was done that I wasn't able to do much more than taste it, but it is going to be great leftovers.

The biggest changes I made was the omission of the vegan sausage and the bread crumbs. I already have big plans to get good bread tomorrow that I want on the side, not in the casserole, and the vegan sausage...well...I try not to go too crazy with the vegan processed foods if I can avoid it. The Daiya vegan cheese was more than enough.

I didn't even know they made 8oz cans of fire roasted tomatoes but I used a full 14.5oz as that was all I could find and it wasn't too much. I think any less than that would have actually been too little. 

I am hoping maybe we get a cabbage break next week. I am still sitting on a full head of it! I am seriously considering shredding it up and freezing it for later.