pyrex finds from the past few months... & food!

we've had some awesome finds at our local antique/thrift shops the past few months... most of these we've been lucky to find locally, but i do admit to order some from ebay & etsy!







i bought a few individual gratin dishes off etsy and had glorious fantasies about making individual pot pies & the like but i've also seen a few recipes for baked pumpkin pasta floating around, so i decided to take a stab at it. i saw paula dean make hers with butter (of course), sausage, heavy cream, & lots of cheese... and i have been eying the veganomicon pumpkin baked ziti recipe for a while, but wanted something a bit quicker & easier. i also only had rotini, but it ended up working out fine :)



ingredients:
1 lb whole wheat pasta (your choice... i used rotini, but would recommend ziti or penne)
1 recipe tofu ricotta. i use this one as a base, but usually add some soy milk to make it creamy and smooth. here i omitted the basil
1 T extra virgin olive oil
half a large onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 can pureed pumpkin
1/4-1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/2 t rubbed sage
1/2 t dried thyme
generous pinch of nutmeg

for herbed bread crumbs:
1-1 1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
2 t earth balance
generous pinch of sage
salt + pepper

(preheat oven to 375 degrees)

01. cook the pasta! strain it and rinse with cool water BEFORE it's al dente.
02. make tofu ricotta & set it aside.
03. saute onion in olive oil over medium heat until caramelized. add garlic & cook some more.
04. add canned pumpkin and cook briefly. add soy milk to make a creamy sauce & season with herbs, nutmeg, salt & pepper. let cook a few minutes longer.

(meanwhile, melt the earth balance in a pan. add breadcrumbs and seasoning and toast until browned.)

05. when pasta is done, toss with the pumpkin sauce off the heat. immediately transfer to a casserole, stir in tofu ricotta, & top with bread crumbs. throw it in the oven and cook until sauce is bubbly & bread crumbs are nice and toasty brown. enjoy!

(also, gratuitous weight loss update: 20.2 lbs down, 10% of the starting body weight. still got some ways to go, but feeling really good.)

cap'n jazzzzzz

busy, busy bears!

we've been busy bears, but ryan & i both had today off this week, which has been awesome!

we've been pretty busy today running some errands and doing a bit of shopping. we went to the antique mall, where i found a full set of pyrex primary colors nesting bowls and some other small pieces.



i also discovered that martha stewart now has a HUGE line of products at macy's... many in a beautiful turquoise color, aptly titled "martha stewart blue." i do love martha, and i'm glad that she makes a potato ricer! i've been trying to find one forever, but haven't been able to...

i have my first weight watchers weigh in tonight, which i hope goes well! i've been earning a good amount of activity points during the week and staying on plan... so... fingers crossed! i feel really good, which matters most to me right now.

medium

i have an obvious fascination with my preferred audio medium. and a couple of months ago i was able to purchase a couple white whales:
[starflyer 59's s/t gold lp and mxpx's teenage politics lp.]
while the phrase "white whale" is used lightly(i mean it isn't as if i had to kill anything or track down these things with a harpoon), i have wanted these albums for quite a while, and was shocked when i was able to get them. great art, and a beautiful medium.

i also was able to complete my damien jurado vinyl collection:

damien jurado
[left to right/top to bottom]

lps:
waters ave s.
where shall you take me?
and now that i'm in your shadow
i break chairs
on my way to absence
four songs[one sided lp w/ b side etching]
the fabulous century

7's:
halo friendly
motorbike
trampoline
vary[clear blue]
big let down
devil in the woods #52 v/a hand #'d 652/666
damien jurado/dolorean split


next week 'caught in the trees' comes out...so i will need to get that, but for now it is complete.

and finally buki is using her scratching post:

yes, more food!

this morning ryan & i headed out to the farmer's market and picked up our produce for the week. we got some popcorn, two walla walla onions, big tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, yellow + green long beans, swiss chard, & flat leaf parsley.

we also found some massive avocados at the mexican grocery store!


& we're sending a vegan care package to Remi from dead format in france!

not shown in picture:
ricemellow and teese

some new pyrex finds!

fostering obsessions?

ryan and i are similar in that we both tend to dive into the things we like head first and often go through periods of... well, obsession. that said, we have both been collecting records for a good amount of time now. our collection has grown greatly since moving in together, and i'd say that we're both pretty damn proud of it.

ryan tends to do the searching/trading/buying, however... so my own "baby" is my recently fostered love for vintage pyrex. i was able to score some this weekend while thrifting/antiquing, and i've made some purchases on ebay this week. i'm waiting for two in the mail and we'll be picking up one set of nesting bowls this weekend from a nearby seller.

the first purchase was a full set of gooseberry pink nesting bowls :


the second was a set of three woodland nesting bowls that will complete my set :


the third is a flamingo pink pie plate. i'm going to make ryan a vegan french silk pie and dutch apple pancakes!

turning lemons into lemonade?

as posted earlier, we were really at a loss at to what to do with our kitchen when we first moved in. right now we have islands/store in the living area (which is what we're going to tackle next... hopefully we can find a great vintage loveseat!) which is really what makes our kitchen tolerable. a lot of the refurbished apartments in the building have an bar area with a lot more storage/counter space and its definitely enviable, but i'm proud to say we have made it work.

here are some photos i took earlier of the kitchen... in all of its glory, complete with dishes in the sink...


as you can see, our actual kitchen has pretty limited counter space... this is redeemed by buttercup, my kitchenaid stand mixer.

we also have the displeasure of having a single, unnaturally small sink. needless to say, a day's worth of dishes doesn't stand a chance...

we have UNICORNS! and spices. i also have a whole drawer with more spices.

this island is pretty awesome... we keep most of our appliances in it, including the electric knife that ryan brought home from work around thanksgiving!

the second island has measuring/mixing things and some vintage pyrex. ryan got me the hello kitty toaster for christmas, and the utensil holder was one of the first things we bought for the apartment!

i do like our apartment... and even how the "kitchen" is... so here's a glimpse into the panda life!

some more thrifting & lazy nights

this afternoon we went thrifting/antiquing and i was able to find some more vintage pyrex pieces! i think these are 60s-70s era, but i've been researching some other 50s pieces that i'll keep my eye out for. afterwards we went to downtown geneva and stopped in the spice house and kiss the sky, two of our favorite local spots. i bought some great indonesian cinnamon and ryno got a radiohead record!
when we got home we did some bear things. despite currently being broken from a bike accident he will most likely blog about, he was kind enough to hang my cast iron skillets on the wall in the kitchen and i reorganized the cupboards. this freed up a lot of space in our virtually non-existent kitchen - something i'm constantly messing with in the pursuit of functionality. this is what we've had to work with!


for dinner i made one our go-to quick and simple meals and it definitely hit the spot with some wine. coming from an italian background, one of the first things i ever learned how to cook was a simple tomato sauce and pasta. right now i just throw everything together, so these measurements are just estimates. like most cooking, seasoning and spices are definitely dependent on an individual's taste. ryan and i both prefer a more chunky sauce, but give the tomatoes a quick whiz in the blender before adding them to the pan for a smooth sauce.

better than jarred tomato sauce!



ingredients:
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T extra virgin olive oil
one large (28 oz.) can of organic diced tomatoes
2-3 fresh basil leaves
1/4 t dried oregano
pinch of sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
optional: swirl of dry red wine
optional: a few generous pinches of crushed red pepper flake

one package whole wheat angel hair pasta

1. while water is boiling for pasta, heat olive oil over medium flame and add garlic. sauté until fragrant - make sure not to burn the garlic or else your sauce will be bitter!
2. add tomatoes and bring to a simmer. add basil, oregano, sugar, and salt and pepper. if using wine, add and continue to simmer until alcohol is cooked out. if using red pepper flake, add to taste.
3. continue to simmer while pasta cooks. strain pasta (reserve some pasta water), and add to pan with the sauce, adding enough pasta water to moisten the pasta. stir to incorporate and served drizzled with a bit more olive oil, if desired.

some new finds...

ryno & i did some successful shopping today. after we picked up my dress from the tailor, i bought some comfy bike-riding pants. afterwards we went thrifting and i found some really lovely vintage pyrex nesting bowls and a cast-iron grill pan that's in great shape! i've been making tons of fresh salsa recently, so it seemed like a pretty good way to break in my new bowls!


fresh salsa!

ingredients:
5-6 small/med size tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
1/4 of a large red onion (or sweet white onion, if you prefer)
3 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
squeeze of lemon or lime
optional: handful of chopped cilantro (i've been making it with cilantro a lot recently, but couldn't find a good bunch at the store today)

chop everything up!
mix everything together - most of these ingredients are suited for my preference. add or leave out to suite your own taste.
add sugar, salt, pepper, cilantro, and lemon juice. let sit to let flavors meld or EAT!

sunday spring cleaning....

it’s way too early in the morning, and i of course am awake. i try to let jess get her sleep on the weekend, but often times she is awoken by me doing something. usually playing scrabbleblast.

last night we had an enjoyable night, giving each other the freedom to spend some money we decided we could afford to spend. jess got an amazing amount of items for 50$, making her cash stretch at Marshals and Bed Bath & Beyond. i got four new records, jose gonzalez’s ‘in our nature’, vampire weekend’s self titled album, cancer conspiracy’s ‘omega’ and the shins’ ‘chutes too narrow’

as you can see buki is a big fan of cancer conspiracy…


i would have to say that ‘in our nature’ is most definitely the stand out album of my purchases. making me wish i had his debut album ’veneer’ on vinyl as well. ’in our nature’ really is a natural follow up to gonzalez’s first release, with his vocals a bit more prominent, his music more vibrant, making all the reviewers use a different word other than “hushed” when describing this album. the art work is amazing, very simple, and subtle. Nathan Abels, my friend and artist, wrote a while back about gonzalez’s album art. either way, if you are thinking about grabbing an album that is sweet and rich, and composed well with simple arrangements, buy ‘in our nature’.

today is going to be a day of spring cleaning. jess is going to dust and arrange our drawers a bit more. i will be vacuuming, and changing a light bulb. we will both probably contribute to cleaning the bathroom, since we both seem to dread that the most. i think for breakfast we will most likely have biscuits and “crazy", which is jess’s version of biscuits and gravy. we may try to even exercise. depending on the weather, will determine how. i hope to run, no matter how cold.

jess and i are hoping the spring weather we had a few days ago, will return soon!

NOT 60 degrees!

today ryno & i biked/ran to jewel in what was definitely not 60 degrees! we were troopers even when i thought we'd never make it... and our determination paid off! we got a $25 gift card for filling my prescription there and bought some brussels sprouts, kale, kitty food, and larabars for during the week when i'm going to be working some extra hours...

we had a nice relaxing day at home watching house, listening to records and, as always, cuddling with the kitties. after a nice yummy dinner (veganomicon tempeh shepardess pie), we decided to go out and alloted ourselves both a $50 spending allowance. ryno naturally chose records while i opted for some (discount!) cooking/food stuffs...

pictured: five quart pressure cooker (hello 20 minute dhal!), italian coffee maker, organic fair trade decaf coffee, garlic press (mine broke!), mini muffin/cupcake pan, plastic spatula, and smoked paprika.

for $50 i think i did pretty damn good!