Shinhatsubai!

preparing for the feast

I'm on an intense search for a great vegetarian recipe for my husband's Thanksgiving main dish. I want to make him something that will knock his socks off and make the meat eaters at the table jealous. Not like the Tofurkey roast last year that made him uncomfortable. Too much of an attention-grabber, that Tofurkey. And much too expensive for our current budget, if you include the miles we'd have to drive to find one.

I'm thinking something substantial and chock full o' fall veggies will fit the bill, like a shepherd's pie or a pot pie (or some modification of this recipe for cheddar cheese and onion pie .  In the meantime, I keep stumbling across these awesome side dish recipes, which are distracting me from from what I'm really looking for.

creamed leeks
jeweled rice with dried fruits
kale and potato puree
kale with garlic and cranberries
parmesan-roasted butternut squash
wild rice salad with celery and walnuts    

I'll definitely have to try these out before the big day. 

mini escape: for your ears

(I've had these links bookmarked for a while and thought it was time I shared.)

Parisian soundscapes from Pia Jane Bijkerk:
carousel
an aperitif in Montmartre  

Also, her houseboat soundscapes are quite transporting.

Lovely.

saturday specials

Oh my goodness. These Halloween stories from Cakies are so awesome.
untold story of oz
little red riding hood 
The Star Wars scene from Thompson Family-Life is quite amazing, too.

Have you been following the  NieNie Dialogues?  Each entry nearly moves me to tears. But reading things like this open the floodgates. God is good.

PS: Don't forget to fall back!

cut and paste

(I just noticed that the URL for my last post is super long and crazy. I was editing a draft post and ended up writing a whole new post from the same page without thinking. Whoops!)

I've started journaling, after a nearly ten-year hiatus (in a notebook that is at least as old). It feels good to actually write things down for my own record. I've forgotten what it's like to "talk" things out with myself (or with God, in my prayer journal), to put down the thoughts that run around and around my head.  I'm also trying out visual journaling, which is a lot of fun, and a great help to kickstart creativity. I'm a notorious notebook hoarder, so I've got plenty of pages to fill. I've noticed that it's helping me in my feeble attempts to study Scripture. If I use magazine clippings or sketches to illustrate a particular passage, it tends to stick better.

Not a bad way to remind myself of my future goals, either.