November was a pretty trying time for my sanity.

I was working two part time jobs (no one is hiring full time!), I got sick complete with fever , body aches and reverse digestion, I quit one job because they would only schedule me for ten hours a week, wtf? I got into a car accident (in the rain, at night). As a result, I have never been so broke in my life. I can’t find a job relating to what I spent 5 years in school for and I’m slowly becoming kind of loony, being forced to work retail when I have a professional degree. I worked 14 hours (from 6AM to 10PM) on Black Friday. And also, I had to tink 6 rows of lace, amounting to tinking and re-knitting about 2,000 stitches. FUN TIMES.

My lace is all better now, and I’m well on the way to completion. I think I’m actually finished, but I will knit a few more repeats to make the shawl longer. I’ve been stretching it a bit to see if it’s big enough, but I can’t quite tell, so I’ll keep knitting just to be on the safe side. I scoured Ravelry for a way to fix the problem without tinking, but I don’t have enough experience, confidence or any crochet needles, so I tinked to be safe. It only took 2 hours! haha.

Being a vegetarian now, I made all vegetarian food for Thanksgiving and cut as much milk out of all the cooking as possible (milk makes me break out and I’m lactose-intolerant). It was good, but the recipes need a bit of tweeking. I did manage a really good pumpkin pie made with tofu instead of with milk! I tried the one my mum made with milk (I’m eating it right now) and it tastes really weird to me now! The tofurkey wasn’t bad, but it was a bit too salty. I also made an awesome vegan green bean casserole… I’m a bit impressed with myself for figuring it out. :) I meant to take photos, but with all the fuss, I forgot. I’ll do on Christmas! :)

Tofu curry! Well, actually, this is a picture of chicken curry. I don’t really eat meat anymore much these days, but we still had some left in the freezer and I cooked it so I could get rid of it. But the original incarnation of this recipe was tofu coconut curry and I think it was much, much better. So, I’ll give the recipe and if you hate tofu, you can substitute with meat instead! But tofu doesn’t get stuck in your teeth. :B The one below is actual tofu coconut curry.

Tofu Coconut Curry

INGREDIENTS
* 1 pkg firm tofu (pressed)
* 1 can coconut milk
* 1/4 cup soy sauce
* 1/2 tsp brown sugar (or to taste)
* 1 Tbsp curry powder
* 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger, divided
* 2 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
* 2 bunches green onions, chopped
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
* 1 pkg baby fresh mushrooms, whole
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* salt to taste

1. Press the tofu so that it’s nice and firm. I learnt to do this somewhere, but I forgot where. Basically, I put a heavy iron pot on top of tofu wrapped in paper towel wrapped in clean dish rags for an hour. This makes the tofu firm and it absorbs the flavour better, I think. :)

2. I like to strain the coconut milk before Bring the coconut milk, sugar, soy sauce and spices to a boil. Only add half of the ginger and half the garlic and save the rest for later.

3. Add in tofu and cook until hot. Add vegetables but don’t cook them too long. You probably should add the mushrooms first and the tomatoes last. Cook until vegetables are tender but firm.

4. Lastly, stir in basil, ginger and garlic and turn off heat. Make sure to taste the food as you’re cooking to make sure it tastes the way you like it. I like to add lots of pepper because I love the mix of spicy, salty and sweet.

I think that’s it, but I really suck at giving directions because I tend to cook intuitively. But it should turn out okay. :) Serve over purple or jasmine rice! Purple rice is really good and it has more nutrients (namely fibre) than white rice. Try some!  I mixed them together for this recipe since I had so little purple rice left, but it really makes things taste richer than they would otherwise

I haven’t been up to much lately. School is over for the next week, and then I start my summer course. My final course ever. I’m kind of aprehensive about going out into the REAL WORLD, but I’m sure things will work out fine.

Anyway, here’s a picture of a dress I bought for my birthday last year! Yellow is quickly becoming an obsession for me… I have 2 yellow dresses now, and I just bought a bunch of sungold yellow yarn for a tank top. I didn’t look at the fibre content and so I was surprised to find that it is 100% acrylic. But I can’t return it.  Hopefully, it will be okay. Acrylic tends to make me sweat like crazy, but since I’m creating light summer clothes, it should be alright.

Here’s the camisole I’m working on right now. I messed up on the lace, but I really couldn’t bring myself to rip back and fix it when I realised. Now my main concern is my decreases. My ssk decreases are always super visible next to my k2tog ones. :( But otherwise, I’m not bothered. Now I need buttons for this tank… some pretty faux pearl ones!

I used Addi Turbos for this and… I don’t get the hype, really. They’re nice, but I feel like I knit the same on them as I do on my Denises (which I loathe, btw). The only difference is that my knitting doesn’t ‘hang’ onto the needle with the Addis like they do with Denises. I think I’m about to invest in Knit Picks Options, but I hear some frequent and scary complaints about the quality of the cords they use. And buying a collection of $20+ needles in every length and size does not appeal to me. What to do!

Anyway, I leave you with a picture of mouth-watering cookies! I got the recipe from VeganYumYum (I don’t know how she got hers so beautiful-looking, but I’ll keep trying!), but modified it a bit since I don’t have all of the ingredients she listed (nor do I know where to even find them!). I also added sweet orange oil because orange + vanilla is so yummy to me.

Have a good weekend!

I’m not vegan… and I only follow a vegetarian diet 95% of the time. No reason behind it–I just don’t like meat very much. And high cholesterol runs on my father’s side of the family. While I have lower-than-normal cholesterol, who knows what the future holds, right?

But anyway. I made a recipe for chilli!

Vegan Texas Chilli

INGREDIENTS

- 1 1/2 bags Morning Star Crumbles
- 16oz can diced tomatoes
- 6oz tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp. crushed garlic OR garlic powder
- hot peppers
- oregano
- black pepper
- 4 Tbsp. chilli powder
- saffron (optional)
- nutmeg (optional)

To be honest, I can’t really say use “this much” when it comes to spices. Just add until it tastes right! All you do is combine them all in a pot and cook on medium-low heat until it’s hot and of a chilli-like consistency. Nothing to it. You can add water and salt if needed. I didn’t add any water since I didn’t drain the diced tomatoes very much, but I did use half a bullion cube in place of salt. Also, as a side note, I added ground/powdered walnuts to mine. I don’t know why, actually… I just felt like it. I don’t think it matters much, but I took 1/4 cup and ground it up in the blender.

When I had no more hot dogs left, I added BBQ sauce and made sloppy joes. Two recipes in one. :) Texas chilli pretty much always looks unappetising no matter how you slice it, but I thought this tasted close enough to the ‘real thing.’ :)

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