Sunday Morning Breakfast Club

I dread the week these club meetings end ...

Last week, Hubby made cinnamon rolls! I've been avoiding sugar more than usual during this pregnancy, but this past month I've been craving it. You can find the recipe here. Our dough didn't rise (the milk was probably too hot and the yeast didn't appreciate that) and we didn't make the icing (that was pushing the sugar limit a little too far), but they were still delicious.

Vegan blueberry pancakes for Mother's Day

Hubby made some delicious vegan pancakes for a Mother's Day breakfast feast. Here's the recipe, in case you're hungry:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
2 cups soymilk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Frozen blueberries (as many as you like: we like a lot)

Stir together the dry ingredients in one bowl and whip the wet ingredients (including the blueberries) into another bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring. Leave 5-10 minutes to rise.

Lightly oil a skillet and heat over medium flame. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the skillet at a time, and cook about 3 minutes. Flip and repeat.

I may not be a full-fledged mother yet, but these pancakes were sure delicious.

Warm couches and toxins

Today has been kind of weird.

Remember how I was yearning for the unnecessary purchase of a sofa when I found out I was pregnant? My boss offered me the one I nap on at work. Apparently they were going to get rid of it during upcoming renovations. It's an orange, cushy leather one, which might seem an odd choice for a vegan couple, but I have no problem using animal products secondhand. If I'm not contributing to the industry's bottom line and I'm helping to reuse something rather than buy more, I'm all for it.

We just have to figure out how to pick the couch up. I can't help much, being pregnant with a bad back, and we haven't made any big, burly friends with pick-up trucks yet. But even if we pay for someone to pick it up and deliver it, I can't imagine that would be more than $100. We could squeeze that out of our pockets somehow. Maybe Hubby can pick up an extra work shift.

The weather went from 15 below last week to in the 50s today. Tomorrow (ultra-exciting ultrasound day!) is supposed to be 60. 60 in January! Strange.

Momma Val posted about toxins, a subject I care deeply about. I eat organic, read labels, buy green cleaners, and still my personal choices aren't enough. It comes down to the realization that it's a community issue, and that means every individual has to make better personal choices AND better community choices have to occur in neighborhoods, cities, states, and the federal government. So, awareness and education continue to be of upmost importance.

Still icy

This is going to be quick, since our homemade pizza is almost done cooking. Mhmm tomato sauce smells good. I'm enthusiastic about certain foods now, if you haven't noticed.

Several holiday cards have arrived in the mail over the past few weeks, and more in my inbox. I wonder how the people who sent cards feel if they don't receive one. Some holidays I send cards, but most I don't. I like the sentiment behind sending it, but not the waste of paper. Emailing a card is the easy answer, but I find it more impersonal so harder to justify the time for.

Ooh pizza's here. Tofu, zucchini, broccoli, onions, and red peppers. And vegan cheese and Parmesan. I get a lot of questions about vegan cheese. No, it doesn't duplicate the taste of all the cheeses. Yes, it definitely depends on the brand you try. And yes, the easier to duplicate cheeses taste good. Oh, and the question I get most often: no, I don't miss it! (Or the similar question, is it hard to eat like that? No!) That's kind of like asking a born-again if they miss being agnostic. Once you believe in something, you follow through naturally.

Now that I've managed to finish a slice while typing, I best get back to full-time pizza concentration.

Snowy footprints

After leaping out of one snowy foot imprint and into the next, I finally made it home in a 3-hour commute that usually takes 45 minutes. It started snowing around lunchtime, accumulating about 1 1/2 inches an hour, and it hasn't stopped yet. I can still hear the neighbors scraping away with their metal clunk-clunk spoons for snow. At least now they're clearing some of it up. I'm amazed at how far in advance the city knew about this weather storm and how little preparation was put into the clean-up effort. It's like the way the West practices medicine: all treatment and no prevention. Not that they can prevent snow, but hiring a few temp workers to drive the dozens of plows that are just sitting in the state's parking lot might be a start.

We had our staff holiday party last night and I ventured out for a non-work, non-medical reason for the first time in two months. I'm proud that I made it through the whole night, too. We were floored by the fancy-schmancy restaurant, and a little surprised that the server, who knew with our reservations that we were vegan, told us the chef had specially prepared fish for us. First of all, I don't expect everyone to know what vegan is, but I would think a famous chef and perhaps a few on his/her restaurant staff would have a clue. Secondly, if you don't know what I can eat, why don't you just ask? And finally, that disgusts me that you wasted food like that. I certainly hope the dishwasher got to eat "our" grub.

That makes it sound like a bad night, but really it was nice. I enjoy, for the first time in my life, all the people I work with. One of the bigwigs even made a toast over how much she is enjoying the high value we place on our families and that there is a work-life balance cultivated that puts family first. She pointed to me and one of my coworkers as an example. My coworker brought his 5-week-old baby girl to the dinner! She was soooo adorable ... and I got to hold her! She looked up at me from her sleep a few times and I thought I was melting. I've thought about her all day today. I guess I've got a bit of a baby bug. :)

I was happy to hear the bigwig's speech, especially since I've been looking into alternative work options like flextime. I don't know what I want yet, specifically, but I do know that I'm going to go for it. It never hurts to ask, right? I read this blog on Gen Y work predictions today and it made me feel like figuring out what I want and asking for it may help someone in my shoes later. Like I can pave the way for future mothers and their work environments. That's exciting!

Speaking of shoes, I need to get me some winter boots.

Lalala

Went out to eat at a vegan restaurant (T.J.s) in Allston tonight with friends from my old work. It was good to catch up, but man when they started talking about work ... let's just say it's nice to not deal with that place anymore. Every job has issues, but that job had a few too many. Anyway, I had a "chicken" and pineapple pizza with a pumpkin blondie for dessert, and even my non-vegan friends loved the food. I'll probably return even though it's quite a hike (four buses and a subway)!

Gearing up for the big move this weekend. We reserved a truck but there's still so much to do. It'll feel nice to be able to have a day off instead of a day packing ... or I should say a day thinking about packing. I should really just buckle down and finish it all, given all the time I waste worrying about what, when, how I'll do it.

I wore jeans to work today. Jeans! These people let me wear jeans! I mean, they're the nice, dark trouser-type variety, but jeans nonetheless.