Dear Guitar Hero (aka: next door neighbour)

Good Lord, man, it's 8:30 am on a HOLIDAY! Shut up with the bad guitar playing!

What the heck is wrong with people..? Seriously, guitar at 8:30 am? On Thanksgiving? Some people would appreciate being able to sleep in on a day off. I'm up (shopping online... lol) - I always get up early - but my poor husband is trying to sleep. I really hope you can't hear this in the master bedroom. And it's not even good... that's the worst part!

Sheesh... oh well, he only lives in his townhouse a couple days a week so at least we don't have to hear this every morning but still (and he is our only attached neighbour so I suppose it could be worse) but come on! Bit rude, don't you think?

Thanksgiving 2008 Menu

As promised, here is the plan for Thanksgiving this year. It's really not much different from last year since I had lots of repeat requests from family members... oh well, made it easy to plan!

I still need some kind of appetizer but I'll think of something! I still have a week :)

Main meal
Turkey - My mother-in-law is taking care of that.
Vegetable Filo Roll Extravaganza (Moosewood) for me (yum!)
Sausage and cornbread stuffing
Cornbread and fruit stuffing (vegetarian; I'm just using this recipe and skipping the chicken-apple sausage and changing veg broth for chicken broth)
Brussels sprouts amandine (I have no clue how to spell that word for "with almonds" - and I took 5 years of French... my teachers would be ashamed)
Green beans amandine (for the people who don't like Brussels sprouts - ie: my brother and DH's family... don't know what they're missing!)
Brown sugar glazed carrots
Some type of potato (still have to figure that bit out. My dad does amazing things with sweet potatoes and orange.. maybe I'll have to borrow his recipe and make those)
Homemade cranberry sauce (my mom is taking care of that but it will just be plain cranberry sauce so I might make another version that is a little more adventurous.. I have a couple recipes I've been needing an excuse to try!)
Homemade apple sauce (I'll do this)

Desserts
Apple pie (from me) - I'm going to try to make a lattice crust
Pumpkin pie (my mom's)
Pumpkin bread (MIL's)
I think my mom mentioned something about minced pies (yummy British Christmas dessert that we, naturally, add lots of booze to!) and a fruit cake (Australian version from my Welsh aunt who has lived in Australia for 20 years [my family is just so fabulously international...lol] - nothing close to the brick-esque American fruit cakes! Sorry... but people actually eat [and enjoy!] our fruit cake)

In other words, far too much food for 7 or 8 people! But isn't that half the fun of the holidays? :) Actually, thinking of the appetizer, I may just say sod it since we have so many flipping desserts!

Menu - November 22-28

Ah... a blissful week off :) I am on Thanksgiving break from work and I'm done with school (talk about something to be thankful for) so I'll be enjoying a week off - hopefully spending lots of time in the kitchen discovering some new things and dusting off old favourites.

We won't be having Thanksgiving until Saturday, Nov. 29 since my dad will be on a plane coming home from Italy (must be nice, eh?!) on Thanksgiving day. My in-laws are hosting but I've volunteered to do most of the cooking so I'll post my T-day menu in a minute.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to brave the crowds (and insane car parks) and go shopping on "Black Friday".... maybe if people get me their wish lists before then!

Saturday (11/22) - Grilled veggie pitas with lemon saffron rice and a salad for me; fish sticks with cauliflower (shocks me that my picky husband loves cauliflower!) and salad for DH.

Sunday - Tuna melt/caprese panini for lunch; homemade ravioli for dinner (Italian sausage for H, sundried tomato and olive for me)

Monday - Split pea and lentil soup with salad for me; Parmesan pork chops for DH

Tuesday - Stuffed baked potatoes (I'll add some BBQ chicken with homemade BBQ sauce for DH)

Wednesday - Quinoa and black bean stuffed tomatoes (I could eat these every day!) for me; beef stew for DH (he always jokes that he doesn't understand how his veggie wife can make such great beef stew)

Thursday - Spaghetti with homemade marinara/marinara with homemade meatballs

Friday - Pineapple-cashew quinoa stir-fry (mmmm); margarita salmon for DH

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

I'm back! With a little addition... ;)

I took a little break so I could focus on finishing my Masters degree! Yes, I have turned in my very last assignment! What a lovely feeling :)
The little addition, by the way, is the MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) I now get to add at the end of my name... heh
Er, maybe I should wait until I get something official from the university before I jinx something!

I need to actually blog the new things I made during all that time off..!

Menu - September 28-October 4

Sunday - I made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce (don't ask where I found the energy after spending 15+ hours at Disneyland on Saturday!) so we had spaghetti with homemade sauce. I was nice and made hubby some meatballs for his.

Monday - Double-Coriander Eggplant Tagine (because that last one was so fantastic!) with couscous; hubby is having this sweet and spicy tilapia that I'll probably add to the blog since I see a lot of tilapia recipe requests. We'll see how he likes it!

Tuesday - Middle-Eastern Lentils and Rice; Canadian Bacon Cheeseburgers for DH

Wednesday - It's World Vegetarian Day! I'm going vegan all day :)
Quinoa and black bean stuffed tomato for me.
DH is having some very un-vegan BBQ chicken.

Thursday - Vegetarian Split Pea and Lentil Soup (a little different from that recipe); Cajun Style Pork Chops for hubby.

Friday - Feijoada (mmmm) with some Brazilian rice; Oven-Roasted Ribs marinated in Beer and Honey for my honey :)

Saturday - Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie (I saw an article in Veg. Times with a recipe "Unemployed Shepherd's Pie" lol... I may just steal the name)
Tacos for hubby.

Chickpea Tagine

I love Moroccan food. I actually had a good friend in high school who was from North Africa - she used to make the most fantastic food! :)
Last night, I made a chickpea tagine that I found in the October issue of Vegetarian Times (they have a whole feature on Moroccan goodies!) - yum! Really tasty.. and I'm pleased to announce that I am no longer a Greek yogurt virgin! ;) Oh, Fage, why have I been holding out so long?! Great stuff - I highly recommend it if you've never tried it!

The actual tagine is gluten-free. I served mine with couscous which is a wheat product/not GF. You could use a gluten-free accompaniment like lentils, quinoa, or rice if needed.
You can also make this meal vegan by using agave nectar in place of the honey and skipping the Greek yogurt (you're missing out on that Greek yogurt, though!)

Great things about this meal:
*It goes together in no time! Unlike traditional tagines that include chicken or lamb that has to simmer for a long time, this one is ready in about 45 minutes (including chopping time!)
*It's also a great source of vegetarian protein and iron!
*It's very super-market/pantry friendly - a great ethnic dish with no strange exotic items that you have to hunt high and low for! :)

Serves 2 (mmm... guess what I get to enjoy for lunch today?!)


Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
1/8 cup raisins
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. honey or agave nectar
1 cup water
1/4 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
1 tbsp. finely chopped parsley (optional)

Method:
1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes until the onion is soft. Stir in the chickpeas, carrots, raisins, spices, honey, and 1 cup water. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add a scoop of yogurt to each serving. Sprinkle with parsley if desired.

Reference:
Chickpea Tagine with Cinnamon, Cumin, and Carrots from the October 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times.

Millennium Development Goals - MDG Blogging Day

Today is the MDG (Millennium Development Goals) blogging day so here I am sharing it with you all.
The Millennium Development Goals are a set of, well, goals developed by the United Nations to end poverty and hunger and combat AIDS as well as to promote global education, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental sustainability, and global partnership. So basically all my causes all wrapped up in a nice little package :)
Here's a link to the UN site about the MDGs - http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
You might also like the ONE Campaign site (yes, I have one of those incredibly sexy white bracelets!) - http://www.one.org/

I think these are all goals that, regardless of our political or religious beliefs, we can all support.
My goal was to keep this non-partisan and secular but I found this blog entry from Rev. Mike Kinman who is the Executive Director of the group Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation and I wanted to share it. I think he has some powerful things to say.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

"For World MDG Blogging Day: A Bailout We Can Believe In" -- by the Rev. Mike Kinman

In moments of crisis ... real or perceived ... the United States has shown that money is no object.

Often those moments have been crises of security. When we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, we were told that critical security concerns superceded the financial burden that would follow. Now this week, a $700 billion Wall Street bailout is on the table ... and, once again, we are told that the crisis supercedes the financial burden that will follow.

More than a billion people live on less than $1 a day.

Nearly 30,000 children die a day of preventable, treatable causes due to extreme poverty.

More than 100 million school-aged children aren't in school.

Women around the world are disproportionately excluded from educational and economic opportunities.

If this isn't a crisis, I'm not sure what a crisis is. And we have made it clear that in a crisis -- and this one is real -- money is no object.

Today, while our leaders on Capitol Hill and in the White House are debating a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, in New York City, world leaders are meeting to take stock of how we are doing on meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Here's a hint -- not so well.

On nearly every goal, we're behind where we need to be to reach them by the 2015 target date. It's not because the technology isn't there. It's because we lack the political will to do here what we have been willing to do elsewhere -- put our resources where the crisis is.

When the MDGs were agreed to by every UN member nation eight years ago, the World Bank estimated it would cost $40 billion - $60 billion a year to make them happen. That's a total price tag for the 15 years of $600 billion - $900 billion.

So as EGR's contribution to World MDG Blogging Day, we offer a simple proposal. If there's going to be a bailout, let's give the money to the people who really need it the most. The ones who are literally dying waiting for our help.

Let's keep our promise to make the Millennium Development Goals a reality. While we're ready to write nearly a trillion dollar check to Wall Street, let's shave $60 billion a year off the top and give a bailout to those who really need it.

Let's bail out the extreme poor.

This is a serious proposal. Until we realize that global extreme poverty is a crisis that dwarfs all others by comparison, we will never take the action necessary to heal a broken world.

This is a moral imperative that has gone unheeded too long.

We're not saying ignore the financial crisis on Wall Street ... we're saying if money is available for them, then it's available for people who need it even more.

The Rev. Mike Kinman is the executive director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation.

In case you'd like to read more on the EGR, here is a link to the blog I found that on: http://www.ringsurf.com/ring_browser.php?id=1655785

Just some food for thought.