Happy New Year

So 2008 has come to an end. I had a quiet evening last night with friends playing board games. Even Ayla was up at midnight. Not something I planned mind you. But we danced a little jig and gave each other hugs and kisses. I couldn't have asked for more. A short and sweet post for today as I'm dead tired and have a pile of dirty dishes that won't wash themselves.

Hope this year brings everything your hearts desire! And maybe a little more craftiness on my part?

Christmas Eve

Well the day is finally arriving. I haven't been in the sewing room much except to whip up a baby shower gift for a co-worker. The blanket gave me a little bit of a headache until I finally decided to baste then sew it.

I pulled out 2 of my never fail bibs from Amy Karol's amazing book Bend The Rules Sewing and a cloth play cube, I put a little bell inside that makes a sweet little tinkle when you shake it. She was really thrilled with the gifts so it was all worth it.

I didn't go through with my plans to make Ayla a doll for this Christmas. The time just seems to be running away with me expecially since my mom is here now. She arrived on Monday and we've been out and about and have very little plans for sitting still. Actually on Sunday night I came down with the stomach flu that's been going around and was basically out of commission for that whole night and Monday. Unfortunately Ayla caught the tail end of it as well on our way back from picking up my mom. So we've had a rough couple of days. Thankfully, we're all out of the woods and are heading into a healthier Christmas.

I'll try to take some more pics of the festivities and post as soon as I can. But as you can currently see I've been way behind on my regular posting. Actually I forsee this changing in the new year as my friend and I are planning on doing a little quilt along. So that should be lots of fun!

Holiday cheer

For the last couple of days I've been avoiding the blog because I just didn't know how to 'come back' so to speak. But I figure 'to heck with it!' I'll just pop in to say hello, Hello!, and get the ball rolling on all this holiday goodness. Turns out that my mom is coming up for Christmas so it won't just be Alex, Ayla and I enjoying the good cheer. I'm pretty happy about this as we'll also be visiting family I didn't know I had in Calgary. There will be lots of running around trying to get her to all the important places before she leaves (ie. Banff, West Ed Mall and the many vegan eats in and around Calgary and Edmonton). Should be fun!

So this holiday season I've been thinking about my whole handmade pledge and I've got to say, I don't really have any handmade trinkets up my sleeve! I'll be making a doll for Ayla as I found a really cute pattern online (I should actually be doing this now that I have a spare moment) but that's about it! I can't think of anything handmade that I can make for Alex that he actually really needs or would want. Truthfully. Same goes for my mom. I don't want to make something just to make it and say it's handmade. I want it to actually have a useful function. I'm not very fond of clutter and I know how it is to receive a handmade gift that just winds up being clutter, unfortunately. Mind you that's probably better than a typically 'commercial' gift winding up being clutter. Last year was really fun because I had so many people to make gifts for and I knew they would be well recieved. Alex is not very big on handmade. We'll see, we'll see.

I did cave and buy a toy piano for Ayla. And not just any toy piano because you know we don't do plastic over here so it had to be of wooden construction. I got her a Schoenhut, the My First Piano II in red from Country Moose Kids (super fast and free! shipping to US and Canada). I ordered it last Monday and it arrived today!

It's heavenly beautiful but it's all wrapped up in plastic so I didn't take a picture of it. I don't want to undo it until Christmas when I give it to her. I'm so excited it comes with a little music book and even has two Christmas carols thrown in. I also got her some Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles and I bought a toy radio flyer wagon on Ebay before she was born, I'll assemble that as well. New ideas keep popping up for her everyday so we'll see what else is thrown in by the time the big day arrives.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before buy Christmas is my favorite holiday! I just love the holiday cheer that's pretty infectuous all around. And I also love the bah humbugs out there too because for some reason it fully completes the magic of Christmas and the holiday season. And speaking of 'bah humbug'! This isn't Ayla's official Santa picture but I sure hope it turns out better when the time comes! (And Santa could have looked a bit more jolly himself! Humph!)

A break

I've decided to take a mini break from the blog for awhile. I have many things on my mind and going on right now that I just end up feeling really guilty when I don't write to the blog. I'll be back shortly with hopefully some merry making in the form of holiday gifts for the family and friends.

A long time coming

First off I have to give a big congrats to the Americans out there for electing their new president Barack Obama. I must say that I'm super thrilled by the outcome and so grateful that I'm able to witness history in the making. I can only imagine what it must be like living south of the border at a time like this. A change has definitely come to America. I can't wait to see what's in store for the next four years.

In an attempt to get back into the sewing room I'm kicking off this holiday season with making newborn hats for a project that Amanda started on her amazing blog soulemama. It's my favorite family oriented blog and I can't get enough of all the great ideas she has and puts out there. This newest idea is nothing short of fabulous. You can check out the details at Mama to Mama.

I'm also thinking long and hard on what I want to get for Ayla and Alex this year. It's going to be a tight year money wise for us and I'd imagine a lot of people out there, so I'm trying to be as frugal and conscious as I can. I definitely must put a handmade spin on it so we'll see. I might even end up doing Etsy this year because I don't think I'll be sewing much. I really don't know what's gotten into me in the sewing department. Maybe I'm just suffering from some kind of burnout.

Yesterday night I made souvlaki for dinner with a homemade vegan tzatziki. I can't remember where I got the recipe. I want to say Vegan Dad but I'm not 100% sure. Anyway, it was Amazing, with a capital A. Especially the tzatziki! This is not the first time I've made it and again it just blew me away. I'm going to try to find out where I got the recipe from and post the link here because you've just got to make this. Even if it's just for dipping purposes because that would work too. I found some Yves veggie skewers at the grocery and decided to try them out in the souvlaki, again this wasn't the first time buying them but they said the taste had 'improved' from the last time I bought them so I decided to give it a try. The first time I bought them they weren't all that good, but this time I have to say they really did improve the flavor and texture. I baked them in the oven this time and they came out perfectly.

Tonight we had the famous General Tao's tofu from Vegweb. I made it with the deep fried tofu that I found at my grocery instead of frying up my own. Turned out perfectly. This is definitely a general tao recipe worth holding on to. I like trying out different ones though just to see how the flavor changes subtly.

Update: It was Vegan Dad who had posted the tzatziki recipe! Here's the link to the recipe, hope you try it out it's really really good!

Trick or Treat?

I can't believe I missed the end of Vegan MoFo. I had every intention of doing one more Halloween themed post but unfortunately yesterday ended up being busier than I had anticipated. And most of today was spent sleeping it off. In any event I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween and end of Vegan MoFo.

Ayla and I went trick or treating with some friends. We had a grand ol time. But now I'm unfortunately left with the task of wondering what to do with all of this terribly non vegan candy. My daughter is way too young to eat candy so it's basically up to me and Alex to consume all the vegan stuff. But it would be nice to know what other vegan parents do with this whole trick or treating thing with older kids. Any tips would be grateful.

Here are some pics of Ayla in her frog costume. This was at home before we left. She wasn't too keen on it at first but by the end of the night she was getting quite comfy in it.

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Tonight was much better in the dinner making department. Ayla was very cooperative (ie. entertaining herself while I got dinner prepared) and so I got more done than I anticipated. Well it doesn't look like much but I had the idea to make something with chick peas tonight and this is what came of it. I was rifling thru my Jamaican cookbook and came across a curry recipe that I knew would go perfect with chick peas and potatoes. I didn't feel for having rice again so I decided to make some roti, which is a type of Indian flat bread for those wondering. I did make curried chick peas some weeks ago and I do remember saying that I would never use another recipe for it because it was that good. But I didn't have any more coriander seeds and that was one of the main ingredients for that curry. So this one that I found made perfect use of the spices I did have while not compromising the taste one bit. Definitely a two thumbs up for this dinner tonight. Especially the roti, I can't believe I made it myself it's so good. I wish I had doubled the recipe instead of halved it!

Hmm, I can't decide which picture I like best so I'll leave both :)