Dragon Con 2008

Well, the kids had about the best time ever at Dragon Con, the girls got to meet their heroes, Rogue and Jessica from the Cruxshadows, and Donna and Steve from Ego Likeness, as well as Perry being the ONLY WOOKIE!!

here's some more pictures of the kids at dragon con, the rest can be seen on myspace

Finally!!

Logged in again, and it asn't so had. I suppose google must have noticed, or I was just having an extended blonde moment. Updates, erm... my hair is shoulder length and blonde as of yesterday, going to be three shades of ren in the next few days... I'm playing Persephone next eek, three weeks is Alchemy and we're having a theme camp, the Sidewalk's End, and I've made lots of things... and we're homeschooling. And I'm dieting again, though Perry's still nursing, so not as intense as my down to size zero dieting before. Anyway, I will add pictures later. I am feeling rather icky today, cold AND moon.

need more reasons?

aside from countless amounts of animal welfare and rights issues, that I'm not going into, there is a new reason to avoid eating meat.

Here's a link to the yahoo news article about the tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and it's ability to create new fat cells. It's a type of protein that is emitted from mammals. Avoiding the consumption of it, would avoid weight issues and regulate fat development:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080305/hl_afp/swedenresearchhealthobesity
and here's information about it from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartrate_resistant_acid_phosphatase

and did you hear that the FDA approved cloning of farm animals for the meat industry
in january? I really don't know what to think about that... that's just messed up.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/healthmedical/a/safeclone.htm

and also, Bush is bullying up the European Union into allowing GMO crops, stating:

"I hope European governments will reconsider policies that discourage farmers in developing countries from using safe biotechnology to feed their own people," Bush stated in his Krakow speech. "America and Europe must work closely to develop and apply new technologies, that will improve our air and water quality and protect the health of the world's people."

Is he even more of a complete moron than one suspected? How could biotechnology EVER be good?? Is the nation that guilable? WAKE UP!!! Genetically Modified crops Genetically Modified crops are bio-engineered to repel destructive insects and survive chemical weed killers. All of these could be avoided with sustainable agriculture and organic methods of farming. We all operated on an organic farming scale until around World War II. "Those opposed to GM crops fear they could endanger human health, damage the environment and reduces crop plants' natural immunity to disease and insects." This is exactly what we've been doing for the entire 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, killing our selves, making our planet uminhabitable, and destroying natural selection.
ARGH!!http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/consumer/a/aagmfoods.htm

bored

and wasting time online. I'm going to read and then go to bed.








What\'s your career in the Circus? :::: And your result is.... :::: You are a Show Girl! :::: The Glitz! The Glamor! Show Girls are the epitome of \"Jack of all trades, Master of none\"! You don’t care what you do in the Circus, as long as you\'re in it! Guys want you and girls want to be you! You’re tasks may include: Riding on Elephants & Basic Aerial Productions (i.e. Spanish Web, Single Trapeze) The pay is little and so is the responsibility! You don\'t need to worry about practicing or training, because there isn\'t any! This is the easiest job in the Circus! You may never be famous but, HEY! Who cares?! It beats being a \"Townie\"!

*****Famous/ World Renowned \"SHOW GIRLS\": There are yet to be any, but it could be YOU!

bring those sillies out

rosalita
Originally uploaded by tres_madre

Tonight is one of those dizzy windy days that fills the jukejoint of my heart with velvet underground echoes

promises of snow... in March?
strawberries awaiting
penatration
into the fertile caverns
of the hibernating mother

Geoff and the kids got the bed ready, my swethearts getting the bed ready for my flowers, my shastas, my roses, my dianthus, my forget me nots and many other sundry varieties of flowers that I will make into some sort of sculpted art and take obsessive O'Keefe photographic memories of...

the strawberries will join them, but for now, they will take sanctuary for the impending return of frost

middle children

meandmymaddy
Originally uploaded by tres_madre

are so very special and need to be reminded that often! Maddy is my little helper now that Sylvia's off to preschool and always wants to be involved in anything I am doing. I'm going to make a nice post with pictures of her as an infant on her birthday.

now I must get out of blog land and clean clean clean!!

photography fun time!

wholeworldinherhands
Originally uploaded by tres_madre

Took some shots with Maddy and a daisy today-

"whole world in her hands"-









"Stairs and Flowers"-

me and my coffee mug mug mug

meandmycoffeemugmugmug
Originally uploaded by tres_madre

This morning, I had some earl grey and splenda with silk plus omega 3s for breakfast, and it inspired me to blog my coffee mug of the day! I have a little collection of coffee mugs, and not that you can see a good shot of it, but it has a woman in a buisness suit with a paper bag over her head and it says "a hung user is not a pretty site"
I think it's a web log company, but I don't know nor care, it's quite the conversation piece you know.

spinach lasagne!

spinachlasagne
Originally uploaded by tres_madre

I made some Spinach Lasagne last night, one for us and one for my friend Nicole who just had a lovely home birth to her beautiful daughter, and the kids loved it!

happy lasagne time:

Spinach Lasagne:

Whole wheat lasagne noodles (package)
Jar of organic tomato basil marinara sauce
Firm tofu
1 lb fresh spinach
2 tbsp earth balance
Lipton vegetable soup mix packet
1 tsp sea salt
dash nutmeg
fresh leaf of sage, sprig of thyme and rosemary
1/2 tsp dry thyme
1/4 c soy milk
1 tsp corn starch
nutritional yeast (optional)


preheat oven to 350, boil noodles and drain, put noodles on wax paper or foil while sauteing spinach with earth balance, sea salt and thyme. Take tofu, salt, nutmeg, soup mix, fresh herbs, soy milk and corn stach in a food processor and blend well, taste to see if more salt is needed. Take casserole dish (I used a 9" x 13" rectangle) spread some sauce on the bottom of pan, add layer off noodles, tofu mixture, spinach and another noodle, add sauce and repeat layer of noodles, tofu, spinach, noodle and continue until at top of casserole dish, then add sauce and nutritional yeast (optional) bake for about 40 minutes, cool for atleast 10 minutes before cutting

Benji Bean Sprouts Neat Loaf leftovers

neatloaflunch
Originally uploaded by tres_madre

Wednesday I made Benji Bean Sprout's neat loaf with mashed potatoes and peas and carrots.
Thursday for lunch we had leftovers, and I roasted some carrots with thyme, rosemary and olive oil to go along with it.

The Neat Loaf recipe is:

Two packages extra firm tofu
2/3 Box of flax and wheat flake type cereal (have used greenwise organic brand and uncle sam brand)
2 packages onion soup mix (lipton and publix brand both are good, as well as fantastic foods)
1 onion, diced
2 stalks of celery thinly slice (as close to paper thin as conceivable unless you like chunky celery)
1 carrot diced
1/3-1/2 cup ketchup (to taste)
1/2-1 cup ketchup for top
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

preheat oven to 350, mash tofu with fork, mix in remaining ingredients and stir well. Add Ketchup to mix if desired (I add about three big squeezes) pour and spread into casserole dish (preferably an oval one to give it more of a loaf look) cook for about 35-40 minutes (when texture is firm and has a nice brown color) spread on remaining kechup and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes before slicing

My super duper yummy vegan mash taters:

about 10 medium sized red potatoes (2-3 lbs) quartered
5 cloves roasted garlic
olive oil
sea salt (to taste)
pepper (")
3 tbsp earth balance or smart balance light (the regular smart balance is not vegan but the light with flax oil is)
1 cup soy milk

boil potatoes in salted water 15-20 minutes. while potatoes are boiling, add garlic cloves, a small amount of olive oil drizzled over garlic and sprinkle a little sea salt on. put in oven on broil for about 5 minutes, check it often and try to get garlic cloves to a golden color. drain potatoes, an let sit for a few minutes. Add garlic cloves, salt to taste, pepper, margarine and soy milk and either mash/whip by hand or (preferable) use an electric mixer/beater on low setting at first, gradually increasing speed.

I forgot to take a picture that night, but managed to get a blurry shot of my leftover lunch while holding Perry.

Perry Sage Weaver

can't believe he is one now. children make time move at warp speed... I need to capture all those sleepy head kisses and bubble orange mornings and reserve them for final fleeting dreams (dmt at the last moments...)
I do not have a picture of the cake before it was devoured by my hungry little hippo, but I do have a picture of him eating his cake, will post tonight.
Here is the recipe for his cake tha I made:

Vegan Carrot Cake

2-1/4 cups macarthur's organic whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or allspice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup light brown oranic cane sugar
3/4 cup organic cane sugar
1 cup organic cinnamon applesauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup earth balance margarine
3 cups finely grated carrots
1 cup organic raisins
1/2 cup soy milk



Directions:Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, spice, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, mix sugar and earth balance until creamy (works best with an electric mixer) - add vanilla, then add applesauce and soy milk. Mix wet and dry ingredients together and add carrots and raisins.I prefer a layer cake, so I used two round cake pans. But if you prefer thinner cake with more servings, use a 13x9. Grease pans. Smooth batter into pans. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Be sure to let the cake adequately cool before frosting.

Faux Cream Cheese Frosting
1 package vegan cream cheese (tofutti better than cream cheese)
1/3 cup Earth Balance, softened.
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups vegan organic confectioners sugar

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and margarine. Add vanilla, then add sugar.

first post

I've decided to start blogging, just for the sake of it. My cooking, my photography, any crafts I get into, the bellydancing. I get proud of my mediocre accomplishments sometimes, so this will be my blog, I think I shall call it gloaty goat.
*nods*, ego feed