🥳 Happy Anniversary 🥳

Oops, I missed it! April 2nd was the 2 year anniversary of this blog. I don’t have a lot of readers, but I sure have enjoyed writing. One of the reasons I started this blog was to help me get over the intense fear I have of other people reading the thoughts I put down “on paper.” My school years, with all those essays and speeches and reports, were full of anxiety! And OMG – having to get up in front of the class??!! Glad that’s all behind me now. Even though I’m so much better at handling those situations these days. I got to that “I don’t give a darn what others think” stage (for the most part) sometime around my 50th birthday, but only recently could I apply that feeling to my writing. So freeing!

Another reason I started this blog (besides the fact that my friend, Betty, made it look so darned easy!) is that it was a way for me to share our adventures. Back then we were living in our camper full time and traveling between Florida and Rhode Island every year. We had some great adventures, met a lot of wonderful people – many of whom became good friends. Now, we live in an apartment not too far from either of our adult children and we enjoy a very quiet life. But I’m hoping to start expanding our horizons a bit as the weather improves, and as long as COVID doesn’t go crazy again. I look forward to sharing our adventures once again!

Last month I shared how I had given up eating meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and dairy. I suppose vegan is a label often attached to that, but I’m not so sure I can claim to be vegan – it’s a lot of work trying to figure out if ALL the products we use were made by companies that don’t do horrible tests on animals, though I’d sure like to find out and avoid those. And the vegetarian label doesn’t quite fit either: A vegan diet excludes all meat and animal products (meat, poultry, fish, seafood, dairy and eggs), whereas a vegetarian diet excludes just meat, poultry, fish and seafood. So, I’d say I’m somewhere between vegan and the very popular Whole Foods/plant based category.

Whatever the label, let me just say that I’m really having a lot of fun reading cookbooks, recipes that show up in my inbox, and blogs… LOTS of blogs! And I’m having even more fun trying many of those recipes! Although, quite honestly, I’m still happy with the simpler meals: oatmeal or granola with fruit for breakfast, salad of some sort for lunch, potato or quinoa or some variety of pasta or grain with roasted veggies for supper.

As I shared last month, I’ve tried some of the faux meats, though for the most part I would gladly do without those. I did like Gardein’s meatballs, and Trader Joe’s Beefless Ground Beef worked really well in the taco meat recipe we’ve used for years. I found a recipe for bacon bits that is quite good also. Other than that, I’m quite happy to stick with beans, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.

Tofu is my latest experiment. It’s interesting, a blank slate of sorts, and used as a substitute for so many different types of foods. So far I’ve only attempted 2 of the many tofu recipes I’ve collected: I drained and pressed some firm tofu last week, then marinated it and air fried. It was delicious – even Dave enjoyed it, saying it reminded him of fried popcorn chicken (Although, to be honest it’s all about the visual and the texture for Dave. He lost his sense of smell, and therefore taste, decades ago); This morning I attempted a frittata made from silken tofu (in place of eggs) and veggies. It tasted good, but definitely didn’t come out as the recipe indicated it should. I think the leftover veggies I used were just a bit too soggy and/or I just didn’t drain the tofu enough, so it caused the frittata to not firm up as much as expected. I’ll eat the leftovers and will try again – but with a better selection of vegetables and better draining.

With the temperatures warming a bit, I’ve returned to walking outside. Perfect for spending time with the grand-dogs! On weekends, Samson walks with me… not too fast and not too far though. His limit seems to be about 1.5 miles these days, but there are lots of different routes we can explore within that distance. And he loves to go for walks! Last week we took Penny for a walk on the bike path near the library. She did quite well, so tomorrow I’m going to take her to another section of that bike path and spend some time alternating walking/running with her. Expend of some of that 7 month old puppy energy! 🤪

Shows on Netflix have provided some entertainment lately: “Queen’s Gambit” and “Tender Bar” are two that come to mind. And we both continue to enjoy books from our local library (which provides a receipt letting us know how much money we save by borrowing vs purchasing each book!) And then there is Wordle, Quordle, and canucklegame! LOL Those have become a daily challenge. Lately I’ve told Paul that I must be part Canadian, since canucklegame is the one I seem to consistently solve rather quickly. 😉

This evening we’re enjoying the Ken Burns documentary about Ben Franklin. So much we didn’t know! Looking forward to the rest of the series.

And I look forward to hearing from you… Make a comment, like the post – let me know you’re out there!

Wishing you all health, happiness, and peace!

With love –

Kathi