yummy thanksgiving recipes

(both images from NY Times)

I stumbled upon this collection of super-delicious looking recipes yesterday on the NY Times site. I had meant to post it here then, but somehow that didn't happen. Hope it's not to late for some of you who need an extra recipe idea for turkey day tomorrow. You will notice that all the recipes are vegetarian, and some are vegan. For me, it's the other dishes that I love the most on Thanksgiving. Look! Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms! Roasted Vegetable Galette! Squash, Onion and Pine Nut Pizza! Zucchini Cakes! Even if I'm not a vegetarian anymore, I still like eating mostly vegetables. I might even one day go back to vegetarianism one day, but I'd like to convince my meat-loving husband first. These yummy recipes might be the way!

In case you're wondering, we will actually be celebrating Thanksgiving this year, although hardly in a traditional way. We'll be meeting up with other english speaking friends at the beach on Saturday for a big lunchtime meal which will include all the basics; turkey, stuffing, green beans, pumpkin pie, and my first atempt at my mom's famous cranberry bread. Those things are impossible to get here. Very occasionally, you will see a sad little jar of them on the shelf, but they are super tiny and floating in a lot of liquid. I'm not sure how this will turn out, but I have to give it a shot.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

last week in pictures

my 2 favorite happy monkeys!

Overlooking St. Denis from La Montagne

Parc Colorado

finger-sized fun

new fun hobby: making monster finger puppets

personality test

I just took this personality test and scored as an INFJ-Counselor.
Here's what the results said:
Counselors have an exceptionally strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others, and find great personal fulfillment interacting with people, nurturing their personal development, guiding them to realize their human potential. Although they are happy working at jobs (such as writing) that require solitude and close attention, Counselors do quite well with individuals or groups of people, provided that the personal interactions are not superficial, and that they find some quiet, private time every now and then to recharge their batteries. Counselors are both kind and positive in their handling of others; they are great listeners and seem naturally interested in helping people with their personal problems. Not usually visible leaders, Counselors prefer to work intensely with those close to them, especially on a one-to-one basis, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes.

Counselors are scarce, little more than three percent of the population, and can be hard to get to know, since they tend not to share their innermost thoughts or their powerful emotional reactions except with their loved ones. They are highly private people, with an unusually rich, complicated inner life. Friends or colleagues who have known them for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that Counselors are flighty or scattered; they value their integrity a great deal, but they have mysterious, intricately woven personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Counselors tend to work effectively in organizations. They value staff harmony and make every effort to help an organization run smoothly and pleasantly. They understand and use human systems creatively, and are good at consulting and cooperating with others. As employees or employers, Counselors are concerned with people's feelings and are able to act as a barometer of the feelings within the organization.

Blessed with vivid imaginations, Counselors are often seen as the most poetical of all the types, and in fact they use a lot of poetic imagery in their everyday language. Their great talent for language-both written and spoken-is usually directed toward communicating with people in a personalized way. Counselors are highly intuitive and can recognize another's emotions or intentions - good or evil - even before that person is aware of them. Counselors themselves can seldom tell how they came to read others' feelings so keenly. This extreme sensitivity to others could very well be the basis of the Counselor's remarkable ability to experience a whole array of psychic phenomena.

I thought it was pretty acurrate, which is why I'm sharing the link above, in case you wanted to find a nice little description of yourself too.

Famous INFJ's:

Eleanor Roosevelt

photo via here

Mahatma Ghandi

photo via here

2011 calender

Need to get a cute and inexpensive gift for someone this holiday season?

Here's a free 2011 calender that you can find over at My Owl Barn. You choose 12 designs out of 30, all from different artists. I've saved mine and will take it to get printed before the new year. Cute and FREE! All you have to do is cut straight lines, perhaps hole punch each top, add a nice ribbon, and voila! Awesome (and did I mention free?) gift!

the icing on the cake (cookie?)

(photo from here)

I just watched a very disturbing video. It was about Sarah Palin (surprise!) and her latest idiotic speech. On Tuesday, she brought cookies to a PA school as a sort of protest of proposed government regulations over limiting sweets in schools. Her main point was that parents (only) and not government should make decisions on what kids eat.
I was practially yelling at the screen.
Has she not noticed that 2/3, I REPEAT 2/3 of the US population is overweight or obese?
Why NOT limit the sweets in schools (and it's a limit not complete removal) based solely on the above statistic?
Well, my friends, the whole food industry is a very corrupted place; with major companies sending their lobbyists to Washington to make sure things stay in their favor. (ex: anyone ever been confused by a food label? It's not accidental.) They have some major power, and that is scary. That said with lobbyists and whatnot, I wonder how much she was paid by certain companies to get up there and say that.
But now people are starting to realise the fact that their eating habits perhaps should be limited in some ways. People, especially kids, have a right to eat healthy food, and should not be subjected to the fatty, sugary, fast food crap that is served in public schools. Limiting sugar (while at the same time serving more fresh vegetables and fruits) will actually HELP our children in school, Sarah.
And while I agree that parents play a huge role in their kids nutrition, how is it possible for them to regulate what their kids eat while they are away from them? Good habits only go so far. If the kids are surrounded by sweets, what do you think they're going to eat? So, parents should make the decisions, ok, but what if they never learned to make healthy food choices for themselves? Where do the kids learn what foods to eat? Oh right! There's Coca-Cola or Pepsi, or Pizza Hut, or Subway, or various other companies that spread their propaganda all over schools in the form of posters, book covers, etc. The government should regulate that too.
In short, there's a lot of players in this game, (a fight really) to get healthy foods into schools, so it certainly doesn't rest all on one person. But Sarah, you are doing a disservice to the very Americans you claim you want to help.
There's so, so much more to be said on the topic of nutrition in general, but I think that's enough for now. It can be overwhelming, and Palin's speech is the icing on the cake that showcases her horrible politics for me.

Rally to Restore Sanity

Ok, I know this happened almost 2 weeks ago in DC, but I forgot about this link until I was cleaning up my favorites list on the computer today. I just had to share some of the signs at the Rally that really made me laugh. And maybe you'll get a kick out of it too. Alex and I wished we could've attended, so if any of you were there and want to share your story on it, feel free to do so below! By the way, you can find all of these signs plus a few dozen more right here.

helping people at "home"

In addition to thinking about foreign aid, problems at home come to mind too. Take a few minutes to check out Jamie Oliver's passionate TED award speech. He has some great ideas for the future of food and resolving obesity.

That was sent to me via a good friend I've known for a loooooooooooongg time.

And speaking of helping people at "Home"
She is now also involved with a Habitat for Humanity program. In her words:

"I am participating in a 10 day stretch to raise money for a project called Home for the Holidays. Along with Habitat for Humanity we are raising money to make sure that a family has a home before the holidays, quite obviously. It's easy to take your home for granted, so let me just say, as someone who just moved into a home this weekend - emptying years of stored boxes - it feels amazing to "come home". I am, now more than ever, seeing the importance of paying this forward to someone else. As a gratitude for donating I will add you to a mailing list of interesting cultural facts from all over the World. The mailing list will last until Christmas Day and is in collaboration with an organization called Global Neighbors that I'm starting. I am asking that you contribute a minimum of $25, but of course please feel free to dig as deep as you wish into your hearty donation!"

To make a donation:
ChoiceCenter Leadership Teams LV107 and
LV108 are leading the charge to build a
Habitat house for a local family by
Christmas. Their deadline to purchase
$90,000 in materials with money raised is
Wednesday, Nov. 10 @ 7 p.m.
To help give a family a home for the
holidays, go to www.habitatlasvegas.org and
click on the CHOICECENTER LEADERSHIP
DONATIONS button on the right navigation
bar. Please note you can also make
recurring donations. You can also call in a
donation directly to 702.838.3988.

Please leave me a comment below if you decide to donate so it can be properly recorded and so you will receive the interesting cultural facts mailings.
Thanks in advance!