Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY  THANKSGIVING!

Living and loving with an 

attitude of gratitude 

for life, family, friends, health, good weather, 

all that I am, all that I have, all that I don't have, 

all that is now, has been, and is yet to come.

GIVING   THANKS!

(Sly and the Family Stone

Thank you for letting me be mice elf again)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YXPJOUD7G0

Young people all away, 

most in Cali.

(Eagles Hotel California)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMFqh_tiHoQ

(Thank you Bob and Shirley for hosting them. 

Regrets that I could not attend.)

And one in Gotham, to me the greatest city on planet earth.

(Yeah, Empire State of Mind)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8

Makes for a leisurely, grateful day.

First up, breakfast.

Homemade sausages, made from red beans and rice.

Baked, since temperature cool enough to turn on the oven, 

and to cut down on the fat.

Mashing the beans

cooked brown basmati
 rice

Mixing beans, rice and spices

Shaped sausage patties, baked not fried.

Recipe suggests serving with biscuits, 

yet I wanted something a bit more festive,

and to munch on all day.

Number 1 R&B song on this day in 1956,

Fats Domino singing

BLUEBERRY HILL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl5hknXqXps

Sounds like a blueberry corn muffin kind of day!
My go-to vegan cornbread recipe
makes 8 by 8 pan cornbread or 
12 regular sized, 18 mini-muffins:
1 1/2 cup soymilk
1 1/2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 cup organic stone ground cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
jazzed up for muffins with
2 Tablespoons raw sugar
1 cup frozen blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix soymilk and vinegar; set aside.
Lightly oil pan, muffin tin, or use cupcake liners.
Mix dry ingredients together, along with sugar.

Add applesauce to soymilk mixture.
Fold soymilk mixture into dry ingredients only until moistened.
Add blueberries.
Divide evenly into pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into batter
comes out clean.

Enjoy with the sausages.

Great finger food to munch on all day while watching football.


Complimented by full-sized sweet potato pie!

For recipe, see previous posting, October 25,
Day 25 of Vegan MoFo 2011.
Used 9 inch pie plate, instead of mini-pie maker.
Baked at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes,
or until center no longer jiggles.
Cool on rack for at least an hour before cutting.


Dinner?
Thank you Sinfull Bakery
for a vegan pot pie.

Truly grateful!

Recommended Reading: BLUE NIGHTS

In this excellent, profoundly honest, book,

the very talented, powerful author,

Joan Didion,

 stunningly shares with her pain, thoughts and anguish over the loss of her beloved daughter, 

Quintana Roo.

Good review of this was written by author John Banville for the NY Times book review.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/books/review/blue-nights-by-joan-didion-book-review.html

The book opens on June 26, 2010, as Didion thinks back to her daughter's wedding day seven years before, 

five years after her death. 

Remembering that it would have been Quintana Roo's anniversary, the promise evidenced that day causes the writer to reflect on her daughter's childhood, the questions asked and unasked, 

answered and unanswered. 

Things said eloquently, and the eloquence of things left unsaid. Further reflections are on her own childhood, her marriage, 

her parents, their deaths, her husband, 

John Gregory Dunne, 

and his untimely death from a heart attack two years before 

the loss of their daughter.

Questions I think most parents have, 

if they are brutally honest with themselves in their 

self reflections on the enormity of parenthood, 

pepper the book; the "what ifs." 

"What if I fail to take care of this baby?"

"What if this baby fails to thrive, 

what if this baby fails to love me?"

...and the unthinkable...

"What if I fail to love this baby?"

Didion also writes about coming to terms with her own aging and mortality, affected by time spent saying what would eventually prove to be good-byes to friends and family in ICUs on both coasts; time in hospital with her dying husband, and in and out of emergency and ICUs with Quintana Roo.

I won't spoil it for you by giving you the intimate details of how she came to parent and name the daughter she lost; 

I want you to read it for yourself.

I will tell you this:

the title refers to that time of day, 

"...when in certain latitudes...approaching and following

the summer solstice...when the twilights turn long and blue..."

"...The French called this time of day l'heure bleue..."

It's a good read, and, depending on how you do it,

quick if you just go through it,

a little longer if you self-reflect.

Enjoy!

The Eagles
In A New York Minute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-q8N5wye58

Happy Anniversary, Sam and Leola!

Happy 81st anniversary to my 

maternal grandparents,

Samuel and Leola

1909-1970

1912-1993

Both are with the ancestors now.
I love you more than words can say.
Thank you!
Thank you!
THANK YOU,
for everything!

Happy 60th Birthday, Betsy!

My good friend,

 Betsy Johnson,

would have turned 60 today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETSY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETSY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

(STEVIE WONDER version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYJPIZ-C-9c&feature=related

Happy times at her 50th birthday party.

with the love of her life, her husband, and my good friend, Dave.

with Kelli and other party guests.

We had such great fun together.

At Bob and Lupe's wedding

She was killed in a motorcycle accident 9 years ago this month.

For months after she died, 

I would dial their number to tell her something,

then remember that she was gone.
Thank you, God,  and Dr. and Mrs. Ingram, 
for the gift of your wonderful daughter.
And thank you, Betsy, for being such a
lovely person and great friend!

Make Me Wanna Holler

#1 R&B song on this day in 1971

the great 

Marvin Gaye's

'INNER CITY BLUES'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tOpwgrqshU

"...make me wanna holler, the way they do my life...

...bills pile up sky high, send that boy off to die...

...make me wanna holler, throw up both my hands...

...violence increasing, trigger happy policemen...

...panic is spreading, Lord knows where we're heading..."

Sound familiar?

Like, 'WHAT'S GOING ON' now?

Marvin was truly ahead of his time,

and, yeah, what goes around...

Many of my fellow Tejas Vegans

are in Round Rock for the

23rd Annual Lone Star Veggie Chili Cookoff

http://veggiechilicookoff.com/

Blissful Chef, and Blissful Bites author,

Christy Morgan,

about whom I blogged a couple of days ago

will also be there doing cooking demos.

I'm doing my own veggie chili at home,

watching my current team,
the Houston Texans,

whip up on Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tough to watch 'cause in the late 70's & early 80's,
Bucs used to be my team.
(Mighty O'JAYS singing 
USED TO BE MY GIRL)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj8SBcGNRWc&feature=related
QB was Doug Williams.
Coach John McKay.
Memories...

Blissful Bites

Last evening, 
One Green Street,

Houston's organic lifestyle destination store,

www.OneGreenStreet.com

hosted vegan Cookbook author, caterer, cooking instructor, 

consultant, raw food enthusiast and personal chef,

CHRISTY MORGAN,

also know as The Blissful Chef,
http://theblissfulchef.com/

in town offering tastings, and signings of,

her new book,

 BLISSFUL BITES,

vegan meals that nourish mind, body and planet.

Christy prepared her Mac and Kale for us, 
a delicious raw kale salad,
massaging/marinating the kale with a mixture of 
tamari & olive oil, to soften it, 
adding nutritional yeast for that cheesy flavor (the 'mac'),
 topping it with chopped avocado
and rehydrated sun dried tomatoes.
Yeah, it was really good!


Christy says that since going vegan nine years ago,
she has experienced great health and 
a sense of well being that gives her 
a feeling best described as pure
BLISS.
Blissful Bites from the Blissful Chef
Thank you, Christy!

#1 R&B song on this day in 1966, the great
LOU RAWLS'

"LOVE IS A HURTIN' THING."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiD3kiR1Kuo

Happy Veterans Day. 11-11-11

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZZf619DIpo

Thank you to the 

HEROS and HEROINES 

who serve, and have served, in our nation's military, 

allowing us to be the proud Americans we are.

A very special, warm and fuzzy,
THANK YOU
to my all time favorite veteran,
Dad!

WE LOVE and MISS YOU, OLD MAN!
Remembering what my granddad used to tell me about why people

of color have always served, 

despite their fellow Americans not appreciating their service.

And why the road to human rights is often paved with tears,

"Freedom isn't free, or cheap."

Today is 11-11-11,

very auspicious day due to the number sequence.

Whether it is tied to next year's end of the Mayan Calendar

12-12-12, 

or just a true palindrome of number 1s,

every day is a gift so let's enjoy it!

Haven't posted since end of 

VEGAN MOFO 2011,

(that's MOnth of FOod for the uninitiated)

had a great time.

Thank you, MoFo team, for the idea, and the challenge.

The fun and camaraderie 

of daily blogging about great vegan food,

and cooking most days -

Who knew?

Staying with the music theme started during MoFo,

the #1 R&B song on this day in 1978,

Chaka Khan's

"I'M EVERY WOMAN"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z56l7ZN2w0Q