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This Month In Jen: April 19

May 6, 2019

It has been about a year since I’ve done these updates. I kind-of miss having these generic posts of fun stuff. There is more to my life than just food (I mean KIND-OF lol) And I’ve been kind-of busy posting clothes on Poshmark to make some extra cash that I’ve been ignoring posts on here. So I thought this would be a nice little break.

Reading: I’ve been reading Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea. I am becoming more and more interested in the idea of secular witchcraft, and more interested in the history, ritual, and all the emotional wellness. I am really enjoying Modern Tarot but I am not sure if it is a practice that I am really clicking with. Maybe it would help if I got a beautiful deck that I loved, but for now I shelled out the $20 for a classic. If anyone has any deck suggestions I am game.

I also have been watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch on Netflix, and thought wouldn’t it be fun to read The Book Of Lies by Aleister Crowley? lol jk Just alone turning the page and seeing the full title made my skin crawl from the pretentiousness. In case you are wondering the full title is Which is also Falsely Called BREAKS. The Wanderings or Falsifications of the One Thought of Frater Perdurabo, which Thought is itself Untrue. Liber CCCXXXIII [Book 333]). I am actually enjoying the poetry, though I think the book my library has might of mess up the spacing and such, so the overall effect is a little distorted. I think I am more excited to read the angry reviews on Goodreads when I am done. lol

Crafting: I am starting to feel a crafting bug again. I FINALLY finished my gift to my friend’s baby Thorin. It is a beautiful cross stitch of Flatus Maximus from the band Gwar. You might of seen it in my Sept 17 post, but now it is framed and I finally shipped it out. The parents loved it, and now I am finally trying to work on other crossstitch projects for Wolfie, including his Christmas stocking that I haven’t been able to finish two years in a row.

Eating: I’ve been trying to cook from the Superior Burger Cookbook, but having some hard time. There are so many great looking recipes, but it uses fresh produce that I’d rather wait for my CSA to open back up for. It really is a book I’d like for my shelves. But my biggest complaint is the recipes instructions, at the very least it really reflects similar thoughts to this article (The Case for Very Long Recipes). There is a lot of personality in how the recipes are written, and sometimes it throws me off. In the blogging world recipes are kind-of suppose to be quick and easy and most of the personality is found in the blog post, right?

Watching: We just finished the most recent season of the Great British Bake Off. It was a great season and I fell a little in love with Kim Joy. I started to follow her on Instagram and she is getting me inspired to put a little decoration into my bakes. But don’t get me wrong, I really loved Rahul.

Otherwise Jon and I have been watching an episode or two of Adventure Time right before bed. He really likes the continuing stories, but they are sprinkled throughout the series. I told him he kind-of just had to watch the whole show to get the full plot lines. So that’s what we are doing.

Also, Sabrina as mentioned above.

Wolfie: Oh boy is this kid growing up fast. He is on the edge of mastering talking. Every time I read him a book he repeats the last word I said back, sometimes remembering words to books. He even managed a full sentence the other day! I was so impressed. He asked to “Eat apples at Kyle’s House”, I felt a little bad that he couldn’t lol

He is also becoming a daredevil pro at climbing ladders. I have a feeling I will be hitting a point soon where I can let him loose at the park and I can leaf through a magazine or book while he plays. Which would be awesome.

He is also taking HUGE leaps. We switched him from a crib to a bed. We have been avoiding it because of the fear he will never stay in bed, but when we asked if he wanted a bad he was so excited. We switched his crib to the bed setting and he was just so excited to sleep in the bed he rushed through his bath (unheard of) It took awhile to really get use to it, he woke up in the middle of the night often but finally assimilated. Now we are working on potty training. We are on day two, but he loves it. So we will see how that goes.

Oh and he got his first haircut. His curls were going wild and we had a family wedding coming up. So I thought it was time to get a cut. He seemed pretty upset by it so I might wait next time till he wants a cut, but he suddenly looks so much more adult. It is a little crazy. When did he grow up all the sudden?

Garden: My garden is practically back to square one. I could cry. It was always pretty sad to begin with so I can’t complain TOO much. You see I live in a row home in a private development. Which means I own everything inside house walls and the windows. I technically don’t own the land outside of it, and I pay dues to help with the up keep of the grounds. In semi-good news, the landscapers took out a bunch of ugly bushes, the bad news is that they took out plants that I did NOT want them to take, including a lilac bush and two blueberry bushes. I am mainly ticked about the blueberries though.

There are a few glimmers of hope. The one blueburry bush KIND-OF survived and so did the hops vine I bought. Barely hanging on. There is a balloon flower still kicking. The cilantro seeds are doing well, as always. Also there were some Easter plants for Wolfie of poppies and strawberries. They are growing inside and will be transplanted soon.

Other Shares: If anyone is interested, please check out my Mother’s new blog about baking with whole grains. She is pretty new to the food blogging game, but I think some readers from here would find her page interesting.

There was an interesting article shared by The Full Helping about the historic hippie vegetarian restaurants in NYC. I love seeing the evolution of vegan food, and sometimes there are old trends that should resurface. All the descriptions of seaweed made me drool. lol I never good sea greens nearly as much as I should.

What’s your highlight this month?

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This Month In Jen: March 18

April 8, 2018

He’s finally getting that soft animals are for snuggling

In typical fashion I am late with this post. Part of it is the crazy un-napping Wolfie decided to start doing. They are just much shorter than normal, which means I might have to spend some time at night getting some blogging done. But here you go guys!

Reading: I have about 100 pages left of Wool. I picked it up since I saw it on a list of top cyberpunk novels to read. Annoyingly it is a series of short stories, stitched together as a book, making it mostly just annoying to figure out where to start. But I started with the right book, and Amazon was having a sale on the e-book so I thought why not? I am really loving it, and I might even read the following stories afterwards. A rare thing for me to do.

Crafting: Well, for the month of April I want to get into sewing a bunch of bonnets because I SOLD ONE! Horray! Getting those first few sales can be hard on Etsy, since you don’t have a track record. I really hope the person who bought the bonnet enjoys it.

Otherwise, I’ve been busy recipe testing for like a bajillion books so I haven’t making too much. I am ALMOST done with my friend’s cross stitch, and when that is finished I will be busy with a million other cross stitch projects. *sigh*

So many fails going on…. so many.

Watching: Well, This Is Us has finished it’s season, and pretty much the other shows we watch as they air are back, The Goldbergs, Speechless, and Once Upon a Time. I think the quick things I need to put out there to the world is that it is a little exhausting that Speechless is taking the “but I want to make films!” route. It felt a little out of left field for the character, and because it’s the whole basis of The Goldbergs. And I am really feeling the newest season of Once Upon a Time. It is a little bit of shame the series just didn’t start with this current reboot. Less Disney hokeyness, a little darker, and much more diverse casting. It is like the writers knew exactly what I was thinking. lol

But otherwise we are catching up with The Path. We watched the first season then never picked it up again when the second season started up. Now we finished the second season and working on the third. I am really enjoying it.

It’s a garbage photo, but that pose!

Wolfie: Oof. This has been a rough week. He has been trying hard to skip naps, and also now is tall enough that he can turn on and off the light from his crib. Ugh. Luckily nighttime is just fine- but I have fallen behind in blogging, reading, and general mental alone time. We moved his crib and rest of his bedroom around, and Wolfie was REALLY frigging confused. I guess it had been the same for since he was born. The good news is that as I am currently typing this, he is sleeping MUCH longer than what he has been. *crosses fingers* maybe we will have a happy baby?

So remember those 9 teeth? Well we have 10 teeth… and they proceeded to keep on coming up over the next few weeks. Yikes. And remember that TV I was talking about? Welp, he is a regular ol’ couch potato now. He now walks over to the remote and signs for more. So now we are reserving it for super pooped baby occasions. But he now likes to watch Sarah and Duck, a British kids show, and OK Go music videos. Since he likes the OK Go videos, I am thinking about making a playlist of visually awesome music videos that I use to watch all the time, and maybe pull out some of my experimental videos from the shelf. As far as I’M concerned, I’m teaching my kid about art. Or something lol.

Drinking a golden latte in my Jake the Dog cup.

Exercise: A little here and a little there, that’s my current goal really. I try and get a 20 minute workout whenever I can, and it is never consistent. I’m find with that really. The weather has been all over so I haven’t been able to go for consistent runs like I’ve been hoping for. Heck, all this crazy weather I haven’t been able to WALK consistently. Wolfie refused to go for a stroller walk in the cold 40 degree weather since he has been in the warmer temperatures.

Listening: Hmm.. nothing that I can pick out in particular. I’ve been just trying to catch up on podcast episodes, and trying hard not to get Gavin’s songs from his toys or the Itsy Bitsy Spider stuck in my head.

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This Month In Jen: February 18

March 1, 2018

The cafe at The Grounds for Sculpture. Thinking about making a touring series of New Jersey, anyone interested?

Reading: I finished up The Magicians at the beginning of Febraury. I have mixed feeling about it. There was some sexist overtones, which I didn’t like. But ignoring that part, *note spoilers* I found once they got into Fillory things really picked up and was a hard book to put down. It became clear why this book has been so popular. I think I will continue to read the series, because I AM still curious about what is used in the books, and what went into the TV series. But I see why so many people didn’t like the book. I thought the summary of “Harry Potter goes to college” was very wrong. I think it would be better to say that it pokes fun at the Chronicles of Narnia series. I thought the first half of going through ALL the details of college was too much. It was so much to read to just get to the good part. I don’t think it paid off. I MUCH prefer the TV show dividing up the college experience with the initial trip to Fillory.

So after reading that I went crazy! Okay, so I had some easy reads. I am going to try and plow through the “saved” titles that I have on the app for my library. About two years ago I put Step Aside, Pops on my list, not realizing it was book 3 of a collection of webcomics. The web series is Hark! A Vagrant! In general the comics tend to be about historical figures or literature, but can really be about whatever. I loved it, and read it in 2-3 nights. My favorite one would probably be the Cinderella story. Best part are the protein snacks in her pocket XD

I also finished up Vacationland. This was a slight cheat because I started it before but I had to return to the library before I could finish it. It is a newer release so there was a waiting list. I really enjoyed it, though I think it could of been a little more polished in the story telling. There was a pretty big jump from Massachusetts-swamp to the much better Maine. I also wonder how this reads if you aren’t a John Hodgeman fan. I get his whole mocking-pretentious tone, but when reading some Goodread reviews, I don’t think it comes off as making fun of himself.

FINALLY My sister shared this New York Times Article by Michael Ian Black about talking about masculinity with boys. This has already been an issue I’ve been thinking about as a feminist mother of a boy. It seemed so obvious what to do with a girl, but I was a little nervous about a boy. But I think many of the same dialogues we have with girls, really should be talked about with boy. They can do anything, if they want to sew, sew. If the want to dance, dance. If they want to play sports, that’s fine too. I think it would of been nice for Michael Ian Black talk about gender on a sliding scale like with modern gender theory, but I understand he didn’t want to loose more conservative audiences.

Crafting: I’ve been getting REALLY close to finishing the one cross-stitch for my friend’s baby. He is now turning a year old, so I am rushing to get it done by middle of the month. So hopefully you will see completed photos soon. I will also be making a small cross-stitch for my new niece. It’ll be a simple letter cross-stitch for her nursery. I also made her this beautiful upcycled bonnet. I added it to the shop, which I can custom make in any size.

And on a quick note of OTHER PEOPLE’S crafting- I love the art by Danial Ryan. Also this guy spent forever making this sphere made entirely out of matches. It is interesting to read his experiment, and it is really beautiful looking, especially the burning of it.

Watching: O.J-a-thon! Ugh. Man, I knew O.J sucked, but now I really know he is super terrible. It is also interesting watching because I wonder how different things would be if the trial happened today. Like there was SO much support from the black community. He was the symbol of police brutality against blacks. But since of the Times Up movement, I wonder how many people would of backed him because of his abuse record. ANYWAYS, if you didn’t guess, I finally watched O.J. VS The People. It was pretty crazy to watch. I remember the trial going on when I was little, but not much. Just that it took forever, and I distinctly remember all the jurors being excused.

Naturally my enthusiasm prompted Jon to suggest the 30 for 30: O.J Made in America documentary mini series. It was pretty nice. They did ignore some of the hype that OJ vs The People covered- the hair, the jury, the nude photos, but 30 for 30 does an in-depth look at the race issues in LA and how OJ became famous. Oh and you learn how OJ was a dick BEFORE the trials. Then they covered how he got caught afterwards. It is a little sad to see that some people still have a sour taste in their mouths about “white justice” with O.J. As someone who is mostly removed from the politics of the time, all I see is a man who abused a woman, and got away with it at the time because of his wealth and fame. Such a shame.

Wolfie: Hmm… so much has been going on with our little nugget. Our museum membership ended at the end of February so I headed it one last time with Wolfie. I don’t think he really cared much about the actual art, but he liked exploring the city and playing with his food at The Tasty. My sister also came down from Brooklyn to hang with him. We took a brief trip to the Grounds for Sculpture and as always he loved doing some light walking and looking all around.

He is also getting some molar teeth. Poor kiddo. Some days he seems totally find and cool, and other days he will wake up from nap time in absolute tears. It is very odd since it skipped a bunch of other teeth, so now he has 6 teeth on top, three on the bottom. So weird. 9 teeth in total.

New hobbies? He now holds onto his head for Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (btw why did they animate a kid who ISN’T doing the dance?!) and he also waves his hands to the song Down By the Bay. He is also starting the bad habit of watching TV. Towards the end of the day, yeah I’m guilty. I just want to sit for a little bit. So I usually put something on for me, and figure Woflie will do his own thing. Well, he has been sitting and watching maybe at the max 10 minutes of the screen, usually Planet Earth. So, I gotta keep an eye on that.

Exercise: I was doing pretty well with the Winter Shape Up program, but kind-of fizzled out during the last week. But I my goal next month is to try and run more with Gavin before his afternoon nap, so I can shower while he is asleep.

But I have a few interesting articles. My sister sent this article about the sexual history behind barre fitness. She mainly sent it as we were talking about it, I liked it but only do barre inspired youtube videos because of the vibe that classes get. I think maybe we should be talking about the link with sex and fitness more, especially for women it can be helpful (outside of sexual liberation.) Basically sex is better because of a strong pelvic floor muscle, and if you know anything about childbirth- YOU WANT A STRONG PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE! If I’ve learned anything from The Complete Guide to Postnatal Fitness is that kegals are a little more complicated than what most descriptions explain. It is an embarrassing thing, and a lot of Mother’s don’t talk about it. For many people, it goes away. For some people it is a consistent problem ranging from just a little pee to complete incontinence.

I also enjoyed this youtube exercise video roundup from Cup of Jo. I love her summaries- and makes me want to try some of these workouts. I wanna push those leaves out of my way for the “mountain climbing” workout, or just oggle at Jane Fonda’s lace body suit. Man I need that. But she tries out on of my favorite YouTubers Yoga With Adriene.

Listening: I was a big fan of Stuff Mom Never Told You when Cristen and Caroline were the hosts. The current hosts I am not in love with, but I still give a listen (most podcast hosts need to grow on you, right?) Well Cristen and Caroline have a new podcast! Unladylike! I am already in love, especially since there is a lot more solid editing going on with the episodes. So far I’ve listened to How to Ride a Bike and How to Get a Yoga Body.

What’s your favorite thing about this month?

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This Month In Jen: January 18

February 1, 2018

Well, it is the end of January and it was just as hectic as last month. We spent most of the month without a washer, so I had to schlepp Wolfie and the laundry to my in-laws and my sister’s house to get it done. Then my shoulders and neck muscles were strained and I couldn’t pick up Wolfie, and when I was JUUUUUST about well enough to start to pick him up again, my husband got the flu. And then Wolfie got a cold. And just as Wolfie’s cough is under control- I am pretty sure I got a cold. So- you know- cool. Oh no wait- Jon has the cold now. *sigh*

Well, the month is over and we are just crossing our fingers for a mellow month.

Reading: I started this year with a LOOONG book, so it isn’t helping my reading challenge stats. XD I am reading The Magicians. I talked about how I watched the SyFy series, and didn’t like it at first, but I eventually got hooked (like all SyFy series.) Part of the reason I bothered to pick up the book was that I remember reading about how they switched a lot of thing around in the book and the show to tell the story. One thing I noticed was how much they tried to diversify the series. Some characters were clearly white, but they switched their ethnicities. The show also tried to include more women and made them more dynamic. I am about halfway through and it is JUST getting to the juicy part, so I guess I will have a better idea of if i liked the book next month.

Watching: We are having a total Queen-a-thon by watching The Crown and Victoria. Funny thing is that I don’t care much at all about the monarchy. But I do find it intriguing that it has lasted so long, and I love strong women. It started with Jon wanting to watch The Crown and when I found out that there was a series for Queen Victoria, I thought her life was much more interesting.

Comparing the two I think The Crown is MUCH better. I think they do a better job balancing the personal conflict with the family with political issues of the time. Victoria is a lot more melodramatic, and I don’t think does as good of a job setting up what is going on. Like the first episode Victoria kind-of came off as petty and paranoid, but I later found out WHY she was so distrustful of Sir John Conroy. So there has been a lot of watching Victoria, then listening to episode of Stuff You Missed in History Class.

Exercise: I love doing the Winter and Summer Shape Up programs by Gina Harvey, and this year I wanted to the Winter Shape Up, but because of my neck and shoulder injury I had to wait a week. But I’ve been following the program fairly spot on for the first week. I will hopefully continue with this momentum for the rest of the program.

Eating: I’ve been cooking a lot from Salad Samurai and Great Grains Cookbook to post a review on the blog. I pretty much finished Salad Samurai, but I have one more recipe to make, and I need to return it to my local library. The Great Grains Cookbook still has a lot more to go.

I also been going nuts with Whole Food’s almond milk lattes. I love getting my coffee there because they don’t charge extra for plant milks, and for a whole week they took a dollar off any drinks with their barista-sweetened almond milk! A latte for less than $3?! YES PLEASE! I pretty much went so often I now tallied up a free drink so horray!

And I had my first FitQuick waffle. I bought the double chocolate raspberry since they were on sale (Is Holly discontinuing this?) and ended up being $20 when all said and done with the shipping. I have to say it was strangely nice to make a waffle so fast (I never do mixes) and it was the best waffle I’ve made yet. Clearly we need to cook our waffles longer than the machine is telling us too. The waffle had a little of that powder protein taste, but not much. I just wished for more raspberry and more chocolate flavor.

Podcasts: So it is the new year and everyone is trying to loose weight (oh wait! that’s me!) Although, my goals are mostly to workout more and eat more healthfully (and intuitively) rather than drop a dress size. My favorite podcasts have a few diet-culture episodes that are making me happy. For example Gastropod just released a WHOLE episodes on dieting, but in a very body positive way. They talk to the author of one of my “want to read” books, Calories and Corsets. I think they do a great summary while being sensitive to the body positivity movement.

And if you want to add more to your diet history, you can check out Gastropod’s Calorie episode, Stuff You Missed in History Class’s Linda Hazzard’s Stavation Heights, Sawbone’s The Salisbury Diet, Sawbone’s Weight Loss, and FINALLY Oh No! Ross and Carrie’s Purium Transformation Part 1 and Part 2. Clearly there is the content warning about weight, food, and body image. And a quick little spoiler about the Purim Transformation, Carrie got the test results back, and there is lead in the shakes. Just a little FYI.

Wolfie: As you can see I FINALLY posted his last two month updates on the blog. I don’t know if I will be making posts every month as a summary. Maybe one every six months? A year? Random little life udpates? I don’t know. I also know at some point he will be getting too old for me to invade his privacy like this, so we will see.

BUUUUUTT…. until then let me share a story that will totally embaress Wolfie when he gets older. Now, I know many readers aren’t Mom’s so let start by saying the WHO (World Health Organization) recommends breastfeeding for at least 2 years. This really isn’t common in American society, lots of Mom’s still nurse, but it is kind-of weirdly hush-hush. ANYWHO, I’m still nursing and Wolfie is starting to point at things and go “whaat?” (imagine a little boy saying What like a parrot) Now he is constantly whacking my boobs saying “what?” Progressing more and more- Mommy- Bra- Boob- Nipple- Shield. It’s weird, funny, and creepy all at the same time. But it is a great story to tell his future partners. And to make things weirder- he now can say boob. Luckily this is not his first word- it goes (in order) “All Done,” Ma-ma, Da-da, more, “Brown Bear,” up, what, THEN boob. Thank god.

Crafting: Fell off the “crafting” wagon. I’ve been busy overall, plus there has been some issues with being sick and trouble falling asleep. So after awhile I was nervous it would mess up my sleep. But I saw my basket with all my projects and it is a giant mess. So I am trying to rush with getting my one needlepoint done for a friend, hopefully I will have photos to share next update.

Goals: Well, some goals I am doing well, like I’ve been working out a good bit and trying to eat more healthfully (with varying degrees of success) The whole tea thing was going strong for awhile, but I’ve just been trying to focus on minimal snacking (doing good with limited it to just a few chocolate squares) but some nights my tea is just amari… which isn’t the worst. XD I’ve already fell behind on my cake challenge, but I will probably make up for it by making two next month. Oh well.

What’s your favorite thing this month?

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This Month In Jen: October 17

November 1, 2017

It is definetly getting colder out. We survived Halloween, and we are already trying to transition Wolfie for daylight savings time. Or rather the end of it. I never understood the point of it. We also now need to start thinking about Thanksgiving, and I am now knee deep in looking at winter gear. Figuring out mittens and rainboots… and I guess snowboots? Ugh, and an umbrella! I’ve got two raincoats though! You really take for granted all the things you need for different weather patterns until you need to periodically buy them every year or so. XD

Reading I randomly picked up The Book of Other People from the library because of.. well… the cover. It was in he non-fiction section… which I dunno… seems to be the wrong place. It is a collection of short stories by various artists with the common thread of featuring a fictional character. The book was edited by Zadie Smith, and I am pretty sure the proceeds went to a charity, though I can’t remember it right now. It is funny reading reviews for this book because it gets a consistent review of about 3 stars, but everyone’s favorite stories are all over the place! I guess the best way of putting it is the no matter what type of author/story you like, you will probably like at least half of the stories.

Watching As always Jon and I tried to watch as many spooky things for Halloween- sadly horror films were a bad genre for when you are trying to be quiet. Why? The dynamic range in the soundtrack. You have to jack up the volume to hear the characters talk, and then all the sudden there would be a loud thud to creep out the audience. Since I didn’t get to do my normal reviews I’ll try and do the same in a very quick form.

Fright Night

Year: 1985
Directed by: Tom Holland
Rank: 6/10
Spooky Type: Vampire
Watch: Amazon + Netflix
Does anyone remember my review of An American Werewolf in London? Well, this has the same issues. A total sausage fest. There are only two female characters- the mom and a girlfriend who is still a virgin. Something I don’t really understand why it has to even be part of the plot. Just like An American Werewolf, Fright Night mostly focuses on humor, which I liked. The overall story is that a boy finds out that his new next door neighbor is a vampire. He tries to fight him, and even tries to get an old actor who plays a vampire hunter on TV to help him.

Extraordinary Tales

Year: 2013
Directed by: Raul Garcia
Rank: 8/10
Spooky Type: Edgar Allen Poe
Watch: Netflix + Amazon
This is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe stories accompanied by CGI animations. Each story has it’s own style, so it isn’t a polished collection. You might like one short, but not the other. I have fairly “meh” feelings about most since they are usually just straight readings of the text with animations to go with it, one using an old recording of Bela Lugosi. But I think my favorite was the short for The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. The animation reminded me of a comic book (still featured above). This story was also done without an overall narration like the others. It is worth checking out, and many people say it is a great way to introduce Poe to kids, but the last story The Masque of the Red Death has some nudity and sexual content. So keep that in mind.

Fright Night

Year: 2011
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Rank: 6/10
Spooky Type: Vampire
Watch: Amazon
Why can’t they get this right?! I think this time around the story has a much better flow. The transition into the neighbor being exposed as a vampire seems better, and they don’t open with the main character whining about not having sex with his girlfriend. The story takes place near Las Vegas, so it makes sense why a vampire would move there. Being up all night won’t be so weird, people move in and out all the time, etc, etc. The old hack vampire killing actor is replaced with David Tennant who is like a Criss Angel type of performer. Turns out he is a major expert of vampires, and unlike the old version, actually believes in it. The downfall of the newer version is that everything is amped up to WAY OVER THE TOP! Car crashes, burning houses, just really ridiculous stuff. I mean David Tennant was pretty awesome!

Worst Witch

Year: 1986
Directed by: Robert Young
Rank: 10/10
Spooky Type: Kids Witches
Watch: Amazon
Before Harry Potter there was The Worst Witch. The story follows Mildred Hubble, who is the biggest fuck up in her class. She can’t get her cat to fly, she messes up her potions, and her cat isn’t even black! This made for TV movie has a star studded cast of Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Clue), Fairuza Balk (The Craft), Charlotte Rae (The Facts of Life), and Diana Rigg (On Her Majesties Secret Service, The Great Muppet Caper). You would think it would be top quality right? WRONG! I mean the special effects were probably pretty good for a made for TV movie at the time, but goodness it is CAMPY. It has the best sequence with Tim Curry, which is probably why the film is a cult classic today.

Return to Oz

Year: 1985
Directed by: Walter Murch
Rank: 9/10
Spooky Type: Kids Fantasy
Watch: Amazon
If you are going to watch a “horror” film with a kid, this is a great place to start. I wouldn’t call it a horror exactly, but it does fit in with Halloween’s spooky environment. This movie takes from two different Wizard of Oz stories and mashes them together. It puts Dorothy in a weird spot, trying to stay true to the books but assumes that the viewer has watched the classic 1939 version. Dorothy has ruby slippers (she has silver in the book), but the Emerald City isn’t really all green (in the book the Wizard had citizens and visitors wear green tinted glasses.) The movie was a box office fail since the series is pretty dark. But it is worth watching. Fairuza Balk plays a great Dorothy, and there are some great stop motion animation.

Get Out

Year: 2017
Directed by: Jordan Peele
Rank: 10/10
Spooky Type: Suspense
Watch: Amazon
Look at me- being on trend! Yes, I watched Get Out in a timely fashion and it was awesome. I could talk about it, but I don’t think there is much to say. If you’ve never heard of the film, the storyline is that Chris is a black man dating Rose, a white girl. He is heading over to her parents for a weekend, meeting them for the first time. Naturally he is nervous meeting them, and seeing how they will react to their daughter’s new relationship. But things are really weird when he gets there, and everything escalades. I strongly recommend watching this film.

Hush

Year: 2016
Directed by: Mike Flanagan
Rank: 8/10
Spooky Type: Serial Killer
Watch: Netflix
I usually hate serial killer movies. I find them… boring? I feel like that is the wrong word. Pedestrian? That makes me sound pretentious. Unrelatable? Probably the best term. I wouldn’t say my husband loves them, but some of his favorite movies are 80s slasher films. This movie is more a survivalist thriller, with a twist. Maddie is a deaf writer who moves out into the woods as a way to get over her ex. A serial killer comes to her house, and she has to act quick to survive. This is an interesting movie, as the director and his wife (who plays Maddie) both wrote the film. Like in realist cinema, they acted out the scenario several times to make it as realistic as possible. As a result, my husband and I were constantly saying “why the heck doesn’t she do this?” or “shouldn’t she hide there?” but let’s be real, when your in a panic, you don’t think straight.

We also have been watching the halloween episodes of Bob’s Burger and the Simpsons. Plus watching some R.L.Stine’s Haunting Hour and the Netflix series The Worst Witch. It is funny watching The Worst Witch because at first my husband was pointed it out that it was a rip off of Harry Potter till I said the series was written in the 70s. I wonder how many other books use magical witch schools as a plot?

Crafting So I’ve been trying to work more on the shop, but not much to show for it. XD I’ve been playing around with a bonnet pattern, which I made a sample using a Giants handkerchief. It turned out cuter than what I expected! But I will have to make alterations to the pattern to make it look nicer. Pretty soon there will be some new items on the shop just in time for the holidays.. hopefully there will be bonnets as well!

Podcasts Trying to squeeze in as many spooky themed podcasts as possible. So I’ve been busy downloading spooky themed episodes from Stuff You Missed in History Class. I think the ones that sticks out are the recent ones about Edward Gorey and Carl Tanzler. I thought it was interesting to hear about Gorey’s later life, and his love of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And I although I like the haunting episodes, Carl Tanzler was just a very different narrative. If you listen, trigger warning of stalker-obsessive behavior.

Traveling We were going to try and check out Jawn of the Dead– a vegan halloween festival but there was a big storm that day. It was in Philadelphia so that would of meant driving in, parking, and walking probably several blocks with Wolfie. We decided it wasn’t worth it, and hope that next year they have the same popup. Wolfie will be older and will enjoy it a little more. Because of that Jon was pretty mad since he took some days off. So we looked at our local library for museum passes and decided to check out Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. I am going to write up a review of the place on the blog because it was really beautiful.

CSA We are getting the end of the share. Just three more weeks left, getting our last share in time for Thanksgiving. Luckily we are dwindling down to the veggies that last longer, the roots and gourds. We got some long pie squash, butternut squash, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, lots of leafy greens, carrots (orange yellow and purple), radishes, and turnips. Since the weather has been crazy, raspberries are JUST dying out, along with tomatoes, eggplant, and bell peppers.

Articles I thought I would share this article about how a bartender is making motherhood work. As someone who loves cocktails, I always wonder if it is something I could pursue as a career. I don’t think I EVER want to be a bartender, but it does make me wonder how people do it.

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This Month In Jen: September 17

October 7, 2017

Went to visit my Grandmother in Amityville Long Island. I walked in her retirement community and it has some pretty views.

I tried so hard to post this in September so it wouldn’t get in the way of Vegan MOFO, but man I am busy. On October 1st I helped Alexa move into her new apartment (yey!) Earlier I went to a concert (yey!) and this week I have to go to my parents to help my Mom after knee surgery. So… yeah. Sorry about the break from food but you know how things get.

Reading: I really wanted to read The Whole-Brain Child since I heard about it. I put it off for awhile because- you know- I didn’t have a kid. So I guess there was a pitfall of it being over hyped. The book isn’t bad, but it isn’t anything drastically new information. Overall it is nice to hear the suggested ways to handle situations, but there is a lot of fluff page fillers. 

Watching: TV shows are coming back again! Horray! So we are starting to watch the new seasons of This Is Us, Goldbergs, and Speechless. The Goldbergs are starting to loose some steam, I am just not finding it as funny more, but most comedies do that after 3-4 seasons anymore.

Jon and I watched the first season of The Magicians on Netflix. It is a really good series, but like all SyFy originals, it is really tacky in the beginning. The first episode should of been stretched into two (honestly) but after episode 4 I think you get sucked into the overall story arch. I also love how after many episodes they give help hotline numbers.

Can’t you see those abs forming?


Crafting: Our shop is looking a little sad. Alexa (as mentioned) moved so she hasn’t been able to work on our logo, and my Mother (as mentioned) had knee surgery. But leading up to the surgery, her legs were so bad that she couldn’t even use the sewing peddle. Yikes! But you can see the AWESOME QUILT we made. Also if you want, you can favorite our shop and items. No pressure though. ^__~

Otherwise I’ve been picking up my Gwar needle point again. I started it over and over again because I kept miss counting. Finally I started from the bottom of the “T” and got a rhythm going. I think I finally got the hang of it. Whoo!

Photo taken by my friend Justine- I mean look at those boys. So well dressed. I betcha their Mom is back stage to pinch their cheeks and say how proud she is of them… I mean I would.

Listening: I picked up two albums from my library- Stars’ The Five Ghosts and Regina Spektor’s Remember Us To Life. As always Regina Spektor is awesome, and gives something that is refreshing from the all too similar modern pop music (no hate on specifically modern pop music, but it is all too calculated and running out of new melodies that fit the formula) But The Five Ghosts was surprisingly good! It was not what I was expecting from the album cover, I was expecting something much more melancholy. But it is catchy and upbeat.

I also recently went to a Hanson concert. Yup, you read that right. I am not a HUGE Hanson fan. The were my first concert when I was little. My Aunt and Uncle got us tickets, and I remember sitting the whole time, and my Aunt telling us that we could stand (like all the other screaming girls) But I remember sitting in a spot where you had a really good view of the stage, so I didn’t get why I would need to stand, and I felt awkward in front of family lol. ANYWAYS- I think Hanson is a really fun band to see live. They played on time (WHAAAAT?!) and it was super upbeat and family friendly. In fact I think I saw a total of 10 kids- 10 more than I’ve ever seen at a concert. The only downside is that I got the feeling that 99% of the fans were people who never stopped listening to Hanson as a kid. So they were much more intense that I was. Hands down the best part of the show as Taylor! Duh! I mean he had a cute butt and TRI-and-BI-CEPS that could crush a watermelon.

Podcast: Gastropod I love you. You are the BEST podcast on food. Sadly, not vegan, but they always have great historical context, sound editing, and scientific backing. Their more recent episode on Marshmallow Fluff really inspired me to do more with it. Maybe pick up some Ricemallow or try making my own with some aquafaba.

Another case of me loving how diverse my state/area is. Hasidic Judaism was something I was always familiar with as a child. Sometimes we would see families walking to and from church. Sometimes we knew when traffic would be bad on certain holidays, etc. So it was interesting to hear The Longest Shortest Time’s recent episode about Shpitzle’s Secret. The episode is about a woman who grew up in a hasidic community, and how she fought her way out for her son.

some cute lil mushrooms growing in a tree

Garden: I dug up my one bush and finally put it towards the front of the house. But that is about it. My Mother in Law bought us some mums, and I placed them next next to our tombstone Halloween decor. Maybe I’ll get some tulip bulbs from my Mom to plant this fall for next year. *crosses fingers* maybe they’ll bloom?

CSA: Thinks have gone by so fast lately. My Mom hasn’t been able to watch Wolfie because of her knee, so I started to work Saturdays, which means I haven’t really been to my CSA to get the produce. But we are moving out of summer and into the fall foods. So I’ve been getting my last bits of tomatillos, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and raspberries. And we are getting more sweet potatoes, blue skinned potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin, garlic (cured aka dried), kale, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, and onions again. It is nice to get more shelf stable good, and not have to panic to use all the produce by the end of the week. XD

Wolfie eats an upcoming chocolate cake

Other Eats: Cakes. Cakes. Cakes. I think my husband will divorce me soon. lol

Other Shares: I found this article about the nutritional content of plants very interesting. A quick TL:DR; is that the rising temperatures and CO2 levels are making plants produce less nutrients and protein, and more sugars. Naturally this isn’t an attack on veganism, because we don’t know what it means for meat and dairy (they have to eat the same plants as we do- duh) Just another thing to worry about with global warming (or to counter arguments saying that high CO2 is good for plants.)

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This Month in Jen: August 17

September 14, 2017

In my usual fashion- just like 14 days late. No biggie right?! XD Well, here’s what I’ve been up to in August. I’ll leave you with that so you can read before it is October XD

Reading: Finished Strong Female Protagonist, so I get to return it to Alexa WHEN SHE MOVES TO HER NEW APARTMENT! Very exciting. But focus on the book- it took a lot longer to read than most graphic novels. It is fairly text heavy, but the visuals are still very awesome. I don’t think the texts take away from the medium. I liked the idea of superheroes in the everyday world, and I love how internal conflict that Alison has with trying to “save the world forever.” You don’t need to be a super hero person to really dig this novel.

After finishing that, I went to the library and saw Emily Strange in the YA section. I had no idea that there was a comic series…. so long after her debut. I remember loving Emily Strange when I was a little tween (I mean look at that website- so dated!). So it has been interesting to read The Complete Emily the Strange: All Things Strange. It is interesting to see a personality bloom for Emily. I think I would of fallen in love with her even more if I had the comic when I was younger. What is most interesting is the style changes all the time. Some are stories, some are little “hyuk hyuk” jokes, some are little interviews, and some are just really cool art. Heck even the artistic style changes through the comic series. And naturally this is making me want to dye my hair black and cut some bangs again. I know I shouldn’t though. I never upkeep my bangs.

Watching: As always I am late to the game with what I am watching. Jon and I just finished up season two of Master of None. God I love that show. It never stops entertaining me, and really tries to push what a TV show can do with editing. It is also FINALLY getting Jon on board with Eric Wareheim. Jon HATES Tim and Eric and Tom Goes to the Mayor. I love the visual editing from them. Now Eric Wareheim is in something Jon can dig (read: a plotline) Side note- I saw Eric once in person! I didn’t say hi, mostly because I kept thinking “Why the fuck does this giant look so familiar?” He was at DiBruno Bros so he was probably buying cheese.

Jon and I started watching Key and Peele. It was on the short list of things I would like to watch, but I didn’t know how Jon would react. He randomly decided he wanted to watch it the other day, and we are in love.

A bandana bib from our new etsy shop

Crafting: Nothing new really. Well, my Mother and I are working hard on opening an Etsy shop filled with quilts and little sewn goods for babies. Right now I have a whole whopping ONE item in the shop. XD But we should soon have more.

Listening: For Jon’s birthday I tipped his parents off that he wanted a new record player for Christmas. But it didn’t work out because we had too many things we needed- mostly a new storm door. Turns out that it kind-of is a gift for me as well. XD I brought down all our old CDs and I’ve been jamming out to a lot of Judy and Mary and SE7EN. If they sound familiar, it might be because Judy and Mary sang the opening theme for Rurouni Kenshin and SE7EN debuted in the US with a single featuring Lil Kim.

Podcast: The Longest Shortest Time just released an episode on talking to kids about racism. Ugh. I thought it would be tough to explain veganism to Wolfie, now this? It is really interesting hearing how it is okay to be clumsy talking about racism as a white parent. They also talked about how kids notice these things very early on, so the race talk might be come much earlier than what I originally anticipated.

Garden: My pathetic garden always surprises me. The Spider Queen plants from last year went to seed and grew this year. Sadly, the bunnies kept nibbling them down, so I assumed they were toast. Not so! They bloomed! Though they were not as impressive as last year. XD I am hoping my boss will share some seeds for the plants that seemed to be bunny proof with me. It is possible that I might be growing tobacco next year.

CSA: Tons of green beans and tomatoes. So many tomatoes. Like stupid tons. Luckily the crockpot makes tomato sauce super easy anymore. Just cook for an insanely long time. Done! XD But this was the last week for tomatoes (probably) as we had a “take what you want” written on the you pick board. Tomatillos are back but so far I only took a quart and made my tomatillo tofu. Blackberries finally ended and raspberries are starting to come out.

I made some okra curry from Vegan Richa, and Wolfie gobbled it all up. We got a spaghetti squash (yey this season has been horrible for them) and made them into tacos with the tomatillo tofu. Lots of bell peppers and onions have been going on pizzas, some eggplant here and there, and one or two summer squashes. We’ve gotten a tiny yellow watermelon and two big red watermelon.

I’ve been boing and chopping up the beets for my smoothies. It’s been too hot to make any of the beet recipes that I like. T_T We got one head of lettuce for the summer, which to chopped, washed and ate asap because things freezing in the fridge is still and issue.

Other Eats: PUMPKIN BEER! Okay so that is a little bit of a September thing. I’ve been really happy with booze lately. Maybe that is a sign I am getting more sleep? We had a big family get together so I got to taste a few beers, cocktails, and champagne. I’ve been browsing local liquor stores seeing what they have and dreaming up new cocktail recipes… maybe? BTW if anyone tracks their beers via Untapped, follow me and Alexa! We love seeing what other people are drinking!

And in news of food, I did it- I signed up for Vegan MOFO 2017! I won’t be using their prompts. I’ll HOPEFULLY post more Veganized American Cakes, and cocktails. But Alexa might pop in with the prompts.

Other Shares: I’ve been thinking a lot again about body image. I wrote about how weird pregnancy is for the body, but post pregnancy brings up slightly different issues. And not that men don’t have issues with changing bodies, but I think women have more circumstances where their bodies have drastic changes. Anyways, all of this is leading up to Gina’s new post about Why She Got Her Breast Implants Out. She talks about why she got implants, why it made sense at the time, and why she got a little more plastic surgery done. It is a great read for anyone who had breast cancer or had a baby or both or none of the above. Clearly the post will have body image trigger warnings but also “clean eating”

I also feel like lately I’ve been handling bad news by ignoring it. It can be hard with a kid since you know that the stupid choices being made will effect him the most. So I am taking the time to point out Hurricane Harvey. If you have any money or time to offer, Offbeat Home gives a bunch of great links to food banks, diaper drives, and ways to volunteer your time.

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This Month in Jen: July 17

August 11, 2017

Jon and I went to see the Michale Nichols photography exhibit. It was really interesting and sad. They had these HUGE photos of red wood trees at the entrance.

Reading: I just finished up American Cakes. Horray! I wish I wasn’t so hot because I would really like to bake a few different cakes. T__T But I guess you’ll see some new recipes in the fall.

I also picked up Strong Female Protaganist. Alexa lent it to me awhile ago but I just started to read it. It is pretty interesting. It tells a story of an early 20s super hero girl who decides to give up crime fighting and go to college. 

He’s a photo of me looking very nerdy ^__~

Watching: Jon wanted to watch the show Paranoid. It was okay. It is a Netflix original and is about a small local police force investigating a murder of a Mother. It ends up exposing a huge cover up of a drug company. It felt a little anti-climatic at the end, and it didn’t feel particularly special. I did really enjoy the Danish police, they were so happy and upbeat. Overall not bad if you enjoy cop dramas.

We finished up the series (or what has been made so far) of Veep. Our library has it and I have to say it is really funny. It is based on the BBC show The Thick of It. I tried watching it in the past, and it was funny but I think the combo of thick accents and foreign governments left me a little too in the dark. Anyways, Selena Meyers is inspiring a potential new hair do…. maybe. I am not sure how much upkeep I would have to do.

Crafting: Well my Mom and I add the grey spacing between the cats, and the glasses so all we need to do is.. you know… make it into a quilt. The summer is almost over but oh well. We can enjoy next summer and the every summer after that.

I also have been working more on the crossstitch for my friend but nothing special to photograph and put on the blog. Maybe next month?

Listening: Gosh- am I even listening to anything worth while? Hmmm… I took out a bunch of Flaming Lips albums from the library but they are sitting on the dining table. Feminist Killjoy PHD playlist became public again so I’ve been listening to that a lot. But that is more or less it. 

Look at this cool kid rocking the jean jacket with blue jeans at the hippest place in town- The Philadelphia Flower Show!

Garden: Not much is going on right now in my garden. The balloon flowers randomly started to bloom! Yey! But otherwise I think we have hit the end of the variety in my garden. Hopefully I can re-arrange a few things and plan what I want to grow next year.

Podcast: Mosaic Science had a REALLY interesting episode on the safety of city cycling (you can either read or listen the article). They compared the stats and types of biking routes in different cities. I have learned to bike in Philly which promotes the USA style of biking with traffic. You think of yourself like a vehicle and follow all the laws. But we are slowly making bike only lanes and such.

CSA: I have NOT been keeping track of my CSA picks and what I have been making but here is a brief list of what I have been getting:

  • green beans, green beans, and oh green beans
  • fresh onions and garlic, and some scallions and leeks
  • a few green bell peppers
  • one eggplant
  • “cutting” celery
  • zucchini and summer squashes
  • spring carrots
  • okra
  • tomatoes!!
  • cherry and sungold tomatoes
  • blackberries
  • and finally nappa and regular ol’ cabbage

Other Eats: Jon and I went to the new Whole Foods location. I will be writing a review because it is actually a pretty cool place. We were planning on eating as Wiz Kid, but they were closed! They literally JUST opened up their new location, making me think they were closed to get as many staff members over for their grand opening. Ugh. 

Little me during Christmas time at my Grandmothers on Long Island

Other Shares: I scanned some old photos recently- like the embarrassing ones. In all my dorky kid glory. I loved taking photos and I was always just testing the waters, so you have my lovely 90’s selfie. There is also the photo of me at the Philadelphia Flower Show in my jean jacket.

And Outside is CRUSHIN IT with their articles! There is a really interesting one that I read this month about eating disorders and sports. I thought it was really interesting since many people assume that if a certain diet is endorsed by an athlete that it MUST be healthy. Heck even my Mom off handedly talked about how marathoners loose their periods as if that was okay. 

So what made your month in July?

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This Month In Jen: June 17

July 3, 2017

Clearly I am not taking enough pictures with my SLR when the cat sleeps in the backpack.

Reading: Still reading American Cakes, and I am thinking about revisiting some recipes so I can make another post in here. Some of the most interesting cakes are actually ones that are published in passing like the War Cake, mayonnaise cake, or the original brownies. So I will probably be making some of those as well.

Watching: I’ve been watching lots of Adventure Time. I use to walk Wolfie in the afternoon but moved it to the morning for the summer so I could run/walk before it got too hot. So that means I am bored as heck in the afternoon. So Adventure Time has been something good to watch since it is short, and Wolfie tends to not care about what is going on the TV screen. I’ve also been watching the FIFA Confederation Cup as well. This, unfortunately, Wolfie loves to watch. So I have a feeling he will be a team sports type of guy.

I’ve been also obsessed with Crash Course Mythology Series. I’ve always loved mythology but sometimes it is hard to find (and cheap) sources to that aren’t Eurocentric. But this series talk about lots of different areas, including myths from China, Japan, India, parts of Africa, and the Americas. Heck even Hawaii! I strongly recommend checking it out.

Every single cat for my quilt. Click to see the full sized image.

Crafting: Still working on my cat quilt. We finished all the patches! Yey! Now the boring stuff- making it into a quilt. lol. My Mother and I need to make a trip out to Intercourse (yes that’s the name of a town) to get more of the grey fabric. I will be so happy when this is over. Our current blanket it too warm and too small for the summer.

Listening: Charli XCX released her new album so I’ve been listening to that on Spotify. Jon and I have been checking out albums from the library and transferring them to our computer. I found Foo Fighters and now I am suddenly remembering how awesome they are.

This guy sits in the house all winter and gets shoved outside all summer

Garden: My garden is doing much better than last year! After owning it for 3 years, my amaryllis FINALLY BLOOMED! My Mom got it for me one winter and it bloomed when we got it, then it just didn’t after that. It was pretty exciting to see the red flowers, but we might have to give it to someone else since it is poisonous to children once winter comes. Our succulents bloomed as well! They are spreading quite a lot which was the plan for them. We even had a few lilac blooms as well. 

The mystery plant that I got from Lowe’s has been thriving! It is much bigger than what I expected so this fall we will move it someplace different. I think it has been blocking the light for the balloon flower. The gladiolas keep getting nibbled by bunnies. And I think I have watermelon seeds that sprouted. Wut?  Which is nice but a bummer since it looks like the hops vine didn’t make it. T_T

Podcasts: Now that Wolfie has been sleeping more through the night I’ve been listening to less podcasts. But when he wakes up on rare occasions at 4 in the morning I’ve been listening to Oh No! Ross And Carrie’s Scientology series. It has been pretty funny. They also have a really funny series featuring their trip to the Ozark UFO Conference. Highlights? The Owl speaker, a penis star map, and a woman who thinks we had our memories wiped away after 1996. 

CSA: I tried to keep a log of all of the food I got from my CSA. Yeah that didn’t last too long. Well here is a fairly basic summary-

  • half a bag bok choy
  • half a bag beet greens + extra beet greens from parents
  • 2 bunches of beets with greens + 8 leafless beets
  • 2 bunches of collard greens
  • 7 heads of lettuce (almost all frozen in fridge)
  • 1 pint strawberries
  • 1 bunch turnips + greens + 5 solo turnips
  • cutting celery
  • 3 bunches of scallions
  • 7 garlic scapes
  • 5 kolhrabi
  • 1 1/2 bags of kale
  • 3 bunches of parsley
  • 1 quart snap peas
  • 1 1/2 bags of tatsoi
  • 2 heads of nappa cabbage
  • 2 heads of cabbage
  • 6 zucchini
  • 10 or so small carrots
  • 2 slicing cucumbers
  • 5 pickling cucumbers
  • 4 broccoli crowns

A fancy tea party for my Mom’s 60th birthday. Wolfie eats radishes, pesto, and cucumbers from our CSA

CSA Meals: I’ve been going nuts with stir-fries- Pad Kee Mow, Pad Thai, Moo Shu using bok choi, tatsoi, kolhrabi, and summer squashes. I am probably maxing out my sodium intake. Oops. 

I’ve been busy making lots of dips and spreads. I tried out a creamy radish dip that was in our CSA newsletter, parsley and cutting celery pesto, and a beet hummus. All of which has been put on toast for Wolfie. He’s been digging some of the produce eating sticks of kolhrabi, golden beets, broccoli, and cucumbers. Hubby’s been eating the snap peas raw with his lunches.

Since the early produce days consistent of mostly greens, I’ve been busy eating salad (whenever the lettuce doesn’t freeze up) mostly taco salads. I used some of the beet greens instead of spinach in a florentine. I’ve made Chana Saag with kale and coconut milk. And pretty much blending extra greens in smoothies whenever I can.

Finally, with the few strawberries that I got I made the chocolate pudding that Jenny got me from our package exchange. It was awesome and easy to make. 

OMG so fancy!

Other Eats: Ice cream! Store bought ice cream! I’ve been snacking on little ice cream snacks when possible in stores. And MOM’s Organics have had my favorite Sorbabes on sale- Peanut Banana with chocolate fudge. We’ve also been to VEDGE! I am so excited to write up the review for the blog. And I got some sick photos before I drank too much and it started to get dark. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What have you guys been digging for the month of June?

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This Month In Jen: May 17

June 5, 2017

I think this is the first photo of all three of us together!

I love random posts like Friday Favs, Currentlies, Le Love List, The Amazing Five, and RWL so I figured I would make a similar monthly update about me. Especially since I’ve been making monthly updates on the babe, I figured it would be nice to unfold what’s been on my mind this month.

Readings: I just finished Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor. I mainly picked it up because the trailer and DVD cover for the movie adaptation looked cool. I still would like to see the movie, but the book was interesting. Clearly for a book written in the south in the 50s is going to have some questionable aspects on race, so that was something to take note of. But I liked the surreal imagery and writing style overall. I didn’t LOVE it since it was so religiously based, so I think some references went over my head.

I am also trying quickly read Baby Led Weaning and Sleeping Through the Night. I am finding Sleeping Through the Night VERY good. My sister originally suggested Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and I found the author obnoxious. I am not the kind of person to get worried, but dear lord is this book is alarmist. And it takes forever for him to get to the point- I mean it is 688 pages long! Baby Led Weaning has been interesting. I think I am going to take the plunge at 6 months with the concept and see how that goes.

Wolfie’s first picture with the piggie at the farm

Watching: I wrote a review about The Handmaid’s Tale. I feel like I read it before it got really trendy. First time I’ve been ahead of a trend! Okay I know the book is a classic but whatever. There has been a total resurge of popularity with Pence and Trump in office. The TV series is super creepy and way too relatable. I think seeing actors in modern day clothes (rather than me picturing them in 80-90’s clothes) is unnerving. Plus there is the whole having a child myself idea.

We JUST finished the newest season of Sherlock. The last episode was AMAZING. It stinks that they only have three episodes per season, especially since it seems unlikely that they will be able to make another season.

And we have been watching the new Bill Nye Saves the World show on Netflix. It is okay. Some episodes are better than others but I do have a few problems with the show. It doesn’t feel like Bill Nye is honestly trying to change the opinions of people. Plus I think it would of been better if they filmed and heavily edited it instead of having in front of a live audience. If those two things changed I would of LOVED it.

Oh and Master of None. How did I go so long without watching it?

Crafting: I’ve been working really hard on getting my cat quilt done. I bought the pattern a while ago and I made it much bigger than the original pattern. Instead of 30 cats- we are doing 56. It’s huge. So I’ve been going to my Mother’s house and cutting the fabric and she has been sewing it together. It is looking pretty awesome.

Listening: The other day I saw an article about how jpop queen Ayumi Hamasaki is almost completely deaf. Alexa and I were pretty big fans of her music from 2010 and earlier. After hearing this news I decided to go back and listen to her newer stuff. Which she released A LOT of stuff in the past 7 years. Funny thing is that ALL of her music is on Spotify. Wut?! And Avex finally put full length music videos on their YouTube site (or PV- promotional video for the Japanese). Watching Evolution I wonder why it was my favorite video of hers. For anyone who isn’t a jpop fan, Ayumi Hamasaki is often compared to Madonna. She has evolved over the years and is known for shifting image. Her voice is very nasally so you will either love her or hate her.

Podcasts: I started to listen to The Longest Shortest Time and their most recent episode is part 5 of their Accidental Gay Parents series. So I downloaded the first episode. OMG- so many feels. It is such a heartwarming story and it got me all teary eyed. I strongly suggest you go and download the first episode and listen. I am sure you will immediately downloaded the second.

Jeff is the head farmer at our CSA. He is meeting Gavin- the third generation at his farm.

Eating: For my birthday I got a rice cooker and a slow cooker. This is REALLY nice because my biggest issue with cooking is about being able to turn the stove off if Wolfie wakes up early or feeds for too long. So I made vegan chili, vegan jambalaya, and pearled barley. Now I need to think more about how to work my CSA shares into my meals.

And since it has been getting warmer I’ve been making a LOT of ice cream. There is now space in my freezer for the ice cream maker so I’ve been using it! Mostly I’ve been experimenting with cereal milk ice cream, but I also made cheesecake cookie and cream ice cream that my husband loves.

CSA: We just started our first week at the CSA. Not much, but that is expected in the spring. I think the weird weather isn’t helping either. There has been lots of rain (yey!) but it was really hot then very cool. So all we got right now was two bunches of radishes, one bunch of kale, two heads of lettuce, and a small bag of broccolini. I’ve been eating taco salads with leftover chili, salsa, blue corn chips, and vegan chorizo with the lettuce and radish greens. There was some stir-fried broccolini in a sesame sauce. And I honestly can’t remember what I did with the kale. XD

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We are Alexa and Jennifer, two girls who like cute things, comics, food, and animals. This blog is their journey in clothing, food, and animal rights. read more over here


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