Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Soup & News of the Homefront

'Curried Split Pea Soup' from VwaV. This soup was easy and quick to make because you don't have to soak dried split peas. It took a little over an hour to get it to the bowl, and it was served with 'Easy Biscuits' from ExtraVeganZa, which was another quick and easy recipe.

My daughter's shark party was a success. The kids jumped in the bouncy house, played pin-the-fin on the shark, ate with shark chopsticks, and made shark puppets. I didn't take any photos on my digital so the poster under the split pea soup is my only evidence.

We took a nature hike last weekend. Art took a shovel and trash bag to collect dog poop and litter left behind. Sadly, the bag was almost too heavy to carry toward the end of the walk. It pisses me off that people squander nature.

Did I mention that we joined the YMCA? The girls have been taking swim lessons, and I've been doing yoga. It feels so good to be working out again regularly -- connecting body & mind.



and, I've been reading during every spare moment from "Healthy at 100" -- I really like John Robbins' style and wisdom.

Something to file under "major bummer" is that my newspaper has dropped the cartoon Bizarro. So I'm calling and writing letters to the editor. Wish me (and some others) luck on bringing it back. I really miss Dan's satirical wit. Idaho is the same color as my counter tops. *hangs head low*

As you can see, I have serious competition on computer time. Olivia's favorite sites are: Peep and the Big Wide World, and Sesame Street. She has mastered the mouse and all the games on each site.

19 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Oh that's really too bad about Bizarro! Now, you'd think with potatoes being the state crop, that a vegetarian cartoonist would be okay. ;-) Keep tryin'! Bizarro's worth trying to get back. But I guess it made too many people think....

Eat Peace Please said...

Vicki, I love love love that photo of Art and the girls! There's so many things about it that I like, it almost looks timeless.

Is Olivia left handed? I am but I hold my mouse on the right side, my gramps uses the left side, as he's left handed as well. That shark party sounds super-cool. Oh, and I spent time at the Y as a kid. I swam, danced and went to my brother's basketball games, something I'll always remember.

I have been enjoying the ExtraVeganZa book as well. Do you know of the band MMW (medeski, martin, wood) who wrote some write ups in the book? BTW, they're a great band if you don't know of them already (and tell Art). I have many of their albums and saw a show when they came to Phoenix.

It pisses me off too how much people just don't care about what they are doing. Or to their surroundings. And the consequences. I just don't understand it, and I'm with you... being upset and doing something about it. Sorry this is long, it's been a while since I commented or "talked" to you guys. Thanks for coming by my place too!

laura k said...

The shark party does sound really neat, and I'm glad it was a success. The nature hike sounds fun, well except for seeing how many people came before you and didn't care what they left behind. Congrats on joining the YMCA--I'm taking Pilates right now but am interested in trying yoga as well. I hope your girls like swim lessons--when I was young I HATED swimming!

turquoise cro said...

Happy Birthday! Olivia! We had a January birthday too! Mario is 23 now! YMCA, YMCA LOL Gina joined and was loving going up with Damon the few days she was off, she really LOVES it! I need to go! Nothing like a hike but all that left behind, how sad!!! and disgusting! at the same time! Yayyyyyy! Art! Happy Thursday! xooxoxo, Cinda

Mikaela said...

Hip hip hooray for the Y! We *heart* our Y. Enjoy the classes and mind-body-connection time - good for you :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Vicki,
I’ve just asked you to answered to a Top10 of your best recipes in 2006. If you’d like to collect them, I’d be very glad!
http://usuarios.lycos.es/eldelantalverde/?p=187

greetings,
elena

Anonymous said...

thank you vicki!
how can we obtain all these favorite recipes?
have you done them in your blog?

the initial idea is, if you want, to do a post with them, connecting to the photos and recipes

would it be possible? they have so good look!! :)

Brooke said...

I happen to love Peep and the Big Wide World too. :-)

Dr. Melissa West said...

Good to see you back blogging Vicki. I've missed you. Olivia looks so cute. My daughter is about the same age and she always wants on the computer at the same time as me.

Ruthie said...

Yay! A new post! I love your leaf (or tree?)-shaped-biscuit on the side of the soup. Too cute! :)

bazu said...

I love that picture of your family on the hike. It looks so hazy... almost summery! I know exactlly what you mean about peoples' disregard. I was hiking with my uncle in Santa Monica once and he joked, I'd rather see a rattlesnake than all this garbage- at least the rattlesnake is supposed to be here!

We are also members of the Y. I always feel so much better after a class. My next goal is to try a spinning class- I hear people get addicted to those!

Anonymous said...

great phots, i will look at the links so Ana can play too!

MeloMeals said...

I had a dream last night that you were pregnant.. funny how we dream about people we only know online!

That soup looks so good. Split pea is one of my very favorites.

Glad her party went well..

Tanya Kristine said...

you're just way cool.

i always pick up kody's poo...and other poo's when i see them. which makes me gag becuse i can only "touch" kody's. i'm an odd mom. nice family you have vicki...lukcy....

Harmonia said...

Soup, soup, soup!

:)

Hope your weekend is going nice...you deserve it!

Anonymous said...

So awesome that Art brought along a shovel and a bag. I always get very irritated. And REALLY VOCAL when I actually see people leaving poo behind. Ugh!

I finished Healthy at 100 and thoroughly enjoyed it. A great reminder of all the things I should be doing regularly or be more mindful about.

Glad to hear the shark party turned out well. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Emmy said...

I haven't tried that soup yet from VwaV. It looks so tasty. I haven't tried the Easy Biscuits from Extraveganza yet either. I've got to get a move on!

Glad to hear your daughter's shark party went well :)

Bravo to Art for helping to clean up the hiking trail. It always angers me to see how people leave litter along nature trails...and irresponsible dog owners drive me bonkers.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

Hi Leslie! It's still too early to know if Liv is a leftie -- she's uses both hands, but seems more comfortable with the left. Art sets her up with the mouse on the left! I've not heard of medeski, martin, wood -- don't know about ARt. Thanks for the tip, I'll look them up! Great to see you. :o)

Hi Elena! I'll see what I can do. On your blog, I listed the cookbooks that my favorite recipes came from -- if it was me, the recipes are on my blog. What a cool idea to round up the best recipes of 2006!

Hi Ruthie! It is a pine tree cookie cutter. lol! :o)

Hi Bazu! My friend teaches spinning -- I took a class & it was such a challenge -- not really my thing though. I'm a yogie!

Hi Melody! No, no --- it was just a dream! LOL! :o)

Hi Harmonia! Soup is where it's at lately for us.

Hi Vivacious! I get vocal about that too. "Do you need a bag for that?!"

KleoPatra said...

Your kids... your blog... never fails to bring a smile to my face. Great shots there. And i love soup, too. My mom's made me a couple of batches of homemeade minestrone, but it's got a pea soup-y base and even tho we are in sunny San Diego, it gets c-c-c-c-c-old at night, if you recall! We also had a bad cold spell a couple of weeks ago. I would love pea soup like you show here BIG TIME. Yummmmmmmy.

And i'm sorry about Bizarro. That's stinky! If you want me to cut 'em out and send you 'em weekly, i'd be more than happy to do so! (Including Sunday when they run in colour.)

e-mail me if yer interested!