Saturday, December 27, 2008

Recipe of the day: Vegan Split Pea Soup

This has been a cold and snowy December here in Portland. This kind of weather makes me feel like I'm back in Michigan. And it makes me long for warm hearty soups. Today's soup is Vegan Split Pea. As a kid I hated split pea soup. I think it's because my mother was a dreadful cook! Somehow she managed to make just about everything taste like the smell of dried dog food. I've recently tried split pea soup again, the canned variety, and have liked it very much. So I set out to create my own recipe. I think it's pretty darn good!

6 cups of water or veggie stock
1 veggie boullion cube (use only if using water rather than stock)
2 cups split peas
1 inch piece of kombu sea vegetable
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 onions chopped into small pieces
1 carrot peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 celery rib chopped into small pieces
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tbs. dried basil
1 Tbs. salt
2 tsp. black pepper

Saute onions, garlic, carrot and celery in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add to a large stock pot. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes or until peas are soft-ish. Remove about 3/4 of the soup from the pot and blend in a blender or food processor until smooth. You may need to do this in batches. Stir back into pot and stir together with remaining soup. Enjoy!

Oh! I've recently discovered Baconsalt™. It's vegan and it's great sprinkled over this soup!

Friday, December 26, 2008

Enter to win a sweek skate pendant!


I found the link from the Long Island Roller Rebels blog and followed it to Bust magazines website. I used to subscribe to Bust, but have let all my magazine subs go over the past 2 years.



Win a sterling silver Skully Speedskate Pendant from Hellkats L.A.


Hey all of you Roller Derby girls and fans! Here's your chance to win this solid sterling silver Skully Speedskate Pendant from Hellkats L.A.- show your Derby pride!

The winner will be chosen at random, no purchase necessary and only one entry per email please. Check out this exclusive pendant and lots of other rockin' jewelry, visit www.hellkats-la.com, the home of Smokin' Hot Jewelry and Devilshly Cool Gear!


Good luck and Skate On!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Kitten Camaro premier at Crafty Wonderland




I'm rolling out my new line at Crafty Wonderland's annual holiday sale. Michael and I vended at the sale last year at Norse Hall and it was CRAZY. The space was too small for the number of attendees. This year, it's at the convention center so there should be plenty of room to get around. I will be selling my new line of bags, jewelry and skirts for the very first time and I am nervous! I've been sewing and creating for weeks now and I definately do not feel like Im ready, but it will be what it will be. Please come down and throw your money at me :)

Thursday, November 6, 2008

hair today gone tomorrow


a few weeks ago I made a stop into Fairly Honest Bills shop at the corner of Grand and NE Couch. Bill was going through a big pile of vintage suit cases. I asked him what was inside them and he said he did not know. He siad he wanted to sell them as is, unopened. of course, me being the curious cat I am, I had to know what was inside. I bought 2 of the cases for 12$ each. I brought them home and popped them open. Case #1 contained some great stuff! Photos from the 80's, craft supplies and even some vintage clothes. I was quite pleased. Case #2 clearly had something glass inside. I popped it open and discovered 6 LARGE empty bottles of Kahlua. Ugh! What a dud! We'll not completely. I did find a few copies of the Oregonian from the early 80's. The picture on the cover of one made it all worth it!

EAT @ 3808 N. Williams


Lunch today @ EAT Oyster Bar on North Williams. It was pretty good. Not spectacular. The decor was nice, a mix of modern and vintage tables and chairs, tiled bars and heavy wood shelves. It did have a New Orleans quality to it. We met the owner, Tobias. He was very nice and made us some sweet iced tea even though it was not yet on the menu. After a few minutes, it was clear that they had only been open for a few days. I was beyond disappointed to see there was only 1 vegan choice on the menu (fried okra). The okra was over-fried so that the batter was fried off. The vegetarian choice was a french fry po-boy. Tobias said they were popular in New Orleans. Honestly I had never seen or heard of them before today. I really can't imagine that most vegetarians would want to eat french fries on their sandwich instead of next to it. Carb overload!

I'm by no means an oyster po-boy expert, but I was born and raised in New Orleans and have eaten hundreds of them in my life. EAT's sandwich was just ok. It was not authentic. It was dressed with a spicy mayo, tomato slices and chopped cabbage. A real oyster po-boy is only dressed with mayo and shreaded iceberg lettuce. I understand that might not appeal to Portlanders though. I will certainly try EAT again, but Im going to give it a few months before I do, let them get the menu worked out. My grade for EAT B-

wednesday night scrimages


Most wednesday nights, I get to enjoy one of my favorite things, roller derby! The "hanger" at Oaks Park in Sellwood is the practice home of the Rose City Rollers. Wednesday nights are the weekly practice scrimages. These are open to anyone to watch from the bleachers. It's a great chance to see some derby for free.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Getting Tattooed
































Michael and I went to Blackbird tattoo on Killingsworth today. He had an appointment to get a latin phrase (life is short, art is long) tattooed on his wrists. We decided to go in a bit early and see if I could get something too. they were happy to oblige and I got 2 cute little stars on the backs of my arms. Each one took about 10 minutes, they are only about 1 inch each. I made sure to get them high enough that my elbow pads wouldnt cover them when I sk8 ;) I think I will get a few more clustered around those on each arm.