The world is shrinking again. I just had a video conference with a peer in Italy. From a laptop in my house. In my pajamas (though I did throw a sweater over the top so you couldn’t tell). For free. All hail the mighty interwebz!

Also, I cooked last night. With only a minimum of carrot prepping assistance from Mym, I made an entire meal, from appetizer to dessert. As if that weren’t miracle enough, the meal was vegetarian, largely organic, and the appetizers included stuffed crimini mushrooms, of which Mym ate at least three. (Mym doesn’t generally like mushrooms if he can taste them.) I made at least one mistake following the instructions per dish, but nobody went hungry and nobody died (or wanted to). Win!

Appetizers: green seedless grapes, stuffed and baked mushroom caps

Main Fare: roasted cumin carrots, baked artichokes, couscous with apricot vinaigrette, edamame, french bread

Dessert: brandied peaches with whipped cream

Baked Artichokes (from my sister)
3-4 large globe artichokes
½ c. olive oil
8-12 sprigs of fresh thyme
salt and pepper
¼ c. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey mustard (or Dijon mustard and honey)

Preheat oven to 350°F
Wash and cut the artichokes into 4-8 pieces each and place in a baking dish. Combine all other ingredients and coat artichokes. Bake covered for 45 minutes, turning the artichokes once about halfway through.

Edamame
1 package frozen edamame

Open package and dump contents into a microwave safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and nuke for 4 minutes.

Brandied Peaches and Cream (from my mother)
1 jar of Mom’s homemade brandied peaches
½ pt heavy cream
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Whip cream with mixer. When it begins to thicken, add sugar and vanilla; stir. Spoon over peaches.

Mym was in Seattle at a big, geeky, science convention all last week, which left me at home with the kitties and a little extra time on my hands. I had planned to take long baths with a book and watch a ton of chick flicks, but just never got around to it although I did finally manage to turn my brain off long enough to get my overflowing To Do list organized after spending 3 days in a friend’s basement helping her fix a questionable dry-wall job. Also, I can proudly say that I kept myself well fed with granola and casseroles, only missing one dinner due to an exceptionally long day and some exhaustion.

By the end of the week, I was so happy to have Mym coming home that I broke out his mother’s book of family recipes and made him a batch of coconut and peanut butter easter eggs to go with the lasagna, caesar salad and garlic bread I’d prepared for dinner. Although fun to make, they were insanely sweet (we’re talking 2 lbs of powdered sugar here – and the recipe called for 3!) and I couldn’t eat more than one in a given 24 hour period. We ended up giving most of them to friends and co-workers but I may try them again next year with half the sugar.

Mym has been harassing me for weeks now about what I want for Christmas. I kept telling him nothing and, contrary to what most people would assume about such a statement, I truly meant it. I don’t need anything, except perhaps less debt, and the last thing I want to deal with is more “stuff” just because somebody couldn’t NOT get me a gift. I would have asked for yarn, but I still have so much stash to burn through that it would have felt greedy. One of the things I’ve been working on this year is actually using the cool craft supplies I’ve been collecting for so many years instead of pulling them out of the craft cabinet every so often to whisper sweet nothings at them and then lovingly returning them to their velvet cushions. I’m proud to say that I’m making definite progress. Ravelry has been a huge help in that arena by locating the perfect patterns to handle specific yarns in my stash, sometimes even embellished with other crafty bits. Woohoo! Only once it all fits inside the craft cabinet again with some decent elbow room will I begin looking for new yarn. Yarn that I could make a silky sweater from. Or maybe a cabled shawl.

Of course, all this activity doesn’t help Mym in the short term. Luckily for him, I stumbled on this about an hour ago. That’ll do nicely, love. kkthx!