Ella's 2nd Birthday!

My baby is two years old!!

This video clip was taken yesterday morning, as part of her birthday "documentation." ;) It's a little long but there's some good stuff in here. :D



Ella found a toque on its way to the winter clothing bin and decided it would make a terrific birthday hat???

She's so adorable!!

Here are the kids, plus a friend of Taylor's, jumping on our relatively new trampoline.



Ella's birthday cake! A delicious vegan recipe, perfect for if you don't have eggs or milk (I did have milk and eggs, just touting uses of a vegan recipe for those reluctant to try). I doubled the recipe and used 2 circle pans for only 30 minutes (lots of helpful hints in the comments)! I put some strawberry jam in the middle and made up some vegan "buttercream" frosting for the top. Yum!!

"Wendy Meals"

My stepmother, Wendy, is the most fabulous cook. She coordinates and executes exquisitely delicious and balanced meals, all without looking at cookbooks! She does this on top of a professorship at a university that keeps her insanely busy. I am in awe.

Since my father and stepmother live in Idaho and I in Calgary, I rarely get to partake of her renowned "Wendy meals." Whenever I visit, I've taken great pleasure in savoring her repasts. By "savoring" I mean "inhaling at a barely polite pace." Well, I am now visiting. As a result, I had an internal debate that would rival Parliament.

Cheater Me: Oh. My. Gosh. We're having Wendy's meatloaf tonight. *drool*

Veg-o Me: But I don't eat meat. (purposely ignoring recent indiscretion)

Cheater Me: Did you not hear me just say meatloaf???

Veg-o Me: Oh, dear. Must. Ignore. Pavlovian. Response. *sounds of internal struggling*

Cheater Me: Oh, yeah. Mouthwatering goodness.

Veg-o Me: Doesn't matter. I don't eat meat anymore.

Cheater Me: You're basically on holiday here. Surely you don't have to abide your vegetarian standards while on vacation...

Veg-o Me: This is a lifestyle!

Cheater Me: You've forced me to bring up your recent indiscretion.

Veg-o Me: Nooooooooooooooo!

In my defense, I had been up driving all night with only a 2-hour nap to numb the edges since. Regardless, vegetarianism won. ;)

Awesome Recipes

Check out this link for some awesome veg(itari)an recipes!

Recipes

Some of my readers *insert self-important giggle here ;)* asked me to share some vegetarian recipes that I try. Click here to check some out.

A side-note about seitan:

I remember attending a Stake emergency preparedness fair for the community. One of the booths featured seitan as a good way to get protein in an emergency situation. I hadn't really thought about it until going vegetarian and reading about it. The downside to making seitan is the amount of water you use, which is obviously not good in an emergency situation.

**I received a comment on the seitan post linked above that features a more water- and time-friendly recipe from Robin Robertson herself! I gave it its own post here.

For Those Who Love Harleys...

I didn't know that I knew someone who liked Harleys. Thank goodness I didn't say anything bad about them! Shawn and I never had a chance to go the Harley demo day, Shawn wasn't feeling well, but his dad did and he said he felt as giddy as a kid in a candy store! He tried out one of the touring bikes and the V-Rod, which is Shawn's fav. I think it looks pretty sweet too but it's too big a bike for me. The "wussy" Sportster is more my size. Apparently, the V-Rod ROCKED! I couldn't help but smile as Shawn's dad went on about how smooth and fast it was. After hearing about his experience, we decided not only to go to the BMW exhibition tomorrow ($15/ride benefits the Children's hospital), but found another Harley demo going on next weekend.

Exciting News
My sister-in-law, Lindsay, was officially engaged to Kyle Bullock yesterday! Congratulations you two!

Yesterday, I took the kids to the zoo with Shawn's brother, Mark, his wife, Jacqueline, and their two kids. It didn't feel like we were there long but it was almost 4 hours! We had a great time. Taylor only disappeared once. I stuck my hand in the sting ray pool and they flocked to it. I totally freaked but it was neat.

I found out that Jacqueline used to be vegetarian/vegan. I can't recall if she's given it up just while she's pregnant or for forever. Anyway, it's neat to have someone who's been there, done that. Usually people just tease me (ahem, Nick and George). She's going to find her old cookbooks to lend me. Wehoo!