I really just like to snack

It's has been awhile since my last entry, I have lots of reasons / excuses but...... whatever, right? On with the blog:
I had a hankering for Chex mix. It is something that I have not had in along time but I was craving something savory and snackable. I used this recipe. Now, with most of my hankerings they are spontaneous, so I didn't have all the ingredients that I needed. I improvised a little. I used Cascadian Farms Multi-grain square cereal, cashews, peanuts, almonds, pecans and sesame sticks (the sesame sticks turned out gummy, I would not use them again) and all the required spices.
I had to make my own worcestershire sauce since this is not something I have on hand regularly. I wasn't about to go to the store, which is twenty minutes away, just to pick some up. I basically had all the ingredients although I used wet mustard, fresh ginger and liquid aminos instead of soy sauce. Also, I added a tablespoon of peanut butter, just for fun. It turned out tasty although the apple cider vinegar was insanely dominant. Next time I will use less vinegar and use real soy sauce. End result....AWESOME. The ginger in the w-sauce really gave it nice kick in the back of the throat with out being spicy. Next time I will make more, I made half the recipe just in case it was a stinker.

Olivia Newton John was singing about these cookies

I made vegan magic bars this weekend from this recipe. They turned out awesome except I had to make a couple alterations that did affect the texture of the cookies. My local HEB did not have extra firm tofu or vegan graham crackers so I used firm tofu and original Puffins cereal. They tasted so good but were a bit soft. I'll go on a hunt to find the correct ingredients and make them again, they are that good!

The latest on the job search

I had two new interviews this week. One was really close to where I live but the job is...just a job, not my ideal. The other one is about an hour from me but seems exciting, and more of a career. It is something I could really grow into and has real growth opportunities. The problems are as I already mentioned it is an hour away and the pay is just a little more than the one closer to me. We will see. These were only the first in-person interviews. If they like me, they will call me back for a second and possibly a third. Stay tuned......

Vegan Sunday - Choco overload

I went to the Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti relief this Sunday. I got some great goodies and donated $20 bucks. Not a huge donation but I'm still unemployed so I can only do as much as I can do. I heard they made over $700 dollars, awesome! I picked up a donut, 2 cupcakes, a brownie type thing and a magic bar. Good stuff!

Just before we went to the bake sale we walked over to Hotel Saint Cecelia which is about 2 blocks away from from Ten Thousand Villages, where the sale was taking place, to pick up some vegan lip balm. I read about it on the very active message board Makeup alley. HSC is such a cool place, my husband and I wandered the grounds and took a few pictures by the pool.

After the bake sale we went to Wheatsville so I could pick up some popcorn tofu and a few other items. They were doing a chocolate demo from Theo chocolate. Good God, great stuff, the mint was my favorite but by the time we left I had hit chocolate overload times ten. We came home and my husband took a nap...nice day :-)

It has been a rough week, we had to put down one of our kitties. Honestly, I think this is going to be a rough year for us and our kitties. I have a cat that is 20 years old, she is doing well but 20 is pretty old for cats and my male cat(the one in the avatar) has been diagnosed with an enlarged heart, extremely large. In fact, the specialist said that she has never seen a heart that large. She gave him three to six month. I am extrememly positive it will be longer because I know my kitty and his demeanor but still, it is a ticking time bomb. It is devistating and heart breaking, I can't believe my little Claire is gone. She was so sweet and incredibly lovable. I have so many memories that make me smile. I miss you so much :-(

I'm no Giada De Laurentiis

Inspired by the Food Network show "The best thing I ever ate" (you will not find deep fried bacon on my list)
Here are some of my favorites:

• Chicken Run Ranch burger at Native Foods in Ca
• Athens Fries at Mediterranean Cafe in Las Vegas, NV
• Mayan mocha at the now defunct Dhaba Joy
• Popcorn tofu po'boys at Wheatsville
• Samosas at Clay Pit

Vegan granola bars

About a week or two ago I was watching Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network. Ina made granola bars and I have not been able to stop thinking about them. A couple days ago, I took her recipe and veganized it. It worked out pretty well although I would make a change on the next go around:

I substituted butter for Earth Balance - which worked out well. I did not add all the dried fruit that her recipe calls for, I only added raisins plus chocolate chips and a bigger variety of nuts. I also subbed the honey with equal parts dark maple syrup, agave nectar and almond butter - that is what I'd change. The next time I would leave out the almond butter. It seemed to change the viscosity of the caramel and when you bit into the bars, they were crumbly. Other than that they looked good, tasted good and I was super happy to have satisfied my craving.

Not really the type of anniversary to get excited about

Today I have officially been unemployed for one year. At the moment I don't have any real leads. I have a lot of resumes out to various positions and I am signed up at a temp agency but I have no interviews coming up. I am very diligent about looking every morning at certain sites: Craigslist, Indeed, Workforce, LinkedIn and different companies job boards. I get up, feed the cats, make my coffee and start looking through the ads. Any site that I'm missing?

Well, you learn something new every day

I tend to have mini food obsessions ...where I will be so infatuated with an ingredient or a recipe that I will eat it practically every day for a month or months. Then, I will grow tired of it and move on to something else. My latest is yams. I have been baking them daily since Thanksgiving. At first I was making candied yams but now I'm just foiling the whole yam, putting it in a 425 oven for about 45 mins....awesome. So, the other day when I was at Costco I picked up a big box of sweet potatoes. I baked two of them last night; after I started chowing down, I realized that sweet potatoes are not the same as yams. I always thought they were, I just assumed the names were interchangeable in the same way that garbanzo beans are also called ceci beans or chickpeas. The yam is syrupy sweet, orange in color and has a fluffier, potato like texture where I found the sweet potato to look a little paler, have the taste and the texture a little bit like cross between a butternut and an acorn squash. They are both good but not the same thing.

Do you doodle?

I am a doodler, an unconscious doodler. Half the time I don't realize I'm doing it and am not sure why I drew what I drew. Here are a few that I have done lately that made me laugh:

Mad Bag

Houseman & Son

Scrubby Bubble

My year so far

New Years Eve was a bit uneventful. I fell asleep while my husband was watching the Three Stooges marathon. I was awakened at midnight by my neighbors lighting off fireworks in the street. It was an impressive display, possibly since this year the burn ban was not in affect and the better fireworks could be purchased this year. When it was over, I fell asleep again...weeee, I really know how to party.

My husband has four days off in a row, which is rare. We decided to go to Hollywood video yesterday and pick a few movies since my two a month plan from Netflix doesn't kick in again for another week. I cannot remember the last time I got a movie from the video store, maybe 4 years ago I am guessing, Holy friggin Cow it is expensive. It was $5 per movie; we spent $15 dollars for three videos! Maybe I have gotten so used to Netflix and renting older movies from the library free that I have been spoiled but geez that seemed high.

It is another nice day today in Austin, cool but the sun is out and it is not too windy. I think we are going to do some errands in town, maybe get my tire on my bike fixed so we can take a bike ride later.

(Cue list music....)

I really like FB because I have been able to reconnect with old friends that I am largely responsible for not keeping in contact. I am not a phone caller, but some things on fb are annoying:

1. when people that I supposedly know from high school or even as far back as elementary school send me a friend request but don't send a message with it to remind me who they are and just assume I remember them from third grade.
2. the games and how when other people play them they clutter the live feed
3. heart, hugs, etc. requests - I won't accept them, I don't want to allow access
4. allowing access - what are they doing behind the scenes with my information?
5. poking - it's not acceptable in my real life, don't do it in my cyber life