Eating Vegan: Day 1

Jay and I are excited to be taking Heather's 30 Day Vegan Workshop, starting today!

I loaded up on produce and have been pouring over vegetarian and vegan recipe books, looking for new ideas to try.

Today for lunch we ate roasted yam wedges with an amazing sage-lime aioli.

Sage-Lime Aioli (Vegan)

2/3 cup vegenaise

zest of one lime

juice of half a lime

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp salt

Oh so yummy. Will use this as a veggie dip as well. And next time I will try a lemon-basil version. 


I'm looking so forward to trying new recipes, and giving lots and lots of veggies a starring role on our plates!

Gardening: May Long Weekend

 Raspberry canes, fully loaded.

Freshly painted "lounge" area. The white tub in the table was Isla's little water play area, but now we've discovered it's true calling : ice cold beer chiller.

 New garden boxes filled and mostly planted.

(This is the view from my back deck.)

 Strawberries.

So much brown. Soon enough it will be filled with green!

Knitting: Summerflies Shawl

Another shawl.

This one is for Isla's preschool teacher. It has a butterfly motif in the lace, which is fitting because on graduation day, all the preschoolers in the "Caterpillar" class release butterflies as they leave the school and go on to Kindergarten. 

Sniff.

pattern: summerflies shawl

yarn: patons grace

Knitting: Damson

Oh, how I love this shawl!

It took much longer than expected, due to boredom with the garter stitch base, I believe. Then I ran out of yarn as I was about to begin the final row. Argh. But I was able to fudge an ending and now I am a very happy knitter, and also Maid (matron?) of Honour, because this baby will be over my shoulders at my sister's wedding this summer. Along with shoes the same colour. 

I was never much into yellow, but now I love it, especially earthy, honey, buttery, mustardy tones. Obviously I like the colours of food...

Pattern is Damson, by Ysolde Teaque

Yarn is Quince Tern, in Buoy (with the final finish in Quince Chickadee in Carrie's Yellow)

Knitting: Little Shells

I was able to knit this shawl during my weekend on Galiano Island. 

I added to it, so it was a bit larger than the pattern says. I really love it, and I do believe this pattern will be used again!

 It's for Shea's grade three teacher.

Pattern is Little Shells

Yarn is Quince Chickadee in Lichen (2 skeins exactly)

Retreating: A Weekend on Galiano

A weekend retreat with the bellydance troupe. We stayed in a lovely spot, and though the sun didn't really come out, the rain stayed away. 

I'd love to return this summer with my family and camp.

Gardening: Mid-April

I love how quickly everything changes in the garden at this time of year...

New Raised Beds! This year, one is for herbs, one is for roots, and one is an assortment of flowers (for the girls, who wanted their own garden patch), strawberries and random herbs and greens.

 Pear tree in bloom. We haven't had any pears in two years. I hope the tree performs this year!

Raspberry canes coming to life, and the bamboo is shooting up to soon block the view of the lane.

The new berry patch. Golden raspberries, tayberries, and thornless blackberries. We need to mulch the paths and maybe put some gigantic sunflower seeds along the fence line.