Muckin' Around

It rained again today. I love rainy days, but every day this week so far has been rain. Boo!

On days like this, I get the urge to throw a bunch of ingredients from around my kitchen into a bowl or food processor and see what comes out of it. Call it an effort to relieve myself of boredom or some supernatural power of rain, but this always happens.

Sometimes I get good results. Sometimes I should probably be less of a mad scientist and more of a baker. But lets not talk about bad things. I'm all about the good right now.

I decided I haven't made enough bread lately (yeah right!) and I figured I couldn't go wrong with something chocolate.

In this case, I think it needed more flour, and probably some baking soda, so I won't be posting a recipe until I do another trial or two. Just know that there is chocolate and coffee. And mushy ripe bananas. And some more chocolate.

The Hours of Bread-Making

I'm an early bird.

I'm also a light sleeper, and it's definitely not one of my good traits. I get cranky when I am up in the ungodly hours of the morning. Lets face it: no sane creature should be awake at these times. Unless you are a nocturnal creature. But I am not.

After glaring at my clock with venom in my eyes (why couldn't it be a different hour!), I forced myself up and decided to do something productive with my time: make bread. I much prefer to make my own bread. I'm not sure what it is, but it sure is rewarding. My hands get all sticky and I get flour on my face which adds to my lovely morning appearance, if you hadn't guessed.

Well, it's not so rewarding when it doesn't turn out well. This particular loaf was a tad gummy. I've never had this problem before so I'm blaming it on my bad mood. You will notice the misshapen, raggedy, falling-apart slices in the photo above. It looks kinda cool, though. Cool to look at, not to eat. Bah!

The only solution when you end up with some less-than-perfect slices is to make bread crumbs. They are definitely a good thing to have on hand. Especially with Thanksgiving coming up... I think I could put them to good use.

Who needs a furnace; I have an oven

I love days like this: crisp, cool autumn days when you can smell the season approaching its peak.

Autumn has always provided me with inspiration. I like witnessing the change in season when the sun hides more often, when a chilly breeze wraps itself around your bare skin, and when trees leave beautiful parting gifts before adorning robes of white. Hot, sultry summer has ended for the year and now we welcome autumn in all its red, orange and yellow glory.

Today I forced myself out from underneath the warm blankets, grabbed a scarf and my camera and took a walk. I like walking, and I do it often—though not as often as I like when the wuss in me shows up on the chillier days.

I enjoy taking walks particularly in the old part of town, where the houses are each unique in design and the sidewalks are a little bit smaller, displaying years' worth of cracks and discolouration. It's always so quiet and peaceful on those streets. It really is a beautiful part of town

On my walks I often get to thinking about things, and I almost always spot something that will remind me about something else. Following the cracks in the sidewalks, I realized how much my little town has aged. I have lived on the same street in the same town all my life so of course I've noticed changes: the population grew and more houses were built to accommodate, more stores were put in, a new and bigger library constructed... it's really amazing how much can happen in a few years.

Then I got to thinking about veganism. What could happen with that in just a couple years? I believe our word will spread so some day people won't react in horror when they hear the word 'vegan'. I believe veganism will become more popular, that more people will stand up for what they know in their heart is right.

Of course in a couple years, the world probably won't be vegan. Hey, even in ten, twenty years. But in my lifetime, I would like to be able to notice a change just as I notice my changed hometown now. I don't know anything for certain and the future will bring what it will, but there is always hope. There is hope and there is also action we can take for a better tomorrow.

I think I'll start small. Who's afraid of the big, bad vegan? Not I, which is why I will do better to explain my views, starting with Thanksgiving. Since the Canadian Thanksgiving is just next weekend, this is a perfect opportunity. Hopefully I'll be able to report something positive!

Oh my! This is the Vegan Month of Food, after all. I can just leave this here, right? There is nothing like the smell of ginger coming from your oven on a cold morning. You should definitely get crackin' and make yourself some ginger bread in an effort to warm yourself up. I know I'll be doing this more often!