Christmas Spirit

One of my favorite things about the holidays is the fantastic spiced drinks. Store bought cider is fine if you're in a pinch, but my absolute favorite thing is Glogg (also known as spiced wine, vin chaud, or gluhwein). It is best served with some ginger cookies, from a mug.

 

I am of Swedish descent (thus my decision to call this drink glogg over any other name), but sadly my mom didn't make this when I was growing up. She obviously had no idea what she was missing out on.

Ethan has combined a few different recipes into what I think is the perfect combination. we've tested it a few times, and it's definitely a success.

Glogg:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
6 cinnamon sticks
10 cardamom pods, hulled
12 allspice berries
12 whole cloves
juice and zest of one orange
1 cup kirschwasser (or liqueur of choice... we had this leftover from making black forest cake)
2 750 ml bottles cheap but decent wine (we've been using Beaujolais)
3/4 cup raisins.

To make:
- combine spices- the flavor is better if cardamom, allspice, and cloves are lightly bruised or ground in a mortar. If you don't have time, it will still be good.
-combine sugar and water over medium heat in a sauce pan to make a simple syrup.
- add spices and simmer over low heat 10-15 mins
- add orange zest and juice and simmer for another 5-10 minutes (your house will begin to smell AMAZING!)
- place syrup mixture in a pot large enough to hold wine and kirsch.
- add wine, raisins, and kirsch.
- bring to a very gentle simmer but do not boil.
- be careful if you're standing over this while it warms- the vapor rising off contains ethanol and you can get tipsy from inhaling it (personal experience!)
- serve warm in mugs (traditionally clear glass ones), preferably with gingersnaps.

For children, pregnant ladies, and those who just don't drink alcohol, the syrup and spice mixture would also be great added to a plain apple cider.

Word to the wise: this stuff is stout, folks. a couple of mugfuls can make a grown man giggle. fair warning!

two pictures from my phone

This is how Reagan Losefast sleeps. He gets half the bed, and we are allowed to use the other half. seriously. And I'm still not sure how he ended up in our bed in the first place...



These are my nails right now. They are sparkly and pink, which I think is totally appropriate for doctoring. The color is called "Teenage Dream" by OPI... I'm going to pretend that doesn't refer to the age of the target audience. it just sounds nicer than mid-20's dream.

Awesomeness

I learned about the Hubble Telescope images from Michelle Armas' blog... These images are so amazing.





This is how I imagine Heaven. not as an island or fluffy white clouds, or a man with a beard, but as returning to the primordial soup from which God created the universe, and finally understanding what this life is all about.

I want to get one of these blown up to large size... the images are FREE but unfortunately large-format printing is very NOT free. I'll be shopping around for a good deal somewhere and saving my pennies.

my life lately

A non-poisonous garden spider who set up in between our overgrown tomato plants. She eats tomato horn worms and we've named her Charlotte (yes, we're very original there)

 

A delicious vegan feast: spaghetti squash, avocado hearts, roasted tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, and nutritional yeast. Covered with fresh cracked pepper and Celtic sea salt. Spaghetti squash is one of my new favorite things to eat. Every time we make it I get excited about seeing the flesh go from a solid squash to little strings of spaghetti. I think it's cool. I am a dork.

 

Nori wraps I made for my lunch one day. I filled them with a black bean spread, leftover brown rice, matchstick carrots, spaghetti squash (obviously, because it's awesome), and julienned cucumbers. They were awesome. and actually pretty easy to make if you've got leftover brown rice and veggies on hand.

 

Two pictures from the rehearsal luncheon- the ringbearer passed out and so we took turns with him while he slept. It was very cute.

 

 

I'm on vacation this week. We haven't gone anywhere yet but I'm enjoying just being lazy at home. I took two naps yesterday and another today. it was awesome.

Wedding weekend

This weekend we had the pleasure of seeing Ethan's brother marry his bride. The wedding was beautiful, and the couple share so much love with one another that it radiates. It was rainy and cloudy all day until about an hour prior to their ceremony, when it gave them a perfect break. Almost as soon as they had finished their vows, we started feeling raindrops!

Here are my two attempts at artsy-fartsy pictures:

 

 

Here's my handsome husband in his tux:

 

Me and Ethan:

 

The bride with her father. She had the most huge smile!

 

During the ceremony.

 

The stormy weather made the setting even more beautiful (especially for all those guys in tuxes standing up front!)

 

I had to make my mark on Ethan. He thought it was funny and never wiped it off.

 

We danced all night... to the point that I am REALLY sore today. like difficult to move. I was tearing it up, y'all.

 

One more picture of that beautiful stormy sky

Vegan? Vegan!

About a month and a half ago, Ethan asked if I would try a vegan, low-fat diet with him. I responded with a loving, but skeptical, "I guess we could try it". I am so not a hippie. I feel no moral obligations to cows that prevents me from eating them or their milk. But I do have a very strong family history of heart disease, and there is pretty good evidence that a plant-based, low fat diet is the healthiest possible for prevention of heart disease and multiple kinds of cancer.

And the surprise? I actually like it. The first couple of weeks were tough. I was craving fat, salt, and cheese. I am fine with eating almost no meat, but cheese was a BIG deal for me. and Ice Cream. I have a major sweet tooth. But after a couple of weeks, the fat cravings went away. We have been trying out new recipes, and trying foods that I had never eaten before in my entire life (Kale,mustard greens, turnips, parsnips, nutritional yeast, new kinds of peppers). We have explored Indian and Chinese grocery stores and found new kinds of seasonings, and different kinds of lentils and beans. We have tried out grains that I haven't ever had before.

The best part? I can eat as much food as I want. I can eat until I am completely full and I don't feel bad about a single bite of food that goes in my mouth. I don't count calories, but I have lost about 4-5 pounds since changing my diet, and my body feels like I have lost more (Ethan's looking pretty good too, added bonus!). Meals take a bit more planning. I can't just decide I'm tired and I want to go out for a burger and a beer. But I don't feel deprived at all. We both have more energy and we've both noticed our skin clearing up.

You may wonder, "what on earth do they eat?"

Here are a few of the things we've made:

Texas Caviar

 

Asian Slaw with rice vinegar, tamari, and a tiny bit of tahini, over radishes, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage.

 

Home made corn tortillas- SO much better than store-bought if you have the time!

 

Vegetable Fajitas. I'm not sure exactly what Ethan put on them for a marinade but they were the best veggie fajitas I've ever had in my life.

 

We both started taking a vitamin with B12 to keep our bases covered, but we're converts.

Here are the resources that helped us to change our minds:

Forks Over Knives (also on Netflix)

Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (Also on Netflix)

The China Study

Pumpkinfest

We spent a little bit of this morning at the arboretum. It was kind of busy because they just started their fall pumpkin festival- but so worth the crowd. They used pumpkins and gourds to make mosaics, and to cover small buildings.

 

There were dozens of Monarch butterflies. Watching them made me feel like a little kid again

 

Sometimes I have to sneak up on Ethan to get his picture. This is him at his happiest- caffienated.

 

So many gourds! The pictures really don't do this justice.

 

 

And of course, I had to get a picture of myself in a pumpkin patch. Happy Fall!