Our spring carrot crop has been stupendous to say the least. We’ve got carrots coming out of our ears. Rob feels a real obligation to our carrots and is always scheming about how we can put them to good use. Yesterday he said, “So what …
Leroy On Sunday afternoon after Rob and I finished eating some delicious vegan hot wings, we sat on the screen porch and talked about our cat Leroy. It was extremely pleasant. Leroy was asleep nearby on a little couch under the ceiling fan. Even though …
When I showed Rob this picture of himself and our neighbors’ cat Bubbles, he nodded and said, “Oh, yeah, I see. There’s Bubbles reading the newspaper.”
I thought his remark captured just perfectly the charm of the photo. Bubbles looks like a tiny person as she relaxes with Rob by the pond in her own antique chair.
She’s always trying so hard to keep up with us, which is quite touching because she’s so small and we’re so big. Every Saturday morning she waits on the steps for us to come outside, and then she follows us around the yard for hours.
Rob and I love to make up stories about her, but they don’t seem made up; they seem true. One day Rob said, “Bubbles is very religious. I wasn’t sure if you knew.”
“I do,” I said. “She goes to church with me on Sundays. Last Sunday we went at 10 and the Mass was in Spanish, so Bubbles translated for me. She was whispering. She wears a little black lace chapel veil, by the way. She’s traditional.”
I could easily picture Bubbles at Mass. All the details of my little story seemed in keeping with her character. She’s such a good and loyal cat. Of course she’d come to church with me.
Two Saturdays ago, Rob and I repainted the dark green fence that runs along North Adams Street in front of our house.
About a month ago, Rob and I bought some vintage cast-iron garden furniture in Dothan—a bench and two chairs, with a fern motif. We scraped the rust off, primed everything, and painted each piece a nice, glossy black. Last night we applied our last coat of paint, and today we finally arranged our new furniture by the pond. Now Rob and Bubbles (our neighbors’ cat) can watch the goldfish in style.
This afternoon Chip, my teddy bear, tried out one of the new chairs. In the picture above, he’s waiting for me to bring him his lunch—some pimento cheese sandwiches and Sprite arranged on a little tray, with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg for dessert.
The other day I made a vegan version of the pecan balls my mom always baked at Christmas when I was a kid. They were really good (rich and vegan-buttery) and they brought back lots of happy memories. In December when I was young, Mom …
On Sunday Rob and I put up our Christmas tree. It was so much fun. We listened to Christmas songs and heated up some cider in a pot on the stove. The house smelled wonderfully cinnamon-y and was a big, festive mess of boxes and …
A coworker of mine, Evelyn, brought a big pot of Sweet Potato Maafe to our office Thanksgiving party and passed out lovely color copies of the recipe. Well, I liked it so much I made it at home the very next night. A maafe is a spicy West African-style stew cooked with a sauce made from peanut butter and tomatoes. I served my maafe over quinoa, but it would also go well with couscous or brown rice. I like quinoa because it’s really nutritious; it’s a complete protein and a good source of iron and fiber.
Vegan Sweet Potato Maafe
Ingredients:
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
Enough peanut oil to coat sweet potatoes
2 medium onions, diced
8 cloves of garlic, minced
6 Tabasco peppers, minced
3 bell peppers or 8 clown peppers, chopped small
More peanut oil–about 1/4 cup
2 tomatoes, diced
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 turnips, peeled and chopped
4 cups water
4 Tbls tomato paste
1 1/3 cups peanut butter
1 cup hot water
1 head green cabbage, chopped
Salt to taste
Directions:
Chop the sweet potatoes. Put them in a bowl and coat them with peanut oil and salt to taste. Spread them on a baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees F until soft and a little brown.
In a large soup pot, sauté onions and peppers in oil until soft. Add garlic and sauté a couple more minutes. Add tomatoes, carrots, turnips, and water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the carrots are soft.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, peanut butter, hot water, and salt to taste.
When the carrots are soft, add the sweet potatoes to the pot, along with the peanut butter sauce and cabbage. Adjust the salt if needed. Cook until the cabbage is tender.
Serve hot over quinoa or brown rice.
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| Rob enjoying a bowl of sweet potato maafe |
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| We’ve been cooking a lot with clown peppers lately. We’ve got so many! |
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| This birdbath has nothing to do with anything; I just think it’s cute. |
