Barn Red
Here’s a sneak peek at our newly painted garage. Doesn’t it look great? I’ll post more pictures soon, with a few bales of hay arranged out front and some mini donkeys wearing bonnets and posing with small carts . . . in which our cats …
Author: Leslie Kimel
Vegan Lasagna
We made our favorite vegan lasagna on Monday. It turned out so delicious. The key is the walnut paste, which holds everything together and is so rich and oily and delightful! Sorry about the poopy picture. It was dark by the time we finished cooking, …
These Balmy Winter Days
Yesterday was so warm, it sure didn’t feel like January–and it didn’t really look like it either. There haven’t been any freezes yet this winter, so our summer vegetable garden is still producing. We’ve got shiny hot peppers galore, and we even have an eggplant coming along (pure white and still as small as a chicken egg). There are roses blooming too, and the daffodils and paperwhites are all confused; they think it’s spring.
I spent the whole of yesterday weeding, which is really my kind of living. I got to crawl around in fragrant pine needles and admire my plants up close. I picked kumquats whenever I got hungry, and listened to bird talk, and I dreamed about planting a camellia forest and a pawpaw patch.
Meiwa Kumquats
My Meiwa kumquats are ripe. Hooray! I highly recommend this variety. Our tree is tiny, less than four feet tall, but it produces like crazy–and the fruit is so sweet! Seriously, these kumquats are really not sour at all. And they’re so cute and round, …
Pressure Washed
We got the house pressure washed a couple weeks ago, and on Sunday Rob went around and touched up the spots where the paint had chipped off during the process. The house looks so squeaky clean and perfect now. It’s snow white instead of mossy …
Vegan Coconut Macaroons
Yesterday Kris had a Christmas cookie-baking party and I made vegan coconut macaroons using this recipe. They turned out pretty good!
We had so much fun at the party. We baked cookies and drank hot cider and made Christmas ornaments with lots of glitter. We got glitter all over the house. (Frosting too.) The only thing we ate the whole day was cookies, so we were all moaning and totally sick. After dark, we played cops and robbers with Jake, and it was so warm it felt like spring though the neighborhood sparkled with Christmas lights.
I’m reprinting the macaroon recipe below with my little changes:
Vegan Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients:
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 Tbls Ener-G egg replacer
2 tsp almond extract
Directions:
Mix the coconut and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Whip the egg replacer in the coconut milk and add to the coconut/sugar mixture, blending well. Mix in the almond extract. Make sure everything is well blended. Roll the “dough” into small balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
Pebble Hill Plantation
On Saturday, Kris, Sophie, Jake, Mom, Bun, and I visited Pebble Hill Plantation near Thomasville. The grounds are so beautiful, so spacious, with spread-y live oaks and very old camellia gardens, fountains, a sun dial, and lots of Spanish moss. There’s a tennis court and …
Satsumas
We’ve been picking our first satsumas. They’re the Kimbrough variety. They’re so good–and they look so magical hanging on the tree, like little golden Chinese lanterns.
