InkCharmed~

You know my thankfulness lists? I want to add joyful lists to that. And here will be my first.

The joys in this moment of mine are as follows:

The breezes coming from the open doorways flanking my table (I'm at an adorable coffeehouse)
The texture and character of the art in this corner right in front of me
The peaceful friendliness of this place, of the people who work here and are lounging here- I can learn from them
The peace I feel with my recently tumultuous thoughts right now
The cool richness of my soy latte
The delight in finding my potentially perfect tattoos

my corner today at The Library Coffeehouse

I like to do these lists, and I haven't done one for a long time.

Things I'm thankful for:
~I'm developing healthy eating habits that will probably keep me disease free.
~I'm starting to play tennis more, and the feel of moving my body around so actively is so fun!!
~I just bought the game Cranium, and it's going to be so fun to play....
~BBC murder mystery DVDs are like atmosphere in a bottle, and since I love atmosphere, and since I have some, this is a good thing for me. (I'm watching one right now.)
~I learned how to plant a squash plant this week.
~The sun felt nice on my heavily sun-blocked skin today, and it will again tomorrow.

So last night, after feeling pretty comfortable with the simple chain stitch, I decided to try the next step, crocheting into that first chain. I had been planning on just waiting till someone else could try and teach me, but instead I busted out my Stitch'n'Bitch Happy Hookers book, and attempted to translate the instructions into skill. (I am usually really, really, really bad at this.) And it was hard, I wasn't getting it, I shelved the yarn, then decided to try a little more. And I came up with this! I'm not sure if this is what it's supposed to look like, but it might be, and that was enough for me for the night. :) And the best part is, I was able to struggle up to this point without any silly outbursts of frustration. I kept it calm. :)

The first impossible stitch.

So after a good hour of surfing the internet, doing some productive things and some not so productive, I am settling down to a good two hours of writing.

Hmm, what have I been up to and what inky goodness have I been involved in? Certainly none of my own. I've been slacking on my writing for weeks. I'm still waiting for the magical development of that all elusive regular routine... routine is all I need to get that book finished. And I believe I'll get it going soon. I've made some pretty radical changes lately requiring what would be perceived as some hard-core discipline, so I know I can get myself in the set routine that I need, eventually. I think I'll get on top of that after the wedding.

While I've been falling short on my own writing, I've been consuming plenty of the the writing of others! Hmm, right now I'm reading Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan, which is a cute YA fantasy. I started a Nora Roberts because I was craving the old-school comfort that I associate with that type of romance, but then lost steam and couldn't finish it. Still reading Dreams from my Father for book group..... I guess I've read a couple of health/diet books, like Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, but aside from mentioning if you're interested in being thin and avoiding cancer, heart disease, diabetes you should read this (or something by Dean Ornish), there's not really much to discuss. :) 

So I guess this post is heavy in rambling, and light on content. I'm feeling lazy. 
And now I'm going to go read something else.

(from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau)

Ingredients- crust
1/2 cup non-hydrogenated, nondairy butter, at room temperature (I like EarthBalance)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Ingredients- filling
1/2 cup silken tofu (soft or firm, I used soft)
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest from 2 lemons (the more the better, I think!  I zest every last bit off of those lemons. :))
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2 to 3 lemons)
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Confectioners' sugar, sifted (I didn't bother to sift anything)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C or gas mark 4).  Grease an 8x8 inch (20x20 cm) baking pan with canola oil or a cooking spray and sprinkle with just a light dusting of all purpose flour.

To make the crust, in the bowl of your electric stand or hand mixer, cream the butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the flour, and beat until the dough just comes together.  Press into the bottom of your prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

To make the filling, in a food processor or blender (oops, just realized I just used my hand mixer!), add the tofu and blend until creamy, about 1 minute.  Add the granulated sugar and blend until nice and smooth.  Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, flour, and cornstarch.  Pour the filling over the baked shortbread crust and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling is set.  Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

To serve, cut into squares or bars and dust with the sifted confectioners' sugar.  Wait until you're just about to serve the bars before you sprinkle them with the confectioners' sugar.  Otherwise, it will soak into the bars and you'll miss out on that pretty presentation.  (I just do it after they've cooled a bit, and I add enough that it stays on there! :))  I think these are best eaten the day they are made, but they can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.  (I tend to bake at like midnight a lot, so I always eat them the next day, and they're great that way! :))

So I tried out my first recipe from my new cookbook, The Joy of Vegan Baking, and it was my trusty lemon bars. I'm excited to say they were a total success, and every bit as delish as my old non-vegan lemon bars. My sister even liked them better.

Lemon bars, vegan of course.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but um, books are sort of my favorite thing.  Oh, ok, I guess there's love and family and humanity, and all sorts of other pretty major deals... but I'm not gonna lie, they've got to work hard to compare with the bound paper I can stack on my bookshelves.