jill of all arts

uh ... make that the week before.  i think.

what is it about fall that always catches me with a messy house?  hm ...
well, speaking of house, it's partly blue now!  half the living room is now a lovely light robin egg (not quite the dusky color in the photo).

of course,one doesn't need to have a clean house to enjoy pretty things like a moth on a window.
thank goodness.

i made this curry for dinner last week. when joel got home the next day, he informed me that 3 classmates had requested the recipe - apparently the smell of the leftovers was good advertisement.

to view it in its pure, unadulterated, vegan, and probably tastier form, go here.

here's my version:

ingredients

• 2-5 cans of chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 2 14 oz cans coconut milk  (note: i would experiment with using less next time - would probably be healthier.)
• some kind of curry paste or powder, to taste
• ground or fresh ginger to taste
• 1 cup or however much you want of some kind of broth.  it calls for vegetable broth, but i had 3 open boxes of chicken broth in the fridge, so my version was decidedly non-vegan.
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/8-1/2 cup soy sauce (to taste)
• 1 or 2 bags frozen mixed veggies (i used a stir-fry mix without mushrooms, thank you very much.)
• however many basil leaves those poor, slug-ridden basil plants can spare, or 1-2 cups
• salt and pepper
• cooked rice

steps
1. pulse chickpeas in a food processor until they resemble very rough bread crumbs.
2. separate coconut cream from the watery part. (note: this is harder than it sounds.  i really don't even know why it's in the recipe, but that's what it says so i did it.)  bring to bubbling in a large pot over medium high heat, then add pulsed chickpeas. cook for 2 mins, stirring, then add curry stuff and ginger.
3. add the rest of the coconut milk and the stock and bring to bubbling. add sugar, soy, and veggies and bring to bubbling again. reduce heat and simmer until veggies are cooked. add more stock if needed. season to taste.
4. add basil and mix well. let basil wilt a bit, but do not overcook. serve over rice.

again, this is not my recipe - merely an adaptation of vegan dad's.  i did, however, discover that it grows some trippy mold when left in a bowl on the counter for 4-5 days.  might be effective in discovering a cure for penicillin.

i love people watching.  sometimes, at the gym or grocery store, i imagine lives and personalities for each person i see.  it's a fun way to pass the time ... ;)

i'm loving this series of shots - "dancers among us" - it sparks my people-watching imagination.

ta ta till next week!

the only thing better than working at starbucks is working at starbucks in the fall.  i love it here.  i've been at our store for about 4 months, just long enough to kinda know two thirds of my customers.  (that doesn't include the large number that i didn't already know - gresham is a small world.)

there's the cool, slightly hippyish guy who gets a decaf mocha - he repairs old vws for a living.  how cool is that?  and little kaylie who spends a lot of time with her grandma at the dog grooming place next door.  iced venti decaf no foam no whip no espresso americano (i.e. ice water) and a big smile. and chuck, who comes in every morning at 5:30 and wakes us up very effectively.

i even like the cleaning, and the dusting.  there's something so refreshing about leaving my computer screen-dominated home businesses and living in the moment for a while.



plus, i steam up a mean foam.

ok, i never claimed to be a technological genius, but still!  in case there's anyone else out there whose head is floating high in the clouds above technological awareness, check this out!
draft.blogger.com

yeah, i didn't link it.  copy and paste.

now, check out the stats button under each of your blogs.  cool, huh?  after spending at least 3 minutes trying to figure out how to install google analytics on my blog and giving up in frustration (ok, maybe it was more like 30 minutes ... ) this is really pretty awesome!  i had a visit from india this week.  i mean, how cool is that?  i don't even know anyone in india!

if you're in india, hi.  i think india's amazingly cool and it's totally one of my top places to visit someday.

i'm heading out to a senior portrait session on a gorgeous late summer day, and these colorful circus wedding shots will be running through my head.

have a great weekend!

subtitled:
"poorly managed diagonal dynamism"

also subtitled:
"a passable example of the freakishly boring rule of thirds"

also subtitled:
"we should have named her 'borg'."