Moving Out

My eldest, Parker, moved out the week of my 48th birthday. This picture is of my three kids over a year and a half ago, but it is still a favorite. Now that they may never live under the same roof again in their lives, I'm getting pretty sentimental about the three of them together.

Young Frankenstein, Tofu Po'Boy, and Romantic Gestures

 Recently, Parker was in a production of Young Frankenstein at his college. While the humor is really not his (or my) style, the cast did a great job and it was a fun show! I'm glad I got a chance to see it twice because, as with most musicals, there was so much to see. I pay more attention to the ensemble than most audience members, partly because Parker was in the ensemble this time, but also because there is so much fun one misses if they only watch the leads. Parker has some great high laugh lines in the musical and was Count Dracula at the end.

Head shots of Parker and several other cast members, including our favorite acting coach!

Parker was in a production of Our Town while he was also rehearsing for Young Frankenstein. It is rare for him to have much time between plays and most of the time he is in multiple shows at a time. He still takes a full course load (always getting A's) and works part time in his college scene shop. I really don't know how he juggles it all so well.

Josie and Parker after the musical. She loves to support her big brothers in their productions. 

Tofu Po'boy and vegan potato salad.

One of Josie's favorite sandwiches right now is a Tofu Po'Boy from a highly unlikely local restaurant. They only have a couple vegan options, but the sandwich and the vegan potato salad are great and hard to find in other places in town. Watson's is within walking distance of Rob's work so it makes a great place to meet him for lunch. The tofu is fried so not something to eat often, but it is tasty and a great place to eat with non-vegans. A couple of directors have used this place to feed the cast/crews of films so it is nice for them to have an easy vegan option for my kids. We took my dad there for the first time recents and he ordered a salad with the tofu instead of chicken. I'll have to try that sometime.

I'm not a big romantic. My husband loves romantic gestures in movies, but most of the time they make me cringe. I think it comes from having too many sweet, but obviously non-lasting romances pre-marriage. I was engaged several times before I met Rob and by the time we got together I was over it. I wanted a partnership and something realistic instead of a movie scene. Once in a while, even I get that warm fuzzy feeling from a show that makes me forget all the ugliness in life. I have to admit this scene from Schitt's Creek might go down as one of my top three romantic moments in a show.

If you don't watch Schitt's Creek, you should!

Vegan Baked Goods in Unexpected Places

While we live in a somewhat progressive little college town, I'm always surprised we aren't more vegan-friendly, but sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised. A new bakery opened up close to our home and we finally went by to check it out. We found not one, but two, vegan options in the dessert case! They weren't gluten-free either! Usually, locally we find the twofer vegan/gluten-free option put in as a hasty offering to all those "special dietary needs" customers. I was so happy to have two options that we went back the next day to buy more.

Both types of cupcakes were actually quite good. The frosting was light and fluffy while not being over "buttery" tasting or too sweet. The texture of the cake portion was spot on. We will definitely be back again.

Happy Pills! - Short Film

A talented up and coming young director friend of Parker's, Paul Benson, made this fun short. Parker had fun acting in the project. Warning, there is a bit of adult language.

Magnetic Fields - Web Series and Short Film - Jobs

My middle child, Dema (turned 15 a few days ago), is in a web series about physics for the university in our town. It was so much fun and he learned so much about magnets and physics. 

You can see more about it here and here.

I helped out with a short film last November, but I don't think I shared it here yet.

Attack on Lab 9! - Short Film - Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

For the past several years, Parker, my eldest (19) has helped out with The Prompting Theatre and their entry for the annual Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. This is the 2019 entry and the more views they get the better they do. Please watch and enjoy!

The Karaoke Singer - Short Film

Our friend and one of our favorite local film directors, John Isberg, just released a short film that is somewhat autobiographical for him and the boys helped with a bit. It is touching, sweet, sad, and the boys had a great time working with him. They filmed it a year or so ago, before Dema's voice changed so he feels so young in the film.


The Karaoke Singer from Swede Films on Vimeo.

Cooking Tips from Our Poor College Student:

My newly 19 year old was house/cat-sitting for a neighbor friend for several months so he got used to shopping and cooking for himself. Now he is back living with us and has a much busier school/work/play rehearsal schedule so I do most of the cooking. I get into ruts with my vegetables and this time of year I rely heavily on frozen produce. I usually buy organic and try to find sales since it adds up quickly. We eat a wide variety of vegetables, but I'll go through a brussel sprout faze or okra or put peas in everything...you get the picture. Parker got used to buying these 3 lb bags of frozen mixed vegetables. The bag is resealable so he could maybe get three meals out of one bag. My organic vegetables usually come in 10 oz bags so I use two for one dish. He suggested the other day that I try the larger bags. It does bother me that the vegetables are conventionally grown, but it is super convenient, less packaging, much cheaper, and we get more variety of vegetables in each meal. I'm hoping to freeze more vegetables from our CSA (community supported agriculture) share and the farmer's market this spring/summer so we can use that produce to get us through next winter.

Delicious Dates

Have you ever started eating a food and think, "where has this been all my life?". This is how I currently feel about dates. I've liked dates before, but they weren't something I bought often. I used to use date sugar, but now we rarely use sugar so even that is infrequent. Then I watched this Dr. Greger  video.

I started buying organic prunes years ago because they sell them in bulk at my local co-op. I take a glass jar and fill it with prunes since they make a great snack. Our co-op doesn't sell dates in bulk so I wouldn't buy them often. They tend to be pretty expensive. After seeing this video, I decided to get off my butt and find a way to buy dates in bulk. I found Oasis Date Gardens and got my first delivery of 10 lbs of Halawy dates. I picked the Halawy variety because they were organic and on sale. They come in a big 10 lb box and I store them in large gallon size glass jars. I couldn't be happier! This variety of dates tastes very caramel like to me and really satisfies any craving for sweet without the sugar crash and I'm adding an easy source of fiber and antioxidants. My eldest likes to put a Brazil nut in the date where the pit used to be. So delicious!

Dema, my fourteen year old son, still prefers prunes to dates, which is interesting to me, but I think it is a texture thing. The Halawy dates are very sticky and they didn't come pitted. I'm sure he'll come around eventually or I'll just start adding them to smoothies. I also want to try making my own oat milk at home and I'll probably sweeten some with dates. Does anyone have a date variety they love?

Now is the Time to Go Vegan

I often have West Wing on in the background when I'm doing things around the house, especially when we have a government in power which makes me feel sad and angry. I know West Wing isn't reality and even for fiction, it definitely isn't perfect, but it makes me feel like there are times when intelligent, caring people can work together to make the world a better place.

This scene stuck with me today.

Of course, I am anti-death penalty...the issue of this particular episode, but I think the story of The Man Who Lived by the River is actually quite timely for climate change and the environmental mess we have created. I hear from many religious people that it is God's will or that God will save us. I respect all religions and atheists, but I will never respect inaction. We have to do something now and we can't wait for someone else to do it.

Overwhelmingly, the evidence is clear that people adopting a vegan diet, or at least mostly plant-based, is an important part of the puzzle that everyone can do. It doesn't take voting someone into power, running for government ourselves, suing a corporation, or even taxing the insanely wealthy. We can and have to all make this choice to do what is best for our future...so we have a future. Those of us who are already vegan need to help others and show them how easy it can be to do what is necessary and right. Before it is too late.

18 Going on 19

Parker turns 19 in a few weeks and he is starting his 2nd semester of his first year of college. He has been house/cat-sitting for a neighbor friend for most of the first semester so we don't see him much. We are fortunate this transition to adulthood has been pretty easy and gradual for us, as parents. Since he homeschooled his entire life (except for 6th grade at public school and a few college classes during high school) it was easy for me to get used to him always being here. I definitely miss his help around the house, but I am fortunate that he chose to stay in town for now. I love that he still likes to have long talks with me and he has been rocking the adult thing.

Parker has a theatre scholarship which also requires a certain number of hours per semester working in the theatre department. He makes college look easy by getting straight As (dean's list), fulfilling his work requirements for his scholarship well ahead of time, he was also hired (paid gig) to work part-time in the scene department at his college so he is there 10-19 hours a week, most days he is rehearsing or in tech week (often for more than one production at a time), he dog/pet sits in his free time, spends time with friends (including being a DM for two weekly Dungeons and Dragons groups), goes on dates, and still makes time to home cook all his own vegan food (he hates to spend money on eating out).

The house where he is pet/house sitting has a fully stocked kitchen, but I knew soon he will be moving into his own place so I've been gradually buying some kitchen necessities. He now has his own cast iron sauté pan (he uses it at least once a day) and an instant pot. He is a pro at making staples like brown rice in the instant pot and using it in different dishes throughout the week. He even shares with us if I run out. If I make s big pot of beans, I'll drop off some for him. He shares recipes with me an I share recipes with him. It is really handy to have him in neighborhood.

I thought I would share (weekly, hopefully) recipes that are college kid friendly or weeknight family friendly.

Quick, inexpensive, healthy recipe of the week: Instant Pot Black Bean Soup from Sweet Simple Vegan