SpeakLow

Hello Everyone, I am back too, yet again. I took a long hiatus this summer, not all by choice though. I sold my house back in late March, at the same time I started experiencing blood in my urine. Some tests showed that I am riddled with Kidney Stones and some cysts, which the doctors though maybe the onset of Polycystic Kidney Disease. I don't do well with the "D" word, it was a pretty tumultuous time. Jonzen flew out to Colorado to help both Jessifly and I move out to Oregon. I spent the summer with Jon in Sisters. I eventually started to pass a stone, which got stuck for about two months. I had surgery in July to have it removed. NOT fun stuff, I wish no one ever experiences that kind of pain. I am here in Portland now, temporarily living with Jessi. I hope to have work very soon so that I can get of these expensive COBRA benefits and find a home of my own. I am 99% sure that I landed a job at the downtown REI though, which is pretty cool! Great company and deep discounts too! I spent the last week with Hero, a great inspiration and very good new friend. He introduced me to the benefits of a raw diet as well. I went vegan on my birthday last year, so I though this year on my birthday, I would go raw, as much as I can. So yesterday, it began. With the outlook of these health problems of mine, I am more dedicated now than ever, to set my mind and body on the right track with proper foods and proper exercise. I am hoping to start on some kind of yoga, all new to me. I am ready to build now too, more than ever. I think I want to take some dance classes too, it has always looked fun to me, especially swing! So, it is good to finally be here in Portland and back here on the forums. I hope to see many of you around town too! I've met a small handful and looking forward to meeting everyone else eventually! Laters!

Always on top of things!

What can I say? I live with an evil monkey...

Yea, this is the fat lazy one, Sage. Pancake, she is the breakfast screamer. I am sorry for your loss, I can only imagine how hard that must be....

Yea, she's a daddies girl

I'm guessing that wasn't the night we had that you know, that food, that soy food, you know..... 'cause I'm pretty sure we didn't sleep that night.... there was something about that food.... something smelled funny all night long, and the bears, we thought they were going to come visit us....

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/Picturesort3015.jpg

Your Inner European is Italian! http://images.blogthings.com/whosyourinnereuropeanquiz/italian.jpg Passionate and colorful. You show the world what culture really is. How did I guess this one?!?!?

HELLO THERE!

Good, looking forward to it! It's going to be fun to see everyone hopped up on sugar buzz's! I was just at Whole Foods last night and had to turn down the $5 jar of red sugar. Lucky you though, $1 a box is a great deal. I have some Praline falovoring I just picked up that made a great buttercream frosting. My new cupcakes did not turn out. I am going to have to go with the Light Coconut Milt and not the regular. They were to heavy and they did not rise, yummy mess-ups though. Hmm, were your maragarita cupcakes spiked????!?

Well, I don't dance, at least I don't think I do Might be fun to try though! There isn't much to it is there? I used to have rhythm, band camp. I would be into hiking or camping for at least one night! I don't know the area to well yet. I have always wanted to go mushroom hunting, I love eating em! A cookoff/bakeoff should be a must! I have wanted to try rock climbing too. Maybe a tour of all the cool places the city has to offer, I want to know where all of the good eateries are, and this Food Fight as well. PS - I am still trying to convince Oz to come on over, I'm workin' on it...

Well be sure to share with us. I also have a recipe for a grilled seitan, skip the boiling and just grill, doesn't sound good to me. I guess maybe just nothing can come close to the original recipes, but I don't have two-three days to make a batch of seitan!

So our mine. I actually gag just about everytime I open up the can for the dog.

OK, here is my first attempt at homemade seitan. It was surprisingly easy too, the hardest part was the simmering for an hour and the cooling. I was just in a hurry to try it. This is not my recipe, it comes from Isa at the PostPunkKitchen. I just wanted to add some pictures along with the recipe. I made a General Tso's Seitan tonight that was out of this world! I will post that recipe tomorrow night. In the meantime, I give you seitan... Ingredients 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten flour 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes 1 cup very cold water or vegetable broth 1/2 cup soy sauce (I used Braggs) 1 tablespoon tomato paste 2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated on a microplane grater 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest Simmering Broth 10 cups cold water or cold veggie broth 1/2 cup soy sauce NOTE* I found that this broth made the seitan just too salty if you plan on marinating the seitan for another recipe later on. If you do plan on marinating for another recipe, use plain water and soy sauce, ditch the broth. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/1.jpg Directions In a large bowl, mix together Vital Wheat Gluten Flour and nutritional yeast flakes. In a seperate bowl, mix together reamining ingredients: water or veg broth, soy sauce. tomato paste, garlic, lemon zest. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/2.jpg Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine with a firm spatula, knead dough for about 3 minutes until a spongy, elastic dough is formed. I kneaded mine in the mixer, worked great. Let the dough rest for a couple of minutes and prepare your simmering broth, but don't start boiling it. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/3.jpg Now roll your dough into a log shape about 8 inches long and cut into 3 equal sized pieces. I just grabbed the ball of dough and tore pieces off, it gave the seitan a nice bite size shape, similar to mock meat I guess. The dough should not be sticky, it should fall right off of your fingers, but it should also not fall apart, it should hold shape. If it does not, adjust flour/water. Place the pieces in the broth. It is important that the water/broth be very cold when you add the dough, it helps with the texture and ensures that it doesn't fall apart. Partially cover the pot (leave a little space for steam to escape) and bring to a boil. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/4.jpg When the water has come to a boil set the heat to low and gently simmer for an hour, turning the pieces every now and again. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/5.jpg Now you've got gluten. Let it cool in the simmering broth for at least a half an hour. It is best if it cools completely. While it's cooling, you may feel the texture is soft like raw dough. DON'T worry like I did, as it cools it firms up into a nice texture. You must cool it for it to firm up though! What you do next depends on the recipe you are using. If it calls for gluten use it as is. If you want to store some of it for later use put it in a sealable container covered in the simmering broth. http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/6.jpg

Hmm, I'm probably late on this, but I like the messy hair shot. I'm a sucker for messy hair, and stuble...

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/Martin_James_1983-1.jpg http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c110/StvNicksFan/Martin_James_1999.jpg The last one was my senior portrait. Baby fat, haha! And you gotta love the two-tone hair, that was really in!

OK, now those are just HOT! Let's make a cupcake team for the VV. Wow, amazing design! I have a new one that I am developing for tomorrow, but it will not top these! Bow to the queen!

I have heard so much about the restaurant! It will be the first place I will try when I move out there later this year. See ya around!

Lights - The Scissor Sisters from Ta-Dah!

Thanks Rob, It's good to know that people would take others in when they need help. I know I would do it in a heartbeat for any of my fellow friends. We do have an agent, but, can't afford to pay a mortgage on Colorado and rent in Loveland. If you do buy a house, plan on being there for quite some time. I didn't, but don't do 100% financing. This is one reason the market is so saturated. Make sure you still have a decent nest egg after making your down payment and get a home inspection. Those are my big tips

I would rent, but, I reallllly really need that money. And, I don't want to worry about tenants 2000 miles away. I am just ready to say goodbye to Loveland and not look back. This is why I feel so tied in here. Your summer sounds like it will be fun. Is there just one Rainbow Gathering? A co-worker went last year and had a really good time. He took a bunch of our tents from work. Oh, and if you need a tent, like a cabin tent, let me know. Working on a new plan is hard, esp when I've had my hopes set on Portland for so long now. It can't go on much longer I imagine. As long as I am out of Colorado this summer, things should be OK. I just want out now!

So this is neither school or work, but, I guess it relates to the both of them. I am just venting. We put up our beautiful town home six months ago, with the hopes of selling fast and being in Portland for school by Fall 2006. Never happened. We keep getting showings, but no one is biting. We have come down in price so much, that we are now loosing money. Money that I wanted to pay for school with, money to move to Portland with. The town home behind us sold in six days and closed today! This has turned out to have been the absolute worst investment of my life and I do not see myself purchasing real-estate anytime in the near future, thousands lost. I know the market sucks, just about everywhere, it is just still depressing. I do my best to stay positive, but I am disappointed over and over. At this point, it seems I will be homeless when i get to Portland. This is holding me back from school and getting on with life. I don't really have anything going for me here and my future is all out there. I guess it just comes down to the fact that I do not like not being in control of things. How do you all deal with that? You know, things you have no control over?

I am actually trying this out tonight! I will be using a recipe from Isa. I will post my findings and pictures as well... The store bought stuff is just way too expensive....

Not soon enough. We are still waiting on this house to sell. It's been reallllllly slow. Thanks for the compliments, I have some more coming soon! I'll get mine on soon and check yours out as well

Oh my gosh! You live with on too! How do you get rid of them!?!?! Does yours tickle your feet at night?