Domestipithecus

My fiance (I am going to have to come up with a clever nickname for him) and I are both vegetarian. His sister and mother are both vegan. This means that all recipes and the like will be either of the above and will contain no meat. We do use dairy and eggs still, though we use Earth Balance, vegan “butter” and Veganaise, vegan mayo. They taste pretty good.

You will probably notice that my blogroll has links to blogs that cook with meat. I sometimes use them as a reference for non-meat dishes, substituting tofu or some other meat replacement in place of the meat. Sometimes that isn’t possible, but I still like to get inspiration from others. The sauce, method of preparation etc, can all be used for non-meat dishes.

That said, yesterday I made some Agave Wheat bread in the bread machine. Agave is a substitute for honey. A good one at that. I originally got agave nectar so his sister would have something to sweeten her tea and other things when she was over for a visit. The first time I made the bread, the recipe called for 3 tbsp of honey so I thought I would give the agave a try. It was very good. This time around I added 3 1/2 tbsp which made the bread a little more moist and a tiny bit sweet.

I also made “loaf”, as the family calls it. It’s a variation on a recipe that my future mother-in-law found. She simplified it to within and inch of it’s life and now we have turkey. chicken and beef substitute, depending on the flavoring put in. The texture is perfect, unlike some other meat subs, and it tastes great. Sliced, it makes great sandwich fixins.

Of course, I had to round it out with dessert so I made brownies. I didn’t have any solid chocolate, so I needed to use cocoa. I located this recipe. I had to cook it longer than it said and used a microwave for the cocoa mix like some commenters did. They came out ok. Nothing spectacular. It may have been the cocoa (Tollhouse) though so who knows.

So this morning I sent my fiance off to work with a loaf sandwich on agave wheat bread and a brownie for dessert. He was pretty happy.

Today probably won’t have a lot of cooking, just a lot of cleaning and getting into costume for handing out candy. I wish I had decorated, but we just got back from three weeks in Ireland on the 21st, and my car was in the shop, we just didn’t have time to buy/make any and put them up. I’m thinking having one of my ratties on my shoulder while handing out the treats will either creep out the kids or they’ll love it. I’ll report tomorrow.

I have recently been lucky enough to be able to stay at home and take care of things here. My fiance and I just moved into a new house. We are renting, but the landlord said we could do whatever we like. Paint, garden, build… you name it, he doesn’t care. We’re still unpacking/settling in, but we have grand plans.

I also like to cook and bake. A lot. My most adventurous creation to date was making soymilk by hand. Well, I did use a blender to pulverize the soybeans, but I extracted the milk with my hands. Messy, messy, messy. It tasted fantastic though.

Last, but certainly not least, I’m a crafter. I love all things crafty, knitting and sewing in particular. I haven’t done a lot of sewing for years due to lack of time, sewing machine and inclination, but I do love it. Knitting is the craft I am currently actively engaged in.

All of these things tend to be labeled as domestic activities, which is where the domesti- comes from.

Another love of mine is anthropology. Specifically physical and forensic anthropology. Mostly, anything that deals with getting information from bones. Whether it be the fossil record, an ancient burial or a recent death, bones and the information one can get from them fascinates me.

That said, the -pithecus portion of the name is taken from australopithecus, which means basically, southern ape. Since the most famous evolutionary fossil is Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis, I went with it.

So there you go. Domestipithecus = Domestic Ape. I like to post as Upright Ape, though I do tend to slouch. hmmm…

This blog is in it’s embryonic stage currently. I will be posting entries on cooking, baking, knitting, sewing and probably running, home improvement and life in general. I am hoping to grow and flow until it’s something I can enjoy and share. It’s also not very attractive right now, but I’m working on that as well.

So hello, and welcome.