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I was late to get on the Pinterest train. I've only been pinning for two years, and only started because I was pregnant with Parker and needed somewhere to organize my Christmas baking and mobile making needs. I thought I'd share some of my favourite food-related pins (Pins?) with you and let you know how they turned out. My issue with Pinterest is that I never know if the BEST RECIPE EVER and TOTALLY FOOLPROOF thing are actually realistic claims. I find that, typically, nothing ever lives up to the hype.

(P.S. I hate link-heavy posts, but it's unavoidable here. Sorry.)

Really good rum balls: These are amazing. I made them last Christmas for the first time and they're not only super easy, but just looking at the ingredients (rum, icing sugar, chocolate, and almonds) you know they're going to taste good. I'm not a big rum drinker but I don't mind eating it one bit. The only downside to these little treasures is that they never look as pretty as the picture. They don't even really look that appetizing, actually, but that just means there's more for the adventurous and unsuperficial. I made some for Christmas this year but obviously didn't have any.

Starbucks pumpkin scones: I've talked about these here before but they're worth mentioning again.When I gave up dairy I had to give up Starbucks' pumpkin scones and that was really soul crushing so I found a recipe I could make myself and now they're a go-to. I just use coconut or almond milk in place of cream and Earth Balance instead of butter. I also roll my dough into a circle and cut it like a pizza because it looks less like chicken strips that way.

Banana bread cinnamon buns: Minimalist Baker is one of my favourites (I got the cookbook for Christmas!) and these cinnamon buns are one of the big reasons why. I've made other kinds from the website, but these are far superior. I like to make them when we have company over that I'm trying to impress. Then I impress our company with how cinnamon buns I can eat.

The chocolate cake to end all other chocolate cakes: It's actually a one bowl vegan chocolate cake also from Minimalist Baker, but I can safely safe that it's the only chocolate cake recipe you need. It's easy, delicious, and the cake itself isn't overly sweet. What the cake lacks in sugar content the icing more than makes up for. This cake is the reason I gained weight when Parker was two months old. It's also the cake I'll be making for myself as a reward for pushing a second human out of my body. This cake is my push present, and I plan on eating a piece of it as I get stitched up in the hospital. I have also used the icing for other recipes, and find it goes really on bean cake.

Bean cake: I like to make this when I want chocolate cake but feel guilty about eating chocolate cake. I always use coconut sugar in it and made it for Parker's first birthday. No one ever knows it's made from beans and I like that it's allergy friendly (unless the allergy is eggs because there's basically a whole chicken in there). The only thing I don't like about it is that it's hard to make cupcakes out of. Because there's no flour, it can tend to fall apart when coming out of the pan. In a regular cake pan this isn't too bad, but I've still yet to make a cupcake batch that hasn't had a 50% failure rate. And by "failure" I mean structurally. I end up having to eat a lot of cupcake bottoms out of the muffin tin. Someday I'll get it right.

Avocado frosting: In an effort to make better life choices I thought this would be a nice substitution for regular icing. It's not. If you put a bit of instant coffee granules in it you get some nice kick, but it reminds me more of pudding than frosting, and it does not keep well. This is for immediate consumption only, otherwise the next day you'll be wondering why on earth you decided to make chocolate guacamole.

Vegan hazelnut cheesecake: It looks like the link I have pinned doesn't actually work anymore, but this recipe looks the most similar (if not exactly the same). I made this for our anniversary this year because I'd been wanting to try a nut-based cheesecake for a while, but needed a special occasion to justify it. I've made a tofu cheesecake before and never again. All I could taste was the soy. This cheesecake was pretty good, but I may have over-roasted the hazelnuts or something or maybe shouldn't have soaked the cashews in the fridge instead of on the counter overnight. It just wasn't quite right. I put the leftovers in the freezer, but every time I had a piece my stomach would get a bit upset. It was mediocre. I'll try another vegan cheesecake again but will go a different route.

Chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard: Yes. The "ice cream" is just frozen bananas (i.e. healthy) and the cookie dough bites are super easy to make. You get a little messy rolling them, but it's totally worth it. I like to leave the extras in the freezer to eat later on.

Slow cooker broccoli, spinach, and potato soup: I want to love this soup, but I just find it so uninspiring. I've made it a couple times but just can't get excited about it. It also makes the house smell like farts when I get home from work.

Vegan cheese sauce: I like how easy this cheese sauce is, but I'm kind of over beans being in everything. Last time I made this I didn't do as good a job as I thought cleaning out my food processor so when made "frozen yogurt" in it everything tasted like beans. I was three months pregnant at the time and it's really stuck with me. Bean aversion.

Cashew Alfredo sauce: If beans are overdone in cheese sauces, nuts definitely are, too, but I can forgive them in this one. I like that this recipe is so easy, so fast, doesn't involve beans, and if you put it over spaghetti squash you feel like a vegan healthfood princess. Or something. I like to blend up steamed broccoli or peppers in it to thicken the sauce a bit and give it some more substance. It's been a while since I last made this and I think I need to make it again soon. This is another one of those things I like to feed people I'm trying to impress because it seems harder than it is.

I've also tried to learn proper furniture painting techniques, gotten many knitting patterns, and laughed about the "must-have" first time parent lists. I just can't stop clicking on them.

Have I just blown your mind with all my food-related insight? You're welcome.

Currently.

craving: Chocolate. I went to the gym last night to walk like an old person on the treadmill. I normally go Friday nights and there's no one there, but apparently Mondays are for righting weekend wrongs and it was really busy. No one around me was running, either, it was just a bunch of walkers. Apparently I'm not the only person that enjoys walking on the treadmill before dinner. The thing is, the last couple times I've been to the gym to get my senior citizen on, I've really felt it afterwards. Last night I ended up on the couch with a heat bag on my back because apparently any exercise whatsoever is going to make me cramp these days. Holla at the almost third trimester. As a woman, I associate cramping with chocolate. Thus the craving. If going to the gym is going to send me into a chocolate eating spiral I should probably just give up on fitness. It seems counter productive.

watching: Call the Midwife season 4. I got it from the library but couldn't get through it all before I had to return it. Gone are the days of binge watching shows in a week. I contemplated bringing it to work to watch on my lunch break, but I cry during every single episode. I feel like I need to maintain some dignity.

wishing: That the American election would make the US dollar go down. I know I'm horrible, but even if it just does it for a day or two I'd be happy. I really want to order some yarn off KnitPicks and I can't afford to pay 25% more for the exchange rate. Remember when the Canadian dollar was higher than the American? Those were the days. I also want to buy my dad this mug. 

anticipating: Two things. I have a package waiting on my front porch at this very minute with the most amazing mug in it. I'm talking about the kind of mug I daydream about. I can't wait to drink coffee out of it in three months from now. (Why can't I have a sugar aversion instead of coffee? Life is hard when all you want to do is eat Mike and Ikes.) Also, I'm going on a husband-less babymoon tomorrow. I'll be in Victoria until Sunday night, snuggling my friend's brand new little guy, dancing in the rain, eating so much west coast food, and finishing up my Christmas shopping. Other highlights will include going to the bathroom alone and attempting to sleep past 7 a.m.

organizing: The baby's room. This is taking much longer than anticipated due to having another child to look after, but I'm getting really excited about it. I have a couple days off next week so I'm hoping to make some real progress. There are few things I enjoy more than organizing a space while listening to a good audio book.

cooking: There's a beef stew in my crock pot at the moment and I made shepherd's pie on Sunday. Last week I made lasagna soup and decided to try making French bread to go with it. French bread and I have an abysmal success rate, but I managed to make three delightfully edible loaves. We ate a lot of white bread last week, including French toast Sunday morning. I'm basically Martha Stewart. .

reading: I'm just about the start The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. I'm excited. I also finally joined Goodreads and I kind of love it.

planning: What I'm going to eat once I give birth. Sushi, chocolate cake, and coffee, for the record. 

drinking: Stash decaf chai spiced tea.

eating: Fig newtons. Like an old lady boss.

feeling: Like a whale, gumball, or sausage depending on what I'm wearing.

wondering: If WestJet will let me get away with a suitcase slightly larger than their allowable carry-on dimensions. Maybe if I cry. Also how much knitting I should bring for four days and two flights away.

feeling: Proud of myself for not eating the bag of Skittles in the cupboard I bought for my flights tomorrow night. Every time I get Parker a graham cracker I see them and I get twitchy. My name is Anna and I'm a sugar addict.

missing: This is Us. It won't be on tonight because of the election. Now that I've returned Call the Midwife to the library I have no excuse to cry in front of the television tonight. Hopefully. Thank God for Netflix.

Lately.

Can we talk about molars and how horrible they are? Have we done this before? They're like giant icebergs trying to break through tiny gums. We were lucky, Parker's first three came through and we didn't even know it. His fourth, though, is killing us so hard. I didn't go to work today because he only napped for 30 minutes Monday and Tuesday at daycare. This is unacceptable on so many levels. He's been so sad and snotty that I just decided to keep him home and do my best to get him sleep today. And, glory Hallelujah, it worked. And, bonus, I got to take a sick day when I'm not sick and no one can blame me for enjoying myself during nap time.

I just finished reading As You Wish, Cary Elwes' memoir about working on The Princess Bride. I currently have the movie on hold at the library (I only had it on VHS growing up) and I just pulled the book off my shelf. I read it 14 years ago so I'm looking forward to having another go at it.

Did you watch This Is Us last night? Can we talk about how good it was? And I how I swore I wasn't going to watch it again if it made me cry but I made sure the next episode was scheduled to record before I'd even stopped sniffling?

I've been craving ice cream for a while now but trying so hard to abstain. Coconut Bliss was not on sale at the grocery store this week and after a month of birthdays and unashamed vegan doughnut eating I've got to slow down. Don't bother telling me I'm pregnant so it's okay, I did this not too long ago and still have 6 extra lbs of cookie-filled regret. I'm also in a wedding six months post-partum, so I'm trying to make life as simple as possible for myself. Anyway, that wasn't my point. My point was that, after all the molar drama and excruciating days of ice cream cravings, last night I kind of caved and made this bad boy. It was amazing and I wish I had eight more to eat right now. But we're out of frozen bananas at the moment, and I feel like that's probably a blessing.

My CD player broke a couple weeks ago. I'm pretty distraught. I've had it since I was 15 or 16 and it's a beast. You know the kind, with the five CD changer and the big speakers. I can't decide if I should spend $25 and get one off Varage Sale or if I should grow up and get one that isn't designed for teenagers. What do grown ups even use for CD players these days?

I feel like we can't go long without a CD player because I hate Regina radio and Parker loves music. That kid can bust a move like no other. Lady Gaga came on the other day while I was watching The Office and he took her to heart and just danced. He also loves The Office theme. He'll stop whatever he's doing and stare at the TV whenever it comes on. It's the only time he ever cares about television. I might put him in accordion lessons someday.

Working full time last week made me so glad I work part time. I never have to deal with traffic, don't need to pack eight meals to get myself through the day, and don't feel like going to bed at 8:30 every Friday.

Okay, I'm going to go have a hot chocolate before I do something I'll regret. Like make an entire batch of these and eat them all before bed.

Solidifying those trust issues.

Now that Parker's six months old we've entered the realm of solid foods. I'm not particularly excited about this because it makes my life more complicated. Nursing and giving food? Ugh. When is Parker going to start feeding me? Trying to feed me my ripped out hair and his slobbery fingers does not count, even though I do kind of appreciate the sentiment.

I thought for sure Parker would be a food eating boss. The kid loved his oral vaccine after all. The nurse was impressed by his eagerness. So, why, pray tell, is my kid willing to let a stranger put some mystery liquid in his mouth but refuses to let me, who provides him LIFE, give him what he's been salivating over for months?

We decided to try sweet potatoes first. Nature's super food. I'd like to avoid rice cereal because it's so full of random crap. Parker's going to teach Karl and I how to be healthier eaters. No sugar for the next twenty years! I figured sweet potatoes would be a hit because, hello, everyone loves them and they've got a decent amount of iron. He did okay the first time, but the next day as soon as he saw that spoon coming he shut right down. I'm pretty sure he doesn't trust us any more. He didn't even let us give him applesauce. No spoon will be going near his pretty little face. More applesauce for me, then.

Today I tried some baby led weaning and put sweet potatoes and banana on the tray for him. He found his bib much more appetizing. I'm not sure how much iron is in there, kid, but hey, whatever floats your boat. It'll probably fill you up for a while. Speaking from personal experience here, the less iron you have in your system the more you want to sleep. Longer naps = more applesauce time for mommy so I guess there's always that silver lining.

Someone please tell Parker, though, that just because he's being offered solids doesn't mean he needs to nurse twice as often. The boobs aren't going anywhere. Once in a while they'd like a couple hours of sleep at night, but it seems like Parker's trust issues don't stop during the sleeping hours. The kid that's been going 13 hours a night without eating for the past two and a half months is making up for lost time. I mean, I love him to bits, but I don't need the 2:30 and 5 a.m. cuddles to remind me. I choose to believe it's a growth spurt because it's hard to fault the kid for being hungry. A year ago at this time I was eating crackers in the middle of the night, too. You don't think he's pregnant, do you?

Lately.

I made lame bruschetta last night. I gave myself three minutes to do it and didn’t bother toasting the bread. We were 20 minutes late to where we were going. It was still a hit, though, although not enough to not have leftovers. You’ll never guess what I’ll be eating for my bedtime snack tonight.

Every time I come home to dinner in the crockpot I feel like I’ve won the lottery. I made beef dip yesterday and tonight we have leftovers. Today it’s like I’m reliving my victory all over again.

My mom is coming to visit. Her flight gets in late Friday/early Saturday. Every time she comes our house looks different. This time the living room’s been reorganized and has new bookshelves, our office looks like a book bomb exploded, and we’re setting up the furniture in the baby’s room tonight.

For weeks I’ve been saying that I’m going to get the baby clothes washed and sorted but I haven’t pulled the trigger. I have Monday off and to myself while Mom visits family out of town, so that’s my goal. Now that we have a dresser for the clothes to go into I actually have a place to put them.

I’m also tempted to pull out the summer clothes. It’s too cold for shorts, but I wouldn’t mind seeing if I can fit into my old capris with my belly band. I will miss all the room in my drawers when that happens, though.

The beauty of houseguests is that there’s no more procrastinating the housework. We really do need to clean the bathrooms now and make the guest bed. Someone’s going to be sleeping in it tomorrow night. The bed, not the bathrooms. I could buy groceries or something, too, but it’s just my mom. She’ll understand.

This the beginning of a marathon of house guests. Mom’s coming for a week, leaving next Friday night, and Karl’s brother’s family is coming next Thursday until Easter Sunday morning. It’ll be a good test run. Thursday night we’ll have three extra adults, a toddler, and a dog all running around.

I finished painting our glider last week. I might be biased, but I think it’s gorgeous. The cushion isn’t my dream cushion but it’s good enough for now (or possibly ever). And the colour? It’s everything I dreamed it could have been. Painting a glider is no joke with all the little bits and moving pieces, but it was a labour of love and Darth Vader impressions in my respirator mask. Because I’m that person.

I am currently in negotiations for a KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment. I talked the seller down to $75 from $100 so I’m feeling pretty good about myself. And my new ice cream maker attachment. All I can think about is homemade blizzards.

Just add a bigger crockpot and a new food processor to the mix and boom, I’m ready to have this baby. Who needs diapers? Not me, I’ve got at least three kicking around somewhere.

It snowed again this week. Karl had to shovel twice. We got about 15 cm one day. Last year it snowed at the exact same time, although not quite as much. I remember how distraught I was. This year I’m handling it all much better. I thought that winter would be harder this year, being here for the whole long and agonizing thing. Somehow it’s not. I’m ready for it to be done but it’s not as traumatic as before. I must be getting tougher. I must also have more to look forward to. I must also have more windows.

I’m really looking forward to Easter. Karl’s brother’s family came out last year, too, and I gave them all an egg hunt. Our nephew will be 16 months old this time around so I’m not sure how much he’ll enjoy it but I’ve already gotten him a non-edible gift to hunt for. There’s also something fun about watching three adults hunt down plastic eggs like children. Like the adults are children, not like they’re hunting down children.

Company is also a good excuse to do some baking. Because I fear fancy dinner meals I opted for an Easter brunch last year instead of dinner. I’m going to do the same this year and use it as an excuse to make banana bread cinnamon buns. With respect to future Anna I’m trying to lay off the baked goods, but Jesus wasn’t crucified and raised from the dead for me to not celebrate, right? I will not do him that disservice. Since I can’t drink wine like the real biblical folks, cinnamon buns will have to do. And bacon. You know, as a nod to the fact that we don’t need to follow the old food laws anymore. He is risen indeed!

All this talk of food has sent me over the edge. I need to go eat a banana now.

American Grocery Stores: A Love Story

Less than 11 hours ago I returned from five days down south. Like really down south. We went shopping on the Mexican border. I have a picture of their flag.  I felt like an outlaw. 

Mom and I trekked down for three days in Disneyland and two in San Diego. Our goals were simple: a) live it up in the magical kingdom and b) do some shopping.

Shopping in the US is funny because we tended to stick to the stores we knew. Most of the stores I'd never heard of (or had but never been to) ended up being wildly expensive and far too fancy for the likes of us. Even in outlets, American stores that we have in Canada have very similar prices. I got a couple clearance rack things from Old Navy and The Gap and then branched out a little bit more to stores I didn't know. We had some success, but the biggest steal was a $35 blazer from H&M that wasn't even on sale. And there's an H&M in Victoria so there you go.

I did buy some dresser knobs for our nightstands from Anthropologie. I now feel legit. They were about all I could afford there, but that store was so nice and so pretty it made me want to be a better person. A person that can afford $80 shirts.

I was excited to see the American Joe selection in JC Penny because, as you know, I adore Joe, and I've been seeing some pretty nice stuff at the Superstore back home. Well, Americans, I have to apologize. Your Joe selection is kind of pathetic. That, and it's the exact same price as ours without the killer clearance section.

While outlet and mall shopping had some successes but no amazing OMG deals, I did have some life changing I'm-ready-to-become-an-American shopping experiences.

Grocery stores.

Oh. My. Goodness. It may have been hard to find things to eat in and around Disneyland without dairy, but once we headed south, going into an American grocery store was kind of like stepping into a magical fantasy land. The other magic kingdoms.

We hit up a Trader Joe's almost as soon as we got to San Diego. On first loop, it wasn't anything special. I found some vegan cookies for less than $5 but the we did another lap and it picked up a little bit. A falafel wrap, pea chips, fruit, cookies, and a dark chocolate bar all for less than $13. I was intrigued and I was hooked.

Later that day we were at a mall that had a Jimbo's. I had a dream of a small sized goat milk or something so I headed back to the dairy section. What I found there changed me forever. Individual goat yogurts, with flavours, and more than one brand of them. Goat butter. Two different kinds. Goat. Butter. I died. I may have shrieked right there. There could have been some swooning. I couldn't stop saying it. Goat butter. Goat cream for your coffee. The unicorns of goat dairy. Things you can only dream about but never think are real. 

Their bakery section was also amazing. A huge selection of vegan baked goods. Everything had the ingredients listed right on their signs, too. I spent a good five minutes standing there trying to decide what I should possibly get. Peanut butter cups? Cookies? Muffins? I settled on a couple scones because when you see rarities like that you do not let them pass you buy. 

On our way to LAX we stopped at yet another grocery store. In case you're wondering, we didn't eat in any restaurants after we left Disneyland. It was grocery stores or bust and we were on a roll. I can't remember what it was called, something about Farmers, but I honestly didn't have high hopes for it. I mean, Jimbo's kind of set the bar high. It wasn't Jimbo's but it was darn close enough. I didn't see any goat butter but they had individual goat yogurts and they were even cheaper. I am so addicted. 

So yeah, American grocery stores are kind of my new love affair. If we ever move somewhere again for work that isn't Victoria, I'm totally going south of the border.

There was one other food highlight for the whole trip. A few weeks before we left, I started googling dairy-free bakeries around where we would be staying in Anaheim or San Diego. It was my birthday and I thought it would be kind of fun to have some sort of baked good. Because, in case you hadn't already realized, they are my kryptonite. 

The result was that I stumbled upon a yelp review for vegan doughnut shops in San Diego. One stuck out, and it was 20 minutes away from our hotel. My only goal for our time in San Diego was to go there Saturday morning.

It's called Donut Panic and when we walked in there was a record playing on a turntable. Mom was smitten. There was one person in there at the same time. I was so confused. I figured that place that sells vegan doughnuts on select days only would be lined up out the door. I would line up for that. Or drive 20 minutes. 

I can't tell you how long it's been since I've had a really good doughnut. Probably a year and a half. Because of that, I bought two doughnuts. I would have bought more but being another year older I was feeling a bit more conservative. Plus I had scones and cookies in the car. I got earl grey and bavarian cream. I can still taste them when I close my eyes. They were, in a word, amazing. You would never even know they were vegan.

It was cheap, too. For three doughnuts (Mom got one) and a coffee it was less than $6. I figured that a place selling specialty doughnuts would charge a specialty price. No dice.

After going to Disneyland for the fifth time (no, I'm not obsessed, people just keep wanting to go with me) I have no desire to go back for many years. I would, however, consider going back to San Diego for their doughnuts and grocery stores. You think I'm joking. 

American grocery stores and doughnut shops make my life a better place. And I loves them.

I've got your back.

One of the joys of living in a new city is that there are very few things to distract me from blogging, like friends and social events. Aside from the six days of work I had this week, sleep, trying to find a grocery store that sells Earth Balance squares, and the multiple trips to Costco that are apparently inevitable when you move provinces.

We just wrapped up a big week at work that started on Sunday with a conference we were putting on. Come Wednesday morning everyone in the office was scratching their heads trying to figure out why their brains said it was Friday but the calendar said it was Wednesday and holy cow, did we really have to keep showing up for two more days? It was all good in the end, though, because you never quite appreciate five o'clock as much as you do when you're stuck in a work related time warp and don't even talk to me about how exciting, nay, giddy I was yesterday when it was FINALLY Friday and I had a hot date with my husband, couch, some leftover spaghetti, and Frozen.

Yeah, we went there. I kept hearing about how Frozen was THE movie to see. "So good! So amazing! Life. Changing." Well, it was entertaining, refreshing (and not just because while they have rather Swedish sounding names I'm pretty sure it was based on life in Regina), and funny, it wasn't alllllll that. I mean, the songs didn't change life my. All they did was make me feel inadequate about my relationship with Karl because we never sing about our feelings to each other. Like, not ever. 

My brother in law is going away for work next week (you know, the Alberta family) so I invited my sister in law to come visit for the week. And she is! And she's even bringing my nephew with her, so score! My first set of multiple house guests (not counting my dad because he is not a multiple, unless you're multiplying by one) in our unpacked, set up place. I wasn't going to clean the bathrooms this weekend because I'm lazy to the core and love to make excuses but I will clean all three toilets and even vacuum the stairs for this occasion. And guess what? If you come stay with me on our open-door guest policy I will do the exact same for you, too!

It was while I was restocking the downstairs bathroom with toilet paper this morning that I realized Karl and I might be in trouble. We used to be the people that had more TP and paper towel than we knew what to do with (okay, I knew what to do with it. I was going to use it to barter for protection come the zombie apocalypse because while we do have a lot of peanut butter and canned beans we don't have any guns or crossbows or any skills with them that we know of and don't even think for a second that toilet paper isn't going to be a luxury item. Especially three-ply Charmin like we're currently stocking. Just like the queen.) but now we're only down to a couple rolls (hello, fourth trip to Costco in a month!) thanks to having three bathrooms that constantly need to be stocked. I am NOT that host that leaves you wanting for TP and hoping there's a stray Kleenex around to save the day. But, in case you're wondering, there is always a box of Kleenex (Puffs, actually, because we are JUST LIKE THE QUEEN) right behind you.

Anyway, even if we're running low on TP, but still doing well with paper towel, thanks for asking, I have a new item to barter come the apocalypse: chocolate chips. Non-dairy chocolate chips, at that. Karl and I hit up Bulk Barn before going to Costco on Wednesday night because I know they carry chocolate chips I can eat and I needed cashews. There's something about the grocery stores here that makes them highly inferior to the ones in B.C. It was also Karl's first trip to Bulk Barn and if you've never been there it's basically Disneyland for fat people because EVERYTHING. The thing is, not everything is a good deal so you have to know your prices, but I knew that cashews and chocolate chips were a good deal (especially since they were both on sale). So I spent $20 on them. 

Cue our trip to Costco and all of a sudden Costco has the 2 kg bag of semi-sweets that don't have any dairy? You do not pass up something that valuable and rare because you just might never see it again. So in case you're wondering, we now have about 10 lbs of chocolate chips. I'll be wheeling and dealing in chocolate chip cookies come the zombie apocalypse. It'll be legendary. I'll be the chocolate chip lady up in Regina and people will QUEST to get here. Just like Atlanta, but less zombies and more chocolate at the finish line.

I also got a library card. Look at me go! I got it with my new Saskatchewan driver's licence in which I actually look good. Why didn't we move to this province years ago? B.C.'s license gave me five o'clock shadow! And as much as I love five o'clock these days, I do not enjoy rocking it on my less than chiselled jaw line.

Anna out.


P.S. Frankenpie was not a flaming failure!

Talk to me about nog.

Who would have thought the week before Christmas would be so stinking busy. I feel like I'm going a million miles an hour and barely have time to sleep. But I'm trying. And, naturally, because I'm so busy I'm more tired than usual so the normal bedtime just really isn't cutting the mustard.

I really wanted to get this out before Christmas, though, so I'm going to power through this and then crawl into bed and (hopefully) sleep. I didn't sleep well last night, which is a huge anomaly, and I have a work Christmas breakfast at 7:30 tomorrow morning so I NEED to get some quality shut eye or I'm worried I'll get a cold or something (not to mention a serious case of the grumpies) before I meet my one and only NEPHEW this weekend. 

So. Eggnog. I learned to love it when I started dating Karl. It's totally his Christmas jam. Figuratively, of course. His new Christmas jam is going to be the jam that our friend Steph just brought us. Talk about my favourite gift to get. It's even raspberry. I might name our first born after her.

But eggnog. I wanted to share my experiences with you so that you could make educated dairy-free eggnog choices. Because I care about you.

This being my first dairy-free Christmas means that eggnog (and everything else) has a different meaning. It's a whole new challenge. I'm a baked goods fiend so being dairy-free this year actually means that I've lost five pounds. I don't understand either, but I'm a fluctuator so don't be too envious.

Anyway, here is what I've learned about dairy-free eggnog this year:

Soy:

source

It tastes like sweet chalk. I'm not a big soy fan, but figured this was worth a shot. It wasn't, really, but it was really good when warmed up and added to some decaf coffee (thank you, Keurig machine for forever improving my at home coffee drinking experience) with some cinnamon. It ended up going chunky on me before I could finish it, but was also good in chai tea. Like regular eggnog. It was not good, however, straight. Like I said, sweet chalk.

Almond:

Better than the soy, not really great for straight drinking, and good in coffee. Goes a little thick when warmed up, and I'm a classic reheater so that's a major turn off. Definitely better than the soy, but still not amazing. Hasn't gone chunky in the fridge yet, that I know of, but it's been in there a while. 

Homemade:

This recipe. Not exactly eggnog, and had a slight green hue, but it was a hit. I would go a little easier on the agave next time, but other than that I was a fan and recommend it. I made a about 1 1/2 times the recipe and it was too much for about a dozen people. Not everyone tried it, granted, but it's very rich and two small glasses were enough to leave me feeling slightly hungover the next morning. And I didn't even add the rum. I also recommend drinking it in a wine glass because it's freaking classy. Until the sides get all slimy. I even convinced one of the girls at the party I brought it to to put some in her tea and she said it was good. The only downside is that the recipe says it doesn't keep well. I didn't want to find out what day old coconut milk and avocado was like. It's also like a high fat smoothie, so there's that.

Bottom line, nothing is the same as the real stuff, but there are acceptable alternatives, especially for your coffee.

Okay, nerds, in case I don't see you, merry Christmas! 

I'll also be posting baby nephew photos like it's my job over the holidays so I apologize in advance for your intolerance of my Instagram.