A vegan Thanksgiving

 I wanted to capture what we had for my first vegan Thanksgiving—honestly, this was Kent’s too although he isn’t vegan. And I did tell him he was welcome to prepare dishes with animal products in them (thinking of the green bean casserole, or turkey, stuffing and gravy). He said he didn’t want to, that he wanted to try what I was going to cook. So it was a vegan meal all the way around.

I’d found some Thanksgiving recipes for two from the New York Times that weren’t vegan, but I was pretty sure I could make them vegan. I won't bother linking to the NYT recipes because if you don't have a full subscription, you won't be able to access them. 

From the NYT, we had Maple Roasted Squash with Sage and Lime:

And Caramelized Brussels sprouts with vegan bacon. We will reduce the amount of apple cider vinegar the next time we make this and use a whole grain mustard instead of the Dijon we used:

Kent made the vegan bacon (or phacon as I called it) the night before Thanksgiving. It's made with coconut flakes and is quite good.

And Roasted Carrots, Faro and Lentils with *Cashew Sauce, which we've had before. This recipe is similar; I used one from a vegan cookbook my mother passed along to me.

We enjoyed this wine (even though we ate at noon and boy, drinking during the day sure makes me snoozy for the rest of the day.

Dessert was this very decadent NYT Pumpkin Sticky Toffee pudding with the most amazing sauce. This has what’s described as a soft cake-like texture. I thought it was similar to pumpkin bread only even better. We very briefly considered splitting one but didn't. And wouldn't in the future and agreed it was a Very Good Thing the recipe made two servings or we would have eaten it all.

*I’m so impressed with the sauces we can make with cashews. Those form the basis of the vegan Alfredo sauce we use on our pizza, with scalloped potatoes and of course with fettucine. 

Well this is confusing

 From my MRI report:

There is a non-displaced fracture involving the third metatarsal neck. There is no acute bone marrow or soft tissue edema. The findings may reflect a fracture nonunion. 

From my x-ray report a week later (and I promise you nothing has changed in my foot):

A band of sclerosis is present involving the distal diaphysis of the third metatarsal. This is felt to represent a healed stress fracture.

Those are pretty different diagnoses. I've got a note into the super duper specialist (the one who actually ordered this x-ray last week) to see which one is accurate. Because honestly if the x-ray findings are accurate, not only will I be ecstatic I'll also go running. 

Bonus kitty picture to spice things up.

And here's the reply from Dr. R's nurse:

I spoke with Dr. R and he said the xray is what gives us the most up to date information. So I would say the Xray is gospel!  He said basically you are producing a band of sclerosis in that area which is your body's way of trying to heal the stress fracture.  He said that this could be an area of what is called hyperostotic non-union or is an area of bone formation in the face of a non-union.  He explained that typically those situation do go on to heal but they may require surgical intervention.  He encourages you to keep your appointment with the foot specialist.  

Update on my broken foot

Yesterday, I saw the podiatrist to go over my MRI results of my foot. Turns out that I absolutely no question about it have a non-union fracture. 

My podiatrist is great, answered all my questions including the one where I said that I've had two kinds of cancers, and while I know bone mets in a metatarsal is very rare, the chance of that is still a number greater than zero. She paused and said you know I think it would make the most sense for you to see Dr. Rosenthal, who specializes in bone or soft tissue tumors. She's going to get that referral going and she told me to be extremely clear on my history so he has a full picture.

That makes sense to me because otherwise on the face of it, this looks like it was a stress fracture and I have bad bones. Only my bones weren't that bad when I had my DEXA scan nearly two years ago. The actual values indicated osteopenia but nowhere near osteoporosis. I got that osteoporosis dx from my endocrinologist after my pelvis fractured.

As I told my podiatrist, that fracture absolutely was from over training. I've mentioned before that I ran 6 races in about two months' time: three half marathons, a 5K, a 12K and a 10K. That last 10K I know it was broken, man that race hurt. So yes, that was a stress fracture.

But with my foot this year, that wasn't the case. I was training slowly, sanely, under the care of a running coach and a physical therapist. I had no warning, nothing, the bone just broke.

That's the history she wants me to make sure to share. I still hope/think this is just a non-union fracture and if I have to have surgery to repair it, then yikes but OK I will. But if it's not, then I need whatever it is to be addressed too.

I am beyond discouraged.

Hygge in Kansas

 Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. I think of it as quiet satisfaction, and since Kent and I have been working from home for nearly eight months, we’ve –or maybe it’s more accurate to say I’ve—focused on making our home more comfy and cozy, more hygge. And we’ve done a lot!

In no particular order:

I got this because it made me laugh and also goes with the overall colors in our living/kitchen area.

Ding dong the pergola is GONE (and we do not miss it one bit).

I actually got these new house numbers in 2019 but we didn't do anything with them until this year so it counts.

Back yard without the pergola plus you can see our wonderful sun umbrella and the paint scheme.

Action shot of Kent doing I don't even remember what to the umbrella.

Completed paint job plus our new chairs (we also got the table but I'm too lazy to dig up that photo too).

I repainted the sun face (it was green and rusty). It really pops now.

I also repainted Fat Cat, he'd faded a lot and now he's a vivid part of the yar.

I ran two virtual half marathons and also did a COVID virtual challenge (but then of course that stupid bone in my foot broke). But it was all hygge until then.

Hummingbird feeder and a HUMMINGBIRD! I was so excited to see that!

So very many surprise lilies!

A small fountain, which we both love.

I got special mugs and started using the frother on our Ninja coffee maker. I do like a decaf latte.

A tidy solution for all our masks.

The big 72" cat tree. It's now in the second bedroom, and the kittens love it. The platforms are a bit small for our big boy cats.

Two COVID kittens. Definitely hygge.

Privacy screens for the litter boxes (they were in a kid's tent from IKEA, this is a lot less . . . gaudy).

A rowing machine. I made a cover for the rail so it doesn't get dusty, and the kittens think it's wildly fun to play with that fabric.

We reorganized the Billies at the end of our dining room and put a lot of our baking/cooking supplies in there. It's so much easier for me to get stuff now as I'm just 5'4 1/2" and need a step stool for the top shelves of the kitchen cabinets.

I got more cloth napkins, four each of the three you see below. We kicked the paper napkin habit years ago but I wanted prettier ones. 

New kitchen bar stools. Yes they are very orange, also comfortable and work really well in our home.

My office set up, which includes a second table to make an L shaped desk, a second monitor, and my office chair. 

This fabulous tea kettle. The color is ombre, getting darker toward the bottom of the kettle.

Our refurbished Vitamix (that's the chili paste for a pozole in there). So glad we got that.

And a bigger Breville than the one we had (which we passed along to one of Kent's co-workers who adores it). We adore this one and use it nearly every single day.