In The Dark, Soups & Salads

Wind, rain and bad hair were constants for today and I’m so sick of rain. But that’s not the worst – we lost power for most of yesterday thanks to the wind taking out a power pole. I was in shock because that’s such a rare thing here. When we lived in Florida, it was normal to lose power a lot, especially during hurricane season and be without it for a few days. But it’s happened maybe twice here in the last 4 years and they were very brief. When the power first went out, it was kind of fun because it was still daylight and we just enjoyed the silence reading the paper. Then it got dark and we started going through serious internet and TV withdraw. And I was getting frustrated after calling the power company and getting a message telling us to be prepared to be without power for an “extended” period of time. I dug out the few candles I could find and kept the fireplace going to light and warm the house.

We could have bailed and gone to a restaurant for dinner, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving the house and the pets in cold and dark. Luckily the gas stove still worked, so I chopped and threw together a pineapple tempeh stir fry using a dinky flash light.

It was a okay dinner considering and kind of romantic eating by candlelight. But, I was still on edge not knowing if I needed to empty our freezer and run the food to a family members freezer before we lost it. Around 9 PM, the latest news update was power won’t be back until 6 AM, so I started grabbing coolers from the garage right when the power came back on. I shrieked with happiness and immediately wanted to turn on every light in the house … but didn’t. :-) Thankfully everything in the freezer was still frozen and I was finally able to relax in front of the TV with a glass of wine. But what a ride and I’m hoping this annoying line of storms aren’t packing anymore unpleasant surprises!

It’s kind of a tradition that dates back for my mom and I where we go to the mall right before Christmas. Sounds crazy, right? Especially in crazy weather. But, we really didn’t need to buy anything and weren’t in a hurry, so it was fun. Something about all the crazy people watching and surfing the last minute holiday sales among the Christmas decorations and festive crowds just sings Christmas for us. Before our crazy adventure, we headed to BJ’s Brewhouse for lunch. I rarely go because the location near us is always insanely crowded, on any given weeknight there’s a huge crowd standing out front waiting. The food is good, but not good enough to wait that long! But we chanced it for lunch and promptly got a table. And it turns out eating vegan is very cheap, I got the all-you-can-eat soup and salad deal for $7 opting for minestrone soup and a house salad dressed with honey mustard dressing.

Good, not great. But the price and good company sung to me. :-) The mall trip was fun even parking being insane and super crowded because we expected it. But the people watching was fun, I overheard some guy on his cell phone in the ladies shoe department at Nordstrom complaining to a friend about trying to find shoes for a gift for his wife, cursing that he couldn’t find anything and was running out of ideas. I hit up Macy’s and H&M for a little wardrobe updating, but came up empty handed after trying on plenty from clearance. Our following Target shopping trip was more successful though, jeans are on sale for $15 this week and I was totally shocked when they had two styles I adored in long length that fit my tall frame perfectly. And they also had a decent selection of vegan boots in my size. I didn’t buy, but good to know for future needs.

For dinner, I had more soup and salad. :-) I decided to try Gena’s Buttermilk Chive Dressing on a simple spinach salad.

It coated the salad nicely making a rich, gooey mess – my favorite type of salad.

I paired it with another new soup from Trader Joe’s.