Well, I tried making vegan blondies last night, inspired by The Melting Pot fondue Elisabeth and I are getting this Friday (they have vegan chocolate and vegan cheese options!). I say “tried” because they aren’t very good. As I told Elisabeth last night, “Vegan baking will NOT get the best of me!” I don’t quite understand it. Am I doing something wrong or are all the people posting these recipes eating the subpar desserts that I’m turning out? Because if vegans think these desserts are good, they are mistaken. I’m guessing it’s a bit of both, vegans have forgotten what decent baked goods should taste like and I’m too new at this to know how to tweak the recipe to make it good (although I shouldn’t have to tweak a recipe, I mean, come on). My blondies came out undercooked in the middle and overcooked on the bottom. Wtf. The way we figured out we could eat them was to cut off the bottom, it’s just too crystallized and crunchy. Too much better perhaps.
Anyway, overall, today has been fantastic. I checked the mail and got a surprise postcard from Martha! She 100% made my day. The fact that she took the time to choose a postcard, write a note, find my address, and mail it to me, means a lot. She chose the postcard with the most flowers too which made me smile so big. She made me feel so happy and loved. I have now put the postcard up on my computer monitor so I can look at it all the time and feel just as happy as when I got it.
I also got an enamel pin that I had ordered about a month ago as a “treat yourself” gift. It’s of the main female character in Howl’s Moving Castle, one of my favorite movies, as you all know. The pin is so cute and I’m very pleased with the purchase.
Elisabeth and I went on a quick walk after work instead of during lunch and we saw many lilac bushes, a favorite of Elisabeth’s. We have yet to find one that is right off the street so she hasn’t gotten to really smell the lovely scent but I’m fairly confident we’ll find one close enough for her comfort.
I finally snipped off the baby spider plant that’s been growing off my first ever spider plant I purchased (Botanic Gardens fall plant sale with Lydia, shout out!). It’s been chilling on my plant for quite a while, to be honest, and it was high time I did something about it. I mean, I could have left that little baby on there indefinitely, but where’s the fun and experimentation in that? So, I’m now trying to propagate it. The polka dot plants seem to end fairly successfully so why not this one? I ended up using a spice jar to plop my plant in as my other jars were way too big. We had two cinnamon sticks just chilling in their jar and I thought, “these things could go in a bag no problem,” so I took a deep sniff of the lovely cinnamon smell as I dropped them into a bag and voila, spider plant propagation can begin. I can see now why people purchase propagation glasses, but I think the spice jar will work just fine and I’m recycling it so that’s even better. I hope my spider plants sprout other babies, I’d like to give plants away to my friends and family when covid has died down. How great would that be?!
Just Lauren 