Pumpkin & Pomegranate

My weekend turned out to be quite full after all. I did cut some things out as I didn’t want to overstress myself, but I still kept myself quite busy. Friday I stopped by my friend Betsey’s to purchase some of her homemade goodies. She has a lovely little Etsy store where she sells her homemade wares. I bought some of her Rosemary Sea Salt and a pack of her cute Holiday cards.The herbs she uses come from her own little garden here in Seattle, and they are wonderful! In fact I just used some of her bay leaves in a black bean soup I made last week (recipe to follow just as soon as I get the photos uploaded). I am going to have to make a trip back to her place this week before she goes out of town as I realized I am going to need more salt for a few more gifts!

Betsey as kindly offered to add on some bay leaves for any of my readers who make a purchase between 12/14/09 and 12/24/09.  When you order, just mention this blog and you’ll get some free bay leaves! For deliveries to get to you by 1/24/09 you’ll need to order by the 19th!

**Edited**

I forgot! Here is Ellie Bluebell herself!

And she doesn't really smell either ;-)

I came home and made Mexican fudge for the vegan bake sale benefiting Sidecar for Pigs Peace. You won’t see the recipe here though because it was utter junk. I did have a bite just to see if it was fit to serve, but then I handed the bowl over to my mother. I wish I could have just washed it but she gets quite upset when chocolate gets wasted. We then settled in to watch White Christmas. I was so tired I couldn’t finish it. I still have about 20 minutes left and I hope we can finish it off this evening. It is such a wonderful movie. If you haven’t seen it yet I recommend it!

Interesting side note. Vera-Ellen never wears short sleeves or sleeveless outfits in the movie. I was fascinated by this as I am extremely insecure about my arms. I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but I am an actress. I have been acting since I was 8. I majored in theatre, and my lifelong dream has been to be a film actress. I am often depressed by the shape my skin has taken because of the weight gain and then loss. I tend to obsess a little over it and do hold real fears that it would keep me from getting cast in films. After the first few scenes of Vera-Ellen in long sleeves I realized it wasn’t a coincidence. Clearly she was not going to go sleeveless or even show a hint of her upper arms like her co-star Rosemary Clooney. Granted I know he reasoning was different than mine, and after a little research I found out that she suffered anorexia for years. I assume that this might be to blame for the lack of sleeveless gowns, but it made me wonder. Would it be possible for me to do the same? I live my life trying to hide the reminders that are left behind, and while I would love to feel comfortable I know that the profession I want to be in is a very shallow business. Is it still possible for me to be cast? Even with a long sleeve stipulation? I wonder.

Anyway…

so Saturday my amazingly talented friend Valentina aided me in my professional quest. I need new head shots badly. I paid for some a year and a half ago but according to my then acting teacher they were too dark and useless. $300 in the trash, and the sad thing to me is that he was recommended to me by the same teacher. Well no mind, I cut my hair off shortly after anyway. So along with a little bit of port and some wonderful female conversation Valentina managed to capture many amazing shots. I will share some of them once she gets finished with them. I am SO excited! Hopefully I will find some auditions in Seattle worth sending my new head shot off to soon enough! Valentina also took the photo of the rosemary salt above!

After that I was a little too lazy to actually make dinner, so I grabbed some takeout at the favorite Thai joint Araya. This time I tried their Tom Kha and it was possibly the best soup I have ever had in my entire life. Tomorrow we are headed back with friends for a “Spicy Foods Dinner” and I think I will be getting more Tom Kha. Perhaps as my entree. It was extremely spicy for 4 stars (I usually get 11 stars if that tells you anything), and the fragrance nearly knocked me over. Perfect for a freezing cold night.

On Sunday we watched this really beautiful Finnish Christmas movie. I was so excited to find it! Matt is Finnish, and I love listening to him talk about Finland, so to see a Finnish movie was going to be a treat for me. Unfortunately the movie was DUBBED in English, which nearly ruined i. The beautiful cinematography saved the film for me, but I think the dubbing killed it entirely for Matt. I still think it was pretty, but I’d love to get a subtitled version. If you want to check out the trailer click here.

Since I got there so late and I was tired, we didn’t hit the grocery store on Saturday night. Sunday morning Matt asked if I wanted breakfast. Well, of course I want breakfast…but I also wanted to get to Pike Place Market, and it was either shower and go to the grocery store or shower and get brunch. Like the smart people we are we chose brunch.

We headed over to Plum Vegan Bistro which is on Capitol Hill. They were having a Latin brunch and while nothing on the menu was exactly “Marissa friendly” I made a concession. Two concessions really. First we started off with the quinoa nachos. These babies were delicious! Even meat eaters would not be disappointed here. The quinoa was basically the protein portion of the dish and was filled with spices and flavors. I am going to try to make my own version of this quinoa to eat at home because it was SO good.

Quinoa Nachos

Next we both ordered the dishes that our waitress recommended. I liked mine a lot, but honestly the nachos were the winner for me. I wasn’t expecting my “mashed green plantains” to come in the form of a giant, and I mean GIANT fried ball, but they did. It was very good, but ultimately too heavy for my taste and I am still feeling it today. Matt had a bite of mine and I think it was his favorite of the bunch.

Mashed Plantain Mofongo with Fried Tempeh

Matt got the traditional tacos, and I did have a bite. We both prefer flour tortillas, and while these were good I wasn’t overly jazzed about them. I would definitely try those nachos again though.

Traditional Tacos

All in all Plum was great. I looked over their normal menus, and while they aren’t exactly the way I eat everyday they are definitely a place to add to my list of restaurants to go to when I am having a treat. I am drooling just thinking about it.

After filling up on a pretty heavy meal we went over to the Market to take a stroll and seethe lights.

Pike Place Market for the Holidays

Quite lovely with all the street musicians singing Christmas Carols, and the vendors selling wreaths and other Holiday wares. We had some hot drinks and headed over to one of my favorite places to buy kitchen items. I could easily spend my entire paycheck at Sur La Table. Then I wanted to make a stop at the spice place I love, but sadly it was closed. So we headed home to recreate this fantastic recipe.  But more on that later. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and aren’t too stressed by the season. Try to enjoy it!