Wow I was blown away by how many comments I got on my last post, The Tall & Short of It. It was interesting to hear who wants to be taller, who wishes they were shorter, and who likes their height and who doesn’t. I had no idea that height would be such a popular topic. Thanks to all of you who de-lurked and commented for the first time, and please do so more often.
And thanks for all your glowing compliments about the pictures of Skylar. Scott’s already talking about keeping the boys away and her dating. We’ve got a few years though as I remind him.
Yesterday I was so excited to open a package in the mail and find this lovely gift from Holly!
A few weeks ago I sent her a kombucha scoby so that she could start brewing kombucha at home. Making your own kombucha is super easy. This is the formula: Kombucha scoby + brewed and sugared tea + a covered glass jar + time = kombucha. Obviously doing it the first few times, there are tons of questions and lots of reading is necessary but one you get the hang of it, it’s so easy.
And, home-brewed kombucha tastes better and costs pennies to make a gallon of. Why would you ever pay like $3.99 for an 8 oz bottle of storebought when you could make a gallon at home for a quarter but I digress.
I never in a million years thought Holly would send me anything. But boy, I hit the jackpot.
Holly apparently knows that I love all things vanilla.
Yankee vanilla candles are The Best.
And she knows I love this gum.
I wasted no time breaking into it.
Holly is such a sweet person and great friend. I feel a special kinship with her since she lives in Minnesota and that’s where I grew up. There’s an expression “Minnesota Nice” and that holds true with Holly. She is just so nice.
And if that gift wasn’t enough, blog reader, Michele, sent me this stevia. She couldn’t use it and offered to send it to me. I would never say no to free stevia!
I have a whole post with my stevia-containing recipes. Thank you so much, Michele, for your thoughtfulness!
After all that loveliness in the mail, it was time to eat.
Plants with Vegan Slaw Dressing
If you:
freeze the tofu first
then thaw and press the water out of it very well
then bake it
it will turn out very “bread-like”.
A spongy, pumpkin bread, of sorts.Dessert: No-Bake Dark Chocolate Coconut Snowballs (Vegan, GF, Freezer-Friendly)
Questions:
1. Do you consider yourself to have great friends?
Junior high and high school were not times in my life where I’d say I had “great friends”. You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to go back to 8th grade.
Conversely, I have gone through periods of my life where I’ve had great friends, such as my later college years and mid-twenties.
Then, as I got older, married, moved around the country many times, I lost touch with many of my college and early 20s friends and the priority of making new friends sort of fell by the wayside. Just one of those ebbs and flows of life.
Oh, and becoming a mom does nothing for one’s social life! You are at home with a small, helpless human being. You exist for them. Friends? Huh? When there’s another nursing session needed, a diaper to change, and cooking to be done, I couldn’t imagine finding time to hang out with “friends” back then. It would have been great, but didn’t happen much.
But now, Skylar is getting older and more independent and re-connecting with my own friends, both online and real life, is becoming increasingly important to me.
2. How important are friends to you?
I don’t believe it’s healthy long-term to not have friends.
So even though I am not one of those people who “lives” for being a social butterfly and organizing events, get togethers, or dinner parties with friends, and I don’t chat on the phone with friends that often these days, I know in my heart that I do have some really, really solid friendships with a half dozen women, and that’s extremely important to me.
I could call any of them at 3am with anything, and they’d be there for me. No questions asked.
I also “know” so many people. We all do. I would say my acquaintance circle is huge.
As well as my circle of friends that although we don’t see each other tons or we’re not BFFs and joined at the hip, they are still good friends and I could count on them and they could count on me for anything.
3. Have you made any friends via the blogsphere?
Oh gosh, tons! Some of my closest friends now are women I’ve met blogging! We share the commonality of blogging (which unless you are a blogger or an avid blog reader, it’s hard to fully “get” this world) so there’s that, but we also have been reading each other’s every post for a couple years now. With thousands of emails exchanged with each other behind the scenes.
I have met so many amazing people through blogging! If Katie, Madeline, or Jessica, had a nickle for every email we’ve exchanged, we’d all be rich. Those women have heard me laugh, cry, and I turn to when the chips are down or when I need a pep talk or I need to non-judgmental place to vent. Or to laugh hysterically about something.
And there are tons and tons of other ladies who I exchange emails with and we laugh and talk shop and talk life. You all know who you are.
I used to think making friends on the internet was somewhat strange. Now, I can’t imagine not having the friends I’ve met via the internet and blogosphere!
Tell me about your friends and friendships? In real life or in the ‘sphere. Do you have lots of friends? A tight-knit circle or many acquaintances?
My husband and I always talk about what loners we are! lol He basically has one friend, his best friend of many, many years. And I have one, my best friend of many, many years. Other than that we have coworkers and acquaintances, but no one really that close. It probably doesn’t help that we are both socially anxious people! In fact, I met him online through AOL IMs. But what’s funny, is that we literally lived just down the street from one another! We had probably seen each other around town before and never knew it!
What a sweet package from Holly and score on the stevia!
1. Yes, I feel very lucky to have great friends and family.
2. Very and I love how many blog friends I’ve made in the last year.
3. Tons, lots of blogs I enjoy keeping up with daily – so many that I need more time to read, I get frustrated when work and other things keep me from reading as many blogs as I’d like. I do have a lot of friends in real life, but it’s hard to spend time with them with busy schedules.
Yay for friends—and fun mail gifts! My playgroup just did a secret sister for the month of February where we sent little gifts to each other every week! It was so much fun! I need to do it more often just on a whim because it’s such a little happy for the receiver!
I am going to definitely try the pumpkin tofu recipe. I am always looking for good tofu recipes. By the way, the vegan fudge recipe was GREAT! My 2 year old loved it too—I let it ‘set’ in an elmo cupcake tin and she called it her ‘elmo chocolate’.
And yes, friends are good. I have a few close ones, but they are all long distance as I’ve moved. And another thing, I have “sort of” made friends through blogs too. It’s nice to have another way of communication sometimes! ;)
vegan fudge being a hit..yay!
i have lots of acquaintances from moving around so much but only 1-2 really close friends and i’m totally fine with that! to be honest, it would be difficult for me to focus on more than a couple individuals and be a good friend to them back. i think it’s quite important to maintain relationships! we are relational creatures! i love my bloggie buddies! they have been so helpful as i’ve navigated though my allergy to gluten/tummy woes and just giving me good advice in general!
I would have to say you are a good friend! Tony and I are best friends and have realized throughout the years that we are the two that stick together. I have one friend from high school that I stay in touch with, but I wouldn’t say we are close anymore. Tony has a couple of friends from high school that we stay in touch with and we have some great friends that we hang out with now and that we love dearly. The unfortunate part is that we realize that a lot of our friends are out of site out of mind people. I have come to accept that and it doesn’t bother me anymore, but it used to. I just accept people for what they can give and car about them no matter what. We can’t expect more out of friendships that what people are capable of and that’s ok. It feels strange some time to actually feel closer to blog friends because we talk on a daily basis. I think you all know more of my day to day life than my own family even cares about. It feels weird knowing that my blog friends will check in on me more regularly than my family. Also, I look forward to being able to travel and see friends where ever I go! Great topic Averie! I have my fingers crossed that Tony will decide for us to come to San Diego this summer so I can see you! Have a great Sunday and enjoy your family!
“We can’t expect more out of friendships that what people are capable of and that’s ok.” —that is so true and I have had a parallel coming to terms with friends, people, etc as you have Sarena. This comment from friends and their limitations, to feeling closer to blog friends, to family not knowing/caring…yes, we are living a parallel existence!!!!
And if you came to SD we would have a BLAST!!!
Thanks for the tip on baking the tofu! Can’t wait to try it out!
I have a tight circle of friends from high school. Although I don’t have any children, most of my friends do, so I totally understand the difficulties of keeping in touch.
I have made SO many friends in blogworld! It’s funny because before my introduction into this world, I had never had a friend who I had not met face to face. It’s unreal how the connections form just by starting with a love of food! My first get together with HEAB will attest to that!
Hi Averie,
I am new to your blog and really love the recipes. I wanted to let you know about the tofu express gadget. I LOVE it. It totally removes all liquid from tofu and does not take long to do so. I saw it on someone else’s blog and immediately bought one since I eat tofu a lot. I highly recommend it. No more squeezing, using paper towels, weighing your tofu down, freezing, etc. :)
Tammy
https://www.tofuxpress.com/
P.S. Your daughter is adorable!
one step ahead of you
https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2010/07/mango-ginger-maple-tofu-5-goals-for.html
Wow, awesome prezzies! I’m so glad to have recently met Holly. Hopefully her and I can be friends, too. :)
I’ve never been one to have a TON of friends–2 or 3 at the most, and looking back I wouldn’t have even considered them REAL friends compared to what I believe now. Other than some online friends, my husband and I don’t have any friends offline! We’re picky about the company we keep. I believe in quality over quantity and will probably never be one of those people that is very social or hangs out with people just to not be lonely. I’m not against making friends, of course, I just consider friendship to be sacred and trust must be earned. :D
I probably sound like the most antisocial, stuck-up biz nitch ever, LOL. I’m not. I’m actually quite lovable and a loyal person. hehe
Oh and I should have written your name in the if we had a nickle for all our email interchanges we’d be rich….YES for sure :)
i heart you :)
xo
my friends are so important to me, they nourish my soul. I am currently living in New Zealand, and I miss my friends back in America. It’s amazing how friends can withstand distance though. true friendship does not need to be maintained. i can’t wait to be reunited with them all!
Thanks, very thoughtful post – I love it how you characterise good friends as those you can turn to when you’re feeling low, or when you want to share a laugh…true! I’m feeling blue…being inexplicably ill since my early twenties has taken its toll on friendships, and only one has been consistent all through the period. I’ve had good periods, and made new friends, but lost them over worse periods when I was embarrassed to explain myself and how sick I was feeling, and I let friends fall by the wayside while I felt powerless to do anything else. I feel so grateful to be “learning” again! It’s the best part of getting better – being able to look beyond the tiny perimeter of feeling ill, and maintaining my girl relationships again! So important, and thanks for reminding me :-)
:) I’m commenting so I can no longer be a lurker! :)
Stumbled onto you blog as I am a recent RAW convert–well, I’m working my way to full raw/vegan-liciousness… So far, so good.
Thanks again for the brilliant blog!
XOX,
Page
thanks for de-lurking, Page!
I have a less is more mentality when it comes to friends. I have a very small group of ladies that I rely on but because of my crazy schedule, we chat over MSN, email, or text. My best, best friend is my boyfriend, Kevin. He’s always there when I need him and is so ridiculously supportive! I just blogged about friendship earlier this week, actually. I constantly remind myself how lucky I have to have supportive and loving people in my life.
Also, before starting my blog I have NO clue what the blogging community was going to be like. I’ve already made so many new friends and feel honored by the connections I’m making. Needless to say it was a very, very nice surprise!
blogging opens up a world you never knew you didnt have, doesn’t it!
I have friends whom I’ve met in different phases of my life, high school, college, med school, yoga, etc. some I haven’t seen in so long but when i do see them, it’s like no time has passed by. :)
I love my friends and I think it’s important to have great friends whom you can count on at anytime during the day or night. I’m blessed to have those.
Through blogging, i’m not a blogger but I do read food blogs a lot and from that i have met some friends like you and Gina. :) virtual friends but the love is still there! and someday our paths will cross! :)
I so wish I had a nickel for every one of our email exchanges! I also thought internet friends were “weird” for a long time. Now, I probably have as many people that I consider great friends that I met through blogging as I met in “real life”. Because for me, my blog is my real life. I mean, it is n’t my life, but you know what I mean.
I’m kind of weird though. I can be super social one night and then the next I just NEED to be alone. I like a good 50/50 mix of hermit and social butterfly. :)
I bought some kombucha today, but didn’t work up the courage to try it. I don’t know why I am determined to like it. I guess because everyone keeps talking about how great it is. I feel like I am missing out on something. I know I should make my own, but not happening right now….way too much going on in my life!
we’d both be rich. very rich :)
first of all that tofu idea is GENIUS! secondly, I have a few good friends. i believe in quality over quantity :)
Do you know why the tofu turns out like that when you freeze and thaw? That is so interesting! I can’t wait to try it!
not sure why!