vegan update.

Black eyed pea cakes + guacamole

I know this is all you can think about right?

How is Jess doing with being vegan?? I have to get out of bed to go check.

So I'm sorry for this nonsense post. But this blog is primarily a place to scrapbook our life and interests in a way that is open to other people (and hopefully invites your participation!), yet I will have writer's block forever if I feel like it all has to actually be interesting to the whole entire universe.

This is where we are: My step-mom and I were going to do this together and haven't been able to be in touch as much this month; so my resolve has been languishing a bit without her camaraderie. When I see cheese grits on the menu I think : Wait, am I the only one doing this?

baked oatmeal : a breakfast classic.

Baked Oatmeal

This baked oatmeal is so, so good. My uncle brought back the recipe from a stay in Guatemala and my step-mom tweaked it until it was dessert like in quality. It is a really great recipe to tweak. Throw in a cup full of fresh blueberries, chopped strawberries, smashed banana, walnuts, whatever you have on hand that will make it feel like yours. We used to eat it on Sunday mornings before church and usually at least one more morning a week. It makes a great one-dish casserole to take to a breakfast event as well.

Here is the recipe as it was published in the Concord Cooks church cookbook.

Baked Oatmeal
Gluten free. Serves 6-8.

3 eggs, beaten (p.s. This recipe is not vegan. :)
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 T vanilla
1 1/2 cups milk (I substitute almond milk.)
3 cups oatmeal (dry)  (I use quick oats.) *

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder *

1 tsp salt

1 T cinnamon (I at least triple this! Cinnamon is one of my main food groups.)

Mix together first 5 ingredients. Add the next five ingredients. Mix all together, add fruit (optional) and pour into a pie dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

For a crowd, you can double the recipe and bake in a 9 x 13 instead.

Here's the fun part. Once you scoop your piping hot baked oatmeal into a bowl, add maple syrup, almond milk and/or walnuts to taste. Pairs well with orange juice. ;)

Mmm.

*Bob's Quick Oats are labeled GF and many brands of baking powder are as well. Cross contamination is the issue with some brands of oats and corn starch is used in non-GF baking powders. If this is important for your diet, be sure to check.

what to watch after downton.

We have a no TV on weeknights rule at our house. Don't you want to come over? ;) My husband works a lot in the evenings and it's how we protect our quality time when we get the occasional night off together. (The one exception to this is ACC basketball. Then it's family schmamily.) Kidding. We watch together. And interact in such a way that would constitute quality time. But we also have a few shows that we snuggle up every weekend to catch up on. For the last couple of years, Downton Abbey has been one of our faves.

source

Maybe Downton Abbey has been your introduction into the world of period dramas. Maybe you've been an enthusiast since Monsterpiece. Maybe you will never, ever watch Downton Abbey or anything like it thankyouverymuch. My mom is one of those people who has a serious aversion to all period pieces/ historical fiction/ theatrical depictions of actual historical events. When it comes to picking a movie together, she always requests something where people are wearing normal clothes. But Downton has won many new converts to the genre. (Not Mom though, she is still holding strong. We tried to watch the first episode together on a recent visit and she fell asleep three times before I finally turned it off and gently nudged her off to bed. But she loves me and she tried.)

Anyway, whether you are new to the genre or a seasoned viewer, you may find yourself missing the Crawleys and their staff a bit this week. Here are some of my favorite British period dramas to fill the void.

source

First and foremost, BBC's  Pride and Prejudice (1995). This six episode series aired on BBC in 1995. My dad recorded it on VHS for me and I treasured it. Based on Jane Austen's most loved novel, it catapulted Colin Firth to fame and (for me) captured Austen's witty Elizabeth Bennett exactly with the lovely Jennifer Ehle. If you only ever watch one film version of this classic, this is the one to see.

wikipedia

Also based on a Jane Austen novel, and also a BBC television miniseries, Emma (2009) is another of my favorites. It is beautifully done. The casting is excellent and the costumes and sets are lovely to look at.

imdb

Larkrise to Candleford is most little known of my recommendations, so it is the one that I am most excited to share. BBC adapted this four season television series from Flora Thompson's semi-autobiographical novels. When we stumbled upon this on Amazon Prime, we felt like we had hit the jackpot. It is just so sweet and virtuous and there are so many characters to love. Like Downton Abbey, it leaves some questions unanswered and definitely peaks some seasons before it finally ends (am I the only one who fears that Downton has already peaked?) but all in all, it's worth the watch.

p.s. Look who plays Pa!

imbd

This 2005 adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House is excellent. The story, the acting, and the scenery are all very powerful. Dickens' look at the broken justice system in 19th century England gives this film more depth and darkness than others on this list. I had not yet read the novel when I saw it but I did the next summer. The series is eight hours long and the book is much longer, but I didn't want either to end.

imdb

Again adapted from Dickens, Little Dorrit (2008) is another stunning series from BBC. Our favorite part of this one may be the bad guy. The only trouble with this 7 1/2 hour series is that you may want to watch it all at once.

What did I miss? What series and films do you turn to when you are not watching Downton? 

why i am going vegan again.

Ok. Have you ever seen this?

I understand if you hate me for bringing it up. Because we love our dairy. Do I speak for both of us? Frothy lattes. Warm quesadillas. Fresh mozzarella cheese pizzas. Any hot dessert a la mode. Butter.

But I watched this again last week and continue to wrestle with whether or not I am going to continue letting dairy into my life.

remember that time I started a blog?

I have a one year old. The last year of my life has changed me. Is changing me. This soft, warm, rosy little girl has burst into my otherwise pretty carefully managed life and, well, replaced it. Motherhood has softened me and humbled me and confused what I thought certain in ways I am only superficially aware of. Also? I spent the two years before my pregnancy and her birth in divinity school, having my certainties and spirit challenged and nurtured in ways different from motherhood but equally life-altering. While I have perceived these changes and shifts, my ability to process and be fully knowledgeable of what is happening to me may never catch up. So I am a little slow to speak these days. Or at least to hit publish. Because what am I even talking about?

I remember a highly effective commercial from my childhood. One of the reasons I know it was highly effective is that I remember it. A quick googling just told me that it aired in 1987. I was five. A man stands at a counter with a frying pan and a whole egg. "This is your brain." He cracks the egg into the hot pan and the egg immediately fries. "This is your brain on drugs."

"...Any questions?"

And y'all. No questions. Because what a great commercial. I was thinking about that commercial in light of this year and the way I feel myself being swept along in a gentle current of change and sleep deprivation. In my commercial, I stand at the counter with a whole egg which represents my brain, of course. Then I crack the egg into a pan, add some milk, a fistfull of cheerios, and a piece of smashed banana that I pick off of my shirt, and make a fluffy omelette. This is my brain on infant. And I am loving it. But often I come up a little short in the conversation department.

I have this amazing friend named Beth. She is the only reader here besides my husband. Hey you two. ;) When we get a much needed chance to sit down over a cup of coffee and share about life, she is articulate and passionate and hilarious. I feel fully engaged and alive and refreshed listening to her share. Then the conversation turns my way, at which point I blow a few raspberries, twirl my hair and then do an unexplained headstand. Then we go home. Yet she keeps agreeing to get together. Bless her. Date night with my husband takes a similar direction, except there is more babbling on my part about how to wash cloth diapers or something. But he's so understanding. Love him.

And that's why I came back here and have decided that I want to keep coming back here. Because even though I'm not sure what it is they see in me, I know they will come back here too. And I want to show up to do my headstand.

grow with me?

Welcome to the first post of jess next door.

I'm not sure about this title. Or how to punctuate it. 

Jess, next door.

Jess, next door?

Jess. Next door.

?

I do hope to convey approachability and ordinariness, because that is what I have to offer here. I've been thinking about blogging for an embarrassingly long time without doing it. I am inspired by the blogging community and the women and men who have allowed us to glimpse their lives here.

I have quietly listened to your voices and watched your lives and marveled as friendships have blossomed and communities have taken shape. I have tried your recipes and home remedies and make up tips. I have cried about births and lost pregnancies, house fires and reunion stories.  I have had my faith encouraged and my thinking changed. I have even engaged by making the occasional comment, but mostly I have remained a spectator. And I'd like to come to the party.

What I will share here is still taking shape. I am a wobbly photographer, a deficient crafter and I never dust. I am an ordinary neighbor, ordinary thinker, ordinary cook, ordinary friend. Expert at nothing. But I'd like to be here anyway. Maybe you'll join me as I grow?

I'm the ordinary girl next door. And my name is Jess.