After all the talk the past few days about Thanksgiving food and how good or bad it can be, or actually was, I thought I'd give a rundown of Turkey substitutes. This is the time of year where vegetarians usually get short shrift. My first veggie Thanksgiving, 12 years ago, I had dry vegetarian meatballs, no-gravy potatoes since there was turkey in the gravy, rolls, and green beans. My pie consumption made up for the lack of a tasty main dish but it was disappointing nonetheless. Since then I've tasted most meat analogs (appetizing descriptor, no?) and I've definitely got my likes and dislikes.
Tofurkey - the most famous to non-veggies and perhaps the least appetizing. It's got a tough "skin" on the outside and is rubbery and flavorless on the inside. Not too bad if you have absolutely no alternative.
Field Roast - Local to Seattle, and perhaps hard to find elsewhere, this comes in medium sausage-like packaging or a larger "celebration roast" portion. Made from a blend of grains and legumes, it has a nice texture and flavor. This one is best steamed on the stove top rather than baked since it can dry out quickly. It is also available in sandwich slices and regular sausages (we like the ones with fennel).
Quorn Turk'y Roast - My absolute favorite. You can find it in the freezer section and it comes in a fat sausage shape. This one has the best texture and flavor. It's made from mycoprotein which is derived, somehow, from mushrooms. It's also soy-free. It can go straight from the freezer into a hot oven and is done in about 45 minutes. My Goth ex-roomates, all voracious meat eaters, loved this and declared it "Just as good as turkey". This brand also carries cutlets, chik'n pieces, ground "beef" and a whole lot more.
I think those are the most common ones I see in my supermarket although there are probably more out there. Sadly, most all contain gluten, soy, or eggs or a combination of those ingredients so it's hard to find one for people with food allergies. Family gatherings can be difficult in more ways than just the food, I've found that telling my hosts waaay beforehand that I'm a vegetarian allows for menu mediation and I always offer to bring my own main dish and gravy. It relieves some of the stress from the host and I know I can at least eat
something if not everything on the table.
I've got a kick-ass gravy recipe that I'll share in another post. It's gluten-free, lactose-free, and super duper tasty!
Today is the Little One's birthday. She's now officially 1! I can't believe how quickly the year has flown. We had an afternoon birthday party with family and cupcakes. I knit her a dress and it fits like a dream. (Dale of Norway book #208 in Dale of Norway Baby Ull, size 0 & size 1 needles) Her favorite gift is a xylophone which she banged away on for the majority of the party. Or chewed on the mallets. She's also entranced by the little accordion and her new set of wheels (Skuut). We had so many well wishes from so many people, thank you so much!!! I can't imagine a better little person to spend my time with and I'm excited to see what happens in the next year! Happy Birthday, Boo!!
The last few weeks have been really busy. I'm wrapping up my work-from-home job (one more day), watching the Little One walk around the house and soothing the many many tumbles she has, and knitting like a mad woman. I wasn't going to knit for many people for Christmas but dragging
Last night I cast on for the Bodhi Mittens (and Fingerless Mitts) for me! Despite the number of mitts I've knit they all seem to have disappeared. Gifted? Lost? Dunno. We got the new Malabrigo Twist yarn at the shop recently and I thought it would be perfect for these. The pattern is pretty straightforward. I like the elongated stitches that make the flowery-looking things. The yarn is awesome and has great stitch definition. I finished up all but the thumb of the first one last night. My only issue is that the first one is fairly long. I'm not going to frog back but if I knit these again I would stop at a pattern row 8, just after a fancy stitch pattern row, and work either stockinette or seed stitch for a couple of rows before binding off. I don't mind the stockinette rolling at the fingers but I think seed stitch (which is on the cuff of the palm side) would make a more finished-looking edge. The color is Sealing Wax.
My mini Caricia worked up beautifully and quickly and I have quite a bit of yarn left over. Blocking pictures never quite do it for me but they do show the pattern wonderfully. I really like that the upper border edging is knit as you go so there isn't any funky picking up or anything when you think you are finished. When you're done, you're done. Another fantastic thing about this is that the yarn did not rub off on my hands as I worked with it. I think that may be a first for me and my love of uber dark blues and it's a really really good thing. This is a mini shawl - just large enough to wrap around my neck and loop bandana-style to wear under 
my coat. I like this size, it gives all of the satisfaction of knitting lace triangles without the wearability issues of a larger shawl. If I use my knitting time to knit lace then I really want it to be wearable and not languish in the closet waiting for a "nice" enough reason to wear it. Plus it's a good size to use up all of that sock yarn stash that seems to be multiplying on its own. Isn't there some type of math equation that shows a correlation between the breeding rate of rabbits and the rate that sock stash seems to grow? If not, there should be, because even when I don't buy sock yarn for a while I go to my stash and I swear there's more of it. Really.
