Cindy, you are awesome (for many reasons), and thank you for this great info!

How are you and yours doing these days?

Sorry I missed this before, Jen. We're doing all right. I feel better now that Christopher has had that third Covid shot (and, unlike his Tdap booster this summer) it didn't land him in the hospital.

I have a little good news I was waiting to share, but what the heck. sj and Cashmere know, already.

My oldest son is engaged to be married. I think they might be booking their wedding for October 2022, but that's not yet final.

Cindy, that's exciting news about your son's engagement! Congratulations!

Thank you, Tep. He'll only be 26 in January, which past-me would have said feels young, but they've been together since their senior year in college and we just love her. We also love them together. They work. So we're just thrilled. It's nice to have something nice to look forward to.

I bought myself a Christmas present: a 3-D stereogram poster, replacing the one I had in the early '90s that I didn't take with me in a move. I have been regretting that ever since.

It is "Calypso Reef" from NVision Graphix.

The colors and the borders are nice enough, but what I really like about it is that the images of the humpback whale, the dolphins, the birds, the additional fish, the undersea cave, and the extra palm trees are only there if I am actively paying attention to the picture.

I have put a Flickr link in my profile, if you would like to see what I mean.

(Coming out of lurkerdom) Cindy, you can search Nova Scotia births up to 1920 online from the Archives. [link]

I've never heard anything about vital statistics records being destroyed in the Explosion. And I worked at the Archives for many years. I mean, if the birth was unregistered and you're looking for church records, you might be SOL. (Going back into lurkerdom)

I saw a news item that Nova Scotia had, once again, sent a Christmas tree to Boston.

Meara: This is very easy and tasty, and can hit the table in about 30 minutes: [link]

It's now a standard for me when we're in a cabin somewhere because easy, tasty. I double the marinade, because my daughter likes extra.

This is just a drive by, because I have to be out the door in a few minutes . . . HI BYE

Thanks Sparky! May try, but sadly the vegetarian also avoids soy, which makes it harder as well. We ended up with sheet pan nachos with quorn, last night.

Meanwhile, wish me gastrointestinal fortitude—my tummy has been rumbly all day and my friend apparently clogged the one toilet in this house—she went and bought a plunger but so far no luck. I may need to make a break for the gas station nearby.

Such great news, Cindy! Congrats to the happy couple and the whole family

Thanks Sparky! May try, but sadly the vegetarian also avoids soy, which makes it harder as well. We ended up with sheet pan nachos with quorn, last night.

Quorn makes "ground beef" crumbles that I use in chili and shepherd's pie as a ground beef substitute, and it works great.

Risotto with artichoke hearts is easy if you buy boxed risotto instead of making it all the way from scratch. And then the meat-eaters can have meat on the side.

TJs has some fried rices (one is Japanese fried rice and the other is just veggie fried rice) that I add a bunch of extra stir-fry veggies to, along with teriyaki marinated tofu (all of those -- the fried rices, the stir-fry veggies [frozen section], and the tofu [refrigerated section]) are at TJs.

How do you feel about quiche for dinner? You can throw so many kinds of vegetables into a quiche it's pretty ridiculous.

Meatless lasagna (or use the Quorn "ground beef" crumbles).

In the category of breakfast-for-dinner (in fact, I have literally NEVER made this for breakfast, only dinner): biscuits and gravy with Gimme Lean sausage -- it comes in a tube like Jimmy Dean and is in the refrigerated section (brand is LightLife, IIRC). And if you don't want to make biscuits, sausage gravy (whether real sausage or vegetarian fake sausage) is fucking AMAZING over tater tots. I cannot emphasize that strongly enough. FUCKING. AMAZEBALLS.

Meatless tamales and spanish rice is good.

Homemade burrito bowls (or get tortillas for burritos): make rice, get beans, salsa, jalapenos, cheese, avocado or guac, whatever else you like in burritos, and go wild. Plus the meat-eaters could throw whatever kind of meat they like in theirs.