day two hundred and six.

Day Two Hundred Six 3/22/10 
Dress: Black Cotton Ribbon Belt Dress

Purchased From: Thrift Fair
Year or Era Purchased: Winter 2010
Price: $3.95
Accessories: Hunter Wellies, white knit beret, jeans
Hair and Makeup: under a hat, usual makeup
Comments/Compliments/Complaints: Kelly commented that she couldn't believe I wore this to walk dogs.  
Day: 



Monday was a day of annoyance.  I woke up still in neck pain, it was raining.  Great.  At least I had my newly purchased rain coat.  The sucky part of the coat is its lack of hood, hence the knit hat.  This hat was purchased at kmart years ago on clearance and though I think it's cute it's not super functional as it's a winter hat that doesn't cover my ears.  It comes in handy on fifty degree rainy days.  I spent the day working and came home and made a Red Curry Acorn Squash Coconut Pistachio Soup.  It was absolutely delicious.  I was trying to emulate a soup we had at Beau Monde a few weeks ago.  It was close but still missing something.  Here's the recipe I used mostly concocted from this recipe: 


2 acorn squash, pumpkins, or other smallish winter squash
3 tablespoons vegan butter, room temperature
1 14-ounce can light coconut milk
5 teaspoons (or more) red Thai curry paste
1 carton vegetable broth (32 ounches)
1/2-1 cup shelled pistachios (toasted) 
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt (or to taste)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the oven racks in the middle.

Carefully cut each squash/pumpkin into halves (or quarters). Slather each piece of squash with vegan butter, sprinkle generously with salt, place on a baking sheet skin sides down, and place in the oven. Roast for about an hour or until the squash is tender throughout.

In a food processor crush the pistachios to a fine almost powdery form. Toast pistachios in the oven or in a pan. 

When the pumpkin/squash are cool enough to handle scoop it into a large pot over medium high heat. Add the coconut milk and curry paste and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and puree with a hand blender, or puree in batches in a regular blender if you're like me and don't have a hand blender.  Add some broth to your regular blender and the squash puree to help it along. Transfer back to the soup pot if using a regular blender.  You should have a very thick base at this point. Now add broth a cup at a time until the soup is the consistency you prefer.  Add pistachios. Bring up to a simmer again and add the salt (and more curry paste if you like, I used just shy of 6 teaspoons but the curry paste I use is not over-the-top spicy).

Top with whole toasted pistachios and serve hot with crusty bread. 

Kelly and her neighbor Bree came over to check out some dresses since Bree had a wedding to attend. That was fun and she was tiny so I got to dress her in some older awesome dresses that don't fit me. She ended up going home with several possibilities. Maybe I should start a dress rental business.  


This dress isn't one of my favorites but it was easy and comfortable.  The belt kept coming undone all day since it's a silky material, annoying.  I don't know if its prior owner or the designer did this but the boobular area had a hook and eye closure that I certainly needed.  I'm going to wash it and give it to Sue so she can rock it with her pregnant belly.  


The best part about Monday was realizing that Matt had finished tiling our bathroom so I took my photo of the day using it as a background.  The floor tile was his example of what he came up with for the hex pattern. Michael and I both loved it.  Yay for our bathroom being awesome.  I'm totally going to paint the wall areas bright turquoise. Super excited. Yup.