It’s been seven weeks since I’ve had even a sniff of booze!! Not one damn vodka martini! Not even the tiniest sip of a pinot gris!! My idol, Lucille Bluth, would be disgusted with all this clean living…

Anyway, I was making a Mexican-themed bowl for dinner this evening and was inspired to modify the Forks over Knives recipe for a quickie vegan cheese sauce into a quick vegan queso, and it turned out rather well. I could’ve added cumin, garlic, and smoked paprika, but I decided to go for a more basic queso, and here it is:

Quick Vegan Queso

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

1 red pepper, coarsely chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup cilantro

1 cup of nutritional yeast

3 TBS roasted cashews

1 TBS tahini

1 TBS Better Than Bouillon paste

Add as much garlic, cumin, and smoked paprika as you like.

Then…blend it all up until smooth.

UPDATE: This queso is AWESOME and it gets better after a day in the fridge! I’m glad I didn’t add the garlic, cumin and paprika, etc. because you can really taste the jalapeno and cilantro…and it tastes super cheezy too! Note to self: make this stuff once a week!!

And heeeere’s dinner:

Brown basmati rice, sprouted black-bean dip, vegan queso, green-tomato salsa, avocado, black olives, tomatoes, cabbage, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, and lime….DE-lish!!

And we’ve just arrived at the cabin for reading week. On our way up, we listened to Elton John’s first six albums–it was awesome (for ME!!). About a year ago, I happened to mention to James that between the ages of thirteen and fifteen, I was obsessed with Elton John and spent all my babysitting money on his first six albums (which I knew by heart). After Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I went rather off his music, however. About a week after my musical disclosure, James presented me with a lovely boxed set of Elton’s first six albums…in CD form, of course. I was delighted and immediately popped one of the CDs into the player. A short time later, James said, “Wow. You really DO know the lyrics to EVERY one of those songs, don’t you?” (it was a bit of a Jesus Christ Superstar moment).

Anyway, he indulged me today, and didn’t even comment when I sang every word to every song.

So, here is the very first Elton John song I heard (and loved) when I was thirteen (which was, oh god, forty-five years ago):