Day 14: Salem, Gloucester, and Lots of Dough

Today's post will be in flickr picture order - last things first. So, first, right before we drove home from Salem today, we had some tasty and very spicy soup at the New England Soup House. It was a tomato-based soup with coconut milk, rice, lots of ginger and lots of spice. I think there was some curry in there too. Here's Maple enjoying it:

Next is a pic of Sean and Maple walking the Witch Trail:

Did you know Salem is the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne? I didn't. We saw a statue of him earlier. He wrote the Scarlet Letter; if you haven't read this book, you are an incomplete human.

This morning we went to Sugar Magnolia in Gloucester for breakfast, where I had a giant bowl of fruit to offset the carbo loading:

Maple likes "Gloucester" because it sounds a lot like "gloss," as in "lip gloss."

Last night, I made chicken and dumplings (vegan of course) based on Leslie's recipe and it turned out fabulously. I doubled the recipe because we eat a lot around here. There was lots of kale in it, so don't think I have given up vegetables for good. Also carrots! Here's Maple eating after we woke her up from her nap:

And here's my bowl (my FIRST bowl) about halfway through eating (it smelled so good that I had no patience for picture-taking):


Now we're home and relaxing after our day out. Maple is obsessed with The Heartbreak Kid - we watched it last night and she's watching it again now. It's not a typical five-year-old movie, but she adores it and keeps shouting "You were too busy yelling 'pee-pee' every two minutes!" She loves that line.

For dinner tonight we had more CHEESY BISCUITS (Bisquick + Daiya again) and some Gardein chicken fingers which, shockingly, Maple doesn't like. She had a Boca spicy chicken patty which is her favorite. We've been eating a lot of not-chicken around here. And not-vegetables.

Now it's time to get back to knitting my mittens, which are going to be way cute if I ever finish them. Pictures coming soon.