Foodie Updates Pending

Thanks to those of you who have continued to check my blog in the middle of this summer of nomadic misadventures.

The movers still hold hostage my digital camera somewhere in middle America, but as soon as possible, the focus of this space will return to fast and delicious vegan recipes.

I just wanted to say thanks for continuing to visit, and I'm still here, chasing lizards and orienting myself. Buying couches, even.

Rush Lizbaugh

Gainesville, first impressions: hot and colorful. The houses are small and adorable, often vibrantly painted and host to a compulsive number of porches. The streets are lush, sometimes overgrown, and Spanish moss hangs from the branches like wooly mammoth hair, or an air filtration system.

The spiders are immense, pony-sized.

Brown anoles scatter into the brush as you walk through yards and sidewalks. They're an invasive species I'm told, encroaching on the habitats of the native green anole, but I secretly delight in their presense. One larger one that Scott and I named Rush Lizbaugh spends nearly the whole day mounted proudly on the American flag pole that juts from (one of) our porches. He bops up and down and unfurls his bright orange throat flap at no one in particular.

People I have met so far in Gainesville have been very cool and progressive. In an unexpected turn of events, we have roommates already, awesome ones who have invited us to all kinds of fun events like vegan dinner parties, stand-up comedy shows, and an evening town pool screening of Jaws.

I bought a solid teal hybrid bike today and I am happy to be newly mobile, especially since orientation starts tomorrow. And when the moving company brings all our stuff in a couple of days, I'll unpack the camera and snap some pictures of my neighborhood and resume foodie updates, with exciting new recipes featuring buckwheat groats and Japanese bento boxes!

Until next time, be well.

Last Night In California

Tomorrow, we board a plane to Florida! We sold the RV on Monday, and our friends Dave and Emma mercifully took us in, cats and all for the remainder of the week. (Thank you endlessly Emma and Dave.)

Thus the epic, epic saga of our cross-country move is nearly over. From San Diego we stop over in Nashville, then arrive in Jacksonville around 5:30pm. There, we have a rental car to get us about an hour and a half south to our new home in Gainesville. A little bit of settling in, a little bit of furniture buying, then we get studious on everybody's asses.

Florida here we come!

Buy My RV

Yesterday, a small flock of feral parrots alighted in the tree next to our RV, squawking loudly. California continues to inspire wonder even after four years, even when it is time to leave.

A week from tomorrow we fly with the cats into Jacksonville, and from there we take a rental car an hour and a half south to Gainesville. In the meantime we are frantically trying to sell the RV for thousands less than we paid for it. Anybody want an RV for cheap? Anybody at all?

Plan B

Well, the perils of the Oregon Trail have crumbled our resolve. After months of planning, packing, and paying for repairs, the epic road trip of our fantasies is dead in the water, and we are-- more or less relieved.

On Monday evening, an hour before we were set to embark, the RV's starter died in the loading zone outside Scott's studio. Our mechanic John, who we have come to view as an oracle of sorts, made a special trip out to fix it, but for us the gig was up. We paid for these last repairs not to ensure our safe passage to Florida, but to render the RV more sellable here in California.

Yesterday we bought plane tickets to Gainesville with reservations for two pet carriers, and hired a moving company to haul our belongings out of the RV and across the desert. This is the sad truth: our modest library and our newspaper-wrapped pots and trinkets are to be the only semblance of us to make the slow, contemplative coast-to-coast crawl.

Besides feeling a little foolish for believing for so long that we could pull off this wacky trip, I am very much thankful for our change of plans, for their security, predictability, and total cost that fits inside what we would have paid for gasoline, anyway.

I might have to find a new source of adventure, but that will be easy-- like I said in a previous entry, moving to Florida and starting grad school has a lot of excitement built in. Call it cheating, but that's good enough for me.

STILL in Pacific Beach??

Yup, we are still parked in Pacific Beach. But I swear, we're setting out tonight at 6pm! A number of Oregon Trail style tribulations have delayed us all week, most recently, our poor, stressed-out cat getting one of her spontaneous eyeball ulcers. It's not serious, but we lost Saturday morning to the vet, and decided not to rush the last of the packing so that Happy could heal a bit before we hit the road. She's doing much better.

So, why are we leaving tonight instead of tomorrow morning? We hope to frog-hop through Yuma, Arizona at night while the temperature is a balmy 98 degrees, instead of the searing daytime 115. Four hours of driving should get us there by tonight, and then another five hours starting at 6am tomorrow should get us as far as Tucson, where the heat is slightly less deadly.

Anyway that's our first bit of itinerary; it will feature ice packs underneath the cat's blankets, two cases of bottled water, straw hats and an oasis of air conditioning once we get to Tucson and switch on the generator.

Goodbye San Diego, Goodbye Mission Beach, Goodbye friends and neighbors!

Lingering in Pacific Beach

It has long been a fantasy of mine to live in sight of Henry's Marketplace, my favorite grocery store in Pacific Beach. Parking my RV across the street from it isn't exactly what I had in mind, but if my front yard has to be a road, it might as well be the road that leads directly to vegetable paradise.

With a little help from the break room down the hall from Scott's studio, we are able to muster a good, fresh meal in between peanut butter sandwiches:


Yes, I am still in San Diego. Various holdups have tethered us to this coast, most notably repairs for the RV, AKA The Pretty Thing, AKA The Money Trap. Without a job any longer, I have been wiling away the hours at the coffee shop, the Vegan Zone or the China Inn, here drinking a flaming cocktail with Bennett.


Today, Scott and I made our final trip to the mechanic, then wandered around Kearney Mesa getting sunburned, shopping at the Asian markets and worrying about our beloved RV as it lay helpless on the lift. Here's a picture of a tank full of catfish at the market:


And here's Scott worrying in a Starbucks:


Despite the setbacks, we are now officially road-ready and setting out Sunday morning. Scott, me, and our two cats-- all learning how to be robust and thrive in our temporary house on wheels. First stop: some Walmart parking lot in Arizona, most likely. Bon Voyage!

Nomadic Hardships

Friends and acquaintences of mine and Scott's have expressed admiration and envy regarding our insanely hatched plan to live in an old motorhome for a month and meander about the country to our final destination of Gainesville, Florida.

While we're both managing fine in the grand scheme of things, I am going on record here admitting that Scott and I have begun to ask ourselves privately, and each other out loud, "What the f*ck were we thinking??"

Starting graduate school and teaching in a new state is plenty stimulating on its own. When I manage to banish the distractions of the trip itself, I realize that I'm tremendously excited about the new chapters that await me in Gainesville.

It's the trip that's so stressful. There are some big hitches, including these:

-The questionable soundness of a used motorhome that's old enough to buy beer.
-The insane price of gasoline across 3,000+ miles in perhaps the least fuel efficient vehicle ever made.
-The guilt and nervousness regarding our two beloved pets habitating for several weeks in a cramped, shifting, creaking vessel.
-Mine and Scott's unfamiliarity with using the working amenities of our RV like like the range top, sinks, refrigerator and bathroom.

On the bright side, my head is swimming with poems. I'm in the middle of a dry & quirky 'RV Living' series which is great fun, and I think that the landscape of middle America, which I have never seen, will inspire interesting writing for a long time. Plus it's probably good for me to rough it for a little while, gain some perspective and learn to appreciate having a real home. I keep telling my friends that I'm waiting for this lifestyle to pass me through to the other side, to sun-kissed, beautiful and liberated instead of sweaty, stringy-haired and vaguely sickened by the french fries at some nameless East County pancake house.

Ultimately, I know that when the next big transition comes along, I'm going to hire a moving company, hoist up my howling, caged cats and board an airplane, like a normal person.

But since I'm here now, I'm finishing what I started. I've still got Scott, and my future, and my peppercorn grinder in my bag for a taste of home wherever I happen to be eating salad greens off a plastic plate. I can make do with that for a little while, at least.

Onward!

Fruits of the RV

Some white nectarines, apples, bananas, oranges, cherry tomatoes and a green bell pepper in a basket secured with bungee cords in my RV.

Road fruits for a wandering lady!

Hiatus

Announcement! I am graduate school bound!

Today is the last day I have my apartment here in San Diego, so there won't be any foody updates for a while. Scott and I and our cats are spending the next three weeks on the road to Gainesville, Florida in our 28 foot motorhome.

I may post pictures and commentary of our trip depending on the internet access situation. Otherwise, I'll probably resume regular updates a few weeks after I get settled in my new place.

So for now, aideu-- and since we ALL live perpetually changeful and fluid lives, moving on and forward every day, I wish you safe and happy travels!

Chinese Coleslaw, Plus Golden Kiwi

YUM! I've eaten three bowls of this stuff in the last 24 hours-- I can't get enough of it into my belly.



Once again, I have no real recipe to share, just a list of ingredients. The one important point to remember is that sesame oil is very potent, so don't go glugging it on like olive oil.

shredded white cabbage
grated carrot
grated daikon radish
sesame oil
rice vinegar
agave nectar
toasted sesame seeds
black pepper
spring onions to garnish

Toss everything together and let sit for fifteen minutes of hot marinating action.

Oh, and that's a golden kiwi from the Korean market, and it tastes like honey. It's so good, I swear it's killing brain cells.

Cauliflower and Curried Peas

When I was a kid, my dad used to bake cauliflower florets in a hot oven until they were crispy and chewy. I did the same today, and topped them with some peas and onions fried in curry spices. Not bad!

Lime Quinoa with Radishes and Pepitas

Quinoa is a complete protein. No. Yes!! I threw these ingredients together because the combination reminded me of a posole soup served at the restaurant where I work. In the end, the flavors didn't exactly come together. It may have needed another ingredient or two, or perhaps fresher quinoa; mine is getting old. That said, I cleaned my plate and my body was very happy with me. You can't *really* go wrong with a meal made up of whole, unprocessed plant foods.

1 cup boiled quinoa
juice from 1/2 a lime
2 radishes, chopped
small handful pepitas (pumpkin seeds) - I used raw

Cabbage-Lentil Saute

I BREAK FOR LENTILS!
HONK IF YOU LOVE CABBAGE!

Okay, so I wouldn't make it in the bumper sticker business. But if my rowdy proclamations leave you even a little bit excited, you should try my delicious cabbage and lentil saute.



This is a simpler and more delicate version of the cabbage and beans recipe I posted about in March.

1/2 cup dry lentils
1/2 a small white cabbage, chopped
1/2 a small yellow onion, sliced
1/2 cup tomato-based pasta sauce
few Tbls. olive oil

Rinse lentils and set to simmer, covered, in 1 1/2 cups of water. In a medium pan, saute cabbage and sliced onion in olive oil 5-10 minutes until tender but still slightly crunchy. (This is where I remove the cabbage from the heat and grind an unholy amount of black pepper into the mix.) When lentils are cooked through, drain off any excess water and toss them together with the cabbage and pasta sauce. Enjoy it two days in a row! Leftovers are just as good with this one.

Orange Fried Tofu

Oh boy, this is good. It's somewhat of a treat, because the sauce has a quarter cup of sugar in it. But there's nothing wrong with indulging once in a while, and I shared with Scott because I'm nice. Let me tell you though, when it came to be plate-lickin' time, *someone* with prom hair and a nose ring confiscated the dishware.

I followed the recipe almost exactly, but I added a lot more orange juice, almost half a cup from one juicy fresh-squeezed Valencia, and only half the tofu.

I think it was basically the tastiest thing ever. Try it next time you're in the mood for Chinese take-out!

Vegan Chilaquiles

Chilaquiles are a Mexican dish made from tortilla chips sauteed in salsa until they get soft and chewy.



My chilaquiles are made from whole corn and flaxseed tortilla chips, and organic salsa without additives, because that's how I roll.

1 handful corn tortilla chips
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup diced bell pepper
1/2 cup cooked beans- black, kidney or Mexican red
1 Tbls chopped cilantro
1 green onion, chopped
1 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 small tomato, diced

In a medium pan, heat a small amount of olive oil and add tortilla chips and bell pepper. Pour salsa over chips and toss to coat. Fry several minutes until chips begin to get soggy, then add beans and cilantro. Toss gently once more, then plate on a bed of shredded cabbage. Top with extra cilantro, scallions and diced fresh tomatoes. Cholula is the perfect chilaquiles hot sauce!

From Scratch Chunky Tomato Sauce

Hi, I'm back! And I'm back to eating solid foods.

I don't know about you, but I have a graveyard of half-empty jars of tomato sauce in the back of my refrigerator. This one-off sauce tastes much fresher than storebought, and doesn't condemn you to a week of spagetti dinners. Enjoy it.



Oh, tomatoes- they're such little prom queens of flavor! Crazy delicious on top of steamed carrots and asparagus.

1 whole ripe tomato
olive oil
1 Tbls vinegar
swirl agave nectar
Sriracha hot sauce
dried garlic
dried basil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Quarter the tomato and place in a pan drizzled with olive oil. Roast in a 375 oven for 15-20 minutes, until soft. Scrape tomato pieces into a pyrex bowl and mash with a fork; it should be very juicy. Add vinegar, hot sauce and spices and continue to mash to desired consistency. You could use a blender or food processor to get it really smooth, but I prefer less cleanup. Pour sauce over whatever makes you happy.

Green Smoothie Recovery

I'm back from the oral surgeon two wisdom teeth poorer, but two gaping bloody holes richer! The entire procedure with the harried surgeon through my cut-rate dental insurance took about ten minutes, no joke. Yank, yank, stitch, stitch, go eat some ice cream. My favorite part was when the surgeon and his assistent took to urgent, panicked whispering immediately after finishing, examining the tools they had just used and saying "Is this what you used?? Who put this tray together?" etc. I never did get a straight answer from them as to what was amiss. Just some vague explanation about the wrong-sized razor, and utterly unconvincing assurances that they used the RIGHT one on me.

Now, however, I am back home with no obvious complications, just lots of drool and gauze. I made a special smoothie out of pear, mango, banana, avocado, dandelion greens, spinach and parsley and I will say this: I drink green smoothies every day, and enjoy them thoroughly, but the first drooling, artless sip of this smoothie in particular was so refreshing and so vitalizing that I feel compelled to mention it here. Plenty of vitamins, including lots of Vitamin K for blood clots that stay in place, good monosaturated fats, fiber and antioxidants make my green smoothie the perfect recovery food.

That's not to say I won't also have vegan ice cream later, maybe after the novocaine wears off and I am miserable and Scott is crunching on tortilla chips.

But for now, amazing greeny-ness.

Honey-Lemon Grapes

This recipe is from World's Healthiest Foods. Raw honey whisked with fresh lemon juice and zest, drizzled over as many different colored grapes as you can find. In a wine glass because you are that classy.



P.S. This will be the last non-pureed recipe I'll be posting for a while, because tomorrow I'm getting my wisdom teeth out. Green smoothie and mashed yam week for me!

Walnut Tapenade

Many a vegetarian has been tempted back to carnivorous habits by the rich and fishy paste that is Tapenade. Okay, that's probably not true. In fact, even in the old days when I ate fish, I probably would have turned down a traditional tapenade at the merest suggestion of the word 'anchovy', or maybe even any word beginning with A, just to be safe.

This tapenade, though, is made with walnuts, and is awesomely delicious. I came up with the idea after simultaneously snacking on walnuts and olives and realizing that there was something magical happening in my mouth.



kalamata olives, minced
raw walnuts, chopped
olive oil
lemon juice
dried garlic garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Make up your own proportions, and degree of smoothness. Pop it in the blender/food processor for a more pureed consistency than that shown by yours truly, lazy bones who didn't want to wash the blender. Enjoy with crackers, vegetables or toast!

Tangy Roasted Asparagus

Spring vegetables: so hot right now.



And by hot I mean hot... and cheap, and in season.

These only took five minutes to cook!

asparagus spears
olive oil
white mustard seeds
dried chili flakes
fresh lemon juice
fresh lemon zest
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

I tossed all parts together except the salt and lemony bits, laid them out on aluminum foil and roasted them for five minutes at 400 degrees.

Most vegetables, and especially asparagus spears, get insanely bright green when they first begin to cook. Here's a neat rule of thumb for any time you roast, grill or steam your veggies: take them off the heat when their color is at its most vibrant, and you'll get the highest concentration of nutrients, not to mention the best flavor. A friendly tip from your neighborhood Vegetable Mine. :)

Vegan Probiotics, Part II

From Chemistry Project to Dinner in seven days!



My sauerkraut has matured! It tastes like amazing pickles! It has a nice fresh crunch that's balanced with a tangy fermented/marinated flavor. I had no problems with mold or cloudy brine all week. Since it fermented in glass, I was able to watch the bubbles meandering to the surface each day. That made me happy like I was doing my lab experiment right. Most of the activity seems to have taken place around mid-week; by now, my sauerkraut is fully fermented, and shelved in the fridge. Yum yum yum!

Roasted Garlic Tomato Cups

Messing around with presentation is fun, but when it comes time to actually insert food into my face, aesthetics plays a minor role, like me fifteen years ago in little league: way out in left field, picking flowers.

To eat this dish, I cut the tomato in two pieces, gave one to Scott, and rather unglamorously piled the leftover stuffing on top. Not so fancy, but the new ratio of cup to stuffing tasted just right.

I used:

1 large tomato
1 small carrot, grated
6-8 manzanilla olives, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped small
1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped small
splash rice vinegar
olive oil
1/2 cup uncooked short grain brown rice
1 bulb garlic
chopped scallion and flax seeds for garnish

Set rice cooking in 1 cup of water. Cut off the top of the garlic bulb, drizzle with olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Roast at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or until soft.

Meanwhile, hollow out the tomato and set aside. Toss vegetables and olives in small amount of oil and vinegar.

Mash four or five roasted garlic cloves into the cooked rice with some olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Layer garlic rice and vegetable mixture inside the tomato cup and serve with extra filling.

Vegan Probiotics

Hold up! There's more going on here than just a fish-eye view of me and my living room reflected in the lid of a French press. Indeed, there are billions of things going on in any pot of vegetables engaged in active lacto-fermentation.

Homemade sauerkraut has all the benefits of raw cruciferous vegetables, plus it helps populate your digestive tract with friendly bacteria, in the manner of yogurt.

My improvised fermenting apparatus uses two whole cabbage leaves playing goalie to the shredded cabbage below, and a heavy glass on top as a weight. Everything is well-washed, of course, but not sanitized. This isn't like home canning, where sterility is essential for preventing... botulism death, and whatnot. We're purposefully growing micro-organisms, remember? The salt and the good bugs will banish the bad.

My sauerkraut is only a day old, and needs about six more days of fermentation before the harvest. I'll post again at chow time!

Carrot Hashbrowns

What can I say? It has been a week of abundant carrotness.



I found this recipe on VegWeb, but to be courteous, I want to credit it's true source, a cookbook called Fit for Life. I scaled it back to feed... myself.

1 carrot
1 potato
1/2 small yellow onion
olive oil

Grate the onion and root vegetables, toss to mix, then form into patties. Fry in olive oil at low heat for ten minutes on each side. It was really good dipped in ketchup. I'm yenning to mix in some frozen peas and Indian spices next time.

Carrot Mint Salad

There are times to share your snacks with friends, and there are times to eat all your snacks yourself. Embrace solo snacking with a carrot mint salad.



1 carrot, grated or julienned
juice from 1/4 lemon
2 mint leaves, chopped fine
small handful raisins
1 tsp. olive oil

Toss and eat! No sharing!

Szechuan Adzuki Beans

Adzukis are best known as the ingredient used to make sweet bean paste inside Japanese desserts. Here they are as dinner! A modified VegWeb recipe.



2 cups cooked adzuki beans
1 yellow onion, sliced thin
1 apple, chopped small
1/4 inch of fresh grated ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp. ground Chinese five-spice
1 Tbls. soy sauce
1 Tbls. rice vinegar
Sriracha chili sauce and chili flakes to taste

Saute onion until translucent; set aside.

Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a pan, add chopped apple and spices and fry until soft. Add beans, soy sauce and vinegar and simmer briefly. Plate next to some brown rice and top with onions.

Rataquickie. Quickatouille?

French cooking is not usually my forte or my favorite, but this ratatouille was easy and tasty. Adapted from a VegWeb recipe.

1 can stewed tomatoes
1 fat zucchini, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
olive oil
1 tsp. Herbs de Provence
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Coat all chopped veggies in olive oil and combine in a pan with the can of tomatoes and spices. Stew for 10-15 minutes until veggies are soft, but not sludge. Top with salt and pepper and serve.

This recipe didn't come out looking quite as saucy as some ratatouilles I've seen, but the flavor was definitely there, and it was really satisfying with a slice of whole wheat toast and a salad. Of course, I ended up putting hot sauce on mine. I couldn't just leave it French, apparently. Yum!

Mom's Vegan Banana Cake

Many thanks to my mom, who sent me a recipe for this vegan banana chocolate chip cake, along with ingredients to make it. Hello long distance birthday cake!



The piece in the picture looks to me, inexplicably, like a quaintly shabby Willy-Wonka style cottage. Even though it appears a little wan and droopy, the whole cake rose well and stayed moist, rich and super tasty, its veganism unnoticeable. And now, I will retire quietly into a sugar coma for the evening.

Pico de Gallo

I love pico de gallo, and it just occured to me last night that I've been doing myself a disservice relying on the restaurant industry to dish out my fix of this delicious Mexican condiment. I had to run out for some jalapenos and cilantro, but that's not such a bad errand.

2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 a small yellow onion, chopped
1 small jalepeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
1/2 packed tsp. chopped cilantro
1-2 tsp white vinegar
dried garlic to taste (fresh may overpower other flavors)
squeeze of lime
salt and freshly ground pepper

It takes five minutes to throw everything together in a bowl and stir it up. The final flavor boasts that more-than-the-sum-of-it's-parts quality that is so swoon-inducing. For a great lunch, heap pico de gallo into pan-softened corn tortillas with some black beans, fat slices of avocado, and green Tabasco.

The Curried Leftover Salad of Happiness

This is Scott. I'm Scott. I meant to write here in Terita's Vegetable Mine several days ago, but I've been toiling away in the crepe mines where I work/cook, saving up for the big move. And also, it is true, we've got an RV to feed now.

It is also true what Terita says, that I'm something of a goat, eating anything unlucky enough to stray too close to my face. I've only ever met three foods that I didn't like and, mercifully, there were none of them in our refrigerator the other day when, while Terita was in the shower, I stole off to the kitchen to jumble all of the left over bits and ends together.

This is what happened:



It's maybe a Vegan Curried Cashew and Chickpea Salad and I ate it stuffed in a warmed pita with a smile splitting my head. It was gone quick with just a tiny bit left over for that photo.

Here's what was in it:
The leftover bits of Red Pepper, Tomato and Cucumber from Terita's Fast Mediterranean Salad (I'm bad at guessing this sort of thing, but maybe half a cup each) cut in chunks.

1/4 Cup of Chickpeas
2 tsp. tahini
and 1 and a half Tbls. of the hummus, all left over from her Lemon Garlic Hummus recipe below.

1/4 of an onion and half a celery stalk, both diced fine
and 1/2 Cup raw cashews

Put all that in a bowl and mix in:
2 tsp. each of rice vinegar, dijon mustard (Go-Obama!), horseradish mustard and curry powder
Along with a heaping Tbls. of Cashew Butter (If there isn't any around, I'm sure a little bit of peanut butter would be super tasty too.)
Salt, pepper, sriracha, agave nectar and lime to taste.

Stuff it all, along with a fistful of spinach, into the aforementioned warmed pita.

Lemon Garlic Hummus

...Or, Slightly Farther East Than Yesterday.

You can find this recipe with small changes on VegWeb. I made my own tahini by toasting hulled sesame seeds on the stove and blending them with olive oil. It's very easy, and cheap. But it was messy. My blender looked like a Jackson Pollock when I was through, but the hummus was worth it. I think it would be great with some sundried tomato or herbs blended in, this is just the basic recipe.



1/3 cup tahini
juice from 2 whole lemons, or about 1/3 cup
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3-4 large cloves garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Blend the tahini, lemon juice and chopped garlic to a creamy consistency first. Then add the chick peas in small increments until the texture is light and fluffy; thin with a small amount of water if needed. Serve with olives and pita bread or carrot sticks. It's also really good with Nanami Togarashi (Japanese 7 Spice) sprinkled on top, though paprika is what's pictured.

Tomorrow, a special guest appearance from Scott, who demonstrates fantastic leftover cookery!

Fast Mediterranean Salad

I love preparing food for myself, and for Scott, but I'm not that into spending all day in the kitchen. Actually I'm usually only in there when I'm hungry. Which is probably why my recipes are so quick and easy to make. Less cook. More eat!

equal parts cucumber, tomato and bell pepper, cut in chunks
handful whole, pitted Kalamata olives
lemon juice
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

"The Pretty Thing" or, RV Living Part 1

Here it is, the 1988 Pace Arrow 28 ft. motor home that Scott and I will be Louis and Clarking about in only two short months from now!

That large, inviting swath of space on the side will be adorned with a (removable, for the sake of future sale) hippopotamus and an octopus drinking a green smoothie, along with the motorhome's new name, The Pretty Thing. (When I asked the seller why he was getting rid of the RV, he told me, "My girlfriend and I broke up- she was the one who liked the pretty things in life.")

Not pictured are the queen sized bed in the back, the kitchen, bathroom, shower, and many storage closets and cabinets. Pictured: my stellar curbside parking job. Yeah I know there were no other vehicles to maneuver between, but I still felt like that girl from Whale Rider.

Almond Crusted Sweet Potato Fries

I invented this dish, which is probably why it turned out so raggedy. In the future I'll probably process the almonds more finely. The potato wedges were tossed in olive oil first, then coated in the almond meal which was made from 1/4 cup raw almonds. I baked the fries at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Even though these were messy-finger-fries, and even at times fork-fries, they made a toasty and delicious lunch.

Grilled Avocado Sandwich

A VegWeb recipe that completely obliterates whatever puny desire for cheese I had left.

Horseradish mustard is imperative. Also, I like to grill this sandwich in olive oil. Just be sure to keep the heat LOW and watch it carefully so it doesn't burn.



Now that I've been eating vegan for a month, I've gained encyclopedic knowlege of my own cravings. I never knew, for example, that when I wanted a big cheesy meal, I was simply craving fat. Rather than dairy fat, I've been learning to rely on fats from tree nuts, peanut butter, olive oil, coconut oil and avocados. This sandwich fits the fat niche very well.

And just between you and me, the vegan fats are much, much, better for the body, and the planet.

Japanese Rice

This recipe is modified from one on VeganYumYum.  Among my variations is the use of extra virgin olive oil, which is regionally inappropriate for Japanese cuisine, but full of good mono-saturated fats.  Olive oil gets crowded into all of my recipes whether it belongs or not, like a weird guy who no one is related to in all your family photos.

Here is my version.

1 cup brown rice, dry

1 carrot, chopped

1.5 cups broccoli, chopped

1 scallion, chopped

1 Tbls. tamari

1 Tbls. rice vinegar

juice from 1/2 a lemon

olive oil as needed

2 Tbls. toasted sesame seeds

Nanami Togarashi, a Japanese condiment spice blend of ginger, orange peel, chili pepper, sesame seeds and seaweed

Lightly steam the carrots and broccoli just as the rice cooker is finishing up its business.  Toss steamed veggies with rice, olive oil, vinegar, lemon and tamari, then top with sesame seeds, lots of scallions and Nanami Togarashi.

Quinoa Salad

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 can black beans, drained
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 scallion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 persian cucumber, diced
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
dash cayenne pepper
dash cumin
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Boil quinoa in a rice cooker or saucepan with 1.5 cups of water until all water is absorbed. Set aside to cool. Combine all chopped veggies and drained beans with lemon juice, vinegar and spices.  Toss with quinoa and serve. Good with hot sauce!

Thai Spring Rolls

I bussed all the way to Kearney Mesa to get rice wrappers for these yummy but labor-intensive spring rolls.  The recipe is my own.  Scott manned the sauce.

Filling-

1 carrot, julienned 

1 persian cucumber, julienned

1/4 cup raw mung bean sprouts

2 leaves romaine lettuce, shredded

1 Tbls. packed cilantro leaves chopped fine

1 scallion, chopped fine

1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

juice from 1/2 lime

splash rice vinegar to taste

Toss all vegetables in a mixing bowl with vinegar, lime and grated ginger.  Set Aside.

Fill a frying pan with an inch of tepid water and submerge a rice paper wrapper.  After one minute, when the wrapper has become like a creepy translucent skin, dredge it up, shake it out and lay it gently on a plate. Scoop a small amount of filling into the center and begin folding. The drier the wrapper is when you fill it, the more neatly it will roll up and seal itself off.  We learned this through trial and sloppy error.  Also, don't get too ambitious with the filling.  The wrappers are somewhat fragile.  It's like performing surgery on stretchy little alien bodies.  Eating aliens is still vegan, I think.

Sauce-

1 heaping Tbls. crunchy peanut butter

1 1/2 Tbls. soy sauce

2 tsp rice vinegar 

swirl of agave nectar to taste

Sriracha chili sauce to taste

Scott wants me to mention that the sauce measurements are approximate, and that if you have any left over, it makes a great dip for roasted plantain chips.

Finally, here's another picture of our spring rolls, with me in the background machete-ing a baby coconut.

The Scrap Broth Project

Waste of all kinds- plastics, water, leftovers, moneys- bores a tiny woeful hole into my heart. That's an entire hole filled with nothing but woe.

Alternately, I take measures to reduce my wastefulness, or to use a savvier ecological term, my ''footprint''. Carrying reusable bags, riding a bike, eating low on the food chain, buying from bulk bins, flushing the toilet only when necessary; these things make me feel marginally better about taking two showers a day, a habit I can't kick, and which has nothing to do with hygiene but is actually just a real infatuation with hot water, like that of the famous hot spring monkeys.

My latest project to reduce wastefulness is going to be a broth-making project, which will take weeks to complete and if it is successful, I'll repeat the process indefinitely. The idea is to daily contribute vegetable scraps to a (reused) freezer bag until I have enough scraps to boil a big pot of broth.

The Projected Scrap Ingredients:

celery hearts and leaves

carrot tops and parsnip tops and cores

chard, kale and collard spines

cabbage cores

broccoli stalks

The Reason:

As I already said, waste is bad, but also, so is store bought vegetable broth. I've damaged or ruined dozens of recipes on brand after brand of grotty broth. Allegedly, making your own broth tastes much better, and by using almost entirely saved scraps (I'll probably also add fresh onion and garlic), I won't have to squander pounds of produce that will be strained out and discarded at the end, anyway. Because that's just more waste.

Here is a website with completely intoxicating photographs, broth information and a recipe that inspired my own project. I'm not really sold on it ultimately producing a rich and tasty broth, but there is literally nothing to lose.  I'll report back when the time comes.

For now, goodnight, you foodies.

Eco-Cake

I made Scott a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting for his 32nd birthday yesterday.



I had to go buy a bunch of ingredients that I wouldn't normally buy, ever, unless I was bent on becoming hyperglycemic ASAP.

What you would not know unless I told you, is that this cake is completely vegan.  The type of vegan food that I usually eat is full of vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants, but making this cake taught me that vegan food can be just as terrible for you as you would like it to be. It is moist and delicious, if a bit soporific.

I had some extra batter so I made a few cupcakes, and brought one to a complete stranger, a guy who drove to Mission Beach to show me his RV for sale. He raved about how good the cupcake tasted.   I thanked him for showing me the RV, and he said that the cupcake had made the trip worthwhile. Ha-Ha, RV guy! Little did you know, I fed you a cruelty-free baked good!  Owned!

My One True Love Eats Leftovers

Scott comes back from New York tonight, is in fact on a plane as we speak, probably somewhere over, say, Kansas, breathing that crummy air and dehydrating his eyeballs. Or is that just my eyeballs that dry out on planes?

There are many, many sincere and sensitive reasons I am happy he's on his way home, but in addition to those reasons, hooray for someone to eat my leftovers!

Scott is like my resident goat, or maybe a trim sow, who cheerily devours whatever dish results from my mad-chef experiments. I love that about him.

Supermarket Mind

I had a dentist appointment on Monday in North Park, and I decided to complement my trip to that inconvenient but lovely part of town with something at least a little more fun than getting a cavity filled.

Left to my own devices, that means I went to Whole Foods.

I know Whole Foods is like THE health food store, but it's far away from me and expensive and Monday was the first time I've set foot in it since I've lived in SD. And O what a wonderland it was. Just the colors in the produce section zooming into my irises sent a flood of dopamine through my little foodie skull.

They actually had a scant few items that were more affordable than I've seen elsewhere, like wild rice, organic strawberries and most notable organic baby spinach, which made me speculate about a loss leader.

In ordinary supermarkets, eggs and milk are common loss leaders, which means the company actually offers these items for LESS than it purchased them. It's a hook to get you in the door. If you've ever wondered why a whole carton of the assiduous reproductive efforts of chickens costs only 99 cents, the answer is loss leading. The answer is- notice where these products are shelved: exactly as far away from the front entrance as is physically possible, so you have to run a gauntlet of thousands of other products to reach them.

Supermarkets know how impulsive we consumers are. They know we'll come in for a roll of toilet paper, and leave with a seven-dollar bottle of garlic-mango marinade, and a bag of individually wrapped cheese cubes. We don't let them down. And at a place like Whole Foods, which caters to the hoity-toity health-conscious crowd (ahem), could it be that spinach is the hook, line and sinker of loss leading that I am currently, as we speak swallowing both physically and metaphorically?

Because I totally bought that giant tub of spinach for only five dollars, and I lugged it with me to the dentist, who refrigerated it for me kindly while he drilled my molar, on account of which I have nothing whatsoever negative to say about the entire practice. Or about the practice of loss leading for that matter, despite its subtle duplicitousness.

Green Smoothie Soapbox

I've posted something like this before, but I want to occasionally recap on green smoothies, my favorite food, especially in the wake of recording so many cooked meals in recent weeks.

I'm not a hardcore raw food person, but I do think it's important to eat a lot of raw fresh fruits and veggies. Emphatic raw food advocates talk a lot about enzymes in raw plant food as beneficial to human health; I'm not yet sold on the enzyme argument, but I won't discount it either. I'm kind of an enzyme agnostic.  

Regardless of the science or lack thereof in the enzyme department, food researchers generally agree that dark greens are among the most nutritious foods on earth.  And, cooking does damage an appreciable amount of vitamins and minerals.  So raw is still good, and green smoothies are easy, and they taste more like dessert than vegetables.  

Most days of the week I drink a quart of this stuff for breakfast.  It probably averages out to about 75% organic-- the one pictured used conventionally grown strawberries and mango, only. Organic greens happen to be totally affordable, by the way.  Here in CA I can get a bunch for a buck fifty.  I guess I'm probably spoiled...

I don't measure anything on a regular basis, but when I've sought to define the amounts, I have found that I use

2 cups cold water

2.5 whole fruits

1 cup packed parsley

2 cups packed spinach

1 cup packed kale OR collard greens OR chard

I wish I varied the greens more than I do, but I haven't found ones that I really like aside from the five listed.  As for the fruits, everything tastes good.  Apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, mangos, bananas, pineapples, oranges, peaches, grapes, melons and on and on.  Sometimes I throw in a carrot, some cucumber, celery, broccoli, asparagus or ginger.  My blender has a motor as powerful as a lawnmower so it chews up anything without a hitch. 

Any blender, however, can manage the basic fruit/greens combination.  Which means that you should try it.  Yes you. You'll get more greens in your body in one hour than many people get in a week.  Tastily.

The soapbox is now vacant!

The Never Ending Story

GoodReads sends me a newsletter every month, even though I haven't logged in since I started my account almost a year ago.  I just noticed that they've been timing my progress--  

''You started reading White Teeth 320 days ago.''

GoodReads... are you judging me?

Sas...squash?

Out of season, but taste-bud-boggling stuffed acorn squash, inspired by a recipe on VegWeb.

1 large acorn squash

1 stalk celery, chopped

1/2 small yellow onion, chopped

1/2 granny smith apple, chopped

10 raw almonds, coarsely chopped

3 Tbls. jumbo raisins

1/4 cup wild rice

cinnamon

olive oil

agave nectar

rice vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Start the wild rice in the rice cooker with 3/4 cup of water. Cut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds and rub the inside with olive oil.  Pour maybe a quarter cup water in the bottom of a pan and lay the squash cut-side down , then bake at 350 degrees for half an hour.

While rice and squash are cooking, saute onions in a few Tbls. olive oil until they just start to soften, then add raisins and celery.  Cook on low for 2-3 minutes, then add chopped apple, almonds, and a dash of cinnamon.  Give it 3 more minutes of frying, followed by a big swirl of agave nectar plus a tiny splash of rice vinegar for some extra tang.

I timed this dish badly, so I had to let the stir-fry portion hang out on the stove while the rice finished cooking.  Wild rice takes like fifty years to soften into something edible, so plan accordingly.  Combine rice with stir-fry and then pile the whole mixture into the squash.  Top with sea salt and black pepper to taste.

You can ask Scott- I wouldn't shut up about how good this came out. After we ate it all, I stood over the stove and shoveled the last remaining bit of filling into my mouth, and now all that's left is this photo.

Spicy Peanut Butter and Celery

Frank's RedHot, natural crunchy peanut butter and celery sticks.

A soupcon of Buffalo wings and spicy Asian peanutty dishes in one vegan snack.

Where's Waldo?

Last summer, Scott was commissioned to create a large piece of artwork to hang in the lobby of the office of the UCSD Dean of Graduate Studies.  The piece celebrates women in science depicting a vanguard of diverse women marching toward the viewer, looking kind of proud and bustling and intelligent, and in fact includes the dean herself and a number of her cronies, rendered by Scott from photographs at the request of the commissioner.

This week I had the fun chance to attend the wine-and-cheese ceremonial unveiling of this piece in the new building which is it's home.  I agreed to tag along for equal parts moral support, ribbing and genuine admiration.  There were rumored to be curtains shrouding the piece, which would part majestically at the right moment before the breathless audience.  The curtains turned out to be, seriously, a hunter green bed sheet belonging to one of the guys at the party.

However I don't want to give the impression that this wasn't a grand event.  I spent the entire afternoon out-granded and not by anything chintzy, but by a roomful of very smart and accomplished people.  I made periodic expeditions to the food table to pilfer small handfuls of chocolate covered almonds and- after downing a glass of chardonnay- the raw broccoli, which required slightly more conspicuous chewing.  I talked with a few people introduced by Scott, who himself barely knew anybody.  The conversations were short and awkward, and mercifully cut short so the unveiling could began. 

The dean read a few words and stationed Scott to one side of the bed-sheet curtain; together they whisked the curtain away to appreciative murmurs and light applause.  I clapped early and long.  Then more talk, and more food.

One funny thing is that I'm actually in the artwork.  I am not only the weird girl lurking in the background at the party; I am also the weird girl lurking in the background of the piece.  Scott jovially remarked on having included me in the drawing, sparking an impromptu game of ''Where's Waldo'' and a newfound interest in my life and my writing.

At the end of it, a plodding, transfer-filled ride back to Mission Beach on the public bus.  Two people, lots of lives.

Cruciferous Madness

Really tasty peanut ginger soup with nutritious crucifers.  I mostly followed the recipe except I doubled the cayenne and added a swirl of agave nectar to balance the flavors a little.

Chana Masala

This recipe tastes completely authentic to me, but then I am a white girl in California. Still I feel like I could impress someone on a date big-time with this. I kind of did, if you count Scott as my date- we polished off the whole batch. You should try it.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp curry
1 tsp garam masala
2 Tbls tomato paste
3 Tbls coconut milk
1 can chick peas, drained

soy sauce and black pepper to taste

Saute chopped onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, curry, garam masala and tomato paste. Fry 3-5 minutes, then add about 3 oz of water, chick peas and coconut milk. Simmer just a couple more minutes to soften the peas, then serve.

Beuklz

According to Alton Brown, 'pickles' is a botched pronunciation of Beuklz, who was a 14th century Dutch fisherman who made famously good pickles. I wonder if they tasted like mine. This recipe is adapted from Alton Brown's. I've tweaked it several times so you don't have to make the same flavor mistakes.

In a pot, combine-

1 cup water
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 Tbls sugar
2 Tbls sea salt
1 1/2 Tbls whole pickling spices
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp white mustard seeds
1 heavy dash of hot pepper flakes

Bring to a simmer for four minutes to awaken the spices.

Remove from heat and add to the pot-

1 small onion, sliced not too thin
2 pickling cucumbers, sliced not too thin
4 cloves garlic, chopped

Cover the pot and let the pickles soak until the mixture is cool. Transfer to mason jars and refrigerate.

Earth Hour

Last night at 8:25 p.m., you could have found me digging through junk drawers and closets, gathering tea lights and large dusty candles that crackled and sparked when lit with the strike-anywhere matches that I found in the nick of time in the cat-food-and-scissor cabinet right before the clock struck 8:30, kicking off Earth Hour 2009.

I turned off my computer. I unplugged the twinkle lights in the living room and pulled the chain on the reading lamps. I did open the refrigerator a couple of times but I booed and hissed at the bulb inside. Around 9pm I peered out my window and noticed that all the way down the block, my neighborhood was shirking Earth Hour. The sight made me feel lonely, and resolute. Scott juiced some blood oranges by candlelight, divided them into glasses with a dose of vodka and we sipped these luminous drinks at the kitchen table.

At 9:04 p.m., I discovered that our bedroom lights were still on. A thin glow issued from under the door and I leapt like an avenger to snuff it out. Our apartment has only two rooms, so I'm not sure how we managed to sit in the dark for half an hour feeling righteous without knowing that the lamps were blazing in one of them.

To atone for our transgressions and perhaps subconscious aggressions toward the movement to fight global climate destabilization, we left the lights off for an extra ten minutes or so after 9:30. It's a symbol, I thought, so the actual energy we used during this hour is beside the point. We tried, we spent some time conscious of our impact on the planet, and that's what matters. Like how you are still a better person for buying someone a really bad gift.

Dinner

VegWeb is my new favorite website. I keep catching myself ogling pictures of vegetables in various states of undress.

For dinner tonight I made cabbage and beans.

Amazing Pakistani Dal

This recipe, in a slightly different form on www.vegweb.com

1 cup dry red lentils
1 diced onion
3 diced or crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp grated ginger root
1 can of chopped tomatos
2 tsps curry powder
dash of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
4-5 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat 3 cups of water until boiling, add lentils and boil for 1 minute. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender.

While lentils are simmering, heat oil in frying pan. Add onion, garlic and ginger. Fry until soft.

Add cayenne, cumin, coriander, turmeric and curry powder and saute for 2-3 minutes.

Add tomatos and saute for another 3-5 minutes.

Combine fried spice mixture with lentils and stir.

Serve with toasted whole wheat pita or over brown rice. I wilted a handful of raw spinach into mine while it was still hot. Perfect. Recipes like this are why people buy spice racks.