pre-friday WIN

Today was super-dooper busy at work.  As such, I feel completely entitled to the calories I probably overconsumed at Horizons tonight.  Mister and I finally went and there were available tables tonight, so we had a happy, adventurous, tasty dinner.  I even remembered to take very dim pictures!  I'm going to ramble a little about our visit, but please, even if my play-by-play of a gourmet dinner is not exciting to you, stick around - most of the WIN happens after dinner.

I literally spent at least half the time I was at work today walking briskly from one end of the building to the other for one inane reason or another.  I got through the day quickly, but with the forward-looking thought of what a delightful evening lay ahead - after we turned ourselves away from the bar seats at Horizons over the weekend, Mister and I decided to go tonight, when we figured it would be less crowded.  Our plan was actually to sit outside and ignore Mister's allergies long enough to enjoy the balmy evening air while we dined.  However, as we approached the restaurant, there were no tables set up outside.  As we drew closer, it looked like the restaurant wasn't even open and I had this dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach that Horizons went out just like so many other restaurants/businesses in the Queen Village/Bella Vista neighborhoods lately - no notice, just closed up one day.  Then we spied a sign in the window indicating that service was available upstairs only.  I turned to Mister and told him that if there were no seats, we were making reservations for tomorrow night.

I ignored him as he told my upstairs-bound back that we couldn't sit outside tomorrow night since there are supposed to be serious thunderstorms.  I ignored that we would really need to stay home and comfort the poor, terrified cat.  Fortunately, there were a few available tables upstairs, so Angst will have the pleasure of our presence tomorrow night.  I'll do my best to give you a short picture parade but I didn't want to use my flash, especially since it seems to make the pictures in dark areas even darker, so the pictures are a bit dim - hopefully you can still see a little.

I wanted to start my meal with a cocktail.  It's been a bit of time since I've had one - possibly since brunch with the parents a few months ago.  One of the things I normally love about Horizons is how unique their combination of ingredients are and how esoteric some ingredients are.  However, it does not help my usually stubbornly autonomous self to make a decision on a cocktail when I can't even pronounce the components of a cocktail, much less get an idea for the taste.  After some consultation with our delightful server, Jeannine, I opted for the Night Boat to Recife.  Since I can't pronounce the liquors, I sure can't spell them, but I'll describe the drink - it was absolutely the most complex cocktail I've ever had.  It started out with an unmistakable and strong citrus flavor, then moved toward a slight bitterness before resolving to a most bizarre but delicious aftertaste I can only compare to the taste of cinnamon applesauce. I know that doesn't sound sexy, but it really is an incredible cocktail.  I had a glass of Pinotage with dinner because I'm thrilled to find a single restaurant in Philadelphia that has Pinotage (a spicy South African blended red wine) by the glass.

For the eating portion of our evening, we began our meal by sharing the Shaved Spring Vegetable Salad, consisting of micro-lettuces with shaved fennel, roasted asparagus, toasted hazelnuts, and what appeared to be edible flower petals, dressed in a sublime hazelnut vinaigrette.  Mister, as always, ordered the Grilled Seitan and I almost did as well, since it has been well over a year since I've ordered it, but the past three to five times we've gone to Horizons, I've struggled with my curiosity about the Fresh Hearts of Palm Cake with braised beluga lentils and curried mixed squash, topped with cucumber chutney.

I tasted each component individually.  One of the deciding factors was my desire to eat their braised beluga lentils, so I tasted them first - they were good, but not outstanding on their own, which wasn't how they were meant to be eaten anyway.  The mixed curried squash was extremely flavorful and not terribly spicy.  The two together were perfect.  The cucumber chutney tasted more like marinated cucumbers, but I might be misunderstanding the nature of chutney, since I've always had spicier chutneys.  The cake itself was amazing both texturally and spice-wise - this provided the heat I was expecting to find in the curried squash, and was perfectly balanced by the chutney, curried squash, and lentils.  I'll admit, I was a little hesitant going into it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Horizons has never let me down, and I fully expected they would not let me down this time either.  I was not disappointed.

I was also not disappointed in our shared side of truffled fries, which I have presently decided are the best food currently available on earth.  I even said to Mister that if the world actually were going to end in the near future and the date and time really could be foretold, I would want the last thing I ate on this earth to be truffle fries.  That's right - not chocolate - truffle fries.  They're that good.

We agreed that dessert was also necessary, so we perused the adorable little dessert menu.  They usually have a few standards as well as a rotating flavor or two, specifically related to their cheesecake.  It is truly remarkable how nearly identical their cheesecake is to "real" cheesecake - the only way I can tell the difference is that my digestive system and intestinal tract are not rebelling.

Mister almost always partakes of the cheesecake when we do get dessert, but tonight, we both got our own slice of Lavender Cheesecake with a dollop of whipped "cream" and mashed blueberry coulis.  It was divine - that's really the best explanation I have.  I could ramble on and on about the amazing texture of the cake or the charming tanginess that makes you wonder if it's really vegan.  I could dwell on the perfect graham cracker crust or the fascinating scent-flavor experience created by using lavender in food.  But really, you should just focus on this: Go to Horizons before they close and eat truffle fries and cheesecake with a nice glass of Pinotage or Muscato.

Now, on to the rest of tonight's WIN.

About a week ago, I retweeted a simple but cheesy message in a silly and desperate attempt to win free tickets to a ballet I can't afford to see.  Let me back up - I could afford to see every ballet or orchestra concert I wanted to, as long as I was willing to sit in the nosebleed section and squint at the stage, wondering if I need a new prescription for my contacts.  I am not willing - I got spoiled by seats close enough to the stage that I made eye contact with the dancers.  So anyway, I tweeted some silly line about loving the Arts in Philadelphia, figuring it was worth a shot, and to my incredible surprise, I won!  One week from tonight, I will be floating down from an ethereal high of spending the evening watching powerful, strong men and women move around a stage with grace I can only wish for from seats I couldn't possibly afford (hopefully in the company of a similarly graceful and beautiful female - Mister has made it quite clear that although he enjoys spending time with me and doing stuff to make me happy, he has to draw the line at men in tights). 

Winning, Part II: after dinner, I perused the feed on Facebook because you know, it's kind of addicting.  Imagine my delight when I saw my Summertime Granola recipe featured on Chic Vegan today!  Head over [click here] and check it out!


Winning: Finale:  Tomorrow's Friday and then it will be a nice, long, fruitful yet relaxing weekend.  Cheers!

countdown to awesome

Okay, I'll admit, I'm getting so excited about the end of tomorrow I can barely focus.  However, there are a ton of fabulous things to share, so hopefully you can stick with me if I'm a little flighty.

For one thing, tomorrow is my last day of work for a week.  I'm a little overwhelmed with what I need to wrap up before leaving work tomorrow and I feel a tiny bit bad about leaving my boss with all the work, but I am so looking forward to my well-earned vacation.

California, here I come!  I can't wait to:

• go to Disneyland and see the Haunted Mansion all decorated for Halloween, Nightmare Before Christmas-style (plus, I've never been to Disneyland - Disney World, at least 5 times, but not for well over a decade anyway)
• see the Pacific Ocean - the furthest into California I've ever been was the west coast of Lake Tahoe
• go shopping West Coast-style.  I don't know what that means, but it sounds fun, doesn't it?
• spend some time with my best friend!
• sample the California veg-fare
• see LA with my own eyes

In other news, right before I sat down to post, I got an email from Mandi at Chic Vegan, letting me know that The Ethical Girl's Guide to Being Vegan and Fabulous became available for download today!  I've already downloaded my copy and given it a relatively quick look-through.  I will probably revisit this during VeganMoFo, but I want to whet your appetites so you head over to Chic Vegan and download it yourself - IT'S FREE!

It is a fabulous guide, too.  She covers everything I could think of and plenty that I might not.  There are a respectable number of lists, providing links to resources to living an ethical life while not sacrificing fashion, hygiene, or taste.  She starts out by defining what it means (and doesn't mean) to be Vegan, as well as the top three reasons most people give for making that choice.

Within her guide to vegan and non-vegan foods/ingredients, she provides some tips from her own experiences and plentiful reassurances that refraining from animal-eating will not leave you as deprived as you think it will.  I am proud to share with you all that my recipe, Moroccan Mishmash, was one of only three featured recipes in this section.

Mandi talks about dining out and shopping in a way that is ethical not only to animals whose lives may have been sacrificed or at the very least, harmfully interrupted by harvesting of some sort; she covers something that has long held a place in my heart and has escaped the impeccable attention of PETA - choosing fashion that is ethically produced, i.e. not in a sweatshop, in the 11th hour of a 12-year-old's shift.  I was so thrilled to see she devoted a full page to that.  She provides a far-reaching list of companies you can feel comfortable buying from.

In her beauty and hygiene discussion, she not only provides a list of ingredients that are not vegan as well as companies who test on animals and/or practice unethical manufacturing processes, she also opens the discussion to the chemicals in commercially produced beauty/hygiene products and how they are harmful to You.  She shares some of her favored brands and products for maintaining your outward beauty without sacrificing or otherwise harming your inner beauty.

She closes by giving some guidelines for vegan etiquette.  Frequently, vegans get a reputation for being severe, austere, or militaristic at worst or "just a pain in the a**" at best.  Although it shouldn't be that big of an issue to ask a server in a restaurant what the broth base of a soup is, sometimes people get the wrong impression and sometimes, the way a vegan asks is what gives that impression.  There is no need for people to go on the defensive when you say (loud and proud) "I'm vegan," but we have to shine through a smudged history of PETA's unwelcome preaching and offensive tactics.  Mandi shows us how to do this: respect everyone.  Yes.  It really is that easy.  In more words, she explains how to, from choosing a restaurant to ordering there with special requests, as well as tasteful ways to state your opposition to things like zoos and circuses that most people don't even realize hurt animals.

The very last thing is common to books with a message: a recommended reading list and a link party.

What are you waiting for?  Go download your copy and read away!!

vegan exodus (and international cooking)

Portland, Oregon.  It is the largest city between Seattle and San Francisco.  It is jokingly said (with a grain of truth) that there are two seasons: rain and summer.  It is home to Mt. Hood, a volcano that paints a beautiful backdrop to a progressive urban area.  It has a temperate climate, prone to rain rather than snow, about 70 miles from the Pacific coast.  It is well-known as a city friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.


Portland is stealing our vegans. 

I think Jess of Get Sconed started it.  She was born in NYC and found her way out to Portland and is very involved in, well, it seems, everything food and vegan-oriented out there.  She has a particular affinity for soy latte reviews (helpful, since Portland is a big coffee town).  Isa, founder of the Post-Punk Kitchen and also a native New Yorker, moved out to Portland prior to writing Vegan Brunch.  I was hopping around to blogs I hadn't visited in a while earlier today and I found that one of the two Philadelphia vegans I am aware of...is no longer in Philadelphia.  If you guessed, "she moved to Portland," you win a prize - would you like a cookie or a biscuit?

Compared to the outlying suburbs and their inhabitants, Center City Philadelphia is a virtual oasis for vegans and vegetarians.  There is a huge number of veg-friendly chinese places in Chinatown.  The area in which I live has a sizeable Jewish population and was once known as the Jewish Quarter of Philadelphia, so there are a lot of vegan places to stay within kosher guidelines.  There are also a ton of ethnic restaurants all over the city that make it very easy to find food when dining out.  Compared to Portland, Philadelphia leaves quite a bit to be desired.  There is a very serious commitment to vegan culture out there and I appreciate that - I understand why it is so attractive to vegans to move out there.  It tempts me to do the same, yet I love my city so much.  Don't panic, Parents - we're not moving.

Ironically, we had Israeli Couscous with Vegetables and Lemon-Balsamic Vinaigrette for dinner last night.  If you don't know why that is ironic, in the context of a vegan exodus from the East to West Coast, please see the entire Book of Exodus in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.

I have never used Israeli couscous before and it was an interesting experience.  If possible, I would say this bigger size of couscous is actually lighter than the smaller grains.  The "lightness" lent the whole dish a creamy texture, despite that there was not a drop of anything creamy.  The vinaigrette was delightful and complex - although I thoroughly mixed the ingredients, there were some bites in which the vinegar was more pronounced and some bites that were very lemon-heavy (but not in a face puckering way).  I liked that the vegetables were roasted rather than sauteed, also.

The recipe itself could use a little work - for example, I'd rather have some idea of how long you have to boil couscous to make it al dente instead of trying not to scald my tongue attempting to figure out if it's ready yet.  There were a few times I wasn't clear on when to add something or how much, so it's an okay recipe for people who can improvise, but if I was at an earlier stage in my culinary 'education,' this would have been too much of a challenge, I think.

Today Mister and I had a Mediterranean mid-day snack: whole wheat pita with hummus and black olives.  This is just mine - Mister had his own plate, piled a little higher in every regard:

Then, completely switching gears, we had a Japanese-influenced dinner: Yakisoba from The Accidental Vegan, accompanied by a bowl of pretty red cherries.

I made it with about half the ginger, since that was Mister's only complaint last time.  I used the cute little head of green cabbage I bought from the organic farmers at the FarMar on Tuesday instead of the recipe-prescribed napa cabbage, but I really don't think it made that big of a difference.

I also julienned the carrots instead of grating them for two reasons:
1. I love my julienne peeler.
2. I hate grating things.

Keeping with the Japanese theme, I served a bowl of cherries in place of salad or olives (our normal meal accompaniments).  Mister loves cherries so I was very happy when Whole Foods announced their Cherry Fest with great fanfare.  I was not so happy when I discovered that they think $7.99/lb is a reasonable sale price to introduce cherry season.

Fortunately, when I was wandering along the Italian Market yesterday, a lovely young man was willing to part with his pretty red cherries for only $1.50/lb.

They taste just as good as they look - go get some!

Donna Reed takes a walk on the wild side

Alternate title: Sometimes, courage backfires.  

I can say with a certain degree of certainty that the last two nights' dinners were not winners and it is highly unlikely they will find their way to the table again.  Fortunately for you, the telling should be at least somewhat entertaining, in that can't-look-away-from-a-trainwreck kind of way.

Last night, I made Seitan Noodle Casserole, which was only marginally less of a disaster than tonight's dinner.  Let me start with the story of why I thought this was a good idea:

Once upon a time, my mom made this really great casserole that we unanimously loved as a family.  I don't know if it actually had a name, but if memory serves, it involved shredded chicken, cheddar cheese, macaroni, and probably a condensed soup product.  In any case, we loved it and it was apparently easy to make, so it became a "regular" in Mom's dinner rotation.  She used it to bribe me into eating when I might not be otherwise interested and it worked every time. 

For the life of me I can't imagine what made me think of this...perhaps I was craving a comfort food, perhaps I yearn for simpler times, but I was suddenly struck with an overwhelming desire to recreate this old Better Homes & Gardens classic in a cruelty-free recipe.

With any luck, my mom is looking at this picture and saying "Oh my heavens, it looks just like the casserole I used to make!"  If that is actually occurring, let me say this one thing in your defense, Mom:  It was nothing like yours (you win).

 It does actually look tasty, but it didn't come close to the taste and texture I was trying for.  I am going to try to tweak it a little and give it at least one more chance because there were a few things I knew right away I would do differently a second time.

1. saute the seitan until it becomes a little brown and crispy, rather than baking it while still "raw."
2. same with the peppers, but substitute "softened" for "crispy"
3. add some seasoning agents to make the "cheese" sauce a little more intense
4. use cheddar Daiya (or Ricemilk cheese)

The main problems in this version were the mildness of the cheese sauce (Mister said it resembled marshmallows after a few bites) and the fact that the only Daiya left at Whole Foods was mozzarella-style.  I think I would still like to try the cheddar-style.

Let's talk about Daiya for a moment.  Jess at Get Sconed has made her reticence toward this cheese-replacement a well-known fact.  Nevertheless, Daiya is taking the vegan foodie universe by storm, so I wanted to give it a try.  I've never actually used any other non-dairy cheese in a way that required melting, so I really don't have a point of comparison.  Here is how the mozz-style Daiya melted on top of my fail-casserole:

Not overly convincing, if you ask me (which we'll presume you did, since you're still reading).  Also, not terribly appetizing - this opinion was vehemently reinforced by Mister when he made a concerted effort to eat around the "fake cheese."  Neither of us is impressed and Mister was very grateful I didn't taint tonight's dinner with the 1/2 cup left over.

Tonight, then, I thought I would try to make up for last night's less-than-perfect dinner.  What better way to suck up to Mister than with his favorite food: Pizza!  I pulled out my VegNews and my brand spankin' new jar of sumac and put together Zesty Za'atar Pizzas with sliced Roma tomatoes and Kalamata olives.

It's very pretty, yes?  That's about where the enjoyment ends.  First, that crust was one of the most difficult-to-cut crusts ever and required my pizza roller-cutter as well as my super-sharp Kuhn Rikon paring knife.  I may have nearly lost my temper, too, and nearly given up on dinner.  Maybe.

Because I couldn't find any pre-blended za'atar, I purchased a jar of sumac and put it together with the other ingredients in a recipe I had for the blend.  I coated the pizza crust with oil, sprinkled the za'atar all over it, artistically arranged the tomato slices and olives, re-coated with oil and baked for about ten minutes.  Mister and I learned a valuable lesson from our walk on the wild side:

It's good to be adventurous...as long as you know it will sometimes lead to absolute and undeniable failure.

We have decided (unanimously) that we aren't fans of sumac or za'atar, at least not in the quantities required to coat a pizza.  We ended up scraping a great deal of the spices off and trying to salvage dinner...

I had hoped that the casserole would have been awesome, comforting, and amazing so I could share a recipe with you, but I am no Mozart and sometimes I have to erase things and redo them to get them right.  If I do accomplish what I want to with that recipe, I will post it then, but until that time I want to encourage everyone to head over to chicvegan.com (you can also link from the right side blogroll) because my Banana Blondies recipe was featured!