fake it 'til you make it

Through some incredible stroke of luck, I finally managed to find myself in the right place at the right time.  Just so you know, that person is never me.  I'm the one holding the lotto ticket that is just one digit off from winning.  I'm the one who gets to the party after everyone is drunk.  I'm the one who walks out of my front gate just in time to see the bus fly by.

This time, though, I had something on my side.  It's fairly well-known at work that I couldn't possibly care less about sports unless someone paid me to care less.  Instead, I enjoy "the finer things," and long for a subscription to the Orchestra or the Ballet.  It just so happens that the CEO of our company is on the Board at the Kimmel Center, a huge performing arts venue in Philadelphia.  It just so happens that the Kimmel Center is hosting the amazing opening night gala for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA).  It just so happens they needed some volunteers and it turned into a great opportunity for the CEO to send some over...which turned into a great opportunity (read: chance of a lifetime) for me to attend a black tie gala people are paying $750 to attend, completely free, aside from my obligations to help herd people.

While wearing an evening gown.
While seeing a joint performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra, one of the best in the world, with the Pennsylvania Ballet, for the first time in the history of the venue.  (as a side note, I've been fortunate to work for both organizations.)
While eating a dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck in honor of Georges Perrier (of Le Bec-Fin fame).

I live for this stuff.  So, when people say to me, "Oh, you got volunteered, eh?" I just smile.

Today I got to leave work early because I had to attend volunteer orientation.  According to the fine folks at the Kimmel Center, ordinarily they just do a quick briefing a half hour before an event, but since this is kind of a big deal (800 confirmed attendees, plus people who are only attending the concert, plus cocktail hour under an 80-foot tall replica of the Eiffel Tower strung with lights) they wanted to be a little more organized.  They had a pretty little spread of stinky French cheeses (Paris is the theme) with strawberries and grapes, alongside bottles of Perrier.  I could get used to this.  They also gave us "party favors"

Chocolate Eiffel Tower on a stick.  Yes.

In addition to this incredible privilege, I also got to leave work after only a half day in order to ensure I had plenty of time to get to the Kimmel Center.  The venue is conveniently located about 11 blocks from my home, so another great thing about today (and next week, when the actual event occurs) is that I got home early since I had a noticeably shorter commute.

Obviously, I took advantage of this opportunity to cook something time-consuming and intricate for dinner, instead of heating up the leftovers dominating our refrigerator.

No.  Actually, I took the opportunity to "enhance" our leftovers of Sicilian Market Pasta with an incredible find from Superfresh.  In a perfectly ironic move, Superfresh has packaged up produce they deem to be defective in some manner - rotting, or otherwise past its prime - and sell it for a dollar.  If a person was in need of tomatoes so ripe they were about to rot and needed a layer of plastic wrap to keep the flies away, this would be a tremendous bargain.

What luck!  I needed perfectly ripe tomatoes tonight!  So for one measly dollar, I brought home 6 perfect-for-sauce vine-ripened tomatoes and turned them into a very flavorful sauce with the help of some olive oil and my magic Tuscan Seasoning from California.  While I had only planned to get the tomatoes, I ended up with what looks like a perfectly fine bundle of tiny potatoes, perfect for roasting, also $1 and two heads of not-brown-yet iceberg lettuce for another $1.  Let's total that up:  6 tomatoes, about a dozen potatoes, and two heads of lettuce for....drum roll, please....$3.

Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

which way is up?

I really want to say that I can't remember to blog and I don't know what happened which day because I'm super busy, but considering I just went back to work today, I might have to just plead insanity.  I'm kind of stressed out and I'm having trouble focusing, but I really want to write, so let's see where this goes (it might be along the lines of my December-January nonsense).  Let's get this party started...

Saturday, I finally made Pomegranate BBQ Tofu with Coconut Rice from VwaV. 

I'm not quite sure how I've served just the tofu and rice by themselves so many times without it occurring to me that something green probably ought to find its way onto the plate.  I ran up to Superfresh while Mister took a short nap - I figured if there was one food that would make him happy, it was probably roasted asparagus, so I grabbed half a pound, snapped off the ends and tossed them in the oven with the tofu (separate pan, though).

I had created the menu for the "new week" the night before, with every intention of shopping for it before teaching on Saturday...unfortunately, last week exhausted me more than I realized, so I slept just about until the time I had to get ready to leave.  I'll share my menu at this point, so the next couple of dinners make sense:

1. Jerk Seitan from VwaV, served on the leftover Coconut Rice.

2. BBQ-Flavored White Beans with Sausage & Spinach from Vegan Express, left over from last week's menu...because I can't make the BBQ Tofu without making this, also.

3. Pasta Florentine from The 30 Minute Vegan with Roasted Cauliflower with Olives from Vegetarian Times: Fast & Easy. 

4. Tuscan Vegetable Ragout from Veg. Times: Fast & Easy

5. Warm Chickpea Ragout with Swiss Chard, Carrots, and Harissa, also from VT:F&E (do you like how I shorten the abbreviation each time I type it?)

6. Pasta Jambalaya from Vegan Express.

You may have noticed a trend in the cookbooks.  Every one of the items on my menu, other than the Jerk Seitan, can be prepared quickly and with relatively little effort.  One of the reasons my brain is so scattered is because unless something unforeseen should occur, I anticipate the next three weeks being extremely busy and at least moderately exhausting.  As such, I wanted to craft a menu of items I was a) sure would cook up quickly and b) am familiar enough with that I can "whip them up" without thinking too much.

On Sunday, I dilly-dallied a little too long and missed the FarMar as well as the Italian Market, and just as I was getting ready to pop out the door for a trip to Whole Foods, the sky opened up and poured... just like weather.com said it would and I foolishly ignored.  After the rain, I headed out and got my shopping done so I could let Mister pick his poison for dinner.  He chose...

Pasta Florentine with Roasted Cauliflower and Olives.  I was actually a little worried about the pasta dish after Mister's assertion that "vegan food tastes like marshmallows," because I was certain the taste he was isolating belonged to the soy milk-nooch sauce that was also a part of this dish.  Evidently not, since he polished off a good, healthy portion (or three).

I had never made the side dish before and it was amazing, and for no good reason.  All I did was toss a bunch of cauliflorets with some [very high quality] olive oil and sea salt and black pepper.  In the last ten minutes of cooking, I added the olives.  Mister and I were both trying to figure out what made the cauliflower so outstanding - all I can think of is that I truly did not realize what a difference "best quality" EVOO would make.  Thank you, FIL!

By the way - right now might be a good time to wish my little blog a Happy 1st Birthday!

With all the crazy distracting me, even though I was aware I was coming up on one full year of doing this little blog, I totally missed the actually day.  July 24th was the official day, so I'm a little belated.  It's fun to see how I've grown in this year, not only in my photography ability (which was more or less nonexistent a year ago) as well as my sense of culinary adventure.  Have I fallen flat on my face?  Sure.  Was it fun?  Absolutely.

Anyway, last night we had Jerk Seitan on the leftover coconut rice.  It never ceases to amaze me how flavorful this dish is when I give it some time to marinate...it makes a world of difference from the first time I made it.  No pictures, though, because the lighting situation still sucks and it didn't look any different from last time either.

Tonight's dinner was BBQ-Flavored White Beans with Sausage and Spinach, which I also didn't take pictures of and for the same reasons.  I served it up with a little bowl of huge cherries and a little bowl of mixed olives.  It was a fun combination - I felt bad that there was no side dish after how well I'd been doing!

One last thing - thanks to Mandi at Chic Vegan I came across an incredible article.  It could be a little fruity, but it makes you take a step back and think for at least a moment (I Hope!).  Just the title itself is enough to provoke reflection:  Gratitude - the Grass is Green Where you Water it.  Give it a few minutes to change your outlook - we all need a gentle kick in the behind from time to time.

bringing gratitude back

It occurred to me at some point today that if I didn't start finding the day's blessings, I would let this be a complete Birthday Fail. I could go into a diatribe about all the things about today that sucked, but I think I'll be in a better humor about how everything came out if I start with a list of things for which I'm thankful:

I'm grateful that I opened my eyes on another birthday. No, I won't tell you which one - a lady never reveals her age, and I am old enough to say that.

I'm grateful for the many messages of love, well wishing, and kindness that I received from people I'm fortunate to have in my life.

I'm grateful that I don't have a physical birthday gift because my husband has something so specific in mind that he can apparently (by his own admission) only find it in cyberspace.

I'm grateful I didn't have to work on my birthday for the first time since I started working for a weight loss company - January is kind of an important month, in case I haven't let on.

I'm grateful that the woman who sold me my Beaujolais this evening asked to see my ID. She also wished me a happy birthday and many more.

I'm grateful that my day was more or less redeemed by a husband who loves me enough to limp two and a half blocks to my favorite restaurant and then hobble home after a delightful five-course tasting menu...on what is probably a newly broken foot.

Along those lines, I'm also grateful that my husband is stubborn enough about injuries that he didn't want to spend my birthday in the hospital...although it didn't become evident that his toe is probably broken until after dinner anyway.

I am grateful that being off today gave me the opportunity to sleep in for the first time in a month.

So, despite the fact that I kind of hate grocery shopping and I can think of at least a dozen better ways to spend my day off and my birthday, it feels good to have that out of the way and know that the ingredients for the coming "week" of dinners are all collected in the cupboard, fridge, and freezer. This week's menu is completely inspired by the woman who taught me my first lessons in vegan cooking: Sarah Kramer.

1. Tortilla Chip Soup from La Dolce Vegan. I've mentioned before that this is absolutely my favorite book out of the three she's written. The portions are perfect for our little family of two humans and a curious cat and most of the ingredients are "normal." That's kind of a rude way to say it, but she's Canadian and they have all kinds of wacky condiments up there, apparently. Anyway, this looked like a fun way to use up the leftover tortilla chips.

2. Veggie Goulash also from La Dolce Vegan. This is an easy and fun recipe - the combination of flavors and textures is bizarre enough to be interesting but safe enough to be edible.

3. Punjabi Peppers and Tofu also from La Dolce Vegan. I don't think I have ever done a series of recipes from this book that did not include this one. It's easy, it's fast (important in January), there are never leftovers, and it's just so darn good!

4. Aloo Chana Soup from The Garden of Vegan. I tried really hard not to have more than one soup on the menu, but this just looked like too much fun to pass up. I'm trying to figure out how I have passed it by before! Aloo = potatoes and Chana = chickpeas and the tastes I can imagine from this Indian-inspired soup are just lovely.

5. Peanut Butter Pasta also from The Garden of Vegan. I was going back and forth between this and another pasta recipe involving spinach and miso...I'm still thinking I may have to include that one in the next "week's" menu, but I didn't feel like dealing with the heat of raw garlic when I was making my menu, so it fell into second place.

For anyone in the Philadelphia area, let me really plug for Horizons. If you've never eaten here, now is the time - the five-course early winter tasting menu is amazing. Here is a brief, and hopefully tempting, review:

We started with Salt Roasted Golden Beets with fresh avocados topped with micro-greens and a ball of smoked eggplant topped with seaweed caviar. The eggplant was amazing - perfectly smoky. The second course was a Cauliflower Soup, with a crispy seared cauliflower lying on a bed of pureed cauliflower, surrounded by a consomme. The presentation at this place is also just to die for, as though the food being awe-inspiring isn't enough. Our third plate was Pan Seared Peppercorn Tofu, which Mister and I have both wanted to try for a while and kept going back and forth on it. Mister compared the tofu to a very tender tuna steak and I found the chunks of coarse salt mixed with the pepper to be absolutely charming. On top of the tofu was a crepe filled with mushrooms, which resulted in some less than dignified faces made by the Mister. After he finished sputtering and grimacing, he expressed his disbelief that anyone would eat fungus on purpose and removed the offending crepe from his tofu. Fortunately, the tofu was resting on a bed of perfectly sauteed spinach and smothered in a tasty sauce (actually, it was delicately drizzled). I tried a bite of my crepe, just to see what Mister was fussing about and it wasn't great but it wasn't nearly as revolting as my husband made it seem. Fourth course included our well-loved Grilled Seitan on Yukon Mash with some kind of mustard-based sauce. Finally, they brought out a three-dessert sampler plate...I love dessert, so this was the best possible way to end my birthday meal. Mister disagreed because he felt there should be candles involved and the waitress agreed with him, so she presented me with the tealight illuminating our little table-for-two and wished me a happy birthday no fewer than three times.

So, having counted my blessing and recounted my dinner, I'm off to count sheep. I'll bet I get all the way to....zzzz.....

all I want for Christmas...

A ventilation hood. I want to bake, make veggie burgers, and pan-sear polenta without sending the fire alarm into a screaming fit.

I would also like a little more time, if you please, Santa.

I am the worst blogger ever. I can't believe it's been more than a week since my last post. I know there are people who go longer, but I don't want to be one of them! To make up for my negligence, I will share a recipe with you for the first time in months, it seems.

So, heavens, what have I been up to? What vile mistress has stolen my attention? The easiest answer is work...heck - I haven't even had time to cook, much less write about it. All of that should end relatively soon, and I'm back to my regular schedule, so hopefully I will be more faithful in the future.

As always seems to happen with shortened weeks, I packed a ton of work into Monday and Tuesday last week. By the time Wednesday arrived and was cold as hell, I wanted nothing to do with Christmas shopping, regardless of the change in schedule leaving me destitute when it came to gifts to give. I did concoct this tasty mid-day meal:
You could call it Cookie Dough in a Bowl (with pears) because that's really what it tasted like. I started by dicing a fairly ripe Bartlett pear (skin on) and allowing it to cook on a sprayed skillet long enough to start releasing a sweet syrup. Then I stirred in a handful or two of oats, along with a glug of soymilk. When all was said and done, I think I probably added about half a cup of soymilk. I also crushed two Sparkled Ginger Cookies and stirred them in. It was so good and exactly what I was craving after freezing my fingers off playing Christmas music on my piano in a bedroom the heating unit hates.

I stayed inside all day, and tried to get excited about spending time with a special someone to celebrate a very special birthday...
At midnight, I suggested to my darling sister that she might need a bathroom break. When she agreed and took off, I grabbed the bartender and ordered two Birthday Cake shots. They were so good and I haven't done a shot since....well....I don't know....probably a few years ago, actually.

Before we went out to Southwark, though, I took my dear little sister to dinner at Horizons, so she could share the wonder. It was freezing cold and there was still snow (and ice) everywhere. In my enthusiasm for getting to a patch of clear sidewalk, I fell over on the two block trek to Horizons, but my sister told me I fell very gracefully, so I guess that makes it okay. We had a delightful dinner and great conversation. Let's add that to my Gratitude list.

The following day was Christmas Eve, and to my immense surprise and great delight, I was able to get all of my shopping and wrapping done while Mister was at work (poor thing). Once he got home from work and took a short nap, we headed to church with his dad and stepmom. The service was beautiful and afterward, we headed to Rittenhouse Square for one of the most amazing dining experiences of my life so far. We went to Lacroix, which most definitely did not have a vegetarian menu, resulting in my husband and I presenting a challenge to the chef to match the foie gras and veal his parents ate with a humane alternative. It came out extremely well, and I was amazed with their willingness and ability to create a multi-course menu out of thin French air. I still think the most fun part of the evening was when my father-in-law tested the very French (accent, pompous air and all) Sommelier to pair a red wine with their overstuffed duck liver and boxed baby cow chops as well as our crazy vegetarian entrees.

Regardless of my harsh words about their choice of dinner, I cannot find enough words to express my gratitude to my parents-in-law for treating us to such an extravagant and fun-filled Christmas Eve dinner.

On Christmas Day, we ventured out to my parents' home for presents and dinner with my parents, sister, and cousins. It was a good time with a plateful of tasty food. I made Colleen's Tofu-Spinach Lasagna and everyone was awed by the tofucotta. They did not know it wasn't real ricotta until I pridefully told them - that made me happy!

I spent the whole weekend at work, but at least I'm back to my regular hours, so I was able to cook up the last two items on my 2 week menu. I reprised Colleen's amazing risotto, only to be told by my husband (after he picked his way through half a bowl) that he doesn't actually like risotto. Awesome.

Last night's dinner went much better. I knew it would, because I've mentioned before that you can't go wrong with Mister and Pasta. Not true, actually - he doesn't care much for that whole wheat healthy pasta. So, as promised, here is a picture of and recipe for P.B. Thai
Ingredients:
2 medium carrots, bias-cut
medium head of broccoli, cut into florets
large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
8 oz smoked tofu, cut into thin strips
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
4 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
15 oz lite coconut milk
generous 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
2 Tbsp soy sauce
dash of cayenne
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
12-16 oz noodles (I used linguine)

Cook pasta according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, prep the vegetables and tofu.
When pasta is done cooking, drain and leave in the colander, covered.
Add oils to pot and heat on medium until the oil shimmers (shouldn't take long).
Add ginger and garlic and saute 1-2 minutes.
Add vegetables and cook 3-5 minutes, until vividly colored.
Stir in coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, and cayenne.
Simmer, do not boil, for 5 more minutes, then add pasta and stir to incorporate.
Heat through and serve.

(vegan and one-pot dinner)

Enjoy!

who needs holidays when there are mondays?

And now the whole world thinks I'm crazy :)

But really - let's compare: Christmas/Chanukkah? People more or less "expect" presents. Gifts are part and parcel with family-oriented holidays...and birthdays...and anniversaries. If a date on a calendar could possibly mean anything then a gift is probably warranted.

[Amusing sidenote: last Christmas, my sister gave us a Peace Corps calendar marking every holiday observed in every country ever, so every single day is a holiday somewhere. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Estonians everywhere a Happy Rebirth Day!]

Monday, on the other hand? No gifts required, much less expected (as much as anyone should really expect a freely given token of love). So, then, if an amazing husband were to surprise his wife with gifts upon her return home from work one Monday, wouldn't they mean that much more?

Our anniversary was three weeks ago. My birthday is still two months away. Though malls everywhere may protest, it is not, in fact, Christmastime yet. We aren't in the habit of celebrating Estonian holidays, as neither of us has Estonian blood. So why did I get presents after my greeting hug & kisses?

sweet, sweet love...

I was absolutely ecstatic about the Endangered Species Chocolate bar. I have seen it all over blogs and magazines lately and I can't find anything to hate about a chocolate company that donates 10% of its earnings to protecting wildlife, while proving that life without Godiva may be worth living after all. Now that I have happily savored one of the three little squares of 70% cocoa dark chocolate hiding beneath that very dignified wrapper, I can happily proclaim my love for this bar. Who knew vegan chocolate could be quite this good? Also, I have never had dried blueberries in my candy before. That made me ever-so-slightly wary, but it was awesome! The tartness of those tiny wild blueberries actually enhanced the bittersweetness of the dark chocolate.

I haven't had the Maple Candy yet...to be honest, looking at it makes my teeth hurt. It's absolutely gorgeous - the little maple sugar crystals glisten and sparkle like any maple-leaf-shaped ornament ready to decorate a Douglas Fir, but the idea of putting it in my mouth is a little daunting. My plan is to break into it on some lazy day that I can pawn the uneaten parts off on my coffee or oatmeal. I like the story behind the Coombs Family Farm, though.

Me, though? I'm going to dwell on what a great husband I have.

If ever there was a segue into something I meant to cover last night, that was it. I alluded to the holiday season when I began my ramblings about what it means to me to slowly become vegan, but I ran out of words and steam before remembering. It's been on my mind again especially since I came home to unexpected presents after a day of feeling built up by some colleagues.

I've mentioned Chocolate-Covered Katie multiple times over the months since I found her blog. I told you about Hug-A-Carb month and how that spilled over to Operation Chocolate-Covered Kindness. I directed you to her cookware.com giveaway and today, she announced her Big, Fat Chocolate giveaway!

Her enthusiasm and joy are contagious apparently (and I'll take that over the Swine Flu any day). Between her good humor about damn near everything and a surprisingly thought-provoking article I read in the November Reader's Digest, I'm in a mood to count my blessings.

The season of Advent is a special time for me...Christmastime. It is a time for reflections, sometimes an opportunity to start over, sometimes a moment to wander the streets of Nostalgia and wonder when things got so damn complicated. I'm not going to pretend that if we all just embrace the holiday season with the innocence of children that we will magically transport ourselves to a simpler time, but why not take a step back anyway?

I have decided that from Thanksgiving until Christmas, I will take time each day to count my blessings. At the very least, I will find four things about each Today that make me happy. I don't have any spiffy graphics because I'm art-retarded, especially when it comes to computers, but I hereby dub that time Operation Gratitude Attitude and will do my best to blog every day, even if only a few words to record what I am grateful for that day. I would love it if you would all play along - I know there are a decent number of people (maybe even more than I realize) who read this blog regularly but have never commented or do so only rarely. I want you to share what you are grateful for with me! Let's do this together - I will tell you four things each day that I feel blessed to be/have/see/taste/etc and all you have to do is leave me a comment with just one of your blessings. Do we have a deal?

I'll start:
I am grateful for my loving, faithful, generous, kind, and compassionate husband. (I could keep going, too.)
I am grateful that my parents are still alive and still married...to each other - December 6th will be their 40th wedding anniversary!
I am grateful to be the sister of a woman who can climb mountains, leap from cliffs, and save lives...all in one day.
I am grateful that I love my in-laws and they love me.

What are you grateful for?