home, sweet huh?

Sometimes when I come home from work, the home I return to looks very little like the home I left.  It both amuses and disturbs me when Mister does huge, home-changing projects in my absence because he never ever finishes before I get home, and then he gets distracted and loses steam.

As proof of that, there are two large boxes hanging out in the middle of the living "room" and clothes are strewn all over the bed and floor in the bedroom.  At least we found a place for the shelving unit that had also been in the middle of the bedroom when I first returned from work.

When I married him, I had no idea he would rearrange our furniture every few months while I was at work.  Isn't that something for which women are supposed to be blamed?

Lest you think me ungrateful or dissatisfied, let me assure you - my very first reaction to our home, aside from a brief moment of "what the heck is going on??" was one of joy.  It really looks better (except for the clothing all over the bedroom floor, but that's an easy fix).  He cleared up some space in the living room and finally hung up my carved antique shelves and unpacked the two remaining boxes in the bedroom (yes, I know we moved in February...obviously we didn't need the stuff in the boxes that bad).

I had stopped at Superfresh on my way home because we lacked bread and garlic and apples.  Although he did let me put the groceries away first, as soon as I had my coat off, he required my input for the bedroom, so we finished arranging a few things and moved them around a bit.  Only then did we park on couch and Mister said he was hungry and asked if we could eat.  He isn't usually that forward, so I asked if he wanted me to make something or if he wanted to go out.

Well, today was payday and Friday and I lead the team in sales today, which is quite an accomplishment since I just started a month ago, so we went to Pietro's for a nice little dinner.

We started with a plate of grilled vegetables.  Forgive the dark picture, but the inside of the South Street Pietro's is modeled after the darkened streets of Italy, apparently.  It's beautiful and rustic, with red bricks and stucco and green things growing all over the place and Juliet balconies "overlooking" the dining area.  There are even "gas lamps" on the walls and at the ends of "fences" between dining areas.  It's actually quite gorgeous, but dark.

Anyway, the grilled veggies consisted of artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, grilled zucchini and eggplant (which I rescued from Mister), tomatoes and a couple of cheeses Mister was happy to have to himself.

Mister happily ate his standard order: pizza, while I tasted a little bit of heaven in each bite of my Spaghetti con Pomodoro Fresco.  When I was running an errand for work earlier, I passed the Rittenhouse location and that got my tastebuds drifting off in a reverie of remembering the last time (first time!) I had this and how incredible it was.  Honestly, and it's awful to say this so close to Ralph's (I hope they don't hear me), but this is the best spaghetti I've ever had.

Speaking of heavenly... there are only 1 minute left for the Rapture to occur!  Hold onto your hat, Mr. Camping - I think the bus is coming!

Happy Sunday - it's time to braise!

Hopefully, some church-going readers found the punny humor in the title.  It's better than the original title I had floating about in my brain: Praise Satan!  Er...Braised Seitan.

Let's back the Blasphemy Train up a moment and talk about dinner - Braised Cabbage with Seitan from Appetite for Reduction.

Every once in a while, when I put my menu together on the second glass of wine of a Friday night, I come back to it after I've bought all of the ingredients for the delectable meals I've chosen and thought to myself, What was I thinking?

As such, the only meal on the menu I had even the remotest desire to make tonight was this braised dish. Part of the reason I wasn't terribly interested in my menu was because I'd kind of gotten going out for dinner on my brain, but after spending about $100 on groceries, I just couldn't justify it.  Besides, next week is Mister's birthday, so we may go out to celebrate then.

Anyway, I grabbed the seitan and cabbage from the fridge and started the basmati to steaming.  I sauteed the seitan until it was nice and browned and almost looking a bit crispy, then stirred in the garlic and thyme for a moment before finally layering on the cabbage and two cups of vegetable broth.  It smelled amazing - I love the way things smell when they include thyme.

You can even see how the 15 minutes of braising time plumped the dried leaves back up to beautiful dark green, well, leaves.  You can also see how it kind of looks like the seitan lost most of the beautiful brown color I sauteed onto it, can't you?

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little disappointed in this dish.  I don't know what went wrong, but it didn't taste nearly as flavorful as it smelled.  Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. my tastebuds are burnt out from San Francisco
2. Pacific Organic Vegetable Broth is not flavorful enough for braising
3. I should have used baked seitan instead of the kind that comes in a tub with liquid

The reasoning behind #1 is that it seems like nothing tastes like much of anything after those four days of extremely well-seasoned meals, but I think this is probably BS and if I look back over the last 10 days of posts I'll find evidence otherwise.

#3 makes a certain amount of sense in that I know the recipe I use to make seitan produces irrefutably flavorful seitan and broth usually enhances it, since it's a little dry from not being stored in broth.  Also, unless you prepared store-bought seitan in a very special way, it usually just takes on the flavors around it.  In this case, that is going to lead inevitably to....

The unavoidable culpability of #2.  I'm sorry, Pacific Foods - I love you, you know I do, but your broth kind of sucks and the only reason I bought it is because I used up my Trader Joe's broth on the Granada Paella last night and the only broth Essene carries is yours.  I'll be sticking to your nutmilks from here on out - I hope I didn't hurt your feelings.

Vedge is on the Horizons

Please pardon me if I giggle to myself throughout the post - I couldn't resist the urge to have such a punny title.  Better to laugh at my ridiculousness, though, than to cry over the closing of Horizons, right?

Yes, Horizons is now defunct.   The doors are shut and will not reopen until the building bears a new name (because this area needs another pizza place....like I need a hole in my head), so I will share the details of our "last supper" (toot, toot!  here comes the Hell Train again!  First stop - Blasphemy) before turning my eyes forward to anticipate the opening of the new restaurant, Vedge.

Saturday night was temperate - not too hot, but not remotely cool, and the humidity was surprisingly held at bay.  We prettied ourselves up a little (I felt the occasion warranted sultry red lips and relatively minimal black-shadowed eyes) then headed to Horizons for the last time.  To my surprise, the entire outdoor seating area was unoccupied, so we elected to start the trend - indeed, before we had our aperitifs, we had guests at two other tables nearby.

To be honest, I spent part of Friday and most of Saturday daydreaming about the menu at Horizons, from pre-dinner cocktails and appetizers to the last sip of espresso and bite of a sinful chocolate dessert.  By the time we started our jog over there (Mister's whole family is made up of speed-walkers, whereas I have short legs and sometimes have to run to keep up), I had plotted out my entire gastronomical experience.  I started with the Nightboat to Recife, which I already raved about here, which was a nice accompaniment to my Salt-Roasted Golden Beets.

There is a very sweet-n-sunny difference between your standard roasted red beets and these lighter-tasting siblings.  The sweetness of the beets was appropriately matched with dense, barely-ripe and definitely chilled chunks of avocado, concealing a "surprise" center of marinated tofu.  I even appreciated the charming crunch of the red onions diced within, despite my standard hatred for the allium.

Mister had a delightful looking mediterranean-influenced chopped salad that I forgot to take a picture of until he had already marred its beauty by digging in. [edit: you can see Kelly's great picture of it here]  We both struggled with the desire to start out meal with the BBQ Seitan, because we knew it was unlikely to be featured at Vedge this fall, but we agreed that there was no need for that much seitan in our meal.  How much, you say?

Well, like I mentioned when I recapped our previous dinner at Horizons, there were certain "old favorites" I wanted to taste once more before they were gone.  I have been so busy enjoying the varied flavors and textures of some of the more esoteric entrees on the menu, it's probably been over two years since I last ordered the Grilled Seitan entree.  Mister gets it every time we go there and has already expressed his concern that it might not be available at Vedge, but I've already secured his promise to go when it opens regardless of the presence or absence of seitan on the menu.

While it was certainly as delightful as I remembered it, I'm not killing myself over neglecting it for half the time the restaurant was open.  One of the reasons I was able to allow myself to branch out, so to speak, was the knowledge that Whole Foods and Essene both carry the same brand of seitan that Horizons used.  Somewhere in the last two years, I forgot what made their seitan special isn't the maker, but rather then preparation and presentation.  Mister and I agreed that what really takes Horizons' seitan over the culinary edge is that they grill it to melt-in-your-mouth perfection, meanwhile leaving the little crispy bits on the edges for texture.  Now that Horizons has closed its doors and there is not much chance the Grilled Seitan entree will be on the menu (at least initially) at Vedge, I may need to finally invest in a grill pan for the stovetop.

No meal would have been complete without the amazing Truffle Fries with white BBQ sauce.  I didn't take a picture because I always forget to take a picture.  I don't know - there's something about its side dish status that makes me think, "why would I take a picture of a little tin bread pan with wedge fries in it?"  Regardless, they were every bit as delicious as they've always been and if Vedge doesn't think they're worthy of a place on the menu, it looks like we'll also be investing in some truffle oil of our very own.

Since I'd spent the day fantasizing about dessert, I did not require Mister's reminder to get an espresso to accompany my exquisitely rich (yet not too much so) Chocolate Tart.  No matter how amazing the other desserts are, knowing that Kate Jacoby will be focusing more on fruit-centered desserts at Vedge, I knew I had to get the Tart while I could.  I have very little doubt she will continue to serve her amazing cheesecake, especially since it lends itself so well to fruit accompaniments, but I thought the rich, chocolatey nature of this dessert put it on the endangered list, so it was the last bit of Horizons to pass my lips.

Or not.  As we were finishing up dessert, I heard my name exclaimed from behind me.  Turning, I saw Kelly, looking perfectly pixie-like, especially beside her very tall, incredibly friendly husband.  A round of introductions were had on behalf of the two Misters and then Kelly and Hubby excused themselves to take a short walk before returning for the Happy Hour AfterParty held in the upstairs bar.

As previous pictures of our dinner at Horizons have shown, the dining area inside is considerably darker than the outdoor tables.  Considering it was a fine dining restaurant, this makes sense, and it's nearly surprising that they even had an outdoor seating area as casual as the one on their sidewalk.  There were tasty hors d'oeuvres being butlered by Kate Jacoby herself, as well as some other members of staff.  I was still quite full from dinner, but could not refuse the opportunity to try a seitan-kimchee kind of roll-up...which promptly bit my face off and I had to wait for the bartender to make me a delightful daiquiri unlike any I'd had before in order to take another bite.

I had a great time getting to know Kelly and her husband a little better and after closing the bar (literally, unfortunately), we all walked out together to see the saddest sight I've seen in a while.

While I am truly excited about Vedge and very much anticipating its opening day/night, I am very sad to see Horizons go.  I guess I'll just have to hone my seitan-slinging skills and up my culinary creativity (harbinger of things to come...).

SIN & my BIG FAT Greek Easter

Do they still have the Seven Deadly Sins?  If so, I fear I'm going straight to Hell - do not pass go and do not collect $200.  How else can it go when my entire celebration of Jesus's act of reconciliation involved gluttony?  Well, okay, maybe not the whole celebration, but the part that occurred outside of the church.

After church, we dined with my in-laws (17 of us total) at Estia on Broad and Locust.  It was an extravagant affair to say the least.  Honestly, I would be lying (another sin, surely) if I didn't admit that my favorite part of lunch was seeing all of our family again - it doesn't happen frequently enough.  I'm pretty sure (unfortunately) that the last time I saw my parents-in-law was Christmas - and if that's not a sin, I don't know what is.  Mister and I had a little gift for our nephews, as well, and there is something priceless about watching children take turns pulling off the wrapping paper so they can share every part of the gift - they're good at being brothers.  So my true delight was in the people; my beautiful SIL, a cousin who brought his new lady friend, my little angel baby.  Of course, another priceless moment was when my father-in-law parked himself across from me, attentive waiter behind him, and asked if I would like some "voov," while making a drinking motion with his hand.  In my momentary ignorance, I thought he had learned a new Greek word for "drink," possibly "wine," but once the waiter nodded, noted, and walked away with my FIL, I realized he had just enlisted my assistance in drinking a bottle of Veuve Clicquot!  It helped wash down the huge amount of food that covered every square inch of the table (and some of the round ones) - fried zucchini, various spreads (baba ghanoush, muhammara, hummus, tzatziki) with bread, pita, and crudites, as well as amazing marinated peasant salads of red and orange tomatoes, red and green peppers, and cucumbers.  I barely had space for my entree and resolved, next time my entree will merely be a salad.  There were also three decadent, huge Greek desserts and Greek coffee.  I love Greek stuff - I'm so lucky to be married into this family!

After 15 hugs and kisses, we excused ourselves to run (in heels) to the train station.  We hopped on the train just as it was about to leave us, and 45 minutes later found ourselves in my dad's car.  Once we arrived at the house, I could finally relieve my purse of the jar full of rice, spices, and cashews that I'd carried to church and lunch.  Mom and a cousin were industriously chopping tomatoes for bruschetta while the littlest cousin hunted for plastic candy-filled eggs in my parents' verdant backyard.  While Mom and I started cooking, my dad showed everyone photos and video of me as an infant and toddler, then took the whole merry party down to the basement to play with his bordering-on-obsession trainset.  It takes up the entire basement.  He cut holes in the walls to let the trains go through "tunnels."  I told Dad he has to take this stuff down before he gets decrepit because I don't want to deal with it.  We all figured, though, that the littlest cousin, presently 2 years old, should at least be a teenager before this becomes an issue, so we'll just hire him and some friends for pizza.

Once the Black Bottom Pineapple Tofu on Coconut Cashew Rice (from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy) was done cooking, Mom and I set up the table and called everyone away from the fun to eat dinner.  My plate was delightfully colorful!

Taking up the majority of the plate was the tofu dish, accompanied (counter-clockwise) by a delightful strawberry-walnut salad my mom made, as well as an apple-sweet potato roast.  What a lovely springtime meal, don't you think?

So tonight is the first night of the new menu.  What menu?  Glad you asked:

1. Chili and Polenta Casserole also from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy, and hopefully, it comes together as quickly as they say it does, because this is going to be a busy week, methinks.

2. Pasta Marinara with Kale and Beans - although this will be accompanied by a new recipe for you (yay!), don't get too excited - it's going to be a cheater recipe (with a rockstar name).

3. Spring Vegetable Curry from The Accidental Vegan - why not?  It's spring and Mister Loves Asparagus.

4. Cajun Red Beans and Rice, also from The Accidental Vegan, because it's my fav-fav-favorite rice-n-beans recipe. 

5. Yakisoba, also from The Accidental Vegan, which was dinner tonight.

It's a little bit bland, but there is a subtle aftertaste of ginger and not quite enough garlic.  Of course, I wanted to use my new toy - a ginger grater, so I grated the garlic and I don't think I got as much out of each clove as I do when I press it.  It did a fantastic job on the ginger, though, so well done, Essene!  Best $5 I ever spent (especially after flirting with the $20 Microplane Special People Grater/Zester at Williams-Sonoma when I picked up the gifts for the nephews).  That $15 will go toward the Buy-Natalie-a-4qt-Saute-Pan fund.  Attempting to "toss" a pound of noodles with the veggies and sauce tonight in my 3-qt pan was quite an adventure and pushed me over the Suck-It-Up-and-Spend-the-$$$ edge.  After the rent gets paid :)

the last supper

I hope that wasn't sacrilegious.  The finality of tonight's dinner was just weighing on me a bit and that seemed an appropriate title.  I do apologize if I offended anyone.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's talk about tofu.  I finally made the Punjabi Peppers and Tofu from La Dolce Vegan.  I didn't have much choice, since it was the only dinner I had ingredients left for, but please don't get the impression this was a last resort!  If you look back over the last two posts, you'll see I actually thought of my poor tofu, getting lonelier in the fridge with each passing night, but I had to be careful in my planning, lest I have to take dirty tupperware to my new home.

By the way, my evil scheming came out perfectly - last night's dinner made exactly enough leftovers for me to have lunch at work today and tomorrow, and tonight's dinner is part of our Perfect Portions Series.

It has a lot of other nice qualities, but the lack of leftovers thing is what got it in to the Final Five.

I really love the way the spices work their way into the little nooks and crannies of the tofu, infusing those little cubes with a flavor that is out of this world.  I could very happily eat just the tofu, but then I would be missing out on the phenomenal combination of green and red bell peppers with tomatoes and spices.  The whole dish is terrific - the only weak link is the brown rice, but I didn't feel like replenishing my rice collection when we're only two days from moving.

The plan for dinner tomorrow is Blackbird - we'll share the hand-cut fries and I don't know what Mister's getting, but I am looking forward to trying the Roasted Eggplant Grinder.  I hope to provide some kind of follow-up review (click here for the first one), but I also intend to spend some time tomorrow night packing up my kitchen .   It felt so weird putting away the pots and pans and dishes after I washed them, knowing that I was really preparing them for packing, kind of like a funeral home beautician (except not quite as morbid since I'll be "resurrecting" them in a few days at the new place...wow.  I think I just bought a first-class ticket to Hell on the Blasphemy Train).

Well, before I seal my eternal damnation, how about a cute picture of a sleeping kitty?

Mister decided to move the cat into his new home completely, so now we have his blanket shoved in the TV stand with his pillows just outside so he knows where they are.  Although my first reaction was that this was totally ridiculous since we're moving in a couple of days and will have to uproot him all over again anyway, but then I saw how very much more peaceful my poor little bug was.  He looks so happy and cozy...against my better judgment, I may let him keep that spot when we move...at least it will be something he recognizes, which might prevent him from destroying the door jambs on the very first night we live there, like he did 6 years ago when we moved here.  He'll be joining me on the Train...