I hurt all over

When I started working at the place I just left, about four and a half years ago, the hardest thing for me to get used to was sitting.  I just sat, tethered to a phone, all day.  Yes, I had a couple of breaks, and believe me, I used that time to move around as much as possible, but for the most part I just sat.  The reason this was so difficult for me was because I had been unemployed for nine months, during which time I got into wandering around the city when I wasn't begging people to hire me.  Before I was laid off, I had a pretty physical job - moving at least every hour to go from this room to that or this house to that school.

Conversely, I got a little too good at sitting over the last four years, and my 3 hours daily of commuting did not help.  I got comfortable and besides, sitting so much allowed me to pull off dangerously high heels (which I have consequently forgone in my new position...at least for now).  Now?  Well, my whole body hurts.  I have not had to stand up for 8 hours in a row for....well, probably 15 years, actually.  15 years ago, I worked retail between Black Friday and mid-January, but my body was 15 years younger and able to handle the stress - in heels!  Right now, I would love a good massage and a bottle of aspirin.

My new job had a Grand Opening celebration this weekend with all hands on deck from Friday until tonight.  Everyone was working the floor, including the President, Marketing Director, and a bunch of other people who usually spend a decent bit of time sitting at their desks.  I'm sure at least some of them are hurting, too.

Anyway, I don't have a whole lot to say about food.  I'm hoping to have some good stories next week so I can convince myself to write more.  I'm kind of in this place where I'm re-evaluating Angst Loves Spinach and trying to see what's important and where we're going here.  I started the blog in the hopes of developing myself as a creative chef and as an outlet for my love of writing.  I do love to write and I have had a ball the last two years doing so, but I've definitely gotten away from the original intention - to create recipes, not just babble about the recipes other people made up and I cooked.

I'd like to flatter myself into believing that at least a few people are reading these words in something akin to horror and thinking, "gee, I hope she's not ending the blog..."  If that is going through anyone's mind, let me give a word of comfort - that is not really my intention.  Here is what I am hoping for: I am currently adjusting to my new job and my new schedule.  Once I am adjusted, once my body finds a new strength so I'm not bone-tired when I get home from work, I will find that I have a ton more time.  My goal is to use at least some of that time to become more creative - set goals for myself, force myself to create something at least once a week.

I haven't heard anything (yet) about this year's VeganMoFo (and I truly hope it will occur again this year, but I certainly do not have the time or energy to be one of the initiators/organizers).  The last two years, this event has had a considerable influence on my posting and I'm hoping it will re-ignite the fire in my kitchen again this year.  I'm fairly certain that I will be up to speed and as comfortable as I'll ever be with my new job by the time it starts, so I want to make a schedule of goals to meet that month, culinarily speaking, so that I can spread my wings and stretch again.  I always feel such a sense of accomplishment when I come up with my own recipes, but lately I've been way to tired to do anything but follow someone else's [fabulous] recipe like a little KitchenZombie.

Nevertheless, I will, as I do every week, share the coming week's menu with you (as well as my joy that my new job is only a few short blocks from Trader Joe's, so I'll be stopping there after work tomorrow to pick up supplies):

1. Spanakopita from The Accidental Vegan with roasted fingerling potatoes.  I have never made this recipe.  I will admit, I'm a little nervous about making this recipe, the way I am always nervous when I try to make something Mister knows from his childhood of good eats made with love by a Greek father or a half-Sicilian mother.  My mother-in-law is getting awfully good at making Spanakopita from YiaYia's recipe, under her tutelage, so to go it alone like this is both invigorating and terrifying.  You can bet there will be a post the night I make this!

2. Seitan Pepper Steak, also from The Accidental Vegan.

3. Cajun Red Beans and Rice, also from The Accidental Vegan, because I used all of my self-control last week when I made the menu to not include this, since I had another beans-n-rice recipe on there, but this week, This is the beans-n-rice recipe.

4. Coconut Curry Rice from Vegan on the Cheap.

5. Baked Ziti, also from Vegan on the Cheap with sauteed cauliflower and broccoli.  This is also a new recipe (I believe - sometimes I space makings so far apart I forgot I made something before!), but when I was looking over the menu, I realized we had a lot of cuisines represented (Greek, Japanese, Cajun/Latina, Indian), but no Italian.  If I hadn't come upon this when I did, and if it hadn't looked as easy as it does, we'd have been reprising Isa's Pasta e Fagioli for the 100th time this year.

breath-freshener or dinner?

Sometimes I run on auto-pilot when I start cooking.  Even if it's a recipe I've never made before, sometimes I just gather the ingredients and engage in the chopping, skinning, dicing, scooping, measuring, mixing, saute-ing or baking without pausing to examine the melange of ingredients I'm assembling and manipulating.  Sometimes I forget to be mindful of what I'm eating until I'm halfway through it and wondering exactly what it is that is causing this or that taste to stand above the rest. 

Sometimes.

Then, some other times, I pay very close attention to every detail, somehow just knowing that I will want to remember this later.  Sometimes I sniff or taste the ingredients as I add them, savoring my self-education and the opportunity to reflect on why this flavor goes with this one or why that scent is so enticing (or nauseating).

Sometimes, just as I stir in the last ingredient, a small handful of dried mint, and its scent wafts upwards into my increasingly sensitive and observant nostrils, I remember that one of the first ingredients was cinnamon and I think to myself:

"Really?  Cinnamon and mint?  Is this a good idea?  Is dinner going to taste and smell like I just gargled with Scope and then popped a piece of Big Red in my mouth?"

Tonight I made Vegetable Biryani from La Dolce Vegan.  It was almost nothing like my other recipe.  It was far faster, since it cooks on the stovetop, not in the oven.  It was a little more integrated and a little creamier - my Moosewood recipe doesn't have red lentils and the rice is cooked separately, and then a little rice-vegetable-rice Oreo situation occurs in the construction.  There is also no mint in my other recipe.  I had really mixed feelings about adding it, but in the end, I wanted to be faithful to the recipe.

Although mint and cinnamon co-existing in this recipe still strikes me as bizarre, and although I still have a little trouble smelling mint as I draw the forkful of savory Biryani to my mouth, it was actually quite outstanding.  I will absolutely make this again, but I will add a little more variety (and nutrition) to the table by serving a side dish or two.

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!