fun with homemade seitan

So, in my continuing quest to be frugal and use what I have resourcefully, I made seitan on Sunday and since I had everything I needed for this recipe, it didn't cost me a penny, much less the 459 of them I would have spent at Whole Foods.

Okay, that's kind of a lie.  Not the price - that's true - but the motivation for making seitan.

Going back a week.... Now that we're hosting Thanksgiving, my precious Mister gets to have his long-awaited Tofurky Roast.  We started that "tradition" last year and continued it this year.  The night before Thanksgiving, however, we celebrate with his father and that whole side of the family.  Throughout some conversations, I heard Mister answer someone inquiring about the taste of Tofurky this way: "Well, it's better than the worst turkey you've ever had, but not as good as good turkey."

Silly me, I took this, added it to the fact that Mister only had one slice the following night at our Thanksgiving, and came to the seemingly rational conclusion that Mister didn't like Tofurky so much as he felt like Thanksgiving required it and he just kind of muddled through it for that reason.  So, the day after Thanksgiving, as I was giving thanks for not having to work on Black Friday (see? unemployment is fun!), I decided to eat the leftover Tofurky, gravy, and potatoes.  Do you see where this is going?

So, later that night, Mister went rummaging through the fridge for way longer than usual.  Finally, I asked him what he was looking for.  He said "The leftover Tofurky," and I felt that little twinge of guilt and then said "Oh.  I ate it."  Crestfallen, poor Mister looked for something else to eat, even though he'd apparently "been looking forward to it alllllll day."

Bad wife.  Someday I'll learn.

Anyway, Mister has mentioned in the past that the homemade seitan [loaf] I make is seasoned in such a way that it tastes like lamb, the other thing my sweet Greek misses about eating animals.  To make up for being selfish and thick-headed, I spent Sunday making seitan, which I then sliced and served as filet with Broccoli Chickpea Casserole from Vegan with a Vengeance.

Last night, I wanted to use up what was left of the seitan, so I created a delightful little mediterranean ragout, based roughly on a new recipe in Vegetarian Times by Nava Atlas.

I should say the resulting dinner was "loosely inspired" by the recipe in this month's VT.  In the end I think the only similarity was the 2 Tbsp olive oil and 3 shallots (which were not small).

I don't really have a name for it... I guess you could call it

Broccoli and Seitan Stew (as in, the kind of stew you serve over rice or mashed potatoes)
4-6 servings

2 Tbsp olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
3 large shallots, sliced
1/2 to 3/4 cup vegetable broth
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 cups broccoli florets
15 oz petite diced tomatoes, undrained
about 2 cups cubed seitan

Heat the oil in a large saute pan (4-qts) over medium-low heat.  When oil begins to shimmer, add shallots and garlic and stir well to coat.  Reduce heat to low; Cover and stir occasionally for about 7-10 minutes.  About halfway through, you may find the garlic is sticking and/or browning more than you'd like.  If so, add a splash of broth to deglaze the pan and add some liquid.  By the time you add the broccoli, the shallots should be browning slightly and very soft.

Add broccoli, sprinkle salt and pepper over the broccoli, then pour in half of the remaining broth and cover.  Turn up heat slightly and allow the broccoli to steam for about 5 minutes undisturbed, then lift the lid and stir to combine broccoli and shallots.  Stir in tomatoes, then add the cubed seitan and the remaining broth.  Stir well and cook for about 10 more minutes, uncovered, until everything is tender and smells amazing.

Serve over an aromatic rice (I used Jasmine) or mashed potatoes if you're lucky (and your spouse didn't eat them all...).

pale september

Pale September... I wore the time like a dress that year.  The autumn days swung soft around me, like cotton on my skin.  But as embers of the summer lost their breath and disappeared, ....all my armor falling down in a pile at my feet,and my winter giving way to warm...

Yes, it is finally September.  As the nighttime temps seem to be habitually landing in the mid- to low 60s, I turn my face happily toward Autumn - my favorite season.  A season when Mister's allergies finally get a small bit of reprieve, a season full of beautiful colors, incredible scents (they already have the cinnamon pine cones at Superfresh!) and shorter days through which to squint.  A season when the spiders in my basement, theoretically anyway, should leave me to do my laundry in peace, rather than sending Mister down to make sure they're not waiting to eat me and then freaking out halfway through loading the second load into the washer because a new, not-dead, spindly spider is creeping up the wall only a couple of vulnerable feet away.  If you'll wait a moment, I need to go ask Mister to switch the loads now...

Anyway, to celebrate the new month, we met up with my parents for lunch today.  Okay, actually, it was completely coincidental that they were in town today and it just happened to be the first of September.  Regardless, we met them at Cooperage, outside the Curtis Center, and I finally got to sit at the wood veneer tables in those neat black wicker booth benches with orange cushions.  Normally, the orange and black combination makes me think of Halloween, but for some reason, with this place it just makes me think of manly men who drink bourbon and how masculine I fancy myself sometimes.  I'm probably going to regret writing that.

I got a veggie burger with sweet potato fries - yes, sweet potato fries!  This was a very exciting moment for me.  Unfortunately, they were not nearly as tasty as the ones I've had out west.  At this point, it may be a power of suggestion kind of thing.  The veggie patty was okay, but since Mister's squooshed out in every direction, I just ate mine with a fork.  Not very manly of me, I'll admit.  Then again, neither is this drink:

That's my Bumboo Punch and it had something like 5 different fruit nectars in it.  It was strong, though - despite the many competing fruit juices, I could taste the rum quite distinctly.  It was a fun lunch - our water was served in mason jars with handles and our sandwiches came in shallow metal pails.  I'm not totally sure what that was about, but it definitely added to the whole Early 20th Century vibe the place had going on (which was exactly why I chose it).

Nevertheless, after sitting in the sun for about an hour and drinking that tall, fruity, rummy drink, I was ready for a serious nap when we got home.  Instead, Mister and I had a pot of coffee.

Isn't that pretty?  Mister bought me that tea-cup a few years ago and his mom got me the saucer for my bridal shower.  Normally, I just display all of my antique tea-cups (and saucers, of course!) on my china cabinet shelves, but I thought to myself today, "What's the use in having pretty things if I don't occasionally use them?"  So I pulled that pair off the shelf, rinsed them off and had my coffee in pretty china.  That made Mister smile at me.

This makes me smile.  Actually, it makes me smile and giggle a little, too.  It never stops being funny to me how I can make Leftover Molds.  I told Mister I didn't want to make Lasagna tonight because we still had so much Jambalaya leftover, so I heated up the three pounds of leftovers for dinner tonight.  It didn't taste any different than the first time, but it sure was more amusing, slipping out of the Gladware and holding its shape like a little Cajun Bundt cake made with rice, vegetables, and seitan.

three pounds

What does a person do with 3lbs of leftovers?  I mean, seriously.  The only reason all that was left of Seitanic Red and White Bean Jambalaya fit into only one Gladware container was because I forced it to by putting my full weight on the lid to seal it.  It won't surprise me if it busts loose in the fridge.  I hope it doesn't though, because that will be a mess to clean up.

We'll get back to that in a moment, though.  Today was an interesting day.  I had gotten myself into this panicked mindset that my little R&R Staycation was drawing to an end way too quickly.  I mean, yes, when it's over I get to go to my new job, but it's still work and no one really wants to go back to work.  Except possibly new mothers after a year of being home.  Maybe they do.

Anyway, once I realized that my last day of work was a half a week earlier than I had given notice for, I was relieved that I was 4 days into 10, rather than 5 - 40% is way better than 80% in this situation.  I got up a little before noon - I got into "bad habits" these last few days because I was so overjoyed that I didn't have to go to bed by any particular time.  Unfortunately, since I will need to return to a "workingman's" schedule next week, I don't want to let myself get into the habit of staying up later than I have in years and sleeping later than I have in, well, years.  So, once I'd had a couple of cups of coffee and a nice little breakfast, I got ready to go do stuff.  Mister was sleepy, so I decided to just wander around Center City East looking for somewhere new and fun to eat lunch with my parents on Thursday.

Local folks - have you ever been inside the Curtis Center?  To be completely honest, aside from housing offices of various companies, I have no idea what goes on in that building.  I wouldn't mind working there one day, though, for two reasons:

Reason #1 - that's the lobby!  There is a huge waterfall/fountain thing with this huge arcade with a solitary baby grand piano hanging out in the middle (roped off presumably so loonies like me don't think it's okay to play it), flanked by an Mid-Atlantic attempt at palm trees!  And I must say, I wouldn't have thought to put huge potted ferns up on 3-story high pedestals to imitate palm trees.  I wonder who has to water them...

Reason #2...well, that is actually a tie.  My dad works right around the corner (in fact we've wandered in on lunchtime breaks near Christmas to see the gargantuan tree they put up in that same lobby), so it would be great to work less than a block from him - we could have lunch every day!  The other great thing is Cooperage, which is why I saw this magnificent sight today to begin with.  I wanted to see their menu to ensure there was something Mister and I could eat because they have these awesome outdoor "booths" that I've been wanting to eat at for at least a year.  Outdoor dining season in Philadelphia is relatively short, though, because not as many places have heat lamps as they should for such adventures, but even still, autumn can be a very rainy time here.

By the way, the only reason an awesome restaurant is comparable to working close enough to my dad to have lunch with him every day is because eventually, the old man will retire, and then what will I have?  An awesome restaurant :)  love you, Dad!

Anyway, after wandering around town for a bit, I stopped into Bodhi Coffee with my book and enjoyed a tall, steamy cup of Stumptown Roast before heading home to make dinner.  Good thing I had some coffee!  Actually, it didn't take all that long to make the Jambalaya since I was using the Le Creuset of Doom, apparently.  I don't know what magical powers that pot has, but it boils water more violently and enthusiastically than any pot I've ever seen.  As such, I can't imagine why I didn't think it would cook the heck out of the Jasmine rice I used in the Jambalaya in about 10 minutes flat.  Really.  It's a good thing I thought to check on it, even though it still had at least 15 minutes to go (according to the recipe, which uses a heavy dutch oven, which I have, but didn't want to clean), it was actually starting to adhere to the bottom of the pot.

I didn't take pictures of it hot because it really wasn't all that interesting looking, but have you ever wondered what 3lbs of leftover Jambalaya looks like?  Yes, I really did weigh it on our bathroom scale.

You can't really tell, but the top is definitely a little domed upward.

I figure it will be a good thing to just reheat if there is some point this week that I was too busy doing nothing of great import to have the energy to cook.  I mean, it's happened before...

secret special sauce

Maybe it's just me and maybe I've just heard one too many nasty rumors about the "cooks" in fast food restaurants, but does anyone else get skeeved out when they see "Chef So-and-So's Special Sauce" listed on a menu?  My brain just goes right to, "No, thank you!"  Yes, even in fancy restaurants with real chefs.

Anyway, I'm going to share tonight's dinner tale first, since it's relevant to the title, then we'll backtrack to last night's meal and activities.  My goal, both when I bought my groceries and even as I set out to start my chopping and cooking and whatnot tonight was to make Panang Cucumber Curry from the hallowed pages of the September Vegetarian Times magazine.  As I was going along, though, I realized that I made so many tweaks that what I made didn't actually resemble the recipe at all, aside from that they both involved cucumbers and the end result was a delicious curry.

Since I departed so far from the original recipe that I didn't actually consult the magazine at all once I started cooking, I feel completely clear to give you my easier, pared down recipe:

Tofu-Veggie Curry with Special Sauce
makes 4-6 servings (4, if you're piggy like me and Mister)

Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice
1 3/4 cups water


14 oz extra firm tofu, cubed and drained
1 large hothouse cucumber, cubed
1 medium red bell pepper, sliced thinly lengthwise
1 Tbsp peanut oil
2 Tbsp tamari, divided
15 oz jar of prepared curry cooking sauce*


Boil water in a 2.5-qt saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.  Stir in basmati rice and cover, reducing heat to its lowest setting.  Steam for 20-25 minutes then turn off heat and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes, preferably 10.

Meanwhile, cube the tofu into 1" pieces and allow to drain on a towel.  [Alternately, you could press it for an hour, but my main goal here was a quick and easy meal.]  Heat the peanut oil and 1 Tbsp tamari in a saute pan or large, deep skillet until the tamari starts to bubble a bit.  Add the tofu and stir, gently but thoroughly, to coat all tofu with the tamari-oil mixture.  Cover and saute on medium heat 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, while you prep the pepper and cucumber.

About 5 minutes into the tofu sauteing time, lay bell pepper slices over top of the tofu and replace cover. Dice your cucumber, then stir the cucumber in with the pepper slices and tofu; at the same time, stir in the prepared curry sauce and the remaining 1 Tbsp tamari.  Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently 3-5 minutes, just until the sauce and cucumber are warmed through.

To serve, plate a bed of basmati and then spoon the curry over top of it.  You could garnish with a thai basil leaf if you want to be fancy.  I didn't.

* I used Patak's Original Jalfrezi Curry Cooking Sauce for our dinner and I quite liked how it came out.  It was not terribly spicy at all, so if you're looking for that aspect, you may want to also stir in any spare harissa or sambal oelek you have lying around.  Patak's has a whole line of curry cooking sauces, but be sure to check the ingredients - this one is vegan, but others use real cream.

Anyway, when I got home from work last night, my home was dark.  How many times have I started a Leftovers story like that?  Does anyone have the next line memorized?  I'll give you one hint.

So, since Mister was unconscious and slightly delirious and taking up the whole bed, I decided to try to "enhance" what was left of our totally anticlimactic Orecchiette con Broccoli.

I started out by heating some olive oil and white wine together in a skillet.  I added the last of the leftovers and sprinkled everything generously with my Mediterranean sea salt, but then I decided to also add some tamari.  There are very few things in the realm of stove-top cooking that I don't think would be improved by the addition of tamari.

Fortunately for me, this was definitely one of those things!  It was so tasty I was disappointed there was so little left!  In the end, though, it left more room for dessert: Soy Delicious Fruit-sweetened Chocolate Almond "ice cream."

My internet connection crapped out before I could come on here and babble, but that gave me a great excuse to do two things I'd been meaning to do for a while: I mended a hole in my bathrobe and a whole mess of socks while watching "Pretty Woman" for the first time in at least a year (that's a long time for me to go without!).

Did someone say Pretty Woman?


Purely by coincidence, there just happens to be a new post up on Pretty Woman in an Ugly World.  It's not about the Whole Foods experience, rather, I take on an even bigger giant - the Starpower of Starbucks.  Check it out if you have a chance!

I just want something I can never have

I seem to always have one of two things working against my culinary adventuresome-ness.  Either I don't realize that an ingredient is super-bizarre and not likely to be hanging out on the shelves of your average Whole Foods, or in some strange subconscious way, to challenge myself, perhaps, I seek out recipes that use esoteric ingredients I may very well never need again.

You wouldn't really think that fava beans would fall into one of those categories, would you?  Well, maybe the first - the one where I didn't think it was all that strange an ingredient.  After all, they were the star of a very famous line in a very famous movie in the not-too-distant past.  Nevertheless, much like my extensive Hunt for Harissa, my attempt to make a meal involving what I thought was a relatively common Italian vegetable took me all over the city before I finally secured the magic ingredient.

Many thanks to DiBruno Brothers in Rittenhouse Square for having just enough amazing things to also have the thing I was seeking.  It had fallen over on a top shelf, but I found it and made it mine.  Actually, the harissa was also hiding on a top shelf.  Does that say something [aristocratic] about my tastes?  Maybe it just means I should be taller.

So, the bag of dried beans didn't exactly say "Fava Beans" but I figured Fava Anything was closer than I'd gotten previously, so I brought them home, soaked them last night, and boiled the heck out of them tonight.  To my great delight, I appear to have successfully revived them and made them a part of our dinner: Tuscan-Style Beans with Tomatoes and Sage.

I served them over the leftover Pasta e Fagioli because I didn't feel it was necessary to make new pasta when we hadn't finished that yet.  Additionally, there seemed to be a slightly disproportionate ratio of beans (cannellini + fava) to tomatoes, so I figured it was probably a nice touch to use pasta that already had tomato slush on them.

Unfortunately, entirely due to the base, Mister thought we were having leftovers for dinner and was very surprised when I pressed him for a reaction to the meal.  After he explained that dinner was leftovers and I explained that only the base was left over, he explained that he thought anyone who would eat just beans and tomatoes for dinner was quite out of his/her mind, thereby confirming my suspicion that this meal needs a base.  As they go, I think pasta was the best option, but perhaps a fresh, bigger pasta would be better in the future.  I thought small was the way to go, but after Mister's reaction, I'm reconsidering.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I need to be in a pretty special place to actually listen to the song that inspired the title of what was otherwise a fairly jovial post, so if you're interested, click here. You go on and check it out.  I'll hang back here.

longest week ever

I know I say this every Friday, but I am SO glad it's Friday and I'm home from work for two days.  Have you ever had one of those weeks that just never seemed to end?  It never happens when you have a ton to do and need more time, right?  Nooo... you only manage to squeeze that 25th hour in when all you want is for the day/week to be over.

I'm excited to be going to a cousin's wedding on Sunday - let's hope it doesn't rain!  I can't wait to see what a lovely bride she'll be and I'm thrilled with this completion of her family.  Her husband-to-be is a great guy - a true gentleman and a good father/provider.  They are such a great couple and I am delighted to be a part of the day they officially commit their lives to one another.

I wish I could say that was the only reason I wanted the week to pass quickly, but as you may have picked up from recent posts, things aren't going so well at work.  An image comes to mind...

Anyway, I really hit a wall last night.  Well, maybe yesterday in general.  Usually, I just have to give my brain/soul a little pep talk on the way to work, but my body cooperates with my efforts to force myself out of my home, onto the train, up the stairs, and into the cube farm.  Yesterday, even my body rebelled and I literally had to use my arms to force my legs to carry me into the office.  Yes, I do know what the word "literally" means and I do mean to use that word.

I narrowly avoided being whipped up into the Dark Clouds of the Apocalypse that chased me to the train on my way home, only to observe the hail hitting the windows once I was safely on board.  I didn't think it was supposed to rain until today, so I had no umbrella.  Fortunately, I found a very kind and amusingly chatty cab driver to take me home from the train station.  Obviously, my plans to coerce Mister into a dinner outside at Horizons (or even just Stella) were rained out, but I had absolutely no desire to cook.  At all.  Possibly for the rest of my life.

In case you were wondering, this is what dinner looks like on those nights.  It kind of looks like a jello mold, but with farfalle and purple cabbage, wouldn't you say?  It looks about that appetizing, too.  Fortunately, after a brief braise with about 1/2 cup of vegetable broth and a generous sprinkling of the Mediterranean Sea Salt, it tasted just fine.

I'll admit, though, it was kind of fun watching the perfectly molded leftovers escape the container in which they'd spent the last few days.

Tonight, though, I was perfectly and happily aware that it is Friday.  I made a little deal with God toward the later part of the afternoon.  It went something like this: "please don't let it rain until I have made it to the wine store and home safely."  There really wasn't any "and then I'll do this for you," part, unless you want to count my silent agreement to not throw a temper tantrum on 5th Street.  Fortunately, God loves me anyway; in fact, God loves me so much that it's still not raining.  Maybe we can make a deal for Cousin's outdoor wedding on Sunday?

With some help from an almost-missed treasure on the bottom-most shelf of one of the foreign wine sections, I gathered the ingredients for a hearty, flavorful, and elbow-grease-intensive Pasta Puttanesca with Artichokes, from The Complete Vegan Cookbook.  In addition to enlisting the assistance of my newly acquired bottle of Nederburg Pinotage (which I haven't had in about 10 years!), I got to snip some leaves off of my pretty, aromatic, kitty-seducing basil plant (which I have craftily hidden in the one windowsill he hasn't discovered yet).

I was a little worried about the contribution the artichokes would make, since I was supposed to get frozen, rather than canned (but did not).  Fortunately, since the artichoke hearts were simply soaking in salt water, rather than brine or marinade, they were actually somewhat overpowered by the pungent sauce.  I also used more red pepper flakes than I'm usually comfortable adding, which added a fun little kick in the throat.  This was good and I can certainly see myself making this again, but at this particular moment in time, I can't think of anything that makes this sauce outstanding against many other puttanesca recipes I have.

faux fare and photos - time to weigh in

So, the veg-world is all atwitter (literally, in some cases) about a recent expose´ on quarrygirl.com about VegNews magazine using stock photos in their publication.  Anyone who is not "in the know" is probably wondering what is so bad about using stock photos - well, it just so happens these stock photos contained animals and not when they're all cute and fuzzy.

Feel free to check out the post, but I encourage you to also read the comments and maybe head over to a few other sources of information about this whole debacle.  There are really two battles being fought here and I feel like I've spent enough time reading compassionate, though possibly misguided defenses and venomous, movement-demeaning attacks to share my own thoughts now.  I absolutely invite dialogue via the comments section, but having seen how fired up people are getting about this, I do request that anyone who wants to share their thoughts does so in a respectful manner.

So, like I said, there are really two issues going on here and as far as I can tell, most people are picking one and ignoring the other, whichever is better suited to their own passion.  To be completely honest, I am feeling vaguely ambiguous about this whole thing - I have not yet had a defined, strong feeling push me one way or the other, though this has certainly been a brainbug for me the past few days.

I have slightly less to say about the first part, so we'll do this first: People are tweaked because the magazine used stock photos that included actual meat and/or dairy products to represent recipes or products.  Okay, I get that - the major public outcry is that this demonstrates a severe lack of integrity.  Integrity is very important to me, so I can go along with this one.  Is it deceitful and underhanded of a magazine that actively promotes not just a vegetarian diet but rather a vegan lifestyle to use pictures of dead animals?  Absolutely.  Do I think they were wrong?  Absolutely.  Then, just in case there was any hope for the staff of VegNews to reclaim their lost integrity, they made damn sure no one thought they were apologizing.  The "letter" they published on the website was very well written and can easily be read in a placating tone.  A person could almost accept their apology...if one had actually been offered.  Instead, VegNews's mea culpa sounds more defensive than it does regretful - as though the only thing they're actually sorry about is being caught.  At no point do the authors of the letter actually say "I'm sorry," when those two little words would have saved them a lot of grief in the long run.  Instead, they dug their hole a little deeper, and it will take even longer for them to find their way out.

As I was eating my dinner tonight (alone, since Mister fell asleep early), I decided to glance through my new issue of VegNews, which arrived on the date all this controversy began, coincidentally.  As I turned the pages, each time my eyes fell upon a picture, I caught myself wondering if it was also a stock photo and if I should be trying to decipher some digital manipulation, or if it really was a photo of a vegan culinary delight.  To be truthful, that led to the collection of thoughts that chased me over to my computer, determined to get out the words that keep repeating themselves inside my head.

You can't (really) fake a picture of a carrot.  Short of chopping up and bleaching beef fat, you aren't likely to have animal products in a picture of hash browns.  I can't think of a single part of an animal that looks like broccoli.  If you can, please do not share :)

Some people are saying that VegNews is making vegans look bad to omnivores; they say it looks like we're all starving for what we've chosen not to eat.  Well.... why are we looking for ways to veganize BBQ ribs, then?

What keeps going through my head is faux fare.  Think for a moment, folks.  We have Daiya and a bunch of other vegan "cheeses."  For heaven's sake, there is a whole cookbook devoted to making vegan cheese.  We have Gardein and Boca Chicken patties and Tofurky sausages, not to mention "deli meat" slices by LightLife, Tofurky, and Yves.  I'll excuse the original Tofurky roast since it was intended to help veganize a holiday that reeks of death to those of us who don't want to rip the flesh off of a dead bird with our teeth, but even that fits the paradigm.

What paradigm?  Glad you asked - the one that says we need to have something "equal" to the meat eaters' entree choices in order to "keep up" or be fulfilled and satisfied.  Think for a moment on the inordinate amount of time we spend scouting out, preparing, reviewing, and scrounging for meat substitutes?  The most coveted honor in vegan cooking?  From what I have seen, it appears to be the perfection of a vegan mac 'n' cheese recipe.  I see this quest represented in almost every cookbook I own, on almost every blog I've ever read.

Please don't think I don't count myself amidst the guilty, friends.  There have been times I have embarrassed myself with the amount of "fake meat" and/or "fake dairy" in my grocery basket, times that I have cringed as I placed my items on the conveyor belt at Whole Foods and wondered if the cashier thought ill of me.  I regularly buy Tofurky deli slices for Mister (it's my way of making up for not buying him cheese anymore), I probably buy Tofurky sausages as frequently as I buy tofu, and it is a rare shopping trip I don't leave without a carton of soymilk.  Other culprits?  Soy yogurt, soy/rice cheese, daiya shreds, Yves ground "meat," Gardein "chicken," veggie burgers, non-dairy ice cream, vegan hot dogs, vegan meatballs.  I could probably go on, but you get the point.  I am not immune.

I am, however, self-aware.  If we are afraid that omnis will see this debacle and think vegans are a bunch of crazy people who really just want what we "can't" have, we need to recognize that this is an indictment of ourselves, not a magazine that is trying to give us what we want.  Do you want a review of the top 5 veggie hot dogs as we all prepare to fire up the grills for the first time this spring?  Well, please don't be surprised when a magazine uses a stock photo rather than taking some crappy picture of one of the dogs only to have the manufacturers of the other 4 calling and emailing to find out why they didn't photograph their dogs.  And don't be scandalized when it's a stock photo of a "real" hot dog.  First of all, there is nothing "real" in hot dogs - just lips and a**holes, folks.  Second, aside from being a psycho-stalker and checking every photo they print against a database of stock photos, can you really tell the difference between artificially pink "beef/pork" and artificially pink soy?  I can't.

If all the people who are spending their time railing against VegNews and using inappropriate forums to make their point would use their energy to examine their own diet and consumer behavior for a moment, they might understand why [lack of integrity notwithstanding] this really isn't a good reason to tear down a magazine that is trying to do some good in a world full of abuse and hatred.  Did the staff of VegNews deceive us?  Yes.  Did they apologize?  Not yet, that I'm aware of, and I still really think that would be their most appropriate next move if they have any hope of salvaging their really good publication.  Regardless of this whole situation, for the last 11 years, this magazine has been on the forefront of a movement to draw the good things of veganism into the mainstream.  Having won a prominent place on newsstands everywhere, I'd say they have been instrumental in spreading "the good word."  Using deceptive photos does not discount the fact that every single recipe is unapologetically vegan, every product they promote is vegan, and the overall focus of the magazine is highlighting vegans and helping lower-profile folks become better, more thoughtful, more educated people. 

VegNews was a large contributing factor in my decision to go vegan.  I didn't flip through a magazine or two and say "wow, those pictures of fake mac 'n' cheese look so good!  I guess I can be vegan now."  I carefully read the features, examined their advertisements, sifted through their "favorite" products.  After garnering as much information as I could, I decided to give it a go because their words, their promoted products, and their recipes (with or without pictures) gave me hope that I could give up the things that hurt the world without losing out on things I love (like chocolate).

I had intended to review our dinner at Horizons (last night) and maybe poke some fun at how miserably I eat when I don't cook for Mister and I, rather than writing a manifesto on looking in the mirror before casting that stone.  All of that needed to come out, though, so thank you for reading it.  Like I said, I welcome your thoughts on the matter as well, but please state them respectfully.  As a reward for making it this far, I'll let you see how uncivilized I can be when Mister sleeps through dinner - it's especially ironic, given the point of this post, that dinner tonight was leftover "meatloaf."

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some tasty vegan coffee cake to attend to.  I do plan to put it on a plate.

you lose some, you win some

So, I don't think I did too much to hide my disappointment with the Sicilian Market Pasta.  It had so very much potential to be an amazing pasta dish, but just not enough flavor in the end.  I was able to resurrect it and enhance it with some dollar tomatoes, but when I followed the actual recipe, it was nothing Mister and I would eat again.

But the chili was so good we ate until we were fat (which probably contradicts the purpose of the recipe) and Mister actually requested that I heat up the leftovers last night instead of cooking a new dinner.  So, when I got my peppers out to make dinner tonight, I had forgotten that I was afraid her infrequent use of pasta in recipes made Susan slightly less skilled in using it as an ingredient.

When I put my peppers (and tomato) on the counter to wait for their scrubbings, I was struck by the vibrant color contrast.  I love when recipes use multi-colored peppers, because unlike M&Ms, you actually can taste the difference between red and green and yellow.

One of the things I initially found intriguing enough about this recipe to include it in our weekly menu were the instructions to roast the peppers and sausages while the pasta cooked.  Once everything was laid out on the baking sheet, I was struck by two thoughts.

1. Look how pretty those peppers are!
2. Maybe I should just saute these buggers in some olive oil.

In then end, I just hoped the extra spray of olive oil would keep everything from drying out in the oven (my main concern was the Tofurky, honestly) and tried to give Susan another chance.  That positive thinking got me as far as combining the pasta with the roasted peppers and sausages before I started muttering under my breath about how she managed to win blog awards when she clearly doesn't know anything about cooking pasta, and what kind of nut doesn't love olive oil, and how I was going to ignore her blog from this point forward.

In other words, I lost my faith.

Turns out, I was a little premature.  It tasted just as good as it looks.  Granted, I did some serious tweaking to the tomato sauce, incorporated not only a generous bit of olive oil but also my "secret" ingredient - V8 Spicy Hot.  I was right about the sausages drying out a bit, and the roasting enhanced their flavor a little too much for me - they're already pretty intense; they don't need any help.  The peppers, however, were divine.

In fact, the only complaint I have about Pasta with Peppers and Sausage is that my mouth is too small.

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.

strategic meal planning

If tofu was self-aware, it would probably feel pretty jilted right now.  I started last night's post by revealing I was going to make Punjabi Peppers and Tofu, but I made Chickpea Cutlets with french fries instead.  Tonight, I was absolutely planning to make the peppers and tofu, but it occurred to me on the way home that there would be no leftovers.  That is, of course, a goal for this week, but I ate the last of the Pasta e Fagioli leftovers for lunch today, meaning tomorrow would be PB&AppleB...unless I made Farfalle with White Beans and Cabbage from Vegan on the Cheap.

As I'm sure you can see, I used rotini instead of farfalle, since I have yet to encounter a 12 oz box of farfalle.  It was tasty but a bit bland.  I don't think I seasoned it nearly enough, but at the same time, I pressed 6 cloves of garlic into the oil in which the cabbage sauteed and I think that should have made a little more effort to show up in the flavor profile.  Although the recipe said to season with salt and pepper, that sounded kind of boring when I have a perfectly good shaker of Mediterranean Sea Salt at my disposal.  Unfortunately, I just didn't put enough on to make a big difference in the taste.

As I expected it to, the head of cabbage and box of pasta made a voluminous amount of dinner, so I should be set for work-lunch tomorrow and Friday.  It blows my mind that we're moving this weekend.  At least half of our [remaining] possessions are in boxes, hopefully more by the time I go to sleep tonight, but it just hasn't hit me that on Monday, this won't be where I live anymore.  Although I am completely psyched to get out of this closet, getting rid of a lot of excess crap in the doing, and although I am really looking forward to setting up our new home just the way I want it, this is a little bittersweet.  I've lived here for 6 years.  Even though the apartment is tiny, cramped, and falling apart, I know it and it's little quirks.  I love the view I have from my front and kitchen windows - I can see the Penns Landing fireworks from my kitchen and there's nothing like a corner property to watch people or snow (or people in snow).  Plus, isn't it just weird to leave a place you've called home for so long?

Time is ticking on, so if I want to do anything productive, I should probably start now.  Tomorrow, only take-out will keep me from making Punjabi Peppers and Tofu [shhh! don't say that!].

creeping closer

I keep going back and forth between elation and disbelief (okay, there's a little bit of anxiety mixed in to give the cocktail a little something extra) about the fact that we're moving next weekend.

I'm indescribably excited to do the moving in part - setting everything up the way I want it, plotting out the perfect ways to maximize space, meanwhile creating a cozy and welcoming home.  Actually, I don't think "cozy" will ever be a problem in a city apartment.  I'm psyched for a trip to IKEA because new furniture is fun and I always enjoy the feeling of accomplishment I get from constructing something.  I can't wait to make our first dinner there, then maybe sit back on our new couch and watch a movie for the first time in months.  That sounds like a pretty nice way to spend Valentines day after all, doesn't it?

I'm also a little anxious, not only because of the pile of boxes in my home, but also because of all the things that aren't yet in boxes.  I'm dreading packing up my dishes and cookware, and I'll delay it as long as possible, but inevitably, it must occur.  Between the normal new apartment expenses (in this case 2.5 months rent to move in) and the new couch, new desk, and possible kitchen extension (more on that next week), February is looking to be an expensive month.  We can handle it, but the thought of multiple days of carry-out, followed by a decadent (read: Expensive) V-Day dinner at Horizons, is a little daunting and not an expense I'm looking forward to, so I'm hoping to wait as far into next week as possible before packing up.

We've already begun the Boring Dinners part of preparing to move, which is one of the reasons I skipped last night.  I made Tuscan White Bean Pizza from Vegan on the Cheap and it really wasn't very attractive, so I didn't take any pictures.  I'll share one from last time, though, because it was a positively sexy pizza last time I made it.

We almost repeated the pizza theme tonight.  After waiting in cold, gusty wind that wanted to knock me over while I waited for 30 minutes for my train to take me home tonight, I [obviously] got home a bit later than usual.  I almost stopped at Blackbird, but then I remembered what our "menu" will look like next week and kept going.  Instead of take-out, we had leftover Pasta Jambalaya.

Mister was completely okay with that, though.  I should have realized it was a favorite when he had three servings the other night and enthusiastically pulled the leftovers out of the fridge for me while I took off my coat.

lentils save the day/a souper supper

So, since I skipped last night in favor of some much needed sleep and unwarranted stupidity (with which I may still be infected), does that mean you get a double post tonight?

Kinda.

The unifying thread will be lentils and how awesome they are, but we will read a tale of two suppers.  Can I just say before we begin that I am so excited it's Friday that I haven't completely understood yet that it is Friday?  I'm still in get-stuff-done mode, so although I refrained from sharing my agenda with Mister over dinner...I still have one.  I've already made and eaten dinner and started into my brand new bottle of Dragani Montepulciano D'Abruzzi.  I'm presently babbling posting, so all that's left is menu-planning (and a second glass of wine).  Halfway through the to-do list isn't a bad place to find oneself after one of the most productive and frantic weeks of my life.  That includes the weeks leading up to my wedding...a cakewalk compared to this past week.

So, although I had planned to make my Indian Lentil dish last night and even had waffles for breakfast instead of oatmeal so I wouldn't dirty the pan I needed, by the time I got home from work around 9:10, despite my best intentions, cooking a meal was not on my list of priorities.  Fortunately, there was a large Gladware container filled nearly to the brim with Vegetable Lentil Stew in the fridge.  I pulled it out and walked over to Mister, showed him the container and suggested we heat up the leftover stew for dinner.  He laughed and agreed and while the soup was warming and filling my kitchen with the most homey and delightful scent, I realized what a perfect night it was for soup anyway, since the day's high temperature hadn't even crested the freezing mark.

Soup to the Rescue!

Anyway, since I had already thawed the frozen spinach in preparation for last night's cooking adventures, I set my mind to making Indian-Spiced Lentil Ragu from Vegan on the Cheap before I took a step off the train.  I came in the door and put down my stuff, made a few unintelligible noises at Mister, then started to simmer the rice and lentils.

It smelled so rich I was afraid I wouldn't be able to eat it, but then I remembered how tasty and nutritious it is and dug in.  Although this is a time-consuming meal to prepare, it really doesn't take much effort, which is fortunate, since I didn't have much energy!  I still don't and I'm beginning to fear carpal tunnel might take up residence in my wrists soon from all the typing and other computer work I've crammed into the last 5 days.  Before I start babbling like a complete idiot and making typo/grammatical errors even a first-grader would catch, I'm going to muddle through menu-planning and dish-washing.  Then, I will have an epic sleep.

$20 for groceries (revisited)

When I was taking the VeganMoFo survey and I got to the following question:

You have $20 to spend on fresh groceries and produce for the whole week (with a fairly well stocked pantry of dry goods, legumes, grains, and spices). What do you buy?

 I thought that it was a clever, make-ya-think kind of question.  I had no idea I would have to take it seriously a week later!  Nevertheless, I went grocery shopping today with the list I made from last night's menu planning and although I didn't have a dollar goal in mind (aside from spending as few of them as possible), that question/hypothetical situation kept repeating itself in my head.  I used my super-sleuth eyes to find the lowest prices on everything on my list and absolutely could not believe it when I arrived home with our entire week of groceries for...are you ready?  I don't think you are.  I have two receipts here to show any doubters that I walked away from the stores with everything I need for this week's dinners for only...(drum roll, please)

$22.54

No, I'm seriously not kidding.  That is how much I spent, total, between Whole Foods and Superfresh.  
No, I don't think I could be any more pleased with myself. :D

And just in case you still don't believe me (I don't blame you), here is what you can get for that amount:

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1 lemon
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 poblano pepper
• 1 loaf of multigrain bread
• 1 block of extra firm tofu
• 32 oz almond milk
• 16 oz ziti
• 28 oz crushed tomatoes
• 14 oz fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 15 oz cannellini beans
• two 15 oz cans of black beans
• 15 oz pinto beans
• 16 oz salsa
• 1 lb of colombian coffee
• frozen apple cinnamon waffles

for $22.54.  I'm not lying.  Here's how I did it: first, I made a list and did not even look at anything that was not on that list (even though I almost got distracted by the "upsells" at WF checkout again).  Second, if there were a few brands available (for example, the tomato products and pasta), I looked for the lowest priced item, even if it was only a few cents difference - those cents add up.  Third, I have a Superfresh club card, which not only makes me eligible for the $1 can of crushed tomatoes, but also gives me an additional 5% off my next trip after I spend $300 there (which, by the way, takes me about 2 months at least), and I got my certificate last time, so that knocked a little bit off the SF bill (5% to be exact).

So, to my great surprise and Mister's delight, we actually have a precious few discretionary dollars this week.  We have food, with at least one item on the menu promising leftovers.  I have a miraculously unopened bottle of Beaujolais and I'm looking forward to seeing how long it stays in that state - I'm betting for tomorrow night.  I have $3 in my wallet and a few in the bank, and only 4 days until that wonderful transfusion called "my paycheck."  I think we're gonna make it.

Then, in an effort to stave off Mister's use of those discretionary dollars for pizza by at least one more day, tonight's dinner was Tuscan White Bean Pizza.

What an attractive and tasty meal - the pizza, which I really jazzed up (more in a minute), served with a bowl of mixed olives and the last of the leftover soup.  I feel like a little bit of a glutton, revealing that Mister and I each start with 2 slices of pizza, but neither of us went back for more, so think whatever you want ;)

Now for the fun: the picture isn't the best, but it's the best I have to show you the big chunks of green hiding in the "sauce."  You may recall the picture of my mom industriously mincing fresh herbs when we were cooking together for Thanksgiving.  Well, she doesn't use a lot of fresh herbs, so she sent me home with fresh sage, thyme, and marjoram.  I ran out of basil recently and keep forgetting to replace it so I usually sub dried marjoram because it smells very similar - sweet, ever so slightly anise-y but nothing like tarragon.  Fresh marjoram smells almost floral and has a very strong taste - sweet and slightly floral.  Anyway - the chunks of green?  Yeah, that's marjoram.

Also, I sprayed the pre-made crust with olive oil and then sprinkled a few pinches of my California-bought Tuscan seasoning over top of it before I spread the "sauce" over top.  I laid the tomatoes down in overlapping circles and then sprayed them with olive oil, sprinkled the whole mess with my beloved Mediterranean Sea Salt and sprayed one last time.  I might have used a little more of the sea salt blend, but nothing is going to change that we are well past prime tomato season now.  For heaven's sake, there are only two days left of November and VeganMoFo!

Well, folks, tomorrow begins my descent into madness, but I do have a few more tricks up my sleeve so don't go anywhere far!

done with leftovers, on to soup

Sometime after I finished last night's post, Mister and I both decided we were hungry again.  I do think my hunger was partially due to the power of suggestion as a friend had mentioned (via Twitter) that she wanted to be hungry again so she could eat leftovers.  That got me thinking about the leftovers we had in the fridge from "greek thanksgiving," so I pulled out the broccolini, olive oil, and Mediterranean Sea Salt blend and sauteed me some greens.  I started with half the broccolini, but it was just so good, I went back and had the second half, too.  Ignoring the olive oil (I'm good at that), how many calories can a green veggie really have?

About 10 minutes after I scarfed down finished savoring the last of my broccolini, the scents wafting in from the kitchen got to Mister and I found him foraging through the fridge and cabinets.  He asked what there was to eat, I made a few suggestions, and he decided he was too lazy to eat (i.e. too lazy to make something to eat).  I asked him if he'd like me to make him something, he smiled, so I got to work reheating the last bits of Savory Sausage and Peppers in the same pan I used for my broccolini, allowing the garlic-herb-salt-tinged oil to add more flavor to the leftovers.  As that was sizzling away, I warmed up the last of the mashed potatoes in the microwave (I'll admit, I use it begrudgingly, but there have really been times that microwave has come in handy), then laid a little pillow of mashed potatoes at the bottom of a bowl and scooped the sausage melange over top and delivered it to my hungry Mister.

The only leftovers we have, well, leftover, are of the apple pie persuasion, and I believe the plan is to heat our last slices up in the oven once our bellies have emptied a bit from dinner.

Segue, anyone?

Before I started cooking tonight, there were three choices left on our 5-option menu, but I already knew I wanted to make the Caldo Verde from Vegan on the Cheap.  Today was the first day we didn't have to do anything at all and we both took full advantage of that, drinking cup after cup of the Snickerdoodle coffee I bought at a Coffee Bean out in California.

It was so good.  It was about 3:30 before either of us made any effort to do something a person could define as productive.  For me, it was taking a shower so I could go get kitty litter (yes, I live the glamorous life, try to tone down the envy).  Mister, at 3:45 PM, decided he wanted to try his luck at Black Friday so he could buy a multi-terabyte hard drive for very little money that my dad told him about last night when he was flipping through store circulars while Mister amused himself on his iPod and Mom and I cooked.  I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn that they were all sold out.

Anyway, the total ten minutes I was outside to get the kitty litter (and spy a new "bakery" in the neighborhood - Cookie Confidential grand opening today) was quite enough to make me want soup for dinner.  The best part is that it's going to be even colder tomorrow!

The soup smelled phenomenal simmering away on the stove while I tried my hand at freeform "cheese" slicing.  I mentioned in a previous post that I picked up cheddar Vegan Gourmet "cheese," but it only comes in block form.  Fortunately, the block is about the same size as a piece of bread, so I just sliced off two big slices and plunked them onto the bread I already had toasting on the skillet.  As you can see, the package declares with great enthusiasm that this cheese substitute melts.  I'll grant that it took me three tries to get the Rice Vegan to finally melt all gooey like it's supposed to, but even on the first try it came far closer to melting than this stuff did... I'm sure it tried, but I was skeptical from the get-go; after slicing the pieces for the sandwiches, I cut off a little more to taste and the texture was so much like a cross between hard-boiled egg whites and extra-firm silken tofu that I couldn't see how it would melt.  Mister was a trooper - he coated his sandwich in ketchup and plowed through it in about 6 bites.  I took my time, trying to gauge how I feel about this one, despite that there was nothing that resembled melting going on.  It has a pleasant flavor, but it smells a little like mildew and scent is kind of important.  Nevertheless, the cheapskate in me my frugal side won't allow me to give up and chuck what's left, so I'll probably try broiling it on an open-face sandwich tomorrow or Sunday, just to see if I can actually convince it to melt.  I don't think it will ever find its way past Mister's lips again, though.

The soup was good - hearty and full of potatoey-kaley goodness, but nothing spectacular, so if I make it again, it will probably be by accident or a year from now.

I had this horrific moment today when I thought tomorrow was Monday.  Mister and I did a little dance in the kitchen (the only place with enough room to dance) when he informed me that tomorrow was actually Saturday - I am absolutely not ready for Monday yet.  I have laundry to do, a new menu to plot and shop for, a Christmas tree to set-up and decorate, and I really want to make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes from VCTOTW.  Also, heaven forbid a weekend should pass without a new oatmeal recipe!  See you tomorrow, MoFos!

prettier without plastic

I've been trying to figure out what to write for about an hour.  I really want to see if I can post something every single night of VeganMoFo, but I don't want to babble about boring stuff since my stats page tells me folks are actually reading my rambling.  Pardon me if I get a little random, but it's definitely starting to be That Time of Year again (look back a year on the right side --> if you want some fun reading).

Poor Mister has some kind of stomach bug.  Initially, he was trying to blame it on my Jambalaya, but I assured him that the stuff that tasted like seitan really was seitan and not some tempeh dressed up for Halloween.  As a result of his Angry Belly, he had no interest in whatever scrumptious feast I was gearing up to make...so I pulled my tall, narrow Tupperware out of the fridge and ceremoniously dumped some of my mom's stew into a pot to warm up.  I thought it deserved a prettier presentation than the glamour shot in plasticware, so here it is, all ready to be eaten:

look how pretty your stew is, Mom!

For some reason, it really disturbed me that there were no discernible flecks of herbs on there, so I thought I would add some "flavor."  I sprinkled it generously with powdered garlic (last night was not a All-This-Work-Just-For-Me kind of night) and a dash of sea salt.  I thought I detected a more adventuresome taste, until I warmed up a second bowl and forgot to season it and discovered that the enhanced taste was actually a function of it sitting in the fridge for a couple of days, and not anything that I did.  So, Well Done, Mom!

I almost did my chocolate round up, but I don't have enough "testing" done yet.  Don't worry - chocolate (and red wine) is my comfort food and the stress is being kicked up into high gear at work, so I should be ready soon!  I was ready to make my own chocolate sandwich treats by 1:30 this afternoon, so I'm pretty darn proud that I lasted until dessert time.

mmm....dessert

It's Beaujolais season and any day now the Beaujolais Nouveau will hit the shelves (not that I'm waiting...checking in....stalking...).  I discovered a perfect partner for the dark berry notes of this perfect Autumn wine - Bug Bites dark chocolate squares by Endangered Species.  A full review will be included with my chocolate round-up, but here are a few highlights:

• when I opened the wrapper, I was greeted by a small square picture of a bug with bug trivia on the back.  I'm not a big bug fan, but it was a clever idea.
• the texture is so smooth it was hard for me to believe it wasn't made with cream or milkfat, but it's not.
• one .35 oz square is the perfect size to satiate my craving for dark, bittersweet chocolate, and only sets me back 50 calories, 4 g fat, and 2.25 g sugar.  I may need to buy these in bulk!  They are the perfect replacement for my Ghirardelli addiction and [ironically] might just get me through the prep for Diet Season!

home is where the...wine is

It's getting to be That Time of Year.  If you turn back the cyber-pages of this little blog and travel back to my December 2009 and January 2010 posts, you'll find a lot of babbling, random, which-way-is-up posts, as well as my justification: I work for a weight loss company and we're gearing up for Diet Season.  Today, I learned that in order to make sure we get everything done between now and mid-December, I will need to create at least three clones of myself for one of the weeks, and no fewer than two of me will be necessary for most weeks.

While on the train on my way home from a completely overwhelming day, my brain re-inflated enough for me to remember to take a short detour on my walk home from the train station to pick up a nice mini-bottle of Beaujolais (which I am presently halfway through).  Unfortunately, Angst can't blame the following pictures on Mommy's Special Juice...just the deteriorating capacity to reason.

That hat was on my head while I walked home, but after I put on my glasses, Mister (who wears glasses and beanie hats) decided we all needed to look like a family and put the Hat on the Cat

Angst doesn't seem to like wearing hats, so he probably hopes we got it all out of our system.

After playing Dress-Up with the kitty, I brushed myself off while he nursed his ego-wounds and started dinner.  Apparently, New York saw its first flakes of snow today, but in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, it was just gloomy rain.  It did stop before I got home, but everything was damp, including the air, and just the exhaustive nature of the day all by itself was quite enough to warrant Homey Vegetable Stew with Dumplings from The 30 Minute Vegan. 

I've made this before, but my dumplings were much prettier this time and it still impresses me that those lumps of sticky dough really do steam into a solid biscuit.  They are sinfully simple to make - there are five ingredients in the dumplings and only slightly more in the stew.  I think what I like the most about these dumplings is that they are made with spelt flour, which give them a savory flavor I can really only describe as "real."

The whole stew is remarkably rich.  There isn't a whole lot of broth, especially when you take away the part that made sticky dough into biscuits.  Perhaps it is the concentrated nature of the broth that makes it so good, but Mister and I happily ate two bowls each and I am already anticipating the leftovers for WorkLunch tomorrow.  Hopefully, I will have more time tomorrow than the ten minutes I had today to wolf down my lunch, because this should be savored.

On another note, while I'm running around at work like tofu with my head cut off, I am gratified to come home each night and find that while he started with the entry/dining area, Mister appears to be working his way through the apartment, cleaning up the messes that have accumulated in recent months.  I know I don't have the energy for that kind of ridiculous behavior right now!  I'll happily bring home the seitan if he'll keep my home straightened up.  I love how far we've come in the reversal/dismissal of traditional gender roles during my lifetime.  Now, if only we could find a way for Mister to carry and bear a child, I might find a way to become interested in parenting ;)

I think the wine is getting to me...