Heading Up to Woodstock

Tomorrow, Brian and I are driving up to the Woodstock, NY-area for a long weekend getaway. The trip was spurred on so we could attend Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary's June Jamboree. The event includes food by vegan cookbook author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz (I am in love with Vegan Brunch) and raw gelato and ice cream by Organic Nectars. There also will be kid-friendly activities like face-painting and a moon bounce, live music, and, of course, farm tours to meet the rescued animals.

The last time Brian and I were up this way was when we went to Saugerties, NY to visit Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS) two years ago. I'm hoping we can visit CAS again, too, because Brian donated money for a memorial tile in Luckie's name at the farm and I'd love to see it in-person. We also plan on visiting Storm King Art Center, hiking, going on a scenic train ride, eating good food, and getting lots of sleep in our cozy cottage (no HoJo's this time). We'll see if we can pack it all in. I know Brian and I would both like this weekend to be about not packing anything but our bags. He has just completed a very challenging term at school and we've both been stressed out lately, so we need to rest.

Throughout the weekend, I'll post pictures of the animals and other happenings on my Twitpic page. I can't wait to go!

* Jamboree image courtesy of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary

How to Avoid My Failed Holiday Dinner

I’ve left it to other, more competent food bloggers to post about their fabulous Thanksgiving menus. Let me offer something different by being just slightly bitter. And learn from my mistakes.

1. Do not try more than one or two new recipes. Last Thanksgiving was my first one as a vegetarian and since I was eating with Brian’s family early in the day before heading off to my family’s house, I didn’t cook. I just ate tons of macaroni and cheese. The following day, Brian and I roasted a Tofurky, which was just fine but didn’t knock our socks off. This year I wanted it to be special so I searched for recipes high and low and changed my mind a dozen times. I settled on roasted seitan with cornbread stuffing. I’ve made seitan before and I’ve made cornbread before but never in this way. The stuffing was great, but not stuffing-like. It just tasted like mashed cornbread with onions and celery. No matter how much sage I added, I couldn’t get it to taste like Thanksgiving. Other cornbread stuffing recipes use half cornbread, half regular bread. I think my mistake was going fully cornbread.

The roasted seitan fell flat flavorwise and I didn’t help matters by overcooking it. The good thing about it being nearly burnt was that it created a nice crispy skin. Also, they weren’t pretty like on Vegan Yum Yum. In fact, they looked like very large turds. It was certainly good enough for Brian and me to eat but the one nonvegan brave enough to try it threw it out behind my back. Ouch.

Basically, I made too many new things. Things that may have turned out great had I made them once or twice before under less time-constrained situations.

2. When making vegan foods for a crowd of nonvegans, utilize reliable vegan sources. This means, don’t veganize a coconut cashew chocolate tart from Bon Appetit. Sure, it will be tasty because you can’t go wrong with coconut, chocolate, and 2 sticks of Earth Balance. But soy creamer may not be the best substitute for half and half so the tart will congeal to the pan rather than form a tart you can easily cut into.

3. Don’t rely solely on the Internet for recipes. The internet has a wealth of information but you get what you pay for. Anyone can post a recipe that you can print out for free. That doesn’t mean it’s been tested for accuracy and quality and edited for clarity. Cookbook recipes are thoroughly tested and combed through many times over by experienced and knowledgeable editors. I’ve had mostly positive results with Veganomicon, You Won’t Believe It’s Vegan, Eat Drink and Be Vegan, and The Joy of Vegan Baking.

4. Spend more time planning how you’ll cook rather than on what you’ll cook. Cooking during the holidays and for a large group is more about time management than culinary prowess. My family has not grasped this concept, which is why we eat at 8:30 PM and starve (and drink alcohol) for hours before dinner.

5. Get over yourself. Having family and friends over is about seeing them; it’s not about reenacting a restaurant on opening night. Besides, Brian was really the only other person I had to impress and he will eat almost anything I make. He thought the seitan roast was good enough and good enough is fine for the holidays.

6. When in doubt, ditch your family and make reservations. After checking out Blossom’s Thanksgiving menu, this option seems to be the most appealing. So, next weekend Brian is taking me there to celebrate my birthday (December 25. Yes, that day) And how am I spending my actual Christmas/birthday? I’m going to spend the day with just Brian, cooking food in my own organized and timely fashion, eating vegan rugelach from The Joy of Vegan Baking and easy chocolate croissants from Nigella Express (they are vegan if you use Pepperidge Farm puff pastry!), going out to see Marley and Me, and just relaxing.

Links to Help Make Your Thanksgiving Delicious & Meaningful

I have a package of silken tofu that's just a day past its use-by date. I bought it a few months back to make chocolate avocado cupcakes with. I never got around to making them but I do not want that box to go to waste so this weekend's plan is to make pumpkin pie with the tofu and freeze the pie for Thanksgiving, which is somehow less than two weeks away.

My search for a recipe brought me to Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary's listing of Thanksgiving recipes, which includes amazing-sounding creations like, Sage and Pumpkin Seed Encrusted Seitan with Roasted Garlic-Pumpkin Sauce, Autumn Millet Bake by Mark Bittman, Praline Sweet Potato Casserole, Wild Stuffed Roasted Squash, and many more dishes.

Vegan.com features a Thanksgiving menu compiled by cookbook author, Robin Robertson, which I already printed out a few weeks back and plan on referring to come Feast Day.

Taking part in Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Turkey project is a great day to extend some care to an animal while embarking on a new Thanksgiving tradition.

The Wedding

There was no better way to usher in the unofficial start of summer than by attending a wedding. The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend could not have been more perfect--pure sunshine, blue and cloudless skies, warm weather. Our friends got married in West Orange, NJ, in the backyard of the groom's parents' home. From there we could clearly see the New York City skyline. We saw chipmunks scurrying around the yard, probably picking up dropped appetizers. Birds chirped and flew overhead. Planes flew in and out of Newark Airport in the distance and, at night, they looked like moving stars.

The food at the wedding was fresh and delicious. You know what they say about wedding food (it sucks). Well, this maxim did not apply. The appetizers included many meat options, including shrimp cocktail and a huge platter of fresh strawberries, melon, grapes, and dried apricots with a half-dozen cheeses. I was somehow able to resist the wedges of Brie and veiny blue cheeses. Brian and I instead munched on the fruit and vegetables, the mini samosas and water crackers. I also drank a flute of champagne and a glass of lemon soda and vodka, which pretty much tided me over until dinner, which was a fabulous and inadvertently vegetarian feast. There was beef and chicken but otherwise, the dozens of other dishes were ours for the taking: falaffel; tabbouleh that bursted with mint and lemon; four kinds of hummus and baba ganoush; farfalle with garlicky tomato sauce; olive bread; tomato foccacia; grilled asparagus, peppers, eggplant, and zucchini; french fries; salad with sun dried tomatoes and olives. I was stuffed after my first plate but I couldn't resist sharing a second one with Brian. I hadn't eat much before the wedding so, by the time dinner was served, I was ravenous and that is why there are no pictures of the food!

Our friends eschewed the traditional wedding cake for an ice cream sundae station. Brian and I skipped the ice cream but gorged on many of the toppings like Oreos (yuh huh--they're vegan!), walnuts, maraschino cherries, pineapple and strawberries dipped in chocolate, mini chocolate covered apples on cinnamon sticks.

I danced with Brian. Danced with the bride. Walked barefoot on the lawn. The newlyweds gave baby spruces and lily bulbs as wedding favors, both of which I planted the next day. Watching them get married made me so happy. I cried through the whole ceremony. And then ate my weight in joy.

Would You Like Fries With That?

The second Brian and I turned the corner of Trenton Avenue just before noon on Saturday, we knew the festival was already well on its way to being a huge success. And by huge, I mean so much huger than it was last year. The number of food and art vendors seemed to be double the amount from 2007. I immediately began eyeing the cute purses, aprons, and jewelry I wanted to buy. Dozens of tables were lined along several blocks and the entire length of the festival was sandwiched by two stages starring local musicians and performances by the Walking Fish Theatre.

Our first official stop, though, was to Viva Las Vegans. The truck was parked off to a side street and I was a bit worried about festival-goers missing the sidelined truck. I met Blythe and Derek, the wife and husband duo behind the operation and the first thing I noticed is, OK, Blythe is gorgeous. She and I talked about the inspiration behind Viva Las Vegans—she just wanted some simple and quick vegan comfort food that literally didn’t cost an arm and a leg. We talked about how we ended up in Philly (or really, how I will eventually end up in Philly) and our job experiences. Our first conversation went so well, I almost forgot to step aside from the window when the first customer came along. I left to help Brian place some recycling bins along the avenue. We were both pleased and surprised by both the picture perfect early summer sunshine and the huge crowd.




Pretty soon, we wanted to eat and we, of course, were going to hit up the vegan food truck. We did eyeball other food vendors and that’s when we were even happier to have Viva Las Vegans. There wasn’t much vegetarian-friendly fare, let alone vegan options. One vendor had vegan stew, to which Brian remarked, “Who wants to eat stew at a street fair in the sun?” By the time Brian and I returned to the truck, the line was bustling. I ordered the crispy soy chicken sandwich with jalapenos and Brian got a fish filet. Derek was generous enough to give us both for free. As we waited for our food, Brian offered up my services to Blythe and Derek and they both quickly took him up on his offer. I was admittedly nervous about the possibility of being more of a hindrance than a help to them since I still use my fingers to solve even the simplest of calculations. Blythe assured me that she’d yell out the prices for me and also, there was a calculator. I ate my delicious sandwich and went into the truck.

Viva Las Vegans has devised a complex and sometimes fragile ordering shorthand. For instance, when someone orders a crispy chicken, you write down “CC” and hand that off to the cooks. When someone orders a soy burger, you write down “SB.” OK, so that was easy. Yeah, but what the hell do you write when someone orders a fish filet and French fries? FF and FF? Derek insisted that “FF” would signify French fries and writing out “fish” would be the filet. It only took one or two ambiguous FF’s before I caught on.

As far as I know, everyone’s change was correct and we only lost one order, which we quickly fixed. Vegan customers are about the friendliest bunch you could ever hope to serve. One customer loved the idea of the truck so much that he asked that the generous remainder of his change go toward buying the next customer’s order. How often does that happen at Burger King?

During my truck time, I also met the owner of the Northport Fishington Cookie Factory, who supplies Viva Las Vegans with their cookies. Brian and I split the oatmeal cranberry cashew concoction and, oh my god, was it good.

In addition to that cookie, I ate a chocolate nut vanilla cupcake from Baked, a local microbakery that provides baking lessons and vegan and nonvegan baked goods for special order and Philly bakeries and cafes. When I bought the cupcake, I planned to share it with Brian. After one bite, I asked him if I could buy him another one because I no longer wanted to share mine with him. The cake was so moist and not too sweet while the frosting was creamy with the perfect balance of sugary and savory flavors.

A member of Philadelphia Tree People made vegan chocolate chip cookies. This cookie was out of this world delicious—soft, buttery, and, since this is still a compliment, one that did not taste vegan at all. I reluctantly gave my last cookie to Brian but don’t think that didn’t hurt.

Derek and Blythe assured me that my help at the window was indeed very helpful. What little I did for one afternoon, however, was nothing compared to what they do everyday. Standing and working in tight quarters to deliver delicious, high-quality, vegan comfort food takes a tremendous amount of hard work and elbow grease. I admire the risk and bravery it takes to launch a small business and especially the dedication it takes to provide much needed vegan grub in the food world.

If you’re ever in Philly, please do yourself a favor and visit Viva Las Vegans at 33rd and Market. Order a Big D with extra cheese, bacon, and ask for some fries to be sandwiched in between (Blythe’s second creation for Brian on Saturday). Then leave a generous tip.

Pictures by Brian.

Trenton Avenue Arts Festival this Saturday, May 17

The East Kensington Neighbors Association (EKNA)--of which Brian is the secretary--will be holding its third annual Trenton Avenue Arts Festival (TAAF) this Saturday, May 17 from noon until 5 pm. The TAAF celebrates East Kensington's local artists, musicians, and restaurants. The festival helps EKNA raise funds for community art projects, which stimulate neighborhood revitalization efforts. The TAAF is held on Trenton Avenue between East Norris Street and Frankford Avenue at York Street.

There will be lots of food, beer from East Kensington's own Philadelphia Brewing Company, many wonderful vendors (I always get compliments on the earrings and bags I purchased at last year's festival), music, and, of course, the 2nd Annual Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby (KKSD), which is hilariously fun. This event is great for children and grown-ups alike.

One of the food vendors will be Viva Las Vegans, the University City-based, all-vegan food truck that Brian visits on a nearly daily basis. I'll finally get to meet the fine folks behind Viva Las Vegans and, if I'm lucky, will be able to help them out during the festival. So, if you come out and visit the truck, I may even be the one to hand you your veggie burger or chocolate soy milk shake.

Please come out and support the festival in general and the vegan truck in particular. If you can't attend but know anyone in the Philadelphia-area (especially hungry vegans and vegetarians!), please pass the word. Feel free to reprint this entire post on your blog or site word for word.

Banana Spelt Bread

Delicious, simple, and with an aroma that fills your kitchen with comforting goodness, banana bread is one of my all-time favorites. This variation is adapted from Veganomicon. Its many virtues include being vegan, lower in fat, full of fiber, and subtly sweet. The use of spelt flour ups the fiber content and gives this banana bread a darker-than-usual hue (as does the molasses). It’s nutty, perfect with tea, and you can’t go wrong lightly slathering it with butter or Earth Balance and some jam.

This weekend, I brought the banana bread over to Jamesina and Ryan’s house, both of whom are longtime friends of Brian. I worried that it might be too healthy but everyone gobbled it up, particularly Brian, who I had to save pre-visit slices from, lest there be none left for anyone else. Ryan said the bread was reminiscent of Friendship Bread, which I’d never heard of. So Jamesina got me rolling with a starter for it and the end result will be posted very soon (it takes 10 days to make!)

3 small, very ripe bananas
1 ½ teaspoon Ener-g Egg Replacer mixed well in 2 tablespoons warm water (or ¼ cup sweetened or unsweetened applesauce)
¼ cup canola or walnut oil
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons dark molasses
1 cup all-purpose flour (preferably organic and unbleached)
1 cup + 1 tablespoon whole-grain spelt flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon table salt
2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mash bananas with potato masher, spoon, or fork. Add egg replacer, oil, sugar, and molasses and hand-whisk briskly or mix with beater on low.
3. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt to banana mixture. Use large spoon to mix until just combined, being careful to not over mix.
4. Add batter to loaf pan and place in oven. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until top is brown and cracked and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not over bake or bread will dry out. Remember, it will continue to cook after taken out of the oven.5. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before taking bread out of pan and placing on cooling rack to cool completely.

Seven Ways to Host a Vegetarian-Friendly Cocktail Party

1. Focus on Cocktails: Cocktail parties are much easier to vegetarianize or veganize since the emphasis should be on the drinks and the finger-food, not on a main dish that must seemingly be meat-based. Perhaps you’ll decide to make wine the centerpiece of the event. Have a few bottles of white, a few bottles of red, and you’re done. If you’d like to make an actual cocktail, focus on making one or two rather than buying enough hard liquor bottles to stock your neighborhood watering hole. The point is to welcome and share time with loved ones, not to overwhelm yourself and your guests with choices. Make a pitcher of pomegranate margaritas or green apple martinis. Have some ice-cold beer on hand for those who want less sweetness in their life. An even cheaper and particularly festive cocktail option is making bellinis. Buy a few bottles of Asti Spumante or Prosecco at around 12 bucks a pop and a few cans of Goya apricot, peach, or mango nectar for less than a dollar each. Fill a champagne flute about a quarter way with nectar and top with the fizzy wine. No need to stand around pouring, shaking and stirring various liquors as you consult a mixing bible. A bonus is that everything always looks more delicious and bright when there are champagne flutes involved. Whatever the main cocktail will be, be sure to have some sparkling water and ginger ale spiked with grenadine or cranberry juice on hand for the teetotalers and for booze breaks. Also, not all alcohol is vegan. Stella Artois and Yellowtail wines apparently are. Check company web sites and the following resource on vegan liquor for more information.

2. Hello Hummus: Vegans are notorious for loving hummus. I never even really ate much hummus until I started dating Brian and I am now addicted to it to. Hummus is also one of those "naturally" vegan foods, meaning that meat-eaters don’t give much thought to whether or not it is vegetarian as they might with, say, tofu. They just know it tastes good. Hummus is a wonderfully nutty, creamy dip can be made in classic form-just tahini, chickpeas, and olive oil-or enhanced with red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, fresh garlic cloves, or kalamata olives. The possibilities are endless. Hummus complements cut up, raw vegetables, crackers, pita wedges, bagel chips, sliced and toasted baguette, anything you can dip. Mixing up a batch at home is not difficult but there are many quality brands you can pick up at your local market. I like Sabra, as it is the creamiest and most vibrant-tasting store-bought brand I’ve come across and is sprinkled with fresh parsley or paprika.

3. The Grapes of [Having a] Blast: I’d consider this option no matter what drink you choose to highlight, but a plentiful bunch of plump black grapes draped onto a simple white dish is a no-brainer choice for the wine party. Sumptuous on its own or with cheese, grapes signify abundance, sweetness, and a true party. Bacchus, often depicted as surrounded by grapes, was not the god of wine and getting down for nothing.

4. Cheese-One Word Says It All: Cheese is not vegan. Unfortunately, I cannot yet endorse an edible vegan cheese substitute, particularly ones that can be eaten without having to melt it and hide into other ingredients first. Certainly you can have a cocktail party without cheese and no one will notice but if you choose to include it along with myriad other plant-based options, I don’t see a problem. If you want a truly vegetarian cheese-meaning it is made with microbial rennet rather than with the stomach lining of baby cows-there are plenty that are easy to find. I just found a great one, Andes Panqueche Cheese with Chive for less than three dollars at Stop and Shop . Cabot, Organic Valley, Horizon, and kosher cheeses have varieties that do not contain animal rennet. Alouette, makers of herby cheese spread, do not use any enzymes so it’s entirely lacto-vegetarian, no cow tummies whatsoever.

5. Put the Vegetable Back into Vegetarian: Meat-eaters often think of tofu, veggie burgers, and oddly formed Tofurky when they envision a life without eating animal flesh. They forget that there are no vegetables that are off limits. There are hundreds and thousands of vegetable varieties that are all for the taking. They are delicious raw, steamed, grilled, roasted, stir-fried, or spiked with garlic, lemon juice, oil, and sea salt. For a cocktail party, stick to varieties that are naturally finger food-sized or can be easily cut and served raw, like crudite standards carrots, broccoli, grape tomatoes, and celery. But don’t discount other less obvious choices such as sliced radishes; sugar snap peas; olives brined in gin and stuffed with whole garlic cloves; glistening platters of ruby-red and savory peppadews; caramelized red onions; blanched asparagus turned in a small amount of balsamic vinegar and tamari; peppers roasted into sweet, charred blackness and seasoned with sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and olive oil (you can buy them frozen and just reheat according to package directions if you don’t have the time or wherewithal to torch them yourself); fried green beans; even fried onion rings. The options are as infinite as your imagination or recipe library. The salty, savory notes of these dishes go great with alcohol. Besides, these are guaranteed to go so much faster than any half-hearted vegetarian cocktail sausage that just ain’t gonna cut muster with avowed meat-eaters (believe me, I tried and failed at tricking one with mock meat).

* This is me, pre-party, as Hostess Bear. Whenever I make this face, I turn into a bear, any kind of bear I choose. It's a really long story. It's also one of those Couple Things that only Brian and I find endlessly hilarious. My mother too. But that's the sorta story behind this picture.

6. Relax and Enjoy Your Guests: There’s nothing wrong with being ambitious in the kitchen but if you’re having people over to eat with the sole mission of impressing them, consider becoming a caterer. The whole point is to be with people you love and perhaps don’t get to see very often. If some dishes are eaten up more than others, don’t take it personally. Food left behind is a sign that people were thoroughly enjoying rather engorging themselves. And if anyone complains that there wasn’t enough or any meat or that the queso-less quesadillas taste bad without cheese, don’t give up throwing parties. Consider having a talk with or even getting rid of a “friend” who’d judge you and your hospitality so harshly.

7. Always Serve Dessert: Especially when dessert is a vegan chocolate ganache chocolate cake from Whole Foods that you surprise your Christmas baby girlfriend with. Other lovely cocktail party desserts: brownies or rice krispie treats cut into mini, bite-sized squares and stacked like a pyramid; cupcakes; dried fruit dipped in dark chocolate; roughly cut shards of bittersweet organic chocolate with almonds and dried blueberries; a big bowl of clementines alongside small plates and more than a few napkins; spritz cookies.

What Nigella Lawson Said to Me

After hell, high water, and rush hour traffic, I made it to the Whole Foods on the Bowery by 7 pm on the dot for the Nigella Lawson book signing. I had planned to get there a bit earlier so I could eat dinner at one of the many food stops in Whole Foods--which is built more like a mammoth Jersey mall rather than even your average gargantuan supermarket--before waiting on the line. But my plans were no match for the Lincoln Tunnel at 5 pm.

When I arrived, the line was already quite long. All I wanted to do was sit and eat one of the many vegetarianorganicfreetradeglutenfree power bars I was standing by, or at least one of the scented candles, which might have tasted better. I was so hungry and tired. But I had a mission to get a book signed and knew I could hit up the food bars afterwards.

I've met a few celebrities, or at least people who are somewhat well known and do work I admire. But I never really want to sit and talk with them. What will I say that isn't incredibly dorky? And by the time I think of something great to say, my 30 seconds with the sharpie will be up. I'm over my adolescent celebrity worship, that feeling that I just know someone, that they're actually heroic. We're all just people. But some are extradordinary and get some attention for it and it would be disingenuous to say I haven't been shaped by that.

I don't think I'd be interested in food writing or even doing this blog if I hadn't come across Nigella Lawson's books a few years back. Yeah, I've always loved to eat (too much so) so it's not like I was uninterested in food before dipping my toe, just a little, in the foodie world. I've always been really aware of food. It wasn't, however, until I started cooking more than pancakes and scrambled eggs for myself, learned to read and follow recipes, and referred to various food magazines and cookbooks, that I actually brokered some sort of peace with my relationship with food. I stopped feeling as guilty about sometimes being a glutton and saw it as both a new hobby and a way to sustain my body, just as we all do. Prior to that, food was some weird, painful punishing reward. Now I'm not as controlled by food and I enjoy it more. I have to eat and I'm lucky I can afford to eat everyday and have access to such an amazing variety of food so I might as well lose the guilt trip. Funny, the seemingly two extremes of foodieness and doing Weight Watchers taught me that.

I'm by no means totally resolved. I still want chocolate, bread, and cheese, and lots of it, when I feel stressed or depressed (only really, really high levels of panic can still my appetite). I've gained some "love" pounds, as people say, since being with Brian but it's really just because I stopped running and started eating out a lot more. I, like most women, regularly plan and scheme about what I can do to be thinner. But I'm a lot happier now, and more realistic, than say, 10 years ago in the food department. Everyone has their thing. One of mine happens to be food and eating it. There are worse vices, and lesser joys.

So, here's how it went.

Nigella: Hello.
Me: [dorkily, really, really dorkily] Hello. I'm such a huge fan so it's really great to meet you.
Nigella: Thank you. [reading the post-it of my name one of the organizers put on my book so she'd know how to sign it] You have such a beautiful name.
Me: [beaming] Oh, thank you!
[silence and then someone tells me to get behind the table if I want my picture taken. Nigella tells her she's getting very good at taking pictures. The girl takes our picture].
Me: Thank you very much. Have a good night.
Nigella: Thank you. You too.

She is so gorgeous in person. Incredibly porcelain skin, great posture, lovely smile, very gracious. Brian asked if she'd really be as hot in person as she is on TV with all the lighting and yes, she was. When I told him about the signing and I said, "She's so beautiful." He said, "Should I be jealous?" Um....

Needed: Vegetarian Cocktail Sausages

This isn't so much a post as it is a plea. If you're reading this and know who makes vegetarian cocktail sausages and where I can pick some up, please share the info. I am dying to make the sticky sausages in Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express for a cocktail party I am starting to plan in my head. Thank you much!

By the way, Brian and I made a black bean, corn, and avocado lasagna and blueberry carob pancakes with spelt flour from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan and the German apple cake from The Joy of Vegan Baking this weekend! More on those dishes soon.

A Not So Random Friday: Catskills Animal Sanctuary

Brian and I are headed up to Saugerties, NY on Saturday morning to visit the Catskills Animal Sanctuary, as well as doing some eating (of course), hiking, window shopping, and general unwinding. We'll be back with pictures and tales next week.

Random Fridays: "Summer's Gone, Summer's Over"*

* Sistah Vegan is a site (and an upcoming book) that I just stumbled upon yesterday. I'm interested to read more about veganism and "the intersection of race, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, able-bodiedness."

* I Blame the Patriarchy is an astute and altogether too funny blog. Highlight has to be an old post that lambasts Oprah's magazine by calling it a "bright yellow box of Empowerment Bonbons...but with Crispy Cockroach Centers." My co-worker had to look over my cube to check on why I was laughing so hard.

* Summer is, calendar-wise, over in the US after this upcoming Labor Day weekend. I'll be in Philly this weekend with Brian, where we will mostly be eating and seeing friends and family. Here are some pictures from earlier in the summer that I never got around to posting because my computer goes nuts when I try to upload pictures. Happy End of Summer, y'all.

Me at my most pescetarian. Trenton Ave. Arts Festival, Philly, PA.

I'm not always so sweet to Brian, despite the supposed "lovefest." Bastille Day, Philly, PA.

Marie Antoinette didn't throw down cake or Philly's own Tastykakes at the peasants on Bastille Day. She and her minions threw Twinkies. And if there's anything worse than eating Twinkies, it's having your chest pelted with them 5 or 6 times in a row.

Brian made that. Yeah. I was impressed too. Friend's house, Philly, PA.

Central Park, NYC, waiting to see Neko Case.

After Neko, we headed over to Red Bamboo for a late-night fried vegan fest, which included fake fish sticks and tartar sauce and some scarily (and yummily) authentic-tasting fried fake chicken breast, which is in the sandwich below.

Home Base, Not Ham Base

Veterans Stadium implosion photo courtesy of The Tribune.

The latest issue of the Philadelphia Weekly has brought to my attention some exciting news about PETA's impression of a veggie-friendly City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection (courtesy of the author of the Philadelphia Will Do blog). No longer the general locale of the former architectural monstrosity that was once Veterans Stadium, Citizens Bank Park offers a highly-social baseball institution with an old-fashioned feel and Philly neighborhood themes. Even better---as PETA noted---"The Bank" hosts eateries with actual vegetarian selections. Mock meat at a major Philadelphia cultural attraction like a sports venue is just plain rare.

I'm not a Phillies Phanatic like some. Actually, I'm not really into sports at all. I just enjoy going to ball games to celebrate the social summer element of gathering together with other people to yell and eat. Next Tuesday, I'll be joining my mom (sadly, not Joselle and my brother Johnny) for a work-sponsored event with the hometown team; something my mom, brother, and I've done for the past two years since The Bank opened. We get free food vouchers, which is the only reason I had any previous knowledge about the vegan burger options available. And Joselle can vouch for me that I'll certainly be seeking out the mock steak!

If you're at the game in Philly on Tuesday, keep an eye on the jumbotron to see me stuffing my face and immitating the renowned Harry Kalas: "That ball is outtttttaaaaaa here!!!"

This is just a Nigella Lawson fan blog after all, isn't it?

Oh happy day. A new Nigella Lawson cookbook comes out in the US this November. I will be there with bells on. Look at how lovely the cover is. And it's fast food, my favorite. I am not a slaver in the kitchen. I love to cook but I adore eating so the faster I get to eat, the happier I am. Oh, yay.

Picture courtesy of Nigella Lawson's official site.

Devising a Mutual Menu

In honor of what would have been my grandfather's 89th birthday this coming Thursday, my family and I are having a casual barbeque on Saturday. The last time we had a backyard cookout for my grampa was in 2005. I didn't know that that would be the last birthday party I would be able to throw for him, the last chance to make him a cake. On April 1 of this year, he died. I am incredibly grateful that I was able to be with him throughout his hospitalization with heart disease and during his actual very last breaths. I am very grateful that Brian and my closest friends were all there for me and my grandfather throughout those trials too. I seem to be more prone to crying now than in the first few weeks after his death. The fact that his birthday is three days away, that it will be the first time in my life I don't get to buy him a card and wish him a happy birthday hasn't entirely hit me. Still, it seems fitting to get together to eat and share time with my loved ones in his memory.

The greatest mark of my grandfather's illness to me wasn't so much his actual hospitalization or even the two known heart attacks he suffered. It was his drastic weight loss and muscle wasting. It was the fact that he stopped eating, stopped getting hungry, stopped being able to taste and enjoy food. That to me seemed the cruelest blow of all. I'd seen him in the hospital before and his heart failure and hypertension had become a part of him that had, for years, been so seemingly well-managed by medication that they became almost incidental. Surmountable, even. But not eating? He loved to eat. That was taken away from him.

As a former cook in the army, he also knew how to cook. As the years went on, his concoctions became questionable, and often unrecognizable as any familiar food item, but I remember his pizza, fried fish, coconut ice cubes. My grandmother, however, loomed larger in the shaping of my food history. She was one of Those grandmothers, the kind who baked delicious cakes without ever referring to a recipe. When I wanted a snack, she'd make me fried chicken. She got me to eat beans--a hated food as a child--with her arroz con gandules, which I nicknamed vitamin rice because the pigeon peas looked like little pills. But the remeberance of my grandmother is more like myth. Maybe she did use recipes and measuring cups but I just don't remember. My grandfather, though, was real. I watched him cook everyday for years (and then I watched him stop cooking). I watched him read the greasy Betty Crocker cookbook when he was bored and then, hours later, he would have made a pear upside down cake. My grandfather didn't care if he didn't have half the ingredients called for. He'd just make whatever. So pineapple turned to pear and sometimes he wouldn't even use flour. Not if he had Bisquick or corn meal instead.

Earlier this year, to watch him turn away from food when I had always watched him turn towards it--first by feeding me, then by feeding my grandmother when she stopped cooking a few years before she died, and then finally for our dog, who he always cooked for--was so frustrating and incomprehensible. I didn't understand. I just thought if we could make him eat, he'd come back home. He's so weak and skinny, he's not rebounding, that's what I heard. So, I'll just make him eat. I made him coconut rice pudding, bought him soup and cakes. All I had to do was bring food, make him eat it, and he would get better. But he never wanted to eat. The biggest conflicts in the hospital were about getting him to eat. Every day my mother, the nurses and doctors, and I would try, tell him why he needed to eat. He would just get so angry. I suppose the only thing worse than losing the will to eat is having everyone bug you about why you should eat. In fact, my last interaction with my grandfather before he really started dying was me finally getting him to drink some Gatorade and bickering over the jello cup he didn't want.

Despite all of that, it doesn't seem strange at all to eat in his honor. He spent most of his life doing it anyway. The one feature, no matter one's religion or background, that seems to be common after any death is the bringing of food from friends and neighbors. You eat after someone dies. Or else someone tries to get you to eat. I guess there are two ways to grieve: eat or don't eat. I eat. The first thing I wanted to read after my grandfather died was the introduction to the "Funeral" chapter in Nigella Lawson's Feast. And the first thing I wanted to make was the marble cake in that chapter. Baking tied and ties me to my grandparents. It may seem cruel, or at least like some kind of denial, to bake a cake and eat it after someone dies. Yet food is what keeps everyone going. How can you go on after someone you love has died is the question Lawson brings up in the chapter. But that's what death is. It's not just someone dying and leaving you. It's you having to keep going on without them.

Yesterday, Brian called me while I was at Wegman's, shopping for the week and picking up a few items for the barbeque. I told him about my friend's husband who only eats halal meat so I'll have to get fish for him (and me). And no pork in the arroz con gandules so Brian and the Guls, who are Muslim, and I can eat it. Let's try not to mix up the ribs with the veggie dogs when grilling. Oh, and do you want me to make grilled eggplant sandwiches with vegan red pepper aioli? You know, a break from Morningstar Farms? Brian laughed as I told him all of this, saying it really was a mutual menu and how our conversation should be my next post. When I started writing, I didn't anticipate getting into so much detail about my grandfather and death in general and how all of that is so tied to food (everything is tied to food for me). But I guess I just really needed to talk about all of that.

TGIF...again

Another busy work week has precluded Brian and I from posting this week. Here's a quick rundown of interesting links and happenings:

• Listening right now to a segment on NPR's Day To Day, "Kids and Vegetarians." Dr. Sydney Spiesel, who is interviewed, seems to think vegetarian diets are just fine for kids...as long as the diets are lacto-ovo and not entirely vegan. While not entirely anti-vegan, he does lay out some precautions for the parents of children considering this diet. This is something I think about in terms of my future children. Will they be vegetarian? Mostly vegetarian? Eating chicken? I can't imagine denying them the joys of a good grilled cheese sandwich (mostly because I cannot deny myself). All stuff I'm only just beginning to clear brain space to think about.
• Tonight, Brian and I will be heading into the city to see Neko Case at Summerstage. We both cannot wait. I've loved Neko Case's music for years and since we've started dating, I've gotten Brian hooked to her as well. This is my first time seeing her. And it's a free show. Doesn't get more perfect that that.
• While I haven't been able to schedule in posting time here, I have been able to briefly glance at some very good blogs. The Urban Vegan follows a Philly resident in her meals and travels. She's featured some really amazing looking desserts that I'm looking forward to trying, like Coconut Pie made with cashews, coconut cream, and a drizzling of chocolate ganache. There's also vegan Nutella, which I have to make for Nutella-virgin Brian. If it's anywhere near the ambrosia that is the original Nutella, life will be worth living. Straight From the Farm is all about utilizing the goodies that can be found in Philadelphia's Weaver's Way Co-op, which Brian took me to in June. The blog includes many recipes, gorgeous photographs, and coverage of many Philly food- and farm-related events. Tropical Vegetarian Family displays the meals of one vegan family in Puerto Rico. I long believed that being Puerto Rican meant it would be nearly impossible to live without the undeniably delicious pernil--roasted pork--but, so far, I have been able to resist. My grandfather made the best pernil and, sadly, since he isn't around anymore, it'll be that much easier to pass on the pork. But Tropical Vegetarian Family shows that is possible to make great Puerto Rican dishes without meat, poultry, or dairy. I mean, we do love our plaintains and rice and beans so it really isn't that hard.

Random Fridays

• Feist's "I Feel It All," is such a current obsession that I have texted Brian asking him to accompany me to the Princeton Record Exchange this afternoon so I can finally pick up Feist's CDs.
• We'll be in Princeton because we're going to Zen Palate ("Buddhist Vegetarian Cuisine") with Brian's friend this afternoon. The menu looks absolutely delicious.
• The Yards Kickoff to the Fair Food 2007 season is this Sunday from 2 pm to 6:30 pm in Philadelphia's Kensington section, home of our very own (and, luckily, my very own) Brian. There will be all local ingredient cheese steaks (pastured beef and vegetarian), hand crafted ales, live music, and a chance to dunk local food leaders in a dunk tank.
• Happy Weekend!

Grilled

Nothing brings the heat through the summer months like a backyard barbeque. It was always my experience that the Fourth of July in Philly really evokes folks' pyromania and taste for all things grilled. For vegetarians and carnivores alike, however, this can be an incendiary, controversial topic that makes for an ultimately fun-filled conversation piece at any event!

For me---especially as a vegan---a good old-fashioned barbeque doesn't have so much to do with the scent or flavor of burnt flesh as it has to with the meaning of family and community interaction, among people in the flesh. We, too, are members of the animal kingdom---and we crave the concept of spending time with others, as much as we crave the crust of blackened edibles upon our tongues. Unfortunately, I don't know of too many people doing this kind of thing this year; Joselle and I definitely aren't. Is it that barbeque traditions are fading fast---or does it have to do with a growing trend toward the privatized, compartmentalized, self-serving tendencies of our human species?

Times are changing fast. With supposed advances in technology, humans certainly aren't getting better at the whole civilization thing---and this includes where food's concerned. Many of us aren't sharing the picnic table like we used to; something of which I'm also guilty. Case in point: Here I am, composing a computerized note, while daydreaming about what I'm going to eat at Kingdom of Vegetarians or New Harmony Vegetarian in a short bit...by myself.

I guess I should rather be skipping about town, picking vegetable kabobs from the sky, throwing them on to the flames, and inviting fellow food consumers to join me in the shade of trees that sprout from our ever-changing planet. Yes, I'll definitely try to get around to doing that right after lunch!