Serves One: Baby Bok Choy with Fried Onions

I try my best to eat more greens but don't often venture further from kale and spinach. I like them just fine but, in an effort to expand my repertoire, I picked up some baby bok choy at Philadelphia’s Essene yesterday. I love the bok choy they have at their buffet and gobbled up a whole mess of them on Sunday afternoon. I referred to Veganomicon’s recipe for Baby Bok Choy with Crispsy Shallots and Sesame Seeds for cooking times and seasoning hints but mostly improvised with the ingredients I had on hand. Baby bok choy is simple and fast to cook and has a milder flavor than such greens as chard. Serve hot or cold over a bed of brown rice, quinoa, or udon noodles.

just under 1 lb. baby bok choy (I had about 10 ounces, or 3 baby bok choys)
1 tsp. canola oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 tbsp. tamari
1 tbsp. mirin
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp. canned fried onions, optional

1. Submerge bok choy in a bowl of cold water to rinse. Cut off about ½ inch of white stem bottom.
2. Place canola oil and garlic in a large sauté pan over medium heat and cook for about 1 minute, being careful that garlic does not brown or burn (remove from heat and lower it if it does).
3. Add bok choy to pan and stir well to coat with oil. Add tamari and mirin and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until leaves wilt.
4. Add sesame oil, stir well, and cook for an additional minute. Cover pan and let steam for an additional minute. Remove pan from heat and top with onions. Serves 1, greedily or two, nicely.

Picture humbly borrowed from kristin::thekitchensink's flickr stream (where there are many more gorgeous and delicious pictures).

Jubilation

This is a time where I feel history happening right as I live. It is an incredible feeling. I will never forget it.



Picture by superspade.

My Kind of Pumpkin

The cooling temperatures and nearly pitch darkness as I leave work after 6 PM are all signs that it is definitely fall. There are lots of recipes for autumn produce like pumpkins. I'm more of a pumpkin pie than pumpkin stew girl myself but here's one pumpkin recipe I can definitely get behind.

Vegans of Color Postings

While I haven't been posting here, I've posted at Vegans of Color. Check it out:

Cattle, Mavericks, and McCain and why that campaign ain't got a thing to do with real mavericks.

Black Dog Syndrome on the plight black dogs (and cats) face in shelters.

I've cooked up a storm lately, baking yummy apple cobbler (from The Joy of Vegan Baking) and toothsome tofu nuggets (from You Won't Believe It's Vegan, my new favorite cookbook), maple roasted yams and garlicky kale. But I'm too much of a hungry hoarder to ever take pictures. Plus, my camera sucks.

Random Fridays: It's Cold (Wrap Yourself In Anything But Wool)

* Jezebel's list of 75 Books Every Woman Should Read is oh so awesome. Today would be a great day to curl up with one of the books because it is rainy and gray where I am. My favorite book on the list? I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. You can listen to a reading of the short story "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson (the short story collection of the same name was listed first by Jezebel) on this episode of Vegetarian Food for Thought.

* The latest episode of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Vegetarian Food for Thought, "The Shearing of Sheep," is one of my favorites. If you don't know how wool is produced and the many other ways in which sheep are used the world over, this is a great place to start.

* Since this seems to be a very literary post today, I'd like to recommend another favorite episode, a reading of the short story "A Mother's Tale." I cried when I first heard it.

* The last few times I walked into Book Trader in Philadelphia, I kept looking at Three Black Skirts by Anna Johnson. It's one of those hot-pink books marketed towards women that tells you how to do everything (as Brian said while he read it over my shoulder, "Who sits down to write a book telling people how to do every single thing in the world?" But he was riveted and we're going to fix his running toilet because of it). The tone, however, was cheekier and smarter than your average chick lit self-help selection. I never bought it, though, because I have too many books. Just last week, I came across a copy of it at my library, borrowed it, and devoured the book in a weekend. It was uplifiting, informative, funny, sweet and told me why cotton-blend cardigans are best, how to hang a heavy picture (nail it to the stud), fix a running toilet, and host an unfussy dinner party. I read about why Eloise, Moomintroll, and Horton are better than Prozac. She loves yoga and you know I'm all about that lately. It just generally comforted me during a weekend when I was still feeling raw and shaky from the loss of Luckie and the end of a friendship.

* I was hungry for more Anna Johnson. Luckily, a few months ago she released The Yummy Mummy Manifesto. Okay, it sounds like some horrific guide to losing 30 pounds 2 days after you've given birth and, also, I am not pregnant but I ordered it anyway because, from the looks of the reviews I've read, this is not some brainless, shaming tome. It's a fun celebration of being a creative mom. I'll need it someday.

* Why not add a final Food for Thought shout-out in honor of mothers. This one is on motherhood and animals, specifically cow mothers.

Help Save Bitch

Bitch is one of the best magazines ever. I've been a reader for many years and would hate to see the newstand become bleaker than it already is (check out the latest issue of Bitch to read a critique about a Cosmo article on "5 ways to tell he's a rapist." Now do you see why we need Bitch?) One of the highlights of my trip to Portland was visiting the Bitch offices during last Thursdays on Alberta Ave. I just poked my head around and grabbed some crackers and berries but I felt giddy inside. I finally got to see where all the crackling, bright, incisive coverage is born (oh, you don't believe I went to Portland because I didn't post about it, now do you? So if no one blogs about it, it didn't happen, right? Go look at my Flickr page for pictures of food I meant to blog about)

Send a few bucks Bitch's way. Buy the latest issue and subscribe. Sky, I'm talking to you.