Cat bone! Cat bone!

My dog is dreaming. She must be kicking a squirrel with her back leg.

Last night, it was time for the ladiez to come together for a debriefing. It had been a while since our last time all together. Each of us is going through our own set of struggles, so sometimes we just need to come together to barf them all out (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively!). It sounds depressing, but it can be very helpful. Never underestimate the importance of friends in troubled times. When you have a group of people that can be made to laugh at their plights, things can feel moderately improved.

We gathered in Dearborn to spend the evening with Un-lawyer's family. We began the night with a group reading session. Xtina and I have begun writing a teen novel that will someday make us wealthy. Not rich, WEALTHY. We will perhaps post excerpts for you in the future. When it is published, you should go out and purchase it. Group reading sessions can be very therapeutic, especially when you have something funny to read! And change your voice up for different characters. That makes it more fun. Un-Lawyer also gave us all a short taste of Moonlight: A Parody. An excellent spoof of Twilight.

But what's a REALLY great cheap hoot? BOARDGAMES, OF COURSE! Hurray! We're the type of people that prefer games with minimal rules, so our first choice for the night's entertainment was Apples to Apples. As an English major with a soft spot for comedic writing, this game of word absurdity is by far one of my favorites. It's easy, and it never really stops being funny. Ever. The only irritation is when you have a hand full of names. The names are never really fun.

This was a night of creativity, really, as the next game was Pictionary. A classic, but one with significantly more rules than Apples to Apples. Rules! NOOOO!

Somehow, we managed to understand the laws of the board, and had a rousing, successful game. Our team was unfortunately cursed to always roll a five and land on All Plays. Damn you, All Plays! Un-Lawyer's parents and sister had a knack for guessing the right answer before members of our own team could. Alas.

So I guess that's about it! The moral of this post? Uh...play boardgames!

Citrus Tempeh and Roasted Broccoli: Or, What I had for Dinner Last Night

Hello Friends, xtina here -

After almost a week on the road, I've been craving a return to home-cooked food. A warm, healthy meal free of animal products would almost certainly erase some painful memories of a difficult - although snack-filled - journey (see posts below). Yesterday afternoon I was rummaging around the fridge and discovered an unopened pack of tempeh. Score! My wonderful mother had also picked up a head of organically-grown broccoli for her strange, vegan-eating hippie daughter. With these building blocks in mind, I turned to one of my favorite internet tools: Food Blog Search.

This website is just like Google 4 food! In fact, it's even powered by Google! All you do is type in some keywords or your ingredient or whatever you want and behold, a list of blog pages appears, hopefully relevant to your search. You can even refine your search by searching just vegetarian blogs, or gluten-free blogs. Handy! Maybe someday our lil' ol' blog here will appear on the site...

After I "did a google" on tempeh, I discovered this gem of recipe on Heidi Swanson's gem of a website, 101 Cookbooks. I love citrus flavors, especially when winter seems to be dragging on and on and on. While scanning the recipe, it occurred to me that I could try something I'd heard about but never done - pre-steaming tempeh to improve both texture and flavor before continuing with the rest of the recipe. I remembered a post my friend Andy had made on his veg food blog, the wind attack, and got to reading. He recommends steaming your sliced tempeh for twenty minutes or so before cooking. Armed with such knowledge, I began dinner.

I modified the recipe on 101 Cookbooks to fit my taste and ingredients. Here's my version:

Citrus Tempeh

1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice, plus an extra squeeze to finish
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3 small garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 large pack of tempeh
2 tablespoons olive oil

Procedure: Slice your tempeh into small triangles (side note - can anyone help me improve my tempeh slicing skills? I never get it right. My slices are never even, crumbles fall away from my knife, and this is after I wrestle to get the cake out of the packaging for at least ten minutes...). Fill a large pot with about two inches of water, and put your steaming rack inside. Arrange slices on steamer so they don't overlap. Cover and let steam for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare your sauce.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl, and whisk together. Set aside.

Once the tempeh is finished in the sauna, heat a little olive oil in a skillet. Transfer the tempeh from the steamer to your pan, and brown until both sides are crispy and golden, about five minutes per side. Once this has been completed, pour in the sauce and simmer, about ten minutes. The sauce will thicken into yummy goodness.

Finish with another squeeze of lemon juice and you're all set!

Now, for the broccoli. One of my favorite ways to prepare this lovable veggie is roasting. I chop the head into florets, cover with olive oil, and toss with salt and pepper. Bake in your oven for 20-25 minutes, and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice, chili flakes and toasted almonds. I suspect sesame oil would be good here also, or maybe some nutritional yeast. Play around!



Frugal Tip! Get the most out of your veggies, especially when it's winter and they cost a little more. Don't discard the stems of your broccoli - instead, peel them to remove the tougher outer skin. You can chop them into small pieces and steam, or shred them and add to coleslaw or salad. I made mine into sticks, for dipping into homemade hummus. It took me all of three minutes:

mmm, this + hummus = future afternoon snack

Tempeh complete and broccoli thus roasted, I sat down to my meal relaxed and satisfied.

MOTH

There's this "thing" called The Moth. I'm not exactly sure how to classify it; it's not a particular event, but there are lots of Moth events that occur, and it's not a club/organization, but people are involved with it, it's sort of like a idea, but it's more.

The Moth is a storytelling thing, and they have Story Slams (like Poetry Slams, get it) where people get together and tell stories based on a chosen theme. There's casual judging, a casual winner, and it's a great way to get out and hear stories about other people's lives. Some are funny, some might be sad, some aren't so good, but it's a pretty good time.

The first Thursday of each month in Detroit at Cliff Bell's is a Moth Story Slam. Last night the theme was "Busted", and all the stories had something to do with that. Getting busted by the cops, by the parents, for being drunk, by an alcoholic boss, busted in court, or busting your face. Ten stories, a few flops, but most were pretty good.

Cliff Bell's is a place I've wanted to go for a while after hearing about it through the Moth, it's a cool little jazz club and it was a perfect place to host something like this. Warm atmosphere, good lighting, good people.... BUT NOT ENOUGH CHAIRS. You know, standing room only, which was okay, except that we wanted to sit and eat something. So, we found a chairless table, and we took it.

We kneeled.

And felt like little kids sitting at the big kids table!

All in all, a really fun night. Good stories, $5 to get in, good food. Highly recommended.

If you're interested in finding out more: The Moth Detroit

Cliff Bell's

As my hero, Kurt Vonnegut, would say...

"All of this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true."

We told you, dear readers, that we would continue to blog about the trip. But it eroded as time went on. Our stay in Ithaca was delightful all around, but couchsurfing and surviving Amherst was a challenge. We composed this list at the Amherst Brewing Company of what happened to us in a period of about 28 hours. We saved some money by splitting an appetizer of fries for our meal. Money that was spent on hard cider instead, Original Sin brand. Here is the list. Enjoy.

"Sluts!"
ACTV lobby. Weird children's program.
Conor Sullivan.
Nice? Hugs.
Stop & Shop
Collards, not kale.
Shithole.
Pillow dropped on the floor. Horror!
"Is kale the staple of a vegan diet?"
Beans.
Grouchy, grunting, unwelcoming housemates.
"Do you have a back-up?"
"I'm going to fight for the couches for you."
"I'm going to bed now, but I'll hook you up my friend 'Scrib' tomorrow. My housemates aren't cool with you."
Don't touch the toilet.
Deep squat.
Sky for Men soap.
"They have a COOKING blog?!?"
Stoned girl with economy-sized ketchup bottle.
Lice?
No sleep.
Fishtank.

Sunrise.

Walk of shame.
Snow-rain.
No internets.
Fall-out shelter buildings.

Hope!

Teen novels.
SCUBA>you. Alas!
Bad-assery.
Re-united!
"What is Puffers!?"
Candy and Transformers Lunchbook.*
Rescuing the Honda in the cover of darkness.
Maroon 5
Booze and fries.
"Get me drunk, lady. Game on."

*Supposed to be "lunchbox." Written after several drinks.


We cut our trip short by an entire day to retreat with our tails between our legs to the safety of the Upper Hand state. We listened to vast amounts of pop, consumed vegan pizza (#11) from Amici's Pizza, watched Planet Earth, and went to bed very early. Boiling more sap now, listening to The Beat of Detroit. Beyonce, deliver us.

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before." -K.V.

Batch #3 + Haiku

 

It tastes like Heaven

The right one is clearer, eh?

It's great either way

It is helpful to know that filtering is more effective once the cheesecloth is clogged up with some sugar sand, making it effectively a finer filter. Next time I'll fold up the cheesecloth more to see if it makes it a better filter.
 Or filter the syrup back into the pot until a pad of sand develops. Experiments! Best fucking maple syrup ANYWHERE.

Gotta get COMFY! Unh.

Mmmmm comfort food. Everybody loves it. Everyone has their own version. It's found in every culture. Shit man, comfort food is GOOD.

I was craving something comforting today. Walking back from the library, it was a little chilly outside and I was feeling it more and more as I got farther on. Whatever I was going to eat, it needed to warm me up, and stick with me. It needed fat, carbs, and heat. I knew it.

THAI GREEN CURRY WITH JASMINE RICE

3 Tbsp Green Curry Paste
1 Can Coconut Milk
1 Large or 2 Small blocks of Tofu, pressed and cubed
1 Chinese Eggplant, chopped
1 Medium Onion, chopped
1 Medium Bell Pepper, sliced into 2" pieces (I like Red/Yellow/Orange, because they're sweeter than green)
1/2 a Zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into half-moons
1 Tomato, chopped into large chunks
Handful of Basil (I didn't have any this time, but I've used it in the past and it's SO F'ING GOOD)
Soy sauce
Lemon/Lime juice or apple cider/rice vinegar
Sugar/Agave nectar
Jasmine rice, cooked the way you like

First, I tossed the onion and eggplant around in a hot pan to caramelize the onion and get a head start on the eggplant, which can take a while to cook. Pull them out when the eggplant is about 1/3 to 1/2 done, and then drop the curry paste and 1/4 of the coconut milk into a wok/saucepot over medium-high heat. Simmer them together, mashing the paste until it combines with the milk. Cooking the paste like this first gets the rawness out and, like frying anything, brings out some tasty-tastes.

Toss in the tofu and simmer, adding in a little coconut milk as it's needed to keep enough liquid around the pieces. Add in the eggplant and onion next, again adding more milk.

Simmer it for a bit to get the eggplant on its way some more, and then add in the pepper and zucchini. Again with the milk and the simmering. Season with soy sauce, sour juice of choice, and sugar/agave to taste. Add in the remainder of the coconut milk, toss in the tomato pieces and the basil, give it a brief stir to wilt the basil and warm the tomato through, and you're done! Ladle it over the rice, and enjoy the shit out of it.

Hellz Yeah.

I was mad about Sidney, too.

Hello, friends. Here we are in Ithaca, having a pleasant morning in the Trillium Cafe of Kennedy Hall. We are trying to fit in with all these Ivy league people, but I fear we stand out. Alas.

Our journey was quite enjoyable. The 7 1/2 hour drive felt short. No doubt the reason was the 11 hour pop music playlist I created on Saturday. We were jamming the whole time. Our couchsurfing hosts have turned out to be extremely interesting. One is a former animator, and worked on many of the shows I found so appealing as a wee one. Tiny Toons! He was the one that had the idea of sending Buster and Babs down river in a raft for the Summer Adventure movie! It was like meeting the hero I never new I had. He showed X and I his old sketches from his days with various animation companies, and drew pictures of us while we played Jumbling Towers. 3-2, X.

Anyhow, since we got to Ithaca promptly at dinner time (6:30), we decided to immediately ease our restless, Moosewood-craving souls. Now, X had looked up reviews of the restaurant prior to the trip, and found that they were quite mixed. This didn't matter. Moosewood is a pilgrimage all vegetarians must one day make.

Sunday was Indian night. Perfect! We love a good curry. There was no wait for a table, and the staff was very friendly (our waiter, as a plus, was very attractive. He looked much like this. Really, it could have been Cillian Murphy). The restaurant had bright, yellow walls, a picture of Michelle and Barack looking blissful, and a lot of long-haired men in knit sweaters.

We decided to go all out, ordering an appetizer of Onion-Cauliflower Pakora to share, along with our respective entrees, which came with a side salad. The pakora, served with a sweet and sour tamarind sauce, was...ok. The veggies should have been crispier, although they were pleasantly spicy. The dipping sauce was, however, outstanding. We proceeded to munch on the garnish, a lettuce leaf, while we waiting for the food.

Now we must discuss the great salad debate. Pancake - this is X writing now, ps - feels that the salad should always come first, before the appetizer. To me, the order of appetizer first and salad second makes perfect sense. I was thrilled to be eating green things at all, not to mention the thrilling ginger miso dressing. Dear readers, who's right?

As we bitched loudly about Sidney Crosby, our entrees arrived. Lentil Sambar for Pancake, an Eggplant-Spinich-Red Pepper curry for myself. The lentil sambar was "bright" tasting, if you will, especially with the splash of coconut milk over top. It was by no means mindblowing (Raja Rani in Ann Arbor=way better), but it was tasty. The eggplant curry was also just ok. The spices were flavorful and enchantingly warmed my mouth, but it was missing that something to round it all out. You, that something that gold medal winners always possess. And not the gold medal winning that win just because the other guy fell down.

Since we were going all out, we decided to finish our meal with a slice of their vegan chocolate cake. While we were waiting, we began musing - and loudly, apparently - about the availability of discounts for say, travelers. Travelers from Michigan. Unemployed travelers from Michigan. After all, don't we need a discount the most?? COME ON! We got the highest unemployment rate in the country! Lo and behold, the young woman at the table beside us heard our somewhat unnecessary complaining and bestowed a 15 percent off coupon upon us! She said as she left, "I was upset about Sidney too." Score.

Pancake again. So, about that cake. It arrived in a thick, square-shape with an orange slice gracing the top. The cake was described on the menu as moist, but what arrived was a dry, spongy disappointment. And the frosting? Should have been at least 1/2 inch thicker. We ate the whole thing with gusto, nonetheless. No need to waste good chocolate.

All in all, Moosewood is riding on the fame, and delivering mediocrity. For an institution so beloved and well-known by vegetarians and vegans alike, the food should at least match their cookbooks for quality. You shouldn't leave thinking "I could have made it better myself."

Alas.