xveganx party

Taste Testing the Bean

2010-05-04T07:46:00.001-07:00

Despite being somewhat of a reclusive miser, I am no stranger to the Sentient Bean. My roommate and I make a habit of a leisurely walk there every Sunday to catch up with each over coffee and sweets. In line, our hearts race as we select a baked good to break our weekly budget of money and calories, and we feel like royalty walking with plates that glitter with sugar. It’s a two-step over computer cords and in between conversations to find a table or couch that we can occupy with brainstorms and gossip, and we sit there too long stealing refills and wishing work wasn’t awaiting us when we left. Everything about the event is painstakingly choreographed, but it’s a choreography I love to dance. In all honesty, it’s probably my favorite part of the week.

My experiences at the Bean have been largely limited to these Sunday mornings and specifically limited to that bakery case. Occasionally, I’ll find myself there on a weekday afternoon, a table all to myself where I scramble to meet some deadline instead of dissecting a Robert Downey Jr. movie like I usually would; but even on those rare occasions where I’ve come to work instead of play, if I’ve got anything sitting beside my coffee, it’s something sweet.

I always go for something sweet because I’m vegan, and finding a homemade vegan treat is difficult to do even in my much-more-metropolitan hometown. (We won’t mention my outrageous sweet tooth.) The novelty of vegan sweets right here in Savannah suckers me in almost every trip - even though every time I know that half the time I’m wasting me $1.50 - $4.00 because their baked goods are so hit-or-miss. It’s that option of lifestyle compatible treats, though; I find it too compelling to avoid! I find it especially compelling because the Bean fails to offer “real” food I see worth paying for.

I’ve eyed the Sentient Bean’s meal options more than once, but it’s never grabbed my attention. Nothing has ever looked good or interesting enough to pound my fist and say, “Give me something I can’t dunk in coffee!” When I look at their menu, I see largely generic vegetarian fanfare at sort of exorbitant prices. I’ll concede that the portions are fairly decent and the ingredients are fairly quality (they use things like demera sugar, whole wheat flour, and some organic produce); but when appealing to a broke college student who’s skilled with a skillet, I need them to give me soups, salads, and sandwiches that sizzle – and I need them vegan, not vegetarian!

Okay, I admit, Sentient Beans gives a lone vegan option that’s gotten my salivary glands pumping from time to time: the barbecue tofu wrap. Sometimes when I catch a glance of it on the menu, my stomach checks itself for hunger so it can try to convince my brain that I need that sandwich. The board describes it as tomato, mixed greens, and tofu dressed in a combination of Vegenaise, sriracha, and barbecue sauce wrapped in a tortilla and pressed like a panini. My stomach usually pleads with my brain, “Doesn’t that sound good?!” but my brain had never given in – that is, until recently.

I ate the barbecue tofu wrap in the shade of the Bean’s back patio with a breeze blowing that simply smelled like sunshine. If there was ever a more perfect time for eating this sandwich, it was that afternoon, and I was dancing inside when my plate arrived. The wrap’s presentation was elegant in its simplicity: a bouquet of color bundled inside a tortilla and ribboned with the crisp impressions of a panini press. The cook had laid it out in a sort of pyramid of thirds and trimmed it with a modest side salad. It looked so fresh and flavorful, my eyes were as happy to consume the sandwich as my mouth was, and when I took my first bite, I was expecting an explosion of flavor.

The flavor was so flat, the side salad was a serious adventure by comparison. The barbecue tofu wrap had always caught my attention because it struck me as cleverly complex. After all, could one ordinary tortilla contain such three distinctly different condiments? Suffice it to say, I wasn’t expecting the condiments to fuse together into something that functioned more like lubricant and less like dressing, but my instinct was to blame the bland tofu and chock the whole sandwich up to poor tofu preparation.

The Bean doesn’t press this protein-packed meat analogue like most veg restaurants do. Without pressing tofu, it maintains that notoriously wet texture tofu that most people are turned off by, and its residual water can drown accompanying flavors. I think that’s what happened here, and it happened in such a profound way, I was halfway through the wrap before I remembered it was called barbecue. The wrap would have been a lot better had the Sentient Bean’s kitchen staff pressed the tofu and then marinated it in barbecue sauce. Then the tofu could do what tofu does best: absorb all that delicious flavor. Now, the wrap would have been perfect had they baked the tofu after marinating it so those cute little cubes would have had crisp little outsides to contrast with the smooth of the sauces they wind up dressed in. But, the Bean didn’t do that, resulting in an underwhelming sandwich that tasted like amateur tofu skills.

As I sat debating whether it was worth the six dollars to have only my curiosity satiated, I watched people traverse the alley paralleling the patio. The Bean’s outback is somewhat secluded by greenery and trellising, but there’s an implied doorway from the alley into the dining area with lots of places where neighbors can spot diners and shout hellos as they walk past with their dogs. Several times during my meal, people would be casually shuffling along only to look over at a friend nose-deep in a book on the patio. The person would re-route themselves to grab a seat, and soon laughter would mix with the faint aromas wafting from the open backdoor of the Bean’s kitchen.

It reminded me that no one goes to the Bean for the food. People go to the Sentient Bean because it faces Forsythe Park. They go because it has fair trade coffee, and the coffee is actually good. They go because the dishwashers will ask you how your cake is - tell you it’s a new recipe tried just that morning, and they’re as eager as you were to try it. People go because the atmosphere at the Bean is as warm as its red walls, especially with events like open-mic comedy nights, weekly film screenings, and performances by underground and indie performers of every stripe. It’s the kind of place where Sunday mornings see children crawling away from their parents and tattooed strangers carrying them back with a smile. If you want a really good vegan sandwich, wait in line at Zunzi’s for half an hour to get the mushroom one without cheese; but if you want a pleasant afternoon that might unexpectedly involve five of your favorite friends, grab something at the Sentient Bean.

Sentient Bean
13 East Park Avenue
Savannah, GA 31401-6436
(912) 232-4447
http://www.sentientbean.com

Resurrected? Or the living dead?

2010-04-27T19:02:00.000-07:00

I have a blog? Fuck, I have a blog.

When I got an email from Scrumptious reminding me, yes, I have a blog, I decided I could no longer call watching Weeds while studying anatomy textbooks "too busy." My absence isn't just avoidance, though. It also owes to a lot of self reflecting.

I started the blog with the life I was leading at the time in mind. I felt like there was a lot about it that said, "Hey, my life's a fuckin' party!" and I wanted to share that along with lots of recipes and ideas. Shortly thereafter, though, I got accepted to art school and was awarded a huge scholarship - conditional on starting right then. I had a week and a half to quit my job, pack my life, and say good bye, and instead of pausing to adjust when I got there, I scrambled to find a job and dove deep into the ten-week terms. Three quarters and a whirlwind of excuses later, I still haven't adjusted, and what can I say? I'm broke, I'm busy, and I'm reclusive. Point being, it's hardly the model of fun vegan straight edge living anymore, and that coupled with some lifestyle dilemmas I've finally resolved (I second-guess my choices every couple years - still vegan! still edge!) leaves me at a loss when I think about this here blog.

So, I might change its direction, give it a face lift - something when school gets out in five weeks, but I haven't decided. If you've got some thoughts, I'm all ears.

Now, I was going to reward your patience with a restaurant review, but I just realized it's not on my hard drive. Damn. I guess you'll have to accept these posi living suggestions instead, then tune back in tomorrow to read what I think of a coffee shop in Georgia. (I know you're marking the days off your calendar in anticipation of a Savannah ghost tour, by the way. Don't lie. That is so up your alley, it is the alley, so this review is going to be VERY relevant to you. As relevant as this code for living..!)

Tips for Being Awesome at Life

2010-02-26T05:37:00.000-08:00

Being in art school (as well as being committed to the idea of freelance after art school), staying motivated and "inspired" is a constant struggle for me. It's been an especially big struggle this quarter because even before I'd come back from break, life had gotten kind of messy; and then after break, well, the mess just sort of shot downhill. In addition to stresses like breaking my glasses and having my car hit, I'm not enjoying my classes as much and I'm bumping heads with more people than I'm used to. As my day gears up, I sit down to do work only to find myself saying "UGHGHGHHHH" a lot. That's when I start tapping into my bookmarks.

I've got a bookmark for just about every creative problem: coming up with an idea, implementing the idea, staying on task with the idea... When I'm dragging my feet going, "Ugh, I'm so uncreative! Ugh, I'll never get this done! Ugh, everything I do is shit!", there's always a link to put a skip in my step. So today, I'm sharing some of my link gold mine with you. The links aren't exclusive to cranky "creative" types and their "creative" projects (read: me/art students). Everyone's life requires creativity, and these are the links that help you tap into that, that help you realize your ideas - the links that keep you on track! If you want to do something about this cause but you can't decide what, these links will help. If you're trying to come up with a way to get more folks involved in a project, these links will help. If you're trying to get a project off the ground but you keep getting distracted, these links will help. Even if your only creative outlets are the kitchen, the blogosphere, the zine world - trust me, these links will help. So take a minute, browse through, and if you've got any to add, let me know.

+ Brainstorming 101: How to Get Creative - this is a four-minute video from the writer/motivational speaker Danielle Laport on how to get the most from your creative side. Danielle runs the blog White Hot Truth, which also has this great article on the perils of justifying yourself. (Because you may not be aware of this, but your constant excuse-making is holding you back..!)

+ Nine Tips to Be More Creative

+ Nubby Twiglet's Guide to Overcoming Artist's Block: Seven Methods

+ Scott Hansen's Guide to Overcoming Creative Blocks

+ 13 Tried & True Ways of Making Ideas Happen - because once you've overcome that creative block and you've got that idea, you need to know how to realize it. DUHZ.

+ 33 Ways to Get & Keep Yourself Motivated

+ The Art of the Self Imposed Deadline - short and sweet and cuts right to the point.

+ Self Discipline - this is from Steve Pavilina's blog, who is another writer/self-help type whose website YOU NEED TO EXPLORE if you like these kinds of links. I would also recommend the article Eliminate a Limiting Belief, but there are lots of not-so-hidden gems like Ten Reasons Never to Get a Job and How Intentions Manifest. Seriously, look through this shit.

+ Goals Shape the Present, Not the Future - sound familiar? I'm telling you, goal-setting will change your life. CHANGE.YOUR.LIFE.

+ Overcoming the Fear of Failure

What are your best links or tips for coming up with ideas and getting work done?

Vegan Zombies

2010-02-23T17:33:00.000-08:00

click for larger view
He was out dumpstering during the zombie apocalypse. The stakes were high, but food was scarce. Usually, his best friend kept watch while he rifled through Trader Joe's residual inventory, but she had expired about the same time as the dumpster's contents so he was on his own tonight. He had to hurry. Being outside and alone always meant a hurry. The sound of a trash can tipping over. He looked up only to be descended upon by a round woman in stretch pants and a Garfield tshirt with teeth like tombstones and smoke where the sparkle in her eyes should have been. It was all over. Garfield-tee dragged her heft across the pavement, leaving him prone and still. Except, he wasn't still. His body was beginning to pulse with the fervor of a second life. His eyes opened, and he pulled himself off the ground, stumbling as the stiffness set into his joints. He hungered, he ached. All he could think was, "GRRRRAIIIIIINNNNS!!!"

+++

Yesterday, the blog turned one. I haven't had time to write anything in celebration, so this was my gift to you. I enjoy making art about being vegan. I enjoy making art about a lot of stuff. You can always see what I'm up to via my flickr.

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Also, you could win an ice cream maker over here.

Healthy Size

2010-02-20T06:21:00.000-08:00

Anyone that's known me for a long time knows that my weight fluctuates... a lot. If you've been following this blog since its inception, you've even caught me talking about it a few times. When I started school last March, I put on a lot of weight my first quarter and really struggled with the sudden change. I wound up sharing a little bit of that struggle here, then realized weight loss can never be a posi topic and therefore didn't belong on the blog. (And I've since gone back and altered those entries.) The only thing I'm interested in promoting here is size acceptance and body positivity, so that's what I've focused on.

And yet, every blogger knows they're never 100% the person they try to be on their blog. So, even though I stopped writing about my weight, it never stopped being an issue for me. After a year of maintaining that weight gain, I finally managed to lose some of those ghosts of stresses passed this quarter, but now I'm at this in-between size where a lot of my clothes are either too big or too small. The other day, I caught myself complaining, "I'm too small for my fat pants and too big for my thin pants!" - which horrified me once I heard it because my clothes don't need those kinds of value judgments, especially when they're only a size or two apart.

That's why I was really glad when, only a few days later, I discovered one of my favorite blogs having a Size Healthy contest. The name makes it sound like some absurd mission to manipulate one's body into aesthetic standards of what it means to be "healthy," but it's not. It's just an incentive to promote body acceptance and health at any size. How does it promote that? By telling folks to take their clothes, cross out the sizes, and replace them with the words "healthy size." After all, it's not about the number on the tag (or on the scale or on the measuring tape...); it's about living a healthy lifestyle and accepting the version of you that you are at this moment - because there is no better version! It was exactly the kind of push I needed to deal with my absurd pants dichotomy.

My "fat pants" no longer have a number to stare at me every time I put them on. Now the wonderfully obvious cleaning-instructions tag screams "HEALTHY SIZE!!!" before I can even consider that number hidden beneath the sharpie. Every time I put on those pants - or any clothes I write this on - I've got that affirmation that I am enough and that my size is perfect, no matter what that size actually is. This isn't going to alleviate my weight concerns, but I know the constant reminder will be an important step in training myself to stop judging my shape. (And to stop valuing certain clothes more than others!) It's a step I encourage you to take as well because, if that's not a posi message or a posi pro-active move towards body acceptance, I don't know what is.

With that in mind, these are my four favorite body-positive blogs:

Oh She Glows
Operation Beautiful
ED Bites
The F-Word (Don't miss the links in her sidebar!)

Single-Serving Vegan Rice Pudding

2010-01-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

When I woke up this morning, all I could hear was the tapping of rain against my window. I pulled down my blinds to see soggy grey clouds and umbrellas shuffling down the street; it made me immediately fall back into bed and pull the sheets over my head. Cold was already kissing at my cheeks. Schoolwork was already causing a tension headache. It felt like nothing could drag me out of bed. And then it donned on me, the comfiest of southern comforts that could revive even the most weather-worn northerners trapped in the south: RICE PUDDING.

The first time I can recall having rice pudding was about nine years ago. I was in North Carolina for a film festival, and one morning, there was a panel with a buffet trimmed in all the southern standards. I had just gone vegetarian a few months before, so the pickings were slim: drippy bacon over here, messy biscuits'n'gravy over there, home fries flecked with putrid pink ham. What was a vegetarian to do? But there, hidden in the corner, were these fluffy, fragrant dishes of gelatinous rice cozied with juicy little raisins that just called to me. Within one bite, I was hooked. My mouth reveled in the harmonies of flavors and textures, hints of cinnamon and cardamom mixed in a sweet cream delicately punctuated with rice grains. Oh, this was southern comfort, at its finest.

Suffice it to say, southern comfort is what makes me feel better about life down south, so rice pudding was definitely in order today. The best part about rice pudding is, it's extraordinarily easy to make. Even better, it's soooo adaptable. I make mine with brown rice and unsweetened soymilk so it's just as much about nutrition as it is about taste - and suitable for breakfast or dessert. I also make it without sugar. This recipe is single-serving because I've been super into single-serving dishes lately; they mean I don't have to worry about mindlessly snacking on leftovers, but more importantly, I can vary the recipe if I want to make it again. Thus, I offer a short list of variations afterward that I encourage you to experiment with. Get bold and come up with your own flavor combinations. (Then come back and tell me about them...)

Happy cooking!

SINGLE-SERVING VEGAN RICE PUDDING (REGULAR & SUGAR-FREE OPTION)

+ 1/2 c water
+ 1/4 c rice*
+ 1/4 c non-dairy milk
+ 1/2 t cornstarch
+ 1 packet Purevia**
+ 1/2 t vanilla

* I recommend short-grain brown rice. While more toothsome than its white counterpart, it has more starch than long-grain, making it more fluffy and sticky while still maintaining the health benefits of brown rice.
** I happened to have some packets lying around from a restaurant and didn't want to futz with figuring how much Stevia. If you want to use good ol' fashioned sugar - or sucanat or agave or maple syrup or whatever - 2 T should be about right.

01. In a pot on high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the rice, cover, reduce the heat, and let simmer for about fifteen minutes. After fifteen minutes, there should still be a little bit of water but not much - at least, this is the case with brown rice.

02. Whisk together the soymilk and cornstarch before adding them to the pot of rice. Then add your sweetener and vanilla, raise the heat to about medium, and stir constantly as it comes to its second boil. Reduce the heat and return the lid, keeping a watchful eye and stirring occasionally to prevent any burning or clumping.

03. When your pudding looks ever so slightly thinner than your "ideal" pudding texture, pull it from the stove and switch it to the fridge. (It will thicken as it cools.) Be sure to use a wire shelf/remember to put a pot holder beneath your pot! If you want to enjoy your pudding warm, it only needs to sit in the fridge for maybe three minutes. Otherwise, give it at least an hour before savoring most serenely.

VARIATIONS
coconut rice pudding: substitute coconut milk for your usual "milk." Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve with sliced bananas.

chocolate rice pudding: when adding the milk and cornstarch, throw in a tablespoon of cocoa powder, too. For a richer chocolate experience, add 1/4 - 1/2 t almond extract, and for REALLY decadent rice pudding, toss in 1 - 2 T chocolate chips. To make it seasonal, try peppermint extract instead of almond.

berry rice pudding: in the last five for ten minutes, toss in a handful of your favorite frozen berries and maybe 1/2 t lemon juice. Give 'em a gentle stir, and let their flavors BURST onto every rice grain. This would be an excellent way to start the day.

chai rice pudding: add 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t cardamom, and a splash of ginger, clove, pepper, and nutmeg when adding the milk. You might also try mixing chai concentrate with the milk before adding it or cooking the rice in brewed chai tea instead of water.

pumpkin rice pudding: mix together 1/8 c pumpkin puree with 1/8 c soymilk and omit the cornstarch. Use brown sugar as a sweetener and add 1/2 - 1 t pumpkin pie spice. Perhaps substitute (or add!) almond extract for vanilla.

Indian rice pudding: substitute the coconut milk for your usual "milk," and add a handful of raisins in the last five or ten minutes of cooking. Serve with a dash of cardamom and ground pistachios.

lemon rice pudding: add the finely ground zest of one lemon along with the water when cooking the rice. When adding the milk, add 1 - 2 tsp rum/rum extract. To make it a little fruitier, add dried cranberries in the last five or ten minutes of cooking, or serve with fresh raspberries or strawberries.

Italian rice pudding: add a splash of amaretto with the milk (or almond extract and a half t sugar). Then throw in chopped or finely ground hazelnuts (about a handful) five minutes before serving. Enjoy lightly dusted with cocoa and cinnamon with a soy latte on the side.

How do you make your rice pudding?

Wheat-Free, Sugar-Free Vegan Carob Muffins

2010-01-26T05:30:00.001-08:00

Note: these are tagged gluten-free but are not actually gluten-free, as they contain spelt. To make them gluten-free, substituting an equivalent amount of gluten-free all-purpose flour would likely suffice.

Don't you just loved fresh baked goods in the morning? Lately, every day's begun with the same protein smoothie, but today, my body hit a wall and demanded something more. It could be the tremendous amount of work I'm doing; last night I stayed up until one thirty working on an illustration for a magazine (!!) that I have to put the finishing touches on today. This morning, I woke up at eight to finish a paper and brainstorm ideas for my next 3D project (we're fusing organic forms with things traditionally worn on the head or neck, and we have to make it out of paper!). Plus, I have a giant, elaborate drawing to do and a short story to write -- all of which need to be finished by early next week! (Except the paper and the magazine drawing; those are due today.) I think muffins entered the scene because I either need the extra fuel, or I need the extra feeling of reward. Either way, I thought they were so worth it that forty minutes of my morning have already disappeared. Yikes!

So, I won't proceed with over-adulating descriptions of what they taste like or how to serve them because I really need to work! Plus, they're just carob muffins. They're high-fiber, and they're sweetened with stevia. There's not much more I can say. HOWEVER, I did design the recipe to be sort of single-serving - as in, it only makes four. If you want more, double or triple the recipe, but for me, four is plenty because I don't want to eat carob muffins clear through next week. (Of course I - or you - could always freeze any extras...) If you're a wizard in the kitchen, I think hiding nut butter in the middle of these - especially peanut or cashew-macademia butter - would be sublime. Anyway, give these a whirl one morning when you need that extra "oompf" in your gut to get you through the day.

WHEAT FREE, SUGAR FREE VEGAN CAROB MUFFINS
+ 1/2 c spelt
+ 1/4 c oat bran
+ 1/8 c carob powder
+ 1 1/2 t baking powder
+ 1/2 t powdered stevia*
+ dash of salt
+ 1 t vanilla
+ 3 T oil (coconut would be amazing!)
+ 1/2 c water

* If you want to use sugar, 1/4 - 1/3 c would probably suffice.

01. Preheat the oven to 350º. Throw the dry ingredients in a bowl, and give them a quick stir with a fork so they're evenly distributed and well combined.

02. Add the wet. Stir! Stir! (With your fork - to prevent lumps. Stop stirring when there are no lumps. Remember, spelt is a cousin of flour, so gluten can still form from over-stirring. These aren't light muffins by any stretch, so don't add to that with vigorous shoulder work.)

03. Grease up or line four of the cups in a muffin tin, then fill them three-quarters of the way full. Shove the muffin tin in the oven and wait 25 - 30 minutes before pulling the muffins, cooling them, and EATING THEM!!!

04. Yes, it's just that simple.

Again - this recipe makes four servings.

Recreate, Don't Procrastinate! (Or: How to Get Shit Done so You Can Enjoy Your Effin Life)

2010-01-17T17:16:00.000-08:00

Click to enlarge this pretty amazing flow-chart on internet procrastination. So fresh, so apt, so true.
Procrastinating: it's what I'm doing right now. I've got a really intense project looming over my head (gosh, when don't I..), but there's something about a four-day weekend that screams, "Take a day for yourself!" So here I am, sipping strawberry chocolate smoothies, having a Robert Downey Jr marathon (one of my New Year's resolutions is to watch his complete filmography), and telling you how I'm going to rectify this once I'm smoothie-d out. Because, ordinarily, I'm pretty good at getting things done once I've resolved to do them. If you want to stop procrastinating, all you need is a game plan.

GET ORGANIZED
If you're going to do something, you need to know exactly what you're doing. So for example, if you wanted to bake a cake, you'd need a certain amount of time, certain ingredients, certain cooking utensils - a working oven, even. So before you could even think about the actual cake, maybe you'd need to clear an afternoon, go grocery shopping, run the dishwasher, and pay your gas bill so they'll turn the electricity back on. Baking a cake can be so much more than simply baking a cake because even simple tasks can (and often do) have sub-tasks. Figure out your sub-tasks, how you're going to complete them, and the time necessary for each one - because doing this is like making an activity-specific recipe for success. And if you've got a recipe, you can save a lot of time and frustration in you're life's "kitchen."

GIVE YOURSELF A DEADLINE
Nothing gives you a quick kick in the ass quite like a deadline, and there's a very obvious reason for this: deadlines make time finite. Even if we're apt to put things off until the very last minute, deadlines ensure that there is a last minute; so rather than being some ambiguous goal bobbing in the currents of our subconscious, deadlines push tasks right into the forefront of our thoughts and timetables. They make our goals real and thus more manageable, which makes them easier to accomplish. Deadlines also create some sort of consequence (even if it's just a matter of letting ourselves down) if we don't do things when we say we're going to.

GET THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS DONE FIRST
Maybe you have a to-do list a mile long. Speaking from my own experience, the longer my to-do lists become, the more daunting they seem, so that's why I get the most important things done first. Obstacles can creep up from the most unlikely places and we can lose our steam halfway through our list. With the most important things done and out of the way, you guarantee that something gets done (which is satisfying), and you alleviate the stress of Really Important Tasks looming over you. Plus, if something's really time sensitive and you tackle it as soon as possible, you leave room for those unexpected delays that could have really messed things up.

ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS
If the reason you're not getting something done is that you have too many distractions, get rid of them. It's just that simple. Set up a separate account on your computer where you can't get online. Block your time-wasting websites. Get out of the house to a quiet spot. Turn on music so it's not too quite. Whatever you need to avoid, figure out a way to avoid it because willpower isn't always enough. Basically, you're shooting yourself in the foot just letting those distractions dangle like carrots, so throw them away and get on with your life.

REMIND YOURSELF OF THE CONSEQUENCES
What happens if you don't get certain things done? Some things come with their own obvious consequences: if you don't pay rent on time, you get a fine. If you don't turn in an assignment on time, you get points taken off. If you don't meet your friends on time, you lose their confidence. But some consequences aren't as obvious. Maybe there's something you really want to do, but it's much easier to talk about than to pursue. But hey, who's it really hurting besides you? Well, "you" should be enough.

Chronic procrastinators get stuck in chronically letting themselves down. Instead of living in the now (working towards goals, celebrating accomplishments), chronic procrastinators wind up spending a lot of time in the past and the future, lamenting all the things they haven't done, idly planning more things they won't do. Another frequent and unintended consequence of abandoning personal goals is having only boring shit to talk about - because all you did instead of what you said you were going to do, was boring shit. Personally, I'd rather talk about a totally rad zine I wrote or some cool band I put together (chya, like I have any musical talent...) than the video games I played or movies I watched instead. So reminding ourselves why we do things - and what happens if we don't - can be a very helpful tool in motivating us to get them done.

REMEMBER SATISFACTION
There's nothing quite as satisfying as having something I really, really, REALLY didn't want to do, done and over with. The sooner an unpleasant task is behind me, the sooner I can look forward to, you know, pleasant things. Procrastinating always seems kind of fun when I'm doing it because anything is better than that unpleasant activity I'm avoiding, but here's the catch: whatever I'm doing instead of what I need to do is never as satisfying as it could be because I'm being nagged by that other thing. Even fun things get easier when I think of that feeling of accomplishment I get finishing them because accomplishment in and of itself is a useful motivation.

... so with the whole "getting unpleasant things behind me" thing in mind, I'm now going to check on the pasta I have drying for the pasta sculpture I'm shooting for a C on! (Me? A C-student? That's exactly what this project means to me...)

What do you do when procrastination starts getting the best of you?

Tropical Gluten-Free Muffins

2010-01-13T19:35:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not, I've actually been generating a lot of content for this here blog; I just haven't been posting it. Part of it is that, you know, I get ideas but I don't type them. Mostly, though, I've been developing TOP SECRET RECIPES that I think I'll put online and then decide I'd rather preserve for my zine. I know that I win World's Most Unreliable Blogger (what with promising you cookie recipes and then not updating for a month), but believe me, my little darlings, I have not forgotten you.

In fact, I've so far from forgotten you that I thought the best way to kick off the new year would be with a super healthy recipe. Year after year, the number one New Year's Resolution is "lose weight," but I prefer the more health conscious goal of "eat better, get fitter." After all, if you're eating properly and getting regular exercise, your body will naturally settle at a healthy, sustainable weight - no calorie counting required. So with that in mind, I decided to make some improvements in my own lifestyle: no more high-fructose corn syrup; no more hydrogenated oils; and no more artificial sweeteners. Right now, I'm also experimenting with completely wheat- and sugar-free cooking, and though it's only been maybe a week (I'm trying to make it at least month), I'm feeling pretty good. Some improvements I've noticed are my skin being a little clearer, my energy being a little more even, and my focus being a little better. This is all conducive to my ultimate 2010 goal: looking like Linda Hamilton a la Sara Conner in T2. Gotta have priorities, right?

So with these new(ish?) lifestyle efforts in mind, I conjured this recipe for gluten-free tropical bran muffins. I made some similar to these before I came back to school two weeks ago, and while those were just pineapple, they were amazing - amazing! Unfortunately, I didn't write down the recipe, and they were full of a little bit of sugar and a lot of wheat. Obviously, these babies have none of those things - just lots of good-for-you fats, fiber, and protein. They've got a little added sweetness from a scant half cup of maple syrup, but most of it comes from the tropical fruits, sweet flours, and coconut oil. These muffins get a nice, crisp exterior with a dense but fluffy interior. Plus, their tropical flavors warm your mouth on cool winter days, teasing you with daydreams of summer. Enjoy with some cold juice or an aromatic tea.

GLUTEN-FREE TROPICAL BRAN MUFFINS
+ 1 c oat bran
+ 1/2 c coconut flour
+ 1/4 c sorghum flour
+ 1/4 c brown rice flour
+ 1 tsp xantham or guar gum
+ 2 tsp baking powder
+ 1 tsp baking soda
+ salt
+ cinnamon
+ cardamom

+ 1/2 c coconut oil
+ 1 1/2 c "milk" or water
+ 1/2 c maple syrup or agave
+ 1 tsp vanilla

+ 1 - 1 1/2 c fresh or frozen tropical fruit

01. Preheat the oven to 350º, and sift together the dry ingredients (bran through cardamom). Sifting can produce a lighter, fluffier baked good, but it can also make the ingredients more evenly distributed, which yields more uniform and delicious baked goods. If you don't want folks fighting for the bigger muffin or biting into a nugget of baking soda, sift your ingredients.

02. Cut in the coconut oil with a fork until you have a bowl of crumbles, then add the rest of the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined. Your batter should look like a medium between cupcake and biscuit batter - maybe somewhere in the scone neighborhood but, you know, not like your typical muffin batter. Now, the cool thing about gluten-free baking is that you can stir and stir without much concern with how all that stirring will affect the texture. The fact is, it won't, really, because no gluten is forming! So add that fruit, then stir some more.

03. Grease or line a muffin tin, and then plop that batter in there. Feel free to fill the containers almost completely full because these babies don't get a lot of rise. Then throw them in the oven for twenty to twenty-five minutes, rotating them 180º halfway through the baking process. A fork or toothpick won't necessarily come out clean when these are ready, but the tops will look firm and maybe even a little brown on the edges. (Pull them before they get too brown!) Your oven will also RADIATE with the smell of these wonderful (and wonderfully healthy!) treats.

04. Let the muffins cool completely before enjoying. This is important because, while I'm with you on enjoying certain things all hot from the oven, these can still seem a little wet when they're fresh from the oven - kind of in the same way cookies are still all soft when you pull them. That cooling part's important. You can let them cool in their tray for five or ten minutes, then pop them out and transfer them to a cooling rack or even a plate. (Obviously, cooling rack gets preference.) Give them maybe a half hour, then grab some tea and a good book and dig in.

Makes twelve to fifteen muffins.

Secular Holiday Party? How About a Cookie Swap!

2009-12-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

Even being a godless vegan straight edge heathen, I love Christmas. I'll be the first to admit there's a lot not to love about it. For instance, I don't exactly love how wasteful it is: dead trees resurrected as Christmas cards; wrapping paper mountains that disappear overnight; families on the news pleaing for help with their electric bill because their light display captures the "Christmas spirit" better than anyone else's. I also don't love how commercial it is: buy this or your daughter will hate you! buy that or your house won't be Christmas-y enough! buy something or you're a total Scrooge! It's all very insulting.

And yet, I am smitten. For me, Christmas means snow-kissed landscapes and jazz in unexpected places. It means strange holiday crafts and complementary color schemes (hello, art nerd here!). It means pausing to appreciate your loved ones and pressure to be a little kinder. It also means a wealth of cookie recipes. For those of us compelled towards Christmas by something other than Christian faith, there's only one way to celebrate this odd cultural melange of Christian mythology and Pagan tradition. And that way to celebrate is... a cookie swap.

In my mind, cookie swaps are everything Christmas should be - and best of all, they don't even have to be about Christmas. (True story! You could host a cookie swap in July!) They're intimate because the best ones stay relatively small, and they're selfless because everyone has to do something for everyone else. Plus, the cookies are a built-in conversation-starter: "Man, how did you get those cookies to look like stained glass? That's so neat!", "Hey, these are amazing. What's your recipe?", "Don't take any of those home; they taste like feet." Cookie swaps are such a relaxed, no-fuss social occasion.

The formula for a cookie swap is simple:

01. Assemble a small guest list - maybe five to twelve people - and send out invitations. Be sure to specify how many cookies everyone should bake and any dietary restrictions/allergies they need to be sensitive of. Also remind folks to bring a container if you won't be providing them. If you're really amazing, tell them to wear one of those amazing holiday sweaters, too.

Pro tip: the dollar store sells cookie tins and large stacks of those Chinese take-out looking boxes, so if you want to provide containers for guests, there are options.

02. Make sure to have a table ready for all the cookies. You can dress it up with a cloth, candles, whatever (there are always fancy table settings on Hostess with the Mostess if you're into that), but having that surface is what's important. If you're feeling up to it, decorate your home, too. The dollar store and thriftstore are great sources for materials, but it's easy to make your own decorations, too. For bonus points, put on some of that sweet holiday jazz. (The library is an excellent source for said music.)

03. Provide beverages. Most of the cookies will probably go home with folks, but some will definitely be eaten at the party. That's why you need to provide soymilk, at the very least, and maybe some coffees and teas. Vegg nog, hot chocolate, chocolate chai rice milk, chai, chocolate peppermint soymilk - all good options, too! If you want to get crazy, throw in some juices and whatnot.

04. Plan games. Yeah, catching up and eating cookies are activities unto themselves - and in your case, that just might be enough - but if you really want to mark your party as an occasion, throw in some party games. Pin the nose on Rudolph! White elephant! Name that (Christmas) tune! Holiday charades! Stock the stockings! And on and on and on...

05. Have fun. Because that's what it's about, after all. And don't forget to remind your guests to take home some cookies!

Next week, I'm going to give some holiday cookie recipes perfect for gift-giving and cookie-swapping, so STAY TUNED.

Throwing Parties, Making Invitations, and Being All Around Rad

2009-11-29T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure there are more parties thrown during the month of December than any other month of the year. December offers a little something for everyone, even if it's just an excuse to make fun of drunk co-workers or avoid work for a few days. So, chances are good that, this month (well, in a few days...), you're either throwing a party or you know someone that is. That's why I wanted to give you a few 101 tips to make your party great. Specifically, I want to implore you to use these fandangled devices known as party invitations.

Now, the first thing any party needs is an occasion and a venue - because after you establish that, you can just add people. The occasion and the venue can dictate a lot - most obviously, they can dictate size - so if the occasion is a tea party, you probably don't want to invite a hundred people. At the same time, if the only place you can throw your shindig is the warehouse your uncle's renovating, you might not want to invite so few people that the size of the party echoes. Obviously, once you know roughly how many people you want, you can decide who those people are going to be; but of course, this is so much easier in theory than in practice.

Be mindful in planning your guest list. Smaller parties are going to require more careful planning, but even large parties need some thought, too. Sometimes it's just a matter of choosing people to introduce to each other - like Karen, who's a vegan straight edge drummer, and David, who has a spot in his vegan straight edge band. Other times, it's consciously keeping people apart - like Ellie, who is working towards recovery from anorexia, and Diane, who only speaks in pounds, inches, and diets. If it's the kind of party where extra guests are just assumed, don't make a point of inviting people you know will invite someone completely unwelcome, either - so for instance, don't call up the partner of a rapist that refuses to go through an accountability process and say, "Hey, want to come to my party!" because you're probably going to get the rapist, too. (And if you're welcoming unrepentant sexual assaulters into your party, you've got much bigger problems than whether or not to serve some Tofutti three days past expiration.)

Once you've established who you're inviting, you need to figure out how to invite them. Again, a lot of this will be dictated by the size of your soiree, but no matter what the size - do not resort to texting or social networking sites. Impersonal mass invites undo any and all personal touches. Sure, they save a little time, maybe money, but they're careless. Send real invitations. Real invitations are special because they affirm the person holding them as special. They say, "I consciously choose you to come to my party, and I'm so committed to that choice that I bothered choosing this invitation and making sure you got it." Plus, they distinguish your party. Let's say you're organizing a get-together on a night where there are going to be loads of them - a night like New Year's Eve, for example. You could send some invites on facebook to inevitably get lost in the thousands of other invites your facebook friends are surely receiving, or you could send an honest-to-goodness invitation people can admire aesthetically, tape to their fridges, and carry the accompanying directions from, in their car. Think of your invitation as an advertisement: you want people to come, so show people it's worth coming to. Otherwise, why bother with all this planning in the first place?

As for the invitation itself, there are a thousand different ways you can approach it. For bigger parties, use your computer to make flyers for doling out or mailing. For incredibly small ones, hand make each announcement. You can buy invitations, too, and while there are interesting finds at places like etsy, I prefer to keep my eye out for cheap and unusual cards at thrifstores, flea markets, and clearance sales. One time, I found the perfect invitations to announce a board game I'd made, at an art store's sidewalk sale. The invitations featured an early nineties glamor shot of this five-year-old dressed like a biker flashing a "mom" tattoo, so I used a really fine-tip permanent pen to alter it and read "Marx" because the game had Marxist undertones. Unfortunately, the game never got finished, but just subtly altering each one made them the best invitations I've ever bought. (And I've bought neon Batman invitations!) The trick is to be creative, so here are some ideas to get the ball rolling:

+ detail your event on pages ripped from a picture book (especially if the pictures relate to your party in some way)
+ draw the invitation
+ collage the invitation
+ send a message in a bottle
+ make a tape or CD with a recorded message, plus good music
+ make a mini-comic or zine about your party
+ use calligraphy
+ silkscreen it
+ embroider it
+ sew it
+ make objects into invitations (tshirts with the party details ironed on, boxes of candy with the info written on them, customized matchbooks, bubbles or jam with homemade labels, etc. etc.)
+ modify coloring book pages
+ use origami
+ graffiti your party details (erasably!) on friends' bathroom mirrors, fridges, etc.
+ turn a library checkout card into an invitation and hide it in books (NOT library books - like, books you'll give to your friends)

Be creative in your delivery, too. Mail and hand delivery are both fine options (especially in this digital age...), but there's something to be said about delivering an invitation that looks like a newspaper... as a newspaper. Or hiding your invitation to a clothing swap in your best friend's dresser. Or wheat pasting instructions to call you on the telephone pole outside someone's apartment. (You get the idea.) Even a tired old e-vite becomes cool when it's an email to a youtube video or a website made explicitly for this party. When you put thought into your party, people notice, and that thoughtfulness goes a long way.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-25T16:05:00.000-08:00

I thought about trying to cram in one more recipe for the week, but then I decided that was silly; anyone that hasn't planned their holiday menu by today is just a loon, pure and simple. Besides, I want to hang tight to my holiday recipes because they're getting included in xveganx party... the zine! I've just started work on it, but it's turning into a very thorough (and thoroughly enjoyable) guide to good times completely cruelty- and substance-free. Some of the parties and menus will be more traditional (like Thanksgiving) while others will be more interesting (like a body paint party). In my wildest dreams, I'll have this ready for stuffing stockings, but realistically... it probably won't get finished til the new year. Doesn't mean you can't start getting stoked now, though!

And speaking of stoked, I've really enjoyed the different readers and bloggers I've talked to these last few months. I love hearing what ya'll are doing and eating, and I'm grateful to have this blog that connects us. With that in mind, I wanted to share a few things I'm giving thanks for this year, and I want to invite you to do the same. Tell me about your holiday traditions! What are you eating! Who are you eating it with! Seriously, I'd love to know, so share share share.

As for me, this year, I'm eating: rolls, salad, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and stuffing, and I'm doing this with my best friend, her roommate, and their families. We're going to play dorky board games! (hearthearheart) And then I might hang out with some other close friends for some vegans-only treating.

And I'm grateful for...

+ being healthy, fit, and able-bodied
+ going to my dream school
+ ... and having most of it paid for in scholarship money
+ my dad and all the sacrifices he's made to help me along the way
+ having really close, supportive friends (not all of whom are the best at keeping in touch but who understand what's truly important about being friends!)
+ Judd Apatow & the new kings of comedy - so much laughter on those lonely art school nights
+ getting on a solid medication assistance program
+ keeping it vegan, keeping it edge
+ cutecutecute boys (yeah, deep down, I'm a thirteen-year-old girl)
+ my car Ericco and his continuing functionality
+ art and writing opportunities I'm starting to cultivate
+ being uncompromising in my beliefs
+ ... and feeling strong because I know the important parts of me just won't bend
+ facing some of my demons
+ having the courage to try try try
+ the people that I inconvenience treating me like I am no inconvenience at all (*coughBen&Carolinecough*)

So how about you, dear readers?

Going Sweet for Potatoes: Sweet Potato Pie

2009-11-23T11:24:00.000-08:00

I think it's every food blogger (especially every vegan food blogger)'s duty to contribute something when a food-focused holiday is on the horizon. And while this year, the only physical contribution I'm making to my Thanksgiving table is a green bean casserole, I wanted to share something with a little more... bite, shall we say, here on xvx party. In the last two years, I've adopted two Thanksgiving staples: the stuffed tofu roast from La Dolce Vegan and an all-pumpkin offshoot of Fat-Free Vegan's double-layer cheesecake. (By the way, the soy-seitan turkey she mentions - also amazing.) Unfortunately, I have to give them the pass; there's not much demand for a tofu loaf where I'm spending Thanksgiving, and making a pumpkin cheesecake would totally step on my best friend's toes, whose very identity is rooted in her delicious (albeit non-vegan) pumpkin pie. Still, to me, Thanksgiving without a pie is like Christmas without a tree: it's not like it ruins the holiday or anything, but c'mon, that little absence of motif echoes. So when another friend announced she'd be rolling through town this weekend, I decided this was a resounding excuse for a proto-pie of the non-pumpkin variety appropriate for Thanksgiving. And what better pie to tackle than sweet potato pie.

Sweet potato pie was never a staple in my household, and certainly, it never made any Thanksgiving cameos. Sure, sweet potatoes appeared on my family's table in other ways: mashed, candied, casseroled - but never pied. The only time I recall even eating sweet potato pie is when I'd go over to this friend's house around Christmas time. Because at Christmas time, her grandma would send her family a giiiiiiiant box of single-serving sweet potato pies, and they'd have so many, they'd unload a bunch onto my family. I have very vivid memories of gorging on these things: popping them out of their little foil tins, then sinking my teeth into their waxy tops for a full-mouth experience that can only be classified as rich. I have no recipe that recalls this kind of pie - only a detailed memory of this luscious and flavorful treat that will probably outlive all my holiday memories combined - so you can imagine my hesitance at going vegan with it. Just because I've been hesitant to try doesn't mean I haven't wanted to, though.

Now, truth be told, I probably won't end up taking this to Thanksgiving, but I had more motiving this pie than just tradition. For starters, I wanted to make it soy-free - one, because the friend I was making it for is a little soy sensitive; and two, because sometimes omnis can detect the soy in creamy desserts like pumpkin pie so I needed a soy-free technique. Another thing I've been hankering to try is this new So Delicious coconut kefir that just came out. Hannah Kaminsky used it in a no-bake coconut cheesecake, and I thought, "Hmm, I bet the fat from those coconuts plus the tang of the probiotics would be the perfect foundation for a custard-y dessert." I also wanted to try coconut oil instead of shortening in a pie crust. And thus, my sweet potato pie concept was born.

I can't say this pie tastes like its inspiration. This pie is smooth and rich but in a completely different way than those pies of yore. In the future, I might increase the sweet potato to increase its potato punch and try to harness that authenticity, but for now, I think it's a damn good pie - even if it's not the pie I remember. Serve it with a little coconut whipped cream and some hot cider for a truly autumn treat.

SWEET POTATO PIE
+ 9" pie crust

+ 1 c raw cashews
+ 1/4 c maple syrup *
+ 1/2 c coconut kefir**
+ 15 oz sweet potato puree
+ 1 t vanilla
+ cinnamon
+ nutmeg
+ ginger

* I used this much kefir and syrup in the original, which was not very sweet. Some people liked it this way, but some did not. If I were going to make it again, I would probably try 1/4 c kefir and 1/2 c maple syrup. I only used so little syrup because I ran out! ha!
** You could also substitute any "milk," plus maybe a tablespoon or two of cornstarch.

01. Soak the cashews in just enough water to cover them, then let them stand for at least three hours (but preferably overnight). When they're finished, drain the water, and throw the cashews in a blender or food processor with the kefir and syrup. Puree until completely smooth. Add the sweet potato and spices and mix until completely incorporated.

02. Preheat the oven to 350º. Roll out your pie dough, then transfer it to your pie dish and make it all purdy. Pour your pie filling into the pie shell, and give it a good shake to smooth out ripples in the filling. Any marks you leave on the surface when putting the pie into the oven, are marks that will likely still be there when you take it out.

03. Let your pie bake for fifty to sixty minutes until the center is set. When you insert a toothpick, it should come out fairly clean - and if it doesn't, it's not set yet! Then take it out of the oven, and let it cool completely before putting it in the fridge to really firm up. Enjoy with your closest family and friends.

Speaking of food for the holidays...

xveganxparty from Ben Dudley on Vimeo.

The Results are In

2009-11-14T13:29:00.001-08:00

Remember when I said a recipe was coming? And then days and days lapsed, and it never arrived? Well, to say I've been busy in the interim would be an understatement. It's finals week, and I'm working on:

a two-foot-tall gingerbread house modeled after this hotel

a 10+ page paper on French avant-garde cinema as the prototype for independent film (have I emphasized enough that I'm a little bit of a cinemaphile?)

an 18" x 24" painting inspired by Chuck Close

... and a roughly 3' x 1.5' still life of nature drawings and religious artifacts
(Sorry, no pictures - BUT you can always see what I'm up to on my flickr.)

Yeah, my life is NUTTY right now. And yet, despite all that, I've managed to crawl onto my computer to belatedly announce the winner of the reader feedback give away. (Which really means, I got super exhausted drawing my still life, so I came home to decompress for a minute. I think I'm going to watch a movie and decorate some of my gingerbread landscape before going back. You had no idea my life is so thrilling and glamorous!) Gotta say, I'm a little disappointed more people didn't enter, but I really appreciate the readers I got to talk to and the feedback I did get. I may not have the most popular blog, but ya'll are pretty awesome.

That said, the winner is...

Jenny S.
Jenny runs the really cool blog Unbrushed which describes itself as "concerning health, veganism, feminism, personal style, and the like." I like reading her blog because it's a lifestyle blog that addresses many topics I see related to this one, but Jenny is simultaneously more theoretical and personal in her approach. If you've never read it before, definitely give it a read.

So Jenny, email me your address and some food preferences. I'm throwing in baked goods because you emailed SO MANY PEOPLE, and that's kind of effin rad. I can't get the package out for a week or two, but trust me - it'll be worth the wait.

Everyone else, thanks for participating. (And thanks for reading!) When finals are over, I'll post that recipe, and you can be sure I'll do another give away sometime.

The Best Tip for Beginning Chefs

2009-11-10T08:22:00.001-08:00

I wasn't raised to cook. Sure, I grew up on my share of homemade meals, but kids certainly weren't invited to the kitchen to help. If it didn't come from a box, it was more or less a magic show: a mess of raw ingredients one moment, a complete meal an hour later. The first thing I ever learned to "cook" was Kraft macaroni, followed by some glazed chicken from a Martha Stewart recipe, the occasional pancakes or waffles, and then... well, I don't think I cooked again until I was almost seventeen. My interest in cooking didn't really pick up until I got a copy of 1000 Vegetarian, but even then, it was a slow going process because I was glued to the book, meticulously following each recipe, fumbling with my knife, and... well, generally proving myself a veritable kitchen disaster. I'd have to say, much of my cooking knowledge comes from obsessively watching the Food Network. (That, and working in food service for a few years.)

A vegan obsessed with the Food Network doesn't make a lot of sense. There's nothing particularly appetizing about a thousand shows all devoted to different ways of preparing dead animal bodies, much less preparing them with a bunch of eggs and dairy, but I've always been after the techniques they boasted. That's why I was so excited, then, to discover some amazing kitchen how-tos on Rachel Ray's website.

It's ironic, isn't it? That the only Food Network host I enjoy poo-pooing* is also the only Food Network host I've endorsed on xveganx party. I have to give Rachel Ray some credit, though, because she's not a pedigreed cook; so her entire empire is constructed with this "every(wo)man" attitude towards cooking. Her cooking videos skip all the dead animal parts and go straight to what's important: how to cut an onion. Making a pie lattice. The basic format for a gravy. (Roux + Stock + Seasonings) They're all generic cooking skills that anyone can adapt for their culinary preferences or dietary needs, which makes these videos positively PERFECT for the budding vegan chef - and it saves you that cable subscription.

Another thing I've found helpful over the years is youtube videos. One, I can view all sorts of old episodes of Good Eats on there. (Understanding the science behind baking really helps you figure out those hard-to-pin vegan treats.) Two, if there's a specific technique that I want to try and there's no one to show me, I can youtube it. Ever felt like, no matter how many times you've read a recipe, it just doesn't quite make sense? YOUTUBE! For me, youtube's been extremely helpful with cake decorating, but for you, it might unravel the hidden mysteries of kneading bread - or better yet, braiding it! When I made strudel for the Daring Bakers, I watched a video about stretching the dough because the written instructions were a real head scratcher. There's a lot of criticisms I can make about our techno-obsessed culture, but one of the real triumphs, I think, is the democratization of information which has fortified DIY living. So really, my best cooking tip isn't about cooking at all: it's about where to find the information to really hone your cooking skills. And that's varying sites with cooking videos. Ha!

Tomorrow we'll be putting those kitchen skills to the test with a real recipe (OoooOOOOOoo...). Don't forget about the reader feedback give away!

* Actually, Rachel Ray is not the only host I enjoy poo pooing. In fact, I don't think she's even my favorite. The real award goes to Sandra Lee. Because mixing two packaged foods together does not even broach "semi"-homemade, no matter how many cocktails you make during the show.

Questions for Readers & a Give Away

2009-11-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

It's two weeks from the close of my quarter, and I've got a lot on my plate for the month-long vacation ahead of me. Some of those side dishes include xveganx party projects. Come February, my little blog baby will be turning one, and very much, it's still a little blog baby (a very cute one, though). This blog is ready to grow; I need to better realize my original vision (maximum xvx living!!!). So as I busy myself making plans for the month off, I wanted to open the floor for some reader feedback.

+ What do you want to see more of on xveganx party?
+ Is there anything you want to see less of?
+ What do you want to see that you're not seeing?
+ How frequent would you like to see updates?
+ If I made a zine, would you be EFFIN STOKED?
+ Anything else I should know about your xvx party experience?

To lure you into responding, I'm offering a copy of Colleen Patrick Goudreau's latest book The Vegan Table. Described as "200 unforgettable recipes for entertaining every guest at every occasion," this is the perfect addition to the vegan entertainer's cookbook collection. Leaving a comment gives you automatic eligibility - but wait! You can increase your eligibility by promoting xveganx party! There are three ways to do this: (1) announce this give away on your blog; (2) add xvx party to the link list on your blog; or (3) email a link to xvx party to some friends or family. (Just be sure to let me know, i.e. comment if you've put up a link or cc me in your email.) Doing all four will give you four chances to win. I'll announce the winner of the give away next Friday (the thirteenth!) so keep your eyes peeled, my little vegan straight edge chickpeas.

Gingerbread: One Cookie, Two Ways

2009-11-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

If you're trying to suggest that's a color theory exercise under there, you'd be correct. Check out my flickr if you're curious about what I do at art school all damn day.
We make it into houses, we make it into people, we make it into disagreements: ahhh, gingerbread, that classic cookie for chilly weather* that quickly polarizes people. Some folks swear by gingerbread; it's the taste of fir trees and snowmen and foil-wrapped packages bursting with bows. Just saying the word puts them in flannel pajamas in front of a fire with Nat Cole crooning on the stereo and a mug of hot chocolate in their hand. Other people detest it, though. It's spicy; it's overpowering; it tastes like the cardboard carrying a crate of cinnamon candles to a holiday shop, and it's got a texture to match. Few cookies get the mixed reviews of grins and grimaces the way gingerbread does, but a few simple adjustments is all these cookies need to find some common ground between the two camps.

I don't often make gingerbread - this time of year or otherwise. I'm a little more, "Gingerbread? Gross!" than I am, "Gingerbread? Great!" I think it's the way the molasses typically punctuates the spices. Together, they probably have some chemical interaction like wine and cheese that exaggerates the molasses and spice flavors, making them group-pop in a way I find distasteful. If I can especially taste the molasses, I just keep passing the cookie tray. But then, I came across an inspired idea: cocoa gingerbread cookies. I gasped. Pairing my favorite flavor with the flavors of my favorite season? Uhh, hello, sign me up! I quickly made an excuse to whip up a batch, and they were good in all the ways I imagined them to be. Yes, they were good - good but not great. These cookies were one ingredient away from absolute greatness. What these cookies really needed were some chocolate chips.

I wanted to make some improved chocolate gingerbread cookies ASAP, but when I had a no-chocolate friend coming into town, I was very torn. On the one hand, I really wanted to justify making these cookies again, but on the other, I couldn't bake something that excluded my friend. I felt silly making chocolate gingerbread cookies plus something else, so I groped for some middle ground. I got to stroking my invisible beard - made long, deep pulls at it because this was a quandry requiring some serious contemplation, and you could only grasp how serious by imagining some very dramatic beard tugging. Then it hit me: pumpkin gingerbread cookies. Yes, of course, pumpkin gingerbread cookies! - because pumpkin and ginger go well together in every other baked good on the planet (muffins, cakes, pies, scones...), and my roommate had half a can of pumpkin in the fridge that was going to waste! Plus, I had a bunch of raisins I wanted to use up, so pumpkin gingerbread cookies would sort of be a hero.

And, oh, heroes they were. In fact, having both cookies at once was the most delightful balance of treats - a balance made all the more delightful by an absence of molasses! The chocolate version is dark and decadent: a luscious combination of sugar and spice that makes them a maturely mysterious cookie. The other is light and aromatic: a classically earthy flavor without that classic "snap" of many brick-like gingerbread cookies. (Ever notice that? That gingerbread cookies make more of a "snap" when you eat them than ginger snaps, which are usually soft and chewy? Yeah, language is funny.) Outfitting them in chocolate and raisins is another pleasant update to this baking classic, but you could keep it old school by omitting the add ons and sticking with icing.** Whatever your opinion of gingerbread, these new approaches make for a whole new taste experience, so start heating your oven because you'll want to make these lickety-split.

Yep, breakfast of champions - complete with vegg nog in my favorite mug. If that mug's not a sweet use of split complements, I don't know what is.
CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIES
+ 3/4 c flour
+ 1/4 c cocoa powder
+ 1/2 c brown sugar
+ 1/4 t baking soda
+ 1/4 t baking powder
+ 1 t ginger
+ 1/2 t cinnamon
+ 1/2 t nutmeg
+ 1/2 t allspice
+ 1/8 t cloves
+ salt
+ 1/4 c oil
+ 1 t vanilla or almond extract
+ 1/8 - 1/4 c water
+ chocolate chips (optional)

PUMPKIN GINGERBREAD COOKIES
+ 1 c flour
+ 1/2 c plus 2 T brown sugar
+ 1/4 t baking soda
+ 1/4 t baking powder
+ 1 t ginger
+ 1/2 t cinnamon
+ 1/2 t nutmeg
+ 1/2 t allspice
+ 1/8 t cloves
+ salt
+ 1/2 c pumpkin puree
+ 1/4 c oil
+ 1 t vanilla or almond extract
+ raisins (optional)

01. Sift together the dry ingredients. The measurements for the spices are just a jumping off point, but personally, I never measure. I just taste and adjust as necessary. If you're scared to trust your taste buds, err on the conservative side; it's better to have a borderline sugar cookie than a spice explosion only your waste basket wants to eat. And trust me, with some of these spices, it's real easy to go overboard real fast (especially with clove! that sneaky little sucker!).

02. Add in the wet ingredients and gently stir to combine. You should have a moist (but not wet or sticky) wad of cookie dough. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for an hour or two.

03. Remove the dough from the freezer, and let it stand for a few minutes as it adjusts to the relative tropical wasteland of your kitchen. Set your oven to 350º, then lightly flour a flat surface. Roll your dough out until it's about a quarter inch thick, trying to maintain a rectangular shape because you'll maximize your dough's potential as a rectangle instead of a circle. Definitely shoot for a quarter inch here, though, because if you go much thinner, you'll wind up with really crispy dry-wall cookies, but if you go much thicker, your cookies will be more like cake, not cookies. A quarter of an inch is the magic measure here, folks! Then use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out amazing shapes. (Here is a pretty rad tutorial on making your own cookie cutters, but there's nothing wrong with defaulting into classic shapes like fetuses and charcoal grills. If you don't own any cookie cutters, just use a cup. PUNK AS FUCK!)

Pro Tip: Dipping your cookie cutters in flour periodically before pressing them into the dough makes a cleaner cut, which makes the cookies easier to remove and transfer to a tray.

04. Continue cutting cookie shapes, then re-rolling the dough and cutting more until there's nothing left to roll and cut. Carefully transfer your cookies to a lightly greased cookie sheet (use a spatula if you need some help), and take this opportunity to press on your add ons (raisins, chocolate, nuts, whatever). Then throw those cookies into the oven and bake for eight to ten minutes. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for about two minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack or plate and allow them to cool completely.

05. Enjoy with a mug of peppermint tea or vegg nog while breathing in the crisp autumn air.

Each recipe makes approximately twelve cookies.

* As an aside, I wanted to write "chili weather" because "chilly weather" = "chili weather," but I wasn't sure how many people would recognize that as a play on words and not a typo.
** Here, I am hinting at a play on words. Because gingerbread cookies are most often made into gingerbread men (and women! and inbetweens!), and what do you use the icing for? Duh, gingerbread outfits. Geez, I'm on a roll..! (Originally I typed "role." What up, homonym!)
*** While I've already got you down here reading asterisks about plays on words, I wanted to tell you about all the pop culture references I wanted to make with the title, like "One Flavor Enters, Two Cookies Leave" or "Two Cookies, One Flavor." Eh? Eh? CLASSY.

Get Moving! Staying Motivated to Exercise (Part Two)

2009-10-27T08:17:00.001-07:00

Remember that Your Life is an Example for OthersSomething I always try to keep in mind is that the things I do will always mean more than the things I say, and if I think healthy living is a virtue, then I can't just sit around blogging about it. A lot of what fills your life is things you've attracted, so if you want happy, healthy friends, be a happy healthy friend. It's kind of like that saying: "Be the change you want to see." I think there's a lot in this world that's physically and emotionally toxic, and while I can't necessarily directly challenge those things, I can put myself in a position to better deal with them by staying on top of my physical and emotional health. I want my friends and family to feel just as empowered, so that's one thing that really keeps me pumped about exercising.

Take Care of YourselfThis goes without saying, whether you're exercising or not, but especially if you're taxing your body, you really need to be taking care of it. That means getting plenty of sleep, eating enough food, eating the right kinds of food, staying hydrated, and using proper form and technique when working out. Throw off just one of these things and physical activity can seem like a total DRAIN. If you're constantly dreading exercise or wind up straight exhausted afterwards, your body's probably trying to tell you something. Listen to it.

Be Clear About Your Intentions
Remind Yourself of Them RegularlyIf you're not getting fit for the right reasons, your commitment is going to waffle. Ever wonder why you could never get yourself all the way to those washboard abs? Because deep down, you know that's dumb. Who wants to substitute a body part for an antiquated household tool that a washing machine substantially outperforms anyway. Of course, thinking in terms of abstracts like "I'll be healthier!" doesn't help much, either. Instead, be clear about your intentions but also personalize them. So, even if your overall intention might be "to be healthier," what does that actually mean to you? Does it mean fewer colds? Then think of all those miserable days you spent feeling too shitty to fall asleep and too exhausted to stay awake, last winter. Does it mean sleeping faster and easier? Then think of all the times you showed up for work or school totally drained and disoriented because you couldn't get to bed. Does it mean preventative care? Then think of losing your aunt two years ago to breast cancer. Understanding your intentions can affirm your commitment with context, and once you understand why you're doing something, you can figure out ways to remind yourself - ways like taping a picture of disgusting cough medicine to your fridge or framing a picture of your aunt by your computer. Reminding ourselves of our intentions keeps us on track.

Set Out Reminders in GeneralThere are all kinds of ways we can remind ourselves, whether it's post-it notes on the computer screen or hanging our gym bag from our door handles. My biggest reminder is subscribing to fitness blogs. The number one way I snap myself out of an exercise lull is reading about others' enthusiasm for working out. When other people are getting really fit and strong, I go, "Hey, I want to be fit and strong, too!" Find what really reminds you, then make sure it's part of your daily routine.

Track Your Progress... if for no other reason than, when you're feeling lazy or dissatisfied, you have a visual reminder to see how far you've come. And when you see your progress, you'll remember, "Hey, I'm fuckin' TOUGH."

Set GoalsFor some people, it's easier to get things done if they have a sense of purpose, so if that's you, set some goals. There's a variety of ways you can do this. Commit to an event like a 5k, then train for it. Incrementally build up to running a certain speed or lifting a certain weight. Decide you need to be walking at least 10 mi a week, then get a pedometer and start tracking your steps. Your goals don't even necessarily have to be fitness related. Your goal could be to workout at least thirty minutes a day, three days a week - and hey, maybe that's just in the short-term; in the long-term, maybe you want to be doing an hour a day, five days a week. If you understand why you want to move around, you can usually tailor your goal around that. Then savor the sweet satisfaction that comes with achievement.

Visualize Your SuccessThis is a common technique in goal setting (and a pretty well-substantiated one at that). Studies have shown that visualizing success is almost as good as physically preparing for success, so if you're struggling to stay motivated, picture your desired workout. This can be an emergency technique (e.g. you don't want to ride your bike to work one day, so you visualize a quick and easy ride that leaves you energized and excited) or it can be a maintenance technique (e.g. every day you struggle to get to the gym, you picture yourself with beautiful, bulging muscles six months down the road). The more details you include in your visualization, the easier the activity will be in execution, and the more successful your outcome will be.

Reward YourselfPositive reinforcement (rewards) work much better than negative reinforcement (punishments), so rather than beat yourself up about skipping a workout, reward yourself for doing what you set out to do. Reward yourself when you achieve a goal. Now, dieting websites say never to make food a reward for exercise, but I say, if you're not exercising to "manage" your weight, then who cares? (Just be sure you're not exercising to negotiate or justify certain food choices!) Beyond that, you can use guilty pleasures to reward yourself for exercising. I always feel guilty about playing video games - ESPECIALLY because they're the pinnacle of inactivity - so that's a good reward for me. Maybe you've been hankering for a book that's a little pricey. Hey, but you've been working out every day that you said you would, exactly how you said you would, for three months now! I think it's about time you got that book... Reward systems can be as simple as putting a gold star on your calendar on the days when you work out, but whatever keeps you feeling proud of what you're doing, go ahead and do it.

Get some Background NoiseThis is a no-brainer, but it can't be overstated! Listening to music is awesome, but don't just listen to your favorite songs. Listen to things that make you want to MOVE. Listen to things you can really lose yourself in. When I really, really don't want to workout, I reduce the intensity of my workout, then turn on a podcast so my mind's analyzing the podcast, not anticipating my finish. Whatever keeps you moving, just listen to it!

Make Exercise a PriorityWorse comes to worse, sometimes you just got to force yourself to do the things you know you need to do, and if that's how you feel about exercise, you have to figure out a way to make it a priority. One of the most common excuses when it comes to exercise is, "I don't have time!" but if you have time to watch a movie, make an extravagant meal, or check facebook five thousand times a night, then you have time to exercise. It's all about making it a priority. Obviously, the most simple way to do this is figuring out a way to maximize the physical intensity of your everyday experiences, but sometimes it's just about making time where you can find it. Get up half an hour earlier than usual. Turn that lunch date with a friend into a walking date. Only check facebook two thousand times a night instead of five. What are you doing that you could be doing less of? What are you doing that you could be doing more? Priorities, priorities, priorities!

What about you? Got any good motivation tips millin' around in the ol' noggin?

Get Moving! Staying Motivated to Exercise (Part One)

2009-10-26T14:46:00.001-07:00

I think we're all on the same page that exercise pretty much rules. But you know just as well as I do that no matter how stoked we get about exercise, sometimes it's hard to keep up with. There are a million excuses: no time, no energy, no excitement, blahblahblah! Substituting excuses for actions is okay once in a while - hey, sometimes our minds are making excuses because our bodies need rest - but it's really important to make sure excuses are the rare, rare exception, not the rule. Exercise lulls are pretty normal, but if we don't handle them properly, we lose momentum. And if we quickly stop exercising, then why the hell did we start?

The easiest way to stay motivated to exercise is to recognize what typically de-motivates you. If you know what's holding you back, you can take steps to rectify it. Are you lacking some discipline? Are you constantly sore? Are you wondering what's fun about this 'exercise' stuff? I'll admit that my own momentum's not that consistent. I spent more time than I care to admit sitting in front of my computer playing Diablo, picking my nose, and eating pork egg rolls during early adolescence, so movement isn't exactly "natural" to me. For that reason, I know all the excuses in the book, and I've got some good ways to counter them. Here are some of the tips and tricks I've used over the years to keep myself in motion:

!!!HAVE FUN!!!The number one way to keep yourself moving is to make sure you're doing something fun. So many people equate the word "exercise" with "gym," which makes them feel clammy and panicked, but more movement can (and does) take place outside the gym than ever could take place inside of it. Start thinking less about exercises that "incinerate those calories" or "give you those rock hard abs fast!" and start thinking about what's fun for you. I love zoning out on the treadmill with my iPod, but my roommate thinks that's insufferable. She'd much rather run outside because there's those scenery changes, that sense of adventure, the fresh air. (Of course, to me, running outside sounds like "knee aches" and "humidity"). I have another friend that thinks "hitting the gym" is laughable, so he skates and rides his bike - and not because he thinks he "needs the exercise" but just because, yeah, it's fun. I may be the one lifting weights and wiggling to Le Tigre on an elliptical, but I'm pretty sure my friend is way fitter than me. And by "pretty sure" I mean "positive" - because he's found movement that's fun for him.

Incorporate Exercise into your Everyday Life... and, no, I don't mean, "Get daily exercise." What I'm really suggesting is turning up the volume on your everyday activities. A classic example is parking really far away from a destination so you're forced to walk further to get there, but there's tons of other ways to do this. For example, let's say you really need to clean your house. Now you could spend several days dreading this, then liesurely/begrudgingly sit around wiping down surfaces and sweeping across floors all the while wishing your were reading a good book in the park. OR you could turn on some loud, fast music, down a cup of coffee, and spazz out seeing how fast you can get it done. I've always thought parkour (alternately known as "free running") was an interesting approach to incorporating exercise into everyday life. As the wikipedia article describes it, all it is, is moving from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible, but in practice, this requires some ninja-level skills. No one could ever describe parkour practitioners as physically unfit, yet all they're doing to "exercise" is some routine travel. It's just, when they travel to the grocery store, they scale buildings along the way... Point being, there's always some way to make your life a little more active so exercise doesn't become this isolated activity that you have to "make" time for.

Start Slowly and Be FlexibleIf you're just getting into some kind of workout routine, don't get too ahead of yourself. Apart from running the risk of injury, it quickly leads to burnout. If you have fond memories of playing softball in middle school but you've spent the last ten or fifteen years sitting at your computer instead, it's probably not wise to run out and attempt joining a minor league softball team. Instead, try meeting once or twice a week for small softball games with friends at a local park or join an intramural softball team. In the same vain, getting fit may have become your True Calling, but intense workouts five days a week probably aren't wise if your second address is in front of the TV. Even with the best laid plans, you may realize you've thrown yourself into an activity just a little too hard, and rather than de-motivating yourself, just be honest and reel in your ambition. If you're consistent with your effort, you'll get to where you want to be in no time, so just focus on being consistent and having fun.

SmileExercise produces endorphins, but did you know smiling produces endorphins, too? Even if we're producing as much endorphins as we are sweat, that doesn't mean we're psyched about the exercise causing both, but I find that smiling through the especially tough parts of workouts pulls me through easier. Maybe it's knowing that I look happy to everyone who sees me, so I start tricking myself into thinking this is more pleasurable than it is. Or maybe putting on a fake smile makes me want to make it "genuine" so I think of all the reasons I have to smile about exercise. Maybe it is just the double dose of endorphins, but for whatever reason, it helps. So the next time you're struggling through a really intense workout and you just want to give up, try smiling and see what happens.

Workout with a FriendDoing anything with a friend is always better because it means you've got support and you're accountable to someone. It's also just more fun, and I think it makes it easier to expand how we think of exercise. For instance, you could hit the treadmill with your best gal pal and gossip about celebrity break ups while counting down the minutes on the gym clock OR you could head to the park with a group of friends and play freeze tag while pushing each other in the mud until the sun unexpectedly disappears. Your call.

Don't Take Too Many Days OffI can't over-stress consistency. The more time you spend not doing something, the more inconsistent you'll become, and the faster you'll lose momentum. It's just that simple. This is an especially big deal if you've made a commitment like one rugby game a week. If that one rugby game is your Big Activity for the week and you skip it, the ol' heart won't have gotten pumpin' for fourteen or so days! Plus, if you blow something off once, it's that much easier to blow off again, and your body is very, "Use it or lose it," about these things. A good way to deal with extended vacations from exercise is to put a calendar where you'll often see it, like beside your bed. Mark every day that you exercise with something you find visually appealing - cuties, lol cats, whatever. Then mark every day you don't exercise with something you hate looking at - your boss' face, a hairy butt, maybe some pharmaceutical giants. Nothing says, "Go ride your bike!" like a picture of grandma in her bathing suit, so whatever visually motivates you to exercise, plaster it all over that calendar and stop skipping so many days.

Maintain VarietyDoing the same thing over and over again gets redundant. If you're doing something you genuinely love - and I don't mean enjoy, I mean love - this probably doesn't apply to you, but for the rest of us, we get tired of the same old things, especially if we're pushing ourselves to do them because we know we "should." For that reason, variety is key, so mix it up a little. We know I'm a gym rat (sort of), but this need for variety isn't just about exchanging the treadmill for the stationary bike once in a while. I get bored even with my more everyday physical activities. Like, I live in a city (town?) that doesn't even have a ten-mile radius, so traveling without a car is easy. Sometimes I ride my bike, but other times I walk, and when I get bored with that, it's right back on my bike. (And when I'm lazy, I get in the car. haha.) Even a rousing weekly kickball game gets boring after a few months (Steve's always going to kick a home run, Ellen's always going to trip on her shoes, Mikey's going to make everyone sit through an endless stream of foul balls), so instead of losing enthusiasm, just switch to four square. Like I've been saying, the activity isn't what's important; it's the consistency, so keep things fresh and interesting.

Ooo... Tomorrow I'll post part twooo...

2009-10-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPY IN YOUR LIFE?
(You can comment anonymously; I fixed the settings.)

Real post coming tomorrow.

Guerrilla Cooking Presents Mega-Healthy Chocolate Muffins

2009-10-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

This is a very attractive montage of me eating these muffins with a pureed frozen banana in the middle. I stuck it in the freezer for a little bit, then savored it like an ice cream sandwich. Exquisite.

Holy cannoli, two posts in two days? I know, I can hardly believe it myself! One of them was drawn from the bank of posts I've started so I can withdraw content on a moment's notice. (What a planner I'm becoming, right?) However, I came up with this recipe that I was so excited about, I just couldn't resist a second post.

You may be wondering why recipes have been a little few and far between lately. (I think I saw a few tumble weeds roll past the food tags a couple days ago...) If you recall, I was having a bit of a dry spell over the summer. School keeps me busy, too, but I never mentioned that, yes, I chose to be on the meal plan. So basically, I haven't been cooking much of anything that's new or interesting for the last six months, which leaves me with a whole lot less food to write about. That said, I'm living in an apartment-style dorm, so I still have a kitchen. And the meal plan kind of sucks, so what I like to do is squirrel away food from the cafeteria and make it into better food when I get home. It's kind of loads of fun (though the results are never quite good enough to brag about on here), and it challenges me to get really creative. I call it guerrilla cooking, and it's how I came up with these muffins.

Now, if you've been following this blog for a while, you know - KNOW - that I love to bake. Specifically, I love to bake sweets. Obviously, I'm vegan, I'm straight edge, and I like to work out; so as far as "negative" lifestyle choices go, this one's pretty tame. And yet, it irks me. For one thing, I've struggled with my weight since I was a little, little kid - something I still struggle to accept/maintain, and sweets definitely complicate this. For another, an excess of sweets have ill implications comparable to a lot of vices, so it bothers me that I can feel so strong in the face of some things yet so weak in the face of this one. I've tried to figure out ways to manage this little vice of mine. I've tried the extreme approach, swearing off refined flour, turning my nose at table sugar, dusting my hands of HFCS (actually, I pretty much don't eat that); somehow, complete abstinence always fails in this department. Moderation works pretty alright, but even then, sometimes I go a little overboard. (Oh god, brownies, you will be the death of me..!) The trick, I've always suspected, is striking a strong balance between decadence and nutrition, but the how of it has always eluded me. I've dabbled in gluten- and sugar-free baking, but it's always tended a little further towards the sweets side than I was hoping. At least, that was the case... until now!!

I'll admit it: these taste "healthy." They're rich, they're moist, they're chocolate-y - but you're not going to bring these to a potluck and pass them off as your average chocolate muffin (which I think most people call a "cupcake"...). No, these are the kind of muffins you enjoy with adventurous connoisseurs and people passionate about nutrition. Because seriously, they pack a hell of a nutritional punch, and you can eat several without anticipating any sugar crash. Most importantly, though, they honestly taste GOOD, and any lingering "health food" flavor is easily supplanted by what a literal treat this is for your body. (Seriously, eat one, and your body will say, "Wee! Vitamins!") Over the course of the day, I ate five because they were so sweet and tasty, I couldn't help myself. Eating that much of any fresh-baked treat is not uncommon for me, but I didn't feel as bad about it as I normally would because I got almost 40% of my RDA of calcium and just 300 calories. Plus, I actually felt satiated afterward, and my energy levels didn't spiral from all the sugar. (Duh, because there isn't any.) I'm proud of this recipe and have high hopes for future baking of the sugar-free variety...

For the record, these actually have more vitamins and minerals than this indicates because my nutrition calculator doesn't account for the vitamins and minerals in whole wheat flour.

MEGA-HEALTHY CHOCOLATE MUFFINS
+ 1 c whole wheat flour
+ 1/4 c cocoa powder*
+ 1 T baking powder
+ 1/4 t salt
+ 1/4 - 1/2 t stevia (OPTIONAL)

+ 1/2 c raisins
+ 1.5 c water
+ 1/2 c sliced beets, boiled or canned
+ 1/2 c unsweetened apple sauce
+ 1/2 t apple cider vinegar
+ 1 t vanilla*

* I'm sure this would work with carob, too.
** Almond extract would work well, too, and in fact might be better. Almond pairs well with chocolate, making chocolate's flavor bolder and deeper - never a bad thing when you're trying to make "health food" seem decadent.

01. Preheat the oven to 350. Place the raisins in the water, and let soak for 2 - 3 hours or overnight.

02. In a bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour through salt/stevia). Place the wet ingredients (beets through vanilla) in a blender or food processor and puree. Add the raisins and their water, and continue to process.

03. Gently combine the wet with the dry. The batter will be a little thicker than what you might expect - i.e. not that "thin but viscous" texture typical of muffin batter, more full-bodied and scoopable. Don't worry about it.

04. Fill a well-greased or paper-lined muffin tin all the way to the top with batter, smoothing out any little dips or swirls in your muffins. Then put the tray in the oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until done.

05. LET THEM COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE DIGGING IN! Because they're fat free, their texture isn't quite the same as their fat-loaded counterparts. And just as regular muffins (or cookies or any other baked good...) aren't quite "set" when they come out of the oven - well, that's double-y true of these guys. Even though a toothpick will come out clean when they're ready, their texture will still seem a little mush-y. If you let them cool completely, though, you're in a whole new ball game.

07. Enjoy with your best xvx buddies - perhaps with some almond butter and soymilk?

EDITED TO ADD: After re-making these a few times, I've discovered they are not very good the day of. Best to eat them after sitting on the counter overnight or after a few days in the freezer. Something about the flavors marrying or - gosh, I don't know; it just improves the texture and taste. Otherwise, these are a little strange.

Get Moving! 11 Reasons to Get (and Stay) Fit

2009-10-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

We all know we're supposed to exercise. Living in such a fat-phobic culture, how can we not constantly be reminded of it? In fact, we're SO reminded of it that we forget all the reasons to exercise which don't include "swimsuit season" or "attracting that perfect mate." (Tell me, how is my mate so perfect if they don't like me the size I am? Losing weight to attract partners just proves that size is subject to change, and I don't want to my "perfect mate's" affections to change with it!) Fitness is a common focus in both vegan and straight edge circles (and especially the xvx scene) because it's such a crucial part of healthy living, but folks within the vegan/straight edge scene can be just as apprehensive about exercise as the rest of the world. I think a large reason for that is our culturally linking exercise with aesthetics, which is pretty unfortunate. When it comes down to it, framing our fitness that way makes an active lifestyle about other people, not ourselves. It's about forcing our bodies to do something (manipulate weight to impress others) and not about seeing what our bodies can do for us (improve our overall quality of life). And yet, we're so saturated in these messages about our weight, do we even remember exercise's other benefits? Trust me, there are quite a few. So in no particular order, this is xveganx party's top eleven reasons to exercise. (I tried to make it ten, but I couldn't get the list smaller than eleven!):

01. Exercise enhances moods and reduces stress.
Anyone that's been treated for depression, anxiety, or a similar disorder knows that one of the first lifestyle changes a doctor or therapist will recommend is exercise. That's because exercise doesn't just release sweat; it also releases chemicals that make us feel good. This has been shown in both the short-run (that folks who exercise maintain a better mood for 4 - 12 hours immediately following a workout than those that don't) as well as the long-run. In fact, a recent study proved exercise can be as effective as Zoloft in the long-run treatment of clinical depression. (The effects of Zoloft are much more immediate, though). Whether you're battling the blues or just need a little pick-me-up, exercise is an effective tool for stress management - and a pretty healthy alternative to other managers like alcohol - so hit the gym any time you're feeling down.

02. Exercise increases confidence.
A recent study indicates that exercise improves confidence and overall body image. Surprisingly, the amount of exercising didn't matter; rather, the sheer act of exercising was enough to improve participants' self image even if they didn't lose a single pound. I've read similar studies that show people on weight loss plans that exercise feel more satisfied with themselves than folks who lose the same amount of weight just dieting. Maybe it's all those feel-good chemicals moving around, or maybe it's just the intellectual satisfaction of successfully completing a challenge. No matter the reason, exercise delivers some real ego-boosting results.

03. Exercise is one of the easiest ways to improve overall health.
Want to lower your blood pressure? Increase your metabolism? Reduce your risk of heart disease? Improve liver function? Increase oxygen circulation? Enhance nervous system feedback? Abolish various phantom aches and pains? Utilize calcium and other nutrients more efficiently? Do you want to do all this - AND MORE?!?! Just exercise!

04. Exercise regulates our immune systems.
Yes, so exercise keeps our bodies clean and improves its overall functionality. This is particularly good news for our immune systems. Exercise mobilizes our T cells, those little white blood cells that help the body fight infections, and gives a temporary boost to macrophages, the cells that attack bacteria. Immediately following a work out, our immune systems kick into over drive, too, though they generally return to normal later in the day. However, regular exercisers are able to prolong this effect, which multiple studies (like the one mentioned here and another mentioned here) have shown decreases how often exercisers are sick compared to their non-exercising counterparts.

05. Exercise prevents muscle loss as we age.
Let's face it: aging is the extended version of fruit rotting on the counter. Slowly but surely, our bodies fall apart, and then we die. (How's that for a dose of posi in the morning?) BUT - while this may be a fact of life, we do have some control over how quickly this happens. As we age, our bodies stop utilizing protein as effectively, and we can't regulate insulin as well - both of which are CRUCIAL for building and maintaining muscle. (study here) Subsequently, our muscles begin to deteriorate, but with regular exercise, we counteract that. (more evidence here)

06. Exercise builds bone density.
In addition to losing our muscles, we also lose our bone density as we age, but study after study confirms that exercise - specifically, weight training - can counteract this, too. For instance, in one study, there were two groups of elderly women: ones that weight trained twice a week and ones that didn't. After a year's time, the group that weight trained increased their bone density by 1% while the other group decreased it by as much as 3%. The former group also had better strength and balance, which is especially important as we age since stuff like walking in the snow gets a whole lot trickier...

07. Exercise keeps us feeling - and looking! - young.
Remember that rosy picture about rotting fruit and all that? It should be pretty clear by now that exercise is crucial to delaying that process - or at the very least, to preserving our quality of life. Think of our bodies like cars: if you change the oil regularly, do a tune up here and there, and don't constantly leave the lights on while the car's parked, then your car will likely last you a good long while. But if you miss even a few oil changes, you've blown your engine, and let's not even start on how quickly repairs pile up when just a few are forgotten. We ruin our bodies as effectively as we ruin our cars when we don't take care of them, so do yourself a favor, spare yourself the healthcare costs, and commit to regular exercise.

08. Exercise increases mental agility.
Because exercise increases blood flow, it's a no brainer that more blood is flowing to your brain. This improves its overall function, especially with regard to memory. Preliminary studies also suggest that exercise helps repair and regenerate brain cells. In the short run, this means being more alert and intellectually present, but in the long run, this means that exercise may be a powerful tool in precluding alzheimer's and senility.

09. Exercise is great for the skin.
Three big reasons for skin problems: stress, hormones, and toxins. We know exercise reduces stress, but did you know that it regulates hormones, too? It also increases oxygen circulation, which improves overall waste elimination. You can use all the fancy face products and medications that you want, but the cheapest, easiest (and possibly most effective) way to get glowing skin is simply clean eating, proper hydration, and regular exercise.

10. Exercise regulates appetite.
Seriously, exercise regulates our appetites in all KINDS of ways. For starters, it can suppress appetite-stimulating hormones like grehlin. Exercise also increases our insulin sensitivity, which better stabilizes our blood sugar. In turn, our bodies release energy in a controlled and consistent manner, and we have fewer cravings (chiefly junk ones). (Check out this video about exercise and insulin for more information: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/university-of-michigan/768-exercise-and-insulin-video.htm) Thus, if we regularly exercise, not only are we more likely to eat less, but we're also more likely make better food choices and avoid impulse eating. (If you want to read a little bit more about exercise, appetite, and why diets fail, Oh She Glows wrote a really great post about it.)

11. Exercise gives us energy.
I read somewhere that, if you're feeling run down, a little jogging or a few jumping jacks will perk you up as effectively as a power nap. Don't remember where I read that, but I do remember a study where every participant - young, old, fat, thin, sick, healthy - all reported improved energy levels after starting a regular exercise program. It may seem counter-intuitive that expending energy gives us energy, but there's something about getting that motor going that makes us want to keep going. In fact, morning exercisers consistently report that exercising in the A.M. gives them more energy and focus throughout the day than exercising at other times. Whouda thunk it?

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This list is pretty brief and generalized, but if it hasn't gotten the ball moving in your mind that exercise is about more than burning calories, I'm not sure what will. Plus, if you find something physically active that you actually enjoy doing, it won't feel like "exercise." It will genuinely feel FUN. Now why are you still sitting at the computer? Get up! in the gym! and work! on your fitness! (Does anyone but me still wiggle their butt to that song..?)

Also, check back next week for tips on maintaining motivation as you begin or continue a workout plan.

The XVX Party Approach to Halloween

2009-10-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so remember yesterday when I said I had a juicy post in the works? And that it involved a guest poster? WELL, it was going to be about Halloween, and I was going to have "the ghost of Emily Post" narrate it. (I had a little Emily Post ghost drawing and everything.) The thing is, I've never thrown a Halloween party, have no intention of throwing a Halloween party, and have no business posting during a time when the internet's so saturated with Halloween ideas that my post would be super lame by comparison. (LAME - but with that xvx party flare!) So instead, I want to show you some sites I thought had rad ideas. I may not be able to generate great content on this topic, but there's something to be said about knowing where to find it, eh? Eh?

+ Last year, American Apparel had a costume contest. Even though it was a cheap promotional ploy, folks got pretty clever, and you could always replicate the ideas with non-AA clothing. Some of my favorites were a solute to Mondrian (can you tell I'm in art school...?), muscle woman (!!!), Robin (of Batman & Robin), these Nickelodeon Guts & Double Dare competitors, weepy liberal Optimus Prime, and Wall-E & Eve. They're having a contest this year, too, but it hasn't started yet. If I were going to do it, I'd dress in yellow long-johns and be that guy from Mad Max who... wears yellow long johns and hangs out with Mad Max. Ha.

+ Now where would all us budding crafsters and party planners be without The Anti-Craft? Pretty much every "issue" offers an assortment of Halloween-friendly ideas, but the Halloween-specific ones are in the archives under "Samhein" - Gaelic for "end of summer." Personally, I've always held Anti Craft's pumpkins as a gold standard in carving because I would feel like king of the universe if I could make pumpkins like this. If you hate yourself or everyone you know, attempt this Dia de los Meurtos paper table cloth; you'll die in the process of making it, but everyone that looks at it will die from an inferiority complex.

+ One of my newest and favorite blogs is A Very Vegan Holiday, which is kind of similar to xvx party in that it's about veganism and hanging out. (I think the author is also straight edge/substance-free..!) While Andrea always offers photogenic and delicious recipes, her specialty is Halloween, and she really serves up some good seasonal ideas. I especially like her Swamp Slim Kebobs and mini Halloween pies. Also check out her costume contest trophies. I don't think there ever was a more clever prize...

+ Spark People posted ideas on "not so tricky Halloween treats" which takes the emphasis off food on Halloween. Most of their tips are geared towards people handing out candy to children or parents with trick-or-treaters, but I think these tips have broader applications, especially if you're hosting a small Halloween gathering. If you're hosting a larger gathering - or you're just looking for some healthier treats - I also like Spark People's ideas about Halloween candy, especially since all of them are vegan.

+ Speaking of vegan treats, if you've never checked out PETA's classic Halloween candy list, you ought to. It's a holiday-specific version of their feature I Can't Believe It's Vegan! (whose snack list offers even more sneaky vegan treats for the holidays). I'd also like to mention that as of sometime at the beginning of the year, Skittles went vegan. HOLY CRAPHOLE, RIGHT?!?! However, I still sometimes come across old Skittles bags at grocery stores, so before chowing down on every fun-size bag of Skittles (that doesn't have an ingredients list!), you might want to wait a year in hopes that all the gelatin-packed bags disappear from shelves. Because we all know: there's nothing's fun about gelatin.

+ The mother of all party blogs (though wayyyyyy too flashy/shopping/"look at me, I bought all the perfect little doo dads and whatnots that I'll never reuse, and I don't care because I have tons of MONEY!"-oriented for my tastes) Hostess with the Mostess has some very detailed Halloween party plans. If details are the only thrill of party planning for you (we're talking picking out table cloths and the confetti to throw all over them, here), then this blog and its Halloween parties are for you! Even if you're not THAT committed to party planning (and really, who is?), there are some cool ideas - like these "spooky" foods and "creepy" cupcakes.

+ Okay, this one is a cop out, but Martha Stewart always has good holiday ideas. Check out her "favorite" costumes and her no-sew costumes. Both her indoor and outdoor decorations are mostly easy and affordable and utilize everyday objects that a lot of us have on hand (or can scavenge from the right dumpsters).

+ Creepy Cupcake is a blog that is not such a cop out. It's a year-round salute to all-things creepy, where every celebration has the sinister sensibility of a Halloween party. I especially like how Carrie Mae updates another site's party ideas, and check out her sick Halloween crafts like these puff paint spider webs. For more Halloween goodies, be sure to look at her side bar, too. Her list of links is GREAT.
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As for my Halloween tips... well, I haven't many. I like classic kids' games like bobbing for apples, goofy fortune-telling booths, ouija boards, seances, and homemade haunted houses. I also advise all you avid Halloween-sters to check out your local thrift stores around Halloween time because they always have TONNNNNS of Halloween stuff out - costumes, decorations, invitations, THE WORKS - and it's hella cheap. (I got some sweet ass Batman invitations at the Salvation Army last year for, like, fifty cents. Seriously, these things were EPIC.) If this post has inspired you, be sure to check out grocery stores and stuff for post-Halloween sales, too. Maybe you're not ready for a party this year, but there's always next year, right?

Now be safe and have fun! What are your Halloween plans this year? WHAT ARE YOU DRESSING UP AS?!?!?

Give Away?!?

2009-10-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

I have a draft of a real entry in the works. It involves a guest, so hang onto your pantaloons. I also have my own give away in the works, but... uhh... I guess I'm nervous about it. WHAT IF NONE OF YOU WANT MY FREE GOODS???! I WILL BE CRUSHED! CRUSHED!

Anyway, there's one rad give away here for agave nectar and an agave cookbook. It's actually called xagave, but "x"-treme foods freak me out so I can't give into its "x"-factor. Regardless of this one's goofy marketing name, though, agave itself is pretty "x"-traordinary as far as sweeteners go. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's low on the glycemic index and a nutrition powerhouse compared to many other sweeteners. As a vegan, one of its best applications is as a honey substitute because the taste and texture is very similar. It's sweeter than sugar, too, so you can sub 3/4 c agave for every 1 c sugar in a recipe. HOWEVER, a cookbook would lay some good groundwork about baking with agave because that added moisture means reducing other liquids, which is the one salty thing about subbing agave: that little bit of guess work that goes in with it. Suffice it to say, this is a give away worth checking out. (Would I plug it if it weren't?)

Also check out this rad give away for Zen Soy pudding and soymilk. (It involves coming up with ice cream flavors. I love that!) I've never had Zen Soy's soymilk, but their pudding is A-MAZ-ING. Pudding is one of those things I didn't care much for as an omni or a vegetarian, but now that I'm vegan, it really turns my crank, and Zen Soy is THE brand for store bought vegan pudding. In fact, I'm tagging this as a review because I effin love that stuff so much. (Even though I hardly ever eat it. 'Cause it's expensive. Boo.)

Speaking of foods that I prefer as a vegan, do you have foods that you like more now that you've gone through "the change?" (We're obviously talking veganism here, not puberty.) For me, chili was gross and egg nog and cheesecake were rich, but now that I'm vegan, I gobble that shit down.

Romance! Mayem! Excitement!: the XVX Guide to Dating

2009-10-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

It recently occurred to me that I have been single for nearly a year. For a while, I was stuck in a state of serial monogamy: back to back to back relationships forcibly stretched across spans of time they hadn't the strength to endure. But luckily, I've finally broken that cycle. The interim hasn't been completely devoid of sexual tension and sultry winks, though; certainly, I've had affections lavished upon me and I've lavished my affections upon certain boys. At first, my excuse for remaining single was, "I'm on the rebound!" but now I'm at a point where I'm actively choosing to be single. The fact of the matter is, I'm too old and too busy to get wrapped up in anyone that I don't have a serious connection with, and I can't make a serious connection if certain needs aren't met. I need a partner that feels equally strongly about eating healthy, staying sober, being fit, and not calling the cops. However, I want someone that stinks as bad as me, swears as much as me, and smiles twice as many times a day. And I also want someone with a real keen sense of romance.

I gotta say, most boys just don't fit the bill. They do not know how to properly woo smelly and smart specimens of my extraordinarily high caliber! It's not like I desire to be doted on or squired around town to flashy events and hip places to be seen, but yeah, I want some flim-flammin' effort from dudes giving me the eye. Now, I'm not throwing this out there as some gender prescription a la, "I AM A GIRL AND THIS IS HOW BOYS ARE SUPPOSED TO TREAT GIRLS!" I think this effort should go both ways, and I expect this as much from myself as I do from my theoretical partners. This lack of interesting romance isn't something I've seen exclusively in the male sex, but I complain about it in these terms because I am attracted to male-bodied people and this has been my experience of them. However, today I am introducing some xvx party ideas about romance! and seduction!, and I want them to be employed across all gender lines.

Because seriously, all of us should be asking more of ourselves in our romantic encounters. Are we really so lukewarm towards the objects of our affections that we can't come up with creative ways to spend time together and express how we feel? Hello, these are the folks that make us say stupid things in otherwise effortless interactions because we're so distracted by how wonderful they are! They make our hearts explode, and we offer them what? Flowers? Candies? Dinners? Movies? Valentine's Day? Puh-lease. I say, death to these cliches! Today, we are getting elbow-deep in romance - the xvx party way:

THE WAY TO A (WO)MAN'S HEARTYou know what's fuckin' rad? Scavenger hunts. Scavenger hunts are fuckin' rad. I don't know why we stopped talking about them after age ten, especially since their applications in romance are soooo myriad. When I was in high school, I wanted to ask a boy to be "official" with me, so I made him a scavenger hunt that led to me, and then I asked him. Fuckin' rad, right? You wish you had such an awesome partner - but wait! YOU COULD BE THAT AWESOME PARTNER. Looking for some way to celebrate an anniversary? Scavenger hunt that visits important places from the relationship! Looking for a way to ask your partner to move in? Scavenger hunt that leads to a key to your apartment! Looking for a way to say "I love you?" Scavenger hunt that leads to a big cake with "I love you" on it. (Okay, that is actually very tacky, but c'mon, it has sooo much more visual impact than, like, a heartfelt letter hidden in some bushes. Plus, a lot of cake really is from the heart. Lovin' fresh from the oven, right?) There are a million different ways to do it and a million different reasons to do it, so get creative and make a flim-flammin' scavenger hunt! Your sweetheart is guaranteed to be overwhelmed by your effort (in a good way, of course), and you will be admired by all as A Real Cassanova.

HOT FOR TEACHERTeach your lover about something interesting or important to you. If you've both wanted to learn plant identification, spend some time at the library researching regional botany, then take the apple of your eye on a plant walk (perhaps one that concludes in a picnic?) Maybe your significant other has expressed an interest in your mother's apple pie recipe, so go apple picking and then make the pie together. Surprise them with a rink-a-dink bike from the thriftstore, and teach them how to fix the flat tire so you can ride into the sunset together. Sharing is caring, and nothing's sexier than a big beautiful brain imparting a little wisdom. Plus, it's an excellent way to get to know someone or make a a real memory if you're in the early stages of courting.

GREAT FIRST DATEI don't like to promote anything that requires a lot of money here on xvx party. I want to cultivate my life and my relationships in as much opposition to commodities and their fetishization as possible, and I want to suggest recipes and activities that are by and large accessible to anyone and everyone. That all being said, I've always thought laser tag would make an epic first date. Flirtatious overtones to every shot fired, chasing your crush through dimly lit passages and secret stairways, comradely kissing at the end of the merciless slaughter (for in laser tag, you must show NO MERCY!): it's so playfully romantic. Plus, if your date turns out to be a competitive hot head or a thrill-kill that refuses to revisit childhood wonder and excitement, then it's a good thing you find out sooner rather than later. I suspect paint ball could be substituted for laser tag. (Does that scene from 10 Things I Hate About You ring any bells..?) Loser buys/makes dinner.

ULTIMATE POWER COUPLEYou and Madame/Monsieur Fabulous are engaged. One of you has just landed a record deal/part in a movie/big account at an advertising firm/something fancy and ridiculous. Attire yourselves in ensembles appropriate to your back story, then spend an afternoon touring obscenely large houses you will never be able to afford. Tell realtors uncomfortable accounts of how you met ("Well, we were both at this abortion clinic, and..."), kiss copiously in closets, and rearrange the contents of people's bathroom cabinets. Make grande proclamations about your future, deem things too small or too simple for your tastes, and talk about how this room or that detail could affect your life. ("You know, this carpet is exactly like the one I lost my virginity on. I foresee a lot of memories being made in this room...") Afterwards, assume your normal identities and spend the evening cozied up in each other's arms, glad to be who you are in this moment in time.

PROM NIGHT... REVISITEDRemember the thrill and anxiety of teen dances (and all their ensuing implications for teen love)? Okay, me neither - but I've seen a lot of it in eighties coming-of-age films, and you and your partner are going to recreate that. Dress to impress as you hit the town for this updated approach to a classic cultural experience. Show up at your partner's house with a homemade corsage, boutonniere, or bouquet, and have a roommate take some precious memory photos at the front door. (Don't forget to smile BIG!) Go out to eat at a restaurant with cloth napkins, and be sure to tell everyone who will listen that tonight is a "special night" and that you're both very excited about "the big dance." Gossip copiously and hold hands. Order one dessert with two spoons/forks/straws, and say, "You get the last bite." "No, you do." "No, you do." - until your server looks agitated. Pay for dinner, and be sure to leave a big tip - partially because you should always do this but also so your date knows how classy you are. This is prom night, after all; you're totally hoping to get lucky. Now, since high school is long behind you, your "prom" could be anything - anything from sitting under stars recounting the horrors and hilarities of those awkward teen years to shaking tail feathers and legs and other whatnots at some discotech. Just be sure to be home by curfew. (Unless, of course, you got a hotel room because you were THAT sure that you'd get lucky...) Bonus points if you/your partner clearly cannot pass for a teen anymore. Ditto if you/your partner pretends to be pregnant.

CHECK ME OUT AT THE LIBRARYBooks are hot, and what better way to turn each other on than a day at the library. Ask your partner to show you their favorite picture books from childhood. Walk through all the aisles, and point out your favorite authors, books you just read, and books you plan to read. Pick a book to share and then spend the rest of the day in bed reading it to each other. Cuddle, kiss, nap... When evening approaches, try a recipe from a cookbook you found at the library - maybe prepare it while listening to a library CD? Climb back into bed, and pop in something absurd or obscure you found hidden in the library DVDs. Cuddle, kiss, fall asleep: a perfect end to a perfect day.

FAVORITE DAYSpeaking of favorites, another great way to get to know each other is to spend a day unveiling favorites. And if you already know your partner well, what better way to celebrate that than by making a day out of all those things they love (because, you know, you love them). There are so many things in this world to appreciate: places, foods, people, restaurants, books, artists, smells... Try to be creative in how you share these things with each other. If your favorite flower is lilac, give your partner a massage with lilac-infused oil. If your partner's favorite food is scones, why not surprise them with a few fresh ones and a side of tea in bed to begin your favorites day? Sharing favorites is an excellent way to open each other up and create joy. It doesn't matter whose favorites you're experiencing because joy is infectious and it will travel between the two of you. If you make a day of favorites, it will easily be one of your favorite memories together.

THE LITTLE THINGSRomance and excitement don't always have to involve grande gestures. Sometimes subtlety is just as tender, so think of little ways to make your partner smile unexpectedly. Hide smutty notes in their lunch box, or scribble sweet nothings and stuff them in the jeans they'll wear tomorrow. Stick a post-it on the inside of their medicine cabinet so the next time they retrieve their vitamins, they see, "You are the cutest vegan toot machine, and I hope you are having a good day!" Trace "hot stuff" on their car window in the winter so they'll see it when the heat comes on. Not only does it show you care, but it frees your partner from the routines of every day life (if only for a moment). Aww, aren't you the sweetest.

What about you? Have you ever done something particularly thoughtful or romantic for a partner (or potential partner)? What's something romantic someone has done for you? What's your idea of a hot date or a sickly-sweet romantic gesture?

Pop-Tart-y Party

2009-09-23T06:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, it feels like a long, hot minute since I've updated. It's not that I don't have material (heaps upon heaps of material...); it's just that I'm back at school. Though it was probably easy to infer, I never fully articulated that I took the summer off, but now that I'm back into the swing of Georgia things, life gets real busy real fast. Fear not, though, faithful readers, I will have a real update soon. In the mean time, I wanted to share with you a little something.

There are a lot of reasons why I write this blog, but the most fundamental is that I want people to challenge their daily routines. I don't expect everyone to be vegan or straight edge (or vegan straight edge!), but I want to share some of the reasons why I make these decisions (for indeed, staying committed to an xvx lifestyle is a daily decision), and I want to show people what I'm doing when I'm not eating animal products or rockin' a forty. It pleases me to no end when people contemplate these things after reading a post or two, and it especially pleases me to know they're experimenting with some of the ideas I've thrown out there.

One of my good friends in Denver (hi, Alex!) shot me an email to show me that she had a pop tart party. A pop tart party! I think this is a pretty fabulous way to spend an afternoon. If I remember correctly, everyone brought an ingredient and assembled their own little pastry. (Even if I don't remember correctly, I think this is a good idea.) The pictures are pretty fabulous because they show a variety of approaches to the recipe I posted - not only in ingredients but also in, uh, shape.

Obviously, this wasn't a huge event or a late night fiesta, but people are having some serious fun...

Actually, this girl doesn't look like she's having too much fun... YET. Duh, the party's about to start in her mouth! (Never judge a party by its appearance.)

I don't know about you, but I'm just floored by this enthusiasm. Seriously, is there any better testimonial than these ladies flashin' their pearls? They don't even care that, that one pan looks like Wicked Witch leftovers! Because it's a common fact the content on xvx party leads to Good Times, period. So if you've ever thought about trying something - a recipe, a game, a party, ANYTHING - don't hesitate to let me know about it. In fact, I'm putting my email in the side bar so you can do exactly that...

A special thanks to Alex and her goof ball gang for the awesome pictures. In the mean time, keep your eyes peeled for something juicy to sink your teeth into.

Daring Baker's Challenge: Dobos Torte

2009-08-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

For better or for worse, this is my last Daring Baker's challenge - actually, probably for better considering how I struggle with these write ups. I always want something quippy, something epic, you know? But there's nothing epic about this. And there's nothing epic about my photos for these things, either, which in my head are going to look like these Bon Appetit spreads - you know, perfect composition and delicate details and all that - but which actually come out more like family photos where the cap barely came off the camera lens. Fantastic, fantastic! So as much as I enjoy introducing my oven to awesome new delicacies each month, I feel a little "Good bye, good riddance!" about this. Cutting back on the sugar kind of helps, too.

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Now, I have to say, there was one epic thing about this challenge that makes me pretty excited to talk about it, and that's the cake recipe I engineered. Traditionally, a Dobos Torte is, as Angela describes it, "whisper-thin layers of sponge, a decadent chocolate buttercream and crisp wedges of caramel on top." It's a pretty straight forward challenge because caramel and buttercream are total non-issues, and while sponge cake is one of those holy grails of veganism (you know, because it's sponginess comes from fluffy egg whites whipped into submission), it's easy to substitute some generic cake for the sponge cake. I, of course, could not do that. There's many recipes floating around the vegaverse that claim to produce vegan sponge cake; some of them even hail from vegan greats (who I won't name but I'm sure you know who I'm talking about). I've tried a handful of them including the ones offered by the vegan greats, and truth be told, none of them have done it for me. At best, they've been fluffier offshoots of everyday cakes, and at worst, they've been awkwardly textured compromises. I became a Daring Baker so I could dare myself to try some of the impossibles, and oh, this was a good challenge to tackle. And I think I tackled it quite well.

The recipe could use a tweak or two, but check out that picture above the recipe: it's easily good enough to share. It's a naturally fluffy cake base, but the secret to its success is soda water. The soda water makes little bubbles in the batter just like a sponge cake, so it stays really light and air-y. Not to sound like an asshole, but I gave myself a big pat on the back for this one. A BIG pat on the back. And now I want everyone to use it and experiment with it and make it even better.

But before we get to the recipe, I'm going to give a quick description of my torte: it was lemon sponge cakelayered between strawberry-rose buttercream with a generous white chocolate buttercream overcoat (homemade white chocolate using BitterSweet's tasty recipe). I opted out of the caramel because I hate caramel. Ha. And while my cake looked like a toppled tombstone with clown-colored ribbons running through it (in my defense, all my cake decorating supplies are in Georgia), it tasted awesome. AWESOME. I would definitely recommend this flavor combination. Okay, now here's something to bake:

XVEGANX SPONGE CAKE
+ 1 1/4 flour
+ 2 t baking powder
+ 1/2 c confectioner's sugar
+ 1/2 c agave
+ 1/2 c soymilk
+ 2 T Earth Balance
+ 1/2 t vanilla
+ 3/4 c club soda

01. Preheat your oven to 350º. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and confectioner's sugar. Set aside. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the agave, soymilk, Earth Balance, and vanilla. Pop it in the microwave for a minute or two to melt down the Earth Balance, and then stir those hot liquids into your dry ingredients until just combined. Gently add the club soda, mixing carefully so the mixture incorporates but the bubbles remain intact.

02. Generously - GENEROUSLY - grease up a jelly-roll pan or a regular baking sheet. (I think mine was 11x17, but it couldn't hold all my batter.) Place your cake in the oven and bake for fifteen to twenty minutes. You'll know it's done when the cakes starts pulling away from the sides of the pan and the top sort of springs back when you touch it. Be really careful about this because, if you touch too hard, you'll put a big ol' dent in your cake, and if it's not finished, you'll leave a thumb print. Remember that the cake will solidify as it cools, though.

03. Make sure the cake is completely and totally cooled before removing it. In fact, letting it hang in the fridge for a while is not a half-bad idea. When I was ready to take my cake out, I put a layer of cling rap over the top, then gentlygentlegently flipped it onto my counter. I have no idea what a good technique would be otherwise, though if you have a cutting board or something that's about the same size as your jelly roll pan, I'd say use that. Then use the cake as you see fit.

p.s. Diet, Desserts, and Dogs is having yet another tasty giveaway - this time for Simply Bars. The contest ends September 7, so hurry to get an entry in for some of these nutritiously delicious (and super high protein!) treats.

Pick your Picnic

2009-08-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

I love picnics because they're more or less guerilla eating; they can take place anywhere, anytime, with anyone, featuring any menu. Plus, the context can impart it with all kinds of meaning - anything from adventure to romance to intimacy. The possibilities of picnics are endless, but I think most people think of them as this staid activity: you get a basket, pack some sandwiches, go to the park, eat with a friend. How dull! With a little creative planning, picnics can be so much more.

PICNIC IN A FORTSpend an afternoon with your best friend. Rip all the sheets off your bed, all the cushions off your furniture. Push together all kinds of tables and chairs, and build yourselves a fort. For bonus points, outfit the inside of your fort with basic amenities: soup can phones to communicate with the outside world, shoe boxes for important documents and top secret treasures, binoculars to monitor potential intruders, etc. Recruit your dog or cat to protect you. (And be sure to keep some snacks on hand for him/her to reward him/her for a job well done.)

potential food
+ chik'n nuggets & mac'n'cheez
+ grilled cheez sandwiches (I recommend Tofutti cheddar singles)
+ nut butter plus jam, rice mellow, or bananas on bread*

potential drinks
+ fresh squeezed lemonade
+ juice boxes
+ plain or chocolate "milk"

potential desserts
+ fresh fruit
+ candy
+ oreos
+ magic cookie bars

* Pro Tip: use a cookie cutter to make your sandwiches into fun shapes like crescents or butterflies.

PICNIC ON A SNOW DAYOn a snow-y afternoon, spread a cozy blanket across the floor near the window with the best visibility. Outfit yourselves in your warmest pajamas and slippers, and watch the snow fall with a friend or lover. Huddle close or cuddle (you know, to keep warm) and take turns reading fairy tales to each other.

potential foods
+ chili w/cornbread
+ chik'n & dumplings
+ quiche or pot pie

potential drinks
+ hot cocoa
+ warm cider
+ tea or coffee

potential desserts
+ peppermint brownies
+ sugar cookies in seasonal shapes
+ cinnamonn rolls

ROMANTIC PICNICPack your picnic into a box, and wrap it up like a present. Blindfold your partner and whisk them away to an interesting or romantic spot - maybe the place where you first met or an abandoned train yard with a nearby swimming hole. Present them with the present, then sit and enjoy your feast. Find shapes in the clouds together and cuddle (lots).

potential foods
+ spring pea tarts*
+ creamy risotto or pasta
+ Fabios portobello passion**
+ pineapple tempeh with fragrant quinoa

potential drinks
+ sparkling juice
+ fruity lemon- or limeade
+ strawberry hibiscus Arnold Palmer
+ any sort of mocktail

potential desserts
+ chocolates or truffles
+ chocolate lava cupcakes
+ lemon meringue pie***

Pro Tip: choose foods known as aphrodisiacs.

* This recipe isn't vegan, but I've made it vegan before, and it ROCKS. I substituted Tofutti cream cheese for the Nufchatel (sp?), nutritional yeast for the parmesan (more than the recipe recommends, maybe three or four times as much), and Earth Balance or soymilk for the egg.
** Holy crap, did you know that Fabio put together a "romantic" vegan meal for PETA? HOW HILARIOUS IS THAT? I really only put the link to the mushroom so I could talk about his romantic menu. HILARIOUS. I can't believe this exists.
*** This recipe requires a special mix, so I also found this recipe (it's near the middle of the thread; also note the marshmallow recipe that could be used for topping). I've heard murmurings of using Rice Mellow as a meringue, too, so you might want to experiment with that.

MIDNIGHT PICNICIn the middle of the night, stow away to a secret spot with a friend or lover. Tell ghost stories and take turns pointing out constellations. If neither of you know any, make some up and talk about them. Conclude the evening with some wheat pasting, urban exploring, or a frolic in the graveyard. Know your rights if you encounter any police, and remember these words: "I choose to stay silent! I'd like to speak to my lawyer!"

potential foods
+ pizza or calzoni
+ falafel sandwiches & fries
+ pad thai
+ General Tao's tofu over brown rice

potential drinks
+ all natural soda
+ coffee
+ chocolate "milk"

potential desserts
+ fauxstess cupcakes or twinkies
+ trail mix
+ brownies

SUNRISE PICNICSurprise a friend or lover by throwing stones at their window in the morning while it's still dark. Then head for a scenic spot and watch the sun rise together. Exchange secrets and make grand plans for the future.

potential foods
+ coffee cake
+ donuts, muffins, or scones
+ anti-egg mcmuffins
+ tofu scramble

potential drinks
+ tea or coffee
+ smoothies

potential desserts
+ fresh fruit or fruit salad
+ soy yogurt w/granola

AUTUMN PICNICFall is one of my favorite times of year: good weather, good clothes, good food. Grab a friend and go some place to just bask in how amazing autumn is. Be sure to jump in some leaves.

potential food
+ tofu-veggie tart from Supersize Me
+ pumpkin pasta with apple-sage "sausage"
+ shepard's pie or veggie pot pie
+ acorn squash stuffed with chestnut stuffing

potential drinks
+ cider (cold, warm, or sparkling)
+ cranberry juice
+ ginger beer
+ tea

potential desserts
+ cran-apple cobbler
+ baked pumpkin donuts
+ pumpkin cheesecake or pecan pie

Pro Tip: DON'T LIMIT YOURSELF TO A PICNIC BASKET! Because you can carry your food and utensils in all kinds of things. Backpacks and bags are pretty obvious, but try something different (even if it's just carrying everything in a basket on the front of your bike). Here are a few suggestions:

How about you? What kinds of picnics have you been on? What kinds of picnics would you like to go on? What are your best picnicking tips?

Pop! Goes my Tart

2009-08-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

For the record, I drink a smoothie almost every day. Half the time, they're green!

Remember when I said that I haven't been cooking much lately? Well, that hasn't been COMPLETELY true... I mean, sure, occasionally I've been dressing my pasta up with sauce from my stove instead of my cupboard, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is the occasional episode of culinary relevance that has been taking place in my kitchen and that I've been hiding from you. The occasional episode that yields... oh, I don't know... homemade pop tarts?

Now, you may not know this, but vegan pop tarts exist. Yes, Kellog's Pop Tarts offer a handful of frosting-less flavors that have so many chemicals, there's nary any room for an animal product to sneak in! There's also the frosting-less Nature's Path "toaster pastries" with that deliciously whole foods taste and that dismally whole foods price. Amy's makes a frosting-less "toaster pop" that she hides in the frozen food aisle and tastes like the whole foods offspring of Pop Tarts and Toaster Strudels. Not that I've ever been the biggest pop tarts fan, but I've always suspected that there's a way to make something that tastes better than the Kellog's version, is cheaper than the Nature's Path version, and embodies the pop tarts experience better than the Amy's version - and that comes with vegan frosting! (We all know frosting was half the reason we ever ate pop tarts.) So after a smidgen of research, I've discovered there is a way, and it's exquisitely simple. Behold: a vegan pop tart recipe.

I think I could design a special crust for this, but I will show you what I did this time around. It's interesting because baking is largely science; it requires some pretty meticulous measuring to be successful. However, this recipe is so intuitive and hodge podge that it's perfect for even the most anti-baking all stars:

HOMEMADE POP TARTS
+ pie dough
+ some sort of filling (I used raspberry jelly and chocolate ganache)
+ soymilk
+ powdered sugar
+ flavor extract (optional)
+ food coloring (optional)
+ sprinkles (optional)

01. Preheat the oven at 400º. Remove your pie dough from the fridge, and form it into a log. Roll it about 1/8 of an inch thin, then carefully cut long rectangles of matching size from the dough. I made mine about 8" x 3", but you can make your pop tarts whatever length and width you want. Hey, you could even use cookie cutters to make perfectly sized pop tarts in special shapes. Just make sure you pick a really big cookie cutter!

02. Put a dollop of filling into half of your pop tart, then smear it around. It should look like generously jellied toast: a thick smear but not totally caked on. If you're having trouble picturing this, just picture how much filling you find in a store-bought pop tart, and try to channel that. I used maybe one and a half tablespoons of filling, but your amount will vary depending on the size and shape of your pop tart. The most important thing to remember, though, is that there needs to be about a 1/4" border of crust surrounding your filling.

03. Fill a small cup or bowl with some soymilk - maybe about 1/4" cup - and, using your finger or a pastry brush, lightly coat those naked crust edges with it. Then fold the empty crust half over the full crust half, being sure not to trap any air. Gently press the edges to create a seal (pro tip: crimping the edges with a fork gives it a nice visual effect, and it makes a strong seal), and lightly brush the top of your pop tart with more soymilk. Use a fork to puncture steam holes in the top layer of crust, being careful not to push the fork into the second layer. This part is very important because, if you don't, you will discover the way I did that the crust puffs up quite a bit and looks most un-pop-tart like. Lame. So poke steam holes! Then transfer your tasty treats to a greased baking sheet, and pop those suckers in the oven for 18 - 20 minutes.

04. In the mean time, you'll want to make your frosting. Okay, I wish I had some measurements for you, but I never follow a recipe for frosting. Actually, that's not completely true either: when I make sugar cookies around the holidays, I am a meticulous froster, and the texture and consistency is very important to me. So when that's the case, I use a recipe like this one, but most of the time, I just mix powdered sugar, vanilla, and soymilk until I get a thick paste. Start with a big heap of powdered sugar and slowly add soymilk a half teaspoon or so at a time, and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's not rocket science, and I doubt you're really trying to impress anyone with pop tarts. (Although if you are, I'm kind of impressed, and you should tell me about it in the comments.)

05. Pull the pop tarts from the oven, and let them cool completely. If they're not cooled completely, you'll wind up with a crazy icing mess, and that's not cool. Course, when they ARE cooled completely, you can have a gay ol' time making frosting drizzles or sugar oceans or whatever floats your boat. For really fancy pop tarts, throw on some sprinkles or sugar crystals just after frosting them. (And I mean JUST after. That frosting sets fast!) Let the frosting set a little, and then dig in with your best friend.

Product Review Time

2009-08-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

I feel like apologizing for the lack of recipes, but I just haven't been cooking much lately . To be fair, I was out of town for a while, but mostly, I've just been lazy. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've been eating a lot of veggie burgers in tortillas, and while I COULD do a run-down of the eight or so brands of burgers I've tried this summer, I think we've all sort of "been there, done that." I've tried lots of other things this summer, though - more interesting and unusual things - so I thought I'd share my thoughts on those products instead.

Field Roast Grain Meat Sausages. I tried my first Field Roast product two years ago when Christmas arrived and I was still too burned out from Thanksgiving to attempt anything fancy. It was one of their celebration roasts which always sat so cute and savory in its little package but was obviously far too expensive for everyday eating. Man, did that roast get me HOOKED, so I was pretty stoked to discover their sausages. The thing I like about Field Roast products is that they're really toothsome without really trying to mimic meat, so I eagerly committed to trying all three flavors: smoked apple, Italian, and Mexican chipotle. My favorite was the smoked apple because I love blending sweet and savory. It burst with a smoke-y sage flavor punctuated by little apple bits that was perfect for an autumn influenced pasta. I was also impressed by the Italian sausage, which I think has a more authentically Italian-sausage flavor than any other vegan Italian sausage I've tried. I don't really remember Italian sausage that well, but these immediately took me to my grandma's kitchen, summer afternoons, and marinara simmering on the stove. (And others, well, don't.) I think Field Roast owes some of this to using fennel. Go Field Roast! The Mexican Chipotle tasted as spicy as it looked, but I was kind of indifferent to it. While I love spice, I'm not big on Mexican-infleunced cuisine, and this screamed: "Use me in Tex-Mex!" I'd still eat it again, though - especially since it actually DID have a little kick to it. Field Roast Grain Meat Sausages get a serious thumbs up from the xvx party.

So Delicious Coconut Milk. So far, I've been really pleased with So Delicious' coconut line of products. By far, their coconut ice cream is the richest, creamiest commercial vegan ice cream - high praise because I'm a pretty big fan of their Purely Decadent line. I'm also pleased with how luscious and full-bodied their yogurts are. (I still prefer Whole Soy's yogurts, though.) The only thing that turns me off to these So Delicious products is that they're significantly more expensive than their already-price-y soy counterparts. Inevitably, when I found So Delicious' coconut milk on sale, I lept at the chance to try it. I got the unsweetened kind, which I think was a good move because coconut milk is pretty sweet in and of itself, but I didn't like it as an all-purpose milk. Even though it's not as rich and decadent as a can of coconut milk, it's still pretty cream-y, and while I think the ice cream and yogurt have very subtle coconut flavors, the milk's flavor is still pretty distinct. I thought it'd go perfectly with cereal, but its coconut-y creaminess turned out to be a distraction. I didn't even like the way it made hot cocoa, and I certainly couldn't use it in savory dishes. I was torn about how I felt about it nutritionally: it has fewer calories than soymilk (fifty for the unsweetened coconut compared to eighty in the unsweetened soymilk) but almost all its calories come from saturated fat. Plus, it's not QUITE as vitamin packed as my beloved Silk Light. I think it'd be really good for baking, and I'd be interested to see if you could cut back on the oil in recipes while keeping the "milk" content the same. That said, I can't see any other use for it. If someone offered it to me at their house, I'd drink it, but I don't think I'll buy this again.

Rice-Brand Vegan Cheese. Like most vegans, I'm always eager to try new "cheeses." When defending their omni/vegetarian lifestyles, cheese is the one thing everyone agrees they can't give up, and hey, sometimes I miss it, too. I'd already read Vegan Dad's review, but when the pepper jack flavor popped up at my grocery store, I wanted to try it for myself. Admittedly, I was more interested in the American or even the cheddar flavors: one, because I've never been much for pepper jack, and two, because pepper jack got the worst review from Vegan Dad. The other flavors where nowhere, though, so pepper jack it was! Let me just say right now, Vegan Dad was spot on in describing it as "grain-y yet paste-y." I don't know what to compare the flavor to but it definitely didn't remind me of pepper jack. Vegan Dad was lucky, though; he got his to melt, but I couldn't even get mine to do that. I tried to use it as a pizza topping, and instead of melting down against the sauce and crust, the corners of the little cheese squares started to turn upwards and crisp. STARTED TO TURN UPWARDS AND CRISP. Easily the worst vegan cheese experience I've had. Don't waste your money! There are already passable solutions to grilled cheese (Toffutti cheddar), mozzarella pizza (FYH Vegan Gourmet), finger-food cheese (Sheese please!), and the like, so don't even bother trying this.

Trader Joe's Fat Free Caramel Corn. Okay, so this doesn't need much of a product review because, you know, it's caramel corn. Caramel corn is pretty universal in its quality. I really wanted to say something about it, though, because this is the first time I've ever encountered commercial-brand caramel corn that's vegan. Plus, there's tons of recipes out there for making your own, and they almost always involve a lot of fat. This popcorn is fat-free, but it taste like it came from a tin with some cheddar popcorn on one side and butter popcorn on the other. I actually couldn't care less about caramel corn, but the novelty of finding it ready-made and vegan was enough to get me to buy it. If you're into that sort of thing, I urge you to stock up because I think this is a seasonal TJ's item.

Five Star Foodies Artichoke Burgers. Now, I know I said I wasn't going to do a run-down of the burgers I've tried this summer, but this one does warrant special mention. I mean, veggie burgers usually come in two varieties: mashed-vegetable patties we call burgers and varying attempts at passing for meat. These burgers are so beyond that. Largely a blend of cashews, brown rice, and artichokes, they're completely gluten-free and PACKED with flavor. The richness of the cashews shines, making the experience almost decadent, and it really complements the artichoke flavor. I loved the texture because it wasn't crumble-y or uniform, and it makes me happy when I know I'm eating something high in fiber and phytonutrients. (These are also high in iron.) The burgers didn't even last a week. My only complaint about them is the packaging: while it's not unusual to over-package veggie burgers by putting each one in its own cellophane sleeve, these went a step beyond by putting each burger in its own zip-loc baggie. There might have been a bag within the bag of burgers, too, but I might be making that up. Either way, not only did it feel really wasteful, but I'm pretty sure these silly baggies partially accounted for the high price of these burgers, which is such a shame because the price means I'll probably only eat these once a summer. If you're totally loaded with $$$ or looking for a good food splurge, these babies are it.

Food for Life Cluckphrey Nuggets. When I first went vegetarian, I was way into those Morning Star nuggets and buffalo wings, but that probably lasted about a year while I adjusted before I moved on. Fast forward eight or nine years and I'm still not really about that stuff. But hey, I usually sample one price-y vegan novelty product every few grocery trips, so why not? Maybe it's because chicken nuggets have never been my bag (even as an omni), but these babies were a resounding, "Eh." I really liked the convenience of having something I could pop in the microwave or oven and enjoy shortly thereafter, and they're definitely a notch up from whatever the popular brand of vegan chik'n nuggets is that makes a borderline identical box for its real chicken nuggets (which usually aren't located much further away). But seriously, these were just "eh." (And so were their burgers!) If you miss those Morning Star nuggets, you should definitely get them, but I will likely not be a repeat customer on Food for Life's faux meats.

What new products have you tried? Discovered any great and secretly vegan foods lately?

Vegans Rule, School Drools

2009-08-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

As school approaches, I find myself asking whether or not I want to be on the meal plan. Like many universities, mine is well-reputed for providing woefully inadequate vegan options, and while last quarter, this was a total non-issue because I lived in "apartment-style" housing with a full kitchen, this quarter might be different. Presently, I'm blind-sided by the convenience factor. Ohh, how I am tempted by the non-issue food becomes when I don't have to allocate extra time to earning money for it, then buying it, preparing it, and consuming it. (If you don't know anyone in art school, it's a total time crunch!) The socially awkward part of me also wonders if a certain amount of fraternizing goes on in the dining halls - like, maybe this would be a good way to meet new people? And there's also this part of me that fantasizes about campaigning for better vegan options in the cafeteria, which then - in my wild, wild fantasies - leads to higher-quality food options overall and a tight-laced crew of openly vegan assholes. (Seriously big dreams, right? WATCH OUT, WORLD!) My scholarship would probably cover most if not all of this change so it's not about the cents of the issue - it's about the sense! But seriously? I'm not sure it does make much sense. More likely than not, I will have to supplement whatever the dining hall provides me to stay properly nourished (a reality my scholarship doesn't account for), and if the point of being on a meal plan is to save time, it's an epic fail to spend all my free time campaigning for real food options. So what's the plan B for a vegan living without a kitchen at a school that requires a meal plan?

Well, getting out of the meal plan is easy. You could try to do it the "legit" way - you know, writing the right higher-ups, making a big enough fuss, etc. etc. - but personally, I wouldn't want to chance it. Some schools are very firm that policy is policy and that you made the choice to get fed plain pasta all year! So a much better option is to say that you are a hare krishna and cannot eat in the cafeteria for religious reasons. Hare krishnas are so explicit in how they prepare their food that there's absolutely no way a school could meet those needs without interfering with your freedom of religion. If you have qualms about hiding behind a religion that's not yours to meet your dietary requirements, consider this: religion is just a socially sanctioned philosophy on life, and if you're philosophically opposed to eating animal products, there's absolutely no reason you should have to - or that you should have to eat a diet that penalizes your health because you choose not to. Living in an imperfect system forces us to make imperfect decisions, and the commitment to clean, healthy living should be a bigger priority than inconsequential appearances of "sincerity" to the university that is robbing you blind.

The more important issue is how to survive without a kitchen. PETA recently released a cookbook for college vegans, but from everything I've read, it's a sodium trap that assumes you're at college because you're affluent and therefore can subsist on vegan novelty products. Sorry, PETA, but I come from a shithole neighborhood and have dropped out of college numerous times over finances. My college education is coming from grants and scholarships, not living in serious $$$! Plus, while I'm pretty stoked on some of those faux whatnots, I think making meals that always star fake foods will rot your insides, and I don't want to be known as a junk food vegan! To counter that, I'm offering you the xveganx party approach to eating a healthy, whole foods diet from the comfort of your dorm room.*

Now, just because you lack a kitchen doesn't mean you should lack kitchen appliances. There are three must-have appliances for living without a kitchen: a mini-fridge, a microwave, and a blender.** If you're pretty immobile or lacking immediate capital, many schools have mini-fridge rental programs, but I find it's worth the investment to buy your own mini-fridge. After all, you probably have a few vegan years of college ahead of you, and what you pay to rent a fridge for just one quarter/year/whatever will usually pay for a nice used one. Finding a high-quality and affordable mini-fridge is easy; there's always a thousand littering craigslist. Scour those classifieds and garage sales, too, and be sure to check your local free-cycle. The same thing is double-y true of microwaves, although these days many dorm rooms come equipped with them. Blenders can also be found through the same means - ESPECIALLY at any ol' thriftstore - but if you want to guarantee quality, it's not absurd or absurdly expensive to get a really nice new one. Certainly, you can live without a blender, but in times of limited options, why limit your options further? It will come in handy in your post-college years, too. TRUST ME.

Another thing you can't neglect is a nice, all-purpose kitchen knife like a chef's knife or a santoku. Cheaping out on this one is a bad idea because what you save in money, you'll waste in agony wondering why your knife is always dull. Dull knives also increase the likelihood of cooking accidents, and which hurts more: being cut by a sharp knife or being cut by a butter knife? A good quality knife hardly needs sharpening and will follow you for years and years (and years!), making the cost-per-use quite low. Most cheap knives need constant replacing, making the long-term cost about the same but twice as frustrating. Even a half-way decent one is better than nothing. A half-way decent knife starts at about thirty or forty dollars, but sometimes you can find them hidden at clearance-home-goods stores or on sale at regular ones. Here's a helpful article to get you started on your quest. However, if you're at a complete and total loss, I'd recommend Rachael Ray's knives. Surprisingly, the Food Network's second biggest bonehead (the first being Sandra Lee, obviously) attaches her name to some really nice and affordable knives. In fact, I bought my mom some this past Christmas, and we've both been pleased.

Now that you've loaded up for your guerilla kitchen, it's time to tap into your creativity. Consider taking a step in the raw foods direction. You can experiment with an endless array of smoothies and salads, but following raw blogs and raw books (available at your local library!) will give you tons of ideas for kicking your raw lifestyle up a notch. Another thing you should do is find deliciously healthy ways to combine fresh and non-perishable foods (yogurt with trail mix, oatmeal with fresh berries, sandwiches, etc.) Most grains can be made with a microwave safe dish and some water, which is just the beginning for all sorts of pastas and salads (tabouleh, anyone?). It's also a good idea to keep a host of granola/raw/power bars on hand because they're cheap-ish when you buy them in bulk and great for a quick snack or meal on the go. Don't forget about vegan classics like pita and hummus or chips and salsa, and feel-free to supplement your diet with vegan protein shakes (my favorites are Soytein and Genisoy, especially the strawberry or chocolate flavors). It should go without saying that there's an endless array of prepared foods like boxed soup and ramen, too.

If you're looking for something a little sweet, most health food stores have individual vegan treats. If you're looking for genuinely healthy ways to satisfy your sweet tooth, make your own popsicles or indulge in some fruit leather. Fruit in general is like nature's candy bar and gets sweeter when it's dried. But of course, half the time, that totally defeats the point of a sweets craving - in which case, I've heard murmurings of microwave cake. Now, I don't know if there's a vegan version out there (I haven't bothered to look), but if there isn't, I'm planting the seed here and challenging you, dear readers, to figure it out! There's also fridge-friendly treats like jell-o and rice crispy squares. (I guess you don't even have to refrigerate those, but the one time I made them, I did because they weren't really holding together.) And when all else fails, there's always Oreos or Skittles (yep, now gelatin free!).

So remember, kids: don't let your school tell you how to live your life. Being vegan should never feel like a penalty, so seize the moment and show those blood-mouths how it's really done. Above all, stay healthy, and have fun. Vegans rule, school drools, no compromises!

* I realize that following this, I propose investing in a series of kitchen wares which CAN be a little pricey. However, I think there's a difference in suggesting long-term investments with low cost-per-uses and a lifestyle predicated on buying tons of novelty vegan crap. Because one month of novelty vegan crap will pay for all these proposed appliances, seriously.

** If you are super bold, you can also opt for a George Foreman Grill, which seems to be available at every thriftstore on the planet. I think most schools don't allow these because they worry you'll leave them plugged in while turned on and burn down the entire dorm. But if you're reading this, I know you're too smart for that - and too vivacious not to break the rules! So consider a George Foreman. It REALLY opens up your options because you can make stuff like panini and quesadillas, waffles and pancakes, or good ol' fashioned grilled veggies and hot dogs. Who doesn't love a nice panino or a fresh waffle? Anyone? Anyone?

The XVX Party Does Burning Man

2009-07-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

I wrote this a while ago, but because it discusses illegal activities, I decided to post it after some time passed so it can't be linked to any specific regional burn.

This weekend, I attended a regional Burning Man. I first learned about Burning Man in high school when my public speaking teacher decided to give a slideshow the first day of class so we understood that he was Very Hip and Cool. My cheek stayed glued to my palm as I watched picture after picture of this dude in cargo shorts flashing the thumbs up beside parodies of automobiles and perpetual motion machines in settings that sucked the moisture out of my mouth just looking at them. I was fourteen, and he was a teacher. Worse than that, he was a minister that sometimes functioned as a teacher. And he was boring me with a slide show. There could not possibly be anything cool about this event, so I blew the whole concept off.

A few years later, though, the concept was reintroduced to me in a much more palatable way. I was dating a guy that had purchased tickets and was already planning his pilgrimage in January of that year.

"Burning Man...?" I said as he researched camping supplies and strange spectacles executed at previous Burns. "I think I had a weird teacher that was into that. He was dumb."

"Oh, but Burning Man's not!" he beamed. He explained that there are ten principles underlying Burning Man: radical inclusion; gifting; decommodification; radical self-reliance; radical self-expression; communal effort; civic responsibility; leaving no trace; participation; and living in the moment. If you explain the event in these terms, it seems pretty sweet. I mean, going to fraternize with folks that value people over money? That don't want to trash the planet? That want to challenge themselves to live in the moment? It seems loaded with the potential to be a totally zen experience, and so he imparted me with curiosity, a curiosity that has outlived our relationship.

Of course, I've also been imparted with some apprehensions. Since then, I've met a number of "Burners," and I'm going to admit: most of them have left a varying degree of sour in my mouth. In fact, sometimes I think "Burning Man" = "Burn Out," so I've always been torn as to whether the thing would - could, even - be a zen experience, or if it was doomed to being a marginalized hippie event that reveled in debauchery. Certainly, this was not a question I was interested in dropping two hundred dollars and some travel on, to answer, but when a friend of mine called to invite me to the regional Burn, I thought, "Ahh, this will settle things for me."

The debate was very much settled: while Burning Man is a mixed bag, it is most certainly Not My Thing. In fact, I learned that about five minutes after arriving. The first locations pointed out to me were the three "bars," and people were offering me drugs before I even pitched my tent. There was a lot of unwelcome touching and hugging, and more than once, I had to sit down and tell people that the way they were talking to/about me was inappropriate. My first night there, I was sitting in a chair at one of the bars nursing a sparkling water when a "wheel of debauchery" materialized. Somehow, people outside of what I perceived as "the circle of people interested in the wheel of debauchery" were getting suckered into the debaucherous antics, and while the atmosphere was very, "Oh, it's fun, it's funny, it's okay!", I quickly made an escape lest a drunken stranger cram their tongue in my mouth. Just because people want to "gift" their kisses to me doesn't mean I want to receive them, ya dig? But at times, I felt like being there was taken as some sign of consent that invited all sorts of things I wasn't interested in, and that absence of consent culture was easily the scariest part of my weekend. In general, I find it hard to swallow the way substances blur boundaries, and I think that's a dramatic oversight at events like these.

The event definitely contradicted how it was advertised on its website:

"The organization does not condone the sale, use, or promotion of illegal drugs. [The regional burn] will be so much more enjoyable if you are sober and in control, be yourself and be responsible and you will find that you will have the best experience."

AND

"It is imperative to know and express your own sexual boundaries and to ask about and respect your partners' boundaries. As the Bureau of Erotic Discourse (B.E.D.) reminds us: Silence is not consent. Communication is the best lubricant!"

For an event that claims it is "more enjoyable" when you're sober and in control, it sure did leave a lot of people pissing pure THC! One of the ten principles is to live in the moment, but drugs are completely antithetical to being present. Regardless of one's opinion on their pitfalls and merits, altering one's state of consciousness is actively altering one's sense of the present and more or less choosing to be elsewhere. Period. However, no one was interested in exploring this or evaluating how substances mediated their interactions with one another. And the whole structure of BM fails to incorporate how effective substances are at blurring boundaries. That's why I think it's imperative to talk about consent, not just as some tagline like, "Well, as long as it's consensual..!", but as an integral part of the BM experience. When people are intoxicated, a lot of their filters get thrown out, and they say and do things that make people uncomfortable. It's easy to misinterpret the absence of "no" as a "yes" when you're fucked up. And does "yes" really mean "yes" when someone's on something? When is there time to discuss abuse histories? The way the event is conducted leaves little room to talk about these things, as well as little room to mention/address non-consensual behavior. It's like you're supposed to write everything off because if you don't, you're being a downer. And that's completely unacceptable in my book.

That said, I do think there was some level of restraint - although really, what does that even mean? People seemed generally good at policing themselves and looking out for their friends, but personally, I'm always thinking about that what if. My impression is that people go in with certain expectations, making certain concessions, and mumming it about what's going on behind their tent flaps. And I'm sure most people don't go in with my sort of naivete. How safe is that really? I have no idea. There was definitely a forehead-slapping moment when one of the medics drunkenly advertised the medic tent while shackling people up for bar-hopping. Group safety is always compromised in resolutely non-sober spaces, and I'm a little rattled by how it would be handled if something bad really did happen. Much of my experience at the regional Burn contradicted the ten principles, but I think the most glaring contradiction was the fact that non-sober spaces are incredibly exclusionary because of how inhospitable they are to people presently struggling with or recovering from substance abuse problems. I spent a lot of time thinking about when and how individual freedoms were more important than community freedoms and what different answers to that question meant for these kinds of events. While the event was organized and orchestrated with these things in mind (I know because I discussed it a little with a friend of mine that was also an organizer), I'm not sure if I agree with the particular lines in the sand that got drawn. Then again, as far as I know, such lines have been working for Burns so far, so maybe I'm just a worry wart. Who am I to shake a finger because it's not my idea of a good, safe time? Then again, how many raucous parties go alright before one winds up as a 20/20 expose...

Another thing I found difficult to take seriously was being charged for an event that emphasized gifting and decommodification. I understand that the money went to stuff like port-a-potties, but the port-a-potties in themselves are a contradiction. How can you talk about "leave no trace" when you're housing fifteen or so plastic cubicles full of mystery blue liquid? Skip the toxic phone booths and provide food for participants! If folks stopped bringing their own food and were instead fed onsite, this would cut down on a lot of waste - which may not be "leaving a trace" on the campsite but is leaving a trace elsewhere on the planet. As for the bathroom situation, there's an an easy solution to that: biodegradable toilets. It definitely takes a lot more planning and foresight, but if the event's priorities are what they say they are, I think it's worth the effort. This probably couldn't extend to the big and "official" Burning Man, but maybe the official Burning Man should re-evaluate its priorities, even challenge the obstacles to realizing something like that. I've heard of trash mountain ranges growing just outside of the boundaries of the Burning Man at the Black Rock Desert, which makes me think that maybe regional is the way to go to really keep the spirit of its expressed intent alive. Regardless, there are some serious disconnects between thought and action.

Now, I didn't spend my ENTIRE weekend shaking my finger and tallying things I found questionable/distasteful. I did get to spend some quality time with some friends, and camping is really amazing when you have weather as nice as we had. I ate way too well because my friends had a little propane stove and coolers overflowing with fresh goodies. Meals were things like coconut-curried vegetables, veggie stir-fry over cous cous, and roasted vegetable marinara, and we had all kinds of delicious snacks like nuts, fruits, peanut butter pows, sesame sticks, peanut brittle... Plus, people were always willing to share their food. In fact, the spirit of sharing was very much alive, as there was always someone willing to help pitch a tent, find this, haul that... if you needed it, someone got it to you, and I'm always touched when that happens.

To Burning Man's credit, it did create an emotionally safe space for people to explore parts of themselves that they couldn't in everyday life. Cross-dressing, nudism, sexual aggression from people that defied traditional standards of beauty - all of it was okay, even encouraged. As someone that struggles with their body image, it was comforting to be in an environment where so many different body types were celebrated and not just in a sexual way. The lack of inhibitions translated to so many women readily embracing themselves and treating their bodies according to what they needed or desired, not what they felt other people would want them to do (for instance, bigger ladies wore minimal clothing because it was baking hot, and no one cared!). I liked that co-ed naked yoga was treated with total nonchalance - not fetishized or glamorized but taken for granted. Even though the event was heavy with sexual overtones, I did like that sexuality was not taboo and that certain things were very de-sexualized.

I also found my fair share to keep me occupied. In addition to an absurd rotation of beers*, one of the bars offered soda water and very refreshing homemade root beer. I spent most of my time at that bar reading and writing while sipping soda water and observing the shenaniganery. There was also a Burn-a-Bear station (which is build-a-bearing a new stuffed animal from old ones) and a papier mache vagina filled with sexy prizes like vibrators and erotic gum (naturally, this was dubbed the "porñata"). A friend of mine had his own little tea tent set up with large, inviting pillows and a new pot of homemade tea always brewing, and I really enjoyed spending an afternoon swallowed by the pillows, sipping delicately flavored waters, and having light conversations. I discovered that his partner and a mutual friend are both expert hoopers, too, so they taught me my first hoop tricks (!). One guy had a vibrantly painted stall full of comics he'd made, many about his experiences at Burns but also about stuff like cat super heros trying to decipher the world of humans, and we geeked out on making sequential art. True, I spent a lot of time by myself, but I was happy to do it, and I definitely made sure I didn't waste my weekend reveling in how different I was from everyone else.

Because certainly, that is a recurring theme in my life: being vegan-straight edge and navigating relationships with people that, well, aren't. (Actually, it's one of the reasons I created xveganx party and one of the reasons I want to talk more about the ways I spend my time beyond eating and art schooling.) The friend that invited me could definitely sense how quickly I realized Burning Man is Not My Thing. I think he even kicked himself a few times for thinking it was a good idea to bring me along. He definitely felt a pressure as my friend (and the person that trapped me in the woods) to make sure that I was having a good time, and I struggle to communicate with my friends that, that's not their responsibility. Sometimes, I want to be whine-y and helpless and make it their responsibility; sometimes, I am whine-y and helpless and make it their responsibility; but it's not, and I'm working on fully owning that. A few things I've accepted about myself are: some situations will just never be fun for me; I have really high expectations of people and places; and sometimes I just need to let it all go and relax. The real trick, I've found, is balance, and I think I did a pretty good job of maintaining that this weekend.

To that end... Will I go to another Burning Man event? I think it's pretty obvious I won't. Do I regret going to this Burning Man event? Most certainly I do not. Will I continue to think "Burning Man" = "Burn Out"? Ehhh... the jury's still out on that one. What still bothers me is that the whole experience was just some weekend escape. I'm sure everyone is a "good" person in their everyday life - just as kind and generous as they revealed themselves to be at the event - but how many folks go home and try to create lives they don't have to escape from? Lives where they don't need a "safe space" because they're living in a safe world? THAT is what I'd like to see happen following these kinds of events instead of habitual day trippers going back to office jobs anticipating the next weekend get away. From now on, positive connotations of Burning Man are going to set off big flares when regarding future partners.

* ... an absurd rotation of beers at a makeshift bar that was just a little too professional. These guys had, like, gallons upon gallons of seven or eight different homebrews, plus this little bar set up with a fancy sign and stools and everything - and it was all their "gift" to the event. My reaction to this is mixed because on the one hand, I'm really blown by their generosity, openness, and dedication, but on the other, I wish it were a more posi contribution than getting people fucked up. I shouldn't really judge because these guys were INCREDIBLY nice and accommodating. And they never once raised an eyebrow about all the soda water I drank. One of them even made a super special trip to get the soda water off their truck, lug it to the bar, and hook it up. It was kind of an effort, but he was really nonchalant about it, so I gave him a hug. He was the only stranger that I willingly hugged.

Meet Me at the Movies

2009-07-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

I watch absurd amounts of movies. Absurd. I feel a deep affinity with The Gilmore Girls because we both value copious amounts of food and film. My dad is a filmmaker, so movies - they were always on, we were always watching them, it's just what we DID. Once, I was applying for a job at Blockbuster, and one of the questions on the application was: How many movies do you watch a month? I think I answered about ten, but in actuality, I probably average around twenty, maybe thirty. Canceling my Netflix a few years ago was a painful decision, but my Blockbuster Rewards card has MORE than paid for itself . It's not accurate to say that movies are my LIFE (I'm in art school, not film school after all) but they're definitely a big part of it.

There is a drawback to being such a cinemaphile, though. "Dinner and a movie" isn't just a generic date for me; it's my default hang out. Always spending time with people like this gets redundant, and there's a certain level of alienation inherent in staring at a glowing box beside someone else. I frequently have to remind myself to mix it up, but in moderation, I don't think watching a few movies with some friends is bad at all. On the contrary, with a little planning and the right friends, it can be intensely awesome.

Planning a movie night turns an ordinary experience into an EVENT. The activity is automatically imparted with some sense of occasion, which I think makes it a little more special and memorable. If you were a total Martha, you could go all crazy and throw up some movie posters, get little striped boxes for popcorn, maybe slip your pimply-faced younger brother a twenty to stand at your fridge labeled "concessions" handing people sodas - whatever. But I don't think you need to give yourself a complete hysterectomy just to make your movie-watching more than Another Night with the Friends. I say, all you need is a good menu and a good theme, and the rest will take care of itself.

The menu is the easy part. When watching a movie, who wants to be fiddling with a knife, searching for a napkin, and wondering if a pea just fell in their shirt while the killer is finally being unmasked? There's a reason movies get paired with finger foods, so get grabby with stuff like pigs in a blanket or veggie sushi. For more substantial eats, calzoni or mini quiches work great. If you want to keep it simple, stick with popcorn but kick it up a notch. One of my favorite ways to eat popcorn is a little melted Earth Balance with a generous helping of nutritional yeast. Try it with an infused oil or caramel coating. (Okay, okay, we've all had it this way, but if you've been vegan for a while, it's probably been a hot minute.) You could also forego popcorn altogether and get your crunch from cauliflower popcorn or roasted chickpeas in your favorite spices. Top the evening off with cupcakes or rootbeer floats.

As for the theme... well, the theme is the most important part, so you can't cop out! Sure, you could default into a trilogy like Aliens* or The Godfather or you could play the greatest hits from your favorite director. Other cop outs include eighties teen comedies or classic horror flicks, but if you're reading this blog, you're way too interesting to throw a movie night like that. You are fully aware that other movies can come in threes, too - like movies...

+ with main characters named Hannah
+ featuring Brad Pitt's butt in a supporting role
+ that take place in Morocco
+ that got nominated but did not win Academy Awards twenty years ago
+ without which there would be no Wes Anderson
+ you watched all the time as a kid but haven't seen since

Here are some more specific lists I made:

zombie comedies
Not all zombie movies have the gravity of a Romero or Fulci. Here are three oft forgot zombie classics that will make you giggle while rotting your braaaaains.

Dead Alive: zombie apocalypse cuts the chord for a serious mama's boy; romance for more than the main character leads to zombie babies; features a totally zAnY zombie priest.
Re-Animator: predictable results when a re-animation serum is introduced to a morgue; zombies with lobotomies and girlie-girl screams; wonderfully gore-filled ending.
Return of the Living Dead: army loses a can of quarantined zombie that explodes in a medical supplies warehouse; goofy isolated dance sequence in cemetery with cranky, naked punk rock girl.

offbeat romances
Yes, there were movies like Moldy Peaches songs before Juno. I've even mentioned some before.

Wristcutters: see this post.
Harold and Maude: yep, same post.
True Romance: forgotten Tarantino film about a comic book nerd that marries the prostitute hired to bang him on his birthday; Samuel L. Jackson screaming about how much he loves cunilingis and Gary Oldman in a goofy fucking wig.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Michel Gondry proving some feelings just won't go away.

movies you weren't meant to laugh at
Nothing gets people talking like a movie that's completely over-the-top or under-produced, or flat out never should have been made.

Braveheart: I'm definitely stirring some controversy with this one, but I don't know howwww anyone takes this movie seriously; how can you take ANYTHING Mel Gibson made seriously?** In this one, he attempts an accent, flashes his butt, and dives into the water on a horse. DIVES INTO THE WATER ON A HORSE. No other plot points are relevant.
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - impossibly upper-middle class girls struggling with impossibly upper-middle class problems; scoff at Alexis Bleidel as Greek and everyone and everything in NYC being THAT cool; painfully heteronormative BUT - The Pants get bedazzled this time. (aside: how did I get suckered into watching either 1 or 2..?)
Glitter: remember when Mariah Carey made a movie? I haven't seen it, but it's still used as a gold standard for awful movies. That and Gigli. HAS to be worth it.

movies that incorporate animal liberation
Yeah, I can't think of any movies where that's WHAT the movie is about, but here are three flicks with some vegan themes.

Dead Alive: I know this already got brought up, but its applications are broad!
28 Days Later: the whole world goes zombie after a failed animal liberation.
12 Monkeys: Bruce Willis time traveling; Brad Pitt as c-c-c-crazy (with his butt in a supporting role); occasional props that hint at The City of Lost Children; kind of strange cinematography.

* I refuse to acknowledge anything after the third in the same way some Star Wars fans refuse to regard the new ones.
** I think it goes without saying that Mad Max movies are exempt from this statement.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Bakewell Tart

2009-07-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why I put this off for so long. It's not like I didn't enjoy this challenge. In fact, I had never heard of a bakewell tart before, and even though it's a bit of a to-do to put together, it is so. effing. good Seriously. How did I go on so long in ignorance of its deliciousness - nay, of its existence?! But then, mine didn't turn out nearly as picturesque as everyone else's. (Recurring theme..?) And there was no fanfare about making it. In fact, the day I put it together, I napped a lot, then prepared to go camping. I shared it with a few friends at about midnight. We played with cats. Pretty exciting, huh? So I think the biggest reason I put this off was feeling like I had nothing to write, when writing about it.

WELL SO WHAT?!?!

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

The recipe is as follows, but a few notes from me before we get into that: I don't think I ground my almonds fine enough because my frangipan was rich and lumpy rather than light and smooth like everyone else's. I didn't fret about that too much since it was sooo tasty (and reminded me a lot of what I'm sure is frangipan's cousin marzipan...), but, you know, word to the wise. As for my filling, I wanted to make this with raspberry preserves because those are my favorite, but then I realized that I've been combining chocolate and raspberries for alllll of my challenges so far. (Though last time it was a fluke; my roommate was supposed to get me strawberries at the store, but she bought the wrong ones, so I went with raspberries instead.) At the last minute, I went with chocolate and apricot, and believe me, that was a GOOD move. First I boiled some dried apricots in just enough water to cover them. In the last few minutes of boiling, I added some sugar and continued until most of the water was absorbed. Then I pureed the apricots in a blender and spread the mixture across the crust. After that, I made a ganache - just melted chocolate chips and soymilk - and spread that over the apricots. Holy crap. So good. I'm not sure of the measurements because I was doing it on the fly, but as a technique, it's something to consider and worth experimenting with flavor-wise. For the crust, I got to try a technique from my new Martha book! It wasn't BEAUTIFUL but I think it was good for a first try. With some practice, I will master crust braiding. Okay, okay, so the recipe...

BAKEWELL TART
Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).
Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better) (sub Earth Balance)
2 (2) egg yolks (omitted)
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract
Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened (sub Earth Balance)
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs (sub pureed silken tofu and corn starch)*
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Make this! Make this! You won't be disappointed! Also, is it just me, or have my pictures gotten significantly disappointing since art school? How ironic is that?

* Other vegan DBers did this, and it worked out splendidly and quite picturesque. I think I just fudged on the measurements because I was lazzzzzy, ha.

Chocolate Cake of Wonder and Excitement

2009-06-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't had time to sit down and post a real update, but I really wanted to get this cake recipe up before it was irrelevant. (Wait, can cake ever be irrelevant..?)

Unless you've been sitting under a rock all week, you know that Sunday was Father's Day. My dad is pre-diabetic, so if/when I make him treats, they have to stay low-glycemic. Cue: THIS AMAZING CHOCOLATE CAKE! This thing is both gluten- and sugar-free, but it's so rich and flavorful, nobody cares. My secret is almond meal. Almond pairs well with chocolate, making the cake's flavor bolder, deeper, and the fat from the almonds help give the cake some body. I made a single-layer nine-inch round (topped with Ricki's delicious sweet potato frosting), and between my dad, my grandpa, my sister, a family friend, and me - the cake didn't last even twenty-four hours. It was gone so fast, I almost didn't get a chance to snap a picture.

CHOCOLATE CAKE OF WONDER AND EXCITEMENT
+ 1 c water
+ 1/3 c oil
+ 2/3 c agave nectar
+ 2 t vanilla
+ 2 T flax meal
+ 1/2 c cocoa powder
+ 1/2 c brown rice flour
+ 1/4 c quinoa flour
+ 1/3 c almonds
+ 1 t baking powder
+ 1/2 t baking soda
+ salt

01. Preheat your oven to 350˚. In a mixing bowl, combine the water, oil, agave, and vanilla. Stir vigorously until well-combined. Add the flax. If you don't have flax meal (and it's preferable that you don't, really, because flax's nutritional profile is stronger when you start from seeds and turn them to meal) - if you don't have flax meal, take two tablespoons of flax seeds and grind them into a fine powder with your coffee grinder/blender. Then add the cocoa powder, brown rice flour, and quinoa flour.

02. Using your blender/food processor, grind up the almonds much like the flax seeds until you get a fine meal. If you have pre-ground almond meal, that would likely work, but doing it this way gave me a personal sense of satisfaction and also let me nibble the occasional little almond bit in my cake. Plus, I suspect the almond flavor is stronger this way since it's fresh; it hasn't been sitting in a bag all ground up and losing its zeal, y'know?

03. Add the almond meal to the rest of your baking concoction along with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then blend blend blend! Since there's no gluten in the flour, you can blend to your heart's content! - and likely should: no one wants a hidden lump of baking soda in their cake, and I didn't tell you to sift that shit.

04. Grease up a cake pan. (Again, I used a nine-inch round.) Pour in your batter. As an aside, most gluten-free batters are really thick and maintain whatever shape they were poured as, but this batter is syrupy and forgiving like normal cake batter - another reason this cake is AWESOME. Anyway, pop that sucker in the oven for twenty to thirty minutes - essentially, until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Then remove it from the oven, let it cool, and frost it. (Don't forget about another low-GI frosting option brought to you by xvx party: coconut whipped cream.) Dig in with your favorite family members.

This cake does not serve that many people because it's too good to share. But theoretically, um, maybe it serves eight.

Oh, and as long as we're talking about a Diet, Desserts, and Dogs recipe, there's another My Sweet Freedom give away! Check out the awesome blog Musings from the Fishbowl for your chance to win.

An Italian Stallion in the Kitchen

2009-06-08T18:33:00.000-07:00

There are certain ingredients I almost always have on hand - stuff like carrots and celery, soy sauce and olive oil. I keep a pretty generic inventory, but when it comes down to the real STAPLES of my cooking, the food and flavors that take priority, there's definitely an Italian slant. A good cook would probably die without the holy trinity, the foundations of so many cuisines, the carrots, celery, and onion that make mirepoix. I, on the other hand, feel forlorn when I open my vegetable crisper, and I can't find mushrooms, spinach, peas, and (okay, sometimes) artichoke hearts. I always have cans of crushed tomatoes in my cupboard ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. What, you need some marinara? How about just a generic tomato base for that rice? And the cornerstones of my spice rack - the grandfathers for all my seasonings - are easily basil and oregano (which don't belong together in marinara unless you're using it for pizza, BY THE WAY).

I'm from an Italian household and grew up on Italian cooking. (With a name like Micco, would you have ever guessed otherwise?) For Italians, food and family go hand in hand. My dad taught me the marinara that his mother taught him, which her mother (in law) taught her, and so on. Some kids brought PB&Js or Lunchables to school, but my lunchbox came with tupperware containers of leftover lasagna or subs filled with meatballs my dad and I made together. One of the first things I learned to make was fettucini alfredo, and how much garlic was too much garlic, was an issue of constant debate in my household. When I went vegan four years ago, my dad felt thrown for a loop. Coming from a culture covered in cheese with bits of meat floating around in it, this way of eating was completely foreign to him. It wasn't such a big deal as a vegetarian, but a vegan? I kid you not: he was worried he'd have to write me out of Christmas dinner.

My dad's correct, in that a lot of what's hit my plate in recent years is totally different from what I grew up on. (I mean, did I really used to eat beef tacquitos...?) I think it's funny when people ask what vegans eat because, after going vegan, I think I've tried more foods from more countries with more exotic ingredients than most omnis. Still, as my palate has expanded and matured, I've always come back to my roots. The recipes have changed a little, but the food hasn't (I now have vegan versions of most of my great grandma's Christmas cookies!), and it's been kind of special teaching my family new takes on the things they've taught me.

One thing we ate a lot in my family was stuffed peppers. The filling formula was basically: grain + veggie + sauce + cheese +/- meat. Now currently, I'm trying to make up for a lot of the bad eating I did at school - save some calories, up the quality, you know - and I thought, Why not update those peppers to reflect that? The flavors in this are very generic Italian, but to appease my current eating goals, I substituted mashed cauliflower for the grain and mixed it with vegan yogurt for a rich but healthy meal. I think it packs a lot of flavor for how spare it is on the calories (probably around 200 per pepper), and it's a nutrition powerhouse that will leave you quite satiated. Serve it with a side of green beans in light olive oil with minced garlic and maybe some crusty ciabatta, for a truly Italian feast.

STUFF-YOU-FULL-O-GOODNESS STUFFED PEPPERS
+ 2 bell peppers
+ 1/2 head cauliflower
+ 3 - 4 mushrooms, finely diced
+ 1/3 c frozen spinach
+ 3 - 4 frozen artichoke hearts
+ 1/4 c plain vegan yogurt*
+ 1/4 c nutritional yeast
+ 1 - 2 T white wine
+ garlic powder (or 1 clove of fresh garlic, minced)
+ dried Italian herbs (dealer's choice)
+ white pepper
+ salt

01. Preheat the oven to 375˚. Cut the tops off the peppers and scrape out those insides. Lightly oil a baking dish (I used a loaf pan since there were only two) and the sides of the peppers, then place them in the dish, and pop them in the oven for fifteen minutes. (Note: some people put the tops back on their peppers and cook them that way, but you can also chop the tops up and use them for salads or stir-fries later. OR roast them with your peppers, but then save them for tapenade - or maybe a Mediterranean influenced sandwich or pizza? Yum.)

02. While your peppers roast, set a pot of water to boil for your cauliflower. Break down your cauliflower half into its little florets, and steam them until super soft. Of course, if you're like me and without a steamer at the moment, you can just boil them mushy and then drain the excess water, but steaming is better because it maintains more nutrients.

03. Transfer your cooked cauliflower to a bowl, and use a sturdy fork to mash it up. You don't want a texture quit as smooth as mashed potatoes (pre-liquid, of course) but it shouldn't look like renegade floret crumbles, either. This dish is meant to be creamy, but the cauliflower is subbing for grain here, so it should be at least slightly toothsome. Then add your yogurt, nutritional yeast, wine, and seasonings (to taste). If you're using garlic powder, this is when you add it, too.

04. Back on the stove, heat up a skillet with some oil over medium heat, and saute your mushrooms. Toss in your spinach and artichokes, and continue cooking until the mushrooms and spinach darken and the artichokes begin to soften. Use your spatula to separate the leaves a little; no one wants to eat a pepper stuffed with nothing but chunky bits of whatnot, but there needs to be a variety of textures and flavors. Then transfer your veggies to your cauliflower bowl, and give it some quick stirs to incorporate all the ingredients.

05. At this point, your peppers should be finished with their first round in the oven, so start filling them. Fill them as high as you want. Fill them until they're practically overflowing. (If you're really daring, save a little room a crumb-coat topping, and put it on half way through the peppers' baking.) Add a little bit of water to the bottom of your baking dish - just enough so the peppers' little butts don't dry out or cook funny (maybe a quarter of an inch). Then return the peppers to the oven, and cook them for an additional thirty minutes. Let them cool, then stuff yourself. (Ooooh, I'm so witty...!)

This makes two peppers, which I guess could be split four ways, but these are so good, who would want to?

* This is roughly the amount that I used, but my filling turned out a little dryer than some might prefer. However, I'm really trying to make up for my bad eating, so I'm trimming calories where I can, and, well, vegan yogurt has a lot of calories. At this amount, I'd say these peppers "taste like health food" (sort of) but increase it a little and they'll border on decadent. It's your call. To spare even more calories, substitute marinara.

Books with Biscotti

2009-06-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to my local library's annual book sale. Embarrassingly, I'd never gone before because I'd always figured, some libraries ain't no Barnes and Noble, so if THEY don't want the books anymore, the books can't be all that great. Thankfully, I've matured enough to appreciate being from a city with one of the best libraries in the country. Being the best means constantly having to update and rotate inventory, so I wasn't walking into a refuse pile, I was walking into a GOLDMINE! I was worried that, being the second-to-last day of their week-long sale, all the good books would be gone, but it was half price day, I didn't have any fancy plans, no harm in taking a peek.

Well, I made out like a bandit. I got all of this for under fifteen dollars:

+ Elizabeth Wurtzel, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women (self explanatory)
+ Caroline Knapp, Appetites: Why Women Want (anorexia memoir)
+ Tim & Phyllis MikWright, Hey, Girl! (vintage photos; funny captions)
+ Marjane Satrapi, Chicken with Plums (one of my minors is sequential art)
+ Alex & Hilary Heminway, Picnics (xvxparty research)
+ Martha Stewart, Pies and Tarts (BIBLE!)
+ Bon Appetit, Christmas Season (confession: I love Christmas)*
+ My Drinking Life (audio book; alcohol memoir; referenced in current reading: Love on the Rocks)
+ About Schmidt (DVD; Jack Nicholson struggling with aging... again; great scene with Kathy Bates in a hot tub)
+ Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (DVD; catholic school, sequential art, coming of age, tigers)
+ Art School Confidential (DVD; too true art school parody with John Malkovich)
+ TOP SECRET DVD FOR FRIEND!!!!

I spent yesterday afternoon sitting in my pile of fresh acquisitions flitting from book to book and flurrying through pages. I'm especially stoked on my two new cookbooks because, while neither has a single vegan recipe to boast, I think omni cookbooks are just as valid references. Usually, I get flavor combination ideas or tips on assembling stuff from them. I mean, the next pie I make is going to look sick as hell thanks to that corporate-climbing craftster Martha. And hey, my Bon Appetit book inspired me to make cinnamon biscotti with carob ganache.

Cinnamon and carob both have a sweet but earthy quality to them, so I thought they'd make a perfect pair. Plus, I ate a carob-coated rice cream sandwich at the conclusion of finals, which reminded me that carob is awesome and I need to employ it more. For the biscotti, I essentially used the Veganomicon recipe (no vegan biscotti recipe even compares), but for the ganache, I decided to try something I'd just noticed on my cocoa container. Did you know that you can substitute three tablespoons cocoa plus a tablespoon of oil for each ounce of melted chocolate a recipe calls for? HOW HAVE I BEEN LIVING IN THE DARK ON THIS??! It was with this in mind that I attempted my frosting, and oh, my success was sweet:

CINNAMON BISCOTTI WITH CAROB GANACHE
+ 2 T flax seeds
+ 1/3 c non-dairy milk
+ 3/4 c sugar
+ 1/2 c oil
+ 1 t vanilla
+ 1 2/3 c flour
+ 2 T cornstarch
+ 2 t baking powder
+ 1 1/2 t cinnamon
+ 1/2 t salt

+ 1 T Earth Balance
+ 3 T carob
+ 1/2 - 1 T sugar
+ 1/4 - 1/2 c non-dairy milk or creamer

01. Preheat your oven to 350˚. Using a blender or coffee grinder, grind your flaxseeds into a fine powder. Transfer your flax to a bowl, and add the "milk." Whisk vigorously until a creamy paste forms (about thirty seconds). (Note: if you used a blender, just leave the flax in there, add the "milk, and blend. The paste will be harder to remove, but it will be REALLY paste-y and make you feel like you didn't get the blender dirty in vain.) Then add your sugar, oil, and vanilla.

02. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Just toss 'em all in there, and stir a few times with a fork. If you've been following this blog, you'll know that this is an important step in evenly distributing flavor and "activating agents," ensuring all your little biscotti get created equal. Slowly add these dry ingredients to your wet ingredients, stirring as you add, and continue stirring until you get a sort of firm, uniform dough.

03. Grease up a baking sheet, and form the dough into a long rectangle - about 12" x 4". I find a few quick, gentle rolls with a rolling pin helps get my biscotti even, but the more you make biscotti, the more you'll develop your own methodology for gettin' 'em purdy. Then pop those suckers in the oven, and bake for twenty-eight minutes. (Yeah, twenty-eight.)

04. When the biscotti are done, remove them from the oven, and let them stand for a minute. Now, here's where I diverge from the Veganomicon recipe. In the V-con recipe (and most biscotti recipes in general), it instructs you to let the biscotti cool completely before cutting them, but I always - ALWAYS - break a bunch of cookies and make a huge mess that way. Instead, I let them cool so they're not hot to the touch (three or five minutes), and then I get a long, heavy-duty, all-purpose kitchen knife (a chef's knife or a big santoku is good) and make quick, even cuts about a half-inch apart from one another down my biscotti log. So essentially, I cut the cookies right then and there, but I'm taking advantage of their softened state. The motion of the knife is really important: the cookies are still soft from the oven, so if you saw them, they'll crumble and break. However, a quick, slicing motion produces clean edges and even cookies; as long as your knife's sharp and your cut's even, there should be no broken, crumble-y cookies but instead beautiful, picturesque ones. Then I let the cookies cool, which takes about half an hour.

05. When you come back to the kitchen, turn your oven up to 375˚. Flip each biscotti on its side, then pop them back in the oven to bake for another twelve to fifteen minutes. After you've made biscotti a few times, you'll get a really good feel for how long they need to be in the oven the second time to achieve your desired crispness. Let the biscotti cool before tackling your ganache.

06. Now, the ganache: put a small sauce pan on medium heat, and throw in all your ingredients. The EB will take a second to melt, but start whisking immediately anyway because you need that carob and sugar properly dissolved in your "milk." (Pro tip: I always use vanilla soymilk when making ganache because it adds depth to the flavor. If you don't have any vanilla "milk," just add a splash of vanilla extract.) Once everything is incorporated, raise the temperature a little until the mixture comes to a boil, then remove it from the heat. Act fast and dip each cooled biscotti in the ganache mixture (or spoon ganache over the top or whatever). The ganache needs to stay fairly warm so it'll set and look all glossy and uniform on your cookies. If it cools too much, it will look grain-y and uneven. Also, supposing you want to do something fancy like dip the tip of your biscotti in ganache rather than the top or you want fancy little ganache drizzles or something - put your biscotti on some wax parchment paper. It makes clean-up easy, and you don't have to worry about your biscotti sticking as the ganache sets. When everything is said and done, grab a cookie, sit back, relax, and enjoy. Might I recommend some good reading and a cup of Early Grey? Early Grey is sort of spicy-sweet and earthy like these biscotti, so it really complements them.

This recipe makes around eighteen delicious little cookie monsters.

* Is it just me, or do I reveal more weird quirks and interests every time I update?

Hot Weather Treats

2009-06-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

This is actually what was originally the second half of the last post, which was quite a doozy. I guess I got carried away with having REAL TIME to update. Now, I was really stoked on the last post because some of the party plans were rad and the popsicle recipes ruled, so I decided to split it into two posts. If you missed it, the last post is about summer fun (edited to reflect less on my plans and include more tips for your own plans, BY THE WAY), and this one is about popsicles.

POPSICLES!

Doing all these fun things in all this hot weather requires some serious fuel. Cue: popsicles. I picked up some molds at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but they're sold just about everywhere in the summertime. The cheapest I've found them are at Ikea, but you can make your own using cups and popsicle sticks or even tableware. (Pro tip: if you're making DIY molds, putting tinfoil with holes poked for the sticks helps keep the sticks straight while the popsicles set.) I'm really stoked on the molds I chose because they've got this little built-in straw at the bottom, so once the popsicles get melty, I can just slurp up the juice without fear of it encasing my hands. I don't know where my life was before I made my own popsicles.

When I make popsicles, I use a fatty base like coconut milk or nut cream (cashews or macademias pureed in water), then add all sorts of pureed fruit. A fatty base gives the popsicles a super creamy texture and prevents them from being total ice blocks that aren't remotely edible until they've been outside the freezer for at least twenty minutes. I really want to try putting pureed frozen bananas and soymilk in my popsicle molds. Then you could remove it from the mold, dip it in chocolate, and re-freeze it on a wax-papered cookie sheet. (It might also be possible to re-insert it in the mold but I suspect that would be very messy.) My hunch is that this is a more decadent update to chocolate-dippled bananas, so it's something I need to try. I did a google search and found these inventive (though yet un-tried) popsicle recipes, which make me really excited and inspired for summer popsicle experiments:

FIZZ POPS
from Mormom Chic

+ 12 oz can fruit nectar (strawberry and peach work great!)
+ 12 oz tropical Sprite
+ 1 cup crushed or shaved ice

01. Mix well, pour into molds and freeze. The crushed ice seems to help the pop retain its “sparkle.”

RED BEAN POPSICLES
from Hub Pages

+ 1 c red beans
+ 2 c coconut milk
+ 1 - 2 c evaporate organic cane juice or brown sugar
+ crushed pineapple (optional)

01. Wash and sorts the beans and then soak them for several hours in 5 cups of cold water. This step is essential. Soaking wakes up the beans, increases their nutrient content, and removes the enzyme inhibitors that make them hard to digest. Discard any beans that rise to the top of the water during the soaking process.

02. Once the beans are soaked, drain the water and place them in a heavy bottomed saucepan on the stovetop. Add two cups of water and bring to a boil. Once the water has boiled turn the heat down to low and stir in one cup of sugar. Allow them to simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally. You may need to add more water before the end but be careful not to add too much, we want to have most of the water absorbed by the beans and very little liquid left over. When the beans are very soft remove them from the heat.

03. Let them cool little bit. You can mash them up a bit with a fork if you like. Once they are cooled somewhat you can pour them into the blender and add the milk. Blend it all together until smooth. Taste it so see if it’s sweet enough for your liking remembering that sweetness is harder to taste in frozen foods. It should be just a bit sweeter than you want it to be. If using pineapple, fold it in the mixture. Then pour it into the popsicle molds and freeze.

SALAD POPS
from Tree Hugging Family
+ half a cantaloupe
+ handful of cherry tomatoes
+ 1/4 c chopped mint, basil, or lemon balm
+ 1 - 2 c plain vegan yogurt

01. Blend cantaloup and tomatoes until just chunky. Stir in the herbs and yogurt, pour into the molds, and freeze.

CHERRY LEMONADE POPSICLES
from Recipe Goldmine
+ 10 oz jar maraschino cherries
+ 12 oz can frozen lemonade concentrate, partially thawed
+ 1/4 c water

01. Put a colander or strainer in a bowl. Pour cherries into the strainer, saving the juice in the bowl. With a sharp knife, carefully cut the cherries into little pieces. Put half of them plus the lemonade, water, and leftover juice into a blender and puree. Stir in the reserved cherry bits, then pour into the popsicle molds and freeze.

Mini-Vacation: Parties & Plans

2009-05-31T19:16:00.000-07:00

I have three weeks until my new quarter starts, so I'm kicking my feet up in sunny Cincinnati. I haven't had serious home-sickness since moving, but there are a few great things about being here. For one thing, Cincinnati is ten degrees behind Savannah, so I'm actually spending time outside instead of scuttling between destinations against what feels like a current of lava. Today I wore my straight edge short-shorts and went on a long walk, where I ran into my friend Nic, and we wound up spending all afternoon catching up and comparing art notes. I've only lived in Savannah for a minute, but school and work keep me so busy that it's hard finding the time/energy for new people and new adventures. (That's why you've gotten, like, three updates in two months, and they've been exclusively about food.) As much as I'd enjoy spending the next three weeks drinking Tazo's passion tea over ice and catching up on my subscription to The Believer, the sense of the familiar that being here gives me really makes me want to get out and savor it.

Here are some things I will do while I'm home:

Organize an epic neighborhood game.
Nothing quite says summertime like a raucous game that spans an entire neighborhood where you and all your friends get sneaky and sweaty and exchange insults and then drink sodas afterwards. My all-time favorite is capture the flag. Use a major city street as a dividing line, then extend boundaries three or so blocks in either direction. A good recon strategy is to figure out a way to use your team's identifying mark to blend in - so if ya'll are using bandanas, instead of wearing it around your arm or forehead, hang it around your neck or use it as a ponytail holder. Invite people you don't know to join in; it's an easy way to make new friends and a good way to up the ante on flag security. Other epic summer games include hide-and-seek, ghost in the graveyard, kickball, and four square. Basically, if it was fun when you were a kid, it's probably still fun - especially since you 're probably free of youthful restrictions like curfew. Just imagine playing freeze tag sometime after midnight in an abandoned mall parking lot while trying to outrun "it" and rent-a-cops. What about Marco Polo in the middle of a parade? Ordinary situations get extraordinary when you subvert expectations of them, so get creative and play some games.

Party like it's 1939. (... aka make art.)
My friend Nic is teaching me to block print! Another friend and I are working on a comic book! I have to embroider a onesie! When I have extra time, it's pretty easy for me to just watch movies and bake until life picks up again, and while sometimes that's necessary, now is not like that. I'm trying to combine my love of art with my love of friends to feel really good about this break.

Follow my lead and embrace your artistic side this summer. Teach one of your friends a skill, or have them teach you. Hunker down with a book from the library and teach yourself, even. (That's how I picked up embroidery. Watch out, Jenny Hart!) Better yet, assemble a group of people, pool supplies, and throw a craft party. Make cards for political prisoners. Play Surrealist games like exquisite corpse. Eat food you can customize: cupcakes, pizza, calzoni, sundaes...! Then lie under the stars, find your own constellations, and make origin stories for them. It'll be a blast.

Hula hoop like mad.
A few bloggers I follow have gotten into hula hooping in the last year, and since I don't like exercise that leaves me mad sweaty, I thought I'd give it a shot. It's really easy and produces pretty good results in a short amount of time (I noticed flatter abs after, like, two weeks). Most importantly, though, IT'S FUN. And you can do it just about anywhere, anytime.

Hooping has made me feel nostalgic in a good and a bad way. It's reminded me of other rad things I used to occupy myself with as a kid, like jump rope and horse (remember all that hoop-shooting, horse-spelling nonsense?), but it's also made me feel really old. I was pretty athletic as a kid: always on the monkey bars, racing around the playground, playing softball in a neighboring field... but I was really sedentary and chubby as a teenager. When and how did my lifestyle change so dramatically? In the present, I think there's more balance (though I still probably lean too far to the "sedentary" side of the spectrum...), but I miss being active in a FUN way and having crazy stamina as a result. I really like weight lifting, and sometimes work out dvds and cardio machines aren't a total chore - but come on, that shit is so stiff and serious. That's usually the excuse I make for not doing it, and that's lame. I think we all need to revisit some personal pastimes of bygone eras to remember that exercise doesn't have to be this isolated maintenance sort of activity, but instead, it can be a really stellar part of our everyday lives that happens to have great side effects like hot muscles. Remember jumping on that wiggly bridge on the playground? Seeing how long and high you could swing and then doing crazy jumps off and skidding through the mulch? Did anyone get into hopscotch? Sure, Red Light, Green Light is a great way to get some blood pumping, but we don't always need our friends to have a good time and a good workout. What kinds of shenaniganery did you occupy yourself with as a kid?

Make some homemade ice cream.
I make really good vegan ice cream, but like a big pile of lame, I completely skipped out last summer. I can't make ice cream at school, so I need to do it pretty much constantly in the next three weeks, I've decided. I've never written out my recipe, either, so I sort of need to rediscover it, and ohhh, there are so many flavor possibilities. Yes, I think constant ice cream making is requisite.

Like any vegan ice cream maker, I've been a follower of Vegan Ice Cream Paradise for some time now. I really like this blog because the author has loads of troubleshooting tips and flavor ideas. That said, I find the recipes don't freeze well and are best enjoyed immediately, which I'm usually not ready to do. This was my first foyer into vegan ice cream making, but over the years, I've learned to fuse a number of recipes. I know playing with the recipe over at the Post Punk Kitchen (which I think is the same as the one in Veganomicon?) helped me develop my sense of texture, and Bryanna Clark Grogan's gelato recipe has been a huge influence, too. Why am I saying all this when I can't even remember my recipe exactly? I'm not sure except I guess to show you that there are a lot of options for homemade vegan ice cream, which can be really cost effective if you consume it en masse like I do come summer. (Please note the four - yes, FOUR - vegan ice cream cookbooks reviewed on Ice Cream Paradise.) Ice cream making is really fun and easy to play with, and even "botched" ice cream is never REALLY botched. If you've never considered it, I suggest you keep your eyes peeled for an ice cream maker at the thrift store and give it a shot. Then throw an ice cream party and make everyone bring an ingredient or topping. If you only plan on making one homemade ice cream, have people bring pints, too. No matter how you do it, it's wins all around. Am I right?

Spend some quality time with my gritty kitty.
I live in a dorm right now because my scholarship covers it, so my cat and I have been estranged - a strain I don't think anyone that doesn't know me or my cat personally would understand. We are paper and glue: you tear us apart, and while we'll always have pieces of each other wherever we go, it's a sticky, scrappy mess. Tooters McStinklebottom III is my world. In an ideal world, there would be no domesticated animals, and while we can try to spay and neuter the cycle out of repeating itself, it doesn't solve what to do with the animals that are already here. I don't believe you can "own" an animal but merely act as its caretaker, a parent figure, and adopting an animal is as grave a commitment as adopting a child. You can't abandon a child, but I feel like I've abandoned my Toots, and that kills me all the time. I know it kills him, too, because he clung to me desperately when I got into town. Apparently, it was one of the first times he's purred since I left, even though he has absolutely wonderful people looking after him. I'm so excited to be spending time with my little boy.

Now, a lot of people take their animals for granted - especially if they conceive of them as "pets" instead of creatures they co-habitate with. Really, they're just friends in a different form, and they need appreciation and treats like everyone else. When the weather gets nice, I take my cat on picnics. I suit him up in a little harness and leash, and then we walk around the park. We'll definitely be picnicking together soon, but I'm going to plan it around some of his favorite vegan eats (which include: nutritional yeast, cheerios, fake cheese, soymilk, flax waffles...). My cat's not vegan because, based on my research, it's not healthy to raise a vegan cat. However, did you know dogs are easily raised vegan?

Enjoy zany vegan novelty foods.
I never fully appreciate the grocery stores here until I'm out of town. In Savannah, we have an assortment of Kroger's, some Piggly Wigglies, a few mega-stores with grocery-ish sections, and one health food store. The health food store rules - in part because one of the managers is a Cincinnati native I hadn't seen in five years, but also because it's got some choice items I'd been dying to try but could only find online (like Teese). However, it suffers the same drawback that every health food store does, in that it's really expensive, and it still doesn't offer all the comforts of home.

Grocery shopping in Georgia just isn't the same as grocery shopping in Cincinnati because in Cincinnati, grocery shopping is an EXPERIENCE. I can think of five health food stores off the top of my head, and most of our normal grocery stores have great natural and "international" foods sections. Plus, we have two Whole Foods, a Trader Joes, and this place called Jungle Jim's, which is an amusement park that got converted to an international grocery store. In addition to a phenomenal and incredibly vegan-friendly inventory, Jungle Jim's has animatronic lions dressed up like Elvis and weird displays of the General Mills icons. They've been trying to get a monorail through the store for years, and every year, I choose to believe that dream is a little closer to a reality. This place rules, and it's easily one of the best parts about eating in Cincinati.

Cincinnati has a crazy-cheap cost of living, so you can get more goofy vegan stuff for less, plus lots of unusual ingredients like durian fruit. My big indulgence so far has been an assortment of sausages from Field Roast, which is some of the best vegan "meat" I've ever had. (It's got a meat-y quality without outright masquerading as meat, but that's another post entirely.) I've got a lot on my horizon, including Rice Dream's new vegan cheese singles, so be expecting some reviews. Also, I think a potluck is in my future, no?

Daring Bakers Challenge: Strudel

2009-05-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Frankly, I was a bit intimidated by this month's challenge. I mean, strudel dough: it has to be dime thin, and one wrong stretch can leave you with bland cardboard instead of flaky, fluffy goodness. On the plus side, it's incredibly cheap to make (only five ingredients, two of which are water and salt), and it's incredibly versatile. If my reach exceeded my grasp on this one, I could always go back to the drawing board - er, kitchen - and try, try, try again until the cows came home to marvel at my vegan diligence. Cheap and versatile it may be, however, the fact remains that strudel dough is delicate and therefore temperamental. It's one of those jewels every baker wants in their crown but only a few can get. Thus, this challenge loomed over me like a storm cloud pregnant with hesitance.

This month, I've been juggling eight million things, and to be honest, I wasn't keen on this challenge being one of them. Any other month and I think I would have delighted in the possibilities, especially the thought of pairing both a sweet and savory strudel together in one meal. What would they be, I wondered. Maybe tofutti, onions, mushroom, and "sausage" in a smattering of herbs? Followed by apricots infused with amaretto and engulfed in chocolate? Perhaps one strudel would be like a pot pie and the other would be like a shortcake. After all, there is something daring about taking conventional baked goods and abandoning their baking conventions. Oh, but I had finals to consider, and moving decisions to make, and my cat hasn't been getting along with his roommates, and this was going on and I had that problem to tend to and on and on and on! If one of my roommate hadn't had her birthday this month, I'm not sure if I would have even bothered participating. In fact, the night I made it, the real joy of the experience wasn't making the strudel itself so much as avoiding school work.

... at least, that's how I felt at first.

The cubicle I call my kitchen was a rubiks cube of activity. My roommates and I were in a late-night study frenzy, executing some strange choreography of bows and leaps in as we reached for snacks and shoved between plates. Generally, I like to bake in relative solitude; I like a calm ambiance punctuated by a little Tom Waits where no one can see me licking the spatula after every stir or pretending to be a drunk cowboy during "Goin' Out West." Instead, I embraced the chaos. It was my first real break from hours in my room relating to a giant blue baby I was painting and old Sabrina the Teenage Witch episodes. I needed to talk to anything that talked back more than I needed to get this challenge done.

But then the flour went in, and the vinegar went in... the water, the oil, the salt... At first, I had a lot of complaints about the dough because it seemed too tough, too dry, too - I couldn't even say, it just seemed WRONG. Giving up wasn't an option, though, because it meant saying good bye to the roommates and going back to the drawing board (this time, I mean that literally). So I just kept stirring and kneading, stirring and kneading, fingers crossed that something was going to come of this. Apparently, something was because lo and behold, I looked down to discover my mixing bowl had birthed this milky-yellow orb that caught the light like marble. Shocking. It felt as creamy as it looked, all putty and no stick, and I was a little confused when it had stopped being a flour-y mess and started being, well, dough. For an instant, I felt very proud, but I couldn't get ahead of myself because, hell, any asshole can make dough, and that wasn't the part I really feared for. What I really feared was the rolling part.

But as it turns out, that wasn't so bad, either. I watched some youtube instructional videos (including some in Italian! which I sort of speak!) that let me roll with confidence. My dough turned out so silky and soft that it was really easy to manipulate, and getting it to the tissue-paper thin stage became like a game. Pull a little, a little more, no, no, too much, okay, pull... ahhhh. I don't know why I took such satisfaction in it, but I did.

When it came time to fill it, my heart sank a little. In fact, I was so disappointed that I carelessly threw in some raspberries (only frozen fruit on hand) and chocolate chips, rolled the thing, made a circle sort of shape, and threw the thing in the oven. Never mind that I should have put some sugar in with the raspberries, maybe made a ganache-y filling instead of just tossing in chocolate. Heavens forbid, I forgot to glaze my dough, too! Normally, flavor and presentation are my favorite parts about desserts - like, the assembly just comes with the territory - but this time, it wasn't on my radar. The dough was such an interesting experience and I was in such a rush that, that was enough to satiate any lingering creative urges I needed to express via baking. And I abandoned the project.

Serving the strudel was unceremonious. When it came out of the oven, I tossed the pan at my roommate with an offhanded something like, "Happy birthday, slugger!" Then I went straight to bed. Straight, straight to bed. But in hindsight, the whole thing makes me kind of giddy - because hey! I can make STRUDEL. And when I'm ready to embrace the possibilities implied by STRUDEL, I'll be able to walk that road. Oh yes, I'll be able to walk that road...

What would you put in your strudel?

Uhm, can you sense my roommate's enthusiasm? YEAH. STRUDEL.

STRUDEL DOUGH
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

+ 1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
+ 1/8 teaspoon salt
+ 7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
+ 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
+ 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

01. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

02. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

03. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

04. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Rainy Day Eats

2009-05-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

I'm doing really well in school, but nothing else seems to be going my way. I'm trying not to dwell, but my moods get diluted like watercolors in these thick rains we've been suffering. Yesterday, I was driving home from an errand, and though it'd only been raining for about ten minutes, the roads had already flooded three or four inches. It was like driving through gauze with lots of swerving, so I pretty much wrote off the rest of the day and curled up with a lot of oatmeal and movies. When it rains in Savannah, it POURS, and that about sums up my life.

Suffice it to say, chik'n and dumpling soup has been a recurring theme for me lately. It warms me when I'm fresh from the cold, and it's easy to manage when watching all those films. It's also wickedly easy to make, and I've been doing it gluten-free. I'm beginning to suspect chik'n and dumpling soup is the height of vegan culinary greatness, but that might be the rain's influence. Either way, it's been super delicious and one highlight of these otherwise soggy times.

GLUTEN-FREE CHIK'N & DUMPLINGS
+ 2 T olive oil
+ 2 carrots, diced
+ 2 celery stalks, diced
+ 1 - 3 cloves of garlic, minced
+ 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
+ 1/2 c frozen spinach
+ 1/4 - 1/2 c TVP*
+ 4 c veggie broth
+ 1/2 c chik'n broth powder
+ 1/2 c nutritional yeast
+ salt'n'peppa

+ 1/2 c brown rice flour
+ 1/4 c sorghum flour
+ 1/4 c potato starch
+ 1 t baking powder
+ 1/2 t guar gum
+ salt
+ 2 1/2 T Earth Balance
+ 1/4 - 1/2 c water

01. In a large pot, heat up your oil over medium heat. When the pan is warm, toss in the carrots, celery, and garlic, and sautee for three to five minutes or until the celery and garlic take on a sort of translucent quality. Add the mushrooms, and let them brown a little before adding the spinach, TVP, broth, powder, and yeast. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

02. While waiting for the soup to boil, assemble your biscuit dough. Mix all the dry ingredients together with a sifter or fork, then cut in the Earth Balance with a fork, knife, or pastry cutter. You're looking for a course, crumble-y texture that's somewhat uniform in its meal-y quality. Slowly add the water, mixing as you go, until the mixture is JUST combined. Since it's gluten free, you can mix it as much as you want without it getting dense or chewy, so it's okay to hold back a little and stir a lot to gauge the moisture of your dough. When you make the balls, the dough should stick to your fingers a little bit but it shouldn't be sticky. After I was finished, I had hardly any dough residue left in the bowl, and that's what you're shooting for.

03. Take little wads of dough - about a tablespoon's worth - and roll them in your hands until they're smooth little spheres of gluten-free goodness. Then toss them in your boiling soup, bring down the heat to a simmer, and put a lid on top. Let the soup continuing cooking for fifteen to twenty minutes. As tempting as it is to check on your dumplings, don't! The steam is what cooks them, and if you break the seal created by the lid, that lets out the steam, and your dumplings won't cook properly. It's a lot like resisting the urge to open the oven door when baking cupcakes or muffins.

04. But when the time IS up, you can take off the lid, let the soup cool, dish it up, and then sit down to watch a really good movie. Here are some of the movies I've been watching lately:

Knocked Up: bumbling goof with curly hair gets foxy blonde pregnant; comedy and romance ensue; nine months later, there's a baby. From the Einsteins behind Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple Express, and Forty Year Old Virgin. (Should I admit I love their movies?)
Annie Hall: what happens when neurosis dates neurosis; sometimes, it's just not meant to be.
The Way We Were: the dramatic version of Annie Hall, ca. forty years earlier; sometimes, it's just not meant to be.
An Affair to Remember: witty and attractive man and woman have fling on boat, then agree to meet at the Empire State Building six months later to resume the affair. Will they? Won't they? Why are there musical moments?
Wristcutters: boy kills himself over girl; finds himself in world even more depressing than life; discovers girl has also killed herself and is somewhere in this new world; goes on a road trip with Gogol Bordello in search of girl. Romance, nonsense, shenanigans, Tom Waits. (I fucking love this movie.)
Harold and Maude: quirky boy falls in love with old woman. Romance, nonsense, shenanigans, no Tom Waits. (I also fucking love this movie.)
Terms of Endearment: Shirley McClaine as a controlling old woman that owns a Renoire; Jack Nicholson as an aging alcoholic astronaut; Jeff Daniels pre-Dumb and Dumber; some lady I didn't recognize who gets breast cancer. An exploration of unconditional love.
Taxi Driver: young Robert DeNiro going crazy with misanthropy. Amazing cinematography and mostly A-list actors. Find yourself asking, "How did Cybil Shepard go from this to Cybil to The L Word?" Strangely identify with DeNiro's commitment to discipline and healthy living. (So good.)
Get Smart: middle-aged cutie becomes secret agent in classic underdog romantic comedy. Anne Hathaway finally plays a role that doesn't involve being confused and/or helpless 90% of the time, and a glimpse of Steve Carell's naked backside.
Good Will Hunting: cutie with a booty and a high IQ struggles to overcome inhibitions about intimacy. Some classic lines and Ben Affleck actually doing a good job.
American Psycho: sociopath on Wallstreet obsessed with appearance and status; extreme misanthropy; includes a scene of dropping a chain saw on a woman three stories down. Christian Bale post-Velvet Goldmine but pre-Machinist and especially pre-Dark Knight. (I point this out because look at how much his body successively changed for each role! INSANE!)

By the way, this recipe serves four.

So, what are some of the movies you've been watching lately?

* TVP is not technically gluten-free, but I think ya'll are clever enough to omit or even substitute for this if you're actually a celiac. And frankly, nothing in the soup portion has to be absolute. Soup - especially broth-based soups - are such a good way to use whatever's lying around in your fridge, especially the produce drawer, so just throw in whatever you want plus some broth and add the dumplings. So simple!

Daring Bakers Challenge: Three-Layer Cheesecake with Rich Chocolate Ganache

2009-04-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

It's funny that this month's challenge was a cheesecake because, after that visit to Rosetta's Kitchen where I did NOT take my friend's advice to get the cheesecake, I had definitely been craving some. I brainstormed for a few days deciding where to go with the recipe since I could pretty much do anything as long as it somehow resembled a cheesecake. I've seen some creative spins on this classic dessert, so I was a little overwhelmed by my prospects. Because I super el oh vee ee food pairing, though, I decided to do layers of chocolate, almond, and raspberry - which isn't the most interesting take on the dish, yes, but I think it reflected a certain amount of ambition.

Oh, but sometimes such ambition is such a mistake. In my head, you'd slice into the cake and see six perfect little ribbons in bold colors against this dark, luscious ganache. The cake would have these great accents like crazy chocolate shapes sticking out every which way and maybe white chocolate ganache stripes or real raspberries crowning each slice. I wanted this to be some ape shit vegan baking extravaganza because THAT'S HOW I ROLL, but instead, I made this ugly little thing posing as a cheesecake. My layers marbelized because it was too short to sustain even three layers, much less six, and I used Earth Balance cream cheese for the first time only to discover that it's not worth using. Naturally, my solution to such disappointment was to eat the entire thing in, like, a day even though it was completely underwhelming.

My kitchen shortcomings haunted me. How I wanted to create a cheesecake that was worth presenting to the world! So about two weeks later, against my better judgement, I decided to revisit the challenge. Now, it should have been a sign that making a second cheesecake was a bad idea when the grocery store was out of Mori-Nu silken tofu. I mean, everyone knows you only bake with Mori-Nu silken tofu (for whatever reason, it produces a better texture and little to no tofu taste), but I am hard headed. I bought the water-packed silken tofu along with everything else (in triplicate!) determined to get this thing right.

While the results were an improvement, they were still unremarkable. I had learned from my first cake: I reeled in my ambition and settled for three layers instead of six, and to prevent a Napolean complex, I tripled my recipe so each layer was essentially its own cheesecake. I even enlisted the help of a flat spat to smooth out my layers, and I used Tofutti instead of Earth Balance to enhance the flavor. Still, each level of flavor was uneven, and everything tasted... like tofu. Deliciously sweet... tofu. It was neither a baked beauty nor a culinary feast, so when I got to the decorating part, my wallet and my ego were in too much pain to continue.

I put half of the cheesecake in the freezer right away to prevent a repeat of the first one (course, it still only lasted me a week... ha), but hey, that ganache sure was good!

ALSO - blogspot still won't let me comment on other blogs?!? so I wanted to throw a shout out to Laura for having ridiculously cute and imaginative vegan cheesecakelettes.

The Lemon Blueberry Extravaganza!!!

2009-04-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to see Kingdom play today, but I couldn't. I've been internet buds with the lead singer Davin for... four years now? but we still have yet to meet. I've said that I'd be at 563489797 of their shows (with treats!), but every time - EVERY TIME - something comes up. Like last month, Kingdom was playing my hometown; and I arranged a place for them to stay and everything, but instead of seeing them play I... moved to Georgia. Yeah, it's absurd shit like that, that keeps me from going. This week, my grandma died.

Now, there's nothing like a death to throw off your week. I had to scramble like a mad woman to get all of my school work done so I could pay my respects. We're talking three days of no sleep that included my seven-hour drive and her Catholic funeral service. "Exhausting" would be an understatement. Then I made the seven-hour drive back to Georgia, which made my neck and back cramp so bad, I arrived in Savannah with my first migraine(!) ready to throw up. I rested a few hours, then started baking in preparation for the show, but the thought of spending another eight hours in the car straight up killed me. I still haven't fully processed what this event (my grandma's passing) means to me; my back and neck are still in pain; and when I sat down to be a responsible adult today (i.e. bill pay, budget, etc), the gas money wasn't in my finances. So I didn't go, and I was stuck with all these rolls. (Campus security guards sure were well-fed today...)

Every time I miss a show, I think I have a very good excuse, but I had sworn - vehemently sworn - I would definitely be there this time. I was very much looking forward to it, in fact! Alas, a flakey-mcflakester again. To make up for my absence, I decided to make them a pretty low-tech tutorial on how to make the dessert I engineered for them. It's at the end of the post.

Before getting to that, though, I wanted to give an update on my goal progress. Even though my eating habits and activity levels have improved, I haven't stuck to my plan perfectly. However, I am temporarily abandoning it for reasons I hope to reveal in about a month. I don't mean to sound cryptic, but it won't make sense until I can elaborate on it... in about a month (if what I'm doing is successful, that is).

Definitely read the instructions, too. They're more precise and accurate. Also, for the record, I don't have a lisp. It's something about how my camera picks up sound.

I-SHOULD-HAVE-BEEN-AT-KINGDOM ROLLS
+ 3/4 c soymilk
+ 1/4 c Earth Balance
+ 1 lemon (just the zest)*
+ 3 1/4 c flour
+ 1 package instant yeast
+ 1/4 c sugar
+ 1/4 c plus 2 T water
+ 2 T cornstarch
+ salt

+ 1/2 c Earth Balance (ROOM TEMPERATURE)
+ 1 - 1 1/2 c frozen blueberries
+ 1/2 c sugar

01. Pour the soymilk into a small saucepan, and bring it to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. Immediately remove the soymilk from the burner (if you don't, it will scald, and that's bad), and add the Earth Balance. Stir it around a little bit so it melts, and then set aside.

02. In a mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup of flour with the lemon zest, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the soymilk/EB mixture, making sure it's still warm as this is what activates the yeast. Then add the water and cornstarch, and stir until the mixture is just combined. Add another 1/2 cup of flour, stir to combine, and repeat with the final 1/2 cup. Then gently knead the dough for about five minutes. All the ingredients should be well-combined, with a texture that's soft but stretchy with a very smooth quality. Drape your mixing bowl with a damp cloth, and set it aside to rise for ten minutes. It's not going to rise noticeably, but it will rise.

03. When you come back, roll your dough out into a really nice rectangle, roughly 12" x 9". Try as best you can to maintain that rectangle shape because it will make it easier when you make it into a log. Spread the Earth Balance from corner to corner like you're spreading it across a piece of toast, and then sprinkle on your blueberries and sugar.** Gently roll the dough into that log shape as tight as you can get it, being careful not to let any blueberries escape, making a clean seam, and pinching the ends shut. Using your best all-purpose knife, slice up the roll in clean, quick slices. (In the video, I say the slices should be about a half-inch thick, but it's probably more like an inch.) Arrange your rolls in a greased up pan, like a lasagna dish or cake pan. Make sure you leave some space between each roll, as they're going to rise more and will need that space. Then drape them with a wet cloth again, and set them aside someplace warm (but not hot) to rise some more for about thirty minutes.

04. At some point during that thirty minutes, turn your oven to 375˚. When the rolls have finished rising (they should be about doubled in size; if they didn't double, it means you didn't activate your yeast properly, but it's not a big deal. Your rolls won't be quite as fluffy as you might hope/expect, but you can go ahead and bake them anyway), pop them in the oven for twenty minutes. Then remove from the oven, let cool, and enjoy.

* One of my roommates complained that these weren't lemon-y enough. I thought the flavor was fine, especially with how the blueberries made them pop, but to each their own. Here are two ways to deal with this: (1) going in, if you know you want a profound lemon flavor, use the zest of two lemons instead of one; (2) if you make them and decide, yeah, my roommate is right, mix the juice from your zested lemon with some powdered sugar and soymilk to make a lemon-y glaze, then drizzle it all over your rolls. Scrumptious and photogenic.
** I created this recipe just this week, so it still needs some engineering. Obviously, whole blueberries make both eating and assembly difficult, so perhaps mashing them up a little before rolling the dough might be an option. If anyone tries this, let me know.

You can expect roughly twelve to fifteen rolls from this recipe.

Set Your Goals: Not Just an SXE Band!

2009-04-15T16:35:00.000-07:00

"Set your goals" - it's not just a straight edge band, it's a call to action! Goals are the "turn rights" and "straight aheads" that define your life's journey. When you set your goals, you're saying, "This is how I want my life to look, and this is how I'm planning to get there." Studies show that only four percent of people that make New Year's resolutions without setting goals are successful in them. Compare this to forty-six percent who articulate their intentions and then make a plan for achieving them. Setting goals transforms all those things that you think about doing into the things you're actually doing. Once you've decided what you want and how you're going to get it, the only excuse for not getting it is not going for it. And when it comes down to it, nothing feels quite as lame as saying, "Man, I so could have ______ if I had just _______... but I didn't." SET YOUR GOALS!

This all probably sounds pretty intuitive, but I'm telling you, there's an art to it. For the most part, it really is a no-brainer that doesn't require (yet another) article on some posi lifestyle blog waxing poetic like it's the best thing since Minor Threat. I bring it up, though, because the real secret to goal setting is breaking your goals into sub-goals and mapping them out. In theory, this is pretty simple, but sometimes putting this into practice can be tricky. One reason is that you can have so many goals going at once, it can be overwhelming. Another reason is that, even if you have all the steps outlined for a long-term goal, achieving it can seem so far off that losing sight gets really easy. There's a solution, though.

One of my good friends gave me some of the best advice on staying on top of your goals, and that's setting three per day. I've read variations on this, like setting three weekly goals, but I think daily goals are best. Setting three goals a day makes you wake up with a sense of purpose and sleep with a sense of satisfaction. Plus, it's JUST three things. How hard is to get three things done? If you're like me and always have a to-do list going without an expiration date, setting three goals every day slowly erodes that list. Sometimes, I get really high on that sense of accomplishment and what started as a resolve to clean the cat box and put away the dishes leaves me with three new recipes, some letters, the cleanest room in Georgia, and a righteous drawing:

I don't always get my goals from my amorphous to-do list, though. Sometimes my goals are very specific to larger things (like working out a recipe for xvx party, which I run partially to keep me producing for a cookbook); and sometimes I don't limit myself to three goals a day (like when I have a bunch of schoolwork AND stuff that needs tending around the house). I'm very flexible in how I stay on top of it, but I try to keep some semblance of a routine to ensure I do the things I need to do so I can feel the way I want to feel. It seems counter-intuitive, but there is freedom in structure! (Sometimes.)

Another good way to keep yourself on task is to give yourself reminders. A total cheese doodle thing that I've heard a million times is to make a goal collage, but this doesn't have to be as dumb as it sounds. I'm in art school right now, and one of my goals is to always do my assignments well and on time. This may seem like a big ol' DUH, but it's really easy for my to psych myself out and tell myself I'm not creative/talented/whatever enough. So I keep pictures around that I think are inspiring - great colors, wonderful composition, interesting concept, nice pattern, good line weight, whatever. That way, I have constant aesthetic input, and I have things to aspire towards. I also keep around pictures I'm proud of. It's important for me to remember that I'm not a hack.

If it's possible, find a friend to tell you, you're not a hack - namely, a friend that also needs to be told they're not a hack. Just like misery loves company, so does ambition, so when you're going after a goal, find someone looking to accomplish the same thing. Social accountability can never be underestimated (how many times have I brought this up??), so there's that pressure to succeed to impress the other person (or at least avoid embarrassment). If nothing else, you have guaranteed cheerleaders in each other, and you'll always be able to compare notes. I think it goes without saying that every experience is more pleasant when you have someone to share it with.

Now, here's where I get self-indulgent and reveal a goal I'm setting. I'm doing this to hold myself accountable but also so I can show the art of tackling a longer goal. I was recently approached by a national publication about POSSIBLY modeling for them (possibly), but I've been doing a lot of comfort eating since I found out I was going to move (and then, you know, did move). The sheer possibility of this photoshoot is enough to put a fire under my ass to stop eating entire cheezecakes (yes, entire cheezecakes) and deal with the ten pounds such decisions have brought me; but just as putting on ten pounds wasn't easy (trust me, there were a lot of stomach aches involved...), losing ten pounds won't be easy. That's why I'm breaking it down into mini-goals and setting myself the deadline of two months. My goals:

#1 Eat 1,200 - 1,500 Calories a Day
I am really, really bad about portion control, so I'm trying to make this easy by structuring meals in advance. It's funny because I can say things like, "No animal products! No drugs!", but somehow, "No second piece of pie!" is like saying, "No air!" My plan is to start every day with a protein smoothie because those always keep me satiated, and then lunch will always be a salad, and dinner can be whatever as long as it stays within my calorie goal. If I limit myself TOO much, I won't stick to my eating plan, so I think this is good.

#2 Work Out Three Times a Week
I like working out and being fit, but I can get really bored with my workouts and really lazy about getting to the gym. HOWEVER, the school I attend offers free personal trainers and lots of free fitness classes, which makes me accountable for showing up and automatically mixes it up for me. Plus, just like it's not hard to knock out three tasks in a day, what's hitting the gym three times a week? That way, I can lift weights and give my body recovery time inbetween, and I'm not overwhelmed by how much of a commitment I'm making. So, lift weights, forty-five minutes of cardio, three-times a week!

#3 Stay Hydrated!
This is another thing I am really bad about, but people routinely overeat because they're actually THIRSTY. If I make a conscious effort to drink more (water, that is), my skin will look better, my BO will smell better, I'll feel better, and I'll probably eat less. Wins all around.

#4 Always Walk or Ride my Bike
Savannah is a really pedestrian-friendly city, so there's really no excuse for driving if I don't need to drive. Yes, large grocery trips require driving. Going to work requires driving. Certain impromptu adventures require driving. But I need to learn to give foresight to my activities in a way that makes me rely less on my car - and this goes beyond my physical fitness. Sounds posi to me!

#5 Stop Eating Within Four Hours of Bedtime
This is important to more than just my waistline. Eating before bedtime releases insulin, which is toxic to some hormone that helps your body repair itself. So when I eat before sleep, I eat away at my health! Eff that es.

#6 Discuss Body Image in Therapy
Struggling with food and body image is pretty much written into my genetic code. I have a sister that's been battling anorexia for over ten years, and another one had a good, long wrestle with EDnos. I feel I have legitimate reasons for undertaking this goal (fitting my clothes, getting healthier, shooting for that photoshoot), but I can't deal with my outside without dealing with my inside. This weight gain has conjured a lot of old demons, and it's time I talked about them with a professional, so I'm actually meeting with someone tomorrow morning.

#7 Report-Back on XVX Party Once a Week
I have nothing to prove until I make a point of proving it, so here I am, proving it to you! I can do this! And you can, too! Maybe not this, but some other ambition that seems intimidatingly ambitious and drawn-out - you can get there! It's all about breaking it down into steps, giving yourself deadlines, figuring out how to deal with your bumps along the way, and then going after your goals full force!

I am roughly 115lbs right now, and my waist is about 26".

Anti-Absinthe Posters

2009-04-04T16:38:00.000-07:00

I was doing research for my 2D design class and came across these hilariously charming propaganda posters:

Click to view larger!

Foil Folding Instructions

2009-04-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

For some reason, blogger hasn't been letting me comment on blogspot blogs or respond to comments in my own. For that reason, I am posting this diagram describing how to fold the foil for my seitan steaming recipe:

p.s. jxv, yr new tattoo is too cute, but blogger wouldn't let me let you know. ha!

TGRWT # 16: "Chicken" and Rose

2009-03-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

Caught up in my post-class malaise, I was >THISCLOSE< to not revisiting this month's flavor combination of chicken and rose. But I had made that delightful batch of chik'n seitan last night, and my first attempt was just good enough to make me want to continue experimenting. Home from class, I hopped in my car and picked up some raspberry jam for a raspberry rose water glaze that turned out to be the perfect complement for my seitan. Interestingly, this had actually been my first inclination when I thought about the pairing, but then I over-thought it and made that failed cream sauce. Let this be a lesson to follow your gut! (Ha, get it?)

The taste of the glaze with the chik'n really popped. Substituting jam for frozen raspberries pronounced the raspberry flavor and kicked it up a notch with that little added sweetness. While the raspberry was certainly the main focus, the rose was like a smooth bottom note that gave the raspberry's flavor volume. When they were combined with the chik'n, the fruitiness of the rose-raspberry combo really stood out and the chik'n lost some of its salty, savory quality - which wasn't a bad thing at all. Like I said yesterday, I'm not sure if vegan "chicken" can combine with raspberry the same way regular chicken can, but the flavors worked together in SOME way that I found very pleasing.

I served the seitan with my favorite salad at the moment: sunflower seeds, raisins, tomatoes, and cucumbers over mixed greens. Ideally, I would eat this with a tahini-based dressing, but tonight I went with Annie's Goddess Dressing because it's what I had on hand. To be fair, with this salad the Annie's is a close second to a tahini dressing, so I am not complaining. Definitely give this a try; there's something about having all four elements together that makes this salad really exciting. I've tried it in every combination with one ingredient missing, and it's simply not the same. This salad rules hard. Hard. Eat it anywhere, everywhere, always.

Okay, now for the recipe you really care about:

CHIK'N-STYLE SEITAN WITH RASPBERRY-ROSE GLAZE
+ 2 servings of chik'n style seitan
+ 2 T raspberry jam
+ 1 T rosewater
+ 1/2 t Earth Balance
+ 1/2 t corn starch

01. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease up a baking sheet. Place the seitan on the baking sheet, then set it aside.

02. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the jam, rosewater, and Earth Balance. Pop it in the microwave for about fifteen seconds, and then stir them until well-mixed. Dissolve the corn starch into the warmed jam mixture.

03. Return to your baking sheet, and evenly spread the glaze across both sides of a piece of seitan. Repeat with the other piece, and then pop the baking sheet in the oven and wait ten minutes. Remove, cool, and enjoy.

This serves one lonely little person.

Hail Seitan

2009-03-30T21:31:00.001-07:00

So, steaming seitan? Totally the way to go. Over the years, my attempts at homemade seitan have been less than stellar - not inedible but definitely not like anything you'd find in a restaurant. I'm always doing someting too much or too little: kneading, boiling, baking... Even after extensive research, vital wheat gluten has remained a cruel, cruel mistress - that is, until now. Having discovered steaming, I have one more gem in my cooking crown, and soon I shall be king of the vegan universe!!!

The experiment started as a response to this month's They Go Really Well Together. The current flavor combination is rose and chicken, and while it's difficult to respond to meat pairings, chicken is one of the easier meats to mimic (or at least hint at) in the vegan world. Now, there are some good pre-made chicken substitutes out there (Morning Star's grilled chik'n strips come to mind...), but developing my own chik'n recipe has been long overdue. I'd heard that steaming is a pretty no-fail approach to seitan, and I wanted a meat analogue worthy of being featured on an omni blog, so it seemed worth a shot. And oh, success tastes good.

The rose-raspberry cream sauce I paired it with, on the other hand, did not taste so good. I thought it was a genius combination: rose and raspberry with a little basil and a hint of white wine, but the basil drowned out the other flavors, and without it, there was still something missing. I was so disappointed in the sauce, I almost didn't bother using it, but fuck, I'm a broke college student so waste not, want not. I'm kind of glad I went for it, though, because it regained some life once paired with the chik'n. Scientifically, I'm not sure if chik'n and rose "combine" in the same way that chicken and rose do (or should), but they really did taste good together and inspire me to continue experimenting. Still, I am hesitant to post the recipe. Clever though it may be, it just isn't something I'm proud of. Instead, I think I am going to attempt a rose-raspberry glaze tomorrow. I'll likely post the better of the two.

In the mean time, let's learn to make some seitan, shall we?

SEITAN IS GREAT...AN
+ 1 1/2 c vital wheat gluten
+ 1/4 c chik'n broth powder
+ 1/2 c nutritional yeast
+ 1 t paprika
+ 1/2 t onion powder
+ 1/2 t garlic powder
+ 1 - 2 t "seasoning" (e.g. poultry seasoning, creole seasoning, whatever)

+ 1 1/4 c chik'n broth
+ 1 T oil
+ 1 T sesame oil
+ 1 T soy sauce

01. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. They need to be well combined so the flavor is evenly distributed. Then make a little well, and pour the two oils and soy sauce inside. Add a little bit of chik'n broth, and gently stir with a spatula until just combined. Add a little bit more and stir again until you've added just enough broth that the mixture is moist but not mushy. The bowl should house what looks like a big heap of savory cookie dough.

02. Knead the dough until it gets sort of string-y and has lightened slightly in color - about three minutes. Then divide the dough into six equal pieces. You can just tear off little handfuls; ain't nothin' fancy goin' on here.

03. Get the water boiling in your steamer. Tear off six sheets of aluminum foil about ten inches long, and stack them. Take a wad of dough, put it in the center of your first sheet, and press it into a little disc with the palm of your hand. Then pull together the right and left side of the foil and fold over about a half inch. Keep folding until you reach your disc, then smooth it over flat against your seitan to create a little seam. Press into the disc again to get it a little flatter, then fold the other two flaps the same way and set your little foil packet aside. Repeat with the remaining foil and seitan.

04. Arrange your little foil packets flat across the steamer. I'm pretty sure they shouldn't overlap because then the seitan won't heat evenly. I had to steam my seitan in batches to prevent overlapping, but trust me, it's worth it. For every batch, steam for about twenty-five minutes. When finished, remove the packet(s) from the steamer and set aside to cool. Leave the seitan in the foil until you're ready to eat them. I kept my unused seitan in their foil, and now they're sitting on my fridge door.

Obviously, this recipe makes six servings. Six AWESOME servings.

On the Road... Part Two

2009-03-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Zunzi's was food I found on the fly. Only a few hours before, I had woken up from an experience that posed as sleep in a truck stop just outside of downtown Savannah. I arrived in the city with deadlines to meet and no time for eating, so as the day crawled into mid-afternoon, I found myself famished. I asked some folks where I could find a decent vegan meal (then changed my question to "vegetarian" because the word "vegan" confused them), and they said, "I'm not sure who feeds vegetarians, but I know Zunzi's across the street has a few options..." So I went across the street.

Zunzi's is a popular dining spot, and rightly so. When I arrived, there was a line out the door and around the block. Of course, this is partially because the restaurant is just a cramped little counter with very little wait space; but from what I understand, it's also a Savannah favorite. Several people in line were clearly regulars and others were discussing how they got referred there. Along the walls of Zunzi's were a number of "voted Savannah's best ____ by readers of ______" signs that dated back several years. I'm sure there are places that rival it, perhaps are even better, but I do think those plaques say SOMETHING.

To say Zunzi's has a FEW options for the omni-incompatible is pretty accurate, if you couldn't tell by the above picture. However, the few options they DO have seem to make a genuine effort at being options. (We all know what it's like to choose between a dry, flavorless veggie burger, some salads, and an assortment of bland noodle dishes...) Most of the veg dishes rely on dairy to complete them (like lasagna), so I was stuck with either the curry (which could have had cream or yogurt in it) or the mushroom sub sans cheese. Traditionally, I would have opted for the curry because any time is a good time for curry (provided I could confirm it was dairy-free), but it was warm, I was tired, and mushrooms just sounded sooo good. Going with the mushroom sub was definitely the right choice.

The sub is portobello mushrooms, zucchini, and roasted red pepper hummus served inside a deliciously long piece of toasted french bread. The zucchini are cut in wispy little discs while the mushrooms are portioned in large, savory slices. Both are heavily marinated in an amazing mystery sauce* before being lightly sauteed and plated with the hummus inside the bread. The heat from the vegetables softens the hummus, almost melting it through the sandwich, which makes every bite a fascinating medley of flavors and textures. With the zucchini slyly tucked between the main sandwich components, there's a nice break between the smooth, creaminess of the condiments and the toothsome bite of the mushrooms. Serving the sandwich on french bread was wise because the bread nicely absorbs all the sauces without getting soggy, and its flavor and texture are so mild, they don't distract from the fixings. This is the kind of sandwich you need two hands and lots of napkins for, but it was definitely worth the subsequent dining gore because I demolished it - and quickly!

With my sandwich, I also ordered a cup of Zunzi's sweet tea. Now, I'm a natural southerner in the fact that I like my iced tea sweet, but I usually get water with my meals because dining out is expensive enough and I'm never fully hydrated. In this case, though, I did order a drink because the people in front of me were raving MADLY about the tea. To their friend: "You have to get the tea, you HAVE to. I've heard this is some of the best iced tea in the city. I've heard it's sooo good!" Even though the commentary was never intended for me, such an earnest sales pitch won me over, and I must say, I'm glad I went for it. It wasn't generic black tea but instead a vibrant pink-red oolang tea with just a hint of added sweetness (perfect for those who shy away from sweet teas). The flavor was fruity, light, and summer-y, which was exactly what I needed on that balmy spring day, and when my meal was over, I couldn't decide if I wished I had more of the sub or more of the tea even though I was so full, I wanted to die.

Zunzi's doesn't get a trillion vegan thumbs up from me, but I know I'll go again. Like I said, it's not exactly veg-friendly, but the prices aren't too terrible (I think $6.50 for that giant sub) and I need to figure out what's in that marinade. It'd also be a great spot to hit if/when dining with grouchy omnis or if/when I'm on the fly again in that area of town.

If you're in Savannah and want to try Zunzi's for yourself, you can find them at 108 E. York Street. To double check the vegan-ness of any menu items or to inquire about food allergies, call them at 912.443.9555. You can also get a feel for the place by stopping by their website: http://www.zunzis.com.

* The sauce definitely had some minced garlic in it and a lot of herbs and spices. I think there was some soy sauce, too, and maybe sesame oil? It's been a few days since I had it; I wish I'd taken notes.

On the Road...

2009-03-23T14:39:00.001-07:00

I'm not off to a glowing start as a blogger, but seriously, I have an excuse. Since I last posted, I've relocated the xveganx party to below the Mason-Dixon line. Yes, as of just a few days ago, I am an official resident of Savannah, Georgia. The last few weeks have been spent furiously scrambling everything together for this move, but now that it's behind me and I'm settled in, I can return to prattling on about veganism and straight edge and other niche topics.

Probably my favorite part of visiting new places is trying new restaurants, and along my journey, I stopped at two pretty delicious spots. One of them was the Rosetta Kitchen, a vegan restaurant in Asheville, NC, that's so well known it's probably not even worth mentioning. But hey, everyone has their own take on places. The other restaurant I sampled was Zunzi's, right here in beautiful downtown Savannah. While not the most veg-friendly dining spot, I did find something tasty on Zunzi's menu that accommodated my lifestyle, and so I am giving Zunzi a nod. If the Rosetta Kitchen and Zunzi's are any indication, I think I am going to really enjoy southern living.

The Rosetta Kitchen is a lot of standard veg fare... with an upgrade. While not exclusively vegan, it clearly labels the few vegetarian options on its menu, and no meat resides under its roof (well, unless someone is sneaking around with a salami sandwich lumped in their pocket. Which happens, trust me.) Their condiment bar distinguishes itself with some veggie favorites, like nutritional yeast and sriracha, tucked amongst its ketchups and salt shakers. There's also a self-serve cooler of filtered water - which, as one of the many who's creeped out by tap water, I really appreciated. To order, you walk past glowing cases of meticulously crafted vegan treats, and while all your options are on a chalk board overhead, the desserts are so distracting that the menus sprawled across the counter become very handy reminders to eat something healthy(ish) first.

While driving there, a friend adamantly suggested the peanut butter tofu, but I was so overwhelmed by my options, his suggestion was quickly forfeited. (Sorry, Don.) The two friends I was dining with adamantly suggested anything requiring gravy, and being a sucker for gravy, that kind of won. We committed to a theme of vegan comforts and split a serving of cornbread and collards (with extra gravy!), macaroni and "cheese", and tempalo wings.

Every dish was amazing, but certainly, some things were better than others. The collards were tender and flavorful, and the gravy was worth every ounce of praise. (Supposedly, it's just a simple olive oil roux with some nutritional yeast, tamari, and OREGANO, but I don't buy it.) The cornbread, however, was a little underwhelming. It was like the corn equivalent of those meal-y faux scones discussed in our first post. It also came in a heaping wedge, and while I am a true American in my fondness for large portions, there's something alienating about a cake-shaped piece of cornbread. I much prefer fluffier, moister cornbreads like the Post Punk Kitchen cornbread, preferably in little squares that I can smear drippy globs of Earth Balance all over. (Yeah, in true American fashion.) That said, I can't say it was unappetizing. Certainly, the gravy brought more life to the cornbread, and frankly, I would have eaten it plain, too because the flavor was definitely a good balance between sweet and savory.

The mac'n'cheese is another thing I want to praise and disparage simultaneously. It's one of those vegan takes on mac'n'cheese that's more inspired by mac'n'cheese than it is attempting to duplicate it - which isn't something that bothers me in the slightest but is certainly worth mentioning. The flavor was really awesome, actually: that tangy-smooth bite of nutritional yeast complemented with tomatoes, chives, and seasoning secrets. It was also topped with a nice crust of panko bread crumbs, and, if I've never mentioned this before, I'm a total sucker for casseroles with crumb tops. That was the dish's real pitfall, though: the fact that it was technically a casserole. Baking it really dried the mac'n'cheese out. Now, baked vegan mac'n'cheese is a definite possibility, but it requires a sauce with more body, a sauce that's more than just a roux, soymilk, and seasonings (or at least a sauce that's twice as saucy). So Rosetta's mac'n'cheese sits in this limbo, like it's not fully committed to being a baked dish but it refuses to be just noodles and sauce. It tastes really, really great - I can't emphasize that enough - but baking the dish makes you want to chug a glass of water afterward, and that doesn't make for A+ dining.

The real highlight of the meal was the tempalo wings. When I was an omnivore, I was really indifferent to hot wings, and I definitely never ate them with ranch. To me, ranch dressing is and always will be gloopy and heavy and all around unpleasant, and food-combining be damned, I am not into it! Now that I'm vegan, what I find appetizing has changed, and I can now say I find wings with ranch to be AWESOME.

When the plate arrived, I was a little disappointed because it didn't seem like a lot of food and the meal is kind of expensive (like, $8.50 or so). Then I took my first bite of a "wing," and boy did I regret eating so much mac'n'cheese and cornbread because that wing was SERIOUS. Rosetta's takes large strips of tempeh and coats them in a thick layer of beer batter before deep-frying them. I'm not sure at what point they add their hot sauce, but the sauce is spicy without being overwhelming and has more complexity than a lot of wing sauces: very tangy, ever-so-slightly sweet, and really full-bodied. I was impressed. The tempeh can be eaten with your fingers, but something about their preparation (the deep-frying maybe?) makes it kind of limp and really soft to the tooth. The tempeh also loses that acidic, fermented flavor tempeh is known for as well as that sort of lumpy feeling in your mouth. Don't get me wrong: I am definitely a tempeh fan (reubens, anyone?), but Rosetta's makes tempalo wings in such a way that they'd appeal to even the most violent tempeh resistors. Plus, I think the texture and flavor is more suitable for what they're going for, so props on figuring out a way to move away from traditional conceptions of tempeh without completely betraying the food.

And the ranch - let's not forget about the ranch! It tasted so fresh and amazing! It was really dill-intensive and much lighter than omni-ranch while being just as creamy. I know there's something chemical that happens that makes dairy counteract capseicin (what makes spicy things spicy) and that's why ranch is served with hot wings, but I swear, this vegan ranch had the same effect. The tempalo wings were good on their own, but my mouth came to life when I coupled them with the ranch; the spice became less spicy while the dill became almost... almost sweet. Seriously, if the meal had been a dud up until this point, these tempalo wings would have made it all worth it. Lucky for me (or them?), all their food was great, and I think they deserve all that lip service they get.

Being the gluttonous vegan that I am, I needed dessert, too, so I ordered a piece of mocha crunch cake the size of my head. I've eaten so much cake in my day (and I make really fucking good cake) that I don't feel the need to write this one up because it tastes like really generic cake. It's not bad at all, it just wasn't anything new. A part of me wished I'd ordered the ginger-pear cheesecake instead (especially since my friend had also recommended that and I'd ignored his other recommendation), but hey, there's always next time, right?

Since this is kind of an eyeful of a review, I am going to save my opinion of Zunzi's for tomorrow. If you're rolling through Asheville and want to check out the Kitchen, meet them at 116 N Lexington Avenue. You can also give them a ring at 828/232/0738 and pester them about whether or not that really is their gravy recipe. Because seriously, it does not taste like that is the recipe. I think there are more seasonings in it. Namely sage.

X-ing Up at Shows

2009-03-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

X-ing up for shows is a recurring debate within the sxe scene, but I think it's an important ritual. In my experience, x's on the fists are falling by the wayside, but it's a total mistake. I think some of it is kids not wanting to out themselves in cities with small sxe scenes. I think a lot of it has to do with straight edge recovering from the macho stigma of the early nineties. A lot of xfolkx consider x-ing up a tired war cry, and subsequently, few people really want to own those x's in public.

The distinction between substance-free living and a straight edge lifestyle is a matter of pride. Substance-free living is about personal choice, but straight edge living, while also about personal choice, is a matter of standing up and owning that choice. Anyone that knows me in real life knows that I've waffled on the issue of substances and substance-free living and that I didn't decide to include "straight edge" as a apart of my identity until recently. Adopting the title was important for me because I want to lead a positive life style and be a model of positive living, and claiming that publicly makes me feel accountable to more than just myself.

Being vegan is another decision I made in a move towards positive, healthy living, but it's a choice many find intimidating. It's important to me to share my awesome vegan food with folks for a lot of reasons (after all, food is inherently social), but the main one is that I want non-vegans to understand being vegan isn't difficult or miserable. It's quite the opposite, actually; it's EASY AND DELICIOUS! It's not on my agenda to "convert" everyone to veganism, but I do like to get people thinking about it. Such a simple change in lifestyle can be really life affirming, and I don't think people should be intimidated in the slightest. For that reason, I've always been open about being vegan and cooking vegan food, so I don't see why I shouldn't be the same way about substance-free living.

I'm twenty-two years old, so a lot of the social activities my age bracket engages in are laced with liquor and other loopholes in reality. It's a cultural fact that permeates every social sphere. Truth be told, sometimes punk shows and "radical" gatherings feel like frat parties with grungier clothes because everyone's so tanked. It'll never stop being surreal when I wade through conversations like, "Fuck this corporation for being sexist," or "Fuck that company for exploiting developing nation labor," while everyone gesticulates with a cigarette in their hand. (Cigarettes are never vegan, BY THE WAY.) Hang outs get hijacked while people make beer/weed/whatever runs, and people make hurtful decisions under the guise of intoxication. Why is it that the party can't start until we've all got a Drink in our hands?

So when I go to bars and shows, I put an x on my hand. I'm kind of socially awkward, but being straight edge routinely challenges me to find healthy ways to manage that. And there's a trade off: while I may not "loosen up" as much as I'd like when I go out, I'm not picking fights or saying things I shouldn't, either (two things I have definitely done in a previous life under the influence). I am accountable for my actions, and I find my relationships richer and more meaningful when not mediated by substances. When me and my friends aren't fucked up, we're really being ourselves - inhibitions and all. And that's kind of awesome.

Substance-free living also challenges me to find new ways to spend my time. The routine for "fun" at my age is kind of locked in stone: call some people, get trashed, do whatever. But so much more creativity (and variety!) is demanded of us when we step away from that. Even as a drinker, I couldn't stomach drinking all the time because drinking all the time gets fucking boring. Plus, routinely escaping into an altered state of consciousness eliminates so many possibilities that require a sober mind. I think the sober world has more potential for genuine fun than the intoxicated one, and I just can't understand people who want to spend most or all of their time in that latter universe.

When I go out with the x's on my hands, I'm saying, "Hey, it's okay not to drink." People recovering from substance abuse problems see an ally in me. Anyone managing their moods with beer/weed/whatever second guesses themselves. Some people just pause and say, "Do I really need to be consuming _____ tonight?" Outing myself as a sober person creates a demand for sober space, and I think it's important for people to recognize that sobriety - whether embraced occasionally or resolutely - is a valid and important choice. Life can happen outside of intoxication culture! Much like I'm not trying to make everyone vegan by sharing vegan food with them, I'm not trying to make everyone straight edge by putting an x on my fist. But to show that, when I'm angry or scared, I don't distract myself with a drink - to say that I am a nice, awesome, fun person, and those qualities weren't lurking at the bottom of a bottle - to make a conscious and open decision to protect my body when I want to have fun - that's big. And that's why I make a public display of it.

Five Star Foodies Harvest Roast: a Review

2009-03-09T22:53:00.000-07:00

Whenever I make a big trip to the grocery store, I always allow myself at least one splurge item; it keeps meals interesting and eating, a pleasure. At my last trip, I made my splurge item Five Star Foodies' Vegetarian Harvest Roast. Five Star Foodies is a local company that specializes in pre-packaged vegan cuisine, but until now I had never sampled any of their products. Certainly, the food nerd in me is drawn to any vegan novelties; I like to know my options, and trying new foods always inspires my cooking somehow. But there's also something to be said about hometown vegan pride. Cincinnati is a far cry from veggie hot spots like Portland or Philadelphia, so who would have expected us to produce a line of frozen vegan foods? While the price tag had always scared me, my life lately has been demanding some quick-fix meals, so this shopping trip, I finally went for it.

The Harvest Roast is basically crumbly stuffing rolled inside a hearty piece of seitan, wrapped in yuba. The seitan has a really nice texture to it: a little grainy but not too chewy or too dense. I read on Five Star's website that many of their products are Joy of Cooking recipes gone vegan, and the seitan certainly bursts with a familiar, comfort-food flavor. Wrapping the roast in yuba held the moisture in nicely and added a smooth, delicate contrast to the wholesome graininess of the seitan. It also conjured the experience of skin on meat without giving me omni flashbacks. Personally, I think there's something to be said about veg products that straddle the line between doing their own thing and trying to be something else, and while the Harvest Roast does have a distinctly "meat"-y quality to it, it doesn't remind me of any one meat in particular.

I only have two complaints about the Harvest Roast. My first complaint is the stuffing: it's like the savory equivalent of Oreo residue after drinking all your dunking "milk." I think it was appropriate to add another texture to complement the seitan, and I think a well executed stuffing would give the roast some complexity. However, this particular stuffing just wasn't doing it for me. The flavor was kind of lacking, and it felt really meal-y in my mouth. It was almost too soft to properly complement the seitan, and I'd be curious to try the roast without it. The other issue I had with the Harvest Roast is the same issue most (all?) meat analogues run into: sodium. One roast will give you 30% of your recommended daily allowance of sodium, and trust me, you taste it. I'm a sweets person, so I find salty things really jarring. This would have been so much better with less salt and a really full-bodied gravy, but neither problems were so problematic that I didn't enjoy the roast.

For the most part, vegan convenience items aren't something I make a habit of buying. Part of it is that they can only be remotely healthy for you in moderation, but the other part is that they're just so damn expensive. For $6.99, you get two Harvest Roasts - which isn't such a bad deal, except that I'm pretty sure I can make something similar but (let's face it) better for the same amount. However, this does beat Field Roast's Celebration Roast, which costs about the same for only one roast. Truth be told, though, I prefer the Celebration Roast. The Celebration Roast has a much richer flavor and a more variety of uses (squack like a bird if you love Celebration Roast sandwiches!), and I never eat a Celebration Roast all in one sitting. That all being said, I don't see why I can't be an avid appreciator of the Celebration Roast without holding the Harvest Roast as a good second. I really do like eating Celebration Roast just on celebratory occasions, whereas I feel like the Harvest Roast has more everyday potential. It really was convenient when I wanted something really filling without a lot of work, and the Harvest Roast lends itself so nicely to other comfort foods like mashed potatoes and a heaping pile of "butter"-y vegetables. I can see eating this on a cold winter night after being too ravaged by the weather to properly cook. This isn't something I'll be buying at the store often - maybe a small handful of times a year - but Five Star Foodies has certainly made a repeat customer out of me.

Oh, and P.S. Five Star Foodies has a line of juices, and they fucking rock. I think they're raw, but I'm not sure. Either way, they taste really fresh and come in awesome flavors, like ginger cider. I feel healthier just thinking about them. Fucking try one, you won't regret it.

Coconut Whipped Cream... the Redux! (Plus Noodles)

2009-03-05T19:44:00.000-08:00

It's been a week without updates, and what do I do the next time I log in but revisit coconut whipped cream. Yesterday was my dad's birthday, and he's pre-diabetic so I made a special cake with this in mind. It was free of just about everything a traditional cake might entail: gluten, eggs, dairy, sugar, nuts... You'd think it'd be pretty lackluster, but I've certainly had worse cakes. I think the recipe could use some tweaking, so I'm not prepared to share it yet, but I do want to discuss the frosting because it was just my coconut whipped cream. This time, though, I introduced the concept of a hand mixer and extra Whip It, and oh, what a difference they made!

I prepared the frosting much per my previous instructions (cans in the fridge, separating the cream, etc. etc.), but instead of doing a 1:1 ratio of coconut cream to Whip It, I did about a 1:1.5 ratio. So in total, I used three cans of coconut milk and four packets of Whip It. I also omitted the powdered sugar (because this was a sugar-free dessert!) and substituted agave nectar (maybe a tablespoon or two?). Combining everything with the hand mixer made it really light and fluffy like whipped cream, but the Whip It held it together nicely. It was thick and full-bodied, and the vanilla over-rode much of the coconut flavor. Really, it was quite the vegan forgery.

Now, I didn't make enough whipped cream for piping (besides which, I didn't have my piping tools), so I can't say how well it'd hold up for decorating. (I speculate it would be fine, but anyone with high decorating aspirations that doesn't want to chance it should try Diet, Dessert, and Dogs' Whipped Cream.) However, as a frosting, it was spectacular - easy to apply, simple to smooth. I don't have an offset spatula or cake... spinny... thing, and I didn't do a crumb coat or an ace job of leveling my cake top, either. Still, when one of my roommates saw the cake sitting on the counter, she said, "Wow, that's a smooth cake!" Frankly, without the aid of fancy tools, I'd say this is the most forgiving frosting I've ever worked with - and it's pretty effin' good for you as far as frostings go. Plus, as our last entry established, you don't have to use it for just frosting because, duh, it's really whipped cream. Be glad I revisited this one.

Okay, so if you've been making as much whipped cream as I have, you've got all these half-used cans of coconut milk in your fridge. I've been making Thai peanut noodles to get rid of them. Please note these measurements aren't exact because I do everything to taste. It says to do the pepper to taste since everyone's so picky about their spice level, but really, do everything to taste. These were guestimations:

THAI PEANUT NOODLES
+ 12 oz spaghetti
+ 1 red bell pepper, diced
+ 3 cloves garlic, minced
+ 1 c mushrooms, sliced
+ 13.5 oz coconut milk (or roughly two leftover cans)
+ 1/2 c peanut butter*
+ 4 T soy sauce
+ 1 T apple cider vinegar
+ 1 1/2 t ginger
+ cayenne pepper, to taste
+ red pepper flakes, to taste

01. Prepare your pasta per package instructions. Before draining, be sure to set aside just a little bit of pasta water. Later, you're going to add about a tablespoon or so to the sauce because it'll help the sauce gel with the noodles.

02. Oil up a large fry pan, and put it on the stove over medium heat. Once warm, toss in the pepper and garlic, and sautee until a little glossy. Add the mushrooms, and continue cooking until the mushrooms are gently browned.

03. Turn up the heat to medium-high. Pour in the coconut milk, soy sauce, peanut butter, vinegar, and spices. Gently stir to combine and bring to a boil.

04. Once boiling, bring the heat back to medium (maybe even medium low!), and continue cooking until some of the liquid cooks off and a thin skin begins to form on the surface. Stir periodically.

05. Once the sauce has significantly thickened, add that pasta water, cook a little more, and then add all the pasta. Turn off the heat, and toss the pasta to coat. Serve hot or cold.

This recipe feeds two to four and tastes even better the second day.

* If your peanut butter does not come sweetened, consider adding about a tablespoon of sweetener. Sugar is always a component of Thai cooking, and I think it adds to this dish.

Coconut Whipped Cream: A Variation on an Old Theme

2009-02-24T16:47:00.000-08:00

After eating about seven scones and nearly a quart of chik'n noodle soup yesterday, I was feeling pretty guilty when I woke up this morning. Today would require modesty and balance, I decided. The day had been going pretty well, and making fruit salad for dinner made me feel like a good little vegan. But then my demon sweet tooth kicked in and said, "How about a little whipped cream on that salad?" I think it goes without saying that whipped cream is to fruit salad what Ranch is to vegetable salad.

However, I had recently read about Vegan Dad using coconut cream as, essentially, whipped cream. I'm pretty sure he's not the first vegan to do this, but actually looking at it on some of his delicious treats, I thought, "What an inspired idea!" When I was grocery shopping Sunday night, I bought a can of coconut milk for this express purpose, and since coconuts are pretty good for you in moderation, I reasoned it was okay to include them in my fruit salad.

Also in the "international" aisle Sunday night, I noticed a German product called Whip It, which advertised itself as a stabilizer for whipped cream. At the time, I thought of using it for custard-y/mousse-y type things, but when I sat down to make my whipped cream tonight, it occurred to me that perhaps this would help it achieve a texture closer to the one I remember. Having also purchased some rose water in the international aisle (seriously, best spot in the grocery store, especially if you're vegan), I decided to make a vanilla version and a rose water version. They were both successful (not that I had many doubts), and I will definitely be using Whip It in other confections.

WHIPPED CREAM
+ 1 can coconut milk
+ 4 tbsp confectioner's sugar
+ 1 packet of Whip It
+ 1+ tsp flavor of your fancy

01. Keep the coconut milk in the fridge until you're ready to use it. When it's time, the water and cream will have separated, and you can just scoop the cream off the top. Put that in a bowl, and add to it the confectioner's sugar, Whip It, and flavoring.

02. According to the Whip It packet, it needs some vigorous action to get it going, so stir with enthusiasm to combine these ingredients. I did mine for a minute or two, but you can go however long you need to, hot shot. After all, the longer you go, the more beautiful your xveganx muscles will be.

03. Serve immediately or return to the fridge so the whipped cream can set. To illustrate my point, the first picture in this entry immediately followed making the whipped cream, but after about an hour in the fridge, I ran a fork through my cream and it left a fork print. Texturally, I preferred the latter, but it doesn't make a big difference either way. Enjoy!

Let Them Eat Scones

2009-02-22T22:47:00.000-08:00

I’m going to throw a tea party. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while now, but there have been two significant hitches in my plan: one, that my residence is ever-changing; and two, that I fear the gender implications such a party would have. Because seriously, I want to do it up right: silly clothes and silly decorations and silly invitations. My best friend has even offered to let me use her grandmother’s antique tea set, and you bet I’m going to sit it on a doily or something.

Over the months, I haven’t let myself mull this party properly, though; it feels like I’m selling out. I have hairy arms and hairy legs and get into hairy situations. I’m not supposed to want to throw tea parties! I didn’t even have tea parties as a kid (too preoccupied with lesbian Barbies that got it on at the drive-in); why are they so appealing at twenty-two?

Well, there are a few reasons. I think part of it is that I like planning social occasions. As much as women are stereotyped as the centers of social networking, I don’t think that’s such a bad quality for members of either sex to develop. So here I go, embracing being a bringer-together of people. In this particular instance, I want it to be an all-female event because I’m looking at it as an opportunity to enhance my female relationships. Patriarchy has successfully pitted a lot of women against each other because a lot of us (myself included) have bonded to men in our attempts to reject traditional femininity. And in bonding to men, we’ve wound up unknowingly siding with them a lot of the time - to the greater detriment of our sex. Ladies having lady friends is important in the same way that POC caucuses are important at radical events: sometimes there are things that only folks that share your identity would understand. How strange that I want to develop this camaraderie through such a symbolically-oppressive event!
This brings me to my next point: that I like doing traditional things ironically. Face it, everyone does now. Those knitting patterns with skulls in them? Shit like “his” and “her” flasks? 3D wood puzzles that make guns instead of planes? We can hide behind the politics of subversion or say we’re challenging the routines of everyday life, but what it realty comes down to is this culturally irrelevant Urban Outfitters “LOL”-wave that we’re all riding. Whatever, fuck it; I’ve accepted it as a fact of my generation. Who am I to pretend to be immune?

The final reason is that there’s this part of me that longs for some sense of routine, of occasion. People used to get dressed up to ride airplanes. If someone asked you to stop talking during a movie, you did it. Dinner was eaten at a table. Not all traditions need to be resurrected (I’m totally peeved when a boy tries to out-pace me just because he wants to get to the door first so he can open it. Dude, I’m just a fast walker, and if I beat you to the door, fucking deal. It’s just a door); not all tradition needs to be resurrected resolutely (I know it’s tacky, but I won’t stop wearing pajamas to the video store). All that being said, I feel something’s gotten lost as we’ve distanced ourselves from cultural routine. Nothing feels special anymore! So the thought of receiving an invitation (in the MAIL of all places) to an event that someone planned right down to the guest list (which I was decided to be included on! hurrah!) – well, that charms me right down to my marrow. It’s not always bad to revisit things that otherwise seem antiquated. And I’m doing this by throwing a tea party (eventually).

Now, a good tea party requires a good menu, and I think I have a lot of it worked out. (This, of course, will be revealed in greater detail as the time to execute this actually approaches.) But a tea party just wouldn’t be a tea party without some good goddamn scones (oh, and tea). I’ll be honest: I haven’t had a single good goddamn scone since going vegan. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had many things that were good that people called “scones,” but anyone who knows anything about scones knows most things people try to pass as scones, well, aren’t. That thing you picked up at Starbucks? Nuh-uh. Those whatnots on a tray at Whole Foods? Try again. True scones should be somewhere between a cake and a biscuit: moist and fluffy with a little bit of crisp. All those pastries being pandered by vegan blogs and cookbooks are nonsense. I need the real thing, baby.

Needless to say, the perfect vegan scone is something I’ve been working on for years. Once, I actually got it (okay, so I lied about that “good scone since going vegan” thing), but it was a complete fluke that occurred at a time when I knew nothing about baking. I have no idea what I did, and all subsequent attempts at recreating that recipe have been miserable failures. In fact, my attempts to doctor a lot of scone recipes have been miserable failures (in part because I was unknowingly doctoring recipes that produced those meal-y biscuits I’ve been complaining about). However, after a lot of tries and a lot of research, I believe I’ve finally got it. I’ve finally got that good goddamn (vegan) scone. So without further ado…

GOOD GODDAMN (VEGAN) SCONES
+ 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
+ 2 tsp baking powder
+ 1 1/2 tsp arrowroot powder
+ 1/2 tsp salt
+ 1 cup non-dairy milk
+ 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
+ 1/2 cup non-dairy butter
+ 1/2 cup sugar
+ 1/2 cup chocolate chips*
+ 1/2 cup raisins*
+ extra non-dairy milk for glazing

* Really, you can use whatever you want in whatever quantities you want or omit this shit completely. Pro tip: avoid fresh fruit. If you want fruity scones, use frozen fruit. Don’t add them to the well, though. After that step, roll out the dough and put the frozen fruit all over it, then fold the dough over and roll it out again. If you’re too vigorous about mixing the fruit in, it’ll dye the dough and get all weird and… it’s just not something you want to do. So just fold and roll, my sweets.

01. Heat the oven to 500 degrees (yeah, 500) and place the oven rack in the middle. Add the vinegar to the “milk “and set aside to curdle. (This will be your “buttermilk.”) Sift together the flour, baking powder, arrowroot, and salt. Now, none of us really sift when a recipe tells us to sift, but in this case, it really makes a difference. The more the flour’s been sifted, the more it helps create a fluffy texture when everything’s mixed together. I wouldn’t sift more than five times, but you know, do it at least once and go to town if you’re up for it. (C’mon, friend, meet us in Sift Town!)

02. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and “butter.” This is important because it incorporates the sugar better than just putting the sugar in the dry ingredients and adding the wet. I can’t explain the science of it, but trust me, all bakers agree on this. Once the sugar and butter are total BFF, add them to your flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or fork (some books suggest some weird two-butter knife method, but I have no idea what’s up with that, but if you do, you can use that, too), cut in the butter/sugar. You can stop when your bowl looks like it’s full of flour crumbles instead of flour. You want something meal-y but still uniform.

03. Grease up a baking sheet, then measure out your additives. It’s important to have everything ready to go before combining it because once the wet hits the dry (well, the now semi-dry), the acid in the “buttermilk” will activate the baking powder, and there’s only so active it can be before it’s less/inactive. We’re running on a schedule here, people! Make a little well in your butter flour, and pour all that “buttermilk” in. Throw your chocolate/raisins/whatever on top of that, and with a rubber spatula, mix everything together working from the inside out. Slowly but surely, the dough will come together, but be careful not to over-mix. Over-mixing produces more gluten, and more gluten means a stiffer scone. We’re shooting for something light, remember?

04. On a well-floured surface, roll/pat out your dough to a roughly 8- to 10-inch square, about an inch high. Then take a glass or cookie cutter (hearts are way cute and dorky) and cut out your scones. Be sure to dip your glass/cutter in flour before each pressing; it’ll make your life so much easier. Then place them on your baking sheet. You can push together the leftover scraps and make more until you’re out of dough. I’m not going to lie, I ate the raw dough that couldn’t be made into a pretty shape. Anyway, using a pastry brush (or your finger if you’re super punk rock like me), lightly glaze your scones with non-dairy milk. Then pop them in the fridge for fifteen minutes (or the freezer for ten).

05. When time’s up, pull them from the fridge/freezer, and give them a second glaze. Turn your oven down to 425 degrees, and pop those suckers in for 15 to 18 minutes. (The bigger the shape, the more time they’ll need.) If you’re keeping an eye on them with your handy dandy oven light, you’ll be really tempted to keep them in there longer because they won’t seem brown enough, but trust me, it’s time to pull them. Let them cool, and enjoy with your favorite scone-worthy beverage (tea, coffee, cocoa, vegg nog, etc.)

This recipe yields somewhere between twelve and fifteen scones.