Meet & Greet

Good evening, all! I just had a very exciting night. It was a first for me: a blogger meet-up! Caroline, Erica, Nicole and I met (how many ways can I conjugate that verb?) at Josie's for dinner. This was the first time I've broken the "blog-wall," so to speak; I was a little nervous, I have to admit! The girls were all really nice, and it was so fun to dish (pun intended!) with other people who also snap photos about 435 times a day.

So... what do you get when you put four food bloggers at a table together? Strobe-like, seizure-inducing camera flashes, foodie news and gossip, indoor photography woes... I could go on and on, but if you're reading this you probably know what I'm talking about, anyway!


The bread basket came around and we all chose seven-grain bread... sameness was sort of the theme of the night! Josie's makes delicious sweet potato hummus. It's delicious, and seems pretty simple to make (although I've already forgotten the third ingredient besides sweet potato and tahini).


The basket came back... Caroline and I split pieces of cornbread and focaccia.


We all ordered exactly the same thing for dinner: Seared Asian Marinated Organic Tofu Salad with baby arugula roasted vegetables, chickpeas and avocado.


Now, this should have been simple enough, but we all decided we did not want the balsamic vinaigrette the salad came with but rather not one but TWO special dressings... and on the side, please. Ha. Totally worth it, though, because the dressings were amazing: carrot miso and red wine wasabi vinaigrette.


The salad itself was so, so good, and it was nice to be able to dip into two different dressings. It was actually pretty big, so I bagged what I didn't finish and took it home.


We did not, of course, skimp on dessert. They were all vegan and very, very tasty.


Warm pumpkin pie with "soy drizzle" :


Ginger berry pie with oat-y crust and soy vanilla ice cream:


Chocolate pecan pie with graham cracker crust and soy ice cream. This was everyone's favorite!


But, as you can see, we weren't really in the mood for dessert.


That's it for me... I'm brushed and in bed like a good little girl. Hope you've had fabulous Fridays!

Rice and tofu, anyone?

Good evening, my fine non-feathered friends! I hope you've all had lovely days. Mine was quite nice, thank you, although it seemed to pass by so quickly! I think that probably has to do with going back to bed immediately after breakfast. I haven't even been up for 12 hours, but I feel so tired! Strange how that works.

I made it to the gym in time for Vinyasa yoga. Just like the last time (which was Anurasa) it was ridiculously hard for me to do and I found myself looking at the clock every five minutes. There were a lot of poses I had to come out of early because my muscles just couldn't take it. I'm not going to give up, though... I know it will get easier.

On the way to meet Ari after the gym, I ate leftover Gliding Calm tofu, steamed green beans, and Lundberg brown rice blend. Good news: even cold, this tofu is delicious!


I had a Gala apple when I got home while I went through my cookbooks and the new cooking magazines to see what I wanted to make for dinner.


I decided on the mushroom soup from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything...


And the Panang Tofu Curry from the February issue of Bon Appétit in the article on how to cook green in 2009.


The curry was a delicious blend of coconut peanut buttery goodness with a little spice.


The soup was fast, easy and vegan. It would be great as a pasta sauce, or as a topping on fish or chicken (or even steak, for those so inclined). I was cooking everything at once, and I accidentally put some of the tofu into the soup. Whoops! It tasted good, though!


We served the curry over brown rice.


A little cilantro garnish for the soup added some nice color.


I had a glass of white wine, but I only ended up drinking about half of it.


We had some Edy's Slow Churned Rich & Creamy Vanilla Bean ice cream for dessert...


... but what's ice cream without chocolate sauce? I also added some pecans.


I'm watching Prime Suspect (the tv show, not the movie) while Ari finishes up some work. I do love my crime dramas! I have a feeling I'll be dozing off soon, though. Bonne nuit!

Old lady in the house

"Slow" and "old seem the be the themes of the day. I'm importing pictures on my old desktop and it is taking so long! The computer itself still works perfectly, it just needs a little extra love.

A new Japanese restaurant just opened up in our neighborhood, called Linn. It was soooo yummy: we all know how much I love sushi, and this was so fresh and delicious.

We each got a bottle of Sapporo. This made Ari a little sad...


We split some edamame:


We also split this hot and sweet sesame tofu. I've never had it before; it tastes a little like sweet custard.


For my main, I ordered an appetizer size of tuna or some sort of white porridge type thing. Sorry for the blurry picture; it did not want to be photographed!

Here's what it looks like on its own, out of the "porridge":


I also got a California roll.

They brought out two little liquor chocolates for dessert, Drambuie and Galliano flavored. We split both, but couldn't tell which one was better.


We got home from dinner around 9:30, put on Final Destination, and turned it off about 15 minutes later to go to sleep. Yes, you read correctly: we are officially an old couple. Ari ended up getting up at 2 again to work (he has the perfect schedule to be a scratch baker) but I slept until 8 and feel sooo refreshed. Schoolwork is done, and this girl is ON VACATION! WAHOO!

Leisurely breakfasts are kind of a luxury for us (expense and time-wise), but this was a lucky morning and it worked out.

Coffee with skim milk:


New York Breakfast! Toasted sesame bagel with lox, tomato, and onions (I didn't have the lettuce or olives):


Capers and cream cheese on the side:


Isn't it beautiful? Ahh, I missed this :-)


I came home to get some baking done and type up the soup recipe (read on!). When I got out of the subway, a guy was handing out samples of Cascadian Farms chocolate chip granola bars. Yum! Can't wait to try 'em.


Blurry nutrition facts:


Cowboy Charley, with one very suspicious robo eye.



As promised, here is the recipe for the Armenian Lentil Soup.

Armenian Lentil Soup, from New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant

Serves 6

1/2 cups dried lentils
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots (4 oz)
3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onions
2-3 cups cubed eggplant
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 green pepper, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (or another 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, if preferred)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne or crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Rinse the lentils, and then bring them to a boil in the stock or water. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Add the chopped apricots and simmer covered for another 20 minute.

Meanwhile, sauté the onions in the oil until translucent, then add the eggplant and 4 or 5 tablespoons of water. Cook covered on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is almost tender. Add the remaining vegetables, dried spices, and salt. Cover and cook until tender, about 10 minutes

Stir the sautéed vegetables into the cooked lentil-apricot mixture and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the parsley and mint and serve.

I'm going to the store to get some Secret Santa stuff ready. Have a fantastic Tuesday!

How many days does it take to bake a cake?

I've got a lot of pictures coming, but first things first!

I had one of these Hot'n Healthy bars that Jenna has been raving about quite a bit. I tried the Banana Nut flavor, and thought it was pretty good. The package said to heat it for 8 seconds; I heated it twice for that duration. The texture was great; chewy like a cookie and not too protein-y. My only complaint was that I could have done with a little less sweetness, and about half the icing.


After going to the soup kitchen this morning, my mom and I spent a while assembling the cake (pictures to follow). I ate an absurd amount of frosting, ganache, and chocolate creams... definitely proof that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I felt pretty sick! I made a mini layer cake as well, but the picture is pretty terrible.



I was so full of sugar that I didn't end up eating lunch until 3:30. I had a light multi-grain English muffin with half sharp cheddar, half B&B and cloudberry jam:



More soup (recipe to follow) with shredded coconut on top:



Even though I personally did not make this soup (my dad did), it was so delicious and seems very easy to make that I had to share the recipe.

Mushroom Sesame Tofu Soup (Vegan!)
From New Recipes From Moosewood Restaurant


2 tablesponos peanut or vegetable oil
1- 1/2 cups chopped oinions
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
3 celery stalks, sliced
2 cups sliced mushrooms (8 oz)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 or 3 bay leaves
4 cups undrained whole tomatoes, chopped
1 cup vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cake tofu, pressed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes

Sauté the onions and ginger in the oil for 4 minutes. Add the celery and continue to sauté for about 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, cover and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Stir in the cayenne, salt, and bay leaves. Add the tomatoes, their juice, and the stock.

Simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Add the tahini and peanut butter, stirring briskly to dissolve. Finally, add the cubes of tofu. Continue to simmer on very low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.

Serves 6


Gallery of cake-baking!

This is from the December 2008 issue of Bon Appétit.

Devil's food cake batter:



Mother-daughter licks! (Excuse the morning face/bedhead/PJs)


The cakes came out perfectly.
Chocolate ganache :



Mixing up the white chocolate cream:


Getting the peppermint frosting ready:


Making the frosting into stiff peaks:



Almost there! In between each layer is ganache and white chocolate cream.


Proud Mama shaving dark chocolate (from Israel) curls:


Ta-da!

I can't wait to try some tonight! I'm having dinner in the Village with Caitlin and her family. I can't believe how well I've been eating! I'm a lucky girl. Have a great Saturday!