A Hit and Miss: Vegan

I have been craving cornmeal something fierce lately and while cornbread might be tasty, it was polenta that I had my eye on. I was also craving the bright taste of cilantro. While thumbing through a copy of Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson, I stopped on a recipe called Cilantro Pesto. My mom made basil pesto all the time when I lived at home. She would spread it on homemade pizza crust and top it with cheese. Pesto pizza was one of my best friend's favorite meals when she'd come to our house for dinner. She'd request it all the time. Her parents are Chinese and I would always ask for extra white rice. Her mom was always smiling about how much plain rice I would eat there. For my friend, it was old news, but for me, we never got rice like that. I felt the way about her mom's rice as my friend did about my mom's pizza. Their place was also the first place I tried and fell in love with Asian greens. Mmmm! So, I knew that I loved pesto, but would cilantro pesto be as good? We'd see. This seemed like a perfect topping to the polenta though.

The recipe was pretty easy: 1 cup tightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, 1/4 cup raw almonds, 2 large garlic cloves (peeled) and half a tsp of salt go into a food processor. With the motor running, slowly pour in a steady stream of 1/4 cup of olive oil.

cilantro pesto ingredients

cilantro pesto, done

 The food processor does the work, yet again, and I scrapped the pesto into a Tupperware for later. 

Vegan Planet is a book that I actually went to a bookstore to buy. I believe Chapters actually. I now buy most of my books online if it's something specific that I am after. Hey, I'm a busy girl, can you blame me for the convenience? Interestingly enough, I was inspired to purchase this book after looking it over at another great friend's place. We met in our first year of university and just clicked. We both had a love for entertaining and our personalities were very similar: driven, independent, and strict with ourselves but also just wanting to let loose and have fun too. She was always an inspiration to me. She became a vegetarian and I used to sit in her apartment, flipping through her cookbooks. There was one recipe in this book that would always catch my eye (although I don't know which one that is now) and when she moved away, I bought a copy of this book. 

We once hosted a huge dinner party for about 20 people in her small apartment near the university. We decided to do chicken peanut satay, rice, and some other sides. We were very ambitious... I remember having 2 roasting pans filled with raw chicken and we cut and skewered and my dad helped us BBQ everything at their old house where I was living too at that time (I loved that Heidi had her own place!). We had to transport everything back to her apartment. We also bought candle holders and other decor pieces on a student's budget. We made it a Tiki kind of theme. We even put sand around the candles! Oh, and the elevator at her building only stopped on every second floor for some reason. Her floor wasn't one of the lucky ones...

We slaved in the kitchen, decorated the apartment, changed into our tropical dresses and waiting for guests to arrive. I met so many new people that night and everyone was having a fabulous time! The food was awesome, wine flowed freely, and we partied the night away! I woke up early in the morning, laying on the balcony, with the sun rising. The apartment looked like the aftermath of a college party...wine bottles everywhere, people crashed all over the place, and rice in the carpet. I recall having such a fun time but being sooo tired and wine still in my veins. I vividly recall Heidi getting up, looking hungover and exhausted, saying she needed to clean everything because her and her friend were going to the beach that morning. I definitely thought they were crazy, there was no way I could stomach being anywhere but cold and dark at this point and my own bed seemed like a good place. My friend was a determined spitfire though and her and her friend loaded up giant Rubbermaids with all the dirty dishes, carried them down a flight of stairs to the elevator, and brought them in her trunk to her friend's mom's place to load them in her dishwasher! 

It's these memories that I can look back on and truly smile and be thankful that I have you in my life. Amazing how time flies and how we change and grow. She walked down the aisle at my wedding a year ago as a treasured bridesmaid, and I will soon be doing the same for her this summer. I love you.

Yes, I know, but what about the food? boy, you people sure are pushy! I'm done reminiscing (for now) so polenta time. Basically, polenta is just cornmeal in boiling water. The key is to whisk whisk whisk the boiling water while adding the cornmeal in slooowly so that lumps don't form. I still haven't mastered this yet. I usually just look up online how to cook this and the recipe I happened to find said to keep stirring this with a wooden spoon until the polenta comes away from the sides of the pot...oh, that should take about 35-65 minutes. Um, excuse me? Yah right. I went to the gym once today already and these guns are loaded baby. Instead, I just stirred it for about 5 minutes (okpolenta into a greased bread pan and stuck it in the fridge.

cooking polenta

 Half of my dinner was (mostly) done and I was ready to try something to make the next portion. I have to say that sometimes menu ideas come together in my brain in such a harmonious way that I can do nothing but go with it. I wanted to create a meal like I pictured a southern summer BBQ picnic. Instead of corn on the cob, which isn't in season, I had the polenta. I didn't have chimichurri sauce but I had cilantro pesto. I was going to make some sticky, saucy ribs as the main and some bean dip to serve on the side.

polenta and cilantro pesto

 The bean dip was actually a vehicle to use up leftovers, plus a way to get some protein and iron into my husband in legume form. I figured he could use this as wrap filling or dipping vegetables in for his lunches. I wanted to use black beans but apparently I had used up my last can. Fava beans went into the food processor instead (drained and rinsed). No need to wash out the bowl either if the flavours won't mind mingling. I wouldn't make muffins after cilantro without a wash but a bean dip would be fine. Leftover fresh salsa, leftover jalapeno salsa I had made, coriander, cumin, and salt and pepper all got blended together and set aside.

fava bean dip

" You can't have ribs!" I can hear you shouting "You're eating vegan this month!" Tut, tut, I tell you. The industrious vegan has no intention of giving up the flavours of most dishes and has cleverly devised schemes to recreate many meaty meals in veggie form. I was actually really giddy to try out this recipe. The recipe was called Seitan BBQ Ribs and I found it here, on the Food.com website.

Basically, you made the seitan dough first and would bake it in a pan. Then, you'd grill these "ribs" on a BBQ or stove top grill pan, brushing them with BBQ sauce! Awesome! I absolutely love trying vegan and vegetarian food so I was game. First, all of the dry ingredients get mixed together (vital wheat gluten, paprika, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic. salt)

seitan rib dry ingredients

 Next, you combined all of the wet ingredients (water, tahini, liquid smoke, soy sauce).

seitan ribs wet ingredients

 Wet mixes into dry and you've got your gluten ball, ready for pressing into the bottom of a greased square pan. To make these look like ribs, you need to score the dough with a sharp knife. First in half, then those into eighths.

seitan ribs, unbaked

 So far so good. I was like this seitan recipe way better than the last one I tried. No messing about with boiling the hunks like dumplings and storing them like little floating brains. Nope, just into the oven, and out of the oven. They also smelled really great while baking... I am not in love with liquid smoke. This vegan trial is the first time I've ever bought any and my little glass jar of liquid hickory is like a jar of liquid sunshine or gold. I would dab this on myself like perfume if it was socially acceptable! Well, maybe in another city, but not Winnipeg. I would definitely like to try other smoke flavours but this was all that Superstore had. Even more now, I want to own my own smoker.

seitan ribs, baked

 Since all that was left to be done with the ribs was to glaze them in BBQ sauce, I decided to pan fry the polenta first. A little bit of PAM in a pan and I sliced up the polenta right in the bread pan and just pulled out as many pieces as I'd be serving with dinner.

polenta strips

 "How many ribs did you want, C?" I grinned "half a rack? a whole rack?" Hahaha, I was hilarious. Actually, I was having a lot of fun with this recipes, I'm not going to lie. I gave C half the pan and I took a quarter for myself since it looked filling. I glazed one side with BBQ sauce and then placed that side down on the hot oiled pan. The recipe calls for doing this on the BBQ (it's winter and ours is in the front porch) or using a grill pan (we're eyeing cast iron ones but have yet to own one). So, a frying pan would have to do.

"ribs" getting sauced

 After a couple minutes, I flipped them over and glazed the other side with BBQ sauce. Oh, these were smelling so good!

Seitan ribs, flipped once

 Ok, one more flip and more BBQ sauce brushed on.

second flip

 These were now ready to serve, nice and hot!

seitan ribs done

 Doesn't this look good? I usually photograph C's plate since there is more food there. Some peas for a little bit more greenery and this was a very hearty, filling, and satisfying meal. Cholesterol free too!

BBQ rib dinner

The texture wasn't like beef or pork ribs...it was spongy and dense but I liked it. I will definitely be making this again. So easy, and the seitan could even be made ahead of time and left in the fridge until you're ready to add the sauce.

cross section of ribs

 Now for the miss. I haven't been missing much on the vegan diet. I have been missing eggs though. Something fierce. I would normally eat eggs for weekend breakfasts, dinners as omelets, in baking. I wanted an omelet but not for another month. I had seen recipes online for things called "nomelets" and vegan omelets and I was getting desperate. They sounded promising and the photos looked like real omelets. I found the Mori-Nu silken tofu at Bulk Barn and was hopeful.

silken tofu

 The tofu went into the food processor with nutritional yeast, turmeric for colour, salt, pepper, and paprika.

omelet ingredients

 Blend, scrape down sides, blend, scrape down sides.

omelet mix

 Now, the idea was to carefully pour the mix into a hot pan and then spread out the mixture with the back of a spoon. This didn't work so well. The texture was thick but liquid-y and didn't set with heat in the same way that an egg or a pancake would. It just stayed soft and mushy. I followed the recipe and topped my nomelet with some fresh spinach, mushrooms and Daiya cheddar cheese (vegan).

nomelet uncooked

 I covered the omelet with a pot lid and let it cook through. Apparently.

"cooked" nomelet

 Now, you're suppose to carefully flip half of the nomelet over onto itself. Easier said than done. The whole thing was a wet, jiggly mess. Still, I marched on, determined to eat this disaster. First bite...hmmm? Not good. Watery, flavourless. I wasn't wasting calories and taste buds on this mush. C made sauteed Swiss chard with garlic and fresh tomatoes so I ate that and pitched the nomelet. I will rarely throw out a meal so you know this just wasn't good. Well, no whole egg vegan substitute yet.

nomelet and sauteed swiss chard with fresh tomatoes

New Year's Resolutions: Day 1 of my 30 Day Vegan Challenge

New Year's Eve, at around 11:50pm, I was sitting on the ground on an old comforter with 2 sleeping dogs and 1 sleeping husband surrounding me. Ears and bums were scratched (dogs) and husband was poked every few minutes to keep him awake until midnight (not working). At 11:59pm, I shook C awake, waited, and wished everyone a happy new year! We got up to go to bed and I noticed that the clock I was watching was fast! Ugh! I had 3 minutes left. Oh well, this bought me one last chance at non-vegan treats. I am ashamed to say that at 11:59pm, I was eating as much Greek Yogurt as I could get into my mouth! I regret nothing. I stopped before the clock struck twelve and with one tick of the clock, I was now a vegan for the next month.

I woke up the next morning, after a well deserved sleep in (both hubs and the dogs shared that sentiment) feeling motivated and excited for a new year! I just have to interject here that as I type this (C is at boxing and America's Next top Model is on in the background), Maggie is snoring so loudly that I can barely hear myself think! She is laying in Butter's little bed like a cooked turkey. Hilarious! Back to the story...

So, up and motivated, it was breakfast time! Slow cooked oatmeal with chopped dried apricots. Hearty and tasty.

C and I sat at the table with some fresh brewed coffee and discussed our plans for the new year. While I've never really made resolutions in the past (I believe changes should be made as needed, not once a year), we chatted about what improvements we'd like to make over the next year. We decided on some key mutual goals that we'd like to achieve.

Here is our list:

1) Eat clean(er) - vegan month (incorporate more vegan all the time)

2) Make and follow a workout schedule

- M: Lose 7lbs, be bikini ready for Cuba trip (gym 6 days per week)

-C: get in shape for Cuba; fight ready by spring

3) Walk and play with the dogs more

4) Read more books (add books to my Kindle)

5) Do our budgets on time: save $ ahead of time and plan better

6) Plan house projects: execute them on a timeline (we have major building to do)

What do you think? Do you have some similar goals? Completely different?

Feel free to share some of your resolutions.

first vegan meal

 I'm thinking that the vegan foods we/I ate for day 1 were pretty boring and not worth posting, so, onto Day 2! Well, I already had oatmeal waiting, so I switched it up by topping it with some raw almond pieces and maple syrup (honey is off limits). I thought to balance this off, I would make smoothies: almond milk, frozen strawberries, and fresh cranberries. A fresh coffee with almond milk and I was set to start the day. Off to the gym!

smoothie in the making

vegan breakfast, yum!

 After the gym, I made a trip to Bulk Barn with a coupon in my hot little hands. If I was going to experiment with vegan cooking, as opposed to just cutting up some veggies for my meals, I was going to need some new ingredients. I washed out some containers (hey, reduce, reuse, recycle!) and made labels. Once I have a real pantry, I plan to do it up like Michael Smith's on his show Chef at Home with everything in clear glass Mason/canning jars. Oh, just seeing raw cashews in a washed out pasta sauce jar made me giddy!

So, here is what I bought: raw cashews (they cost me an arm and a leg - good thing veggies are cheap - they will be used to make fake cheese sauces and for snacking), sprouted grain bread (sprouted grains are recommended on many vegan sites), nutritional yeast (again, used in fake cheese sauces and in seitan recipes), vital wheat gluten (this is the bases for making one of my main proteins - seitan), soy slices (marinate for 15 minutes in hot water then use as you wish: stir fry, stews, etc), TVP (textured vegetarian protein - a soy protein used like ground meat, dehydrated in this case, you could use Yves ground round too), and powdered soy milk (I buy almond milk to drink, this will be for baking or cooking - I do the same with dried skim milk powder, saves money and doesn't go back as quickly).

vegan ingredients, at the ready

 I think I may have mentioned but I have been reading a ton of vegan blogs (well, I've read them in the past but now it was a matter of survival!). I have been bookmarking pages of recipes that I want to try here is one of them. It's called Mushroom and Spinach Manicotti and can be found on the Epicurean Vegan blog, here.

The recipe promised a vegan ricotta filling that can be used in many other recipes. We would see.

First things first, ingredient prep to make to cooking process quick and easy. Always read through a recipe before starting so you aren't surprised by a step or by something that needs to be done quickly. Have everything you need on hand and nearby, including your tools. So, chopped onion, mushroom, and spinach, waiting...

veggies for the manicotti filling

 The ricotta filling would be made with firm tofu instead of cheese...for $1.99 a block at Superstore, this seemed like a pretty good deal! (although I supposed it would balance out with those damn cashews for a cheese sauce).

extra firm tofu is a bargain!

 All of the tofu goes into a food processor with a ton of fresh basil (grrr, I want to grow my own herbs!), garlic, nutritional yeast, rosemary, salt and pepper.

ricotta filling ingredients

 Let the processor do it's work and voila! Instant basil flavoured ricotta. So easy! The texture is much denser than ricotta so I was a little worried that this wouldn't taste light and creamy.

basil tofu filling

 Here is where being organized helps. I had the water on to boil while I was preparing the filling. I dropped a box of manicotti shells into the rolling boiling water while I blended the filling. I only cooked the shells for 6 minutes: they were partially cooked but still held their shape...I figured they would soften in the oven with the sauce.

cooking pasta

 While the pasta cooked, I had plenty of time to saute the onion and mushrooms.

mushrooms and onions

 The cooked onions and mushrooms get added to the basil filling with the chopped raw spinach.

filling, done!

 So far, so good. This recipe was proving to be pretty easy. I was worried about the next step though...stuffing the shells. I have read that to stuff manicotti, it's easiest to fill a pastry bag or ziplock with a corner cut off, and then pipe in the filling at each end until it hits the middle of the shell. I knew this wouldn't be possible since the filling was so dense. Oh well, this wasn't ground meat and I wasn't shy. I just jumped right in! Whenever doing something messy with cooking, I try to keep one messy hand and one clean hand: this will give you a lot options if you need to pick something up that you don't want to get dirty. So, left hand holding the shell, my right hand scooped up the filling and just jammed it in with my fingers, from each end. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. I poured some pasta sauce into a 9x13" pan and then carefully laid the finished stuffed manicotti into the dish. I definitely get very corny when I am cooking alone and often personify my ingredients or unconsciously make up stories about them. I thought about the scene from Disney's The Little Mermaid when Sebastian gets trapped in the French chef's kitchen. The chef catches Sebastian, thinking that he's a runaway protein from one of his plates and proceeds to prepare him while he sings...."now I stuff you with bread, it don't hurt, 'cause you're dead, and it's certainly lucky you are!!!"...hmm, reading it doesn't sound as child friendly as I remember it, but it's really a great scene. So, I'm feeling a little sorry for my manicotti, as I'm stuffing them to the gills... But, it's for their own good and now I can carefully put them into their cozy bed of comforting sauce, and they are happy again! Smiles. By the way, the firm manicotti, perfect for this dense filling! If this pasta were cooked anymore, its limpness would have made it impossible to fill.

almost ready for the oven

 With the little pastas tucked snug into their bed of rich pasta sauce, some vegan shredded cheese on top (Daiya), they went into the oven for a nice warm bake. Picture a day at the beach, ahhh :)

baking manicotti

Since I am still waiting for scratch n sniff blogging options, let me just tell you that this dish filled the kitchen with the smell of a rich Italian dish. I was so excited to try this!

tofu mushroom and spinach manicotti

 I served this with some simply sauteed cauliflower and wow, what an awesome meal! C and I both really enjoyed this and there was plenty for leftovers. I would dare to say that this would freeze well. This would make an excellent dinner for guests, vegans and non-vegans alike! Go for it, give this a try at home. Don't tell anyone there's no cheese inside and see if anyone notices. Oh, but don't let them read this blog first. 

Italian vegan dinner

*   *   *   *   * 

Part of my new year's resolutions, while not on the list, is to be more contained in my note taking, clippings, and thoughts. I pulled out a fresh notebook and it is now my food book. This is not for keeping track of what I eat, but for making notes about meals or recipes that I want to cook, ingredients I'll need, where I found the recipes (so I can locate them again if they were in a blog), etc. So far, so good.

The book underneath is a new journal that I carefully picked out for myself. I haven't written in a journal/diary for a long time. Think about it. If you were going to be completely honest on paper, releasing all your darkness (fears, self-doubts, self-loathings, sadness, anger...everything that a proper young lady is not supposed to release to the world), would you trust this book to be out somewhere? What if it was read? Knowing this, could you be honest and use it as a release? We will see. I plan to use this book as my therapy. With my blog, you've likely noticed that my posts are good humored, upbeat and positive. I wish I could say that I am always like my blog version of myself but I am only human. I have my doubts, fears, and issues. However, my blog is not the venue for sharing that sort of thing. That is where this journal will come in. I have a name for this journal already, though not on paper yet. I like the idea of balance, that there are 2 sides of extreme and that one cannot experience or fully understand one side without the other. There is no happiness without sadness, no light without dark, no love without loss. 

This book is The Dark Passenger and the White Owl. One represents all of the negativity and darkness that needs to be released from my soul, the other represents the wise, free, and soaring spirit that understands that this too shall pass and that there is a greater good for all pain: that all things can be overcome with time and effort. This is my balance. 

The pages remain blank, but this book is around for when it needs to be. Waiting.

notes and thoughts

On the Road to a Month-Long Vegan Vacation

I had been reading a ton of vegan blogs and cookbooks and decided to try a 30 day vegan diet. I had a number of reasons for trying this: the challenge of a new way of cooking and thinking, a healthier approach (no cholesterol, no casein, hopefully less saturated fat and more healthy fats, more vitamins), a more ethical and kind diet (no animals harmed), and just getting in the habit of eating more vegetables. I planned to start this challenge in the new year, on January 1st, 2012, along with anyone that would like to join me. Despite still having a week or so before the challenge, this didn't mean that I wasn't going to experiment with some recipes before the V-day. If I was going to give up meat, poultry, eggs, dairy (ahem, cheese!), and all animal products, then I would need some good replacement recipes in my arsenal. Since C and I already eat a load of veggies, fruits, and legumes, this wasn't so much of a concern for me. I'm not a fussy veggie eater, bring on the colours! What I was worried about was cravings for meat, the texture of meat, cheese, and eggs. We already drink almond milk (usually unsweetened) so that would be fine. Yogurt, well, my afternoon snack would need to be replaced. Really, I had no firm plan, I was just going to make notes of recipes I wanted to try and go with the flow.

First on my list was a seitan recipe. According to my readings, vegan replacements for meat are usually made of either vital wheat gluten or soy. Seitan is a wheat gluten version of meatless protein. I decided to make my first attempt a Vegan Nom Nom vegan blog version found here.

The recipe seems to be pretty typical. Vital wheat gluten and nutritional yeast (I found both at Bulk Barn) get mixed with other dry ingredients, usually seasonings.

seitan dry ingredients

 Next, the wet ingredients get mixed together in another bowl. Typically, this is another way to season the dough...lemon juice, veggie broth, garlic, oil, tamari or soy sauce.

seitan wet ingredients

 Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. A spongy dough will form immediately. This recipe requires that the seitan be formed into rounds, flattened as you're able (the gluten tends to spring back) and then boiled in a broth like dumplings.

seitan mixture

seitan dough done

leftover hunks of fake meat, saved for later (these get covered in leftover broth)

 Honestly, this stuff was pretty easy to make! No slaving away in the kitchen or needing to defrost anything. Sure, you needed to make a broth, but I had other seitan recipes waiting to be tested that were simply baked. Excellent! Now, for actually serving this up. Meal one: sliced and pan fried seitan served on a slice of sprouted grain bread with homemade black bean spread (can of rinsed and drained black beans, leftover fresh salsa, onion, jalapenos, tomato, garlic and salt and pepper, all in the food processor until smooth), sprouts, a fresh tomato, and some fresh baby spinach leaves. A side of lightly sauteed zucchini. The verdict? The sandwich was filling and had a meaty flavour and texture, although more of a processed meat texture. The flavour was mostly garlic and soy sauce but quite tasty.

seitan sandwich with bean spread and zucchinis

side view of the seitan sandwich

 What else could I make with this seitan? I had 2 more large chunks bobbing in their broth in the fridge like little organs in formaldehyde. Stew! Ok, you've recently seen the beef version so you understand the concept, but would it work with seitan? Would it work with vegan margarine? We'd soon find out...

Since I didn't need to brown the meat, there would be nothing in the pan to de-glaze. Hmmm...I decided to make a roux instead...flour, garlic, and vegan margarine. Whisked up until thick and then I poured in some veggie broth.

the start of a vegan stew

 Since I wasn't entirely sure how this would turn out, I thought that making a smaller batch might be practical, in case it wasn't as edible as I hoped. I chopped up a couple of potatoes, some carrots and celery.

veggies for the stew

 Since no meat needed to be cooked until tender, this wouldn't need to stay on the stove for too long. I chopped up the seitan into bite-sized chunks and into the pot!

chopped seitan

 With all of the chopped ingredients in the pot, it was time to season the stew. It wasn't getting as thick as I had hoped so I started with the seasoning...some red wine, a bay leaf, thyme, pepper...left to simmer.

meatless stew

 With the stew shaping up and not quite ready to eat, I decided to make myself a quick stir fry. With C out of town, I was cooking for one. I stir-fried some broccoli, cauliflower, soy slices (dehydrated fake meat from Bulk barn), and soba noodles. I stole some of the seitan's liquid to cook the meal and poured it all into a brightly coloured bowl. A little bit of cherry sauce on top to finish and I was ready for a filling meal! Chopsticks in hand, I plopped myself onto the couch for a relaxing dinner.

delicious stir-fry

 We had bought a package of curry flavoured tempeh strips (fermented soybeans, pressed into a block) and I loved them! I found a recipe for tempeh bacon that sounded good on Epicurean Vegan but couldn't find any plain tempeh at Superstore. I looked up how to make my own tempehfacon (fake bacon) out of firm tofu? See the base recipe that I used here.

I just made sure to drain and press out as much of the liquid from the tofu as I could before marinating the sliced bacon-sized strips.

Water, liquid smoke (I found a hickory version at Superstore), maple syrup and soy sauce. I left the tofu to suck up as much flavour as possible for about 20 minutes.

marinating facon

 Carefully placing the delicate tofu strips into a hot oiled pan to cook until golden...

facon cooking

 A careful flipping and more of the sauce poured over top of these golden, crisp, and sticky beauties. The smell was fantastic! The liquid smoke and maple definitely made the kitchen smell bacon-y.

facon almost done

 Now, what could be better than a BLT? Except, I had no lettuce...so, I had to use sprouts instead. No matter, they would nicely hold the sliced tomatoes in place. My vegan mayonnaise, Nayonaise, was also from Superstore. Another variety is called Vegenaise.

BLT ingredients 

cross-section of the sammie

 Served with some sauteed zucchini and mushrooms and some steam asparagus and we had ourselves another fine meal. C approved of this dinner and so did I. I would definitely be making this fake bacon again and again, I was already thinking about trying it with the seitan instead of tofu.

Facon sprout and tomato sammie and sides

 I tasted the stew before packing it up into the fridge for later and C did as well. It was actually rather tasty. The wine flavour came through first, and it was salty and more like a rich soup. Not bad but it could be perfected.

With my brand new orange Bodum coffee grinder just waiting to chomp up its first beans, we drove down to Cornelia Bean on Corydon to buy an inaugural bag. After indulging in some decadent loose leaf tea, we made our way home to grind our first batch of beans for our little French press. The aroma was unbelievable and the coffee was amazing! This grinder was quick and precise and hardly made any mess at all. Guests will be definitely treated to freshly ground coffee at our place now!

freshly ground coffee

 The vegan experiments were going ok but I was still not officially on the wagon, so to speak. On New Year's Eve, C and I went to Polo Park Shopping Centre for a little impromptu shopping as he owed me a trip for Christmas. I was bought a very cute little strapless sweetheart neckline navy polka-dotted dress and then to my dismay and C's good fortune, the mall was closed. With another hour and a bit until our reservation at Sushi Cushi (which we like to call Sushi Oushi), we decided to stop into Earl's for a drink. Had I known that we were going to be "going out" I would have worn something a little nicer than jeans and a brightly coloured hoodie. No matter. I was there with the love of my life, away from it all, for a night. We sipped our drinks, his Whisky Sour and my slushy Lemon Meringue, and slyly smiled at each other as a large plate of fries was presented before us (a little pre-dinner snack). The salty crisp hot fries were perfect and was cheers-ed each other while discussing our new year's resolutions. With fries eaten and drinks finished, our hunger settled just enough, we left to make our sushi reservation. We had received some money from my grandparents for Christmas and decided to use that to treat ourselves to this lovely night out. We had about $35 left and this bought us some Bakudan, Volcano, Happy Mouth, and one other roll, along with edamame beans and my first taste of sushi pizza. Mmm! The meal was tasty but a little too heavy and fried tasting for me. We headed home to relax, spend some quiet time with the girls, and sleep. Happy new Year's, everyone. I hope that you had a great year and have some great resolutions that you're working on for 2012. Cheers and goodnight.