Groceries #2

I can't believe November will be over in two hours and this actually is my last VeganMoFo post.

What I learned from a month of blogging everyday is that routines are not neccessarily a bad thing, though I usually avoid them where I can.

After all, I read a lot more on other blogs and discovered many new one, as well.

Today was not much cooking though I had the day of, but I went shopping and got:

-onion baguette
-cocoa powder
- soy cream
- radished
- bell peppers
-clementines
-bananana
- red wine
-olive oil
-rocket
- agave nectar
- white beans
-peas
-rice-oat cereal with berries

Seems very little but I still have plenty of leftover veg from last week.

Lemony bento in the dark

... yet another horribly-lit shot of a bento I threw together in five minutes' time this morning.
It has steamed broccoli, some cherry tomatoes and the heavenly lemony risoni.
I could it that every day- it made me fall in love with lemons.
MAKE IT!

Spaghetti with Beanballs

What's not to love?

I was a bit sceptic about this this v-con recipe because I made some not so nice experiences with kidney beans some months ago and had avoided them every since.

But today I was depressed and needed my pasta fix, plus I had a lot of fresh tomatoes that had to go, so I whipped up some marinara and gave it a try.

I followed the recipe closely but found the dough to be very crumbly, so I added some water and oven-baked the babies.

Usually I'm not a huge fan of whole-wheat spaghetti- the little Italian in me refuses to accept any modifications to old fashioned pasta, but this was actually good with whole wheat spaghetti.

Cookies

Baking a variety of cookies in the weeks before Christmas is a very German tradition. I'm by no means traditional, but I have very fond memories of doing the Xmas baking wiht my grandmother once a year as a child. The anticipation of the cookies may even have been greater than of the presents.

So yesterday I tried to recipes from two other vegan German bloggers.

One were the oatmeal-coconut cookies from amy's blog. They turned out awesome even though I forgot the baking powder and only used all-purpose flour instead of wholewheat. I must remember to bake with coconut milk more often!

The other, strange-sounding but yummy creating was brought to us by Lotta who posted the recipe on the PPK. At first, baking with olive oil might sound weird, but it's really good.
How can olive oil not be?

Omni collegues enjoyed both varieties.

I'm... Japanese food?!

You Are Japanese Food

Strange yet delicious. Contrary to popular belief, you're not always eaten raw.

What Kind of Food Are You?

I swear, they had no other question referring to Japanese food but picking your favourite appetizer and I chose sushi.

You Are a Henna Gaijin!

You're not Japanese, but you wish you were! You can use chopsticks with your eyes closed, and you've memorized hundreds of Kanji. You even answer your phone "moshi moshi." While the number of anime videos you've seen is way higher than the number of dates you've been on, there's hope. Play the sexy, mysterous gaijin, and you'll have plenty of Japanese meat.

What's Your Japanese Subculture?

Monday Bento

"Monday" seems to be one of my favourite words for entry titles... every now and then, most often on Sundays, I manage to have the time and am relaxed enough to make a pretty bento.

Tomorrow's bento will be a bok choy/TVP chicken stir-fry, white rice with gomasio and a halved cherry tomato. The small layer holds some pomelo pieces (not really as great as everybody told me... pomelo is quite like a tasteless grapefruit), a plum in slices and a small sauce container with mushroom sauce for the rice.

Groceries

I love to see and listen what other people are buying and have seen a lot of blog entries of that sort, but strangely, it never occured to do it myself. What I love about the place where I live is that there a lots of ethic grocery stores, two organic shops (I hate the word "health food store"... they don't only have healthy stuff, and you find healthy foods in a supermarket!) and nice farmer's markets so I don't have to rely on supermarkets. I'm also in love with dm, a drugstore that has a huge health food/organic section at the best quality but with the lowest prices. I try to shop only once a week after having planned out what recipes I plan to make, but usually I have to go back for something more in the middle of the week. I try to buy organic as much as possible- local is hard because I barely have the time to go to the farmer's markets- I do love to go there if I can, though. I'm proud to say is that 95% of all produce I buy is organic- I don't use much processed stuff, but buy them a lot in ethic groceries because it's not only cheaper, but also better than health food store alternatives. Anyay, don't get me started on non-organic chocolate, cocoa, coffee and the likes. However, that's what my 20 € got me today:

500ml coconut milk
1 bottle Japanese plum wine
a small bag anatto powder
6 bok choy
mung bean sprouts
3 packages ramen noodles

eggplants
apples
bananas
cherry tomatoes
onions
potatoes
2 lemons
2 limes

dried kidney beans
greek-style rice-shaped noodles (what are they called again?)
stuffed wine leaves

Feeling bakauke and other stupid food

I mentioned bakauke, the Japanese rice snack some posts earlier and have just rediscovered a picture of the package I took ages ago.

And it exactly pictures how I'm feeling today: tired, subdued and not up to my mental best.
I lived of bread rolls and diner-bought falafel and pop today, so there's not much to talk about and I'm too tired to come up with a witty recipe... but I'm sticking to the veganmofo!

Beige food

Why do most comfort foods tend to be beige?
Maybe it is because many of them contain a lot of carbs, and carbs are anti-depressant (honestly- depressed people often crave carbs!). Carbs make you happy.

This week has been very hectic and tiring again, so yesterday, I came home, made a nice beige v-con dinner, watched Desperate Housewives (guilty pleasures!) and went to bed.

Beige dinner features chickpea cutlets, mushroom gravy and bulgur wheat.
I'm sorry for the dark pictures I upload... I'm usually out of the house for 10-12 hrs a day at least, so I leave before there is any sunlight and come back after dawn.

Greek Bento

Yesterday I packed a greek-style bento. And found a matter about which to criticise Jamie Oliver.
I made green beans with sesame dressing and left the wipy ends on, as he suggests in one of his books. It was edible, but annoying.

Other foods were v-con lemony potatoes, some black olives, a leftover unfrosted lemon-ginger cupcake and a plum.

Winter Breakfast

I've never really understood the concept of a hearty breakfast until I become vegan. In Germany, a "hearty" breakfast usually consists of bread rolls, cold cuts, cheese and maybe, if they feel decadent, a boiled or scrambled eggs. In short, things I have been hating for as long as I can remember, even when I was omni.

So I kept on munching toast with jam, chocolate spread, an occasional fruit and my beloved muesli. Porridge in my British phases (=spending too much time with English people or being in England, what happens quite often).

Then came veganism and with veganism came employment plus a part-time job and commuting which means I'm out of the house for at least 10-12 hours a day.
Although it has become a lot better with bento love, I used to be scared of packed lunches and feel very uneasy to eat in company of people whose company I didn't choose (aka coworkers, class"mates" and the like).

Yes, I'm scared of packed lunch or eating at school or work and here's why: when I started school as an six year old, I had a fanatic vegan (!) teacher. He also was one of those hardcore-catholics and also thought beating kids up was a good method (this was 1993, folks).
Whenever your lunch contained something unvegan, he would turn up his nose and explain to you why what your eating is bad and insulting to all of mankind, animals and, above all, jesus (right. Jesus HATES salami!).
Nothing bad about telling things like that (apart from god and his son)- to grown ups.
It's great to explain the concepts of veganism to kids, but he completely messed it up.

But this guy made me have a sort of eating disorder for at least nine years when it came to breakfast and lunch outside my momma's kitchen.
Now you know my darkest food secret.

Be prepared to see my huge-ass breakfast consisting of v-cons chickpea cutlets, the homefries, some cucumber and tomato and yep, that's ketchup.

Indian comfort

Whenever I'm tired, hungover or just feel like I need a big hug, I make Indian food.
Yesterday I mate sag aloo with basmaiti rice and the 5 minute-mango chutney from V-con.

I managed to follow this recipe exactly, and it was soooo good!

Me loses to quizzies

... and I'm proud to suck a science!

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around. ^_^
Drama Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Anime Nerd
Literature Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Musician
Science/Math Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Favourite cuisines, Part II

Something I discovered on my first holiday as a vegan in London last April is Lebanese food. I've never had Lebanese before and Edgware road with its many many many Lebanese restaurants saved me.

Ever since, I need my mezze plate at least once a month.
Not only does Lebanese cuisine have hummus, but it is a lot like the Eastern version of Italian food- fresh produce, a couple of standard spices, lentils and rice- and you're set.

Aaand, of course, falafel!

Sort of v-con

In 99 % of all cases, I don't follow a recipe closely. Usually, I just have a look at the ingredients list, put the recipe/book away and make my own thing. Or I follow a technique and substitute ingredients. I don't like anybody to tell me what to do, not even cookbooks. Usually, I succeed. Yesterday I made the quinoa-almond muffins - without the syrup and flaxseeds and used raisins as dried fruit- and they turned out amazing. I want them for breakfast every morning! Another thing I had wanted to try ever since I got the book was the spicy tempeh and broccoli rabe pasta. I passed at the rabe- never seen that in a shop anywhere- and forgot to buy tempeh, so I used regular broccoli and TVP chunks (which turned out almost scarily chicken-like!).

Chick Peace, man

There are many things I love about ethic groceries, and being a language nerd, one of the things I love the most are poorly translated labels or things which are just funny because my brain associates them in weird ways (for example, many words in Japanese and Spanish sound alike but mean completely different things).
One great example are the infamous Japanese "Baka uke" crackers (rice crackers that come in different varieties). "Baka" is Japan's most popular term to call somebody stupid, and uke... oh well, among others, it's the term for the passive person in martial arts training, but also for the "bottom" in gay sex.

Er.
There are many funny mistakes on Japanese food ingredients' lists... I'm still trying to figure out whether "glitter medicine" (on candy!) is vegan or not.

However, why am I talking crazy stuff, you demand to know?
Because this morning I went to the Indian grocery in town for the first time (they have wicked opening hours) and found myself trapped in... Bollywood!
It really is more of a Bollywood movie and sari store with a small grocery closet, but still, I was able to find this package of amazing, curry-leaf and paprika-spiced CHICK PEACE (with hot paprika geschmack *lol* )!

Questions, questions, questions....

I would've loved to blog about the abundance of herbs in my kitchen today, but alas, I've just returned from a grocery shopping trip and found that every single shop in this city only has chives and basil! I need to buy a lot of new herb pots because some greenish bugs have eaten my basil and destroyed big parts of other herbs. However, this means I've got a reason to stroll around the farmer's market tomorrow.

Ok, me too!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
the whole "Swiss" grain milk selection, especially the oatmilk

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
Veganomicon creamy tomato soup and chickpea cutlets, Vegan Lunchbox croissants

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Salt and nutritional yeast

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
Apart from my first attempts in Thai cooking which were all disastrous?
Every single vegan pancake recipe except the one in VwaV.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Ginger

6. How do you organize your recipes?
Not at all... I've got a small book into which I write most recipes. It's 7/8 full and I'm not quite sure what to do with it afterwards.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
I'd love to compost, but it's not an option where I live.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
Bok Choi, Sweet Chilli sauce, hummus

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Certainly cooking with grandma, especially the annual cookie baking weekend before Xmas.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
I've only tried vegan ice cream once as I'm more of a sorbet person. Don't know which brand it was because it was at a restaurant *gasp*

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
my rice cooker

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
garlic and basil

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
a tiny, zine-like kid's cooking book I bought from my pocket money when I was six years old. It's surprisingly veg-friendly and contains mainly whole-food recipes.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
black currant!

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Thai curry with bok choy, mushrooms, tofu and coconut milk- but actually, all my omni friends are easy to please and not afraid to try any vegan "specialities"

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Seitan

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Simple pasta dishes at midnight. My mom hates me for that.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Do all American people have giant freezers? Mine is only about 4 feet high and holds my eletric kettle.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
haven't got a freezer *gasp again*

20. What's on your grocery list?
fresh herbs, soymilk, tempeh, canned tomatoes, white wine, bananas

21. Favorite grocery store?
the amazing Turkish grocery store round the corner. I try to rely on retail chains as little as possible. Plus, ethical shops have a better selection and are cheaper (except for Japanese ones).

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
profiteroles

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Urban Vegan, Get Sconed! and www.bentoyum.com

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
white rice milk chocolate

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
a selection of flavour extracts for baking

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans

This is the second soup recipe from Veganomicon, and to be honest, it didn't knock me off my feet. It was a rich, satisfying soup; perfect for a cold and grey night.
Period. Sorry Terry and Isa, but I am the master of rice soup *muhahahahha* !

Reading level

Didn't the thing look for all my typos?!

Favourite cuisines, Part I

I love international food. Even back when I wasn't able to cook more than spaghetti- and I'm not even sure about that!- at age 12- and we had a project week at school, I chose "international cuisine". You can picture that it was a horrible week- we made totally tasteless chili and hamburgers, that's all I remember.

Anyhow, my first cooking experiences which started about two years later (I've always been interested in cooking but my mother always found excuses to keep me from the stove), were with Japanese food because that's when my japanophilie started.

Manga, anime, cute stuff, Japanese music, the language- seven years ago, everybody thought it would be just another teenage fad of mine. But it wasn't.

Today I'm a bit more critical towareds Japan, regarding its history and society, but I still love all of the above mentioned. Another love I found about a year ago was bento.

I'm a bit disappointed that I barely see any other recipes than sushi, stuff made with soba or udon or miso soup on blogs and in vegan cookbooks, because Japanese is such a beautiful cuisine!
Surprisingly, Japanese home-style cooking comprises so much more and is actually not so far away from Western cuisine.

Believe me, you can do without all the icky fishy ingredients and rely on fresh produce to create simple, Japanese, vegan dishes!

So, my veganmofo resolution should be: post more Japanese food!
In the meantime, have a look at this totally underappreciated book.
(now off to make sushi for my bento, so nothing fancy today)

The return of bento/ v-con food knocks out people at the opera

...not that I haven't packed any bento over the past weeks, but they consisted mainly of leftovers and sweets.

As stress week has left my tummy in a bit of an upset state and I have barely eaten everything, tomorrow's bento is still very modest, but at least I made an effort.

It has some green bean salad with a mustard dressing and shallots, sliced giant tomato (organic, and probably the best I have eaten all year! I bought a kilo at the Turkish grocery store and they were even cheaper than the conventional ones!), V-con rosemary foccacia and some walnuts.

I so hate it when my stomach rebels about things in my life which are not so nice- I can be a tough bitch and am seldomly knocked out on an emotional, intellectual or physical level, but I can't fool my tummy.

Whenever something isn't good for me, I can barely hold any food. It's so annoying and has already lead some people in my life believe that I've got an eating disorder.
Don't worry, my only eating disorder is that I can pig out on everything and talk about food all day.

I have another funny thing to tell... I love theatre, I'm fine with classic music, I hate opera. But as I get free tickets for almost all cultural gigs in the city I work, I decided to give posh people entertainment another chance. So TK and I went to see Romeo + Juliet as a ballet.

Not before we had eaten a shitload of v-con foccacia and aioli I had made in the morning... I hadn't really given it much thought, but we must've smelled of garlic from miles away, so people were turning their noses at us and the lady next to TK begged her husband to swap seats. Ha!
Vegan garlic breath takes over the world, muhahahhaha!


And you know what? I liked every bit(e) of it!
(posh people are shit and don't know about art. most of them neither like garlic nor Shakespeare. f*ck rich bastards!)

V-con x Jamie Oliver plus spaghetti trees

I'm prepared for getting a lot of comments telling me how Jamie O. sucks and is so NOT VEGAN, just another profane celebrity chef etc etc etc.

But honestly, I don't care. I love Jamie Oliver. I like the way he talks like my friend Phil, cooks like my friend Dan (or does Dan cook like Jamie? hard to tell), uses lots of olive oil and chillies for practically every dish, does amazing Italian food and saved me that one summer five years ago when I spent the summer holidays in the middle of nowhere (East Anglia, precisely) and it kept raining for an entire week.

Anyhow, today is Sunday and I got up at 8:30 am and started my Sunday cooking marathon. I just love the anarchistic feel of getting the kitchen dirty while still in my PJs!

And I got to make stuff from Veganomicon. As I had supposed, there's no need to be sceptic about the layout and the overwhelming abundance of recipes because they all kick ass!

Today I made the chili-cranberry sauce, the 5-minute-mango chutney because I had an overripe mango to use, the rosemary foccacia and the white bean aioli (MUST TRY THE AIOLI! It's heaven!)

I also had to find a place for v-con in my kitchen. It's the first book, apart from my Jamie O. books, that didn't fit into my yellow kitchen shelf, so now, it's hanging out with it's British mates:



Then, I had an idea... I still had some pesto after a JO recipe sitting in the fridge and thought "why not make foccacia pizza?"

And so I did, using Jamie's recipe for fried pizza and his pesto as well as V-cons foccacia dough and aioli. Plus mushrooms and olives by the Italian grocery store round the corner.

While preparing the dough, I was roasting some garlic and dreamed of moving to Italy to become a garlic and spaghetti tree farmer... what, you don't know spaghetti trees?

Comfort food

Horrible work week is over, and was over a lot earlier than I had thought because André cancelled yesterday's lesson. I also did cheat and skipped four lessons in vocational school yesterday because of a migraine attack. Still have to figure out what to tell my boss about it.

Yesterday night, I made my favourite childhood comfort food, an easy sauce bolognaise with TVP.

Today I made karei udon for lunch. I don't know why I haven't made it for ages- it's so easy and soo good! I love everything with udon noodles.

I'm looking forward to trying some v-con recipes tomorrow.