Sunday 17 February 2008

V-con dissappointment and treats

The last week was stressful and I basically came home and dropped dead each night without thinking of the possibility of cooking. Fortunately, I had whipped up a batch of broccoli-millet mixture Sunday night, so I came back, popped some croquettes in the oven and done. I tried frying them, but they fell apart :( Still, the croquettes turned out rather bland though I doubled the amount of spices and had an accident with the chili powder shaker. Another V-con meal was the tomato-capers couscous with rusty white beans. This one was rather bland and I smothered the beans in all sorts of sauces to make them edible at all. Verdict: I'm sort of ashamed to say it, but Veganomicon is gradually turning out to be a disappointment to my tastbuds. Recipes are ok to good, but not a single one has had the "wow" effect I know from 90% of the VWAV dishes. The "recipes we wish we would've grown up with" mantra is exactly what I don't get on with. I've never been a fan of Western cuisine, let alone European or American, and the more "exotic" recipes are boring to me because I cook e.g. Asian stuff all the time and I'm tired of trying those westernized, unauthentic versions. Same with the extreme veganizing of everything and amounts of fake meats (be it seitan, tempeh or tofu). I don't mean to say all I make is totally authentic or "V-con sucks", but it's just not my kind of cookbook. However, the "wow" of the week belongs to the Peanut Butter Cinnamon Rolls from the PPK forums. I hadn't made cinnamon rolls for ages and wasn't sure about the PB, but those were heaven! I ate four of them. And another nice thing was the parcel of chocolate I received from lashingfear from the "vegan goodies" swap. Thanks a lot!




8 comments:

Catherine Weber said...

chocolate in the mail is always a good thing!!

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

I totally forgot about the PB rolls... oh man I wish there was space in the fridge so I could make these (you know, chill them the night before and let them rise in the morning). damn.

I wasn't crazy into the millet croquettes either. They were good, but hard to work with. Most everything else I made from the veganomicon turned out great, though! You should try some of the desserts.

Monika K said...

I appreciate your opinion about V-con because all I've heard so far is how great it is. I knew there had to be someone out there with a different thought... (-: I like peanut butter anything so I must give these rolls a try!

Süßstoff said...

I'm sorry to hear you had bad experiences with Veganomicon recipes. So far I've been really lucky (loved everything I made), but then again I didn't make that many things yet.

Good thing you received some great goodies in the mail. That swap was fun!

Seitan Wörshipper said...

hello! Sad to hear that you have dissapointed with some of those VGNMCN recipes... I haven`t yet got that book, but I`m sure Im going to buy it as soon as its possible!I have read allso so many comments of those "saddly famous" chicpea croguettes, which too many people are failed whit :/ Well, I think I have that recipe so I maybe try to make them and then can got my own opinion better ;)

I readed that Holland-trip post and noticed in the picture you have buyed that Panda-liqourice :) It`s a Finnish brand! I love liqourice and that Panda one is one of good(and the biggest, maybe only which sells their products also in other countries) brands of liqourice, but there in Finland we have also some way much smaller manufacturers of liqourice and I love those fresh, sweet and absolutely soft and moist liqourice bites which I`m always buing in the bulk from my local health food sore(even that at liqourice isn`t really the "health food..").

Seitan Wörshipper said...

oh f**k! I`m sorry, I have wery bad memory: that Liqourice thing was buyed in DENMARK...! Stupid me ;)

Seitan Wörshipper said...

OK, last post: I have also bad memory AND I have wery poor English: Licorice not liqourice...

Anonymous said...

The rolls looks so, so good!
And so, it must not be true that you "suck at baking". :p