femme du fondant

is it wrong to want to ask someone on a date just from reading an article about them? this new york times profile about pastry chef christina tosi, makes her seem like the funnest girl ever. some of her likes are puppies, bike rides, neil young, gin & tonics and cute old ladies! and she makes lovely, inventive confections for nyc superstar outfit, momofuku milk bar. look at her go:


...swoon...

love,
emily

whomp, there it is

i know, i know, you miss us. it's been a few days - perhaps our longest streak of blogitude lackage - since we started this baby. well, I have an excuse, albeit a very poor one. no, i haven't been baking up a storm, i definitely wasn't gallivanting about town, nor was i exploring all the old back issues of Gourmet on the shelf. i was playing an online game.

there i said it. i'll admit it. the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, so here we are. i'm revisiting an addiction to an old beloved online game. look, at least it's not the sims, ok? the game i find so fun, so stimulating and so mentally challenging (it keeps me in peak mental shape, you see) is none other than word whomp. this game features fairly simple letter rearranging in an adorable screen setting:


six little gophers hold six letters and your objective is to form as many words as possible out of those six letters (the mega word in the picture above is "harken" and also "hanker", get it?). when you've reached a certain number of words, the gopher at the bottom of the screen munches a carrot. if you get every word possible, the gopher munches a turnip. super cute, vegan friendly AND promotes healthy eating. unfortunately, it's hella addicting and very counterproductive to my spend-less-time-on-the-computer resolution.

i warn you, word whomp is not for those who lack free time. it is not for those easily succumbing to all things addictive in nature. and it's definitely not for those lacking good spelling skills. but damn if it isn't nice, after a long day of work, to just plop down and bang out some three letter words. happy whomping!



p.s. i did make some cookies today, chocolate chocolate chip walnut cookies, so there!

Peanut Butter Cookie Time

i've been shacked up in bed with a little bit of a fever and a little bit of an infection for two straight days and you can only watch so many episodes of 30 Rock before you feel the need to do something even slightly productive. so i cleaned my room, changed my bed sheets, applied for a few jobs and to top it all off i thought, well why don't i go ahead and bake something.

it's no longer a secret to everyone that i love sweets. tonight, after a hearty meal of leftover pasta with lentils courtesy of sister emma, i had a little craving for something warm and dessert-like. i immediately remembered the new addition of some oats to our kitchen and furiously rustled through the pages of a September '08 copy of vegetarian times that touted "homemade vegan cookies & brownies" on the cover. ahhh yes, peanut butter-oatmeal cookies, i've been waiting to make you. here they are on the cooling rack, note the big old pieces of oats, that makes them "healthy", people.

i guess these being healthy and all, i can eat 3 right off the cooling rack. the hard thing about doing a food photo shoot, besides my lack of photography skills, is that when a hot meal is in front of you, you just want to dig in! but when a whole 2 dozen cookies are in front of you, it's hard to stop digging in. did i mention i love peanut butter?

if you missed the recipe link above, here it is again. they were pretty easy to make, with tony as my co-baker, we banged these out in about 10 minutes. the problem is they are SO good, SO bite sized and SO adorable that this triple threat makes it really difficult to stop yourself from eating 5.

snow day (night)!!!

today, around 2 p.m., it started snowing like hell. shows were half canceled, and beautifully half assed new plans were made. clark park - epicenter of our neighborhood, whether we like it or not - was blown up with sled-loving kids from 9 p.m. til at least now, when i dragged my soggy ass home (1:40 a.m.). i exposed my digital camera to the elements for only a few precious seconds, but it gives you idea enough...right? for the full effect, imagine snow down your pants, whiskey in your flask, cute dogs barking, everyone cheering, barely a "real" sled in sight (most were facing the hill on slicked up pieces of cardboard, broken drum cymbals, trash can lids and cafeteria lunch trays), and you get the idea...




i love living here.

love,
emily

the tof hoag

every city seems to have a little deli, market or restaurant that makes "the best" vietnamese style tofu hoagie. tofu hoagie = marinated tofu, shredded carrots and daikon, sprigs of cilantro, thin slices of jalapeno peppers and a hefty dash of sriracha. i've only sampled the wares in chicago (too greasy) and seattle (the insides were great but the bread was so crusty it hurt my mouth), but i still feel confident in naming west philadelphia's fu wah mini market (47th & baltimore ave.) the victor.

fu wah's hoagie rolls are always soft and fresh, the tofu is juicy, the vegetables are crunchy and everything is proportioned just right. each bite is a salty, spicy, zippy flavor explosion! and at $3.75 (remember when they used to be a flat 3 bucks? those were different times), you can throw in a bag of dirty chips and have yourself a wholly satisfying lunch for 5 dollars.

the outside lunch time world can be a cruel place for a cash strapped vegan. chinese food is usually gross, soups are made with chicken stock or cream, sushi is way expensive, and veggie sandwiches and salads are infuriatingly overpriced. tofu hoagie (or tof hoag, as we sometimes abbreviate) and the fine people at fu wah: i salute thee, for standing as a vegan beacon of light in the dark, meaty streets of philadelphia.

love,
emily

let them eat pancakes

Oh pancakes, is there nothing you can't do? Why, just the other day, a batch of leftover pancakes thoroughly cleaned the bathroom! And last week, when I wasn't feeling well, pancakes went in to work for me so I could stay home and rest. Normally though, pancakes fill my belly with simple, easy, delicious sustenance.

Once in a great while (ok, more like a few times a month) it seems as though our kitchen has been ransacked. Wha happen to all the tofu, tempeh, beans, vegetables, snausages, fruit, bread and yogurt (and everything else there is to eat)!??

That's when I refer to a tried and true 5 ingredient pancake recipe. FIVE INGREDIENTS! It doesn't get much easier (that is, unless you use a boxed mix, but let's not even go there, shall we?). This recipe is super simple and adaptable. I like to make little individually flavored pancakes - chocolate chip, apple cinnamon (see lower right hand corner of picture below), banana walnut, coconut almond, whatever! Top with bananas, maple syrup, jam, peanut butter or raw honey and revel in the wonders of easiness, cheapness and yum. Yeah, it might not be the most nutritious thing out there, but there's worse, oh god there's so much worse.


Classic Pancakes (from How It All Vegan)
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups soy milk
2 tbsp oil

The best way to make pancakes is with a hot non-stick pan, a plastic spatula, and a lid to cover them while they cook, which hastens the cooking process and ensures that the middle won't end up gooey! Heat your oven to about 200F and place a heat-resistant plate inside. As you finish making your pancakes, transfer them to the oven so that they'll stay warm until you are ready to serve them.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together. Add the milk and oil and mix together carefully until "just mixed" (if you mix too vigorously the pancakes won't get fluffy!). Portion out about 3/4 to 1 cup of batter onto a hot non-stick pan or lightly oiled frying pan and cover with a lid. Let sit on medium heat until the center starts to bubble and becomes sturdy. Flip pancake over and cook other side until golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is gone. Makes 2 or more servings. Enjoy!

it was...a big day

it was, indeed, a big day. i cooked, i baked, i dined, i drank. it was the first saturday i've had off (from work) in so long! and so, while trying to make the best of it, lots of food things happened.

first: the afternoon of cooking. i made a fannnnntastic batch of granola. 1 cup steel cut irish oats + 1/2 cup rolled oats (NOT instant oats) + 1 cup chopped cashews & walnuts + 1/4 cup vegetable oil + 1/3 cup maple syrup + 1 tbsp. homemade vanilla extract + 1/4 tsp. sea salt (baked at 350 F, for 20 minutes and stirred often), with some roasted sunflower seeds, raisins, and hemp seads added after the fact. crunchy, sweet and salty are the reasons the whole world loves granola (even ryan, who deemed it "too healthy," then ate about 4 big handfulls of it). despite the informal recipe i just laid out, there is no secret to granola! just mix up some stuff you like with a bit of sweetener and a touch of oil and salt, then bake it til it smells good. seriously, that's it. if you buy granola pre-made from the store, YOU ARE BEING RIPPED OFF.


this beautiful mix and some soy yogurt is my breakfast for the next few days. protein for breakfast! whoever says it isn't possible for a vegan to start the day off right, well, consider yourself served.

then (simultaneously, actually), i tried my hand at a seitan loaf meant to become "deli slices." the recipe was adapted from vegan dad (brilliance! my new mantra: "the man knows his seitan!"). it was actually pretty easy - vital wheat gluten kneaded into a spicy broth - but the outcome is still uncertain. we're pretty sure that to feel the full effect, one of us needs to take the loaf to work and, under the scrutiny and potential vegan-hatred of our co-workers, slice it up on a genuine deli meat slicer. otherwise, we might end up with this weird baby:


that is not a hoagie roll; it's a big old roll of wheat meat. yeesh. but it tastes good! i swear.

then, after a wee foodie break, i met our dear friend adam/VR south philly correspondent at a center city vegan chinese spot. maybe it's best to write about that venture tomorrow. until then, here is a photo of adam in all of our entree glory:



he actually said to me "make sure the photo looks good." ha! there ya go, champ. more to come tomorrow.

love,
emily