using cookbooks.

katie said we need to use our cookbooks more and i think that's a right-on idea. i've really only made select dishes from any of my cookbooks and i know there are some gems within that remain hidden to me. time to start digging.

recipes to try in the next couple weeks, all from vegan with a vengeance:

1. baking powder biscuits and white bean gravy.
2. potato-asparagus soup
3. mango summer rolls
4. tempeh-mango salad sammiches
5. brooklyn pad thai
6. strawberry-rhubarb-peach pie

i'll do a few here, during my last week of vacation in florida, and a couple when i get back to NYC.

sublime.

i went with my friend larry to sublime in ft. lauderdale a few weeks ago. i drove past a zillion times when i lived in south florida and every time i visited after i moved back to NYC, it was kind of unclear whether they were open or not. apparently there was some internal restructuring, but now they're open for business and came highly recommended!

the restaurant interior is beautiful, really streamlined and structured to capitalize on the sun streaming through the two giant skylights. i felt like taking interior shots was a bit too much and i'm not inspired to be more descriptive, so you'll just have to make do with that lame synopsis.

the owner stopped by to say hi while we were sitting at the bar and also checked on us after dinner. she seemed really happy, like there was nowhere else she'd rather be. that's a pretty good sign, i think. the menu states that 100% of profits are donated to animal rights organizations. i don't know how the specifics of that works out, but right on anyway.

here's what we had to eat. we washed them down with yummy lychee martinis and mojitos. mmm.
(note: happy hour, 5:30-7, M-F. two-for-one drinks at the bar!)


pesto polenta amuse bouche.
this was really good! honestly, probably my favorite of all the food. that may seem a little odd, seeing as it was just an amuse bouche, but it was really flavorful and the texture of the polenta was couscous-y and perfect.


sliders.
these were okay, nothing special. the seitan had a good texture but i think maybe there was too much bun and/or not enough accompaniments. the special sauce was kind of bland and the cheese (it seems like they use follow your heart or something similar) was just kind of...there.


mac + cheeze.
this smelled JUST LIKE traditional mac + cheese. it was tasty, if a little dry, and again the FYH-like-quality of the cheese was pretty evident. i would have liked it better had it been prepared with a little more bechamel. still, you can't really go wrong with mac + cheeze so i was happy enough.


piccata.
this was my entree. i ordered it not only because i LOVE piccata, but also because i wanted to compare it to the stupendous seitan piccata at candle 79. the chickeny seitan was breaded and pan-fried and the sauce was good, but i could have used some more capers. (i'm crazy for capers, though, so that might just be my thing.) it was served with olive oil whipped potatoes, which were nice, and grilled fresh asparagus.
i know candle's piccata is a hard act to follow and perhaps it's not fair to judge by comparison, but i couldn't help but do so. candle's version is, in my view, culinary perfection. sublime's piccata definitely doesn't disappoint, it's just not anything to write home about. but seriously, if you're writing home about piccata, maybe it's time to get out and see the sights or something.


sublime loaf.
larry ordered this and i'm really glad he did. i've not experimented much with loafs, but i know they are a great way to incorporate protein and the combinations of ingredients are nearly limitless. i only had one bite, but it was yummy. served with wasabi red bliss mash (can't go wrong there) and more fresh asparagus. i'll definitely order this next time i visit sublime.

for the first time in recent memory, i restrained myself and decided against ordering dessert. larry and i have vowed to go back for coconut creme cake and key lime pie sometime, but i experienced a rare moment of self-control that night.

i'm really glad to see an all-vegan restaurant in south florida and, particularly, one that's "nice" but not TOO nice. we had appetizers, entrees, and drinks, and i'm pretty sure our bill was less than $100. i had four lychee martinis all night, though, so i can't be positive. sublime's atmosphere is casual, but the emphasis they place on the quality of their food preparation is obvious.

all things considered, i really enjoyed my visit. a couple things were great and everything was at least good. hopefully they'll be around for a long time and i can stop in whenever i'm in south florida!

arkymalarky.

i haven't read it, but wikipedia tells me that the eric frank russell short story now inhale refers to the tower of hanoi game as "arkymalarky." myself, i think tower of hanoi, or even tower of brahma or tower of benares, is a much more dignified name for this compelling little math game.

the object is to move a set of graduated spherical solids from one position to another, usually indicated by pegs. there must be at least one empty peg on which to hold the spheres, a sphere may not be placed atop another with a smaller diameter, and the final tower must exactly mimic the starting configuration.

naturally, there are algorithmic ways to approach the puzzle and it gets more challenging as the number of spheres increases. here's a fun little virtual tower to play with.

peachy custardy cobblery crumble

desdemona brought up the idea of making this kind of a dish and it turned into kind of a call for experimentation among myself + jordanpattern. i have been feeling really stifled in the kitchen lately, like i've lost the ability to improvise, and this was just the thing i needed to get my cooking juices flowing again. it wasn't a complete success, but the part that wasn't successful didn't impact the rest of it and the rest of it was SLAMMIN'.
here goes:

peaches:
5 medium peaches, peeled and sliced
1/3 c. demerara sugar
1 t cinnamon

custard (optional):
4 T bird's custard powder
3 T demerara sugar
3 c. rice milk, plus a few T extra

crumble topping:
3/4 c. AP flour
1/2 c. margarine, cold
1/2 c. light brown sugar

preheat oven to 350.
combine the cinnamon and 1/3 c. sugar. layer the peaches in an 8x12 baking dish and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over them. bake for 15 minutes.

while peaches are baking, prepare the custard. combine the custard powder and sugar in a bowl and mix well with a splash of milk.
heat the rice milk to nearly boiling and pour into the custard/sugar paste. mix well and return to the pot, heating to the boil.
here's where my problem came in: my custard never set. i'm not sure if it's because of the rice milk, if i might've accidently left out 1 T of powder, if i didn't heat it long enough. but it was thick over the heat and thinned out once it cooled a little. like, too thin. i'll keep experimenting with it, and it tasted fine once all done, but i think the custard part is totally optional because the peaches would be fine with just the crumble topping.
pour the custard over the peaches, just to cover them. you might not need to use the entire 2 pints of custard.
bake for 15 minutes.

while the peaches + custard are baking, prepare the crumble topping by mixing the flour and sugar and cutting in the cold margarine. mash with a fork, your fingers, whatever, until everything is well combined and crumbly.

increase oven temp to 400.
sprinkle the topping over the peach/custard mixture and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

then i let it cool down and topped it with a little soyatoo. oh, man.
SO GOOD.

memphis IV.

i have been trialing a memphis-style barbecue sandwich, traditionally bbq pulled pork topped with cole slaw, for months now.

round 1:
my first attempt utilized some morningstar farms beefesque strips, mainly out of laziness. it was a raging success, so i set out to properly recreate the sandwich without using super-processed frozen foods.
i am down with cole slaw, but i am REALLY down with celeriac slaw. it is tangy and tasty and really elevates this sandwich. there's a really good vegan recipe out there on the interwebs but i'm not going to bother linking to it. just search for "celery remoulade" if you're hot for it.

round 2:

tofu, is there anything you can't do?! i cut a block of frozen, pressed, tofu into sort-of strips and marinated them in a bunch of junk: liquid smoke, molasses, probably a whole host of other things i can't remember. easy, check. cheaper and better than frozen "meal starter" strips, check.
but still, the feel of the sandwich was kind of...off.

round 3:
i don't think i even bothered blogging round 3. i grated some seitan on a box grater and sautéed it in bbq sauce. it tasted grody.
i think i also was famished when i undertook round 3 and tried to throw together my slaw too quickly, ignoring obvious missteps in procedure.
i'm pretty sure i tried to pick the slaw off the sandwich unsuccessfully before finally giving up, in disgust, and eating angel hair for dinner. AGAIN.

round 4:
my buddy mike has been promising to send me canned jackfruit in brine for months, but he hasn't because he's real-jobless in san francisco. i mean, mopping jizz at the lusty lady is a job, but it's not a good job-type job in an expensive city, so i haven't pressed him about it. PLUS, i have been promising to send him a bottle of brooklyn local one for months and have neglected to, despite the fact that i DO have a real job-type job and i live kinda close to a post office and work even closer to another post office. but, really, i've been BUSY! where am i going with this?
oh, i managed to track down some jackfruit here in NYC, at dual specialty products (formerly dowel quality products), an AWESOME indian grocery that stocks massive amounts of essential cooking supplies. (also, where i got my first indian mango.) so finally, today, the 4th of july, after i had spent 3 hours "cleaning" my kitchen only to find myself halfway through a major restructuring and reorganization process, i simultaneously threw my towel and my hat into the ring and decided the time for bbq jackfruit had come.
folks were making jackfruit carnitas like it was going out of style a few months back, with good results. i'm happy to report that my endeavor was typically successful.
i soaked and rinsed the jackfruit to remove most of the brine they were canned in, then marinated them in bbq sauce for a bit. then i fried up two thick slices of vidalia onion (untraditional, but delicional) before sautéeing the jackfruit pieces in some more sauce, breaking them up with a fork as they cooked. threw together a small batch of celeriac slaw and here, my friends, is what i ended up with:

easy, check. cheaper and better than frozen "meal starter" strips, check. better mouthfeel than tofu, check. just what the doctor ordered when you're gutting your apartment and reorganizing/cleaning everything because you're heading out of NYC for 7 weeks and it's the least you can do to leave a sparkling (all things relative) pad for your subletter, check.

i still have one more trial round, utilizing the ever-popular soy curls. if i don't object to them, as is the case i've heard with a few people, i have a feeling they will be the winner. the jackfruit is pretty awesome, but i think i'd like something a tiny bit sturdier for the memphis.
ideally, i'll make it sometime next week and i can put this project to bed.
in the meantime, however, i'm glad i decided to make this today because it's motherflipping july already and despite isa's nagging i haven't posted anything since may.
didn't i say i'd been BUSY?!
sheesh.

william rocks the hanbok.

at his birthday party yesterday, this handsome devil foretold his future.
he is to be a great scholar!

also, a cake-smashing ladies man.

pressing.

i've recently (and temporarily) given up cooking (and cleaning), choosing instead to focus my energies on fretting (and agonizing). i haven't much felt like writing, either, for the past month or so - first because i was enjoying the springtime too much and then because the aforementioned fret & agony kicked in.

old milo has developed cognitive dysfunction. i mean, he has dementia. since i haven't posted about it, i feel like it's had a really quick onset. poor thing. (me? or him? whatever.) it's a total roller coaster situation; he has his good days and his bad. thing is, his good days are still pretty bad but his bad days are not at all good. he was pacing like a lunatic initially. when that subsided a little, i worried that he was on his way out. he spent so much time sleeping and slept so soundly that i had to physically rouse him to go out. well, he's gone back to pacing a lot - which i find...encouraging?! - but now i'm losing sleep over the lack of "cold, wet" on his nose.
maybe some drugs will help, but not for a month or so. and that's after they finally arrive, since i opted for $0.17-per-pill online ordering over $1-per-pill at the corner pharmacy.

my no-cooking philosophy, which has seemed not so much a lifestyle choice as an admission of defeat, is really taking its toll. i feel like shit physically because i'm just not fueled properly. this is an unfortunate recurring cycle for me - i feel bad so i eat poorly so i feel bad, ad infinitum.
so this week i intend to snap out of my funk and start taking care to make myself feel better. lots of fresh fruit and veg and satisfying lunches packed for work every day. fortuitously, i did some testing for joanna's next yellow rose book prior to falling into the pit of nutritional despair, so i have lots of easy options to put in rotation. like...

3-bean salad with warm cumin lime vinaigrette

cabbage salad with lemon dill dressing

lemon mint pasta with zucchini and petit pois (or peas, if you shop in washington heights.)

and the worst picture of the bunch but the biggest hit amongst all the YRR testers, southern-style "chick" salad. (with grapes!)


in final news, it's a babytastic week 'round these parts. tomorrow is my little love william's first birthday (his korean "dol!") and his future girlfriend kelly finally made her appearance this week, born may 6th at 6:40 a.m. i can't wait to meet her tomorrow!

the accidental eavesdropper.

one of the mixed blessings of my apartment is its location on the ground floor of the building. i have a private entrance, a rarity in the city, so i can get the dogs in and out without being a nuisance to other tenants. but although it's east-facing, i don't get a lot of sunlight, it being blocked by the buildings across the street.

now that spring is in the air and it's getting warmer outside, i've been opening my windows, four of which face the sidewalk. so i get to hear a lot of conversation snippets as people walk by. they're usually pretty trite, as i guess most conversation is, but sometimes i'll get lucky and hear something that makes me laugh. and then there are the times when i feel like i'm hearing things i shouldn't, things that are meant only for the person to whom they're directed. just now, for example:

he: "i can say that."
she: "no, you can't say that. you want to know why?"
he: "why?"
she: "because for three months, i cried every day. so, no, you cannot say that i was happy."

i felt bad for overhearing, though to be fair these people weren't exactly keeping it down.
but mostly i just felt bad for them. bad for her, obviously, for having been so unhappy for such a long time. and for him, too, because it must hurt to find out now that he was so wrong or so blind or so whatever that he just couldn't see the truth.

there's still time; hopefully another passerby will lighten the mood tonight.

nice pair.

it always makes me super happy when i'm out with the dogs and a passerby says something nice about them. big dogs and pit bulls don't always elicit pleasantries, i've found, particular not in my neck of the woods; it's the rare stranger who recognizes and acknowledges their awesomeness!
while raja is stuck in seemingly perpetual puppyhood, milo continues to age (relatively) gracefully. at almost 13 years old, he's as beautiful as ever and his gentle nature remains unchanged. i have seen the advancing years take their effect on his body, though, and am ever conscious that he won't be with me forever. though i'm pretty confident he'll see another birthday, i sometimes wonder whether he's experiencing his lasts. and even though i don't expect him to leave me in the immediate future, it is really nice when a stranger passes along a compliment - about either of my boys, but particularly the oldest man.

when we were out walking tonight, a woman passed us and said simply: "nice pair."
i had to laugh because it sounded kind of inappropriate and perverse, but it really was such a sweet thing to say. she was so right on.

over the weather.

to my mind, there's nothing quite like a good, harrowing sickness to really force some reëvaluation into one's life. old habits and patterns and mindsets are called into question in a desperate "why me?" quest to understand what it is that ails. and while the path to a new understanding is fraught with phlegm and woe, coming out alive and with a renewed outlook can almost make it seem worthwhile.

almost.

last saturday, i was sidelined by the grippe of death. a trip to the urgent care clinic on tuesday started me on proper recovery, but it wasn't until friday that i really started to feel human again. (i do have to note, though, that i'm glad i didn't listen to all those people who said i'd have to "ride it out." there's a lot to be said for the relief that can come from treating a flu's symptoms!) as i have emerged from the sick fog, i've been giving a lot of mind-time to questions of where i am - at times, more literal than others - and also to where i am heading.

i've been living in my apartment in washington heights for nearly three years now and i think it was only june and july of 2005 when i truly felt happy here. there are a whole host of reasons why that is, but it's the unfortunate reality, so i find myself considering a move with ever greater frequency. the catch, of course, is that moving is an unreasonable prospect. my rent is affordable, i'm 15 blocks from work, and my neighborhood is as quiet and pleasant as any i'm likely to find. when i consider areas where i'd consider living, they're prohibitively expensive, distant, or both. red hook, brooklyn was my most recent fling; it has high rent and crazy travel possibilities in spades!
so rather than moving, i'm resigned to spending the next two years of my teaching contract in this apartment. i'm not, however, resigned to being unhappy here, so i'm embarking on a big spring cleaning and decluttering, to be followed by painting and maybe some furniture upgrading. if nothing else, hopefully my projects will keep me busy enough that i won't be dwelling on what could be.
my state of where extends, naturally, beyond the walls of my apartment. i'm just over halfway through my five-year commitment with Math for America and have thus far not had any great misgivings about accepting my newton fellowship. i have found, however, that discontented naggings are coming more frequently and i'm (again) faced with the reality that new york is not my place. although that's temporary, it still leaves me feeling kind of up in the air, as i'm not sure where my place is, if indeed i have one.
changing one's geography is easy enough, though. what really vexes me is that while i'm relatively happy and satisfied with my job - certainly much more fulfilled than i've ever been before - i'm not sure it's, well, enough. but, then, i don't know that anything could be and am well aware that i may be chasing some ideal that will never materialize. again, i've got a couple of years left on my contract. i'm going to try to use that time wisely, exploring other options and interests and if i don't come up with something that's more "right" for me, i'll hopefully at least be upping my satisfaction level, in general.

ah, well, these are all longer-term thoughts. what really matters most now is that i'm returning to work tomorrow after a week off and i'm trying to keep my focus squarely on being healthy. i ventured out to fairway yesterday to stock up on groceries because i just didn't eat much when i was sick and i don't feel up to eating anything too process-y. got lots of fresh produce and some staples and i'm off to plan some meals for the week that are healthy and light. the weather is warming up and there's a definite spring-like air about new york right now, which i think helped lift me out of the sick doldrums high enough that i could start to look to the future.
i started the week off with the most perfect, sunshine-y breakfast i could think of: lemon soy yogurt, ezekiel sprouted grain cereal, and a bunch of fresh berries. i honestly don't think there's any way you could improve on such a meal. it's the kind of fuel i really need right now, nutritionally and otherwise. i'm putting it in heavy rotation.