We’re moving this weekend and I couldn’t sustain the vegan thing (too active to do it without gross processed protein faux-meat or supplements—who knew?). Once we’re settled I’ll be baking my ass off (or on) and posting all about it.
Buttercream, Eating Issues, & Solo Hikes
January 9th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
Where did that week go? Right, it went to work and finding a new apartment and replacing a shattered iPhone, and probably some other stuff—a lot of quinoa, definitely.
Anyway, I had a delicious weekend—not counting the Earth Balance frosting I put on some cupcakes that was (1) disgusting and (2) made my body overheat in its attempts to make sense of its overprocessed disgusting-ness. I had bought it because it was on sale and I figured it’d be good for quick buttercream, but NO. Never again! I will make a coconut oil buttercream next time, and every time after.
Aside from that, though, it was great. I also realized I’ve not been eating nearly enough since going vegan for how much activity I do (generally, six days of Vinyasa yoga per week). It’s been a real learning process and apparently I’ve got some issues to work through regarding exercise and food. You see, I’ve never been one to obsess over my body to an insane extent; I always figured better to have some fat on me and eat what I like than be miserable and fat-less. But then I dropped a bunch of weight after practicing yoga seriously for a few months. And then I changed my diet and cut out processed anything, refined sugar, and red meat. And then I went vegan and dropped ten pounds in a month, and my body started to kind of fall apart. Because I didn’t intend to lose weight, it’s been strange. I thought I was letting anyone’s compliments move right through me, but I wasn’t. I was letting myself eat less because I didn’t want to disappoint people by “failing” at some weight loss I didn’t intentionally take on. The idea that I could not be eating enough seemed (and sort of still seems) completely implausible, because I’ve been so trained to believe that as a woman I can’t starve myself ENOUGH. But I can! And it can impede my asana practice, the best and most important part of my life. That’s also part of a problem I have with not believing an activity is actually exercising my body unless it is miserable (ahem, like running). Yet, apparently, all those chaturangas and forearm stands do actually work my muscles in a manner similar to less enjoyable and meditative activities. So, I’ve been eating every couple of hours now and am taking a whole five days off from physical activity to try to let my body catch up and repair.
Yesterday I went on a solo hike as my last bit of semi-strenuous activity, and it was gorgeous. I listened to King of Limbs and smiled at the sun and at times had to consciously contain my glee to keep from running with my arms in the air. Life is good. Thank you, unseasonably warm January.
Justin’s Awesome Vegan Sweet-Potato-Coconut-Curry Soup
January 1st, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
This soup is the best. Make it.
Ingredients (for 2)
1 Large Sweet Potato (or 1 Small Butternut Squash)
1 Large Green Apple
1 Can Coconut Milk
1/2 T Coriander Seed
1 t Sea Salt
1 t Cumin Seed
1 t Mustard Seed
1 t Black peppercorns
1 t Tumeric
1 t Cayenne pepper
(You can substitute the above spices with two tablespoons curry powder, but the flavor will not be as strong.)
1 UNRIPE Banana
3 Scallions (Green Onion)
1 Large handful of dry roasted cashews
Greek Yogurt (or whipped coconut milk if doing vegan)Recipe
1) In the past I have wrapped the sweet potato and apple separately in aluminum foil and bake them at 400-450 until they start oozing (usually 20 minutes for apple and 60+ for the sweet potato). Then I let them cool and peel them. However, this is annoying as the sweet potato remains painfully hot for a long time and it is difficult to peel the apply because it is so mushy. My new plan is to peel and cube them first and then cook them, either in foil or on a baking tray lightly coated with oil. I’m open to suggestions here.
2) If you are making your own curry powder, dry roast the coriander, cumin, mustard and peppercorns. Then mix in a small bowl with salt, tumeric, and cayenne.
3) Blend coconut milk and spices in a blender. Then blend in potato and apple. (I use a large high power blender. I don’t know how it would work in an ordinary blender.)
4) Transfer to soup pot on oven, bring to boil for a few minutes, and then let simmer for at least an hour. Preferably, you should let the soup sit in a refrigerator overnight and then re-heat it. (You might want to use less seasoning if you do this.)
5) When ready to serve (soup is in bowls), chop up the banana, slice up scallions, and pulverize cashews. Mix these together and then add them to the soup. Add a dallop of greek yogurt (or whipped coconut milk).
Thumbs-Up to This 2012 Situation
January 1st, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink
Happy New Year! Despite getting only five hours of sleep last night, I am feeling better than I have in a while—or rather, since the holidays began sucking up all my time. It was like magic today, waking up and going right to yoga, then coming home and having nothing to do but read a story collection for my next translator interview for The Awl. The collection is fantastic to boot, and it’s nice to return to fiction after a little break. And it’s a good hair day! Look! I’m also on my second pot of coffee, which might have something to do with my psyched-ness.
Yesterday, the last day of self-inflicted holiday cooking madness, I baked the Chocolate Galaxy Banana Cheesecake from Vegan Pie in the Sky, part of my incredible Christmas cookbook haul. It was my first time baking any cheesecake, much less a vegan one, so I was quite nervous. It was also not my first go-round with a recipe from this book, since I failed miserably at the chocolate pudding pie for Thanksgiving when it was posted on the Times’ Well blog. The pudding came out delicious; the crust was a total disaster. But I had to do it, because I have been dying for cheesecake for a couple of years now—really! I eventually forced myself to stop eating it when it was constantly causing me, uh, gastrointestinal agita. It hadn’t crossed my mind until going vegan, though, that dairy-free cheesecake was the solution. I wouldn’t have even attempted another pie crust without the food processor I received from my mom last week, which gave me a beautifully fine graham cracker cookie crumb in just a couple of minutes. It looked and smelled delish out of the oven. Step 1 successful.
Then I blended up the filling, which was totally weird! I’ve never used a blender for baking, but I pretty much love it because it’s freaking fail proof. I poured in most of the batter, then got to melting chocolate in my improvised double broiler. I was not proud of my marbling job, but it would have to do. Into the oven it went, and out it came looking totally cheesecake-like and edible. I was apprehensively hopeful.
As it chilled, I set about making the chickpea-quinoa pilaf from Veganomicon. I’m always way more stressed out about cooking actual food for other people than I am about baking. I’m not too intuitive in the kitchen (yet), but being as all my measuring spoons were dirty from the cheesecake and I was holding out on doing any dishes until I was completely done, I ended up just adding the spices willy-nilly, which made me feel like I knew what I was doing.
After that was done, we set out for Queens. I’ve been imposing my healthy living on anyone who will listen with a kind of psychotic determination for a while now, so my friends Stephi and Justin also made some awesome vegan food for us to have a little feast (Scott, my partner, and Tommy, Stephi’s, opted out and got Chinese food; as Tommy noted the other day, their “tastebuds are broken”). It started out with Justin’s intensely delicious sweet-potato-and-coconut-curry soup (recipe to come!). It had a perfectly rendered spice that balanced the sweetness perfectly, and was rich without being overwhelming. I am going to make it as soon as possible, and its deliciousness may have inspired me to experiment with soup in the coming weeks.
Stephi stuffed some balsamic-glazed portobello mushrooms with sauteed spinach, onions, and artichoke. Does that sound like it could be bad? Because I don’t think it could be, and it was a really satisfying center to the meal. My chickpea-quinoa pilaf was okay. It was a bit bland because I added the spices willy-nilly without being a good cook.
We then played a game of Cranium, our old favorite (in the summer of 2006, all my friends and I did was play Cranium, ever), hollered a little when it turned midnight, and then ATE THE CHEESECAKE.
Again, the boys with the broken palates were not partaking, and just me, Stephi, and Justin ate over half of it. The banana flavor was intense, which surprised me—I really thought the chocolate was going to overwhelm it. The crust came out perfectly. It was smooth and rich and mousse-y and totally satisfied my years-long desire for a decadent cheesecake, without being full of gross stuff that makes me sick. There was no better way to ring in 2012: some of my favorite people, eating amazing food (and having my veganism indulged so whole-heartedly!), playing a good game, and not waking up hung-over.
My New Internet Situation
December 31st, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
With the New Year almost upon us and me deciding that I don’t need to feel guilty about not posting about just books all the time (a real crisis I had!), I’ve decided to give myself a clean slate. So here is where I’ll be blogging about everything, and over on Tumblr I’ll be feeding in links to my posts and also (as you’ll see) putting Instagram pics and reblogging fancy yoga pictures and keeping track of recipes, etc., etc.—the stuff Tumblr is built for. I won’t be feeding all of anything to Twitter, because I think that would be annoying. I tweet enough as it is. That’s the update.
Quinoa With Kale and Pear Satueed in Coconut Oil
December 30th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
Taking inspiration from myself and the delicious improvised lunch of quinoa and steamed kale and pear with almonds and cinnamon that I made a couple of weeks ago, I did a variation today. I have no almonds thanks to the Christmas Truffle Extravaganza That We Will Not Speak Of, so I was like, “Where am I gonna get that good fat from? Oh, hey, coconut oil! To go with my coconut water that I’m choking down!” I also have limited prep time. So this was born. There’s some cayenne, salt, and pepper, too. It’s not as delicious as the other variation, but it does its job of being filling. I love pears in savory dishes; they don’t really satisfy me on their own or in desserts. I need bigger sweetness. But that subtlety works to its advantage in a pairing with kale.
New Coconut Water Tasting
December 30th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
I’m usually a compulsive drinker of VitaCoco because I practice hot Vinyasa yoga, but because I got a Whole Foods gift card for Christmas (THANKS, MOM!), I got some of this fancier stuff. It’s SUPER NUTTY. I’ve drank straight from a coconut before. I know what it tastes like. And this is different. There’s an almost gel-like mouthfeel. I like to tell people that everything good for you is an acquired taste, so I will suck this down and drink it if the opportunity arises. Of course, I’m pleased by the fact that it’s organic and raw, but I’ll plan to go to Costco soon for a VitaCoco twelve-pack.
Veg on Veg Action
December 29th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
After two days spent drinking the ridiculously delicious BluePrintJuice Green, I’ve returned to the cheaper and somewhat more convenient Wild Thing available made fresh at my local supermarket, Wild By Nature. It’s got kale, celery, carrot, ginger, garlic, and ginseng. It is STRONG. The BluePrintJuice has romaine, celery, cucumber, apple, spinach, kale, parsley, lemon, and ginger. All that adds up to a definitively green but slightly sweet taste that goes down smooth (provided you’re not hooked on processed foods and sugar). This Wild Thing has bite, one that takes getting used to. I usually like to drink my juice in the morning, but didn’t get a chance to run out. Then lunchtime and its attendant stomach growls snuck up on me and I ended up grabbing my favorite panini from La Bottega, the Terra sans cheese. It’s portobello, zucchini, broccoli rabe, and roasted red pepper on whole wheat—delicious and filling without making you feel like there’s a rock in your gut. I figured I’d just pair them up for some intense veg action (as opposed to my usual beverage, uh, water). This is probably blasphemy to hardcore juicers, but when I’m working I need carbs or my brain will stop and then I will get fired and then I won’t be able to afford this insanity. So we make do!
Note Ricky the Cat sniffing my stuff. We don’t properly discipline him, but he has no interest in vegetables anyway. He just wants to sniff.
Resolve 2012
December 29th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
2011 was a good year for me: I gradually got into a handstand; I gradually became vegan; I started to cook and bake and learn how satisfying it is to use my hands to create something tangible and nourishing; I experienced no tragedy. I’m ending it with overworked hips and an aching back, but I’m learning from that… learning that I need more protein than a regular person, learning that rest does not equal laziness. In 2012, I want to drink green juice every day (success on that front already), meditate daily (working on it), do yoga teacher training (I’ve never saved money for anything in my life), and write more, without expectation (I’ve taken the last two months off). Basically, I want to find a way to balance my time between all the things I love (yoga, food, books) without losing out on anything but without going crazy. Let’s see if it’s possible.
Starting Anew
December 29th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
As I’ve grown a lot over the past year, I feel like I’m a different person—a person who cooks, who practices yoga religiously, who enjoys being outside. With all that and the New Year approaching, I wanted to just start fresh, once again. So hello, I’m Alicia.