Kimono

I discovered a new restaurant in Durham at 2505 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd called Kimono. It opened on Halloween. I went with Wessie and ordered the vegetable sushi combo, which includes, for 12.95: soup (choice of clear or miso), salad, 1 vegetable hand roll (avocado, cucumber, asparagus, yellow pickle, plum pickle and carrot), 1 10 piece vegetable maki, 2 pieces each of avocado, cucumber, asparagus, yellow pickle and carrot nigiri. I couldn't finish it all, but I was AMPED. The only thing I wasn't excited about was the miso soup. Even though it was super tofu, seaweed and chives heavy, I also think there was some bonito involved. =( Either way, the sushi and salad are still worth the price, especially since they serve it to you in a boat! I've never warranted a sushi boat before.

I've attached a picture of the apple they chopped up for us after our fourth or fifth meal there over the course of two weeks. Yay fancy apples.

Battle of the Fake Cheese

So in my mixed bag from Vegan Essentials, I purchased several types of fake cheese, including the much-fawned over Teese.

I should preface this with the fact that 1 - I am still very happy with the "cheese-like" consistency of road's end, but my local whole foods has deigned to NO LONGER CARRY IT, thereby driving me into a tizzy of rage, not helped by the fact that my roommate Wessie is seriously an easy mac addict. I am easily influenced in food cravings.

Here are my findings:

Teese Mozzarella = 4 1/2 out of 5
Teese Cheddar = 2 1/2 out of 5
First, the Mozzerella. This is the first vegan cheese I've come across that I actually would EAT BY ITSELF. It reminds me very much of that lame-ass fat free string cheese my mom used to buy me that was pretty tasty, but didn't string out and that I would in turn share with my dog. I've had Teese Mozzarella in a lasagna, so I know it'll be good in that usage. Emboldened by everyone's love of teese and praise of its melting powers, I decided to make a pizza.

Now, as you can see, the pizza looks pretty good (as evidenced by the narfed piece). That said, you can probably see that my pizza looks nothing like the Teese photo magic pizza to the right. I can forgive the lame meltiness. It's not that bad, I'm used to un-melty cheese and frankly, I don't use cheese enough to care too much. As far as substitute mozzerellas go, this one has my blessing.

Now, to discuss the Cheddar. Teese, maybe your cheddar is in beta, maybe it's still a little soft, but don't stick a fork in it because you're not done.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Teese, it comes in little red sausage roll up plastic thingies. I dislike these plastic roll up thingies for a couple of reasons:
1 - you have to peel it away to get to the (very slippery and very expensive) Teese, which, on my first attempt, led to a piece of (very slippery and very expensive) teese ending up on my (not so clean) kitchen floor and going for a visit to the garbage disposal.
2 - they are strangely shaped and do not fit easily into small size tupperware, which means you have to either store them in ridiculously large tupperware OR in plastic baggies
3 - the nutritional info is not listed on the packaging, which means you first have to go online, then you have to weigh your teese (or figure out how many times 26g goes into 1 lb, which I couldn't do) to know how much you are supposed to consume at one sitting.

Which brings us to the unique issue with the cheddar. Upon opening the cheddar, it looks, smells and tastes exactly like kraft singles. Which is AWESOME. Kraft singles and string cheese-- looks like I found the two bland american cheese substitutes I was searching for! Unfortunately, this doesn't hold up. Once you put it over heat (or overnight in the refridgerator) the flavor of the cheddar literally leaks out. I noticed when making my mac and teese (with 3 servings/80 g of teese to 2 cups noodles) that it was kind of...well...flavorless. The next day, I figured since I'd spent about 12 bucks when all was said and done on this pound of food, I may as well use it. I opened the bag and my hands were covered in a cheddar smelling liquid that leaked from the Teese, and took several good washings to get off. Melted? No flavor. After a day in the fridge? Less flavor and lots more icky water.

Again with the cheddar I found the melting power to be truly lacking (note big chunk of teese floating in bowl after boiling for almost 10 minutes). I guess I shouldn't say lacking--it is about on par with Follow Your Heart Brand cheeses and similarly reconstitutes into a gelatinous sludge when it cools. While the slightly sweet and almost absence of the chalky vegan cheese flavor of the mozzerella means i'll probably shell out for it again, particularly for use in my thanksgiving lasagna, sadly the cheddar needs to go back to the lab, in my opinion.

Follow Your Heart Cream Cheese = 3 stars out of 5 stars
I found this FYH Cream Cheese at Earth Fare. I like it better than I did at the beginning of last week, when I slathered it onto a bagel for the first time. In truth, I'm not sure if it's the fact that although Tofutti is probably higher fat, that it reminds me more of the low fat cream cheese my mom used to get from the bagel place. The FYH cream cheese tastes like really really thick FYH mayo. And when I started treating it like "supermayo" it changed my outlook on this product. Instead of 2 tbsp FYH cream cheese on a bagel, try 1 tbsp FYH cream cheese on bread, with some fake bacon and a little smart deli bologna. Because FYH Mayo is so high fat (1 TBSP runs 100 Cals) while the "Supermayo" is high fat, but not even close (2 TBSP runs 70 Cals) you get more bangs for your buck. I'd stick to tofutti for your "cream cheese" needs, but as a miracle whip/low-cal mayo, this is pretty worthwhile.

Tofutti Slices = 4 out of 5
Tofutti slices are the perfect american cheese substitute because
1- they come wrapped like american cheese
2- they are as unhealthy as american cheese
3- they kinda sorta melt and burn the crap out of your mouth like american cheese
4- everyone pretends to hate them but secretly loves them like american cheese
These singles still strike the right chord when making vegan "grilled cheese" or make a mac and "multi-cheese."
I don't care that they're probably made of hydrogenated oil and the hopes and dreams of vegan children. Tofutti and I are going to run away together and make hydrogenated oil babies.

As long as I'm unabashedly praising tofutti and their hydrogenated ways, can I just say that I desperately miss Tofutti Pan Crust Pizza Pizzaz? I live in North Carolina, not the land of the vegan, but for three shining months, Tofutti Pan Crust Pizza Pizzaz found its way into my local Kroger natural foods freezer without fail. Until all of a sudden it vanished and everyone pretended they had no idea what I was talking about when I asked why it was gone. This is my "stuff I miss about cheese" post and french bread pizza is definitely up there.

Lastly, I can't review the Sheese I bought because when I opened it it had spirals on top that looked like mold and I was too icked out to eat it. Does anyone out there like Sheese? Or Cheezly? I'm starting to grow wary of trying new vegan cheeses. They can be really gross.

A Big Week for Vegan Food: Mini Blog

Now that I am finally recovered, I am going to do this in lots and lots of mini blogs. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who sent their well wishes. I'm still fighting the plague, but it's getting better all the time.

At the beginning of this week, I placed an order at Vegan Essentials for some of their "refrigerated" foods. I haven't gotten through all of them yet, but you'll hear about some of 'em in a little bit.

Anyway, I was going to buy some Parma! but I saw on the Vegan Essentials product page that you could make it for much cheaper. I tweaked it a little and have come out with a pungent, parma substitute that costs less.

Parma on the Cheap
1/2 C nutritional yeast
1-1/4 C toasted walnuts (if you toast them, it loses the raw but gains a little delicious)
1 tsp salt (I used seasoned sea salt)
dash garlic powder

Totally delicious.

Matzoh Ball Soup

I have been awfully awfully sick recently and with no sign of relief. Finally, I broke down and pulled out my Candle Cafe cookbook, determined to make myself some of that Jewish penicillin of which Joy speaks.

The good news about the CC Knedyl soup is that it is *Very* low fat (1 tbsp oil in the whole thing) but very high flavor. I won't reprint the recipe because
1- I think this cookbook is a very good resource that you will be happy you own
2- I think it's worth buying this cookbook for the Matzo ball soup recipe alone.

The broth is a soak soup and the recipe calls for you to dump the veggies after the soak, but I couldn't bring myself to dump such tender root veggies, so I left them. I think my strategy next time will to be to put the herbs (the recipe calls for close to 1/2 cup dried herbs!) into a little satchel so I can sprinkle a few in, but not be digging through the weeds of this soup, while preserving all my veggies. I treated the kombu like a bay leaf and just fished it out. I am also now addicted to Butler's Soy Curls and drop them into all of my soups and recipes for a little protein punch. In this soup I'd reccommend soaking, chopping into smaller bits and then dropping in at the same time as the balls for maximum flavor absorption. Next time, I think I'll also go a little easier on the lemon juice. My soup is very citrusy and with all the herbs it's starting to taste a little more like sabzhi and a little less like knedyl. I wanna stick to ashkenazi recipes for right now.

Anyway, the real star of the soup (although the broth is surprisingly flavorful. Wessie was shocked) is the knedyl. I'd made Maneschewitz box matzoh balls before and was having a heck of a time binding them together. Joy & Barry had the brilliant idea to secretly meld knedyl and latkes and come up with WONDERFUL matzoh balls. If you were a light fluffy matzoh ball person, you'll disagree, but if you liked your knedyl dense and chewable, with lots of flavor, they have nailed the recipe for you.

They were so darling I remembered to take photos. I'll probably be making this soup for thanksgiving since it took so much less time than I expected it to and will really wow my goyem friends. Here's hoping the jewish penicillin works on me. I need to recover, stat!

It's not mine to share

But I love Huggy Bear so much I feel obligated to share it with you. Someone kindly deigned to put the whole HB Catalogue online, including the rarer singles. I swooned.

Huggy Bear were part of the british riot grrl movement, but were not all girl, were intensely private, punk, DIY and totally awesome. (Huggy Bear tidbit...when being courted by major labels, they agreed to accept an offer from BMG--if and only if they would drop Suede from their roster). Huggy Bear were snotty, childish and savant. Their songs about teenage insecurities somehow morphed into anti-capitalist rants, their songs about freedom and control somehow twisted into sexual manifestos. Their work was always spotty and certainly inconsistent, but when it shone, it was dazzling.

Their two full lengths, Weaponry Listens to Love and Taking the Rough with the Smooch, are probably the most “accessible.” If you have any remote fondness for art rock, riot grrl, noise rock or punk, don't ask questions, just download.

http://metrosea.blogspot.com/2007/10/huggy-bear.html

In the mood for some piggin' out

So, I've been sick all week and on Wednesday, I decided I was in the mood...the mood for some piggin' out.

My roommate Kiki mentioned that she was planning to make an apple crisp with the apples she hand picked in MA and I convinced her to use Earth Balance sticks mixed with shortening in lieu of regular butter to veganize. I stopped off at whole foods and bought Fajita supplies. When I came home, the house smelled WONDERFUL and I found a lovely note that read:

Don't eat this wonderful VEGAN apple crisp until we return.
-The Mgmt

I was STOKED.

I was about to make my fajitas when they returned with their "supplies" (some extra cinnamon and some reddi whip).

We all ate a little bit of crisp, which was adapted from the cooks illustrated recipe. Then Wessie participated (he more hovered, but he helped!) in the fajita cooking and in their eating. Wessie, who was a fallen vegetarian, has recently put a foot back on the wagon and is now pescatarian. He commented that these fajitas tasted better than the chicken fajitas he'd had. And he commented that my homemade seitan was better than the store bought. Double score.

I'm Fucking Hungry Fajitas (makes enough for 4 VERY hearty fajitas)

For the Fajita Filling:
About 1-2 C Seitan (homemade is obviously the best, but I used westsoy's stir fry strips)
1 green pepper
1 yellow onion
2-3 cloves garlic
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp chile powder

Whole wheat tortillas

Optional fixin's:
Vegetarian refried beans (I prefer Bearito's "spicy" version)
Guacamole
Salsa / Pico de Gallo
Mexican rice
Tofutti Sour Cream
Vegan Cheese
Shredded lettuce

Chop and start sauteeing the onions and mushrooms in olive oil while you chop your green pepper and garlic, then add them and some chile powder to the oil. Rough cut the seitan and toss it in there too. Add your spices. I basically eyeballed them, but I think that was about right. Be careful with the salt! If you're using refried beans, put them in a pot or microwave to get them ready, then get your whole wheat tortillas, put a wet paper towel over them and microwave for about 25 seconds.

We used Bearito's spicy refried beans, Rudi's organic flax wheat tortillas, bagged lettuce, Pico de Gallo and Guacamole. Truthfully, if you've got guac, it'll serve the same purpose as most of the cheesy/sour creamy elements. They were delicious. I forgot how much I love homemade fajitas. They also take about 15 minutes tops, but you'll be eatin' (or trying to be eatin') the rest of the night and you won't want to share.

Survey, Because I have THE PLAGUE

After all that awesome food and blogging, I've come down with the plague. You're thinking "what a great opportunity to make something great and blog about it," while I'm thinking "I wish I still lived in NY so I could get some vegan matzoh ball soup from Candle Cafe." The only time I hate the American South (or the happy liberal pocket of it in which I live) hxc is when I am desperate to find Jewish food. Can someone somewhere please convince Amy's to start making Matzoh Ball soup?


What was the most recent tea you drank?
Today I drank Earl Gray, because there was no more mint.

What vegan forms do you post/lurk on? If so, what is your username? Spill!
Happy cow as bullcityveg. PPK without a username.

You have to have tofu for dinner, and it has be an Italian dish. What comes to mind first?
Lasagna. Or stuffed shells. Just anything involving the awesome awesome tofu Ricotta recipe I have.

How many vegan blogs do you read on an average day?
When I get into Google Reader, about 25 or 30.

Besides your own, what is the most recent one you’ve read?
Besides Fearlessly Vegan, I think the last full entry I saw was chickpea soup on Centrepullball that looked amazing.

If you could hang out with a vegan blogger that you haven’t met, who would it be, and what would you do?
I have to go with Lindyloo from Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit because she seems to have a real pottymouth and affinity for hipster kitsch, like me, so I think we'd design a theme meal. I'd also be happy to hang out with Hannah from Bittersweet and be her official taste tester for the next few months =).

If you had to base your dinners for a week around one of the holy trilogy – tofu, seitan or tempeh, which would it be?
Tofu. I'm a tofu whore.

If you had to use one in a fight, which would it be?
Seitan. Its rubbery awesomeness would work well to smack the crap outta someone =)

Name 3 meals you’d realistically make with that tough protein of choice!
-Every year for thanksgiving I HAND MAKE the candle cafe Seitan, then marinate it in a mustardy sauce, pan sear it and serve it with mashed potatoes and wild mushroom gravy.
-Seitan strips make excellent fajitas when soaked in "chicken" broth, sauteed with mushrooms, onions green and red peppers, then served up with some vegetarian refried black beans, some guacamole, seasoned rice, salsa and sour cream. Can you say yummers?
-My first foray into seitan was making Carribbean Rice Pilau. It's awesome and the only tricky part is getting your browning just right. Even store-bought yucky seitan eventually absorbs the sweetly savory flavor of browning and onions and bloats and it's just wonderful.

What’s a recipe in vegan blogland that you’ve been eyeing?
I really really want to try and make Jennifer Schmoo's twinkies. But I am SOOOOO lazy.

Do you own any clothing with vegan messages/brands on them?
I've got a "Vegetarianism is for Lovers" baseball tee, a "Give blood and save a life, then go vegetarian and save 85" that is so old/loved that it is threadbare and has cigarette burns in it and a Smiths "Meat is Murder" tee. That counts, right? =)

Have you made your pilgrimage to the 'vegan mecca' yet? (Portland, duh)
I am afraid of flying, but eventually I will get there, because it is also a girl rock mecca.

What age did you first go vegan? Did it stick?
I went vegan at about 13 or 14. I don't remember exactly when it was that I finally quit eating fish and started checking labels vigilantly for dairy. It was right before HS. It stuck. I've only fallen off a few times since then, mainly without knowing (casein, unknown fish sauces in asian foodstuffs) and sometimes on purpose (I can't help it I fucking love pop tarts).

What is the worst vegan meal you’ve had? Who cooked it?
I think the unequivocally worst vegan meal I've ever had was at this place in North Miami that my brother took me to that called itself a "Healthy Eatery" and I vaguely recall that it was named something like Sunshine, or Sun something. The restaurant was full of senior citizens, the food was all labeled as "healthy meat," vegetarian or vegan, then with different dietary ideas too (heart healthy, low sodium, atkins etc) PLUS the restaurant smelled like a pet store that desperately needed to be cleaned. I think I ordered rice and beans, thinking they couldn't possibly screw it up, but it was bland, flavorless and undercooked. I barely touched my food. The irony? My brother who gave me so much shit for being vegan is now vegan too. And beyond that-- he is practically raw.

What made you decide to blog?
Vegan mofo was my inspiration.

What are three of your favorite meals to make?
Soup. It changes with the season, but I love making soup.
Sandwiches. I know that's kind of a ghetto meal but I like to cook fast.
Thanksgiving. (does that count?). It's like, a four day affair, but I have several items that are always on the menu, like my seitan steaks, my gravy, my lasagna, lemon cheesecake, I always add a new type of cupcake...

What dish would you bring to a vegan Thanksgiving-themed potluck?
See above. I host one every year!

Where is your favorite vegan meal at a restaurant? How many times have you ordered it?
That's tough. I *really* like doing the half soup/half sandwich at Angelica Kitchen in NY. I almost always get the Marinated tofu. I've probably eaten that or the Hot Open Face tempeh about 40 times (I was a *big* fan.) HOWEVER the Alfredo Special at Caravan of Dreams has a special place in my heart. And the "latin" specials at Candle Cafe got eaten a lot. OOF and Zen Palate's Celestial Tofu.

What do you think the best chain to dine as a vegan is?
There are always lots of local chains that are handy dandy. In NY, Zen Palate and Ayhan's were pretty good/safe. Down here, there's a local one called Baba Ghannouj that's good stuff, as well as Cosmic Cantina. National Chains? Most places will make you a salad pretty easily, but most national chains don't really care enough to be super sensitive to vegans, since we're not big money makers. I usually try to find a Whole Foods/Earth Fare or even regular supermarket. Seriously.

My kitchen needs a………
Food Processor. *sigh*

This vegetable is not allowed in my kitchen…..!
I don't bar veggies from the kitchen, but I like to make sure people know what they're doing before they bust out something like...okra. I also hate ALL orange vegetables. All of them.

What's for dinner tonight?
Probably Amy's Un-Chicken Noodle, then some Miso Soup with brussels sprouts. I was gonna stop and get tofu but I am too tired. =(

Tower Indian, Morrisville

After a tennis match on the Morrisville side of Cary, I decided to drag my parents along to a south Indian feast at Tower Vegetarian Indian in Morrisville. I'm glad I did.

The buffet was not in swing (a fact that really disappointed me), but since we had three people we decided to order off the menu. For starters, we ordered some puffed rice thing that my dad was trying to get as the only indian dish he knows how to say besides naan-- which is some rice and yogurt thing (Lacto-ovo Indian afficions, help me out)-- and a Masala Dosa.

I don't have pictures of the puffed rice thing because I thought it tasted kind of like that yucky bonito fish cracker stuff but my father loved and devoured it. The Dosa here was definitely tasty, crispy but soft on the other side, but the filling wasn't particularly well mashed or distributed. Maybe I'm just wishing I'd ordered a Mysore Masala Dosa in my hear of hearts, but the MMD I got at Udupi kind of beat this one up. And the coconut chutney at Updupi definitely beat this one up. But I like coconut chutney anyway, so I ate and enjoyed it.

For our main course, my dad ordered some sort of rice/lentil and curry sauce dish that I found to be a little bland and too garlicky. My mother ordered a vegetable kurama in a cream sauce and I ordered Channa Masala with Poori (and had a little poori freak out). The poori was kind of uneven but I need to tell you all a little secret:
Tower has the best Channa Masala I've ever eaten. Could it have been a little hotter? Yes, but that's not a problem. The sauce tasted like tomato, was thick and creamy in the way that Imagine tomato soup is thick and creamy, and it STUCK TO MY CHICKPEAS. Every ounce of it that I scooped up with a little piece of poori made me happy. I ate until I was full, then I took it home, waited a few hours and finished it. It was seriously chickpea crack.

The service was good. Next time I'm in/near morrisville I'll order the same thing, but this time just CM w/ poori to go. I wish we had a good south indian/veg spot in Durham.

Now, mission 2: Dal Sag or Channa Sag in a non-cream based sauce. If you know of one, don't be shy.

Sage

So, for the 2nd weekend in a row I hit Sage in Chapel Hill. And forgot to take pictures. But, let me tell you something. Sage is effing delicious.

Let me help you order.

The first couple of times, we got the Mezze platter, which is good, but really you should go for the hummus. Mezze platter wastes precious space on things like potato salad. The hummus plate is hardcore yummy. Not really thick, very lemony and pita wedges are garlicky and toasted and delicious. There are fresh cucumber sticks to dip with too.

The regular salad is absolutely delicious--lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, shredded carrot, cabbage...something else. I love the vegan dill dressing. My mom ordered a crunchy salad which looked really good, piled high with sprouts and crunchy stuff.

Entrees-- I almost always get the kebabs now. They roast peppers, onions, broccoli, tofu and portobello mushrooms with balsamic and something else delicious and serve it over wonderful basmati spiced rice with a size of what we jews call "israeli salad" and they call it something else.

The Sabzi is a spinach and parsley soup interspersed with tempeh, tofu, kidney beans or lentils and infused with dried lemon. It's really really tasty. Bud-M-Joon is a curried lentil and eggplant concoction that tastes vaguely indian and strongly of cinnamon. It's tasty. The last entree we shared was the Fesen Joon, which is tempeh in a sweet sticky thick sauce that is sort of like persian sweet and sour sauce. It's tastier than you'd think, but I'd recommend sharing it because it's hard to eat as a whole meal.

I also favor the carribe, which is basically cuban black beans a rice served with tofu, rice, avocado and plantain.

For dessert, they serve really good chocolate banana vegan cake (it's the only vegan option though) with a lovely vegan vanilla ice cream. Either way, I'd recommend trying Sage out. Since Soul Good closed, it is the last all-vegetarian restaurant this side of the Triangle (the indian places in Cary and Morrisville deserve a shoutout, though) and it's a tasty treat for a once-in-a-while special occasion.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Well, when I found out it was my friend Joe's birthday and we were invited to play a show with him, I immediately volunteered to make (secretly vegan) cupcakes! Not that I think Joe or his TOTALLY AWESOME BAND, (Hammer No More the Fingers, check them out, they rock) or any 20 something year old boys are particularly picky in the eating category, but I like the opportunity to wow people with yummers cupcakes.

In order to make them, I used the Super Rich Chocolate Cake from the PPK (links to the recipe) as well as the Pecan Coconut Fudge and Chocolate Buttercream recipes from VCCTOTW. I made a few tweaks-- like I decided to sub chocolate soy milk for all the regular old soy milk, and I used about three shots of bourbon instead of vanilla (we like to drink).

The cupcakes came out BEAUTIFULLY. Dork described them as "orgasmic," Wessie said they were like "chocolate crack," and Sick gave a nod while dropping bits of icing into her mouth. Joe really enjoyed them (observe bite number two at right-- prepping yourself for chocolate overdose) and was helping me force people to try them so they would not die without knowing the joy that is Vegan German Chocolate heaven. There's a photo at left of them chilling on the floor. Just as a note-- the Cake recipe only made enough to fill 22 cups, and the coconut/pecan icing was sufficient, while the fudge didn't quite make it all the way through.

Can't wait to bust these out again! Isa's cupcakes never fail.