Showing posts with label sweetpea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sweetpea. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

ARCTIC! BLAST!


I'm supposed to be enjoying 70-80 degree weather at this exact moment in my hometown of Sarasota, Florida. But no. I'm stuck in the winter wonderland that is Portland, Oregon. We've been dealing with snowy weather for 2 weeks now and it's gotten pretty old. I'm over it. I don't see how people deal with this as part of their normal winter weather. I prefer rain. Rain doesn't delay/cancel flights. I was supposed to fly out Monday night but i had to reschedule and now i'm leaving Saturday morning. I was looking forward to Christmas at home and New Years in Portland, but fate had it planned differently. So i'm trying to roll with it. My mother is none-too-pleased and thinks i should make them give me a flight since that what i was paying for or at least a voucher. 


I don't know what i would be doing without my new rain/snow boots from Rocketdog. (which apparently were being sold for only $15 on that website....i paid a bit more for them...but not $89) I probably wouldn't leave the house as much for fear of my feet being cold and wet. They have a trim inside of some kind of brown furry material. I've been wearing them nonstop. Kinda like my new jacket that i got from Papaya. (i'm the one on the far right). It's quite warm for being only $35. 


I've been spending a lot of time at Sweetpea Baking Co. They have soup nowadays, which is great.  I like having "real" food to choose from. They were out of it since Jessie, their soup guy, went on vacation, but i did see they had it again yesterday. It was the Chik N Noodle kind. It has chunks of seitan in a broth with noodles. Tasty stuff. I just would like to mention again, out loud, that i would love Lisa forever if she decided to make biscuits and gravy a regular menu item. I love Hungry Tiger Too's version since it's only $4 and it's got faux sausage in it and the biscuits don't suck (::coughparadoxcafecough::), but the one time i had Lisa's version at a brunch, i was diggin' it. It's a nice southern white gravy with no heavy spices but pepper and her buscuits are light and fluffy. HT2 has a lot of herbs in it, which isn't what i look for, i just want a good ole southern sausage gravy.


I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! It doesn't feel like Christmas Eve to me. Probably because i'm not at my parent's house that's all decorated. I only remember once not being home for Christmas and that was the year i went to Germany. I'm not a huge family-gatherings person, but it's tradition for me. And i like tradition. I'm glad that i do have a lot of friends that are still in town. My roommate is leaving tomorrow evening so we'll be together for our first roommate Christmas.   :o)


Be safe, y'all. Curl up under the covers and watch While You Were Sleeping or some other nice Christmas movie.....heh....seriously, love that movie though....

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Fundraiser meal- vegan style

A few months back I went to a fundraiser dinner cooked by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (of Veganomicon and Vegan with a Vengeance) that raised money for....hmm....good question...i don't remember what it was for, but it was an all vegan meal that used seasonal produce and was 4 courses long!

ok, so i looked into it and found out it was a benefit for the Let Live Conference. Here was the menu:

Soup
Spicy Cream of Sweet Potato with Lime
A creamy puree of sweet potatoes and a little parsnip, with a kick of lime and chili

Salad
Jicama Salad in Citrus Vinaigrette
A Thai inspired salad of crisp, sweet jicama in a tangy vinaigrette of orange, lemon and grapefruit. Served with grilled and chilled asparagus and garnished with beansprouts, cilantro, roasted peanuts and avocado

Main
Blackened Seitan With Corn Pudding And Chocolate Chili Mole
Cajun rubbed blackened homemade seitan and grilled zucchini over a sweet and savory creamy corn pudding, with a mild chocolate chili mole

Dessert
Raspberry Brownie And Vanilla Ice Cream
A warm raspberry brownie with chocolate drizzle, raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream

Homemade ginger lemonade will be served. Please bring your own beer and wine.



The jicama salad was off the chain deliciousness! I do remember that my salad was avocado-less and my dining companion let me have some of hers. I love me some avocado....

Everything was good, but i'm really looking forward even more to the next one that Isa's planning. It's on Friday, October 24th and there's a limit of 40 place settings so go PayPal it up before it gets sold out. The price is sliding scale, from $40-100. All proceeds are going to the House of Dreams, a no-kill kitty shelter that a friend of mine works at. I'm not a huge cat friend, but i know that if it were for dogs i would tell people to go whether they liked them or not. Plus i am selfish and do it for the food.

Here's what Isa concocted:

Soup
White Bean And Roasted Garlic
A puree of navy beans and sweet smoky roasted garlic with leeks and fresh herbs

Me: leeks?? i love leeks!

Salad
Golden Beet And Shallot
Warm roasted golden beets and baby greens in a creamy vinaigrette with caramelized shallots and a handful of toasted walnuts

Me: beets! shallots! oh my!

Main
Autumn Plate
Cornbread and homemade sausage stuffed acorn squash, smoky grilled tempeh in a wild mushroom ragout served with garlicky purple kale

Me: smoky grilled tempeh w/mushroom ragout (whatever that is) with garlicky kale?? get in my belly now!

Dessert
Caramelized Apples
Warm apples in a caramelized maple sauce, served with crisp gingerbread shortbread and topped with homemade coconut based vanilla bean ice cream

Me: OMG!

Housemade hot chai will be served. Please bring your own beer and wine.

Me: don't you worry, i will




Yeah, i'm totes excited!
For reals...