Monthly Archives: March 2012

A Way To Start The Day

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I reminded Matilda of how lovable she is…

"What else did you expect?"

This is true.. I should also note that Matilda is no ordinary dog. No, I have to lure her with treats to go out for walks, and she doesn’t settle for just any kind of food, toy, or other dog. She can also eat an entire bar of dark chocolate without repercussions. Lucky her, but I don’t want to go through the experience of the latter again.

And definitely not with this pot of chocolate.

When I came across Ashley’s recipe for ‘Chocolate Coconut Fudge Sauce‘, I went to the store to fetch some coconut milk to make it later that day. The coconut milk was incredibly thick, so I knew this was going to be a yummy, decadent affair.

Chocolate-dipped strawberry?

Yes, please. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this jar was nearly empty by the end of the morning.

Since it’s Friday and the weekend is beginning, I thought I’d share some breakfast ideas with you.

Katie’s ‘Deep-Dish Cookie Pie‘

It's very moist on the inside and crusty along the edges.

Some people like their cookies crunchy all the way through, but I like to have a little bit of both worlds. Something that will melt in my mouth, but with a crunch my teeth I have to bite through first.

Topped with goat's milk yogurt and berries, and a cup of green tea.

I'm going to tell you a little secret...

This cookie pie is mostly made with beans! Red bean cakes anyone?

Around the table for a more traditional breakfast

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When It Actually Works Out

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Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday I poached an egg. As far as I can recall, I don’t think I had ever eaten a poached egg before yesterday. I just heard that it was a great way to enjoy them. Yes, I am joining Melissa’s club for the egg obsessed.

At first I thought to myself,

“Oh, I will use a small saucepan so I can use it to heat up the cheese sauce I made the other night. That way I won’t have to do as many dishes.”

Then as I was creating a whirlpool for the egg, water kept spilling out and hissing on the burner. That’s when I thought I had messed up, but I already started and you know… I don’t want more dishes to do! So I continued. Then I was pouring the egg from the dish into the hot water. According to the “how-to’s” on how to poach an egg, it is directed to not dump the whole egg in at once. Well, I tried to follow directions, but the egg just canon balled into the pan. Plop! First, this magnificence happened.

via Instagr'am

If I didn’t mess up before, then I definitely failed my first egg poaching attempt at that moment. Or so I thought. I thought a lot of things during the whole process, didn’t I? Anyway, I carried on. I tried to keep the egg intact, and safely above the bottom of the pan. To my surprise and excitement it was turning out! First egg poaching attempt was a success.

It was quite the little polite egg

As my dear friend and design extraordinaire, Marleigh, pointed out!

Minding its p's and q's

Pints and quarts of what?!

Then it was time for the revealing...

Who knew what I would find inside? A prize. Yes, to me it was a prize. My stomach was growling while I was snapping photos, but I had to document these moments first. I’m not sure how long it took me to eat lunch yesterday, but I know I took my sweet time.

Also, the other night we had some guests over for dinner.

Meet the Tomatoes!

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“I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs”–H.L. Mencken

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For the past couple of years I’ve avoided eating eggs because they were disagreeable with my stomach. However, it’s been a few years and the body does change. I’ve been incorporating eggs into my diet little by little to see what happens.

Thank you chickens!

Maybe I’m just overly-sensitive, but since my “experiments” whenever I’ve had eggs that have come from hens treated with hormones and cruelty, say if I was eating at a random place… I seemed to suffer from massive indigestion. With that, I don’t want to support that type of sourcing and ethic either–so next time I will be more thoughtful.

First, with just the egg whites

The egg whites seemed fine at first, but then sometimes they wouldn’t sit well with me. I know that I have to be mindful of what I’m combining them with.

Egg whites fried with small sweet peppers, smoked goat cheddar on millet toast

It sat well with my taste buds, and I hoped my stomach would feel the same! Crossed my fingers, and thank goodness it did.

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Gifts From The Garden

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The two winners of the giveaway are Billie Jean and Audrey!

I’ll be contacting you about your prizes to get them sent to you. I loved reading what you all had to say, and some of you are trying out tofu for the first time! I’ll definitely be posting more tofu recipes, and make some videos answering some of your questions about this food.

In other news, my dear friend, Lynn from The Actor’s Diet, is raising money for her next film The Man’s Guide to Love. It’s a movie inspired by her husband’s site “The Man’s Guide to Love,” which ended up getting critical acclaim. So this is where they’ve landed–from being online, to becoming a book, and now a movie! In the spirit of social media they’re raising funds through Kickstarter, and reaching out through anyone who wants to help out. Every bit counts, and of course, helping spread the word counts too! Keep the buzz going because they’re raising funds until April 19th. Contribute by clicking here.

And on the garden front…

The tomatoes are unstoppable!

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No Cooking In The Kitchen

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Hello, hello my dear friends! First off, I’d like to remind you to enter my Nasoya Tofu giveaway before the end of the day, which you can do right here.

Awhile back I was having the pleasure of consistently going out to eat in the city of New York. I’m telling you… I don’t think there’s a single person that has ever dined at all the restaurants the city has to offer. Especially because there are new ones popping up all the time, literally (i.e. pop-up restaurants).  And before you know it they vanish the same way they seemed to come out of nowhere. On this particular day I did not go to one of those restaurants, but rather an establishment. I say establishment because it’s pretty well-known in the raw foodists community. I think it’s nice to have a place that offers a wide raw-vegan selection in an ambiance beyond bright cafes adorned with shelves of wheat grass and bamboo. Maybe some of you can guess where I went that day.

Pure Food & Wine for lunch with a dear friend

I started out with a 'Hot Pink' juice

It’s made with beet, pineapple, pear, ginger. My parents would make juices regularly with beets, but I had never tried it with pineapple and pear.

Sushi rolls – marinated shiitake, avocado, asparagus, red pepper, jicama rice, nama shoyu

Lisa commented in the last post about not being able to eat rice anymore, which reminded me of this! If you can’t find jicama, cauliflower works as well. It’s got a similar texture, and all you have to do is shred it. I’ve actually been doing that for my deconstructed sushi bowls lately, and even when I recently made a stir-fry. Just make sure it’s shredded!

Taco Salad – romaine lettuce, spicy taco crumble, pico de gallo, guacamole, cashew sour cream, cilantro-lime dressing

I enjoyed this salad a lot! The cashew sour cream had me curious as to how they made it. It was blended to creamy perfection, and tasted reminiscent of sour cream. All of the flavors together made for a lively tasting dish.

Falafel with tabhouli – over whole romaine leaves or tossed with greens, lemon tahini, red pepper hot sauce

My friend is from Israel and says his friend makes the best falafel in town, so he wanted to see if this one was up to par. It was also his first time trying anything raw-vegan so I knew he’d be in for a little surprise.

Portabella and hempseed burger – sprouted manna bread, lapsang tea smoked cashew cheese, house made mustard, pickled pink onions, caraway kraut

It was such a little delight to look at... and eat!

I enjoyed the combination of the fermented, salty taste with the cooling pungency of the mustard, and biting into the incredibly dense bread. This burger is small, but no complaints here. I knew how dense it would be, and anything bigger would just be unnecessary to feel satisfied. And boy was I satisfied. My dining partner also underestimated how filling the food would be.

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What Is Toe Foo?: Giveaway!

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Some of you have asked me in the past what I stock my kitchen with.

Whatchu keep in your house?

It’s hard to answer that question without making a very long list because, frankly, I have a lot of things. Whenever I move, it is guaranteed that the majority of boxes are things for the kitchen. But I thought that this time I would feature something that I have had an off and on relationship with–tofu. When I first became a vegetarian, tofu was the first thing I started to incorporate into my diet. And like so many, I totally sucked at preparing it. After awhile, my passion for vegetarian cooking took me to the realm beyond tofu, veggie burgers, and hummus. So tofu was not on my grocery list for awhile, partly because I had also heard and read about it being “bad” for you, and that it could cause men to start buying training bras.

Nowadays it is back on my weekly grocery list, and I eat it consistently but not for every meal. My taste buds belong to a Gemini for sure because repeating things in the same day is not interesting to them. One thing that I do stress though, through all what you hear and read out there about tofu: if you’re going to buy it, buy organic. If you read the ingredients to a lot of pre-made food like chocolate, frozen meals, and sauces–there are traces of soy in them. It’s a crop that the government subsidizes and growing it organically is not an investment for them.

Here are some ways I’ve been enjoying tofu recently…

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A Slice of ‘Don’t Take It So Seriously’ Tart

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This was a little experiment I attemped over the summer when I first tried Lebni

Who knew what I was getting myself into that day, but I do remember feeling inspired without a care in the world for rules. And there was a container of Lebni sitting in my fridge, ready for anything.

Lebni is a type of cheese that is smooth, tangy, and quite thick. It’s also known as “kefir cheese”. So because of its consistency I thought it might work to make a dessert of some sort. Instead of icebox cookies, there was icebox tart!

It didn’t turn out quite how I wanted… I think I needed more Lebni or less juice from the apricots. But I wanted to share the recipe in its experimental state, so perhaps you can experiment with it too. The cinnamon is definitely notable in this recipe, so if you want to turn it down feel free to use less. It kind of reminded me of an edible version of some creamy tea enjoyed in a far off land where they like things slightly tart.

Don’t Take It So Seriously Tart or Fig and Apricot Lebni Tart

Ingredients

1/4-1/3 cup milk (I typically use almond)

8 oz. lebni

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbl honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 apricot, sliced

4 fresh figs

Almond Crust

1 cup raw almonds (soaking them and letting them dry makes them easier to process)

6 Medjool dates, pits removed

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon organic vanilla

Directions

1. To make the crust, place the almonds in a food processor and process until it reaches a crumbly-grainy consistency.

2. Add dates and process until they are chopped and mixed in well with the almonds–making a paste.

3. Add the remaining ingredients and process until everything is mixed well.

4. Press the crust into a pie or tart tin, and make sure it’s an even layer throughout. Then let it chill while you make the filling.

5. For the filling, blend the milk (starting with the least amount) with the Lebni until a pudding consistency is formed.

6. Then add the cinnamon, honey, and vanilla.

7. In the food processor chop the apricot and the figs together until they make a puree. Then mix in with the other ingredients for the filling.

8. Pour the mixture out into the tart base and put it in the freezer.

Right before it melts into your mouth... or all over your plate

Before serving it, let it sit for a bit to thaw. Don’t let it sit for too long though! Or else you’ll have more of a ‘Don’t Take It Seriously’ puddle. Which I guess is kind of the point. Sometimes things don’t fall into our ideas of what we had in mind, and that’s okay. It’s an opportunity to enjoy something unexpected, and for what it is.

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, whether you’re winding down, going out, or who knows! Either way, treat yourself to a slice life.

Dinner with No Reservation

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Recently, old pictures of friends in New York have been like a treat in postcard form.

At that time my friend had just gotten back from Shanghai and she brought back so many surprises! It was also the first sleepover I’d had in what felt like ages.

A "Milk Collection"--yummy!

Since I’ve been back in Florida I’ve been contemplating many things, and a few of those things are the idea of aspirations, one-way track living, and what matters. Some have aspirations to start a family, or meet that someone special. Some want to see policies change, and some are career driven. There are some who just want to be a better person, or as I like to say… a more realized self. Because my idea of “better” may be different from yours, so where’s the good and bad in that? No where.

Anyway, I’m at a point in my life where most of my friends are getting engaged, married, starting their careers, or even going back to school. Then there are those that are pursuing more unconventional aspirations by going to artist residencies, going on long journeys in different hemispheres, or being entrepreneurs and starting from scratch. But that’s what other people are doing. What am I doing? It’s not until I tell people about my life and someone gets confused about the timeline and events, that I realize that my life and family may seem unconventional. But we never think about it like that because in reality we’re not. Just in a person’s perception. Life does not exist in boxes, nor in a telescope. It’s funny how we are existing on one planet and everything from the atmosphere to the reason why your hair is falling out are related to something, which are related to something else. Then there’s the greater universe, and somehow that thought makes me think of how insignificant some things really are. Those things that disappear from our minds, and who knows… maybe they exist in a way that stars are a vision of the past. But why do things matter? Aside from survival being an instinct, I think things matter because it helps us feel like we live for something. A reason. Somethings matter so much that we’d die for it. I once asked myself that I know that I would die for someone, but would I walk 5,000 miles for them? I’d probably walk 5,000 miles just to walk. You know when you don’t have a reason for doing something, but there’s something inexplicable within you that is compelled? The kinds of things that have no answer when someone asks you, “why?” That’s been most of my guiding inspiration throughout life, and maybe it can be hard to understand. So that’s what I’m doing.

But here’s something a little less wordy, and easy on the eyes.

My dad definitely knows I like to try new things, and he does too.

I hadn't heard of wild red rice until that point.

I love the idea of wild rice invading rice fields.

Yes, there's a little patty hiding under the slices of coastal cheddar.

Sometimes I look through recipes based on what I already have. Most of the time I don’t want to have to go out and buy an ingredient (unless it’s a fruit or vegetable… then I don’t care). I wanted a recipe that would get me to use hemp seeds in a new way, so when I found this one for Hemp Burgers–I marked it. I didn’t realize the recipe called for herb seasoned stuffing until I was ready to make it. These were my options a) buy seasoned stuffing–which I would rarely use b) make stuffing from the loaf of bread I didn’t have or c) improvise and use rice! The only reason the stuffing was in the recipe in the first place was to act as binder, so I figured if I just ran the rice through the food processor it would work. And it did!

Don't be shy little burger.

I wanted to make the loaf version of 'Cinnamon Fantails' for a dinner party I hosted awhile ago...

Alas, I wasn’t able to because I was running late with everything that day, but I decided to make it the next day. “I’m sorry, you arrived late and the guests are all gone!” This turned out to look like an edible version of the Grand Canyon. I realized later on why. I was suppose to bake it exposing the layers right side up, but who cares?

So what’s this you heard about a dinner party the night prior? Continue reading →

Prix Fixe Menu: Fashion as a First Course

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Good evening, or afternoon, or even morning! How about good day?

I’ve been making some changes around my blog (I mentioned the page theme change in my last post), but there have been some more additions since then.

For starters I added a few buttons so that we can stay better connected.

 bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

And you can also share on other sites with the buttons at the bottom of each post.

Some of you in the past have asked me to do a tour of my kitchen, and I figured what better way to share some of my picks than with a store. So I added a ‘store’ page as well which has a link to my Amazon Store. There are things that are also puppy approved, books, beauty, what have you.

And as an editor for “JENESEQUA” I’m extremely excited to share that our March 2012 issue launched yesterday! This month our cover and editorial features model, Elina Ivanova.


It’s a free app so all you need is an iPad to download. I’ve been anticipating this one for awhile, especially since I got to interview the creator and founder of STRANGEBEAUTIFUL–a concept driven nail polish line.

It’s got quite a neat motivation behind it, which you can read about here.

With that I’m going to take that and rewind it back as Usher liked to put it. Rewind. rewind. rewind back to my roommate’s fashion show.

There were lots of people with their own sense of style.

Grr baby... grr

And not-so-believable poker faces

Beautifully tailored clothes

With very inspired sensibilities.

It was a fun night and I finally got to catch up with my friend and Editor-in-Chief at “JENSEQUA“. It was so neat to see Daniella’s Fall 2012 collection come to fruition. From the beginning.. the source of her inspiration and seeing it all come together in the end, showed me again that fashion is more than vanity.

One of my favorite lovers of fashion, Brooke, has a motto: eat fashion for breakfast. What kind of day would it be if you had a bowl full of Alexis Mabille? To round out an almost complete meal of fashion shows and street style, there’s got to be a third course…

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An Attitude of Gratitude to Face Frustrations

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This is a post where I’m not quite sure where to start. I’ve had the same page open for a couple of days. I know what I mean, but not what I want to say. So I’ll just start writing about things that have been on my mind. Decisions, what I want out of life, frustration, frustation with myself, anxiety, self-love, self-acceptance, focusing, just doing it.

Right now I’m in Florida working on some things. Getting my health back on track. Refreshing my mindset. And working on things that I’m passionate about. See… I’m the kind of person who will work and work to the point of no break, but what is it that I’m working for? What’s worth my energy? What am I doing? There are so many things that I could do, but it’s important for me to have a focus. And it’s also important to have a break. Some find it in watching their favorite television show, or walking around the block smoking a cigar. One of the ways for me is through cooking, but over the past few months cooking had become a completely practical thing. I didn’t loathe cooking, but it only had a utilitarian purpose. “Make sure I have food for the week,” on repeat–week after week. I think it’s important to have those things in our lives that we do for no useful reason, but just because we simply enjoy them. What may be important to one person, may not be important to the next, but most of us have something in our lives that matters.

My intentions with cooking shifted a little when I started seeing an acupuncturist to treat my heavy hormonal imbalances, severe acne (which I’ve found out is related to a very high amount of testosterone), and other symptoms related to anxiety. I was recommended this book:

Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford

I’ve been genuinely interested in well-being for some years now and am always inquisitive about the “how, what, whens, and whys”. I’ll never cease to learn. Recently, I’ve been incorporating some aspects of Ayurveda, Western medical finds, and Traditional Chinese Medicine moreso into my daily lifestyle to get a better sense of balance. With that I’m going to write a series of posts related to some things I’ve learned, been going through, and what I’ve been doing–the “mindful being” series!

But right now in this post, I want to practice something that I’ve been trying to face my frustrations with, and that is an attitude of gratitude.  I know for awhile I’ve been letting myself get so consumed with stress that I forgot that, hey… I’ve got a lot to be grateful for.

For starters I was recently nominated for “Best Healthy Eating Blog” on FitnessMagazine.com. It’s so wonderful and an honor to receive support and enthusiasm for something that is truly dear to me.

By Best Healthy Eating Blog

I also gave my blog a new look (haven’t touched it since I first started it three years ago). So take a look and let me know what you think. I’d greatly appreciate any kind of feedback!

On another note, I really appreciate the biosphere.

A little food for thought

My parents have a garden and it's just so special to go outside and bring in food to prepare.

I hope that one day there will be more backyard gardens around, and that people in first-world countries will be more self-sufficient. My parents garden has inspired me to think more about the sun and its energy… how it’s such a life-force. And this food is an energy packed life-force for the earth’s inhabitants. It kind of makes me feel like a warrior.

“]

Itty bitty fruits fit for a warrior [mulberries and strawberries

So here's a tour of their garden.

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