Posted in oodFay, Portlandia, tagged Alberta, NE Portland, restaurant, review, vegan, Vita Cafe on April 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Was awesome! About once a month I seem to be taunted with buffalo wings. It’s not intentional of course, but it makes me miss the robust, spicy little niblets. Vita Cafe is a retaurant on Alberta in NE Po that caters to the vegan/ vegetarian type. They have a couple carnivorous items for those who chomp that way. Anywho, I had the Buffalo Tofu Wrap which was superb! Crunchy green lettuce, tomatoes, vegan ranch (gotta love it), and buffalo spiced fried tofu strips. Who needs chicken when you have buffalo spiced tofu? You should go try it. They are apparently moving across the street however; evidently they lost their lease… I don’t know. They’ll be re-opening about May 8th so make sure you drop by; still on Alberta.
Posted in oodFay, tagged eggplant, Pad Thai, recipe, vegan on April 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I think eggplant is the shizznit of the veggie world. I mean seriously, can you think of a more awesome veggie? Butternut squash is probably close but I’m not sure it can take the crown.
Anyway, we make pad thai almost every week, and usually I stick to the typical random mixed frozen veggies. But today I thought I should try out some of my favorite purple veggie, the eggplant. It was FLIPPIN delicious!!! The pictures don’t do my tastebuds justice. If you like pad thai but generally find yourself screwed to find a veggie version in a restaurant, do try this. The sauce is a work in progress but it seems to taste better every time I make it.
Instructions:
Soak 8-9oz of rice noodles in hot water for 30-60 minutes. Refer to package for appropriate time if needed.
Slice the eggplant and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for about 30 minutes to extract the bitter juices and then rinse. Cut the eggplant into small chunks. I used about 3/5 to 3/4 of a smallish eggplant. There was more eggplant than noodles (as I only had about half of the noodles) but that’s how I like it.
Heat some oil in a wok or large skillet on medium-high to high heat. Once hot, add the eggplant and cook for about 45 seconds. Add noodles, baby spinach (if using), and sauce (below). Mix well and fry it up for a minute or two until everything seems well coated and somewhat glossy (you don’t want the sauce to be runny). Transfer to a plate and try not to burn your mouth since you won’t be able to wait until it cools!
For da sauce:
1/4 C tamarind concentrate
1/2 C H2O
1-2 T turbinado sugar
1 big heaping table spoon (like the kind you would eat soup with) of peanut butter – use chunky if you like the peanut pieces
1 T fish sauce (or oyster flavored sauce to make it vegan)
1 T rice vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 T lime or lemon juice (both taste good so whatever your preference)
1/2 T garlic powder (or 1-2 cloves)
1/2 T onion powder (or 1/2 onion)
1/2 T chili paste (I use this stuff)
If you’re using actual onion and garlic, saute them over medium heat for a few minutes until they become soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until mixed through. I typically do it this way but lately I’ve realized that onion likes to hold a grudge against me so I’ve been using powder.
If you’re using onion and garlic powder, just mix everything together and nuke it for about 40 seconds so the PB dissolves.
*Makes about 1&1/2 C of sauce, enough for about 8-9oz of noodles plus veggies (or chicken if you swing that way).
Posted in Portlandia, Prattle(ish), randamndom, tagged blood, donate blood, public transportation, Red Cross, shower, smell on April 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Haven’t posted anything in awhile as I’ve been awash in homework lately and can’t seem to find much time to breath, or to do any other vitally important function I typically do when able, like blogging. The homework horizon still seems somewhat far away, like 6 weeks most likely, but hopefully things will start balancing themselves out.
Anyway, I will say that this morning I got to witness a bus driver actually asking somebody to remove themselves from the bus as they stank to high heavens. It sounds kinda funny but the smell was really, really bad; like been 2 – 3 weeks since a shower kind of bad. In all honesty it’s sad that such a situation occurs in this day and age as there’s no real reason anyone should be without the resources we all consider standard. But perhaps the guy actually chose not to shower and then it’s a whole other ball game. I can smell myself after a 6 mile run; there’s no way in hell this guy hadn’t had a whiff of himself. Just another day on the ole public transportation I guess!
I also gave blood today (been busy, I told you!). I now have a slightly unbendable arm with a bright blue apendage wrapped around the elbow. If you don’t currenlty give blood because you are lazy or a wimp you should sit yourself in a corner for 10 minutes and put on a dunce hat. After that you should go online and schedule an appointment to save a life! There always seems to be a never ending shortage of blood for people who need transfusions and what not and this shortage seems entirely unncessary to me, being that we have oodles of people running around the world who are more than able to donate. It’s doesn’t hurt much at all and only takes an hour or so. So get goin! =)
Posted in oodFay, tagged butternut squash, pasta, recipe, vegan on April 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
So I was having my backup meal tonight, which is pasta with red sauce. My default topping for pasta is typically broccoli [sigh]. Don’t get me wrong, I love broccoli, but sometimes you just don’t want something green. Well, I waltz into my kitchen, look to the left of my stove, and what do you know, I have a butternut squash sitting there, begging to be eaten! I was excited. Usually I roast the squash, which takes eons so I didn’t feel like doing it. Instead, I chopped the little guy up, threw on some salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano, and pan-fried em. The result, very tasty atypical pasta! The slight sweetness of the squash went very well with the salty red sauce. Yes, they look like home fries but don’t be fooled! Butternut squash season is basically over I believe but you should keep this in mind. They worked well by themselves as a finger food too.
Posted in oodFay, randamndom, tagged Amber, kitchen, me on April 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Irritation, oodFay, Portlandia, tagged bus, food addiction, Irritation, obesity, overweight on April 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Just because you’re 5’2″ and weigh 300 lbs does not mean you are entitled to sit in the priority seating area on the bus; that section is for elderly and disabled citizens. Being lazy and lacking self control does not afford you special privileges. Good god people. Lower the fork, get off the couch, and get some exercise. You don’t need to look like Barbie but you shouldn’t be triple your recommended body weight either. Take some pride in yourself.
Now I realize some people have actual medical reasons for being overweight, and that’s an entirely different story so don’t count me as being a total bitch because of what I said here. I think America has a severe food addiction problem that we are ever so obliging in sweeping under the rug. Lets focus on the alcoholics and drug addicts while half of America eats themselves to death. Great idea.
Addendum:
If you’re reading this and think I’m only seeing half the picture and speaking entirely out of line, well, you are more than welcome to your own opinion. I can’t obviously express all of my sentiments about food issues in a short blog posting. I’m well aware how many factors affect people’s weight and eating habits, including psychological and environmental. In my mind, aside from the vast array of various issues pertaining to this subject, people’s lack of control with food, or use of it to aid their psychological state, is a real problem in America (and perhaps other countries). I commonly refer to the over eating that goes on in this country as the Fat American Syndrome. Portions typically served in American restaurants clearly speak this notion for me; they are way too large. While children are starving in Africa you can, on most major highways in the south, get a 72oz steak for free if you can eat it all. So not only are we slowly poisoning ourselves with massive quantities of food, but we are depriving children from any nourishment at all. I also have several years of personal experience witnessing food addiction so don’t judge me too harshly if you feel I don’t know what I’m talking about because I’m obviously not somebody this blog posting would pertain to.
Posted in oodFay, tagged chocolate chips, cookie, dessert, goomba, muffin, pumpkin, recipe, snack, vegan on April 12, 2009 | 2 Comments »
It may be a stretch but these cookie-muffin-spongy things I concocted remind me of the Goombas from Super Mario Brothers… 
Anyway, in following the tradition of using canned pumpkin at the absolute wrong time of the year, I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffkies; they aren’t really cookies but they are really muffins. In other words, I had half a can of pumpkin sitting in the fridge left over from the waffles and I didn’t want to just throw it away. So I took the recipe from the cookies I made a couple of days ago, ixnayed the banana and peanut butter, and added the pumpkin. After mixing in everything except the choco chips, I transferred less than half of the batter to another bowl, added about 1/4 C of cocoa, a smidgen of soy milk, a tsp of vanilla, and a T spoon of sugar. Now I added the choco chips to the normal pumpkin batter. I then used a muffin pan, from Drury Lane… never mind, and spooned the cocoa mixed batter into it first, flattened it with a spoon, then put the other batter in on the top, and flattened it as well. The batter will stick to the spoon when you’re attempting to flatten it so get the spoon wet and it will work better. 15 minutes at 375 and voila, we have Goomba muffkies! They’re kind of odd in texture but that should be expected I guess when it’s healthy and vegan.
Posted in oodFay, tagged recipe, tortillas, vegan on April 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I just made tortillas! They were really very easy to make and are fairly healthy for you too, as healthy as flour really can be I guess. They calculate to be about 3 grams of fat and 163 calories per tortilla, plus they have zero oil in them. You should give them a whirl if you happen to be tired of the store bought ones, or just need something to procrastinate from your homework with.
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