Our posters designed by the lovely, handsome www.hairlinemedia.com

But I idolize cookbook authors. Dorky, I know. This little event started with a geeky piece of fanmail.

An avid follower of Sarah Kramer’s blog, GoVegan.net, I read a post over the summer that she’d be doing a West Coast book tour in support of the 10th Anniversary edition of her first cookbook, How It All Vegan! I figured she’d be hitting the cooler cities — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA. Not our lame little Eastern Washington town, right?

So I wrote her, said we’ve got a great little group of vegans here and would love to host her for a book event.

Well she did agreed. WHAT?! Crystal (the founder of the Spokane Vegans) and I were shocked!

So in two short weeks, we’re looking to throw the best little vegan soiree this town has ever seen. A four course dinner, made by us.

Please. Please. Help make us look good to our idol. Buy tickets. I mean, how often can you get GREAT food — four courses of it — for $20!! NEVER! Buy tickets here.

When I met Joe, I quickly fell in love with one of his family’s traditions: Monday nights were always, without fail “Egg & Potato Night.” For dinner, Dee whips up some kind of eggs (fried, scrambled, egg-sandwich) and roasted potatoes. She once told me that Mondays were hectic enough, and that was just an easy dinner to throw on the table at the end of the day. She’d call Joe at work, and he’d ask me “My mom wants to know if you want to come to egg and potato night.” I usually did.

Tonight I decided to resurrect this tradition, in our own style: “Tofu & Potato Night.” I made a simple tofu scramble with mushrooms and kale, and a side of roasted potatoes. And, because it is my new favorite thing, I made a thick “cheese” sauce to go over the scramble. Usually we just treat tofu scramble as a ketchup-delivery device, but lately I’m really into fake cheese sauce. Now, you know I’m a cheese fan. But this shit is the shit! Pretty much every vegan cookbook has a version of fake cheese sauce, usually consisting of nutritional yeast, veggie stock, turmeric, dijon mustard and flour. I’ve been eating it like crazy: on chips, on toast, on scrambles. It’s kind of fulfilling my cheese addiction — the methadone to my heroin habit, if you will.

So hopefully we can keep “Tofu & Potato Night” going for a little bit. I might forget by the time Wednesday rolls around…

Slayer says "Tofu & Potato Night ruuuuules!"

I’ve been eating as vegan as I can, but cracked the other day over a package of string cheese, of all things. They are a great pick-me-up at work, I’m finding. I gotta say, I’m the most vegan cheese-lover EVER!

A few shout-outs to some good recipes/blogs I’ve seen this week:

The SpoVegan Mushroom Dip!

- The LOVELY Crystal posted a great recipe for Mushroom Dip Sandwiches last week, and I made them on Sunday night. And we actually opted out of any cheese or “cheez” at all — I was proud of us! Though my co-workers said my sandwich the next day (I brought it to work and assembled one with leftovers) made our office smell “funky,” they were excellent. We ate ours with Imagine Cream of Mushroom and a salad with toasted nuts and dried cranberries. Joe’s been making vinagrettes lately with white balsamic vinegar (note: we are still poor, we just have a lot of these types of things around the house) — and I highly recommend it on your salads!

- I recently discovered The Manifest Vegan and want to start making some of the food she posts there — especially her Spanakopita recipe. Mmmmm.

- Today I came across the Quarry Girl blog — a blog kept by a vegan gal living in Los Angeles. GAWD am I jealous of things like this. When the snow hits here soon, I’m going to be even more jealous of people who live in warm places with better food. Blast!

Because I am too lazy for a real post today, here are my answers to the Vegan Mofo Survey for 2009! Geeky! Interesting? Maybe! Probably not!

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
Soy but I’m starting to mess with almond milk and I like it.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?

Butternut squash lasagna, Creamy Sweet Potato Bake, Bagels

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Nothing, really. Salt?

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?

Ahhh, yes. The disastrous avocado risotto. THAT was disgusting. And it looked like baby shit.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Duh – bread and butter pickles. I just realized a couple of months ago that there are bread and butter pickles made without high fructose corn syrup. This was a wonderful discovery.

6. How do you organize your recipes?

I have a binder with recipes that I’ve torn out from magazines, photocopies, etc. And I have all of my most-used cookbooks in a handy spot on the counter. Everything else is tucked away above the fridge (books like “Easy Sushi” — which is not easy to make at all).

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Trash.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?
Sourdough bread, cherry tomatoes, blueberries

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
My fondest memory is my earliest memory, too: eating pancakes with my Dad on a rainy morning, listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s version of “Proud Mary.” Food and music — they basically are my life.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?

Pure Decadence’s Cherry Nirvana. Nom nom nom.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
Kitchen-Aid mixer. I find an excuse to use it almost every day. Which I shouldn’t. Because that means I’m eating a lot of bread-y products.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?

Gosh, death seems strong for an herb or spice. Maybe … basil?

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
I have a lot of cookbooks that were given to me at one time or another, but the one that I use the most often and have had the longest is Sarah Kramer’s “La Dolce Vegan.”

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?

Strawberry.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Usually something with peanut sauce… or tofu scramble. Or orange seitan (think Panda Express, but vegan). I don’t serve food to many friends.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Seitan. Mmmmm.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Dinner.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?

Potatoes. Sweet Potatoes. Chewable children’s vitamins.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Tofu. Frozen corn. Bread.

20. What’s on your grocery list?
Soy milk. Bananas. Dried fruit. Veggies. Tofu.

21. Favorite grocery store?
In Spokane: Rocket Market (yes, I support them even though they have fired half of my friends at one time or another and even though they poisoned me with their quiche years ago). Of all time: New Seasons in Portland.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet
Manicotti.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Rouxbe.com, Manifest Vegan, GoVegan.net

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
I’m sure most of the candy I like is not vegan.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
Apple butter. Needed it for a recipe and was SHOCKED that none of the apple butter I could find at the grocery store was made in Washington. It’s only the apple state. Dumb. It was $9.

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
Again, scared seems like a strong word… I’m reluctant to work with most white foods. Because it grosses me out when I watch people eating them.

Rainbow Rice & Fried Green Tomatoes

The meal was simple and a great post-work romp in the kitchen if I do say so myself. I made Rainbow Rice from the VYY cookbook, and then followed her recipe from the VYY blog for Fried Green Tomatoes. EXCELLENT. I even got all fancy shmancy and made a balsamic reduction, which really – don’t tell – just consists of putting a 1/2 cup of vinegar on the stove. On heat. That’s it.

The rice was just a mish-mosh of brown rice, black beans, corn, carrots, green peas and then flavored with all kinds of savory stuff. It was really meaty and very, very satisfying. I was equally happy the next day when I ate the leftovers at work.

The fried green tomatoes were to save the last big fellas on my tomato plants from being pecked away by fall. They were incredible — too good, actually. I don’t want to like fried food too much because its (1) unhealthy (2) expensive (oil is so spendy!) and (3) messy (I hate using our iron skillets because I never want to clean them).

The rest of the week I have continued to cook out of the book, but have been too ravenous each night to photograph the food before I shove it down my gullet. The Soy-Mirin Tofu was really good, but I left the tofu on way, way, way too long (hoping to replicate the amazing Kung Pao Tofu at Hong Kong Chef in Missoula, Mont.) and it got really dry. And the Grilled Pear and Cabbage Salad was amazing. Neither of these mean anything to you without photos. I will move on.

This is kind of a boring catch-up post, but read the next one because that’s where things get really exciting!!!

I’ll kick off our month of vegan blog-a-logging with a minor amount of bitching/prosthelytizing. If you don’t want to read it, you can look at this picture of my cat and then move along.

I'm a cat and I don't like cheese either!

I must have had some kind of unconscious ESP when I started this blog — it really couldn’t have come at a better time. Joe had lost his job early in the summer, and we’ve been ducking in and out of a tailspin ever since. When things look up, they careen down again — and just when they get really bad, something good happens. It’s an exhausting cycle, but one that I feel like I’ve distracted myself pretty well from by cooking.

This isn’t the first time in our relationship that we’ve struggled to make ends meet. But it’s by far been the toughest, I think, because we truly are working the hardest we ever have. Each period when we’ve gone through rocky spots with cash, I turn to cooking. It distracts me from thinking too much. For a couple of hours, I forget about money and landlords and jobs and futures and collections agencies. I have a pretty good track record too. Some great vegetarian food has emerged from my misery. Since my tastes have long been more attracted to vegan ones than to the more lavish end of things, it’s become pretty easy for us to whip up really tasty food on the cheap.

Until recently. Our cash flow has been so minimal and so sparse, we’re having to get really creative. We’re stretching 50 cent cans of food and watering down soy milk. Hell, the other day I made an entire soup from a head of broccoli and that watered down milk. Our days of running to the store for a quick $30 bag of groceries are in hibernation. When we’re out of something, we’re just out.

Today I forgot my lunch. And that sucked. I had a little brown rice to eat, but no apple and no snack (which I rely on pretty heavily, and we don’t have the cash for easy grab-n-go snacks right now). A nonexistent cash flow made it so I couldn’t leave work for a quick snack. I bummed a rice cake off a co-worker. But I finished the day off frazzled and famished.

As we drove home, I realized something: Being hungry is exhausting. Having to constantly scrounge for food is tiring. Joe and I are lucky that we know how to cook — but as I was looking out the window of our car, my hunger made my mind turn to our problems. Where’s rent going to come from? Why can’t we get a break? How can we find more? How did this happen? When will it end? How much more can we take? I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, and I realized they were starting in my stomach. My hunger was making my mind spin out of control, leaving me feeling hopeless.

I’m lucky I have a rational husband that understand when I snap. I’m lucky I got a paycheck yesterday that will cover the rent. But for those people that don’t have those things, it made me realize how difficult it truly is to be hungry. It’s all consuming. Don’t get me wrong: I am fully aware that hunger is much, much, much more intense than what we are experiencing, but what I am gaining a glimpse of is this: when you’re hungry, it’s hard to think about anything else. You can’t think about changing the system that keeps you hungry. Or digging yourself out of a deep hole of debt. You just think about getting that next meal — and that’s it.

I’ve always scoffed at people who dog on panhandlers. Or those people who look down on the poor, homeless and hungry, dismissing them by saying “why don’t they get a JOB?” Or those people who look skeptically from their cars at the line of clients who come to the CK Community Dinner (a meal I try to help out at once a week). Because I think those people have never truly understood what hunger is. When you’ve got an empty pit eating away at your stomach, it’s hard to launch a revolution against the institutions that keeps you hungry.

Now how does this relate to being vegan? Lately, that’s the only way I’ve been eating — and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t because we’re poor. Cheese is a luxury — one that I sneak if I get the chance. But I’m learning that it’s not key to my survival. Now, I didn’t think I’d die without cheese — hellooo, not that dumb. But I didn’t realize that in this time of sparse-living, my diet would become focused on other things: where my protein was coming from, where I’d get some whole grains today or if I could score some free grub from work.

Being poor and exploring veganism has taught me a lot these days. About what I want. What I value. What kind of lifestyle I want to live. What’s necessary to my survival. And a lot of that is coming from how I’m eating. My mind centers itself at the table — and if I can’t sit at a table to consider my life’s options because of financial strain, then food becomes my new goal. Furthermore, I can pave out my goals by determining how I want to eat. Do I want to be able to afford fresh produce, or do I want to be able to eat on the fly for the rest of my life — a pizza here, a burger there. I’m realizing that my life is so much more fulfilled when it comes from my own kitchen. We may not have a pot to piss in, but I can look at the food I make each evening and say, “damn, this girl knows how to stretch a buck.”

The aftermath.

The blog has been a low priority over the last week since I started my new nine-to-fiver. I’m slowly adjusting back to the real world, and am realizing how hermit-y I was becoming working from home. One day towards the end there I was walking around the house and Joe asked “have you even showered yet today?” — I had, but it apparently wasn’t showing. Getting up and having to see other humans is probably a good thing for me.

We delved further into Vegan Yum Yum this week, making Lauren Ulm’s Broccoli Almost Sweet-and-Sour Tofu (not pictured) on Friday night and the Apple Cranberry Salad with Country-Fried Seitan last night. Friday night’s meal was supposed to be an easy one — but for some reason the sweet-and-sour saurce was kind of a bitch to make. I couldn’t get it to thicken, and kept adding more cornstarch — but it was still runny. I was pretty aggro anyway that day, so I handed the reigns over to Joe, which meant a whole bunch of other stuff was thrown in (I saw him squirting maple syrup into it at one point). Since I’m a recipe purist and bad at improv-ing like that, I didn’t take photos. It tasted pretty good, even with the maple syrup.

A no-kill chicken fried cutlet

Last night I journeyed into the wild world of homemade seitan (sentences like that make me realize my life is not exciting). I tidied up the kitchen beforehand, anticipating frustration while making the stuff and knowing clutter would further rile me up. But it was actually quite easy to make. In the recipe, Ulm says to “squish, pound and pull” the gluten wedges until you have the proper thickness — and I did. I found that punching them at full force got them to do what I wanted, plus it kind of felt good and I’ve been feeling really effing angry lately. So that was fun.

The picture off to the left shows the final little fritters — don’t they look legit?! As a former fried chicken lover (there were a few incidents in college where my drunk ass mowed through many a late-night helping of Safeway fried chicken – ew) this hardly tastes like the real thing — but they were still really tasty! The texture is what got me here: it’s a little rubbery and kind of — and I know this is going to sound weird — wet. The dough felt a little sweaty… and I think that may be because I let the broth boil during the braising process when it was supposed to be simmering. But Joe ate it — which always means wasn’t offensively sweaty or bad.

Voila!

We tossed slices of my gluten-fritters in a salad of cranberries, Granny Smith apples and a mustard-based dressing — and it reminded me of a Farmer’s Market Salad I’d had years ago. We have a couple of gluten cutlets left in the fridge, and the frying process was fairly easy so I think this could turn into a regular weekday meal for us. Usually a salad like this — apple, cranberry, greens — would get a handful of Oregon-zola crumbles before heading to the table, but I didn’t think the salad suffered without them. If cheese becomes a regular part of my diet again, I can guarantee I’ll still make this salad — but it’ll probably get some cheese-friends thrown in.

I’m still working on getting good lunch ideas to bring to work. Leftovers are usually what I rely on, but it would be nice to have some healthy ideas (please send if you have them — even meat-based meals that I could veganize). The other issue I’m having —and this isn’t necessarily a cheese-related issue — are snacks. Joe and I watch a movie almost every night, and we always have snacks. Lately it seems like we’ve fallen into a snack-black-hole. We’ll go in the kitchen and stare into the cupboards and fridge, waiting for some epiphany to rile us. But nothing. So now I need snack ideas, too. Crap!

Hi! I will make you better next time!

This recipe was a good starter for a few reasons: (1) I slept like crap last night, so I wasn’t too excited about slaving in the kitchen for hours. This was super easy to make. (2) There was nothing too kooky about it — meaning I wasn’t going to be chopping up rudabagas or anything we don’t normally eat. I was leary because of the “white sauce” element — I have a rule of not eating white, creamy foods EVER. Ugh. The recipe made this look like something I could choke down, though. I am moving on from this topic because it disgusts me.

I have shit-tons of polenta in the cupboard and this recipe utilized some of that. In the past I haven’t had much luck with the stuff, but this recipe gave me some new perspective on how to eat it (though I kind of made it wrong – we’ll get to that though). Also, it called for spaghetti squash — which I haven’t been nuts about in the past (odd, because I love squash).

When we sat down to eat Joe asked “did you cut some corners on this?” And yes, I had. The polenta in Lauren Ulm’s photos look like crispy little triangles. Mine was sort of blobby and gelatinous. BUT, with that said, it was really tasty. The polenta was seasoned with veggie bouillon, red pepper flakes and some other delicious stuff. The white sauce was like a buttery roux. We decided it would be amazing over vegan biscuits. In my dreams, Joe would wake up early tomorrow to make fresh vegan biscuits with the leftover gravy for me before I start my new in-office job. A girl can dream, right? SIGH.

So, in keeping with the title of this post I have learned a few things:

(1) Cook polenta for the full recipe time, even if you really want to go to the mall after dinner to spend money you don’t have.

(2) Spaghetti squash has other purposes besides being a weird pasta substitute. It is really good when mixed in with yummy polenta.

(3) White sauce, like peace, should be given a chance.

Culinarily speaking, I’m a little worried about my new life that starts tomorrow. I’m starting a really super cool new job, but I’m a little worried about how I will veganize my lunches to bring to work. I’ve looked at Vegan Lunch Box for tips — but JAY-SUS that woman looks like she has more time on her hands than me. I need some good vegan lunch tips. Not sure what I will bring tomorrow. Please enlighten me with your ideas.

Being back in Portland is funny — there are things I miss, and things I don’t. When I visit Portland, things like the rain seem so much more charming than when I stood in it every day waiting for the bus. Or the hipsters — I detested the mere presence of them when I lived here, but found myself happily standing among the best of them at last night’s Sunny Day Real Estate show at the Crystal. There are things I definitely don’t miss — traffic, mostly. My heart is torn right in half, part of it a loyal Oregonian, the other part a happy Spokanite.

The thing I might miss the most, however, is being a cook in Portland. No, I never worked on a line or as a chef — just as a home cook. I used to drive all over the damn city trying to find what I needed. A tiny Korean grocery story on North Killingsworth was my spot for cheap shallots and $1 cans of coconut milk. New Seasons or the Farmer’s Markets for beautiful produce. I could find anything I needed here (except papadums, which forever eluded me) — not so much in Spokane. And going out — you can be vegetarian in Portland and eat anywhere. Our favorite was Farm Cafe, but we always knew Proper Eats, Kalga Kafe, Vita Cafe and the Red & Black Cafe were all just a few minutes away. Sigh.

My mom warmed my heart the other day when she held up to the camera (we chat on the computer) an ad for Veg Fest 2009. “There’s a food presentation by… Isa…?” … I cut her off. “ISA CHANDRA MOSKOWITZ OMG I HAVE ALL OF HER COOKBOOKS!” Dorky, you don’t even know the half of it. So we headed today down to the Convention Center for Veg Fest, and while it was mostly a banquet hall of samples, it was cool to see how mobilized the Portland Vegetarian community is, and how mobilized it isn’t. It was impressive how many people were there — but the message seemed overwhelmingly militant to me. Why put dead animals in the faces of vegetarians? We know why we’re vegetarian, at this point. And all the shirts for sale with animal rights-y slogans across them… it just all seemed kind of similar to abortion activists to me. It made me think we have the right idea with the Spokane Vegans: veganism and vegetarianism is conscious, healthy eating. We don’t have to be in people’s faces about our diets to feel good about it. Alright, enough pukey, happy shit. We left before Isa — I survived.

Tonight I tested a little Vegan Yum Yum action on my parents with the really yummy looking Rustic Bread and Eggplant Lasagna. My parents are pretty conscious omnivores — but they aren’t exactly ready for tofu cutlets or seitan. They freaked over this. My dad ate two pieces. I always give him shit for taking a bite of my cooking and nodding, chewing a little and saying “yeah, it’s not bad.” Which I always argue means it’s not that good either. He was all over this shit. Loved it. That’s saying a lot, I think.

I really need to work on my food photos not looking like puke. That’ll come with time, I’m hoping.

Looks like puke! Tastes like awesome!

I used to be such a freak about quiche. During that time I gained lots of weight and probably pumped my arteries with lots of cholesterol. My quiche fixation ended abruptly after I ate a piece from The Rocket that sent me into a pukey-fit of food poisoning or SARs or something like it. Quiche was not my thing anymore. Neither was The Rocket.

After my longest dabble in veganism a few years ago, when I integrated non-vegan ingredients back into my diet I found I couldn’t eat eggs anymore. Sure, if they’re in stuff I’m fine (cookies, cakes, delicious things). But an omelet, an egg sandwich, a scramble. No effing way. Made me want to barf.

I make a mean vegan frittata, but I’d never tried making a quiche until today. Yes, that baking pan of totally unappetizing looking brown stuff is a vegan quiche, sans tofu. I made it from a recipe in the genius Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. One of the things I always loved about quiche were the stringy bits of cheddar and little surprise puffs of goat cheese. This quiche (actually called Mushroom, Leek and White Bean Pie) is delicious without cheese. In fact, I didn’t even think about quiche having cheese until right now.

I’m savoring every day by taking afternoon naps and making mid-day quiches. I start a new job in a week and will have to get back on a normal 9-5 schedule.

Need to nap now.