Come to Our Eatery; We Have Nutmeatery

I do rather like it when the inside of a nutshell is referred to as the "nutmeat".
I also very much like this local-but-soon-unfortunately-moving-to-Portland band;
All The Apparatus (Formerly Haberdashery). Their sound is original and unique--a folkish, gypsyish, jazzy, Irish-jiggy, wacky-instrumented treat. They are a bunch of very talented, jovial weirdees who don various delightful garments. Do check them out. One of my favorite of their songs is "Lobsterface Mcgee", a sympathetic tale about a hideous pirate who marries an oyster-faced mermaid. They make my night every time I come across them performing on the streets of Chinatown or elsewhere.

Both them and nutmeats are rich and hearty. One, when ground, makes a good base for vegan creamy sauces, the other makes for a wonderful listening, jiving, jigging experience.

Portlandites: treat and enjoy them well. All The Apparatus, that is.

Recent Endeavors and Okinawan Sweet Potato

• Blackberries
• 15 grain rice--tinted so from black soy beans and black sesame seed
• Okinawan sweet potatoes, stewed into some sort of vaguely Caribbean-tasting concoction of cumin, chili powder, onions, carrots, etc.
  

Rooster fabric! I found a very Minnesota mom-chic skirt at Salvation Army, cut it to a more sassy and less ankly length, and hand-sewed two layers of rufflage onto the back. I think that I shall be bold and go for another layer of roosters?

Royal Tubers

Dissapointment. And Discovery!

Last night, while making what turned out to be mediocre-tasting Koreanesque spicy noodles, I absentmindedly took my scythe to the stem bottoms of some bok choi, and--hark!--roses!

!!!

Everybody Hail to the Pumpkin Song

Happy rather belated Halloween! I hope yours was mischievous and decadent and all of that. What was your guise? Word to Walt:


Wonderful and dearly missed friends from my study abroad program in Japan had come out to visit during Halloween, it was a corking good time.

In keeping with the theme:
I had taken my visiting friends to a gelato place in Waikiki that uses local ingredients. I asked to sample the pumpkin flavor, and the talkative young man behind the counter was eager to tell me that the pumpkins were grown locally on the island, (Hawaii) and that the the flavor is "more mild" than of those on the mainland (rest of the USA). This just struck me as very funny indeed. I don't really consider pumpkins to have a particularly aggressive flavor?

Now heed my word; pumpkin is sans jest my favorite wintery indulgence. I mean, it's definitely one of my favorite flavors and I find it to be silkily-velvety-autumnally-divine.

So I say, who in this beastly kingdom wants a mild pumpkin?

Foodlings! Mother. Fluffing. Foodlings.

My weeks have been filled with a mugwort amount of school work, general treason, and hob-knobbing and I haven't posted in what feels like many moons! Grovel, grovel.

A Very Generous Vegan Friend of mine created the first scrumptious three meals



Rice, steamed kabocha, sublime kabocha-chikpea-miso-konbu-carrot-onion stuff, hijiki, and what I believe is kale. Oh and giant coconut that my roommate *Aberforth *found somewhere! She and Very Generous Vegan Friend sought its inner meats, and broke open by dropping it off of our 13th floor balcony. Successful.

ezekiel toast, steamed kale, cream of wheat, and fru fru friends



Vegan bi bim bap; brown rice, korean roasted nori, fern shoots, kim chi, gochujang, mung bean sprouts, and carrot


baked tofu, 15 grain rice, steamed carrots and asparagus

Naughty little feathered creature that entered the apartment and WOULD NOT LEAVE! The roommates were out so this left only my cunning tactics and courage to work with. I at first cautiously approached it to say hello, only to make it petrified and flap wildly about. The door to our balcony was wide open, so I didn't understand why it wouldn't just haul arse....bother.
Persistant villain!
After several failed attempts at trying to coax it towards the door/offering to propose a duel, it occurred to me; "a watched pot never boils". So I sat down at a kitchen bar stool facing away from it, pretending to do homework. After about a minute or so I turned around and--lo and behold--Flappy was gone.
It was at this moment that I realized the apartment felt rather empty and lonely, so I grew forlorn and hung my head.
Fin.

Tofu Scramble and the Bard's Stockings

Here I am at a party I went to last weekend, being consumed by what appears to be mustard greens.

The party was the 22nd birthday soiree of my friend that I shall call "A" here--a costume party! I had received the proper Facebook notice, on which "A" had enthusiastically encouraged that everyone come dressed up. Welp, I sure did, but somehow misread the part where the invitation said "jungle"...

I went as Shakespeare.

Sigh. Worry not, I har-har'd. My vest and tights got a bit stifling while the others pranced about in their leopard print and feathers, though, so I eventually removed those. Only to be attacked by the upper half of another friend's awesome swamp creature costume.

Being the weirdo in the stuffy, frilly shirt isn't so bad, tis plain sooth.

On to the food porn! Breakfast for dinner:

• Tofu Scramble ( medium firm tofu, almond milk, nooch, mustard, spices, bell pepper, finely grated carrot)
  
• Homemade lentil sausages (vital wheat gluten, cooked red lentils, minced onion, sage and other sausagely spices--recipe soon!)
  
• Semi-wilted grapes
• Sensuous mango
• Black tea with almond milk
  

I had purchased this yummy looking local whole wheat pita bread from Down to Earth, an all-vegetarian grocery store, that I was excited about and planning to eat. Upon opening the bag, however, I was greeted (garrr) with a sour scent and many fuzzly little blue and green spots. I really didn't want to waste it, but it looked like no cigar. Sadly, my meal was pita-less, but not too sadly, oh no, for a hearty and numbly meal it was yet!

Premiere VEGAN MOFO Post, un peu tard

6 days in--I am but a worm. But I do have some pumpkin muffinry!

I based these on the "Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes" from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

My tweaks:

• 1/4 cup less sugar
• Used steamed and mashed kabocha squash
• 1/4 cup more kabocha
• Whole wheat pastry flour
• Extra tsp. vanilla
• Almond milk instead of soy
  

I had to leave them unadorned on account of the fact that I do not have confectioners on hand right now. Well, they turned out delightfully moist and sweet...so all is well that ends well! I just thought these had come out more muffin-like. Going to school in sub-tropical Honolulu, I begin to miss the autumnally festive atmosphere of home (and other temperate zones). Pumpkin and cinnamon leave me feeling like crisp foliage on this balmy Tuesday evening.