Vegan in Suburbia

Dante groupies, holiday recap, and mushy gratitude

2012-01-11T21:13:00.002-05:00

My first day of class was yesterday. It started with a bang: a meeting with a professor who has asked me to aid him with what he deems a mundane research task, and what I deem frakking awesome. Nonetheless, the day started with an early, pleasant meeting followed by my first course on La Divina Commedia at the Master's level.

Let it be known: I am a Dante groupie. I recently had the final line of the Inferno (part 1 of 3 of La Divina Commedia, the other two being Purgatorio and Paradiso) - "E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle" - tattooed onto me. I twice visited the Museum of Dante's House in Florence, though I didn't enter because I'm ~~cheap~~ frugal and, instead, posed in front of and photographed it and did likewise in front of the statue of Dante, which resides amongst the statues of other Italian greats, just outside of the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. I'd already taken a course on Dante in my undergrad, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take another course on his work, especially since, though I do call myself a groupie, I haven't read past the Inferno in the Commedia. (Gasp!)

Forgive me for the Dante rant. I just wanted to fully explain why yesterday's first class was an emotional one. Yes, my friends: just like my 10-year-old self cried at Backstreet Boys concerts, 25-year-old Christina chokes up reading Dante. Go figure.

If I haven't lost you in my sparkly-eyed teenage rant, let's see what happens when I rewind and return to December. On December 20, I left Toronto for Montreal, grabbing a cab on Bloor with - as far as I am concerned - the most polite, jovial, friendly, and compassionate cab driver I've ever encountered. What a blessing he was! I discovered, while aiding him to lift my luggage (which contained no fewer than sixteen library books, many of which were hardcover) into the trunk, that he had hurt his back less than a week prior. To prove it to me - not that I had questioned the authenticity of his pain - he flashed the package of Tylenol Back Pain that was managing his pain. He was grateful for the help, and I was grateful for his honesty, and we drove off. He asked me about my life and I politely inquired about his. He said "Thank you" a lot when I would express interest in the words he spoke. He was from Somalia, if I remember correctly, and a practising Muslim who speaks English, Arabic, and Somali. Though he didn't celebrate Christmas, his enthusiasm and appreciation for the joy that the holidays bring was positively contagious. I truly enjoyed his laughter, and his genuine spirit, and listening to his perspective on his own life and the city surrounding him of which he was an integral part.

All of this positivity was captured in the parentheses containing a 15-minute cab ride. This was as good of an indication as any that the following 2.5 weeks would totally kick ass.

I hopped onto the Greyhound bus to Montreal at 21:30 on the 20th; it was scheduled to arrive at 04:30 in Kirkland. Yes, that is 4 o'clock in th'mornin'. See, I'd told everyone in Montreal (save for a privileged two, because I simply couldn't keep it to myself) that I'd be arriving on the 22nd at 7 a.m., not on the 21st at 4 a.m. Surprise! I couldn't, however, commit the selfish act of calling my mum at that time to pick me up, nor could I accept the generous offers for lifts from those two individuals.

As though the Greyhound bus driver were catching onto the trail of optimism and positivity of the Toronto cab driver, Mr. Bus Driver offered to drop me off at the Tim Horton's closest to the bus station in Kirkland. I'd been planning on walking there from the terminal and spending a few hours there, but when Mr. Bus Driver discovered, through bringing up the topic himself, that I had no one picking me up at the terminal, he generously offered the alternate drop-off point. Bless him!

So, what does a sleepy, vegan, Master's student transplanted from the city back into the suburbs do at a Tim Horton's at 4 a.m.? Well, order a chai first, sans dairy milk, in French (woo! Toronto has not robbed me of my French!). Then, after trying in vain to do some schoolwork, which only made my eyelids droop, I did the next logical thing: watch six episodes of Community. And then I called my mum; I was home by 8 a.m.

I promise that I won't go into that much detail to describe my Christmas vacation, but suffice it to say that it wasn't a vacation until the 29th. Remember those pesky, weighty library books that helped gravity make my luggage fall in love with the ground? Those were for research, as I had two papers due by the beginning of January. The due dates were flexible, but I knew that I did not want to spend my entire time in Montreal doing work. I imposed a deadline for the 24th and one for the 29th, slept very little, snuck in some celebrating Jesus' birth or something along those lines, ate a lot, and laughed even more (with family - I swear! My studies didn't push me to that point). And, without fail, I snapped at the inquisitor behind every "Are you almost done?" or "How many pages do you have left?" My moody response, inevitably, was a firm "NO" or "I. Will. Tell. You. When. I. Am. Done" or, as my mum documented in a video she recorded of me in my natural habitat, i.e. surrounded by veritable piles of books, "I will shout it from the rooftops when I am done," and I did yell when I said that. It's a good thing that I have not yet shown my mum how to upload videos to Facebook...

When I finally finished my schoolwork and was able to truly, objectively appreciate the support that I had while I worked at home but also understand and achieve perspective on how valuable it is to study away from my familial core, if only for the necessary isolation it can provide (let's ignore the mania that results from the isolation of research, which only family can remedy or tolerate), I jumped into revelry: receiving friends and family at home over coffee or dinner, cooking for and spending an intimate New Year's with my other half (also known as my "sista from another mista", Maritsa), visiting family in Ottawa after New Year's, watching Chuck and kicking it 'til the wee hours of the morning with Pete, driving around town to visit loved ones over coffee or dinner, eating a lot of pie (see Maple Pecan Pie below; here's the recipe), overdosing on fried zucchini (also below), cuddling with Momma, catching up with cousins and my beautiful sister, having a slumber party and heading to Aux Vivres with my uncles, eating food from Pushap no fewer than four times... I truly could go on (stuffing my face with peanut butter tofu from Soupes et nouilles was a highlight, indeed). It was a fantastic vacation.

I'll let the photos, below, do the talking; before I do (I just can't shut up, can I!), however, I wanted to send a sincere expression of gratitude and love to those who made the time to catch up with me over the busy holidays, to the loved ones who went the extra mile (literally) to catch me between visits or papers, or (metaphorically) to make me vegan cookies (Zia Franca, your cookies are one of the many highlights of Christmas! Thank you!) or banana bread (AmandaHead, don't listen to him! That hefty loaf of banana goodness is hella good) or frosting-covered sugar cookies (Sara, those cookies left me speechless... mainly because my mouth was filled with cookies) or maple cake (Momma, you're the best); to those who unfailingly provided the extra millimetre or metre - trust me: every tiny bit helped - of support that I needed last semester. We laugh about it now, but my graduate partner in crime and Veggie Soulmate, Ally, very observantly and wisely remarked this morning, referring to the workload of a Master's programme, that, "If I've learned anything from last semester, it's that this is almost impossible to do." But, somehow we made it halfway. People have done it before us and people will continue to do it after us; MAs and PhDs are earned every year. If they can do, why can't we? Last semester, we learned, sometimes the hard way, about balance... and about being driven to research-driven insanity in style. Aww yeah.

Speaking of style (yeah, right: I have none)... If my weekend plans - seeing the American Idiot musical, hitting up Hogtown Vegan with the roomies, and letting the Windsor Arms Hotel restaurant, on Sunday morning with the Toronto Vegetarians Meetup Group, show us what fancy vegan brunch means, not to mention the upcoming poetry slams and visits from family and friends - serve as even a remote prediction of what this semester has in store, I'll be just as emotionally, spiritually, and physically (I just joined the gym!) satisfied as I was last semester.

So, to all those who, reluctantly or with complete joyous abandon, are jumping back into the academic groove or sliding back into the work routine, I wish you a year filled with worthwhile challenges, pleasant adventures, fulfilled dreams, vibrant health, warm hugs, bountiful love, safe travels, and delicious food. May we all remember to embrace balance and understand that we are blessed to be surrounded by individuals who believe in us when we've lost faith in ourselves, who see brilliance in us when we fail to see an inkling of intelligence, who love us despite, well, ourselves.

I love you guys.

Ok, put the tissues away - unless you need it to wipe away drool: there's lots of food porn to come. (Please forgive, once again, my lack of expertise [and time] in giving some of the pictures a good rotation, in addition to forgiving me for blogger's funny decision to reorder the photos.)

With love, blessings, and huge hugs,

Vegan in Suburbia

Sunrise behind my house in Toronto

Me, being silly with my mum over a meal of gnocchi - at my behest for my last meal in Montreal

Getting Vegan Pie in the Sky for Christmas: Exhibit A, Maple-Kissed Blueberry Pie, sliced elegantly by my uncle

New Year's dinner. Aww, yeah. We had seconds, too. We are beasts.

Downtown Montreal in a mild snowstorm. I couldn't have asked for more picturesque scenery through which to walk.

Sorry, Pie. It was your time.

The grand display of New Year's Eve's epic meal, created by me and Maritsa. We had Daiya mac and cheese (recipe here. I've been using this recipe for over 2 years; no other mac and cheese recipe comes close), stir-fried kale and garlic, fried chick'n tenders, olive bread, a variety of antipasto, veggie pâté, and, of course, Maple Pecan Pie by the goddesses behind Vegan Pie in the Sky, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Posin' with the food

Pretending to be a fancypants wine connoisseur, and, being far from it, I can't help but laugh at my idiocy...

Duuuude... Dude. I took this photo as a "just in case" photo; let me clarify: I had a feeling that I'd messed up something in the recipe, namely that, due to impatience, I added cold ingredients to boiling hot ones. I was correct: once we sliced into this beauty, the pie turned to goo. However, it was still delicious and, with enough chilling, it remains solid once it's sliced. I've learnt my lesson!

Christmas morning breakfast is maple pie and dates. Don't judge me.

Our lovely Christmas tree, decorated by my darling sister, her boyfriend, my cousin, and my best friend

When cupcake tops are cruelly ripped from their homely bottoms, you repair it with frosting, says the brilliant and beautiful @NessaToutSucrée! These were made to celebrate the submission of my last essay of the semester.

Pushap is my favourite Indian restaurant in Montreal. I had an insane craving for their food, so, like I said, I ordered from them no fewer than four times.

The charming Christmas Eve spread

My Zia Franca's delicious vegan shortbread cookies

My cousin Sara's addictive and outrageously tasty sugar cookies

The festive, wintry display that greeted me upon my return to Montreal

One of the tastiest sandwiches I've ever made: peanut butter tofu, sundried tomatoes, spinach, baba ghanoush, and avocado.

The same peanut butter tofu, chopped over salad

Peanut butter tofu, in the buff... ish

A poinsettia instead of a Christmas tree adds a taste of Christmas at home in my Toronto home

Fried zucchini. Holy moly, I cannot get enough of this. Ever. At all. No. It's not possible. (It's eerie how I can picture myself yelling that desperately while being dragged away from a plate of this zucchini...)

A little too enthusiastic about the sauce, Christina?

Gosh, I love French onion soup...

Naturally, I didn't read all of these books, but I consulted, at the very least, their indices. They were good to me, and I was good to them. And now they are home (praise the heavens), where they belong--in the library, that is.

COOKIE MANIA FOR CHRISTMAS! These are Isa Chandra and Terry Hope's Walnut Thumbprint cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, sans walnut, plus rosehip jam.

This is the chaos that ensues when I write.

A friendly visit from my veggie soulmate

Pumpkin friggin pie. Aww yeah. This was after Thanksgiving. When Ally (veggie soulmate, above) came over to study with me, I promised her and my roommates pumpkin pie, and I followed through on that promise.

A nice, hearty meal of sweet potato chili and Happy Herbivore cornbread. Both the chili and the cornbread freeze really well, so this meal kept me warm on many a night.

The mail that greeted and welcomed me back to Toronto. Somehow, in this small bundle, my mail managed to accurately capture my personality and interests.

Surfacing... briefly

2011-11-22T01:13:00.000-05:00

Me, in Queen's Park, while Maritsa tested out different settings on her fancypants camera

~

Dear friends,

I hope that you are all doing well! I thank you for keeping up with my academic as well as extra-curricular shenanigans. This past month has been nothing short of, well, insane. When I returned from a Thanksgiving visit in Montreal, I hopped right back into my studies and started to do research in earnest for projects and presentations that, at this point, are on the verge of being presented but by no means are on the verge of being completed. Oh, what have I gotten myself into! (I confess that I started to write that without the dangling preposition, but who on Earth says, "into what have I gotten myself!" unless they're a pretentious fool [I'm pointing at myself...]).

I feel that I should clarify that, with such a statement, I am neither complaining nor am I lamenting my decision to pursue graduate studies at this fabulous university of which I am honoured, privileged, and humbled to be a part. However, though I can't say that I didn't anticipate this amount of work, I must admit that I never expected that it would be lumped into such a short period of time. And I cannot even say that I am wading in it, or even floating in the sea of work; no, no, I am veritably drowning... but with an oxygen tank always near at hand--that would be you, precious friends and family! If it weren't for your faith, well... you know what acqueous submersion without access to oxygen equals.

Speaking of the support of loved ones, I was blessed enough to be visited this past month by my best friend and, two weeks later, my sister and my cousin. We walked, talked, laughed, and ate a lot, and these magnificent ladies were understanding and comfortable enough to indulge me in studying, bringing books of their own to savour at the local Starbucks while I studied for a couple of hours. It truly is lovely, moving, and strange to have family visit you in your new home with which they are unfamiliar, since, prior to this year, we'd shared the same space and the same small town.

The clock's tickin' towards 1.am. (edit: past 1 a.m. now), so I should get back to work (ha! I bet you thought I'd say that I should get to bed). I just wanted to check in to say that I am alive, very well, close to sane, and still cooking up a storm. A new friend and I recently had a passionate conversation about sweet potatoes, and when he said he made sweet-potato chili, I thought of those peculiar-looking orange darlings in my fridge and got to work--cooking, that is. Tonight, then, I made sweet-potato chili and Happy Herbivore cornbread. As the sweet-potato chili sits on the stove top and its flavours deepen, I'm writing and reading away about Paolo Volponi and his first novel, Memoriale. Check it out. (In English, it is The Memorandum.) It's a heavy but fascinating read.

Ok, I won't bore you; it's my research and not yours!

On that note, I'll save my full updates for my next post, probably around or after Christmas-time. Until then, darlings, I wish you a marvellous Thanksgiving, if you're south of the border, and a healthy, happy, and safe holiday season. I know you're all brilliant and considerate individuals, so I don't have to remind you to not drink and drive; instead, I will encourage you all to steal those darn keys from anyone who thinks they're "fine," and then give them a big hug.

Much love and blessings,

Vegan in Suburbia

Floating between Summer and Autumn; floating between two homes

2011-10-20T03:12:00.000-04:00

1:25 a.m., Thursday morning

Well, if I'm up this late and I'm not even remotely close to doing any schoolwork, I might as well be productive in some capacity, right?

Greetings, dear friends. I hope you're all adapting well to the transition from Summer to Autumn. As I sit at my desk listening to Our Lady Peace and the howling wind trying to steal the attention from the comforting murmur of the falling rain, I'm strangely at peace. I am fully aware of the workload that awaits me tomorrow, a workload I'd intended on tackling with gentle but effective strikes of a tiny pick-ax this very evening. My plans were side-tracked, I admit, by a simple desire: brownies. After biking home in the pouring rain, dousing myself in steaming shower water, telephoning my grandparents in Ottawa, making dinner, chatting with my roomie (who questioned my sanity when, as I flipped through a cookbook, I uttered the nonsensical, "I want to make cupcakes.... I want everything"), eating said dinner, taking part in a discussion on Facebook, checking e-mail--after all of that, all I could think about was how pleasing it would be to bite into a gooey, rich, decadent brownie.

So, I got to work--rather, I got to baking. A domani, schoolwork; buongiorno running in the rain tomorrow morning. Oy. I came up with a strange, admittedly flawed philosophy: in order to defeat brownie-induced guilt (who am I kidding? Do I feel guilt when indulging in sweets? Do leopards have stripes?), I opted to bake the brownies in a circular cake pan. Thus, when cutting the brownies into their quintessential squares, I'd need to, ahem, discard the remaining crescent moon shapes around the edges of the circle, right? And by discard, I do mean eat. Order is restored in brownie utopia; guilt is nonexistent. Hooray!

Procrastinating shenanigans aside, a short update is in order (I promise it'll be short). Since my last post and before school became really intense, I did my very best to take in the activities that this splendid city had to offer in the waning summer. I went to see The Shins at their sold-out show; I attended a vegan bonfire with members of the Toronto Vegetarian Association; I saw two poetry slams hosted by the Toronto Poetry Slam; I went to a pub with fellow Italian Studies classmates; I ate vegan poutine at Poutini; I got lost on several occasions trying to bike around Queen's Park instead of across it; I connected with a dear cousin over fabulous Indian food at Curry Twist; I ate an obscene amount of vegan sweets at the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival and saw the world premiere of the film Vegucated (go see it!).

I also went to class and read several books amongst all of these activities, and I even made it back to Montreal for Thanksgiving.

For Canadian Thanksgiving, I returned to Montreal for the first time since my move to Toronto. It was absolutely lovely to be amongst family. I took the 12:30 a.m. Megabus back home so that I could have the entire day to hang out with my mum and best friend and even get some reading done. Instead, what does this genius do? Sleep. I slept from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Really? Six hours? Way to go, Christina. I don't ever sleep during the day. My best friend was so baffled that she contemplated calling my mum in order to ask her to check up on me (which my mum did do, several times, since both of my grandmothers called, as well as my aunt and cousin. Woops!).

It truly was a special weekend. It was a new, interesting experience to return to Montreal as a visitor and not as a resident. It was touching to receive such warm and welcoming greetings from loved ones. I was spoiled by more hugs than I can count; precious time catching up over cups of tea; a vegan dessert made by my dear cousin; a gourmet vegan meal in wonderful company at ChuChai preceded by drinks and followed by a long, silly, beautiful walk in downtown Montreal; laughter and memories shared over Thanksgiving dinner after arriving home at four a.m. and baking Thanksgiving dishes 'til 7:30 a.m. Never for a second do I forget how blessed I am to be surrounded by the beauty and shining light of the extraordinary souls in my life. Even when I am miles away in the urban wilderness that I now call home, I am constantly enveloped by the love and warmth of the dear ones in my life.

I'm done gushing for now. Here's some food and here are some friends, in no particular order.

Hemp-apple cappuccino muffins. I replaced all of the liquid in this recipe with cappuccino soymilk. I strongly recommend that you try this; you will not be disappointed.

Fabulous cast, crew, and vegan NHL player Mike Zigomanis answering questions from the audience following the premiere screening of the brilliant, informative, moving, and funny documentary Vegucated

Me and dear fellow veggie @alxhybridus at the Vegetarian Food Festival

Che bella città... <3

Veggie snacks, and this is after I'd already consumed a cookie and a date square

And a cupcake

And a Mile-High Brownie (consisting of a brownie topped with icing topped with marshmallow topped with a piece of brownie topped with fudge. It's the Matryoshka doll of brownies, made by KindFood)

Eager to attack my Thanksgiving plate

Evidence of my (failed) brownie theory of this evening

A fabulous and visually appealing meal prepared by my roomie/brother

In case you haven't noticed, I know no limit when it comes to dessert. This is berry crumble, apple crumble, and vanilla soy ice cream.

Nonna's layered baked zucchini delight

My mum's famous vegan stuffing. Omnomnom (if attacking fingers could talk)!

My Thanksgiving plate, with the requisite mashed-potato-and-gravy volcano (I'm eight years old)

To the left is my veggie soulmate; to the right is her soulmate, my cousin, who visited in September. Here we're dining at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown.

Pad thai, I love you (even though this didn't even come close in terms of delight to the pad thai I've had in Montreal). Toronto, show me delicious pad thai!

Carrot-cake pancakes. Dude. Dude.

Home-made pad thai, accompanied by a bit of wine and a bit of textbook

Dandelion greens <3

This is probably one of the tastiest meals I've made for myself in Toronto, and it was one of the simplest: baked sweet potato fries and a veggie burger in fresh-baked ciabatta bread from Fresh Farms down the street. The bread was so fresh that, in a classy manner, I ripped off the butt of the bread and chowed down while walking home from the store.

Mommy baked me a maple cake! It was ridiculously tasty. Thank you, Mommacakes!

To the left: sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Marshmallows! These are Sweet and Sara beauties. Inspiration for the dish comes from the show Chuck, specifically from the Thanksgiving episode in which Ellie makes the dish for Morgan and, as a result, makes his then-girlfriend, Anna, jealous.

That's 6:36 a.m., my friends. I was so tired by the end of my cooking spree that I felt intoxicated. Haha. In case you're wondering, the reason why I baked when I arrived home at 4 a.m. was to have the kitchen liberated for my mum to cook on Thanksgiving day. You know the adage: there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

Tofurky <3

~

Until next time,

Vegan in Suburbia

The Big Move

2011-09-08T15:05:00.005-04:00

Me, buying my first Toronto paper (which I have yet to read... Woops)

The Toronto skyline by the Rogers Centre

Oh, yeah. We met Nichelle Nichols. What a fabulous, elegant, polite, and down-to-Earth woman. She was here for FanExpo, which was happening in Toronto the weekend I moved here.

The CN Tower glowed orange in honour of the late Jack Layton. ♥

Team Vani (and honourary Vani)! I love you guys.


I... kinda love Jian Ghomeshi.

Me and Katee Sackhoff. I got her autograph, too! I love you, Matthew. Thank you for making it happen!

The Big Move: it happened. On August 27, my dear sister, best friend, and I placed ourselves amongst my belongings, squeezed into my sister's 2005 Nissan Sentra, at scarcely past 5 a.m. on a dark Saturday morning. We were headed to Toronto and needed to make haste, as--may his soul rest in peace--Jack Layton's funeral was taking place in Toronto, and we didn't know what kind of traffic to expect. So off we went, equipped with snacks, high spirits, and five mixed CDs I'd prepared the day before instead of, ahem, packing, and fuelled my tonnes of caffeine and 2 hours of sleep per person. We arrived in Toronto in just over 5 hours, having made 3 stops to switch drivers and, uh, never surpassing 120 km/hr (okay, Mom?).

So, let's put things into perspective for a second: I didn't move to another country, nor did I move across the country; but I didn't move a 20-minute car ride across the city, either. The fabulous--at least it is in my eyes--city of Toronto is my home now. Ah, yes, Hogtown, T-Dot, "the 416" (although, latecomer as I am, my area code is 647)--the city that Montrealers love to hate. I've never been a part of that group (and I mean no disrespect to those who have founded as well as unfounded dislike for Toronto), not having had much, if any, experience with the city, aside from visits to Mississauga and three visits over as many years to see bands that overlooked Montreal as a tour stop. And on those three visits, I've truly adored Toronto. Ok, so I didn't adore it in the same way that I adored, say, Rome, or Paris, or Madrid; I daresay that no city in North America would make me feel that way, other than my dear Montreal, really (then again, I'm better versed in European travel than I am in North American, so what do I know?). Nonetheless, something about this city positively charmed me, enticed me, warmed my heart, even though it is because of grad school that I moved here and not because of romantic gusto for its vast and varied social and cultural terrain.

A dear friend of mine chidingly said to me, "if anyone's going to find culture in Toronto, it'll be you, Christina." I laughed and laughed, naturally, despite my being convinced that I'd already seen culture in Toronto. And I have already equipped myself with dates for poetry slams, vegetarian meet-ups, movie screenings, and yoga classes. In my eyes, Toronto is not the cold, barren place where people live to work instead of work to live; where streets are deserted at the stroke of midnight; where The Almighty Dollar takes precedence over humanity, respect, and everyday kindness. I haven't lived here long enough to be able to make vast, far-reaching judgements about the place, but I can say that Toronto is none of the above-mentioned stereotypes that many people like to ascribe to this oft-maligned city. I must admit that I have difficulty, also, distinguishing between whether my pure, absolute delight about living in Toronto is the fact that I live in an urban area as opposed to the suburbs, or, rather, I am truly enamoured of the City of Toronto itself. Well, I guess when it comes to judging whether I am a city girl or not, moving to Toronto is the "go big or go home" option. Given that I moved here specifically because I am enrolled in the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto, "go home" is not even entertained as an option, as the program is one year long.

But I really love Toronto. Like, I really do love it.

One of the major aspects of this city that has enticed me is its sizeable vegetarian population. So, let's put things into a vegan perspective for a second: last week, I went to run a few errands. I'll begin by saying that all I had to do was walk out of my door, situated a mere 20 metres from a Loblaws grocery store that is open 24 hours a day--not to mention a hop, skip, and a jump away from a 24-hour Sobey's--walk south to Bloor, and, boom! there I was, amidst Koreatown in all its splendour. Admittedly, Koreatown may not be a picturesque part of town, but it sure as heck is convenient, and it boasts tonnes of well frequented ethnic restaurants. To the west of the intersection of Bloor and my street is a vegan comfort-food joint called Hogtown Vegan; to the east of that, there are Fresh, Kensington Natural Bakery, and Toronto's only vegan grocery store, Panacea. To the northeast of my place is Live, which I happened upon on a walk to the LCBO, Magic Oven, and Annapurna. Just steps from U of T's campus is my current favourite restaurant in Toronto, Vegetarian Haven.

I am rambling. My point is really to say that, while running errands the other day, I decided that my goal, aside from picking up odds and ends for my place, was to get a vegan cupcake, just 'cause I can. So I did. And it was awkward eating it as I walked home, arms practically akimbo, full as they were balancing bags containing objects of different shapes and sizes. But as I all but skipped away from Fresh past Honest Ed's--a veritable monolith taking up an entire city block, and a noteworthy landmark that set the scene for the fight between Scott Pilgrim and Evil Ex #3, The Vegan in the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels--along the way home, the novelty of the situation truly hit me, and I felt wonderfully comfortable and at home.

Food evokes memories and comfort in individuals. No one doubts the heartwarming power of savouring a dish in which one delighted as a child, a dish prepared with loving hands by a parent or grandparent. Specific meals carry specific connotations at their mere mention or at the first bite, invoke the scent or aura of the place in which they were first tasted, the company of a loved one with whom they were shared. For me, to be munching inelegantly on this vegan delight was a welcome in itself. This blog was started to document my triumphs in vegan living in a suburban atmosphere, where desserts of the sort in which I delighted last week were hard to come by but are, indeed, becoming slightly more mainstream. Truly, though, in the past, if I was to indulge in a dessert, it was because I put it together with my own two hands.

So, bear with me: eating a vegan cupcake, shopping bags in hand, on my walk back to my new home in Toronto blew me away. This city leaves nothing to be desired when it comes to vegan-friendliness. And yes, seasoned Torontonians may feel free and are encouraged to correct me if I am guilty of over-romanticising the vegan-friendly stature of this city. I have been known to be extremely passionate and sometimes over-enthusiastic. But if my starstruck demeanour while sitting at Vegetarian Haven with two friends yesterday says anything, it doubtlessly expresses my adoration of this city that I would trap in a warm, suffocating embrace if I could.

I'll just stuff my face with vegan goodies this weekend at the 27th Annual Vegetarian Food Festival instead. That's enough to adequately show my love, right?

Oh, and speaking of showing love, in addition to being blessed to have a lift to Toronto from, for all intents and purposes, my two sisters, I am privileged to be living with two intelligent, compassionate, generous, and kind individuals, old friends from Montreal that packed everything up and bravely set off to Toronto in May. Add to that a coincidental meet-up with my brother-from-another-mother Matthew and friends, and two days with another friend visiting from Montreal, as well as meeting Katee Sackhoff of Battlestar Galactica fame, a meeting selflessly orchestrated by Matthew. I could not have asked for a better, warmer welcome.

I did say I was here for school, right?

Seriously, doing my Master's at U of T has been a dream of mine for several years, and to walk through its halls this past week, to hear words of advice and simple orientation instructions from people who have graduated yet enjoyed their experience enough to remain to work on campus--it has been surreal. I could not be more content, more eager, more thrilled for the challenge that will be a Master's degree.

To all of us--students, teachers, supporters of students and teachers--welcome back, and may this year be filled with triumphs, discoveries, challenges, and, heck, with love.

Love and urban vegan hugs,

Vegan in Suburbia (you can take the vegan out of suburbia, but you can't make her shut up about OMG IT'S AWESOME THAT I CAN WALK FIVE MINUTES TO BUY A VEGAN CUPCAKE)

And now, a collage of meals I whipped up while still in my mum's kitchen, where she willingly and happily washed the dishes instead of I! I can't wait for you to see my kitchen, Mommacakes! I miss you and love you and never forget for a second how blessed I was to have you as the best room-mate ever for 25 silver-lined years.

Gnocchi with pesto, grilled eggplant, and a simple salad

My Nonno's monstrous but delicious pesticide- and GMO-free tomatoes from his garden

Souflaki-style seitan kebabs made by my cousin's talented girlfriend

The beginnings of a vegan potluck: baked tomato-zucchini patties, cucumber-dill dip, sundried tomato dip, and white bean aioli, all from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Notice a trend? I'm gaga for pesto.

My monstrously delicious birthday cake, Hannah Kaminsky's Maple Pecan Cake with Gingerbread Frosting, from Vegan Desserts

It was so tall and decadently dense that it needed to be laid on its side, lest it topple if placed upright.

More gnocchi with pesto

Improvised Shepherd's Pie

A vegan who is beyond delighted to be eating vegan poutine. This meal was full of inappropriate noises as I slurped up this once-in-a-blue-moon meal.

Uuuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Soooo goooooood.

Eggplant stuffed with couscous, almonds, and sundried tomatoes, with kale stir-fried with garlic and olive oil

An Indian feast prepared by Maritsa, Luke, and I. From left to right: naan (store-bought, sadly), lentils, potatoes, and bharta (eggplant)

Noelle's White Russian cupcakes transformed into a luscious cake. I do not exaggerate when I say that these cupcakes of hers are the tastiest cupcakes I have ever consumed.

Citrus polenta topped with cashew sauce and kale. I found the recipe in an old VegNews magazine. The citrus in the polenta was much too strong and bitter, and I needed to add more and more polenta and water to the recipe to make it edible. As it turned out, however, the cashew sauce negates the bitterness and makes this one heck of a tasty dish.

Vegan YumYum doughnuts with leftover White Russian frosting slathered atop them

Ok, this is not food, but, holy smokes, how cute is this? Turtle Friend just wants to befriend Duck Friend! *squeal* I took this photo while on a walk in the forest behind my place in the suburbs with Maritsa.

Strawberry biscuits, soft and delicious (forgive me: I no longer recall whence this recipe comes)

Whoopie Pies! Man, are these godly desserts. I brought them to a party and not a single one remained after about an hour. It's a good thing that I snatched one up before they disappeared. This recipe comes from an older issue of VegNews.

I attempted vegan polpette (the generic name used to refer to meat or vegetable balls usually held together with eggs) with zucchini flowers from my Nonni's garden. I was a bit overenthusiastic with the vital wheat gluten--which means they turned out a bit too, well, chewy, in a very elastic sense. Haha. They were delicious nonetheless. And I was in the mood for baked potatoes with sour cream and green onions, and a simple salad rounded it all off.

Noelle's heavenly White Russian cupcakes, made for a dear friend's friend's birthday (I do get, and welcome being, commissioned to make baked goods!)

Just another balanced meal of iced vanilla soy latte and a slice of my mum's birthday cake, Red Velvet Cake with Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau). No biggie.

"The bittersweet between my teeth, trying to find the in-between"

2011-07-23T14:16:00.000-04:00

It may be a bit bold and overeager of me to use the lyrics from a band--a super rad band*, I might add--that I only recently discovered through watching the show Chuck. But, tip-toeing into my house last night at just past 1:30, flipping open my laptop, and "Young Blood" bursting through my speakers while my mother slept soundly two floors above me, it seemed that my mood and line of thought crept unbeknownst to me through the metal apparatus of the computer, exiting victoriously and elegantly to float around me and remind me of time.

Time.

It has been over two months since I last posted, and in my last post, I was almost halfway through my sojourn in Italy with the Art Monastery Project. Thankfully, the time didn't fly while I was there, but that does not mean that I was not having fun; those two months encompassed some of the most personally fulfilling, character-building, emotionally enlightening, and spiritually rich moments of my existence. One reason amongst countless reasons (feel free to ask me for them in specific) for embarking on this journey--a journey, I admit, about which I didn't know much--was to bring myself out of my comfort zone, in living and working with new people in a non-profit that is operated in a land whose conventions are sometimes foreign to me.

Being in Italy wasn't out of my comfort zone per se, since, up to now, I've been there five separate times. In more detail, out of my comfort zone was an enticing combination of shy Christina living with four strangers, having to make telephone calls to and meet other strangers while speaking a language I started to acquire only eight years ago (my family and friends can attest that calling strangers on the phone is one of my least favourite activities, even if it's just to order pizza), navigating a territory alone when my sense of direction is poor at best, accepting the fact that insects and arachnids larger than the ones in Quebec had equal access to my bedroom... Before I left, I knew this was the equation to which I was adding myself, and though I may have been slightly nervous, I welcomed the challenge; now, having lived all of those experiences and loving them (well, maybe not sharing my room with creatures such as this, below),

I know not only that I would do it all again (and I may just do that), but also that I would have a new set of challenges to embrace and silly anxieties to conquer if and when I engage in a similar experience. And I feel profoundly changed by my experience. I am grateful every day for having had the opportunity and what I would consider nothing short of a privilege to share daily life with the Artmonks in Labro.

So why did this post's song lyric so adequately captivate my feelings? First, please let me express that I don't believe I am some sort of anomaly living an extraordinary experience--extraordinary in its most rudimentary, basic definition--when I describe the current stage in my life. I am simply expressing my individual observations of growing into adulthood. I have considered it almost from afar in much the same way that many, if not most, people consider the idea of winning the lottery or, more tragically, losing a loved one: they never think it'll happen to them. But adulthood does happen and it catches one off-guard. Should I pack that Ginger Spice Barbie™ doll with my stuffed animals? Would it make sense to take the AFI, Nightwish, and Green Day posters off my walls and bring them to Toronto? What about my sticker albums--should I leave them behind with my Twilight books?

So, again, picture this: In April, I spend two weeks packing up most of my belongings from my childhood home into boxes to ship to the biggest city in Canada, where I will be living as of the end of August. On the very opposite end of the spectrum, I ship myself on April 14 off to a town in Italy so small that not even my Nonna has heard of it ('Labro'? Come si scrive?). I become so used and accustomed to and happy with my new, temporary home in Labro that I try, in vain, to extend my stay for at least an extra two weeks. I leave Italy on June 18 to return to Montreal and sleep not in my "old" room but in a hide-a-bed in my basement, since my mattress and accompanying belongings were guided out of my house by mum and sister in my absence (bless their hearts). And, in about a month, I ship myself off to another wonderful, fantastic, exhilarating unknown in the heart of downtown Toronto.

And I don't truly fear the unknown; I naïvely, trustingly embrace it, sometimes precariously. But I can't deny the bittersweet nature of finding myself in this land of in-between, this veritable Limbo where I float until I settle down, albeit temporarily, in a new home. It's bittersweet to leave one home to discover and make oneself at home in another locale. It's exciting and beautiful for all the right reasons but maddeningly forlorn for the exact same reasons. I find myself in this foreign territory, literally and metaphorically, situated between childhood and adulthood; between different homes; between working life and student life; between new friends and old friends.

Life is characterized by impermanence. In fact, life is impermanence. As such, it is futile to expect or even hope that things will remain the same, for disappointment shall inevitably follow. Allowing the fluidity of change to carry one around and over the boulders in the sea that transports us through life--and not freaking out when the current shifts suddenly--is our best guarantee to personal fulfillment and general satisfaction with the status quo of our individual lives. Even that, the idea that any point in our lives can be accurately considered a status quo, is a falsehood, because our lives are always changing.

So, then, our best bet might just be to dive in, to get our hair wet, to disorient ourselves as the current whips our surroundings in such a way as to render the landscape unrecognizable, and, thus, novel, breath-taking, and exhilaratingly challenging. This is what we are meant to do, and this is how we develop ourselves and equip ourselves to better face and embrace the constantly changing world of which we are an inextricable part.

If you've read this far, I thank you for indulging the product of countless hours of contemplation, time I've spent in the company of my own mind on long walks through winding, ascending, and descending country roads. I've spent many hours in meditation trying to disentangle myself from the intertwining thought patterns to see where the silence of my own mind could take me.

And don't get me wrong: that's all perfectly fun to me, but I cannot forget, and can assure you that I have not forgotten, one of my true passions amidst all this pensive activity: food. Enjoy!

Vegan risotto made at my friend Emanuela's friend's (got it?) restaurant by the Pantheon in Rome

If I were to go out to eat every day while living in Rome, I would indulge in this delicacy of cicoria every single day.

I noticed an abundance of chestnut flour in the pantry at the Art Monastery, left over from when gluten-intolerant guests had stayed over. I was determined to use up some of before it expired and sought bread recipes using chestnut flour. My attempt at chestnut-flour focaccia was neither a success nor an immense failure. Let's say it tasted a whole lot better once it soaked up tomato juices and seasoned olive oil from a salad.

The dynamic at the Art Monastery was communal, that is, all tasks were shared and shifted around in a fair manner. Therefore, whoever prepared a meal would never be expected to clear the table or wash dishes, and vice versa. While I was often on lunch or dinner preparation, I cooked under the genius guidance of my friend, Charles. When the artists were out of town for two days, I experimented in the kitchen with the ingredients we had on hand, using some vegan blogs for guidance. Above is Susan V's Tofu and Vegetables with Lower-Fat Thai Peanut Sauce, sans tofu. As much as I love Italian food and the hearty, tasty meals we prepared at the Art Monastery, I longed for peanut butter, and even for tofu. So I dished out the four euros (about six Canadian dollars) for a jar of Skippy peanut butter (with trans fat! I never eat trans fat, or Skippy peanut butter, for that matter!) to satisfy this longing and to add to the stash of foods considered delicacies in our kitchen (like peanuts. See a trend?). And I will learn for next time to bring JARS of peanut and almond butters with me when living or vacationing abroad. Here I was thinking that I'd miss maple syrup--what I've been known to call the Life Blood--most; such was not the case. (Please excuse the crappy photo quality; the photo was taken with Photo Booth.)

Vegan Dad's Cajun Chickpea Cakes were an immense success.

Me being a jackass in the kitchen (surprise!)


We made vegan chocolate cake! The recipe came from a cookbook with recipes compiled by a European commune.

We were invited to partake in the festivities on the occasion of the hotel manager's nozze d'argento (25th wedding anniversary). Here is an example of our elegant place settings. The names of everyone were indicated on the verso of the hotel's postcards.

If I remember correctly, I ate six pieces of this warm, fluffy, and simple but flavourful salt-and-rosemary pizza, made by Colle di Costa's very own Ulisse.

Now, I don't know about you, but I'd favour a vase filled with zucchini flowers over a bouquet of daisies any day (do people bestow bouquets of daisies?). It's simply more practical! Mmm... edible flowers... This was in the restaurant by the Pantheon.

My partners in crime during my stay in Labro. Ci rivediamo!

It's a shame that I didn't take more photos of what I considered to be daily epic meals at the Art Monastery: polenta; gnocchi; pasta covered in luscious green sauces made with zucchini; beans; couscous; home-made eggplant- and zucchini-based dips; hummus; grilled eggplant; fresh and flavourful cantaloupe. Taste fruit in Italy or anywhere, really, in the EU and you'll be sorely disappointed when you try to find identical tastes in North America--unless you always consume organic foods. Tomatoes just don't burst with flavour like the ones in Italy do. Figs and watermelon here just are not as sweet.

But this just ties in to what I was waxing poetic about earlier: holding fast to certain ways of life--or ways of eating--will simply lead to disappointment when said ways are no longer sustainable or possible to enjoy. I made sure to relish the culinary delights, to bask in the deep and enduring friendships I made, to savour the purifying and tranquil environment, knowing that all but the friendships I made there would come to an end, and that, two months later, I'd be embracing this same change of space again. But, heck, I knew I'd be going back to a land where peanut butter is cheap and aplenty! I took comfort in knowing that there's beauty everywhere, as Brett Detar of the now-defunct The Juliana Theory, cries in earnest in the song...

"We Make the Road by Walking."

How à propos...

We just need to sensitise our hearing and our sight, and even our palates and touch, to be able to access and locate the beauty around us. And it's always there.

Until next time, and thank you for reading,

Vegan in Suburbia (for now...)

*The band is called The Naked and Famous. The song was featured at the end of episode 13 of season 4 of Chuck. I offer no spoilers but I strongly encourage you to watch this scene... and I dare you not to squeal in delight as I did.

Precious time with friends, too many hours in transit, and tonnes of pizza

2011-05-08T08:17:00.001-04:00

Greetings, dear friends,

It’s been a while since I last posted, though I’d intended on providing an update exactly two weeks ago. I just got back from a walk in the tranquil greenery by the monastery, following a steep descent into the valley, smiling all the way down while keeping in mind that I’d have to climb every step back up. I’d done this hike exactly two weeks with @graemegiskhan when he visited me here in Labro (more on that below), so I knew what I was in for.

The walk back up is a great workout, and if you time it correctly, you can easily devote forty-five minutes to the hike. I hope to keep up with this every day.

Hikes aside, what follows was composed on Easter Sunday, to sum up my sojourn thus far:

I was taken to Rome to serve as a linguistic aide, when needed, at a meeting. The trek there and back from Labro took about four hours total, but it was worth it. After the meeting, we visited a Chinese grocery store to purchase some ingredients that are unheard of or impossible to find even in large grocery stores. Thanks to that shopping trip, my housemates put together a fabulous vegan phở with large rice noodles, greens picked from the field by the monastery, and other fabulous goodies. It was wonderfully spicy and temporarily cured my ailing, coughing throat.

Speaking of this horrendous cough of mine that has been the source of some worry over the past few weeks, I finally grew concerned and tired enough (from lack of sleep and from sheer annoyance at its preventing me from carrying conversations without erupting into a coughing fit) to go to the doctor. The only issue was getting to the doctor, as Labro is located so far in the hills that it takes a half-hour drive into Terni to get to the hospital. Arranging to get to the hospital would be a task in itself, but I knew it was necessary. In a very serendipitous manner, while chatting with some locals, a few of my housemates were provided with the knowledge that a doctor comes into Labro twice a week and offers consultations on a walk-in basis. They discovered this the very day before he was to be in Labro--on Good Friday, so of course there was the chance that he would not come at all. Sure enough, he did come. The consultation, the verdict of which was that I had inflammation in my throat and a possible infection in my bronchioles, was completely free of charge. The doctor had asked, too, if I had travel insurance to cover the cost of the antibiotics that he was to prescribe me. I responded that I did, but decided against making the claim when the drugs rang up to the grand total of 5.63 Euros. How is that even possible? I was blown away and extremely grateful. Yay for the medical system in Italy!

By now my cough is completely gone and I can carry full conversations and laugh without coughing. My housemates have finally heard my full loud, perhaps obnoxious laugh. Since my visit to the doctor, many other adventures have taken place. On the Saturday before Easter, merely eight days into my stay here, I trekked--all by myself. Look, Ma, I’m a big kid now!--to Rome to spend the day with my dear friend Emanuela. Her boyfriend cooked me an entirely vegan meal, consisting of stir-fried vegetables and farfalle pasta and a side of fried potatoes. It was absolutely divine, and I was beyond grateful for the effort and thoughtfulness. He and Emanuela even presented me with a gift of Valsoia “Nutella.” I’ve yet to crack it open, but I will dig in soon enough...

Emanuela and her charming, wonderful cook of a boyfriend

Though I will hang out with Emanuela as often as I can while I’m here in such close proximity to her, the main reason for which I’d headed to Rome that day was to pick up another darling friend, one whom I’ve mentioned a few times here on my blog, who’s been living in Mongolia since August 2010. I hadn’t seen him since then and I was spoiled enough to be regaled with a visit from him here at the monastery for a week.

We hung out at the monastery, where he befriended my terrific housemates; I showed him around to the best of my ability, considering I’d been here for under two weeks at that point; we dined at the local osteria-enoteca Boccondivino (“boccone” means “mouthful” and “divino” means “divine”... and the meal was indeed divine--all four courses of it.

Artichoke and eggplant

Italian crispy flatbreads and olive oil

Divine black rice with wild asparagus (if you're going to go to Italy for one thing, and one thing only, let it be wild asparagus. Holy cow) and flower petals (I can't recall the name of the flower)

Graeme's gnocchi with pesto (sadly not vegan, but how tasty does it look?!)


Fennel, tomato, and red cabbage salad

The vegan dessert they graciously put together for me, sans panna with which it is normally served

Though I am known to drink very little alcohol, or, when I do drink, it’s for the sake of being polite (a sip of wine in order to give a proper toast, for example) or I’ll drink stereotypical girly drinks, like amaretto sour, at Boccondivino, we drank the best wine I had ever tasted--ever. It was a Sicilian Merlot, recommended by the waiter and chosen by Graeme. We finished the bottle and let’s say that the walk back to the hotel--almost 15 minutes away--was a lot more interesting than the walk to the restaurant. What was especially delightful about the restaurant, bacchanal indulgences aside, was that they even accommodated my vegan self on the spot, though they said that they’d’ve been better equipped had I called in advance to tell them about my dietary habits.

Best wine ever

This photo is appropriately blurry...

And then we ventured off for three days. It was a hectic half-week, but well worth it, despite the frustrations and exhaustion from various methods and hours of transit: we took the train from Terni (a half hour’s drive from Labro) to Florence, where our hotel “Il Grifone” was located, about twenty minutes by public transit (I shake my fist at the sky, because half the amount of times we travelled to the hotel, we took a taxi, because the bus stop in the direction of the hotel was impossible to find) from the city centre. The following day, we grabbed a train at the ridiculous hour of 6:30 a.m. (which meant we left the hotel at a quarter to six, thus forsaking our free continental breakfast. Sacrilege!) to head to Rome for the day--well, we stayed in Rome ’til 6 p.m., since the last low-cost train back to Florence was at 6:43 p.m.

Me, I'm small compared to the Coliseum

Trevi Fountain geeks with ice cream

The Spanish Steps

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was close to midnight, but we hadn’t had dinner and were desperate for pizza. Solution? Pizza Taxi! Yes, there is a pizza-delivery establishment in Florence going by that name, and they delivered pizza to our hotel room at just after midnight.

Oh, and might I add that pizza was the theme of these three days? Yes, my friends, Graeme and I had pizza for every meal except breakfast for these three days.


Super bland focaccia. Apparently I wasn't thinking straight when I ordered. I ate it anyway.

As our trip progressed, the pizzas kept getting better. This is the first pizza meal we had in Florence.

Bruschetta entrée at a restaurant in Rome. From left to right: mushroom spread (I think), cherry tomatoes (we noticed a lack of garlic on the tomato bruschetta. How odd--or is garlic on bruschetta not the norm in Italy, or we were dining at the anomaly restaurants?), and olive spread.

Cicooooooooria--my favourite

Mmmmmmmushrooms

"Eyy. Me, I have a pizza, me." (That's my caption, Graeme, because I can't remember was you were making that face. Hahaha.)

I'm happy because I have friggin vegan gelato; this guy on my left is sad because a bird decided his right shoulder was a good spot to use as a toilet. Hey, apparently getting crapped on by a bird is good luck!

Pizza number three in Florence. I used to be weirded out by potatoes on pizza, and now I'm a believer: potatoes can always squeeze onto my pizza.

Calzone at Il Grifone restaurant, for our last meal in Florence

Baked potatoes to accompany our meal. I was craving potatoes for some reason.

My last pizza in Florence, and it was, by far, the best one

Okay, okay--gelato will share the spotlight, too: on our last day in Florence, we had gelato twice in one day (and three times total on our jaunt away from Labro). We did do a lot of walking, and visited three museums (the Uffizi, whose line we got to skip because we whipped out five Euros in addition to the cost of entry to the Uffizi to join some association whose name and mandate escape me, and the museums of Natural History and “La Specola,” both of which we entered for free because it was Notte bianca in Florence (“notte bianca” means “all nighter”; Montreal’s equivalent is Nuit blanche, when museums are open into the wee hours of the morning) in maybe twice as many hours, so we worked for it.

Part of the Duomo at night

Bella Firenze

Palazza Vecchio, with a copy of Michelangelo's David in the Piazza della Signoria

Me, on the Ponte Vecchio

Santa Croce Basilica

Then, on the Sunday, we begrudgingly grabbed that 6:30 a.m. train back to Rome, a train so packed with pilgrims venturing to The Vatican for the beatification of Pope John Paul II that we were forced to seat ourselves in the train vestibule by the train’s doors. We were really counting on the three-hour trip to Rome to sleep, but instead we spent the rest of the day--Graeme more so than myself, I am sure, since he had two flights ahead of him back to Mongolia--as veritable zombies.

At that point I went back to hang out with Emanuela before returning to Labro to resume my duties there. Since then I’ve been translating, teaching, and trying to make peace with the bugs that insist on cohabiting with me and the artists. The Daddy-Long-Legs here have abdomens that I don’t care to see from metres away but that they flaunt because they’ve got it; my roomie found a scorpion in her room the other day; a 638543589043-legged creature appeared as I washed dishes, and to my dismay was nowhere to be found after I had turned away for a minute. I’m trying to remind myself that none of these creatures--even the tiny scorpion, whose bite, I have been told, is not poisonous and whose effect is equivalent to that of a bee or wasp--are life-threatening, but it’s hard to shake off my North American tendencies of being squeamish. My latest approach, especially at night? Close the light and throw the covers over your head: if you can’t see them, they’re not really there. (I type this as a bug crawls across my computer screen.)

A presto, cari amici.

Vegan in Italia

P.S. It's Mother's Day, so I'm sending a giant hug and an even bigger kiss to my dear Mommacakes. I love you, Momma! Have a wonderful day! May the sun shine brightly and warmly on you, as it should all days of the year. Jess, make sure she's spoiled! And to all the mothers out there: may you also be spoiled by your children and may you have a splendid Mother's Day.

Navigating the monastery grounds in darkness and in light

2011-04-17T05:12:00.003-04:00

Greetings, dear friends,

I just finished Skyping with my mum and sister, and they advised me to go to sleep--it's close to 1 a.m., and I've been coughing like mad, as a result of a cold that started in Canada and followed me to Italy--but I wanted to get these photos up so I could rest up and/or work tomorrow. And it's also because I don't like starting something and going to bed with it unfinished. Sorry, Mom and Jess! I love you! (EDIT: The photos I wanted to upload took too long to do so, so I gave up, went to sleep, and am publishing this in the morning on Sunday.)

I'm sitting in bed now with a blanket draped over my shoulders and another one atop my comforter and sheets. Though it's not as cold here as it is in Montreal (I heard it's positively frigid in Montreal!), it's definitely colder than the contents of my suitcase allow for comfort. Today I sported the hot combo of tank top, hoodie, jacket, scarf, and tuque all day. Italian heat? I'm waiting for you!

Last night, I walked back to my room in the darkness--nay, pitch darkness. For those of you who know me on a very personal level, you'll know that I have little to zero sense of direction. Yet I somehow managed--on my first day, no less--not only to make it back to my room from my colleagues' apartments (a five-minute walk down a steep hill, along a dirt path, across cobblestone, and up several flights of stairs), but I managed to do it in the darkness, at half past midnight. I found it comical, so I whipped out my camera to take some shots of just how dark it was.

(A photo of this path in the daylight is farther below.)

Yeah... It gets dark around here. Sure, there are lightswitches, it takes less effort and mania (ok, scratch the latter) to furiously click buttons on my Nokia cell phone to allow it to illuminate my way than to paw frantically at the walls for nonexistent lightswitches.

Oh! How could I forget: food! For lunch, we had delightful leftovers of refried pasta and veggies, couscous, and stir-fried veggies. For dinner, we had a veritable gourmet meal--to me, it was gourmet!--of veggies atop a bed of lettuce as an accompaniment to some of the best polenta I have ever had, on top of which a puree of beans and tomatoes was carefully laid. Mmm. I added sea salt crystals (best invention ever!) and the rest was history and in my belly. Mmm...

And now: photos!

The view from the path leading up to my group's apartments. The monastery is to the right, hidden.

The walk up to my group's apartments from the monastery/my hotel

Part of the restored monastery

The dirt path I navigate even in darkness back to the monastery/hotel, which is to the left.

Labro, the city in which I technically reside, glimpsed through the trees; the city proper is across the valley from the monastery.

The road by the monastery, wonderfully narrow and shared by motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists.

View of the hills from the monastery grounds

The cloister inside the monastery

View out into the valley from the cloister

Being silly, trying to catch a shot of myself in the glass. I don't know how to rotate photos, though. Woops!

View of monastery grounds from a window inside the monastery

Stairs up to my room. Again, there's nothing but the light of the moon, if that, guiding me to my room at night.

The sun setting over Labro

It's Sunday now, our day off, and I need to fight off the tail end of this cold. I finished the last of my cough medicine, so here's hoping lots of water, rest, Ricola lozenges, and echinacea drops will do the trick--or time will.

A piu' tardi ('til later), and thanks for reading,

Vegan in Italia

Settling In Amongst the Ringing Bells, Barking Dogs, and Breathtaking Views

2011-04-15T11:51:00.000-04:00

Hello, dear friends!

This post is going to be short and sweet because I have big tasks ahead of me--like napping. I arrived in Rome at 10 this morning, after a 7.5-hour flight that was delayed by almost an hour. My dear friend Emanuela picked me up, drove me to the train station at Tiburtina, and I disembarked at Terni. My luggage was so heavy that several strangers offered to help me carry it up and down flights of stairs. I declined the first offer, dragging the poor oversized parcel behind me, clanging down the steps, but then another man, seeing the two ascendant flights laying ahead of me, insisted on carrying it. Bless these kind Italian souls! My baggage weighs a tonne! Oof.

I was picked up at Terni by two of my remarkably friendly and enthusiastic colleagues for the next two months, and they told me a little bit about Labro and the surrounding area. Once I was settled in to my hotel room/living quarters--chosen by one of the hotel staff specifically for its close proximity to the wireless Internet access point--we headed off to make lunch. All I did was chop vegetables, and two of the artists with whom I'll be working created the rest of the meal.

The meal consisted of gnocchi with a dairy-cheese based sauce for the whole group, but they made couscous with chopped vegetables and a mindblowingly perfect addition of sea salt chunks, as well as a stir-fry of eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and white beans. What a perfect welcome meal for the vegan! I was exquisitely accommodated, and I look forward to the other meals we'll be putting together. If anyone has any suggestions for quick, simple meals to put together ('cause I may end up, at some point, being the brainchild behind a group meal), I'm all ears!

I didn't have much of a chance to take great photos of the grounds (the cloister of the monastery and something worth beholding. It's ever so peaceful), so below are photos of my quaint little hotel room and the spectacular view from the window. As I started typing this, bells chimed outside, marking the time at every quarter-hour mark, and a dog barked to add its own melody. I think I'll enjoy my humble, though currently chilly (monastery walls aren't well insulated, I gather) abode for the next two months.

Until next time...

Vegan in Italia

Vegan in Suburbia Becomes Vegan in Italia

2011-03-06T23:15:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe not literally--I won't be changing the title of this blog--but this vegan living in suburbia will soon be in a whole new environment, across the Atlantic, on Italian soil. If I started this blog to show that being a vegan in the suburbs of a relatively big city is far from being difficult, next month, as of April 15, I'll be scoping out the difficulty or facility of being a vegan in Italy... in a self-sufficient monastery in a town of 381 people.

As many of you know, I've been to Italy on several occasions--every year since 2006, really, save for 2007. On these occasions, I've stayed with relatives or ate exclusively in restaurants. Relatives graciously accommodated me, and cooks in restaurants did likewise. I missed baking and cooking for myself, but, in the country of delightful pastas, pizzas, and delicious vegetables, nary a complaint passed my mind or escaped from my lips. I revelled in being catered to and cooked for, leaving the magic to those who mastered the cooking, whether they be my charming great aunts, distant cousins, or the outwardly unfriendly but truly sweet-as-pie chef at the local pizzeria. This time will be different, though, as I'll be living in the Monastery (see my previous post, if you have no clue about which I speak. I haven't decided to become a monk, in the traditional sense), cooking meals for myself or eating those that other housemates have put together. So, to be truthful, this time in Italy will be different, but I don't know exactly in what way. I'm looking forward to the challenge but not being naïve, either.

So, despite being reassured about being easily accommodated, old habits, as they say, die hard. Just like every other time, I'll be bringing my trusty Nature's Path oatmeal with me (four boxes of the Variety Pack patiently await their departure from our basement storage room). Sure, there are Italian cereals and breads that happen to be vegan, upon which I can pour Valsoia soy milk or spread jam, respectively. But, come the morning, I just want a comforting bowl of oatmeal--not for the reminder of home but because l love oatmeal. Sue me.

So, I'm going to attempt a quick compte rendu of the last little while before I jump into a whole different atmosphere, continent, language... I'll ask for your forgiveness in advance: when I immerse myself in another culture with a different language, my syntax tends to go awry and match the host language's. You can laugh with me and at me, when the time comes (oh, it will come...).

Oh, and I got accepted to the University of Toronto. Yay! (Talk about anti-climactic.) I'm absolutely psyched about my acceptance. When I get back from Italy, I'll revert to Vegan in Suburbia, but it won't be long before I'll be living in the precise antithesis of the suburbs: I'll be inhabiting the biggest city in Canada. That's huge. And maybe hugely frightening--hence, hugely exciting. For now, I'll be sure to read as many books as possible, since, come September, I won't get to choose what books I read, except in the few minutes before I fall asleep from studying-induced exhaustion. I'm starting with Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I received it for Christmas in 2009 but craved fiction at the time and, thus, never picked it up. Several graphic novels later, re-reading Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, a few other novels, and after devouring--pardon the expression--Dracula by Bram Stoker (linguistically delicious, at times exciting, mostly long-winded, and not as appealing as Anne Rice's vampire lore) and Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel (a surprisingly disappointing read), I'm ready for non-fiction.

Without further ado, after that unintended foray into a discussion about books (my other passion), we get to food.

~

My first-ever vegan French onion soup, made from this recipe from Meatout Mondays, and sprinkled with mozzarella-style Daiya.

This is a horrendous photo--I look really tired--but I think it's important to show my enthusiasm for my first French onion soup in over seven years. It blew my mind.

Some friends and I had a vegan, Southern-cooking themed potluck, with a menu of "chicken" and waffles with gravy, along with baked asparagus (we scrapped greens since we had asparagus on hand). After realizing we had no baking powder at my friend's house, and that every waffle recipe in existence requires baking powder, we delayed our cooking (and eating) to procure the magical ingredient. The wait was worth it. We made waffles with vegan shiitake chicken, which filled my friends with awe, as it resembled chicken so closely in texture and taste. I now know why Southern cooking is often called soul food: this dish is comforting, warm, delicious, and it leaves you grinning for the rest of the night.

On a recent cold day, I treated myself to my first cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows in... seven years. I know--it makes me sound super dramatic, but there were some foods and drinks that I simply didn't miss or care to recreate until I happened to have the ingredients on hand. It turns out that there is something very special about marshmallows--Dandies, pictured here--melted in a mug of boiled water, sugar, and cocoa powder.

Hahahaha. Seriously, I'm a moron. I forgot how much peanut-butter cookies spread on a cookie sheet. See, I didn't want to wash two cookie sheets afterward--ask my mum: I make water splash everywhere but the sink itself when I wash these beasts. I convinced myself, and the innocent bystander (my hysterically laughing best friend, in this case), that I could fit all of the cookies on this sheet. Well... I learned my lesson.

This is my "I'm a complete moron, but I accept it" face.

Oh, did I mention these were thumbprint cookies? We filled them with home-made Nutella that I had sitting in the fridge. Now they look like oversize painted toenails--not at all appealing, but suffice it to say that they were that delicious that three girls finished the entire tray. I will not say whether or not I was among these girls (of course I was).

On a cold winter's day (yawn), I made one of the tastiest Bundt cakes ever (yay!). The day was truly frigid. I'd asked for the day off from work the week before, and it turned out to be a wise decision: the temperature dipped to minus 24 Celsius, if I recall correctly, with the wind chill making it feel like minus thirty-craziness Celsius. So while my poor fellow Montrealers schlepped around the city, I made cake. And I ate it, too. (Sorry, guys.) This delightful recipe, which I have made two other times since, is thanks to Miss Mihl at seitanismymotor.

Cake bears witness to the frigidity indicator

To celebrate Vegan Pizza Day on January 29, I made vegan calzones. They were nothing short of glorious, and the pizza dough was one of the best I've ever made... and I've tried many different pizza dough recipes. For the life of me, I cannot locate the recipe for the dough, and this is troubling, because I do want to make these again. Sigh. Anyway, I filled these bad boys with stir-fried mushrooms, spinach, sundried tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions, garlic, and Daiya. And I had them for lunch at work for three days, happily making a cheesy mess at my desk.

Finally, @graemegiskhan--of the inspirational, eloquent, and thought-provoking blog The Skies We Share, based in Mongolia--was celebrating Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian lunar New Year. He explained that hundreds, if not thousands, of little dumplings called buuz are made for the celebration. Traditionally, they are filled with mutton; these I filled with TVP. The recipe can be found here. I ate them in an unorthodox way, slathered in veggie butter from Aux Vivres or dipped in sweet chili sauce. From what Graeme told me after I confessed to dipping them in ketchup at first (which I do not recommend), in Mongolia, they are eaten with soy sauce, chili sauce, or the sauce of whatever dish accompanies them. They're fun to make and the various intricate ways in which you can fold the dumplings provide a welcome therapeutic culinary challenge.

~

With that, I bid thee all fare well for now and thank you for stopping by.

'Til next time,

Vegan in Suburbia (for now...)

Holiday Gains, Post-Holiday Losses, Fresh Beginnings, and Other Clichés

2011-01-09T23:23:00.000-05:00

Greetings, dear friends,

Please allow me to begin by wishing you all happy belated holidays and a healthful, successful, prosperous, and joyous New Year. If you're fed up of holiday overindulgence, I am hoping that all holiday sweets are now done and not overstaying their welcome either on yourselves or in your cupboards (should I hide from the Dessert Gods when I profess that I had to throw some cookies away so I wouldn't eat them?). And if you're a fan of the delightful abundance of desserts that the month of December encourages us to possess, well, I hope that some of the holidays' decadent cheer lasts well into this month initiating us into 2011.

I can't help but think of Vegan Dad's hiatus announcement a few months back when I realize that it has been two months (plus two days!) since I last wrote. I had full intentions to keep writing and covering all the exciting food-related news happening in and around my life. As it turned out, though, a couple of other aspects of my life took me in other directions. Shall I summarise?

1) Pulling together my Master's application for the University of Toronto: I've been working on this sucker for months, though I'm only just now putting the finishing touches on the application. All the bureaucratic work is done: I've filled out forms, submitted transcripts, asked for letters of reference from past professors, and paid the application fee (which I don't even lament because I get airline points on the fee. Woohoo!). I've just finished writing my statement of intent, which has taken an inordinate amount of time to complete. But it's done. After a few final tweaks following comments and advice from friends and family, I'll be sending it off. And then the wait begins.

2) Planning a working sojourn in Italy: I've been corresponding with the fabulous co-founder of Art Monastery Project, discussing the details of my accommodations--in a freaking monastery!--, what I will eat (vegans have lived on the premises before without difficulty), and the length of my stay there. In the town of Labro, in a 17th-century monastery, I will spend a few months volunteering my time as an in-house translator and a type of liaison with the Italian community. I am beyond psyched to dive into this project and live this experience that will no doubt push me outside of my comfort zone and allow me to practice speaking and writing in Italian. The 6-day schedule will be intense, with each day starting and ending with meditation and Gregorian chant, though I do look forward to sneaking in a few blog posts documenting my meals in this town situated far from the city.

3) Spending time with family and friends: This should be a redundancy, since I am of Italian origin and spending time with family is an inherent part of our culture. Nevertheless, this time of year brings us even closer together, not only because of the holidays but also because the anniversary of my father's passing (in 2007) is in December. Thankfully, the cliché about time making things better is true, to an extent: we cry a bit less, and though the pain of the loss remains, we continue to laugh and smile at the memories, and find comfort in the wisdom and seemingly lingering presence of my father. On top of this, family from Toronto visited for four days; Christmas was celebrated at our place on the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; Boxing Day saw us headed to Ottawa with more family; New Year's Eve was spent at one of my best friends' new place, with drinks, sweets, laughter, and silliness. The New Year held much promise--and it still does; I don't despair--but, just barely a week into it, my family and I were faced with a very bleak situation: my darling canine sibling, Brandy, also known as Bijou, Beedoo, etc., was not well. Her health had deteriorated quite drastically over two months, and it was time to make a decision. On January 7, we bid fare well to a dear, sweet, loyal, beautiful soul. She'd spent most of the past few months asleep, so her absence has not fully sunk in yet; nevertheless, at this time, the memories of her bouncy puppy self, her echoing bark, how she used to hog my bed (and I would let her), and her gallop to the front door upon my return from school are enough to cause tears to leak, but not without an accompanying smile. Papa and Bijou, I miss and love you both dearly, but I am comforted at the idea that you are both in good, loving company.

My baby, mon coeur, my Bijou

~~

Thank you for indulging me in expressing my emotions and telling you why I've been absent until today. Now, let's get back to the exciting food-related news, shall we?

1) Viva Granola is set to open a live store: You read right! Viva Granola announced last month that they'd be setting up shop--literally--at 4148 St-Laurent Boulevard, in Montreal. A fixed date for their grand opening has yet to be set, but the vegan community in Montreal eagerly awaits the official arrival of our first all-vegan store.

2) Much beloved Cook. Vegan. Lover. included a guest post on me and released her first e-cookbook: Lindsay invited me to recount my journey to veganism so that she could include it as a guest post on her food blog. I was honoured that she wanted to include me on her blog full of useful resources, delicious and inventive recipes, and sound health advice. In addition to Lindsay's inclusion of my silly face on her blog, she also celebrated the timely release of her first e-cookbook, Soups, Stews and Chili, in November. In there, you can find comforting recipes befitting chilly nights spent hibernating under a blankie, recipes perfect to restore you when hiding from winter tempests that forced you to shovel for seemingly interminable hours. Naturally, I gravitated towards the Italian Vegetable Soup, featuring the delightful flavours of chickpeas, spinach, and fire-roasted tomatoes. As the days grow longer but still colder as we dive deeper into winter, this cookbook provides quite the arsenal of warm dishes to help get you through the season. Buy it here, and keep your eyes peeled for another upcoming e-cookbook from this talented lady.

3) T minus 15 days until the release of Happy Herbivore's first cookbook: You may recall that, almost a year ago, I was testing recipes for the Happy Herbivore's very first cookbook, featuring her trademark, delicious, low- and no-fat vegan recipes. Of course, I've already tried a great many of the recipes included in the book, but I am stoked to get my hands on the actual book. It was an honour and educational experience to be behind the scenes in the making of this cookbook, and to see the fruit of Lindsay's labours in hard copy is exciting, indeed. She's already getting rave reviews for her work, so if you want to see what all the fuss is about (and I can assure you that the fuss is definitely worth checking out), treat yourself or a loved one to pre-ordered copy of her book here.

~~

That'll be all for now. Well, that's only semi true: What's a post from Vegan in Suburbia without photos? UNLEASH THE BARRAGE!

Sweet potato blondies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

Vegan whole-wheat lasagne with ricotta, made from an antiquated recipe from a PETA pamphlet I got when I first when vegan

Clearly my photography skills are lacking (and, for that, I apologize!); this Italian Vegetable Soup from Soups, Stews and Chili was hearty and perfect as a meal in itself on a cold evening in winter.

I bought five pounds of Daiya from Viva Granola. If you could have seen me removing this mother of a box from our mail box, you'd have had quite a chuckle.

The Vegetarian Times newsletter I receive daily in my inbox featured a chocolate shortbread recipe in December. I finished the last of them yesterday, a whole month after I baked them. These truly are perfect for baking and sending to loved ones living far away. They didn't melt in your mouth as shortbread is supposed to, but they were delicious dunked in coffee.

Vegan Chick'n in a Marsala and Rosemary Sauce by Vegan Dad, made with shiitake mushroom "chicken" from Viva Granola, for my Christmas Eve dinner

Turtles. Pie. ... No, for real. This pie by the brilliant Hannah Kaminsky combines the flavours of Turtles chocolates in a pie. It's... it's heaven. It's heavenly heaven and I will forsake all eloquence to tell you that this is heaven in pie form. Please make it. Or find someone to make it. Heck (is it bad to say "heaven" and "heck" in the same paragraph?), I'll make it for you. Just... just get some. Please. This is the pie that stops wars and makes people hug and love each other again.

My dessert plate at Christmas. Yes, I ate it all. I was especially spoiled this year, as the jam-filled cookies and sprinkle-covered shortbread cookies my Zia made came in two varieties: vegan and non-vegan--she made a vegan batch of each just for me! The curly, fried thing there? That's a fried "bow" made by my Nonna. Over the past few years, she has veganized some of her recipes not only so that I could eat her traditional dishes but also because she likes making dishes lighter. I am blessed. And, oh, a splendid night it was, indeed....

Mmhmm.

This Chestnut Stuffing came from yet another Vegetarian Times newsletter. I don't like chestnuts but the recipe sounded tasty. It delivered! It's tasty as is but I would recommend blessing it with gravy. I covered it with St. Hubert Brown Sauce.

Tamarind Lentils (with zucchini that I prevented from going fully bad) from Veganomicon. I'd never cooked with tamarind before but I'd bought it a few months ago when I wanted to stock up on "special" ingredients. I am glad I had it on hand because this dish is pleasantly spicy, with a lovely array of tastes to tickle your tastebuds, and it is perfect for spreading on a pita.

Last night's dinner: thick rice noodles stir fried with shiitake mushroom "chicken", broccoli, mushrooms, garlic, and sweet chili sauce. Simple yet delicious.

~~

'Til next time, dear friends, I wish you a pleasant and warm January and, again, a very Happy New Year.

Vegan in Suburbia

Moribund leaves and nascent hopes of warm meal-time memories

2010-11-07T18:00:00.000-05:00

It seems that, in my professing that Summer was not in fact over, I brought about its instant death. I'm very sorry.

Ok, I should stop short at taking credit for the death of seasons, while, meanwhile, I reminisce about what are now considered old-school AFI tracks ("Death of Seasons" being an actual song amongst other Autumn-themed beauties in their vast discography)....

But just as the moribund leaves have fallen and been scattered far and wide, my thoughts digress gravely. Summer is indeed over, and she ended swiftly, though without a bang: no mid-September heat wave, no day of grace at the beginning of October; heck, it snowed on Halloween this year, and I don't believe that has ever happened in the lifetimes of 2010's trick-or-treaters. So with my end-of-Summer denial post, Autumn swoops down and droops his shadowy wings over all of Nature that once lived, taking Summer's place and destroying her warmth....

Yet I do love Autumn, because Autumn cooking and baking offers emotional as well as physical warmth and comfort that is just as blessed, cherished, and beautiful as any summer night spent in the company of friends and loved ones. And yes, there's the emotional and physical warmth of people cuddling up with friends and loved ones around Chai, pumpkin pie, and Fall casseroles.

Like Summer, though for different reasons, Autumn is a true love of mine, and here, as we're almost two months into this season of changed colours, wardrobes, and harvests, I'll celebrate the Fall with photos of the past two months (I'm only just forgiving myself for this absence!). And, as a special treat, I am honoured and pleased to include a guest recipe from a dear friend of mine, the lovely, witty, and poetically talented Graeme (alias graemeghiskhan), currently residing in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

As my tagline for this entire blog sums up, I started VeganinSuburbia as a place to showcase that vegan living is possible no matter where you live--in the city or the outskirts, in a metropolis or a nondescript village. This was really in the North American context, with the exception of my travel posts. Nevertheless, Graeme, has shown me in our frequent chats about food that, even in Mongolia (where, according to the eloquently hope-destroying statement in the Lonely Planet guidebook for Mongolia, vegans should either be entirely self-sufficient or consider changing their dietary habits for the duration of their stay because of the culture's heavily meat- and dairy-centric meals and because of the scarce availability of vegetables and fruits due to the short growing season), it is possible to make do with what you have, and with immense success, too, even when you're tucked away in the cozy depths of the coldest capital in the world. Thanks, Grae, for sharing your recipe with me and for letting me share it!

**

Vegan gnocchi that my friend, Vanessa, brought over. She whipped up a batch of pesto that even my mom--who, strangely, dislikes pesto--loved.

Vanessa also put together this simple but delicious salad: spinach, pear slices, and walnuts with olive oil and vinegar.

My trust apple crumble recipe. I added more brown sugar to this recipe, though, because my mum requested it.

Oh, I really should start jotting down the names and authors of the recipes I make, because I always struggle to remember the origin. I made this for Thanksgiving, and I can decipher carrots of various colours, chunks of TVP, zucchini, eggplant, thyme, thyme, and more thyme (I love thyme).

And here are the results of apple-picking, all of which employed the same recipe but baked in a different shape (the recipe is for the apple Bundt cake by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, in The Joy of Vegan Baking, though I replaced the entire cup of oil it calls for with apple sauce. In this case, replacing all of the oil works perfectly since the additional apple taste only enhances the overall delight of this dessert.

Tempeh stir-fry with zucchini, red pepper, and onion. Again, please forgive me for forgetting which recipe I used. This is more proof that I have to get writing more often, so that my memory doesn't have as much time to fail me. Ha! I served this along with marinated shiitake mushrooms and sundried tomatoes that we have in constant supply at my house.

So, this isn't food, but this sunrise that I'd witnessed on so many Autumn mornings left me speechless.

The red-peppered top of a delicious creamy pasta bake by VeganYumYum's Lauren Ulm. I even froze four or five separate portions of this for lunches during the week, and it defrosted beautifully.

One of the tastiest meals I've had in months, this was a gem created by Hannah Kaminsky. It's roasted zucchini and chickpea soup. I didn't have chickpeas ready, so I used some canned kidney beans. I was completely taken aback by how much of a difference roasting vegetables does before adding them to a soup.

Mooooooore apple crumble...

When I went apple-picking in September, I'd picked up a loaf of molasses bread and, for those of you who have never tried it, it possesses a beautiful golden hue that makes it resemble egg bread. It's marvelous toasted and is perfect for peanut or almond butter sandwiches. I tried to replicate the bread at home but made the mistake of using blackstrap molasses. The result was tasty but too molasses-y for my liking. Nevertheless, this was a really exciting milestone: This was the first loaf of bread I'd ever baked! The interesting thing about this recipe is that it was a veganized Betty Crocker one from my mum's 70's-era cookbook. For real.

Vegan apple dumplings by Beverly Lynn Bennett were fun to make and messy to eat, and I wouldn't have dessert any other way! My Nonna and Nonno actually really enjoyed these and wouldn't let me leave their house with the leftovers.

More apple muffins, with maple syrup drizzled over the top.

My mom's family-famous vegan stuffing for Thanksgiving. Oooooh, heaven...

Mom's roasted onions, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. I need to have these at least once every two weeks: my potato quota must be filled... or else.

Vegan Dad's luscious maple-dijon Brussels sprouts. My mum liked these so much that she made them twice this week alone. I have no complaints. If you think you don't like Brussels sprouts, think again, please, and try this recipe.

Potato-topped casserole for Thanksgiving! I didn't grab a good photo of what lies below, but it was the better part of the casserole, I believe. Regardless, this was a hearty meal that I was sad to see disappear (but that my tummy was happy to contain).

This is my Thanksgiving plate, and I will proudly affirm that I finished it all.

VeganYogini's pumpkin chocolate-chip doughnuts made another appearance this year for Thanksgiving. And yes, they disappeared quickly.

***
And now, it's RESS-YIPEE time! (quirky ress-yippee exclamation care of the ex-pat)

"Hackney Elbow-Patches Rice Pudding

This is for a double batch. The original recipe that I used comes from here. Aldon Brown hasn't ever let me down. [Intentional rhyme.] And his dry humor and wit are great. I miss The Food Network.

2 cups of cooked Jasmine rice. [Most rice pudding calls for short-grain rice, but to the hackney elbow-patch cook, whatever is left over is fair game. I've even used brown rice to make a chai-flavored rice pudding.]
2 cups of (fortified) soy milk. [Unflavored, though I'm sure that vanilla soy milk would have been great. In fact, I'd be curious to find out what STRAWBERRY soy milk would do!]
1 270ml can of coconut cream.
1/2 cup of sugar. [I put in way more than this -- No measuring cups -- though I'm not sure if there could ever be enough sugar.]
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. [Original recipe called for cardamom because it was an "Indian" style rice pudding. This is more North-American and comforting.]
Splash of vanilla extract.
The great thing about those last two ingredients is that you can add more of either depending on the dominant flavor that you want. If you want a dominant cinnamon flavor, add an extra 1/8-1/4 teaspoon. If you want one that is more vanilla-y, splash a bit more in. Just make sure not to add too much of both.

Optional: Any topping that suits your mood! Crushed nuts (almonds or pistachios work best), raisins (golden or otherwise), flaked coconut, or whatever else floats your starchy boat

With your rice in an appropriate sized pot, turn a burner to medium-high and add your milk. Stir frequently so that your rice doesn't stick to the bottom.
Once it starts to boil, reduce heat to a simmer and continually stir the mixture until it thickens. [This should take about 5 minutes or so. I noticed that it reduced by about an inch in the pot.]
Once reduced, add your cream and incorporate your sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Stirring constantly with a whisk (to prevent the cinnamon from clumping), turn the heat up again, and wait until it has thickened.
You may choose to add your topping now or wait until served.
Serve cold or at room temperature.

Enjoy!
[Cooking time, approx. 20-25 minutes]"

And Graeme had the following comments for this extremely successful makeshift pudding:

"The substitution of heavy cream and coconut milk for simple coconut cream was done out of necessity, not just out of vegan-friendliness. Mongolian dairy isn't the most pleasant-tasting unless you enjoy the delicious consequences of gambling with a "best before" date. Not to mention, finding coconut milk in this city is as easy as -- to continue with the analogy -- winning the lottery. And while it might seem like a 1+1=3 equivalency, apparently heavy cream + coconut milk really does equal coconut cream. Granted, the end result was a little thick, but my unreliable stove with only 4 settings could have been the culprit, or I could have let it thicken too long. In any case, that's easily remedied with a little more soy milk on the side if you prefer something a little thinner.

The soy milk, coconut cream, cinnamon combination gives this dessert the rich, deep color of mixing cement. Nevertheless, using frozen berries as your topping easily makes it more appealing. On the whole, and probable diabetes aside from adding too much sugar, this was extremely well-received. The warm pudding comforted me while the wafting cinnamon scent relaxed me like only cinnamon can. I'll definitely be keeping this on hand throughout the winter months!"

**
And that's it for this Autumn post. I pinky swear I'll write again before Christmas. I'll be baking and cooking up all sorts of comforting dishes in the next while. I wish I could contribute to Vegan MoFo but waking at 5 a.m. every day and being in bed by 10 p.m., with 8 hours of work and 3 hours of transit time in between doesn't give me much leeway. But you vegan bloggers keep bloggin', though, showing us all that it's possible to work, study, and whip up delicious meals, every single day. Thank you for keeping us envious, entertained, and salivating.

Thank you again to dearest Graeme for sharing his Mongolian recipe, and don't forget to check out his adventures in Mongolia here.

Till next time, dear friends,

Vegan in Suburbia

L'été n'est pas encore fini !

2010-09-06T21:37:00.003-04:00

Maybe I'm in a bit of denial over the progression of the seasons, but, technically, summer doesn't end until the 21st of September. Despite the abrupt cooling of the weather in the span of two days--in Montreal, it was 30 degrees Celsius or more until two days ago, when the temperature dipped as low as 12 degrees Celsius--, summer remains with us for another two weeks. And if you hear someone yelling, "Come baaack!" to the geese flying south for Winter, know that it's your friendly neighbourhood vegan.

So, hello! How are you? This was my first summer working full-time, and without an inkling of thought of the impending doom of school in September, for the first time in my life; nevertheless, I was out and about more than I ever have been in my life as well. People close to me know that I am more likely to be found at home reading a book on any night, weekday or otherwise, than out on the town. I've never been much of a partier, but this summer, there was a sociable beast in me that needed to be unleashed. The only phenomenon to which I can attribute it is that all of my days spent as a hermit during my years in university piled up alongside unconscious desires to let loose and/or socialize with fellow humans instead of fictional or historical personae in Italian literature. So, my bank account dipped slightly, but my satisfaction with the summer mounted to unprecedented levels. As my best friend quite accurately expressed: "My goal for this summer is to go to work tired every day." And that we did, and it was well worth it. I have to admit that, one no fewer than three occasions, I went to work at nine a.m. after going to bed no earlier than 4 a.m. And yes, I am proud of it!

This summer was the best of my life. And I have my friends and family to thank. So, with a curtsy and a humble bow, I thank you all.

Now, all of this going out and celebrating the beauty of life (*sniff*. Yes. I am a hippie and I smile through the days because life truly is beautiful, and I am grateful for every day I have to discover this funny Earth of ours with my loved ones) had to go hand-in-hand with one of my favourite things ever: food. I didn't bake or cook as much as I dined out--sometimes even at delicatessens at 3 a.m., in the heart of Montreal suburbia; the italics are not for the foreign nature of the word but, rather, they are for emphasis: how on Earth does a vegan eat at a delicatessen? Well, by going with a companion who points out the obvious: potato latkes are vegan, right?

See, I've been going to this one deli called Chenoy's, on St. Jean boulevard in Montreal's West Island, for years, mostly with friends who are craving poutine (see my article on late-night vegan eats for an idea of what Montrealers tend to eat after a night out on the town), and I'd end up ordering fried mushrooms, or nachos sans cheese, bacon, or sour cream (essentially, tortilla chips with salsa). But when I went there after a movie with my date after a failed attempt to grab some falafel pitas at a local Lebanese restaurant, we opted for Chenoy's. I was about to settle on fried mushrooms when he said, "what about latkes?" Gasp! Seriously? I'd always skimmed over that part of menu; it never even occurred to me to inquire about what usually consists of an inherently vegan dish. Potato latkes! Obviously!

So I asked. And we ordered a plate of three. They were humongous, about the size of large burger patty. They were soaked in oil (vegetable oil: I specifically asked about what kind of oil they use), and I promise that my heart and stomach hurt after eating just one (and a few bites of another one); my date confessed that the potato gods were not on his side that night, either. But, alas, delicious food was had at the delicatessen.

Summer heartburn and heartache aside, here are some photos of other delicious summer eats. On a side note, how was your summer? Did you bake or cook anything special? How did you fare at summer BBQs? I'm ever so curious :-)

Thanks again for the visit, enjoy these last precious days of Summer, and don't be alarmed if you hear me yelling "come baaack!"

Banana Foster Cake, by Hannah Kaminsky, in My Sweet Vegan, by my mum's request for her birthday. It was absolutely scrumptious, and it blew my family away.

Vegan guacamole at Mesa 14 restaurant with home-made tortilla chips

Part one of DIY fajitas at Mesa 14

So... I made Hannah Kaminsky's Raspberry Carrot Cake with epic sour-cream frosting, but I was way too impatient to wait for the cake to cool down. So frosting soup it was!

I have to admit that I should have let the icing cool and harden in the fridge, but I seriously couldn't wait. This cake blew me away. Maritsa, my best friend, said that it was one of the best cakes I've ever made. Hannah... dude. You are a goddess. My aforementioned date enjoyed it as well, and his favourite dessert is carrot cake. This was an all-around win. And if you are wary of combining raspberries with carrots, do yourself a favour and move past it: it is as divine a combination as chocolate and peanut butter. Mmm...

Strawberry muffins, once again à la Hannah Kaminsky ;-) Hers, in her book My Sweet Vegan, are heart-shaped for Valentine's Day, but I'm not that fancy--yet. On several occasions, I've made a whole bunch of these and frozen half, for grab-and-go snacks for work.

Chickpeas Quinoa Pilaf by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero in Veganomicon. It was really tasty.

This sandwich I came up with on the spot after work, and though I usually don't think my sandwiches merit a photo, I really impressed myself with this one: whole-grain multigrain toast with avocado, fresh tomato slices, Tofurky slices, lettuce, and mayo. Mmm.

As you can see, I was cooking a lot with quinoa as of late. I have a huge bag from Costco and want to try different dishes. Any suggestions are welcome, because I'm not the biggest fan of it, though I know it's really good for you. I despise corn, but for some reason, at the supermarket, I saw the corn on the cob and craved it... and lost the craving not even a day later. But I needed to use the corn, so I tried this Quinoa and Corn Medley from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Vegan Table. It was decent with gravy poured over it. :-)

Vegan scramble from The Vegan Table

Chocolate Devastation Cake by Hannah Kaminsky from My Sweet Vegan, made by my mom and aunt by my ~~request~~ demand for my 24th birthday. It was... I... it rendered me speechless. The only way I could express myself, my intense emotions, my euphoria, was by having a second piece.

Mmmm... Coffee custard...

Cappuccino Cupcake filled with Espresso Creme, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I made these for someone dear, and of course I kept myself classy and had two. Yeah, okay, I'm gross. But they were that good.

Vegan shrimp in green curry sauce at Chu Chai

Vegan duck with basil eggplant at Chu Chai. This is my new favourite dish--yes, I actually order this instead of something with peanut butter sauce.

I'd recently invested in crumpet rings when I saw a recipe for crumpets (which I'd never previously had in my life) in Vegan Yumyum by Lauren Ulm. I was craving warm biscuits, ripped open with steam rising from the fluffy insides, with butter melting on the dough. Crumpets seemed to fit the bill, but they're apparently a whole bunch of work to make. But make them I did. Does anyone know, though, how they should be served? I've heard of the clichéed "tea and crumpets", but are crumpets eaten just like that, or with jam and butter? Maybe I broke some rules, but that's how I ate them.

Whole-wheat pizza with eggplant slices, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and Daiya. I love pizza.

One of the best meals I've had in a while: pizza and sweet potato fries.

I recently purchased Sweet Freedom by Ricki Heller, and I was delighted to receive it in the mail with a personalized autograph (thank you, Ricki!). These are her Dalmatian Cheesecake Brownies. I modified the recipe slightly because I had two containers of vegan sour cream that were on the verge of expiration, so I made the cheesecake topping with sour cream. It changed the flavour quite a bit, I imagine, but it was delicious, sweet, and luscious. And, true to the nature of the recipes in this book, these brownies were actually mostly healthy. Check out the book here and Ricki's blog here.

Finally, for Labour Day, I wanted to make pancakes, so I made these from Sweet Freedom. They were thick, moist, fluffy, and I filled them with bananas, but they can be filled with berries or other fruits chopped small. They are the healthiest pancakes I've ever made, and they were also among the tastiest. A true vegan win.

Pancake with creme de marron in the foreground, covered in blueberries, pancake with vegan butter and maple syrup, and sweet potatoes pan fried with onions (made by Momma)

And I end with that. :-)

Until next time, yours truly,

Vegan in Suburbia

But of course cool can be comforting!

2010-07-11T23:01:00.000-04:00

Hi!

What I mean is that, well, people usually associate warmth with comfort, right? Comfort foods aren't typically cold, fresh foods; rather, they're warm, dense, and often naughtier for you than, say, fresh fruit sprinkled with maple sugar. "Warm and comforting" is universal. Allow me to use a Twilight reference to illustrate (my apologies):

SPOILER ALERT!!!

In Eclipse, in the tent, does Bella get warmed and grow comfortable in the frigidity through Edward's cuddling with her, or is it thanks to Jacob's hot temperature that Bella doesn't freeze to death? I mean, I'd rather cuddle up to Edward, but if I wanted to live, I guess Jacob and I would have to spoon.

END SPOILER ALERT!!!

But in the middle of the heat of summer, especially this heat wave we've been enduring (and, frankly, enjoying--sorry, Deleilan!) in Montreal, it's more common to seek comfort in the form of fresh, cool, or icy foods like fresh produce, cool pasta or potato salads, and frozen or chilled desserts (okay, so there are some inherently cool comfort foods). I'd never understood people not wanting to cook during the summer because we've always had central air conditioning at my house, so cooking really had little to no effect on the temperature inside of my house. I suppose I'm lucky in that respect, since pizza- and cookie-making mid-summer have had no effect on my psychology. Nevertheless, I've been wanting to embrace the delights of summer eating, and here are some photos of my summer accomplishments. (I used the word "summer" ~~four~~

five times in this paragraph.)

Two-layer chocolate cake for Father's Day, with chocolate-peanut-butter frosting that I literally pasted on with my fingers. It was so dense and wouldn't spread that I created patties on my palms and pressed them onto the cake. And, because I am by no means artful, I haphazardly places the sprinkles on. Whatever--at least it tasted good! This recipe is from Fran Costigan's More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts--Naturally. The icing is the result of my not having enough cocoa to make pure chocolate frosting, and not having enough peanut butter to make a pure peanut-butter frosting. The result: heavenly frosting that was not unlike the taste of peanut-butter cups. Mmm...

Thanks to Viva Granola Vegan Store, I was able to try these bad boys: Daiya-stuffed vegan chicken bundles. They are delicious and provide a pleasant, filling accompaniment to any veggie-centred meal. I highly recommend you try them, despite their moderately-high price tag.

I was recipe-testing for macrobiotic vegan chef Christy Morgan, and these are the delightful and easy-as-pie raw spring rolls she had me make. I filled them with avocado slices, grated carrot, bok choy, and julienned red pepper. Sure, they're great on their own but, like everything else in this world, they are brought to the highest rank of deliciousness when ~~dipped~~ smothered in Christy's peanut butter sauce.

Mom was very pleased...

Upon recently acquiring the lovely, charming, and amazingly talented Hannah Kaminsky's My Sweet Vegan, I made her chocolate mousse to take to my cousins' birthday party. It literally disappeared before my eyes, so thankfully I grabbed a piece before it disappeared. It was wondrously rich, so fresh berries provided the perfect accompaniment to each spoonful. I topped this cake with mulberries from our mulberry bush in front of our house.

I'm sorry: I'm not even close to classy enough to wait before photographing my food. You get the gist, though.

Here's an example of the fresh, cool food that's been providing the backdrop to my meals as of late. From top right, going clockwise: carrots in jalapeno hummus, olive fougasse from Première Moisson, mixed bean salad from Fontaine Santé, and marinated shiitake mushrooms.

Ah, where did this come from.... Well, speaking of Twilight interests, this is what I was decked out in for the premiere of Eclipse, at midnight, on the 29th of June. I needed to show my allegiance to Team Edward, but I am not ambidextrous, so, if you look carefully, one "Team Edward" is a lot prettier than the other. Can you tell if I'm right-handed or left-handed?

Sometimes I wonder why I'm allowed out....

Enough Twilight, though: here's a bundt cake, again taken from Fran Costigan's book, that I made for my cousin's birthday. The recipe is for an orange bundt cake, but I modified it to make it an apple one, replacing oil with applesauce and orange juice with apple juice.

I can't ever say I'll make anything as simply beautiful or delicious as this. This is my paternal grandmother's pizza. It is perfect in every way possible, and though it is not a fluffy pizza dough--the kind that I usually fancy--, there's a certain amount of grease and flavouring that renders this pizza an absolute pleasure to consume. My paternal grandparents live in Ottawa, so it is a really big deal when 1) we get to see them and 2) we get to enjoy my Nonna's cooking.

If I didn't make it obvious enough in the picture, this recipe for dried-fruit focaccia comes from My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky. I'd never made focaccia before, so this was a special treat in its unconventional form, that is, its containing dried fruit instead of being topped with olive oil and Italian herbs. I misread the baking time, though; as a result, you can see that the top's a bit more golden than I'd like. Nevertheless, it is a splendid dessert, and it goes perfectly with my morning espresso, as shown below.

At a recent trip to Costco with my mum, I asked her to buy some potatoes and sweet potatoes because I was craving them. So she made me one of my favourite dishes ever: baked sweet potatoes and white potatoes with onions and olive oil. But that was just one dish, and we ended up with tonnes of extra pototoes and too much exterior heat to give us the will to make potatoes at all. So I went on a potato rampage, raiding Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson for recipes.

Above is a lemon potato stir-fry with sundried tomatoes, black olives, and onions (instead of shallots). I love fried potatoes, so this was a true treat.

What I was really craving, though, was potato salad, which stays with my recent theme of fresh, cool foods. Before I went vegan, though, I strongly disliked potato salads. It's funny, though, that meals and foods in general that I disliked as a non-vegan have become appealing to me now that I've familiarized myself with cooking and baking. It's exciting to have all sorts of foods and ways to cook opened up to me. Anyway, this potato salad recipe was modified by me (can I ever leave well enough alone?) to include chopped cucumber instead of celery, and black olives instead of pimiento-stuffed green olives. It is stunningly simple to make, and though it does require boiling of potatoes, this is a dish that is served cold, obviously, and summertime-friendly.

And last but absolutely not least is a nice, juicy, red Quebec tomato that I bought today at the grocery store. See, the thing that's special about this is that, here in Quebec, we spend a good half of the year either tomato-less or consuming disgusting (I try to be careful with strong adjectives like these, but they're really disgusting), grainy pink tomatoes. They're awful. So I graciously open my arms to Quebec's fresh produce and the rich flavours offered by local foods. Thank goodness for summer and its bounty!

Enjoy,

Vegan in Suburbia

Cooking and working make for a difficult combination... especially when travelling is added

2010-06-13T23:31:00.001-04:00

Hello, stranger!

Or perhaps I'd consider myself the stranger, having been absent for more than two months. When we last left off, I was in the midst of embarking upon a whole new phase of life, that of a nine-to-fiver: a full-timer, a real-world worker, a career lady. Holy smokes, did I ever have not even the most remote idea of what I was getting into (that's a clunky sentence for someone who makes a living as a proofreader. Sheesh).

I'm not even saying that I was ill-prepared, nor am I saying that I regret taking on this new life of mine; on the contrary, I adore my job: I adore the people, the work, the mental stimulation, the central location of the offices, the trek there that allows me to devour novels, the novelty of adult life (yeah, I know, the novelty won't last). Deadlines are frightening and some projects are daunting, but I'd like to say that university prepared me pretty well, and for my Concordia professors and general experience, I am grateful--I might be lost without that.

So on March 29th I started a new job, and few days later, my (ex-)boyfriend and I ended our three-year relationship, so I really did embark on an extremely new phase of my life. I'm not sad, I'm not angry, and I'm not filled with regret; I'm going to exhaust all of the clichés, I know, but it's a new chapter in my life, and I am happily enjoying every second of what this life is giving me. I have my family, my friends, my health, and a zeal that I'm pretty sure I must have inherited from my jovial father. I am not fazed.

Am I getting too personal? Well, I am grateful to whomever reads this blog, too, and I figured I might as well update you on my prolonged absence, which had everything to do with getting home at 7 pm every night after work and too much to do over the weekend to sit down and write blogs. Oh, and I picked up and ran (err, flew) off to Europe with my cousin and his beautiful girlfriend for two weeks.

Despite my failed attempts at documenting cooking or eating expeditions, I have indeed been cooking, eating, and relishing all the meals cooked for me while exploring and rediscovering Paris, Milan, Rome, and Florence. Because of work during the week and an overwhelming sleepiness at the end of the day for the first few weeks of my new job, I'd go on cooking rampages on Saturdays, brunch-making sessions on Sundays, and gather all of the leftovers into individual, meal-sized containers for the coming week. It's a technique I've heard successful professionals use, and it really is a time-saver. My only complaint is that at times I have been known to grow tired of having the same lunch or dinner every day, so welcoming the usual, fresh sandwich into the mix is always a superb option.

But I'm surely boring you. Here are select pictures (not posting for two months results in a barrage of photos) of meals cooked and enjoyed in the Montreal area (EDIT: well, aren't I a bright soul! I somehow managed to have lost all of those pictures when I emptied my camera's memory card of photos in order to make room for Europe), followed by photos of tasty eats in Europe accompanied by quick captions.

Enjoy, and thank you again for reading and stopping by :-)

Vegan in Suburbia--and Abroad

This was my first meal in Paris: a ginormous salade niçoise minus any animal products, plus all of the flavour of one of the most delicious salads I've ever consumed. I mean, look at it--there are potatoes on it!

This salad was so big that it looked like I didn't even touch it. I couldn't finish it, try as I did.

It's not food but it's the freaking Eiffel Tower at twilight. <3

First espresso in Paris

Delicious pizza in Paris, but way overpriced and at the price of good service--we weren't treated well at the restaurant on the Champs Elysées. Oh well. At least we were in good company.

And it happened even in Europe that the only vegan item on the menu at this resto in Paris was fries.

First espresso of the day at the pâtisserie near our hotel

This needs no explanation.

Always delightful illy coffee at an illy store on the Champs Elysées

Naturally delighted to have illy coffee. It cost 3 euros, I think, which is expensive for coffee in Europe, but it was worth it.

Picnic goods for our afternoon in front of the Eiffel Tower

Breakfast!

Pilgrimage to Saveurs Veget'Halles on rue Bourbonnais (I'll never forget because it was impossible to find). Finally a restaurant in Paris at which I didn't have to ask a million questions regarding the contents of each menu item.

Fried, battered veggies. It came with a chutney that resembled applesauce in taste.

My meal: spinach quiche with black rice and white beans. I managed to finish it all and even have dessert--it was scrumptious.

My cousin's girlfriend's meal of the day: skewered seitan with vegan meat loaf, couscous, and wonderful veggies. I regretted my order when I saw hers, but mine was delicious as well.

Dessert: Apple crumble

Olive bread made, which I unfortunately didn't get to eat because it was put away before I could cut a piece. It was made by my Zia Angela in Milan.

Delicous cold pasta

Vegan calzone filled with grilled veggies, made by the famous Zia Angela

Something we don't ever see here in Montreal: oranges with leaves on them

Frittelle!!! These are fried balls of dough that you then dip or roll in sugar, as if they weren't bad enough for you already. Oh, melt-in-your-mouth heavenliness.

See? Frittelle are causes for much smiling.

And then there was Zia Angela's pizza. She is an absolute goddess in the kitchen, and a kind, beautiful soul.

Cicoria! This is one of my most favourite side dishes: they're dandelion roots, essentially, bitter like rapini but somehow more delicious. I'm no good at explaining but... trust me. And if you can get your hands on them, stir-fry them in garlic and olive oil and you will not be disappointed; however, I'd stay away from them if you're not a fan of rapini.

Penne all'arrabbiata

Another photo needing no explanation (oooooh vegan ice cream in Italy, I love thee)

Breakfast at the hotel in Rome. All was provided free of charge, but I preferred to grab some boiled water and add it to the packets of oatmeal I brought from Montreal and add dates to it, with a side of hotel-provided pineapple.

Grilled veggies at a small restaurant in a student-dense area in Rome. They didn't have much taste but they gained new life with a bit of salt and vinegar added to them.

I ordered cicoria whenever I could, and here I had some with fried eggplant, my other love.

Pizza!

Climbing 551 steps helps in keeping extra calories from piling up unpleasantly. This was at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. And no, we didn't take the elevator.

The best ice cream in all of Italy, as far as I am concerned. At a gelateria called Gelarte, I had vegan soy chocolate ice cream and soy cappuccino ice cream on a "cono dietetico," topped with a dollop of soy panna. Oooooh how blessed I was.

Check out that vegan symbol! I was in awe at this product that I found in Florence, but I didn't buy them since they were freakishly high in calories. I bought vegan Nutella instead, the logical choice, right? :-)

Sadly, I was unlucky when it came to food in Florence: this pasta was served to me swimming in olive oil. I love olive oil, but not as the base for pasta soup.

This side of beans were delicious, though.

This pizza also was tasteless, served at a restaurant by a handsome, friendly waiter. I'm not a fiend for salty food but I feel there was a disturbing absence of it--of any flavour at all--in this pizza.

This is for the Twilight fans out there: read the city name at the bottom. Oh yes. I was near there, in Florence.

I visited a villa in the region of Chianti while on a full-day bike tour.

Barrels and barrels of wine at the Corti villa

Barrels and barrels of olive oil--without a doubt the best I've ever tasted in my life.

The meal we were provided on a break from our bike tour of Chianti. We were offered two wines made on the premises, the family's olive oil, pasta, bread with beans, mushroom pâté (thankfully vegan), and chopped tomatoes. It was all delicious, fresh, and refreshing.

Of course, if you're interested, check out

http://www.ibikeitaly.com/tours.html for info on Chianti tours. They cater to vegans, as you can see.

Buon appetito, my friends, and I hope I've inspired you either to get cooking or to get travelling! Creativity is required at times when visiting other countries, but I promise that you must never fear when you go to Italy. If you ever need tips on eating in Italy or survival phrases, don't be shy.

Until next time, be well!

Vegan in Suburbia

I swear I'm still cooking!

2010-03-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

Hey there!

Between working full-time at the job I'm about to leave, writing for the Examiner, finishing the Sookie Stackhouse series (I've read the entire series, books one through nine, in two and a half months), planning a vacation, and going through the motions of getting a job in my field, I haven't had a chance to write here. My apologies!

If you'd like to see what I've been up to at the Examiner, you can check out my list of articles here and, more specifically, some recipes for some truly decadent dishes. As usual, I bake better than I cook, so you'll notice a theme in my recipes. Since I'm the Montreal Vegan Food Examiner, I have to stay local, of course, so I've had some fun veganizing Québecois recipes, recipes which are notorious for being heavy in cream and meat, for example. Of course, I still haven't overcome my indifference towards good presentation with food: to me, if it tastes good, it doesn't even matter how it looks, so I ask that you excuse the messy contents of the photographs.

More news: last week, I accepted a position as a Quality Assurance Editor (oh, dude, I have a title!). I start on Monday, so tomorrow is my last day at a job I've held for four years. I'm bummed because this job got me through my degree at Concordia, and it's at the company my father founded many years ago. Since my father's passing, my sister's graduation, and my finding a new job, no more members of our clan are taking part in this company's day-to-day affairs, so it's kinda sad. But life goes on, and we must continue to evolve, and I am absolutely thrilled to be doing what I like best: working with language, and I'll be getting paid to correct English! That's totally my thing, as friends and family know; I read books armed with a pen--that's how much I am a stickler for good grammar and spelling. So, yay! :)

Anyway, I should take my own advice and stay on topic. So I thank you for reading about my life's updates, and I'll try to update with food and after-work meals (I'll be spending three hours on public transit each day) as often as I can, between working full-time (in downtown Montreal! Zing!) and writing for the Examiner. Below are photos of what I've been up to lately, in the kitchen and out of it.

I wish you all a very pleasant rest of the week and a splendid weekend.

Lots of love,

Vegan in Suburbia

I forgot to post this photo last time, but these are Happy Herbivore's quesadillas with cheesy sauce. These were absolutely delicious and comfortingly spicy. Oh, and speaking of which: Lindsay's cookbook is now available for pre-order in Canada and the U.S. Click here to pre-order your copy.

This quesadilla defies gravity. (Not really--I just didn't feel like rotating the photo because I'm working on a very slow netbook.)

My friend Susi bought me this neat brownie maker/cutter for me, and she asked that the first batch I made go to her. So, naturally, I decided to make the most ambitious recipe I could think of (why do I always do that when I don't have time to do a re-do if I mess up?). Anyway, this is the result of Florida Crystals' Cheesecake Streusel Brownies. They were marvelous when frozen, but they were unacceptably oily at room temperature--and of course that means they were deliciously unhealthy. I tried making them again with a low-fat state of mind (applesauce became my close friend) but I ended up having to throw out the brownies, I mean, brownie batter.

As you can see, I became overzealous with my Daiya. My Nonna made orecchiette pasta, probably the greatest type ever, provided it's made by a Nonna's hands and, therefore, with love. I ate this with my Momma's green beans.

Home-made vegan meatloaf: did you know I'd never had meatloaf in my life, vegan or otherwise, before this one? I found the recipe here and poured Shiitake Mushroom Gravy by Road's End over it.
It was delightful.

This month was a month of firsts: seven years vegan, and yet I'd never made a tofu tuno sandwich before. Vegan Dad introduced me to it here, and man, did it taste good! I don't know if it tasted that much like tuna, but what mattered was that it was delicious. Matt enjoyed it and even made a face when he tasted it, because he had to dissociate the taste from the idea of tuna, and then he devoured the sandwich. Success!

Not food-related, I know, but I saw this while walking on St. Denis street after a meal and an interview with Patrick Michaud of ChuChai, and I needed to take a picture. Creepy babies!

... and chairs with no seats :)

I'm in love. I've been going to Pushap on des Sources Blvd. for as long as I've been vegan, but I've never actually taken any photos of their food. This is their famous samosa-pakora plate, and it provides a warm prelude to a thali plate.

Welcome to the $6 thali (meal of the day)! You can't get a better deal than this: palak alu, chana masala, mixed veggies, fragrant basmati rice, coleslaw, and a vegan naan. This is pure love, but only about half of it makes it inside my tummy (the rest comes home in a doggy bag). C'mon: I need room for dessert!

Here is my love digging into his very own thali.

I used to work every weekend and thus missed excellent opportunities to have or make brunch. Now that I have been working full-time, Saturday and Sundays mornings are alllll miiiiiine! So I gathered up some friends and headed to Aux Vivres in the Plateau and enjoyed a delicious vegan brunch. Pictured here are tempeh bacon strips, scrambled tofu, fresh salad, sweet-potato slices, and corn bread with veggies baked in. My friends thought I was odd for requesting maple syrup to pour over my scrambled tofu, but I used to eat scrambled eggs like that, so it makes sense in my head.

Tarte au sirop d'érable (maple syrup pie): this is one of the Québecois recipes I veganized for Examiner.com. It had been years since I'd had maple syrup pie, and this was a, er, welcome welcome to my favourite dessert ever.

About a month ago, I purchased The Blissful Chef's spring cookbook, Cooking with the Seasons. She specializes in vegan macrobiotic cooking, and I was eager to try out her recipes. Here we have Mustard Arame Sauté (I didn't have arame so I used nori) and below, in the foreground, we have Red Quinoa Salad. Both were delicious, filling, and healthful.

Every couple of weeks, I make two dozen wholesome muffins that I freeze and grab for a mid-morning snack at work. These are date-almond-banana muffins and easily the best muffins I've ever made, simply because they contain dates. I pretty much just improvised, starting with a banana-bread recipe that I've been using for years. I'll post a recipe the next chance I get, because I want to share the love of dates, my new favourite food.

Last but certainly not least, we have the meal that Mlle. Deleilan introduced me and her blog-readers to: coconut chickpea curry. She humbly calls it a humble recipe, but really, I think it's grand and fancy. I added tempeh to this one and used frozen spinach instead of raw. This is easily my new favourite meal. Thank you, Deleilan!

A Happy, Herbivorous Collage: a Tribute to One Happy Herbivore

2010-03-05T16:57:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

I hope you're all doing well. I've been pretty busy this last week, racing to job interviews, working full-time, working out, going to yoga, and watching True Blood with my sister (once you get to know me, you'll learn that time must always be made for vampires). On top of all that, I've got something new to make me busy, and even a bit of money: for those who may not know already, I have been selected to be Montreal's Vegan Food Examiner. I'd been looking around for jobs in my field (hence the job interviews this week), which would include really anything having to do with writing, translating, editing, proofreading, and so on. Potential employers have been asking me, "What is it that you want to do?" and it always struck me as a funny question to ask in a job interview, but it makes sense: why should they go through the trouble of hiring me if their job offers nothing of interest to me? So I answered this question twice this week in a formal setting, and again when I was recounting the stories to loved ones. What do you want? What a loaded question!

Anyway, I haven't come here to bombard you with existential issues; this is a vegan food blog and I have just introduced myself as the Montreal Vegan Food Examiner, so clearly this is not the time nor the place to discuss what I want out of my professional life (other than to eat and talk about food, because clearly that is what Examiner wants me to do. Zing!). But I would truly appreciate if, before I get to the true point of this post, you would skip on over to my page on Examiner.com and subscribe to my articles and mark me as a favourite Examiner. I have some exciting articles in the works, one of which will be an interview with a Montreal restauranteur, coming next week! So please stay tuned, and I am thanking you in advance for your enthusiasm, loyalty, and support. You guys are awesome.

Now, onto this post. Just a few days ago, I finished my recipe testing for Lindsay Nixon, the Happy Herbivore many of us have come to know--even at a vast or not-so-vast geographical distance--and love. (Holy smokes, did you see that she has a recipe for raw vegan ice cream? Yessir!) It was a process that started at the end of 2009 when she invited about a dozen of friends and people with whom she had collaborated on past projects to become her wild chickpeas, that is, her recipe testers. In the month of February, we all completed the last testing phase, submitting lengthy, detailed reviews to Lindsay every Friday like clockwork. We were glad, grateful, and eager to spend the shortest month of the year having our meals and snacks planned by her ingenious culinary mastery. I particularly enjoyed the last week of February, when a handful of recipes turned into set dinner plans for every evening that week. Thanks, Lindsay! We can't wait for your cookbook, and this post is dedicated to you!

Here come the photos :-) (not pictured here are the Smokey Black-Bean Enchiladas that provided the most welcome introduction to Mexican cooking ever.)

Cheezy Broccoli Casserole

Serving of Cheezy Broccoli Casserole: the dark crispy part's the best. This dish was one of a kind. I was sad to share it with my sister, because it was that good.

Comforting and delicately sweet Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins (well, this guy's by his lonesome)

Chana Palak Masala with half a piece of naan: one of the best meals for a cold winter's day

Oil-free Pesto, which I very affectionately call Pesto dell'erbivora felice

Pesto gets a little dressed up with some of Nonna's tomato sauce

Let me pause here: you would think that, "It looks like bacon, smells like bacon, and tastes like bacon" would make this bacon, right? Wrong! This baconized TVP blew this vegan away. The best part about this bacon, though, aside from its taste, is that it fools omnivores! My mum could not believe that this wasn't ground bacon or something like it. It's so tasty that I kept eating it straight out of the pan, even though its final use was for the meal pictured below. Speaking of which...

Lindsay, you're a freakin' genius, thinking to put bacon bits on fettucine alfredo. Freakin' genius!

Yemisir W'et, a delicious, nutritious, and absolutely scrumptious Ethiopian dish, is pictured here served on Markouk bread since injera is pretty hard to find and a little too time-consuming to make.

Pleasant and fun Cheeze Pizza (on chapati)

Cheeze Pizza gets all dressed up. Might I add that these are delicious eaten as sandwich wraps?

Maple Cornmeal Biscuits

These Fruity Granola Bars do not last long in my house: they are the perfect handheld snack and are very healthy, too. But their health qualities go without saying, since Lindsay's specialty is healthy, fat-free cooking.

Lower-calorie Pad Thai: I heart you. You'll figure out to which dish it is compared with regards to its being "lower in calories" when you buy her cookbook. :)

Lower-calorie Pad Thai with baked asparagus and grilled red peppers (veggies made by Momma)

And that's it for now. Lindsay, it was a pleasure testing these recipes for you, and I look forward to collaborating with you again in the future! Congratulations on the cookbook and I wish you all the success you deserve.

And to you, my dear readers, thanks for stopping by. Do check out Lindsay's cookbook when it is released. Check http://www.happyherbivore.com/ for updates.

Have a great weekend,

Vegan in Suburbia

V-Day Food

2010-02-26T10:57:00.001-05:00

And by V-Day, you know I mean Vegan Day.

I know, I know: by this point, this little Valentine's Day cliché is much overused among vegans, but who can blame us for trying to shine some more light on the vegan lifestyle by shifting the significance of the V initial? Even better, making V stand for something else makes people who hate Valentine's Day hate it a little less, or not at all: Vampire Day (I like this one!), Vanilla Day (vanilla cupcakes, anyone?), Vanessa Day (for the Vanessas in your life) are but a mere sampling of possible V-Days.

But I digress, as I usually do.

I used to be one of the Valentine's Day haters. I didn't like the overconsumption it encouraged, nor did I care for the pressure it puts on couples or the loneliness and bitterness it stirs up in singles. But for the same reasons why I came to love Christmas, I can see myself growing to love Valentine's Day. You see, any occasion that offers an excuse to cook and bake above what is normal and, maybe, reasonable offers yet another reason to feel joyous. So, silly as it might sound, when Matt offered to take me out to dinner for our Valentine's Day meal, I was a bit dismayed because that would mean that I wouldn't get to cook. Wait a second, though: V-Day fell on a Sunday this year. Why not go out for dinner on Sunday and, on the Saturday evening preceding the lovely 14th, cook up a dinner chez moi?

Matt said that he would take me to ChuChai, Montreal's premier fine cuisine vegetarian Thai restaurant. How could I complain? Reservations were made, and because we make a point to eat two appetizers, two meals, and two desserts between the two of us (and my appetite is smaller than what might be considered normal, I might add, and not without dismay, because I love to eat), I decided to make my planned V-Day meal a little lighter than the decadent meal I'd initially conjured in my head.

I chose to make a mixed-greens salad with miso dressing (recipe courtesy of the lid on the Cold Mountain Red Miso paste); a warm and comforting garlic-and-greens potato soup (recipe courtesy of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau from her book The Vegan Table), because I had tons of potatoes that needed to be used; and wild rice with raisins, slivered almonds, ginger and other spices, also from The Vegan Table, but modified to use wild rice instead of the quinoa used in the recipe. I had wild rice on hand because I needed it to test a recipe for Lindsay, and I'd been so impressed with it that I wanted to use it in Colleen's recipe, too. Wild rice really is one of Mother Nature's treasures: it starts off black and cooks to reveal a variety of shapes and colours. I marvelled at it for a long moment before adding it to my recipe.

I usually don't put much effort into presentation, but I felt like being fancy. I pulled out the classy candleholder, the single wine glass (I don't typically drink), and cloth napkins (which I use every day anyway, but of course they're more sophisticated than paper napkins).

Tada!

Don't forget the requisite cinnamon hearts!

Potatoes should be in every dish.

Wild rice with raisins, slivered almond pieces, and spices, one of which was ginger. The problem with that arose in this little piece of dialogue:

Matt: "This is... interesting. It's herby. Is there ginger in here?"

Kris: "Yes, there is! You're good, being able to pick that out amongst all the spices."

Pause.

Kris: Oh, crap! I... I completely forgot that you don't like ginger!

That's right, folks: leave it up to me to cook my fiancé a Valentine's Day meal especially for him that contains his least favourite ingredients. It's a good thing that I made two desserts.

Lindsay, aka Happy Herbivore, came up with a brilliant recipe for a single-serving brownie (for the discipline- or ingredient-deficient) for her upcoming cookbook. All I did was double the recipe for this, because there was no way I was going to share one. (See my first-month-as-a-grad post about my unapologetic greediness with regards to desserts.) I really wanted to make these brownies, but I'd also promised Matt that I would make him this recipe for home-made Pop-Tarts I'd found on the blog that introduced me to Cookie Cake Pie. So I made both and ate both.

Dear reader, I introduce you to Vegan Pop-Tart.

I didn't think the icing would solidify that quickly, so the only sprinkles present are the ones I mashed in. These were absolutely delicious. The flaky dough recipe was supposed to produce six pastries, but I somehow ended up with only three, with some dough I ended up throwing out because I got frustrated. The third Pop-Tart contained vegan Nutella, thanks to a recent trip to Italy. I ate the chocolate one the night before, just to make sure it had turned out (oh, the excuses we bakers get to make! "I had to eat it to make sure it was edible!"), and oh my goodness--it tasted just like chocolate Pop Tarts! Thank you, CakeSpy and Peabody!

~~~

Now, on to the meal at ChuChai.

Our reservations were made for 7:30 p.m., a time a little tardy for my continuously-hungry tummy. We showed up on time and were told that our names didn't appear on the list, but that was not a problem. The fun thing about ChuChai is that the service is always friendly, courteous, and professional. They fit us right in but not amongst the packed restaurant: they sent us just outside and up an outdoor flight of stairs lined with battery-operated candles, and then up another indoor flight of stairs lined with real red candles, all the way up to their private loft, opened just for Valentine's Day weekend to accommodate the extra patrons. We were in awe of the decor that greeted us upon our arrival.

This was just behind our table. Since we were the first couple to be seated in the loft, we had the privilege of choosing our table. I love to be huddled in a corner, so I chose the most secluded spot.

Patrick, the amicable, courteous, passionate, and knowledgeable owner of ChuChai told us that this centrepiece was actually from a church. He painted it black and brought it in to ChuChai to be part of the dark decor.

This was just to the left of our table. Fake rose petals are strewn across the tablecloth along with ChuChai's business cards.

Like tourists, we had our picture taken in front of the pretty heart. And, by the way, every article of clothing that I'm wearing, minus the socks and tank top, is from high school; someone please teach me how to dress! Don't laugh at my socks, though: it was cold, and I needed cloud socks (they're so soft and fluffy that it feels like you're walking on clouds) to keep me warm. Don't forget that I live in "The Great White North!"

This is a happy girl in her happy place, looking disheveled from the revelry.

Red was the theme, naturally. This place is just so classy!

And the most important part of the dining experience: the food. On the left, we have breaded mushrooms with crispy basil leaves. A friend of mine once said that they tasted like sesame beef or something like it, but I honestly would not know. What I do know is that they are absolutely scrumptious, and it's hard to identify that there are mushrooms inside the crispy exterior. We order this appetizer every time. On the right, we have the peanut-butter dumplings, once only vegetarian but now 100% vegan! We literally slurp up the sauce at the end. Okay, I literally slurp up the sauce because Matt leaves it for me. Now that's love.

Vegan shrimp, anyone? Matt ordered the exact same dish but with vegan chicken. We really do love peanut butter sauce, with crispy spinach and brown rice. Patrick even remarked that we were getting the same dish with different types of protein. "No sharing?" he asked with a smile. No sharing: the more peanut butter sauce, the better.

Seriously, though, does that not look like shrimp? It's freaky, and super delicious. (Oh, wait! I spot a piece of vegan chicken lurking on the very left. Matt must have dropped that into my plate.)

And, of course, the requisite red roses for Valentine's Day, on display in my kitchen. Thank you, Matt!

Hope you all had a pleasant V-Day, no matter what your V stood for.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend,

Vegan in Suburbia

Superbowl food and the greatest idea for a cake EVER

2010-02-13T11:11:00.004-05:00

Greetings, dear friends,

I figured it was time to blog about food I've prepared recently in order to avoid hitting you with a barrage of photos and text like I did in my last post. I know this month will be spent testing lots of recipes for the Happy Herbivore, and today I'll be making dinner for my lovely love for Valentine's Day, and Sunday my lovely love is taking me out to dinner for Valentine's Day (I think we love to eat more than we love Valentine's Day. Holidays, in essence, are an excuse to go all out with food, no?). Those three things will amount to lots of food in themselves, so I'll spare you (somewhat) the barrage and dive in to what I've prepared over the last little while.

Yet I still feel as though one cannot be forewarned enough when it comes to this beast:

It looks innocent enough, does it not?

Don't be fooled! Let that part of the cake that has cracked and sunk serve as the element of foreboding.... Trust your instincts and mistrust the sunken cake.

This is what this seemingly harmless beast turns into:

Cookie Cake Pie!!!!!

(Sheesh! Really, Blogger? That's the scariest font you've got? Well, I tried.)

All drama and magenta highlighting aside, let me provide you with a bit of background: one day, after a pleasant supper with Momma, Jess, and Matt, I decided to show Jess and Matt around http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com/ (pure hilarity and absurdity). After holding back gags when viewing cupcakes topped with bacon (I'll spare you the links--the cupcakes are pretty gross), we happened upon this cake. It was called the Triple Threat Cookie Cake Pie, and it was pure genius and, like I said, pure absurdity, all in one cake. We went back to the maker's blog, one lovely Cake Spy, and checked out the process. Sure enough, it would be a piece of cake (har har) to veganize. It's composed of four layers: a pie crust, a layer of cookie dough, vanilla cake, and then vanilla frosting. We did, the three of us, agree that we'd have to make it one day. Nevertheless, I didn't think that it would be sooner rather than later.

Superbowl weekend rolled around, and my sister had planned a potluck with some of her lady friends. Although I was planning on making some brownies, my sister insisted that I make the cake.

Sigh.

To cut a long story short, as you have beheld, I made the cake. I ate 1.5 pieces and was in sugar heaven. I have the sweetest of sweet teeth, and although this cake was too rich to allow my sister to get through more than a few bites, I would have been happy to eat the rest of that half a piece (the only reason it was half a piece is because my mum couldn't get through the other half).

I promised myself that I would never make it again; as my best friend's parents put it, it really is a once-in-a-lifetime cake, because our bodies probably could not survive a second time. This cake was sugary proof that vegan does not always equal healthy! But vegan does equal delicious. And sometimes ridiculous. :-)

Now, for your viewing pleasure, vegan desserts and other foods served at the potluck.

Oh, and if for some crazy reason you'd like to replicate the vegan cookie cake pie, check out Cake Spy's blog, and you can get the recipes for each layer from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's The Joy of Vegan Baking. For the pie crust, I used the shortbread crust; for each recipe, I used mostly whole-wheat flour. Yeah, I attempted to put something healthful in all that decadence. And when I say decadence, I mean it! There's at least 1/2 cup of Earth Balance in each layer. I did blind-bake the crust for 5 minutes, and I let the entirety (that is, three layers) bake for about 50 minutes. The top was a bit hard, and as you can see, it sunk, but it was perfectly edible. I was just paranoid that all the layers wouldn't bake properly since, separately, they required different temperatures and baking times.

Without further ado, here are the photos.

I made mini vanilla cupcakes and whatever cookie dough was not eaten raw (aww yeah) was placed into the remaining mini-muffin spots. I must say that they were almost as much fun to eat as and less guilt-inducing than eating the cake.

I'd never thought of baking cookie dough in a muffin tin, and I'm happy that I gave it a shot. They look adorable! This guy kinda reminds me of Toad from Super Mario World :-)

Ok, I sigh just looking at this. But of course you end up with leftover batter! This thing could be made to be only so high--unless, of course, there's a pie pan made especially for obscene pies. If there is, well, I don't want to know about it.

Halfway through the beastliness

The nerdy beast herself (yes, I am wearing a Battlestar Galactica t-shirt emblazoned with the words "What the frakk?")

Ooooooh, heaven.

This is my sister's yummy gluten-free take on Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows (outside is chocolate; inside is peanut butter) in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Every year, my sister makes a football-shaped cake (in a football-shaped cake pan). Her good friend was just diagnosed with a sensitivity to gluten, so we did our best (well, minus my cake, unfortunately) to make gluten-free foods. This is a gluten-free banana cake that she whipped up after I did some research for her. We don't have any experience whatsoever with gluten-free baking, and we didn't know that you had to mix flours and add xanthan or guar gum to get the desired consistency. I did do some research for her and came upon this recipe by Gluten-Free Goddess after searching for "gluten-free vegan bundt cake" (thank you, Google). After a "GF CRISIS!!!1!1!" tweet on Twitter, the darling indiacarless came to my rescue, referring me to GonePie, a vegan gluten-free bakery. (Thank you!) My sister picked up all-purpose gluten-free flour, I had an unlabelled container of xanthan gum (at least we think that's what it is) at home that I've never used, and we were set! It had a consistency and taste that I wasn't used to, but we're just going to have to experiment some more with gluten-free baking.

My favourite muffins in the world: the top is crispy and can be ripped off, and the bottom is moist and oh-so-scrumptious. My best bud in the whole world made these, and I am eternally grateful that everyone at the party was too full from my cake to touch most of the other desserts (because, of course, that meant I got to keep these to myself).

My cousin Erica, whom I had not seen in over two years, brought over these vegan gems. Mmm, mmm!

Oh, hello, beauties. You come to make another appearance?

Oh, bless Michelle for having made this amazing dish of pad thai. I totally went for seconds and put some in a container to eat later before everyone finished it. This was definitely the dinner hit.

Last but certainly not least are the polenta fries, the recipe for which I got here, at the Vegan Lunch Box blog. I'd never had these before, and they were super easy to prepare. The polenta needs to be prepared a day in advance, though, but the rest of the process is super easy. And, like I did with the pad thai, my mum took some of these bad boys and stashed them in the fridge, though they are not nearly as good the next day, I must admit.

Before closing, I just want to point out that there were other foods that my sister's friends bought, like chili, salsa, and home-made chips, and though my sister was the one throwing the party, every single one of her friends made a point to make the foods vegan, because I was attending. How cool is that? I am so touched that her friends were that generous, conscientious, compassionate, and open-minded, and they did a delicious, excellent job on their dishes. Veganism is making great strides--people know that vegan food is great food. So thank you, Jess's friends!

So that's it for now. It's Valentine's Day weekend and about to become the Year of the Tiger (my year!). Remember what I said about holidays: they're a reason to cook and bake and, of course, share your food with loved ones.

All the best,

Vegan in Suburbia

P.S. I have tons of photos that I can't wait to share of recipes I have tested for Happy Herbivore Lindsay Nixon, so stay tuned! :-) And thanks for reading.

My first month as a university grad resulted in...

2010-01-31T15:28:00.000-05:00

... lots of reading, cooking, and job-searching, but apparently I haven't been blogging enough. My conclusion is the following: I need to either blog more or cook less, because I am left with an impressive amount of photographs of food, yet I fear leaving you all with an onslaught of pictures. I hope you'll bear with me and enjoy the food porn, as well as the requisite silly photos of myself and loved ones accompanying said food porn.

So what has happened in the past month? Well, I attempted a recovery from holiday overindulgence, first. I did not bake for a good two weeks, not because I didn't want to but because I actually couldn't bring myself to: I had no desire to eat sweets (sacrilege!). Also, just before the holidays began, I started a 30-day ReNew Life Digestive Cleanse to help keep me somewhat on track, physically, during the holidays, and I finished it mid-January. That's around when I got my desire to bake back. (Did you notice the absence, aside from the cinnamon rolls, of baked goods in my previous blog post?)

Mid-January--the 15th, to be exact--is when Matt and I started dating three years ago. To celebrate our anniversary, we went to our favourite vegan restaurant in Montreal, Aux Vivres, and ordered all of our favourites, including one dessert each; no, no, we are by no means one of those cutesy couples who shares a single dessert. We are vegan beasts who have the primal urge to devour entire pieces of cake that we encounter along our path, sharing with no one. Want proof?

This is my angry beast face. You'll notice that in the bottom left corner there is Matt's piece of cake that I didn't want. (It's nowhere near me.) Meanwhile, below is the source of my rage:

That's mine! And he's eating it! Growwwwllll... But it's very easy to appease the beast:

Give her her friggin chipotle brownie!

Yes, Matt did take a few more bites (I do have one or two generous bones in me when it comes to dessert), but the rest was mine, all mine! Other notable dishes from Aux Vivres are below, but you'll have to excuse my bad habit of taking photos of food only when they're half or two-thirds eaten.

Here's a pretty big mess on Matt's plate, with chili cheese fries in the foregound and the last chapati with veggie butter in the wooden bowl.

My glorious Mekong in a chapati. This bugger is so big that I eat only half for my meal and the other half gets to come home with me to face its fate later. That's a big slab of grilled tofu in the middle, with lettuce (sometimes a bit too much), daikon, carrots, and beautiful sauce, though they skimped on it a little this time.

I know, I know: tea with meals is naughty because it reduces absorption of minerals, but I couldn't resist trying the yerba maté. In the background, you can behold half of Matt's sandwich, which is veggie pâté with sprouts, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and veggie mayo (I believe--I've never had it).

Matt's dessert, which I admit is absolutely delicious, but I prefer the chipotle brownie to it, so that's why I leave this gooey, creamy chocolate decadence to him. This is banana-chocolate pie, by the way.

The vegan attacks!!!!!!!!!!!

A vegan in her natural habitat before pouncing...

~~~

So that was it for our anniversary dinner. We spent the rest of the evening watching True Blood episodes because I just recently got into it after a fabulous friend of ours, one Marc, gave us the Sookie Stackhouse series, upon which True Blood is based, by Charlaine Harris for Christmas. I have only 100 pages left in book four!

Other than our anniversary dinner, I've been living the life of a, how should I say it politely--let's say I've been working only on weekends, and cooking, working out, hanging out with friends, and reading at home in my pyjamas during the week. Yes, this is what has become of my life as a non-student. I've been applying for writing, proofreading, and translation jobs left and right but I have yet to hear a response. But I'll spare you all the whining and just show you the rest of my culinary adventures. I will be posting again soon because I have ten recipes or so to test for the lovely and talented Happy Herbivore, so please stay tuned, and thanks for sticking around.

~~~

Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe for pizza dough (for which I upped the whole-wheat content just a tad) from Nonna's Italian Kitchen, with my own toppings: arugula, broccoli, orange bell peppers, a bit of tomato sauce, olive oil, and my best friend, Daiya.

I can't tell whether he's posing for the photo or guarding the pizza....

This is a dish that will be in Happy Herbivore's upcoming cookbook. It's for something based on a meal called chicken and dumplings that I'd never heard of before. Frankly, I don't care what the original tastes like, because this is one of the greatest and creative meals I've ever had. Thank you, Lindsay!

Here's a nice close-up, but I apologize for the ominous shadows that lurk in the bottom left corners of some of my photos. I clearly am not a photographer (but will accept any advice I can get).

A pakora from Pushap and Happy Herbivore's Moong Dal, for her upcoming cookbook. When you make this, don't be surprised when family members, friends, and neighbours appear in your kitchen: this meal offers an enticing aroma.

The salad that accompanied the moong dal and the pakora, drizzled with vegan butter from Aux Vivres (every time we go, we stock up and put it on, well, pretty much everything)

Another genius recipe by Happy Herbivore for the cookbook: Egg-Nog French Toast. This is serious stuff.

Kale replaces spinach effortlessly in spanakopita. This recipe by Robin Roberston is really easy to make, and it's delicious. I added some Cheezly that was in my fridge to the tofu mix, and it offered just a touch of melty goodness. This is great for making on a Sunday afternoon so that it stands in as a quick meal for the rest of the week.

This recipe from Vegetarian Times arrived in my inbox serendipitously the day I was wondering what to do with the Brussel sprouts in my fridge, which were slowly floating towards the light. Like the spanakopita above, this is another easy dish to prepare at the beginning of the week for later meals.

And might I say that they go very well together?

Vegan Dad seems to like Brussel sprouts, too, so I used the rest of the my excess Brussel sprouts in his fabulous, hearty, comforting, and warm Roasted Vegetable Ragout. I served it atop whole-wheat penne.

My first-ever batch of snickerdoodles :) (How can you not smile when you say that word?) This recipe is by Lauren Ulm, the lovely lady behind Vegan YumYum. I was delighted by the taste of these cookies and I absolutely will make them again.

Vegetable Ragout served atop whole-wheat penne. But watch out! A Wonky Tonk lurks!

Ok, stop what you're doing. No, no, I'm serious. Take your hand off the mouse--wait, no. Click here. Then, go to your kitchen and get out all of the ingredients. Preheat your oven, and please, just make yourself this batch of brownies. Fran Costigan is the mage behind this recipe, and I think I have to say that this is the best brownie recipe I have ever tried. It's exactly as I would have my brownie: moist and fudgy. I'm not a fan of brownies that taste more like cake than what I just described. Feel free to send more recipes my way to challenge this one--who am I to refuse brownies?! Plus, you don't even have to feel guilty when you eat this. Just take a gander at the ingredient list and you'll see exactly why. Heck, just behold the photo below and guilt might not even cross your mind.

See? Pure decadence. Also, these refrigerate wonderfully, as she indicates in the recipe. I always confuse prunes with dates, so I made date purée for this even though it called for prunes, and I wouldn't have it any other way. One last thing: the ganache can absolutely be omitted since these are very rich... but I wouldn't recommend it ;)

And because I can't leave well enough alone, I insisted that my sister take a photo of me smothering chocolate on my lips. For the record, I totally had one brownie a day for four days straight. No joke.

And in an attempt to finish somewhat elegantly, here is the sunrise at my bedroom window one morning. Perhaps it is symbolic to end this post that relates a bit about my confusion and fright at starting the year and my life as a university graduate with a clean slate. Let us see what the new year brings. For now, I will enjoy the present.

Lots of love, and thanks for reading,

Vegan in Suburbia

The Holiday Aftermath: A (Mostly-Photographic) Story of Survival through Good Times

2010-01-10T12:35:00.003-05:00

Greetings, and Happy Sunday to all.

I'm literally and figuratively chilling at work (this is what I do at work when I am not reading, studying, checking out food blogs, or wasting time on Facebook or Twitter... or working! How could I forget about work?), freezing off my behind--make that my hands, because my behind is pretty comfy and warm on this office chair. But it's freaking cold! It seems the landlord of the building turns off or lowers the heat on the weekend in order to save ~~cash~~ electricity (and rightly so!), but what this person might forget is that there are still some people who use the office building on the weekend, and they freeze. Currently I am wearing... a thin, long-sleeved t-shirt on which the words I (heart) Vegans are inscribed, a thick, long-sleeved sweater, a red American Apparel sweater, pants (I hope) and two pairs of socks. Brrrrrr...

But complaining is probably not the best way to welcome you to delve into my blog.

So how about a grand ol' HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! to you all? (Is that big and bold enough?) I hope you all had a safe, joyous, healthy, and painless holiday season. It's been "back to reality" for over a week now, and it looks like we made it, no? We go back to work or school and we look around to see countless others who probably don't want to be exactly where they are, but we take comfort in knowing that we are not alone. Blessed are we, that we support each other in such a way! But "back to reality" has been a strange, somewhat disconcerting, and confusing exercise for me, as I didn't have any job to go back to (I'm a part-time, mostly weekend worker), no classes to attend, and no assignments to submit. Hmm. I've been done school for three weeks now, and I must say it feels pretty good, but it's also... daunting. What happens next? It's a confusing time for me, but while I sort through options, start networking for job opportunities, read books I've been meaning to read, I'll spare you all the details until I come to a definitive conclusion. Instead, in the aftermath of the holidays, in the beginning of this new year which I deem to be a fantastic one (I can taste it!), here are some photos of the baking and cooking I have done over the past little while. I warn that I have not baked a single dessert since New Year's because, after all the holiday decadence, I have nary a desire to eat sweets (it's true!). But my sweet tooth will return.

Enjoy :)

Vegan YumYum's Hurry Up Alfredo Sauce on rice fettucine: it came out a little yellower than what the photo attests, but it is absolutely delicious. (Scroll to the end of the blog to see just how delicious it was: I made it again last night!) I served this to my dinner guests on New Year's Eve. Since it was too yellow, though, I added some vegan creme that I had on hand. When I replicated the recipe last night, I put creme again and reduced the amount of butter to one tablespoon. Dee-LISH!

This is what happens when you are naughty little vegan and don't remove your utensils from your plate prior to being served (the naughty vegan in question is my fiancé).

My fabulous dinner guests (my plate is in the foregound)

Me and my best bud

Vegan Dad's Cheesy Polenta Cups with Shredded Zucchini, topped with Italian-style Daiya cheese and a sprig of parsley, for a touch of class. These were the appetizers to our meal.

Bijou the Dog, sleeping like a person on her couch

Breaded Chicky Seitan, part of a recipe tested for Happy Herbivore's upcoming cookbook

Happy Herbivore's Marinara Sauce (with zucchini added by me) atop chicky seitan form vegan chicken parmesan. Mmm...

My meal of chicky vegan parmesan, whole-grain baguette, and Momma's rapini (with hot peppers, added by me because I like things spicy!)

Creamy Creole Eggplant Casserole, ridiculously (and deliciously) modified by me, for lack of ingredients: I replaced the chickpeas with leftover potatoes, tofu with vegan mayo, and green pepper with red pepper. And I made half the recipe because I had only one eggplant on hand.

Okay, okay! I know it's not food, but... These are my new shoes! Aren't they hideously beautiful?! I have to wait until Winter is over to wear them but, holy moly, they are plaid!

Last night's glorious dinner: Vegan YumYum's alfredo on rotini served atop steamed broccoli, and Momma made the breaded artichoke, her classic recipe. She used the Italian-style bread crumbs I prepared for Happy Herbivore's chicky parmesan recipe.

Artichoke heaven. Really.

And finally (I almost forgot!)...

VEGAN POUTINE!!!!!!!!! All credit goes to Brigit Gaia from Vivagranola.com for this recipe, and to Cheezly (buy it now! It's reduced in price by almost three dollars!) for existing and making vegan cheese curds possible. And I do venture to give some credit to evil St. Hubert restaurants: they make a naturally vegan powdered gravy ("brown sauce" or "sauce brune," in French) sold in Quebec grocery stores. But Brigit made me and Matt some of the happiest vegans around. Who knew that vegan poutine was not an oxymoron: it exists.

No words... just... no words.

Okay, so it's definitely not the most appetizing thing to behold, especially when you think of the artery-clogging animal-fat-laden original, but this is darn good.

An ecstatic vegan. If you look closely, you will see that there is cauliflower in my plate. I put it there so I would feel less guilty about eating poutine (which I have not eaten since I went vegan more than six years ago). I will have you note that I did not in fact touch the cauliflower; in fact, I dumped it back into the container from which I took it. Poutine WINS!

Oh, and I made cinnamon rolls :) The recipe can be found in Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I made these babies whole-wheat, because that's just how I roll (pun not intended but celebrated).

That's it for now :) I will blog soon because I have a whole stack of Happy Herbivore recipes to test out, and I assume that I'll be wanting to bake sometime in the next week or so.

Have a great week, and all the best to you all in 2010.

Love,
Vegan in Suburbia

A merry vegan Christmas

2009-12-28T15:38:00.001-05:00

Greetings, and merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone!

I hope the holiday season is treating you all well and that you are untouched and/or unharmed by the hustle and bustle that sometimes plagues certain people's lives during the holidays.

Now, this may be anti-climactic of me but I'm going to let this picture show you just what I've been up to these days (and I am grateful that my mother has now become accustomed to my hours spent ~~messing up~~ cooking in her kitchen).

So for the past few weeks since I finished school and handed in my very last assignment, I've been cooking and baking, and I thank goodness that I have workout equipment at home because, otherwise, my clothing--or should I say my hips?--might not have fared well. It has been my most recent mission to use up as much of my active dry yeast as possible before it expires in January, so I made cinnamon buns and English muffins (both à la Isa Chandra) two days ago and may attempt vegan croissants, but the amount of butter they require freaks me out. Of course I forgot to upload photos, but I will sneak them in after my next cooking extravaganza, that is, New Year's Eve.

Without futher ado, here are the photos.

Below we have apple butterscotch cookies that were absolutely to die for. No, really. The recipe is here, thanks to Seitan Is My Motor. I modified the recipe slightly, and I do mean slightly: I didn't peel the apples, because sometimes I'm lazy, and I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose.

Look how cute they are when they're all prettied up! I put a bunch of them in red plates and gave them to my bosses for Christmas. I'm not a suck-up; I just like to spread the (vegan) love! There was lots of leftover butterscotch icing, so I left it in the fridge, consciously forgot about its existence, and loved how thick it became. It's great for spreading, which I did just once on muffins that I made that were not sweet enough because I reduced the sugar way too much.

Below we have egg nog cheesecake, by the lovely lady behind Fat-Free Vegan Kitchen. I'm not a huge fan of egg nog, but Matt is, so I knew I had to make this for him for after Christmas dinner. (The things we do for love!) I didn't have any graham crackers on hand so I made the fat-free oatmeal cookie crust which was actually quite good. When I told Matt it was a fat-free crust, he said, "I could tell," but he devoured his slice, as did my uncles who were in awe. I mean, egg nog cheesecake? That's friggin genius! Thank you, SusanV!

Now, this below might not be the most fetching of desserts (mostly due to my old brownie pan), but may I tell you just how decadent and scrumptious it is? This is sucre à la crème, a traditional Québecois type of fudge that is creamy, beyond sweet, and completely nutrient-deficient. That's how desserts are (secretly) meant to be, right? I hadn't had this since before I went vegan over six years ago, so when I came upon the recipe on the blog Live It Up Vegan by the fabulous lady behind Viva Granola Vegan Store, I nearly fell over with joy. I didn't cook it long enough, but as per Lady Gaia's suggestion, I cut these into squares and stuck them in the freezer. They are absolutely fabulous straight out of the freezer and melt between your fingers. Mmmm...

As per tradition in my family, fish is served for Christmas Eve dinner. This is very sad for me, of course, but it offers an opportunity to bake and cook like a madwoman (how do madwomen cook?) and let my family taste my kitchen creations. I've made a bit of a reputation for myself amongst my relatives: my aunt routinely requests that I make vegan spanakopita for family gatherings at her place. Yay!

So, for an appetizer to my vegan Christmas dinner, I made the chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon, served drenched in tomato sauce (below, they are naked).

Here are the somewhat famous spanakopita from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. Spanakopita are phyllo pastries stuffed with spinach and feta, traditionally, but these guys are made with silken tofu. I made two batches: one with sun-dried tomatoes (my favourite) and one without (specially for my cousin).

Here they are served covered in home-made vegan tzatziki sauce (mine is made without mint).

Vegan eggplant parmesan never ceases to please, so I made it for Christmas. I flirted with the idea of baking the eggplant slices instead of frying them, you know, to make the dish more healthy. I figured I'd might as well go all out, so I fried them. What a naughty vegan!

I've been thoroughly enjoying my holidays for the first time in many years, and it is such a relief to be happy. I worked retail every year up until three years ago, so I was a veritable Scrooge for Christmas because it always involved being super busy, working on Boxing Day, and dealing with cranky, stressed out people. Then, two years ago, in December, my father passed away, and Christmas has been the most difficult time of year. But I am blessed to have such a wonderful, tight-knit family, and we all support each other. I do venture to say, as well, that cooking and baking around the holidays, and in general, has lifted my spirits, though I do wish I could share these baked goods with my father. I believe it is from him that I inherited such a passion for food and for cooking. Thank you, Papa! I dedicate this post to you!

I guess that's it for now. I look forward to New Year's when I'll be having just a small group of friends over for dinner. I'll be poring over my cookbooks and recipes saved to my e-mail account over the next two days in order to decide upon the perfect menu. Until my next post, have a wonderful week and a safe and pleasant new year's eve.

Lots of love,

Vegan in Suburbia.