the beets go on

heyhey!

2007-01-29T09:35:00.000-05:00

Heyheyhey leeky ladies! sorry for the long absence. work's been crazy and I haven't been cooking anything interesting! I'll get my ass moving on restaurant reviews, though, because there are some jems here in Tokyo.Thought I'd share a pic from a christmas party with students and staff from work. The restaurant staff were kind enough to whip up a vegan meal for me at the last minute.and another

lintil's master shopping list (or, how my mind works)

2007-01-07T01:04:00.000-05:00

so sad. i haven't been here in SO long. :( but, it's a "new year" so i feel the time is ripe...in the past few months, i have been trying to become more and more organized (or perhaps anal and compulsive :D ). i have been trying to keep track of things: what i do with my time, what i spend, exercise, and what i eat and how much i spend on food (it's a lot, because i eat out a lot) in order to

NOW’s ultimate veggie burger challenge

2007-01-01T17:19:00.000-05:00

(So, continuing along with the veggie burger debate...NOW published this back in October, but I guess I missed it. Not surprisingly, their top pick was the Lick's Burger!):It seems like every sports bar, student-friendly pub and health food café in town may offer them, but not all veggie burgers are created equal.To find the best veggie burger in Toronto, we looked for spots that take the time

Cook up rice with black eyed peas

2006-12-07T11:27:00.000-05:00

This post is mainly for Lavender, who has been asking for this recipe for a while now. Sorry for taking this long! This is my mom's cook up rice recipe with a few additions. I may have posted another version here a year ago.Start off by soaking a cup or so of black eyed peas in water for about 8 hours, either overnight or in the morning if you're going to eat this for dinner. Make sure

yet another freezer post...

2006-10-23T15:18:00.000-04:00

Moving into a new place, it's quite a process to accumulate a good, well-balanced set of freezer contents. It's tempting to start throwing all kinds of things into the freezer. But really, there's only so much space. Since Lintil and I moved in about 6 weeks ago, I've been carefully establishing the ideal freezer contents (Lintil doesn't seem to be into freezing stuff, so we didn't need to

this beet wonders...

2006-10-17T01:50:00.000-04:00

(i'm curious, but also testing out this poll thingy)How often do you cook per week7 times or more per week5-6 times a week3-4 times a week1-2 a weekpractically never Free polls from Pollhost.com

Mutton Curry

2006-09-24T10:11:00.000-04:00

I decided to make a simple textured vegetable protein (TVP) curry for lunch yesterday. It comes dry, and needs to be soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes before it becomes reconstituted. So I soaked a handful, and 15 minutes later, I started the curry. I started off with onions, garlic, pepper, curry powder and garam masala. Start off by frying all of these ingredients in some oil. Then

2006-09-06T16:39:00.000-04:00

the beets discussThe beets crew put together a submission for Third Space's food issue back in March. We will be posting instalments of this submission over the next few weeks. These are reflections on cooking, vegetarianism, identity, fusion, culture, our mothers, and, of course, politics. This fourth installment is about our mothers.IV. Momssharmalade: I became vegetarian when I was 10. My

Lobster ice cream, anyone?

2006-08-24T17:22:00.000-04:00

It's confirmed. It's now cool to eat 'ethnic' ice cream. CBC said so, so it must be true. It's not weird anymore, it's an 'untapped market'. Statisticians have determined that the drop in Canadian ice cream consumption was directly correlated to increased numbers of people of colour who just weren't diggin' good ol' vanilla. So go on and enjoy that jackfruit ice cream along with your curry &

the beets go out: ikea

2006-08-23T10:44:00.000-04:00

we've never reviewed food court fare on the blog before. deciding to start at the very bottom, lintil and i went to ikea and ate there. well, we mostly went there to shop. and then we got hungry. so we joined the line-up at the cafeteria for cheap food. i had the veggie wrap, and lintil seemed quite taken by the idea of the brocchini and tomato sandwich. these were the only 2 available veggie

strawberry pancakes, with a hint of orange

2006-08-19T19:41:00.000-04:00

ooh la la!me and G. just made strawberry pancakes (with a hint of orange). we mainly went by this recipe, modified based on some of the reviews:ingredients:1 c flour2 tbsp brown sugar2 tsp baking powder1/4 teaspoon salt1/2 tsp cinammon1 egg1 cup milk1 1/2 tbsp oil1tbsp orange extract (because we had it - the original recipe called for vanilla extract. could have added a bit more)1 c (or more)

eating veg in singapore

2006-07-31T17:17:00.000-04:00

figures. the day that the parents leave for singapore, i find this site that lists (almost) all the places that you can eat veggie food in singapore.http://www.makantime.com/index.html (click on vegetarian in the side bar.)sharmalade should make note of the last entry on the vegetarian page. :D you gotta love it.which reminds me, i should ask the parents to get me some chocolate-covered sunflower

the beets go out: sushi queen

2006-07-17T15:48:00.000-04:00

i'm gonna make this short and sweet. lots of entries in the pipe. :Dsushi queen: 204 queen st. w; west of university.rating: not to make comparisons, but sushi queen is way better than sushi on bloor (even though the ice cream isn't free :D ) in terms of atmosphere (nice mood lighting), food (tastes better), food selection (see below), and even the water, i found to be better (just a little hint

2006-07-17T12:51:00.000-04:00

the beets discussThe beets crew put together a submission for Third Space's food issue back in March. We will be posting instalments of this submission over the next few weeks. These are reflections on cooking, vegetarianism, identity, fusion, culture, our mothers, and, of course, politics. This third installment is about Identity and Home.III. Identity and Homebeen: Home is a state of mind & at

this beet wonders:

2006-06-30T10:31:00.000-04:00

What's the best veggie burger you've ever had?

veggie burger, at last!

2006-06-25T07:51:00.000-04:00

After 11 months of being here in Japan, i finally found a place that makes a veggie burger...Mos Burger is a Japanese burger chain that markets itself as a healthier alternative to McD's.Well, this veggie burger is not much of a burger. It doesn't contain a patty and it doesn't come with a bun. The bun is actually a set of rice patties and the filling consists of fried burdock (or "gobo" in

2006-06-20T23:55:00.000-04:00

There are some interesting posts up on the Women of Color Blog on Healthy Cooking While in Poverty and Finding Food When Poor. Check it out.

Indian-style Chinese food

2006-06-13T20:29:00.000-04:00

About two years ago, the beets crew went to see a bollywood movie at Albion cinemas at Finch and Kipling. Karob wanted to eat at this place called Bombay Chopsticks which was just across the parking lot from the theatre. I think this was around the time that we saw a film in Cheuk Kwan's series on Chinese Restaurants and we were talking about the idea of 'the Chinese restaurant' in Toronto. I

giant salad story, as per been and sharmalade

2006-06-07T22:59:00.000-04:00

was that the title we agreed on? i can't remember. man i'm tired. anyhoo.check out this bag of salad: it's the size of a small pillow.mom got it in chinatown. i cracked up when i saw it because it was so huge. that is a LOT of salad. (yes, yes, even for me...)this bag of salad is more than big. it represents a challenge. when mom makes a choice to buy this salad, she is engaging in a process of

2006-05-30T19:05:00.000-04:00

the beets discussThe beets crew put together a submission for Third Space's food issue back in March. We will be posting instalments of this submission over the next few weeks. These are reflections on cooking, vegetarianism, identity, fusion, culture, our mothers, and, of course, politics. This second instalment is about Vegetarianism.II. Vegetarianism lintil: I can say that I became veggie for

2006-05-24T21:16:00.000-04:00

the beets discussThe beets crew put together a submission for Third Space's food issue back in March. We will be posting instalments of this submission over the next few weeks. These are reflections on cooking, vegetarianism, identity, fusion, culture, our mothers, and, of course, politics. This first instalment is about Cooking Support.the idea for a cooking support blog came from agreeing that

Rip-off Avocado and Brie

2006-05-22T18:39:00.000-04:00

Lintil came over a couple of days ago, and in typical lintil style, was really hungry! So i made her my rip-off avocado and brie sandwich (rip-off from the Green Room, which has great avocado and brie sandwiches that come with fries and are super-cheap). It's really simple. I used a multi-grain triangle 'roll', but any kind of roll or bun or even sliced bread would work. The Green Room uses

rabfish's birthday daal

2006-05-14T12:44:00.000-04:00

Rabfish was kind enough to send me the recipe for the yummy daal she made at her birthday party last week. mmm, I'm looking forward to trying it out!Measure out one heaped cup of daal into a bowl, rinse several times with water, let soak in water while making masala. Works for all kinds of lentils--red, brown, split green, etc etc.Use pot big enough for several cups of water.Masala: chop up one

Cookbook Inspiration

2006-04-23T14:40:00.000-04:00

I've been pretty uninspired about cooking for the last several months. Being a student means my eating schedule is way out of whack and most of the time, I've been feeling too distracted and stressed to think about different cooking ingredients, tastes and all that jazz. But I got a bit of that inspiration back today while reading the Toronto Vegetarian Association's Tastes of Toronto cookbook.

udon!

2006-04-17T18:39:00.000-04:00

last night's din-din. i LOVE udon.method:boil a small pot of water. when water is boiling, add the udon. boil for a few minutes, then remove and set aside in a bowl.boil a big pot of water.soak about 4 dong gu mushrooms for a few minutes in a bowl of water.peel and cut up a carrot.remove the stems from the mushrooms and cut them up. mom said they're like beef, in terms of texture.feed the

karob update!

2006-04-09T21:12:00.000-04:00

i would like to direct you to this post:http://theleekycauldron.blogspot.com/2006/01/lintil-in-jpn.htmlkarob had it in draft mode since early jan... she said that the pictures were too big, but they seem fine to me... she asked me to resize the pix (they didn't need resizing!) and post it. there you go! (and i don't know why the garlic press pic is so tiny. it's cute though!)i would also like to

soup of the day

2006-04-05T21:03:00.000-04:00

more mom food. :)i didn't watch mom make this. :(ingredients:regular mushroomscarrotssmall onions, fry beforehandchoy sumwatercress (my favourite!)fried tofu, in cubes.mai fun (rice vermicelli)flavouring: soy sauce, salt and mushroom essence (msg-type product... hm...)instructions for cooking the mai fun are on the back of the package but it's like another instant noodles -- put a bunch in a pot/

tofu, veg, and noodles

2006-04-02T22:07:00.000-04:00

what mom made for dinner!ok, it's just (just!) leftovers, but at least i acquainted myself with the making of the noodles. they're egg white noodles. just boil some water, dump them in when boiling (just a small bunch, like, half the size of your fist -- sounds small, but having to end up eating a LOT of noodles is not fun -- i know, can you believe it?!), and stir for about minute. any longer

Herbs! Sunflowers!

2006-03-31T20:56:00.000-05:00

As I was walking around today, I noticed that little tulip buds are coming up. So I started thinking seriously about what I’m going to plant this year. I didn’t have a garden last year, because I was living in an apartment building. But this year, there’s going to be some serious gardening!Because I was away last year, things got a bit out of control in my herb patch. The golden oregano and lemon

low-budget soup!

2006-03-29T20:45:00.001-05:00

So you know how there's this running theme around moms/mom's cooking on this blog?Well my friends, this post is about grandpa's cooking, cuz I grew up with multiple cooks in the house...mainly my mother and grandmother, but also my grandfather, who in his macho (if endearing) fashion would cook up some signature dishes every so often.Anyhow, a couple of days ago, while searching for a quick but

there's food, then there's writing/blogging about food

2006-03-20T23:43:00.000-05:00

it's funny that even though i cook like, never, i can still think of food-y things to write about. here's what i was thinking of writing about:list of mom-food dishes that i want to learn (off the top of my head, soot yee, watercress soup, bean soup, jook (i kinda know how but one day i should DO it), any number of stir-fries, noodle and noodle soup dishes) plus larger discussion of learning to

2006-02-24T13:21:00.000-05:00

oh! oh! we should submit! we should submit!!*** Please Forward Widely ***thirdspace - an anti-racist feminist magazine - is looking forsubmissions for our next issue (volume 24 number 3). Thetheme is "Food" -interpret how you wish - and submissionsare due by FRIDAY, MARCH 31st, 2006.Possible topics (just to float some ideas out there):- What nourishes you? (Body? Mind? Soul?)- How do you see the

mother's dumplings

2006-02-21T01:28:00.001-05:00

i was at mother's dumplings today... 79 huron. recently opened. lauded by NOW.i got the steamed veggie dumplings (also available boiled -- only two kinds of meat dumplings are available pan-fried) and a green onion pancake. as i waited, i thought about this "mother" thing. :D i was reminded about the character "mother" in the movie sneakers (robert redford) and the part where he drives the van

How People Find the beets go on

2006-02-17T13:51:00.000-05:00

Below is a listing of recent keyword searches net surfers have used to find our blog (via msn, yahoo and google searches), courtesy statcounter. Some of them are actually quite amusing, like "simpsons power sauce" and "whet awards did henry box brown win". I also like how incorrect spellings of "lentil" and "carob" get us the odd hit here and there :): toyohashi halal food indian lintil dish

bean and millet salad

2006-01-18T19:46:00.000-05:00

simple. fast. healthy. adapted very slightly from here.what ya need:1 c millet3 c waterall of the following, chopped: tomato, red bell pepper, onion. cucumber if you want.1-2 cloves garlic, minced or crushedbalsamic vinegarlemon/lime juicecuminchili pepper/cayennesalt & pepper1-2 cans kidney beans or black beanshow ya do it:-cook the millet - i did it somewhat haphazardly - let it come to a boil,

Lintil in Jpn

2006-01-14T23:45:00.000-05:00

hi beets! here are some pics to accompany Lintil's comprehensive post!dinner for Lintil: whole sweet potato; kabocha squash; salad; brown rice; tofu and seaweed.and for dessert... dried persimmon and sweet rice covered in sweet red bean paste (i unfortunately didn't make these from scratch!).I have to thank Sheela for this wonderful heavy duty garlic crusher! it has made veggie prep less daunting

japan 2005! [or: this beet eats waaay far out in japan!]

2006-01-01T23:27:00.000-05:00

so i went to visit karob in japan for dec. 21-28 of last year. here's what i ate.dec 21, san franciscohad to transfer planes here. shitty weather delayed the plane; made me miss my flight to nagoya. after some panicking, i calmed down, called been and asked her to ask wordstress where her favourite burrito place was, as mentioned here. (oh, roaming charges on my cellphone! mercy!) hey man, if

red&white kidney bean dip+ sheela's underground soup

2005-12-21T23:46:00.000-05:00

my paper that's due on friday is freaking me out. so i'm going to blog and procrastinate it away!this is the red & white kidney bean dip recipe that some folks had requested. it was made on the occasion of the baking of lintil's unbirthday cake. and i'm also posting the recipe for sheela's underground soup, which she made on the same day. enjoy. ps: i like naughty curry. pps: we're on food porn

who says you can't eat indian in north bay? and tandoori on spadina...

2005-12-07T00:08:00.000-05:00

So somehow, it took me, S & E 9 (!) whole hours to get back from a conference in Ottawa a few weeks back. We were on the 417, and thought we were going the right way until we started passing places like Petawawa and Deep River. If it weren't for the kindly man in Ye Old Truck Stop who told us we were "in the middle of nowhere" and gave us directions, who knows where we would have ended up (It was

this beet goes out: Tacos El Asador

2005-12-02T11:54:00.000-05:00

this is a little mini-review of Tacos El Asador -- went there on a food run for other people, and got myself a veggie burrito and it was SO GOOD. like heaven. i'm not kidding, people. as you can imagine, i finished it pretty quickly. :D i loved the atmosphere -- a small little place in koreatown on bloor one block east of christie. the place only takes cash, so i couldn't pay with my debit as i

Lintil's Unbirthday

2005-11-27T12:36:00.000-05:00

when lintil decided to have her un-birthday party, been and i took responsibility for the cake. this was several weeks ago. lintil seemed excessively worried about having to bring a cake to her own party. emphasis on bring. she didn't seem to mind having to get a cake, but was worried about biking around with it. so we told her not to worry, we'll take care of it. in the meanwhile, been, s. and i

What the other food bloggers are doing...

2005-11-18T12:45:00.000-05:00

I found these via the new blogger search tool & thought I'd share a few while I'm procrastinating on schoolwork (links via images...):Like the concept, but content ain't that great (or, in some cases, it downright sucks):Food Blog S'cool"Join this forum and together we can learn more about the technicalites of blogging and make our collective blogs even more delectable than they are already. This

thankyouthankyou guys!!!

2005-11-12T11:49:00.000-05:00

i've been sick since last week but i felt tens times better when a package full of goodies arrived at the post office for me this week! thanks so much leeks! i devoured the vegan cuplettes, read Zadie Smith's book, looked through the zine, and listened to that great cd over and over again!! i listen to music when i cook. i especially love the track by kiwi (but i really love all the tracks. i've

do you eat food at home?

2005-11-02T19:07:00.000-05:00

everyone now and again, someone (without, hm... a great political analysis, i dunno) will ask me, "do you eat real chinese food at home?" or "does your mom cook chinese food?" the idea being that, if i'm chinese, ergo, i must eat chinese food at home. the kind of food that other people can only get in restaurants and order outside their home. or, maybe they think of food that they get from smelly

fry pan bread

2005-10-25T09:09:00.000-04:00

i sometimes miss baking. i used to bake vegan treats almost everyday in t.o..but last week it occurred to me that i can 'bake' things on my element! i baked fry pan bread (or a variation of bannock or fry bread) and brought some to a free meal thing at a local park. had some great conversations with folks who sleep in the local train station ( it's very rough for them right now: it's getting

my kitchen

2005-10-25T08:58:00.000-04:00

hey leeks! here is a long overdue pic of my ridculously small kitchen. i don't think it deserves to be called a kitchen if you ask me. surprisingly, i've been able to cook decent meals. i make brown rice mixed with either red beans, barley, or mushrooms in my rice cooker and i cook up some veggies on the element.Please send me fast and easy recipes!!! I don't have counter space so if you have

the beets go out birthday edition part 1: Café La Gaffe

2005-10-07T12:20:00.000-04:00

_________________________________________Café La Gaffe24 Baldwin St (between Beverley and McCaul Sts, N of Dundas St W)Tel: 416.596.2397Hours: Mon-Fri 11:45am-11pm; Sat & Sun 11am-11pm __________________________________________ I like surprises for my birthday, so I gave free reign to G in planning my birthday dinner. She ended up bringing me to Café La Gaffe, an oh-so-cute and charming little

the beets go out birthday edition part 2: momo's

2005-10-02T01:29:00.000-04:00

sharmalade: We, consciously or unconsciously, decided not to eat at a restaurant on Bloor Street on Wednesday. Instead we moved one street south to Harbord. Momo's was decent enough. It was a stylish falafel joint. Instead of the standard take-out, it was a sit down restaurant with a really nice patio, but with a falafel-shawarma-type menu.I had the grilled veggie sandwich ($4.75), which was good

Banana Milkshake

2005-09-25T10:56:00.000-04:00

I didn’t have a blender for a while. So now that I have access to one, I’m really enjoying all the blended treats that I missed out on. This milkshake took months of refining, of experimenting, of drinking really bad (and really good) banana concoctions. Variations involved everything from maple syrup to silken tofu. But I think this is it. This is the best (and easiest) version that I came

the beets go out: the noodle bowl

2005-09-21T22:38:00.000-04:00

lintil's review: we had to celebrate sharmalade's job-getting, and while we were at it, help been with course selection. :) we were thinking about a raw food place. prob. too expensive. i looked at NOW's eat cheap guide. not a lot of veggie, not always right downtown. suggested vena's (w. of bathurst), and new york subway (e. of bathurst) on queen. sharm looked at NOW's veg food guide. all veggie

the care and feeding of lintil

2005-09-19T23:37:00.000-04:00

(tues. sep. 13)i'm a forager.there were grapes from yesterday in the office. i think i was the only one eating them. well, someone's gotta finish them! i'm not one to let food go to waste! they were pretty big, too. probably GMO.brought some boiled peanuts with me from home. (mmmm, boiled peanuts... -- say like homer simpson.) you get them from chinatown, bring 'em home and boil them til soft. SO

fruit chaat

2005-09-16T12:45:00.000-04:00

mon, sept 12thI think you peeps might appreciate this salad while the weather's still warm. It's what I made today for my l-lady, and it's a variation of something my mother makes occasionally, usually when there is a guest in the house:Mix together one can chickpeas with some fruit of your choice. I usedapple pear mandarin orange grapesToss with some salt pepper cumin powder/seeds and lime juice

rabfish's thanks-for-helping-me-move pakora-like cheese biscuits

2005-09-13T23:32:00.000-04:00

this deserves its own space, not the comments section in the housekeeping post! and, rabfish should have the honour of having the post following the housekeeping one. :) damn, these pakora-like cheese biscuits sound exciting! :) -lintil.1 and 3/4 cups flour (whole wheat or white)4 tsp baking powder1 tbs sugar (brown or granulated)1 tbsp dried parsley (and/or dried oregano, dried cilantro,

2 housekeeping and more to-blog

2005-09-09T10:20:00.000-04:00

sep. 3, 20051. spam, begonein order to prevent spammers from commenting, we have opted into blogger's "word verification." after you type your comment, you type in the distorted, gibberish word that you see below the comment box to prove that you are a human -- a spam-bot would not be able to do this. who knows, this may even yield some fun words. we hope you don't mind doing this extra little

easy as pie...

2005-09-08T17:24:00.000-04:00

This was quite easily the easiest pie I've ever made! Recipe found through Post Punk Kitchen (but I think it's a standard vegan dessert...):you need:1 pkg soft (silken) tofu1 pkg chocolate chips1 tsp vanilla1 ready made graham cracker crust OR 1 1/4 c graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 c sugar, 1/3 c butter/margarine, meltedIf you don't have the ready made crust, work on that first. Preheat the oven to

leeky experiment: sharmalade's potato onion bread

2005-09-08T16:03:00.000-04:00

all right you peeps, so me and karen tried out sharmalade’s vegan potato and onion bread. here’s my writeup, as promised. :)prep. karen had everything. she got the yeast. she took care of the mashed potatoes. isn’t she great? :) i ate her popcorn from last night. we needed the bowl, and i didn’t have brekky.1. one packet of fleischmann’s active dry yeast, 1/4 cup water, and 1 tsp sugar so the

the beets go out: sushi on bloor, part III

2005-09-06T23:25:00.000-04:00

ok, short and sweet review of the food that i had at sushi on bloor to round out this beets go out!golden vegetarian bento box, $7.2 veggie nuggets2 wrapped tofu thingsstandard saladveggiesricefree ice cream.Rating: + 3 beets + 1 beet for free ice-cream (out of 5)surprisingly filling. as you all know, took me a LONG time to eat. i hate wasting food, so i ate it up, except the rice. (*hangs head

the beets go out: sushi on bloor, part II

2005-09-06T13:27:00.000-04:00

Time: 6pmish on fri eveningPlace: sushi on bloor, upstairsThe Scene: busy The Order: Golden Veggie Roll Set Cost: About $14, tax + tip included Rating: + 3 beets + 1 beet for free ice-cream (out of 5) I love the avocado and sweet potato tempura rolls at Sushi on Bloor. They’ve become my absolutely favourite sushi rolls ever! The balance of creamy avocado and crunchy-but-sweet tempura is just

the beets go out: sushi on bloor, part I

2005-09-04T11:27:00.000-04:00

Time: 6pmish on fri eveningPlace: sushi on bloor, upstairsThe Scene: busy with lots of friday nite dates & lots of PDAsThe order: vegetarian bento box (includes endless refills of green tea, miso soup, 6 veg sushi rolls- cucumber + avocado, and choice of green tea, mango or red bean ice cream)The cost: $9, tax and tip includedRating: 3 beets (out of 5) The assessment: what can I say, this is my

lintil and sharmalade phone conversation/to-blog list

2005-09-02T10:13:00.000-04:00

sharmalade’s back in town. let the fun and blogging begin!!! (not to say they weren’t here in the first place; just saying it’s great to have her back. now we can blog like we never have before. :D )here are the cooking blog-relevant parts of the conversation. WARNING. HEAVILY PARAPHRASED. (sharms, feel free to edit. :D )1. sushi on bloor reviews: let’s go to sushi on bloor tomorrow.l: *gasp*

it's hard being vegan!

2005-08-30T06:01:00.000-04:00

hey guys! i can't wait to catch up on all the postings! here's an update on what i've been cooking on my burner: pasta dishes, stir fries, and fried soy products. I've been eating lots of brown rice. I don't have an oven but i can apparently bake a cake in my rice cooker. i hope to post pictures up soon.

Sepia Mutiny Food Archives

2005-08-28T16:09:00.000-04:00

I'm in the process of drafting a blog entry about 'recommended eats in NYC'...but in the meantime, I thought you might enjoy the Sepia Mutiny Food Archives which I incidentally stumbled upon while looking up some of the restaurants I ate at. I haven't gone through the whole archive as there is so much to read, and so much discussion, but there are some really excellent posts here!

Food for the butterflies

2005-08-25T07:41:00.000-04:00

Breakfast foods to settle the butterflies in your tummyWhen I get really nervous, the first major thing that happens is a slight feeling of nausea. So if I know that I’ll be in an intense situation, I try to eat ‘calming’ foods. That is, foods that will not make my slight nervous nausea worse. On a potentially nerve-wracking day, it’s usually breakfast that needs the most attention. So here’s

Feta

2005-08-19T13:50:00.000-04:00

I’m a flyer junkie. I haven’t admitted this to many people. I used to think of flyers as the ultimate in crazy consumption, just one step behind the Price is Right and other conspicuous and gaudy advertising. Flyers used to be at the lowest echelon of the recycle bin: used in mop-ups and to let muddy shoes dry out on.But somewhere, somehow, my mindset changed. Flyer-day (Monday) was the start of

mom food 2: sugar cane

2005-08-15T19:44:00.000-04:00

[Note: this is basically a continuation from "mom food 1" from about a month back. -Ed.]mom also made a huge pot of a special sugar cane drink which is sitting on the kitchen table. it looks really pretty. :) so i asked her how she made that. ingredients:sugar cane (2 packages, use the root too)3 carrots, cut in big chunksa handful of chinese almonds: 1/3 north, 2/3 southcorn (optional)3 dried

Vegan Potato Bread with Onion

2005-08-13T15:54:00.000-04:00

I bake to procrastinate. So having 115 pages of incoherence due on Monday has led me to this point. And I made bread. Bread, of course, is the height of procrastination. Cookies show a certain lack of enthusiasm for the task. Muffins imply a mild distaste for doing work. Cake, a good healthy reluctance to get started. But bread is in a different category. Bread needs to be worked on, massaged,

my only (i promise!) post on beer and drunkenness

2005-08-10T12:58:00.000-04:00

I haven’t posted in a while, I know. So when lintil recently asked what I’d been up to, it made me think that I should do a post about beer. But I can’t talk about the beer without talking about the place. So here’s my take on food and beer in Halifax.Halifax apparently has the highest number of bars per capita of any city in Canada. This fact gets thrown around sometimes, mostly when people get

hey, this was okay! (black bean soup)

2005-08-08T11:41:00.000-04:00

My increasing frustration at my landlady decreases my desire to cook nice things when I have to share food with her. So I was ready to make a simple chili-like concoction with the ingredients I had on hand: black beans, canned tomato, carrots, green pepper...but suprisingly, it came out well! Better than chili I've made before. Maybe you can read the ingredients list and tell me why it tasted so

[emailed] french onion soup

2005-08-04T13:54:00.000-04:00

my bud karen emailed me today. here, reproduced in its totality:hey lintil,want to post this to your blog?despite it being 50 degrees in my apartment yesterday, I got it into my head that I was going to make french onion soup. a friend of mine has been craving but it's hard to find a veggie version in restaurants, 'cause it's usually made with beef broth. So, I've been wanting to try it with a

fried tofu-wich

2005-08-03T17:31:00.000-04:00

One of my favourite recipes! I picked it up from a friend about a year ago. There is also a variation using egg for anyone who is averse to tofu. If you have high quality ingredients on hand, the sandwich will taste that much better.what ya need:sandwich base: extra firm tofu, sliced into big rectangular pieces (an herb flavoured one works well) - don't slice too thin, bread, onions, sesame seed

assorted goodies

2005-07-26T18:28:00.000-04:00

This broccoli cheese pie is oh-so-unvegan but oh-so-good. The potato crust is deelicious. I'm not posting up the recipe because the website is actually pretty good in terms of directions, flavouring etc. The only downside: it's not a quick recipe by any means...but also not as hard as it might seem (potatoes and onions grate very easily -though you'd better be careful if you're sensitive to

craving-o-rama

2005-07-23T11:11:00.000-04:00

omg. i just got hit with a craving for fried rice. mom-style. she makes the best fried rice in the world. i like it when she makes it in her wok and adds the veggie meat and it's just for me! :) food always tastes better when someone else makes it for you, no? i wonder what it's like to be a mom and cook for your kids -- just wondering about the worries that go through your head -- will they like

mom food 1: vietnamese noodles

2005-07-20T18:46:00.000-04:00

i’m eating dinner that mom made me. (july 19) aw. :) i said it looked like pad thai (flat noodles! bean sprouts! peanuts!) but she said “no, this is how the vietnamese eat.” um, ok. anyhoo, so that i may someday copy what it is that mom does for food, this is what i’m eating:-vietnamese rice stick: dried, flat noodles-a bunch of bean sprouts-peanut bits-garnished with fresh basil cut in strips (

Speaking of quickies...

2005-07-16T17:21:00.000-04:00

All this talk of quickie meals made me think of pita pizzas. When I ‘came up’ with the idea, I thought it was super-brilliant. It used ingredients that I had in the fridge, and was really quick, and possibly nutritious. It was only after a few weeks of congratulating myself on being fantastically smart that I that I realized that it wasn’t all that innovative. Lots of people make pita pizzas.

pasta quickie

2005-07-13T20:10:00.000-04:00

i was desperately hungry and exhausted after a 14 hour day yesterday, but not in the mood to actually leave the house again to scrounge for food. so i settled on pasta, counting on that extra jar of pasta sauce that was in the cupboard. but there was no such jar, and the water was already boiling. i ended up using the veggies i had on hand and came up with this simple but pretty decent dish:you

bhindi + masoor ki dal

2005-07-06T20:08:00.000-04:00

Stir-fried bhindi (okra or ladyfingers) was always a family favourite at our house. The mildly sweet-ish flavour and somewhat slimy (but in a good way) texture of the vegetable, combined with some choice flavouring, made for a tasty dish.A few days ago, I made it for the first time. It's actually pretty easy - but took a while to cook through. I'd consider bhindi more of a side dish because it's

Guacamole

2005-07-03T15:34:00.000-04:00

I grew up eating avocado with bread. With just a little salt (yes, another fruit that absolutely requires salt). So guacamole was no big leap for me. These past few months, I seem to be having it for breakfast a couple of times each week.The first time I made guacamole, it was from a BAD recipe. I know, how can something so simple end up being such a bad recipe? Well, it required a food

Freezing food

2005-06-28T12:51:00.000-04:00

Keeping food in the freezer is essential. This, I’ve discovered over the years. I started off unconvinced. I remembered traumatic freezer experiences: my aunt reaching in to the back of her freezer and pulling out a piece of frozen ginger from, like, 1985; unrecognizable, freezer-burned stuff in plastic bags that I’d look at and shove further back into the freezer. After this, I was just a

I like this website...

2005-06-27T20:48:00.000-04:00

...because it has a really comprehensive listing of recipes for Pakistani dishes. And it's really well organized, and it has translations for things, and the recipes are laid out really simply and there's a link to a cooking thesaurus (ingredient subsitutes):The Desi Cookbookhttp://www.desicookbook.comThe site includes several veggie dishes too, so check it out.(NB: I added it to our 'Links'

miss ruckus' eggplant soup

2005-06-24T15:32:00.000-04:00

my pal miss ruckus over at livejournal is a supreme chef extraordinaire. here's one of her most recent creations:http://www.livejournal.com/community/vegan_cookoff/15239.html?thread=236935#t236935it came in a very close second in the vegan cookoff contest!

Crepes Gone Wild

2005-06-23T21:15:00.000-04:00

Today (June 21) Sharmalade and I decided that we would cook together as it has been ages since I posted to the blog and since I cooked for that matter. So I biked up to her place (what a great ride!!!) and after she gave me a tour of her house, her backyard, her sad empty pool and poolhouse (which turned out to be the garage sans poolboy), rock garden and Carebear collection, she said that she

Plantain chips

2005-06-22T23:17:00.000-04:00

So I'm always the one who shows up at people's houses with plantain chips. It's not because I particularly fond of them: it’s mostly because there’s always a container of plantain chips at my house, and it’s really easy to grab that container and bring it with me. And everyone always seems to appreciate 'home made' chips.It’s simple enough to make, but lots of people seem to have some trouble

Good ol' meat

2005-06-14T18:33:00.000-04:00

My mother brought over several little tupperware containers offrozen food a couple weeks back. She doesn't usually do this, and ifshe does she tends to bring kebabs or chicken. Anyhow, my belly wasgratefully filled with delicious goodness as I went through eachcontainer. mmm. Everything she brought had meat in it...lamb,chickenor beef. Some of them were also dishes that are not usuallypopular in

A really simple 3-bean salad

2005-06-13T16:22:00.000-04:00

My mom made this really delish three bean salad a few days ago. She just threw a few ingredients together. We were cooking for a lot of people, so this recipe is for a large salad.1 can chick peas1 can romano beans1 can red kidney beans1 yellow pepper chopped1 red pepper choppedhalf of a red onion chopped into tiny bitstwo tablespoons olive oil3 tablespoons balsamic vinegarsome chopped

Tofu & Veggie Bake

2005-06-11T15:53:00.000-04:00

I was lazy with cooking last week due to the heat, so I searched for quick veggie recipes over the web. This is the one that I made - it still required using the oven, but it was fast and very light & summer-y tasting (I don't remember the web address. Sorry!):ingredients:extra firm tofu - 1/2 -1 block, cubedassorted veggies, chopped: I used onion, asparagus, tomato, and yellow & green bell

This one's for Lintil

2005-05-31T17:23:00.000-04:00

some of my grandfather's creative snacks, treats, meals, remedies and cleaning supplies:orange peel, for wiping down the kitchen tableraw ginger, mashed up and mixed with honey, as a sore throat and digestive upset remedyraw beets, microwaved, sliced and salt-and-peppered for a snack'donut' prepared by toasting a slice of buttered bread, sprinkling liberally with sugar, and cutting vertically

coconut curry

2005-05-27T12:27:00.000-04:00

karob requested that i post this a couple weeks back...and i haven't forgotten! so here it is.i think i only vaguely knew of the concept of coconut milk in curries while i was growing up...maybe not at all. it's not used at all in north indian/pakistani cooking (or at the very least, not in my (extended) family). the first time i ever tried a coconut curry was, i think, at a thai restaurant in

Peanut Sauce

2005-05-26T17:20:00.000-04:00

This is what I made over the weekend. It's something that I actually used to make quite a bit about a year or so ago. It tastes great, but the downside to this recipe is that the peanut butter can get quite pricey, which makes me wonder if it would be cheaper just to get a ready-made peanut sauce?The recipe is from How It All Vegan, with a few minor changes. Ingredients:peanut butter (natural/

Macaroni Pie

2005-05-25T11:06:00.000-04:00

Months and months ago, I promised macaroni pie. So finally, here it is!I’ve been eating macaroni pie since I was little. I actually never knew that there was a ‘right’ way to make kraft dinner until a few years ago when I accidentally read the box. And I’ve never bothered to try it. Everyone in my family has, like, ten different ways of making it. Some of them not involving any cheese! A

ginger tea

2005-05-24T12:47:00.000-04:00

It's feeling like winter these days, so I've been making ginger tea again...- use about one inch of ginger, peel and cut into small pieces (add more if you like it hotter)- cup or two of water- sweetner (raw sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc..) to tasteBoil water in a small sauce pan. Add ginger and simmer for 3-5 minutes, covered. Strain into a cup. Add sweetner and enjoy.Ginger is apparently good

taters!!!

2005-05-23T19:42:00.000-04:00

today i was feeling crappy. i knew that all i needed was a good bike ride to cure that and i was right. :) yeehaw! on my way home i picked up a few groceries, including 16 "mini potatoes" from a filipino grocery store on eglinton at bathurst. good thing they also had a section of fresh herbs: sage, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, so i got a bunch of rosemary too, otherwise i would never have thought

very unvegan mac and cheese in 2 acts

2005-05-21T23:13:00.000-04:00

one day, about a week or so ago, i felt like i wanted mac and cheese. krap (kraft) dinner was out of the question. i did consider getting a microwaveable-type thing from loblaws. but those aren’t too great. i don’t have a lot of experience with mac and cheese. but anytime i get it in a restaurant (like at fran’s), it’s SO good. :D i dunno how they do it! i wanted something like that. i also got a

we made cake...

2005-05-18T17:04:00.000-04:00

...and damn, was it ever good.The 'we' was me & lintil. The occasion? karob's birthday. After she finally agreed to let us celebrate the occasion, we decided to surprise her with a vegan cake. Neither of us had actually cooked a vegan cake before. It wasn't as hard as we thought. We found a recipe in The Garden of Vegan by Sarah Kramer & Tanya Barnard for a 2-layer chocolate cake (I don't have

What We All Long For

2005-05-13T19:10:00.000-04:00

Excerpts from Chapter 11 of What We All Long For by Dionne Brand# 1Tuyen made every effort not to learn cooking and developed a dislike for what was called Vietnamese food. "Why can't we eat like normal people?" she used to ask when she was little; when she was sent to school with minty soups and bean curd. "Don't you see normal people coming here to eat, Tuyen? They like our food," her father

choco-nana bread

2005-05-13T18:37:00.000-04:00

I decided that the best way to use the ripe bananas I had lying around this week was to bake a loaf of banana bread. MMM...I hadn't made it in ages, so I searched for a recipe that wasn't too complicated. This is the one I used. It's not vegan but could easily be veganized by taking out the egg (and maybe adding another banana, or some apple sauce?):1 1/2 c flour1 1/2 tsp baking powder1/4 tsp

fried rice formula: T + Hv + Sv + R + Se = FR! :D

2005-05-10T01:16:00.000-04:00

here’s the deal with fried rice that i’ve figured out. all you are doing is frying a bunch of stuff with rice. you can choose any number of things to fry with the rice. but you can’t have too little or too many ingredients. too little = boring; too many = too confusing to your taste buds. so, i think it best to have a tofu, another “hard” veggie, and fast-frying veggies with the idea that you fry

Butternut squash soup

2005-05-02T16:58:00.000-04:00

Yesterday it was pouring rain for the entire day. So it was the perfect time to make a big pot of soup.I discovered half a butternut squash in my freezer when I moved two days ago. It occurred to me that a few months ago, my roommate and I had baked the entire squash, but only used half of it. We brilliantly thought that we could cut the other half into small chunks and freeze it. She was great

delicious and surprisingly easy to make

2005-05-01T23:47:00.000-04:00

here's the lasagne recipe that i've been using lately. I unfortunately don't have any pics of the lasagne noodles because I ate them all up without even thinking of taking a picture of them. sorry.2 cups flour (I use a combo of whole wheat flour and unbleached flour)1/2 tsp salt2/3 cup waterMix the above ingredients together. Knead for 10 minutes. Roll out very thin (about 1/16inch) and cut into

(no) Carbs, anyone?

2005-04-29T17:27:00.000-04:00

I just got a call from my landlady. She prefaced her news by telling me that the cauliflower-potato thing I made last week was "just delicious" ( I thought it was all right, not super great). She went on to tell me that her doctor had just advised her that she has to cut down on her carbs, and could I work with that now?She's already restricted my use of tofu cuz it interferes with her thyroid

noodle doodle

2005-04-25T00:40:00.000-04:00

Because I was home-ridden for three days with a stiff neck, I decided to take advantage of my time at home to make noodles from scratch.I made soba or buckwheat noodles. I won't post the recipe because it was somewhat of a disaster. I used a recipe from a JC (Japanese Cdn) cookbook. For some reason their soba recipe didn't call for buckwheat flour which is *the* key ingredient for soba (the word