More adventures in Deliciousness

Signature dishes round two: Ben approves of Chickpea Quinoa Pilaf. Added are a stir fry of greens in nutritional yeast to make it cheesy, grilled asparagus, and boiled corn.



This Coconut Red Lentil Soup (click for recipe) from 101 Cookbooks was incredible! Flavorful, aromatic, filling, and even photogenic. I absolutely recommend making it.

I paired it with:




Pasta Della California from the sassy favorite Post Punk Kitchen.
While a great idea, I feel that this would work better with couscous, quinoa, or anything otherwise that absorbs flavor better than pasta does. It was still delicious though.

All in all, good feasts.

Signature Dishes, Part 1

This post is very much overdue, but, better late than not ever?

I find myself making some of the same dishes over and over again, mainly because they are:
(A) Tried and True
(B) DELICIOUS
(C) A hit with both my vegan and carnivorous friends.
And so forth.

Kali and Christy, two fabulous individuals who happen to be RVing across the country at this moment, an account of which you can follow here (and should, this blog is complete with pretty pictures!), came over in July to try some of these signatures for Kali's birthday.

Behold, Chickpea Quinoa Pilaf from Veganomicon (which is apparently available in its entirety on Google Books, holler! ...wait a minute, I do not use expressions like "holler!") and the simplest and yummiest Vegan Chocolate Cake! Let me know if you would like the recipe to the latter as well. I tend to change up what I add to it, such as fruit, berries, and so forth.
Click on the photos to enlarge.


The birthday dinner, assembled and complete. So I have a little too much fun with presentation.


Closeup: In addition, we have veggie dumplings (not homemade, sorry! but something to try and make another time!), a simple salad, and fruit for garnish/decoration.


Hmmm.


I seem to be missing my cake pan, so lately the chocolate cake has come in the form of cupcakes/muffins. Christy helped - notice her flawless distribution of the batter. You're hired!


Birthday Kali approves!

And how can you get a cameo in the culinary adventures section of this blog, you asked? It's simple, cook with me! Or, be cooked for by me.

Musée de l'érotisme de Paris

Välkommen till Stockholm

Willkommen in Berlin

Bienvenue à Paris

Here, have an amazing music mix while I go off for three weeks

I compiled this for your and my listening pleasure, a combination of recent discoveries and old time favorites. There is a lot of dreamwave on here, and it may be a little bit of sensory overload. I can't organize the files for you in mediafire, so the track list is below if you would like to listen to them in the order that I compiled this. I'll also include videos for some. Enjoy! (Comment with thoughts so I know what to keep coming. So far said about this mix: "You listen to feel good music.")

Bye Bye Bean Mix (click)

[Song Title - Artist]
1. 1, 2, 3 - Camille Video
2. To The Lighthouse - Memoryhouse Video (I actually got to see Memoryhouse live the other night, they were lovely!)
3. Black Flowers - Yo La Tengo Video
4. Safe and Sound - Electric President
5. When I Grow Up - Fever Ray Video (The video seems simple, but something about Olivia Chachi Gonzales is hypnotizing here. Plus you can't go wrong with Karin Dreijer's genius.)
6. When The Day Is Done - Legends Video
7. The Day The Aliens Came (Hawaiian Feeling) - The Mountain Goats Video "This is a song about how sometimes you find yourself living in a house where you think, I have to get out of here! But maybe you're too young to get out of there, or you don't have any money, or you don't have any means or anywhere to go; and yet, you cling firmly to the idea that someday you will escape, through some means. Maybe Batman will show up in his car outside or something, and other people might laugh and say, man, John, Batman's not coming to save you! And you say, look man, between me and Batman and you, i'll take Batman!"
8. Animal - Miike Snow Video
9. Pass This On - The Knife Video Rickard Engfors!!! And again, the Dreijers' ridiculous genius at work.
10. Marble House - The Knife (with Jay-Jay Johanson!) Video
11. Our Own Pretty Ways - First Aid Kit Video
12. My Party - Wisdom Tooth (From my good friend Mikey's latest mix! No one makes cover art quite like he does.)
13. Happy High - Bye Bye Blackbird / Blackbird Blackbird (The band name seems to be undecided)
14. So Sorry, Girl - Bye Bye Blackbird / Blackbird Blackbird Video
15. Hammock - Millionyoung
16. Swimming Field - Memory Tapes
17. I Just Had To Die - The Knife



à bientôt!
Bis bald!
Se dig snart!