This Month in Food

I've been a lazy vegan all winter because my husband's lactose intolerance got worse, and since I'm unemployed, there's no excuse not to eat the trail of milk products he's leaving behind him. (That is to say, can't afford not to eat it. Not to mention I do not throw out good food... once the animal's been killed or milked, that would be pointless and even more disrespectful.) And that made me lazy when I went to an Indian restaurant, cause I was like, I've been eating yogurt anyway, so I was all: lazylazylazy.

It's sad when one's laziness is stronger than one's compassion. But it's also sad when one's compassion is stronger for others' than it is for oneself. I'm on a journey to get back to my better self, here, one day at a time. Eez been a rough winter.

Though it was kind of good because I tried a little spinach paneer which I've secretly longed for since accidentally buying it years ago, and... didn't like it! I never really regret unveganizing, because it generally just keeps those foods demystified for me. I got pretty tired of those cheese packets two months ago, and last month I learned that goat cheese wasn't the fantasy I'd remembered it being.

But I'm still cooking from my vegan books and updating short reviews on my VeganEats page.

In other food politics news, I did have to give up my fight to resist palm oil. I won't buy it in processed foods (most store goodies), but I'm just not ready to give up margarine yet. Again, it was a good experiment. I kept that last tub of margarine going a long time and found some great recipes, like Dreena Burton's scone recipe with oil. Burton's always my first resource for less processed ingredients baking. But--once again the Emotionally Long Hard Winter--I finally broke down in a flurry of baking powder biscuits and shortbread. I've been eating toast with margarine, like, every second day.

And finally - I have a recipe. My one and only I Invented It recipe. I've always said I can't cook, meaning I can't improve and make something taste good, and always agreed with people that "I can make desserts only because they should NOT be improvised upon." But I recently realized I've been lying. Baking/desserting is the one area where I understand the properties well enough that I'm comfortable experimenting and substituting.

In this case, I was making Ani Phyo's "Lavender Chocolate Bars" but with none of the ingredients on hand. lol. So much so, that I think I can legit call it mine. ;-)

Mabel's Pecan Truffletude

 

Commentary in parentheses to see insight into My Brain When Baking (or not, as it was raw.) I've learned that baking is the only area of cooking where I'm comfortable experimenting.

1/2 cup liquid coconut oil (all I had left - original called for 1 cup)

3 TB honey (I use honey now, because I've become convinced now that if we don't support honeybee combers, there will be no foods, cause the wild ones are dying. But I buy local. But it's just a personal choice. The original recipe is for agave.)

3 TB maple syrup (cause it didn't taste sweet enough, but I was using a regular spoon, not a measuring spoon) 

[at this point her recipe has lavender, and it all gets mixed up]

3/4 cups cocoa powder (I'm not a raw foodist, so this is run of the mill cocoa - she called for cacao)

1/4 cup natural peanut butter (and about a TB or so of the oil, to make up for the lack of coconut oil) (original recipe calls for almond butter)

1 cup pecans (it was the only kind of nut I had in large quantity) (original recipe = almonds, and they get mixed in to keep their shape, not ground up like my lazy recipe)

1 cup dates (I don't like raisins, and all of Phyo's recipes seem to use raisins)

I put it all in the food processor and grinded the hell out of it. Formed into little balls, then pushed flat into cookie shapes, onto a cookie sheet, that was covered with a reused parchment paper. (Original recipe is poured into a pan and broken into pieces like a chocolate bar.) 

 

Put in freezer til hard. But this recipe, even with less oil, is the vegan equivalent of French high patisserie. Because as I squished it into balls it was almost DRIPPING. It was SO DISGUSTING. Maybe it was because of the maple syrup too which is watery. Can you imagine with 1 cup of oil??

End result = rich and chocolatey like truffles. I'd even serve to non-vegans except as they melt they get more oily. Maybe if you left in balls, dusted with chocolate, in little paper cups. I might make again and try less oil. Except coconut oil gets rock hard when cold, so it's a big part of what's holding the cookie together, methinks. 

 

Raw food is weird.

Mabel's VeganEats post renovations

I've been playing a lot of Cafe World this past month. I wanted to earn enough money to expand my cafe to the limit, and then decorate. (It's all about the redecorating.) I just finally was able to afford the last of my glass tables, so I'm pretty much done. Not that I won't come back and decorate some more--I've got $20 virtual cash burning in my virtual pocket--but it's time for a break. (Unless Fernando lets me redecorate his cafe... meh heh heh. I already go in and change his avatar's outfit when he's not looking.)

Here's my cafe:

Here are the three mini themes in Mabel's VeganEats:

And here are two of my favourite things. When you fire a waiter, you get to see Pouting Guy. He's so cute. If firing people was really this cute, it would be a dangerously tempting activity.

And here's my favourite visitor. There's a pretty good racial mix in the people generated by the program, but Happy Guy is my favourite. Cause he's just... so happy.

hangin out in my café

cuddling

Sitting on my legs

Made the cats their first vet appointment. We never took Haley because Sherry acted insane when other cats came back from the vet, so the mix of him being crazy, and her responding crazy, there would have been Violence.


I finally decided to befriend some strangers on facebook, in order to expand my café and do certain things faster. It's one of the few games I've ever, in my life, played consistently, so I might as well make the most of it.

I've now bought some expansions to my place, and I'm waiting to get my money back up so I can buy the last one. Then I will... redecorate!! Weee!

So I also went through my friends list and grouped them into categories, so that it's easier to check people's updates, and not get lost in a sea of cafe-friends.

Oh the neckiness of it all!

I think the Evil Minion is getting better at appreciate a PET instead of a suck. She sat for awhile and luxuriated in the scratchiness of it all.

She loves neck scratches the most. Here she is, her head Flung Back! waiting for me to continue scratching her neck. She sat patiently like this while I set up the computer's camera.

In other news, I decided my chef persona (from Mabel's VeganEats) needed a new outfit.

Avant...

Après...

And now, even though it's only 2:40 AM and I had a full night's sleep yesterday, I am dying of fatiguitude, and shall away to bed. I've been more regularly doing day shifts lately, and it's cramping my style.

Mabel's VeganEats re-opens!

I felt it was time to redecorate my café. I had lots of money saved up, so I could re-do it all from scratch. My original Mabel's VeganEats was started by Fernando. You have to cook and make money to afford better furniture, so here's the evolution.

I don't have a pic of what I inherited, but I turned in wood floors and blue walls for some nice tiles and tasteful paint. I could only afford a few fancy tables and chairs, so I made a VIP lounge.

Here I tried a new setup, but it wasn't working somehow, people weren't getting served or something. There was now a kiddy corner, and still a VIP section.

More traditional setup.

I afforded more matching tables, and a new VIP corner.

This was my latest decor--I took all the various pieces I'd purchased over time, and made many different themed sections. Sort of a banquet hall on one side...

a cozier section on the other side, and a special corner for the single person--with puppy company. Next time I'm going to decorate ALL in bookcases and puppies. (There's no kitties.)

But for now, here's my new up-do.

You like my sleeping puppy?

You can only configure the tables certain ways, with one person per. So there's a lot of strategy! involved. Now I need to cook up some food on my stoves.

Mabel's VeganEats

My cafe expanded so I had to redecorate. (Fernando says if I say "I had to..." it means I'm a gamer now. I can accept that. I'm a decorating gamer. That's the only thing I like doing.)

Here's one side of the cafe. You can only seat one person per table, which is why the setup always looks weird.


Here's the other side. Don't you like my special corner with the underwater wallpaper, book shelf, sleeping puppy and table for one?

whiling away the time

I'm kind of useless these days, so I don't do much more than listen to music, decorate Mabel's VeganEats, watch DVDs, and play around on the nets.

I find it soothing to choose new flooring and wall colors and chairs and decor for my virtual café. Give Sherry cuddles when he comes 'round. Ask his decorating advice. So far it's a mixture of Indian, Chinese and Tahitian decor.

I rewatched all of entourage, and the last season on DVD. I take turns watching Dr Katz or A-Team. (Hey, I don't have this DVD set! No fair!)

I'm listening to my new Gorillaz album a lot, and Basia Bulat, and tons of other stuff.


I know a woman who makes purses--everyone at work has them--so I asked her to make me a kobo pouch. Her things are made with recycled fabric, which I love, and she chooses what I can only call "hip" fabrics, like '80s greens. She made a few pouches and posted them on her etsy, so I spent some time choosing one, and then I chose a purse and a wristlet purse which also fits my kobo. I'm taking my new purse to the vet tomorrow, as encouragement, or good luck. Let's hope we don't have to put Sherrybones down, cause the poor purse will lose all its cachet.

My purse

My polkadot kobo pouch, and the wristlet

Since etsy shopping was soothing, I decided to look for a "purseket." I've wanted one since seeing the old TV ads, not only because it keeps your stuff organized, but you can pull it out of one bag and quickly move it to another. I use my backpack most days, so when I want to take a cute purse instead, it's a pain to transfer everything to and fro. But there are zillions of purse organizers on etsy, so I'm systematically working my way through them... soooothing...

I'm now going to go catalog my purses/backpack contents, while Haley sits outside watching the night go by, and Bones naps in his basket. Soooothing.

UPDATE
(* indicates important enough to put in trip-to-vet purse)

Backpack compartment 1 (meant for laptop)
- Tribute magazine in case I forget to bring a book

#2 (main compartment, esp used for doing groceries)
- wind breaker
- when I walk to work: uniform to change into
- 2 reusable shopping bags
- kobo and/or book*

#3 (smaller)
- wallet*
- umbrella
- mp3 player & high quality headphones
- mini accordion filer (for doctor appointments, important receipts, and mostly for bus schedules)

#4
- kleenex stash*
- feminine protection
- tiny flashlight
- Tylenol with codeine (backup headache killer)*
- Zomig Rapimelt (my heavy duty headache killer)*

#5 (side compartment with "DUDE" key ring clipped to outside to remind me where my keys and bus card are)
- keys
- bus card
- change in case I forget to bring my wallet

#6 (other side compartment)
- sunglasses
- gum*
- jeweled blue pen & other pens*
- stylish mini notebook* (phone numbers, directions to vet, bus info when catsitting, story ideas, etc.)
- chapstick
- backup bus card, and bus card receipts
- hand cream from Stratford hotel
- Chapters gift card

#7 - mesh on outside of outer compartments
- garbage

Removed:
- garbage
- drink packet
- library pamphlet
- receipts
- forgotten work sock to launder
- unneeded business card
- juice bottle

I'm thinking maybe I need to buy more than one purse organizer, of different sizes. The smaller one should have the *vitals* in it, and it can be curled in the middle of the bigger one with the lesser items. Then I can remove the vital one to the smallest of my purses, and only take out the bigger one when I have a big purse. Yes, this is a good plan. Now how many compartments do I need?

Will have to decide later. I must abed, and take that kitty to the internist tomorrow. Wish me luck New Purse!

managing my cafe

So all I really like about my virtual café is playing around with the layout and redecorating it.

I tried this layout, because I (the green haired chef) wanted to be closer to my customers. I made it so they could sit around and watch me cook. But they didn't care for it much.


I got a better "buzz" score when I returned to a traditional layout.

Mabel's VeganEats

I decided it was time to upgrade my decor. Fernando started me off with the cheap decor, cause he had to, but now there was enough money for a little pizzaz. You can see the old paint and flooring still in the kitchen. It was too expensive to change all the tables and chairs, so I picked wall colours and flooring to match the tables. And then I created a VIP lounge where I put some more expensive furniture. Maybe eventually I put a different style in each section of the cafe.

There's a lot of weird lookin' people eating at my cafe, but it's vegan food so I guess that's to be expected.

My café

My husband's new addiction is a facebook game called Café World, where you collect ingredients, and set things to cook, and then have to serve them before they go bad. He started using the game with my login (on my computer) so that he could *use me* as his neighbour, to collect more things for his café.

This results in a whole bunch of game icons cluttering up my facebook profile. At first I just tried to stay on top of deleting them all (doesn't take long.) But then I found out that the only way to share them with friends who play the game is to leave them on your profile a bit, for others to take. So now I don't even delete them so he, or one of our friends who plays, can have them.

And I find myself leaving one tab open with his game on so he can collect points, and I check in to see if any meals need serving so they won't spoil. (The eggs benedict were not a pretty sight.)

I finally just had to embrace it this weekend and make my avatar look better.


The funny thing is that Our Friend uses her mother's facebook login to do the same thing. "So if one day your mother is trying to friend me on facebook, it's really you friending Fernando?" Yes.

As Scrooge would say, I'll retire to Bedlam.