Sometimes, a Girl Needs a Cocktail

I've been busy the last few weeks. I just submitted my dissertation to my doctoral committee, summarizing the past 7 years of my research. It felt Really Good to finish that huge tome and hand it over to the six men who's signatures determine my fate.

In celebration of that feat, and to ease the accumulated tension of seven stressful years, I'm throwing a few back tonight. Just thought I'd let the internet know.

I'm starting off with a fresh mint mojito. Fresh because the mint came from the plant that my husband grows on our balcony. Can't really get fresher than that.

Recipe for "You're almost there! Mojito"
Serves 1

3 sprigs mint, fresh cut.
1/2 lime, quartered or otherwise cut up
2 shots white rum
ice
splash of simple syrup to taste
club soda

Cut some mint stems from your plant. Rinse off the leaves if there is dust or bugs. Or skip rinsing entirely, because basically it's just another step standing in the way of you and your drink. Put the leaves into a cocktail glass with the lime. Use a muddler to muddle the crap out of the produce. Or use a wooden spoon like I did because let's face it, no one actually owns a muddler. Add in the rum and some ice. Start with a bit of simple syrup (or sub white grape juice if you happen to have it in your fridge, or really anything sweet and not overpowering in flavor) and fill the glass with club soda. Or tonic water, like I did, because I happened to have a cold can of it. Stir it all up, top with a pink bendy straw, and drink to your success. Repeat as necessary.

Breakfast for Dinner- Tofu Florentine

I love a big hearty breakfast, something that sticks with me a good part of the day. Incidentally I also love a big hearty breakfast eaten at dinner, preferably washed down with a cocktail. I just got home from a long day (long week!) at work and I'm starving as usual. I would die for some of these florentines right now. I found this picture that I'd taken awhile ago, during testing for Veganomicon.

The florentine is composed of a toasted english muffin (whole foods brand is vegan last time I checked) stacked with steamed spinach, broiled tofu, and smothered in a tangy cheezy sauce.

I'm going to pretend that's what I'm eating for dinner tonight. In reality I'm likely going to end up having margaritas and some tums. That's all I have energy for. But I can dream, sweet florentine dreams.

Frosting Tip

I decided to take my cupcake decorating to the next level and invest in some quality hardware. I found this tip in the discount bin at a local kitchen supply store. I have no idea what the numbers on it mean, but they make me feel scientific.


Google tells me the tip is a rosette nozzle, but basically the frosting comes out looking similar to soft serve ice cream. So I practiced my skills on some mini cupcakes.


After a little practice, the frosting looks presentable. I'm not quite ready to submit my resume to Charm City Cakes, but I kinda impressed myself.



Vegan Buttercream Frosting

With a hand mixer, beat together equal parts shortening and margarine. I used about a half a cup each non-hydrogenated crisco and Earth Balance. Add in about a cup of powdered sugar and continue to beat. Throw in a splash of soymilk to make it smooth. You'll realize you probably added too much liquid, so now add in some more powdered sugar. Keep adding a bit more soymilk and powdered sugar until you get a fluffy frosting.

Sidenote: The frosting pictured above was this recipe but with broken Chocolate Joe Joe's cookies blended in. I used the cookies 'n creme frosting for some other cupcakes, then kept the frosting in the fridge for a week. I brought it to room temp, re-beat it with some soymilk, and the cookies dissolved and made chocolate frosting. And it still tastes good. Gross? Probably. Do I care? Evidently not.

Burger Time

My Trader Joe's has these WildWood Tofu Veggie Burgers for $2.69 and I've walked past them a few times thinking they're too expensive. They come two burgers per pack, and although $2.69 is not a ton of money, it's a lot when I consider the 19oz block of tofu sitting right next to the burgers is only $1.19. But enough grocery details, the point is I finally unscrewed my tightwad attitude and bought a pack.


They don't come with cooking instructions, or at least I didn't see any. I guess they figure if you're brave enough to buy a Tofu Veggie Burger you're probably too brazen to follow directions anyway. So into my cast iron skillet they went. When in doubt, fry.


They came out pretty tasty, crisp outside and firm yet tender inside. The burgers seem like they would be sturdy enough to cook on a grill too. WildWood doesn't attempt to make them taste at all like meat, which is an asset in my opinion, so the taste is of a basic seasoned tofu. I'll keep these in mind for summer parties, they're definitely better than other veggie patties I've tried.

Afternoon Delight

I've been away from my kitchen for awhile, out gallivanting on the other side of the country. While I was living the high life in New York and Boston, my kitchen in San Diego was lying dormant, the stove collecting dust. Yes, my husband was still at home while I was away, but he reverted to full bachelor mode and only used the kitchen to store empty pizza boxes.

This afternoon I made these chocolate chip pecan cookies as a little welcome home present for myself. They're a much needed comfort food because the delicious but greasy cuisine of New York left me with a heavy feeling in my stomach.

And I'm always looking for an excuse to break out the Big Red. It's serious about mixing.



There's no messing around here. Well, actually there was a small incident with the speed control that flung a few glops of cookie dough out of the bowl. But other than that I mean, there was no messing around.



The recipe is from "The Joy of Vegan Baking," by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. It makes my kind of cookie: crisp exterior with a soft and yielding interior. And we just discovered that if you eat enough of them straight out of the oven, there really isn't any need to eat dinner. A meal replacement cookie, sort of.

Mess of the Week

A long time ago, during a performance review, I had a boss tell me that although satisfied with my overall performance he was disappointed in my writing skills. In fact, he directly told me that writing was my Achilles' heel. Fair enough. I'm no Shakespeare.

Well. I just finished reading the final version of a manuscript that he wrote and submitted for publication in an international journal. The manuscript was riddled with typos. At one point, he (unnecessarily) used the phrase "Achilles' heel." Except that he spelled it "Achilles heal". H-E-A-L. No apostrophe. Ha! Who's the poor writer now, dude!?!?

A Vegan Takes to the Skies

Airplane food is notoriously bad. We all know this. Most accept that fact, arm themselves with Tums, and suffer through the airline meal. I am not one of those people. When I travel I always carry the essentials: a good book, some good headphones, and enough food to see me through the flight and any unforeseen delays. I say no thanks to the pre-made tray of tasteless food.

I'm traveling for the next couple of days and prepared some flight-friendly food. I know that the San Diego airport TSAs are suspicious of soy-yogurt and hummus, but are okay with oozing bean burritos; it seems that the definition of "liquid or gel" varies slightly from person to person. In the past I've tried to explain to a harried security guard that hummus is neither a liquid nor a gel, merely a non-flammable tasty Mediterranean spread make of chickpeas and tahini. However, my pleas fell on deaf ears and the hummus ended up in the trash. So now I try to bring foods that appear less exotic.



For my morning flight, these peanut butter waffles served nicely as my breakfast (recipe from the upcoming cookbook The Crack of Noon). I made them the night before, let em cool, and wrapped them in sturdy foil. Just after takeoff I unearthed them from the depths of my carry-on and the whole plane was jealous. They were snacking on Terra Blue potato chips and I was enjoying a delicious waffled creation. With an apple and a tangelo, and a $4 bottle of water from the airport Starbucks, this was damn good eats.



This was a cross-country jaunt, a long flight necessitating lunch. When the in-flight movie (27 dresses) was over I brought out this chickpea-salad sandwich, recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. I also prepared this the night before the flight, waking up my husband with the noisy food processor. ("Why are you processing chickpeas? It's midnight forcryinoutloud!" oops, sorry babe, it's for a good cause.)

It's on whole grain bread, topped with spinach and romaine leaves. I added some stone ground mustard to spice it up a bit. This is a great flight option because it tastes great and is filling, but doesn't have a strong smell that fellow travelers may find offensive. Ever sit next to someone eating a tuna sandwich? It's not exactly an olfactory experience I'd recommend.

I packed other treats as well, just in case. Carrot and celery sticks, potato chips, cookies, peanut trail mix, and a few odwalla bars in case things got crazy, all simple things that aren't too fragile or prone to melting or spoilage. That's way too much food for one person on one flight, but I'll eat it all eventually at my destination.

I'm sitting in a hotel room right now, on the bed with the comforter safely pulled back. After only a few days away, my stomach is already wishing it was back home in it's own kitchen. The conference I'm attending actually has a wide variety of food that's passably edible. I'm actually having a good time. But Dorothy sure had it right: There's no place like home.