I'm still here

No posts for the entire month of August! My blog took a back seat to: 1) putting our house on the market and house hunting, 2) getting sick repeatedly, I think my body was worn out by training and doing the 1/2 marathon, 3) back to school for Claire! She's in fourth grade! and now, 4) Mother-in-law visiting from England for two weeks!

I'll be back soon.

I DID IT!

I ran a half marathon on July 27, 2008. I couldn't have done it without Kate, my running partner (pictured). We were both hurtin' big time by mile ten (her knees, my back) but we persevered and crossed the finish line together.

Vegan fuel before the race: spelt toast, almond butter, raspberry jam, a banana.

Vegan fuel after the race: raisin bagel, orange juice, chocolate bar, hash browns, grapefruit juice, tofu/pesto/sundried tomato scramble, spelt toast with raspberry jam.

Also, I slept 13 hours the night after the race. I did the math because I'm really smart that way, and it works out to one hour of sleep per mile run.

There's no picture of me that I like, so here's one of Kate after she collapsed by the finish line.

The Gathering 2008

The Gathering: a bunch of vegans from all over the country -- and Canada! -- gathered for food and camping and general merriment this past weekend. I don't have any pictures of ME, but here are some other pictures I took, and a video of just how serious the business of being vegan is. I mean, we don't mess around. Ever.

Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes

I helped Claire with assembly of these cupcakes. They are delicious! Recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Lasagna and Raspberry/Chocolate Blondies

Two of my favorite things I've made in the past few months. The lasagna recipe is from Veganomicon, and I probably made it a couple months ago and am just posting about it now. It's a spinach and cashew ricotta sauce, with homemade marinara sauce. It took the better part of a day to make the different ingredients, assemble, and bake, but it was so worth it. We all liked it and I'll definitely make it again. The Raspberry Chocolate Blondies are from Vegan With a Vengeance, and they were dangerously good. I'm not sure I should make these again, because the recipe makes an entire 9x13" pan, and I couldn't stop eating them.

Another laptop lunch

I packed my second laptop lunch for work yesterday, and it was perfect for munching because I had a few minutes here and there to eat, but no actual lunch break. Clockwise from top left: raspberries & blueberries, walnut/mushroom pate (recipe in Veganomicon), flax crackers, olives, carrot, celery and cucumber.

I had made the walnut/mushroom dip for the first time the night before, for book club. I'm the only vegan in book club, and everyone liked it except for a lone mushroom-hater, who didn't try it. There's still some leftover dip, which I'm going to use as a sandwich spread. Yum!

Laptop Lunch

Inspired by the beautiful lunches on this woman's blog, I immediately purchased my own Laptop Lunchbox, which arrived today. I had a lot of fun packing my lunch for tomorrow: Rice noodles with carrots and peas in curry sauce (leftovers from tonight's dinner), cucumber and red pepper slices, grapefruit sections, homemade trail mix (I mixed up a tablespoon each of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, goji berries) and sesame dressing for the raw veggies. I love the built in portion control of this kit, as that is not one of my strong suits. Without all these compartments to fill, I'd typically just pack one big plastic container of leftover noodles for work tomorrow, and call it good. This is so much healthier, and it was fun adding bits and bobs of different things in my fridge and pantry to fill up all the colorful little containers. I'm going to pack some lunches for Nigel and Claire too, and if they like it I'll buy them their very own laptop lunchboxes.

Many thanks to veganhomemade for her inspiration, and please pardon my shameless imitation! It's truly meant as sincere flattery.

Caesar Salad from my veggie patch

File this recipe under "Veganomicon recipes I can't believe I haven't tried until now." My family deemed it too garlicky, so I will use one clove in the dressing next time instead of two. This was the first time I've ever made homemade croutons, and we were fighting over every last one of them. So yum!

It felt great to harvest a big head of romaine lettuce from our veggie patch for dinner tonight. Also, I rode my bike to and from work today, and Claire and I rode our bikes to New Season's to get the salad ingredients I didn't have on hand (capers, blanched almonds.) This is all part of my crush on Ed Begley, Jr. I want make him proud!

Home cooking tonight

I'm happy to be home from vacation and back in my kitchen. For dinner tonight I made a cauliflower/lentil stew, curried roasted potatoes, and (not pictured) salad greens from our garden. For this picture, I garnished the plate with foraged cherries from our neighbor's tree, and cilantro from our garden.

Here are my approximate recipes -- I didn't keep track as I cooked, because I'm an amateur. In fact, I think these are the first recipes I've ever posted, because usually I follow published cookbook recipes. But tonight I felt like eating lentils, cauliflower, and potatoes, and this just sort of fell together.

Curried Roasted Potatoes

3 fist-sized potatoes
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. curry powder
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Thinly slice potatoes with a mandolin or knife. (I got to use my new mandolin, woo!!!) Place in a 1-gallon ziploc with olive oil and curry powder, and shake to coat potatoes evenly. If you're like me, the ziploc seal will break while you're shaking the bag, and several slices of potato will fall on your kitchen floor. It's times like this you will be glad you have a compost heap, so you don't really feel like you're wasting those fallen slices. Anyway, spread the non-soiled potato slices onto a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and bake about 30 minutes, or until potatoes have reached your desired level of brownness and crispness, flipping once during cooking.

Cauliflower and Lentil Stew

1 Tbsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, diced
2 cloves garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. turmeric
2 cups red lentils
4 cups water
1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
Salt to taste
Cilantro for garnish

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large-ish pot, add mustard and cumin seeds until mustard seeds pop (it only takes a minute). Add onion and jalapeno, saute until onion is translucent (about 10 minutes). Add garlic and turmeric, stir for a minute, then add lentils, cauliflower, and water. Cover, bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Garnish with cilantro.

Vacation in San Diego

We're one week into our ten-day vacation, and I'm super relaxed. Our Garmin GPS (which I'm SO glad we brought, we'd be lost and cranky and hassling with paper maps otherwise) speaks in a male British voice, and he pronounced Juan "JEW-ahn" and La Jolla "Lay JAWL-ah" -- prompting fits of laughter on my part.

Young women here wear short shorts with high-heeled pumps. What is up with that? You don't see that in Portland, which is just fine with me.

Edited to add on June 23rd: Also today our Garmin called El Cahon Blvd. "El CADGE-uhn" ha ha ha ha ha! I'm not sure why this is so hilarious to me.

I'm missing Portland now. We went to a Whole Foods tonight, and it was the first time I've seen anyone with dreads or significant tattoos since we've been here. What kind of freaky city is this?!

Also we ate dinner at Harar Ethiopian Restaurant, and it was OK, but not great, and the food pales in comparison with my favorite Portland place, E'Njoni. And I miss my dog. So, we've relaxed and had fun and enjoyed glorious weather, but I am really looking forward to going home day after tomorrow.