Weekend recap
Apr. 11th, 2011 09:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
figmentIt was a really good weekend. Nothing shockingly wonderful, but lots of really good and no bad at all!
Friday we had long-delayed plans with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ethel and setharoo. We went on a good long walk, discussed potential ideas for Journey to the End of Night (we had some really good ones), and after finding that all the nearby restaurants and bars were pretty full, we decided to go home for the food + drink portion of the evening, which ended up also including Rock Band. The new TV, which is so giant and shiny, is way nicer to play Rock Band on - much easier to see everything.
Saturday we got to sleep in, oh delightful sleeping in! Then I made a delicious tofu scramble for brunch and we went to the gym (that makes 3x in one week, fitness buddies) and had a good workout. I would have happily done more, but we had to meet up with some friends to give away our old TV and our old blinds. Hooray for things not ending up in the landfill, and for seeing more people we like.
And I made granola (I've never made that from scratch before; it was a success even though I kind of made up the recipe based on a couple I could find and what I had on hand). And some delicious artichoke-and-bean "pate"*.
That night we had more-or-less-declared Valentine's Day (observed). So we went out to dinner at DaVinci's, a restaurant right near our home, and then walked to see Works for Words at the Fitzgerald - Jeremy Messersmith with some other great people. Of the "others", I was most excited about Dessa, but (while I did love her) I ended up being most impressed by Lucy Michelle. Anyway - fabulous fun evening and all walking-distance from home, and nice enough weather to really enjoy the walk.
And then I decided I was (just barely) awake enough to enjoy the music party at theminnehaha's, which was, in fact, fun. I wish it had gone later (although we got home at something like 2 in the morning... ugh).
Sunday I got to talk to my folks, and wish my dad a happy birthday. With bonus talking-to-tomscud and evaluna68. Although Skype was being really weird; first I couldn't see them as online at all, and then when we got the connection up their video kept dropping out. We gave up on fixing it.
I made a bunch of pie crust and we did some other home-type-stuff, and then it was time to run to the History Theatre where we had lucked into comps (thanksjodi for American As Curry Pie. That was a great one-woman show that I wish was still playing so I could tell you all to go see it! It was so personal and poignant, and also very cultural and political in ways that I found ... well, they kind of resonated at the edges of my life and work experience, and gave me a new way to see into someone else's experience of being an immigrant and third-culture-kid in the US. Really good stuff.
When we got home I put all the piecrust to work in a kind of pie-extravaganza, which included:
spacebug was able to help us eat some of our pie and shared some home-made caramels with us. Phew!
Food notes:
* Flageolet and Artichoke Bruschetta
Serves 6
425 g tin flageolet beans, sugarfree, rinsed and drained
400 g tin artichoke hearts, drained
2 garlic cloves, crushed
50 g Parmesan cheese, grated
4 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice
handful of fresh chopped parsley
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
Put all ingredients in food processor or blender and process until fairly smooth.
To make the bruschetta, take a baguette, slice it into pieces, toast them, then brush each piece with olive oil and rub with a cut garlic clove. This really transforms it from "yum" to "delicious!"
Note, I did not actually follow the recipe above, I used what I had on hand. So instead of the flageolet beans, I used 1 cup of dried pinto beans, which I then cooked up with a little salt and a bay leaf. I had no idea about the weights of anything because I don't have a kitchen scale (yet), so I used a large can of artichoke hearts and it seemed about right. And I used "about an inch" of Parmesan, which then got grated. And my parsley was dried - I was all out of fresh. Anyway, it was delicious, it didn't seem to matter that I'd totally diverged from the recipe.
**Things I changed in the vegan pot pie recipe:
I used 1 package of seitan which is maybe 1/2 the recommended amount because seitan is expensive; I eventually added 1/2 package of extra-firm tofu to the whole thing.
Instead of marinading (because I was impatient) I poured a small amount of chicken-style veggie stock over the seitan and tofu, and a squirt or two of Bragg's Liquid Aminos, and some olive oil, and then I broiled the whole thing for 15 minutes or so.
I added 8 or so largish mushrooms, chopped, to the mix of vegetables that I fried up before combining everything. And also a couple of cloves of garlic.
Since I hadn't done any marinading I just used some white wine, sage, thyme, & water, mixed it up with the flour, and poured it over everything at the end as the recipe calls for.
This takes a little work but is So Good. And not actually that much work all told. Highly recommended.
Friday we had long-delayed plans with
ethel and setharoo. We went on a good long walk, discussed potential ideas for Journey to the End of Night (we had some really good ones), and after finding that all the nearby restaurants and bars were pretty full, we decided to go home for the food + drink portion of the evening, which ended up also including Rock Band. The new TV, which is so giant and shiny, is way nicer to play Rock Band on - much easier to see everything. Saturday we got to sleep in, oh delightful sleeping in! Then I made a delicious tofu scramble for brunch and we went to the gym (that makes 3x in one week, fitness buddies) and had a good workout. I would have happily done more, but we had to meet up with some friends to give away our old TV and our old blinds. Hooray for things not ending up in the landfill, and for seeing more people we like.
And I made granola (I've never made that from scratch before; it was a success even though I kind of made up the recipe based on a couple I could find and what I had on hand). And some delicious artichoke-and-bean "pate"*.
That night we had more-or-less-declared Valentine's Day (observed). So we went out to dinner at DaVinci's, a restaurant right near our home, and then walked to see Works for Words at the Fitzgerald - Jeremy Messersmith with some other great people. Of the "others", I was most excited about Dessa, but (while I did love her) I ended up being most impressed by Lucy Michelle. Anyway - fabulous fun evening and all walking-distance from home, and nice enough weather to really enjoy the walk.
And then I decided I was (just barely) awake enough to enjoy the music party at the
minnehaha's, which was, in fact, fun. I wish it had gone later (although we got home at something like 2 in the morning... ugh). Sunday I got to talk to my folks, and wish my dad a happy birthday. With bonus talking-to-
tomscud and evaluna68. Although Skype was being really weird; first I couldn't see them as online at all, and then when we got the connection up their video kept dropping out. We gave up on fixing it. I made a bunch of pie crust and we did some other home-type-stuff, and then it was time to run to the History Theatre where we had lucked into comps (thanks
jodi for American As Curry Pie. That was a great one-woman show that I wish was still playing so I could tell you all to go see it! It was so personal and poignant, and also very cultural and political in ways that I found ... well, they kind of resonated at the edges of my life and work experience, and gave me a new way to see into someone else's experience of being an immigrant and third-culture-kid in the US. Really good stuff. When we got home I put all the piecrust to work in a kind of pie-extravaganza, which included:
- an apple pie (with perfect lattice top), which I gave to my neighbor in thanks/exchange for his help doing some electrical work for us
- a vegan pot pie, mostly following this recipe from the Chicago Diner:
http://ieattrees.com/chicago-diner-vegan-seitan-pot-pie/** - a strawberry-rhubarb pie, with home-made granola on top as topping
- a small random fruit pie, to use up the remaining crust: peach, mango, and strawberry, also with home-made granola on top
spacebug was able to help us eat some of our pie and shared some home-made caramels with us. Phew!Food notes:
* Flageolet and Artichoke Bruschetta
Serves 6
425 g tin flageolet beans, sugarfree, rinsed and drained
400 g tin artichoke hearts, drained
2 garlic cloves, crushed
50 g Parmesan cheese, grated
4 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice
handful of fresh chopped parsley
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
Put all ingredients in food processor or blender and process until fairly smooth.
To make the bruschetta, take a baguette, slice it into pieces, toast them, then brush each piece with olive oil and rub with a cut garlic clove. This really transforms it from "yum" to "delicious!"
Note, I did not actually follow the recipe above, I used what I had on hand. So instead of the flageolet beans, I used 1 cup of dried pinto beans, which I then cooked up with a little salt and a bay leaf. I had no idea about the weights of anything because I don't have a kitchen scale (yet), so I used a large can of artichoke hearts and it seemed about right. And I used "about an inch" of Parmesan, which then got grated. And my parsley was dried - I was all out of fresh. Anyway, it was delicious, it didn't seem to matter that I'd totally diverged from the recipe.
**Things I changed in the vegan pot pie recipe:
I used 1 package of seitan which is maybe 1/2 the recommended amount because seitan is expensive; I eventually added 1/2 package of extra-firm tofu to the whole thing.
Instead of marinading (because I was impatient) I poured a small amount of chicken-style veggie stock over the seitan and tofu, and a squirt or two of Bragg's Liquid Aminos, and some olive oil, and then I broiled the whole thing for 15 minutes or so.
I added 8 or so largish mushrooms, chopped, to the mix of vegetables that I fried up before combining everything. And also a couple of cloves of garlic.
Since I hadn't done any marinading I just used some white wine, sage, thyme, & water, mixed it up with the flour, and poured it over everything at the end as the recipe calls for.
This takes a little work but is So Good. And not actually that much work all told. Highly recommended.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-11 03:09 pm (UTC)B
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-11 03:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-11 03:33 pm (UTC)B
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-11 04:28 pm (UTC)K.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-11 09:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-13 01:43 am (UTC)the bruschetta sounds devine.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-13 12:57 pm (UTC)If you really miss seitan, you can make it yourself. I've made it before and while the texture is a little spongier than the store-bought stuff, it's still good. And the recipe makes a lot. The only thing is it requires gluten powder, which might also be very hard to find in Mexico (or describe in Spanish)! Let me know if you want the recipe.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-13 01:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-04-13 01:51 pm (UTC)It's here (http://twobites.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/vegetarian-beef-stew/) - look at the "Basic Gluten Recipe".
It is not kidding when it says "large pot" and "recipe will triple in size". You might consider halving the recipe.
Also, I added some concentrated veggie "chicken" bouillon to the dough as I made it up.