May Updates

Platter of deliciousness.

I've been a bad, bad blogger. I'm sorry about the lack of posts. It's not from a lack of cooking. I've been taking tons of pictures, and creating many, many dishes. These pictures give you a glimpse of some of the dishes and recipes I'll be writing about in the coming weeks.

Strawberry Sorbet with Lime Zest

Raw TuNut Wrap
Quick Wonton Ravioli
Vegan Ceviche

During the winter and first half of spring, I was taking inspiration from Indian food, although lately Persian food has been my muse, so expect to see some recipes with Indian and Persian flavors.

I have also been very busy with our garden. In January, R and I moved into a lovely house. In March, JD joined us. JD and I have built three raised bed gardens, one full of vegetables including roots like carrots, onions, radishes and turnips, plus some tomatoes, fennel, broccoli, cabbage and jalapenos, one that has cucumbers and zucchini, and, once we make it a bit longer, will have cantaloupes, and my favorite bed, the herb garden, which features a bust that we've been calling The Lady.

The Lady watches over our herbs from her perch in the backyard.

The herb garden currently has dill, cilantro, thyme, lemon thyme, lemongrass (to go with our two kaffir lime trees), sage and basil. We have about 5 or 6 spots open for more herbs, in the herb bed, and a couple of container herbs, like chives and oregano. I recently bought some Asian seeds, including two amaranths (for the greens), Chinese cabbages, two daikons, shiso, Chinese leeks, bunching onions and burdock. I want to built three more raised beds; a tall bed for the burdock (you harvest it when it's 3 to 4 feet long, and it will grow through rock and around other roots, so with all the tree roots in our yard, planting it straight in the ground would make a harvesting nightmare), a large bed for all the other Asian vegetables, and a small bed like the herb garden for edible flowers.

Late Bloomers: I had all but given up on these pansy seedlings

We're also growing a few other things in the garden, outside of beds, like English peas, sweet potatoes, a fig tree, raspberries, blackberries, hibiscus, and of course the avocado trees and pineapples.

This is kind of a teaser, as I plan to write more on the topic later, but, at the school, it's home processing time, which means I get to teach some of my favorite classes. To view info about all the upcoming events, see more recipes and pictures, and see what else I'm up to, you can check out the blog I moderate for work here, I write the posts for NaturalEpicurean.

In more personal news, JD and I will be going to the ACL festival again this year. I'm especially excited to see DeVotchka, The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, Bjork, Regina Spektor, and Bob Dylan (Did you hear about this? The story made me giggle.) It will be great to see Wilco, Ben Kweller, The Del McCoury Band, Spoon, Kaiser Chiefs and Bloc Party again, although I'm not a huge fan of the latter four artists, I've seen them live, and they all put on great shows. I saw Jack White play with the Raconteurs last year, which made me wish I was watching The White Stripes, even though I stopped following them after Elephant, so this year I'll get my wish. I haven't decided if I'll check out Muse. I caught some of their show last year, but JD wasn't into them, so we left after two songs. I think their debut, Showbiz was my personal favorite, and honestly, I haven't kept up with them too much recently. Anyone on the lineup you consider to be must-see? I was disappointed that Interpol and Of Montreal weren't tapped since they (will) have both released albums (by the time of the festival).

Last, but certainly not least, my best friend, H will be visiting me this week! I have many potential ideas, including:
Zilker Botanical Gardens - the Oriental garden and koi ponds are gorgeous.
Happy Hour(or dinner) at the Clay Pit - appetizers are half price during happy hour, and although I always enjoy the food, it's the pashwari naan that I really want H to try.
Lunch at Aster's Ethiopian - plenty of injera, and many delicious vegetarian dishes.
Uchi - everyone in my social circle raves about Uchi, but I've never been since I can get decent vegan sushi anywhere, and I can make AWESOME vegan sushi at home, it always seemed as pointless for me to go to an expensive sushi place as it would be for me to go to an expensive steakhouse. H loves the sushi, though, so this is a good time to check it out.
AMoA
Cocktail party! - I think the South Austin Spec's just opened....
Threadgill's - I've never been, but one of my favorite locals band is having a show there.
The Draughthouse Pub and Brewery and/or The Gingerman - both have an vast & varied selection of exquisite beers, and the Draughthouse (obviously) brews their own. If we go to The Gingerman(which I've been known to drunkenly call "The GingerBREAD Man"), we'll probably check out Halcyon, because, though they are not vegan, H would love the idea of their indoor S'mores.
The Alamo Drafthouse - hopefully we can check out Terror Thursday at the original before they close.
The Whole Foods flagship location - it's kind of a huge yuppie amusement park, yes, but good Lord, do they have a lot of beautiful, tasty stuff, plus, they give out tons of samples.
Waterloo Records/Waterloo Video - 'nuff said.
Book People - Ditto.
Kerbey Lane - I'm sure we'll be out really, really late at least one night, in need of nourishment, and what's better for that than KL's Mushroom Artichoke Spinach Omelet, veganized? Nothing, that's what.
I'm also taking recommendations, so if you have suggestions for quintessentially Austin things, or know of any fun events occurring between May 31 and June 6, let me know.

Easter Weekend Brunch

Mini Easter Weekend Brunch

We finally got a dining table! And a buffet with hutch! Yay!

I have been living without any kind of kitchen table for over a year, for a few reasons. The first being that my last apartment was really tiny and didn't really provide room for a living room seating area AND a dining table. The second being that, apparently, I am really picky.

Anyway, last weekend we rented a trailer for J's car and drove up to the arboretum area and brought a lovely set from a lovely woman and her lovely mother. I would have liked a slightly more espresso-colored table to fit in with the decor better, but this is awesome. Now I just need to figure out how to arrange everything in the kitchen/dining area.

That day we bought the dinette set, R made dinner for J and I. R's boss had given her a bottle of $70ish wine, which she shared with us. It was amazing. I'm not much of wine drinker, but when I do drink/buy wine, it's usually in the $10-$16 neighborhhood. Most of these wines have been really tasty and fun. There was only one red wine, which cost $6, that I would never buy again, although I would gladly buy their chardonnay again. Even though I'm a wine novice, I could immediately tell that R's wine was an "expensive wine". It was complex and peppery, and over the course of the meal it changed, not only in flavor, but also in aroma. While I wouldn't normally spend so much on wine, I can definitely see the attraction.

It was during that dinner that I decided I wanted to make brunch. Eventually I think I'd like to throw a (a few) sleepover part(ies), then serve brunch in the morning. We talked about a Harry Potter themed party-watch all the movies, maybe make some theme dishes, a John Hughes 80's party or a Bad 80's slasher movie party....really, the possibilites are endless. While J thinks this is a bit of a silly idea, the few girlfriends I've mentioned it to have liked it.

So, thinking the sleepover idea out, I realized I needed to practice my brunch-making skillz.... Plus, I couldn't get the idea of biscuits, sausage- or bacon-style tempeh, and brown gravy out of my head. I know that true southern style bisquits and gravy means cream gravy, but, honestly, with the soymilk in the biscuits, and soybean tempeh, plus the shoyu I was using as a seasoning, I just didn't want another soy product on the table. And, my brown gravy is mighty tasty.

Our mini brunch included boiled collards, farm-fresh pink grapefruits, orange juice, brown mushroom gravy, "buttersoymilk" biscuits, sausage-style tempeh and crisp potatoes. The collards were simply boiled until soft (J likes his greens southern-style; boiled to hell with bacon or bacon grease, while I like my lightly blanched, so this was a compromise). I used a variation of this recipe for the biscuits. The potatoes were cut in half lengthwise, parboiled, then pan-fried until golden brown and crispy. The tempeh was the most time consuming dish, it was steamed, then simmered in water seasoned with shoyu, sage, thyme, basil, oregano and a little bit of toasted sesame oil, if you have all ingredients on hand, you could steam the tempeh the night before and marinate it overnight instead of simmering it. The liquid was then reserved for the gravy ("drippin's"), and the tempeh was browned in a cast iron skillet. After this, a minute amount of oil was heated, then shiitake mushrooms, onions, and garlic were sautéed, the drippin's were added, the seasoning was adjusted and then kuzu was added to thicken the gravy.

J was weirded out by the idea of brown gravy with biscuits, but R and I loved the meal, then again, we've never claimed to be southerners. I even had a biscuit, tempeh and gravy the next day as leftovers--yum!

Samosa Tutorial

Sorry for the long delay, but as promised, here's a new tutorial. I'll try posting about the chutney soon. I think I may try a more macrobiotic-friendly version of samosas soon, but until then, here's a vegan version.

Samosas with Pomegranate Cilantro Chutney and condiments

A little backround on this tutorial: I had a hankering for samosas one evening when I happened to be feeling experimental. I decided that learning how to make them would serve me better and be much more useful than simply going out to find some, either frozen or take-out (who knows what kind of preservatives and additives would be in them?). By sheer luck, I happened to have three small potatoes leftover from the Thanksgiving mashed potatoes I made--I don't normally have potatoes in my home--but I did not have any peas, and to me, those ingredients are the basis for samosas. A quick call to JD ensured that he had some, which he'd bring over before he came for dinner. A little online research and some calculations gave me a basic idea of what I'd be doing, but I still wasn't sure how to roll the dough, fill the dough, or achieve the proper shape. I adjusted the ingredients of the dough a bit, since most recipes called for 2 cups of flour, which I knew would make way too much, and tried following the only set of directions I could find. The directions seemed to skip a few steps, and they didn't roll the dough into large enough circles, so I decided that the next time I made samosas-because there would definitely be a next time-I would take pictures and post a tutorial. After a bit of practice, they really are quite simple.

Samosas
Christina Terriquez

For crust:

1 cup organic white wheat flour
2 teaspoons organic safflower oil
1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
1/3--3/4 cups water

1-3 cups of organic safflower oil, rice bran oil, or sunflower oil for frying

Filling:
1 teaspoon organic olive oil
1 tablespoon (or to taste) curry powder or a mixture of your favorite Indian spices such as:
coriander, tumeric, ground clove, ginger powder, cumin, chili powder, etc.
1/4 cup organic onion, diced (optional)
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced (optional)
1--2 cloves organic garlic, minced (optional)
3 medium organic potatoes, boiled until soft and slightly mashed
1/2--1 cup organic frozen peas, thawed
unrefined sea salt
1/4--1/2 cup organic toasted slivered almonds (optional)
1/4--1/2 cup organic currants, raisins or sultanas (optional)

To prepare dough:

Shift flour and salt into a medium sized bowl. Add oil and mix until texture resembles a fine sand. Add 1/3 cup water and mix until flour comes together as a ball. More water may be needed. I usually use 1/2 cup. Knead dough for about 5 minutes, until dough is smooth and soft. Set aside and let dough rest for about 15 minutes.

To prepare filling:

Heat oil in a stainless steel or cast iron skillet (oil should never smoke). Add dried spices and sauté over medium heat for 45 seconds to two minutes, until spices turn slightly darker and become fragrant. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté until onion becomes translucent. Add potatoes and stir well. When all spices are evenly incorporated throughout the potatoes, add the peas, almonds and dried fruit, if using it. Remove from heat and set aside.

Prepared samosa filling with almonds and currants

To roll out dough and fill samosas:

Knead the dough for about two minutes.

Set up your workspace with an area (countertop or cutting board) large enough to roll the dough out, a small cup of water (1/2 cup) for dipping your fingers, a small amount of flour (less than 1/2 cup) for dusting your board, a bowl with the prepare filling and a small spoon, and two platters, plates or cookie sheets, one lined with parchment paper or a covered with a floursack towel and the other lined with paper towels.

Lightly flour your rolling area. Use just enough flour so that your dough will not stick, but not so much that thedough is completely caked in flour, either. Cut off a golf-ball-sized piece of dough, and roll it out into a large circle, approximately 6-8 inches in diameter. Cut the circle in half.

Fold one half circle in half.

Wet the top rounded edge of the quarter circle, then fold the bottom rounded edge over and gently press, so that you have a hollow cone.

Being careful not to tear the dough, use the small spoon to gently fill the cone 3/4 of the way full.

Once the cone is 3/4 of the way full, lay one half of the unfilled portion of the cone down over the filling.

Next, wet the free-standing edge and gently fold and press it over the samosa.

Gently heat the organic safflower oil, rice bran oil, or sunflower oil. I used about 1 cup in an 8 inch cast iron pan, but if you have a tempura pan or something similar, use it, and fill with about 1 inch of oil. Oil is hot enough when a wooden chopstick inserted into the oil bubbles, or alternately, when a small, dry piece of dough is dropped in the oil and it bobs up to the surface almost immediately. Be careful to make sure oil does not smoke.

When oil is hot, gently place a few samosas in pan being careful not to overcrowd pan. Samosas will need to be turned at least once. If samosas are especially full, they may have three sides to brown. When a samosa is brown on all sides, remove it and let it drain on paper towels. I use cooking chopsticks for this as they give me more control and make less of a mess than skimmers.

Serve samosas warm. Especially delicious with chutney.

Samosas filled with curried potatoes, peas, almonds and currants.

Notes:

You may use unbleached white flour or regular whole wheat (or even spelt flour), but I've found that the color and texture are best when I use white wheat flour. White wheat flour is a whole wheat flour that is made from a lighter variety of wheat, so it is lighter in color and softer, but still contains the bran, which gives it more texture and nutritional value than white flour (which contains no bran). It's kind of like the difference between white rice and brown rice. Neither whole wheat flour nor white wheat flour are really whole grains, though. Flours, by definition, cannot be whole grains as they have been ground. I have not tried to make any gluten-free samosas, but I'm sure garbanzo bean flour would be appropriate as far as taste.

The ugly side of soyfoods

This morning I read an article titled, "Soy is making kids 'gay'". Here is an except:

Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because "I can't remember a time when I wasn't homosexual." No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can't remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them.

I felt compelled to email Mr. Rutz, so here is my letter:

Mr. Rutz,

Your article titled, "Soy is making kids 'gay'" is not only unbalanced and alarmist, but it contains huge generalizations. Soy products should not be lumped into one big category. There are many types, for example:

Edamame - whole, fresh or frozen green soybeans, which are similar to green peas

Yellow or Black soybeans - whole, dried soybeans you cook like other beans such as pinto beans or chick peas

Natto - dried soybeans, cooked and fermented (generally a day or two) with a spore.

Miso - dried soybeans, cooked and fermented (usually three months to three years) with a grain that has been treated with the koji spore.

Soy Sauce, Tamari or Shoyu - traditionally, the liquid that accumulated as a result of fermenting soybeans for miso. Now, most soy sauce is artificially produced by "fermenting" with alcohol. Look for alcohol-free brands, which will be much higher quality and have a milder flavor. Shoyu is (usually) traditionally brewed Japanese soy sauce, the most common brand being Nama Shoyu. Tamari used to be wheat-free, but celiacs should read ingredients carefully, as some contain wheat or barley flour.

Tempeh - dried soybeans, cooked and fermented (usually for a day or two) with a spore.

Soymilk - dried soybeans, soaked in water, then pulverized in blender with boiling water, liquid strained and cooked.

Okara - byproduct of soy milk, the fiber left over from making soy milk.

Tofu, regular - "the cheese of the soy world", tofu is made from curds of soy milk, so after soy milk has been cooked, a coagulant is added, typically nigari, calcium sulfate, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride or for home producers, even lemon juice. Tofu made with calcium sulfate, and calcium chloride naturally have more calcium than tofu made with other coagulants.

Tofu, silken - I am a little unclear on the exact production of silken tofu, but commercial manufacturers use isolated soy protein or soy isolates, which are heavily refined and NOT whole foods.

Texturized Vegetable Protein - again, I am a little unclear on the exact production of TVP, however, unlike the other soy foods I have mentioned, CANNOT be produced at home because it involves processing soy flour through a machine at extremely high pressure and a high temperature in order take out the fat and compress it.

As a natural and whole foods educator, while I may recommend any of the first six ingredients, which are whole or fermented foods, I would discourage the use of silken tofu and strongly advise against TVP and foods containing isolated soy proteins. All soy foods are not created equal. While it seems you agree with me on this point, you carelessly gloss over this with your post script addendum by basically saying that the only soy foods you're opposed to are tofu and soy formula.

I believe the foundation of a healthy diet should be whole foods, like whole grains, legumes, vegetables, mineral-rich condiments, and expeller-pressed oils. Everything else should be eaten in moderation. Red wine, chocolate and even cake are fine as occasional treats, but shouldn't be the base of your diet, and neither should any refined foods, including tofu.

In traditional eastern cultures, tofu was considered bad for men's virility and cooling to the libido, but even this was useful. Buddhist monks would eat cold tofu almost medicinally since they had taken vows of celibacy.

All foods are more appropriate for certain people and less appropriate for others. Alcohol is not really appropriate for pregnant or nursing women or children, maple syrup and honey are not appropriate for diabetics, and a diet of hamburgers, french fries and milkshakes, while unhealthy for anyone, is especially inappropriate for anyone with high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Soy foods, with their high phyto-estrogen content, are generally more appropriate for women than men, and can even be useful in hormone replacement for menopausal women.

In regard to the headline of your article, your article really only touches on male homosexuality by discussing the "feminization" of males. How would you explain female homosexuality?

Instead of vilifying the lowly soybean and alarming consumers and parents, perhaps you could help educate them. The most commercially used soy foods are high-heat refined soybean oil and texturized vegetable protein, both of which are highly processed and unhealthy. These are usually found in packaged convience foods such as chips and microwavable burritos which, I think everyone can agree, are not recommended for anyone. Perhaps you could advise against these types of foods and encourage simple, home cooked meals and moderation for your readers.

A more thoughtful approach to stories that emphasize "the evils of soy foods" might touch on topics such as soy additives/fillers in foods, overuse of foods such as soy and wheat leading to allergies, subjective research being used to market products as health-promoting and certain industries being ready and willing to jump on any bandwagon that will generate revenue, ie. companies seeing that soy foods are "hot" right now, so using them in everything.

In health,
Christina

One of the major problems I have with articles like this (other than the obvious lack of information) is that they offer no solution. He tells us you can hardly escape soy foods anymore, but doesn't tell us what ingredients to avoid on labels, or tell us alternatives. This, in my opinion is very sloppy and alarmist.

Mr. Rutz says not to "even think about" giving children soy formula. Yet he doesn't mention that cow's formula contains hormones like BGH and tons of antibiotics and that the best thing you could do would be to breast feed or join a group like La Leche League to milk-share. He never gives any advice for what you do if you are unable to breastfeed, use cow's milk formula, OR soy formula. What about grain formulas like rice or oat formula? Grains are much easier to digest than beans, so they seem like a perfect choice for babies with digestion problems. You can even find recipes to make your own here.

Mr. Rutz could help our society by encouraging women to breast feed their children. I used to see a billboard that said something along the lines of "Breasts were made for babies", with a picture of a nursing baby. I loved it. It's healthier for both the baby and the mother, it reduces the chances of ear infections, and it may even help brain development, however I have a feeling that Mr. Rutz may feel that promoting breastfeeding would be promoting deviant and immodest behavior.

Quick update..

I have a tons of posts that I need to catch up on, including samosas, Thanksgiving dinner and Thanksgiving leftovers, but I haven't had time! Last week I was inundated with water troubles--no water, toilet that ran all day/wouldn't flush/handle broke clean off. With less than two weeks before I leave to visit my family, I'm going to be a busy, busy girl.....

But! I had to write up a quick post about some of the fabulous finds I made last week:
White Cyprus Salt (looks like pyramids)
Dried Lavender
Essentials of Clove, Lemon, Orange and Peppermint
Unusual natural extracts including Cherry, Raspberry, Mango
Half a pound of organic Tahitian Vanilla Beans for under 12 bucks!
Plus a few rare/hard to find gifts at great prices for loved ones, all via Ebay.

I'm sure these items will give me much to post about.

Tonight I'm going to attempt vegan stuffed naan, maybe a nice pashwari naan.