Not dead, promise. I spent some time at a nearby Zen monastery, and have been catching up on work and such after returning.

I actually did do work in the kitchen while at the monastery, and it was enjoyable work. Some of it was just prep work, like washing lettuce or chopping onions, but I did some actual cooking as well, and made a really nice fruit compote one day. Cooking for scale is a different thing entirely; I’ve never made rice for 70+ people before, as an example.

Tonight I baked 3 different types of cookies as well as a delicious dinner. Thrilling!

Yesterday I was out in Western Mass, and stopped in Northampton to eat at Bela Vegetarian Restaurant. It was a small place, and while they didn’t have a lot on their menu, everything was very well prepared and deliciously simple. Not everything there is vegan, but they have everything on the menu clearly labeled so it doesn’t take long to figure out what choices are.

I got one their specials, tofu and chard in a sweet barbeque sauce served over rice noodles, and cleaned my plate. The only regret is that I didn’t have room in my stomach for one of the many vegan deserts they had.

We ran across a braid of smoked garlic at the grocery store over the weekend:

It was fairly expensive, so we left it there, but the smell was so enticing that later that day we went out and bought a braid. Last night we made a dinner featuring the garlic, in all its smokey glory. First up was a smoked garlic pesto, served over vegan ravioli with a romaine salad (not pictured):

For the second course, there was Tomato-rice soup with roasted garlic and navy beans from Veganomicon. This was served with some garlic bread; roasted smoked garlic spread over local cibatta bread.

2008 is off to a great start. I’ve been doing tons of cooking, but not so much blogging. Lots of good things to come!

Here’s a picture of some Korean green tea I had this afternoon at Dado Tea in Cambridge. The tea came in a bamboo spoon, along with a teapot, a bowl, a pitcher of hot water, and cups. One pours the tea into the pot, adds the water, and once it’s steeped enough, transfers it to the bowl so it doesn’t get too bitter. Once it’s in the bowl, one can pour it into the cups for drinking and add more water to the tea pot. It’s an involved process, but the act of making and drinking tea this way is very relaxing.

Hello 2008! The last thing baked in 2007 was a batch of Veganomicon Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Walnut Cookies.