The Heat is finally on here in Boston, making a fashionably late appearance. I broke down and installed the window air conditioning unit in my studio today, creating a one-room pocket of respite.
Is there a better meal for a hot, muggy night, than gazpacho? I’m not sure, but this recipe from Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) was just right. I topped it with some diced avocado and served it with some slices of baguette.
I’ve been waiting to post about Isa’s new book Vegan Brunch for a while, but after cooking from it over the weekend I can’t resist. It’s full of things I’m drooling over.
Yesterday I made the tempeh sausage puff pastries and mango lassi to drink (you can see it lurking in the background), both of which were astounding.
And tonight’s dinner – not brunch I know, but this is an anytime food! – was the beer battered tofu. Oh. My. God.
Our 3rd of July festivities included some amazing rosemary smashed potatoes, but when it came to the actual smashing, we didn’t have anything in the kitchen blunt enough for the task. So out came the 8kg kettlebell (my favorite for quick-pressing tofu), which not only smashed up the taters but good, but also provided a good workout to my shoulders and lats.
And the finished product:
Central Square is home to Four Burgers, which makes a great vegan burger. Here is the configuration with guacamole and salsa.
Saturday I finally managed to make it to Wheeler’s Ice Cream, now located near the Symphony stop on the green line.
Clockwise from the top left: PB&J, triple chocolate chip, maple walnut, and cherry vanilla. They were all very good, but with the exception of the chocolate started to get a bit icy when they got warmer. Eat quickly is my suggestion!
Last night’s dinner, a panini featuring hickory smoked tofurkey, red peper miso mayo, sauteed shallots, sliced avocado and heirloom tomato on french bread. With a side of daikon-carrot slaw.
Summer is here, and it’s a great time for food. Fresh fruit! Iced tea! I’ve got so many things I want to cook.
I like tofu. I like it marinated in red wine, and grilled.
I like it grilled with pesto.
I like tofu.
I’ve been getting into hockey this past season. I grew up in Texas, a place where ice is located only in glasses of tea, so it wasn’t a sport of note unlike football. I never was much of a sports fan, though as a member of the marching band I dutifully cheered the Fighting Rams on, win or lose.
So I admit it comes to me as a surprise that I’ve gotten “in” to a sport. But there you go; there’s something about the speed of the game and its geometry that gets to me.
Going to Bruins games is also mighty fun. There’s a sense of ritual about the whole thing, a three-hour liturgy. But, as you would expect, the food is not all that inspired. I dream of vegan snacks – vegan hot dogs, vegan nachos, vegan super pretzels. These things would only be available if Portland had its own NHL team (The Portland Indies?), but alas this is Boston. Sitting in the plebian seats my options are popcorn, peanuts, or fries (if you’re freaky about sharing your fry oil with chicken tenders, nix the fries).
But! I got some discounted tickets to the fancy aristocratic section (The Club), with its own entrance and fancy padded seats and waiters who bring beer right to your seat and people who apparently pay huge amounts to come to a hockey game and then do everything but watch it. And they had a hummus wrap! That’s right, I found a non-fried, vegan meal. I can’t say it was the best $10.75 I ever spent, but I was so happy to find it I bought it and ate it with gusto.
I doubt I’ll be back to The Club anytime soon, but when I’m old and wrinkly, I can tell the tale that once I was there, and I had a wrap. And it was vegan. And it was full of zucchini.
It has come to my attention that, for some people, Vegan Man has been filtered as too sexy to read at work.* Is it the food porn? The too hot to eat (wait until it cools down) noodle soup? Does the single picture of me without a shirt drive the censors wild?
I’m not exactly sure, but I don’t intend to stop the sexiness, such as it is.
