one lucky duck- good, but insanely expensive

just a short and sweet mofo post/restaurant review today. while you're reading this, I'm heading to JFK airport and getting ready to leave the country!

While I was in New York City last April, my friend D. and I were walking around. It was a chilly day, so we decided to duck (no pun!) into a cozy little place to warm up. D. mentioned that she had seen a raw vegan place that she thought I might be interested in, One Lucky Duck. Well, I'd heard of them (Pure Food and Wine's little outpost), and I was intrigued.

So we ordered a pot of tea to share, and a piece of tiramisu to share. The bill came to over $23. That is stupid expensive! Good thing the tiramisu was good because... I'm never going back here again until a)I win the lottery b)I get a sugar daddy or c)I decide to quit paying my mortgage!

The next day I went back there and said I'd really liked their raw tiramisu, and I don't live near the restaurant, so would they be willing to share the recipe with me? The answer was "no, but you can buy our upcoming cookbook." PFFFFFT.

one lucky duck- good, but insanely expensive

carrot jam?

yes, carrot jam! remember my uncle who lives in Sweden? We visited him last October? Well, I was really thrilled to have him visit us here in Syracuse last April. Daii is a really good cook. While staying with him, I'd enjoyed a unique jam that he had made- made up of carrots (and also apples, lemon, cardamom and vanilla.) The flavor is so good, the jam is so fragrant and bright and vibrant, you have to try some yourself! I photographed while he was making the jam, and will now give you a photo-essay:

zest and juice some lemons.

peel and grate some carrots and tart apples.

add some sugar and pectin- or, sugar with pectin already included, like what daii brought!

add some cardamom (crushed pods, or ground, if pods, you'll have to fish them out once the jam is done) and vanilla.

cook and cook and cook and cook

and cook some more! skim the foam and other debris (cardamom bits?) periodically.

let cool completely, then pour into sterilized jars. I didn't can these (I haven't canned anything yet!), because we were going to give a lot of them away and I was sure they'd be gobbled up quickly. In addition, since they weren't heat-treated, the jam retained a fresh, crisp character. Store them in the refrigerator. We are working on our last jar right now, so this jam has stayed good for at least 6 months! Try it today- I know you'll like it!

carrot jam?

my little veganmofo tradition

Happy October, everyone- VeganMoFo III is upon us! It's so thrilling to be part of such a large group of bloggers participating in this yearly event. For the last 2 years, I have had a tradition of kicking off MoFo with a post dedicated to my favorite hot and comforting beverage- well, mine and a few billion others' ... tea! (Click here to see the 2007 and 2008 posts.)

I love any kind of tea (actually, I don't love that many herbal teas, but give me black, green, white, red...) any time of day. But I have to admit, a hot cuppa kicks some seriously special ass on a cold, wet day.

Which is where I found myself late last October, in the town of Bath, England...

clouds and rain? check. umbrella? check. wellies? check. all that was missing was... you guessed it...
Daiku and I ducked into a coffee shop, where I was pleasantly surprised that they had soy milk. Yay for random vegan finds in random cafés in random cities! So without further ado...

my little veganmofo tradition

It's coming...

October is going to be the 3rd annual VEGAN MOnth of FOod! It's not too late to get your blog into the game- visit Kittee's blog for more info.
VeganMoFo is overwhelming, but so so fun! Email me if you want more information!

If you want to see what my previous mofos have looked like, check out:

October 2008 (from all over Europe)
November 2007 (I actually managed to post 30 times that time- woah!)

Here comes VEGANMOFO III! Are you ready...?

It's coming...

a debate of great importance

sometimes, you think you know someone. you think you know them well. and then you find that you have deep, fundamental differences. this is how I felt when I found out that some of my closest friends ... (gah. it's so hard to even write about this)... DON'T like raisins. poor, sweet, delicious, nutritious raisins. nature's candy. a huge part of any trail mix. sigh.

but this gets even more personal when this irrational aversion to raisins messes with the childhood tradition known as ants on a log. (most Americans are familiar with this treat: celery sticks filled with peanut butter and topped with raisin "ants").

Here's me and Pandacookie battling over whether to go with TRADITIONAL, COMFORTING, HONEST ants on a log or blaspheming them by excluding raisins in lieu of chocolate. (um, thereby turning this nutritious and innocent snack into a den of caloric inequity). But I digress. Being the diplomatic vegans that we were, we made both.

What do YOU think? Please vote! The future of humanity depends on this!

celery, PB, and...

• raisin! obviously
• chocolate! duh

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a debate of great importance

because it's still summer, dammit!

Ok, I'm seeing too many fall-related blog posts lately! People, it's still summer until this coming WEDNESDAY. I don't want to hear about your pumpkins and squash and Halloween costumes and hot cider! It's summer! I refuse to give in to fall until I absolutely have to!

So in that vein, a little flashback post from last summer...

What do you do when you come across some insane heirloom tomatoes in the Downtown Syracuse Farmers Market? Like the big buddy above, weighing in at around 4 pounds?

How about a tomato focaccia?

How about letting them play the star role in the meal? Doesn't a nice fat tomato drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and fresh basil look so much better than some big roasted dead thing?

Oh god, I am do damn vegan...

because it's still summer, dammit!

a perfect work lunch

I have a good reason why I haven't blogged in a little while- for the past 5 weeks, I have been working for a mayoral candidate leading up to the Sept. 15th primary. How did we do? Let's just say that Syracuse is well on its way to having its first female mayor- woo! Now that the primary is behind us, I will be back to cooking, eating, and blogging more seriously. While I was working, the above photo was a typical lunch- wheat crackers, Follow Your Heart cheddar cheese, and a fruit leather. Great, however not the most blog-worthy meal.

However, in the next few weeks, we have ... my trip to Finland and Austria with some awesome fellow vegans, the 3rd installment of VeganMoFo, the start of Fall and Autumnal foods galore, in other words, blogging bonanza!

a perfect work lunch