Impressing the Omnis

Over the weekend, two of my friends came over to my house to socialize and cook dinner with me. One friend was particularly excited because I had never had rutabaga before, and, being largely of Swedish decent, she knew her rutabaga well. Plus, she could not believe that she would be introducing a vegan to a new vegetable. Her enthusiasm was ever so cute and amusing. That would be her (or rather, her hands) preparing the rutabaga below.

All in all, a great time was had. Good friends and wine is a great way to spend a Saturday evening. (We were even more wholesome after dinner and played a modified version of Clue.) They were really impressed with how the Vegan Brunch quiche turned out. (I made the broccoli and onion one with mushrooms added.) Both of them were flipping through Isa's cookbooks and enjoying the humor as well as the variety of recipe (and photos, in the case of Vctotw). I think that I may have just created a few more Isa fans. Even better, they claimed that they need to make cooking dates with me a regular occurrence. That, and another friend proclaiming on Friday that she needs to organize a girls night in the upcoming weeks with me as the main cook, makes me blush at all the attention. At least I can show how easy vegan cooking is in the process even if I don't think that I'm that spectacular of a cook; I just enjoying cooking and sharing with others.

VeganMo-What?

So, I succeeded in falling off the MoFo wagon this week... whoops. I was really busy and stressed out with school things, but the week is over, and classes are going much better. A definite pick-me-up after one of my stressful days was the Vegan Brunch pumpkin pancakes with chocolate chips thrown in. A great way to cheer up and welcome fall. If you haven't tried them already, go on and do it! You won't regret it. Mine were extra special because I used a gluten free flour mix that I got from the co-op. Made me feel slightly less guilty about eating so many...

Ithaca Beginnings

Well, I've officially moved to Ithaca, NY. I'm excited that this is my place of residence for the next five years not only for the vegan friendly-ness but for the nature as well. My new apartment is so cute in a 1920's arts and crafts style house with the original wooden doorways and window frames! I've also got a very nice sized kitchen with lots of cabinet space, and a gas stove.

At least it is a self lighting gas stove, as opposed to the one I used in Berlin last summer. However, as someone who has used electric for most of her life, it takes some getting used to. I've managed to cook some simple meals as I am still getting used to how long it takes for things to heat up and such. My very first meal in the new kitchen wasn't even picture worthy as it was a thrown together curry of sorts with rice noodles. (Plus, I hadn't figured out that I could still have the burner on and not be on the high setting, silly me.)

So, my first real meal consisted of sauteed chard with tomatoes and fingerling potatoes with a spicy mustard/thyme/caper seasoning. My, my is the potato dish addicting. I meant to save half of it for my lunch the next day, but I couldn't help myself from eating it all. Apparently I have a new food addiction/craving once I get more potatoes. Plus, the meal was made from produce exclusively from the Saturday Farmer's Market!

In other news, I finally bought a copy of Vegan Brunch! I had received a gift card for my birthday and acquired it after a random trip to the bookstore on Saturday. I'm really excited to start trying out recipes. My first foray consisted of highly modifying the mushroom and tomato stuffing for the Poblano pepper recipe. Despite my tweaks and serving it over millet, it was quite the delicious meal.

And as a little extra on Ithaca; check out these photos that I took while walking/hiking the Cascadilla gorge. There are so many beautiful nature areas here, and I hope to take advantage of them before my study schedule gets super busy!