Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day!

Over the weekend I visited a magical place in Seattle called Bedrock. They manufacture artful objects from 100% recycled glass. In addition to garden art, window treatments and various items like coasters, jewelry, etc., they sell materials for glass artists, landscapers, and also teach classes. I was looking for a few touchable objects to display in a large black bowl that sits on our coffee table, and the small, polished glass hearts and round things, plus a string of beads I found in the outlet room for 25 cents, did the trick. The small, wrapped heart in the middle is a chocolate heart that will be given to my granddaughter this evening. Valentine's Day is also her birthday, and she'll get a birthday gift and a chocolate heart. I wonder which one will grab her attention the most.

 oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Today is the last day to vote. I don't exactly fit the profile of a young mom raising kids, but hey, I AM a mom and I raised three vegan boys.

My rank is steadily slipping from a "high" of #23 to my current rank at #31. I'm OK with that, but it would be more fun to be in the top 25. I'd be honored to have your vote(s). You can vote once every 24 hours. :D

Black bean masquerade: glazed black soy beans

I really mean to switch back to cooking dried beans again, but it's so fast to open a can, that it's hard to return to an old, less-convenient habit. But with all the controversy about BPA leaching into canned goods, plus my dismay at seeing how much we recycle, using dried beans just makes more sense. The obstacle is that in the evening, when it's time to wash, sort and soak the beans, I'm done with food. I can't seem to motivate myself to go back to the kitchen and do one more thing. So, I worked out a deal with my husband — if he soaks the beans I will cook them. Read on to see how our first attempt at cooperation turned out. I wanted to make Zoa's Mexican-inspired casserole and needed black beans.

The next morning I glanced into the soaking bowl, and my brain said, "these aren't black beans." I let the thought slide as I rinsed and sorted the beans before putting them into the slow cooker with a piece of kombu. I remembered my husband asking if we needed dried black beans before a recent trip to the store. Wouldn't shouldn't he know if he'd bought them, and where he'd put them? You would think.

Several hours later I returned to the kitchen and my nose said, "these aren't black beans." I fished out a bean, but I already knew what my mouth would tell me. The beans were black soybeans, from way back when I was cooking macrobiotically. I still had those beans in the pantry.

What are black soybeans, you ask? They are a variety of soybean, but they don't look or taste like the more familiar yellow soybeans, and the texture of the cooked beans is firmer than dried beans like kidney and pinto. I want to say they have slight liver-overtones but I don't want to scare you off, so just ignore that. And no one has ever agreed with me about that, anyway. I've never had the canned variety, only the dried, and I think they are rich-tasting and delicious, but I couldn't see making them into a Mexican dish, so opted for a nontraditional version of a more traditional Japanese dish — kuromame. Kuromame is eaten in Japan during the New Year much the way black-eyed peas are enjoyed here, for good fortune.

The traditional recipes sounded much too sweet to me, so I dramatically reduced the sugar, adding a small amount of coconut palm sugar, tamari and sliced ginger to the cooking water after the beans were mostly cooked, letting the beans cook a couple more hours while the liquid thickened. The finished beans were slightly sweet and salty.

When the beans  were ready to eat, my husband stir-fried some veggies in our gorgeous new wok while I took enough beans for supper from the slow cooker and placed them in a small pot. I used tapioca starch to thicken some of the cooking liquid, and added tomatoes, green onions, and Korean red pepper.

 I have to tell ya, it was a very tasty meal.

The next night I took the leftover beans and liquid, and added them to a hotpot with stir-fried tofu, shredded cabbage, carrots and broccolini. I added some porcini powder to the stock for a little extra depth. (I wouldn't use broccolini again this way because the stems got unpleasantly mushy. I think cauliflower would have been a better choice.)

The hotpot with a garnish of green onions.

When the veggies were tender, I served the soup in bowls over 100% buckwheat noodles, for another delicious supper.


000000000000000000000000000000000000000

blahblahblah. I've been nominated for the Top 25 vegan bloggers in the Mom's circle of friends. I don't exactly fit the profile of a young mom raising kids, but hey, I AM a mom and I raised three vegan boys.

My rank is steadily slipping from a "high" of #23 to my current rank at #30. I'm OK with that, but it would be more fun to be in the top 25. I'd be honored to have your vote(s). You can vote once every 24 hours. :D

Chinatown: Lucky Creation / The Wok Shop, and how to season a wok | San Francisco

While we were in San Francisco I was worried I wasn't taking enough photos — ha! Clearly that wasn't the case, as you can see from my collection of photos from our fourth and last day exploring the downtown and Chinatown.

Walking around a beautiful city for five hours with a camera around your neck is bound to result in a few pictures. So please bear with me. We checked out of our airbnb at 11 a.m. and hopped the light rail  with Jordan and Alison for a short ride to San Francisco's downtown.

It was Martin Luther King Day, and a large human rights march was in progress.

Jordan pointed out the building where he works — the tan one you can see left of his head. We were headed to the Ferry Building. According to the Ferry Building Web site, "built in 1898, the Ferry Building and its 240-foot tall clock tower is the iconic landmark of the San Francisco waterfront. The dramatic heart of the building is a three-story tall, sky lit hall, known as the Nave. It runs the entire 660-foot length of the building. The ground floor of the Ferry Building is devoted to a 65,000 square foot public food market showcasing the very best of the Bay Area's world-renowned food community. The second and third floors of the building house 175,000 square feet of office space and the ceremonial hearing room of the San Francisco Port Commission." 

 A model of historic preservation, the building is a celebration of food — shops, restaurants, farmers market, kitchen and garden stores — fill the great hall. We tried various samples, and bought kale chips and a small bar of Scharffen Berger chocolate, but we were saving our appetites for chinatown. I snapped the above photo for two reasons — 1., it was adorable to see the two girls perched on the take-out counter eating Asian noodles, and 2., after four days in San Francisco, seeing children was beginning to seem like a novelty. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was starting to think no one older than 30 (maybe 35) lived in San Francisco, and there also seemed to be a dearth of children. In fact, the population of children under 17 in San Francisco has been steadily declining since 1970. San Francisco has one of the smallest percentages of children in the country, so if you don't like kids (and you're under 35 :D) you might consider moving there.

We headed towards Chinatown and lunch. I had a list of "hole-in-the-wall" restaurants, and the first one to turn up on our walk was Lucky Creation Vegetarian Restaurant.

There were so many choices I got confused and ended up ordering a combo-lunch plate. I gave away the noodles but consumed everything else and ended up stuffed, like the tofu on my plate. Yum.

My husband ordered a hot pot of some sort, and he loved it.

I must have been getting tired of taking pictures of food because I don't seem to have any of our dining companion's lunches.

Didn't notice the couple when I took the photo.

After lunch we wandered around Chinatown, heading in the general direction of our next destination, The Wok Shop.

I cook in a wok all the time — not just when I cook Asian food. I use it as my all-purpose cooking pan. Ever since Jordan ordered a hand-hammered wok from the Wok Shop (when he still lived in Seattle), I've been coveting one, and here I was in San Francisco's Chinatown just steps from The Wok Shop. I had to go and "just look." OK, I couldn't just look. I bought a wok and a couple of inexpensive  bamboo things.

Here's my new flat-bottomed wok at home, after following the Wok Shop directions for seasoning it. Pretty, isn't it?  I wanted a wok with two wooden handles, but the hand-hammered ones ones I saw only had one handle that looked like it wouldn't hold up. The shop clerk convinced me to get a wok with two metal handles. I don't necessarily recommend this version because I still think wood handles are easier to use, but I love the look of the hammered metal, and I'm not sorry to own this beautiful wok.



I'm including a video from the Wok Shop on how to season a wok, either carbon steel or cast iron. I followed the directions and my wok came out great.

We started the long walk back to Alison and Jordan's apartment, and honestly, there were moments when I just wanted to lay down on the sidewalk and not move. I think it took about two hours to walk back.

We trudged up the vertical hills on which the cable cars teeter, and it was with relief as much as interest, that we took a break to enter the cable car museum to view the actual cables in operation. Seriously, how do people think of these things — and get others to finance their plans.

We saw exotic blooming plants, like bird of paradise, and bottle brush, as we walked. I haven't seen a bottle brush since we lived in Australia.

I just want to thank Jordan and Alison for being such congenial hosts and giving us the grand tour of their city.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


I've been nominated for the Top 25 vegan bloggers in the Mom's circle of friends. I know I've been adding this to every blog post, but I didn't truly realize I was in the running until two weeks had passed after I received an email saying I'd been nominated. I've been pretty obsessed with restoring the lost photos to the blog, and wasn't paying attention. I don't have a fb page for my blog, and am pretty bad at self-promotion, so I really need your votes!  I don't exactly fit the profile of a young mom raising kids, but hey, I AM a mom and I raised three vegan boys. Now all I need are votes, and I'd be honored to have yours. Please take a minute to vote for me. You can vote once every 24 hours. Thanks! :D

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Seattle vegetarians: It looks like Seattle is getting another veg restaurant in May or June. The Veggie Grill, a chain of plant-based eateries, will be opening several locations in Seattle.


Full disclosure: I purchased the wok on my own. I received no money for the mention of this product. I am not an affiliate of this company. Any restaurant reviews are totally independent and not at the request of the restaurant. All opinions are my own.