Vegan MoFo - Sick again

I'm going for a cop-out survey post tonight.  I'm either having another allergy attack or have caught a cold for real this time, so dinner was a Freenut butter and jam sammich, hot chocolate and some allergy pills (and Mike just ate ice cream).

1. Favorite non-dairy milk? Alpro Soya sweetened, in the blue carton

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook? Sausage balls from the I-40 Kitchen, Mo's Texas-sized kolaches, and Isa's Apple Pie Pancakes

3. Topping of choice for popcorn? nooch and seasoned salt

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?  A couple of months ago, I was trying to be good and make lunch for Mike the night before so I didn't have to get up early to do it.  I put the pasta on, then promptly forgot about it.  About 45 minutes later, Mike said "what's that smell" and I remembered his pasta.  It ruined the pan and made the flat smell like smoke for days.  But I got a really good new pan out of it, and now we know our smoke detectors don't work.

5. Favorite pickled item? I don't really like anything pickled!

6. How do you organize your recipes? I used to have them organised by category on my computer, but then my hard drive crashed. Now I just have a few things on my hard drive and everything else in my bookmarks.  And I pretty much never look at them.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal? Unfortunately, we can't compost and don't have a garbage disposal, so we have to trash our food waste.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)? Tofu, nooch, chard

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood? Big Southern-style breakfasts at my grandparents' house – scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy (or jam or sorghum), bacon, cereal, juice – I've made a vegan version many times

10. Favorite vegan ice cream? One I made myself – PB Speculoos cookies and cream: a base made with Freenut butter and homemade Speculoos spread (using the PB variation of the ice cream recipe in Veganomicon) with crushed Oreos added in at the end

12. Spice/herb you would die without? cumin

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time? Since I moved to another country, I can really only count the books I've gotten since I came to Edinburgh, so that would have to be Vegan with a Vengeance.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly? Seedless raspberry

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend? Probably The Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever from VwaV, made with less sugar and added chocolate chips

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)? Brinner! It's not just because it's eating breakfast any time you want – it's eating breakfast without having to get up early to make it and without having to do anything afterwards, like get on with your day.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator? Nothing – it's an under-counter

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking. Mr Rak's mini-latkes (closest thing to tots I can get here), frozen veg, Linda McCartney mini-sausages

20. What’s on your grocery list? Nothing right now – I just went shopping the other day.  Oh, I actually need some soy milk powder because I ran out when I made the last batch of hot chocolate mix, and we're almost out of hot chocolate mix.

21. Favorite grocery store? Real Foods for specialty/vegan stuff, Sainsbury's for everyday stuff, Lupe Pinto's for Latin ingredients or American convenience foods (like Hershey's syrup)

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet. Poutine – it seems like the best idea ever – fries, gravy, and cheese. I just haven't had the chance, though it shouldn't be that difficult.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3? Mo Betta Vegan, Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk, and Cupcake Kitteh

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate? Go Max Go Twilight or The Chocolate Tree sea salt and caramel dark chocolate bar or Marmite truffle

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately? It's really only extravagant when you convert the currency, but I spent £4 (about $6.40) on a small box of Bisquick which probably would've cost about $2.50 in the US. I really don't often splash out on food. I find it difficult to justify spending £2.60 on a 2-pack of Redwood quarterpound burgers (though they're really good).