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).
Showing posts with label survey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label survey. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
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).
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
MoFo Survey II
As I mentioned yesterday, the survey that Mo did was slightly different than the one I filled out yesterday. And since I like to talk about myself, I'll crap out on my last MoFo 2010 post and fill out the one Mo has on her blog. I've removed a few questions that are repeats from yesterday.
EPIC VEGAN MOFO 2010 SURVEY II
What is one food you thought you’d miss when you went vegan, but don’t?
I'm gonna be a stereotype and say cheese, since I thought I'd miss brie a lot. I do a bit, but I'mma try this macadamia brie and see if it hits the spot.
What is a food or dish you wouldn’t touch as a child, but enjoy now?
Vegetables of most stripes - like I said yesterday, I almost never ate veg as a child (except, bizarrely, spinach for a while).
What beverage do you consume the most of on any given day?
I'd have to say tea on most days, especially now that it's cold. We consume a lot of tea in my office. I've been bad and have started drinking tea with milk and sugar again. I need to not buy anymore soymilk for the office so I only drink my unsweetened tea.
What dish are you “famous” for making or bringing to gatherings?
It used to be chocolate chip scones (veganized Food Network recipe) or chocolate chip cookie bars (from, I think, How It All Vegan). Now it's just cup/cakes in general, I think.
Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?
I'm a freak about my food. I usually eat a bit of everything in every bite, unless I really want to savour a specific dish. I also start chewing on the left and always finish on the right - it's all about the symmetry (and, even before I studied it, the archaic cosmology of the inherent badness of the left and goodness of the right, which is why the "better" bites go to the right side). I also typically don't like sweet things in savoury dishes (like fruit in curry) or whole / dried fruit in desserts. I'm sure there are more - I could probably write an essay about my food habits. Ooh, that's a topic ripe for ethnological investigation!
What’s one food or dish you tend to eat too much of when you have it in your home?
Oreos. We can have loads of other sweets in the house for ages, but we really have to struggle to make a packet of Oreos (or similar) last more than a day. I have to ration them or they'd be gone in within 30 minutes. I'm sure if we had ready access to them, we wouldn't think twice about inhaling the package.
What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available prepackaged?
Probably seitan. It's not as widely available here as it is in the US, but there's enough that I could just buy it most times that I need it. But it's so expensive, so why bother? On the flip side - something that's super easy to make at home but I always buy - hummus. We just don't like homemade hummus as much as store bought.
What ingredient or food is worth spending the extra money to get “the good stuff”?
Nooch - the stuff with B12 is 40-50p more expensive than the stuff without, but I'll pay it. Also, Plamil chocolate spread - it's £2.25 for, I think, 200g, whereas Whole Earth (I think that's the brand) is nearly a pound cheaper. But even though Plamil isn't consistent, it's still pretty much always better than any other brand.
Are you much of a snacker? What are your favorite snacks?
Not exactly. I have to really think about snacking, and I try to only eat when I'm hungry. I usually snack on noochy toast or bread with chocolate spread, or if I'm being really good, organic Pink Lady apples with smooth white almond butter. I'm usually not good.
What are your favorite vegan pizza toppings?
Chick'n or fauxsage and cheeze. More importantly, my favourite pizza dough is the Chicago-style deep dish in American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyes - if you liked Pizza Hut pan pizza pregan, this will be your pizza dough. It's the closest you'll ever get to that.
What is your favorite vegetable? Fruit?
Favourite veg is probably chard. Fruit - definitely organic Pink Lady apples.
What is the best salad dressing?
Goddess dressing - Annie's from a bottle, or Susan V's low-fat recipe if I have to make it myself.
What is your favorite thing to put on toasted bread?
Fluffy bread - margarine and nooch; dense bread - chocolate spread and raspberry jam.
What kind of soup do you most often turn to on a chilly day or when you aren’t feeling your best?
French lentil soup with tarragon and thyme from V'con - it's so easy for something so full of flavour
What is your favorite cupcake flavor? Frosting flavor?
I love me some cupcakes. I might have to go with the mint chocolate cupcakes from VCTOTW.
What is your favorite kind of cookie?
Snickerdoodle (no particular recipe) or the veganised version of Top Secret Recipes Keebler Soft Batch chocolate chip cookies
What is your most-loved “weeknight meal”?
Tofu scramble or pasta with tamari, oil, lemon, and nooch.
What is one dish or food you enjoy, but can’t get anyone else in your household to eat?
Shrooms. Mike's a hater. I had to eat an entire 250g package of them by myself tonight because I knew he wouldn't eat them, and if I tried to save them for another night, they would've sat in the fridge until I forgot about them and went off.
How long, in total, do you spend in the kitchen on an average day?
Minimum (including breakfast- and dinner-making time) is probably an hour, but up to 3 hours, maybe, depending on what I make. I think it averages out to about an hour and a half.
I was gonna do a post about tonight's dinner, but it's after midnight and I'm exhausted, so I'll try to not suck at blogging and actually continue to post now that MoFo is over (*sadface*).
Monday, 29 November 2010
Vegan MoFo Survey 2010
I kinda forgot about this, and now I look at it and it's 10 pages long! OK, not really.
The weather right now is horrendous. I've heard lots of people say they've never seen it this bad (though I thought last winter was about the same, but, to be fair, that happened in December, not November). Anyway, I had to drop my boss's dinner jacket at the hire place (he couldn't get there safely, and I live nearby). I thought I'd get a taxi, but it turned out that I would've had to have booked it about 3 hours in advance, so I ended up walking. Then I got the bus to Real Foods and did a bit of grocery shopping. I then walked home when it was hailing. The point of this story is that I got home cold and tired and ended up making pasta for dinner (and enough for both of our lunches tomorrow). Therefore, I have no pictures and nothing particularly interesting to talk about, so I decided to do the epic survey. So here we go:
EPIC VEGAN MOFO SURVEY 2010
1) What's your favorite spice or spice blend?
Hands down, without a doubt, cinnamon for sweet and cumin for savoury.
2) You have £20 to spend on fresh groceries and produce for the whole week (with a fairly well stocked pantry of dry goods, legumes, grains, and spices). What do you buy?
Broccoli, cauliflower, organic Pink Lady apples, chard, kale, tofu, green beans, onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, orange juice
3) What's your favorite way to make tofu?
I think I have to go with scramble. Nine times out of 10, my tofu will end up as a scramble. I love it.
4) Vegan guilty pleasure?
Co-op donuts, Plamil chocolate spread
5) If you could make anyone vegan, who would it be?
My best friend Eva, just because it would be awesome.
6) If you could only read one other vegan blog, what would it be?
Mo Betta Vegan, without a doubt.
7) Were you always interested in cooking, or did veganism change the way you saw and interacted with food?
I'm a Southern woman, and so was my grandmother (as I've mentioned), so I grew up cooking. My mom was never much of a cook - she dumped things out of a can or a box and heated them up - apart from her famous lasagna, and my dad didn't cook anything but chili (until recently). So I learned from my grandma (dad's mom) from a very early age. My mom started working nights when I was about 10, and that's when I started cooking for my family. But I really cooked the way my mom did unless I was baking. That's when I made things from scratch with recipes. I mastered my grandmother's fudge and cherry pie pregan.
But veganism has changed the way I interact with food, in that I now actually cook fresh veg and can't even think of an animal carcass as something I'd want to put in my mouth. I think it's made me a better cook.
8) Excluding analogues, what new things have you tried that you probably wouldn't have as an omni?
Fruits and vegetables. Seriously - I almost never ate fruit and veg as an omni, and now I feel weird not eating something green with every meal. I even drink green smoothies (when commercially available - my immersion blender isn't up to that task).
9) What is the one vegan staple that everyone seems to love, but you can't get behind?
The only things that come to mind are things like quinoa, cashews, dates, etc., not because I don't like them, but because I'm sensitive to severely allergic to all of them. My cheese analogue recipe selection is severely limited, lemme tell ya.
10) What was your first "wow, I'm such a stereotypical vegan" moment?
Not my first (I can't remember that), but I definitely had one two weeks ago when I busted out my stash of nooch at work in an emergency "what will I eat for lunch" moment.
11) First recipe you veganized?
Chocolate chip scones. I think it was originally a Tyler Florence / Food Network recipe. They were the thing I was known for in my circle (and I still have a friend who'll message me to say she misses my scones!). When I first went vegan, people fretted over never getting another one of my scones, so I had to veganize them straight away to prove that I (and they) wouldn't be deprived.
12) What would you like to veganize, but haven't yet?
My grandmother's fudge. Now that we have access to vegan marshmallows and condensed milk, fantasy is starting to look like reality.
13) Favorite kitchen utensil/appliance?
Cast iron pans, immersion blender, and chef's knife
14) Most disastrous kitchen failure?
I'll be honest, I don't have a lot of kitchen failures. There aren't a lot of flaming pans and "ohgodI'mgonnadie!" moments in my kitchen. I think the worst thing that tends to happen is that my muffins come out gummy. I could be repressing some memories, though.
15) First vegan cookbook?
I think the first one I owned (rather than borrowed) was, funnily enough, a book by a UK author from which I never cooked because it was before I lived in the UK, knew from cooking with weight rather than volume, or ate vegetables. It was Easy Vegan Cooking by Leah Leneman, who I later discovered was a lecturer at my uni (I think in sociology or history - I think her academic work had something to do with women's studies) in addition to being a vegan cookbook author. The first vegan cookbook I owned and actually cooked from was probably Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.
16) What question about being vegan do you HATE answering?
Pretty much anything from Defensive Omnivore Bingo:
I just have to mention this, because it's hilarious. When I told my sister that I made gravy for Thanksgiving, she asked me what I substituted for the fat. I was like, um...fat. She thought gravy only worked with animal fat. At least now she knows - fat from oil works the same way.
17) If you could tell the world one thing about vegans, what would it be?
Vegan =/= healthy - just because my cupcakes are vegan doesn't mean you can eat four. They do still contain fat and sugar.
18) Funniest vegetable?
The peen carrot:
19) What is a family recipe you have veganized?
I don't know that I have. I want to veganize some of my grandmother's recipes, but I don't have copies of them yet.
20) Weirdest food combination?
chocolate and Marmite - It was the best truffle I've ever eaten in my life.
21) Is there something you wish you could veganize, but can't/couldn't?
As mentioned above, up until recently, I really wanted to veganize my grandmother's fudge recipe, but it's made with marshmallows. Now we have the technology, it might be possible.
22) Favorite ways to prepare tofu, seitan, tempeh, any other vegan proteins?
I don't do it often, but just about anything beer battered is freaking awesome.
23) Are your pets vegan? if so, what do you feed them?
My cat lives with my parents and isn't vegan. Mike and I have decided that, if we get a pet in future, we'll be getting a herbivore.
24) Favorite non-dairy milk?
Alpro Soya unsweetened with vitamins, or Kara coconut milk / Alpro Soya vanilla for coffee and tea
25) What’s one “vegan myth” you’d like to squash?
Vegans are a bunch of skinny, malnourished, smelly, dirty hippies. Have you seen the number of vegan cookbooks devoted to baked goods?! And the most readily available vegan products tend to be junk food (it's easier to find vegan junk food than pre-made vegan meals or even meat analogues). There's a reason why Isa's just released Appetite for Reduction - a diet-friendly vegan cookbook. There's just far too much delicious vegan food to be had (which is another myth I'd like debunked - vegan food is bland and unappealing). And even the vegans who don't shower daily tend to take pretty good care of their hygiene. Honestly, as many vegan celebrities as there are, you'd think people would realise that the stereotype no longer has a basis in reality.
So, that's that. It took longer than cooking and photographing a decent meal. Oh well. I really liked the survey Mo did, so I might double post tomorrow and do that one, along with something of actual interest (like food, with pictures).
Also, I've just ordered Appetite for Reduction and The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza as part of my plan to buy things for myself from the US and have my sister send them to me as my Xmas present (i.e., my present from her is that she's sending me my stuff). I'm super excited to get them both. Hopefully the one will balance out the other. Heh.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Catch-up post to kill time - the UK Vegan 100
Just read this over on efcliz's blog, Cooking the Vegan Books, and decided that I'll give it a shot. There are surely loads of things I haven't tried, but I'll probably get a little closer than the US-based version that has things like 'a bagel from [some bakery in NYC]'. Anyway, here we go:
Your mission, should you choose to accept it:
1) Copy this list into your own blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!
Hampshire watercress
Haggis (I've actually had vegan and regular haggis. I love haggis!)
Montezumas chocolate (at least, I'm pretty sure)
Melting mozarella Cheezly
Tartex
Granose Mock Duck
Sosmix
Churros at Terre a Terre
Yorkshire pudding
Beans on toast (I need to have this more often)
Crumpets (with margarine, hummus, maple cream, golden syrup, White Bean Boursin from Ultimate Uncheese - they're the perfect conveyance for most toppings)
Mushy peas (unfortunately)
Aldi croissants (I didn't know you could get vegan croissants! Must go to Aldi.)
Bourbon biscuits
Holland and Barrett fruit flapjacks (no, only because I don't care for flapjacks)
Linda McCartney sausages and chips
Marmite on toast
Kent black cherries
Marmite breadsticks (not these, but I've had the Marmite rice cakes)
Beanfeast
Sunday roast at The George
Anything at Birmingham’s curry mile
Rhubarb crumble with Swedish Glace
Paskin’s full breakfast
Jersey Royal potatoes swimming in butter
Evesham asparagus
Potato farls
Bubble and Squeak
Sticky toffee pudding
Irn Bru
Bacon buttie with tomato sauce
Marigold bouillon powder
Booja Booja truffles
Scones and jam
Bird’s custard (I honestly can't remember)
Anything at Dandelion and Burdock
White chocolate
A bought pizza with cheese in the UK
Staffordshire oatcakes
Bread and butter pudding
Summer pudding
Potato from the Baked Potato Shop in Edinburgh (Almost without fail with margarine, salt, and baked beans)
Wetherspoons curry
Irish stew with dumplings
Mashed carrot and swede
Pease pudding
Christmas pudding
Cranachan
Blue Sheese
Faggots
English muffins
Pringles
Scotch broth
Walker’s prawn cocktail crisps
Mildred’s mushroom and ale pie (on my honeymoon!)
Masala dosa
Realeat fishcakes
Worcestershire sauce
Mushroom ketchup
Ribena
Anything at Vbites
Co-op donuts (far too often!)
Picalilli
Ryvita
Anything at Saf
Chip shop curry sauce and chips
Parmezano
Warehouse Café bangers and mash
Innocent Smoothie
Vimto
Eccles cake
Semolina pudding with jam
Linda McCartney country pie
Scallop (potato fritter)
Elderflower cordial (homemade, actually, though not by me)
Spotted dick
Victoria plum
Marigold braised tofu (This is great sauteed with avocado and made into a sammich.)
Clive’s pie
Wagamama Yasai Chilli Men
Sarsaparilla (nothing like root beer!)
Spring cabbage
Holland and Barrett Porkless Pie
Henderson’s relish
Scottish raspberries
Scouse
Colcannon
Fry’s Peppermint Cream
Hobnobs
Roast parsnips
Champ
Pimms (most unfortunately)
Rice pudding
Beef and Tomato Pot Noodle
Sesame Snaps
38 - not bad! There are a couple of things that are nut-based, so I can't try those. And then there are the regional things, like food at places in Brighton or London, etc., though I at least am privileged enough to have easy access to the Baked Potato Shop. (So good!) I had some of this stuff pregan, so that doesn't count (the non-vegan stuff, obviously). I think the Vegan 100 could be changed to fit any region (for instance, the original doesn't have anything about eating at, say, Spiral Diner, probably because it was written by someone from either Portland or NYC rather than someone from TX). Anyway, just a little time-waster to catch up on my posts. If I continue to post daily, and maybe do one or two more catch-ups, I'll have a post for every day of October!
Friday, 2 October 2009
MoFo Fail
I was gonna do a post today about cleaning out my cupboards and seeing what exactly is in there. I even took the 'before' photos. But then I had to go out, and I decided, since I needed to go to the store, I'd take a long bus ride, get some reading done, and go to the Sainsbury's out by IKEA. It was after 4 by the time I got home, and by the time I made my snack and watched CSI, it was nearly 7, and there was no natural light left. So, I'm gonna put off that project until tomorrow. In the meantime, I give you the VeganMoFo survey!
1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
Alpro soya for the B-vitamins, Oatly Oat Milk for the taste (organic only - the fortified varieties have D3 (not vegan!), which makes me sad because their chocolate milk was the best)
2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
English muffins (to see if I can start making them myself instead of buying 3 packs a week), cinnamon rolls, sourdough (I dunno, I didn't really think about this one and haven't really planned much)
3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
nooch and Spike
4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
The only thing I can remember is the pumpkin muffins and carob chai cake that failed because of my dodgy oven. Sad times. I still haven't tried that cake again. Maybe I should do that this month.
5. Favorite pickled item?
DO NOT WANT - I don't think I like anything pickled.
6. How do you organize your recipes?
My own? I used to have a Word document, but my hard drive died and I lost it. :(
7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
I would love to compost, but we live in a flat and have nowhere to take it, and we don't have a disposal, so, unfortunately, trash.
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, pre-mixed scramble spice, nooch - I can always eat tofu scramble.
9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Big Southern breakfasts at Gramma and Grandpa's house (not vegan!)
10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
In the US - cookies & cream or mint chocolate chip, here - Swedish Glace vanilla
11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
I love kitchen appliances. My top four are my hand mixer (29th b-day present from Mike), my waffle maker/grill/sammich maker, my hand blender/food processor, and my cast iron skillet combo (if that counts as an appliance).
12. Spice/herb you would die without?
cumin
13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
In my actual possession, probably Vegetarian Celebrations by Nava Atlas (my mom brought it over), though I probably still have some (not vegan) cookbooks in TX.
14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Seedless raspberry
15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
cupcakes
16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
That would be like choosing between my children. But, if I must...seitan.
17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
I love to cook, but I guess breakfast, because it's somehow more acceptable to have breakfast for dinner than dinner for breakfast.
18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Hopefully nothing, since the counter top is only about an inch above it.
19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Only one item currently fits in my freezer, and that is a bag of chopped celery. The only time I ever had the foresight to prep and freeze a vegetable that I knew I wouldn't use before it went off.
20. What’s on your grocery list?
Whatever we like at the Farmers' Market, since I just went to the Big Box today.
21. Favorite grocery store?
If we're talking Big Box, it has to be Sainsbury's, since they're so good at labeling their vegan stuff and seem to have a really good selection. After reading Not on the Label, I'm trying to buy less from the Big Boxes.
22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.
Gramma's Mexican fudge
23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
I just started getting in to food blogs, but The Great Vegan Conspiracy is a really good one.
24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Right now, probably Ritter Sport Peppermint, since it's the one I have to really control myself to not buy every time I see it.
25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
We don't really do extravagant food purchases, though we'll be going to lunch in Glasgow next week, and that'll probably be more than we usually pay for lunch.
26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
Fruit other than apples, just because I don't usually like fruit other than apples (unless it's in the form of seedless raspberry jam).
I'm gonna go make dinner!
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