Odds-n-Ends, Back to School Edition

Long time, no post, I know. Transitions have always been a challenge for me, creature of habit as I tend to be. With the kids at school, I am now thriving in a new routine, but it has taken me almost a week to settle into it. I'll share a bit of life in general around here during the transition.

The photo above is an example of a lazy way to make the mundane fabulous. This is just whole wheat linguine with jarred marinara, daiya "cheese"and kalamata olives, along with grape tomatoes and fresh oregano from my garden. The others ate theirs without all my chosen goodies.

Here is something tried and true: greens, grains and beans. The addition of french bread makes it vegan junk food, though.

Oops -- I forgot that nobody else at home doesn't really mean nobody else at home. I'll have to shut the door all the way if I want privacy. Otherwise Ellie's gonna get into my business.

On a night out with the man, at Sage, a restaurant/bar where we frequently order tapas with our drinks, I ordered what I usually do -- Mediterranean Crostini without the feta. It is the only thing on the menu veganizable except for a boring salad. Normally the veganized crostini is perfect bar food, but the other night someone in the kitchen must have decided to "improve" the crostini by broiling the toasts covered in feta. Grrrrr -- they thought I had only meant no additional cheese on top! How many times have I ordered the exact same thing? The photo is of the second batch of crostini after I sent the first one back. The cheese had been buried under all the yummy Mediterranean veggies, and we each had a bite or two before my husband noticed the flavor of cheese. I knew it tasted different, but I had forgotten what cheese used to taste like, I guess. Within five minutes of the accidental cheese eating, my head filled with stuffiness and confusion and I really was quite a boring girl for about an hour. Cheese steals my joie de vivre, my witty banter, my sense of humor. I just sit on the bar stool like a lump -- of cheese.

Back at home, after I had finally regained my personality, we decided to watch a concert DVD in our basement theater, and my husband did push-ups on the coffee table. Okay.

Taking a good look at my bread and pasta filled transitional days, I understand why I am feeling a bit, um, fluffy around the edges. Noticing and analyzing trends in cravings is a good way to get a read on what is going on with our bodies. I was craving carbs because of my lack of energy from the B12 deficiency. There is great news on that front, personally, though. I saw my Integrative Medicine M.D. the other day and she trained me to give my own B12 injections! I am no stranger to needles, since my mainstream MS medication is a daily subcutaneous injection, self-administered, but it had been ten years since I had done the intramuscular injections. The longer needle is a bit more of a challenge psychologically, but if one doesn't overthink it, the IM shot is a breeze. Now I can give myself B12 every two weeks! I bought a vial of B12 (30 doses) and a bunch of syringes for $94, and my labor is free. I am going to save a bundle on what it would have cost me to go in every two weeks to have my M.D. administer the shots. I love my doctor. She's always looking for a way to get what I need for less. Isn't she cool?

"You're the Lady Who Likes the Bok Choy!"

"Yes, I am!" I answered with a smile.

My birthday turned out to be a bit of a "birthday week". There are many generous surprise- and party- minded folks in my life and so I really had a delightful time being surprised and showered with goodies over and over again. I am very lucky! By the time my actual birthday rolled around, a Monday, my only two remaining requests were for a moratorium on sibling rivalry and a break from cooking dinner. The initial plan was for the four of us to go out.

We have been in the process of having a roof constructed over and around our backyard patio and fireplace since it is about a gazillion degrees, Farenheit, back there in July and August, and the roof was in the final stages of being waterproofed late in the day on my birthday. By the time we were finished helping the workers tidy up the work space, we were too dusty, sweaty and hungry to rally to get dressed for dinner. So we all agreed to plan B -- take out from my favorite Chinese restaurant, Xiang China Bistro. We toyed with the idea of eating al fresco in our new outdoor space, but, alas, even at 7:30 p.m. it was oven-like out there. So we ate in the comfort of our air-conditioned kitchen.

We each have our favorites at Xiang, so we normally order way too much food, but most of it gets eaten over the course of 3-4 days. I am the only one who orders two entrees, since I am the biggest leftover-lover in the family. I eat every speck of my choices, so I've no guilt in doubling up. I order "Garlic Baby Bok Choy" every time, and I choose from tofu or other veggie dishes for my second. I LOVE the Garlic Baby Bok Choy! In a light, garlicky broth, pristine bok choy specimens are quickly braised to the perfect crisp/soft consistency. The slight bitterness I covet remains, and the rich broth is not overly salted the way many restaurants tend to do. I have never been disappointed in Xiang's bok choy.

On my birthday, when my pups began doing their thing, slobbering all over the front windows, snarling  and barking to announce the visitor, I slipped outside to sign the receipt and add a tip.

"Oh, you are the lady who likes the bok choy!" the delivery man said with a little bow and a smile.

"Yes!, I love it!" I answered, realizing that I must have been the subject of some discussion back at the Bistro. A few months prior, a different delivery man from Xiang had asked which one of us likes the bok choy, and I got into a little discussion with him about other veggies they all love to make and eat in their own families, which are not on the menu at Xiang, only because it was determined the clientele wouldn't have much interest. Sugar Snap Pea Shoots (not the pea pods, themselves, but the actual shoots, or young stems) were that delivery guy's fave.

As I set up the offerings, buffet style, so we could each serve ourselves, I told my husband what the latest delivery man had said, with reverence.

"I bet you are the only person in Alpharetta who orders bok choy!" he posited.

Maybe so -- if that is the case, I wondered why the bok choy remains on the menu. The restaurant workers obviously like it, and I'll keep ordering it. Hopefully that will remain incentive enough for the bok choy to stay!

Since it was my birthday, I indulged in my favorite cocktail, a Grey Goose Martini, on the rocks this time, all the better to linger longer over, and with giant caper berries instead of olives -- I found them at the Natural Foods Warehouse! I love the traditional shaken martini with the olives, but this one was fun for a change. The caper berries, the original martini garnish, imparted a mild, pickled, slightly sweet flavor. This martini felt very old-fashioned and special. It was lovely before and during the Bok Choy, Szechuan Tofu and steamed brown rice feast!

Decadent Veggies!

"Decadent" is normally an adjective associated with chocolate, cheese, tiramisu and the like. You may wonder why I've chosen it to describe this flavor combination. Try it for yourself, and let me know what you think.

Baby bok choy is one of my favorite veggies. I find the baby variety to be a more pleasing white-to-green ratio than the full-grown kind. The mature heads are heavier on the white. I've really enjoyed Alicia Silverstone's simple preparation of baby bok choy with the ume vinaigrette and sesame seeds and have made it that way several times. In my 18 months being vegan, I've now finally run out of my ume vinegar, so it was time for me to come up with another way to honor simply steamed heads of baby bok choy. Perusing my condiment shelf, I noticed something quite decadent, indeed:  Black Truffle Oil.

At that point,  a wonderful idea popped into my head -- truffles are in the mushroom family. I resolved to create a buttery mushroom melange with truffle oil with which to top the lightly steamed bok choy.

A large handfull of button mushrooms were sauteed in about a tablespoon of earth balance butter, then taken off the heat and topped with a scant teaspoonful of truffle oil. The truffle oil is very flavorful, so I knew I wouldn't need much, and I was unfamiliar with the results that high heat would impart, so I just allowed the oil to warm in the already warm mushrooms.

While I was preparing the mushroom melange, I arranged the bok choy in the steamer pan of a double boiler. Once the water was rapidly boiling, I steamed the veggies for only three minutes, and finally arranged the bok choy cut side up so that the heads could catch all the mushroom/truffle goodness. The still-crisp, fresh greens were a foil to the over-the-top earthy, fatty melange, and together the ingredients were elegant, and, yes, decadent.

After dinner, as I was cleaning up, I had to smile as I found myself pouring the bok choy steaming liquid into a mug to drink as a tea the way my Mom used to do with water that had steamed the vegetables she served our family. It's true -- we really do turn into our moms as we get older! In my case, I don't mind -- my Mom's amazing!

Beverages

Teaser -- I've got quite a tale to tell you about something I've got bubbling in the crock pot right now, but since I've not yet tasted it, I'll wait 'til later to post on it. In the meantime, I didn't want to neglect mentioning these photos of what I've been drinking.

No, that's not tequila, I already drank that. I washed the empty bottle and am recycling it to hold my kombucha in the fridge. I finished this last bit off this morning. It got decidedly more gingery as the days progressed, so I may not need as much ginger next time. It also got ever so slightly bubbly, but not as much as the kind we buy at the store. I did more research on the bottled kombucha issue and found that the fermentation happens while the bottles are unrefrigerated, which could of course vary widely from store to store. In some cases quite a bit of fermentation is allowed to happen unchecked, hence the alcoholic content. Even so, one would need to consume 8-12 bottles of kombucha to equal the alcohol in one beer. So, I liked my own kombucha, and in my next batch will leave it fermenting a bit longer. I only gave it three days with this first batch. I'll keep you posted on what I discover in my brewing.

I needed a little pick-me-up this afternoon, so I made myself an Almond/Mocha Latte -- Just half Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk and half leftover coffee from this morning.  I just warmed it up and put it in this fun ceramic Starbucks-ish mug, and wrapped the whole thing with a woolen huggie. I cut up one of my old sweaters and had fun making these over the holidays. The coffee sweater is so nice to hold on a snowy day like today, and my fingers don't get burned. The latte was decadent and rich, like a cross between coffee and hot chocolate, again perfect for this weather. I'm all perked up now.

My "Kombucha"

Do you drink Kombucha Tea? I'm talking about the organic, raw, fermented bottled teas you can sometimes find in better grocery stores. I say sometimes because ever since I began liking the teas (Lindsay, of "Kiss Me, I'm Vegan" was right -- they are an acquired taste) the north Atlanta Kombucha supply has been slim. Whole Foods does not carry them at all. Sometimes Kroger will have just one bottle left for me to snap up, sometimes nothing. The labels are on the edge of the shelf, but the shelf is empty. Publix? Nope. Something seems to be going on with Kombucha.

I read on a blog somewhere that we can make our own Kombucha, so I googled it. In the list of ingredients is something called a "mother" which is actually a symbiotic collection of yeast molds that work together with a sugar source to create the fermentation process necessary for Kombucha. I wouldn't even know where to start looking for such a thing. It is described as spongy, and after you make a batch, you remove the "mother" and use it again in the next batch. So, you probably think I should go to some health food store and ask about where to get a "mother". No, I'm not gonna do it. I'm just not putting myself through that.

Georgia, I love you, and you have come a long, long way since I asked a store manager ten years ago about where to find pine nuts, only to have him stare at me, eyes wide, and repeat in a thick southern accent, "PINE  . . . . . NUTS?" then shake his head and walk away from me. There are some serious country folk down here, and a lot of them think I'm from Mars.

So an idea popped into my head:  the Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar has, "with the Mother" on it's label. Since I previously didn't know what a "mother" was, I had just ignored it, up 'til now, that is. Next step, I googled Bragg's for a recipe.  On the website is an explanation that recently the FDA has been cracking down on Kombucha sales because of the notion that the tea contains alcohol. I think this is a bunch of baloney -- I can detect the scant amount of alcohol in a non-alcoholic beer, and I think I would be able to tell if Kombucha contained it. It is said that Kombucha can become addictive. Well, maybe, but because of the energetic well-being it imparts, in my opinion, not because of alcohol. So this FDA crackdown is at the heart of the matter of why I can't find my ginger kombucha!  FDA, you are overreaching once again, yada yada . . .

Bragg's response to the Kombucha hullabaloo was to create a variety of Apple Cider Vinegar drinks that are purported to impart similar health benefits to the Kombucha. Of course they don't appear on our Georgia shelves either.  So I just made up my own recipe, which is pretty darn good, if I do say so myself, if not identical to the contraband version. Here it is:

Cheryl's Kombucha Tea
Ingredients:
4 cups distilled water
1 kukicha twig tea bag
1 Triple Leaf Detox tea bag, or other herbal tea
8 Tbsp. Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar
8 Tbsp. Agave Syrup
4 Tbsp. grated ginger
In a pan, bring the water just to a boil, then pour it over the teabags in a ceramic or glass teapot. Don't use metal anymore after this, since it can stop any fermentation. The teas I chose work well with a long steeping time, so I just left them in the pot until the tea cooled to room temperature. If you choose a green tea, you will want to remove the teabag after about 3 minutes or the tea will become bitter. Once the tea has cooled to room temperature, remove the teabags and add the other ingredients, stirring with a wooden or other non-metal spoon. I handled the ensuing fermentation in much the same way as we make the radish umeboshi vinegar pickles from The Kind Diet. Set the teapot aside, at room temperature, loosely covered with a lid or with cheesecloth for at least 24 hours, and not more than 3 days. Then refrigerate the tea. 


My measurements were based on the size of my teapot, which holds 4 cups of liquid with space enough to add other ingredients. You can tinker with the amounts according to what works for you. Basically, after the tea is brewed, for each cup the proportions should be 2 Tbsp. vinegar, 2 Tbsp. agave and 1 Tbsp. ginger.

I taste-tested my tea as I went along, having some right away -- no bubbles at all, just a flavorful, refreshing iced tea. After about 24 hours the tea was definitely not as bubbly as the storebought Kombucha, but I did detect a slight tingle on the tongue. I will try it again tomorrow, but I will be surprised if the effervescence increases by very much. I have some ancient experience with the idea of creating fermentation (my husband and I used to be master home-brew beer makers back in the day, when time was not such a hot commodity) and I do realize that sugar -- the plain old white stuff -- was crucial to setting up the bubbling process. Come to think of it, so was bottling, hmmm, I need to seal the tea so it stops "breathing!" I'm going to go wash out our empty tequila bottle with a cork and put it to good use! I'll let you know what happens.

Verdict on this homemade kombucha experiment:  Worthwhile. The tea is similar to the stuff that used to be in the stores, but not the same. I cannot claim that it is organic, I can't claim that it is raw -- maybe if I didn't bring the water to a boil? but the agave syrup, how is that prepared? My tea is delicious, refreshing and does impart a calm sense of well being, mostly from the alkalinizing kukicha and vinegar. I'll be making this again. If any of you have experience making kombucha of your own, please share your methods. I'd love to know!

Incidentally, my husband, watching me performing what he called my "witchcraft" said, "You are just like Eula!" he was referring to my grandmother who passed away when I was only 12. He was right. In that moment I was just like that wonderful lady. I'll take the compliment!