Art Happenings: NYC: Tuesday!

Hello you New Yorkers! This week Hermann Nitsch will be executing his first live action painting within the United States, "60. Painting Action/ / 60. Malaktion" at Mike Weiss Gallery. Don't worry, for those of you who are squeamish, this painting will be done using paint only (or so I am told).

The event take places at the Mike Weiss Gallery Tuesday February 15, 10:00 AM through 6:00 PM and admission is open.

This is a rare chance to get to witness his live action painting firsthand. The pieces will also be displayed at the Mike Weiss Gallery February 19th through March 19th.

Sunday's Song

I honestly cannot get enough of this song!

It came on as I pulled into my parent's house in Lancaster Pennsylvania for Christmas and it made my mascara run as the lyrics and mood just did not fit...

While I was in Lancaster I was so homesick for Providence and for what my Christmas was the year prior. This is nothing against my family in PA; they spent last Christmas with me up in Rhode Island and it was wonderful...the tears had everything to do with a feeling of being displaced in NYC and not feeling I fully had a home yet in my new life. I think I also felt sad because I was going to Lancaster alone, well, with Malomar...as my sister and her husband were in Czech Republic visiting his family for the holidays.

That feeling has subsided BIG TIME and I feel very much at home in Brooklyn now, so now each time this song comes on, my heart fills up with happiness. Brooklyn is my home and feel pretty damn great about it!

A side note...this song sometimes pops into my head in some of my happiest moments!

Sunday's Song

So this song comes up often on my Marina and the Diamonds pandora station when I drive to work.  I love finding new music, and I actually first heard Marina and the Diamonds when one of their videos was featured in a blog that I like to read.

Marina and the Diamonds is not really the type of music I would seek out by myself, or even necessarily enjoy, but something about all that glitter sucked me in!

This song is by Passion Pit, and I like it because it is simple, makes me want to shake my booty, and always puts me in a good mood.

For this beautifully sunny Sunday, here is Sunday's song:

Girl's Weekend!

This Saturday, my sister and a  wonderful German exchange student, Laura  headed to Manhattan from Rye to meet up with me and indulge in some much needed girl's only time!

We met at Hampton Chutney for some yummy dosas.  Laura doesn't eat wheat or dairy, I am vegan, and my sister is vegetarian, so with that combo eating out takes a little bit of research...but Hampton Chutney hit the spot!  I had a spinach, spiced potato dosa with mango chutney.  Let me also say that this thing was HUGE yet light enough of a meal that I didn't feel that gross eating out feeling.  I feel like a lot of places just over serve you...and when I saw the size of the dosa I was mortified...but it was a nice pleasant full...not a "oh my gosh I can't even walk" full.

We wandered around LES and went to a great bookstore, and headed over to Broome street for none other than babycakes!  We got some vegan and (for Laura) gluten free treats to take home.  I got the cookie sandwich and a caramel crunch donut.  With my healthmonth challenge, I allowed myself 2 days of processed foods per week.  Looks like this will be one of those days! 

We headed back to Brooklyn as it was rainy and dreary yesterday, and proceeded to hit up three, yes THREE grocery stores to prep for an awesome meal at home.  Also, as three women prepping for a sleepover, we went overboard...of course!  The meal plan was:

Shirley Temples

Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir Fry

Root Beer Floats

and some sort of movie snack. 

This is what we got: 

And yes, not only did we get Vanilla Soy Ice Cream for our root beer floats, but we also got Peanut Butter Zig Zag...which is hands down the best ice cream, non-dairy OR dairy I have ever had in my life...and I stand by that statement. 

Apparently we forgot that we had already stoked up on cupcakes and treats from babycakes, because we just kept going with the movie snack food! 

For dinner we made Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-Fry (recipe from Veganomicon). 

It was a pretty quick recipe, certainly not seasonally appropriate right now, but it was very yummy! 

Quinoa: 

1 cup dried quinoa, well rinsed and drained

1 cup pineapple juice

1 cup cold water

1/4 tsp soy sauce

Stir-fry

4 ounces cashews, raw and unsalted

3 tbsp peanut oil

2 scallions, sliced thinly

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 hot red chile, sliced into very thin rounds

1/2 piece ginger, peeled and minced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 cup frozen green peas or cooked edamame

1/2 cup basil leaves, rolled and sliced into very thin shreds

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint

10 ounces fresh pineapple, cut into bite size chunks (about 2 cups)

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp vegetable stock

1 tbsp mirin

lime wedges for garnish

PREPARE the Quinoa first: Combine the quinoa, juice, water and soy sauce in a medium sized pot. Cover, place over high heat and bring to a boil.  Stir a few times, lower the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 12-14 minutes until all liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa appears plump and slightly translucent. Uncover, fluff and let cool.  (I cooked the quinoa for only 10 minutes, as I have a gas stove).

For best results, place the quinoa in an airtight container and refrigerate overnight. If you're in a hurry, chill the covered quinoa for at least an hour. When ready to use, break up any chunks of the cold quinoa with a fork.  (I didn't do any of this, I just allowed the quinoa to cool while I prepared the rest of the stir-fry). 

PREPARE THE STIR-FRY

Use the largest nonstick skillet you have (at least 11 inches in diameter) or a wok. Have all of your ingredients chopped and easily within reach.  Place the cashews in the dry pan and heat over low heat, stirring them, until lightly toasted, 4 to 5 minutes. 

Remove the cashews from the pan, raise the heat to medium and add the peanut oil, scallions, and garlic.  When the garlic starts to sizzle, add the sliced chile pepper (I couldn't find a red chili pepper so I substituted a serrano pepper) and ginger.  Stir-fry for about 2 minutes, then add the bell pepper and peas.  Stir-fry for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the bell pepper is softened and the peas are bright green.  Add the basil and mint, and stir for another minutes before adding the pineapple and quinoa.  

In a measuring cup, combine the soy sauce, vegetable stock, and mirin.  Pour over the quinoa mixture.  Stir to incorporate completely and coat the quinoa.  Continue to stir-fry for another 10 to 14 minutes, until the quinoa is very hot (it helps to use two spoons/spatulas to scoop the quinoa around).  

Serve with lime wedges and additional soy sauce.  (I skipped this step). 

Veganomicon forgot to mention this step: put the cashews in the dish!  Hahaha, I was like wait...what happened to the cashews? Add them at the end I guess?  We chopped ours up and added them last minute.  

After dinner, we naturally put on jammies and gathered around my computer (sweet home theatre) to watch Whatever Works, and have root beer floats.  It was Laura's first time ever having a root beer float, and I recounted the days of root beer floats for breakfast (one of my 3 month stretches of being a super adult).  

Then it was time for the farmily to all sleep. 

This morning I made us super-fast-or-we-will-miss-our-train Tofu Scramble before they headed back to Rye to enjoy this beautiful day.  

Recipe:

-1 pkg firm tofu, drained and pressed (I cover the tofu with a towel and put a cast iron pot on top of it to soak out the water)

-one yellow onion

-3-4 cloves garlic

-basil

-kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

-chopped tomatoes (I added tomatoes and hot chilis)

-a generous amount of curry, salt, and pepper

Heat olive oil in a saute pan or skillet over low heat.  Add garlic and onion and cook until garlic is aromatic and onions are translucent.  Raise heat to medium and add tofu, crumbling with your hands as you add.  Stir-fry tofu and add copious amounts of curry while cooking.  Once all tofu is coated and browning nicely (about 4 minutes), add kalamata olives, tomatoes and continue cooking, always stirring to avoid burned tofu.  Add chopped basil and plenty of salt and pepper to season.  

Serve piping hot! YUM!

A super fun and successful girl's sleepover, but wait...OOPS!  We forgot to eat our cupcakes!  

Cashew Cheese!

Our very favorite school lunch blogger, Mrs. Q, fedupwithlunch, has recently posted about the trials and tribulations of choosing not to eat cheese.  As a long time vegan, I feel ya!  When I went to France recently over my winter break, I put on hold on being vegan in order to taste the tastes of France and enjoy all of those delicious cheeses from the farmers market (read, not produced by factory farms...my main reason for being vegan).  Oh that and, my belly hurt like HELL after all of that cheese!  

This is a recipe from the Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen, a book that has seriously changed some of my main staple recipes...and if you do not already own this book, I do highly recommend adding it to your cookbook shelf!

The following is a recipe for cashew cheese, creamy and yummy and will help satisfy that craving for those of you living dairy free!  And for those of you who do enjoy your fromage, this recipe is still a keeper!

Cashew cream can be kept for a few days in the fridge, or 6 months in the freezer.  If you do keep it frozen, you must re-blend it after you thaw it out.

Recipe for Herbed Cashew Cheese YUM! 

- 2 cups whole raw cashews (make sure they are whole, already chopped pieces of cashews are too dried out and will not yield the creamy results you are going for!)
- 1 tsp New Chapter All-Flora probiotic (powder from 6 capsules) (you can find this at Whole Foods, or online)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 2 tbsp tarragon, chopped (you can substitute any herb here: basil, oregano, etc!)
- 2 tbsp chives, chopped
- pepper
- Dash of nutmeg, grated

Directions:
1.  Cover the cashews with cold water in a bowl and let it sit overnight.

2.  Mix together the teaspoon of New Chapter All-Flora probiotic powder in 2 TB of water.

3.  Drain the cashew nuts and put them in a blender with the probiotic powder mixture.  Blend until super smooth (The recipe calls for a Vita-Mix as a lot of raw food and vegan cookbooks do...I still have not splurged on this coveted piece of kitchen equipment...my food processor worked just fine!)

4.  Cover the bottom of a sieve with a few layers of rinsed, dry cheesecloth.  Pour the cashew nut mixture into the cheesecloth.  Fold the layers of cheesecloth to cover the top of the vegan cheese.  Place the sieve and cheesecloth holding the cashew cheese over a bowl.  Put some weight on top of the cheesecloth.  Let the cashew cheese stand in a warm area for about 14 hours. (I use a water jug or canning jars filled with water to add weight to the system...you can also use bricks or anything else you have that you have handy.)

5.  Remove the cheesecloth and put it into a bowl.  Mix in the onion powder, nutritional yeast, white pepper, salt and nutmeg in a small bowl. 

6.  Form a 2 inch log on a piece of parchment paper and put it in the fridge until firm (a few hours, or best is overnight)

7. Spread the herbs on a plate and roll the cheese log over the herbs to season.

ENJOY!!!

snow sounds!

I LOVE the sound of snow underneath my feet.  Walking through the park with Malomar each night is only made better by the lovely crunch of snow under my feet...not to mention, it is nice seeing him run around and enjoy himself.  Watching him toot around in circles with snow all over his nose definitely beats the feeling I have when I am scraping it off my car pre-early morning commute!

Chickpea Spinach Soup (vegan of course!)

This is one of my favorite (easy) soups to make.  It is easy to get almost all ingredients at the farmer's market, and it is so yummy and filling (yet not heavy).

Ingredients:
2-3 garlic cloves
1 shallot (optional)
1-2 onions (yellow is preferred but red will work in a pinch without changing the flavor too much)
curry
potatoes (I use about 4-6)
large handful of spinach

vegetable stock
2-3 tbs tahini (I almost always add tahini, but if you cannot use tahini or are just plain out of stock, any sort of nut butter will work..or you can skip it.  I just find that the tahini makes the soup a bit richer and adds some extra creaminess.)

Saute garlic and onions until golden in olive oil, add curry and keep on low heat until aromatic.

Add vegetable stock and water (to your liking...I usually add about 6 cups of veggie stock and 4-6 cups of water)
Add potatoes and increase heat to high....to bring to a boil.  Once at a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until you can pierce potatoes with a fork.

Add chickpeas and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add spinach to wilt, and add 2-3 tbs of tahini (optional)...at this point I always add more curry and some salt and pepper to taste.

This soup is SO quick and easy...saves well for bring-it-to-work lunches, and always leaves me feeling warm and satisfied!