08.31.08
Posted in Musings at 10:30 am by trueepicure
I made a baked falafel recipe for dinner last night. I wasn’t impressed with the recipe that I used - they are kind of dry. The flavor is pretty good but the texture isn’t quite right.
Things I like about the recipe: the falafel are baked, the batter came together in minutes, prep time was minimal, and they are pretty tasty. The key for me is that my falafel are baked. There is minimal oil, and yet they are still crunchy on the outside.
Any number of things could be changed for the next batch. I might have processed the ‘batter” for a skosh too long, in which case I will have to remind myself to under-process the chickpeas slightly. Or perhaps I should start with dried beans and do the whole soak overnight thing? The Moosewood Cookbook and Vegan with a Vengeance both include breadcrumbs in their recipes, and Moosewood includes beaten egg. I’ve seen other recipes around the ‘net that include baking soda and flour. Some recommend cooking the patties right away, while other recipes suggest letting the batter sit for a while. I think I’m going to have to try this recipe a few times before finding a good compromise.
If you have a suggestion or a recipe, feel free to send them my way. Post in the comments or send me an email.
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08.30.08
Posted in Local Food, Musings, Plants, Victory Garden at 7:03 pm by trueepicure
I popped out to the garden this morning to check on things. The butterflies and bees are going nuts over the Coreopsis and the tomato flowers. They seem to like the sage flowers as well.
There are about five tomatoes on the Purple Cherokee tomato plant (that isn’t actually Purple Cherokee, but that’s another post) and one on the Pineapple tomato plant. The Better Bush tomato plant isn’t doing so hot. I finally had to transplant it from the upside down container into the ground. I think we’ll get a few more tomatoes from it, but I don’t know if it will survive.
If I’m reading the signs right, we have 3 eggplants incubating right now. I’m over the moon about eggplant these days, so I’m very excited to grow my own. I keep buying them at the farmer’s market and grilling them, and now I will be able to grill my own!
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08.26.08
Posted in Local Food at 7:04 pm by trueepicure
Because apparently, all you have to do is say the phrase “social networking” with the word food, and I’m all over it.
Farm Foody
(with thanks to meanlouise)
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08.24.08
Posted in Gardening, Local Food, Plants at 7:08 pm by trueepicure
The basil went crazy once I transplanted it into the ground:
Maybe I should have carried this at my wedding instead. 
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08.22.08
Posted in Food, Local Food at 11:24 pm by trueepicure
Chicken:
3 whole breasts of chicken marinated in:
1/4 cup Soy sauce
1/4 cup canola oil
generous splash of rice vinegar
rubbed sage
thyme
dry mustard (hot)
Grilled for 10 minutes/side - perfect!
Veggie #1:
Mushrooms and baby spinach sautéed with:
olive oil
squirt of Siracha sauce
Veggie #2:
1 leftover small purple eggplant from the farmer’s market a couple of weeks ago
1 rotund eggplant from today’s trip to the famer’s market - like Rosa Bianca, but completely dark purple.
Tahini sauce:
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup water
juice from 1/2 lemon
blended together
Couscous
Leftovers in the fridge for E!
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08.18.08
Posted in Gardening, Vent at 2:00 pm by trueepicure
I needed a small bag of potting soil this weekend, so I stopped by the local Home Despot on my way home from another errand. I picked up a small bag of Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix, which is apparently the only option if you want something smaller than a cubic foot of soil.
When I got home, I opened up the bag of potting mix and started to repot a geranium and a couple of other things that were in desperate need of a larger pot. As I stuck my hand in for the fourth or fifth time, sans gloves, I noticed that the bag says “use gloves when handling this product”. WTF? It’s supposed to be organic soil. Are they afraid I’m going to sue them if I can’t get the cow manure smell off my hands?
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08.12.08
Posted in Food, Musings at 9:46 am by trueepicure
E and I met some friends for dinner at Foxfire Grill last night. The food was pretty good, but our waiter was pretty terrible. I don’t expect a lot, but I at least expect that a waiter will hang around long enough to make sure that he has the whole order. Sigh.
The menu is pretty diverse, which is nice. There were plenty of good options for us allergic folk. The best part of the meal was my Mushroom Strudel appetizer. Two triangles of phyllo dough, stuffed with mushrooms and goat cheese, sitting in a little pool of mushroom/sherry sauce. Even E said it was “really good” and he mostly only says food is “okay”. We both came to the conclusion that it would be fairly easy to reproduce the strudel at home, so I’ll have to add this to the list of things to try.
Foxfire Grill
6550 Little River Turnpike
Alexandria, VA 22312
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08.07.08
Posted in Gardening, Plants at 12:20 pm by trueepicure
Andrew commented on my last post, that the flower pods (or whatever they were) look like alien heads. When these ‘aliens’ grow up, they’ll be quite beautiful. Can you guess what they are?
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08.02.08
Posted in Plants at 2:12 pm by trueepicure
We spent the weekend out in the boonies. I enjoyed the wonderful open space, but I found myself focused in a little bit more.
The vines of this plant were intertwined with the blackberry bushes in front of the house we were staying in. I’m not 100% sure, but I think they’re some type of morning glory. Cool, no?
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