The Peaceable Kingdom

Second Day In PDX

2008-09-07T02:41:59Z

I like Portland. I really do. The downtown area and the nearby districts are all so walking-friendly. The convenient mass transit system is a big plus for us. The downtown area is a very nice-looking place too. Trees and parks can always calm me down. The only drawback is that I never understand why there are only three or four 100% vegan restaurants in Portland. With such a big vegan-friendly reputation, we are mostly faced with a few vegan-friendly vegetarian restaurants (which often make us nervous) and worse, normal restaurants with vegan options (which easily scare us away).

That said, I liked Veganopolis. I was too hungry to take any photos of the food - the buffet and the vegan cakes from Sweet Pea. But I don't think I will go back so soon because I had better vegan meals in Seattle in the last three days. I cannot believe I'm saying this. Seattle seems to have better vegan food at those rather shabby-looking vegan cafes. And it's sad to know that Nutshell went from being vegan to vegetarian. We don't usually frequent vegetarian restaurants. But I guess it's still worth a try.

We have high hopes for Papa G's tomorrow and of course, the vegan mini-mall. There will be a party at Food Fight tomorrow so we will check that out. More exploring will have to take place. Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

TotD #35: Saturday, July 5th

2008-07-06T03:46:01Z

Did:

1. full-house cleaning, which made the house almost spotless and me achy everywhere.

2. grocery shopping. I bought so many things unexpectedly that I was worried I didn't have enough money to pay at the register and started thinking which item to cancel just in case.

3. too much bleaching and I breathed in quite a bit and felt like a sick dog.

4. uninstalling Babylon 6 because I really hate it now. It's become too expensive for me to feel comfortable supporting it.

Attempted:

1. to make a Japanese dessert but ended up buying and inhaling a packaged one.

2. to make a blueberry pie but ate all of the fresh blueberries in 5 minutes.

Failed:

1. to wipe out my whole Windows system and transition to Ubuntu completely.

2. to reorganize all of my books and other stuff in the bookshelves.

3. to venture into the green world and try out some new green leafy vegetables.

4. to continue the success of my diet. I had my dinner rather late.

Planned:

1. to make a new quiche.

2. to reformat my notebook and install only Ubuntu on it.

3. to push my diet forward.

4. to continue reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

5. to learn more about my digital SLR camera.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 113, Diet, Diet, Diet!

2008-07-02T04:15:48Z

The title says it all... I know I said it many times before, but this time it's not a choice any more. I've indulged myself enough and it's time to have some real discipline. Summer is here, for God's sake!

Garlicky Amaranth

This is a very easy stirfry dish. Fresh garlic and fresh amaranth stirfried in canola oil. Peanut oil will be good too. Less than 3 minutes and it's all done. Garlic and amaranth are really made for each other.

Borlotti Bean Porridge

This is the first time I've made any Chinese porridge. The key is to mix the rice with some olive oil and salt very well before cooking. The porridge will turn out very smooth and creamy. I used 5-6 times the water that I normally use for cooking rice, but I accidentally used a little too much rice without realizing. So this porridge could have been a bit more watery. I loved it though, especially in this heat.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Life QotW: Work It Out

2008-04-25T10:34:59Z

How do you stay in shape?

1. Try to eat moderately and stop eating after 5 PM.

2. Walk every day. I used to walk at least twice a day. Now I'm trying to do this again.

We both have to lose some more weight before my stepsister's wedding at the end of May.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 100

2008-04-18T14:18:04Z

I'm back. Unfortunately, I feel more strain and stress than before I left because I'll have to travel again soon, to finish the unfinished business. Oh well, the Lord works in mysterious ways and I know things will fall into places at God's pace. I haven't slept well at all, and I'm haunted by my own to-do list. It's a result of lacking faith and having too much fear, I'm sure. On a good note, I've been steadily losing weight because I'm too stressed out to enjoy my food. I guess it will be a good thing if my mood finally changes in the good direction. Maybe 2008 is really one of the biggest turning points in my life.

I haven't done anything special for the 100th post of my food porn and recipe series. So here it is. I did try Bryanna's recipe and make the no-knead yeast bread. I made a pizza and a foccacia with the dough. I still have some of the dough in my fridge that will go to good use. It was a great experience. I can't believe half whole-wheat pizza dough can still be so good, better than the non-whole-wheat dough. The topping was a marinara sauce with two large zucchini. I loaded on lots of herbs. I mean really a lot, which was the key. Great topping and great dough made a great pizza. My husband said it reminded him of an authentic Italian pizza.

Pizza a la Marinara

I accidentally took out more dough and I had some fun making a foccacia I didn't really intend to make. I used coarse salt and chives, which gave the foccacia a really good smell. I'm really in love with the no-knead yeast bread now.

Chive Foccacia with No Knead Bread Dough

I made my first hummus too. I cooked the dried chickpeas myself and shelled all of them for three hours. The hummus was really really good, but unfortunately I didn't snap any photo. I guess I won't be cooking much in the next few days because I really have a lot to do to tie up some loose ends and finish the unfinished business. Until then. God bless!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 93

2008-03-19T11:51:44Z

Being on a diet, I'm more inclined to make some nice, creamy and satisfying soups that are low in calories and high in nutrition. I stumbled upon this simple organic Italian soup recipe by Jill of Simple Daily Recipes. Jill's recipe is not vegan but I knew that I couldn't do wrong with an Italian soup. Indeed I was blessed with a super comforting soup that actually made me feel euphoric. Below is my ingredient list for a veganized Italian soup.

Organic Italian Soup

3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

3 celery sticks, finely diced

1 large carrot, finely diced

1 large zucchini, diced

1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice

2 cups vegetable stock

1 cup unsweetened soy milk

1 can (15 ounce) chickpeas

1 1/5 tsp. dried parsley

1 tsp. coriander

1/4 tsp. curry powder

7 stalks asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces

Salt and pepper to taste

You can simply follow Jill's instructions. But make sure that you throw the asparagus into the soup in the last 10 minutes, and add salt and pepper at the end after removing from heat to taste.

Besides the soup, I finally have some sweet stuff to share. I haven't baked any cakes or cookies for a while. The urge to bake some shortbread came as a total surprise but once I formed this idea in my mind, I couldn't be happier. I've always liked shortbread. And coconut shortbread is simply irresistible. I used the recipe by Nicole of Baking Bites and subbed canola oil as vegan shortening. I think I overbaked the shortbread for a couple of minutes but the result was still more than fine. If you like baking things, you will probably want to check out Nicole's Baking Bites which is full of gorgeous photos and great recipes.

Vegan Coconut Shortbread

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

So What The Heck Do We Eat? -- Day 92

2008-03-17T11:04:00Z

My good luck with Veganomicon continued. I saw French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme on page 141 and immediately took to it as it was very fitting for my goal to lose some weight. I searched my pantry thoroughly but only found a bag of red lentils. How sad! Anyhow, the red lentil soup still turned out very tasty and satisfying.

Red Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

TotD #30: Diet Again!

2008-03-17T03:19:49Z

I've finally reached this point again, dying to lose the extra few pounds I put on since Christmas. Spring is so close now and I'm getting nervous about feeling not so well physically and emotionally. I had a good start yesterday and I'm so glad to have my strong resolve back. I'm really grateful to the spring breezes that woke me up from my eating disorder. I WILL help myself this time.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Thing-A-Day #8 (Belated): First Photoshop Piece

2008-02-09T12:01:38Z

I simply googled for golden phoenix and got a photo. This is my first piece of Photoshop thingy. I really have a lot to learn in Photoshop in the next few weeks.

Golden Phoenix

By the way, we had a nice vegan lunch prepared by my stepmother. Everyone at the lunch had vegan food and vegan desserts. I certainly didn't expect it. I was actually dreading the lunch at first since we're so used to having non-vegan "accidents". We bought some food at the local vegetarian restaurant as a precaution but it was totally unnecessary. All the pots and pans were washed and we were even shown the raw vegetables before they were cooked. We both loved the vegan egg rolls. The lunch was tasty and healthy. You just never know! We definitely appreciated the kind gesture. The only problem was that we ate way too much. Well, we'll have to do better now.

And I got an iPod as a present!

x-posted

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

TotD #28 & Thing-A-Day #6: February Resolutions

2008-02-07T04:15:06Z

I've set New Year's resulotion or un-resolution but I haven't been carrying those plans out religiously. Maybe it's just a human weakness that I don't really want to face. Whenever we make a plan, we're doomed to encounter some unexpected changes. We can't foresee the future, so how can we plan everything out till the very last minute detail? I guess I'm only looking for futile excuses to justify why I haven't stuck with my own resolution. The truth is that I wasn't ready and I pushed myself. Obviously I wasn't going too far. But I feel ready now. At least for now I know that I can do this and I'll try my best. So here come my February resolutions.

1. I will lose 10 pounds. (I'm not going to set a time frame or deadline. I just know I'll lose these 10 extra pounds that don't belong to me.)

2. I will take a vigorous walk every day, whether it snows or rains outside.

3. I will finish reading the last 3 volumes of Proust's In Search of Lost Time in 2008.

4. I will make some serious and casual creative endeavors in the next 10 months.

5. I will write more.

6. I will talk less and listen more.

7. I will finish reading all the books on our shelves before buying any new book.

x-posted

Read and post comments | Send to a friend