Still employed

The 10th was Aaron's birthday, so I decided to try making something neat. The picture up top is Butternut Vindaloo served in some kind of squash that i forget the name of. The recipe was from 'Vegan With a Vengeance', I just added cauliflower. I was just eating left overs with couscous and they go together well. We also ate it yesterday with a fried tofu salad. Dark green lettuce mix with halved cherry tomatoes, green onions and tofu cubes fried in olive oil with lemon juice, garlic salt and thyme.

The picture below that is an all-veggie meal that I decided to make. There are lemony-dill carrots, broiled string beans with margarine and sliced almonds, and mashed potatoes.

Below that is a fried rice which was delicious beyond all description. I don't even remember how I made it, so you'll just have to take my word that it was really really really good.

Aaaand finally there's a picture of the Double Fudge Oat Cookies I made from a recipe in "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Its the sequel to 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World' and I can't wait to make more.

Work is hard

Who knew that work was hard and not fun? Why was I not informed?
Usually when I get home from work I flop on the couch and don't think again until the morning. But I still have to eat, so here's a few things I've been shoving in my face hole:

My friends and I went to the Vegetarian Food Fair the other week. It was a lot of fun, as always. I didn't buy as much as I did last year, but I did get Quinoa for cheap, some fake chicken which I haven't cooked yet, and the sequel to Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, titled Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Above the text is a picture of the Quinoa Salad I made the other day. I just took mixed greens, chopped avocado, halved grape tomatoes, chopped cucumbers, and cooked quinoa, and mixed it together with some olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Turned out really tasty, and quinoa has a crazy amount of protein and iron. Served with "beef" skewers from Gardein.

The top picture is my dinner from last night. I made some Basmatti Rice (cooked with vegetable broth and margarine), and ate it with peas and fake mutton from The Perfect Vegetarian in Kensington Market.

That's it for now. I'm going to try and stop letting my job eat my life. We'll see how that goes.

G20 Weekend

Well this last weekend has been a kind of shitty one for Toronto. The downtown was turned into a police state where people could be searched or arrested without cause. Windows were smashed, a few cars burned, several protesters and bystanders arrested and detained, along with some guilty parties, and idiots threw rocks at cops. Civil rights were violated, and a few people behaved like solid gold douche-bags.
Hosting the G20 meetings in down town Toronto when there are plenty of beautiful, difficult to reach parts of Canada where you don't have to shut down a whole city and hire an army of cops just to get together was psychotic.

Going back to Friday, it was Pride themed Rocky Horror, and I think it was one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Come out to the Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadow cast at Bloor Cinema on the last Friday of every month.
Right next door is Ghazale, one of my favourite places in the city of Middle-Eastern food. The last picture above is of the box of take out I got after the show.

Above the picture of the take out is a shot of one of the Tempeh Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches (or a "TLT")I made for myself and Aaron on Saturday. I used Marinated Tempeh Smoky Maple Meatless Bacon, which is a product I don't think I've used before but it was really really good. Looking at/tasting these strips right out of the package I was doubtful, but after frying they're sweet and savory and delicious.
You can also see some of the chocolate chip cookies with orange zest I made with a friend, in the background.

On Sunday I made Curried Split Pea Soup, but I don't have a picture of that one because I couldn't find my camera on Sunday. The recipe was from 'Vegan with a Vengeance' but I added cauliflower and carrots to the soup to make it more substantial. Very tasty.

Finally, today I had my friend Nick over for lunch, since he's going to China on Wednesday and I will miss him. I made curried vegetables and chickpeas with couscous. It was based on a recipe from 'Vegan with a Vengeance' called Spinach and chickpea curry, but I added carrots, cauliflower and celery, which I think totally worked. It was a delicious tomato-based curry dish and we really liked it.

Happy Birthday to me

Yesterday was my birthday. Actually two days ago since it's after midnight now.
We had a party on Saturday. I made a lemon bundt cake with lemon sauce (decorated with strawberries) and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. The cakes were from my new cookbook 'The Joy of Vegan Baking' by Colleen Patrick-Goudeau and the icing was from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.' I reduced the sugar in the chocolate frosting by like half a cup 'cause I find it just too sugary otherwise.
I should have taken a picture of the cakes to post here but I was so busy preparing I didn't get around to it.
We also had Lays potato chips, lots of hummus and with veggies and pita to dip in it (curtosy of guests), some chocolate chip cookies thanks to Sarah, more cake from Mike, cookies and jiffy pop from Liana and Cary (who are awesome) and a variety of sodas and boozes. I was worried about having enough food but people didn't eat nearly as much as I thought they would so we've been eating the left over junk food a lot. :-P

Two friends gave us a gift certificate for Fressen, the super fancy, super nice, super amazing vegan restaraunt on Queen Street. We've been there before with our non-vegan parents and they loved it.
It's hard to describe what we ate because it was all fancy and each dish had a long description. I'll just say it was delicious (except for a lot of olives I hadn't anticipated. I don't like olives.) The presentation is beautiful too.

Right now I'm eating hummus with Stoned Wheat Thins crackers and trying to figure out ways not to be bored.