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Night at the Ballpark

Posted in Good Times, Vegan and Vegetarian Lifestyle with tags , , , , on June 12, 2010 by Verge

Monika and I managed to score a pair of tickets to the Phillies game on Thursday.  Anyone who knows me can tell that I don’t really watch baseball.  I find it pretty boring and too slow for my taste.  Going to a live baseball game, on the other hand, is really exciting and I thoroughly enjoy the experience because it’s just that…an experience.

Of course, we couldn’t go to an authentic ball game without a little tailgating.  We wanted to go simple, though, because taking home a bunch of empty bottles of beer in the car afterward is out of the question, and leaving it in the parking lot is just not our style.  We hit up my favorite local liquor store and decided on two forties, white trash style.

We arrived in the third because there was ridiculous traffic and we still had to have a sip of beer in the lots.  Though I don’t go very often, I really do love the new park.  It is so much nicer than seeing a ball game at the Vet.  I’m really glad they chose, in the end, not to share a stadium with the Eagles.

smaller is better in the baseball world

Our seats were pretty damn fine for free

We enjoyed a beer inside the venue, but eventually we got bored (there were only two runs the entire game) and got hungry.  Philly has the best food for a pair of vegetarians in the entire country.  First, we tracked down the vegan hot dogs.  We found them without too much hunting, right along side of the regular hot dogs, but with a special “vegan” sticker stuck to the quintessential tin foil wrapped hot dogs.   Surprisingly, there was plenty to grab and they were freshly reheated.

The condiments center at the Park is pretty nice, too.  It was relatively clean, all the ketchup and mustard dispensers were full and not disgusting, and you have a choice to grab packets as well.  Also, they have these fresh cut onions dispenser that you crank with a handle and out plops bits of coarsely cut fresh white onions.  Pretty neat, actually.  I had two vegan dogs with onions and ketchup and they were every bit as delicious as I remember a hot dog being when I was a kid at he ball game with my dad.

we stopped back in our seats to watch the Phillies not winning

After we’d had enough, we went to look for the vegetarian cheese steaks that I knew were in here somewhere.  I knew it might take us all night going to every kiosk to find it, so I asked a pleasantly helpful cashier where I might find one, and she knew.  We headed to the first level concourse where Campo’s is located.  The lines weren’t too long at all, and I ordered one veggie american wit.

my mouth was watering...twice!

We grabbed another eyefuls of views of the game and ball park before heading back to the car to enjoy our victory sandwich.

the field after sunset, under the lights

...

there plenty to see even if you're just a casual baseball fan

Me and Monika are not sports nuts.  Well, that is to say, we are not huge fans of watching other people engage in sports, though we do like to play games ourselves.  But, if the opportunity affords you, I would highly recommend an outing to see the Phillies sometime.  Baseball still is our national past time and a fantastic summer ritual.  And, contrary to public perception (which is often true), Philly’s fans aren’t really some crude form of humans.  They just want to have a good time, see their team win, and hang out with other fans…as long as they’re dressed in red (or orange, or green).

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Paper Gifts

Posted in Good Times, Reflections, Vegan and Vegetarian Lifestyle with tags , , on May 21, 2010 by Verge

So, May 17th was the first anniversary of my marriage to Monika.  This year, our actual anniversary fell on Monday, which isn’t the best of days to celebrate or go out to dinner.  Instead, we decided to revisit the beautiful place we got married for our anniversary dinner, the Valley Green Inn.

The VGI has great vegan and vegetarian food, but you wouldn’t exactly know it at first glance.  They don’t really have regular vegetarian choices on their menu.  However, I knew that they had tons of choices, so I emailed them to ask if it was possible if they could prepare us something special.

With better restaurants, this is a must.  As an email exchange I had with one of the managers of VGI confirmed, chef’s often enjoy the opportunity to cook something new.  Specifically, he said that their head chef was going to go to the local market to buy items that were fresh and in season for our dinner.

We arrived in the Wissahickon Valley around 530 for our 6 PM reservation.  It was a mild night and the park was teeming, so we hiked in from the upper lot.  When we checked in at the hostess desk, she wished us a happy anniversary, and we got to sit outside on the porch just 50 feet away from where we were married last year.

Of course, we order a bottle of Champagne.  The waitress handed us menus, but then quickly realized we were “the vegetarians.”  I told her we were eating whatever the cook wanted to serve us and that’s exactly how it went down.  We started with two fresh salads, and our entree was a mix of vegetables and sauces, all of which were teeming with flavor and quite satisfying.  I also had a martini and Monika stuck to the champagne.

We almost never order dessert.  Most of the time, it’s too full of fat, and neither of us like cake at all.  But, we decided we should try some and ordered a sorbet  with fruit “leather.”  When it arrived, the chef had carefulyl written in chocolate, on the rim of the plate, “Happy 1st Anniversary.”  Really, above and beyond our expectations by far.

I really didn’t care what the meal cost.  I had told the chef originally that I would be happy to pay whatever price he thought was fair for the off-the-menu entrees he was serving us.  Well, I have no idea what that price might have been.  Our entrees weren’t on the bill at all.

The waitress informed us that our entire meal, drinks and all, was on the house.  I can’t explain how floored we were at the level of graciousness The Valley Green Inn showed in helping us make our first anniversary dinner a special one.  The waitress got a pretty damn nice tip from us.

Then, we took some pictures at the exact spot we were married.  I really can’t believe it’s been a year already.  As time goes on, there may never again be such a collection of wonderful people at one of our parties.  I hope, at least, a party of two will return here every year for the rest of our lives.

Oh, and the title of this blog…that refers to the type gift one is to give your wife on your first anniversary.  So, this is what she got from me this year.

a beautiful writing journal...

...our first blotter art piece; it is the start of a new collection...

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Vegan Chicken in Wine Sauce (or, How I Managed to Steal My Mother’s Recipe)

Posted in Recipes, Vegan and Vegetarian Lifestyle with tags , , on May 4, 2010 by Verge

When we were kids, my mom would let my brother, sister, and me choose whatever we wanted to eat for dinner for our birthdays.   However outlandish, it was our day, and we got to choose whatever we wanted.  For several years, my choice was Burger King Bacon Double Cheeseburgers.  Not one of them.  Not two, either.  As many as I could eat.  I remember my dad actually CALLING IN orders to Burger King because we were coming to pick up as many as thirty cheeseburgers and tons of fries!

Eventually, as with many other things in my life, I took after my older brother and starting requesting our favorite childhood dish, Chicken in Wine Sauce.  It really became a comfort food for me and the taste was so distinct, it always reminded me of home, my parents, and my birthday dinners.

It’s not a very difficult recipe if you’re not a vegetarian.  It’s actually shockingly simple thanks to the good folks at Campbell’s Foods.  But, as a non-meat eater, It’s been a decade and a half quest to replace the succulence and sheer, simple deliciousness of that dish.  Tonight, I attempted once again.

The chicken is the first obstacle, and the sauce is the second.  I was so satisfied with the new faux-chicken, vegan, seven grain crispy tenders I reviewed here, that it was enough to take a go at re-creating the second obstacle– the sauce.  The problem with Campbell’s is that the original recipe calls for Golden Mushroom soup.  First ingredient–Beef Stock.  Unnecessarily, it also contains beef lard, albeit in a such a small amount, it begs the question, “why use it at all?”

Conveniently, Golden Mushroom soup lists its ingredients right on the label thanks to the FDA.  It’s little more than water, salt, MSG, mushrooms and a bit of wine.  So, that’s how I made it, pretty much.

1 Package of Gardein Seven Grain Crispy Strips

1 Large Onion

1  10 oz pack of Baby Bella Mushrooms (you can use any mushrooms, but these are particularly tender and succulent.)

24 oz white wine

8 oz vegetable stock (I use vegetable bouillon cubes.  directions say one cube for each 8 oz, but I use 2 in this recipe.That seems like double the amount, but the total liquid volume is 32 oz, or four cups, so it’s actually HALF the bouillon they recommend on the box which means half the sodium.)

Some salt and Pepper and a bit of dried Basil

1-2 Tbsp Vegan Butter Substitute

1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast

Bake chicken strips @ 425 for ~30 minutes on a Pam'd sheet. Flip half waythrough cooking.

Peel and dice the onion into tiny pieces...

We like to use our Genius Chopper, but any kind will do, even a good old knife.

At the same time, boil two bouillon cubes with 8 oz of water (or 8 oz of vegetable stock and no cubes)

Fry the onion on high heat in the butter...stir occasionally...add some salt, pepper and dried basil...

While the stock is boiling and the onions are caramelizing, slice the mushrooms. Sometimes I remove the stems, but keep 'em on in this recipe. Cut off any hard tips, though, and wash thoroughly.

Add 24 oz of the white wine to the stock and bring to a slow simmer...

when you buy the big bottle, there's enough left over for yourselves!

Don't forget to flip that faux chicken when the bottoms are browned.

when the onions look like this...

...do this.

cook until the mushrooms are soft on the outside but uncooked on the inside. This is an art. Mushy mushrooms are overcooked, and raw ones aren't what you're going for either. 2-4 minutes is about right. Be gently when stirring so you don't break the mushrooms.

Fully cooked chicken goes into a casserole dish. You can layer them if you need to, but I suggest one layer, like this.

when the mushrooms are softened, dump the stock into the onion, mushroom, spice mixture and simmer for about a minute or two to mix the flavors...

then add the half cup nutritional yeast, a quarter cup at a time, to thicken the final Golden Mushroom rip-off recipe.

Now, pour the soup over the chicken in the casserole dish, cover, and bake on 350 for about an hour or an hour and a half, until the soup is more like a sauce than a liquid.  While that’s happening, cook yourself some long grain rice.  We mixed it with some basmatti rice and seasoning packet,  and Monika sliced some broccoli and carrots to steam in our rice cooker.

This vegan chicken in wine sauce recipe was so damn delicious, that as I was loading the licked-clean dishes from our dinner into the dishwasher, I turned around and Monika had fallen asleep!  I packed the leftovers into lunch sized containers and brought two over to Kreg and Kat for them to try the next day.  They both loved it as well.  When I cook something so delicious, there’s nothing I like more that to share it with friends.

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The Prepared Pantry

Posted in Vegan and Vegetarian Lifestyle with tags , , , on March 10, 2010 by Verge

I’ve decided that, from now going forward, whenever I decide to add a link to my blog, I will explain why.  I guess it looks like I’m a bit indiscriminate by the sheer number of links I have on my blog already.  However, that is not the case and I hope to retroactively give a short post about every single link I have hand chosen on this page.

Tonight I’m adding “Prepared Pantry.”  You can find it under the heading “Fair Fare” on the right with all my other links.  I discovered this company because of my mom.  When Monika and I moved into our house 3 years ago, we found a free bread maker machine on freecycle (the subject of another post sometime soon).

My mom bought us a four pack of their pre-mixed bread mixes for Christmas from this company.  All you have to do is add some oil, water, and everything else is in the mix, including the yeast.  That means it’s vegan because you don’t have to add any eggs or milk, although you can substitute soy milk for some of the water if you’d like.

Our bread maker really is awesome.  Sure, we’ve made our own breads from scratch, and that is rewarding enough.  But, instead of buying loaves of hearty bread in our supermarket, we can very easily make homemade bread every week  or two.  It’s just as delicious, if not more, and super fresh.  In our bread maker, you dump in the ingredients, set it for whole wheat and “light” and four hours later, it’s done.  Clean up is ridiculously simple…practically non-existent.

That’s the only products so far that we’ve tried from Prepared Pantry, but at around 4 bucks a loaf for delicious, home-made bread, I think it’s a steal.  We recently stocked up on 16 loaves:  Fruit and Nut Collection, Rye Lover’s Collection, Heritage Collection and Heartland Collection.  You can find their collections here…

http://www.preparedpantry.com/search.aspx?find=collection&log=false&category=245

I encourage you to check out their products.  Of course, you don’t have to get a bread maker mix.   You can always get a good old fashioned bread mix and bake it in the oven, too.

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Eating Dolphins & Poll # 2 — What Would You Eat??

Posted in Polls, Vegan and Vegetarian Lifestyle with tags , , , on March 9, 2010 by Verge

The other night, in case you were unaware, was the Academy Awards.  That’s just another pat-ourselves-on-the-back, Hollywood bullshit fest in general, but it does give us some insight.  The award winners in each category are not based on statistics, but rather the Academy members’ collective opinions.  While the film that makes the most money doesn’t get an award, sometimes a ground-breaking movie with relatively little known actors, that didn’t make a ton of money, gets an award.

Yeah, they love to glorify each other, but once in a while, they have some class, too.  But what’s more is that because the votes are a result of Academy members’ opinions, and Academy members are most certainly a part of pop culture (every one of them, to some degree), it would be fair to say that the Academy Awards are a pretty decent reflection of current popular opinion in Hollywood, if not the entire country.

This past weekend a movie called “The Cove” won a statue for Best Feature Documentary.  The subject of this film is basically the fishing practices of the indigenous people of Taiji, Wakayama,  Japan.   They practice a fishing technique called dolphin drive hunting in which bottle nose dolphins are cornered into an inescapable inlet and then attacked with spears and knives, dragged ashore, and killed for meat and lard.

http://thecovemovie.com/

While I think it is fairly obvious that I don’t approve of these practices, it raises several intriguing questions.  There are so many lines to be drawn between what is and what is not acceptable in these practices, but I’m focusing on just one.  What is it that Westerners, and really, most of the world, find despicable in killing and eating dolphins?

Rightly so, the leaders of this community either refuse to comment on the recent publicity and controversy surrounding their culture or they shoot right back.  While they kill dolphins with their bare hands and hunting skills, America raises, tortures, slaughters and gets fat (financially and physically) on a lifetime of animal abuse for the convenience of a dollar double cheese burger.

It has been their culture for 400 years to corner the local dolphins, kill them and eat them.  Never mind that it is gruesome.  Now that this movie has gotten an Academy Award, many will watch and shun the Japanese culture and their mistreatment of innocent animals.  There are many documented accounts of a much higher degree of disgusting treatment withing our own borders, but those movies don’t win awards.  I don’t wonder why.

So, is it that dolphins are smart??  That they look  kind of cute?  Pigs are just as smart as dolphins.  They have been know to use tools, to be easily trained, and are estimated to have the intelligence of a 3 year old human child.  But shit… this country love bacon.

Some things on the farm get to live, and some get to be dinner.  The cow, chicken, and pig…they’re dinner.  But for some reason, the horse, mule, donkey, dog and barn cats get to live.  Why??  Okay, maybe the cats don’t offer that much meat.   Maybe the horse is just too damn muscular to be tender.  But why don’t we force feed the cats corn for three months, fill them with steroids and fatten them up for a snack?  Why don’t we cage young horses in dark rooms and starve them so their muscles don’t have the opportunity to develop, and make them delicious?

So, I present to you the “What Would You Eat” Poll.  I’m not talking about what extent you would be willing to go in a catastrophe.  I’m not talking about what you would be willing to eat on a dare, or for money, or in a foreign country while visiting.  I’m asking what you would eat if it was considered normal, everyday food in America.  Is what we eat really a direct result of what is culturally acceptable??  Do we only find flavor in things we don’t consider pets??  It’s a truly anonymous poll, so answer truthfully and marvel at the results.  The answers are randomly ordered and you can check as many as you like, or add your own.

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