Life is a combination of magic and pasta.

The pumpkin juk looks so good but I'd personally eat it hot. The shrimp sandwich also looks good but I'm leery of the sukiyaki since dipping in raw egg seems sus. Egg yolk is one thing but raw egg white is the salmonella risk. Anyway, might have to try the pumpkin porridge especially when it gets good and cold out


BTW, you need to turn on English subtitles

I doubt I'll be making it very soon since with the upcoming visit from Sis and BIL (hopefully the dopes can sort out what they need to bring Mom-inna-box on the plane with them). I'm going to try to use this as motivation to clear the clutter in my tiny apartment and get my car properly cleaned. I need to be careful, though, since just taking out a trash bag full of old stuff and cleaning one of the cat boxes and lugging in and putting away my laundry made my back somewhat achy.

This Nuts for Cheese stuff is aaaaamazing. I mentioned...I think...on Thanksgiving that I had their cashew "brie" (though the texture is far more like goat cheese and I certainly ain't mad at that). I ordered a couple more from FreshDirect and this time I tossed in the cheddar. I was a big nervous this morning since I didn't notice that it was "chipotle" and hoped it wasn't too spicy.

It wasn't overly spicy. But what the texture and taste reminded me of is something I used to love - welsh rarebit. In particular, the Stouffer's frozen version because let's get real, I'm a basic bitch.

Oh and Canadian veggie friends, check their handy dandy location thingie - they DO have it in Canada. 

Debbie (birth name Ching) who works for the business office popped in to see my work neighbors and popped into my office. She spotted my dim sum calendar and asked about it, wherein I told her that dim sum (basically any form of yummy dumpling, especially steamed) is my favorite food EVER. She was practically giddy and told me that we should go for dim sum sometime. Well HELL YEAH. No objection here. She's originally from Hong Kong and said how in Hong Kong, people will make an all day thing of it, bringing a newspaper and ordering dumplings over several hours. 

...I am SO retiring to Hong Kong if I win the lottery...

I told her that another Chinese food that I adore is congee. She was stunned that uber white girl from Ohio knew all these dishes. I told her that growing up in podunk Marion, Ohio, friends would ask where to go eat when they were going to fancier Columbus, Ohio. I also told her that out of college when I was working retail management, I got my first introduction to dim sum at a restaurant across the street from my workplace.

She was also surprised that I'm all about the plaza with the H-Mart and eat Korean food too. Hey, I don't claim to be any sort of Asian food expert but I do put myself out there a bit. I feel sorry for people who don't try new things (exceptions for people with allergies, obviously). 

Yesterday before it got too disgusting outside, I did some food prep. I made some picked radish and carrots to use in sandwiches and on rice/poke bowls

The middle one I gave to Emily since she and her parents liked the last batch I made. It did go faster to use a spiralizer to slice the veggies, though you end up with a center core. So in the big container, I have those center cores pickling on top and in a day or two they should be properly pickled and slightly softened enough to use them to make kimbap. 

After the pickling, I made a batch of that fresh corn and blackeyed pea "texas caviar" vegan dip to snack on this week. That stuff is so good. It makes a huge batch so I gave some of that to Emily's parents too. She also lucked out because we went to this fabulous bakery near Princeton on Saturday called Lillipies and the loaf of bread I got was so big that I gave them half. I would have frozen it for later but I already had a half loaf of other bread and some rolls in my small fridge/freezer to use up. But I'll be finishing those soon because you can bet I will get another loaf from there. Along with some of their mini pies because oh mah gawd...amazing. 

So while prepping, since my kitchen counter is tiny and the spiralizer wouldn't stay put while turning, a couple of pieces fell on the floor. When I leaned over to clean them up, yeah, it was well past due for a deep floor cleaning in the kitchen. And gee, the stove needs some love too. So yesterday afternoon I donned the rubber gloves, dug out the heavy duty scrub pads and deep cleaned the stove, the counters, the sink and then I first swiffered and then steam cleaned the kitchen floor. Despite the heat and humidity that creeps into the kitchen no matter how much the AC is cranking in the apartment, it was a pleasure to be in there after because it's cleeeeean. 

Speaking of clean, ages ago I bought this bag of charcoal litter deodorizer at a little niche pet store. It works SO well to get rid of odors, you only need a little bit, and the kitties don't mind it being scattered amongst the litter. However, not only is it out of stock everywhere online, according to the recent reviews, the product dropped drastically in quality (which is likely why it's not available). However I did read a tidbit in there which made me go DUH. Other people recommend to use charcoal bits that you use in aquariums. So I've added this inexpensive container of it to my autoship for August. In a place as small as mine with a kitty that has IBS issues, anything to keep the place from being stinky is important to have on hand.

A few of us are ordering lunch from Veganized today. I've been craving the hell out of this sandwich for a while so I'm already drooling in anticipation: The Angelica: House sandwich bread, cashew cheese, smoked tofu, roasted carrots, charred onion, lettuce, lemon pesto

I never used to have tofu much and then I had smoked tofu. It's sooo good. They also do a great job of roasting/charring the vegetables for the sandwich every time. I won't be getting any sides to go with them because the folks down the hall are having a building-wide fall celebration this afternoon where we paid $3 and we'll get cider and apple/pumpkin-based treats.

With the Papa Johns brouhaha going on, it's made me crave pizza - though not theirs and not just because the owner is a dickhead. So Emily's coming over later and we may have good ol' Pizza Hut. I haven't had pizza in a while. Each time I'll crave it, I've been good and made something else at home. 

Good thing we've already decided to do an extended gym visit tomorrow morning, I'm gonna need to burn off the calories.

Speaking of food, someone in a food forum on FB posted this interesting article about Bisquick.  Reminds me that I haven't had chicken and drop dumplings in ages. It's supposed to finally get some steady fall temperatures late next week. I may have to get some stuff for that. Though my Mom preferred using Jiffy over Bisquick mix. What about y'all? Make anything with the mix or have any memories about it?

Another sweet video - chef Bobby Flay and his kitty Nacho Flay

Wouldn't have pegged him as a cat dude but you can't always tell!

As far as a me update, still hitting the gym with Emily. Hoping sometime that I'll have less random soreness on and off through the day but doing well otherwise. I must have pretty strong biceps since I had to up the weight pulldown machine to 60 pounds to feel adequate resistance around the 10 count mark. However other muscles need more work and I've been able to identify those (triceps, core, glutes, quads) so I can work on them. I've also done a mile each time I do the treadmill the last few days which is good. Still keeping an eye out for a convenient yoga class to get good stretching in but I should try to fit in some yoga stretches at home. 

I made some strawberry lemon freezer jam today - my first attempt at freezer jam that I can recall. It didn't firm up as much as I'd hoped but the taste is amazing so I won't fret about it being a bit thin. It'll still taste awesome on toast. 

Starting next Sunday I'm doing a vegetarian challenge to focus on the eating again and enjoy fresh summer produce. I'll make a post soon on the LJ Healthystart community if anyone wants to join in. It's vegetarian rather than vegan so eggs and dairy are permitted (though check those cheeses!)

Hope everyone is doing well *huggles*

Since FB can be the breeding ground for drama, I'm being especially brave. But hey, it's one more place to check in and keep myself accountable so no risk, no reward!

Any and all interested folks are welcome to join the Vegan Week Challenge group on Facebook which the first one starts on Tuesday May 30 (post Memorial Day weekend because I'm nice) and ends Monday June 5 - well, unless you keep going!

Hopefully it will be the first of many. I could stand a regular kick in the pants to eat well and do right by the world. 

I decided to give Door to Door Organics a go since they were offering a $10 off thing for your first order. I received it today and turned right around and cancelled my account so I don't get any more.

I wasn't all that concerned with the "organic"ness of the food since conventional is just fine but I had hoped they'd have a focus on quality. On the "bitty box" order that I placed, my single tiny jalapeno was wrinkly, the roma tomatoes weren't near the ice pack yet were rather frigid so they'd been refrigerated (a SIN!), the cilantro was floppy, the fresh cut mango looks rather underripe and they put my bag of snapea crisps under one of the ice packs and a can of grape leaves so it was somewhat smushed.

Buzzzzzzz

Sometimes random suggestions from YouTube make for some new favorites. Since I watch videos from channels like Strictly Dumpling, Peaceful Cuisine, and TabiEats (they are so cute), it suggested videos from Seonkyoung Longest one of which was this little gem:

Since I had some slaw mix on hand, I made it for breakfast this morning and HOLY MOLEY I think I have a new favorite breakfast. I did make some modifications mostly based on what I had on hand but some also due to preference:
Unbuttered, toasted sourdough instead of white bread (might lightly butter it next time but not a big deal)
No ham (didn't miss it at all)
Thin sliced monterey jack instead of American 
Much less sugar, mayo and ketchup. 
No onion or scallion 
One egg and some egg whites - I made enough for only one portion, obviously

Surprisingly, I may add a smidge more sugar next time and I might get some scallion for more flavor but other than that it was delicious. I'm always looking for ways to eat more veggies at breakfast and the lightly crunchy slaw was perfect. It would also make for a good diner-style omelet for less carbs (they cook the veggies in most of the time instead of making a pocket for the veggies like I usually prefer)

If I'm ever in Richmond, VA, I want to stop at this place and get a box lunch.



Bet you can taste the love.