crack the plates

Happy Chinese New Year! ‘Tis the year of the Dragon, and it just so happens that I live with one. Yup, it’s Nate’s time to shine! And why not? I read yesterday that “dragons…tend to be brave, innovative and highly driven, regularly making it to the top of their profession.” Now, I don’t put much stock into anything that purports to define 6.8 billion individuals according to a handful of categories, but that sounds a lot like Nate to me. He was recently promoted to Lead Developer at his company (there are only two!) and just yesterday he gave a big scary 1.5 hour talk to all of technology (around 60 people) about one of his (incredibly important game-changing) projects. He’s always thinking, dreaming, creating… and while he may be gentle and soft-spoken in general, at work he’s confident, assertive, and usually right. He inspires me!

Papacat and babycat... taken this morning!

I decided to do a special dinner to celebrate yesterday’s big accomplishment. Neither of us have been all that tempted by comfort food lately, but last night he requested an old favorite: smothered-bbq-baked tofu. Dinner was great but didn’t seem enough of a tribute to his awesomeness, so I made cupcakes, too. I served them on the little dish he gave me at Christmas: a customized cupcake stand by Jeanette Zeis Ceramics. Jeanette is an Atlanta-based artist and vegan, known throughout the country for her careful, detailed work. Why, just recently her work popped up on theppk.com’s recipe for caramelized beets!

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It says “Your Smile Makes Me Smile”, which is one of our little sayings. :-) You can order your own customized cake stand from Jeanette at her Etsy shop. Sure would make a sweet little Valentine’s present, especially when topped with a home-baked vegan treat!

The final weeks of 2011 were good ones for the meal delivery. I aimed to show my enthusiasm and gratitude for my loyal clientele by putting together some prettier-than-usual food. Serenbe Farms made this easier by providing a complimentary share of produce for the first delivery.

Note: authors’ names are included because I value giving credit. I didn’t go to culinary school; everything I know about cooking I learned from others (mostly their cookbooks). As a creative and competent cook I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, but the hard work of the individuals listed form the foundation of & inspiration for “my” variations.

Tuesday 6 December – primarily local, almost totally organic, & completely vegan

Mains

• pumpkin cream farfalle with double “peas” (chickpeas and petits pois), a variation on EA’s recipe
• red beans and seitan bourguignonne (Robin Robertson, variation)
• Serenbe sweet potato stew
• crimson cabbage borscht (Myra Kornfeld)
• sweet chili lime tofu over lime-scented collards and cardamom quinoa (VeganYumYum)

Sides

• shaved local fennel, organic satsuma, and pomegranate salad (Myra Kornfeld)
• maple-braised carrots with sea salt and maple sugar
• string beans and pickled onions in agave-lemon-dijon vinaigrette (Peter Berley)
• creamy kenyan curried cabbage with peas
• Hungarian cabbage with noodles (Robin Robertson)

Other

• roasted delicata squash chowder “three sisters”-style with organic corn and pintos
• sanctuary dressing, from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Moskowitz
• Cowboy Cookies, from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa & Terry

Serenbe sweet potato stew

seitan and red beans bourguignonne

sweet chili lime tofu with lime-scented collards and cardamom quinoa

fennel, satsuma, pomegranate salad dressed with five-year-aged balsamic

string beans with pickled onions

crimson cabbage borscht featuring local beets & their greens

cowboy cookies

Tuesday 13 December – locally-sourced vegetables, 85%+ organic ingredients, totally vegan

Mains

• seitan pot roast with local vegetables (Robin Robertson, variation)
• red thai tofu with bok choy
• shepherd’s pie with tofu
• ye’miser w’et – red lentils in a spicy gravy (Kittee Berns)
• tempeh & locally, hardwood-grown shiitake stew (Bryant Terry)

Sides

• roasted delicata squash
• nepalese green beans with coconut and mustard seeds (Bryanna Clark Grogan, World Vegan Feast)
• Christmas couscous: with dried cranberries and pepitas
• ethiopian cabbage, featuring handmade berbere and nitter kibbeh
• local beets with their greens in a five-year-aged balsamic reduction (Peter Berley)

Other

• chick’n noodle soup
• balsamic dressing
• chocolate chip cookies

locally log-grown shiitakes from organic Love is Love Farm; organic shallots, organic leeks

tempeh shiitake stew, a modification of Bryant Terry's recipe from Vegan Soul Kitchen

another view of this sumptuous stew.

ye-miser w'et: Kittee Berns' ethiopian lentils in a spicy red gravy. made with homemade nitter kibbeh (seasoned "butter") and berbere (wet spice mix)

red thai tofu with local bok choi

parting with these four bowls was slightly difficult, as the recipe was one of the best I've made all year.

prep for the beets: red onions, beets, beet greens; tarragon.

vegan pot roast, or, one of the most delicious things ever.

four sides: nepalese green beans, aged balsamic beets, nitter kibbeh cabbage, christmas couscous with pepitas "presents".

I’m looking forward to resuming cooking-for-my-friends again soon. Crack the Plates is a deeply fulfilling exercise, one that gives me purpose and the ability to work with some of the finest ingredients in Atlanta, in the service of truly delightful people. The last four months of 2011 were an experiment: a gamble on something new and wild and exciting. Pushing through made me a stronger, more creative cook and a more organized person. With this teaspoon of experience I welcome the challenges and joys of 2012.

exciting things are happening! Metro-Atlanta counties will be getting 3.2 billion for schools, Sunday liquor sales for the first time in over a century (except in Forest Park), Ohio voters ‘emphatically’ reject Kasich’s anti-union law, and the crazies in Mississippi won’t get their way.

Meanwhile, Nate and I spend the evening doing crafty things: making video game/8-bit Perler art, or “sprites“. We wanted to DO something – not just sit around and worry. Create, not imbibe. And time really flies when you’re making sprites, all the better for those of us keeping an eye on returns.

First, I cooked a mostly from-scratch meal for the first time in possibly two weeks? Intense emergency dentalwork + the worst cold in years put me out of commission… but I’ll be back in time for Crack the Plates deliveries on Tuesday, hooray! Tonight, just a simple homemade tomato sauce with sauteed seasoned soy curls over tortiglioni – easy, but still with a sense of accomplishment. Mostly, though, we made things:

Nate finishing a project.

My Mario garden. Interested in perler crafts? Learn more here.

Perl lookin’ pretty.

Taking note of her father perilously balancing a netbook, Unix decided she just had to join him. He was not so pleased.

“What, papa? Dis are problem?” “Ok, I are guess not Unix.”

And that’s how we spent election night 2011.

(October is VeganMoFo and I’m blogging about why more vegans should move to Atlanta, Georgia – a diamond in the dirty south. See the first post for more info.)

Reason 5: Sevananda Natural Foods Market

I wasn’t planning on blogging about my favorite small grocery store, Sevananda, when I stopped in earlier this afternoon to pick up a few on-sale staples. But when I turned a corner with a cart full of organic coconut milk, organic mushroom stock, and cheap-o local potatoes only to see one of my favorite Atlanta chefs, Ria Pell, studyin’ the non-dairy milk options, I knew I had no choice.

Ria in signature overalls with a case of unsweetened rice milk for bechamel.

Catching a celebrity chef stocking up for one of her menu’s new entirely vegan options (the fantastic root vegetable shepherd’s pie at Sauced restaurant and lounge, the subject of a future post!) is just one reason Sevananda rocks. Let’s consider a few others with a photo-tour of the store!

Walking in, you’re greeted with a tent where folks often hang out to answer questions about membership. The customer service desk, not pictured, is to the far right, as is the fresh juice case.

From the entrance you can see the produce section, which is just out of frame of the picture above. Produce is sourced locally and is exclusively organically grown. Move forward towards the salad & hot bars…

Swing around to the side for daily hot bar selections.

Mmmmm.

Produce view from where you’re standing now (by the hot bar).

Turn around and you’re looking at the prepared foods grab-and-go case, situated in the back of the store near the freezers (on the left) and the refrigerated display (on the right). Let’s see what our options are today!

vegan quiche

yum.

super yum.

haven’t tried this one yet, but I’m sure it’s good!

You can even pick up a whole cake or pie!

Two important things about Sevananda’s prepared foods selection: 1) everything is vegan. (Well, almost everything – every once in a while eggrolls make an appearance, and the wrappers contain egg.) 2) everything is really cheap! Weighed items are $5.69 per pound – compare that to Whole Foods’ $7.99 and $8.99/per pound prices. You can really fill up at Sevananda for less than $10 – and have plenty of leftovers.

Nate & I couldn’t resist the savory crabfakes with a creamy dipping sauce.

Walking away from the grab-and-go case on the opposite side of the store as the produce, you approach the vast bulk section.

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Parents should keep an eye on their children, especially in the low-lying chocolate and candy section. :)

In the middle of the bulk section there’s a place to buy smaller packaged bulk items (like raisins and raw cocoa) as well as a handy housewares aisle. Sevananda stocks only vegetarian (mostly vegan) cookbooks, too. Notice any of your favorites?

Leaving the bulk section you come to the front corner of the store opposite the entrance, where all manner of herbal tonics, personal care items, and bulk herbs are found.

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almost every kind of herb & spice (organic and conventionally grown, depending on what’s available) you could imagine, ready for purchase in any quantity. need a teaspoon of agar? you got it! a quarter-cup of dried thyme? that’s there, too. beet powder for natural food coloring? yup.

Leaving the bulk section you can either go browse the middle section (laid out like a typical grocery store, with aisles for all your staples) or head to a friendly front-service clerk with all of your purchases. Checking out at Sevananda is always easy and fun because the people who work there are either working members or volunteers. The other night I got into a long, supportive conversation with a new friend who had just been to Troy Davis’ funeral. We commiserated til closing time (I was there a little late, getting last-minute meal delivery items). Everyone always has something interesting to say, so don’t be afraid to get conversational! It’s the southern way.

If you’ve got prepared foods, or even just a coffee, go sit in the colorful cafe right inside the entrance.

That’s where Nate & I enjoyed our crabfakes and did a little people-watching.

On the way out, we talked to Jed, a working member-owner who often seems to be wrangling shopping carts. He gave me a few tips for future themes and we laughed over a new installment in Sevananda’s foyer:

This is what separates your corporate grocery store from your community co-op, I guess. :)

Sevananda is a stone’s throw from the gloriously green Freedom Park. Why not have a picnic with Sevananda goodies there?

For those in the Atlanta area, it’s easy to become a member-owner. From the literature: “The cost of a Full Share (membership) is $120, and we allow annual payments of $20 per year until you are at the $120 level.” (So, at least $20 per year over the course of six years. So cheap!!) If you pay annually, there is a service-fee of $2 per year in addition to the $20 payment. (Okay, so $22 per year/six years. Still!!) Joining gets you:

• Discounts to our School of Commonhealth classes (yoga, cooking, etc)
• Free admission to Sev’s monthly mixers and other Sevananda-sponsored events
• Free admission to bi-annual Member meetings
• Receive the monthly newsletter, Co-Options, in the mail or online
• Financial updates in Co-Options
• Eligible for the Working Member program where you give your time in exchange for a greater discount (a really good deal – you work a certain number of hours a week (not too many!) in exchange for 20% off your purchases EVERY TIME YOU SHOP.)
• Elect the members of the Board of Directors
• Participate in Board-sponsored committees
• Adopt or change Co-op bylaws
• A share of the Co-ops profits

So what are you waiting for? Oh… you don’t live here yet? Give me a few more posts and you’ll be convinced! Til then…

Happy October, friends! This month I’ve joined eight hundred bloggers from around the world to post as often as possible about the glory that is the vegan life. VeganMoFo, the vegan month of food writing – a delicious answer to NaNoWriMo – is here again!

A bit of history, before we get down & dirty: VeganMoFo is actually REALLY SPECIAL to Crack the Plates because – hold onto your hats – it launched my entire blogging project! In the fall of 2009 I had just moved into a new house in Richmond, Indiana and was toying with the idea of starting a blog as a nice distraction during my final year of Master’s thesis writing. My sweetie Nate & I were really into 1977 Rankin & Bass production of The Hobbit at the time, so he made a tech blog called chiptheglasses.com & I set up cracktheplates, threats lifted from one of the dwarves’ songs. My first ambitious post was about trying out Angel Food’s marshmallow kit, and my very first commenter was the ever-supportive Kittee of Papa Tofu fame!

And ah, how far we’ve come. Since that first post in October 2009, I’ve nabbed my Master’s degree, moved from the midwest to the deep south (my home), adopted another abandoned tortoiseshell cat, and so much more. Food-wise, I’ve launched two small businesses, Kandai Cakery and Crack the Plates meal delivery, been featured on my favorite Vegansaurus.com a handful of times, taken two major vegan road trips (San Francisco in 2010 and New York in 2011), and made so many new, inspirational – if often far-off – friends. VeganMoFo: for these reasons and many others, you’ll forever be dear.

But enough about me! Let’s get to the food!

I’m theme-blogging this MoFo about the great city of ATLANTA, Georgia. As I wrote to the MoFo wizards in my proposal, I wasn’t planning on doing a theme this year til I took the VegNews survey and came to the question about vegan-friendliest cities. Not a SINGLE Southern-US city was featured on the “Favorite veg-friendly city” list! Aghast, I wrote in some of Atlanta’s treasures: our vegan meat company (Gutenfleischers), our organic vegan bakery & fair-trade cafe (Dulce Vegan), our weekly organic vegan meal delivery service (you know, my project), our two meet-ups (Vegan Drinks and the Atlanta Vegan Lunch Group), more than a handful of vegan restaurants and LOTS of vegetarian ones. (Even our food trucks cater to vegans, even though we don’t yet have an entirely vegan food truck.) Finally, we’re home to one of the most beloved and well-stocked online vegan shops in the country, Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe!

These great examples and others are always on my mind, which is why I consider Atlanta a great place to be vegan. But with vegan meccas like Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and Brookyln taking all the great press, Atlanta’s not just an afterthought – it’s given no thought. As a local, I want to do my part to take the wind out of the stereotype that the south is un-veg-friendly by featuring the deliciousness of Atlanta for an entire month. Not only will I highlight some of the folks listed above, but I’ll really dig into Atlanta and share the lesser-known treasures. For instance, we have SO MANY of Ethiopian restaurants around here, but which ones use a vegan nitter kibbeh, if any? (Hint: I know!) VeganMoFo seems to be the perfect platform for reaching the broader vegan community, who I’m counting on to help vegucate the rest of the world.

So yeah. That’s the deal – y’all. Atlanta’s awesome and you should know why. Come sit a spell.

This unassuming little spot in Decatur is not only the best place to hang out and drink beer in Atlanta, is the second best beer bar in the WORLD according to Beer Advocate magazine. It also holds the lifetime championship title of being the only place to serve beer that I actually enjoyed. (If you know me, you know I am not. a. beer. drinker. Close friends reading are, up to this point, totally baffled by my writing about a pub. Hang in there.)

Beer Advocate – and I! – give Brick Store an A+ rating for several reasons. Their awe-inspiring selection certainly helps – the beer menu is about ten pages long (small print). It’s updated frequently, too – the one I read today was dated yesterday. Check out the draught menu here and the bottle menu here.

my vegan sweetie, checkin' out his options.

The interior is cozy and all of the servers work together to make sure your glass is never more than half empty, your food comes out rapidly, and the check is taken away when you’re ready. Because I’m really unsophisticated, I felt like I’d walked into the Leaky Cauldron when I stepped inside the Brick Store, but it might just remind my more worldy friends of their European vacations.

view of the main hall from the entrance

view from the second floor

Vegan dining options are scant, but the one we had was solid – just a hummus sandwich piled with fresh vegetables and dressed with a house-made spicy vinegar. And those fries – oh my!

$8.50 and big enough for two people.

thanks for taking such great care of us.

my three tasters and nate's St. Bernadus

I wasn’t up-front about not liking beer, but when he heard me admit it, he couldn’t resist the challenge and brought down three tastes from the Belgian bar. To my great shock, I enjoyed every one! The Boon Kriek was nice and gently vinegary, but smooth, not punchy, like an older, gentler ferment instead of a young buck. The Scaldis Peche Mel, creamy and only gently peachy – overall, I called it “inoffensive”. The Bacchus was like Boon Kriek +1, and was called the most vinegary beer currently on tap. Apparently that’s a flavor I can get behind.

Only forty bucks? Perhaps it will soon be mine!

The pub is also full of art from Atlanta-based folks, like R. Land, featured here. You may know him as the Loss Cat guy! I think this riff on his iconic “Pray for Atl” hands is awwwwwesome.

If you’re planning on heading to the Brick Store soon, be sure to check out the menus online and use Barnivore if you’re unsure about a beer’s vegan-friendliness. It has been my exclusive experience that high-gravity true craft beers from Germany and Belgium are vegan (this blogger has a great explanation), but it’s always worth a double-check.

Oh, and be sure you take MARTA, cuz like our city’s unofficial public transit tagline goes, MARTA is Smarta! Mostly because the Brick Store sits atop the Decatur station. Honk honk!!!

It was such a treat to deliver the second week of meal deliveries! To be greeted by smiling, expectant faces, oohs and aahs – I can’t think of a better self-esteem boost for a hard-workin’ cook.

You might have read, heard, or seen details about the delivery. It’s one thing to read about it – it’s another entirely to see the pictures. Here are the pictures from week two!

All packed up and ready to go. Click “more…” to see what’s inside!

Atlanta Vegan Drinks‘ third meet-up was held Monday August 15 at a “sunny place for shady people” – East Atlanta’s own Graveyard Tavern (1245 Glenwood Ave). Thanks to affable Chef Justin Bright and the rest of the kind folks at the Graveyard for showin’ us vegans a good time.

The vegan wingz, a Tuesday night fixture, were a crowd favorite:

And why not? Pure vegan junk food deliciousness: crispy on the outside, tender on the in, drenched in homemade sauce and balanced on a sugarcane stick! Wings were served with an option of buffalo, BBQ, teriyaki, or lemon-pepper sauce. Click “more…” to see them with the vegan buffalo, and to keep reading this post:

The most marvellous thing happened last Wednesday: my Vegetable Husband arrived!

No, I didn’t tie the knot – especially not to a turnip! (Though let’s be real, I’m over the moon for the brassicas.) I signed up for a weekly produce delivery service! Margie Thorpe’s Vegetable Husband is a kind of CSA for CSAs. Instead of buying a share of a particular farm before the growing season and paying up front for regular deliveries over a period of time  (i.e., traditional Community Supported Agriculture), Margie scouts a bunch of great local farms for her own selection of goodies, collects them for her subscribers, and has local deliverers truck ‘em to your front door in precious little baskets. If I understand correctly, it’s kind of like she buys a giant CSA share for all of her fans and then parcels out the gems. Even if I’m totally confused, it’s clear that she maintains great relationships with a variety of farms and gets some truly beautiful food as a result.

These pictures are all of my first (unofficial) basket, a discount-rate “tester” that arrived last Wednesday afternoon. From delivery to use, I’ve been totally delighted with everything. Especially since I am paying the same amount that I spend at grocery stores on organic items trucked in from California and heavens-knows-where-else. No joke! Just $35/week buys enough local, organic produce for two folks to last until the next delivery.

Left to right: arugula, (duh), lettuce, flat-leaf parsley poking out.

Japanese turnips, Red Russian kale.

Close-up of the turnips, a rainbow of bound chard stems.

Perhaps my favorite part of getting a surprise basket of vegetables is just that – the surprise! Like an actor thrown into improvisation, I’m forced to get creative and go with whatever’s tossed my way. This week? Kohlrabi.

Pictures above and below: different varieties of the same vegetable, the so-called “German turnip”!

Kohlrabi’s made it onto my plate before, but never as a result of my own effort. When a new vegetable shows up on my cutting board, I pull out a particularly heavy book: Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini.

I’ve owned it for the better part of a decade and, at almost 800 pages, it has served me well! The entries are well-organized and clearly written, a nice balance of anecdotes with chef’s notes and general curiosities.

The second volume I consult is The Flavor Bible. As with so many other awesome things, the lovely Lagusta of Resistance is Fertile (personal blog) and Bluestocking Bonbons (world’s best chocolates) turned me on to this one. As you can see, it’s a book of flavor affinities. Look up any whole food, cuisine type, or sometimes, even concept (like, “slow-cooked”, or “luxurious”) and find a list of ingredients that pair well.

So I sought kohlrabi, and what did I see?

Well, ingredients in bold are said to go especially well. So what have we here? Unsalted butter, cream… hold it right there! Apparently a classic pairing/preparation has a lot to do with the milk “products” of another species? Not exactly down with that, I wondered… what’s something super rich, fatty, and flavorful that might work instead? Hmmm… it’s stretching the boundaries of my little vegan brain… but oh… I think… I’m… on to something…!

Kohlrabi three ways

• Simply shredded and sauteed with shallots
• In cream sauce
• Sweet and sour greens

For the first two ways, you’ll need

• At least four small-to-medium-sized kohlrabi
• Two or three shallots
• Coconut fat/oil
• Good-quality organic dried ginger
• Coconut cream
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Peel the kohlrabi and shred it in the food processor (or with an old-timey grater, if you’ve got some time on your hands).

Mince two or three shallots.

Heat some coconut fat over medium in a cast-iron skillet, like so:

Add kohlrabi shreds and shallots; sauté four minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.

I think it’s a good idea to taste new foods in relatively un-fussed-with states, so that you know how to build on their strengths and downplay potential weaknesses. That’s why before even shredding the kohlrabi I reserved a few thinly sliced pieces raw. The idea behind this first preparation is to taste kohlrabi lightly cooked with only two other influences, so you can really taste it.

preparation one: sauté shreds four minutes in coconut oil with shallots. Serve.

preparation two: to sautéed shreds, add a pinch of organic dried ginger and a couple tablespoons of coconut cream:

Mix thoroughly while cooking two minutes more. Season with sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper. Serve. (Psst: I’m super-proud of this recipe because I googled after I made it and couldn’t find anything like it anywhere! Maybe it’s because it’s so simple, but I’d like to think it’s cuz I’m just a clever gal!)

preparation three: sweet and sour greens, adapted from a recipe by Andrew Weil

You’ll need

• Greens from four kohlrabi, stems removed, rinsed and chopped
• red pepper flakes
• three or four cloves of garlic, minced
• apple cider or brown rice vinegar
• brown sugar
• tamari or soy sauce
• dried ground mustard, preferably organic

pre-step: thoroughly combine about two tablespoons of the vinegar with about two teaspoons of the brown sugar and a teaspoon or so of the tamari. (sorry for the “abouts” – I’m not trying to be vague. It’s really to your taste!)

Greens rinsing/soaking in purified water.

Chopped. I kind of roll the greens together in little stacks and then cut them width-wise. Can you tell?

step one: add coconut fat/oil to a pan over medium-high. add minced garlic + red pepper flakes to taste.

step two: cook one minute, stirring. please *don’t* allow your pot to get so hot the garlic burns. that just makes everyone sad.

step three: add the shredded greens and a generous pinch of dry mustard; mix thoroughly.

step four: pour in the vinegar/brown sugar/tamari mixture. mix thoroughly. a “pot liquor” or brown cooking liquid should start to form from the wilting greens.

step five: reduce heat to low and cover. depending on how thick the greens are, steam. kale likes less than five minutes; collards? at least fifteen, unless they’re really young and tender. kohlrabi greens seem to be somewhere in the middle.

and now, the fun part – serve!

Try it raw first. Raw kohlrabi tastes to me like a radish without the bite. So what’s that? Cool, creamy, sweet. Refreshing. Crunchy!

Next, lightly cooked. Try the steam-sauteed kohlrabi with coconut fat and shallots but no other seasonings. Yummy:

Your patience is a virtue. Now, an entire plate of tender kohlrabi cooked with aromatics and seasoned with cream, salt and pepper! A comfort food explosion – totally rich and creamy but absolutely different from anything you’ve ever had before. Eat it all! You’ve totally earned it, and it’s not like you’re gonna be able to stop anyway. It’s just that good!

The tangy greens are a lovely foil. Don’t forget to lick all the pot likker off your plate!

A new vegetable three ways, and in way less time than it took to write this blog post! Mmm. Thanks, Vegetable Husband!

These days, Scoutmob is the only reason I need to try something new. Not only is the write-up always entertaining and alluring, but just about every restaurant featured comes with a 50% off coupon! Such a deep discount emboldens me to be spontaneous – with such low barrier to entry, I don’t feel like I have much to lose. And their selections seem pretty well curated to begin with!

Friday night Nate & I were on our way to Harmony Vegetarian to celebrate a week of hard work and job applications when I asked him to use the “nearby” feature on Scoutmob to see what was close by. I seemed to recall an Ethiopian restaurant coming up in recent weeks, so he did some quick sleuthing. Indeed! Pardon the pun, but a wonderful little Ethiopian Kitchen became our Desta-nation! (Sorry, Harmony.)

At first we wanted to sit in the swingin’ “tree house” outdoors, but our hunger overruled any desire to wait in line for a coveted seat. Dinner – the vegetarian combo for $10 – came within minutes. Here’s what we’ve got on the plate:

Or,

Some definitions:

• injera: sour, flat, spongy bread made out of teff flour
• shiro: Ground chickpeas simmered in a rich house sauce spiced with olive oil
• tomato fit fit: finely diced tomatoes, onion, pepper and garlic mixed with house dressing and bits of injera
• split pea stew: yellow split peas with onion, garlic, ginger, spices
• cold lentil salad: green lentils, onion, pepper, ginger, garlic
• red lentil stew: lentils stewed in a rich berbere (mild blend of dried chillies) sauce, onion, garlic and ginger
• collard greens: aw, y’all know what those are!

We needed to kill a little time between dinner and the gallery opening, so we decided to stop in at Nakato for a little “Man Mountain” sake, wakame salad, and my favorite, nasu dengaku : primo Japanese eggplant flash fried and glazed with sweet miso.

In through the out door… most folks take advantage of the free and fast valet parking at Nakato, but it’s really worth it to park yourself round back and take a stroll through the carefully maintained back garden. The restaurant’s founding patriarch and all-things-green enthusiast still tends it.

And then on to MINT Gallery for Aubrey’s opening! Ok, ok, it wasn’t all about Aubs… but clearly, I’m biased. I think he worked on one of the pieces on our couch with a lamp attached to his head. Or maybe that was a Cloud Castle? At any rate, brilliance:

Can you tell which one I halped with? (Hint: read that again.) Check out Nate’s Lovecraftian impossible geometry at the bottom.

Saturday mornings are made for calls to Grandma and traipsing in the garden. Right, Unix? Now, if only she’ll stop eating the snapdragons and focus on her catnip.

$6 worth of organic in-shell English peas from the farmer’s market. How could I resist?!

I mean, come on.

Oh wait, you’re reading this post for a recipe? Here it is! One of my very own, creamy pea pasta stelline.

ingredients

• coconut fat/oil
• two shallots, minced
• good-quality organic dried thyme
• fresh peas, shelled, steamed, and set aside
• coconut cream, at least a quarter cup
• pasta stelline, boiled, rinsed, drained and set aside
• fresh mint, plucked, rinsed, and chopped
• organic lemon zest, grated – about two tablespoons; reserve lemon for squeezing
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper

directions

• Pour a little liquid coconut fat (or place a tablespoon sized knob of solid fat) into a cast-iron skillet on medium.
• Add minced shallots and a little dried thyme (rubbed between your fingers) to the pan; sauté 5 minutes
• Add steamed peas to the mixture, sauté 2 minutes
• Add about a quarter cup of coconut cream to the mixture; combine thoroughly and season with salt, pepper, and half a lemon, squeezed:

• Add the cooked pasta to this mixture:

• Check for consistency and seasonings. Add more salt and pepper if needed. If dry, add more coconut cream, or coconut water if you’ve skimmed off all the cream. Or just add a little water! When everything tastes right, incorporate the lemon zest and fresh mint.

Voilà!:

We also had a little salad made with local lettuce and arugula, mint from my back porch garden, chopped shallots, pumpkin seeds and a super-aged organic red balsamic dressing.

The spread! For the first time in our entire relationship, we shared an entire bottle of sweet white wine over a meal. Thanks, Richmond friends who gave it to us 2+ years ago! We finally drank your precious gift. Please, give us another bottle for 2014.

A perfect bite.

For dessert, we broke into Lagusta’s Bluestocking Bonbons Chocolate of the Month –  vegan strawberries and cream bark! Since she says it better than I ever could, an excerpt from the website: “this sweet, easygoing bark is a swirl of (Non-waxy! Totally vegan! Not gross or bland in any way!), delicious housemade white chocolate paired with bittersweet 60% dark chocolate, studded with crunchy bits of freeze-dried organic strawberries.”

“Just a bit more complex, but just as tasty, is Fig and Caramelized Fennel Bark. Bittersweet chocolate packed with rich organic Calimyrna figs with sparkling little sugary diamonds of caramelized toasty fennel seeds. If you’re not a fan of savory flavors in your sweets, you might want to give this one a try anyway—the fennel isn’t overwhelming, and the lovely figs really round it all out.”

Why are you still reading this blog entry? GO BUY SOME RIGHT NOW.

Nate + Perl = perfect.

Nope, this picture is not a mistake! It’s the best evidence I can think of that Scoutmob works! To wit: we loved Desta SO MUCH our first visit, we actually went back the VERY NEXT NIGHT to have dinner again! And thanks to the ‘mob, we were able to use a second 25% off coupon as a return perk! Amazing, eh? Go sign up now, if you haven’t already! We spent $41 including generous tips for two nights of memorable dining.

I’m embarrassed to admit that on my first night I reflexively reached for non-existent silverware, like the Ugly American I Truly Am. (j/k, j/k!) At Desta, your silverware is your yummy soury spongy bread, inerja:

We loved “the potato thing” (not on the menu) so much we ordered it as a side.

Fun’s fun, but even with Scoutmob discounts, somebody’s gotta pay the check. And sometimes that somebody isn’t Nate! (Ha!) I was so pumped to make a special order on Sunday I went way above and beyond with candied pecans, reconstructed strawberries, and made some of the best dang chocolate frosting ever.

So pleased with these!

And all our cats did all weekend? Sleep. And occasionally wake up from sleeping to gripe.

Seriously, ma? That was a good ‘nip hangover I was sleepin’ off.

Sigh.

I finally took my pal Jeffrey’s advice and ordered the Tuesday vegan wings special at the Graveyard.  Beware: the friendly vegan bartender let me know that only two of the sauces are vegan, so do ask. Also, unlike the conventional chicken wings, there is no special Tuesday pricing. It’s around $9 for five wings and fries. Why no love, Graveyard?

Anyway, they were delicious and totally worth it. Our 20-lb baby girl Perl couldn’t get enough!

Go get ‘em!