crack the plates

Hi folks! All month I’m blogging about Atlanta’s vegan-friendliness. See why here.

I had hoped to post every day of VeganMoFo, but then I went out of town and was blissfully away from internet, e-mail, and social media. I didn’t even check my phone because I wanted to preserve the battery. It was great!

Yesterday’s destination was northeast Georgia, about an hour and a half from Atlanta proper: the small town of Homer, a little ways off 1-85N, where I picked up my best friend Jessica (remember her?). We spent most of the day in the nearby Sautee-Nacoochee Valley area. (Locals say “saw-tee” and “Nah-cooch-ee”.) Perhaps you’ve heard of Helen, GA, the touristy “Alpine village”? It’s about a half-mile from where we were, and yeah, we passed. As teenagers we gamboled around, teeth sticky with freshly-made candies, but now we avoid the beer-&-brats-breathing crowds for artisan pottery, museums, & an old-fashioned granary.

We lunched lakeside at The Gourd Place, a unique gourd-impressions pottery spot and one of my favorites. We shared vegan Mellow Mushroom pizza, Podponics lettuce, a home-made dressing (by me!), and lots of fresh fruit. I’d post a picture of the beautiful piece I went home with, but it’s a gift to a probable blog reader-family member. :) This one from the website will have to do:

the Gourd Place is also a substantial gourd museum, with functional and decorative gourds from around the world!

Little red birds in little gourds. Light as a feather!

Next, Nora Mill Granary. Nora Mill was is an operational gristmill that sits alongside the Chattahoochee River and primarily makes corn and wheat-based products, though there are a few flours of other grains there. A bit of history, from the literature: “The mill itself is a large four-story building that was built in 1876 complete with 1,500 pound French Burr Mill Stones and a 100 ft. wooden raceway that feeds water to a water turbine – not a vertical water wheel. The mill was constructed in 1876 by John Martin when he came to Georgia to mine for gold. Unlike most miners, Mr. Martin made Sautee-Nacoochee Valley his permanent home. In 1902 Dr. Lamartine G. Hardman, governor of Georgia from 1927 -1931, bought the mill and named it “Nora Mill” in memory of his sister Nora. Nora Mill remained in the Hardman Family until 1998, when it, along with 300 surrounding acres, was purchased by a group of investors associated with Nacoochee Village, Ltd.”

This document goes on to explain the various changing-of-hands and family names involved in the business, which is so very southern of them to do. (“What’s your family name?” is a weirdly common question ’round here.) It was fun to see how excited the proprietors still get about their granary, and while I appreciate the history, I’m mostly in it for the food. I bought a two-pound bag of white corn grits to share with Nate’s family when we visit in December. I also picked up a pound of maple sugar at a reasonable price (not local, though).

I love grits and just couldn’t wait til Christmas, so I made some up this afternoon:

sweet, AKA “yankee”, with maple sugar and cinnamon

and savory, with Daiya and freshly-cracked black pepper.

Which is your favorite:

It was pretty much against the rules to dump sugar on your grits in my parents’ house, but I think my brother and I did it once or twice just to see if we’d like it. Nope: just salt, butter (that was then, olive oil now), and freshly-cracked black pepper. My dad disdainfully referred to sugared grits yankee grits, though I’m pretty sure I saw him spooning on the sweet stuff more than a handful of times. I grew up on Aunt Jemima’s quick grits in the red bag, stored in the freezer, and it was a common cheap breakfast. Stone-ground grits are much healthier than the refined stuff, but I’m not sure folks know just how nutritious grits are – so here’s the label!

Three-quarters of a cup of grits is a pretty darn filling meal, with only a half gram of fat (leaving room for you to add oil or Earth Balance :)), NINE GRAMS of protein, TWENTY PERCENT of your daily iron, and even a little bit of calcium and potassium. Dream food! Y’all let me know if you want me to pick ya’up a little sometime, ya’hear? /southernisms

After the granary we zoomed over to Jaemor Farms, where I purchased discounted pumpkins for carving (still have no idea what was “wrong” with them) and an assortment of muscadine and scuppernong-based jellies and preserves to give as holiday gifts. Here’s a picture of a day’s worth of loot and the pumpkin I carved!

Unfamiliar with muscadines and scuppernongs? Muscadines are plump, juicy, seedy grapes with thick skins, and they’re native to the southeast United States! Scuppernongs are just a cultivar of muscadines. They tend to be quite tart with golden skins. I prefer the richly-colored and less-astringent sweet muscadines. When I was a little girl I sought both in the forests with my dad and brother. There’s nothing like a wild grape!

Parting ways with Jessica, I drove to Lilburn where my bestie Elizabeth hosted the bi-weekly co-op dinner of friends I mentioned in another post. It was thrilling to see the barn doors thrown open and the inside ablaze with lovely white string lights: she had set up the barn for us to do pumpkin carving!

The chili dinner was super, too – Elizabeth’s first vegan chili & cornbread!

Her squirrels are growing up so fast (psst, she’s a wildlife rehabber, remember?):

And I was pleased as punch to see her kitty Ping, who I call Furry-Worry due to her distinctive markings above the eyes that make her look a bit concerned!

See? Worried! And so furry!! Gah.

But, of course, the best part was pumpkin carving.

hanging around the barn, enjoying our work.

And gossiping. Always gossiping.

Never one to resist a pun, Christin made Cthulhu – the Elder Squash. Here we all are together:

Top row, left to right: me, Christin, Elizabeth, Jacquie. Bottom row, left to right: Carol, Sarah.

Perfect day! Move to Georgia and hang out with us!!

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.

NoMoCoFo: an absurdity characterised by the long o, or the new theme for this month’s blogging adventures? If you guessed both, then you are correct–welcome to November, the Month of No-Mo’(re) Costly Food! (Technically NoMoNoMoCoFo, but I’m cutting myself a break.)

My November blogging project concerns itself with reigning in my (and my household’s) food expenditures. Whether this comes as a result of relying more heavily on pantry and freezer stores, or by taking up offers to potlucks more frequently, or by not eating out, or through a combination of these and others, I’m setting out to save money this month and I want to keep you updated re: what I encounter and learn.

As a practical note, we’re closing in on day six now–which means I’ve got a bit of backtracking to do. I’m going to start by describing tonight’s dinner and then move on to writing some new, yet back-dated, entries on what I’ve been up to for the past couple days. (If you’re interested in good vegan eats in Chicago, be sure to scroll down a bit further, as I’ll be highlighting a great Indian buffet as well as panning another place.) This’ll be a slow game of catch-up, but it will happen–so check back.

Tonight I turned to one of my most favorite cookery books, The Grit Restaurant Cookbook, for their “Spicy Thai Noodles” salad. It wasn’t very spicy at all (owing, I think, to subbing chili oil for the chili paste) but it was packed with flavor. Whether they sing in the butterbeans or zing in the collards or ding in the noodle dishes, flavors in Grit recipes hold their own. There’s not a lot of room for subtlety–but then again, I like that. This recipe doesn’t call for it, but I punched up the protienaciousness with a block of tofu and added some peppers for color:

This dish was cheap, in part, because I relied on noodles I bought at the B&D for 80 cents, noodles that were just languishing in the cupboard. I had all the materials for the sauce on hand, too.

Come to think of it, there’s not a cookbook that I’d recommend more highly than The Grit’s. (No, not even VWaV, though it is definitely up there.) Many of my “signature” recipes–for gravy, chocolate cake, southern-style vegetables–have been adapted from the ones in this book. Over half of the recipes are vegan and many of those that aren’t can be easily veganised–think subbing Earth Balance (eBal) for butter. The Mock-Cream of Chicken Soup is a divine wonder of vegan trickery; the “Ted Bread” and Old-time Grit Buns always come out perfect; the “Chicken” Salad will earn you instant celebrity at any Fourth of July picnic.

Not to mention this: the first time my momma (think Steel Magnolias) ever ate the butterbeans (“Baby Lima Beans” in the book, but I use fordhooks), she swore up and down that there must’ve been a hambone in there. Well, perhaps not quite that dramatic–but she was astounded at the depth of rich flavor…and had a second helping. If that doesn’t convince you that you need The Grit’s cookbook, I have no idea what will.

Available at Amazon.com and BetterWorldBooks.com.