crack the plates

hey folks! Crack the Plates is on the road! I write to you from the Cincinnati Whole Foods Market cafe, where I just totally overate on what Whole Foods considers to be a perfectly normal “plate” meal, seen here:

ginger-sesame kale, roasted beets with greens, onions, and raisins, and this crazy kung pao soy-chicken thing. All vegan, all awesome, but whoah I am stuffed.

WF Cincinnati is a place we historically stop** whenever we take the Atlanta – Richmond (Indiana) road trip, since it’s about an hour and a half from our final destination and we usually need a quick, no-frills dinner. No offense to my Richmond friends, but it’s kind of a culinary wasteland. Not just for vegans – for anyone with half a palate. If we wanted something decent to eat we had to drive 45 minutes – to thai in Muncie or thai in Dayton. Or, you know, I had to cook it. Or go over to Matt & Becky’s house, which is where we’re headed tonight for a little whirlwind sleepover. Matt’s a splendid vegan-friendly cook, and I’ve been following Becky’s recent adventures in baking on her blog – though I’ve yet to see her veganise anything (or try any of the vegan recipes from the vegan cookbooks I know they have lying around [*cough*myChristmasgifts*cough*:)). (For future reference, Vegan With a Vengeance, Vegan Soul Kitchen, and Quick & Easy Vegan Comfort Food are good ones to give as gifts!)

We like stopping in Knoxville even better, cuz their Earth Fare** always has something surprising and delightful. Today we got this weirdly giant cupcake. I took one bite and chewed it slowly with that look that crawls across your face when you suspect you’re eating something that’s not vegan. But then I read the label and was like, oh – Tofutti cream cheeze AND sour cream in this frosting. (That shit don’t play around. Even my momma prefers it to the dairy junk.) Nate likes stopping at Earth Fare because they have another weird chicken-like gluten-based thing that’s covered with vegan buffalo sauce. (Non-vegan buffalo sauce usually has butter.) We also ate a half a pound of raw kale, so you can stop freaking out about the awfulness of our diets.

Nate thought it was kind of charming how an Earth Fare cook crossed out butter on the “country style green beans” description and wrote-in Earth Balance:

That’s my kinda “country”.

But whatever, we’re not going to Richmond for the food. We miss our friends! And a couple of really special folks are getting married tomorrow. PLUS Richmond is kind of on-the-way to Chicago, which is where my lovely friend Jenny resides. For the past month or so I’ve been pretty intensively coaching my bestie as she expands her home-based bakery to include a meal delivery component. She’s a few years younger than me but she’s got this incredible fire in her belly, a confidence that she can do anything she puts her mind to. This is the girl who, when a U-line order fell through, once strapped bakery boxes to her back and furiously biked home in unfriendly weather to accommodate a giant cupcake order. Kind of an iconic “Jenny” moment and a fun story to tell. I obviously appreciate her moxie but I’m glad I can offer a (teensy) bit of perspective – running a small business (no less cooking as much as a meal delivery requires) is really freakin’ hard. I’m bringing her a giant present to celebrate her awesomeness, future successes, & barkin’ dogs***:

What is it? You’ll have to wait and find out when she does! I’ll give you a couple of hints, though: it’s giant and weighs about forty pounds.

Driving into Cincinnati is one of my favorite things. You come around this corner, sloping gently, and boom! Cincinnati, sleeping sweetly in this little valley atop the Ohio River. Nate did the best he could to get a memory for me, but it’s pretty bad, I know. You should really see it for yourself.

I think he was in the middle of telling me the true story of the Elder Wand or what Regulus did to Kreacher at this point. Did I mention he just finished the Harry Potter series for the first time? Now I’m all jealous and want to re-read them because he’s got that just-finished-Harry-Potter memory and energy and I’m all jealous. It’ll have to wait! There are bigger things to do! Like…

Finish MoFo!

Okay, let’s get real, y’all. So far this month I’ve already had one big interruption: Nate’s birthday. It was a total joy putting it together, but it definitely meant I didn’t have time to blog. (And I still need to write up the party! Jeez!) Now that I’m out of town til Wednesday evening with limited internet access (and limited time), I’m not sure how much I’ll get to do in the coming week. And that’s a huge bummer for me, especially since I have so many good posts planned, outlined, and in some cases, already photographed! Topics include: interview with Atlanta’s only (to my knowledge) radical real estate agent, a tour of the Buford Highway Farmer’s market, where to get vegan pho, Ethiopian, and barbeque, and kind of a lot more.

I’m gonna do my best to bang out a few posts in the coming days, but if I don’t, here’s my pledge: 30 vegan Atlanta posts. If I don’t finish them in October, I’ll keep working in November til we have a beautiful little timeline of Atlanta’s vegan awesomeness. VeganMoFo has been a blast this year – I’ve already met so many interesting people and received several personal e-mails from new friends – and I fully intend to follow up on my promise to wring every bit of fabulous from our fair city. Deal? Deal.

Okay, off to Richmond.

(**I know I have great vegan options besides supermarkets in both Knoxville and Cincinnati, ‘cuz I’ve probably eaten there on more relaxed road trips already! :) Feel free to share your favorites in the comments, though.)

(***sore feet – and plenty of ‘em.)

One of these things is not like the other:

Hint: It is the frozen pizza I paid $4.99 for that looks very little like its cardboard counterpart!

Seriously, Kashi? The color of the base sauce on my baked pizza literally pales in comparison. Furthermore: you’re rockin twelve, thirteen pieces of delectable balsamic-glazed eggplant on the cover-shot while I count a measly SIX on mine. The roasted red peppers? Yeah, I got about half of those advertised, too. And don’t even get me started on the freaking kale.

Eh, we’ll probably get it again–it was super tasty with some quick garlic eBal sauce. :)

Having just returned from a mini-vacay where I enjoyed especially the privilege of other folks cooking for me for two days, I was reluctant to make dinner tonight. (Not to mention the fact that when N came home, his right shoulder smelled strangely of cheap Chinese food which I immediately started craving. But as that is basically too weird to have written, let’s move on.) Admitting that 1) our fridge is stuffed with raw materials purchased at the Ann Arbor farmer’s market and 2) the visit left me penniless, I decided to whip up an old, quick favorite–sweet hot n sour kale n tofu.

The recipe is based on one I read in Dr. Andrew Weil (say “while”)’s book Eight Weeks to Optimum Health, and the idea is to use your ingredients’ sweet, spicy, and astringent tastes to balance & illumine one another. Here’s what I do:

• Clean and chop some kale (I’ve used regular curly; heirloom Red Russian & Dinosaur)
• Put a little oil in your [cast-iron] skillet; generously add minced garlic (prepared or freshly minced) and some red pepper flakes to taste
• Saute, add greens with a little powdered mustard (a few pinches; it helps the flavor of  the greens); toss around well; add some tamari or soy sauce, a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (I like Bragg’s organic), and a couple tbsps of brown sugar
• Mix well and cover for a few minutes so that it can steam and cook down a bit (greens cook down a LOT)

To up the protein and make a full meal, use your skillet to stir-fry some (extra-)firm tofu in a little oil with garlic; toss with the cooked greens and serve over organic brown rice.

Heey, here’s a picture!

(That’s Zingerman’s vegan farm bread in the back.)