So this is a little bit of a vintage post for y’all, seeing as how I made this dish with my pal Seth about three weeks ago. It nevertheless counts as a “WAWWA” post because it is what I ate. I just didn’t eat it very recently.
First things first: you’d think a veg of eleven years would have made home-made seitan a long, long time ago. I am, in fact, more than a little self-conscious that I hadn’t. So why now? There are a couple related reasons why it took me so many moons to get my act together. I waited much longer than I ought to have on a delinquent friend who promised and promised, season after season (literally), to midwife my seitan-making. As with so many other things, he never came through. (Burn!) Eh, I’m not really holding a grudge…but I will say this. When I bought the vital wheat gluten that was eventually used to make the seitan, it was over a year in-date. When Seth and I finally made it, it was three months expired. Thank goodness it was frozen for most of its lifecycle, so it didn’t matter at all. Still. I got my B face on.
I really wanted someone to walk me through my first time, and the prospect of making seitan with someone who had so successfully, deliciously made it before was appealing. The main reason I hesitated? I am almost completely unfamiliar with a crucial step of seitan-making: kneading. Yep, despite however highly you may regard my cooking skills, I honestly don’t have much experience with recipes that require kneading. The only non-sweet bread I make requires little more than pouring a can of beer into the dry and mixing. Yet seitan simply doesn’t happen without lots and lots of good firm kneading. It’s a pretty simple process, isn’t it? But the prospect of somehow getting it wrong was weirdly dissuasive.
As it turns out, the most important ingredient in seitan is not experience, but enthusiasm. And Seth had that:
A fellow virgin seitan-maker, but with slightly more kneading experience, he vaulted at the challenge. Check out this gorgeous lump of gluten and spices he tamed:
Actually it’s kind of hideous, isn’t it? Like a couple colors of Playdough teamed up with some silly putty & moonrocks and did the meiotic mambo. That’s about what it felt like, too. But don’t let that dissuade you! Just roll it out into a log and cut, with a serrated knife if possible, into six equal pieces. Then simmer it in veg stock for quite a while:
Once it’s simmered the appropriate amount of time (check your recipe) it’ll need to cool completely. To hasten this process and get it off our minds, we put it on the front porch while we, along with Nate & Michael, watched the second half of Tron.
While the boys gabbed about object-oriented programming in the front room, Seth smashed a wine bottle and I whipped up the marinade for “Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers” from Isa’s Vegan With a Vengeance. About 25 minutes later, we feasted:
Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers goes delightfully with RuPaul’s Drag Race. Since the recipe requires a half a cup of red wine, go ahead and pour yourself a glass! As we learn from the gals in the Interior Illusions Lounge, you throw funner shade when you’re sauced.
To friends with enthusiasm. *clink*
PS. Seth has a blog, too, and it’s a good one. You should read it.
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In the weeks leading up to Christmas, my friend Matt encouraged our congregation to consider the ways we can embody the counter-cultural, anti-materialistic message of Jesus in one of the most insanely commercial times of the year. (You know, that time when Christians are supposed to be so joyously anticipating the advent of his radical life & message?) On several Sundays, folks shared their plans: donate an equal amount spent on gifts to a charitable organization, write a few meaningful cards instead of sending a slew of autographed pages, making presents instead of buying, hosting parties instead of giving individual gifts. All great ideas.
I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time studying 60′s counter-culture while in seminary, particularly that of the diggers & yippies, and so I naturally wanted to try to organize a “free sale” for my community. Free stores/sales still pop up every once in a while, but they’re by no means as common or popular as they once were. The diggers who opened the first stores claimed that Americans (Amerikans?) had entered a post-scarcity world where new items no longer needed to be produced or purchased. Instead, whatever you needed was likely sitting unused (or underused) at your buddy’s house, and too much was being thrown needlessly in the trash. Beloved communities didn’t need superstores to buy more; instead, they yearned for a centrally-located space where people could share what they no longer needed and the needy could take home whatever might improve their lot.
Fast-forward about 40 years. Nate & I realized that much of what we own we don’t need for a variety of reasons–don’t use/don’t like/have duplicates, etc. The clutter was getting to us; our possessions had become a part of us, and they wore like wet clothes. How wistful I got over the days when I could pack everything I owned into my compact car! Of course, I didn’t sit around feeling sorry for myself too long–I got to work organizing the free sale! And on Sunday, January 10, from 12pm-10pm, we invited friends & neighbors into our home to take what they needed. Over 30 “shopped”, most brought items for sharing, and no one left unhappy. It was exhausting, to be sure, but truly a success.
For those who might like to try one of their own (& I highly encourage it!) here’s a little run-down of what we did:
1) Went through our stuff: clothes, toiletries, housewares, media, kitchen items, even some food. On & off, this took a few days. It was difficult in all the usual ways that going through and getting rid of stuff can be for packrats, so don’t expect it won’t be if you’re that type. We found it helped to amass everything in one obvious, centralized location such that we could observe our progress.
2) I made facebook & e-mail event invitations; I announced the event at church and in safe public spaces. I emphasized the following: “Feel free to take whatever you need/find interesting/would like to give away to someone else in need.” I also noted that it would be a community event open to those who didn’t need or want to give away stuff, but simply wanted the company of like-minded folks: “this will also be a time for visit & brainstorm the ways that we can continue to live into a countercultural, anti-corporate vision of peace, sharing, and simple abundance. So come for conversation, tea, dreaming…”
3) I quickly addressed guests’ burgeoning desire to bring stuff to the free sale. Two possible reasons for this: we grow up hearing, skeptically, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”, so folks have a hard time with the “truly free”, instead preferring to bargain/barter/trade. Second reason: people got really excited about the idea & opportunity to clean out closets and help others! If you host a free sale, anticipate that friends will want to bring items for giving away–and how. By the end of our sale, we had replenished stock at least fourfold.
It may also be wise to advertise, when possible, your availability to pick items up. Folks may not take you up on the offer, but it’ll be encouraging & hospitable to those who need it.
4) We allowed folks to come just a couple hours early that day to drop items off.
5) We arranged items by room, clearly marking what was available for taking and what wasn’t. For instance,
- a huge table in the kitchen had all the kitchen stuff
- the bedroom hosted all the clothes (on the bed, in neat piles), shoes, and purses/bags
- an even bigger table in the office held the housewares and etcetera
- the living room was the common area, where lounging, talking, and cupcake-consumption happened
6) We opened our home from 2-10pm (officially). We gave everyone who came in a brief “tour”, explaining how the rooms were arranged
7) We stood by, making new batches of cupcakes, cups of tea, grinding coffee beans, and answering questions as folks browsed, dreamed, and enjoyed the simple abundance of togetherness.
8. We connected items with folks looking for particular things, sometimes giving beyond what we had planned: in one case, a student & friend from Nigeria had recently moved and needed kitchen wares. After rounding up items from the common table, I searched our pantries for extras to make his transition a little easier. A pot I hadn’t planned to part with, but that I didn’t need too terribly (just liked a lot), went his way when I learned of the need. Don’t be afraid to open yourselves to this kind of exchange! It might feel uncomfortable at first (we like things, we really like them!) but eventually the pain of the trivial loss is replaced by the soothing understanding that you have provided for another in need.
9) We closed up shop a little late, crashed, and went easy on ourselves the next day. It was great fun, totally worth it, but as I mentioned, exhausting. Plan for it. But, of course, don’t let it discourage you… instead…
…Build beloved community! De-clutter your life! Loosen the stranglehold of consumerism! Host a free sale today!
Much peace,
Adrienne
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