Sunday, August 30, 2009

My favorite dinner + other food I've been making this week

Last night I decided to make my favorite dinner again, I just can't get enough of it!  Chickpea cutlets with mustard sauce, mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus.  It is not that difficult to make, but it takes a long time to put it all together. I am totally making this meal next time I have
friends over for dinner, it is so tasty and looks fancy :)


Check out this cute Indian baby eggplants!  I roasted them in a dry pan and put them in a stir-fry.  I wasn't crazy about them, but my husband really liked it.  I can never seem to cook eggplant properly...but every time I eat it at an Indian restaurant I love it.
And this is my stir-fry with curried tofu, 
carrots, pattypan squash and green beans














I've been buying these fingerlings potoates from Costco lately and they are delicious! I threw in some parsnips and carrots















My husband got me a new cookbook for our anniversary, and I just HAD to try the beer battered tofu recipe! Super unhealthy, but yuuuuuumy.  It reminded me a lot of fish and chips.  I even made some vegan tarter sauce for the first time.  It was very eas to make.














Vegan tarter sauce = yummmmm















Tofu balls with dijon mustard sauce, green beens, and sweet potato fries















Mitsou and Nina LOVE to cuddle in bed with their daddy :)

Saturday, August 29, 2009

One year wedding anniversary celebration at the Millennium

For those who don't know, I had my wedding reception at the Millennium Restaurant last summer and we were blown away by the food! (Check our my post on it - August 2008). So when it was time to make plans for our first wedding anniversary, it was obvious we were going back there to celebrate!

I made reservations 3 weeks in advance because they are always booked up on weekends. When we got to our table there was an envelop on the table with our names on it. We opened it up, and it was a gift certificate from my in-laws for a Taster's Choice Menu with wine pairings!! What an amazing gift, we were so thrilled. It was a bit too much food though.... lol

Here are some pictures

Little Gem Salad
(julienne carrots, toasted croutons, roasted garlic-ceaser vinaigrette)

Melon & Summer Greens salad

(shaved fennel & radish, candied cashews, mint, melon-cardamon-ginger vinaigrette)

I forget which kind of soup this was, but I can tell you it was great :)
flatbread with babaganoush, and something else (this wasn't on the menu)

Cornmeal Crusted Oyster Mushrooms

(sweet & spicy apple-pepper jam, shaved onion & radish salad)

Black Bean Torte

(whole wheat tortilla, caramelized plantain, smoky black bean puree, pumpkin-habenero papazul, cashew sour cream, watermelon salsa


Seared Potato-Scallion Cake

(yellow Indonesian curry, saute of neon eggplant, bok choy, mung bean sprouts & crispy tempeh, shaved green papaya & Asian aromatic salad, toasted peanut-chile sambal)

Pecan Crusted Tempeh

(peach-bourbon sauce, roasted red pepper & corn grits, collard greens with caramelized onion & fennel, dill & garlic pickled green beans)

French Fingerling Potato Roulade
(cremini mushroom duxelle filling, black pepper pastry crust, saffron scented gold tomato coulis, seared romano bean & sweet onion salad, truffled black pepper thyme oil)

Lobster Mushroom Risotto
(brick dough beggar's purse filled with savory creamed corn-pudding, vaquero bean, arugula & cherry tomato salad, vanilla-thyme oil)
chocolate mouse type cake, fresh figs and ice cream, plum crisp

We had a fantastic night, and we can't wait to go there again! If you live in the Bay Are and have not been to the Millennium, I highly recommend it. It is a great place for vegans AND non-vegans.

K

Friday, August 28, 2009

Things I've been making since I've been here

As I mentioned before, I have been making amazing simple meals with fresh organic produce!

Here are some pics (if you want any of the recipes just let me know)

Spinach dip:

Homemade gnocchi with pesto and peppers:

This is one of my FAV dinners!!! Chickpea cutlets, with mustard sauce, roasted asparagus, and mashed potatoes. yummmmmmmm:

These are called lemon cucumbers, my friend's dad grows them in his backyard. They are delicious:

This is my husban's idea of a dessert (ice cream, peanut butter cookies, and peanut butter puffs):

Now THIS is what I call a GOURMET burger (boca burger with sauteed mushrooms, onions, pickles, lettuce, tomato, fancy ground mustard, and roasted potatoes):

Delicious fingerlings potatoes from Costco:

Living the vegan life in Berkeley, California!

Hello my dear readers,

I can hardly believe it's the end of August, and last time I updated my blog was March!! That is very shameful of me lol.

I moved to Berkeley about a month ago, and let me tell you it is a vegan paradise! Being in the produce section of Berkeley Bowl (an amazing grocery store) is like being in a candy store. I have never seen some of this stuff, it truly is amazing. However, it does make shopping more difficult because there is so much to choose from. I was standing there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out which kinds of potatoes to buy! lol

Every dish I've been making tastes 100 times better than when I made it back home. Everything tastes for fresh and flavorful.

It has been a challenge cooking in a new kitchen, learning how to cook with my new stove,but it's working out pretty well! I have a gas stove for the first time, and food really does taste different. Sad news is that my food processor broke in transit, so I NEED to replace it. It will cost $100 to replace the parts, so it will have to wait a bit longer. I am slowly but surely replacing everything in my kitchen that I sold back home, it's been a big job! I do miss having a fully stocked kitchen :(

I will be off work for the next 3 months, so I promise to update my blog on a regular basis.

K