Mark and I hosted another great wine night last night. There were lots of requests for recipes, and all the food I made I have actually posted recipes about before. In December there is a blog about Christmas dinner with the Herlings where I wrote the corn salad recipe. Then in March there was a blog titled" To all my vegan friends where I posted the chili casserole recipe. The only modification I did last night was added a cup of apple juice and used morningstar veggie crumbles instead of tempeh when making the chili. This was the first wine night with no leftovers, weird!
The only downside last night was that I had all the cooking done before, whereas I normally spend the first hour cooking- which keeps me from drinking too much. I started drinking with everyone else last night, and got way too tipsy...
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
back from Hawaii....
I have been in Hawaii for the last week for those of you who did not know...and here is my blog about the trip!
I went to Hawaii for IVECCS Spring Break, a conference for ECC people in vet med. Mark was supposed to be my guest, but bailed, which sucked, but it all worked out since my good friend Katie from vet school lives and works in Hawaii, and she attended the conference too!
I arrived Wednesday afternoon in Hawaii, Kauai to be exact, and relaxed in the hotel myself that night. It was an easy day. I went for a "run", which ended up sadly just being a 2 miler since it was 85 degrees and very humid.... I had not acclimated yet.
Thursday was an all day event for the conference. A lot of the speakers were my old professors from Tufts, which was great. Most of the topics were interesting. The conference was geared towards ER vets, not specialists, so it was a little basic for me, but that was comforting, knowing that I know more then I think I do. Thrusday night they hosted a lua for us, which was fun, and they had lots of great food. I was worried it would be all about the roasted pig, but there were actually about 5 different vegan options, plus some of the best pina coladas I have eever had (made with coconut milk).
Friday we had off, so we planned a day trip. Katie, her friends Julie and Isabelle from her internship, and Eric (Julie's husband) and I all went for a day long snorkel adventure. We arrived at the tour place at 6am, then took a boat out along the Napali Coast for 4 hours. The Napali coast is VERY isolated and beautiful, and one of the only ways to see it is via boat. I kept thinking that I watch too many movies since a lot of the views reminded me of movies, but then I found out I was right, and a lot of famous movies were filmed there: Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, etc. There was marine wildlife galore: sea turtles, humpback whales, spinner dolphins, and manta rays, and all but the whales were super close along the side of the boat. The down side...I turned out to be quite sea sick, I spent the majority of the time that the boat was in motion at the back puking my guts out...puked 4 times, mostly dry heaving and water at the end, ughh...it took a lot out of me.
The boat then took us to a different island with a bird sanctuary, and we spent an hour in the water snorkeling there, BEAUTIFUL fish, and that is where we saw the manta rays. By 3pm the trip was over, and while it was beautiful and I saw some of the most amazing wildlife, I was glad to have land under me again.
That night we had sushi for dinner (yummy sweet potatoe sushi for me). Needless to say, my vomiting was from sea sickness and not a hangover, but after spending 4 hours of straight heaving I avoided alcohol for 2 days.
Saturday morning I was waiting for the elevator when a chicken appeared on our floor, alone in the elevator, pretty darn funny. The conference went on for the morning, and then Saturday afternoon we went out to the canyon to try to hike. We stopped at Island Taco on the way and I had an amazing meal: tofu taco with cilantro and lime sauce, delicious! I am going to try to make it again sometime myself. The Canyon was a little rainy, mainly because the elevation was so high, but we got a brief 1 mile hike in. Then on the way out stopped at the Kauai brewery- everyone got the platter of seven different Hawaiian mini beers...I normally would have too to sample all of it, but after the day before I sipped and barely finished one beer.Then we watched the sunset on the beach on the south coast before heading back home.
Sunday morning was the conference again. Got to speak with some of the people from Tufts which was nice. Then we drove to the north shore to try and relax on a beach- sadly it was raining pretty hard. We were able to visit a light house on a bird sanctuary before it started raining: saw whales in the distance and on the sanctuary saw tropic birds, albatross, red footed bobbies, frigates, and shearwaters. We saw a cool cave, fed a stray dog with a broken leg that had probably had several litters of puppies (she was so sweet, I wanted to take her home and fix her!), and then shopped in a little town near the beach. We went to a thai restaurant for dinner that night, had a tasty peanut stir fry.
Monday was our last day, and we had the day off again. We went for a kayaking trip: we kayaked up the main river in Kauai about 2 miles both ways, and stopped at a trail. We hiked this trail with our group and guide about a mile both ways to a secluded, 100 foot waterfall in a national park. It was quite an adventure, especially since the hike entailed crossing a river AND sloshing through 1 foot deep mud trails. It was quite a work out and very enjoyable. It was a little annoying that the other guests on our tour were not very kayak savy, and they did not follow proper etiquette well which resulting in someone ramming, scraping, and bruising my leg while we were getting out of our kayak and they were landing.
Julie fished an injured bird out of the river (a Japanese white eye we think) and we called around until we found a rehabber to take it. Then we relaxed at the pool for 3 hours until we headed to the airport and home.
Now that I am home I really miss the weather since it is rainy, cold, and windy here. Hopefully it will get warmer soon!
I went to Hawaii for IVECCS Spring Break, a conference for ECC people in vet med. Mark was supposed to be my guest, but bailed, which sucked, but it all worked out since my good friend Katie from vet school lives and works in Hawaii, and she attended the conference too!
I arrived Wednesday afternoon in Hawaii, Kauai to be exact, and relaxed in the hotel myself that night. It was an easy day. I went for a "run", which ended up sadly just being a 2 miler since it was 85 degrees and very humid.... I had not acclimated yet.
Thursday was an all day event for the conference. A lot of the speakers were my old professors from Tufts, which was great. Most of the topics were interesting. The conference was geared towards ER vets, not specialists, so it was a little basic for me, but that was comforting, knowing that I know more then I think I do. Thrusday night they hosted a lua for us, which was fun, and they had lots of great food. I was worried it would be all about the roasted pig, but there were actually about 5 different vegan options, plus some of the best pina coladas I have eever had (made with coconut milk).
Friday we had off, so we planned a day trip. Katie, her friends Julie and Isabelle from her internship, and Eric (Julie's husband) and I all went for a day long snorkel adventure. We arrived at the tour place at 6am, then took a boat out along the Napali Coast for 4 hours. The Napali coast is VERY isolated and beautiful, and one of the only ways to see it is via boat. I kept thinking that I watch too many movies since a lot of the views reminded me of movies, but then I found out I was right, and a lot of famous movies were filmed there: Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, etc. There was marine wildlife galore: sea turtles, humpback whales, spinner dolphins, and manta rays, and all but the whales were super close along the side of the boat. The down side...I turned out to be quite sea sick, I spent the majority of the time that the boat was in motion at the back puking my guts out...puked 4 times, mostly dry heaving and water at the end, ughh...it took a lot out of me.
The boat then took us to a different island with a bird sanctuary, and we spent an hour in the water snorkeling there, BEAUTIFUL fish, and that is where we saw the manta rays. By 3pm the trip was over, and while it was beautiful and I saw some of the most amazing wildlife, I was glad to have land under me again.
That night we had sushi for dinner (yummy sweet potatoe sushi for me). Needless to say, my vomiting was from sea sickness and not a hangover, but after spending 4 hours of straight heaving I avoided alcohol for 2 days.
Saturday morning I was waiting for the elevator when a chicken appeared on our floor, alone in the elevator, pretty darn funny. The conference went on for the morning, and then Saturday afternoon we went out to the canyon to try to hike. We stopped at Island Taco on the way and I had an amazing meal: tofu taco with cilantro and lime sauce, delicious! I am going to try to make it again sometime myself. The Canyon was a little rainy, mainly because the elevation was so high, but we got a brief 1 mile hike in. Then on the way out stopped at the Kauai brewery- everyone got the platter of seven different Hawaiian mini beers...I normally would have too to sample all of it, but after the day before I sipped and barely finished one beer.Then we watched the sunset on the beach on the south coast before heading back home.
Sunday morning was the conference again. Got to speak with some of the people from Tufts which was nice. Then we drove to the north shore to try and relax on a beach- sadly it was raining pretty hard. We were able to visit a light house on a bird sanctuary before it started raining: saw whales in the distance and on the sanctuary saw tropic birds, albatross, red footed bobbies, frigates, and shearwaters. We saw a cool cave, fed a stray dog with a broken leg that had probably had several litters of puppies (she was so sweet, I wanted to take her home and fix her!), and then shopped in a little town near the beach. We went to a thai restaurant for dinner that night, had a tasty peanut stir fry.
Monday was our last day, and we had the day off again. We went for a kayaking trip: we kayaked up the main river in Kauai about 2 miles both ways, and stopped at a trail. We hiked this trail with our group and guide about a mile both ways to a secluded, 100 foot waterfall in a national park. It was quite an adventure, especially since the hike entailed crossing a river AND sloshing through 1 foot deep mud trails. It was quite a work out and very enjoyable. It was a little annoying that the other guests on our tour were not very kayak savy, and they did not follow proper etiquette well which resulting in someone ramming, scraping, and bruising my leg while we were getting out of our kayak and they were landing.
Julie fished an injured bird out of the river (a Japanese white eye we think) and we called around until we found a rehabber to take it. Then we relaxed at the pool for 3 hours until we headed to the airport and home.
Now that I am home I really miss the weather since it is rainy, cold, and windy here. Hopefully it will get warmer soon!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
"mexican lasagna"
I have recently been told about the fat free vegan blog, which is pretty decent, and tried one of her recipes last night (but made it non-fat free and some other changes).
It turned out pretty good and will be a good source of leftovers for Mark for the week while I am in Hawaii.
Ingredients:
1 can black beans
1 can sliced olives
1 can kidney beans
1 chopped yellow onion
1 green pepper and 1 red pepper, chopped
2 TBsp garlic
cumin
chili powder
2 cans vegetarian refried beans
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 jar vegetarian enchilada sauce
vegan daiya cheese (mozzarella and cheddar)
18 small corn tortillas
Directions:
In a small frying pain heat the onion, peppers, and garlic with a small amount of water, until soft.
In a large casserole dish that is sprayed with nonstick spray, layer 6 tortillas. On top of this coat one can of stirred refried beans. On top of this layer 1/2 the pepper mixture. On top of this spread the can of tomatoes. On top of this spread one can of black beans. Sprinkle with cumin and chili powder. Then place a layer of daiya cheese.
On top of this place another 6 tortillas, then another layer of the refried beans. Place the remaining 1/2 of the peppers on this, then the other can of tomatoes, then the can of kidney beans. Again sprinkle with cumin and chili powder, and apply another layer of daiya cheese.
Place one more layer of 6 tortillas. Coat with the enchilada sauce and the olives on top of this.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
It made a delicious meal, especially with tofutti sour cream on the side, and 8 leftover containers.
On another note I also made vegan AND gluten free raspberry cupcakes with delicious homemade frosting for rounds today...
pet peeves from a runner...
Being a runner in the city can be tough sometimes...luckily I live less then a mile from the Charles and just head straight to the river on my runs as it is a runner's oasis there. But that still means I am on the roads for about 1.2 miles total to and from the apartment...and that can be dicey.
I am sure drivers are just as peeved by me sometimes, I try my hardest to obey crossing laws and to watch out for other pedestrians. I have found bikers can be more dangerous then cars, and while I respect them and like that they are travelling in such an environmentally conscious way, they scare me too, and take risks that are dangerous for everyone sometimes.
But lately I have this one pet peeve that I just want to blog about...
When I am on a busy street on my way to or from the Charles (aka Mass Ave) there are a lot of pedestrians, especially between Newbury St. to past Berklee. Sometimes I find it a little rude that they always walk in a fashion to take up the whole sidewalk chatting with friends, etc., but I get by. In particular, at this point I know what spots are save to briefly run along the road and avoid cars and people. What drives me nuts though is when I am obviously trying to get by slow walking people, and after I do I hit a DO NOT WALK sign. While waiting to cross I always jog in place, and often times I will jog in place at the very end of the curb, waiting for my "little white man" to tell me I can cross (inside joke with Denis). My pet peeve- when I am jogging in place and the pedestrians I just passed with some difficulty arrive at the same intersection, and proceed to walk around me and stand off the curb in front of me waiting for the walk sign. Really? I am just going to have to jog around you and pass you again. I mean, I am jogging in place after all, I am going to hit the ground running as soon as that walk sign flashes, and you are going to be in my way. Instead, you could have just waited behind me since that extra 3 feet in front of me is not going to get you across the street any faster.
Ughh, complaints from a runner...
I am sure drivers are just as peeved by me sometimes, I try my hardest to obey crossing laws and to watch out for other pedestrians. I have found bikers can be more dangerous then cars, and while I respect them and like that they are travelling in such an environmentally conscious way, they scare me too, and take risks that are dangerous for everyone sometimes.
But lately I have this one pet peeve that I just want to blog about...
When I am on a busy street on my way to or from the Charles (aka Mass Ave) there are a lot of pedestrians, especially between Newbury St. to past Berklee. Sometimes I find it a little rude that they always walk in a fashion to take up the whole sidewalk chatting with friends, etc., but I get by. In particular, at this point I know what spots are save to briefly run along the road and avoid cars and people. What drives me nuts though is when I am obviously trying to get by slow walking people, and after I do I hit a DO NOT WALK sign. While waiting to cross I always jog in place, and often times I will jog in place at the very end of the curb, waiting for my "little white man" to tell me I can cross (inside joke with Denis). My pet peeve- when I am jogging in place and the pedestrians I just passed with some difficulty arrive at the same intersection, and proceed to walk around me and stand off the curb in front of me waiting for the walk sign. Really? I am just going to have to jog around you and pass you again. I mean, I am jogging in place after all, I am going to hit the ground running as soon as that walk sign flashes, and you are going to be in my way. Instead, you could have just waited behind me since that extra 3 feet in front of me is not going to get you across the street any faster.
Ughh, complaints from a runner...
Saturday, April 9, 2011
sweet potatoe curry
this is a good one to make LOTS of leftovers, and it packs a little punch!
Ingredients:
1 TBsp canola oil
1 chopped yellow onion
2 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans of dark red kidney beans
4 sweet potatoes- peeled and diced
2cups veggie stock
3 TBsp garlic
2 TBsp curry
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 TBsp ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne
rice
Directions:
Cook rice as directed.
In a saucepan place the oil and heat, then add onion until softened. Then add in all the spices as well as the garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Then add the veggie stock and tomatoes and increase heat until at a boil. Then turn back to low heat and add the kidney beans and sweet potatoes. Stir and cook at low for 30 minutes.
Serve over rice.
thai tofu wraps
this recipe did not turn out at all like what I expected, but I modified and made it work...
Ingredients:
1 chopped white onion
1 cup chopped carrots
3 TBsp garlic
2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup peanuts
1 container tofu, drained and mashed
1 bag romaine lettuce
2 Tbsp cilantro
2 TBsp tamari soy sauce
1 tsp asian chili paste
1/2 cup bread crumbs
tortillas
3 TBsp peanut butter
Peanut sauce (you can use a premade one, or I made a homemade one)- 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1 TBsp garlic, 1/4 cup tamari, 1 TBsp rice wine, 1 tsp asian chili paste, 1 tsp sugar, and 2 TBsp cilantro needed.
Directions:
In a food processor purree the onion, garlic, giner, carrots, and peanuts. Then add the tofu, peanut butter, cilantro, chili paste, and tamari and purree to a chunky mixture.
In a glass dish that is lightly oiled layer a small layer of read crumbs, then pour the above mixture on top, then another layer of bread crumbs. Back at 350 for 30 minutes.
For the peanut sauce you need to whisk together all the above ingredients listed under the sauce until creamy and thin, you can add water as needed if it is too thick.
In the torilla place romaine lettuce, as much of the tofu crumble from the oven as you want per wrap (it is crumbly and is like falafel but a little more crumbly). Drizzle on the peanut sauce and roll up.
Sorry the picture is so blurry, but Mark is posing eating the delicious result!
Also, I had leftovers of the tofu crumble from the oven. What I ended up doing was using the leftover lettuce and crumble and peanut sauce as a salad for 2 days, I added some cucumbers to it and it was a tasty (although probably high calorie) salad.
Symphony
I need to play blog catch up!!!
I don't think I ever got a chance to post about the symphony.
Mark and I went to the symphony last month. It was something I wanted to do for a while. They have discount where people under forty can get tickets for $20, so Mark got this for the two of us for Valentine's Day.
Of course, the timing was a little bad...I had told Mark in January that I had weekends off for a month, so he bought tickets for a Friday night, which happened to be the second week of March. When I explained I was working and I might not be able to go because I was also on call, he said I had told him I had weekends off for a month. I had, but I had said that in January, and it was 3 weeks later...not to mention there was a calendar on the fridge with my schedule. But we decided to try to make it happen.
Of course, I had been on call for 12 days by the time that day rolled around, and what do you know, Thursday night is the first night I get a call and get asked to come in. They had just put a dog on the ventilator so one of our jobs as the ECC residents is to sit with the cases and micro manage the minute to minute changes round the clock, so at 2am on Friday morning I woke up, showered, and headed over to Angell. I was there from 3am on with just 4.5 hours of sleep. And it was a hellish day so I ended up being there until 6:30. I got home at 7pm, changed, and we had to rush to the symphony since doors let us in at 730pm. Of course, by this time I was grumpy, tired and HUNGRY but we didn't have time to get dinner. (there was free food there for Mark, but nothing for us outcast vegans).
Mark happened to randomly run in to his best friend's mother from growing up, which was nice, but a little rough too since I did not know he had run in to her when I was waiting for him in the hall to get our seats, and after 10 minutes of searching for him I found him chatting with her and her husband.
The symphony itself was beautiful, and they opened with Haydn, I loved the opening act. I was trying hard not to fall asleep though after being awake since 2am. Then at the intermission Mark moved our seats next to his friend's mom, which was ok, but again I was even more tired then since Mark was catching up with them while I tried not to fall asleep.
The second act with the piano was not as good, I forget the artist, but they closed with Beethoven's 5th, which was nice since so many people recognized it (it was Mark's favorite since he knew it) but by the end of it all at 1030pm I just wanted it to be over so I could go home and try to sleep before getting up at 530am for work the next morning (thank goodness I didn't get called in again. I have to admit, I was terrified for a second that Mark's friends were going to want to grab drinks, but they didn't, hopefully if I ever go again it will be a little better planned for timing and I will be less sleep deprived so I can watch and enjoy the music more.
I don't think I ever got a chance to post about the symphony.
Mark and I went to the symphony last month. It was something I wanted to do for a while. They have discount where people under forty can get tickets for $20, so Mark got this for the two of us for Valentine's Day.
Of course, the timing was a little bad...I had told Mark in January that I had weekends off for a month, so he bought tickets for a Friday night, which happened to be the second week of March. When I explained I was working and I might not be able to go because I was also on call, he said I had told him I had weekends off for a month. I had, but I had said that in January, and it was 3 weeks later...not to mention there was a calendar on the fridge with my schedule. But we decided to try to make it happen.
Of course, I had been on call for 12 days by the time that day rolled around, and what do you know, Thursday night is the first night I get a call and get asked to come in. They had just put a dog on the ventilator so one of our jobs as the ECC residents is to sit with the cases and micro manage the minute to minute changes round the clock, so at 2am on Friday morning I woke up, showered, and headed over to Angell. I was there from 3am on with just 4.5 hours of sleep. And it was a hellish day so I ended up being there until 6:30. I got home at 7pm, changed, and we had to rush to the symphony since doors let us in at 730pm. Of course, by this time I was grumpy, tired and HUNGRY but we didn't have time to get dinner. (there was free food there for Mark, but nothing for us outcast vegans).
Mark happened to randomly run in to his best friend's mother from growing up, which was nice, but a little rough too since I did not know he had run in to her when I was waiting for him in the hall to get our seats, and after 10 minutes of searching for him I found him chatting with her and her husband.
The symphony itself was beautiful, and they opened with Haydn, I loved the opening act. I was trying hard not to fall asleep though after being awake since 2am. Then at the intermission Mark moved our seats next to his friend's mom, which was ok, but again I was even more tired then since Mark was catching up with them while I tried not to fall asleep.
The second act with the piano was not as good, I forget the artist, but they closed with Beethoven's 5th, which was nice since so many people recognized it (it was Mark's favorite since he knew it) but by the end of it all at 1030pm I just wanted it to be over so I could go home and try to sleep before getting up at 530am for work the next morning (thank goodness I didn't get called in again. I have to admit, I was terrified for a second that Mark's friends were going to want to grab drinks, but they didn't, hopefully if I ever go again it will be a little better planned for timing and I will be less sleep deprived so I can watch and enjoy the music more.
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