new cookbooks!

the last day of vegan MOFO. it's been great getting to blog almost everyday this month. this opportunity seems to be the encouragment needed to dedicate time to the padding of my blog. an edible & potable repertoire has been birthed & rooted, & now needs nuturing to grow. as i mentioned yesterday, i want to return to other interests as well. there remains about a dozen draft posts to finish, hopefully by the year's end.

i bought a few new cookbooks the other day. *big smile* : vegan fusion world cuisine, the shoshoni cookbook & tassajara cookbook - lunches, picnics & appetizers. & i'm tickled, i'm pleased to say. i love the unqiue take on veg cooking in each of them. i'm a bit of a collector & really appreciate the efforts to make a cookbook interesting, beautiful & well-organised. i will, as always, take time to become well-acquainted with each new book, but these are my first impressions.



the vegan fusion has some wonderful photography that promotes tranquil well-being, a sense of connection to many places in the natural world. it has lots of resources & thoughts on being vegan. encouraging fresh, organic & live food, the recipes sound delish. there may be a few ingredients to stock, or it's a good chance to learn a few substitutes. keep in mind this book, from the Blossoming Lotus Café (which is currently closed) in Kaua'i, has access to fresh nuts, fruit & veg year-round. while there, it may be cheap & easy to buy local produce, alas in the wintery north, this book will be brought out only through the growing season. as the book is centred on the concept of world cuisine, imported foodstuffs associated with thai, japanese, indian, carribean & everywhere in between, must be purchased (usually available at the local health food store). as i'm presently in the middle east (where practically eveything is imported year-round), i look forward to experimenting soon.


tassajara cookbook is simply elegant & beautiful. *drool* owned by the san fancisco zen center, tassajara is a zen mountain center in california, & has been there since the 60's. it hosts visitors to sustain itself, & offers a wonderful palatte of vegetarian fare. i have a few other cookbooks they've produced, & they are lovely. this one focuses on finger foods & snacks in hand, which has been a focus of mine as of late, so i'm excited to say the least. again, because veg fare is found in all world cuisine, veg cuisine collects foodstuffs from around the world. this can always be simplified, but a few things will be needed, & are readily available, but it doesn't always follow 'local' to the letter. there is a whole section devoted to chutneys, sauces & salsas. yay! & another on pâtés & loaves. i love portable feasts. (btw, i have another cookbook, a thriftstore find, called the portable feast: picnic, lunch box & knapsack fare. knapsack fare! how great is that?)



the shoshoni cookbook - vegetarian recipes from the shoshoni yoga retreat, has been on my wishlist for some time. now, it's in my hand. it is not fancy, but it is packed with fairly quick & easy, & nutritious, recipes. there's a recipe for tofu feta, i cannot wait to try. unfortunately, many recipes call for apple juice concentrate, which may be easily accessible at home, i've not yet found it here in dubai. so i must find a substitute, or make my own?



needless to say, i really must stay out of the bookstore. it is a costly obsession. i usually relieve my guilt by only frequenting the used bookstores, but went upon a friend's request. who am i to deny someone else access to wonderful world of new books?

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good enough.

let's talk cookbooks with some Mulled Wine

it's one of my favourite past times, to sit with a new, or new to me, cookbook & flip through the recipes. i test a good cookbook by it's ability to index well, give simple instructions without a lot of clutter on the pages, &, of course, providing great food ideas. photography is always nice, but not essential. that said, one of my favs (Korean temples & food) is full of wonderful photography. i prefer it to feel nice in my hand as the other is usually preoccupied with a glass of wine or a cuppa. speaking of which, that's a great topic, vegan wines. any preferences?

i must have a few hundred cookbooks, which are at home at the moment, & could probably be weeded a bit. still i have 15 here, plus all my handwritten recipes. i'm in the process of including all i can remember into my libraryThing. i'm also trying to type all my collected handwritten recipes into a database.

a good cookbook should excite my interest enough to lure me to the kitchen. i have bought one recently that may have something in it, but too many recipes i've thought of on my own or have favourites of already. i should have read through it more carefully i suppose. i'm not a beginner cook as i've been practicing since i could hold a knife. & started baking with my easy bake oven (i was so proud of those little cakes), & making candy cane cookies with my mom. nor am i an expert as i am always learning new things & have mastered very little. so i'm always looking for a book that will teach as well as inspire. one that will skip much of the everyday basics, but will include little known basics. if that makes any sense. when i return home & the years that follow, i hope to focus almost exclusively on local produce, mostly from my garden & wild gathered herbs & mushrooms. some of my books represent this desire. anyways, i thought i'd include some of my favs, but it is so difficult to choose. & most are not in sight.

short list of essential cookbooks (veg ones) that musn't leave my shelf,

~ Korean temples & food, Jung Lee
~ laurel's kitchen. Laurel Robertson
~ the New Farmhouse Vegetarian Cookbook, Louise Hagler
~ my Black Book, handwritten, gathered from every nook & cranny
~ la Dolce vegan, Sarah Kramer
~ Essential Vegetarian
~ Madhur Jaffrey'd World Vegetarian
~ Everyday Vegan, Dreena Burton
~ Mediterranean Vegan, Donna Klein
~ Vegan Planet, Robin Robertson

i think there are a few more to add to this list, then again, it would no longer be a short list. well, i was hoping to add more to this post, but the day has gotten away. perhaps this will be continued...
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Mulled Wine, Glühwein

thanks to my friend Suzanne, who i met in Korea, for this great recipe. i threw a party, & she made this at my place, it's that quick & easy. per bottle of vegan red & in a large enough pot, steep together...

2-4 Tbsp sugar
3-4 mandarin oranges, or 1 navel orange
juice of half a lemon, little less than half (usually use half of a lemon for 2 bottles of wine)
3 or 4 cloves
a cinnamon stick or 2

for a few mins let the flavours combine, but don't bring to a boil. *sip carefully*

here's a few finds that i'm looking forward to trying... Hot Cranberry Cider & Glögi, a traditional Finnish winter drink.

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give the Bard of Cornwall a listen while you chill out, he's good.

enjoy!

thoughts on the eve of September, re: 2010 Focus(es)

i know this isn't the beginning of a new year, but it will be the beginning of the first (& hopefully last) school year for ava, so to fill my time whilst in Dubai (as it is illegal for me to work w/out going thru proper channels, though i will teach if i find some willing students) i thought i should plan, make a schedule & have a few goals, or i will squander each & every day playing rpg games & surfin' the net. i have sooo many things i'd like to do/learn, alas i can only do so many in a day/year. this year's energy will be consumed with the following list, but hope that next year i'll make an entirely new list from a long list i have on a sticky note somewhere.

Primary Goals:

1. exercise: we have a gym & a pool in our apt bldg (*shame*); &, of course, yoga

2. practice vegan cooking/baking; org recipes into my cookbook db; think about cookbook idea

3. practice some music: piano, singing & clairnet

4. read books on my reading challenge list+

5. learn all the buttons on my SLR & take photos; work on 'ava 2 1/2 years later'

6. blog about my accomplishments


Secondary Goals:

i'd like to include travel, macrame, sewing, quilting & embroidery if/when i can find the time.


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i'm hoping to actually see more of the UAE & not-to-distant countries, as well as a trip to Korea. :) for gayageum & jasu, as well as, food & friends. all the above is done while trying to save money for a house/land when we return to canada. ha!


i'm making this public as a push to myself. looking at it, it doesn't seem realistic. crap. i don't think i could simplify this if i tried even harder. well i hope to at least post some accomplishments by the end of september. we'll see...

12 Books, 12 Months Challenge

* Pick 12 titles from your To Read Pile. These should be titles you currently own in whatever format you prefer.
* Acquisition of other formats or translations is permitted. So, if you have a paperback but want to read on your Kindle, you can get a Kindle copy. If you have a library copy but want to buy your own, that’s kosher. Heck, if you own a copy and want to check another out from the library, I’m not gonna stop you.
* Post your list in your public space of choice by September 1, 2010.
* Read all 12 titles between now and September 5, 2011. Might as well tack on an extra long weekend at the end for cramming.
* When you finish a title on your list, post about it in your public space of choice.

okay, so here's my picks for the year... they've not necessarily been on my shelf for a while, but it's what i have in Dubai. i'm gonna leave the final three empty as i don't recall what titles are on my shelf in Dubai, but i'll fill them in next week. i'd like to include all the books i've started reading this past year or two, but i'm trying to be realisitic! as well most of them are boxed up in canada.

1. Neil Gaiman - Anansi Boys

2. Jonathan Lethem - Motherless Brooklyn

3. Ian Banks - the Wasp Factory

4. Shree Ghatage - Brahma's Dream

5. Karen Armstrong - Islam

6. A. Hourani - the History of Arab Peoples

7. William Dalrymple - Age of Kali

8. Ghada Karmi - In Search of Fatima

9. Emma Goldman - Living my life Vol.II (& finish Vol.I)

10. William H. Burroughs - Interzone

11. Simone Weil - the Need for Roots

12. Julian Barnes - Talking it Over



what books will you challenge yourself to this year?


good enough.