I've said it once, twice, a million times.

A friend on one of my forums asked a question.

Hey guys, I'm going to be in rural Oklahoma with a large party of omnis for a few weeks next month, and I'd like to make stuff for every meal to share with them (a main course, so I've got what to eat too, I'd make some desserts also, anything really). They're potentially wary of "weird" things (though I'll still make some things with tofu, just strategically hidden). I'm not asking you to do my homework (okay, I kind of am), just give me more ideas.

I'm pathetically a cooking rookie, but I'll tackle anything. Ideally, some simple, fairly quick (or slow but totally worth it) recipes that you think would have success with omnis. Also being in rural Oklahoma means I have limited access to exotic ingredients (...exotic here includes miso paste, tahini, and hummus...and vegan yogurt, and anything else really, you're stuck eating sprayed carrots and corn from a can -- I digress!). If you've got a killer recipe that calls for something less Wal-Mart-standard, there's a Whole Foods an hour's drive away -- I would sacrifice myself for cuisine!

OK here goes. I'm not going to tell you to get fake meats (big surprise) or weird spices (that actually is a big surprise). Use what's in the pantry, and what you can find at any grocery store, and that tastes good and people can easily make, so that when you leave, they may very well be tempted to try their own hand at it. I've discussed this technique so many times, but it's still not getting out there, so I'll keep at it till it does.

Start with vegetables of any kind. Get them into equally sized pieces. As long as they're the same size (roughly) you should be fine. Get a dish, and pour in some spices that you have. Paprika is good, dried herbs like basil and sage are both really good, and if they have curry powder, seasoned salt, chile powder, mrs. dash, or any other herb or spice blend, be lazy and use that instead. Add a bit of salt (to taste), a bit of black pepper, and oil. Mix the oil and spices together. Then, toss your vegetables in the spices and oil, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until tender. Check them at 20 minutes, and if they're not tender yet, let it go for another 10. Then check every ten minutes or so till it's done to your liking. Quick cooking veg, like courgette or squash or dark leafy greens without stems (you heard right--this works for leaves too) can take as little as 15 minutes. Long cookers, like whole potatoes, yams, butternut squash, or sweet potatoes, can take as long as 1 hour. Most vegetables, like broccoli, cauliflower, dark leafy greens with stems, carrots, rutabaga, daikon, and other such high-water vegetables will take about 25 - 30 minutes.

I do not kid you when I say that the smells are fantastic. If you are going this route for dark leafy greens, go ahead and put some foil over the baking sheet, so as to allow the greens to steam themselves, and prevent drying out. While you're at it, don't make just one variety. If you have a bunch of different things, and you make the same (or different) spice and oil combos for each one, and bake them in their own little dishes, and then serve a side of rice and beans, you've got a very filling meal going down, with very little effort.

With just this basic technique, you're hitting gluten free, soy free, nut free, and pretty damn near every other allergen free, barring the freaky ones that people make up to be unique and special. And it's easy. And it's low in fat and calories. And it smells and looks fantastic. AND it works for frozen or fresh vegetables. You heard me right. Frozen works fine too. Just avoid tinned veg.

To round it out (with the beans and rice as mentioned), sautee some onion (a medium one, diced is great) in a bit of oil. When the onion turns brown, throw in some of those herbs and spices you used for the vegetables. If you have access to curry powder or turmeric, throw in a bit of that as well to make lovely yellow rice. Then, throw in the rice (about 2 cups), and toss it through with the onions, oil, and spices, until the rice gets toasty, and smells slightly nutty. At that point, dump in a tin of beans of your choice (with the liquid) and wash out the tin with water, and pour that in as well. Then add one more tin's worth of water, and let the water all come to a rolling boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer, slam on the lid, and let it cook slowly for 20 minutes or so. Turn off the heat after 20 minutes, and let it sit there with the lid shut for 10 minutes, while you do other stuff. This is 10,000 times easier in a rice cooker, as you just have to dump everything in, and hit the start button. If it's not cooked enough, let it cook longer over low heat, with some extra added water. If you're using brown rice, increase the cooking time to 40 minutes.

He said that it seems quite doable, and accessible. Anyone else agree?

Things just work anyhow.

We made some overhauls to the way that we're presenting information in the menu. However, I had /just/ sent the print shop one about a week or so ago, and didn't fancy getting on the phone again to have them update it AGAIN. So I called over to the print shop and asked them to do another run of 250 take-away menus. He said sure, and that he'd have them ready shortly.

Only to call me back about 5 minutes later, apologising, and saying that they'd just gotten a new computer, and all the old files are bonked. "Can you please re-send the menu to us via email?" I said, "Certainly! No problem at all."

Mid Week Feast

Kale with coconut milk, curry powder, and scallions. I put the beets in there to cook, because the greens were done too fast. Baked at 350 for 45 minutes.

Broccoli with coconut oil and sesame seeds. Tossed in a bit of cumin powder and turmeric powder. Baked at 350 for 20 minutes.

Beet greens, stewed in a bit of water and their own juices. Seasoned with ginger and garam masala. Baked for 25 minutes.

Snow peas with ginger and mint. Tossed in a bit of oil, and baked for 20 minutes.

Rasam. It's in the book.

All said and done, the prep time took the longest, because washing and chopping all those masses of vegetables in a tiny kitchen can take some time, but after it was all put together, it took five seconds to dump everything into the oven. That was well worth it. If you were making this for two people eating one meal, it would only take like 10 minutes of prep, and then dump everything in the oven. The broccoli and snow peas may be done in the microwave, if you wish. The beet greens as well. The kale really needs the oven to develop proper flavour. I didn't get to see the kale finish cooking, because I had to leave for work, so I asked Steve to turn off the oven when it beeped. He said it was fantastic.

Caught something.

I seem to have caught a bug from somewhere. Ugh. I hate this. I threw on some ginger and water to boil on the stove, and then added a bit of salt and miso to it when it had boiled for about two minutes or so. Then in went a bit more salt (yes, I like salt), and chugged that stuff down until my throat didn't feel like it was trying to choke me from the inside. It worked for a while, but for some reason, I forgot to add any lemon to that stuff, to boost up the vitamin C. Next time, I think I'll do that.

Ye gods, please let this pass through quickly. I don't really do too well when I'm sick. I get whiny and hermit-y.

Food from Saturday feast.

I like to have people come over on Saturdays for lunch, which often stretches throughout the day, and I figured I'd share what we made. Click the small pictures to make them bigger, and get a closer look. Everything came out fantastic.

Mid week feast.

I don't know if this will become a regular feature, but I guess I'll give you guys a peek at this week's mid-week feast. It's a special cooking I do during the middle of the week, to lift up my spirits (because I love to cook), and Steve (because it gives him something of a change, and makes the house smell nice). This week's mid-week feat was simple, but tasty.

I had a few yuccas lying about, along with a few heads of cabbage, some onions, a lot of garlic, some tomato, and sweet potato. I peeled and chopped up the sweet potato (1 large one) into large (about 3 cm cubed) pieces, and set it in a pot of cold water. I set it onto the stove to boil. While that water came up to heat, I peeled the yucca, and set that in a pot of cold water. Set that on the stove to boil as well. Then, I chopped up 1 1/2 heads of cabbage, and the onions I had left. Then I minced up a head of garlic. I then got to cooking. By the time the onions, garlic, and cabbage were prepped, the sweet potatoes were just tender.

That's when the magic started to happen. On went some oil into a screaming hot skillet. In went some mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and sesame seeds. In went a bit of coconut oil, to fortify the smell and taste of the Canola. The house started to fill up with the heady aroma of the coconut oil, and the lovely spices. In went the sweet potatoes, a hefty hit of salt, and a bit of turmeric, black pepper, and cinnamon. I rounded it out with a good scraping of nutmeg.

I then continued to cook the sweet potatoes until they developed a rich, decadent crust on them. They browned every so nicely. I had to drop down the heat to medium low, and let them sit for a few minutes to move them around, but so what? The crust was developing. Then, I finished it off with some garlic, onion, and flaked coconut. That only boosted the smell even more.

By that point, the yucca was done. So I drained that, and chopped it up. In that same wok, I threw in some more oil, mustard seeds, and cumin seeds. When they popped, I dumped in the cabbage, along with some salt, and black pepper, and some red chili flakes. I sauteed that around for about ten minutes. That went off the heat into its serving bowl.

Finally, I had the chopped yucca, some tinned beans, the rest of my onions and garlic, and a hankering for a hearty stew. In went the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and coriander seeds (crushed) with the screaming hot fat. In went the onions and garlic. When they browned, I threw in one tin of drained and rinsed black eyed peas, and a tin of pink beans (with the liquid it came in). I sauteed the beans around in the hot oil and spices, and slated it generously. Then in went the yucca, the yucca's cooking liquid, and some red chili flakes. The smells got even more heady, as the yucca cooked up, and the spices got more aromatic.

While this whole thing was going down, I had a pot of rice going in my rice cooker. All said and done, it took about 40 minutes from start to finish. Hope this inspires some of you to try your own mid week feasts.

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Why I won't be opening up my own restaurant ...

My friend Chuck made a post about how he's not looking to go into cooking professionally. I'd have to say that I agree with a lot of what he says. Our reasoning may be different on the surface, but deep down inside, I think that what Chuck said resonates with me.

There's a difference between being the one to own the restaurant and the one who cooks in it. There's a difference between catering an event, wherein you show up, cook the food that the people have bought, using their dishes, and go off on your merry way when it's all said and done, and owning a catering company, employing others under you, and being responsible to a whole host of other things.

For me, the reasoning why I didn't want to go into business for myself started off with a gut feeling, but after seeing the logistics of it, have evolved into a "I really don't have what it takes."

I don't think there's any shame in admitting that, to be honest. It's important to know your limits, and to still strive for more. I know that I don't have what it takes to be a restauranteur, because I've seen what it's like on a regular basis. The business consumes you. You can have 100 good reviews, but one bad review can send you into a tailspin of nasty emotions that are forever threatening to break through the surface. You can be a kind and fair person, but forever have a nagging feeling that you're actually a bully and a jerk. You can do your utmost to be a decent person, pay the piper on time, and keep on the straight and narrow, only to watch everything come unglued, because one pivotal person has you by the testicles.

Sorry. Not for me.

But it all goes back to something Chuck mentioned, and something that I explain to others who ask me. Cooking, for me, is a highly personal and intimate act. Aside from feeding your body, which I do try to do healthfully and completely, I'm showing you a side of me that not everyone else gets to see. It's part of the reason why I don't post that many food pictures. I want that meal to be an intimate experience between me and whoever it is I cooked it for. To show it off would be like a public display of affection, which is something I indulge in only very rarely.

For me to be able to cross that barrier and cook for people whom I not only don't care for, but actively dislike, seems like it would cause me some mental strife. I've been eminently fortunate that the people who eat at Sacred Chow are awesome people, who have brains, looks, and good palettes. I've only met kind and interesting folk there, and I think it's because that's the sort of crowd that the space attracts. The nasty, negative, angry people either don't come to us, or they see my genuine smile, and relax, and have a good time.

However, that's not the case for every restaurant I've been to. People can be rude, and inconsiderate, and hurtful. I don't really think I'd want to serve that sort of person. I don't think I could, and still keep a smile on my face. It's kind of the reason that my circle of friends is fairly tight-knit. I make acquaintances easily, but it takes me a while to warm up to the person as a friend.

I'm rambling, I know. The point is that it takes all kinds, y'know? Some people do have what it takes to run their own restaurants, and they have the utmost of my respect. I, on the other hand, am one content to cook for my family, my friends, my husband, and occasionally, at Chow, where I don't really see the results of the food, except for the empty bowls that come down!

I seriously had a long and involved dream about salad. I'm so not joking. I dreamed about the different style dressings I made (dijon, hummus, creamy ranch style, and the chickpea cashew one I posted about), and then all the different vegetables I had laid out (tomato, onions, cucumber, grated carrots, olives [green, black, and kalamata], chickpeas, three kinds of lettuce, roasted mushrooms) and the various toppings (craisins, sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, glazed pecans, croutons). I woke up, and was sad to see that I hadn't actually made that salad or the accompaniments.

:(