Lots of food and happenings

I like to cook, evidently.  I cook all the time and I guess I got Gran's cooking genes because I've had excellent luck with everything I've attempted. The above is a veggie pizza we made for Documentary Night, a tradition that hasn't quite taken hold yet. The basic idea is to rent a documentary from Netflix and watch it during dinner. We watched "Dark Days" which is about the group of homeless people living underground in New York City's subway tunnels. It was very good.

This is carrot ginger soup with browned tofu and rice. It was so spicy that it made our noses run, but it was worth it because it was very good and healthy. I didn't use butter or anything, just carrots and low-sodium vegetable broth to boil it down, then added grated ginger root and blended it in the blender while it was still hot. It was pretty easy and very ethnic tasting.

This is just some basic pasta with roasted asparagus and a spinach salad with beet slices. It was quite easy to make. This is Derek's portion, which was much bigger than mine, which is why I took a picture of it. I burned the asparagus a little because I forgot it in the oven, so I ate most of his. I like it kind of burned.

We went over to our friend Josh's new apartment because he was kitten sitting. I was so thrilled to meet the kitten, but he was just wild. Josh's cat Bolo was not happy about the kitten being around.

Here we are feeling awkward in front of Bolo.

Derek is excited to see the kitten leap. I tried to fix his demon eyes but it didn't work out too well.

Erika and I cooked some fancy dessert, and I guess Derek told us to show our grills or snarl or something because we both look pretty fierce/crazy in this picture. Nothing to help the demon eyes.


Rachel played a mean joke on her cat. It took him a good 5 minutes to notice.

So, this is the coolest thing ever. I made barbecue out of fruit. Jackfruit is a southeast Asian fruit. When it is ripe, it is sweet and is served as a dessert. When it is unripe, it is flavorless and can be shredded to look and feel like meat. It soaks up the flavor of whatever it is marinated in, such as barbecue sauce or chili sauce, and then it can be used as a very low-cal meat substitute. The "pulled pork" on our sandwiches had less than 50 calories including the sauce. It tasted great and was fairly easy to make. I served it with vegan coleslaw, steamed broccoli, and very low oil home fries.


I fixed dinner for all three Porter kids and Mother Porter when she came through Chicago. She provided a salad and brought wine, and I cooked the 3 other courses. We started with ratatouille over brown rice, as pictured above.

The third course consisted of this tofu quiche. It really works in my favor that Erika, Jeph, and their mom are all totally lactose intolerant, so using soy substitutes wasn't weird for them. It also means that Derek was raised on soy, so he's not weird when I use tofu either. This quiche was heavenly (and we still have this much in the refrigerator for later.) I baked it the night before and let it set up in the refrigerator overnight so it was less runny than the last one. It was just great. Everyone scraped their plates.

The dessert course was homemade crêpes with a baked cinnamon apple and walnut filling served with soy vanilla ice cream. I had thought I was going to buy the crêpes pre-made at Whole Foods, but they don't sell them at my location! I was distraught and had to bike home super fast and learn how to make the thin little pancakes. They turned out quite well! I was impressed with my apple filling because I did not use a recipe.

In this picture, you can kind of see the filling.

Jeph and Ms. Porter enjoying the ratatouille

Everyone had a grand time. I enjoyed myself immensely. After dinner, we rolled into the living room and told jokes for a couple of hours.

Q: What is blue and smells like red paint?
A: Blue paint.


Today I had a job interview at North Beach. Erika works there as a volleyball referee or something like that, so it would be good to work close to her. I would just advertise for a beach photo company, walking the beach and telling people about the services. I hope I get it! The hours and pay are phenomenal, not to mention the fact that it is outside on the beach, which is fantastic compared to working in a restaurant. I'm supposed to call him Monday to see if I got the job. I told him that I'll call Monday, but he'd better have good news for me because that is my birthday. He should remember that.

I rode my bike almost 30 miles today in total, ran 2.5, and walked almost 3. I should have worked off that rich French dinner I ate last night.  Riding my bike has made my quads and hamstrings become a lot more dense.  It used to make me feel like I was getting fat, but now I feel strong and healthy.

Derek and I are babysitting his old roommate Blair's new greyhound tonight and tomorrow. She got her off of the track. They are such great dogs. I'm looking forward to taking her on a walk in a little while. We're going to watch Milk tonight, and Ammi (short for Amélie) is welcome to come watch with us.

I'm having a good week.