Puddings, phytates, dinners, morris dancers and embroidery.

[changeling]

Argh. I'm stinky, but it's not yet safe to shower, because I didn't get up at 6 (I got up at 7, I'm not that much of a lazybones), so there won't be any hot water until about midday. I'm not sure I can stand it much longer. I may have to risk the sudden Ice Age 1 1/2 minutes in.

Ah, I love The Age. It has good articles in it (even when they're nicked from The Guardian). Mostly, though, I love the weekend magazines and the "A2" (or whatever they call it these days) supplement during the week. You know, the arty sort of stuff. OK, I do end up reading a selection of articles on the website, especially now Steph emails them to me (admittedly I'd frequently read them all when I was working at the nursing home). It's everything I might read a women's mag for, without, you know, the stupid. Now the Age website has blogs on it. It's great. Steph sent me a link to this post in "Chew on This", one of their resident bloggers. It's about the relative cost of veges. Kind of interesting, but blatantly obvious if you happened to think about it. I suppose part of the aim is to get people to think about it. Some interesting comments, though. Steph's commented, as has daharja (see "Leanne" towards the bottom). And check out Moron Gordon. You still need full-fat meat and dairy my arse. That's not what the research I've done has suggested. It's not even what his comment suggests! Just tacked on at the end, apropos of nothing. Even I commented this morning (as a response to Gordon), but The Age reviews comments before posting, so I don't know when/if it's going to be up (it was very civilised. I may post it here if it doesn't get approved). Gordon really got my back up, though. Fine, be a meat eater. Just don't claim that being vegan is somehow a lesser dietary choice. Pretty much the only thing we're deficient in is B12, and that's due to the crappy quality of our soils – it's a microbial by-product, hence why meat and dairy still contain it. It's from the animals' guts. Even human gut passengers make some B12, just don't rely on it as your sole source.

I'm a bit worried about next week. We were away last weekend on a morris dancing trip (check out Steph's journal, earlymorningair for photos), and before that we were out every night, right back to Sunday, except for Thursday, on which night we packed. Next week we have morris dancing on Monday, potentially dinner with my family Tuesday, Steph and I are hoping for a date Wednesday, Thursday we're having our Friday night swim, because Friday we have Nat's birthday (at Veggie Bar. YAAAAAAY!). Then Saturday day we have the Britannia Morris Men's ale (yearly footup ... no, wait. That doesn't translate into non-morris speak either. Yearly party) and Saturday night my best friend Jess's birthday. At least on Sunday we just have a Litha practice with Hedda and Liam. Then on that Monday, we'll have morris dancing again. Argh! At least we'll be home again on the 21st. I may have to put a note in our Google calendars. It will read: "VERBOTEN. No leaving the house." Busy, busy, busy!

I've just started my first piece of embroidery since year seven or eight, when we were supposed to do a sort of sampler, and I think I just mastered chain stitch. Just like any Google-enabled crafter, the first thing I did was search for and print out instructions and photos of stitches. Last night I did a lovely curly thing in outline stitch, which is like stem stitch but the other way around. Apparently, according to my stitch site, outline stitch was widely used in the Bayeux tapestry. This makes me happy.

Yesterday was a day of good food. For lunch, I made myself a wrap. I was craving the fake-chicken schnitzels Steph's sister eats, so I dry-fried one and had half in a wholemeal wrap with avocado, chickpea pate and sundried tomato tapenade spread on it, and fresh tomato, cos and purple lettuce and roasted pepper inside. Bloody fantastic. I had the other half of the schnitzel in another because it tasted so damn good. And if I hadn't been so lazy, I bet you could chuck some eggplant in instead of the schnitzel and it would taste even better.

Then, for dinner, I made a varient of Pim's "Rena's Aubergine in Tomato Sauce". I used one whole large eggplant, and fried it in water and some mushroom ketchup. Then used the half red onion in the fridge, and then I was lazy and used two tins of tomato instead of fresh (I was running a bit behind time). I was planning on making this a pasta casserole, but the only short pasta in the house was the stuff Mum-in-Not-Law bought with "Added Omega-3!" which means, yep, you guessed it, that it has fish oil in it. Still, I chucked it in a small casserole dish, and put the ground-up pine nuts and some wheat bran/husk stuff on top (what's it called? I've blanked), which is my default substitute for breadcrumbs. Absolutely delicious. Steph's only complaint was it wasn't sufficiently filling (we ate about two serves each), but that would have been solved by the pasta, or, failing that, some good ole bulky quinoa.

Then, as I was cooking that, I managed to get a apple crumble (I've been craving crumbles since Sean/Jenni served it to us at Y—— the Monday after our Penola morris trip) prepared and in the oven so it was ready after dinner. I subbed out some of the flour and put in some oats, because I wanted that texture, dammit. Then I took out some of the butter/nuttlex, since that was there to make the flour "crumby". And I used wholemeal flour, because white flour is for pussies. I also upped the apple content. It was very nice, especially when served with vegan custard. I used brown sugar instead of white, so it actually looked more like a caramel sauce. I also halved the amount of not-milk used. Overall, very, very decadent. There's even enough left over for another tonight, even after I halved the recipe! Yummyyummyyummy. It's only a modified recipe, not a brand-new one, but I might put it up on Reynard's Feast just so I can make it again. And next time, I may even increase the oats further ... I'll have to decide after I have it again tonight. Yum, dessert!

Oh, and yesterday I steamed the two smaller Christmas puddings I made Tuesday. They're my own recipe – I used the two vegan recipes I found and combined them a bit. I wanted to make sure that Steph and I have vegan treats to eat on Christmas day, and puddings are traditionally made far ahead of time. We'll probably get down to vegan rum balls and things closer to the time. I'll probably write up the pudding recipe in Reynard's Feast if they work. I have another pudding to steam today. I made double quantities of the recipe, and this will be the "full-sized" pudding for the morris Christmas. The other two are half-sized, for Steph and me as we'll probably be spending Christmas lunch apart. :(

Still, it's exciting! I bought the calico yesterday, and boiled it as instructed. The water turned this weird brown colour, which was off-putting. Still, calico-y water is good enough to flush loos with, so I tipped it into the bucket in the bathroom. The small puddings were boiled for four hours, and they went very soft! The calico was oily to touch, which I didn't expect, never having made puddings before. Still, it's just copha, so is probably very good for my hands. I'm glad I spoke to Steph's grandmother on Cup Day. She let me know about grating the copha (lard substitute) and getting the cloth wet beforehand (then I Googled and found out about boiling the fabric - makes sense, makes it sterile). The little puddings have been hanging up from the indoor clothes line all night. I just got them down. The fabric's stiff from having been essentially waxed, and the cloth around the puddings is stained dark, as it should be. They smell fantastic. After I'd bought all the ingredients (which set me back about $60–70 or so, $30 of which was the brandy), I found out that Steph's parents were planning on buying us a vegan pudding (they'd already bought a normal one)! Oh, well. It was partly the tradition (every family member stirs the pudding and makes a wish for the coming year) that attracted me, anyway. I was a little sad that Liam and Hedda ended up not being very interested, as they don't like pudding. Still, maybe they'd like MY puddings! ;)

Steph looked askance at her parents' pudding after she saw mine. "You can tell it hasn't been cooked in the fabric," she said. I'd noticed the same thing. That pudding's calico was pristine. A little poking showed plastic underneath. Hardly environmentally friendly, and NOT the way Steph's Nan used to make!

I should probably put the big pudding on soon. I have to boil its calico first. I want to get it on early, though. It'll be bigger and will require longer cooking. If only the various recipes I read could agree on a cooking time! Or at least on a cooking time per weight.

Comments

[buhfly.livejournal.com]

Omg, over here, when you say, "a calico" or "the calico," you're either referring to a cat or a patterned fabric.

And pudding is like thick mousse.

*so confused*

Your questions answered!

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Calico is a cheap, unpatterned, unbleached cotton fabric.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_%28fabric%29
http://www.comfortex.net/mattress/pics/calico1.jpg

Pudding is just a English term for dessert, but here it's referring to a dense, fruity, spicy, boiled cake for Christmas. It's always referred to as Christmas pudding, never as "Christmas cake" or similar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pudding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Christmas_pudding.JPG

Re: Your questions answered!

[buhfly.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[lycaonia.livejournal.com]

Your comment is now up on the blog.

Good points made, though I'm not at a stage to give up meat, I have drastically reduced the amount of packaged crap that I eat. Fruit ftw!

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

I wasn't trying to convince people to give up meat, merely stop the scare-mongering that might cause people to go the other way, or to not follow through on a wish to become vegetarian because they're scared. I know there's lots of people who won't give up meat for whatever reason. That's up to them. But I didn't want Gordon telling me that I'm wrong or misinformed for making that decision for myself!

It's funny. I was never a fruit person before going vegan, but I was a big vegie fan. I've started eating apples now for the first time in my life! It's funny how tastes change. Good for you for reducing packaged food. It's expensive and a nutritional wasteland! Ugh. Not to mention it often tastes crap ...

Got a Vegan oracle/almanac handy?

[freudianquip.livejournal.com]

The puddings sound good.

I read the vegan/vege posts. It interests me, not from the point of view of changing over, but balancing my diet better.

Can you think of any good links which list the protein, type of protein content of veges? I am still an unbeliever in relation to being able to gain the amount of protein I want for my personally determined optimal functioning, without resorting to overprocessed options or animal products OR trebling the carb intake. NB not the RDI according to any food pyramid etc.
I am aware that broccoli is relatively high in protein and mid level in carbs, but I'm not sure what amino acids it contains, for instance. Also that asparagus is high in fibre and has a significant proportion of the amino acid that makes your &*%^ smelly, but I'm not sure what that amino acid is or how much it contains. Etc.
I know this isn't really directly related to your post, but thought you might know a good resource...

Re: Got a Vegan oracle/almanac handy?

[burningskyfire.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about links but I'd definitely recommend Joel Fuhrman's book eat to live.. it has several sections about protein. You might try his website for articles: http://www.drfuhrman.com/

How much protein are you looking to consume in a day?

Fuhrman writes, 'Using a dietary analysis programme, I tried to compose a natural-foods diet deficient in any amino acid. It was impossible. Almost any sort of plant foods contained about 30-40 grams of protein per 1,000 calories. When your caloric needs are met, your protein needs are met automatically. Focus on trying to eat healthy foods; forget about trying to get enough protein.'
He then discusses people who are physically active needing more protein - they do, but they need more of everything, and so get more of everything including protein when they eat more calories.
'When your caloric needs are met with an assortment of natural plant foods, you will receive the right amount of protein - not too much, not too little.'

There are several breakdowns of the nutritional content of vegetables throughout the book, and it's very thorough :)

hope this helps.

Re: Got a Vegan oracle/almanac handy?

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

As Jacinta said below, Eat to Live is probably an excellent resource. Let me know if you can't find it, and Steph and I will loan you our copy. Fuhrman is vegan-focused, but does provide omnivore information as well.

I don't really tend to worry about protein much – I think (from memory) you only need about 20% of your calories from protein. And I promise you, you can get all you need from plant sources without "cheating". Humans are still, at a biological level, herbivores. I say this not to say you're a bad person if you're not vegetarian or vegan, but rather to show that we're perfectly capable of handling eating that way, if that makes sense.

In terms of protein, I like to throw in lentils and different types of beans from time to time. Mushrooms are also another good one. Oh! And of course, one of the best protein sources (it being a complete protein) is quinoa (keen-wa), a Meso-American pseudograin. It's about the size of couscous, and cooks in about 20 minutes. It makes a good meat replacer in tacos, and a good bulker in pasta. You can find it in the health food section of Coles (where it is ludicrously expensive), or at a health food shop or Macro (better), or at the organic stalls at Queen Vic Market (best). Another good one is amaranth, also a Meso-American pseudograin. I've yet to see this in its raw state, but you can find it in puffed form in the cereal aisle, or as a flour. There's also the soy products, and less refined is probably best here. There's tofu and (my personal favourite) tempeh. Mmm, tempeh.

Of course, there's also nuts and seeds - if ever I need an excuse for some peanut butter or macadamias, there's one right there. Hooray for nuts and seeds!

Also, there's this wonderful site called www.nutritiondata.com, where you can input types of food and get information on their makeup, right down to amino acids. For example, this apple contains 3.7kJ of protein, and covers all the essential amino acids. Of course, it's not going to be completely accurate with vitamins and minerals if you're using organics, but the protein, carbohydrate and fat component should be the same.

You don't need to worry about the amino acids. Even Susan wossname, author of that seminal 70s vegan text that started it all in regards to combining proteins has recanted that bit of nonsense. And you really don't need to worry about restricting your non-refined carbohydrates (that is, the ones still in the plants). Eat lots of green leafy vegetables (they've got the highest nutrient density) and you'll be fine.

I hope that's been helpful, and informative.

Cheers

[freudianquip.livejournal.com]

Thank you both for the ideas. I will have a look for the books and at the site, I appreciate it.

I have tried quinoa a number of times, and I love the taste/texture, but have had trouble with it..err..taking the express. I think perhaps I need to try again and either get fresh stock, learn to cook it properly or combine with something to slow it down. I had the organic Ancient Harvest variety, a Californian brand.

Amaranth seems very bitter, and I've just sorted my breakfast regime. I might think about investing in some vegan or native American cookbooks before I embark upon the new food planning scheme. (Because the word 'diet' evokes a negative connotation to many people).

I'll get back to you, Delirieuese. Thanks.

Re: Cheers

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

That's very strange re: quinoa. The only thing I can think of is to ask if you made sure to wash it a few times first, which I'm sure you did. Quite perplexing. And I haven't found amaranth bitter, but then, I've pretty much only had the puffed version, which (when I have it) I usually sprinkle in with other cereals. Maybe it's best to stick with fungi and beans and lentils and so forth for the time being.

One of our favourite vegan cookbooks in terms of ease is called "Vegan Cooking for One", by Leah Leneman. I don't cook from it all the time, as I really enjoy more complicated dinners. We've also got a fantastic one called "Vegan Planet", by Robin Robertson, and one called "Wholefoods", which isn't solely vegan, by Jude Blereau. Other than that, I use the internet, or make things up. http://www.fatfreevegan.com has some good stuff. And in a month or so I hope to have sorted the domain name issues with my food blog, and that'll be up (and hopefully updating) again. Steph won't let me buy lots of cookbooks, otherwise I think I'd invest in a Moroccan one. And maybe Charmaine Solomon's vegetarian cookbook, though I've heard through the grapevine that isn't as good as her Asian cookbook (shame).

Believe me, I know what you mean re: diet. Boy, do I know. I swear I've become more neurotic since going on my "diet" this year through other people looking at me askance and implying that I'm attempting to become anorexic, or something. I'm sure the morris side knows that Steph and I enjoy our food far too much (I was bringing cakes to rehearsal during the diet period!) to give it up like that. Eugh. Stupid people.

Anyway, I like talking about food and things, so if you have any more questions (vegan or otherwise), you know where to find me. :D

[chn-breathmint.livejournal.com]

Hey, your pudding post just reminded me I've a great recipe for a traditional vegan dessert I used to eat growing up as a little girl. Finding the right ingredients might be a pain, though.

Get 1 cup (220g) of black glutinous rice, it's being sold in trendy health food places as "Black Forbidden Rice". Rinse it in several changes of water (it will turn the first couple rinses purple, that's normal). Put it in a good heavy saucepan with one and a half liters of water. Stir it slowly over low heat, as though you were cooking polenta, to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan, and bring it slowly to a boil. Add 60 grams gula melaka (palm sugar) and two tablespoons of granulated sugar, and a knotted twist of pandan (screwpine) leaves. Keep the dish on a slow simmer until the grains become very soft - squishable between thumb and forefinger. If it gets too thick, add water. It should be like a fresh bowl of oats in consistency.

When you're ready to serve it, stir in one cup of coconut milk. You can use soy milk if you want, but it won't be right without the decadence of coconut milk. When that happens the porridge turns from a rich glossy black to a lovely purple shade.

This should be enough for you and Steph and her parents.

- Mel

[burningskyfire.livejournal.com]

yuumm they serve that dish at shakahari - it's wonderful :D

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Sounds bloody fabulous. If only I had some wild rice handy ... I think I've only got about a tablespoon left. Suppose it's time to go back to Macro ...

[burningskyfire.livejournal.com]

ah, I love your posts. they're full of so much interesting stuff.

that's disasterous about wrapping that premade christmas pudding in plastic :(

I'm curious - by having a bucket of water next to the toilet, do you use that to flush it? by collecting water from the shower and such? how does it work/can you do it with a normal toilet.
I nearly died when I read that a half flush uses three litres of water! Will definitely be getting a compost toilet as soon as I can.

[burningskyfire.livejournal.com]

haha I think I'll rephrase my inept question.
How do you add the water to the toilet? does one require some kind of implement to be purchased and then put int he pool?

Nope, still inept phrasing, must be all the practise exams I've been doing. word dead.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

The bucket of water is theoretically for watering the garden, but I'm lazy, we're not growing any food, and we're also using clothes-washing water for that. So yes, I do use it to flush the toilet. And yes, we collect it in the shower. It sits on the floor by our feet as we shower. When I shower, I also use several jugs, which I collect the clean, cold water that is usually wasted while the water heats.

With our toilet, you press the flush button as usual, take the top off the cistern and pour the water in. Cisterns have little floaty things in them which automatically cuts of water supply when it is full. Voilà.