Saturday, September 06, 2008

Baby's Babbaganoush

I have had one of those weeks that was filled with productive and interesting moments. I felt exhuasted on Friday night as I climbed into bed, but I felt fuzzy and good about all the energy that came out of my classroom this week. Just one week with them reminds me of what a good decision it was (for me) to leave behind post secondary teaching to work with kids. They are amazing.

Vegan Kid Moment -
One of my kidlets, who was with me last year, had his birthday yesterday. His mom made this totally decadent chocolate cake, which the entire class wolfed down in about two seconds. Great. But! The little dude came up to me and said "hey ms. Kirkham, since you can't have the cake, I brought you this vegan chocolate bar". It was HIS birthday and he is bring ME vegan treats??? Crazy.

So, back to the title of this post. Last weekend, while shopping for a new hand mixer, I found a silly little treat that I just had to pick up. It went against all of my Feminist fortitude to pick up a PINK movie from the 'chick flick' section of Media Markt (come ON! - the jacket was actually pink as were all the others in that section), but it was...get ready....Dirty Dancing. I hope I am not the only vegan blogger out there who spent many an evening way back in the eighties lusting over 'Johnny' and feeling 'Baby''s pain as she struggled with the eternal daddy-daughter delima??

I decided to take advantage of K's two day trip to the coast as a chance to have a whole bunch of women over on Thursday night to help me enjoy the dramatic stylings of Patrick and Jennifer. It was quite hilarious - one of my friends showed up in cutoffs and tennis shoes, carrying a watermelon (which, if you saw the movie, makes sense).

I concocted a little dip for the get together, which I served with crisp bread, wasabi peas and some whole wheat pita. The dip was just so delicious I have been snacking on it ever since the ladies went home. So sorry for the dark photo.


Baby's Babbaganoush Dip
-2 eggplants
-1 can of chickpeas
-4 tbsp of tahini
-2 tsp of olive oil
-cumin seeds to taste
Assembling this little dip was super easy. I baked the eggplant the evening before, and put it all in a mixing bowl and hour before everyone arrived, turned on my new super duper mixer and tahhhh dahhhh....a great dip.


Friday afternoon, for lunch, I had a simple little salad with some great avocado and OF course, the dirty dancing watermelon, covered with fig infused balsamic vinegar made a super desert.



Tonight, for dinner, we just had something quick and simple, and fridge emptying - resulting in a couple of different flavours that wouldn't make it on any Top Chef's table, but, for us, worked just fine. The polenta covered butterfly tofu 'chops' had a smokey paprika flavour to them, while the mini-stir fry had a nice mushroom and sesame flavour....we know, we know - not the first combo of flavours that you would find paired together. But, never mind the flavours - don't you just LOVE using cookie cuters to make your tofu fun and cute shapes???



We are just in the throws of planning our next weekend trip to Paris...one thing for sure - MAKI!!! I love Maki in Paris. Any recommendations for a vegan weekend in Paris?

Wishing everyone a wonderful week at school, work, holiday.....may whatever you do be happy and fun.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

hooray for Paris! can't wait to hear what you guys will be doing there. I've never been, even though I was like what, 4 hours away? shame.
have fun!

Bianca said...

"What are you doing here?"
"I'm carrying a watermelon."

And a few seconds later..."I'm carrying a watermelon?!"

I LOVE that movie. My mom and I used to watch it together all the time and drool over Patrick Swayze.

Anonymous said...

I love your tofu chops - so yummy looking!

We've had tons of eggplant here the last couple of weeks. Don't you just love baba? I've been hanging on to some photos of smoked baba that I'm finally going to post today.

I loved hearing about your student too. So incredibly sweet :)

jessy said...

awwww - that's so sweet one of your kidlets brought you a treat! how thoughtful! :) reading that made me smile!

your tofu chops = adorable and tasty looking! and babbaganoush dip - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! thanks for the recipe! we've got an eggplant at home and i might just have to use it for some of your dip!

excitedface!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Oh my gosh how sweet about your student on his birthday!

Haha, I haven't seen Dirty Dancing in years but definitely remember it fondly. That dip looks awesome.

And your butterfly shaped tofu is too cute!!

JENNA said...

How sweet of the bday boy making sure you get a sweet too!

And a weekend in paris!?! I'm so jealous. It's been years and years since I've last been there.

Avery Yale Kamila said...

What a great '80s flashback! Now I want to watch that movie again.

Katie said...

How fun! I have not seen Dirty Dancing but I've heard it's a great movie. I'll have to catch it on TV someday.

Jen said...

wow, how sweet of that kid to bring you a vegan choco bar! i never expect anyone but a vegan restaurant to meet my vegan needs so i'm always toting my own food. when someone does something nice like that, it always makes me feel really awesome inside. fig infused balsamic? i'll have to try it. i also have never thought about using cookie cutters to make fun shapes with tofu! now i can put that box o' cookie cutters to use.

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

Look at those butterfly tofus! Love them. We were in Paris when I was vegetarian, not vegan, so I can't guarantee how many vegan options this place has, but we had a wonderful cassoulet at Le Grenier de Notre Dame in the Latin Quarter. They were super nice, staying open just for us because we were specifically looking for a vegetarian restaurant in the area. Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Yay! for Dirty Dancing, Yay! for fridge emptying (great minds think alike, I guess) and Yay! for trips to Paris! I've never been there, so I don't have any recommendations except to have an awesome time!

Anonymous said...

You're coming to France! Paris has so many vegan options...go to happy cow, they have a long list, my favorites are without a doubt Au Grain de Folie by the Abesses Métro, and Le Potager du Marais, M° Rambuteau - it's a little on the pricey side, but totally worth it. Also all around the Marais district (M° St.Paul) you have the Jewish district so tons of falafel options - but watch out, the lines can be long. Have fun!

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

You have to appreciate a friend who will dress up to watch a movie!

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

ahhh, cutest tofu ever!

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