I had a great day! It was so wonderfilled! We met great people, had excellent food, discovered new parts of our city, bought some rockin' music, found EGG REPLACER (!!!!) and I even had the chance to use a new ingredient.
We headed off downtown with the intention of getting some shopping done and meet up with our vegetarian (vegan friendly) wedding caterer extraordinaire. Her restaurant is just a touch off the funky St. Katerine Square, and despite being off the beaten trail it was heaving by the time we finished our lunch. Annabelle can be found M-F (11 - 3) at Picnik, where she and a small number of folk whip up fresh and tasty vegetarian delights. K and I both had a small bowl of her lentil soup. I followed the scrumptious soup up with a roasted veg salad (that included the unusual, but really delicious, celery root), and K had a chinese noodle and tofu salad. The price was right, the food was great and Annabelle seems to share similar beliefs about food and life as this vegan cowgirl. So, although we haven't signed any contracts yet, I think she is the one!
After lunch we stumbled upon a great chinese shop where we had an amazing tea service performed for us, and met a really funky lady whose life seemed to be spread out all over the world.
After a workout I came home to tackle some sushi/maki. Still boosted from Anke's contest, I decided to try my hand at making, amoung other sorts, some squash sushi. After wrestling with some Nori, me and my favourite almost-vegan-boy had a nice little meal on the floor, complete with some atomic wasabi and Neko Case. Good Times. We are just waiting on our Strawberry and Coconut Agar Jelly........
Squash (and other sorts) Sushi and Many Veg Maki
Ingredients:
-Squash (sliced and baked)
-Sweet Potato (sliced and baked)
-Red Pepper slices
-Cucumber slices
-avocado slices
-tofu (sliced and baked)
-sushi rice (we actually used risotto rice and washed it off after boiling)
-rice vinegar
-sesame seeds
-wasabi
-soy sauce
-nori sheets
How To:
Maki - Cook the rice, cover with 3 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar. I like to let it cool down for a small while. Lay a nori on the sushi mat and cover 3/4 of the nori with the rice, in the bottom 1/4 line up any combo of ingredients (it will take you a couple of trys before you become aware of how much 'stuffing' works best for your sushi), sprinkle with sesame seeds, rub cold water on the non-riced top 1/4 and roll. Some of the combos I used: Squash, red pepper and avocado. Tofu, Avocado, Cucumber.
Veg Sushi - (Squash and Asparagus in the photo). Use your hand to craft a little 'ball' or oval of rice and lay an appropriately shaped veg atop. Tie with a cut sliver of Nori.