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Raw, Half Raw, Not Raw

What’s there to do in Knoxville? Sit in the hotel and blog apparently. I kid. I’m heading out in a bit to walk a nature trail by the river, stomp around a victorian cemetery and eat lunch. But first, the blogging.

fettucini alfreda

First, the raw. This is Fettuccine Alfreda from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine. I could drink gallons of this sauce. I want to pour it on everything.

cheezy broccoli rice noodles

So I did. This is just rice noodles & broccoli with the cheezy sauce from above. Half raw.

currant scones

And, while I was at the gym Thursday, I watched Ina Garten mix up a batch of scones full of butter and cream. I needed to make something to bring with me to Knoxville, so when I got home I made…scones! These are the Classic Currant Scones from the Joy of Vegan Baking. Decidedly NOT RAW. And NOT HEALTHY. But, REALLY FREAKIN GOOD. I think watching Ina’s technique helped me make these perfect. Mostly I paid attention to how the Earth Balance was cut in making sure it was still in little bitty chunks rather than creamed thoroughly. It can be a little tricky since it softens faster than butter. Especially now that it’s all warm out, and in if you’re me and haven’t turned on the air conditioning yet.

Not Cooking

Here are some more tasty raw goodies we’ve been munching on.

Moroccan Carrot Salad from Raw Food Made Easy

morocca carrot salad

Walnut Paté spread in celery sticks, from Raw Food Made Easy

walnut paté on celery sticks

Just some red bell pepper strips

red bell pepper strips

Carpe Diem Carrot Almond Paté Nori Rolls from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine

carpe diem rolls

Aiyah’s Garden Living Corn Chowder from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine

living corn chowder

So, is this stuff any good? The next pic tells that story.

clean plates

Raw Food

This past week, we’ve been eating a lot of raw food. But I’ve failed to take pictures of most of it. I already had Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet. I chose it as my first little step into raw because it seemed like most of the recipes could be made without any crazy kitchen equipment. I don’t think I’ve even seen a recipe call for a dehydrator yet. And my blender, crappy as it is, has been able to handle everything put to it.So what have we tried? Below is the first dinner, cucumber soup and not tuna paté on red bell pepper planks. I’m not sure exactly why she uses tuna in the name because it is in no way fishy. It is good though. More like a chicken salad in flavor though. I’ve also used it smeared into celery sticks, on ryevita crackers and mounded on a chopped salad. I didn’t know how I’d feel about cold soups, or, more accurately, room temperature soups, but these have been really nice. The cucumber one was made creamy with avocado and was flavored with dill.

cucumber soup and not tuna pate

What else have we tried? The Piña Colada Smoothie, Marinara Sauce on zucchini ribbons, Walnut Paté, Cream of Zucchini Soup, Papaya Lime Soup, and Not Tuna Sandwiches. The patés keep for a while in the fridge, so they’re good make ahead items. Other than going to the store, the only other thing you really need to think about in advance is soaking the nuts in some of the recipes. Otherwise, the prep work isn’t any more labor intensive than anything else I would make. So I’d say this is a good book to use if you want to take baby steps into raw food.

Reconnecting…

One of the things I did this trip was reconnect with a couple of old friends. Friday, I spent half the day with Sheree. We met shortly after I moved to California in 1987 and were roommates from 89-92, I think. Oh the tales we have on each other. 10th Street Garage. Wild Irish Rose. That’s all I’m gonna say.

Anyway, Sheree and I lost touch around ’94. So we had a lot of catching up to do. Turns out we were living parallel lives in many ways including when and how our cats died and when we bought our first new car. I also got to hear about how some other old friends are doing.

Keeping stuff in order, I should post Cha-Ya now. Kevin and I headed there for dinner Friday night. Vegan Japanese. Here’s the menu.

Edamame

edamame at cha-ya

Senroppon Salad (Shredded Salad) Shredded daikon, turnip, cucumber, and carrots with alsuage tofu, radishes, soybeans, kaiware, pine nuts, Soy-vinaigrette dressing.

senroppon salad at cha-ya

Cha-Ya Roll Tempura sushi filled with avocado, yam, and carrots. The entire roll is lightly battered and deep-fried. Served with a special house sauce. This was AMAZING. But then you probably knew that once you read “battered and deep-fried.”

cha-ya roll

Soba noodle rolls. These were disappointing. The soba noodles weren’t really flavored at all. And neither were the veggies. Blah.

soba rolls

Taku – Sui (Gyoza and Veggies In Clay Pot) Pot stickers, tofu, zucchini, napa cabbage, snap peas, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, silver noodles, and mushrooms in a light broth and served with a ponzu citrus sauce. This had the most amazing veggie broth I’ve ever had. I could drink it by the gallon.

taku-sui at cha-ya

Meh, I’m running out of time. You’ll just have to wait for the Maggie Mudd post.

cha-ya outside

Millennium

millennium menu Thursday night we went to Millennium for dinner. And yeah, it is all that and a bag of chips. Unfortunately, all the pics are crappy. It was all candle lit and I wasn’t going to be rude and use a flash.We started off with some fried potatoes that were absolutely perfect. Big planks that had a thin and crispy outside and perfectly soft inside. I have no idea what was in the dipping sauce that came with them, but it was brown and yummy. The thing about Millennium is that the food is all crazy complicated. Sometimes, you just can’t figure it out.I also got these Vietnamese inspired dolmas. They were crusted in sesame seeds, had a thai coconut curry sauce and there was a salad with avocado. Amazing with a sharp bite of lemongrass. I’ve never had such a light and lovely thai coconut curry.Kevin got the black bean torte. It was as if that mole tortilla stack I made a while back went to an Ivy League school rather than tech school. Smokey wonderful black beans and several sauces & salsas. Crap we could have stopped here. But no….I had these edamame shiitake cakes with brown rice and coconut sauce, greens, and then there were a bunch of vegetables up under the greens, mostly asparagus and sugar snap peas. So good! I did have to walk away from some brown rice though. I mean, had to squeeze dessert in somehow.Kevin had a chard roulade stuffed with tofu cheese. It had tiny black beans and asparagus on the side.The dessert picture didn’t come out well enough to consider posting. We let the waitress pick and she brought a small orange bundt cake soaked in more orange, covered in caramel sauce and with mint sorbet on the side. How many times can I say “holy crap that was good?” I ate my half, but I may have lost a few years off my life for finishing it. It may well have been worth it.