I see great potential in you, Rosemary.

It is so beautiful outside, I think I could cry. But instead I have opted to work straight through the morning, and enjoy the afternoon sun at it's boldest and brightest.

But in the mean time, as promised...

Nutty Rosemary Bread
(a www.allrecipes.com delight)

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees F), divided
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons cornmeal
1 tablespoon dried rosemary, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups bread flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1 egg or egg replacement

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add the whole wheat flour, oil, honey, cornmeal, rosemary, salt, 1 cup bread flour and remaining water. Beat until smooth. 2. Stir in enough remaining bread flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; add pecans. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with nonstick cooking spray, turning once to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Divide in half; shape into two loaves. Place in two 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans to wire racks.

*Dough rises best in humid environments... so take advantage of the weather, folks!

Do vegetarians taste better?

Dating a meat eater is like noticing the first scratch on a brand new car. As terrible as it can be, it’s mostly just a sigh of relief. Instead of tiptoeing around every nook and cranny of your newfound mate, and turning a blind eye to any hint of a flaw, it’s hard to sweep their omnivorous tendencies under the rug. Often as early as the first date, either you mention your vegan baking blog (no specific reference here…), or they mention their life-long love for breakfast sausages. Not quite a deal-breaker, but definitely something to note.

So much of dating revolves around food. So if you aren’t lucky enough to have found yourself grazing the grass of a vegan or vegetarian, there are some definite things to consider…

Take for example, my very first boyfriend. Oh to be young.

We met at summer camp. An arts summer camp, in fact, where everything was optimistic, and every inch of mental space was devoted to creativity. The grounds of the camp were used as a military base during the school year (of course…), and on the first day of summer, year after year, we would run around the grounds putting flowers into the barrels of the many memorial canons spread out along the campus. We would read the raunchy messages carved into the frames of our bunk beds left for us by the sexually frustrated cadets, and write flowery stories and plays about the why we thought each of the little vandals were sent to the academy in the first place. If you've ever wondered where my affinity for the free spirit came from, well, it came from there.

My last summer at this creative haven, however, was not spent writing stories and putting on increasingly terrible renditions of Fame. Instead, I met John. And John, of course, became the meaning, purpose, and dedication of my final summer at camp. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that fourteen year old girls are completely insane, and I’m even more sure I don’t have to tell you that I was anything but the exception.

But once we got back home, the magic of summer wore off, and it happened in the amount of time it took to take a single bite of pizza.

Literally.

As always, we had gone to see a movie (the height of sophistication in a fourteen-year-old’s love life), and scandalously decided to take the bus back to my house… and order a pizza (my rebellious phase didn’t come until a little later). Everything was going well until I heard John order “half pepperoni, half vegetarian”.

WAIT A SECOND.

What?

You’re not just going to accommodate me and get only veggie?

Okay... I guess I can handle that. I can’t expect people to morph who they are to fit my own beliefs (or can I…? No, no, I can’t). What I couldn’t handle, I found out very quickly, was kissing someone who had just eaten pepperoni.

I had been a veghead for five years at that point, and my palette had completely readjusted. The smell, the taste, the idea… it was making me a little queasy, and my poor boyfriend was left awkwardly trying to work his way around my half-hearted attempts at enthusiasm. Poor guy. When he eventually got up the nerve (and he was 14 –pat the guy on the back, yo) to ask me what was wrong, my response, of course, was an incredibly mature, “your mouth tastes like death”.

It wasn’t long after this very moment that John had called his brother to come and pick him up, and it wasn’t until four years later that we would date again, and laugh about the irritating but comical things that used to come out of my mouth, and the things that he used to put into his (he’s now a veg –but not because of what I said to him that day we ordered pizza…or so he says).

To this day I am still surprised that PETA didn’t go out of their way to recruit/abduct/indoctrinate me at the early age I began preaching their mantras. I think my love for research as well as my tendency towards compassion has ultimately gotten me far, but my God I could be obnoxious when I was starting to really delve into animal rights. Since then, fortunately, I have become a little more tactful with my comments, and a little more knowledgeable about the fact that you have to choose to your battles. If the only thing going against a potential girlfriend/boyfriend/whatever is the fact that they eat meat –isn’t that kind of a bargain?

Regardless, a gift from me to you/your meat-eating counterpart:

How to Date a Vegetarian
(Contrary to popular belief, yoga mats, dreads/hipster haircuts, facial piercings, and killer granola recipes are ONLY OPTIONAL)

1. Be willing to try new things. This is the single most important tip I can give you. Chances are, if your love interest is vegan or vegetarian, they will appreciate an open mind that ends up sticking with their original ways over a closed mind that doesn’t want to try at all.

2. Do your research. I once found myself in a cab pulling up to a Portuguese meat bar a close friend had made reservations at in New York. The novelty of the restaurant was that they cut meat right off the bone, right at your table. He knew I was a vegetarian. I spent the night pecking at the salad bar and staring at my shoes to avoid the dim sum–esque display of meat and bones constantly circling our table.

3. Believe it or not, people don’t become vegetarian or vegan because they want to be in a constant state of argument with meat eaters. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s also pretty safe to assume that most meat-eaters don’t eat meat so that they can be in a constant state of scepticism. First-date debates can be a bit of a buzz kill, and when it suddenly comes up that you feel belittled by my beliefs three months down the road, there really isn’t much to be said. Be honest about how you feel. I made my choice, be happy with yours.

4. Know that vegetarians taste better, but don’t ask. Please. Stop asking.

If you could go back in time to a past relationship or date, what would you do differently, and what would you do the same, in terms of veg-meat-discrepencies?

The C Word...

GUESS WHAT?!

I MADE COOKIES!

But not just any kind of cookies. Oh, no. They're called 'pillow' cookies -and it doesn't take long after eating one (read: four) to figure out why. These cookies are firm on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside. Plus. they are not only chocolate, they are chocolate-almond butter.

You guys, these cookies are unreal.

I wasn't sure at first. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical.

The little buggers looked -nothing- like the photograph accompanying the recipe I was using.I was sure I had done something wrong... Maybe I got distracted by a roommate or a text sesh with my new love interest, and forgot the baking soda, or doubled the flour.

Something.wasn't.right

So I pawned them off, one by one, nonchalantly bringing them along to friend's houses, fiercely scanning their faces for signs of disapproval. But they were never there. Finally I tried one myself, and right in line with the rest of my taste tester's reactions, I fell in love. Mystery solved. I had discovered deliciously gooey chocolate-almond butter balls of yumminess, otherwise known as,


PEANUT BUTTER (...though I used almond butter...) CHOCOLATE PILLOWS

-from www.annmariekostyk.com-

For the Chocolate Dough:
-1/2 C. oil
-1 C. sugar
-1/2 C. maple syrup
-3 tbsp. nondairy milk (soy, almond, rice, whatever)
-1/2 tsp. vanilla
-1 1/2 C. flour
-1/2 C. + 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp. salt

For the filling:
-3/4 C. peanut butter (though you can also use almond/sunflower seed/anything butter)
-2/3 C. powdered sugar
-2 to 3 tbsp. nondairy milk
-1/4 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine oil, sugar, maple syrup, milk, vanilla, mix until smooth.
3. Sift in flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Mix to form a moist dough.
4. Make filling: In another bowl, beat together peanut/almond/any butter, powdered sugar, 2 tbsp. milk, and vanilla to form a moist but firm dough (feel free to add a little more milk, or powdered sugar to get the dough to the right consistency)
5. Shape the cookies: role filling into about 24 clumps, then wrap the chocolate dough around the clumps, and roll (with your palms) into smooth balls (I just made that sound really gross, didn't I?)
6. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets, flatten if you'd like, and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool for 5 or so, and then ruthlessly devour.

YUM.

Like my fun staging?

ANYWAYS, delicious balls of chocolately almondy goodness aside, I HAVE A FAVOUR TO ASK.

Rather, a Contest to announce. Yes. A Contest.

So here's the thing. I want to find a better name for the blog. 'A Dash of Love' is cute(ish), but it's a commonly used phrase, and I'd like something a little more original (and maybe even clever)! If you have any ideas, please comment on this post (or send me a message/email/text/carrier pigeon) with any ideas you have for blog names. If I end up going with your suggestion, I will bake or cook you absolutely anything in the world you want (vegan or not), and hand deliver it to you/send it express if you live far away. I'll also, of course, credit you for your ingeniousness, and be karmically indebted to you for life.

Now, I'm off to the park to get some sun and freckles (I swear I'm one gene away from being a ginger...) -and you should do the same. Right after baking some chocolate-almond butter pillows.

LET THE BRAINSTORMING BEGIN!

Oh, Canada...

I’m not entirely sure what it is about this new apartment of mine, but I can’t seem to stop baking. Yesterday, while ferociously kneading away at the fragrant rosemary bread dough that I will soon be posting pictures of, my lovely roommate asked me if I was trying to bake something new everyday. I wasn’t trying to, I realized… I just… was.

I’m starting to think it’s the comfort of this beautiful kitchen. The Christmas lights we turn on to ease into the evening with… the ever-expansive collection of herbs and vegetables lining every inch of the place that is touched by sunlight at some point in the day… Or maybe it’s this unpredictable spring weather that makes baking such a comfortable, reliable source of happiness, when the feeling of sunlight feels as distant as it does on my skin.

I don’t know what it is, but my roommates are happy, and I feel at home here.

I actually have a couple recipes up my cute new blazer sleeve, but will try my best to not give them all away at once. I have to control myself…

This recipe is from a delectable cookbook called Simply in Season (correction: the recipes are delectable, not the book itself). It’s super easy, and they turned out wonderfully. In fact, I just ate the very last one while writing this. If you happen to be uber-Canadian and have some maple butter lying around, PLEASE lather some on. Seriously heavenly.

Maple Walnut Scones in 3 Easy Steps

1. Thoroughly combine 3 ½ cups flour (I used whole wheat and they turned out delish), 1 cup finely chopped nuts, 4 tsp. baking powder, and 1 tsp. salt.
2. Cut 2/3 of a cup of chilled butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs (I had no idea what this meant –turns out it’s just a fancy way to say “keep flattening the butter into the mixture with a fork until it’s crumbly, as opposed to just stirring it in)
3. Stir in 1 cup of milk and ½ a cup of maple syrup. Work into soft dough and knead 5-6 times. Roll out until it’s half an inch (ish) thick, and cut into 10-12 wedges. Bake on greased baking sheet for 15-18 minutes at 425/220.

Coming Out

I was only nine years old when I realized I was different. I remember when I first told this to my parents, and to this today, remarkably, they have probably been the most accepting of anyone I’ve since told. Luckily for me, this was one part of who I am that they've always seemed to accept... as is. It's been an interesting journey so far, and with every new person I meet, I am able to profess my identity with more confidence, more knowledge, and an even stronger sense of self.

Today I want to talk about coming out...
...As a Vegetarian/Vegan/Vegetable Enthusiast/(insert your dietary restriction here).

‘Cause sometimes it just aint easy.

You are no longer just a dinner guest. No longer just a neighbour who kind of maybe accidently invited themselves over for dinner (guilty).

Suddenly, you soon realize, your friends start looking at you differently.

Now, you are a cog in the machine. You may just (now brace yourself) need a little accommodating.



Personally, my most hilarious coming out stories (heeheehee) have all happened after-the-fact:

For example, one Easter, many, many years ago, I found myself sitting in the pristine dining room of a new friend –let’s call her JP–‘s house. I’m sitting at the dinner table, working my way through some unintimidating small talk with her siblings and father, when JP’s mother makes her grand-entrance with the turkey she has been slaving away on all day, and exclaims to me, “Now just don’t tell me you’re a vegetarian!” and has a good chuckle with the rest of the fam. I look over at dear JP as a look of sheer mortification spreads across her face. Obviously, she had forgot to mention this to her parents when they so graciously told her she could bring a friend to Easter dinner, and she so foolishly chose me. Oops.

What non-veggies often forget is that this is as embarrassing for us as it seems to be for them. I felt awful! And as much as I tried to insist that the salad and green bean casserole (that I had brought) would be plenty for me, it was clear that there really wasn’t much that could be done about me. For most Veggies, it's not the sort of thing you can just 'forget about' for a night, and thus, awkwardness and minimalism quickly become familiar territory.

Since then (actually, this took me a couple years to learn…), I’ve discovered that the best way to avoid unintentionally making non-veggies feel like assholes is to insist on bringing a main dish to family dinners/potlucks/holidays/etc. Side dishes are often already veggie-friendly, and if your hosts know that you have a veggie ‘main course’, they’re likely to go easy on the “are you sure that’s enough? I think I have a pizza in the freezer I could pop into the oven” banter (read: embarrassing).

Believe it or not, Veggies across the globe don’t actually meet weekly to construct detailed and in-depth plans to inconvenience non-Veggies to the best of their abilities.



Obviously it’s important that the people you love know your dirty little secret. But in a culture where food fills not only our plates, but also our social lives, it’s understandable that willfully taking on a sort of minority status is a daunting endeavour.

In the immortal words of About.com,

Coming out is a confusing time for many people. Accepting your [vegetarianism] (or coming out to yourself) can bring about a number of fears. Will your family or friends stop loving you? Will you ever get married or have children? Will you be discriminated against or made fun of? These are all valid concerns mainly rooted in the fear of the unknown; which is why many reference coming out as being reborn. This is an opportunity for you to look introspectively and re-evaluate who you are and who you want to be.

With this in mind, I give you…

My Very Own Guide to Coming Out. As a Vegetarian.

1. Mentally prepare. There might be some people, and you may or may not already know who they are, who are veggiephobic. You’ve likely heard them mumble a snarky remark or two under their breath –and hey, you might have even encouraged such a comment at the time – but keep in mind that if they are actually your friend or loved one, they won’t care what you put in your mouth.

2. Understand that you don’t have to come out to everyone at once. What goes on in your kitchen is your business, and yours alone –and your decision to share this part of yourself with others is just that: YOURS. If you want to bring a vegetarian dish to a potluck with friends who don’t know about your vegetarianism, feel free to call it ‘just a friend’ for as long as you need before you feel comfortable enough to tell them the truth: you would actually really like to eat that friend.

3. Be honest with yourself throughout this process. Although it may feel silly at first, try writing a list documenting any feelings of resentment, anger, guilt, shame, or confusion that might be floating around in your mind in regards to your vegetarianism. And don’t be afraid to repeat this exercise if ever the doubts and fears resurface. For example, mine might look like this:

-What if my friends think it’s just a phase? Or just another aspect of the pigeonholed alternative identity which enables me to so carelessly wear scarves, knit, sip copious amounts of tea, and spend my summers working in cafes and blogging about this very lifestyle?
-Will people be able to tell just from looking at me?
-Does anyone already know…? Am I the last person to realize that this is what I am by nature?

4. Be proud of your identity. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t eat. Don’t apologize for who you are, as this will only reinforce the veggiephobic beliefs that exist in our society. Hold your head up high, and stuff your face with textured soy protein (if that is what you want to do). You may not have been Born This Way, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t who you are.

You are eventually going to have to come out to everyone you choose to let into your personal life. Some people might hear that you're a vegetarian by word of mouth, or read it in your Facebook profile if you choose to put it there. Every veggie has a coming out story –most veggies have several! It doesn’t matter how you go about it, so long as you don’t lose sight of the fact that you are being true to yourself, and that alone should give you the PRIDE you need to wear your heart on your sleeve.

Closets are for clothes, friends.

What's in a Year?

Why Hello Blog!

Long time no write! A year, actually. And what a year it was.

I come to you live from the train, en route to Montreal from Toronto, where I've been hiding for the last couple days.

Proof:



You know those horrendously awkward faces you make at yourself in photobooth? Turns out they're even more awkward to make when you're on a fully packed train and practically sitting on the person next to you (see the above photo for proof of said awkwardness). I thought about asking my seat-buddy to join in on the fun, but it's still early on in the 5 1/2 hour commute... Unfortunately, he has a terrifying resemblance to Hannibal Lector. Also, I doubt he would be able to respond to such a gracious offer over the death metal blaring out of his retro headphones. Hm.

ANYWAYS, I'd like to say, "I don't know how I've neglected this blog for so long", but I actually have a confession to make: I haven't been cooking. Or baking. Or eating homemade food at all.

And yes, that was as painful to type as it was to read.

I've spent the last eight moths working in a residence, and as a perk to the job, I was given access to an unlimited meal plan a la my university's Food Services. I promised myself I'd be honest in this post, so I won't strategically leave out the fact that I DID have access to a kitchen... I just never really used it.

Again, yes, that was as painful to type as it was to read.

Sigh.

Sometimes convenience is just that: convenient. The silver lining of this cafeteria cloud, however, can be found in the pent up kitchen energy I've accumulated, as well as the unorganized file folder of recipes I've been squirreling away.

But before I get to the good(ies) stuff, I want to vainly fill the blair (that's blog air, obviously) with some life updates. It has, after all, been a year since I last wrote...

1. This summer will be my first spent in Montreal since I moved here three years ago, and I couldn't be more excited. It's crazy that we students spend only the most dreary, cold and miserable of the Montreal seasons in the city, and spend the summers back home. I've decided to put this funny pattern to rest, and spend the next four months, the best the city has to offer, taking advantage of my time here. Clearly more on this later.

and

2. I'm working! At a publishing company! Yes, M'amm, I am the new(ish) editorial intern at Black Rose Books Publishing, one of the few primarily English publishing companies in Montreal. Its pretty small, which is great, as I have yet to work the photocopier or make coffee. Actually, I make a lot of coffee... but it's always at my own leisure. But that's not the point. The point is that I'm doing real work, real editing, real research. I applied on a whim quite a while ago, and was thrilled when I heard back from them a few weeks ago. I have three projects under my belt right now, one of which has a deadline coming up reeeallll soon... It's a great internship, and it's already giving me insight into some potential goals for the future. The publishing world is looking pretty intriguing to me these days, and a skim of my google searches offers some serious insight into this possibility: This morning, over coffee, after typing in the 'How' of 'How to tell if espresso beans have gone bad', google politely offered me some of my recent searches:
'How to get into the publishing industry'
'How to dress as an intern at a publishing company'
'How to fact-check', and, my personal favourite,
'How to get out, and stay out, of your pajamas when you're allowed to work from home'

Yep, I am allowed to work from home. At first this possibility put me over the moon, but it really didn't take long before I had rewatched the entire first season of Madmen, and couldn't remember whether I had slept in, or changed mid-day, into the pajamas I was currently wearing. You can imagine my dilemma. So I've been spending most days in the office, but will have to fend for myself the next couple weeks, as my lovely boss is getting married this weekend (!!!) and taking some time off to honeymoon with his (soon to be) wife. I'm either going to have to force myself to make some cafe work dates with other home-working friends, or somehow avoid netflix, youtube, and my relentless affinity for googling things... at least until I can get back into the office.

Now –finally– a recipe! Yipee! Two posts ago ('last year' just sounds way too sad...), I posted some pictures of vegan brownies I had made, and have since received quite a number of requests for the recipe. They are deee-licious, and can be made with either a peanut/almond butter, or (vegan) cream cheese topping. I was originally given this recipe from my brother, a vegan by day/jazz musician by night, and have since found it on a number of other tasty sites. I'm not sure of the original source, but I'll edit it in if I ever figure it out. For now, let's just call them...

*Dave's Jazzy Vegan Brownies*

2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
6oz (roughly half a bag) of semi-sweet chocolate chips (melted)
1 T. oil
1 T. vegan butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup soy milk
8 oz. Tofutti cream cheese OR peanut butter OR almond butter

1. preheat oven to 325
2. mix together all dry ingredients EXCEPT for the sugar.
3. add in melted chocolate, 1 cup (not 1 1/4 cup!) of sugar, 1 tsp (not 2!) of vanilla, butter, oil, and soy milk.
4. Cream the cream cheese/peanut butter/almond butter with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and tsp of vanilla.
5. Pour mix into an 8x8 pan, then pour topping on top, swirl with knife to your inner artist's content.
6. Bake 45-60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

OMG YUM. Here are some pictures I took when I made them last summer...



And here was the second batch of the day about 30 seconds later...



Thank you so, so, so, so, SO much for reading! I love writing these blogs, and even though I have an excuse as to my one year hiatus, I still can't believe I went a year without updating. But I am back, and more excited than ever to keep on keeping on.

Having just crossed the border into Quebec, I think it's only fair to end this post with a "Bon Appétit", straight from my heart to your kitchens.

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