February 28, 2013

Flowering Branches Grow Shoots


Do you remember these flowering branches I posted a month ago? The little pink flowers are long gone but tall, thin shoots of leaves have emerged! What wonder. Spring is coming and even this indoor cut branch knows it. Every year it feels like magic when tender leaves grow from buds on empty branches and become canopies for shade-sitting. In other news, I'm sick. Please send along any positive energies and love via the East River.

Yours,
NRG

February 25, 2013

The Veganette for Earth Eats: Pizza Party


Here's one for all the pizza-lovers out there. Two new recipes are up on the Earth Eats blog- one for a crunchy flaxseed crust and another for cashew ricotta. This cheese substitute is a favorite of mine and has been finding its way into all sorts of pasta dishes and sandwiches. Invite some friends over, grab a few beers and a pile of funky toppings and enjoy a night in, together. Pizza party!


Enjoy,
NRG

February 15, 2013

Guest Blogger: Johnathan Loritsch on Vegan Duck Hot Pot


Johnny and Weedle live in Taiwan where there are a lot of vegans. It seems like they have a good, full life there, with mountains huddled up to next to cities and with water all around - oh how I wish I could visit! In lieu of an expensive trip across the water, I'm excited to share a recipe of theirs for vegan duck hot pot. Delicious hunks of seitan stewed with fresh ginger, enoki mushrooms, and bok choy! Most of these ingredients are available in Chinatown, though I have yet to find vegan bloodcakes (or maybe I just don't know what I'm looking for?). Serve this big communal wok next to individual bowls of rice and a can of cheap beer. Thanks for sharing, J and W!


If you want to make vegan duck hotpot, you need:

dark sesame oil (lots)

handfuls of sliced ginger
a bottle or two of rice wine
vegetarian duck
vegetarian blood cakes
cabbage
long white stringy mushrooms
tofu skin
a sack of Chinese medicinal herbs (galangal, 3 different medicinal varieties of ginger, Chinese angelica, white pepper, Sichuan pepper, Chinese knotweed, star anise, clove, cinnamon, coriander, ... and more)

Sauté the ginger & duck in the sesame oil for a bit, then add the herbs and bottles of rice wine. after letting it stew for an hour (you never add water- it's just the wine) you add the vegetables and tofu for a hot second. Then you put the wok on the table, everybody gets their bowl of rice, and you pick out bits of the stew as you eat. 

Enjoy!

February 1, 2013

Radiant Fog & Cocoa Dust


Just a heads up to let everyone know that this year I will not be hosting a big annual truffle sale on Etsy for Valentines Day. That being said, I'd be happy to whip up a few limited edition boxes of vegan peanut butter, toasted coconut, cherry-chili, and almond cashew truffles for you and your lucky honey by special request. To order a box of 8 or 16 truffles, please contact me directly at nrgtheveganette (at) gmail.com.


Last weekend I had the good fortune of hearing Mike Decapite read in the tiny dust-cloud, book-brimmed basement of Unnameable Books. In his reading from Radiant Fog, a few lines really stuck out, this one in particular- "When someone loves you, he or she is your witness in the world. That doesn't go away". In a moment when our passive witnesses are innumerable (thanks greatly to the "internet") I applaud those who choose to love. Thankful this v-day season and always for my varied witnesses and all the patience, grace, and presence they share.

Cheesy as always,
NRG