The Lustful Vegan

…there can still be food, and photos of food.

I just finished constructing my first ghetto light tent. It cost me a whole dollar to make, because the only thing I needed to buy was a sheet of white posterboard. It’s a cardboard box with most of the sides cut out, and papered over with rice paper (I’ve had a huge roll of the stuff kicking around for years). Parchment paper probably would have worked too. Objects go inside the box/tent, placed on a backdrop that curves from the top-back to bottom-front — curved so that you get no lines in the shot, and the background looks continuous. (Apparently this is called a ’sweep’.) That fancy backdrop is the aforementioned sheet of posterboard, cut to fit the interior width of the box, and held in place by two big magnets stolen from the fridge. For light I’m using a clamp-on full-spectrum light stolen from my painting easel. I can aim it through any of the three papered-over sides of the box to create different lighting. See how the shadows and highlights shift?…

I could even add more lights to cover different sides if I wanted to, but naaaaah. This is good enough for late-night shots of tomatoes, and just the thing for even yummier foods. Ta da!

Apple-sprout-pecan salad
with a maple vinaigrette

It’s a wet, grey day outside, and rather cool and dark inside. It might seem bleak if it weren’t harvest day. Yep, today my wee little sprouts became food, and their crisp greenness offered a nice reminder that spring’s lying just beneath that melting snow out there.

The mung beans went into cilantro tabbouleh. Even though I’ve been nibbling those for days and throwing some in everything I’ve cooked, I still had a good two loose cups for the salad. Not bad considering I started with just two tablespoons of seed! They turned out a little bitter, apparently because I didn’t hide them away in the dark while they were sprouting. That’s okay, though — I still found them tasty, and the flavour went well with the salad, so it all worked out well.

The broccoli sprouts I used as a garnish. They’re light and fluffy compared to the mung sprouts, and taste like, well, little fiery broccoli bursts. Go figure. I didn’t touch them until today, and what you see in the photos is the entire ‘crop’ — a single spoonful! From an entire seed pack! (I’m not sure how much the packet contained, but definitely less than 2 T.) Must see if I can find a bulk source of seed so that I can sprout more, because otherwise I just won’t be able to grow enough.

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Today was a blast. I got up too early (any morning hour is too early on a weekend), grabbed a quick shower, and headed downtown to the Kitchener market to meet K. We found each other, and then spent a pleasant hour or so wandering around, restocking on fruits and veggies. Eventually we headed to her place to drop off our things and say hi to their adorable dog Sammy, and then it was off around the corner for our raw food workshop.

The workshop was two hours of numminess, with a side helping of good company. We were joined by around eight others, plus our instructor. She started us off with edamame hummous dip, which was quite fresh tasting. Then we each received a plate of several samples:

Clockwise from the bottom, you’re looking at bean-free refried beans, mango salsa, dairy-free sour cream, corn tortillas, and guacamole.

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I have a confession to make: I don’t really like kale very much.

*gasp*

I know, I know. Somehow this makes me feel like a Bad Vegan. If I was ‘real,’ if I was ’serious,’ then surely I’d like the stuff, right? All my hardcore vegan friends seem to love it; they eat it raw or just plain steamed. I’ve tried to like it that way, but no such luck. Kale and I just didn’t seem made for each other.

Tonight, I changed my mind. This recipe piqued my interest, because it uses arame — a type of seaweed that’s stringy, with a nutty taste. I luuuuuurv arame. There’s also garlic and ginger, and what’s not to like there? So tonight I wandered into the kitchen, eyed my kale somewhat dubiously, and had at it.

My version turned out both similar to and different from the original recipe, because I wanted a single portion with a lot more veggies. And hey, it also produced Surprise Soup! (It was a suprise because I didn’t plan to make any.) The results were tasty. Hear that? I dubbed kale tasty. Ha! Success! I are teh hardcore vegan now!

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