Friday, May 23, 2008

Flat Chat

flat chat

adjective
Definition: busy: extremely busy
e.g. "Sorry, mate, I can't help you - I'm flat chat."

Two weeks left in the semester; a stack of essays to mark; looming paper deadlines; grant applications; interviews; community meetings; animal rights townsville; planning a birthday party; planning rallies and meetings with government; weekly seminars; dinner invitations; Andy's home (!); friends visiting from overseas...

And so I leave you with a week's worth of food in one post.

First up, brussels sprouts. Andy's first experience with them, to be exact. I mostly followed the recipe from La Dolce Vegan which came highly recommended, and for good reason. These were damn good.
Indian-ish feast. Roasted cauliflower with four-seed sauce (based on three-seed sauce from VwaV but we had all the wrong seeds)--nigella, fenugreek, coriander and aniseed. Spicy Indian Rice (minus the toasted almonds) from Vegan with a Vengeance. And plain and sweet potatoes tossed with mixed spice and flour and roasted in the oven.
Cold weather lately has been calling for stew. Hence Andy's creation--it started as an amalgamation of three recipes from La Dolce Vegan and turned into something completely unique. It had red lentils, brown lentils, yellow split peas, potato, sweet potato, leftover roast cauliflower, cumin, caraway, nutmeg, tomato soup, veggie stock, and shallots. And perhaps more. Served on leftover spicy rice and alongside some sauteed Wombok.
Cold weather also makes napping on the couch a welcome activity. If only we all had the time!

Pesto scrolls. I woke up early last Saturday to bake these, so that I could bring them to the Animal Rights Townsville meeting. Unfortunately, my morning didn't go as planned, I didn't get to come home before the ART meeting, and I had to eat these all myself. What a shame. Puff pastry, broccoli pesto, and minced olives = perfection!
Another thing I made for the ART meeting but couldn't bring. Red Lentil Dip, based on the recipe from La Dolce Vegan, but with lots of changes. It had massaman curry paste, cinnamon, peanut butter, cumin, onions and garlic, red lentils, and tofu. Yummy, especially with vegan rice crackers.
For Andy's welcome-home, I made the 'Tease Cake' from Ultimate Uncheese. The bulk of this cake is made not from tofu or soy cream cheese, but from millet. It was surprisingly good. Instead of lemon I used orange, with a ginger cookie crust, and a topping of Maya Gold Ganache.

Andy wasn't hungry for dessert after travelling all afternoon, so I left it in the fridge... and when I came home from uni the next day this is what I found:
Another welcome home meal filled with things Andy didn't get much of on the island--spinach, sauteed with garlic, sesame and carrot; mushrooms baked with garlic and olive oil; and cumin lime baked tofu & broccoli.
And finally, I'll leave you with an update on the kangaroo culling in Canberra that I mentioned a few weeks ago. The government had originally agreed to relocate, rather than murder. Recently, they changed their mind and said they were going to massacre the kangaroo population. Unfortunately for them, animal rights activists and Aboriginal traditional owners are not going to take this lying down. Eight people were arrested after climbing the fence, starting a ceremonial fire and reclaiming their land. Read about it here.

Coming soon: Andy's birthday. We're having a fiesta!!

14 comments:

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

You are a busy girl Theresa ~ and it's a wonder you can even say "flat chat" with all that's going on. But if you find an extra minute, please send me some of those pesto rolls. Oh, they look good. :)

Happy Birthday, Andy!

Anonymous said...

YUM!! You're tempting me with all these yummies. Since I fail at brussel sprouts, I need to try that recipe from La Dolce Vegan. I have yet to use it, and it's a good starting point. =) (Can't believe I skimmed over it).

Alicia said...

You still cooked a lot in this busy week! kudos! Everything looks great. Even the brussels sprouts...

K said...

The scrolls look great minus the olives because I hate them. Did you have a recipe?

It's good to see you mentioning recipes from La Dolce Vegan. I really should dig it out and try some of the ones you approve of :-)

Amy said...

Awww Nacho. Cold weather=lazy kitty's!

I have the recipe for that millet teasecake somewhere but was a bit scared of the idea of millet being sweet. Maybe I'll have to give it a go, yours looks superbly delicious!

Unknown said...

What a delicious week! Up in the northern hemisphere the sun has finally put his hat on. "Flat chat" is an expression I never heard before.

urban vegan said...

You guys always amaze me with your food--even with your flatchat.

Good on ya' regarding the roos. Keep us posted!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Hang in there with all the work you have to do!! Best of luck!!

Mmm, those brussels sprouts and mushrooms are calling out my name!! Yum!!

Haha, "teese"cake - love it!

Have fun celebrating Andy's birthday!! Can't WAIT to see what you make for the "fiesta" :0)

Lovlie said...

Wow! These look so yummy! You're making me hungry!

the little one said...

Flat chat. Love it! I'm going to have to make use of that.

So glad to hear you liked the brussel sprout recipe!

DJ said...

Flat-out busy, more like! I had to laugh when I saw the chocolate cheesecake with the two incriminating bites taken out of it - not surprised though, it looks lovely, and those pesto rolls just look the business!

Groover said...

... and you still find time to update your blog ... you must be Superwoman! :-)

I just had my pre-race porridge with banana and local honey - but I could still eat more looking at your pictures. Love brussels sprouts.

Theresa said...

kristy--the pesto scrolls started from the recipe for 'Pesto Pinwheel Rolls' from La Dolce Vegan, but I changed it a bit... plus I found I had to bake them for 3 times as long as she suggested.

vegetation--you should definitely try it! Just make sure you blend it up well, our filling was still a bit grainy. But really good, especially with chocolate on top ;)

Vegan_Noodle said...

Those pesto rolls look awesome. Hope you are a little less flat chat now!!