Thursday, December 11, 2008

i like food, food tastes good

Get outta my way or I'll eat you!  Oh wait, no, that's a Descendents song.  I'm not gonna eat you, I promise, come back!  I'm vegan for goodness sakes.

Speaking of food though, here's some I've eaten in the past couple of days:
tofu and veggie stirfry w/soba noodles

I made this Monday night because we had some sugar snap peas and baby bok choy hanging about that really needed using up.  I made the sauce up all on my own, and hello was that stuff spicy.  Probably half of the sauce ingredients were sriracha and garlic sriracha.  It was good though.  However, I didn't remember until the moment I finished making the whole thing that we were going to have Japanese food with my brother and his fam the next night.  Oh well, they were entirely different, and both were awesome (in my humble opinion).  As for the rest of my sauce, there was ginger and garlic and sesame oil and rice vinegar and rice wine and tamari.  A bit of a hodgepodge, but that's how I roll.  No pics of the food from Hibachi.  Go find Michael's birthday post and look at that food, because we can only get one thing when we go there, which is really tasty, but not worth photographing every single time.

Did I say Michael?  Yeah, he made some good stuffs this week too.  First up:
chili on the fly

I swear he made this in 15 minutes from start to finish.  I texted at 11:40 to ask what was up for lunch and he says he's just getting out of bed (oh great, I'm thinking).  But by the time I got home at like 12:09, this shit was finished!  How?  Who knows.   He may be magical.  Anyway, I put a bunch of scallions and nutritional yeast on mine.  And it was so wonderful.  

The reason I say he may be magic is right here, really:
what!?

Yeah.  I was having a bad day at work yesterday and then I come home to this.  Ooey gooey peanut buttery, caramely, chocolatey, sweet and salty goodness.  I don't know exactly what recipe he based this off of, but it came from VegWeb and when I find out, you shall know.  But I mean, just look at it.  The heart?  The chocolate?  The wonderfulness of a sugaryawesome treat after a terrible (yet again) day at work?  This boy is priceless.  

Since he was so nice, I made him BBQ tofu for din.
bbq shmarbeeque, i just wanted brussels sprouts and polenta

The tofu was tasty, indeed (it's just a bottled sauce that got doctored up by Michael, M.D.), but the brussels sprouts and polenta were stellar.  Just steamed sprouts with EB and seasoned salt.  The polenta got worked on a bit, though.  I wanted to do soft polenta because there is no other comfort in this world so great as soft polenta.  Of course, today it was just regular polenta because it was set up, which was also fine.  I usually do the soft poppy seed polenta from Vcon, but didn't.  I made it with veggie broth, a little thyme, onion powder, smoked paprika, and some (really awesome) chili powder.  The flavor was subtle, but definitely had a southwestern feel to it, which complemented the bbq tofu nicely.  What was really great was putting some tofu on the fork, spearing a sprout, then sopping up some polenta with the whole mess.  Does anyone else do this?  When I was a kid, I was insane about keeping my food separate and only eating one item on my plate at a time before moving on to the next (saving the best for last, of course).  I still do this sometimes, but I've learned that mushing things together can be great too.  

In other news, apparently there was a squirrel hanging out on the kitchen windowsill today.
found this picture on my camera

Michael gets to have so much fun while I'm at work all day.  Darnit.  I wanna hang out with squirrels.  Of course, I'm home now and having a blast (ha) while he's at work, so I guess it works out.  Speaking of which...

I worked out today.  Can you believe it?  I can't.  I don't know where I found the willpower.  It sucked, but I'm glad I did it.  30 minutes on the elliptical (at level one, go me) during which I thought that surely I would die, and really almost for real thought I was going to during the last 5 minutes, but I hung in there.  Then I did like 20 crunches and 10 leg lifts and looked at some weights and decided I wasn't ready for that just yet.  Anyway, it's a start.  I'm counteracting this accomplishment by noshing on carrot sticks and hummus.  Which ordinarily I wouldn't care about, but I got the hummus from the deli and I can just TELL that there's a shitload of tahini in it, which makes it creamy and tasty but also way fattier than I usually make mine at home.  Oh well, there was only less that 1/4 cup left in the container anyway.  It won't kill me.

One last thing:  When buying gifts for people on etsy, the hardest thing about it is repackaging everything in the lovely wrappings that they came in after you had to sneak a look.  I'm getting pretty good at it actually.  I recommend, if you go this route, to invest in a razor (for cutting without messy scissoring) and some scotch tape (for flawlessly covering up your cutting).  Oh, and work on your ribbon tieing skills.

19 comments:

Meghan said...

I was the same way when I was little; nothing could be touching! But now I love mixing food all together (especially "meat"loaf and mashed potatoes with gravy). Also I have recently gotten very into polenta and really want some now hehe.

Anonymous said...

Aww, what a sweet thing to come home to (with a heart in it and everything)... Extra points for the boy!

Anonymous said...

Aww, so cute that he put the heart on it!!!
And that chili looks fantastic =P I'm licking my lips just thinking about it

aTxVegn said...

Good for you for working out! And you didn't die. I used to hate for my food to touch and I really hated when chefs started stacking their components on the plate. But I've gotten over that for the most part.

Never let Michael get away. He is so good to you!

Virginia said...

sweet michael!!

all the food looks yummy, as always!

i am trying to "work out" some now too...to counteract for all of the holiday sweets i have been making (and not blogging bc i am lazy)..i just do about 30 min on the treadmill every day to every other day and in between do some ab exercises...nothing major but it makes me feel better.

Gina said...

Hey! I gave you an award on my blog today. I hope you’ll go claim it and pass it on

x said...

Awww, Michael sounds super sweet and what he made for you looks yummo.

And good on you for exercising, I've gotten back into it lately, you dread it and then once you start it's easier to keep going :)

T said...

That chocolate creation that he made for you is adorable. What a total doll. The chili looks really good too!

I feel the same way about working out... its definitely pulling teeth at first. Easy does it! For me, if I don't have lots of strange music to almost dance to I can't even get started. (Of Montreal, Depeche Mode, Rancid, ect.)

Liz said...

Your Michael is a total sweetie! And he has impressively speedy cooking skills!

Anonymous said...

That boy just doesn't stop rocking does he?
Everything looks fandabbydosey, as per usual. I'm particularly loving the heart dessert, and the sqizzle.
And the excercise? Above and beyond the call of duty. But yay for you!
I'm allergic to excercise, sadly. Them's the breaks! >;o)

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

I think you may be right about him being magical - that peanut buttery stuff looks like heaven!

The squirly is so cute!! We used to have a right fat old squirrel that used to hang out outside mum & dad's back door (I named him Timmeh!) and he was a bold little bugger, he got nearer and nearer and then mum got scared cuz she though he was gonna come in the door so she shooed him away. I was sad, Timmeh was my friend.

OK, I just made myself sound totally 'special' there! ah well.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, all the food looks so yummy! And I have to say, a boy who can make desserts like that deserves a sparkly, shiny star! He's pretty talented!

Hooray for working out. I need to get my lazy, unmotivated self into a fitness routine.

jessy said...

that is too awesome on the etsy gifts! i used to open & then re-package my x-mas gifts when i was little. always knew what i was getting. dan & i don't do x-mas gifts for each other, which is good - 'cause i would #1. sneak around the house to find them all & #2. carefully open them to see what i was getting! ahahhhaaa. i hate surprises!

garlic sriracha is so glorious - and hot as hell! i have a feeling i need to make some sriracha sauced tofu stir-fry like yours sometime soon. soba noodles = yum, and your dish looks freak'n glorious!

michael is the sweetest! you've got me too on how he made the yummy chili so fast. wow!

oh yeah - your bbq tofu - yes pleeeeeeeeeeease! it looks soooooo gooooood! hooray for mix'n things up - especially with polenta & brussel sprouts. my fav! i used to keep things separate when i was wee as well - i'm still a little hesitant when it comes to mixing things, but i think i need to try it out more often! it could be scrumptious!

congrats on working out! half the battle is getting to the gym. my gym is on my way home - which is awesome. but there are definitely days when i just don't feel like going. nothing wrong with the first level on the elliptical. those things are hard as hell! a good workout, fo 'sho! and don't be intimidated by the free weights. i used to be, too - but i had dan show me how do properly do some stuff and now i love them the most! the people in the weight room used to scare me, too - turns out they're all really super nice (and not just nice to me 'cause i'm a chick)! they all love that someone else is work'n hard & work'n the weights! yay! oh yeah - and you should totally check out this awesome site for weights advice and such. i don't agree with her whole "what you should eat" bit, but she shows you how to lift & what exercises = good and all that jazz! :) it's a good resource for women + weights. i love it the mostest!

the squirrel = the cutest! i just want to pet him! :D we had some baby squirrels in our attic over the summer (i thought they were the best and i was kinda honored that they picked our home to live in. aaahahaaaa. dan was not happy! oh well!) and it took all my willpower not to go up into the attic every day and pet all the little baby squirrels! they're so damn cute and grey and fuzzy and awesome!

annette said...

Having delicious feel-good food made for you in honor of bad days is the best thing ever. Hooray for you.

I used to HATE having my food touch when I was little, to the point where my mom would serve me using those plates that kept the food divided, with those little borders on them. Hilarious. Now, I consciously smoosh all of my food together if I can. Otherwise, I do just like you with the brussel sprouts and tofu - get a little bit of everything on my fork and make delicious balanced bites for as long as I can. I've actually gotten really good at this though. I can manage to keep a little of everything on the plate, and all the way to my last bite I will keep the balance. It's a very odd game, and a little OCD maybe... =D

About working out - I'm in a similar situation. I am trying to get back into my regular yoga routine, but it's like pulling teeth getting back in shape. And with jogging, forget it. That's like torture; it's painful. Presumably it gets easier each time though...that's what they say.

janelle said...

OMG he is so sweet.

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Whoa! I see a whole lot of yum here!

Anonymous said...

Good for you working out to the max! I know it's hard when you don't enjoy it. I am a huge exercise fanatic (and am seriously depressed because I haven't been able to run in almost six weeks!). I am just miserable without it.
Your Michael is such a sweetie - you deserve him and he deserves you. Love happy couples. And groovy food, too!

Leslie Richman said...

So much goodness in this post! I'm with you on the re-Etsy-ing stuff after I peek too! Hehehe!

Erin said...

1. <3<3<3Descendents<3<3<3

2. Michael MUST be magical. Hang on to that one.