#45: Day 20

T's

A sneak peek to #23

N's

#45: Day 19

T's

A sneak peak to #14.

N's

#22 and #81

Yes, it's a double whammy.

Adding spices

Exhibit A: Vegan Sausage
I've been thinking of making some vegan sausage for a while now.  Here's how I figure it... I try not to eat things that I can't pronounce/don't know how to make, and I literally have no idea how they make Tofurkey... So I might as well learn right? Right. Besides, I am generally unhappy with the quality of veggie italian sausage, it tends to lack the spice of their meat counterparts. What better excuse to try to create my own version.

As it turns out, vegan sausage is really not that hard to make (in theory), but I still called on my dad roommate for some help. We decided to create an amalgamation of Vegan Dad's and Julie Hasson's recipes, using Vegan Dad's basic technique and Julie's spices, with a few alterations (some by choice, some by necessity). First of all, we decided to use cannellini bead instead of pintos, since we were trying to make Italian sausages it only seemed right to use Italian beans. We also decided to use and entire can of said beans (essentially doubling Vegan Dad's recipes, we couldn't justify only using a half can of beans in the recipes). At this point the wheels started to fall off the wagon... the recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of vital wheat gluten flour, we only had about a cup and a half.... My thoughts at the time: "son of a...."
Never fear, we had substitutes on hand. After adding some tapioca flour and bread crumbs, wrapping in foil or parchment, steaming for about 40 minutes, and chilling in the fridge, here's what they looked like.

Snausages

I know what you're thinking... Looks pretty good. (You're probably not thinking this, but let's just pretend shall we.)

In fact, the texture left something to be desired. And by "something to be desired" I mean, "was pretty crappy." But the flavor was not half bad. And, of course, by "not half bad" I mean "was palatable". Fortunately, we managed to disguise them in sandwiches with sauteed onions, fennel, mushrooms, garlic and marinara. The results were not too shabby.

The Final Product

Suffice it to say that this will not be my last attempt at sausage. I think next time I'll add a more appropriate amount of vital wheat gluten flour, cut the tapioca flour, and probably cook them for longer. I'll let you know how the next attempt goes, or perhaps not, if they turn out badly.

Exhibit B: Extra Special Bitter

"Mmmmm....Beer"- Homer Simpson

There you have it. A homemade ESB (which, ironically enough, is really not very bitter at all. It's something of a misnomer). In reality this project was started weeks ago, with a little lot of help from my dad. The process of brewing is really not that hard (again, in theory), but it can be was sort of a pain in the ass. Nevertheless, after a few weeks of patient waiting, here is the fruit of our labors. And its pretty damn good, if I do say so myself (in fact, I'm drinking one as I type this sentence.... yes, I can type one-handed). As with the sausage, this will not be the last time that I cross off this list item in the next 944 days, I hope to improve my skills (and start brewing solo) by the end of this endeavor. 

Cheers,

-N

#45: Days 17 & 18

T's

Day 17:

... because it's not one without you.

Day 18: My home away from home.

My beautiful college.

N's

Day 17:

Day 18: Dad's Homemade Pretzels

#45 Day 16

T's

Vegan Citrus Sugar Cookies

Today, I made these hand-cut heart cookies with citrus olive oil from the Temecula Olive Oil Company :) Check out my recipe here. Yum.

N's

Banas... No, that's not enough.... Banananas.... Damn!

If you don't get that joke you really should check out Demitri Martin: Person.

Trust me, it's worth it.

#45: Days 14 & 15

T's

Day 14: Alderwood Lane

Day 15: Oobleck

Periscopes in the morning and Oobleck at night. Life is good.

The 3rd grade class I'm student teaching in had a lesson on "light"this morning and we made periscopes out of used milk cartons and little mirrors and then in my masters class tonight we got to play with this Oobleck above. After reading Bartholomew and the Oobleck, we experimented with this slimy, gooey, solid yet liquid that totally blew my mind. Another fabulous lesson plan for my future classroom :)

N's

Day 14: Oranges Anyone?

Day 15: Mmmmm...CSA Broccoli

#45: Days 10- 13

N's

Day 13:

Day 12:

Day 11: See below

Day 10: See below

T's

Day 13: Fresh from the Moraga Farmer's Market

Day 12: Davis Love

Day 11: Petite Sirah (Nick was here)

Day 10: Hey there, snowflake! (Nick was here)

#45: Days 8 & 9

T's

Day 9: A Sweet Refrain

The past 3 days= Rain, hail, rain, hail, calm... rain.

I'm secretly loving it.

“To every word of love I heard you whisper, the raindrops seem to play a sweet refrain.” The Beatles

Day 8: Moraga Road

N's
Perhaps we should have put my photos on top so they would look less crappy in comparison. Oh well. Also, please forgive the fact that all of my photos are of food. I am a fatkins, I can't help it.

Day 8: Mushroom and Seitan Stroganoff

Day 9: Precious Cargo

Yes, we do buckle in our growlers for rides in the car.

Especially when they are from Black Market Brewing Company

#45: Days 3-7

T's

Day 3: Welcome to Las Vegas

(camera phone)

Day 4: Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar"

(a friend's canon)

Day 5: Recovering from Las Vegas

(my rebel)

Day 6: Happy Valentines Day!

(camera phone)

Day 7: Surviving the storm

(my rebel)

N's
Ok. So I blew it for Days 3&4... I was drunk in Vegas, cut me some slack. Technically, I took pics on my camera phone, but I can't get them off the phone and into the blog. Whatever, they sucked anyway.  Wait... all my pictures suck. Oh well.

Day 5: My Parents' Roommates' Fruit Trees Think It's Spring

Day 6: Valentine's Curry 

Day 7: Leo Seems Annoyed

#45: Day 2

Today's photos:

238,900 miles away

-Theresa

I love when you can see the moon during the day. I also love my telephoto lens. The end.

P.S. NPR's "Song of the Day" is 'Moon Deluxe' by Andrew Cedermark.

Nom Nom Nom
-Nick

Leo loves pizza bones (almost as much as I love pizza slices). I met up with an old friend at Pizza Port Carlsbad today. The beer is fantastic, the Pizza San Clemente is to die for. Ingredients: black bean sauce, tomatoes, olives red onions, topped with cheddar, mozzarella, Spanish spices and cilantro.

#45: Day 1

It would seem that, rather than continuing to ignore the blog, we've decided to blitzkrieg the shit out of it.

As of today we've started:
#45: Take a photo every day for a month
The plan goes like this:
T and I will both take a photo every day from now until March 9th. We'll try to get them all posted the day they were taken; but we're not making any promises. We'll probably post them with a caption/description/random thought of the day, unless we are (read I am) feeling lazy. It should be pretty obvious whose photos are whose (mine will be the crap ones), but we'll let you know anyway. Hopefully, by the end of our 30 days we will have improved our skills substantially, probably not. No matter what happens it'll probably prove to be an interesting distraction.

Stay tuned.
-N

Dinner
- Nick

Alright, not my best work... but it was pretty good if I do say so myself (the meal, not the photo), especially considering I sort of made it up on the fly. The best part? Broccoli greens (in the pasta), arugula, and red leaf lettuce (in the salad) from my parents' roommates' first CSA box, carrots from the garden, and dressing made with Temecula Olive Oil Company citrus olive oil and California white balsalmic, with the juice from a few CSA lemons.

Orinda's Truce

- Theresa

Today I went to the Orinda Library (my favorite) to return some books I checked out (Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed, and Food Not Lawns). The Orinda Library has a TON of interesting and beautiful art displayed inside and outside, making a trip to their library a pretty solid experience. This sculpture I took a photo of, "Truce" by Albert Dicruttalo in 2002, stood out the most to me today.

#68.2 Rock Bottom Brewery, Long Beach

(T)

Nick, clearly, isn’t the only slacker here. Have I really only posted on this blog once? Shoot… Well, in my defense I spent a lot of my time working on my food justice blog, but now that that class is over I suppose it's time I give our blog some love.

This past weekend Nick and I were in Long Beach and decided to avoid the Chocolate Festival on 2^nd Street, and instead, visit the Long Beach Museum of Art. It’s on Ocean Blvd., so as you can imagine, it has a phenomenal view. The current exhibit is called, “Influential Element- Exploring the Impact of Water”. My personal favorites were the color pencil and solvent works of Elizabeth Patterson, along with Claire Falkenstein’s sculptures. I definitely recommend visiting the LBMA if you are in town, where you will find magnificent works of art along with a gorgeous view of the ocean.

Anywho… once we were done at the museum, I remembered that Long Beach has two breweries, and since Nick is the beer connoisseur that he is, I figured that I should introduce him to my hometown’s brew. Since I failed at directing Nick to the Belmont Brewery (my 1^st choice), we ended up at the Rock Bottom Brewery. Located in the “Pike” and facing the ocean, is this restaurant and brewery that I haven’t been to since I ordered from a menu I could play tic-tac-toe on. Although it’s no Stone, we still had some tasty brews and a great time. Nick enjoyed two beers-the Oxidizer Double IPA and the Black Bull Imperial Russian Stout- in the amount of time it took me to drink my Cyclone (a really, really good white wheat beer for those who are intimidated by the idea of being responsible for consuming an entire "dark" beer on their own.)

I'm going to leave it to the brewers at Rock Bottom to tell you about their unique brewing process, which you can read all about HERE.

As we enjoyed our beers at the bar, we watched my SMC basketball team WHOOP LMU adding a + to our afternoon. Oh! And we were also invited to become members of the Rock Bottom Mug Club. :)

Art + locally made beer + Sgt. Pepper's dueling piano bar (my absolute favorite bar- where we went after the brewery and had a "sing-along clap-along drink-along good time"* with my parents) = one hell-of-a day in Long Beach.

#68. 2 down, 3 more to go. (However, I'm sure we will find ourselves indulging in beer at many more than 3 breweries within the next 962 days.)

*http://www.pepperspianos.com/dueling-pianos-about-us.html

XO- T

#2: 'Tis a Silly Play

Spamalot!

Before I get into this post I need to offer five (three, sir!) three disclaimers.
1.) Technically, T and I saw this back on January 31st. Yes, I'm a slacker. We've been over this. (On a side note, have I told you the one about how procrastination is like mastur......um....nevermind. I should probably save that one for another time. I wouldn't want to offend anyone, now would I?*)
A.) I should probably cite the title to avoid being reported to the principal for plagiarism. So, thanks Emily via Aunt Jean.
i.) I promised my mom roommate that I would give her some kudos, since the whole ordeal was her idea. So here it is: Kudos Mom.


Whew... now that I've got that out of the way, let's get to the main event shall we.

T and I (and my parents roomates, and aunt and uncle) saw our first show since kicking off of the list. We caught the matinée performance of Spamalot, on the "It's Only a Flesh Wound Tour", at the Fox Performing Art Center, and our seats were quite good (Again, kudos mom).

Are there any questions?
Did you think that the first show you would see was going to be a musical?

No.

Don't you know all of the lines to Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

Yes.

Did you make T watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail the night before the show so that she would get the jokes?

Yes

How does one get to be her age without having seen Holy Grail?

I have no idea.

Was Spamalot still hilarious for both of you?

Absolutely.

Did all of the octogenarians at the matinée showing know what they were getting into?

I'm guessing not...

What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

African or European

Do you, in fact, have any cheese at all?

Sadly, there was no reference to that skit in the musical. And yes, I'll see what I can scrounge up.

That's enough of that silliness. Spamalot has something for everyone. It has old jokes, new jokes, French tauntings, migratory coconuts, men in drag, the Lady of the Lake and the Laker Girls (some of whom had huge.... tracks of land), Tim the Enchanter, the Black Knight, and pretty damn good music (it even had the song that goes like this). All in all it was a great show, as would be expected.


After the show, we all went to Sevilla for some ridiculously good Spanish food and sangria. The highlights of the meal included the potatoes bravas, the mussels with chorizo (or so I am told), paella, and my mom drinking entirely too much sangria.


At the end of the day, an excellent time was had by all. Thanks again for reading, and remember: always look on the bright side of life**
-N





*Actually, yes. I would. The punchline is: "They both feel good until you realize that you're f***ing yourself." That one gets me every time. (Sorry mom)
**Go ahead. Click on the link and try not to whistle that song to yourself all day.

#68: Stone Brewery

Wow, have we been slacking getting things up here or what? (Since I'm guessing that you haven't been following us around as we attempt to make progress on the list, I will offer you a small hint: The answer is not "or what")

The time has come to try to catch you all up on our latest shenanigans; first things first.... Beer.

Let's begin with a quote shall we:

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

 -Benjamin Franklin

It should come as no surprise that I love Stone Brewing Co. (being the Arrogant Bastard that I am). Not only are their beers amazing, but so are their restaurant, decor, ethics, packaging, sense of humor, tour guides, tchotchkes, growler fills, special events, landscaping, parking lot, and anything else related to their company.

I have, in fact, been to Stone twice already since starting the list, but I was feeling too lazy to write it up until now trying to keep their establishment a secret. As it were, it seems like everyone knows about them already; so I might as well let you all in on just two of the things that I love about Stone: the beer and the food.

In spite of my unabashed love of PBR (sometime a guy just wants a fizzy yellow beer, ok?), Stone makes anywhere between two and five of my favorite beers (depending on my mood/how small the number is next to the word "Checking" in my bank account): Ruination IPA, and Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale are perenial favorites, though lately I have found myself leaning in favor of the Lucky Basartd, released in honor of the 13th anniversary of the first batch of Arrogant Bastard Ale. (Yes, I did just link four of their beers in that last sentence. And yes, it took a lot of self control not to mention every one of their products) If you have not yet tried/I have not yet forced you to drink a Stone Brew, please go out and purchase one. Right now....Seriously, I'll wait for you to get back. Better yet, drive fly walk teleport catch a freight train like a hobo to San Diego and I will take you there personally; the tour is free and you get to taste for free when you're done (what could be better).

I am going to restrain myself from writing any more about their beer so that I can move on to their food. Stone World Bistro and Gardens is an awesome restaurant; the decor, the menu, the ingredients, the beer selection (ok, I couldn't help mentioning beer again not matter how hard I tried). Here, I stole this right off of their menu:

PHILOSOPHY ON FOOD

At Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, we use in-season, locally, regionally, and organically grown produce. We do this not just for the simple principles of freshness and sustainability, but also because fresh, local and organic tastes better. It’s also better for you and the world in which we live. It shouldn’t be surprising to hear that we also use 100% naturally raised meats. The same fresh/artisanal/natural standard goes for all our food. It does cost more, and our prices reflect some of that reality. However, we also feel it is the much, much better way to go. 

(http://www.stoneworldbistro.com/bistro_menus/dinner.asp)

That's right, this is the kind of restaurant that would make T's food justice blog proud. They support the Slow Food movement and, to top it all off (drum roll please), every Monday is Meatless Monday. That's right, on Mondays they have an entire menu of stuff I can eat. (Haven't heard of Meatless Monday? Learn all about the movement by clicking here.) Suffice it to say that I would do terrible things to become a part of the Stone Family.... terrible things.


Now. What the hell was I talking about? Oh yeah, my visiting Stone.

It had come to my attention some time ago that Stone offers classes on beer through a program they refer to as Beer University, or Beer U. For Christmas, I had the good fortune of purchasing a pair of tickets to Beer U: Strong Ales for my dad (with the less than subtle hope that he would select me as his copilot/navigator for the event). January 24th rolled around (a Monday, how fortuitous!) and off we headed to Mecca Stone. The class was fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that I will leave its description to my dad (he is better than me at this whole blogging thing after all). Instead, I'll leave you with the words of my new favorite saint: St. Arnulf of Metz (patron saint of brewers): "Don't drink the water. Drink beer."