If nothing else, this week is proof that it seriously doesn't take much to get me excited. (Shut up, Bob, I wasn't talking to you!..)
My oh-so boring week ended with a couple of emails that almost let me pretend that I mattered a bit. First, Yours Truly actually got an email from THE UNITED NATIONS, Y'ALL! No shit, really. Seems that 2008 is the
United Nations International Year of the Potato. (I don't know yet how I managed to miss
that one...) Anyway, the United Powers That Be wanted to use my pic of
potato fudge on their upcoming recipe section. BOO-YAH! of course I said yes. I was honoured and tickled in all the right places.
Dear United Nations: I love you. Please hire me now and rescue me from a neverending treadmill of monotony that is my current job. Pretty please? Pretty please with potato fudge on top?? I personally grew 800 pounds of potatoes last year, after all....I am uber-qualified for any potato-related job you might give me....)
The second email just about about blew me away. If you recall, a while back I h
appened to mention a heroine of mine, Holistic Nutritionist
Gillian McKeith. Although I find her obsession with poo a wee bit odd, I otherwise think a lot of her. Her show, "You Are What You Eat"is one of the reasons I decided to become a Holistic Nutritionist myself. (I know she's controversial, and please, spare me the emails telling me to beware of believing what she says, thanks. ) I don't agree with
everything she advises, but then again, I don't believe everything my
better half says, either. The few quibbles I have with some of her statements don't negate the overwhelmingly sound and solid advice she gives her clients, IMHO.
ANYWAY....I was contacted by Team McKeith to ask me if I would like to review her new book. I have two words to say about that...HELL, YES!! I can't wait until it arrives.
And now the weekend. I actually got to spend the weekend alone, (and you all know how I loves me some solitude!) I actually fought my way through a nasty chemistry module in my nutrition course that I've been putting off, and I'm glad it's finally over. Otherwise, I kinda went through some blogger angst this weekend. One and a half years in, and some days it feels more like a chore than a good time. I'm sure all of you fine folks who've been blogging for a while can relate. My internal debate went like this:
Blogging Me: Yay! I have a weekend with no distractions! I can whip up some amazing cake made of some weirdass ingredient or some bizarre seitan creation that will redefine what it means to be a veg*n blogger. After all, I haven't done much lately."
Lazy Me: "Screw that. I haven't got a creative cell left in my body. Been there, done that. I think I'll lay on this couch, eat chocolate and read romance novels."
Blogging Me: "Tracy, you need to keep people interested or they'll move on to some other blog. Get off your ass and COOK SOMETHING!!"
Lazy Me: "Aww, come on. Every damn thing I try lately turns to snot. Remember that attempt I made at vegan marshmallows? Remember how much money in sugar and agar I wasted, only to end up with a quivering grey pile of scum? Why would you want to repeat that kind of tragedy?"
Blogging Me: "But someone has to be the first to veganize a rack of lamb. Who is going to do it if not you?"
Lazy me: "Why in the name of all that is holy would I want to veganize THAT? Good Lord, I never ate lamb to begin with. My mom always told me it tasted wooly. Not only that, lambs may be cute but they spray shit pellets everywhere."
Blogging Me: "You're right. Fuck it. I'll cook what I feel like whether it's interesting or not."
And that was how my conversation with myself ended. So I cooked what I felt like, and dammit, I frankly don't give a shit whether anyone thinks it's blog-worthy or not. It is what it is.
I made some root vegetable and barley soup, and no, I didn't write down the recipe.

I also made some cajun style tomato vegetable soup. Again, no recipe because that requires effort.

Both tasted great, because frankly I AM THE QUEEN of soup. Sure, I may not be able to do long division or change the oil in the car, or navigate my way from Point A to Point B. But I do make me a mean old pot of soup, Y'all..
OK, an aside..the cat's ass is on my computer desk and his tail is sweeping the keyboard while I type, so if I make a typo, ye must forgive me.)
I made some bread too....caraway and beer bread, to be exact...Sounds good, doesn't it?

Certainy, it looked good enough to make sweet, sweet love to. I could lie, I suppose, and tell you that this bread made me want to sell my firstborn just for the privilege of eating it. (I mean, how would you know? But unfortunately I have this very inconvenient honesty gene.) Truth is, it tasted bad enough to make me want to scrub my tongue with ivory soap and gargle with Scope. . IT WAS AWFUL!!! Caraway in soup=good, caraway in bread=barf-worthy. What a waste of a can of beer...
And finally, the only interesting thing I felt like making.... "Three Times the Corn" Bread.
It was quite yummy, not exactly orgasm-producing but maybe worthy of some serious loin-sweating, at the very least. I would give you the recipe, but I think it needs another test or so. The top middle was kinda (erm) raw, so after I figure out the cooking time and temp it's all yours. It includes corn flakes, corn meal and CORN!! YeeHaw!
Ok, I'm leaving now. I guess if you're looking for cutting-edge vegan cuisine you'll have to keep clicking. If you're looking for a gal who ended her weekend alone content and pleased to be in her own skin, well....you done found her...
Peace!