His eyes were filling with some great emotion, as a pitcher fills with water when it is dipped in a spring.
- The Waste Lands by Stephen King
Things have been busy and now things are just plain overwhelming and scary. It all seems so surreal. Everyone I know in Christchurch is okay but that doesn't really make it that much better. I can't help worrying about M and all my friends. I just want them here and safe. Makes being at work seem completely irrelevant.
But you've got to try and keep your spirits up so here is the cake I made for a combined birthday party we had in Christchurch a few weeks ago for M and our friends.
This is before the cake made it to the party hence the awesome kitchen bench background
We ran around outside doing a crazy orienteering course, we ate lots of delicious food and even more delicious cake and we danced to awesome 80s music until I was too tired to stand up any more. Beautiful memories.
How many men had their marriage vows witnessed by fire-breathing dragons and man-eating cats?
- Dreams Made Flesh by Anne Bishop
Oh dear! I'm getting very slack at this blogging thing of late but life has just been so super busy. I flew to Christchurch on Boxing Day then we went kayaking which you can read about here and here.
When we got back I hung around in Christchurch for another 3 weeks. In amongst working (I can do some work remotely) and surviving aftershocks (there was a 5.1 one morning which was a rather interesting way to wake up) we had some more adventures as usual! Then it was back to Auckland...well, for about 5 or 6 days anyway until I flew back down for the weekend! Now I am finally back in Auckland again and attempting to settle back into routine but it is proving a bit difficult!
So in my last post you got to see some of what we ate kayaking. Here are some other holiday meals (you can probably see a theme to our camping meals by now!!). At a holiday park in Hamner Springs we cooked up an indian curry mix from a packet with a tin of coconut cream and as many vegetables and beans as we could cram in. Simple and delicious.
Another weekend we went exploring around Craigieburn and camped somewhere near Mt White Station with some friends. Dinner consisted of veges, beans and pasta sauce on, well, pasta. So good after a long day out adventuring.
Here's the view from our campsite that night. I love the brooding sky.
When we weren't out exploring we still ate pretty well. I got very slack in the picture taking though...
We also had M's parents round for dinner one night and cooked up a storm. I didn't take pictures on the night (feeling a little bit self concious!) but here are some photos of the leftovers...M made a massive vegan lasagna which was pretty incredible. I think he made it with a whole lot of veges (mushrooms, courgette, pumpkin and possibly a whole lot of other things!), beans and tinned tomato.
For dessert I made a crumble with rhubarb from M's Mum's garden, apple and sultanas. It was SO good that it was difficult not to dive in for seconds and thirds but I was way too full.
Another night we went round to their house and M's Mum cooked up a really wicked vegan feast of salad, pizza and black currant crumble. I couldn't believe the effort she went to for us, even finding vegan cheese and I wish I'd taken photos but rest assured everything was super delicious.
And there was nothing you could do about a woman like that. She just turned herself into a hammer and you ran right into her.
Fortunately.
- Making Money by Terry Pratchett
So yes, we are now well into 2011 but my posts are still stuck in last year...typical! I've been so busy I only end up getting further and further behind!
Anyway, after Christmas M and I had planned to do a 3 day kayaking trip up the Queen Charlotte Sound which is in the Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island. Unfortunately the weather turned ridiculously nasty overnight and as we continued our drive North it felt like our little rental car was going to either be blown off the road or stuck in water. A typical kiwi summer!
So that meant we couldn't start our kayaking that day and we were stuck in Picton for the night. We didn't fancy another night camping if the storm was going to continue so after ringing round a few places we managed to find a motel with space.
After scouting around the local supermarket in search of food to cook up for dinner, I discovered Bean Supreme marinated tofu on a super special (it had an expiry date for the following day). Sweet! Add a packet of frozen stir-fry veggies and we were set.
Fortunately the following morning dawned calm and clear so we were off on our adventure. We had flexible dates so we could still head out for 3 days of magical scenery.
Our kayak on the left all packed and ready to go
It was one of the most amazing adventures I've ever done and I can't wait to do another kayaking trip! You can read more about our trip here.
So what do you eat when you're out kayaking for a few days? You can pretty much take the kitchen sink with you on these double kayaks so we ate pretty well! We had a little gas cooker to make breakfasts and dinners on and lunch was a fine assortment of veggies and peanut butter on crackers (finished off with some licorice for good measure). M did most of the cooking while I did the chopping of vegetables. There's nothing like a bit of teamwork.
Dinner on the first night was pasta with fresh veggies, a bottle of pasta sauce and a tin of kidney beans. Our veggies had a little trip into the sea so there was no need for salt (okay fine, we did rinse them in fresh water afterwards but a little salt never hurt anyone right?).
Our second dinner was boil in a bag rice (classic!) and curry (made with a random sachet of curry paste we found at the supermarket, fresh veggies, a small tin of pineapple and a tin of chickpeas). The others at our campsite kept commenting on the amazing smell coming from our little cooker. I think they were jealous.
Breakfasts were porridge made with wholegrain oats, water, jumbo raisins and banana. Oh, and I had to add peanut butter to mine because I'm like that. Kept me going all morning each day (always important if you're going to be paddling for hours on end.
Everything tastes so much more amazing when you are outside on an adventure!
Happy New Year everyone!!
Deep groans and creaks shivered her bones, as though some vast ship a thousand times bigger than any human vessel was sailing past their window, mere inches away but invisible behind the thick, cold mist.
- Shadowrise by Tad Williams
Yes I know, it's not Christmas any more. It's not even 2010 any more! But anyway, I thought I would share my tofukey recipe that I subjected everyone to at our family Christmas party.
I remember reading about tofukeys and finding the whole idea hilerious so a few years ago I thought I'd look up a recipe and see if I could create my own one for our family Christmas party. It ended up going down really well and tasting delicious so I made it again the following year. Last year I made something else but this year it was back and better than ever.
Below is the recipe for the tofu part. For the stuffing I used the Seasonal Stuffing with Nuts recipe from The Vegan Table. I halved the recipe and still ended up with way too much but that's okay 'cause you just end up with delicious leftovers! I did add a little more liquid than the original recipe though so that it held together better...but feel free to use your own stuffing. The recipe sounds complicated but actually wasn't nearly as hard as I expected.
Tofukey
Tofukey
350g firm tofu, drained
1 1/2 Tbsp cornflour
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp powdered vegetable stock powder
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup roasted, unsalted cashews
1/4 cup chopped, fresh herbs (sage, thyme, parsley, marjoram)
freshly ground pepper
Stuffing
Your choice...I used the Seasonal Stuffing with Nuts from The Vegan Table
Marinade
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp tahini
2 Tbsp orange juice
1 teaspoon French mustard
Tofukey
In a food processor, puree all ingredients. Place in a bowl in the fridge while preparing the stuffing.
Stuffing
Once you've made the stuffing you may need to add more liquid so that you can roll or press it into a log about 20cm long. I tend to wrap mine in baking paper and squeeze it to make it stay together!!
Marinade
Whisk all the ingredients together. Set aside.
Assembly and Cooking
Preheat the oven to 175°C.
On the kitchen bench lay down 2 pieces of baking paper. On top of the baking paper spread the tofu mixture in a thin rectangle about 24cm long and wide enough to wrap around the stuffing log. Place the stuffing log on the centre of this. Carefully lift the edges of one end of the paper, lifting the tofu up and over the stuffing. Gently pull the paper away from the tofu and lay flat again leaving the tofu around the stuffing. Repeat with the other side. The tofu mixture should meet at the top and wrap all the way around the stuffing. Gently press the edges of the tofu mixture together and smooth over. Press the tofu over the ends of the stuffing log and smooth this over also.
Brush the entire top of the roast with about half of the marinade (keep the other half for basting later).
Wrap up the roast with the baking paper and then wrap in a couple of layers of foil. Gently place in a baking tray and bake for about 45-60 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and then refrigerate until about 1 hour before serving.
About an hour before serving, gently unwrap the roasts. Brush with more marinade (make sure there is still some reserved after this) and re-wrap. Place in the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes at 175°C
Remove foil and baking paper. Brush with the remaining marinade and place back into the oven for around 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Slice and serve with cashew or tahini gravy.
"You cannot hide me, or hide from me," she is said to have told her accusers, "because you cannot find me. I was lost when I first drew breath."
- Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
So while I'm off galivanting the countryside I thought I'd leave you to see a couple of cafe meals that M and I devoured the weekend before Christmas (then next time you can see my awesome tofukey I made for our family Christmas party also that weekend...it's become quite the party tradition!).
First up, Saturday lunch at Cosset after a bit of ridiculously hot rock climbing. Cosset is an all vegan cafe in Mt Albert and since I was last there the food as definitely improved. First up we went for their berry smoothies in an attempt to cool down a little...I would recommend these smoothies. The best thing is that they are thick enough to eat with a spoon.
Their menu is apparently always changing...M picked the filo spiral which was filled with curried vegetables and chickpeas. I stole a bit and it was definitely delicious.
I decided on a piece of the filo pie...and managed to snag the last piece. Definitely a good choice. It was nice and light (filled with veggies) but filling at the same time. Pretty much perfect for a hot day.
We were so taken with our filo meals we have decided we have to try recreating our own.
The cakes on the counter looked way too amazing to pass up on despite the fact we were going to be eating our weight in food that evening so we shared a piece of the cricket cake which was served with caramel sauce and vegan cream.
Oh man, this cake was amazing...a cricket cake is, apparently, a chocolate, orange and caramel cake and I think what really took it from just being another piece of cake to being something amazing was the caramel sauce as well as the soy cream.
Next up was Sunday lunch at Revel on K'Rd. This cafe is definitely up there on my top cafes for their unfailingly awesome food and their super range of vegan baked goods. Anyway, I thought I'd try something new on the menu (or at least something I'd never tried before), the Tofu Satay Salad.
Lots of veggies and spicy, peanuty tofu on top of a bed of salad leaves is a pretty much an ideal summer meal. I hope this stays on the menu for a while yet.
Of course, we couldn't pass up on their mint slice for dessert...
...but you could always make your own as per my previous post!
The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.
- Neuromancer by William Gibson
The dessert place at our Christmas lunch...
I have a thing for peppermint chocolate so it wasn't surprising that I fell instantly in love with Revel's mint slice. So what better way to spend Christmas Eve than trying to concoct my own version!!
Mint Slice
Base
125g margarine, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup coconut thread
Mint Filling
3 Tbsp margarine, room temperature
3 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/4-1/2 tsp peppermint essence
1-2 Tbsp milk (oat, soy, rice etc)
Chocolate topping
250g (1 block) Whittaker's Ghana Peppermint Chocolate (or any block of chocolate really but I only had this one on hand...)
1 Tbsp margarine
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 20 x 20cm square baking tin with baking paper.
Base
Cream together the margarine and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the rest of the ingredients until just combined and then press into the prepared baking tin. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Let cool.
Mint Filling
Beat the margarine until light and fluffy and then slowly add the icing sugar whilst beating. Add the peppermint essence and milk until you reach your desired consistency. Spread the filling over the top of the cooled base.
Melt the chocolate and the margarine together and then spread gently over the mint filling. Chill until firm enough to cut into slices (about 20 pieces...).
Eat.
