RECIPE: NinjaMom's Simple Noodles (Vegan)

For my name day, I was in the middle of my vegan challenge, when I decided to host a vegan brunch.  My parents provided some food as a gift.  Included was this ridiculous amount of noodles my mom made - they were served cold, but you can eat them either cold or warm.  Also, as a Chinese person, there's not really an exactness to this recipe - so I made it myself later, having called her, and attempted to approximate these quantities for this recipe.  (The next time I make this, I will update with photos).

Ingredients:

• 1 box spaghetti
• 1 bunch scallions/green onion/spring onions (whatever you would like to call them), chopped
• 1/2 to 1 head of garlic (this is based on your preferences), sliced
• 3-5 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3-5 Tbsp vegetable/canola oil

How To:

1. In a pot, bring water to boil, and cook pasta according to package instructions (I'd only go al dente).
2. Meanwhile, in a saute pan, heat the oil.  Keep heat about medium-high.  Add the scallions.
3. Saute the scallions until they brown, stirring a lot, and taking about 5-7 minutes.
4. Add the garlic.  Continue to stir it all together about 3 minutes to pull out all of the garlic flavor.  (Try not to burn your garlic).
5. Add the soy sauce.  Let this cook down for another 3-5 minutes.
6. Drain pasta, and add to large bowl.
7. Turn off heat on the "sauce" and get it all into the bowl with the pasta.  Toss.
8. Eat.  Be happy.

I'm baaaack. New Challenge. Overdue Wrap-up.

Hi friends!

My sincerest apologies for my long-delayed update - I got caught up with exams, and then the summer came and went incredibly fast (of course), and between work and catching up with friends - things got a little hectic (and I also put on a little weight - more on that later).  But I am officially saving myself 10 hours of commuting per week by now teleworking.  I am still working while I attend classes at night, but that extra ten hours is a life saver.  And in so doing, I've taken on a new challenge, but want to first give you the wrap up I owed you from months ago.

Last year, during the 46 calendar days leading up to Easter known was Lent, I went Vegan as a 46-day challenge to myself.  I took it on kind of out of curiosity, as a chick who likes to eat and likes meat and cheese and eggs.  I did it while I was training to achieve my PR at a half marathon and ten miler.

Overall, the only real tip I have for anyone who chooses to take on a similar Vegan Challenge, given to me from my most amazing crunchy granola friend, is to KEEP IT SIMPLE.  

I'm being serious.  Are you listening?  Don't. get. fancy.  Not if you are just trying to take on veganism as a meat/dairy eater for X-days.  Of course, do what you must to have fun, and if that means complicated recipes, then by all means.  But I'd also suggest keeping a storage of simplicity so you don't go hungry.

My birthday happened to take place over Lent/during my challenge, and I decided to host a boozey vegan brunch full of friends and vegan food.  People either brought wine or something vegan.  A lot of salads were contributed, as well as a vegan strawberry rhubarb pie!  My parents also contributed to my name day with some noodles my mom made (amazing, recipe here), vegetarian spring rolls, and scallion pancakes (all animal free!).  Myself - I didn't follow my own advice, and I got fancy.  I made some kind of vegetable skewers, and I made a vegan sausage.   The sausage was phenomenal.  Where simplicity didn't happen, and thereby where things got weird... was my attempt at vegan quiche.  It had kind of a weird crust and a filling of tofu and nutritional yeast that had trouble setting.  It was not delicious.  I recommend it to no one and actually told my guests not to try it.  Moral of the story - KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Looking back, I began to get craving-whiny around Day 27.  That's when I just wanted to eat things with meat and eggs and dairy... and was getting tired of being that girl at restaurants when I went out.  Also, Lent, which is sold as 40 days... is actually 46 days.  I learned this on about Day 38, when I was ready feed a man a bunch of bacon and then eat him.  My take on turducken.  (Disclaimer: I am not actually a cannibal - that was a joke).

My apologies, and gratitude for your patience, to those of you who sat through my suffering - which consisted mostly of me talking about the non-vegan food I planned to eat come Easter.

All whining aside - I really enjoyed my vegan challenge.  I will never just become a vegan.  Sorry - I don't have that in me.  But I can see a vegan week here or there.  At the very least, I understand HOW to eat like a vegan, and can apply that whenever I want to.  I definitely think that my body just felt happier - when I made sure to stick to cooking foods (as opposed to frozen vegan items) - it felt less processed and less stuffed.  While I couldn't do it forever, I do believe there are body-benefits to it, and now I can pocket that into my purse of eating skills.

I do think veganism is difficult in a lot of restaurants (and vending machines).  I saw a bag of salt and vinegar potato kettle chips that "contained dairy."  WHO KNEW.  But I took it on as another facet to my challenge, that I tried to keep eating out with friends (saved certain meals, with tasting menus, for post-Easter though) to see how to do it.  I already have a few restaurant reviews, regarding Austin, TX, and Matchbox DC (Capitol Hill).  I'm going to finish this Vegan Challenge Wrap-up with a few more reviews, linked below:

• La Loma (on Capitol Hill, Mass. Ave.)
• Argonaut (H St. NE, Atlas District)

Additionally, I tried to go to happy hour during my Spring Break, or catch some birthday celebrations after classes, which coincided with Veganism.  My veganism, personally, led to a weakened tolerance for alcohol, so that was something to watch out for.  When you are a person who loves meat and cheese and food - and you decide to go vegan - you should probably understand that you are going to sometimes end up feeling the effects of alcohol faster.  Maybe it's if you're losing weight.  But I'm going to say 70% of the "problem" is that you won't be able to also EAT at happy hour.  At least... this was my experience.  At some point, I went to a birthday celebration at Fado, in Chinatown/Gallery Place, and literally in order to be able to eat, I had to ask for a plate of the celery sticks they serve with their wings... but sans the wings.  So my dinner was celery and beer.  True story.

I also learned, with situations like Chinese takeout, how to phrase questions.  I had to be very direct over the phone: "Are there eggs in this rice noodle dish? I WANT IT WITHOUT EGGS."  A lot of nights when I had no food in my house, and wasn't sure what to do, became days I called to order Vegetable Taiwanese Style Fried Rice Noodles, WITHOUT EGGS.  (The difference between Taiwanese Style and Singapore Style is that the latter has includes curry).  
Also, for Asian take-out/delivery, veganized:  
Caution, because I'd almost forgotten but was quickly reminded: Noodles for lo mein and chow mein have eggs in them.  That is why they are yellow.  You are safe with rice noodles that are disclosed as rice noodles, including pho (rice noodles) and chow fun (rice noodles).

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NEXT TIME:   New Challenge: 30 Days Paleo.

Vegan-at-a-Restaurant: Argonaut (H St, Atlas District)

I live near enough to H Street that it has become my jam.  I love making my way up and down H Street, and something new seems to open every other week (this is actually an exaggeration).

The Argonaut is down in the Atlas District, pretty much all the way down the part of H Street full of bars, restaurants, and merriment (the 14th block).

I am actually going to start this review with its out-of-5-vegan-stars rating:

The Argonaut was the only of the restaurants I ventured to with friends during my Vegan Challenge that marked vegan options in its Dinner Menu.

If you view this menu, however, there's only one item marked definitively as vegan - and a few of the others can be made vegan.  So the selection was still limited.

That said, the black bean soup is great.  It's got a spicy kick to it.  It has the perfect texture (I do not like my black bean soup to be too smooth or too chunky; I am quite picky about this - I own that fact).  The only thing that could make it better would be to throw some slices of avocado on top.  But really, this soup did NOT disappoint.  

I also got the tempeh tacos, without the cheddar cheese - and they were tasty.  I think with substances like tempeh, you generally know you're not eating meat.  But they had a good bite to them, were well-seasoned, and I got the guacamole (which was exactly what I needed).  I can no longer remember if the slaw was vegan-friendly.  However, the tacos had good flavor, and were a fun complement to the black bean soup which is really what stole the show.

Pros:

• Vegan items marked on menu.
• Appropriate amounts of seasoning.
• Beer.
• Accommodating to my requests regarding subtractions/adjustments so my meal could be vegan.

Cons:

• Vegan selection very limited.
• Really.  Very limited.

Vegan-at-a-Restaurant Review: La Loma (on Capitol Hill, Mass. Ave.)

Whenever I take on a food challenge, I try not to let it affect my life as far as going out with friends, or forcing me to be demanding about where we eat.  Operation: Vegan... presented quite the challenge.

I live by a stretch of restaurants on Massachusetts Avenue - La Loma, Bistro Cacao, and Cafe Berlin.  La Loma is a place some of us like to meet up because they keep their margaritas flowing, and food is fine.

My vegan restaurant experience proved to be kind of annoying.  Not enough restaurants have vegan menus, and many of them have a hard time processing my questions (which then also makes me feel like a d-bag).  By the time friends and I were enjoying a margarita-ful night out at La Loma, we'd reached the period when I would ask to smell NinjaManFriend's food whenever he would get things like steak and cheese and eggs, sauteed into glory.

Here's the thing people don't talk about when it comes to handmade tortillas - a lot of them contain lard.  Lard comes from animals.  But I think I tried to ask and just decided they were okay.

So I began the meal sticking mostly to the chips and salsa and this order of guacamole.  I was planning, originally, to just put guacamole in tortillas, and call it a dinner.

I think usually La Loma's guacamole is about a 6 on a scale of 1-10... but for some reason that evening, it was about a 3.  It had a weird flavor to it I could not identify.

I cannot remember, but I believe there was a question as to whether the vegetables for the vegetable fajitas were cooked in butter.  I have this feeling they were not okay and I got guacamole, tortillas, and a side of black beans (as opposed to other frijoles which are usually cooked with pork at restaurants, they were safe).  Or maybe I did get the vegetable fajitas...

The moral of the story is that I probably broke a lot of vegan rules, without meaning to, in order to eat dinner at La Loma.  My questions relating to butter and checking if there was animal fat in the beans... were confusing.  So I simply ignored it for the sake of being able to eat with my endless margaritas.

Pros:

• Strong Margaritas - everybody's happy.
• Everyone else's food smelled great - everybody else is happy.

Cons:

• Weird guacamole - Ninja-sadness
• Probably wasn't totally vegan, though I tried - NinjaGuilt
• Was still hungry afterwards - Taste my sadness

Out of 5 vegan stars, La Loma scored only:

Sorry, La Loma.  I still love you for your meat and cheese and fat-rich foods... and obviously for your margaritas.  But when I was vegan, my feelings towards you were bittersweet.

The Final Week... and some Goal Updates

It's been awhile since my last post, and sadly, things have been hectic - though I do have a running list of all of the Vegan experiences I've had these past weeks, including several more restaurant reviews: La Loma (on Capitol Hill, Mass. Ave.); Argonaut (H St. NE, Atlas District); Happy Hours/Dinners at Bars including Chef Geoff's Downtown, Laughing Man Tavern, and Fado Irish Pub; Pho Bar and Grill (H St. NE, Atlas District) vs. Pho 14 (Columbia Heights); Chinese/Thai take out both in DC and VA.


This will all happen this week, as it is my final week of Veganism, as far as this Lentan challenge goes.


For now, I have some updates/reports regarding Goals I listed when I started this blog.


1)  Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon, DC, March 17, 2012:


GOALS SET AS:

• My reach goal is to break 2 hours (chip time).
• My "happy with it" goal is to PR (my lifetime PR was over a decade ago and part of a full marathon, but it was a 2:13).
• My "better than nothing; would be really disappointed if failed" goal is to finish faster and feeling better than the I did after the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October 2011 (2:22 and I felt pretty terrible both during and afterwards).

REPORT:

My finishing chip time was 2:09:53.  This means I did not hit my reach goal, but did achieve my "happy with it" goal.  Therefore, I am happy with it.

The race itself didn't feel that great for me, physically.  I'd accidentally taken a 2-week full taper.  This was definitely NOT a race where I negative split.  And I really lost steam at mile 11.  I think the reason I was most disappointed though was that the long runs I'd done all averaged about 9-15 seconds faster than I ended up averaging to finish the half.  Since my reach goal required a 9:04-minute mile, and I ended up pacing a 9:54-minute mile, even though I am "happy with it," it left me with an itch to keep going (*see #3 below).

2) Cherry Blossom Ten Miler, DC, April 1, 2012:

GOALS SET AS:

"2012 Goal: I'd like this to feel fantastic, as an extension of my half marathon training.  It's also on my birthday (April Fools' Day, because my life's a joke, har har), and it just needs to not be a constant decline each year. Finish time goal somewhere between 1:30 and 1:35."

REPORT:

Officially, my finishing chip time was 1:45:05.  I'm going ahead and calling it a 1:39:35, and here is why: I required that myself and my run-buddy stop at a set of a porta-johns.  We ended up being there for over 5 minutes -- we stood for a little bit, and then she checked her watch to note the time, and then when we were finally out of the line and out of the johns, and back on the race, it was 5 minutes passed when she last checked -- and I'm calling that a total stop time of 5:30 that would otherwise not have been a stop.  (Oh, and of course, and I had feared this would happen, about a half-mile later, we came upon a HUGE row of porta-johns, as opposed to the three we'd stopped at... without a line.  Of course.)  So if I call it a 1:39:35, I still did not reach my time goal and paced slower than the Half Marathon two weeks prior.  So as far as a time goal, I failed.

Cherry Blossom did not feel very good for me, but it did not feel terrible either, and there was no moment I thought "I cannot finish this."  And it's definitely my personal best Cherry Blossom, to erase the last two years of unpreparedness and injury.  In fact, at home, I even put this year's medal on top of/over the medal from 2010.

So I guess I would similarly qualify this one was "happy with it."

3)  *From Rock n Roll, and now from Cherry Blossom, I still need to hit my 9-minute pace goal, but also decided to make an overall life goal of an 8-minute pace for a half marathon.  But it is a life goal.  It will take time and proper training.  This was about 3 hours after I'd sworn off running that I was like "no, make a real goal for life."  Though for now, I'm taking a race break, and focusing back on general fitness and working that into my daily life.

Vegan Vacation: Austin, TX

A few weeks ago, I detailed my Lentan Challenge: Veganism.

This included three pre-planned BYE meals - simply because I'd planned for and/or paid for them before deciding to go Vegan for Lent.

As part of my Spring Break, I took a few days off of work, and went to visit a dear friend of mine who now resides in Austin, TX.  She lives very close to the Whole Foods featured in Top Chef Season 9: Texas, when the chefs were in Austin, which is also the Whole Foods Headquarters.  She also showed me that Austin, TX, is a very vegan-friendly city.

Additionally, two of my BYE meals were Austin meals.

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First, the true Vegan options we really looked into were Whole Foods and Kerbey Lane Cafe.

This Whole Foods was amazing.  It was huge, and included things I don't normally see at Whole Foods (like clothing).  It also had a larger variety of bars and seatings than the local DC Whole Foods. I discovered their breakfast taco bar, which included vegan salsas and vegan chorizo.  I similarly discovered that the vegan soy nuggets (pre-packaged) at Whole Foods are amazing.  If you are otherwise a meat-lover, they taste a lot like really good chicken nuggets.

Kerbey Lane was a final day brunch experience.  They have a separate Vegan menu, so I got their breakfast combination which included: Tofu Scramble (like eggs), "Soysage" (soy sausage... totally worthwhile for its name, alone, but also quite delicious and sausagey), blueberry vegan pancakes.  We also ordered a "vegan queso" - which I think was probably a combination of cashews, nutritional yeast, and spices , but the spices really brought it together (I like anything with heat/a little kick).

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We also went to Bess Bistro, which was not meant to be a vegan option (and is apparently Sandra Bullock's restaurant), but had vegan options!  I had a "Veggie Sandwich" for lunch, which was described as "marinated mushrooms, grilled red onion, squash, eggplant, artichoke and olive salad, aged provolone on focaccia" - I got it without the cheese, and the server was super kind to me and double checked that the focaccia was eggless.  The real money glue of the sandwich was the "artichoke and olive salad," which was tangy and greasy and superbly savory.

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As I state above, I also had two of my BYE meals in Austin.

The first was saved for Top Chef Season 9's winner, Paul Qui (who is also coming to DC on March 31st, with one of the runners up, Edward Lee, to teach an "Asian Fusion Redefined" cooking class with wine pairing at Asia Nine, which is, in fact, my third/last BYE meal) - who is the Executive Chef at UCHIKO, and also has a set of food trucks, EAST SIDE KING.

 

We went to the Uchiko happy hour, and pretty much tried everything on their happy hour menu, including brussel sprouts, various pork belly dishes, and specialty sushi.

We then followed happy hour with real dinner by way of take-out from East Side King at the Liberty Bar.  There, we got "Poor Qui's Buns" (it took us hours to realize it's a word play like "poor [Chef] Qui" and also "porky"), Chicken Buns, and Beet Fries.

This extended dinner was phenomenal.  Everything was different - at Uchiko, the pork belly dishes all kind of melted in your mouth, and the brussel sprouts were tasty.  The specialty rolls were very much justly named in that they were special.  Meanwhile, at East Side King, the buns were pillowy, and the beet fries were substantial - thick, dense, delicious (as long as you like beets, and I love me some beets).  I preferred the pork buns over the chicken - I think it was the sauce.

The following day, we did some shopping, and then, in the middle of a huge thunderstorm, we stopped at the original Salt Lick (open pit Texas barbecue, at its finest, and also featured in Top Chef Season 9 - obviously I am a Top Chef fan).  There, instead of trying to decide among my options, I just got a platter.  The sausage and the ribs were delicious, but my heart really was with the brisket (I was advised to request burnt ends as well, with the caramelized burnt bits) and the turkey.  I also LOVED their sides.  The coleslaw was not this mayonnaisey lump of slaw, but rather this very refreshing light slaw with sesame seeds.  Additionally, the potato salad included more mustard than mayonnaise.  I was a huge fan.

My only regret is that my Vegan BYES were liberal with the meat, but included no eggs, cheese, or other dairy (which are things I truly want to eat all of the time).

Perhaps the cooking class will include some bibimbap (fried egg on top).

Vegan-at-Restaurant Review: Matchbox, Capitol Hill

When I announced to my boyfriend, whom I've coined NinjaManFriend (to go with my pseudonym of VentiSkimNinja), that I was going Vegan for Lent - there were several reactions.  He'd just watched the documentary "Forks over Knives," and was cutting back on animal proteins, himself, so he said it was well-timed.  He also joked that I've now eliminated us going out until Easter (idea being: save money by not eating out because what's there to eat).  Well!  Who am I to let my challenge stand in the way of friends and socializing?  So I decided to share what I can from my restaurant experiences during this challenge.

Note/Disclaimer: I am, in no way, affiliated to any restaurants mentioned in this blog, other than as a loving patron.

Vegan-at-Restaurant Challenge #1:

BRUNCH at Matchbox on Capitol Hill:

This past weekend, some friends I decided to meet up in Eastern Market/Barracks Row for one meal that I think is a key piece of DC foodie culture (both classic and trendy, and done so many different ways, and generally delicious): Sunday Brunch.

We ended up at Matchbox (521 8th St, SE).

I had scoped many of the restaurant's menus, and didn't have super high hopes for vegan options.  But it wasn't a "buy" meal, so I wanted/needed to just make it work.

Our server was super nice to me about it, especially considering I pretty much introduced myself as "I'm sorry I'm going to be a pain in your ass, but I just went vegan for 40 days, and have to ask you a lot of questions." 

By this point, I'd narrowed down the few options that seemed to have vegan potential.

On the actual brunch menu, there are no vegan courses.  It's brunch - so there are a lot of eggs involved, and meats, and butter, and cream.  As a result, I looked straight to the sides, where it seemed my vegan-potential was in the seasonal fruit, the ciabatta with butter (if hold the butter), and maybe the breakfast potatoes.  I also looked at the regular menu and saw two salads: a three-beet salad (hold the goat cheese fritters), and a warm mushroom and lentil salad.

So our server took this list of potential (thank you, and I'm sorry I didn't remember your name, because you were so good to me) - and brought back the following report:

• Breakfast potatoes - cooked in butter = No go.
• Ciabatta bread is from a distributor, unsure what's in it = No go, to be safe.
• Beet salad is fine if hold the goat cheese fritters = Safe, without goat cheese.
• Warm mushroom salad is fine but comes with fried something (I think carrots) that are fried in the same oil that fries meat = Safe, but hold the fried garnish to be legitimate.

So I asked him which of the salads he preferred, and he said definitely the mushroom.  Ordered.

He did not steer me wrong. 

The "warm mushroom salad" of "chanterelle, oyster & cremini mushrooms / swiss chard / red lentils / fingerling potatoes / sherry vinaigrette," for $12, was delicious.  It was subtle and earthy, and provided good brunch warmth, with this really hearty seasoning.  The lentils and swiss chard were both really great complements to the mushrooms.

It was small though.  When ServerDude, maybe jokingly/maybe no, asked if I wanted to order another, I almost jumped at the chance with a resounding "yes!" but refrained because we were planning to walk through the market and I thought there would be other vendor food I could buy (this proved to be a mistake when everything had eggs or butter in it... other than pickles).

Overall Vegan Report: Matchbox:  

 (out of 5 veggie-stars)

• Though the vegan-able options were delicious, the selection was incredibly limited.
• Left happy but still hungry.
• Server was incredibly helpful.

Funniest exchange during meal:

After I finally place my order, ServerDude turns to NinjaManFriend, who orders the steak and eggs.  ServerDude asks "how would you like that [steak] cooked?" and NinjaManFriend answers, "Vegan."  Zing!  Point.

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ADDENDUM added March 13, 2012:


I returned to Matchbox for another brunch after a trip to Austin (a vegan friendly city where I had two of my pre-planned Vegan BYE meals, to be featured in my next post).

I had the same server (Chris), who remembered me and told me the Chef also remembered my vegan questions.

Matchbox officially gets another veggie-star, totaling it at 3:


Here's why:
It turns out there is no dairy (no eggs, which was the big surprise to me) in the Matchbox pizza dough.

There is a vegetable pizza, that generally is made with pesto and cheese and EVOO (with vegetables on top) - I got it without the cheese, and with red sauce instead of pesto (since there is cheese in the pesto).

It was fantastic.  And I wasn't still hungry upon exiting the restaurant.

So now the list of vegan-friendly brunchable items at Matchbox:
- Fruit
- Beet salad, without the goat cheese fritters
- Mushroom salad, warm, without the fried carrots
- Vegetable pizza, no cheese, and replace pesto with red sauce