Kicking Off the Halloween Season
On Saturday at 4:00 I had my long-awaited Halloween baking party. Yes, I know. It’s not even October yet. But our family starts getting excited about Halloween in July! So this party seemed a long time coming.
Author: Leslie Kimel
Fun in the Time of Drought
It hasn’t rained here in a long time, and our native plant gardens have turned brown and crunchy. But even in this depressing, desiccated landscape Rob and I still managed to have fun this weekend–well, at least part of the time, when we weren’t dragging …
Burrito Art
Thai Tofu Burrito with vegan slaw and sweet potato oven fries
Today we made delicious Thai Tofu Burritos inspired by our frequent trips to Burrito Art in East Atlanta back in the ’90s. (Burrito Art was a cozy, funky place where you’d eat weird gourmet burritos by candlelight.) But our homemade burritos were actually even better than the ones we used to get in the old days–because we were super generous with the tofu and the rich, creamy peanut butter sauce. We served our pleasantly plump burritos with mayo-free slaw and sweet potato oven fries. There was even dessert, though it wasn’t too great–mung bean cakes that came out of a package. Anyway, here are the recipes!
Thai Tofu Burritos
Ingredients:
Thai Peanut Sauce:
1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
1 can coconut milk
3 fresh habanero peppers, minced
3 Tbls water
3 Tbls fresh lime juice
4 Tbls soy sauce
1 Tbls hot sauce
1 Tbls minced fresh ginger root
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Filling:
2 packages pre-fried tofu triangles, available at Asian markets
Olive oil
1 Tbls minced fresh ginger root
3 fresh cayenne peppers, minced
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 Tbls soy sauce
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
For serving:
2 tortillas
Extra chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
2 cups cooked brown rice
Reserved Thai peanut sauce for drizzling over the top
Directions:
Prepare the peanut sauce and set aside. Here’s how to do it: In a bowl, mix together the peanut butter, coconut milk, hot peppers, water, lime juice, soy sauce, hot sauce, ginger, garlic, and cilantro. Make sure the sauce is smooth and that there are no peanut butter lumps.
Cut the tofu triangles in half, or in thirds if you prefer. Set aside. Sauté the ginger, cayenne peppers, garlic, and soy sauce in a little oil. Add the red bell pepper and onions and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent. Be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the tofu and the peanut sauce and cook until heated through. Before you add the sauce to the pot, be sure to reserve enough to drizzle over the top of your burrito.
Heat your tortillas. Fill each tortilla with a little rice and plenty of the tofu-bell pepper-peanut sauce mixture. Roll up the tortilla. Drizzle Thai peanut sauce over the top and then sprinkle some fresh cilantro on top of the sauce.
Red Wine and Purple Cabbage Slaw
Ingredients:
1 cup red wine vinegar
8 Tbls sugar
8 Tbls vegetable oil
4 tsp salt
1 large head purple cabbage, shredded
Directions:
Make the dressing by whisking together the red wine vinegar, sugar, oil, and salt. Shred the cabbage and put it in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over the cabbage and toss well to mix. Chill before serving.
Sweet Potato Oven Fries
Ingredients:
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
Olive oil
Cumin
Salt
3 fresh habanero peppers, minced
3 fresh cayenne peppers, minced
1 fresh datil pepper, minced1 clove fresh garlic, minced
Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, cumin, salt, hot peppers, and garlic. Set aside. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes and place in a large bowl. Pour the olive oil mixture over the potatoes and toss to coat. Place the potatoes on a large metal baking sheet and cook at 450 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until the edges of the potatoes start turning brown and getting crispy.
Once Upon a Time in New Orleans
Okay, I confess I’m back into the 2008 journals. This time I’ve been reading about the trip that Mom, Bun, Kris, Sophie, and I took to New Orleans in July. Sophie was only seven then, and we all loved to tease her and she loved …
Sweet September
August is kind of a dull month in North Florida–hot, humid, relentless. But September is exciting, a time to look for signs of change, harbingers of fall. I start to be on the lookout for webworm tents and ripe dogwood berries, pine cones chewed up by squirrels. (All of these are significant.)
Meet the Ladies
Beatrix and Millie
My sister Bunny has chickens! They are Dominiques, about five months old. On Friday I got to visit them for the first time.
I was so excited that I arrived for my visit before Bunny even got home from work. So while I waited for her I peeked in at the chickens and admired their marvelous coop built by Bunny’s husband, Matt.
The coop looks kind of like a screen porch, tall enough that you can walk around inside. It’s whitewashed, very shabby chic, with heirloom roses cascading over the roof and ageratum crowding close around the sides. The nesting boxes have fancy antique hinges.
When Bunny got home I was walking in the yard, admiring all the shiny hot peppers in her garden. It was such a clear day, and there was a hint of fall in the air–which is terribly exciting to Floridians worn out by hot, miserable August. I was dreaming about Halloween.
“Have you seen them?” Bunny called.
“I peeked in at them,” I said. “I was sitting in the cabana, spying on them.”
We went to the coop.
“Beatrix is the darker one,” Bunny said. “And Millie is the one with more white. Hold on. I have a plum for Beatrix. Plums are her favorite food.”
Bunny explained that Beatrix was a busybody and Millie was more docile and retiring. She held out the plum and Beatrix came hurrying over. “See?” Bunny said. “She’s also piggy.”
As Beatrix pecked at the plum, Bunny said, “Whenever I’m holding Millie, Beatrix has to come over and find out what’s going on. She thinks everything’s her business.”
Bunny said you have to feed chickens only organic fruits and treats because they’re really sensitive to pesticides. “Millie’s favorite food is bread,” she said. And she fetched a slice.
We sat there feeding the girls bread crumbs (Beatrix also seemed quite fond of bread), and they made soft little cooing sounds as they gobbled the crumbs out of our palms.
“When Matt first brought them home, I thought Millie was the nicest one,” Bun said. “Because when I went to get her out of the box she was huddled in a corner basically purring. Beatrix wasn’t as cooperative. She flew. She went up into a tree.”
But now both chickens love to be petted and held. I got to hold them! It was so much fun. If you just hold their wings down gently, they relax and settle right down in your arms. Their feet are surprisingly warm, and their feathers are so soft.
I was in heaven sitting in the sawdust in the chicken coop, cuddling with fluffy, tame chickens. I could have sat there all day. But Bun and I had to go get Jake his birthday presents–and shopping is not a bad thing to have to do.
Happy Birthday, Jake!
We celebrated Jake’s seventh birthday on Saturday with a pool party at Kris’s house. Once again, Sophie created the cake—with Mom’s help, of course. This time she made cupcakes—each one frog-faced. (Frogs are Jake’s favorite animals.) The cupcakes were so adorable. The frogs had red-hot …
Tempeh-Bacon Sandwiches
On Saturday we made the most delicious tempeh-bacon sandwiches using this recipe I found on 101 Cookbooks and tweaked just the tiniest bit. We piled some hearty whole-grain toast with mashed avocado, baby spinach, homemade tempeh bacon, and Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes roasted in olive oil, brown sugar, and salt.
More from the Oregon Journal
This is how little Jake was when we went to visit Jacob in Bend.
Here’s a little more from the journal I kept during our Oregon trip (so long ago, when Sophie was three):
Monday, July 12, 2004
This morning I was teasing Sophie. I called her “Baby Hind.”
She responded: “No, my name is not Baby Hind because I not a baby!”
“Okay,” I said. “Fair enough. How about I call you Sweetie Hind instead?”
“No,” she said in her pouty little robot voice. “Because Hind is a mean name.”
*****
Rob told Sophie she should teach little Jake how to walk.
“Okay,” Sophie said. “I will show he. Just go like this, Jacob.” And she walked casually across the living room, hand on hip. “Just do this and walk wherever you want to go.”
“You see, Jake?” Rob said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Jake was chewing on the seat of a chair and looking very goofy.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
This morning Kris told Sophie to model her newest outfit for me. It was a little white sleeveless top with some denim pedal pushers with ruffled hems. The hems were decorated with lemon and lime appliques, and the finishing touch was a pink gingham sash tied around her waist. Sophie stood in the middle of the room to model for Rob and me. She had one hip cocked and a shy but proud smile on her face.
“Oh! You look adorable, Sophie!” I said.
Rob said, “What’s that girl’s name on The Beverly Hillbillies?”
“Rob!” I said.
“What?” he smiled. “It’s a totally unrelated question!”
“You look terrific, Sophie!” I said.
*****
Jake came downstairs this morning in a jolly mood. He had a big wet spot on his pajamas because his diaper was leaking, but he didn’t care. He was rolling around and grinning, charming everyone.
Then Mom changed his diaper and put him in a fresh outfit. His mood changed immediately. He began to fuss and buck.
“I don’t know what you did to him, Mom,” Jacob said. “He was doing fine in that wet diaper. He was smiling. . . .”
Jake has a little pink plastic pig, and every time you show it to him he opens his mouth. He wants you to insert the pig’s snout into his mouth like a pacifier.
