What does a Sesame seed grow into? I don't know; we never gave them a chance!

“I think they could take Sesame seeds off the market and I wouldn't even care. I can't imagine five years from now saying, ‘Damn, remember Sesame seeds? What happened? All the buns are blank!’” - Mitch Hedberg

Although I enjoy this late comedian’s act, I can hardly disagree more with this statement! Sesame seeds?! Who will miss them? Everyone!! When I first heard this, I gave a laugh and thought, “oh, that is so true.” But, upon further reflection, two things I use quite frequently … sesame seed oil for cooking and flavor, as well as tahini to make hummus.

Sesame oil is flavorful and a great substitute when you want a different flavor. It’s great to sauté bok choy with garlic. Or, sauté tofu in an asian style dish. You can also just drizzle it over some cooked greens and you are good to go! As for tahini, it’s the Arabic word for sesame paste. The paste is made from lightly roasted sesame seeds and is used as one of the main ingredients in hummus, right behind chickpeas!

Upon giving it a quick google, some other common types of uses are found – breads, bagels, tops of buns, in cracker sticks, sprinkled on sushi. They come in a range of colors from brown to red, black to white and have a nutty taste.

One website even provides the tale behind the phrase “open sesame.” Apparently, when they are ripe, sesame seeds burst open quite easily and at the slightest touch. So, this is played upon in the story Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Ali Baba is out in the forest when he learns by overhearing thieves that there is treasure in a cave. The words to open the cave are “open sesame,” and when the thieves leave the area, he uses those words to get in and take some treasure home. The story doesn’t have a terribly happy middle or ending, but a phrase was born. Like the sesame seed, the cave doors were easily opened with a simple phrase.

In real life it is a flowering plant that grows seeds in pods. The actual sees is roughly 1/8 of an inch in length and only 1/20 of an inch wide. It is amazing that such a small seed can be cultivated in such high quantities to make the products that we know and love.

So, I say, let’s keep the sesame seeds please!

“What does a Sesame seed grow into? I don't know; we never gave them a chance!” - Mitch Hedberg

What We Ate While Watching the Bruins Win

Vegan food goes great with anything, including sports. So, recently when we sat down to watch the Bruins play game seven against the Canucks, we decided that we should whip up something different, something a with a little kick to get us going for what was sure to be an exciting game. So, we picked Chimichurri Baked Tofu from Terry Hope Romero’s Viva Vegan. It was certainly a great pairing - a great meal during a great game.

The recipe has some exciting ingredients, such as smoked paprika. While we didn’t have smoked sweet paprika in our spice cabinet we did have smoked paprika. It was a purchase for a specific recipe quite some time ago, so I was excited to pull it out again. I wouldn’t have thought that the taste and smell would be so much different than “regular old” paprika, but it is completely worth the purchase. You can really smell and taste the difference.

Coating the tofu in the oil and soy sauce mixture really gives it some taste right off the bat. I typically try to use less oil than most recipes call for, so instead of using 2 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce, I did 1.5 of each. Even then, I probably would swap the measurements for each ingredient completely next time. Watching the two ingredients separate after I had mixed them in the pan definitely kept me amused for a few minutes!

We saved just the tiniest bit of the chimichurri sauce for the end, way less than the 1/3 suggested and even that was a bit too much for someone that doesn’t like raw garlic in large amounts. Me? I can eat raw garlic in a sauce any day, but if those eating with you do not prefer so much raw garlic, you may want to cook the sauce separately in the oven (or maybe a small skillet) for a portion of the time that you cook the tofu, or just pour the whole amount on top of the tofu while it cooks if you like it a little crispy.

We paired the tofu with sautéed greens. We got our first CSA vegetables earlier that same day and it was filled with various amazing greens. So, we picked what, from our internet searching, seemed to be the joi choi and yukina savoy (big tot soy) in the bunch and sautéed it with the young garlic (we were informed we should use the whole plant, good information). Now, personally I would have added a few cloves of what I assume to be “mature garlic” to get a stronger garlic flavor, but I was vetoed. Instead, we used a small amount of sesame oil, which was still fantastic.

While the Chimichurri Baked Tofu and sautéed greens probably wouldn’t have been my first thought to pair together if we didn’t get a bag full of greens earlier in the day, it was a pretty good match and they paired well.

In the end, Bruin’s won, 4-0. While I cannot say that my meal was better than watching the Bruins win for the first time during my lifetime, I can say that it was pretty amazing.

Ask And Ye Shall Receive

I understand the argument of vegans only providing vegan businesses with their business, but sometimes, when you are the only vegan, that doesn’t fly. For instance, some that I am close to have always been a huge fan of Not Your Average Joes and it is a popular dinner location on the fly. If you look at their menu, it is not vegan friendly, at all. Since that is a preferred location, when I first went vegan I emailed to find out what was in their menu items. Come to find out (although not shocking) their potatoes are mixed with butter, their veggies are cooked in butter, their rice is cooked in chicken broth etc.

So, when recently it was decided that it would be our dinner location, I emailed to see what could be made vegan. I was directed to the chef at the location we were planning on dining at and he asked me if I liked a few ingredients. From there, he created a very delicious and filling meal. It was tofu marinated in orange juice and then grilled with teriyaki sauce and served over brown rice (cooked in water) surrounded by sautéed vegetables. It was great. My meal was easily the best, tastiest and healthiest. The chef came out to explain everything that was in the meal and then again later to make sure that I enjoyed it. Before we left, he informed me that any time I was planning to come to his restaurant, if I provided him with advanced notice, he would whip up the same or something similar.

Just ask and ye shall receive. If you are going to a location which you know is clearly not vegan friendly and have some advanced notice, it doesn’t hurt to contact the location and find out your options. NYAJ is a medium sized chain and I think that the chef there was happy to try something more creative than the few standards he usually makes. Unfortunately, you are not supporting a vegan business, but you are also not sitting out on the event which friends and loved ones are at. Next time, try and get everyone to go vegan!

Birthday Bash - True Bistro

Your birthday is the best day to get everyone to eat how you want them to, even if just for one night. As one of my dearest meat-eater friends said, “[t]his is probably the only time you'll have the leverage to get a group of people to go vegan for a night, so you should wield it!” So, I did!!

We went to True Bistro Café. It was my first time dining there, but I had heard so much about it I was very excited. They do not take reservations, so I called ahead to determine when we should show up. They were very nice and helpful. Since we were a larger party at ten people, they informed us that our best bet was to come around 5:30 p.m.-ish. The place is small, but bright and cheerful. Everyone loved the décor and the drinks they got started with.

The food was wonderful! Since there was a large group of us, we got one of each of the small plates (save for the fries, I wanted them, but I was ruled against) and passed them around for all to try – black bean and plantain torte, ravioli, cornmeal-crusted oyster mushrooms, pate of tempeh & walnuts and their special for the night, samosas. All were great; however, my favorites were the oyster mushrooms and samosa. I mean, you can never go wrong with food that is breaded or Indian! One of my friends, when eating the pate said, “oh, this tastes just like pate!” And as I glanced at her, she quickly said, “and that’s because it is.” Haha.

For my main meal, I chose the Phyllo purse – wonderful. I have only had seitan once or twice, but I enjoyed the chunks mixed in with the zucchini, peppers and pepitas. It was just one large phyllo purse and not many little ones, which was different than you typically see. The phyllo purse was placed directly on the red mole sauce, which I need to learn how to make because that can be tasty on anything.

There were many desserts tried, coconut pie, brownie a la mode, etc. but I went for the death-by-chocolate cake. Very very rich, so it is not for the faint of heart. I loved the little bits of shattered caramel so much that I wished there were more shattered bits!

All in all, everyone was a good sport about the venue choice (8/10 eat meat), I can honestly stay that 7- 8/10 people loved their meal. I think the few that didn’t enjoy it as much came in with preconceived notions that they probably wouldn’t like it. Self fulfilling.

Then we went to the Cantab Lounge in Central Square, Cambridge. Live music, dance floor and cheap drinks. All that with great friends … can you ask for anything more? (Unless that was all at a vegan bar, a spot which Boston (to the best of my knowledge) lacks thus far)