In the Raw!

Tonight was the night. Spurred on my my roommates, I made the raw corn chowder tonight, after grading two sets of papers for some ungrateful seniors...who are about to see what it's like to tangle with the queen bee.

It was the easiest soup anyone could make: no messy fat, no animal renderings, no boiling and waiting to add such and such. It was pure unadulterated (well, not organic, exactly) raw soup with raw ingredients:

2 1/2 cobs of fresh corn which I shucked happily on the back porch over a newspaper provided by Dori, who also helped me choose a knife and showed me how to trim the corn closely. (Thanks, Dori.)

1/2 medium avocado instead of the small whole one called for (Mine wasn't ripe enough yet.)

1 1/4 cups of multi grain milk from Trader Joe's :)

I made half the original amount of the recipe. just to make sure we would all like it. :)

Following the instructions for blending, I added the extra handful of corn that I was told to set aside. I threw in some sea salt to taste, and voila, raw corn chowder of a light whipped cream green filled the blender. (No I don't have pictures of it because I can't find the USB cord to upload pictures from my phone yet.)

Did I like it? Yes! It was so fresh and clean tasting, not all heavy and greasy and salty like a lot of soups. It was sweet with a touch of savory...and then my roommates came and decided it needed more.

So we threw in some basil (about 10 leaves). Good addition.
More salt and some pepper. Good too.
Finally, the juice of most of a freshly squeezed lime. Gave it a zing.

The final product was great. Most people would be like Dori and Dianne, wanting the added zip. I liked it either way.

My recommendation? Try it! The only thing I'm not sure of is the nutritional value, but hey, it's a far cry from artery slammin' bacon! :)

Now I set my sights on asparagus, rosemary potatoes, the mandatory parent meeting tomorrow night and thinning the obnoxious seniors from the herd of willing learners in my journalism class....some who think Edward R. Murrow's exposure of McCarthy tactics have no meaning for them today.



Good night and good luck.

Hey, Julie and Julia! Want to Get Raw?

No raw corn chowder tonight! First of all, it's too heavy on a hot day, and second of all, I got home too late. Stopped at my sister's house and had a flame broiled Boca Burger with pickled ginger and a fresh salad she had made. It was awesome: dark romaine with cherry flavored cranberries and cucumbers.

The first time I heard of Boca Burgers was in the news, when a truck load was reportedly shipped to the White House for Chelsea Clinton, another famous vegetarian. (I'll make a list of those in my up-coming posts.) In my opinion, the original vegan Boca Burgers are the best. Even my carnivorous friends love them. They taste like hamburgers but don't have the gristle. (the burgers, not my carnivorous friends)

When I got home, my roommate Dori had made sesame broccoli. Of course it was delicious, for two reasons: 1) Dori made it and 2) Dori is a Taurus. :)

Call backs for Romeo and Juliet tomorrow after school and if the energy remains, there will be raw corn chowder on the home front. I'm looking forward to making it because it sounds wonderful and I get to shuck corn!

I grew up in a small artsy community on the Mississippi River. My grandparents had a farm a few miles away and I learned to shuck corn, snap string beans and pick strawberries when I was knee high to a katydid. Call me weird, but I LOVE to shuck corn. Maybe it's the silk. :)

Until tomorrow...

Peace and Good Food!

Bev

Zephyr, A Vegetarian Cafe in Long Beach

So how does a total neophyte review a restaurant? I’m not Elmer Dills and I’m not even a seasoned Yelp.com reviewer. I became interested in writing about food only because of seeing Julie and Julia. I wanted to formulate a blog in which I would write a vegetarian/vegan response to the film. Among my strongest blog topic options were preparing veggie equivalents of Julia Child’s dishes and visiting and reviewing vegetarian restaurants. At first it seemed like the former would be my choice, but now it appears to be a blend of the two…and this blog is ever in flux.

Today I visited Zephyr, a Vegetarian Cafe on 4th Street in Long Beach, CA.


My considerations are look, ambiance, menu, service, price and recommendation…in that order.

Look: Red flowers with long black stems are painted on the frosted windows, and there's a pale yellow flower (or sunburst) on the door. Cool art on canvas decorates the olive green/avocado walls. The tables are of varied sizes and styles; one is an octagon with a checker board in the center. Like my favorite coffeehouse, there are also couches with coffee tables. Magazine racks offer fliers, postcard ads and local freebie newspapers.

Ambiance: People of all ages are represented, but it's largely a young crowd. The dining area is spacious with a comfortable distance between the tables. Earthy colors on the walls, floor and furniture and the strategically placed potted plants give it a cozy feeling. Speaking of cozy, today it was about 100 in the shade, so there were fans blowing; there’s no air conditioning, which makes it warm but environmentally correct. :)


The music was actually quite fun, something of a cross between instrumental jazz and contemporary classical. Lots of brass and low timpani.

Menu: Almost exclusively vegan, the menu offers soup, salads, sandwiches, burgers and bowls. The back page offers two vegan entrees, five “living food” options, four side dishes and three desserts.

My choice was the Fakin’ Bacon BLT on toasted multi grain bread. They were out of Fakin’ Bacon but they offered to make me the same sandwich with a smokey-flavored tempeh, which was actually more natural. It came with a side of organic blue corn chips and a just-spicy-enough salsa, unsalted. The sandwich was just a tad dry for my taste, so I asked for an extra side of vegan mayo, and I was not charged. The presentation was great. Dark, leafy lettuce sticking out from under the bread and the side of salsa gave it some nice color.

Service: Orders are placed at the register where there is a stack of menus. Lining the counter are also several types of bottled drinks, some natural and some…well…Bubble Up! Cashiers bring the food to the tables. There is a condiment stand for extra needs, and it houses organic ketchup, brown mustard, blue agave sweetener, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper etc. Very interesting. The speed with which my order came was perhaps a bit on the slow side but basically I was happy. The workers are all friendly and down-to-earth: no cookie cutter uniforms and no obvious dress code. Everyone looked natural and comfortable, which probably contributes to their happy attitude.

Price: What I got was $5.50. The bowls and larger entrees average $8.00 more or less. A slice of the vegan cherry pie (which I didn't get, or have room for) is a bit less than $4.00 a slice. I would say the prices are great...especially for a mom and pop vegetarian restaurant in today's economy.

Recommendation: Definitely check it out. It is well worth the trip, and even worth the heat on a hot afternoon.

Location: 340 East 4th St. Long Beach, CA
Hours: 11-4 PM Sun-Thurs, 11-9 PM Saturday

562-435-7113

Vegan Soup for the Soul of the Chicken (TM)

While thinking of the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy and a New England Clam Chowder (vegan style) recipe to post and try, I found this wonderful recipe for raw vegan corn chowder and it sounds easy! The recipe comes from Alissa Cohen, who wrote the book, Living on Live Food. Check it out!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of almond milk

5 ears of corn on the cob

1 small avocado

sea salt

Preparation

Cut the corn from the cobs and put one handful of corn aside.

Put all remaining ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Stir in the loose corn.

Add sea salt to taste.

This recipe is so simple and versatile it looks like you can add anything you wish to spice it up a little: pepper, cilantro or salsa on top, etc.

I may try it today. It sounds good!

Peace,

Bev/erly

Julie, Julia and Juliet and Mercury in Aquarius

Happy Saturday!

I'm happy to have a day where I don't have to be at school. I just finished two days worth of auditions for Romeo and Juliet and my director has yet to choose a Juliet. It's stiff competition because it's an awesome drama program where I work.

I began to wonder what kind of bloody meat weighted the tables in the days of Shakespeare, cooked animals complete with heads and open eyes. The struggles between groups reflected in Romeo and Juliet reminds me of a quote by Tolstoy (at least I think it was Tolstoy):

"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."

Today we are honoring the life of Sen. Ted Kennedy; those on "both sides of the aisle" have come to the celebration. As I sit here contemplating the artichokes I'm about to try out on my sister, her girlfriend and my nephew, I reflect on the senator and his home on Cape Cod. Last night one of Teddy's football buddies recalled a time when he downed a vast quantity of New England clam chowder while in a storm at sea with the senator. My thoughts moved from there to a vegan tribute, and I found a great recipe online.

Before I totally undertake that, though, I'm going to see if I can find a raw recipe. Radical.

I have something in common with Sen. Ted Kennedy. Both of us have Mercury in Aquarius in our zodiac charts. What that means is: our thoughts are continually moving forward...which explains his progressive passions and my rambling.

I will post two recipes, hopefully, and tell you about how well my artichokes are received. I'm trying a raw variation of the lemon-olive oil sauce.

Until later...peace be with you and take time to enjoy your food.

Foodie Blogroll: I'm Approved!

Hi, Everybody!

My blog has been accepted to be listed on the foodie blogroll, which means I am an official food blog, and I'll get more visitors in the future. Right now I'm figuring out how to place the foodie blogroll widget onto my sidebar here, which is a condition of membership into this group.

SO, being tired as I am after a LONG day, and not being the least bit tech savvy, that's not going to happen until tomorrow or Saturday.

Meanwhile, any techies out there are welcome to clue me in as to how to do that. There is an FAQ section that explains it, but that wasn't clickable for some reason tonight.

With any luck, I'll get something cooked and reported on this weekend. Or maybe I'll make something raw since we're having a huge heatwave!

Peace and More Peace,

Bev

Yes, We Can