Vegan Baking

Mmm, I’m baking a batch of orange-sour cherry-walnut muffins and the smells are wafting in the air. I substituted cranberries for sour cherries because they are cheaper here, and I bake a batch or 2 every week. Not the same flavour, I also make choco-raspberry, choco-coffee, and looking to try some of the other recipes once I hunt down the ingredients.

This vegan baking thing is going well. I enjoy it so much, and it is so gratifying to eat food that I’ve made from scratch. Also because when I am craving baked goods, I get to satisfy the craving since I have them on hand. Before my cravings would go unfulfilled because EVERY baked good in the bakery/store has milk and eggs in it. Boo.

I thought vegan baking would yield not as nice stuff, but turns out, the stuff I am baking is just as fluffy, just as moist, and super tasty. You don’t need to put animal products into everything, it’s just the structure of the food system and all the subsidies the dairy and egg industry get. It is CHEAP to buy eggs and milk. But there is an enormous cost to that subsidy, one that is borne by the animals, the environment, and tax payers who need to pay to clean up the environment (since the industry does not bear this cost – they just reap all the financial benefits). I do not agree with it, hence why I am now vegan and not just vegetarian.

And as cheap as milk and eggs are to buy, they can’t beat the even cheaper price tag of vegan baking (and cooking!). Using baking powder, baking soda, applesauce, and apple cider vinegar in vegan baking – those are hardly costly ingredients.

My muffins are done!! Here they are:

The original recipe is from Post Punk Kitchen.

Buying electronics that make life easier

Over the weekend, Martin and I ended up getting a 23″ monitor and it is SOOOOOOOOOOO much nicer to work on!

Like right now I have my law paper opened (maximized) right next to my browser, which of course was impossible to do on my little 10″ netbook. This will make reading and writing a lot easier, and I’m actually excited to work now. We also bought a full sized keyboard to go with it. Huge difference. Very very grateful.

Another over the weekend purchase was a food processor!! We bought it second hand, and we got it for really cheap, probably because the picture the seller posted was so bad. It was sold to us by a guy our age, who said he got it as a gift and moved it from place to place but never used it (was still in all original packaging), so finally put it up for sale. Him and his girlfriend looked so happy to sell it to us, and we were so happy to buy it. That’s why it’s so fun buying second hand.

We put the food processor to use almost immediately. I had been wanting one but decided not to bother, since it’s an extra device to schlepp around. I like to be a minimalist, but so many of my vegan recipes require a food processor, and I wanted to give it a try.

I made vegan cheese (like the kind you put over nachos) out of cashew nuts, and it tastes SOOO good. Had to hunt down this special nutritional yeast, which I found at a health food store near our flat! It gives a cheesy taste and I’m so glad I could find it. We also made ice cream out of frozen bananas and berries, and I’m relieved I can make my own pesto again and not have to rely on the store brands (most of which have added cheese).

Later I will use our new processor to make vegan ricotta cheese, which is made out of tofu, cauliflower, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt and pepper. I’ve made it before but didn’t use a food processor or the nutritional yeast, so I’m excited to see how it goes this time around. I use it for my vegan lasagna, and I know it’ll be amazing.

It’s really fun making vegan food! I thought I would find it overwhelming, but I researched some books and bought 2 vegan cook books with the amazon gift certificate my classmates gave me for my birthday, and the books have become a HUGE vegan support for me.

When I have more time, maybe I’ll turn this blog into a vegan in Germany food blog (as suggested by Steph!). That would be fun. But right now I have no time for taking pictures and dealing with uploading and all that. So, text it is!

Indian Food

Martin and his sister will be here in around 30 minutes. I’m stalking them on Google latitude!

I made Indian food for them! I was planning to wait until they were closer, and then start. But it takes pretty long to prepare (when Martin isn’t here helping me) that I just wanted to get it done so we could all relax together when they get in.

It’s SOOOO good. I made a lentil dish and a vegetable curry. I’ve been making these 2 dishes for the past few weeks. I made it for my parents and also my cousin.

Normally I wouldn’t bother learning how to make Indian food, because there are so many great Indian restaurants in Toronto. But, this is not the case here in Duisburg and I knew if I wanted it, I’d better learn. So I looked up some recipes in a vegetarian cook book that my friend gifted me before I left Toronto, and I’ve been following them religiously.

Maybe it’s not the most authentic Indian food (like, I add soya balls to my veggie curry!) but it’s still SOOOO good. I buy the spices from Indian and Chinese shops (they both sell each others’ stuff!) and give it a whirl. So far so good.

I’m quite proud of myself for this! Indian food was SOOOO intimidating to me before, but now I think it’s pretty easy. Can’t wait for them to get here so we can EAT!

City hopping with a day in the countryside

My parents are back in Canada now, and I can’t believe we did so much in the last few weeks.

First we met up in London and spent a few days there, then came back to Germany where my parents relaxed while I finished up a final paper.

We went to Bonn, Cologne, and Düsseldorf in between paper writing, and I showed them everything that you would want to see in these cities, including a special Jessica-tour of my Uni’s campus and my old hood in Ddorf.

So far, my Mom’s favourite city in Germany is Bonn, and my Dad liked Cologne. Good choices!

We also went to Amsterdam for a weekend and really enjoyed ourselves. There was a floating concert series on a canal near Westerkerk, and it lasted from day to night. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly?) the red light district was a lot of fun for us.

Then back to Germany so I could write another paper. Boo. We did some fun nearby stuff though, like exploring an old steel factory (it’s a historic monument now that hosts summer movie festivals), antique-ing in second hand shops, coffee and cake dates, and hanging out at the inner harbour area.

When I finished my paper, we drove to Belgium. We stopped in Brussels to hang out in the old city and eat lunch at a well-reviewed bistro. As usual, I liked the bistro a lot while Martin thought it sucked and that the portions were too small. I started getting really excited as we inched closer to Paris and French culture. I could feel it, even in Brussels.

I really liked Brussels, and am intrigued with Belgium as a country. Their official languages are French, Dutch, and German. Kids learn all of these languages in school too. That’s insane.

To break up all the city hopping, we stayed in the Belgium countryside, about an hour and a half outside of Brussels. We stayed in a bed and breakfast in a mountain region, and our hosts had a Golden Retriever puppy. Needless to say, it was the perfect place to stay and was SO nice and relaxing. Unfortunately I couldn’t steal the pup home with me – although I considered it.

The next day, Martin drove us through Belgium and North-France (on scenic rural roads) to get to Paris!! Eeeee!! What can I say about Paris, it’s just SOOOOO wonderful.

We stayed in a flat with high ceilings, big windows, original trim, marble fireplace, beautiful Parisian wood flooring (V-shaped), all overlooking a tree lined avenue. I was told the building is Haussmannian, and is a reflection of the traditional bourgeois lifestyle in Paris.

It was just stunning.

Paris of course, was also INCREDIBLE. We went all over! There’s a new movement in the French food world called bistronomique, which is gourmet French food at affordable prices. So we followed this movement and dined very well in Paris. No complaints there. I’m still craving food from this one restaurant serving Basque cuisine.

At one of the bistros we went to in Montmartre, we were served by a celebrity! Okay fine, he’s not really a celebrity, but Martin recognized him from an indie French band that we both love. He’s not part of the band, but he’s the boy in this video. He was shy when I fan-girl’d him into taking a picture with us. keke.

We all had a great time these past few weeks. It was my parents’ first trip to Europe, and my goal was plan a trip that was fun and stress-free. I can’t believe it all passed by so fast. We did so much, saw so much, experienced so much. Now we have our next trip to look forward to!