Banana Bread and Shel Silverstein - Perfect Combination? Yes.

I made this banana bread a few weeks ago from Beth Bee's cookbook, Rabbit Food. I tweaked the recipe a little bit by amping the amount of spice and replacing the melted butter with vegetable oil. I also sprinkled a heavy layer of brown sugar and cinnamon on top....so yea, not your typical healthy banana bread and you bet your ass there weren't any walnuts up in this shit. This is the best banana bread that has ever been in my mouth and I think I'm going add chocolate chips next time. Yea, I'm definitely doing that tomorrow.

So I have yet to add any comments on music to my blog. I have to add music to my food blog because cooking wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable unless I had a good playlist going. Discussions on music haven't popped into my head while I write posts on here, but today I discovered something amazing. On June 8th, Sugar Hill records will be releasing a new tribute album to Shel Silverstein. Check out the track list:

01: My Morning Jacket: “Lullabies, Legends and Lies”
02: Andrew Bird: “The Twistable, Turnable Man Returns”
03 John Prine: “This Guitar Is for Sale”
04 Dr. Dog: “The Unicorn”
05 Kris Kristofferson: “The Winner”
06 Sarah Jarosz With Black Prairie: “Queen of the Silver Dollar”
07 Bobby Bare, Jr. with Isabella Bare: “Daddy What If”
08 Black Francis with Joey Santiago: “The Cover of the Rolling Stone”
09 The Boxmasters: “Sylvia’s Mother”
10 Ray Price: “Me and Jimmie Rodgers”
11 Todd Snider: “A Boy Named Sue”
12 Lucinda Williams: “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan”
13 Bobby Bare: “The Living Legend”
14 Nanci Griffith: “The Giving Tree”
15 My Morning Jacket: “26 Second Song”

Check this out to hear Andrew Bird and My Morning Jacket's tracks. I've listened to Andrew Bird's "The Twistable, Turnable Man Returns" about 5 times in the last 15 minutes. So good. Plus, what is there not to like about anything having to do with Shel Silverstein? I remember one of my most memorable moments in Chicago last summer being the "Shel-abration" tribute in Millenium Park. People reciting his poetry, singing his songs, and old people dancing - LOVE IT.

Lastly, I have to tell everyone in the world to check out Portland's up and coming comic artist. If what you need is an overly cute pick me up, then check her out.

Birthday Picnic

Today was Isa's birthday and we celebrated by having a picnic in our backyard. I LOVE birthdays. They give me an excuse to bake and I have a stash of birthday candles for these occasions. For Isa I made margarita cupcakes topped with yellow turbinado sugar. They definitely have a limey flavor with a little kick of tequila.

Let me know when your birthday is and I'll make a cupcake catered to your personality!

Photo Club

Today at photo club we "walked into town" and took pictures at the antique stores. I love it when I'm in a small po-dunk place and you can do things like "walk into town." We took pictures at a wonderful place called "Mockingbird Antiques," and if you're ever in Centerville you should visit it. I've posted these pictures because no one reading this will probably ever find themselves in Centerville and I want to share these manifestations of the midwest.

This is for all of you who keep bitchin' at me to update my blog

Ok, I have a lot of ground to cover that doesn't include really old Japanese food: vegan mac & cheese, skip-bo, etch-a-sketch, and college veg pledge...go!

I have just made the best vegan mac and cheese in the world. I got the recipe out of the clear creek co-op's cookbook and it is AMAZING. Seriously, I've been on a quest for over 3 years to find the perfect vegan mac & cheese and I feel like I've found the holy grail. I'm finally satisfied. Because I want others to share in this amazingness with me I will give you the recipe:

3 1/2 c. macaroni

1/2 ebal (cool abbreviation for earth balance coined by adrienne lowe)

1/2 flour

3 1/2 c. boiling water

1 1/2 t. salt

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 1/2 t. garlic powder

pinch o' turmeric

1/4 c. oil

1 c. nutritional yeast

dash paprika

Melt the margarine and mix in flour with whisk. Stir until smooth and bubbly. Add water, salt, soy sauce, garlic powder, and turmeric. Let the sauce cook until thick. Add oil and nutritional yeast. Mix sauce with drained noodles and pour in casserole dish. Brown under broiler.

IT'S GOOD.

In other news, I have a new obsession with a rip off game of Uno, called Skip-bo. I must learn how to dominate this game, along with dominating at etch-a-sketch. I will keep you updated.

Also, for all of you looking at how wonderful this vegan food looks and are contemplating the veg lifestyle, you should check out the college veg pledge! Go the platinum route and pledge to be veg for the whole month of May. Considering how much waste and cruelty (this is not a direct link to a gruesome video) that is involved with industrialized agriculture, you should just give it a try! Another plus is that I'm listed as a veg mentor, which means I can answer your questions and become your friend, if we're not friends already!

Really Old Japanese Food

These pictures are really old, but they're the most food bloggy pictures I have on my computer and I feel obligated to post them. I went to Japan about a year and a half ago to study abroad and teach English at a junior high school. During my stay, I lived with a host family and embarked on the adventure with my host mom on cooking vegan food in Japan. We cooked a lot together and even experimented with baking some vegan cake and donuts. I had my mom mail me some egg replacer since we had a little trouble with binding agents and my host mom instantly fell in love with it. We also went to cooking classes hosted by this famous tv chef that lived in Morioka. It was really fun because the chef thought of ways to veganize traditional Japanese dishes (even though a majority of them are pretty vegan friendly) and I got to hang around a bunch of Japanese housewives.

My memory is pretty foggy, but the first picture shows a center dish of miso shiro with tofu and green onions accompanied by tofu mixed with shredded carrots, mushrooms, and maybe daikon. I completely forget what the other dishes are. The third picture shows vegan jajamen, which includes udon noodles, a chunky sauce primarily consisting of a dark miso past, shredded cucumber, green onion, and a tomato. The center dish has croquettes patted with bread crumbs and almond slivers, along with a jello type dish that I think is made out of konnyaku. The last dish includes some really yummy mochi desserts.

And this is why being vegan in Japan ain't that bad.

Bubbles on the Roof

This is more of a suggestion than a documentation. If you have a roof, climb out on it. If you have a bubble wand from your mom, blow bubbles.