• Roasted Asparagus (Veganomicon, pp. 30-31)
• Mashed Potatoes (Veganomicon, p. 110)
• Chickpea Cutlets (Veganomicon, p. 133)
• Mustard Sauce (Veganomicon, p. 204)

I didn’t really need the recipes for the asparagus or the mashed potatoes… but they’re included in the book for good measure. This has been one of my favorite meals from the book so far! So hearty, so delicious… It’s one of those rare vegan meals you can eat with a knife!

I’m going to get very fat if I continue to cook from this book, aren’t I?

A few years ago, I gave vegetarianism a go and it didn’t turn out so well. (I binged on hard-boiled eggs one day. It wasn’t pretty.) However, I was young and dumb. I wasn’t yet living on my own so I didn’t do much of my own cooking. I just continued to eat the same foods only without the slab of meat on the side. Needless to say, I was lacking in protein (hence the egg-binging) and many vitamins. Things are different now: I cook every one of my meals (except the ones Alex cooks on the weekends when he visits) and I do all of my own grocery shopping. It was partially because of all the wasted groceries (mainly meats and dairies) that I decided to go vegan.

To aid me in my new culinary adventures, I sought out vegan cookbooks. The ones I ended up buying are by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero… and I love them to pieces. Every recipe I’ve made so far has been amazing! They’re appetizing even for those not following a vegan diet: pastas, risottos, sautéed veggies, sammiches, sauces, pancakes, French toast, ice creams … The list goes on and on!

All of the recipes are seriously delicious. Here are some things I’ve already tried:

• Banana-Nut Waffles (Veganomicon, pp. 75-76)
• Israeli Couscous with Pistachios and Apricots (Veganomicon, p. 117)
• Hot Sauce-Glazed Tempeh (Veganomicon, pp. 129-30)
• Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-Fry (Veganomicon, pp. 175-76)
• Spiced Pita Crisps (Veganomicon, pp. 177-76)
• Spaghetti and Beanballs (Veganomicon, pp. 189-190)
• Classic Pesto (Vegan with a Vengeance, p. 132)
• Sesame Scrambled Tofu and Greens with Yams (Vegan Brunch, p. 30)

…and I’ve only had the book for 5 days! I managed to take photos of some of the meals:

Israeli Couscous with Pistachios and Apricots (Veganomicon, p. 117)
with roasted veggies (Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and red bell peppers)

Hot Sauce-Glazed Tempeh (Veganomicon, pp. 129-30)
with a baked sweet potato, sautéed kale, and fresh tomatoes

And this is what preparing one of these meals looks like:

Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-Fry (Veganomicon, pp. 175-76)

Because I live in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, I can’t compost all this biodegradable waste at home. But! The local farmers’ market collects food scraps! So I bought a 1.5-gallon compost pail that I’m hauling to the farmers’ market once a week.

…I’m such a hippie, biking to the farmers’ market to compost my vegan scraps. Oy.

I love my bike. My boyfriend got me a 2012 Salsa Casseroll for the winter holidays and I’ve been riding it for a month now. I fall in love with it all over again every morning and then again every night. I miss it when I’m not riding it and I’m frustrated when I have to walk somewhere. (For 5 straight days two weeks ago, I couldn’t ride my bike — my fault, not the bike’s — so I took the subway to work and walked the 3 miles home. What do you mean it takes 3 times longer by foot to cover the same distance!? my mind kept yelling.) So now I not only look forward to work everyday but I also eagerly anticipate my commute.

…Unless it’s raining heavily or the winds are blowing at over 50 MPH. Then, yes, I’d rather be somewhere indoors but only because I hate being wet and fighting the wind to stay upright.

So when I realized this morning that my bike needed to go to the shop for some adjustments (derailleurs, brakes), I dreaded the possibility of having to leave my bike there overnight because I’d only be getting in around closing time. Instead, I spent about 15 minutes in the shop as the mechanic fiddled with some knobs and tightened some cables… after he ogled my bike and his buddy let out a wolf whistle. (The attention wasn’t expected but it was definitely appreciated.) It was a painless experience and I left with my bike, ready to tackle another day of commuting duty.

I’ve been consistently riding in to work at least 4 days out of the week. (We had a flurry of three-day weekends that I’ll miss going into a strictly-five-day-workweek March. I also had off-campus meetings that didn’t lend themselves to being bike friendly, as I stuck around afterwards to grab lunch with colleagues and/or travel back to campus with coworkers.) This would have been another one of those weeks — what with an off-campus meeting first thing tomorrow — but I think I’ll suck it up and bike there. It’s under 8 miles of mostly bike lanes. The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow, too. (High of 46°F! As much as it worries me that this winter can barely be classified as winter, I love that the mild weather keeps me on my bike.)

I had yarn left over from my mom’s shawl so I decided to make myself a hat. I have the hardest time knitting things for myself because I am so picky. I had actually knit another hat with this yarn but decided that I didn’t like it… so I ripped it all out and gave this pattern a go.

This hat was such a pleasure to knit! The pattern was written really well and I loved that the cable decreased into the crown. (I couldn’t believe that this was a free pattern, actually, because of the clever construction.) The only modification I made was to knit the brim in 1×1 rib for 1.5″ instead of 1″ because of my own preference for longer brims.

I think it turned out really well (albeit slightly too slouchy) and I hope to get a lot of use out of it. I haven’t really worn hats this winter yet because the weather has been so unpredictable: it’s 30°F one day and 60°F the next! Overall, though, this winter has been very temperate — but I’m not complaining! It’s great biking weather so I don’t have to bundle up too much when commuting to work.

I wanted to make something for my mother but she’s notoriously difficult to shop for. Both my parents are like that, actually. It’s hard to get gifts for people who have everything they want and/or need. So I thought a shawl would be a good idea. She talks about how cold it is in her office (year-round, not just in the winter) so I figure it’d be nice to have an extra layer to bring to work.

The pattern makes a long scarf but I wanted more of a shawl. (My mom is very specific about the kinds of clothes and accessories she wears.) So I used a heavier weight of wool and slightly larger needles and went to town. Since it’s not going to be worn wrapped around the neck, I made it slightly shorter. When I finished knitting it, I wasn’t thrilled with the width so I really blocked the you-know-what out of this scarf. I got an extra 3 inches of width and maybe 2 inches of length. Its final measurements are 13″×70″. Because I blocked so aggressively, though, the yarn lost most of its sproinginess and squishiness. It really looks like a lace shawl now. Hopefully it’s retained some of its warm so my mom can get lots of use out of it.

Yep.

Most new bikes I’ve seen have aluminum frames but I’m more interested in a steel frame. Yes, it’s a little heavier but, generally, I think the benefits outweigh the negatives. (But you can read more about that on the interwebs…) There are few steel frames with good components (Shimano 105 or better) out there that won’t break the bank. The one I’m currently interested in (despite its Tiagra components) is the Salsa Casseroll:

I’ve been drooling over this bike for months now and never purchased it because it’s quite the investment. Considering I’ve only been working part-time since September, I haven’t felt I could afford such a luxurious bike. However! I’ll be starting full-time (albeit temporary) work January 2 so I’ve been revisiting the idea of getting a new bike. The library is only 3 miles away and easily accessible by bike… This is one of those purchases that will definitely have a return on investment. (A fellow Brooklyn bike commuter recently calculated that he saved $549 over 8 months by riding his bike to work. At that rate, I’d have the bike paid for in about 1.5 years.)

So as I’ve been toying with the idea of purchasing this bad boy, I learn that my boyfriend wants to get it for me as a holiday (and birthday and next winter holiday and next birthday…) present. Looks like I’m getting this bike after all :)

This is Alex knitting a cowl for himself last night. He used some of my leftover yarn to create a multi-colored (brown and cream) cowl. I only helped him by joining to knit it in the round and binding it off for him, he did most of the knitting himself.

We were at Purl Soho today and he came thisclose to buying some fancy-pants yarn to knit an infinity scarf for himself. In the end, he decided against it. I was in there to look for yarn for a shawl I want to knit for my mother… but I couldn’t find anything I liked. (Besides, the yarn is so expensive in that store!) So we both walked away empty-handed.

Doesn’t it look ferocious with those teeth? My bike was glad to finally be freed.

Sigh. My poor bike could use a bath. It’s taken a lot of abuse these past few months, what with all the rain riding and wet cement eating.

I’ve always liked my building: it was part of the reason I fell in love with the apartment. It’s a brownstone rowhouse whose stoop had been removed some time ago (which is a shame) on a tree-lined block. Inside, each floor is painted a different color, starting with a deep purple on the first floor and ending with bright orange on the fourth (my!) floor. There are mirrors and art in the halls, and a taxidermy bull’s head mounted on the second floor. On my floor, there’s a plant for which I’m responsible hanging under the skylight, which provides lots of natural light. The building is a semi-detached house, with a driveway and a garage (which is where the landlord lets me store my bike — lucky!). Tenants are not allowed up on the roof but that’s OK because I have no interest in going up there.

The downside to living in a pre-war building, though, is that my apartment never feels clean. There’s no central air so dust just settles in every nook and cranny. And my cat doesn’t help, either: his fur is on everything. I got an air purifier to help circulate the air and filter out the germs & bacteria. It helps but what I really need to do is set up a strict cleaning regime and stick to it.