Friday, August 29, 2008

One-Dish Vegetarian Meals

I’ve added a new cookbook to my rather out-of-control collection: One-Dish Vegetarian Meals by Robin Robertson. The book is subtitled “150 Easy, Wholesome, and Delicious Soups, Stews, Casseroles, Stir-Fries, Pastas, Rice Dishes, Chilis, and More.” I’m always eager to try out a new cookbook from Robertson, currently my favorite vegetarian-cookbook author (this one came out last November).

I had it in my head that “one dish” meant that you’d need just one pot or pan to make these recipes, but that was apparently a faulty assumption on my part, since the two recipes I’ve made each required multiple pots. I suppose it really means that you can serve these recipes in one dish, which is a bit of a disappointment based on my desire to wash as few pots as possible.

At least the instructions for each recipe are routinely short, living up to the “easy” label; most take up only a short paragraph or two. There are some intriguing dishes here—Lime-Dressed Vermicelli wiht Green Papaya and Peanuts, Vietnamese-Style Tempeh with Lemongrass and Cilantro, Rotelle with Spicy Pumpkin Sauce—but there’s also too many pasta dishes for my liking (since I’m still trying to eat low-carb). And I think a chapter devoted entirely to chilis is a bit of overkill. Though, of course, if you’re looking for pasta and chili recipes, it would be right up your alley!

So far I’ve made Jamaican Jerk Tempeh (tasty and easy, although I left out the spicy ingredients) and Turkish-Style Stuffed Egpplant with Walnut Sauce. The latter is probably the most complicated recipe in the book, with six numbered steps, but it was unusual and worth the effort. It reminded me very much of the delicious Fesen-Joon tempeh dish from Sage Vegetarian Restaurant in Chapel Hill, with the pomegranate juice, mint and walnut sauce.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Veggie Awards

You have through Sunday to vote in the Veg News Veggie Awards, with such categories as Favorite Tofu and Favorite Non-Dairy Ice Cream. There are also a couple of categories that I find rather pointless, such as Favorite Restaurant and Favorite Bakery, since very few people have access to even one of the choices, let alone all. (But Asheville’s Laughing Seed is a nominee, so I can at least support the one nominee I’ve been to.)

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

An Old Favorite Gets Better

One of the first Veggin’ Out entries I wrote was about La Botana, a Mexican restaurant on Hanes Mall Boulevard remarkable for its often vegetarian-friendly specials. The regular menu is fine, too, with plenty of choices for vegetarians. But the specials are truly special.

The first of these I tried way back when was the burrito caliente, a huge burrito stuffed with pinto beans, fried potato cubes, and onions; all topped with a spicy, smoky, plate-licking-good chipotle-cream sauce.

La Botana has seen some changes since then – it has expanded its dining space; it now says Casa Hererra on the menu (though not on the signs); and specials menus have come and gone (although they are happy to make any of your old favorites upon request). But the most important thing remains the same—there’s a dedicated, creative chef in the kitchen, dreaming up new flavor combinations to delight diners.

At my most recent visit, there were not one, but two, specials menus. The second one had me swooning with delight, with vegetarian dishes featuring such ingredients as goat cheese, asparagus, and tomato-merlot sauce…. I finally settled on the Queso Frito (cheese cutlets, seasoned and lightly fried; topped with that luscious tomato-merlot sauce, and served alongside grilled vegetables and rice). Friends tried an asparagus quesadilla, and a dish of cheese-filled tortillas with a spicy black bean sauce over them. We agreed that with these dishes, La Botana/Casa Herrera has reached a new level - reaffirming my opinion that it serves not just the best Mexican restaurant in town, but some of the best food of any kind in town.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Downtown diatribe

I’m going to take a bit of a break from vegetarian blogging this week to moan about something different that has really gotten me steamed. I have had it with downtown restaurants and their lackadaisical approach to service. They seem to be operating under the assumption that we working stiffs have all the time in the world for our lunch breaks, instead of just an hour. We’re not all executives who can kick back for a leisurely two-hour lunch. It’s kind of ridiculous that it’s generally faster to get in the car and drive to someplace on Stratford Road for lunch instead of walking a block and a half to a downtown restaurant.

If we wanted to limit ourselves to places where you go through a cafeteria-type line or order at a counter and pick up your food to go, we would be OK. (We love the reliably speedy Downtown Deli for this.) But sometimes we want to actually sit at a table and be waited on, and that has gotten to be next to impossible to accomplish in an hour downtown. Downtown Thai seems to be about the only place that can be counted on to get you in and out in an hour, and they’ve raised their lunch price to a rather ridiculous level that’s just too much for journalists’ wallets. Xia also has a nice sense of service—if you get the right waiter. If you get the wrong one, you can be in trouble.

Hutch and Harris has been hit-and-miss for us in several previous visits (more toward the miss side, but with enough hits to keep us hanging on and hoping), but this week was a deal-breaking miss. The waitress told us she’d be right back after bringing us our drinks. She then proceeded to take another table’s order and put together the bill for another table—reasonable enough, since they were there first. But then she wandered around the dining room, chatted with another waitress, and hung out aimlessly at the bar, as if she had completely forgotten we were sitting there, waiting. It was so vexing we ended up leaving.

6th and Vine teeters on the edge of being too slow, but they’re fast enough to stay in our lunch rotation, even with a bit of a longish walk to get there. Cat’s Corner is notoriously slow, and even the fact that it takes only about a minute to get there from the Journal office can’t remotely compensate. We sat at a table for five minutes today without anyone bringing menus or even acknowledging our presence. We’ve learned that it’s completely impossible to get reasonably fast service at Foothills Brewery and Finnigan’s Wake, much as we like their food. Foothills is particularly glacially slow, reaching the level of farce—even if only three tables have people at them and there are multiple waitpeople, it could still take you an hour just to get your food.

Does anyone else have this problem with downtown restaurants (or restaurants in general) when you’re trying to have lunch? Does it bug you as much as it does us?

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Veggie Scholarships

Rising high-school seniors are eligible to apply for scholarships from the Vegetarian Resource Group, a “a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on vegetarianism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics, and world hunger.”

Two college scholarships work $5,000 each will be awarded to students who have promoted vegetarianism in their schools or communities.

For more information, visit the VRG site at www.vrg.org.

Even if you’re not a student, a visit to the VRG site is worthwhile, since it offers reliable information on nutrition, straight-forward recipes, and a wealth of other information for vegetarians and vegans.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Animal-rights conference in Durham

Animal-lovers, mark your calendars! The 23rd Annual International Compassionate Living Festival, called “Speaking Their Truth,” will be held in Durham Oct. 3-5. The festival was founded by Tom and Nancy Regan of the Culture and Animals Foundation and “brings together renowned scholars, authors, activists and artists who work for nonviolence social change on behalf of animals worldwide. It “is meant to provide novice and veteran animal advocates with information, inspiration and a means for respectful discussion of important, timely issues of many kinds. It ... offers a unique forum for “thinking activists” and “activist thinkers.”

You can find out more information, including information about the speakers and how to register, at this Web site.

With gas prices and airfares so high, here’s a chance to attend a fascinating-sounding conference that’s within easy driving distance!

*Great deal alert! Fresh Market has 1 lb. packages of organic strawberries on sale 2 for $5 until Aug. 5. Conventional strawberries are one of the most pesticide-laden fruits, so here’s a great opportunity to buy some organic ones cheap.