Recipe: Seitan

I used to make this in Gainesville - it was suprisingly easy, unexpectedly fun and super-delicious to make - the results are really good - it rivals the quality you'd get at any cafe in town. My friend Mark's fiancee, Janeen, inspired me to get this recipe on my blog so I don't lose it - it's been sitting on 3 little pieces of paper on my desk for years.

Janeen's throwdown challenge is to add flavoring to the seitan - maybe even rival the recipe for Chicken Fried Seitan she shared with me today. Oh - yum!

Seitan

Stock

1 cup tamari

1/2 cup molasses

water

fill pot 3/4 way - get to full boil

Dry Ingredients

5 cups gluten flour

3 tbsp garlic powder

3 tbsp basil

3 tbsp onion powder

2 tbsp ground fennel

1 cup nut yeast

Wet Ingredients

5 cups water

1/2 tamari (sic) (I think this is 1/2-cup; check this next time I make recipe)

1-2 ounces of liquid smoke

1). Mix dry batter first

2). Pour in wet batter, mixing constantly, until a dough is formed (don't use all the wet batter).

3). Knead dough for 5-10 min to get out the air packets. Slap and throw and spank it into long loaves.

4). Cut into five slices.

5). Boil for 50-55 minutes.

Alexandria!

Rick Steves recent podcast covers Alexandria, Egypt where I'll be going in December.

It led me to the NOVA episode, "Treasures of the Sunken City" which documents the discovery and mapping of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the world and once the tallest manmade structure on Earth.

I'm also looking forward to exploring the library in Alexandria, Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Recipe: Banini

Recipe

Banini (favorite of vegan crusty kids everywhere)

3-4 frozen bananas
1 ripe banana
1/4-1/2 cup carob powder
1-2 tsp vanilla
ice water
4 tblsp tahini

Put frozen naners in blender with a little ice water and blend until combined but not very much. Add remaining ingredients then blend until creamy; add water until desired consistency is achieved. Yum!!

Recipe: Hummus

Recipe

Hummus
2 cans garbanzos
1/3 cup bean liquid
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbls tahini
2 tbls olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

Puree garbs, adding bean liquid and lemon juice. Blend until slightly creamy - add garlic, tahini, olive oil, salt & pepper. Blend again until desired consistency

I last posted in July 2009?! Eh, sorry about that. Although, I have no new years resolution to blog more. So, no promises, OK?

Here's a recent pic of Zoe and Solome (Zoe is a panic):

We went tubing last weekend. See for yourself.

Fun was had by all - as you can see.

Time in China

For those that want to know what time it is in China, where my dad is, here is a handy clock that will tell you! For those that want to calculate it themselves, they're 16 hours ahead of us.

The other cool trick is to type into Google - "What time is it in China?" and it will tell you above the first search result.

Beijing

My Solome!

What Would a Health Overhaul Cost? All Eyes on the CBO
Washington Post, June 11, 2009
by Lori Montgomery

"(CBO Director Doug) Elmendorf acknowledged that health reform is especially challenging. The CBO is much better at measuring incremental changes than measuring fundamental reforms, which, by their nature, require the agency to make decisions based on scant or preliminary evidence. A team of 50 people is working on health reform, in consultation with a panel of 21 outside experts."

TARP Money at Work in Thurston County

Listening to NPR the other day do a story on the dollars being spent by the federal government stimulus led me to recovery.org, which you can drill into by state and county to see where the federal dollars are being spent and on what.

The NPR piece talked about how the company, Onvia, is running a better "recovery dollar tracking" website that the government itself (their is at recovery.gov).

Here are some interesting project on the list for Thurston County - I still haven't figured out if they're actually going to happen or not - help anyone?

1. City of Tumwater - Capitol Boulevard Sidewalk and Bike Lane Project ($158,000 Te)
2. City of Lacey - Lacey Woodland Regional Trail ($6,965 Te)
3. Multiple projects for the Olympic National Forest

Zoe Rides a Bike!!

... and here's proof!!

There's my Zoë!

March 15th Freak Snow

Whazzat?!

Solome Walks!!

Solome was banging on Heather's laptop last week and the "Z" key flew off. I've been trying to fix the damn thing - do you know how hard it is to replace ONE key on a laptop keyboard? Everyone I talk to tells me to just replace the whole keyboard.

I'm like - NO WAY- what a waste of stuff - what a disposable society we live in - it totally sucks.

Anyway, I found a website that totally helped - Machina - they will sell you the tiny little hinges that are underneath each key. It's these stupid hinges that I need!

We'll see if I actually have the skill to fix it though - I was told by a GeekSquad dude at Best Buy that you need this special tool from a jeweler. But the Machina website also has a guide for replacing the keys. I'm pretty good with computers, so I'm hopeful.

Wish me luck.

GlaxoSmithKline in Major Reversal on Drugs

In a major change of strategy, the new head of GlaxoSmithKline, Andrew Witty, has told the Guardian he will slash prices on all medicines in the poorest countries, give back profits to be spent on hospitals and clinics and--most ground-breaking of all--share knowledge about potential drugs that are currently protected by patents.

Here is a cute video of Solome in action . . .

Notable tech trends . . .

Zoe sang "Part of Your World" for the Pioneer Elementary PTA Talent Night. Wow . . .

Old blue eyes . . .my nephew, Isaac!