30 weeks: simple summer salads

Actually a few days late, as I'm not at 31 weeks, but this photo was taken at 30 weeks.



The bump has definitely gotten bigger. These past couple of weeks we've been making lots of summer salads. Two weekends ago we went to Camp Taiwan, courtesy of our friend Jenn, who is a counselor there.

While there, the hubs and I made a broccoli slaw that was really well-received: lightly steamed broccoli and red cabbage tossed in a vinaigrette of rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and finely diced onion (salad inspired by Leanne Ely).

Unlike last year, I didn't climb, and all of us did not hike, river trace, or use the zip line. We mostly lounged around, napped, had many interesting conversations, and enjoyed nature.



This past weekend we went to the beach house and were in charge of the vegetables - a perfect opportunity to try the salads Mark Bittman mentioned in his timely article, "101 Simple Salads for the Season." We made #1, #3, and #30, all vegan, and all delicious.



Everyone raved about #3, the watermelon, tomato, and basil salad. I went all 70s and used the melon baller to scoop out the watermelon, and then made a watermelon bowl to serve the salad in. Of course, I didn't remember to take a photo until the salad was gone.



The potato salad (#30) is basically the same as the one listed in his cookbook, How to Cook Everything, but with the addition of capers. The capers are key. We'd made the same salad minus the capers the week before at Camp Taiwan, and the revised version is much, much better.

I also baked a Chocolate Stout Cake for the hub's birthday, except I baked it in a 12-cup bundt pan and was absolutely thrilled that it came out of the pan neatly - my first success with a bundt pan! It's definitely a special-occasion cake, as its very dense and rich.

In typical fashion

Oh my gosh, this is my first post for 2009?!? This will be unsuprising to those who know me well - on Sunday we went to pick up my stimulus check/consumption voucher.* Pick-up times were from 9:30am to 5:30pm on Sunday. Of course, we wanted to enjoy a leisurely Sunday at home, so we slept in, had breakfast, made tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, surfed the web...until I looked at the time and realized it was almost 5pm. We hurried out of the house and Neil pulled up to the Post Office where they were distributing the vouchers and I hopped out and ran in through the door at...5:29pm. Talk about cutting it close!

In other news, I'm still not fully unpacked from our trip to the States, I still haven't posted pictures from our ski trip to Korea last year, and we got a new camera (Canon PowerShot SD790IS), which I love and am working on (slowly, of course) getting the photos downloaded to my computer and uploaded online for all to see.

Some highlights of our trip back:

Neil picking kumquats from my Uncle Ted's backyard.


Close-up of the kumquats.


AMAZING "Papa's Portobello" burger at the Veggie Grill, one of the best meals we had in the U.S. My brother Galen took us there. It is really good (and yes, I'm using omnivore standards here). Go, go! You will be so glad you did.


We ended up behind "Obama '08 / GO V3GAN" at an intersection in L.A.

More to come...I promise!

*Instead of cutting checks to the people, the Taiwan government have cleverly decided to stimulate the economy by issuing vouchers worth NT$3,600 (about a little over US$100; they come in NT$500 and NT$200 increments). These vouchers can be redeemed participating retailers around Taiwan - it's sort of like universal gift certificates. Clever, huh?

First attempt at bread baking

With my lovely new-ish Emile Henry stoneware crock (purchased from Costco at about half the average online price) and a jar of active dry yeast found in the fridge, I thought I should finally try the famous No-Knead Bread that has made it's way around the baking blogosphere.

It came together well at first:


But then, perhaps precisely that the yeast has been in the fridge for an indeterminate amount of time, it never really rose much from this:


I baked it anyways, and it was ok. Much more successful was the lentil soup I made to go along with it. But I'm going to get some fresh yeast, and try again this weekend - this time the chocolate-cherry pecan version.

Organic vegan chocolate chip cookies

Last night I came home late for work and really wanted to bake, but not put in a lot of effort. I had a Goodbaker mix that I've been wanting to try, so that's what I used. It was really simple - empty the bag, add a little oil and water, mix, and scoop out.

The organic vegan chocolate chip cookies were really good!


They did taste healthy, in a really good way. There was good texture, depth of flavor, and enough salt to contrast against the sweetness. I'd definitely get them again.