A Little Bit About Me, Myself, and I

Let me start by saying I don’t normally fill surveys in. Now let me be a hypocrite and do one anyway. Actually, the reason I’m doing this is because the title of the blog from which it originated is so darned cute that I just couldn’t resist participating. Thanks to Food Snobbery is my Hobbery for the questions!

Vegan MoFo Survey

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?

Bonsoy, hands down. It’s the best soy milk for coffee and most similar to milk if steamed for milky espresso beverages. For cooking I use homemade soy milk.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?

From Vegan MoFo? So far I’m looking at loads (I just got home from a holiday to India, so I’m behind), but these Tsukimi are looking pretty awesome. I love sticky rice sweets. This vegan toffee is going to have to happen at some point, too. As that special time of the month is approaching and I’ll enter into a few days of consuming things like pizza for breakfast, this beer crust pizza is definitely on the to-do list.

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?

I’m not a big popcorn eater, but it’s got to be sickly and sweet if I do… toffee I suppose.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?

What do you mean? Everything I do comes out perfect!

I suppose my most recent failure would have been a complete experiment in stuff in a ramekin baked with more stuff. Its end flavour was like salty cake. To be fair it was a bit of a science experiment in how baking soda and powder worked.

5. Favorite pickled item?

I’m a big fan of quality dill pickles, but also love most other pickled things!

6. How do you organize your recipes?

Organise? People organise things? My method is to pretend I know what I’m doing and smile lots in the hopes that whatever I’ve dished up will be received as tolerable based on my faux confidence.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?

Whatever can be recycled goes down that road, but otherwise it’s the rubbish bin I’m afraid. Flats aren’t incredibly great places for compost bins.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?

This question is going to ruin my life. Seriously, three foods? How about three crates of foods? Okay, maybe aubergine, spinach, and bread (I’m ignoring the fact there are lots of ingredients in there). Wait, I need tofu too. I’m going to go ahead and steal space from MoFoers who don’t fill out this survey. Coffee, chickpeas, and vodka to drown out the sorrow we will all feel upon hearing me bitch all day about not having my entire spice cabinet.

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?

I liked when, as a toddler, my mother would go outside to garden and I could climb up on the cabinets and eat all the Flinstones vitamins while watching out the window out of the corner of my eye to be sure she wouldn’t see. Then there was the time my sister babysat me while my parents went out for their anniversary. Hungry, I asked for something to eat, and the meal presented was Triscuits with wet cat food (and a small side of the dried variety). While I wouldn’t call it fond in the sense that I enjoy cat food, it’s a memory that still makes me laugh in a sick way.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?

For brands, Purely Decadent chocolate peanut butter (when I’m in the US) and Booja Booja in the UK. I think I make a pretty decent ice cream myself though.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?

Rancilio Rocky and Silvia. It’s not possible to pick just one because an espresso machine is useless without a grinder.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?

I go through phases with things like this, but I’m a huge fan of basil; Sage and rosemary in the winter months.

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?

You expect my lazy arse to get up and check?

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?

Damson, blackcurrent.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?

This question assumes I have friends.

Honestly though, I don’t have people over for meals very often. But in general, I think cakes are a great introduction to the awesomeness that is veganism.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?

What a choice! The answer totally depends on what’s being cooked, but if we’re talking about what I could eat plain and unaided by any additional flavours then it’d be tofu hands down.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?

In an ideal world, I’d have all my big meals at lunch time. My best time of day in terms of ability to think is the morning, so preparing for lunch means I’m working on recipes during my most focused time of day. Unfortunately there’s this thing called work which I must make myself also do.

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?

A tofu press and some cat food (not to be combined in any way). Also a pressure cooker.

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.

Chili, yuba, ice cream maker

20. What’s on your grocery list?

I just went shopping today. On the list were some fruit and veg, flours, fresh yeast, tempeh, vegan cheeses, and lots of goodies for Vegan MoFo recipe ideas. Still on the list: a magical flying carpet.

21. Favorite grocery store?

Impossible to answer. I love different places for different reasons, but I love Riverford’s veg boxes. I also love little organic food shops like Seasons in Forest Row and Infinity in Brighton. I’m also a fan of the Co-operative.

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.

French Macarons (that’s macaron, not the familiar coconut macaroon). I don’t even know how one would go about this as the eggs are so necessary and the texture, even using eggs, is dependent on so many factors. They are probably one of the most difficult recipes to get right even with the eggs! Two seconds too long or short in the oven and that’s it.

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?

I’m bad about reading food blogs.  I mainly skim my RSS feeds and select based on catchy titles. Some which tend to grab my attention more than others are Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, Limes and Lycopene, and photo roundup sites like Tastespotting.

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?

Montezuma’s chocolate is very good, and I love me some Newman-Os.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?

Saffron, perhaps. It’s one of the 3 most expensive spices in the world (vanilla and cardamom being the other two).

26. Why is it so hard to come up with questions and things to say?

Probably because I’m still recovering from being awake for 40+ hours before arriving back home from India yesterday.