Cake, and other Stories

All right, so a few months ago I promised photos of cake.
I will now prove that I am not a (total) loser.
Behold! Cake! A chocolate vegan cake, no less!


Also, a snapshot I found of something I made last summer: Yakima Valley Polenta.
I got the recipe from 'Vegetarian Times,' and had to alter it a bit for what was (or wasn't) in the kitchen. So instead of port wine, I used brandy; and I put together my own herbes de Provence. Also, I think I used Soy Cheese.
I think I could've cut down on the sweetness of it some, but overall, a very good dish.

Post on the Noisy Library

This entry kind of concerns food and health, so go check it out at my blog.

Late autumn comfort food

So it just hit me: I'm really craving some falafel right now. If you've never had it, try it; I've only ever had homemade, and I can't stop eating the stuff.
It's traditionally fried (and usually fried at our house, too), but that crosses the danger threshold a bit more than I like. You know, holding the batter at arm's length and slooowly putting it in the two inches of boiling oil that could set everything on fire... Not really fun.
But I think some baked falafel with Sour Supreme and steamed veggies would make me ridiculously happy now.
The problem with falafel is the grease, basically; otherwise it's healthy, and I hate the fact that it makes my hands greasy. So I did a Google search and found that, apparently, it's quite common to bake it instead. So maybe I'll give that a go.
I'd like to try making falafel as patties, and putting them on a hamburger bun with tomatoes and lettuce. A good summertime lunch, maybe?

Hooray for cake!

Success! Sort of. The recipe worked well and, despite some disasters in the kitchen, the cake was rather rummy.
Yummy.
Gosh, I'm tired.
Anyway, I'll post pictures later.
Now: sleep.

Cupcakes... remixed

So, I used Isa's Fauxstess Cupcakes recipe as a sheet cake last night.
It was after the meeting and I was dragging, but there was something wonderfully adventurous and weird about baking something at 10 o'clock at night.
I'll have to double the recipe when I make it again tonight (it's better after it's cooled) and create a layer cake.
The frosting was from the recipe book, too, but since the good-eaters I'm cooking for are allergic to soy, I used rice milk instead. The chocolate frosting turned out a perfect consistency, but it was bittersweet, and along with the fairly dark cake, I was worried that it wasn't sweet enough.
It was fantastic this morning. Something about the frosting cooling and the cake settling was just perfect.
I think I'll still use chocolate with a slightly lower cacao percentage for the frosting, though; kids like sweet things, right?
Twas yummy.

Who are the real turkeys here?

Oh, yeah. Another reason why I hate Thanksgiving.
Run, turkeys, run!
I'm not a crazy animal-rights activist (you wouldn't, for example, find me in a ridiculous costume by the side of the road with a placard), but to me there is no excuse for animal cruelty. It's all right to eat meat; we're allowed to do so. But part of that involves respecting life and thus respecting the animals. Just because it'll soon be filled with stuffing and covered in gravy doesn't mean it should suffer beforehand.

This has nothing to do with food...

This post has been moved to my new, non-foodie blog, The Noisy Library.