Bo Concept Sleeper Ottoman

The Bo Concept Sleeper Ottoman, in a stylish black and white print pattern, featured today on Apartment Therapy, is THE small space solution for anyone who regularly has guests from out of town often, or even for someone who wants to fold up their bed during the day and hide it away in a corner.

On the one hand, this thing costs as much as my large blue sofa, but on the other hand, it is 100x more intelligent than my sofa, so it is totally okay. If only it came with other covers...

Veg*n Brunch: Saba Pasta

I cannot believe that I've never written about the veg*n brunch at Saba. Let me say right off the bat that I don't like the actual food that Saba serves Monday-Friday. I've never really had anything there that struck me as terribly successful, and I still miss Burrito Art, which is what occupied the Village location before Saba. Generally, when I want to go to this kind of pasta place, I go to Figo.

That said, they have amazing brunch. I happened to have it when they took us there for a grad school interview weekend, and I've been back nearly every Sunday since then. The menu has a lot of options--omelettes, French toast (including a vegan version), biscuits (vegan and non), and a bunch of other things. What I usually get is the Scrambled Tofu plate. For $5.95, you basically get a very large amount of protein: a big serving of scrambled tofu, 2 soysage patties, a biscuit, and grits. The scrambled tofu is cubes of fried tofu (not that mushy stuff they serve at Crescent Moon), in tamari sauce with roasted red peppers and broccoli. It alone is the reason I eat brunch at Saba. The biscuits are also very good (vegan and non, I've tried both). Saba is the only place that gets me to actually eat grits. I find them very creamy and filling there.

The way the "plates" work is that you choose 1, 2, or 3 eggs however you like them OR the tofu scramble, and you get your choice of: wheat toast OR biscuit, grits OR potatoes, and bacon, sausage OR soysage. A very large amount of food for under $6.

Service: Saba is one of those places, so popular now in the city, where you order at the window but get tableside service for the rest of your meal. I've found that the service was better at the Village location than the Decatur square location, where I went yesterday for the first time. Decatur seemed to not get a lot of brunch guests, as I was the only person in the restaurant for the first half of my meal. It makes sense though, because the square has so many other brunch places that no one would think to go eat at the new brunch place.

The food tasted exactly the same as the other location. The only complaint I had was that it took forever for my grits to come out, and I almost didn't think they were going to because the waitress never mentioned it. In fact, I had finished my whole meal before they came out, but I didn't mind so much because it meant that I ate less of them and that I had a really nice end to my meal. I attributed the lateness of the grits to the fact that they had to make a portion just for me, since no one else was there.

I actually very much prefer the decor in the Decatur location, now that I have seen it. They seem to have ordered these large red wooden chairs en masse, and used them not only at the tables, but to decorate the restaurant by hanging a few from a wall. This works very well with the brick wall on one side, that the restaurant shares with Birdi's, and the other rustic art that adorns the space. The tables are large and spacious, and there is even a very large "family style" table in the middle of the restaurant, perfect for large groups. I'd be willing to give the real food there a try sometime just because I think the place looks nice, so that says something.

Nature's Path Organic Instant Hot Oatmeal

I don't even like oatmeal usually. It makes me so hungry after like 30 minutes, unless I eat a heavy protein right before it. Recently, though, I was making a care package for a friend and decided to include a few packets of Nature's Path Organic Instant Hot Oatmeal. I kept a few packets for myself and ate them for breakfast. Eventually, when I ran out of it, I got so grumpy that I drove to a far away store just to buy it, even though I'd recently been grocery shopping.

It is amazingly satisfying and delicious. The oatmeal, which only takes about a minute to cook in the microwave, is topped with cinnamon, soy nuts, flax seeds, and dried blueberries. It is barely sweet, but smooth and creamy, especially with a bit of added soy milk. It is also vegan and fully organic. It could use some more protein, but the overall carb content is relatively low considering that it is oatmeal.

Add the new feed!

I've created a new Atom feed for the blog! Add it by clicking on the icon on the right or by adding this address to your reader:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/VegnKitchenette

Green eggplant tofu curry with ginger quinoa

This dish was inspired by my visit to Amaryn last week. I have never used Chinese eggplant in a dish other than Chinese garlic eggplant, so it was a lot of fun to cook. The recipe makes a lot and will probably feed about 8 people. It is bright, summery, creamy, sweet, and spicy comfort food.

Green eggplant tofu curry

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil
2 Serrano chillies, seeded
1 can coconut milk (use lite if you prefer)
2 Tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 tsp coriander, ground
1 tsp cumin, ground
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 Chinese eggplants
1 Tsp oil
1 lb tofu, drained and sliced however you like it
1/2 cup bean sprouts (I use mung bean)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash and slice the eggplant into rounds. Place in a colander on a plate, sprinkle with salt, and leave in sunlight for about 20 minutes. The salt draws the bitterness out of the eggplant and helps it cook. There should be darkish liquid in the plate as a result. Wash the eggplant when it is done and let drain.
2. Heat oven to 250F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange eggplant slices on baking sheet, drizzle with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast eggplant until ready, about 30 minutes.
3. To make the curry paste: combine chillies and basil in a blender or food processer (I used my immersion blender's milkshake cup attachment). Pulse until roughly chopped. Add a bit of coconut milk and blend until well-combined. Add cumin, coriander, and chilli sauce. Blend again, adding a bit of coconut milk if it helps. Place this mixture and the remaining coconut milk in the refrigerator.
4. Saute the chopped bell pepper and garlic over medium heat with a bit of oil. Deglaze the pan with the unused coconut milk. Add the curry mixture and stir.
5. In a hot man, sear the tofu on all sides. When finished, place in the curry mixture.
6. Remove eggplant from oven. Place slices in curry mixture to cook on low heat while you cook the quinoa.
7. Garnish with some lime, bean sprouts, and basil.

Ginger quinoa
1 cup quinoa, uncooked
1 cup vegetarian chicken-style stock
2 Tbsp ground ginger
salt and pepper to taste

1. Clean quinoa by soaking and removing junk pieces.
2. Bring the stock and ginger to a boil and add quinoa, stirring frequently.
3. Cook until fluffy. Season as you like. Serve with the curry.

Small space solution: C&B Convertible Compact Desk

The Crate and Barrel Convertible Compact Desk is the most logically intelligent piece of furniture that I've seen all year. In one form, it is simply a nice wood file cabinet, and in another, it features a pullout desk and storage area on the left for supplies and a laptop. This is the perfect small space solution for anyone who uses their living or dining room for both entertainment and work. It isn't a bad price either, at $499, for what you get. Made of a mix of solid and engineered woods, it has a pretty nice finish and even space for cords!

Base jumping off of wind turbines

Wind is my favorite kind of alternative energy. I also like to watch extreme sports, and this is the coolest combination of the two ever.

From the Huffington Post.




Once, a fellow airplane passenger told me about his engineering job, which is to design giant kites that pull oil tankers across the ocean. Apparently, fueling oil tankers takes quite a bit of energy, so the purpose of the kites is to make the process of transport more fuel efficient. The same guy told me that he does all of these extreme sports involving kites connected to road bikes and various things, which at certain speeds lift the vehicle off of the ground into the air. So awesome.