Vegan MoFo 20: Seasonal Coffee

I love World Market. I'm physically incapable of leaving with only the items I intended to buy when I entered the store. Tiny jams? Sweet and spicy chips? The cutest measuring spoons in the world? Just try to pry me away. 

And the seasonal items are always a favorite, so before my final exam this morning I caffeinated my brain with some Pecan Pie Coffee. I love flavored coffee in theory and this is a tasty one, but I've noticed flavored ones tend to be on the lighter side in terms of roast, and I'm definitely a bold/dark kind of girl. 

Busted. Okay, it looks light. There's soymilk in it.

Still, caffeination successful. Despite my brain being in a prepared place, I don't really know how the test went. Some questions were remarkably straightforward and on some I really had no idea what was going on. We'll see I guess. Still no word from my attending either on the evaluation. I don't really expect a reply. Either way, pediatrics rotation: check. Now I can update my Medical Student Page. 

Aaaand in celebration: I'm going wedding dress shopping tomorrow!

Not sure what I want, but this is inappropriate:

[source]

Yet funny.

I'm really not sure what I want my dress to look like, so tomorrow I'm taking some friends and I'll try on a few different things. The goal is to be more focused when I go later over the holidays with my Mom. 

If you have any wedding dress shopping advice, I'd totally appreciate it. Happy weekend all!

Breakfast Date: Carolyn's Cafe

When Boyfriend visits he often brings his own cereal. He's a bit of a cereal fiend. If we go out near a grocery store he'll buy some regular milk; otherwise he's willing to use my soymilk.

Unfortunately when he arrived to visit on Thursday night I was completely out of milk, and by this morning, we hadn't yet purchased any. Problem? No. Actually I love going on breakfast dates with him, they've just become much more infrequent since I became a vegan. Pancakes, waffles, french toast, omelettes, all things of standard out-to-eat breakfast past. 

However, turns out most places make great oatmeal with water, and breakfast dates are on the upswing again.

So this morning brought us to an out-of-the-way Redlands breakfast place: Carolyn's Cafe

It was cheery, great service. I loved the quilts on the walls. Very cozy diner feel - I'm not really that much of a fan of quilts as decor in my personal style, but here it fit. 

Coffee for both of us. John got the coffee cake, which came with glowing Yelp reviews, and a side of potatoes. The coffee cake was certainly decadent - swimming in butter. I didn't try it but John liked it pretty well.

For me, oatmeal with brown sugar which came in a combo with fruit and coffee for $6. Yes please. I took out all the strawberries and sliced them into the oatmeal with my spoon. 

I would definitely come back here. 

And finally, guess what I got recently with an extensive stash of old Borders gift cards? (They're going out of business - gotta use them now!)

I hope you're familiar with Sarah's blog - and this book is just more of the awesomeness. She's also from my hometown in Oregon. 

In an extension of my love for Veganomicon, Latin flavors from one of the co-authors. 

And knowing very little about raw food, I picked a user-friendly book I could learn from. 

So much cooking in my happy future.

How to Make Coffee in a Coffeemaker

I was thinking recently about how coffee occupies an oddly central part of culture here. People either love or hate it. Or, like my Mom and roommates, love the smell and hate the taste. You can ask a friend or love interest to "grab coffee" and it goes with connotations of friendliness, interest, a desire to catch up.

If you want your dinner party to have a grown-up vibe, you might finish it off with coffee. 

Offering someone coffee is like saying, "Hey, welcome, let me make something hot and comforting to you, but don't feel guilty for accepting like I'm going to much trouble, it's pretty easy."

You might say, "Gosh, I need coffee." And while you haven't said anything beyond, "That water made with beans sounds awesome," everyone knows you mean, "I'm tired today and feeling low in energy right now," or, "I just said something idiotic and now I'm trying to cover with a statement that I haven't been properly prepared for my day with coffee."

I think my first drink of coffee must have been a sip of my Dad's when I was a kid. I didn't really like it, even though he's liberal with the cream and sweetener. 

I started loving peppermint soy mochas and other mostly (soy) milk and sugar coffee beverages in high school.

Sometime in college I started putting coffee over my vanilla soft serve ice cream, and drinking exclusively lattes.

I'm not exactly sure when I started liking straight coffee. Sometime in the past few years. John and I have a long-standing coffee date tradition, but I had never in my life made coffee in a coffeemaker before this week. 

I was kind of intimidated.

The point is, I've resisted buying a coffee maker, not wanting to be addicted, but this past weekend, I woke up and thought, "It's a great day to buy a coffee maker." I do that sometimes, remember when I bought Nora?

And so John and I went to the store and I bought a coffee maker. And it's easier than I thought it would be.

What You Need

Electricity

Filtered water

Coffeemaker

Coffee filters

Ground coffee (or whole bean coffee and a grinder)

Sweetener or milk or creamer or whatever you like. 

What To Do

see below for picture illustration

1. Plug in your coffeemaker. 

Set the clock if it's new. 

2. Fill up the decanter/coffee pot/thing with a spout with water (however much you want, just don't overfill). Note that "cups" on your coffeemaker probably don't equal standard cups. Mine are 5 ounces each (not 8). 

3. Open the top of the coffeemaker.

4. Pour the water into the coffeemaker water receptacle on the side or at the back.

5. Take a coffee filter.

6. Weigh or measure ground coffee into the coffee filter. Follow instructions on the coffee for the ratio. I do 12-15 g (2.5-3 tbsp) per about 16 oz. water. 

For example: Fill water to just past the "3" mark on the pot. Weigh out 15 g coffee. This will give you 1 enormous mug of coffee. 

7. Shake the coffee filter to level the coffee.

8. Place the coffee filter in the top of the coffeemaker. 

9. Adjust the edges so they don't poof out from the sides.

10. Close the lid.

11. Press "On." There will likely be some indication you have succeeded. Like a green light. 

12. Watch the magic happen. Pour your coffee. Get wild with your add-ins.

13. For programmable delay, follow your coffee maker instructions. 

On mine, just press "Set Delay" and adjust the time. Then press "Delay Brew" and the digital display reads "Delay" indicating that it understands me. How nice. 

Coffeemaker. 

Fill it up with water. 

Pour it in.

Coffee filter.

Add coffee.

15 g. Shake to level.

Place in coffeemaker.

Adjust to fit properly.

Turn On. Or set Delay.

Enjoyed with a yogurt bowl.

The best part? Walking into my kitchen at 5:50 am and having my coffee ready to go. I feel like the kitchen is saying, "Good morning. Have a good one."

_______________________________

Besides the coffee maker, it was also big week for me. I saw some major surgery, again confirmed that I kind of hate surgery, passed Boards, got myself in gear and worked out every day (it's been at least 2 months since that happened) and saw the final Harry Potter.

I've always watched these with my sisters - we wait to go until we can all be together, but this year that's just not possible, with Shannon and I visiting home so much less. We also have a history of watching several in a row and knitting together in the past, especially in preparation for a new release. We can all pretty much give you at least the first 2 movies verbatim. It's been a long-standing tradition. 

So I missed my sisters, but I really enjoyed it, and seeing it with friends was wonderful.

Occupying the very first spot in line ... I only waited like 2 hours: mild HP nerd, not costume/midnight showing status. 

Stephanie's wearing a Slytherin tie. She is awesome. 

Today I've done some yoga, had a couple mugs of (homemade!) coffee, and I have biking, cooking and wedding research in my plan. 

Have good days!

On My Last Day of Freedom

I do love my dramatic post titles.

In this post: A new coffee shop, Augie's and Individual Vegan Pot Pies

Tomorrow I go to my first day of my surgery rotation, and there's a reasonable possibility I won't have another weekend until it's over - in two and a half months. I'm supposed to get one day off per week, so hopefully at least that will happen. 

I've had a good last day though. Boyfriend's been here since Tuesday, and I like it when he visits - he'll cook with me, and he's a champion of kitchen cleanup. He also has a good eye for local coffee shops we might like. 

Today we tried Augie's in Redlands. They do latte art, and I just got a coffee. 

Side of a little review for tomorrow.

I also like when John visits because he's usually willing to tell me something that sounds good to eat and then help me find a recipe and make it. This weekend we made pot pies. I took the opportunity to buy some ramekins from World Market, and we made individual ones. We used the Veganomicon recipe, but used a drained can each of black and kidney beans instead of seitan, because Boyfriend's up for a lot, but imitation meat is sometimes a little too much. We used the full crust recipe, with half whole wheat, but split it between the four ramekins, which gave a higher crust to filling ration than the original recipe, which I thought was really good. I think the crust might have been my favorite part - and, confession: It's my first pie crust ever!

The kitchen gets a little crazy when we cook. 

Boyfriend stirring our cornmeal roux. 

I love putting my spices in a little prep bowl, so I can pretend I'm on a cooking show. 

Crust rolled out. 

Waiting to be assembled. 

Pre-oven. 

Bake on a cookie sheet with foil because they bubble over. 

How cute are they?

So good. Boyfriend agreed. 

And now the original Terminator is on channel 5 (I've never seen it...but I'm not so sure this is my style), I'm hanging out with roommates, and I have a few things to do to be ready for tomorrow. I should probably iron my white coat. 

The Day I Didn't Use My Teeth

[Stoked at Saturn Cafe]

It's no secret, I love food, but sometimes I just feel sort of blah when it comes to my ideas about what I want to eat on a given day. Nothing really sounds awesome, I end up bored with my meals, and sometimes that turns into overeating - because I'm a boredom eater as well as an emotional eater.

In fact, it was food boredom in part that led me to try being vegan. I just thought it would be a good challenge for a month or so. Of course I didn't expect to love it so much, and now it's become a much bigger, more important part of my life.

In the spirit of keeping my food fun, sometimes I'll eat in a "theme" for a day. Maybe I'll eat something at each meal influenced by a certain world cuisine, or put a certain color in every meal. (Actually this happens by accident, we know how I love orange.)

Disclaimer: I know picking "themes" or colors for a day is also a common pattern in restrictive eating I try to be cautious not to restrict my food amounts as I'm choosing my meals. If this is something you have struggled with and it may trigger you, stop reading. Protect yourselves friends. 


So today, wondering how on earth I could top the awesomeness of yesterday's cinnamon rolls, I felt a little boredom coming on and decided, "It's a great day not to use my teeth."

This is an interesting challenge, because liquids take up lots of volume, so I have to be even more intentional than usual in getting enough food.

Also, we talked in our Preventative Medicine lecture on obesity about how drinking things doesn't mentally register the same satiety signals as chewing in our brains. That's (part of) the reason that for most people, me for sure, a sandwich is more satisfying than a smoothie, even though that boosted Jamba Juice usually has more calories than your veggies and hummus on wheat bread.

So I undertook this little experiment also to see if I would actually feel mentally hungrier today.


Breakfast: Banana Berry Smoothie with Coconut Butter. This was originally going to be a SIAWG, but it got a little too big.

In the mix

1/2 frozen banana

3/4 cup frozen blueberries

5 fresh strawberries

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup almond milk

pinch guar gum (optional - to thicken)

Topping: Coconut butter. 

Note: Adding coconut butter to something cold = rock hard coconut butter. Kind of counter to my intention not to use my teeth. Therefore, lesson learned, if you're adding coconut butter to a smoothie, blend it in. However, if you're adding it to something hot, like microwave banana cake, it's just perfect.

Lunch: Jamba Juice Apples n Greens, Original size with added soy protein. 

Jamba started offering three fruit and veggie smoothies around the middle of March, but this morning when I went to check out the menu was the first I'd heard of them. That basically doubles the vegan offerings, yay!

This was awesome. I love greens in my smoothies, and I guess it shouldn't surprise me that I couldn't taste the veggies, but really it just tasted like a brilliant fruit blend.

Snack: Starbucks Mocha Coconut Latte. 

I'm a Starbucks gold member, mostly because I study there a lot. A great deal has been learned there, and when I'm distracted it's always interesting: Observations of a Coffee Shop Studier. 

As a vegan, it's pretty nice not to be charged extra for modifications. At gold level, I also get a free drink every 15. That's a lot of drinks, so I don't benefit that much from it, but today for the first time, I had earned a free drink postcard this way. What better way to make sure I get enough calories than a tricked out Starbucks creation?

[source]

I thought that new mocha coconut frappuccino looked good, but it was a little cold today, so I customized a flavored soy latte to mimic it. 

Order: Grande soy latte with 2 pumps mocha and 2 pumps coconut, no whip. Delicious.

Enjoyed while studying outside, with my bike locked to the table, because (seriously?) there's no bike rack at this branch. 

Dinner: Trader Joe's Carrot Ginger Soup with Peas and Almond Butter

Because I live with Katie, my life is awesome. Not only because she's a wonderful friend, but because she owns almost every kitchen appliance ever. Those she doesn't have, Gennaya, who also makes my life awesome, probably owns. So, point being, we own an immersion blender. I've never actually used it until today, but it's a handy appliance. I used it to blend in the peas and 2 tbsp of melty almond butter as I heated this combination up over the stove.

I couldn't conceive of a less appetizing color, but this was delicious.

Dessert: Ice Cold Almond Milk

The Verdict: I'm glad I have teeth. 


Nutritionally this turned out like a pretty normal day for me, but only because I planned it pretty carefully that way.

Hunger-wise I was actually pretty happy. I didn't feel so much hungry as just sort of restlessly snacky. We'll never know though if that's a placebo effect though because I expected to feel less satisfied.


A surprise was how much I didn't miss gum. I usually chew several pieces a day, but didn't today on principle, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.


Overall I had a fun day eating everything blended, it was a great excuse to try a couple new drinks, but I've had years of painful and expensive orthodontic care to have these teeth, and I definitely don't want to get rid of them soon. That and now I'm even more excited for the delicious things I have planned for tomorrow. 

What about you, do smoothies leave you hungry?