New Year

My sincerest apologies, internet, VeganMoFo failed for me as inspiration to blog. For so many others, however, it was a great success and I applaud you!

January, however, is the start of a new year and, in many senses, a new beginning for me here in Berkeley. I recently left one of my jobs, reducing the number of hours I work a week from 40 (or 45, or 50 depending on the week) to alternating between 20 and 25. I'm moving the weekend of the 8th into a space I'm really excited about and I'm going to be a full-time (as opposed to part-time) student starting on the 25th. To celebrate the beginning of this new year along with all of these positive changes in my life, I've decided to start compiling a list of goals for myself at the beginning of each month. These goals are flexible in design and have to only be something I strive to do.

One of my goals is to blog more. I can't promise I'll blog just about food, although, chances are more often than not it will be about food!

January's list stands at this:

1. Finish 8 books.

2. Yoga, yoga, yoga (weekly)

3. Go to the Library

4. Play more games

5. Find a volunteer project

6. Eat more veggies

7. Knit.

8. Go to a vegan meetup

9. Create my own s-p-a-c-e

10. Blog.

I'm excited, and ready to begin.

Survey

Happy second day of VeganMoFo! And happy weekend! To kick off this second day of MoFo lets begin with a MoFo survey from Lauren.

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
I am a huge fan of the pumpkin spice Silk that comes out around this time of year. But for day to day use my roommate and I frequent the Almond milks. Original is my favorite.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
lasagna, low fat lo mein and polenta bake from Radiant Health, Inner Wealth

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Salt, nut yeast.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
I made an orange marinated tempeh bake from some website forever ago. A, it was my first time making/eating tempeh. B, I'd hadly ever marinated anything or even knew what that meant. So I ended up with a soggy, very weirdly sour sweet tempeh mess. Yuck. I haven't ever really been able to get over that taste when I think of tempeh.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Pickles. yum.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
Cookbooks are alphabetized on their own shelf (yep). And recipes that I've come up with or that I've made from books several times and really enjoy and written on index cards, in a 3-ring binder in categories (dessert, breakfast/bread, soups, entrees and misc to be exact) Those are ALSO alphabetized. And internet ones are most likely pasted into one of a trillion word documents.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Trash, unfortunately. Rumor has it my city has compost pick up. But I know my apartment complex doesn't use it. I've been meaning to look into this..

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)?
black olives, raspberries, bread

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
Lobster.. my uncle was a lobster fisherman and we used to eat it at several family gatherings in the spring/summer. With lots and lots of butter, of course.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
Coconut Milk Cookie Dough.. but I'm also a huge fan of Ciao Bella sorbets. Their chocolate and coconut are so great.

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
My hands

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Cumin

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
The first vegan one I got was Garden of Vegan by Sarah Kramer. But the one I've had the longest and use the most would be Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Blueberry mmm.

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Pasta! Or bell pepper fajitas. Or pancakes.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
Tofu generally, but I love seitan as well. Tempeh never hit the spot for me (see #4)

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
I generally cook at night. so.. dinner?

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
my microwave. and on top of that is my dish drainer. You have to utilize space VERY well in my kitchen :)

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Broccoli, chickpeas, veggies cut and frozen ready to go into lasagna.

20. What's on your grocery list?
Lots right now. Its that time of the week. Always there's broccoli, tofu, soy/almond milks, cereals, salsa and chips. Everything else we fill in as needed and I make a menu for the week and plan shopping by that.

21. Favorite grocery store?
We frequent Safeway for the basics because their generic brand is pretty cheap. But there's also a Whole Foods across the street from my work. And Berkeley Bowl is a local 'health food' store.

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
Angel food cake. It's my dad's FAVORITE. all those eggs...

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Hannah's Bittersweet and Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
Skittles. But mostly because I missed them so much.

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
I'm buying maple syrup this weekend for a pancake breakfast with the boy. THAT's extravagant.

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
Artichokes. Now that I live in CA, I need to master these little things.

Introduction, first day of MoFo!

It's here! Vegan Month of Food III has begun, happy October everyone. I'm Walker, currently residing in the lovely California Bay Area, but a New England girl at heart. I've been wanting to get back into the blogging world so I'm taking advantage of this MoFo madness to do so.
Last year I blogged about my experiences as an AmeriCorps National Civillian Community Corps Corps Member (walkerincorps.blogspot.com). I've been vegan for three years now (marked by the month of October, nonetheless!) so its a perfect time to reintroduce myself to the vegan blog world. I don't have time for a full post so I'm just going to leave some food porn, hooray!

Coming soon to a blog near you. (like.. maybe this one)