Birthday worthy desserts. Maybe I will blog more-ish this summer?

The best (worst) kind of blog post: dessert pics and a reminder about how I never post anymore! Blah, blah, blah grad school. Blah, blah, blah summer break from grad school now occupied by full-ish time work. I am the *most* fun of all the overworked depressing documentary watching people *ever*!




Anyway, these were coconut mini cupcakes topped with the dulce de leche recipe from Viva Vegan. I had them at my birthday. In January. Also consumed were these double chocolate chip mini cupcakes with my own invented (and since refined) pomegranate frosting. Tomas also made empanadas (seitan-potato-tomato, and butternut squash-black bean), tostones and sweet plantains. Apparently I did not photograph these things! My underfed social work grad students buddies loved it all! Then again, they love everything--they are professionally trained Nice People.

















Last week was Tomas' birthday. I made him a vegan-approved ice cream cake that was experimental, but happily successful. I made a chocolate chip brownie crust (doubled the Joy of Vegan Baking recipe, added chocolate chips) in a spring-form pan, then smooshed in a layer of chocolate cookie ice cream, crushed newman-o's, strawberry ice cream, whipped topping (recipe in Joy of Vegan Baking) *and* chocolate covered strawberries. Tomas also made the courico tacos with pineapple salsa from Vegan Brunch again. His friends were again astounded that he managed to keep the fact that he can cook from them for so many years. His favorite gifts included a box of assorted sunglasses, an adopted chicken from Woodstock Animal Sanctuary (what's up Pearl, how's the feed up there?!) and some fine haberdashery.








Party!

Wheeler's Black Label I-Don't-Care-What-You-Call-It-It's-Freaking-Delicious: A Bitchin' Vegan Kitchen Review

Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of test-driving some of the infamous Wheeler's Black Label Vegan Ice Cream. I had talked to Wheeler on the phone myself beforehand about some generous samples that had sadly gone missing in the mail (get your own frozen non-dairy desserts FedEx carriers!) and about the then roiling mini-controversy that erupted on his blog (now cleared, and the product over there remains Very, Very Vegan of course). I found him to be such a nice and convincing guy that I left my cozy apartment and trekked into Manhattan on a day so cold I doubted the very existence of the pants on my butt... to go sample ice cream!

All this is to say that the odds were not all in favor of this scrappy little product in the face of my lazy food journalism. Yet when I finally arrived at the super packed East Village art gallery Little Cakes to wrap my icicle-hands around some of the goods, all I could muster in the way of accolades was...

"AWESOME."

I honestly don't recall exactly which flavors I sampled - I'm not sure I was ever told or ever asked. But there was some peanut butter-y-ness, some chocolate chips, some cinnamon, I think I recall some coconut and I know I definitely remember seriously surprising quantities of booze per bite. In general, the flavors were intense, the mix-ins were generous, though not overwhelming, and the various notes worked together in perfect harmony; a 1 + 1 = 3 sort of situation. One memorable"experimental" batch which included fancy tequila, black pepper and earl grey was frankly mind-blowing despite being consumed on the frigid walk back to the F train. Even if my memory has faded a bit and some details are blurry around the edges, I do know this; Wheeler's Ice Cream had far and away the best texture of all the vegan frozen desserts I have tried--which is to say, many. Since this smooth, thick, consistent texture is the most elusive quality in vegan ice creams, I feel pretty confident that you could pass this stuff off as its evil dairy counterpart. Though with such a remarkably better nutrional profile and inspired attention to flavor, who the hell needs to?

Lucky for me Wheeler's will be live and local in Brooklyn this weekend for an Oscar party with wunderkind guest star Hannah Kaminsky of Bittersweet and My Sweet Vegan fame. Check it out.

Also, please, please, please out Wheeler's website and blog for photos that do the ice cream more justice than my sad, sad little dixie cup snapshot above. *Drool.*

Fancified Food

Dessert first: vanilla ice cream sundae with mango and mixed berry compotes, vanilla cookies and toasted cashews.











Roommate made the kabotcha-udon winter stew from Veganomicon. The broth is awesome, and you could totally just put whatever veggies and noodles you had on hand in this. It also tastes good with some gomaiso on top. Yum.











Roasted veggies (yukon gold potato, cauliflower, eggplant, red pepper, onion with canola and italian herbs) on brown rice pasta with earth balance, white wine, pignoli, lemon and black pepper.