Novel Eats

Meet Pixel, the resident cat in this household.

It’s that time of year again – several major holidays in the span of just a few weeks (or days) and each of them with their good share of delectable food. When it is discovered that I am vegan (eschewing* dairy, eggs, fish, and meat), I am often asked what it is that I do eat around the holidays. I grew up in a vegetarian household, and so our family was no less tied to our food traditions than other households. There would usually be our own version of “turkey” – FriChik or some other fake meat. The ever-present mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. Dessert oftentimes would be a variety of pies – pumpkin, apple, or pecan, or it would be this rich dessert with a condensed milk base called Burnt Pudding (to die for, but not sure I can – or should – find the vegan version).

While I am not always sustainable in my actions, I do attempt being green in many areas of my life. I’m inspired by a few external sources – my community supported agriculture, my farmers, and the farmers markets I attend. Another source of inspiration is Mother Earth News, “the original guide to living wisely.” Whenever the magazine shows up in our mail I’m like a kid in the candy store – wanting to devour it whole, but wanting to savor every page and make it last until the next one arrives. So far I have been somewhere in between.

Each issue usually has a few recipes in it about what to do with your home-grown or locally grown crops. I keep swearing to myself that I will try one or two, but up until now I have not done it. The December 2007/January 2008 issue, however, offered up a bread recipe so easy and good looking that I had to try. They call it Easy, No Knead Crusty Bread – I call it Wow-I’ve-Actually-Made-Bread-That-Looks-Like-It-Came-From-A-Bakery Bread…okay, okay, I’m really calling it Homemade Artisan Bread.

They looked at each other now, husband and wife, with such a depth of feeling that the eight feet separating them shrank to nothing. Then, slowly, with a darkling gleam in her eye, Mrs. Marquis raised her plate above her head…and let it drop. A canvasback bone flopped free, the stewed apples few straight up, and the plate blew into a dozen pieces scattered across the red linen tablecloth.

-The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

Edgar Allan Poe has always been one of my favorite poets. His poems, while dark and often morbid, have a certain draw to them. I guess I am not much for flowery poems – anyone can write that sort of thing – but Poe’s poems are other-worldly and mysterious. So when I saw that there was a novel out there to be consumed that had Poe as one of its main characters, I had to grab it. I’m glad I did. This fiction of crime was written in a style that is more reminiscent of authors who wrote novels decades ago, and it had very unexpected twists. Poe was an interesting fixture; he seemed like one of those guys in high school or college that just doesn’t fit in, but goes on to amaze people later in life. He was not the main character, however. That was left to an older, charming man (Gus Landor), who, sadly, probably never existed in real life. This murder mystery was an easy read, and hopefully we’ll see Poe and/or Landor again. Good job, Mr. Bayard. I’m sure to read more of your novels.

When my husband and I were vegetarians his favorite dessert was cheesecake. I actually did not like it that much, so when we became vegan it was no big loss to me. Several months ago, however, it was his birthday and I thought I’d try to make a vegan version. I am a big one for following recipes pretty closely, so in the end we did not like it that much, but it set my husband on a crusade to perfect the recipe. We have since discovered, through the trial and error of multiple cheesecakes, that it is best made with chocolate. Chocolate does solve a lot of things in my mind, and it has surpassed the task with this recipe, which my husband made.