Thank God It's Thursday

[masterofmidgets]

Hey, I keep meaning to mention this and then totally forgetting, but I have a new blog: strangerfiction! This is the one I had to create for my Creative Non-Fiction class, so I'll be using it for all my writing exercises and essays. I don't expect most of the off-the-cuff stuff to be any good, but feel free to check it out.

As part of my not-a-diet, I've been trying to eat more veggies in general, and more vegetarian meals in particular. I still love meat (oh bacon, what would I ever do without you?), but a little variety is nice too. The results have been...mixed, but leaning toward the positive. I'm still trying to find more recipes for tofu that give me both the flavor and the texture I want from it. Today was an experiment: I crumbled up some tofu I had left from earlier in the week, added some grated carrot and shredded cabbage along with a tablespoon each of soy sauce and vinegar, a teaspoon of sesame oil, and some chili paste, and then stir-fried the whole mess until it was well-browned. It turned out not quite like I was expecting, but really good all the same, and a nice protein addition to the salad I was eating. Yay for successful kitchen witchery!

This week I discovered that I love hard-boiled detective novels. Like, really a lot. Philip Marlowe is apparently my happy place. It's, I don't know, some combination of the rain on the LA streets at night and the gangsters and racketeers and jazz club toughs and the buzzing neon lights and the cigarette smoke and the whiskey and the trench coats makes me come over all faint and infatuated. I guess I'm going to have to move that genderqueer noir novel I want to write closer to the top of the list.

Comments

[onlybythenight]

What are you looking for in a tofu dish? Because my mother is a genius in the kitchen and also vegetarian, so I can get a lot of good vegetarian recipes from her.

[masterofmidgets]

See, I think the problem is that I'm still not entirely sure! I know I like tofu in soup, when it's all smooth,and I know I don't like it when it's too chewy. And I know I like spicy things and things flavored with sesame oil. But those are still pretty broad categories, so I'm just sort of throwing things together and seeing if I hate them or not. But if you or your mom have any particular favorites you'd like to throw my way, I'd certainly be happy to try them.

(ETA: your icon is gorgeous and I looooove it. Yay Tiana!)

[onlybythenight]

Haha, my mom absolutely hates soft tofu and only makes stuff with the firmest tofu she can find. But she's also really excellent in the kitchen, so it's possible that you could enjoy these dishes. Some of them you can probably use fairly soft tofu (although it would need to hold its shape). She also knows a good amount of vegetarian recipes that don't call for tofu and call for fake meat. Which is not as disgusting as the concept seems. I know my dad likes everything she makes with fake meat, and he loves eating meat.

There's a few dishes I can think of off the top of my head, like Tofu Parmesan and Panko Tofu. I can ask her in the morning and see if she has any other ideas.