Daughter Number One and Daughter Number Two both left yesterday, after weeks spent enjoying the British summer. Well, what passes for summer. It was warm enough to eat outside a handful of times, but fortunately it was never too hot to turn on the oven.
We did a lot of cooking, especially Daughter Number Two. One of the first things we did when she arrived in May was to visit the Japanese store in London, and bring home unpronounceable goodies. We visited the new Tesco in town almost daily, buying staples like soyamilk and bread and Sharwood's Baked Bombay Bites.
It was a Summer of Food. No traveling, no sightseeing, no sibling spats, just lots of yummy food.
Here's a taste:
These Oatmeal Cream Pies were in the kitchen waiting to greet Daughter Number One when she arrived from the States in June. Made by Daughter Number Two from a recipe in Kelly Peloza's The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur.
Japanese food, sourced from here. Newly-graduated Daughter Number Two minored in East Asian language and literature, and speaks a reasonable amount of Japanese. Handy to have her around.
Another answer to the age-old question, What To Do With an Aubergine? Make Eggplant Parmesan, vegan-style. With a nice French wine, and a balmy British evening.
That warm day in June when we had Pimms...
Vegan crepes, stuffed with white beans and seitan and mushrooms. Wish I'd written down what we did, but I haven't a clue.
My favorite Japanese food: Inari, rice-stuffed tofu pockets.
More Japanese food: Udon soup. With bits of silken tofu. Nice for a cool Summer day.
After a muddy hike in Denham Daughter Number Two made tempeh reuben sandwiches. With a pickle relish sauce.
Trofie pasta. Here are the details.
Broccoli and cauliflower soup. With some vegan cream swirled around.
For her Dad's birthday, Daughter Number Two made Tiramisu. Yes, it's vegan. Yes, it was delicious.
For our country's birthday, Daughter Number Two made cupcakes. Yes, they're vegan. Yes, they were delicious. Chocolate and vanilla, with strawberries and blueberries for decorations.
Tired of veggie burgers, we opted for BBQ sandwiches made with fake beef strips. Served with the leftover salads from our July 3rd cookout. (July 4th is not a holiday, you'll realize. Why would the Brits celebrate the day they lost their biggest colony?)
These were Daughter Number Two's idea: Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers. Stuffed with vegan cream cheeze, Tofutti brand. We also battered up various veggies and fried those too. It was a memorable night.
Another visit to the Japanese food store produced mochi, a Japanese treat: Rice flour pastries stuffed with sweet red bean paste. Handmade by Daughter Number Two.
Thought it was time to post a photo of the head cook around here: Daughter Number Two, bending over a pot of boiling pasta.
These free-form pasta, made with parsley leaves in between two pasta sheets, ricotta "cheese" and rocket (arugula) pesto, were a collaborative effort between me, Daughter Number Two, and chef Tal Ronnen. The recipe can be found in here.
Parfait, made with mango, pineapple, and blueberries. Found in Vegan Desserts by Hannah Kaminsky. (And twisted a bit to adjust for ingredients we didn't have, like raspberries.)
You've probably been thinking, with all this cooking, someone had to clean up, right? Well, that's when we called The Stig. (We wanted that cute Richard Hammond, but he wasn't available. And I've heard a rumor that The Stig is vegan. How else would he get the energy to burn up the track like that?)
