Garden-Fresh Tomatoes

Okay, so today's Vegan Thing I Like is not a product or a restaurant or a person or a location, but it is something that I Like a lot: Tomatoes fresh from my own garden!

Generally speaking, my method of gardening is the following: Put stuff in the ground, water it, and hope for the best! This year, I planted everything into the garden straight from seeds actually kind of late in the season, but woah! The tomatoes really took off this year into giant bushes. (I also had cucumbers in abundance and even a few ears of corn.)

Honestly, one of my favorite indulgences these days is to stand in the garden eating delicious cherry tomatoes right off the plant. Of course, never far away is my sweet Maizy (you can see her lurking photo) who probably likes garden tomatoes even more than I do! I will definitely miss this when the winter hits!

Golden Krust at Newark Airport

My first trip to Newark Airport a few months ago was pretty miserable. We had just finished a week-and-a-half trip and were eager to get home. We get to the airport, return our rental, take the train with the too-tiny-to-navigate pods that people can't get their luggage out of quickly, get to our terminal, go through the security line, and discover that there is pretty much NO real food in the gate area (which is also really sequestered - this airport has a strange design). So, my partner goes back out of security and finds Golden Krust, a "Caribbean Bakery & Grill" located in the outer ring of the airport. They have fresh juice, but of course you can't bring juice through security (it being a liquid and all), so I go out and meet him, enjoy our juice, and we return back to our gate in plenty of time to leave.

On my most recent trip to Newark Airport, I was slightly wiser from my past experience. I stopped by Golden Krust before hitting up the (LONG) security line and picked up something security-line-friendly, a delicious fruit salad! Seriously, in terms of most airport food, and especially most airport fruit, this thing was like the Holy Grail. Super fresh, delicious, and not just a pile of dry melon with a few grapes (or a waxy apple, or two bananas shrink-wrapped against a foam tray). I mean, look at it!! Mango! Berries! Delicious! I ate half at the gate and half again a few hours later on the plane. Extra points for this being non-stinky plane food (it should be a crime to allow people to bring McDonald's on the plane).

I have not yet tried anything else available at Golden Krust. It is, as the name implies, all Caribbean food, which I am not much familiar with and I'm pretty sure would be decidedly un-vegan, but the fact that they are making fresh fruit and juices available to travelers still makes them a thing that I definitely like. Also, check out this Jamaican "Peanut Punch" that I found there (didn't try it, though). "Ingredients: Water, Peanut Paste, Soy Protein, Sugar, Flavouring." Interesting! Probably not something I would buy, but maybe you will??

Chickoo Fruit

I'm back from India! Truly, it was the most magical place that I have ever been and I am already planning to return in 2014. If you want, take a peek at my photos here!

While in India, I tried a few new foods, but my favorite was the Chickoo fruit, also known as the Sapotta (in South/Central America, I believe). The chickoo is like a magical, super sweet combination of a date and a pile of brown sugar. I found them in the US in very small quantities fresh at my local Indian market and also frozen or canned (in syrup). I haven't tried them frozen yet, but have a hot tip that they're awesome blended with non-dairy milk. I didn't buy the canned because they were in syrup and that sounded like something I wouldn't eat. The fresh were delicious, but seem like they'll be challenging to find on a regular basis (there were like 10 total at the store), so we'll see how much of a staple they become. I think the chickoo fruit will be a great once-in-a-while treat! If you see them, pick one up, break or cut it open, scoop out the inside, and don't eat the seed (someone in India told us that the fruit, when broken open as above, looks like Krishna's eyes... I like it).

Miso

Just like my previous post about pineapples, I am also no expert on miso's various types and forms, but I do know that it is a Thing I Like. The only other thing I know is that it is sitting in a plastic package in my fridge in a goo-form and that it is delicious. Oh, also, if you add too much of it to food, it becomes inedible. I am not a very adventurous cook and am pretty much seasoning-knowledge deficient, so miso is a pretty good thing to have around. You can add it to water and make a broth that is tasty and only required one simple step. On Monday, I put some miso in water, heated it up, added some dehydrated tofu and seaweed (both purchased at the Mitsua Market in Arlington Heights), with fresh bok choy, broccoli, and sprouts and voila! Chunky miso-flavored soup for dinner!

In March when we visited Japan, my partner geniusly crafted a noodley miso soup with ingredients from a local convenience store right in our hotel room rice cooker. Seriously, brilliant! All 24-hour stores should carry miso, rice noodles, and tofu!

Pineapple

I really like pineapple, but I don't always particularly care for cutting up a whole pineapple. Fortunately, I have a really great partner who doesn't seem to mind doing the pineapple dirty work. This one is from a few weeks ago and it was de-licious! I also associate pineapples with one specific event in my life. Years and years ago, I was headed to New York for my yoga teacher's birthday celebration and didn't have the foggiest idea what to bring to such an event. What do you get an advanced yogi for his 60-something-ith birthday? And there in the produce market at Essene in Philadelphia (my former city of residence), I was struck by a lovely sight: the perfect pineapple (no, not these!!!)! I tied a bow around it's spiky top and carried in my backpack via New Jersey Transit up to Manhattan. After an amazing yoga practice, I fluffed it's flattened bow and (VERY) shyly presented my carefully selected pineapple. He brought it to his face, smelled it, smiled, and kissed me! I was thrilled. The sight of a whole pineapple always brings me back to that moment and I always smile. The perfect gift.

(Writing this entry I also got curious about when pineapple was in season and I found this very informative website! I now know so much more about pineapples than ever before.)

Travel Food

I always get hungry in airports. And on airplanes. I don't know what it is, but I crave food that is healthy and satisfying. Typical airport fare leaves a lot to be desired to this end, so I always try to pack my own.

In my experience, this is the ultimate travel food: grainy bread and a ripe avocado. It's simple, healthy, comforting, filling, and easily portable (and not a liquid, so you can get it through security). It also doesn't have much of an odor, so your fellow passengers aren't disturbed (sat next to a guy eating a breakfast biscuit on my most recent flight home which was unpleasant to say the least). Grab a disposable plastic knife somewhere on your travels (or ask your friendly flight attendant) and you're good to go. I cut my avocado in half and then use each half as a little bowl to chop up the contents before spreading them on a chunk of bread, but you can enjoy these two paired any which way you like!

I picked up this Dave's Killer Bread Seed Bomb at Food Fight in Portland, OR and the avocado (requesting "one that will be good to eat tomorrow, please!") at a produce stand in Pike Place Market in Seattle (the produce and flower markets there are awesome, but the stinky, gross fish markets kind of ruin the fun).