Dan and I made this other night and it turned out great. We didn't use their recipe for tofu cream cheese or vegetable sauce though. We just used our old favorites because we too hungry to translate the extra recipes. So here is the recipe for the lasagna. I will update later with the tofu cream cheese and vegetable sauce recipes. I think this recipe is pretty minimal, and probably assumes that you know your way around a kitchen :)
2 eggplant (maybe one if they are American size)
3 layers worth of lasagna noodles
2 potatoes
1 bunch of spinach leaves
350 g tofu cream cheese
350 g vegetable ragu sauce
panko for sprinkling on top
2 tsp parsley
1 tbsp crushed nuts
3 tbsp olive oil
salt
Preheat oven to 392 degrees fahrenheit (200 degrees celsius).
Boil 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp olive oil, add noodles and cook
Cut eggplant and potato into 5mm strips, cut spinach into 5 cm pieces.
Blanch the eggplant, drain into colander.
In a frying pan, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and heat.
Add vegetables and salt and saute.
In a ceramic dish add the rest of the olive oil and coat the pan evenly. Layer the lasagna, sauce, vegetables, and tofu cream cheese twice.
For the last layer, add lasagna, sauce, panko and nuts.
Put in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
A little review and a recipe..
As I'm sure we have mentioned in our previous posts, Cafe 8 and, it's sister restaurant, Pure Cafe, were some of our favorite places to eat in Tokyo. Although they share a lot of things, they are not identical and it is definitely worth it to check out both. Cafe 8 is located in quiet area of Aobadai and is within walking distance of Shibuya. Pure Cafe shares a building with Aveda in Aoyama near the Tokyo Metro Omotesando station. Dan and I found ourselves at both locations quite often. Since we loved the food so much we picked up two of their cookbooks. One is English and the other is in Japanese. We have translated one of the recipes from the Japanese book so far and hope to do more and post them up here.
The recipe that I'm going to post today is from the English recipe book.. and I think it's perfect for the season: Tofu Cream! It's great for eating on sweets sandwiches, bread pudding, pies, cakes.. pretty much any kind of dessert. It's also really quick and easy to make:
1 package drained firm silken tofu
4-5 tablespoons maple syrup
1-2 teaspoons rum
dash of vanilla extract
dash of salt
Blend the tofu until smooth in food processor. Blend in the maple syrup little by little. Blend rum, vanilla extract and salt. Add more maple syrup and rum if necessary.
It doesn't say anything about how to store or serve, but I've kept it chilled and I think it tastes great that way.. Enjoy!
The recipe that I'm going to post today is from the English recipe book.. and I think it's perfect for the season: Tofu Cream! It's great for eating on sweets sandwiches, bread pudding, pies, cakes.. pretty much any kind of dessert. It's also really quick and easy to make:
1 package drained firm silken tofu
4-5 tablespoons maple syrup
1-2 teaspoons rum
dash of vanilla extract
dash of salt
Blend the tofu until smooth in food processor. Blend in the maple syrup little by little. Blend rum, vanilla extract and salt. Add more maple syrup and rum if necessary.
It doesn't say anything about how to store or serve, but I've kept it chilled and I think it tastes great that way.. Enjoy!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Just a delicious side note...
If ever there was a side note that needed to be posted, if you don't all already know, you NEED to check out EthicalPizza.com. Set up by the same guy who ran SFVegan, and did the first animal kill counter, this site has some amazing video tutorials on making your own delicious vegan pizza in your oven.
I think we were at Deva Deva Cafe, eating their amazing vegan pies when I said something about making it ourselves. Of course, it was easy to say back then because in Japan... most people don't have ovens!!! (shocking...) Anyway, the tiny little broilers they have are used mainly for fish, and even putting a little garlic bulb to roast can be a tight fit.
So make sure to check out EthicalPizza.com. So far we've made their dough recipe maybe a half dozen times, and it has always came out great. We can't even find parchment paper, so we have just been giving the crisper a little grease and so far, none of our pizzas have come close to sticking. Here's a quick, not so whole foods recipe that we tried and ashamedly love:
Vegan BLT Pizza
1 pie's worth of dough from EthicalPizza.com
1 small head romaine lettuce
1 tomato
1 bacon replacement (we used bac-os... yikes...)
3 Tbsp vegan mayo
Salt + Pepper
Prepare dough as you like (we used some whole wheat flour). Roll out, and add 3 Tbsp of mayo on top and spread around like a sauce. Add sliced tomato + bacon replacement on top and put in the oven for around 10 minutes @ 500F. While pizza is baking, chop up lettuce and mix in a bowl with 1 Tbsp mayo and salt and pepper. After 10 minutes, add the lettuce mixture on top and finish baking for another 5 minutes.
We've also tried a the basic recipe on their site (great!), potato/artichoke (great!), and bbq with the new Gardein bbq nonsense (blech...). Marinated tofu and leftover pasta sauce is killer as well. I think I'm making up for all that lost pizza I've missed in the last few years...
I think we were at Deva Deva Cafe, eating their amazing vegan pies when I said something about making it ourselves. Of course, it was easy to say back then because in Japan... most people don't have ovens!!! (shocking...) Anyway, the tiny little broilers they have are used mainly for fish, and even putting a little garlic bulb to roast can be a tight fit.
So make sure to check out EthicalPizza.com. So far we've made their dough recipe maybe a half dozen times, and it has always came out great. We can't even find parchment paper, so we have just been giving the crisper a little grease and so far, none of our pizzas have come close to sticking. Here's a quick, not so whole foods recipe that we tried and ashamedly love:
Vegan BLT Pizza
1 pie's worth of dough from EthicalPizza.com
1 small head romaine lettuce
1 tomato
1 bacon replacement (we used bac-os... yikes...)
3 Tbsp vegan mayo
Salt + Pepper
Prepare dough as you like (we used some whole wheat flour). Roll out, and add 3 Tbsp of mayo on top and spread around like a sauce. Add sliced tomato + bacon replacement on top and put in the oven for around 10 minutes @ 500F. While pizza is baking, chop up lettuce and mix in a bowl with 1 Tbsp mayo and salt and pepper. After 10 minutes, add the lettuce mixture on top and finish baking for another 5 minutes.
We've also tried a the basic recipe on their site (great!), potato/artichoke (great!), and bbq with the new Gardein bbq nonsense (blech...). Marinated tofu and leftover pasta sauce is killer as well. I think I'm making up for all that lost pizza I've missed in the last few years...
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Vegan Japan on the Cheap(ish)
3 months ago, you could not have guessed that we would be spending 89 days in Tokyo by taking a look at our bank accounts. We managed to nab some cheap tickets (although not as cheap as some... less than $500 round trip?), but little things were creeping in here and there as we were getting ready to leave. In any event, we made it home with enough yen to give away as souveneirs, and enough USD to grab a bite on the way home from the airport. We are pretty much completely broke, but it was definitely money well spent, and all of the things we came up with during our little sabbatical will surely pay off in the future, financially and otherwise.
There were times we were cutting it close however, so let us share some tips with you so
you don't end up one of those people frantically sending facebook messages to all your friends, asking to borrow money for airfare home.
1) Continue earning income during the trip
This might be a no-brainer for those types who have 'jobs' and get things like 'paid vacations'. But if you are like us and are unemployed... ermm.. self-employed!... then you are going to have to do a little planning ahead of time. An obvious thing to do is set up some english lessons while you are abroad, private or otherwise. I'll let Lauralyn explain more since she was the one who was doing this, but even in Japan, where the amount of english teachers is extraordinary, people are still happy to fork over about $35.00 usd/hr just to hang out and talk.
BUT, we also supplemented our income with our little online store. It really wasn't too difficult to set up, and I think we had some more issues than most might, but having something bringing in $200-300/mo can really help out. I recommend checking out Tim Ferriss for some more info on that, although some of his techniques were a bit too black hat for us.
2) Make your trip longer
One GOOD thing about being self-un-employed is that you can take a trip for as long as you want. The benefits for staying for 3 months vs 2 weeks are innumerable. Not only do you get a chance to immerse yourself in the culture of your host city, but you will save a TON of money by renting an apartment vs. staying at a hotel. We were able to find places for around $900/mo for 2 people, and there are places even cheaper than that (and certainly places more expensive, if you've got the cash). Compare that to a mid-range hotel in tokyo and you can get ten times the duration if you are willing to sacrifice having your sheets cleaned every night and having fresh mints on your pillows. And if those mints are super important, just head over to the Y100 Daiso and DIY.
3) Cook your own food
A big part of being in another culture is enjoying the cuisine. To some, preparing your own food while on vacation is even blasphemous. But people in Japan cook their own food as well. As described in my last post, we ended up with pretty radical changes in our diet, but by switching to more traditional Japanese foods, and avoiding bread and mock meats and etc., we got to experience the preparation of the local cuisine, which is as important, if not moreso, than consuming it. Plus we saved a ton of money, and we would have saved even more if we conjured up the bravery to ask for a 'pointo cardo'.
I'm gonna bug Lauralyn to post some tips from her perspective as we wrap up this project. I'm happy to say that this blog has been a personal success for me, and I am working on starting on a new blog with a more general focus, as well as doing some guest blogging. But don't fret, we still have a TON to write about Japan...
There were times we were cutting it close however, so let us share some tips with you so
you don't end up one of those people frantically sending facebook messages to all your friends, asking to borrow money for airfare home.
1) Continue earning income during the trip
This might be a no-brainer for those types who have 'jobs' and get things like 'paid vacations'. But if you are like us and are unemployed... ermm.. self-employed!... then you are going to have to do a little planning ahead of time. An obvious thing to do is set up some english lessons while you are abroad, private or otherwise. I'll let Lauralyn explain more since she was the one who was doing this, but even in Japan, where the amount of english teachers is extraordinary, people are still happy to fork over about $35.00 usd/hr just to hang out and talk.
BUT, we also supplemented our income with our little online store. It really wasn't too difficult to set up, and I think we had some more issues than most might, but having something bringing in $200-300/mo can really help out. I recommend checking out Tim Ferriss for some more info on that, although some of his techniques were a bit too black hat for us.
2) Make your trip longer
One GOOD thing about being self-un-employed is that you can take a trip for as long as you want. The benefits for staying for 3 months vs 2 weeks are innumerable. Not only do you get a chance to immerse yourself in the culture of your host city, but you will save a TON of money by renting an apartment vs. staying at a hotel. We were able to find places for around $900/mo for 2 people, and there are places even cheaper than that (and certainly places more expensive, if you've got the cash). Compare that to a mid-range hotel in tokyo and you can get ten times the duration if you are willing to sacrifice having your sheets cleaned every night and having fresh mints on your pillows. And if those mints are super important, just head over to the Y100 Daiso and DIY.
3) Cook your own food
A big part of being in another culture is enjoying the cuisine. To some, preparing your own food while on vacation is even blasphemous. But people in Japan cook their own food as well. As described in my last post, we ended up with pretty radical changes in our diet, but by switching to more traditional Japanese foods, and avoiding bread and mock meats and etc., we got to experience the preparation of the local cuisine, which is as important, if not moreso, than consuming it. Plus we saved a ton of money, and we would have saved even more if we conjured up the bravery to ask for a 'pointo cardo'.
I'm gonna bug Lauralyn to post some tips from her perspective as we wrap up this project. I'm happy to say that this blog has been a personal success for me, and I am working on starting on a new blog with a more general focus, as well as doing some guest blogging. But don't fret, we still have a TON to write about Japan...
Friday, November 13, 2009
Macrobiotics in Toledo
So our Japan trip is finally done. We stopped briefly in Portland, OR and got to visit some of the great food carts that opened up while we were gone, like Native Bowl and Homegrown Smoker. Both were amazing, and they are stark reminders about why we need to get back to Portland as soon as possible.
We are now staying in a little suburb near Toledo, OH, and this might be harder than being in Japan. About an hour away is Ann Arbor, which has a Whole Foods (blech) and the People's Food Co-op (YES!) so we are certainly covered for any rare essentials, but the day to day is a bit rough. The local Kroger's, the midwest grocery superchain, has a 'natural foods' section, which, to its credit, carries alot of decent stuff. You can buy tofu dogs, varied alternative flours, gluten-free this-and-that, and even agave nectar.
Unfortunately, they have notsomuch in the way of organic produce. I hadn't been too interested in organics until recently... I had found that a few things (like avocados!) were worth buying organic, but other than that, I couldn't really see the point. Now, like many of us, after doing research on big agribusiness, GMO products, and various other horrors, I am finally understanding the importance of real organics.
In Japan the organic and 'eco' movements are very 'in'. In some ways, its great because I think if you truly believe in capitalism, this is how capitalism solves the environmental issue: people will pay out of pocket to save the earth. But the bad part is that because we live in a capitalist society, people are going to try to make some money off of this. And therefore, there's going to be greenwashing, and theres going to be 'natural' product labeling, and there's gonna be people just doing organic food as a way to get paid. Tokyoites seem to have cash (no car payments, possibly no rent, low unemployment...) and to some I'm sure organics are just another luxury item, like Louis Vuitton or the Green Car Trains, or $100 watermelons.
That being said, a large portion of the eco-food movement is centered around macrobiotic cuisine, which is much like a vegan diet, but stricter on the healthy food part, and much less strict on the animal products part. Seemingly, it is okay to eat fish and even some dairy or meat on occasion, although they are way out there on the yin & yang scale that the macrobiotic philosophy is built upon. In our experiences, the only non-vegan things we saw while exploring some 'macrobi' dishes was honey. But you would certainly not see things like refined sugar, white flour, or anything like nutritional yeast or frozen 'soy nuggets'. While all of those things can certainly be vegan, they aren't neccessarily healthy, eco-friendly, or part of the 'whole foods' way of life.
Now, I must admit, before leaving for Japan I was a bit... chubbs. I was getting close to 215 lbs, and not feeling so great about it. But being in Japan separated us a scary distance from things we knew and loved, like nutritional yeast, veggie burgers, tofu dogs, and even bread. But in doing so, I discovered the value of fresh foods, the pure tastes of simple cucumbers and eggplant, and really how to enjoy cooking. And I lost 30 lbs in 3 months.
So I'm going to take a break from 'nooch and Tease and Mock Duck and Oreos and try to get into the healthy, 'real food' side of veganism. I've been meaning to challenge myself with some books that I know I will disagree with. I can only read so many self-congratulatory books on animal welfare, so I picked up a book by a -non vegan!- and decided to give it a shot. It's 'Cook Food' by Lisa Jervis and this book seems the one I have been waiting for. I have been getting really tired of near 3-hour recipes that call for such exact and exotic ingredients, and have longed for something that just tells me 'how-to-cook' instead of what-to-cook.
Anyway, I meant this to be kind of a wrap-up post, but I think Lauralyn and I still have a couple of posts in us before this project is finished. I also picked up a couple of Japanese vegan and macrobiotic cookbooks that I am planning on translating, so I will definitely be posting up some recipes. So keep us on your RSS for a little bit... even if we haven't been posting so much :)
We are now staying in a little suburb near Toledo, OH, and this might be harder than being in Japan. About an hour away is Ann Arbor, which has a Whole Foods (blech) and the People's Food Co-op (YES!) so we are certainly covered for any rare essentials, but the day to day is a bit rough. The local Kroger's, the midwest grocery superchain, has a 'natural foods' section, which, to its credit, carries alot of decent stuff. You can buy tofu dogs, varied alternative flours, gluten-free this-and-that, and even agave nectar.
Unfortunately, they have notsomuch in the way of organic produce. I hadn't been too interested in organics until recently... I had found that a few things (like avocados!) were worth buying organic, but other than that, I couldn't really see the point. Now, like many of us, after doing research on big agribusiness, GMO products, and various other horrors, I am finally understanding the importance of real organics.
In Japan the organic and 'eco' movements are very 'in'. In some ways, its great because I think if you truly believe in capitalism, this is how capitalism solves the environmental issue: people will pay out of pocket to save the earth. But the bad part is that because we live in a capitalist society, people are going to try to make some money off of this. And therefore, there's going to be greenwashing, and theres going to be 'natural' product labeling, and there's gonna be people just doing organic food as a way to get paid. Tokyoites seem to have cash (no car payments, possibly no rent, low unemployment...) and to some I'm sure organics are just another luxury item, like Louis Vuitton or the Green Car Trains, or $100 watermelons.
That being said, a large portion of the eco-food movement is centered around macrobiotic cuisine, which is much like a vegan diet, but stricter on the healthy food part, and much less strict on the animal products part. Seemingly, it is okay to eat fish and even some dairy or meat on occasion, although they are way out there on the yin & yang scale that the macrobiotic philosophy is built upon. In our experiences, the only non-vegan things we saw while exploring some 'macrobi' dishes was honey. But you would certainly not see things like refined sugar, white flour, or anything like nutritional yeast or frozen 'soy nuggets'. While all of those things can certainly be vegan, they aren't neccessarily healthy, eco-friendly, or part of the 'whole foods' way of life.
Now, I must admit, before leaving for Japan I was a bit... chubbs. I was getting close to 215 lbs, and not feeling so great about it. But being in Japan separated us a scary distance from things we knew and loved, like nutritional yeast, veggie burgers, tofu dogs, and even bread. But in doing so, I discovered the value of fresh foods, the pure tastes of simple cucumbers and eggplant, and really how to enjoy cooking. And I lost 30 lbs in 3 months.
So I'm going to take a break from 'nooch and Tease and Mock Duck and Oreos and try to get into the healthy, 'real food' side of veganism. I've been meaning to challenge myself with some books that I know I will disagree with. I can only read so many self-congratulatory books on animal welfare, so I picked up a book by a -non vegan!- and decided to give it a shot. It's 'Cook Food' by Lisa Jervis and this book seems the one I have been waiting for. I have been getting really tired of near 3-hour recipes that call for such exact and exotic ingredients, and have longed for something that just tells me 'how-to-cook' instead of what-to-cook.
Anyway, I meant this to be kind of a wrap-up post, but I think Lauralyn and I still have a couple of posts in us before this project is finished. I also picked up a couple of Japanese vegan and macrobiotic cookbooks that I am planning on translating, so I will definitely be posting up some recipes. So keep us on your RSS for a little bit... even if we haven't been posting so much :)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Couchsurfing through Chiba
After we left Nikko, we headed back to Tokyo and stayed at New Koyo for a night in a "double" room. It really was just enough room for our bags and for us to sleep, but it worked (and it was cheap). But a tip for anyone else who plans to stay in the Minamisenju area, there are tons of other cheap hostels near New Koyo that are a bit harder to find online. One that I spotted around the corner from New Koyo was Hotel Accela, but unfortunately their site is only in Japanese.
The next day we departed for Chiba to couchsurf in Inage. Our host was great and let us stay for an entire week. She probably would have let us stay longer, but we didn't want to overstay our welcome. Almost the entire week we were in Inage it was pouring rain since there was a typhoon passing through. We spent a lot of the time cooking for ourselves and our host and her friends, which was really fun. During our stay she invited us to a charity potluck in Tsukuba. At the potluck we met lots of interesting people from all over the world that were studying at Tsukuba University. If you have the chance to go to there, I highly recommend checking it out. It is very different from Tokyo and almost reminds me of US suburbs. Our hosts told us that Tsukuba was planned and developed in the 1960s, which might be why it looks the way it does.
While we were in Inage the only places we ate out at were Mos Burger and a Thai restaurant called Siam House that was down the street from where we were staying. Siam House only had two vegan dishes: their famous soup and a stir-fried vegetable plate. The soup cost 1238yen, and it was worth every yen. If you are in Inage and in need of vegan food (or any food for that matter), I definitely recommend you check out Siam House and try the soup.
The next day we departed for Chiba to couchsurf in Inage. Our host was great and let us stay for an entire week. She probably would have let us stay longer, but we didn't want to overstay our welcome. Almost the entire week we were in Inage it was pouring rain since there was a typhoon passing through. We spent a lot of the time cooking for ourselves and our host and her friends, which was really fun. During our stay she invited us to a charity potluck in Tsukuba. At the potluck we met lots of interesting people from all over the world that were studying at Tsukuba University. If you have the chance to go to there, I highly recommend checking it out. It is very different from Tokyo and almost reminds me of US suburbs. Our hosts told us that Tsukuba was planned and developed in the 1960s, which might be why it looks the way it does.
While we were in Inage the only places we ate out at were Mos Burger and a Thai restaurant called Siam House that was down the street from where we were staying. Siam House only had two vegan dishes: their famous soup and a stir-fried vegetable plate. The soup cost 1238yen, and it was worth every yen. If you are in Inage and in need of vegan food (or any food for that matter), I definitely recommend you check out Siam House and try the soup.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Nikko Park Lodge Sucks!
Don't ever WWOOF there, unless you want to enjoy such organic activities as heating up 99 Yen shop packets of spaghetti sauce, cutting up moldy wet carpet, and upselling orange juice to other tourists during breakfast.
We will post more regarding this later... anyway... back in Tokyo! And couchsurfing!
We will post more regarding this later... anyway... back in Tokyo! And couchsurfing!
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