Backlog Photos Of Foods I Ate.

When my husband cooks for me, he almost always makes me pasta. This is a simple spaghetti with marinara (we buy Gina Rispoli, Newman's, or Mezzetta) and Trader Joe's meatless meatballs. Very hearty and filling.

Homemade sandwich on whole grain with Tofurky italian deli, Chao cheese, avocado, red onion, lettuce, tomato and Vegenaise!

Awesome sandwich.

Had my sandwich with a cup of Annie's tomato soup. This is so good if you don't have time to make your own soup.

Last Thursday was my birthday and I made my own cake! Chocolate with penuche frosting. I got the frosting recipe from a vintage Betty Crocker cookbook. It's a brown sugar frosting that is sooooo good.

My dad bought me a birthday pizza from Domino's. Thanks Dad!

For my birthday weekend, my husband and I spent time in Santa Barbara. We ate at the following restaurants:

British fish n chip shop. The chips are so good.

While my husband ate fish n chips, I had chips n baked beans.

At The Natural Cafe there are some good vegan options.

Like this sandwich. It's called the "Local's Favorite". Ask for no mayo and get a side of tahini sauce. Such a good little spot to grab lunch.

On our last night we hit up Galanga for amazing Thai food.

Spicy Mint Noodles with tofu. Make sure to order without fish sauce and egg.

Delicious veggie red curry. No fish sauce.

My plate. I was so full afterwards. Can't wait to go back to SB!

Rice Cooker Disaster!

So the day after the bulb exploded in my oven, I wanted to make a cake but didn't want to use the oven until the broken bulb was replaced. I am ignorant about electronics and I believe there are loose wires somewhere and didn't want to risk anything. So I read online that you can make a cake in your rice cooker. I checked different blogs and thought I'd give it a go. The only problem is that when you force your rice cooker to stay on "Cook", you will overheat it and blow the fuse, which is what happened to me. I can probably get it fixed but I decided it was time to get a new rice cooker.

Here's cake batter in my old cooker ready to go. I had to keep it on "cook" by taping the button down. I took someone's advice online to do that. Not smart.

Cake came out very moist and nice. Didn't enjoy it as much because I was bummed that I broke the cooker.

Our new cooker. It was time to upgrade to a Zojirushi which is a very well respected brand. It's a japanese brand but the conventional cooker I got was made in Thailand. Since I am Thai, I thought that was a good sign. I ordered it on Amazon and it arrived a couple days later. It's pretty! I grew up using rice cookers with flowers on them.

Make great rice as expected!!!

Made a pot of Thai style rice porridge using steamed rice made with the rice cooker. Perfection!

And fried rice again! So the lesson here is DO NOT make cake in your rice cooker, unless you have one of those fancy micro chip ones with a cake function!

Thai Style Fried Rice and Baja Fresh tacos.

I made the most delicious thai style fried rice on Tuesday. I kind of winged it and based it loosely off the recipe from Buddha's Table. I stir fried garlic, onions, celery in oil, then added the veggies, cut up Tofurky sausages and then the rice. I then added 2 TB of Maggi seasoning and a TB of mushroom soy sauce, 1/4 cup ketchup, white pepper and a squirt of Sriracha. YUMMY with a squirt of lime juice!

This was my dinner at Baja last night. The usual baja veggie tacos with spicy salsa, rice and beans, no cheese!

Fresh Spring Rolls and Apple Pear Gallette

Fresh rolls with sauteed tofu, carrot, scallions, red bell pepper, cilantro and bean thread noodles. Served with thai style peanut sauce.

Apple Pear gallette. Recipe from Deborah Madison's Local Flavors cookbook.

Japanese, Thai and Korean deliciousness.

These lovely morsels of curried perfection are called "curry croquettes" which are made up of mashed vegetables, breaded and fried. We got these at the japanese market called Mitsuwa in their prepared foods section. They were so good, I could have eaten more!

My version of thai style noodles vegan style flavored with ginger and mushroom soy sauce. Add to it, lots of tofu and vegetables, fried garlic, chili oil and sriracha sauce. So comforting and so good.

A spicy and sour kimchi I got at Whole Foods that happened to be vegan. I can't remember the brand right now. It was great.

Tofu Larb Salad, BBQ Chili Beans

Refreshing thai tofu larb on top of salad greens.
Recipe here. Note: Don't need to "deep fry" tofu, just cook over heat until it is completely dry and all moisture is gone. Use firm tofu, lime juice instead of lemon juice and add some mint leaves.


BBQ Chili in a bun. Just make your favorite chili and add bbq sauce to it!

VeganMoFo: Thai Sukiyaki

Today my MoFo dish is Thai style sukiyaki which is a big bowl of mung bean noodles, tofu, vegetables in a broth flavored with soybean curd sauce, aka "sukiyaki sauce". My mother made this especially for me and I was sooo happy to eat it. Here is mom's recipe:


Thai Sukiyaki Recipe (from mom)

Ingredients:
Water for broth
Thai "Healthy Boy" brand mushroom soy sauce
salt, pepper, minced garlic, pinch of sugar
cubed tofu
veggies: sliced green onions, mushrooms, bok choy, chinese broccoli (gai lan) or regular broccoli, napa cabbage, celery...whatever you want!
mung bean noodles aka cellophane noodles, bean thread noodles. In Thai, "woon sen"
Thai "Pantainorasingh" brand sukiyaki sauce

Make soup broth for 2 servings:
Boil a few cups of water (a small pot), add mushroom soy sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, a pinch of sugar. Add vegetables and tofu and cook for a while until veggies are tender. Add more mushroom soy sauce to taste if needed.

Meanwhile soak mung bean noodles in cold water until they soften and expand in size. Mung bean noodles are usually sold in 4 small bunches in a package. 1 bunch is good for two people. If you want more noodles go ahead and use 2 bunches. Then boil water in separate pot and cook them for however long it says on package. It's usually not very long because they are so thin.
More about mung bean noodles/bean thread noodles here.

Put a serving of drained cooked noodles in each bowl and pour broth/veggies/tofu over. Add 2-3 TB of Thai sukiyaki sauce to the bowl and stir through. The more sauce, the spicier it will be.

Thai Delicious.

I had a small pumpkin, a container of tofu, a bag of spinach, a can of Thai green curry paste and coconut milk. The perfect combination of ingredients for this fiery green curry. I loved the pumpkin in it. I'm loving fall. Bring on the pumpkins!


My mom made this mung bean noodles and veggie stir fry especially for me. How sweet! It was so good!

Silk Road Peanut Noodles

I have this beautiful cookbook called "Silk Road Cooking" and I've only made a few things from it. I always look through it and am inspired by all the exotic flavors but never get around to actually cooking from it. I decided to open it up today. This recipe is not too far from home for me because it is very Thai in style. It's the "Vietnamese Peanut Sauce" recipe which for me feels more Thai because of the thai chilies, coconut milk, peanut butter, lime juice and curry in it. I tossed ramen noodles and freshly cut vegetables with the sauce and garnished with Thai basil.

Thai Green Curry with Somen Noodles

This mouthwatering bowl of green curry on somen noodles was my dinner last night. Rich and creamy, fiery with a hint of sweetness. I love making this. My basic recipe is here. I switch up the veggies depending on what i have. Last night I used firm tofu, butternut squash, red and yellow peppers and cremini mushrooms. I also added kaffir lime leaves to replace the lime juice. This was delicious on somen noodles, aka "kanom jean" in Thai.

Pad See Ew Dinner and Sunshine Blog Awards!

This was dinner tonight. Pad See Ew recipe from Buddha's Table cookbook. Yummy yummy!



I'd like to thank Vic from The Life blog for presenting me with this Sunshine Blog Award! Thanks man! I love visiting Vic's blog. He's an amazing cook with a knack for creating beautiful meals out of whatever he has in his kitchen. He is very creative with food and the majority of the recipes he uses are his very own! Thanks again Vic!

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blog world. I'd like to give recognition to the following blogs that I visit often:

My Marrakesh
I turn to Maryam's blog when I want to dream. She and her family live in Morocco and have been building a beautiful guest house called Peacock Pavilions! It will open very soon. Her blog is filled with beautiful photos and stories of her Moroccan adventures as well as design, art, style and food ideas. I am enthralled each and every time I visit her blog. I will visit her guest house one of these days!

Glue & Glitter
Becky's blog is filled with crafty goodness, tips on sustainable living as well as quick and easy vegan recipes. A long time ago she had a food blog called Apron Strings that I had the honor to guest blog on every now and then. That inspired me to create my own blog soon after. Thanks Becky!

Vegan Dad
I'd like to ask the vegan food blog community, who doesn't love Vegan Dad? He's a cook and baker extraordinaire! With a busy work life and a family at home, I wonder how he does it? I've been very inspired by his cooking and always look forward to his posts.

eat'n veg'n
I believe I've been following Diann's blog for as long as I've been vegan, so that'll be about 3 years. I am inspired by her healthy way of cooking that is always full of color and fresh ingredients.

Fat Free Vegan
I've been following Susan V's blog for about 3 years as well. Her blog is one of the first I came across when looking up vegan recipes. Her recipes are outstanding and presentation/photography impeccable.

Easy Veggie
Oraphan's blog is wonderful! Her enthusiasm for food and fresh veggies is contagious. I always look forward to her posts. I'm lucky that she is my cousin so we also get to talk food and go out and have veggie lunches together.

Heathen Vegan
I love Miss Jeni's blog. It is full of fun and exciting food and yummy baked goods. One day I will try her mince pies recipe!

Tea Amigos
These guys Dax and Mike are serious when it comes to tea and they seem to know all about it. I love getting updates about the latest teas that they've discovered. Being a big tea drinker myself, I can relate to getting really excited about tea.

Mosetta Stone
Mo's blog is awesome. She's funny and knows how to cure serious cravings with the food she makes. She's a great cook and I get great ideas from her blog.

Ste Martaen
As well as a blog that showcases their love of vegan food, this lovely family also have their very own handmade vegan cheese business. I have yet to try their cheeses, they look amazing. The recipes on the blog are seriously mouthwatering. I must make "wish tacos" one of these days because I keep going back to look at that particular entry!

1,000 Vegan Recipes
I wish every cookbook had a blog that was dedicated to it. This one is run by a group of bloggers who are cooking from 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. I too have this book and always wonder how recipes will turn out so I like to peruse this blog to find out.

My Veggie Kitchen
Matt's got a great blog here. The food always looks terrific and I am always getting ideas here. His latest efforts of cooking with bulgur is very exciting to me. This is my kind of cooking!

For those of you that I named, the rules for accepting this award are:
1. Copy & paste these rules on your blog so your award winners could follow.
2. Put the logo flower on your blog or within your post.
3. Pass the award onto twelve bloggers of your choice.
4. Link the nominees within your post.
5. Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting about it on their blog.
6. On your blog post share the love and blog link of the person from whom you received this award.

Lentil Massaman Curry

I had a chunk of Thai massaman curry paste in the freezer that I wanted to use up so I made this beautiful curry that has lentils, eggplant, potatoes, red bell peppers and peas. This is dinner tonight paired with Thai jasmine rice.

Thai Massaman Curry

Made a quick curry tonight for dinner. I have so many tins of curry pastes in my pantry that I had to use. I picked massaman which has the wonderful flavors of coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, tamarind, lemongrass, galangal and red chilies. I cooked about 3/4 of a tin of paste with coconut milk, water, tofu, eggplant, potato and peas. Came together very quickly and super yummy on rice.

Taco Salad and Pad See Ew

My lunch today: Salad mix, a scoop of leftover chili, tortilla chips, avocado and flax oil french dressing. Mmm!


Whoa, I made Pad See Ew! This is from Buddha's Table cookbook and was so easy to do. It's got cubed tofu and chinese broccoli (aka Pak Kana in Thai) This will be dinner tonight.

Pad Thai with Tofu

Ok, so I'm Thai and I've never made Pad Thai before! How dare I not? The reason being is that I always thought it was so hard and tricky. At least that is what my mother tells me. But I instilled some confidence in myself and with the help of my vegetarian Thai cookbook "Buddha's Table", I went to work. Yes, it's tricky because you have to move fast and also you want to stirfry it enough so that the noodles soften and cook but no overdo it so that the noodles might overcook. I think I did ok for the first time. But I was moving so fast that I forgot the vinegar as part of the ingredient list. Woops! Tastes good anyway. I will definitely make this again.

Drunken Spaghetti with Tofu

I'm a big fan of Drunken Noodles or in Thai, "Pad Kee Mao" which is a delicious pan fried noodle dish flavored with Thai basil. Thai basil has a gorgeous flavor which has been described as slightly licoricey or minty. It's just wonderful! Unfortunately for me I didn't have any Thai basil today. I did have fresh mint leaves from the garden which I substituted with great results. This recipe is from the 1,000 vegan recipes cookbook. I chose it today because I had a ziploc bag of cooked spaghetti in my fridge that I had no idea what to do with. I used garlic, red onion, red pepper, kale, zucchini and mint with thin slices of fried tofu to whip up this fast and easy dish. In the Thai version of this dish we use flat rice noodles and they can be a pain to work with. The spaghetti makes this dish very easy. It came out very tasty and I plan to make this again.

Thai "Kanom Jean" Spicy Red Curry

Yeah baby. This was exactly what I was in the mood for tonight. A fiery red curry with soft tender vegetables and tofu, flavored with coconut milk, lime leaves and lemongrass atop a mound of "Kanom Jean", aka somen noodles. If I hadn't run out of somen noodles, I would have eaten much more! I ate two bowls for the record. It had broccoli, tofu, mushroom, red bell pepper and frozen butternut squash that had cooked down into a pulpy meltingly tender mush. It gave the curry a great texture.

Basic curry for "Kanom Jean" (Lemongrass and lime leaves can be found at Thai grocers or online.)

Somen noodles aka "Kanom Jean"
2 TB canola oil
2 TB Thai red curry paste
2 15oz. cans of coconut milk
2-3 cups water (use less for creamier curry, more for less creamy)
6-7 kaffir lime leaves
3-1" pieces of lemongrass
Assorted chopped vegetables: broccoli florets, mushrooms, red peppers, butternut squash cubes, carrots etc.
mushroom soy sauce
1-1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. rhizome powder
7 oz. firm tofu cut into 1" cubes

Cook somen noodles according to package directions. Set aside.

Heat oil in a pot and add curry paste. Cook for a few minutes then add coconut milk, water and vegetables. Bring to a boil and add lemongrass, lime leaves, mushroom soy sauce to taste, sugar and rhizome powder. Lower heat and cook until vegetables are almost tender. Add tofu and simmer until vegetables are done. Serve over cooked somen noodles. Note: Do not eat lemongrass and lime leaves. You can pick them out if you want but I just eat around them. :)

A note about Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime Leaves: These items can be kept in the freezer. I have a small bag of lime leaves and lemongrass cut into 1" pieces that I keep in the freezer and only use what I need. They go straight into the cooking pot frozen!

Breakfast Burrito and Thai Take-away.

Breakfast in bed. Tofu, tomato and potato scramble in a flour tortilla with vegan mayo/ketchup sauce. Yum!


Dinner provided by 'The Vegan Joint' in West L.A. We started out with crispy spring rolls that were perfectly fried and stuffed with vegetables.


The "mushroom soup" which was coconut milk based. You can't tell in this poor photo but it also has tofu, bamboo shoots, lemongrass, lime leaves and celery as well as mushrooms. My husband was craving this and he loved it. It was very good.


Spicy Mint Noodles with tofu aka "Drunken Noodles", aka Pad Kee Mow. Yum. Not very spicy though! For American palettes maybe but in my Thai household, this wasn't a bit spicy. But still, everything was delicious and satisfied our junky Thai food craving.