another cardinal

guess i found a spot for cardinals in central park now.
almost every morning, exactly the same spot, i see a few : )

snow storm in NYC

cardinal in central park

and other snacks

friends brought nice wines and some hummus, and even sugar free vegan cakes!
about 20 people came, and had a great time : )

whole wheat couscous salad

curried tempeh pate

sort of like curried chicken pate, except, i used steamed tempeh.
good to make sandwich with this : )

mixed rice stuffing

instead of bread crumbles, i used brown rice and wild rice.
turned out pretty good : )

health-ier party

i made several dishes.
this is bean and root veggie soup. seasoning is miso and tamari. (one guest was gluten intolarent, so most of the dishes i prepared was gluten free)

holiday party

asked friends to bring "healthier food", and requested "no meat no white sugar".
turned out, a great party that everybody loved and enjoyed!

cold night

holiday seasons!
love this time of the year. so festive and all the decorations, holiday markets in parks...
and this cold weather!
look at the icicle in the fountain!

this is bryant park.

stayed in weekends

usually, i go out on weekends, but because of the heavy rain, we stayed in, and i made baked acron squash with mixed grain stuffing squash.
simple, but so yum!
squash is super sweet, almost like a dessert : )
mixed stuffing is made of whatever in the fridge, but all local from union square market : )

Quick complete meal

before going to my friend's birthday drink, fixed a quick dish.
rice bowl is an easy, yet complete dish, with miso soup : )
sauteed tempeh(w/ onion, brussels sprouts, carrot), steamed kale and radish, and wakame on top of mixed grain rice.

Cold cold winter day...

below freezing, in new york...
on such evenings, Nabe soup is a perfect dish : )
fish and lots of veggies in miso soup.
so warm and heatry...

Sugary blood attracts...

if you get mosquito bites, don't blame them!
that is your own fault.

in fact, i got hundreds of bites in this botanical garden.
too much wine, and dessert (doesn't matter even if it was not white sugar!), my blood must have been so sugary and acidic, attracting those hungry vampires!

at least, one thing i did after that was eat umeboshi to neutralize(alkalize) the blood, and prevent strong allergic reaction...

Epiphyte

in tropical climates, this phenomenon called "epiphyte" is very common.
different from parasite, different plants grow on different tree, but they do not take or exploit nutrients from the "home" tree.

we had a great time in this botanical garden near honolulu.
it was like a real jungle, and a good hiking, too.
the tour guide was so knowledgable and i leaned a lot about tropical plants : )

tempeh sandwich

very tasty and fullfilling : )
i went back to this cafe a few more times during the stay : )

Curried chick pea and brown rice

this one was not overly spiced.
and brown rice! i so needed it!!

they also sell rice ball so i got some for next few days' breakfast : )

Miso Soup

so this is the miso soup, using local organic veggies.
taste so "kind" : ), i could tell that my body was so happy!

Peace Cafe

dining in honolulu can be challenging if you are looking for healthier choices.
ive found several good places.
one of them is this cute, organic vegan cafe, Peace Cafe.

they have daily miso soup,which was such a treat and relief for me : )

sunset from the air

From a distance...

a view from the seat.
somewhere near west coast.

Upgrade!

traveling on thanks giving day was so smooth : )
and using millage, i got upgraded to business/first class!!

but....
when a flight attendant came to my seat to take an order for meal, they said they had just run out of pasta, which was the only no-meat dish!!
then i explained that when i booked--which was economy class--, i ordered vegetarian meal, and they must have it in the back.

after a few glasses of wine and apetizer, they brought this special dish, made of my original vegetarian meal and several side dishes, making it a complete vegetarian dish!!

how nice : )
so i truly enjoyed this rare-luxury travel.
thank you so much, Continental!

and more...

they say that when you see a rainbow, that's a message from God or universe that you are protected.

i felt protected, a lot : )

and another...

another rainbow

another day in waikiki

over the rainbow...

went to hawaii for a week.
this time, only on Oahu island.
low key, sort of...

we saw rainbows almost every day while there!

macro dessert : )

and of course, macro-dessert!
apple crumbles and kabocha/tofu/coconut pie.
another friend brought home made ice cream, and again, i requested to use "no refined sugar", so he used maple syrup and brown rice syrup!
thank you!!

we had such a great dinner party : )

Vegetarian feast, almost

well, there was a turkey.
i had no control to stop that, but at least i asked to get organic, hormone/antibiotic free, humanely raised.

anyway, the rest of the meals was under my control : )

millet/sweet brown rice with cauliflower and nori
blanched kale and radish with tahini/peanut soy dressing
stewed brussels sprouts and kabocha pumpkin
cabbage and basil coleslaw
steamed carrot with parsley and tahini/lemon dressing
soy/ginger/garlic marinated fried tempeh (for vegetarians)
and for the turkey, i made sugar-free cranberry sauce and miso/apple sauce

a friend brought home baked whole wheat bread : )
vegetarian stuffing was there, too!

Early Thanks Giving Party

we had an early thanks giving party on saturday evening, with good friends.
a friend helped set up the table, looked great!

Kyoto Carrot!

last week, in my weekly visit to union square farmar's market, i ran into kyoto carrot from an organic farm in NY.
kyoto carrots are sort of hairloom from kyoto, Japan.
the color is deep red, just gorgesou, and we normally use for special occasion, such as new year feast.
never thought that i could find it in NY!!
so this week, ive been using this beautiful carrot a lot.
this dish is kimpira. using the carrot, gobo, hijiki, and rind of kabocha.
i was making kabocha pie for thanks giving dinner party, so i needed to peel the skin, which i normally do not.
anyway, turned out so colorful and nice : )

Vegan Lasagna!

turned out so well!
tomato sauce, recipe from "Mayumi's Kitchen"
and for stuffing, i made tofu mixture with watercress.
great with wine : )

Autumn in NYC

birds look fatter, probably storing fat to prepare for the cold winter.
im eating more beans, too : )
naturally my body crave fattier food now.

Autumn in NYC

beautiful red! so standing out, and i couldn't help but take picture of it.

Autumn in NYC

a view from sheep lawn.
like the skyscraper behind the colored trees.

Autumn in NYC

because it was cloudy and slightly dark, the color was more vivid.
yin and yang : )

Autumn in NYC

my morning walk in central park.
i brought a camera today, even though it was raining.

Quinoa and corn salad

simple and delicious salad.
cook quinoa with corn, kumbu, seasalt and water.
mix with sliced radish and parsley.
toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Miso marinated Cod

marinate fresh cod in a mixture of miso, mirin overnight.
then pan fry or bake it.
garnish with chopped scallion.
great japanese dish : )

Candle 79

side dish, seitan sausage.
but it was more like a ground meat stew.
cooked with tomato sauce, onion, and some spices.
it was so good that we brought it back and ate with wine later in the evening : )

Candle 79

and falafel sandwich.
not too greasy, and delicious!

Candle 79

brunch at Candle 79, another location of vegan restaurant,Candle Cafe.
whole wheat pancake with rasberry "butter". Yum!

soup for good skin

recipe from Mayumi's kichen.
this hatomugi (sort of like barley, but not quiet) is supposed to be good for the skin, by dissolving excess fat.
nice, hearty, comforting soup

not-deepfried seitan cutlet

instead, i just baked!
great with miso-apple sauce, or just lemon juice : )

couscous cake

couscous cake!

something i learned at kushi institute.
easy to make, no baking involved : )

cook whole wheat couscous with apple juice, pinch of salt.
spread in a glass container or baking pan.
soak dried fruits such as apple, raisin, apricot, and slice them.
cook mixture of soaking liquid, apple juice and water with salt, cinnamon and vanila essense.
add diluted kuzu and cook until thicken
pour over couscous, let it cool
sprinkle toasted nuts and seed

love this gently sweet taste : )

Cooking with friends

weekend was another dinner with friends.
we cooked macrobiotic dishes together.
also new to them, but they seemed to enjoy it---or just being polite??
anyway, went so well with the biodynamic wine that they got for this occation : )

dinner

a friend came over, so i made some macrobiotic dishes that he was not very familiar with. (he is not vegetarian)
1 brown rice with almond
2 vegetable and barley miso soup
3 adzuki bean and kabocha squash
4 curried tempeh pate

hope he liked it...

Japanese turnips

or Hakurei.
i love the sweetness of the cute little veggies.
so i just steam and eat with seasalt and lemon juice.
so sweet!!

rice bowl and soup

i like this simple dish.
im eating much less tofu now, but when i cook, i usually marinate with a mixture of soy sauce, brown rice vinegar and water (maybe a bit of grated ginger).
and either pan fry or bake.
other veggies are steamed, add wakame seaweed and saurkraut.

Mochi waffle

wow! didnt know that it was so easy to make!
just cut mochi into small pieces and put them in waffle maker.
only thing is, what would go well with this?
so far, i tried apple butter, apple sauce, peanut butter sauce(brown rice syrup and soy sauce).
all good, but want to explore more.
any ideas?

yellow carpet

it was one of the best hiking trails that i hiked in the north east.
great that we didnt need to drive up there : )
and the little town near the station was nice to walk around, have a cup of tea, too.