Food porn: VEGAN REUBEN!

Last night I was hungry, tired, and really didn't want to cook much of anything.

So, made up entirely of things I already had in the fridge, here is my tofu reuben that was OFF THE DAMN CHARTS.

Like, so good that I really almost wanted to make another one, even though I really, really didn't need it.

I ended up not using the mustard, since I had plenty of the quickly thrown together "Russian" dressing: vegenaise, sriracha sauce, and dill pickle relish. Then on the plate, clockwise from top: grilled tofu (from last week, still delicious), daiya "cheddar" on sourdough, homemade sauerkraut, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Delicious!

Got back on Monday from WV and Pittsburgh, tomorrow to California. (Not a big surprise that the credit card company put a fraud alert on my credit card.)

Holy friggen pollen, Batman!

These are the pollen counts in Atlanta for the month of March, 2012:

"Extremely high" on this scale is considered anything over 500 (grains of pollen in a cubic meter of air.)

See last Monday and Tuesday? The 19th set an all-time record for Atlanta, which was promptly broken the next day. That was just about the death of me. (Okay, okay, I made the STUPID decision to ride my bike to the dentist on Tuesday. Stupid stupid stupid.)

I'm still "sick" from it (though I think I might have also caught a small cold on top of the pollen.) Dry, unproductive cough interspersed with excessive, gross greenish yellow mucous production.

I need to go scout out a route for a bike ride I'm helping organize. I hate to say it, but I think I'll drive.

For reference, here are the March 2011 pollen counts for ATL:

Highest we got last year? March 24, at 3939.

2010 saw a high of merely 462. 

 

How about 2009? March 30, at 1727.

2008, you ask? March 19, at 534.

You have to go all the way back to 2007 to find a year even remotely as bad as this year. March 26, 2007: 5499 (which was, I believe, the previous all-time record, before it was shattered last week.) 

Why? In significant part, an unusually warm and early spring. And yes, pollen counts and season length are definitely linked to global climate change chaos.

Household plumbing fun

When was the last time you cleaned out the p-traps and pop-up drains in your bathrooms sinks?

Here's what they look like after only a few months of not being cleaned:

And that's the crap that came out of just one drain tailpiece and p-trap. If it looks gross, trust me, it smells worse.

In case you're wondering, the piece of red duct tape on the toothbrush handle is to remind J and I to not stick this one, used for such tasks, in our mouths.

Singed, Drunk

Doing my part to help heartwarming stories of owners and their stolen bikes being reunited go viral. 

As you can read in this HuffPost article, the above note was attached to a high end Trek road bike which was left at the Aspen (CO) Police Department / Pitkin County Sheriff's Office.

Fortunately for Drunk, the bike owner has decided to not pursue it, since he might have a hint of figuring out where Drunk works, and something tells me it's possible he didn't wipe off his fingerprints.

BAY AREA! food porn, beer porn, coffee porn, protest porn

As many of you know, I was in the bay area last week for quality time with, in alphabetical order, A, E, W*, and K.

*See this post for a reminder of who W is. 

 
A and I started the process of moving he and R into their awesome new apartment. Location hint: it's near this landmark business.

We got the most important task done first: fully stocking the fridge with all of the essentials.

I did some cooking in A's current apartment. This was for pasta. Yay for tempeh! (And they had this delicious salt and lime and chili powder spice mix.)

Artichoke hearts. 

Asparagus. 

And WHOA, WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE?!? Are those... ONIONS?!? Yes, folks, that's right: A had ONIONS IN HIS FRIDGE! So I used them. They were delicious.

Here are the assembled cooked ingredients: I put the DELICIOUS ONIONS in the middle in a separate bowl. Yeah, I'm a good friend like that.

 Walking through downtown Oakland, got a little protest action. Yay Oakland!

On my second to last day in town, I helped K with some prep for a party he was doing. This is the prep for spring rolls for 30. (I did everything but the mango, while he did stuff with meat.) 

Here is a photo of how the spring rolls turned out after K finished them for the party. Yay spring rolls!

And this is with W at Saturn Cafe in Berkeley. It wasn't amazing, but it was pretty tasty, especially on a cold, rainy day. 

A and I had coffee at Sight Glass in SOMA at before he dropped me off at the BART to go to the airport. Again, the espresso wasn't that incredible, but it was good, totally serviceable; the space, on the other hand is gorgeous, and full of beautiful people. With very tight jeans. And fixies. And Macbooks. And "service dogs".

Radio Silence

Been busy, okay? Lots of projects around mom's house, hanging out with siblings, drinking beer. Had a delicious bottomless brunch at Sugar Plum Vegan this morning. The image is of the comparatively boring cajun tots and hummus at McMenamins in Eugene. Basic, but quite cheap at happy hour.

Decided to keep the Cross Check: it's an awesome bike, and a lot of fun to ride, just not nearly as well suited for loaded touring as the Long Haul Trucker. (No real surprise there, of course.) The Cross Check is super versatile, kind of a jack of all trades, while the LHT is a touring monster.

More beer drinking about to ensue with A, and a return visit with E and possibly K to what is truly in my top ten favorite restaurants anywhere, Souley Vegan in Oakland. Stay tuned for more food porn!

Salem vegan food porn

Who'd have thunk it?

This place was great. The sesame ginger tofu was delicious, the beer selection fantastic, and the Firestone Wallet XV for $5 for a 13oz goblet was off the charts.

In Eugene now, and while the apparently partially ruptured Achilles tendon is feeling somewhat better, and I'll be doing an ice bath tonight, it's probably smart to let it detail further bike touring. Stats to come.