what the hell _does_ a vegan eat anyway?

Dinner 3/8

Portobello Mushroom Pave*
(from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's "Raw" book I mentioned the other day)

Baby Cucumber Sushi
(baby cucumbers w/ the center hollowed out and stuffed w/ macadamia nuts, jalapeno, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil -- all Liz's work)

Shaved Fennel Salad
(w/ olive oil and lemon vinaigrette)

Corn Soup
(w/ curry oil, also from the "Raw" book)


* so, we had an all raw dinner last night, the Pave took a little more work than usual -- and indeed most recipes in this book are along the lines of A+B+C+D+E+F+G+18 hours (of sprouting, marinating or dehydrating)=Z. The Pave takes overnight to marinate the paper thin slices of portobello mushroom (used my trusty ceramic kyocera blade). The end result looked much like the picture in the book, so I'd consider it a success...

The book itself is a coffee table book along the lines of "French Laundry", but the one advantage is we live about 1.5 hours from Farmer Jones' place (where most of the more esoteric veggies can be found). I don't forsee my diet becoming completely raw, but perhaps a couple of dinners per week (as well as breakfasts and lunches). Hey, I'm already a vegan, how much more weird can going raw be? ;)

If you want to see larger versions of my laughable attempts at "food styling" and "plating" just click on the smaller pictures...