Fresh Pistachios and a Tofu XPress Giveaway!

Look: these are fresh pistachios that I purchased at Barbur World Foods. The outer covering is soft and wrinkly (obviously wrinkly). You pull it off to reveal a pale shell. The shells separate pretty easily to reveal the gorgeous nut inside. So fresh pistachios taste pistachio-ey, but really intensely so, and they are kind of soft. I love them. I can imagine making an Indian pilau and scattering fresh pistachios over it. For me for now, though, they are lovely on their own.

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My post is pretty short today because I want to get to the awesome giveaway! I have for you, in my possession and ready to send out . . . a Tofu XPress! No longer will you require makeshift presses of cast iron pans and heavy canned goods. The Tofu XPress presses excess water out in less than an hour, is easy to clean, is dishwasher safe, and doubles as a marinating dish. It can also be used to press other foods such as tomatoes or eggplant.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below, and Tofu XPress would also ask that you either like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, or sign up for their newsletter. Tell me what you'd make with your shiny Tofu XPress, im-press me with some vegan knowledge, or just tell me you'd like to win! This giveaway is open to residents of the US. Others throughout the month will be open to everyone everywhere. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator and posted in one week's time below that day's giveaway. Yes, that's a full week to enter this giveaway! If you win a giveaway on this blog at some point this month, please be kind and don't enter further giveaways--I'd love as many people to win something as possible!

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The winner of yesterday's Thrive Foods giveaway is Lorelei! Congratulations! Please send your name and address to me at miso...@yahoo.com. (<---make sure to click on the . . . link for the rest of the email address. This is a spam avoidance thing.)

In Which I Visit Barbur World Foods, and a Thrive Foods Giveaway

Recently I went to one of my favorite food markets in the Portland area. This is Barbur World Foods. You wouldn't know it was wonderful from the outside, but it's full of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern staples that are hard to find elsewhere.


Such as fresh pistachios! I've also purchased fresh chick peas and grape leaves here, but they aren't carrying them at the moment.



You have to pass the desserts (including the baklava, which is vegan and very delicious) to get to the deli case/sandwich counter/pizza oven. All of the vegan items are clearly marked. They make a mean falafel sandwich, the spinach pies are yummy and lemony, and the zaatar pizza is vegan and wonderful.

As you travel back you pass a mountain of pita for the hummus you picked up at the deli counter. See?

They have this tarragon soda I am kind of obsessed with, and Cheerwine!

In this aisle, it's all olives on the left, and all different kinds of pickled vegetables on the right. There is another aisle which is all olive oil. Trying saying this three times fast: olive oil aisle.

Here we have stacks of six-pound cans of tomatoes:

Fuul, aka broad beans. Loads of them.

Dried fruit and nut aisle. And spices and spices.

Three brands of frozen molokiyya. I have eaten this horrid thing. In Cairo, where it is beloved. Prepared by a local. The closest I can get to describing it is: it's like eating spinach, but with the sliminess of okra, or maybe mucus. Keep it behind the door.

And finally, packed in amongst all of the other fun things, the kitchen supply area, which includes this small fancy coffeepot with a bird on top.


And so was my visit to Barbur World Foods. I hope you enjoyed it!

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On to the giveaway. The lovely people over at Da Capo Lifelong have been extra-lovely this month, and have furnished a number of titles for giveaways on this blog. Please consider having a look at their website, and/or following them on Twitter and Facebook, because they are seriously generous. Today will be the first of those, and it's Thrive Foods by Brendan Brazier.

The product desription on the Amazon page says: Building upon the stress-reducing, health-boosting nutritional philosophy introduced in his acclaimed vegan nutrition guide Thrive, professional Ironman triathlete Brendan Brazier now turns his attention to your dinner plate (breakfast bowl and lunch tray too). Where does your food come from, and is it healthy? How can you be sure that you are receiving the nutrients you need? In Thrive Foods, Brazier clearly explains how nutrient-dense, plant-based foods are the best form of proactive health insurance and environmental sustainability rolled into one. And that's not all. Thrive Foods also features 200 nutritionally complete, easy-to-make recipes that utilize the power of super- foods such as maca, chia, hemp, and chlorella, and that avoid common allergens, such as wheat, yeast, gluten, soy, dairy, and corn.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below. Tell me what makes you thrive, pass along a healthy tip, or just say you'd like to win! This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada. Others throughout the month will be open to everyone everywhere. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator and posted tomorrow below tomorrow's giveaway. If you win a giveaway on this blog at some point this month, please be kind and don't enter further giveaways--I'd love as many people to win something as possible!

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The winner of yesterday's Rishi Tea giveaway is Leslie R.! Congratulations! Please send your name and address to me at miso...@yahoo.com. (<---make sure to click on the . . . link for the rest of the email address. This is a spam avoidance thing.)

We Begin! Fava-cado Dip and a Giveaway from Rishi Tea

Welcome to the first day of Vegan MoFo, the Vegan Month of Food blogging event! Click the logo to the right of this post to visit shenanigans at the main site and find hundreds of other bloggers. I hope you will stop by this blog often this month, because I will be continuing last year's MoFo theme: giveaways! Last year, I contacted companies which produce vegan food-related items and publishing houses that publish vegan (mostly cook)books in the hopes of doing a few giveaways. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and I was able to host at least one giveaway every day of the month. This year, I had a similarly positive response, and I think the giveaway items are possibly even better.

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Before I begin, I'm offering up a recipe I jerry-rigged one summer evening after visiting the farmer's market. I don't have a photo because I was hungry, but I'm sure you can picture it. I made it up on the spot, but you'll find a similar guacamole in Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Appetite for Reduction. I was a tester for the cookbook so there may have been some subliminal crossover!

Fava-cado Dip

1 c. cooked fresh fava beans
1 large ripe avocado
Juice of one lime, about 2 ½ tablespoons
½ t salt
1/8 – ¼ c cilantro

Throw everything in the food processor and turn it on. Whirr until creamy. Add water a tablespoon at a time if ingredients aren't mixing nicely. Serve with baguette or other bread, or maybe with carrots. Cherry tomatoes are good with this also.

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To the giveaway! Once again this year, I have the pleasure of having the first giveaway of the month from Rishi Tea, multi-year award-winning manufacturers of my very favorite teas. I remain especially partial to their tangerine ginger blend, but last year cinnamon plum snuck into my heart as well. Rishi would like to provide one of you with a selection of loose leaf teas and a beautiful teapot. They haven't decided which one just yet, but last year it was the Tsuki, pictured below.

To enter, please leave a comment below. Tell me about your favorite tea, a favorite t-shirt, or anything at all! This giveaway is open to US residents only, but others throughout the month will be open to everyone everywhere. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator and posted tomorrow below tomorrow's giveaway. If you win a giveaway on this blog at some point this month, please be kind and don't enter further giveaways--I'd love as many people to win something as possible!

Watch this space! Vegan MoFo 2011 begins in October!

Vegan MoFo, the Vegan Month of Food, is coming up! Once again, one of my themes will be giveaways. I'm working to ensure that I have a giveaway available every day of the month, and it's looking like this will be possible!

In the meantime, would you consider visiting Ride to the Light's fundraising page here? Read more on their Facebook page. Seriously, even $10 would help, and that is just the equivalent of a couple of lattes or a pair of cute socks.

Sad Nighttime Photo of a Most Delicious Risotto

Dinner, when I most want to be creative in the kitchen, is a terrible time to take photos . . . at least until the summer. But on this wet, dark evening, there's nothing I would rather have eaten than this stupendous leek and mushroom risotto. This is a tester recipe for the Urban Vegan's second cookbook. After tasting this, I am even more excited to continue testing! You are going to like this cookbook.

ps. Bonus small blue elephant to be spotted in the above photo.

Vegan MoFo Giveaway Winners, Take Note!

Almost everything has been sent, and my apologies for the delay. I have forgotten what pain there can be at the end of the semester in grad school.

• Kitteh: I need your address so I can send you your book!
• Sin Dawg winners, you'll be receiving your packages this week. The delay is my fault, not the fault of the fantastic people at DKB, so I do apologize!
• Amey, Islaborg, Haymarket8, and stealth package to Burnaby, your packages went out yesterday.
• Primal Strips winners and GoMaxGo winners, your packages finally went out earlier in the week.
• Overseas winners, it seems customs is taking their sweet time. I apologize for the delay. If anything is returned to me, I will be in touch with you individually, but I hope not to have this problem!
  

I'll be delving into new cookbooks soon, and will be posting. Many thanks to Vegan Cookies for hosting a giveaway that I won (for Tamasin Noyes's American Vegan Kitchen!). I've also got a new camera and a new slow cooker to play with. If anyone has recipe ideas for the slow cooker, I would love to hear!

Goodbye Vegan Mofo, and The Winners of the GoMaxGo Giveaway!

Goodbye MoFo, till next year! I had a great time, and now I have 800,000 assignments to finish in about two weeks.

The last winners of the month are VeggieAmanda and Mandi! Congratulations to you both, yay! Please send your full name and address to me at miso...@yahoo.com. (<---make sure to click on the . . . link for the rest of the email address. This is a spam avoidance thing.)