Happy Thanksgiving to All

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm currently cooking two outside on a slow rotisserie. I check on them and add things necessary every 15 mins or so.. change the smoke chips.. so on.. they smell good

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, too..

Sherry and I are going OUT, as I MAKE RESERVATIONS!

Bob Andersen

 

Thanksgiving day is pretty much of a bust for this vegetarian. I get an invitation or two each year, but I find it kind of repulsive to sit and watch people pigging out on meat. My (few) vegetarian friends spend the day with their families, So I spend the day alone looking forward to tomorrow.

But I'm thankful that there's only a few days a year like this. And I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving day.

 

My dinner was really good. Too bad you're not around here.. i would invite you over to have some mashed potatoes, green beans, yams, stuffing... er.. stuffing might have a hint of meat.. but we have plenty of food that's non meat contaminated... apple pie too

 

I'm still looking forward to our dinner. It's just my father and I, and he wanted to make pork chops (?!) and other goodies tonight. I can smell it in the oven.... *drools* So I'm sitting here doing graphics work for my boss (been at it all day), listening to my MP3's, as well as listening to my stomach growl because of the food cooking in the next room.

Awww, poor Daniel. Normally my mother is home, and she's vegetarian. You would deffinately enjoy our thanksgiving dinners when she cooks. Tofu, garlic mashed potatos, roasted veggies, yummy jumbo buscuits, vegetarian stuffing, and a pumpkin pie. Only my poor father suffers from the lack of meat. LOL! I can take it or leave it, personally. Just don't get between me and my stuffing!! :lol: I'd invite you over too, but you're way over there (and my dad cooked tonight, so it's not veggetarian).

 

Hey Daniel, don't feel so bad. All of my family is a full day away, and I'm working the holiday. In fact, as I'm typing this, I'm working a 16 hour shift. 2.5 times base pay!!! I'd rather be here, than sitting around the house doing nothing on a holiday.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel\";p=\"52770)</div>

Daniel,

You must not have heard of TOFU TURKEYâ„¢

[Broken External Image]:http://www.freshtofu.com/turkey.jpg

 

.. in a sense.. that looks good.. and could be really good. Tofu is a tricky thing.. i've had good tofu and bad. Daniel.. next year we have to mail you some tofu turkey

 

Yep, I've eaten those. They aren't really that bad if you like tofu (which I do). If you haven't already, you might want to try it, Daniel.

 

I love tofu. It's one of my favorites. I do not like anything that tastes like meat. I've been at vegetarian restaurants where they serve meatless stuff that tastes (as near as I can remember after 37 years) exactly like meat. It was creepy and very unpleasant. I do not want my tofu to taste like meat.

It's really not lack of vegetarian food that's my problem. This is the bible belt and also the beef belt. So my few vegetarian friends spend such holidays with their meat-eating families, and I decline invitations because I'd rather be alone than watch the orgy of meat gluttony. My mom and my sister don't eat much meat, but they live 1500 miles from here.

However, all that was yesterday. Today is a new day and life goes on.

 

happy belated Thanksgiving... unfortunately, i had to work yesterday, but still got to eat plenty as work provided waaay too much food.

 

Awww, poor DaveinOlyWA. *pat pat* I didn't have to go in to work, although I did spend the entire day working on graphics stuff for the store. So in a sence I did work, but at least I got to stay home in my PJ's all day. LOL. *happily felt lazy for once*

Daniel: most resterants have tofu that tastes like meat because it's just supposed to be a meatless version of the same dish. They don't want the original flavor to be different, so most tofus are made to taste like the meat it's mimicing (e.i. Morning Star's Chick Patties, etc). I personally don't care whether the tofu tastes meat-like or not. But I do understand why you would care, and I don't blame you. *nod nod* My mother won't touch anything that even remotely resembles meat in either flavor or smell, so you aren't alone in that. Have you ever tried smoked tofu? Ohhhhh, it's soooooo good! *drools* No meat taste at all, just smokey. Really good stuff. It's a hard tofu, so you can eat it as a snack or in a sandwhich. I have a hard time staying out of it. :mrgreen: There are a LOT of vegetarians in my state, so you can get meatless alternitives to most every dish in most resterants. You might want to look into moving over here.


Hey Dave... maybe next Thanksgiving the WA club could have an after-thanksgiving day PC club dinner (since we can't do it thanksgiving day itself due to most people spending it with their families)? That might be fun.

 

Starbug: I generally buy the fat-reduced tofu, cut it into small cubes, and then either dump it into soups and stews, or cook it in a bit of water with soy sauce and spices over high heat in a skillet. Once the water is gone, I redude the heat, and stir constantly until it's golden brown. Then it's good by itself, or with bread or brown rice. Another alternative is cooking it right in with the rice, but because of the water in the tofu, it's hard to get just the right amount of water so the rice comes out right, so cooking them separately can be more reliable. Tofu is also good on pizza. I think I had the smoked tofu in Spain, but I've never seen it here.

As for moving to WA, I visited Seattle, and it's beautiful. But I think the constant rain would be depressing. On the other hand, if I met the right woman and that was where she wanted to live, I don't think I'd have any problem with it. (Unlike L.A. or N.Y. or Chicago, where I could not bear to live.)

15 years ago I don't think there was a restaurant in Fargo with anything I could eat other than a lettuce salad or a baked potato. Nowadays many of them have a vegetarian plate. And we have a pretty good Indian restaurant (lots of vegetarian choices) and an upscale Italian restaurant with an excellent pasta primavera. So, like I said above, availability of food is no problem. It's just that on the major holidays all my friends are with their families. And I don't care to look at the mountains of meat they are shovelling into their faces.

 

the best part of seattle is that only 30 miles from town you can live in an area where you might be able to see a half dozen other neighbors because of the low population density.

as for meatless dishes and something that is very popular in WA, mushrooms are great in dishes....

many like shitakis (something like that) have a very firm texture that holds up even after cooking and tastes great!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"52972)</div>

Ha. Five miles from Fargo you can live where you'd need a telescope to see your nearest neighbor. And that's assuming there was no shelter belt blocking the view. I lived for 20 years where my nearest neighbor was 3/4 of a mile away. I was 30 miles from the center of downtown Fargo.

On the other hand, I have to drive 4 miles, all the way over to Moorhead, MN, on the other side of the river, to get Seattle-quality coffee.

 

ok... i have 4 places within a 5 minute walk where i can get ready made seattle coffee... and two others where i can buy the stuff to make it at home!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel\";p=\"52950)</div>

Sounds like you do what I do with tofu. Try it also in burritos/burros. And it's also good with lots of veggies in pasta! My fav: cubed tofu, green/red/and yellow bell pepers, tomato chuncks, olives, onions, garlic, angel hair pasta, and a light maranara or pesto sause (or if really lazy use a salad dressing instead). Sprinkle parmasian cheese over the top. Eat and enjoy. Tofu is also good in omlettes (I don't know if you eat eggs or not). As for the smoked tofu, it's easily found in the grocery stores here. I like to eat it with a chinese hot chilli sause (I have no idea what it's called, as the bottle's labled in Chinese!).

Yeah, it used to be that way here too. But now the only place a vegetarian couldn't eat at would be a BBQ place (for obvious reasons. Heh).

Dave's suggestion of shitaki mushrooms is a good one. Try making a hamburger, but use the shitaki 'shroom in place of the burger pattie. And it's even better if you marinate the 'shroom first. *drools*

 

Someone told me this story. I don't remember if the city was Portland or Seattle. This person had a friend who had moved up north from L.A. She asked her friend how she liked it up there, and the friend just started to cry. The rain was too much for her.

I think W.S. Maugham wrote a story called Rain, set somewhere in the Far East. Maugham was a condescending, colonialist, chauvinist pig, but a marvellous writer. Highly recommended.

I'd move to Seattle for love. But at least right now I cannot see moving there just in the hopes of maybe finding it. A bigger city than Fargo would need something more concrete than vague hopes to get me to move there.

Chinese hot sauce anecdote: I went to a Chinese restaurant with my aunt, and she ordered egg rolls as an appetizer. I dipped just the tiniest corner of one in the mustard, just a drop, and my entire head turned to fire for 10 or 15 seconds. It was not the same sensation as chili, which we describe as a burning, and the Mexicans describe as a stinging. It was sort of like an atom bomb inside my head. My whole head expanded to about 5 or 10 times its volume, and was filled with plasma: the same stuff the sun is made of. Then I was back to normal. It was one of those experiences you are grateful for having had, but which there is no need to repeat. I ate the rest of my egg roll without mustard.

 

Daniel,
Must be those Northern Midwest tastebuds. My wife is from Northern Minnesota, Two Harbors to be exact, and she doesn't understand why anyone would want to spoil good food like that. Me, I think it can help bring out the subtleties. My favorite over standard chinese mustard is Lan Chi's version of Chili with Garlic paste. (Starbug, that brand is available in at least one or two stores in the international district of Seattle).