Paul and I went to bed listening to Ghost to Ghost AM with Art Bell from 1996 last night. We still haven’t been able to track down the episode from the first night we spent together in 1997, but we are still looking.
I have been feeling a little under the weather last night and today. I bought two fancy 22 oz. beers at Whole Paycheck after my IPRC shift last night but I didn’t think I’d enjoy them so I’m saving them until I feel better. I got up at 7ish and work til 3ish so I think a nice rest in bed and watching some TV on the internets is in order while I drink some tea and hope this headache goes away.
Paul’s band I Am My Kat are practicing in the basement and luckily it is just a dull tone, not even loud enough to hear over the freeway up in my room on the second floor. Their last show is on March 17 at The Know. Unfortunately that’s also St. Patrick’s Day. Being at a bar on that day never seems like a fun time. Oh well, I’m excited to see them play.
I have been meaning to document my foray into wine with Jess and I have been holding off. I was trying to find my tasting notes but they have disappeared. So, you are just going to get some photos of our meal last week.
My friend Jess is a beer and wine steward at the Arbor Lodge New Seasons. She knows her stuff. I think that when we met i probably knew more about beer and she knew more about wine but over the years she has probably surpassed me in beer knowledge and always has with wine. I like the call her my own private Steward… even down to the fact that she opens and pours for me!
We have been working on making these vegan wine pairings for over a year and I have been meaning to document them. So, I’m starting now. Basically I come up with some things to cook and explain the flavors and ingredients and she picks a wine to pair with my food. what we have learned, that is a surprise to noone, is that my food tends toward the heavier and earthier flavors. I have also realized that my palate is pretty similar when it comes to wines. All I have really learned about tastings is from beer so I ocassionally get made fun of for my language.
With Jess and I it is a cultural exchange: She teaches me about wine and I educate her in obscure 90’s punk and vegan cooking. I think it is a fair trade! We generally have two bottles of wine. Usually a white and a red and listen to records. Sometimes we share with paul… most of the time we don’t.
Last week
soundtrack:
Cub-Mauler
Lemuria- Get better
Wines:
Menage a Trois: 2007 California White Whine (Chardonnay, Muscato, Chenin Blanc) I lost my notes on this but I remember that I enjoyed it. I’m finding that I dig the Muscato grape.
Owen Roe: 2005 Cabernet Franc Columbia Valley I feel bad for not liking this as much as Jess thought I would. I remember that there was this tanic *thing* that I frequently associate with cheap wine… except that I know this was an expensive one. The mouth feel was just really distracting. jess loves Cab Francs but they are jsut hit or miss with me.
Food: Since we were making lasagna we thought we would make a nice starter platter to snack on while the lasagna was cooking. We made hummus from scratch, chopped up some veggies and olives, roast a clove of garlic and some dolmas. The white wine tasted so fucking good with the dolmas. yum. we even let Paul have some.
Yummy starters
we devoured the roasted garlic!
After we wer ethroughly stuffed from that we got our vegan spinach and tofu lassagna out of the oven and snacked on that with the Cab Franc.
earthy and fruity cab franc... and a fancy numbered bottle
That was last week. I’m not sure when we are going to have a meal this week. I leave Friday afternoon for Seattle with Lilly and marc for the Zine Librarian Un-Conference so it would have to be before then. Anyway, all this talk about food is making me hungry. I had some tofurkey Kielbasa with grilled onions and peppers sandwich for lunch and I know we have some artichokes so maybe I’ll make one of those for dinner, they are always so fun to eat!
Alex Wrekk 
the lasagna looks amazing! do you have a recipe? kae
I don’t really use recipes but it goes something like this:
-lasagna noodles
-2 bottles of sauce
-2 tubs tofu ( like to use two different consistencies so a soft and an extra firm)
-2 boxes frozen CHOPPED spinach thawed and with th ewater squeezed out (it has to be frozen or the water gets all soupy in the end)
-a bit of lemon juice
–a table spoon or two of vegenaise
-some onion and garlic salt.
Put a big pot on to boil the lasagna noodles and put the noodles in and cook until they are al dente (not too soft or they are hard to work with)
while that’s heating and cooking mix ever thing EXCEPT the sauce into a bowl. Mash the tofu up first with your hands, a fork, or potato masher, Mix the chopped spinach in with the spices, lemon and vegenaise. This is your “ricotta” mix.
Pour some pasta sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish and lay the lasagna noodles over the pasta sauce. Put half of the “ricotta” mixture over the noodles and covers with more pasta sauce. now repeat this with the next level. Add sauce all over the top.
I’m never sure with cooking temps and times but let’s say 350-375 for at least a half hour but probably closer to 45 minutes. You want to lasagna not to be soupy and you want the top not to burn.
I hope that helps!