Rites of Spring #21 Vegan Dirty Rice by Colin and Andrea · Sunday May 23, 2010 by colin newell
We love a good jambalaya or Cajun dirty rice from a zataran’s mix but we do not like all the salt. Here is a nice vegan spin on the classic Cajun recipe with a couple of twists… and it’s vegan!
Photo right – actual photo of the dish we prepared tonight – natural light – F2.5 on a 55MM macro lens on the Canon EOS-30D
1 large Onion
1 Green Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Pablano Pepper
2 cups rice
4 cups water
1 package (400g) extra firm Tofu
3 tablespoons Creole Spice mix
Salt, Pepper to taste
2 teaspoons Cumin
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup dry Vermouth
Step 1 – put rice on to cook (set aside once fluffed)
Step 2 – chop all peppers and onions into small chop (dice)
Step 3 – Combine 2 tablespoons creole mix with 1/4 cup oil to make a liquid paste
Step 4 – Cut Tofu into 1 X 1” cubes. Toss into creole oil/paste mix
Step 5 – Pan fry Tofu until all sides are browned/crisp + set aside.
Step 6 – Heat 1/4 cup oil in large pot. All onions and peppers + 1 tablespoon creole mix – salt and pepper.
Step 7 – Saute veg for 10 minutes or til just beyond crispy.
Step 8 – Add 1/4 cup Vermouth to veg mix at 9 minute point in veg saute
Step 9 – Combine rice + veg + tofu to complete dirty rice
You can garnish with green onions, cilantro or even sprinkle whole or crushed nuts.
Enjoy.
Rites of Spring #20 The power of my shoes · Friday May 21, 2010 by colin newell
My wife and I just spent the evening with Brit comic Eddie Izzard – arguably one of the funniest men on the planet. Maybe even beyond the planet.
We actually sat in separate seats – well, I mean – separate rows… obviously people cannot sit in the same seat while watching a comic like Eddie Izzard…
Unless they are making out or something.
We initially determined that there were no good pairs of seats left for the show – but came back when we realized that we could sit in two separate rows – not far from each other… maybe check each other out – flirt… and then go home together.
Brilliant! And it worked! But what about those shoes?
Digress. Actually when we go out on dates or weekends, I wear a pair of my Fluevogs – a very sexy shoe from an outlet in Vancouver. My Fluevogs are NOT shown in the photo above. I will get an actual shot of these 2-Tone Burgundy and Black bad boys. I mean, I do not wear great shoes to work. What would be the point? I did once and I was interrupted constantly during the day… never got a thing done that day.
It seems that even an old f*cker like me (late 40’s / early 50’s) can wear some bad-ass foot wear and pull it off. And whenever we are in the theater or cinema, someone spots these things and wants to talk about them.
Being over 6’ tall and still slim and wearing 501 jeans in a size an average 21 year old would like to be able to wear – with a Tommy Bahama shirt on top of that… and…
Without fail. Never. Ever. An evening. Where someone does not see the shoes and react as if they are a 5 month old puppy or a new baby.
Shoes for heavens sake. Shoes.
It seems a waste to wear them on my feet for all the love they get by passersby. I should strap an extra pair around my neck. That would be funny.
Anyway. Eddie was funnier than heck – and spent the entire 2 and 3/4 hour set delivering the history of everything and proving there is no God.
I am in…
Then again, I do have these shoes. That proves something.
Just not entirely clear what.
Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident, writer, singer and want-to-be funny guy… with shoes, awesome shoes.
Gear fest - Playing with the Worlds Best Coffee Maker by NEWCO · Wednesday May 19, 2010 by colin newell
In the World of fast cars, cool watches, great shoes and exotic destinations… there has to be the best of the best. And so it is with coffee machines.
Whether they are making espresso, simple stove top coffee or dripping an awesome pot of joe, there is a pecking order where coffee machines are concerned.
And in the opinion of the Coffeecrew.com machine review team, there can only be one truly great drip coffee maker. There are, for the record, two remarkable machines by two different manufacturers; the Technivorm KBT Mocca series and the NEWCO OCS-8 and OCS-12.
BBC Sales, under the watchful eye of Ken Robyn, was kind enough to send us the 2 flagship OCS brewers for some of our semi-destructive testing.
And this is merely the teaser blog on the feature. The whole review will be over on the coffeecrew.com website – hopefully I will be done sometime this weekend. I have some playing to do, some drinking ahead of me – and many photos to take.
Quick summary. The Newco OCS-12 and OCS-8 brew 60 fluid ounces and 40 fluid ounces of coffee respectively. Their commercial powerplant is a 1500 Watt heater. The brew basket temperature is very near the ideal 205 degrees (F). Brewed coffee in their thermal carafe is between 170 and 180 degrees (F) depending on whether or not you pre-heat the carafe. That is chop scalding hot and the ideal way to brew.
Considering that the average serving size in home-office coffee world is around 12 fluid ounces, these are ideal for small offices and big families of coffee drinkers. And on top of that, these machines can be plumbed into domestic water supplies for batch after batch of great coffee. Brew time is about 7 to 8 minutes for full batches.
Tonight I brewed a 1/3 pot of Guatemalan Liquidamber from Discovery Coffee.
So, so good folks. So, so good.
By the by: These machines might be free samples… in which case, some lucky coffeecrew blog reader might be taking one home! They retail for around $179 to $200 – they are built like tanks. I bought my first one 6 or 7 years ago and it has been running 5 days a week twice a day without a single hiccup.
Now that’s coffee brewing!
Comment [9]
Rites of Spring #19 Too much coffee plant · Wednesday May 19, 2010 by colin newell
I would like to think that I have a green thumb… but I do not really. Right now I am running a bit of a rescue operation for various plants including the ones that I have inherited from my dear Mom-in-law’s estate…
And in the estates case, it is more of a example of – they were in pretty good shape until I got a hold of them!
Photo at left – these were scrawny little plants until I started watering and feeding them. Each plant drinks about 1 liter a day… and they like me to sing to them. click to super-size photo – The guitar is a concert sized acoustic – for the sake of comparison!
I have a variety of cacti, some really odd ones like Mandarin plants (from seeds) that are about 3’ high… and the coffee plants above – that used to be manageable in size. As you can see, not so much anymore.
They are both bearing fruit every year – for what it’s worth. I think I got about 8 to 12 ounces of cherry off of one of them. No I did not process and roast. If anything, I will be planting the seeds and growing more plants for giveaway.
Want a plant? Live in the Victoria area? I could be convinced to grow you a brand new plant. Keep in mind – these beasts can out live you and grow to fill their space… which is your space. So beware!
In the meantime, the kids need watering!
