so there's this tumblr thing...

I've decided to move this blog to tumblr because their layouts are purdy. I'm hoping that this move will coincide with me updating glitter pickle more often. Look forward to more restaurant reviews, product comparisons, lazy ass recipes, and a future post tentatively titled "sausage fest."

http://glitterpickle.tumblr.com/

thanks for reading!
xx

The (Other) Omnivore's Dilemma

I think that the whole "oh, I could never be vegetarian cuz then my diet would be all boring" argument is pretty fatuous. In theory, an omnivorous diet would open a person up to a lot more variety than a vegetarian diet simply because the latter forgoes a potent food genre, but in practice I've found that the exact opposite is often the case. It all comes down to a certain mentality, you see: the kind of people who are willing to take on a vegetarian diet tend to be more adventurous than those who whine and bitch about it being SOOOO HAAARDDD.

Take a look at the average omnivore's diet and you'll probably find a whole lot of bland monotony. Meat and potatoes are the order of the day, with some iceberg lettuce and tomatoes occasionally thrown in for a little color. Even the meat choices are largely limited to chicken and beef (despite the pork industry's more or less recent PR campaigns, the whole "the other white meat" mentality has yet to catch on). This paradox occurred to me even when I was an unrepentant omnivore, although I can't say it really applied to my personal circumstances since I actively and enthusiastically sought out all kinds of animal flesh to eat (armadillos, wild boar, little bunny rabbits, etc).

The wonderful thing about vegetarianism is that it's introduced me to a whole world of new food and flavors. Two years ago, I had no idea that kale and almond milk existed and now they're both staples in my diet. One door closes but another fifty windows open. So omnivores: get over yourselves. Most of you wouldn't know variety if it sat on your face.

moar pasta!

This particular dish got rave reviews from my omnivorous brother. It turns out that a heaping spoonful of minced garlic + five heaping spoonfuls of earth balance = a nice cheesy flavor. It's pure vegan wizardry!

The following recipe serves two:

- pasta (I used tricolor curly things)
- 4 zucchini
- earth balance
- minced garlic
- emeril's essence (I love this shit!)
- dried red pepper flakes
- dried thyme, basil, and oregano to taste
- salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop the zucchini into thin slices. Cook the slices over medium heat in a large frying pan. Boil the pasta (no salt) while the zucchini is cooking. Both should take around 10 minutes.
2. Drain the pasta and mix it in with the zucchini in the frying pan. Add a heaping spoonful of minced garlic and at least four spoonfuls of earth balance (you know you love it). Cook it all together, stirring constantly, until all the earth balance is melted.
3. Add the essence, pepper flakes, herbs, and salt & pepper to taste.

Yay!

I made up this recipe to get rid of the leftover zucchini, so the measurements are a little, um, improvisational. More than a spoonful of garlic would probably taste like death, but you can never go wrong with MOAR EARTH BALANCE!! Half the fun of cooking is experimenting anyways. :P

notes from an omnivore

After about six months of being meatless (give or take a handful of slips), I've finally reached the point where cooked meat smells a lot like poop. I used to get confused whenever my vegan friends made that comparison, but I totally get it now. What used to smell like a delicious meal now smells suspiciously like excrement; my exact thoughts at the moment of discovery were: "HOLY COW, MY FRIENDS WERE RIGHT!! COOKED MEAT DOES SMELL LIKE POOP!" at which point I excused myself from the kitchen because it was making me kind of sick.

This should make sticking to a meatless diet even easier than before. I mean, it's kinda hard to miss something that triggers your gag reflex (porn star jokes notwithstanding).

I'll have some more recipe up next week. :)

pasta salad

Made this from some leftover veggies in the fridge. The parmesan cheese makes it not so vegan (sad face) but apparently it's pretty easy to make your own homemade vegan parmesan "cheese" (happy face). I've yet to try it though (sad face).

ingredients for two:
shell pasta (the mini kind)
half an onion
handful of garlic cloves
2 tomatoes
oregano, basil, thyme
salt and pepper
two fat handfuls of baby arugula
italian dressing

1. Cook the pasta.
2. Chop up the onion, the garlic, and the tomatoes.
3. Saute the onions and garlic until nicely browned. Add the tomatoes. Season with oregano, basil, thyme, and the salt and pepper to taste.
4. Plop the pasta onto the pan and mix it all together.
5. Add the arugula and let it wilt ever so slightly.
6. Serve with dressing on the side.

Nothing too fancy. :)

Portobello Mushroom Burgers

Not cooking meat + cooking for your omnivorous family = family's slow descent into vegetarianism. Muahahaha... >:D

This particular recipe went down really well with ma familia:


4 portobello mushroom caps
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper

Emeril's Essence (no, he's not paying me!)
Vegenaise

1. Mix the vinegar, olive oil, garlic, basil, and oregano together. Add a bit of salt and pepper to the mix.

2. Place the mushroom caps shiny side up in a saucepan. Pour the sauce over the caps. Let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Turn them over a couple of times.

3. When cooking your mushies a grill is ideal. If you don't have a grill, a frying pan is sufficient. Brush the grill/pan with oil and heat on medium. Place mushrooms on grill/pan and cook for 5-8 minutes on both sides. Spoon the leftover marinade on top of the mushroom frequently.

4. The Emeril's Essence and the Vegenaise will take this burger from awesome to EPIC. When you're making your burger just remember to sprinkle a little essence on top of the mushroom (BAM!) and slather some vegenaise on one of the buns (or one of the bread slices if you're ghetto like me).

As far as toppings go, here are a few suggestions:
alfalfa sprouts
tomatoes
grilled red onion
avocado
provolone cheese (If you're not vegan.)

As far as instruments of conversion go, this burger is like the Virgin of Guadalupe. Omnivores and indigenous pagans are moved to believe.

Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese

Bought a tub of Tofutti "Better than Cream Cheese" at the local Whole Foods. It does a decent job of approximating the taste of cream cheese, but it still lacks the characteristic tartness of the real thing. There's also a bit of a tofu aftertaste.

It's not too bad, but I wouldn't say it's better than the real thing. Next time I'll give the Follow Your Heart imitation cream cheese a try.


Mmm...vegan cream cheese and sprouts. P:

lazy tomato pasta

Vegan cooking is really easy once you finally get out of your meat and cheese sandwich rut. Here's a simple single-serving recipe I managed to throw together with a few ingredients I had on hand.


You're going to need:
- 3 tomatoes
- garlic
- sweet basil (or just basil)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- oregano (totally optional)
- some kind of pasta (I used spaghetti)

The amount of garlic and basil you use is up to you. Personally I'm all for the school of "more is better," but you should experiment until you figure out what works for you.


Chop up the tomatoes and basil.


Drizzle some olive oil on a pan at medium heat. Add the tomatoes and the garlic (I used a spoonful). Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.


After a while the tomatoes should start "melting". You can speed up the process by mashing the tomato chunks with your spoon.


When the tomatoes reach a nice saucy consistency add the basil and the oregano. Throw in two handfuls of cooked pasta (or one handful if you have big hands) and stir it all together. Season to taste with salt and pepper then stir it up some more. Serve immediately once the pasta is coated.


If you're feeling sexy, you can garnish your pasta with a cute little basil leaf.

See? Vegan cooking isn't hard at all. :)

fun fact #1

When it comes to reducing your carbon footprint, not eating meat for one day has the same impact as buying all your vegetables locally for the entire week!

Now you know. And knowing is half the battle!

soylent green

I suck at plot summaries, so here's what michaeldvd.com has to say about this movie:

"Set in the near future when the world's population has reached critical mass, Soylent Green is equal part detective story and futuristic adventure. The world depicted in the film is a nightmarish possibility. Overpopulation has forced millions to live on the streets where any food is in short supply. People are forced to live amongst the rotting corpses of starvation victims as they wait for the Soylent company to distribute their weekly supply of Soylent Green, a manufactured food product developed to feed the starving masses. Charlton Heston plays Richard Thorn, a detective assigned to investigate the murder of a high-ranking Soylent Executive. His investigation leads to a shocking discovery that could devastate mankind."

And what, pray tell, is this shocking discovery?



SOYLENT GREEN IS MADE FROM HUMAN FLESH.

I think of this movie every time I eat soy protein.

eat: sugar beat sweets (sf)

Let's cut to the chase: I love the cupcakes at Sugar Beat Sweets. Love, love, LOVE them. If they weren't so expensive I'd be cramming my face with mini cupcakes day and night.

Type 2 Diabetes?

TOTALLY WORTH IT!!

Right now you can only get the cupcakes via occasional bake sale appearances and online order (sugarbeatsweets.com) but a brick and mortar bakery is currently in the works. So if you're in San Francisco and craving something sweet, check out their website and hit them up. Your tastebuds will love you forever.

best fries in berkeley

I've ordered every type of fried potato you could possibly order in Berkeley, from the garlic fries at Smart Alec's to the tater tots at I.B.'s, so I know a few things about Berkeley french fries. OM NOM NOM.

The one order of fries to rule them all:

Belgian Fries
from Maoz on Telegraph
$2.50 + tax

Maoz has the best ratio of saltiness to crunchiness to oiliness out of all the fries in Berkeley. And that one chick named Monica is kinda hot. I'm not really sure what makes Belgian fries any different from French fries, but I think it has to do with the thickness of the fries and the dipping sauce options.

Honorable Mention goes to:

Cajun Fries
from Raleigh's (also on Telegraph)
$3.95 + tax

The Cajun fries are pretty amazing but the customer service kind of sucks. I really wish they had a takeout window because the fries really aren't worth the sit-down dining ordeal.

take a bow

Two more finals and one more video post. Let's talk about this music video by Madonna!


When I was going through the comments board for this video I was a little taken aback by all the hate flying back and forth on the issue of bullfighting.

I'm definitely not pro-bullfighting, but I want to point out that a lot of rabid animal rights activists seemed to miss the point of this video. While the cinematography and the song and the clothes (oh my gawd the clothes!) are all undoubtedly gorgeous, I don't think that the beauty of the video is necessarily meant to glamourize bullfighting as a sport. The video's plot centers around an abusive relationship between the bullfighter and Madonna, with the bullfighting scene acting as a visual metaphor for the physical and emotional brutality that this guy inflicts; so if anything, rather than saying "killing animals = awesome" the real message in the bull's death is that this fellow is a bad, bad man.

Can you see the running metaphors between the two instances of violence? Do you notice how the dying bull is pawing at the ground just as Madonna is running down the street with lipstick smeared all over her face? If you think that this video condones bullfighting, then you must also think that it condones domestic violence.

To be honest, I seriously love this music video. I think it's one of the most beautiful pop music videos of all time. Things kind of went downhill for Madonna after Ray of Light, but the 90s were undoubtedly the shining peak of her career.

Watch the video and come to your own conclusions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDeiovnCv1o&feature=channel

my vegetable friends

Finals are kicking my ass right now. No time to blog extensively this week. :(

So it looks like today's post is going to have to be a video:



It's a little stupid at first, but it starts getting pretty amazing right around O:56.

harvest moon

I FREAKING LOVE HARVEST MOON. THIS GAME IS THE EPITOME OF ALL THAT IS AWESOME. There's something so wonderfully calming about growing digital crops and raising virtual anime chickens. And you get to ride a horsie and marry a songwriting hippie husband! OMG, SERIOUSLY GUYS, HOW COOL IT THAT??

Sometimes I still fantasize about running a chicken farm someday. It will be a no-kill chicken farm, more of a hobby than a for-profit business, and I'll eat nothing but free range, organic eggs. I might also expand the business to include a small family of ducks. There will also be a pet goat named Billy and a puppy named Gogi. I do realize that Gogi is a tasteless name.


It's a horsie! And a cow!! Awww...so cute. <3

Someone really should write a paper on how the enduring success of this series reflects a post-industrial longing for an idealized agrarian past. Not me though, sorry. I'd rather just play the game.

eat: wild ginger (nyc)

Wild Ginger
380 Broome St
New York, NY 10013
Neighborhoods: Little Italy, Nolita
212.966.1883
I can't believe it's vegan!

I'm pretty skeptical when it comes to Asian fusion restaurants but I was pleasantly surprised by Wild Ginger. Unlike P.F. Chang's (ugh, I can't stand P.F. Chang's) all the dishes were delectably nuanced in flavor and I didn't feel like my tongue was being pickled in salt.


If you can only order one thing off the menu, order the curry samosas. The pastry shell is light and crunchy with just the slightest kiss of deep-fried oily goodness, and the flavors marry beautifully with the spicy coolness of the mint sauce.


Honestly? I don't know why I ordered the mu-shu vegetables. It was tasty but boring, kind of like a baked potato. Order something else, like the mango soy protein...


Whenever you go to a new restaurant and order something with "soy protein" in it, there's always a chance that it'll come out tasting like glue. Luckily for us, Wild Ginger's soy protein looked, felt, and tasted freakishly like succulent slices of chicken. The mango sauce cleverly balanced sweet and sour with savory, the vegetables were all crisp and fresh, and the protein was so delicious that me and my date got into a fork fight over the last piece.


Then of course there was the obligatory slice of chocolate cheesecake. Very tasty, but a little dense. Probably could've lived without it.

With an appetizer, two entrees, and a dessert, the bill came out to around $50 including tip and tax. Going without the cheesecake would've brought it down to around $40. A little pricey for a young college student, but well worth the quality of the food and the elegant ambiance. The outstanding curry samosas and the mango soy protein have ranked Wild Ginger as one of my favorite restaurants in Manhattan, and it's undoubtedly the best Asian fusion restaurant I've been to so far. So f--k you and your sodium content, P.F. Chang's.

eat: cocoa v (nyc)

cocoa v
174 9th Ave
Manhattan, NY 10011
Neighborhood: Chelsea
212.242.3339
I can't believe it's vegan!

First thing you should know: the guy working there when I visited was THE HOTTEST GUY ON THE PLANET. I actually did a dorky happy dance the minute we stepped out onto the sidewalk because HE WAS JUST SO UNBELIEVABLY SEX-ABLE. OMG OMG OMG.

As for the establishment itself, Cocoa V is a 100% organic(!), vegan(!!), and free-trade(!!!) chocolate boutique and wine cafe. The ambiance is upscale and elegant without being intimidating and stuffy, and the menu features all the tasty treats you'd expect from a non-vegan cafe minus the suffering and cruelty inherent in animal products and globalization. :D


There's a gourmet chocolate bar at the front and a nifty little seating area connected through a doorway in the back. All the chocolates are so pretty that it's almost a shame to eat them, although eat them I did and they were f-ing delicious. My girl date and I didn't get to try any of the savory menu items but we did get two cups of darjeeling and a red velvet cupcake. My verdict on the cupcake?


Best goddamn red velvet cupcake of my life.

The cupcake was amazingly moist and the frosting was fluffy, thick, and perfectly sweet. I hate it when frosting is too sweet, so good job Cocoa V.

Altogether the cupcake and the tea came out to around $10 with tax not including the massive tip (he was SOOOO cute!). A little pricey, but just think: for $10 you could get two lattes and a skanky-ass scone at Starbucks, or you could feel all worldly and sophisticated and have some tea and the best cupcake of your life at Cocoa V.



You can kind of see Mr. Perfect on the far left. Tall, thin vegan boys with soulful eyes, bashful smiles, and an odd sense of humor seriously rock my socks off. They really do. If you don't care for vegan sweets, then at least go for the hotties who work there. <3