This will be a slightly sad post. On Monday, Graham and I have to leave Paris. And we can’t stop talking about all of the things we’re going to miss.

But instead of writing a mopey little post full of nostalgia, I’ll try to cheer myself up by (of course) talking about food and thinking of the nice things about returning home.

I do have a little problem: we haven’t been cooking much. Graham’s seminar has been taking place, and I’ve been working pretty hard to do most of the travel planning, while trying to write a bunch of lectures and a couple of dissertation chapters. But we’ve cooked a little!

We’ve made some wonderful tomato-basil pasta with almond parmesan,

some avocado, vegusto and pistou sandwiches,

more polenta with roasted asparagus and carrots,

and gomasio noodles, with avocado, broccoli, smoked tofu, sesame oil, and chili oil.

We’ve also been taking advantage of a lot of the (surprisingly healthy) packaged food that’s available, like these little vegan leek quiches, made with cashews,

and pain des amis from Du Pain et Des Idees.

It’s so good!

One experiment I did recently that totally worked out was gluten-free chocolate blinis.

They’re basically like little brownie pancakes. I haven’t yet figured out how to make then really pretty–but they would be great with some fruit compote, or under ice cream!

I used

-chickpea flour
-corn starch
-sugar
-cocoa powder
-baking powder
-salt
-water
-chocolate chunks
-shredded coconut
-veg butter

As usual, I have no recipe. But I used enough chickpea flour and water to get the consistency of thick pancake batter, and enough cocoa powder to make them really, really dark. The dough isn’t so fun to eat raw (uncooked chickpea flour tastes a little like raw green beans), but for some reason once you cook them the green-beany taste is gone and you’re basically eating a brownie. A brownie filled with protein!

This allows you to see the little coconut chunks.

So, even though there are things I’m looking forward to about heading back to the US, we’re going with a little trepidation, since we have a very long journey ahead of us. Our itinerary:

1) Go to Barcelona for 4 days (so that Graham can attend a conference);
2) Fly to Savannah (by way of Philadelphia and Charlotte);
3) Drive to North Carolina;
4) Drive all around North Carolina, for about 3 weeks;
5) Drive to Arkansas;
6) Drive to Indiana;
7) Move into our apartment.

In the grand scheme of things, all of these stops along our way are privileges to make, so I definitely won’t complain. But it’s a lot. And did I mention we both are teaching for the first time in the fall? And that we’re writing dissertations?

But there really are things I’m looking forward to. We get to attend two weddings, one in Savannah, and one in Durham, both of which I think will be really fun. In between those two weddings, I’ll get to visit with my mom on the North Carolina beach, while also visiting with my paternal grandfather, who I haven’t been able to see in a very long time.

I’ll get to see my dad and his family (which is now one member bigger) when we head to Arkansas. I’m very excited to see my little brothers again, and to meet my new sister!

We’re also, of course, looking forward to being able to see our Hoosier friends. It’s hard to socialize living in Paris while your French is so bad!

And, perhaps one of the greatest treats of all will be spending some quality time with our favorite little Hoosiers.

Oh, and real nutritional yeast! That will be fun, too.

Unfortunately, in two weeks Graham and I will have to begin our trek back to Indiana. I can hardly believe that we’re about to leave! A huge amount of my time over the last couple of weeks has been wrapped up in planning–let’s just say that our travel plans could lend themselves to a very fun summer, or to a complete logistical nightmare. So, let’s see:

1) Fly to Barcelona (where Graham will deliver a paper);
2) Fly to Savannah (for a wedding);
3) Drive to Southport, NC (for a family reunion);
4) Probably go to Charlotte, NC for about 5 days (hopefully a time when we can get some extra work in);
5) Drive to Durham, NC (for another wedding);
6) Someway, somehow get our car out of Arkansas and back to Indiana.

Did I mention I have a dissertation to write?

It doesn’t help things that I’m a cheapskate, who likes to use budget airlines when possible. So, of course I decided to take EasyJet from Paris to Barcelona, not remembering that they have especially stringent baggage size and weight restrictions. Not good when you have a year’s worth of luggage with you.

So, between figuring out where we’re going to stay and how we’re going to get from place to place, I haven’t been doing much cooking. However, a while back I had some fun with quick-cooking polenta–it’s great used in place of mashed potatoes,

and it’s also delicious fried.

When I had tried frying polenta in the past, it didn’t work out so well. In retrospect, I think that the combination of my crappy pans along with my constant fussing while cooking (nudge nudge nudge, shake shake shake, poke poke poke) was the culprit. You just need to make some regular polenta, and then let it cool into some kind of mold. Once it’s cold, you can flip it out of the mold, chop in into pieces, and then fry it in a little bit of hot oil in a good non-stick pan (or maybe in a well-seasoned skillet). When Graham was in Canada, I ate my fried polenta with balsamic-glazed chickpeas and broccoli.

And remember: don’t fuss with it! As it’s frying, leave it alone for a few minutes before flipping it.

We had a very non-traditional–and delicious!–Easter dinner while Graham’s mom was in town.

I made some agave-roasted brussel sprouts with hazelnuts,

red peppers stuffed with basmati rice, smoked tofu, and peas,

and polenta with pistou.

I also made some tomato and white wine cream to top the peppers with.

Not Easter-y, exactly, but very colorful–and it was a great meal to eat on an unusually warm spring day.

For dessert, we picked up some dark chocolate animals (traditional French Easter chocolates),

along with some chocolate-covered cherries and liqueur-filled eggs (which were surprisingly intense).

And we ate all of those chocolates alongside some home-made chocolate bottom macaroons.

We had a fantastic Easter, what with all that chocolate, but it was made especially nice because a day later we took a daytrip to Chartres, which allowed us to get a glimpse of some beautiful spring-time fields.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about having to return to Indiana, and one thing I’m definitely going to miss is living in a place with such nice spring weather.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that there’s lots of great vegan food in London. So, let this be a “highlight reel” from our recent excursion.

Spanikopita from Inspiral Lounge

Tiramisu from Inspiral, which got a little banged up while being transported to Russel Square park

Fish and Chips from Loving Hut (excuse the blue-ish hue–I clearly didn’t use the right camera setting)

Muffins from VX

Amazing lunch buffet from Diwana, a vegetarian Indian restaurant

Bangers and Mash (with apple cider jus) from Mildred’s

Ale Pie from Mildred’s, with mushed peas

An awesome burger and salad from Pogo Cafe

The lunch buffet at 222–Graham’s favorite!

Graham with coffee at 222

Although Graham liked 222 best, I wouldn’t know how to pick a favorite. I really liked Diwana and Mildred’s and Pogo–Diwana had incredible deep-fried cauliflower, my sweet potato and sundried tomato sausages from Mildred’s were great, and it was nice to have a home-made burger at Pogo. But I admit that the curry, rosemary potatoes, and quiche-bites from 222 were amazing. You’ll just have to check out all of them.

I’ve been “making” lots of red curry!

I don’t really make it, though, since my curry paste comes from a jar from one of the Belleville markets.

If you can find good packaged Thai curry paste (which, in my Midwestern and French experience, involves skipping the stuff you find in the “Thai” section of big grocery stores–try to find a store that specializes in Thai, or at least Asian, ingredients), you can make lots of quick and delicious meals. Just mix together your curry paste with some heated coconut milk, and add some salt and sweetener if necessary. If you can find them, try throwing in some lime leaves and lemon grass, and let them stew in the curry for a bit. Alternatively (if you’re using a red or masaman curry paste), you can try adding in some peanut butter:

When I made the above curry, I did just that–I added in a little peanut butter, followed by some seared broccoli and tofu. Then we ate it on top of quinoa, which I had also cooked with a little curry paste.

If you’re looking for tasty, inexpensive vegan food in the Belleville neighborhood, try Ravioli!

Ravioli is, as you might have guessed, a Chinese dumpling restaurant. Their menu is small: you can get fried dumplings, dumplings in soup, or one of a few different kinds of vermicelli bowls. However, their menu doesn’t need to be bigger–they make all of their dumplings from scratch, and they’re delicious. They have a couple of different kinds of “vegetable” dumplings, although only one kind is vegan (the other kind contains eggs and shrimp).

A plate of fried dumplings like the one pictured above is only 5.50–pretty good for so many home-made dumplings. (Also be sure to eat them with the amazing chili oil kept on the tables!)

Graham enjoyed the fried dumplings.

And be sure to get there early, or be prepared to wait–it seemed to get pretty packed after 9pm or so.

Here is the current recipe for cashew cream–a delicious, rich, dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free cream that’s perfect for sauces and soups. You can even make it without a food processor.

Ingredients

1/2 C raw cashews
1 1/2 C water

Directions

1. Grind the cashews (I use a coffee grinder).
2. Combine the ground cashews with 1 C of the water in a bowl, and blend using an immersion blending. (I’m guessing you could also use a non-immersion blender, though I haven’t tried that.)
3. Pour into a sauce pan, and set to medium-high heat (not too high, though, or you’ll get some scalding and sticking). Whisk regularly.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil, still whisking.
5. A bit after it boils, it should begin to become quite thick. At this point, you can reduce the heat and add in as much water as you want to get the desired consistency. When I made the cream you see above and below I added another 1/2 C of water to get the consistency of thick cream.

*This should make enough for three large servings of pasta, approximately.

If you let it cool or refrigerate it, it will become even thicker. If this happens, try reheating it to see if it thins out, and if necessary add more liquid.

One really easy, delicious way to use this cream is to blend in a vegetable bouillon cube at step 2, and at step 5 add in some lemon juice and black pepper–you’ll end up with a delicious lemon-pepper sauce which is great with pasta.

But there are all sorts of things you can do with it. You can make it into mushroom gravy,

that’s balsamic-glazed seitan with broccoli and mushroom gravy

you can use it to make a tomato and white wine pasta sauce,

spirulina tagliatelle with seared broccoli and tomato-white wine sauce

or you could do a creamy pesto sauce.

spirulina tagliatelle with creamy pesto sauce and shredded piquant Vegusto

It’s also great added into soups, and could replace Chantilly in some desserts.

I just took a look at the Beyond Skin website–if you’re in the market for (allegedly) durable women’s dress shoes, check it out!

I don’t do heels, but their flats look nice!

Although they’re price-y, it really might be worth it. I have a bad habit of buying whatever I can get the most cheaply, and as a result end up with lots of Goodwill-originating useless crap that clutters my closet (interspersed with some gems, of course). So, if you’re like me and looking for hard-waring, work-appropriate, comfortable, ethically-sourced goods, perhaps Beyond Skin could help.

Perfect pears with piquant Vegusto cheese make a wonderful snack.

I, too, wondered why there were little red things on the stems of the pears. I asked the man at the vegetable stand, and he said, “C’est tres jolie!” Actually, they’re just there to prevent the stems from poking holes into the other pears. Makes sense.

These pears really are perfect–ripe and sweet, but not mushy.

So, if you’re in Paris right now, make your way to the “Verger” vegetable stand on Saint Honore (across the park from Saint Eustache), and pick up a pear–or whatever vegetable they recommend to you that day. You know it will be amazing.