The last of Pittsburgh

Between finals and getting home, I haven't posted anything, though I have gone out to eat. So, to make up for it:

On one of the nights before finals, J and I went out to eat at some bar sorta place, Union Grill, on Craig Street. I got a nice hummus place and some whole-wheat "spa" pasta. I didn't expect much, but it was pretty tasty. Not something I'd do all the time, but it was a nice change of pace.

Though most of my exam diet was deplorable (the ultimate fritos and coke vegan!), once the exams were mostly over, I had some nice stuff to eat, like this bowl of ramen from Lulu's noodles:

One of my last meals in Pittsburgh was my usual green curry from Spice Island Tea House. Never a bad choice.

I am not even kidding when I say I could eat that green curry every day. It's the perfect mix of flavors. A little sweet, a lot of spicy. 

On our 15+ drive home (we broke it into two parts, the bulk of it being the ride from Pittsburgh to Charlotte), we stopped at Maggiano's. Luckily, our server was a vegan; she pointed out that the normal pasta had egg, but the gf spirals did not. Surprisingly good.

I've not been too creative at home (sleeping 12-16 hours a day) - the most creative thing I've done has been to take fancy ramen packets, add a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil, and cook some vegetables with the noodles (it does taste good...).\

J's mom, K, has been baking up a storm since I got back. I need to take pictures of some of the cookies she's made, they're delicious. As in, "Can I have a cookies? Please can I have a cookie? I really want a cookie, can I have one? ... I put some stuff away, I'm being helpful, can I have a cookie?" delicious. My obnoxious inner child will go to any and all lengths to get a cookie.

Still Sick

Didn't cook a thing today. Instead, I went to Chipotle (no pictures, it's chipotle) and got a free burrito (use a smart phone, check in on facebook, show it to the cashier - bogo!).

On the way back, grabbed a cupcake and cookie at dozen.

The Mostess cupcake had a cream filling on the inside... The molasses cookie was amazing. I'm not the biggest cookie person - usually they're too sweet or gooey or something, too cakey or too thin or too much - but these were just about perfect to me. A little bit hard, but so good.

Come dinner time, I didn't feel much up to cooking, and most of what I had on hand was completely unappealing to me at best. I think I probably associate some of it with getting a cold and headaches. So I decided to make a run to Whole Foods to grab some microwave dinners. 

I got an Amy's pot pie, some green smoothie/juice stuff, and an apple pie*. Jaime had pirogies, which were almost, but not quite vegan... I need to get on making those. They don't look too impossible.

The smoothie thing isn't that photogenic. The pie isn't either, but not to the same degree.

It was pretty tasty. I mean, the Almost All-American Seitan Potpie is better by a mile, but for something that I can have ready to eat in 20 minutes, it's pretty good. The tofu in the pie is a bit weird.

Afterwards, apple pie. Pretty good. I have a weakness for apple pie and ate... oh, about half.

*I was hoping to go a thanksgiving potluck tomorrow, but since I'm sick, I think that might not be the best thing to do...

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Saw this recipe over at EtsyVeg a few days ago, and given that I have only... you know, a whole fridge full of pumpkin puree, I decided to try it.

I modified it a bit: Not having pumpkin pie spice, I used 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon of cloves, 1/8 teaspoon of allspice. Next time, I'd probably sub out the cloves for dried ginger, but I didn't have any this time.

All my ingredients, ready to be dumped into bowls and mixed up and stuff, except the baking powder, which was hiding, and the Earth Balance, which I really should've let warm up a bit.

Dry ingredients in a too-small bowl. It took a minute to swirl it all up together, but no big deal.

I got a little bit off-track here. I should've warmed up the earth balance a bit, but... I didn't. It's really hard to cream cold butter. Really, really hard. I haven't made cookies like this in a long time (I used a stand mixer at home). It turned into a molasses-y soup.

I pushed on, though, and just went ahead and dumped the flour and chips into the wet ingredients. I mixed them together for a bit.

The dough's a bit gloopy. Also, really good to eat straight out of the bowl.

I scooped tablespoonish quantities out of the bowl onto a baking sheet. This was about 1/3 of the dough.

These really do have to cook for 20-25 minutes. They're really thin, so next time, I'm going to up the flour a few tablespoons and chill the dough beforehand, so it keeps its shape better. They're pretty good. I ate about 4 myself, then gave the rest to people on my floor. Since I have 2 bags of the dough left, I'll probably make them again this week...