Soy Nightmare

It all began innocently enough – The simple quest to sample various vegan ice creams, not necessarily to compare to the “real thing,” but to see how they stacked up as an enjoyable dessert by themselves. How far wrong my search inadvertently veered, into that dark, unfriendly realm of vegan foods that make omnivores shudder and exclaim, “Ugh! With ‘substitutes’ like that, why would anyone ever go vegan?!” and further weakens my usually unfaltering belief that soybeans can be a reasonable substitute for just about anything that would usually be an animal or animal product.

I had previously bought the travel-sized boxes of of soymilk also offered by Soy Dream, which I found to be perfectly decent, (Really, how could you make bad soymilk anyway?) So I was sadly surprised that the quality and taste of their “ice cream” left much to be desired.

French Vanilla

At first glance as I opened the lid, I thought that perhaps something went wrong when coloring was added to the product inside, or maybe it had gone bad some how? Staring me in the face was this creamy, yellow soy-based ice cream. Not like taxi cab yellow, but much more pronounced than I would expect for something labeled as “French Vanilla.”

Digging in nonetheless, I found that the ice cream was at first touted a very bright vanilla taste, but as I continued to stuff my face, it soon became sickeningly sweet. How weird. As awful as it is, in my pre-vegan days, I had had to drink Ensure supplements frequently, but found the vanilla taste absolutely nauseating. Maybe this was due to the fact that one of the first ingredients was high-fructose corn syrup, followed by oil, and then more sugar. As much as I wanted to enjoy this, I really couldn’t stomach much more than ½ cup of this at a time, at generously spaced intervals. Maybe if eaten only once a week, it’s not completely vomit-inducing, but it just brings up some really awful memories for me.

Strawberry Swirl

Lifting the lid, I had to double check the label to make sure I hadn’t grabbed the vanilla again, considering how pale the contents of the container were! Atleast it looked a little more natural, without outrageous added colors, so I hoped for the best as I spooned out a bowlful. I noticed there were even darker spots of pink, indicating the supposed existence of real strawberries.

At first bite, I was taken aback by the intense flavor. Not at all what I had thought based on its appearance. Unfortunately, it tasted extremely… artificial. Nothing like strawberries found in nature, and more like those chemically enhanced children’s fruit snacks, only frozen. The darker spots even tasted sour, not at all pleasant, really. As disappointed as I was with the vanilla, the strawberry was downright repulsive. My greatest regret is having the remainder of the pint to go through.

Admittedly, theses are only two of the ten different flavors that are offered by Soy Dream, and in fact, I even have another one (Chocolate) sitting in my freezer, purchased by my mom. She reports that it’s actually very enjoyable, quite contrary to my reactions towards the contents of the other cartons I explored. Comparing it to something akin to a chocolate sorbet, she went further to say that it feels almost light and airy, as opposed to the standard density of cow’s milk ice cream.

Even after that glowing review… I find myself too scared to give this brand another try. Maybe somehow I managed to pick only their worst varieties, and all the rest happen to be the cream of the crop, so to speak. And who knows? These flavors I reviewed could still strike your fancy, but… I personally will not be buy them again.

Sometimes the best intentions aren’t enough to produce delicious food, and while I admire the attempt and appreciate the effort to put more vegan items on the grocery store shelves… If this is a soy dream, I may have some trouble getting to sleep tonight.

Hannah (BitterSweet)10 Comments

Cravings

Don’t you just hate it when there’s that one certain thing you want, that you’ve been thinking of and pining for all day, and then discovering that it’s no where to be found? Whether it be a specific food, ball of yarn, book, what have you, the unsatisfied desire feels completely crushing. A space that will not and can not be filled. Perhaps I’m getting a bit over dramatic, but I know that not a single person can honestly say that they have never gotten their hopes up and been disappointed when they fall short.

Luckily, the story of my new friend today goes nothing like that. In fact, it’s quite the opposite!

Like most newly born critters of mine, fresh off the hook, my little hamster friend had an intense craving for – What else – Sunflower seeds. With none to be found, I scavenged the kitchen, trying to persuade him to try a similar treat like I usual must when dealing with company of the yarn-based variety. Truly, they can be so demanding! And who could really refuse such soft, acrylic creatures, with their sad plastic eyes baiting you on?

This one, however, would have none of it. No other seeds or nuts would suffice – It was sunflower seeds or nothing. Despairing at my barren kitchen cupboard, he scurried away to be outside and sulk, finding nothing more depressing than a world without his food of choice.

Feeling that the day had already been ruined he slowly paced the patio when out of no where…

Who could have imagined! One lone sunflower seed for the taking! What luck, what fate! It was almost as if someone had simply left it there purposely for him to find… But that’s crazy talk, right? He couldn’t fathom who would have even hear his anguished cries, let alone do such a thing…

The best he could convince himself of was that it was meant to be. This was something that he had needed, even if he could have made it through the day without, his mind told him that it was more than a mere want, but really in innate need. As the song goes, “You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes, you get what you need.”

He held onto that seed with all his might, making sure that the area was secure and that he had this marvelous find all to himself. After a brief glance around, he needed no more reassurance and savored ever last piece of his sunflower seed, nibbling it slowly as if there would never be another scrap of food to fill his stomach for as long as he lived.

Of course, the very next day he just happened to awake next to a rather large bag just bulging at the seams, filled to the very brink with sunflower seeds.

It is only human to have cravings, for whatever it might be that strikes your fancy. And I suppose, it might even be animal nature, too.

Hannah (BitterSweet)6 Comments

Garden of Vines

Every year around spring time, we pull out the packets of seeds and try to grow some veggies in little pots outside. The problem is that our yard doesn’t get much sun light because there are so many trees, so there often aren’t very many options to chose from that would really be able to thrive out there. This year, however, my mom and I found a good space of flat dirt against the house that got a good deal of light, so we threw on some top soil and pounded in the stakes for a fence.

In past years, our usual crop would be snowpeas, and some times peppers. This time, however, we went all out; Carrot, onions, horseradish, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and pumpkins. It was all so exciting, having always wanted a real garden full of tasty edibles, fresh as can be.

But of course… Nothing in life is that perfect, right? Around this time now, we should start seeing the fruits of our labor (literally), but instead, all I can see are… Pumpkin vines. No, not actual pumpkins, only vines. Not only did they completely strangle and kill all of our other poor sprouts, but they also failed to produce any of their own vegetable! Need I add the fact that the onion was actually alive when we put it in the ground, and now it’s merely fertilizer? All of those plans to make my own pickles, lovely garden-fresh salads… Gone.

My mom was poking through our patch of vines the other day, when out of no where, a different variety of greens presented themselves. Could it be? One of our seedlings survived and had taken root, pushing diligently through the forest of unfriendly greenery and agressive pumpkin plants? Pulling to gentle extricate our only remaining vegetable from the ground, the dirt gave way to reveal…. A microscopic carrot, about 1/2 inch long.

Here’s the picture my mom took of it, on a standard 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper:

Sad, huh? It’s all stem, nothing more. After seeing how underdeveloped it was, she put it back into a little pot of dirt, hoping to remove it from the vicious foe outside and allow it to develop further. As it seems to go in our house in terms of growing veggies, the carrot now seems to be dying. I’m such a sad ex-gardener!

To cheer up the vacant patch of vines a bit, I took to a hobby I seem better suited to, and knit a little pumpkin to supplement where real ones should be.

Cute… but not the same. I still can’t roast or carve a pumpkin made of yarn and fiberfill, no matter how hard I wish I could. Maybe if I leave it there long enough, it will remind this uncooperative plant of what it’s supposed to be making.

To make your own pumpkin for either decoration or to encourage a stubborn garden, the pattern I found can be accessed here at Curly Purly.

Hannah (BitterSweet)9 Comments

Everybody’s Doing It

I had been on the lookout for some fingerless gloves recently, wanting a little more warmth for autumn, but not going as far as thick winter gloves. That would be a bit of overkill, seeing as the temperature has only begun to drop anyway.

I almost settled on just a plain, straight knit tube with a thumb-hole for lack of a better patter, but then I looked around and saw that just about every one else was casting on for fetching from Knitty.com. Liking the design much more than my original choice, I quickly did an about face and took out my cable needles.

They knit up very fast; It only took me about a day or so to complete both gloves. I really like the fact that the cuff fits snugly without any need for additional shaping. These cozy companions are knit again in Caron’s Simply Soft Shadows, this time in “Moss” green. I love the way the colors twist and change differently in each glove. This would drive some people insane, I’m sure, who obsess over having matching color variegation, striping… The whole nine yards. In my personal opinion, I like this a lot better, because not only does it save a lot of time (And possibly yarn), but I feel it makes them each more unique.

Near the end, I’ll admit I got a bit lazy though, and opted to just bind off normally instead of making the picots at the end. No damage done, right? Oh, and I realized when I was about done that I had actually twisted the cables in the opposite directions, but who really cares. I won’t tell if you won’t.

Hannah (BitterSweet)13 Comments

Home, Sweet Home

As of yesterday evening, I am overjoyed to say that I’m finally back at home, where I belong. It’s been a long, difficult and painful journey spending so much time apart from my loving family and the familiar environment I had become so comfortable in, but I want to thank everyone who’s been so kind to me throughout this whole ordeal. No more medical emergencies from now on, which means there should be nothing to interrupt my flow of posts again for such a prolonged period. I appreciate every last person who takes the time to read my rambling entries, and without all of you readers out there, I don’t know that I would have made it through this whole ordeal.

You could imagine, I’m sure, that after this unprecedented absence from the kitchen, I had a fairly lengthy agenda of things I wanted to sample. With so many things to do and such a long list of different recipes to try, 10 minutes had barely passed since dropping my bags before racing into the kitchen and preheating the oven. I guess you can say I had a smooth landing, and I hit the ground baking.

Starting out simple, I thought it would be a comforting treat to make some good old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies. I had actually rarely eaten these as a child, believing raisins to be pure evil concentrated into the form of dried fruit. I’m still not exactly wild about them, but I do enjoy them in certain applications, such as this.

Quietly flattening out my small rounds of dough, a sense of belonging really hit me, and I knew I truly was home. It didn’t even matter if the cookies turned out or not; It was simply the processes that provided comfort and nostalgia of “the good old days.”

Coming together very quickly, I felt as though only a minute had passed when the timer went off and my sheet of batter has now been transformed into cookies. Not waiting around too long for them to cool, I dug in and was somewhat surprised as to what I discovered. They were actually fluffy, not really chewy like I thought they would have been, but I liked this new sort of texture a lot despite my expectations. It was almost as if I were eating a small piece of sweet oatmeal quick-bread, which is certainly not a bad thing.

It’s good to be home.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 1/4 Cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Rolled Oats
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 Banana, Mashed
1/2 Cup Raisins
1/4 Cup Soymilk

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together your dry ingredients, namely the flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Afterwards, slowly add in the maple syrup, sugar, vanilla, and mashed banana. Make sure the batter is mixed well. It will be a somewhat dry batter so that you can roll balls in your palms and then flatten them on the cookie sheet. If it’s still too dry to do so, you can always add some extra soymilk until you’re happy with the consistency.

Place parchment paper onto your baking sheet and distribute your cookie rounds evenly on top. Make sure you’re happy with the sizes before baking, because these really won’t spread very much. Slide your cookies into the oven for approximately 8-10 minutes. Don’t wait for them to brown, because then they’ll probably already be burnt. They look almost uncooked when they’re done, so don’t worry about their appearance too much.

You should get somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 medium sized cookies, but it depends on what you consider medium.

Printable Recipe

*And just as a little side note: My food reviews were meant to take place of my baking exploits while I was away from the kitchen, but now that I’m back, does everyone still want me to keep reviewing pre-made vegan foods? I still have 2 or 3 that I’m going to post regardless, but do you want me to continue seeking out new ones afterwards?

Hannah (BitterSweet)11 Comments

Monkey See, Monkey Bundle Up

The winds are now changing and the sun is beginning to turn in for bed earlier and earlier each evening. Despite the fact that it’s still so warm out, the signs of autumn are becoming more prominent with every passing day. It seems like everyone’s already bundling up, pulling their jackets out of storage and dusting off those warmer shirts and sweaters.

Just the other day, in fact, a friend of mine was preparing to run off on an errand, when he saw just how uninviting the overcast day was looking. Better safe than sorry, he through on his good trousers and a sturdy hat for good measure before facing the fierce winds.

A fan of autumn like myself, he took it in stride and saw it as a heartening sign of the changing seasons. I can’t wait to pull my own warmer garb, although it could still be a while. Most people would want to be naturally warm, but it sadens me that it take so much for me to actually feel cold enough to put on a coat! I love layers and heavy clothes, but unless it’s close to snowing, I’m often feel hot enough to bake bread beneath those garments!

Getting back to my small friend, he did express some worry about not actually owning any shirts… It was fine in the summer, but now feels a bit awkward, setting out in the nippy mornings, sporting a pair of trousers but no top. I promised we could work out a deal, because I doubt that a shirt for his size would take much longer than an hour.

It’s a good thing he has me around this time of year – Imagine standing at the bus stop completely topless by the time winter rolls around!

Hannah (BitterSweet)4 Comments