Hello, friends! Let's talk about food!

Welcome back! I am so pleased to have you.  I sort of view this blog as a conversation in my daffodil yellow kitchen with you guys sitting around the table and my twenty one pound orange tabby climbing in my lap. Wish you were here!

First I must apologize for not getting to report on what would've been a fantastic way to kick this thing off.  Whilst investigating other vegetarian chefs in NYC I accidentally found myself on the website for the very first NYC Vegetarian Food Festival!!! It was to take place on Sunday, April 3 in the Altman building in Chelsea.  I awoke on Sunday, April 3rd to an absolutely gorgeous, sunny morning and not so subtly awoke Greg, the aforementioned vegetarian boyfriend, declaring that we had to go the festival.  I briefly considered singing Cinderella's song from Sondheim's "Into the Woods"...."I wish to go the festival....more than anything....more than life." But then scrapped that idea, jumped out of bed and continued, "I can write about it in next week's blog!" It was created by Sarah Gross of "Rescue Chocolate" and Nira Paliwoda, event planner and foodie. Well, long and sad story short, we arrived to find the line to get into the festival around the block, then another block and another! I kid you not....it wound around three city blocks!  The bad news is some people waited up to two hours in line (I was not one of them). The good news is what an amazing statement this whole thing made in terms of how vegetarianism and veganism are sweeping the nation....or at least the city.  If anyone still clings to the notion that we are a bunch of dirty tree huggers, they should've seen the line of happy, healthy, beautiful people excited to taste the amazing dishes being whipped up by such places as "V-Spot", a Park Slope vegan restaurant, Williamsburg's "Foodswings" vegan fast food spot and "Cinnamon Snail", a vegan food truck from Hoboken.  Apparently, a good time was had by all!

I am constantly flooded with food memories.  Doesn't food always play a major part in every lovely memory we have of our childhoods?  One particular one I was thinking about recently was how, as a kid, I looked forward all week to our Friday night dinners at fast food restaurants.  My mother was not the most culinarily adept lady so our dinners were often under-seasoned and over-cooked slabs of meat accompanied by a vegetable in a can.  But on Friday nights under those flourescent lights things finally had flavor and seasoning and color!  My parents and aforementioned Russian grandmother would pick me and my best girl friends up from dancing school and we'd head over to Burger King, coupons in hand.  What a culinary adventure! 

Those were wonderful nights and I cherish those memories and those people.  I haven't eaten fast food in years but sometimes still crave those big messy sandwiches.  People talk about the elusive McRib as though it were a religion and sitcom characters mourn it's loss like a beloved relative.  To that end I have created the vegetarian McRib. (I accidentally typed McRob and then corrected it but maybe I should just call it the McRob, since I invented it.)  Morningstar Farms makes a fabulous bbq rib substitute that has the taste and texture of boneless ribs.  But I do find that with many of these products they just need to be doctored up a bit so here is what I do. I heat up a nice, soft bun, place the Morningstar Farms bbq boneless "ribs" on the bun and place a few pickle slices on top. Voila! Is it rocket science? No.  But it is a nice, quick and easy fast food fix.  I love pairing it with homemade sweet potato fries.  Just take a couple of sweet potatoes and cut them into thick wedges.  Sprinkle some good Kosher salt and a little pepper on top and give them a very light drizzle of olive oil.  Cook them at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes until they are slightly browned and soft inside.  They are heaven! I make them at work all the time and the sugar really comes out in the cooking process. I like to cut them thick bc nice pretty little slices tend to burn too easily.

So there you have it...healthy fast food....who knew?  I promise more sophisticated recipes are forthcoming. But for now I present to you the McRob!

Please post here with any questions or requests for topics or recipes.

Enjoy!

Love,
Robina