Three years ago today, Kris and I were leaving the Amazon city of Iquitos and traveling to Cusco, Peru.  We were covered in mosquito bites and filled with one of the most amazing landscapes we have ever seen – a forest pulsing with life.

We feasted on a huge dinner at a restaurant in Iquitos – it was a goodbye dinner for the small eco-tour group that we traveled with, and I have wonderful memories of my time there…

With the thoughts of Peru in our heads (and musings about a return trip to the Amazon…), and the help of the new cookbook, Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers (full review to come – promise!), Kris and I put together a big meal inspired by our time in Peru.

Lime Chile Breaded Seitan with Okra and Swiss Chard over Brown Rice + Tomato Chile Pineapple Salsa and Fried Plantains

It was a good way to use garden veggies (okra, chard, peppers, tomatoes) and to play around with new things like plantains (which are hard to get right… but this second batch turned out well, thank goodness) and to try out the new recipe book.Food and the associated senses can definitely “take you back” to a place – a time that you remember fondly.

Drinks / food with fellow travelers in Cusco, Peru

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I’d love to hear about your experiences with travel and food.  Have you had a unique culinary experience while you traveled?

Crossing Baltimore’s Key Bridge

Kris and I went northwest of Baltimore – a part of the state we don’t get to very often – to do some exploring over the weekend.  We found a lovely hiking spot (Gunpowder Falls State Park) and a photogenic pre-Revolutionary War historic village (Jerusalem).  The pristine weather and the free time gave me the chance to try some photographic techniques that I have wanted to try for awhile…

This kind of shot is called HDR – High Dynamic Range.  I had seen hundreds of HDR shots on Flickr, and recently Kris and I decided to give it a try.  (His first HDR photographs were done in Alaska – and they are stunning.  See his shot of the Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls, and his other shot of the Treadwell Mines on Sandy Beach).  The process is relatively simple; for the photograph, I used my tripod and our 5D Mark II camera.  You shoot three shots at the exact same spot – one at a lower light, one at standard, and then a higher light exposure.  Using PhotoMatix software (specifically designed for HDR shots), you layer the three photos on top of each other and the result is this multi-tonal image – the highlights and the lowlights.

It has an otherworldly look to it because it picks up on all of the colors – unique and “hyper-real”.  For that reason, there are several critics who say it is too much processing. Of course, like anything, there is a *right* time for HDR, and a *wrong* time.  I figured that Jerusalem Village was a nice chance to try it out.

As a child, I once told a “fib” to my mom about ice cream… made up this whole story about how it wasn’t me who polished off the container – and of course, my mother knew it was me, because I love ice cream.  So, if that gives you any indication about ice cream history in my life…

For years, I stayed a vegetarian for 2 reasons:  ice cream and cheese… I didn’t want to cut those items out of my diet because I loved them too much.  However, when I finally “made the switch” to a full-fledged vegan diet in 2008, my ethics trumped my desire (for once!) and I cut dairy and eggs out.  There wasn’t even time for the ice cream-shaped hole to form in my heart; manufacturers were already producing dairy and egg-free desserts.  In recent years, this market has taken off – so clearly I am not the only one looking for quality vegan options.

With the help of two books - Veganomicon and The Vegan Scoop - I realized that I could take ice cream making into my OWN hands…

~Strawberry with Dark Chocolate shavings~

Armed with my two guides, I borrowed my mom’s ice cream maker – the Cuisinart Automatic Ice-Cream Maker.  This counter-top model is much easier to use than the wooden barrels and hand cranks and rock salt ones that I remember from summertime family reunions (although they were fun to hand crank for a while).  Simply mix up the ingredients (more on that in a bit…) and pour it into the pre-frozen cylinder.  It sits on this rotating base and slowly mixes up the ice cream.  It takes about 25 minutes start to finish.  So great that I am planning to buy my own after “test-driving” mom’s for the last few weeks.

As long as the chemistry of ingredients is right, you can make almost any ice cream flavor you dream up.  I tried a recipe from The Vegan Scoop and was disappointed when it did not turn out right – the base never “took” and while it was still good, it was more of an cold smoothie than an ice cream. This could be the result of a number of factors: this book instructs you to book the ingredients, let them cool, and then put them in the ice cream maker – so there are more variables. Perhaps I didn’t let the items cool long enough? or maybe the ingredients were not a good match for my appliance? The biggest plus of this book is the variety of ice cream flavors – it has over 100 flavors from fruit sorbets to decadent chocolate mixes, also includes novelty flavors like green tea and red bean … for that reason, I use it more for flavor inspiration than I do for following the recipes. I have had much more luck with the base written up in Veganomicon. It has 5 ingredients and doesn’t require cook/cool time. I pour the ingredients into my blender (VitaMix) and then pour them into the maker. Easy as … ice cream. This recipe cuts the time down and you don’t have to think about temperature control.

The recipe does use some soy products, but I am experimenting on how to eliminate them – with so many non-soy vegan ice creams on the market, I know there must be some way to get that consistency without it.  I am not sensitive to soy, but I know that it is an allergen to many people, and I like to find alternatives to it whenever I can.  The common substitution of almond milk in place of the soy milk works well, and one could also use more coconut milk than the recipe calls for a creamier texture.  The recipe also includes sugar and I haven’t made any substitutions there;  I am using cane sugar over refined sugar, but I have not tried using syrups or agave – perhaps another experiment is in order!

Here’s the Veganomicon base recipe ~ could be plain vanilla ice cream, or the base to  “dress it up” in different ways:

1/2 c coconut cream (the cream that forms at the top of coconut milk cans)

1 c soy milk (or almond, hazelnut, possibly rice, although I haven’t tried that)

3/4 c sugar

6 oz silken tofu

1 T vanilla extract

Puree all ingredients in blender or food processor and add to ice cream maker.  Yield is 1.5 pints of ice cream.

Following this recipe, I have made several variations – the strawberry chocolate above, strawberry blueberry sorbet, hazelnut, mint chocolate, and most recently, peanut butter.  I am interested in trying some others before I have to give it back… rum raisin is sounding good to me…

(*ahem* and don’t delude yourself… just because it’s vegan doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a 0 calorie/low fat health food.  I believe it is healthier than store-bought dairy ice cream any day – only 5 ingredients over the 20 or 30 unnatural additions you see in stores! – and the fact that it does not have milk or eggs makes it healthier – in my eyes – than the alternative.)

“One day, I will stop by… have a look around…” Sitting at the traffic light, with my blinker on to turn left.  Looking directly ahead at the historic grounds and the small gravestones peeking above the grass.

“Why not today?”

Blinker off. Drove straight ahead into the small lot.  Exploration time.

…

I pass the historic landmark road plaque nearly everyday.  The plaque refers to the grounds of Christ Episcopal Church, established in 1711, and the church that was constructed a century later.  “Old Brick” is nestled right alongside several busy roads – tucked back behind some large poplar and oak trees.  You pass by it on the way to the market… the post office… the library.

After a lovely day with my mom (we spent it searching for a few key pieces at local thrift/consignment shops), we also stopped by “Old Brick” to walk the grounds of the old church, and the adjacent cemetery. Luckily, I had my new camera with me to capture the moments.

I felt like I discovered a little gem – so close.  I had every intention of stopping *some day* but having lived in this area for nearly nine years, I still hadn’t done it.  What places are on your “someday” list?  Do you think you could find a moment to explore and document that place within the next few days?

Larriland Farm days are back!  And this time, we went to the wonderful pick-your-own farm with the nieces.  It was all about the strawberries~

About 90 pounds of strawberries!  We had three rows (about 20 feet long) that were assigned to us – a group of 6.  They say it is the best picking that they have had in recent memory – I guess Snowmageddon was good for something!  Each plant had about 15 strawberries each, and they were like rubies under the dark green leaves.  So beautiful.

Since we had a clear plan for our berries, Kris and I took the most of them.  We split it 60/30.  It was an afternoon of washing, hulling, and freezer preparation.   The ripest and most delicate berries were taken out, cleaned and then sent through the juicer.  The juice is then frozen in popsicle holders and consolidated into plastic baggies in the freezer.  These little juice pops are used throughout the year for punches and sangria.  The majority of the berries were frozen whole – laid out on wax paper in the freezer shelf (so that they wouldn’t freeze together in one giant block after washing) and then consolidated into baggies.

…and with the others… we made some jam

My sister Sarah was in town for the long weekend, and she expressed an interest in learning how to can.  I picked up some jelly jars and pectin beforehand, so once she made it over, we were ready to go.

We made two batches of jam – the first was strawberry lime jam.  For this one, I used the Ball No-Sugar-Needed Pectin.  It called for apple or white grape juice for sweetener, but also gave instructions for adding some sugar.  Since I did not have the juice on hand, I did in fact add a bit of sugar to the recipe ~4 cups according to the recipe.  I found the recipe and adaptation on Ravelry’s Canny Crafters group page.  The original recipe was adapted from this one - just subbing lime juice and zest for the lemon.

The second batch used the same recipe as a guide, but a different flavor.  This was strawberry vanilla jam using Pomona’s Universal Pectin.  I saw several recipes for vanilla varieties and nearly all of them used a vanilla bean – but since I didn’t have one, I subbed 2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract.  I used the guidelines for sugars from Pomona’s box.  We had approximately 10 cups of strawberries, and I used a mixture of cane sugar and agave nectar for the batch.  And, it came out perfectly!  Such a nice gel and quite yummy too!

13 jars in all – 8 of vanilla and 5 of lime.  It was a great day.  Sarah, Kris and I had a lot of fun doing it all!  Now we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor over the whole year.  Planning to make more preserves, jellies, and canned goods this year – it’s fun to do!