Tonight the whole family is going to The Rosendale Cafe to see The Crooked Jades. If you followed my link to the Rosendale Cafe you would probably say it sounds awesome, right? Well, wrong. Partially, at least. Let me explain. The music is always good, and the first time I went there the food was delicious. Of course, that could be because that was the first solid food I had eaten in a two days. (I had to have minor surgery on my gum for orthodontic purposes. Yikes!) Anyway, I had the seitan shepard's pie and my mom had the tofu stroganoff over brown rice. (They gave us fettucccine by mistake, but after they assured us it wouldn't be dumped, we sent it back in exchange for the rice.) At this point, maybe your thinking hmmm, I guess thing's can get mixed up? If you are thinking this, read on. Even if your not, read on! While this confusion is happening, the owner asks what we are getting. He then assures us that if something says it is vegan, (they put V's next to the food that is supposedly vegan) then it really is. Boy am I glad I didn't have anything with the soy cheese. Even though the items on the menu say vegan, the sliced bread, baguettes, and the fakin' bacon they use contain honey. Now, I know that some vegans eat honey, but the final straw is: the soy cheese contains casein, EVEN though it says V. AARGGGH, how aggravating is that? What I've decided to do is boycott the food and just go and listen to the music.


Here is a recipe for broccoli guacamole, based on the recipe for mockamole from The Passionate Vegetarian. I didn't have peas, so here's what happened:

4 cups steamed broccoli (plus one more cup a little further down)
2 ripe avocadoes
1 cup steamed broccoli
1/4 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped

Place the 4 cups steamed broccoli and the avocadoes in a blender and process until smooth, adding only a small amount of water (if needed) to help blend. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients. Please note that this makes quite a bit, so you may want to cut the recipe in half.

Here is the recipe for the Fusion Saute. (This is how I think I did it. I lost my little index card that I put together, but I have a good memory. Hehe.)

2 tbsp olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 cups chopped scallions
1/4 cup finely chopped ginger
8 oz. kumquats, sliced into thirds and deseeded
3 medium bunches cilantro, including some of the stems, coarsely chopped

Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet, then add the red onions, scallions, and ginger. Saute for about 3 minutes, stirring often. Cover the skillet with a lid and saute, stirring ocassionally, for 5 minutes more. Uncover, add the kumquats and cilantro, then re-cover and saute, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes more.

To serve this like I did (it served six), cook a recipe of coconut basmati rice but subtitute more water for the apple juice. (The rice should go under the saute.) Also make a double batch of baked five-spice tofu from The Convenient Vegetarian, and steam some broccoli. This must be eaten listening to some fusion music (preferably Mahavishnu Orchestra).