Wednesday, November 1, 2006

I'M BACK FROM FILMING FOR A COOKING DVD! (AND ODDS AND SODS)

Best Blog Tips I was down in Portland, OR last week, filming segments for a vegan cooking DVD that Julie Hasson and her husband Jay are producing, and which should be out early in 2007. Julie and I and Dreena Burton will all be cooking on it.

Check out a little video clip promo here.

It was great fun, but lots of work, too. My friend Holly did all the long-distance driving-- thank you, Holly! Julie kept us fed SO WELL, and Jay was very professional with the lighting and filming and everything! (And patient with my nerves!) They were excellent hosts, and we fell in love with their dog, Bruno!

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Bruno

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Julie and Bruno

It was fun to be with another food fanatic, and we talked food, food, food! Julie took me to her favorite food stores (I loved Trader joe's and New Seasons!). I looked for products that I can't get where I live. I bought smoked salt, smoked pimenton,

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(which are delicious in chowders, stews, soups, etc!)

and vegan soy parmesan,
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(Boy, I've missed this one! I used to get it in bulk and went through lots for my Italian cookbook, but we can't get it in Canada anymore!) UPDATE Nov. 1 2011: It IS available in Canada now, but only in these little containers.  As far as I know, it is not available in bulk anymore, anywhere (except perhaps for restaurants.

and, for treats, Gardenburger BBQ Riblets, organic Newman-O's, and Soyatoo whipped soy cream (which now I'm told I can get in our town, as of very recently!).

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Also, Smoked Apple Sage Fieldroast "sausages"-- delicious!
We had them the day after I got home with my gravy, carmelized apples, and frozen potato and onion pyrogies:
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We did have greens on the side!

We had homemade delicious Indonesian tempeh dishes and yellow rice with mutual friends Yongkie and Pokie Hurd, who make it themselves.

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Yongkie and Pokie with Jay and Julie before dinner

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Julie and me in Julie's kitchen preparing a few quick additions to the dinner.

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Tucking in!

We went to the farmers market on Saturday and had the most delicious vegan tamales! Now I am getting ready for a tamale binge! We went to a Lebanese restaurant and saw a great bellydancer. The food wasn't the best I've had, but she was great. (Have to get her name from Julie.)

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I'm still catching up with work and family and have hardly had time to breathe since getting back!

We had a little congratulatory party just before I left for our friend Mike, who got his landed immigrant status, finally! Along with his spouse Fireweed, my mother, and our friend Suzanne, we enjoyed a butternut squash and walnut lasagna, salad and, a coffee-flavored cake with coffee icing, chocolate ganache and hazelnuts.

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UPDATE: This recipe is in my book World Vegan Feast

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HALLOWEEN


Last night I made vegan beignets rolled in cinnamon sugar, something I've done for many years at Halloween:

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PS: Portland photos by Holly Walker.

Cheers!
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for that DVD... I was also wondering what special cooking event was happening in Portland, thanks for the info. I really look forward to watching real vegan food on tv, not having to mentally veganize everything.

Anonymous said...

Blogger ate my comment ! :( Maybe it was too long LOL

Bryanna, this is a terrific post !
I will own that DVD, that's for sure :)

Your grandchildren are adorable :) I think that Zoƫ, Faith and myself share exactly the same hair colour.

I was very surprised at something you said... You don't have Soyatoo in BC ? We have had it for a few months now. Can't believe that we have something like that and that it's not elsewhere in Canada... we even have it in a little town like St-Raymond. Kind of unbelievable. We have so much trouble finding stuff like that. Most places won't even order the Vegan Gourmet Cheeze.

But I wanted to ask, did they tell you how to "operate" the can ? A lot of people have had problems with it, myself included. The can would stop functionning when it got half empty.
So they told us that you have to keep it on the fridge door. Then you have to keep it at room temperature for 15 minutes before using it and when you are ready to use it, always keep it upside-down, in a completely vertical position, not on an angle.

Hope that will work for everybody. Losing half the can is frustrating, to say the least.

Glad you're back :)

Bryanna Clark Grogan said...

Thanks, Gaia! Faith and Zoe are actually my son's step-daughters and the only redheads in the family, but my maternal grandmaother was auburn-haired!

A friend just told me that she saw Soyatoo at our local health food store! I'm behind the times! On the website they said "available in Canada next summer", but that must have meant THIS summer.

I haven't really used it yet, except to taste, and it came out alright upside down.

spiceislandvegan said...

Wow, Bryanna! What a great party that night! I talked to Bryanna (when she was at Julie'house) on the phone that night. Yay! Nice talking to you and can't wait for the DVD.

Have to try those salts!

You are busy, busy, busy! Your grandkids look cute. Bruno is cute too.

Regarding Soyatoo, Gaia, I didn't have a problem (I left a note in my blog for ye). I used it all up until it was empty. I like it too much I guess. My husband told me to always spray it out completely vertical and upside down. It squirt beautiful rosettes that way too, better than from a 45 degree angle.

SIV