Metro!/Gillie's [or] Being a College Student and Veganism Part 1

So, for reasons that I can't seem to remember when I'm staring at a nice bowl of mac and cheese, I decided to eat vegan for the week. That is Sunday dinner to Sunday lunch. Actually, these couple days into it, I think a week isn't too bad. Maybe I'll try two weeks! We'll see when the weekend comes around.

Okay, I lied. I do remember why I decided to go vegan for the week (maybe because I'm eating a delicious pear as I type right now.) 1- To see what it's like. The answer? Ridiculous. You real vegans are crazy. I have no idea how you do it. 2- To see if I could. Do you know how many things have animal products in them?! The answer is... everything. 3- To be healthier. I've gotten a lot of objections to this third and most important reason. My friends who know actual vegans say that a lot are "junkfood vegans". For example, my boyfriend realized last night that Reese's Peanut Butter Cereal does not have any animal products in it. However, because we're doing it for a short amount of time, the cravings for real food aren't so desperate and we have to buy food for this anyway, good or bad food, so we just buy the good stuff.

Right! On to the food! Day 1 was a quick pasta with homemade sauce. Yummy, it was tomato sauce spiced with oregano, basil, parsley, garlic, onion, nutmeg, red pepper, salt/pepper, and that's all? Possibly other things were included because I was throwing spices into it until it tasted right. I really missed the cheese on it. Day 2 I ate at Gillie's with my roommate where I had the foccacia pizza with marinara sauce, vegan cheese, garlic and shittake mushrooms. Gillie's is this crazy hippie place downtown. By which I mean, it really focuses on having vegetarian/vegan options, has a nice music scene on Fridays and the people who work there seem really chill. The stuff there isn't entirely cheap, but my pizza cost me only $6.50. I think my friend's pesto cost her more than $10 though.

On the other hand, I went to a really trendy fine dining place a few weeks ago before heading to an art gallery in the nearby city. Metro! was really crowded for when we got there but it died down as we were finishing up (when the picture was taken). I somehow managed to forget to take the important pictures... the food. But in any case, the dining room was beautiful! So many delicious looking things were coming out and so many things on the menu sounded amazing. The cuisine was an interesting mix. Most of it seemed neo-american, but they also had a large sushi menu! The prices, unfortunately, reflected the atmosphere, or I would have gotten something much more exciting than I did. I ended up with an open face crab melt which was actually quite good. The french fries were suprisingly spectacular! I expected them to be a throw away. My boyfriend got some small rolls of sushi, maybe salmon and octopus? He liked them, although he said they might be a little overpriced. "But then, that's sushi these days." Our dishes were in the $10-15 range, but they were on the cheaper side of the menu.

In any case, back to the veganism! So, last night, we had Walnut Tofu over Ramen Noodles. Please blink and stare at that title for a while. It was pretty much my vegan take on walnut shrimp, but I forgot to put the rice on until I was about to serve the food, so I was forced to improvise and microwave some ramen noodles. I think the point I'm trying to make is, if you forget that I'm a college student because I like to cook nice food, remember that a- I have ramen noodles and b- I made a dish that used them. I think this was pretty entertaining.
Walnut Tofu
1 package extra-firm tofu (pressed)
1 medium package walnuts
Almond milk
Powdered sugar
Corn starch
Olive oil (for marinade)
Small amount of vinegar (for marinade)
Onion powder (marinade)
Chili powder (marinade)
Garlic (marinade)
Salt/pepper (marinade)

Basically, marinade the tofu for a while. While this is going on, mix the milk and walnuts over medium low. Add powdered sugar until the liquid tastes just sweet. Then add corn starch until the liquid is slightly thicker and sticky, but no longer watery. Add a little bit of salt. Keep stiring and add more milk if the mixture thickens too far. After the tofu is done marinading 15+ minutes, sautee in a skillet over medium-high. Pour the marinade mixture into the skillet as well and feel free to add more seasoning as desired. Cut the pieces of tofu into small pieces (about half a bite or smaller, but not like ground beef) with a spatula. Sautee for around 7 minutes until the tofu is firm but not gummy. Drain tofu and add walnut mixture to the skillet and mix over low heat. Serve over rice or, if you forget, ramen noodles. I'd also add salt over the dish after it is mixed.

It tasted pretty good, but this was my first time cooking tofu, so it wasn't the best texture wise. Jasmine rice would have made it taste much better but honestly, it was still pretty good over ramen. I'm going to give it a "pretty good". My biggest problem was probably just the tofu... it would have been great with shrimp :) It doesn't look too insanely appetizing but I mean, it is walnuts and chunks of tofu covered in a brownish sauce. I don't think there's anyway to plate that to make it look that great.