Breaking Fast, Vegan Style

November has been packed full for me, allowing little time to post the wonderful recipes I have tried, restaurants I have visited and many other good things related to being a vegetarian in Pennsyltucky. I have an nice backlog of photos, stories and even a plant-based milk taste test I have yet to post.

One thing taking up my time has been training for the local Nittany Valley Half-Marathon, now just 2 weeks away. With my plantar fasciitis still under control, I was able to trot out a very speedy 13 miles in Poe Valley last weekend (see video below). This allowed me to blow off a lot of the local stresses of the Penn State scandals and reward myself with some carbs at Elk Creek Cafe after a quick healing ice bath.

Since then, we have again been unsuccessful in trying to cook our own Crispy Potatoes at home. That was tolerable since we had enjoyed multiple servings of wonderful vegan food the day before while attending a fund raiser at the Pancake Barkfast and then visiting with many members of the Green Street Vegetarian Club at Broad Street Market and Espresso Yourself Cafe.

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The weekend before that, I didn’t get to photograph any of our trip to NYC to see Arron perform at New York City Center. His performance in Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room was well reviewed in the New York Times here (read the second to last sentence). We saw the closing night performance which was so amazing that we all went to celebrate with some tasty food across from the stage door at Topaz Thai. Lunch had been at Jekyll & Hyde Club prior to the ballet and I reviewed it in detail a few years ago here.

Here comes Thanksgiving week and another trip to NYC is planned! This road trip will include hearing vegan/ artist Dan Piraro speak at The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. I know Jim is excited for this and then the highlight of getting to visit with Arron & Amy. Maybe even a trip to Terri is in store. Life is crazy busy and very good.

and Chasse and Chanterelle…

Oh good golly, it’s been a few years since I have ever been considered a Dance Mom but, like trying not to look at something abhorrent (train wreck comes to mind), I have been unable to keep from watching the entire season of Dance Moms.

“What?! You have no TV!” those of your who know me might exclaim. I sure wish that had stopped me but I got hooked watching the Pittsburgh”s Abbey Lee Miller Dance Company be warped into a reality based television program. Unfortunately, craptastic TV can now been seen on the interwebz and it became an embarrassingly guilty pleasure of mine (and yes, you too Jim). What’s a blog if not something to out myself to the world on my quirky pleasures?

Just like when we got sucked into watching Hell’s Kitchen, we would carry our supper plates into the workroom and sit on chairs unfit for dining posture (I thinks this was our penance for our viewing sins) and watch overly-dramatic, rude, crass, instruction be barked at underlings. From bar to barre we transitioned our viewing from pseudo haute cuisine competitors to kiddy-porn dance competitions.

This is as wrong as it gets for me because for years I firmly dug my heals in to battle against the dance competition scene. I read books like, Keeping Your Kids Out Front Without Kicking Them From Behind as I kept a choke chain on what could have easily been my dance mom neck. Our son climbed to one of the world’s top dance companies on his own talent as I battled my inner demons and kept my dance mom personae gagged and tied.

Watching this insane show now is like a victory lap for me; I was never one of them!! I laugh and gasp at how these sad moms and a twisted dance school steer these kids on a route that is so unnecessary. The kids are talented. I can tell, I was a paid employee at a quality non-competitive ballet school for years – I KNOW! Watching the conclusion of the season called for a special meal to celebrate how I dodged the bullet of the bad schools that would have fed me into the dance mom mode.

We were gifted with some Chanterelle Mushrooms from a local harvest and Jim made us a feast. He sautéd (not jetéd – no brushing/scuffing of the foot in this recipe) them with butter and chopped garlic. With a healthy portion of steamed broccoli, brussels sprouts and quinoa pilaf, we sat in front of the computer to watch the season finale. Toasting the meal with Gin & Tonics probably made the cat fights, pas de chats and Black Swan parodies more palatable but I can say it was the meal out-shined the show.

A virgin to the Chanterelle, I found the texture most pleasing, a very fleshy waving golden cap that when cooked had an almost fruity aroma and just a hint of peppery taste. I was moderate with my portion and am hoping this mushroom is a kind I will have the fortune to experience again. I will need it, I just found out Lifetime has taken on Dance Moms again next season.