1) Updating this blog.
Here’s the thing. I have been cooking up a storm lately. I have been photographing these foods. I have NOT been doing a very good job of updating this. Right now I have three nights of class a week for a total of 13 hours–after my 40 hour work week. Plus, you know, homework. Plus, since my old band broke up (miss you, Kacyn!), I have been pretty busy getting my new band off the ground for shows. This busy busy schedule not only makes me crabby with my loved ones, but also keeps me from doing things I enjoy, such as writing here. Luckily, I am only two weeks from finishing this crappy semester, and then I have big plans, including MUFFIN THURSDAYS, which must always be typed in caps because “muffin thursdays” is not nearly as thunderous as MUFFIN THURSDAYS. Plus, I love making muffins but can’t (and shouldn’t) eat them all the time, so I like to bring them to my office’s staff meetings on Thursday mornings. I’ve been canvassing for more good muffin recipes, so if you’ve got one, please please send it to me at food at thefoodsex dot com.

2) Making tofu scramble. What the hell? I’m usually pretty adept with tofu, but I am a failure at breakfast-tofu.

This is one I made by heating some olive oil in a pan, then crumbling tofu in and cooking it for a few minutes, adding some garlic powder and granulated onion (because I’m stinky, okay??) and then tossing in some vegetables (broccoli, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes) and cooking a bit longer, finally topping with sliced green onions. It really looks pretty, but it just wasn’t all I dreamed it would be. Help me, internet–what am I doing wrong?

Today, ladies and gentlemen, the Tuesday of the week of May 15th, is my annual Christmas.

Why, you ask?

Because this is the week that farmer’s markets return to Pittsburgh, and Tuesday is my neighborhood’s.

I need to start working on a farmer’s market carol that I can sing as I walk there.

Up this week: Vegan Wedding Soup, Laura’s Not-So-Vegan-and-Not-So-Healthy Cheesecake. Ooooh yeah!

So as it turns out, grad school takes up a lot of time. Yeah, duh, right? I just finished my finals this week, and all semester I’ve been sort of fretting about abandoning this blog–not because I care about it, but because I paid $45.99 for the hosting and URL. I kid, I kid. Well anyway, just as things all seem to get busy at once, they all seem to slow down at once too.
Then, my buddy Joe P. of Tower 41 Productions, who is pressing my band’s second album and whom I also proudly advertise on the tote bag I carry around, told me he had a bunch of recipes for me to try out. Add to that, my lone British reader MattJ sent me some lovely curry recipes that could be easily vegetarian- or vegan-ized that looked delicious and I never tried. And Laura’s been baking up a storm! Where is the failure here? Me. Fortunately, I never stopped cooking and having Rob take pictures, I just stopped posting. So anyway, here’s what’s coming up at thefoodsex:

Yeah! And to prove I’m not lying, here’s one of the recipes.

Chickpea Burgers

These were invented in a night of desperation, when Rob and I were both hungry and snipping at each other, as we’re prone to do when we don’t eat…oh, every hour or so. I frantically canvassed our pantry and fridge for stuff to throw together, and this is what happened.

You will need:
2 tsp olive oil
1 shallot, diced (or really, any onion but i like the sweetness of the shallot in this)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 TBS roasted red peppers, chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs (or slightly less)
2 TBS chopped cilantro, with extra leaves for garnish
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
pinch of oregano
salt and pepper to taste

In a small skillet, heat 1 tsp of the olive oil and add the shallot and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the shallot is soft. Remove from heat.

Dump the chickpeas into a mixing bowl and smoosh them anyway you can–a potato masher, a fork, your toes, whatever. Alternately, you could do this in a food processor, but make sure not to puree the chickpeas, as you want some chunks in there. Add the garlic and shallot, roasted red peppers, cilantro and spices and stir. Now, begin to add the bread crumbs a little at a time. Start with half of the 1/3 cup and mix. Pull a handful of the mixture out and try to form it into a patty. Add more breadcrumbs if necessary.

Once you have reached a good “burger” consistency, form the mixture into even-sized patties. I can’t remember if this made three or four patties–I was probably too busy yapping at Rob (see above.) Heat the remaining tsp of olive oil in a skillet for a few minutes, but don’t let it get to the smoking point. Carefully place the patties into the oil and don’t move them for about 3 minutes. Gently flip them over when they begin to brown on the bottom, then cook to desired brownness/heat. Serve on a bun with cilantro leaves and roasted red peppers on top.

Oh, how I wish I’d had better buns for these. They would have been so good on a big crusty multi-grain roll, but my whole-grain-challenged better half is a white bread fanatic. Sigh.

Rob ate his with A-1 steak sauce, I ate mine with spicy mustard. Good stuff!

All comments are closed until I install a Spam blocker. Good lord!

Well, my ART DIRECTOR (cough, Rob, cough) got a little LAZY with things, and thus we have 15 dishes that I’ve cooked and Rob photographed that he just hasn’t gotten around to uploading and tinkering with yet. We’re having a “staff meeting” tonight (in which I yell at Rob for his lack of devotion to thefoodsex.) So what does that mean? New post tonight, and then it’s on! I am so pumped for this.

Also, read the newly updated About thefoodsex.com page–it’ll explain why you’re about to see the kind of recipes that I will be posting soon.

So I have to say, I’m wildly impressed by the fact that I managed to launch a new version of thefoodsex. Now listen. I know nothing works and everything looks kinda crappy right now, but I’m working on it, I swear!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I have an excuse. I’m in the midst of several huge holiday projects involving food, including two potluck dinners this weekend, cookies for Christmas Eve (as commissioned by my grandmother) a huge meal for mine and Rob’s solo Christmas Day dinner (his parents are jet-setting off to COSTA RICA for Christmas, so it’s just me and him), and last but certainly not least, PAUL’S FREE TURKEY EXTRAVAGANZA. Paul’s office gave him an 18-pound turkey, so we’re gonna have us a feast. Even though I don’t eat turkey. Whatever. I promise, it’s coming.

I’m sorry, I should have probably explained this earlier, but I got a question from a reader about Sriracha.

Sriracha is an Asian chili sauce made with garlic. It is really spicy, so a little goes a long way. It’s fairly inexpensive, and moreover, it’s pretty accessible. I found it in our local supermarket (which is a dump) alongside the other Asian sauces–soy and teriyaki and whatnot.

Here’s what it looks like (not my hand):

Within 12 hours of the launch of this blog, I received several offers of contributions, which I think is a great idea. If you’d like to contribute, email me your recipe using the little envelope at the bottom of each post and I’ll cook it (to the best of my ability)and have Robbo review it.
Alternately, if you’d like to write an entire post, just email the text to me with a photo and your own review.

So here it is, my food blog. Does it get any nerdier? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll have Robbo write a Live Action Role Playing blog. That would be nerdier, right?

I’m not quite ready to launch yet, but when I am, you’ll be so glad! I kid, I kid.