Vegan Brunch Preview Madness
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008Autumn has come to represent a time of relaxation for me. Leaf kickin’, couch sittin’, pumpkin roastin’, bank robbin’. For the past three years I’ve had a book come out at this time of year and was able to sit back and enjoy all the fame and accolades. But this year…bubkis! Since the brunch book is coming out in the Spring, I am instead in the chaotic and stressful throes of the tail end of book writing. Finishing up recipes, taking photos, ignoring panicked phonecalls from people who need things from me (for anyone reading this whose phone calls I am ignoring, I am not talking about you!)
Since living in Portland kind of feels like I am in a lifelong sleep-away camp, I want to be able to just relax and enjoy things. I mean, I totally do relax, that isn’t exactly it, but lately it feels like my relaxation is at the expense of my responsibility.
I guess I need a morale boost! I’ve worked my little tuchus off on this latest book and I need gratification NOW. So I’m posting some photos. Because I am totally excited about it. And I want you to be excited. But not too excited, like, don’t drool on me or anything. The beautiful and talented Jess of Get Sconed (or jdfunks depending on how much you are on the internet) was assisting me for most of these shots, and she also baked a bunch of the items. Thanks, Jess!
This is an omelet. It’s got tofu, chickpea flour and some other stuff. I am addicted to them (and so is Jess!) It took me like 10 tries to get the recipe right, which is probably the most I’ve ever had to test a recipe in my life. It’s really sad to watch testers have stuff fall apart right in their cast iron pans. What a disappointment for everyone involved! But it finally clicked and they came out nice and light and workable.
From Glengarry Glen Ross:
Ricky Roma: How was her crumbcake?
Shelley Levene: Hmm? Oh… from the store.
Ricky Roma: F*** her.
You have to make crumbcake when you want to close the sale. This is the jam variation of my east coast coffee cake, or crumb cake to the rest of the world. This recipe is an easy but messy one. There are a bunch of variations in the book. I hate when cookbooks pad out their recipes and make a whole new one for something that is just a variation.
Savory scones - tomato rosemary to be specific. Elegant, fragrant and bright friggin’ orange - this is what dream brunches are made of.
These are called Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes. That there on top of them is remoulade. Crab cakes is a hot brunch item in the North Atlantic, so that’s where this came from. Mouthwatering.
Is anyone else addicted to red swiss chard? It’s my leafy green of choice these days. Earthy and bold, here she is showcased in a frittata.
Lots of new waffle recipes are coming your way! These are gingerbread waffles with caramelized figs. And you can actually afford thrift store plates here so that has improved my food porn exponentially. That gorgeous plate was like two bucks!
And finally, there’s me holding waffles. This photo is being used for catalog purposes, but isn’t quite the final cover. Someone came over and curling ironed my hair for this and it shows. But that is the final title. Sorry for people who loved “Crack Of Noon.” The publishers didn’t like it and I was tired of fighting. I think Vegan Brunch is just fine since it’s, well, vegan brunch.
Thanks for indulging me! I am sure that I will post some of these recipes in the coming months if’n y’all want. Let me know what you think and there’s still some time to get your brunch requests in there if you think I might have missed anything.
