Scariest Train Rides

The other week I saw an article online about the scariest train rides in the world.  These particular ones struck me as most precarious, as they might my fellow adventurers/travelers (I capitulate to spelling that with one "l", although I confess I don't know when the rule was changed....sigh....and I taught English!  Oh well, language is always in flux....)

(Click to enlarge photos)

The Yukon, Alaska

Georgetown Loop

Kuranda scenic railway, Australia

Cipularang

White Pass, Yukon, Alaska

Tofu Attempt #1

Bit the bullet and dove into a vegan dinner tonight.  (After signing up at PCRM's website for the 21 Day Vegan Kick Off, starting Jan. 1, 2010....if interested, it's free:  21DayKickstart.org.  You will be sent via email daily recipes, info about veganism, tips, online interviews, etc.  PCRM is Physicians For Responsible Medicine, if you aren't aware...)

Tofu's marinating in an Asian marinade, corn waiting to nuke, wasabi-garlic mashed potatoes are made (cooked faster than I thought...first time making mashed potatoes, honestly....do you know any other almost-60-year-old women who have never made them?  Sheese.)

[Watching the Susan Boyle story on television.  Isn't that a dream come true, real fairy tale?  The refrain of the song she is singing that was written for her is "I can finally say I'm free.....I am who I was born to be."  You can't help tearing up and feeling so happy for her.]

Well, while I wait for the tofu to get ready to grill on my new cast iron skillet, here's what it looks like soaking up the flavors (mirin, tamiri, rice vinegar, Asian chili sauce, sesame oil, fresh chopped ginger, garlic):

And here are my first-time wasabi-garlic mashed potatoes....

And voila, dinner....

Ok, now the truth....this was the first time I used the cast iron grill pan.  They said to heat it over a high flame for 3 minutes (after having applied vegetable oil).  Oh my God.  Can you say s-m-o-k-e?  And after only a minute?!  I had to open all of the windows, get the whole-house fan going and the vent over the stove and still the fire alarm sounded.  Eeeek.  (Isn't Canola oil vegetable oil?  Or was the 3 minutes over high heat too much?)  The air is finally clearing now, two hours after I polluted it.

Plus those beautiful grill marks?  Uh, burnt.

But after I scraped the tofu from the pan and finished cooking it, I added some water and cornstarch to the marinade and it made a wonderful Asian sauce. (Not pictured.)  Sweetened up the charcoal taste of the grill marks just fine. However, live and learn.  I'm not going to cook the thick slices the recipe called for from now on....I'm going to slice it much thinner so it soaks up more marinade and cooks more quickly (on a lower heat.)  And now I have half of it left to cube and warm up in a stirfry this week.

Corn was great;  potatoes were good.

And all in all, I did it!  I am a tofu cook. 

Kind of.

One Small Step for Vegans, One Giant Leap for Me

This morning I finally wiggled my big toe in the vegan waters.  Admittedly, I doubt I'll ever convert to fully vegan, maybe not even fully vegetarian, but I think I'm headed toward "ovo-half&half-retain the seafood-vegetarian".....with maybe a once-a-month juicy burger.  I'm sorry cows.  :(  (Haven't eaten red meat other than ground beef in decades, except a handful of times as a polite guest.)

Now that might not sound like a big deal to you, but I've virtually given up cheese (wow, was that hard) and drink soymilk, not cow's milk, and never liked yogurt anyway.  The "half&half" in that title above stands for the Half and Half without which I just cannot drink my coffee.  But I don't drink more than a cup or so a day anyway, so the few tablespoons of Half and Half daily I figure isn't a huge deal.   

Ok, you're smirking at my description of the kind of vegetarian I'm labeling myself.  Then let's just say I'm going to learn more vegan and vegetarian dishes (and I do have tofu and tempeh in my fridge as we speak!) but still believe in the nutrition of egg whites (I don't eat the yolks) and the calcium and good stuff in salmon (wild, not farm-raised...yes, I try to be cognizant of mercury levels) tuna, grouper, with a little shrimp thrown in for more good protein.  (I've read in studies -- oh no, not more studies -- that even though shrimp is relatively high in cholesterol, shrimp produces significantly lower ratios of total to HDL ("good") cholesterol and lower ratios of LDL ("bad" cholesterol) to HDL cholesterol than eggs. In addition, in people who ate shrimp, levels of triglycerides -- a form in which fat is carried in the blood -- decreased 13%.)

Enough with my explanations and on to my first venture:  "Fronch" Toast.  (With the stale French bread I brought home from a dinner out a few nights ago....well, it wasn't stale at the dinner....oh, you know what I mean....anyway, stale French bread works best.)

Stop laughing.  I told you I only dipped my toe in.....we're not going for BBQ Pomegranate Tofu or Seitan-Portobello Stroganoff right out of the gates.

And it does use soymilk and chickpea flour (no eggs) in the recipe. Oh, and I bought pure maple syrup from the local Cracker Barrel, no preservatives.

Tofu to come................................

Ten Degrees of Reckoning: A True Story of Survival

(Just read this on AOL and wanted to share the comment at the end, especially, with you.)

Ten Degrees of Reckoning: A True Story of Survival

The Sleavin Family

By Michelle Burford

In 1993, the Sleavin family set out on a dream voyage. Santa Clarita, California, residents Michael and Judith Sleavin, along with their two children, Ben and Annie, loaded up their 47-foot sailboat with plans to circumnavigate the globe in five years. Three years into their journey -- around 2 a.m. on November 24, 1995 -- a South Korean cargo ship altered its course by a mere 10 degrees and barreled into the Sleavins' boat just off the coast of New Zealand.

Ben, then age nine, went down with the sailboat; Michael, Judith and Annie scrambled onto a rubber dinghy. They waved and screamed for help from the colliding ship's crew, but instead of throwing them a lifeline, they left the family to perish in the icy, tumultuous seas of the South Pacific. When Annie, then age seven, was swept away in a wave, Michael attempted to swim out and save her. Both Michael and Annie drowned as Judith -- the lone survivor who'd broken her back and fractured her skull -- watched in horror.

Judith Sleavin has never spoken publicly about the horrendous events of that day -- until now. In "Ten Degrees of Reckoning," she describes the joyful moments she shared with her family on their sailboat; what happened in the 44 hours after she witnessed her family's death; and how she eventually found her way to shore, clinging only to a deflated dinghy and the hope that she'd survive long enough to recount the calamity. Sleavin chose her longtime friend and fellow sailor, Hester Rumberg -- the godmother of Judith's daughter, Annie -- to put her story into writing. AOL Health asked Rumberg to reveal how Judith Sleavin has turned an unthinkable loss into a reason to live her life even more fully and deliberately.

[What follows this is a written interview with Rumberg about Judith Sleavin.  But the lesson for us all, I think, is contained in her final paragraph below -- my bolded parts]

I'm a sailor myself, so I've been out at sea, 30,000 or 40,000 miles, and I know that it can be treacherous. I also know that the day-to-day challenges can be just as treacherous. Our little moments, those little celebrations -- they're not so little. When you have a conversation with someone, and the connection fills you with glee, that's not a small thing. I don't know why we're so infatuated with the thought that we have to wait to live well -- wait until we have more time, more money or even a partner. Every day, we can love whoever is in our lives. We can tell people how we feel about them. We can learn to be as hopeful as Judy is. She's one of the most optimistic people I know, even in the face of injustice and tragedy. She has decided that if she doesn't live joyfully, it would be a betrayal to the way she asked her family to live. That's why I think she's a hero for our times.

Inching Forward

Question:  Remembering my post of a few days ago, you may be wondering where is all that vegan/vegetarian cooking I was going to embark upon?

Answer:  Still in the cookbooks.


But this morning I went out to find some of the ingredients I will need to make marinated, grilled tofu; wasabi mashed potatoes; chipotle, corn and black bean stew; "Fronch" toast;  olive, tomato and millet-stuffed zucchini; tofu dill salad sammiches; baked cajun french fries; roasted brussels sprouts with toasted garlic;  horseradish and coriander-crusted tofu and more...  (I think those sound yummy....you don't?)

I was steeled for a frustrating experience (as I've endured in the past, searching for not-the-usual ingredients) but today's trip turned out to be a breeze!  Most of what I needed I easily located in the Asian section of aisle two in Publix:  tamari, mirin, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, Asian chili sauce, wasabi powder.

For the first time ever I also bought fresh ginger, and promptly came home to research online how best to store it (zip lock bag in crisper).

So, I've got the cast iron skillet, sauce pan and baster, the recipes, and now some of the ingredients.  Tonight (or maybe tomorrow) I cook!

(Stay tuned..................)

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

We've had a cold snap here that, I've been told, is rather unusual for the Panhandle, especially at this time of year.  It has been in the high 40's and cold!  Normally, back in Chicagoland, this wouldn't be very cold to me, but either I'm acclimating to Florida winters or it was just a very "wet" cold (or maybe because I think "Hey, this is Florida" so I don't wear a coat?  Think that could be why?!)

Today, after snuggling under the clouds for a few days, the sun came out and I drove to the beach.

Imagine swimming in the ocean in 50 degree weather!  Not me, but them.....(click photos to enlarge)

Surprised Kitty

By now, surely you have seen this, as it is rampaging the internet....but on the chance you haven't, be prepared to see 17 seconds of the cutest "surprised kitty" you've ever seen!