nom! nom! nom! blog

Okay, I couldn’t just do one giveaway. When I went to Food Fight the other day to pick up some extra goodies, doubles kept jumping into my basket.

Boris and Allison R! Please drop me a line at nomblog {ala} gmail {dot} com and I will get your copies of The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes and these yummy goodies on their way to your door:

The book, some nom! nom! nom! buttons, a bag of Dandies marshmallows from Chicago Soy Dairy, some candy bars and gummy goodies.

Speaking of Chicago Soy Dairy, I was recently contacted about creating some recipes using Teese, their vegan cheese- so check out the first installment of my teesy-concoctions later this week!

Women do not have to sacrifice personhood if they are mothers. They do not have to sacrifice motherhood in order to be persons. Liberation was meant to expand women’s opportunities, not to limit them.
~Elaine Heffner

No, Martha is not vegan. Nor are her cookbooks or show terribly vegan-inclined (although searching “vegan” on her site will turn up quite a few articles and recipes). And I know it’s all the rage to hate on her, but I don’t care: I still love Martha.

Say what you will about her time in prison, because we all make mistakes, and the rest of us are lucky enough to not deal with them publicly. No one is perfect, but one mistake (a mistake that didn’t hurt anyone) shouldn’t define a person’s legacy.

Now, I’m not a hardcore devotee, tracking and subscribing to her whole empire of awesomeness. But I do subscribe to her Living magazine, own a couple of her cookbooks, and I have purchased some of her cooking accessories at Macy’s (my favorite spatulas ever!), but I don’t watch her show or keep tabs on much.* But I admire her very much, and here are a couple of reasons why:

1. When many women were running from domesticity, Martha stood in the kitchen with her head held high. I know people who strongly feel that women who do anything “domestic” are turning their backs on liberation and woman’s rights. Martha not only held close to those domestic activities, she made them hers. I consider myself a feminist with three different-sized cookie scoops.

2. Martha is a self-made woman. She’s never been to culinary school. Or design school. She simply had a passion and talent and ran with it and it took off. Because of that, people have labeled her many things (demanding, a bitch, etc.). This is what happens when you shake up the good ol’ boys club. Martha is one of the richest and most powerful business women in the US. You don’t get that far and create such an enormous brand without being assertive and sticking to your guns. Last time I checked with the opposite sex, this was called good business sense, not bitchiness.

3. Martha makes everyone an artist. There are a good amount of people who think they have no creativity. There are also people who think that because they aren’t Picasso or Bob Dylan that they aren’t an artist. Martha has opened up the public eye to see everyday living as something creative. Whether your art is making a wholesome dinner, handmaking invites to a party or decorating your house, there is art to be celebrated everywhere. I’m not saying she invented this concept, but she certainly popularized it. Everyone needs to have an outlet.

4. I pray that when I’m 68 I’ll be that cool. Sure, she has a staff who scouts out trends, but she also has the ability to decide that they should be focusing on quilting with gingham rather than pursuing hip new crafters or vegan cupcake decorations. Sorry gingham, you lose.

5. When your name becomes an adjective, you know you’ve arrived. “You’re being so Martha!” Or “Oh I’m feeling very Martha today!” Like it or not, the woman has defined a certain sense of do-it-yourself chic.

Anyone who knows me know that I’m far from being a terribly conventional or girly-girlish. Actually, people who know me also know that I tend to shy away from things that have mainstream popularity, so my outpouring of love is uncharacteristic (and no, no one is sponsoring this post.) But I love cooking and canning and I pretend that I love crafting (even though I’m too lazy and have no attention span for it). I love how popular these things have become again. It delighted me when I went to the store this summer and they were sold out of canning jars because it meant the people were making their own food. I love going to Crafty Wonderland and seeing the awesome creations that people are selling. And look at all of us and our food blogs! There are a good many things that have contributed to this surge, so to say it’s all Martha is unrealistic, but you can’t deny what a trailblazer she has been. Go Martha!

What do you think of Martha? Leave a comment and 3 lucky winners will be randomly picked for a copy of my cookbook (with nom! buttons, of course). Winners will be drawn on Friday the 9th. I’ll send them where ever on Earth you are, so get commenting!

*full disclosure, I do follow her on Twitter. But I suck at maintaining Twitter and god knows she doesn’t actually update it, so it doesn’t count.

Hello there! Just a quick note that I am still alive, just swamped. I promise to have some yummy pictures up this weekend, as well as some food reviews. I am juggling full-time work, full-time school and the book- yesh! It’s all good, but I have midterms this week, so I’ve been running a little behind.

I wanted to let you button winners know that I am sorry for taking so long, but I packaged them up tonight and they will be in the mail tomorrow a.m.

And because I’m feeling a little dessert-y:

Marbled Bundt Cake

Marbled Bundt Cake, the ultimate cake to pair with coffee. Yum!

I’m sorry to do this. I know that vegans in Portland always talk about all of the food and restaurants that we have here and I’m sure it gets old, but I just have to.

When I first started at my job there wasn’t much of anything in the immediate area for a quick lunch or snack. Well, there is Old Wives Tales, but you couldn’t pay me to eat there. A few months ago Los Gorditos, the lovely Mexican taqueria on 50th and Division in SE Portland, opened up an all-vegan taqueria about a 1/2 mile from my work! Horray! Today I went with the friend to enjoy the goodness of the truck.

Los Gorditos es muy bueno

This is the tostada, a toasted tortilla piled high with beans, rice, lettuce, tomato, avocado, onion and cilantro.

Fajita Burrito

The fajita burrito. The picture does not do this justice. Beans, rice, sauteed onions, green bell peppers, cilantro and soy curls. It looks like a lot of beige, I know, but it’s una fiesta en la boca. Every individual ingredient at Gorditos tastes intoxicatingly good, from the rice to the soy curls (what do they do to them? they are so good!). Combined together, it’s a force to be reckoned with!

A co-worker and friend of mine often goes on walks during her lunch. A couple of weeks ago she came back from a walk and said, “You never told me about that vegan bakery down the street.”

“Uh, what vegan bakery?”

“Black Sheep.”

My eyes about fell out of my head. Black Sheep is a local vegan bakery that wholesales their goods around town. About 1 1/2- 2 years ago they opened up a little retail shop in SE that has a sandwich of the day, bagels, coffee and baked goods. Well, unbeknowst to me about 6 months ago they renovated some space in their actual kitchen space and opened up a larger location with more food. About 2 blocks from my work. And I didn’t know about it for 6 months.

Needless to say, they now know me. I am in there more than I want to admit, especially with all of the baking I’ve been doing. I can’t help it, they are my favorite local bakery and at this location they also have chocolates! They have biscuits and gravy, a build-you-own sandwich option, salads and soups, vegan vegan vegan! They do offer some omni options, as this location is in a business district, but I’d say it’s 90% vegan.

Black Sheep Cuppers

Black Sheep Chocolates

This friend that I had lunch with, Ximena, has her own tattoo shop in Portland. She’s vegetarian and all of the supplies that she uses are vegan. This weekend they are doing a special at their shop. Free tattoos on Saturday- but it’s showing your Oregon pride, of course.

If you want to have Oregon become a part of your anatomy, head down to Skeleton Key Tattoo this Saturday, the 17th, from 11-8. First come, first serve!

In addition to being a bad-ass ink-slinging artist, she cranks out some 1″ buttons in her spare time.

Behold, the nomnomnom cat trio in 1″ form!

Sorry the pic’s not so great, it was hard to get them with the least amount of glare possible.

I am going to give away 5 sets of these nomnomnom buttons to 5 random commenters! So leave your comments between now and Friday night and I will randomly select 5 names. US residents only, sorry folks.

Happy noming!

* A Day in the Life is one of the ultimate Beatles songs and is easily in my top 5 if I could only pick five. Just thinking of it makes my heart happy. *sigh*