Oh to be a 6 year old

Enjoying Easter "loot"

Hmmmm

Has this turned into a foodie blog?

It is certainly deficient in all things jewelry, gemstone and Etsy related. I'm not going to read too much into it though. The pendulum has just swung too far in one direction. It'll be back in the center soon.

In the absence of my jewelry creation I have been spending time writing, which is something that I used to do a lot of. I stopped for quite a while, but it's familiar to me, like riding a bike.

I thought about posting my stories/poems/creative blabber here, but it didn't seem like an appropriate venue. This blog has absolutely gone through an evolution of sorts. It started as an Etsy shop blog and has morphed into much more.

Long story short - my writing is a very separate entity and deserved a home of it's own. Meander on over and give it a quick read.

YUMMMMMMM

Totally awesome, amazing, beyond yummy veggie sushi.
Enough said.

Veggie Pho

One of my favorite things to eat is pho. Unfortunately, there are very few restaurants locally that make vegetarian pho. I decided that I would take the plunge and try to make it myself and see how it goes. I found the recipe below at elliemay.com. I'll let you know how it goes! If you have your own amazing vegetarian pho recipe, please share it with me!


Ingredients

for the broth...
1 small unpeeled onion, quartered
2 unpeeled shallots, halved
8 garlic cloves, halved
a 1-inch piece of ginger, coarsely sliced
two 3-inch cinnamon sticks
2 pods of star anise
4 cloves
8 cups clear vegetable stock
3 tablespoons soy sauce
salt

for the soup ...
1 pound rice noodles
8 ounces seitan or fried tofu, sliced
6 scallions, thinly sliced (both green and white parts)
about 1-1/2 cups bean sprouts
a good handful of basil, mint or cilantro leaves, left whole
1 lime, cut into wedges
hoisin sauce
sriracha chili paste

Cooking Instructions

To make the broth, heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, shallots, garlic, ginger, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and cloves and dry-roast, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to char. Add the stock and soy sauce and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes. Strain into a clean pot and discard the solids. Taste the broth and add salt if necessary. Keep warm over low heat.

While the broth is simmering, prepare the rice noodles. Place the noodles in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over the noodles to cover and soak for 20 minutes.

When you are ready to assemble the soup, add the seitan or tofu to the warm broth and allow to heat through. Drain the soaked rice noodles and divide evenly among 4 to 6 large bowls. Using a slotted spoon, scoop the seitan or tofu out of the broth and distribute among the bowls. Ladle the hot broth over the noodles. Serve the bowls of pho with the scallions, bean sprouts, herbs, lime wedges, hoisin sauce and chili sauce on a separate platter so that everyone can season their own soup as they wish.

Makes 4 to 6 servings