Cool old theater sign

I have returned from my excellent adventure in Portland, a bit jet-lagged, but definitely energized by my experience at the Vida Vegan Blogging Conference. The event was probably the best-organized conference I've ever attended, thanks to 3 smart vegan cookies: Jess, Michele and Janessa. I gave one workshop, "Extreme Food Writing Makeover," which was a blast. I also participated in a panel discussion on "Reality, Identity and Blogging."

Powell's, the mother of all bookstores. I could have spent a week in here,

Attending the conference was like living in Vegan Utopia for a long weekend. For one thing, I didn't have to question any of the food I was eating. Plus, I didn't have to "translate" any words/concepts from omni to vegan. It was a given that the burgers, ice cream and cheese were plant-based. Perhaps Julie Hasson said it best, "It's refreshing being around a bunch of people who like kale." 'Nuff said. I'll let the photos do the talking.

Thursday nite happy hour at Vendetta. L2R: me, Terry Hope Romero, Julie Hasson, Allison of Allison's Gourmet

Finally got to meet my long-lost daughter, Amber Shea Ford After all these years of reading each others' blogs, I finally met Bianca, of Vegan Crunk. The next day, we had lunch at Julie's adorable food cart, Native Bowl. It's featured in an article I wrote on food carts in this month's VegNews. Check it out.

I ordered the Alberta Bowl, a little sweet, a little spicy, totally satisfying.

What would a trip to Portland be without VooDoo Donuts? Vegan, of course, You have to sin a little, right?

Tempeh ribs from the Homegrown Smoker.  You have to try them.

Typical conference breakfast: Soy Delicious Coconut Greek Yogurt (will hit stores soon!), raw chia pudding, fruit, tofu scramble, biscuits and bean gravy, coffee with Vanilla So Delicious Coconut Creamer

On Friday night, VegNews hosted a champagne and cupcake reception,

Saturday night, I attended the GalaRama which benefitted Woodstock Farm Sanctuary. Here I am. flexing with vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke.

The Galarama menu was diverse: pizza, raw rolls and these lovely burgers....

And a sundae bar complete with vegan marshmallow topping, chocolate sauce, caramel, peanut butter topping, nuts and of course maraschino cherries.

At the Gala with my VFFs, wearing our LBDs, clockwise: Julie Hasson, Gail Davies of So Delicious and vegan cookbook goddess Bryanna  Clark Grogan.

The mother of all schwag bags. I had to check my luggage – and I never check luggage.

Filming an episode of EverydayDish TV in Julie's adorable kitchen.

I'm gonna' miss my friends in Portland, including Zelda, Julie's daughter's puppy.

Isa and me sending kisses from Portlandia. Hope to see you at the next conference!

It's been as hotter than Andalusia here lately. And when the temperature soars, the last thing I feel like doing is adding fuel to the fire by turning on the oven or stovetop. Last week's CSA share, plus a care package from Aunt Regina's garden, provided me with more tomatoes and technicolor summer produce than I knew what to do with. Gazpacho to the rescue.

Besides relying on summer's bountiful vegetables, authentic gazpacho also contains a bit of bread and extra-virgin oil. But since I've been trying to consume more raw foods and less fat (emphasis on trying, succeeding is another story), I omitted the bread and cut back on the oil. If you use best-quality produce, honestly, you won't notice any difference; this soup is a symphony of summer flavors. If you're feeling like something more substantial, by all means, add bread, oil and anything else you think will pump up the volume. Whatever you do, just be sure to play Paco de Lucia while you're enjoying it.

Gazpacho
     
Soup:

• 6 medium tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 large cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 small red pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 small vidalia onion, chopped
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• 1/2 T extra-virgin olive oil
• Garnish (use any or all): Chopped avocado, cilantro, peaches, mangoes, cucumbers, onion, tomato, bell peppers

Serves 4-6


Process all soup ingredients in a blender. The consistency is up to you. I like gazpacho thoroughly blended, but other people prefer a chunkier texture. Chill for at least 4 hours. Ladle into bowls and top with your garnish of choice.

Use raw sunflower cheese as a dip or sandwich it between cucumber slices

Sugar-laden cupcakes overburdened with "buttercream" icing. Macho-strong espresso. Airy French bread crafted from white flour. Veggies swimming in oil. Wine, Earth Balance and Vegenaise with abandon. A self-professed hedonist, I've consumed more than my share of unhealthy vegan chow over the years. If it was vegan and decadent, I was there.

All my life, I have been extremely healthy. But last September, after enduring a previous year rife with all kinds of unmentionable, health-related unpleasantness, I learned that my petite frame was toting around an ovarian cyst and a grapefruit-sized fibroid. Coincidentally [not!], my medical problems began around the time my marriage was breaking up. Too much stress is just as unhealthy as too much junk food, and during this tense, sad chapter of my life, I comforted myself with – you got it – more coffee, wine and sugar-laden treats than usual.

Most people assume a vegan diet automatically equals a healthy diet. My story shows this is not necessarily true. Although I had always lived by the adage, "Everything in moderation, including moderation," during my stressful years, moderation somehow became the exception and not the rule. Over the past 6 months, I've been slowly regaining my equilibrium. I've "tried on" juice fasts; eschewing all alcohol, coffee and sugar; eating 100% raw, but in the end, embracing small, healthy diet and lifestyle changes was much easier and more realistic. And so I've come home to my original adage. I don't want to face surgery, and so far, I've been successfully managing my condition with only a few bumps.

In the spirit of delicious moderation, here's an easy Raw Sunflower Seed Cheese recipe. I love it as a veggie dip and sandwich filling.

Sunflower seeds are high in vitamin E, cancer-busting selenium and cholesterol-lowering phytosterols

RAW SUNFLOWER SEED CHEESE

• 2 cups raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup hijiki, soaked in about 1/2 cup pure water [You don't need to drain it]
• 1/4 cup organic red bell pepper, lightly chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• 3 garlic cloves, lightly chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Sea salt, to taste
• Up to 1/2 cup pure water

Makes about 2 cups

Whiz everything in the food processor until smooth, adding as much water as needed to reach a "creamy-cheesy" consistency.

Please vote for me. I'll kiss your baby, will balance the budget and will get the US government's bond rating upgraded.

Holy guacamole! I've been nominated for "Favorite Cookbook Author" in the 2011 Veggie Awards. I'm honored to be on the same list with vegan cookbook goddesses Terry Hope Romero and Isa Chandra Moskowitz, as well as many other visionary cooks. The ballot covers countless vegan categories, including "Favorite Vegan Restaurant" and "Favorite Vegan Cupcakes."

All voters are eligible to win vote-worthy prizes including a Caribbean Vegan Cruise, a Vegan Treats Dessert Party [yes, please!], and a year's supply of Coconut Bliss Ice Cream. Make your opinions known by August 31. Please vote. 

Homemade sorbet, just in time for the dog days of summer

Looking for a quick way to cool off? Try my recipe for Easy Pineapple-Ginger Sorbet, which appeared last week on the ever-fabulous GirlyGirl Army blog.

This sorbet screams exotic. The ginger's heat does a flirty little mambo with the pineapple's sweetness. Despite its flavor wallop, it's a snap to throw together. Perfect for those steamy summer nights when you want to cleanse your palette with something light.

Ingredients

• 3 cups chopped fresh pineapple
• ½ tsp powdered ginger
• ½ to ¾ cup sugar
• Pinch salt
• Pinch chili pepper

Serves 6-8

Process everything in the food processor until absolutely smooth, starting with ½ cup of sugar. Taste and add more sugar, in 2 T increments, if needed. (The amount you use will depend on your personal preference and the sweetness of the pineapple). Freeze in an ice- cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. Don’t have an ice-cream maker? Make frozen pops. Half the recipe, pour into popsicle molds and freeze until hard.

Bossa Nova is appalled by food writing clichés

In a few weeks, I'll be leading a workshop called "Extreme Food Writing Makeover" at the upcoming Vida Vegan Food Blogging Conference. While preparing for this talk, I've been thinking about how cliché some food terms have become, even among the culinary cogniscenti. Language is as organic and fluid as cooking. Just as we continually sample new foods to keep our palettes sharp, it's also important to "taste" new verbs, adjectives and metaphors.

Here's my list of 100 overused culinary words/phrases, gleaned from high-brow publications like Bon Appétit, menus, restaurant reviews, blogs [including my own], tweets and status updates. This list is not a manifesto, nor is it meant to chastise anyone's writing – I am certainly just as guilty as anyone of overusing some of these terms. Consider this list as a challenge to stretch the conventional boundaries of culinary writing and break out of the writing habits we all fall into. Feel free to add your peeves as comments. And to use this list as the foundation a trend that I predict will soon sweep the nation: for Food Cliché Bingo.

1. Vegan [as an adjective]: "Plant-based," to me, is so much more descriptive. 
2. Artisanal: Yawn
3. All Rachel Ray-isms, including but not limited to yumm-o, "stoop," EVOO and sammies
4. Farm-raised: Just skip it. Or be more specific, eg, "hydroponically raised" or "fresh from the factory farm"
5. Wilted: In a recipe for my upcoming cookbook, I used the direction "Roast the eggplant until it's pooped." "Correct verb use?" the copyeditor queried. "Stet (editor-speak for let it be)," I replied.
6. "[Insert umbrella term here] friendly," eg, vegan friendly, earthy friendly, budget friendly, heart friendly
7. Gastro-pub: Can we please just say "pretentious bar?"
8. Pop-up: Tired of it already
9. Locavore: Designed to make people feel better about themselves
10. Flexitarian: Face it, you're an omnivore
11. Micro-anything: eg, microbreweries, microgreens
12. Seasonal 
13. Summery
14. Wintery 
15. Autumnal
16. Anything "primavera"
17. Anything "Iron Chef"
18. Foodie
19. Fresh: I certainly hope it is
20. Rustic 
21. Silky
22. Sustainable
23. Flavorful
24. Earthy: I promise never to use it again
25. Contrast: Ditto
26. Infused: Ditto
27. DIY: I'm off it, I swear
28. Deconstructed: I vowed off this one after my first cookbook
29. Perfect/to perfection: Really, is anything perfect?
30. Hearty
31. Stick-to-your-ribs
32. Tasty: Specificity is your friend
33. Yummy
34. Mouth-watering
35. Wonderful
36. Floral
37. Creamy
38. Plump
39. Moist
40. Slider
41. Topped with
42. Paired with
43. Fair-trade
44. Delicious
45. Balanced
46. Comforting
47. Aromatic
48. Compliments
49. Drenched
50. Slathered
51. Smeared
52. Intense/intensely
53. Buttery
54. Sweet
55. Sour
56. Tart [as in acidic, not as in pie]
57. Tasty
58. Bite
59. Nibble
60. Tender
61. Crumbly
62. Flaky
63. Satisfying
64. Fragrant
65. Woody
66. Nutty
67. Decadent
68. Spicy
69. Packs a punch
70. Elegant
71. Homemade
72. Fusion 
73. Drizzled
74. Molten
75. Light
76. Savory
77. Succulent
78. Healthy
79. Easy
80. Crowd-pleaser
81. Cooling
82. Warming
83. Abundant
84. Gooey
85. Chewy
86. Quick
87. Subtle
88. Wholesome
89. Enhances
90. On-the-go 
91. Filling
92. Grown-up
93. Rich
94. Piquant
95. Sinful
96. Cloying
97. Chocolatey
98. Gorgeous
99. Amazing
100. Lovely
101. Fabulous