Tofu, Rice, Veg

Reading: Cockatiels at Seven, some chick mystery writer
Writing/editing: hopefully starting Chapter 3 of Lohra version 2.1!
Coffee units: 3--yay! I bought creamer!
Noteworthy nibbles: Tofu, Rice & Veg

Finally! After almost 3 years as a vegetarian, I have come up with a comfort meal as satisfying as baked chicken. But to do it, I had to make the discovery that not all tofu is created equal. Tonight's TRV (Tofu, Rice & Veg) was acceptable--I used Woodstock Farm's extra-firm, and it's firm, but not amazing. There's some crazy local brand at People's that kicks its ass, and after I discovered its solid, fork-resistant texure, it's hard to even look at anything else. Trader Joe's 2-pack of super firm is almost good enough ... but I was at New Seasons, and I had to make do.

I can't believe it took me this long to realize that the tofu I get at Safeway and Fred Meyer's is pathetic, squishy stuff. I had noticed that I made better tofu sometimes than others, but I never blamed the tofu itself. Just me. But I'm okay! It's not me, it's the industrialized soy stuff. Yay!

Anyway, once you get some good, super-duper firm tofu, go ahead and marinade it. Don't be afraid of the salt products--they're your friends. Bouillon or soup base, 1 or 2 Tbs of soy sauce, some booze, some crushed garlic: it's nothing fancy. Soak it for 15 minutes or so, then toss the marinade and the tofu into a skillet and let it heat up. Eventually the tofu will slurp up all the marinade and become brown and delicious. Do whatever you like to the rice, as long as it's not too fancy, and find some kind of basic, tasty veg: broccoli fits the bill, but tonight I went crazy and bought some asparagus. It's finally available from CA, so I bought some. Consider it a warm-up for the Washington season. Anyway, chuck it all on the plate and pretend you're a normal family, enjoying a meal with three distinct food groups that don't touch or ask for sauce.

Yeah. It's as June Cleaver as I get nowadays.