ryttu3k's Profile

Oh yes, and it's all about changing textures. A few examples:

Family member used to cook regular button mushrooms terribly. As a result, I hated mushrooms - until I started trying other types, like oyster mushrooms. Slowly, I began trying other types, including - yes - the regular button mushroom type.

The texture of eggplant is horrid, and I shied away from them - until I tried eggplant DIP. Delicious! I'm still not a huge fan of big pieces of it, but there are two preparations I love - nasu dengaku (Japanese, with a miso sauce), and a Lebanese one with tahini I get at a local restaurant.

And onions - I used to pick them out of everything. Then I discovered caramellised onions...

I use a website Online Conversion a lot. Heh. And for American recipes, I have a set of American cups and spoons.

The one conversion I always instantly know off the top of my head, though, is that 350 F is close enough to 175 C. Seriously, why do so many recipes call for an oven set to 350 F? It's common enough that I barely NEED any other conversions!

Hmm... could you do the roasted winter veggies with lemon instead of lime? Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of the latter.

Here's a wild and crazy idea.

How about you tell them that if they want that ~delicious~ soft-shell crab, they'll have to end the life of a living being? How about you teach them that life is life, and that by saying that some life is more important than other life, you can then use that reasoning to justify racism, sexism, homophobia? How about - crazy, I know! - you teach them about how plants can provide a whole and full diet, and that - even better! - you can grow it in your own garden without actually causing immense pain and suffering so you can eat the carcass of the formerly-living being you just killed because its flesh is tasty?

Wouldn't that be a crazy idea?

PastaAMT, smell was mentioned as the most important after taste. I think the idea was to look at a sense that people usually disregard, to basically re-examine someething? I certainly wouldn't have associated sound as something important, but the article made me realise that there are some sounds to listen out for.

Our Vitamix is the best thing we ever got for the kitchen. Hands. Down. Ours is the 5200.

Not going to bother with the first one, but finding the best city is State College, PA (...oh. Kay?), the overseas one is apparently Panama, and the dream home one is a rugged coast or mountain.

...Eh. I'll stick with San Francisco as my dream city.

This has not been my experience. The last time I was invited over for Thanksgiving, I was told in no uncertain terms that I could 'probably have the salad'.

And as for cooking meat, a lot of us are vegan for ethical reasons. Not because it's the latest fad diet - because we refuse to participate in slaughtering sentient beings to eat their corpses. If you go ahead and cook meat because the poor fragile meat-eaters can't bear to be without it for one meal, why bother calling yourself vegan in the first place?

I'm not saying she shouldn't consider the tastes of other people. I'm just saying that suggesting meals with 'meat on the side' is completely unnecessary. (It's also why I'm sick of seeing things like, 'Vegan meals good enough for omnivores!' or something. What, like we don't like good food too? Why should we have to settle for second best?) Just making a good meal that happens to be vegan should be fine, and if the meat-eaters refuse to eat it, they can make something themselves.

This may sound belligerent, but just make whatever you want, that you like to eat, that will satisfy YOU, and tell them to deal with it. They can cope with not eating dead animal for one night.

I mean, since when does the majority of meat-eaters care to make anything for vegetarians or vegans? Are they going out of their way to make vegan meals for you? No? Then why should you have to go out of your way to make something tailored to their tastes? Just make what YOU want! It's perfectly edible for them, too!

Oh, let's see. On top of vanilla extract AND vanilla bean paste we also have peppermint (used it this weekend in choc-mint cupcakes, actually!), almond, lemon, rosewater (nearly out, whoops), and coconut. All tasty!