Chow Vegan

Today’s the day to pick a winner and the lucky number is 27.

Congratulations Miki! Shoot me an email with your mailing address and I’ll get the cookbook out to you.

Thank you to all of you who entered. I really enjoyed reading about your favorite cookies, especially the ones I haven’t heard of before. In case you’re curious, chocolate chip was the most favorite cookie followed closely by some sort of variation on the oatmeal cookie.

I survived VeganMoFo! Whew, it was one busy and hectic month trying to get in 20 posts, that’s way more than I’ve ever blogged in any one month.

So was it a trick or a treat? For the most part, it was a treat – new foods, new recipes and new blogs. It was a little tricky trying to schedule enough time to get everything done.

One of the things I wasn’t able to work out, was visiting the sheer number of blogs participating in VeganMoFo while keeping up my own blog. I only made it to a small fraction. But now that it’s over, I’ll be spending the next few months checking out those blogs. Better late, than never, right?

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who stopped by to visit my little blog! And a big shout-out to kittee at Cake Maker to the Stars for hosting this year.

Happy Halloween!

Over the weekend, I went to the Alternative Press Expo (APE) in San Francisco and picked up a couple of new t-shirts.

One is Stinky Tofu from Hamburgerpanda. I love tofu but I can’t say I’ve ever eaten stinky tofu. I just like the sad face. But is he sad that he’s stinky? Poor little stinky tofu. Maybe he would be happier if he was crispy instead of stinky. I know I would be.

Stinky tofu is made by marinating tofu in a brine of vegetables and allowing it to ferment for a few months. It’s different than the fermented bean curd that comes in a jar which I have eaten.

The other t-shirt is Orange Juicy from Piximix. Mmmm, juicy.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered the Lucky 8/8/08 Giveaway! It was fun reading your comments about which items you were most interested in.

Not surprising, the most popular items were the soy knots and jackfruit, followed by the pickled leeks and wood ear mushrooms. A couple of people were interested in the Kung-Fu ramen bowls and bringing up the rear was the lychees and rice noodles.

Now, the moment you all have been waiting for…

The winner is #4 Jennifer! Congratulations, it’s your super-duper lucky day!

Thanks again to everyone for playing, I hope to have more giveaways in the future.

In chinese culture, 8 is the most luckiest number of all, making the upcoming date 8/8/08 a super-duper lucky day. To celebrate, I decided to have my first giveaway.

The prize pack will include 8 (of course) non-perishable Asian ingredients that I’ve used in recipes. Well, except for the ramen bowl, but everyone needs a break from cooking once in awhile. I’ve listed the item and the recipe in which I used said item or its fresh version:

1. Dried Soy Knots – Homestyle Vegan Cajun Chicken Fingers

2. Dried Wood Ear Mushrooms – Tofu Noodles With Peanut Sauce

3. Dried Rice Noodles – Rice Noodle Soup

4. Canned Young Green Jackfruit in Brine – BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Sandwiches

5. Canned Lychees – Minty Summer Fruit Salad

6. Canned Young Green Jackfruit in Brine – Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos

7. Kung Fu Vegetarian Flavor Ramen Bowl – Kung Fu Vegetarian Flavor Ramen Review

8. Pickled Leeks – Chinese Veggie Chicken Salad

Now that you’ve seen what I’ve made with everything, here’s your chance to try it out yourself.

To enter, complete the following:

1. Subscribe to chowvegan.com via RRS reader or email.

2. Leave a comment on this post that you’ve done so and tell me which of the above items you would most like to try.

The details:

Comment must be made by midnight PST on Wednesday, August 6th; please only comment once.

Because the canned goods are on the heavy side, shipping is only to addresses within the continental United States. That and who knows what the story is for customs and sending food out of the country.

One entry will be randomly selected from the comments received and the winner will be announced on 8/8/08, making it their super-duper lucky day.

Good luck everyone!

Tofu Robots are my kitchen slaves. Just tell them what you want to eat and they will turn tofu into scrumptious, mouth-watering, culinary delights to tempt your taste buds.

If only it was true.

I can’t figure out how to make the Tofu Robots go. Why won’t they work? They just stand there, mocking me with a “cook-your-own-darn-tofu” look about them. I guess I’m stuck making my own dinner.

Inspired to create a fun, cute Japanese style food character, Kazuko Shinoka designed Tofu Robot for Spicy Brown. The premier extra firm Tofu Robot first appeared on the scene in the summer of 2005.

The 4″ tall vinyl robot now comes in two more ready-to-serve forms, medium and soft. Besides toys, Spicy Brown also serves up a full t-shirt line of food-inspired characters from tofu to sushi to miso soup and beyond.

Today for “Show and Tell”, I have (drum roll please) – Soya Milk! I love this little guy! Especially his soybean leaf ears and tail. A super cute mini-figure series, The Moofia first appeared in late 2006 featuring seven dairy themed characters and one soy milk. Packaged in a miniature milk carton, Soya Milk stands all of 3″ tall.

Recently, it was announced that for 2008, the hit series will expand with three new characters, one of which will be rice milk. I’m hoping future additions will include almond and hemp milk.

Designed by the renowned Italian artist Simone Legno for his tokidoki brand – tokidoki means “sometimes” in Japanese. So named because Simone loves Japanese culture and he believes “everyone waits for moments that change one’s destiny.”

Check out more designer toys here, but be forewarned, they are highly addictive.

How nice of Lisa from Show Me Vegan to award me with an Excellent Blog Award! Thank you so much Lisa!

I’m passing it onto these excellent blogs:

Food Trance! – Fun eating and drinking vegan in the LA area
The Modern Vegetarian – Lots of yummy recipes from Singapore
Vegan Visitor – Beautiful photos and delicious recipes
Vegan Dad – Awesome food for the whole family
Your Vegan Mom – Tasty recipes with great stories