New ideas for China: Pictures of awesome English phrases like on Engrish.com are always fun, Have a terrible conversation with every Chinese consisting of probably “Ni Hao” to everyone and clubbin for Lucas’ birthday.

I’ve also learned a lot more about what Beijing has to offer including the rich history of the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall and the old and new Beijing that we will undoubtedly see while riding bikes or electric scooters around town. Another major attraction for me is the various Buddhist temples, some from the 14th century. I want to see how they live, eat their veggie food, and experience their peace, meditation and spiritualization. I absolutely want to see the real Beijingnese and Shanghainese while were there as well. I don’t want to feel so touristy that I’m whisked away to popular tourist events all day – so I found some small towns where they still live in the same living conditions of the Song era and the houses are the same too -amazing. I will miss a lot out of China too, of course,  the Yellow River, Huangshou mountains (Avatar!) and most of the small villages around that will be too far to venture out to just for a day. Since our time is limited, we will leave that for another trip…

There is more to learn, especially Mandarin, and I’m still thinking about picking a Chinese name (the travel show we watched today had a guy named Plum Blossom), so if there are any recommendations, I would appreciate it!

Next week, my shipment of red wigglers (wormies) are coming to eat my food and give me their rich wormy poo for my garden! I’m uber excited to see this compost come to life! The best part about this is less trips to the trash bin, I’m throwing away WAY less trash because I cook so much and have so many organic compounds already. Most of my waste goes into this new bin for my future wormy friends to fiest on and continue the circle of life!

I will update and show pics of the process as it continues, and I will also show my little pets when they arrive in the mail.

Steps to compost on your own (even in an apartment):

Buy:

1 – 18 gallon bin w/ a lid (or larger if you have the space)

1 – small trash can for compost materials in the kitchen

1 – pound of red wigglers (wormy friends to eat and poo in your bin)

Instructions:

Drill small holes all over your bin. Place shredded paper or dry brown leaves on the bottom (about 1 inch). Put your food scraps on top of that as you go along. Dump in food as you receive it rather than all at once. Put on the lid and let it sit! Wormies will eat your food. Make sure there is enough moisture in the compost without being wet. That’s it….

1 Cup Bisquick mix

1/2 cup almond milk

2 TB arrowroot powder (this replaces the eggs and makes the pancakes extra fluffy!)

1/2 cup blueberries or chocolate chips

The pancakes come out delicious and plump and cruelty free!

The best thing we found were the nice waterfalls and swimming ponds. The water is absolutely freezing, clean and refreshing (which I can’t say for most of the beaches we swim in). We found a little cove after we climbed a steep cliff past the 30 foot waterfall. Up stream was a quiet, peaceful pool and a nice medium sized waterfall filling it. After the mind numbingly cold water wore off (I got too numb to feel it anymore) we enjoyed nature and the robust butterfly hideout near us.

All in all, a great hike and definitely something to check out if you’re in the LA/OC area and want to get away. Try to find the vegetarian option on the cliff where you buy the parking pass. The first time we went there was free veggie sausage sandwiches! The next time they were gone, but they were making veggie burgers – so not bad!

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Melt smart balance butter on high heat in skillet with onion & cinnamon. Once it is brown, add the couscous and mix constantly until slightly brown. Slowly add broth and bring to a boil, then simmer covered until couscous and soaked up the broth and is soft but still has a bite.

Mix rest of ingredients together in a bowl. Oui!

http://en.expo2010.cn/

We went to a Native Foods cooking demo with the creator, Chef Tanya, a couple weeks ago in Tustin. She is writing a new book on Mom’s and Grandma’s recipes made the vegan way. We had some samples and a cooking demo on them and the food was to die for. I ended up falling in love with the Beefy Bourguignon stew that she let us try because it was so similar to a beef stew and no animal carcass included! It was instead made with seitan an ancient recipe of a pure gluten loaf made from flour and water that creates a super-protein that is good for you and vegan!

I also wanted to show Lucas’ mom the perfect way to make vegan food at home and still have that old French flavor with fresh veggies and rich flavors.

So, first you start making the seitan:

Seitan

4 cups  unbleached flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup vital gluten flour

mix all flours together in a large bowl, and slowly add in water. Once mixed, knead 70 times on a flat, floured surface. Let sit for 20 minutes. Next, lay the ball of dough in the bowl again and put the bowl in the sink to rinse and knead 10 more times. So, rinse, knead (you’ll see a cloudy substance come out which is the carbohydrates being extracted. This is what you want so you only have gluten in the end- all the protein will remain). After 10 rinses your water will be more clear and you will be able to take the dough out.

Next, you will make the seitan broth..

Seitan broth

10 cups water

2 cups soy sauce

8 cloves peeled garlic

3 2″ slides of ginger

4  bay leaves

Put all the ingredients together in a very large pot and simmer. Once the seitan is done, plop the seitan in the pot with a skewer in the middle. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 1.5 hours.

Last, you will make the stew…

Beefy Bourguignon

1/3 cup olive oil

1 large sliced carrot

1 large yellow onion

1 pkg. boiling onions

1 lb. mushrooms (any kind)

2 cloves garlic peeled

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp.  black pepper

3 lbs. seitan cut into 1/2″ pieces

2 Tbsp.  flour

2 cups dry red wine

3 cups water

2 vegan vegetable bouillon cubes (no salt added)

1 Tbsp.  tomato paste

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1  bay leaf

1 cup chopped Italian parsley

1. In a large soup pot heat olive oil and add carrot, onion, boiling onions, mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper and saute until transparent and lightly browned.

2. Add the seitan pieces for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add the flour and stir well to cover all ingredients and let brown slightly (2-3 min).

4. Stir in wine and water. Crumble and add vegan vegetable bouillon cubes, tomato paste, thyme, and bay leaf.

5. Let simmer on low, partially covered for 1 hour.

6. Serve, place parsley on top of decoration

Bon apetit!