Sheesh, is that Cheese? Part 2

I went to Deep Roots Market recently and grabbed a bunch of to-dos to make a sandwich. An unexpected lunch buy but good because I could use the groceries for more than a day though, of course, the Rice Dream mocha pie was eaten up ASAP. And I mean ASAP. I mean, can I get Rice Dreams ice cream bars and pies in packs of, oh, about 500? Thanks. Check out the grocery bag items below. All vegan, all tasty. All new to me (except the Rice Dream, of course) and pretty exciting!

Totally Nuts Cashew Cheese

I was sort of on a let's-try-something-new roll when I ran into Deep Roots for some lunch and I grabbed this cashew cheese with a what-the-hell kind of attitude. Thank goodness for that!

I know cashews are used for...um...dairy-ish purposes? From some recipes I've skimmed, it seems to be a good ingredient for creamy, full-flavored consistencies. I heard of almond cheeses but I wasn't sure of any other nut cheeses. I never tried almond cheese (and anyways, the one I just checked at Earth Fare wasn't vegan) and there was even a Totally Nuts vegan almond "ricotta" cheese. But, I don't like ricotta cheese on the regs so I didn't want to try the vegan version. Go figure!

So! This stuff was great! I kept on saying that I didn't know what pimento cheese was like since I never had it, but that this stuff reminded me of it. Mostly because it was bright orange. I still am not sure about pimento cheese but that isn't quite the priority. The thing is...this could totally be sold as not a cheese substitute. The dairy industry was whining about using the word "milk" for non-dairy products or...gasp!...fakes! but I figure that there is some general noun-age and verb-age for works like "milk" so let's use English to it's fullest extent, mmkay? Ok, calling something "cheese" may be stretching it but again, check out this article for some great points on the name-game.

This cashew cheese could be called a dip, spread, or something to that effect and I feel like those omnivorious-licious folks wouldn't shrug it off or act like "vegan" were a dirty word. I would even think that some people would think it's exotic (and probably expensive). A cashew dip? That'd be a great addition to next week's dinner party crudites!

Aaaanyways, the flavor. Well, the "cheese" is full of flavor and kind of tastes like cheese. I was shocked by it's tastiness when I first ate it, but I am not sure if it's because I thought it tasted like cheese or because I just thought it tasted great. Obviously it doesn't have the texture of most yellow/orange cheeses that I assume most people think of. It's all about the flavor here. If I were to serve it to non-vegans, I wouldn't refer to it as a "cheese". I'd just let it be.

I am not sure how I'd sub it for regular cheese, but I did use it one on side of my sandwich with the vegan chicken salad and it tasted great!

This product is local, too. It's made in Brown(s?) Summit, near Greensboro. I haven't found any info on it online, but the producer's contact info IS on the package...well, hello there, neighbor...

Sheesh, is that Cheese?

I went to Deep Roots Market recently and grabbed a bunch of to-dos to make a sandwich. An unexpected lunch buy but good because I could use the groceries for more than a day though, of course, the Rice Dream mocha pie was eaten up ASAP. And I mean ASAP.

I mean, can I get Rice Dreams ice cream bars and pies in packs of, oh, about 500? Thanks.

Check out the grocery bag items below. All vegan, all tasty. All new to me (except the Rice Dream, of course) and pretty exciting!


Ok. Searching for this "chicken" salad's brand brought me t ONESTOPNATURAL, which I had never heard of. Looks hardcore. Will read about it later. The ingredients are listed there. Pretty basic stuff. We demonize "processesed foods" a lot and I will still do it (evil) but I do figure that vegans and vegetarians eat there share of processed food such as the top two ingredients in this vegan chicken salad. Well, I better not stick to that assumption; I'll learn more aout Textureized Vegetable Protein (TVO) and Isolated Soy Protein later...

I am not that into fake meats (I love this post on the topic) but when I recently tried Gardein for the first time, their frozen tenders, I realized that, damn, even the fake chicken is seemingly less-processed than "real" frozen chicken. Ugh. I hate talking about animals like that; I just watched Food, Inc. yesterday for the first time (where it was noted that industrial farms aren't raising animals, they're raising food).

Well, this vegan "chicken" salad (quotes added) tasted...great! I mean, I was never into chicken salad and the best I've had was recently (shhh!, don't tell! my bad!) from Hogan's Groovy Gourmet, but this seemed like a great substitute. It had the flavor of a chicken salad but I attribute that to the spices and mayonnaise. The TVP may not have had the texture of chicken but, let's be serious, how often does chicken have the texture of chicken?

Sad but true.

NEXT...Totally Nuts Cashew Cheese

Gnam Gnam not that, please.

A great grilled veggie salad with a not-too-tart balsamic dressing; warm in a frozen plate! That was kinda cool.

I wrote about going to Gnam Gnam Gelato before here. I've been there a few times since then and have loved the sorbet so far. Since Gnam Gnam is basically pretty far out of the way for me, I don't plan on going there often, but I'll know what to get if I do go there. The issue I had the first time I went there was that though I knew that it was a gelato shop, I wanted to know if there were any non-dairy items (you know, the dirty word, "vegan"). I hated asking that not because I didn't want to be a bother (like I sometimes feel) but because I felt like I was saying..."I know you sell this item and it's the name of your shop, but would you have something else that isn't that?" if you can imagine how I would feel like I was insulting someone's realized dream of opening up a gelato shop.

Sigh.

I was assured that the sorbets had no eggs or milk/dairy so I got myself a nice mix. I realized a bit later that the cute wafer that is added in your cup is probably not vegan but...too little, too late, eh?

I sat at a table and watched as a woman came in with her child and requested the same I did: a non-dairy product. But, it felt like a slightly different situation. She was asking because it was for her child, her child that had an allergy to the ingredients she was questioning. If I remember correctly, she thanked the server for using fresh scoops for the sorbets. I wouldn't have thought that they would mix the spoons between the flavors but in any case, that was nice of the server if she did it.

The journey towards veganism continues...

By the way, I just started playing rec softball and realized I needed a mitt or glove or whatever it's called. A non-leather glove? Yeah, it probably exists but apparently "leather is the best." Hmmm...time to Google and such...

How do you co-sponsor a refugee family in Greensboro?

I receive a weekly e-newsletter from Church World Service. Below is a meeting call in today’s e-newsletter for an interesting concept, process and way to foster refugees.

I am going to learn more about this sponsorship thing though I don’t intend to participate in it, at least at this point in my life. In my upcoming series on Immigration, I will make note of the various faith-based organizations in the area working with immigrants and refugees.

CO-SPONSORSHIP FOCUS GROUP

WHEN

Tuesday, June 15th at 5:30pm

WHAT

If you have ever been a co-sponsor for a refugee family in Greensboro, please come join us for this focus group. We are in the process of improving the co-sponsorship process and we would like feedback from your experience how to better train, equipment and support our co-sponsor groups working with refugees.

WHERE

Church World Service office

620 S. Elm Street, Suite 315, Greensboro

(At the corner of Elm and Lee Street downtown)

What does blogging feel like to you? Part 5

I hope you find these series topics and posts interesting. I look forward to the routine of writing, especially on the topics below that I find so interesting.

The following are topics I plan on exploring/commenting on in The Perfume Issue next:

Language
I am a language nerd. I love languages and lanaguage learning. I grew up in a bilingual household, accidently learned Spanish and just finished a couple of courses in Mandarin Chinese and Arabic in Greensboro this spring. I've come to the conclusion that "fluency" is a relative term and that, honestly, my English isn't perfect either!

Immigration
Dirty word #1. There's the line with variations that Everyone in America is an immigrant. I have a more recent immigrant history and I deal with how my experience as a second (or first?) generation American relates to immigration as a current hot-hot-hot issue. I always want to lay some thought down to what "immigration reform" means.

Food
Ok, I am fibbing here a bit or at least not being specific. I will actually focus on veganism and my preference toward a vegan diet (hmm and not necessarily a vegan lifestyle...yet). But, I feel like "vegan" is a dirty word, one that can push people away. But at the same time, it is a word that greatly attracts many other people looking for inspiration, support, information and confidence. Well, that's what I am looking for. I'll lay out my reasons for a preference for veganism (which may not be that honorable), my omnivore-licious weaknesses, and...humans.

Oh, humans.

I'm not sure yet if the series will be in the above order but it should all go down the same. ;)

What does blogging feel like to you? Part 4

So, what is successful blogging? Do you have a successful blog? Well, maybe that whole fame-and-fortune thing is what you define as success and maybe it isn’t. Maybe a sudden 15 minutes of fame was a rush and now you’re back to consistently delivering your content. Maybe you want to make this your main source of income. In a [major] way, a successful blog is one that meets or exceeds the goals that YOU put in place for it.

I have gotten a lot of blogging inspiration from various bloggers that have a special place in my Google reader. Some of them specifically offer advice on blogging and some are just people from whom I’ve gleaned inspiration from the way they just do it.

It is often said that there are no real experts or gurus in social media. Social media includes the blogosphere. What I am writing right now is not really from my perspective as a marketing, PR, or social media consulting perspective. Much of what I am saying here is based on my experience as a content consumer—an experience that has been extraordinary recently as I have learned more about the blogosphere and, frankly, what an RSS feed is.

From social media consumer and participant to "manager," it's been a wild ride!

What does blogging feel like to you? Part 3

For me, sometimes blogging feels like homework in the way that kids are supposed to stereotypically feel about homework. You know: blah. Still, it’s homework that I am assigning myself. It’s homework because it seems like/is something in addition to the full-time job I have. I really want to do it and I feel like post ideas run by me left and right—literally!—but I feel like I just don’t have time. The dog hasn’t eaten my homework, it ate my time!

But, this is where the work comes in. Diligence, focus, creativity, consistency, voice, motivation, marketing and management are just some of the factors involved in successful blogging.