monkey / gorilla cakes!

so, i had a huge pancake craving for dinner. i could see it coming miles away - since i missed national pancake day and haven't had any in ages. and, as luck would have it, one of the most fun vegan food bloggers out there, "chocolate covered katie," is having an awesome contest wherein you make pancake roll-ups and are entered to win a whole bunch of products courtesy of artisana.

and so, i thought, "why not make pancake roll-ups?" yes, why not.

i decided on this recipe, because i wanted to use up some spelt flour and because moby is cool. alongside the spelt we have wheat bran (didn't have any oat), baking soda, salt, and soymilk. some rogue cinnamon may have snuck its way in there.

and a little stevia, because one needs some sweetness in one's pancakes. and, yes, that is a blurry "sense and sensibility" in the background, because one needs some jane austen while one makes pancakes.

and, no, you don't see any blueberries up in there. instead, i used a banana and some unsweetened coconut.

and so begins the fun game of heating the pan and creating the tester pancake. we've got bubbles!

successful flipping!

mmm. yes, they taste like "healthy" cakes, but one sees nothing wrong with that.

yet it is at this point, looking at the finished batch, that one runs into a problem. and by "one," i mean me. you see, these are thick and fluffy and lovely...but they do not really appear conducive to, um, rolling.

but one must do the best one can. a little slater of all-natural, organic, creamy peanut butter...

a makeshift roll with some added banana (ignore the fact that it looks like a burrito about to fall apart)...

and some more banana on top, alongside some powdered sugar and a little drizzle of pure maple syrup.

i was going to christen these monkey cakes, but they were too big to be monkies. plus, i could only eat half of them. instead, i believe they are gorilla cakes. i dedicate them to joe, a gorilla who lives in the st. louis zoo.

thanks for the inspiration, katie!

st. louis food: part 3!

if i were to subtitle this post, it would be this: dessert and animals!

the dessert part is for this place...

at a gelateria there is really only one thing to order...gelato. mine was a mix of fancy vanilla and caramel. it wasn't the same as my beloved hometown capogiro, but it was quite nice. i'd eat it again. and again.

**

now, for the animals portion of this post...basically, i went to the st. louis zoo, which is awesome and FREE, and i wanted to share a couple of pics of cute animals. yes, i know this is a food blog, and so i am hereby stating that these are animals that i have never eaten, do not currently eat, and do not plan on eating, unless i am in a very strange, unforseeable circumstance in a different country where not to do so would mean horrific disrespect or an apocalypse.

so. in no particular order, i give you...

a hippo! this pic isn't even cropped. the hippo swam next to the glass where i was and waited for me to take a picture, and swam away. we are now BFF, like me and neko case.

asian elephant! who doesn't like elephants?

giant tortoise! i have always loved turtles and tortoises. when i was younger i wanted a turtle, but they were illegal, and i got a turtle keychain instead. the end.

this is a monkey. monkeys are the best.

this gorilla's name is joe. he was lounging.

and this is a baby orangutan named ruby. she was playing hide and seek right before her nap. this is her behind. you can tell i like the primates.

some fun bird that stared at me...

a penguin from the new penguin exhibit. i think he's posing...

and then there's the peacock. when i was 2 or 3, my mom took me to the zoo. i looked pretty much the same -- big blue eyes and short -- except i was technically littler. i was shy and quiet and didn't speak out of turn. story goes it was a busy day at the philly zoo, and when we walked in, the first thing we saw, amidst the throngs of people, were some peacocks walking about. i got very excited, pointed to a peacock, and shouted for all to hear, "look, mommy, a buffalo!" people stopped. laughed. stared. my mom looked kindly at me and at the people. she said, nodding towards me, "she doesn't get out much." aww.

28 years later, i still enjoy glimpsing the mighty buffalo.

st. louis food: part 2!

while in st. louis, i had pizza from two different establishments. and when i say two different establishments, i mean it in every sense of the word.

first up was late night take-out from imo's (note the arch on the box):

for those of you who haven't had imo's (which, i'm guessing, is a lot) - its more than a chain: its an enigma. this is because they use a little something called provel. I would have written provel cheese, except its not technically cheese; its a pasteurized "cheese product."

yup.

go back to the highlighted link, click on it, and read all about provel. its definitely an acquired taste. but, if you're from st. louis, you love this stuff. even vegetarians who eat lots of vegan meals and don't eat processed foods, try to buy organic, etc., become happy in the presence of provel, just because they grew up with it. i have seen it happen.

and, apparently, imo's is the way to go...

note the very thin crust and the numerous square cuts. lets go in for a closer look, shall we?

now, for me, this is just fine...if i don't think of it as pizza. because i'm from philadelphia, and i know better. instead, its a fun type of flatbread melt. and, in that mindframe, its really not so bad. these are tiny, and light, and given the chance, one could eat the better part of one pizza. so, in the words of en vogue, free your mind, and rest will follow..

**

and now, in the other corner, we have pi.

at pi, they have have t-shirts that say "no provel" on them. that should just about say it all. instead, they are a self-profressed green restaurant. they are organic and local. they have cloth napkins!

and they have fancy schmancy menu options. they have to, in order to impress the president enough to snub his native chicago and order a deep dish style pie from this place (and by the way, i plugged "obama, pi, pizza, and st. louis" into google, and over 100,000 hits came up. its kind of insane how controversial a couple pizzas can be, isn't it?). the pie we chose consisted of fresh tomato sauce, olives, non-provel cheese and zucchini. and we ordered the famous cornmeal deep dish crust - which is really not a crust in the traditional sense but actually a flaky pastry. here she is:

the thing about deep dish is that they are incredibly sneaky; they don't look like much, but this fed four adults.

yup - two of these slices was all i could handle. and... i'd go back again. actually, to both, just to say i did.

thank you very much, st. louis.

st. louis food: part 1!

i was in st. louis over thanksgiving break, and i can testify that it is a wondrous place. this, like any city, is in part because i had really good tour guides, who knew where to take me. and, who knew where to eat.

not including traveling, i spent three full days there. the following include some of the places i ate, and where i would be happy to eat again. first up is...

in addition to pancakes, uncle bill also likes tudor-style buildings...

of course, i had pancakes, because otherwise everything would feel wrong. i chose german-style potato pancakes with applesauce on the side, because st. louis has a big german population. i discovered they are like very thin latkes, mixed with flour. yes, please.

**

next up we have....

pho grand is authentic vietnamese cuisine. if you don't believe me, you can visit their website, which is so cool it has an intro complete with authentic vietnamese music. i must admit, this restaurant made me sad to reside in BG. in BG, we cannot get veggie spring rolls with sweet chili dipping sauce..

and we cannot get pho xao chay AKA rice noodles with tofu and veggies.

and we certainly don't have fancy coffee with condensed milk out of a rube goldberg machine that starts out looking like this...

and ends up like this.

**

and, finally, i give you this restaurant...

here at mokabes, i had what was probably my favorite meal (vegetarian / vegan brunch) and took my worst two pictures. don't believe me? take a looksee...

ok, first of all, it was a buffet, and second, it was dark, and its embarrassing to take a flashy pic of one's food in a hipster restaurant. but let me say that this was absolutely amazing.

some of the things on my plate include vegetarian biscuits and gravy, quiche, stuffed french toast, veggie sausage, eggs, and cranberry chutney, and the first little seiten cutlet i've ever enjoyed. there was also lots of fruit, tofu scramble, banana bread, blondie brownies, and, to drink, orange/strawberry juice...

here is the link to their website. their slogan is, 'you should be at mokabe's,' and they are right.

tomorrow, pizza review of st. louis. one word: provel

leftovers and tetris!

here is the bottom of the fridge. it contains tupperware and pyrex-filled leftovers.

i can't decide whether to eat them or to play tetris with them. they both hold equal appeal.

tricky.

tricky.

**

in other news, 'nosh' is going on its first roadtrip! that's right - tomorrow, i'll be heading to st. louis, and will be there through sunday. i have big plans to take pics of lots of all things culinary with my crappy camera and crappy phone camera - and share them with everyone here. although, i feel i must point that, oddly, thanksgiving dinner may not be a part of this, since i'll be spending it at the house of people who have never met me, and i think the first impression of a girl who cares more about taking pictures of her food than anything else might be too much.

but then again, maybe not! life is an adventure. i've only been to st. louis once and, while really fun, was only for 24 hours. so, i'm looking to up the experience. on the food agenda this time is the pizza place the obama's shipped out from....i'm excited already.

happy thanksgiving y'all :)