Redemption

After my double dose of Giada failures, you'd think that I'd be a bit gun shy about trying another recipe of hers so soon (for the record, the disasters were entirely my fault), but I woke up this morning deciding to make her mushroom and pea risotto. I may have even dreamed about it, because it was on my mind while the alarm was blasting. So I took a risk and it paid off big time.

This was my first attempt at making 100% vegetarian risotto. Some dried chantarelle mushrooms were soaked in simmering veggie broth for five minutes, then drained and chopped, while the broth was kept warm on the stovetop. I diced up an onion and cooked it in butter. For whatever reason, the onion affected me intensely. Big tears were rolling down my face, which was a total surprise. I am not at all sensitive to onions. I will literally be chopping 'em up in Jim's kitchen and he's tearing up several feet away while I'm perfectly fine. But for whatever reason, I was bawling like a baby. And when I put my contacts in later, it was round 2 for the crying.

Anyway, after sauteing the onions, I added garlic, white mushrooms, and the reconstituted chantarelles. Then came the Arborio rice and some veggie broth (no wine today). After all the broth was added and absorbed by the rice, I stirred in peas and parmesan cheese. The result was divine. Normally I don't rave about the dishes I make, but this one was super yummy. It was a tad too salty, but that was because I didn't have any low sodium vegetable stock. The parmesan definitely kicks the salty flavor up a notch. The risotto was creamy, but I think in retrospect that I should have let it cook just a minute or two longer. But overall, it was a great recipe and definitely a keeper. I want to make it for Jim now, even though he won't like it nearly as much as me, on account of the fact that he doesn't like mushrooms like I do.

As a side note, Giada's cake did go over well. Big A had two slices, which is pretty huge considering how picky he is. And Sister K took the leftovers home. So even though it was a horrendous experience making the thing, the end result was, while not exactly worth it, still tasty.

Jim and I went to Berkeley for dinner. I found a vegan restaurant online called Herbivore and I was excited to try it out. Since Jim was going to his parents' house for dinner, it was perfect. Herbivore is on Shattuck, off of University. I found it odd that there was no hippy vibe whatsoever and the decor was in fact, very modern and cold looking. I was pretty fascinated by the light fixtures, which looked like hand blown glass.





We arrived at the restaurant around 4:30, so there weren't too many diners in the restaurant and we selected a table at the back end of the place. The tables are metal and the chairs have brown suede cushions on them--not the best idea in my opinion. I immediately had a better vibe off the place than Cafe Gratitude and was very happy looking over the menu at all of the various choices.

We split an appetizer of soft tacos and Jim ordered a "chicken" burrito while I got the potato-soy pie. The tacos came out pretty quickly and we dug right in. It came with imitation ground beef, beans, guacamole, vegan sour cream, and salsa. They were nicely loaded and I lost about half of my filling. I don't know how Jim managed to eat his so neatly, but I struggled. The guac was really good and very fresh, and the entire thing was very tasty. I realized why Mexican restaurants use two corn tortillas, because the only thing I could think of that would make it better was an additional tortilla.



Jim's burrito was amazing. The chicken wasn't at all rubbery and had a great flavor to it. It came in a whole wheat tortilla with brown rice, guac, salsa, and vegan crema, which Jim held. I was a little weirded out by eating off of Jim's plate, because it basically never happens, but it was fun being able to sample his main course. I had several bites. Shoot, I would have been thrilled to get one of my own.



Not that mine was lacking at all--my potatoes were surprisingly velvety and creamy. I selected the mushroom gravy, which was so good. The potatoes made the "crust" and the filling was soy, mushrooms, spinach, and onions. The gravy really did make the dish. I also got a couple of slices of crostini, of which I gave one to Jim because we are crazy about bread.



Both of our meals came with salads, and mine was a pretty decent size. Even though it came topped with matchstick beets and Dijon dressing, I actually liked it. I guess it must be a texture thing for me with beets, because I didn't mind them at all cut up that finely. And as for the Dijon, despite the label of it being as such, it really didn't have that strong of a mustard-y taste. My salad was chock full of goodies--paper thin red onion, carrots, tomatoes, and even mint. Jim's salad came on his burrito plate, and he really couldn't hang. He did give it a good attempt, though.



Basically, I loved the meal and I loved the price tag. I spent only a few dollars more than I did at Cafe Gratitude for my solo meal, and the food macked and was in way greater quantity. Plus I just felt more comfortable there. Real people patronized Herbivore.

Afterwards, I went to the symphony with L. We had a great time, although I was a bit nervous about boring him to death. Afterwards, we got tapioca pearl tea from Tapioca Express, which is right by his apartment. I haven't had boba in I don't know how long, and L raved about thie place. I went with his honeydew snow ball recommendation and wasn't at all disappointed. There were actual pieces of honeydew that went into the making of the drink. I was so freaking full afterwards, but it really was good stuff. We were going to get some fried green beans in honor of L's former M, but we got there too late and the kitchen was already closed.

*note* I just checked online and there's a Tapioca Express here in my hometown. Uh oh.