Sunday, 18 October 2015

Vegan Mozzarella, Judy Blume, Jean Ure and a weekend of Asthma

Last week was busy.  I worked every week day for the first time since Sylvia was born.  Fortunately it was part time hours but busy nevertheless.  I washed a couple of loads of washing, did the grocery shopping and baked in readiness for a weekend of gymnastics, Fitzroy market and a family lunch.  Instead we stayed at home all weekend with the only outing being to the hospital at 2am last night for treatment for Sylvia's asthma.

Time at home did not mean as much time in the kitchen as I would have liked.  At least I managed two recipes that I wanted.  I made my regular bread yesterday morning and then I tried vegan mozzarella for the first time last night.  It went very well as melted cheese on toast with some spicy beans or tinned tomato soup on the side.

I did find more time for reading than usual.  Last night I finished In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume.  I really enjoyed reading this novel for adults from an author that I loved reading as a child.  She still has great empathy for teenagers.  Perhaps now she writes from a teen point of view to remind adults how it feels rather than to show other young readers that they are not alone.  It brings to mind a brilliant article on books by Neil Gaiman about how tv shows how other people live but books give us a chance to step into someone's mind.

I have recently read a book by another author I enjoyed in my childhood.  I have fond memories of reading If It Weren't for Sebastian by Jean Ure when I was a teenager.  So I was happy when Sylvia picked up Jean Ure's Jelly Baby from the library shelves.

I was quite surprised and interested that the main characters aged 11 and 13 were vegetarian.  The dad's new girlfriend really annoyed me the way she kept trying to get them to eat meat.  I was muttering out loud about how awful she was, which I don't usually do when I read to Sylvia.  This issue was really personal as I don't like to think of how many times I have had someone say "Go on.  I bet you would love a bit of my burger" or steak or what other other horrid meat meal they are eating.

We both really enjoyed this book, despite me getting very cross at the girlfriend.  It was a great book to read to Sylvia when I took her to hospital at 2am and we were waiting to see the doctor.  Hospitals are places of lots of waiting around and lots of disruption.  I was very glad to get home (about 6am) and have some peace and quiet.  And even more pleased that Sylvia was breathing easier.

So today I slept until 1pm.  Then we had a lazy day.  Television, finishing off some paper tulips and finishing reading Jelly Baby.  There is so much online about Halloween and autumn that it seems odd to be making paper flowers.  However all around us are flowers and that glorious spring fragrance of jasmine.  Our rose bushes are in full bloom.

Sylvia had more energy today and was outside finding flowers to decorate the lunch platter.  She didn't eat so much yesterday so I tried to put together a tempting platter for a late lunch.  We sat outside on the verandah enjoying good weather and a chat with our neighbour.

For dinner we had more mozzarella on toast.  I really enjoyed it.  The recipe at Vedged Out specifically requests that bloggers do not repost it so I will not.  The mozzarella has a good melted cheese texture though it is a little stretchy rather than having those strings that amaze me with the dairy counterpart.  I hope I will make it again and would recommend it.  (I added a tablespoon of nutritional yeast.  Maybe a teaspoon would be enough.)

I have also seen a vegan mozzarella recipe with aqua faba at Avocados and Ales that interests me.  I am constantly keen to try a vegan mozzarella like this on pizza.  The cheese experiments will continue, if I can find the time and energy.
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15 comments:

  1. Kyra Howearth18 October 2015 at 23:54

    So many good things in this post (apart from the 2am hospital trip...been there with a 4 month old baby, not fun. I hope Sylvia is feeling better today!). I know how you feel about doing spring-y things when instead it feels like the rest of the blogosphere is celebrating pumpkins and autumn leaves...I have been feeling rather seasonally challenged lately.

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    1. Johanna GGG22 October 2015 at 21:34

      Thanks Kyra - yes sylvia is much better. And the blogosphere is an odd world where autumn sometimes seems more normal than spring even though it is spring here.

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  2. cm19 October 2015 at 01:05

    This is such a beautiful colourful page. Interesting that in this (hopefully) more enlightened age that the girlfriend in the book was pushing the meat. Maybe it is to help the reader to use the words no thank you with determination? U used to love reading to my children. When i cannot grow my own meat I do not eat it so I eat vegetarian when I go out or am travelling and am always annoyed at the lack of clean food for people who make choices like mine and I am ALWAYS getting those dirty Looks from people who think i am just being picky. .. We all create our own diets and that should be respected. I love the pictures from your garden lunch.. c

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    1. Johanna GGG22 October 2015 at 21:39

      Thanks c - the pushing of the meat was not seen as a good thing in the book, which I was pleased about. It did give Sylvia and me a chance to talk about respecting others' choices. Because she has been vegetarian since she was born she finds it odd that others eat meat and we have had a few chats about letting it be, which is counter intuitive because I think a vegetarian diet is better in many ways - but I have lived in this world long enough to know some meat eaters just aren't for changing and it is sometimes like my grandmother used to say to the Jehovah's witnesses - I wont try and convert you if you don't try to convert me

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  3. Kari19 October 2015 at 03:48

    Poor Sylvia - I hope she is feeling better and you've all caught up on some sleep. It sounds like a busy week and I always think good books (and being able to squeeze reading time in) are a necessary counterpart to such weeks. I'm glad you managed that, even if that girlfriend was very annoying!

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    1. Johanna GGG22 October 2015 at 21:41

      Thanks Kari - it has been a bit of an unsettled week but we are all doing ok - being able to read more was definitely a plus! The nice thing about the book was that the girlfriend was annoying but she was also trying to look after the kids so it is useful for children to understand that even if people are annoying, they are not always just bad through and through

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  4. Veganopoulous19 October 2015 at 11:50

    I hope Sylvia is feeling much better! Glad you all got some rest though. I haven't read Judy Blume since I was young so her more current novels would be really interesting I'm sure. I wish my kids would eat a lovely platter like you made!

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    1. Johanna GGG22 October 2015 at 21:43

      Thanks Faye - I might have read a Judy Blume adult novel when I was a young adult but not recently. In the Unlikely Event was very good and made me want to read her kids books all over again. I wish I could tell you Sylvia ate lots of vegies from the platter - at least it did make her eat some vegies

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  5. Unknown20 October 2015 at 13:15

    Oh no! I hope Syliva is ok :( Asthma is scary business.
    The vegan cheese looks delicious!
    I still haven't tried aqua faba to make anything, so maybe I should check out that recipe.
    I didn't realise Judy Bloom wrote books for adults. I'm intrigued by both books you mentioned and may pick them both up. I read books ravenously =)

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    1. Johanna GGG22 October 2015 at 21:44

      Thanks Kimmy - asthma is indeed scary - I knew a little boy who died from it when I was a kid. I tried mozzarella with aqua faba recently and it was great - will post my version of the recipe soon. And apparently Judy Blume wrote quite a few adult novels. Hope you enjoy the ones I mentioned.

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  6. Joey20 October 2015 at 17:32

    It sounds like it was a trying few days - hope Sylvia's on the mend. I just went off for a look at the vegan mozzarella recipe, expecting to see some weird and wonderful ingredients but it all looks pretty doable, so I'll definitely give it a try.

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    1. Johanna GGG22 October 2015 at 21:45

      Thanks Joey - the mozzarella recipe is impressive for using ingredients I have around the house. Sylvia is doing much better, thanks.

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  7. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella20 October 2015 at 19:57

    Wow there are so many versions of vegan mozzarella. I would try them but I think I would probably go back to buffalo mozzarella because I love it plain :D

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    1. Johanna GGG22 October 2015 at 21:46

      Thanks Lorraine - one of the problems with vegan food is that there are so many variations of every vegan substitute for dairy or meat that it can get quite overwhelming. I can't say I am familiar with buffalo mozzarella so am not sure how it compares to this vegan one

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  8. Choclette24 October 2015 at 23:02

    That looks like a very tempting platter indeed. And lovely to see the roses out just as ours our fading.

    Buffalo mozzarella is the original and best mozzarella you can buy, but expensive of course.

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