Fall Wreath o' Gourds

This was one of the easiest and least-messy craft projects I've tried to in a while. It took all of 15 minutes to assemble. And I think it even cost less than that to buy all the requisite materials. All that is needed is 3 little bags of miniature fake gourds, a small wire wreath frame, and a glue gun. Just glue all the gourds on the wreath (I think I had 3 left over), and hang it outside! It's not quite perfectly circular, but definitely good enough, given how quick and cheap it was to make. As we get deeper into the winter holiday season, I'll probably spray paint the whole wreath in a single, metallic color, like pewter or bronze.

Kino MacGregor is Coming to DC!

Kino MacGregor, one of youngest female masters of the ashtanga system, is offering a weekend workshop at Woodley Park Yoga in just a couple weeks!

Vegan Adaptations: Apple-Currant Pie

A little more than a week ago, I bought a 3 pound bag of apples on a whim. All three pounds promptly then sat in my fridge for a little more than a week. Things were beginning to look dire for the poor things. They really needed to be eaten immediately -- which seemed quite unlikely given how few of them had been eaten last week. So I decided that this could very well be the incentive I needed to try my hand at making a vegan apple pie. This also meant I had an excuse to try out my new pie dish, a 9 inch, super deep-dish ceramic number from Emile Henry's cookware line.

I scoured my cookbooks for apple pie recipes and googled around for vegan pie crust recipes. I ultimately chose (with modifications) an apple pie filling from Susie Quick's Quick Simple Food and then used the ingredients for the vegan pie crust from Vegan Action's website. Instead of using the Vegan Action instructions for making the pie crust, however, I decided to more or less follow the directions for making the pie crust from Susie's book (because it provided an example of how to use a food processor to make the dough, which was helpful given that I don't have a pastry blender) and draw from some other online tips for making vegan pie crusts (including freezing the vegan "buttery spread" and chilling the vegan milk substitute).

In the end, the pie crust came out a little thin. Next time, I'd consider perhaps even doubling the dough recipes, just to make sure I had enough to cover the entire pie dish, which I barely did this time round. The filling, on the other hand, was delicious and extremely simple to make (though it'd probably have been easier, or at least less time-consuming, if I had an apple corer/peeler gadget). I can imagine baking this pie throughout the fall and winter, for any lazy chilly weekend evening. Don't worry about just piling on heaps of the apple filling; it'll reduce to a more reasonable size as they bake.

View of the gorgeous pie dish.

Another view.

View from the top.

First slice!

 Vegan Pie Crust:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Earth Balance original spread, frozen
3 to 5 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk (I used Organic Valley), chilled

Apple-Currant Filling:

1 cup dried currants
1/2 cup red wine (can be substituted with water if you're concerned the wine is not vegan)
1 bag of apples (3 pounds), peeled, quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup organic light brown sugar (I used Wholesome Sweeteners, which is wonderfully molasses-scented)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Steps: 

First step is to make the pie dough. Fit your food processor with the dough blade. Measure out the flour and salt into the processor and scoop in the Earth Balance spread. Pulse for 10 to 20 seconds. Open up the top of the processor and use a spatula to hand-mix briefly, especially the edges. Pour in 1 tablespoon of the soy milk, re-cover the processor and pulse for another few seconds. Continue adding soy milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture just begins to stick together. Remove the crumbly dough mixture from the food processor and form into a ball. Wrap it with plastic wrap and flatten into a burger-like patty. Refrigerate for a while, 30 minutes or more. (If you're strapped for time, you can put it in the freezer instead.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Next step is to prepare the filling. In a small microwavable bowl, combine dried currants with wine. Microwave for 1 minute, just enough to warm the wine. Set the wine-currant mixture aside. Separately, prepare the apples and, in a large bowl, coat the apple slices with lemon juice. Mix in the sugar, cornstarch, and spices. Drain the remaining wine that hasn't been soaked up by the currants and fold the currants into the apple-sugar-spice mixture. Set aside.

Then roll out the pie dough and fit into the pie dish. (To reduce messes, I usually roll out the dough between two large sheets of parchment paper, each sprayed with non-stick oil spray.)

Finally, fill the pie shell with the apple mixture and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the apples get soft and the crust turns a golden brown. Let cool for at least 10 to 20 minutes and then enjoy!

Drawing 101

(From James McMullan's Online Portfolio)

As a lifelong doodler, I'm quite thrilled that the New York Times has just begun a new, 12-week series themed around the concept of teaching readers basic drawing fundamentals, called Line by Line. Each online essay, by New York author and artist James McMullan, will infuse drawing 101 lessons with bits of art history as well as examples drawn from his current work. The first installment, out last Thursday, introduces the column and provides prospective students/readers of the series with a list of basic drawing materials (paper and either a 2B or a 4B pencil). Happy reading (and drawing)!

Russia + Yuppiness = Yoga Obsession

Did you know that this week is yoga week in Russia?
Did you know that yoga was officially taboo in the Soviet Union?
Did you know that Dmitri Medvedev practices yoga "to deal with the stress of political obligations"?

Find out other amazing factoids about Russian yoga, here, in this super fun New York Times article.

Test Kitchen: Amazing (Vegan) Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

Stop whatever you're doing and immediately try out this much less popular (but in my opinion much, much better) Chloe Coscarelli recipe -- or at least bookmark it for later use! Odds are, you have all the ingredients already at home. The only kind-of special ingredients are chocolate chips, two bananas, and Ener-G Egg Replacer. Without reservations, Chloe's put together a recipe that is incredibly simple -- replicable even by my own amateurish hands -- and thoroughly delicious! It even won over one of my most die-hard non-vegan friends! I can imagine all sorts of possibly amazing variations and additions to this recipe, if someone wants to make it fancy (though, really, no need) -- dried tart cherries, candied orange rinds, crushed pistachios....

It's a little more crumbly than the version on Chloe's blog, but yummy nonetheless!

Lady Gaga and Bikram Yoga in DC!

(photo credits)

I've read before that Lady Gaga has a tendency to drop in on Bikram classes while on tour, but it's way more exciting when a celebrity drops in at a yoga studio close to home. And not just any yoga studio, but the same Bikram studio where I took my first hot yoga classes, Bikram Yoga Capitol Hill! Unfortunately for me, I had basically a zero-percent chance of seeing her in yoga action. She apparently took the noon-time class, which I have never taken (probably full of mostly other Bikram teachers and non-9-to-5ers). On the plus side, though, I have sat on that same bench (see above) in the entrance to the Capitol Hill Bikram yoga studio, so that's something, right?

And just to set the record straight, just because everyone seems to be dwelling on what she wore to Bikram class, five-inch heels and a blazer are much more unusual yoga wear cover-ups than the bra-and-underwear-style outfit that folks seem to be describing her as wearing for the Bikram session itself. Bikram devotees are notoriously scantily clad in class -- which is completely reasonable and acceptable when you're spending 90 minutes exercising in a 105 degree heated room. (Just look at what Bikram himself is wearing at the top of his website!) I can always tell who the Bikram newbies are when I see them rolling out their yoga mats wearing full-length yoga pants and anything more than a sports bra on top.