The Night Crew

I've a reputation for being one amoung a small number of locals that have a larger percentage of waking hours during the night as opposed to the day. I've been trying to fight that, to some extent, but I've gathered a group of troops that keep me from my bed longer than I would like. Last night the group included my little brother and four outsiders, and we set to making one of the more commonly cooked dishes here, Vegan Tacos. Surprising for my area, I feel, is the number of Vegans and Vegetarians that I run into on a daily basis. Perhaps it's just that I know almost all of them, and that's what makes them seem to have such great numbers. The Vegans are an interesting sort, and cooking for them is always simple, due to a relatively small number of ingredients in most dishes. That's not to say that Vegan cooking is always so short of complexity, but it tends to be when you're broke. So, Vegan Tacos are about as simple as it gets. We pick up some taco shells and tortillas, and a packed of Morning Star Farms Crumbles, which is a sort of ground beef substitute that has its own unique and delicious flavour. Sometimes I may even prefer it to real beef. This holds especially true when I think about things on a larger scale, and how it takes 10 calories of grain to get 1 calorie of red meat from cattle, which seems like an awfully intense waste. Anyway, that's a story for another time. Don't just eat this stuff because it frees your conscience and saves the world, eat it because it's delicious. So, basically all one does is heat up the fake meat and add seasoning. I decided to go for some bell peppers and green onions this time around, and hit it with a little freshly ground cumin seed, salt, milled black pepper and some syrian aleppo pepper that my brother brought me from New York City. The results were delicious.

Later that night, one amoung my cohorts was rife with hunger for fruit, so we made off to the store and ended our search with mangos and pomegranates, both of which I haven't enjoyed in far too long. Fruit is really amazing, and makes for the best snacks, I feel. It's a shame that there is not more supply and variety about this place, though. I really need to get out of this place. I was just reading today a list of american cities that were very well tailored to those that like to walk between their destinations, something I would love to get more of in my life, and that led me on to a list of 'green cities', one of which was, suprisingly, New York. Portland, OR also landed on both lists, and it has for some time been a place I've longed to live. I hope that won't just remain a dream for too long. I won't let it.