my first tango with tofu

First off, Monday Monday Monday....I love you. Before I tangoed with tofu I had a really delicious day. It is Monday, which means "I refuse to do ______(insert word/task/chore/job) unless doing so makes me smile. Monday also means "I refuse to drive day." Unless of course, in doing so I smile.

Luckily I love my Ayurveda course so I was happy to review notes and textbook for the chat with my teacher tomorrow. This module has been Ayurvedic psychology. I loved psychology in college. I love Ayurvedic psychology even more.

Working today brought me great joy, because I'm getting to immerse myself in creating a bunch of awesome-ness as we kick off the themes at the studio starting in January. {If you are on the email list you should have gotten a note this morning. If not, it's below.} I even wrote (a rough draft) my very first guided visualization. That was pretty fun. Also worked on mudras and a pose for each mostly theme. See I told ya. Fun stuff.

Today's Monday also included a short drive to the coffee shop and library. I worked and played at each.

Now to my tango with tofu.....

I've been vegetarian for over five years now and this is my very first attempt at doing something (I guess cooking) with tofu. I'll happily get tofu at restaurants, but when it came to making a dish, I was sorta at a loss. I've bought it a few times only to have it sit in the fridge for months only to end of being thrown away.

I was perusing through Vegan with a Vengeance at the library and saw a lil section about tofu. I recalled that a had a block of tofu at home. I knew what was for dinner.

I bring said book home (along with The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone and Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore). Remove said tofu from the fridge. Turn on Beyonce and begin to tango. I know, totally wrong music, but....

So the tofu, it is quite a process. First off I needed to get rid of the excess water in the tofu. This is key. Even though I've never made it, I've heard and read numerous times. I put the block of tofu (which now I totally understand why Andy says, "It's like sponge.") between a clean hand towel. I needed to weigh it down. So what do I do....grlb a cast iron skillet and kay it atop the tofu. Decide I need more weight, grab the closest things on my kitchen island which is a binder, my pinktop (netbook), and the three books from the library. I carefully stack them. Perfect I think.

Until I hear them all crashing to the tile floor a few minutes later. Uh oh, I think and hope the cast iron skillet didn't land on the pinktop. Pinktop seems to be ok, with the exception of a cracked corner.

After sixty minutes of weighing the tofu, it should be good to go. I combine a recipe from Barb Napiers cookbook (from Snug Hollow) and a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance to make BBQ Tofu. A make a little sauce to marinate the tofu. This takes another thirty minutes.

I then bake the tofu for thirty minutes (15 minutes each side). While this is baking I prepare the bbq sauce (saute oil, onion, and garlic). Instead of making the bbq sauce from scratch I use some we already have.

With said sauce finished I pour it atop the tofu. Then guess what? Yep, back to the oven to bake some more.

Finally finished I have the tofu with (vegan) cheesy new potatoes. I admit the tofu tastes quite good. I was pleased with my first tango with tofu (ok last time I say that, promise ;)

However, it was quite the process. I imagine there is a more simple way and perhaps I may discover it sometime. Also, I don't imagine Andy will be eating my tofu as he's tasted it several times when I've had it out and does not love it. Or like it. At all.

But all in all, a wonderful day of working, playing, and cooking.