Tofu & Brettanomyces

I have been reading The Year of Living Biblically.  It's comforting to know that my Lenten veganism is trumped by a memoir of a year long adventure.  Somehow it makes it easier for me.  Plus A.J. Jacobs in inspiring me to take some steps outside of my veganish box to actually try and experience how vegans live instead of just restricting the food and clothes side of life.  One thing that I keep coming back to is the idea of texture.  I really love texture and mouth feel in food, in fact it is something I have been training my palate to look for when tasting anything.  As I was purchasing some spices at my home away from home, Community Natural Foods,  I ventured into the processed soy section, a section I usually scoff at since these "good for you" foods are highly processed and despite being the vegan alternative to soy burg and dog, they never really captured my attention.  Instead of scoffing and looking the other way I delved deep into the section attempting to find a concoction that would fill the void/sadness my GI tract has been feeling with the lack of meat and meat style products.  I found something that actually appealed to me.  Granted "appealed" is a bit of a stretch.  Usually I stray away from products that have a grocery list of ingredients, and these beauts have 25.  All in the name of experience right?  I bought the "sausages" and BBQed them up at friend Marley's house.  A few of us tried them, and aside from the mildly awkward texture, and the more or less lame attempt to shape the end like extrusions with the typical sausage like nubs, the flavor was actually quite enjoyable.  I even put them in a simple tomato sauce today for my dinner. Behold Tofurky!

As a side note, while making said sauce today I was listening to the Bee Gee's classic album "Main Course".  Did you know that at one time both Barry and Robin Gibb were vegetarians, possibly vegan?

Sunday, feast day, beheld a grand showing in the world of beer.  This week I had a huge Trappist victory.  I finally found a bottle of Orval.  I had searched high and low in this city, generally known for it's decent collection of brew from around the world, and had not found the last puzzle in my mosaic of monk made malts.  When I found the bottle of Orval, I held it aloft for a moment, then carefully with both hands, carried it to the front where I bought it with cash.  Orval is one of favorite beers.  It's interesting, no other beer is like it in the world, and is uses a interesting strain of yeast to give it that added edge.  Brettanomyces is a wild yeast, so wild in fact that some wine makers in the Napa Valley refuse to venture into the Russian River brewery, a brewery that uses said wild yeast, for fear that a spore will stick to their clothes and ruin an entire harvest worth of wine with the wildness of the yeast.  Orval has this wonderful yeasty yet fruity yet malty yet floral yet delicious nature to it.  In case it's not clear, I really really like it. As an added bonus the bottle has the date the it was placed in the bottle.  Mine was bottled in 2007, I know for a fact that many Orval drinkers will age their Orval for a minimum of 6 months before drinking.  Mine was 3 years old.  Victory indeed.  Simon and I cheersed via the age old Skype and then discussed the nuance of vegan cooking for well over an hour.  It was a wonderful feast Sunday.