Comfort Food-A Trip to Western New York

It was the end of last summer as I was sitting on the bank of a pond at my friend's family home, stirring a campfire to wake it for veggie sausage frying, that I realized I couldn't remember the last time I had been back to my own parent's home in the summer. Nostalgia engulfed me. I missed my favorite leafy green apple tree, the big black sky punctured brightly with far more stars than the light pollution of Boston ever allows, the gentle crackling of a bonfire and its perfect orange warmth against the chill of a dewy summer night. By the time my friends had emerged from the nearby tent, blearily in search of breakfast, I had concocted a plan--we would take a road trip to my family home next summer. We choose a weekend when things actually happen in my parent's generally quiet small town in western New York and headed down last weekend for the Balloon Rally, an event in which balloonists come from all over the country to fill their big balloons with hot air and sail off together into the dusk or dawn, dotting the sky with bizarrely bright globes that peacefully float along through the air.

The temperature of the air at dawn and dusk are best for hot air ballooning, so it was up and (more or less) at 'em around 5:00am for us. After the full day of driving down and the late night of catching up at the local coffeeshop/arthouse we were less than perky. My mom, a local journalist, had arranged for us all to help the balloons take off during the "media launch," a flight intended to allow reporters to get pictures in time for an evening print run. Because it was the media launch and not the official start of the Rally, there was just a small crowd gathered and we had a good chance of actually being able to go up in the balloon, so there was no way I was going to sleep in.

We waited excitedly to start helping...and then excitement turned back into sleepiness and edgy hunger as we stood and stood and waited while everyone ate "breakfast pizza," drank coffee and ate doughnuts. We were deeply jealous of the doughnuts. Thoughts of doughnuts plagued me as I waited...dancing chocolate frosted doughnuts and double soy lattes pranced through my thoughts as the wind blew and the balloonists nodded at each other disappointedly. Prospects looked grim for a morning flight. The pilots of the Energizer bunny balloon were the first to call things off. They passed around pink foam bunny ears, got into their huge trailer and drove away. We were about to head off too when a brave crew of balloonists decided to risk the flight. Doughnuts and sleep momentarily forgotten, we ran over to help then unfurl and fill the beautiful balloon.



We held open the end and braced ourselves against the wind that sought to whip the ropes out of our hands. The fire roared blue and orange, filling the balloon with hot air that made it expand and take shape...and then the pilot yelled, "rip it! Rip it!" and we helped pull the red cord that opened up the balloon and allowed the hot air to escape. The wind was too intense. We were not going to fly.

Saddened by this turn of events, no balloons, no doughnuts, no sleep, we crammed our dejected bunny ears on and headed home.



As my cranky bunny friends turned in for an early morning nap though, I wandered into the kitchen...my thoughts bent on doughnuts. Why not, I thought. We're on vacation. What's wrong with a little more comfort food? My dad came downstairs to me kneading dough in the kitchen. "What are you doing, Em?" he asked.

"Doughnuts."

"Have you ever made doughnuts before?"

"Nope."

But things seemed to be going pretty well. Thanks to the internet I found and reviewed several doughnut recipes and had set to work on a slight modification of this one.



The doughnuts:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup + 2 T. sugar
1/3 cup soy milk
1/2 cup warmed water
1 package yeast
2 eggs worth of egg replacer
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
Oil for frying

To make the doughnuts:
In a pan on the stove, combine 1/2 cup water, margarine, sugar and soy milk
Stir over low heat until all of the sugar has dissolved, set aside to cool
Add the yeast to 1/2 cup warm water, stir and then let sit in a warm place for about 5 minutes
When the sugar mixture has cooled from hot to warm transfer it to a mixing bowl
Stir in the the yeast mixture and egg replacer, mix well
Add 2 cups of flour. the salt, cinnamon and ginger, stir until well combined
Continue adding flour until dough begins to form a nice, cohesive ball
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it is very smooth and elastic, adding more flour as necessary
Place the dough ball in a large oiled mixing bowl and cover with a clean cloth, set aside in a warm, dark place allow to rise until doubled in bulk (about an hour)
After dough has risen, punch it down
On a clean floured surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/2 an inch
Using a set of two cookie cutters, one about 2 inches in diameter and one about 1/2 an inch, cut out a large circle and then punch out a smaller circle in the middle
Reserve the punched out centers for doughnut holes
Alternatively, do not punch out the middles and instead plan to fill the doughnuts with something--jelly, pastry cream, pudding, etc. (this is totally what I'm doing next time I make these!)
Arrange the doughnuts on a tray or baking sheet, cover with a cloth and allow to rise again for about an hour
Borrow your parent's fry baby
Heat the oil until a piece of dough dropped in bubbles and browns
Add the doughnuts to the hot oil (I found two at a time is the best you can do in a fry baby)
Turn after about 90 seconds and allow the other side to brown (non-holed doughnuts will turn of their own accord)
Drain on paper towels

Chocolate icing:
1/2 cup soy milk
1 3.5 oz Green and Blacks Maya Gold (or any vegan) chocolate bar, chopped
1 cup powdered sugar

To make the icing:
Warm the soy milk gently, until it steams
Add the chopped chocolate to the soy milk and mix vigorously to melt
Add the powdered sugar and mix until well combined and smooth



You could frost the doughnuts with anything, but I really liked the chocolate, especially this chocolate frosting/ganache which had a great spice and light orange flavor, thanks to the Maya Gold bar.

There was a request for some cinnamon sugar doughnut action too, and how could I say no?

A tip for coating in cinnamon and sugar: do so while there is still some oil clinging to the freshly fried doughnut, this helps pick up the coating. I blotted the doughnuts with paper towels and waited for them to cool, but that meant that the sugar mixture did not cling as well as it could have.



In the background of the picture above you can see "Mr. Ugly," a lumpy double decker doughnut that I made with the scraps leftover from cutting out the doughnuts. This dough is not like cookie dough and re-rolling it is very difficult. I suggest contenting yourself with charmingly ugly doughnuts or chopping the scraps up to make doughnut-bites and frying them with the doughnut holes, like so:



The arrival of vegan doughnuts (and coffee) greatly cheered up my bunny-eared companions:


(note the Harry and the Potters "Rock the Library t-shirt--yes, this was the release day for The Deathly Hallows. Oh, and have you read the great story at Salon about wizard rock?)

We were further cheered by the beautiful balloon launch that evening, which we watched in part from the bridge, going closer over to the site later to watch them inflate the humongous beagle and bunny balloons.



I think it would be possible to fit me, my entire family and closest friends all together in that rabbit's butt. The balloon was absolutely huge and together, the towering animal balloons took up much of the field. As the sun set, they glowed weirdly pink and reddish brown against the sky as we went home to eat our evening doughnuts and prepare for the half an hour drive out to the nearest bookstore selling the new Harry Potter book at midnight.



Doughnuts and Harry Potter weren't our only comfort food on this trip though. My parents had driven up to Rochester (a two hour trip) to do their regular grocery run to the natural and Asian foods stores and on the way back had stopped at an old favorite, the King and I. This was one of the first places I would go to eat out and reliably get tofu--lots tofu. They brought back Sesame Tofu (my favorite, and I think my mom's too), Evil Jungle Prince (best name for a dish ever and Josh's fav.), Choo Chee curry (my dad's favorite, which he very generously ate with tofu instead of the usual non-veg additions), and a Roma Garden with great steamed veggies and delicious peanut sauce.



For dessert we shared a bag of lychees that I had gotten in Boston (of course, my parents had also gotten some in Rochester--there's a short lychee season and everyone in my family definitely takes advantage of it). As we peeled and ate our way through the bag of these strange little fruit, we told old stories and laughed. We talked about the rambutan tree (rambutans are a fruit similar to lychees) we had in our backyard in Malaysia and of the apple tree in my parent's backyard now where, in my youth, I used to escape for hours with a book, called back to the house for dinner by the ringing of an old bell.



It was nice to have a taste of old times with takeout from King and I, but what I was really waiting for was my Dad's curry. I asked him if he wanted to guest blog his coconut curry, made with nappa cabbage, broccoli and fried tofu, but he declined. Maybe next time. It truly is one of his specialties. The list of things I've learned from my dad is long, but curry making is near the top of it.



Note the brilliant slicing job for the mango on the plate above--my mom picked up this trick when she was in China. The series of diagonal cuts allow you to pick up the mango and easily manipulate it to get nice sized pieces off with a bite. This way you don't have to peel the mango and can just serve the halves. It doesn't hurt that it looks awfully pretty this way either.

My mom also has a knack for making not-cheesecake (s'not cheesecake, as we call it, sorry if that's too gross for you!). She usually makes one for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so it was a nice treat to have it in the summer. Here's a piece topped with cooked mango. She did a cake half topped with strawberries, half with mango. We ate it all in less than 24 hours.



Here are her recipe and notes:

Elaine's S'not Cheesecake

3 containers of tofutti cream cheese
3/4 container of tofutti sour cream
Egg replacer equivalent to 3 or 4 eggs (depends on how firm you'd like it)
¾ of a cup of dry sweetener
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients well and pour into prebaked crust of your choice. (My mom sometimes does a graham cracker crust, but this crust was made with finely ground pecans and walnuts, a little flour and melted margarine, pressed into a springform pan and baked for 8-10 mins)
Bake at 350 degrees for 90 mins to 2 hours or until firm

It was a cavalcade of my favorites as on another evening my dad prepared a "beef" (Morningstar Farms veggie strips) and Chinese broccoli stirfry with water chestnuts, carrots and bamboo for dinner. We all glanced guiltily around the table at each other as my Dad mentioned that he would have put in more carrots but somehow they had disappeared. I thought of our snack binge on homemade hummus and red lentil pate with baby carrots and bread that afternoon. How strange it must be to have "kids" in your house after ten years without, eating all your food up.



Ah, but some things are different. For example, the kids now get Manhattans (in regular and ultra-mini--Minihattan, pictured on the left--styles) to sip over rousing games of Bohnanza.



We capped another evening off with the bonfire I'd been looking forward to, with ears of corn roasted in the hot coals and hideously messy s'more sandwiches (Ricemallow creme, chocolate and whole wheat bread in sandwich presses twirled over the flames) and went to sleep on our last evening in town.

We awoke to a roar of flames and excited yells. The backyard was full of balloons. A gentle wind in the cloudless sky had brought the hot air balloons over toward my parent's home. The large open yards provide an opportune landing pad in the midst of the forested hills and farmland beyond (where, reportedly, an balloon-hating farmer will shoot at the balloons to shoo them away from his fields where he believes they will land and leech nitrogen from his soil). No less than five balloons were visible when we all got out to the yard.



This balloon tethered and took everyone up for a quick ride, killing time as he waiting for the grass to dry out a bit from the dewy night so his balloon wouldn't get soaked. We rode up, yelped as the flames shot out inches from our faces and saw the world from above. Then we ran across the yard to help another balloon that had just landed. We packed up the balloon and celebrated with the traditional Balloon Rally mimosa toast.



Back inside after the balloons had departed and I felt like the star of a cooking show to see all the ingredients for a tofu scramble laid out before me.



We quickly demolished a steaming, spicy bowl of scramble and a loaf of pumpernickel bread, studded with walnuts and raisins and then it was off toward the Finger Lakes.



We drove through the Finger Lakes region and were met by Josh's parents to continue the gorgeous drive out to Watkins Glen where we spread out a delicious picnic on a rock near the state park. Perfectly grilled red peppers and slices of freshly picked yellow tomato and snow peas with lightly fried faux-chicken and beef strips topped with garlicly hummus and hot sauce, made a wonderful wrap. Finished off with fresh berries and organic melon, we were ready to hike the gorge.



The pools and falls of Watkins Glen are so beautiful and magical they really fuel escapist fantasies--I, for example, wanted to sell all of my possessions and live on a slightly sheltered rock outcrop by the side of a deep pool where the water flowed, trickling down in smooth and powerful sheets. I would befriend fairies, foxes and other animals of the surrounding forest and live on gathered nuts and berries.



It was not to be though, the siren call of soy ice cream lured me from the pools of water and sparkling waterfalls. The Great Escape, an ice cream parlor steps away from the entrance to the state park, promised homemade vegan ice cream and it sort of delivered. There were only two kinds: chocolate mint and blackberry, but considering the number of vegan ice creams that are usually at ice cream parlors, this seemed a pretty good representation. Our group generally agreed that the ice cream was fine and hit the spot for the hot day, though I thought it was far too sweet. I've been really working on limiting my sugar intake and now things that I think would have tasted normal feel almost unbearably sweet.



After the ice cream, we headed a few miles out of Watkins Glen to check into our cabin at Farm Sanctuary. The farm is so peaceful and green, it's like being in an idyllic painting. We lounged on the hill, visited the animals and ate the vegan breakfast laid out for us in the "people barn." There were muffins and bagels, danishes, fruit, tea and juice, and on each table, a trio of spreads: vegan cream cheese, margarine and jam.



One of our last stops was a the Lost Dog Cafe in nearby Ithaca, a place on the short list of cities in the US I would consider moving to.



We had a startlingly good meal. Their vegan sandwiches were bursting with well-seasoned tofu, great sauces and fried eggplant. My meal of white bean and aspargus cakes on fresh greens with a creamy basil dressing was so good I immediately wanted a whole new plate of it.



And then, stuffed full of five days worth of comfort food, family, relaxation, hot air balloons, peaceful farm animals and gorgeous gorges, we headed home in the rain, stopping at the side of the road for freshly picked blueberries and peaches, before making the long drive back.