Passover, Post the Fifth

It's over! Someone pass me a bagel because Passover is officially over. Let's talk about what I ate for the last two days.



Pictured above is the Broccoli-Potato Soup with Fresh Herbs from Veganomicon. What a nice soup. Someone used the last of my dill, so I used a tablespoon or two of rosemary instead and I couldn't find dried tarragon, so I used fresh, but it was still very nice. The herbs are added at the end, so you can still taste each individual flavor instead of just having a mass of taste. Nice.

I also steamed up some asparagus with some garlic and lemon in the water, then threw it in the oven with some olive oil, salt and minced garlic. As usual, that was inhaled by my family in less than no time. I learned a valuable lesson from this holiday: to get my family to eat vegetables, all I need to do is add oil, garlic and heat. Spiffy.

For lunch today, I heated up some of the leaves left over from my artichoke hearts and made a dipping sauce for them from a bit of softened margarine, one clove minced garlic, the juice of one-quarter lemon and a bit of salt. It was my family's first time eating artichoke leaves and they seemed to like it enough (though it didn't drive them wild or anything).

Remember those Brussels sprouts I thought I'd be able to eat with dinner, just not in large quantities? I was wrong. They were SO bitter that I was only able to eat about two halves, then had to stop. Even with mashed potatoes (which make the whole world better) and the portobello mushrooms from Yellow Rose Recipes. What the hell? I have no idea how that happened and don't even know if it's possible to salvage the things. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thus concludes our five-part series on my first vegan Passover. Thank you and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Passover, Post the Fourth

What the hell does a vegan put on matzo? If you're me, everything.

Cream cheese was always my go-to matzo spread, but that's no longer an option. Peanut butter is out, so I tried almond butter this year but didn't really care for it (I don't like peanut butter either). Jelly made it a little better (less sticky), but I still didn't like it much, so I thought it'd be best to make my own spread and decided on the Roasted Garlic Artichoke Spread with Fresh Oregano from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. Here's a picture of it on it's way into my belly:



As written, the dish should take about an hour to make and should yield great, garlicky, artichokey goodness. But I couldn't find canned artichoke hearts that were kosher for Passover (and didn't even know they can be bought frozen), so I bought ten fresh artichokes and had to prep them before making the spread.

I used this page as a guideline to prepping my artichokes, putting about half a lemon, two crushed garlic cloves and a few shakes of dried parsley in the steamer water. I was using a relatively shallow pot, so the lid was slightly ajar, filling the whole house with the fragrance of the steam. I think I should keep a pot of that on the stove at all times. Seriously. It's such a great aroma.

After they steamed for 35 minutes, I pulled off all the leaves (it didn't occur to me until I was writing this to stick them in cold water before doing that, so it was slow going since I kept dropping the hot artichokes back into the bowl), set them aside to eat tomorrow, chopped up the hearts and made the spread.



Delicious? Indubitably. Spread? Not so much. It'd make a great pizza topping (there's something very pizza-esque about the taste; I think it's the dried oregano), but doesn't really stick to things like matzo, and I wanted a spread, dammit, so I broke out the potato masher and smashed the crap out of the artichoke pieces. Viola! Instead spread.

The next day, I broke out my copy of Vegan With a Vengeance and made the Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Garlic, which was super easy and fast to make, even when I left the sprouts in the oven a longer than suggested because I like everything super well done. I thought they'd get brown, but they didn't. Weird.



They taste good, but slightly bitter and horseradishy. Maybe that's because they'd been sitting in my fridge for a while, or I just didn't cook them long enough. I'll be reheating them in the oven before I eat them next, so they'll get a bit more cook time (and brownness) that way. As they are, I don't think I'd eat a bowl full of them alone (unlike the Cornmeal-Masala Roasted Brussels Sprouts from Veganomicon), but they'll be great with dinner tonight. They're also great on matzo, over the Roasted Garlic Artichoke Spread.



It's quite possible that this may be my last Passover post (four posts for eight days - not bad), but I'm not sure yet, so I'll leave you with the suspense of not knowing. Ha!

Passover, Post the Third

I decided not to spend all day in the kitchen Monday. Instead, I went for a twelve mile walk (I had no idea where I was going and ended up walking an enormous figure eight), then came home and made the Beginner's Curry from More Than Twigs and Berries. So. Good.



As I mentioned in one of my other posts, I couldn't find kosher for Passover curry powder, so I made my own. This recipe calls for chili powder too, and I couldn't get that either, so it was back to the mortar and pestle. I used the blend in post #9 as a template, but I had to omit the cumin because I can't eat it on Passover. And I somehow managed to use my red pepper flakes instead of cayenne pepper. Superfail! There were red pepper flakes in the curry and chili powders, making the curry very spicy (to me, but I'm a giant pansy).

I love curry and was hoping to make some to share with my family over the holiday (they don't eat much "ethnic" food), but all the recipes I had required beans or lentils or something. Then I checked MTTB, and viola! Bean-free curry! It's fast to make, doesn't require loads of chopping, and is crazy good, even with my bizarro spice blend. I've eaten it four days in a row and I'm not sick of it yet. Just sad I'm almost out.

It's too spicy for me to eat alone, so I'm always sure to have matzo nearby when I'm eating it. The recipe says to eat it over rice, and it'd be great over quinoa (rice is a no-no this week), but my Green-Wa is also spicy and I don't want to make more until I finish what I already have. Putting the curry on the matzo and eating it sort of like a hard, open-faced sandwich is really good too.

More Passover to come!

Passover, Post the Second

After I finished making everything I did on Friday, I pretty much fell into a coma and didn't wake up until around 6 PM Saturday and did nothing but eat and read for the rest of the day. Awesome. I got myself all rested up for the cookfest that was Sunday.



The first thing I realized was that I hadn't done anything with all those portobello mushrooms from Thursday night/Friday morning; they were still marinating. I grabbed them from the fridge, and at first I thought they'd frozen because the contents of the container was one solid block. Then I thought they went bad. Turned out the oil I used had solidified in the fridge. Whew! I stirred it all up a bit and it all broke up and was fine. Not realizing the Yellow Rose Recipes recipe makes way more marinade than the Veganomicon one does, I followed the Veganomicon instructions for roasting portobello mushrooms, doubling the cook time because the oven was set to 250 F and I couldn't change it. About halfway through, I realized I was being dumb and that the mushrooms would never really roast while sitting in the soup they were in. Maybe they'd boil, but not roast. So I ladled out about half the marinade, which improved things.

The texture of the mushrooms came out very good, but the taste was a little weird. Kind of sour. I love sour food, so that's fine. My parents tried them and decided to leave it all for me, though.

Next, I made the Broccoli Vinaigrette from The Jewish Vegetarian Year Cookbook. Here's the weird thing about this vinaigrette: there's no vinegar in it. There is, however, plenty of garlic and a huge portion of awesome. This is another one of those did-I-really-need-a-cookbook-to-tell-me-that sort of recipes. Super easy, yet, because it's me, full of fail. I didn't have a steamer basket for Passover, so I decided to try steaming my broccoli in a strainer. A plastic strainer. Well, I hope my mother likes her new abstract strainer sculpture. Even if she doesn't, she liked the broccoli, so that's OK. My father liked it so much he asked for seconds, even though he usually can't stand to look at the stuff. My brother had to be restrained so I'd have some left to photograph. Good stuff.

Here's a mushroom, the broccoli and the Green-Wa. A very nice meal:



I also made the Diner Home Fries from Veganomicon. Those were too good. They didn't even last until I was able to use my camera! The cooked pepper made my grandmother worry about her agita again, but it didn't bother her at all and again, my brother didn't eat around the green bits. The peppers and onions cook just long enough to be tender but still maintain some crunch, which is great when mixed in with the soft potatoes. I'd eat these every day if I wouldn't have to fight my family for them.

I really pulled out all the stops for dessert.

First, there were Tea-Poached Pears in Chocolate Sauce from Veganomicon. This is the perfect dessert to make if you're cooking for someone special and/or are serving a really heavy dinner. Most people I know are impressed by desserts that come with sauce poured on the plate. There's just something classy about it (unless it's a mess). If you have the skills to make designs around the edges, even better (I don't, but when I accidentally dripped, I decided to drip all around to make it look intentional). Also, it's nice and light. It's not really rich, or fudgy or a heavy cake. It's just fruit. Really, really good fruit. It takes a few steps to make, but it's not difficult (though whoever you make it for will probably think it is).



And I made The Conscious Kitchen's truffles. They're going to get another post all to themselves, so for now, just know they're lovely. Delicious, rich, impressive-looking and easy, though time consuming.







Don't worry, I'm not done with Passover yet!

Passover, Post the First

According to Gothamist, hospitals see "an uptick in total patient volume during Passover...[largely due to] Dizziness from [cleaning] fumes, slips from highly buffed floors or wet bathroom tiles...knife wounds from cutting food, burns from stovetops, and even fingers chopped up in blenders." I only have two cuts and a burn, so I consider myself lucky. Doubly lucky since I did most of my cooking while half asleep.

I'm a sabbath observer, so I had to make sure most of my Passover food was ready by Friday night. I took Friday off from work and started my food prep Wednesday night. And, like all responsible people would, went to see Colin Meloy Thursday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg (side note: he is the cutest thing on two feet. I stood there the whole time wishing I'd baked him cookies). Due to transport issues and my inability to shut up and leave when I'm hanging out with friends, I got home at 2 AM. In case that wasn't bad enough, my mother was still in the kitchen, so I wasn't able to get to work until 3. I ended up not sleeping at all until after dinner Friday night. Oy vey!



Almost every recipe I picked for the holiday used vegetable broth or stock, so the first thing I had to do was make the vegetable broth. Naturally, I made the one from Vegan With a Vengeance. It's such a staple in our house that even my mother made a double batch of it to feed the family and to use in all her cooking (Wednesday night was dedicated to chopping vegetables for all the broth). You'd think after making the broth over a dozen times, I'd be able to make it without screwing it up, right? Wrong. Somehow, I'm unable to tell the difference between parsley and cilantro and ended up accidentally substituting the latter for the former. I didn't even realize it until it was time to use the cilantro in another dish and I didn't have any. D'oh! Thankfully, I like cilantro, and I was just using the broth as an ingredient, not eating it straight, so it didn't make a huge difference when combined with the other ingredients in my dishes.

While that was simmering for 90 minutes, I grabbed Tofu Mom's recipe and made matzo balls. Lots of lots of matzo balls.



And started the crust and the filling for my Raw Apple Pie. I don't have a Passover blender or food processor, just a Smart Chopper, and trying to do all those dates in there nearly made me want to stick my head in next. I hate that thing. Definitely getting something better for next year. But I got it done and had plenty of time to let the filling soak and the crust firm up in the fridge. I tried to get all decorative with a flower in the middle and some golden raisins to garnish, but I don't think it worked so well. It didn't really matter since it completely fell apart when we cut into it, but it was still tasty, which is the most important part.



And I prepped my portobello mushrooms, prepared my marinade and put everything together for Yellow Rose Recipes' grilled portobellos. It was so easy to put together that I forgot I don't have a grill pan for Passover. I decided to roast them instead, after they marinated for 24 hours.



While I'm on the subject of Yellow Rose Recipes, I need to talk about the Braised Cauliflower. I know I say this about everything, but it's really the easiest recipe ever. The aroma when the cauliflower was cooking in the margarine was amazing. My mother kept asking what was in the pan and refused to believe it was just cauliflower and margarine. I was almost disappointed when I added the broth and everything started smelling like it instead of yummy, popcorny, cauliflower. As the broth cooked off, the fragrance came back, better than ever, and joy was had. My family really enjoyed this. It's a side dish that's so simple it compliments everything. Even my grandmother ate one floret and deemed it good. She never eats vegetables, so that's high praise indeed.



I wanted to make the Indian variation of the Yellow Rose Recipes Green-Wa, but couldn't find kosher for Passover curry powder. Instead, I found this handy guide to making your own spice blend that could be deemed "close enough" by some people. Those people don't include me. Not because I'm so discerning, but because I only had red pepper flakes and no matter how much grinding I did with my new mortar and pestle, I just couldn't powder them.



I used that "curry powder", substituted the coconut milk for the soy yogurt and was about to start chopping my herbs for the Green-Wa, when lo and behold! I didn't have any cilantro! Oh yeah, it was all in the soup. So I chopped up the parsley and stuck that in the quinoa instead. And I completely forgot to even add the curry powder until the very last step. I made numerous mistakes with this recipe, but it's very forgiving. The current dish is somehow almost bland, in a good way, but still burns my tongue. My brother ate loads of it; he especially liked putting it on chicken. I can't say I love the recipe as I made it, but it gave me an idea of how it would taste if I didn't completely screw it up. Will definitely try again when I'm not completely out of it.



The last thing I made before the sun set on me was Herb Roasted Potatoes from Vegan With a Vengeance. Holy crap, those are good! I took the time to chop my herbs up nice and fine and got them really well done and my family went crazy for them. Even my grandmother ate a significant portion of them, and usually just looking at spices gives her "agita", and my brother didn't even pick out the onions. Victory!



A couple more pictures from Day One:






Stay tuned for Passover Cooking: Day Two!

How the Blog Saved Passover

Passover, the traditional holiday for matzo balls, is next week. Unfortunately, it's traditional to make matzo balls with eggs. Also unfortunately, it's traditional for vegans to replace the eggs with tofu (e.g.: the Vegan With a Vengeance recipe), one of the many foods forbidden on Passover (according to my family's tradition). I was ready to spend my first matzo ball free Passover when someone showed me Tofu Mom's recipe. I just tried it tonight and I think it made the best vegan matzo balls I've had yet.



As I'm sure I've mentioned in all my other matzo ball related posts, my family likes their matzo balls very firm and we've always found the vegan tofu-based ones to be softer than our preference, but good enough. They don't turn into a huge glob of mush in the soup (the first batch I made did!), but they don't really have any bite to them either.

Until now. This whole baking soda/potato starch thing is brilliant. As you can see in the picture above, the balls can actually be picked up and held between the fingers without oozing or denting or falling apart. Amazing. My family is thrilled. We're so pleased with the consistency, I think we may stick with these even when it's not Passover. Wooha!

Speaking of Passover, I don't know how much activity this blog will see over the next couple of weeks. I've cleaned out the fridge and probably won't be cooking again until the holiday. I've already got my menu planned and will be cooking up a storm (think roasted portobellos, stuffed eggplant, matzo ball soup, braised cauliflower, green-wa, diner home fries, broccoli potato soup, herb-roasted potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts with toasted garlic, roasted garlic artichoke spread, beginners curry, broccoli vinaigrette, baked apples, tea-poached pears in chocolate sauce, and raw apple pie), but photography will be limited since I'm not allowed to use a camera (or a computer) for about half the holiday. I'll be sure to review all the recipes when I'm done, though (and since most are from Veganomicon and Yellow Rose Recipes, I'm prepared for loads of positive reviews).

Woohoo!

With this post, this blog will finally be up to date for the first time in months. Hooray! And there's no better way to celebrate this auspicious occasion than with what used to be one of my absolute most favoritest foods ever: macaroni and cheese.

My first try at macaroni and cheese since going vegan was Shells and Chreese from the box. It tasted like dirt.

My second attempt was the Traditional Macaroni and Cheez from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. It was good, but it was the baked kind and what I really miss is the orange crap out of the box.

Most recently, I tried Fat Free Vegan's Easy Macaroni and Cheeze, which is supposed to replicate the orange crap out of the box. This tastes about 473829 times better than Shells and Chreese and is just as easy.



This is my kind of recipe: throw pasta in pot. While pasta is boiling, mix all other ingredients. Combine when pasta is done. The end!

We almost always have elbow macaroni in my house, so it didn't even occur to me to check before I went shopping. When it came time to make this, I saw I didn't have any crappy elbows so I made it with whole wheat fusilli instead. I didn't have any white miso and didn't want to buy a container of it so close to Passover (as it was, I had to buy tahini), so I just used extra salt.

Here's the awesome thing about this dish: I don't particularly like nutritional yeast. I totally don't like tahini. I don't even like mustard. Put all of them together in this recipe, and I like it! Go figure.

The cheese sauce was a little strong for me, though, so I chopped and steamed some broccoli and mixed it in with the macaroni and sauce. Broccoli makes everything better. Even a perfectly good macaroni and cheese recipe.

The bottom line: This doesn't really taste like macaroni and cheese, but it does taste good. Especially if you like nutritional yeast. If you're not crazy about nutritional yeast, but tolerate it, I think the ease of prep and the low-fatness make up for the noochiness, making this a definite repeat dish. I'm still hunting for The World's Best Vegan Macaroni and Cheese, but in the meantime, I've found one I can make on a regular basis.

Know Your Pantry

It's always important to know what you have on hand. If you don't, you may have your heart set on having something for lunch, only to discover you can't have it (or have to change it) because you're missing a key ingredient.

Take Fat Free Vegan's Vegetable Fried Quinoa, for example. When deciding to make a double recipe of this, it would be really helpful to know you only have one-half cup of quinoa left at home (2 cups required). Refusing to be discouraged, I substituted rice for quinoa and it was super tasty (and easy), but I'm sure wasn't the same.



I'm trying to use up all my grains before Passover anyway, so it could have been worse. This recipe allowed me to use up the last of my quinoa and my basmati rice. One-quarter cup basmati rice. Just when I thought I was going to have to get take out for lunch last week, I found a bag of brown rice with more than one and a quarter cups in it. I was ready to rock.

Quinoa has a shorter cook time than rice, but I threw it all in together anyway, so it took a bit longer to prepare than written. Thankfully, the extra cooking didn't make the quinoa gross. I think that may be because the quinoa didn't really get overcooked since so much of the water had been absorbed by the rice by the time it would have been a concern.

I used baby carrots because I'm lazy like that. I also used the whole bok choy, not just the leaves; I didn't want to look for something to do with them. Both the carrots and bok choy stalks contributed a really nice crunch to the dish.

Overall, I really like this recipe. It's relatively healthy, simple, quick and tasty. It will definitely become a staple when I start having staples (since going vegan, I've made something new almost every time I've cooked and hope to continue the tradition for quite some time).

Easy Peasy Veganeasy*

We've all eaten or seen a dish and thought "Wow, I wish I could make that!" It's even more interesting to see a dish and think "Wow, I wish I could make that vegan!" Then, not only are you making something absolutely tasty, but you're really changing it up and making it your own. Sometimes, this can be a real process that requires work (see Hezbollah Tofu). Other times, it can be ridiculously easy and require no more effort than a bit of punctuation (see this post).

Recently, Paula Dines was kind enough to share her great-great-grandmother's coffee cake recipe with the Internet. I was sweet-toothed enough to steal it, veganize it, bake it and eat it. Before I continue, want to know how to veganize her recipe? Put quotes around the words "milk" and "butter". Viola! You're done! Vegan.



First off, you should know that this cake is the easiest thing to make EVER. No lie. Also, I am willing to bet your favorite TV show takes longer to watch than this cake takes to make. And when you're done with your favorite TV show, you're still cakeless, so turn off the television and make yourself a coffee cake.

The crumb topping is all sorts of cinnamony and awesome. So awesome I doubled the recipe. I really, really like crumb topping. As far as desserts go, it's my reason for living. The cake itself is sweet and nice, with a good bite. No airy fairy wussy cake here. It's dense and you can easily eat it held in your hand, without a fork. Yummy.

Thank you, Paula Dines, for sharing your family's recipe. Your secret is safe with me (and my belly)!



*I apologize for the absolute stupidity of the name of this post.

Meal Fit For a King

Damn. I can't believe I've been keeping this blog for so long and still haven't fixed the layout. It's so ugly. I swear I'll get around to it one day. Really. Honest.

Thankfully, none of you are here for my graphic design skills (or the lack thereof), you're here for food.

Have I mentioned how great Yellow Rose Recipes is? Not today? Well, it's great. Even today. Every day. The last day I used it, I made the Pasta E Fagioli and White Beans and Kale. It was a meal fit for a king...or at least a Soprano.



The Pasta Fazool was great. I had a load of fusilli on hand, so I didn't bother buying the recommended twisty pasta. I guess we can call it Fusilli Fazool. Fazooli? Whatever. Unfortunately, my local Whole Foods didn't have the dry beans needed, so I went with canned. I didn't add any salt, though, so it was still good. I topped it with some of the vegan parm from the same book, and it was delightful.

Remember my spinach confusion and the suggestion I try kale instead? I did. I LOVE it. I bought more than needed to make the White Beans and Kale and have been using it as a base for salads ever since. Hooray for kale!

Also, hooray for this recipe. The white beans really complement the kale, which is even tastier than usual after marinating in lemon juice for hours. It also takes about ten seconds to put together (kale doesn't cook that long), so it's a great side to make after work or on a busy day. Please to be eating this. You will thank me (but really, thank Joanna. She made a wonderful book full of awesomeness).

C is for Cookie

And that's good enough for me!

Back in January, Wheeler's Black Label announced an upcoming ice cream party in Brooklyn and put out a call for volunteer bakers. I was overcome with the delusion I could bake and volunteered to make cookies. Approximately five minutes later, I remembered I'd never made cookies before and panicked.

Then I realized I had a month to learn, got myself under control, and decided to make my problem everyone's problem. I searched all my cookbooks and the Internet for likely cookie recipes, then sent the seven I thought would be best to everyone I know, asking which two they would most like to eat with ice cream. I baked the top two, then made everyone in New York taste them and vote for the one they liked best. Over and over and over.

The winner? 5-Spice Almond Cookies from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.



For the curious, the options were:

VeganYumYum's Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (no filling, I thought they'd make good ice cream sandwiches instead)
VeganYumYum's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
VeganYumYum's Avocado Lime Tea Cookies
Have Cake Will Travel's Gingersnaps
Papa Tofu's Chocolate Whoopie Pies (no filling, I thought they'd make good ice cream sandwiches instead)
Papa Tofu's Chocolate Roll Out Cookies
Eat, Drink & Be Vegan's 5-Spice Almond Cookies

The gingersnaps and 5-spice almond cookies received the most votes (by a landslide) and I hit the kitchen.

For my first try, I followed both recipes exactly as written.

The gingersnaps tasted great, held together well, were super cute, but didn't "snap". They were very soft and almost grainy inside. If left in the oven longer, they probably would have been great, but, like I said, I wasn't improvising at all. I learned from my attempts at gingerbread men that cookies may harden after coming out of the oven, so I didn't want to over bake them and end up with gingerrocks. They were gingery, but not too gingery. A common comment was "I don't usually like ginger cookies, but these are nice". I wonder if the turbinado sugar sprinkled on top helped cut the spice.

The 5-spice almond cookies tasted great, but fell right apart. By the time I brought them to my friends, I had a 5-spice almond blob. A really nice, spicy (but not too spicy) blob of goodness, but a blob nonetheless.

The general consensus was that I should go with the gingersnaps because they could actually be picked up and eaten, but if I could get the texture of the 5-spice right, go with those.

All the gingersnaps:



Gingersnaps, up close and personal:



5-spice almond cookies, try the first:



Macroooo!:



Back to the kitchen. The 5-spice almond recipe says to make tablespoon-sized cookies and bake for eleven minutes. I made mine half-tablespoon sized and baked them for closer to fifteen minutes. Brought a metric assload of both cookies to a Super Bowl party where I played with Legos instead of watching the game and polled the constituents. The verdict: 5-spice almond. Even some of the people who had originally gone with the gingersnaps changed their minds.

Take two:



I was convinced. Having attended Wheeler's previous event, I knew to expect loads of people, so I locked myself in the kitchen the night before and baked my butt off:



They went over very well and are now my go-to cookie. A friend of mine recently got a job out of state and I mailed him a batch of these to make him feel more at home (what's homier than home cooking?). As I mentioned yesterday, I'm going to bake for everyone who joins or sponsors me in this year's AIDS Walk. These are probably what you all will be getting (unless you have an allergy or something). Lucky for me, doubling the recipe makes just a few too many cookies to fit in the tin I think I'll be using to ship, so I get to indulge a bit too (and walk it off!).

Thanks to everyone who participated in the cookie selection process! Without you, I would probably still be huddled in the corner of my kitchen, rocking back and forth and muttering "Cookies...ice cream...cookies...ice cream".

AIDS Walk 2008

OK, this isn't food related, but it's important, so I'm posting it here anyway.

On May 18, I'll be participating in the 2008 AIDS Walk New York and would really appreciate your support.

I'm sure everyone reading this probably knows approximately 478329 people walking, but even if every person reading this just pledged $1, I think we'd raise at least three whole dollars. So yeah, every little bit helps.

And! If you're cool with giving me a mailing address (or are in the NYC area), I'll bake you something if you contribute. Seriously. And if you can't sponsor me because you're walking yourself, I'll bake you something too. My guess is it'll be cookies or muffins because I think those would be easiest to ship, but one never knows!

Donations go here, please.

Thanks!