SupremeMasterTV.com

[clovecigarettes]

I've been on an Asian & African food kick lately. There's this TV show on suprememastertv.com (and the Supreme Master TV station) called Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living that has people from all over the world do these 15 minute vegan cooking shows. It takes me 20-25 minutes to watch the 15 minute show because I have to keep hitting pause and taking notes. There are foods and ideas and combinations I'd never be exposed to without travelling to these countries. (The show is often not in English, but has, seriously, subtitles in at least 15 languages.) I don't usually follow recipes (unless I am baking, I am not good at winging it with pastries, breads, and cakes just yet, although I did come up with a really nice ginger spice cake recipe), but they are excellent learning tools. I learned how to make a nice savoury white sauce by blending cashews, garlic, water, and sea salt (then simmered to thicken and optionally adding nutritional yeast for extra flavour), I learned that you can steam dumplings with pine needles to impart a piney flavour, I learned that I am not the only person who likes tamarindo*, I learned that I really should buy dates more often and in larger quantities, I even learned about fall harvest festivals that are going on right now in a few countries.

The subtitles are also a good way to practice my (terrible) Spanish vocabulary. I could speak Spanish really well if, you know, I had a broader vocabulary. Same thing with French, although I would need a LOT more work on my vocab there!

* I bought tamarindo pop in a grocery store in PDX once and the black cashier was all, "hey, how do you know about tamarindo?" We both laughed.