Every so often I get a dish that takes me far away. The feeling becomes real, that I am right back wandering around the streets of Hanoi in search of a vegan banh mi. Vietnam is where I was taught how to stop eating animals. By wandering through the Asian alleyways, while almost being run over by motorbikes carrying entire families. Endlessly popping into random restaurants while hopefully inquiring “chay?!” (or vegetarian). Vietnam is where everything started changing for me, the beginning of my soul waking up and being really ready to live. Traditional Banh Mi Sandwich When I imagine…
faraway kitchen
-
Continue ReadingThe constant echo of a posh French dialogue is always chiming in the back of my mind. It’s daring me to get the infamous one-way ticket to a cottage in the village, while I pace the flickering cobblestone in search of a hideaway. Preferably one serving a steamy bisque and toasted baguette on a winter evening. You see, I get these ideas in my mind of how the experience would be in a place. It’s that I just see it all in my head. Mostly they are simple things, like a steamy bisque off a quiet street surrounded by French…
-
Continue ReadingGetting creative in the kitchen in one of the joys of cooking and that is exactly where these Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos derived from. It’s great to have the same familiar dishes over and over again… it takes you back in time and wraps a warm fuzzy blanket around you. But often I am craving the unknown, some recipe that is simply concocted by scanning the kitchen in a game of Russian roulette and landing my gaze on a sweet potato. How to Cut Your Sweet Potatoes For these Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos, we need to cut our sweet potatoes…
-
Continue ReadingWith the holidays quickly approaching, nothing makes more sense than the aroma of toasted nuts and garlic. This creamy walnut sauce takes all of 5 minutes and is so versatile. For this recipe, I pour the creamy sauce over a fresh pasta and top with toasted pine nuts and crispy garlic. Other Uses For Walnut Sauce While my first instinct for this sauce was to pour over a steamy linguini, it didn’t take long for me to devour the diversity of this sauce. This sauce allows for so much creativity. Add over your favorite roasted vegetables and top with freshly…
-
Continue ReadingThis dip is hands down one of the easiest and most impressive dishes on my site. It also just so happens that one bite of this classic Greek dip and you’re sure to be transported to the Greek islands. As a vegan, I love showing how stunning plant-based creations really are. This is the perfect appetizer to serve to your friends at your next dinner party. Vegan Feta Cheese If you’re one of those people that cannot get on board the vegan cheese train, I ask you to try their feta. It tastes virtually identical. There are several brands out…
-
Continue ReadingWhen you want to utterly transform your world for the night, just prepare a bourguignon. The first time I ever made a bourguignon, it all made sense. Why so many people run away to France to learn how to cook. The smells are soul shaking; who could ever go back to the way it was before? In some posh other world, there’s a version of myself sitting on a Parisian balcony watching the city tilt underneath me. The aroma of red wine, fresh thyme, and bay leaves will have you muttering French phrases and proclaiming your immediate departure to the…
-
Continue ReadingI wouldn’t ever categorize myself as a cook. The first 3 times I made these somewhat simple and traditional pancakes, they came out sub-par. I paced the floors looking at the beautiful photos, ready to trash the entire post- and honestly the website. Leave the cooking to the professionals my brain rationed. I have never really been good at anything, it’s my passion that saves me. The persisting nature to try try try. Once the overbearing sense of self-doubt cowers away, my delusional sense of optimism is sure to return (it always does). So I decide to keep cooking, keep…
-
Continue ReadingLately I have found myself fixating on Scandinavia. Dreams of getting lost in an IKEA somewhere while eating a bowl of Swedish meatballs. What?! It’s true… ask any Swed where they recommend getting your meatball fix, and they will promptly send you in the direction of the iconic furniture store. I refuse to be ashamed of that daydream. Alas, the calling was inevitably too strong to ignore so in true Faraway fashion, I purchased a ticket back to the Scandinavian wonderland. Ahhh, it has been 8 years since my last time in this part of the world and I cannot…
-
Continue ReadingMy love for street food knows no limits. It’s where everything in the world makes perfect sense and the only thing that matters is smoke filled alleyways. These little potato croquettes are popular all over Latin America and the Caribbean. Out of all the countries you’ll find papas rellenas frying on a street corner in, Puerto Rico is without a doubt the most popular (at least in my mind). What is a Papas Rellenas? Anything that includes mashed potatoes and I am all in. These little fried potato croquettes are traditionally stuffed with a minced meat mixture. Since I use…
-
Continue ReadingJapanese cuisine could never be just one thing. It’s a mixture of sitting in an alleyway eating street pancakes at 2am. It’s drowning yourself in the bizarre dessert of kakigori shaved ice. And it’s enjoying the posh and decadent ingredients like a maitake mushroom. Maybe that’s why I have been completely captivated by Japanese food for as long as I can remember. She’s different each and everyday… you never know what you’re going to get. The “Dancing” Mushroom Maitake mushrooms mean “dancing” mushroom in Japanese. How fitting, considering you are what you eat and as a self declared dancing queen……