A little more salt won't hurt

Went home after a brief grocery shop to chill with B&E. I churned my dulce de leche ice cream, which was weird....because after the super-sweet chocolate explosion I ate for lunch, the last thing I wanted to eat was ice cream. Funny, even though I had no appetite, the taste of caramel ice cream was still pretty rocking. But I think next time, a little more salt won't hurt.

The HVS came over for dinner and a vid, really great to see B enjoying herself and comfortable in the confines of our home and Lil' Edie on her body. Didn't hurt that we shared a big fruity bottle of sweet Lambrusco, bubbly and cold and made for quaffing easily with big greasy flavors. Made a big ol' vegan meal, fun playing and failing in one dish, being a lot better than expected in another.

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, organic cheerios with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11:30pm, "shack attack", "shack-ago dog", 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Me, the teacher and a few fellow students hit up shake shack after the restaurant tour. My hot dog was surprisingly horrible. Vienna-beef hot dog is sickly pink, not much snap. They're going for a Chicago-style hot dog, but fail due to lack of balance: WAY too much salt. Tomato, cucumber, mustard, relish, pickled peppers. Not sure what, but something was just a hunk of salt, nasty. The poppy seed hot dog bun is cool, but doesn't justify the salt lick. The "shack attack" was good, a thick chocolate shake with dark chocolate flakes that give an interesting crunch and cubes of chocolate truffle which add another nice consistency. A bit of a one-note kind of sweetness, childlike, but the textures were very adult. When you order something like that, you can't help but expect one note.

SNICKLEDINNER: 7pm, green salad, deep fried tofu cubes with mung bean noodle stirfry, vanilla coconut vegan ice cream on vegan chocolate chip cookies, several glasses of Lambrusco, 1.4 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made a simple stirfry, but I need to review my method -- it tasted way too timid. However, I experimented with vegan deepfrying and it came out pretty good. First thing: instead of some nothing oil, I used vegetable shortening, hydrogenated palm oil. Not so healthy, but it does a deep fried item good. Batter, used wholewheat flour, double the recommended salt, double the recommended sugar, double the recommended baking powder, added a dash of cayenne, a dash of cumin. Cubed firm tofu, dredged in flour, dipped in chilled batter, into 350 degree oil for about 5 minutes. Crisp, ungreasy, flavorful, crunchy, airy, just right. Next time, heavier on the salt, heavier on some herbs and spices, maybe slightly smaller tofu cubes.