I’m still working out a standard format for these diary posts. Web design isn’t really my forte. If you have any thoughts, or if you find the larger images to be a bit of a bear on bandwidth, let me know!

I like Fridays. Even though I work from home, I still enjoy going out for an end-of-the-week beer, usually at our local, The Prince, where I always order a half pint of Hoegaarden. I also like Fridays because it usually means we do something special for dinner. Last night, that meant trying a new recipe: grilled tofu, as seen on Book of Yum, a blog about gluten-free vegetarian cooking.

Marinated in maple syrup, soy, ginger and garlic, the tofu was awesome! The recipe is from the cookbook, Vegan Vittles: Down-Home Cooking for Everyone, which I might have to buy based on how good this tofu was. This was also the first time I “pressed” the tofu before marinating it, a technique espoused by many tofu-lovers out there, but I never really bought it. How wrong I was – pressing the tofu made it much firmer and “steak”-like.

The side dish was a bit of a challenge. I do most of my weekly shopping on Saturdays, so by Fridays the fridge is pretty scarce. I could have gone to the store but I’ve been challenging myself to save money by not buying food outside of my big weekly grocery shop. That meant using up what was left in the fridge and doing this while half-drunk on two half-pints of Hoegaarden.

To go with the asian theme of the meal, I made some spinach gomaae with frozen spinach and black sesame seeds. I also managed to eke out a salad with some leftover cucumber, 1 carrot and a bit of rocket and cilantro dressed with lemon-infused olive oil and ume plum vinega. Both turned out really yummy! A side of quinoa and two bottles of lager rounded out the meal nicely!

• Breakfast: Bircher muesli with prunes
• Snack: Egremont russet apple (best apple ever)
• Lunch: Leftover cabbage curry with acorn squash spiced with garam masala, cayenne and maple syrup (after this and yesterday’s curry, I was feeling a little cabbaged out)
• Snack: Two half-pints of Hoegaarden and a few salt and vinegar crisps
• Dinner: Grilled tofu, served with peppers, quinoa, spinach gomae, and a salad of cucumber, carrots and rocket dressed with lemon oil, ume plum vinegar and cilantro

Related posts:

1. Friday Food Diary: Bread and Oil
2. Food Diary: Learning to Grill Tofu
3. Wednesday Food Diary: Getting Sick of Scrambled Tofu
4. Food Diary: Grilled Tofu for Two
5. Food Diary: Tofu Tip from Ruth

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