Baltimore Small Tales: A place to read about hopes, thoughts, dreams, tragedies, and triumphs.

So I just went on Facebook and saw in my news feed that Andy Bienstock, Program Director at WYPR 88.1 FM, went to high school with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan! Remember the seven degrees to Kevin Bacon game? I wonder how many of us are even closer. Get the full scoop on this national Smalltimore moment here.

By popular demand, I'm posting that fake chicken, or tofu "chicken", salad recipe that I mentioned in my last post.

I made some modifications to the original "Faux Chicken Salad" recipe from the cookbook, "How It All Vegan" by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002). Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of tempeh or firm tofu, cubed
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
• 1 medium dill pickle, finely chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• 2 tsp prepared mustard
• 2 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 garlic clove, crushed and minced

Directions: Steam the cubed tofu for 15 minutes on medium-high heat. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, combine the mayonnaise, celery, pickles, onions, parsley, mustard, soy sauce, and garlic with the tofu and toss lightly. Serve over toast, as a side dish, as a sandwich filling, or alone. Makes 2-4 servings.

Sarah and Tanya recommend tempeh before the firm tofu (I couldn't find any tempeh when shopping). But I think the tofu worked fine. They also recommend that you add 1-2 tsp. of curry powder if you want to spice it up.

Bon Appetit!

I had never been to the yearly Charles Village Festival before yesterday. I wasn't really sure what to expect. Would it be like Hampdenfest, Fell's Point Festival, you know, your typical neighborhood festival? I only knew that I would be standing around the WYPR booth for at least three hours, probably dripping in sweat while trying to sneak sips of water.

Surprisingly, there was plenty of opportunity to sip -- hell, even chug -- my bottle of water. The festival was really low-key -- probably the least attended outdoor neighborhood festival I've ever been to. The fact that I could see the pavement in front of the booth at all times means that not too many people had to have been there. Aside from the few cool people that I met (of course, to balance it out there were a few run-of-the-mill loonies), I got this awesome WWF (not the wrestling organization, but World Wildlife Fund) shirt with a zebra and message on the back. I've always dreamed of working for WWF.

Lately I've been thinking about my future. More and more I've been wishing that I would've pursued a field that I never thought of when beginning college 11 years ago. I've been thinking about how I wish I would've learned how to become an animal caretaker or animal trainer. The recent story of my friend Miguel and his girlfriend Laura -- who happens to be an animal trainer at a Sea World in California -- really hits the nail on the head because I couldn't be more envious of what the job may potentially entail. Just recently, Miguel had to rearrange a room in their house because Laura was in Florida picking up a baby kangaroo for Sea World, it would need to stay over at their house during the evenings because it's still so young.  The kangaroo is there now, his name is Melbourne. He's only about 4 months old and each night Miguel and Laura feed him formula with a bottle, just like a human baby. They have a pouch for little Melbourne to climb into and according to Miguel he climbs into it every night.

How adorable is that!