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What is dirt candy? Vegetables, of course. When you eat a vegetable you’re eating little more than dirt that’s been transformed by plenty of sunshine and rain into something that’s full of flavor: Dirt Candy. It’s also the name of my restaurant, which opened in October, 2008.

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From July 23 (today) until August 2 (not today) Dirt Candy will be closed for summer vacation. We’ll reopen on Tuesday, August 3. But between now and then I’m off to Italy, staying down around Tuscany, but don’t be too jealous. It’s a family vacation and we’re all staying in one big house in the country together and I imagine it might get all Agatha Christie and only one of us will live to see morning. If I’m not the one who lives to see morning, then Dirt Candy will be closed indefinitely.

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This…

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…plus this, equals…

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…my summer vacation!

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P.S. – Hope I don’t fall in love

and never come home again.

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Finally, I found the missing photos from last week’s family meals. I’m sure all of you were sitting on the edges of your seats, gnawing your fingernails and waking up in the middle of the night screaming, “Did she find them? Did she find them?”

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After the jump, don’t worry. I found them.

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After Barbara Kwon set the bar high cooking family meal for the Dirt Candy crew, we really didn’t think anyone could ever impress us again. Were we wrong! Roopa Kalyanaraman and her husband Matt are two of my regular customers, and they produced the second guest family meal at Dirt Candy. Barbara blew us away, but Roopa literally took the cake. Also, +2 bonus because she and Matt are scientists and +4 against damage because Roopa is one of the people who were lobbying to get the soda tax passed. She wrote up the meal on her own blog, Raspberry Eggplant, but here’s how it looked in the wild:

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Censored to protect you from seeing the most

awesome thing in the world before you’re ready.

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Here’s her menu:

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Tofu, long bean, and cucumber salad
Green curry with Thai eggplant, long beans, snow peas, and edamame
Black and basmati rice
Drunken noodles with seitan
Coconut milk mini cupcakes with kaffir lime cream cheese frosting
Thai chocolate chili-lime coconut ice cream
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I’m a sucker for the multi-dessert attack, but Roopa won a place in my heart forever with the main dessert. After the jump…marvel at the wonder of…

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I finally got my replacement phone and so not only are the family meal pictures looking better, but last week the family meals themselves started looking prettier and more photogenic.

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After the jump, pretty pretty family meals.

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Jesus’ birthday was last month and his one wish was that he wouldn’t have to make family meals in August. His wish was my command, but because I’m lazy I invited anyone who wanted to do so to come on down and make family meal for us here at the restaurant. The first person to take me up on my offer: Barbara Kwon, my lawyer. Barbara is the person who guided Dirt Candy through the tangled process of getting a liquor license and who sat through that 6 hour community board meeting with me. She’s a hell of a cook, as well, and here’s what she made:

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Bow down before this family meal!

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The menu?

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Sauteed Ferns with Shittakes and Soy Garlic Sauce
Sesame Spinach
Sauteed Lotus Roots with Pine Nuts and Soy Garlic Ginger Sauce
Kimchi Pancakes
Sweet Tofu Skin stuffed with Sesame Spinach Rice
Sweet Tofu Skin Stuffed with Ume and Nori
Japanese Mountain Yams with Ume and Shiso
Veggie Got Dog Banh Mi
Pear Juice

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The aerial view!

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Freshly picked veggie dogs!

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But this amazing meal deserves more, so after the jump, we use super-science to show you what it really looked like when it arrived….

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Anyone noticed how quiet the blog has been for the past couple of weeks? It’s been hot, really hot, and there have been a million tiny issues monopolizing my attention, from the theft of my phone (replacing a stolen phone from Apple and AT&T practically defines “blame the victim”), then there’ve been some issues with the restaurant construction (that again – too boring to go into details), and we had the whole Fourth of July kerfluffle. But I’m back and focused and we’re going to catch up with family meal pictures or die trying. So let’s go on a Family Meal Adventure!

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Almost one year ago, I learned about PETA’s faux foie gras challenge via the Village Voice, which wrote in my Portobello Mousse as a candidate. Well, hell, if Sarah DiGregorio at the Village Voice thought I should enter I figured I may as well enter and so I sent off the recipe for the vegan version of the Portobello Mousse. And much to my surprise, this week I found out that I won!

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A victory for mushrooms!

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I’m not naming any names because I don’t want to embarrass the guilty but this almost turned into one of the worst weekends of my life. But at the last minute, everyone in the Dirt Candy family pulled together and busted butt and kept this car from going off the cliff, and by Saturday night everything was okay again. But this near-disaster taught me several things:

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DID YOU KNOW? It is illegal to walk between cars on the subway? You can even get arrested and go to jail for it.

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DID YOU KNOW? That if you go to jail on a holiday weekend, you will be stuck in jail until you can see a judge on Tuesday?

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DID YOU KNOW? That you can use the internet, *69 and Google maps to solve almost any problem?

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DID YOU KNOW? That after almost two years of running Dirt Candy, I can still work the hot line if compelled to at gun point? (To be honest, this was the biggest surprise to me.)

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DID YOU KNOW? That even in this day and age, a nice girl begging on her knees at Central Booking can still move mountains?

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DID YOU KNOW? That I have the world’s most awesome staff?

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Sorry to sound coy, but this weekend’s events required a shout out here, even if I can’t give too many details.

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On this day in 1867, Canada became a country, and one year later in 1868, Governor General Viscount Monck declared it Canada Day!

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Why is Canada awesome?

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As a national animal, beaver beats bald eagle.

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We’re multi culti without even trying.

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We’ve got so much land, even furries are welcome.

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We rarely go to war.

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We control the world’s maple syrup reserves.

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Tim Hortons is better than Dunkin Donuts.

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Our candy rocks.

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It’s home.

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Two days ago was Jesus’ birthday! I’ve been working with him for years, and despite the fact that we occasionally butt heads, there’s no one I trust more in the kitchen. Every time I go to a new job, Jesus is the first person I hire, and having him backing me up gives me a sense of security. No matter what, I know Jesus has got my back.

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Danielle and I baked him a red velvet

tres leches cake.

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I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and he said he didn’t want to make family meal for a month. So, starting this week, we’re doing family meals differently. For the next 30 days, Danielle, AJ and myself are responsible for it. Yesterday it was my turn and so I went to the Mexican place down the street and bought family meal, and we’ll figure it out for the rest of the month, but we could use you.

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Yes, you!

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From now until the end of July, let me know what you want to see us make. I’ll even take pictures. Because, frankly, I’m out of ideas. Consider this my attempt to outsource my responsibility for family meal to you. This isn’t a meal there’s much appreciation for – it’s mostly us sitting in opposite corners and not talking to each other for five minutes. And you don’t have to limit yourself to just making suggestions. If you want, come to Dirt Candy and make family meal, or order us family meal, or make family meal at home and bring it on down. Just email or call the restaurant in advance and we’ll set it up. And you can post your suggestions on Facebook or via email.

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Birthday family meal!

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There are five of us, and we’re vegetarian. And there always needs to be a vegan and a wheat free option. Hope to hear from you – because I hate making family meal. I hate thinking of what to make for family meal. And actually, I just plain old hate thinking.

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