I took some cooking classes through 4-H as a child and would have taken Homemaking in high school if I had been allowed. I was forced to take one year of Vocational Agriculture (9th grade) and then transfered to another school, since I got my drivers' license at 14 and could drive myself to high school. I did participate in Yoly's Greek cooking class a couple of years ago here in L.A., and I still have some raw video that I have never had time to edit properly. That was "hands on" and therefore very enjoyable, and I have continued to use techniques that I learned from Yoly. I've thought about taking an Indian cooking class here but have never scheduled the time. I learn fairly well from TV and record shows that I think are going to be useful. I think I would enjoy a Japanese or Vietnamese class. Lars

Pesky, I totally agree about the quality of our animal products. It doesn't stop with them though. Grains are said to also not be what our ancestors ate, not good at all these days, even eliminate. Fruits and vegetables have had a lot of their taste and nutrition bred out of them in favor of long shelf life and other more marketable qualities. But I agree, the hormones, antibiotics, living conditions are wretched -- at least lower your intake of the bad stuff. It's just shameful what has happened to our food. But they probably didn't realize it at the time. What really gets me is these natural/organic companies that advertise healthy foods but load them with things like cane sugar. I lump Whole Foods into that group. Soy and corn are other spoiled and contaminated food sources that turn up in so many processed things. I read all labels and try not to buy any of those -- unless I'm desperate for something to eat! Grass-fed beef and organic chicken is easily accessible here, as well as eggs, dairy and other products. At Whole Foods their meats do not have antibiotics or hormones and pasture fed is available (maybe not all types of meat). But gads, that organic cheese I was looking at, the only one available, was $32 per pound. Ain't gonna happen, lol. But I don't eat cheese or dairy often. Organic chicken and grass fed beef is expensive, running about $8 pound for both as I recall -- that would be chicken breast and ground beef. A lot when you can get the regular chicken for something like $3. I have read the GF beef is as healthy as fish. Sure hope, but it unfortunately doesn't have all the flavor grain fed does. So sometimes I just want a disgustingly unhealthy burger! This post was edited by snookums2 on Wed, Nov 20, 13 at 21:18

I don't dabble in vegan cooking as rule but decided to make this soup (more or less) when I discovered a sizable stash of mung beans in the pantry. I purchased them to sprout but my sprouting efforts were not particularly successful. Bulk bin dispensers being what they are, filling the bag quickly got away from me and I came home with a large bag of these little green bbs. Curried Mung Bean Soup 1 medium onion, chopped 1 large carrot, chopped 1 rib of celery, chopped 4 cloves of garlic, minced 1 serrano, minced 1 tsp. cumin 1/2 tsp. turmeric 1/2 tsp. coriander 2 tbsp. tomato paste 1 cup dried mung beans 4 cups vegetable broth salt to taste 1/4 tsp. garam masala 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 1. In a thin laryer of water, saute the onion, celery, and carrot until they are just starting to get soft. Add in the garlic and serrano. If mixture starts to stick, add some more water. 2. Add in spices and the tomato paste. Stir constantly and let the spices cook for a few minutes. The vegetables in step #1 should be coated with the spice/tomato paste mixture. 3. Add in mung beans and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, cover, and lower to a simmer. Let cook for 45 min., or until mung beans are cooked. 4. I like my soups to be thick and blended, so I used an immersion blender to blend approximately half of the soup. If you don't have an immersion blender, just add half of the soup to a regular blender, blend, and then add it back to the pot. Feel free to skip this step, it's a texture-preference. 5. Taste the soup and add salt to taste. Add in lemon juice and garam masala. MY CHANGES: I doubled the recipe. I added a small can of coconut milk, also a pantry find, and 3 teaspoons of curry powder. I added 2 pods of ground cardamom and 1/2 cup of chopped bell peppers. I reduced the serrano amount to a hint of serrano. A whole is too much heat for me. I didn't have vegetable broth and just used water. I used a small amount of olive oil to saute the vegetables. I also soaked them in water overnight in the refrigerator before cooking them - a step not mentioned in the recipe. I was pleased with the result. I definitely prefer mung beans to lentils. Eileen Here is a link that might be useful: Curried mung bean soup.

Very cool! I loved the Japanese dog!