Coyote Not-So-Ugly…

Posted on June 15, 2013 by defecatingmind

The coyote is without a doubt the most famous desert animal, the very symbol of the west. He is prominently figured as the Trickster as well as the Wise One in Native American myths and legends. The coyote fascinates us with its intelligence and adapability. Coyotes are omnivores, which means they will eat or try to eat just about anything. In the Sonoran Desert coyotes vary their diet with the seasons. Cactus fruit, mesquite beans, flowers, insects, rodents, lizards, rabbits, birds, and snakes make up some of their dietary choices. It can survive eating anything from saguaro fruit to roadkills, and is able to live in any habitat from cactus forest to the city.
The coyote is not only intelligent, curious and playful, it has very keen senses that adapt it for survival—acute hearing, excellent vision, and an extremely sensitive sense of smell.
Coyotes are often mistaken for small to medium sized domestic dogs. They have a long, bushy black-tipped tail, pointed ears and a narrow pointed face. Their fur varies in color, from light brown to grayish. The fur on their belly is usually white.
A desert coyote usually weighs between 15 to 25 pounds. They stand about 25 inches tall and are 4 feet in length.
Coyotes “sing” as a way to communicate with other coyote families and as a way to keep track of their own family members.
Because coyotes are not picky eaters, they have even been known to eat domestic cats and small dogs.
(This is not my photo)

You REALLY know you’re in the wilds when you spot a coyote not 50 feet away from you.

We’ve started taking Winston out really early on a morning (between 4:30 and 5 AM) to beat the heat that starts as soon as the sun comes up. He’d been really starting to suffer the heat when we were taking him out at the usual time and was pulling towards any small amount of shade. Poor thing was panting up a storm and it usually made him rather out-of-sorts the rest of the day.

So I take him out this morning and it’s just getting light at 4:30 and I wonder why there were absolutely no rabbits around. I know it’s not too early for them because they’re out in the middle of the night and most mornings when we’re out and about… and they’re usually out in droves. But this morning there were absolutely none.

Then I get down to the doggie park which is right next to the goat pen and the goats were all out of their little house there and were standing right up at the fence looking outward past the doggie park. They usually do this when they’ve spotted Jack and are waiting for him to come let them out. But when they do that, they usually make quite a bit of a ruckus calling to him. This morning, they were dead silent and locked in place.

I was just about to let Winston off his leash when I saw the coyote right there… just about 50 feet away from me.

I decided to keep Winston on his leash because I didn’t want him to start going crazy barking and not sure if this coyote had seen me and/or if there was any danger there – rabid coyotes could attack I’ve been told.

So with nothing but a chain link fence and about 50 feet between us, I made myself quite known to this guy who was solely interested in the chicken coop. By “quite known”, I mean that I went and stood right in the open in the middle of the doggie park, and didn’t move. I was wearing all black from head-to-toe… The one time I wish I wasn’t looking so much like a ninja in stealth-mode.

The coyote kept looking over at me, then back at the coop but I reckon he knew with my being there, any attempt at a chook breakky was out of the question and finally took off. He was a bit skittish, and before he decided there was absolutely no way he was getting any breakfast at this place, stopped one more time just past the chicken coop and gave one last ditch look to see how he could get at the chooks. He looked at me one last time to make sure I hadn’t moved, and then trotted off down the lane.

After we were done at the park, I thought it would probably be best to not walk around the site as normal but to come right back home, but I did walk part way further past where we’d normally turn up to get home, where I have a good vantage point of the entry road, just to make sure he wasn’t still lingering around… all was clear. Just as I turned to walk up the way home, there was a rabbit sitting right there on the path ahead of me, and all was well in the world again. I figured that he must be gone as it was safe again for the rabbits to come out.

So I know you must be wondering what was the thought that ran through my head as I put myself between the goats and held Winston’s leash taut, and him behind me in a protective stance…? Nope, it was not “OMG! I hope I don’t look good enough to eat” but rather “SHIT! Why didn’t I bring my camera out with me?!” Urgh… this lady is never going on a walk again without her camera!

RV Vegan Cooking: Seitan Char Siu (BBQ Vegan Pork)

Posted on May 28, 2013 by defecatingmind

Now does this look like authentic meat or what? Very authentic in taste and 100% plant-based

Oh yes, I am obviously enjoying the break from crockpot cooking as we used the BBQ again tonight in an experimentation that went very well. 😉 Tonight’s dinner was a combination of Ben and my cooking. I did all the prep work and Ben BBQ’d it all. I only turned the seitan over on the BBQ and turned the veggies over while Ben got busy working on something with the car, but other than that… he took care of it. 😉

When Ben first married me, I introduced him to a lot of authentic Chinese food. I remember at one point his father came over to visit and he opened up one of our cupboards and pulled out a few items and said to his Dad “In all my life, I never would have thought that I would have something that looks like black wiry hair or seaweed in my pantry!” Those early day introductions were sometimes quite “interesting” dinners for this poor meat-and-potatoes American boy. But 10 years later, he’s as comfortable with many of these items as I am.

One of Ben’s absolute favourite dishes (from our pregan and non-Muslim days) was char siu – roast BBQ pork – often found in dim sum restaurants and hanging up in the window of the restaurant kitchen along with hanging roast duck and chicken. I’ve made char siu in vegan version before, but never on the BBQ which gives it that added authentic flavour and crispiness of the flame roasted parts. This is one dish that Ben gets an actual craving for, and thank goodness I’ve developed a recipe that satisfies his appetite and craving. But, as I mentioned above, tonight was the first time I’ve actually made it on the BBQ, and oh my goodness gracious me… I am in very much love. 🙂

In fact, the smell of the food cooking wafted over some great distances… Just before dishing up and sitting down to dinner, I took Winston for a walk down to the doggie park. On the way back, I hit the area just before the swimming pool and oh my! My olfactory senses were in a heady spin and my stomach began to talk to me quite loudly as I could smell our BBQ’d food all the way down at the swimming pool. I wonder what others in the park who know we are vegan must think when they get hit with the delicious scent of what is cooking on our BBQ…? I wonder if they get jealous! lol

It’s a bit of a haul in preparing the seitan, and quite honestly, I suggest making the seitan ahead of time and then keeping in the fridge overnight, but if you didn’t have a chance to do this, then it’s no problem cooking it earlier in the day and then putting it on the BBQ.

Here is the recipe…

Char Siu BBQ Seitan

2 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
1/2 cup plain white flour
1 packet “Hor” brand Char Siu marinade mix
1 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP onion powder
1 1/2 cups cold water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 TBSP tomato paste
3 TBSP light soy sauce (or Tamari)

1. Mix dry ingredients together until very well combined. In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients until very well combined. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix together until it combines into a glutenous dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes. Set aside and let it rest for 20-25 minutes. Shape it into a log that resembles a piece of meat.
2. In a crockpot, add 1 1/2 cups cold water, 1 TBSP each onion and garlic powder and 3 TBSP Hoisin sauce. Mix very well. Add the seitan log into the crockpot and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours until cooked through. At the half-way point (either 1 1/2 or 2 hours) turn over the seitan log and resume cooking.
3. Once seitan is cooked through, remove from crockpot to a large tray. Pour 2 TBSP Hoisin sauce and 1 TBSP sesame seed oil over the seitan and let sit while the BBQ is heating up. Once BBQ is hot, add the seitan and cook on BBQ for 15-20 minutes each side until the outside is cooked to your perfect desire.

Rabbit sitting underneath our next door neighbour Ron’s RV this afternoon. I took this photo while sitting on our sofa.

While the seitan was cooking in the crockpot, I was sitting on the sofa crocheting a blanket – figure it’s good to get blankets and such made so that when we move further north – and when we hit winter time – we’re all set. So I was sitting here crocheting and Ben says simply “rabbit”, I look up and see this rabbit hop under our next door neighbour, Ron’s, RV. Of course, I’ve always got my camera handy, and had to snap a couple of pics. I’m still in awe of this wildlife that is so close and living among it all.

Vegan RV Cooking: Hubby’s Turn to Cook

Posted on May 27, 2013 by defecatingmind

Ben usually limits his cooking skills to opening a can of spaghetti sauce and boiling noodles – tossing in a bit of TVP or fakin’ bac’n bits, Italian dried herb mix, and a dash of garlic powder. Since we’ve still not figured out what’s wrong with the stove (probably nothing wrong with it, just a whole lot wrong with us HA!), I’ve not had a break from cooking since we’ve moved in. But alas, that all changed tonight when my husband took hold of the reigns and became a “real man” operating the BBQ! Oh-so-proud I am… Of course, I seasoned the veggies, and had premade the seitan, but still he sat outside patiently waiting for the veggies to cook and took control of the whole dinner making process.

Still dealing with vertigo, so Ben also did all the dishes for me today, which I admit was a larger amount than usual with having used a fair few dishes last night when preparing dinner. Felt right spoiled I did, and am now sat on the sofa relaxing trying to keep as still as possible watching Practical Magic for the upteenth time (one of my fave movies). How sweet Ben is to put the DVD on and sit through this… again. As I told Ben earlier, had I had a night of wild partying, I’d understand this as being a “hang over”, but no such excitement to create this spinning turn of events. Oh well, let’s hope tomorrow things will be a lot more.. er… still.

Ezmi found a new place to chill out this morning too… in the kitchen sink. “Daddy” had to grab the camera to snap a photo of his baby girl. 🙂

But back to dinner… I sliced (in half vertically) zucchini’s, sliced tomatoes – sprinkled liberally with some vegetable oil (if you’ve extra virgin olive oil, you can use that too), some salt and pepper, then some garlic and onion powder. In a big bowl, I mixed some left over steamed rice with chopped green beans, diced red pepper, diced onion, diced garlic (3 cloves) and some ginger diced super fine. I sprinkled a little sesame seed oil, a little vegetable oil, a little salt, and tamari and tossed that all together really well. Then I put it in the middle of a large sheet of aluminium foil and wrapped it up securely. Finally, I used the last of the seitan, which I sliced and then drizzled a bit of vegetable oil over it. All this went onto the BBQ grill. Oh my heavens, it was absolutely heavenly! I’ve never had BBQ’d fried rice before – that’s the only terminology I could think of to describe it – but oh my… delicious. And the zucchini and tomatoes… I could literally eat only that for the next little while, I was in heaven!

Just as Ben was taking everything off the BBQ a jackrabbit came by really close (well… close-ish) to him. I grabbed the camera and snapped a few shots from the kitchen window. I was literally gobsmacked by that visit. Absolutely amazing to me. Nature… WOW! Well, I guess having a compassionate BBQ gave it some confidence… lol

The Desert Coming Into Bloom

Posted on May 26, 2013 by defecatingmind

The desert is truly coming alive in vibrancy with colour of the flora coming into bloom. Granted, we missed several species which bloom in the Arizona spring, but the summer blooms are coming alive and oh gosh it brings such a delight to the landscape.

The Esperanza plant (Spanish for “hope”), also known as Yellow Bells or Yellow Elder. The long-blooming esperanza is a multi-branched shrub which can grow several feet high, the blooms are 2 1/2″. Esperanza is in the same family as desert willow, trumpet vine, and catalpa.

Tecoma alata flowers, formerly known as Tecoma stans ‘Orange Jubilee’, also known as Tecoma guarume from the the Bignoniaceae family.
Native to Argentina, it is similar to its South African counterpart Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis) in being heat-tolerant, pest-resistant and drought-tolerant once established.

Right outside our living room window, we have the beautiful Esperanza plant with its gorgeous yellow bell flowers. I’ve been watching these beauties emerge out to their gorgeous fullness in bloom. A sure delight to sit and look outside the window and be greeted by these sunny delights which stands out even more in their vibrancy against the green foliage.

Just a little up from our vardo, there is a beautiful Tecoma Alata bush which has come into full bloom with it’s brilliant orange blooms, which beckon.

Yesterday, while we were out for our drive, I spotted several more cactus and other desert shrubs in full bloom and have just told Ben that I’d like to go for a little drive and capture these amazing sights on film. When I do, I’ll post them here for you to enjoy the beauty that we are enjoying out here in the desert.

The pure white waxy blossom of the giant saguaro cactus was designated the state flower of Arizona in 1931. Saguaro cactus (Cereus giganteus) is indigenous to Arizona and grows to a height of forty to fifty feet and lives to an age of 150 to 200 years.
Native to the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, saguaros are slow growing and take up to 75 years to develop a side shoot. They are also slow at propagating, and saguaro cactus is a candidate for the endangered species list. Harming one in any manner is illegal in Arizona, and during construction, special precautions must be taken to move every saguaro affected.
The saguaro cactus typically blooms in May and June. It is one of the most unique state flowers, and is characterized by having a waxy feel, but fragrant aroma. There may be hundreds of flowers on a saguaro cactus that bloom just several at a time over a period of more than a month. The saguaro flowers have a short life; they open at night and close permanently during the next day. Many of the blossoms will become pollinated and, later in the summer, the flowers become red-fleshed fruits that are enjoyed by the local bird population.

Alas, the sugaro which I had thought had ended it’s blooms greeted me this morning with a halo of white blossoms atop its towering spires. I simply had to capture that image on film as I have never seen that before living in the Valley and would want to etch it into my mind as I doubt it will be something I will witness again once we leave Arizona and the desert.

Yes, a drive is absolutely in need to capture those images and waiting, near impatiently, to be able to get hiking out into the desert proper and seeing what images I can capture in memory and film. It truly is amazing how alive the desert truly is, and the beauty that is contained within.

RV Vegan Cooking: The Compassionate BBQ

Posted on May 26, 2013 by defecatingmind

It’s Memorial Day weekend and with the site full of weekend campers, I decided that it was definitely time to BBQ along with all the other campers BBQ-ing this weekend. But what do vegans actually BBQ? Of course, the obvious comes to mind, but what about that which is not so obvious? How do vegans who had been avid carnivores and never stopped loving the taste of meat, but simply choose to not eat it for ethical reasons, BBQ and enjoy all the tastes that they used to enjoy in their pregan years satisfy the want without compromising values? Easy… Seitan!

I have been making seitan for two years now, and I can definitely admit that my early attempts were less than desirable, but as I’ve experimented I’ve been able to make seitan that is incredibly authentic to meat in taste and texture, and is very delicious. However, I have never BBQ’d seitan and had no idea how it would turn out. So tonight’s meal was as much an experimentation with absolute hope for the positive.

There is a church in the area which holds “Moving Markets” every so often, where they sell 60 lbs of vegetables for $10! It so happened that their last Saturday for these markets for the season (until November when they’ll restart up) was today. So Ben and I were up bright and early and under advisement from Jim over here at the site to get there early, were there before 7:30 (they start at 8am). We thought we’d have to wait around until 8, but were welcomed in that small town manner of open arms and we got our produce and were out of there long before 8am. This afforded us a lovely drive back through the back roads – gosh this is some beautiful country for the desert…

This is what 60 lbs of produce looks like in the fridge…

We picked up red bell peppers, tomatoes, two full grocery store bags of cherry tomatoes (you can see one of the bags on the bottom shelf above the drawers), organic cucumbers, zucchini, some strange looking squash that it supposed to be zucchini but had weird long necks to some of them and others are round like tennis balls. We got acorn squash, a ton of green beans, and two Mexican melons. I was worried it wouldn’t fit into the fridge, and actually had to put some things in the fridge door.

But with this wonderful “score” today, I knew what I was going to make; and quite frankly, after 3 1/2 weeks of crockpot cooking, I was SO ready for a change, and BBQ was the perfect reprieve… BBQ kebabs…! Oh yeah! And holy crap the seitan tasted just like meat after being on the BBQ! Ben was in complete heaven eating in complete silence in his enjoyment.

I made two kinds of kebabs, one had the “meat” in it, but then I ran out of “meat” so made four skewers with just red pepper, cherry tomato, and onions. Oh and skewers… of course I didn’t have any skewers in the house and my lovely metal ones with wooden handles… seems like I left them behind in the apartment. URGH! SO unhappy about that. 😦 BUT… what did I have in the house which made a perfect substitute? Disposable bamboo chopsticks – not the kind that are stuck together at one end which you have to pull apart, but these are individual bamboo sticks. Without a sharper point, you do have to be careful working your veg and seitan onto the skewers, but they do work perfectly. Oh and you do need to soak them in water for about 1 hour before you use them – this prevents the wood from burning.

To make the seitan, look at my recipe earlier on this blog for my Seitan Pot Roast for the recipe for the seitan – although for this particular recipe, I did not use Diet Coke, I used 2 1/2 cups of vital wheat gluten, 1 cup plain flour, 2 cups water – you do not want the mixture wet in the least, so if you need to add more vital wheat gluten to get a firm texture then do so. I cooked it in the crock pot with 1 cup cold water, 3 TBSP Tamari, 3 cloves garlic (sliced) and 1 onion (sliced). I set it to HIGH and cooked it for approximately 5 hours. Half way through, I turned the seitan over in the liquid. After it cooked, I let it sit in the liquid until it was cool and then moved to the fridge. Keep it (at least 24 hours) in the liquid you cook it in. Wait until it has sat in the fridge for at least 24 hours before using it as meat.

For the marinade on the kebabs (I marinated the vegetables (except tomatoes) and the seitan in this for about 2 hours):

3 cloves garlic
3 TBSP Tamari
3 TBSP vegetable oil (can substitute olive oil)
1/2 cup cold water
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP onion powder
1 TBSP cumin powder
1 TBSP coriander powder
1 TBSP Middle Eastern Seven Spice powder

Place all ingredients into the food processor and blend until completely smooth.

I also cooked the green beans on the BBQ. I cut the tips off the green beans, put them in a sheet of aluminium foil, added salt pepper, garlic and onion powder, a little smoked paprika, and vegan butter. Wrap it all up and pop the parcel onto the BBQ.

Now it did not end there because I also made a dessert… I took two apples and chopped them into small cubes. In a bowl, I added raisins to the apples, some cinnamon and sugar. Stir it together well.

On a piece of foil, place a large flour tortilla. Add half the apple and raisin mixture onto the center of the tortilla, and put some globs of vegan butter on top. Roll the flour tortilla and then roll the whole thing in the aluminium foil – repeat with the other tortilla shell and other half of the apple raisin mixture. Place on BBQ and cook while the kebabs are cooking.

The kebabs will cook for approximately 25-30 minutes. Baste them with the marinade as they cook. I cooked them while the rice was cooking and as soon as the rice was cooked, took everything off the BBQ.

You would think that starting a BBQ would be an easy thing to do… Had you watched us two trying to get this BBQ going… there were probably a few campers having a right laugh at us. It involved rolled up paper (which started as kindling), 70% rubbing alcohol… some twigs, dried up pine cones, pine needles and whatever else I could find around the site… a hell of a lot of smoke and finally… Ben went over to our Rollin Green Project neighbours for some liquid fire starter… Note to selves… buy quick start charcoal (we’re using what was left in the RV when we bought it – for all we know, it’s 10 years old!) and fire starter liquid… Oh… and a thermal fire proof apron so that I don’t burn my boobs! Yep… each time I went close to the BBQ to turn the kebabs, my boobs were on fire – I have mentioned before how short I am yes? Apparently, my boobs are at hot charcoal level… ouch!

But… dinner was great and new lessons learned on how to start a BBQ. Now thinking what I’m going to make on the BBQ tomorrow night.

In other news this week, my birkini (swimsuit) which my good friend Donna bought for me for my birthday earlier this month finally arrived on Thursday. Must say, we had to file an official complaint with DHL… The delivery person came round on Wednesday, and couldn’t be bothered to find our lot or walk the 50 feet to the main office building and instead dropped it off at one of the cabins under the door mat to it. Jack (the owner here) found it on his morning rounds on Thursday. URGH! Stress over regarding that, but yaay! It’s here and I finally got to go swimming for the first time in years. What a wonderful time that was too.

Earlier, I took Winston out and spotted a vulture flying overhead. Grabbed some good pics of it too. SO love my camera and the zoom it gets (I’ve a Nikon Coolpix L110).

Here are a few more photos of the vulture soaring overhead… It is just so peaceful to sit and watch.

A Few More Desert Scenes

Posted on May 19, 2013 by defecatingmind

I really am learning a lot from Jim about the different desert plants and such out here. Last evening, and this afternoon, he brought be two teeny tiny flowers from little vines that grow around the desert. He explained that most people will never see them because they don’t open their eyes and these guys really are tiny.

This gorgeous little cluster of flowers are the ones that Jim brought for me to see this afternoon. They are truly beautiful and teeny tiny. SO cute.

This gorgeous little cluster of flowers are the ones that Jim brought for me to see this afternoon. They are truly beautiful and teeny tiny. SO cute.

This gorgeous little cluster of flowers are the ones that Jim brought for me to see this afternoon. They are truly beautiful and teeny tiny. SO cute.

This was the little flower Jim brought for me to see last evening

This was the little flower Jim brought for me to see last evening

On my walk with Winston this morning, I got some good shots and then showed Jim later and he was able to help me identify some of the plants from the photos.

As I get more able to walk a good distance (today was not a good day and glad I got a long walk in this morning before the flare-up really set in and I had to take some medicine), then Jim is going to take me/us on some hikes into the desert and show us even more plants and uses for different plants in the desert. I am super excited for that. He retires at the end of this month, so he’ll have lots of time to do that with us.

He also delivered a BBQ to us this afternoon and a bag of tomatoes! He is just the sweetest man. 🙂 Now with the BBQ, I’m looking forward to experimenting what vegan delights I can make on it! He also told me that on certain Saturdays, there is a church here in Black Canyon City (Calvary Church) where you can get 60 lbs of fruits and vegetables for $10. Apparently, when the border patrol stops trucks that are transporting drugs across the border, they try to hide it among their load and instead of getting rid of perfectly good fruits and vegetables, they offer it to this church to sell. A good tip to know if you’re in Arizona and staying up here at the KOA or in Black Canyon City.

Tonight I think we’re going to have rice salad and I may make some cornbread in the GT Xpress for the side.

Here are some photos that I took on my walk with Winston this morning.

Discovered that this is a pomegranate tree and these are the start of pomegranates!

The start of a pomegranate – from the blossom a fruit will develop

Creosote bush – Larrea tridentata is known as creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and as “gobernadora” in Mexico, Spanish for “governess,” due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of nearby plants. In Sonora, it is more commonly called “hediondilla.”
It is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The species is named after Juan Antonio Hernandez de Larrea, a Spanish clergyman.
Larrea tridentata is a prominent species in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts of western North America, and its range includes those and other regions in portions of south-eastern California, Arizona, Nevada, southern Utah, New Mexico and Texas in the United States, and northern Chihuahua and Sonora in Mexico. The species grows as far east as Zapata County, Texas, along the Rio Grande southeast of Laredo near the 99th meridian west.
Larrea tridentata was used by Native Americans in the Southwest as a treatment for many maladies, including sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, chicken pox, dysmenorrhea, and snakebite. The shrub is still widely used as a medicine in Mexico. It contains nordihydroguaiaretic acid.