MAGIC TIME!!

dudes,
travis, and dylan were here, comin' correct with the active participation,
and all working together to help make a monstrous vegan meal for hungry dudes
who loooooove to cook.
yup.
maybe righteous plant-based culinary adventures in sexxxy food aren't for everyone,
and that's cool i guess.
but these guys were on board, tickets in hand,
and ready to ride the the prep-train to elite dinnersville,
decked out in total delicious delightful dopeness like a couple of experts
that's no joke.
food is a serious part of every day here at the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress.
the number one question i ask every day is:
am i so impossibly unlikable as a person that inevitably i'll die all alone?
awwwww.
but, then the second question, and the one i ask myself far more often, is:
what the effing eff am i making for dinner??
last night,
it was an @vegan_magic_time tag teamn exxxplosion,
and it as tight and TILTY as heck, neighbors.
really.
y'wanna see what we came up with?
alright, check the tahini-and-tzatziki-type teleport:

FAAAAA-LAAAAAA-FELLLLLLLLLLL!!!
hey-A, hey-A, that's what's good in the woods.
right off the hop, there's a mixed pickle tray.
that's so expert, and so mandatory for  positive falafel times.
y'all KNOW me and my dudes love falafels, right?
they're on the podium for best foods,
hotly contesting a silver/bronze place finish with tacos.....
well, falafels without pickles are also know by another name: bullsh!t.
because that's what they are when they don;t have the right stuff.
word up.
jalapenos, pepperoncinis, classic dill cucumber jauns, lemon,
mint, fresh thyme, and shishito hunks, all right there for dressing up the place.
that's right, we doo-doo that freaky sh!t for sure.
y'see the rice in the bottom right corner?
that's lemon and cilantro and parsley in it-
mmhmmm.
lots of zest and juice had it feeling most positively mediterranean, man.
i like that, and you might too-
we were having FALAFEL BOWLS, with the rice on the bottom.
what? why??
well, because breezy, our guest of honor,
is the gluten-freedom-fighter i've been baking for these past few months.
and y'wanna know what else's F*ing crazy? she didn't even have any falafel.
true story.
and those falafel were exeptional, kids.
look:

THAT'S HOW YOU DO THE THING!
and when you're doing the thing correctly, it looks like that.
uh-huh.
here's what i did, not that you've gotta do it like that:
-
*
FALAFEL BALLZ!
-
in your hugely appreciated food processor, pulse together:
1 fat punch of parsley;
1 equally obese blast of cilantro leaves;
a handful of scallion greens;
four cloves of roasted garlic;
1/4 red onion;
1-2 tsp cumin;
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander;
1 tsp ea. GPOP;
1 T sumac;
2 tsp thyme;
1 T egg replacer powder;
3 glugs of good olive oil;
pink salt, black pepper-
when that's sorta chopped up,
add 2 15oz cans of drained chick peas;
and 1/3 cup chick pea flour;
plus, 3 T tapioca starch.
add more olive oil if necessary, to emulsify the whole mixture,
and pulse it until it's combined, and still chunky...
yup.
i made a TON of 1 1/2 inch mini patties, and i rolled each one in a mixture of
chick pea flour and tapioca starch, with salt and GPOP added in....
then, dylan fried 'em up in a hot pan with a heavy dose of sizzlin' oil inside.
for how long? util they were finished, man.
i dunno the minute count-
those pans were really flippin' crowded, and we had two going at once,
because too much is the right amount,
and MORE falafel is all you ever want to have.
suffice to say, the three menfolk terrorized a horrifying amount of this meal.
*
and there's two sauces, too-
three if you count sriracha, which i do, and you should, too.
travis made some expert tzatziki.
i'm sure he'll list the recipe somewhere soon-
it was fantastic,
truly.
-
and there was sesame-seeded lemon-tahini dressing, too-
3 T lemon juice;
4 tsp tahini paste;
1 tsp sossamon sesame seeds;
1/2 tsp ea Garlic Powder and Onion Powder;
2 T warm water;
fresh cracked black pepper, and a healthy shake of sumac, stirred and rested for a spell.
TIIIIIIIIIGHT!
*
the veggies were crisp:
cukes, red onion slivers, sliced sweet baby grape tomatoes,
MORE mint, MORE thyme, MORE lemon-
all the things you'd need to satisfy a true falafel poet's connoisseurship.
and lemon-drenched super-sexxxy salad.
mmhmm.
purple cabbage shreds, parsley, cilantro, and scallion, with alllll the lemon juice,
tossed and allowed to marinate-
the cabbage gets that unearthly glow, bro, when the acid starts to tenderize it.
it's dope.
try it again from another 'nother angle, friends:

RIGHT!?!
i knowwwwww.
it's what we needed, and it's what we had.
regrettably, we lost the light in our epic undertaking, so we were standing on chairs
underneath the artificial jauns for the first time this season.
yup.
it's getting darker sooner, and the overcast rain-blast wasn't helping a damned thing-
yeah, i mean, we made it work, but i would've loved a little more natural glow, yo.
it was all awesome.
truly.
i have very few people i care about, so i really love it when there's overlaps of activation,
invention, creation, and a communion of ideas and abilities.
i do.
it's great.
it's usually about food- it's the oldest and best way to express appreciation,
and i do that as hard as i can.
it's all really happening, and i am grateful for the time i have been given
to create something that nourishes me, and my people,
and does no harm to anything or anyone else.
this was a lucky convergence of compatible companions,
and i count myself as fortunate to have been the one with the stove where it all unfolded;
never quiet, never soft.....