Happy Father’s Day!

Hello all. I hope you had a wonderful Father’s Day. Mine wasn’t too shabby, thanks in part to the delicious apple-gruyere confection pictured above.

If Paula Dean had been at my house today and had sampled this pie, I’m sure she would have pulled something similar to this little orgasmic number. It was THAT good.

I have a lot to say in this post, so instead of publishing the recipe here I will instead redirect you to The Rice and Spice Cupboard, where Tisha has provided not only very detailed instructions, but also a nice explanation of the inspiration behind the recipe (ABC’s Pushing Daisies which was, until its recent demise, one of my favorite shows). But before I move on, a quick word about lard: Prior to today’s baking adventure, I had only ever used lard once. As the title suggests it produced the best pie crust I’ve ever had. And yet, I’ve been reluctant to include lard in all the pies I’ve made since. Why? Honestly, lard is kind of gross. And it is my belief that most people are not comfortable with the idea of eating lard.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are times (such as Father’s Day) when you should just suck it up because once you take a bite of the final product, you will know what it is like to have eaten a real pie.

Anyways, to celebrate today my dad and I took my grandmother out to eat. We first attempted to go to Portage Bay Cafe, but since both locations had large crowds waiting outside to be seated we settled instead for one of my other favorite restaurants, Moonlight Cafe, which specializes in vegan/vegetarian Vietnamese cuisine. I ordered my favorite, #37 – [fake] grilled pork with fried egg roll and shredded tofu over cold vermicelli noodles:

What makes Moonlight Cafe unique is that it offers the same full menu both with real meat and with fake meat. I’ve tried some of their other vegetarian offerings, but without a doubt their best fake meat is the grilled pork. The service is good, and the food is moderately priced. What more could one ask for?

Then earlier this evening we went to see the recently released documentary Food, Inc, which explores the little-known and little-understood world of the food industry. It was incredibly heavy and powerful, to say the least. And if you think it’s just another Supersize Me, think again. While it does touch on fast food, Food, Inc has a very strong Michael Moore-feel in that it attacks the industry pretty much on all fronts – the manipulation of the farmers by big business, the environment, the workers, the corruption of the FDA and USDA, etc. – everything is connected.

So while I know it’s easy to sit back and tell yourself that “one more person can’t make a difference” and assume that there are others elsewhere picking up the slack, don’t. Buying food is voting. Know where your food came from and what’s in it. Stand up for your right to be informed. Understand the difference between having access to food and having access to healthy food.

Before I stop preaching, I strongly urge you to watch the documentary. Even if you’re not totally convinced afterward, I hope that at the very least you’ll be more conscious of what you put into your body because it’s not just food; it’s a semblance of an unjust system that we’ve unknowingly been sucked into and are just now realizing the consequences of.