The flood actually started Sunday morning, and after four unreturned calls to our landlord we took matters into our own hands and began calling plumbers. Apparently Sundays aren’t ideal for your pipes to burst because we called every plumber in Santa Monica and nobody returned our calls…until 30 minutes later.
We finally got one guy to agree to come look at the sink…after putting down a $100 deposit.
He didn’t arrive until 75 minutes later. At that point we had several drenched towels and one full a$$ bucket.
He “worked” on the leak for 5 minutes before telling us we needed a new faucet which would cost us $700. Uhhh, no.
Since we still hadn’t heard from our landlord we were stuck, though. $700 is an awfully large expense, plus there was a chance our landlord wouldn’t reimburse us since it wasn’t done through their contractors. In the end, we decided to continue using the bucket and towels until we heard back from the property management.
Luckily they checked their email over the weekend and notified us that they would be sending over plumbers on Monday “morning” (which really meant noon).
With no sink, cooking was out of the question. And since we had to get groceries anyway, dinner was straight from the WF hot bar. And that, my friends, is what you call the silver lining.
I was feeling like some mega comfort food, so when I saw the quinoa stuffed vegan roast I was all about it.
I have seen these in the freezer aisle, but buying the whole thing is a real risk if it’s no good or worse, if it makes my stomach go craaaa-zaayyyy. So I was way excited to see it at the hot bar. It’s like a moderately expensive test drive (that’s not quite as pricey as buying the whole thing). Good news – I loved it.
I tossed some brown rice, peas, and tofu stroganoff in as well. Hearty much?
I had three coconut snowball cookies for dessert. And chai tea.
The next day was pretty annoying.
The workers didn’t come til way later and they had to make several trips to the hardware store in between…
Basically Monday dragged on and on and on.
And since we had no faucet and no water, dishes started to pile up (even though we were essentially doing zero cooking).
I had peanut butter on bread without even plating it.
I also had hot cereal (Bob’s Red Mill gluten free mix) made on the stove the previous day and topped with home-made nutbutter, granola, cereal and strawberries.
There were four kinds of cereal (all GF) and my home-made quinoa granola (also GF)…and the winner of all winners…coconut cashew butter!
I owe you the recipe for that one still.
Lemme tell you, this was a bangin’ combo. But the cashew coconut butter is so good, it would make dirt taste good.
Finally the plumbers were done-zo and I could put together a real meal.
Check out my lunch afternoon sando!
It was stuffed with holiday leftovers. There wasn’t a moistmaker, but otherwise it was definitely a Thanksgiving themed sandwich.
First I added roasted squash which I tossed in Chef AJ’s “Hail to the Kale” salad dressing.
I smooshed it into the bread, which was pretty easy since it was already semi-mushy and once it was warmed up it was even softer.
Some kale may have made it’s way onto the bread too.
The next layer was tempeh bacon. I went overboard. It was hard to get the top slice of bread on, but I managed.
Then I put my palm on top of it and smashed it down.
Sliced it diagonally.
And slowly savored every single bite.
Before the sun went down I threw on my running gear and hit the streets. I felt like I was ridiculously slow, but who cares.
Dinner was made of revamped leftovers too.
I sautéed kale, roasted veggies, and quinoa just until the lettuce wilted. It was so quick since the vegetables were pre-cooked.
I had some coconut cashew butter on toast for dessert.
Anyone else think that all the leftover meals are better than the initial feast? I was the lucky recipient of heaps and heaps of roasted veggies from both my first and second Thanksgivings, which has made my recent meals incredibly easy and delicious. And it doesn’t take much to tweak them into an entirely new dish.
Leftover veggies are the best – salads, stirfrys, wraps, burritos… glad things are back to order in your kitchen!
somehow, i think leftovers are always better than the initial dish…i think it’s because all the flavors really have time to saturate. it’s like a marinade, almost. <3
xo.
Ooh! I was going to roast Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash for dinner, but now you’ve inspired me to toss it with quinoa. Way to beef it up and make a meal.
Oh gosh, that cashew coconut butter looks good! And so did that quinoa log thing from WF! The girl next to me in class asked what it was because it looked so good! Haha
That quinoa stuffed vegan roast & sandwich look so good my mouth is watering! I’m definitely going to be cooking up a storm tonight, thanks for the inspiration!
My WF boxes are always a mish mash of everything that looks tasty. And leftovers are the best because you can get more creative than you were with the original!
At least it’s not just in England that plumbers charge extortionate prices and get no work done whatsoever. I hope things are fixed for you soon!
I generally eat everything too quickly for there to be leftovers – if I make two portions I’ll just end up scoffing the lot! But your Thanksgiving leftovers look very tasty indeed.
xxx
ugh. lame. sorry about the flood.. i hate house problems! that blows that your landlord took so long to reply. those cookies look amazing. i am on a cookie kick.
Leftovers are the BEST! Letting all those flavors sit overnight seems to make almost all dishes better, especially Thanksgiving flavors. I’m a huge fan of leftover Italian meals. YUMMY!
How frustrating, but I’m glad it’s all fixed up! That coconut cashew butter looks HEAVENLY! 🙂
eeeek! so sorry about the flood. what a headache!
moistmaker…hahaha! we brought that up at thanksgiving dinner; so funny.
no matter how many servings i have on the actual day, we always STILL have leftovers. mmmmm. love it.
Leftovers are heaps better, no question – try making “bubble and squeak” – leftover roast veges (and meat for those inclined) all fried up in butter (or earth balance etc) awesome.
Cashew coconut butter – yes. I would like this recipe ummm now please.
I just bought tempeh for the first time, I need to pull myself together and actually cook it! Floods are such a nuisance! Water damage is no fun to deal with!
Mmmm anything thing from Bob’s Red Mill is a winner in my book. Looks like a day of yummy eats!
Mmm everything here looks so delicious, you always eat so well!
And I love leftovers from special meals, they always seem to taste almost better than the original food 🙂
Your sandwich looks so good!
i read this post just yesterday and thought, ugh, what a pain in the a$$. tonight i was rinsing some dishes after dinner & there was a small puddle on the floor…one of the pipe connections had come loose and sprayed water and whatever else went down the drain everywhere underneath there. NEAT. luckily it was an easy fix and the boyfriend was able to correct it 🙂
I want some of that coconut cashew butter NOW!
I’ve never seen vegan stuffed roast at the hot bar. You lucky Californian you.
Good luck with the pipes!
ew. what sh!tty luck. so so sorry!!
i *try* (but not always, so dont think im super-woman)
agreed. bob’s is brilliant.
bubble and squeak? haha. such a funny name!