Crispy Tofu With Cashews and Broccoli

According to my notes on "Crispy Tofu With Cashews and Blistered Snap Peas" (NYT Cooking), I first cooked it four years ago, but apparently I never blogged about it. It slipped through the cracks, but it's definitely blog-worthy.

I often find snap peas too fibrous, so in the past I have made the recipe with half snow peas and half broccoli. Last night I made it with just broccoli, and as I do with every tofu recipe, I used a tofu press to get all the water out of the block before cooking it. The recipe has a lot of steps, but they're easy steps, and the result is a nice blend of textures and flavors, including a pleasant sweetness from the cashews, molasses, and coconut milk.

It's a vegan dish. If you've heard me say it once, you've heard me say it a thousand times: Choosing plant-based foods rather than animal-based foods is a way to fight climate change (just ask the Danes!). That makes vegan recipes a weapon against storms like Hurricane Milton, which was the second huge, terrible storm to hit the United States in two weeks, powered by increasingly warm ocean temperatures caused by global warming. Even though we need government policies on an ambitious scale to truly slow global warming, it soothes me to take actions as an individual that contribute to collective solutions.

I feel strongly about people taking personal responsibility for their contributions to climate change. So strongly, in fact, that when I planned a little vacation to practice my nascent French language skills, I didn't for a moment consider flying to France. Instead, I travelled last weekend to Montreal, Canada...by TRAIN. It took ELEVEN HOURS!

Ridin' the rails

I could have flown to Montreal, of course, and it would have been pretty quick, and less environmentally harmful than flying all the way to France. But according to Google Flights, the flight to Montreal would have generated 87-100kg of CO2e (a generic unit used to measure all greenhouse gases). I sent a curious message to Amtrak, wondering how much CO2e would be generated if I went to Montreal by train, and was pleasantly surprised to get a prompt and helpful response from Aluster L. Farmer, Customer Relations Specialist: The trip from New York City to Montreal (approximately 382 miles) produces 58 kg of CO2e. That's only two-thirds as much as flying.

And I'm the sort of person who romanticizes train travel. Reading books, snacking, listening to podcasts, working on my writing, watching some downloaded shows, and gazing out the window at the passing scenery while pondering life...it's a treat to have 11 hours to do those things! Train travel is vastly more comfortable than plane travel, too. So I sprang for it.

I will acknowledge that even though it was a treat to have the first eight or so hours for reading/snacking/pondering/etc., those last few hours were a big drag. This was especially true on the way home, when it was too dark in the final hours to see out the window (there's only one train per day each way, so you're stuck with the timing). Also, the wifi was hopeless, and the train bathrooms did not represent the pinnacle of hygiene.

But if I could do it all over, I'd do it the same way, because train travel aligns with my values, and because of scenery that was every bit as beautiful as I'd hoped.

Bannerman's Island

Lake Champlain

I had a brief but fun time in Montreal! I made a self-guided tour of the Old City, sampled poutine, explored thrift shops in the Mile End neighborhood, and went to a light show at the botanical gardens. 

Lily pads at the Jardins de Lumière (Gardens of Light), with the Olympic Stadium in the background

Everyone in Montreal is thoroughly bilingual, but they were very nice about letting me stumble through basic transactional conversations in French.