Joshua Ploeg's FEB/MARCH 2012 News and Recipes from the Traveling Chef

(it's Joshua Plague/Joshua Ploeg/ J. Rocksworth Sexington to you!)

*Order "In Search of the Lost Taste" from Microcosm? Well now you can! Follow the link at the bottom of the page! And check out the Microcosm Tour dates!

* New Raw Vegan Zine out, "So Raw It's Downright Filthy", an amusing exercise in useful recipes paired with striking disregard for good taste. No dehydrator, no problem! B+W pictures of trash instead of food. Slightly derisive tone. But it has Raw Nasi Goreng, Raw Tom Yum Kha, Raw Shepherd's Pie and other wonderful delights. Irreverance is a virtue, my dears, get it from Microcosm (link below). Title is written in black lipstick on a toilet seat on the cover. Delish! Also, it's soon to be upgraded to a book with the addition of more recipes AND more pictures of trash!

-people wanting my old books, try buyolympia.com

CURRENT GOINGS-ON

Cooking gigs-

SoCal stuff for early March; Sac-Bay-Pt. Reyes for mid-late March. Southeast and Midwest dates catering bike presentations April-May.

I'm also LA-based again and am there much of the time if you want to book something let me know.

Traveling vegan chef, whoop de doo!

I'm on Facebook under my real name as a regular joe and there is a music one for Joshua Plague/Rocksworth Sexington. Also, put up weird music at www.myspace.com/rocksworthsexington.

I moved from Sac to LA so if you want a dinner or some meals down here let me know

Sac people- I still go up there for a few days every month so stay in touch.

Book something!

EVENTS/ THINGS I DO...

DINNER PARTIES- have some generous friends over for a seven course vegan extravaganza prepared by yours truly!

This remains my most popular sort of engagement. You could be really daring and host a secret cafe night, I love those too!

PERSONAL CHEFFING- of course, why not!

DEMOS- have a show with the punk rock cooking demonstration and snacks for all! I often do these between bands.

"CATERING"- A vast array of delicious morsels are offered.

CLASSES- Yes, I do teach classes with increasing frequency. Learn something new and fun or how to cook something you've always wanted to try.

INTERVIEWS- of course! ask me anything.(the latest I've done- "Unzipped", "Maximum Rocknroll", "the Abolitionist Online", "Vegan Police" and a book by Garrett County Press on DIY punk culture)

RECIPES/ARTICLES- with some notice I can contribute an article on food or recipes (the latest- Toronto's "The Molotov Rag")

A Sample Dinner Party menu...Roasted Eggplant Roulades with Green Olive and Almond Tapenade, Pistachio-Coated Deep Baked Tofu with Tangerine Sauce,Cannelini and Roma Tomato Salad with Mint and Arugula,Pumpkin and Escarole Soup in Ginger Broth, Seaweed-Wrapped Tempeh with Orange Herb Sauce and Garlic Linguine, Baby Carrots in Spicy Tomato Sauce, Roasted Lemon-Herb Chickpeas, Almond Sheet Cake with Lemon Custard and Candied Pine Nuts, Rosemary Lemonade with Violet Essence

Sound good? Of course it does!

Email me to book an event or get my attention.

Anyway... MY FIVE BOOKS...such as they are

"IN SEARCH OF THE LOST TASTE"

from Portland, OR/Bloomington, IN-based Microcosm Publishing. Fun recipes and an adventure story looking for the ultimate recipe with illustrations by Nate Beaty (Brain Fag Forever) and cover by Aaron Renier (Spiral-Bound). Ian Lynam did a great job with the design as well. A cute and useful vegan cookbook in a unique style.

"A TYPOGRAFIC MEAL TO CELEBRATE THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF LIBELLE"

Here Dutch design studio/school Werkplaats Typografie has created an exciting interpretation of my recipes using stark black and white graphs, it is very clever. Much of it was included in the 75th anniversary book of Libelle Magazine. Designed by Stephen Serrato, Julie Van Severen and Marc Hollenstein with a word from British art/design prof Paul Elliman and printed in an edition of 250 copies by Extrapool Nijmegen. Good luck finding a copy! It's Brilliant!

"DUTCH MUCH?" and what kind of question is that?!

Hey, some 100 recipes of thrilling Dutch-American influenced stuff, playing around with different ideas a bit. Fried Breaded Mock Duck with Cherries , White Beet Soup, Vegan Bitter Ballen, Spiced Mince Nut Mushroom and Herb Pie with Cabarnet and Carob Gravy, and items like that. Subtitled: "Fun Excursions in Vegan Dutch American Cooking" and peppered with fun facts and amusing observations. Get this from BuyOlympia.

"SOMETHING DELICIOUS THIS WAY COMES: SPELLBINDING VEGAN COOKERY"

Hey, my first cookbook! This one has over 100 recipes, comb bound (aren't they all!), index, integrated appendix, metric table and lots of fun commentary. Vegan with suggestions for vegetarian modifications and other monkeying around. Awesome recipes include Magic Squash (a gorgeous yellow dish), Pappy's Saucepan (blackeyed peas, greens and bourbon! oh my!), Rosemary Apple Pie, Baked Vegan "Chkn" with Kiwi Mayonnaise, Tangerine Curry and many others. Definitely worth the trouble! buyolympia.com has this one

"TWELVE KNIGHTS IN MY KINGDOM" *( this one is out of print now- It can no longer be purchased! limited to 1200 copies)

A culinary tale of lust and the calendar with the time, ingredients and quotes making reference to the traits of people you may know.

ALSO STILL OUT THERE: "FIRE AND ICE"

This is more of a recipe chapbook/ zine thing, quartersize, very thrilling. It has in the 70 to 80 recipe range, lots of spicy things, vegan ices and parfaits, and exciting alcoholic drinks.

Including- Blazing Tofu, Lemon Lime Avocado Salad, Spicy Empanadas with Herb Sauce, Green Plantain Chips, Spicy Hoe Cakes with Blackeyed Pea Salsa, Sweet Iced Tea with Mango Syrup, Fresh Fruit and White Chocolate Parfait with Vegan Cream and Chocolate Liqueur, plus much more.

And the new SO RAW IT'S DOWNRIGHT FILTHY described above

order them both from Microcosm at the link below (look under "zines" there)

Distros that carry some or all of them:

Just check around with different stores and distros that carry zines and vegan stuff. Bookstores- Microcosm goes thru AK Press, Ingram and Baker&Taylor (for Lost Taste). Buy Olympia.com has my comb-bound offerings.

FRIENDS AND WELLWISHERS!

SATYA MAGAZINE

2003-2007 I had a monthly section/column of vegan recipes and musings in Brooklyn, NY's swell Satya Magazine. No longer publishing, sadly but their net issues are still posted for free. They have my articles on their site- definitely take a look at that and check out their archives for many many tasty recipes. Link below.

VEGAN LUNCH BOX

Jennifer (the Tri-Cities Vegetarians' main motivator) operates a great site of recipes and pictures of vegan lunch box treats at veganlunchbox.blogspot.com (link on my blog)

*** also*** Jennifer Mc Cann of Tri-Cities Vegetarian Club and vegan lunchbox has put out "The Vegan Lunchbox Cookbook", an awesome cookbook, it is great if you have kids or if you don't and the recipes are flavorful and imaginative. You can find it by looking up www.veganlunchbox.com (link on my blog)

KITTEE'S VEGAN RECIPES

Also, I have my favourite vegan recipe site linked on my blog, it's operated by Kittee out of New Orleans and has some fantastic recipes you ought to try!

LICKIN' THE BEATERS BY SIUE MOFFAT

And, I have a book recommendation- for delicious AND healthy vegan desserts, look no further than "Lickin' the Beaters" by Siue Moffat. It's excellent. Siue's whereabouts can be discovered at www.dairyfreedesserts.com (linked on my blog, you guessed it!)

GO VEGAN TEXAS!

Janice has a great show on KPFT Pacifica Radio out of Houston and Galveston. They archive past programs and you can hook up with the Texas vegetarian excitements and Janice's excellent cooking classes at Casa Azul, taught by a variety of visiting chefs and nutritionists. Find this at www.govegantexas.org

Music: relegated to discography for the time being.

My bio: The Joshua P