I am definitely Italian. Not the kind like, "My cousin Tony lives ova de in Jersey," but the kind like, "My grandmother was born in Italy." She met my grandfather in Italy during WWII. Hers is a crazy story of love lost, love found, and immigrating to America. I love my Italian roots. You can see it in my flailing hands when I talk (seriously, watch out), my generous nose, and my love of good food.

One of the things I really love about Shanghai is the sense of community you get here. As long as you are willing to put yourself out there a bit, and expand your comfort zone, you will have experiences you never could have imagined. When I moved to Shanghai I decided to start saying "yes", and it has really opened a lot of doors.

Through this opening-of-a-small-business process I have met so many amazing people who are willing to offer their advice, assistance and experiences. It has given me the courage to go out there and do something a little bit crazy. 

Something I am really excited about is the Serenity Seitan launch party at De Refter, which will likely happen in the second weekend of August. I will make three styles of seitan and De Refter will provide the perfect beer pairing for each one. Seitan and beer, another one of my favorite combinations. I am so thankful for their willingness to help me show others what Serenity Seitan is all about.

I hope that in the future I will be able to share my experiences and help others, but until then, I will rely on the amazing Shanghai small business community.

Wow. June is definitely here. The temperatures are rising and the humidity is consistently sticky enough to make me feel kinda gross. Summer in Shanghai...no one loves it, but we all get excited when it comes anyway. A lot of people also get excited about sandwiches in the summer. I wanted you to get excited about it too, so here it is, the perfect vegan sandwich stuffer, smoky maple seitan.


Ingredients:

1 package Serenity Seitan
2 tbs. maple syrup
2 tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tsp. liquid smoke (optional, but so good)
1 tbs. reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Slice seitan lengthwise into very thin slices, using a serrated knife
2.  Mix all ingredients, except the seitan in a shallow dish
3. Add seitan to dish and mix well, making sure all pieces are coated well
4. Let marinate for 10-20 minutes
5. Heat 2 tsp. of olive oil in a pan
6. Only layer at a time place seitan strips in pan, cooking for about 1 minute on each side. If desired, add a small amount of leftover marinade to pan to each batch.
7. Remove from pan, sprinkle lightly with salt (if desired)

We had it on a multigrain loaf of bread with lots of lettuce and tomato. It was delicious! My husband was sad when he found out that we were out of bread, so he couldn't have seconds.  He then proceeded to eat all of the seitan.