A Week's Worth of Eating at Cafe Drake HRV

Roasting garlic and guajillo and pasilla chiles for salsa.

above two photos: Cafe Drake HRV's newest invention - White Nachos! White corn chips with navy beans, diced onions and Monterrey Jack cheese.

Dressed with all the Fixings: dried chile salsa, cilantro, diced radishes, scallions and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Roasted slabs of marinated tofu, ready for our Vegetarian Bahn Mi sandwiches. Here's how to do it: slice one large block of tofu into thin slices and pat very dry with paper towels. Marinate at room temperature for 1 hour in the following mixture:2 T. fish sauce, 2 T. tamari or soy sauce, 1 minced clove of garlic and 4 T. minced cilantro. Vegetarians use all tamari and skip the fish sauce. If you like it hot add minced chilies to the marinade.

Gotta have marinated cukes and onions with the classic Vietnamese sandwich.

Our Bahn Mi - Toasted Pumpernickel Bread with Marinated Tofu, Mayo, Pickles and Lovage Leaves

A felicitous marriage, albeit unexpected, is green (and orange) bell peppers with miso. Cut two large peppers into thin strips and saute for 10 minutes over medium heat in 2 T. vegetable oil. When peppers seem soft, remove from heat and stir in 1 T. miso mixed with 2 T. water. Season to taste with salt, cayenne pepper and toasted sesame oil. Good warm or at room temperature.

Lunch of leftovers, all served cold, augmented with tortilla chips. Just b/c we had a bag left over from our White Nachos dinner.