Ex-cuse me miss; what's your name?

Somewhere in the Swiss Alps the first muesli was served. A doctor named Maximilian took to preparing it for patients.

I placed the concoction in the fridge and turned to bed.

Muesli is power cereal, inheriting fruits, nuts, and seeds of your personal inventory. I began eating the sweet, energizing breakfast while in Germany, the real way. The boxed muesli you will find in supermarkets is not the same.

For authentic muesli, I came up with this recipe, a variation on others that suggest adding hot water.

1/2 cup quick-cooking or rolled oats
2/3 cup soy milk
2 tbsp granola
1 tbsp of chopped nuts
drizzle of honey/agave nectar, or two (depends on how sweet you like it)
dash of salt
dollop of Greek yogurt (optional)

Combine oats, granola, nuts, honey, and salt in a jar or container with lid. Cover with milk. Let soak in fridge overnight. Serve with dollop of yogurt. Makes one generous bowl of muesli.

It also makes for a wise on-the-go breakfast. Tuck a jar in your bag and buzz off.

Coffee Cake: Stumptown Anniversary Blend & James Beard Pancakes

Restaurant Foreplay: Thoreau

Opening Late January. 1033 Spring Garden. Vegetarian "grille" from Chef Mike Jackson of Blue Sage in Southampton. http://thoreaurestaurant.com

Chef is like some poet - maybe Walt Whitman.

Chef is intent on riding the "Loft District" magic pony. Works for us.

Private micro-farm and outdoor seating to come.

BYO through April while waiting for liquor license.

Menu promises at least 60 of my favorite things; there is nothing on this list that I would turn down.

Ratatouille sliders, blue corn asparagus tacos, plantain empanadas

The components in each dish do bring on a claustrophobic attack for culinary minimalists. I like to fly in airplanes crammed with people but some of these descriptions sound overly ambitious.

Vegetarian restaurants are your friend. But some of your friends have finer cooking skills and greater knowledge of ingredients than others.

Let's reconvene next year.

Hot Enchiladas

Say what you will about Jen Zavala's replacement over at El Camino Real. The seitan is even better now.

I like some char on my grain meat.

You can't even see the enchiladas underneath the crown of crispy seitan with its shimmering egg and tight rear end of rajas. But the enchiladas are there, the kind of plate that talks back to you.

Veg Out: Zama

With a choice between dining at the newly opened Sampan or the even more virginal Zama, the latter won out on proximity. Zama might be the warmest restaurant I've ever walked into, a welcome feature. We considered sake. I leapt for a Mai Tai, knowing full well what I was getting into. They had to turn the heat down. We sipped the rum off the top and left the juice in the glass because it felt like Spring Break. We were keeping our tops on.

So much wood in one narrow room gave Zama a lengthened look. They opted for clear chopsticks. The lighting was appropriate, a soft, restrained glow.

Tofu prepared tableside tends to be a pain in the ass that few restaurants will recognize as an appetizing diversion. Our server instructed us not to touch the hot pot as she lit the flame, estimating that it would be ready in about seven minutes. Because we are food science nerds, we took note of the time and found that the flame went out in ten minutes. Trifling tofu cookery. We hoped that the tofu would have firmed up, because this seemed like a brave, unpredictable addition to the menu if it had passed the estimated mark.

Table tofu

It was how fresh tofu should be. Slightly milky and almost sweet, eaten with a spoon. Whew. Nice one, Zama tofuists.

The mushroom sauce, of maitake and bamboo shoot, was added on top for a bite that was creamy, rich, and made Kikkoman look pathetic in umami comparison.

The red miso soup with tofu was much more aggressive than regular miso, salty and smoky and biting.

 Sushi so fine that the camera ate one first.

Our generous platter of veggie sushi included a mushroom roll, a cucumber roll, inari, and assorted nigiri. We tacked on a roll of  pickled burdock root (the Gobo) and more inari. The rolls were neat and precise. The cucumber stood out with an especially clean flavor, turning a typically boring roll into something of mention. For all the times that I have enjoyed inari, the tofu skin here was moist and tasted fresher than most.

By that time, the room had cooled down, the Mai Tai died never knowing the recess of my liver. But inside, we were already picturing a future return visit.

Zama, 128 South 19th Street
http://www.zamarestaurant.com/

Come Get Brain Freeze With Me Tomorrow, This Weekend, and Beyond

I'll be at the Vegan Scoop Ice Cream Tasting and book signing tomorrow if anyone wants to show me their best ice cream mustache. I will even fight you for the honor.

The Humane League is having a holiday party on Saturday at the Ethical Society if you're trying to win something for your dog. As I'm not the world's most activistic type, I will likely be championing some other cause involving warmth, whiskey, and bad decisions. But here you are, in need of details: http://www.thehumaneleague.com/

And who would have thought that U Penn Bookstore was vegan during December? The bookstore that you and I never go to is bringing Jonathan Safran Foer back to Philly for a book signing on December 15. If you missed his reading at the Free Library, here's your make-up. I do excite.

New Year's Eve should be about devouring one last incredible plate of food before you wake up in 2010 and want to REMEMBER something. You would never forget a 7 course for $75 blowout at Horizons. And if you did, I would just blog it all up for you like you were there. Snag those res at http://www.horizonsphiladelphia.com/newyears/.