Hello, my name is Jhames

“Your résumé is spotty.” Well, yes, I suppose it is if you are simply looking at the dates of my employment. But what you don’t see is the time spent between those dates, or what happened to cause so many dates in the first place. If anything, my life is one interesting story after another. And today I am going to present you, dear reader, the story behind my résumé. I only ask that if Bravo chooses to make a movie based on my life, please don’t cast Lance Bass to play me. I deserve better.

If you are young and you think you might be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or simply questioning your gender, this is for you. I came out of the closet at 15. I wrote a brief article for Scarleteen about my first crush that came with a crash course on being gay. What I didn’t write about was not telling my parents about my being gay until I was 17, months before I would graduate high school and leave for college. I didn’t really have the luxury of telling my parents as my brother broke into my room and looted through my dresser drawers. Instead of money, he found objects I kept from guys I (briefly) dated. Oh, and I think a male porno mag. In an attempt to shield himself from swift punishment for his offense, he told our parents what he found in my … Continue reading →

I took this picture of Sam Storicks in January 2004 when we met for lunch in the Castro. Sam passed away last night; he was 30 years old. My first encounter with Sam was through his friend Ryan who had an account on blogspot. Ryan and Sam were friends, and following a link from Ryan’s blog to Sam’s, I came to know a young gay man living in Tucson who worked in the military. Sam had a rough start in life and he was doing what he could to restore personal order. I was hooked on Sam’s blog: his writing was acerbic and intelligent beyond someone his age. When my blog popularity was much higher, I gave Sam space on my website for him to keep a blog, away from prying eyes. He eventually reserved his own domain and became a (truly) independent blogger. It … Continue reading →

Jesus, is it already the end of March? I swear time is flying out the window. Well, we’re here together now, so let’s make the most of it with another vegan recipe. From me to you. Using my vanilla cake recipe, I made its cocoa counterpart and folded in 2/3 cups melted chocolate chips. A cake this decadent deserves an equally sinful frosting. And nothing says “Oh. My. God.” like chocolate and pistachios. Don’t believe me? Make a pistachio marzipan sometime and coat it in chocolate. We’ll talk after you change your drawers.

Today I awoke with a craving for waffles. And tho’ I loves me some Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero for all their vegan cookbooks & recipes, I wanted waffles that didn’t require ground flax seeds or pumpkin purée. We had a container of soy yogurt in the refrigerator and it makes a great substitution for sour cream. And sour cream waffles greatly satisfy any waffle craving: crispy outside, custardy inside. When Isa and Terry couldn’t provide me the recipe I required, I went looking online.

When I was eight years old my mom gave me and my two younger siblings a movie option: we could either see Disney’s re-release of Bambi, or we could see Halloween III: Season of the Witch. We jumped up and down chanting the latter option like we children were witches dancing around a bonfire. Then we went to the theater and actually watched the movie, scenes of Halloween masks melting the faces of children and killers claiming their victims with a cordless drill to the head. Twenty-something years later, I’d like to apologize to the moviegoers who were subjected to my vocal protests during the movie: my mom had the power to veto and she was not about to see her money wasted on those tickets. To this day, the theme song from that movie gives me the shakes. We were not a normal … Continue reading →

This is my second attempt at baking bread. Before I had a chance to photograph my first attempt, Justin was already in the kitchen with a bread knife making quick work of the loaf I baked in a proper loaf pan. These loaves were permitted to sit on a cool rack long enough for me to snap this photo with my iPhone. Then Justin took to them with a bread knife. In all my years of cooking and baking, I had never attempted baking bread from scratch. I think it had everything to do with my mom baking whole wheat bread at home. No matter how amazing the bread smelled whilst baking, that loaf came out hard as a rock and resembled a similar density. I know that white flour is eschewed by all proper gay homes but baking with whole wheat flour just … Continue reading →

Sorry for the lack of recipes, I was busy redesigning my website. You know how those things can be. And, please, don’t even get me started on Google Analytics failing on W3C validation. Jesus. As much as we use Vegan with a Vengeance and The Veganomicon in the kitchen, I can’t say I’m a fan of their recipes for cookies. Specifically, chocolate chip cookies. The cornerstone of any American childhood if you grew up in the ’burbs and your mom was only eager to bake you cookies unlike some mothers I’ve known that were still sleeping off the previous night’s binger. But I digress. When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, it’s almost impossible to improve the recipe for Nestlé® Toll House® chocolate chip cookies. Which I’m sure has everything to do with ungodly copyright laws enacted by Nestlé and its cabal of lawyers. So … Continue reading →

One of the best things about living in Seattle is the Vietnamese culture. Unlike Americanized “Chinese” food, Vietnamese dishes rely heavily on fresh vegetables and herbs. One of my favorite Vietnamese classics is bánh mì, a baguette sammich filled with fried tofu, sliced jalapeño peppers, spears of cucumber and pickled daikon radish & carrots, and fresh cilantro. What makes this sammich even better is the cost: $1.75 at my favorite Vietnamese deli. Cheaper than a taco truck and much more filling. Making tofu bánh mì at home is easier than you think. The most time-intensive part of this recipe is making the pickled daikon and carrot. Everything else comes together quickly if you have all your ingredients prep’d.

A couple years ago when I visited Milan, Italy I dined at the restaurant Joia where I sampled some of the most inventive vegan meals I’ve ever experienced. It’s a shame, really, that I had to travel to another continent just to enjoy a vegan meal that celebrates vegetables rather than replicate a meat dish. But I digress. Blub (pronounced bloob) is aptly named for the sound the soup makes as you eat it. Yes, Blub is a soup. But not just any soup. Blub is a layered soup, one that you eat without stirring together the ingredients. In order to eat Blub just right, you will need a tall glass instead of a bowl (a 12-oz glass is perfect for one serving!). I won’t like to you: there is quite a bit of prep work that goes into the making of Blub, and knowing the … Continue reading →