This Sweet Tooth Is Real

These days it seems that Baby H’s main interest, besides somersaulting, is sweet treats.  According to the Old Wives’ Tale, this apparently means I’m having a girl.  Of course, the latest poll of 16 of our nearest and dearest, collected at my baby shower on Saturday, reveals that only 4 (including H and me) think we are having a girl.  We’ll find out for sure in about 10 weeks!

That belly don’t lie…

In the meantime, I’m trying to moderate how much I’m actually taking in, but also make sure I enjoy the indulgence whenever I do decide to treat us!

And fortunately, I’ve had access to some of the best vegan sweet treats in existence.

A couple weeks ago, H and I took a quick trip to NYC.  We both knew that we wanted to visit the Cinnamon Snail food truck while we were there, so on Saturday morning, we checked their facebook page and learned that they would be at the monthly Vegan Shop-Up in Bushwick that day.

Some of you may already know this, but the Cinnamon Snail is very close to my heart.   Before he started the food truck, I used to visit Chef Adam’s booth each week at the Red Bank Farmer’s Market, about 3 miles down the road from the town I grew up in, to sample some of his vegan donuts, raw pizzas, and other incredible vegan fare.  His astonishing success has been hard-earned, and honestly, is extremely well-deserved.

The Cinnamon Snail is, quite simply, amazing.  They have all kinds of food but their baked goods are especially outstanding.  When H and I visited the truck a few weeks ago, we stocked up!

Double-Chocolate Fudge donut (this is H’s all-time favorite!)

Thai Basil Coconut donut (an incredible flavor combo if there ever was one)

Pistachio donut (with tantalizing hints of cardamom)

Gluten-free Peanut Butter blondie (great texture and not overly-sweet)

And my absolute favorite…the Vanilla Creme Brulee donut

You guys…seriously. This thing was soaked in gooey caramel and had the most delicious, crunchy, sugary crust.  I was in heaven eating it.

This past Sunday, my sister Marley and I headed down to the annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival.  Initially I didn’t plan on going inside, because it’s usually crowded to the point of not being able to move, and that is something I’m not comfortable with in my present condition.  However, we got there right when it opened up so I managed to make one good round and pick up some coupons and samples.  And then I got in line for Vegan Treats.

Vegan Treats is based out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and is the highlight of the VegFest for me every year.  Their peanut butter bombs are one of the best and most decadent things I have ever tasted, vegan or not.

It’s basically a layer of dense chocolate cake, topped with fluffy peanut butter mousse, and then the whole thing is covered in a chocolate shell and a peanut butter drizzle.  Ah-maz-ing.

I got two (the third was for Marley, I swear!).

I also snagged a black and white donut, a white chocolate key lime cheesecake for my parents, and a pumpkin cheesecake on a stick (!) <–it’s the candy corn looking thingy in the middle–so cool, right?!

Then we went outside to patronize the fabulous Like No Udder vegan ice cream truck!  I still get giddy when I think about the fact that something like this exists!

Baby H and I settled on the Oreo milkshake. It was sweet and creamy, with lots of delicious cookie chunks, and totally hit the spot!

Marley, who has developed a bit of a sensitivity to soy, went inside to grab some coconut-based ice cream from FoMu.

She got a cup of apple cider donut ice cream.  Yes, you read that right…vegan apple cider donut chunks esconced in creamy, cinnamony ice cream.  I tried some and it was effing amazing.

So there you have it.  All the vegan sweets fit to eat!

Fortunately, my other cravings at the moment are broccoli and black beans 🙂

Babymoon in Chicago and a Trip to the Iconic Chicago Diner

Last week, I reached the halfway mark of my pregnancy, which coincided perfectly with H’s and my trip to Chicago for our babymoon!

For those who don’t know, a babymoon is basically a final trip you take with your partner where it’s just the two of you before baby arrives, and it’s a great chance to connect and get excited about the upcoming changes in your lives and relationship. Yeah, it’s kind of trendy, but H and I do love to travel and so we embraced it!

We stayed in the beautiful Swissotel overlooking the Chicago River (thanks, Hotwire!). Our room had a view of Lake Michigan (and some other buildings, obviously). It was amazing!

I had never been to Chicago before and I have to say, I was blown away by what an incredible city it is.



We packed a lot into three days, while still managing to build in plenty of time to relax in our lovely hotel. Here are some of the highlights:

We took a boat tour along the Chicago River with the Chicago Architecture Foundation (which I HIGHLY recommend).

We walked through Millenium Park and stopped to take pictures by the famous Cloud Gate.

We also stopped by the outdoor Goose Island shack for some refreshments and cornhole. I was happy to discover that they make their own (caffeine-free!) root beer and it was delicious!

We visited Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears.

It’s a really interesting stadium. It originally opened in 1924 and underwent major renovations in 1978 and 2003. During the most recent renovations, the stadium was totally modernized, but they were required for historical preservation reasons to keep parts of the old structure intact. The result is a venue that, according to H, “looks like a UFO crashed into the Greek parthenon.”

The really cool part is that you can walk around the entire outside colonnade area, even when the stadium itself is closed.

We also visited Wrigley Field, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and went to a Cubs game!



The Cubs lost, but I’m told that’s kinda what they do.

The biggest thrill of the trip (for me anyway) was our pilgrimage to the Chicago Diner, one of the oldest and most famous vegetarian restaurants in the U.S.

This place exceeded all of my expectations. It was flawless.

I started with the soup of the day, a curried cauliflower soup (YUM):

H and I also split the peanut butter cookie dough shake:

This was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

And for the main event, I had no choice but to sink my teeth into the storied Radical Reuben:

Oh my God. I devoured every last messy, succulent bite. The mac n’ Teese was pretty good too! It was my first time trying Teese and I give it a thumbs up.

After we left, I actually started to cry a little because I was so happy that I finally got to go to the Chicago Diner, and sad because I don’t know when I’ll get to go back (that one I’ll blame on the hormones).

Our babymoon was everything I hoped it would be. Chicago is an incredible city and an absolute blast! It’s definitely a place I know I’ll be visiting again in the future.

Recap: Trip to Los Angeles, CA & Crossroads Kitchen

Hello there, friends! I am finally settling back into a normal sleep and work schedule after getting back my first-ever trip to the West Coast this past weekend! Specifically, we spent 3 whirlwind days in sunny Los Angeles.

I’ve always imagined L.A. (and Cali in general, I suppose) as kind of a vegan utopia with an avocado tree in every backyard and a farmer’s markets on every corner.  I’m still not sure whether or not my vision is accurate, because the main purpose of the trip was not, for once, to stuff my face, but in fact to attend the Christening of H’s godson!

We did also manage to pack in a bunch of sightseeing and great eating too (for a spoiler alert, see the post title).  Unfortunately, I ended up not taking as many pictures as I would have liked, mainly due to the fact that my phone perpetually seemed to be on the verge of dying. I guess that’s what happens when you travel somewhere where GPS is needed 24/7!  But I did capture the main highlights of sightseeing and vegan awesomeness, so enjoy!

Friday
H and I hit the road at 3:30 on Friday morning to get to the airport for our 6 a.m. flight. It was a bit miserable, but it did mean that we got a full day in LA because we were out of the plane by 9:30 a.m. Pacific time.

The first thing we did was to check out the Santa Monica pier.

Love the selfie photobomb going on in the corner…

It was fun and reminded me of Coney Island, except with a different ocean! We dipped our feet in the Pacific…

…and saw some cool birds!

Then we drove out to Pasadena to meet our friends at the Golden Road Brew Pub, which has a fantastic vegan selection! It was really hard to choose, but I ended up going with the Fried Roman Artichokes:

And the Tostada Salad (that’s jackfruit carnitas on top!):

YUM!

Plus H got to meet his godson for the first time 🙂

How cute is he?! (The baby is okay too I guess…)

We spent the majority of the rest of the day with our friends, then we checked into our hotel and I was passed out before 7 p.m. PST.

Saturday
I woke up at 4 a.m. (BOO jet lag!!!) and poor H wasn’t far behind. We decided to drive out to San Dimas for a little pilgrimage…

Strange things are afoot…

And then headed into Hollywood to see the stars and sign.


It was fun and I’m glad we did it even though I usually prefer WAY less touristy things.

After that we checked out the Hollywood Farmer’s Market briefly. I got a giant deli pickle!

Then we headed down to San Pedro to meet up with H’s great-uncle and aunt at a waterfront dining spot. No pictures because my phone was dead by this point. Next it was back up to Pasadena to watch some World Cup with our friends. At their house, I opened up the gorgeous (and EXPENSIVE) dragon fruit that H and I bought at the farmer’s market.


I love dragon fruit! I haven’t had any since I visited Vietnam in 2004 so I was extremely excited to see it for sale at the farmer’s market.

Saturday was another early night so that we could be well-rested for the main event—godson’s baptism!—on Sunday.

Sunday
Well as you might expect, the majority of Sunday was spent with our friends and their beautiful new son, first at church and then at their friends’ house for a party with lots of gorgeous vegan platters!

Mediterranean!

Roasted veggies!

Avocado and veggie sandwiches! (Note: some of the sandwiches had a sprinkle of cheese but most were vegan.)

BUT…I went easy on these because I was saving room for my most-anticipated part of the trip—our dinner reservation at Crossroads Kitchen!

OMG you guys. This was just as good if not better than I imagined. Here’s what H and I had:

Cocktails
I had heard that the cocktails here were not to be missed. H had The Escapist and later the Moscow Mule.


I had The Humble Braggart.

They were so different than anything we’d ever had before, thoughtfully presented, and so delicious!

First Course
Lentil flatbread with 3 spreads (leek pate, fava bean spread, and spicy tomato banana pepper jam).

All were delicious (and the pepper jam was spicy!) but we both liked the leek pate the most.

Second Course
I had the Cream of Fava Bean and English Pea soup.

H had the Spiced Chickpeas.

I enjoyed the soup very much, and H liked the chickpeas, though we both agreed I make equally delicious chickpea dishes at home 🙂

Third Course
H had the Risotto Stuffed Banana Pepper.

I had the Crab Cakes (made from hearts of palm).

Both of these entrées were stunning and outstanding. The risotto was incredibly creamy, and really complemented the spicy, tart banana pepper. The crab cakes had the most perfect texture, and the beet and apple topping was, again, a perfect complement. That was one of the biggest things I noticed about everything we tried—it just seemed like an amazing amount of care and attention had gone into creating every dish to make sure that the balance of flavors and textures were just right.

Dessert
We shared the Ginger Beer Float. They make their ginger beer in house!

It was a lovely, refreshing end to a perfect meal.

I was seriously sorry that we couldn’t try everything on the menu. H even asked if I was sure I didn’t want to order one or two more small dishes to share, since who knows when (if ever) we’ll be back. But we were beyond stuffed and I think we ordered the right amount of food.

Well, after Crossroads it was time to drive to the airport for our trip home, which left at 10 p.m. (arriving back in Boston at 6 a.m. EST Monday morning). Monday was a day to catch up on much-needed sleep! Frankly, so was Tuesday…

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Family Fun in Florida (and I’m Not Talking Disney)

Well hello!!  Even though I got back from Florida on Monday night, I actually haven’t had a single moment to put together any kind of blog post about my trip until now!

I should tell you up front that this trip was in many ways the exact opposite of my vegan food-filled trip to Richmond, meaning there isn’t a whole lot to recap in terms of eats.  I was only there for about 45 hours, and they were very family-oriented hours, so food was definitely secondary.

My grandmother and I took a 6 a.m. flight on Saturday morning which got us to Florida around 9 a.m.   The weather was incredible, but I didn’t spend much time outside, as the day was packed full of family time, including visiting with my great-aunt in West Palm Beach and getting together for dinner with cousins of my late grandfather in Boca Raton.  We ate at a really nice Chinese restaurant called Uncle Tai’s in Boca.  I got the Hot and Spicy Tofu, which was pretty good, though very heavy on the ginger and scallions.  I didn’t take a picture because it was so super-dark in the restaurant.

The next morning, I got up early and went for a walk around our hotel area, collecting breakfast from around the nearby shopping plaza as follows:
Coffee with soy milk from Panera, a local grapefruit, and a Naked juice

I found it a little odd that the plaza’s smoothie place didn’t open until noon.  People do like  smoothies for breakfast, do they not?

Anyway, after that it was time to go to a family reunion that was the main purpose of our trip.  This was a truly amazing gathering, where everyone present was descended from a line that begins with my great-great-great grandmother in Hungary.  She had eight children and twenty-two grandchildren.  Four of those grandchildren are still alive (in their nineties!) and all four were present at this reunion.This is a picture of the eight children with their father (my great-great grandmother is the one in the center row all the way to the right):
It was really a treat to learn so much about where my family comes from, look at amazing old photographs, and get to know so many new cousins.

The reunion lasted most of the day, so by the time we got back to the hotel, the sun was beginning to go down.  I took advantage of my one chance to sit by the pool!
After that, I was getting hungry but my grandma wasn’t ready for dinner and wanted to relax, so I struck out for the one place I had found on HappyCow that really piqued my interest, a vegan restaurant called Darbster.I ordered take-out, but kind of wished I could have eaten there.  The place had a really cool vibe and I thought its animal print/safari animal themed decor was very chic and understated.

I had thought I was going to get either their Reuben or their Black and Blue Burger, but I ended up going with the Country Fried Steak special, which one employee highly recommended.

Barley and oat based “steak”Collard greens and mashed potatoes (possibly…see note below)Veggie Sausage Gravy

The “steak” had a pleasant, chewy texture and a nice, savory flavor.  The collards were tangy and flavorful, not the best I’ve had but not bad at all.  But I did not like the potatoes at all.  I’m actually not sure they were even potatoes because they had a strong taste similar to cooked carrots (something of which I’m not a fan) so I actually think they might have been mashed parsnips?  Either way, I didn’t like them and I didn’t eat them, which was sorta sad.  The real star was the veggie sausage gravy.  I wish there had been more!

Verdict: I’d definitely like to go back to Darbster, eat in the restaurant, and try the Reuben and maybe their palm crab cakes too!

After I finished dinner it was time to pack up and get to bed early in preparation for a 6:30 a.m. flight back to NJ.  And that was basically the trip!  I had about 8 hours to spare between landing in NJ and my flight back to frigid Boston, which was great because I got to spend a little time with my parents.  My dad and I went out to lunch at  a Greek restaurant in Holmdel called It’s Greek to Me, where I ordered the Hummus special, which comes with a Greek salad (hold the feta).It doesn’t get much better than that!

Believe it or not, I have another trip coming up this weekend, but this time it’s to NYC so you know there will be food finds to share 🙂

Predictable

Just popping in to let you all know that I took the “What Health Food Are You?” quiz from Dr. Oz, and wouldn’t you know…

I’m friggin’ kale.  I just had to laugh about that 🙂

Anyway, I am off to please God let it be sunny Florida for the weekend and hope to have some fun vegan finds to share when I return!  Until then…

Adventures in RVA

I’m back, and I have tons to share!  We packed a lot into two days and there are photos galore so enjoy 🙂

As I announced in my last post, H and I got out of town for a couple of days last week and headed down to Richmond, Virginia.

After an EARLY wake-up and flight on Wednesday morning, we arrived in RVA.
Since we couldn’t check into our hotel until 3 p.m., we decided to just drive into town, park, and take a look around.

Anyone who knows me will not be surprised to learn that I had a manila folder in my purse with all of our travel documents plus a map, list of attractions, and two lists of vegan and veg-friendly places I wanted to try (one in order of proximity to our hotel, and one in order of how much I wanted to go there).

There was one place on my list that I had noted made breakfast, and since it was still quite early in the day, we decided to head that way.  And this is how we discovered 821 Cafe.

It’s hard to describe how wonderful this place is.  Let me attempt to show you:

Beer.  Excellent beer, and a wide variety at that.  At 9:30 a.m., which is especially amazing to those of us who are accustomed to Massachusetts’ puritanical liquor laws.

Food.  Specifically, some of the best food I have ever eaten.  At top, the vegan breakfast burrito, and at bottom, their homemade salsa (I ordered a large side of it), which was TO DIE you guys.

H was also over the moon about his very non-vegan meal (a sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich on biscuits, covered with sausage gravy).  In fact I think I may have heard him talking in his sleep about it last night.

After we finished up at 821, we stumbled back to our car (seriously, walking was difficult given how full we were!) and headed over to Royal New Kent for our noon tee time.
It was a beautiful course, and a nice chance to spend several hours outside without getting frostbite.  Mostly I just enjoyed riding along in the cart with my Bloody Mary and watching H hit the ball, because seriously…I am SO BAD AT GOLF.  Also I nearly broke my wrist on the 12th hole when I missed the ball entirely and just took a chunk out of the ground.  So bad.

Not only am I pretty much a total beginner, but on the way over to the course I noticed in one of our brochures that the course had been rated the 16th hardest in the country by Golf Digest a few years back.   And then there was this sign hanging in our golf cart:

I’ll just…have another Bloody please.  VACATION!

After golf, we went back into the city and checked into our hotel.  We stayed at the Linden Row Inn, which apart from being haunted (a story for another time perhaps) was truly amazing.  I got an insane deal on it using Hotwire and recommend that you try to do the same if you are planning a trip to RVA.

At this point we ditched the car for the night and headed out to explore the town!  First stop was the Jefferson Hotel, the one place that everyone we know unanimously recommended that we go.  It was spectacular:

We only stopped in for a cocktail, because believe it or not, even though it was getting close to 9:00 p.m., we STILL weren’t hungry after our massive morning meal at 821!  By the time we left though, it was time to think about where to eat dinner.

I was excited to check out a vegan-friendly diner called Strange Matter, which supposedly also has an arcade with old-school games like Mario Brothers.  I thought it would be the perfect place for H and me to get dinner and have some fun.

But…I think we arrived there a little too late in the evening.  Let’s just say we got some strange looks as we walked in the front door, where we encountered a heavily-tattooed doorman collecting cover charges for a punk band that was about to start playing.  Pass.

Next we tried our luck a few doors down at Ipanema Cafe, the restaurant that actually had topped my list of places I was most interested in going.  From looking at their website, I thought it looked like a nice place for a sit-down meal, with a pescatarian menu (so H would have some options) and some great vegan options.

Again though, I think we just got there too late in the night (it was already about 10 p.m. by this point).  The scene was decidedly more hipster than romantic date spot, and it smelled strongly of incense.  But the menu looked good (though the fishy options for H were conspicuously absent), and so we decided to just grab a booth in the back and enjoy.

I had a chickpea tikka masala that was dynamite.  Unfortunately it was ultra-dark in there so I have no usable photo to show you.  But we did get a beautiful piece of chocolate peanut butter cake to-go, which happily I can post:

After dinner, we walked over to a British pub we had noticed earlier, called Penny Lane, for a night cap.  It was a super-fun and chill place that I’d definitely recommend.
The next morning, we woke up to a frigid, windy day.  Good thing our main objective for the day was sightseeing!  We started the day with a late breakfast back at our fave, 821 Cafe.  This time, I went with the Tofu Po’ Boy with a side of vegan chili:

Normally I wouldn’t want to go back to a place I’d already been on such a short trip, but this place was worth it.  Every single bite, penny, and calorie.

After eating, we drove to Capital Square (yes, they spell it with an ‘a’ for some reason) to check out the State House and the Museum of the Confederacy.

God, the sky looks so blue and gorgeous in this picture but all I can think about is how freaking cold it was!

We spent the better part of the day in our touristy pursuits and by the time we were done it was nearly 5 p.m.  We were sort of hungry so we stopped into the nearby Capital Ale House for some refreshments.

Their menu has some vegetarian options but not much in the way of vegan. The black bean burger sounded pretty good, but I had a couple questions about it, and found it pretty funny when I asked our waitress whether the ancho chili sauce was creamy and her response was “Are you vegan?”  Apparently she was too!  Turns out that neither the sauce nor the bun are vegan.  So I asked her what she normally orders and she recommended this:

It’s the black bean patty on top of corn salsa and tomatoes, with avocado.  I chose salad as my side, which came topped with an orange preserve and chive dressing.

The salad (well really the dressing) was amazing but the rest of it was extremely disappointing.  The corn salsa was fairly tasty, but the patty had almost no flavor (I have a feeling that ancho sauce helps a lot here), and the avocado looked really green but it was so underripe that it, too, had no flavor.  Fortunately this was not going to be my last meal of the day…

After Capital Ale House, we drove back toward our hotel and ditched the car once again, before changing clothes and walking over to…you guessed it!…821 Cafe.  They had a Green Flash feature going on and since we really like that brewery we figured we had to give that a whirl.  So yes, we went to 821 Cafe three times in two days 🙂

Our final stop on our Richmond tour was Postbellum, a very cool-looking spot that had been high on my list of places to go.  The interior is kind of rustic chic, with a great big gorgeous bar and nice, dim lighting.  Mercifully light on hipsters.  And get this: they have full separate menus for vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free!

I got the Barbeque Braised Tofu and it was everything I hoped for: flavorful, perfectly textured, and beautifully presented.  My photo is dark and doesn’t do it justice, but here it is:

H got some frites on the side to nibble on, and I tried a few of those and they were awesome too.  Postbellum is definitely a spot I’d recommend for a nice dinner, either for couples or a group.  It’s very comfortable, the staff is friendly, and there’s something for everyone.

So that was that!  The next morning we flew out bright and early and were back in Boston before 10:30.

Home sweet home 🙂  

More vegan travel adventures coming later this week…

Light Days

I am currently smack in the middle of a brief lull between what was a very indulgent weekend and what promises to be a very indulgent few days, as H and I head off for a mini-vacation in Richmond, Virginia.  So eating lightly for the time being seems like the way to go.

Meaning grapefruit:

And salad:

I cheapskated this one with salad bar greens again!  

Besides, I hate going away (even if it’s only for a day or two) with lots of food in the fridge, so the fact that these meals allow me to “use up” is a double win.

But about that vacation…

Perhaps you already know that Richmond has, like, TONS of vegan food (but if you don’t, seriously, HappyCow that shiz).  Much of it is in the form of omnivore restaurants (like this one, for example) with plentiful and well-marked veg options.  Love that!!  It is a particular treat for an inter-dietary couple like us.

I cannot even tell you how much I’m looking forward to stuffing my face with abandon.  But during those brief moments when I take a break from doing that, I also plan to enjoy walking around the city and historical sites, playing golf, and just spending some one-on-one time with my husband.  And taking lots of pictures, of course!

I plan to blog a full recap of the trip next week, but in the meantime I will be updating Twitter and Instagram with plenty of food porn.  So follow me if you don’t already!

Au revoir!

D.C. Stands for “Delicious Chow”

Well, I am back to work after a wonderful long Veteran’s Day weekend!

Our trip to our nation’s capital was not what I’d call “relaxing,” as each of the two days were jam-packed with sightseeing and spending time with close friends and of course my sister, M.  While we didn’t get to do all the veg-ploring I had hoped to do, there were some definite highlights.

Exhibit 1:

YES.

Now, there is no way that sofritas salad was going to photograph nicely.  But dear LORD was it delicious, and totally hit the spot at the end of the day after our late evening flight.  Dear Chipotle, please bring these up north.  Kthx.

On our first full day, I went exploring with H&M (hah).  We went to the Capitol first, where we were treated to a little VIP trip to the parliamentarian’s office.  The office used to belong to the Speaker and it was pretty humbling to think of all of the important people that have passed through it.

After that it was across the street to the Supreme Court.  H and I are both attorneys so obviously this is very cool to us!

At this point we were all pretty hungry and I was also suffering a bit of a caffeine-withdrawal headache (I don’t always get these when I don’t have coffee but when I do it’s awful), so we originally weren’t going to go inside the Court.  But that seemed dumb since we were right there so we did go in.  And we were rewarded with the most amazing behind-the-scenes tour from a super-sweet employee who saw the three of us browsing exhibits and offered to show us the library and other parts of the building (like the justices’ dining room, gym and basketball court!) that are not open to the public.  It was such an incredibly nice thing for her to do, and something we will always remember.

Anyway by the time we left there we were famished (and my head was pounding), so we decided to head over to nearby Union Station to get coffee and see what dining options were there.  I was a little disappointed because I had wanted to try out a real DC veg place, but figured I could get by with Pret a Manger or something similar.  Little did I know, Union Station has like 985908 restaurants.  Seriously, it was overwhelming!  After walking around for several minutes trying to decide, I finally stumbled upon something amazing in the downstairs food court: Sunrise Caribbean Cafe, a food stand with an entire vegan menu!!!

I ordered the BBQ “steak” (made of seitan), vegan mac and cheese, and collard greens (sorry for the crappy train station food court lighting).

I honestly can’t even describe how delicious this was.  While it wasn’t the best vegan Caribbean steak I’ve had (the bar for that has been set impossibly high by the pepper steak from Belmont Vegetarian Restaurant in Worcester, MA), the mac and cheese was utterly delightful.  It had Jamaican curry powder and chopped veggies mixed in, and was super-creamy and tasted SO GOOD mixed with some of the sauce from the steak.

As if I weren’t already in love with this place, while I placing my order one of the employees came out from the kitchen and handed me this, saying it was a free sample:

On their menu it is called a “double.”  It was basically a chickpea curry wrapped up in soft fried dough, aka Heaven.  H loved it so much that he said he wished he had just gone and ordered two of these for his lunch instead of the slices of pepperoni pizza he had settled on.  There are few things that make me happier than vegan food that tastes better than any omni offering!  I would highly, highly recommend Sunrise if you’re looking for something delicious and affordable after touring the Capitol area.

Even though we were startlingly full after our Union Station lunch, there was no way I was missing Sticky Fingers on this trip so we took the Metro over to Columbia Heights and were rewarded with this beacon of beauty:

Between the three of us we ended up with:

The classic peanut butter and chocolate cupcake

Their seasonal Sweet Potato Maple Cupcake

And their Chocolate Stout Cupcake, which looked like this when cut open:

Yes, that was a chocolate covered cloud of Ricemellow on top.

I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves on this one.  You probably already know that Sticky Fingers is a vegan pilgrimage you must take if you are in the DC area.

I think that pretty much sums up the highlights of the weekend’s food adventures.  The rest of the time was spent catching up with our friends and exploring outside of the city (including going for a run in NoVa and taking a ride out to beautiful Annapolis!).  Some Neil Diamond was sung, some beers were consumed, lots of laughter ensued…

And when I got home I got to spend my free Monday with this:

I’d say it was a good weekend 🙂

What other places in the DC area are must-visits for vegans? If you’ve got one, leave it in the comments!

I’m Back!!!

Apologies for the long absence from blogging…I was away in Panama for 3 weeks and while I did have sporadic Internet access, I was unable to upload pictures from my camera while there.  So now it’s time for a little catch up 🙂

I left on July 5th so I was at home to celebrate the 4th of July.  My daddy and I made something special that we’d been dying to try.

Smoky Red Peppers ‘n Beans Gumbo from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

We roasted a red pepper in the oven and used two tomatoes (also roasted) from our garden for a portion of the part of the recipe that calls for diced tomato.

Green food (this was “the trinity” plus okra)

Red food (this was the finished product)

This was SO.FREAKIN.GOOD.  As you can see from the pics, the recipe made a large amount of gumbo, and every last drop of it got eaten.  We ate it over brown rice.  I will definitely make this again!  It will be especially good during the cold Boston winter months that I will be facing in the near future…

Before I left I also made a batch of gigantic Super-Charge Me! cookies from Eat Drink & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton.  I took these with me to Panama to use as breakfasts or to take with me on ecotours (I did alot of outdoor activities including very long hikes so these were perfect).  I love these cookies!  This batch was made with raisins, chopped dried banana, chopped dried apricot, and chopped dried guava, and without chocolate chips (since I didn’t have any)–instead I shaved in a little dark chocolate for flavor.

 

I did a tiny bit of cooking in Panama, but I should come right out and say that I was NOT vegan during my trip.  This would have been nearly impossible in the environment had I just been visiting as a tourist, but added to the fact that I was living with a local family and wanted to be as respectful as possible, it was truly impossible.  However, they did not serve me meat, and for the most part I was able to fend for myself, especially because I came prepared with my super-charge me cookies as well as tons of cliff bars, dry vegan soups, and other such marvels.  Now that I am back, I cannot even describe how good it feels to be back to my normal eating habits! My body is definitely happy…

Anyways on to the cooking!  I made chili for my host family, which they loved, and of which I did not take a picture 😦  I also made home fries, of which I do have a picture. 

This is my own creation: it’s just some nice potatoes boiled and then fried up with some onions and red pepper in a little canola oil with salt, pepper, paprika, and oregano.  These were a hit!  It was pretty amazing to be able to share ultra-American foods like chili and home fries with my Panamanian family, while they shared quite a few things with me as well, including cilantro rice, stuffed challote (a delicious soft pear-shaped green vegetable), and patacones (deep-fried plaintains)–my new specialty!  I will make these soon and post pics 🙂

All in all, it is good to be back and I am excited to catch up on everyone’s blogs and leave comments soon!