Get Sconed!

Pssst!

2010-05-26T10:35:00.001-07:00

Just a reminder - this blog, which I'm so very proud of, relocated to GetSconedPDX.com in November 2009.

Please update your bookmarks and stuff!

You can also find me:

Thanks for reading!

love,

jess

getsconedpdx.com

2009-11-11T08:10:00.000-08:00

Yo! I've moved to a new domain:

getsconedpdx.com

It has pages of information, in addition to normal posts! Oh my gosh!

Please update your bookmarks.

jess sconed.

Moving & Ode to Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar Testing

2009-11-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

Behold, Irish Whiskey Cremes

I hope you can handle this oncoming sweet food porn extravaganza. I hope you like cookies.

It's time to collect the photos and memories of the past two years' worth of recipe testing for the latest Post Punk Kitchen authors classic: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

by Isa Chandra Moskowtiz and Terry Hope Romero.

Testing for this book happened along with testing for Vegan Brunch, and I'm currently testing for Isa's current project, a weight loss cookbook! Go figure, after cupcakes and cookies.

I adored recipe testing once again for these ladies, and bombarding everyone I know with cookies during the process. Check out the cute tester photos in the back! Not mine, I totally missed the thread on this possibility, or you would have seen one of my cats sniffing a cookie...

White Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Biscotti

Once again, the Irish Whiskey Cremes

Linzertorte Thumbprints

These are near and dear to me and Evan.

Also, a catalyst in my-possibly-being-allergic-to-hazelnuts-worries...

Chocolate Chip Cookies (with vegan white chocolate chips)

And that's it!

Please head to my new domain GetSconedPDX.com for the rest of the testing photos!

I'll pop on here a couple more times to post its activity. I prefer the layout and usability wordpress offers, and never imagined I would be kicking myself so hard, for so many years, for picking this current address. But hey, people found it and hopefully you'll keep reading my posts at their new home!

Thank you!!!

Please bookmark my new site: GetSconedpdx.com

Brussel Sprouts Ruled my Week.

2009-11-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

Exhibit A.

Roasted with Lime and Garlic.

Carrying home a locally grown, giant stalk of brussel sprouts from Uncle Paul's produce market last weekend was pretty damn joyous. In retrospect, I wish I had written a DW-style song about it. I had two strangers remark at the big, green stalk leaning on my shoulder on my walk home! They seemed impressed.

For $2.49, I had the centerpiece of my next few meals and a whole lot of roasted brussels in my future. Growing up, my family never ate brussel sprouts. I doubt I really knew what they looked like until I was in college. My family did have an appreciation for a variety of green vegetables, so I assume that my mom had been cursed with over boiled brussels when she was younger and banished them from her life.

My go-to way to cook brussel sprouts is to roast them with freshly squeezed citrus juice. I saw it on a cooking show a few years ago, tried it at home, and the method stuck.

The first way I rolled with my new sprouts was to roast them with lime juice, garlic, coarse sea salt, black pepper and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil.

I subsequently roasted more with lemon juice, crumbled Papa G's savory tofu, more garlic and cremini mushrooms.

Next up is a hodge podge meal that I like to think was more creative than desperate, but it goes both ways. I was obviously going to cook with brussel sprouts, but I wanted to do something different, and didn't have a lot to work with. And I was fiercely craving Pad Thai Kitchen, but wanted to continue on my home cooked meals streak.

Exhibit B.

Pad Thai Woon Sen with Brussel Sprouts and Seitan.

I loosely based the sauce on the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, sliced the brussels, used homemade seitan from The Urban Vegan cookbook and threw some crumbled peanuts on top. I was worried the brussels would overpower the dish's tangy flavor, but they didn't - and it hit the spot.

adventures with daiya

2009-11-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

grilled daiya with tomato on sourdough, lime roasted brussel sprots

adventures with daiya: the first in a series of musings on vegan cheese.

The excitement of a new vegan cheese hitting the market cues nondairy lovin' drooling, eyerolls and quite possibly more hype than a red carpet event. I'm usually guilty of all three of these reactions.

I mean, holy crap, this cheese won the VegNews Product of the Year endorsement. If anyone knows vegan products, it's the VegNews staff, right? Totally. Last year, they awarded the title to Dr. Cow's Nut Cheese. It's their duty to be on top of these things and that rules.

I've tried Daiya a handful of times now, and can only say I actually enjoyed it once.

So far.

I think it's super great that it's:

a) a new vegan cheese

b) soy-free

c) um, becoming available everywhere

d) being embraced by the public, including restaurants & chains, faster than any nondairy cheese before (seems like it!)

e) specifically, available for bulk purchase through the Food Fight! store in Portland

f) melty, or something that resembles melting

It's been openly available in the US since Spring '09, and so many East Coast and California vegan bloggers seemed to be loving it. That is, until I noticed one vegan friend mention they didn't like it. I was shocked, even the processed vegan cheese haters seemed to be down. I highly respected this person's culinary opinion, and my anticipation to try it grew into sheer curiosity.

I finally tried Daiya while in Laguna Beach, CA from zpizza, and returned to see it hit Food Fight's fridge. I'll talk more about my zpizza experience as soon as I locate my photos of that pizza - but know this, I despised it. I had to double check it was actually Daiya, and told myself it had to be a fluke.

It reminded me of a stick-to-your-mouth, coat-your-teeth, get-it-away experience I had with rice cheese at Seattle's Pizza Pi a few years ago (under previous, previous management, I'm told). I didn't like the Italian blend melted, and I didn't like it firmed, and the taste...I didn't hate the taste, but I didn't love it. But, I'm not desperate for a soy-free vegan cheese, or a new vegan cheese, I'm just excited and curious.

I'm used to the buttery Follow Your Heart, Teese and Tofutti singles, and Daiya channels something different. Cheddar Daiya really seems to go the Velveeta look and taste route. I was looking forward to the zpizza and falling in love with the best vegan cheese ever, and I didn't. I hyped myself too hard.

Anyway, since then, I've tried it a few more times. I truly enjoyed it from the Savor Soup House cart downtown, pictured below. Nancy knows grilled cheese...

You can see how this one achieves a level of gooey-ness mine did not.

My grilled cheese at the very top didn't achieve this goo, and I suppose I should give it another go with cheddar. I know this is all so ridiculous, but it's an adventure. I think it wanted a little more time to melt, because the one at the top became........fluffy. And I'm not saying that in a delicious way.

Final Thoughts:

I'm a vegan cheese supporter, and I'm trying to like this one, a second time.
I think this might be a great vegan cheese for new vegans to try.
Maeve says I should try it over pasta, so I will.
I thought the Cheddar was almost vile on nachos.
Both Native Bowl & Whiffies have had specials involving Daiya, that I've yet to try. I feel left out of a vegan craze.
Every time I come across a random vegan on the internet stating they dislike it, it makes me feel a little less alone.

I ask you, what's your take on Daiya? What's the tastiest way you've experienced it?

Semi-Recent Vegan Eating in Spokane, WA

2009-10-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

This past summer, I found myself in Spokane, WA twice for work. During both trips, the #1 most satisfying meal I had was the Bistro Tofu Scramble from Huckleberry's Natural Market.

Bistro Tofu Scramble

At $6.49, it's a hot plate of scrambled Small Planet tofu, zucchini, bell peppers, yellow squash and mushrooms that takes its flavor from the vegetables themselves and soy sauce. And it comes with house potatoes (or toast or non-vegan blueberry pancake) and a coffee.

I reached for the hot sauce sparingly. With the soy sauce, it reminds me of the scrambles I used to make when I first went vegan and was scared of spices. On my first trip, I was super hungry as I trekked up the big hill from downtown, and couldn't imagine anything tastier than this plate in front of me.

Plus, the corner cafe is part of a natural grocery store, so that rules. I picked up Small Planet spicy tofu dip, crackers, fruit, granola, and other goods from the marketplace - and a bottle of NW Marionberry daiquiri mix for my sister in New York.

My second favorite place to eat in Spokane is PF Chang's. Yeah, I admitted it! On the last day of my first trip there, I was walking downtown and craving Chinese food, looked up, and there it was. When pressed for time and not in the mood for another modified entree somewhere, PF's is there for ya, for better or worse. It's a chain, you know what to expect, and they're pretty dang vegan friendly.

Szechuan Asparagus

This spicy asparagus was pretty good! You know, for assumably non-local asparagus, from a chain.

Side note 1 about PF Chang's: I did my share of research into their vegan options writing a Stumptown Vegans review, and the only ingredient that the company cannot confirm is vegan-friendly is sugar, so make your own decision there. If you go to every restaurant you visit and ask them about their sugar sourcing, I thank you and would like to see a web guide for this! Really.

Side note 2 about PF Chang's: I was totally served a cockroach in my Ma Po Tofu at their Long Island, NY location a few years ago, and it took a long time before I considered visiting them again, let alone ordering that dish. Which was tragic, because I really like it.

Coconut Curry Tofu

I had a couple entrees from PF's on my visit in September, it was two blocks from my hotel! I'm usually a fan of this light curry dish, but the only thing doing it for me here was the tofu and sugar snap peas.

Number 3 on my list of Spokane picks is an actual vegan and vegetarian friendly restaurant!

Mizuna is an upscale establishment located downtown in a brick building. I actually dined out on their patio area, which is a very clean alleyway next to the restaurant. It was so nice and calm! It almost felt like I was on a movie set, it was a touch surreal. The menu was very much Northwest, with a lot of talk of local produce and organic elements. While there was a note about most of their menu being able available vegan (it's largely vegetarian), I did notice that a lot of dishes co-starred cheese, for example, and sometimes it makes a vegan sad to pay the same price and not get a heaping pile of nuts in return.

This was one of the few entirely vegan options on the menu, it's from the appetizers section -

Flatbread with roasted potatoes, rosemary, greens, roasted garlic and caramelized onions.

The bread was freshly baked, tender and slightly sweet and two slices made me so happy.

The roasted potatoes were simply great. A shining example of simply the best ingredients.

I also had a salad from Mizuna - I recall most of the salads on the menu had cheese in them. This one had a really pleasant maple & red wine dressing, walnuts, greens, lovely roasted red beets & subtracted the cheese. And the side of baguette? So good & hearty.

Roasted Beet Salad

The cozy alleyway where I dined at Mizuna:

They have a couple dishes with Field Roast, and there's fantastic sounding braised homemade seitan on their dinner menu. The dinner prices were a tad steep for me, so I went for lunch, and I would certainly dine here again.

Other places of interest:

A few minutes' walk up the hill from Huckleberry's, Picabu Bistro had two or three vegan friendly entrees. I remember there was a cilantro happy green curry with Small Planet tofu (I swear I saw that same item on a few menus around downtown) and I went with the falafel wrap.

I actually asked if there was cilantro, was told no, but there was. I picked around it. The fries, pita and the pepperocinis strips were good! I remember they had local beers on tap and a 'famous' vegan cheesecake. The staff was really helpful, despite the cilantro issue, and the place had a comfortable, small restaurant vibe.

Falafel from Picabu

Burritos & Beer

I can't find my photos, but I recommend checking out Neato Burrito & the adjoining Baby Bar. They're across from the beautiful, historic Davenport Hotel and open late into the night. Neato doesn't have vegan on the menu, but walk them through it & you'll have yourself what would be a mediocre burrito - but with the addition of spicy, crumbled Small Planet tofu it steps up a bit.

Baby Bar is an astoundingly tiny bar, with a casual mix, decent prices & a very hipster jukebox. It's possibly my favorite thing about Spokane...you know, because it was reminiscent of Portland.

Coffee

I was in town for work, so that means long days & drinking coffee and trying to avoid Starbucks. I've been to two local coffeeshops in Spokane - Brews Brothers and Thomas Hammer. Brews was more comfortable to lounge in, and the quality was okay, nothing notable. I was really amused the day I overheard a political candidate saying really, really amusing generically positive statements to another person about his campaign.

The young barista at Thomas Hammer made an awful latte. And I splurged on vanilla - yet it wasn't sweet at all. Evan, just look at it...

Thomas Hammer Vanilla Latte

And some Spokane pics:

...and that's what I've experienced in Spokane, WA.

If you know the area - what did I miss? Any tips?

P.S. Mizuna, I'm sorry I put PF's ahead of you.

Add another fancy vegan option and you have the spot.

I <3 The Hungry Tiger Too

2009-10-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

There is so much I could say about their tempeh bacon sandwiches, tator tots, all day sippers, giant pancakes, butternut squash wontons, and mushy, tasty tofu scrambles. There is quite a bit I have said.

So, short on time, nearing the end of VeganMoFo, I bring you a recent dinner-for-breakfast at my favorite really-vegan-friendly greasy spoon in SE Portland.

The Greek Tofu Scramble with rye toast, soy margarine and hash browns.

..because I really, really like kalamata olives. And the Hungry Tiger Too. I mean, they have $1 vegan corn dog and $1 Pabst Tallboy Wednesdays. That's grown into hip madness and I don't find myself weekly anymore (and I pass on the corn dogs and head to half a vegan caeser with tempeh bacon, mostly likely), but it's awesome to know it's happening in this city.

And borrowing this, to truly honor her creativity, that squash and the establishment -

Millie's Halloween Pumpkin - modeled after HT2's mascot!

HT2's mascot:

Next up: Karla and I share some favorites!

And Vegan Eating in Spokane, WA

Out of the Oven.

2009-10-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

Roasted Cremini Mushrooms.

New Seasons had local, organic creminis on sale at $2.99/lb, so there I was, filling a bag. These were roasted at 425F with balsamic vinegar, a touch of olive oil, coarse sea salt and sliced garlic.

Double Apple Cake, from The Urban Vegan.

I made this with homemade apple sauce and McIntosh apples, all thanks to the Portland Apple Festival. I want to hug the spices in this. So. Autumn.

Whole wheat pizza.

Last week, I made pizza with homemade marinara, spinach, black & kalamata olives, FYH Mozzarella and a little shredded Melty White Cheezly.

I'd heard talk of FYH recently improving their formula and melting being easier than ever. I've been lucky with the majority of my FYH melting attempts over the years (psst, spritzing with oil or water can help), and it's been my long standing go-to, dependable soy cheese. How wild is the availability of nondairy cheeses these days!?! Cough, cough, when I was younger, I remember buying expensive blocks of FYH from Lifethyme in NYC and taking them on the Fung Wah bus with me back to Boston, before there was anywhere in that city that carried it... This is back when my college cooking repertoire included 123s and Chreese, fire roasted tomato sauce, TLTs, pizza and take out, basically.

I really liked my delightfully spoiled-vegan combination of soy cheeses on this pizza. I think Cheezly attempts to capture the aged cheese taste better than any brand I've had, and for that I applaud it. I'm not into it plain, but melted, it's tasty paired with other components.

Red Kuri Appreciation.

2009-10-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, I had a couple Portland autumns under my belt and leaned towards red kuri as my favorite squash. Everyone else at the FarMars seemed gaga for pumpkin, spaghetti and delicata but roasted red kuri was my pick. Clearly I then went onto red kuri overload, because I've gone another couple years without it. It was time to change that this month, and change that I did.

The red kuri has a soft, sweet taste and fabulously orange insides.

Red Kuri Squash, I appreciate you.

This past weekend, I mashed you with sea salt and cinnamon...

And roasted your seeds with smoked paprika, sea salt, chili powder and some more goodness....

In fact, I made myself a cute little lunch for Monday in this recycled container from Sonny Bowl...

It had mashed red kuri squash, cheesy rice (I know, I used sushi, I was out of brown and inspired by Native Bowl, shh) and oven 'fried' chicken seitan nuggets.

Oven Fried Chicken Seitan Style Nuggets and Melty Swiss Uncheese

The Melty Swiss Uncheese is from the classic Uncheese Cookbook. Sometimes nothing beats a homemade cheesy sauce! I heart all the white miso in this one.

The seitan nuggets are from the Urban Vegan cookbook, and the breading is ala Bryanna Clark Grogan, aka the legendary BCG.

An Exquisite Vegan Dinner at Belly Timber.

2009-10-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

Last month, I attended an Exquisite Vegan Dinner at Belly Timber on SE Hawthorne. The dinner was the first in an ongoing series of exclusively vegan, multi-course dinners at restaurants specializing in fine dining, that aren't exactly leaping with vegan options across their menu.

The arrangement of the dinner at the highly rated Belly Timber is what inspired this new tradition. Belly Timber's chef, David Siegal, had introduced a few vegan options onto their daily menu and the enthusiasm grew for a full vegan dinner party. This venture had its root at Whiffies Fried Pies, when David first developed an all vegan pie as one of two signature pie

specials.

I adore Portobello and must make it to the new Blossoming Lotus location soon or I'm going to go nuts, but I don't like to give up hope when I'm at a non-vegan restaurant, especially one that specializes in artisan fare. I cherish seeing the same creative energy put into vegetable dishes as there is with meat.

Note: While there is no foie gras on the menu at Belly Timber, there are very non-vegan dishes using a whole lot of our friend, the pig, on their regular menu, and I understand why folks would pass on this. I personally believe it was a step in the right direction for the hip, meat-obsessed restaurants in Portland, and for the sake of respect and development of artisan, vegan cuisine at these restaurants.

Besides the poor photos of the cocktails, all photographs are courtesy of Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Without further adieu, the photos from the first Exquisite Vegan Dinner and some commentary.

Easy on the Eyes

This was a carrot juice and vodka based cocktail that both my friend Liz & I ordered. It was really pleasant and refreshing, and I was delighted by the cocktail suggestions on the menu.

Watermelon basil skewers with black olive puree

Avant-Garde Appetizer!

Grilled Seasonal Vegetables and Walnut Banga Cauda

Classy grilled vegetables & a tasty accompaniment.

Cauliflower Rillette, chili powder, cocoa nibs, juniper & sage

This is a key example of a chef taking a dish (rillette) that is

typically starring meat, and embracing a vegetable in it. The cauliflower rillette itself

had a mellow, warm flavor and the complex texture of this pate spread onto toast

remains on my mind, despite the almost distracting garnishes. This is hands down the dish I wanted

to recreate at home.

Salad of carrots, parsnips, currants & herbs with a vanilla bean vinaigrette.

This salad was obviously gorgeous, and my friend Millie didn't stop raving about it. I swear, through the vanilla and the fluffy shreds of everything, it channeled marshmallows...

Corn Pudding & Picalilli

This dish showcased one of Belly Timber's signatures - pickled vegetables. There were both onions and tomatoes surrounding my round of spicy corn pudding. While I could have gone for it in a smaller portion since there was such much to try all evening, the spicy corn pudding ranks up with my favorites of the night- the bold flavor it captured was impressive.

Roast Autumn Squash, Apple & Farro

This farro stuffed squash was the biggest patty pan I have ever seen. Thank you, Portland rain! Each of these was shared by a few guests.

Pear fritters with housemade nutella & muscavado almond butter

Unfortunately, we were all pretty stuffed by this point. However, who can turn down a pear fritter? Or warm, homemade nutella?

It seemed on a different page from the rest of the meal, but again, I'll repeat myself. Who can turn down a pear fritter? Or warm, homemade nutella?

B.T. White Russian

This was made with almond milk and house-infused Stumptown vodka. Yes.

Thank you for this adventure, Belly Timber!

And thank you, my fellow vegans, for the company and fine conversation.

FYI, The dinner at Belly Timber consisted of both individual servings and family style offerings. It was sold out with 22+ guests in their private upstairs dining room, at $25/person, not including gratuity or beverages.

Stay tuned for announcements about future exquisite dinners.

The Portland Vegan 100

2009-10-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

100 Great Vegan Foodz in Portland, OR!

This list was inspired by Melissa Bastian's Vegan NYC 100 Listing for VeganMoFo, which was inspired by Hannah of Bittersweet's Vegan's Hundred.

This was a collaborative effort, I received feedback from vegans on the Post Punk Kitchen forums, via Facebook, Twitter and from straight up conversations in person with my friends.

If you're in the Portland area or familiar with our vegan scene, what are you waiting for?

Here's how it works:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, facebook or website, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Post a comment here once you’ve finished and link your post back to this one.
5) Pass it on!

The PDX Vegan Hundred: 100 Great Foodz in Portland, OR

psst - the original version for copy/pasting is here.

1. Fries with spicy tofu sauce at Dots
2. $1 Corndog from Hungry Tiger Too I've gotten to the point where I order one, but I can't bite into it.
3. Chick-o-Stick doughnut from Voodoo Doughnuts
4. Tiramisu from Portobello
5. Vegan Mulita from Gorditos or Gorditos II
6. Nanotear Ham and Cheeze sandwich from Tube
7. Milkshake from Sip
8. Gnocchi from Portobello
9. Caramel Nut Bar from Sweetpea Baking Co.
10. Soft serve from Blossoming Lotus
11. Local cherry tomatoes from a farmers market
12. Dong Po Tofu from Bay Leaf
13. Jerked chickun from Assase Ital
14. A Big Big Lunch Special from an Indian cart
15. Soy latte made with Stumptown espresso
16. A crappy tofu scramble
17. Cornmeal pizza from Dovi Vive.
18. Weeping Tiger sandwich from Bye & Bye
19. Bye & Bye or Floor Punch from Bye & Bye
20. A Bowl meal from a cart
21. vegan nutella from freddy's hazelnuts
22. soy curls in bulk from food fight or proper eats
23. buffalo wings from Vita
24. the weekday vegan pancakes from Laurelthirst
25. Maple vegan sausage waffle from flavourspot
26. Drunken noodles with pepper steak from Thai Food Cafe
27. Macnocheeto from Homegrown Smoker Too much for me to handle!
28. Veggie platter from an Ethiopian restaurant
29. Blackberries picked from a public place
30. Baba Ganouj from Ya Hala
31. Coconut Mashed Yams from Papa G’s
32. Butternut Squash Wontons from Hungry Tiger Too
33. Vegan slice from Bella Faccia
34. Apple pie from Whiffies
35. Chili dog from Zach’s Shack I'm just not into fake hot dogs or eating them covered with chili..
36. Vegan poutine from Potato Champion
37. Missionary Chocolate Truffle
38. Apron Activists 4-Course Dinner
39. Hot Wok at New Seasons
40. Che Guevara Burrito from Laughing Planet
41. Bryan’s Bowl from Por Que No?
42. Pad Thai from Pad Thai Kitchen
43. Cupcake from a stand at Last Thursday
44. The Giant Pancake at Hungry Tiger Too
45. TLP from Red & Black Cafe
46. Cornmeal tempeh plate from Proper Eats
47. Tofu Po Boy at Palm State Gumbo
48. Maple Walnut Scone from Back to Eden
49. Vegan Mezza platter from a Lebanese restaurant
50. Crispy eggplant from Fujin
51. Lemongrass Tofu Sticks from Van Hanh
52. Tofu Salad Bun at Pho PDX
53. Cocktail made with local liquor
54. Biscuits and Gravy from Paradox
55. Smoky soy curls from Homegrown Smoker
56. Field Roast sausage
57. Secret Aardvark Hot Sauce
58. Toddbot's Triangles
59. Local microbrew
60. Hot Lips soda
61. Herb Crusted Tofu with Mushroom Marsala from The Farm Cafe
62. had a picnic in Laurelhurst Park
63. burrito from Shelley's Honkin Huge Burritos
64. Eggplant tibs from Bete Lukas
65. Tator Tots before noon or after midnight
66. Lone Ranger from Chaos Cafe
67. Sunday brunch at Sweetpea!
68. Tofu at a BBQ place (for example Derby Mustard Sauce Tofu at Russel Street BBQ)
69. Mint Fava Falafel at Nightlight Lounge
70. An unexciting hummus plate at a bar.
71. Vegan meatball sub from Aalto Lounge
72. Koi Fusion spicy tofu tacos
73. Veggie dog from the Vegi dog stand
74. Sesame chicken from a vegetarian chinese restaurant
75. Bagel with Bacun Scallion cream cheese from Sweetpea I hate scallions.
76. Vegan savoury crepe
77. Veggie kibbeh
78. Club Vegan at Backspace
79. ice cream sundae from Back to Eden
80. Raw fudge from Blossoming Lotus
81. Tempeh reuben I'm not a sauerkraut fan, sorry!
82. Pause vegan burger
83. vegan ribs
84. something baked with local marionberries
85. Veggie bento box
86. Dave's Killer Bread
87. Higher Taste Buzzitos
88. Thai food that the server swears is vegan, but you taste fish sauce.
89. Elephant ear from the Saturday Market
90. Dovetail sticky bun
91. savoury pie from Nicholas restaurant
92. Salad rolls from the Just Thai cart
93. Vegan torta from Gorditos II
94. Nutritional yeast on your popcorn at a movie theater
95. Vegan grilled cheese from The Grilled Cheese Grill
96. Pasilla burrito from El Nutri
97. Something from the vegetarian menu at Andina
98. Vegan Steak and Cheese from D.C. Vegetarian
99. Dragon Noodles at Red & Black Cafe blame the cilantro.
100. Falafel from Wolf & Bears

So, where do you stand on this list?

What is it missing?

P.S. I ran out of time with the links, more links to photos, websites & reviews will be updated.

Anatomy of a Grocery Trip: Limbo

2009-10-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

I'm still coming down from the high of being in the front row for Alicia Silverstone's talk about her book, The Kind Diet, last night at Powell's. So, if I start chanting about the beauty of kale in this post, you know why.

A trip for spices & tea.

This past weekend, I hit up Limbo for bulk spices, tea and a couple other goodies. It had been far too long. They usually have crazy deals on $1 produce bags ready for smoothies and juicing, and random vegetables, like 2 bell peppers for a $1, and of course, local and organic produce, but I was all set at home so I stuck to bulk shopping. I tend to go there more regularly come late fall and winter in Portland - tea weather!

Their selection of bulk herbs and tea is massive. If you're in Portland and and appreciate buying in bulk, and having a huge variety of chili powders to choose from, you must go.

My teas included herbal chai, blackberry black and a citrus based dental health herbal tea.

I am constantly drinking tea at work in my Bodum teapot, there's a pot of the blackberry by my side as I type this.

Garlic is $3.49/lb at Limbo, so I grab many. The tiny lemons were 10 cents a piece, and being out of organic lemon juice at home, I went for five.

Spices: The return of smoked paprika into my life. If you read What the hell does a vegan eat anyway? you know it rules. I was on a huge roasted potatoes with smoked paprika kick a few years ago, myself, I couldn't make them enough! Cumin - it took me a few years to realize this, but I dig it. Coriander - I plan on baking falafel soon. Paprika & Ginger - of course. I like to keep fresh ginger at home, but powdered comes in handy. And last, but not least - Ancho Chili powder. It's superb and used in a few of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipes. I've already used it in a cheezy sauce this week and I want to bake kale chips dusted with it!

More...Vegan....Donuts

2009-10-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

I know, right?

All the way in far out SE Portland....er, SE 29th and Powell, across from Hopworks Urban Brewery.

In a strip mall! The location warmed my suburban raised, all-vegan heart.

Not a far off walk in my neck of the woods. Acme Donuts apparently realized most of their donuts were nearly vegan, so they went for it. There were at least six different types of vegan donuts on their shelves, it seemed like 3/4 of their offerings were marked vegan.

I went with Maple Glazed and Berry Filled. Honestly, all their donuts were cute but were flatter than you normally see, like, almost deflated. I was raised on big, bold Dunkin Donuts in New York, and yeah, I measure everything against 'em. But hey, I dig homemade, cute's good.

Maple Glazed and Berry Filled.

The Berry filled was dusted with a coat of powdered sugar and lightly filled with a moist, sherbert-like berry filling. Personally, I'm not enthusiastic for jelly donuts and I remember eating around the filling as a child when faced with one. My favorite part here was the filling. Yes, sherbert-like: it wasn't stuffed with jam or crappy jelly, but a dollop of creamed jam? Something like that. I liked it. See below!

The dough looked like it was going to have some spice, such as cinnamon or nutmeg, in it, but I didn't taste any. That would have been something! It tasted more like an airy, soft roll than a donut, to be honest.

Fortunately, not greasy or yeasty, two things vegan donuts can be guilty of.

The maple glazed had a similar dough feel and taste, but the icing was delightful. Just look at that thick, maple icing. I mean, put that on pizza and someone would eat it.

Berry.

I know, I like to picture Portland as all parks and coffeeshops, but it can look like this!

Look for a full review in the future on Stumptown Vegans, after our resident donut expert stops by, too!

PDX: Native Bowl in Mississippi!

2009-10-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

The newest vegan cart in town.

Time to dust off the ole Vegan Friendly Food Carts in Portland list! Oh wait, it doesn't collect dust. Julie and Jay Hasson, two of the coolest vegan parents in Oregon, opened their food cart, Native Bowl, earlier this month.

Surely, you know Julie already, or you should, her list of culinary acclaims astounds me - to name some: cookbooks (with a new vegan diner book in the works!), the Everyday Dish cooking videos, teaching cooking classes for The Cancer Project, her own blog, being an awesome person

and now, an all vegan food cart!

The Native Bowl is all about the "mix" of ingredients. Their bowls are topped with house made exceptional sauces and are filled with vegetables, sushi rice and soy curls or tofu, and named after NATIVE areas -i.e. the Alberta bowl, Mississippi bowl, etc. Get it? I do!

They're also serving grilled sandwiches, wraps and baked goods. Because you know, Julie rules.

There was a vegan reuben with Daiya as a special the day I visited.

Be Advised: This is a high quality lunch visit, bring more than $5 with you! A large bowl (which is served in a Chinese style carton) will run you $7.50, though I did have sauced leftovers that were great with my dinner!

Onwards to the photos!

My Alberta Bowl with a spicy Korean Srichacha sauce

The sauce had me wondering if there were tears in my eyes - in a good way! A great way!

They'll happily turn down or up the heat for ya, I'm sure - I'm a wimp these days.

My friend had the hummus wrap - and remarked that "she knows what she's doing". It seemed like the bread as well was homemade.

For dessert - a coconut macaroon. Look, I've had a lot of vegan macaroons, and this was the best one I've ever put into my mouth.

The new tables at the cart lot are...vintage. Check out the helpful notes on them, below.

On the topic of carts, winter is slowly approaching, and there's a bit of chatter about covered seating, indoor escapes, heat lamps, carts closing for the season (Wolf & Bears soon being one) and where to store your cart going blankets. Let's see if cart going thrives through the rain, or we find ourselves inside actual restaurants more often.. The Mississippi Marketplace and Cartopia at 12th & Hawthorne, in particular, seem to be preparing for the colder weather well.

All Photos by Lucas DeShazer.

PSA: It's Pumpkin Milkshake Season at Sip.

2009-10-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

Sip, Portland's organic juice and smoothie cart, has one last thing to say before it retires its milkshake machine for the winter:

PUMPKINPUMPKINPUMPKINPUMPKINPUMPKINPUMPKINPUMPKINPUMPKIN

I went with some friends after lunch at Green Wok, and it was one of the most delicious and filling afternoons of my life. My third visit to Green Wok so far!

Our friend, Sip.

I assume they'll be making the switch to my beloved tea lattes again. Please.

Matcha Green Tea Latte

Squash land outside People's Coop!

Roast, Roast, Roast.

Dinner for the Chimps

2009-10-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, I attended the Apron Activists' latest presentation: a 4 Course Benefit Dinner for the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. I've dined at a couple of these previously and volunteered as well, and I was delighted to see them back in action with the support of the Portland vegan community.

It was an evening of great food, great friends, great conversation and fairly good wine (BYOB).

I sat at a communal table with the sweet representative from the Sanctuary, and she told us tales of the chimps, like how she intended to buy one of them cowboy boots for her birthday because she loves shoes so much!

Here's the spread, pretend everything isn't mellow yellow. The room was filled with smiles.

Mushroom Walnut Pate & Curried Carrot Spread

Baguette, Matzoh and Flatbreads

Must make this pate asap! Divine! I think it's the one from Vcon..

Root Vegetable & Caramelized Fig Salad

Mixed greens, endive, creamy garlic dressing, cilantro pesto drizzle

That's how it was supposed to look. I was in the No Cilantro, Please club.

The figs were so lovely!

Here's our super awesome and super adorable waitress, Karla, aka Veganshizzle.

Butternut Risotto

Sweet cashew creme, roasted brussel sprouts, toasted hazelnuts

Love brussels & hazelnuts!

Apple Pie with Peanut Butter Caramel with Coconut Bliss. Wonderful!

Thank you, Apron Activists!

Vegan Friendly Food Carts in Portland, OR!

2009-10-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yo! I've moved to a new domain:

getsconedpdx.com

It has pages of information, in addition to normal posts! Oh my gosh!

Please update your bookmarks.

jess sconed.

The Vegan Friendly Food Carts List Lives There!

Grilled Vegan Cheese (apparently Tofutti Mozz. and CC!)

with Jalapenos and Tomato from The Grilled Cheese Grill

BBQ Tofu pie from Whiffies. Photo by Lucas DeShazer.

Case in Point: Bombay Chaat House

My cat loves spinach.

2009-10-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

You see that furball to the right? That's Zelda. She may look all fur and cuddles, and in reality, she's a monster. That's our roommate, Huxley, to the left. He's pretty cool.

Zelda is greens seeking monster. I haven't had a salad or side of spinach that she hasn't harassed in over six years.

An adorable monster.

There's something to be said for a cat that reminds you to eat your vegetables, but she even tries to eat sauteed greens out of hot meals. She has a nose for these things. Anywhere I sit, she's on my lap and then at my plate.

In a different world where I had a garden, and was sane enough to let her outside, well, I wouldn't have a garden anymore. Unless she learned the rewards of letting plants grow. She eats every one I try to grow!

Zelda's birthday present, 2004.

Sometimes she's just curious, and likes to leave her hair on my muffins.

My friend Erin tried to add some variety to her diet with carrots. Didn't stick.

And surely there's a green vegetable in these spring rolls from Bay Leaf, because I think she ate them, dipping sauce and all.

She's the best.

This post was brought to you by my VeganMoFo Approaches entry.

T-G-I-Tubesday.

2009-10-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

This week brought on the casual return of Tubesday, a semi-regular tradition in my Portland life since 2006. A hodge podge of friends visits Tube bar, orders $2 well drinks and their cheapo, infamous mini vegan ham and cheeze sandwiches. They used to be called the McGonnigle, and they're now called the Professor Nanotear, and are two for $5 or $3 each. The menu is mostly vegan, with spaghetti and homemade vegan meatballs, tofu scramble tacos, a big vegan ham & cheese with salad, vegan pasta salad and a handful of other things.

But everyone I know goes for the vegan ham and cheeze.

Behold, the awesome.

The pathetically awesome.

Here's what I wrote about it for a Veggie Thing entry:

The thing to realize about the cheap grilled ham and fake cheese sandwiches at the Tube is that they’re pathetically awesome. No one gets just one, so throw down $5 for 2 at happy hour (5 till 10pm daily!) and enjoy your guilty pleasure at this hipster bar in Old Town. Behold the tiny piece of bright orange cheeze, the sometimes slathered, sometimes sparse, always tasty chipotle sauce, imitation ham, soft English muffin and surprisingly crisp pepperocini accompaniment. It’s a must try.

I have to say, I'm pretty devastated there was no appearance of pepperocinis this past visit, but so it goes.

Last year, as the legend goes, shenanigans were plotted, and my friend Kevin made and shared the first vegan ham tube doughnut sandwich. He used a maple Voodoo doughnut, and the rest is history. It was recently mentioned in the online edition of Women's Day Magazine. I don't mean to brag, but that is my crappy photo showcased. Alright, that's crappy bragging.

The new Tubesday tradition was kept alive.

This time, Jeff upped the game with cake and yeasted vegan maple donuts from Voodoo. Yes, you read that right - the local 24 hour doughnut shop has yeasted and cake vegan donuts.

Whaaaaaaaat

Jeff and Simon, vegan heros of the night.

The point of the story? I like greyhounds.

This one is circa 2008.

Product Review: Bountiful Vegan Cookies

2009-10-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

My quick history of packaged vegan cookies.

By: jess

As an early vegan, I really wanted to like Boston Cookies. They were packaged vegan cookies available in both states I spent time in during my college years, New York and Massachusetts. I was excited to find them in random health stores and ate them, even ate the peanut butter blondie that had a lot of nerve going public. Eventually, I learned to pass on them and to bake my own cookies, because I didn't love Boston Cookies. I loved my own cookies and I was so proud of them! And what's the point of a dessert that's not truly satisfying? Silly, desperate vegan.

Nowadays, there are tons of tastier packaged vegan cookies, I have the options of vegan bakeries in Portland, vegan cookies at vegan-friendly coffee shops, restaurants & carts and homemade cookies. My god, this makes me remember the day I discovered Mint Newman-Os...

But I digress. It's time for a product review.

When Bountiful Vegan offered to send me free samples, I said yes. 1) I like free things. 2) I like sharing free things. 3) I was curious!

I first visited their website, and wondered if it was for real, there's a..how do you say..Cafe Gratitude vibe to it. These cookies are looking to do a little more than feed your sweet tooth, if you get what I mean:

You must state your intention accompanied by a good feeling to attract what you want. Each delicious cookie has a powerful written statement of intent inside the package.

How trippy! How curious!

Cooooooooookies

Results

I broke these out at a cocktail party a couple months ago with vegans and omnis, all foodies, actually. The biggest winner was the Chocolate Chip Orange, which sure had an orange ting. Personally, I wasn't a fan of that one and preferred the Pineapple Coconut - it wasn't your everyday cookie. The runner up favorite of the group was the Lemon Snickerdoodle - a tangy take on the sugar coated classic. It was a sturdy cookie-they were all on the firm side, they're travelling cookies, after all. Had it not been a cocktail party, I would have tried dunking into milk or coffee. Again, everyone seemed to dig the three cookies I wasn't into, strange day.

The names are really, really great.

So, would I buy these? As a vegan Portlander, it's not realistic and I have options I prefer all around me. I'm pretty sure I passed two vegan bake sales on my way to work. Even Whole Foods makes freshly baked vegan cookies. I can't resist freshly baked vs. packaged, who can?

That being said, I'm all for these inspired cookies hitting regional cafes and health stores that are missing vegan treats!

Farewell, tomatoes.

2009-10-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

I'll miss you. I'll pretend you only exist in non-gmo cans until late spring once more. Watery, pale tomatoes are pointless.

I suppose I can think of it this way, instead of new episodes of LOST to keep my life exciting, I get flavorful, local tomatoes during the rest of the year. It doesn't exactly pair up, but you get the idea...if you adore Benjamin, like I do.

In Denial Cherry Tomatoes

Just look at them. I noticed they were in denial about the season the first moment they came into view. Somehow, inside, I knew this would be my last chance, my last hope, for tomato sweetness. Truly, they were sweet. They had flavor. They were in denial about the oncoming Autumn.

Only two more weeks of my precious downtown farmers market! [weekday]

Here's my haul from last Wednesday:

I've been throwing green cabbage and peppers into everything I've been cooking!

And creeping my sister out by eating raw corn. Over the phone.

Till we meet again, peppers...

Don't fret, I'll be stalking the farmars until tomatoes and peppers are truly pathetic/not present.

The dramatic black & white stand I bought my cabbage from.

You can feel the mood of this post.

Happy Hoodie weather to all!

I hope you're prepared with a new Herbivore sweatshirt!

McIntosh Love: Portland Apple Tasting!

2009-10-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

You know what's a great idea? Going to the Portland Nursery's Annual Apple Tasting Festival!

Not such a smart move? Going to Paradox Cafe for brunch directly beforehand.

Sleeping in, meeting my friends Maeve and Jeff, drinking a mug of Stumptown and eating a 4-grain pancake for the first time in years and heading to an outdoor event just seemed like such a swell turn of events for my Saturday.

I had the #3 with vegan pancake, tofu and vegan sausage. The pancake was near divine with maple syrup and earth balance and SE Portland love, though I wasn't a fan of the sausage. I dug the bit of fennel, the grittiness and the switch to homemade sausages vs. Gardenburger or whatever they used to use, but I'd pass in the future. I ended up giving half of mine away.

Onwards to apples!!

This was my fourth Apple Tasting, and although I passed on tasting every single apple and pear variety available - there were over 60, I did take notes and came home with 4 pounds of tart, sweet apples and 4 pounds of Asian pears. It was exactly what I wanted, and I like to think I greatly impressed the woman who weighed my fruit with my equivalence.

My apple of choice? Always the McIntosh. The first apple I ever bothered to learn the name of when I was younger, besides the craptastic Red Delicious. That one is red. It's government sanctioned. That's about it.

The ideal McIntosh is creamy, crisp, slightly sweet and tangy. I have a fond memory of picking them in upstate New York as a young adolescent. Nearly 3 lbs of my 4 are all beautiful McIntosh, the others including Cox's Orange Pippin and Cortland. My pears were the 20th Century, juicy Olympic and Hosui.

I said, onwards to the tasting!

(and things I remember from our chat down the row)

First, you're faced with deciding which line. Maeve and I opted for the second.

I had my check lists, my descriptions, my mini pencil, toothpick and camera ready.

So. Fall.

Then you have teases like this.

Seriously, why did I eat a pancake before this?

Apple tasting is hard work.

I'm sick of apples, Maeve!

Maeve, aren't you sick of apples?!?

This one just looks boring...

Don't you wish we had a jar of peanut butter?

This is when I broke down crying tears of relief and happiness - McIntosh was in the house!

This is when Maeve and I were still debating over my love for McIntosh, and turned to the history of Granny Smith in America.

Pears! Pears! We made it to the end of the row!

This was either:

Isn't this a cute pear baby?

Do you think I could hit the scarecrow in the eye with this?

We were both stoked to get to our favorite pears.

We had made it so far.

An epic adventure, for sure.

The end. Please note I cut out about 20 minutes and 20 bad apple jokes from this post. I think I'm maturing, I also skipped on painting a mini pumpkin and glitter-i-zing it with children.

And what was the first thing I did with my loot? Don't be silly, I don't eat one as is.

Roasted Apple-Pear sauce,

lightly sweetened with agave nectar and a touch of cinnamon.

Pureed in the Vita-Mix I love dearly.

Psst, Portlanders - There's one more weekend left!

Some Vegan Pizza in Portland

2009-10-09T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yo! I've moved to a new domain:

getsconedpdx.com

It has pages of information, in addition to normal posts! Oh my gosh!

Please update your bookmarks.

jess sconed.

Yesterday I was walking to the SW 3rd downtown food carts for lunch, and as I semi-regularly do, I optimistically browsed the pies at the Give Pizza a Chance cart on 5th after hitting my nearby ATM.

I've heard of vegan slices being offered by my friends, but I've never actually seen them out. I do enjoy their breadsticks & excellent sauce for an occasional cheap, snack- they're the best breadsticks I've had in Portland. And their homemade sodas? Win, win, win. However, I had two calzones from here when they opened last year, and I was not impressed. I'm a very picky vegan Italian.

However again, I was undeniably won over by the chewy, surprisingly sweet whole wheat crust slice I sampled yesterday. I do think it could have used some more of their flavorful sauce to balance with the thick crust, but that's all the complaining I've got. And this was the last vegan slice of the day at the end of the lunch rush, score!

What made this meal even better? It was part of a $6 lunch special, which includes a basic side salad, dressed with vinaigrette, (requested without cheese) and a cup of soda of your choice. I went with the memorable basil lime. It was like Sprite..but had real flavors, and that beloved garden herb. The slice was topped with spinach, basil, whole cloves of melt-in-your-mouth roasted garlic and mushrooms. I was totally content afterwards.

Lunch Special from Give Pizza a Chance

So, I learned that I may need to get over feeling silly about calling to see if there are vegan slices, because it was good stuff. Bring on more vegan slices! It's nice to think there are a few elusive vegan slices of pizza in downtown Portland. This was one of the better cheese-less vegan slices I've had in some time. It's up there with the actual regular crust pie I had from Hot Lips a few months back with friends.

The glorious non-foccacia Hot Lips pie

Updated!

Of course there are a ton of other places that have tasty vegan pizza, with or without cheeze, processed or homemade, in Portland:

Pizza a Go Go - I used to go here for the daily vegan slice at my first job in Portland. <3
Pizza Fino - yet to go! hear amazing things. white bean spread, tempeh, North Portland.
Bella Facia - same owners as the previous two. great vegan slices with tempeh and roasted red pepper cashew sauce - thin crust, but it can be easily weighed down.
It's a Beautiful Pizza - now using Teese! their quality varies, but on a good day, it's great. Some days the sauce is packed with herbs, some days it's not.
Hammy's - late! night delivery! I'm half convinced you can take a slice of their pizza and reform it into a ball. I like their sauce and floppy breadsticks best. They now have pretty tasty seitan nuggets with BBQ sauce, but I prefer them with marinara.
Pizzicato - vegan pies can be ordered, BIG salads. A new one opened in my hood recently, time to try again..
Dove Vivi - superb cornmeal crust slices with creamy housemade tofu ricotta. It's been too since I've had this! Cute place.
XV - My friends rave about the pizza here with white bean spread and vegan cheese - I've heard they use Veganrella. I think Liz has single handedly been keeping it in business. Personally, I go to XV for the yam fries and tomato chutney dip. Oh, and cocktails.
Mississippi Pizza Pub - I've only gone once, but I dug the thin crust and pepperocini topping. Isa yelled at me for not including this, so I should really check this place out again soon. Karla says they have a happy hour slice deal!
Wy'east Pizza cart - towards SE Powell, yet to go, but they come highly recommended and started carrying FYH cheese.
Al Forno Ferruzza - the cart at PSU has closed, but their restaurant in Alberta seems hopping. Vegan pizza by request - with glorious crust.

From The Urban Vegan: Citrus Scented Berry Muffins and Rapini Paninis

2009-10-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

Citrus Scented Berry Muffins

...except that I had local cherries in the freezer, so I used those. I asked the bottom shelf of my haphazardly packed freezer for berries, and it spit out sheets of nori and a block of adzuki beans. I didn't want to alter the recipe too much, so I opted for the more accessible cherries.

This muffin has nutritional value (soy flour and spelt flour make frequent appearances in UV) and tastes straight from the Blacksheep Bakery counter. Yeah, I like fluffy white bakery-style muffins, I'm human, but sometimes you want something more morning appropriate.

It's an easy recipe with a few extra special elements to give it that Urban Vegan edge.

I made these on one of Portland's first cool fall night, and my kitchen smelled wonderful.

Citrus Scened Cherry Muffins

Cafe Velo at the downtown farmers market

On Wednesday, I warmed one up in a toaster oven and had it with a cup of my

beloved Cafe Velo Stumptown from the nearby farmers market. I choose the Kenyan single origin roast, that promised the flavors of huckleberry cobbler and molasses.

The evening before, I made Rapini Paninis from The Urban Vegan for dinner. I used an organic french baguette from New Seasons and Mozzerella Cheezly. I thought for sure I wouldn't like this Cheezly after trying it from the fridge, but I'm satisfied & intrigued by it once melted. And how can you ever go wrong with rapini? Never.

Rapini Panini

I'm a Stumptown Vegan.

2009-10-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Time to check off one of my MoFo Goals! Earlier today, a review of the Sonny Bowl cart in downtown PDX was published on Stumptown Vegans.

Restaurant review written? check! Daily post? double check!

The BBQ Soy Curls bowl

Today's MoFo post is part shameless plug for another project of mine. Hold on, tight.

My friend Webly and I co-author Stumptown Vegans, a resource of in-depth restaurant reviews for vegans, by vegans, based in Portland, OR. Stumptown = Portland!...because there were a lot of tree stumps in the 1800s, just ask Wikipedia why.

Since April 2007, we've been writing reviews, paying for our own meals, deciding where to go, and trying to keep up with the mania that is vegan-friendly Portland and the rest of our lives! We aim to try new dishes, step outside our comfort zones, and visit establishments twice. We also take things on the road when we travel:

I've written reviews for restaurants in San Francisco, Seattle and Phoenix.

One day, I'll tackle New York, Boston & more! (Only procrastination has stopped me before, I make regular annual trips! Doh)

Not to mention my recent trips to Laguna Beach, CA and Spokane, WA.

The next review I have coming is for the new all-vegan Ruby Dragon cart in North Portland.

The Jade Abbot : hello, deliciousness.

More from in progress reviews - oh, there's a TON of these constantly in the works.

Roasted garlic, caramelized onion, potato & greens flatbread from

Mizuna in Spokane, WA

This is my favorite recently discovered lunch meal in Portland:

Tofu Teriyaki Bento from Chef Naoko -

Portobello plate from Portobello Vegan Trattoria

Can I make an excuse to dine here once a week, please?

Can someone take me here this week, please?

reviews coming soon! really!

From The Urban Vegan: Spaghetti Carbonara

2009-10-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Vegan Spaghetti Carbonara

Isn't this a nifty idea? Take a brand new cookbook, decide on a recipe, make it, and post the results! Who knew blogging could be so simple? How MoFo!

This dish is from the brand new, captivating Urban Vegan cookbook. I received it last week to review*, and couldn't put it down this past weekend. I was pouring over the pages, trying to decide on what to make first. I haven't been this enthusiastic over a non-PPK cookbook in a long ass time.

Dude, I'm saying this and there aren't even photos! It just covers so much ground - there are so many vegan dinner parties waiting to be born from this book!

With tempeh bacon still invading my thoughts from the Fakin' Fest, I turned to the Spaghetti Carbonara first. It was indulgent, saucy, smokey, noochy (hello, nutritional yeast!) and buttery (hello, Earth Balance!).

What was I thinking making this for myself? This was definitely a special guests meal, but I was treating myself.... The dry white wine was a sweet touch - I adore how much wine is in this book - for cooking & accompaniment!

I served the dish with fresh parsley, as advised, and a side of roasted rapini with crushed red pepper and coarse sea salt.

Whoa, my goodness.

Next up? Her unique rapini panini!

*like I wouldn't have bought it anyway!! It's well documented that I think Dynise is fabulous. Sorry, the interview is down on the old Herbivore Magazine site, but you get the point.

Fakin' Fest 2009!

2009-10-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

This past weekend in Portland, fifty+ vegans consumed so much sodium it boggles the mind.

It's also gloriously mind boggling how awesome the first annual Fakin' Fest was.

Just look at this!

Mike's handmolded PIG cake!

All the cool vegans insisted on eating his head first, and we were left with a

pig cake butt at the end of the day.

Dishes ranged from sweet to salty to sweet and salty to savoury and salty and sweet again.

We raised $177.77 that goes directly to Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, all kindly from a donations bucket at a potluck-picnic with a quirky theme. The entire event was word of mouth and internet based! It was even picked up on VegNews' website!

Not a bad turn out on a day it was supposed to rain and an event that wasn't actually postered around town! There's already talk of a Sausagefest (obviously, vegan!) and next year's Fakin' Fest '10!

Onto the splendorous food coma!

To be honest, I didn't try everything - there was SO much! It was overwhelming.

I was so proud!

Vegan Bacon-topped cupcakes

Dark chocolate dipped Bacon - I really enjoyed my piece of this!

Deanna's bacon and leek stuffed yams

Homemade tempeh bacon

Mac & Cheeze with Bacon-y topping

Yam fries - there was a dip with these..I bet it was smokey!

Tina's Spinach Fakin' Quiche

Mini Eggplant Bacon sandwiches

The Spicy Vegan's Potato Skins! with Michelle's Cheezy Biscuits in the background!

Whoa.

Cartopia Baco-Custard - Maple Bacon Ice Cream! by Lucas and Gregg.

Decadent, decadent, decadent.

Heather's Cute Stuffed Mushrooms!

Yeah! Bacon Baklava. This won honorable mention in a contest!

Extra pig cake frosting and a bacon cake!

Michelle's Cheeze Balls! Loved this.

Stef's Coconut Bacon Cupcakes!

Peas....and bacon!

I brought Herb Scalloped Potatoes with

Daiya Cheddar (which I may despise..) and Bac-os.

Melissa's Risotto~

Bacon roll ups!

I also brought Chocolate Chip Cranberry cookies sprinkled with

Alder Smoked Salt. Alder Smoked Salt, of love.

ONE of the two food tables.

Most of the Fakin' fanatics, towards the end of the sunny afternoon.

And finally, I'd like to showcase my personal proof that I did pay attention in elementary school. Your third grade science fair poster had nothing on this!!

Yeah, those are Bac-os spelling out Fakin'.

RECIPES?

The event's co-organizer, Maeve, and I are collecting recipes that we'll post here and include in a zine. Please email them to getsconed [at] gmail.com if you brought a dish and are interested!

Awards! We had awards for Most Creative Fakin' Dish, Best Overall Fakin' Dish, and Best Fakin' Inspired Haiku! The haiku readings were wonderfully dramatic, and dear. The first two awards went to Webly's Chocolate Bacon Dates and a sweet couple's Eggplant BLTs with dipping sauce.

Thanks again to Lightlife, for donating our prizes - Smart Bacon and Fakin' Strips!

And extra special thanks to my friend Erica, for all the artwork!

Thank you to all who came!

xoxo,

jess

tempeh bacon's biggest fan.

Everything Fakin'

2009-10-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

In celebration, preparation and flavorful hallucination for tomorrow's Fakin' Fest in Portland, OR, I wanted to give some hollas to many of the fakin' entries in my flickr account. As a smokey, salty fanatic, there's a lot.

Cheezy biscuits, potatoes, kale, black beans and homemade tempeh bacon.

Super club with homemade tofu bacon.

Mini grilled cheeze with homemade tempeh bacon and Galaxy rice cheeze.

Their rice varieties are much tastier and meltier than their Vegan ones.

Raw gnocchi with pea shoots and eggplant bacon from Grezzo, in Boston, MA

Chocolate chip waffles, collards & Lightlife Fakin' Bacon

Boring salad greens, with homemade tempeh bacon.

Homemade tempeh bacon, roasted potatoes, avocado and cinnamon dusted apple slices

Super brunch with pancake and homemade tempeh bacon.

Crappy photo, but let's give some love to TLTs on Dave's Killer Bread.

And a side of fresh, local melon? More love.

Vegan Brunch Frittata, homemade tempeh bacon, pita crisp

Vegan Brunch Peanut Butter Waffles, homemade tempeh bacon

Lunch at work! Featuring greens with homemade tofu bacon.

From the last day of Veganopolis' life in PDX - buffet pasta with Fakin Bacon

One of my habitual favorite things to order in PDX: side vegan caeser salad with tempeh bacon from Hungry Tiger Too.

Aka, when it's not brunch or I'm not repeating 'TATOR TOTS' in my head.

Case in Point: The Vegan Club with tots (back when it wasn't yet on the menu!)

from Hungry Tiger Too.

This was also before they made their own tempeh bacon.

Marionberry waffles with homemade tempeh bacon

Cremini sandwich with a side of homemade tempeh bacon. Huh? But I'm sure it was delicious!

And the mandatory plug:

Notes:

If there's light rain, we'll be meeting under the covered gazebo area. We may wait it out or move to a nearby residence, depending on how many people are there.

If there's heavy rain, the event is cancelled and will be rescheduled indoors at a later date.

Since you know, it's fall.

There are prizes (donated by Lightlife!) for Most Creative, Best Dish & Best Gluten Free dish - and Best Fakin' Haiku!

The suggested $5 donation goes entirely to Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary.

Luke lives there!

Fakin' Ideas I've had in my head:

Alder smoked salt, cocoa and chili grilled tempeh or seitan
Southern style summer rolls with eggplant bacon, kale, yam and creamy, spicy dipping sauce.
Eggplant bacon wrapped bundles of smoky greens.
Tempeh bacon wrapped, battered, mac & cheeze squares. (inspired from the Food Network)
Fake bacon adorned chocolate chip cookies
Fakin bacon and dark chocolate cornflake bars
Mac & Cheeze topped with a mixture of breadcrumbs & fake bacon. Mac & Cheeze is so my potluck regular, though..

VeganMoFo III, it's heeeere. My Goals!

2009-10-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Yo, vegan bloggers! VeganMoFo III starts today, which happens to be World Vegetarian Day.

Can you feel the positivity? Can you feel the celebration of broccoli? Have you stocked your fridge with at least four varieties of non dairy milk or the means to make them from scratch?

My goals for VeganMoFo 2009:

Posting every weekday, and some weekends.
Product Reviews I've neglected. So many coming! I seriously dreamt about Black Cherry Cool Cups the other night.
A recap of this weekend's Fakin' Fest Picnic in Portland, which Maeve and I have thrown together. Come by with a fake bacon dish if you're around!
Working on a Fake Bacon exhibit I'm sure I'll post about.
Posting more restaurant reviews on Stumptown Vegans.
Checking out new vegan-ness in Portland, as usual.

For example, a Panko crusted roll from Sushi Tree in the

new Mississippi Marketplace.

It's an all vegetarian sushi stand that offers vegan cream cheese, thinly sliced smoked tofu, tamari and all natural ingredients.

Other vegan options in the Marketplace include vegan pizza with FYH at the pizza cart, the all vegan Ruby Dragon (get the Jade Abbot with kale avocado lemon salad. Now) & opening this weekend - Julie Hasson's Native Bowl!

Recapping vegan eats in Spokane, WA and Laguna Beach, CA (totes traveled with Joni of Just the Food to Native Foods and Veggie Grill!)
Pondering vegan fine dining
A new VeganMoFo survey (I've already seen one this year, but I had fun writing one last year so I intend to do that again).
Oh, cooking at home!
A sequel to my Examination of Soy Lattes. I've love to see others do this, just saying! Wink, wink, wink, wink. My friend Evan, who coincidentally, was in PDX for the visit to the coffee cart below, has started an espresso blog in NYC that I find delightful: Drowning in Demitasse.

Soy Latte from the Spella cart, downtown Portland.

Small batch, local roaster.

So, what are your goals? What am I missing??

New in PDX: Back to Eden Vegan Bakery Boutique!

2009-09-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

Yo! I've moved to a new domain:

getsconedpdx.com

It has pages of information, in addition to normal posts! Oh my gosh!

Please update your bookmarks.

jess sconed.

I love this scone.

Maple Walnut Scone

ZOMG, right? Back to Eden Bakery has opened it's cozy and super adorable storefront & boutique on NE Alberta! It's located right next to Townsend Teahouse (vegan bubble tea, anyone? made with actual tea!) and the adjacent cart lot currently housing the all vegan Open Heart Cafe and Homegrown Smoker BBQ*.

I've taken two visits since they opened last Tuesday, and I'm all smiles in there. Everyone is! You can just feel how proud the staff is of the storefront. There are baked goods, bulk candy, Temptation soft serve, vegan products, cookbooks, Oregon's own Coconut Bliss scoops, Oogave ice cream floats and Cellar Door Coffee - a favorite local roaster.

That scone above? It starred one of my favorite flavors in the world, maple, and was such a precious, sweet scone. I brought it home for breakfast with my semi weekly morning coffee and it could very well be the best thing about this past week. I mean, I wanted to hug the bite I dipped into my coffee. But I didn't.

Pumpkin Bar

The very first baked good I tried from Back to Eden was the pumpkin bar above. I considered cake and pie, but the pan of pumpkin bars on the bottom of the main case called out to me. The classic crumbly, slightly salty topping, a thin layer of rich pumpkin, and crust = instant favorite. And reasonably priced and portioned, at $1.75 or so.

Crowd on Last Thursday

Inside the case:

My friend Millie dug her slice of Chocolate Rosemary Sea Salt Tart

Wall seating

Muffins & Scones Case

Karla had a Temptation sundae with Dandies Marshmallows and house caramel sauce. I think her sugar high lasted for hours. Maeve and I stopped by earlier today for soft serve with caramel sauce, and I'm still buzzing sweetness. Temptation soft serve is sa-weet! Seriously though - vegan soft serve on Alberta!!

Karla's sundae

The marshmallows remind me of how a local ice cream shop would stuff a mallow at the bottom of waffle cones when I was little and my sister and I were always delighted to find it...and at the savvy...

Back to Eden's own Janessa, and Lucas outside the boutique

* Side note, HGS is moving a few blocks east to 27th& Alberta in the old Spud Locker location next week. Can we discuss how NE Alberta officially has a vegan walking tour now? When I moved to the Alberta District in 2004, I would go to Vita and the Coop, and then the Coop and Vita. Granted, I lived there for two weeks and then fell into SE Portland love.

NE Alberta vegan highlights:

Lunch at Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ - my pick is the combo with chronic tempeh, smoked soy curls, mac & cheese and add the fabulous smoked corn.
Vegan shoe shopping (or realistically, show window shopping) at Pie Footwear at 29th.
Grilled vegan cheese sandwiches with roasted jalapenos in trippy The Grilled Cheese Grill school bus
Chicken Fried Tempeh at Vita
Tempeh topped pizza slices at Bella Faccia
Mason Jars full of booze or the Floor Punch at the Bye & Bye all vegan bar. Oh, and BBQ Platters (sub brussels for the collards!), one of my favorite things to eat in PDX, hands down. Meatball subs, Eastern Bowls with Peanut sauce and more.
Coming Soon: The All Vegan Held Belts storefront!
and Goodies *and* Cellar Door Coffee at Back to Eden, of course
Tour de Crepes - I wasn't wild about the crepes here a few years ago, but I hear they've gotten great!
Last Thursday: the insanity, the wonder, the stands. Petunia's Pastries has some gourmet vegan treats at their stand - I was in love with the Chocolate Hazelnut cupcake. There are usually at least 95 stands selling hand crafted vegan truffles, as well.
Tofu Po Boys at Palm State Gumbo
Michelle! my Alberta vegan guide.
Alberta Coop at 15th.
Mash Tun for tempeh hot wings
Tin Shed for breakfast

So just walk the street up and down repeatedly, and pick your vegan indulgence!

What am I forgetting?

I'm going to consolidate these tips on my new location soon!

VeganMoFo III Approaches!

2009-09-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

Dum dum dum! It's coming.

The Vegan Month of Food returns October 1st with a third year of vegan culinary blogging madness. Who's down?

The idea originated with Isa Chandra Moskowitz on the Post Punk Kitchen forums, and this year, Kittee is hosting the official sign up here on Kitteekake. She asks that you please sign up by October 2nd. It's a fulfilling experience and always brings new and seasoned vegan food bloggers into the fold.

If you feel like a vegan blogging adventure and are looking for ideas, check out my posts from 2007 and 2008.

Post about recipes, meal plans, restaurant experiences, favorites, fill out surveys, showcase pictures of your cat eating spinach, your friend with peas stuck up their nose, famous vegan celebrities you crush on, grocery shopping, etc. I'm trying to get my new website together in time! If you're in Portland, check out the VeganMoFo Workshop at the Bye & Bye on Thursday, October 1st.

Look, it's practically a MoFo post!

Recent trip to Fubonn

Who wants to make salad rolls? I do!

Super Quick Product Review: Rice Dream Supreme

2009-09-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

Hey, Vanilla.

Hey, Hazelnut.

Hey, Fudge.

Sup?

Just for the fun of it, I wanted to give some love to this Rice Dream Supreme Vanilla Hazelnut Fudge bar I nearly swooned over last weekend.

It was really good! It's coated in dark chocolate, the ice cream is comfortably vanilla with a tint of my favorite nut and is remarkably creamy for a rice based ice cream.

Yeah, yeah, I know this is mostly the girl who tried mint chocolate Rice Dream seven years ago and quickly abandoned that icy pint, talking, and nondairy desserts have consistently improved and impressed over the years. I have friends that seem to swear by Good Karma's Carrot Cake. I thought it was alright, sorry!

The best part of the satisfying bar, though?

It was fifty freaking cents from the Hollywood Grocery Outlet.

It was the highlight of that quirky grocery outing.

Coming Soon:

Another new vegan cart in Portland: Ruby Dragon PDX at the North Mississippi Marketplace

Portland's VegFest

The Exquisite Vegan Dinner at Belly Timber

Vegan Eats in Spokane, WA

...and my site is moving!

Weekend Seitan & Belmont Street Fair

2009-09-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

Organic IPA

Remember how I despise hot weather? Oh, you don't? What are you doing? It's the theme of my site come May. Welcome aboard! When my birthday passed in early September, I thought we could put the hot hot behind us, but it returned last weekend. September is actually flying by for me, but I'm still talking about it like it's been weeks and weeks already. Anyway, the point here is that I started out the hot weekend on a hot Friday meeting some vegan pals for happy hour at Hopworks Urban Brewery for an organic IPA. It's an eco-brewpub with all organic brews located on SE Powell, a quick bike ride from my dwelling.

I was having an uber social evening and met up with PPK pals at the Bye & Bye for dinner, but my first round of vegan friends for the night sampled the tofu ricotta'd vegan pizzas Hopworks offers and the feedback seemed to be fairly positive:

I liked the looks of the crust.

Keeping with the PPK-ness, here's another dish from Isa's in-progress 'Healthy' Cookbook -

Braised Seitan and Cabbage (simmered seitan from Veganomicon)

More seitan, more Isa -

Tempeh Scramble from Vegan Brunch,

with more seitan and more veggies I want to name at the moment.

Returning to the heat portion of the weekend, besides these dishes I hid in my cool apartment to make.

A quick venture to the SE Belmont Street Fair. It wasn't super crowded, thank goodness, but it was too warm out for my liking. I walked around, said hi to folks I knew and stopped by my favorite table - the sale at Tao of Tea.

I have a cute tea set from stopping by a few years ago at home~

Picked up a small jar of loose leaf Roasted Mate for $2, heck yeah.

Fair.

Who remembers the old Paradox sign? I do, I remember when I'd go there at least once a week when I lived in the neighborhood, my first couple years in PDX...

The vintage store next to Paradox had a sale out front (the newer one) -

cute to see at a fair table!

My favorite part besides the tea - this giant circle of grass in the middle of the street! Traffic was blocked off for a few blocks, just the way it should be for a street fair, hint hint, Hawthorne.

Oh, Portland.

Padron Peppers and Champagne Teriyaki Fried Rice

2009-09-11T15:42:00.000-07:00

Last week, I promised my friend Lucas, the highly regarded Food Cart photographer, that I'd pick up some sacred Padron Peppers (Pimientos de Padron) for him from the downtown farmers market. He's been out of town for months, and I think wanted to return to two things: padron peppers and Whiffie's fried pies.

Wednesday came, and in my tempeh bacon flu-recovery haze, I forgot about the market's existence. I don't think I really knew what day of the week it was. I stopped at the Eastbank farmers market the next day, but to no success for his padrons. Neither Viridian Farms nor the Squash Man were there. I came home with a mini watermelon, green cabbage, garlic, orange and green bell peppers and three ears of sweet corn, but nothing more for humanity. My friend returned to town last night, and I hope he doesn't see what I made with my selfish padron peppers from last week's market earlier this week!

Champagne Teriyaki Fried Rice

with Bok Choy, Padron Peppers, Green Beans and Fried Tofu.

Champagne Teriyaki sauce:

Measurements are for 2 servings of fried rice.

1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari

1/4 cup champagne or white wine

1/4 cup mirin

2 teaspoons dark agave nectar

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 clove grated garlic

dash of crushed red pepper

Combine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

Simmer on low heat, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

If you're looking to use this as a stir fry sauce or marinade,

I'd recommend doubling it.

Fried rice is one of easiest dishes in the world,

all it takes is a little sesame oil on hand,

and uh, leftover rice. I sauteed my veggies in a tiny

bit of black sesame oil for a few minutes,

added the fried tofu

(both the oil and fried tofu were from a recent trip to Fubonn),

another clove of grated garlic, stirred a couple times,

added the cold rice, another teeny weeny splash of sesame oil,

the teriyaki sauce, a dash of white pepper,

another few stirs to heat it through,

and there ya go.

As usual, if I'd had basil, it would have been in there,

but I was good to go!

And break out the chopsticks.

Also with the padrons:

Vegan Brunch style Tofu Scramble

with Padron Peppers, Lobster Mushrooms and Cherry Tomatoes

How long had it been since I made 'fu scramble? Eight years? Three months? I just don't know, but it was superb.

For both dishes, I had cut the very tops off the padron peppers, and sauteed them in a bit of oil. See you peppers next year! Or on Saturday when I hit the market for my sad, pepperless friend.

PDX: Upcoming Wonderful Things!

2009-09-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Of course I'm going to this:

September 19, 2009

October 3rd, 2009 = Fakin' Fest! A potluck style celebration of vegan bacon and bacon flavored delights! Awards for Favorite Dish, Most Creative Fakin' Dish, and best Pop Culture Pig costume! There's talk of a tempeh bacon speed eating contest!

Donations will go to Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, which I visited last year.

Maeve and I decided to put this together on a whim after hearing about Baconfest, ewww - Come join the vegan fun! Tempeh Bacon! Coconut Bacon! Seitan! Tofu! Eggplant!!!

The somewhat official site is here: Fakin' Fest 2009

The Facebook Event is here.

Tempeh Bacon is the best, Am I Right?

October 16, 2009 = The Next Apron Activist Dinner, hosted by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I've dined and volunteered at these in past, and they're always fantabulous. And for a cause! This time, it's for Monkeys.

Check out the menu and more information about the Chimp Sanctuary Northwest Dinner here.

The delicious tempeh dinner from a past benefit

Hello! - look at how much fun Katie Jayne & I had!

I'm sure something SUPER FUN was coming out of our mouths at this moment, or some extreme praise about the dinner...

Speaking of fancy dinners, later this month, I'll also be going to an exclusively vegan, multi-course, family style dinner at the newly vegan-friendly, esteemed Belly Timber in SE Portland. I'll report back, for sure! My first meal there was lovely.

Red Cabbage Gazpacho from Belly Timber

Green Wok: Dinner at Portland's newest Vegetarian Restaurant

2009-09-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well, what do we have here? Another vegetarian restaurant in Portland, OR? Must be a Friday.

Greek Wok opened late Summer 2009 in SW Portland, I'm not talking Tigard or Beaverton, but I am talking SW Capitol Highway.

To those of us who don't drive and rarely go further than SE 82nd (if I do, it's by plane!), that is practically Beaverton.

No offense to the city of Beaverton, I just don't know my way around!

In fact, I accidentally gave my friend Maeve poor directions via Trimet, and she ended up at the Beaverton Transit Center. Sorry, again Maeve! I did bring her take out, at least.

Now that I've dined here, I can officially say I'm jealous this restaurant is not 'closer in', but I'm stoked for those around it! Spread the love. Spread the soy.

It was a Friday night when I stopped by, the start of my 27th birthday weekend. I hopped on the semi-frequent #44 bus after work, and with my eyes peeled during the ride for the cross street, was there within 25 minutes from downtown - and it was worth it.

I had a lovely family style dining experience with a group of super vegan friends including Janessa of Epicurious Vegan, Chelsea of Flavor Vegan, The Spicy Vegan and more, and we later sang our little hearts out at a Once More, With Feeling watching.

Sure, you may be thinking, isn't this place similar to Vegetarian House? Well, the internet tells me it was opened by a former chef's son, or something. Whatever the case is, like I'm going to complain about vegan Chinese food potential.

I'm just asking - can we swap this place with the House downtown?

The food at Green Wok is fresher and overall, less greasy - this was even noticeable in the fried wontons and battered gluten dishes. Nothing to jump for joy about, but noticeable.

This is the closest I've seen Portland's vegan Chinese come to Seattle's vegan Chinese, which slowly follows my love for Grasshopper in Boston and NYC's Vegetarian Dim Sum House and Buddha Bodai. I'm glad I got to try many things, because some were hit or miss.

But you're not here for my weekend recap, you're here for the food porn:

Pan fried Wontons

Moo Shu Vegetables -

This was Chelsea's pick. I really dug the filling once I added some hot chili.

General Tso's Veggie Chicken -

tasty, but personally I don't think it's worth the price tag here - but for sure, it's tasty!

Kung Pao Tofu - I was really excited about this - tofu, peanuts, heat!

It didn't have the medium heat we specified - and one friend called it one of the "worst tofu dishes" she's had in her life, but I didn't mind it, and I think with those things called vegetables and added heat, I would have quite liked it. I liked how mellow it was - but it has more potential.

Orange Veggie Chicken

I know my problem with veggie chicken is usually the price tag, I admit it. This was again, a great bite of sweet, saucy fake chicken, but I wasn't into the orange taste - but it seemed to be a table favorite.

Now, hopefully someone will jump in here - I think this was the crispy bean curd pockets, which were compared to crispy "duck" - and it was my favorite of the night.

This plus a side of broccoli would have rocked my world.

We also had pork fried rice - better than the House, once again, and probably more I'm forgetting.

Greek Wok has a real, local Chinese restaurant - make that, local vegetarian Chinese restaurant charm. I'll roll my eyes about having go take the bus or carpool there, but I want to return.

They also have a weekday lunch special and hey, hey, hey - are using twitter to update what's on it.

Hazelnut, meet Eggplant.

2009-09-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Baked Hazelnut Breaded Eggplant.

It only looks like a Boca Cutlet.

The other night I gave myself the classic challenge - make dinner using what you actually have at home. There were ideas that came to mind quickly: a stir fry with rice, sauteing vegetables over pasta and even making pizza dough, but I wanted to side step a bed of grains.

The arrangement:

I turned to the local eggplant*, and introduced it do the last of some homemade breadcrumbs in my freezer and a container of ground hazelnuts from too long ago. After the small talk was out of the way, dinner came together quickly.

The eggplant was sliced (skipped salting, don't tell my Italian great Aunt Helen), dipped in flour, a cornstarch + water slurry, and then both sides were pressed into a mixture of the breadcrumbs, ground hazelnuts, sea salt, black pepper, oregano and a bit of crushed red pepper.

I baked the slices on parchment paper at 375, 20 minutes one side, then 15 after flipping. I topped them with some tofu ricotta with added white miso, and a dollop of roasted garlic and almond pesto.

On the side is chopped fresh sweet green bell pepper tossed with balsamic vinegar and homemade shiitake marinara sauce.

Dinner #2 featured the eggplant slices just as vegan-traditional. Baked once again for 15-20 minutes in the oven at 400F, flipping once, topped with marinara, tofu ricotta and nutritional yeast, and baked an additional 5 minutes.

I served this with a side of steamed collards with sea salt.

*True Story: My younger sister Jenny was 'friends' with an eggplant from our garden when we were little. There's a picture of them dressed up in matching costumes, I swear. Or just really want to believe it. She was 6 or 7 or 12 or so at the time.

It's name was..."friend". I tell this story sweetly, but really, it was a scary time and eggplant was eaten.

Recent Great Stuff.

2009-08-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

Time to be straight forward. Here's some stuff, that happened recently, that I deem great:

Tomato Season. I ate a tricolor pint of cherry and grape tomatoes for lunch the other day.

The Wednesday downtown farmers market. Mere block from my office.

Hands down, my favorite farmar.

Crazy-gluing that hand down - the Cafe Velo cart.

It's a smaller set up (this one is a bike! Oh, Portland) than the Saturday markets', with 400 fewer people on line with cute crying babies in front of you. Individually dripped cups of Stumptown, you choose the roast! I went with an Indonesian roast this past week.

Soymilk on the counter!!!!

Holding on the farmers market theme for one more addition: Pimientos de Padron. I can't let these go this summer. These were sauteed classicly with olive oil, coarse sea salt and crushed red pepper.

I brought the above peppers to the Try Vegan Week Potluck & Trivia night, along with these cookies from the upcoming Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Citrus Glitters

Heading back to test kitchen land, I've started testing for Isa's upcoming 'healthy' book. I am so freaking busy lately, but if I'm making a point to cook at home, odds are it will be her recipes. It's just how life is.

Summer Lovin' Curried Corn Chowder

Moving on from corn, to corn - the down home, smoked corn on the cob from Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ. If you've read my Stumptown Vegans review, you know I'm quite fond of them. They've recently labeled quite a few main items gluten free, and I swear, their home cooking style food is better every single time I go.

From corn to......pizza! Because sometimes Hot Lips puts corn on their pizza..... At this week's Yelp Portland Ballroom Bash. Here's Maeve with the vegan foccacia pie Don personally delivered to the table of awesome Yelpy vegans.

The Yelp Elite Hour & Ballroom Bash was super fun! I'm not a huge Hot Lips fan, and I despise their cilantro pesto, but how cool! I was able to get a tomato base slice a bit earlier, fortunately for my tastebuds and sanity, had I been induling in more of the complimentary beverages.

Oh hey, walking across the Morrison Bridge safely for once, thanks to construction, is pretty great. And random.

And really, really great - a veganized Vermecilli Bowl from Huong's Vietnamese cart downtown. He has other vegetarian options that are alright, but I've been wanting to request a vegan version of the pork or chicken bowl for too long! So, I finally did. He even volunteered a summer roll for the eggroll before I could even think to ask. I'm on a rice noodle kick.

It was tasty, and HUGE! And $6! It had fried tofu strips and this strange white gluten, which was good stuff.

All in all, Really Great Stuff.

Vegan Brunch: Bakery Style Marionberry Coconut Muffins

2009-08-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

Folks, I'd like to introduce you to the result of last night's relaxing evening in: Marionberry Coconut Muffins based on the Bakery Style Berry Muffins in Vegan Brunch.

Their birth, er baking, topped off my first night home in a long stressful and glorious while delightfully. I started with a ton of housework, embarked into Season 3 of Dexter, hung out with my cats and hit the sack by 10pm! Did I mention delightful? I'm well rested!

These are made with hand picked marionberries I had frozen, lite coconut milk (leftover from a tester for Isa's in-progress 'healthy' cookbook!), almond extract and the addition of 1/4 cup of shredded coconut flakes. I used my 'big' muffin pan, a hand me down from the wonderful Julie Hasson, to bake them in.

Shockingly enough, I never made these during the Vegan Brunch testing last year, but feel free to check out my ultimate testing post here if you're interested in what I did make.

U Can't Touch This Vegan Prom!

2009-08-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe not all these girls circa 1993 are vegan, but the style is there!

Isn't being Vegan the Best?

Isn't being Vegan in Portland the BEST EVER?!?

I'm entirely serious today.

The second annual Vegan Prom at Report Lounge was spectacular, minus an awful fur incident. Just gross. I'm sorry that some folks left, and devastated that a fur coat showed up, and that it may have been intentional.

That's all I'm comfortable saying here.

Moving on, check out some pics below! 90s dance off! 90s hits! 90s themed cocktails! Dress up!

Tasty vegan snacks! Hell yeah, hummus is party food! In Living Color on the big screen!

A ridiculous number of prizes!

Just look at this list of donations/gift certificates:

Yarp?!, Whiffies, Sweet Masterpiece Chocolate & Coffee Bar, It's a Beautiful Pizza, Laughing Planet, Food Fight! Grocery, Herbivore Clothing, Old Wives Tale, Follow Your Heart, Sjaacks Chocolate, Sweet & Sara Marshmallows, Turtle Mountain, Black Sheep Bakery, Go Max Go Candy Bars (Portland based!) Back to Eden Baking Co. - storefront opening soon! with Chicago Soy Dairy Temptation soft serve! and Sweetpea Baking Co. for the delicious cookies!

Super thanks to our TWO vegan DJs - John Vincent and Brendan!

Yeah, vegan community!!

Thank you everyone for donating! And attending!!!!! Try Vegan Week 2009 had a fabulous turn out and Deanna and I had a blast organizing & then attending the Prom to top it all off!

The entire Try Vegan staff deserves applause!

Extra special thanks to Maeve,

for helping out so much, coming up with the theme and wearing a really sweet dress!

Dance off!

First prize went to Simon, Second to Angela, pictured below! They rule.

Dancing!

More dancing!

Dancing happening in moments...

More awesome vegans!

Maeve and Caitlin, sassy and grunge!

Our custom drinks for the evening were the non-alcoholic Carlton: a refreshing fruity lemonade, the Ninja Turtle: a vivacious non-alocholic mojito, the Vanilla Ice: vanilla stoli + orange + soda to get you on the dance floor! and the Blossom: a tropical vodka drink that put a smile on your face, just like Miyam!

There were door prizes galore, two dance off winners (first picture!) with awards for Phat Moves! and Dope Moves!, Best Dressed going to Nick as Waldo and Jack - for looking freaking tight! and our Prom King and Queen were Aaron and Michelle!

Already thinking of a theme for next year.............and making plans for Portland's first Vegan Iron Chef this winter!

Go Vegan for the Cookies!

2009-08-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Roasted Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

(half sprinkled with coarse sea salt)

Lots of Try Vegan Week tabling and Vegan Prom ticket selling took place over the weekend. And at every event I was at, I made sure there were free vegan baked goods.

Sharing scrumptious vegan cookies = just the type of vegan I am.

Altogether, I baked three batches of Isa's new chocolate chip cookie variations, two pans of raspberry chocolate chips blondies, oatmeal espresso butterscotch cookies, citrus coconut glitters and raspberry swirl East Coast coffeecake. Many of those are from Terry and Isa's upcoming Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Wink, wink.

I found a little bit of extra time to chop veggies for kabobs and a giant pan of lower fat new farm mac & cheeze for the opening day Vegan BBQ. The turn out was fantastic!

At the Hawthorne Street Fair

My friend Chelsea tabled all day - she's the author of Flavor Vegan and giving a talk on Vegan Baking tonight at Hungry Tiger Too at 8pm I'm planning on checking out. She knows her flours and egg replacers intimately!

I also sold tickets for vegan prom at the 12th and Hawthorne food carts late night outside of Whiffies deep fried pies (including vegan double chocolate, chocolate creme and savory tofu pot pie), and will be doing so THIS Friday night.

That's also the night of the Vegan Pub Crawl starting at Report Lounge on E Burnside and 11th (same location as prom!!) at 9pm. Maeve and I will be breaking off and heading to the carts for 11pm to sell!

Come visit, eat vegan cookies & buy your ticket - it's the following night!

Purposely underbaked by request (whoa-oh)

espresso oatmeal roasted almond chocolate chip

Oh hey, I bought more vegetables this weekend. Hollywood Farmers Market.

Nice to stop by there! Heirloom tomatoes omg omg omg omg.

One more time! Try Vegan Week is now happening! Check out the schedule here.

Yeah, the U CAN'T TOUCH THIS! Vegan Prom is this weekend!

90s style dance off. 90s music. AWESOME prizes.

vegan food. vegan DJs.

90s pop culture icon named specialty drinks (booze and no-booze)!

There's absolutely a drink called The Carlton.

come with a date, come with friends, come solo!

dress up, dress down, dress grunge, dress to dance!

Downtown Portland: I Dig Sonny Bowl - and anticipation

2009-08-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

My latest lunch from Sonny Bowl -

$5. BBQ Soy Curls. Green Beans. Brown Rice. Sauce.

Comforty, wholesomey, lunchy. adorable.

SW 3rd and Stark.

Oh, Hey! PDX!:

Try Vegan Week starts this weekend! I'm going to go to as many events as possible, and will definitely be at Vegan BBQ at 5pm tomorrow - Tofurkey and veggie bonanza!

The U Can't Touch This! Vegan Prom is next Saturday night, the 22nd. I'm going nuts listening to 90s classics at work.

Buy your tickets online or this weekend, late night, at the 12th and Hawthorne food carts - or at the Hawthorne Street Fair (old Daily Grind parking lot at 41st) or Sunday Parkways at Laurelhurst. $10 advance price! We'll have free cookies at the carts tonight! I'm going to try and make something from Isa's upcoming cookie book, of course. Stop by and say hi!

stoked

2009-08-13T09:54:00.001-07:00

wedfarmar: Pimientos de padron
Originally uploaded by jdfunks.

Pimientos de Padron from Viridian Farms. Dinner tonight!

Sea salt, olive oil, go.

PDX: Try Vegan Week 2009 is next week!

2009-08-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Try Vegan Week is approaching!

Interested in Veganism?

Interested in meeting more vegans?

Interested in Vegan Ice Cream??

I'll be grilling Tofurkeys and veggies at the BBQ on the 15th, come say hi!

FYI, You can still sign up to get a mentor or to be a mentor here!

Buy your tickets from the 90s style U Can't Touch This! Vegan Prom on the 22nd here!

Vegan Food! Vegan DJs! Dance off! Fantastic prizes! more!!!

I heart you, hawthyfarmar.

2009-08-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

Please forgive me for abbreviating the fairly new Hawthorne Urban Farmers Market. Such things are irresistible. It's small and adorable, as is the nickname.

If you read this site last summer or the one before, you know that I'm wild about farmers markets. There are weeks I'd go to three, there are weeks I'd gone to four! With my busy ways, cooking for one and lack of desire to cook during the heat wave this past year, I dropped off the farmar radar for a while, but dude, I'm back.

I put on my shades and ventured for the first time to the Hawthorne Market at SE 41st yesterday. I didn't barter for local veggies (you can!) but I did come home with vegetables, chatted with the sweet gardening gals and felt precious with my mini eggplants in my bag the rest of the day.

Heading east on Hawthorne Boulevard.

Walking into Adorableland.

Skip the goat milk soap, contemplate natural black lipstick and eyeball fresh lemonade. I really dig how intimate this market is.

The haul: banana peppers, string beans, lemon cucumbers, green and purple eggplant, chard. I've already cooked some string beans and eggplant, whoa.

Spotted on my Hawthorne adventure in my own neighborhood (Division/Clinton) - <3 href="http://stumptownvegans.com/2008/06/14/sip/">Sip!

PDX: Oregon Jewish Museum Festival with Veggie Food Carts - First Thursday!

2009-08-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

I must confess, I don't think I've ever gone to First Thursday on purpose before. I've wandered into it, and been tempted by events at Backspace, but until this week, I don't recall ever writing down in my planner GO TO FIRST THURSDAY. So this week marks a change - my friend Caitlin is interning at the Oregon Jewish Museum and passed on information about their Mirror Image First Thursday Street Party. Besides a friend's involvement, there will be music, dancing, it's free! and there will be six veggie food carts! If that's not a call for a vegan cart groupie, I don't know what is.

Check our their flier:

The veggie carts include New Leaf Salad, Fat Kitty Falafel, Spud Locker, Staccato Gelato & Voodoo Donuts. Leah from OJM let me know that the vegan sauces are back at Fat Kitty, too! Personally, I'm stoked to finally try New Leaf! Salad is good.

Oh hey, Voodoo Donuts.. Confession #2: I think I prefer their cake donuts.

Grilled Cremini & Garlic sandwich.

2009-07-31T15:28:00.000-07:00

Chomp.

It was under 100F yesterday when I left work, so I stopped at my local New Seasons Market and picked up FOOD to COOK for dinner. I was surprisingly productive last night with my bit of cooking and cleaning for a party this weekend! I almost turned on my oven and roasted local red potatoes with dill and then considered roasting tempeh.... Thankfully for my cats, I held onto my sanity and simply ate my sandwich.

It was beautifully easy to assemble - I halved local creminis and tossed them in a golden balsamic vinaigrette with large slices of garlic, cooked them on my cast iron grill pan, threw them on top of baby spinach, in an organic olive ciabatta roll from New Seasons (splurge!) added a large slice of local tomato and there was dinner. If I hadn't forgotten my vegan staple jar of Vegenaise at work months ago, I would have likely added some.

Grilled garlic = amazing.

Vegan Friendly Food Carts, Blowing my Mind.

2009-07-29T16:39:00.000-07:00

I've returned home to Portland from a trip to Coeur D'Alene, ID hungry and to record breaking temperatures. My two cats and I are seriously considering camping out with the fridge door open ala Homer Simpson this evening.

Amazingly, some dedicated Portlanders have opened up even MORE vegan friendly carts while I've been gone. What does cooking at home mean again? New Seasons wok, right? Eating hand picked berries from the freezer?

Portland does not fail to blow my mind. People live their dreams! There are carts for everyone! Even ones clean enough for most cart haters/scaredy cats.

Back to my story.

So, earlier today, I was walking in a zombie like state, my freckles melting off, towards DC Vegetarian for lunch, and noticed a new cart. Like with all new carts, I stopped to see if there was anything vegan, and see what they were all about. The new sign read "Sonny Bowl" and a

white board menu listed three meal options. I processed them, and noticed no meat, no dairy, veggies, veggies, veggies and sauce!

I inquired and with my internal mental fireworks going off, learned that the cart was all vegan, as was its proprietor, and it just happened to be opening day. Again, here I was, walking to a new vegetarian cart for lunch, considering the very vegan friendly Just Thai cart next door and whether I'd pass out if I ordered hot noodles, and I stumble onto a new vegan cart on the same strip.

Behold, the Sonny Bowl.

I ordered option #2, with veggies, rice, coconut curry sauce and chickpeas. Hello, cabbage! Hello, summer squash! Hello, saucy. $6. Can you get anything at a cart or what? I ate fresh vegetables for lunch from a cart!

So...Portland. Food carts. The best. Always something new! Oh, and tonight? heading down to the self-described cartopia for the first ever FoodKartaroke at Whiffies. If Maeve gets there early enough, Hold On will be happening.

Speaking of DC Vegetarian, here's the vegan TLP (add $1 for Lightlife Tempeh Bacon) my friend Tiffany and I shared on their grand opening day. I had already been a couple times before during their soft opening week, they're really sweet. They gave away Tofutti Cuties on their opening day! I hear they have them now (for sale), too.

Vegan TLP

DC Vegetarian and Just Thai

I really like the Pad See Ew at Just Thai. Yep.

Another row of carts in downtown Portland.

The SW 3rd and Stark strip

And earlier in this photo essay, I mentioned MORE NEW VEG*N FRIENDLY CARTS.

I've yet to go Lickety Split in the Pearl - vegan meatballs, polenta and grain bowls! cucumber basil freaking lemonade! Going soon.
Wolf and Bears - on SE 20th and Morrison, Lebanese style vegetarian/vegan cart
Vahalla Sandwich cart, behind the Dollar Scholar on SE Hawthorne
and Asaase Ital cart by PSU - more on that coming soon on Stumptown Vegans! I love that place.

Asaase Ital Palace

Jerk Chickun. Say yes.
Unless you hate black pepper, like a certain friend of mine <3

You want more? Check out my list of Vegan Friendly Food Carts in Portland, with MORE additions soon! I'm seriously overwhelmed by all these new carts and have to catch up.

Splendid. Iced Coconut Coffee, Hot Ass Day.

2009-07-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Iced Coffee with So Delicious Coconut Milk.

So splendid. So delicious.

Coffee from local roaster K & F.

Unsweetened Coconut milk beverage of the god, by So Delicious.

Escape from my day at work, pull down the shades, cat on your lap, splendid.

I have a full product review in the very beginning stages for their newest product line, look for it later this summer! I should just get this out there - the vanilla = take. my. breath. away.

Thank you Staci for the idea! Next time, I work almond into this.

Veggie Thing, lately

2009-07-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Being obsessed with vegan food and the internet, and parked in front of a computer for most of my work day, I've kept up with regularly posting submissions to Veggie Thing by Citysearch.

Check out some of my recent favorite - many tried and true - around Portland and beyond! If you actually want to know why I like each dish besides it being tempting food with an assumed tempting aroma, then you should click on the link. It won't trap you or steal your credit card information so I can buy a new pair of colorful Earth Intrigues.

Vegan Potatoes Plate from Juniors

Ham and Cheese english muffin from Tube bar

Kettleman's Bagel with Chipotle Cream Cheese from Sweetpea

Cookies and Creme milkshake from Sip

Earl Grey Teanychino from Teany's in NYC.

I have more in the works- submitted one for Koi Fusion PDX earlier today!, and as usual, I post brief reviews on Yelp and extensive reviews on Stumptown Vegans.

Dandies Marshmallows + Brownies + Butterscotch Chips =

2009-07-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

a birthday greeting for my friend Joanna, the super fly author of Yellow Rose Recipes. It's also the first culmination of my WHAT TO DO WITH A BAG OF DANDIES? post from last week.

Joanna and I met with friends from the PPK at the Bye & Bye last night (omg! Celine, Joni, Kim and Alin are in town!) for cocktails, Floor Punches, grub and conversation - and as Maeve and I were leaving for a Yelp Elite event, in walks Julie Hasson and her husband Jay with two pies!

Julie pretended to force me to take a bite of the banana creme, I did, I could rave about that wonderful dessert for an hour and a half, and what was my original point?

Happy Birthday Joanna!!!!

Smorey Butterscotch Brownies

They are admittedly thin because I used a slightly larger sized pan than the recipe called for. The original recipe is for Espresso Brownies that will be in next year's Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowtiz and Terry Hope Romero.

I added vegan butterscotch chips (from Pandacookie!!), a few halved Dandies vegan marshmallows before baking, and a bunch on top during the last few minutes of oven time. It fluffed up! Then it fluffed down. And then they were nibbled. There was still some of the desired gooeyness on top - yeah, Dandies rule.

Here's the BBQ platter Maeve and I shared at the Bye & Bye, my favorite dish on the menu. It's $1 off during happy hour. FYI, they've gladly swapped the collards for brussels before, if you're into that sort of thing!

It's been four days!

2009-07-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

...and my friend Maeve has yet to take off the tiara that adorned the top of this birthday cake. I brought this cake to a joint birthday celebration for her and her friend Caitlin. Not pictured are the matching earrings that came with the tiara, that I don't think Caitlin has taken off either.

Not surprising, I mean, just look at those jewels.

This was actually the first time I've ever made the NEW VEGAN CLASSIC Raspberry Blackout cake from Vegan with a Vengeance. How odd.

Some thoughts on this, all numbered:

1) I'm a PPK cult member, what's taken me so long?

2) Baking cakes is fun! What's taken me so long?

3) I remember when Isa posted this cake on Livejournal's Vegancooking community years ago, before you could type! Before I could type!? What's taken me so long???

4) I'm spoiled with gee-orgeous personalized cakes from Sweetpea nowadays, love it! That's been delaying this.

5) Maeve told me she wanted me to bake this cake, so I did.

I baked, melted the ganache & our friend Jeff frosted.

Is there too much booze in sight for public viewing of this photo? I also brought vodka I'd infused with vanilla beans and local basil (that Maeve grew!) and vodka infused with coffee and more vanilla beans.

We meant to remove the tiara before lighting all 43 candles. Hilarity ensued.

Product Review: New Lightlife Tempehtations!

2009-07-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of being a blogger is trying new products you may not necessarily pick up at the store. I feel confident that this is part of the reason you registered the domain VeganFoodRulesAlot on wordpress last year.

The Goods:

This was the case for me with Lightlife's Tempehtations. Since moving to Portland (5 years

this September!) and learning my way around a block of tempeh, I hadn't bought any Fakin' Bacon -

Prior to the point in my life where I learned to make sense of what I throw around a kitchen, I had regularly scheduled sandwiches based on this product. It meant so much to me!

Now I make my own tempeh bacon based on the recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance, but there was a point in my life Fakin Bacon was one of my favorite things to eat. So, right off the bat, I had faith in Lightlife's new tempeh series, and on top of that - they threw in a package of the strips! I passed out when opening it. Thanks, Lightlife!

so.....tempted?

Their new tempeh series is basically this: a block of cubed & flavored tempeh, ready to cook or simply warm, wrapped in plastic, and put in a colorful little box. I've tried the Classic BBQ and Ginger Teriyaki - the Zesty Lemon is conveniently waiting in my freezer for future use, I'm thinking over a salad or pasta. Convenience is key here - no need to marinate overnight or bake for 30+ minutes.

Served with soy dipping sauce, wasabi and garnished with sesame seeds.

The big stand out in my Tempehtations trial was this sushi. I clicked on my rice cooker, prepped the filling, quickly sauteed the Ginger Teriyaki tempeh cubes with some garlic in peanut oil, and when it was all ready to go, filled sushi with the tempeh, shredded carrot and avocado and rolled. The tempeh had a nicely mellow Teriyaki taste and didn't overpower the bites, I could also easily see this flavor grilled kabob-style, drizzled with a spicy sesame dressing.

Ready to be rolled:

The first time I tried the BBQ, I sauteed it and served it in a grain bowl with rice, collards, pink beans and hot sauce. Need I say more besides, classic?

Dinner time BBQ tempeh bowl #1 - a quick meal before a trip out of town

The one thing I felt like my bowl above was missing was sauce, but you don't always need your grains coated in sauce.....but below I totally wanted it. I used extra BBQ sauce from a PPK test recipe and heated the second half of the BBQ tempeh in it for a few minutes, and served with roasted mushrooms and cauliflower over quinoa.

I'll out the classic card for tempeh, BBQ sauce and quinoa again. The Lightlight Tempehtations are not sitting in sauce in their little box, so if you like things saucy, take 1-3 minutes and whip up a simple sauce or pull that bottle of Trader Joe's BBQ sauce you keep in the fridge for dipping emergencies out.

Dinner time BBQ Tempeh bowl #2 - a quick meal returning from a trip!

And lastly, I used the dear tempeh strips for a quick couple quick meals that were not sandwich based. Because if you know me, I rarely have bread at home the past few years. Huh, sandwiches? What are peanut butter and jelly doing together on soft bread?

Collards with Fakin Bacon and Roasted Apple Sage Seitan Sausage

Vegan Brunch Chelsea Waffles with chocolate chips;
more collards and tempeh bacon.

Collards cooked with olive oil, garlic, liquid smoke, tamari, hot sauce, teeny bit of maple syrup, broth/water and apple cider vinegar.

I think these products are a great stepping stone for the tempeh-phobic and those looking to incorporate more vegan proteins in their diet! I have no hesitation to cook my own tempeh these days, in fact, I made baked mango ginger tempeh for dinner last night, but there's no denying this product's consumer friendliness. If it had been around when I was younger, it would have been in my fridge! I would have kept an eye on it being on sale. Don't be scared of tempeh, folks.

PSA: Homegrown Smoker is Open!

2009-07-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

BBQ Chronic Tempeh Ribs, close up

Obvious Confession: I'm a food cart groupie. I grew up eating knishes from hot dog trucks with my grandparents, pretzels from street vendors, and first discovered my love of falafel from the Jerusalem cart on the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA during my college years. Nothing has quite compared since.

And yeah, carts are EVERYWHERE in Portland. This includes my downtown lunch spots like The Whole Bowl, Savor Soup House and Just Thai, your classic taco trucks, an all vegan taco truck, stands at farmers markets like Toddbott's, special stops and stands at events, the cart pod on SE 12th and Hawthorne, and those on other main streets - like the new & all vegan Homegrown Smoker BBQ on NE Alberta. I went on opening day a bit ago, and again this weekend for a vegan tweetup (sorry, twitter speak)!

The obvious favorite -

BBQ Chronic Tempeh Ribs, Smoked Soy Curls, Mac & Cheeze, BBQ Beans & Molasses Corn Bread. $8

Photos by Lucas DeShazer.

The staff is sweet, there are two picnic tables, plenty of room for picnic blankets and! delicious vegan comfort food.

Some highlights: The mac and cheeze is now made with elbows and was really great - it just screamed comfort, the cornbread was sweet and moist and the smoked soy curls were just as fantastic as the first time I tried them.

Check out their operation on NE 23rd and Alberta, Thurs-Sunday, 12pm-8pm, I believe. They're just starting out so be careful about the hours.

In other food cart news, I'm going to finish and post my list of vegan friendly food carts in Portland soon - it's huge!

Dude! Dandies!

2009-07-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

What should I do with this bag of Chicago Soy Dairy Dandies?

The first bag of sweet clouds...I slowly snacked on.

This bag is begging to become something more.

Maybe Smores Brownies?

What say you? Who's coming to my planned yet impromptu brownie potluck I'm making up at this moment?

Soy latte, yes.

2009-06-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

A special Raspberry Danish, by Evan

My weekend at the Let Live Northwest Animal Rights Conference and our week of Dittering ended with a coconut creme pie and mingling with tons of friends at the cart village following the Bye & Bye after party. It was super cool to attend the conference and see everything Chad and Josh mentioned on our podcast last month and more! come to fruition.

I went to inspirational talks on Regional Issues in Animal Activism, Online Social Networking as an Activist Tool, and an update on the "Green Scare". I saw most vegans I recognize in Portland, plus a buttload more, so many! My friend Evan of Bjorked Off! from Vancouver, BC has been in town for it, and that means I've been very caffeinated. We visited

Barista in the Pearl District on Sunday, because that's what we do. Dude, I sit down and sip my lattes from there, and every time, I think...it's so creamy, so light, so much more perfect than I anticipated....that's what you get going to an innovative shop opened by an award winning barista.

Soy latte from Barista

We also hit up Sweetpea, because that's what all vegans do. Audra made us swoony lattes - that girl is the best barista I've seen on the East Side! Evan had a hemp and almond one, and I opted for an iced. It had just a hint of chocolate and hazelnut, two of my classic favorite flavors.

Iced Latte from Sweetpea

If you want to see more gushing over Portland Soy Lattes, check out this write up from March.

Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ, Last Thursday & Two More Days of Dittering

2009-06-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

Last night I made the trek up to NE Alberta Street for Last Thursday mayhem. I was planning on going anyway to live it up dittering style, and then I found out about a new all vegan BBQ stand opening, Homegrown Smoker, and three vegan bake sales,

so I teleported there after work, an iced coffee break at Sweetpea Baking Co. and a stop at a new cocktail bar opening. Same ole Thursday routine.

Chronic Tempeh Ribs, Smoked Soy Curls, Mac and Cheeze, Molassesey cornbread, BBQ beans

Three of us split this, and I swear, it cost $8. My favorite part was the fantastic smoked soy curls. They're closed this weekend, but check them out for a real opening Wednesday or Thursday! The staff is adorable, and one of their dads does the BBQ-ing! Exclamation!

Spotted at Last Thursday:

The new roaming Voodoo Doughnuts van

The new Spud Locker topped potato cart - featuring a yam with vegan cinnamon roll topping! Must try sometime...

Some more Last Thursday photos

As I mentioned earlier, my friend Michelle Crocodile knows an owner of Petunia's Pastries who had their opening last night - many vegan treats!

My friend Michelle C, Strawberryrock and I shared this beautiful Chocolate Hazelnut frosted & filled cupcake. It tasted..beautiful.

I was worried a few months ago that I was allergic to hazelnuts when making test recipes for the Vegan Cookies book, since I couldn't breathe and my lip and eyes swelled and all, but forgot about this until just now, and phew, I was fine last night.

The initial reason we were heading to Last Thursday was for The Grilled Cheese Grill.

Michelle and I shared this grilled mozzerella soy cheeze with grilled jalapenos.

At the GCG, you can eat your sandwich in an old, decorated school bus. It's trippy.

Look at the table below. There's so much more to say, but you really need to check it out for yourself.

The obligatory Sweetpea stop. Since we're vegan.

Dittering lunch #4 - Eggplant with basil & tofu from Just Thai.

Going back in time, Dittering lunch stop #3,

a Tastebud Pita salad from the Portland Farmers Market.

I picked up apricots and sugar snap peas.

After work that day, I stopped by the Peoples Coop street fair. Not on twitter, but they're my neighbors and I heart them. There was a vegan (gosh!) salad (gosh!) stand.

For $1 from their farmers market, I picked up the cutest shiitakes I have ever seen.

Ever seen.

Dittering Recap of Days 1 and 2: Portland Eats!

2009-06-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

The first two days of the inaugural Dittering week are behind me, and the adventure is growing. It's not entirely a vacation from my kitchen, I've been putting together my standard weekly fruit bowl and steamed greens for a quick dinner Monday night, but they were twitter related!, as you'll read below.

Both Monday and Tuesday took Maeve and I to food carts for lunch, and last night we zanily but responsibly hit up two happy hours after work, it was like the new Thursday.

For lunch, we met with Karla of Veganshizzle for Koi Fusion PDX tofu tacos

For dinner, I had a big bowl of steamed lacinato kale with Braggs and new Flameboy Mango Hot Sauce, from Food Fight! This stuff is spicy amazement. I've, um, tweeted a bunch with one of the owners of the hot sauce on twitter, way before I learned about the new product, small city!

Ready to go.

Is kale on twitter? I know I'm a fan on facebook...

For lunch yesterday, I stopped by Savor Soup House for

Tomato Fennel Orange. It was splendid!

After work, I briefly popped into Candy in the Pearl (and thought, am I in Portland?) for the first time, and moved along to the Tube for a $2 greyhound and a quick bite - my favorite little fake ham and cheeze sandwich in town.

A couple hours later, we met up with our friend Susie at Hot Lips and I had a couple bites of this slice of vegan foccacia, saving room for the special last stop of Dittering day 2 afterwards.

You don't know it, but this is what you're here for. The last Dittering stop of the day was to try the brand new Chocolate Creme pie from the Whiffies fried pie cart. Maeve and I split this, because, you know.

It was like eating a chocolate pudding snack pack from heaven, that just happens to be wrapped in a wonderfully flaky fried pie.

To balance things out, I had a salad for lunch, I swear! More updates to come. I promise next week I can hold off on mentioning twitter at all.

Jenny!

2009-06-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my little sister, Jenny! She's entered the later early twenties and living a life of style in NYC. She loves to look at herself, so here we go. If you ever see her on the street (she frequents Stogo! and all the hip spots in Williamsburg) say hi, she'd love that. I just know it. I wish I was there to celebrate and buy her all the sugared and salted margaritas she's fond of.

at Pommes Frites

With the wind and attitude in her hair shopping at the Chelsea Markets,
holding my olives

Years ago in Portland (okay, 3) holding a vegan cake she'd made

Look! Our brother and the family cat that lives with Jenny, Monkey

Jenny and Mike's new cat, Desmond (named after LOST!)

Two of my favorite people

And Jenny, Mike and my grandparents. I keep this photo on my digital camera, because I'm occasionally sentimental. It's from 3+ years ago at a street fair in Little Italy.

Tomorrow - the report of Dittering Day 1 & 2.

VeganTwitNic #2, Check

2009-06-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

We had the second ever VeganTwitNic yesterday in Colonel Summers Park in SE Portland. Nice showing, delicious food, no rain, relaxing in the sun, breaks in the shade, classic picnic times. There was even a watermelon, I kid you not.

I brought Gluten Free Mac & Cheeze with Broccoli

Maeve brought a refreshing raw kale salad, there was a gazpacho like dip, savoury tofu with prunes & olives, rice, gluten free lasagna, dessert and more.

Fruit, coconut pudding and cake parfait!

Part of the spread

I give up trying to make my plate look more than somewhat presentable at potlucks.

Quick stop at Food Fight! this weekend for soap, new Flameboy mango hot sauce, Cheddar Cheezly (some of it went into the mac!) and nectarines, suspiciously not pictured.

All the normal things I replenish.

Now I'm off to embark on Day #1 of Dittering week!

Coffee Plant hug. The quickest post ever.

2009-06-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Faint with me now,

Soy Latte and freshly baked cinnamon roll

from Coffee Plant, downtown Portland.

What type of week was this??

As usual, I have posts in the works for this site and Stumptown Vegans,(NYC Vegan Ice Cream show down! Perierra Creperie!) but I'm a little busy at work, which means quite busy in real life. I'm headed to Spokane for the rest of the week for work, so if you have some recommendations there on what to do and where to dine, please don't keep them locked up. Please share.

Portlanders - VeganTwitNic this weekend! Sunday, June 21st, 1pm at Colonel Summers Park.