Vegan Mofo: Cookies for Civil Rights

So. Some background: I hail from Florida, and though I am currently in Denver, I am voting via absentee ballot in the upcoming election. Florida's ballot includes a proposed amendment to the constitution that would define marriage as between a man and a woman. This pisses me right off, and I can't believe that this is 2008 and I am actually seeing something so backwards on an election ballot. And I would really like to see Florida not pass this ridiculous homophobic amendment. So what do I do?

I bribe my friends. With cookies.

Bribery in general is pretty sketchy. It is corrupt and dishonest and is unfortunately common in politics. But with cookies, somehow, it seems pure. I think this is because cookies are unlikely to change anyone's deeply held beliefs, but may have the power to encourage someone to act on those beliefs. So I issued a cookie bribe via a popular social networking site. Anyone who sends me a picture of their Florida ballot with Prop 2 marked No receives cookies.

Erin, my good friend and a Hooray Vegan zine tester, was the first to come through.



I am positive that Erin was already planning on voting, and I am pretty sure that our finished ballots would look the same, but I love love love that she submitted this, and that so many others have responded with promises to get out and vote in exchange for cookies. I love cookie bribery, and the idea that we could maybe bring about the revolution via vegan baked goods.

Nothing Says I Love You Like Caramel Corn

This is a sneak preview from the zine. It's seriously addictive, travels well (Care packages! Holiday gifts!), and is super easy to make.

6-8 C popped corn (Or one bag microwave popcorn)
Handful or so of peanuts (optional)
¾ C packed brown sugar
6 T vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)
3 T pure maple syrup (Agave syrup or corn syrup works also)
¼ t salt
¼ t baking soda
¼ t vanilla

Preheat oven to 300. Combine popcorn and peanuts (if using) in large baking sheet that has sides.

In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, margarine, syrup, and salt. Stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Cook without stirring 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over popcorn and stir gently, coating popcorn. Bake at 300 for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, stir, and bake 5 minutes more. Remove from oven, stir, and carefully pour the popcorn on another large baking sheet. Stir carefully with fingers to separate while cooling. Serve when completely cooled.


That's Christopher Columbus the cow in the background, in case you were wondering.

And huge thanks to all the awesome Hooray Vegan testers: Cait (Cornfields and Cookies), Elizabeth, Erin (Sundays in the Kitchen with Betty), Heather (The Liberal Vegan), Jennifer, Kristy, Lila, Lisa (panda with cookie), Mary, Stephanie. Visit their blogs and Etsy shops!

Vegan MoFo: A Ghost Story

I do not believe in ghosts. Well, not really. Well, sort of.

I didn't believe in ghosts at all until a ghost happened to me. This is the story of that ghost, and the incredible supernatural power of vegan food. So turn off your lights, put on some spooky music, and settle in for tonight's edition of Vegan MoFo's Spooky Stories.

In the fall of my sophomore year of college, my roommate (Stephanie) and I moved into a brand new townhouse downtown, which was inexplicably within our price range. We couldn't believe our luck, as our last apartment had been about a third of the size and very old. The floorboards creaked, the walls groaned as they settled, and shortly before moving out we were told that the place was originally a halfway house for the abandoned insane asylum down the street. As much as we loved the charm of our first apartment, we were thrilled to be rid of its spookiness, and welcomed the extra space of our new townhouse.

I was especially excited about being able to have a desk in my room. My mom and dad drove down to help us move, and brought with them an old library desk. My mom found the desk in a junk store, and estimated it to be about 80 years old. It was dark and heavy and had an inkwell. It was the last piece of furniture to be moved in, and we lugged it upstairs and then went downtown to celebrate.

Things didn't get weird until we had lived there about a month. One morning I woke up, went into my bathroom, and saw that my soap was missing. I am absentminded and tend to misplace things so I didn't think much of it when I found it on my desk later that morning. But later that week, the soap moved again. This time, I distinctly remembered that I had washed my hands before bed, and then closed my bathroom door so that my dog wouldn't shred the toilet paper or raid the trash can.

I mentioned this to Stephanie, and her eyes got wide. She said that strange things had been happening to her as well. Several times, when she was home alone in the evening, she would hear me come home. She could hear my keys jingling, the door opening, and my backpack dropping to the floor. The dogs would go nuts and run downstairs, and then return to her bedroom, all nervous with bristled fur. When she'd call hello, there would be no answer. When she went downstairs, there would be no signs that I had come home.

After she told me that, the soap started moving on a nightly basis. And then other things would move; makeup, keys, even shoes. And it always moved to the desk.

The idea of a ghost seemed ridiculous to us, but we couldn't explain what was happening. We decided to experiment one evening, to be sure that it wasn't a friend, or even one of us, pulling a prank. I shut and locked my bathroom door, and put a small piece of clear tape over the door and doorjam. We shut, locked, and taped the door of the apartment as well, and left for the grocery store. It is important to mention here that no one else but our landlord, who lived over an hour away, had a key to our apartment. When we returned a half an hour later, we found the tape undisturbed and the doors locked. And everything that was on my bathroom counter was now on my desk.

At this point, we were uneasy. Even scared. But I was still skeptical, and expected a reasonable explanation to turn up. A week or so passed and nothing happened, and I was deep into midterms and nearly forgot about the strangeness in our apartment.

And then one night, very early in the morning, I woke to the sound of an axe chopping wood. I sat straight up in bed, eyes wide open and instantly awake, and stared at my desk, which was directly in front of my bed. The desk was fine and everything was in order. And then I heard the chopping again, but much louder this time. It sounded like someone was chopping firewood in my bedroom, right in from of my bed. It was clear and close and incredibly loud. I ran to the window, hoping to see a lumberjack on the front stoop at four in the morning. The street was empty, and the sound was now behind me, where my desk was, and growing louder. The room went instantly cold, and the chopping got faster and more intense, and I got the distinct impression that my desk was being hacked to pieces.

I ran to Stephanie's room and jumped into bed with her, shrieking. The next morning, I found my desk exactly as I had left it. Nothing on it had moved and inch, and it was certainly not in pieces all over the floor. I freaked. We both freaked.

I called my friend Elizabeth, who knows about ghosts and witches and all manner of spooky things. I usually thought her hobbies (tarot cards, seances, books on witchcraft) were silly, but I was desperate and scared and needed some help. Elizabeth, totally, unruffled, told us what to do. And we did it.

She supposed that it was the desk that was haunted, and recommended that we concentrate our ghost-eviction activities there. First, she said, we had to introduce ourselves to the ghost, and tell it that it was scaring us, and that we'd like very much for it to leave. So we did. (The vegan part of this story is next. Pay close attention.) Second, she said, we should cleanse the space by burning sage. So we did. And the third, and most important step, was to make a peace offering. She said beer and bread was the most traditional offering, and thought to be the most effective. So we left a poppy seed bagel and a Miller High Life on the desk, and left the ghost to ponder its behavior. When we returned, the bagel was gone and the beer was empty. And after that, the spookiness stopped.

I think the moral of the story is that vegan food can fix nearly everything. And that is the spirit of Vegan MoFo.

Epilogue: When we moved the following fall, I took the desk back to my parents' house. It is there now, in the library of their hundred year old home. I, Stephanie, and her now husband Patrick recently visited my parents, and Patrick took pictures of the house. Check out his picture of the library:



It could be a wonky flash or a trick of the light. Or it could be something else. If it is, I would bet that it's nothing a little tofu couldn't fix.

Vegan MoFo: Cooking with tunage.

Sometimes, I really, really like cooking alone. My favorite cooking situation involves the following:

1. Plenty of time to prep and do things right (pie crusts are homemade, vegetables are chopped before the stove is turned on, etc).

2. Guests or housemates not showing up until just before dinner/brunch/whatever is to be served.

3. Loud music of my choosing. Music so loud that it covers up my terrible singing. Music that I know every single word to, and that my roommates and friends are sick of.

So today's MoFo post is my top five favorite albums to cook to. Don't make too much fun of me. Here they are in sort of random order:

1. The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism

This one was introduced to me by Patrick and Stephanie, and it is definitely for brunch. I've never heard this band properly classified. They're always described with several genres, and they're rarely the same from review to review. Punk/bluegrass/rock/country/folk/whatever. They are fantastic, and I play a whole lot of spatula banjo when this album is on.




Also, they've got the Hot Jesus thing down pat. *Swoonswoon*

2. The Misfits - Self titled

Danzig may be kind of a jerk, but this album is awesome if you have several dozen cookies to crank out.



3. Ben Kweller - Sha Sha

One of my old roommates appropriately renamed this "Sing Along with BK." This album is cozy, and I like it best for soups, pot pies, and other wintery foods.



4. Cat Power - The Greatest

She is so lovely, and her voice is so smooth and and sultry. For some reason this album makes me want to drink red wine, and so dinner is usually pasta and bruschetta.


5. Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block

This is also one of my favorite albums to ride bicycles to. I think it's because of all the whistling.

Vegan Mofo: Lovely Sundays

If you work a Monday through Friday sort of job, Sundays are the best and worst day of the week. There is nothing quite like that wonderful lazy feeling you get first thing in the morning, and then that bummed out Monday-is-coming feeling you get as the day is coming to an end (Danny calls this The Sunday Sad).

I try to stretch out the good feeling with brunch, farmers markets, and bike rides, and stifle the bad feeling by distracting myself with an afternoon movie. Yesterday was an example of a perfect Sunday, and it was full of excellent vegan food.

We were up and at 'em at the crack of 11, and off to City Park with Cooper and Jipetto. It was sunny and bright, but the air was crisp. This is my favorite sort of weather.


Frolicking wiener dogs are the best kind of wiener dogs.

Around 2 we headed to Watercourse for brunch. It was fantastic, as usual, and we lingered a little too long over our post-brunch cookies and coffee.


The Dona Lee (Crispy seitan, avocado, and vegan ranch). This isn't typical brunch food, and we didn't have it at typical brunch time, but I think brunch is more the style of eating (relaxed, served whenever, maybe a little decadent).



Watercourse fries are just the right sort of crispy. I forgot about food porn until it was a little too late.



Cookies and coffee. The both of us let out a simultaneous audible sigh after the first bite.

After scarf and hat shopping (we are ill equipped for Denver winters), and a movie downtown, we went to City 'O City (Watercourse's sister restaurant) for a late dinner of tea and pizza.



Pesto, vegan mozzarella (made in house), seitan sausage, and mushrooms. So good.

And then a short ride home and early to bed. Sigh.

Vegan Mofo: Vegan Exploring!

Vegan Mofo is here and I am so excited. My goal is to make twenty posts for the month of mofo, and read five blogs a day. I love how everyone is getting into the spirit, and there will be a later post highlighting some of my favorites (so many already!). But for now, I want to discuss VEGAN EXPLORING.

This is a fairly new concept to me. It's only been in the past year or so that I've started to plan my vacations and weekend road trips around food. I think this happened after I went to Portland. The Vegan Pilgrimage to Portland is a bit cliche, but it's a necessary cliche. Vegan bars with tofu fritters on the menu and vegan hardcore on the stereo? Food carts with vegan breakfast burritos? Vegan donuts? This is the stuff vegan dream vacations are made of, and it is the reason why I consult Happy Cow or The Square at The PPK (Use the search function!) every time I am traveling more than three miles from my house.

Because, as it turns out, there is incredible vegan food to be found nearly everywhere. And one of the many perks of veganism is that your fellow vegans love to share their good finds.

Danny and I went exploring in Ft. Collins today. Ft. Collins is an adorable, bike friendly, liberal college town, so you'd expect to find some decent vegan fare. VegColorado pointed us to Mugs, a coffee shop and cafe, and we were not disappointed.

Danny had the Seitan Caesar. It was good (not fantastic), but I have never seen nooch (nutritional yeast) sprinkled on anything as condiment on its own. I have heard that this happens, but it was not until this salad that I've seen it done. I was skeptical, but it was actually really good.


I had The Med, a panini with spinach, basil, tomato, chicken style seitan, and Follow Your Heart Mozzarella. I assumed the FYH would be melted (I can't stand it unmelted), but the sandwich arrived with the cheese just slightly warmed and still very much unmelted. And you know what? It was awesome. It tasted just like the caprese I loved in my pregan days. I have no idea how this happened. Maybe it just needed a different context (in this case, a panini), to show its true, delicious colors. I still won't be eating it straight out of the package, but I am thrilled that I don't have to melt the hell out if it to enjoy vegan mozzarella.


Extra props to Mugs for having a whole section of the menu clearly labeled vegan. I am a sucker for menu recognition.

After lunch and a tour of CSU, we went to mooch free beer from the New Belgium Brewery. Minus the ones that are clearly labeled as containing honey, New Belgium beers are vegan. And they are environmentally conscious in their building and brewing procedures, and promote the hell out of bicycles as transportation.


Beer and bicycles! These are my people.



Complimentary and delicious.


We are nothing if not classy.


My manifest.

Vegan Exploring is different from plain ol' exploring in that you have to dig a little deeper, and so the rewards are that much sweeter. Also, because vegan cuisine has not yet been worked over the way omnivorous cuisine has, I learn new things about cooking almost every time I eat somewhere new. If you've got the time during this busy mofo season, tell about your favorite Vegan Exploring experience.

I have some news.

I have been a bad web logger. Two weeks without a post? For shame. But VeganMofo (Vegan Month of Food, in which we write about food like mad) is soon, and I will be blogging my little heart out.

But that is not the news. This is:

1. I am making a zine! It will be out in a few months (there are wonderful testers hard at work), all proceeds will go to an animal-type charity, and it will be called Hooray Vegan Volume 1: Cures for Veganphobia.

2. I got a cake stand! This may seem like no huge deal, but I have wanted one for a long, long time. It seemed like a luxury. Why buy a cake stand when you can just stick it on a plate and cover it in foil? So it turns out it is a luxury, but almost a necessary one if you love to bake. I christened it with a pineapple upside down layer cake (a zine tester!), and it made a world of difference. This cake was a bit ugly (I couldn't find my pastry bags, so the only frosting is in the middle), but it looked so lovely once placed in its shiny new glass case. I would call this situation lipstick on a pig, but the cake was actually delicious, and probably better versed in foreign policy than certain Alaskan governors.

The cake was eaten too quickly for pictures, but I did manage to get a picture of the no bake cookies (another zine recipe) as they were cooling.


So good, so nostalgic. 

Anyway, look out for the zine, and get ready for Vegan Mofo. This fall is going to be great.

Sunday brunch is the best kind of brunch.

We were going to going hiking on Sunday, but a hangover left over from Friday, a chilly morning, and a cozy bed insisted we sleep in and then make brunch instead.

I love the Pumpkin Waffles from Vegan with a Vengeance so much that I haven't bothered to try anything else. Until yesterday. Hot damn, Banana Nut Waffles (Veganomicon) are good. And I don't even like bananas that much. Anyway, they make the house smell like banana bread, and they turn your brunch mate into a waffle monster that can easily put down seven in one sitting.


Monkey bait. I sometimes wonder if the incessant banana references are offensive or at least annoying to monkeys, who probably have a much more varied diet that we imagine.

And because the post punk kitchen empire rules brunch in this household, we also made the Herb Scalloped Potatoes from Veganomicon. These are wonderful, and taste so bad for you even though the only added fat is a tablespoon of olive oil. I think this makes up for the half a stick of Earth Balance I spread on my waffles.



Coors Light makes for an outstanding red eye.

Yesterday's brunch was also my first experience with Field Roast, a brand of grain meat that I've heard good things about. To be honest, the term "grain meat" totally skeeves me out, but the Apple Sage Sausages were excellent. Just a little sweet, perfectly spiced, loaded with protein, and they didn't have even a hint of that McNasty taste that some store bought vegan sausages have. Two thumbs up, Field Roast!

We also made tofu scamble, and it it was especially great yesterday. Fu scramble is a recipe that is particularly subject to change, depending on the cook's mood, refrigerator contents, and their ability to find the thyme, which keeps sneaking off to go party with the aluminum foil instead of staying in the spice cabinet where it belongs.

Anyway, here is yesterday's scramble, in all its glory:

1 lb extra firm tofu
1/8 C nutritional yeast
3/4 t salt
1/4 t paprika
1/2 t turmeric
Several grinds fresh black pepper
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, halved and sliced into half moons
1/4 lb sliced cremini mushrooms (about a cup)

In a medium bowl, crumble tofu and then press with a clean dish towel to remove some moisture. Add nutritional yeast and spices and then mix gently with hands (you want to keep large chunks of tofu that are easy to stab with a fork). Heat the olive oil in a non stick or cast iron pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute for about 2 minutes, and then add the mushrooms and saute for two minutes more. Add the tofu mixture and combine with a spatula, turn heat up to high, and cook until the onions, mushrooms, and larger chunks of fu have browned crispy edges. If there is a lot of water in the tofu, you may need to wait for it to boil off before the tofu actually begins to fry. While it's frying, it helps to scrape the crispy bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula (I use a wooden one). Serve with your favorite condiment.

And if you've never had a red eye (my first one was this spring), here is an incredibly simple recipe:

1 C mild tasting vegan beer (PBR or Coors Light work well)
1/2 C vegan bloody mary mix (check for worcestershire, which can contain anchovies)
1 lime wedge

Poor beer over ice, add bloody mary mix, squeeze in lime, stir, enjoy. This is an excellent beverage for those who enjoy the novelty of drinking before noon, but don't want to get hammered on a Sunday morning.

<3 Abbie

Instead of figuring out what the heck happened to the sidebar on my blog,

I made the Peach Upside-Down Cake from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. Baking is so much more fun than html. Evidence:


With vanilla soy ice cream. Hot damn.

My cousin Jennifer went to the peach festival in Grand Junction (There is a peach festival in Colorado!?) and brought me back loads of lovely peaches, so that's how the cake happened. As for the side bar hanging out the bottom of the blog, I have no idea how that happened. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Update! I fixed it! Woo! To celebrate, go to FFVK and make that cake.

Bittersweet's Vegan's Hundred

Speaking of My Sweet Vegan, Hannah Kaminsky recently gave us The Vegan's Hundred, a list of one hundred items every vegan foodie should try at least once. Here are her instructions, and my list:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

1) Copy this list into your own blog, 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!

1. Natto
2. Green Smoothie
3. Tofu Scramble
4. Haggis
5. Mangosteen
6. Creme brulee
7. Fondue
8. Marmite/Vegemite
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Nachos
12. Authentic soba noodles
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Taco from a street cart
16. Boba Tea
17. Black truffle (Only the oil. Want badly to try this.)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Apple and Strawberry wine! Classy!)
19. Gyoza
20. Vanilla ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Ceviche
24. Rice and beans
25. Knish
26. Raw scotch bonnet pepper (I have no idea what this is.)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Caviar
29. Baklava
30. Pate(They gave us vegan pate on the plane on the way home from Paris. Weird and awesome.)
31. Wasabi peas
32. Chowder in a sourdough bowl (This sounds awesome right about now.)
33. Mango lassi
34. Sauerkraut(Blech).
35. Root beer float
36. Mulled cider
37. Scones with buttery spread and jam
38. Vodka jelly
39. Gumbo
40. Fast food french fries
41. Raw Brownies
42. Fresh Garbanzo Beans
43. Dahl
44. Homemade Soymilk
45. Wine from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Stroopwafle
47. Samosas
48. Vegetable Sushi
49. Glazed doughnut (Voodoo Doughnut! Woo!)
50. Seaweed
(Currently eating a chickpea hijiki salad sandwich.)
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Tofurkey
54. Sheese
55. Cotton candy
56. Gnocchi
57. Piña colada
58. Birch beer
59. Scrapple (Oh goodness. I had a roommate that would eat non vegan scrapple. Yech.)
60. Carob chips (Not a fan.)
61. S’mores
62. Soy curls
63. Chickpea cutlets
64. Curry
65. Durian
66. Homemade Sausages
67. Churros, elephant ears, or funnel cake
68. Smoked tofu (Nom).
69. Fried plantain
70. Mochi
71. Gazpacho
72. Warm chocolate chip cookies
73. Absinthe (Only the fake kind, so I don't think it counts).
74. Corn on the cob
75. Whipped cream, straight from the can
76. Pomegranate
77. Fauxstess Cupcake
78. Mashed potatoes with gravy
79. Jerky
80. Croissants
81. French onion soup
82. Savory crepes
83. Tings (Also eating these right now).
84. A meal at Candle 79
85. Moussaka
86. Sprouted grains or seeds
87. Macaroni and “cheese”
88. Flowers
89. Matzoh ball soup
90. White chocolate
91. Seitan
92. Kimchi
93. Butterscotch chips
94. Yellow watermelon
95. Chili with chocolate
96. Bagel and Tofutti
97. Potato milk (What? There is such a thing?)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Raw cookie dough

I learned several things from this list:

1. What Natto and Mango lassi are
2. That I will eat anything, so long as it's vegan
3. That I am not sure if the period goes inside or outside the parentheses when the entire sentence is in parentheses

Your turn.

<3 Abbie

Do you have My Sweet Vegan yet?

If you don't, go get it.

These Chocolate-Glazed Peanut Butter Scones are amazing. I subbed in whole wheat pastry flour so that I could justify eating them for breakfast, and they were totally delicious.



These scones were also my first attempt at high altitude baking, and were a success. Woo!

I promise that this is not becoming a Watercourse blog.

It's only that I just moved, and I happen to live a few blocks away, and they happen to have vegan milkshakes. 


The object of my distraction. 

I have been roadtripping and visiting family and job hunting and apartment hunting and furniture hunting and not cooking and not taking pictures of the delicious things I've been eating. So I haven't had much time or much to write about. But I have lovely new kitchen (New gas stove! Whee!) and a nine to five sort of job, so I am back. 

<3

Florida, I miss you already.

I'm moving to Denver at the end of the month to hang out with my grandpa, my cousins, the mountains, and the prairie dogs for a bit. I will likely be back in St. Pete in a year or so to finish up a degree, but until then I dearly will miss all my favorite people in my favorite city in Florida.

Before I start sobbing, let's talk about how great Denver is. Specifically, how great Denver food is. I went for a short visit with some friends in June, and we went to WaterCourse Foods for brunch on our last day in town.

I may have had two meals. To myself.

Good ole rocky mountain gluttony.


Florentine Scramble


Biscuits and Gravy


I like vegan foods with bloody in the name.

We were all a little pink and crispy from a picnic in Wash Park the day before.

Matt, Erin, Stephanie, Patrick. BFFs, rock lobsters.

We ate too much. And made food babies.

They've got the glow.

WaterCourse brunch is enough to make me want to move 1500 miles, but big green parks, family, and a change of pace are enough to lock it in. Plus, Coopy will be stoked about the flea situation. Take care, Florida, I'll be back soon.

<3

The July Brunch and Bike Ride is already out of control.

And it's still more than a week away.

The Details:

When: Sunday, July 20th; Ride at 12:30, Brunch at 1:30

Where: Ride meets at Northshore Park (picnic table near 15th Ave NE); Brunch is at 140 Ricardo Way NE

Theme: Batman: The Dark Knight / Christmas in July

Menu: Pancakes. And other good stuff. I haven't decided yet.

Donation: $5, proceeds to The Skirts

Why you should go: This may be the last one for a bit. Also, did you see the theme? Also, did see the part about pancakes?

Questions and concerns: Email me at hoorayvegan@gmail.com.

When Britt suggested a Christmas in July theme, I had concerns about reconciling it with our already-decided-upon Batman theme. Pam responded with this:



And then I went on a Google image search journey and found these:





Evil Stay Puft Santa?!


The moral of the story is that you shouldn't miss this particular event.

I should be working right now.

I'm at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale this week. I'm supposed to be at a couple of different places right this minute, but I went to Sublime last night and I wanted to tell it to someone who cared. It was pretty freaking great. Vegan picatta? Eggplant rollatini? Chocolate nirvana? Yes please. I'm going again tonight, and I'm bringing my camera with me.

All I did in New York was eat.

No, seriously. I had at least four meals a day. And when I go to a vegetarian or vegan restaurant, I make a happy plate1, because it is likely I won't be back for a while. I spent most of my trip uncomfortably but happily full.

My very first meal in New York was at Bliss, at 191 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. The fu scramble filling was meh, but I was thrilled with the gooey cheese (does anyone know what they use?), pico de gallo, beans, breakfast potatoes, and sour cream. I made a happy take out box on my way to do touristy things.


Messy and tasty.

1. happy plate - a full plate turned into an empty plate (origin: Stephanie Kiernan)

How you say sandwich, Boo?

I made sandwiches for dinner (hummus and vegetables on poppy seed bread), and was thinking of all the words I know for sandwich. Here is my list. Please add to it. 

Sammich 

Sambo 

Sammie

Bread hug

And since all this sandwich talk has probably given you sandwich fever, here are some recipes:

TLT

Maple-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Curried Tempeh Salad

Hasperat

Tomato Basil Sandwiches

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Tofu Panini

June Brunch in Photos

First, the food. Brunch shells, Mushroom Spinach Strata from Veganomicon, fresh tomatoes and basil, mashed potatoes, peanut butter cinnamon rolls from bjorkedoff, spinach salad (recipe below), fresh fruit, juice, and coffee.










Bicycles, food, and flying dogs are fun and all, but the epic didn't happen until someone noticed that the coconut trees on the golf course were ready for harvest.

There were skeptics.


But Luke and Mike, clearly farmers at heart, rose to the occasion.



Brunch heroes.


Obtaining fresh coconuts is one thing. Fashioning them into beverage vessels is quite another. But we persisted,







And prevailed.




Thanks to Steph for her kitchen help, Pam for leading a bike ride and taking pictures in spite of an injury, Lily for taking pictures, and to everyone else for attending. We raised a healthy sum for Milton Animal League! Next brunch is in July. Stay tuned for details.

<3 Abbie

Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges, Strawberries, and Toasted Almonds

My Aunt Beth brought this or something very much like it to a 4th of July party one year. Anyway, it's easy, pretty, and delicious.

Salad:
10 oz fresh spinach (about one large bunch)
1 C quartered strawberries
1 small can mandarin oranges, drained and rinsed
1/2 C blanched, slivered almonds, toasted and cooled (spread onto dry cookie sheet and toast at 350 for 5-10 minutes)

Dressing:
1/4 C rice vinegar
1/4 C canola oil (any oil with a very mild flavor will do)
1-3 T sugar, to taste
Fresh pepper to taste

Gently toss salad ingredients together. Whisk together dressing ingredients and toss with salad immediately before serving.