I’ve been so busy lately with moving, some projects, etc. I really need to start picking up my camera again. I’ve been cooking up a storm lately, I just haven’t been documenting it. Now that we’re settled in, things should pick up again!

Then, I realized my trip was almost six months ago, and I started writing this several months ago. Anyway, on with the much-delayed trip report.

While our home-base was Vienna, we also took side trips to Bratislava and Budapest. Bazu, Carmen, Melanie, Jojo, Rachel, and I spent a day in Bratislava wandering around the city, looking in second hand stores (I found an awesome pink jacket, a dress, and a very cool shirt!), and also found some vegan food. We ended up going to City Restaurant, which is a cafeteria-style vegetarian restaurant, and luckily there was a woman who was able to translate and point out the vegan selections to us!

I had seitan and vegetables in some sort of gravy served over a multi-grain pilaf, and a really good chewy freshly baked bread roll.
Vegan Food in Bratislava

We wandered around a little more, stopped for a leisurely cup of coffee, and then it was time for Bazu, Carmen, Jojo, and I to hop on the train to Budapest.
Coffee in Bratislava

While in Budapest, we ate at the lovely Napfenyes Etterem. I had a platter of Cheezly breaded with sesame seeds and spelt bread crumbs and served with the most perfectly cooked rice and peas. The Cheezly was amazing at the restaurant, and also made a really good cold snack the next day. I definitely need to try and replicate it at home. Jojo had an amazing seitan pepperoni, three cheese, and green olive pizza on spelt crust, then we shared a bunch of desserts – A chocolate sour cherry cake, a chestnut cake, and a chocolate cake lightly flavored with cherry.

Vegan Cake in Budapest

On the way home, we ran into George Clooney, who tried to entice us with coffee. Unfortunately, he didn’t have decaf so we had to decline since we didn’t want to be up all night!
George Clooney in Budapest, What Else?

The next day, we visited Eden Vegetarianus Etterem, a cafeteria-style cafe near where we were sightseeing. The food was very tasty and filling, and we filled our bellies with soup, noodles, potato dishes, and lots of bread and desserts, but it was a little dark (I think I’m going to need to get myself a travel tripod), so the only decent photo I have is of Carmen’s dessert. We still don’t know what it was, but it was soft and tasted of cinnamon.

I also came away from this trip with an enormous haul of food (including several packs of yogurt I crammed into my suitcase) that I never actually photographed because I couldn’t get it all in one photo. I’ll just say that I’ve eaten a ton of it, gave away huge gift bags full of goodies, and I still have quite a bit left.

Bookmark and Share

More ice cream. Lovely, rich, deliciously smooth ice cream in pure flavors like hazelnut, chocolate, and raspberry. I would have eaten more but I didn’t want to embarrass myself (any further, at least)…

Vienna Part II

The creamiest soy yogurt I’ve ever tasted with bright fruit flavors. I packed packages of the Alpro brand in my suitcase when I was flying out of Finland, and ate as much as I possibly could while I was there. I have a yogurt maker in storage right now, and I am really looking forward to getting it soon so I can try to recreate something even remotely similar. American soy yogurts aren’t bad, but they are nothing like these…

Vienna Part II

With the endless snow we’ve had, it’s nice to reminisce about warmer weather and travel. I’m especially looking forward to summer fruit.

Bookmark and Share

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, especially since I visited Vienna back in mid-October.

I had a blast, and ate tons of amazing food. When Bazu and I arrived, we were famished, so after dropping off our bags at our friend Carmen’s, we headed over to Formosa Vegetarian to meet up with Melanie and Rachel.

I decided to try out a Bionade drink, which was really light, bubbly, refreshing, with just a hint of sweetness.

Then I had Cordon Bleu with a potato dumpling. Luckily, Melanie was there to translate for me since I really wanted that dumpling instead of potato salad. The Cordon Bleu was frighteningly realistic, and stuffed with perfectly smokey ham and creamy cheeze. I don’t need to say it was vegan ham, right? I also got soup. I don’t know what was in it, but it was savory and good.

I topped off the meal with some of the most perfectly creamy, delicious vegan ice cream I’ve had. I couldn’t decide, so I chose a scoop of both raspberry and blueberry vanilla swirl.

Later that night, we went to Landia, the first of two trips. I opted for the goulash with more dumplings. I can still taste it. It was perfectly salty and fatty, with tons of sweet paprika and onions. We went there for a huge PPK meet-up a few days later, and I just couldn’t resist ordering the same thing. The owner/head chef and staff were incredibly nice. He actually planned a menu with tons of great Austrian food for our huge group, and there was also a cute little dog behind the bar helping to keep the customers in line.

The first big meet-up took place at Rupps,  a vegetarian restaurant and whiskey bar. I had some really authentic tasting bratwurst and the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich with chopped vegetables.

We also had some amazing meals in Bratislava and Budapest. Stay tuned! I do plan on posting more this year, even if I’m the only one reading this!

Bookmark and Share

Well, my goal for MoFo this year was to post more than usual, and definitely more than last year, which I accomplished. I also hoped it would be a nice jump start to get me blogging more regularly. I may not post every week, at least until we move, but I will try to post a couple of times of month. There are a lot of blogs out there, I’m happy if one or two people come across mine now and then and find something they like.

Anyway, on to the food! Before Bazu and I left on our trip to Central Europe, we met up with our friend Michelle, who was kind enough to pick me up in the middle of Manhattan, and drive us to JFK. We had plenty of time to grab food, so we decided on V-Spot, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. I’d never been, and it’s always nice when I can order anything on the menu without modification!

I had a chicken burger with cheese and tempeh bacon, and a nice little salad on the side. The sandwich was nice and crispy without being greasy, but it was still nice to have a little salad on the side to cleanse my palate and make me feel somewhat virtuous. If I’m remembering correctly, we also shared a side of sweet potato fries, which, in my opinion, you can never go wrong with ordering!
V Spot October 3, 2009

Bazu had plantain chips with guacamole which she really enjoyed,
V Spot October 3, 2009

and Michelle had a pepperoni pizza made with Daiya cheese…delicious!
V Spot October 3, 2009

I really enjoyed eating at V-Spot, and I’d like to try out other things on the menu the next time I’m in Brooklyn. Check it out if you’re nearby!

Bookmark and Share

Vienna was an amazing city, and I didn’t even touch the surface of all there is to see, do, and eat. On our last day, bazu, her friend Lucy, and I decided to try and do a little last minute site-seeing, and ended up in front of the Rathaus, drawn in by the carnival and food booths in front of it.

We decided to order a round of Sturm, a fermented grape juice, only available in the fall during grape harvest season.  It was so refreshing and sweet that we didn’t realize how much alcohol we were actually drinking, until we tried to find our way back to our friends’ apartment to pack up our stuff and head to the airport (the adventure included ending up in a train yard) . We did make it to the airport somehow, and early. I think if I hadn’t also stopped to have some potatoes, and luckily stopped at 2 1/2 mugs, I would have been in real trouble.

Sturm

Kartoffelpuffer

Stay tuned for more food and adventures from Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest!

Bookmark and Share

There’s another vegan 100 list circulating through the blogosphere (am I using a buzz word?), and since I’m not likely to get around to uploading photos from my trip until this weekend, here’s my list, with things I’ve tried in bold red, and things I’m pretty sure I’ve had, but can’t remember, in italics. I suppose if I can’t remember eating something, it probably wasn’t that great, and I should try it again.

1. Molasses
2. Cactus/Nopales
3. Scrambled Tofu
4. Grilled Portobella Caps
5. Fresh Ground Horseradish
6. Sweet Potato Biscuits
7. Arepas
8. Vegan Coleslaw
9. Ginger Carrot Soup
10. Fiddlehead Ferns
11. Roasted Elephant Garlic
12. Umeboshi (I have the vinegar in my pantry, I just haven’t used it yet!)
13. Almond Butter Toast
14. Aloe Vera
15. H and H Bagel NYC
16. Slow Roasted Butternut Squash
17. White truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Freshly ground wasabi
20. Coconut Milk Ice Cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Orchard-fresh pressed apple cider

23. Organic California Mango (in season Sept-Oct only)
24. Quinoa
25. Papaya Smoothie

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet or Habañero pepper
27. Goji Berry Tea
28. Fennel
29. Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

30. Radishes and Vegan Buttery Spread
31. Starfruit
32. Oven fresh Sourdough bread
33. Sangria made with premium fruit and juices
34. Sauerkraut

35. Acai Smoothie
36. Blue Foot Mushrooms
37. Vegan Cupcake from Babycakes nyc
38. Sweet Potatoes and Tempeh combo
39. Falafel
40. Spelt Crust Pizza

41. Salt and Pepper Oyster Mushrooms
42. Jicama Slaw
43. Pumpkin Edamame Ginger Dumplings
44. Hemp Milk
45. Rose Champagne
46. Fuyu (aka persimmons) (Why didn’t I steal a bite from bazu while were were in Vienna?!)
47. Raw Avocado-Coconut Soup
48. Tofu Pesto Sandwich
49. Apple-Lemon-Ginger-Cayenne fresh-pressed juice
50. Grilled Seitan
51. Prickly pear
52. Fresh Pressed Almond Milk
53. Concord Grapes off the vine
54. Ramps
55. Coconut Water fresh from a young coconut
56. Organic Arugula
57. Vidalia Onion

58. Sampler of organic produce from Diamond Organics
59. Honeycrisp Apple
60. Poi
61. Vegan Campfire-toasted S’mores (does using a lighter to melt marshmallows count?)
62. Grape seed Oil
63. Farm fresh-picked Peach

64. Freshly-made pita bread with freshly-made hummus
65. Chestnut Snack Packs
66. Fresh Guava
67. Mint Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies… need to try soon
68. Raw Mallomar from One Lucky Duck, NYC
69. Fried plantains
70. Mache

71. Golden Beets
72. Barrel-Fresh Pickles
73. Liquid Smoke
74. Meyer Lemon
75. Veggie Paella
76. Vegan Lasagna
77. Kombucha

78. Homemade Soy Milk
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Lychee Bellini (I had a lychee martini!)
81. Tempeh Bacon
82. Sprouted Grain Bread

83. Lemon Pepper Tempeh
84. Vanilla Bean
85. Watercress

86. Carrot you pulled out of the ground yourself
87. Vegan In-Season Fruit Pie
88. Flowers
89. Corn Chowder
90. High Quality Vegan Raw Chocolate

91. Yellow fuzz-free Kiwi
92. White Flesh Grapefruit
93. Harissa
94. Coconut Oil
95. Jackfruit
96. Homemade Risotto

97. Spirulina
98. Seedless ‘Pixie’ Tangerine
99. Gourmet Sorbet, not store bought
100. Fresh Plucked English Peas

I think that’s 47! Not too shabby! I can easily add more to my list. I’ve been planning on testing out soy and almond milks in the Vitamix, and a few of these are easily made, just things I’d never thought to make. Lets see if I can take care of a few before Vegan MoFo is over! In an case, I’ll link back to this post as I try new foods!

Bookmark and Share

largeveganmofo

I’m just getting back from an amazing trip to Finland, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest, where I spent time with Bazu, and finally got to meet lots of PPKers, including Melanie, Celine, Jojo, and Carmen and Joshua, who were kind enough to open up their home to a group of travelers and show us around. I plan on several trip-related posts with fabulous food, but my body and mind are still a little jet-lagged, so I’m digging into the past for today’s post.

Back when I was worked closer to home, I’d sometimes come home for lunch, and my husband and I would enjoy a leisurely lunch on the back patio, weather permitting. I must have made this Bento box thinking he was going in to work early that day, but I remember watching him eat it. In the box are grilled barbecued tofu, roasted potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and grilled zucchini.

Now that I work about an hour from home, I should utilize this laptop lunchbox for my own meals instead of haphazardly throwing random things in my lunch bag at the last minute, as I dash through the door. This lunch was made up of leftovers, and I think the dinner itself took less than an hour to get to the table. It just shows how easy it is to have a healthy (and kind of pretty, I think) meal, even when you’re pressed for time!

Bento Lunch for Carl

Bookmark and Share

I’m traveling this week, so I’ll post photos and all of the amazing food I’m eating as much as I can, but for now, here’s a survey to tide you over, the survey sweeping MoFo, borrowed from Whoa Wren’s blog.

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
To drink, I really like Silk chocolate, but that is a very rare treat. For most things, I use unsweetened almond milk.

2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
There’s an Epicurious challenge going on over at the PPK, I also want to make a pasta dish involving soy curls, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives, and something with

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
Salt and Sugar (aka Kettle Corn)

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
The first time I made tofu, I sliced it, put it in a pan, and dumped sauce on top. It did not look like the tofu I’d had in Chinese restaurants. I wouldn’t even try it.

5. Favorite pickled item?
Beets! (I still don’t like cooked beets, though)

6. How do you organize your recipes?
I have a lot of cookbooks, but I use Mac Gourmet for things I find online.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
Garbage disposal, until we move, then it will be compost.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods…what would they be (don’t worry about how you’ll cook them)?
Kale, peaches, and quinoa

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
My dad always rewarded me for finishing a school term, no matter how well I did, by taking me out for an enormous meal. He figured, if I did well, I deserved a reward, and if it was a rough term, well, we could celebrate the end of it. It was usually a fancy buffet where we’d embarrass ourselves by staying for hours, eating and laughing until we couldn’t move.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
So Delicious Coconut Milk – Coconut or Passionate Mango

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
My Vitamix!

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
Garlic

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?
Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking. Some of the advice (and assumptions about women doing all of the cooking) in this book are really out of date, but I learned how to bake yeast bread, make croissants, sift flour, and so many other things from the volumes of this cookbook. It’s falling apart and covered with food, but I’ll never give it away.

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
Apricot preserves!

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
Pasta, lasagna, and tex mex always go over well. Also, everyone in my family loves my baked goods. No one I know will turn down a cupcake. Well, except my husband, but he is vegan, he just doesn’t do dessert.

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
It depends, but I use tofu most often.

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
Brunch is definitely my favorite. You can serve a combination of sweet and savory foods, and even if you have pancakes, it’s okay to have dessert!

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
Chips, clif bars, trail mix, a blue klean canteen, cereal, crackers, empty beer bottles…really, what isn’t on top of the refrigerator?

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
Homemade dog food, several flavors of Cheezly, nuts

20. What’s on your grocery list?
Kale, garlic, fruit, onions, cauliflower, kombucha, clif bars, zucchini, and the rest depends on what I’m making for the week!

21. Favorite grocery store?
Roots Market, definitely, although I need to start just shopping for specialty items there since it can be a bit pricey!

22. Name a recipe you’d love to veganize, but haven’t yet.
My mom’s bread pudding. I know there are other recipes out there, but this is special stuff. It’s a baked custard with raisins, pineapple, and cinnamon, and you can cut it into squares. It’s so decadent I’m not going to bother trying to make it with whole wheat bread or less than a stick of Earth Balance, because I know I’d just be disappointed. Sometimes you just have to indulge!

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa’s because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
Where’s the Revolution, Have Cake Will Travel, and Fat Free Vegan.

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
I love this ginger chocolate bar that my very first PPK swap partner, the lovely Jojo sent me. I also enjoy the GoMaxGo Maholo bars, and now and then, Skittles, since they’re now gelatin-free in the U.S.!

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
Raw cacao powder. At least a little goes a long way!

26. Ingredients you are scared to work with?
Well, I’m not really afraid of anything, but for some reason bread-making seems a lot more labor-intensive in my head than it is in reality. With my stand-mixer, it’s really a breeze, and most of the time isn’t active. I should work with yeast more often!

Bookmark and Share

Brookland CafeMore and more restaurants in the DC area are offering vegan options as part of their regular menu. Brookland Cafe is now hosting a vegan night every Wednesday from 4pm – 11pm. One of the chefs comes from Soul Veg, another great place to eat. Brookland Cafe is conveniently located a few blocks from the Brookland/CUA station on the red line, so a friend and I decided to meet up and try it out. The cafe is tucked in a residential neighborhood, and is a cute place with colorful stools at high tables.

The vegan menu includes a vegan seafood basket, veggie burger, a fish platter, a few raw items and lots more. I decided to go with the shrimp basket, and Meghan ordered the fish platter, and was given a choice of tofu or vegan salmon, so she decided to go with the salmon since that’s something you don’t see very often. My basket came with vegan shrimp, battered cauliflower, and fries. Meghan ordered grilled veggies and fries with hers, and it came out with potato salad and coleslaw, but they threw in the grilled veggies and fries anyway, and a few minutes later a chef came out with an extra little cup of more veggies!

I don’t eat a lot of fried food, but every once in a while, I indulge, and I’m glad I did. The shrimp and cauliflower were seasoned well, with lots of black pepper, lightly battered, and fried to non-greasy perfection. The fries were also nicely seasoned. Meghan was nice enough to share some grilled veggies with me, and they were fresh and crisp-tender, a nice foil against all the fried food.

I also got an oatmeal raisin cookie to go. It was definitely freshly baked. I didn’t ask if they made the desserts in-house, but the cookie tasted like it came out of the oven that day.

Definitely check out Brookland Cafe. The service was super friendly, and the woman working there told us that the cafe is also considering adding a weekday breakfast menu, with some vegan items. If you’re interested let them know, and definitely stop by on Wednesdays so they keep the night going!!

Brookland Cafe

Brookland Cafe

Bookmark and Share

largeveganmofo

My husband surprised me with a plane ticket to see my dad in Kansas for my birthday this year. I can usually get something in most restaurants, even if it’s just a plate of fries or some steamed vegetables. I also knew there were a few health food stores where I’d be able to pick up a few things, so I knew I wouldn’t starve.

Like anyone obsessed with food, though, before any trip, I always check happycow.net and google around for places I can eat. I was excited to find Zen Vegetarian, a fairly new restaurant in Wichita. My dad is a pretty adventurous eater, so he was happy to indulge me. He isn’t a vegan, but he absolutely cannot have milk products, so he’s always happy to visit restaurants where he knows he’ll be able to eat something that won’t make him sick.

The atmosphere in Zen was nice and quiet, and the service was friendly. While the entire menu isn’t vegan, vegan dishes are clearly marked. My dad ordered a rice dish, his wife ordered some soup, and I got a Papaya Passion Salad and Sesame Soy Nuggets. Since it was lunch time, it came as a Bento box with soup, tempura vegetables, a spring roll, wonton, and rice. I had to skip the cream cheese wonton and soup, but there was plenty to eat, and I had leftovers, so while it would have been nice to have a vegan wonton and vegan soup, I certainly had enough food.

The salad was really tasty. It was spiced with chilis, but wasn’t too hot, and was nice and refreshing. The sesame soy was really good too, with nice, fresh broccoli, and the tempura was crispy without being overly battered or greasy. I’ll definitely go again the next time I’m visiting my dad.

Zen Vegetarian

Zen Vegetarian

We also went to a restaurant where I had a nice falafel platter, hummus, tabbouleh, and a fattoush salad. So, you don’t have to live in a large metropolitan area to enjoy vegan food at a restaurant!

Bookmark and Share

« Older entries