From the monthly archives: August 2011
Might as well share some pictures of Hurricane Irene’s after-math since I survived the hullabaloo. 
Small branches and leaves littered everywhere like a clumsy, ravenous herbivore had it’s way with the land.
Much to the disappointment of the newscasters reporting on the storm, the damage was far less than expected. I want the hours spent listening to their premature whining back. Fear-mongerish and manipulative reporting insults our intelligence.
“Storm surge” and “astrological high tide”: take a swig. “Ghost town” and a clearly manipulated camera shot hyperbolizing Irene’s impact: take two swigs.
Sidewalk blockage everywhere. “Hey, I’m walking here!”
This split tree was pretty intense.
And… pan-fried gnocchi, as promised. I had run into several omni recipes for fried gnocchi and I wanted to give it a whirl, hoping to up the ante on an ol’ stand-by. I cooked up the gnocchi then transferred it with a slotted spoon into some hot oil. I probably should have let is get a bit more golden but wanted to make sure I didn’t end up with rubber. They were absolutely yummy topped! Next time I will get a bit fancier as I just topped these babies with marinara…
Hunkered down within the Hurricane Irene pandemonium, the exuberance of local weatherpeople becomes kind of numbing. I am just going to talk about peanut butter for a little bit because Irene catch phrases are starting to bother me. With a jar of Peanut Butter & Co.‘s White Chocolate Wonderful purchased as a high-end emergency edible, I knew I had to make a batch of cookies. Inspired by this recipe, I cut the sugar since my peanut butter was sweetened with cane juice already and used 2 TB of arrowroot for a binder. Let’s look.
With my good camer a stowed in Brooklyn, I used my old point-n-shoot that has like 5 mega-pixels. Considering, I think I got some nice shots of these buttery and delicate cookies.
I tend to be turned off by a peanut butter cookie… thick, dense… and I wished I had some chocolate to add, but these were damn good.
Lest I forget I am under mandatory evacuation, New Jersey governor Chris Christie and New York City Mayor Bloomberg reminded me often.
Yes, it is back to school time!
Last year I shared my D.I.Y. inspirational posters for my classroom. This year I am adding a few more.
For the library:
Vocabulary enrichment:
This poster format was inspired by a crafter who was selling it in woodcut form for top dollar (see here). I kind of love my version just as much.
And to add to the “can’t really post in classroom” pile but serving to inspire me:
Metaphors can be a liability.
Not age appropriate. 10 year olds should enjoy and experience the world first and foremost.
Complaints are the currency of the unimaginative and inflexible. That should be another poster.
Math Fabric!
After looking for a good math fabric for my bulletin board and not liking the results, I made my own! This is my first fabric design on Spoonflower. I think I’ll be making many more designs in the coming months…
Last time I was in Ithaca, New York I had a horrible time. I exasperated an illness with the drive north and then had to drive home in miserable shape. I wrote my most scathing review thus far on the subpar eatery where my friends and I dined. It was a bad time. This time was also filled with folly that I will again blame on Ithaca, whose tainted land was distributed to Revolutionary War soldiers by way of land grants, claiming the lands of the tribes of Cayuga Indians, big players in the Iroquois confederation (Thanks, Wiki). Yes, I blame the early American settlers for our strokes of Ithacanian bad luck… and I blame Nascar.
That’s right: Nascar. With a Nascar race in Watkins Glen (home of Farm Sanctuary), we were shut out of the city. No rooms save for those fetching $250. So, the backseat was my bed, a bag of sweet rice I bought from Wegmans–my pillow and my chlorine-soaked bathing suit– my my eye mask to cover the harsh, glowing light of the Kohl’s parking lot lamps. With CandyPenny reclining in the passenger seat, we snoozed 5+ hours anxiously awaiting breakfast. It was good to know I still had the flexibility and good humor to partake in such shenanigans.
So yes, my pillow of rice came from Wegmans. Had we not been so astounded by the quantity of vegan pantry items there I may not have rested so easily in the HHR’s backseat. Huge tubs of Vegenaise, agave nectar and Braggs… oh my! A long stock of non-dairy milk options, yogurts and cheeses. International aisles. Real low prices. Love it!
Killing time before breakfast, we poured over stock at Ithaca’s local natural foods co-op, GreenStar, and their great selection of bulk foods.
Morning was filled with several misadventures, including having to spend prolonged time in a Starbucks, terrible coffee at a local diner whose wait staff resented our loitering and this elusive post in VegGuide that sent us on a small excursion to a weird, desolate building. The posting and link was for Vegan Epicure, a deli that offered “12 flavores of Seitan. Tofu 3 Flavores, Tempeh cooked. Vegan Spanikopita’s and tempeh Empanad’s Great food.” No such find. It was only later while wasting time in GreenStar did we see the locally-made seitan and felt a little better.
No Frack-ing way.
And finally! Waffle Frolic was open! This poor place had taken on a heavy load considering our misfortune. All was riding on our breakfast. And it was ok.
I got the Waffle Dog, a Smart Dog dipped in their vegan waffle batter and fried. I really wanted this darn thing… far more than I wanted to drive another couple of hours out of the area after a whole day of driving the evening before to attempt find a room. Was it worth it? No. But it was worth getting back into Brooklyn before flood waters overtook the place. I am thankful we hightailed outta that town quickly thereafter breakfast. Lagusta’s Luscious in New Paltz and Jolo’s in Westchester, we’ll hit you next time.
I leave you with my corn dog…
I praise many eats and eateries on this blog. My praises are merited as are my critiques. I know food. I care about it deeply. So when I have a meal like this, like the meal I had at Buffalo, New York’s The Eights, it’s a big deal. The Eights is a bar and bistro with a very vegan menu of delicious and thoughtful options that speak volumes of the owner’s (owners’?) regard for quality food. With mouth-watering bar food options, The Eights is one of the best vegan options I’ve had in a long time.
It’s easy to find healthful vegan fare. But to find well-done vegan pub fare that is hearty and more than deep-fried? Now that is something. The Eights achieves tenfold what countless vegan “comfort food” eateries attempt and fall short of. I just hate that it is so far away from my home in Brooklyn. Here are their avocado fries with their “honey” mustard dipping sauce. Delicious, pure and simple.
Looking closer we see the delicate pale green inside. The fried outside was crisp, not overly greasy, and the inside creamy avocado. You know avocado. Imagine that fried. Absolutely amazing.
For my entree I chose the Beef on a Weck. What the heck is that? It’s a Buffalo-born sandwich that became a local favorite after German immigrants working on the Eerie Canal brought over their kummelweck bread, a soft and salty roll topped with caraway seeds. After reading its fascinating history here, it’s clear that The Eights’ version of Beef on a Weck is true to form. That famous weck is served with a sloppy, soaked seitan au jus, fresh grated horseradish that just about kicked my behind and three fried pickles. This meal was so spectacular… and so perfect an accompaniment, a Wolaver’s.
Last minute low-ball bidding on Priceline is a skill I can add to my resume. Being V.I.V.B. (very important vegan bloggers), we needed a safe haven to recuperate from a long day of eating. Luckily, the boutique Indigo Hotel gave us a $100 room for about $50 bucks. After some restful sleep, an invigorating session in the sauna and some much needed exercise in the pool, we were ready for another day of eating.
For breakfast on a beautiful Saturday morning we stopped at Hibiscus in the bustling area of Kensington Market, a cute and hip neighborhood in downtown Toronto. I must admit that this was not our first choice for morning eats. We tried to go to Fressen for their brunch menu, which had me at “tofu omelette”, but they were closed. So Hibiscus it was. It was a delicious stop! I was thankful we were able to try this option, which otherwise would have not made the cut due to time restrictions.
Hibiscus is predominantly a creperie. Correction: predominantly a vegan creperie. To get more taste for our CAD, we split a sweet and a savory. Everything at Hibiscus; the crepes, coffee, sample treat by the register, ambiance and service; was great. Above is our savory crepe: Chutney, Pecan & Pear–a vegan pesto, fresh greens, sliced pear and pecan with some Daiya. It was more a sweet and savory crepe after a drizzle of agave and a sprinkle of cinnamon. So very good.
And the sweet! A Banana & {Vegan} Nutella–sliced banana, dark chocolate and hazelnuts, chocolate chips dusted with cocoa and powdered sugar. So. Darn. Good. Dare I say that there was a bit too much chocolate, however? There I said it. Both crepes had great texture, thin like a true crepe. [Not pancakes called crepes (worst offender: Caravan of Dreams: see here from my 2008 post)] Thanks, Hibiscus. Onward and outward, we cut across Toronto’s grid for our next sweet fix.
Bunners.
I’m going to say it again, Bunners. Bunners is an all-vegan and gluten-free bakery in The Junction in Toronto. Like the photo collage of my amazing cupcake above illustrates, they make a heavenly cupcake. I just couldn’t stop taking pictures of its pretty self. Then I bit it…
I have had a ton of vegan cupcakes in my lifetime. Bunners is up there as one of the best. Simply put, it’s got a great taste, scoring maximum cupcake points for a unique and nuanced flavor. Like Eco Bella Bakery in Rochester (post here), Bunners is not superficial sugarfest. There is a taste, there is texture and it’s their own recipe clearly. Their frosting is not a gritty pile of confectionary sugar. There is more to it. Overall, 5 stars on the cupcake scale.
Besides cupcakes, they’ve got a whole bunch of other baked goods like cinnamon buns, muffins, cookies and donuts.
Given I won’t soon be back in Toronto, I should have stocked up.
Thanks, Toronto! For the amazing vegan eats and for Jeff Mangum. Now it’s back to The States!
Quick! Name as many starches as you can in this dish from the all-vegan One Love in Toronto, Canada.
I’ll help you. 1) Green banana, steamed… 2) sweet potato… 3) yucca… 4) yellow yam… 5) plantain, as well as cooked greens and some fresh avocado slices. As the darling name implies, One Love is a Caribbean take-out restaurant, bringing their unique Ital cuisine to the very diverse Seaton Village neighborhood of Toronto.
With its gorgeous mural, One Love’s hard to miss. The place’s atmosphere is calm and benevolent and its food, simple and delicious. After all, it was 2009′s Critics’ Pick for Best Vegan restaurant in Now Magazine, Toronto’s Village Voice-equivalent. Prices are a tad high, but we found that to be true of everything in Toronto (No joke, 75$ CAD to fill up the car. It was $50-ish in The States.).. but luckily not true of our parking ticket.
Though I had created the loose itinerary for our last summer hurrah to Toronto, it was CandyPenny‘s keen eye who caught sight of the v-bomb as we ventured down the eclectic Bloor street for the umpteenth time and luckily we were able to stop and eat. The Hogtown Vegan, an all-vegan restaurant serving scrumptious comfort food… barely a month and a half old… simply blew us away.
Though we were taken aback by the horrid traffic on the QEW, a gazillion lane highway connecting Buffalo, New York with Toronto, and confused by the hectic metropolis we battled through at the mercy of our GPS, we were so impressed with what we ate. Hogtown Vegan was the perfect remedy for the urban sprawl. From the brainchildren of Hot Beans, an all-vegan Mexican take-out and donut shop in the hip Kensington Market, and Hello Vegan zine, comes some thoughtful grub. We split the roasted sweet potato sandwich: roasted sweet potato with some fresh greens, dressed with a tangy drizzle and some pepitas for texture. Collards on the side. So damn good.
Behold their fancy-pants fries! Housemade cheese, housemade cashew sour cream, housemade “bacon” bits (see the trend? Housemade makes me feel as good as “all-vegan”) and some green onion. Unbelievable. Can I reiterate how happy I am they are not relying on Daiya for cheese or Tofutti for sour cream? If I wanted store-bought, I’d go to the store.
These made us happy. But we had to run…
It was time to head to the Trinity St. Paul’s United Church to see the one and only Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel. Yes, the sought-after tickets I nabbed in late February (blog after-math here) were finally picked up at will-call. Though we had driven by the church earlier, frightened by the length of the line, we hurried in after dinner easily and secured an upper level pew to watch the show. It was a gorgeous setting to finally see him live.
The show, as expected, was fantastic. His powerful and familiar voice traveled high in the domed steeple of the church leaving me stupefied and 16 again… when I traveled for music, when it was that good. The polite crowd and I were on the same wavelength, just so happy to see him. Not a sea of cell phones cameras, in fact I saw none during his hour-ish set and encore. But I had to snap something to take home with me.
Continuing the all-vegan upstate New York theme, I bring you pictures of some wonderful vegan goodies hiding in a sleepy street in downtown Rochester, the treats of Eco Bella Bakery.
I’ve written of the pleasures of an all-vegan establishment before. What can often be a grueling process of ordering food becomes effortless. Of course the “grueling” process is well-worth it as my choice to be vegan for 14 years stands on many different foundations–one being I like to know exactly what I am putting into my body. At an all-vegan eatery I am suspended in the splendor of complete trust and the excitement of possibility.
In this state I usually eat too much. Case in point: the blueberry filled cupcake, alongside CandyPenny‘s chocolate and peanut butter brownie. The blueberry cupcake was spot on: a subtle, almost corn bread like cupcake topped with the perfect pipe of buttercream, garnished with some fresh blueberries and some colored sprinkles (India Tree?)
Also mine in the sweets frenzy: Rocky Road cupcake and delicious and delicate pecan-topped Snickerdoodle. The cupcake was very good, a subdued chocolate cake topped with all the Rocky Road requirements… chocolate chips, nuts and ♡Dandies marshmallows♡. Eco Bella does a fantastic job making goodies that are not overly sweet, something any food lover appreciates. Sugar ≠ deliciousness. Given how much sweetener is added to processed foods, one can say it’s used more often to fool a taste bud into accepting a whole bunch of crappy ingredients.
“Closer,” I say like Hannibal Lechter. Here is Rocky Road scrumptiousness next to the owner-recommended Snickerdoodle. Mmmm-a great start to the morning. Now onward to Canada.. Oh Canada…
Strong Hearts Cafe is an all-vegan cafe in Syracuse, New York. I’ve been eying their menu for some time, attempted a trip once but fell ill enroute. Since, it has sat in my bookmarks in the folder To Do, subfolder To Go & Eat. Here, finally, I get a taste of Syracuse’s only exclusively vegan eatery.
Strong Hearts Cafe has full menu of sandwich favorites, breakfast bites available all day and a slew of other goodies–salads, baked goods and a mouth-watering list of shakes named after a cast of social and animal activists. Try the homage to the hardline straightedgers Earth Crisis (peanut butter & chocolate), a band I hadn’t thought of since I last saw them at Wetlands in 1996, or The Sea Shepherds (coconut), marking owner Joel‘s Arctic stint with Sea Shepherds in 2005. Beyond their amazing menu, it is great to support the passionate causes that founded the cafe.
On to the food! Growing up on Long Island a local ma-n-pa delicatessen was never more than a few blocks away. I loved the potato salad, watching the big silver spoon dish out a huge portion for me, hoping for a piece of the upper layer’s garnish… Not many vegan eateries include potato salad on their menus. I knew Strong Hearts would do it right. Perfectly cooked potatoes, plenty of fresh dill, creamy with celery for texture. Yum.
I have problems with considering any other sandwich on the menu when a Reuben is offered. This one was delicious. The rye was grilled to a golden brown, there was perfect cabbage-to-seitan proportion and a tangy thousand islands dressing drizzled about. Next time I’d opt for none of the Daiya and add some pickles for some crunchy texture.
Of course, dessert. After a 5 hour ride and a bad case of Driver’s Knee (I’m getting old!), I think I earned it. The huge cupcake was their take on a creamsicle: vanilla cake (VCTOTW if I had to guess) and a sweet orange buttercream. Hubba hubba. Some serious piping up top. I’m curious about their sprinkles as I’ve never seen a vegan version (without the confectioners’ glaze) meet the texture and brightness of the non-vegan variety.
Like its name implies, Long Island is looong. Heading east from my starting point in Freeport, it’s almost 100 miles to Montauk Point (a.k.a. The End). With a year-round Hamptons local as my guide, I spent the day on this long stretch of road, searching for vegan eats but finding a stroll down memory lane… intersecting with an onslaught of beachside development homogenizing a once charming escape from the concrete jungle.
With weekend warriors still crawling slowly back west, most spots were crowded with undesirables… you know, affluent snobs, bad drivers and the like. It takes a charming farm stand to remember why you’re out there in the first place: the smell of local strawberries; the uneven, bulbous parts of an organic Heirloom tomato; fruit and vegetables without little stickers on a waxed coating.
An internet search for vegan eats on the East End was unfruitful. The few listings I had found had closed. One menu I did manage to peruse beforehand was Provisions in Sag Harbor, which seemed to have a bit for two vegans to work with. We stopped at the busy market and cafe hybrid for lunch and left a bit uninspired.
Despite the collection of seasonings and fixings available in the inefficient lay-out of the cafe, my food was quite bland. My tofu scramble wrap was seasoned with turmeric for color and nothing for taste. It was very 90′s vegan to me: healthful and animal-free, sure, but not exactly delicious. The sausage links, which counterperson claimed were vegan, were surely of the packaged variety. Lightlife sausage contain egg and profit ConAgra. Morningstar, which the sausage resemble the most, contain egg. My presumption: the sausage is likely not vegan. Ew.
My $17 wrap, sausage and packaged pie seemed to be a tremendous waste of money, like the $9 smoothie my friend purchased, until I tasted said packaged pie. The Hail Merry Miracle Tart in Persian Lime was ridiculously good! It was like a soft, smooth Larabar with a delicate texture and tongue-tingling taste. This raw treat’s ingredient list read like erotic literature to my ears.
Dear cold-pressed coconut oil, I love you.
Our next stop was Joni’s in Montauk, a charming sandwich, salad and smoothie stop for hungry surfer locals and newbie resort goers. Again, the menu was 90′s style vegetarian: bared bones basics and very reliant on dairy. But these menu holes were filled with personality and the unique energy of founder Joni.
We split the Thai Me Up!–marinated tofu with shredded veggies wrapped in rice paper with a side of peanut dipping sauce. They were cool and crisp, hitting the spot. I can do without all this plastic packaging however.
Also on the menu, fresh coconut for a delicious, refreshing sip of wonder.
Naturally Good Foods and Cafe has been open in Montauk since 1985 and it is likely that their menu of food hasn’t changed since. The cafe offers more early vegetarian-ish options: rice and beans, vegetable wraps, cheese and tuna filled sandwiches. They do offer bagels with soy butter and jelly as well as the tofu scramble wrap that seems to be the veg-menu staple out East.
What is forefront on these Eastern Long Island menus is a focus on fresh vegetables, which surrounding farms supply them with, and not necessarily food craft (how pretentious that sounds!) or attention to taste. There is something to be said for a simple menu but not so much when other elements aren’t aligned (packaged foods added, fresh foods wrapped in packaged wraps, etc.)
My next trip east will include a trip to one of the many farm stands and a trip to my friend’s kitchen to have my way with the fresh produce. Then I’ll only have myself to complain about.
The East Village’s Cowgirl’s Bakery makes deep-fried Kool Aid balls. A sucker for kitsch, nostalgia and an all-vegan bakery, I had to partake… once. I chose orange, the preferred artificial flavor of my youth. They also had the flavor of “red” and the flavor of “purple.”
Though I’d prefer deep-fried Tang, my orange zeppole, my little mainline of sugar, was a fun few bites.
Now to some natural sweetness… The Soft Serve Fruit Co., now in the Union Square hood thankfully, is a very welcome addition to the vegan frozen treat scene. Their soft serve is creamy, packed with natural flavor and, like, 99% fruit. ”Fruit, filtered water and the littlest bit of cane sugar,” the nice counter guy explains. Samples and great service are given with a smile. And that’s the beginning…
My banana and mango swirl topped with pineapple and strawberry was delicious–so clean! I need to go back to try another combination.
Vegan Reporting By Location
