Currently viewing the tag: "VV Massachusetts"
Wait. What?
Do you see that? The billboard right outside of our cheap motel in Foxboro, Massachusetts. “Go Vegan!” Well, what do you know. This billboard, part of Peta‘s “Be Healthy. Be Happy. Be Vegan.” campaign was a nice siting. Nicer than the true but kinda offensive Save the Whales campaign that takes aim at overweight ladies.
We had one more day in Boston… and it was a Monday. Mondays are bad days for the traveling hungry; it seems like every restaurant takes a break on Monday. We treked through the convoluted weaving of Boston proper hoping for lunch at Pulse Cafe, an all-vegan eatery in the food-heavy area of Somerville, just North of Cambridge, only to be disappointed. Turns out I had jotted down the wrong hours in my travel log and we’d have to go without their cashew cheese-ed dishes I was looking forward to. We then hit Fiore’s Bakery in the Jamaica Plain area. I had gotten a taste of their goodies when I attended the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival in November of ’08 (see here). They were open but their vegan selection consisted of big, burnt-looking chocolate chip cookies and brown muffins of some sort–all very 90′s vegan-looking (i.e. not too tasty). I opted not to buy and headed to lunch at Red Lentil Vegetarian Restaurant… back in Somerville.
It’s exhausting driving around Boston. The lay of the city streets makes no sense to me. I needed a quick sweet fix before a good lunch. Do you know about China Cola? It’s made by Reed’s, most known for their ginger beer (and their morning-sickness ginger tonic), and it’s kind of great. It’s made with Chinese tonics and elixrs like Szechwan Peony Root and Cassia Bark, Malaysian vanilla, the oils of lemon, lime & orange, as well as nutmeg, cloves, cardamom and licorice. Unlike the Reed’s ginger brews, which are sweetened with fructose, it’s sweetened with raw cane sugar. I like it!
Traveling with someone who isn’t real interested in food, I was forced to cover the entire table with my dishes. For an appetizer I had the sesame-encrusted seitan strips with the side of mind-blowing sweet miso-horse radish dressing. What a kick that horseradish gives! The seitan chunks were very, very good though a bit dry. After being soaked in horseradish, they softened up a bit. Can I say horseradish again? Horseradish. This dipping sauce will not soon leave my memory. I want to coat the world with it!
Here’s a close-up.
Oh boy, were these amazing. The Sweet Potato Quesadilla: roasted sweet potatoes, grilled asparagus, roasted plum tomatoes, spinach and vegan Daiya jack cheese. Like the name states, the sweet potato is the true star here. I was relieved the vegan jack wasn’t too much, just barely there. These quesadilla were the perfect combination of flavors and textures… no sogginess and easy to handel. Dare I say… perfect? I could eat these everyday.
I had to get dessert. When would I be back? Not anytime soon. I had to try their house-made cake. I opted for the chocolate-strawberry cake: a triple layer cake super saturated with flavor and pieces of strawberry. The chocolate icing was very creamy and not overly sweet. I wished I would have known that the strawberry cake was drizzled heavily with raspberry sauce as I am not a fan. But overall, a nice sweet bite.
Trying to get to Boston’s True Bistro for brunch before the wedding hadn’t worked out. And unfortunately so. This all-vegan restaurant has one spectacular brunch menu. Considering there was no way I was leaving Boston without trying their delicious-reading menu of high end fare, we had to make a b-line from the ceremony to Somerville before their Sunday closing time, as Monday they were closed. To our surprise, the place was hopping when we arrived at 8:30.
A basket of bread was delivered promptly with some olive oil for dipping. Though it was not the freshest, few things beat a bite of bed saturated with a good olive oil. And this was a really good olive oil.
I opted for a small plate of pea and leek ravioli in a lemon-thyme cream though I had my mind on their Seitan Piccata since I first glanced their menu. The ravioli were so very good, tender and flavorful. It is so nice to have a cream sauce like this–lite and with no mouth coat. The quality of ingredients and chef’s skills are crystal clear given this one small plate. I must return for a full dinner.
Here is a close-up on the pea and leek ravioli cross-section. It was so difficult not to eat these in one inhalation.
For dessert, and maybe because I wasn’t able to eat one at the Shoreline Diner the day before, I had the Napoleon. Layers of paper-thin sugared pastry with a fantastic subtly sweet cream (I would guess cashew-based) and fresh, sliced strawberries. Mmmm! Dip into that sweet strawberry sauce and it’s even more delicious.
I struggled with how to attack Napoleon.
Max ordered their gluten-free dessert option, the ‘Death-by-chocolate’ cake topped with creme anglaise and crunchy shattered caramel. And he polished it off so quickly I didn’t have a chance to try it! I would have loved to try the caramel (foreshadowing alert… more on vegan caramel later).
Cohasset, Massachusetts is an idyllic setting for New England lovebirds. The ceremony took place in the town’s common, a collection of charming buildings, in a church with a tall steeple poking at the sky.
The staff of the Barker Tavern in gorgeous Cohasset, Mass. were wonderfully accommodating, checking in before and after about my vegan meal.
There is my meal. Wild rice and lentil stuffed pilaf in a canoe of zucchini drizzled with a balsamic reduction. A clean and delicious plate of goodness.
The gang is almost all here! My goddaughter and I, my brother & his goddaughter and the proud pop of all these little ones–my brother, holds his baby boy.
Wild child Kayla poses with her spoon. (How Amelie-esque!) Not pictured–the sundae she made herself.
Curious Baby Linebacker Joey explores the world on hands and knees.
Big sister Ashley has all the right moves. My nieces and nephew are so full of personality! It’s amazing to see them interact with the world.
It was a lovely day of family and fun.
The name of the game at the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival was cupcakes and cheese. Despite the constant stream of attendees and cramped space for exhibits and speakers, the event was vegan foodie heaven! With two floors of generous exhibitors, many household vegan celebrities, and their delicious samples, the hustle and bustle was well worth it. Although CandyPennyand I opted not to squeeze in to see any of the speakers, we left the place reeling from the exciting event.
Some of the shining stars I discovered at the festival were: Galaxy’s Vegan Rice Cheese and Concord, New Hampshire’s Cafe Indigo, home of the best-ever chocolate vegan cake.
Other photographed highlights included:
Hippie Chick Bakery
Kensington, New Hampshire
I’m learning that the Northeast isn’t completed overshadowed by the vegan-friendly Northwest (e.g. Portland, OR). We have several established bakeries doing wonderful vegan things.
Teese Cheese
Teese CheeseChicago Soydairy, Illinois
Teese’s exhibit table clogged up the walkways! Everyone wanted a piece of Teese’s outstanding vegan mozzarella and cheddar Teese. With teenage 7-11 nostalgia, I couldn’t believe I pumped a hot vegan nacho cheese from their pump. Being a longtime vegan, I couldn’t be more excited about finally having some awesome cheesy options. (It seems like only yesterday I spit out the salty white slice of grossness that was being passed for a “cheese” slice.) Teese is certainly taking over. They distribute to distinguished vegan joints around the country.
Fiore’s Italian Bakery
Fiore’s Italian BakeryBoston, Massachusetts (Jamaica Plain)
The gals at Fiore’s were dishing out sample chocolate and vanilla cake that was absolutely yum!
Little Vegan Monsters
Little Vegan MonstersNew Haven, Connecticut
Little Vegan Monsters is putting out a cookbook it seems. Besides that I am not sure what this cute couple is doing on the vegan front. The attractive website is a business card with no job title. I love me some vegan cupcakes but I’m a little confused.
Liz Lovely
Liz LovelyWaitsfield, Vermont
Liz Lovely has long been my favorite packaged vegan cookie. They are just perfect: Certified Fair Trade, Certified Organic, Certified Vegan with green-packaging… and what a wonderful success story. I’d be green with envy if I wasn’t on such a sugar high.
Wheeler’s Black Label Vegan Ice Cream
Wheeler’s Black Label Vegan Ice CreamBoston, Massachusetts
I’ve tasted Wheeler’s earlier this year at a tiny little taste fest in the East Village (CandyPenny reported here) and was blown away. The eccentric Wheeler Del Torro creates the most interesting flavors of ice cream (curry, apple pie, peanut butter and jelly and so) and is certainly a rising star of the vegan treat world.
My Sweet Vegan
My Sweet VeganThe talented, demure diva of vegan sweetness does it all. Bakes, crafts, blogs, publishes cookbooks and creates the most mouth watering photographs of treats.
My Loot:
And last but certainly NOT least, dinner. After tons of sweet sugary samplings, we were ready for a healthful raw dinner. Amazing.
Grezzo Restaurant
69 Prince Street, Boston, Massachusetts
Gnocchi carbonara: house-made dumplings, creamy rawmesan and fresh English peas with pea shoots and crispy eggplant
Unroasted Pepper Trio: farmer’s market baby bell peppers filled with miso, habañero and curry nut cheeses with crostini. Amazing
Unroasted Pepper Trio: farmer’s market baby bell peppers filled with miso, habañero and curry nut cheeses with crostini. Amazing
The East Village’s Organic Grill serves a mean tofu omelet. In my previous visits, spanning a few years now, they’ve always used a proprietary blend of vegan cheddar cheese. I was a bit disappointed to learn they have now converted over to Follow Your Heart‘s cheese. The omelet is still the best of its kind but I miss the smooth texture and heat-retaining capabilities of their old cheese. Wah.
Here are their Seitan Skewers…
…and grilled tofu sandwich. Both very delicious.
…and grilled tofu sandwich. Both very delicious.
Onward to Northampton, Massachusetts. In the adorable Florence area is a wonderful cafe and bakery: Cafe Evolution. Though their food offerings are a bit limited, the space is also home to Oh Sweet Mama’s Vegan Bakery. What a delight the place was! Wok Man and I spent the entire morning at the Ms. Pac Man table admiring the local art on the walls and inspecting the flurry of vegan activist pamphlets alongside the locals. Our breakfast sandwich, which refused to rotate (below), was a nice bite of mostly grocery items: Tofurky slices, Veganaise, Follow Your Heart cheddar.
The real draw was the baked items. So many wonderful items to chose from! Knowing that I’d soon be leaving town, the pressure was on. I chose the lemon cupcake and Wok Man had the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.
Came, saw and cupcake-conquered! My country-wide tour of America’s vegan bakeries continues…
The real draw was the baked items. So many wonderful items to chose from! Knowing that I’d soon be leaving town, the pressure was on. I chose the lemon cupcake and Wok Man had the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.
Came, saw and cupcake-conquered! My country-wide tour of America’s vegan bakeries continues…
Next (actually after a long, all-day hike on the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail) was dinner at Bela Vegetarian Restaurant. This place blew my heavily dampened mountaineering socks off. The corn chowder, which I ordered only because I was ferociously hungry and knew I wouldn’t be able to think straight waiting for my meal, was, hands down, the best soup I ever had! So creamy and hearty. The Boylan King Cola also kicked butt.
My harvest burger, made of lentils, tofu and other such goodies, was of the crumbling variety which meant… seconds! It was absolutely fab. After eating a full cubed potato in my chowder, I donated my rosemary potatoes to Wok Man because he’s a bottomless pit.
Here Wok Man inhales the aroma of spaghetti with soy sausage, Swiss chard and diced tomato. And in the end, he’s full! A hard goal to accomplish.
Although I have long held the position of official family weirdo, there are some genes one cannot escape. My mother gave me defined eye brows, long slender fingers and a love for the New York Mets. This dominant trait, passed to her from her own mother, an avid baseball fan, was also passed to my sister and two brothers.
Within Mets-love is Yankees-less than love. It is reassuring to know during the Subway Series this past Saturday, my mother, father, sister, brothers and sister-in-law were all staring at the same pixels of telecommunication in their respective households, cheering and jeering/hooting and hollering. Hometown team affinity is sociologically interesting, like Trekkies or Star Wars fan sub-cultures. I enjoy being a part of their rituals and pilgrimages.
This curiosity packed me in a rental car with 3 native Wisconsin-ers to Boston’s Fenway Park to see the Red Sox take on the Milwaukee Brewers this past Sunday by way of a spontaneous roadtrip. The stadium oozed with history and, although packed with Sox fans, offered much more opportunity for quiet reflection while pretzel-dipping than New York’s obnoxious stadiums.
Vegan offerings are slim at Fenway but the big soft pretzels are always a viable tide-over. As is the bread soda…
Vegan Reporting By Location
