Testing for Isa's New Book

Isa, co-author/author of such awesomeness as Veganomicon, Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Brunch, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and the brand new Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar (good God, she can pump out cookbooks!) is currently in the process of writing a weight reduction/healthy cookbook. I tested previously for her for V'con and I hope to be doing a bit better (i.e. testing more recipes) this time around. So far I have liked every single thing I've tested, with a lot of love for some of them. My favorite definitely is the awesome Curried Corn Chowder. So! Good! Y'all should be in great anticipation for this new cookbook!

My most recent testing was for Pasta con Broccoli. With a whole head of garlic in it, this isn't for those who dislike this pungent vegetable. I didn't follow the recipe exactly since I didn't have all the ingredients, but I also added Gardein Seasoned Chunks that I had found on sale at a Safeway. I've had Gardein once or twice before and had just thought they were ok. I wasn't blown away like Ellen DeGeneres seems to be. I like that they seem to be made from all natural ingredients and healthy for you, but the texture is sometimes weird. So I tried them again. I added the chunks to the pasta recipe.....and they again didn't blow me away. I think I need to cook them longer so they get more firm. 

This pasta dish turned out pretty good. I think next time I'll cook the garlic longer and use a little less. I ended up throwing out quite a bit of it because the garlic slices ended up kinda big and I didn't like the idea of eating it straight up. The only time I don't mind that is when it's been roasted, then bring on the whole cloves! 

I used spinach bowtie pasta that I had picked up at Grocery Outlet. I love bowtie pasta and I love spinash pasta, so it's like a match made in my own private heaven!

Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree...

Last year at this time Portland was buried in snow, my flight had just gotten cancelled and rescheduled for 5 days later, and I was in the start of a much-needed 2 week vacation from work. The times...they are a'changing....

I've got two jobs that totally 14-19 hours a week and no snow in sight. I'm going to Florida (aka home) the end of January with my sister and brother-in-law and very much look forward to the (Lord willing, since a couple years ago I went in January and there was a COLD SPELL!) warm sunshine..and, you know, friends and family. 

I have been pondering going overseas again. I haven't gone to another country (besides Canada) since 2003 when I had lived in Germany for a year and done lots of roaming around. I had been thinking about it, but what really got me thinking of it for real was the book Eat, Pray, Love. I didn't really like this book, but it made me think. I remember when I was in Edinburgh, Scotland and I wrote down in my journal (or a letter...I don't remember...I don't normally journal much though) that I wanted to come back to this city some time and stay a couple months to work and play. I feel like right now is my chance. Technically this summer would've been a smarter time to go.....but right now I still don't have a "real" full time job, I'm not on a lease and I have a friend that could be move into my room while I'm gone. We, along with my roommate, had talked about getting a place together. So hypothetically, we would look for a place when I get back and until we find something, I could live with my sister. She's been wanting me to move back anyways.  :o)    

Does anyone know of any good programs/jobs in Edinburgh or Australia? (I've been thinking of going to Australia since I've never gone and a lot of my friends have and really liked it)

Foodwise: Last night I made 3 adorable small loaves of Pound Cake. I frikkin' love that stuff! When I was younger I would get my mom to buy the Sara Lee frozen pound cake and I would eat the shit out of it. I can't believe that I wasn't fat as a youngin'. I was a bit on the chubby side, but not quite. I ate a lot of veggie-less macaroni salad, hardboiled eggs (including deviled eggs), pound cake, McDonald's and Burger King, trail bologna, cheese, and lots of soda. 

The pound cake I made was from Veganomicon (by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romano). I don't know if I've ever made it exactly as the recipe states. I never have the citrus extracts and rarely do I have the zest needed. I use whatever flavor soy yogurt I have on hand and the first time I made it I didn't have the amount of arrowroot asked for, but it came out good anyways! This time I used Key Lime yogurt that had expired last week. (Previously I've also used cherry....really almost ever flavor would work) I had thought I would give them as small gifts to a couple people so I used my aluminum miny loaf pans Missy had convinced me to buy at Grocery Outlet. They turned out delicious and, dare I say, moist! 

I just have to say, thank God for Isa and Terry! 

ChaseNoFace...no freakin' way!

I was reading one of my favorite pop culture blogs the other day and he (Rich) gave a link to a blog that follows the life of a 4 year old cat named Chase who was in a accident when she was 3-5 weeks old. The accident injuries eventually led to the kitty having no mouth, eyelids...face. She does have eyes, which is extremely odd since SHE HAS NO EYELIDS! According to the blog, the cat is in no pain and when she wants to sleep she usually goes under the bed or in a dark room. But, seriously, you have to see these pictures! On an empty stomach! It will blow your mind. It reminds me of Mike the headless chicken a bit.

Did I ever tell you that I love Jen Corace's art? Well, I do. I forgot that I used to follow her blog until I thought of her the other day (all my bookmarks got erased awhile back when my friend reset everything on my computer). She's the one that drew the infamous Cowhugger design that I can't get enough of (I have the sticker on my car, the long sleeve green and the deep v-neck purple, my favorite) and she used to do a lot of illustrations in one of Portland's alternative weekly papers, The Mercury. When I first found out about her art, I contacted her, saying I was interested in getting a tattoo designed by her. She said she was good with a trade, but I don't really make/do anything specific and soon after I heard she had an idea for me....I never heard from her again. I did meet her in person once when she was here for a gallery opening at Motel downtown. She was nice but I think we're both pretty awkward with strangers so we didn't talk much. (just so you know, I don't blame her for never getting back to me. She's very busy with her art and if I were her, I may have done the same...I just wish I could've found out what she thought of)

Well, I have a ladies night (theme: manly poker night) to get to!

WaffleWaffleWaffle....GranolaGranolaGranola!

Ok, so a loooooong ass time ago, I was given some frozen waffle products by Nature's Path foods. One was the Homestyle gluten free and the other was one of the fruity varieties. I accidentally left the fruit ones at work and my bosses and their kids ate them....so I didn't get to try them.  :o)    But from what they tell me, they were tasty!

So, I did get to eat the gluten free ones. I'm always skeptical about gluten free bready things. They usually end up with a weird taste and quite dry and crumby. So I was pleasantly surprised by these waffles. I toasted them up in my toaster oven, smeared a little peanut butter, drizzled it with maple syrup and ate them right up! There's no strange flavor, just a nice yummy waffle. I was wondering what to have for breakfast yesterday and I was wanting something warm, that's when I remembered I still had 2 of these in my freezer. After several months opened in the freezer, they were a little dry and crumbly, but the taste was still good!

A couple months I was sent 3 boxes of Nature's Path Granola. I had previously tried, and loved, the Pomegran Plus. It was some dried sour cherries in there, as well as coconut. So good!!

I'll review them in order from least liked to most liked.

The one I liked least was the Agave Plus. It had sunflower seeds in it and just had this weird taste to it. I like sunflower seeds a lot, but they tasted strange here. I would never buy this one. Even if it was 99 cents a box....

Second best/worst was the Vanilla Almond Flax Plus. I'm usually not a huge fan of vanilla flavored granolas, I think they end up tasting too cloying. It's like the vanilla flavoring is kicking you in the face, daring for you to ignore it. This granola was no exception to my rule. It had a strange flavor to it. I wouldn't say I hated it, I would eat it if given a bowl of it, but if I had other options (such as the Pomegran Plus!) I wouldn't choose it.

The best in the bunch was the Pumpkin Flax Plus. Of course, the name insinuates there's going to be a pumpkin flavor to it...it doesn't. It just has pumpkin seeds in the mix. Good ole pepitas! There is some cinnamon in the granola, which is maybe why I like it. I like this granola and would definitely buy it when the granola mood hits. Well...if they were out of the Pomegran Plus   :o)

Oh, I just remembered that I've also had their Hemp Plus granola! I was on a kick for awhile, getting that stuff a lot. I think I stopped getting it after the Pomegran Plus hit the market. I'm a sucker for cherries, what can I say? The Hemp Plus has a sorta strange taste, which I think is due to the hemp seeds. Those little guys just have an odd taste, but I love them and have acquired a taste for them.

Thanks so much to Nature's Path for the samples to review!

DC Vegetarian makes good sandwiches

mmmmmm......

No, shit, this thing is delicious. This "thing" is the Vegan Steak & Cheese from the downtown Portland food cart, DC Vegetarian. There is only one thing I would change (yes, I know, I'm never satisfied, but I'm not saying it wasn't good, just hear me out!): the seitan pieces. I would like them to either be smaller cubes or, preferably, chopped up. Those chunks are sometimes as wide as a quarter and just makes it a bit awkward to eat. 

The sandwich consists of a toasted wheat sub hoagie, grilled onions and peppers, Follow Your Heart white cheese, and some kind of mysterious sauce. It rocks my mouth. Also, it's only $5. I would say it's not as good as the one I had in Philly, but at almost $3 less, I would choose it over the Philly one with no hesitation. 

This food cart's been around for a few months and since it's on the West side I don't get there very often. This was my second trip there. The staff is always friendly and since they've opened they've gotten more vegan options. They also carry Dr. Pepper, which always gets bonus points from me. The day I got the above sandwich they were doing a food bank drive and were giving 50% sandwiches if you brought some kinda of nonparishable in, so I got this sandwich for only $2.50. A freakin' deal! I did drive there and spent 50 cents on parking, so really $3, but still, good deal. 

You can find all their options here. I've had nothing else besides this sandwich so I can't suggest anything else, but let me know if you have one for me! Though, really, I doubt I'll want to get anything else since I get there very often. It takes about 10 minutes to get your food after you order it, so I would advise calling ahead if the weather sucks, you're in a hurry, or you just already know what you want and want to make it snappy. Their contact info is on their website.

Fashion, i do so love thee...

...even though i can't say that i'm very good at putting together something to wear. Or buying the clothes. I feel like I always end up with something a lot more boring than I intended. One of my favorite blogs is GoFugYourself. They discuss the clothes that celebrities wear, good and bad, with a humor and wittiness that I envy (I mean, I know I'm funny and all but I can't convey that very well in my writing). My favorite is when they do something they call Dialogues. They talk as if they were the people in the picture. Cracks me up, yo. I enjoy a celebrity blog that doesn't cut down the person themselves, just what they decide to wear.

Another thing I love to do is go on Flickr and type in "wardrobe_remix" in the search. There's a bunch of fashiony people (and lots of nonfashiony people that put up multiple pictures of the same damn outfit! Two is the max, people!!) that take pictures of their daily wears and put them online for all to see. Usually they will say where they got everything they're wearing, which is awesome if you see a pair of great shoes or jeans. It's mostly females, but there's a few males in there. Usually they're the ones that like wearing skirts, not like transvestites, but they're just guys wearing a skirt. 

I also like fashion from books. The blog What Claudia Wore is a favorite of mine as well, though the author doesn't update like she used to. This funny blogger reads Babysitters Club books and takes direct quotes from the book of what the characters are wearing. It used to be just what Claudia, the style-y and fashionable one, of course, was wearing, but since the others wear humorous 90s-licious stuff she started including everyone. Man, those outfits were awful sounding...

I don't buy a lot of stuff online, since I like to try stuff on before committing to it. But there are a lot of good sites out there. Some of my favorites:

Lulu's (awesome vegan shoes to be had, my friends!)

She-Bible 

Alternative Outfitters

Herbivore Clothing

I have been watching The L Word the last few years and the character Alice wears a lot of stuff I would *love* to have for my very own. I couldn't find any good images online of my favorite stuff she wore, but this dress ain't bad. The first couple seasons she didn't wear a lot of dresses, now that's all you'll see her in. There definitely a couple times when I've been, like, no, no, please take that off, it's AWFUL. But I don't think there will ever be a person who I'll agree with their choices 100%. Plus, that's a character...you know? I don't know who I'd pick if I had to choose whose celebrity closet I'd raid. I like a lot of Anne Hathaway's more recent dresses. Ok, maybe I lied. I just looked at some of her stuff and disapproved. I normally dislike Chloe Sevigny's taste in clothes, but her dress for the Emmy's was awesome and I want. Drew Barrymore has been wearing a lot of crazy shit, but I actually liked this dress, though I would prefer it in a color that's not screaming at me and her hair is bad. Also that it doesn't look like there's teeth where your vaheena is.

I frikkin' love tulle! The laciness is dreamy. I couldn't find a lot of images that really captured my love for it, but oh well....I spent way too long on google images just for those two examples...

I hate shoulder pads and they've come back. In 6th grade I didn't know any better and I thought whatever The Limited Too sold was the Shit. I heard them called Power Shoulders or something, but that doesn't make them look any better. No, no, no, no!

Do you have favorite fashion blogs? 

Empire State of Mind and other songs

Another post that has nothing to do with veganism. I do have posts in the works for food related stuff, like Nature's Path granolas and the Higher Taste goodies and eventually I'll talk about Dominex products but I haven't gone to New Seasons in a really long time so I haven't been able to pick up their stuff....

Oh, first! Good news, y'all!! Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints are back for the holidays!!! I was at Target and had gone to pick up a favorite chocolate bar (Chocolove's Almond and Cherry Dark Chocolate) and then realized I had heard that the vegan holiday Junior Mints were back, so I went to the Christmas section of candy and lo and behold, there they were! I was so psyched, I got two 99 cent boxes of them. Yum!!

Ok, so back to music. I was picking up my friend Amanda and noticed she had Jay-Z's newest cd. Her domestic partner had checked it out of the library, lucky for me, so I grabbed so I could download it while at the coffee shop. I've become a big fan of the song, Empire State of Mind. Give it a listen:

Every time Alicia Keys sings "in Neeeeew Yorkkkk" it makes me happy. Love it.

Then there's the new Lady Gaga song, Bad Romance. I saw it for the first time when I came across a post on Jezebel.com that broke it down into 20 stills. It amused me and Lady Gaga continues to amuse me with her ridiculous outfits and songs that don't seem catchy at first ("Paparazzi" is a prime example of this. The first time I heard this I was, like, people like this, really?! But now when I catch it on the radio I don't change the station, I sing along.). I also started liking her more after seeing her performance on Saturday Night Live. I think it was the second performance and she started out by singing a song while in some crazy mechanical circles that moved around her body and then she sat down at the piano and sang. I wasn't crazy about the song she sang at the piano but I thought she did well and it seemed so out of character for her. 

After watching the video a second time when I was looking at Mercury's Blogtown, I've become a bit attached. It's just so entertaining: The shoes she wears! Her multiple outfits! The crazy makeup/head get ups! 

Check it:

What are you listening to/enjoying?

Hallow's Eve

I'm vegan, so technically this is a "vegan" post, but it's not about food. It's about the costumes I've had the past couple years. I am friends with people who LOVE party themes and getting dressed for said themes. The few years I've gone to a college party, dress-as-your-favorite-christmas-character party, halloween (obvs) parties, and my favorite (possibly because it was my idea and all) Onesie party (this is when you wear something that is a one piece outfit that gathers at the crotch, as in, not a dress! I need to do another one of those because that was fun and I feel like I could've done better with my outfit).

A couple years ago I was going to a Halloween party and my friends balked at the idea of me going costumeless. My friend Kathleen had a wolf mask so I went with it. 

As you can see, all I did was wear all black and then wear my new bright pink plaid shirt I had been wanting to wear. I can't remember what I told people I was. I was, more like, dude, I have a wolf mask on! Obviously, I'm a.....girl wolf. Or something. If I had known about the Twilight series I would've said I was Leah...

Last year was my first Halloween as Missy's roommate and we wanted to go as a duet. We decided on a favorite duet, Popeye and Olive Oyl. 

As you can see, Missy went all out. She whipped this awesome outfit up in one night and I think she did a hell of a job. She helped by sewing on my lace to a red shirt of mine and the yellow ribbon on to my black skirt. I wore some white socks rolled down and a pair of shoes that I had. I wasn't happy with my hair, but I wasn't about to spend money on a wig. What's ridiculous is how long it took me to remove the ribbon and lace from my clothes. Months! And more months! Seriously....I think it was in the spring...

So what are y'all dressing up as tomorrow? I'm not totally sure as of yet. Me, Missy and my friend Corinn were going to go as TLC (I was going to be Left Eye Lopez), but we're no longer doing that.....

The Portland Vegan 100

So these lists have been all over the place. I did the generic vegan one awhile back. Jess has compiled, with the help of friends and fellow vegan bloggers, a list of stuff from Portland.

You're supposed to bolden the ones you've done or cross out the ones you'll never do. Since I don't know how to cross out words HTML style, I'm just going to do it my own way. I'm sure you'll figure it out....

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

Yeah, i just pretty much answered yes or no...

Stuff I ate

This past Friday I was at Sweetpea and Katie told me that some biscuits and gravy were just about to be ready to eat, so I waited patiently and soon I had some pretty Bacon Chedder Biscuits & Gravy in front of me.

or should I say, Bacun Cheder?

That's some Daiya cheese (well, I assume, I wasn't told, but Daiya has a certain shredded look about it, wouldn't you say?) and some Bac'uns on top. It was also in the biscuits themselves. I do so love a white, peppery Southern gravy. I have yet to really be impressed by Daiya cheese. I don't notice a flavor to it and haven't had it on pizza to see meltiness of it. 

These biscuits and gravy were good, but I think I do prefer sausage rather than bacon in my biscuits and gravy. Also, neither the biscuits or the gravy were hot, more like lukewarm. (Note to Katie who may or may not be reading this: don't roll your eyes at me! I love you and Sweetpea!) 

On Saturday I went to Sweetpea, as per usual, with my beloved roommate Missy. They had apple fritters again so I went with that. Missy got the Glazed. We both ogled the Chai Spice.

mmmm....fried dough with apples in it....

Apple fritters are a bit greasier tasting than the regular donuts. They're delicious!

Today I'm hanging out at the New Cascadia, a gluten free bakery in the SE (near the big Goodwill). My friend Leila works there and she told me I needed to come in and try one of the vegan cupcakes she decorated special for Hallow's Eve. So I did. (I take instruction pretty well. Like when Katie told I had to come to Sweetpea on a Wednesday, a day I normally don't go, and she had made Pigs in a Blanket. So much delicious pastry dough that day....)

I chose the chocolate with vanilla frosting. (Other choice being chocolate frosting)

oooo.....a mummy!

The cupcake itself was good. You could still taste the glutenfreeness of it, but as these go, it was good. The cake was moist and the frosting was tasty. The other vegan option had a spiderweb with a spider on it. Leila says she plans on doing a vegan one with a bleeding brain on it as well.

You know you love Clueless!

But if you don't agree we might not be close friends. (ok, that's not true, two of my good friends, Corinn and Missy, aren't big fans....I find we don't have a lot of the same taste in movies)

Last night at Powell's downtown Alicia Silverstone showed up to speak about her new book, The Kind Diet. Around 5pm I had met up with Maeve, Jess and Maeve's friend Sarah at Blossoming Lotus. We were hoping we would run into Alicia there, as it's only a few blocks away from Powell's and it's an all vegan, very healthy restaurant, but alas, she didn't show. We ended up getting to the speaking area more than an hour early, but we hung out and chatted and before we knew it we were sitting in the front row listening to Alicia talk about her journey to a macrobiotic vegan diet. Prior to her appearance we were all warned not to ask any questions about anything other than the book, no posed pictures with her and she wouldn't sign anything other than the book. I was disappointed, but I suppose it makes sense. 

Alicia had also gone to Portobello (the only all vegan fancy restaurant here in town, it's Italian) for dinner before the event and said she enjoyed it. 

She spoke for about 20 minutes or so and then had a question and answer segment, which I thought she did well on. Jess reminded me that she's probably getting the same questions repeatedly and has them down pat. There was one family (mom and dad -both in their late 40s or so- and a twentysomething son with his girlfriend) that was a self-proclaimed 'meat and taters' family and they asked her how do people like them start making the change. (I can't remembered exactly the question asked) I just thought it was amazing that they were open to it. I think of the meat and potatoes people I know, and I can't imagine. 

I was really glad I went and got to see Cher in person. (That's her character's name in Clueless for all you....clueless people. heh...see what I did there? Yeah...) She was funny and cute and wore shoes I didn't like. 

Maeve getting her book signed

Aww...Jess's classic hand to heart

I like Alicia's facial expression here.

What ruins these pictures: That ugly ass tablecloth and the dude who's watching over the book signing. 

Happy Belated 100th Post to Me!!

Last post was my 100th. Should I buy myself a drink or something to celebrate? I probably should, but it'd be even better if you did the honors. I kid, of course, after all, this blog was my doing, you didn't *ask* for it. Unless you're Jess, and then, yeah, you did ask...I'd say you owe me a drink, but you've more than made up for it. And I owe you $5 right now....

So, guys, this new job as a waitress has been kinda kicking my ass as of late. Today and yesterday I did my first (and second) a.m. shifts. These start at 7:30am and I'm scheduled to 3pm, which I work til (well, technically the a.m. shift person doesn't end up leaving til 3:30) unless the call-in shift person comes in because it's busy and then if it gets slow the a.m. person leaves....which is what happened today. I was happy for it though. I got to leave almost 2 hours early. Last night my feet were totally tired and I pretty much watched tv the rest of the day in my bed. (There's no digital convertor box in the living room) It was nice and lazy and my feet felt much happier by evening time. 

I love working part time like this. I wish I could always do this. The French consider 25 hours a week part time, right? They are so right....

So, let's see....let's talk about vegan stuff....Me and the aforementioned Jess will be doing a joint post soon, so look for that. Maybe Friday?

Actually, I think I will just talk about the restaurant I work at. Just to give it some love, since I didn't include it in my favorite breakfast places. I work at Paradox Cafe. It's been around for years here in Portland, but the current owner has owned it for only a few. Paradox and Vita Cafe were owned by the same people, but sold to different people, which is why they share a lot of the same menu items but now differ in decor and new menu items. Paradox's owner worked there before buying it and she's a nice lady named Bonnie. She seems to be honestly interested in our (employees) welfare and she reminds me a bit of a couple of my other former bosses. This is diner food, but she wants to make it as healthful as possible, which is one of the reasons corndogs are no longer on the menu. She said the corn outside could squeeze out about a 1/2 cup of oil after being fried. 

Before working here, I maybe had eaten there once for lunch or dinner. I always ended up with breakfast food. Usually the #1 (tofu, potatoes, and a wheat biscuit with added side of almond gravy to go atop the biscuit) or I'd split the #5 (biscuits and gravy, vegan sausage, tofu and potatoes) with my sister. The tofu is not the most flavorful, but with ketchup and your choice of 4 hot sauces (Srirachi, Chalula, Green Tabasco, Aardvark), it's good. It is marinated tofu, I just can't really taste it. The seasoned breakfast potatoes are some of the tastiest in town. A few times we ordered them (before I worked there) they were lukewarm, but I think when you go and it's busy they do a whole bunch of them at once instead of per order like they normally do, so you have a chance of getting some that may have been sitting around awhile. 

Their homemade wheat biscuits and almond gravy were the first vegan biscuits and gravy I ever had, so I have a special place in my heart for them. Even when the biscuits aren't soft or even warm,  I can deal. I do wish they would be replaced with a more "buttery", less healthy version. You can get the gravy with their homemade herb and onion bread (cutely called the H.O.G.), which is pretty tasty. 

Their vegan sausages used to be from Morningstar, but they now make their own. I would say they're a lovechild of the Morningstar real-like sausage patty and Laurelthirst's very hippy, not-like-real-sausage-at-all sausage. They have something I don't like in them. I think it's fennel seeds, but it doesn't infect the whole patty and so I can eat still them. 

One other item I used to get on occasion is their corncakes. Those things are damn tasty! I've not seen a person able to eat the two cakes in one setting. They're very filling and wheat free! You can get them solstice style with nuts and....something else. Can't remember what it is...Or you can get them Mexican style (but they're not on the breakfast menu -which doesn't matter since everything on the menu is served all day- and they're called Tamales, but they're not in corn husks or anything, some people get annoyed by that) with salsa, guacamole, sour cream (you can get vegan sour cream!) and jalapenos. So good! Those jalapenos are hot, be warned!

So when I started working there, I started trying various things on the menu so I would know what it was like and since I really hadn't eaten much besides the items above. (Warning- I may forget a couple of ingredients) I really enjoyed the Thai Stick Salad: spinach leaves, almonds, button mushrooms, red peppers, crispy tempeh sticks, all tossed in a spicy thai dressing. I would get it without mushrooms next time. Not a huge fan of uncooked mushrooms. 

The Tempeh Gyro is a favorite among customers (including my friend Jacob-  hi, Jacob!). It's tempeh with lettuce, tomato and a special vegan yogurt sauce in a pita. The Treehugger is Dave's Killer Good Seed, vegan cream cheese, guacamole, tomato, lettuce and Tofurkey slices upon addition. I think I'm missing some ingredients in there....I think next time I would sub hummus for the guacamole. I haven't tried our hummus yet but a customer asked for the recipe, so I assume it's good.

The specials vary morning and evening, it's the chef's choice and sometimes they make dang good choices. Like today. The boss lady was working and she had made a killer good cashew gravy. The herb and onion bread were topped with grilled onions, tofu, spinach and mushroom and then covered in the cashew gravy. So! Good! Y'all! A big plate of that for $6.50. Their specials usually are well priced so make sure you take a peek or ask the server what it is.

Their homemade soup is also tasty. Boss lady's been trying out Soy Curls and she made a real yummy soup with those the other day. It was like a Beef Vegetable and there was one lady that I gave a sample to that actually thought it was beef (the soup was called Rosemary Potato & Love). 

Almost everything on the menu is vegan. What's not vegan: hamburger (duh!  but the veggie burger is vegan even though it doesn't specify that), chicken sausage (another duh), cheddar cheese, real sour cream, Swiss cheese that's on the Reuben and their waffles. Everything else is vegan and there's probably a substitute. They don't have vegan cheese slices, but their two cheese sauces are so good. There's a nacho cheese sauce and another one called Mac & Cheese sauce that's used on the benedicts and on the mac & cheese that's no longer on the menu but can still be ordered. They can do a scramble upon request if so desired but there's none on the menu. 

Remember that green onions come on top of just about everything (and margarine if it's that kind of item, i.e. pancakes and toast) so just request them to leave off if that's not your thing. During the week, before 10am, items called numbers, as in the #3, are $1 off.

The service used to kinda suck, but I feel like it's gotten better (after all, I work there...heh) but because it can be so slow with only bursts of busy, there may be only one server if you're there during the week and the food is cooked to order and can take some time. If you're rushed for time, a good bet is the regular biscuits and gravy (herb and onion bread is thick and can take a long time to toast up, keep that in mind if you order soup b/c it comes with it). 

Go check it out!

Out for a drive

On Saturday I was picked up by Jeff along with Maeve and Jess to go to lunch at Green Wok, a new vegetarian (well, everything's vegan except the cream cheese in the Crab Rangoons, but that's possibly changing to vegan cream cheese- yay!!) Chinese restaurant out on Capitol Highway. I was skeptical since my true love is Thai food and I've never had anything that great at a Chinese restaurant. The menu is quite massive and I hear it's similar to Vegetarian House, for good reason since the cook used to work there. The ambiance is that of any Chinese restaurant I've been to. The music was of the hmm-they're-playing-that-here? variety. Not that we complained, who doesn't like Weezer while they're drinking Chinese-Restaurant-Tea? 

I ordered the Chicken Bird's Nest, which was the dish with the best presentation. A fried shredded potato nest! So cute! The sauce though was not crazy good. It was....ok. Not bad, but this is probably something I wouldn't order again. Jeff got the Orange Chicken, Maeve got the Sesame Chicken and Jess ordered Crispy Bean Curd Pocket with Greens, but instead got what looks like to me Moo Goo Gai Pan with uncrispy bean curd pockets. The breaded and fried pieces of "chicken" were my favorite part. I could definitely eat a whole plate of those, which if you order what Jeff or Maeve did, that's what you get. But since veggies are good for me and I'll eat them (eventually, after picking out the pieces of "meat" first) if they're on my plate, I would prefer them to come with the chicken pieces. Both the Orange and Sesame dishes had a delicious sauce on them. I think they were equally delicious. Jess's was my lease favorite. I was intrigued by the bean curd "pockets" (it's like they had stacked up layers of the tofu pockets used in inari and then cut them into blocks), but the sauce was that weird clear, but slightly opaque-ish gelatinous stuff. The side order of broccoli in tangy sauce was quite good. 

All the plates we could handle...Maeve, Jess, Jeff's tattooed atm

All done! Jeff got into the spirit of things (aka pciture taking)

Bird's Nest in the background, Jess's dish in the foreground

After that delicious meal, we headed over to Sip! cart to pick up a seasonal favorite, Pumpkin Milkshakes! They made it with pumpkin puree, Vanilla soy ice cream and spices. It was good! I didn't take a picture of the shake itself, but Jess did!

Favorite Veg Celebrities

1. Carrie Underwood

I love when someone you wouldn't expect doesn't eat meat. Prime example is people who are in the country music world. Those people (stereotypically of course) love them a good steak! Or at least eat a ton of chicken. You can try to say I'm wrong, but you'd then be wrong. (booya!) The girl doesn't have the best choice in clothes sometimes (as proven here and here), but she's vegetarian! 

2. Bob Barker

You know he wants you to spade and neuter your pets, but did you know he also doesn't think you need to eat animals? He can even cook!

3. Joaquin Phoenix

He won't wear animal products for his movies or any other job and he was the voice for Earthlings, the documentary that deals with the issue of "human independence on animals for pets, food, clothes, and entertainment." I've never seen it because I don't like watching that kind of stuff, especially since I already agree with what they're saying and already eat/live vegan. 

4. Coretta Scott King!!

Oh, man! I just found this out and I think this is so awesome!

5. Ellen DeGeneres (and her wife Portia de Rossi)

I was wondering when she would go veg because she is constantly talking about her love of animals. I think Portia nudged her in that direction, so thanks Portia! (who I heard is coming out with a line of vegan shoes!)

There's tons more celebrities out there that are veg, who's yer favorite?

Today I made...

...a casserole! Oh, and roasted russet and sweet potatoes! I wanted to make use of some deteriorating veggies and thought of the comforting goodness of a casserole. Of course, I don't have pictures...that would be more fun. I hate fun....

But I did end up using this recipe, loosely. I used hempmilk instead of soy, a tad of lime juice instead of any lemon, no celery (I'm a hater), shell pasta (two sizes because I'm crazy like that), added sauteed greens, some jalapeno, and frozen peas. Also instead of chips I made breadcrumbs out of toasted bread, Earth Balance, dried basil and oregano. It turned out....ok. Once I added more salt, nooch, and some hot sauce I thought it was good. Not awesome, but good. 

I had some potatoes that needed using so while the oven was on I thought I would roast 'em up. I tossed them with olive oil, s & p, and some fresh rosemary and thyme. They turned out really yummy. I probably used too much oil, but I figured it's still not as bad french fries....

Do you have a fall back recipe for when you need to use up some aging veggies? What's your favorite website for recipes?

Want to see what's in my fridge?

Yeah, I thought so. 

it's like i'm at the grocery store! the selection!

cutest little muchacho ever!

The kind people at The Higher Taste gave me and Jess a whole bunch of products to review, so look for that upcoming review. They have 2 new products (including the one with the adorable sombreroed fella) that uses soy curls, deli salads I haven't seen before (Curried Rice, (Faux) Chicken Salad, Yakisoba Salad and German Potato Salad), and hummus (not pictured) that I've never seen before in a store. I'm excited to get to try all the other wraps that I've noticed at the store. 

Today Kittee, SisterKim (aka MamaKim) and I went on some errands. We drove out to the Sellwood neighborhood to check out the new location of Sock Dreams and then went on to Bob's Red Mill and Dave's Killer Bread and NatureBake's 'The Healthy Bread Store.' I had coupons for both from the Chinook book. The one for Bob's was for 50% off any of their organic products. Last year my sister bought a 25 lb of all purpose flour and she still had a lot left so we searched around the store looking for something else we would want a lot of. (None of those wussy 1 lb bags for me! You gotta make 'em hurt, as my brother-in-law's friend says...) There wasn't a lot of selection really. No 25 lb bags of organic sugar, nor beans (they get most of their beans from other companies or they're not organic, which the coupon specifies) and, sadly, their Vital Wheat Gluten isn't organic....So after much consideration, we went with the Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. I do a lot of baking and so thought I would go through this faster than, say, a 25 lb bag of Golden Flaxseeds. So the 25lb of pastry flour was only $11, good deal, eh? Well, if it gets all used up.  :o)      

Nothing too exciting about the bread store. I got two frozen loaves for $2.80 (normally frozen loaves are $2.80 a piece. You can also get them 12 for $2.00/each.)

My 25lb bag and an early Christmas present from SisterKim!

5 Favorite Breakfast Spots in Portland

Yup, another favorites...You like these, right? I thought so! 

1. Sweetpea Baking Co- Their doughnuts on Saturdays, danishes on Wednesdays, and Kettleman's bagels with their Tofutti schmears (Bacun Scallion! Chipotle! Veggie! Strawberry! Black Olive!)! It's not always the most nutritious breakfast, but you can't always be looking to eat healthy, right? If you happen to be looking for that though, there's soup! Homemade, yummy soup made by Jesse "I hate you (but not really)" Ives. If you happen to see him (he's the average-height boy with the bandanna on that stays in the middle of the kitchen the whole time), tell him you would love to see piroshkys or vegan ham and cheese sandwiches as options!

mmm...donut....Missy and her sweet love

2. Juniors- First off, let me just put this out here: I dislike their potatoes. Many of my friends, including the girl above with the glazed doughnut, thinks they're great. I don't. I can't really place my finger on what turns me off, but it's somethin'. So I end up asking for the Vegan Potatoes, sub tofu for potatoes. This gets me: scrambled tofu, mushrooms, zucchini, onions covered with spicy tofu sauce. Yum! I remember that Juniors was one of the first places I remember seeing "sub tofu for egg for free" on their menu. This made me a happy girl since all over town I was paying extra. Their eggs there are of the nice free range (and I think it's actually free range, none of that open the barn door for 5 minutes shit that farms can get away with) so I think the cost is more similar than, say, when you go to Holman's....The main reason I love Juniors is the interior. It's very cute! Google it for images if you don't believe me!

3. FlavourSpot- the home of the Dutch taco! aka a waffle sandwich. I have only tried one thing here and it's so good that I dare not try anything else. Another reason being I don't get out to either of the North Portland locations enough. It's usually months in between visits and I'm normally ready for some delectable maple sausage goodness in my piehole. (aka wafflehole) The food cart (one on N. Lombard and the other at Mississippi and Fremont) makes a fresh circular waffle, spreads some maple "butter" on it, puts two vegan sausage patties on it and folds it up in some foil and hands it your eagerly awaiting hands....mmm.....so warm, so tasty....

Me and my sweet love

4. Hungry Tiger Too- I really love this place. I've mentioned them before many times. The only problem I have with them is their prices are somewhat ridiculous. (Except on $1 vegan corn dog Wednesdays!!). The club sandwich, while being big, is around $10 and if you want tots instead of coleslaw, make that $12. Yeah, $2 extra for tots...$1 extra for french fries. If you share it with someone it doesn't sound as ridiculous. But of course I tend to compare prices with what I could be getting...like $5 at Los Gorditos will get me a huge delicious torta. But anyways, we're talking breakfast right now! They have humongous vegan fluffy pancakes for $3 a piece, large plate of biscuits (or you might end up with some of their thick toasted bread, which is good, but yeah, not a biscuit) and gravy for $4, scrambles for around $8 that comes with awesome hashbrowns (think: rectangularly shaped Waffle House hashbrowns...less greasy), and homemade tempeh bacon slabs for around $2. Yum! For reals...I think their gravy is my favorite in town. It's a little too herby for my tastes since I like a peppery sausagey white southern gravy, but there's sausage (I think the last time I got it there wasn't any) and mushrooms and it's good! Please note that they don't open til mid morning during the week. Also, their coffee sucks (and this comes from a girl who sugars and milks her coffee and wouldn't know good coffee if it hit her in the face.).

Katie and her ginormous pancake

Foreground: biscuits and gravy and tempeh bacon slabs

5. It's a tie for 5th! Jam and Tin Shed- I hear Jam's veg gravy is the best in town, but I wouldn't know since it's not vegan. Also, they don't have biscuits to put it on (?!), so I don't care. What I do love about Jam is their Blueberry Chai Pancakes. Chai spice-alicious! Like Hungry Tiger Too, they have delicious hashbrowns. They have a couple vegan scrambles but I'm not terribly crazy about either. This another restaurant where I mainly just love their ambiance with no real explanation. Tin Shed has vegan grits and Earth Balance available and their pesto is made vegan, all things which endears me to them. The grits, however, need salt and more EB because the taste is quite plain. They do have vegan cheese you can get on them but I normally pass since it doesn't really do anything flavorwise. My favorite thing to get here is the pesto tofu scramble (it has a name that I think has the word "goat" in it) with no cheese. 

How about you? Where's your favorite?

The Accidental Awesomeness

There's a lot of items out there that I didn't have to stop eating when I went vegan. And thank goodness for that! It's nice to have a few nostalgic things to nosh on occasionally.

Hot Tamales!!

Gummy! Hot! Delicious!

Junior Mints!

well, the holiday (above) and deluxe (below) versions anyways.

For some reason they won't take out the gelatin in the regular version.

Swedish Fish!

So good!

The little guy makes a tasty vegan crescent roll!

Well, it's arguable if it's *really* vegan. Chemicals can be tricky...

BUT! if you don't mind that, you should bake them with weiners in them for Pigs in a Blanket

or some vegan cheese for Puffers....mmm...

What's some of your favorite accidentally vegan items?

Cakes of my past...

The past two summers I have made lots of yummy cakes. The reason being my two bestest friends, Corinn and Missy, both have birthdays, as well as some other friends! I actually really like making cakes and cupcakes. Especially for my friends and other loved ones. I am not very artistic, only the occasional photograph being something I'm proud of. Baking kinda fulfills that artistic hole in my heart. 

So here's a round up!

My sister's Black Forest Cake from last year

Corinn's S'more cake from this year

Jessica's Cake from last year, Chocolate with Vanilla Buttercream

My roommate Missy's Birthday Cake from last year.

We had a nonvegan VooDoo donut on top!

My first cake! Corinn's birthday cake last year. Probably chocolate with Vanilla.

I look to Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romano's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for almost every cake recipe I need (just double the cupcake recipes for cakes) and their Buttercream frosting is freakin' delicious! If you make only one recipe from that book, do the Coconut Lime with Lime Buttercream frosting, unfreakinbelievable delicious!!!

Yeah, another question thingie...i know...

I'm a procrastinator....big time....therefore I end up doing question thingies that I find because it's faster than thinking of something to write about (feel free to request stuff, I would love it!). This one I found on Steffers page who got it from Vegan Food For Thought. 

1. What single thing most inspired you to take the leap from being an omnivore/vegetarian to being a vegan?

---------I don't recollect what initially made me think to become vegan. I've been semi-vegetarian for years and went fully vegetarian (I finally gave up seafood) when I moved to Portland in 2005. I had sorta decided to become vegan but had forgotten why I wanted to do it until I read Erik Marcus' book Meat Market and John Robbins' book The Food Revolution. A lot of vegetarians question why vegan if you're not killing the cow or the chicken (or goat, etc) and then you have to explain how dairy cows have to give birth on occasion to keep up the milk supply and those calves usually go into the veal industry and how male chickens are pretty much useless so some places just throw them, alive, into trash bags where they die of suffocation and really their living arrangements suck and the amount of feces all these animals produce are destroying our environment......ok, i'm done with my spiel. Read those books for more eloquent explanations!

2. Are you 100% vegan (food wise at least) or do you sometimes eat non-vegan food, and if do so, under what circumstances does it usually happen?

---------I am not 100%. When I go home or visit other people's homes (usually older people, I normally force people my age to feed me vegan. they're usually more understanding about diet restrictions) I am more lax and tend to eat vegetarian. I have a hard time eating raw veggies around the holidays and normally that's the only option when I'm at my sister's in-laws. I do need to get better at making food for gatherings. I don't like cooking in other people's kitchens so that's where I get lazy...I also will eat food that is brought to me at restaurants that accidentally has dairy/egg in them. I just feel like since I'm not grossed out by it, I might as well eat it since otherwise it will be thrown out. However I can't do that with meat.

Also, I will eat bee products.

3. Where do you stand on the whole B12 thing? Do you take supplements, eat fortified foods, do you even care? (not to preach but you really should!)

------------I do take B12 sublingual supplements. I'm surprised I don't take them more regularly because they are tasty little suckers! They have so much in them that it's not necessary that I take them daily.

4. Which rocks – Tofu, seitan, or that other stuff, what do you call it, Tempeh?

-----------They all rock! They are each good for different things. My favorite usage for tempeh is in a reuben. Tofu is awesome in thai food. Seitan makes a mean cheese steak sammie.

5. What are your top 5 vegan meals?

--------I'm going to include stuff I don't make myself:

1. Pad Thai Woon Sen from Pad Thai Kitchen

2. Bowl of goodness (like Sweetpea's Happy Bowl or Bye & Bye's BBQ Brussel Bowl): Brown rice, bean/tofu, greens

        3. Sauteed veggies on top of a grain with Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream and Sriracha (similar to #2, I know)

4. Pizza!!!! Favorite toppings: faux sausage, sauteed greens and mushrooms, corn.

5. New Years Meal!                                       

6. Are you vegan and proud, get used to it! Or do you sometimes keep it quiet? You know what i mean!

---------I don't always advertise it but I have no problem talking about or telling people. And I'm not a big animal activist like some of my vegan friends. 

7. What is your all-time favourite vegan cookbook?

---------Probably Veganomicon. It holds a special place in my heart since it's the first cookbook I helped test for (I did a terrible job because I didn't test very many). Some of the recipes I make regularly are Low Fat Banana Bread (add choco chips!) and the Spicy and the Smokey Tempeh marinade.

8. What is your favourite vegan food blog?

---------So many favorites! But I'm going to go with Let's Get Sconed! because it's one of the best.

9. What is the most annoying thing about being vegan? Come on, you can have a good rant if you want, you’re amongst friends!

--------Not being able to order anything you want, wherever you go. Which is why I love all vegan places! You don't even have to think about stuff like, do they know what vegan really means? Is there whey in the bread? Eggs in the pasta? Casein in the nondairy creamer?

10. What food do you really hate (vegan food that is)?

--------Hmmm...I think I'll eat most anything really. I dislike a lot of stuff but really if it's in something I can usually deal. I don't like cilantro (therefore coriander as well), celery, kalamata olives, rye, really sourdoughy sourdough, fennel (I hear from my co-fennel hater that it's good roasted), and anise. 

These are a few of my favorite things...

I'm running low on time for today's post, so this one will be a quickie! I thought I would just give a shout out to my five favorite food blogs. Most likely you're probably looking at least one of them already!

In no particular order....

1. Get Sconed! - Jess, the young lass who runs this delightful vegan blog, is a friend of mine. She talks mostly about food, but occasionally will veer off into other subjects, like, you know, her cats....She's actually the only food blog that I keep on the top of my bookmarks bar. Feel special, JD!!

2. Awesome. Vegan. Rad. - I believe this girl's name is Allison. I'm about 91% sure...She doesn't say her name alot....Anyways! She usually blogs pictures of what she and her fiance have made and she does it with a sense of humor that I enjoy.

3. Joanna Vaught- The woman behind Yellow Rose Recipes cookbook and the upcoming Potluck Zine. Also the mother of the cuteness that is Milo Bear. She's a sassy lady with a great blog! 

4. Cake Maker to the Stars- My friend Kittee isn't actually making cakes for stars, but don't let that stop you from checking out her blog. She is a recent transplant (to Portland) from New Orleans. Her cute zine Papa Tofu, that includes Indian food and pumpkin pretzels recipes, is available at Herbivore. Go buy it!

5. Stumptown Vegans- Webly and Jess go around to Portland eateries looking for all the vegan friendly options. They go at least twice and then blog about it with pictures and how they rated it. It's been so handy to have as a resource!

Thanks to all those who keep a blog! It's been very informative and, most importantly, so much fun to read and look at!