Oh, hi, November 3!

Yeah, it's 3 days into Vegan Month of Food and this is my first post. But, hey, it could be worse! So, so much worse...

As ever, I don't have a theme (at the moment) that I'm going with, but it's going be whatever's knocking around my brain. If you have any suggestions, bring it!

I'm going to start with a post about the most beautiful bunch of lacinato -aka dinosaur- kale (which I've been misspelling and, therefore, mispronouncing...I've been saying lacinto...) I ever laid eyes on.

See how beautiful and crisp it is?? Well, perhaps you can't, but I promise you, it was lovely. Also, it was bugless, none of those pesky aphids to convince to rinse off. I got this bunch from the Farmers Market and I don't remember what booth I got them from, so not sure if it was organic, no spray, or what. Most likely not organic though since they normally have little bugs on them...

Anyways, I decided to use some of them for a scramble:

The above is onion, garlic, Anaheim pepper, a little Tamari, thyme, oregano and extra firm tofu. And probably some s&p.

The final product: kale and broccoli added towards the end. A piece of Dave's Killer (and he's not lying, it's the best bread ever!) Bread with some Earth Balance. I always top my tofu sautes with some nutritional yeast and hot sauce (Chalupa and Srirachi being my favorites).

I would love some suggestion for a flavor helper! I like these scrambles of mine, but they're not something I would serve to others because the flavor is a bit...blah.

Today was a sunny, beautiful day in Portland, I hope yours was too! I need to go get ready to hang out with a friend at Tube (vegan ham and cheese!! boozy vegan milkshakes! $2 well drinks!)...

Helen's Kitchen, Part One

A few months back I noticed Helen's Kitchen products in the freezer of a grocery store I was at and I was intrigued. So I was happy when I heard that they (or a PR person) wanted to send me coupons to try out a couple products. I picked up GardenSteak TofuSteaks and the entree Thai Red Curry. Not all of their products are vegan, so keep that in my mind when purchasing.

The first item I tried was the Thai Red Curry. It's a small entree so, thankfully, I was not completely famished and this filled me up just right. It's all organic, gluten free, gmo free and has 13 grams of protein in it. The red curry sauce was the perfect amount of spice for me (I'm just a bit on the wussy side of spicy). The TofuSteak chunks are extra extra firm and have a nice slight chicken-y flavor (the TofuSteaks come in both regular and "chicken"). The peas and butternut squash in this are tasty as well. I actually really enjoyed this meal, but, honestly, I'm unsure if I'd buy this if choosing a frozen meal. It's mainly because if I'm going to get Thai food, I'm going to head over and pick some awesome to-go at Pad Thai Kitchen. When eating frozen, I tend to go for nonAsian dishes. Just my preference, I guess.

Have any of you tried their stuff? I look forward to trying the TofuSteaks! I love love love firm tofu!

My East Coast Travels, Post Two

So, of course, now I'm starting to forget exactly what I did next....But it was something like this:

I got on the train on Friday to head to my next destination: Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

My dad and his twin sister had their 60th birthdays on July 19 and they were celebrating with a big family gathering on Aug 1. My dad has 9 brothers and sisters (one sister is now deceased) and most of them have at least 3 kids and then those kids have had kids, so, yeah, large family. When I was young, we would take family trips to Ohio (where my mom has family) and Pennsylvania. But that seemed to stop around age 15 or so and since then I have rarely seen first cousins or aunts and uncles on my dad's side. One of my uncles, Mel, lived in the same Florida town as we lived so I'm somewhat close with his three boys. When I went each summer I normally would hang out with Susanne, a cousin about 6-8 months older than I. When I stopped going, we grew apart. She's now married with a couple kids and we don't keep in touch. My sister Kim and I were worried that we would have trouble knowing people's names, but fortunately my aunt Elma had already thought of doing name tags with everyone's name and what family they were a part of. Apparently, we're not the only ones who don't keep track of everyone's families....

I should mention that my dad's family is on the conservative side of Mennonites. Most of them wear conservative dress, such as women in dresses and with their hair in braids (little girls) or pulled back with a covering on top. I grew up with this, so it's not strange, but it's still intriguing and Kim and I spent the day taking pictures. My sister has dreads and so was very much of interest to them. The little girls would crowd around her, touching them and asking questions about them. They also had a lot of fun checking out her iPhone. 

Of course, we had to check out Intercourse along with the towns Blue Ball, Paradise and Lititz before leaving.

I was dropped back off at my friend Niff's in Philly when we dropped off my sister at the airport there. It was great hanging out with Niff one more night before heading to Harrisonburg, Va. We ended up going to Cantina Los Caballitos for dinner. I had heard a lot of good things about them and my friend was also a big fan. Plus it was right down the street from where she lives...

I ended up getting the vegan fajitas, which I sorely wished came in half orders. I didn't ask though, next time I'm there I'll ask. $14 is expensive (my dad and mom had just given me money...i was feeling a little rich. plus chicken-style seitan and tofu!! yum!) and also, I wasn't terribly hungry. They also feed you chips with TWO delicious salsas and I totes scarfed them before our meal came. We ordered a pitcher of blood orange margaritas as well. 

I, sadly, was only able to eat one fajita before asking for a doggy bag. So sad...It was real yummy and I wish I had been able to eat the leftovers the next day. We spent the evening walking around and we stopped at Tattooed Mom for a drink. That place is really cute. It's got great ambiance (rockabilly a little, but not terribly so) and it looked like it had some good vegan eats. All the tables had Dum-Dum lollipops and cheap toys, the kind you get from your dentist. Like the plastic leaping frog...

The next morning Niff dropped me off at the bus stop and I was on my way to Harrisonburg, Va (via D.C.) for my friend Amanda's wedding. I had a good time catching up with Amanda. We've been friends for about 7 years and met through InterMenno, a program we did where they put you in placements in Germany, Switzerland and Holland. You work at various types of places, such as nursing homes, family homes/businesses, etc. We were in Bad Oldesloe together and were pretty much our only companions, not a lot of youth there....

She took me to The Little Grill Collective. It's like our Red & Black here. Worker owned, community minded, etc. I had a terrible experience here. Bad service, undercooked food. I wanted to love it and my friend said she's never had such a bad time here.

The bread here looks toasted, but do not be deceived!! It was actually soggy. The $1.50 extra fries were undercooked! You know, when the fries have just started to brown but are still light colored and not crispy and weird textured insides? gross! I didn't even attempt to eat them all. 

Sad face...

The outdoor wedding was great and no major problems except for the electric going out twice when someone tripped on the cords.

Me and the beautiful bride

After the wedding, I got a ride to D.C. to hang out with my friends BK and Becca. I wound up at Sticky Fingers Bakery, of course. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of my eats there. Sometimes I just get bashful about pulling the camera out....I got a iced vanilla soy latte (which was HUGE! I don't think they asked me what size, but yeah...maybe 20 oz, if not more) and the English Muffin Tofu-egg and Sausage sandwich. They have them in their fridge and then you can self-heat them up in the microwave if so desired. It wasn't the best thing ever, but I love that kind of thing and would love if my dear Sweetpea would do something like that. I also got a Toasted Almond cupcake to go and ate that while at the airport. The cake itself was a bit dry, but altogether I enjoyed it.

I went to other places, like Lancaster Brewing Company (with my friend Jared, who I also did InterMenno with...i had a fruit beer. it was good) but perhaps I'll end up mentioning them later....I don't feel like it right now.

It was a good trip and thanks to everyone who hosted me and fed me!! I was so happy to come back home where it was no longer ungodly hot. I will end this post with one last picture...