A Blogpost about This. And That.

Warning: long-ass post to follow....


I just noticed I have one less "follower" (yes, i am Quotation Mark Queen as of late...), who ditched me??? I demand to know! Ok, so I do pay attention to the number, but I was so proud to go from 6 to 13. I don't take much stock in those numbers since I myself have no idea how to do the Follower thing with any of the blogs I keep up on (I'm seriously RSS Feed illiterate). I like to think I have at least twice that amount that actually read my blog. But I could be totally off....

Anyways, so what's new with me since my May 4th post? Well, I've turned 29 (goodness! I'm less than a year from 30!! Less than 11 years 'til 40!!!) Many of my wonderful Portland friends came and met up with me at my favoritest bar ever, the all-vegan Bye & Bye. They may have come just to have a good reason to go there. Cute bartenders (they even have a mighty-cute girl bartender now, it's not just studs!), tasty food - BBQ Brussel Bowl, yum!, and delightful cocktails served tall. It's the only bar where I forget (and forgive) they don't serve the must-have bar food, french fries. My friends from Sweetpea, Jeff & Katie, brought me a cake:

Katie tried to make it as girly as possible, there's hearts, flowers and a butterfly. The cake was vanilla, with dark cherries in the middle layer, "buttercream" frosting. Oh, and maraschino cherries, of course! Deliciousness!

Me with Stockholm and cake

Before my birthday, I had gone to Asheville, North Carolina for a friend's wedding. I was psyched because I hadn't gone to Asheville since I lived in Chattanooga, which was about 8 years ago. I was sorta veg then, but I hadn't seeked out veg food and I had kept reading everywhere about how veg-friendly the city was and everyone talked about Rosetta's Kitchen and The Laughing Seed. I got there on a Thursday morning and an old friend from my hometown picked me up. We ended up at Rosetta's for the first meal. We both got the Tempeh Reubens, which I had been told were a must. I paired it with a PBR (from tap, fancy...)

This tempeh reuben was quite delicious. I had never had one before with red kraut and it also comes with their homemade walnut-something spread. This kraut was of the raw (you know, like Bubbies) variety and, though it was tasty, i would've liked a more soft sauerkraut. It was served with a side of tortilla chips, which you can sub out for a $1 more if you want fries. I would do that next time. To make vegan, you ask for it minus the cheese and they allow you to sub anything else for free, I chose avocado. The service at Rosetta's was friendly and helpful. On another trip there with some nonveg friends I got mashed taters and gravy and 2 different cookies- Cowgal, Cowboy, and Double Chocolate. The mashed potatoes/gravy was good and sorta healthy tasting. The two Cowpeople cookies got one skeptical friend believing that vegan cookies could taste good. They both had seeds and perhaps even nuts with dried fruit. Hearty and tasty. The chocolate one was dry and I was tempted to return it, but I am too shy to do that. I figure it's the risk of buying something.

The next day I ended up at the Laughing Seed with the friend that picked me up, who I shall call Tiffany henceforth....because that's her name. We shared pankoras, one with squash and the other with broccoli and cauliflower (surprisingly I liked the latter more) and we both had Mercury Not Rising, a fish-style seitan sandwich. I choose fries w/jalapenos and onions as my side. Tiffany got the healthy, pretty side salad. So yeah, my whole meal there was all fried stuff. The pankoras were delicious fried Indian goodness. They had a soy yogurt sauce available for vegans. The sandwich was...all right. I don't think seitan is the right faux meat for this. It's not of the same texture. It came with a dill sauce and I'm not a huge fan of dill so it was a little much for me. I ate almost all my fries before even getting to my sandwich. I had hoped that the jalapenos and the onions would be breaded, but they're just fried straight up in with the fries. Still good though! For a beverage I got the pint-sized Dark & Stormy, "Reed's Ginger Brew and Cruzan Black Strap Rum with a splash of lime." I think the "splash of lime" was just the lime they put on the glass. I could've used more. It was a bit strong for me. 

I also came across The Chocolate Fetish chocolate shop and purchased some of their dark chocolate dipped dried fruit. I got banana, red plum and cherries. My preference in that order as well. Bananas and chocolate go so well together, don't you think?

I tried to eat at the Green Sage but their kitchen was closed when I had room for it...

I did like Asheville, but I gotta say that Portland kicks it's ass when it comes to ambiance and general all around awesomeness.