I went home to Sarasota, Florida to surprise my mom for her birthday last week and also got to surprise some friends and other relatives (it was a very last minute trip). While in Florida i don't eat the best and usually cut myself a little slack on total veganness. My family/relatives aren't very supportive of my eating habits. They don't get it and usually i hear "but plants are alive too" or some such ridiculous statement. I got to see my cousin Polly and her 18 month old Elliot, that i haven't seen since he was a month old. Apparently, he's practically vegan. He's lactose intolerant and likes veggies and fruits more than meat. I hope to influence him greatly in the future...heh...
Whenever i go home, i partake in the eating of Chick-Fil-A waffle fries and a Dr. Pepper at least once. This time was no different.
I get Polynesian sauce, which is like sweet and sour sauce, to dip them. The fries used to have beef juice in them, but thankfully, no longer.
Other places i ate while home: Sweet Tomatoes chain- salad buffet, Taste of Asia- overpriced Thai that was sooo not as good as Pad Thai Kitchen, Whole Foods salad bar, Granary ( i used to work at this local natural food store chain, they aren't as good as they used to be)- blackened tofu and multi grain roll from the deli, Smoothie King- Light & Fluffy.
But now that i'm back in Portland i have more options and i'm happy to have at least one option (almost) anywhere i go with friends. Yesterday some girl friends and i went on a Pretty Dress Bike Ride. We ditched it about 20 minutes in because the weather was starting to suck and the ride just wasn't doing it for us. We were hungry so we rode on down to Por Que No (Hawthorne location), a colorful restaurant that has a back patio and a 3-6pm happy hour, during which tacos are 50 cents off and margaritas are $1.50 off. While we all enjoyed our Bryan's Bowls (well, Kathleen decided on tacos) and drinks the rain came down and the wind blew, but we were dry under the patio cover. There's not a ton of vegan selections here and no faux meats or tofu, but the Bryan's Bowl ($6.50ish), made vegan, is filling and delicious and you can sometimes make 2 meals out of it. It's rice, pinto beans, seasonal veggies, gaucamole and your choice of chips or 3 small yummy homemade tortillas. You can buy more tortillas for 25 cents a piece, which i did. The margaritas are delicious, pint-sized and $7 during happy hour. They also have 3 different flavors of juices that they sell out of those plastic see-thru barrels. (Rum can be added to any of them)
see? yum!
This week i'm heading to Asheville, NC and i'm excited to check out the vegan food i've heard about! Tell me any suggestions you have!
4 comments:
Oh lordy, Asheville NC. I love that place. If I hadn't moved to Portland, I might have stayed there.
Rosa's Kitchen and the Laughing Seed were the two real stand-out locations I went to when I was there. I had the tempeh reuben at each of them, because I freaking love tempeh reubens, and each was delicious in its own special way.
The waffle chips look awesome!
I miss you already!
Mmm...Chik-Fil-A reminds me of college. We don't have any of those up here in MN.
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