More traveling...

So now I'm in Vancouver, BC. I've been here previously to visit a friend (and to go to Vancouver, of course!). My friend still lives here but he's currently on a long-ass honeymoon, so no hang out with him. It's nice to have a free place to stay. Especially when, on the first day, your car gets towed out of a spot that we thought wasn't reserved and you have to pay $100 for towing, $13 for a taxi to get to the car lot, and then plus a $60 parking ticket from the ImPark people. Yeah. Awesome sauce. But Corinn's working on getting at least the parking ticket taken off...Hopefully that works.

Anyways, when I left you last post I was still in Seattle for a couple more days. I went to the Victrola Coffee shop on 15th for another French Toast donut and coffee. I also went to Sage (former Hillside Quickie II or something??), which was only a few blocks from where I was staying. I got it to go so I could eat it in our apartment/hotel with some Dr. Pepper. I ordered their version of the Philly, called the Fremont Philly. It's made with seitan, which is my favorite "meat" to use for a Philly (though the tempeh version at my former workplace, Paradox Cafe, was my kryptonite for awhile). The menu said it was going to be $10, but it ended up as $11. Taxes? But why an even $1? I don't know. I do know it was the most costly sandwich I've ever gotten. Anyways, it did come with a side of rice. Not plain rice, but I couldn't tell you what exactly it was. It was all right. The sandwich itself was hella messy to eat, very saucy and sadly, not a lot of seitan. (DC Vegetarian kicks it's ass in every department) Mostly bell peppers and onions. Yeah. I wouldn't get it again and it's not awesome enough for me to tell you to even try it once. I want to hope that all of the ingredients are organic, so at least that's why it's so costly.

The disappointing Fremont Philly

That reminds me, the bread was damn tasty. But onwards!

That evening we went stopped at Grim's, a Capital Hill bar nearby, for Happy Hour. We had drinks in cute little mason jars and I got the Cauliflower and Hummus Crostini (it might have been cauliflower hummus...), which during Happy Hour is only $4.75 (instead of $7.50 or something). It was a great price for the 5 large crostini's we got. I'm not the biggest cauliflower fan, but it went well with the hummus and pickled/carmelized(?) red onions and cute chives atop.

After that, we stopped at Bimbo's Taqueria, which isn't worth much mention, and we went on to Moe's, which is venue Nuemo's attached bar. We were going there to see Campfire OK play at Neumo's. If you haven't checked out Campfire OK, you should. The Oddfellows Cafe video is the best. Moe's played great hip hop, I really enjoyed it, Corinn...not so much...

Saturday morning, we went to Wayward Vegan Cafe for breakfast before driving north to Vancouver. Again, no pictures...I got 3 sides: tofu scram, grits, and garlic greens. The greens weren't cooked enough for my liking and by the time I got them, they were about room temperature. The tofu scram was almost inedible because the amount of turmeric on them, I barely touched them. The grits were good. Nothing crazy good about them, just grits with Earth Balance, a little faux cheddar, and some salt & pepper. Corinn got the Monte Cristo, a huge French Toast sandwich with fake ham and turkey and served with some jam. It also came with homefries. If Wayward does anything, it gives the largest portions I've seen. I just wish the food came out of the kitchen better. The French Toast wasn't cooked long enough, a little soggy. Too much faux meat. The latter wasn't a huge deal, but the sandwich just was lacking in general. We did leave full though.

I'll talk about Vancouver on the next post...

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.

So not natural....but so vegan...

I am a huge fan of sandwiches and fake meats. Oh, and fake cheese when it adds to the experience (some fake cheeses are just added empty calories and processed food intake). I have blogged previously about my love of the bar Tube's vegan ham & cheese english muffin sandwiches and when I was scavenging about in my kitchen for some easy food I came across Tofutti American slices, Tofurkey Smoked Turkey, Vegenaise and my English muffins. I knew that would be tasty, no matter how unnatural the ingredients are. I love to prove that being a vegan doesn't necessarily mean you eat healthy...

I decided to make a melt and since I don't have a panini press, I heated up the slices in a pan on the stove while the English muffins toasted away. I flipped the slices, added a cheese slice and then covered it and turned the heat off. I slathered one side of a muffin with the Vegenaise and added the now melted cheese topped turkey. Deliciousness! Warm, gooey, meaty goodness! I ate one every day for 4 days. I just couldn't help myself...One day I did make some kale as a side so that I felt a little more nutritionally balanced. Another day I had a green smoothie, so I'm still healthy, right?

it's on the B.L.

Yesterday morning i woke up in a hotel room with snow flurrying about outside my window. It's like i was in a movie or something. But instead of being snuggled up next to a boy, i was in bed with 3 girl friends. One of those friends had gotten a free night's stay at Hotel Deluxe and we made the best we could of a king size bed in the smallest hotel room i've ever been in. They did have a "Make It So" motto, where you could call them and ask for whatever. One of those things was a wide selection of different pillows, like body or one of those special neck pillows. We totally made it so....By breakfast/brunch time there was 3 of us left.

We walked to Blossoming Lotus for breakfast. I had never been there for breakfast before. Me and Maeve's feet were about frozen when we got there. I was wearing Chucks and a thin pair of socks and she had on boots that had a hole in one of the heels and weren't wet-proof. 

They didn't have much in the warm side for breakfast. Really, there was only one choice and that was toast...So i ended up ordering lunch (which they serve after 10am). 

I chose the Smokey Maple Tempeh Sandwich. 

Yeah, look at that plate of deliciousness....mmm.....so it's copious amounts of vegan aioli (i don't know what makes this aioli, it tastes like Vegenaise to me...yum..), alfalfa sprouts, tons of ripe avocado, lettuce and slabs of warm smokey, mapley tempeh on spelt bread. It was so good. I was only able to eat half of it (i polished off the leftovers last night...).  This picture was taken by Jess. She herself had gotten one of their bowls filled with pinto beans, tempeh chunks, kale and quinoa (or rice?) with a peanut sauce/ginger sauce mix. that was pretty tasty too.

Unfortunately, i wasn't able to order some of their delightful vegan soft serve. The flavor of the day was Nog, which probably would've been fun to try.

I like Blossoming Lotus, but it's not for breakfast place unless you're looking for a muffin, juice, granola or smoothie. I'm looking for warm and comforting when i go for breakfast. Oh, they have oatmeal, but i don't usually roll that way...

Tubesdays....my favorite day...

My friend Jess(of GetSconed!) and her boyfriend occasionally meet up with friends at the hipster haven Tube on Tuesdays, therefore dubing it Tubesday. The place is downtown right down the block from Dixie Tavern and across Burnside from Dante's and Voodoo donut. I remember going into the bar before they renovated and made it bigger. you literally felt you were a hamster in a tube. It's still small but it's do-able. The bartenders are usually hipster hot and pretty friendly (which kinda defies the hipster's stereotype). They have the latest happy hour that i know, besides that of Portland City Grill. It's from 5-10pm and the well drinks are $2 and they're strong. They have a lot of vegan items, my favorite being the Professor McGonickle. It's a hot ham and cheese on an english muffin for $2 during happy hour. i think they misspelled McGonagall (it's from Harry Potter, y'all) because it may have originally contained a pickle....but that's me guessing. Maybe whoever named it doesn't actually read Harry Potter books...or can't spell......or maybe it has nothing to do with Harry Potter after all.....

Anyways, the piece of "cheese" on it is ridiculously small but it doesn't take away from the tastiness of the sandwich. i could eat those things all damn day long. They seem to use the ham log (that can be bought at Food Fight Grocery) and the menu says it comes with chipotle veganaise, but i would swear that wasn't true. there's something that kinda looks -not tastes- like balsamic vinegar on the muffin. It's just heaven...

They do serve a regular ham and cheese that comes on foccacia bread and with a good sized salad for $7. Here's the menu(click on it to enlarge):


and happy hour:

"FUNNY HOUR" MENU:

PROFESSOR MCGONICKLE MUFFIN - Sliced fake ham, vegan cheese, & our homemade chipotle veganaise on an english muffin, $2

VEGAN TACO - Our homemade tofu scramble in a grilled flour tortilla, topped with shredded lettuce and sliced tomatoes, $2

GHOST DOG - Real or fake dog on a bun with kethcup and mustard, $2

CHIPS AND SALSA, $2

POTATO CHIPS, $2

ZESTY TUBE PASTA SALAD - Big bowl of our amazing homemade pasta salad, $4


DINNER:

GHOST DOG - Real or fake dog on a bun with kethcup and mustard, $4.50

VEGAN MEATBALL SAMMY - Meatless meatballs with our homemade marinara sauce on a grilled hoagie roll, served with homemade pasta salad, $7

VEGGIE HAM AND CHEESE - Grilled slices of fake ham, vegan cheese, & our homemade chipotle veganaise on grilled focaccia, served with side salad, $7

TUBE SALAD - Tossed salad with our homemade Goddess dressing, cucumbers, carrots, red onions, tomatoes, and slices of grilled fake ham or real turkey served with focaccia, $7

VEGAN SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS - Just like mom makes, only with meatless meatballs. Served with grilled focaccia and side salad, $7

TOFU SCRAMBLE DINNER PLATE - Our homemade tofu scramble with veggies, served with zesty pasta salad and grilled focaccia, $7

VEGAN TACO DINNER PLATE- Our homemade tofu scramble in a grilled flour tortilla, topped with shredded lettuce and sliced tomatoes, served with chips, salsa, and side salad, $7


and now that i've read the menu i'm kinda suspicious of the veganness of the ham. they call it "veggie ham and cheese" but on most of the other vegan menu items they straight up call it "vegan"....jess, have you asked them about the ham?

The Tube is also popular with the vegans because the serve a vegan White Russian. I have never got this because it's $4-5 and i always end up with a $2 Cranberry Vodka with lime. I have heard mixed reviews of the White Russians, but i would still like to try them some day....