more ProBar talk....

I did a post about these bars not too long ago. Kendall from the company contacted me and asked if i wanted to try some that were fresher than what i had eaten (i had gotten the Apple Cinnamon Crunch about a year before i ate it at a vegan fest) and, of course, i said Hell, yes!
He/She? sent me, upon request, the Original:


Whole Berry Blast:


and Superfood Slam:



Of the three, i would say my favorite was the Original. It was tasty and had great texture. This is not to say that the others didn't have good texture. They did. I knew beforehand that i wasn't going to love the berry one. i'm just not big on chunks of dried berries in things, especially raspberries and strawberries. My roommate that had some of it, really liked it. The Superfood Slam just had a more healthy taste, which i usually don't mind. I think it's only because i could compare it to the Original and the Apple Cinnamon Crunch that i would say i didn't like it as much.

Kendall told me that there was a new flavor coming in April, so i look forward to trying that one out. These bars are kinda pricey for a snack, but if you're hungry and don't have time for a meal these would do you good. The ingredients are natural and almost all organic.

an update

So i got another box of Trader Joe's Meatless Soy Nuggets and i'm now officially addicted. I've found that when i eat them dipped in vegenaise/yellow mustard/ketchup they totally remind me of the fish sticks of my youth, which i LOVED!
If anyone bought any and didn't like them (and lives here in Portland), your truely will take them off your hands....

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....

Yellow Rose Recipes Tasting Event!

From Joshivore's blog:

This Saturday — March 15 — 4pm

Come by and taste Yellow Rose Recipes for your own bad self!

Author Joanna Vaught will be signing books and talking food with us at The Herbivore Store this Saturday. Bring your copy of Yellow Rose and get it personalized, or come taste the eats and get a copy already!

On the menu? Jalapeno corn cakes, black bean soup, Texas caviar, Mexican pesto, vegan parmesan, spinach chickpea dip, and Goddess pasta salad. Tempted? Just wait until you taste this stuff.


So, yeah, all the cool kids are going to be there. meaning i'll be there....and of course i'm mainly going to be there so i can see the cute little Milo Bear. And because i'm a sample whore!

Donuts...or is it doughnuts?

Updated: April 7, 2008


My roommate is obsessed (see below) with the donuts at Sweetpea Baking Co. (SE 12th and Stark). Really there's lots to be obsessed about there: cheese danishes-if you're lucky and they haven't sold out yet, Bacon and Scallion cream cheese to go on your bagel, a few varieties of muffins, cheesecakes and cakes by the slice, big cookies, little cookies, cookies with icing in between them, cupcakes, hedgehogs (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nowheykatie/2256444358/....sorry, i can't take up more space currently with pictures, my computer may crash), fried apple pies, lemon bars, so-freakin-good peanut butter chocolate bars, hopefully-coming-soon toffee, brownies, coffee drinks with hemp, almond, rice or soymilk, and now there's an all-you-can-eat brunch, that includes coffee and o.j. for $10!



But back to the main topic...Voodoo's makes a few varieties of vegan donuts, true, but i don't count them as a real donut since really they're a cake donut, which, don't get me wrong, has a place in my life as well, but mostly what you crave about a donut is the delectable, squishy inside, the lightly browned outside (sorry about the long run on sentence that may or may not be correct english grammar)....and that's what Sweetpea has done right. Right now they do 2 kinds: the purist's Glazed and the Boston Creme plus they do one special one (not sure if they only do this on Saturdays or on Wednesday's as well). A couple weeks ago it was a Maple Bar and this past Saturday it was a Strawberry Glazed. It's like they read my mind or something because the 2 mainstays are my favorite donuts. My roommate and i always end up with the original glazed. We could eat the glazed ones forever....

The wonderful and dedicated Katie and Lisa make these donuts every Wednesday and Saturday only so make sure you stop by on those days. And then, of course, pick something else up for your snack later. I just love going to a 100% vegan place where i don't have to think. I don't have to ask what's in something, or be a lazy vegan and just hope there's nothing nonvegan about something i choose.

I don't know how much they are actually since i had a large giftcard that i used up without even looking at prices. I tend to still not look since i feel like supporting a great company....except for the $10 brunch thing, which is a bit much for me to go very often since i can't fit more than one plate in my stomach.

Wine is good.

Some background: I used to hate the smell and taste of red wines. I had a friend that used to tease me as he drank some red wine and asked if i wanted some Juicy Juice and i would take one little sniff of the wine and make a face. I still don't like the smell of red wine, but i have acquired a taste for it. White wines are still tasty but the sweetness can get a bit much. My favorite red is Syrah/Shiraz, but i'll drink most anything. Silly though it is, Sideways actually got me interested in red wine. The characters just made red wine seem so amazing! Right after seeing the movie in our small independent theater in Sarasota me and my friend went to our local grocer and picked up Red Bicyclette Syrah. I deemed it tasty and i've been drinking red wines with no fear ever since.
So last Christmas my brother-in-law happened to pick up a bottle of Pepperwood Syrah and Red Zinfandel. I fell in love with the $6 wine. 3 Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's is a good deal for what it is but it's not the best tasting. The Pepperwood wines i've had just have a very pleasant taste and they're not too dry. Recently i came across the Pepperwood Riesling at Grocery Outlet for only $3 and i found this to be tasty as well. Not too sweet. So if you're looking for a new house wine, try some Pepperwood and let me know what you think.


Also, get Screwed!

I found this at Grocery Outlet as well and was pleasantly surprised to find it to be a very good red. i'm a big fan screw cap wines. I once read that corks don't make a better wine and i gotta agree (note: i am not a fine wine connoisseur). and it makes it so much easier when you're not drinking the whole bottle that night. just screw the cap back on and you're set.

Camillia Lounge

Another nonfood entry. I think i've given up on being only vegan foods you can buy. It's just no fun when i am excited about a restaurant or, in this case, a bar.
So last night we had a girl's night out in honor of Erica (who was visiting from Chicago) and the first night out for Joanna since she had baby Milo on December 7th (i think i got that date correct). First we ate. We went to Backspace and were kicked out of our tables as soon as we were done eating. They were having some show and we were in the way. I gotta say, Backspace's service just pretty much sucks. I don't know what was going on last night but i had to ask for cups for the self-serve water, there weren't any forks in the fork holder when i went to get one for a friend's food (they hadn't brought one when they delivered her food), and they had to remake a friend's coffee drink when it was let sitting on the counter (i think they may have called it out, but it's kinda weird when they bring your food to the table, you don't really expect that they won't do the same for your coffee drink)......i've only gone to Backspace for food once before and the service was soooo s-l-o-w. (by the way, i had the Steak Sandwich with a bup of Cheezy Broccoli soup, which i had to pay an extra $1.50....which wasn't worth it...I would've thought the green peppers and onions would've been grilled more...it's like they sauted them for 15 seconds...enough elipses....)
So we left in search for another all ages place to hang out. We had one minor with us and i've said before, this is not a place for minors! Almost every place that you would go to in the evening, you have to 21 for. We ended up walking over to The Tea Zone. They call the back half of the cafe The Camellia Lounge. The place was complately empty when we got there a smidge past 7pm. Lucky for us the nonsmoking lounge allows minors until 8pm. Not a lot, but something. We sat in the booth area, which is right in front of a wall that is covered in thin material has lights on the bottom that continously changed color. It was weird. And we weren't too into it. The music selection also was odd. When we first got there it was some sort of weird elevator type music, then it was swtiched to Cat Power, then to something else. After being there an hour a band started setting up. This is a really small lounge area and i didn't foresee us being able to talk when a drumset was set up just a few feet away....We weren't able to and eventually we gave up and left.
So i'm sounding pretty negi....But no fear, the fact the cocktails are pretty kickass put a posi spin on the evening. They're all infused with tea. My first drink was a Telmig (which i suddenly realized was "gimlet" spelled backwards last night while laying in bed....)- "A sour gin gimlet that combines our house infused Darjeeling Beefeater gin, sake, and fresh lime. Super crisp." I was kinda scared when i realized it was one of those drinks not served on the rocks, but it ended up being cold and very tasty. The second drink i had was a Mango Bobby- "Mango or blackcurrant black tea vodka and 7Up." The other girls got all other drinks and it was fun tasting them. All of the ones i tried were quite tasty. They included: Sunset on the Empire, Ginger Peach of Immortality, Smokey Robinson (this one was a favorite of ours, it was very interesting with it's smokey flavor), Shinjuki (it was one of the adult bubble teas known as Trubble Teas...hehe)...Jess had one that i tried and i can't remember the name...
For the whole menu: http://teazone.com/loungeappetizerdrink%20menu.htm

My friend Susie got the "Vegan Falafel" and proclaimed it good and that she had never had an awful falafel....

Location and Number: 510 NW 11th Ave. (right on the southbound streetcar tracks, between glisan and hoyt...i think...) 503-221-2130