Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Dad's Birthday Dinner
Vegan Pizza, Increased creativity
Pumpkin Scones
Tempeh Sushi
Thursday, December 18, 2008
COOKIES
*Pictures feature sugar cookies, chocolate chip adapted from Pillsbury Family Cookbook, Mint Chippers adapted from Sunset Magazine
Friday, December 05, 2008
Thanksgiving Dinner
I used the seitan recipe from the PPK and filled it with a mushroom mousse and sauteed kale and shitakes. After baking it was slathered with gravy.
In my ideal world, advice hotlines for cooking turkeys on Thanksgiving would be unheard of and and hotlines for making seitan roulades would replace them.
However, the whole world has not yet gone vegetarian and so I had to solve my seitan roulade woes by myself.
Seitan is pretty simple to make. It gets harder, though, when the goal is to rolls it into long sheets for a roulade. (It likes to bubble in the most unfavorable places).
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
The Dawn's First Breath
The Dawn's First Breath is musical duo composed of Tyler Price and Corrina Snow. The two of them are currently on a bike tour from Northern California and are making their way back down the west coast, sharing their talent on the way. They're playing at music venues along the coast and if you're lucky you might also come upon them sharing musical goodness on the streets.
They were kind enough to stop by Red and Black Open Mic early this week and share their amazingness..
Their music is surprising, very unique like nothing you've ever really heard before and once you hear it you'll desire more. There are a lot of varying influences in their music, including hiphop, reggae, folk and other worldly genres but they encourage listerners to create their own description.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Hotcakes: Chocolate Chip Banana
(The batter is good too, if you're a pancake batter person like me...)
RED AND BLACK CAFE
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Chocolate Chip Scones
Habibi II
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Bambuza Vietnamese Bistro
We ordered two different types of vegetarian salad rolls:
gỏi cuốn dừa (coconut summer rolls) which were filled with sauteed tofu, basil, bean sprouts, rice noodles, and carrots double wrapped in lettuce and rice paper and gỏi cuốn chay (vegetarian salad rolls) which were filled with sauteed jicama, tofu, basil, coconut meat, carrot, and peanut, also double wrapped
phở chay (vegetarian pho and condiments): a large steaming bowl filled with soft fried tofu, fresh vegetables including broccoli, carrots and bok choy, rice noodles and mushrooms in a delicate but flavorful vegetarian stock
đậu hủ ướp sã – lemongrass tofu skewers
đậu que xào đậu hủ (green bean tofu) a wok specialty: crispy tofu sauteed with green beans in garlic black bean sauce
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Vodka Champagne Sunrises
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Chocolat
Habibi Restaurant
The owner of the restaurant is quite facetious and extremely kind. After ordering three dishes to share between my friend and me, he stopped me, insisting that I order nothing more, as he did not want us to waste our money (due to the potential inability of eating such a large amount of food).
Habibi's menu is extremely vegan-friendly with everything labeled and a plethora of choices.
Mezza Platter: Falafel, humus, tabouli, tahini, garbonzo beans & majadra
Everything on the platter was amazing and had so much flavor. I highly recommend the falafel.
Zattar Pizza Sandwich: Thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, sumac & olive oil, with tomato, lettuce & tahini.
The myriad of flavors in the dish are so wonderful.
Lentil Soup: Green lentils and potatoes simmered with onion, garlic, rice, spices & a dash of olive oil (This is on of the best lentil soups I've ever eaten and it is under $5 for a good sized bowl)
Habibi is located near Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland: 1012 SW Morrison
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Peninsula Park
This post has nothing to do with food or even veganism but still concerns simple pleasures.
Yesterday I explored the Peninsula Park in North Portland. I'm falling in love with north and northeast Portland and have been wanting to visit Peninsula Park all summer.
To get to Peninsula Park, take Martin Luther King Junior Blvd north to Rosa Parks Way. Take a left and the park will be on your left. (Its just down the street from the max line and Interstate Ave.)
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Luxury Camping
Takeout: Tacos Locos
Vegetarian Taco Salad
Layers of lettuce, beans, rice and tomato served with guacamole and salsa
Flour tortilla stuffed with rice, pinto beans, tomatoes, steamed onions, buell pepers and huge mushrooms
1610 Allen Creek Rd. Grants Pass, Oregon 97527
Un Gateau Rouge
This cake is CRAZY. It is magenta because it has BEETS!
Recipe Converted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
Best "Two-Egg" Cake
1/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ener-G Egg Replacer equivalent to 2 eggs (or you can use 2 tbl ground flax and 1/4 cup water)
2 1/4 cups flour (I used a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and white bread flour)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegan milk
2 or 3 beets, cooked, peeled and pureed
Prepare egg and set aside
Cream sugar and shortening
Add "eggs" and other wet ingredients including beet puree
Sift in dry ingredients and stir until combined
Pour into greased pan (I used two 9in circulars) and bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes
When cake has cooled, frost with a fluffy vanilla frosting (powdered sugar, vanilla and vegan milk)
Thanh Thao
The sign at Dots states that they do not serve minors after 10:00 PM but they really should change the sign as they stop serving minors quite a bit earlier.
After realizing that we were not 21, the host refused to seat us and would not even allow us to sit outside.
Desperate, we departed hoping to find something to eat at Fred Meyer but ended up at Thanh Thao, a Vietnamese/Thai restaurant on Hawthorne. Even though we arrived at 10, the we were seated. They encouraged us to hurry but brought us Jasmine tea while we looked at the menu and seated another guy 5 minutes later.
The food was good like Thai food should be and was not lacking quality or flavor that one might expect when dining at close.
Vegetables and tofu sauteed in a brown garlic sauce
Thanh Thao 4005 SE Hawthorne