Month: December 2011

Vegan Eats in Maryland and DC: Part I

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

Greetings from Rhode Island! After spending five fantastic days in Maryland with S, I hopped on a quick one-hour flight to Rhode Island. Now I’m chillin’ with my family until S joins us late Christmas night. So far I’ve baked one batch of cookies (Five-Spice Snaps from Hannah Kaminsky’s Vegan Desserts: Sumptuous Sweets for Every Season), taken the train up to Boston to visit friends, and otherwise just schlepped around in my super-comfy new plushy bathrobe. Tomorrow we’ll do lots more Christmas baking and food prepping, so I’ll feel a bit more productive.

But I’m getting ahead of myself – I have some Maryland-related eats to share! I was blown away by all the veg-friendly restaurants S and I encountered in MD (and DC), so I figured I’d share ’em! I highly recommend all of these places – each one was impressive in its own right, and definitely worth a visit. I’m splitting this post into two, though, because I’m prone to ramblin’ and it’d get mighty lengthy if I didn’t!

Great Sage in Clarksville, MD

S’s mom treated us to dinner at Great Sage on one of our first nights in Maryland. Their menu is totally vegan, and their dishes feature local and organic ingredients. We started with the Artichoke-Spinach Dip appetizer, a chunky dip with just the right amount of mozzarella Daiya. Spooned onto crusty crostini rounds, it made for a creamy and satisfying start to our meal. For my main dish, I went with the Santa Fe Salad because I was in the mood for something a little on the light side. The salad was fantastic. Mixed baby greens, black beans, roasted corn, red onions, and tomatoes were perfectly coated in a delicious house-made lime-cilantro dressing, then topped with a generous scoop of guacamole, a light sprinkling of cheddar Daiya, and finished off with tortilla strips and big cubes of marinated tofu. The combination was perfect, and I really loved the dressing – it was tangy and flavorful without being overpowering. I was slightly disappointed with the tofu, which seemed a little bland for my tastes – grilling or broiling it might’ve fit better with the theme of the dish. But otherwise, it was perfect and completely filling.

If only you could smell the dressing!

Sticky Fingers Bakery in Washington, DC

Man… I am so envious of anyone who has easy access to an all vegan-bakery like Sticky Fingers. On our list of stuff to do in DC, “visit Sticky Fingers” was right alongside things like “go to museums” and “visit the Botanic Gardens.” As soon as we arrived in the District, we headed straight for the bakery for breakfast and a coffee fix. S enjoyed the Breakfast Burrito, a whole-grain tortilla filled with tofu scramble, black beans, Daiya, tomato, and a generous helping of spinach. Because he’s a generous gent, he offered me many bites, and I can attest that it’s a solid breakfast option. The addition of ketchup made it even better, until some uptight indie boy came over and demanded that S return the ketchup then didn’t even crack a smile when S laughingly apologized for hoarding it. Uptight Indie Boy, you give vegans a bad name and I do not want to be associated with you. Anyway, S also sipped this pretty cappuccino:

Swirly!

I did not get anything nearly as fancy for my breakfast. I enjoyed a simple (but really tasty) cup of coffee along with a Cranberry-Ginger Muffin, their seasonal muffin flavor. I can’t remember the last time I ate a muffin that neither I nor my mom baked, so it was a real treat to enjoy a light, fluffy, bakery-style muffin that I didn’t have to lift a finger to prepare. If the ginger had been a little more prominent, it would’ve been an absolutely perfect breakfast! In fact, it was so good that I forgot to take a photo until I was halfway done eating.

Proof of this muffin's deliciousness.

S and I had plans to return to Sticky Fingers for dessert later in the day, but that didn’t pan out. Alas! I really wanted to try a Peppermint Fudge Brownie. Maybe one day!

Pho 14 in Washington, DC

After a morning of ogling gems and minerals and questioning the necessity of a Chilean miners exhibit at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, S and I met up with two of his college friends for lunch. S introduced me to pho when we were in Chicago over the summer and I really enjoyed it, but sadly, Madison’s vegan pho offerings are non-existent. We made our own version once, but it wasn’t quite the same. So, S was pleased to discover Pho 14, which offers both traditional pho options and a more animal-friendly variety. While S opted for a veg bowl of pho, I went for something slightly different – Bun Chay, described rather sparsely as “vegetables with fried and dyed tofu.” I received a big ol’ bowl of yummy tofu, slightly pickled veggies, thin, round rice noodles, and even more fresh veggies, all of which tasted fantastic when doused in a sweet chili sauce. It was the perfect meal, the kind that fills you up yet doesn’t leave your tummy feeling heavy or uncomfortable. It was light, clean, and absolutely delicious, and it provided me with lots of energy for perusing the fantastic collections at the National Gallery of Art.

…and that’s it for this installment! I’ll talk about the rest of my yummy eats soon. But first – what fabulous restaurants did I miss in DC?! What’s your favorite travel destination, food-wise? 

And also… happy holidays! :)


A Very Belated Thanksgiving Post

/ Kelly / 7 Comments

…now that we’re in full December-holiday-Christmas-merriment-festive mode, I’m going to talk about Thanksgiving! Pardon my tardiness, please. I’ll pepper my wordy musings with photos of food to appease you. :)

I want to talk about Un-Turkey Day because I learned quite a lot from hosting my first Thanksgiving. For example, I now know that if you’re serving three main dishes “to give people options,” it’s probably not necessary to double the recipe for one of those dishes. I also learned that a double oven would be mighty handy on holidays, and that garbage disposals really don’t like large amounts of potato peels. (I also know what potato-peel-laden water looks like when it comes pouring out of your sink pipes.)

My table! I made the napkins.

Most importantly, though, I learned that relying on other people is okay. Typically, I’m a do-it-myself kind of girl. I’m a little… particular, shall we say, about most things I do, and I’m of the mindset that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. But guess what? “Right” is subjective, and sometimes something done right is something done imperfectly. At the end of the day, after S’s and my guests flew back to their four corners of the country, any flaws in our meal didn’t factor into my lasting Thanksgiving memories. Instead, I’ll think fondly on my brother and sister acting as my sous chefs on Wednesday afternoon, chopping and prepping and handling sticky cranberry sauce overflows. I’ll remember my mom dutifully stirring the gravy so it wouldn’t get clumpy while I managed the vegetables. I’ll recall S masterfully mashing potatoes and seasoning them to creamy, delicious perfection while his mom painstakingly handled layers of phyllo dough for one of our main dishes. And I will never forget my dad and S crouching down to unclog my woefully clogged sink after dinner.

Me and some of my feast.

What these memories all have in common is their inclusion of other people, of my loved ones volunteering their time and help so that I didn’t have to do it alone. And although I initially didn’t want to let go of my control, to put my carefully crafted dinner into anybody else’s hands, I’m glad I did. I’m glad I quelled my martyr instinct and let them help me, not only so that I can have such fantastic memories and relax a bit, but so that I could realize that, hey, perfection isn’t necessary (or even attainable). And that realization – along with the people who helped bring it about – are what I’m most thankful for as I think about this past Thanksgiving.

Oh yeah, and the food. We had some damn fine food. Our menu:

Main dishes:

  • Ribollita
  • Tofurky
  • Sweet Potatoes and Cannellini Beans in Sage-Butter Phyllo Crust (Blooming Platter of Vegan Recipes, p. 120)

Side dishes:

  • Mashed potatoes
  • Stuffing
  • Oven-roasted shredded Brussels sprouts
  • Sweet & Salty Maple Baby Carrots (Appetite for Reduction, p. 105)
  • Rye bread

Toppings:

Desserts:

Bundt cake o' deliciousness.

Notice anything about this menu? Yep, every single thing is vegan. Our dinner included two vegans, two vegetarians, and three omnivores, and all of them were willing to give a vegan Thanksgiving a go. I’m so grateful for the chance to host an animal-free Thanksgiving, and I couldn’t be prouder of my loved ones for not bemoaning the lack of a turkey a single time. Instead, they all gracefully enjoyed our cruelty-free food. (The only non-vegan food item anyone consumed was some regular whipped cream, because Soyatoo is expensive, and I hoarded it for myself and my mom!)

An open-faced pie - how modern!

So, this Thanksgiving? A big giant awesome delicious animal-free success. I’m so happy to have hosted, and so happy to have celebrated it with some of the best people in the world. :)

And now I’m heading off on a 12-day East Coast road trip of awesomeness with S. I’ll report back about any delicious eats we encounter along the way!

How was your Thanksgiving? What are your holiday plans?

P.S. Here is a BONUS PICTURE – Moria, all tucked in!

Don't worry, she doesn't really sleep like this.

Saturday Night Pizza Fever

/ Kelly / 2 Comments

Well, hello! Thought you’d never hear from me again, eh? I promise I won’t be silent much longer. I’ve got some half-finished posts in the works, but to tide you over until then, how about a picture of some delectable pizza?

Dinner o' champions.

Last night S and I independently started thinkin’ that we felt like making pizza for dinner. Once we discovered our mutual hankering, we wasted no time in whipping up a masterpiece of a pie. Because we weren’t keen on waiting for the dough to rise, I used this super quick and super easy dough recipe, which doesn’t require any rising or kneading time. I was skeptical, but the 1000+ positive reviews convinced me to give it a shot. It worked out perfectly, much to my hungry belly’s happiness and my make-everything-harder-than-it-needs-to-be perfectionist self’s surprise.

In the interest of time and laziness, we topped our pizza with canned Muir Glen pizza sauce instead of making sauce from scratch. We covered one half of the pizza with mozzarella Daiya, basil, and roasted red peppers. The other half was a little more sophisticated; we topped it with caramelized onions and shallots, artichoke hearts, and more roasted red peppers. I can’t decide which half I liked better! And I have to admit that Daiya is growing on me. I still think it’s a little icky smelling, and it’s certainly no health food, but the occasional Daiya pizza definitely hits the spot every once in a while.

Aaand that’s all I have for you today! What’s your favorite pizza topping?