Hi guys!

It’s Friday! Yay!

What Friday means for me is NOT the end of the work week, looking forward to the weekend and possibly happy hour, but a late-night closing shift at the BrewPub. I love my job, and Fridays keep me extra busy on the floor at work, so it’s a fun shift.

The restaurant industry operates on a different timeline than traditional 9-5’ers. I work 8-10 hours a day, and my shifts start anywhere between 1030am and 4pm. I get out as late at 130 or 2am on Friday nights. I’ve been in the restaurant industry for so long I don’t know what I’d do with normal work hours during daylight, sitting at a cubical and working for the weekend. It’s possible I’d go stir-crazy.

Anyway, I like Fridays because I have all day to get stuff done.

Stuff like………….

POPCORN COOKIES.

I adapted the recipe from this source, but modified it quite a bit. (It was so liquidy I felt like I had to keep adding thickener/binder, but I still managed to keep them completely gluten-free.)

They turned out pretty well. And by pretty well I mean delicious. I will definitely be making these again, because like I said on Facebook, the only thing better than popcorn and cookies is POPCORN COOKIES.

….Stuff like re-heating last night’s Lemon Dill Orecchiette Pasta with Kale, Spinach and Green Peas for lunch today.

Last night this was waaaay too lemon-y and the pasta still tasted kind of chewy (am I selling you on it yet?) but today when I reheated it and added a touch of almond milk, daiya mozzarella, and more nutritional yeast and dill, it was splendid. Splendid.

Trivia of the day: orecchiette means ‘little ear’ in Italian and is so named because of its indented shape.

……….And stuff like doing laundry, listening to The Traveling Wilburys and researching South Korea.

source

I’m headed to Seoul on Monday for a week. I will be spending about 26 hours on a plane and in airports to get there, but baby, when I get there, it will be non-stop norebonging, hiking, and eating kimchi. (Just kidding about the last part, I’m not super wild about kimchi, though I’ve heard kimchi doughnuts exist. What the heck?) I’m visiting my brother who’s lived there for what feels like eons teaching English (He and his girlfriend write a great blog about traveling and their experience there called Are We There Yeti).

Guys, I thought Chicago was huge—at 2.7 million people, it’s the third largest city in the US (source: talking to locals and vague internet research). But Seoul, at over 10 million people, is beyond my comprehension of how large a city can be.

From Wikitravel:

With over 10 million people, a figure that doubles if you include neighboring cities and suburbs, Seoul is the largest city in South Korea and unquestionably the economic, political and cultural hub of the country. By some measures it is the second largest urban agglomeration on the planet, after Greater Tokyo. Situated between Shanghai and Tokyo and bordered by the impenetrable Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north, the South Korean capital is sometimes overlooked by travelers. However, Seoul is an exciting location in its own right, not to mention cheaper than its rivals and incredibly safe. With beautiful palaces, great food and a shopping nightlife, Seoul is a frenetic way to experience the Asia of old and new.

I am so excited! I have been traveling a lot (to LA for Veggie Grill and to Chicago for Vida Vegan Con), and my trips have been great. I feel grateful for the amount of travel I am doing in this first part of 2012. This trip is extra-special though; I’m seeing my stupid brother who I miss a lot and exploring a whole new city/country/continent. Whoa. This is pure pleasure. And lots of walking.

I’m flying on Continental/United and it turns out they’re an extremely frustrating airline to fly on and communicate with. One of them is buying the other one out; so my information their representatives have access to is divided arbitrarily—one of them can see my seat number but not change it, the other one can’t look up the meal plan for me… I spent two hours (I’m exaggerating, it was only just over an hour but it felt like HOURS) on the phone with them and still am not sure about my meal or seat assignment.

I’m preparing for my flight with loads of granola bars (don’t know if my request for a vegan meal got through), comfy clothes and gratitude for my short legs for my middle seat, and a few new books on my Kindle.

Watoosie!

While I’m there, we may even film an episode of Man Vs Tofood. When my brother and his girlfriend Rachel lived here in Portland for a year, we went around town filming ridiculous versions of a web vegan version of Man vs Food. (You can see the episodes we filmed here.) He even filmed a special episode where I baked something for him to conquer. (Even though I look victorious at the end, I was secretly disappointed that I won.)

So, Friday. A day filled with cookies, pasta, laundry (blech) and research on my upcoming international trip followed by a sure-to-busy night at work. Fantastic! Oh. I just remembered I need to find my passport still. Hurm. Good thing I’ve got three days left.

Last week, Jess, Michele and I woke up bright and early and headed to the PDX Airport.

Destination: Chicago!

In January!

Our four goals were simple:

1. Eat Chicago Pizza and Chicago-style Hot Dogs.

Chicago unfortunately has a severe shortage of deep dish vegan pizza (Really, Chicago? Not one place?) but luckily for us, our friend The Snarky Vegan put out a call for best vegan pizza place and we all decided on The Boiler Room. Ian’s, the other options that came up, didn’t carry Daiya, and that’s what we were jonesing for.

The Boiler Room has the coolest bathrooms on the planet (see Get Sconed’s Facebook page for a little video tour), a rad cocktail list and Upton Natural’s bacon. None of us had tried bacon on pizza before, so we had to check it out. This pizza is basic—red sauce with mozzarella Daiya, Upton’s bacon and basil. Yurm.

Could have used more basil, but I’m a basil fiend and could always eat more basil.

The Whole Foods in Lincoln Park has two unique distinctions:

1. It is the best place in the world and one can drink bubbles while grocery shopping and I want to live in the aisles forever.

2. There’s a little diner called River View that offers vegan Chicago-style hot dogs for $3.50.

Michele stuck with the classic hot dog. I opted for one with sauerkraut and mozzarella Daiya.

It looks gross, I know. When I saw the picture, I seriously questioned myself as to why I would eat that. But guys, it was really good. I ate about half the kraut/cheese topping, and a few of the fries. YURM!

Oh, and we had milkshakes in Chicago, too!

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Milkshake at The Chicago Diner.

Jess and I split the small one, and between the two of us, we almost finished it.

Jess ordered a cookies and cream milkshake at the fine River View café in Whole Foods.

This is Michele, with her glass of bubbly and Jess’ milkshake in the background.

We came, we ate, we conquered.

2. Meet up with awesome Chicago vegan peeps.

Dan and Nicole from Upton’s spent a few hours with us on Saturday. They’re the nicest people. They picked us up at our Travelodge and drove us through Boystown to The Chicago Diner. We had a fun chat over lunch.

Nicole, me and Jess outside the Chicago Diner

After lunch, we checked out a few other places on the (un)official Upton’s Driving Tour. Dan and Nicole were the perfect welcoming wagon to us VVC ladies in Chicago. Thanks, guys!

The magnificent Kelly Peloza (who is my younger doppelganger.) came up for dinner and shenanigans with us on Saturday night. She’s so talented and peaceful and fun. I love her.

Kelly and Jess at Native Foods.

On Sunday, we had a small meet up at the Boiler Room. Marla from Chicago Vegan Mania, Julia from The Snarky Vegan and Michelle (Jess’ friend—not sure if she has a blog?) got together for pizza and talks about Chicago locations and probability of a future event here.

This is what we did all weekend. Bloggers gotta blog.

3. Research potential venues for 

Vida Vegan Con 2013.

We saw several spots—ranging from UIC which would be big enough to host everything except the Galarama, to Loft on Lake (perfect for Galarama??) to Pulaski Park to Roosevelt University. We loved all we saw. While some locations had drawbacks, they each had a lot of singular benefits. We will be weighing out the pros and cons this weekend.

Decisions, decisions!

4. Get familiar with the feel of Chicago, the public

transportation, and the vegan food options.

This is the view from our hotel room. Chicago is a pretty city.

The public transportation was ridiculously easy to understand, navigate and afford.

Jess and Michele will probably kill me for posting this blue-light bus picture. But I love it.

I’m not sure why, but I really like this picture.

We had coffee at Intelligentsia, Chicago’s famous coffee shop.

My soy cappuccino was alright. It looked beautiful, but (*puts on coffee snob hipster glasses*) notes of banana overwhelmed the flavor of the cup for me.

:

I call this “The Jess Collection”.

<3 <3 <3

We ate lunch at Quesadilla La Reyna del Sur, an all-vegan soy-saturated taco place.

I loved it. I tried three different tacos and a bite of Jess’ Cuban Torta. I wish there was a Quesadilla location in Portland, but failing that, I am just getting more and more excited for El Nutri to open its Brick and Mortar location (Anyone know when that will be?)

Walking around in the cold. Brrrrrrr. I loved the weather. I don’t know how I’d feel after five solid months of bone-seeping cold, but four days wasn’t so bad. Plus, it was snowy. <3

Fresh warm bread. Never say no to fresh warm bread.

I enjoyed this Ebel’s Weiss. It tasted like a floral Hefeweizen.

The Handlebar, a crowded vegetarian restaurant, offered an  excellent beer: Blueberry Stout. My new favorite. Wow. This was so good. I had two. I don’t think I could do more than two—it’s so rich—but two was the perfect amount.

And, just look: rosehip liqueur? Want.

Further down on the cocktail menu was a beermosa with White ale and orange juice. Super intriguing, but stuck to my baby, the Blueberry Stout.

We visited the top of the John Hancock building.

96 stories up, our ears popped and our whistles wetted, we would have had a stunning view of Chicago, I’m sure, but all we saw out of the windows was fog and shadows of falling ice. It was so cool.

Downtown Chicago at dusk.

Whole Foods bubbles for shopping. Two of my favorite things: grocery shopping and sparkling wine. I am going to move in to this Whole Foods.

I brought all this back on the plane with me.  Soul Vegan Mac and Cheese, Ste Marteen pepperjack cheese, cucumber dill hummus, and a vegan gyro wrap from Upton’s. Not pictured: cookies from the Chicago Diner purchased as gifts for a few of the vegan staff at my day job.

The mac and cheese was decent, the hummus is nice, I’m really enjoying the cheese so far and I want those gyros wraps available in Portland.

Overall, it was a fun, busy and successful trip. We haven’t made our final decision yet, but this trip definitely answered a few questions for us.

I love Chicago.

On Day Two of Veggie Grill weekend, I woke up bright and early (830am) due to my early retiring the night before. I took a picture of the apple that magically appeared on the mirror shelf (right before I ate it for breakfast) and said goodbye to my room.

Goodbye, bed.

Goodbye, snack kit that was too expensive and too adorable for me to snack out of.

Goodbye, fancy bottle of Evian and fancy red glasses.

Goodbye, in-room Martini bar. *tear* I wish I could have known you better.

After I said my goodbyes, I introduced myself to the coffee bar downstairs in the lobby.

Hellooo, coffee bar.

Then the girls and I made it upstairs to the rooftop pool to see what all the fuss was about.

I could kick back here for a few hours for sure. Waiter, where’s my bottle of Dom Perignon?

We met this handsome fella, but had to say goodbye too quickly to him and to the SLS Hotel so we could make the Hollywood Farmers Market.

We met with Ray White, chef and co-founder of Veggie Grill and Therese, Manager of Administration for Veggie Grill, to walk through the Farmers Market before heading to lunch with the two of them.

Valet parking for the Farmers Market, naturally.

Webly, Ray and Therese:

We hightailed it over to lunch, as Michele had to make an earlier flight than the rest of us and we wanted to get her some good food first.

Here are the nachos again. Guys, these are SO GOOD. I can’t even get over it. I ate all of my share plus Jess’ too, I’m pretty sure.

Just look at the cheese. *Swoon*

The chili cheese fries made with sweet potato fries. They’re similar to the nachos, but without the guacamole and jalapenos. I don’t love chili cheese fries (I know, I know), but these were popular at the table.

One more peak at the soon-to-be-famous-in-Portland cheese sauce:

Next up, the Chicken Caesar Salad Wrap. I asked specifically to try this item. For someone who’s never eaten a classic anchoveyed-up Caesar salad, I sure do love my vegan Caesars. This wrap is one of my favorite items on the menu. The chicken is blackened, lending a smoky taste throughout the wrap that really complements the lemony Caesar salad.

The chicken fingers with a side of sweet potato fries and two dipping sauces—ranch and sweet and sour.

I am a sucker for fake chicken. Look at the insides: it’s chewy and flavorful and completely plant-based. The only thing that would make these better were if they were bite-sized little nuggets.

Oh, what have we here? Chicken nuggets. YES. They are so friggin’ adorable. These came with chipotle ranch (YUM) and bbq sauce.

Next up in our Chickenstravaganza lunch, the buffalo chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bun. Simple, spicy, perfect.

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This is one of my favorite pictures of Jess ever ever.

Next up, the new knife-and-fork (or fork-and-knife? I dunno. How do YOU say it?) entrees Veggie Grill will be rolling out soon.

Chicken fried steak with caulipots (mashed potatoes and cauliflower) and steamed kale, topped with mushroom gravy and miso dressing.

RIGHT?

I was so full at this point (probably from stealing everyone’s nachos and chicken nuggets) that I only had a bite. That bite was worth it though.

Next—and final entrée of the weekend, let me dry my tears—is the Portobello steak on top of tempeh with kale, miso dressing and a fresh tomato caprese salad.

Again, I could only get down a bite, but the tomatoes were exquisite. I love that they’re working on more gluten-free options.

New-ish dessert. The chocolate pudding with a sweet sour cream topping and oreos.

This was really good. The tanginess of the sauce mixed really well with the sweetness of the pudding.

We had fun talking about childhood pets, rooftop gardens and local and seasonal produce among a host of other things.

After a long and delightfully funny lunch,we said our goodbyes and on the way to airport, Lonny stopped at Venice Beach for us to get out, feel the sand between our toes, and say goodbye to Southern California.

Oh, you should know, I have the same ratio of beaches with palm trees to amount of photos taken as I do to flowers and sunsets.

I like this guy.

And this guy.

After a tearful goodbye with Lonny (ees joke, I make joke. No tears shed.) we had a remarkably easy check-in to LAX. Well, Webly and I did. Jess had a problem with her huge book looking like water in the scanner. Hilarious. Back home to Portland and the long work week and starting to plan the weekend in Chicago.

I had a great quick weekend in LA. I admire Veggie Grill for their authentic and personable business style and am excited to see them grow. I plan on devouring the nachos, kale salad, chicken Caesar wrap and chicken nuggets as often as possible once they land in Portland.

Did you miss Part One or Part Two?

Read Part One here.

After lunch at Veggie Grill in Santa Monica and a view of the kale machine (perhaps it’s not so revolutionary as we thought, Karla. But it was still cool!) we headed out with Lonny to the Getty Museum. Fun side note: Just as we left, Alyson Hannigan (Lily from How I Met Your Mother, one of my favorite sitcoms) came in. I didn’t get to see her, but I’m content with an almost celebrity sighting.

Onwards to the Getty!

I had been to the Getty Museum years ago with my friend Jordan, but that was back in the day when I had a disposable camera and the only pictures that turned out were a few off-center self portraits and a foggy picture of LA. This day was sunny and the museum was crowded and the exhibits I saw were striking.

Look, a bug in the museum.

I really dug the exhibition called Narrative Interventions in Photography. <-- No pictures allowed, but this link will take you to pictures on the Getty’s website. I encourage you to click through—there’s great photos of words/narrative interacting with nature in the most peculiar and striking ways.

(source)

Anyway, since I couldn’t take pictures inside, I focused on being outside in the gardens as much as possible.

Such a gorgeous day for photos. Lots of pretty flowers, too.

And I can’t help but take pictures of pretty flowers. It’s a ratio; the prettier a flower or more striking a sunset, the more photos I am required to snap—and share with everyone I know (including you guys).

Pomegranates!

Remember when I traveled through Turkey just over two years ago and drank fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice on the streets of Istanbul? That was so awesome.

See the bee??

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My favorite picture:

My second favorite picture:

The most adorable flower in the flower garden:

<3

And LA was sort of smoggy—go figure—but still looked cool.

Jess and I tried for a few cute shots together. I tried on her glasses for fun, but I just looked like her dorky little sister.

As the sun started to set, I wandered back to to tram. We had walked the 1/2 mile up from the parking garage, but I was certainly feeling the tram ride down would be warmer.

Once we made it back to the car—and Lonny—and regrouped, we drove back into the city, through Rodeo Drive and to the hotel.

So much bling to make this city go round.

We made it back to the hotel just in time for cocktails at Bazaar with Greg Dollarhyde, CEO of Veggie Grill, and Heather, director at Blaze PR. No time for changing, straight to drinks. Such is the life.

I was woefully unprepared to order and settled on two of my current favorite go-to’s both times I ordered: Gin (Hendricks for me) Martini straight up with a twist and a classic Negroni (not pictured, but served on the rocks at Bazaar).

Jess branched out to try a crazy deconstructed olive foam martini thingy (Whoa.)

Michele and Webly tried crazy nitrogen-y drinks.

The magic!

A few requisite group shots:

(You can spy my beloved Our Hen House bag under the table.)

Note: the couple in these group photos also came down from Portland for the weekend. They jointly write a food blog and spent parts of the weekend with us.

After cocktails, we took a brief respite in our rooms to, you know, breathe. And because with fancy rooms with turndown service, we had to spend a little time in there, using up the q-tips, fantasizing about the martini bar and doodling on the stationary. Well, that’s what I did.

We met in the lobby and waited for the BMW (value: One hundred thousand dollars. I would write that in numerical form, but I don’t even know how. It’s too big.) to pick us up and drive us to dinner. While waiting, Jess and I had a glass of expensive bubbly in the lobby. As we do. Michele and and Webly stuck with water.

Cheers!

Once our driver picked us up, he regaled us with more stories than I thought possible on a 1.8 mile drive. He had been at Hyde the night before (to my knowledge, Hyde is an uber-Hollywood club with celebrities and expensive people drinks). I sat shotgun, so he showed me a picture on his phone of him downing a bottle of Dom Perignon at the club.

Whoa. LA life is crazy. I love hearing stories, but I think it’d be a bit much for me to actually live. Not the Dom Perignon part though. I could easily chug bottles of champagne at clubs every weekend. Vegan Thug For Life.

I just looked up what kind of BMW SLS Hotel has. Here’s the info:

At SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills, guests can experience BMW’s new ActiveHybrid 750Li – the world’s fastest, street-legal hybrid – providing a chic and exhilarating ride underscored by a custom musical playlist curated by SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills.

Yep.

We got to our destination, Mao’s. Cheap Chinese food? Nothing sounded better. Michele used to walk here for dinner back when she lived in LA (I know, she’s glamorous!!).

We started with a freshmade Ginger Lemonade and complimentary fried wonton chips with dipping sauce.

Next up: round of appetizers: spring rolls ($1 each. Food for the people, friends, food for the people), green onion pancake thingy and little mushroom veggie pot stickers.

Fried Rice. Michele knows how to order.

Green beans and tofu. Webly knows how to order too.

Chow Mein with soft and chewy noodles. Jess and I shared this and liked it, but still had a lot of leftovers after eating so much all day. This ended up on the inside of my bag after my flight home. Now we know why it’s a bad idea to place an unwrapped takeout container of Chinese food on the plane in your new orange bag. I should have left it with Lonny.

After dinner my new friend Denny came back in the BMW to pick us up. It was after 10pm by this point and though we had tossed out the ideas of going to a comedy show or back to Bazaar for crazy deconstructed drinks, we were wiped. We all just kind of looked at each other and our eyes said to one another, “Yeah, I’m fine just tucking in for the night.”

One elevator ride up with our fancy and attractive 1-dimensional friends (they didn’t talk much, and never seemed to leave the elevator), I ended up back in my room.

See, they won’t even make eye contact with us.

Ha.

Anyway, I dorked out over actually having a tv to watch Saturday Night Live on. I climbed into bed, turned on the mirror and fell asleep before the opening monologue was over.

This is how the tv worked—I swear, it felt just like turning the mirror on. Also, I swear I’m wearing pajamas. It’s a weird angle.

And that sums up Day One! I’ll post the third and final post this week, before I head to Chicago this weekend. Jess, Michele and I are headed there to do location scouting for Vida Vegan Con 2.0 in May 2013. From sundresses to snow shoes, this is a travel-heavy month, and I’m loving it!

Hello! Happy Holidays!

There are a few things I’m currently excited about in Portland-Vegan-Land. I want to share you these pieces of vegan goodness.

Ready….. Set…..

NUMBER 1

EL NUTRI to open a brick and mortar building!!!!!!

(source)

This is by far the most amazing Mexi-news I’ve ever heard. You may remember me espousing how much I love their cart here or here or here. And now, according to my friend Josh, they will be opening a real live sit-down place with walls and a ceiling soon.

So excited I can eat these without numb fingers anymore:

NUMBER 2

New all-vegan Bed and Breakfast just opened in SE Portland!

Boom.

This is so cool.

The Cherokee Rose:

(picture from website)

I am so excited for this. I want every single friend and family member to stay here all the time. It sounds adorable and the owner, Sandy, will feed you vegan food and give you cookies when you stay here. LOVE this!

From the website:

If you are a vegan, all you need to know (if you don't already) is that Portland, Oregon is a vegan mecca, with countless vegan options at local restaurants and even vegan doughnuts! Sandy Miller, the proprietor of the Cherokee Rose Inn, has eaten and cooked vegan for over twenty years and has refined a number of breakfast dishes that will delight you: a Southern breakfast features grits, homemade "sausage" and tofu scramble; or you may be offered blueberry muffins, pancakes, or coffeecake, cocoanut French toast, onion quiche, oatmeal with apricots and raisins, or pecan waffles with real maple syrup, along with fresh fruit, juice, toast and plenty of coffee or tea.

I hope it’s a smashing success! It just opened on December 15th, so it’s still brand spankin’ new.

NUMBER 3

(source)

Have you heard? Back to Eden is now offering savory soups. Some of the soups they’ve offered so far, according to their newsletter: Curried Butternut Squash & White Bean, Lebanese Lemon Lentil, Classic Minestrone, Southwest Black Bean, Corn Chowder, Green Lentil Dhal and Potato Leek.

Um, yum. I want their corn chowder RIGHT NOW. I love eating soups in winter and eat them almost daily. I’m hoping a split pea soup will make an appearance there soon. Everything Back to Eden makes turns out SO GOOD I know these soups are just killer. And I would assume they’re all gluten-free, too, though you may want to double check.

AND they offer a piece of Grand Central bread or housemade gluten-free cornbread with the soup. I think this is a lovely idea and I have made no secret of how much I love John and Garrett, the owners. They are the nicest and most talented-in-the-kitchen people I have ever met, so go support them during this holiday season (Shop local!) and indulge in a hot cup of soup while you’re at it.

NUMBER 4

BridgePort BrewPub now offers Daiya cheese. The Chef just got it in, so it’s not even on the menu yet. If you want it on pizza, just ask! The dough is totally vegan and there’s some awesome pizzas on the menu that are way easy veganizable.

(Source)

This is exciting though somewhat dangerous. Now that there’s vegan cheese around, it may be harder for me to stick to salads and vegan bowls. (I work at BridgePort.) Oh, exciting bit of news #2: There’s a new vegan item on the menu named after me! It’s called The Nessie. It’s this huge tostada-type thing with mini red bean patties, spinach, and butternut squash sauce. It’s beautiful.

NUMBER 5

In another piece of vegan bakery news, Lisa Clark, owner of Petunia’s, is opening a brick and mortar location early next year. She’ll continue to offer her vegan and gluten-free pastries.

Look at this adorable cupcake she made for the vegan dinner I had at Departure in late fall.

She’s currently taking orders for the Holidays (deadline is today!) and is offering yummy looking treats, from sugar cookie dough to peppermint chocolate cheesecake.

Email lisa@petuniaspiesandpastries.com

Phone 971 275 7009

NUMBER 6

Sizzle Pie will open their second location on December 31st, a year exactly after the original location opened. (I can’t believe they’re been open only a year. I’ve certainly eaten their pizza way more times than I thought would healthily fit into a year.)

I love Sizzle Pie. I love their commitment to vegan pizza options, I love that they offer yeast and aardvark sauce on their pizza, and I love that if one were so inclined, one could eat a slice of breakfast pizza with a side of mimosa.

I particularly love how they’ve been supportive of projects I’ve brought to them. In the year that they’ve been open, they donated 30 pies to Modified Style and 30 pies to Vida Vegan Con’s Galarama and Silent Auction. I love when small ventures support each other. I am so happy to continue to support them by stuffing my face with their pizza. Now I can do that even easier with their new convenient downtown location.

From their website:

Sizzle Pie is announcing the opening of their second pizza restaurant. The new location is in the heart of Portland’s West side just across the street from the iconic Powell’s Bookstore. Sizzle Pie West (926 W. Burnside) opens exactly one year after the first location at 624 E. Burnside. A Grand Opening Party for Sizzle Pie West will start on December 31^st at 6pm with specials until 2012. At 8pm the celebration expands to the Star Theater for a Sizzle Pie birthday show and New Year’s Eve celebration featuring local bands, headlined by hometown heroes Red Fang. Both locations will be open and ready for customers during regular hours.

Sizzle Pie West will offer the same great pizza that’s influenced by the East Coast traditions yet captures the essence of Portland. A variety of omnivore, vegan and gluten free options are available. Rock and metal music references are seen throughout, especially the fully loaded jukebox. Hours for both locations will be 11am to 3am Sunday through Thursday and until 4 am Friday and Saturday.

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Hi guys! If you read my last post, you saw that though I did indeed celebrate Thanksgiving, I didn’t go into detail about the menu. Mostly, it was because with my head wound (<---- sounds worse than it was, and I’m totally healed now), I lost my desire to take photos. I could barely summon enough energy to drink a champagne cocktail (the doctor in the ER totally said it was okay to have a drink, I asked) and play board games.

The most exciting thing on the menu to me (other than my friend Shana’s totally killer pumpkin bread) was something I thought up that morning while preparing my contributions—vegan baileys cashew whipped cream.

Holl-er.

Since I first made Tal Ronnen’s recipe for cashew whipped mashed potatoes a few years ago, I get super excited every time I use this ‘secret’ of cashew cream to make super duper creamy mashed potatoes.

I make a double batch of cashew cream each time. Half I use on the glorious glorious rich mashed potatoes, and the other half I use to make whip cream for pumpkin pie.

This year I had a batch of Baileys chillin’ in the fridge. I thought to myself, “Why would I use water when I can use BAILEYS??”

Good point, self.

It turned out wonderfully and I ended up eating as much with a spoon as I did on the pie. No joke.

Easy Vegan Baileys Whip Cream

1 cup cashews, soaked for 12 hours or overnight

1/2 cup vegan baileys irish cream

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste

After soaking the cashews overnight in water, drain and rinse.

Place the cashews in your VitaMix (if you don’t own one, use your regular blender and strain through a cheesecloth to make as smooth as possible.) Add your baileys and vanilla to the cashews. the liquid should measure just up to the top of the cashews. Remember—it’s easier to add more liquid, so start with slightly less than you think you’ll need. Blend for 2-3 minutes, until very very smooth.

The mix will probably be almost warm. Scoop it out, try a large sample to make sure it tastes up to par, try another sample just to make sure, then place in a sealed container until ready to go on pie.

That’s it!

This recipes makes about 1 1/2 cups of whip cream.

Here is a picture of cashew whipped cream I found from the internets:

(from Savvy Vegetarian)

Optional:

* To make sweeter, add 1-2 Tablespoons maple syrup, agave, or sugar. If you use sugar, I’d recommend brown sugar to keep it consistent with the Baileys recipe. I found the baileys and cashews made it sweet enough for me.

* Try using Kahlua, amaretto or another liqueur in place of the Baileys.

* One could also use this on hot drinks like Spanish Coffee or Irish Coffee. I haven’t done this—YET—but bet it’d be DELICIOUS.

Hi there. What have you been up to?

Me, I’ve been busy.

Busy taking pictures of (almost) every little thing I’ve been up to and practicing the skilled art of not-blogging about any of it.You may have heard of it. I have now achieved expert status in not-blogging.

While I am very proud of this status I’ve achieved, I am prepared to get all zen-like and move beyond not-blogging back into the realm of blogging-for-reals. It’s time. If only to get all these pictures off my memory card and into the Epicurious Vegan archives.

And with that, here we gooooooooooo:

Monday, October 17

Wine tasting and buying with co-workers:

These pictures are kinda boring, but it’s probably because I got tipsy way too soon to remember to take any good photos of the wine, the Champagne (the fancy stuff actually from the Champagne region of France), or the company.

Monday, October 24

Hosting a Naked Lady Party:

We displayed everything on racks and all of us ladies went to town. Have you been to one before? A group of gals gather their unwanted clothes, jewelry and accessories and bring them together to swap for new-to-them goods. It’s fun and a more sustainable way to ‘shop’ than buying new clothes.

As hosts, my roommate and I provided the food.

White and Green Pizza with mozzarella Daiya:

Mochi:

Mochi is made from rice. It’s all flat and uninspiring before you bake it, then it POOFS up into a chewy and delightful (gluten-free) snack within minutes. I love this stuff.

Can’t have a (worthwhile) party without popcorn: 

Carrots and jalapeño cilantro hummus (this hummus is STELLAR), another option for the gluten-free darlings in attendance. 

Tuesday, October 25

On a beautiful fall day, I headed out to Sauvie Island with my good friend Zach to navigate the treacherous Corn Maize and pick out a perfect pumpkin.

Then we stuffed ourselves silly at El Nutri Taco Cart on Alberta. These are my favorite nachos in Portland. Just look at them. I’ve never had a chimichunga (deep-fried burrito) before, and oh my stars, it sure was decadent.

Sunday, October 30

I took a Sunday off of work and went out breakfast with my friends Millie and Colin. We ate at the Nightlight Lounge (BEST tofu scramble in Portland) and drank bottomless mimosas (I had four) before wig shopping.

We each purchased our respective wigs. Don’t they look great?

Saturday, November 5

Went to Native Foods for the first time.

I was on a 7-day cleanse of juicing and salads, so stuck with the kale salad. I was all, “Oh, poor me, I have to eat the kale salad instead of EVERYTHING ELSE” but when it arrived in front of me I was STOKED. This salad was so friggin’ delicious and healthy and everything I want in a salad.

My friend Craig Steele tried a few other things:

We were suitably impressed.

Thursday, November 10

I checked out the new pizza shop in the neighborhood. Mellow Mushroom is a chain that just opened in the Pearl District. I was curious about their vegan options, but not hopeful.

Lo and Behold: FREE DAIYA CHEESE UPGRADE.

*faint*

This pizza is SO GOOD. Oh lordy, the crust is chewy and thick, the veggies don’t overwhelm the pizza, and the sauce is rich and tomato-y. This is my new favorite pizza in town.

Wednesday, November 16

Cavalia.

This show is like a Cirque du Soleil show (figures, since one of the founding members of Cirque du Soleil also created this show, though they’re technically unrelated) but with horses. I took my grandma on opening night. Tickets aren’t cheap, but if you like horses (or your grandma likes horses and you like your grandma) it’s a cool show.

Thursday, November 17

Vida Vegan Con business meeting at Native Foods. (Lots of fun stuff coming up in 2012!)

I had to try the Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger.

Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger
Our thinly sliced Native Original Seitan,
melted cheddar, caramelized onions, and
crispy Native Bacon on a bun slathered
with BBQ sauce and ranch dressing, romaine,
carrots, onions, and tomato. Topped with
crunchy battered dill pickle chips. 

The ladies and I shared chicken tenders and they tried a few other things on the menu. (For their recaps, see Jess and Michele’s blogs.)

Sunday, November 20 - Monday November 21

I had a threeple date with a few of my favorite ladies.

We spent all day supporting vegan businesses, starting with brunch at Portobello.

The fritata (on the left) is to die for. So rich and filling; definitely split it with a loved one. It’s HUGE.

We then headed out to the ‘burbs for a night stay at Comfort Suites (it was a Groupon I bought back when I still bought Groupons).

We drank bubbles and swam in the pool and ate take-out from Green Wok and stayed up late into the night, having really nice talks.

The bear got a little crazy.

The next day we want to Native Foods for lunch (my 3rd visit).

The last thing I really wanted to try were the fish tacos.

Yummmmmm. These weren’t very ‘fish’ (tempeh') heavy, but seriously, anything with corn tortillas and guacamole are an automatic win in my book.

The other foodz:

I think after three visits and multiple samples of a good 3/4 of the menu, I’m good on the Native Foods for a minute.

Hmmm.

On second thought, after posting these pictures, I’m ready to eat there again. I want to try the Reuben next!

Thursday, November 24

Thanksgiving.

We ate Tofurky and Field Roast and stuff.

In the middle of cooking Thanksgiving Dinner for six, I hit my head on the corner of a kitchen cupboard while cooking and started bleeding profusely. My roommate rushed me to ER, and after two hours and some rinsing and applying pressure, the doctors came to the conclusion that it was a minor wound and I would be just fine. No stitches needed or anything. I was fine, but felt kinda out of it for the rest of the night. 

Luckily it was mellow and low-key and we sat by the fire and played board games.

This game was almost as much fun as Apples to Apples:

Thanksgiving photos courtesy of my friend Abby.

Saturday, December 3

Upon hearing the sad news that Kettleman’s (a local Portland bagel shop) got bought out by Noah’s, I needed a Kettleman bagel.

Stat.

Ahhhh. Better.

Sweetpea for coffee and an everything bagel with bacon scallion cream cheese.

I also posed for some photos for my photographer friend. Those should be fun to look at when I get ‘em!

Tuesday, December 6

Sugar Cookies!

I made sugar cookie Christmas sandwiches by spreading frosting in between two cookies and smushing them together. No sprinkles in stock, so I just made my own colored sugar crystals.

I used green frosting that I flavored with peppermint extract for the trees, and basic vanilla frosting for the snowflakes and stars.

WHEW.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to.

Looking forward to the Christmas season with Baileys, visit from the family, friends, shopping, baking, and hopefully SNOW.