FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Awesomest, Make It A Word

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Sunday was especially great, and I’m about to tell you why.  As I was drifting off to sleep at an obscenely early hour on Saturday night, my friend Lindsey shot me a text asking what I was up to that evening.  In order to offset the embarrassment of being fully bed clothed and under covers before 9 PM, I suggested we hit the beach on Sunday for a walk.

I had also suggested we try one of the raw restaurants in St. Pete for lunch, but I understood the lack of appeal to a starving non-veggie.  When Lindsey mentioned that her boyfriend, Dave, wanted to try a Vietnamese sandwich shop, my day took a turn from good to better.  He ordered the Vietnamese specialty, she ordered the grilled pork, and I ordered the tofoagie.  They all came loaded with pickled carrots, diakon, cucumber, fresh jalapeno, and cilantro.  We mounged the simple, but amazing, sandwiches to the tune of Dave’s yummy noises.  We joked about ordering seconds.  We didn’t.

Then Lindsey and I hit the beach.

This was the first (of many) deceased horseshoe crabs and HUGE mollusks we’d come across during our adventure.  It was sad… But the artful sand humor that someone graciously left behind lightened the mood.

We had a, presumably Canadian, tourist take our picture.  Notice the short sleeves and exposed ankles?  Beach season is around the corner kids!

We parted ways and I met Jennie for free yoga in the park, she’s addicted too!  After yoga, I headed to Cafe Hey, solo, for the best vegan dinner in town.  I ordered the daily grain salad (quinoa with apples, spinach, walnuts, and pinto beans) and the soup of the day (catalina vegetable with tomatoes, chick peas, onions, and black olives).

My day started off good, quickly went to better, jumped to amazing, and skyrocketed to…?  The awesome-est day ever.  I’d like to propose that awesomest become a word.  How does one do that?

A Veggie In The District

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Emily and I have had quite the traveling relationship: Rome, Florence, London, Seattle.  The pre-reqs for each of our adventures are always the same, lots and lots of shopping and food.  And not just any old shopping and food, good shopping and good food.

We both thought my no-meat, no-dairy thing was going to throw more than a slight wrench in our typical good food plan.  Thankfully (very, very thankfully) VegDC and Google came to our rescue and guided us toward restaurant perfection.

Raku hit the spot.  Loads of veggie sushi for me, loads of fish plenty sushi for Em, and gluten-free soy sauce for both of us.  If I had the option for someone to roll me from the restaurant to the movie theatre, I would have cleared my plate.

Brunch at Asylum was equally as vegan, but wayyy more glutenous.  I wish I would have asked for no potatoes (not a fan of carby stuffed carbs), but they were fairly easy to pick around.  Overall, I was super pleased and plan on paying this rockin’ joint another visit upon my return.

After a full day of big eats and even bigger shopping, we were ready to get our cocktail on.  Andrew met us at our first stop, H Street Country Club, where we dominated ski ball and then quickly moved on to an unofficial H Street pub crawl.

And then, I lost my license.  And then…  I had a mini freak out at the airport.  Who knew you could get through airport security with a credit card and a smile??

Lucky, lucky girl…

Resolution Pants Pizza – Part Deux

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I paid a long overdue visit to the friendly folks over at Viitals today.  I was in the mood for more pizza and thought it best to baby step my way to homemade.  Viitals offers pre-made, gluten-free pizza crust locally at their cafe AND they’re willing to ship if you’re not so local.

If you recall, I had already sampled this dough at Gourmet Pizza Company on New Years and knew it was a sure shot to goodness.

I ran my plan by Silvia, the owner, and she suggested that I brush the crust with garlic and olive oil.

So I did.

I spooned a layer of homemade sauce on the crust, topped with a layer of spinach, spooned a little more sauce, and then added sliced baby bellas.

I baked the pizza in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes and sprinkled with nutritional yeast.

It was the first time this year that I missed cheese.  It was really good, but it would have been AMAZING with some mozzarella and feta.  So here I am, 16 days into the no-meat, no-dairy new year, missing real cheese pizza.

I’ve found the perfect crust, now I just need the perfect vegan cheese. Suggestions please!

Cheapest. Day. Ever.

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Pictured above is one of the many highlights of my sunny Sunday – Cafe Hey’s quinoa salad.  Amazing.  As I read the daily specials I thought ‘this place will be key in my no-meat, no-dairy twenty eleven and it’s going to make me broke’.  Not the case.  The total was a mere $2.12.

The other highlights of my Sunday?

Breakfast was quite wonderful.

A sprouted grain english muffin with tofutti and jam washed down with a tall cup of green ginger tea.  This would be breakfast daily if I didn’t fifteen minute fire drill out of my house every morning just to arrive at work approximately 5 to 10 minutes late every day.  I thought about adding ‘no snooze button’ to my resolution list, but it just won’t happen.

And then the I, not so hesitantly, camera creeped around town.

It was solo exploration at its finest.

A little cookbook hunting for a recipe that justified a trip to the oceanic market, which just happened to be adjacent to Cafe Hey – well planned, right?

$10.02?!  Cheapest.  Day.  Ever.  Now off to FREE yoga in the park!

Oh and today?  I love you.