Vegan Glory- Glorious on a hot day

Recently, we set a date to hit the town and do all that we could do
on foot. By town, I mean Hollywood. On foot didn't really work out.
I took the bus all the way from Pomona to Hollywood to meet Monkey-
man when he got off work, which meant I caught the bus at 8:30 and
jump off just in time to see him get off work at 11:00 am. Yes, it
took that long.

Thankfully, I had plenty of Stuff You Should Know podcasts, so I hung
out with Josh and Chuck for a while.

Like I said the original plan was just to hoof it and see what we
could see. Well, I also had to print a paper that was due the next
day and upload an assignment I had completely forgotten about before
the afternoon. So we ended up driving back and forth to find an
actual kinkos in the blazing heat.

I had packed a small lunch and we spent the rest of the afternoon
lazying at a park. (Being greatly disappointed in what we thought
the Grove was going to hold for us). Then we hit some random Holly-
wood thrift stores, where I scored a food processor for $8. (Go me!
Finally, I don't have to use the blender for hummus!)

Poor Monkey-man was exhausted after starting work at 4am and
wandering around in the heat took a huge toll by dinner time. So I
pulled him in to Vegan Glory.
Its not thai in the sense that I know, but good nonetheless. See why...

We ordered a seitan wrap and some roti with guacamole....







Very refreshing and the perfect snack we needed. I like seitan,
but sometimes like this it reminds me of mushrooms to which I have
a sensitive gag reflex. Its that soft spongy texture, but I love
mushrooms! Monkey-man loved the roti and now I get to hear how I
need to make it.

To cool us down I picked out a fruity smoothie and he got a hibiscus
cooler. So purty! Everything was good. The place is a bit out of our
usual zone, but if I find myself drying out in Hollywood again I'll
know where to go.







After cooling down and powering up we were ready to hit our
double-feature movie. New Beverly Cinema was showing a double-bill
of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive and Fire Walk With Me.
The movies were sold out and started so late, we didn't get home
until after 2am. It was a long day for poor Monkey-man, even worse
when I had to get up to go to class at 9am the next morning...
All in the life...

Vegan Chain on the Rise: Loving Hut

On New Years Day Monkey-man and I were pretty hard pressed to
find anything to do. Through the Holidays were a little over
being super duper lazy. We missed the Rose Parade that morning
and thought there there might have been some kind of after
event (not to do with the floats), but maybe something in town.

Well, there wasn't. But we drove around anyway, which in turn
made us hungry. I whipped out Vegan Steven iphone app and
found a place that isn't even four miles from us: Loving Hut in
Alhambra.



I was surprised that anything was even open on New Years Day,
but there were already a few other people there. It looked
like a family owned franchise and according to some of their
literature, its a growing chain all over the world!



The interior was fun, I can't compare it to where else I've been,
except some Japanese bars.

I ordered an orange juice drink... All of their drinks looked
absolutely beautiful. Check out mine!







A gorgeous presentation, topped with little tiny dried flower
petals. I'm gonna trust they know whats edible or not, hee hee.













Yummy!

Not to completely spoil our dinner, we split a meal.
We ordered a veggie burger and fries. Yeah? Sounds boring,
well it wasn't. It was gear-fab. Plus I am so over Asian
food, you have no idea. I hate Chinese food so so so so so
much and for some reason whenever people try to cook vegan
food they make it Asian. Please, hand me a barf bag and
throw away the teriyaki sauce now. Everything tastes the
same. It is the most boring and uninventive way to cook
and to top it off when people cook like that, they think they
are being super experimental and unusual because its not sold
at a fast food chain.



And it wasn't like a frozen burger out of a box, on the
pan, on the bread, to your face either. The bread
was decent, the filling was good. The patty was awesome.
We went to Green Leaves in Hollywood on Halloween and had
some sort of burger-sandwich and the bun not so good,
very white 'loves-ish'. But this patty was topped with
mushrooms and cripsy!



The Frenchie Fries were pretty tasty too. Tossed with a dry
seasoning. But pretty much your basic fry.





Yup, I'm satisfied. Num num num....

What!?? Vegan Chocolate cake?!



The cake was good, classic, filling. The frosting was a
tofu cream cheese with some cute toppings. I'd hate to really
know what is in those cherries though! I loved everything we
got. I can't wait to go back and try something else!

A funny thing that we noticed while we were there, was one
of the tv stations that was on. They had two screens on either
wall and one had the rose bowl- the other had a weird foreign
station with about fifty different language subtitles scrolling.
With the check they gave us a little piece of literature
describing all the benefits of being vegan and all the
atrocities that are taking place in the environment and against
animals. I thought that was awesome. I've never had a vegan
restaurant actually give me literature before.
It makes excellent sense too, not all of your customers are
going to be entirely veg.

But come to find out the literature and the weird tv station
that we noticed were from this organization (?) called
Suprememastertv.
I don't really find it all that strange. I've since read some
blogs and writings from people that were really freaked out
and calling it cultish, etc. Frankly, its just another
religion, just like any other.

I've gone to a lot of Seventh Day Adventist events to be
honest. They talk about God and Jesus, etc But almost
all of them practiced veganism. So if its not hurting
anybody (including animals!! yay) and it supports delicous
food... than go for it, say I. You don't have to be an initiate
to glean practical advise or information about the benefits
of a vegan lifestyle. Food is food, always without animals.

Savory Turnovers

After sleeping in and missing the Rose Parade,
we were pretty stumped on what else to do on New Years Day.
We lounged most of the day, watching the reruns of
the Rose Parade and the Twilight Zone Marathon.

We dug through stuff on the internet- to no avail.
Considered going to galleries or parks, but scraped that
and went driving for ideas instead. Unfortunately we
got stuck in the residual traffic of the Rose Parade
and made our way back towards home. We hit the vegan
restaurant Loving Hut in Alhambra on our way back for
a lite lunch. (I'll write more about that later!)

Then we hung around and tinkered until it was time to make
dinner. Ok, our lives don't revolve around food that much.
Its just that dinner involved a lot of prep work and it
was going to take awhile to make!

I wanted to make pockets or turnovers with the leftover
phyllo dough I used on my 'turkey' casserole.

So first we made our fillings... A squash and sage for
some and mushroom leek for the rest!

























































I started by making the same sized squares out of the
dough, coating each with melted earth balance.



















First as dollop of cashew cheese... Then the filling...





















It took a couple to get the hang of what exactly I wanted to do.
You can see in how my first one looked like a sad egg roll or a
pillow of some sort...













Bake for 15 minutes at 425-450F
After the first batch went in the oven, I started up a
red sauce. Later blended, it can be used for dipping or
just pouring over. Its a basic Italian, nothing more.












Out they come!

























All Crispy and golden like!





The mushroom and leek, inside and out!








The Squash covered with sauce...


We made these a little larger than party h'dourves, but
smaller than a turnover you'd get at a bakery. These would
be great smaller for parties or gatherings. I'll probably
be making them the next time we throw a party. A little
fattening with all the earthbalance. We had a lot left
over. This used half a package of phyllo, so we could have
made a lot more if we had wished.
Also, you can improv a lot with fillings. I'm already planning
a curried filling myself!

But our New Years was lovely. Its nice to kick back and
go all out on rich foods one in a while, thats why we have
holidays--right? To make foods like this special. I'd be
the size of a house if I ate this everyday. A couple times
a year is just fine for me, thanks. Now back to everyday life.

Thursday Vegan Review

The best thing by far of being in a city again (probably the only good

thing actually) is options. You actually have the option of going to

a restaurant and pretty much depend on an all vegan menu if you so

choose. I can say that its become almost like a little side hobby of ours

in finding these little spots. Some have been pretty hot and popular--

others are classic hole-in-the-wall joints.

Don't get me wrong, above anything else I would rather cook at home.

And cooking is my passion, but once in a great while it is fun to go out.

It gives you ideas, lets you try new things, and lets you get out of the

freakin house already!!

So starting, now that I have the option to do so, I will be doing a weekly

review of something vegan! I may not get to a strictly vegan restaurant

every week because a lot are pretty far away. So the review may be of

a vegan option at a big chain, a vegan product, store, etc.

So lets get munching!

My Vegan

633 S Arroyo Pkwy Ste 3
Pasadena, CA 91105

(626) 578-9017

www.my-vegan.com

My Vegan is just out of downtown Pasadena, in the same general area

as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's-- and Granny's Natural Foods (?)

The place has the same vibe as a chinese restaurant, which worried

me a little at first because chinese restaurants are the bane of my

existence. But we were starving and it was hot hot hot outside.

So it was like a little sanctuary.

We were so hungry when the food came that we were actually giggling

with anticipation. First of all, their menu was enormous, so choosing

was a little difficult. They had a variety of asian/thai dishes with

some random continental ones thrown in.

We got a 'chicken' appetizer to start off with.

It was marinated in a yellow curry-- the brand-- no clue.

But they were in cutlet type shapes, kabob style.

They came with a cucumber salad and an orgasmic peanut sauce

(maybe a little too oily though).

We also got a serving of pumpkin fried rice with pepper steak. Every thing is shown on the menu and you get to add whatever fake meat you like. Retrospectively I would choose something else for this dish though, probably seitan. But it was still really really good.

The service was nice and helpful, the place was spick and span,

great location, a lot more dishes I would like to try.

Overall critique? Absolutely delish. Would I go back? Yessir.

Did I vote for them for the #1 Vegan restaurant in LA County

at the Vegan Day celebration?!? (I can't say! Hee hee!)

Garden Snack Club in Hilo

Garden

Snack

Club

Mint

Tea

Thursday night after we came back from Punuluu and watching

sea turtles cuddle we all wanted to hit up a thai place for dinner.

Our usual haunt, Sombat's, was closed. So we headed over to my

Aunt's favorite place, Garden Snack Club in Hilo.

I'd heard a lot of good things about it and it was all true!

The restaurant itself is tucked away in downtown hilo on a little

one-way side street. It is cute and really clean and probably seats

only about 40, pushing it.

Their menu was pretty big, but super flexible. It basically showed

all the foods, but you had the option of whatever protein you wanted.

The tofu they use is organic, local, and amazing. Its an extra firm and

they serve it in HUGE chunks. The portions are enormous and they

warn to you think about ordering family style.

My Mom (of course was the only one to not order vegan).

She had a 'Thai Pizza' that was absolutely swimming in cheese.

Holy cow, literally. I don't have a picture though.

The rest of us started off with a nice fresh cucumber salad. It had a

nice spicy-zingy dressing and was topped with peanuts.

I ordered 'Tina's Spaghetti', which was absolutely amazing.

According to the menu the sauce is sold in our local supermarket,

so I'm gonna go check that out. Definitely vegan, it was a thick,

creamy, peanut sauce over pad thai noodles and huge chunks of organic

tofu over a bed of fresh organic spinach.

I need to discect this recipe before I leave. Or I will have to ship

bottles full of the stuff when I move. Ack! Wine or thai sauce!

A compromise must be met.

We finished it all off with a dish of red curry and jasmine rice.

It was loaded with delicious local veggies, tofu, and my favorite...

Pumpkin!

The food was wonderful, the wait help was awesome, and we walked

out with a bill less than $50.00 for five people. Talk about a find.

Now I'm hungry again.

Miles from Mexico, throw me a rope

Mexican food is my comfort food and mixing it up is my hobby.

Day before yesterday my Dad made some crazy baked black-eyed

beans from Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry. They were

super spicy and unfortunately, he and I are the only spicy eaters

in the house. So we had to find a way to add them into as many

meals as we could to use the huge pot he cooked up.

So I made some cumin spiced sweet potatoes, steamed some

jasmine rice and grilled up some corn tortillas for some funky tacos.

I topped them with fresh tomatoes and black olives and served them

along side some banana salsa.

Since then I've been in the mexican mind set, but there was no

bean and rice combo or salsa that could cure it. I needed fusion!

So I got my Mom to abandon her idea of going to Chinese Food

(ack I hate Chinese Food!) and to go to a new little local "Mex"

food place in town. Bueno Burrito is a converted former subway

and has the same basic system. You get a burrito and go down

the deli-like line telling them what you want.

They do have some set menu items and I got their jorgina burrito.

The was a spinach wrap with coconut jasmine rice, black beans,

steamed veggies, guacamole, and the works of lettuce, tomato,

cilantro, onion, jalapenos, and papaya salsa. Whoo-hee.

I am a happy camper.