Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Taking cues, and vegan food on the run

In the aftermath of my pumpkin feast, Bob and I have been eating lots of pumpkin leftovers. The soup has made a great couple of meals, and there is still more. The spring rolls are gone--the phyllo dough didn't keep very well so we finished those up early. The pudding?

I took a cue from Candi and made myself a nice pumpkin-spice latte with a couple nice spoonfuls of pudding. Here we go, topped with Soyatoo! whipped topping, and a sprinkle of cinnamon:



Saturday we were not hungry again after all that food, until about 5:00 in the evening. One of Bob's friends wanted to go out for dinner, so we went to a restaurant downtown called Clocked! It's got the feel of a retro diner; there are records affixed to the ceiling, which form the bases for these funky colorful globe lights that hang down over your head as you eat. I'd been there before and had the hummus, so I knew there would at least be something we could eat. When we looked at the menu, though, we noticed that almost everything was marked as having a vegan option available. Including the reuben. I asked the waitress if I could really get a vegan reuben, and she assured me that the meat and cheese substitutes would be vegan. Bob got a hummus sandwich, and we split a cup of vegetarian chili.

My sandwich was quite tasty--filled with processed faux meat and cheese, I know, but tasty nonetheless. I had never tried a faux sandwich meat or faux cheese before, and while I don't plan to make a habit out of eating them, I don't mind using them occasionally. Our chili was excellent, and Bob's hummus sandwich was perfect. All in all, a great experience for everyone.

Sunday night we went to a vegetarian/vegan potluck Thanksgiving dinner hosted by UGA's Speak Out for Species. We took a dish of edamame salad, which I have made before. This time we made twice as much, and used one red pepper and one yellow pepper. It was delicious, and we got compliments on it at the potluck. Yay! I plan to see about getting involved in SOS next semester (my last in college... sigh.).



Yesterday Bob's same friend who wanted to go out Saturday wanted to go out again for lunch--and this time he insisted on buying. I would usually rather cook at home, but what the hey. There's this vegetarian place called Bluebird Cafe downtown, and they have some vegan options, though not as many as I would have expected. I got a "light" lunch--a salad and a bowl of split pea soup--but I helped Bob eat his veggies since he ordered too many, so it actually turned out to be quite a lot of food. He got saag--it's Indian, and I'm still not really sure what it was other than spinach and Indian spices, but we were assured that it was vegan--and red beans and rice, a salad, and a sliced avocado. I helped mostly with the saag.

I wanted to cook last night, but was not hungry enough. So we just settled for baked sweet potatoes and little green peas for dinner. Still quite delicious. Tonight I hope to cook what I missed last night--Dreena's Rosemary Tofu Balls from Vive! I haven't made them before, so I'm looking forward to trying them out. And tomorrow, I'll be cooking ahead for Thursday. So stay tuned.

Thank you all for your kind comments. I just want to echo what Johanna said about Thanksgiving, and let you all know that I, too, am very thankful to have you as friends and supporters. If you're traveling at all for the holiday, I do hope that you will be safe. Take care, and I will see you soon!

6 comments:

bazu said...

Wow, that pumpkin latte looks to die for! And I just got a can of Soyatoo so I can't let this opportunity go to waste to have some! Your edamame salad looks wonderful too- how fun that potluck must have been. I agree with you that they may not be the best things, but sometimes I love faux sausage and cheese and things like that. Why not?

urban vegan said...

I love soy lattes a lot, but I'm not sure I'd like pumpkin in my java. It sure looks good, tho!

Hannah said...

mmm,lattee!
Amber

Anonymous said...

have a great thanksgivind day and a good weekend too!
that latte looks yummy. im happy you got such good experience in the food restaurants.

Anonymous said...

I love the mug. It looks like it would be someone's favourite mug. I have a favourite...it's nothing special, but it fits in my hand so perfectly and it comforts me, as the liquid inside always does as well.

Candi said...

Yum!! I enjoyed my pumpkin chai tea breakfast I had, and may do it again soon! :P Yours looks SO good with the whipped cream and cinnamon!! :)

Lucky you, finding vegan options at the restaurant!!

The edamame salad looks so good! After all the starchy heavy foods I just ate tonight, that salad looks so good!

Aww, your last paragraph is so sweet! :) :)

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!