Fall 2011 (Part 2)

We flew to Kauai on Thanksgiving Day!  What a great day to arrive in a tropical paradise.
We headed to the local grocery store, Times, and bought some tofu, tamari, nutritional yeast, and fresh herbs.  My husband's dad lives on the island so we get to stay at his house whenever we visit.  Less money for lodging and more for yummy food!  So we made our baked unturkey tofu and headed to out host's house in Kilauea.  At the party we met the owners of Verde, a Mexican restaurant in Kapaa.  I mentioned to them that I was vegan and they said they had lots of vegetarian options and that almost anything could be made vegan or gluten-free.  We promised to make it out there.
Here's what I had when I visited:   Veggie Stuffed Sopaipillas.

Veggie Stuffed Sopaipillas

I haven't had sopaipillas in 20 years!  I've been trying to stay away from fried food in general, but this was too yummy and different to pass up.

When we are on Kauai,  I love to go to the farmer's markets.  There are just some things you cannot get in the grocery stores that only show up there.  Things like breadfruit, starfruit, long beans, wing beans, drumsticks, green avocados etc.  It's also a great place to get flower arrangements, fresh coconut, good prices on papayas and mangos, Manoa lettuce, and tomatoes that are grown locally.

Local Starfruit

  I like to treat my in-laws with home-cooked meals.  All the tropical ingredients make me hungry just thinking about them.  My father-in-law's wife owns the spice company, Aloha Spice that incorporates local ingredients like Hawaiian red salt and organic ingredients.  She created this kiawe-wood smoked salt.  It adds great flavor to my scrambled tofu.

I made sure I spent lots of time at the beach to get a good blast of Vitamin D.  Most of us are Vitamin D deficient and I had this confirmed personally with a blood test this fall.  If you are not fair skinned you will need even more sun.  This vacation did me very good!

Snorkeling at Poipu

When I got back from vacation, I spent a good amount of time completing my course in Plant Based Nutrition from e-Cornell (Cornell University's online education department).  I have learned a lot more about creating healthy vegan meals and the science behind it.  I am so excited about the wonderful opportunity I have to share this with people in the New Year.
Here's a sample of what the course is like: Intro to Plant Based Nutrition

I am looking forward to a healthy and happy 2012!

Fall 2011 (Part 1)

Chef Veggie had such a busy fall and not much time to blog.  My hubby also went on 2 extended trips to Sweden so I was single mommying it for a bit. Here's some fun stuff I did this fall including a family vacation to both San Francisco and the island of Kauai (The Garden Isle of the Hawaiian Island chain).

In October, I participated in the Austin Bakes for Bastrop Bake sale.
I made some Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins and
Caramelized Onion Biscuits made with Daiya.  That same day,  me and dear daughter went to a Vegan ATX Gathering of Tribes event at Pease Park.  It's so great to able to eat everything!

A Gathering of Goodness

I am looking forward to Texas Veg Fest at the end of March.

In late November, we had a fun few days in San Francisco before our trip to Kauai. There are so many vegan food choices that we were only able to go to a few places. When we got off the plane we went straight to Loving Hut in China Town. What a lovely lunch!

Then I got to spend the afternoon in Japantown (one of my favorite places without having to go to Japan).  The Kinokinuya Bookstore is such a great resource. Here's an old blogpost from our visit a few years ago. You can find books on macrobiotic, shojin-ryori (japanese temple food), sushi and bento.  I love to pick up the latest copy of Veggy Steady Go (Japan's vegetarian magazine).  Besides cookbooks, there are books on language, crafts, anime & manga, lifestyle etc.  After spending almost 2 hours there I headed to the Daiso!  This is a Japanese 100yen store stuck in San Francisco.  Almost everything is $1.50.  Last year I picked up some great stainless steel containers.  This year I went a little bento accessories crazy.  Oh Daiso please come to Texas!

Bento Crazy

Another morning we took quite a long bus ride from where we were staying to Herbivore off of Divisadero. That was one of the best breakfasts I have ever had in a restaurant.  Their "sausage" biscuit plate was so awesome!  The biscuit roll is filled with veggie sausage and it came with a side of hearty potatoes and a fresh spinach salad with perfectly sliced avocado.

"Sausage" Biscuit

 My husband was craving Italian and since we were near North Beach where almost every restaurant is an Italian one this would not be hard.  However, finding a dish without cheese can sometimes be difficult.  We looked at a bunch of window menus and was surprised to find that Volare Trattoria Cafe (now sing:  VOLARE...CANTARE!) had a vegan bruschetta and a vegan penne dish.  When we went is wasn't crowded and had decent service too.

Our last night there we met my brother and some friends at Saha.  This Yemenese Arabic restaurant has won many awards and is a great place to go for something different.  The decor is exotic with saffron fabric draping everywhere and you lounge against cushy pillows as you dine.
There are vegan dishes clearly labeled on the menu and the servers went out of their way to make sure I was happy. I had the Vegetarian Bastille but asked for it and the Knaffe dessert to be vegan. It was a surprise.  I could have sworn it had to have dairy in it.  It you want an opulent way to end your meal I would recommend it.

After a great visit to SF we got on our Hawaiian Airlines flight to Kauai. (see Part 2)