The Vegan Bake Sale is Coming!!!!

ONE WEEK PEOPLE.   The  SF Vegan Bakesale is always awesome, but this time it is benefitting one of my favorite organizations, PAWS SF, to boot.  

I can not even tell you how sad I am that I can't be there.  Please, please, please make me happy and go in my honor.  Gorge yourself on delicious treats and support PAWS SF and feel sick and awesome all at the same time.  It will be glorious! 

Sonoma Eats

This post will be as brief as I can make it, since I'm leaving tomorrow for a week in Mexico!  Figured I'd let you know about some tasty grub we had THREE WEEKS ago (yeah, I'm behind) before we take off and dine south of the border.  Coincidentally enough, one of our favorite Sonoma places is a Mexican restaurant, Maya.  The guacamole is always sublime, and the salsas fresh and flavorful, but the main dishes don't disappoint either.

The house salad with baby greens, mango, and jicama gets some kick from spiced pumpkin seeds and is a refreshing way to wake up the palate.

The grilled vegetable plate is served up with beans, plantains and tortillas and is made from some fresh and tasty vegetables charred to perfection.  Seriously the perfect thing to stuff your face with after wine tasting.  Filling, healthy, and delicious.  The atmosphere at Maya is also great.  Dark wood, accented with festive color, and a very laid back and welcoming vibe.  Highly recommended.

We also hit up the Meritage Martini Oyster Bar & Grill on our trip, only because when I was scouring menus online, I saw that they did a 5 course vegan tasting menu.  Yes, at a place known for seafood and martinis.  Above you see our first course - white beans and fennel with a balsamic reduction.  It was really tasty and the contrast in textures was nice.  Good opener, so we were ready for more.

Second course was a lip-smackingly good portobello mushroom salad.  Just simply grilled with salt and pepper to bring out their inherent savoryness, I would say these were some of the best prepared 'bellos I've ever had.  Yum.

The eggplant wasn't my favorite course but it was still tasty.  Maybe too much char for my liking?  I don't know - something was just off about it.

Can't go wrong with risotto in my books, and this peppery concoction was no exception.  It was a hearty main course and filled with earthy veggie goodness.  Winner.

Aaaaannndd, then there was sorbet.  Welp, you can't win 'em all.  It's an oyster bar, after all... and they really gave it their all with what they had.  Go Meritage!

Ok, that's it for now.  I'll be back with more when we return from Mexico.  Adios!

Parents in Canada

As I've said, my parents are traveling fools lately.  On a recent road trip, they found a real gem.  So much did they love it, they went multiple times.  Here's their wrap up:

          Having just seen the sights at Niagara Falls, we fired up the trusty Happy Cow app and found our lunch destination. Rise Above began as a vegan bakery and has grown into the area's only totally vegan lunch and dinner spot.  Located in St. Catharines, Ontario, about 25 minutes northwest of the falls, Rise Above is a narrow storefront, exposed brick, high metal ceiling....very modern, clean look. There's a lunch menu and a dinner menu, one on either side of a single sheet of paper. It's not a vast menu but everything we tried was excellent. Fresh, hearty, simple and, most of all, delicious! St. Catharines itself is pretty cool with kind of a funky vibe of its own....not quite New Hope but totally Red Bank if you know what I mean (Sky says: And you probably do if you're from NJ or thereabouts).

           In the interest of full disclosure, Rise Above still does some amazing vegan baking and that's actually what first drew our attention. No cupcakes but great brownies, turnovers and filled doughnuts as well as peanut butter cups and chocolate coconut haystacks. We got two doughnuts and two candies to go and ate them later back at the hotel. Yes, they rocked!       

         Went back to Rise Above for dinner; all other options seemed pale by comparison. We shared a soup and a salad and then I had chipotle seitan with cornbread, savoy slaw and potato salad:

Mom had the pizza of the day: olives, red pepper and onion with Daiya cheese. 

Again, everything was wonderful! Fresh, flavorful...really perfect.

          

          Then came dessert. We ordered one dessert, their signature specialty....cheesecake for one served in a small Mason-type jar complete with screw-on lid! I've never seen anything like it! It's available in blueberry, strawberry and my personal choice (and recommendation) cookies and cream.  This thing is CRAZY GOOD!! It's like a giant, overstuffed Oreo exploded in a jar! I ordered it for myself but needed help from Joan to finish it; it was that rich. For me to share a dessert is unheard of but to need help to finish one...unprecedented!

          On yet another occasion we enjoyed even more flavorful menu items like this unique potato, broccoli, and Daiya burger with root veggie fries.

And this Greek salad with almond feta was yummy too!

There was also a delicious and hearty chickpea curry on the menu.

Speaking of hearty, how about some chili with sour "cream" and cilantro.  Amazing!

          If you haven't gotten the idea yet, we really love Rise Above and hope they continue to do well so we can visit next time we're in the Great White North.  Anyone who lives nearby is lucky and should check them out!

There you have it folks, another installment from my wacky vegan folks out and about in the big bad omnivorous world.  Makes you want to go to Canada, no?  Next time, a post I wrote myself!  About a place in SF!  Crazy, right?   :)

        

Guest Blog: Carisbrooke Inn

My wacky parents are on the road again (retirement sure is grand, eh?) and this time they were happily surprised at a B&B.  It's a short post, but they're on their way to Canada, so expect more dining from the road soon....

That's breakfast at the Carisbrooke Inn in Ventnor, NJ. It's a B&B that Mom got a Groupon for and they made us this really delicious meal. Vegan homefries and sausage with toast, sliced tomato and homemade avocado spread. All of which was preceded by abundant plates of fresh fruit. You never know what to expect at a B&B but place was a delight!

Take Me Out....

I love a good baseball game, but this year the always gorgeous and fun AT&T Park has really outdone themselves.  You see, their old veggie dogs, which were strictly vehicles for condiments, have been replaced with the delicious and hearty Field Roast Frankfurters.

Ok, so I know I covered up the actual dog with kraut and stuff, but trust me - it's under there and it's AWESOME.   Now I can root on the Giants with a happy belly.  Hooray!

Have a great long weekend, everyone.  I'll be back with more eats soon...

Locaphonic

Bay Area Peeps, there's a new organization in town that is pairing local musicians with local food and, if their first event was any indication, they rock. Locaphonic put on an epic evening of loveliness at Greens Restaurant, with the gorgeous tunes of the Real Vocal String Quartet.  I could only assume it was fate that brought together one of my favorite local groups and one of my favorite local restaurants, so off we went last Tuesday.  Here's what transpired.

First, little spring roll bites came around.  Love that spiced peanut on top!

The asparagus salad was absolutely perfect.  Beets, local greens, and fabulous olive oil all complemented the beautifully cooked stalks, which were a delight to eat.  Acme bread was also in the house.  Love it.

Our entree was a cylinder of roasted veggies (the non-vegan ones were held together with icky cow secretions) served up with rosemary skewers of baby potatoes and onion.  Baby vegetables just taste better, in my opinion, and with the faint hint of rosemary, these were no exception.   The roasted veggies were also quite good.  My only complaint was that the cost of admission also included wine and I was in need of something a bit more substantial at this point.  At my age, you would think I'd have learned how to pace myself.  Nope.   At least there was dessert!  But first - music.

Love these ladies.  If you haven't checked out RVSQ, do it.

Ah, fruit crisp with soy vanilla ice cream, you were so heavenly.  A nice sweet ending to a very sweet night.  (Though, yes, I must admit I was jealous that the non vegans got chocolate tarts!)

I have no idea if Locaphonic's upcoming events will be as vegan-friendly as this one.  I, for one, prefer my music served up sans cruelty, and I would go to a hundred more events just like this one, so let's hope so.  Cheers to good food and music.... together!

Helmand Palace

I love a good deal, so when I saw a recent Groupon for a restaurant in my neighborhood that I'd been meaning to try anyway, I jumped on it.  And thus, we dined on flavorful Afghani foodstuffs at Helmand Palace last week.  With a separate vegetarian section of the menu, most of which can be made vegan, this is definitely a place worthy of a return visit to try more of their menu.  But let's see what we had this round, shall we?

We split two starters, the Shornakod Salad, above, and the Gulpea, below.  I highly recommend this combo because the former is light, bright, and refreshing, and the latter is spicy and savory.  The salad is an herbaceous combo of potatoes and chickpeas with lemon that would be perfect at a summertime picnic, and the gulpea is reminiscent of Indian Aloo Gobi, only without the potatoes.  Stewed cauliflower in a rich tomato-based sauce really wakes up the taste buds.  Great starters.

My entree, below, was the Korma Challow.  Challow is the baked rice with cumin seed that is uber tasty, and the mildly spiced veggies and spinach are the perfect accompaniment.  I added some of the table's hot sauce to the spinach for an extra kick and recommend you do the same.  My husband had the "Special" veg entree and I loved it for its inclusion of baked pumpkin, giving you a little dessert on the plate without having to order dessert.  :)

We will definitely go back to Helmand Palace soon.  Their unique flavors left me wanting to explore more of the menu.... and that Shornakod is crave-worthy!

Next up, an awesome new business opens up.  I've literally been there almost every day for a month so it's time to tell you about it.   Meanwhile, have a great Tuesday...