vegan

woodstock, ny


[turn me into a small town girl]
art things and flower pots prettying up the sidewalks,
a curry tofu mango sandwich with peppers, onions, and spice aioli
the weekend farmer's market which also decides to come on wednesdays
bright colors!
cute dresses
a sign for vegan knishes in the taco stand window
comfy-looking people
baked oatmeal for the car ride back
{sufjan stevens for the car ride back}
my new love, the photo exhibit on summer camp at the cpw
a mental note of which b & b to stay at next time...

-yeh!

today i was old-fashioned


tap dancing to sing, sing, sing

an afternoon sit at the farmers' market

a donut.
{a 75 cent apple cider one}

a stroll down to the village
via broadway/lexington/east river

a new pretty flowery scarf when it was chilly
a step in and out of the  strand bookstore
{mainly because, i really can't face the embarrassment of someone asking me if i've ever been to the strand before and me having to say no}

a {vegan} picnic at washington square park
dandelion greens

and a silent movie at film forum

it was pretty, though i didn't cry like i half expected to.
the adorable actress and the marvelous carnival scene
{were not enough to redeem itself from the bothersome plot line {which i won't give away}}
much of the music sounded very similar to verklärte nacht.
which now that i think of it, is very pertinent, considering the story lines of the two. 



to bed now to rest up for mum's visit tomorrow.



xoxo


yeh


pictures: {bored} {bored} {bored}

week 12: sacred chow


my week-long trial period of near-veganism culminated last friday,
with a trip to 
in the west village

it was recommended to me by vegan friend justin,
whom i did not know was vegan until he turned down an offer
for a cookie bar made by mum
{and you must know that no one turns down jody's cookie bars}

so in our post-concert rush,
we taxied downtown 
with just enough time to place our dinner {and dessert} order
by closing time.



and the style was 
tapas
and our appetites were
big


here's a list of what we ordered,
and my thoughts about them 
{in twitter form, of course}

sacred caesar salad
taste simulation at it's highest.
are you sure there are no anchovies in this, justin?
yes, pumpkin, i'm sure.

sunflower lentil paté
tasty,
not too weird or grossly offensive,
but, alas, i've never had real paté so i don't know how this compared.

mama's soy meatballs
with sicilian sauce
delicious!
reminded me of the vegetarian meatballs that an ex's mom made,
and since i wouldn't dare ask her for the recipe,
these compensated quite well.

baby root vegetable latkes
like soggy waffles.
no one likes a soggy waffle.
and last i checked, "crispy" is a word that is indeed in the vegan dictionary.

sliced ginger soba noodles
with spicy peanut sauce
by far my fave. 
it's hard to mess up peanut noodles, i know,
but i was afraid of the word "soba" 
til i tried these.

indonesian roasted tempeh
contrary to what i predicted, 
i didn't run the other way screaming.
the texture was new,
kind of like paper maché,
but i think i'd like to try it again to give it a fair shot.

seitan.
seitan.
roasted black olive seitan.
there's a reason it's so close in spelling to satan.
kidding.
sort of.
i actually muscled through a whole piece of it thinking it was the meatballs.
and then the meatballs came out and i was like
oh no what did i just eat? that's such a terrible feeling.
 it tasted like that egg carton foam you put over your mattress. 
but edible, definitely edible.
sort of.

top to bottom: paté, tempeh, seitan

and for dessert:

brownie sundae
i didn't feel so guilty gobbling all of it up because
if it's vegan,
it must be healthy,
right?
please let that be right.
because i pretty much ate it all.
and i couldn't believe it was vegan.
 i was, after all, that bitch of a little sister when lactose-intolerant stoop had to eat soy dream.

...

anywho,
i really enjoyed my first vegan restaurant experience.
it was sort of like being on another planet...
most things were recognizable with their non-vegan counterpart,
but there were things, mostly textures, that distinguished them.
i mean, how close can one really get to simulating a chewy, still bleeding steak without a cow?

 but this new food world
is like discovering a new ethnic cuisine,
 it is so interesting,
that i just might extend my near-veganism
for kicks.
and because my jeans were looser this week.

i think i'll go back to sacred chow,
or try to incorporate more vegan things in the 40 restaurants that i have left...


xoxo


yeh


sacred chow is on sullivan street between west 3rd and bleecker in the village. 
sun-thu 11-10, fri&sat 11-11.