Eating and Socializing in the Ocean State

Oh dear. My blog stats are at an all-time low. That bums me out a bit, but really, what should I expect when I neglect my wee blog so shamefully? Ah well. Now I’m just going to continue the trend of my most recent posts: out-of-town eats!

Last weekend I headed back to my natal state, dear darling Rhode Island, to watch my little brother graduate from Worcester Polytech. As a big sister, I am both indescribably proud of my brilliant, charismatic, and all-around wonderful brother and slightly shocked that said brother is now a college graduate. Jaysus! At least my little sister is still in college. Lawd knows how I’ll feel when she graduates. I don’t even know how my parents can handle it!

Anyway, on to the good stuff – food. After Mum picked me up from the airport, we high-tailed it to RI’s premiere veg eatery, the Garden Grille. Okay, that’s a lie – we tried to high-tail it, but were held up by various circumstances. By the time we arrived, we were both quite famished. I ordered the Red Bean Rice Burger, and Mama chose one of the daily specials, some sort of salad with tiny potato bits. (Yes, Mom, I should’ve written down the name of your dish!)

Burger noms!

I love veggie burgers with visible bits of veggies and rice and other real food, and this one totally fit the bill. It was perfectly satisfying, and I enjoyed the slaw on the side. It’s embarrassing to admit, but up until fairly recently I thought all coleslaws were disgusting, mayonnaise-laden goopy affairs, and it’s been quite enjoyable to try the non-goopy varieties I encounter. This one was simple and tasty.

Salad situation.

I only tried a bite or two of Mom’s salad, and I don’t remember the details about it, but I do remember that it was also quite delicious.

After lunch, we headed next door so I could experience RI’s one and only VEGAN BAKERY OMG. Wildflour is a bakery and juice bar, but I was so full from lunch that I didn’t try any juices and just picked up some snacks for later. Mum and I got a black forest cupcake and a few raw treats – some sort of ganache-y brownie, a coconut macaroon, and a “Rawreo.” They were all incredibly rich and delicious, particularly the brownie… oh man, I’m salivating just thinking about it. I only snapped a shot of the cupcake, though.

A thing of beauty.

Oh, JK – you can see some macaroon and a corner of the brownie. Mmm.

The vegan eats continued on my second day in RI, too. My brother belongs to a fraternity, and he and his fellow senior brothers organized a post-graduation event at their house for their families. They have a cook who makes food for the brothers on a daily basis, and Ian put in a special request for vegan food for my mom and me. I’ll admit that I didn’t have great expectations, but I guess I was doing the cook a disservice, because he and his wife whipped up four vegan options at the party! There was a portobello mushroom wrap, a pasta dish, a cold potato salad, and a vegan chili. Totally perfect for a grad party! And to top it all off, his wife came around while everyone else was eating dessert and handed us a big plate of vegan cookies – I think they’d gotten them from a local bakery, and they were perfectly soft and delicious. Hooray! It’s really nice to have your expectations exceeded by a long shot, isn’t it?

Culinarily, my trip to RI was a smashing success. But really, I didn’t go home for the food. I went to spend time with some of the people who are nearest and dearest to me, like these five goofs…

Love my family.

…and these dearies…

My RI gals are the greatest.

…and, of course, my crazy dogs:

Tamale & Mistletoe

…what a fun-filled, jam-packed three days.

California Eatin’

Greetings from not-so-sunny California! Never fear – the reason it’s not sunny is because it’s barely 6:00 AM. I’m sitting at the airport waiting for my flight back to Madison (via good ol’ Minneapolis) after spending a couple days in Laguna Hills on a work trip. Okay, that’s a lie, because I started typing that last Wednesday and didn’t finish it until now. Truth be told, I’m sitting on my lazy butt here in Madison. Cough. With that out of the way, let’s resume the narrative, shall we?

Said work trip was rather frustrating (Kelly + inefficiency = RAAAGE), but at least I got to make up for those annoyances by seeing my grandfather and his wife and eating delicious food. On my second night in California, my grandfather and his wife picked me up at my hotel and we went out to dinner. I very rarely see them, so I was quite excited when I realized that my work trip serendipitously took me very close to their area of residence. I wasn’t sure how they’d feel about the vegan restaurants I suggested, but they weren’t fazed at all and it took it in stride. My step-grandmother had just read a book about veganism, and she asked all sorts of great questions. Hallelujah!

I was so excited to discover at least three all-vegan eateries within 20 minutes of my hotel, and at the rather exuberant recommendation of the hotel desk lady, we hit up the Veggie Grill at Irvine Spectrum. I didn’t realize that VG was so fake-meat-centric, but as it turns out, fake meat is just the ticket to convince omnis that a veg-based diet is totally doable! My grandfather wasn’t super hungry, but he ordered some “chicken” tenders that he said were pretty indistinguishable from their fowl-based brethren. My step-grandma enjoyed a portobella burger, and she couldn’t stop raving about it! I had a chipotle BBQ burger, featuring strips of faux beef, and I was quite surprised to find that I really enjoyed it – normally, I can take or leave fake meat. But this was just plain tasty, and I got to talk about the merits of veganism with receptive relatives, so I’m calling the whole experience a success (even if I didn’t get any pictures).

Another success: vegan pizza! There were only a few restaurants in the vicinity of my hotel that delivered there (I didn’t have a rental car), and I was a bit concerned that I’d have to order a salad and french fries for dinner one night. But a quick internet search led to this post, which taught me that BJ’s Brewhouse has easily veganizable deep dish pizzas. Hallelujah!

"Friday was pizza day, the best day of the week...!"

This crust was seriously tasty. I was initially a bit wary of deep dish pizza, because the only other time I’d had it was in Chicago in my pre-vegan days, and it was so damn cheesy and heavy that it sat like a brick of dairy in my poor tummy for hours afterwards. But this crust was perfectly light and chewy and everything I could have dreamed for in a delivery pizza. I got it with artichoke hearts and tomatoes and a side salad, and ate the whole damn thing in one sitting with no ill effects. Woo!

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately. I’m also super excited because I’ll be back in RI on Friday to attend my little bro’s college graduation, yay! What exciting things have you done lately?

Oh, and happy day of the mothers to any moms who might be reading! I can’t wait to see mine later this week.