Vegan on the Go: O’Happy at O’Hare!

DUDES. I discovered the most amazing thing in O’Hare airport this morning! Check it:

O M G!

Initially I was a little confused as to why that banner was there – it was on one of those closed-off, in-construction type areas where they were obviously building a new eating establishment, so originally I thought it was saying that this was a “coming soon” type of thing. But then I realized that it was right across from the actual/current location of Cibo Express, so I realized it was an advertising tactic. Anyway, it worked – I could not resist investigating a vegan option! Not being a Portland native with vegan options hitting me in the face every time I turn a corner, I still get giddy and excited whenever I see the word VEGAN in the rEaL wOrLd.

And OH MY WORD! I was so thrilled to discover that Cibo had tons prepared, ready-to-eat, veg foods! Fruit cups, [various types of] sushi, packages of hummus and veggies, even [an admittedly tiny] KALE SALAD! And sandwiches GALORE, all explicitly marked as vegan! They had a jerk tofu one that looked particularly good, along with more varieties that I can’t remember. I think all the sandwiches are made in a local Chicago restaurant and then sold at the airport, which is cool. And there were tons of yummy organic and healthy drink options, too. There were also some non-veggie items, but we won’t talk about that. Here’s what I ended up getting:

Hey there, vegan yumminess!

I purchased this at 7:30 in the morning on my layover in O’Hare, thinkin’ I’d eat it on my flight from Chicago to Madison. For some reason the idea of a “chicken” salad sandwich, as boring as it might seem, was really appealing; since it was early, I didn’t want anything too spicy. But the Chicago-Madison flight is so short – and I was so busily knitting – that I didn’t end up eating it until I was back home, maybe around 10:45. Still, it was reallllly tasty, totally like the chicken salad of yore. My only complaint was that the bread was a little soggy, but maybe that’s because it was sitting in my giant purse for two hours. Oops. The iced tea was also delicious; I’d never seen that brand before but I enjoyed it; it was subtly flavored and very refreshing.

Needless to say, I’m thrilled to know that decent vegan eats exist at O’Hare; you can find Cibo Express between terminals 1 and 2, by the big plane that’s sort of suspended in an odd corner in some sort of display (clearly I wasn’t awake enough to absorb any more detail than that). I’m also thrilled that my company will reimburse me for this meal.

Anyway, that’s all for the moment – I’m quite exhausted after this trip!* I still have one more on-the-go type post to share, but I’ll save it for later. And now I need to catch up on all the awesome MoFo posts I undoubtedly missed during the past few days – don’t be surprised if y’all receive boatloads of random comments tonight!

Have you ever found a surprise!vegan option at an airport or similar travel-type location?

* Proof: I originally typed “O’Hair” instead of “O’Hare” in this post. The Irish version of Hair, perhaps? Now I’m picturing lots of freckly redheads running around nakie and singing hippie songs. Hee hee hee.

Simple Saturday Sandwich

Hey-o! This poor ol’ blog is a bit dusty. I have tons of food pics from the last couple of weeks in iPhoto just waitin’ for their moment in the spotlight, but instead I’m just gonna post one from today.

Why, yes, I frequently put my plate on the living room floor... cough, cough.

That right tharrr is my Saturday lunch. Inspired by this Voracious Vegan post re: delicious marinated tofu, I whipped up a similar marinade of my own (lemon juice + soy sauce + a bit o’ balsamic vinegar + a small glug of olive oil + Bragg’s + a dash of curry powder). After letting a couple of pre-pressed tofu slices soak up that liquid for half an hour, I cooked ‘em up and then made a simple sandwich of tofu + a tiny bit of Vegenaise (which I very rarely use) + ARUGULA FROM MY GARDEN. First harvest of the season, woo! With a side of carrot sticks and TJ’s tomato-basil hummus*, this made a delightful summer Saturday lunch, and the bottle of Fat Squirrel was the perfect accompaniment. Oh, Wisconsin, I love you and your local, vegan-friendly breweries!

*Kinda not a fan of this hummus. I usually prefer hummus of the simple garlic type, but sometimes I forget that and get distracted by the idea of more exciting hummus. Next time I will put on my blinders and make a beeline for the straight-up chickpeas + tahini + garlic variety.

Anybody else have a simple yet delicious Saturday meal?

Three Degrees of Experimental Failure

Today has been a day of experimentation, with – I’m sorry to say – generally dismal results. It began this morning when I decided that my typical Green Monster (banana/soy milk/kale/soy protein powder) was getting a little boring. Spotting a couple of kiwis sitting abandoned in the fruit bowl, I decided to conquer my fear of the fuzzy fruit and throw one in. I’m not sure why exactly I have an aversion to kiwis, to be honest. When I was young my mom used to cut them up for my siblings and I during the summer, and although VeggaSis and VeggaBro loved them, I… didn’t. But I’m all for giving food a second chance, so into the GM it went.

Well. This GM was kiiinda nasty. First of all, the kale refused to blend nicely. Second, it tasted gross. At first I blamed the kiwi and set about gulping down the Monster, since I hate wasting food. But as I continued drinking – grimacing all the while – I realized that the disgusting taste was more along the lines of an unripe banana than anything. I don’t know about you guys, but there’s something about unripe bananas that makes me want to vomit. Actually, bananas in general have always been troublesome for me; as a kid I hated their texture, and their taste didn’t excite me enough to make me enjoy eating them. These days I can stomach ‘em okay (well, most of the time), but today the unripe banana flavor in my GM defeated my willpower and after I gagged and nearly vomited (TMI, I know), I just couldn’t finish this Monster. At least I only had about half a cup left. MAJOR FAIL.

My next ‘speriment looked pretty innocent from the outside.

Seems like your average peanut-butter-on-whole-wheat-flatbread sandwich, right? INCORRECT. Let’s reveal the secret ingredient that made this sammie so memorable!

Yes, folks, that is a peanut butter and onion sandwich right there. At some point during my web surfing this morning, I saw someone mention enjoying pb&o sandwiches and I had to learn more. A quick trip to VegWeb opened up the wide world of bizarro peanut butter sandwiches. Being a curious lady, I decided to give this rather unorthodox pairing a shot.

Honestly? I wasn’t feeling it. To be fair, it wasn’t nearly as disgusting as I’d anticipated; the flavors really did sort of cancel each other out. But overall it was just kind of odd. I didn’t toast it as the VegWeb “recipe” suggests, but I kind of doubt that would’ve made much of an improvement. So although it wasn’t utterly repulsive and I didn’t run to the toilet screaming after taking my first bite, I don’t anticipate trying this combo again any time soon. The flavor was just not worth having my mouth taste like onions for the rest of the afternoon. MINOR FAIL.

My third and final experiment should’ve made up for my past two failures. The blog world has been raving about Gena’s banana soft serve for a couple of weeks now, so I thought it was high-time I gave this treat a go. Despite the fact that banana flavoring is not my top choice for any sort of icy treat, I was totally prepared to be amazed by the soft serve.

And, um, I was amazed, but in a terribly, terribly bad way. I was – and am – amazed that the frozen banana chunks appear to have killed the family food processor.

Ooops.

I haven’t told my parents about this yet, as it happened merely half an hour ago. But as soon as I turned on the food processor, it started jumping around and then stopped completely a few seconds later. All subsequent attempts to get it to work failed. I fear the worst. Again, MAJOR FAIL.

Sigh.