Saturday Groceries.

Rainy day be damned, I went to the second Portland Farmers Market this past Saturday.  It had returned for the season (and by season, I mean until December!) to the PSU Park blocks and despite just missing bus there, finding myself using an umbrella for the first time in over a year and grumbling more than I'd like to admit, I arrived, and got to work smiling and creepily eyeing vegetables.  

Looks like Portland.

It's mostly greens this early in the season but there are a ton of local vendors including Tastebud Pita (which I would have gotten if the wheat berry salad mix didn't have leeks, bummer for me), Dave's Killer Bread and Black Sheep Bakery.  Besides buying produce for myself, I went with the intention of buying my siblings gifts of jam and whatnot for my trip to the East Coast in a few weeks and forgot  - sorry Jenny!  Last year I brought my sister some of the sensational Blossom Vinegars.

My mini haul:

 a bag of giant Red Anjoi Pears $4

kale raab $2.25

yellow onion 50 cents (for a recipe!)

Maittake mushrooms $5

Later in the day, I hadn't enough of the rain and grocery shopping and headed to Fubonn.

I picked up white rice, dark soy sauce, wasabi powder, organic Ota firm tofu, rice noodles, green tea and red bean mochi, avocado, carrot, cucumber, nori and a bamboo rolling mat.  

It suddenly felt like the weekend to make sushi, which I'd never done by myself before. That was slightly embarrassing to admit...

From Fubonn:

Cuteness!  and Glutey-free.

The amateur sushi.

With cucumber, avocado, fried tofu tossed with sesame chili oil (frozen after my last Fubonn trip) and leftover Tempeh Croutons from a delish Joanna recipe I'll feature next post.

An examination of Portland Soy Lattes.

This Portland girl has been back to her missed city for a week now.  She wandered around sunny downtown Phoenix with her shades for a few days for work and wasn't feeling it.  Scoping out the immediate hotel-dominated area, she had a so so Vegetable Platter (minus the bread with butter) at 1130 Grill, crappy veganized pasta with crappier mixed vegetables that totally came from a freezer at a place that needs to go unnamed it's so unmentionable and a delicious meal of Coconut Curry Tofu with plantains and red beans & rice at Breadfruit, a cool Jamaican restaurant that will be featured as a travel review on Stumptown Vegans in the immediate future.

 

For now, an photo essay ala Urban Vegan of recent soy lattes in Portland, OR.

Is it starting out on the wrong foot if I admit I don't remember where the hell this was from? 

jd + COFFEE

I've always enjoyed the taste of coffee even if my stomach and head don't cherish the caffeine associated.  No matter.  In recent months, much thanks to the prompting of Evan of Bjorked Off!, this girl's come to welcome the treat of a well crafted soy latte back into her life.  

I've had a dramatic relationship with coffee culture over the past few years.  I do have respect for the barista profession, and dig that Portland is a town where people want to work with coffee and consider it a craft.  In high school, I made crappy cappuccinos with espresso from pods before the Starbucks invasion of the late 1990s on suburban Long Island.  I don't support corporate coffee chains - this is Portland, where I can drink locally roasted beans at independent shops in every part of of town.  

Check out this article on the New Portland Micro Roasters from last month's MIX magazine for a a read if this is striking your fancy. Onto the photos!

Latte from Barista Coffeeshop. 

Barista is a new coffeeshop in the Pearl District, opened by renowned Portland barista Billy Wilson, formerly of Albina Press.  The best I've ever had.  Swoon.  etc.

Stumptown, downtown

First the first time I can remember, I actually scored a table was able to sit down with my latte and the Portland Mercury.

Tiny's in SE

From Sweetpea Baking Co.  

Audra made this with coconut and I think, chocolate.  

It was lovely as heck.

The not-so-elusive Karla of Veganshizzle and a latte and bagel of her own.  

I just found this back in my Flickr stream and thought it appropriate.  Sweet Pea serves Stumptown and you have your choice of sugary goodies made with care to accompany your beverage.  

From Albina Press, SE

The latte that's still somewhat in front of me, from Coffee Plant, downtown.

Mocha + Black Sheep Bakery cobbler bar from Portland Coffee House, downtown.

I haven't been back in months.  That's all.

Evan at Tiny's with a soy latte.  I wouldn't want someone to be devastated if they weren't featured here...

What reasonable latte drinker doesn't appreciate hearts and swirls?

Hmmmmm

The barista at Opposable Thumb was trying something on this?  

It's a peppermint hot chocolate.

Woops, straight up cup of Stumptown and a Monkeywrench

Snickerdoodle.  I've got to give my devotion to Sweetpea's doodles...

From Cellar Door.  A favorite - they roast their own beans in small batches and they turn into Portobello Vegan Trattoria come evening~

This may not be pretty, but overlook the desire for latte art and trust me, it was actually wonderful.  From Spella Caffe coffee cart, downtown, also a local roaster.

The cart.

You don't like coffee?  Eat some cookies.  

Lazy Samoans (Toasted Coconut Chocolate Cookies)

From Terry & Isa's upcoming and officially named 

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

I'm oh, so, curious to try a hemp latte soon....

teese'd pizza with fake sausage.

Pizza night.

Right before I left on a business trip to sunny, warm Phoenix (please note that these are climate related adjectives that do not describe a fun time for me) I made pizza.  Teese'd pizza, to be exact.  I hadn't bought teese in months and couldn't freaking resist picking up one of the new small logs of mozzarella for sale at Food Fight!  They were cute, I'd recently made marinara and had a batch of steamed Italian sausages at home.  It was meant to be.  I'll talk more about my Phoenix eats soon, which were sadly slim because I didn't have a ton of free time or a car but I worked one actually delicious meal in.

Speaking of Chicago Soy Dairy products, I'm expecting a bag of their new Dandies Vegan Marshmallows soon!  Anyone have them yet?  They seem to be the next big thing.

Let's continue on to the vegan pizza porn overloading....

Organic New Seasons pizza dough, Italian sausage, cremini mushrooms, broccoli, chard, red wine marinara, teese, dried oregano and sesame seeds.

From my Food Fight! stop.

Portland area folks - check out teese'd slices at It's a Beautiful Pizza.  

Available by the slice and pie.  Sometimes their sauce is herb-tastic and sometimes it's bland, what are you gonna do?  They wear tie dye shirts, for pete's sake.  I'll be eating great vegan thin crust slices in NYC next month on my annual pilgrimage to the home state.

Behind the scenes of the sausage.  

I based the sausage recipe on Isa's Spicy Pinto Sausages from the PPK, which are in turn based on Julie Hasson's.  I utilized fresh thyme and frozen pesto, among other things.

I like mixing the wed ingredients in my magic bullet blender.

After I'm done steaming, I literally toss the sausages into the steamed sausage drawer in my fridge.  It's their home.  Until I eat them.

More sausage, chard and creminis.

So Vegan.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Tofu Mousse with dark chocolate sprinkles

As if I'd write a recipe, or you'd need one.  Vegan or not, some vegan or tofu advocate has likely pushed this on you in the past.  It's a building block of (sometimes boring) vegan dessert.

Just last week I spotted it as the vegan chocolate pudding sold at Whole Foods (sweetened with rice syrup) and there are roughly 9 bajillion recipes that exist online, in old cookbooks and perfected in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.  If you're veg, you've been to a potluck where there's been chocolate tofu pie.  I've been to many.  It can be boring, but since getting a Vita-Mix I've found myself digging  it's simplicity again.  

Note the keyword Vita-Mix - that baby turns unexciting tofu pudding into silky, sinful chocolate pudding, and I don't even have to melt the chocolate before blending.  I'm such a fan, but it's not like I've hugged it..yet.  The basic recipe is so versatile - add flavored liquor, mix up the sweeteners, add peanut butter, fresh fruit, extract, whatever sounds good and fits in the blender.  I honestly don't use a recipe, I just throw stuff - okay, ingredients, into my blender and taste for sweetness towards the end.

Here's what I had to play with:

I didn't use the cocoa or all of the sugar, instead I felt like a more peanut butter...passionate pudding.

In other news - I'll be in Phoenix next week for work.  Let me know if you have any dining suggestions for the downtown area - I won't have a car. Thanks!

Anatomy of a Grocery Trip: Fubonn Supermarket & Brooklyn Pad Thai

It's been quite a while!  Somehow I've gone since September without an addition to the 

Get Sconed! Anatomy of a Grocery Trip series.  Blame the economy.  And living close to a New Seasons market.  

Yesterday I had tofu on the brain and took the bus to Fubonn Supermarket, just south of Division on 82nd Ave.

The goods:

I picked up fresh ginger, locally made fried tofu, fresh rice noodles, Mori Nu silken tofu, rice vinegar, agar agar and tamarind concentrate, which I haven't seen at Fubonn before and found on display for $1.69 or so!  I have some vegetables at home, so these were all fun, special purchases.  Once I grabbed the tofu and tamarind, I found myself walking to the fresh noodle section, and Pad Thai fell on the menu for dinner....

Brooklyn Pad Thai with thin rice noodles  

The recipe is from Vegan with a Vengeance.  This was my first time using tamarind concentrate ever - it's one of those products that I meant to buy and never had - and the taste was so close to Pad Thai Woon Sen at Pad Thai Kitchen!  I added broccoli and green bell pepper, and left out the red onions.  I used Sambal Olek as my chili component and the final product was fantastic.  Not to mention cooked in less than 15 minutes..

Seitanic Jambalaya (with pink beans and eggplant)

Seitanic.

Flipping through Veganomicon looking for recipes to utilize the huge pot of small pink beans I'd cooked on Sunday, I found myself stopping on the recipe for Seitanic Jambalaya with Red and White Beans.  If you have an Amazon account, you can view the recipe online, but surely you have this cookbook or can request it from your library.  It's my go to vegan cookbook.  

Now, this is one I somehow  skipped as a recipe tester for the book and it was reaching out to me.  Obviously Mardi Gras recently passed and the internet's been buzzing about Cajun food, as does my younger sister Jenny on a regular basis.  I like heat but don't find myself cooking many Cajun-style dishes.  I've made gumbo once and cajun coated tofu

and potatoes a few times, but that's it.

I made a full version of the recipe and fed my friends during our weekly LOST viewing, which also included the premiere of ANTM and they seemed to enjoy it.  It makes a ton!  If I hadn't fed folks, I'd be eating this for a week!  I used an organic cajun spice blend, fresh thyme and found my first jambalaya stick-to-your-ribs-with-savoury-rice good.  Whatever that means, it was true.

I used Trader Joe's new organic long grain white rice, my soaked small pink beans instead of red and white, two green bell peppers, one stalk of celery, threw in some diced eggplant and because I'm a hater, subbed extra garlic and a bunch of onion powder for the onion.  I know, I know, I know, I'm ridiculous, but it's my kitchen.  I did find myself baking it an additional 15 or so minutes to let the rice fully cook.

For the seitanic contribution, I made two large baked seitan cutlets based on the Veganomicon recipe the night before the jambalaya cooking.  This is my go-to seitan recipe from the go-to vegan cookbook.  I can also see diced steamed sausages being great in this.  I also used vegan chicken-style buillion cubes  and added diced garlic, bay leaf, shallot, black pepper and crushed red pepper to my broth.  Of course it's easy to make your own Chicken-Style broth powder as well, like with Bryanna's recipe.

For more vegan New Orleans and Cajun style cooking, 

I encourage you to visit Kittee's site, Paku Paku.

Next up for my giant vat of pink beans - Brown Rice Spaghetti with Bean Balls and Homemade Marinara.  I quickly made a new batch of Walnut-Miso-'Parmesan' last night for sprinkling~

Sweet; Grilling

Sweet.  

Irish Whiskey Creme Kisses.  

Another Post Punk KitchenVegan Cookie Book tester.

The second Vegan Cookie book tester of the day - 

I made both of these to take to a fancy vegan dinner party last weekend.  

It was Indian themed and fabulous.

Espresso Fudge Brownies

Grilling.

I live in an apartment with no immediate place to grill outside, so I contently do all of my grilling in a  cast iron grill pan on the stove top.  I bought it almost 2 years ago for less than $15 at Ross and it's consistently fun to use.  I have a foreman grill stored somewhere but those lines and flavor do not compare. 

Sadly my handy and environmentally wise oil mister died so I've resorted to packaged olive oil spray again lately, but that's a poor excuse and I'm aiming to get a new one soon.  Briefly marinate some tofu or seitan, toss some veggies in oil/herbs/salt or dressing and bam, you have dinner to grill and eat alone, over pasta, grains or in a sandwich.  

On Sunday, I grilled the following for my lunch at work:

Grilled Golden Balsamic and Braggy Tofu, 

Asparagus with olive oil, coarse sea salt and pepper

Grilled Eggplant slices with olive oil and coarse sea salt.

Sandwiched withVegenaise, flavorless tomato that I picked out &  field greens on a french baguette.  Enough for two meals!

more...Sweet.

Nature's Path AgavePlus Granola.  

Their newest addition to the cereal game - with sunflower seeds and oats!  I received two boxes from the company and as Evan from Bjorked Off! knows, I rarely buy or eat cereal - but this stuff is great.  Not too sweet at all.  Personally I'll take agave over honey any day, ethics and flavor-wise.  I thought the sunflower seeds would annoy me, 

because they're just annoying, but they didn't~