Soy latte, yes.

A special Raspberry Danish, by Evan

My weekend at the Let Live Northwest Animal Rights Conference and our week of Dittering ended with a coconut creme pie and mingling with tons of friends at the cart village following the Bye & Bye after party. It was super cool to attend the conference and see everything Chad and Josh mentioned on our podcast last month and more! come to fruition.

I went to inspirational talks on Regional Issues in Animal Activism, Online Social Networking as an Activist Tool, and an update on the "Green Scare". I saw most vegans I recognize in Portland, plus a buttload more, so many! My friend Evan of Bjorked Off! from Vancouver, BC has been in town for it, and that means I've been very caffeinated. We visited

Barista in the Pearl District on Sunday, because that's what we do. Dude, I sit down and sip my lattes from there, and every time, I think...it's so creamy, so light, so much more perfect than I anticipated....that's what you get going to an innovative shop opened by an award winning barista.

Soy latte from Barista

We also hit up Sweetpea, because that's what all vegans do. Audra made us swoony lattes - that girl is the best barista I've seen on the East Side! Evan had a hemp and almond one, and I opted for an iced. It had just a hint of chocolate and hazelnut, two of my classic favorite flavors.

Iced Latte from Sweetpea

If you want to see more gushing over Portland Soy Lattes, check out this write up from March.

Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ, Last Thursday & Two More Days of Dittering

Last night I made the trek up to NE Alberta Street for Last Thursday mayhem. I was planning on going anyway to live it up dittering style, and then I found out about a new all vegan BBQ stand opening, Homegrown Smoker, and three vegan bake sales,

so I teleported there after work, an iced coffee break at Sweetpea Baking Co. and a stop at a new cocktail bar opening. Same ole Thursday routine.

Chronic Tempeh Ribs, Smoked Soy Curls, Mac and Cheeze, Molassesey cornbread, BBQ beans

Three of us split this, and I swear, it cost $8. My favorite part was the fantastic smoked soy curls. They're closed this weekend, but check them out for a real opening Wednesday or Thursday! The staff is adorable, and one of their dads does the BBQ-ing! Exclamation!

Spotted at Last Thursday:

The new roaming Voodoo Doughnuts van

The new Spud Locker topped potato cart - featuring a yam with vegan cinnamon roll topping! Must try sometime...

Some more Last Thursday photos

As I mentioned earlier, my friend Michelle Crocodile knows an owner of Petunia's Pastries who had their opening last night - many vegan treats!

My friend Michelle C, Strawberryrock and I shared this beautiful Chocolate Hazelnut frosted & filled cupcake. It tasted..beautiful.

I was worried a few months ago that I was allergic to hazelnuts when making test recipes for the Vegan Cookies book, since I couldn't breathe and my lip and eyes swelled and all, but forgot about this until just now, and phew, I was fine last night.

The initial reason we were heading to Last Thursday was for The Grilled Cheese Grill.

Michelle and I shared this grilled mozzerella soy cheeze with grilled jalapenos.

At the GCG, you can eat your sandwich in an old, decorated school bus. It's trippy.

Look at the table below. There's so much more to say, but you really need to check it out for yourself.

The obligatory Sweetpea stop. Since we're vegan.

Dittering lunch #4 - Eggplant with basil & tofu from Just Thai.

Going back in time, Dittering lunch stop #3,

a Tastebud Pita salad from the Portland Farmers Market.

I picked up apricots and sugar snap peas.

After work that day, I stopped by the Peoples Coop street fair. Not on twitter, but they're my neighbors and I heart them. There was a vegan (gosh!) salad (gosh!) stand.

For $1 from their farmers market, I picked up the cutest shiitakes I have ever seen.

Ever seen.

Dittering Recap of Days 1 and 2: Portland Eats!

The first two days of the inaugural Dittering week are behind me, and the adventure is growing. It's not entirely a vacation from my kitchen, I've been putting together my standard weekly fruit bowl and steamed greens for a quick dinner Monday night, but they were twitter related!, as you'll read below.

Both Monday and Tuesday took Maeve and I to food carts for lunch, and last night we zanily but responsibly hit up two happy hours after work, it was like the new Thursday.

For lunch, we met with Karla of Veganshizzle for Koi Fusion PDX tofu tacos

For dinner, I had a big bowl of steamed lacinato kale with Braggs and new Flameboy Mango Hot Sauce, from Food Fight! This stuff is spicy amazement. I've, um, tweeted a bunch with one of the owners of the hot sauce on twitter, way before I learned about the new product, small city!

Ready to go.

Is kale on twitter? I know I'm a fan on facebook...

For lunch yesterday, I stopped by Savor Soup House for

Tomato Fennel Orange. It was splendid!

After work, I briefly popped into Candy in the Pearl (and thought, am I in Portland?) for the first time, and moved along to the Tube for a $2 greyhound and a quick bite - my favorite little fake ham and cheeze sandwich in town.

A couple hours later, we met up with our friend Susie at Hot Lips and I had a couple bites of this slice of vegan foccacia, saving room for the special last stop of Dittering day 2 afterwards.

You don't know it, but this is what you're here for. The last Dittering stop of the day was to try the brand new Chocolate Creme pie from the Whiffies fried pie cart. Maeve and I split this, because, you know.

It was like eating a chocolate pudding snack pack from heaven, that just happens to be wrapped in a wonderfully flaky fried pie.

To balance things out, I had a salad for lunch, I swear! More updates to come. I promise next week I can hold off on mentioning twitter at all.

Jenny!

Happy Birthday to my little sister, Jenny! She's entered the later early twenties and living a life of style in NYC. She loves to look at herself, so here we go. If you ever see her on the street (she frequents Stogo! and all the hip spots in Williamsburg) say hi, she'd love that. I just know it. I wish I was there to celebrate and buy her all the sugared and salted margaritas she's fond of.

at Pommes Frites

With the wind and attitude in her hair shopping at the Chelsea Markets,

holding my olives

Years ago in Portland (okay, 3) holding a vegan cake she'd made

Look! Our brother and the family cat that lives with Jenny, Monkey

Jenny and Mike's new cat, Desmond (named after LOST!)

Two of my favorite people

And Jenny, Mike and my grandparents. I keep this photo on my digital camera, because I'm occasionally sentimental. It's from 3+ years ago at a street fair in Little Italy.

Tomorrow - the report of Dittering Day 1 & 2.

VeganTwitNic #2, Check

We had the second ever VeganTwitNic yesterday in Colonel Summers Park in SE Portland. Nice showing, delicious food, no rain, relaxing in the sun, breaks in the shade, classic picnic times. There was even a watermelon, I kid you not.

I brought Gluten Free Mac & Cheeze with Broccoli

Maeve brought a refreshing raw kale salad, there was a gazpacho like dip, savoury tofu with prunes & olives, rice, gluten free lasagna, dessert and more.

Fruit, coconut pudding and cake parfait!

Part of the spread

I give up trying to make my plate look more than somewhat presentable at potlucks.

Quick stop at Food Fight! this weekend for soap, new Flameboy mango hot sauce, Cheddar Cheezly (some of it went into the mac!) and nectarines, suspiciously not pictured.

All the normal things I replenish.

Now I'm off to embark on Day #1 of Dittering week!

Coffee Plant hug. The quickest post ever.

Faint with me now,

Soy Latte and freshly baked cinnamon roll 

from Coffee Plant, downtown Portland.

What type of week was this??

As usual, I have posts in the works for this site and Stumptown Vegans,(NYC Vegan Ice Cream show down! Perierra Creperie!) but I'm a little busy at work, which means quite busy in real life.  I'm headed to Spokane for the rest of the week for work, so if you have some recommendations there on what to do and where to dine, please don't keep them locked up. Please share.

Portlanders - VeganTwitNic this weekend! Sunday, June 21st, 1pm at Colonel Summers Park.

Coming Soon: Ridiculously Great Twitter Dining Week! (Dittering)

Next week, Strawberryrock and myself are cleverly, and ridiculously, aiming to dine only at businesses that have a Twitter account. We will purchase all meals outside of our own kitchens, at, or to go, from these businesses, or if it comes down to it, at least exist on food and drink from companies that have a twitter, like Dave Killer's Bread, New Deal Vodka Luna and Larry's, and Turtle Mountain. Bread, vodka and soy and coconut based ice creams! Again, we're aiming to do this, because we can, and there's no denying that twitter can be a wonderful tool for local businesses.

It's called: Dittering. Or the Ridiculously Great Twitter Dining Week, if you can't stomach that first name.

When: Monday, June 22nd- Saturday, June 27th, 2009*

*coinciding with the start of the Let Live Northwest Animal Rights Conference, which of course, you should check out.

I've no doubt spent a week where the majority of my meals I have not cooked have come from a cart, keeping in mind leftovers and that I do actually enjoy cooking many of my meals, so I don't think the reality of this is very difficult.

So who's up for it? If you actually are, please leave a comment or contact me on twitter. I'll feature any vegan grub you photograph and mention and so should you, perhaps throughout the week, and definitely on a final posting afterwards. This isn't a vegan specific thing, but my site is. I'm sure this idea won't change the world yet, but it amuses me, of course, and serves some type of attempt of a purpose...

Supporting local business! Spending your dollars wisely! Score! Fun!

Dear friends who don't tweet, see you afterwards! I'll be mentioning that dreaded application and dropping usernames more than usual. Much more. You can feel free to bet if we keep with this.

For my readers in and out of Portland, here's some food porn from businesses who tweet:

Korean tofu taco from Koi Fusion PDX

If you know me at all, you know I frequent the food carts on SE 12th and Hawthorne, a short walk from my apartment, and regularly on my walk home from social engagements. You've probably run into me there. My latest favorite there is Whiffies Deep Fried Pies, of which I have a submission on Veggie Thing posted.

Blueberry:

BBQ Tofu:

Whiffies photos by Lucas DeShazer.

Cauliflower Red Lentil from Savor Soup House

Black Currant Cider from Green Dragon Brewery during BeerandBlog

Toasted bagel with Chipotle and Black Olive vegan cream cheezes, from Sweetpea Baking Co.

Pad Kee Mow from the Just Thai cart

Check out New Deal's blog with an extensive listing of Portland Food and Drink related twitters.

Follow my account, Get Sconed!, for the usual nonsense, vegan tidbits, where I'm dining and what's going to happen next. As usual, but with even more PDX enthusiasm!

Look for a full write up the following week, and more on Stumptown Vegans in the future.

Sesame Beer Grilled Fiddleheads

I brought fiddlehead ferns home from the farmers market to play.

Hello, I live in Portland, so I've tried them before, but had yet to cook with them.  We know they're a hip piece of produce, and I finally picked some up last week at the downtown farmers market and was told to make sure I cook them well! 

So, they were marinated briefly in organic Deschutes Green Lake Ale ale and tamari, tossed onto my grill pan, tossed some more, tossed with coarse sea salt, black pepper and sesame seeds, and then tossed onto my plate, forked into my mouth, etc.  I'm always a fan of the burnt tamari (I mean, cooked) taste, and I dig how these came out.  Beer grilled asparagus just may be in my future.

For now, some balsamic grilled asparagus 

Smoky Collard greens and Lightlife tempeh bacon 

(Lightlife tempeh review, coming soon!)

This means I'm only a week behind!  

Last week's haul from the Wednesday downtown farmers market: cucumber, fiddleheads, asparagus and strawberries.  Earlier today I  picked up lettuce, strawberries, my love: garlic scapes, orange cherry tomatoes and a couple beefstake tomatoes. Holy friction, tomato and berry season is approaching!

P.S. Check out the new Stumptown Vegans Podcast here!  

It's with Chad Miller and Josh Hooten, two founders of the Let Live Conference, later this month in Portland.