New in PDX: Back to Eden Vegan Bakery Boutique!

Yo! I've moved to a new domain:

getsconedpdx.com

It has pages of information, in addition to normal posts! Oh my gosh!

Please update your bookmarks.

<3

jess sconed.

I love this scone.

Maple Walnut Scone

ZOMG, right? Back to Eden Bakery has opened it's cozy and super adorable storefront & boutique on NE Alberta! It's located right next to Townsend Teahouse (vegan bubble tea, anyone? made with actual tea!) and the adjacent cart lot currently housing the all vegan Open Heart Cafe and Homegrown Smoker BBQ*.

I've taken two visits since they opened last Tuesday, and I'm all smiles in there. Everyone is! You can just feel how proud the staff is of the storefront. There are baked goods, bulk candy, Temptation soft serve, vegan products, cookbooks, Oregon's own Coconut Bliss scoops, Oogave ice cream floats and Cellar Door Coffee - a favorite local roaster.

That scone above? It starred one of my favorite flavors in the world, maple, and was such a precious, sweet scone. I brought it home for breakfast with my semi weekly morning coffee and it could very well be the best thing about this past week. I mean, I wanted to hug the bite I dipped into my coffee. But I didn't.

Pumpkin Bar

The very first baked good I tried from Back to Eden was the pumpkin bar above. I considered cake and pie, but the pan of pumpkin bars on the bottom of the main case called out to me. The classic crumbly, slightly salty topping, a thin layer of rich pumpkin, and crust = instant favorite. And reasonably priced and portioned, at $1.75 or so.

Crowd on Last Thursday

Inside the case:

My friend Millie dug her slice of Chocolate Rosemary Sea Salt Tart

Wall seating

Muffins & Scones Case

Karla had a Temptation sundae with Dandies Marshmallows and house caramel sauce. I think her sugar high lasted for hours. Maeve and I stopped by earlier today for soft serve with caramel sauce, and I'm still buzzing sweetness. Temptation soft serve is sa-weet! Seriously though - vegan soft serve on Alberta!!

Karla's sundae

The marshmallows remind me of how a local ice cream shop would stuff a mallow at the bottom of waffle cones when I was little and my sister and I were always delighted to find it...and at the savvy...

Back to Eden's own Janessa, and Lucas outside the boutique

* Side note, HGS is moving a few blocks east to 27th& Alberta in the old Spud Locker location next week. Can we discuss how NE Alberta officially has a vegan walking tour now? When I moved to the Alberta District in 2004, I would go to Vita and the Coop, and then the Coop and Vita. Granted, I lived there for two weeks and then fell into SE Portland love.

NE Alberta vegan highlights:

• Lunch at Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ - my pick is the combo with chronic tempeh, smoked soy curls, mac & cheese and add the fabulous smoked corn.
• Vegan shoe shopping (or realistically, show window shopping) at Pie Footwear at 29th.
• Grilled vegan cheese sandwiches with roasted jalapenos in trippy The Grilled Cheese Grill school bus
• Chicken Fried Tempeh at Vita
• Tempeh topped pizza slices at Bella Faccia
• Mason Jars full of booze or the Floor Punch at the Bye & Bye all vegan bar. Oh, and BBQ Platters (sub brussels for the collards!), one of my favorite things to eat in PDX, hands down. Meatball subs, Eastern Bowls with Peanut sauce and more.
• Coming Soon: The All Vegan Held Belts storefront!
• and Goodies *and* Cellar Door Coffee at Back to Eden, of course
• Tour de Crepes - I wasn't wild about the crepes here a few years ago, but I hear they've gotten great!
• Last Thursday: the insanity, the wonder, the stands. Petunia's Pastries has some gourmet vegan treats at their stand - I was in love with the Chocolate Hazelnut cupcake. There are usually at least 95 stands selling hand crafted vegan truffles, as well.
• Tofu Po Boys at Palm State Gumbo
• Michelle! my Alberta vegan guide.
• Alberta Coop at 15th.
• Mash Tun for tempeh hot wings
• Tin Shed for breakfast

So just walk the street up and down repeatedly, and pick your vegan indulgence!

What am I forgetting?

I'm going to consolidate these tips on my new location soon!

VeganMoFo III Approaches!

Dum dum dum! It's coming.

The Vegan Month of Food returns October 1st with a third year of vegan culinary blogging madness. Who's down?

The idea originated with Isa Chandra Moskowitz on the Post Punk Kitchen forums, and this year, Kittee is hosting the official sign up here on Kitteekake. She asks that you please sign up by October 2nd. It's a fulfilling experience and always brings new and seasoned vegan food bloggers into the fold.

If you feel like a vegan blogging adventure and are looking for ideas, check out my posts from 2007 and 2008.

Post about recipes, meal plans, restaurant experiences, favorites, fill out surveys, showcase pictures of your cat eating spinach, your friend with peas stuck up their nose, famous vegan celebrities you crush on, grocery shopping, etc. I'm trying to get my new website together in time! If you're in Portland, check out the VeganMoFo Workshop at the Bye & Bye on Thursday, October 1st.

Look, it's practically a MoFo post!

Recent trip to Fubonn

Who wants to make salad rolls? I do!

Super Quick Product Review: Rice Dream Supreme

Hey, Vanilla.

Hey, Hazelnut.

Hey, Fudge.

Sup?

Just for the fun of it, I wanted to give some love to this Rice Dream Supreme Vanilla Hazelnut Fudge bar I nearly swooned over last weekend.

It was really good! It's coated in dark chocolate, the ice cream is comfortably vanilla with a tint of my favorite nut and is remarkably creamy for a rice based ice cream.

Yeah, yeah, I know this is mostly the girl who tried mint chocolate Rice Dream seven years ago and quickly abandoned that icy pint, talking, and nondairy desserts have consistently improved and impressed over the years. I have friends that seem to swear by Good Karma's Carrot Cake. I thought it was alright, sorry!

The best part of the satisfying bar, though?

It was fifty freaking cents from the Hollywood Grocery Outlet.

It was the highlight of that quirky grocery outing.

Coming Soon:

Another new vegan cart in Portland: Ruby Dragon PDX at the North Mississippi Marketplace

Portland's VegFest

The Exquisite Vegan Dinner at Belly Timber

Vegan Eats in Spokane, WA

...and my site is moving!

Weekend Seitan & Belmont Street Fair

Organic IPA

Remember how I despise hot weather? Oh, you don't? What are you doing? It's the theme of my site come May. Welcome aboard! When my birthday passed in early September, I thought we could put the hot hot behind us, but it returned last weekend. September is actually flying by for me, but I'm still talking about it like it's been weeks and weeks already. Anyway, the point here is that I started out the hot weekend on a hot Friday meeting some vegan pals for happy hour at Hopworks Urban Brewery for an organic IPA. It's an eco-brewpub with all organic brews located on SE Powell, a quick bike ride from my dwelling.

I was having an uber social evening and met up with PPK pals at the Bye & Bye for dinner, but my first round of vegan friends for the night sampled the tofu ricotta'd vegan pizzas Hopworks offers and the feedback seemed to be fairly positive:

I liked the looks of the crust.

Keeping with the PPK-ness, here's another dish from Isa's in-progress 'Healthy' Cookbook -

Braised Seitan and Cabbage (simmered seitan from Veganomicon)

More seitan, more Isa -

Tempeh Scramble from Vegan Brunch,

with more seitan and more veggies I want to name at the moment.

Returning to the heat portion of the weekend, besides these dishes I hid in my cool apartment to make.

A quick venture to the SE Belmont Street Fair. It wasn't super crowded, thank goodness, but it was too warm out for my liking. I walked around, said hi to folks I knew and stopped by my favorite table - the sale at Tao of Tea.

I have a cute tea set from stopping by a few years ago at home~

Picked up a small jar of loose leaf Roasted Mate for $2, heck yeah.

Fair.

Who remembers the old Paradox sign? I do, I remember when I'd go there at least once a week when I lived in the neighborhood, my first couple years in PDX...

The vintage store next to Paradox had a sale out front (the newer one) -

cute to see at a fair table!

My favorite part besides the tea - this giant circle of grass in the middle of the street! Traffic was blocked off for a few blocks, just the way it should be for a street fair, hint hint, Hawthorne.

Oh, Portland.

Padron Peppers and Champagne Teriyaki Fried Rice

Last week, I promised my friend Lucas, the highly regarded Food Cart photographer, that I'd pick up some sacred Padron Peppers (Pimientos de Padron) for him from the downtown farmers market. He's been out of town for months, and I think wanted to return to two things: padron peppers and Whiffie's fried pies.

Wednesday came, and in my tempeh bacon flu-recovery haze, I forgot about the market's existence. I don't think I really knew what day of the week it was. I stopped at the Eastbank farmers market the next day, but to no success for his padrons. Neither Viridian Farms nor the Squash Man were there. I came home with a mini watermelon, green cabbage, garlic, orange and green bell peppers and three ears of sweet corn, but nothing more for humanity. My friend returned to town last night, and I hope he doesn't see what I made with my selfish padron peppers from last week's market earlier this week!

Champagne Teriyaki Fried Rice

with Bok Choy, Padron Peppers, Green Beans and Fried Tofu.

Champagne Teriyaki sauce:

Measurements are for 2 servings of fried rice.

1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari

1/4 cup champagne or white wine

1/4 cup mirin

2 teaspoons dark agave nectar

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 clove grated garlic

dash of crushed red pepper

Combine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

Simmer on low heat, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

If you're looking to use this as a stir fry sauce or marinade,

I'd recommend doubling it.

Fried rice is one of easiest dishes in the world,

all it takes is a little sesame oil on hand,

and uh, leftover rice. I sauteed my veggies in a tiny

bit of black sesame oil for a few minutes,

added the fried tofu

(both the oil and fried tofu were from a recent trip to Fubonn),

another clove of grated garlic, stirred a couple times,

added the cold rice, another teeny weeny splash of sesame oil,

the teriyaki sauce, a dash of white pepper,

another few stirs to heat it through,

and there ya go.

As usual, if I'd had basil, it would have been in there,

but I was good to go!

And break out the chopsticks.

Also with the padrons:

Vegan Brunch style Tofu Scramble

with Padron Peppers, Lobster Mushrooms and Cherry Tomatoes

How long had it been since I made 'fu scramble? Eight years? Three months? I just don't know, but it was superb.

For both dishes, I had cut the very tops off the padron peppers, and sauteed them in a bit of oil. See you peppers next year! Or on Saturday when I hit the market for my sad, pepperless friend.

PDX: Upcoming Wonderful Things!

Of course I'm going to this:

September 19, 2009

October 3rd, 2009 = Fakin' Fest! A potluck style celebration of vegan bacon and bacon flavored delights! Awards for Favorite Dish, Most Creative Fakin' Dish, and best Pop Culture Pig costume! There's talk of a tempeh bacon speed eating contest!

Donations will go to Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, which I visited last year.

Maeve and I decided to put this together on a whim after hearing about Baconfest, ewww - Come join the vegan fun! Tempeh Bacon! Coconut Bacon! Seitan! Tofu! Eggplant!!!

The somewhat official site is here: Fakin' Fest 2009

The Facebook Event is here.

Tempeh Bacon is the best, Am I Right?

October 16, 2009 = The Next Apron Activist Dinner, hosted by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I've dined and volunteered at these in past, and they're always fantabulous. And for a cause! This time, it's for Monkeys.

Check out the menu and more information about the Chimp Sanctuary Northwest Dinner here.

The delicious tempeh dinner from a past benefit

Hello! - look at how much fun Katie Jayne & I had!

I'm sure something SUPER FUN was coming out of our mouths at this moment, or some extreme praise about the dinner...

Speaking of fancy dinners, later this month, I'll also be going to an exclusively vegan, multi-course, family style dinner at the newly vegan-friendly, esteemed Belly Timber in SE Portland. I'll report back, for sure! My first meal there was lovely.

Red Cabbage Gazpacho from Belly Timber

Green Wok: Dinner at Portland's newest Vegetarian Restaurant

Well, what do we have here? Another vegetarian restaurant in Portland, OR? Must be a Friday.

Greek Wok opened late Summer 2009 in SW Portland, I'm not talking Tigard or Beaverton, but I am talking SW Capitol Highway.

To those of us who don't drive and rarely go further than SE 82nd (if I do, it's by plane!), that is practically Beaverton.

No offense to the city of Beaverton, I just don't know my way around!

In fact, I accidentally gave my friend Maeve poor directions via Trimet, and she ended up at the Beaverton Transit Center. Sorry, again Maeve! I did bring her take out, at least.

Now that I've dined here, I can officially say I'm jealous this restaurant is not 'closer in', but I'm stoked for those around it! Spread the love. Spread the soy.

It was a Friday night when I stopped by, the start of my 27th birthday weekend. I hopped on the semi-frequent #44 bus after work, and with my eyes peeled during the ride for the cross street, was there within 25 minutes from downtown - and it was worth it.

I had a lovely family style dining experience with a group of super vegan friends including Janessa of Epicurious Vegan, Chelsea of Flavor Vegan, The Spicy Vegan and more, and we later sang our little hearts out at a Once More, With Feeling watching.

Sure, you may be thinking, isn't this place similar to Vegetarian House? Well, the internet tells me it was opened by a former chef's son, or something. Whatever the case is, like I'm going to complain about vegan Chinese food potential.

I'm just asking - can we swap this place with the House downtown?

The food at Green Wok is fresher and overall, less greasy - this was even noticeable in the fried wontons and battered gluten dishes. Nothing to jump for joy about, but noticeable.

This is the closest I've seen Portland's vegan Chinese come to Seattle's vegan Chinese, which slowly follows my love for Grasshopper in Boston and NYC's Vegetarian Dim Sum House and Buddha Bodai. I'm glad I got to try many things, because some were hit or miss.

But you're not here for my weekend recap, you're here for the food porn:

Pan fried Wontons

Moo Shu Vegetables -

This was Chelsea's pick. I really dug the filling once I added some hot chili.

General Tso's Veggie Chicken -

tasty, but personally I don't think it's worth the price tag here - but for sure, it's tasty!

Kung Pao Tofu - I was really excited about this - tofu, peanuts, heat!

It didn't have the medium heat we specified - and one friend called it one of the "worst tofu dishes" she's had in her life, but I didn't mind it, and I think with those things called vegetables and added heat, I would have quite liked it. I liked how mellow it was - but it has more potential.

Orange Veggie Chicken

I know my problem with veggie chicken is usually the price tag, I admit it. This was again, a great bite of sweet, saucy fake chicken, but I wasn't into the orange taste - but it seemed to be a table favorite.

Now, hopefully someone will jump in here - I think this was the crispy bean curd pockets, which were compared to crispy "duck" - and it was my favorite of the night.

This plus a side of broccoli would have rocked my world.

We also had pork fried rice - better than the House, once again, and probably more I'm forgetting.

Greek Wok has a real, local Chinese restaurant - make that, local vegetarian Chinese restaurant charm. I'll roll my eyes about having go take the bus or carpool there, but I want to return.

They also have a weekday lunch special and hey, hey, hey - are using twitter to update what's on it.

Hazelnut, meet Eggplant.

Baked Hazelnut Breaded Eggplant.

It only looks like a Boca Cutlet.

The other night I gave myself the classic challenge - make dinner using what you actually have at home. There were ideas that came to mind quickly: a stir fry with rice, sauteing vegetables over pasta and even making pizza dough, but I wanted to side step a bed of grains.

The arrangement:

I turned to the local eggplant*, and introduced it do the last of some homemade breadcrumbs in my freezer and a container of ground hazelnuts from too long ago. After the small talk was out of the way, dinner came together quickly.

The eggplant was sliced (skipped salting, don't tell my Italian great Aunt Helen), dipped in flour, a cornstarch + water slurry, and then both sides were pressed into a mixture of the breadcrumbs, ground hazelnuts, sea salt, black pepper, oregano and a bit of crushed red pepper.

I baked the slices on parchment paper at 375, 20 minutes one side, then 15 after flipping. I topped them with some tofu ricotta with added white miso, and a dollop of roasted garlic and almond pesto.

On the side is chopped fresh sweet green bell pepper tossed with balsamic vinegar and homemade shiitake marinara sauce.

Dinner #2 featured the eggplant slices just as vegan-traditional. Baked once again for 15-20 minutes in the oven at 400F, flipping once, topped with marinara, tofu ricotta and nutritional yeast, and baked an additional 5 minutes.

I served this with a side of steamed collards with sea salt.

*True Story: My younger sister Jenny was 'friends' with an eggplant from our garden when we were little. There's a picture of them dressed up in matching costumes, I swear. Or just really want to believe it. She was 6 or 7 or 12 or so at the time.

It's name was..."friend". I tell this story sweetly, but really, it was a scary time and eggplant was eaten.