Recent Great Stuff.

Time to be straight forward. Here's some stuff, that happened recently, that I deem great:

Tomato Season. I ate a tricolor pint of cherry and grape tomatoes for lunch the other day.

The Wednesday downtown farmers market. Mere block from my office.

Hands down, my favorite farmar.

Crazy-gluing that hand down - the Cafe Velo cart.

It's a smaller set up (this one is a bike! Oh, Portland) than the Saturday markets', with 400 fewer people on line with cute crying babies in front of you. Individually dripped cups of Stumptown, you choose the roast! I went with an Indonesian roast this past week.

Soymilk on the counter!!!!

Holding on the farmers market theme for one more addition: Pimientos de Padron. I can't let these go this summer. These were sauteed classicly with olive oil, coarse sea salt and crushed red pepper.

I brought the above peppers to the Try Vegan Week Potluck & Trivia night, along with these cookies from the upcoming Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Citrus Glitters

Heading back to test kitchen land, I've started testing for Isa's upcoming 'healthy' book. I am so freaking busy lately, but if I'm making a point to cook at home, odds are it will be her recipes. It's just how life is.

Summer Lovin' Curried Corn Chowder

Moving on from corn, to corn - the down home, smoked corn on the cob from Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ. If you've read my Stumptown Vegans review, you know I'm quite fond of them. They've recently labeled quite a few main items gluten free, and I swear, their home cooking style food is better every single time I go.

From corn to......pizza! Because sometimes Hot Lips puts corn on their pizza..... At this week's Yelp Portland Ballroom Bash. Here's Maeve with the vegan foccacia pie Don personally delivered to the table of awesome Yelpy vegans.

The Yelp Elite Hour & Ballroom Bash was super fun! I'm not a huge Hot Lips fan, and I despise their cilantro pesto, but how cool! I was able to get a tomato base slice a bit earlier, fortunately for my tastebuds and sanity, had I been induling in more of the complimentary beverages.

Oh hey, walking across the Morrison Bridge safely for once, thanks to construction, is pretty great. And random.

And really, really great - a veganized Vermecilli Bowl from Huong's Vietnamese cart downtown. He has other vegetarian options that are alright, but I've been wanting to request a vegan version of the pork or chicken bowl for too long! So, I finally did. He even volunteered a summer roll for the eggroll before I could even think to ask. I'm on a rice noodle kick.

It was tasty, and HUGE! And $6! It had fried tofu strips and this strange white gluten, which was good stuff.

All in all, Really Great Stuff.

U Can't Touch This Vegan Prom!

Okay, maybe not all these girls circa 1993 are vegan, but the style is there!

Isn't being Vegan the Best?

Isn't being Vegan in Portland the BEST EVER?!?

I'm entirely serious today.

The second annual Vegan Prom at Report Lounge was spectacular, minus an awful fur incident. Just gross. I'm sorry that some folks left, and devastated that a fur coat showed up, and that it may have been intentional.

That's all I'm comfortable saying here.

Moving on, check out some pics below! 90s dance off! 90s hits! 90s themed cocktails! Dress up!

Tasty vegan snacks! Hell yeah, hummus is party food! In Living Color on the big screen!

A ridiculous number of prizes!

Just look at this list of donations/gift certificates:

Yarp?!, Whiffies, Sweet Masterpiece Chocolate & Coffee Bar, It's a Beautiful Pizza, Laughing Planet, Food Fight! Grocery, Herbivore Clothing, Old Wives Tale, Follow Your Heart, Sjaacks Chocolate, Sweet & Sara Marshmallows, Turtle Mountain, Black Sheep Bakery, Go Max Go Candy Bars (Portland based!) Back to Eden Baking Co. - storefront opening soon! with Chicago Soy Dairy Temptation soft serve! and Sweetpea Baking Co. for the delicious cookies!

Super thanks to our TWO vegan DJs - John Vincent and Brendan!

Yeah, vegan community!!

Thank you everyone for donating! And attending!!!!! Try Vegan Week 2009 had a fabulous turn out and Deanna and I had a blast organizing & then attending the Prom to top it all off!

The entire Try Vegan staff deserves applause!

Extra special thanks to Maeve,

for helping out so much, coming up with the theme and wearing a really sweet dress!

Dance off!

First prize went to Simon, Second to Angela, pictured below! They rule.

Dancing!

More dancing!

Dancing happening in moments...

More awesome vegans!

Maeve and Caitlin, sassy and grunge!

Our custom drinks for the evening were the non-alcoholic Carlton: a refreshing fruity lemonade, the Ninja Turtle: a vivacious non-alocholic mojito, the Vanilla Ice: vanilla stoli + orange + soda to get you on the dance floor! and the Blossom: a tropical vodka drink that put a smile on your face, just like Miyam!

There were door prizes galore, two dance off winners (first picture!) with awards for Phat Moves! and Dope Moves!, Best Dressed going to Nick as Waldo and Jack - for looking freaking tight! and our Prom King and Queen were Aaron and Michelle!

Already thinking of a theme for next year.............and making plans for Portland's first Vegan Iron Chef this winter!

Go Vegan for the Cookies!

Roasted Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

(half sprinkled with coarse sea salt)

Lots of Try Vegan Week tabling and Vegan Prom ticket selling took place over the weekend. And at every event I was at, I made sure there were free vegan baked goods.

Sharing scrumptious vegan cookies = just the type of vegan I am.

Altogether, I baked three batches of Isa's new chocolate chip cookie variations, two pans of raspberry chocolate chips blondies, oatmeal espresso butterscotch cookies, citrus coconut glitters and raspberry swirl East Coast coffeecake. Many of those are from Terry and Isa's upcoming Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Wink, wink.

I found a little bit of extra time to chop veggies for kabobs and a giant pan of lower fat new farm mac & cheeze for the opening day Vegan BBQ. The turn out was fantastic!

At the Hawthorne Street Fair

My friend Chelsea tabled all day - she's the author of Flavor Vegan and giving a talk on Vegan Baking tonight at Hungry Tiger Too at 8pm I'm planning on checking out. She knows her flours and egg replacers intimately!

I also sold tickets for vegan prom at the 12th and Hawthorne food carts late night outside of Whiffies deep fried pies (including vegan double chocolate, chocolate creme and savory tofu pot pie), and will be doing so THIS Friday night.

That's also the night of the Vegan Pub Crawl starting at Report Lounge on E Burnside and 11th (same location as prom!!) at 9pm. Maeve and I will be breaking off and heading to the carts for 11pm to sell!

Come visit, eat vegan cookies & buy your ticket - it's the following night!

Purposely underbaked by request (whoa-oh)

espresso oatmeal roasted almond chocolate chip

Oh hey, I bought more vegetables this weekend. Hollywood Farmers Market.

Nice to stop by there! Heirloom tomatoes omg omg omg omg.

One more time! Try Vegan Week is now happening! Check out the schedule here.

Yeah, the U CAN'T TOUCH THIS! Vegan Prom is this weekend!

90s style dance off. 90s music. AWESOME prizes.

vegan food. vegan DJs.

90s pop culture icon named specialty drinks (booze and no-booze)!

There's absolutely a drink called The Carlton.

come with a date, come with friends, come solo!

dress up, dress down, dress grunge, dress to dance!

Downtown Portland: I Dig Sonny Bowl - and anticipation

My latest lunch from Sonny Bowl -

$5. BBQ Soy Curls. Green Beans. Brown Rice. Sauce.

Comforty, wholesomey, lunchy. adorable.

SW 3rd and Stark.

Oh, Hey! PDX!:

• Try Vegan Week starts this weekend! I'm going to go to as many events as possible, and will definitely be at Vegan BBQ at 5pm tomorrow - Tofurkey and veggie bonanza!

• The U Can't Touch This! Vegan Prom is next Saturday night, the 22nd. I'm going nuts listening to 90s classics at work.

• Buy your tickets online or this weekend, late night, at the 12th and Hawthorne food carts - or at the Hawthorne Street Fair (old Daily Grind parking lot at 41st) or Sunday Parkways at Laurelhurst. $10 advance price! We'll have free cookies at the carts tonight! I'm going to try and make something from Isa's upcoming cookie book, of course. Stop by and say hi!

PDX: Try Vegan Week 2009 is next week!

Try Vegan Week is approaching!

Interested in Veganism?

Interested in meeting more vegans?

Interested in Vegan Ice Cream??

I'll be grilling Tofurkeys and veggies at the BBQ on the 15th, come say hi!

FYI, You can still sign up to get a mentor or to be a mentor here!

Buy your tickets from the 90s style U Can't Touch This! Vegan Prom on the 22nd here!

Vegan Food! Vegan DJs! Dance off! Fantastic prizes! more!!!

decisions.

On Wednesdays, I am faced with the "problem" of "deciding" between two farmers markets. As I've mentioned lately, I look forward to the Wednesday downtown market, quite close to my office, but there's also the year-long market outside of People's Coop that grows come springtime.

Yesterday, I had a smile on my face as I had a real reason to stop by both.  I stopped by the

 downtown market late on my lunch hour for bok choy raab, red anjour pears and braeburn apples, but I also wanted garlic, so off I went to the next market at the completion of my work day.  There was no garlic at the People's market so I picked up some organic, purple garlic and a few other items in the actual coop.  At the market itself, I picked up over a pound of local shiitake mushrooms for $5.  The mushroom farmers at this market always have, by far, the lowest price. Maiitakes next time!  I cooked some in a yellow curried vegetable, seitan and chickpea roast last night.  I'm considering what to do next with the rest for two potlucks this weekend.  OoOo.

A sampling of shiitakes

I sadly hadn't been to Sip in months, so I stopped by for a Matcha Hemp Tea Latte.  It was delightful and so pretty!  I could see this becoming a habit, but in a few weeks they'll be replacing the espresso machine with the milkshake equipment, so get one while you can!  Remind me to!

Recent home-cooking.

Quinoa, chickpeas, spinach, kalamata olives, smoky orange tempeh, garlic and a bit of nutritional yeast.

Baked Smoky Orange Tempeh

Stuff:

• Check out my first Veggie Thing contribution here, and feel free to like it if you do!
• Follow Get Sconed! on twitter.
  
• Portlanders - check out the Try Vegan PDX film benefit this Sunday night, "A Delicate Balance".
• Next post: NYC food porn insanity.  
• Isa's Vegan Brunch is out later this month! I'll be posting a round up of everything I've tested around then!  

Three Updates! One Local, One Travel & One Ridiculously Internet Based

Portland area folks with an interest in vegan gluten free baking - you're in luck!  

• My friend Chelsea of Flavor Vegan is teaching a Gluten Free Baking Class on Thursday April 16th at 7pm at the Sunnyside Church in SE.  It is being presented by Try Vegan PDX and more details are available here.  She's a passionate vegan chef and if I was in town, I'd be there!  There is certainly an art to gluten free baking and she knows her flours.  Please sign up in advance.

• I will, however, be on my vacation to Boston and New York City till the end of the month to see family and friends.  

My scheduled stops for Boston includes Grasshopper (duh), Grezzo, Bagel Rising and a bunch of places I'm forgetting.

As for NYC, I'm stopping by Babycakes, Vegetarian Dim Sum House, Stogo, Lulu's and hopefully Counter...and a million places more.  Shoot suggestions my way!

• My ridiculously internet based update is of course, twitter.  I've had a personal account since the summer and recently made a get sconed! that you can add here if you like.  It is updated with new posts, dining finds and randomness related to my vegan life in Portland.
  

And in recent dinner updates, last night I grilled homemade seitan in BBQ sauce and served it noochy roasted potatoes and sorta coconut rice.   Go grill pan!

I'm taking Thanksgiving off!

With Thanksgiving a week away, I'll openly admit that I don't have any desire to cook a vegan feast this year.  Every year I'm less enthused - I'm not into holidays as it is, I live alone, and I'm going to my dear friend Michelle's of The Spice Must Flow for a vegan Thanksgiving style potluck soon anyway. 

Blah, Blah.

And I helped teach Try Vegan PDX's Cooking Vegan for the Holidays class last weekend, which was a blast and gave me a chance to break out my obligatory Sweet Potato Pie Casserole and associated jokes for the year.  Chelsea of Flavorvegan was magnificent and I appreciate all her help in talking me through it!  

But as for me on Tday, I'm likely going to settle in with take out and my cats and not cook!  Take that, America.  

But if you're relentlessly curious to see what I have cooked in the past - check out my posts from the past two Tdays, featuring squirrel shaped biscuits, apple cranberry crumb pie, apple cider soaked tofurkey (never again) and more: 

Thanksgiving, Schmanksgiving! and Thanksgiving for 2.  

For more inspiration, check out Strawberryrock to read about Maeve's holiday ideas and Bryanna Clark Grogan's Canadian feast blogpost here.

Here are some shots by Chris (here's his flickr for more) of Try Vegan PDX from the cooking class.....Thanks for the shots!

General prep table

I'm pouring brown rice syrup for the pecan pie...  

(tip - lightly oil your measuring cups before measuring something sticky)

Pecan overload!  Group prep stations.

Chelsea's Flavorful Gluten Roast 

ToddX's Pecan Pie

originally from the Post Punk Kitchen forums

Does my handwriting irk you?

"and Jess" is cut off...

I say "Peecan" Pie.

And my friends laugh at me.  I'm from New York, sorry!

 

Again, this post is mostly relevant to those in the Portland area - there is a new sign up page for the Cooking Vegan for the Holidays Class this Sunday.  

Please register or email info@tryveganpdx.com if interested~

Secondly, the tator-tot-licious Hungry Tiger Too has unveiled a newly updated vegan menu.  Go check it out and let Stumptown Vegans know what you think!  I'll be going very soon myself.

And for everyone - Todd X's Pecan Pie is a great vegan achievement, though I hear Sweetpea's unveiled a new pecan pie that is also the shit.  I also keep hearing about their new sticky buns and have yet to investigate, huh?

This weekend I made it again in preparation for Sunday's class for some lucky hungry friends:

Vegan! Pecan! Pie! Bourbon!  

I also served some impromptu roasted potatoes.

Roasted Yukon Gold, German Butterball and Yam with sea salt, 

Spice Depot Hot & Spicy seasoning and canola oil.

Attention Portlanders!

Hey Portland area readers!  I know there's a few of you out there....  

If you're addicted to learning about the vegan culinary arts like me, or simply want some vegan holiday meal inspiration, come to the Cooking Vegan for the Holidays Cooking Class on November 16, 2008.  

It's being presented by Try Vegan PDX and is being taught by Chelsea of Flavorvegan and myself.  Oh, my.  Come watch me forget how to speak but still mash some sweet potatoes with pizazz.

What: Cooking Vegan for the Holidays, a Thanksgiving Cooking Class.

When: November 16, 2008 at 3pm.

Where: Cleveland High School at SE 28th and SE Powell.  Map.  

The Food: We'll be making Thanksgiving Gluten Roast, Sweet Potato Pie Casserole and Pecan Pie.  There will be tastings of more holiday food at the end!

Materials Fee: $10 in advance, $15 at the door.

Register and reserve a space at Try Vegan PDX or call 503-772-7983. (SITE UPDATED!)

 Sweet Potato Pie Casserole

Let me know if you have any questions!  If you guys don't fly out from around the continental United States for this I'm going to be very upset.