Some old pics, scary charcoal crackers, dining guide

Well, it occurred to me that I've got loads of info on veg dining in New England that I keep locked up in my little brain. So, I started a Veg Dining NE list on the left side of my blog and will work on updating it to include all the places I've tried. That also gives me some incentive to visit restaurants that I've always wanted to, but not made the time for. The info about each place actually exists on a secondary blog I created, so it is totally searchable if you click a link and head over to the other blog which is http://vegchic2.blogspot.com Searching will be really useful if you are looking for a particular state or town.

The second blog gives me the capability to have static links to stuff without cluttering up regular posts here. Onto some food...

Awhile back, a friend and I headed up to Acadia. Our dinner on the way was Lolo's Picnic Sandwiches. Never fear, I hear the cookbook will be available soon.

This sandwich is awesome and travels well.


When I went strawberry picking, months ago...I made Lolo's Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake.


Lastly, I wanted to share a weird product I saw at the market yesterday. Charcoal crackers...

These aren't vegan as they contain milk and whey powder. The ingredients also list charcoal powder. Ummm...why? Has anyone heard of this product before? I can't say charcoal crackers sound appetizing. Though, they might be good for you if you have been poisoned. I've heard they use activated charcoal in emergency rooms. Well, actually I don't know if the charcoal in the crackers is activated.

Testers, holidays, and stuff

The crisp fall weather is starting to settle in. I'm beginning to think about apple picking and what kind of pumpkin to carve. Time really does fly by.

Speaking of that, sometimes I can be a terrible blogger...letting a month pass by before posting. Fortunately while lurking around reading everyone else's blogs, I eventually get motivated. Sometimes I wonder about bloggers that show up and then disappear forever. Even though most of us don't get to meet in person, we know each other on some level. Has any one ever emailed one of the bloggers that fell off the map just to see how they are doing?

The sourdough starter I got from a friend is gradually taking over the country. It has now been shipped to NY, NH, WA, and CA. Soon I will be mailing some to OH and VA. It is pretty neat to see how it is passed around and kind of amazing to imagine how many generations kept it going after making it through the Oregon Trail.

On to food stuffs...

The supermarket had the mondo green peppers. Of course, I didn't buy them as green peppers fall into the category of "Foods Jody Despises."


The family got together for Rosh Hashanah dinner last week. My dad's girlfriend is always very aware and cooks special dishes for me. She made some squash soup and almond rice. She was also sure to pickup hummus, tabbouli, babaganoush, and my favorite pita bread. Between all that and the side dishes, I had a full belly.

My aunt also cooked up some wonderful vegan desserts using margarine and egg replacer. She made a lemon apricot cake and also some molasses clove cookies.



I'd tested a batch of Mocha Snickerdoodles to bring, but didn't make more after my aunt mentioned veganizing her recipes for me. These cookies were adapted from Celine's recipe for Chai Snickerdoodles on her blog Have Cake Will Travel.


This weekend my aunt and I went for a hike at one of my favorite parks. The weather was beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera. Here's a quick shot from my phone.


Ok some Lolo/VeganYumYum testers:

Sugar and Spice Snap Peas


Roasted Eggplant and Caramelized Onion Marinara over red quinoa


Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Bake The side salad is something that I learned about from B&B at the PPKer picnic. Raw beets, roasted corn, arrugula, with lime and cumin.


Up soon, more testers for Melody and some other random recipes I want to try.

August Wrap up...

I'll be the first to admit, I'm terrible at keeping up with blogging. I've got a whole months worth of pictures that I've failed to post. I'm also always lurking around at other blogs and need to get into the habit of commenting more.

Let's see...

A few weekends back I was in Ithaca for a wedding with a friend of mine. I was most excited about this because I'd finally get to eat at Moosewood. We met up with another pal and headed over there for dinner. Unfortunately only a handful of dishes are vegan. I had the African Stew with grilled tofu.

Here's a shot from the outside of Moosewood


The stew...


The wedding was at the interfaith church on Ithaca college's campus. The church is pretty neat and located on a little man made pond.



Ithaca iteself, was very veg friendly and kind of crunchy. It reminded me a little bit of Burlington, VT. The co-op there was great and I dragged my friends around there looking at everything for at least an hour. We tried cactus jerky...not a fan.

I saw this newspaper box when we were out and walking around. Isn't it cute?


The folks at the wedding we attended, decided to have cupcakes instead of wedding cake. They asked us to bring vegan cupcakes. I cooked up chocolate mint, chocolate almond, agave, and peanut butter cupcakes and brought them along. When we got to Ithaca, we ganached and sprinkled them.

The chocolate mint/almond ones...


Agave and PB


On the way back from Ithaca we stopped in to meet Bazu and Daiku. Bazu cooked up some wonderful lunch and snacks for us and we had lots of fun hanging out with them. Check out the post on Where the Revolution?, to see what Bazu cooked. ---Thanks guys!

What else? Well, I am always cooking with the sourdough. It needs to be fed once a week. Usually I just make some variation of pancakes because it is simple.

This morning, I made plain and peach sourdough pancakes.

Cooking


Finished


Speaking of sourdough, Marti over at Tofu and Sprouts had always wanted sourdough starter. I offered to try sending her some. I mixed in extra flour and dried it out a bit. Then dropped it in the mail to go cross country. Neither us were sure how it would go, but it worked out wonderfully. Check out Marti's post on her first sourdough recipe.

One more sourdough photo. I made this wonderful recipe I found online as got two perfect loaves of bread.





Ok, I've got a few Lolo Cookbook tester recipes to post later in the week and I've also started testing for Melody over at Melomeals.

I'll checking out everyone's blogs this week.