jojo visits!

Ok, ok, I promised cute animals, so I'll start with the post that will give you all the cute critters you can handle! Back in May, Daiku and I were so happy to have a visit from Jojo. She and I met when we visited Brighton back in November, a meet-up I wrote about here. When Jojo decided to come visit New York, I decided to try and lure her up to Syracuse with milkshakes. It worked!



The first night, I decided to go for a home-cooked comfort meal of mac&cheese with cut-up hot dogs. (New Farm mac&cheese recipe). As you can see, we tried to "health up" the meal with some peas and tomatoes.



Of course, no trip to Syracuse is complete without a visit (or 2) to Strong Hearts Cafe. Above, you have Jojo's chocolate/mint cupcake- how gorgeous is that?



Milkshakes, of course.



A favorite of both of us, the Egg Trick Muffin. This little sandwich is so savory and satisfying- a nutritional yeasty tofu egg, melted Teese mozarella, and sausage, all on a toasted english muffin. Yum.



One of my new favorites from the Strong Hearts menu- on the outside it looks like a huge but innocent stack of french toast.



Only to reveal peanut butter, jelly, and bananas hidden on the inside! So good, and enough for 2 people, seriously.

We took a road trip to Farm Sanctuary. We saw lots of cute animals there! But wait, just a little more food first, ok?



We went to ABC Cafe in Ithaca, where Jojo and Daiku ordered veggie burgers, above.



I went for the tempeh arizona sandwich, grilled marinated tempeh topped with heaps of avocado and a fabulous lemon-tahini sauce.



Somehow, we managed to save room for dessert! Above, you have Jojo's brownie, full of yummy walnuts. It was dense and fudgey, and she prefers a more cake-like brownie... which means yours truly scored a bunch of leftovers! ;-)



Daiku and I shared this gigantic slice of carrot cake. It was so moist and full of carrots and raisins, and the frosting was a pleasant surprise- coconutty and sticky and mmmmm.

All in all, Jojo and I got to enjoy several days of vegan heaven- and Daiku and I miss her! Ok, if you've read this far, you deserve some animal photos as a reward! Here are some of the residents of Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen. Enjoy!

july happenings!

Watch this blog for a glorious July! I will celebrate summer with tons of new posts with cookbook and product reviews, great summer recipes, travel updates, meet-ups with awesome vegans, and drawings and giveaways galore! tell everyone you know- Where's the Revolution will be the July IT blog. =)

Oh, and there will be farm animals. Definitely lots of farm animals.

belfast!

Oh hi! Where was I...? Oh yes, well, before my computer crashed (major boo...) I had almost caught this blog up to all my travels from back in the Fall and Winter. Last I left you, I was finishing up my trip to Copenhagen. As I was flying to from there, my friend Meghan was flying from Washington DC. We met up in London to fly together to Belfast the next day.



Can you tell we were a little exhausted by the time we were getting in? But Northern Ireland immediately welcomed us- even though we were there practically in winter, look at this green greeting we got as our plane was landing!



greeeeeeen!



Once again, our stay was made possible because of the generosity of a fellow PPK-er, Loretta, a.k.a. fezza. She and her partner graciously welcomed us into their home, where we got to have a great time with them, play their wonderful cat and puppy, and eat lots of wonderful vegan food!



Here's Angus the awesome.



And Poppy the pup! They were beyond adorable.



Fezza took us around and we got to see some of Northern Ireland's greatest sites, such as the Giants Causeway, above. This place was amazing.



We got to tour the city of Belfast and see the reminders of the not-too-distant troubles that went on there. Here is something I've always wanted to see in person, the mural in tribute to Bobby Sands.



We got to go to the famous Crown Bar, the most beautiful bar I've seen.



There, I got to try my first hot toddy- and fall in love with Irish whiskey! Mmmmm. Perfect on a cold winter night.



There aren't that many vegan or even vegetarian restaurants in Ireland, and this underscores the awesomeness of staying with vegans. Local delicious food! Above, you see Meghan and me snacking on delicious home-made sandwiches on our flight back home. (Ha ha, other EasyJet passengers!)



Here's a delicious curry that Fezza's partner made for dinner. It was so delicious and warming on a wintry night. (I apologize for the blurry photo- I was in too much of a hurry to start eating!)



Perhaps my favorite Belfast meal: This Ulster Fry-up, the breakfast of champions, vegan style! Here you see beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage and bacon, and best of all some grilled potato bread. Mmmmmm! This was my first "proper" British breakfast and it was so lovely.



Lastly, Belfast was an awesome city for shopping. It is where I scored the cat dress, above. Festooned with funny kitties, it is my favorite item of clothing now!



Meghan and I want to thank Fezza for her incredible hospitality, friendship and most of all, all the delicious vegan candies and biscuits that she fed us! Thank you also for letting us play with your adorable pets. 6 months later, I really miss Belfast, and hope I have a chance to go back one day.

For more Belfast photos, including more mural images, click here
.

apologies and short delay!

hi everyone! just a quick note to let you all know that my computer crashed late last week and most of my hard drive has been wiped out. while I work on installing a new hard drive and seeing what, if anything, I can recover from the old one, I'll have to delay blogging. I know that I still owe you all posts about Belfast, England, and the give-away! Those, and more will be coming up as soon as I can manage. In the meantime, please send positive computer vibes my way- I need them!

Thanks!

copenhagen and malmö!

After Berlin, Ditte and I flew to her hometown of Copenhagen. I was so excited to see Denmark for the first time. Unfortunately, I came down with a wicked cold at the end of our stay in Berlin and by the time we got to Copenhagen, I could barely breathe. A lot of our site-seeing had to be cancelled and instead Ditte and her lovely partner had to take care of a sick Bazu passed out on her couch! So a lot of this post is going to be about lovely vegan homecooking. And you know what? When you're traveling through Scandinavia in the dead of winter, a little warm food at home can be the most healing and wonderful thing ever!

European vegans are spoiled for choice when it comes to various sandwich spreads! Above you see some slices of hearty brown bread with, clockwise from bottom, Tartex "liverwurst", Streich, vegan cream cheese, and a roasted red pepper spread.

Lovely winter breakfast: a big bowl of berry oatmeal. That is the pinkest oatmeal I've ever had!

Homemade soup with deep-fried tofu.

All this wonderful nourishment (and a lot of sleep!) helped me be able to get out of the house by my third day. And oh my goodness- if there is one thing worth leaving the house for, it's freshly baked vegan chocolate croissants, am I right? These were heavenly. I'm ashamed of how many I ate in my few days in Copenhagen...

We went to Ditte's friend Asla's house, and boy was I in luck, because Asla had just made a fresh batch of a classic Danish dish, pictured above. This was warm øllebrød (beer bread) bread pudding, a holiday dish that is indescribable. It's a dark rye bread pudding made with a special kind of beer:

This Christmas brew is sweet and very very low in alcohol. It makes for an amazing bread pudding- a deep and complex flavor, accentuated with a bit of sugar on top. I crave this all the time now, but where to find Danish Christmas beer???

Part of Ditte's job is running a soup kitchen of sort. She cooks a big vegan feast, and people can come and eat whatever they want and donate whatever they can. I was so happy to be able to help her out, it was fun working together, and I got invaluable experience in cooking large batches of food in a commercial kitchen.

We made a wintry roasted veggie salad.

Ditte cooked several big loaves of bread.

And we made a big sweet potato soup, and some rice to go on the side. It was so cool to make the food, and then sit down with everyone and eat the yummy results!

By the end of the week, I was feeling all better, so we were able to arrange a meet-up in Malmö, a southern Swedish city that is a short train ride from Copenhagen. I was really happy to get a chance to go back to Sweden (after my trip to Stockholm to visit my uncle the previous month), but extra excited because of who we were meeting up with...

Vegbitch!! That's right, everyone's favorite Swedish vegan, Emmie, and her wonderful partner Alex showed us around Malmö. In the above photo, from left to right, you see Alex, Emmie, Ditte, and me.

The first thing we did was check out Astrid & aporna, a huge health food store with a most intriguing selection of goods. Above, you see vegan lobster. !!!! Realistic, eh?

Ah, the wiley and elusive vegan ham tube. Have you ever seen so many?

I remembered loving these Tofuline ice cream bars, but had never tried this flavor before: pear! It was good, even on a freezing day.

For fun, we then visited a store selling American things, like the cans of pumpkin, above. It gave me a tiny bit of homesickness, seeing "normal" American grocery items in an exotic context.

We checked out a Polish supermarket, where we found soy chicken cutlets, above. (How weird for an American and a Dane to go to Sweden to meet up with a Swede and a Briton, only to go to a Polish market to buy vegan goods... ah, globalization...)

For lunch, we went to Vegegården, a mostly vegan (some vegetarian items) restaurant that had an all-you-can-eat buffet. We were spoiled for choice!

Here's a rather cloudy shot of my (first) plate. There were lots of fresh fruits and veggies, rice and noodles of all kinds, mock meats of all kinds, and dessert.

After lunch and some more walking around, we sat down at an Espresso House, which is a chain of coffee shops. After double-checking that their mocha mix was vegan, we ordered these soy mocha lattes- they hit the spot!

Did I mention that this was the first time I saw snow while staying in Europe? Pretty good for a displaced Syracusean! I want to thank Ditte for showing me such great hospitality and caring for me when I was sick. I want to thank Emmie and Alex for meeting up with us and showing us around for a day of fun and conversation (and good food!). I think staying with local vegans and forming friendships is such a privilege, and pretty much the best part of traveling. I was glad to be feeling better, because soon it was time to leave Copenhagen to go back to London and on to Belfast from there...

To see all my Copenhagen and Malmö photos, click here.

Bryant Terry: Vegan Soul Kitchen

Last year, I attended a "Food and Justice" symposium at Syracuse University. There, I got to hear scholars, writers, food activists, and people from all kinds of backgrounds discuss the intersections of food and justice. There was so much to think about- the availability of fresh produce. Fair prices for small farmers. The cost of organic foods. The best way to get food into the hands of those who need it. Preserving heirloom seeds and varieties. Food education. Nutrition. Politics. In short, it was a bit overwhelming!

Bryant Terry is a chef and activist who is deeply involved in all these same issues. As he says in his book, the best way to engage with people on some of the deepest ethical and philosophical issues is through grub. Good, delicious, simple GRUB. The way to our hearts and minds is through our stomachs after all! I think most of us who blog understand this on a deep level- every time we talk about a delicious organic strawberry or some local asparagus or a vegan dessert, we are appealing to the appetite, but also appealing to a shared sense that there is a better way to eat.

I received a review copy of Terry's second book, Vegan Soul Kitchen, which gives us plenty of ways to eat better- better for our bodies, for the animals, for the earth, and for the producers of sustainable food. In this book, he gives traditional African-American and soul food recipes that are not only vegan, but also based on a whole foods philosophy. You won't find processed or packaged foods here, but you will find plenty of deliciousness.

Case in point, his recipe for Roasted Plantains with Roasted Garlic Lime Dipping Sauce. While this dish is meant as an appetizer, it fed the two of us (along with some tofu and couscous) as dinner tonight. The plantains came out crispy and savory, while the dipping sauce was brimming with fresh and tart flavors, a perfect counterpart. I can't wait to cook more with this book, especially as summer's abundant local produce comes in. Bryant Terry is a man after my own heart- there is a whole section of the book dedicated to watermelon! Get this book if you want to give fresh, local, and seasonal food a twist- who knows, you might change a few hearts and minds along the way.

berlin!

Ok, this post is gigantic. What can I say. Berlin is my favorite city in the world, and it's a vegan/green living mecca. In exchange for posting tons of photos, I will not use any words. If you want specific information about anything or any place you see, feel free to ask me. For comprehensive vegan Berlin information, look at this post on the PPK, where Sarahbean and Mihl posted hugely valuable information. Their lists were basically our guides! And, I got to meet so many awesome vegans and bloggers on this trip, including Mihl and Ditte. This was an amazing trip. Berlin, ich liebe dich!

latté made with soy milk



munching on a hawaii burger at yo-yo



jojo enjoys one of our many many cupcakes from Cupcake (yes, jojo from Brighton)



yes, vegetarian doner!



vegan gummi bears- seriously addictive



yet another Soyamilchkaffee



lemon cupcake!



apple tart with vegan whipped cream



vegan brunch. plate 1 of many...



our group came from 5 different cities and most of us crashed together- so fun!



yay photobooths!



Mihl & bazu, about to enjoy some fine German beer



Sudanese vegan food.



you heard me right.



another vegan restaurant, co-owned by an Iranian-German lady. um. vegan Iranian German food.



you heard me right.



^ this is where you find it. It's in the Kreuzberg neighborhood.



Berlin has many, many healthfood stores, including an all-vegan supermarket! Above you see that Germans have a huge selection of veggie spreads and pates to choose from



soup,



and hot dog at Hot Dog Soup. That's what they serve!



Lots of different hot dogs, including hawaii dog, above.



the last 3 remaining Berlin revelers, right before leaving our hostel room...

This post didn't even scratch the surface! The one thing everyone can agree that Berlin is is OVERWHELMING. you can see the rest of my photos from this trip here.