Vida Vegan Con: Day Two

The conference didn't officially begin until 6 p.m. on Friday, so we had all day to explore the nooch-covered streets of Portland. Can you guess where that day began? Voodoo Donuts, of course!

I knew Voodoo was a magical place since they sell vegan yeasted donuts, but I was completely convinced the shop was run by unicorns when I saw the GLITTER BRICK! God, I wish I could coat my whole house in glitter.

 

Voodoo carries non-vegan donuts too, so you have to make sure to order from this shelf:

 

I ordered the Oreo Donut, the first yeasted donut I've had in years! My life was complete after the first bite. Seriously, I could have died with this donut in my mouth, and that would have been just fine:

 

I also grabbed a Chick-O-Stick Cake Donut because, um duh, it's a freakin' Chick-O-Stick Donut! I ate both of these for breakfast:

 

Paul wasn't full after his donut, and he had a craving for Thai food, so he suggested hitting up the row of food carts near our hotel. Now mind you, I had just eaten two massive donuts. But I wasn't about to turn down lunch. When you're in Portland, it's okay to eat breakfast and lunch in the same hour. The legendary Homegrown Smoker, a vegan BBQ cart, was in the row of carts, and you know this Memphis girl was in (rescued-and-living-at-a-sanctuary) hog heaven!

With one glance at the menu, there was no question about what I would order: the Macnocheeto, a flour tortilla wrap stuffed with vegan mac & cheese, BBQ soy curls, baked beans, peppers, and BBQ sauce. Holy yum!!

As conference attendees, we got a 15% discount at vegan tattoo shop, Skeleton Key. I'd been dreaming about my next tattoo for ages, and that sounded like the perfect Portland souvenir. After lunch, we met Maki at Skeleton Key, and he got straight to work on my new ink:

Check it out! It's the "animal liberation/human liberation" symbol. I was already pretty badass, but now I'm, like, super way badass!

 

We had some time to kill before registration, so we hit up the Vegan Mini-Mall, home to Food Fight Grocery, Herbivore Clothing Company, Sweetpea Bakery, and Scapegoat Tattoo. All vegan, all the time. I bought a shirt and hoodie at Herbivore and some hard-to-find vegan treats at Food Fight! 

At 6 p.m., there was a Vida Vegan Con welcome reception in the hotel ballroom. Sweetpea Bakery provided these yummy cupcakes. I had the Lemon Chiffon ones:

 

We also sampled a selection of the all-new Heidi Ho Organics Vegan Cheese! It's a Portland-based company that makes hazelnut cheeses in Chipotle Cheddar, Smoked Gouda, and Monterey Jack. It's not available anywhere outside of Portland yet, but I hope they'll eventually be able to ship around the country. So delicious!

 

After the reception, some of the posse headed to Tube, a cool vegan-friendly dive bar in a tube-shaped building. Erin from Vegan Homemade and I enjoyed $2 Hamm's (like a PBR, but tastier) and Jen from That Pain in the Ass Vegan sipped on a club soda with lime:

 

I was still pretty full from all the donuts, BBQ, and cupcakes, so I ordered a tiny snack — the Vegan Ham and Cheese Muffin:

After Tube, we headed to Suki's where the party-animal Vida Vegan Con bloggers were doing some late-night karaoke. Even the event organizers — Jess, Janessa, and Michele — were there! My boyfriend Paul sang some old Verve Pipe from the 90s. He ALWAYS sings that song, "Freshman," every time he karaokes:

 

Dawn from Vegan Moxie and Brit on Twit sang a duet, but I can't remember what they sang!!

 

Amber's (of Almost Vegan) man Matt did a hilarious rendition of Billy Idol's "Flesh for Fantasy" complete with crazy dance moves!

 

And Erin of Vegan Homemade rounded out the night her signature song, "Toxic" by Britney Spears:

Well, that's it for Day Two! Check back tomorrow for pictures from the first official day of the conference.

And in the meantime, check out the latest issue of VegNews Magazine. I was asked to create a recipe using pumpkin for the blogger recipe challenge, so I came up with Pumpkin Cheddar Biscuits. The recipe and pictures are in the issue!