NOLA Veggie Fest, Day Two

In case you missed my last couple of posts, I should begin this one by telling y'all that I spent the past weekend at NOLA Veggie Fest in New Orleans. I did two cooking demos and signed lots of books during the two-day festival. And I also had loads of fun! Here are my pics from Sunday (day two).

I intended to wake up extra early, go running, and then grab brunch at Surrey's Cafe & Juice Bar (tofu migas! vegan pain perdu!). But we stayed out too late on Frenchmen Street the night before. So Paul and I slept in and took advantage of the free hotel breakfast once again. But this time, I got creative.

I had some nutritional yeast in the hotel room leftover from Saturday's cooking demo. I took the free oats from the hotel breakfast, added some walnuts, green onions, and salsa from the breakfast bar, and then stirred in the nutritional yeast back in the hotel room. Best hotel breakfast ever! I will forever travel with nooch for this reason.

I was supposed to do my cooking demo for BBQ Tempeh & Carrot Sliders with Creamy Poppyseed Coleslaw (from Cookin' Crunk) at 2 p.m. on Sunday. But there was scheduling error, and Chef AJ and I were double-booked for the same time. We thought the times were worked out, but as we were parking the car at noon (the time the festival opened on Sunday), I got a call from the Veggie Fest organizers asking if I could go on right away. Eeeek!

I'm flexible, so we rushed inside and Paul and I set up the demo area in a flash. Within 15 minutes of our arrival, I was cooking up some tempeh for the small audience (the crowd was slim since the festival had just opened the doors). We forgot to take any pictures!

That was a little stressful, but once it was over, I had the whole day to sign books and eat free samples again! On Sunday, the Field Roast and Viana plant meat station next to us had added a whole line of Viana sandwich spreads, which I snacked on ALL DAY LONG! The onion butter was the best! I can't wait to order a few of these from Vegan Essentials.

Here's a shot of some of the booths in the front of the Healing Center, where our table was. I love all the prayer flags!

There were chickens too! Kasla's Ark Bird Rescue brought along three of their rescued chickens, and they were dressed in tiny diapers!

There was a juice bar!

I ordered a Carrot-Apple-Pear-Ginger Juice for a post-cooking demo pick-me-up.

Around 2 p.m., my tummy was growling. So I sent Paul to the fest's back lot to fetch me a massive slice of vegan pie! The folks at Mardi Gras Zone were making vegan pizzas all day and biking them over to the fest. Mine had zucchini and olives! So good! I like my vegan cheese pizza with lots and lots of Daiya, and this did not disappoint. In fact, this may have been the best pizza I've ever had.

Well, that's it for the pictures. It's all pretty anti-climatic from here. We left the festival at 6 p.m. and headed out of town for the 6-hour road trip home to Memphis. Dinner was a Black Bean Cantina Bowl (hold the cilantro dressing) with chips and guac from Taco Bell in Jackson, Mississippi.