Vida Vegan Con, Part 1

I spent last week hanging out with some of my favorite vegan food bloggers and speaking on panels at Vida Vegan Con II in Portland. I took about 600 pictures, so I've combed through and selected my faves to share in two posts today and tomorrow. I mean, I'm sure you'd love to see every single one of my 600 photos, but .... jk! I know you don't care about all that! Here are my highlights from Thursday night and Friday.

Vida Vegan Con didn't officially start until Friday around noon, but there was an unofficial meet 'n' greet at the White Owl Social Club on Thursday afternoon. I arrived early because I was on foot and got there sooner than I'd planned. Lucky for me, they had Vegan Bloody Marys!!! Jesus, Portland is a magical place. This Bloody Mary was the best I've ever had because it was super spicy and made with beet juice!

Also arriving early were Lydia and Mauro from From A to Vegan! I'd never met them before, and they were so fun!

We chatted for a bit, and then my old pals from Vida Vegan Con I arrived — Brit of Vegans Don't Bite, Dawn of Vegan Moxie, and Katie of Vegan Noms. We spent so much time together at the 2011 conference, and this year was no different. I was so excited to see my girls again!

I spotted Jojo from Vegan In Brighton right away! How can anybody miss this adorableness?

And I was thrilled to meet Dan of The Gay Vegans (and Dan was thrilled with this Cock and Bull beer!). He was such a sweetheart. We'd been Twitter friends for some time, but now we are real life friends.

On the way to the ladies' room, I ran into Sayward of Bonzai Aphrodite and Gena of Choosing Raw.

Of course, Erika of Sews Before Bros and Amey of Vegan Eats & Treats were up for some silly fun.

After all that socializing, I'd worked up quite an appetite. And it was happy hour at the White Owl, which meant the Fried Mac & Cheese Burgers were half-off. This burger was RIDICULOUS! Mac & cheese all pattied up and deep-fried. Glorious.

I mean, look at this. Come on.

The meet 'n' greet ended at 6:30 p.m., but Dawn, Brit, Helen, and I found a few minutes for a fun photobooth shot.

The next stop was the People's Co-op, a natural grocery, where we watched The Intrepid Herivores vegan travel show pilot. It was all about eating and ordering vegan food in Thailand. Then we were off to the Sweet Hereafter — a totally vegan bar — for more vegan drinks. I had a Vegan White Russian!

On Friday morning, I awoke to a couple of Voodoo Doughnuts, and then I left Joel's apartment to register for the conference at the Portland Art Museum. After registration, I had a few minutes to seek out lunch at a nearby food cart pod. I stumbled on this vegan-friendly cart called Savor.

They were offering Vegan Grilled Cheese and Vegan Split Pea Soup with Croutons. You can add all kinds of stuff to your grilled cheese, so I picked Marmite and tomatoes. Wow! I will always add Marmite to my grilled cheeses from here on out.

After lunch, it was time for the VVC panels and workshops to begin. I spoke on a panel about spirituality and veganism (with freelance blogger Gabrielle Pope and Nicole from Upton's Naturals), followed by a panel called "Path to Cookbook Author" with author goddesses Joni Marie Newman and Julie Hasson. So honored to be on panels with such amazing women!

After the panels were over on Friday, there was a VVC Veggie Grill reception in the conference ballroom. There was Watermelon Juice (delicious, but it would have been better with vodka).

And Vegan Chicken Wraps and Buffalo Wings.

And just to make sure we got some veggies in, they also served up a Kale Salad with Mango Dressing. Mind you, this was the most greens I got all weekend!

Just after the reception, I tagged along with Dan (from New York), Amber Shea Crawley, and her husband Matt for a ride to the Vegan Mini Mall, where a gorditas and s'mores pop-up shop was underway. Upton's Naturals was serving Gorditas inside Food Fight Grocery. Remember gorditas from Taco Bell? With the hard and soft shell combined? That was the business.

 

And for dessert, Herbivore Clothing Company and the folks from Dandies were roasting s'mores near the register.

The best part about these s'mores? They were made with Biscoff cookies instead of graham crackers! Glorious.

Here's a shot of vegans loitering outside the mini-mall with their gorditas and s'mores.

After the pop-up, a group of us went for local craft beers at Hungry Tiger Too. And then we headed to Lovecraft, a goth bar. Look at the ceiling!

And here's a group shot (of course, the lovely Miss Amber Shea "Goth Girl" Crawley was there!).

Well, that was all for Thursday and Friday. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures from the rest of the conference.

Portland!!!

I'm back from Vegan Mecca, a.k.a. Portland! And boy is my belly full. I spent the last several days eating my way through Portland and hanging with tons of other vegan food bloggers at the second bi-annual Vida Vegan Con blogger's convention.

But I'll tell y'all more about that in posts on Wednesday and Thursday night. Tonight, I want to share some food porn pics of my pre-conference meals. I arrived in Portland on Wednesday, two days before the official start of VVC so I'd have more time to explore Portland's awesomeness. Lucky for me, my friend Joel moved from Little Rock, Arkansas to Portland last year. So I had a great (and very comfy) couch to crash on.

Here's Joel and I shortly after my flight landed on Wednesday afternoon. Ready for adventure!

Joel, his friend Scott, and I set out on foot from his apartment in Northwest in search of a pre-dinner snack. I found the iconic Portland sign that's featured in the opening credits of Portlandia!

We had no destination in mind, so long as what we found was vegan. And guess what? We stumbled onto one of the places on my must-try-while-in-Portland list — Veggie Grill!

Since it was happy hour, we ordered the Wings and PBR special — Buffalo Wings and a tall-boy can of Papst for $4.95.

And we also ordered some of Veggie Grill's legendary Mac & Cheese to split (best mac in the world, y'all!).

And we also ordered the Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes with Gravy to split. This stuff bears a striking taste resemblance to KFC mashed taters and gravy!

After our snack, we wandered around and did some shopping at thrift shops and the famous Powell's City of Books. We made 7 p.m. dinner plans for Blossoming Lotus with some more of Joel's friends. After our heavy snack, I didn't think I'd be hungry. But we quickly burned off the wings and taters while shopping.

At 7 p.m., we arrived at Blossoming Lotus, a fancy sit-down all-vegan restaurant. And it seemed that many other early conference attendees had the same idea. I ran into Leigh-Chantelle from Viva La Vegan, vegan cookbook goddess Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and John McDevitt from The Laziest Vegans in the World.

After a very long wait for a table, we started dinner with a bottle of August Cellars wine, a local vegan red.

For starters, we ordered the Live Nachos — flax crackers with raw nacho cheese and raw sour cream. So good!

And we also ordered the Live Cheese Plate — three raw cheeses (apricot chevre, cheddar, and pepper jack) with raw crackers and fruit. The chevre was my very fave!

For my entree, I couldn't resist the Southern BBQ Plate. You can take the girl out the South, but you can't take the South out the girl, right? This was amazing! BBQ Soy Curls, Mac & Cheese, Buttered Cornbread, Black-Eyed Peas, and Kale.

After dinner, Joel and I went to Ground Kontrol, a rad video arcade and bar with vegan bar food! Unfortunately, I was too full to sample the vegan pizza and corn dogs there. But we drank local beer, and I kicked Joel's ass at Mortal Kombat.

We also ran into my old pal Jack from Memphis at Ground Kontrol. He moved to Portland six years ago. We all played some pinball together.

After the arcade, I just HAD to get a box of vegan doughnuts from Voodoo Doughnuts. Last VVC, I only sampled two doughnuts, and that made me sad. So this time, I ordered a dozen!!! All for me (because Joel doesn't like doughnuts).

I intended to eat several doughnuts every day while I was in town. But I have to admit that I left Portland with 4 or 5 doughnuts untouched in the box. A girl can only eat so many doughnuts. I gave it my best try!

The next day — Thursday — was mostly open until the afternoon, when the unofficial Vida Vegan Con meet 'n' greet was scheduled to happen at the White Owl Social Club. Joel and I spent the morning exploring Portland a little more before I'd be super busy with con stuff.

We ended up at Hungry Tiger Too —home of the world's best vegan corn dog — for lunch.

I ordered the Vegan Corndog (because I'd been dying to try it for years!), but I subbed out the fries that come with it for Coleslaw. I knew the weekend would be all about eating vegan junk food, and I figured it was best to get some veggies in early.

This corndog BLEW MY MIND! I've had vegan corndogs, of course. But nothing can top this one. The batter was crispy, greasy, and slightly sweet.

Joel ordered the Cougar Club, a massive sandwich with fried tofu, tempeh, vegan cheese sauce, and jalapenos. I took a bite, and it was so good!

After lunch, we walked to Portland's famous Vegan Mini Mall! It's a strip mall with Food Fight (a vegan grocery), Herbivore (a vegan clothing company), Sweetpea (a vegan bakery), and Scapegoat (a vegan tattoo shop).

Look what I found inside Herbivore! My book! They asked me to sign these copies!

Okay, I'm stopping here. Tomorrow, I'll share pictures from con stuff, like the meet 'n' greet at White Owl, the Veggie Grill reception, and a pop-up gorditas shop!

Beyond Meat Fajitas!!

I'm off to Portland for the second bi-annual Vida Vegan Con food bloggers conference! So this will be my last post until next Wednesday. But don't worry — I'll share oodles of drool-worthy shots of vegan doughnuts, vegan s'mores, gorditas, and goddess know what else I'll find in the vegan mecca when I return. And of course, I'll have lots of fun stories about hanging out with other bloggers!

Since I'll be gone for so long, I want to leave you with something good. How about a review and recipe using Beyond Meat? The folks at Beyond Meat, a new plant-based chicken that tastes and feels alarmingly like animal chicken, sent me samples of three of their chicken-free strip flavors to review in conjunction with their national release of Beyond Meat products at Whole Foods stores. Before, some Whole Foods (like the one here) carried prepared deli foods made with Beyond Meat, but now you can find it in the freezer case!

And if that wasn't awesome enough, Tropical Smoothie shops have begun carrying Beyond Meat for their wraps. The world is a beautiful place, my friends.

So how is it? Well, y'all know I love some plant meat, right? I've tried every plant meat I can get my hands on cause deep-down I'm a meat-and-potatoes gal who just can't bear to eat other breathing creatures. And I'll tell ya, this is the most realistic-tasting vegan meat on the market. It looks like meat. It tastes like meat. It even fooled my omni partner Paul (okay, he knew it was plant meat when he tried it, but he said it was delicious ... and that means a lot coming from him).

I got three flavors from the Beyond Meat folks, but tonight, I'll feature the Southwest Style because that's all I've had time to play with.

The soy-based meat comes in strips, and Southwest Style is seasoned with chili powder, garlic, cumin, oregano, coriander, green pepper, and cayenne. Perfect for making fajitas!

I whipped up some Southwest Style Beyond Meat Fajitas for a quick weeknight meal.

Here's an inside shot (look at that sexy guacamole).

Here's the recipe.

Southwest Style Beyond Meat Fajitas
----------------------------------------------
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced into strips
1 green pepper, sliced into strips
1 frozen 12-ounce package of Beyond Meat Chicken-Free Strips, Southwest Style
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tortillas
Guacamole
Lettuce
Tomatoes

Heat the oil on medium heat in a non-stick skillet. Add the onion and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the peppers and saute for about 3 minutes, until they begin to soften.

Add the Beyond Meat strips and spices. Stir to coat. Saute 7 to 10 minutes, until Beyond Meat is browned and veggies are tender.

Serve in tortillas with guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes.

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Hunger Monkey

Last Friday was National Bike to Work Day, and even though it was gloomy and drizzly on Friday in Memphis, my co-worker Mark Plumlee and I rode bikes to work anyway. We participate in Bike to Work Day every year.

The ride from my Crosstown house to my downtown office takes about 45 minutes, and there are bike lanes for much of the drive. Memphis has become incredibly bike-friendly over the last two years with 55-plus miles of bike lanes added across the city. A few years ago, folks around here didn't know what a bike lane was!

Not only has Memphis grown more bike-friendly, it's also become way more vegan-friendly (as I'm sure you can tell in my Bluff City Vegan Eats series posts). Portland of the South? Not quite yet. I'd give that distinction to Atlanta or Austin. But we're getting there for sure. Case in point: the Hunger Monkey food truck.

Every year, there's a little Bike to Work Day festival at lunch time in Court Square. Typically, there's live music and food trucks and lots of cyclists hanging out. But since it's rained, hardly anyone showed up at this year's fest. Mark and I were there though. And so was Dawn Vinson, Bike to Work Day's Memphis organizer (who also happens to be vegan!). And guess who else was there? A vegan-friendly food truck!

Hunger Monkey is a new truck. It's only been on the streets for a few weeks, but I'd read about it on the Hungry Memphis blog. They serve meat, but they have plenty of vegan options. There's a vegan pasta dish, hummus and pita, and all the veggie sides are vegan. You can make a plate of four sides for $8. So that's what I did.

There's Couscous with Tomatoes and Basil, Roasted Okra, Cooked Collards and Kale, and a Kale and Orzo Salad.

The roasted okra was AMAZING! As much as I adore fried okra, I have to admit that I think I love roasted okra more (here's my recipe). These guys season theirs with a spicy Cajun-like seasoning. So good.

The kale and orzo salad was also amazing. The raw kale was massaged, and I liked how there were more veggies than grains. And the couscous was fantastic (but I did have to add some extra salt). The cooked greens, which are buried under the okra in this picture, were really tasty too. They were slow-cooked, Southern-style greens, and there were little mushrooms chopped up in there.

With a good 30-minute bike ride home ahead of me, it was nice to fuel up on fresh veggies rather than something fake meaty or fried (my usual go-to dining out fare).

If you're in Memphis and you'd like to find where Hunger Monkey will be parked next, check their Facebook page.

Artsy Vegan Buffet Dinner in My 'Hood!

For the last four years, my neighborhood arts organization, Crosstown Arts, has been holding annual MemFEAST dinners. What's MemFEAST? Well, the "Mem" stands for "Memphis," and FEAST is an acronym for "Funding Emerging Artists with Sustainable Tactics." Still not clear? Let me explain.

Community members and arts supporters from all over the city pay $35 for a ticket to MemFEAST.  Money from all the ticket sales — plus some generous donor contributions — totals at $5,000. In return for their $35 ticket, patrons get a massive and awesome vegan dinner. And while they're eating dinner, artists make presentations for art projects that they could create with that $5,000. After the presentations are through, the patrons vote for their favorite art project. The winner gets the $5,000 to make their art project a reality.

I love the MemFEAST concept, and I've attended the event every year. The meal hasn't always been all vegan (the first two years featured a mostly vegan menu with one or two meat dishes for the omnis). But for the past two years, Chef/farmer Miles McMath has been preparing the food. And he makes everything vegan! Crosstown Arts, the arts organization that represents my neighborhood in Memphis, is probably the most vegan-friendly arts organization in town. They always have vegan options at their events, and many times, all of the food is vegan. Lucky me!

This year's MemFEAST event happened on Saturday night. Each year, the location has changed, but this year may have been my very fave. The party was held outdoors on the V&E Greenline, a 1.8-mile bike and pedestrian path on an old rail track. It was like a lovely garden party!

Here I am (with new hair!)

And here are my friends Cassi and Greg, who are both vegan as well, checking out the menu before dinner.

Each table had multiple bottles of Ginger-Basil Aqua Fresca.

And look at these adorable decorations! Old airplane-sized liquor bottles with flowers!

The buffet was AMAZING!!! It started with antipasto — Heirloom Bean Hummus, Olive Tapenade, Raw Veggies, Portobello Mousse, and Burnt Naan (The naan had a light grilled flavor and was among my favorite things).

And there was French Lentil Caviar, Beet Tartare, Pickled Spring Vegetables, and Rustic Bread.

But the real icing on the cake was the vegan slider bar! I had one of each! There were Edamame & White Bean Burgers with Field Lettuce, Spring Onion, and Chow Chow, Redneck Reubens made from Vegan Andouille, Kimchee, and Creole Remoulade, Green Lentil & Quinoa Burgers with Vindaloo Vegetables, and Tamarind Chutney, Hominy-Green Chili Burgers with Avocado, Salsa Roja, and Lime Crema, and Sweet Tater Logs with Chipotle Ketchup.

And at the end of the buffet (and I failed to take a picture) were Curry Spiced Tofu with Broccoli Rabe and Basil-Mint Pesto, Sweet Corn & Farro Risotto with Green Butterbeans and Arkansas "Feta" (my fave!), and Springtime Soba Noodles with Ginger Miso Broth, Pok Choi, Daikon, and Shoots.

And let's not forget dessert! Brownies and Raw Peach Cobbler with Green Wheat Freekah Crust.

I tried everything on the menu. So needless to say, my plate was a little overstuffed. I took a picture of Greg's much tidier, less gluttonous plate.

After dinner, we were so full! But the artists' presentations helped get our minds off our very full bellies. Five artists gave presentations, and the winner was Jeannie Tomlinson Saltmarsh, who proposed the installation on the greenline of metal fish sculptures that move with the wind.

We stayed for awhile after dinner and drank more wine. Look how lovely this little garden party was after dark!

Another successful MemFEAST has come and gone, and this one was definitely the best so far.

Tasty Bite = Tasty

As much as I love to cook, I also adore convenience foods, especially when they're made from all-natural ingredients. Meals made from boxes and bags take me back to childhood summers, when I considered TV dinners to be a luxury reserved for those precious few weeks when school was out and mom and dad had to work. Having the house to myself and getting to eat food from the microwave was glorious!

But I don't even want to think about what sorts of crazy processed wonders were contained in those tv dinners of my youth. Remember Kid Cuisines? Lived off of those during the summer. Anyway, these days my convenience meals are much healthier. I love Amy's frozen meals and Tasty Bite microwavable pouches. A few weeks ago, Tasty Bite sent me a box of several meals to review. While I'd already tried (and loved) a few of these, some were new to me.

First I tried the Thai Lime Rice as a side dish to some Beyond Meat Thai Chicken Salad from the Whole Foods deli. I used romaine hearts as little raw burrito shells to scoop up the salad and rice.

I was immediately struck by the tenderness of this rice. You'd think something from a bag that takes 90 seconds to warm in the microwave wouldn't have a perfect texture. But on the contrary, this rice had a better texture than rice I make from scratch. It was delicately seasoned with lime, coconut, and lemongrass. And every ingredient in the ingredient list was something real — water, rice, coconut milk, sunflower oil, raw sugar, kaffir lime, the list goes on, and nothing is unpronouncable.

I brought the Kung Pao Asian Noodles to work.

These were also perfect in texture. It's crazy how pasta and rice in a bag can be so amazing. The noodles were spicy, and the Tasty Bite folks were quite generous with the peanuts that flecked the dish. Although it didn't look like much food in the bag, this was actually really filling. It said it made two servings, but it was really enough for one healthy serving.

Next up was the Punjab Eggplant with the Ginger Lentil Rice.

I'd had the eggplant dish before, and it's one of my favorite Tasty Bite entrees. Spicy, tomato-y, onion-y goodness. And dare I say better than some similar dishes that I've had at Indian restaurants. It was a perfect complement to the Ginger Lentil Rice, which was made with long-grain rice tossed with brown lentils and red peppers.

I had the Channa Masala over some leftover brown rice. The chickpeas were perfectly textured, and the sauce had a complex coriander and ginger flavor that could rival many homemade channa masala dishes.

Finally, I tried the Pad Thai Asian Noodles in the most unusual of circumstances. A few weekends ago, when I was at the Memphis in May Beale Street Music Festival, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find vegan food in the park. So I packed an emergency bag with some energy bars and easy-to-eat snacks. Just in case I needed a heavier meal, I packed my Tasty Bite Pad Thai Noodles.

Although I did end up finding some delicious vegan tacos there, there was one night of the fest that I got hungry for a late-night snack. So I whipped out my Pad Thai Noodles and ate them cold, straight from the pack. They were so good that I had to make crazy eyes!

Since the noodles are pressed into a square before cooking, you can almost eat them like a candy bar when you're on the go. And cold Asian noodles dishes are always a winner! These hit the spot! You could even take these camping or hiking!