As I have often professed, well maybe not to you because I'm new here in this here...I just can't bring myself to say blogosphere, I'm a late adopter when it comes to language and most things really...vegan blogging community, one of the things that I love about Los Angeles is the fact that you can see something new everyday. This sunny side of L.A.'s much derided urban sprawl means endless adventures for Your Vegan Mom who can't actually travel anywhere exotic at the moment. Since jetting off to Southeast Asia is sadly not in our near future, Paul and Desmond and I took off down the 405 last weekend to Little Saigon.
Though the area needs much more investigating, probably with a bit of planning first which really isn't our style, we had a quick tasty jaunt into the region. On our way to lunch we realized that all, literally all, of our adventures consist of setting off absolutley famished to some far-flung corner of the city to sample some storied vegan treat that we hungrily dream about as we search for parking only to discover that it's closed for the lunar new year or for good as of 3 years ago. Why don't we ever plan ahead? At least this time Paul had the good sense to call. The woman on the phone assured him that they were in fact open. Yes, but did she say, "Van Hanh" when she answered? Paul was unsure, so at this point we at least knew that there was some place of business open in Little Saigon. Good enough for us. As it turned out, this was not one of our disappointing adventures. We found it. They were still there. Baby slept, so I hopped out to get us a picnic.
Upon entering the restaurant you are greeted with a big L-shaped steam table a la that $1 Chinese place or Panda Express (as another sidenote, this entry is simply full of them, can't seem to stop myself, did you know that everything at Panda Express, except for the steamed rice, has some kind of chicken flavoring in it? So much for that reliable fast food.) As I was saying, unlike Panda Express, this is a vegetarian Vietnamese cafeteria. The woman behind the counter didn't speak English, and I, alas, don't speak Vietnamese, so I simply pointed at the most exotic looking dishes and she packed 2 three-item combos to go. I grabbed some prepackaged dumplings, and shelled out $14.83 for our feast. We took our meal to El Dorado Regional Park where we wrested a patch of grass from a family setting up for some big ol' shindig.
We dined on bitter melon stuffed with a tofu mixture (which was a little too true to its name for me, I think it may be an aqcuired taste, though Paul liked it) and fake fish in a light, slightly sweet sauce that was enjoyed by all, even P. the former fish hater,
and an unpictured curry of sweet potatoes and tofu in a rather sweet coconuty broth.
We also ate vermicelli with shredded carrot and bean sprouts and this delicious little tofu cake served on top of half a grilled tomato.
You might notice that there are no dumplings pictured. We devoured them in the car as we drove to the park. I told you that these adventures always begin with delirious hunger. The dumplings were delicious though, slippery and loose with a mild tofu-mushroom filling served with crispy little fried onions and cool bean sprouts to add texture and contrast to the silky dumpling and a sweet vegetarian nuoc cham for dipping. I love a condiment heavy culture.
The boy ate a puree of peas and spinach with brown rice cereal and applesauce. (He doesn't usually express his love through bib messages, but come on, it was Father's Day.)
And we took a baby-size hike through the nature center on the 1/4 mile paved loop. There is also an extensive network of unpaved trails for you more adventurous sorts.
This felt so far from Los Angeles, so far from the junction of the 405 and 605, it was a perfect little afternoon in another country. There were even turtles.
