Your Vegan Mom

On the Road with the Vegans

Stop and Play

We were in San Jose last weekend for the Cinequest Film Festival.  It was spectacular to see Paul and Sean and Kiley's movie on the huge screen in a beautiful theater with a crowd of people that were laughing and crying and audibly digging the movie.  It was so good.  I am so incredibly proud of them.  

It was a whirlwind weekend - I dropped the boys off with Nana and Tapa, grabbed Banh Mi and Spicy Noodle Soup from Tofoo Com Chay and picked up Paul from the San Jose airport.  La Pinata did an admirable job putting on a nice spread after the screening.   It was intensly fulfilling and emotional to spend time with some of the people who made the movie possible and who identify with the story so much.  The food was entirely beside the point, and yet still I noticed.  The margaritas were excellent, the beans were vegan, and with some coaxing they made a tray of vegetable enchiladas with green sauce.  Thumbs up, La Pinata.  

We couldn't find vegan breakfast in San Jose (What the what?  They're must be vegan breakfast in San Jose, right?), so we just grabbed a bagel with avocado and a cup of coffee and hit the road.  We had a day with the whole family in Pacific Grove, which of course, included lunch at El Cantaro, the little vegan Mexican place in Monterey, right up the hill from the aquarium.  And the next day we drove home in time to get Paul to the office in the afternoon.

We continue to practice the drive and eat - stop and play - drive and eat model for family road trips, and apart from the roadside shopping center with the enticicingly muddy field where we stopped (Juicy peaches!  Ha!  The nemesis of the backseat on this trip was two boys coated in three inches of mud.), it was a success.  I had swung by Whole Foods in Monterey for provisions.  We had crunchy apples and excellent sandwiches that consisted of:

Sumano's Sourdough + Vegenaise + Sonoma Brinery's Bread and Butter Pickles + Field Roast Lentil Sage Deli Slices

I'm still thinking about those sandwiches.  Such a good combination.  And almost completely lost on the children - the seven-year-old, my pickle-eater, preferred his without, and the four-year-old ate bread.   

What's your current favorite road food? 

 

Weekend Lunch: Smoky Tempeh and Brussels Sprouts Sandwich

crusty bread + mayo + dijon + smoky tempeh + shredded brussels sprouts = weekend lunch

For the brussels sprouts: Cut them in half and then shred them fine with a big, sharp knife.  If you have a few shallots, sliced those up too.  Heat a skillet over high heat.  Add a bit of the oil of your choosing.  Throw the shredded greens (and shallots) in the hot pan with a big pinch of salt.  Give them a stir and let them really brown.  Add a glug of apple juice, turn the heat down to low, and braise them in the juice until they're soft and sweet, about 15 minutes.  When the apple juice has cooked off, and your brussels sprouts are tender, season them with a splash of apple cider vinegar, a few cracks of black pepper, and a pinch more salt if it needs it.  

As per usual, this Saturday sandwich is totally designed to go with a beer.  

Happy Weekend!  

A Simple Summer Sandwich in My New Kitchen

Paul painted the kitchen for my birthday.  My birthday was three months ago, but I hemmed and hawed over colors and how daunting the job seemed (the silly-putty-hued paint on the trim and cabinets was peeling off in sheets like that nail polish popular in the eighties).  

And then last weekend I just couldn't take it any more - the silly putty and the peeling - and so I ran to the hardware store.  We sanded and slapped up some paint.  It's not perfect, but it's so much lighter and brighter.  Three days later with the paint dry and everything put away, I was just so excited by the light on my easy sandwich, that despite the fact that I had accidentally skipped breakfast and was absolutely famished, I ran and grabbed my camera.  Here's what's in there - 

good bun + aioli + slab of fried tofu drizzled with Bragg's (a la my friend Alana) + huge slice of beautiful yellow tomato + a few leaves of basil 

So simple and so good.  

Thanks for the kitchen, Paul.  I love it.  

Do you have an easy lunch you're digging right now?  

Can we hang out?

"Oh mayonnaise!" says 3-year-old Felix at dinner last night about the dollop of white stuff that somehow escaped onto the table in front of him, thus coining my new favorite exclamation.

"Oh mayonnaise," I think this morning when I remember that I have somehow signed myself on for a Google Hangout tonight.  Perhaps you've noticed, but I'm not too hip to the social media know-how.  Actually I'm shockingly unsocial and luddite for an...ahem...blogger.  So, finding myself in this situation is fairly terrifying.  Will you come?  Hold my hand.  Join me for a beer?  (Is that totally inappropriate?  I'm pretty sure I'm going to be having a beer.)  

Roots and an Unexpectedly Delicious Sandwich

My friend, Kiley, dropped off a big bag of root vegetables that she had inadvertently stockpiled - weeks of CSA overflow.  There were turnips and rutabagas and watermelon radishes and a long bumpy piece of horseradish, but I didn't know that when I opened the bag.  Apart from the horseradish, they all looked like turnips.