An expression of gratitude for the Radical Reuben

I’ve written love poems about food before, but never as illustrious as the following for the only sandwich on my radar, The Radical Reuben at The Chicago Diner. Sure, there are other sandwiches, some just as tasty and enjoyable as the Reuben, but this is the most sentimental of sandwiches. We’ve been kickin’ it since 2007, been through two brands of vegan cheese together, and this sandwich never disappoints. I may only make the trip a few times a year, and sometimes I get a different sandwich, but the Reuben doesn’t hold any petty grudges like other sandwiches do. That innate, radical confidence must help. Actually, I’m not even sure it has feelings, but that’s okay. It remains that kind of relationship that’s as close as ever, no matter how much time has passed. My last Reuben was about a year ago, but my next trip to the Diner, I just know it’ll greet me with open arms.

We first met in 2007. Teese cheese graced the presence of caramelized onions, peppers, sauerkraut, and corned beef seitan atop crusty rye. Incidentally, this was also my first trip to the Diner. Two years of veganism had gone by before the start* of our companionship, but I think the Reuben is quite forgiving, as there are many future years to order the sandwich.

*I considered using the word consummation in this sentence, but I’m not entirely sure the word can be used outside of a sexual context. Just to make things clear, this is completely platonic sandwich love, despite the colorful language within this blog post and the title of my blog. Not that there’s anything wrong with sexy sandwich love, if that’s what you feel. You probably have your own, slightly different blog.

This is the Radical Reuben of 2008, consumed voraciously on my birthday. Birthday sandwich! This time, my side of choice was mashed potatoes and gravy. A pickle spear completed the plate. There’s always a pickle spear.

Here are the innards, consistent with last year’s experience.

Then 2009 rolled around and I did not consume a single Radical Reuben all year. Dark times. But here’s the compromise: I have photos of other people’s reubens. And yes, they were people I was dining out with, not random Reubens. So really, I vicariously ate these Reubens. This is some six degrees of separation shit.

This is Louzilla’s Radical Reuben in 2009 on her first trip to Chicago, and therefore, the Diner. I hereby declare sweet potato fries to be the default side for any Reuben experience.

I had another chance to embrace the Radical Reuben in 2009, but did I take it? Guess not! I’m not sure what else was so important that a Reuben didn’t make it onto my plate during either trip that year. Still, this Reuben has no hard feelings from across the table.

Sometimes people make mistakes. Shit happens. It can be remedied with careful attention. What to do in this situation? Make your own Radical Reuben, of course. After the turbulence of 2009, January 2010 needed to start off right with a proper reintroduction to the wonder sandwich.

Did I have rye bread? No. Thinly sliced Upton’s seitan? No. This marinading process was very questionable. The beets made the Tofurky slices look like sunburned bologna swimming in Kool Aid.

But hey, it looks like a sandwich. And it was good! As good as the Diner’s? No. But it would hold me over for a while.

Then your dog tries to eat it. And you pause for a moment while writing this blog post because you really miss your dog. And the Radical Reuben. Then reassure yourself that you’ll see your dog and eat a Reuben sometime soon. Carry on.

Ohhh, lookie here. It’s 2010′s Radical Reuben. Notice Teese has retired and Daiya mozzarella is the new player in town at the Diner, adorning the modern day Radical Reuben. Sweet potato fries and a pickle spear, you know what’s up.

This brings us to the last Reuben of this post, the Radical Reuben of 2011. I broke the sweet potato fries rule here because the soup sounded really yummy. It was chipotle corn chowder or something.

Then you realize 2012 is nearly halfway through, which is absolutely ridiculous because it was totally just February, like last week. So get thee to the Chicago Diner before it’s too late and you live your own personal Radical Reuben dry spell hell all over again. Juicy flavorful seitan, sauerkraut, roasted peppers, onions, and a liberal helping of Thousand Island are all contained within two slices of toasty rye bread and waiting at the Diner for a meal of sandwich bliss!

Midwest Monday: Colleen of Vegan Milwaukee

Midwest Monday continues with the first Milwaukee Monday! Today’s interview is with Colleen, the creator of Vegan Milwaukee. I met Colleen at a vegan meetup last year, and just last weekend we ate at Palomino and shared a Tiki Love Bowl at At Random, for my birthday with our own little meetup group. Colleen also attended Vida Vegan Con in August.

Follow Colleen on Twitter, and Facebook, where she posts all of the current vegan-related news in Milwaukee.

Questions? Questions!

How long have you been vegan in Milwaukee? What is your favorite meal and dessert here?
I’ve been vegan since 2004, vegetarian since 1998 and lived in the Milwaukee area my whole life. I’ve had some great meals here and my favorites are always changing, but I’ll always have a place in my heart for the vegan Reuben from Comet Café—that was one of those sandwiches I was trying to veganize years ago and never got quite right. Then, in about 2005 or 2006, I discovered their version with Field Roast and it satisfied that craving I had for so long. As for dessert, the Raspberry Nebula Soy or Espresso Oreo Soy at Babe’s Ice Cream is one of my favorite summer desserts. My other favorites are all the delicious cupcakes and cookies made by my awesome vegan baker friends!

What is Vegan Milwaukee and why did you create it?
VeganMilwaukee.com is a website I put together to gather all the vegan-friendly elements of the Milwaukee area. Over the years I had made a list of restaurants and stores that made my (vegan) life easier and I wanted to share that with everyone. In addition, there are several vegan and animal rights organizations doing great things in the community and I wanted to put those all in one place so that like-minded people could find them and get involved. One excellent side-effect of my efforts was that local restaurants, stores, salons and other businesses are starting to see how many potential vegan customers there are in Milwaukee and they’re actually reaching out to us for ideas on what they can offer to gain some loyal vegan customers.

What was your involvement in the Milwaukee vegan community before Vegan Milwaukee and how has it changed since you started the website?
Before I created Vegan Milwaukee I had attended several Meetups and the yearly M.A.R.V. Vegan Thanksgivings, but never got too involved. I did meet a handful of really great people, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do from there. Once I started getting active with the website and social media, I was overwhelmed by how many vegans there were in the city and how many of them never went to any of the organized events, for whatever reason. I was excited to be able to communicate with them and share ideas even though we didn’t see each other face-to-face. I’m hoping that by having this central point for all things vegan that the community in Milwaukee will become tighter and more people will want to come out and experience great food and make some new friends. I think it’s inspiring that there are vegans of all ages, backgrounds, and interests in our area and it’s really beneficial for us to put our heads together and continue making Milwaukee a great place for vegans.

Veganism has gone through some drastic changes recently. What new vegan options and opportunities have become available in Milwaukee in the past few years?
In 2004 (when I went vegan), there were very few restaurants that had any vegan offering. Essentially I only went to ethnic places where I knew I could order something that was “naturally” vegan. Although Fuel, Comet Café and Beans & Barley had some options, they were still very few…and then, Palomino arrived on the scene. Suddenly I could go out for sandwiches and fried food that I never experienced as a vegan before. Since then Comet expanded from a small café to a full restaurant and many other local restaurants have expanded their vegan options as well. I think it’s amazing that Milwaukee has four places where you can get vegan biscuits and gravy (one of my favorite brunch items), five places you can get vegan pizza WITH vegan cheese, one officially vegan bakery and tons of other local vegan bakers, and as I mentioned before…vegan ice cream! Milwaukee has really come a long way in 7 years and it just keeps getting easier and easier to find great vegan food. [I've only lived here for a little over 2 years, so it's great to hear about the strides veganism has made before that!]

What is the involvement of social media in Vegan Milwaukee?
Social media has really expanded my vegan horizons overall, so when I started the website, I knew that both Facebook and Twitter were going to be a big part of the effort. Twitter has been a great place to connect with people. I have a search set up that allows me to see anyone asking the Twitterverse where they can find vegan food in Milwaukee. I try to answer as promptly as I can and give recommendations when asked. It has been exciting to talk to all kinds of visitors to the area including bands, artists, and other great vegan folks. Facebook has been an excellent resource for sharing posts from other animal-rights/vegan organizations and for posting all those photos of vegan food from local restaurants. It’s a good way to have impromptu discussions as well.

You were just recently at Vida Vegan Con. What kinds of ideas did you bring back from the conference, and vegan-related traveling in general?
Vida Vegan Con was amazing—to see all these sincere, like-minded people in one place makes you feel like veganism is really growing.

One of the main areas I’m hoping to expand is my restaurant listing. Currently it’s just a list with a few comments on what’s available, but not a lot of opinions or reviews. It was really interesting to hear how some of the other vegan city websites address doing restaurant reviews and how it can be challenging to deal with a bad experience. I haven’t quite decided how I’m going to approach it, but I’m hoping to make the restaurant listings more robust by the end of the year. Ideas are welcomed!

Thank you, Colleen! Now come visit us, everyone! Midwest Monday will continue next week, and Buffy Tuesday is tomorrow, woooo!

East Coast Veganventure Day 6, 7 + 1/2: Providence, Newport, and Boston

The last part of my trip was spent with Amanda and Michael in Providence. After traveling around the east coast for almost an entire week, I was ready to kick back, relax, and enjoy some delicious food. Earlier in the week, I heard about Providence’s vegan soft serve truck, Like No Udder, so you best believe we got some soft serve.

Out first meal was at Garden Grille. This was a special of the day, a quinoa black bean avocado bowl.

Yummy seitan with chipotle and mustard

Amanda’s Vietnamese tofu sandwich

We then went to Newport and walked along the coast. So pretty!

That evening, we went up to Boston and met with our friend Angela at Peace o’ Pie. Nomz. Pizza.
Cheesy bread

White Pizza, plus olives

Black Forest Cupcake and Pecan Cinnamon Roll from Wild Flour Bakery

And…the soft serve truck! I got a chocolate vanilla twist cone. Yum.

And that concludes the posts about the east coast veganventure of 2011. I needed at least a week to recover from the trip and all the delicious food!

East Coast Veganventure Day 4 + 5: Farm Sanctuary, Ithaca, and for the Animals Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary!
The main event of this trip was Farm Sanctuary’s 25th Anniversary Intern Retreat. I was never an intern (in fact, this was my first visit!), but Louzilla was and she so kindly invited me along for the trip. The event was loosely structured around speakers, games, meal times, and tours, all leading up to a few games of Ultimate Frisbee with Gene Baur.

We took our own tour around the sanctuary that morning.

Can you spot the tiny little frog?

Tabitha

It rained on and off throughout the day.

Hanging out with sheep.

Bunnies!

Now I’m going to make your heart melt with some baby goat pictures.

I have video of frolicking baby goats too! But I hate video editing/uploading more than anything in the whole world, so all the videos I ever take stay on my hard drive and never see the internet. Convince me to upload them?

Molly

Hey, it’s Gene Baur! I missed Gene in Chicago during his Just Eats Tour earlier this summer, so it was great to hear him speak at the Farm Sanctuary about his very positive approach to activism.

The meals throughout the day.


Strawberry ice cream cake? Fuck yes!

Giant cookie

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

The farm

Due to all the rain, we ended up spending the night in Ithaca rather than camping outside. As much of a nature girl as I am (read: joke. haha, funny!), sleeping inside wasn’t too disappointing.

The next morning it was en route to New Jersey to visit for the Animals Sanctuary in Blairstown. We had brunch in Ithaca with Megan on the way at Collegetown Bagels. I got the veganic breakfast burrito.

If you are on the east coast, definitely make a point to visit for the Animals. It’s much smaller than Farm Sanctuary, and it’s run by some amazing people. Mac n cheese, made by Debbie.

for the Animals is unofficially named the gayest sanctuary in the country, so they have a selection of vegan LGBT items for sale along with their animal rights buttons and magnets, as well as beautiful handmade metal jewelry made by Debbie. Check out her work here.

East Coast Veganventure Day 3: Cafe Santosha and Strong Hearts Cafe

After stuffing ourselves full of ice cream and Vegan Treats the previous day, no one felt like another food marathon just yet, so the next stop was Cafe Santosha. Louzilla, Jen, and I met up with the lovely Jaime K of Save the Kales, who is also organizing Bethlehem Veg Fest this September! If you are in the area, definitely plan to check it out!
We all got a variation of the Mean Green Salad. Mine has apricot dressing, and I also had kombucha.

They brought us fruit and skewers for dessert. We’re eating healthy, bitches!

L to R: Jen, Jaime, me, Louzilla

After this lunch meeting, it was time to part ways with Jen and Jaime, and Louzilla and I headed to upstate New York. 5 hours later, we made it to Syracuse. The Farm Sanctuary intern retreat started the next morning, but we made a stop that night at Strong Hearts Cafe for pizza and milkshakes with some friends.

Lettuce on a pizza? Don’t be fooled! This is the cheeseburger pizza-under that lettuce is Daiya cheese, pickles, seitan, and all the cheeseburger fixin’s. The healthy food streak is over!

Group shot!

East Coast Veganventure Day 1 + 2: NYC and Vegan Treats

7 days. 10 cities. Lots of great food and people! Louzilla invited me to be her guest at the Farm Sanctuary’s 25th Anniversary Intern Retreat. While I was out there visiting Farm Sanctuary for the first time, I made a multi-city trip out of it, starting in NYC, making stops in Bethlehem, Allentown, Syracuse, Ithaca, Blairstown NJ, Providence, Newport, and Boston!
I know I’d never get around to this blog post if I tried to cram everything into one little post, so I’m splitting it up into days!

I flew into NYC from Milwaukee on the first day, caught public transportation from the airport, then was immediately greeted with a 5 minute torrential downpour when I got above ground. I showed up a little soaked to dinner with Terry at Red Bamboo, but after some delicious deep-fried goodness, it was all good.
I ordered the Butterfly Soy Chops:

No trip to NYC is complete without a visit to Lula’s Sweet Apothecary. This is a sundae with mint chip and strawberry ice creams, caramel, marshmallow cream, and their beloved coconut whipped cream.

I stayed with my friend Rachel in Brooklyn for the night, then had a bit of time to wander around in the morning.

My plans in NYC for the day were with Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan of Our Hen House! We recorded an interview for Episode 78. Check it out through their website or subscribe on iTunes!
Afterward, they showed me around the area. We stopped by Sacred Chow and Lifethyme Natural Market, then we parted ways and it was time for me to head to the bus station.

I had this delicious sandwich from Sacred Chow on the bus to Bethlehem, PA.

Yes, Bethlehem! Home of Vegan Treats Bakery!

Louzilla and Jen picked me up from the bus station, then we met up with Megan and Natalie at Vegan Treats and got a little bit of everything (well, almost everything).

S’mores Cake

Chocolate Lava Cheesecake

Chocolate Mousse Cake

French Vanilla Mousse Pie

This was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted! I have no idea what it’s made out of, but holy shit is it good!

We then hopped over to a Chinese restaurant across the street called Ruby Cafe. It’s good to know that restaurant is there if you want to top off your sugar coma with a Chinese food imitation meat coma. We ordered a few “chicken” and vegetable dishes, hung out for a while, then were on our way home to Louzilla’s. We went out dancing that night at The Stonewall in Allentown with a few of her friends, then got a night of sleep in preparation for a long trip on day 3.

[to be continued]

Spring break in Chicago equals dessert before dinner

Hello everyone! Long time, no blog. I’ve been meaning to re-do the design of Seitan Beats Your Meat for MONTHS, and here we finally are! The logo and design were the results of a few sleepless nights and my ability to pay attention in art history class. Not only is the layout new, but I’ve launched the vegan food travel guide (link at the top of the page) organized by city and restaurants, now with functioning links! To celebrate the new, polished blog rather than the “under construction” look that’s been going on for a while now, I’m going to start posting much more regularly again. Yay!

The bigger reason for the absence lately has been school and finals, living the broke and intensely busy student life. Luckily, my semester is over in less than a week, so summer is upon us, and I have lots of plans for projects! Besides summer school, that is. I’m officially insane for deciding to take two studio design classes that will be 13 hour days twice a week for the first half of summer. But anyway, I have plans to make a new zine, work on a new book, cuddle lots of bunnies, bake a lot, participate in a few bake sales, Madison Vegan Fest, hopefully travel and see some of the vegan friends I’m dearly missing, eat lots of delicious food, and of course, Vida Vegan Con!

I was able to escape normal life for a couple days this semester over spring break, spending two full days in Chicago eating my way through the city! The goal for these days was to try new places rather than my regulars (Diner, Pick Me Up, Earwax, Veggie Bite), save for the Diner because a trip to Chicago isn’t complete without a visit if it’s been a while.

The first day, I met up with my friend Alexis at the Diner and got the usual-The Radical Reuben! Quite possibly the best sandwich in existence. I usually get it with sweet potato fries but the soup of the day was a cheesy corn chowder and that sounded really good. And it totally was. We finished the meal by sharing a chai cookie dough shake. I love when the Diner is out of vanilla ice cream because then all the shakes can be made with cookie dough.

That evening I met up with Aleks and Kristina from the PPK for coffee and dinner. Our meeting place was at Fritz Pastry, a bakery and cafe I’ve been meaning to try ever since I found out about it through Melisser and Natalie’s video review. They were out of the blueberry muffins I was getting recommendations for, so I opted for a sprinkles donut!
I busted my old wallet last November and finally got this new cupcake one at Hollywood Mirror that day!

We drove over to Amitabul for dinner, 100% vegan Korean restaurant. I got the spicy kimchi noodles. I was still running on that Radical Reuben at this point, so I barely made a dent in my dinner, but it was so delicious, healthful, and made great leftovers.

The next day Gina, who I met at Chicago VeganMania last year, and Kate joined me for day two of dessert followed by dinner. We met up at Bleeding Heart Bakery, sampled an array of baked goods, and got properly caffeinated. The decor there is the greatest. Bold colors, punk rock, and giant motherfucking cupcakes for tables.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Mocha Cheesecake Bar

Sprinkles Cake Ball (see the sprinkles theme I’ve got going?)

After the bakery we went on a long journey to the nearest Target in search for a pair of jeans for Kate. They met me at Bleeding Heart with a hilarious story of Kate splitting her pants on the way over (haha, sorry Kate if you’re reading this!).
Once operation: acquire pants was complete, we went to Handlebar for dinner, where Marla the Cupcake Fairy of Chicago VeganMania joined us.

Fried. Pickles. Every bit as amazing as that sounds, with a ranch dipping sauce.

My entree, the Buffalo Chicken Wrap

And that concludes my Chicago foodventures over spring break. Mission of making it to new restaurants and bakeries: accomplished!

Retrovision: Vegan Treats

Okay, so maybe this isn’t from the too terribly distant past, but who’s complaining about a post largely comprised of Vegan Treats food porn? These photos never made it onto the blog, so there’s no time like the present! Vegan Treats is a bakery in Bethlehem, PA with decadent, over the top desserts. My trips to Vegan Treats were a part of the first time I met Louzilla, as she lives super close to them. We got so. many. desserts. To the left is the infamous Peanut Butter Bomb, a brownie filled with a mountain of peanut butter frosting and covered in chocolate. It was just named #25 on VegNew’s Vegan Bucket List of 99 things you must do, in the March/April issue (psst, there’s also a feature on The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur in the book review section)!

Up next is the Shrapnel Cake. Louzilla and I devoured this. I still remember the deep chocolate cake coated in frosting, with pieces of chocolate, all in one bite.

Money shot

Still warming up here. A basic brownie, with caramel and frosting.

….Taken to the next level by Peanut Butter Bombification!

Lemon Cake! This was another PPKer’s cake that I got to try a bite of, which was lovely of course as I’m a huge fan of citrus baked goods. Not that there would be anything wrong with eating 5 vegan treats cakes over the course of a week.

Raspberry Softserve (the other day was passionfruit, not pictured)

The group

Vegan Treats is absolutely killer. I can’t wait to visit again someday, and eat like 15 more Peanut Butter Bombs!

Bay Area Foodgasms

I have been lusting after visiting San Francisco for such a long time and made it over there a few months ago for a book signing, vacation, and to finally meet some PPK friends, after 5 years! Going from the midwest snowstorms to the sunny, barely chilly weather was a perfect excursion in January, and I’m just a little bit jealous of everyone in the Bay Area! So many great vegan eats, people, and things to do! I got around mostly by walking…I think it worked out to be somewhere around 8 miles a day!

Of course I’m going to start out with Cinnaholic. They’re located right around the corner from Saturn Cafe in Berkeley, so I ran over there during the book event before they closed to get some cinnamon rolls to go. The frosting and topping possibilities are endless, just take a look at their menu, so I asked Shannon for recommendations and went from there. On the right is a half and half maple/pomegranate frosting with marshmallow and brownie topping, and to the left is PBJ, which I ate at SFO while saying my goodbyes to the Bay Area.

I fucking love this sandwich, the Toasty Crispy from Souley Vegan in Oakland. BBQ seitan, deep fried tofu, amazing! You have to do a smush down before eating it because it’s really this tall.

This get together happened because Melisser had a layover in Oakland! I had spent the day with Kristen of Tree Wool and The Noochy Noodle, so we met up with Jen, Nate, Alex, Megan, Melisser, and Josh for vegan soul food!
They also had deep fried kale. Droool.

The week before I left for SF, I overloaded on fake meat-y dishes and restaurant food, so I was in the mood for something healthy. I opted for a salad at Love N Haight instead of a sandwich.
LUCKILY, I got over that and was able to thoroughly enjoy all the crazy deep fried deliciousness and sweets in the city.

Kristen pointed out Ike’s Place to me and recommended the Brutus sandwich. It has deep fried breaded chicken, artichokes, and garlic herb sauce. All the sandwiches come with a side of chips (I got jalapeño) and a lollipop (which the server pointed out was a vegan lollipop!).

Saturn Cafe’s Nacho Fries! Holy yum. I also got a side of their ranch. Erika described it as “Jesus cumming in your mouth”, so how could I not?

This is the ravioli and garlic bread from Ananda Fuara. It was a simple, healthful meal and really hit the spot. I was dining alone, so they sat me with another woman there by herself. I forgot that most people don’t photograph their food because she looked at me like I had three heads when I whipped out my camera.

Blue Bottle Coffee Soy Gelato was the flavor of the day!

I met up with Kristen at Gracias Madre and was extremely impressed.
After trying to decide for a realllly long time, I went with the Quesadillas de Calabaza. Butternut squash quesadillas, cashew crema, topped with pumpkin seeds. I also got a side of refried beans which are hands down the best I’ve ever had.

I would totally have regretted not getting the flan. This was my first flan experience, vegan or not, and the air-y creamy cloud-like dessert in my mouth was worth every bite, even though I was already extremely full.

Not pictured are Paxti’s deep dish pizza, lots of Pepple’s donuts, a second visit to Souley (this time for brunch), and the potluck food at Vegan Happy Hour!
I stayed with Jen and Nate during my trip, so Sugar Beat Sweets desserts were readily available! Their vanilla cupcake is easily the best I’ve ever had.
The San Francisco Vegan Bake Sale was going on that Saturday, so I got a few different baked goods before they (quickly!) sold out. I had the pleasure of meeting Laura and Meave from the Vegansaurus crew, as well as Colleen from VegNews.
The vegan community is absolutely awesome. And I’m jealous of Rainbow Grocery, and the access to fresh produce from the stands in the Mission in January!

I spent my last day there with Erika and Jordan and we recorded an episode of The Cosmopolitan Hour. Check it out here!

Illustration by Kelly McClellan

It’s two months later and I still regret having to leave! Thank you, Bay Area for such a great time. I can’t wait to visit again, and definitely foresee a one-way ticket there sometime in the next few years!

Vegan Pizza Day, Snow Day, Vegan Food Truck Day, and Birthday

The collection of food photos I took recently are all incredibly random and I like to OCD categorize things, so realizing most of them were all for some sort of special day came easy.
I swear I will edit and upload the photos from, and blog about my San Francisco trip one of these days!

First up is in celebration of January 29th, which is Vegan Pizza Day. Vegans worldwide celebrated this day by dining at pizzerias, ordering out, or making their own pies. Vegan Milwaukee had a dinner meetup at Transfer Pizzeria. I ordered a personal pie with garlic, artichokes, fresh basil, olives, and cheese (they use Teese).
An off-topic note: I was just thinking about how very few restaurants in Milwaukee use vegan cheese and those that do are all pizzerias (and the Riverwest Co-op), and none use Daiya cheese. I think Comet Cafe would be the perfect candidate for adding vegan cheese to the menu, given they serve decadent comfort food and have a large vegan menu.

A few days later, the “Snowpocalypse” descended upon the nation, and Milwaukee was no exception. I got out of school halfway through my day on Tuesday, and the entire city appeared to shut down on Wednesday. I have Wednesdays off anyway, so there was not much to be gained out of a snow day. Anyway, I was scrolling through my facebook news feed on Tuesday and saw Casablanca was offering their lunch buffet for half off for the snow day! $4 for all you can eat vegan Middle Eastern food. The only non-vegan items were a couple of the desserts. How can you go wrong?!
This was plate number one.

I hadn’t legitimately gone grocery shopping in weeks when Wednesday rolled around, so for breakfast, I made a tofu scramble using everything I could scrape together from the fridge. Luckily I finally went shopping yesterday.

If you’re familiar with the Chicago vegan scene, you probably know of the Ste Martaen vegan food truck. They travel around the city selling vegan soul food to hungry herbivores. They decided to start coming up to Milwaukee once in a while and after a few weeks, they decided to come up EVERY Saturday. How cool! I feel like a child running after the ice cream truck whenever Ste Martaen is in town.
This is from the first week: maple bbq drumsticks! Yum. I couldn’t wait to devour, so the picture is a little hazy.

Always end with cupcakes! I decided to make the hugest cupcake ever for my friend Ryan’s birthday last month. It is two mini cake pan’s worth of chocolate cake, and that mound on top is 100% frosting! It’s a little bit ridiculous, but that’s how we roll.