Squash stabbing and VeganMoFo wrap-up

Happy Halloween!

I stabbed a butternut squash yesterday to have something orange for Halloween. (The color almost matches the VeganMoFo banner.) During Sandy, my boyfriend and I cooked up a storm. Our fridge and freezer are now packed with veggie chili, veggie soup, homemade bread, and baked butternut.    

Baked butternut

Vegan Month of Food 2012 has been great fun. It's inspiring to have this flurry of vegan food awesomeness before the holidays. (It's like preventative kryptonite against The Splendid Table's Turkey Confidential episode.) 

I have discovered some great new-to-me blogs, including a local one on baking, Leaves and Flours, that has been seriously tempting me to buy speculoos spread. Personally, I hit the wall on sweets early. So no Halloween candy this year. 

VeganMoFo has inspired me to: 

• cook some crazy dishes 
• bake more
• dine out
• shop at local farmers' markets
• review Sarah Kramer's app
• invent a recipe
• taste test my cat's food
• write 20 posts for the month!    

Next year, my goal is to sign up promptly, in time for the official blogroll. And possibly have a theme. In the meantime, I'm going to continue blogging here, on my various vegan adventures in the District of Columbia.

Busboys and Poets sandwich fix

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I braved the elements to visit Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th Street NW, for lunch. We used to be regulars at the Busboys location at 5th & K. Now we live closer to the restaurant's original location at 14th & V, which I love for its Teaching For Change Bookstore. In general, this location always seems much busier than our old "BBP." Even during the storm, the dining area was crowded with a strong laptop contingent.  

Busboys' menu has grown in the year since we last visited. It is great to see that they've added loads of vegan items. We started our meal with greens. On the left is my bowl of kale. This simple, garlicky side would pair well with anything and made a nice alternative to the salad options. On the right is my boyfriend's house salad. He said the mixed greens weren't as choice as they have been in the past.

Next we ordered sandwiches. On the left is a new menu item: the vegan tuna salad sandwich. The "tuna salad" was a mash-up of chickpeas, relish, nori, carrots, celery, and red onions. It tasted fresh and rather wholesome, with no processed fake meat products. On the right is the veggie burger which was much tastier than its past incarnations. It is a spicy lentil-based burger that is served with arugula, avocado, and tomato. Of course, the cinnamony sweet potato fries stole the show. And the vegan mayo was abundant.    

Finally, I noticed that Busboys has branded organic ketchup now. It is a "store brand," manufactured by Red Gold in Indiana. My boyfriend prefers Heinz but I thought this ketchup did the trick. The restaurant didn't have any hot sauce on the tables, but maybe it is reserved for their brunch menu. Sadly, we had no room for dessert. Busboys carries Vegan Treats.  

Columbia Heights Community Marketplace Haul

This weekend I finally made it to the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace. Located in the Columbia Heights civic plaza at the corner of 14th ST NW and Park Road NW, this small, busy community market is both a farmers' market and a space for local artists and artisans. On the day I visited there was a pottery vendor and salsa dancing. The CHCM organizers refer to the marketplace as a "Festivus." (However, I don't think they are referencing the Seinfeld episode.) The market's 2012 season lasts until December 15th. Like every farmers' market in my neighborhood, it happens on Saturdays, from 9am to 1pm. It is also a stone's throw from the Columbia Heights Metro station and Sticky Fingers bakery.

Overall, I was most impressed with the produce stands. Some of the veggies and fruits on display looked almost too perfect. One fruit stand sign that caught my eye was for the Nittany apple, a less glossy offering. I've eaten this apple variety in the past but I didn't realize it was introduced by scientists at my alma mater, Penn State University. A cross between a Golden Delicious and a York apple, this apple has a slightly tart flavor and golden yellow flesh. Its fruit oxidizes very slowly, so it doesn't turn brown quickly when sliced. It is also supposed to be excellent for baking, which I'd like to put to the test.

This week's market haul included a variety of apples, habaneros, bell peppers, vegan whole wheat bread, heirloom and cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, collards, arugula, kale, and chard. Also I finally bought a butternut squash. I'm so glad I scored all this local, fresh food before the Hurricane Sandy shopping hysteria began.   

ModPo Cocoa

The Wing-It Vegan blog's hot chocolate has inspired me to do a similar "lazy post." So here's my hot cocoa mug. Using almond milk and Ghirardelli cocoa, I made a veganized version of this Hershey's recipe. I also added some coconut cream that refused to whip up (drat!). This cocoa was a rich and creamy treat.

I enjoyed this mug while watching a video from the Coursera class I am taking on Modern and Contemporary Poetry, a.k.a. "ModPo." Besides VeganMoFo, ModPo has been keeping me glued to my laptop this month. How I love this class! The professor Al Filreis is a dynamo and the TAs are all wicked smart. There are so many passionate poetry peeps online. Right now we are studying The New York School of poetry and doing a close reading of Frank O'Hara's poem "Why I Am Not a Painter." Next week we start the Language poets. It's thrilling stuff.

Smoke and Barrel's brunch buffet

In my opinion, eating at a BBQ joint always poses an ethical quandary for vegans. It's difficult to enjoy your salad while others are enjoying their slab of ribs. Lately, DC has exploded with BBQ places. It is hard not to hate on this meaty trend. However the owners of Smoke and Barrel, at 2471 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan, haven't forgotten how to make vegans feel welcome. As their sign says, they offer a brunch buffet with "Vegan Options Too!"

Smoke and Barrel is located in the former space of Asylum, a once popular, pseudo biker bar that had some killer vegan eats. In its new incarnation, the restaurant/bar feels more like a high-end man cave than its previous punk rock grotto-vibe. Think craft beer, flat screen TVs, and a wooden barrel and red brick decor. (The owners are also responsible for Meridian Pint in Columbia Heights.)

These are some blurry photos of the weekend buffet. The drink on the left is my boyfriend's half empty full Bloody Mary. This was an excellent libation; a delicious meal in itself. On the right is a buffet plate with french toast, tofu hash, hash brown potatoes, grits, and a flour tortilla filled with tofu scramble and vegan chili. 

Even though it looks like an unattractive, brown blob here, the french toast was my favorite item--chewy and cinnamony. My boyfriend preferred the roasted jalapeno grits. The buffet also featured plenty of condiments, including salsa, maple syrup, and various hot sauces. And they offered unlimited coffee with soy milk.    

Overall, I enjoyed the buffet. It helped that the vegan food was well-labeled and kept in separate warmers from the meat and dairy offerings. In fact, the veggie stuff seemed loads more popular than the meaty BBQ brunch fare. Maybe one day the owners will make the buffet all-vegan. That would be a rad return to the ethos of punk rock.     

VeganMoFo inspired...Scramble Tofu Breakfast Bahn Mi

Here's another VeganMoFo inspired creation. I wanted to try out this recipe by Terry Hope Romero, recently recommended by Isa Chandra Moskowitz on the Post Punk Kitchen blog. I love bahn mi sandwiches and tofu scrambles, so this seemed like a winner combo.

The Scramble Tofu Breakfast Bahn Mi has an elaborate recipe. (As my boyfriend often puts it, "Sandwiches don't make themselves.") I skipped the pickle step, as I couldn't find daikon or star anise at my local markets. I also changed up the spices, making it a more Indian-style scramble, with some garam masala in the mix. And I went with thin slices for the veggies, rather than matchsticks, as I've got crappy knife skills.

Despite my changes, the resulting sandwiches were unique and satisfying. I made them for dinner rather than breakfast, which was good because they were dinner-sized, super messy, and food coma-inducing. If I make this style of sammie again, I would skip the vegan mayo, as the bahn mi seemed saucy enough with the tofu scramble juices and chili garlic sauce.

Bahn mi close-up

VeganMoFo inspired...Cookie Dough Truffles

Over the weekend I made cookie dough truffles, which I spotted in a post on the tumblr busted afternoon. I like this site's Buffy the Vampire Slayer MoFo theme; it's very Halloween appropriate too.

Sidenote: Speaking of Halloween VeganMoFo themes, my Netflix que has been growing considerably from posts like this at The Spooky Vegan blog. Next week I'd like to attempt a Halloween recipe, as it seems like all the cool MoFo bloggers are doing them.

This cookie dough truffle recipe seems like something you would pin on Pinterest but never actually make. But VeganMoFo is encouraging me to try some new things, including cat food. And now these crazy truffles.

This simple, no-bake recipe comes from Chef Chloe Coscarelli, who I heard interviewed recently on the Toronto Vegetarian Podcast. (Chef Chloe seems as sweet as her recipes.) The recipe is easier than baking actual cookies and would be a good option to make in the summer, when you don't feel like firing up the oven. You also get to dip cookie dough balls in chocolate, which is messy fun.

The recipe made loads, so there were truffles to share. Being an ingredients examiner myself*, I gave everyone a head's up on the truffle filling but it'd be interesting to surprise someone with a shock of dough.

*This reminds me of the vegan lightbulb joke:
Q. How many vegans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. Two--one to screw in the bulb and one to check the ingredients first.