Vegan Vacation: Providence, RI

Providence is a great place for a weekend getaway. Here are my recommendations of what to do:

Accommodations:













We stayed at the Providence Biltmore, which is on the more expensive end of hotel options. It's centrally-located in the heart of downtown Providence and has a Starbucks in the lobby (easy access to soy lattes sealed the deal on our decision to stay here).

One nice aspect of Providence is that the hotels are all fairly reasonably-priced (even the Providence Biltmore is less than $200 per night for a standard room) and most of the hotels are located within a few blocks of the capital.

Vegan-Friendly Restaurants:















Julian's: A hip restaurant that serves brunch on weekends. I've been to Julian's three times and I've never had less than a 45-minute wait to be seated. The food is well worth the wait, however. There is a separate vegan menu with items like cinnamon orange french toast, gingerbread pancakes and vegan "eggs" with hollandaise sauce. There is also an extensive drink menu - the strawberry shortcake mimosa comes highly recommended.

Nice Slice: A pizza restaurant near Brown's campus with a large selection of vegan pizza toppings and sandwiches. My personal favorite is the vegan buffalo chicken pizza, made with peppercorn ranch sauce and soy cheese. In the summer, Nice Slice has soy ice cream for dessert.















Garden Grille Cafe and Juice Bar: A small cafe in Pawtucket, located just 10 minutes' drive from downtown Providence. Garden Grille has a large selection of vegan appetizers, entrees and desserts, not to mention incredible homemade juice concoctions. Pictured above: a vegan sausage tamale, covered with mole sauce and pineapple corn salsa, served with dollops of cilantro lime sour "cream."

Providence Attractions:














In the winter, the outdoor ice skating rink is a popular destination. During the summer, the river walk lights up with torches and gondola rides on Saturday nights. The Rhode Island School of Design has world-class art exhibitions year-round. Brown University hosts a large number of performances and interesting speakers. The Cable Car Cinema offers a nice selection of independent and foreign films, shown in a cozy theater with faux-leather sofas instead of the usual fold-down movie theater seats. The concession stand even sells falafel sandwiches and soy lattes!

Other Rhode Island Attractions:















Take a day trip to Newport. It's only 45-minutes from Providence and it has a number of interesting attractions. Newport is home to the Newport Mansions, some of the most opulent homes in the US. For a nominal fee, you can tour the inside of mansions with an audio guide and wander around the grounds. Unlike many of the castles in Europe, the Newport Mansions still have their original furnishings. The gift shop at The Breakers even has vegan brownies!















Another popular Newport attraction is the cliff walk, a 3.5 mile walk along the rugged shoreline. There is a great view of some of the Newport mansions from the walk, in addition to the beautiful natural scenery.

Vegan Vacation: Iceland

I just got back from a fabulous spring break trip to Reykjavik and now I'm thoroughly convinced that everyone should travel there at least once. Here are some reasons that it's really an ideal (if often overlooked) vacation spot:

Budget-Happy















With the recent collapse of Iceland's banking system, the US dollar now is worth double its usual value in Icelandic Krona. To top it off, IcelandAir is offering great travel deals to entice more tourists to visit. It's a win-win situation for curious travelers and Icelanders alike. For $480, I got a round trip flight from Boston and two nights of hotel stay (including taxes). Many similar deals are available on Icelandair.com

Eco-Friendly















Iceland has a lot of natural beauty and the residents don't seem eager to spoil it with pollution. Nearly all of the hot water in Reykjavik is heated naturally in Iceland's geothermal pools. The city's power is generated by a geothermal plant. The grocery stores have a hefty $1 plastic bag fine. Some of the takeout restaurants will even lend out metal utensils as long as you promise to bring them back.

Vegan Restaurants Galore















In spite of the fact that the national dish of Iceland is hakarl (spoiled shark meat), there are many restaurants with delicious vegan options:

A Naestu Grosum is an all-vegetarian restaurant with daily vegan specials and vegan coconut barley cake. It's the oldest vegetarian restaurant in Reykjavik and its one of the few places that serves raw foods.

Gardurinn (Ecstasy's Heart Garden) is a small all-vegetarian cafe that makes a different soup and entree each day. The soup is served with homeade bread and hummus. There is always at least one vegan option.

Graenn Kostur is a vegetarian restaurant with an emphasis on health foods. Many of the dishes are wheat-free and there is always a vegan daily special.

Kaffi Hljomalind is a hip vegetarian coffee shop that has a large number of vegan baked goods available each day. Better yet, they don't charge extra to add soy milk to your coffee! Its also a favorite hangout of the lead singer of Sigur Ros.

Yggdrasil and Madur Lifandi are two health food stores in the area that have an excellent selection of vegan products (including individual servings of soy ice cream).

Many other vegan-friendly restaurants in Reykjavik can be found at Vegguide.org

Favorable Weather





Ok, Reykjavik isn't the tropical destination that many would choose for spring break, but the climate is much more temperate than one would imagine for the capital of ICEland. In fact, Reykjavik is warmer at this time of year than most of Northern New England.




Unique Cultural Experiences















There are a number of art galleries and museums dedicated primarily to the works of Icelandic artists throughout the city of Reykjavik. There are three museums in Reykjavik that are dedicated to viking-related paraphernaila:

Reykjavik 871 +/- 2 contains an actual viking longhouse and makes use of innovative technology

The Saga Museum has a collection of wax vikings in gruesome poses and an excellent audio tour describing highlights of Sagas of Icelanders

The National Museum has artifacts from throughout the history of Iceland

World-Class Spas















Going to outdoor geothermal pools is a national pastime. You can find these pools in most of the larger towns in Iceland. The Blue Lagoon is probably the most famous. With its lava rock "beaches," picturesque bridges and ethereal mist, its no wonder that the Blue Lagoon was voted "best location for a marriage proposal" by a majority of British women in a travel magazine survey.

Other important details for American tourists:
-English is spoken everywhere in Iceland
-Tipping is not customary in restaurants in Reykjavik
-The hot water in hotel showers comes from geothermal pools, so it smells like sulfur. You will get used to the smell and stop noticing it after a few days.

Foods to Avoid (if you're vegan)
-Mjolk (milk)
-Smjor (butter)
-Ostar (cheese)
-Skyr (yogurt)
-Kjot (meat)
-Fiskur (fish)

Vegan Coconut Fudge

Elizabeth made a delicious batch of vegan fudge for tea last week. After eating all of the leftovers in the grad lounge fridge, I just had to get my hands on the recipe. Here it is:

Vegan Coconut Fudge

1.5 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/4 c dutch process cocoa powder
2 T margarine
1/2 c coconut milk
1/2 t vanilla extract

Line a baking pan (I think 8x12" would be about the right size) with at least 1 inch sides with parchment, leaving the parchment to extend a bit up the sides. Mix the chocolate, sugar and cocoa together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Mix the margarine and coconut milk together in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Stir and heat until the margarine has melted and bubbles just start to form. Remove it from the stove and immediately pour the hot coconut over the chocolate mixture.

Let it sit for about a minute, and then stir well to melt the chocolate completely. If it seems that it has cooled too much, try putting the dish over a bowl of hot water and stirring constantly until you have a nice smooth mixture. But, try not to stir it too much! Add the vanilla, stir, and then pour the fudgy goodness into the parchment lined baking pan, pressing it into the corners and smoothing out the top. Let the fudge cool completely before cutting it. I covered mine once it was room temp, and tossed it in the fridge to firm it up even more.

Glazed Lime Cake

Elizabeth baked some delicious vegan cake for our daily Math Department tea, so I had to get the recipe from her. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup margarine, room temperature
2 1/2 cup powdered sugar, divided
1 Tbsp Egg Replacer, mixed with 1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup soy milk
1 1/3 cup self-rising flour (or 1 1/3 cup flour and 1 1/4 tsp baking powder)
2 large limes
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. "Butter" and flour an 8x8 inch baking pan.

2) Cream the margarine with 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Beat in Egg Replacer mixture, then soymilk, then flour.

3) Scrape batter into a pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for about 35 minutes (until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).

4) While the cake is baking, grate 1 Tbsp lime peel and squeeze 1/4 cup lime juice. Mix peel, lime juice and 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl and let rest.

5) When the cake is completely baked, poke lots of holes in it with a skewer. Spoon about half of the lime syrup over the cake and let cool.

6) Whist the remaining 1 cup powdered sugar into the remaining syrup. Drizzle over the cake. Let stand 1 hour, then cut into squares.

Vegan Vacation: Montreal

Ben and I went to Montreal for Valentine's Day. We actually drove up Saturday and stayed until Monday afternoon (one of the many perks of being a graduate student is having a flexible schedule).

Saturday

We stopped in Montpelier on the way to Montreal and ate a spectacular Valentine's Day brunch at Kismet Kitchen. I ate generous helpings of tofu scramble, roasted root vegetables and vegan crepes, served with homemade rose-infused (soy) hot chocolate.

We arrived at our hotel, Le Terra Nostra Bed and Breakfast, about two and a half hours later. Mireille, the lady who runs the B&B, gave us lists of vegan-friendly restaurants in Montreal and even agreed to make us vegan banana crepes for breakfast the next morning.

Our beautiful Asia-themed room at Le Terra Nostra:

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner at Spirite Lounge:

The meal consisted of spinach and "cheese" pate served with homemade bread and fruit coulis, vegan moussaka, and chocolate cake served with apricot sorbet. The restaurant owner/chef/waiter even brought us cups of special tea that was supposed to give us lucid dreams. With the student discount, our dinner came out to $13/person - quite a deal for a three-course gourmet vegan dinner. The only catch is that the restaurant has a no waste policy, which means that any customer who fails to finish the food on his plate will be told to leave the restaurant and never return. Fortunately Ben and I both have a healthy appetite so this wasn't a problem.

Sunday

We woke up late on Sunday morning and decided to eat brunch at Aux Vivre, the other all-vegan restaurant in Montreal:

The service was slow, but the food was definitely worth the wait. My tofu scramble, jalapeno cornbread and coconut tempeh bacon were all superb. I was especially impressed with the Bombay Banana smoothie - banana, coconut milk, ginger, masala, cane sugar and candied dates, blended to perfection.

We spent the afternoon walking around Old Montreal, where we visited the crafts market at Bonsecours and wandered into some art galleries. We ate dinner at Chu Chai, a vegetarian Thai restaurant that serves Absinthe and hundreds of mock meat dishes. After dinner, we did some window shopping along Rue St. Denis (one of the big shopping streets in Montreal).

Monday

On Monday, we became nostalgic for academic life and visited the McGill University Campus.

We wandered around the underground city and the (above ground) campus for a bit, stopping to visit the Redpath Museum. We ate lunch at Le Commensal, a pay-by-weight vegetarian restaurant that is located about 2 blocks from the McGill University Gateway. The best part about Le Commensal was the sheer number of choices - I tried to sample everything labeled "vegan" but there were just too many options!

Vegan Lunch Makeover

I got sick of spending $8-$10 every day on the same three vegan lunch options in downtown Hanover, so I decided to start bringing my own lunch. With a little planning, I eat a much healthier, tastier lunch that amounts to $5 per day.

I use my evenings to do the "Home Preparation" steps, then I bring all of the ingredients into my office the next morning and store them in the Graduate Lounge fridge. At lunch time, I just have to do the "Assembly" steps, which take about 5 minutes.

Easy Vegan Lunch Ideas:

1) Pretentious Sandwich















Serve with: Terra chips (the red beet and sweet potato variety is cheapest and very tasty) and a bottle of Pom (I like the pomegranate lychee green tea)

Grocery List:
Zesty lemon hummus, arugula, red peppers, and Tofutti soy cheese. If you have a bread machine, buy bread flour and yeast (I buy bulk yeast from the fridge section of my grocery store; 1 large container has enough yeast for about 15-20 loaves of bread and costs $1.17). Otherwise, buy a loaf of French bread.

Home Preparation:
Set aside one or two nights each week to roast the red peppers and bake a loaf of bread (if you have a bread machine). Roasting takes about 30 minutes and the roasted peppers will keep for up to 5 days in a Ziplock bag (see instructions for roasting in my "Tapas" entry).

At-Work Assembly:
Place 1-2 slices of soy cheese on bread and toast both sides. Add roasted red peppers, arugula, and zesty lemon hummus.

Cost Per Lunch: $3.00 for Pom + $0.70 for 1/5 of a large bag of Terra chips + $0.35 per Tofutti "cheese" slice + $0.50 for 1/6 of a tub of hummus + $0.40 for 1/3 of a red pepper + $0.50 for 1/3 of a baguette = $5.45


2) Taco Salad

Serve with: Simply Limeade (juice)

Grocery List: Gimme Lean ground "beef," iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion, Tofutti soy sour cream, Vegan Gourmet cheddar, Trader Joe's corn salsa, vegetarian refried beans, Old El Paso taco seasoning

Home Preparation: Fry the Gimme Lean in a small amount of vegetable oil, then add water and Old El Paso taco seasoning. Use a wooden fork to break the faux meat into small pieces. Store in tupperware. Grate the Vegan Gourmet cheddar and place in a Ziplock bag. Chop tomatoes and onions, shred lettuce and also place in Zip Lock bags.

At-Work Assembly: Layer lettuce with chopped veggies, refried beans, faux meat, soy sour cream, grated "cheese," and corn salsa.

Cost Per Lunch : $0.50 for 1/3 can of refried beans + $0.50 for 1/4 tube of Gimme Lean + $0.25 for 1/4 of taco seasoning + $0.50 for 1/6 tub of soy sour cream + $0.75 for 1/6 block of Vegan Gourmet + $0.50 for 1/6 jar of corn salsa + $1.00 for veggies + $1.00 for 1/4 bottle of Limeade = $5.00

Vegan Vacation: Trip to Farm Sanctuary

Ben and I took a trip to Farm Sanctuary (Watkins Glen, NY) in September to visit my adopted sheep Maggie.

On our drive down, we stopped in Northampton, MA to eat lunch at Cafe Evolution. While we were there, we decided to stock up on some of their INCREDIBLE vegan cupcakes:



After about 5 hours of driving, we arrived at our destination: The Log Country Inn Bed and Breakfast. We had originally planned to stay in one of the B&B cabins at Farm Sanctuary but it turned out that they were booked for the entire month of September when we called in mid-August. It worked out just as well. We ended up staying in a beautiful jacuzzi suite:



The proprietress of the Log Country Inn made us a delicious breakfast of vegan blintzes served with different types of jam on the first morning. On the second morning, she made vegan potato pancakes, served with fresh fruit.

We spent the better part of our first full day in upstate NY visiting Farm Sanctuary. First, we went on a VIP tour to see Maggie:

(She's the one with the dark face standing behind me - she was too shy to let me get very closer to her)

Next, we took a group tour of the entire farm. The tour guide explained to us that pigs are bred to have unnaturally white skin (in order to make their meat lighter) so the people working at Farm Sanctuary have to apply sunscreen to the pigs every day so that they don't get sunburned! Ben was so impressed by this that he decided to adopt a pig named Chuck:

(Ben with a pig - not Chuck)

We spent the rest of our trip in Ithaca, walking around Cornell University's campus and exploring the boutiques and hippie stores. There were a number of wonderful vegetarian restaurants in the area (not to mention the fact that almost every restaurant seemed to have a decent vegan option the menu).


Lodging
1) Farm Sanctuary offers its own Bed & Breakfast that has rooms available from May-October. Guests stay in rustic cabins and use restroom facilities in the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center also has a gift shop which has a wide range of vegan snacks available (ranging from granola bars and cookies to extremely decadent chocolate raspberry truffles!). The $85 room rate includes a continental breakfast of vegan pastries and bagels served with juice, fruit, coffee and tea. Reservations fill up quickly, so call early.

2) The Log Country Inn is approximately 40 minutes from Farm Sanctuary by car and its rooms are available year-round. Guests have a variety of rooms and suites to choose from, some of which include lavish jacuzzi baths. The proprietress is more than happy to make vegan breakfasts (she even advertises this on the website). Rooms range from $70 to $200 for two people.

3) The Ginger Cat Bed and Breakfast is located about 15 minutes' drive from Farm Sanctuary and its rooms are available May-October. The Ginger Cat features two guest bedrooms with a shared bathroom. Vegan breakfast is served every morning and a lavish vegan brunch buffet is available on weekends. Rooms are $85 for two people.

Restaurants
1) Moosewood Restaurant - famous for its vegetarian cookbooks, Moosewood always has a couple of vegan items on the menu.
2) Pizza Aroma - makes pizza with Vegan Gourmet soy cheese
3) ABC Cafe - cute vegetarian cafe/bar on Cornell campus
4) Great Escape Ice Cream Parlor - ice cream parlor that has soft-serve soy ice cream!
5) Everything Wellness Bookstore and Raw Foods Cafe - raw foods cafe in downtown Ithaca