Empire State of Eating

It's been a delicious week!  I got to go to New York City for a co-op marketing conference (a perk of my new position at the co-op), so I tried to make the most of with with exploring, eating out more than necessary and getting lost.

A HUGE excitement during this trip was that I got to meet my "west coast twin."  After about 2 years of emailing each other, Facebook stalking each other and sending care packages, Melissa and I finally met!

And despite our fears that we might actually not like each other after this long-distance, virtual friendship, we loved every minute together!  We took this picture on the subway, after accidentally taking the train to Brooklyn (instead of Manhattan) at around midnight.  Forty minutes, a subway rat and a crazy lady yelling sexual invitations for her dog later we were safely back to our hotel.

I should have gotten a photo of the Westerly Market because this little natural foods store was amazing!  They had tons of grab-n-go vegan sandwiches, vegan knishes and the best selection of raw foods Mel and I had ever seen.  We're talking the full line of Dr. Cow nut cheeses, two whole endcap displays of raw chocolates and an entire aisle of raw crackers and chip-type-things.  Crazy!

I didn't get a photo of the food from our picnic in Times Square, but we had and awesome raw foods snack:   Kimchi crackers and dehydrated onion-y daikon chips with Dr. Cow cashew cheese, nutritional yeast-y kale chips and a naturally fermented ginger beer.

I also got to meet up with my friend Luis who used to work with me at the co-op.  Hooray!  We went out to Sacred Chow for a super yummy meal.  I had the 1/2 Orange Barbecue Seitan Hero with a Caesar Salad and an Original Sin cider (made in NY).  Yep, that hero above was a 1/2 sandwich.  I don't think I could have eaten a whole one!  The sandwich was really filling and the seitan was awesome.  I usually prefer my barbecue sauce to be more tangy, but this one had really great flavor- even if it was on the sweet side.  Melissa's Dijon Marinated Kale was so delicious- I'm going to have to try to replicate that at home!

Hmmm... This post is all out of order, but that's okay.  The first night in NY, Melissa and I went to Hummus Place.  Guess what I had?  Hummus!  This hummus was really something special- Drizzled with olive oil and topped with sautéed mushrooms and served with fluffy, hot pita bread!  I also had some yummy pickles and this "Mediterranean Mojito" that had a ridiculous quantity of mint in it, lime juice and wine instead of hard liquor.  And it was frosty-frozen.  I am definitely making this at home sometime!  The kids would really love a non-wine version.

On my last night in NY I headed to Candle Cafe with my old friend Monica (again, who I used to work with at the co-op) and 3 new friends from west coast co-ops.  We started with some rockin' quesadillas filled with veggies and Daiya cheese- we all agreed that this was the best part of the meal!  I had the Cajun Seitan Sandwich with coleslaw.  The seitan was really crispy and tasted deep-fried.  It had a fantastic texture!  But the flavor of the sandwich overall was really bland.  A little sprinkle of salt on the avocado and greens would have helped.  And some cajun spices on the seitan would have been great.  I was expecting something a little bit spicy.  The ancho chili aioli saved the day with its Veganaise-y goodness, though, and made the sandwich overall pretty good.

After our dinner we took the subway over to Lula's Sweet Apothecary.  I knew that I'd regret it if I didn't make it to this ice cream shop on my trip.  It was close, but we arrived an hour before they closed on my last night in New York!  I tasted the caramel, marshmallow, graham cracker flavor and it rocked my world...but I really wanted a malt without hunks of things in it, so I opted for a classic chocolate malt.  Oh. my. goodness.  I had never met a malt I couldn't finish until this one.  Made from cashews, this ice cream is incredibly rich.  I couldn't make it through this whole shake even after sipping nearly the whole trip back to the hotel!  It was thick, gooey and malt-y.  Yum!

I really enjoyed my time in New York- I got to see tons of landmarks all by accident while exploring and hunting down these restaurants!  But, homebody that I am, I am really happy to be back home right now: just sitting in my kitchen, eating biscuits and sipping decaf while I type to you.