Kavarna Vegetarian Coffeehouse

See that? That's my delicious lunch last Sunday at Kavarna in Green Bay, WI. I had the Mediterranean Burrito described by their menu as "a toasted pita with Kavarna's homemade hummus, baba ghanouge, and marinated roma tomatoes" with "fresh cucumbers, onions, and organic sunflower sprouts".

I wouldn't mind a second helping right now. I opted for the chips instead of the grapes as my side, but that was a good choice as I needed something with which to scoop up and devour the hummus oozing out the sides of the sandwich.

My beverage of choice on an unseasonably cold and rainy August day? Rosewater Lemonade. Yes, a hot soy latte might have been more fitting, but I wanted to try their lemonade. It was great. It smelled like my great-grandmother (and her rose-scented lotions) but tasted great. (My meal totaled $8.91 which was more than fair. The whole menu, in addition to being well labeled for vegans and others with allergies/sensitivities, was quite reasonable in that regard.)

I look forward to stopping in again the next time I'm up that way.

Mmm... curry.

Here's my 2nd favorite dog (sorry Pogo, my parents' dog holds the #1 spot) begging for curry we made while keeping her company last weekend.


It's just a quick combo of chickpeas, zuchinni, fresh tomatoes from my patio, onion, garlic, and cilantro on brown rice.

Today I'll be up to Green Bay and checking out the Kavarna Vegetarian Coffeehouse mentioned by Green Bay Vegan on the VFF a while back. (A friend of mine is really obsessed with Alice Cooper and I told her I'd come to the concert up there with her if we could eat at this place.) I'm looking forward to writing a little review on my return.

I'm not sure what all has been going on lately, but I've been distracted from cooking or even photographing the take-out we're eating. Guess I've got a lot going on. I can't wait to blog my Tokyo trip (and the likely NOT VEGAN experiences I'll have going someplace I can't speak the language) though, so hopefully October will be a more active month here.

Been a while.

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I actually have photos on my camera and just haven't been arsed to upload them and post.

In lieu of food blogging, here's a comic that cracked me up in the paper today:


Since the local paper stopped running Bizarro I have to get my occassional veggie comedy from Get Fuzzy.

It's been a slow week.

I can't say I've cooked anything of consequence this week. I've spent most of my time trying to catch up in Harry Potter so I can see the 5th movie and figuring out what all I need to do to go to Japan in October. (Ticket is taken care of, now I just need to plan what I'm doing while there and how to get around.)

So, here's last Saturday's grub; a tomato salad with the first red tomato from my patio garden and the polished off cup Italian Ice from The Chocolate Shoppe which features many flavors of non-dairy Italian Ice and a handful of soy ice creams in addition to the usual dairy variety.

Raspberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Adapted from a recipe for Blueberry Pancakes that ran in the Wisconsin State Journal this week, originally coming from the Star Tribune. The original was attributed to Scott Rosenbaum of the Wilde Roast Cafe.


Clean and dry 1 C raspberries (or other berries) and set aside.

Mix and set aside:
1/2 C flour
3 tsp baking powder (that's powder, NOT soda)

In a 2nd, large bowl mix and set aside fo 5 minutes:
1/2 C cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt
1 T sugar
1/2 C boiling water

In a 3rd, small bowl mix and let sit for 5 minutes:
1/3 C soy milk (originally 1/4 C milk)
1 T ground flax seeds (orig. 1 egg)
4 T melted Earth Balance (orig. 1/2 stick butter)

Add the milk mix into the cornmeal mix, then add the flour. Thin out with as much soy milk as needed to get a nice batter consistency. (For softer cornmeal, make and set in the fridge overnight.) Pour/spoon a 1/4 c onto a pan on medium heat. (If making one at a time, wipe pan with a moist towel between cakes to clear the burned berrie residue from the pan.) Place berries onto cooking batter before flipping.


Top with fresh berries, powdered sugar, and/or syrup. (I also cooked up some Lite Life faux sausage.)

Tagging meme

Ok, I normally don't do these on this blog, but Jen tagged me, so I feel obligated.

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Now the 8 true things.

1. I feel so L.A. because I'm vegan and have a therapist. Hollywood - Here I come! (Just kidding about going to Cali.)
2. I graduated college with a 2.998. Why couldn't we just call it a 3?
3. 1450 SAT is clearly no indicator of college success.
4. I don't mind my job, but I would really rather be a world traveller.
5. I haven't thrown up in a decade.
6. Robbie Williams is my musical guilty pleasure. (Westlife comes in a close second, along with Blue's "Fly By")
7. I talk a lot because I don't think I'm that interesting. Fill the space with words, says I, then noone will notice.
8. I'm a child of the 80's yet I have never seen The Karate Kid.

I'm tagging:
http://aithneroad.livejournal.com/
http://introspectivenavelgazing.blogspot.com/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sarahtomic/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/austenian/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/scarybug/
http://www.tablenaked.com/blogs/brian/
http://metallicearth.livejournal.com/
http://www.livejournal.com/users/frausensei/

That time of year.

My father's tomatoes (of which there will be thousands, no hyperbole) have not yet turned red, and the ceranos and jalepinos are also unripe, but it's still that time of year when I base my meals on what I can get fresh and/or free from someone's garden.


We had squash and corn earlier in the week, and another bucket of raspberries means we'll have vegan raspberry cornmeal pancakes on Saturday for brunch.


Tonight we'll have a spicy cucumber roll with brown rice and some yellow heirloom tomato and basil salad. Why those two incongruous dishes? Because I don't like cucumber salad and love sushi rolls, but I got both veggies free from one of the doctor's neighbor's garden and want to use them asap.


In my own bucket garden on the patio I'm about to get my first red cherry tomatoes. It may only be a handful, but I'm excited.


EDIT: Dinner ended up being Qdoba to go after I feel asleep all afternoon. We had take-out and watched The Departed at Jeff's parents' while he sorted some stuff out in his old room.

Last week Jeff did the cooking. It involved some rather tasty TV dinners (Ethnic Gourmet) and oven fries, but it's nice when he makes dinner. I enjoyed it.


Over the weekend we stayed at Jeff's parents' house and dog-sat. We had take-out Chinese and grilled out veggie hotdogs. Yeah, omni-subs aren't the best food, but you can't argue with the salad (w/ sundried tomato dressing) and fresh cherries that went along with them.




And just because, here's a bunny that let me get within 4 feet after we walked back from viewing fireworks Saturday night. There were three rabbits and two stuck around and let us watch them bounce and hop at one another. It didn't seem like mating, more like intimidation, but it was super cute. I was rooting for the tinier one.

TV News...

I know I shouldn't expect much from TV news (and w/o cable I find I'm usually unaware of it), but I just needed to share what I saw last Friday evening at Jeff's parents' house.


Come on MSNBC! Gitmo is a serious fucking issue, it does not deserve a ridiculous play-on-words headline undermining it.