"Grown Up" Vegan Bubble Tea

Being from Bayside/Flushing, Queens...and given that I'm a graduate of Stony Brook University (where I think at the time I attended, the school was 30% Asian ?) , it's no wonder I know about Asian food. That and I also was in an Asian Interest sorority. Yes, that's right. I was in a sorority! But moving on, moving ON!

Anywho,  back in my college days, bubble tea was a real treat. They were often milk teas, and often flavored with powder (purple taro was my fave), and it was so fun to chew on the tapioca balls we sucked up with our giant straws.

But in time I drifted from bubble tea. I started to become increasingly aware of health and didn't want a beverage with loads of sugar in it anymore. And then I went vegan. And I definitely didn't want no milk in my tea!

So that's why I'm glad Loving Hut, an Asian-centric vegan establishment, offers a grown-up version of bubble tea for me. I say "grown up" because not only is it vegan, it offers healthier options. They offer black or green tea, and you can add passionfruit or mango flavor if you want. As a sweetener, you could have agave or raw brown sugar. As a "milk", you could have coconut milk, rice milk, almond, or soy. How cool is that?!

I went with their green tea with coconut milk and raw brown sugar.

Frothy, light and refreshing.

I'm so glad there's a place where I can get my bubble tea fix. Thanks Loving Hut!

...And so, in keeping with this Asian theme, I will post again very soon about more Asian fare-namely sushi!

Till then. Have a great weekend everyone!

xo,

Ellie 

My Two Cents:Vegans. Holier Than Thou?

Vegans. Do we think we're better than other people?
A few months back I went on a date. He was not a vegan and asked me why I decided to go vegan.
So..I got into it. Or rather, he asked me more and more questions that prompted me to get into it...

I told him that it was essentially a spiritual thing (and the more I learned about the other reasons-environmental/ethical/health-it became a strengthened, integrative choice). I wanted to be a better me; a better human being. I wanted to make 'higher" spiritual choices. Then he said something that startled me..he said,"I'd be careful if I were you. You may be trying to be better than other people that way." Well! I blushed inwardly. Is that what I'm doing?! I never thought of it that way. I never thought of it in the context of "other people". I was just... focusing on myself, really. Isn't it part of Buddhism (and Hinduism) to elevate spiritually to..a god? Aren't we all (already) divine and base all at once? And don't we make choices on which end of the spectrum to go towards?

Hey, listen. What he said makes some sense. Vegans certainly have this stigma of being 'self-righteous' and 'holier than thou'. That idea didn't come out of thin air.

But you know what? Based on what this guy has told me about himself, he certainly had this 'thing' about staying humble and not trying to be 'better' than others. He told me about how he used to work in business and wear suits and now he's been going the other way. He sported a beard, shorts and sandals on our date. So that's his shit he was talking about. Totally subjective, I'm sure.

And for another thing, why should we shy away from 'bettering ourselves' in the fear that we are obnoxiously 'trying to' overshadow others?

Myth expert Joseph Campbell made a point that has stuck to the core of me, and it is part of my essential world view: By being the best person we can be, we do our part in making the world a better place.

I truly believe that. I do believe in activism, but I also believe that we help the world most by being our best selves-in ways that we will never comprehend fully, because this universe works in subtle and holistic ways.
So does this vegan think she's better than other non-vegans? Does it even matter? Let's just all do our thing, and be our truest, fullest selves, shall we? And don't apologize for it, damn it!

Rachel's Vegan Garden Party~Vegan Potato Salad

Enjoying a double scoop of mint chip ice cream from Raw Ice Cream Co.

Last Saturday, my dear friend Rachel had a Garden Party in her charming Sunset Park home. It was a good time with good people, and I left so stuffed!
The guests (including myself) supplied a plethora of stuff to eat and drink, and the grill was a-fired up! Some things people brought included summer rolls, chickpea pesto salad from Earthmatters, fruit-lots of fruit!, smart dogs, tofurkey kielbasas, boca crumbles in a lettuce wrap-with sriracha!,  guacamole and chips, mango salsa, grilled zucchini and baby bella mushrooms, bananas with a chocolate hazelnut spread, a huge tub of raw mint chip ice cream from Raw Ice Cream Co. (leftover from Veggie Prom)...you get the idea! PLUS a potato salad made by yours truly!

The scene-with lovely host Rachel Kay "trying not to" put her hand in the bag of tortilla chips!

Other host and roomie Rob grillin' it up!

Summer Rolls with Mango Jalapeno Sauce

Made by Jessica of Sundrops Organics, a delivery service offering natural products, food and juices. Cool, right?

www.SundropsOrganics.com

The night before the party, I made a vegan potato salad to bring to the event. It was, to my delight, very well received by the host and guests! It's a recipe I've made many times, and I've forgotten how good it is! The red wine vinegar adds a great tangy flavor.

So, I leave you with this recipe for a killer Summery Vegan Potato Salad:

Ingredients:

3 lbs red potatoes

1/2 cup chopped parlsey

1 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 heaping cup vegenaise

1/2 red onion, diced

1 celery stalk, chopped

freshly cracked black pepper (optional)

Note: Vegenaise is a vegan substitute for mayonnaise that makes you not miss traditional mayonnaise at all. Trust me. And if you don't, try it for yourself and see! I usually use the Original one in this recipe, but this time I used their Grapeseed one and it was also fantastic.

Instructions:

- Boil potatoes until they are soft. 

(Better too soft than too hard, but you'll want a little firmness to them. You can poke them with a fork before boiling, and poke them periodically to check on them.)

-Chop potatoes into quarters.

(I like to vary the size of the pieces, but leave most of them on the larger side.)

-Let potatoes cool more before gently mixing in the vegenaise, vinegar, onion, parsley and celery.

Note: The portion of vegenaise, parsley and vinegar can be more or less than the recipe suggests for your taste. I like my potato salad tangy!

Hope you are all having a delicious and fun summer!

xo,

Ellie

Housewarming BBQ Party~Massaged Kale with Miso Sesame Dressing~Lentil Burgers with Red Onions

 Smart Dog, Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Mushrooms, Polenta and Quinoa Cakes slathered with BBQ sauce, and  Black Bean and Corn Salad I brought over from

The Brooklyn Standard with hummus chips.

Last Sunday my vegan friend Shoshana (a real sweetie!) invited me over to her housewarming party in her Brooklyn backyard. Along with the great spread she had for us (pictured above), I brought over some delicious fare from my trusty neighborhood store Brooklyn Standard.

My friend Michelle was also there, and brought dessert! Some gluten-free Banana Walnut and Coffee Crumble Donuts from  Babycakes NYC...

And Shoshana made these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles. They were amazing- and luckily for all of us, a recipe is available!!

This treat was actually created by the famous chef Chloe Coscarelli. The recipe calls for a chocolate coating. Shoshana didn't get to putting on the top layer, and she made them with carob instead of chocolate, but it was still incredible! I recommend trying it yourself sometime.

Check it out here: http://chefchloe.com/sweets/vegan-cookie-dough-truffles.html

 Home Cooking Projects

Unfortunately, Michelle and I weren't able to stay very long at Shoshana's. Michelle had to work a shift at Candle 79, and I had an open mike to go to.  After singing, I stopped in my local store and bought some items to embark on some cooking projects of my own. I decided to make some dishes from some of my favorite food blogs. The first thing I made (with some beautiful kale I'd bought previously at a farmer's market) was...

Massaged Kale Salad with Gena Hamshaw's Outstanding Miso Sesame Dressing

Gena Hamshaw has this fantastic blog called Choosing Raw, full of useful info and inventive recipes involving creative food combos. Her writings are also very thoughtful. I'm such a fan!

You can find her website here: http://www.choosingraw.com/

And you can find the recipe to this salad and dressing here:

http://www.choosingraw.com/outstanding-miso-sesame-dressing/

Her recipe calls for mellow white miso, but the store didn't have any (damn you, Khim's!). So, I used the barley miso I had at home. Barley miso is stronger in flavor than white miso, so I used less than the recipe said to. Also, I used less agave, and it still turned out great! This dressing is a delicious  combo of salty and sweet! Mmmm...The dressing recipe leaves a lot leftover, so you could use more of it on salads during the week.



Along with the salad, I used another great blog called Lisa's Project:Vegan, and made these...

Lentil Burgers with Red Onions

They broke up a little bit, oops!

In the post, the burgers are served on a bun with vegan Russian dressing (which sounds amazing!), but I opted to go without for a simpler and healthier meal.

I ended up eating all the burgers I made and a lot more kale, but this was the first serving...

Lisa's blog is great because it has tons of creative,  delicious-looking recipes. You can tell this lady really enjoys cooking and is passionate about food, yet so playful!

You can find her recipe for the burgers here:
http://lisaprojectvegan.blogspot.com/2012/06/lentil-burgers-with-red-onions-russian.html



Hope you'll try some of these recipes-and check out these fantastic blogs!
Will post again soon.
xo,
Ellie

Friday Night Vegan Frolic in the Lower East Side: An Choi~Babycakes NYC

Friday night Lower East Side vegan frolic! Actually, this pic is taken later in the night when I went back to Brooklyn for a show-but before then..I had a Friday night Lower East Side vegan frolic! So, back to that..Was that a mouthful? Well speaking of mouthfuls..on this hot, sweaty Friday (among the many we've been having lately), Kristy, Michelle and I headed to An Choi in the Lower East Side for some Vietnamese eats at this vegan-friendly spot. Michelle likes to go here for her fix, and it was my first time trying the place...

Here's what we had!

To start: Vegetarian Crispy Spring Rolls with Tofu and Taro...

Vegetarian Pho with thin rice noodles, tofu, mushrooms and bok choy.

The mushroom broth was aromatic and delicious!

A pic of the ladies.

The night wasn't over!

Afterwards, we strolled over to...

Babycakes NYC

I got the Gluten-Free Carrot Cupcake, made with chickpea and rice flour...

We brought our spoils indoors and enjoyed them while sharing more laughs.

A good evening, I'd say!

That's all for now;
more updates to come!
xo,
Ellie

Fourth of July Vegan BBQ

Ahhh! So much to post about! Where do I start? I guess I'll begin at the 4th of July and work my way as quickly as possible to my latest happenings. Expect a string of updates real soon!

Ok. Ok. So...My friend Michelle works at Candle 79. If you don't know what it is, I'm glad to fill you in! It's one of the best vegan restaurants in NY. Hands down. It's where you wanna go for your birthday or that special date. Trust me. Michelle's friend and co-worker Dianne de la Veaux, bartender at Candle, was kind enough to have me over for her rooftop barbecue at her lovely place in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn! Dianne was really sweet; a great hostess and an awesome cook! Actually, she is aiming to have her own restaurant in the near future. After trying her lovely spread of vegan eats, I think she has a real chance of success! You may wanna remember her name!

So, okay. Let's get to the food! Here is what we had:

Marinated Portobello Mushroom Caps

Tempeh-Vegetable Kebabs

Grilled Romaine Salad and Creamy Cashew-Roasted Garlic Dressing,

 topped with Shiitake Bacon

Gazpacho

 Michelle brought over some corn on the cob and cherries from the farmer's market...

and this yummy Chickpea Pesto Salad from Earthmatters in the Lower East Side.

I brought over some Smoked Apple Sage Field Roast Sausages and this Beet Salad, tossed with white truffle oil, parsley, red onion, olive oil and garlic from the Brooklyn Standard Deli. This place is super vegan-friendly, and don't even get me started about their Cali Bagels!!! Will have to post about that sometime soon...I also brought over a  delicious Truffled White Bean Pate from Brooklyn Standard, but lost pictures (sob!).

Here's a pic of my first plate (among a few!).

Dianne also made a delicious Blueberry Ginger Kombucha!

I tried to get Michelle to look at me in the pic. Ah well!

Dianne also made an awesome Blueberry Nectarine Crumble

and an Apple Walnut Crumble

I know I'm a humid, summery mess but rather than look at me, look at this beautiful crumble!

Yum!

With Michelle and Dianne before (or after?) the fireworks.

I had such a great time!

Till the next post-which shall be very soon.

 Be well!

xoxo,

Ellie

This Vegan's Birthday~Pure Food and Wine/East Village Birthday Party

Me and Sarma Melngailis

Thank you Andreas for the introduction!

Okay. So this is not the best picture of me (plus it's blurry, to boot!), but I love it because it's taken with me and one of my role models, Sarma Melngailis. She is the CEO of One Lucky Duck and the owner of Pure Food and Wine, my favorite restaurant in NYC. What brought me there that night was my 31st birthday. It's becoming a tradition of mine to go there every year to celebrate, and this year I was there with some of my closest friends.

What I love about Sarma, besides her fantastic restaurant and products, is her amazing blog. Her writing is so engaging and honest, and it's apparent that she navigates her way through life (as well as business) intuitively. And what's not to admire about that?! She actually wrote an awesome post recently about her process with veganism, and the questions and thoughts and feelings that have come up for her around that. I highly recommend checking it out here:  http://oneluckyduck.com/sarma/

But what about the restaurant, you ask? Well, Pure Food and Wine is a raw fine dining restaurant and what I love about it is that their flavors come together so beautifully and elegantly. Try it for yourself to see what I mean! Here is a list of the things I had to give you a sense of what they are about: 

To drink, I had their sparkling sake as well as their Himalayan Paradise cocktail, made with ginger, lemon and goji berry infused sake.

I also had their King Oyster Mushroom Scallops to start, made with brussels sprouts, shiitake miso broth, garnished with glazed pecans, shaved radish and mico mustard.

As my entree, I usually order their Zucchini and Local Heirloom Tomato Lasagna, which is so amazing and classic (not to mention great for summer)!- but this time I ordered their Hen of the Woods Tacos al Pastor (I'm on a bit of a mushroom kick), made with smoked guacamole, hearts of palm, chayote squash, guajillo crema fresca and pickled onions.

Now, dinner at Pure Food and Wine is hardly complete without their Mint Chip Sundae! It's incredible and a PF&W classic! I remember the first time I had it with Shaliga, she pointed to every part of it saying, "Is this vegan?...And this too, is this vegan?!". We were blown away.

So, I got that, of course! My friends also got a Ginger Cheesecake, and Andreas, another friend who crashed our party but was sooo welcome, ordered their Strawberry Tart. It was soooo good, I had an orgasm in my mouth-and Andreas proudly credited himself for it! It was made with vanilla pastry cream, meyer lemon confit and basil ice cream.

Mint Chip Sundae

Ginger Cheesecake

Strawberry Tart

Here's me with the mint chip sundae.

Just before I...

..made a birthday wish (hope it comes true!).

I'm so grateful for my friends!

Now, my birthday festivities were not over! The following day, I had my birthday party. It was held at my friend Edgar's store in the East Village. He's opened up a spot called Urban Motion, selling electric as well as human-powered scooters for people of all ages.

My friend Cassie Karopkin, a graduate of Natural Gourmet Institute, a passionate vegan and raw food enthusiast, made some a-maaaazing raw hors d'oeuvres for my party (thank you Cassie!). She made a cauliflower and corn polenta, topped with marinated mushrooms (told you I'm on a kick) on endive leaves. Incredible! And she also made some beautiful collard green wraps stuffed with pesto and a lovely slaw. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my hands on pics to post (tragic!).

My super talented friend John Flor-Sisante sang and played some songs with me, and guitarist John McRandle from our band Koshka played a song with me as well. It was so fun!

And of course, there was some dancing and merriment...

With some fellow June birthday kids at the party.

So that pretty much sums up my vegan birthday celebrations! Here's hoping for another year of personal growth, more vegan adventures and awesome music-making. My next post will be about how I spent my 4th of July!

Till then..

xoxo,

Ellie

Horse carriages are soooo last century!

With other volunteers for the 'Just Say Neigh' campaign. Our tee-shirts say "Horse Carriages Are Soooo Last Century!".
You can hardly see my face as my hair is everywhere, but I'm there!

A few weekends ago I volunteered with NYCLASS, a group that is trying to get horse carriages off the streets of NYC. With a group of other lovely folks (pictured above), I handed out fliers and spoke with tourists about why having horse carriages in NY is not only outdated, but also unsafe and cruel. We also informed them about alternatives they could enjoy, while asking them to sign our petition.

Many people think that horse carriage rides in NYC are a fun, romantic activity to enjoy while visiting New York. I did, too for a while-until I came across NYCLASS, learned about their mission, and why they fought for it. I changed the way I thought of horse carriage rides in NY after that, and now everytime I pass them near Central Park, I feel sad. Some people say that this has been and always will be an iconic part of New York-but I disagree. Change can and should always happen!

But I'm not here to write about that- I'm here to talk about my volunteering experience! Here is a link for more info about why having horse carriages on the streets of NY is cruel and dangerous (for people as well as horses):
http://www.nyclass.org/about/problem

And here is a link for an alternative (besides PediCabs) that NYCLASS has come up with to keep tourists having a nostalgic New York experience while not compromising the health and safety of others:
http://www.nyclass.org/about/solution

So, about my experience: I wasn't really sure what to say to the passerbys at first, but the group I volunteered with was very energetic and outgoing; a pleasure to work it. After talking with one of the volunteers who lives in New Jersey, I came up with the slogan: "Horses belong in pastures, not the streets of NY!". I thought of that after she informed me that she owns horses and is aware of their needs, and spoke of how NYC is no place for them.

What was really exciting for me was that a fair amount of people actually came up to us to sign our petition! Some people have made the connection; considered and doubted the comfort and safety of these horses and wanted to support our cause.

The best part was when, to cap off the day, I was waiting on the subway platform to head home and a random guy said , "Nice tee-shirt. I agree with your campaign. How can I get involved?". Awesome!

Horse carriages are sooooo last century!

Till next time (with updates about my birthday and recent summer activities)!
xoxo,
Ellie