Portland is one of my favorite cities
The weekend before last I went to Portland to see my best friend, to present at the Northwest VegFest and hang out with Scott from PlantFusion. That was my third visit to this amazing city and my desire to move there grows each time I go. Austin got to tag along for the weekend and he fell in love with it too! I'm so happy Austin and my best friend got along so well. We had a complete blast the entire weekend! You can read more from Austin on his blog. He's been vegan a month, so let's give it up for him!! *applause*
Portland is a foodcation where vegans have so many choices for meals your mind will be blown just walking down the street. And the coffeeshops! There's got to be more coffeeshops per square mile than any other city. And each of those coffeeshops have vegan snack options from the many vegan bakeries around town. Heaven.
We stayed in NE a few blocks from Alberta so we ate at Vita Cafe two times for breakfast and stuffed ourselves silly. Vita isn't 100% vegan but at least 85% of the menu is vegan. Austin recently went vegan AND gluten-free so when he saw they had a gluten-free chicken-fried steak made with tempeh (his favorite protein source) he was sold. I went with the healthier option of a gluten-free corn cake, tofu, and steamed veggies (yes I do try to eat veggies at every meal, even breakfast!).
I finally got to Blossoming Lotus, once for lunch when Austin arrived in town and again for dinner on the final night of the festival with Jill (The Veggie Queen) and Robin Asbell. Their food is wholesome and creative, and the atmosphere is really lovely. I loved getting to hang with some of my mentors and after working all weekend we were all happy to sit and have a drink. I tried the blackberry margarita and was a happy camper.
The VegFest staff and volunteers were great and the whole festival was a blast. It always replenishes my energy and warms my heart to teach a class and show others how delicious and easy eating vegan can be! I got to reconnect with old friends (Jasmin from Our Hen House, Jill and John from Vegan Cuts, Ginny Messina, Robert Cheeke, Julie Hasson, Barb and Judy from All Things Vegan Radio to name a few) and make new ones (Laura the Jazzy Vegetarian, Del from Forks Over Knives, and Ed from PlantFit to name a few).
The last day before we took Austin to the airport we went up to Mt. Tabor to check out the view and play frisbee and badminton. It was amazing and beautiful!! We had so much fun playing in the park. We also witnessed a bull dog riding a skateboard. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I need to get Austin to post the video on YouTube!!
If you attended my cooking demo at the VegFest I thank you for coming and hope you enjoyed it! It was a packed room of 200 people and I wish I had time to speak to you all. For those of you in Texas be sure to come to my cooking demo at the Texas State Veggie Fair which is October 21st. Can't wait to see all my friends back home!
Hi Christy,
I did get to see your presentation at the Portland VegFest, and you were wonderful! I, also, loved the VegFest, and thought everyone did a great job. I'm so happy that I got to go, after wanting to for a few years. I'm not from Portland, so I had to fly in from Nevada. I've been to Portland a few times, and I have to "ditto" your comments…..I, too, would love to move there. (Not in the cards though….the closest my husband would probably get is a hundred miles, and not 'til we're in retirement, which is a long way off for us. Our business is not "mobile" as our clientele, building, employees, etc., are all established here. But, trust me, if he'd move even close to Portland someday, I'd LOVE it. In the meantime, I just have to visit when I can and soak up all of the goodness.) Anyway, I've e-mailed you once before, for a few tips on recipes in your cookbook, and you were so nice and helpful. I found you to also be amazing in person and I loved your demo. The sample of the Chewy Trail Mix Bars, form your book, were SO good. You inspired me to make them, at home this weekend, and mine came out great too. I have to say, that everything that I've ever made from your book has been delicious (and I am not an "accomplished" cook), and quickly become amongst my favorite things to make. Thanks for turning us on to Plant Fusion, too! I was out of time to ship things back to home, so I couldn't buy it from the booth there, but my local Whole Foods carries it in plain, vanilla, and chocolate. For now, I got the Chocolate to drink as a stand-alone protein drink, before, or after workouts, and it's SO good. I'm sure I'll get the plain flavor, for adding to smooties later, and the vanilla. This weekend, I also made one of my favorites, the Broccoli Salad With Creamy Mustadr Dressing, and the Hearty Lentil soup (a new favorite). All amazing tasting and so good for me. Some of my other favorites are your Magical Raw Tacos, Dijon Dill Green Beans, and the Spring Kale Salad with Sweet Miso Dressing. I, also, bought a Vitamix on order from the VegFest. I couldn't resist. I loved a ton of the local vegan, and very vegan-friendly, restaurants in Portland…you are right there are SO many. Portobello was one of my favorites! And, I got to spend a few hours outside hiking, which is heavenly there in that environment. Anyway, just want to tell you that you were/are great!! I love love love your recipes. I didn't get to meet you really, I just spoke a little from the audience to tell you some of my favorites. But, it was so wonderful to just look in to the eyes, in person, of some of my heroes, you, Ginny Messina, Marianne and Jasmin from Our Hen House, and so many others. There were a lot of great sanctuaries there, as well, to support and get acquainted with. Sorry for the long comments. I did think of a question for you this weekend, when I was making one of the recipes and now I've forgotten it. If it comes to me, I'll write. Thank you! Oh, yes, twp questions for now, what was the name of your Tempeh recipe that you said everyone loves? I haven't gotten much experience cooking with Tempeh, yet. Also, do you have a favorite brand, or know of a really good one, of nutritional yeast? I've been using Whole Foods brand.
On a seperate note, would you say Austin, TX is as veg-freindly and amazing as Portland? It's on our list of places to travel to.
Thank you and take care,
Patty
Hi Patty! Yes I remember you from my demo! I'm so glad you are liking the book! I'd love you to share your thoughts on Amazon if you haven't already. 🙂
Congrats on your Vitamix!! It's one of my most used tools in the kitchen. I think all the tempeh recipes in the book are winners, but the sizzling tempeh bacon is very loved. For nutritional yeast I use the one in the bulk bins at the natural food store which is usually Red Star brand I think. Bragg brand is good too but more expensive. They have similar flavors you just want to make sure it's fortified.
Austin is veg-friendly for sure, just not as many choices as Portland. There's nowhere nice like Portobello and Blossoming Lotus and we have lots of vegan food trucks/trailers. So many of the food options are more junk food and fast, not as wholesome as many of the places in Portland. Be sure to come when the weather is nice so you can try all the food trailers!
Hi Christy!
Thanks for the info.! I'll make one of the Tempeh recipes soon. The Sizzling Tempeh Bacon sounds soooo good! I never thought of checking the bulk bins at my local Whole Foods for nutritional yeast. That's a great idea…thanks. I'll check out those two brands, in particular, and make sure whichever I choose is fortified. I did share my comments on Amazon and on iTunes today (I think I saw a note that said they may not display until they are proof read by them, so maybe up by tomorrow.). It was my pleasure to do that. I know everyone would enjoy the book and love the food. As always, thank you, for the helpful info. Chat soon!
Patty
ps. I really enjoy your product demo videos.