But as I walked around the store, gathering my vegan-friendly goodies, I started planning my brunch, and guess what? It didn't include bacon. Picked up some sourdough bread and cinnamon and nutmeg for french toast, yukon gold potatoes for home fries... Yum. All of a sudden bacon didn't sound so appealing to me. (This has never happened before!) As soon as I got home, I got to cookin' and had an incredible brunch that satisfied my penchant for sweet and savory.
The rest of my weekend was filled with lots of eating out. Saturday night I went to Trudy's, an Austin favorite (or used to be), and while the company was fantastic, the food was decidedly not. Also? The service was crap. Nonetheless I was content with my portobello fajitas and was not at all tempted by the queso (that was covered with a very suspicious and rather unappetizing layer of film) my friends so happily dug into.
Tonight's dining experience was substantially better. My friend Stina and I met up for a quick-ish dinner at The Cheesecake Factory before our viewing of Remember Me (Stina's a fellow twi-hard). Admittedly The Cheesecake Factory is not very vegan-friendly (despite its enormous menu), but my favorite salad was very easy to veganize - just leave off the chicken. Our server was also very helpful and made sure to check that both the bread and the salad ingredients were all egg and dairy-free. Hurrah!
Also? Stina was surprisingly AWESOME when I told her about my new eating habits. I thought she'd be a little put off (not in a bad way, just in an "okay... weirdo" way), but she was... incredible. Genuinely curious and very supportive - love. her.
So all in all? I had a great weekend! Oh and I got The Vegan Table and Vegan Yum Yum and devoured them. While I adore Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (her podcast - Vegetarian Food For Thought - is awesome!!), her cookbook is not as appetizing as Lauren Ulm's. While Colleen favors lighter dishes with foods I'm not terribly fond of (olives, capers, and bell peppers), Lauren is a woman after my own heart. I can't WAIT to try some of her dishes! (Oh and for you iphone-ers, Lauren has an awesome vegan yum yum iphone app!) (Psst - City Girl did a great review on Vegan Yum Yum that you can read here!)
Your bunch looks so yummy! So glad that you avoided the bacon and found some-thing satisfying and tasty.
ReplyDeleteWill check out the iPhone app (not vegan but always on the look out for tasty food).
Thanks for the shout-out - so glad you like Vegan Yum Yum. Isnt it lovely :) After making 4 dishes that were awesome from it (Alfredo, Tomato Chickpea Soup, Crispy Kale and Lemon Tahini Rice and Beans), I made one this past weekend that needed a little extra doctoring to be tasty, but honestly, it was still pretty good. For reference, it was the Sweet Chili LIme Tofu - had to add scallions, more lime and hot sauce to make it really tasty. Still, I'm impressed with the book.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wanted to thank you for the baked mexican rice. I LOVED IT. It's so becoming a favorite.
So, totally off topic, but... how was Remember Me? :)
ReplyDelete