New Projects

I've been holding onto this window pane ever since I was an undergrad in northern California. My senior year, I lived (along with several other intrepid art majors) in one of the (poorly insulated, abandoned) bungalows at what used to be the Aetna Springs Resort, built in the 1870's and adjacent to a golf course (that I once snuck onto in the middle of the night for a picnic), and formerly occupied by the Moonies. The buildings on the property were all abandoned, filled knee-deep with molding books and rusting furniture. The cottages that were live-able still often contained baffling artifacts like a hatch from Lost-- I remember once crawling underneath the bungalow I lived in, finding a cache of mildewing cardboard boxes filled with slide carousels from what looked like a presentation about alcoholism. If I lived there now, I'd have to become a video artist and re-stage scenes from '80's slasher flicks!

In any case, it was a paradise for photographers and collage and assemblage artists. (Once my entire assemblage sculpture class visited for an impromptu field trip/scavenger hunt for materials for a group sculpture-- we all ended up making 2 nearly life-size elephants.) I've kept a ton of old books from there (literally, they're very heavy), the occasional salvaged antique doorknob and keyplate, and this wonderful old window pane with three original panes of glass-- intending to do something with it, especially after seeing several similar windows used as picture frames in different places over the years.

Zips finally compelled me to finish it. I cleaned it, painted it, collaged the gold from joss papers on the edges, and had some photos printed especially for this. Each of the photos evokes the time we stayed in a log cabin for the weekend in Brown County, Indiana, and most of them were taken that weekend.

There's a birdhouse washtub, and a slate board that says "Nothing Matters More than This Day", a snapshot of the koi pond, and the red metal rocking chair from the front porch of the log cabin.

I'm really happy with it. It reminds me to be serene. Here and on the other side, I've included a "double happiness" from the joss papers.

BEST RESTAURANT EVAR!!!

So Zip scolded me throughout the trip (and cussed me out and punched me often) for making her my "budget buddy" and not pampering her with a relaxing vacation. So she made us reservations at Millennium.

Millenium, which is a swanky restaurant attached to the curiously named Best Western Hotel California (you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave...) in downtown SF, is THE BEST VEG RESTAURANT I've ever been to. Ever. ever ever.

Although it's swanky and high-end, I felt totally comfortable eating there (in blue jeans and t shirt no less). The menu was utterly indecipherable but intriguing-- like watching Top Chef contestants explain their concoctions. I had no clue what to expect, so I ordered something Mexican-ish (Oaxacan green corn arepa with mango habanero salsa) that was delicious. ("sour orange and achiote glazed crimini and oyster mushrooms, tofu "chorizo" charred onion, Petaluma bean and espazote ragu, sauteed asparagus")

And Zips opted for this "Hedgehog Mushroom Roulade" with roasted celery root, tofu-meyer lemon "cheese" and walnut filling, apples and cabbage, beluga lentil ragu, citrus and current mostarda.
Now, I realize it's not much to look at, but it was AMAZING. The arepa was tasty, but this was one of the most complex, delicious meals I've ever had. It seriously made me giddy. I know endorphins create a sensation of euphoria. And I enjoy chocolate and other foods a great deal. And I like to think of myself as a fairly well-seasoned, well-traveled foodie. But I've never had such a happy food coma as I did at Millennium. I'm all zingy and lightning-y just thinking about it.

And of course dessert!

Zips got a lemon "cheesecake" with a rosemary huckleberry ice cream (which reminded both of us of the lavender blueberry ice cream we made over the summer), but I was the big winner here, with my Chocolate Almond Midnight:

I have no idea what the top layer is made of, the menu said white chocolate mousse. White chocolate is pretty much my kryptonite. I don't like it. Ever. But every single aspect of this was aaaaammmmaaaaazing. I got teary as my plate got emptier. I've never been so simultaneously euphoric and wistful. sigh. When we go back (and I think we will), we'll HAVE to make reservations. and rent a car.

Eating around SF

Okay, since it's been too long since I've written here, I'm going to have to catch up, but not chronologically. Since I made my own delicious tofurky roast over the holidays (seriously, it tasted A LOT like Tofurky, only without that wild rice stuffing that I never eat anyway). I have a handful of new cooking adventures since January, but California beckons. And tales of the BEST VEG RESTAURANT EVAR!

We stayed in Oakland, near the 12th st. City Center BART station, and a vegetarian Vietnamese resaturant with this great sign in their window. They were NOT the best veg restaurant ever for either of us. Zips loves pho and theirs had all manner of unidentifiable vegetarian mock meats. I had a slightly better spicy noodle soup, with a smaller quantity of different mock meats. Still weird. They had pretty good goi cuon, though. A tad overpriced. If I had to do it again, I would've just stuck with those and spring rolls or ordered a rice dish.

In the morning we tried another promising-looking cafe (but it doesn't open until 9, that makes it suspect for a breakfast joint to me..)

The Breakroom Cafe has a cute locale and menu board (I'll admit it, I was seduced by their website), but the breakfast bagels we got were just m'kay. I liked the tempeh bacon on mine and the coffee was great, but overall found the place overpriced and underwhelming (not unlike the $8000 art for sale above my head there).

In Berkeley, there were a plethora of restaurants that boasted veg-friendly joints. We decided to go off book and picked Thai House, which I'm sure I ate at in my carnivorous youth. They had a wonderful pumpkin tofu red curry, and a HOT DAMN green papaya salad that you can ask for without fish sauce. I simultaneously salivate and cringe at the memory of that salad

mmmmmm... limey spicey crunchy tangy green papaya salad. Seriously. It made my eyes water.

In the Mission district, there's a charming little place called Herbivore (they have 2 other locations)

It's adorable inside and has a great menu, TONS of options. Zips got a southwest tofu scramble (they are unfortunately in the turmeric school of tofu scrambles) and I got a tempeh burrito...

and vegan donuts.

But that wasn't the best veg restaurant ever, either!

Four Months Later...

I can't believe I haven't written in so long. My last post was just before our trip to Boston. And now we've just returned from a conference in Berkeley. Both incredibly unglamorous trips. To scrimp on money, for both trips, I decided not to rent a car and wing it via public transport. It worked just fine in Boston. Our hotel had a shuttle to the airport, which is where the conference was (the Airport Hilton-- not the airport). And when we did venture out, we took the "T"-- to the Science Museum to see the Harry Potter exhibition.

We also took the T to Harvard-- just to say we walked through Harvard. We did try out one veg-friendly joint, Veggie Planet, in the Harvard area, but were sorely disappointed. It certainly looks promising, and perhaps we simply ordered the wrong thing.

That's Zips' greek salad (they were out of kalamata olives, so doubled the quantity of feta thereby rendering it inedible). I had a half of some other kind of salad and a mushroom barley soup. The salad was soaked in lime juice and the soup was disappointingly watery. Like mushroom slices and barley literally floating in hot water. bleah. Traveling to Boston in November was not something I thought through entirely, and we packed for November in New Mexico. After the sour stomach effects of this outing, we spent the majority of our time at the Au Bon Pain in Terminal A downing fresh orange juice and the vegetarian soup of the day.

Again, I chose (stupidly) not to rent a car for our trip to SF. The public transport is supposed to be among the best in cities in the US. That may be, but I made us walk all over the place, block after block of "it's just up there." However, we had the FINEST veg dining we've EVER had. Ever.

Back from California...and I already want to go back!

The Great California Adventure of 2009 was a resounding success. Having never particularly desired to visit Los Angeles or Hollywood or all the other crowded, sweaty tourist-y things evoked with the words Southern California, I can now admit to what an idiot I've been. Our week in L.A. was such an oasis from the heat here and, despite the notorious traffic, it was nice to be in a big city. We also found lovely places to go that totally by-passed a lot of touristy crowds. Aside from the theme park and one of the concerts being unfortunately during the opening weekend of the Orange County Super Fair (worst. parking situation. ever.), we really felt like we just lived there.

From our limited experiences, and despite my web research, Zips and I didn't find it to be much of an eatin' place for us. Although I did find this parking spot:
outside of a vegan Vietnamese joint called Au Lac. It was exciting to go to a Vietnamese restaurant where I could order anything at all, but I found it all a bit daunting. The place was fancier than I expected (it looks unassuming and strip mall-ish on the outside)-- everything was a tiny decorative serving on oversized and weirdly-shaped white dishes (the kind Cat Cora uses to plate stuff on Iron Chef America), and the items that won the most rave internet reviews were from the exorbitantly priced Raw section of the menu-- so I didn't try them. Overall the place made me miss my own Pho Chay and Cha Gio Chay (so I made them both on our second night home).

We also tried two vegan Thai places in West Hollywood. They were both fine, but nothing to write home about, although one of them boasted being a regular spot for the cast of Grey's Anatomy (flyers stuck under the glass on each table gush: "Sandra Oh is a regular and McDreamy Patrick Dempsy just loves our vegan chocolate cake!"). The most successful meal we had was a sandwich I made at a picnic bench in Griffith Park just before an Andrew Bird concert. I used hummus acquired at a Trader Joe's along with some microgreens and sprouts, avocado slices, lettuce and tomato. We had Coke from the cooler, sunchips and rice pudding from Trader Joe's. We were famished, and this was perfect.
We did, in fact, overplan for our five day vacation-- with two concerts, two screenings and a panel at a film festival, and a two day pass at Universal Studios Hollywood (oddly, Monday was far more crowded than Friday) (there is, incidently, NOTHING for vegetarians to eat here. Just a tiny cucumber roll at Panda Express, a tiny cheese pizza at Pizza Hut, or a tiny salad.-- or leave the park and try one of the many pricey restaurants at CityWalk). But we waded in the Pacific Ocean, collected sand and seashells, marinated in one of the hearts of American popular culture, drove over 2000 miles, and recharged our batteries a little. We can't wait to go back.

This week: Our first real vacation.

Before summer is over and we head back to the classrooms (and glue ourselves back in front of our computers), Zips and I decided to have a Great California Adventure ('09). We've had one Great California Adventure ('06), but it involved getting stuck in an airplane in Phoenix for several hours in 106 degree weather, a case of pink-eye, a hotel with no a/c, and too many hard-boiled eggs. We did enjoy the great rolling hills of San Francisco, and made the most of the pink eye situation, but Zips is ready to give the Golden State a second go-round. You can see from our map that we're risking a little over-planning, but I think it's good to have lots of options to pick from. Most likely, we'll go to the things we have tickets to, and spend the rest of the time on a beach!

There are a lot of lovely sounding veg-friendly restaurants (of course), so I look forward to whipping out my camera at the table to post here.

And yes, if you look closely, you'll see that I've located all three of the Ikeas in the LA area. I don't know if we'll go to all of them, but better to be safe than sorry. curse you, excellent and affordable swedish home designs!