Epic road trip, Day 7

Day 7 of vacation!  We were headed to a museum but the parking was nonexistent and the crowds were crazy so we just skipped it.  But we did discover that the vegan mini mall was nearby!  

I can't remember the name of this sandwich, but it was something like a Reuben and was de-lish.  

I believe this was something like a sloppy Joe.  It's Mr. GV, so he got kale.  Naturally.  

And I don't recall the name of Mr. GV's dessert, but mine was a pain au chocolate.

Bread with chocolate inside.  I'm not sure it gets any better than that!  

It was pouring down rain but after it slacked a bit we ventured next door to Herbivore.  We had a blast looking around that store.  There was a huge wall of vegan books, mostly cookbooks of course.  My only complaint would have to be that I could not wear any of their cute shirts!  Yes I'm a plus-sized gal, but their XL is nowhere near the typical XL you would find in most stores.  Dear Herbivore:  Please make shirts for us larger gals and guys.  We would like to represent our vegan values too!  

Next it was on to Food Fight.  

Loved this place!  All kinds of vegan goodies, and the staff was very friendly.  

So, our haul:

A coozie for me and a coffee mug for Mr. GV.  

I replaced the one that advertised our local natural gas company pronto!  

A lid for drinking out of a mason jar, free coaster, soy candle, and soap.  

Couple of lip balms, and 3 adorable little pins (I'm addicted), and a ring that says "vegan."  

Food!  Plentils, jerky, ginger candies, licorice, caramels, chocolate, and soy curls.  

Bought as gifts:  licorice and gum balls for J and dog treats for my three rotten pups.  They love them! 

Another mug for Mr. GV, his fave lip balm, and some lotion for me (love it by the way.)  

And some iced coffee.  Not pictured is a new wallet that Mr. GV picked up at Herbivore.  It's pretty awesome, and something he'd been needing for quite some time.  

We had a very enjoyable time on this day, just knowing everything we ate and everything we bought was vegan.  Not having to ask about ingredients or read every label is such a gift!  

Wild Cow.....Again

When we found ourselves in the Nashville area for Mr. GV's CE, we of course had to have a meal at The Wild Cow.  We went with our old standbys that we love so much.  

Mr. GV had the The Philly (which is spicy) with a side of Seasonal Mixed Vegetables with Garlic Aioli

and I had a Wild Reuben with Chickpea Salad on the side.  We split our side items, because they are both delicious.  

For dessert we had a slice of delicious cake.  My one stipulation was that it had to have chocolate, and the person who waited on us suggested this cake, which was chocolate with cookies on it!  Yummy.  

Mr. GV needed lunch for the next day, so he ordered the Three Sides (chickpea salad, couscous salad, and hummus and chips.)  

The Wild Cow is a great place to eat if you ever find yourself in Nashville!  

Indian Buffet

Mr. GV ventured off to Nashville last week for some continuing education and I got to go along on the trip!  One day while he was attending class, I wandered off for some vegan Indian food for lunch.  

It was buffet....which is a dangerous thing for me at an Indian restaurant!  But I took my time and "only" got a couple plates worth.  

If I had to eat one type of food for the rest of my life (and didn't have to worry about getting too much oil/fat in my diet), it would be Indian food.  

Red Robin Options

Yesterday I went with my Mom, sister, and nephew for a day out.  We have found that Red Robin is a good place for our family to eat in this particular town.  The omnis like what they get and I can get vegan foods!  There is a Gardenburger (not vegan, but vegetarian) and a vegan Boca burger, which is what I got.  

Along with that we had the hummus plate.  The hummus was yummy!  They served baby carrots, celery, and kettle chips with it.  (The celery was supposed to be cucumber, according to the menu, so that was a disappointment, as my nephew absolutely loves cucumber.)  I am not a huge fan of raw celery, but did manage to eat most of one piece when I had it loaded with hummus.  Ha!

My advice when eating at Red Robin:  Make sure you emphasize that you want the Boca vegan burger.  My husband was served the vegetarian burger once before and didn't realize it until he was a few bites in, which really turned him off to eating there in the future.  

Your turn:  Have you tried eating vegan at Red Robin?  Are there any other "surprise" vegan foods that you have found at typical burger joints?  Hummus was a big surprise to me the first time I noticed it at RR!  

A Vegan Tayst

I wanted to surprise Mr. GV with a little something different in November.  And thankfully I found it at Tayst in Nashville.  Tayst is Nashville's only green-certified restaurant.  While it is not a vegetarian restaurant, the chef knows his vegan stuff and offers up vegan dishes on his menu.  

Mr. GV and I made an overnight of it, and I'm glad we did. 

The meal consisted of 5 courses with optional wine pairings.  Note:  I was the only one out of the entire  gathering who opted for no wine.  lol 

The First Tayst was Turnip and Caraway Soup, described as roasted turnips, rice croutons, smoked vinegar gastrique.  I admit, I was skeptical when I saw that it was turnip soup, because I'm not a huge fan.  But it was delicious!  And the rice croutons were so good.  The gastrique was yummy as well.  (I promise, the pictures are better after this.  I was self-conscious about firing the flash on my camera at first.  And then I got over it.)

Our Second Tayst was a Kale Salad--shaved pumpkin, spiced pumpkin seeds, "bacon" vinaigrette.  Yep, I'm not a huge fan of kale either.  I know, the vegan world is crazy over it.  Greens just don't do it for me, because they normally taste bitter.  But this kale salad was delicious, and the shaved pumpkin and pumpkin seeds were lovely.  The vegan bacon vinaigrette did indeed taste bacon-like.

The Third Tayst was Seared "Scallops" with "oyster" dressing, apple butter, and apple relish.  This was our least favorite dish (which isn't saying that it was bad, because everything was delicious, just not as good as the rest) because we just didn't love the scallops.  The dressing, apple butter, and apple relish were divine though.

Our Fourth Tayst was Tofurkey, which was seitan and tofu stuffed with sage stuffing, maple sweet potatoes, orange scented gravy, orange candy.  This was a masterpiece.  I never thought an orange scented gravy would be appealing, but it was very good.  There was just a hint of orange.  As the menu said--it was more 'scented' than a big ol' taste of orange.  The stuffing was great, and the orange candy was such a treat!  

Our last Tayst, the Sweet Tayst, was Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with spiced pecans, salted caramel, and ice cream.  Well, yum.  What more can I say about this?  It was a perfect ending to a perfectly delicious meal.  

We had our waiter snap a picture of us after our meal.  It was a satisfying 2 1/2 hours, and one I will never forget.  

Unfortunately, Tayst is closing at the end of the year.  From articles I have read, I gather that the chef/owner wants to concentrate more on his sandwich shop, Sloco, which also has vegan items on the menu, and spend more time with his family.  I'm so glad we were able to be a part of Tayst's "The Last Vegan Supper."  

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 8

Our last day in Virginia Beach, and Mr. GV and I really wanted to eat at a vegan or vegetarian restaurant.  So we headed into Norfolk, near ODU, and ate at Path, which is 100% vegan!

Path is located in what I guess is a nightclub (The Edge.)  I have personally never been inside one in my life.  It just never was my thing.  When you look in the door during the day, it appears very dark, so you might think it's closed, but they are in there.  There's a few tables you can eat at, or you can of course get it to go. 

We were sharing our items as we normally do, and we ordered the buffalo chicken on a bun, and potato salad (which was so good!!),

plus the teriyaki wrap and hand-cut fries. 

They also serve breakfast (all day long I believe, but check if that's what you're hankering for) and have homemade cookies. 

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 7

Day 7 involved a visit to the dentist for J, and later on we all ate lunch at Baker's Crust.    The waitress checked for us when we asked her to make sure there was no dairy or other animal products in the crust.  After assuring us there was none, we ordered the margherita pizza, minus the cheese, and adding caramelized onions and wild mushrooms. 

We also shared the spa veggie sandwich, which was interesting.  It had hummus, grilled eggplant, avocado, red onion, and watercress.  It came with some homemade chips, which I was ready to munch on until I realized the crumbly stuff on top of them was probably Parmesan. 

That evening Mr. GV and I, plus brother-in-law, went to Nawab again, only this time a different location.  The service and food were both still great.  This time we shared some pakoras and Mr. GV had the vegetable jhalfrazie.  I again had the channa masala, because it was just so darn good the first time!

We made a trip into Fresh Market grocery store, where Mr. GV looked and looked and LOOKED, and finally located a vegan wine. 

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 6

Day 6 had preschool story hour at the library, so mom and I trooped along with J and his mom.  Afterward we hit up good ol' Taco Bell. (Choco Bell according to the 3 1/2 year old.) 

That afternoon we finally made it to the beach, and then for our evening meal we went to the Silver Diner. 

We shared a basket of sweet potato fries (minus the sauces that come with them.)  J had his fair share too! 

Mr. GV and I shared the veggie chili. 

Mr. GV ordered the summer citrus salad.  He said it was a bit on the sweet side, but otherwise was very good.

And I had the mango vegetarian stir fry.  It was a bit too full of mango for my liking, but I shared the last half of the dish with Mr. GV, and he took care of any leftover mango for me.  :) 

Somebody else enjoyed the noodles too.....

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 5

Day 5 found us at the mall buying a shirt and shoes for Mr. GV.  When it was time to eat from the food court, we consulted the Vegan Express app.  I have an Ipod Touch (not an Iphone) but the nice thing about the Vegan Express app is you don't need an internet connection in order to access it.  Johnny Rockets seemed the best choice for us, so that's where we all ate. 

We had the Streamliner burger and fries.  It was good--nothing too exciting, just a veggie burger, but I want to say thanks to Johnny Rockets for realizing there are those of us who don't always want an animal for lunch! 

That evening we met for dinner with a friend we hadn't seen in over 20 years!  We ate at a nice Indian restaurant called Nawab.  We shared the vegetable samosas, I had the chana masala, and Mr. GV had the eggplant bhartha. 

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 4

Day 4 started off with vegan pancakes made by my brother-in-law, with maple syrup on top.  They were so light and fluffy, and we found out his secret ingredient was club soda.  I'll be giving that a try in the near future! 

I left a bag of cucumbers at my house for my mother-in-law, who was checking in on Gabby the cat while we were gone.  I also brought a couple along with us, and J decided he'd like to eat one of them. 

That evening we were ready for our first meal out in Virginia Beach, and we chose a Mediterranean cafe called Baladi.  Several things on the menu were marked vegan, and we had plenty of dishes from which to choose. 

Mr. GV of course started with the dolmas. 

We ate outside, and were losing the light, so this dish doesn't look all that appetizing in this picture.  But I swear, it was good!  This was the moussaka, which was a special of the day.  We are not lovers of eggplant in this house, but we enjoyed it cooked this way.

I chose the Falafel Supreme, which was deeeelish! 

There were two vegan desserts on the menu, so even though we were stuffed, we just had to get some of those to go.  Here you have Mamool, made with semolina flour and dates, and Baklava.  The owner has both vegan and non-vegan baklava on the menu.  We had a nice chat with the owner about veganism and how we found his cafe (Happycow.net) and we went away with two complimentary cups of herbal tea and some Turkish Delight. 

MoFo: Vegan Vacation Vittles, Day 2

Our second day of vacation found us at Biltmore.  We spent most of the day there, and still could have spent at least one more day to have seen everything we wanted.  I looked all over online and couldn't find any type of prohibition to bringing in our own food, so for lunch we had some extra breakfast sandwiches and Clif bars, along with some smoothies from a cart.  I did notice a couple of things we could have had in their Stable Cafe, but it's expensive and we just decided to eat in the courtyard. 

After wearing ourselves out walking in the gardens, we headed out to try Laughing Seed Cafe!  We've only been to Asheville once since going vegan 8 years ago, and never had the opportunity to try Laughing Seed. 

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we asked for a table outside.  And then the food deluge began!

For a starter we decided on the Crispy Asian Dumplings.  They were great, and my mom (a non-veg) even enjoyed them, tempeh and all. 

I also ordered a side of jalapeno onion fries.  I had no idea we would get so many.  They were a bit hot for me, so Mr. GV wound up eating most of them. 

Of course I had to try the Reuben.  It was so good--maybe the best I've had.  I never in my life had a Reuben before going vegan.  Sauerkraut on a sandwich just never sounded good to me, and frankly it wasn't a very popular sandwich here in the South when I was growing up.  A few years ago, though, I decided to give one a try and I am so glad I did. 

Mr. GV had the Thai Panang Seitan Curry.  I tried a couple of bites, and it was good too but a bit too spicy for me. 

My mom had the Harmony Bowl.  There was a *lot* of food in that bowl! 

Believe it or not, we had room for dessert.  I find it very hard to pass up vegan desserts because I just don't run across them unless we are at a veg restaurant.  We had the homemade ice cream of the day, which was blueberry coconut,

and the coconut cream tart with blueberry compote, which was delish!

My mom had an oatmeal raisin pecan cookie. 

I wish we could have had brunch there the next morning, but we had to get on the road to our final destination.

Your VEGAN two cents: Do you seek out veg restaurants when you're traveling?  Do you have to try vegan dessert just "because it's there?"