How cool! I was chosen as one of this months “Featured Foodies” today by Foodbuzz! I just wanted to say thanks to whoever was responsible for that brilliant decision, and I also would like to welcome all my first time Foodbuzz visitors… hi there! Come on in, have a look around… leave happy & hungry, and hopefully come on back for more once you’re ready for another helping. While you’re here I would be ever so grateful if you would please help a gal out by clicking on the “Vote For Me” Foodbuzz button over on the right. Enjoy your stay!

I recently let you all know about the new vegan Thai restaurant that just opened up here in North Hollywood, Lotus Vegan. I’ll refer you back to that post for the info and lively comments (New vegan Thai food in NoHo: Lotus Vegan)… for now I’m really just in the mood to talk about food.

This exotic dish, the Silver Noodle Salad was what I had on my most recent visit, and it was delicious. “Glass bean noodles mixed with soy chicken, soy shrimp and chilis in lime juice”. Yum… so good!

Not being a fan of onions I spent a minute picking those away to reveal the goodies underneath. What makes this dish a hit is the fantastic lime dressing. I’ve had some lime based dishes and salads at other Thai places where they’ve either just used straight up lime juice with nothing else (too sour), or they mix it with some herb or spice that I don’t like which gives it the distinct taste of dirty butt. Not that I know what dirty butt tastes like mind you, but I can send you to a few Thai joints where they’ll gladly give you a sample. Thankfully, this dish had no butt flavor whatsoever! I loved the dressing, sour but not too sour, pungent but not too pungent, spicy but not too spicy… ok, you get the idea. Both the soy chicken and soy shrimp are very tasty, though I would have liked a few more pieces of the shrimp. Slimy, slippery glass noodles are always fun to eat, and the greens and veggies were crisp and fresh.

Now let’s go back to the future. This last weekend was my birthday (yay me!). Because dorkiness apparently doesn’t go away once you hit middle age, I managed to take a major nosedive while climbing my steps, landing with all my force and weight on my right knee. Hard…. on concrete. Thankfully I didn’t break any bones, bust my kneecap or cause any permanent damage, but I did for all intents and purpose seriously mess up my knee and ability to walk for a few days. [This did not stop me from attending, eating my way through and hobbling around at Worldfest... to be blogged about soon!] While I was laid up at home with an elevated and ice-packed leg, I called Lotus Vegan up to bring me a delivery. If I’m going to be stuck at home on my birthday, you best believe I’m going to be doing it in style.

Talk about over indulgence! I swear I didn’t eat this all in one sitting. And it was my birthday, so shut up. From left to right: That’s the Hot & Spicy Green Beans (aka Prik King) with tofu and their awesome brown rice. Prik King has always been my favorite Thai dish, and I love how they prepare it here. In the middle is the lovely High Protein Salad and tahini dressing, right top has got the glorious sticky rice & mango, and in the front right we’ve got the quesadilla, made with vegan mozzarella cheese and served on chapatti bread. Their cheese does not contain casein and is very, very melty. It melts to an almost liquid consistency then firms up pretty quickly. Careful when biting into it as the drippy cheese is hot! But don’t let it sit for too long either because the cheese will cool fast. That’s not likely to happen though because it’s so tasty that you’ll want to scarf the whole thing down right away. Unless your name is Scott, in which case, would you pass me your quesadilla please? I will gladly eat it :)

This is just a quick reminder to let you know that the final date to submit your Couscous Cake recipe to Robin Robertson’s contest is fast approaching. Your entries must be received by May 10th… that’s this Saturday (and it’s also my birthday!).

You’ve still got a few days left to concoct your delicious creations, so hop to it! For more info visit the contest page over on Robin’s Vegan Planet website. Good Luck!

I didn’t want to leave you all weekend looking at something ugly like that last Anthony Bourdain post, so I will leave you with something much prettier, and I’ll bet, much tastier too.

This is the garbanzo bean (chickpea) salad sandwich at Pure Luck, which I think might have a fancier official name to it but I don’t have the menu in front of me. In all of it’s straightforward simplicity, I’d have to say it was an outstanding sandwich. It’s like a really good chicken or tuna salad sandwich, minus the animal bits and mayo (they use Vegenaise). The texture of the beans is thick and chunky, with some celery in there too I believe… it really does have a nice meaty bite to it that is neither pasty or mushy. They’ve come up with the perfect combo of seasonings to where it’s just right, truly a delicious sandwich that leaves you licking your fingers after each bite. I always love their bread here too and this lightly toasted and tasty bun was no exception. Don’t get me started on tasty buns.

This sandwich is usually served with fries or their yummy vegan Cesar salad but they were happy to oblige my request for the Potato Pals instead (fried gnocchi). The garbanzo salad can also be ordered as part of a larger salad, a full meal in it’s own right. This sandwich is a newer addition to the Pure Luck menu, and like everything else I’ve had there, it surely did not disappoint.

Running this blog can be so much fun. The best part isn’t the great and positive feedback I get from 99% of my visitors… no, the best parts are the random comments and emails I occasionally get from the other 1% who stumble in here somehow (mostly likely in between halftime commercials on the way to the fridge for another Bud-lite) and feel motivated to crap out their intolerant, dimwitted observations.

Take for example the following comment I just received from a rather devoted and passionate fan of Anthony Bourdain, identified only by his chosen moniker of “Carnivore“. Isn’t that clever?

Hey here is a thought… How about all you hippies come up with your own recipes? Bourdain is an incredible chef who disagrees with your ways totally. He has that right. Doesn’t he? If you don’t like him or his ways then don’t buy his books or even bother changing his recipes. The fact that you are investing so much time and effort in it whatsoever proves you must be obsessed with him on some level. Just jealous because you aren’t as cool or as famous as he is… or is it the fact that you lack the ability to cook like he does so you just change around his recipes instead of coming up with your own?
Jeez…Get a life
Losers.

Wow Carnivore sure told me, huh? Way to put us hippies in our place man. You’re right, I am so totally jealous of and obsessed with Anthony Bourdain because I’m not as cool or famous. You’ve totally figured me out… how did you know? The best part Carnivore is that you seem to think you’re on the Hezbollah Tofu website, considering that those are the folks veganizing Bourdain’s recipes and having a fine time ridiculing him, not me.

For what it’s worth Carnivore, as far as time invested is concerned, it’s taken me about 10 minutes to write this response, while it probably took you about 3 or 4 hours to string those few sentences together… so let’s not be pointing any sticky fingers.

It’s funny to me how Anthony Bourdain seems to inspire such a following of devoted dudes ready to annihilate any hippie in their path who dares to say anything negative about him. What’s with all the straight-boy man-crushes these guys have for Bourdain? Is it his lanky, stunted-into-skinniness by cigarettes and too many years of consuming diseased duck liver physique that gets them all hot and bothered? Or is it just the thought of his crispy-fried-pork-skin breath kissing away their fears of broccoli and dark leafy greens that really gets them going? Whatever it is, I find their misdirected ire rather amusing. I wish these guys would just accept themselves for who they are, come out of the closet (or in this case, the meat-locker), and perhaps seek out advice from a gay love columnist instead of an obsessed hippie vegan food blogger who can’t cook.

Anyhow, I’m going to go ahead and assume that Carnivore is reaching out and that his comments are really just a cry for help. It appears that he’s desperately in need of some healthy, vegan recipes to help cool down that hair-trigger temper born of unrequited Bourdain-love. It’s ok Carnivore, I know what it’s like to have a broken heart (though mine was caused by getting dumped while yours is probably due to clogged arteries). In treating Carnivore’s condition I’d say it’s best to go for something raw and cleansing considering there’s probably a whole mess of ground beef, ketchup and lard stopping up his colon, no doubt adding to his cranky mood. Probably something gluten- and sugar-free too… the last thing our friend here needs is another spike in his blood sugar. If you’d like to help Carnivore who is so clearly in need, you can send your recipes, vegan lifestyle tips and animal rights/factory farming information to him at this address (which probably doesn’t really exist): pilotboy25@mail.com
IP: 68.60.205.217

(Update:) Thanks to Foodtrance for letting us know that indeed the email address for the Cowardly Carnivore was bogus.

(Update 2:) Ok, I’ll take the high road. Apparently I gave at least one person out there the impression with my farcical rebuttal here that I am an intolerant, militant vegan, and a homophobe. The good news is that none of those are true, which is obvious to anyone who knows me or reads this blog. If you’ve read homophobia into my little rant about the straight-boys with boners for Anthony Bourdain than, well, you’re wrong.