Traveling Foodies

Posted on November 9, 2014November 9, 2014 by Amanda

Friday night my fiance and I arrived at Sun in Blossom in the neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn. It was delightfully charming and quaint. It had a handful of tables, all wooden with yellow daisies and dim candlelight. I instantly fell in love with its grace. The menu was full of live raw vegan macrobiotic dishes, which was what really drew me to visit Sun in Bloom! It is a conscious company dedicated to providing healthy and nutritious food, just what I am always seeking happy uplifting food from the sun and earth.

We started with the Raw Alkalizing Green Soup. Alkalizing is essential to a healthy diet. It is the opposite of acidic, which means the foods have the some of the highest pH levels. It’s really essential to eat alkalizing food rather than acidic, for acidic foods leave a lot of residue behind when they are digested, and also have been linked to diseases and stress, research suggests. Alkalizing foods consist of fruits and vegetables, while acidic food is primarily meat, eggs, diary, and sugar. So, we opted for something healthy and satisfying! The Raw Alkalizing Green Soup was just that! Mind you, this soup is served cold rather than hot. This through us for a loop, yet it was still very good-tasting. Sweet and cucumbery!

Next, we ordered smoothies. I ordered the high protein selection, while my fiance requested the goji berry antioxidant option. They were both rich, creamy, thick, and absolutely delicious! The most divine smoothies my taste buds have grabbed a hold of EVER! It is safe to say the smoothies were in our top favorites. I recommend any of their smoothie options.

Moving forward, our entrees were served. I went with the Miso Ginger Tofu Scramble w/ black beans, tomatoes, quinoa, avocado, and a side of hot sauce! It was a plateful of color and heaven! Nutritious, tasty, and savory.

Chase ordered the Shiitake Bacon BLT in a sprouted wheat wrap. I needed a bite! The shiitake bacon was flavorful and zesty, and at the suggestion of our waitress Madison, he ordered a side of their well-known home-made ginger dressing. It really accented well with the shiitake bacon. (In my previous post, Festival of Living Vegan, I have a recipe for shiitake bacon, check it out!)

We couldn’t leave Sun in Bloom without trying their dessert menu! We ordered one of their home-made pumpkin cupcakes! The first bite I couldn’t believe it was vegan! It was thick and moist. It had roasted pumpkin seeds hidden under the frosting. Just absolute delish! Additionally, we tried their chocolate chip cookie sandwich; two cookies with vanilla frosting in the middle! I could eat one of those everyday; just the perfect amount of chocolate and light brown sugar!

All in all, we left the restaurant full of nutrition. The presentation was clean and marvelous. The staff was wonderful, especially our waitress Madison who toke the time to explain the menu and was delightful to converse with. If anyone is ever in the Brooklyn area seeking a flavorsome, energizing, little hole in the wall restaurant to eat at, Sun in Bloom has everything you desire!

Namaste!

Inspiration

Posted on October 20, 2014October 20, 2014 by Amanda

“My body will not be a tomb for other creatures.” Leonardo Da Vinci

Festival of Living Vegan

Posted on October 13, 2014October 13, 2014 by Amanda

This past weekend my fiancé Chase and I attended Catskill Animal Sanctuarys annual Festival of Living Vegan in the small country side town of Saugerties, New York. I know I can speak for the both of us when I say we were so enthusiastic for this trip as we are both ethical vegans living in a community that is predominately made up of carnivores, so the anticipation of being surrounded by like minded individuals who share our same beliefs and goals was purely indescribable. Up until this weekend, we have been feeling rather lonely in our community, yet we are so thankful for this past experience and all the ones to follow. It was such a relief to meet others similar to us. We made so many connections from both our human and animal friends! I am incredibly thankful for this experience and shed gratitude as I reflect on the memories. I would like to give a special thank you to Kathy Stevens, a good friend of ours and founder of Catskill Animal Farm for inviting us and showing us such compassion.

We parked about 10 minutes away in a corporate parking lot, and toke a shuttle bus to the farm. It was packed with people all ages, from young to old. Upon arrival we stopped by Kathy’s house for a warm welcome. Her house is quaint and cozy with a beautiful flower garden surrounding the outside. Inside it was filled with animal paintings and books.

Next, we checked ourselves in at the welcome booth, and headed to the cooking demo performed by vegan Chief Linda at the sanctuary. Check out her blog, called Compassion Cuisine, which is an extension of the animal sanctuary. There are a ton of great vegan recipes! Linda demonstrated to a crowd how to make vegan mac and cheese, something Chase and I haven’t experimented with yet. The recipe can be viewed on her webpage via this link. We were fond of her technique, using nutritional yeast, cauliflower, and butternut squash as the main ingredients in the recipe! A great way for vegans to get their B12. She was kind and patient at answering our many questions. We got great insight on vegan cheese. We are particularly interested in trying Treeline vegan cheese thanks to her advice and sampling!

Another great idea we got from her demonstration was how to make your own vegan “bacon”. She cut a bunch of shiitake mushrooms, sprinkled salt and drizzled a little oil, baked them at a high temperature until *almost* burnt (very very crispy), then letting them dry out for 20 minutes, and well-ah! Vegan “bacon”. The recipe can be viewed via this link.

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Raven…who?

Posted on October 9, 2014October 9, 2014 by Amanda

I’m not an African-American but I am certain I have some in my blood line. I also know what the culture was before European invaders seized the land and the people into slavery (self research is the key). It was magnificent, beautiful, and diverse (don’t believe the text books). These initial Africans were extremely aware, conscious, intelligent human beings. Raven-Simone comments regarding her not being an “African” but an “American” are beyond insulting to myself and especially to Africans themselves.

The elite has done an excellent job of stripping Africans from their heritage and history and painting ugly pictures of what it once was. They have also done a wonderful job at promoting white supremacy and keeping you blindfolded (who doesn’t love the rose-colored glasses)? The elite has made Africans believe they are something they don’t want to be (which is black), because of the stereotyping that comes with it (lets not forget they created this). Hence, Africans don’t work together (community building is merely a Caucasian and Hispanic trait) instead Africans use violence against each other. They kill each other in the streets of New York, Miami, Detroit, Los Angeles, and many more locations. We see this also in Ferguson where the locals protested violently, looted at their own community stores (which makes no sense why would you destroy the little that you have,) and destroyed their own neighborhood through fires and stoning. I can’t tell which is worse the violence the police used or the violence the people used.

But this isn’t about Ferguson, it is about Raven-Symoné (who’s real name is Christina Pearman, yet Christina perfers to go by her stage name of Raven-Symoné) (which makes this even more of mind boggling discussion) comments about how she is not an “African,” despite her beautiful golden brown skin color and rich history that lays in her hair. Folks we can not run from our past or history. We must dive face first into it.

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