The expo was at Lambeau Field, so we stopped at Curly’s Pub for lunch. This is literally inside cheesehead stadium, and yet its veggie burger is vegan and the classic burger doesn’t even come with cheese. All but one burger can be subbed for the vegetarian burger. There is also a vegetarian wrap; the grilled veggies are cooked in oil not butter and it can be served without cheese or mayo.

The waitress even knew the word “vegan”!

Lambeau Field

We walked around the expo and got to see some of the stadium. We also came back for dinner, which was a very sad pasta dinner. Thankfully, I was not running the next day. It was included for runners, but I had to pay $17 for some mass produced penne pasta and marinara.

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The race. It was a tad bit warm for even spectating, so terrible marathon conditions. Not as bad as the 2007 or 2010 Chicago marathons, but 70 and sunny is too hot for 26.2 miles. Still, I was jealous of everyone out there running. I watched them take off and then saw them at mile 4, mile 11, and a half mile before the finish line.

For lunch we went to Glass Nickel Pizza Co., which someone on Yelp had said served vegan pizzas. They are in the process of changing menus, so while the waitress initially said there was a special menu, she came back to say there was no menu, but I could order the vegan delight. The vegan delight is a crust of your choice with barbeque sauce, red onions, broccoli, and pineapples. I’m not a huge fan of pineapples, but it was still pretty good.

For Nancy’s birthday, I made a campfire cake – a four layer chocolate cake with chocolate malt and toasted marshmallow frosting. I topped it with more toasted marshmallows.

Despite not eating fish, sushi is one of my favorite meals. In McHenry County though, sushi consists of avocado rolls, cucumber rolls, and asparagus rolls, or you can get an AAC, which is an avocado, asparagus and cucumber roll. (In all fairness, there is one restaurant with egg-free tempura rolls). Sticky Rice takes vegan sushi to a whole new level.

We started out with a bucket of tater tots. Yes, the entire bucket is full of tater tots. A dipping sauce with Vegenaise was also included. It’s the first time I’ve eaten tater tots with chopsticks.

I ordered the Santa Fe (Tempura fried sweet potato with agave, jalapeno and sesame seeds) and the Hot Hippy (Spicy marinated tofu with scallions, peanuts, cucumbers and carrots). Both were good, but I really enjoyed the sweet potato and jalapeno combo.

For desert, I had some mango sorbet. It was good, but hard to eat with the spoon.

Busboys & Poets
One of my favorite spots in DC to hang out was the U Street Busboys & Poets. They have expanded and for Sunday brunch we checked out the Shirlington location. There was a decent wait. We killed the time at the bar with some fresh-squeezed orange juice.

There are many vegan options on the menu. I settled on the vegan egg wrap (tortilla wrapped tofu scramble with mixed veggies, vegan bacon and vegan cheese; served with home fries) and a Blueberry Rooibos.

Le Pain Quotidien

H had a conference on Monday and Tuesday, so I was on my own. On Monday I headed down to Alexandria for lunch and shopping. Le Pain Quotidien is a chain restaurant with a large number of vegan dishes, which it clearly marks on its menu. I ordered the Sweet Pea Hummus Tartine (an open-faced sandwich with sweet pea hummus, organic carrots, spring peas, radish and smoked tea vinaigrette) and a cup of tea. I sat at the large communal table.

From the bakery, I ordered an apple cannelé. I’ve never had a cannelé before, so I can’t say whether this was a good one or not. It was rather dense and not very sweet. I could only eat half, but I took the other half for a morning snack on Tuesday.

After lunch, I walked down to the art galleries and water.

On my walk back to the metro I stopped at a toy store to buy a gift for my friend’s baby and a second-hand store where I bought a flowy floral Tracy Reese shirt and a Valentino jersey skirt.

Archives and Teaism

On Tuesday, I planned on going to Teaism and the National Gallery of Art. But once I got to the Penn Quarter Teaism I decided to go to the National Archives. I’ve been to the art gallery more times than I can count, but I had never been to the Archives. At Teaism I had the Irish oatmeal without milk and a berry tisane.

Archives was a fun museum. Although, the room with the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights is so disorganized.It’s a good think we made a copy, because the documents are very faded.

Sticky Fingers & Columbia Heights
After the Archives, I headed up to my old neighborhood for lunch at Sticky Fingers. I had the tempeh Reuben and a vanilla cupcake.

Mala Tang
Last, but not least, we stopped at Mala Tang for hot pot on our way to the airport. I liked Mala Tang, because they do individual pots, so I can order my own special vegetarian broth. I got the spicy broth with the American vegetable combination (potatoes, broccoli and mushrooms) and dried bean curd. We also ordered some vegetable baozi, which I thought wasn’t very flavorful on its own, but much better with a spicy dipping sauce.

I’m pretty sure the only vegan cupcakes in McHenry County come from my kitchen. But maybe there’s another vegan baker or two out there. It’s a different story in DC, where even regular bakeries have a vegan option.

1. Cakelove

First up is Cakelove. Founded by a former lawyer (my role model) Cakelove was baking cupcakes before they became popular. I was a big fan in my pre-vegan days, but unfortunately the deliciousness does not transfer over to vegan baked goods. This was an embarrassment to vegan cupcakes everywhere. I got the chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting. The frosting was good. It wasn’t very sweet, nor was it very chocolate-y. The lack of sweetness wasn’t a problem, but chocolate frosting should taste chocolate-y. The cake part was just dreadful. Very dense. I cut off the bottom and ate the frosting with a tiny bit of cake. At $4.20 a cupcake (more than a regular cupcake and the most expensive of all the bakeries), this was a terrible deal.

2. Sticky Fingers
No trip to DC is complete without a trip to Columbia Heights for Sticky Fingers. I stuck with the plain vanilla. It was delicious and confirmed that I am excellent at following directions. My cupcakes taste just like it. The cupcake was moist, the frosting was sweet and there was a perfect frosting to cake ratio. It’s almost not fair to have other bakeries competing against Sticky Fingers for best vegan cupcake, but not including Sticky Fingers would be wrong. Plain cupcakes are $3; a little more for something fancy.

3. Sprinkles
Sprinkles and Georgetown Cupcake are less than 1/2 a mile from each other. They both have TV connections. Sprinkles was founded by Cupcake Wars judge Candace Nelson and Georgetown Cupcake has its own reality show on TLC. I took H with me, because I couldn’t eat 2 cupcakes all by myself (after eating Sticky Fingers for lunch that is). Both just have one vegan option. Sprinkles has the same red velvet flavor every day. This cupcake is huge! Probably the size of two Georgetown cupcakes. The cake was moist and the cream cheese frosting was the perfect sweetness although a little firm because it probably came right from the refrigerator. However, it had a strong coconut taste that I didn’t care for (I am not a big fan of coconut). H liked it though. Cupcakes are $3.50

4. Georgetown Cupcake
Last but not least, the extremely popular Georgetown Cupcake. Georgetown Cupcake offers three vegan favors on a rotating schedule: apple cinnamon, cranberry spice and carrot cake. Fortunately, we were not there on a carrot cake day (vegetables should not be a star player in a dessert!) We got to try the cranberry spice with cream cheese frosting and it was delicious. The cake was moist; the flavor was interesting; the frosting was sweet and soft; and the cupcakes are pretty. They are small, but only $2.75. I do love frosting, but the frosting to cake ratio was 1:1. Other than that, the cupcake rivals Sticky Fingers. Of course, the lack of variety knocks Georgetown Cupcake down a notch.

Rankings:
1. Sticky Fingers – cupcake perfection
2. Georgetown Cupcake – a tad too much frosting
3. Sprinkles – due to the coconut taste. However, H thought Sprinkles was better than Georgetown Cupcake
4. Cakelove – gross

This mango drink, not impressive. It tasted like mango-flavored sugar water; that’s probably what it was.

When our server came to take our order, I informed him that I was vegan. I didn’t even get to finish my sentence (“is there something that the chef can put together?”) before the server responded with “you want the vegan plate?” As if that was something on the menu. Yes, that is exactly what I wanted. I patiently waited, hoping for more than a plate of soggy vegetables with some minute rice.

Instead of the typical grilled vegetable plate, this was put before me:

Tempura asparagus with corn, arugula, and a tomato sauce. The waiter confirmed with the chef that the tempura did not contain eggs and I dove right in. It was delicious. I have no problem with Montarra calling itself a downtown Chicago restaurant. We will definitely visit again.

The ambiance and service are nice. There was a gorgeous chandelier hanging above our heads. The cocktail list looked good, but I was driving, so I didn’t try anything.

My dinner: Vegetable Tacos sans cheese with added avocado. No rice. Side of veggies.

The Mexican rice contains chicken broth, but they are willing to cook the vegetables in olive oil rather than butter. The refried black beans are vegan, as are the tacos if you order without cheese.

Both buns they serve contain milk ingredients. Obviously the brioche buns aren’t vegan, but unfortunately the sesame buns aren’t either. I really wanted “the Saint” (a portabella mushroom sandwich with hummus, lettuce and tomato) and fries, but my only entree option was the tacos. H got a sandwich with fries, and the fries weren’t very good, so I was a little happier with my choice. I’m not a huge fan of chipotle sauce; it’s too sweet. Otherwise, my meal was fine.

We also order the hummus appetizer, but H was so hungry he ate it before I could take a photo. The hummus was good; better than the tacos.  This was a little out of the way for us, so I doubt we will ever go back. Our server was nice and answered all my dairy questions, so I will give them that, but I am not eating those tacos again.  If you do go, make a reservation (they are on Open Table). We went super early to make a movie and even with our 5:15 reservation we had to wait.

H had the Reuben with a side of Mac & Teese

I had Gyros with Sweet Potato Fries

You cannot go to Chicago Diner without ordering a milkshake. Chicago Vegan Food’s Temptation ice cream is incredible. We shared a Devil’s Food Cake Milkshake: Chocolate ice cream and cake crumbs, ganache sauce, vegan Dandies Marshmallows & whipped cræam. So good!

It was a Chicago Vegan Foods kind of day. After Mac & Teese, and a Temptation milkshake, we went to the Farewell to Winter Hot Chocolate Party, hosted by Chicago Vegan Foods with proceeds going to Mercy for Animals. We drank vegan hot chocolate with Dandies marshmallows and it was delicious. There was a table full of vegan treats, including Eat Pastry cookies and rice krispies treats. My only complaint is that winter is still here even though we said good-bye yesterday. She is definitely outstaying her welcome.

Eat Pastry cookie dough is incredible. In fact, it’s so good that I’ve never eaten an Eat Pastry cookie until last night; I just ate the dough from the container. I had the peanut butter chocolate chip and that ended a fun and sugar-filled day.

Blueberry Maple Pie from Vegan Pie in the Sky.

I ordered a pear sakitini, which was delicious!

Edamame, of course

Shiitake mushroom salad

Veggie Delight Maki

Last night was the season 3 finale of Downton Abbey in the US, so I attempted to create the castle out of peanut butter rice krispies treats (the peanut butter gives it a more authentic color).  It took 4 bags of Dandies marshmallows, a stick and a half of margarine, 2 cups of peanut butter and a value size box of Rice Crispy’s

Chicago Vegan Foods is having a contest for fanciest Dandies marshmallow creation. Hopefully they will announce a winner, because the last time I entered their contest no winner was announced.

***SEASON 7 SPOILER ALERT***
Downton Abbey is bombed by Germans. Oh, no! Matthew resurrects from the dead to single-handedly defeat the Nazis.