Vegan Connecticut & Vegan Boston

I feel like I've cooked a lot in the past two weeks, but I do not have enough photographic evidence to back this statement. I have, in fact, but not all vegan and forgot to take the pictures, of course. The pops won't eat solely vegan (though, my mother will) so, I get to experiment with other cooking ingredients. I never get to try what I eat, but I hear it's tasty and get the critiques, haha.

I'm fairly certain I have made potatoes and cabbage (see recipe in previous entry) 4 times this month, though. That's a whole lot of cabbage, eek. Onward.

So, two weekends ago, I went to see the boyfriend in CT. I thus tried out an organic cafe called Mangetout in downtown New London, CT. It was quite tasty. The owner was sweet. We traded vegan cupcake secrets and I recommended some vegan cookbooks to her. They open for breakfast, brunch, and lunch, no dinner. They have at least one vegan menu item each day (their menus change daily) and several vegan dessert options, again all organic.

I had the edamame hummus wrap with a soy latte. I also took a chocolate nut fudge bar to go so I could split it with the boy. He really liked it which was funny because earlier I had given him and his roommate a chocolate Earth ball (it's tiny) and he was complaining that vegan chocolate is gross. Touche!

Lunch!

After my lunch, I meandered around downtown New London and came across two things I was hoping I would eventually run into. First, Fiddleheads, a co-op in New London. It is quite new in its location and is sort of empty for the space, but I was told another row was being added later that week. They had quite a few vegan products that are hard to come by unless you go to a health food store or order online.

They also had local vendors inside selling their own produce or wares. Included were hand knitted items and home made jams. One woman has her own farm and was selling her own vegetables, herbs, and fruits. I bought a bag of homemade dried apple pieces. They dry out the slices on a pole which they rotate over heat for 24 hours. It was possibly the best dried fruit I have ever had. Oh my goodness, it was so sweet!


Check out the woman's farm at her website: Purity Farm


She was showing me pictures of her grandchildren at the farm, too cute.


After my exciting vegan finds, I needed coffee. A city girl can only go so long without another latte in tote. Therefore, I went to Bean & Leaf (a world without Starbucks within literal reach is bizarre, refreshing, and shows that I a) live in a metropolis & b) traveling is good).


Support local things, people!


I went to Boston for the day. Many of you know how I like to find all possible things vegan in new big cities (or any city, probably). And I did! I was surprised Boston did not have more vegetarian or vegan places upon doing my research before I left, I must say. Usually larger cities thrive on it. I managed to find two places, though one was closed (probably because it is in the Financial District and this was a Saturday). It is called Milk Street Cafe. The place I went to for lunch was in Chinatown, My Thai Vegan Cafe. It was awesome! I highly recommend this place for some Asian vegan fusion food. One of the things I miss since I had gone vegetarian/vegan was won ton soup. I'm too lazy to make it myself (though I've had wonton wrappers in my freezer now for 3/4th of a year in prepartion to make said soup) and I've never come across a vegan one yet. Low and behold, my dream came true and the added bonus? It was super tasty! I had a Thai Basil Salad to finish. Mmm!

Possibly one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth!

Mmm, doesn't this look good?!


I'm starting to think I should have my own Rachael Ray - esque Food Network show where I go around the country/world finding vegan restaurants and showcasing them. Hardy Har. Recipes in the next entry, this has gone on too long for one!