Posts archived in atlanta

For my birthday this year, Kevin took me to Cafe Sunflower. It tends to be the default special occasion restaurant for veg*ns in Atlanta, but really it’s good any time. While not 100% vegan, there are tons of vegan options and the staff can help you figure out what’s what. Also, kind of rarity for Atlanta veg restaurants, Cafe Sunflower serves beer & wine.

We started with fried brussels sprouts in a sweet sauce. They’re fried, so of course they’re tasty. But I really like brussels sprouts so I prefer them steamed or roasted if I’m cooking them at home.

brussels sprouts

Kevin had one of his regular favorites, the stuffed acorn squash.

stuffed acorn squash

And I had the pepper crusted tempeh. Under it that’s romaine lettuce, potatoes and a balsamic reduction sauce, I think. All rockin’.

pepper crusted tempeh

And I don’t know if they’ve always had this lighting at the tables, but it’s very friendly to food blogging. :-)

For dessert, I made my own birthday cake. It was a black forest cake and I utterly failed to take any pictures of it.

Okay, so Atlanta participated in the World Wide Vegan Bake Sale way back on May 1st and I’m just now posting pictures. Oh well. Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe organized it and we took over the back of their shop. Who knew so many  people would be willing to leave the comfort of I-285 to venture to Marietta for vegan baked goods? We sold out before the sale was over! Leigh has a better here of everything so I’ll focus on what I made.

BBQ Jackfruit and Collard hand pies

BBQ Jackfruit and Collard hand pies

Banana Cream Pies

Banana Cream Pies

cookies

Cookies! Chocolate crinkles, molasses cookies, snickerdoodles

2010 vegan bake sale flyerHey kids! You all like tasty vegan baked goods, right? Then you don’t want to miss this year’s Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale! This year, Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe is hosting the sale at their space in Marietta, Georgia Saturday, May 1st noon – 4pm to give those OTP folks a chance to get some tasty vegan baked goods. I’m donating some goodies…of course I can’t remember what I said I was bringing except banana cream pies. Yep, gonna make some mini vegan banana cream pies. You don’t want to miss that, do you? You can also promote and RSVP to the event on Facebook here.

The Metro Atlanta Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale will benefit Ahimsa House. Ahimsa House is dedicated to helping the human and animal victims of domestic violence across Georgia reach safety together.

Thanks Steph Timms for once again creating a super cute flyer for the sale.

The bake sales are being held all over the world, so check here to find out when and where one is being held near you.

fowl play movieThe good folks at Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe have arranged a free screening of the documentary Fowl Play at Wonderroot. The screening is Friday, March 5th at 8pm. Oh, and tasty vegan refreshments will be provided by Cosmo’s and Dough Bakery.

Okay, we know. These things are hard to watch. But the more information you have, the easier it is to explain your position when you get those people that ask “why don’t you eat eggs?” Do you have a vegetarian friend that needs a little more convincing to give up eggs? Bring ‘em! You aren’t vegan but wonder why we are? Come on down!

Fowl Play is a documentary from Mercy For Animals that takes viewers on an unforgettable journey behind the closed doors of some of the country’s largest egg production facilities and graphically illustrates the heartbreaking plight of laying hens condemned to lives crowded inside file-drawer sized cages.

Through touching interviews with animal rescuers, undercover investigators, veterinarians, and animal behaviorists, we hear powerful stories motivated by kindness and courage from the dedicated individuals who are fighting to save the modern day hen- perhaps the most abused and exploited animal on earth.

Connecting the dots between consumer demand for meat, dairy and eggs and the perpetuation of animal abuse, Fowl Play leaves viewers with a groundbreaking message of personal responsibility and the potential each of us holds to change the world- one meal at a time.

Wonderroot address & directions
982 Memorial Drive, Atlanta, GA 30316 [map]

Driving:
Merge onto I-20 East from the 75/85 Connector.
Take exit 59B towards Memorial Drive/Glenwood Ave.
Take a left on Bill Kennedy Way.
Take a right on Memorial Drive.
Our building is on the left.

MARTA: WonderRoot is located on Bus Route 21.
The stop is located at Memorial Dr. and Stovall St.
WonderRoot is just 0.1 miles west of the bus stop.
Bus Route 21 is fed by the Five Points Station and Kensington Station.

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Bake Sale Success!

It was nasty, rainy and a little icy but people still came out. Atlanta’s Vegan Bake Sale for Haiti this Saturday raised $1365 for Doctors Without Borders. Holy Crap! A special thanks to Kristin for organizing the whole thing and Criminal Records for not just agreeing to let us do it in front of their store, but letting us take over the back of the store when the weather turned nasty. Those guys rock!

Kristin has a great round-up of participants here. I’d like to also add thanks to Alicia Simpson, author of Vegan Comfort Food, Alison Brown, Lisa Bennett and a guy named David, I think, for bringing out goodies to sell. The hard work of everyone involved enabled us to turn a bit of labor and ingredients into a much larger donation for Haiti.

And now, for some of my crappy pictures!

Setting up in the back of Criminal Records

Setting up in the back of Criminal Records

Becky & Kristin load up Table 1

Becky & Kristin load up Table 1

Front of Table 2

Front of Table 2

side of table 2

side of table 2

Some of my contributions:

hearts and flowers sandwich cookies, mini marble bundt cakes, brownies, beard-friendly mini cupcakes on a stick

hearts and flowers cookies close-up

nekkid bundt cakes before they got their glaze

vegan bake sale for haiti

Remember how awesome the World Vegan Bake Sale was this summer? What? You missed it??? Well, guess what, there’s going to be a bonus one this year to help Haiti.

When: Saturday, January 30, 2010

Time: noon – 4pm

Where: in front of Criminal Records in Little 5 Points [map]

Benefitting: Doctors Without Borders USA

Facebook: spread it around and find out how to participate as a baker if you’d like

Atlanta’s vegan brunch options are definitely limited. Sometimes you need a place that vegans and omnivores alike can be happy. Stone Soup Kitchen can take care of everyone. Kevin and I even go there every once in a while just the two of us.

I usually get the Tofu Rancheros. Beans, tortillas, tofu, a bit if spicy. Yum!

Kevin got the blueberry cornmeal pancakes. I think he likes Soul Vegetarian pancakes better, but I like the cornmeal. They do have Earth Balance and soy milk for coffee, just ask.

Did we all survive another office holiday party season? For vegans, this usually sucks. If you’re lucky, you’ll get spaghetti with marinara or some sad steamed vegetables. Even at nice restaurants where you’d think the chef would have a little more pride. Just because we’re vegan doesn’t mean we lack taste buds.

My company doesn’t give a crap about the vegans that work here (no, I’m not the only one), so I don’t even bother going to work food events. Kevin’s company usually makes a pretty good effort. This year was really nice. The party was at The Mansion in Buckhead. Our entree was ravioli but the pasta part was celery root. The innards were tasty mushrooms. It came with various root veggies scattered around. Of course, I can’t remember what the sauce was, but it was good. See people, it’s not that freakin’ difficult!

Oh man. The Sunday before Thanksgiving our monthly vegan lunch group (join us on Facebook) had a Thanksgiving-themed potluck hosted by the lovely Lisa & David. Two Thanksgivings in one week! Our potlucks always rock and this was no exception. Somehow we always manage to have the right mix of foods.

For my blogging about them completely unsolicited, Match Vegan Meats wanted to send me one of their holiday roasts but they ran out. So instead they sent me all the vegan meats I’d need to make one, or five. :-) They have the recipe posted online, so you can do it too. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly. Instead of herbed stuffing mix, I used cornbread that I added seasoning to. If you have a favorite stuffing recipe that isn’t super moist, you could definitely substitute it here. The amount you see here is a double batch of the recipe. I made a shiitake mushroom gravy to go with it. I also specifically shaped them long and thin so it wouldn’t totally dominate anyone’s potluck plate.

all sliced up for the potluck

all sliced up for the potluck

I think the Match went over really well. Some people hadn’t had it before so it was a good introduction. If anyone wants to comment with their thoughts on it, I know the Match folks would love to hear them.

But enough about me. There was a whole spread of deliciousness. I didn’t even get pictures of everything.

garlicky potatoes

garlicky potatoes

Vic posted the recipe for this root salad. I’m totally going to make it. I love eating stuff like this. Great way to make autumn/winter veggies pop.

redneck caviar and chips

redneck caviar and chips

green beans

green beans

cranberry sauce two ways

cranberry sauce two ways

sausages, fruit

sausages, fruit

sweet potato pie, chocolate almond brittle

sweet potato pie, chocolate almond brittle

my plate

my plate

My plate piled high. I see some mac & cheese, greens and stuffing that didn’t make it in the pics. Lisa also made a chocolate layer cake. Yum!

Tuesday I had to take an all day class and then an exam at the health department in downtown Atlanta. It sounds kind of terrible but it was actually pretty informative. And the test was pretty easy. Anyway, we were only going to have an hour break for lunch so I had to figure out ahead of time what to eat. Calabash looked to be a bit too far to walk, so after some googling around I found Negril Caribbean Cafe. Their menu showed some veggie options. Cool!

Naturally, it was raining all day. So I stomped through the rain the 3 or 4 blocks to the restaurant. I asked about vegan options and it was pretty much all the veggie options. Cool! So I got the blackened tofu, peas and rice and green beans. She said the blackened tofu came with sweet and sour sauce. I asked for it on the side. The blackened tofu wasn’t really spicy. At all. So that was kind of odd. But everything was pretty good. The sweet and sour sauce was kind of like asian sweet and sour sauce. It also had a strip each of raw onion, bell pepper and carrot in it. And two tomato chunks. I ended up dumping it on half the rice and half the tofu. I think the green beans were just canned, but they weren’t cooked to death so I was fine with that. They also had some veggie stir fries, a curry and other stuff on the menu I’d like to try.

I almost forgot that I picked up a callaloo patty for later that became part of dinner. The greens had a bit of a kick. Very nice.

Holy crap! That wraps up my 2nd VeganMofo! 31 posts in 31 days. I might be a little blogged out….