asian Archives - Page 2 of 2

Tanya’s Asian Creation

Apparently I’ve been revisiting old favorites lately. The piles of Fall squash in the markets always make me think of this dish, Tanya’s Asian Creation from How It All Vegan. Another one that comes together quickly with ingredients that can hang out for a while without going bad. I love to have a few of those up my sleeve for weeks when you don’t really know what you’re doing one night to the next.

This time I used a cute little butternut I had hanging out. Even though it was small, I had extra that I put in the freezer already cubed for later use. Oh, and make the gomashio. It makes the dish and is quick and cheap to make.

Atlanta Vegan Lunch Group Dinner

Confused yet? We have a group that meets once a month, usually for lunch. But this past time, we had dinner. At Loving Hut. We had a nice turn out. You should join us. If you don’t have veg friends, it’s fun to hang out with a bunch of like minded folks. And even if you do, it’s nice to see every once in a while that vegans come from all walks of life.

Now, on to the food. I knew some of the things I liked from the opening day party. Their rice paper rolls were really enjoyable, so I got the basil rolls:

Kevin sneaked in an order for Heavenly Salad. I didn’t complain. I love the Vietnamese flavors in this dish.

This fried tofu also magically appeared on the table. I had a triangle and it was nice. Light crispy panko coating.

Ever since I saw Pho on the menu, I wanted to try it. It was pretty good, but I think I would prefer a more garlicy/gingery broth. This one was more beefy and had a hint of 5 spice powder. I don’t hate it, but it’s not my favorite thing.

Kevin ordered a coffee drink and it came with this lovely strawberry flavored decoration. Not sure how I would feel about strawberry in my coffee, but it sure was pretty.

Something else from the menu that I had my eye on was the rootbeer float. I mean, where can you get a vegan rootbeer float? The rootbeer was really tasty and the ice cream seemed to be standard soy vanilla. One pro tip for you, tell them to hold the ice. It seems unnecessary when you’re dumping ice cream into a cold beverage.

Kevin also ordered the hummingbird cake. If you saw my most from the opening, you’ll know I wasn’t happy with the texture of the hummingbird cake there. It was kind of mushy. This one was much better. It’s still not as good as Lisa’s, but then how could it be? 🙂

Loving Hut Grand Opening

You Gwinnett vegans & vegetarians have a new option. Sunday we went to the grand opening of Loving Hut in Norcross. We arrived to catch the tail end of dancing Chinese dragons out front. Inside they had two free buffets set up. And a ton of people. There is some patio seating and then a large dining room. We headed to the dining room and found someone we knew and were lucky enough to snag a couple of seats next to the cake. CAKE.

my pate...a few things are covered up — my plate...a few things are covered up

I’ve got a few close-ups coming up. My favorite items were the Heavenly Salad (I think) and the rice paper roll. It was either a summer roll or a basil roll. The salad tasted Vietnamese and we just don’t have enough Vietnamese options around here.

This might be the BBQ Sticks? It was kind of beefy and definitely had a BBQ style sauce. I think they either make their own fake meats or they have a completely different source than the other restaurants in the area.

And yes, what grand opening celebration would be complete with out CAKE. This was their hummingbird cake. I didn’t love it. I felt like my piece was mushy and possibly undercooked. I ate it all anyway.

Glancing through the menu, it is mostly an assortment of different Asian foods. But they also have spaghetti and a hamburger if you’re not into that. A lot of fried stuff. When I go back, I definitely want to try the Pho. They had vegan Thai Tea at the grand opening and it was pretty tasty. Root beer float is on the menu. Most of the entrees seem to run in the $8-9 range.

Too bad this place is not at all convenient for me. But for those rare excursions up into Gwinnett I will definitely think of it. Oh, and your meal comes with all the Supreme Master TV you can stand.

Tour of Buford Highway

Saturday I hit a couple of ethnic markets on Buford Highway in addition to my regular weekly visit to the DeKalb Farmers Market. A lot of this stuff you can get in the regular grocery store, but it’s much cheaper here. Plus there are random things that can be hard to find like a jar of mole with a screw top lid you can re-close. So here’s my haul from the Hispanic market: enchilada sauce, hominy, refried beans with chipotle, habeño sauce, ready to serve mole in a cool aseptic container, refried black beans, chipotle sauce, marinated cactus, mole with a screw top lid, a small jar of chipotle in adobo and a big stack of corn tortillas. Not pictured: butternut squash, shallots, onions, and a serrano. mexican groceries Next, Atlanta’s Farmers Market, which also has Hispanic goods, but I was headed there for the Asian stuff. Here I picked up a couple of different rice stick noodles and some bean threads, mock duck, coconut milk, rice seasoning, vegetarian steak, coconut cream, pepper corns (I’m pretty sure these are the things also known as Szechwan pepper corns) and fermented black beans. Not pictured: two different sizes/shapes of rice papers. asian groceries Seems like I’m missing some items. I’m not gonna post the rest as it’s just normal rice milk, soy milk, apples, coffee, etc. I’m not sure why I bought all this stuff. I don’t have room for it. 🙂

Contains real vegetarians!

Contains real vegetarians!, originally uploaded by abracapocus.