Day 1, Volume 2

We didn’t do much traveling around our first day in Portland but if you’re going to be stuck somewhere for a marathon tattoo session there’s no where lovelier than the world’s only VEGAN STRIP MALL! That’s right, it may be small, but Portland’s vegan row is a pretty awe inspiring sight to two Vegangelicals from Orange County, CA. As soon as you get out of your car it’s as if the clouds part and rays of glorious sunshine stream through to melt away the evil in the world. Portland’s vegan strip mall is home to Sweatpea Bakery, Herbivore Clothing, Food Fight Grocery, and Scapegoat Tattoo.

Silje Hagland did an AMAZING job on our tattoos and during our breaks we chowed down on a VEGAN Bacon and Chive Schmeared bagel at Sweatpea Bakery. Post tattoos we were pretty wiped but couldn’t resist one more food adventure before putting our bloody limbs to bed. The vegan empanada rellenas and breakfast burrito with soy curls at Los Gorditos were pretty epic and put our college double drive Mexican food days to shame.

All in all a pretty religious experience to hang out at the vegan mini mall all day, get tattoos touting our vegan philosophy and ethics, and chow down on some good Portland eats. More photos of our healed tattoos to come as well as how other vegans at Vida Con displayed their vegan pride in permanent ink!

Cheers,
The Vegangelicals

Day 1, Volume 1

So after a relatively painless flight with very gourmet PB & J sandwiches lusciously displayed in ziploc bags for security purposes, we made it into Portland and headed straight to PARADOX CAFE!

What to say about PARADOX CAFE… if there was a dish that could save the world from its sins… it just might be PARADOX CAFE’s Tofu Benedict. It was as if the Vegan Gods of Compassion so loved the world that on top of decreasing violence, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and general world shiftiness they also decided to gift all that to the people smothered in vegan hollandaise sauce. Win.

With un-relenting gratitude,
The Vegangelicals

Leg 1 of Vegan Con Pilgrimage 2011

Good Morning Good Vegan Congregation!

Sleepy but Excited,
The Vegangelicals

Vida VEGAN Con

Hello there friends… we have just one thing to say…

(Top left picture lovingly borrowed from wVIDA VEGAN CON)

That’s right VIDA VEGAN CON)
is finally here!! Above see the rad Vida Vegan Con shirt and pics from our gluttonous road trip… ahem… we mean noble pilgrimage to the mecca of all things vegan… PORTLAND in order to spread the good vegan word up the west coast. We can’t help it if Vegangelizing is tiring and required several pit stops to refuel on VooDoo Donuts and Fu Scramble!! Oh man, Paradox Fu Scramble… ain’t the fanciest shmanciest meal you’ll ever eat but believe us there’s no other way to describe it but absolutely divine! It’s slathered in Field Roast Sausage gravy and the plate seemed to be magically… ahem.. divinely bottomless!

We’re so excited to meet all the amazing vegan bloggers we’ve been chatting with who are already doing the good work of spreading the GOOD WORD on their respective blogs!

We’re getting in Wednesday morning, heading straight to Paradox Cafe, and then off to Scapegoat Tattoo for the rest of the afternoon!

See you soon Portland!

In Deep Reverence,
The Vegangelicals

Raw Food Cleanse 2011

Howdy there good Vegans of the Blogosphere!

We’re going to do something a bit different here today– a Raw Food Cleanse Special Post! Sure normally we usually try to keep to a steady diet of craft beer and potatoes as we spread the good word. We’ve found this fuels our vegangelicalism and is one of the most successful ways to convert a suspicious suicide foodist into the vegan fold (Just found the Suicide Food blog via Vegan Con Website…RAD). However, a little good healthy raw vegan living food once in awhile NEVER HURT ANYONE… seriously… that’s not a figure of speech…. funny how people throw that around when talking about hamburgers and chocolate ice cream… humph… but I digress **carefully lowers self of vegan soapbox.** And while we’re not ready to give up our beer and french fry local pub run anytime soon here’s some raw dishes that make even our fried food loving bellies swoon…

Yum! Freshness at it’s best! Home juiced oranges were the base of this salad dressing and a perfect compliment to the snap peas and bell peppers. I know know… technically the soy sauce isn’t raw… but just a dash was delicious! Made a great pre-yoga lunch!

Another simple favorite! Guacamole topped salad… easy, delicious, and filling! We splashed some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the leaves and then globbed on the guac. The brazil nut parmesan has ground brazil nuts, garlic, onions, salt and pepper. In the background is raw sunbread from Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen.

Okay, so we know… “Raw Pizza” seems like one of those oxymorons that one shouldn’t even try to attempt but just like a rad vegan neatloaf… this raw pizza can really stand judgment on it’s own! Ani’s raw sundried tomato marinara, nut cheeze, sliced zucchini with a bit of lemon and salt, and sliced olives… WIN.

Lettuce for shells and nut meat for filling… these doozies would go great with a pitcher of margaritas!! Uhh… I mean… raw limeade… hehee… seriously though, while this meal feels naughty and reminiscent of a Mexican smorgasbord, it’s super good for you! The colors are bright the guacamole is rich and your stomach will thank you for this PURE indulgence!

Speaking of indulgence… we’ll let the sweet breakfast/dessert rounds speak for themselves… that’s right.. raw food’s so healthy dessert CAN double as breakfast!

And last but not least OUR favorite Avocado Kale Salad…

I know… a salad seems like a “wahwahwahhhhhhh” way to end a post but we can’t express to you how simple and awesome this avocado kale salad is… it’s basically kept us fed through the summer heat! All you need to do is tear up some de-stemmed kale (or buy it pre-bagged like us…hehe..) sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and cayenne on top then massage in a generous squeeze (maybe half a lemon for a single serving and a whole lemon for 2 servings) of lemon and ripe avocado. The trick here is you actually have to get your hands all dirty by massaging it in as it helps the kale take in the flavor! Lastly, toss in some tomatoes.. halved cherry tomatoes are the best. This salad is filling and delicious! A staple in our vegan arsenal raw cleanse or not!

So our dear vegan congregation… in closing… while we would never forsake the spiritual balm that a huge plate of french fries could provide cleansing out the system once in awhile is a great to keep your vegan temples running at optimal speed!! And now with all the amazing raw vegan goodness out there it doesn’t have to feel like you’re denying yourself anything at all!

 

In awe of raw decadence,

The Vegangelicals

Balls!

Oi! Hello again!

What has the congregation been up to?? Lots of VEGAN goodness we assume. Well, we’ve actually been doing something a bit different from what was the epic VEGAN BEERFEST 2011… we’re actually onto RAW CLEANSE 2011 to prepare for our trip of gluttony to Los Angeles next week! We’ll be at…

Woohoo! Should be a blast.. but fear not good Veganites.. even though we shall be neck deep in crafts we won’t forsake our number one duty to spread the vegan word… or at least our belt buckles as we consume as much vegan food as we can stuff down our faces in one weekend! Supposedly, there are some “vegetarian” options but we may just have order a QuarryGirl Special from Cruzer pizza and call it a day. Although with all our after show adventuring we definitely didn’t starve last year, options at the show were pretty slim and dwindled as the day went on.

We digress… what were we saying??? Oh, right… BALLS! Before we go RAW on all yo vegan asses check out these goodies from The Vegan Joint in West Los Angeles!

So The Vegan Joint is definitely one of those places where there’s everything on the menu from pancakes and fu scramble to well… orange tofu balls… and while we can only speak to the listings above we were pretty satisfied! Not only was everything DELICIOUS but it made excellent leftovers! That’s right… some blogs might tell you how food tastes when you order it but the level of journalism is that high here that we also let you know how stuff tastes nuked/refried the next day… that’s just how important the vegan cause is to us. 🙂

In conclusion…

Vegan Joint Tofu Balls=Satisfied VEGANGELICALS!

Tofu Balls & Vegan Asian Sunshine,

The Vegangelicals

Seabirds Beerfest Remix!

Hello there again good Vegan Congregation…

So it may seem somewhat gluttonous that we’d already be attempting to re-make beerfest items but… think of it this way… there are roughly 362 more days that we have to wait until the next Vegan Beerfest… so see… that’s 362 days without beerfest… and well I don’t know about you but that seems like restraint, ascetic restraint, if you ask me!

Check it…

So here’s how it went down… same general idea beer battered avocado tacos + Aardvark Sriracha Veganaise +Sumi Salad (Cabbage and Rice Noodles in a Sesame Oil Dressing) + Crispy Corn Shells = AWESOME!!! On the side we did some semi-fresco beans… meaning okay we used pinto beans out of a can but then we added onions, tomatoes, mini bellpeppers, garlic powder, and a little salt & pepper! NOMNOMNOM!!!

That’s right friends… that just happened. And it can happen for you too! No need to wait another 362 days… of course you could try to at least make it to next Saturday unlike us… but you know.. we won’t judge you.

Cheers,

The Vegangelicals

From the Vegan Pulpit: VEGAN BEERFEST 2011

Hello there friends, vegans, beer & fried food aficionados!

What did you do yesterday?? Oh, you weren’t at Vegan Beerfest 2011?? Yeah… that was a fail on your part. It was nearly a fail on our part as well but luckily we caught word of this epic event just days before and then were gifted tickets through the graciousness of Drink Eat Travel’s Beerfest giveaway! You’re rad Stan the MAN!!

What is VEGAN BEERFEST you ask? Well, friends other than a life altering spiritual experience it also included unlimited pours of VEGAN craft beer, great bands and AMAZING vegan eats! You can check out the news segments on Quarry Girl’s blog (one of the planners/founders/organizers to whom we are eternally grateful!).

Here are some of our highlights…

We started off with Seabirds beer battered avocado tacos which we washed down with Ranger IPA…

Uhh… did you hear what I said??? I SAID… VEGAN BEER BATTERED AVOCADO TACOS… oh sorry to scream.. it’s just that when I realized you were still reading instead of chasing the Seabirds truck around Orange County I thought maybe you didn’t hear me.

After this more tasting & eating ensued… Curly fries with garlic mayo and wasabi ketchup from Fresh Fries…

You’ll notice that at a certain point some Vegan superhero powers became strikingly more adept… such as my ability to hold my curly fries without leading to any interruption in the constant flow of craft beer to my lips. In other cases (such as picture taking) it became increasingly more difficult for everyone to focus on the same subject or focal point once we were a few rounds in.

To finish off our day we visited the Doomie’s stand for a poquito potito!! Which tasted like deep fried sour cream and chive mashed potatoes and rainbows. The Doomie’s crew have had a major bad break this week with a fire that shut down their brick and mortar operations. They were awesome enough to still come to Beerfest but please send good vegan thoughts their way and make sure you’re waiting in line for potitos when their doors re-open!! And Franken’s for their self-titled Franken dog which was spicy and delicious!

All in all the day was an EPIC SUCCESS. Our only regrets/to do list for next year:

1. Buy a shirt first thing! We tried to buy shirts after our first round of food/drinks and they were already sold out of everything but 1 XL… sad…
2. Do a dessert round after each savory round… otherwise you will be left sad and vegan dingdongless at the end of beerfest with a major sweet tooth craving!
3. Anyone in charge of taster mug buying reading??? The mini pints were cool but the mini mugs were rad! We saw a couple floating around but couldn’t get our little vegan paws on any. Any chance those are making a comeback next year????

Thus the lessons we learned from VEGAN BEERFEST 2011 that we’d like to pass on to you in our very first sermon from the vegan pulpit: VEGAN Beer is GOOD, especially all in one place and with unlimited pours. Vegan restaurants/food trucks serving up grease laden delicacies to hungry beer tasters far surpasses animal product filled bar/fair food. VEGAN BEERFEST GOERS are just all in all rad people. There was no fighting in lines or death glares and obscenities from accidentally bumping into a fellow taster… people were just generally happy to be enjoying good food, good beer, and good music with the clear consciences that NOT one other living being was harmed in the process.

With that said… take care, be well, and go out into your weeks as any beerfest goer would… with lightness in your step, potitos in your belly, beer on your tongue, and tofu in your hearts!

Amen,

The Vegangelicals