Month: January 2014

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So I like veggie burgers

As much as I love a big ol’, juicy, meaty burger (and you should I know I love it a lot), I’m also— and have been since way before this whole vegan challenge of mine— a big fan of veggie burgers. I don’t equate one with the other but love them both separately. Sometimes I want a good burger, and sometimes I just want a solid veggie burger. That’s just how it is.

I’ve had some made from tofu, great ones out of black beans,  and others with actual chopped up veggies, but never until a few days ago, when I had the forbidden rice burger at Ni Japanese Delicacies in the Essex Street Market, had I eaten one made out of rice.

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The tasty rice burger at Ni Japanese Delicacies 

Ni is a small place, really a tiny, walk up counter of vegan and vegetarian Japanese inspired bites and drinks. Their veggie burger, which usually comes on a brioche but can be replaced with vegan sprouted bread, has a “patty” of Asian black rice, maitake mushrooms, carrots, and kale and comes topped with baby arugula, pickled sweet peppers and vegan herb mayo.

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No meat here, fake or otherwise.

This rice burger I’m sure without a doubt is better on the brioche, but even on the vegan-friendly sprouted bread, it was pretty good. The problem with a lot of veggie burgers is that they end up dry or crumbly, but Ni’s rice wasn’t either of those. It was soft and just moist enough to not be a dry ball of rice, and had a good, earthy delicious flavor. The pickled sweet peppers and the baby arugula added a little variety in the way of texture and veggie flavors.

All around meatless deliciousness, and something I’ll definitely be coming back to when I just want a veggie burger.

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I miss cheese

Smitten Kitchen's beautiful and delicious hunks of parmesan, ready for her parmesan, kale and bean soup. I'm eating NONE of it.

Smitten Kitchen’s beautiful photo of delicious hunks of parmesan, ready for her parmesan, kale and bean soup. I’m eating NONE of it. (Cue the tears.)

It’s the 15th of the month, the halfway point of my vegan challenge.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll admit I did have one teeny tiny little bit of a slip-up the other night when my coworkers and I had dinner at the always delicious ABC Kitchen, where everything with the exception of about two sides, includes something non-vegan. There was no getting around it. I had to eat cheese, and some butter, and some cream. But I didn’t eat anything that used to have a face, so that counts for something, right?

Minor relapse aside, I’ve been a good little vegan. I haven’t been craving meat (not even bacon, really), daydreaming about ice cream or had the hankering for eggs that my roommate has been struggling with.

But dear, sweet, 8-pound, milk-loving baby Jesus do I miss cheese. Ugh, it kills me. Pecorino, cheddar, camembert, freakin’ Trader Joe’s light string cheese! I want them all. Alas, I’ll fight the urge. I’ll be strong. I won’t eat any more cheese for the rest of the month. But you better believe when February rolls around, me and cheese are getting back together, in a big way.

In the meantime,  here are some cheese related posts from the interwebs. Hope they make your heart all aflutter, like they did mine:

  • A caprese salad from Emiko Davies that almost makes me wish it was summer.
  • Cup of Jo’s skillet lasagna, because mascarpone and mozzarella are the stuff dreams are made of.
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No bacon, eggs or cheese here but it’s OK

With the exception of New Year’s Day, when I woke up with an outrageous, crippling hangover and wanted nothing more than to eat all of the bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches in New York City, being a vegan hasn’t been that bad.

I’m on day twelve of my month long challenge  and not once in those twelve days have I cheated, fantasized about dairy (that much), or directed malicious thoughts toward people eating non-vegan things. (Although, confession time: having to order vegetarian meatloaf at a chicken-and-waffles joint sucked… especially when my friend’s fried chicken smelled like God himself.)
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Just as great tasting as it is looking, I swear

One of the good things about living in New York though, and more specifically Brooklyn, is that being vegan doesn’t have to suck. I mean, it’s not ideal (life without bacon cheeseburgers just can’t be ideal), but it’s not the worst thing ever, either. A couple mornings ago, for example, I found myself at Brooklyn Standard, my favorite Greenpoint deli, looking for a big breakfast to hunker down in bed with while binge watching Downton Abbey. (It was my day off and the weather was rating pretty high on the shitty winter weather scale, so yea, those were my plans.)
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What a beaut.

And that’s when I saw it: the Cali Bagel with the magic v word in parenthesis: tofu cream cheese, tempeh sausage, oven-dried cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, and basil. Slap all that on an everything bagel and you’re looking at a pretty happy fake vegan.

First of all, let me say this: I was ready to hate tofu cream cheese. As a serious lover of real cream cheese, I didn’t think I had it in me to love an imposter, but I did. I loved how creamy and smooth it was, and how it just melted and oozed all over my toasted bagel. The tempeh sausage, while not as delicious as the real deal, was good and had a nice, sausagey consistency and flavor. The cherry tomatoes were juicy and bright and the jalapeños added a perfect hint of tangy spiciness.

Being a vegan for another 20 or so days shouldn’t be too hard if I have this bad boy just down the block.