Busy Bees Make the Tastiest Honey

To reassure you, dear readers, right off the bat: no, I have not gone hungry for the past week.  I have simply been what is usually referred to as busy.  While busy does mean less time to cook or sit down to at a restaurant it does not mean a lack of scrumptious edibles (Unless you want to count those fries and frosty I had for lunch the other day.  Which I, and my gut, do not).  Weeks like this, however, are what I keep experiences like Cafe Flora, and a little thing known as leftovers, in my back pocket for.  So, to business!

Two weekends ago, I made an early morning game out of looking up as many tasty-looking restaurants to try out before Derek woke up.  Side-note: if you know Derek at all you know that this really isn't a difficult game...sorry, love!  And as the super-nice, indecisive girlfriend I am I made him sit down and pick one.  Ultimately, he settled on Cafe Flora; a place that was not new to me but I certainly hadn't been there for a couple years at least.  Cafe Flora is one of the earliest outliers of my vegetarian memory.

Cafe Flora was when I realized that there were actually vegetarian restaurants.

I kind of feel like I owe a lot to Cafe Flora for the simple fact that it showed up in the google results for "Vegetarian Food in Puyallup, WA" that showcased potato skins at TGI Fridays as its most promising possibility (bacon-topped potato skins, of course).  Or maybe I owe it to Google.  Either way, it felt good to go back after such a long hiatus.  I started the meal out with their "Bucket of Yam Fries".  Literally, it is served in a bucket which, let's just face it, is awesome.  They come with cayenne aioli and just like anything else that is really yummy and probably really bad for you, there is never enough of it.  So I ordered the "Black Bean Burger".  Because aside from being a nice little alliteration it comes with more aioli.  It also comes with your choice of yam fries or greens but since I already had my bucket I got greens to feel a little better about my aioli consumption.  If you're looking out for the "food Sarah doesn't like" in this post, it's beans.  Refried, whole, kidney, pinto, black, you name it.  Of all my food distastes, though, it's been the easiest to overcome.  Especially when you turn them into this:

Mmmmmm..... The potato bun was the perfect, floury cloud for the black bean patty which was subtly spiced but not spicy (and did I mention the cayenne aioli?!).  The greens were also delightful, but then again I find greens delightful.  And I much prefer saying "greens" to "salad".  Cafe Flora is also a restaurant that I love for its atmosphere.  Derek agrees - he was very excited about being seated in the restaurant's lush atrium-esque section, right next to the indoor rock fountain.  The whole restaurant gives a light, airy feeling that I, personally, find relaxing and makes the food all the more enjoyable.  Also, for anyone who might be vegan or gluten intolerant, Cafe Flora offers options on many of its dishes.  I wish I could say that we sampled the dessert menu as well, but we were too happily stuffed to do so.  On this visit at least....

It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"

What vegetarian doesn't love hot dogs, right?  I mean, they are definitely the epitome of everything that I love about food: healthy, "variety meats" (if you think you don't want to know, you're probably right), and they get their own national council!  Ok, actually, having your own national council is pretty cool.  My bias against hot dogs is no secret since they have topped my picky eater list-o'-unacceptable-foods long before I became a vegetarian.  Using Veggie Monster status as a legitimate reason to turn down hot dogs factored in as roughly 25% of my decision to become a vegetarian in the first place.  Whatever inspired me to walk into a place like the Red Hot of my own free will is beyond both reason and hunger.  The Red Hot is a bar.  That does hot dogs.  That's it.  And it is my favorite restaurant.

Obviously, they are serving veggie dogs, too.  And let's be totally fair right up front, it's not like veggie dogs are the pinnacle of health food...but it certainly feels easier to justify eating 2 or 3 in a row, which is what I cannot help but do while I'm at the Red Hot.  My first love at the Red Hot is their "Not Dog" (punny and vegetarian?! This thing was made just for me!), the veggie version of the "Chicago".  Served on a poppyseed bun, somewhere under the mustard, relish, tomato, sport peppers, pickle spear and celery salt lies the dog.  I can't say enough about this monstrosity to the right.  There's the crunch and dill of the pickle, the bite of the onions, the tang of the mustard, the saltiness and the hint of celery, the sweet acidity of the tomatoes and the heat when you bite into a pepper; you stuff your face (with any luck everything actually makes it in your mouth not just on your face), chew, swallow and then your mouth practically begs you to repeat.  Seriously?  This is me.  And I'm writing an open love letter to a hot dog.

Home Cookin'

 For the past month or so my little sister and I have shared what I shall playfully call "veggie solidarity" (in all seriousness, though, we're out to take over the world, you know).  In support of a friend, Katie has gone vegetarian for lent; in other words she is "going rogue" from her usual diet.  Except not in the Sarah Palin sense.  Because then we would have to be veggie mavericks.  Though we could totally pull it off.

What Katie calls the "action shot".

Since Katie is the one who gave me the loving nickname "Veggie Monster" and for the longest time meticulously checked the ingredient lists at the stores or before family meals to make sure they were "Veggie Monster" friendly, I wanted to make sure to show her that being a vegetarian still comes with lots of options.  Lots and lots of yummy options.  Ulterior motives may or may not include: 1) Also getting to eat said yummy food, 2) Hoping that my little sister will become a vegetarian for life; I have serious world domination plans, remember? One veg at a time...

Click for the full effect...You know you want to!

Katie also happens to be a lifelong lover of noodles.  On a cross-country family road-trip that happened when I was 12 and she was 8, Katie got what the family now lovingly refers to as the "Mac & Cheese Tour of America".  Instead of Mac & Cheese I chose to make an Asparagus Cream Sauce over Spaghetti noodles.  The very simple recipe (and my additions to it) are as follows, copied from "Quick After Work: Vegetarian Cookbook" (an awesome hand-me-down cookbook from a family friend):