After some tough weeks at work for the both of us, my boyfriend and I went to Portland for the weekend.
My main experience with Portland is my mom taking my brother and me to the Clackamas Mall (quite outside of Portland) for sales tax-free back-to-school shopping. Of course I’ve been to Portland proper, the metropolitan neighbor to the south, but I hadn’t explored it on my own.
Seattle is an easy city in which to be vegan, but in Portland they totally cater to you. I had a waiter volunteer to check on the veganness of a salad, went to places with special vegan menus and you can just say “make it vegan, please” and they know what to do (too many people don’t know what that means, so I always have to specify no mayo/sour cream/cheese/aioli, etc.). Portland is particularly vegan-savvy.
Now eating out with the man friend means seeking out omni restaurants that have something I can eat. Homeboy doesn’t quite get that it’s possible to have a meal without meat.
But it was so easy!
Oh and we drank lots of craft beer. So happy beer is vegan.
Fantastic rice bowl from Laughing Planet. Brown rice, green beans, broccoli, tofu, carrots and red cabbage, topped with peanut sauce. I added sriracha.
Boyfriend enjoying the chips and salsa and his burrito at Laughing Planet. He raved about his braised beef burrito.
Quinoa cashew burger at Deschutes Brewery and Pub. Boyfriend and I are Deschutes conoisseurs. Quinoa and cashew patty was dry by itself, but together with all the sandwich fixins and sauce it was so, so good. Salad dressed with Mirror Pond vinaigrette.
Austin scramble made vegan at Byways Cafe. Boyfriend and I loved this place. They replace eggs with tofu for any scramble. And the toast, of all things, was divine, sourced from Fleur de Lis in Portland.
Yes we went to Powell’s. I set out to buy a new vegan cookbook. I wanted to try something from an author I don’t have like Brian L. Patton’s The Sexy Vegan or Angela Liddon’s new Oh She Glows. But I had to get the modern day vegan Bible, Veganomicon by Isa and Terry. Because by now I should own the vegan Bible.
Scrambled tofu with olive oil and parsley at Bijou Cafe. I seriously thought these were eggs when I tried them. Pretty tasty. This was the only vegan option on the menu.
Regular vegan burrito from Las Gorditas. They had a meat, vegetarian and vegan menu. Much appreciated! The burrito was a little bland, but huge and filling.
Boyfriend waiting for the train home wearing my shades.
Now I’m kind of lightening up post-vacation with Happy Herbivore Light and Lean. But this skinny mac and cheese is no joke.
Not pictured: a grilled PB and J from the famous Bunk Sandwiches. Yeah I’m gonna make those at home now.
Recommended brewery: Pints.
Maybe next time I’ll go to Portland with girlfriends who will eat at the vegan joints with me.
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