Scrumptious Meals along the Eastern Seaboard
On New Year's Day Kath drove us to Providence to celebrate the start of 2014 with Elizabeth, and we had a gorgeous brunch at the Garden Grille. This tofu scramble had kale, caramelized onions, and Daiya cheese.Then we all treated ourselves to carrot cake (which tasted just as awesome as it looks):
In the evening Meg came over with an Ethiopian-inspired curry with squash and kale, which we enjoyed after cocktails Elizabeth made for us.
Back in Boston (a couple weeks later): a post-yoga brunch at Veggie Galaxy. Tofu omelet with leeks, soy chorizo, and Daiya cheese. SO GOOD.* * *I combined last weekend's quickie trip to Miami with a visit to North Carolina to see Kelly and her family. On our first full day together she took me to Parker & Otis for lunch, where I had a hearty avocado-and-white-bean-spread sandwich on whole grain bread:
Parker & Otis is a cafe-cum-upscale-general store with an excellent selection of tea and chocolate (much of which is vegan!)
A gourmet hot chocolate with almond milk at Cocoa Cinnamon. (Photo by Kelly.) 
On Friday night (after an amazing yoga class at Loving Kindness in Carrboro) I cooked up some roasted red pepper fritters, which is my 21st-century vegan answer to the chicken cutlets of my childhood. (Recipe forthcoming! It's a little time consuming but pretty straightforward, and it always gets rave reviews from meat eaters since it's breaded and fried. Tricksy!) We also made pasta primavera and a salad of mixed greens, pumpkin seeds and avocado with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. (Paired with a bit of bubbly, of course.) 
A simple hummus-and-veggie wrap gets the job done. (Photo by Kelly.) 
I'd have picked up a jar of this chai almond butter if it hadn't had honey in it. So I took a picture instead to remind myself to try my own version at home someday, maybe with maple syrup? 
On Saturday night we had an excellent dinner and cocktails at Fiction Kitchen in Raleigh. Purple sweet-potato cakes on a bed of lentils, topped with cashew cream and garnished with greens and beet puree. (We split this for an appetizer; I had a big salad with cashew cheese, local apples and beets for my main course, but I couldn't get a halfway decent photo of it.)* * *Now on to Miami:
Breakfast at Choices: raw acai blended with banana and almond milk, topped with organic fruit, coconut flakes and granola; a Cocobliss smoothie with young coconut, cacao, goji berries, almond butter, chia seeds, agave and ice; and a side of tempeh bacon (which was more like BBQ tempeh, but whatever, it was good!) 
Got this iced coffee at Choices for an afternoon pick-me-up (seeing as I had to get up before 4am to catch my flight). The cayenne was more subtle than I was expecting, but it still hit the spot! 
An awesome dinner at Books & Books: the kale and quinoa bowl off their vegan menu, sweet potato fries, and a green iced tea.Miami also has a vegan bakery called Bunnie Cakes, but I decided to skip it since 1, I was ridiculously full after that big brunch at Choices, and 2, Kelly had spoiled me rotten with coconut and almond-based ice cream for three nights straight, so I was feeling a bit maxed out sweets-wise. I'll check it out next time!