Oh man, where have I been? The time is wooshing past me and I can't seem to grab hold of it quick enough. I recently returned from a short (10 day) trip to Europe. I say short because I could have easily stayed much, much longer. Now I am home, and it's back to life as "normal" whatever that is. It's late, and I should be sleeping, but I want to share some things about my trip. It will be short. but I've waited long enough..
Our first stop was Amsterdam, where we stayed for 3 nights. The B&B we stayed in was in a great location, right near Central Station. Also not too far away was the Red Light district, which became difficult to avoid when walking home late at night. Regardless, everything in the city is easily accessible by foot (or bike) in under 20 minutes. We spent most of our time walking around and visiting the markets and all of the cute shops, as well as people watching. We also went on a canal tour (not the tourist kind) and visited the Anne Frank House. Some amazing food was also had. All of the restaurants we went to were generally vegetarian, and very accomodating to vegans. The food was different from what is available here. They really know how to incorporate good things like nuts, seeds and grains. I had some teriffic, yet simple dishes. I was feeling fat and happy.
After our first weekend, we decided to take a short trip out of town and caught a train to Paris. We spent 3 nights in the city of love, which I couldn't grow very fond of. I didn't find it as accomodating, especially since I didn't practice any of my very limited vocabulary of French. It did have it's perks though, such as fresh baked bread, amazing wine, and good shopping. I will miss those simple things.
From there, we went to Brussels for one night. Because we were there for only one night, and the one night we were there happened to be Thanksgiving, we decided it was time to feast. In the span of 6 hours we had chocolates, frites, much beer and tasty belgium waffles. Leaving was difficult, since the guest house we were staying in was so amazing, but I was ready to return to the city I had fallen in love with to spend our last few days.
We returned to Amsterdam and had an apartment all to our selves for the last weekend. We did more shopping, lots of eating, and even some museum hopping (Van Gogh and Sex Museum). We also rented a bike for a day, but quickly discovered we preferred walking during the short time we were there. Much easier to enjoy the view that way, and the view is definately something to enjoy. The weather wasn't great toward the end, but it didn't dampen our spirits. We still had a great time and enjoyed everything we could.
All in all, it was an amazing trip. I really learned alot from visiting another country, such as the joy of experiencing simplicity. I have always dreamed of travelling abroad, but I could never have imagined the experience that I had.
Here are some pictures from Flickr. It makes it so much easier than posting individual ones. Hope you enjoy!
First up, Ginger Gems. These tasty treats were featured in a Vegetarian Times article full of yummy vegan cookies. The icing on these babies definately does something magical to them. Although, I found that replacing some of the oil or EB with apple sauce, and making my own crystalized ginger (by boiling chopped fresh ginger in a simple syrup until absorbed), made the cookies moister and sweeter, and they didn't even need the icing.
Next up is a cabbage casserole I made. A very simple concoction of shredded cabbage, lightly blached, layered with chopped tomato, whole wheat couscous, onions, and seasonings, then baked until soft. It was definately a worthy use of my locally grown, organic cabbage from the market.
I finally bought a bag of shelled hemp seeds at the farmers market. I was at a loss for what to do with them, besides throw them into smoothies. When I came across mention of Dreena Burton's Apple-Hemp muffins, I knew I had to recreate those delicious sounding things. Since I don't have the book, I compiled a few recipes together and put my own twist on them, eventually ending up with these beauties. I will definately be buying "Vive leVegan" the next time I have money to purchase a cookbook.
I have been sorting through all of my torn out recipes from years worth of collecting food magazines. When I ran across this recipe from a Vegetarian Times a couple years back, and I had most of the ingredients on hand, I knew I had to make it. It is supposed to be Pasta with Cannelini beans, broccoli rabe, and sun-dried tomatoes. Instead, it is made with broccoli, instead of broccoli rabe. Basically it is pasta (I used macaroni) topped with a white bean sauce of mashed up beans, veg stock, garlic and rosemary boiled down, them some blanched broccoli with rehydrated and sliced sun-dried tomatoes. So simple, yet SUPER delicious. Also served with pieces of a homegrown sweet potato. MMmm!
Last, some miso-braised eggplant with brown rice, and baked tofu. I wanted to try this eggplant recipe from Artful Vegan before I gave it to James for Christmas. It turned out nicely, except that I used a regular globe eggplant instead of the Japanese eggplant it called for. I'll know better next time. But the sauce was great.
