Boston

I fell in love with Boston because of the beautiful brownstones, the parks, the walking, ok, it was really the ducks. (This is Make Way for Ducklings.)



I didn't have to do too many meal planning activities myself while there. My lovely coworkers very considerately included restaurants that had at least one veggie option. The most frequent breakfast option (which I did find myself) was a tofu scramble. The Otherside Cafe was awesome and I'm sad I never went there for beer since they had a great list.

Here was breakfast one morning at the Otherside Cafe. A southwest tofu scramble:


We ate a seafood restaurant one night. This is what my coworker ate:


And surprisingly this is what I ate at the same restaurant. A Thai-style tofu dish with rice and veggies.


Another tofu scramble, this time with broccoli, mushrooms, and Havarti cheese at the Trident Cafe. (Loved having an indie bookstore that also had delicious food!)



This was a dinner from a more Asian-style place. Rice, tofu, veggies, and sauce.



A breakfast of oatmeal and fresh fruit plus potatoes at my hotel. Sadly I again had to learn the lesson that fruit out of season is not worth eating.



And one night I ate an Indian restaurant: rice, cauliflower and chickpeas, and lots of roti (whole wheat naan).



Happy to be back in California, even with this beautiful city to visit!

Is Chicago. Is Not Chicago

As you might guess I was in Chicago last weekend for work. I survived the land of steak houses without even eating a veggie burger! Admittedly I was only there for 3 days.



I like to travel with lots of food in case I can't find anything decent to eat, which was the case at the beginning of this trip. I made three hummus and tofu sandwiches which got me through the flight and into the hotel. I also brought a trail mix (I didn't make it but did mix it myself. I simply bought an unsalted nut mix from the farmer's market and added a handful or more of a raisin medley I love.) I also had Lara bars, a tangerine, and some dried fruit. This all came in handy when I arrived with a splitting headache and discovered that my coworker I had planned to eat dinner with was actually in a different hotel.



Day 1: Wandering around aimlessly and ending up eating at a Mexican fast food joint. I got veggie tacos with corn tortillas as they seemed the least offensive. I also went to a grocery store and bought chips, hummus, and fig newtons. Snack accumulation: success.



Day 2 breakfast and lunch: The hotel served breakfast and while I think I was the only person who ate the oatmeal I went for it. They had fresh blueberries but after the first day I didn't bother. Note to self: If blueberries are not in season don't eat them. I also ate potatoes and a small scoop of scrambled eggs. For lunch I had more of a break so went for a long walk. I found a food court in a mall that I'd been to before and got a make-your-own salad. I included chickpeas, cranberries, and as much broccoli as I thought could fit.

Day 2 dinner: I went to the best restaurant I've been to in Chicago, at least for vegans or vegetarians: Green Zebra, a high end gourmet place serving tapas style veg food. I ordered a baby leaf salad with long thin slivers of raw vegetables like carrots and jicama. Then I had roasted shiitake mushrooms rolled up like sushi with crispy thinly sliced potatoes as the outside wrapper. Then my final dish was udon noodles in a spicy sweet and sour sauce. I also had to try the dark chocolate hazelnut brittle.









Day 3 Breakfast and Lunch: Breakfast was the same, though I got up later and felt like it wasn't as good. That's what I get for waiting til the end of the free food time period. Lunch that day was served in the exhibit hall so I ate a roasted veggie wrap with a spinach tortilla and feta cheese, plus a bag of potato chips and an apple.

Day 3 Dinner: I hit up the highly recommended Chicago Diner for another vegan meal. Sadly I chose the most boring thing on their menu. (I think I was craving brown rice.) It was brown rice with steamed veggies, fried tofu, and spicy black beans. When they asked if I wanted a sauce, I should have said yes.



Day 4 Breakfast: Same, same, same. Lunch? Not really. Or at least not until I made it to the airport at 3 in the afternoon. I celebrated by having a pizza and a beer. The pizza was only ok but it did come with broccoli on it which was what really mattered.

Traveling and Eating, Eating and Traveling

The great thing about macrobiotics is that it's not about being strict with yourself. It's about finding balance. That's not always easy when traveling but having some food of your own helps. (As did the Philly airport having hummus. If I have to be stuck an extra three hours somewhere please let there be hummus!) We had granola made before we left and three hummus and sauerkraut sandwiches each. Which helped deal with the food on the flight there.

In a word: horrible.



The food on the way back: better. (Note: the vegetables actually look like the color they are supposed to be!)



In Austria, aka Sausagelandia, we had the best breakfasts (that were fully included at the hotel). Make your own muesli out of oatmeal, nuts, coconut, seeds (mine with fresh plain yogurt, Dandelion the Bitter Green with applesauce or fruit) plus awesome dark bread and homemade jam, or sometimes cheese, and a piece of fruit.



Lunches and dinners were a different matter. I had looked up veg places online but like restaurants everywhere most had gone out of business by the time we came a'knocking. We did eat at one fabulous organic Indian restaurant. Had an awesome rice, chickpea and lentil plate.



The rest of the time we ate pizza, fish, or a chocolate covered pretzel filled with apricot jam (kind of weird I have to say). One thing I tried to remember everywhere we were was to chew slowly and drink lots of water. I think both helped me digest everything I ate with minimal problems.

Spain was better for us mostly because we were staying with vegetarian Argentines so we could all cook together and they didn't think it was weird to eat quinoa or lentils. They ate way more fruit than we normally do but it's also much hotter there. Another great thing about macrobiotics is that it changes per the climate. If you live in a hot place (or happen to be having a really hot summer) you eat more fruits, salads, and spicy foods. All of these things cool you off more. In our typical SF cold climate we can get away with eating hot oatmeal for breakfast almost every day of the year. In Barcelona not so much.



I had also looked up veg restaurant options there and again several were closed, missing, disappeared. We did find two other all veg restaurants, one vegan and one vegetarian. The vegan one we found first and Dandelion the Bitter Green ate more than his body weight in tofu, greens, and fruit smoothies. I had an awesome polenta, black beans, and guacamole plate with a fresh fruit smoothie. At the second place I had a teriyaki seitan dish and gazpacho plus strawberries with chocolate and whipped cream for dessert.





We even found a veg restaurant in the tiny town where Salvador Dali lived. It was far on the outskirts of the touristy area but was doing quite a business. Low stools around wooden tables on (maybe I'm remembering this wrong) a dirt floor. Everyone smoked and there was a kitchen cat that hung out on the tables when you were not eating. I had a couscous and veggies dish and everyone else had rice and veggies.

And except for the time we ordered chickpea soup which came with half a bowl of meat in it (sausage, ham, bacon, ham, and maybe more ham) we did pretty well. We had the best falafel I've ever had from a small chain restaurant that apparently is styled on NY falafel places. You got the basic pita with balls in it and then added extras from a salad bar. Baked cauliflower and carrots, plus roasted red peppers made me so happy at that moment.



The only quest that was unfulfilled was my desire for churros and chocolate. Apparently it was a common dish, on many menus, but no one actually had any churros in stock. I take comfort in the fact that I had an "ice chocolate" in Sausagelandia which was unsweetened hot chocolate with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Amazing!