well, gang. the time has come... time to pass the torch. time to move on. time to say goodbye! this is officially my last blog post.  with two kids now (i know, i know. what was i thinking?? & two boys no less... gulp.), i don’t see myself going out & about as much, trying new restaurants, being food adventurous, etc.  and as much as i love some good delivery, not sure how many posts from my kitchen counter anyone would want to endure. (it’d have to be some pretty damn good carry out to warrant writing about it at this point! ... although, i'm on the hunt for a new non-vega ..read more

birthday dinner post! back in march, my friend's birthday rolled around (hi, duarte!), so we wanted to pick somewhere new, cool & special. this gang pretty much exclusively dines in logan, so we decided to try daisies on milwaukee ave. daisies is a "midwest inspired, pasta-focused, neighborhood restaurant." ok, if the phrase "pasta-focued' is involved, you know it's going to be good.  here's what i had ... tajarin : white beans, lentils, rosemary.  overall, delicious. could have used a bit more of whatever sauce they put on it, because it got a little dry at th ..read more

so back in march, josh & i took a little babymoon to scottsdale, az. when we went last spring, someone (cannot figure out who) suggested we try pomegranate cafe. at the time, there was only one location, no where near where we were staying. since then, they opened a second spot closer to scottsdale. so obviously we had to go this time around. so about pomegranate cafe ... "organic. vegan & vegetarian. locally sourced. crafted with love." buzzword perfection.  ok, here's what's funny. josh wasn't really in the mood for vegan food. so we went to breakfast beforehand ..read more

it's kind of unbelievable that, until a couple weeks ago, i hadn't been to big star. i mean, who hasn't been to big star?! so when it was time for a pre-baby dinner with one of my besties (hi, jessie!), big star was the selection. i'm sure everyone else has been here already, but here's what they're all about anyway ... "big star is a bourbon & beer-focused, taco-slinging, late-night honky-tonk ... inspired by authentic mexican street food." sign.me.up. need to go back when i can have a real drink! here's what i had ... chips, salsa & guac : verde & chipotle salsas.&nb ..read more

ughhh, guys. i had such high hopes & yet have so many problems with this one. here it goes.  our brother & sister-in-law got us a gift card to the kennison back around the holidays. we'll take any chance we can get for a date night nowadays, so we were pretty thrilled. plus the chef once worked at green zebra & the menu appears to be quite veg-forward. so again, super excited. the kennison about section on the website doesn't really give any info about the restaurant. just the background on the name ... snooze. but their facebook page calls it an "american restaurant ..read more

well, guys. we made it. the last portland post. i've got to say, portland may be my favorite food city. (besides chi, obv.) just so much vegan food was inhaled (literally gained 5 pounds in 3.5 days) ... yet, so much more to be explored that i didn't even get to try! anyway, on to the last ... perhaps one of the best ... from, you guessed it, kilee : the pdx vegan. when kilee said por qué no taqueria was one of her faves because of their vegan "bryan's bowl," i was kind of like ... meh. a bowl? how good could it be? but given how awesome her recos had been so far in t ..read more

here's a weird one ... i went to jinya ramen bar in east lakeview a couple months ago. three weeks later, it was closed! no idea why ... but since it's kind of a mini chain/franchise situation, i figured i'd still share this post for those who google them from a different city. ok, so first ... "imagine a world where eating ramen is an everyday ritual." k, i can get on board with that ... & that's what jinya is all about. the menu has a permanent vegan option on it, so here's what i had ... spicy creamy vegan ramen : vegetable broth, tofu, onion, green onion, spinach, cri ..read more

woah. only two portland posts left ... both awesome, per usual. this one is another recommend, but i cannot for the life of me figure out who told me to go here. if it was you, can you please tell me??  ok. so on our last full day in portland, we decided to do some more "hiking." i use quotes, because ... well. i don't know that anyone could call us wandering around mount tabor hiking. but that's what we did! i also pretended i was a character on grimm for a hot sec ... willahara grimm. i'm embarrassingly lame. anyway. we decided to pick up some breakfast & bring it with us on our ..read more

ok, here's another just okay one from chicago ... & it's kind of a shorty. womp womp. a couple months ago, josh reeeeally wanted dim sum. he had tried moe's asian bistro in the past & decided to go for it again. luckily, moe's offers "delicious chinese & japanese cuisine" ... so i knew i'd be safe on the japanese / sushi side. but, i mean, just not that exciting. here's what i had ...  veggie roll, avocado roll & seaweed salad : let's be honest. all of this was just fine.  this was kind of a "life-of-a-vegan-at-an-asian-bistro" situation. nothing b ..read more

ok, something is legit wrong with me ... because we decided to go out for dessert after our enormous dinner at departure. (if you recall, this was the meal where the server even thought i was over-ordering. so the fact that i decided there was room for more food, is beyond. although, let's be clear. there's always room for dessert.) anyway! petunia's pies & pastries was another recommend from kilee, the pdx vegan. in fact, she said it was "hands down, favorite bakery." i get why .. petunia's offers "best darn baked goods you will ever have. they happen to be gluten-free & vegan ..read more