3rd blog birthday! (I can't believe I blogged the whole thing!)

Can you believe this blog has been chugging along for 3 years? Even though I haven't been blogging as often as I used to, I definitely am not ready to quit, and I promise many more posts in the future.

Some fun facts about this blog:

• When it began, this was a team blog! Even though Daiku doesn't officially blog any more, his ideas (and fabulous cooking!) are still there, and I'm grateful for his help.
• I've kept the same avatar, a tomato-face with carrot nose, radish eyes, and scallion mouth, the entire time. The produce was from a garden Daiku and I grew in Old Field, Long Island, in 2000
• Our names aren't actually bazu and daiku! But those are our real-life nicknames. Our real names (drum roll please...) are Bahar and Michael. Nice to meet you!
  
• I never thought that blogging would lead to meeting such fabulous people (virtually and in real life) - you guys have enriched my life, and I look forward to more friendships!
• I don't do bloglines or google reader or anything yet. I know, I know, I should start. My link list is really outdated.
• I didn't think to post my email address to the blog until about a year and a half in! What was I thinking??
• I have blogged from different cities and even countries, but have found that I'm best when I'm at home- hence the sometimes long delays of my travel posts
• I have never been able to decide between the taglines "the revolution will be veganized" "green is the new red" or "live green, eat vegan". Help!
  

Now it's your turn- do you have any questions about us or this blog? Leave a comment with your question and I will answer all of them, to the best of my ability, in the next post. Thanks for reading! VEGANZ 4EVER!!!!!

p.s. follow me on Twitter and Veggie Thing! xo

3rd blog birthday! (I can't believe I blogged the whole thing!)

2nd bloggiversary!

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Yes, folks, Where's the Revolution is 2 years old today! Little did I know two years ago that blogging and the vegan online community would become such a huge part of my life. I look forward to more years of sharing my life, my thoughts, and my food with you all. However, tonight's post has to be short and sweet. You see, Daiku and I are preparing to go camping tomorrow with 14 fellow veg-heads! So tonight, to celebrate the blog birthday, I bring you a simple and nostalgic summer treat:

Take some premium vegan vanilla ice cream...

...and some natural and authentically brewed root beer. Mix them together and what do you have?

A rich concoction known as... a root beer float. So simple, and yet so satisfying. These photos are from a party at our friends' house, and it was my first time trying the new coconut-based flavors of Purely Decadent ice cream. The ice cream was fabulous- coconut, vanilla, and even a hint of butterscotch perfectly offset the zing of the root beer. I raise a glass to all of you!

P.S. Thank you all SO much for your support and donations for my sky dive! Because of your generosity, I have raised over $700 of the $975 goal. I feel confident that I can raise the full amount which means *gulp* I get to jump out of a plane after all...
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2nd bloggiversary!

memorial day in NYC: some snapshots

**warning** extremely picture-heavy post! (I'll keep my words and descriptions very brief)

Daiku and I got to spend Memorial Day Weekend in New York City. Here is what we did:

we marveled at super-expensive gas prices in the Bronx

I found myself stuck in midtown (horrors! I try to avoid ever being there...) during an appointment that Daiku had. Fortunately, there was the Turkish parade to keep me entertained.

here's the view from one of my favorite gallery buildings in town. I was lucky that even though it was a holiday weekend, some galleries were open. If you're ever stuck in mid-town Manhattan and want a respite from the tourists, business people, and ritzy stores, go to the gallery building at 24 west 57th street. Then, just ride the elevator to each floor, there are at least 1 or 2 art galleries on every (public) floor. One of my favorites, the Galerie St. Etienne (specializing in German Expressionist art among other things)is there.

stopped into Sacred Chow for some beet-apple-cucumber-ginger juice for me

and a meatball and vegan cheese hero for Daiku.

saw some cool graffiti

helped my friend Tony celebrate his 30th birthday with the help of some lychee martinis (yum!) - sorry no pictures of the camera-shy birthday boy!

saluted Lenin (he saluted back!)

tried some awesome raw nori snacks that our friend Dorota introduced us to (seriously addictive- I want to figure out how to make these at home!)

baked some chocolate-chocolate-peppermint birthday cupcakes (I promise to share the recipe for the chocolate-mint streusel soon!)

hung out in our old 'hood in Queens

where we found out our old block (the top apartment is where Daiku and I used to live) has been renamed after our then-landlord ("the king of Long Island City") (!!!)

went to Red Bamboo for a huge PPK meet-up in Brooklyn (including meeting Jess of Get Sconed! yay! pssst- she's the girl with the pink hair hiding behind the menu in the above photo...)

the only food I got to photograph before the sun went down were these collard green rolls and buffalo wings, unfortunately.

aaaaaaand, dressed Dorota's kitty Willis in this awesome skull cap that we found. He seems to like it, no?

The weekend was a blast, filled with friends old and new, celebrations, good food, cute cats, and a chance to visit 4 out of 5 NY boroughs. (I've never been to Staten Island). This was one of our first really good-weather weekends, and Daiku and I enjoyed walking, talking, and laughing a lot. I hope you enjoyed the photos!

memorial day in NYC: some snapshots

party, giveaway, and news!

birthday lilies

Hi everybody! In this post I want to share some birthday wonderfulness with all of you. Usually, I don't make a huge deal out of my birthday, but this year we had a group of friends come together, and the results were too fun and too delicious to keep to myself. So here are some scenes (and recipes) from our little partay this past weekend:

Do you remember my vegan ceviche from last year? I decided to make it again, with a few tweaks to the recipe. Once again I used sliced jarred hearts of palm because of their pretty shape, great taste, and eerie resemblance to calamari. This time, I marinated together:

1 jar of hearts of palm, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
2 ripe but firm avocados
1/3 large red onion, sliced thinly
1/4 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 small jalapeño pepper, minced finely
the juice of 2-3 organic lemons, plus 1/4 c. fresh-squeezed orange juice
splash olive oil
sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and a tiny smidge of powdered coriander

this is what it looked like after a few hours of marinading in the fridge

and this was the ceviche in martini glasses, ready to be passed around at the party

for an entrée, we finally whipped out the Camellia red beans that Kittee had sent us back around Mardi Gras, and Daiku made his famous New Orleans red beans & rice

here it is, served with white rice and garnished with chopped parsley and Tobasco sauce. These beans are so simple, and yet taste so otherworldly, they make me fantasize about traveling down south. Mmmmm.

We also decided to pass around tapas-style potatoes. To make them, we simply steamed these tiny white potatoes, and then tossed with coarse sea salt, parsley, and truffle-scented olive oil,

and served with this improvised aioli sauce comprised of vegannaise mayo, lemon juice, garlic powder, and paprika.

My friend Heather baked a birthday cake for me by veganizing her favorite orange pound cake recipe! Gorgeous, no? This cake was so good, full of orange juice and zest, spiked with orange liqueur, and topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar. I am so grateful to friends like her, willing to step outside of their food/baking comfort zones and making this vegan birthday girl very happy indeed! (another baked treat veganized by my friend Rachel, but devoured too quickly to be photographed: banana bread! I have to get a picture of this some time soon, Rachel has perfected the art of making her banana bread create a pudding-like layer at the bottom... words would not do it justice)

Of course, I had to bake too. I'd been craving tiramisu cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for way too long to hold out any longer! These little guys were composed of golden vanilla cupcakes soaked with an espresso/Kahlua mixture, topped with dollops of cream cheese frosting and cocoa powder and finished off with dark-chocolate covered espresso beans. Oh my.

The term 'food porn' was invented for moments like this!

Our party fell on the night of Black Out For Earth Hour - and thanks to a reminder by Tracy, we managed to turn out our lights from 8 to 9 to participate in this event for the environment! As you can see in the above photo, this hour turned into a kind of campfire moment- we all sat around with only candles for light, eating, drinking, and sharing funny stories. It was so fun!

birthday spring bouquet

* * *

Ok, I promised to share my exciting news with you guys, so here it is!

But first, the small matter of the pool. I had a lot of fun reading your guesses as to what I was going to say. I don't want to choose one winner! So I've decided that everyone who guessed can be a winner. The prize? Some of my beloved sourdough starter so that you guys can have as much fun at home baking sourdough bread (and pancakes and biscuits and waffles and pizza...) as I do!

I've even created a blog email address for this event: wherestherevolution (at) gmail (dot) com. So if you made a guess on this blog, would like some sourdough starter and instructions in the mail, and live in the U.S. (I had to it this way, I'm not sure about the advisability of mailing live cultures through international mail), email me with your address! I will wait 1 week, or until the first 10 requests have come in, whichever happens first, to mail them out.

Ok, without further ado, here's the news:

Daiku and I are moving* to England!!

(woo woo!)

*Ok, it's not a permanent move, but for 5 months starting in late August or September, we will be living in Canterbury. For a time at least, we will be British Bloggers, and I can't wait. So all you Brits out there, please, I could use all your advice! And when I come over, I hope you know there will be meet-ups galore! This vegan's going international, yo.

a map showing Canterbury, in the southeast corner of England (click to enlarge)


birthday begonias

party, giveaway, and news!

a different kind of birthday cake

I love a good stack of pancakes. Usually, it's a weekend treat, but lately, I've been craving them every morning. Because today is my birthday, I've allowed myself to indulge several mornings throughout the past week. This is actually a good thing- no breakfast fills me up or gives me more energy than pancakes. One day, having grown a little tired of the same old same old, I came up with this recipe- these cakes come with a twist: a little savory, with a hint of olive oil and a satisfying texture, they are the perfect combination of pancake and griddle cake. They'd be good for breakfast, brunch, or even dinner with something savory like some potatoes or tempeh bacon on the side. Give them a try- it's my birthday gift to you!

Sweet 'n Savory Griddle Cakes (makes 8-10)

• 1 TB apple cider vinegar
• 1 C unsweetened soymilk
• 1 C unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C cornmeal
• pinch sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 TB ground flax seeds
• 1 TB sugar
• 1 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• about 1/3 cup orange juice

Mix vinegar and soymilk in a large measuring cup, stir, and allow to rest and curdle while you mix the dry ingredients. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda well. Add flax meal, sugar, olive oil, and vanilla extract to the soymilk/vinegar mixture and whisk well until mixed. Next, add enough orange juice for the liquid mixture to reach 1.5 cups.

Add liquid to dry mixture and mix gently with a fork or a whisk. Don't overmix, a few small lumps remaining are o.k. If the mixture is too thick, add a splash of water or other liquid to thin out a bit, but not too much- the mixture should still fairly thick.

Pour batter by about 1/3 cup fulls onto lightly greased griddle, and flip when edges are done and the pancakes are a perfect golden-brown color. Serve with your favorite toppings- I went with classic Earth Balance and maple syrup here.

Enjoy!

P.S. It was fun reading some of your guesses after my last post, and I really like Rural Vegan's idea about starting a pool to guess what my surprise announcement is going to be. You guys can keep guessing and whoever comes closest gets a prize from me. I promise I will let you guys all know soon. Cheers!

a different kind of birthday cake

what do you do for a gorgeous vegan on her birthday?

You make cupcakes, of course! In this case, fluffy peanut butter cupcakes with a chocolate ganache topping...

...and a few butterscotch chips on top!

Today was Bridget's birthday, and luckily she works near me so I got to take some treats from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" over for her! Bridget's greyhound, Sally, has been having some medical difficulties lately, but fortunately today she seems to be feeling a tiny bit better. That's the best birthday gift, isn't it?

Today's VeganMoFo was brought to you by the letters B (birthdays), C (cupcakes), and D (doggies). Happy birthday, Bridge!
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what do you do for a gorgeous vegan on her birthday?

birthday brunch

Hello, and welcome to another installment of VeganMoFo! This month, I have been thinking a lot about food, vegan food in particular, and what makes a great meal. Veganism has come a long way. Not only do we have access to millions of recipes both on-line and through increasingly sophisticated cookbooks, but many of us are fortunate enough to live in places where veganism's presence is increasing, with restaurants rising up alongside it. Therefore, we have the luxury of sitting back and pondering just what it is that makes a great meal, without having to worry about getting our hands on food that we can eat!

As you might know, I live a very long-distance life. Most of my friends and family live 100's, if not 1000's of miles apart. Daiku and I are lucky if we see our parents more than once a year, let alone loved ones who live in, say, San Jose, Stockholm, Melbourne, Tehran, or St. Louis. Increasingly, I have come to the conclusion that a meal is vastly improved when you have good company to share it with. The most humble food, the most mundane situation, can be memorable if there is someone there experiencing it with you.

That being said, we were very lucky that, through sheer chance, our friend Sharon was going to be in town for her birthday. It was a very special birthday. I can't reveal her age, but let's just say that it is a very significant and round number and leave it at that! Sharon is a vegetarian pondering veganism, so our group decided to go to Counter, a fabulous haute veggie restaurant in the East Village for a celebratory brunch.

Here is what we had:

Sangria, made with organic vegan red wine. But I don't have to qualify it- it was just some good sangria!

Tony's root beer float. This isn't some wussy root-beer, it is a sasparilla-infused tonic that will seriously kick your ass. (Flashback time- I remember going on a field trip to an "old West" town back in the 5th grade, where they messed with my 10 year-old brain by telling us that sasparilla is a mixture of Coke and root beer. Now, almost 20 years later, I know that sasparilla is a root that gives real root beer its distinctive taste. However, I can't help it, I still mix Coke and root beer every chance I get - this horrifies some people, but I think it's a delicious drink!)

North African tofu scrambled platter: rice and peas, merguez sausage on skewers, spicy scrambled tofu, greens and toast.

Country breakfast platter: scrambled tofu, merguez sausage, mesclun mix, toast, and home fried potatoes.

Italian farmhouse panini- possibly my favorite dish at Counter: it is a flavorful mixture of walnut pâté, rosemary-infused aioli and tomato on a crusty ciabatta roll. I'm sorry that this dark and blurry photo does this wondrous dish no justice!

My French toast with bananas flambe, which I ordered as soon as I saw that it was the day's special. When I was served, I was a little shocked at the presentation- it was so monochromatic and... gloppy looking! When I tasted it, I was relieved- it tasted truly good. Still, since this is VeganMoFo, I'll get on my little soapbox... there is no excuse for bad presentation! Food has to look good! A lot of people might be thinking about veganism, on the fence about whether or not to take what for many is a culinary plunge. Well, I guarantee you, this French toast is not what is going to push anyone over to the vegan side. A lot of times, I am reminded that we vegans are not only cooking for vegans- we are cooking as a testament for the whole world, and our food better look appetizing! Especially if we are an expensive restaurant. (Wouldn't you be more likely to give vegan French toast a try if it looked like this? Or this?)

Finally, our waiter was nice enough to give us this basket of fresh-baked muffins (poppy seed, blueberry, and banana-walnut) instead of the biscotti that some of our platters came with. The muffins were great, but the best part of this was the trio of spreads that came with it: raspberry butter, sangria jelly, and hand-made nutella- YUM! The sangria jelly was a revelation, the nutella was, it goes without saying, awesome. Well, you can't go wrong, ever, with the chocolate/hazelnut combination, right?

Sharon, the birthday girl.

Here's a previous review I posted about Counter in February (includes a better panini photo!)

Restaurant Info:

Counter
105 First Ave (b/t 6th and 7th)
New York, NY 10003
212.982.5870

birthday brunch