Madeline's Bistro
Perhaps one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in as a vegan (perhaps in my life even) was at Madeline’s Bistro. Though I’d heard about this little restaurant in Tarzana as being the only real gourmet vegan restaurants in the Los Angeles area, it took me ages to finally go there. Finally, one Saturday when Shawn and I had to make a trip out to the far reaches of the west valley, we made Madeline’s our breakfast destination. The thing that enticed me the most was the promise of vegan beignets. Beignets are a rare treat on their own, but I’d never even heard of a vegan version. I had to have them. Of course I was not disappointed. The beignets were crunchy on the outside but fluffy on the inside. Instead of being covered in the standard powdered sugar, they came with a fruit compote. They were amazing. I could write this whole post just about those beignets. I wish I wasn’t writing this right now because now I want to go eat them. Ok, moving on. We also got the donut which was equally as satisfying. Without a doubt the best vegan donut I’ve ever had, soft and fluffy and delicately sweet.
Shawn ordered the chicken and waffles. Luckily I got to sample some. The chicken was a breaded seitan that was to die for. Again, quite possibly the best seitan I’ve ever had in my life. It was perfectly seasoned and well matched with the potatoes and gravy. The Belgian waffles were thick and crunchy. They definitely had a healthier taste to them with a nutty, grainy flavor.
I ordered the porcini-crusted tofu benedict since I am obsessed with vegan benedict. This was a pure delicacy. The hollandaise was lightly flavored and the whole thing was perfectly seasoned. It was an amazing combination of vegetables and tofu with just enough sauce to compliment the dish without overwhelming it. In other words, it was amazing.
I really was so impressed with everything that we had. If you’re going to try Madeline’s, you must go for brunch. It’s honestly not that far from where we live, but just far enough that we pretty much only go for special occasions, which is perfect.
Halloween Cookies
Due to popular demand, and because perhaps we are insane, we decided to have another Halloween movie marathon this weekend. To go with our new set of movies, we of course needed a new set of treats. This time I went with cookies, since I really am a cookie girl. I made the sugar cookies from The Joy of Vegan Baking. This is my go-to recipe for sugar cookies because it’s pretty straight forward and makes a good amount. They’re not blow you away good, but they’re good and the royal icing is amazing so they make for good party snacks and gifts. Not to mention they’re so much fun to decorate.
For a little variety I also tried out the recipe for the chocolate crinkles, since I imagined they’d have a festive look to them. They’re soft and fudgey on the inside, sort of like little brownie bites. I cooked them on the shorter side so they would be softer, but perhaps they would have been nice crunchy. While they were well liked, I wish they were more chocolaty.
We were lucky enough to have the lovely FoodEater make us the mac and cheese I’ve been dreaming about. It was so good. I have to admit that I am not a daiya fan but it worked really well in this dish. It was cheesy but did not have the sticky weirdness that daiya can have on pizza. My favorite part was the seasoned bread crumbs on top that gave it more texture and flavor than just standard mac. The whole dish was completely eaten in less than an hour.
We learned some very important lessons during this movie marathon: If you go looking for the cat, you will probably die. If you get cats thrown at you, you will definitely die. If you try to kill cats, you may get brutally beaten by the man at the hot dog stand and eaten by rats. Most importantly, Christmas is a very scary holiday.
My favorite ghost cake
Vegan Ghost Cake from Shawn Bannon on Vimeo.
I had posted this video previously but it wasn’t anywhere near Halloween so I thought it deserved to be brought back for another go around. The little ghosts are made from Dandies vegan marshmallows and frosting. I think it’s possibly the cutest cake I’ve ever made. Enjoy the video. Weee!
Halloween Movie Marathon Massacre
Live blogging from the 2nd Annual Halloween Movie Marathon Massacre. This event has gotten a little out of control. As of this moment we’ve watched 12 movies straight, starting at around 8 pm last night. It’s now past 6 pm. We’re getting close to 24 hours of Halloween movie madness. So I’m not going to write much because, well, I’m rather sleep deprived and whatever I write will probably sound ridiculous (disclaimer: I have actually slept through part of at least a few movies). Instead I’m just going to show you a few of the treats I made for the event. Above you can see some vanilla cupcakes with orange frosting.
I also made cookies and cream cupcakes and decorated them with crumbled Newman’s O’s. I had intended to put little graham cracker headstones on each but I totally burnt them. They looked even more awesome burnt but were not at all edible.
My favorite treat that I got to make was caramel corn. I used the recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. It’s amazing. I can really only make this stuff for special events because I will eat the entire batch.
We also had a veggie hot dog station inspired by The Franken Stand. Sometimes if you can’t get the real thing you just have to make your own. Luckily, they have been at some great events this month, so we get to enjoy them somewhat frequently.
We’re down to five movie watchers, including myself. It’s amazing. The plan is to head to the Cinefamily and catch the double feature of Victims and Don’t Go In the House to finish the extravaganza. I’ll keep you posted.
Movies so far: Labyrinth The Brood I Spit on Your Grave Poltergeist Friday the 13th part 4 Sleepaway Camp Dawn of the Dead (original) Shaun of the Dead Lost Boys Ringu Necromantic SuspiriaUPDATE
I finished with:
Victims Don’t Go in the HouseI think that the remaining three watched Close Encounters after that.
So many hours of horror!
Halloween Candy
These days one of the main selling points of Halloween is candy. As if costumes and ghosts weren’t awesome enough, people thought you should coerce children in to celebrating by giving them treats. This has now turned into a sugar free for all consisting of thousands of bags of individually wrapped bite sized candies, because god forbid anyone actually make anything for their neighbors. Everyone knows the razor blade in the apple thing never really happened.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for trick or treating. In fact, as an adult, I still kind of wish I could go. But then I realize the majority of those candies aren’t vegan so there isn’t really a point. I wonder what vegans with children do. Do you take your kids trick or treating and take away the candy afterward or skip the event all together?
Luckily more and more vegan candies are coming onto the market so we aren’t just stuck with licorice and suckers. Go Max Vegan candies are new on the scene and replicate some of the more popular non-vegan brands. The Buccaneer, reminiscent of a Three Musketeers, has creeped in as my favorite of the four. I highly recommend throwing a few in the fridge as they are even more tasty cold. The Twilight is my next choice, though I was a particular fan of Milky Ways as a non-vegan. There some flavor in the caramel that doesn’t quite win me over. It’s still really nice to have a vegan candy that’s not just a pure chocolate bar.
It’s easy to make some vegan candies yourself. I’ve successfully made peanut butter cups and peppermint patties that were even better than the mass produced ones. I’m still dying to make Your Vegan Mom’s crunchy version of peanut butter cups. Can someone please figure out how to make a vegan Junior Mints? That would be awesome.
