Places: Natural Cafe in SB

Natural Cafe in Santa Barbara is pretty delicious. It is no AMAZING place, but it is definitely tolerable. The top is a smoothie...it had berries in it. Berries are delicious. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries. Did you ever notice that the p in raspberries is silent? Did I spell raspberries right? I blame the US education system. Oh, catholic school/public school, what have you done to my spelling abilities!?!

The bottom is a tamale (my sister says that in Spanish, one tamale is a tamal...and more than one tamale is tamale...WHAT!? Tamale is plural for a tamal!?!?!). I ate this tamal when I was very hungover sick last year, but I forgot about it until now. It was alright. The only really good thing about this place is that it is very veggie friendly. You can pretty much add tofu to anything...and I mean ANYTHING. With a name like Natural Cafe...yeah you better add tofu to my eggplant BIATCH! After watching a man hammer a goat to death on TV, I think vegetarianism is the way to go yo. 

WOAH WOAH. Does anyone know how to rotate photos on this blogger thing....I cannot figure it out for the life of me. So for now, my smoothie will be sideways.

Sorry for the poo poo pictures...these are from my phone.

Places: The Counter redux & Things you put in your belly: The Counter

I forgot from when these were from, but I remember it being delicious allll over again. Why don't they have a place like this in Santa Barbara? Pasadena, you are one lucky city. Freaking eggs, cheese, veggie patty, olives, cucumber, and a chipotle sauce. DELICIOUS.

Things you put in your belly: Veggie/ Vege Spring Rolls

Vege spring rolls from Thien Tam Vegetarian Restaurant on Garvey Ave. in El Monte. I wish I was eating this right now, and it is so cheap!!! I AM SO HUNGRY.

Things you put in your belly: New Capital Dim Sum

So I went to dim sum with my family at New Capital Seafood in Hacienda Heights a few weeks ago when I thought I was getting better but actually wasn't getting better. Being a vegetarian, it is difficult to find things to eat at dim sum that are not sweet or that come in a salad form with seaweed in it. Luckily, at this place there were a few options like the fried tofu and things wrapped in rice noodles or tofu skins. They were actually pretty good. I can see why this place is always crowded, even at 9:30am when we went.

I am back in SB, and I, luckily, bought some dim sum bao back here. DID YOU KNOW!?! If you freeze dim sum bao as is and re-steam it or re-bake it, they are delicious once again!!!!! HOORAY FOR MODERN REFRIGERATORS!

Things you put in your belly: Evelyn's Favorite Pasta

So I am still sick. It sucks to be sick and hungry at the same time. So I went out to the Cheesecake Factory to eat hearty pasta. HEARTY because I was hungry and because a HEART is what I lack. HO HO HO Merry New Years. It was delicious. There are sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, eggplant, pine nuts, artichokes, and pesto of some sort. DELICIOUS. I would eat it everyday if I could eat at the Cheesecake Factory everyday. And if someone could guarantee I would not look like I ate at the Cheesecake Factory everyday, because if I did, I would be a Fatty McFatter Pants. 

Things you put in your belly: Mo'hing Nga

Burmese food is delicious. Fish,lemon grass, ginger soup (vegetarian one is fish-less!HOORAY FOR VEGETARIANS!)

Places: In-n-Out

What can a vegetarian eat at In-N-Out, aka the best fast food ever? GRILLED CHEESE. FRIED. CHEESE. They only have In-N-Out in CA and NV I think. That's what my office husband tells me. British cousin loves it! If you ever come to California, GO TO IN-N-OUT. SO DELICIOUS!!!!!

Places: The Counter in Pasadena

Went to The Counter in Pasadena with British cousin and friendies. We split the fries/ sweet potato fries. I appreciated their shoe stringy like quality. I had the veggie burger bowl (I love bowls, taco bowls from CHIPOTLE AKA THE BEST AND MOST WONDERFUL FAST FOOD EVER). For the set price you get to choose what you want from each list (if you want extras, they list the price added on the side). I had the organic greens, veggie patty, sharp provolone, olives, jalapenos, sun dried tomato vinaigrette, and pickles. The ingredients were FRESH, and the only worry we had was if the combinations we picked would work together or not. IT WORKED. Service was friendly, but I felt like I had to be really friendly back. All in all super duper duper duper. BECAUSE BOWLS ARE THE WAY TO GO. GO. GO.
 

Recipes: Vegetarian Dim Sum

I really like dim sum, but being a vegetarian, there are not many options. The only restaurant I know of that serves all veggie dim sum is Fine Garden in Rosemead. At regular dim sum places they have veggie things, but most of them are sweet pineapple, custard, or taro buns that are baked or steamed. You also get funny looks at regular dim sum places...after all, they are probably thinking "Why don't you eat meat? It is so DELICIOUS?" But who am I to read minds. It's an invasion of privacy.

SOOOO....I made vegetarian dim sum at home. Note: These are not vegan friendly, but the egg white can be left out to be made vegan friendly. Actually, I only added the egg white because Mama Chan said so, and I don't think it was necessary.


Vegetarian Dim Sum

Shu Mai wrappers (The one I use has a pink and clear plastic cover that sports a happy looking panda)

Shark fin melon (steamed and squeezed to be a dry as possible, can also be left out, but it gives it a nice texture)

Chinese celery stems (can be replaced with cilantro leaves AND stems, washed and chopped)

Vegetarian meat paste (chinese markets have this, if you can't find it replace it with tofu and some seasoning for flavor)

Vege shrimp (diced)

A large spoonful of cornstarch (about 1-2 tablespoons depending on how watery you ingredients look)

1 egg white

Mix everything together, minus the Shu Mai wrappers. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. If it is reallllllly watery, then strain out the excess fluid ( Save it, it makes for a great soup flavoring). Wrap it up and brush it with oil if you want it to look nice, and steam it for about 20-30 minutes. Honestly, it doesn't matter how you wrap it, but it looks nice with an open top so people can see whats inside like regular shu mai.

HAR HAR HAR. Good luck. Took me ages to perfect the recipe. Enjoy it!

xoxo

Places: Lovebird Cafe in Alhambra

Went to Lovebird Cafe in Alhambra with cousin, who is applying for med school right now. I had the veggie meatball sandwich, but I am going to try the veggie turkey next time. Bread was good, but it needed more cheese. CHEESE IS DELISH.

Oh yeahhhh, good luck GINNY!

xoxo

Food/ Places: Veggie Life on Garvey in Rosemead and their steamed buns

I went to Veggie Life, which is a Vietnamese restaurant that serves all vegetarian food, and usually I just eat there because they give you tons of yummy herbal veggies. This time, I also bought home the steamed bun. It was JUST OK. It was expensive (I think $1.50), so I'll stick to eating the noodle dishes at the restaurant. Slightly SAD FACE for the bun because it was expensive, but other than that no bad points.

Places: Brioche in East LA Pt. 2

So I talked about the macaroons at Brioche. Here they are! Also carrot cake and opera cake. OMG SO DELICIOUS. Why are they delicious? They are not heavy or oily, and they are not too sweet. I am not a fan of my mouth being invaded by sugar crystal soldiers cutting my taste buds into smithereens. You know how I roll. It has to be balanced. BALANCE IS ESSENTIAL IN LIFE, AND BAKED GOODS ARE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love you. xoxoxo

Places: Brioche in East LA

I met college best roomie this weekend, and we caught up over at Brioche, which is a small french bakery over on Whittier. I had the iced coffee, which is pretty good, meaning that there was nothing I hated about it. The shiny goodness was the pastries. I had a cranberry orange scone. SCONESSS ARE DELICIOUS. I like them better than donuts because they are not as greasy, but they are covered in powdered sugar goodness. I also liked the pretty plate.
College roomie bestie is applying for med school (ie: that which destroys one social life). She is suffering, but it is for the sake of a good lucrative future. Oh yeah, she mentioned helping people too. I love college roomie bestie. She is so on top of it.

On another note, I bought some macaroons, which they are famous for, and cakes to go home. I will share later.

http://www.briochepastries.com/

Places: Fine Garden in San Gabriel Valley/ LA

In the SGV area, there are a lot of Chinese vegetarian restaurants, but this one is by far my favorite because there are two AWESOME things: almond tea (top) and vegetarian dimsum (素点心). There is almost no such thing as vegetarian dimsum, but this place has it. The almond tea is super duper too. They basically put a puff pastry on top of almond tea and bake it. Puff pastry and almond tea, nothing can go wrong.There are only two words that can describe this place: 好帮。 The only down side is that it is PRICEY. A bit for Chinese food.

http://www.finegardenveggie.com/


EAT IT. IT IS DELICIOUS.

Gardening: Chili and Basil

Chili, sweet basic, and thai basil from my garden. All natural and organic yo! Hahahahaha My mission to become self sustaining is slow but progressive! I need more land to plant things. I started to plant onions, different varieties of chilies, and garlic. Hopefully, they all grow. The tomato and zucchini  seem to be kind of major fails, probably because I planted them too late in the season.

Life goal: Survive by farming on three acres of land.

Gardening

Perfect LA weather gives you wonderful summer flowers. Sadly, the edibles in the garden are not growing so well. The zucchini flowers keep falling off without making fruit. It is in a sad state. The tomatoes are not getting  bigger either. SO SAD.

Also, I recently started becoming interested in growing chili, there are five different varieties in my backyard. Hopefully at the end of August, I will be able to make some really delicious chili powder.

I am also super duper into Glee right now.

Places: Honey Badger + Newly relocated Friendies

I went to Honey Badger Cafe in Alhambra. Only two words can describe the way I feel about that place: FREAKING AWESOME. They had a ricotta and portabello mushroom sandwich, which was really really really really really good. I had the honey chrysanthemum tea, which was light and good for summer, but the flower petals kept falling off and in my mouth. That was not as awesome. It seems like a good place to study, chit-chat, and eat delicious sandwiches. Newly relocated friendie went there with me. Welcome to Alhambra and LA my dear! 

On another note, Honey Badger also had art hanging on the walls, which made it seem very comfy. I will definitely go there again. Who will go with me? It is lonely to go by myself. I'm a big baby, DEAL WITH IT.

Places: Big Man Bakes & Blossom in LA

I spent the day with my office husband yesterday. We went to the Art in the Streets exhibition yesterday at the Geffen Contemporary. (Will post about that later). We also were planning to go to Nickel Diner, but sadly it was closed. Note: IT IS CLOSED ON MONDAYS. BUT we found other wonderful things. We went to Big Man Bakes (http://bigmanbakes.com/), which had AMAZING CUPCAKES. Now, I love baked goods, and this was a delicious baked good. OH had the chocolate on yellow cake, and I had the lemon. Big thumbs up on both. I heard that their red velvet is delicious as well. I really want to try the carrot cake one next time.

We also went to Blossom( http://www.blossomrestaurant.com/), which is a vietnamese restaurant. It was really good too! Prices were reasonable. Service was good. They had young coconut ($3.50). HUZZAHHHH!! I had the veggie spring rolls ($4.50), which was super good. I liked the atmosphere the best. There seemed to be two parts to this restaurant. One side was more traditionally restaurant-ish, whereas the side we sat on was like a wine bar/ cafe/ tea house. It had a more modern feel to it with big windows. LOVE BIG WINDOWS.

Next post will be art in the streets, which is free on Mondays!