That Time I Finally Went to Vegan Treats (Mecca)by Randi / September 22, 2013
Tonight, Ross is getting his lumps. Phoebe is getting her peas and onions. And Mario is getting his tots*. Confused? Don’t be! We’re having three kinds of potatoes! People are needy about their potatoes! But it’s going to be awesome! In continuing this VeganMoFo theme of veganizing food made on “Friends”, we’re looking at the first ever Thanksgiving episode, “The One Where Underdog Gets Away.” The “Friends” Thanksgiving episodes are usually stellar, and this early installment is no different. Monica is in charge of her first Thanksgiving dinner, and all the Friends are pretty ignorant of how hard she is working. They all make personal requests – Chandler needs his tomato soup and grilled cheese*, Ross needs mashed potatoes with lumps, Phoebe needs her potatoes whipped and with peas and onions, and Joey needs his potatoes in tot form. (Joey is wise.)
Joey: Hey, Monica, I got a question. I don’t see any tater tots.
Monica: That’s not a question.
Joey: But my mom always makes them. It’s like a tradition. You get a little piece of turkey on your fork, a little cranberry sauce, and a tot! It’s bad enough I can’t be with my family because of my disease.
Monica: All right, fine. Tonight’s potatoes will be both mashed with lumps, and in the form of tots.
Monica: What, Phoebe, did you whip the potatoes? Ross needs lumps!
Phoebe: Oh, I’m sorry, oh, I just, I thought we could have them whipped and then add some peas and onions.
Monica: Why would we do that?
Phoebe: Well, ’cause then they’d be like my mom used to make them, you know, before she died.
Monica: Ok, three kinds of potatoes coming up.
Of course, Monica complies with these requests. But she kind of freaks out about how much stress she’s under. Watch the below, from 7:30 to 8:01.
Poor little Harmonica! And poor little burnt potatoes! Let’s get started cooking, and let’s not burn anything. This is all relatively simple, so we’re not going to give real recipe directions. You’ll be able to do it, I promise.
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POTATOES WITH LUMPS – ROSS
First, we’ll make Ross’s potatoes, with lumps. Get about 3-4 pounds of potatoes. I really like cooking with a bag of mixed colors, it’s so cheerful! Boil the potatoes until soft, then drain. Add half of those potatoes back into the pot, and add salt, pepper, olive oil or butter, a dash of unsweetened plain almond milk, and mash! Careful – do not overmash, because we need to keep some lumps in there! POTATOES WITH PEAS & ONIONS – PHOEBE Next, chop up an onion and saute it over medium heat in a bit of olive oil in a saucepan. You know how do to this! I believe in you! After about 5 minutes, add in about 1/2C frozen peas, and cook for about 5 more minutes. TOTS – JOEY’S I’m still really beat from my weekend, and from my full week now of being sick, so we’re going to use frozen tots instead of making them from scratch. I bet Trader Joe’s fantastic frozen (and vegan-marked) tots would still trump anything I tried from scratch. They cook really well, for about 20 minutes in a 400° oven. I let them cook an extra 10 minutes because crispy Tots are the work of heaven. |
Purdy taters! 
Am I always sauteing peas and onions? 
Just like Lily would make 
Gotta have my tots, man |
So, there you have it! Potatoes with lumps for Ross, tots for Joey, and whipped potatoes with peas and onions for Phoebe. If I had to pick and make just one for Thanksgiving, it would probably be Ross’s. You want a little texture with your mash, right? Phoebe’s are nice too, but other guests would probably be like ‘What’s in my potatoes? Difference, no!” However, for any other dinner, occasion, holiday, lunch, day of the week, whatever, Joey is right in this instance. Tots man!
Giveaway trivia:
1. Why does Monica refer to Joey as ‘Mario’?!
2. Why does Chandler not eat Thanksgiving food? (Hint: Even if you don’t know ‘Friends’, you’d know this if you’ve been reading these posts!)
3. Why does Monica’s big dinner burn?
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New Orleans Inspirations: The Fried Bread Pudding Po’ Boy
Welcome, my little bunnies, to my post about – without a doubt – the most gluttonous, glutenous thing I will make and eat probably EVER.
We are going to have to listen to this while we work, because it’s the only sound I can think of that properly captures both how ridiculous this is and how my friend and I felt when we didn’t have to eat any more of it.
If you read my New Orleans general food guide, you know that during our epic eating week I came across this hilarious, unbelievable, obviously non-vegan gem of a food item that apparently people actually eat:
A fried bread pudding po’boy. That means people have eaten a pile of bread pudding used as sandwich filling on a French baguette. And what’s fried? Is it the bread pudding hunk that is fried into a patty then placed on the bread? Is the pudding placed on the bread as is, and then the whole baguette is fried? ARE BOTH THE PUDDING AND THE SANDWICH FRIED? Yes. Yes, is being my answer. Easy question. Let’s make this!
FRIED BREAD PUDDING PO’ BOY
PART 1 – THE BREAD PUDDING
First, we make the bread pudding. This turned out to be a delicious recipe and you should definitely make it, even if you don’t have the strength to move on to part 2. I used Ezekiel’s Cinnamon Raisin bread, which was invented for the sole purpose of using in bread pudding, but you can use any bread really. I’d add a teaspoon of cinnamon if you use regular bread, because who doesn’t want cinnamon bread pudding?
First, we make the bread pudding. This turned out to be a delicious recipe and you should definitely make it, even if you don’t have the strength to move on to part 2. I used Ezekiel’s Cinnamon Raisin bread, which was invented for the sole purpose of using in bread pudding, but you can use any bread really. I’d add a teaspoon of cinnamon if you use regular bread, because who doesn’t want cinnamon bread pudding?
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Ingredients:
Directions:
I believe this is what’s called raw food? |
LEANING TOWER OF BREADDDD 
This is what’s left of the 6 pound bag of besan I bought on Amazon 
Sugared 
Not raw food |
PART 2: THE VANILLA SAUCE
I don’t see how the restaurant’s prize-winning po’ boy would have won anything without a really good sauce.
I don’t see how the restaurant’s prize-winning po’ boy would have won anything without a really good sauce.
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Ingredients:
Directions:
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“Hey there pudding I’m coming for you! Yayyyy!” |
Part 3: THE FRYING AND THE ASSEMBLING
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Ingredients:
Directions:
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so many hand pictures 
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OBVIOUSLY, if you own a personal deep fryer, drop that entire sandwich into that bad boy. Oh man, I DARE ANY OF YOU TO DO THAT. Please tell me about it if you do and we’ll post pictures.
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Oh yes add peanut butter to it, by all means |
There you have it, America.
Kopps, Berlin: This Is How Brunch Professionals Do Brunch
When traveling, your best bet for finding good food is to listen to locals, letting them dictate which path your food tourism follows. In Berlin, we were lucky to have two friends there who planned an epic buffet brunch for us all at Kopps. Buffet brunch is like the big hip thing to do in Berlin, and I can’t imagine any other place’s offerings being as awesome as the all-vegan, never-ending spread at Kopps. The restaurant itself featured modern, Ikea-inspired decor (which I loved), and really great enormous picture windows (which let the sun bake my back and add a level of intrigue/sweat to the whole thing). It just seemed like such a chic place, you’d never guess it was an all-vegan establishment – there was no wicker furniture or patchouli smells (joking). Also, it was freaking packed! Reservations are required!
Early round plate
We quickly learned just why this place was so crowded. The food was ridiculous! There was very little labeling so I can’t say oh try this and try this. JUST EAT EVERYTHING. And then get four more plates. And then get dessert. Seriously, I don’t think anything was not delicious. (Except those little orange and green discs in the top picture. I don’t know what I thought they were going to be, but they were fancy pats of butter. Hahahahahahaha. Don’t just eat that plain. Oh man gross. Blechhh.)
Look at all this hot food and cold salads and stuff! It went on forever! There were pancakes and potato things and then all these amazing bean and grain salads. Oh now I remember something that was gross. See those little white cups of custard or something? I assumed (NEVER ASSUME) that it was going to be a sweet vanilla custard or cream of some sort – meaning, dessert. It was not. It was peppery and gross.
That is a tray of vegan cubed cheese surrounded by various salads, including an ‘egg’ salad that was amazing.
So many vegan lunch meats! Not my thing but dayum!
Lolol some wise person left their little cup of grossness at the buffet.
Yummy creamy potato something |
In the back were pancakes and this ridiculously amazing cherry sauce that people devoured |
Another savory plate. So freaking good. |
Those mini pancakes were the greasiest, oiliest, heart-attackiest most delicious things ever. |
I cannot wait to go back and continue to eat everything in sight! What a spectacular place! Why aren’t there fantastic brunch buffets in other cities? Does London even do brunch? I need to open a Kopps copy here. Have you been? Do you remember what any specific things were or is it all just a blur of deliciousness like it is for me?
KOPPS, BERLIN
Water speed: Decent, but the waiters were freaking super busy with that crowd.
Bathrooms: Very nice!
Food: Never-ending, delicious, just insane.
Bonus: They had fresh juices!
