Under the bridge like a troll
Today, I had the pleasure of roaming around Dumbo, Brooklyn in the beautiful (and unseasonably strong) sunshine for Smorgasburg, the Brooklyn Flea Food Market. It’s a crazy varied array of food stalls in Williamsburg on Saturdays, hence the name, with a smaller version on Sundays in Dumbo. The Dumbo version has fewer vendors, I think, but also lesser crowds, which is great. Today, I found several vegan options while I got sunburnt and couldn’t find a toilet without a thirty minute line. Fun times! Let’s see what we found!
  I also spotted this Hummus stand! I imagine that the company isn’t really called Hummus, because that would be pretty dumb (“Oh what’s your name? Hummus? Ok, I’ll google that to find out more about you!” says a soon-to-be-very-frustrated individual). The hummus on offer looked pretty splendid, but I told myself it was bad form to buy something at this fair that I make pretty much every day.
Instead, my second food installment came from Bombay Sandwich Company. I’ve heard good things about their all-vegan Indian-inspired sandwiches, so I decided to try one. I ordered the Kale & Cumin, though The Bomb (a garam masala and potato one) is the most popular. And food with ‘bomb’ in the name tends to be pretty amazing. (See, e.g., Vegan Treats.) I waited for about 20 minutes, which seemed absurd in this environment. Finally, they called my name. This was…ok. It was mostly purple cabbage, and I didn’t notice any kale, which made me mad. My friend said she spotted some green shreds in her piece, but that’s not exactly enough to warrant putting kale in the title. It had a thin great northern bean puree, which was good, as were the chutneys topping the bread. However, the sandwiches are billed as being ‘sealed’, so when I saw that they were all just regular pieces of toast, sliding and letting the fillings out, it was a bit disappointing. I think I’ll spend my $8 elsewhere next time. |
 First up was Asia Dog, which can make most of its specialty creations with a vegan dog. My friend ordered the purple cabbage-topped Mel & Steve, left, and I ordered the Vinh (above), which comes with banh mi toppings. I said I was vegan and the woman said there was a veg pate substitute, and that it wouldn’t come with the aioli. However, I didn’t notice a pate of any kind, nor the mustard that was listed. Just the carrots and cilantro. Oh well, it was still pretty good, and for $4 each, not a bad deal.
  Please excuse these photos. It was sunny as ALL GET OUT today, and I could barely see let alone take proper pics |
 This may be the best picture I’ve ever taken. No, actually I had to pee so badly I wasn’t even trying. |
Given the heat, the best part of the day was seeing the Kelvin Slush stand. Started from the Kelvin Natural Slush Truck, this company sells the most amazing, natural slushies, like 7-11 Slurpees but so much better in every way (except not as cheap). You pick your slushy base, like Green & Black Tea, Citrus, or Spicy Ginger (the best best one), and then you choose your add-in flavor, like raspberry or white peach. Today, with no Ginger base on offer, I got the Arnold Palmer (citrus and tea mixed, so good) with a guava (!) add-in. It was great! So refreshing, and they really perfected the level of iciness. Although I’ll probably order the Ginger when I can, I loved the Arnold Palmer base, and the guava made the day seem even more summery. Such a perfect treat!
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Unfortunately, I didn’t see Electric Blue Baking Co., The Regal Vegan with their rumored vegan banh mi, the homemade tempeh guy, or the vegan tacos. Next time, Williamsburg! It was still a pretty fun time though! Have you been? What did you get?
Related Posts
Nutty Protein-Packed Homemade Granola! So Easy!
How many of you bake during the winter months just to make the house warmer? Here in London, it’s more of a necessity than a quirky activity. They didn’t get the memo on windows here so there’s like a good centimeter of separation between windows and frames. Cold air blows in all the time and you’re like, man alive turn on the oven or something.
But cookies? Those jerks only take 10 minutes or less in the oven. PASS! Cakes? Who am I making cakes for? Muffins are just bread with sugar and I’d rather eat my bread without sugar (and with hummus). Kale chips? Am I the only vegan who prefers kale raw (or any other way) to chippified? What can I make that’s feasible and that takes a long time so I have maximum oven usage? GRANOLA!
But cookies? Those jerks only take 10 minutes or less in the oven. PASS! Cakes? Who am I making cakes for? Muffins are just bread with sugar and I’d rather eat my bread without sugar (and with hummus). Kale chips? Am I the only vegan who prefers kale raw (or any other way) to chippified? What can I make that’s feasible and that takes a long time so I have maximum oven usage? GRANOLA!
Yes, granola is the easiest, best way to run your oven for at least an hour. Also, you actually want to eat the final product. And it’s healthy! This version I made uses nut butters as its main wet ingredient, and it works great as a binder. Add chia seeds, hemp seeds, and protein powder, you’ve got a power-giving snack that’s perfect for any time of day. I liked using unflavored rice protein in this recipe, mostly because it is too pasty to use in my smoothies. Also, I used puffed millet as my cereal. It’s great because the puffs are teeny tiny, almost like puffed quinoa. So just make sure you choose a cereal that’s on the small side. You don’t want huge puffed buckwheat or something that’s going to be significantly bigger than an oat.
Ingredients on the small side plus a superb wet ingredient mix based in nut butter will ensure that you get lots of big crunchy clusters instead of sad granola-flavored crumbs. As with all granola recipes, this is really more of a guide that you can play around with to suit to your preferences. Add chocolate chips! Or cocoa powder! Or use chocolate-hazelnut spread! Or add something non-chocolate. But that seems like a move in the wrong direction.
Ingredients on the small side plus a superb wet ingredient mix based in nut butter will ensure that you get lots of big crunchy clusters instead of sad granola-flavored crumbs. As with all granola recipes, this is really more of a guide that you can play around with to suit to your preferences. Add chocolate chips! Or cocoa powder! Or use chocolate-hazelnut spread! Or add something non-chocolate. But that seems like a move in the wrong direction.
POWER PUNCH GRANOLA
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I love mixing different nut butters with date syrup for the main binder. Date syrup adds a dark, deep flavor that you don’t get when you use regular liquid sweeteners alone. Try half the amount of molasses if you don’t have date syrup.
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Directions:
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Nut butter plus syrups. So pretty 
It’s like an add for superfoods! 
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It’s a veritable thing-with-a-lot-of-clusters-that-I’ve-decided-against-saying-because-I’m-a-lady!
Veganizing “Friends”: “That wonderful, nutty, cakey pie thing…”
I’ve gotten gif happy
This is how I feel about this dessert
I’m having so much fun veganizing food featured on “Friends”! My to-do list for the next few weeks is pretty darn long, but somehow I forgot the subject of today’s post until the lovely dropscone suggested that I do it. Thank you for reminding me of a favorite Ross moment! It comes from the episode “The One with the East German Laundry Detergent”, when Ross, yet again oblivious to others’ feelings and the tone of their words, says the following:
Rachel: (waitressing) Does anybody want anything else?
Ross: Oh, yeah, last week you had a wonderful, nutty, chocolaty kind of a cakey pie thing. (Rachel gives him a dirty look) Nothing, just, just, I’m fine.
YEAH YEAH! With absolutely no other information to go on, we’re going to make the wonderful, nutty, chocolaty kind of cakey pie thing from Central Perk!! For my own benefit, I decided to make it less ‘cake that can be served easily in a coffee shop’ and more ‘cream pie that can be served easily on my table’.
Obviously, if I’m making a pie that I’m going to eat, and I have this little to work off of, I’m going to use Speculoos. I hope you know what Speculoos is. It’s miraculous. If you don’t have access to this European cinnamony cookie butter, use peanut butter! Oh I bet it would be great with peanut butter! Or really any nut butter of your choice. Or just with chocolate!
We’re definitely going to start with a graham cracker crust taken to another level – made not with graham crackers, but with Speculoos cookies! Duh!
Obviously, if I’m making a pie that I’m going to eat, and I have this little to work off of, I’m going to use Speculoos. I hope you know what Speculoos is. It’s miraculous. If you don’t have access to this European cinnamony cookie butter, use peanut butter! Oh I bet it would be great with peanut butter! Or really any nut butter of your choice. Or just with chocolate!
We’re definitely going to start with a graham cracker crust taken to another level – made not with graham crackers, but with Speculoos cookies! Duh!
NB: Trader Joe’s Speculoos cookies are indeed vegan, but their version of the cookie butter is NOT (because of how the sugar is processed, so be careful because the ingredients do look vegan-friendly) SPECULOOS COOKIE CRUST!
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Step 2: We’re going to candy some pecans!
CANDIED PECANS!
INGREDIENTS:
Step 3: Making the Speculoos chocolate mousse! 
Obviously my big jar was already empty SPECULOOS CHOCOLATE MOUSSE!
INGREDIENTS:
SPECULOOS CHOCOLATE GANACHE!
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DIRECTIONS:
DIRECTIONS:
DIRECTIONS:
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So! At this point, we have this:
- Speculoos cookie crust on the bottom
- A layer of candied pecans
- A pouffy layer of speculoos chocolate mousse
- Then – layer the rest of your candied pecans on top of the mousse (See picture above right)
- Lastly – pour the melted chocolate+speculoos over the top. It’ll be a really thick layer!
- Stick that in the fridge for at least an hour!
And voila! It’s so easy, right? And you end up with this beauty:
Enjoy!! And thanks dropscone for the deeeelicious idea!!!! (And thank you Europe, for Speculoos.) It’s really one of the most delicious desserts I’ve ever made.
Giveaway trivia!!
– What happened to Rachel’s clothes in this episode (“The One with the East German Laundry Detergent”)??
– Do you think Gunther knows what Speculoos is?
