Isa Chandra's Cooking Demo

Who: VN Office Manager Lyndsay Orwig

What: Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Cooking Demo

Where: The Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market in San Francisco

When: February 12, 2011

Why: Being an aspiring cook, I wanted to learn from the very best.

The Scoop: I have been a vegan for nearly 10 years now, but I just recently discovered my love for cooking. Ever since, I've been voraciously reading cookbooks to try and get my skills up to par, and like many vegans, I am a huge fan of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbooks. I honestly can't get enough of her Gigantic Peanut Butter Cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance, or the Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon (co-written by Terry Hope Romero). Her new book, Appetite for Reduction, hit shelves earlier this year, and I'm loving the back-to-basics, whole-foods approach that the book has to offer. So when I found out that Isa was coming into town to give a cooking demo, I marked my calendar right away! Also, I'm very sad to say, I had never visited the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, so this was a great reason to see it for the first time.

The two cookbooks every vegan knows and loves

It was a gorgeous Saturday morning, and I was running late. Luckily, the farmers' market was running behind as well, because the first cooking demo was still going and I had enough time to grab a spot, even amongst the big crowd. And it was crowded—people were literally fighting for chairs around me, and we were told during the introduction that it might have been the busiest cooking demo yet!

Of course, there was no introduction needed, and Isa was very comfortable with the crowd from the get go, with many funny jokes and witty remarks to keep us smiling. She informed the crowd that her main goal with the cookbook was to teach various cooking skills with each recipe, which is important with a whole-foods diet. So one of the first things she mentioned was how to properly hold a chef's knife, and how to go about cutting and chopping different vegetables. This may sound tedious, but I, for one, realized that I was not doing it correctly—and I thought I was getting so good! She went on to make the Thai Roasted Root Vegetable Curry from the book, as well as the Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits. Unfortunately, due to the crowd, and the fact that I had to head out of town after the demonstration, I was unable to try a sample, but boy did it look good, and I will be making the recipes myself in the very near future.

Isa, showing off her knife skills

Isa is currently living in Omaha, NE, but it seems like she does a bit of traveling. Be sure to check her out if she comes to your town—it's a great cooking lesson, and will definitely inspire the chef in you. Also, check out the recent VegNews interview with Isa to hear more about Appetite for Reduction.

Touristing in San Francisco

Who: VN Editorial Assistant Gabrielle Pope

What: Touristin'

Where: San Francisco, Calif.

When: August 14, 2010

Why: Because Saturdays should always be spent shopping, wining, and dining.

The Scoop: Brand new to both San Francisco and to the concept that summers are not actually warm in this city, I braved the chilly morning fog on my second weekend here and set off downtown to be a shameless tourist. Tempted by promises of doughnuts and Vietnamese food, I decided to head down to the Ferry Building where an old friend—the sun—had showed up to greet me. San Francisco’s Ferry Building is more than just some random building you pass through to catch the ferry to the East Bay. It’s a veritable food-lovers paradise with a produce market, chocolate shop, restaurants, bookstores, a boutique wine store, and more.

Photo via ferrybuildingmarketplace.com

Prioritizing doughnuts like any other self-respecting Canadian, I quickly found the Pepples Organic Donuts display. Made in Oakland, these cake doughnuts are beautiful to look at and even better to devour. I grabbed both Lemon Poppy Seed and Salted Caramel flavors for later. The Lemon Poppy Seed was to die for!

Photo via pepplesdonuts.com

After getting the requisite photo of the Bay Bridge and enjoying the sun, I headed back into the building to hunt down the Vietnamese fusion restaurant. Slickly designed, The Slanted Door drew me in with its promises of vegan options and requisite Vietnamese Spring Rolls. I tend to judge a Vietnamese restaurant by the quality of its rice paper rolls, and the Slanted Door’s refreshing rolls filled with tofu, shiitakes, cabbage, and mint, and served with a zesty peanut dipping sauce, exceeded my expectations. For my main, I wisely selected the lemongrass tofu. Made with local tofu from Oakland’s Hodo Soy Beanery (seriously, what’s up with Oakland and when can I move there?), this dish was expertly spiced with garlic and lemongrass, and complemented by onions, shiitakes, and roasted chilies. I should have trusted my gut and polished it up there, but in an effort to save room for wine tasting I got it packed to-go, later resulting in a lemongrass disaster at the bottom of my bag. When in doubt, kids, finish your plate.

Hailing from beautiful British Columbia with its abundant vineyards and charming wineries, you could say I’ve become a bit—enthusiastic, shall we say—about exciting wine varietals. In preparation for my trip out to Sonoma next weekend, I found a table at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchants tasting bar and tried a trio of Northern California reds, which my knowledgeable server confirmed to be vegan.

Seriously now, I’m sitting in a wine bar with a full belly and excited palate…could this get any better? Yes, it could, as I also took that opportunity to break into the brand spanking new VegNews September+October issue, now on its way to eager subscribers. The issue includes an article about my homeland, the great white north (and birthplace of Daiya cheese), which may have made me homesick had I not been sipping reds and living the good life on a sunny Saturday in California.

Three beautiful reds and a peek at the new VegNews

Crazy-Busy Weekend

Who: VN Editorial Director Aurelia d'Andrea

What: A very social San Francisco weekend

When: January 15, 16, + 17

Where: All over SF

Why: For fun, of course!

The Scoop: Is it just me, or does your social calendar have an ebb and flow whereby some weekends are completely devoid of activity, and others are booked solid from dawn 'til dusk (and often much, much later)? Well, I experienced one of those those jam-packed spells last weekend, beginning on Thursday night at the Paul Mahder Gallery.

This sweet little art space over in the semi chi-chi section of Presidio Heights hosts regular openings for local artists, and Mr. Mahder and his guests are always as friendly as can be, the wine is forever flowing, and the art is predictably stellar. And did I mention there are nearly always veg nibbles? This evening's reception was for Russian artist Elena Zolotnitsky, whose paintings are colorful, beautiful, and just a tad too expensive for my budget. So what's a frugal art-loving girl to do? Browse and admire while munching fresh veggies and hummus and sipping sparkling wine. My favorite painting was titled "Renaissance Boy," and even if I can't afford to take him home with me, I know I can at least visit him until the end of February.

 

The veg couscous at Café Zitouna. Ahhh, memories ....

Friday night's outing was slightly more festive, beginning with dinner at Café Zitouna, on the corner of Sutter and Polk in the lovely TenderNob 'hood. I first tried this place back in May, and loved it immediately. It might have been because it was here that I broke a weeklong fast with a giant bowl of heavenly harira—a thick, chickpea-and-lentil soup served with a lemon wedge and chewy baguette—or it might have been that it reminded me of Paris, what with fellow diners chattering away in French and Arabic. Whatever it was, it's lured me back several times now, and on this night, in addition to a bowl of harira, I ordered the couscous off their veg-friendly menu. Yum! Perfectly steamed semolina was served with lightly spiced vegetables including carrot, turnip, and zucchini. When you add a dollop of the house-made harissa sauce, it's yum squared. The service is friendly, too. 

Next stop: The Bigfoot Lodge, also on Polk Street. Sound scary? Actually, it sort of was. The idea was to meet up with friends for a fun evening of socializing in a new environment—none of us had been here before—and I was stoked when I arrived and discovered that our contingent, which included VN Editor-at-Large Jennifer Pickens, had snared a cozy booth in the back, over by the faux fireplace and conveniently positioned within hopping distance to the toilettes. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the place was packed to the gills with frat boys and sorority girls getting their Friday night drink on, and what's the fun in hanging out if you can't even hear your friends speak?

Saturday's festivities proved much mellower, but still plenty funtastic. VN Associate Publisher Colleen Holland and I had been invited to a magazine party at Ferry Plaza, and while normally we wouldn't be interested in a soirée centered around cheese—we are vegan, after all—we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see how another magazine throws its party, and we were curious to see if they might have any dairy-free cheeses on offer. They didn't. But there was plenty of wine, bread, and crackers to be had, and the view over the Bay almost made it worth enduring the stinky cheese smell for an hour or two.

Colleen Holland, Aurelia d'Andrea, and Marsha Rose say "vegan cheese" for the camera

Next stop: A spot of comedy and a new dining adventure in the heart of the Tenderloin ...