Girlfriends' Getaway at The Stanford Inn

Who: VN Associate Editor Jennifer Chen
What: A vacation with my girlfriends
When: November 11–13, 2011
Where: The Stanford Inn, Mendocino, CA
Why: To spend quality time with my best friends

The Scoop: Every year, my best friends, Alina Kwak and Diana Breen, and I get together for a mini-vacation. While boys are great, there is nothing like a girls' weekend away. My friend Diana has been vegan since she was 15, so I suggested we take a trip to the Stanford Inn, a beautiful and enchanting veg-friendly inn, located in the coastal town of Mendocino, CA.

We arrived on Friday and were greeted warmly by the staff. Plus, vegan chocolate chip cookies were waiting for us inside our room. (And yes, every room gets cookies every day that you stay. My kind of place!) We ate dinner at Mendocino Café, which had several vegan options. The Healing Bowl, with soba noodles, kale, and tofu in a miso broth, was my pick.

On Saturday, we started our day with a warm Vinyasa yoga class, followed by brunch. The Stanford Inn vegan breakfast, complimentary for inn guests, is not to be missed. Everything you could ever want veganized—frittatas, French toast, crêpes—is on this hard-to-pick-just-one-dish menu. I went for the mind-blowing Portobello Benedict. After that, we worked off our brunch with a two-hour canoe trip along the Big River. Then, we hit Frankie's for vegan pizza. You can build your own pie with vegan cheese and a choice of tomato sauce or pesto (all vegan). Believe it or not, the inn also hosts a daily vegan happy hour with free (!!!) dessert and tea or coffee so we hustled back to indulge.

Wild Mushroom Crêpe, filled with spinach, wild mushrooms, 

shallots, served with roasted butternut squash 

and puréed garden greens on top of poblano créme.

Saturday night, we were excited to try the special five-course wine and mushroom tasting menu at Ravens, Stanford Inn's restaurant, in celebration of Mendocino's annual Wine and Mushroom Festival. Ravens' Chef Sally Owens and Stanford Inn Co-owner Jeff Stanford took the time to explain Ravens' culinary philosophy to my friends and I. Nutritious food is key, as Jeff explained. While each dish was a standout, my hands-down favorite was the mushroom crêpe. It was light and fluffy and the mushrooms were packed with umami flavor. And don't even get me started on the puréed garden greens!

Ravens' Chef Sally Owens, the genius behind the dishes.

Sally and I discussed sharing some of Ravens' best recipes with VegNews Recipe Club subscribers. (If you're not signed up for our free weekly recipe newsletter, head to VegNews.com and sign up today!) I am so excited we will feature the Portobello Benedict recipe in December. It's so delicious that I might have to make it every weekend. Sally also told me that Ravens' will be releasing a brand new cookbook, so stay tuned.

If you've never been to The Stanford Inn, definitely add it to your bucket list. Companion animals are welcome, and you'll see quite a few four-legged guests in the dining room. Daily cookies, a bountiful garden, an indoor salt-water pool, and some of the best vegan eats await you.

San Francisco Walk for Farm Animals

Who: VN Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria and Team VegNews
What: San Francsico's Walk For Farm Animals
When: November 6, 2011
Where: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA
Why: To support the awesome work of Farm Sanctuary, and get a little stroll

The Scoop: Our lovely and talented associate editor, Jennifer Chen, is magic. She is the kind of person who actually has her life together enough to organize fun events, which she does frequently. A potluck brunch based on an amazing vegan cookbook? Jenn teamed up with Editorial Assistant Anna Peraino to make that dream come true. Dinner parties on the cheap that also happen to be hugely fun? Jenn's an expert. So it came as no surprise when she organized a team for us to participate in Farm Sanctuary's Walk for Farm Animals.

Anna, Jenn, Brendan, Sutton, and Chloe, ready to walk!

On a brisk Sunday morning, Associate Publisher Colleen Holland, Art Director Sutton Long (and her amazing wonder-pup, Chloe!), Anna, and I joined Jenn and her husband, Brendan Hay, in Golden Gate Park to walk. Farm Sanctuary has been holding walks since 1986 across the US. The events attract stars like this year's spokesperson, Emily Deschanel, and draw thousands of participants each year. All together, the walks have raised nearly $2 million for Farm Sanctuary since the beginning. In addition to getting a little exercise in, walkers get to hear speakers (including Farm Sanctuary Co-founder Gene Baur), enjoy snacks, and raise awareness. We basically couldn't have hoped for a better day, and it was a joy to chat about everything from iPhones (and how they are taking over our lives) to holiday plans (and how we can't wait for the carb-fest better known as Thanksgiving!). It was (another) fun, out-of-the-office event organized by Jenn, and as a team we even exceeded our fundraising goal! I'm already looking forward to next year, and to all the fun things that I'm sure Jenn will organize between now and then.

Team VegNews post-walk with Farm Sanctuary's Gene Baur

Hearty Vegan Brunch and Burgers & Beers Benefit

Who: VN Associate Editor Jennifer Chen
What: A Hearty Vegan Brunch with VN staff and a Burgers & Beers Benefit
Where: San Francisco and Berkeley, CA
When: Sunday, October 23, 2011
Why: A glorious day of eating awesome vegan food

The Scoop: When the cookbook Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites by Joni Marie Newman & Celine Steen arrived at the VNHQ for review, we were floored by the hunger-inducing food. Tater Tot Surprise, Cinnamon Swirl Bread, and Coconut Crème Brûlée Baked Oatmeal were just a few recipes we were drooling over. So VN Assistant Editor Anna Peraino and I organized a staff-wide potluck based on our favorite brunch dishes from the cookbook. We, after all, have monster appetites. Here is our hearty menu:

VN Hearty Vegan Brunch Menu

Banana Split Waffles

Tater Tot Surprise

Coconut Crème Brûlée Baked Oatmeal

Cappuccino Muffins

Atella Rolls

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches*

Morning Mimosas*

*not featured in the cookbook

My brunch plate from top:

Tater Tot Surprise, Grilled Cheese, Banana Split Waffles, Atella Roll,

Coconut Crème Brûlée Baked Oatmeal, Cappuccino Muffin (center).

It was a beautiful and sunny day in Noe Valley where Anna, our host, lives. We piled our plates high with all the goodies we had prepared. Associate Publisher Colleen Holland made the Banana Split Waffles fresh and piping hot from the waffle iron while my husband, Brendan Hay, made his signature Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, the only recipe not from the cookbook, but a VN staff favorite. I savored every bite and when my very full plate (see above) was empty, I was ready for a hearty nap on Anna's couch. We were impressed with every single dish, and even made a non-vegan a believer in the power of vegan grilled cheese sandwiches (score!).

Joni Sweet and Lyndsay Orwig enjoying brunch.

After the brunch, I squeezed in a dog date at the Presidio with Art Director Sutton Long and her pup, Chloe, and my pup, Buddy, to walk off the billions of calories I had consumed. Believe it or not, then I headed to Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley to partake of vegan burgers and beers. Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary hosted a fundraiser at the brewery and I love any event where I can eat and support animals in need. Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary cares for abused farm and domestic animals and assists local humane societies and rescue groups.

What's better than vegan burgers and beers? Nothing.

It was a great event, and Brendan and I shared a brew while chatting about all the amazing vegan food we ate.

Millennium Farmers' Market Cooking Class

Who: Associate Editor Jennifer Chen

What: Millennium Restaurant's Farmers' Market Cooking Class

Where: San Francisco, Calif.

When: July 30 & 31, 2011

Why: To take a cooking class at one of my favorite restaurants

The Scoop: It may come as no surprise that I love food and cooking. Millennium is one of my favorite restaurants, so when I read that Executive Chef Eric Tucker would be teaching a cooking class using produce picked at the local farmers' market, I jumped at the opportunity. 

Day One: Shopping Day!

We met at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market in San Francisco to shop for ingredients for Sunday's class. Instead of a set list of items, Eric asked us to find produce we were interested in and we'd base the menu off of what we bought. One of my classmates pointed out fresh squash blossoms so we grabbed a bagful. Next, we stopped by Hodo Soy to pick up fresh soymilk and yuba (tofu) skins. Eric said we would be making a silken tofu custard using the soymilk, and I was thrilled. I grew up eating tofu custard, but never attempted to make my own. Then we went to Blossom Bluff Farm to pick up ripe peaches. Farm Co-owner Fran Loewen gave us each a rare breed of plum to try. Along the way, we snagged snap peas, rose geranium, and abalone mushrooms.

Day Two: Let's Cook!

At 10am, I felt like I was ready for the vegan version of Top Chef, armed with my favorite knives and measuring cups. Eric and his team had coffee and freshly made cinnamon beignets, along with aprons, chefs jackets, and kitchen towels ready for us before we broke up into two teams to make variations on the same menu. My team and I started making the olive oil rose geranium sorbet. I never thought of adding olive oil to ice cream but it gave the subtly sweet ice cream a rich flavor. Next, we moved on to making the tofu custard, combining agar agar and kuzu to our fresh soymilk. Thomas, the line cook assisting Eric, taught me a simple trick to prepare kuzu. Slowly add your liquid then crush up the kuzu, then add more liquid. This way the kuzu turns into a smooth paste rather than a clumpy mess. While the other members of our team prepared the other menu items, we used the restaurant's industrial Vitamix to blend the almond garlic sauce for the panisse. 

Chef Eric Tucker overseeing the panisse and squash blossoms.

We took a break for lunch to taste the fruits of our labor. Ann Wheat, the co-owner of Millennium, joined us for our meals, relishing in our tasty dishes. It was back to the kitchen to make the sunchoke-corn risotto while the other team made a potato-corn risotto. Sunchokes look like knobby ginger root but taste like artichokes. Then we carefully opened up squash blossoms and stuffed them with a savory tofu cheese. Eric showed us how to properly batter them by dipping them in the dry cornmeal mixture, then the soymilk, and back into the cornmeal for a perfect coating. My teammates and I were chanting, "Dry, wet, dry," as we dropped the squash blossoms into the fryer.

What I really loved about the class was learning easy kitchen tips, how to make fresh produce into a stunning dish, and being able to say that I cooked at Millennium. Eric ran the class the way he runs his kitchen, having us taste along the way, creating recipes on the fly, and asking us to work together. When I walked out at 4:30pm, I was exhausted, happy, and full of delicious food. 

Silken tofu custard in a ponzu sauce with 

seared snap peas and yuba skins.

The complete menu is below. Check out our Facebook album for the complete visual tour of our class—from farmers' market to table.

Menu

Squash Blossoms, two ways, stuffed with tofu cheese, 

deep fried in cornmeal batter with a cilantro pesto dipping sauce, 

grilled served with a mushroom corn relish

Panisse (chickpea cakes) topped with 

a sweet-and-sour eggplant and tomato, 

served with an almond garlic sauce

Seared snap peas with yuba skins and silken tofu custard

Grilled romano beans with olives

Vanilla-glazed grilled abalone mushroom, 

served with a potato-corn risotto and a sunchoke-corn risotto

Spelt zucchini rum cake, topped with grilled peaches, 

served with lemon verbena sorbet and olive oil rose geranium sorbet

Skywalker Ranch Weekend

Who: VegNews Associate Editor Jennifer Chen

What: A blissful weekend in nature visiting my husband at Skywalker Ranch

Where: Marin County, Calif.

When: June 24-26, 2011

Why: Because I missed him

The Scoop: Everyone in the office knows that for the past two weeks my husband, Brendan Hay, has been away working at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, north of San Francisco. He's a head writer for Lucasfilm and he and his team have been working non-stop. So I headed up north to spend some time with him and soak up some nature with vegan peanut butter cookies in tow, in the shape of Star Wars characters. Where did I get the cookie cutters? Using the force, of course (and William & Sonoma). The cookie recipe came from my favorite cookbook on the planet, 1,000 Vegan Recipes by VN Columnist Robin Robertson. The cookies were devoured before I could even put the plate down.

Eat one, young vegan Jedi.

Saturday afternoon, I joined the team for a tour of Hangar One, a vodka distillery, in Alameda, Calif. Housed in an old Army base, we got a tour of how the vodka is made and then we got to taste several of their best liquors—all vegan, by the way! The interesting fact I learned that with quality vodka is that you can smell the flavors by tilting your glass. The alcohol smell drifts to the bottom and the flavor rises to the top. So we tried a pear vodka and were told to hold our breath, sip, swallow, and then breathe out. Following that procedure allows you to fully taste all the distinct flavors. Our tour guide gave us a few flavors to sample then he combined them together to make creative cocktails. My favorite flavor? Chipotle pepper vodka. I also learned that quality vodka tastes smooth and our guide pointed out that if your vodka smells like rubbing alcohol then it will taste like it too.

Pear vodka from Hangar One: It's so smooth, it's criminal.

On Sunday, Brendan and I took a nice stroll along the grounds of the ranch. Let's just say it's beyond beautiful there. We saw plenty of lizards laying out on the stone walkways and even spotted a baby deer and mother deer nibbling on leaves. While I'm a city girl at heart, spending the weekend nestled in a beautiful forest, surrounded by animals in their natural grounds is a nice weekend retreat.

We took a ride off campus to the Marin Civic Center Farmers' Market to grab some bolani (amazing Afghani wraps) and fresh stone fruit before we stopped home in Berkeley to reunite Brendan and Buddy, our yellow Labrador. Let's just say I think Buddy wiggled his tail right off when he saw his dad after two weeks apart. Truly man's best friend. Thanks to the crew at Lucasfilm for a great weekend!

Bay Area Adventures

Who: VegNews Editorial Assistant Anna Peraino

What: A food-and-booze-filled joyride around the Bay Area

Where: Sonoma, Petaluma, San Rafael, Oakland, Berkeley, and Moraga, Calif.

When: May 13 to 15, 2011

Why: The Perainos are foodies. Fact. 

The Scoop: My parents, happy as clams now that their two children live within 30 miles of each other, recently left the still-snowy foothills outside Denver (read more about my visit with them here) to visit my brother and me in the Bay Area. As is the case with my family, there was quite a bit of drinking, hiking, and most importantly, eating. What is it they say? The family that eats together, stays together? Something like that.

We began the weekend in Sonoma County, visiting wineries. After we'd had our fill of zins and merlots, we headed down to Petaluma's Lagunitas Brewing Company, where we spent a few hours sipping delicious, heady brews and snacking on peanuts, freshly made salsa, and avocado. Oh, and the live music was pretty stellar, too.

My brother, excited upon arrival

After happy hour, we headed to San Rafael to the beautiful home of my father's college roommate. We spent hours catching up, hearing hilarious stories about my dad's crazier days, and eating a delicious shabbat dinner. The hostess of the evening even made me vegan-friendly fare to nosh on, for which I was supremely grateful. After spending the night at my brother's in Moraga, the family started the morning at the Berkeley Bowl grocery store. Associate Editor Jennifer Chen always gushes about its awesomeness, and I must say, it lived up to my expectations. Next, we headed to Crixa Cakes, my brother's favorite bakery, to sample its delights. My vegan carrot cake was sweet, soft, and delicious, and the rest of the fam said it was their favorite, too! After one more stop at Flacos for some vegan tacos, we headed back to my brother's place to bake. (Did I mention we like to eat? I just wanted to make sure you got that.) My brother and his girlfriend baked us a delicious loaf of pain ordinaire with rye flour that they served with homemade tomatillo salsa and hummus. Post-food coma we took a hike around my brother's neighborhood, which hosted spectacular views of rolling hills, lunch greenery, a few happy cows, and Mt. Diablo in the distance. 

Photo courtesy of Estella Sanchez

Dinner Saturday night was at Oakland's Souley Vegan, where I noshed on barbecue tofu and mac 'n' cheese. I had my eye on some pie for dessert, but to be honest, none of us could hack it. After dinner, the family headed back to Moraga and promptly went to bed. Sunday was a day of little food and mostly NBA-playoff watching, and then the parents headed home. I, for one, headed straight toward a green juice.

Berkeley Vegan Earth Day

Who: VN Associate Editor Jennifer Chen
What: Berkeley Vegan Earth Day
Where: Berkeley, Calif.
When: April 22, 2011
Why: To celebrate Earth Day with fellow vegans.

The Scoop: Minutes after moving to Berkeley with my husband, yellow lab, and three-legged cat, I knew I had made the right decision. Not only are there vegan cinnamon buns (Cinnaholic, I heart you), there is a vegan charcuterie platter at Gather that will make you squeal. Even better, Berkeley just hosted its very first Vegan Earth Day at the University of California Berkeley, an event that combined environmentalism with veganism. Karine Brighten of Karine Brighten Events produced the evening with co-sponsors Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy, which included a screening of the documentary, Call of Life, a panel discussion, and a reception catered by Millennium and Local Love.

Moments before the screening. Photo: Whitney Lauritsen. 

The film was eye-opening to say the least. The producers interviewed several university science professors from UC Berkeley, Stanford, Yale, Duke, and other schools about the growing threat to the Earth's life systems and how all species are interconnected. The film warns that factors such as over-consumption of meat, global warming, and deforestation are killing more species than ever before. A fascinating fact that I didn't realize is that when salmon travel back and forth from their breeding grounds, they carry important essential elements that helps the bears that eat them and the surrounding trees survive.

After the screening, four panelists—Hope Bohanec (In Defense of Animals), David Vlansey (Call of Life executive producer), Lauren Ornelas (Food Empowerment Project), and Alex Eaves (Stay Vocal)—spoke about veganism, the environment, food choices, and even how T-shirts can be an environmental hazard. Eaves shared a personal story of how he used to collect T-shirts at an alarming rate. He wore a different T-shirt every day from his collection and it took him more than a year before he went through all of them. After discovering how much waste is made just from making T-shirts (about 400 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to make just one brand new T-shirt), he launched the clothing company Stay Vocal that is 100-percent reused attire.

Sushi provided by Local Love. Photo: Whitney Lauritsen. 

After the discussion and Q&A moderated by Rose Aguilar, host of local radio show Your Call, we were invited to a small reception and venue area to meet local vendors and organizations. My husband Brendan and I snacked on a new vegan nacho cheese from Nacheez and ate some tasty appetizers from Millennium while perusing the booths. The reception was jam-packed—you know how much vegans love food—and there were tons of happy vegan chatting it up and getting to know each other. Whitney Lauritsen, aka Eco-Vegan Gal, was the event photographer and documented the whole evening beautifully. After we left Brendan and I were still talking about the film and how we would re-think our consumer choices. We're both so happy that we moved to Berkeley, and I'm really looking forward to Berkeley Vegan Earth Day next year.

Genesis Awards 2011

Who: VN Managing Editor Elizabeth Castoria and VN Associate Editor Jennifer Chen

What: The Humane Society of the United States' annual awards ceremony for the media and entertainment industry

Where: The Century Plaza, Los Angeles, Calif.

When: Saturday, March 19, 2011

Why: To celebrate reporters, entertainers, and animal advocates who keep animal issues in the media spotlight

The Scoop: Twenty-five years ago, former Broadway actress and animal-activist Gretchen Wyler founded the Genesis Awards. At the time, a few awards were given out. Now, the awards have grown to include feature films, reality TV, talk shows, and TV news. The Genesis Awards honors journalists, media, and entertainers who lend their creative skills, celebrity status, and hard work toward awareness of animal issues. It's hard to believe that this phenomenal evening of star power has already been around for a quarter century, and even harder to believe that there was ever a time when it didn't exist.

It was my first time attending, and I was so excited to meet some of my favorite animal advocates, particularly Genesis award-nominee Victoria Stilwell, star of Animal Planet's It's Me or the Dog. Stilwell is a staunch supporter of animal shelters and adopting rather than buying a companion animal, which is a cause close to my heart.

Davis, accepting her Wyler award

Top winners of the night include former Sex & the City star Kristin Davis, who was honored with the prestigious Wyler award (named after Genesis Awards founder, Gretchen Wyler) for bringing media attention to the plight of orphaned baby African elephants who are abandoned after their parents are poached for their ivory tusks. Davis graciously thanked the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for its work on behalf of elephants, including caring for a 250-pound baby elephant Davis and her friend rescued while on safari in South Africa. Other winners include HBO's True Blood for their dog-fighting storyline (dog star Dusty made a special guest appearance on stage), How to Train Your Dragon for feature film (to which supervising animator Gabe Hordos, credited his adopted cat for helping him create such a lovable dragon), and the The Oprah Winfrey Show for a show covering dolphin slaughter. Stephen Colbert gave a tongue-in-cheek virtual acceptance speech for winning the Sid Caesar Comedy Award for a segment on bull-fighting. He quipped, "I want to thank you for this honor and also congratulate you for honoring me."

While most of the animal segments covered upsetting issues like puppy mills, factory farms, horse slaughter, and other forms of inhumane treatment, I was thrilled to see wonderful advocates being honored from local news reporters to top stars like Davis. Presenters included the ever-lovely and vegan Emily Deschanel, Tricia Helfer, Betty White, James Cromwell, and Ed Asner. It was a treat to meet HSUS President Wayne Pacelle, hard-working HSUS directors, and fellow animal advocates.

The delicious main course we wish we were still eating.

Our vegan meal was prepared by vegan celebrity chef Tal Ronnen and our main entrée featured chantrelle-dusted Gardein chicken, broccolini, and chantrelle-stuffed ravioli topped in a beurre blanc sauce. We nearly died. A fantastic after-party featured a silent auction benefitting HSUS, and I was fortunate enough to win my bid on a gorgeous olive green Vaute Couture coat. A veritable vegan spread awaited us with cupcakes, quesadillas, even Tofutti cream cheese-stuffed jalapeño poppers. Elizabeth and I chatted with Brendan Brazier, Carolyn Scott-Hamilton, the gals at Compassion Over Killing, and Gardein's R&D chef, Jason Stefanko.

Animal Planet will air the awards ceremony on April 30 at 7pm EST/PST with an encore on May 1. Pacelle sums up the night the best when he said, "At the end of the day, I'm hopeful because ... there are millions of others who share our passion." I couldn't have said it better myself.

Don't miss our photo gallery from the glitzy evening, and you can see the official photos from HSUS on Flickr.

Kristin Davis photo courtesy of HSUS/Tim Long/Long Photography

Vegan Birthday Beers & Eats Tour

Who: VN Associate Editor Jennifer Chen

What: Brewery tours and vegan eats

Where: Bear Republic Brewery, Healdsburg, Calif.; Pyramid Brewery, Berkeley, Calif.; Sushirrito, San Francisco

When: February 18 & 21, 2011

Why: Celebrating my husband's birthday

The Scoop: I plan elaborate birthdays for my husband, Brendan Hay, because I love surprising him. This year, I picked out several breweries in the area for a beer tour since he loves beer. When I saw a blog post on Vegansaurus about Sushirrito, I knew this was a perfect addition to our eating and drinking tour. Sushi the size of a burrito? No brainer. Using the handy guide on Barnivore, I found local breweries Bear Republic and Pyramid both serve vegan-friendly beer. Why isn't some beer vegan? (Read more on Barnivore.) Our first stop was Bear Republic in the lovely town of Healdsburg. The brewery was packed but we were seated quickly. We ordered a flight of their speciality beers (some of which were the El Oso, Heritage Ale, and the Carburetor). My personal favorite was the Cher Ami, a Belgian-style ale, which was light and fruity. A few days later, we spent President's Day standing in line at Sushirrito, waiting for our monster-sized sushi rolls. I got the Buddha Boy Roll, which was packed with avocado, tofu, eggplant, daikon, shittake mushrooms, crumbled rice chips, and cabbage. It was amazing. And for $8, my belly was Buddha-sized stuffed.

The awesome Buddha Boy Roll

Later, we hopped on BART and headed to Pyramid Brewery. We sampled Pyramid's flight of five beers—Haywire, Apricot Ale, Thunderhead, Live Wire, and Outburst. My favorite was the Apricot Ale because of its refreshing fruit flavor. We noshed on french fries and I ordered a $5 Portobello burger during their happy-hour special.

A nice flight of Pyramid brews

We were too busy playing our Trivial Pursuit card game (it's addictive, never leave home without it) to take advantage of the brewery's free daily tour, but we'll be back next time for the Tuesday trivia nights. It's good that we're chatting with Kris Carr tonight at 6pm PST/9pm PST on our very first Twitter VegNews Chat because after this beer tour weekend, I need some serious green juice!