Cupcakes for Choice

Who: VN Editorial Assistant Alexandra Chang

What: Baking, buying, and eating vegan baked goods to support Planned Parenthood!

When: Outside Mission Bicycle in San Francisco

Where: March 6, 2011

Why: Nothing's better than tasty treats for a great cause!

The Scoop: I love eating baked goods, and have yet to encounter anything too sweet for my sweet tooth. But what I love more is baking for a cause that’s other than filling my stomach. Cupcakes for Choice, organized by Laura Hooper Beck of vegansaurus.com and Robin Doolin, and supported by dozens of volunteer workers and bakers (myself included), all started because Congress voted to cut Planned Parenthood off from federal funding. Thank goodness for government checks and balances; at least now we can hope that the Senate doesn’t let this pass! In the meantime, as the Cupcakes for Choice event site notes, “we’re taking our anger and turning it into something good.” Since I know several women who don’t have health insurance and rely on organizations like Planned Parenthood for reliable healthcare, I decided to join in and spend my Sunday morning baking two-dozen cupcakes.

My beautiful (OK, I love them too much) vegan vanilla coconut cupcakes!

Sure, my kitchen got ridiculously messy and I woke up four hours earlier than I normally would, but it was completely worth it. As the boyfriend and I arrived outside Mission Bicycle on Valencia, we were greeted by rain and a smiling Laura Beck. It wasn’t exactly the weather we’d all been hoping for, but the table of baked goods was growing and looking better with every donation. A crew of UC Berkeley journalism students were also there with their cameras, ready to film the event’s every action and interview people on Planned Parenthood work and Congress’ decision. I overheard one girl saying that the House of Representatives was “turning back time and making archaic decisions.” I wholeheartedly agreed as I packed a box full of whoopie pies, doughnuts, cupcakes, and cookies—which all happened to be vegan—and handed my money over.

People buying vegan baked goods to support Planned Parenthood.

Even with the rain, people were drawn in. By the end of the four-hour bakesale, my beautiful cupcakes were gone, and Cupcakes for Choice raised a total of $1,500 for Planned Parenthood! Here’s to more events that help raise money for those who need it most!

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

Cookies for a Cause

Who: VN Associate Editor Abigail Young

What: The Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale
Where: The Streets of San Francisco, Calif.
When: June 27–28, 2009
Why: Because sometimes it's OK to take candy—or cupcakes—from strangers

The Scoop: The buzz over the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale has been growing for months now: a massive, multi-country bake sale spanning one full week, raising awareness and funds for animal causes everywhere. This past weekend, all of the planning, measuring, mixing, and oven-wrangling paid off.

The SF bake sale team, featuring VegWeb moderator Laura Beck and Melisser from The Urban Housewife, first set up shop outside Ike’s Place. They served up the entire spectrum of baked goods, from traditional apple pie to savory cardamom-spiced rolls to rich, frosted cupcakes. Let’s count the pros of frequenting the sale on Saturday: I snagged some awesome vegan baked goods, scored the best vegan meatball sub ever, and enjoyed everything on-the-spot thanks to Ike's ridiculously sunny sidewalk seating. The single con? Maybe I got a teensy bit sunburned, but that's only because it was such a gorgeous day. (Note: wear your sunscreen!) It wasn’t quite 4pm, the end of the day’s sale, and the goods were all gone. Success.

Day two transported the table to the Mission District where scones, cookies, and doughnuts were flying off the plates almost faster than they could be replenished. The show-stealer had to be the Pride doughnuts crafted by Jordan, which were literally snatched up by passers-by as soon as they hit the table.

Jordan's proud doughnuts

I helped myself to a cinnamon-sugar doughnut made by Joel, one of the volunteers, and a couple agave-sweetened bite-sized carob cookies. Yes, it was necessary to treat myself both days. It’s for a good cause, after all.

Joel and Melisser show off their goods

And speaking of causes, both sales raised $3000 combined for Animal Place and East Bay Animal Advocates. How fantastic is that?

Who could say no to that face?

According to WWVB, the low estimate for total funds raised worldwide is $25,000. Congratulations to all of the volunteers, bakers, donors, and customers who helped make the bake sale a huge hit!

Magical Madeleine Bistro

Who: VN Senior Editor Elizabeth Castoria + Editorial Assistant Lisa Mickleborough
What: Pre-flight dinner
Where: Madeleine Bistro, Tarzana, Calif.
When: May 10, 2008
Why: How could we be in LA and not go?

The Scoop: As you've already read, Lisa and I enjoyed quite the event at WorldFest. After a day full of talking with people, checking out other exhibitors, and, of course, playing with puppies, we were famished. Was it fate that WorldFest was held in Encino—mere minutes away from Madeleine Bistro? Whether our dinner there was pre-destined or not, we knew there was nowhere else we'd rather go.

Since we had to keep an eye on the clock—missing our late-night flight back to SF was not an option—we decided we'd order just one entrée each and forgo all the incredibly tempting appetizers, first courses, and desserts. When we walked in and met Molly Anderson—who owns the restaurant with her husband and executive chef, David (whom you may remember from a little something called the 2007 Veggie Awards)—our plans took a turn for the delicious. Molly graciously did a bit of extra ordering for us. The first thing to arrive at the table? Doughnuts!

With such an auspicious beginning, it was hard to imagine what would come next. To our utter delight, plates arrived bearing the creamiest mac 'n' cheese either of us had ever tasted. Next? Very yummy mushroom potstickers, and Madeleine Bistro's signature appetizer, the beet tartare, which comes served on a disc of homemade vegan cheese (see above!). Are you sitting down, already? Because there's more: While we were still revelling in the appetizers, Molly came to the table with a burger and said, "You have to try the Bigger Maque." It was, literally, a vegan Big Mac. We died. Then, the entrées arrived. We died again, but rallied enough to thoroughly enjoy chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and rich, delicious gravy, and tofu scallops atop a bed of green beans and shiitake mushrooms. So that was it, right? Well, no, actually. But what kind of dessert could follow a meal like that? Oh, I think the chocolate soufflé that came next did a fine job. No joke: vegan chocolate soufflé. It was like eating a little cloud of heavenly chocolate cake batter. See its majesty below, in a photo that in no way does it justice. And, as though we hadn't been spoiled enough, there was also cannoli. You read that right. Cannoli.

It was absolutely worth it to run from the security checkpoint all the way to the farthest possible gate at LAX to have the opportunity to spend time with Molly and enjoy what was, without exaggeration, the best meal either of us had ever ever eaten.