Heidelberg, Deutschland

Ok, finally! I'm going to tell you all about the first stop on our European Union tour. Heidi and I boarded the Eurostar train on 16 August and headed to Heidelberg. We stayed in Heidelberg, not only because of how old and beautiful it is, but its close location to Frankfurt; the European Central Bank is located in Frankfurt. Besides visiting the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, we had the usual city tour and a visit to a castle. Our first night with our group there we had a group dinner at the Brauhaus Vetter, which was a traditional German Gasthaus. I was a little worried since we were having a group dinner at a traditional German restaurant. German food isn't the most famous for veganism, so you can understand my concern. I was pleasantly surprised though at the meal that our tour guide, Nicola, was able to get for me. Here's the first photo of it:

It was pasta with vegetables and spices. It was tasty and there was loads of yummy noodles. It was also slightly spicy, which I always enjoy. I was so glad that they were able to accommodate my veganism at this restaurant. I just love a big plate of pasta every once in a while.

Since they didn't have any vegan desserts available for me (sad, I know) they brought me this lovely coffee with a vegan biscuit on the side. It was a nice end to the meal and since I was so full already this was probably best. Anyways, not much explanation here - only coffee and a biscuit!

Here's a shot of Heidi and I before dinner when we were supposed to be 'walking around' and exploring Heidelberg. We didn't feel like it. Ok, now before you get all 'you should experience it while you're there' on us, we were just being smart. We knew we were going on a guided tour in a couple days anyhow. We sat and watched children jump in a fountain and almost trip and fall! Bahahaha!!!

The next day we visited Frankfurt to see the European Central Bank and learn about the Euro, interest rates, and the like. It was mostly interesting and we also went on a walking tour. It was rather cold that day and we ended up going up to the top of this tower thing to get a good view of the city. It was nice, but extremely windy. Here's a view that I got off of the tour. With Frankfurt being such a financial centre and not quite a tourist area it is mostly skyscrapers and empty apartment buildings. Oh well, it is what it is.

In Frankfurt, we visited the department store, Galeria Kaufhof. They are all over Germany and usually have foodhalls in the basements. I got this Joya brand soya yoghurt there. It had a really nice texture - very creamy and smooth with just the right amount of fruity bits. I really liked it and wished that I could buy it in the States!

I also got this Joya brand soya drink, chocolate flavour. This was tasty as well with a nice smooth texture and nice chocolate flavour. It wasn't anything special, but nice for the train ride back to Heidelberg!

I also saw this in Frankfurt. It's a rickshaw cab thing, but the advertisement on the top reminded me of that one Doors song. Can anyone guess which one I mean? It's incredibly obvious if you've ever heard any of the music by the Doors!

Here's a shot of me at the top of Heidelberg Castle, overlooking the 'Altstadt,' or 'old city.' We climbed to the top of the castle to look at this great view, and there it is!

Heidi and I had lunch at this little Asian restaurant in Heidelberg, and it was an interesting experience. They had extremely beautiful flatware (see it on the left?), but the food was only okay. This is my starter of fried tofu with a spicy sauce. It was good, but not great.

I got a miso soup with my main, and it was also alright. It was the end of my meal though. My main, that did not say that it had meat in it in the English translation, ended up having chicken in it! I can read most German, so I should have read that menu to double check, but I didn't. After that sad lunch I was not in a very good mood...

On our way out of Heidelberg we stopped at a European tourist attraction, called the 'Mummelsee,' which is somehow associated with this ghost thing. The photo on the left is of some guy dressed as this ghost and charging for photos with him. Great, huh?

Fortunately the Mummelsee is also right in the 'Schwarzwald' or Black Forest. We were able to take photos there as well during our twenty minute stop. I would take this photo over one with the creepy Mummelsee ghost any day!

We also stopped in Baden Baden that day. Apparently Bill Clinton said that it, "was so nice they had to name it twice." It was very beautiful and one of the main attractions is the traditional Roman-style baths. Heidi and I didn't go in the baths, but went to a lovely park and found this beautiful river-type water thing. It was nice and relaxing.

We also stopped at a fancy cafe for some Earl Grey tea. It was sort of expensive, but it came in a huge pot that gave me at least four cups of tea. It was also really, really good tea. Plus we were in a great location to watch people. What fun!

Here's a shot of the tea after I poured it, just so you could see the lovely colour!










So, that was Heidelberg and the places we visited while there and on the way out. Be on the lookout for my next blog post, hopefully tomorrow or the day after!

The last of London...si tragique!

Ok, I'm back...finally!!! I know that you've all missed me and wondered where I've been, right? Well, maybe not, but I'm here nonetheless. I'm back in the States now, but there are many photos of food and other fun things from London and the rest of Europe to post. So, instead of having one giant post, I will have several to separate it all. I'll start with my last few days in London, so it will probably be a bit sentimental. Heidi and I were left there for a few days on our own after most of our group went home to the States. We were due to start a tour of the EU in a couple days in Germany so we were just relaxing and enjoying our last few days in London.

So, here's a photo of the street that I lived on in London. It's pretty posh, right? There were always nice cars, pretty people, and maids wandering about. I absolutely adored living here!

The street was called York Terrace East. The letters 'C.E.P.C.' stand for 'Crown Estate Paving Commission.' The N.W.1. is part of the postal code for our street. The entire post code is NW1 4PT. The 4PT part is specifically for our street and the NW1 stands for northwest London.

So, this is our room and my bed specifically. I'm sort of a mess if you can't tell. I'm hopeless at organisation in the personal sense. When it comes to work or something I'm fine, but if it's just for me I just can't be bothered. Also, in my defense I was packing to leave London at this point.

Here's a shot of the small corridor that was outside of our room. We lived in the basement and we had a window-door that led to this. Not too glamorous, but still cool. Sometimes we would see obnoxious school children running by in the morning, which could be somewhat shocking if one was standing in front of the window-door in their pants!

I finally took a photo of one of the typical meals that I would eat at the ISH restaurant, the cafeteria at the International Students House. A jacket potato with baked beans (which are nothing like American-style baked beans) and a green side salad. The salad doesn't come with dressing, which is rather annoying and the potato is usually dry and old, but other than that it is delish! At least the beans are always good and the cafeteria staff are super nice. If you're ever in London, definitely stay at ISH!

So, these next two photos are the last of the Ms. Cupcake action until I get back to London (hopefully in the spring!). The first one to the right here is 'chocolate mint.' It was great - ultra minty with a piece of mint candy on top. The bottom one is 'betterscotch fudge,' which was absolutely divine! It had a rich and creamy flavour along with a piece of gooey fudge on top! YUM!

I ate this one for breakfast the day I left London...bittersweet!

These two pictures are of a vegan jerky that I bought at Vx before I left London. They are called 'Chunkies' and this is the teriyaki flavour. They were very tasty and a good snack to eat on the train from Brussels to Frankfurt. They look kind of dry in the photo, but trust they were yummy!
So, that's all from London. The posts that follow will be of my educational tour of the European Union. I will have a post to cover Heidelberg, Strasbourg, Trier, and Brussels. I can't wait for you to read all about it!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows in Our Tiny Kitchen!

So, this week has been busy, fun, yet sentimental. It's my last week in London as Heidi and I are going to Heidelberg on the EuroStar on Monday so I'm trying to fit it all in. I woke up quite congested today, so I have been taking it easy with sleeping all day (tired from being ill as well as from our other flat mates being awake all last night with their last minute packing) and packing. Heidi and I went to Wahaca for lunch today - delicious, but no photo because I've posted about them before. So, let us begin with what I've been eating, etc.

So, for class on Monday we went to Richmond and then walked to Twickenham from there. It is a fair tube ride outside of central London, but very beautiful. Here are some flowers that I saw in a garden there.

I just thought that this sign was amusing - no dog poo on the pavement or you are inconsiderate, bad-mannered, and unhygienic!

I can't remember what this is called, but apparently it is a type of gate that badly-behaved men would trap women in until they got a kiss from them. It's a bit hard to tell from the picture, but there is a gate that swings near the opening and you go in with the gate pushed one way, move along the edge, and then swing the gate the other way to get out. Quite easy to get trapped, no?

So, finally a photo of Maoz Falafel! Heidi and I went there on Monday night for dinner and I got a regular Maoz Hummus. It has a pitta pocket with five balls of falafel and then hummus on top. Then you can put as many toppings on as you like. They are all vegan besides the cole-slaw, so pile it on! You can see carrots, coriander sauce, roasted cauliflower, and a big blog of tahini. What you can't see is shredded carrots, tomato-herb salad, gherkins, cous cous, and shredded cabbage. This is definitely one of my favourite places to eat in London. Plus we got to sit by the window and watch the activities on Old Compton St. in Soho!

On Tuesday, Heidi came and visited me for lunch and of course we went to the Rootmaster off of Brick Lane. We both got the Rootmaster Panini, which was made with sourdough bread, home-made vegan mayonnaise, sprouts, shredded beetroot, marinated tofu, sun-dried tomato paste, and rocket. It was absolutely delicious! The bread was soft and the tofu and sun-dried tomato paste really complimented each other. It was just the right amount of food to be followed with dessert!

So, here was my dessert. I opted for the biscotti, which came with fruit, vanilla creme, and ice cream. It was really good, but admittedly a bit strange. The big bowl was the vanilla creme and then on the side is the oranges, stacked with the 'biscotti' and a scoop of ice cream on top. I honestly thought that there would be less creme and more ice cream and that the biscotti would look more traditional. The biscotti were shaped like hearts and looked more like biscuits. They were delicious though and I ate it without complaints!

Wednesday night, Heidi and I went to Giraffe for dinner. We were looking for something close by with some good food options so we went there. It was pretty good - I got a falafel burger without cheese. It came with harissa, which was extremely spicy, but good to spread on the burger bun and some yummy chips. I really can't think of many things that are better than a bowl of chips covered in malt vinegar, salt, and pepper with ketchup and HP sauce on the side. The drink is a 'Wannabellini,' which is peach-based with some sort of alcohol. It was tasty and half-priced so it was definitely worth it!

On Thursday (my last day of work with FoodCycle :(), I went to lunch at Pilpel with Kelvin, Taryn, and Katie (I hope you all enjoy being mentioned on my blog!). It was absolutely delicious and really cheap. I got all of the food here: hummus, six falafel, numerous yummy salads, and a wholemeal pitta for £5!!! It was so, so good that Heidi and I will probably go there Monday before we head off to Heidelberg!

This was Taryn's falafel bowl from Pilpel. I just thought it was interesting that it looked so different from mine since it was prepared by a different person. The food was so, so good that I'm sad that I waited so long to go there for lunch - I would definitely recommend it and don't be put off by the queue - they move fast!

Here's a picture of me at work!!! It was my last day so I got a t-shirt, cute FoodCycle cup, and a fun coffee-maker (not pictured). This isn't my desk (Kelvin: I hope you don't mind that I borrowed yours!), but you get the idea.

And now to get to the title of this post. I made some cookies for my friends at FoodCycle Wednesday night for my last day on Thursday. I decided on Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows since I have probably made them about 10 times and everyone seems to love them. Here are the ingredients that I used to put them together - all shoved together on our little counter-top.

Here's a photo of our tiny, little oven along with the baking sheets and the one mixing bowl that I had. These cookies were definitely made with some quick improvisations and creativity!

So, these cookies are made in two parts - the chocolate exterior and peanut butter interior. Since I have only one mixing bowl I had to make each part and then empty it out onto a plate. Here is the chocolate outside - looks delish, right?

Here's the peanut butter inside - all mixed up and ready to be rolled into little balls. It is very tasty on its own as well (how I know this should be obvious if you know me at all!)

So, here are the little peanut butter balls and the chocolate coating waiting to get put together. The peanut butter portion is made into a ball first and then you flatten the chocolate part in your hand and wrap it around the peanut butter ball. Then you have to roll them until it is all sealed in. It sounds more difficult than it actually is and I finished all two dozen of them in less than an hour from start to finish.

Here are six of them waiting to go in the oven. They're so shiny when they're raw!

Here they are straight out of the oven. They flatten a bit, but still have the bump where the peanut butter is. These cookies are like miniature gifts to everyone who eats them (cheesy I know, but true!). I didn't have a spatula, so I used my chef's knife to get them off of the baking sheets and onto a plate to cool.

Here's a close-up of the deliciousness! This is literally making me drool right now!!!

This is the mini one that I made for myself so that I could eat a bit of it raw. The good thing about vegan cookie dough is that it won't make you ill if you eat it raw. Sometimes my sister and I even just make a batch of it to eat raw. Just another reason to make vegan cookies!!! I really can't decide whether I prefer them raw or baked. I'll just continue to eat both.






That's all for now, I hope you enjoy the pictures and my journey to make some delicious cookies for my last day at FoodCycle!

Trying to Soak Up the Last Bit of London!

So, these past few weeks have been filled with lots of yummy vegan food. I have been staying in London, just trying to soak up the last moments of everyday life here that I can. So, we'll start with a photo of the area where I live.

It's a bit difficult to explain the photo completely, but the Great Portland St. tube station is the round-ish building in the middle and the road in the front is Marylebone Rd.

And now to the food!

I went to Mildred's in Soho last Saturday and this was the soup of the day. It was absolutely wonderful, but I couldn't tell you the flavour. It was a coconut, butternut squash, courgette, something, something, something flavour. It was really good anyways!

This was my main at Mildred's. It was a mushroom-ale pie with potato wedges and mushy peas. I know mushy peas sound strange, but they are absolutely wonderful! They have mint in them and are mostly creamy, but also have some whole peas. The pie was full of rich gravy with a light crust - so fantastic!

i had no room for dessert, but this was Heidi's - a berry crumble with soya cream. She said that it was great! It looks beautiful, right?

This was Margaret's dessert - a pear sorbet. I tried a spoonful of it and it was so smooth and refreshing. It wasn't too sweet, but just enough!

This isn't anything too exciting, Heidi and I visited Caffe Nero (a chain coffee shop in the UK) and got drinks. I just thought that the cups were extremely cute!!!

More soup! This was the soup of the day last Sunday at the Rootmaster Bus near Brick Lane. I'm not sure of the flavour, but I think it was coconut based. The bread was delightful and there was a lovely little bit of olive oil on top with some sprouts to stir in. The soup was incredibly creamy and great to scoop with bread!

Sorry about the shadow on this one - it was nearly impossible not to have! This is from Safadi Express on High Holborn. Heidi and I have gone here twice on Mondays during our British Life & Culture Course and we love it. This is a photo of a falafel wrap and chips. It's pretty cheap and super delicious.

On Tuesday last week, Heidi visited me for lunch while I was at work and we of course went to the Rootmaster Bus. I got a teriyaki stir-fry with tofu and cashews. It was so good - with great vegetables and chewy brown rice. I would definitely get it again - I was happy the entire rest of the day at work!

On Thursday, Lindsey, Heidi, and I went to Manna near Primrose Hill in North-ish London. These are the nachos we had for a starter. They had cashew cheese, black beans, guacamole, and tomato salsa. Absolutely delicious!

For my main at Manna I got organic Bangers & Mash. It had a mash of not only other potatoes but as well as other vegetables, bangers made of pumpkin seeds and other things, and onion rings all smothered in gravy. I'm telling you, this was absolutely amazing. The mash was creamy, the bangers had good texture, and the onion rings were indescribable!

This was Lindsey's main. A burrito with a veg/fruit salsa on the side with rice. She said that it was great, but that's all I really know about it. She liked it so much her hands are in the photo!

This was Lindsey's dessert - a fruit crumble with vegan ice cream on the side. She said that it was great and it looked great!

Finally, here is my dessert! A banoffee trifle!!! It had layers of chocolate cake, bananas,toffee-y sauce, and berries and almonds on top. This thing was to die for!!! I am so, so glad that I ordered it, but by the end of that meal it was nearly like I had to be rolled out of the door. I would definitely recommend Manna to anyone visiting London!

On Friday, Heidi and I went to Hummus Bros. I got hummus with sauteed mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. I got a small, which comes with one pita - it was definitely plenty along with the tabouleh salad that I got. I really enjoyed the atmosphere here as well as the food. We even got to sit by the window and people watch in Soho!!!

On Saturday, Becca and I had dinner at the InSpiral Lounge in Camden. I got spanakopita. It had tofu and spinach in it with a flaky pastry on the outside. For sides I got chips/wedges, steamed broccoli/greens, and sauteed onions and fennel. I also got some hummus on the side. They even had nutritional yeast to sprinkle on top. You can also see my organic pear cider in the background. It was quite crowded inside, but other than that it was quite lovely.

For dessert, I got a scoop of maple vegan ice cream. It was extremely creamy and delicious! Even thought the photo's not great trust that it was amazing!

Today, Heidi, Lindsey, Becca, and I went to the Tea Rooms off of Brick Lane to see Ms. Cupcake. This is a photo of my cupcake - peanut butter chocolate flavour! It was so amazing!!!

This is Lindsey's cupcake - raspberry flavour. It looks fab, right?










Well, that's all for now folks! I'm sure that more will be to follow soon enough. I definitely have more food to eat before I get on that train to Heidelberg!