Je Suis Triste A L’Opera

I should probably mention that I have no kitchen again   Sorry to all the Daring Bakers hoping to see a beautiful vegan opera cake.  Please check out these blogs:

Vegan Visitor

Que Jimenez

Madcape Cupcake

Karmic Living

How to Feed a Vegan

Healthy Vegan Kitchen

Bittersweet

Insane props and applause all around for taking on such an intense challenge!!!

Jill’s is Kinda Jacked

It’s a post!  With photos!  Be still my beeting heart!

(Went there.)

I am currently apartment hunting in New York, and last week I decided Brooklyn deserved a little attention.  Specifically, I wanted to check out the Cobble Hill area.  I had the pleasure of visiting some friends of friends who live in an incredible old brownstone there and they pretty much sold me on the neighborhood as soon as they opened the door.  It’s slightly less pricey than my favorite hood, the West Villy, and it’s disarmingly quieter.  After getting used to the sound of the city, it took me a while to adjust to the calm on the other side of the river.  ANYWAY, this blog is about food.

I decided to check out Jill’s after yelping several options.  At first glance, the place reminded me of M Cafe de Chaya in Los Angeles – aka Mecca.  It was clean, bright, modern – all the nice stuff that suckers like me are into.  I walked up to the counter and was floored by the beautiful display of salads and desserts in their glass case.  I decided to order a two side dish of beets and cucumber spaghetti and a slice of the ridiculously good looking (raw!!) chocolate cake.  The first problem arose when I ordered – the woman behind the counter was RUDE.  I get the stereotype of New Yorkers – I get it and I appreciate it.  I like it when people are upfront and honest, but seriously.  If you’re going to be in the service industry (especially in a rather unique specialty restaurant), maybe you should get rid of the perma-tude.  Speaking of attitude, let me complain some more.  I ordered what seemed to me like a pretty small amount of food and when the total came out to $30, I thought about saying ‘forget it’ and leaving.  Since I’m a pushover and severely passive aggressive (blogrevenge), I payed and perched myself on one the uncomfortably small stools the restaurant offers.

All that said, the beets were okay and the cucumber spaghetti was …. ok.  The portions were about the size of my fist – which is very small.  I still didn’t finish any of it.  But the raw chocolate cake.  Oh.

Oh.

Albeit, not worth ten dollars but Oh.

The different colored layers had different textures – the light was more like a mousse and the dark was more brownie like.  The cacao nibs on top added a nice crunch and bitterness aaaaggghsogood.  I walked through the pouring rain, eating it with my hands, and probably looking like a complete whackadoo cracked out on raw chocolate goodness.  I don’t know what the exact ingredients were – something about figs and dates and nuts blah blah blah the cake took over my listening skills when the counter lady read off the ingredient list in a voice that said, “I hate my life.”  I think she has never tasted this cake.

Overall, I understand that raw food will always be a little bit pricier because of the ingredients and freshness but if you’re going to rob me blind, at least smile about it.

The City Stole My Blog

Sorry to all for the abrupt halt in my blogging – this job and this city take up a lot more time than I expected! I haven’t had my camera on me to take pictures of meals at restaurants out of vanity’s sake. I feel like lugging around my huge camera will be quickly followed by large maps, shorts with socks and sneakers, and a nice hot pink fanny pack. I have, however, been making my rounds on the vegan spectrum of New York City. I’ve been to Sacred Chow, Gobo, and Caravan of Dreams. Also, the Whole Foods near me has a (really really exciting) shelf of vegan desserts that change every day. Please behold my favorite breakfast since I’ve been in the city – Sweet & Sara Peanut Butter Smore.

Nothing like some real power fuel for a run through Central Park.  It was wonderful!!  As a kid, I was really gross and would make s’mores in the microwave.  That’s right.  So I clearly have some kind of addiction to the chocolate, marshmallow, graham cracker combination.  Add peanut butter into the mix and you have me, face down on the floor, in a foodjoy coma.  Sweet & Sara slammed me down on first bite.  The chocolate coating was thick and had a great bite to it.  The graham cracker was pretty crumbly, but the gooey marshmallow held on to all the crumbs.  If anything, I would ask for more (moremoremore!) peanut butter, but the thin layer inside added a decadence to the whole shebang.  Sure, it was a pricey endeavor (almost 5 dolla bills y’all), but it was worth every swoon bite.