Cafe Proverbs [15:17], A Review

Before I travel somewhere, I will seek out a vegan/vegetarian restaurant to eat at while I am there. As it happens, one day while I was at Barnes & Noble I picked up a copy of VegNews Magazine and in that copy was information on a variety of places to eat in Kyoto. I was so excited because I was getting ready to leave in a month for Japan on holiday. This was perfect. From the list, I chose Cafe Proverbs [15:17]. You can also view the website in English.It was mentioned in the article in VegNews Magazine that the restaurant is 100% vegan. No, it's not. The taco grilled cheese sandwich that Kelsey ate had dairy cheese on it and the teriyaki tempeh sandwich that we ordered had honey as an ingredient. I'm not so particular about the honey, so we ordered the sandwich anyway and Kelsey is not vegan so she was happy she didn't have to eat soy cheese. I am not complaining, though. The menu was probably 99% vegan and I was a happy little clam to be there. I had a very difficult time trying to decide just what I was going to order. I wanted to order all of it!Tucked away on an upstairs floor, away from the hustle and bustle of Kyoto's busy streets, is Cafe Proverbs [15:17]. It's a great little place. The food was fantastic. The service was terrific. The employees of this little restaurant were just wonderful. The Japanese are a very friendly people, anyway, so this really was no exception. The restaurant is small and tends to draw a younger, trendier crowd, most likely because the younger are more open-minded when it comes to veganism and healthier alternatives. It helps that Kyoto University is around the corner from the restaurant. And it's not that far from the train station.

Of course, I snapped pictures of the food and pictures of the employees. They were happy to oblige the strange American with the camera and happily posed for the pictures. I discovered on my way out the door that they also have a restaurant in Tokyo, called Kick Back Cafe. I didn't have time to eat there on this trip, but it is on our list of places to eat the next time I am in Tokyo. And the next time I am in Kyoto, I will be making a stop at Cafe Proverbs to recharge my battery.

What we dined on at Cafe Proverbs: GyozasThe Monsoon SaladKelsey and David shared a taco grilled cheese sandwichAnd my absolute favorite part of the whole meal, Mushroom Ramen. I would die for another bowl of this. It had a lovely mushroom broth, ramen, dried tofu, greens, sesame seeds, mushrooms, a couple pieces of nori and some other good things. It was soooooo good.I had forgotten to take a picture of the teriyaki tempeh sandwich. It was pretty much demolished by the time I remembered. Mark my words, it was fantastic!

And finally dessert: a creamy fig tart on the left, a caramel apple crumble on the right and chocolate cake in the middleIf you ever find yourself in Kyoto, stop in at Cafe Proverbs and have a steaming hot mug of the roasted milk green tea. You won't be sorry.

Watch this space

I have been away for a bit. After VeganMoFo, I was preparing for a two week trip to Japan, so all blogging was put on hold. I've been back for a few days now and I have a ton of photos to sort through, a cookbook review to do for Mylene and a million other things on my plate. We were photo-takin' fools while we were there - 1100 pictures we took! Plenty of food photos to share, too! Take a look. This is me, buying roasted corn that has been basted with soy sauce, from a vendor in Asakusa:
So, watch this space for lots of great things this month (what's left of this month!), including a review of a vegetarian restaurant I ate at in Kyoto last week. Here is a sign they had on the wall behind the seat I sat in:

VeganMoFo: Celebrating Breakfast, Halloween Style

This morning I made pancakes, the recipe from VWAV, with chocolate chip smileys. They kind of look like jack-o-lanterns. Sweet. But flipping them was a bad idea. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I made them. The chocolate melts when it comes in contact with the hot skillet. Wait. It melts? When it hits the hot pan? What the hell? Doh. Well, they still tasted great anyway and I managed to take a photo before flipping them. Forget the after shot.And since Halloween is getting closer we actually carved jack-o-lanterns. The first ones we have ever done as a family. Kelsey's says HALLOWEEN and the back has a star cut out. So cool because if you look behind the pumpkin you can see it glowing on the wall. Whoah. Mine just looks like a cat. Still cool. I'm going to buy a couple more tomorrow and we're going to carve them, too. Fun!

VeganMoFo: Celebrating Breakfast for Lunch! Mini Pumpkin Pancakes

I had to use my new bento set today so in the spirit of MoFo and my month of breakfast celebration, I felt that pancakes were in order. I roasted a couple of sugar pumpkins yesterday and set aside some of the puree for my favorite pumpkin pancakes and a smoothie.Today's bento contained coconut rice pudding (which I thought was perfect as my mid-morning snack), apples, roasted pumpkin seeds with raisins (I love the sweet and salty combo), mini pumpkin pancakes with maple syrup, and an apple cinnamon muffin with a couple of pretzel rods (afternoon snack).
This was just downright fun to carry into work today!

Mini Pumpkin Pancakes

Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Wet Ingredients
1 cup soymilk
1/2 cup pumpkin
2 tablespoons maple syrup or brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Sift the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl stir together the wet ingredients. Add to the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Spoon just a tablespoon or two for each pancake onto hot skillet. Cook up and eat.

VeganMoFo: Major fun in the kitchen and a Layered Bean Dip

This has been a pretty freakin' fine day. My daughter may be sick and my husband may be jet lagged, but I am in my kitchen performing all kinds of experiments, creating meals and stocking up the freezer. I even have a new bento and carrying bag he brought home for me from Japan. I have to come up with a most awesome meal to eat out of it. A glass of wine helps this creative process. I am having some serious fun. I dream of days like this.

What's going on in this photo? Let's start from the left and work our way to the right.

First, the brand spankin' new and totally awesome bento set made by Zojirushi. It has an insulated canister
for keeping things hot or cold, two containers, chopsticks in a snap-shut case and a handy dandy insulated carrying bag for all of it. Too bad I can't read more than Zojirushi in the instructions.
Next, in the middle, is the experiment. Oatgurt, as seen in the Urban Girl Scout Cooking blog. I am really excited about this but it has me a little concerned. I've never done anything like this. I am hoping it will be a success. I will be writing about the results later this week.
And then pictured above the experiment is a lovely glass of white wine. This is essential. Period.
And finally, two sugar pumpkins and the seeds from two others. I've roasted the two pumpkins and will be roasting the seeds later tonight. The roasted pumpkins will be pureed and frozen for later. Perhaps I will make pumpkin silver dollar pancakes out of some of it and have a breakfast bento for lunch tomorrow using that awesome new set I now possess.And, finally dinner tonight. Sometimes simple is better. None of us feels like eating a "real" dinner tonight so I whipped up a layered bean dip that we will all three attack with some crunchy tortilla chips and completely devour in no time flat. There really is no recipe for it. I generally use what I have on hand. This is what is in my layered dip tonight:

Refried beans (that I made and had in the freezer, of course)
Smashed avocados (two, mashed with lemon juice and salt)
Tofu sour cream mixed with a bit of chili powder (homemade tofu sour cream)
Rotel (pulsed in the blender to crush)
Cilantro (small amount, chopped)
Sliced green onions

Ideally I would have sliced black olives on it, too, because I love them. So does my daughter, which is why I never seem to be able to keep even one can in the pantry. She has an olive radar. As soon as they enter the house she finds them and eats them. All. There are worse things she could eat so I don't complain too loudly.In the summertime fresh tomatoes are ideal for this. If fresh aren't available, use canned diced tomatoes or Rotel, like I used tonight. Salsa is also a beautiful addition to this dip. Use your imagination with this dip. The sky's the limit.

One more photo. Because I have a juvenile sense of humor at times, I have to share this photo of the pumpkins I took earlier today. I giggle every time I look at it.
Happy MoFo-ing!

VeganMoFo: Celebrating Breakfast - Biscuits and Gravy

This is comfort food all the way. I miss the snow whiteness of dairy milk gravy, but my version tastes far superior than the stuff made with dairy. Biscuits and gravy was one of the first things I veganized because I can't live without it. Sometimes I add vegan sausage crumbles to it. YUM! And it just happens to be David's favorite breakfast. He didn't have a decent breakfast while he was gone and I wanted to make sure he had his favorite food to wake up to this morning. The biscuit recipe is one I use from The Joy of Cooking. It is my favorite biscuit recipe, though I have adapted it to be vegan over the years.
Vegan White Gravy

1 1/2 cups soymilk (or rice milk or a combination)
4 tablespoons flour (I use all-purpose or a whole grain)
4 tablespoons Earth Balance
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon onion powder

In a saucepan, melt the Earth Balance and stir in flour. Cook it for about 5 minutes, stirring almost constantly, just so the raw uncooked flour taste disappears. Gradually add milk, whisking to prevent lumping. Add salt, pepper and onion powder. Cook and stir until it thickens and gets bubbly. Serve over biscuits.

Biscuits

2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons Earth Balance, cold and cut into pieces
3/4 cup soymilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the Earth Balance. Leave some bigger chunks in the mix so your biscuits are flaky. Stir in the soymilk. Don't over mix. Stir it just until it comes together and gently shape it into a ball, being careful not form the gluten in the dough. Move dough to a lightly floured surface. Pat out the dough to about 1/2-inch thick and cut into rounds. Place on lightly oiled baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 9-12 biscuits, depending on how thick you cut them.

VeganMoFo: Chipotle Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

I haven't abandoned the breakfast theme. I'm just adding some other stuff since my photos on the other computer are most likely lost. Since my husband is home I wanted to make sure he had some good food (it's not easy finding vegetarian food in Japan) to eat when he got home. So I made this chili and cornbread. I've made this recipe lots of times before and my daughter hated it. Tonight, she volunteered to help make it and liked it. Something weird is going on here. It has to be the cold she has.

This chili was inspired by a post on VegPeople. I have altered it considerably from it's original version so it's my own original version now. I like to serve this with chipotle cornbread. It is simply my own cornbread recipe with a minced chipotle chili in it. Tonight I added the optional 2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder so it's extra spicy. To cut the heat a bit, serve it with a mound of rice or grain combo. Tonight was long grain brown rice and wild rice.

A note: I didn't have enough black beans tonight so I used a mix of black beans and red kidney beans. You can do the same thing, too! Also, I use beans that I cooked from dry. If you use canned beans, drain them and rinse them. Oh, and I use tomato sauce or tomato puree because my daughter is weird about tomato chunks in her food. I certainly think that diced tomatoes are the best, but it's great no matter what type of canned tomato you use.

One more thing. I have recently begun adding kombu to my dishes that have beans in them. The kombu adds a nutritional punch as well as the added benefit of making the beans more easily digestible. No bean music in this house!

Here is my recipe.

Chipotle Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili

6-7 cups cooked black beans
1 honkin' huge sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes (uncooked!)
1 can of beer
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder (optional)
1 thumb-sized piece of kombu
1 15-oz can tomato puree (or sauce or diced tomatoes - fire roasted diced toms are awesome)

Soak the kombu in hot water to cover for 10 minutes. Drain it and mince and set aside.

Saute onions in pot until soft. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the kombu and the remaining ingredients. Add just enough water to cover and simmer for 2-3 hours. Serve with a smattering of rice and a slab of cornbread.