Vermont

Dining Locally: New Moon

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At least once a week you can find me at New Moon Cafe blogging, working on school or enjoying a cup of coffee with the Hubz or friends. There are many coffee shops in Downtown Burlington but New Moon is by far the best for getting something healthy to eat, finding a table to work on and has the best free Wi-Fi.

New Moon Cafe

The menu at New Moon includes sandwiches, salads, breakfast items, soups, quiche and baked goods. I really love their roasted veggie paninis but lately my favorite has been the create your own salad. My favorite combination is greens, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, carrots, chickpeas, cucumber and lemon dressing. There are three sizes of salad; the small is massive and they don’t skimp on the artichokes which are my favorite.

Yummy Salad Beast

When it comes to beverages they have the best cold pressed iced coffee, wonderfully sweet and spicy chai lattes and their drip coffee is really delicious as well.

Delicious Coffee

My only complaint about New Moon is that it isn’t open on Saturdays.

A Night of Indulgence

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Over the last nine months I have finally found a method of eating that works for me. It is all about the  90/10 Rule (sometimes 80/20); what this means is that 90% of the time I try to eat really well and then 10% of the time I will indulge GUILT FREE.  I think for too many years I have been overly concerned with that I am eating and making myself feel bad for indulging even just a little.  Now that I have stopped being so hard on myself I find that it is so much easier to follow a 90/10 or 85/15 or some weeks 80/20 diet.  I know that I have control over what I eat and that if I can do really well 90% of the time than for me that is great.  I don’t need to be eating really well 100% of the time to feel healthy and happy.

Last night I let myself have that 10% GUILT FREE. After work Neil and I had 2.5 hours before our dinner plans so we decided to take advantage of the time and headed first to The Farmhouse for a beer, snack and round or three of darts. This is where our night of indulgence starts; we both enjoyed a nice beer but since I hadn’t had lunch we decided to get an order of their fries (they are to die for).

After beer, fries and darts we took a little walk around downtown Burlington before meeting Laura for dinner at A Single Pebble this really delicious family style Chinese Restaurant.  We had a gift certificate and were excited to use it since that meant we could order all the yummy dishes we wanted without worrying about spending too much (this place is a little pricy). So for dinner we had (please note all dishes were requested vegan- there are some dishes that appear to be vegan on their menu however are not so ask your server before ordering):

Double Garlic Broccoli

Mock Eel- Fun Fact: This was Alton Brown's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate with Chopsticks" (Foodnetwork)

Tan Tan Noodles

Mock Prawns

Dry Fried Greens Beans (my favorite dish)

We ordered way too much food and ended up leaving with a bunch for leftovers. We really enjoyed everything but the favorite dishes of the night were the Dry Fried Green Beans, Double Garlic Broccoli and Tan Tan Noodles.  The one thing that we really were not impressed with however was the service.  We had arguably the worst table in the house and then our service was awful; our sever only came over to our table 4 times in the 1.5 hours that we were there. We also ended up sitting for nearly 30 minutes being completely done eating before anyone stopped by the talk to us, fill our water glasses or ask if we needed anything else.  Normally we have a really good dining experience and come here frequently for special nights out but tonight was just an off night.

Do you indulge guilt free once in awhile? What are your favorite indulgences?

Dining Locally & Holiday Traditions

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The Hubz and I spent Saturday morning doing a little last minute Christmas shopping and stopped in at Healthy Living to pick up a few groceries and for lunch. Healthy Living is one of my favorite places to eat because they have a great salad bar, hot bar and really great vegan sandwiches.  We decided to get sandwiches for lunch I went with roasted tempeh, with all the veggies (too many to list), vegan mayo, roasted garlic jam all on a panini.  The hubz went with the roasted tempeh, some veggies, garlic mayo also on a panini.

After lunch we did a little more holiday shopping at the mall.

Every year the Hubz and I head out to the mall and pick a child from the gift tree and head out to do a little shopping to pick up things on their card.  This year we decided to pick 2 children a 1 year old boy who was in need of clothes and trucks or learning toys and a 10 month old girl who was in need of clothes.  We picked up a few cute things for them.

Do you have a holiday tradition?

After Christmas shopping we went to visit some of the Humane Society Kittens which I just wanted to take home with me. I hope someone adopts these furry friends soon.

Dining Locally: The Farmhouse Tap & Grill

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The Farmhouse Tap and Grill opened just the past spring and has been packed every night since.  It quickly has become one of the most popular restaurants in Burlington.  This gastropub is all about featuring and supporting local farms and it has a tap room as well.  In the summers you can sit and have a brew in the outdoor beer garden while you wait for table.  Although the menu is heavy on the meat and dairy side the vegan options do not disappoint. Shortly after the restaurant opened I emailed inquiring about the vegan options and this is what I was told are vegan:

  • Heirloom tomato salad (sans feta cheese)
  • House soy burger (sans cheese and bun) we suggest over some wilted kale in place of bun
  • French fries!
  • Nitty Gritty Corn Cakes (sans buttermilk vinaigrette)
  • Kale & arugula salad (sans blue cheese, with lemon vinaigrette instead of the buttermilk vinaigrette
  • Marinated olives, spiced pecans from the snacks menu
  • Roasted Beets (sans goat cheese)
  • Phil’s Vegan Delight – not on the menu, but we make it often.  Some braised greens, mushrooms, and veggies over grilled Red Hen Bakery bread

We have enjoyed the french fries which are crispy and delicious, the corn cakes with the lemon vinaigrette which is just to die for, the marinated olives- plump juicy and so good and of course the vegan delight.  The thing I love about the vegan delight is that the basis is the same every time greens, mushrooms and veggies over bread however the combination is different each time I order it because it is based around what veggies they have that day.  It is always amazing and the Hubz and I have been known to frequent here more often then any other restaurant around.

The beer selection is really outstanding which is why we keep going back for more.  There is also a small wine menu that features some nice wines, however if you are looking for liquor you won’t find it here.  The atmosphere is loud with low lights and is always packed and full of energy.  Unfortunately due to the lighting inside I didn’t get great photos but I do have some from the beer garden.  I have to say that if you are a beer and food lover this is the place to visit in Burlington.

Birthday Dinner #1

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As I see it a good start the morning can usually result in a good start to the day and what better way to start the day than with toast and tofu scramble?

We have to improvise a bit lately since we no longer have a toaster but it can be fun using our $2 camping toaster for fun.  We had left over cheezy tofu scramble with lots of broccoli which was delicious before our crazy days started.

After a getting a cracked tooth filled and crazy day at work and prepping for another crazy day tomorrow I met up with my mom for a drink and a snack.

After we finished our drinks we met up with this guy:

C.V.L. Dad! (cook.vegan.lover. dad)

Then we did a little shopping and headed to A Single Pebble for dinner.

Double Garlic Broccoli

Dry Fried Green Beans

Vegetarian Pot Sticker

Vegan Ants Climbing a Tree

Buddha's Sesame Beef

Also if you heckle the food blogger for photographing the food  you suffer the consequences. Welcome to the blog post hall of shame:

Meet C.V.L. Mom who on the evening of August 25, 2010 who knowing the consequences decided to heckle the food blogger regarding her photographing the meal. Welcome to the hall of shame. XO MAMA just j/k all in good fun.

Meet the Hubz who decided to join in the heckling fun. love you lots but welcome to the hall of shame.

Disclaimer: the blog post hall of shame is all in good fun don’t worry.

Dining Out VT: Daily Planet

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The other night the Hubz and I decided that we wanted to have a date night out on the town with drinks and a fun meal at a restaurant neither of us had been to, Daily Planet. We have walked past here a number of times and have always wanted to stop in so we decided to branch out and try something new. We inquired first to find out if there were going to be any vegan options for us and they had a few so we decided to try.

Maura’s Salad  $9 with baby greens, roasted garlic, red grapes, toasted pecans, balsamic and grilled tofu

Summer Vegetable Crepe  $16 with grilled tofu, baby arugula and balsamic

Dirty Martini

Overall the Hubz and I weren’t too impressed with things although the Hubz just kept telling me how much he loved the pancake. That’s right pancake! The “crepe” was this big fluffy pancake and it really changed the dish completely. The best part of the “crepe” dish was the massive amount of chanterelles that were on top of it the “crepe”; however it was otherwise expensive for what it was. As for the salad it was pretty blah. I really didn’t enjoy that the greens had become super wilted and it was small for the $10 it cost me. Neil had a beer which was great and I had a dirty martini which was pretty awful. We haven’t totally written the place off because we did enjoy the atmosphere but it is a one more chance type of place.

  • Value: 1/5
  • Food: 2/5
  • Atmosphere: 3.5/5
  • Vegan Friendly: 2/5