Many of you are at/heading to the Healthy Living Summit (wish I could have gone)in Philly this weekend and are probably curious on what to do.
Neil, myself and our friend Laura are on our way to Philly next weekend to meet up with Laura’s boyfriend Aaron and enjoy a new (to us) city. Since my extent of “visiting” Philly is many layovers at the airport I decided to ask a Philly resident Allison from The Sunday Flog what her top recommendations of things to do and eat are. This is what she suggested:
things to do:
art museum (if you’re into museums!)
liberty bell/walk through independence mall (5th/6th and arch) – the only one that requires admission is the national constitution center
run on kelly drive – it’s gorgeous to stroll along the river (FYI from the art museum to the east falls bridge is ~4 miles)
visit LOVE park (15th and arch) and take pictures
mini golf at franklin square (7th and race) – all replicas of mini philly landmarks! super fun and $8! then grab [veggie] burgers from stephen starr’s square burger and ice cream and franklin fountain. cute date night!
stroll on south street and check out the cool shops and weird people
READING TERMINAL MARKET (12th and filbert)
italian market! (9th and washington…all along 9th st) a bit more mexican/chinese than just italian, but dinner at villa di roma is great, as is perusing the little shops (fantes housewares is a favorite!)
stroll through rittenhouse square and grab a drink somewhere!
"I Love Philadelphia," by William C. Ressler
things to eat:
not cheesesteaks because you don’t eat meat!
pizza at pietros. (17th and walnut) i don’t know why but this is one of my FAVORITE places in the city!!!
any of stephen starr’s restaurants (continental, el vez, jones, buddakan, morimoto, pod)
pure fare – organic and delicious!
barbuzzo
cantina dos segundos (931 north 2nd st) AWESOME FOOD and they are super veg/vegan friendly
brunch at honeys sit-and-eat (800 n. 4th) or sabrinas (18th and callowhill OR 9th and christian)
What are you favorite things to do and eat in Philly?
Last week Neil and I decided that we needed to have a date night. Lately we have been so busy with our own things and home things that we haven’t been spending enough quality time together.
Our date night started at the driving range where we shared an extra large bucket of balls.
After we emptied our bucket of balls we headed to the batting gages. I watched while Neil hit a few balls and then it was time to head downtown for the second half of our date.
We debated over a few places to go for a drink and dinner but I wasn’t really that hungry so we decided to go to the German brew pub for a beer and decide on what we wanted for dinner later. Once we sat down and perused the menu we saw that there were a few potential small plate options for us to have and since we were enjoying the quiet night on the patio we decided to stay and order food as well.
Grilled Asparagus with olive oil and lemon
Giant pretzel with horseradish mustard (no butter on the pretzel)
Spicy Fries (more liked seasoned)
The Verdict: delicious beer (we stayed for a second) and tasty food. We sat and enjoyed each others company while sipping beers and snacking on the food. Overall one of the best nights lately and I can’t wait to return for more of the asparagus-SO GOOD!
We did it! Neil and I ran our first 5k this past weekend in Portland, ME. It was an amazing experience and we both did really well.
The race started off on a hill. I was feeling nervous because I had only done one kill run during my training so I wasn’t sure how I would do. To my delight and both Neil and my surprise I actually crushed that hill. The course went onto a slightly inclined area and eventually to the stairs which you can see here. I shocked myself on the stairs. I didn’t stumble, fall flat on my face or run into anyone; WIN!
Then it was on to the next section of the course which was on a bike path right along the water. This area was described to us as “flat as a pancake”; well it was only “flat as a pancake” if pancakes have lump inclines. I really hit my stride at the last mile and it felt great. When I got to the last .1, right before the finish line, I decided to give it all I had and pass the 2 people in front of me to come in at a 37:36 giving me a 12:05 pace per mile. This was huge for me since my last 3.1 mile training run was 40:30 and the one before that 39:30! There were 17 finishers in the Female 25 to 29 age group and 185 finishers in the race. My overall finish place was 158 and I placed 16th in my age group (I didn’t finish last overall or in my age group- WAHOO).
Neil crossed the finish line at 28:49 and came in 5th out of 8 in his age group and 93rd overall. He rocked it.
After Race Complimentary Beers
After race brunch at Whole Foods (kale salad, home fries, roasted mushrooms, tomatoes, vegan chicken salad, fresh roll, macrobiotic dumplings and a vegan sesame chicken nugget)
After our night/morning in Portsmouth we headed to Portland to do a little site seeing, eating and getting ourselves prepped for our race. Our first stop was to pick up our bibs and race shirts and then we headed downtown for a beer and a snack at Novare Res Bier Cafe; a great beer bar in Portland.
We chose our beers and decided to get the Mediterranean plate to share; so good on a ridiculously hot day.
After beers and a snack we did a little shopping around downtown and the mall before heading to Whole Foods for dinner. Yes, Whole Foods. We love the Portland Whole Foods and it has an amazing number of vegan options at the hot/cold bars as well as a burrito bar, sushi bar and burger bar (all with vegan options). We could (and have) easily eaten all of our meals at Whole Foods but we only ate three there this weekend.
After dinner we decided to go drive the course and see what we were up against. Well to start the course is on a hill and then to a short incline and then to these stairs.
I was a little nervous that these stairs were going to be a bit of a challenge for the race because they were steep and the gravel around the stairs loose. Oh well!
We made our way back to the top of the stairs and watched the sunset. Stay tuned for the race recap.
Friday after work Neil and I headed to Portsmouth, NH to meet up with my parents for the night. We got to the hotel and jumped on the treadmill for a 2 mile run before getting ready to go out for dinner. For dinner we decided to dine at The Portsmouth Brewery where we all started with a beer; I got the red, it was okay-not great.
While I looked over the menu we snacked on some chips and salsa:
For dinner I had to make a choice out of a few vegan friendly options:
Although both of these sounded good Neil and I both decided to get this:
The wrap was full of veggies and tempeh but I was not too impressed with the flavor, or rather lack there of. It was pretty bland so I added the salsa from my chips, which I didn’t eat since I had chips and salsa already.
Overall the food was okay and the beer was blah not my favorite. I probably wouldn’t return to The Portsmouth Brewery and I definitely wouldn’t order a beer from there again.
Saturday morning we headed back into Portsmouth for breakfast at The Friendly Toast a retro dinner with (over priced) breakfast. The restaurant has a fun 60’s/70’s theme and a huge menu but it’s a little expensive for my pocket.
Neil and I had tofu scramble, coffee and water for breakfast. Overall the food was pretty good, the coffee was great and the water cold. The Friendly Toast is a fun place but it is a little pricey and can get crazy busy.
After breakfast we did a little window shopping and then headed to the farmers market where I got the best black iced tea ever.
That concludes our visit to Portsmouth! Stay tuned for Portland and Race Re-cap posts!
This is a photo sneak peak of our weekend. We are still enjoying our last day away but I will do an weekend re-cap post throughout this week with restaurant reviews, things we did and of course talk about our first 5k experience; until then enjoy the photos!
We are headed to Portland,ME (not Oregon) for the weekend to run a 5K and I decided to do a little lot of research of dining options. Here is my guide to Portland, ME Vegan Friendly Dining (FYI this gives you an idea of what you can eat at these restaurants it is not a review of the restaurant because frankly I haven’t been to all of them- I will do a review of the ones we do visit upon our return):
Rating system:
1 –> 3 or less vegan options 2 –> 4-5 vegan options (at least one entree) 3 –> 6-7 vegan options (at least one entree) 4 –> 8-9 vegan options (at least two entrees) 5 –> 10+ vegan options (at least two entrees)
Green Elephant: 608 Congress St, Portland ME Rating: 5 (vegetarian, mostly vegan)
The staff will let you know for sure which options are vegan there are a few I am not sure about- the skewers are though and they are good! So just double check; below are the vegetarian options which are most likely vegan or can be made that way.
House fried peanuts seasoned with Thai herbs
Fried taro sticks seasoned with sea salt. Served with spicy chili sauce
Steamed assorted vegetables with “Nahm-Prik” (eggplant relish)
Tofu skewer rubbed with teriyaki sauce
Shiitake skewer with teriyaki seasoning sauce
Portabella mushroom skewer rubbed with sesame oil & mushroom sauce
Thai sticky rice with soy sauce, pepper, scallion, and garlic
Stir-fried wide rice noodles with onion, tomato, pepper, bamboo shoot,Chinese broccoli, Thai basil, and tofu
Organic tofu, bamboo shoots, red and green pepper, squash, baby carrot, green beans, Thai eggplant and Thai basil in homemade green curry
Personal Experience: LOVED this place. (same owners as Green Elephant) Sebago Brewing Company: 211 Fore Street Portland ME
Rating: 2
Vegan Options:
Beer
Pub Pretzels: they are ok-but without the dipping sauce.
Hummus & Tzatiki (without tzatiki)
Greek Falafel (no feta): This salad is fine but with a different
dressing-the dressing it is listed with contains feta. The falafel is pan
seared with oil.
Dressings that are ok:
Balsamic ving.
Italian
Cianti Ving.
Hefeweizen Ving? (contains honey)
Pesto Ving.
Panzanella Salad (no chicken): without the cheese. suggest adding the falafel to this
Vegetable Stir Fry: this dish is fine w/o rice could sub pasta
Linguine-prepped with margarine
Falafel burger w/o bun or tzatiki – sub wheat wrap
Veggie quesadilla without any cheese
FYI: the onion rings (not vegan anyways), chips french fries & sweet potato fries are deep fried in the same oil as fish
Fruit Gelatos (Sorbettos) that are completely milk free, egg free and fat free. Our fruit flavors are made using exclusively fresh fruit, water and different kinds of natural sugars. Usually, we produce :
Vegan Triple chocolate layer cake with white and chocolate frosting
Vegan Sweet Dreams – Fried plantains, maple syrup, toasted pecans, toasted coconut & a dash of cinnamon, add Soy Ice Cream or Rice Ice Cream
Mug O’ Rice Ice Cream
Mug O’ Soy Ice Cream
The Veganotor Scramble- Sauteed tofu with mushrooms, green & red peppers, onioins, broccoli then finished with a vegan spicy sauce and served with red beans and salsa on the side.
ZoomaZoom Wrap (vegan) Falafel with spicy vegan spread, spinach, lettuce, tomato, onion and black olives
Tempeh Thru The Tulips Wrap (vegan) Spinach, tomato, fried tempeh and sauteed veggies du jour in creamy basil sauce
Garden of Eatin’ Appetizer (vegan) Silly made hummus served with carrots, broccoli, green& red peppers, falafel and crunchy flour tortilla chips, -made fresh daily-ask for it without the cuke dill
Vegan Decadence Appetizer (vegan) Creamy vegan basil sauce spread atop grilled bread topped with Greek olives, roasted red peppers, fresh tomatoes & garlic then toasted to perfection
Sweet Plantains Appetizer – Fried- (vegan) Can be gluten free if you tell us….
Rings of Fire Appetizer (vegetarian) Breaded & fried jalapeno rings with a side of sour cream **(vegan)-sub spicy vegan dip
French Fries Appetizer (vegan)- Handcut Can be gluten free if you tell us…
Hobo Pie Dinner (vegan) Flour tortilla chips topped with sweet potato millet blackbean vegan chili, salsa, tomatoes & scallions –Must ask for soy mozz substitute and no sour cream.
Tofu in a Dinghy Dinner -(vegan) – Thai ginger peanut sauce, rice noodles, fried tofu, vegan mozzarella cheese, mushrooms and scallions wrapped in a flour tortilla and deep fried in a chimi style.
Gone Bonzo Dinner-(vegan) – A panfried bonzo cake (chickpea flour spiced pancake with flax seeds) topped with sauteed veggies in a creamy spicy Thai peanut coconut sauce and garnished with julienne carrot.
Tempeh of Doom Dinner – (vegan) – Layered rice, red beans, fried tempeh, vegan bbq sauce, fried onions, hot sauce, vegan cheddar cheese and jalapenos.
Rest in Pizza -(vegan)- Spicy vegan spread, fried veggie burger, jalapenos, pineapple, garlic, hot sauce & vegan mozzarella cheese
Good Golly Miss Bolly Dinner (vegan) Sauteed veggies, fried tofu, fried sweet potato and white potato, in a coconut mango curry sauce over rice garnished with cilantro and toasted coconut.
Et Tu & Fries Dinner Dinner– (vegan) – Breaded organic fried tofu & hand cut fries served with spicy vegan dip or make it buffalo with spicy vegan dip
Garden Salad – (vegan) – Lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, onions, carrots, green peppers, scallions, broccoli, & mushrooms-available in demi size
Blue Mango Veggie Burgers
Papou’s Falafel fabuffel burger (falafel with buffalo sauce)
Your choice of a
single
double
Triple
All Burgers are served on a hamburger and are topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles & served with Silly’s hand cut French Fries.
Quote from the restaurant “We do have a few salads on the menu for vegans, however, if you want to come to the restaurant, the chef prefers to cook strictly for you. to be honest there are very few things actually on the menu that are vegan, but we are happy to customize the menu for you. if you would like further information please call us at 207-761-0555. again, the chef takes all dietary restrictions/allergies very seriously and would be happy to accomodate you.”
Rating system:
1 –> 3 or less vegan options 2 –> 4-5 vegan options (at least one entree) 3 –> 6-7 vegan options (at least one entree) 4 –> 8-9 vegan options (at least two entrees) 5 –> 10+ vegan options (at least two entrees)
After we emptied our bucket of balls we headed to the batting gages. I watched while Neil hit a few balls and then it was time to head downtown for the second half of our date.
I was a little nervous that these stairs were going to be a bit of a challenge for the race because they were steep and the gravel around the stairs loose. Oh well!
Neil and I had tofu scramble, coffee and water for breakfast. Overall the food was pretty good, the coffee was great and the water cold. The Friendly Toast is a fun place but it is a little pricey and can get crazy busy.
Check out their menu 
Vegan Options:
