Monday, May 19, 2008

Portland: Part 2 - A Vegan's Dream

Tired and hungry after our long waterfall hike, we made our way to the Terwilliger Vista Bed and Breakfast to drop off our things before heading into the city for dinner. We stayed in the "Gold Room" with garden view bay windows, a fancy Art Deco bathroom, and leopard print carpeting!





Our dinner at Nutshell was a treat I had long anticipated. The warehouse-turned-restaurant's walls are alive with murals of a giant green sasquatch. Fried rice fritters with avocado puree and chili sauce were delicious and the maple chocolate tart with cashew vanilla sauce was AMAZING. Another highlight was the fun salt and oil bar. They offer a nice selection of olive oils, gourmet salts, and warm breads for dipping.

The next morning we went to a vegan mini-mall. That's right...a vegan mini-mall! This plaza is home to Food Fight Grocery, Sweet Pea Bakery, and Herbivore Clothing. I love the Sweet Pea Bakery and wish they had a location in Eugene, because I would be there every morning! They have cases of hot vegan doughnuts, cheesecakes, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, scones, and plump bagels. The vanilla rice latte I ordered was perfection.

After spending too much time wandering around in complete vegan awe, we finally left for the Northwest Vegetarian Fest. We sampled delicious goodies like Coconut Bliss ice cream, a wonderful vegan cheese called Sheese, pumpkin cupcakes, homemade panang curry paste, Indian food, truffles, and raw vegan caramel!

We managed to save a little room for Portland's famous vegan Voodoo Doughnuts, but they were sold out by the time we arrived at the shop! Something to look forward to next time.

4 comments:

Laurie Stark said...

Yum, you've got to go back for Voodoo! But vegan pumpkin muffins sound AMAZING.

Anonymous said...

OMG, I was sooo going to go to VegFest in Portland. Because I missed Seattle's and Portland's is supposed to be better anyways. But I didn't know anyone going and the few that may of gone were out of town. Ugh, now I'm sad ... though I did go to a Vegan Potluck instead so it wasn't all bad.

emc said...

Oh, no! So sorry we missed each other. It would have been awesome to meet up. :(

SummerGraceMeow said...

I can't wait to try the yumminess! Soon Erin, very soon. :)