Vegging Out in NYC: Gobo

It isn't the kind of place I want to live, but I love visiting New York. Running beside the river around the southern perimeter of Manhattan is a nice change of scenery.

Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges at sunrise

And of course, there is a great selection of vegan restaurants.

Earlier this month, on my most recent visit there, I was disappointed to find Bonobo's closed. I'd eaten there before, and it was an excellent vegan fast food joint. I went with some coworkers to have dinner at Blossom, which is deservedly one of the most famous vegan restaurants in the city. That was a very fine meal indeed. But I was most delighted to have an equally wonderful meal one night when I went out alone one evening to Gobo.

Should read: "food for the five senses"

I found Gobo on Google Maps, and it sounded pretty good, but I'd never heard of it before. It turns out that I couldn't have picked a better place.

Multi-grain bread with pumpkin puree

The complimentary appetizer was multi-grain bread with what looked like hummus, but I think was a pumpkin puree. At any rate, it tasted good, and it was a step above what I would have expected.

Tofu rolls with mango puree

I also ordered the "five spice tofu rolls with mango puree" from the appetizer menu - also recommendable.

Yam fries

The side of yam fries was enormous. They were cooked with a crispy batter on the outside, and the insides were perfectly soft and melty. The homemade ketchup was great, with kind of a sweet-and-sour sauce taste to it. I ate over half of the fries, but I eventually had the waiter take them away to save me from my uncontrollable urge to eat them all. They were definitely the most fattening thing I ate there.

Butternut squash risotto

My main course was the butternut squash risotto with toasted almonds. It was delicious. After dinner, I had a nice cup of chai.

And to make a great meal even better, the service was excellent and prices were quite reasonable. I think this meal was under $40 before tip.

The lady at the table next to mine, when she saw me taking pictures of everything, said "Is this going to be a meal to remember?" My reply was, "You never know." But I think it really was, and I look forward to eating there again on my next visit to NYC. The only thing that could make it better would be to enjoy the meal with family or friends.

In Soviet Russia, the trail hits you!

There's a light at the end of the tunnel. Just go toward the light.

The tunnel in question is an unlit pedestrian underpass, just east of 128th and Holly, 2 miles along one of my regular running routes. There is a faint glow at the other end, showing me where I need to go. All that can be seen inside the tunnel is the reflection of that dim light on the water - or ice, as the case may be - that has accumulated on the floor of the passage.

So I always just run through, keeping an eye on the frozen sheen before me, expecting that one of these days I'm going to misstep and hit the concrete. Still, I was taken by surprise this cold and foggy morning when I hit the ground. And it wasn't the ice that got me, but a shopping cart.

Seriously.

Someone had left a shopping cart in the middle of the tunnel, hidden in the deep shadows, entirely invisible to eyes drawn to the light at the other end. So I ran right into it, knocked it down, and went over it and onto the concrete with a loud groan.

I picked myself up, righted the cart, and pushed it out of the tunnel as I took inventory of my several new aches and pains. I determined that there was no damage beyond a few minor scrapes and bruises. And I didn't want to blow my third week in a row of 35 running miles, so I continued on to finish up the ten-mile workout I'd been intending.

As I ran, I was tempted to wonder what kind of person would leave a damned shopping cart in the middle of a tunnel. But that line of questioning seemed pointless. I see them overturned in drainage ditches pretty often, presumably left by ne'er-do-wells who stole them from grocery store parking lots in the middle of the night to go careening down our suburban hills. It's very rare to see vagrants in these parts, so I can't imagine that they are being abandoned by the homeless as they upgrade to a new cart without so much wobble in the rear left wheel.

So instead of pursuing the question of who would do such a thing, I started wondering how much abuse my body can take. I'm 34 years old, which is not elderly by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't have much left of the resilience of youth in my frame. Last year's running season was brought to a premature end by knee pain. Recently, my right hip has been expressing complaints resulting from over-tight tendons or under-developed muscles. One of these days my luck will surely run out and I'll suffer a broken something-or-other when I take one of these spills while running or cycling.

But I've seen more bodies permanently broken from disuse than from being pushed too hard. From my viewpoint, it seems one retains physical faculties on a use-it-or-lose-it basis. So can I relent, taking it easier on my aging body in hopes of avoiding deterioration or damage that will manifest some day in the distant future? No, all I can do is keep going, try to use my body better and make it stronger. If I go fast enough, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to outrun old age.

A December Morning Run

4:30 alarm, five degrees.
balaclava, base layer, body heat.
it isn't so bad.

a fresh dusting of snow on the trail.
tracks of rabbits, foxes, coyotes,
none of dogs and their people.

stray scents from waking houses:
breakfasts cooking, laundry drying,
steamy soap from frosted shower windows.

cars idling in driveways, warming up.
exhaust offends heightened senses.
blinding headlights line up and begin their march.

how can I not feel grateful?
I'd rather wake at this hour to go running
than to go to work.

Thanksgiving Leftovers -> Cranberry Strudel

We didn't have that many leftovers from our Thanksgiving feast, so it isn't like I'd been agonizing over what to do with all of that cranberry pear sauce. But Saturday morning, I woke up inspired. In my half-wakeful state, an image of some phyllo dough we've had sitting in the freezer came unbidden to my mind. And with it, a resolution: "Today I will make cranberry strudel."

Ingredients for a cranberry strudel.

I sweetened the cranberry sauce with a little bit of honey (I know, I'm a bad vegan), and one of the strudels got some walnuts added. That one ended up tasting better, but my daughter doesn't like nuts, so I wanted to make one without.

About an hour later

The truth is, the idea was better than the outcome. I've never made a pastry of any kind before, so I'm not being too hard on myself. But there were a few issues (aside from the fact that the strudel split its side open in the oven).

• I'm not sure if butter would have behaved differently than the Earth Balance spread, but that's largely an academic question, since I will not eat butter.
  
  
• There was something missing. My taste buds say that it may be salt. Whatever was lacking, it's more pronounced in the pastry without walnuts.
• The sauce soaked into the phyllo too much, I think. The layers in the lower half of the strudel are indistinguishable - it's just cranberry-soaked dough.

Still, they turned out edible, and it was a good idea and a good experiment. If anyone has any tips for how to do better next time, I'd be happy to hear them.

Argentine Adventure, Part 4: Things to Do and See

I don't know why, but this post has been sitting in draft state for a really long time. I guess I feel like I'm leaving something out, but if I don't post it now, I probably never will.

This is the last post in the Argentine Adventure series, and it's about having fun instead of logistics and places to sleep. Both Buenos Aires and Rosario provided plenty of opportunities to explore and enjoy the culture we were there to experience.

Rosario

As previously mentioned, Rosario is a city which has played a major role in Argentine history. There is a huge monument down by the river commemorating the first raising of the Argentine flag. I passed by it a number of times, but C. and the kids got to give it a better look while I was at work.

Monumento a la Bandera, Rosario

M. and F. near Monumento a la Bandera

M. and F. near Monumento a la Bandera

Rosario also has lots of parks and plazas. The largest is the Parque de la Independencia. Though it was right across the street from where I was working, I only saw it from a distance. Again, my family explored it more thoroughly.

Much of my sight-seeing in Rosario was done while running in the mornings, or while walking to and from the office.

Taken while running down by the river.

We had dinner at a restaurant by the river one night with my coworkers. We discovered that one of these old warehouses was full of ramps and so forth for BMX bicycles. We stopped and watched the guys in there jumping and doing tricks.

My daily walking commute took me down Boulevard Nicasio Oroño.

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is a very big city with lots of cultural attractions. Just hanging out in Puerto Madero can prove to be pretty entertaining. On Sunday morning I got up to go for a run and came across an area being set up for a running event. I later discovered that one of the women at the office was there, and it was a charity run benefiting some kind of women's health cause. Later that morning, when we were heading out on the town, the Prefectura Naval were having a ceremony right in front of the hotel which included a parade of their marching band.

Parque Mujeres Argentinas, near our hotel in Buenos Aires had the biggest aloe vera plants I've ever seen.

M. and some really big Aloe plants.

On Sundays there is a huge street market in the San Telmo district. There are all kinds of vendors selling souvenirs, food, clothes, and just about everything else. We saw a few classical guitarists performing, and at one of the booths selling musical instruments, a spontaneous jam session broke out with drums, flutes, and shakers. It was awesome.

At the street market in San Telmo

Along Av. Paseo Colón

The day we left, I was working the first part of the day. While I was at the office, my wife and kids explored La Recoleta Cemetery - very apropos, considering it was Halloween.

La Recoleta Cemetery

La Recoleta Cemetery

Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), a modern art museum, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. We met up there after I got done working. My daughter was especially taken with some of the optical art pieces.

MALBA was our last stop before heading to the airport. I was excited to be going home, but at the same time, I was a little sad that we couldn't stay a bit longer and see more of that wonderful city.

A Beautiful Thanksgiving

There are many things I am thankful for, not the least of which is that I live in a state where we can have the most beautiful weather in the middle of November. On this Thanksgiving day, when Americans take some time to spend with family and reflect on those things for which we are most fortunate, the only thing I could wish for was that more of my family could be present.

I had looked forward to getting some extra sleep, but that was not to be. I got paged around 5:00 this morning for work, and while it wasn't anything that required immediate action, I couldn't get back to sleep. So instead I sat enjoying some quiet time before the rest of the family woke up.

Then, I cranked up the blender and made a terrible racket, preparing the desert for what turned out to be a marvelous Thanksgiving feast.

A feast for four

The menu included

• Cranberry Pear Sauce
• Spicy Braised Sweet Potatoes
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Steamed Asparagus
• Tofurky Stuffed Roast
• Pumpkin Pie with a Ginger Snap crust and Whipped Coconut Cream

The kids also had some ham, but aside from that, the whole meal was vegan. And with the exception of the pie crust, it was pretty healthy, as far as feasts go.

We washed that down with a bottle of Malbec from Nieto Senetiner given to us by my colleagues in Argentina, and some sparkling peach juice for the kids. I know that a white wine would have been better paired with the food, but drinking a gift wine seemed appropriate for the occasion.

Vegan Roast with pumpkin, mushroom, and zucchini

My beautiful family

Pumpkin Pie!

During my quiet time this morning, I read a blog post from Seth Godin which I thought was absolutely lovely. I wish I could copy it here, but I wouldn't feel right about doing that without permission. It's worth the two minutes of time to read.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Office pudding

For some reason I've been really lazy about finishing up the Argentina series. I guess I've been letting too many other things take up my time. There is more of that to come, I promise. But not right now.

I want to share a pudding recipe that I've been making at the office. Well, "recipe" might be a little grandiose a term for it. But it tastes really good and is pretty healthy. Mind you, I work in an office with a well stocked micro-kitchen, and I also keep a few special ingredients in my desk drawer. And if you think I'm talking about booze, you're wrong. That stays on top of the desk. In the drawer, however, I keep a box of Roastaroma tea, bottles of cinnamon, cayenne pepper, stevia extract, blackstrap molasses, and a can of vanilla Biochem Vegan Protein powder.

Coupling some of these things with foods that are available around the office, I'm able to make a decent "banana pudding." Here are the ingredients:

• 1 banana, well ripened
• 1/2 cup soy milk (at home I use almond milk), sweetened
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 2 tablespoons of something crunchy. Usually a blend of seeds & nuts, but sometimes granola or some other kind of cereal.
• 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
• a healthy sprinkling of cinnamon

Only the first three ingredients are really necessary. Everything else is optional, though I really recommend not compromising on the crunchy part. Molasses can be an acquired taste, and it doesn't do much for the pudding's appearance, but I love the flavor as well as the extra minerals it provides.

All you have to do is mix all the stuff together in a bowl and eat it, but that doesn't make for very interesting blogging. So I'll share the one small innovation I have to bring to the table, as it were.

Our micro-kitchen has these flimsy disposable forks that aren't very good at mashing up bananas. So here's the secret that took me months to discover: you can mash the banana by hand while it's still in the peel. You'll want to do this quite gently so as not to break the skin open prematurely. Work the banana radially rather than length-wise until it's good and mushy. Then you can either peel it as usual, or just break the stem end open and squeeze it like a pastry bag.

So there it is: office-expedient banana pudding. Simple, delicious, healthy.