A Tale of Two Ramens

Ramen, one of the tastiest staples of the Japanese diet can be difficult to enjoy as a vegan, but if you look in the right place you can find tasty, guilt-free ramen in Japan and closer to home. I'd like to share two ramen experiences I've had in the past few weeks, one in Japan and one back home in DC.

Typically in Japan a ramen shop is not a friendly place for vegans to eat. Most ramen is heavy on animals, not only using pork and egg as a topping, but having thick, meat-based broth. Usually it's fruitless to ask for veggie broth and just noodles, because most places won't have non-meat broth on hand and they will have a hard time understanding why you're even asking for just water and noodles. That's why the one vegan restaurant I was looking forward to visiting the most in Japan was a specialty vegan ramen shop in Tokyo station, T's Tan Tan.

T's Tan Tan signs about the virtues of veganism

The entrance to T's near the Keiyo Street shopping section in Tokyo station

Photos from the Bay Area, finally

My phone was sent back to me, with photos intact! A miracle. So, this will be a picture post, for anyone who wants a visual vegan tour of the SF area, or if you just want to stare at vegan food and drinks... here goes!

Cha-Ya roll from Cha-Ya

Seitan sausage paella

**This is a recipe posted a little over a year ago on our former blog. We're re-posing because it's a good recipe for summer, and it's still summer out there, as DC heat reminded us this week. Enjoy!

This is the only photo we got of the paella, sadly. Other photos not of paella will accompany this post.

Every time I cook something that has potential to be spicy (as in spicy hot, like chili peppers on a Thai menu), I cook it in a way that fulfills that potential and then some. My own threshold for that kind of spice is so high that only certain brands of salsa and a few four-chili dishes at restaurants can hit it. Dan’s tolerance is about on par with mine, so if we cook to our respective levels, it usually works out for both of us. Since I’ve started cooking for more guests after moving into the JASCastle , though, I’ve gotten some cues that maybe not everyone can enjoy the same kind of heat in their food--mainly due to remarks like “wow, this is spicy--good, but...really spicy”.

Almond Alfredo sauce

Sorry for another week of absence -- it's not that I've been that busy, it's that I haven't undertaken many interesting endeavors in the culinary or gastronomical spheres. I did make something good last night, though, even though I was the only one who got to enjoy it! I used this recipe to make an almond-tofu Alfredo sauce, which we've made once before, and it turned out really well.

Marinara, Alfredo, pasta, and some broccoli...

Vegan at home and vegan afar

We don't have any fun and exciting recipes to share, just some advice, I guess. I've been at home, cooking for one (which means hardly cooking at all; I'm not the type who's motivated to cook for only myself.) Dan's been in Japan, trying to find vegan food in three different cities (going on four.) So, I share with you, "How I eat my ramen noodles"... or, "The sad, sad life of a stay-at-home-vegan".

Ramen, with trimmings?

Bay Area part III

I got some good news the other day that someone turned my phone in to the BART lost and found--really unexpected, but hopefully I can have it sent back to me with photos intact, and publish some of them in a later post. Meanwhile, here's more from our last few days in California...

Juice from Google headquarters

Bay Area adventures, part II

I already shared most of the photos I salvaged (see the last post to hear about my phone fiasco), but I'll try to share details and reviews of what we ate and did during our trip to Berkeley. Thanks to the lack of photo documentation, I can't *quite* remember exactly when we did everything, but I do remember the names and locations of where we ate, as well as the food and how it tasted! And most of it was pretty great (not sure if "hella" is a more appropriate descriptor here, given that it's CA? Does anyone say that anymore?)

Pie a la mode from Saturn Cafe (a year ago)

Back in action, Bay Area part 1

Sorry for the absence--we were in Berkeley, CA from the 26th until the 1st, and I was planning to post all the food photos I took there once we got back. The universe had other plans, and decided that my primary photo-taker, my iPhone, would not be returning with me from Berkeley! It was either lost or stolen at some point while I was trying to find a place to pee. Sad, sad news, especially because I hadn't backed anything up since February! Luckily, we do have a few photos from Dan's phone, so I'll share those.  Anyway, read on for more about our trip.