Vegan Eats Rutherford NJ Part Deux

Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by jomarb

Behold the beauty that is the cupcakes from Sweet Avenue Bakeshop. Also located on Park Avenue in Rutherford, NJ. What is better after pancakes and tofu scramble? Why vegan cupcakes of course. The beauties in the photo are my family's Mother's Day desert that didn't quite make it until Mother's Day. The flavors are: Strawberry Fields, Lemon Rasberry(my choice), Carrot Cake and Jet Black(dark chocolate cake, dark chocolate icing and vermicelli). They were all incredibly rich and moist. I think the lemon frosting may be the best I have ever tasted! Sweet Avenue is open daily and features a different menu of flavors each day which is posted on their website, and can be tweeted to you if you follow them @sweet_avenue. These cupcakes were purchased the day of the PPK meet up which is now immortalized on the Sweet Avenue blog. http://www.sweetavenuebakeshop.com/. See they are not only bakers but new media darlings! Also they now feature gluten and soy free products. Every Friday and Saturday there are 2 gluten and soy free flavors available.

Vegan Eats Rutherford NJ

Chili Con Fu Tofu Scramble
Originally uploaded by jomarb

A newly opened pancake house in Rutherford, NJ...Aptly named the Rutherford Pancake House on 40 Park Avenue http://www.rutherfordpancakehouse.com/ has been featuring a Vegan Menu! So about 20 vegans from the PPK including me, descended upon them last Saturday to sample and compare their menu items. I had the Chili Con Fu which is a tofu scramble covered with Chili and served with homefires and multigrain toast. It was absolutely fantastic! Also featured on the menu were Vegan Pancakes which could feature a variety of fruits, pecans and/or toasted coconut. I tasted the banana with toasted coconut as ordered by my friend Tofulish and was suitably impressed. The full vegan menu is here http://www.rutherfordpancakehouse.com/RPH%20Vegan%20Menu.pdf. The restaurant has been open about 3 weeks and currently features the vegan items on a seperate menu available upon request. The owners tell us the overwhelmingly positive reactions to this menu by vegans and the health concious has led them to move toward incorporating the vegan menu into their regular menu. Frequent this place...these guys are wonderful! next up is Vegan Eats Rutherford part deux, Sweet Avenue Bakeshop!

And so we begin....

Well after multiple fits and starts it is finally time to begin this thing. Why you may ask? And right you should after all I ask myself the same question. I suppose the reality is that I assume that somewhere out there there may be other people like me. Raised in the 80's on punk rock, activism and anarchy and somewhere along the road you wake up and live in the same sort of town you ran away from. Now you are the mom and the responsible almost adult but your values really have not changed. It is a weird sort of exile here in the burbs with your politics, religion and even your eating style not quite the same as your neighbors and friends and yet you make a stand and continue. Or perhaps you are not like me at all in biography but share the values of veganism, sustainability, individual freedom etc...anyhooo....the goal is to promote the things that I cherish and offer tips on how to survive out of step with the rest of our society...and if it can be done a budget all the better. So follow or don't because I really have never been much of a leader!