In Praise of Family Vacations

To wrap up this first full week of Vegan Mofo 2009, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the family vacation and what it means to me. Now I know times are tight and for many vegans the concept of finding vegan food for an entire family while traveling is a bit daunting so let me just share with you how we have managed to do it for most of my married life...and that will be 12 years this month!.
To begin with, I am a social worker and until last spring my husband was a professor at a community college so we have never been making the big bucks. In many ways this recession is more of the same for those of us who receive more personal than financial reward for our labors. But my husband was laid off and is now one of the many receiving unemployment in this country. We have vacated on a single income before and I am sure we will do it again.
How do we do it?
My definition of vacation means spending time together in a place we don't usually live doing things we don't necessarily do everyday. So it doesn't have to be Disney World or a Cruise or Europe. It can be the local state park, a family member's home, camping or an unassuming cabin in the woods. We tend to seek out places where we can be together yet each have our own space. We do require running water, electricity and indoor plumbing but not all need that. Ideally we have a full kitchen at our disposal to make eating out optional rather than a requirement. And we spend a significant amount of time doing things that are free or relatively inexpensive: swimming, hiking, sledding, paddle boats, reading, playing outdoor games or board games and generally reconnecting as a family. When times are tight...we save and pay for the entire rental price before we go. Then our only mandatory expenses are the same groceries we would be spending for at home with just a little extra gas for driving. On those trips we have spent the majority of our time at local state parks on day passes, swimming, picnicing and enjoying the view. If we are flush then maybe a museum, bookstore shopping spree or movie come into the picture. That's when we choose to eat out.
Having a kitchen available is wonderful both as a savings and to accomodate dietary needs. No need to scramble around for a vegan breakfast...make your own tofu scramble! Kids like to eat at the crack of dawn or snack before dinner...Keep cereal and popcorn on hand. The past week has shown pictures of our last vacation in Vermont this summer. We paid for the cabin from my husband's severance package. Life is too short to not make memories with your family. I wouldn't trade my times with my kids for anything in the world. So go ahead and roll down a hill! It's free! I would be happy to share links with anyone for some of the inexpensive, family friendly places we have visited. Just post a comment.

So what's coming up next? Sunday will be the return of Football Food with Tempeh Wingz and Veganized Blue Cheese Dressing. My Iron Chef Submission using Okra and Horseradish will appear here Monday...and on the official sight Sunday Night. The rest of the week will be my COOP Challenge: I will create and post recipes using the vegetables and fruit that I received in my basket on Thursday....so keep checking this out all MOFO long!

Vegan Eats Waterbury VT

This may have been my favorite meal of the entire trip. A Marinated Tempeh sandwich from the Alchemist Brew Pub in Waterbury, VT. There must be a pound of tempeh on this bad boy. Pair it with one of the handcrafted beers and that is about as good as it gets in my world. The original sandwich comes with a Walnut Pesto which you should check on the status of and quite frankly I didn't ask about the roll because I was eating it right on the plate but I was craving tempeh and this hit the spot. The menu ranges from starters such as house made pretzels and your typical ominvorous wings to salads, sandwiches and several dishes that feature blackened tofu! Add to this a a varety of handcrafted beers that run the full range from heffenweisen to stout and IPA and well I think you can imagine why this was a favorite. They only serve dinner and get quite crowded so we missed out on a seating one night. But at least we weren't the only hipster doofus parents in there with our kids. This is a stand out restaurant in a pretty surprising location.

Vegan Eats Montpelier, VT Part 1

Continuing with yesterday's theme of where to get vegan eats in Vermont, we move on to Montepelier the state capital. There is actually quite a few choices for vegan food in this city. Our lunch time choice was The Skinny Pancake a crepe restaurant with locations in both Montepelier and Burlington. Again their emphasis is on local, organic fresh ingredients. The crepe pictured is the Vegan Monster a veganized version of their Veggie Monster Crepe both of which are regular menu item. The contents is House-made seitan, baby spinach, VT Wild Mushrooms, caramelized onions, and roasted red peppers served in a vegan crepe shell or VT Soy company tofu can be substituted instead. Veganized versions of their Thai Noodle Crepe and Johhny Boy BBQ crepe are also available. Also on hand are local organic and vegan beers and wine. Additional Montpelier Restaurants with Vegan friendly offerings include Rhapsody Natural Foods, httpp://www.rhapsodynaturalfoods.com/ an informal buffet type restaurant which advertises being dairy-free! (blasphemous in this state)
Kismet Kitchen http://kismetkitchen.com/default.aspx, A more upscale restaurant which according to their website "pride themselves on accomodating dietary needs including dairy and gluten free." Their menu features many vegan substitutions for nearly everyone of their dishes. Even the local diner, Coffee Corner features tofu scramble. We spent the day eating, shopping and exploring. That evening we attended a VT Mountaineers Minor League baseball game...but that will be for part 2 tommorrow.

Vegan Eats Stowe Vermont

One of my family's and my favorite vacation spots is Vermont. We have spent a week each summer in a cabin with no tv, no internet, and no cellphones in various VT towns ever since my children were toddlers. These weeks are spent swimming in lakes, hiking on mountains and exploring independent and used books stores. Basically heaven on earth to us. We spend most of our evenings playing board and card games, roasting marshmellows and reading. Now that the kids have gotten older we have been able to add in exploring towns and restaurants. And Vermont has a great assortment of local, sustainable foods availiable with multiple vegetarian selections. Vegan Eats are not always so easy to come by. You see Vermont has a plethora of small local dairy farms and it seems almost anti-vermontian to not order cheese on everything. Now I am obviously not going to go into the details of dairy farming here nor am I singing the praises of local dairy. Although truth be known I admit to finding Kraft more of an enemy than some of the small family farms located in Vermont. That being said...it is possible to get a decent vegan meal in Vermont with a little inside knowledge. This week, I will focus on our last family vacation and the places where we discovered vegan food along the way. The above dish is a Yellow Thai Curry from The Whip in Stowe VT. And as you can see an available option is to top it with grilled tofu vs shrimp or chicken. This was absolutley lovely and made me feel like I was having a vegan gourmet treat. The Whip is the restaurant at the Green Mountain Inn located in downtown Stowe. In addition to the curry, the Inn features other easily veganizable meals including the Flatbread with Black Beans, Corn, Garlic and Onion also pictured. This is not cheap eats by any means, but the wonderful flavors and beautiful setting --lit fireplace in the dining room in the Winter and outdoor cafe dining in Summer make for a very pleasant meal indeed.