Delicata biscuits, Paradox, Veganomicon, and losing VeganMoFo

This morning I saw some leftover delicata squash in the fridge. After eating some cold with a spoon (mmm) I decided to make biscuits out of the rest. I googled “winter squash biscuits” and found this recipe, which was pretty easy to veganize.  I used soy milk instead of milk and half Earth Balance and half Spectrum Shortening instead of butter.  I also used 2 cups of flour because 1 3/4 didn’t seem like quite enough.  Then I made them ginormous drop biscuits and cooked them on a baking sheet for 20 minutes.  I don’t believe in putting butter (or Earth Balance) on biscuits since they are already so fatty it’s not necessary at all.  These were great plain and warm out of the oven.  I did take pictures but I can’t find my memory card reader so you’ll just have to wait.

Speaking of biscuits, last night I ordered biscuits and gravy from Paradox.  It was my first non-benedict purchase from Paradox and I was pretty excited about it but when the food got to the tables I was pretty disappointed.  I had heard such good things about their biscuits and gravy so it might have just been a fluke.  First of all, the food was lukewarm, which I know probably has more to do with how long it was sitting around before it was brought to me.  Lukewarm gravy is just not that great.  The biscuits themselves were also pretty disappointing.  I have heard that they were really bready, not flaky, so I was expecting that, but they just weren’t that good.  Maybe if I ordered them in the morning they would be more freshly made and tastier.  I probably won’t bother, though, because there are a lot of other things on the menu that I want to try.

In other news, I got Veganomicon a few days ago, and it is amazing.  So far I’ve only made the chickpea noodle soup and the cornbread.  The chickpea noodle soup was so good and perfect for sick people like me.  I added beet greens  which just upped the level of awesome.  The cornbread was good too but I grew up with one specific cornbread recipe so all other cornbreads taste funny to me.  I have purchased ingredients for chickpea cutlets and potato kale enchiladas, but my social calendar has been so full of PPK events that I haven’t had much time to cook.

I guess I’ve already lost VeganMoFo, so my goal is now “update food blog regularly.”  If I keep my standards low I can’t really fail.

Coming soon: It’s a Beautiful Pizza Review, Ode to Farmer’s Markets,  other stuff!

Restaurant Reviews: Bay Leaf and Paradox

Bay Leaf is in my old neighborhood, but back when I lived there the area wasn’t cool enough to have things like Chinese vegetarian restaurants.  Now it’s one of the many areas of Portland that people say will be “the next Hawthorne” which just means that hipsters will continue to move there.  The truth is that in a few years I think there will be very few places in Portland where hipsters don’t live.  Gentrification sucks but it does mean more vegetarian restaurants.

My experience at Bay Leaf was probably affected a lot by how ridiculously shitty I felt.  I’ve been sick and last night was the worst– I cringed every time I swallowed because it hurt so badly.  I had to run to the bathroom because I needed a few minutes to cry and feel sorry for myself before digging into my food.  So I might have enjoyed it more had I been in a better mood.  We started out with some appetizers– the seasoned spinach was great.  For my main dish I got sesame tofu, which was just ok.  It was big cubes of fried tofu in a citrus sesame sauce.  I thought the sauce was pretty bland– it really just tasted sweet and could have used some tanginess and spice.  I also ordered a cup of hot and sour soup, which felt nice in my throat but was otherwise unimpressive.  I mostly ordered it because I wanted some soup, though, not because I am a huge fan of hot and sour soup, so a hot and sour soup aficionado could probably give a more informed review.   Most people at my table said their dishes were really good but I wasn’t really that excited about eating food so I didn’t try anything else.  I’ll probably go to Bay Leaf again but I’ll definitely order something else.  They have a lot of mostly vegetables dishes that sound really good, like their tangy eggplant.

This morning I went to Paradox for breakfast, like I often do.  Even so, I cannot really review Paradox as a whole, because I have only ever gotten one thing there.  I always mean to branch out but I just love the Paradox Benedict so much.  It’s sourdough bread with veggie sausage, fried tofu (or eggs if you swing that way), creamy gravy stuff, tomato and lots of potatoes on the side.  I really don’t need the sausage– I actually like some vegan breakfast sausage a lot but the kind they have isn’t that exciting– but I love the way the gravy soaks into the sourdough and it’s just so good and the potatoes are awesome.  Paradox has the slowest service ever, but the Stumptown coffee is bottomless if you can get your server to notice that you finished your coffee an hour ago and would like some more please.