Callaloo–what?

Wow, where did summer go? I wore long sleeves all day today and was chilly. I talked to my mom – she says it’s cooler in her area, too, because it’s not 90. Oh.

I went back and forth on trying this new recipe. Turns out, I picked a perfect day for it. This recipe caught my eye in the Moosewood Restaurant cookbook I picked up at a used bookstore recently. It’s called callaloo, which apparently is both a green and a dish.

Unable to find callaloo (possibly because I only went to my mainstream grocer), I used red kale. This dish is most like a soup, but it’s made with lime juice that brings a summery flavor to it. This soup is made with onions, garlic, ginger, spices (turmeric, coriander, thyme, allspice), sweet potatoes, kale, okra, and tomato. All that simmers in broth, then it’s finished with coconut milk and lime juice.

Yep, the okra and sweet potato combo both intrigued and disgusted me. In the end, though, this was a tasty soup. I thought it needed some heat, though, and I wish I’d cut my grape tomatoes (like the recipe suggested).

Since that soup is not too pretty, I thought I’d leave you with a cute photo. Now that winter is over, the cats are out of their cat beds and taking over a chair. I’m glad they’re sticking to one – I don’t like to sit in fur. Anyway, sometimes they take turns, but often, in this cooler weather, they pile on top of each other.

Still Spring Soup

April is almost over, and I’m not sure it feels like spring yet. It seems like for the past two weeks, it’s been both rainy and stormy every day. And it’s been cold. So I took the opportunity to make soup. I considered making cookies, but soup won out.

I pieced together a few recipes for minestrone, and of course I did not measure. But this soup was perfectly delicious. Besides all the goodies in it, I think it’s the broth (Better Than Bouillon and pesto). This soup is made of:

• Onion, Carrot, and Celery
• Potatoes
• Green beans
• Cannellini beans
• Spinach
• Macaroni
• Diced tomatoes in sauce
• Better than Bouillon
• Amore Pesto Paste
• Maybe some other stuff I forgot to mention

Part of what I’ve been doing lately is kind of a pantry challenge, using up stuff I’ve had on hand for way too long. Sometimes those are interesting to read about, but mine seems a little scary.

The green beans were the last of a bag of frozen beans I’ve had a while, and I think the pesto paste was a Christmas gift year before last. Thanks to blog, I can tell you the macaroni was left over from November when I made mac and cheeze. I have been eating this soup for a week and I haven’t been sick. I think I have pretty good judgment when it comes to expired food.

I’m in spring cleaning mode – I’m also clearing out my closets. Cleaning out the pantry is more fun, though. I am too young to have so much junk I don’t want to think about. Have a great weekend, everyone!

I’ve Got One, You’ve Got One

January was all about eating tried-and-true favorites, like tofu stir fry with peanut sauce:

One of my favorite soups – Moroccan-Style chickpea and lentil from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker:

By mid-January, a month after returning from Italy, I was ready for pasta again, my way. I made my own chunky tomato sauce over a small portion of whole-wheat pasta, with spinach and mushrooms and a salad:

I split the tomato sauce in half and turned half into tomato soup. Goes well with a Rice Vegan grilled cheese:

Now that it’s the end of the month, I’m coming out of hiatus and getting ready to try new things. Like going to a pond hockey game downtown. Standing in the cold for 45 minutes wasn’t much fun, but these minor league hockey players were having a great time. And when one team got to an early lead, the mascot blocked their goal.

After watching some of the game Saturday night, we headed to Honey, a restaurant we’ve been to a few times. It’s a special-occasion kind of place. We thought that arriving around 8 would help our odds of getting a table quickly, but instead we sat at the bar for a long while, munching on fries. There are rumors that the restaurant is closed or will be closing, but it was packed when we were there.

No, the bucket is not filled to the bottom. These fries are good – tiny shoestrings of three kinds of potato. By the time the fries arrived, we were ready to eat. I had one of those moments where I was happy to be with Alex: there was a couple sitting next to us and neither of them touched the fries they ordered. I think they were on an early date. I’m not certain if I was ever a shy eater, but I think there have been plenty of times when I was shy. Saturday night was not one of those nights.

My photo of my entrée makes it look unappetizing, and it wasn’t – it’s actually what I’ve gotten each time we’ve dined there. It’s soft tofu in a crispy basil crust on top of green beans and a root vegetable puree, with coconut milk sauce. The portion of tofu seems to be shrinking, but it’s still generous.

Sunday night we did something else new – we went to The Comet for bluegrass night. I’m not a bluegrass aficionado, but the band was good and enthusiastic. The food was pretty good, too. They serve a small menu with burritos, tacos, and quesadillas. I got a jerked tofu burrito, which included rice, black beans, salsa, and tofu. The prices are low and the portions are hearty. I think I ate 3/4 right away, and nibbled on the rest as I sipped various IPAs the rest of the night.

The bar got really crowded even 45 minutes before the band started, and I noticed an acquaintance standing around with no place to sit. Okay, someone I’ve met precisely twice. I went up to him and he had no idea who I was, but he was happy to take me up on the offer to come sit with us. I have a decent memory for faces and names, but it’s new to me to be friendly like that.

One other new thing I did was make a dessert. I’ve been wanting to make Hummingbird Cake (evidently also called Dr. Bird Cake, as I learned from a co-worker). This is a dense, moist cake, made with banana and crushed pineapple, with pecans and cinnamon. This turned out wonderfully, although it was maybe denser than it would normally be. I used flax eggs and my banana was frozen and then thawed, so either of those could be the culprit. The frosting was delicious, though – Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese makes a great cream cheese frosting!

One more new thing – I’m in a new decade! Yes, that is my birthday cake. I turned 30 on Sunday, can you believe it?

Failure Friday: Mushroom Barley Soup

This doesn’t look too bad, does it? I actually enjoyed my first heaping bowlful when I first made this soup from a tried-and-true cookbook, Robin Robertson’s Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

What went wrong? Too much barley. My leftovers turned into an inedible gelatinous blob of goop. What a disappointment, especially after I enjoyed my first bowl and used the last of my dried mushrooms.

How can this be fixed? Use less barley. Of course, it seems so obvious now. But I was following the recipe! (Actually, maybe I was not following it correctly. I’m don’t always measure.) The mushrooms were good, the carrots were good, the broth was good – I loved the touch of smoke paprika and chives. There was just too much barley.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Kitchen Cabinet and Freezer Soup

I promise I’ll get a little more excited about MoFo next week.

For now, I’m keeping up by doing two things I normally wouldn’t do: I’m telling you I’m not feeling well, and I’m posting on a day I might normally skip. I only mention that I’m not feeling well because it is very relevant to tonight’s supper.

I wanted soup, but I still don’t have much food on hand and wasn’t feeling up to shopping. So this is what I made with stuff I have on hand. This soup requires zero work and is already making me feel better. Or maybe relaxing for the first night in more than a week is helping me feel better.

After lunch, I tossed everything in my slow cooker. I used a large can of plum tomatoes, frozen cannellini beans, frozen chopped green bell peppers, an onion, a shallot, some garlic, a bouillon cube, some tomato paste, and some orzo tossed in near the end. I also used some red and black pepper, dried oregano, and some pesto paste squeezed across the top and then mixed right in.

I served this up in a big bowl wrapped in a kitchen towel and ate on the couch, while watching a movie. I think after some rest tonight and this good soup I should be feeling better soon. Want to know a secret? The frozen green peppers are coming full circle, because they were originally purchased to be an ice pack.

Normally I would say have a great weekend, but instead – see you tomorrow!

A day in the life, brought to you by Trader Joe’s

I typically post 3-5 times per week, so posting more frequently in honor of MoFo is indeed more about food, but probably more about me too. I’ll share with you my day in food. Be warned, though. Today really wasn’t a good day.

I’ll admit it: I drink coffee. Pretty much every day. And I have one favorite mug that I like to use. I’m also in the habit of drinking Trader Joe’s Bolivian Blend. At least the mornings, I like my routine. I usually add some soymilk, but sometimes when I’m feeling extravagant I like to use So Delicious coconut milk creamer. Breakfast is often some fruit, and lately it’s been an apple, which I’ve been buying by the peck from a local orchard.

I don’t eat much for breakfast because lunch is really early, and usually I eat leftovers. However, after being out of town I didn’t have any leftovers so I had some packaged food, also from Trader Joe’s.

Vegetable gyoza (from the freezer) and a just-add-boiling-water noodle bowl. Yes, I ate from the plastic bowl. These are some of my current favorite packaged TJ’s foods. I don’t like that the soup bowl has so much packaging, but I do take my #5 plastics to Whole Foods for Gimme 5 and I buy Preserve toothbrushes (guess where? Trader Joe’s).

For dinner, I had a meeting at Max & Erma’s. I did not take pictures, so please use your imagination. If the food in your imagination looks good, you are not imagining correctly. First, let me tell you that Max & Erma’s is not a place I would choose to go, but it is a really popular chain in the area along the lines of Applebee’s, I guess. There is nothing vegan on the menu, although they do have a black bean burger that is vegetarian. (Vegan Eating Out is a great resource for info on chain restaurants.)

I ordered a salad and a baked potato. I asked the waiter for no bacon, no cheese. I told him I did not want any meat. So he brought me a plain baked potato and a salad with bacon. Bacon that I could not see. Bacon that I found with my mouth. The bacon was mixed in with the slivered almonds and underneath the tomatoes on the salad. He told me he thought I just didn’t want bacon on the potato. What? I could tell from the look on his face that he just didn’t get it and wanted to tell me I ordered incorrectly.

After the dinner meeting ended, I headed across the parking lot to Whole Foods to pick up some groceries and see if Alex wanted me to bring him any food. He was upset because someone had egged his truck. The truck was parked at the airport over actual Halloween, so this must have happened last night. Let me tell you, getting egged is no fun even if you like eggs. The paint is damaged, the inside stinks, and he had to spend hours working on cleaning up only three or four eggs.

Let’s end on a happy note. Our black cats stayed safe through Halloween. I wasn’t worried about them as they are indoor-only, but now I am. You can see the shadow of my hand holding up his little mouse, and Twinkie sitting on his hind legs like a prairie dog? He loves to do this, especially in the morning. He was doing this while I was photographing my coffee.

And I brought Alex a vegan Philly cheesesteak from Whole Foods and he really enjoyed it. He told me he wasn’t hungry but he plowed through this sandwich.

Chilly First of November

I’ve just returned from a whirlwind weekend trip to sunny California, so now the below-60 degree temperature in Cincinnati feels extra cold. This was one of those trips were I probably tried to do too much in too little time, and this was a trip that leaves me hungry rather than stuffed with good food. Hungry and cold, it was an easy choice to have soup full of vegetables for my first meal back at home.

I rehydrated dried mushrooms in hot water that forms the stock for the soup, and then I toss in the rest of my vegetables. This time I had fresh mushrooms, celery, carrots, cabbage, snap peas, green onions, and soba noodles and white miso. I tried not to put in too many vegetables because I’ve had so many soup pots and stir fries grow out of control when I keep adding everything I like. I managed to keep this to two really hearty servings.

Served with a side of baby bok choy, sauteed and seasoned with garlic and soy sauce, I feel like I’m caught up on my need for green vegetables. I’m warm and happy and just hoping I can adjust back to eastern time, get to bed early enough, and wake up and go back to work tomorrow.

Yeah, the trip? I was going to a football game with my brother and sister-in-law. We geared up in Titans wear and saw them fight it out but ultimately lose. By now, that’s nothing new as I generally choose the losing side. It’s different though, taking flack from the sore winners.

Here we are slightly sunburned but smiling after the game.

I’m also excited to participate in Vegan MoFo! Last year, I read lots of blogs but did not participate. Before that, I had no idea it existed. But I’ll be showing lots of stuff I make for myself that I don’t usually consider blog-worthy, just to show a more complete picture of regular life. I’m also going to try lots of new recipes and do something completely new at least once a week. I’m setting the bar low to guarantee success; it might be more often than that. Right now, I’m excited to see my reader fill up with great posts from other bloggers! I’ve said it repeatedly: reading blogs has been most helpful to me in finding new foods to eat and new ways to cook.

Super Easy Taco Soup

I find many, many recipes I want to make from the blogs I read. Among my friends? Not so much. When I learned that a friend made vegetarian soup, I couldn’t wait to try it.

I’ve mentioned my monthly dinners at Ronald McDonald House before. (And after the next time I go, I’ll write more about that.) Everyone brings something, and after the residents eat, we’ll usually eat some leftover food and hang out for a bit. Typically I’ll stick to my own food, but when a friend mentioned that her soup was vegetarian, I gave it a try.

Yes, I quizzed her about any possible chicken broth or other animal ingredients, and that’s when she shared the recipe. This soup is mostly beans, and that’s certainly fine by me! Plus it’s super easy. If you just open cans, it’s really really really easy. I used frozen corn, frozen beans that I’d cooked from dry beans, and mixed my own seasoning from my ever-growing spice cabinet, and it was still easy.

Taco Bean Soup

• 2 cups, or 1 can black beans
• 2 cups, or 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can diced tomatoes, or Ro-Tel style green chiles and tomatoes
• 2 cups, or 1 can corn
• Broth or water, or even the liquid from cans, to make soup desired consistency
• 1 can refried beans, or 2 cups pinto beans, pureed
• Taco seasoning mix (recipe here) or store bought pouch

Combine all ingredients and heat through. The refried beans mixed with the water (or liquid from cans) makes the soup broth really thick. I like the sweet pop of the corn, too. This concoction is similar to a chili, but different. At least to me.

Top as desired with cilantro, Better Than Sour Cream, jalapenos, or just eat plain or with cornbread or corn chips.

I used my homegrown jalapeno and a bit of Better Than Sour Cream on top, along with some corn chips. This made a big pot of soup (and next time I’ll include more tomatoes so I expect it to be even bigger) but we both ate all the leftovers really quickly. That’s how I judge a good recipe.

Restaurant: Loving Hut

Brace yourselves: Cincinnati has an all-vegan restaurant. Formerly known as Loving Cafe, now Loving Hut, this small, fast casual style restaurant serves an all-vegan menu from soups, salads, and sandwiches to raw creations, smoothies, and a kid’s menu. It’s been a favorite since I first went, more than a year ago.

The Loving Hut on Montgomery Road in Pleasant Ridge

There are Loving Hut restaurants in locations throughout the world, and their menus vary. I’m happy to see that through this recent rebranding, the Cincinnati location the menu has remained and the bright chartreuse walls have been toned down. The walls are newly wheat colored and adorned with photographs of famous vegetarians and facts about veganism. Another positive change I’ve noticed is that they no longer use disposable plates; they do still have the trash station divided into recycling, composting, and trash, with helpful labels about what can be put in each bin.

Along the front counter, with the new Loving Hut logo above the doorway to the back dining room. An unknown child enjoys the kid’s menu after Saturday karate class.

For all the soup I eat at home, I still enjoy eating soup out. At Loving Hut, it’s a pleasure to know that even the creamy potato soup is safe. Not only that, it’s delicious. Besides pho, which is on the regular menu, the soups change and are listed on the blackboard specials. Several times when I’ve been, I’ve enjoyed the pumpkin chili. This chili is slightly sweet and just hot enough, and it’s full of garbanzo beans. Another favorite is the avocado spring roll, which is served with almond sauce.

Alex’s favorite sandwich is called the American Panini, which is tofurkey, mustard, pickles, vegan cheese, and slaw, pressed and grilled panini style. On our most recent visit, we got the portabella panini, which is similar but with a portabella and roasted red pepper spread. This sandwich is overflowing with goodness.

I’ve never tried the raw pizza or any of their raw dishes, so we got the Raw Reuben. The dehydrated bread brought the rye flavor you’d expect in a Reuben, and there were plenty of marinated vegetables to top it.

I’ve liked everything I’ve gotten at Loving Hut/Cafe. Many of their items are faux meats – those get the attention, but it’s less than a third of the menu. They have great barbecued chickn wraps and one time I had a chickn salad sandwich that was a delicious daily special. My biggest problem is deciding whether to get something I have had and enjoyed, or whether to try something new. Pretty good problem to have, huh?

Quick and Easy Cauliflower Soup

It is cold. Between Saturday and today, it got really, really cold. I wanted soup anyway, but as it’s the first Monday of the month I needed to make a big batch to take to Ronald McDonald House. This soup is almost as easy as those just-add-water mixes, and it’s a million times tastier.

Creamy Cauliflower and Leek Soup

Poor cauliflower got a bad reputation as a healthy alternative to potatoes. Because we’re used to seeing it white? Because it goes well in soup with leeks?

This soup is delicious, and using cauliflower makes it super easy. No potatoes to scrub or peel. Just chunk the cauliflower and boil and steam it. Cleaning the leeks takes the longest, but even that is quick.

For this large batch, I used four large leeks, sauteed briefly in a olive oil, two heads of cauliflower, and about 6 cups of vegetable broth. It’s okay if not all the cauliflower is submerged in the broth. Cook for 20-25 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

This is where you’ll want an immersion blender. I still make a mess with the immersion blender, but it would be worse trying to transfer the soup to a stand blender. Blend the soup, add a little nutmeg (or other spices, but I like it with the nutmeg) and finish with some almond milk to make this extra creamy. I like mine with some black pepper on top.

Voila! Easy soup. Perfect for cuddling weather.

Country Life and College Life Revisited

I was just telling you about going back to my brother’s place after our late dinner at Kerbey Lane Cafe. He lives almost two hours from Austin, in the sticks, and about 20 minutes out of town. That’s a big change from me – I live on a busy, noisy, city street, where it’s less than a 10-minute walk to the grocery store.

I didn’t know they grew cotton in Texas.

The neat thing about being in the sticks, though, is a huge backyard for the dogs. Samari is up front; see Lugnut running, along the right?

Samari rolls around outside and picks up burrs in her coat. For anyone who thought my brother is attractive, just look at him plucking burrs from his pup.

All their pets are girls, but they also have two cats. We met Zoe in December 2009 when she was a baby, and now she’s all grown up. Alex, who has met many more cats than I have, says this the only female orange cat he’s ever seen. Does anyone else know if the gingers are all (or mostly) male?

And the newest addition is Thalia. She wouldn’t stay still to pose for the camera.

See the Titans blanket? My brother is a huge football fan. (Good thing he moved to Texas, right?) We spent most of Sunday at their place, watching games, and we cooked. Shelby was really happy to eat some things with us that she doesn’t normally get to enjoy, like chili (even though it had beans and no meat) and tofu stir fry with peanut sauce.

These are two favorite recipes that I don’t need a cookbook to make, and they’re great to share with family. Everyone has really enjoyed them. Or at least been polite.

I know this post is getting long, but I left for Texas a week ago, and I’m ready to be done telling you about it. When I mentioned they live so far from Austin, did you bother wondering where they live? Outside of College Station, Aggieland, home of Texas A & M.

We went out to Ozona, Tex-Mex place, which was having $1 margaritas, served in plastic cups. Ah, college life. We did enjoy some fried pickeled okra, or at least Shelby and I did. Alex ate a few pieces and some loose batter, but Andy wouldn’t touch it. This stuff was great, though – a combo of fried okra and fried pickles! My dinner was great, too, delicious grilled vegetable tacos. This came with a side of beans, and I asked the waitress if they were made with meat. She said no – but before taking a bite, I found big chunks of bacon in them! Shelby, our native Texan, says bacon isn’t meat to the locals.

I’m heading out for the weekend, but I have one last photo to share. This is a local bar advertising pitchers of cold beer and Mario Kart. Minus the Old West theme, this is my kind of place. Have a great weekend – I can’t say that beer and Wii aren’t in my plans for tonight.

Soupy Soba and Broccoli Stems

Is there any reason that the tastiest foods don’t make for good photos? Maybe cupcakes and pizza and fresh whole fruit pose well, but soups and pastas just don’t.

I might be making several soups in the next few days while Alex is recovering from having his wisdom teeth extracted. This soup, though, was something I wanted to do for me. (I’ve already made a big batch of mashed potatoes for him.) Plus it feels healthy after a bad week for food so far. Last night for Alex’s last meal before the oral surgery, he chose Mac’s Pizza Pub so I enjoyed another delicious vegan pizza and some Magic Hat #9.

This soup is made from dried mushrooms and the soaking liquid, plus all my favorite soup vegetables, like cremini slices, carrots, celery, nappa cabbage, and broccoli.

I even used the broccoli stems, which I’ve never done before. I peeled them and sliced them like carrots – they were perfect and not too tough as I had always thought. I finished off the soup with some white miso, bean sprouts, and sriracha.

How did I forget to mention the soba noodles? I was worried that these noodles would soak up all my broth and become mushy, but they were perfect soup noodes.

I wanted to make this quick as I’m headed into work for a half day today, but I’m honored to have received a Most Versatile Blogger award from Bianca and Vegan Crunk. Super! I’ll think of a few things to share about myself and a few bloggers to pass this along to soon. Can you handle the suspense?

Tomatillo Soup

Anybody out there know what to do with tomatillos besides make salsa verde?

I didn’t, so I searched the web. I learned that they’re sometimes called husk tomatoes, and that they are usually sticky under the green husks. I’m glad I read this, because I’ve been having some quality problems with my “Farm Fresh” Delivery. That’s sad, but at least I know when I’ve got a bad apple. I don’t know that I could tell a bad tomatillo unless it was really bad.

I found a recipe for Corn & Tomatillo Soup on the Center for Disease Control website, of all places. Evidently they’re trying to encourage us to eat more fruits and vegetables. To control disease, of course. This should really be called Corn, Green Pea, and Tomatillo Soup, because it gets a lot of its body from green peas. I checked a few other soup recipes, too, and they all seem to be variations of the same thing. Yes, they all include peas.

I pureed the tomatillos, onion, peas, and jalapeno, but I left the corn whole and threw in cilantro at the end. The recipe calls for spinach, but I figured they were just trying to throw in all the green vegetables they could, so I left that out.

This soup was good. I’ll admit I was kind of surprised because I had no idea what to expect. I used corn stock for my broth, so this soup was sweet from the green peas and corn, and the tomatillos have a tart, almost lemony, flavor. This is another good summer soup that tastes really good when it’s slightly warmed, not hot.

Are there foods you’ve never cooked? How do you approach a new ingredient?

Restaurant: Myra’s Dionysus

I’ve been to Myra’s Dionysus twice recently, and so I have photos from two wonderful meals to share with you. This is one of the restaurants I went to soon after moving to Cincinnati because it comes up quickly on a Google search for vegetarian food, but it’s become a quick favorite.

Myra’s is in Clifton, near the University of Cincinnati. They’ve been celebrating their 30th anniversary for three years, 1977 – 2007. The menu has an introduction to the restaurant written by Myra herself and it highlights some of the interesting things about the place. For instance, it’s mainly Greek foods, but it’s not limited to a specific theme. And there are eight soups every day. Any many people – not just professional chefs – are trained to cook the menu items.

They have a small dining room and a small outdoor patio. When Alex and I went, we sat out back and enjoyed a leisurely dinner and a glass of wine. Yes, they serve beer and wine. And it’s just as reasonably priced as the food.

The food is inexpensive and the portions are reasonable, so you can get a soup and and a sandwich or a salad and an entree without being overloaded. On this trip, I ordered a plate that is half hummus, half tabouli, and it was delicious, served with a couple of olives, lots of fresh ripe tomatoes, and plenty of wheat pita. This crazy tablecloth may actually be an original from 1977, and that’s okay by me.

Half hummus, half tabouli, $4.00

Alex and I did share this, but I ate most of it because he got his own salad, I think. He also ordered what they call the PC burger, but I only got one blurry photo of it. That’s one of several vegetarian but not vegan choices. He’s becoming a connoisseur of veggie burgers and he really enjoyed it. I got a falafel salad, which was dressed with a lemon tahini dressing and it was absolutely delicious. It looks simple, and it is, but I’ve stopped making fried falafel at home because it’s just too much trouble to use that much oil and then clean up.

Falafel salad, $5.50

I would also like to clarify that although these look like they might be disposable plates, they’re not. No waste here.

On my next, most recent visit, we sat inside. You can see directly into the kitchen both from some of the tables and right as you enter the restaurant. Either inside or outdoors, this is one of those places that just makes me feel comfortable being there. Also note the changing list of available soups – there are also knitted hats along the entryway representing the various soups. They’re all described in the menu and the vegan ones are clearly identified.

This trip was after my delightful wheatberry salad from Third Avenue Cafe, so when I saw they were featuring a wheatberry salad with black eyed peas, I couldn’t resist. You know I love black eyed peas. This salad also includes dried cranberries, onion, garlic, mint, and the lemon tahini dressing. This was good, but the onion and garlic were rough on my breath!

Wheatberry and black eyed pea salad, $3.00

I also selected the baked tofu sandwich, which intrigued me because it was described as being marinated in kecap manis and lime, which is a sort of sweet soy sauce usually found in Indonesian food. It was a thick sauce, but the portion was perfect to flavor the tofu. Again, it looks simple, and it was, but the taste was great.

Marinated tofu sandwich, $5.50

My friends enjoyed their dishes, too, including potato soup, a cheese pita, and a gyro. One of my friends is only employed part-time and asked that we try to keep dinner cheap. Myra’s really fit the bill, but we didn’t compromise on taste at all, and we all had pages and pages of choices. I’ll have to see where we’ll go next and if it does as good a job at pleasing us all.