Monday 31 August 2015

eating my way round 70 food trucks

New Westminster, BC, Canada


Hi everyone!

Last week my family and I went to the Food Truck Fest in New Westminster. Or, for everyone outside of Vancouver, a bunch of food trucks on a road!

As to be expected, the street was jam-packed. Above is just one picture of the crowd, although maybe it isn't the best of lighting. The lines were also stupid long, but we still managed to eat a lot of food...

 



(There's the siblings)

As you probably know from my last few posts (because I keep mentioning it!), I am now a vegetarian. I thought a place like this would be heaven for me, but I was actually surprised at how few vegan/vegetarian options there were. I think there were about 4 vegan-dedicated vans all together -- out of (close to) 100 food venues. That being said, nearly every truck had vegetarian options.

Ah, well, I did find a few things to eat anyway!

Out first stop was at the one and only French van. We got French fries because it just seemed fitting.

We then slowly moved along to get some Polish perogies, and the pictures of my brothers above were taken as we were waiting for them. The perogies were cheese flavoured and came with heaping of sour cream and dill leaves on top. It was amazing. The dill and sour cream worked really well together!

There was a big section of dancers and, later in the night, singers (and then even later in the night, a mix of both plus alcohol). It made me wish I kept in all the dance classes I started but quit when I was younger! Not that I would have danced the salsa in the middle of the street buuut, you know... I would have been able to.



We then walked along and I found one of the only vegan trucks that was selling actual food and not just juice! I got a vegan hotdog - it was a fancy "apple sage" flavour (but I didn't taste either) and it came with onions, dairy-free mozzarella and a few other things on top.

It was also amazing but, now I don't know why this is, but vegan food always has a mushy taste to it. It doesn't have the same... bite as meat does. That's the only way I can think to describe it. Please comment if you know what I'm talking about!?

After my vegan hotdog, I had some of the spiciest vegetable pakora from a Fijian fusion place. The sauce was great but I couldn't even finish 4 bits.

After that, we moved on to the sweet foods. Unfortunately, I stopped taking pictures at this point (you could probably take a guess as to why). We got a couple packs of candy from "Candy Meister" and then went back and got ice-cream from there too. The young ones also got a lot of kettle corn so I had some of that too.

If you've made it to this part of the post, thanks! That was a long one.
I wanted to write something because I haven't actually wrote something in a while. I've been posting lots of lists and recipes lately and I just wanted to spit out all the thoughts that came out for a change.

Columbia Street, New Westminster

Thursday 13 August 2015

blueberry & date oatmeal


Hi everyone,

I have another recipe post for you all today. I decided to become a vegetarian almost 3 weeks ago now. Since then I've been a bit food-obsessed and it has been on my mind quite a bit. Not in a bad way! (I know that sounds unhealthy) I mean that it's on my mind a lot because I'm thinking of new dishes to make. With saying that, every morning I have been having some variation of a smoothie bowl or oatmeal.

Since I've already done a smoothie bowl recipe, I thought I write an oatmeal recipe today. I always make my oatmeal the same -- with almond milk and a bit of sugar. So, even if you don't use these exact toppings, know that this ratio of almond milk and oats always works.
A few days ago, I tried using blueberries and dates to top my oatmeal. I thought it was going to be a weird flavour because the dates, but it actually just made me want to experiment more with them. So, expect some more date recipes in the future!

(I also uploaded this picture to instagram)


Date & Blueberry Oatmeal
Ingredients
1/2 cup oats
1 cup almond milk
1tsp brown sugar
dates
blueberries
honey or agave nectar (agave nectar is vegan)

Method
Combine oats and almond milk in a pot over high heat because you're impatient and want food now. Walk away and forget about it until it's all burn and stuck to the bottom. Swear. Hope mum doesn't walk in. Quickly clean the pot before she questions anything.
Then start it the proper way; combining oats and milk over low/medium heat. Once it's all mixed, reduce heat and add 1tsp brown sugar or 1tbsp cocoa powder if you want a more chocolatey taste. Then just put the oatmeal in a bowl and place the fruit (and drizzle the honey) on top.

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