Vegan MoFo Quickie: White Orchids

Hi Folks!

Just wanted to stop in on this fine Sunday evening and post a quickie review of White Orchids Thai Restaurant located at the The Promenade Shops at Center Valley in Center Valley, Pa.

Type: Omnivore Thai Restaurant that is TOTALLY Vegan and Gluten-Free Friendly.

How friendly you ask? When you walk in just let the host know that you want to order from their Vegan (or Gluten-Free) Menu and they will provide you with a modified menu that includes Appetizers, Soup/Salad, Rice, Noodle, and Stir Fry entrees, and a yummy Mango Sticky Rice dessert. Tip: Add organic tofu to any entree for an additional $2

Taste: I like it, even if it is a little on the sweet side. It's a frequent destination for T and I. It's some of the best Thai in the area, although I might be prejudiced by the ease of ordering Vegan and not having to explain what it means.
Warning: Spicing can be a little dodgy. I like spice and I feel that generally they have a light hand with heat. Hence, if you loves the spice, go for HOT right off the bat.

Ambiance: Very inviting, although they play a strange music selection of mid-nineties to current rock pop. It's just weird hearing The Rembrandts and Blink 182 while you're eating in a relatively elegant setting. Also there is a great patio outside that seems to always be open weather permitting. I'm also excited to know that they are expanding in to the space next to them so the restaurant will be huge and when the liquor license comes through there will be a nifty lounge. I honestly may never leave.

Recommendations:
Tom Yum Soup with Tofu with medium heat (Coconut Lemongrass Soup)
Khow Pad Prik Pow (Spicy Thai Basil Fried Rice)
Red Curry
Red Curry Stir fry.

Ok... this was supposed to be a quickie review and now I'm almost waxing poetic about this restaurant so I think I'll wrap it up for now. Perhaps tomorrow I'll post a pic of my Spicy Thai Basil Fried Rice that I had today for linner (lunch/dinner) tomorrow.

See you then!

Chasing the Peanut Butter: Turtle Mountain’s Purely Decadent Peanut Butter Zig Zag

For my first review of 2009’s Vegan Mofo (Vegan Month of Food) I will be sticking my spoon deep into the heart of Purely Decadent Peanut Butter Zig Zag non-dairy frozen desert.

So, what is it? It’s a soy version of chocolate peanut butter swirl (made with organic ingredients) and I’m not going to lie to you. It’s delicious. Whenever I pick up a new food the first thing I do, much to the chagrin of my fellow shoppers perhaps, is stop and read the ingredients. (Sometimes it takes me a while and I’m standing aimlessly in the middle of the grocery aisle. I try not to block anyone’s way, but Whole Paycheck’s aisles can get pretty crowded.) I check for freakish laboratory experiment style ingredients and things that *I* personally feel should never cross one’s lips. Peanut Butter Zig Zag completely passes this test. The ingredients are straight forward and natural. There’s nothing Frankenstein about this desert. It’s soymilk, peanut butter, sugar, some natural oils and thickeners that create the perfect ice cream like texture. It’s not icey or grainy like other dairy substitutes I’ve tried.

Taste? It’s a rich and creamy dark chocolate that has been swirled through with chunks of thick sweet peanut butter and flecks of dark chocolate. When I have a pint of this in the house (oh how I wish I could buy it by the gallon!) I have to act quickly or else my husband, T, will get to it first. He is in love with the peanut butter and will literally chase it through out the pint. I’ve been known to come down to our freezer in hopes of a late evening snack only to find that I no longer have a pint of zig zag, but maybe a half –pint of chocolate ice cream. And it’s still good, although the peanut butter adds the excitement.

So if you are a new vegan and looking for a sweet ice cream treat go to your nearest enlightened grocer and pick up a pint of Purely Decadent Peanut Butter Zig Zag (or any other Purely Decadent flavor for that matter) and get to noshing! A pint will typically run you about $3.99. Sounds pricey but you can get four decent servings out of it and I find that I don’t need a lot to satisfy the craving.

This month look for reviews on Dr. Cow’s Tree Nut Cheese, an artisanal gourmet cheese that is dairy free, vegan caviar comparisons, restaurant and bakery reviews, and if there’s time much MUCH MORE!

That Girl

Sometimes I wonder
could I be that pretty girl
With the short messy hair?
The one that everyone
calls "quirky" and "creative"?
Funky style and always one step
ahead

I know you know that girl.
Even I think it's a privilege
to just stand near her.
With her flock of sheep
Baa-ing at her every word;
Grinning like fleshless skulls-
there is no other choice.

Watch her sometime-
effortlessly calculated
Confidence and just a hint
of Insecurity.
After all, we musn't forget her
delicate and feminine
Humanity

I want to be her
bathed in light.
Daphne-like
Call me Helen
And I will launch a thousand ships
Making everyone my love's fool.

Every now and then…
I hate that pretty, pretty girl.

Eye of an Old Woman

I have a liquid eye
my world surpasses the years
I've been here
My ears are like funnels
Vacuum, sucking
I see like a tornado
My ears, the eye of the storm
Everyone's word become
my own
Everyone's truth
Everyone's truth?
Yes, they are my own truths
Lies born through me
wrapped in filth and disgust
They become my demons that cannot
escape

I see horrors, the nightly world gossip
My liquid eye swallows and swirls
taking it all in
My hands and feet bound together
The words of the world (but they are much more than the world)
ensconce me like wax,
molded around me
My head, like a wick remains
uncovered

Everyone wants to see my eyes
burn
My soul fly away in smoke
They torment me
My eyes pinned open
My ears unclogged
The Fury of the world
opens her mouth wide

screams
Screams
SCREAMS

Devastation! Destruction!
the earth's wasteland
Out fly the demons
Out fly the heavens
that They attempt to hold hostage

This terrorism
steams my liquid eye
My heart, my mind
spontaneously
combust


Danielle N. Sanders (c) 2008

Double Helix

Write the chaos
get it out
take it down
stare it in the face
Set free the terror in your breast
Feel the scratch and the ache
The gnawing from within...

When I begin,
if I can begin
winds will HOWL
and loves will be jilted
Desires pulled out of remission
eating away at memory
like corrupted DNA; replicating

Hearing and seeing
Your words all over again
lopsided smile pulling to the right
reluctant to reconcile with the schism
in my brain-
One side straight and clean
clear and arrogant
The other crestfallen and twisted
murky and congealed

Words of sadness
thrown away
Beat them down
bludgeon and lay waste
Fight back, be free


by Danielle N. Sanders (c) 2008

Hello!

Welcome to my blog. I'm glad you could stop by and visit. I will be sharing my thoughts and ideas on numerous things, as well as posting some of my writing. Feel free to comment on any and everything!

:-)