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Chocolate almond milk has always been staple in our house. It’s just SO good! When stocking up last week, I noticed something new- chocolate hazelnut milk! Pacific has also started carrying their own hemp milk, so we decided to have a nut milk showdown. The judges were: myself, Jim and my little brother Alec.

The votes:

Kris:
Almond milk- still the reigning champ at #1.
Hazelnut milk- a very close second. More cocoay than chocolatey, but with a nice hint of hazelnuts. Reminded me of Nutella.
Hemp milk- okay in a pinch, but Living Harvest’s hemp milk is much better.

Jim:
Almond milk- again, still #1
Hazelnut milk- very creamy, the cocoay-ness was also noted.
Hemp milk- while being chocolatey, had other flavors present that distracted from “the experience”.

Alec:
Hazelnut milk- dissenting from the majority, Alec felt that the presence of the hazelnut flavor took this chocolate milk up a notch. The mouth feel was better than the almond milk.
Almond milk- it was sweet and chocolatey, but “full of almondness”- I don’t know what that means.
Hemp milk- Meh. Not as good as Living Harvest.

So, it appears that almond milk is still the champion, but hazelnut will become a frequent visitor. Drank in our Welch’s jelly jars, of course.

What’s your favorite chocolate milk?

I’m in love.

I adore Portland. I love it so much that even thought Seattle has superior Asian cuisine and Mighty O Donuts, I am still always happy to see the Portland skyline when we arrive back in town, home of my beloved Blossoming Lotus, Proper Eats, Black Sheep and many, many others.

Enter Thrive, a newish (1 year old, maybe?) vegan restaurant in Seattle, conveniently located in our family’s neighborhood. It’s primarily a raw restaurant, with it’s only cooked food being some grains included in some recipes. The decor is warm and inviting. You can purchase some of the ingredients in bulk while you’re there. The service is incredible, so friendly and warm you’d think the workers were on something.

And they are! They are on their incredible, crave-inducing food that almost created an embarrassing When Harry Met Sally scene, as I had to keep shushing Jim as he exclaimed and made yummy noises with concerning gusto. It’s that simple kind of food, healthy and whole foods based, that explodes in your mouth upon contact. Lots of places can make food healthy, but to make a nutritious meal borderline (food)pornographic takes talent and they’ve got it at Thrive.

The pictures aren’t so hot, as I was more concerned with stuffing my face than photographing the food, but you’ll get the drift.

Boutenko’s Best smoothie- not quite as green as it normally is (I’ve had it twice now) as they were out of kale, but SO delicious and refreshing. Made, of course, in a Vita-Mix. Vita-Mix represent!

This is the Awaken Bowl, a base of Bhutanese red rice and quinoa with raw zucchini, carrots, scallions, veggies, marinated spinach, avocado and nori with a side of sesame-ginger sauce. This meal is so amazingly satisfying and complex, it blows my mind.

Okay, I know this picture is terrible, but we got dessert to-go and it was taken under the dome light of a 24-year-old car. So all things considered, it’s a great photo.

This dessert… there are no words. Jim likes really traditional desserts, a piece of cake or a cookie. He’s not much a “fancy” dessert person. This is a slice of chocolate strawberry swirl mousse pie. All raw. MIND-BLOWING. I don’t normally like to share desserts, but the slice was generous and very rich, so I was happy to split it with Jim, who was eagerly spoon-fed as he tried to keep it cool while consuming said mousse pie while driving and keep us on the road. This was literally one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. Period.

So while Portland is where my heart is, Thrive has lodged itself firmly in there and I’m gladly making space.

And in other news… I’m going to be on TV next week! A local morning show, AM Northwest on KATU news, will be featuring little ol’ me on a morning segment next Tuesday on vegan baking as a New Year’s resolution to a healthier and friendlier lifestyle. I will post the link to the show once it’s up. Horray for vegan baking!

No, Alberta is not a person (although I work with someone by that name, so that could be weird). Alberta is a street in NE Portland and it’s quickly becoming one of the tastiest streets in town.

Homegrown Smoker is the vegan BBQ foodcart that opened a couple of months ago. They used to be 4 blocks down the street from their new location at 27th and Alberta. The new location seems better equipped for Portland weather and even has a heated eating tent. Excellent.

There is food that is good and then there is food laced with addictive flavors and textures and plain old comforting goodness. This falls into the latter category. There are four different protein choices including chorizo, tofu steaks, tempeh ribs and soy curls. In this platter most people pick two small portions of two different proteins, but I went with all soy curls. If we all have a predestined fate in life, being smoked and slathered with BBQ sauce is the destiny of a soy curl. In this form it is truly at it’s full potential. Oh momma, these things are amazing! On the side, maple BBQ beans and mac no cheese. The beans are good, reliably tasty beans. The mac no cheese isn’t like gourmet mac ‘n cheese, but there’s just something good and noochy about it. Must. Eat. More.

You’d think I haven’t been food blogging for 4 years. I didn’t turn the cornbread around so you could see the inside of it! Darn, now I’ll have to go back. The sacrifices I make for this blog… Seriously, though, this is a gluten-free cornbread that has pretty flecks of flax in it. That’s fun to say, flex of flax. Now, I haven’t had much Southern cooking in my life and am very much naive to the art of cornbread, but this cornbread rocks. The texture, moisture, flavor, it’s all there. I never even thought I cared much about cornbread, until I started craving theirs. Add the sweet mint tea on the side… serious food heaven.

After you’ve stuffed yourself with smoked goodness, a mere four blocks away is Back to Eden, the new vegan bakery in town. A four block walk is exercise, right? That means it’s time for dessert.

Back to Eden is about as pretty a place as it gets. Decorated in 1930s farm house chic, the colors are warm and inviting, the decor is sharp with attention to detail and aside from the bakery items, they have all sorts of goodies to buy. Locally made jams, aprons, cards, a section of vegan cookbooks, and fun baking supplies, like fancy sprinkles fill the shelves. Plus they have, you know, the baked goods. They also have soft serve in TWO different flavors, which means… wait for it…. TWIST ice cream!

shown here with caramel sauce

They carry Temptation soft serve, which you can get with a variety of topping/sauce combos or as a milkshake! And there are a variety of baked goods available each day, from breakfasty scones to decadent cakes and tarts. They have lots of gluten-free options, too.

A strawberry filled chocolate cupcake. When I read the sign for it, I thought it said “strawberry fields cupcake” and I got all sorts of Beatles-excited… I was wrong, but I still needed the cupcake to calm me down. Even the frosting had a pronounced strawberry flavor that was amazing.

A pumpkin whoopie pie. Soft, moist cookie outer and spiced creamy inner filling… Devilishly good. So devilish, in fact, that an evil kitteh couldn’t keep her mouth off of the pumpkin cookie part.

Who knew bad kittehs liked pumpkin?

So this is my ode to Alberta Street, with new attractions motivating me to leave the SE bubble for things other than concerts.

Portland is a great place for foodies, no doubt. Whether you’re vegan, omni, microbrew aficionado or mixologist, Portland has you covered. That’s all fine and good if you wish to be served, but what if you want to be the one behind the apron? One of the things that Portland has going for it, that appears to be underrated, is that it’s a great place for bakers.

In Milwaukie, a southern suburb of Portland, a large red barn houses the holy land for baker’s and conscious eaters alike: Bob’s Red Mill.

This water wheel operates a large display grind stone inside.

In a standard grocery store, even in many co-ops, you are lucky to find a little sections featuring Bob’s grains. If you have ever looked for wheat gluten, alternative flours, or gluten-free mixes, chances are you’ve come across Bob’s, no matter where you live. And with good reason. Bob’s Red Mill has been leading the way- with wholesome stone ground grains, beans, and baking mixes- for several decades now.

At the Red Mill, you can order up some food for breakfast or lunch. They have a separate vegetarian menu featuring a few vegan options. The staff there are very helpful in answering any menu questions you have, as well as welcoming substitutions.

Rather than having a little section to select from, the store carries the whole line of BRM goods, seeing as it’s only about 1/2 mile from it’s actual processing facility. That means over 300 products made by BRM. It’s easy to get lost for hours, reading over each little bag and oogling all of the exotic baking goods.

Pretty much anything under the sun that you could need is housed within the big red barn. This picture shows only about 1/3 of the store. There is also a huge bulk section, some ready-to-eat food and baking/cooking supplies. You can buy grains in bags as small as 16 oz. or you can pull out the big guns and haul home a 25 lb. bag of grain for a very reasonable price. They also have a large filing cabinet stocked with free recipes for nearly all their products.

If you are lucky, you may run into Bob himself. There is an upper level with some festive decor and a sitting area for those enjoying a meal. I have seen him up there a couple of times, sitting at a table doing paper work. He wears the Bob attire, the famous hat and vest ensemble. This last trip, he actually saddled up to an upright piano and played some music, as well as sang a tune! I would have taken a picture, but that would have involved leaning over some poor diner’s table to get a shot, so I erred on the side of good manners and held back.

Directly across the street is vegan bread headquarters: Dave’s Killer Bread.

This is the outlet for Dave’s Killer Bread and it’s sister company (actually brother company) Nature Bake. Everything that Dave makes is vegan and most of Nature Bake’s products are as well. DKB is truly the most amazing bread I have ever tasted. When you toast a slice of it, it smells as if you are baking a fresh loaf at that very moment. Dave takes Bob’s excellent ingredients and makes magic with them.

Inside the outlet you’ll find racks and freezers full of bread, buns, rolls and cookies for lower prices than the store. Depending on whether you get day old loaves or frozen loaves, you can save over half of what some local stores charge. The other advantage is that you can get some of Dave’s low production goodies that are normally only available at the farmer’s markets, such as the infamous Cinn-dawg or these yummy looking Good Seed hoagie rolls.

I replenished our bread supply and came home with my loot from Bobs.

Wheat and spelt berries for the Vita-Mix, spelt flour, millet flour, barley flour and some regular all-purpose flour. I also picked up tapicoa pearls to make some long-awaited pudding (I haven’t had tapioca pudding in probably 6-7 years!) and semolina flour to make some homemade pasta. Before I got on this whole canning kick, my original summer project was to make homemade pasta noodles, so I picked up a very reasonably priced pasta maker as well. A packet of sourdough starter and some (not pictured) evaporated cane juice rounded out my purchases.

Whether you call Portland home or are just passing through, it’s worth the trip to the big red barn to fill up your pantry and your tummy with all sorts of wholesome goodness.