NY eats: Candle Cafe

One of my favorite bloggers, Erica, goes to Candle Cafe so much that she should get some kind of customer discount. Every time I read her blog, I see dozens of colorful photos of food that looks fresh, wholesome, yet also incredibly indulgent. I crave vegan food when I see those pictures.
Originally, Erica and I had planned to meet up at Candle, but during my first few days in New York, she was sick, so I decided to go to Candle just in case we wouldn't be able to meet before I left.
My mom was willing to eat there with me, but my dad took one look at the menu and went to the bistro next door (hilariously called LeSteak), where he ordered a steak burger and ate with my grandparents. Oh, well... To each his own.
Leave it to my mom to order a salad. I kept asking her why she would order a salad at a vegan restaurant when non-vegetarian restaurants always have salad options. Luckily, the salad she ordered wasn't leafy. She ordered the Soba Noodle Salad, with Soba Noodles, ginger grilled tofu, shiitake mushrooms, edamame, julienne carrots, radish and sesame seeds over mesclun with a creamy wasabi dressing.
While she liked the salad as a whole, she hated the tofu, which she said was bland. Well, yeah... tofu is bland! But she said that wasn't what she meant, and I suppose it's because she prefers more Asian preparations, where tofu isn't usually served alone.

Ironically, even though I had been trying to avoid "Asian" food, what I really wanted was to try one of Candle's wraps, and the special that day just so happened to be the Asian Style Wrap with wasabi-ginger grilled tofu, brown rice, steamed greens, adzuki beans, stir-fried greens in a ginger-miso sauce wrapped in a spinach tortilla, served with an edamame salad and a creamy wasabi dressing.
Sound pretty similar, huh? Actually, I thought our dressings tasted different even though they were supposedly the same. Either way, the dressing was the star, I ate the wrap with my hands (Which is rare for me... Usually I cut it up and eat it with a knife and fork. I'm weird that way) and it didn't fall apart! That alone earned them props, since I know how difficult it is to stuff a wrap that full but manage for it to say together.

With every bite, I got chewy tofu (which, yes, was a little bland, but provided texture next to its more flavorful counterparts), sweet, sandy (but in a good way) adzuki beans (called hong dou, or red beans, in China), and of course, all the crunchy vegetables.
The edamame salad was delicious, and would be incredibly easy to recreate at home. It had shredded purple cabbage, carrots, and sesame seeds.
So, yes, the whole thing was pseudo-hippie Asian, but in a good way. I still would have preferred their Middle Eastern wrap or Moroccan wrap.
I did love the atmosphere of the place, though! It was lively, but quiet enough to have a conversation. The servers were friendly (I heard one educating the guy next to me about stevia) and the whole place just felt relaxed and unpretentious.
Oh yes, and I ate the ENTIRE wrap. The whole thing. And while I felt full, I didn't feel stuffed. That wrap was HUGE... Although I've never actually been to Chipotle, I'm sure it could rival one of their burritos.

Luckily, Erica got better, and we decided to meet up for an early New Years' Eve dinner. We debated going to a few different places (such as Gobo and Counter), but in the end, I decided that I wanted to go back to Candle and try some of their more dinner-like options.
Unfortunately, we found out that Candle wasn't seating any more people after 6, so we pushed our meeting one hour earlier. It just so happened that the day of our Candle Dinner was the same day I had eaten that huge lunch at The Islands. How would I ever feel hungry again!
I quickly hopped on the subway to get out of Brooklyn and met her there.
I feel so stupid that we didn't take a picture together or anything! Either way, we had a great time. I know it sounds strange to meet up with people from the internet, but the two of us are among the youngest food bloggers and it was so much fun just to talk about food and not feel like she was bored. Of course, we talked about other stuff too... either way, I had a great time.
Like I said, I wasn't that hungry, so we skipped the appetizer and I ended up ordering the Porcini Crusted Seitan with garlic-shallot-potato mash, sautéed spinach and string beans with grilled oyster mushroom and topped with home-style gravy.

This was definitely a dish that could have been a disaster... mushy, flavorless potatoes, rubbery seitan, and greasy gravy. Of course, it was the opposite... I LOVED it, even though it wasn't at all the kind of thing I would usually order or make at home (This, more or less, is the reason I ordered it). The potatoes were chunky and flavorful, the the chewy texture of the seitan was echoed by the mushroom, which interestingly enough, tasted strongly of mustard. The greens were great, especially when swiped through a puddle of gravy... but the word "Gravy" doesn't do it justice. Just think of a rich, brown aromatic sauce. I ate all of this except for a small piece of seitan (Ha, I know I said I wasn't that hungry, but I can always eat!).
Erica ordered a special that I would have ordered if she hadn't (But I was happy with my choice!): Tempeh Napoleon from the special’s menu which was polenta crusted tempeh with layers of artichoke paté, served with sautéed snap peas, broccolini, chanterelle mushrooms, and spinach over a tomato-truffle sauce, drizzled with parsley oil.

It was so beautifully presented! The contrast of the green vegetables against the blood red tomato sauce was definitely festive, even though Christmas is over. She generously let me taste a piece of tempeh, because she said she had never had tempeh prepared this way. While it reminded her of a crab cake, I thought it was more like a chicken patty-- crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. But of course, it was not your average chicken patty. She also ate everything on her plate.
We debated going to Tasti D-lite, but it was freezing out and Erica claimed to have had TWO medium cups of it the day before, so somehow she convinced me to order two desserts at candle! Honestly, I just wanted to see if they lived up to all the hype... because really, how can vegan desserts compare to ones full of cream, eggs, and butter?
I picked the Carrot Cake and she picked the Apple Cranberry Crumb Pie.

I honestly was completely stunned. Not only were they as good as "regular" desserts, but they were better! Well, I've probably had better pies in my life, but I'm also spoiled by my mom's apple pie with its flaky, butter crust. But the carrot cake was OUT OF THIS WORLD! Usually carrot cake is a sugar-laden concoction with a sticky, cloying cream cheese ice cream, but Candle's version was moist, spicy, and not too sweet-- each bite had some tangy frosting and a cake embedded with carrot shreds and raisins. Honestly... amazing.
But the crumb pie was also great! It's just that, like Erica, I love that carrot cake. There should be a website dedicated to it.
Anyways, all in all, I loved this restaurant! I won't force my parents to go back, but even if I can't get someone to go with me, I'll make sure to go back the next time I'm in New York.

Address: 1307 3rd Ave, New York City, New York

For once, I'm celebrating the holidays!

This year Christmas Eve and the days building up to it have actually felt festive, which says a lot, considering we don't celebrate Christmas. Hanukkah has been pretty low-key... and the weather has been awful. Yesterday, I didn't go out of the house ONCE! I had no reason to...
Yesterday:
Got up and did a yoga routine (about 30 minutes)-- surprisingly, it was enough to get me to sweat and my heart rate up! Not the same as a "real" workout, but definitely something.
Breakfast: repeat of blackberry cardamom cashew oats.
After breakfast, I decided to bake cookies for neighbors. I made oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies (these were actually semi-healthy because I used some canola oil and white whole wheat flour) and gingerbread cookies! I wanted to make gingerbread men, but I didn't have the cookie cutters, so I ended up with leaves... and no frosting because it's gross and unnecessary.
Because I didn't go out, lunch was VERY light. I started with a bowl of beet soup with a few spoonfuls of brown rice to thicken it, plus some Kashi crackers.

I soon realized that this wasn't enough, so I got some carrots and celery and hummus.
Afterwards I debated having a cookie, but to be honest, I was feeling kind of down on myself-- I hadn't gone outside or even walked around, and I felt like I kind of "didn't deserve it," which is probably ridiculous. I had a pear instead.
For some reason, I was STARVING around 4:45! I had cottage cheese and a sprinkle of grapenuts and GoLean Crunch. I started with 1/2 cup, which is a serving, but it just wasn't enough...
Dinner was Chinese-- scrambled eggs and tomatoes and a very strange dish of bok choy, tree ears, tofu, and cucumbers, of all things. It was very monastic-- I think it would have been better if the cucumbers had been cooked longer so that they resembled zucchini.


Today
TODAY WAS PRODUCTIVE. It flew by so quickly, and I was hardly in the house at all! I got up at a decent hour to do some interval training on the elliptical. I was feeling fine while I was working out, but afterwards my knee started hurting AGAIN! I wonder what it is... it feels more like shin splints, but the elliptical is supposed to be low impact!
Anyways, for breakfast I made one of the best bowls of oatmeal EVER. I used 1/3 a cup of oats for the base, since the toppings are pretty decadent. I used a whole small banana, 1/3 cup vanilla hemp milk, 1/3 cup water, and later, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. On top, I crumbled most of a small oatmeal raisin cookie and had a spoon of peanut butter. Because you can't have cookies without milk, I had a glass of milk on the side. This was so good, I can't even describe it. I think it was the combination of textures, plus the few melty chocolate chips. YUM.

After breakfast, my mom and I headed out for some errands-- we set up some last minute dinner plans with neighbors and had to go grocery shopping. One of the stops we made was at that same Zalenski and Horvath, the gourmet foods store. I picked up a little present for one of my friends, AND one for myself, as well as an awesome fish and seafood cookbook.
CHECK THIS OUT, PEANUT BUTTER FANS. For my friend (they let me taste a little bit-- I basically licked it, knowing how many calories could potentially be in that sample) I got CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH PEANUT BUTTER! I realize that sounds disgusting (or wonderful, depending on who you are), but I assure you, it was fabulous. For myself, I bought chocolate banana peanut butter... we'll see how this goes. I also plan on buying some Peanut Butter and Co peanut butter when I go to NY... I realize they sell it at Whole Foods, but I want to go to the actual store.

By the time we got back from all the errands, it was nearly 2:00! I made myself a strange but nice lunch... talk about fusion! Basically, I was trying to use up leftovers.
There were leftover canned tomatoes in the fridge, so I heated them with marjoram, thyme and white wine, then added brown rice and later on, arugula, which wilted. At the last minute, I crumbled in some feta and on top, I had the VERY last of the tempeh mole. An interesting combination of flavors...
WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THIS?
I also had carrots, celery and hummus (sorry for the blurry photo).
And a pear

I didn't have much time after lunch, since I was due at a friend's, but I made a quick squash dish for dinner that night-- basically just baked squash (I used one mini pumpkin and one crazy-looking squash called a Carnival squash) drizzled with a combination of olive oil, maple syrup, and smoked paprika.
I went to my friend's and had a great time. First, we had some hot chocolate-- this was super decadent because she used a combination of whole and 2%. Therefore, I only had half a mug. It was plenty (these photos came out TERRIBLY).

We celebrated Hanukkah (so I lit the candles twice tonight!) and her mom let me try a bite of her sweet potato latkes! They were eggy and more moist than my mom's-- apparently this is because she used some mashed sweet potato to give them body. I didn't want to spoil my appetite, so I only had a bite.

Dinner-- It's so fun having neighbors over! They're Jewish (partly) too, so it felt nice having something to do on Christmas Eve when everybody else is busy.
To start with, we had... more latkes! Once again, with homemade applesauce and this time, some sour cream. I decided to pass on the latke encore.

My parents made roast chicken and stir-fried asparagus, which we had along with my squash and a vegetarian lasagna that they brought.

My neighbor kept insisting that the lasagna was overdone, and it was a little dry, but it had a fantastic souffle-like top that ballooned out of the cast iron skillet-- apparently it had a lot of eggs in it. Very rich... it was strange, though... by the time I had finished eating, I realized that I wanted the chicken. I've been waiting for a time when I actually wanted to eat meat, and I did tonight. I regret not going with it, a bit. I just don't know when to start!
First helpings (my squash was delicious, if I do say so myself)

Seconds

Dessert: basically a conglomeration of cookies-- my cookies, sugar cookies and peanut brittle from one neighbor, and a gingerbread fruitcake-ish thing from another neighbor. I was pretty full and decided on a tangerine.

There's a possibility that we'll go back to these neighbor's for Christmas dinner (or lunch? at 4:00) tomorrow... we'll see. It would be nice to have some plans.
Happy holidays!

The mother is back

It's been great... relaxing, shopping, eating, etc. I know I didn't blog yesterday, but when I went out to dinner I didn't bring my camera, so I used my mom's iPhone, and then we had to transfer the photos... okay I'm blabbering.
Saturday:
THE LAKE WAS COMPLETELY FROZEN! I worked out, looking out the window wishing it were warm enough to run outside :(
But I did run a fast mile on the treadmill and then did 40 minutes on the elliptical and upper body weights.
Breakfast was a huge bowl of cottage cheese, yogurt, grapenuts, half a banana, blackberries, strawberries, and peanut butter (But I still ended up getting more... I was hungry!)
My mom got back after breakfast. She seemed pretty tired...
For lunch we all scrounged for leftovers. I continued to eat up that tempeh that never seems to go bad... on a wrap with watercress and hummus. Plus carrots and celery with the last of the hummus, and a little bit of the leftovers my parents were eating.

A little later: a big mug of hot chocolate and an apple.

My mom had a haircut a little while later, and while she was at the salon, my dad and I did some shopping... I got some really awesome Adidas boots, as well as some functional stuff: pajama bottoms, gloves, etc.
I was going to cook my mom dinner, but we ended up staying out pretty late... we decided to go celebrate her return at Cuatro, a kind of "new Latin" restaurant in the South Loop.
I actually wasn't feeling that hungry-- I definitely ate lighter than my parents.
To start with, we had two salads:
ensalata de xuxu: broiled, spice-rubbed chayote squash, baby spinach, cucumbers, pear tomatoes, queso frito, and a bitter orange vinaigrette.

ensalata de palmitos: hearts of palm marinated in spicy escabeche, piquin shrimp over arugula and iceberg lettuce, pineapple-honey vinaigrette (aa, where is the photo??).
Main courses-- portions were huge! Luckily I ordered relatively lightly... not so with my parents, who were feeling carnivorous.
My dad-- 16 OZ PORK CHOP! Of course, he didn't eat all of it, but that is 4 times hte normal portion... it was roasted with sugar cane, served with plantain mole, green beans, and yuca cake.

I tasted the mole (although later I found out it had chicken stock in it) and apparently it has 27 ingredients!
My mom ordered a short-rib special that was served with avocado salsa and rice... unfortunately, the photo of it has disappeared!
I ordered seafood stew with scallops, shrimp, tilapia, squid and mussels in a tomato-coconut broth with fried plantains and coconut rice. Of course, the broth was incredibly rich... The rice was fragrant and the fried plantains had no taste whatsoever-- neither sweet nor salty... more like a baked potato, but in a good way! The squid on the top scared me... turns out it was stuffed! I mainly ate the scallops and tilapia and let my parents eat some of the rest. I really wasn't as hungry as I normally am, but this was a huge portion!
We ordered one dessert that I had one bite of... really wasn't in the mood! We had creme brulee (yerba mate-perfumed) with a pineapple confit bottom and cinnamon shortbread cookies. Creme brulee has never been my favorite dessert, but this was delicious... the cookies tasted basically like apple pie.

Grad student eats!

Hello, everybody! TGIF, for sure... I don't have big plans for the weekend, but today was busy and fun.

Here are some lake photos for you, taken out the window.
Breakfast: oatmeal with oat milk, homemade applesauce, cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans, and Greek yogurt.
Snack: carrots

Lunch: wrap with tempeh mole and arugula, the pumpkin and lentil stew, and 2 tangerines.
I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time to digest because today I tried something a little different: on Fridays I get out of class at 1:45, so I went running by the lake by myself right after my last class, which was gym, so I was conveniently already in the locker room. I managed to get back 10 or 15 minutes after everybody else got out of class, so I ran for a bit more than an hour.

IT WAS A GREAT RUN! It was longer than yesterday's, so I was going at a slower pace, but that was fine for me. It was also colder, so it was hard to get into it at first, but once I was by the lake, the sun was out and I got into it. The thing is, maybe it was the earlier time, but NOBODY WAS THERE. Not even people walking or biking! It was eerie... if it hadn't been so early I would have been afraid. It was the opposite, though: I felt so relaxed and zen... and I had actually just come from yoga, so it was double the relaxation!
When I finally got to the playground (3 miles or so later), I got on the swings and felt like a kid again. It was great. At the end of my run, just when I was getting tired, I ended up getting sprinting in! this was NOT intentional: here's the story. I was running and I saw a guy walking in front of me... I was thinking, "crap, is that who I think it is?" and they turned around, and it was exactly who I thought-- this senior guy that is so attractive I could die... he is my Edward Cullen, basically. Anyways, the second he turned, I SPRINTED to the left and ran until I was out of sight. I was embarrassed for anyone to see me running, let alone him (I REALLY HOPE HE ISN'T READING THIS), although I know I should be proud for going :) because it was so cold... I did 6 or so miles, which is twice what I usually do on my own! Yay!
After my run I changed and went to Page's house, because I ended up going to the guy's swim meet! I had a banana that I didn't photograph.
The swim meet was annoying at first because we were in the stands with all these girls who were only there to stare at the shirtless guys (of course, there are those benefits, but I also care about the sport!)... they didn't even know what was going on, and we wanted to go time, but the captain was being really annoying and not letting us. FINALLY we got to go down... it was interesting watching the guys swim, because, honestly, it made me realize how hard our practices were in comparison, and how our times really weren't bad at all... not that they suck or anything... they just weren't as astoundingly good as I remembered.
When I got home, there was an art history department party being hosted at our house, with a TON of vegetarian food. I was starving because I didn't have a substantial snack. Highlights:






-Salad of tofu, sugar snap peas, carrots and string beans
-Vegetarian lasagne
-SEITAN pot pie! I couldn't believe it! I usually don't like "fake meat" stuff, but this was amazingly delicious! I mainly ate the filling and ignored the crust, but it had peas, carrots, seitan, potatoes, and a bunch of other vegetables, and even had a kind of smokey taste to it.
-Paella with carrots, string beans, and white fish
-Korean egg zucchini pancake
-Mini quiches
-Insalata Caprese
-Meat (which there was not a lot of): turkey, turkey pie
I got seconds on the seitan pie and paella, which were my favorites.
There was a ton of dessert, but I picked the thing that I REALLY wanted and I loved it so much that we wrapped up leftovers and put them in the fridge.

There were those ridiculously sparkly Xmas cookies, tiramisu and cannoli, lemon tart, cinnamon shortbread, macaroons (the french kind, not the coconut), other miscellaneous cookies, berry pie, berry tart, and the one that I had, some kind of gingerbread with chocolate chips and nuts. I feel like there must have been pumpkin, applesauce, or carrots in it to give it that extra moisture.
Either way, it was INCREDIBLE. I had a bite and decided it needed Greek yogurt to contrast the sweetness. I had a big piece and there are no regrets (I ran 6 miles! I should be okay...).
WE HAVE TOO MANY LEFTOVERS TO DEAL WITH!!!