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

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.

Yummy eggs and cucumber

Apologies for not blogging yesterday! I had to rewrite my english paper for the THIRD TIME, and also had two hours of piano yesterday-- Wednesdays are busy!
Yesterday's eats:
Breakfast: oats with 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup oat milk, 1 whole banana, almond extract, almonds, and almond butter.
and a pear.

Lunch: I made the MOST delicious wrap (I guess it was more of a burrito) with leftover kale and mole. I also had carrots, hummus, and an apple.

I came home right after school and got to work on my paper. I was pretty hungry before leaving for piano, and knew I wouldn't get to eat till around 8, so I had a big snack of (what else is new?) cottage cheese, greek yogurt, grapenuts, and blueberries.

Dinner was very fast and light: my dad made shrimp wonton soup that was very authentic: lots of seaweed, cilantro and vegetables. My one concern: the wontons have MSG... At first I refused to eat them, but then my dad got kind of annoyed and did all this research about how it isn't that dangerous. What are your views?
Big bowl and small bowl (him and me):


Dessert: an apple

Today--
Breakfast, which I pretty much had to wolf down: oatmeal with 1/2 oats, 1/2 cup soy, stevia, 1/2 banana, vanilla, cinnamon, candied walnuts, flax, and peanut butter.
A tangerine
A chai latte using the rest of our milk... WE MUST GO GROCERY SHOPPING ASAP!



For some reason, I really needed a snack between breakfast and lunch... so I had a honey graham z-bar, which I didn't take a photo of.

Lunch was pretty light but satisfying: leftover wonton soup, more carrots and hummus, and an apple.

After lunch, my dad and I had a funny arrangement: he had a meeting, so he picked up my school stuff and clothes, and I went for a run by the lake and ran straight to my house afterwards! It was a really clever plan. At first I was nervous about running alone, mainly that I would get bored or slip on ice, but it was such a gorgeous day that I couldn't wait to get going! When I got to the lake, I just wanted to stare at the sky all day: the moon was out in the day time, and it was streaked with purple and pinkish blue. At one point, I ran through a huge flock of Canadian geese and got a little freaked out. Anyways, this was a very long run for me to do on my own, even though it wasn't that long: I ran from school to the playground on 43d, then back to my house instead of all the way back to school. I stopped and stretched at the playground, but I'd say I still did a good 3 miles without stopping at all. All in all, the run was probably about 5 miles, and I felt mentally and physically great the whole time: I got into a rhythm, I was with my thoughts, and I felt happy to be outside.
I got back and had the same snack I do every day, and I'm almost embarrassed to put it up: cottage cheese, yogurt, blueberries, pumpkin butter, and a combination of GoLean Crunch and Mighty Bites.

My dad made a fast dinner: stir-fried eggs and cucumbers. I know it sounds weird to eat cooked cucumbers, but when they're not too watery they taste just like zucchini. This dish is so delicious! He also defrosted some unagi (eel) for himself... it's already prepared Japanese-style. I took some, but didn't end up eating it. I usually like it, but it wasn't in the mood. Guess we've been in a defrosting mood lately, considering there is no food in the house! I defrosted some pumpkin and lentil stew and had that on the side. I ended up eating a lot because I was really hungry (probably because of my run)-- I had seconds on rice and ate half the plate of eggs (2 eggs per person).



I feel so excited to have gotten my urge for running back! I go through phases: swimming phases, workout machine phases, etc. I try to vary my workouts, but I also enjoy seeing results as I improve specific sports.
By the way, I'm so excited that I'm getting more comments on the blog! If you've been reading, I just want to thank you and encourage you to comment! It really does make my day, and I would love to see your websites too!
EDITED to add dessert:
a pear and the last spoonful of my Snickerdoodle ice cream

3 days worth of blogging

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PUBLISHED YESTERDAY, BUT MY INTERNET DIED.

Hey guys! I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF POSTING. Today I can say my reason was that I was out literally all day, but I have no excuse for not posting yesterday or the day before. I think part of it has to do with the fact that when you cook more, it's hard to relive that through writing about it... cooking really is a time commitment, and I've been doing it a lot.
So I'll just do a quick recap of Thurs through Sat
THURSDAY
Breakfast: cottage cheese and yogurt with blueberries, grapenuts, and peanut butter. yum.
Snack: none
Lunch: I also made my friend Kaitlyn lunch! Yes, I did go through with the marshmallow-Nutella banana sandwich. It looked great, but we only had pumpernickel, which was a bit strange, and she didn't finish it :(. but for dessert I did pack her fancy French chocolates.

i left notes on the lunch objects in French (kind of our thing) and also wrapped the sandwich in gift paper.

some of her friends also made her this outrageously disgusting-looking food coloring cake.

As for me, I had a wrap with tofu, rapini, spinach, and mustard, carrots and celery, leftover cauliflower, and an apple.

Dinner:

I cooked for myself. Yes, this photo makes it look great, but all my cooking times were off :(
I made eggplant stuffed with brown rice, feta, eggplant cubes, rosemary, etc. over cherry tomatoes and white wine. The problem was that I was only cooking 1 eggplant, and I couldn't figure out how to cook the eggplant until tender without making the rice stale. In the end, I just ate the eggplant a little underdone. This was actually pretty small, so i had both halves with some pinenuts and a blob of hummus.
Dessert: Greek yogurt with blueberries and Annie's vanilla chocolate bunnies-- i've been very good about portion-controlling my cereal!

Workout: I was going to run out side, but do you have ANY IDEA HOW FREEZING IT IS OUTSIDE? It was in the TEENS on Thursday... instead I went to the workout room at my school, but I really wasn't up for too much cardio. I warmed up with a mile on the treadmill, then did a bunch of weight machines and abs-- I was actually really sore the next day! Then I cooled down on the elliptical.

Friday: I was super tired and just not in a work out mood... I was just in the mood to crawl into bed after school, which I get out of at 1:45 on fridays! it was great... I literally lay in my bed watching Gossip Girls that I'd rented until it was time to cook dinner. What a wonderful waste of time.
Breakfast--Oatmeal with buttermilk, blueberries, PB and flax.

Snack-- dates and dried apricots
Lunch-- tofu, hummus and cucumber sandwich, carrots and celery (really running out of vegetables at this point), an apple, a Zensoy pudding


Snack: no snack, but I did make myself a chai latte with half milk and half water and stevia.

Dinner-- I made dinner for my aunt Claire! I realized how empty the fridge was, so I decided to empty it. I made the stuffed pumpkins from the Flexitarian Table that I was originally going to make for Thanksgiving, but I swapped the quinoa for brown rice, given the abundance of brown rice we had in the fridge. It turned out to be pretty good!
I threw out about 3 bags of rotting vegetables while looking for something edible to cook-- I stir-fried a mixture of kale and some vegetable related to baby bok choy with some edamame, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, and of course, some cornstarch. Then I drizzled it with sesame oil and topped it with sesame seeds.

Dessert: a pear


TODAY WAS SO BUSY!
I got up at 7 and worked out downstairs-- I did my usual 35 minute interval set on the elliptical with my biology book... I can't say I internalized much, but it was useful. After that, I just did some more easy elliptical so I could burn a little more than 400 calories. Before I left I had 1/2 a banana.

Breakfast: no dairy with this breakfast because I knew I was going to Istria for coffee and I wanted to get something nice and milky then. I had 1/2 cup of oats with 1/2 a banana, 1/2 cup oat milk, the last of the blueberries, slivered almonds, and peanut butter.

We headed over to the cafe and I got some good studying done. Of course, I got my usual decaf nonfat mocha... Seriously, delicious.

I had my piano quartet from 11:30-12:30, and then Aunt Claire and I had lunch at Fox and Obel! I really wanted sushi, but given the temperature, I decided against it. I definitely didn't order enough food, though! I only got half a sandwich with a side salad... somehow I remember the sandwiches being bigger than they were. The sandwich I got was basically a ton of vegetables with hummus on multi-grain. Aunt Claire had a turkey, cranberry and brie sandwich, and I also had a bite of her ginger cookie, which was the most delicious thing I've ever had.


Anyways, I had to go back to music for more quartet, theory and duet from 2:00-4:00. I actually forgot my hunger. We went to Whole Foods and now I can say that there is stuff in my fridge and stuff to cook. YAY! We were going to go see Twilight but Claire is kind of sick :(
We ended up getting stuff at the Whole Foods salad bar, since I've always wanted to try it.
Sadly, I WAS DISAPPOINTED! None of the stuff I took had any flavor whatsoever. I had my big salad with some tomato-red pepper soup and some of the stuffing from my pumpkins, and that stuffing blew all the Whole Foods stuff out of the water!
I took: Greens, chickpea salad, shrimp cabbage slaw, tofu that tasted like nothing, sweet potato, beets, artichoke hearts, a bit of peanut noodles, cauliflower and peas, and probably more. The point is that it didn't taste like much and wasn't at all satisfying :( I didn't finish it because I was afraid I would get a fiber-stomach ache.
I am definitely having dessert...

I'm not in a bad mood or anything, just really tired and craving something sweet and either a nice book or bad TV show.
I ended up realizing I was HUNGRY, so I had a ton of yogurt and cottage cheese with blueberries and GoLean Crunch.