The Ronin Returns

Loyal fans! I have survived the cloudy depths of the UK and emerged bearing incredible gifts for your taste buds future glee!

First of all, I possibly bought one of the most awesome cookbooks:


Vegan: Over 90 Mouthwatering Recipes for All Occasions

Made in association with The Vegan Society, this British food themed book is full of easy, delicious looking meals. I want to eat everything in it (sans beet soup. gross. sorry).

So stay tuned for recipes and pictures from it in the days to come.
I am trying to aim to update this everyday or every-other-day.


And now:
DELICIOUS FOOD THE REST OF THE WORLD IS MISSING OUT ON


Homemade phyllo parcel filled with mushrooms, leeks, chestnuts, onions, etc. Roasted potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, peas.




Mixed mushroom and ale pie with minty mushy peas an chunky chips. Ginger tofu cheesecake with rhubarb compote. From Mildred's in London. (Go there, all veg, tons of vegan options).




Real Scottish Breakfast. Vegetarian haggis, potato triangles, baked beans & toast, fried mushrooms and baked tomato.




Vegetable curry baked potato with vegetarian haggis samosa.


Plus lots of other homemade stuff. It's all awesome. Go eat it.

Bibimbap

My first real taste of Korean food, from a Korean restaurant.
I had Bibimbap, minus egg and meat.
It comes out super hot, and you have to stir all the stuff around in the bowl before the rice sticks to the sides. So the rice gets kinda crunchy and good with all this other stuff mixed in. Good, but not amazing.

Kim-chi still may be one of the most disgusting things on earth.

Japanese food

Two seasonal autumn packages.



Tofu salad.


Cold grilled eggplant sushi with ginger on top.

First Class Food

My last flight I treated myself to first class. The two dishes during the 12 hour flight included a nice selection of fresh-ish cold (bland) veggies and hot (bland) veggies, fruit, a small side of rice and a piece of bread, with a snack of mixed nuts. I was left pining for more carbs and starving when we landed. While first class has a nice food tray for anyone to go get something from, my only selection was an under-ripe banana that I passed on. Dinner was just as pathetic so I didn't even bother to take a picture.

Sad to think my economy meals had more flavor and left me stuffed.
So NorthWest Airways, if you are reading this, please don't take the term "rabbit food" so literal next time please. And FYI, butter is not vegan.

Vegan Japan

I'll (try to) spare the talk and get on with the pretty pictures!


Mr. Young Men
Kyoto (Teramachi & Shijo)
Okonomiyaki


Tofu Okonomiyaki
(shown with miso soup with fried tofu)

Osaka is the famous place to get this cuisine, but Mr Young Men is accomidating and has a ton of options. Just ask for no eggs, mayo, or katsuo-bushi (fish flakes).


Cafe Peace
Kyoto (Demachiyanagi)
International vegan


Brown rice, tvp chikn in a tomato sauce, fries, potato salad, hijiki salad, cabbage and veggie salad, pear jelly dessert.



Kareage- fried chikn in a crispy potato basket with tortilla chips and sweet tomato sauce.

Not pictured: Soy Mince & Chive Chijimi (korean 'pancake') and almond and chocolate poundcake for dessert. The almond poundcake was one of the best things I've eaten in a long time.


Nara National Museum cafe
Nara
Chinese style cafe



Chewy sweet and sour tvp on a bed of greens and chinese buns to pick it all up with!

Maman Terrace
Osaka (Shinsaibashi)
Macrobiotic

Way over priced. I got a nice plate of food and my mom got almost nothing for the same price. Good, but not recommended.



Breaded chickpea drum sticks with bamboo. Also a side of aglio e olio.




Pumpkin cake with an orange glaze with crunchy pumpkin pellets and puffed rice to the side. Also a soy cappucchino.

Brown Rice Cafe & Deli
Tokyo (OmoteSando/Aoyama)
Macrobiotic

I've never been in the actual cafe, I love the deli too much. It's my favorite place!
I got my usual veggie burger and a brown rice ratatoulle pocket (past post). And for dessert?



Chocolate Tofu Torte. MMMMMMM It was like mousse!


Der Akkord
Tokyo (Omotesando/Aoyama)
German, Vegan, Macrobiotic bakery

Right down the road from Brown Rice, this bakery gives out samples and has a great array of baked goods for us vegans!



I had an apple jam pie, coconut banana cake, and curry bread (curried veggies and rice baked inside pastry).


Pure Cafe
Tokyo (Aoyama/Omotesando)
Vegan Cafe

Pure Cafe, better known for its (now defunct store front) sister store Cafe Eight, is located in an Aveda. Sadly its website is lacking photos of this wonderfully place and its food. They have a small ever changing menu, as well as breakfast!



Vegetable Torte. Sauteed veggies on a lovely crust covered in a nutrtional yeast and tofu cheez sauce. MM!



Tiramisu. The end.

MizuYokan

These are sweets from Japan called mizu-yokan. They are made from sweet beans, but agar agar is used to give it a slightly jiggly gelatin texture. Most are just reddish, these a fancy pants ones!
The one on the left is coffee flavored, and the other one just tasted like sweet beans. I only bought it because it was cute.

Brown Rice Cafe in Tokyo

While I didn't go to the cafe (because the wait was too long and I was starving), I went to their deli right beside it.
It was amazing. It's macrobiotic, although most of it is vegan. They know all their farmers and get food fresh.
I will be coming back here every time I'm in Tokyo.

Veggie burger.
The miso sauce really made this the best damn veggie burger I've ever had. Fo' real.



A sloppy-joe type rice mixture in a fried tofu skin pouch with grilled veggies.
Good, but I would have chosen the Mexican style one they had over this.




Mini fruit and walnut tortes and mini tofu (cheesecake) torte.
Cheesecake still tasted a bit beany with lemon. Not complaining though. The fruit and walnut glazed torte had a brown rice crust and was AMAZING.




Brown Rice Cafe, A++++++ Will do business with again!!!!!!1

Map.
Take the Tokyo Metro (subway) to station Omotesando (by Harajuku). Go to exit A1. Hitch a left at the intersection in front of you. It's on your right after about a 30 second walk.

Lunch break v.2

I am going to visit the motherland for a week, so I will leave you with this!

I got a new lunch box and containers only because I could not resist the cute.



Inside is a PBJ, carrots and pretzels and 2 lil carmalized biscuits.


PS- Guac and pretzels are the wave of the future!

Japanese Enkai food

I did not make any of this but wanted to share the food that I had at my work party (called an enkai).


The layouts


Carrot, bamboo, fried tofu, green things. And I think the pink thing is made out of fish, I don't know why it was there. I didn't eat it.


Green konyakku, dandelion, shredded daikon, sticky potato strips, shiso leaf, spicy purple sprouts and wasabi.


Spring rolls with sweet chili sauce and pink seaweed.


Veggie Tempura


Fried tofu and eggplant


Cold green (tea?) soba with nori.

For dessert we had rice and pickled veggies with miso soup and fresh fruit.