Friday, July 31, 2009

conclusion of my euro-trip ;)

So since I've been back to the states, I really haven't had much time to keep my blog up to date with the last of my food-finds in europe as well as stuff i've made since i've been back! no worries though :)

Rewind to being in Dublin, Ireland..
where the mentioning of being vegan was looked at like it was a disease..
even trying out a chinese buffet, i had thought before going in that there had to be at least an all vegetable dish or tofu or something!
not hardly..i ended up with a plate full of cut up tomatoes and cucumbers with some soy sauce.
however!
while trying to find something else in the city, we stumbled upon a Govinda's!
And I had just recently learned that the Govinda's in Philadelphia actually IS an international chain and the one in Dublin and London are all connected! how coooool ;)



The food was set up in a way that you picked your size plate, and then chose from the "buffet/bar" what you wanted on it.. unfortunately not everything was vegan..a majority of it was just vegetarian, but the things that were vegan were really good!


This was my plate, which consisted of basmati rice, vegetable samosa, whole grain bread, lentil curry, and a mix vegetable dish. it was quite delicious :) finally..some vegan food in ireland !!

Despite the food, Dublin was still absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!

The Dublin Castle!


Howth area of Dublin, right on the water. Quite a lovely view :)

Fast forward back to London...
After we got back from Dublin, we only had 9 days left in London to explore and do everything else we wanted to do before we had to come home..so that meant a really strict schedule that we TRIED to go by..haha some things got a little rearranged though ;)

We found a really awesome health food store really close to our apartment though, so that was exciting! We had bought sandwiches to take on the plane with us incase the food wasn't good...but realized they might not let them take us through security, so we ate them while in london and they were delicious! Mine was a vegan stromboli sandwich! :)

Also in the health food store I really wanted to try the soy chocolate milk, but none of them were cold..so I picked strawberry instead..

This was AMAZING! I'm glad I got to try this flavor instead.. it reminded me exactly of those nesquick strawberry syrups with milk..except a million times better and better for you :)

Another RANDOM find that we stumbled upon while going down a wrong street, was a vegan cafe literally down the street from our apartment! I hadn't even seen it on Happy Cow or anything like that.. but I'm really glad we found it because it was suuuper awesome.


The board..it seemed as though they changed up the menu & soup everyday..which is definitely a good idea. I cannot remember the name of this place actually..and it was so tiny that i couldn't even look it up online!


A lot of the vegan places we had gone to throughout London did the same sort of concept..you choose the side of the bowl and then fill it with whatever you want. Emily & I really LOVED this idea..because we definitely dont mind our food touching, and we think it tastes better all mixed together anyway. ;)
My bowl was a bed of greens and a potato salad, a lentil and chickpea dish, and a vegetable dish. it was all really good mixed in. :)

While we were in London for the 5 weeks, we kept passing a TON of McDonald's..and they all advertised for this "spicy veggie burger"...i was intrigued..so we looked it up online and checked if it was vegan or not.. it IS if you get it without the ranch sauce...
Although I am not one to support McDonald's...I think it was pretty cool that they were willing to have a vegetarian and vegan option for customers if they choose so instead of choosing their gross burgers. SO it was one of our last days in London, and i tried it..


See the bite taken out of it? That was the only one that was...
Unfortunately, I WANTED to like it..so I could think wow way to go mcdonalds!
but it was soggy..and the first time I got it they messed it up and put the sauce on it, so I had to go back and get a new one.. but it was just mushy and not very good..nor was it spicy at all!
Sorry McDonalds...at least you tried.

Now that I've been back in Maryland and Philadelphia..I've done a little bit of cooking, definitely not as much as I'd like to..so hopefully the baking will shine through me again and I'll be back in the kitchen with some new things soon! :)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a fun trip!

Welcome back!

fleur said...

I am so jealous, I have always wanted to go to Dublin, but it does suck that you didnt have much luck with the food. Also I would love to try a Strawberry soy milk, I have never seen them before!
Hope you enjoyed your time in Europe.

Girl on Raw said...

I love the vegan restaurants and Cafes in London. Did you get to Vitaorganic and also check out any in Neal's Yard?

Nicole said...

Goodness, it all looks good!

Jenn Shagrin said...

Thanks, Lauren!

I had the serious buffalo-wing-itis, too. Definitely satisfied my craving. If I had a deep fryer, I'd have really been in business.

Hah when I was in Europe, McDonalds was (oddly enough) my savior. Not because I ate there, but because they had old fashioned American drip coffee and free Wi-Fi. I would just sneak soy milk in my backpack :)

Anonymous said...

Oh what a lovely trip! I am so sorry the food was not up to par but Europe..well, not very vegan-friendly! But you did the best you can and at least you got one amazing Indian meal out of it!

The Voracious Vegan said...

I love Dublin, thank you for sharing such cool pictures. Govindas looks awesome!

We get Provamel over here too and that strawberry flavor is my favorite! It isn't sickly sweet like you would think it would be, it is actually quite fresh and delicious.

Mmmm...disappointing about McDonalds!
But eh, what can you expect?

Peanut Butter Swirl said...

wow that seems like an awesome trip :D
welcome home girlie!!
love that lentil curry!

peony in a nutshell said...

yee my dad lives in ireland and alot of my famly and i find it pretty difficult to come by stuff out ther!
shame about the burger though, would have been pretty cool if it was good ahh weell always mre vegan cafes to eat at...;)
xxxxx peony

Anna said...

I've always heard that it's super tricky to travel internationally while sticking to a vegan diet, but it looks like you were pretty succesful. I love finding random little fabulous restaurants!

Nicole B said...

Thank you for your sweet comment! Sadly the horse isn't mine anymore! But he's at a good place!
5 weeks in London... Wow how awesome!! I'm so looking forward to my few days! But in two weeks I may be going to Dublin and after reading this post I'm glad I'm not vegan, if it's so difficult to find vegan restaurants! Thanks for the great recap post! I'll definitely try some of the restaurants in London! xo

Anonymous said...

Hey Lauren
Great post. Sorry to hear about Dublin but we know not everywhere is vegan friendlu. The food finds were great and those pick and mix bowls are something I would like to find when I am travelling. Looking forward to your new post.

Anonymous said...

Take into account subscribing to an adaptable paying bank account. An FSA permits you to pay money for healthcare, based treatment or transport fees with pretax money put aside each and every income. By paying with pretax dollars, you might be essentially getting a discount on all of these expenditures. If your job provides a adaptable investing profile, get in touch with the worker positive aspects division regarding it. [url=http://www.x21w12w21.info]Biuyu656gy[/url]