My aspiring raw foodie friend, R (I've blogged about her
here), has requested her blog moniker be Rawie, so that is what she'll be called henceforth. Yesterday, Rawie very generously took me to lunch for my birthday to
Euphoria Loves Rawvolution, a raw restaurant in Santa Monica that my massage therapist has been wanting me to try. It's a cafe with interesting yogic paintings on the walls and wooden tables. There's a tiny juice bar with two bar stools, the ordering is done at the cash register, and food is brought to the tables. Customers bus their own plates. The restaurant has a pretty good vibe overall, but the service was a bit questionable. We sat down w/ menus to decide what we wanted, were served water, and then went to order. While we were ordering, our water glasses were cleared and our table given to someone else. We'd almost finished our meals by the time we were given water again.
Enough of all that, though. Let's get to the food. You can find the menu
here. I ordered Coco-phoria (from the menu: Curried coconut jerky sandwich, drizzled with tangy mayonnaise, served atop onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and Onion Bread). Do you see the onion bread issue? That was resolved by ordering it on apple bread, which tasted like dried apples and cinnamon. It was quite good. Unfortunately, I had to pick huge onion slices off my sandwich because they didn't think I meant business when I asked for no onions. Since the apple bread was really chewy, like a thick fruit leather, I deconstructed my sandwich to eat it. I had the bread with tomato slices on it, then ate the coconut jerky, which was very nicely spiced, and lettuce with a fork. My meal was very tasty and something I'd definitely try again.
Rawie let me taste her meal, too. She chose a salad combo of Kale Salad, Herbed Olive Couscous, and No-Bean Hummus. All three were good, but nothing special, if you ask me.
After our meals, Rawie was craving a smoothie or a cookie and the juice bar lady was kind enough to let us sample their strawberry smoothie and their mango smoothie. I didn't realize this was possible, but both were gross. They both had weird aftertastes and something that overpowered the fresh fruit. So, what did we do? Hightailed it back to Juliano's Raw for shakes! I had the same chocolate shake I had last time and Rawie had the Kreamy Electrolyte Lemonade (from the menu: Lemons, Honey, Ginger, Strawberries & Electrolytes), also a blended drink. She said it was really good. I might try that next time, substituting agave nectar for the honey. By the way, I asked the hostess why raw restaurants tend to use so much honey and she said that bee pollen and honey are considered some of the healthiest things a person can consume. I've heard that honey is hard on the liver and that it has the same effect on blood sugar as refined sugar, so that surprised me.
Interior shot of Juliano's Raw in Santa Monica
This is a banana bread test recipe for
Happy Herbivore's upcoming cookbook. Although it tasted good, it didn't set up for me in the middle and I'm thinking it probably had something to do with my insistence on using my grandma's pretty glass loaf pan (it says Glasbake on the bottom).
Is it at all evident that I'm actually using a camera now instead of my cell phone for photos?
Happy Herbivore's delicious Chocolate Banana Bread. This is a test recipe for her upcoming cookbook, so you'll have to wait to bake your own loaf. :) 
This bowl of deliciousness is Happy Herbivore's wonderful Chana Palak Masala. Since it's a tester recipe, you'll have to wait for her cookbook to be released, but believe me, it's going to be worth the wait! The Chana Palak Masala shown here is spicy, aromatic, and comforting. I loved every bite and I'm quite grateful that I have leftovers!
Enough of all that, though. Let's get to the food. You can find the menu here. I ordered Coco-phoria (from the menu: Curried coconut jerky sandwich, drizzled with tangy mayonnaise, served atop onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and Onion Bread). Do you see the onion bread issue? That was resolved by ordering it on apple bread, which tasted like dried apples and cinnamon. It was quite good. Unfortunately, I had to pick huge onion slices off my sandwich because they didn't think I meant business when I asked for no onions. Since the apple bread was really chewy, like a thick fruit leather, I deconstructed my sandwich to eat it. I had the bread with tomato slices on it, then ate the coconut jerky, which was very nicely spiced, and lettuce with a fork. My meal was very tasty and something I'd definitely try again.
Rawie let me taste her meal, too. She chose a salad combo of Kale Salad, Herbed Olive Couscous, and No-Bean Hummus. All three were good, but nothing special, if you ask me.
After our meals, Rawie was craving a smoothie or a cookie and the juice bar lady was kind enough to let us sample their strawberry smoothie and their mango smoothie. I didn't realize this was possible, but both were gross. They both had weird aftertastes and something that overpowered the fresh fruit. So, what did we do? Hightailed it back to Juliano's Raw for shakes! I had the same chocolate shake I had last time and Rawie had the Kreamy Electrolyte Lemonade (from the menu: Lemons, Honey, Ginger, Strawberries & Electrolytes), also a blended drink. She said it was really good. I might try that next time, substituting agave nectar for the honey. By the way, I asked the hostess why raw restaurants tend to use so much honey and she said that bee pollen and honey are considered some of the healthiest things a person can consume. I've heard that honey is hard on the liver and that it has the same effect on blood sugar as refined sugar, so that surprised me. 
Interior shot of Juliano's Raw in Santa Monica
This is a banana bread test recipe for Happy Herbivore's upcoming cookbook. Although it tasted good, it didn't set up for me in the middle and I'm thinking it probably had something to do with my insistence on using my grandma's pretty glass loaf pan (it says Glasbake on the bottom). 
Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango from Veganomicon.
Orange, Mint, and Asparagus Pasta Salad from a Vegetarian Times e-mail.
Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes
Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes
Foodeater and I decided on Madeleine Bistro for our birthday celebration because their brunch menu now features donuts! Now, anyone who knows me is well aware of the fact that donuts were not something I would've touched with a 10-foot pole pre-veganism except for maybe once every 5 years. I am very weight-conscious and donuts just don't fit within my comfort zone. However, 1) this was a birthday brunch, 2) vegan donuts just sound infinitely (although, truthfully, not much) healthier than real donuts, and 3) how could I possibly pass up donuts created by the amazing Chef David Anderson? The donuts you see here are currently the only flavor at Madeleine's (our wonderful waitress, who shares my birthday, told us that other flavors are in the works) and they were donut perfection. Warm, light, and soft with a coating of sugar and served with fresh strawberry compote. They were shaped like jelly donuts (i.e. without a hole), but they were not filled. I liked that we could add compote as desired instead of dealing with whatever amount of filling would've fit inside the donut. 
I'd never tried rhubarb, but I'd always wanted to, so I ordered strawberry rhubarb crepes for my meal. The filling was actually strawberry rhubarb compote and some kind of vanilla cream that was approximately the consistency of yogurt. These crepes were delicious! I was a bit chagrined, though, that the flavor of the rhubarb wasn't apparent in the compote, so I still feel as though I haven't tried it! Oh, those are yummy home fries on the side with homemade ketchup.
As if the above were not gluttonous enough, our waitress surprised us with matching ramekins of homemade vanilla ice cream with a strawberry fan and candle! Can you tell how fabulous our waitress was? We were stuffed, but still managed to eat our ice cream after making wishes and blowing out our candles (I admit, I finished mine! Foodeater had more restraint). Normally, I'm not a vanilla ice cream fan. This vanilla ice cream, however, was very flavorful, like a toasted vanilla marshmallow. So good!