Friday, March 13, 2009

A Very Vegan Valentine's Day

Better late than never, right?

This year, for the first time in several years, I had a reason to look forward to Valentine's Day. Although there was no romance involved, I was very fortunate to spend Valentine's Day dinner at Vinh Loi Tofu with great friends: Foodeater, the fabulous duo behind the Quarrygirl blog, and (meeting for the first time...yay!) Melisser of Urban Housewife (her post here), her husband, and their puppy Strummer!



After a great deal of chattering and menu perusing, Kevin (Vinh Loi's owner) brought us four kinds of spring rolls (faux beef, tofu, faux chicken, and faux ham) that I meticulously cut into pieces so everyone could try each type.

Three flavor variations of fried tofu.



I ordered the Bun Bi Thit Nuong (from the menu: Rice noodles with beef patty, shredded fried tofu, mixed greens, and coconut sauce), which also had fresh mint and fresh cilantro to give it a really vibrant flavor.



For dessert, the Quarrygirl team brought a slew of Dee's Bakery Donuts.



Again, I cut these so everyone was able to try a piece of each donut. It's really great to have vegan donuts available in L.A., but I prefer Madeleine's Bistro donuts to these.

The best part of this meal was sharing it with friends. It was the best Valentine's Day I've had in a long time. :) Here's hoping next year is even better...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a really lovely evening! And you got to spend it with a PUPPY--of course it was good! (oh, I suppose other people there must have been nice, too. . . ) ;)

Jen Treehugger said...

OMG!
I want it all. NOW!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that looks like a seriously delicious dinner and I am so jealous about the donuts! Our donut options in Portland are limited. I love raised donuts!

Anonymous said...

Everything looks so délicieux! I'm seeing donuts everywhere lately...hélas, no vegan donuts here for me...snif... :)

Ruby Red said...

Awww, it does sound like a fun V-day! All the L.A. stars were there (meaning you...haha) and all the food looks fabbie! Yay spring rolls and donuts! And fried tofu! Perfect.

I had a fun V-day with friends too (girls night out!!!(, but unfortunately the only vegan food involved was asparagus. Needless to say, I was kinda hungry the whole time and my emergency energy bar I brought ended up being expired & was rock-hard & inedible! Hahaha.

Anonymous said...

it was so much fun hanging out with you on valentines day!! <3

i am getting full just looking at your pix

Jenn Shagrin said...

I'm so sad I missed this. But it was for a good cause :)
Sorry I couldn't come sneak attack you last week. Mother decided to surprise me, which meant I had to be sweet as pie to snag some free groceries and laundry detergent.

Vegan_Noodle said...

Sounds like the perfect valentines dinner! Especially the donuts :-)