How to gain 10lbs in 3 days
By Monica on October 23rd, 2007
We’re back from Farm Sanctuary! While I haven’t had time to go through the 700 pictures we took on the farm, I can muster up pics from the amazing vegan vittles we found in the Finger Lakes region of NY.
Living where we do, a vegan-friendly establishment is really exciting to us. It’s hard to refrain from ordering every item on the menu in a gluttonous “OMG I can eat ALL of this” frenzy. No side dishes or iceberg lettuce for us this weekend, baby!
Friday night we went to Jerlando’s in Watkins Glen. Farm Sanctuary said they’d be happy to make us a vegan pizza, and indeed, they were. Three of us ate the entire thing, after we cheekily decided that eating it all would be more environmentally friendly than using a take-out container. Here’s their cheeseless veggie pizza, which was delicious:
Despite being stuffed, we waddled ourselves over to the Great Escape Ice Cream Parlor because one is never too full for vegan ice cream. They had mocha and Oreo vegan flavors, both were fabulous, and their staff was well versed in which cones and toppings were vegan.
Saturday we went to the Crooked Rooster Pub & Wildflower Cafe for lunch. I wish I could say it was as great as everything else we had this weekend, but it really paled in comparison to the other options in the tiny town of Watkins Glen. I had the ‘Pasta with Beer & Good Stuff’, which was essentially fettuccine with canned artichokes, canned peppers, and beer poured over it. Strangely sour, I abandoned it mid-meal to eat some left over chips on my niece’s platter. She had the ‘Moonrose Ribs’ which turned out to be a plain Gardenburger Riblet thrown onto French bread. Ray had an average portobella burger and the lunch meal for 3 of us, with two small beers, was $70.00. Yeah….
Determined not to let that ruin our jolly times, we went back to the ice cream parlor and feasted upon some vegan sundaes which they topped with hot apple cinnamon sauce.
Sunday we ventured into Ithaca due to the rave reviews of Pizza Aroma, who has the only soy cheese pizza in the area. I had an amazing calzone, aptly called “The Vegan” which was absolutely brimming with spinach, eggplant, garlic, FYH mozzarella, roasted red peppers, and other good stuffs. $6.50 well spent!
Ray and Rachel split the “Veggie Pizza” complete with FYH soy cheese and it was equally delicious. We took about half of it home and ate it all the way back to Illinois, the tantalizing smell of garlic wafting through the a/c vents for 700 miles.
Without exaggerating, there were about 30 vegan friendly restaurants to pick from between the tiny rural town of Watkins Glen and Ithaca. Between all the great eats, the splendor of Upstate NY in the fall, and the haven that is Farm Sanctuary, I think this is about as close to vegan heaven as I’ve ever been. More to come on the FS critters soon!
Kumudha says:
Looks like you had been to Vegan Paradise!
Delicious vegan dishes.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Kat says:
Whoa!!!! Now I know that I HAVE to get up there to visit “my” sponsored pig, Finn. Can’t wait to see more pictures!
October 23rd, 2007 at 3:00 pm
bazu says:
Hey! You were in my neck of the woods- you should have stopped by! I would have stuffed you with even more vegan vittles. =)
Isn’t Farm Sanctuary so great? Whenever we visit there, I get giddy like a little kid.
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:04 pm
bazu says:
p.s where do you live, if you don’t mind me asking?
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Monica says:
Kat, I was not formally introduced to Finn but I scratched a whole lot of pig bellies! I hope one of them was his!
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Monica says:
Bazu, I did not realize I was in your stomping grounds or I would have hunted you down for some of your vittles! I am in LaSalle County, IL - which is kinda North Central for the state, right in between the soy beans and feed corn.
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Kati says:
Coolness! I live right outside Ithaca! I just noticed the sign in Pizza Aroma’s window stating that they have vegan pizza, but I have yet to try it out. It looks pretty excellent. Glad to hear you had such a fine time up here! (vegan ice cream, of course, doesn’t hurt - that apple cinnamon sauce looks incredible…)
October 24th, 2007 at 8:04 am
Kati says:
p.s. this is extra weird, because I just moved here from Chicago - small world!
October 24th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Ray says:
It was a really great time. I didn’t want to leave. Hopefully we can stay even longer next year!
October 24th, 2007 at 8:24 am
Jenny says:
“It’s hard to refrain from ordering every item on the menu in a gluttonous ‘OMG I can eat ALL of this’ frenzy.”
I know the feeling! LOL It’s a fantastic feeling, and it looks like you made some really good choices. The ice cream is droolworthy!
October 24th, 2007 at 9:15 am
jd says:
Uh-oh… Do you think it’s possible to gain 10lbs just by looking at these pictures?! If so, I’m in some serious trouble!
October 24th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Mihl says:
Oh, wow! So you went to farm sanctuary AND vegan paradise. I would love to have some of that ice cream and the calzone.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Beachbnny says:
Just found your blog from VB and I love it! You’re offically one of my new favorite people
Thank you for such wonderful inspiration!
October 25th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Suzie says:
All of the ice cream photos make me want to lick the screen.
The pizza and the calzone reminds me of TJ Scallywaggles vegan pizza shop in Allston, Ma. It’s very, very yummy stuff.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
VeggieGirl says:
WOW look at all this great vegan food!! yum!! Pizza Aroma and the Great Escape Ice Cream Parlor DEFINITELY sound like great places the check out.
I can’t wait to see the animals you met at FS!!
October 26th, 2007 at 8:11 am
The Little Vegan says:
Wow oh wow, that ice cream!!!
October 26th, 2007 at 8:46 am
VeggieGirl says:
**I read your comment on my blog - someone else asked about vegan white chocolate, and I answered their question on my blog. I buy the VeganSweets brand of vegan white chocolate chips from http://www.veganstore.com - it’s incredible!!
October 26th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Ray says:
Vegan white chocolate!
October 26th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Tori says:
Wow the ice cream looks so amazing. Don’t feel bad about 3 people eating 1 pizza… me and my mom can eat a pizza by ourselves.
October 27th, 2007 at 7:05 am
vegetalion says:
OH my god those sundaes look AMAZING
October 30th, 2007 at 6:53 am
RACHEL says:
MM THAT STUFF WAS SO GOOD! WHEN CAN WE GO BACK???
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 am