We finally made it over to Real Food Daily in Los Angeles. After having purchased the Real Food Daily Cookbook by Ann Gentry, and having some success with the Turkish Lentil Stew and Chocolate Cake, we were anxious to try out the restaurant and see if it lived up to our expectations. And our expectations were high. The recipes are a little on the complicated side, but they're really, really good.

We went early and were lucky enough to find parking easily. We'd read reviews that parking could be an issue. The ambiance was average, and unfortunately for us, the sun was setting while we were eating so Jane was blinded by the light. But the food was worth it. This is the best vegan food we've had to date!

We told our waitress we were newbies and asked her to recommend our eats. She suggested we start with the Better with Cheddar Nachos. Jane was all for that as the "cheese" recipe in the cookbook seems a little daunting, and the few experiences we've had with vegan cheese have been less than stellar. Our waitress also suggested we add the taco mix. So we did. We both agreed that we could skip the taco mix next time, but the nachos were really amazing. The cheddar cheese, tastes like cheese, and we should know - we've had real cheese as late as June!

The nachos come with tortilla chips, melted cashew cheddar cheese, black beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, tofu sour cream, all piled high on your plate. There's enough there for four people as an appetizer for sure! And oh, can I rave about the cheese some more!

For dinner, we shared "Pandora’s Box" - which is one of their September specials. It's creamed tofu spinach in whole wheat phyllo dough pastry topped with mushroom gravy. It comes with two sides: the Athena cold barley salad and a marinated baby beet salad. Jane commented that the gravy tasted "brown." She didn't care for that, but the spinach phyllo concoction was more than edible. And surprise, surprise, the beet salad was truly delicious. Neither of us is big on "grain" salads (Jane absolutely abhors Tabbouleh), so I'll skip the review of the barley salad.

For dessert, we shared the Coconut Moon Pie. It was pretty good too. We're still having trouble transitioning away from non-vegan desserts. They're just not as good. So we mostly have fresh fruit, or the soy desserts we've previously blogged about that we get at Trader Joe's.

Overall, we lament the fact that the restaurant is too far to put it in our regular rotation. We really enjoyed our experience and will definitely be back.

We had a slew of 100+ days at the end of August, 10 straight! And when it's that hot out, all thoughts turn to ice cream. OK, maybe not all, but our sweet thoughts do turn to ice cream when it's that hot out.

Jane and I were relieved to find out the Double Rainbow Very Cherry Chip Soy Cream was vegan goodness. We'd often purchased that in our non-vegan days and enjoyed it. The chocolate chips are dark chocolate and contain no milk products. And it tastes like ice cream.

We bought to So Delicious Chocolate Velvet Frozen Dessert over the weekend and finally got around to trying it last night. This will definitely be a staple in our household. And, best of all, a serving size is half a cup, instead of the usual quarter cup!. It's not ice cream though, the texture is way different. It's more like a gelato. But we've got no issues with that.

Happy desserting!

Lane

It's been too hot to crack open the vegan cookbook. Or to even bother looking at recipes online. So, what's for dinner? Jane's been on strike, it's way too hot to be slaving away over a stove for dinner. So, she's been making some delicious salads.

We've had tomato salad and cucumber salad. Jane will be posting some of her own vegan recipes once she feels she's got the swing of things. There's green salad for lunch and dinner every day too.

Last night we had toasted bagels with soy cream cheese and vegan salami. Condiments: onions, sliced tomatoes and pickled okra. That's right, pickled okra. (They taste like pickles, surprise!) Of course, there was a green salad with that. Yummy.

Lane

Jane is the head of this household. So with her decision to become vegan, she took on the monumental task of re-learning how to cook. So far, she's doing pretty well. In the month that we've been "doin' the vegan thing" as she calls it, there's only been one "let's not do this again" meal. I don't recall what that was, and she tore up the recipe.

Last night we had Turkish Lentil Stew, a great big green salad, and a hunk of whole wheat french brad from Ralph's. For those not familiar with the store, Ralph's is a Southern California supermarket chain. Yeah, I know.... Ralph, food... not the best of connotations, but the market is close by, good, and surprisingly, stocks a large variety of vegan items.

Because it's just the two of us, we often have the same meal two or more nights in a row. Hey, I'm not cooking, and I'm not complaining! Besides, I often say, when it comes to food, I could be a cat, as I'm willing to eat the same meal over and over and over again.

The Turkish Lentil Stew is from Ann Gentry's Real Food Daily Cookbook. Apparently, the are a couple of Real Food Daily restaurants in and around Los Angeles. The restaurants are our list to try, but they're a little further than we normally travel. However, if the cookbook is any indication, the trip will be well worth it. When we go, I'll let you know our impressions.

Lane