I always do two rounds of menu-checking when Restaurant Week comes around, first to see what has vegetarian options for the first two courses, and second to see what actually looks imaginative. This time around I opted for Aquitaine and Harvest, as I’d never seen either offer both vegetarian appetizer and main dish options (as far as I’ve noticed), and both looked worth trying.

Our first excursion was to Aquitaine:

• South End Manhattan (Jim Beam Black, quince & tangerine, cardamon, vanilla bean, egg white)
• A glass of some kind of organic sauvignon blanc (label and vintage sadly forgotten)
• Roasted tomato bisque en croute with herbed chevre and extra virgin olive oil
• Tagliatelle with mushrooms, baby spinach, shallot, thyme, and madeira cream
• Spiced rum, banana, and brioche bread pudding with dark rum caramel

Our table was not quite ready upon our arrival, so Santiago bought me a cocktail, the South End Manhattan. This was amazing, with the fruit juices and spices enhancing the fruitiness of the bourbon. I’d been skeptical of egg whites in cocktails, too, but the vigorous shaking built up a nice, frothy body. I’ll order that one again for sure. Maybe I’ll even try replicating it at home.

My meal was not necessarily adventurous, but it was classically well-prepared and delicious. I very much enjoyed the rich, fresh flavor of the roasted tomatoes — to think that I was once afraid of tomato soup! — and the earthy mushrooms paired with the slightly sweet madeira cream sauce. The real standout for something interesting and different was the dessert, though. My two dinner companions ordered the other two dessert options between them, but the dense, moist banana brioche pudding with deep, rummy caramel sauce definitely made my tongue happiest.

The savory courses at Harvest were a little more unusual (I got the half-glass wine pairing, too):

• Market green panzanella, mozzarella di bufala, crispy artichokes, and aged balsamic vinegar (wine pairing: Burgáns, Albariño, Rias Baixas, Spain 2007)
• Forbidden black rice tart with baby carrots, baby turnips, bok choy and hen of the woods mushrooms (wine pairing: First Drop Wines, First Love, Shiraz Blend, South Eastern Australia 2006)
• Roasted apple pain de gênes with vanilla ice cream, apple compote, and apple chip (wine pairing: the online menu I just found listed it as La Face Cachée de la Pomme, Neige, Apple Ice Wine, Québec, Canada 2006, but was actually a semi-sweet Riesling on the day I went there)

The market green panzanella was quite good (I especially enjoyed the tangy-sweet balsamic vinegar dressing it). However, my favorite part of the meal was the forbidden black rice tart, garnished with a bit of slightly spicy, slightly cuminy oil; I found this dish lovely and savory and a little different from the other offerings I’d seen for this season. The apple pain de gênes was not as fabulous a dessert as the banana brioche pudding — it seemed a bit like a moister, glorified muffin — but the accompanying apple compote was rich and sweet, and the paper-thin, freeze-dried apple chip garnish fairly burst with apple flavor.

Forbidden black rice tart

Apple pain de gênes

All in all, a great experience this time around. I just wish I could have afforded to try another one or two new restaurants. Next time I may want to try T.W. Food, Clink, Asana, and/or Rocca.

I’ve been making a lot of bread recently, because I had a lot of flour. So I’ve been trying a lot of different recipes in the bread machine. I’ve also become really addicted to watching TED talks; and I actually enjoy spending 7-15 minutes watching their daily new talk; I’ve been watching a lot of things that I might not seek out in an attempt to , and frequently, I find a lot of value for 15 minutes commitment.

So, those two things overlapped, and the other day I found myself watching this lovely talk by artisian breadmaker Peter Reinhart, done at Taste3 2008.

Anyone who’s attended the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival in recent years knows how Insanely! Crowded! it gets, often to the point of barely being able to move around the room. It’s not for the agoraphobic or faint of heart. The overcrowding had gotten so severe that some people had recommended either moving to a different venue or charging admission, each of which presented some serious issues.

Well, I just received some excellent news in email. This year the BVFF is going to be TWO days instead of just one! So, not only will there be twice the opportunity to check out this great festival, but the whole thing remains completely free to attend.

Good on ya, BVFF! Looking forward to showing up later this year…with my omnivorous husband, who has come to enjoy it as much as I do.

First there was the Bacon and Cheese Roll. Then the Bacon Explosion swept the nation, and even the New York Times wrote about it.

Now there’s the Vegetable Explosion. Unlike the approximately-50-bazillion-calorie Bacon Explosion, this actually looks good for you, if not quite as picturesque as either of the other two. It sounds pretty tasty as well, but I think I would want the outside to be more browned and maybe a little bit crispy. Brushing with a bit of melted butter might take care of that.

If Stephanie and Ny have another bacon party, I’m going to bring one of these.

In Thailand, Vegetarians Find a Place at the Table: “Participants in Phuket’s annual Festival of the Nine Emperor Gods follow a strict set of moral guidelines during its course, refraining from drinking alcohol, fibbing, killing, gossiping and, among other things, eating meat. Yet if the festival is known at all outside the region, it is for this small detail: In English, it is usually called the Phuket Vegetarian Festival…The festival is a wildly syncretic melee, combining elements of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism and the traditions of Ming Dynasty secret societies. During the nine-day festival, which honors the North Star at the start of the ninth lunar month, usually in October, household gods are brought to the city’s elaborate Chinese temples.”

Even though Buddhism is common throughout much of Asia, it can be difficult to find truly vegetarian cuisine. I knew that asking for Buddhist-style vegetarian food in Japan would be one way to find what I wanted, but even so I found that my preferences were considered quaint by some. It wasn’t easy for me in Indonesia, either, even though it’s the home of tempeh, which I love. In both cases, I often adhered to a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding the presence of things like fish-based ingredients. At least stealth fish won’t make me sick the way stealth mammal will.

So, though I’d love to visit more of mainland Asia, I’m well aware that animal ingredients are difficult to avoid. This makes the existence of a vegetarian festival in Thailand all the more squeeworthy. Go ahead and read about all those dishes the author describes and tell me that they don’t sound amazing, even if you’re a diehard meat lover. Follow that up with a vegetarian cooking class in Chiang Mai and it would be a vegetarian foodie vacation to die for.