California Does it Better Sometimes

I am the only member of my family that does not watch The Hills on MTV (though I will admit I am/was addicted to Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods on the same channel). One of the characters on The Hills frequents a coffee shop in Los Angeles called Karma Coffeehouse, and so my dad mentioned that he was curious what it was like. His request for our Los Angeles/Disneyland trip this past week was that we stop at Karma. When he was reading me the menu online, I practically jumped for joy out of my good luck: Not only did I learn Karma sold vegan cookies, but they also have a significant vegan selection on their lunch menu.



After a stop at Santa Monica Pier and an overwhelmingly long search for a parking spot in Hollywood, the family stopped for a late lunch at Karma. I get really excited about new restaurants when I know I'm going to get some good eats as a vegan, so I was a block ahead of my dad, mom, and sister from our parking spot to the entrance of the coffee shop. The interior was all smiles and rainbows, kind of modern hippie? I don't know how to describe it, but it was a really cute place! The cashier was so sweet and patient with my omni familia and when my sister learned -- to her horror -- that 9 out of the 10 lunch menu items were devoid of meat, cheese, and all that she holds dear.

My sister and mother both got non-vegan sandwiches for their entree; my dad got a mocha and a vegan sandwich and requested to add meat to it (all vegans sigh here...); and I ordered the Monkey Munch, an almond butter sandwich complete with strawberries, bananas, and 100% pure maple syrup on hazelnut-raisin bread. As soon as my dad read me their menu on the internet back at home, I knew this was the sandwich for me. So understandably, there was quite a lot of anticipation leading up to this sandwich. I also ordered a decaf soy latte, my signature drink.

I'm really picky with my espresso, but I won't go into that -- the espresso was surprisingly tasty for decaf, but the microfoam/soymilk consistency I look for wasn't there. But the real star of the meal was my sandwich! The shop was empty except for one other person, but it still took awhile for the kitchen to turn out a meal for four; however, it ended up being worth the wait.



This picture does not even begin to do justice to the wonderfulness of my sandwich. The thick slabs of hazelnut-raisin bread were absolutely huge and were lightly toasted; the filling of the sandwich was incredibly decadent and heavenly. My mom took a bite of mine and really enjoyed the bite too -- but she said she wouldn't be able to eat too much of a sandwich that was so rich. Haha, I enjoyed my rich sandwich, thank you very much.

We actually had to go back to the shop later in the day. I was too full for dessert after lunch, but we were at some mall and my family was enjoying "their" cookies. They felt bad and offered to take me back to Karma to get an Uncle Eddie's Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie.



I enjoyed this in the (2 hour) car ride back to Anaheim from L.A. Traffic was horrible! Thank heavens I had my cookie to keep my belly happy. While I enjoyed Uncle Eddie's baked circle of goodness, I have to admit that I like this cookie recipe on Celine's blog even better -- the chocolate chip spelt cookies, which happen to contain peanut butter also. I think it is because spelt flour rules in cookies!

The next day at Disneyland, I already knew where I would be having my lunch: Vegyogini tipped me off to a place where I could get a kick-butt vegan meal in the park, near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Here's my Vegetarian Gumbo, which was also vegan.



While it was just bread and soup, it was surprisingly delicious. The soup was thick and satisfying and I had to stop myself from eating the entire sourdough bread bowl. Sadly though, Disneyland is not as vegan-friendly as Disney World. I was just glad I only had to eat one meal inside the Disneyland park, or I would have been doomed to more meals of only white bread, oil, and vegetables.



During the trip, I did enjoy my little breakfasts of fruit and raw almonds, Cinnamon Puffins, and individually sealed 8-ounce packages of soymilk I brought from home, as well as the occasional Jamba Juice (conveniently located in Downtown Disney, literally in the backyard of our resort). But I must say I was very glad to have a homemade breakfast back in Texas after our vacation was over. Such as...



An Oatmeal-Banana-Peanut Butter Waffle, topped with dried cherries, raspberries, Earth Balance, and pure maple syrup, was the first thing I made for myself back at home. I adapted the Oatmeal-Banana-Raisin Waffle recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance by replacing almost all of the oil with peanut butter and omitting the raisins. This experiment was partially a failure... While it made a crisp, incredibly tasty waffle, the waffle kind of crumbled once I cut into it. And even though there was almost 2 tablespoons of PB in my individual waffle, I could barely taste it. Boo! Next time the PB is going on top of the waffle. I was still very pleased with my breakfast and with my splurge on organic fresh raspberries. Yum!