Vegan Haven in LBI

On a recent trip down to LBI, I thought I would search on HappyCow just to see if there were any good veggie restaurants I might be missing out on and sure enough there was "Living on the Veg" in Beach Haven, 4 W Maryland Ave near the amusement park area. It is a lovely little cafe and such a relaxing respite from the hot sunny beach. The seating is small and just at the counter with stools but the atmosphere just begs you to hang out for awhile. We had wraps made which we took to go. Mock Chicken salad with tempeh bacon and the Chuck-wich with seitan, coleslaw, cucumber, onion, lettuce and barbecue sauce. So yummy and they give you a choice of a vegan side, we had potato salad and cole slaw. They also have salads, smoothies and juices so we came back later on our way home and indulged in some amazing smoothies. Again so refreshing after being back in the sun. They are also offering dinner options which we plan to go back for soon. Living on the Veg is definitely worth the trip. They are open every day in the summer and open late till 9pm Tues-Sun and Mon 11-4. So go ahead and plan a road trip! You won't be disappointed.

Animal Sanctuary in Edison, NJ

Who ever knew there was a wetlands area in Edison with an animal sanctuary as well ! I grew up right next door in Iselin and was always surrounded by suburbia and we had to travel a bit to get to some farmland or hiking areas. http://www.edisonwetlands.org/about/programs/triple-c-ranch/ The Edison Wetlands Association works to help clean up water ways and waste sites. At the animal sanctuary there's a mini pony, goats, chickens, a turkey (named appropriately "Turkey"), ducks, a pig and a ram. The friendly folks there will take you on a tour so you can meet the critters and if you're lucky like we were, you will get all loved up by the goats. They are so affectionate and just love to nibble on your clothes and rub all over your legs. They are such a happy group!


The chickens are probably my favorite. How could I ever have eaten them before? They are such beautiful, intelligent creatures and so curious about us. They make the most amazing little clucking sounds and come quickly over to check you out. They turn their heads to the side a bit to get a good look at you and you can almost picture them saying "look at me, I'm beautiful and special !" They dig around in the dirt and make little nests in their fresh straw. So sadly, chickens raised for egg laying are crammed 4-5 to a tiny cage and have no room to spread their wings or root around in the dirt. Their beaks are cut off so they don't peck each other in the cruel entrapment they spend their whole life in. And you're out of luck if you are born a male chick. You are simply discarded (alive) into a garbage bin. That's the egg industry so when you convince yourself that it is ok to eat eggs because you are technically not killing an animal, think again about the horror you contribute to.

Well back to the lucky few who can live out their lives at a sanctuary. The rooster cock-a-doodle-doos right in your face. He seems so proud of himself and what he can do. "Turkey" also loves to cluck happily at you and he also comes right over to "chat" with you and check you out. The pig is laying happily in the mud in the shade, the pony trots around his pen and snacks on grass. It's such a happy place!

We have so much to learn from these amazing animals. Their simple desire to live, be free and just be themselves without any harm.

There's also great hiking trails through the surrounding woods that go along the Bound Brook and you're sure to see many different bird species along the way. We saw a Rose Breasted Grosbeak, my first ever! And plenty of Red Winged Blackbirds, Robins and Swallows.

It's a great day trip for families and maybe it's right in your backyard and you didn't even know it.

Burlington, VT -

Just got back from a great trip to Burlington, VT. It's May 17 and the weather is glorious. 70 and sunny. Crisp blue sky and lilacs are blooming everywhere. They must be native to the area, we even heard there were 400 varieties of them although I thought they came in either a lilac color or white! Almost every front yard has one or two. There’s this amazing bike path that runs along the lake front (that’s Lake Champlain) where we biked several times. It even turns into this narrow strip of land about 15 feet wide where you are surrounded by water on both sides. This is as you head north and get near the islands in the lake. It’s such a beautiful area, you feel like you’re in Canada. We even saw two beavers swimming along in the water. Very cool ! Another really cool thing we saw for the first time was bike polo. We came across an outdoor hockey arena and saw a bunch of guys and one gal on bikes hitting a ball with homemade mallets. So we stopped and chatted with some guys watching and they told us it is indeed bike polo and it’s not that new, there are many places in the US where people play. They do have to rig up a bike to work for this. They change the gears so you can pedal forward or backward and they take off the brakes. If you want to slow down you just go in reverse. And many put on a shield to cover the spokes on the wheel since as you can imagine, your mallet can get caught in the spokes of your opponent quite easily.

We stayed at the Howard Street Guest House which was perfect. It's a converted carriage house with two rooms, one up and one down. It's one of the most charming, spacious, beautifully decorated places we've ever stayed. This is my ideal when travelling. If only I could find an inn like this every time I went away. http://www.howardstreetguesthouse.com/rooms.html

A must stop in town for all your food needs is The City Market http://www.citymarket.coop/ – the town’s co-op, this is an amazing natural foods and then some store with a deli, bakery, wine section and hot and cold food bar. I could eat here every day and never get bored. They had an entire vegan section on the food bar with creative tofu, seitan and tempeh dishes that changed every day. Burlington is so bike friendly that they have a huge bike rack area. If you build it, they will come! Almost every other customer came by bike. Very eco-friendly.

For dinner one night, we ate at Stone Soup, College St – we had the Seitan Reuben which was heavenly and they also have a vegan hot food bar which I indulged in – seitan stew, barbecued tempeh, steamed kale, rice pilaf.

Dinner another night was at The Skinny Pancake, a creperie, Lake St. http://www.skinnypancake.com/ The decision here is whether to get a meal type crepe or a desert crepe. So we had both. The Vegan Monster-House-made
Seitan, baby spinach, VT wild mushrooms, caramelized onions, and roasted red peppers served in a vegan crepe shell. And the Hot Apply Crispy – tart
Vermont Apples, Pure Vermont honey, Cinnamon Sugar. They have great outdoor seating across from the lakefront and it was fun to see the grads from UVM dressed in party dresses racing down to catch a party boat for a sunset cruise on the lake. This place is extra cool since they source most of their ingredients from local farms and food producers.

There were so many great restaurants with veggie options that we didn't even get to them all. Be sure to check out Happy Cow if you're planning on visiting the area.

There’s also a great fair trade shop, Peace & Justice located on Lake St (right next to the Skinny Pancake!) They are an organization working on racial justice, peace and human rights and also have this great shop with fair trade products from around the world. We got a new peace sign magnet for the car here.

All in all, it was a great trip; the weather was delightful and the sights were a treat. And of course the veggie food was divine.

Florida in winter

We just got back from sunny, beautiful, freezing Florida. We were looking forward to getting away to somewhere warm and since my friend was so generous in lending us her condo in Key Largo, off we went in search of the warm sun. Unfortunately we hit the most unlikely historic weather in the Keys with a full week of temperatures in the 40's and 50's. One day we did get to lie by the pool when it hit about 60 degrees, it was downright balmy. We had a good time anyway though, lots to see and do in the Keys. There's a wonderful bird sanctuary with rescued hawks and egrets and every day they have a pelican feeding by the water. But since it was so cold, there weren't many pelicans around and the few there didn't seem too interested in eating, maybe they were just chilly. There's lots of dolphin research centers which I'm torn about. I love to see the dolphins up close and I know we can learn alot from them, but some of these centers border on entertainment as a way to get funds and that I don't agree with. We also visited a turtle hospital ( http://www.turtlehospital.org/) hoping to go on a program tour. The poor sea turtles were freezing in the cold waters and were being rescued and brought in by the hundreds. I couldn't decide who to donate to first once we got home, the turtle hospital or to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. So I did both. The poor fish were also dying in the cold water, some swimming upside down and some already gone. It was so sad but inspiring to see so many people doing what they can to help the animals. Some people were bringing animals home to try to warm them. Iguanas were falling from the trees frozen but we were told they go into a cold hibernation and sometimes as their bodies warm, they come back to life. Although the Keys are beautiful and full of things to do, it is very difficult to find much vegetarian fare. We were fortunate to have a full kitchen at our condo so we did our food shopping at the local Publix and were happy to find they were stocked with tempeh, tofu and the new Gardein mock chicken products which are our new favorite. We actually wound up eating home pretty much every meal and saved lots of money that way! We really enjoy cooking while we are away since you don't have to worry about all the other household chores you usually do at home- cleaning, laundry, changing kitty litter pans, etc. (But I do miss my kitties when we're away!) So back to any veggie options...we did find the usual pasta and salads and even one place The Sundowner in Key Largo had a separate vegetarian menu but we were disappointed to see that all it really contained was pasta, vegetables and salad. We had hoped for a tofu stir fry or something else creative. We went down to Key West one day and they have plenty of options there- Help Yourself-Fleming St, Green Republic- Fleming St, The Cafe- Southard St and Sugar Apple on Simonton St. but at the end of the day after freezing out in the elements watching the required sunset and all the festivities that go with it, we opted for a comfort food veggie burger at Margaritaville on the famous Duval St. Back in Islamorada, we did find the Midway Cafe which is a cute cafe that had a tofu wrap on their menu in addition to some veggie wraps and hummus wraps. That of course was the day we had PB&J's packed so we didn't indulge but were happy to at least see those options. The cafe also tries to be as green as possible, using recyclable plates and cups and using green cleaning products. Basically you're surrounded by fish restaurants in the Keys but I can't blame them too much. The biggest tourist attraction there is fishing and every 2 feet along the Overseas Highway (Rt 1) you can pull over and fish and launch a boat but I just wish restaurants would have at least one option on a menu for us veg folks other than pasta (that was probably cooked with chicken broth). Oh yeah, while we were there, a fugitive who shot members of his family on Thanksgiving day was caught in a small motel in the keys. Thanks to the America's Most Wanted show, the motel owners were tipped off by a picture of the guy and the authorities raided his room and took him in to custody. We hear the Keys are a place where all sorts of funky folks hide out though. It really is a tropical paradise with beautiful blue green waters everywhere, palm trees, lovely sunsets from almost anywhere and oh I almost forgot the little Key deer. They are only found on Big Pine Key which is towards the end of the line of Keys (from Cayo in Spanish meaning "small island") and we've never had the pleasure of actually seeing them until this visit. We drove over on to No Name Key right near the No Name Pub and there they were walking around in residents' yards. They are smaller than our deer in NJ but oh so cute. They are very protected there and sadly there are usually almost 100 killed each year by car accidents. They think there are only about 700-800 left in the area.
The Keys are definitely a unique place and I highly recommend a visit there. Just plan to pack your food if you're a fellow veggie!

You can find vegetarian fare in PA Dutch country!

We recently made a trip to the PA Dutch country. I remember visiting as a child and really enjoying the views of the farmland and the shoefly pie. Now as a vegetarian, I knew that eating out there could prove difficult. We usually can always find salads and have even found enough veggies and side dishes at the buffets. So off we went for lunch in search of a gourmet cafe we heard had hummus wraps and veggie paninis. After travelling up and down Rt 23 in search of such a place, we gave up and ventured into downtown Lancaster since we read about a couple veggie options there. It was also their Arts Tour weekend in the downtown so there was a bit of a festive feel despite the cold and rainy day. We found a lovely little cafe, "Wish You Were Here", 108 W. Orange St, that served breakfast all day and had plenty of veggie options for us. It was warm and cozy inside and the menu was perfect for what we were looking for. I had the vegan chili and my husband had a homemade vegan sausage sandwich. Both were very yummy and gave us the warm fuzzy feeling we needed on a miserable day. For lunch the next day, we really wanted to eat at one of the famous smorgasbords so we went to Miller's in Ronks on Rt 30. We asked the host if he knew if there were many veggie dishes on the buffet and he went to get the chef himself who proceeded to show us each dish and tell us what had chicken broth, butter, cream, etc in it. We felt as though we had a personal tour of the place and we were so thankful that he took the time with us. We found plenty of choices to eat (with butter and cream - vegans might have a tougher time here although they did have a vegan soup, plenty of green salads, baked apples, sauteed squash and breads) and enjoyed sampling many local favorites. Their pies are amazing; shoefly pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie and an oatmeal pie which was sort of like the inside of the shoefly pie but with oatmeal mixed in. And they do not use lard in their crust. So the weekend went well and we were pleasantly surprised that we could find so many great eateries in such a farmy place.

Ladies High Challenge

I just got back from doing this Ladies High Challenge at Thompson Park in Lincroft through the Monmouth County Park System. The daredevil in me seems to always want to sign up for things like this but when the day comes to do it (as it did today), I think "what the hell was I thinking!?" I wished it would get rained out and after calling the weather cancellation number since it was raining where I lived, I learned that yes, it was still on. Shute, sugar, sh*T! So I think, how bad can it be? So off I go. A group of us meets in the park and after introductions and such, we walk in to the woods where this "challenge" is set up. We will be zip lining about 35 feet high in the air which is basically just attaching yourself by a pulley to a telephone type cable line, you stand on a platform up in the air on a telephone pole and once attached, you glide down, James Bond style. I did this in St Lucia last year and it was a blast. I was terrified in St Lucia right before we did it and after my first "zip", I couldn't wait to do it again. I thought this would be the same thing today, most likely much tamer. I mean, how scary can it be for the park system to have put it together? (my palms are beginning to sweat thinking about it now!) So we walk over to the whole set up and the instructors start to tell us how this is going to go down. We first will climb up inside a ropey, round, cable net contraption (about 35 ft high), hoist ourselves up onto 2 wood boards that are about 1 inch thick, attach to another cable, tightrope walk on a (extremely thin) cable while holding on to another cable above you, get to another (haha) platform (yeah right, try more like a sideways telephone pole) and then tightrope walk again with 2 cables to hold on to above you and then you finally get to the platform (this an actual platform a whole 2 feet square) and then you attach to the zip line and away you go sailing along. Piece of cake right? Hah. After seeing the instructor do this whole thing, I decided right then and there, no way was I going to do this. I would climb a bit of the rope thingy and come down and just cheer on the other gals. So after about all of the girls go, (very brave they all were), it was my turn. So up I go on the rope and halfway up, I look down and think, ok, I'm not all that scared, I'm sweating profusely at this point but I think I can go a bit further. After straining every muscle that I didn't even know I had in my legs and arms, I hoist myself up a bit further. Now all of a sudden I am close to the top. How did I get so far?? What am I doing up here? Well now it is time for me to come down but for some strange reason, I continue on. The tricky part is getting yourself up high enough to the top so you can clip into a safety carabiner (those metal thingys that rock climbers use). So before I know it I am clipped in and then you have to grab another one that is on the tightrope cable. So I'm clipping in, unclipping the one that attached me to the telephone pole and now I am tightrope walking 35 ft high in the air. Again I am pushed forward by some unknown force so here I am wobbling like you have no idea but I keep thinking if I just continue forward, I will get to the next platform and then I will be zip lining and I will have done it. The whole time the instructors are telling you what to do from the safety of the nice solid ground below. I couldn't believe they were not up here carrying me! So I make it without falling off the cable to the next platform, hoist myself onto the nice wide sideways telephone pole (oh yeah, I'm feeling real secure on this thing!), hook onto the next carabiner, unhook the last one and off I go again. This time it's walking on a cable with 2 cables on either side above your head to hold on to. Now at this point, I am past sheer terror, my face is dripping wet as if someone has poured water over my head, but forward I go. I need to mention, while on these cables, dear sweet Louise, one of the other gals, was talking me through the entire thing. She had already been through the torture so she knew some strategy to share with me. I don't think I would have made it without her help although there is nowhere to go once you're up there but forward. So I finally make it to the huge 2 foot square platform and breathe for a second and then you're clipped onto the zip line and you sit down in your harness and then just inch off the edge and you're flying away. This is the best part, it's so fun and you feel so deserving at this point to get a nice ride. So you sail forward at a pretty good pace and then the cable turns upward a bit so when you get to the higher part, you just naturally start to glide backwards ( I went with no hands mom at this point!) and then the other gals help you get down by a ladder. The middle of the zip line cable is only about 7 feet high so it's easy to get down here. So what's this got to do with "being geen" or eco-friendly? Absolutely nothing at all, but it was great to be out in the woods, sharing some time with some great gals and if you don't scare the crap out of yourself once in awhile then what's the point of living? Am I glad I did it? More than you know. I feel like I'm walking taller and more confident and no one can touch me. Would I do it again? No way in hell !

The Big Apple

Yesterday we had a wonderful time in the Big Apple. We've always wanted to bike the "Greenway" that runs along the rivers on both sides of the city so we finally made the trip in to do it. We were concerned that our bikes would be too tall on top of the car going through the Lincoln Tunnel but silly us realized huge trucks and buses go through with no problem so we were fine. We parked around 51st street right near the West Side Hwy and then started biking along the bike path. We saw so many cool things, the cruise ships docked with lots of folks coming from and going to their vacations. The USS Intrepid was bustling with sightseers and the helicopter sightseeing launch had many going up. There's a skateboard park and Chelsea Pier with lots of sporting activity (with a very convenient public restroom right along the path too!) Going north a bit, I was amazed at how many beautiful parks there were right along the water. Folks were kayaking (with free rentals!), playing softball and basketball and hanging out listening to live bands in Riverside Park. It was a real treasure to see NY from this vantage point. We then made our way up and over to Central Park and what an experience that was. As many of you might know, Central Park is closed to car traffic on weekends so the roads are all open to bikers, rollerbladers, skateboarders, joggers, walkers, etc. What we didn't realize were how many giant hills there were. It was certainly a workout. We walked our bikes to Strawberry Fields where the memorial to John Lennon is, saw the radio controlled boats in the pond, listened to a violinist play in a lovely shaded area and watched turtles swimming about in the rowboat pond. So back on the park roads, I couldn't believe the serious bikers, we thought we were pretty tough, but some of these fellas and ladies were cruising through at unbelieveable speeds dodging joggers and slower bikers(us). After our ride through the park, we made our way back to the car and then drove over to a new favorite veggie restaurant, Curley's Lunch. It's a tiny little cafe at 328 E. 14th St, between 1st & 2nd Ave. Lots of good ole fashioned veggie burgers, french fries and vegan milkshakes. Yum! We then made our way to Babycakes(248 Broome St, between Orchard & Ludlow-Lower East Side), a vegan bakery, and indulged in some fine vegan cupcakes, gluten free. While strolling about the Lower East Side, we decided to take the Tenement Museum tour which I've been wanting to check out. This was the coolest thing ever, I highly suggest this tour! There's actually quite a few different tours and topics but mostly they take you in to an actual tenement building which dates back to 1870 and tell you about the families who lived there and their struggles, very interesting stuff! And a trip to NY is never complete without a stop at MooShoes, the non-leather alternative shoe store. My hubby bought a new vegan wallet made from recycled bicycle inner tubes. How cool is that?! All in all it was a fine day, can't wait to do it again!