A vegetarian food tour of Houston

The best vacations involve a lot of eating, and such was the case on my recent trip to Houston.  It was a weekend trip to visit a friend, and food was the emphasis.  Houston is not a place that I typically associate with an excellent selection of vegetarian food, but we found a surprising number of tasty vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly places.  Of course, it helped that Lily had scoped out all of the possibilities prior to my arrival, so all I had to do was show up and eat.  It's definitely not a bad way to spend a weekend.

Our first stop was The Original Marini's Empanada House, an Argentinean empanada restaurant.  I had a savory empanada and a sweet empanada, both of which were very tasty.  There were many vegetarian options, but I ended up choosing an empanada that tasted like caprese pizza, which is my favorite kind of pizza.  The sweet empanada was delicious and involved strawberries and cream cheese.  I'm not normally a big fan of cream cheese, but I do appreciate its use in desserts, so I still enjoyed it.

Empanadas and curly fries at The Original Marini's Empanada House

A Warm Weather Tour of Downtown Chicago

Winter has been a bit colder and longer this year than previous years.  Most of the time, I'd rather be sitting at home under a blanket, sipping a cup of tea, than walking around outside.  When the weather warms up though, Chicago is an incredibly fun city to explore.  Being right on the shore of Lake Michigan, the city is very picturesque for a big city, and there are lots of things to do downtown.

Chicago Theater on State Street

Vegetarian Chinese Food in San Francisco

I spent approximately half of my recent trip to San Francisco near Union Square, within a few blocks of San Francisco's famed Chinatown.  I'd heard that San Francisco boasts an excellent selection of both vegetarian food and Chinese food, and I was especially excited to discover the existence of vegetarian Chinese restaurants.  During the week I spent in San Francisco, I was able to try two Chinese restaurants with completely vegetarian menus.

Enjoy Vegetarian Restaurant
I went to the Enjoy Vegetarian Restaurant at 839 Kearny St, on my way back from wandering up to Telegraph Hill and the Coit Tower.  I stopped in for an early dinner soon after they opened for the evening.  Early on a Saturday night, the restaurant wasn't too crowded, and it was a very cozy atmosphere for solo dining.  I've never felt so comfortable eating out alone.  I ordered crispy salt and pepper tofu and vegetable chow mein for my meal.  There are a lot of fake meat dishes on the menu, but I've never been a huge fan of fake meat, and frankly, I was a little overwhelmed by the number of choices, so I just picked the first couple of things I thought looked appetizing.

Crispy tofu