Other news

I think the broiling hot weather here in Portland this weekend has pushed a toasty, gooey sandwich like a reuben far from my mind. But have no fear -- we'll be back in earnest in the coming weeks. One reason for this is sheer necessity. I am leaving Portland for Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to begin graduate school in early August. I didn't really have this possibility in mind when I began this blog, but now it gives me a bit of a deadline. With a little over two months to go, I think B. and I will have a chance to review every TRUEBEN in Portland, as well as test a few more recipes and veganize a few more non-vegan reubens. But that might mean more frequent posts than usual, so check back often!

Also, if you haven't already, mark your calendars for Try Vegan Week which is June 7 - 14th. I'll be helping out with the vegan happy hour at the Bye and Bye, and actually, I'm hoping to morph it into a vegan food pub crawl. Luckily, this event coincides with Pedalpalooza, which means it becomes the embodiment of everyone's favorite Portland stereotype, the vegan cyclist who partakes in other unhealthy activities, like drinking and smoking (though, for my comfort and yours, most of the places on the route are smoke-free indoors). A portion of the happy hour will take place at the Bye and Bye, but you can opt to jump on your bike (or feet, or bus...) and join us at other vegan-friendly bars before and afterward. Speaking of Try Vegan Week, if you missed it at VegFest last weekend, Papa G's is still selling Temptation soy ice cream as a fundraiser for the event. I highly recommend getting two scoops of the vanilla in a glass and adding a bottle of Virgil's Root Beer from Papa G's drink cooler, as I did earlier this afternoon. Yeah! I've been brainstorming other ways to get involved with the week of vegan outreach, and hope to post some interesting, perhaps non-reuben related yet vegan-themed material to the blog during that stretch.

I also helped arrange another vegan event -- this one doesn't fall during Try Vegan Week, but will be part of Pedalpalooza: the Vegan Baked Goods Ride. If you are free that afternoon, you should check it out! We've put a fair amount of work into scouting good locations all around Portland to stop and sample vegan baked goods. We'll be hitting places that actually bake their own goods there, like Laughing Planet and of course, Sweetpea, as well as coffee shops that provide options from the numerous vegan bakeries in town. Since I won't be able to actually go on the ride, I've been going out of my way to sample many of the vegan baked goods to be had in town on my own. After all, I've only got a couple months left...

Update: I thought I was going to have to miss my own ride, but it turns out the client had to reschedule, so I'll be here for the Vegan Baked Goods Ride on June 24th after all!