Oh my…what a trip I had to the East Coast in early June. Here was the start at SFO. And it only got better from there.
I flew to Baltimore and drove about an hour to Frederick, Maryland. My sister met me there where I did two cooking demonstrations at The Mother Earth News Fair in Frederick, Maryland. I met a few friends and fans, and hopefully now have new friends and fans. The weather could have been more cooperative as it was hot and muggy one day and then rained hard the next but overall it was quite enjoyable.
I always meet amazing people at The Mother Earth News Fair. This time I met Eric and Cindy Noel who import spices from Belize through their company MMCSC . Since I made my Garbanzo Bean and Summer Vegetable Curry one day Cindy heard me up on stage talking about the health benefits of turmeric. She gifted me a 4 ounce package of their turmeric. (She is offering you a 50% discount on their 4 ounce packages of turmeric from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DRDYFHQ with the code veggiequeen at checkout. This offer is good until July 4th) Check out their other products, too. Cindy and her husband Eric couldn’t be nicer people.
I also got a tank top from Yogamour Yoga studio because the woman there (sorry but I didn’t get her name) said that I was one of the only people who could fit into the shirt. It’s very nice and I love the yoga love message as you can tell from my photos above.
I had a short overnight in Baltimore for a vegan dinner with gracious hosts Mike and Helen and a few Vegetarian Summerfest friends who I will sadly miss this year as I will be vacationing in North Carolina at the beach. (So don’t be surprised to miss me on social media for a bit.)
But now on to my trip to Philly… I figured that while I was on the east coast I would visit my good friend Fran Costigan , a “sister from another mother” who moved to Philadelphia from New York in 2017. She kept raving about how much she loved it so I hopped on the Amtrak train (efficient but too expensive) and made my way to Fran. After a short Uber ride from the 16th street train station, I arrived at Fran’s spacious digs with a view and a balcony.
First Fran and I had a delicious lunch of Franalicious greens and purple potato salad and too much dessert (if there is such a thing but she wanted me to test out some of her new creations. They were all splendid.) She walked me all around Philly for many miles, about 6 each of two short days. I certainly got my 10,000 steps plus some. You see Fran was getting ready to teach at Rancho La Puerta and was building up to all the walking around. We briefly stopped in to V Street and Whiz Kid and she promised happy hour at Vedge. I then had a reason to continue our journey. And a tasty journey it was. You can read more about this on Fran’s blog.
Here are my Vedge food photos that Fran didn’t have:
In the afternoon the next day we made many stops including the Reading Market which actually had vegan options and some fermented food.
My short trip was splendid and topped off at the Alice Leung’s Soy Cafe with a group of vegan women where we celebrated the 14 year anniversary of that sweet spot. Included in the photo are Andrea Corbi Fein, me, Dynise Balcavage, Fran and Alice.
And the love never stopped.
Sally Charette says
This really makes me want to attend a vegan/veggie fair or event. Also stopping by to thank you for the simple quinoa recipe in The New Fast Food. I received some red quinoa from Rancho Gordo some months ago and was not excited about it. Just had this for breakfast for a delightful change. A thousand thanks for your great charts, recipes and advice.