RESTAURANT REVIEW, Part Deux - Blue Koi, Kansas City, MO

April visited Blue Koi in 2011, but the hedgehogs insisted on going to see it themselves. April met a few omnivorous friends there for a nice lunch.

Blue Koi
1803 W. 39th Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
(also at 10581 Mission Road, Leawood, KS 66206)







The last time April went to Blue Koi, she made a meal out of the Crispy Tofu With Spicy Awesome Sauce and the Veggie Dumplings. This time, she was excited to try the Eggplant Pockets, but the server told her that they were out of those. Vowing to come back before the end of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival to try them, April and her dining companions decided to split the Crispy Veggies (tempura coated fried mixed vegetables with a cool basil sauce and a semi-spicy sriracha sauce), the Spicy Chili Tofu Wontons, and the Crispy Tofu with Spicy Awesome Sauce.







The Crispy Tofu with Spicy Awesome Sauce was just as awesome as April remembered; the tofu is nicely fried and the sauce is just the right combination of sweet and spicy. The Crispy Veggies were also good - April got lots of the delicious cauliflower, since her companions weren't big fans of that particular veggie. The sriracha sauce wasn't overly spicy, but has a bit of a kick of one gets enough of it at one time. The Spicy Chili Tofu Wontons, however, are April's new favorite! Incredibly flavorful, with just the right amount of spice.

April and the hedgehogs were impressed to discover that Blue Koi actually offers more vegan options than they had originally thought. Besides the appetizers listed above, there's also Lettuce Wraps that can be made with tofu. For main dishes, the Firebird Duck and the Black Bean Chicken can be made with tofu instead, and in addition to the Vegetable Noodle Soup shown on the online menu, there's a Vegan Delights soup that April very nearly got, Tofu with Chinese Curry Sauce, Braised Tofu with Shiitake Mushroom (can be noodle soup or just over noodles or rice), and Ants On A Tree, which can be made with tofu, and which is what April decided to get. (The hedgehogs wanted to see if it really had ants. It didn't.)


Hedgie offers April her collapsible chopsticks.

The bean noodles were very tasty, and the fried tofu stood out well among the rest of the veggies. There was a ton of it, as well, and the hedgehogs helped April pack half of it into her reusable to-go box to have for dinner.

For a beverage/dessert, April had the Sweet Red Bean Bubble Tea with pearls. The server told her that they use soy milk, so it was vegan. Yay!

The Hedgehogs Take Pittsburgh (RESTAURANT REVIEWS - New Dumpling House, Té Café, and Tana Ethiopian)

After two weeks of roughing it at Pennsic, Hedgie and Buttercup convinced April to do a bit of sight-seeing in the big city of Pittsburgh. April was thrilled with the architecture, and spent a couple of hours just wandering around neighborhoods taking pictures of the houses.

While out walking, Hedgie spotted a dumpling house and wanted to investigate.

New Dumpling House
2138 Murray Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Facebook Page





Buttercup giggled at a sign outside -



Once inside, April discovered that one gets free tea, wontons, and pickled cucumber -



Hedgie insisted on dumplings (though it didn't take much at all to convince April). They were almost as big as the hedgehogs, and the most amazing dumplings April has ever eaten.



The Vegetarian Yellow Bird was the most exciting-looking thing on the menu, so that's what April got next -


Apparently, they sometimes make this with chicken stock, so be sure to specify that you don't want it.

After all that food, Buttercup suggested a nice pot of tea. April had seen a tea shop just up the street, so they all decided to go.

Té Café
2000 Murray Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Facebook Page & Twitter Page

Walking into the shop, they were greeted by the sight of vegan banana walnut bread. This was a very good omen!



Hedgie suggested that April get something with mint or possibly ginger to aid in digestion. The guy behind the counter offered up a peppermint rose green tea with fresh ginger added. It was only $4.45 for a whole pot, and the free hot water refills made a second pot possible!



In fact, it was while drinking the second pot of tea that Hedgie talked April into getting the banana walnut bread (again, not terribly difficult), which was a lovely compliment to the tea.



The next day, everyone decided to check out the Ethiopian restaurant around the corner from the Awesomely Big Church.

Tana Ethiopian
5929 Baum Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Facebook page

Outside the restaurant, the hedgehogs made a new friend.


Buttercup wants to buy him some pants.

The food at Tana was good, but the portion sizes were much smaller than Aster's, which made April a bit sad.



After dinner (and a bit more sight-seeing!), it was time for bed. The hedgehogs needed their beauty sleep before the drive to Canada!

The Hedgehogs Take Pennsic (Slippery Rock, PA)

After the 24 hour drive from Austin to Pennsylvania, April and the hedgehogs finally made it to Pennsic. Pennsic lasts for two weeks - the first week is called "Peace Week", and the second week is called "War Week", since that's when most of the battles are fought. Hedgie and Buttercup are a bit worried about getting anywhere near large armies in heavy plate mail carrying swords (rightly so!), so they have nothing to report on the actual fighting.

They did, however, provide cheering and moral support while April set up her tent.



It's not an authentic canvas pavilion, but it'll do for now. Just big enough for a musician and her hedgehogs.

The next morning, April donned her handmade linen cotehardie (dress) and handmade linen veil, grabbed her instruments (bowed psaltery, bodhran, flute, and pennywhistle) and hedgehogs, and headed out to play music for the masses.



Hedgie and Buttercup would like to credit their extreme cuteness and congeniality as the reason that April made the front page of the Pennsic Independent -



After several hours of playing, Hedgie took Buttercup on a tour of his favorite places. (He's been to Pennsic twice before, but this was Buttercup's first time.) He showed her House Hedgehog (the Latin on the tent translates to "The Hedgehog Can Not Be Buggered At All") -



as well as the TARDIS (which leads into another encampment) -



Pennsic is run by the Coopers (who own the land). The Coopers run the convience store onsite, as well as Penn Market, which moved from the food court to the big barn this year. April was thrilled to notice that Penn Market had a whole section devoted to organic foods -



Each year, Pennsic has a theme. Since this was Pennsic 42, the theme made itself readily apparent -


This sign happily provided by Vogon industries.


The official site medalion. If you can't quite make it out, that's a bowl of flowers that says "Don't Panic".

One of April's favorite places to play and hang out at Pennsic underwent ownership and a name change this year. Kafe Merhaba (formerly Your Inner Vagabond) provides coffee, tea, other drinks, and light snacks in a big shaded tent with tons of straw-stuffed cushions. It's very easy to forget that you're in a tent in a field when you're lounging on cushions and sipping an iced coffee.


Did I mention it was Pennsic 42?


Hedgie and Buttercup meet the Merhaba camel. "We found a camel! Can we keep him?"

This year, the food choices were much fewer than last year. (Here's the menu.) There were some vegan options, but they were a bit out of April's budget - $4 for a small bowl of mixed olives or a small bowl of mixed fruit and nuts. April's favorites this year were the drinks (which they gave her for free after she'd played a set - bonus!) April started out trying a Yemeni espresso with ginger and orange blossom water. It was sweet, perfectly spiced, and delicious!


The hedgehogs beg for coffee. "See? It's just our size!"

April's other favorite drink was an iced chai. When she first got there, they told her they had no non-dairy milk, so she had several chais with no milk at all. On the last day, they proudly told her that they had almond milk, so she was treated to the most amazing drink ever (at least, that was what it seemed like after a long day playing music in the heat!)



One of the other awesome things about Penn Market was that they sold freshly baked bread of all sorts. Each day, there would be day-old bread for half price. On the last day, they offered buy one, get one free on all the remaining bread, so April bought a bread bed for Hedgie and Buttercup.


The hedgehogs get comfy. The dipping oil was given to April free from one of the ladies who worked at Penn Market.

April took down her tent and packed everything up (with the cheering and moral support of the hedgehogs), and prepared to embark on her first trip to Canada!

Mud Pie Vegan Bakery & Coffee House - Kansas City, MO

Mud Pie Vegan Bakery
Facebook Page
1615 W. 39th Street
Kansas City, Missouri 64111
(816) 931-4539
Mon - Fri: 6 am - 9 pm
Sat: 7 am - 9 pm
Sun: 8 am - 7 pm


Yesterday, before my 12 hour drive from Missouri to Texas, I decided to stop at Mud Pie Vegan Bakery, Kansas City's only 100% vegan bakery and coffee house. A warning to all of you who might have problems making decisions - everything in there looks absolutely delicious (and it's all vegan, so that doesn't help narrow anything down!)




Check out all the milk options! Also, soy is standard and free- take *that*, Starbucks!

I ended up getting a vegan cheddar scone, a slice of coffee cake, and an almond milk chai latte. Upon further reflection, this is a bit out of character for me - no chocolate at all?




I liked what I got, but I'm thinking next time I'll pick something chocolate, because it's bound to blow me away. (I'm still dreaming of those mini chocolate bundt cakes...)

Cucumber Sandwiches & Tea

After having three gall bladder attacks in one week, I decided to stick as closely as possible to the "good foods list" on gallbladderattack.com. I think it's particularly funny that the Vegan MoFo Secret Challenge Ingredient last week was beets, and that beets are pretty much the number one "good food" listed for gall bladders. I didn't read the post about beets being the challenge ingredient until Sunday (too late to actually join in the group challenge), bu at least I can reap the benefits of everyone else's recipes!

Last night for dinner (and again today for lunch), I decided to be all English and have cucumber sandwiches and tea. Cucumbers are one of the good foods, and I figure gluten-free bread is probably ok. As for the vegan cream cheese...well. I didn't have an attack last night, so we're going to say it's ok, too.



Simply toast the bread lightly, spread a thin layer of vegan cream cheese on each slice, and fill with a few thinly sliced cucumbers. If you want to get REALLY fancy, you can cut the crusts off.

For the tea, I had a combination of loose leaf lemongrass & ginger, licorice, detox tea, and mint tea brewed with water and a bit of flax milk. All good digestive things!

Greens, Greens...and Gall Bladder Attacks. Aww, Nuts.

Last week, I made a very large pot of black beans. Since then, I've been having them several different ways (mostly involving rice and peach or pineapple salsa), but last night I wanted to try something a bit different. I had some fresh broccoli and some bulk quinoa, so while the quinoa was cooking, I stir fried the broccoli in some olive oil and a couple of pats of Earth Balance. I then got out a *third pan* (I know, crazy talk, right?) and made some peanut sauce. There wasn't a recipe, per se; I put in all the crunchy peanut butter that was left in the jar (4-5 tablespoons? Totally guessing here), enough squirts of Bragg liquid aminos to cover most of the bottom of the skillet, and enough flax milk to cover the rest of it. I then added several good shakes of powdered ginger, turmeric, and a tiny bit of salt and garlic powder, and then stirred it on slightly-lower-than-medium heat until it was all nice and smooth.

I added the peanut sauce and what was left of my black beans (1/3-1/2 cup, I think) to the pan with the broccoli, and continued to let it cook on medium low until everything was nicely mixed and the broccoli was just barely crunchy. I served it over the quinoa.

I personally thought it tasted amazing, and had that thought confirmed by one of my omnivorous hosts, who tried a bit of it herself.

Now, to the not-so-great part of this post.

I've had issues with my gall bladder in the past, and have had fairly painful attacks (usually at about 3-4 am - thanks, body!) after eating heavy meals. My friend Becca's delicious buffalo seitan has been known to cause an attack here and there (though it might be more because of the vegan ranch dressing than the two bottles of Frank's Red Hot Sauce), and generally, eating anything heavy within an hour or two of bedtime is just a bad idea. Since I've been up here in Kansasouri, I've been out with a friend to have Bean Curd Family Style at a local Chinese place (more about that in a later post). It hadn't bothered me before, but after eating it this past Monday, I had an attack. This one was fairly mild, as gall bladder attacks go, but it still woke me up and made it difficult to go back to sleep for a couple of hours. Last night, after eating the meal above (which includes beans, nuts, oil, and other things specifically listed as "not good" on gallbladderattack.com) and a few handsful of trail mix (pretty much just all bad), I had yet another attack. This one was worse than the previous one, and kept me up for at least 2-3 hours.

During the attack itself, I made the flax seed tea listed on the website (Boil 1 Tbsp of organic flax seeds in 2 1/2 cups of water for 5 minutes. Steep 10 minutes. Strain and sip slowly.) I did, in fact, start to feel better before I'd even finished the tea, and it didn't taste bad at all.

Today, instead of finishing my broccoli bean dish (which I would have liked to do), I decided to make the green soup recipe on the page. It calls for parsley, zucchini, green beans, and celery, but the HyVee down the street didn't have any celery that wasn't wrapped in plastic, so I left that out. Also, instead of steaming the veggies first, I just put them all in my BlendTec blender with a bit of flax milk (the page says flax is good) and set it on "Soup".



After it was blended, I poured it into a pot and heated it on medium for a bit.

This soup...is not very inspiring. I added some ginger and turmeric, since the site says those are good, but I would have dearly loved to have also added some salt and chili peppers. That, however, would have defeated the purpose.



It might have been pushing things a bit too fast, but I also had a very small sweet potato with a bit of avocado on it (both ok things, according to the website).


So, tomorrow is "Dinner & a Movie" Friday. I also had a special treat planned for my first "Feed And Omni" feature. I'm not certain I really ought to be eating either thing that I make, which is just really sad. Everyone, think good healing thoughts for my digestive system!