In Which The Hedgehogs Make April A Faux Egg Salad Sandwich

After a long day of faire, April discovered that she had an unwelcome, unexpected visitor. She drove home, and the hedgehogs sent her to relax while they made dinner. Since April had been planning on making the Faux Egg Salad from page 50 of "Vegan a Go-Go!: A Cookbook & Survival Manual for Vegans on the Road", the hedgehogs decided they'd make it for her.



The hedgehogs had almost everything they needed, but realized they didn't have any garlic or pickles. However, they had a GIANT bunch of parsley, so they added lots of that.


Buttercup says that Hedgie is going to owe her BIG TIME after this.

After mixing everything together and tasting it, they decided it was good, but needed a little something. They added about 1/2 teaspoon of Kala Namak (black salt) and two yolk's-worth of The Vegg, and mixed some more. This time, it tasted really good!

Hedgie and Buttercup made a sandwich with some of the Faux Egg Salad and some avocado, and toasted the whole thing.


"Hey, Hedgie. How are we going to get it up the stairs to April?" "Oops."


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RESTAURANT REVIEWS - The Hogtown Vegan & Bunner's Bakeshop, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (and The Trip To Michigan)

After finishing the banner for her solo music act, April took the last day in Toronto to do some sight-seeing. After the fact, a quick study on Google Maps suggests that she probably walked about 8 miles altogether. (The hedgehogs were freeloaders and rode in her purse.)

After all that walking, some food was certainly in order. A web search had pulled up The Hogtown Vegan, which sounded very promising.

The Hogtown Vegan
834 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M6G 1M3, Canada
Twitter Page



Hedgie and Buttercup present: Some Facts About The Hogtown Vegan -





One other fact of note - The Hogtown Vegan is a cash-only establishment.

There were so many awesome things on the menu, but the Stuffed French Toast (with peanut butter, banana, and vegan bacon) really spoke to Hedgie's inner Elvis. April paid a bit extra to get collard greens on the side - healthy's gotta come from somewhere! She's a musician, too; one can't tempt fate!





You'd think, after all that amazing richness, that no one could possibly eat a bunch of vegan baked goods.

You'd think wrong.

Bunner's Bakeshop
3054 Dundas St W, Toronto, Ontario M6P 1Z7, Canada
Facebook page

OK, technically, April and the hedgehogs stopped at Bunner's the next morning, on the way out of Toronto. Free parking didn't exist, so April broke the law a little bit and parked in a metered spot in front of the shop, ran in, ooh-ed and aah-ed over EVERYTHING, bought some deliciousness, and skedaddled as quickly as possible.











April ended up with a savory chili cheeze pocket -



a butter tart -



(Hedgie is mad at Buttercup for some reason. Perhaps she didn't want to share the butter tart.)



a s'mores cupcake -



and a sweet roll -



It took 4 hours to drive from Toronto to Canton, Michigan (where April would be staying that night). The first three items made the drive a lot more pleasant, and the sweet roll was a delicious end to the day later that evening.


April gets a bed, and the hedgehogs get a bed. Seems fair.

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!