The Hedgehogs Return To Kansas (RESTAURANT REVIEW - Baan Thai, Leavenworth, KS)

After an extra week in Austin to recover from gall bladder surgery, April was feeling good enough to make the trip back to Kansas so she could perform at the remaining weekends of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. Before she left, Floyd decided to show her how much he was going to miss her -



...or perhaps he was just being silly. The world may never know.

The hedgehogs were excited to get back on a plane! This time, they were going from Austin to Colorado, then Colorado to Kansas.









Once they got to Colorado, the hedgehogs were both very excited to have their first ride on a moving sidewalk -



After all the fun of the sidewalk (Buttercup felt a bit ill, but Hedgie wanted to do it again!), April and the hedgehogs discovered that they were going to have their first ever ride on a propeller plane.



As neat as the plane looked on the outside, it didn't have very great views from the inside -





(Though, the hedgehogs commented that getting to see the landing gear (wheels) get drawn up into the wing upon lift-off and then come back out at decent was pretty darn cool.)

After getting back to Kansas, April's host, Duane, agreed to go with her and the hedgehogs to check out the Thai restaurant down the street.

Baan Thai
301 S. 4th St., Leavenworth, KS 66048 (also has a location in Manhattan, KS)
Facebook page

They started out with some Spring Rolls (Cabbage, carrots, celery, bean thread, with spring roll wrapper, deep-fried and served with sweet and sour sauce.)



Baan Thai didn't have April's go-to Thai dish (Musumun Tofo Curry) on the menu, so she decided to try Pad Preaw Waan (Sweet and Sour) - tofu stir-fried with pineapple, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes. It was delicious! The flavors went together well, the sauce was great, and the spice level was just right.




Hedgie figures that by being helpful, perhaps he'll get an extra taste.

On the way out, the hedgehogs stopped to make a new friend, who seemed a bit taken aback at their presence -

The Hedgehogs Are Back In Austin! (RESTAURANT REVIEWS - Thai Kitchen, Sweet Ritual, and Pho Thaison - Austin, TX)

Since April had a week free between the end of Gen Con and the beginning of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, she decided to hop on a plane and head home to Austin to catch up with all her friends and loved ones, and to Eat All The Awesome Austin Vegan Food!

This was the hedgehogs' first time on a plane. They were very excited!







When April got back, her fiancé, Tim, took her to Thai Kitchen for lunch (they also needed groceries from Wheatsville, which is only a couple of buildings down the street, so it was very convenient.)

Thai Kitchen
3009 Guadalupe, Austin, TX 78745
Facebook page

April decided to branch out from her standard Musumun Tofu Curry, and went with Vegetables & Tofu with Red Curry - a bit different, and quite tasty!



For an appetizer, Tim and April split the Fried Tofu. The dipping sauce was delicious!



After all of the spicy curry, April and Tim decided that ice cream was a great idea, so they took the hedgehogs to Sweet Ritual.

Sweet Ritual
4500 Duval St Austin, TX 78751
Facebook page

Sweet Ritual is an all-vegan ice cream parlor that has recently added hard-pack ice cream in multiple flavors to their menu. April posted a review of them last year, as well as a Brownie Addendum.

Every time April goes to Sweet Ritual, she ends up getting amazingly complex sundaes, usually in a hand-made waffle cone (because everything's better in a cone!) This time, she got a scoop of Lady Gray (Earl Gray tea ice cream with rum-plumped cherries) and a scoop of Strawberry Jalepeño ice cream in a waffle cone, topped with salted caramel sauce and edible glitter.



After some grocery shopping and a nice walk, April and Tim decided that Thai food still sounded like a good idea, so they hit Pho Thaison for dinner.

Pho Thaison
2438 W Anderson Ln, Austin, TX (and other locations)
Facebook page

Buttercup spotted these stickers on a car in the parking lot. Hedgie wants to know how he can get some for himself.



Pho Thaison is one of many places in Austin where one can get vegan pho. April hasn't had all of them, nor has she had them close enough together to make a really good comparison. The pho at Pho Thaison is quite good, though. It's gluten-free, and has broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms, carrots, baby bok choy, and sliced fried tofu.



Even though the pho is good, that's not the reason that April loves Pho Thaison. That reason would be the Vietnamese crepes. They're gluten-free, and are made of coconut rice batter, bean sprouts, herbs, leaf lettuce, mushrooms and tofu. They're delicious, but a bit messy; you cut off a piece of crepe and put it in a piece of lettuce (like a taco!), then dip it into the nuoc mam sauce.



That evening, April greatly enjoyed sleeping in her own bed, and looked forward to getting vegan donuts the next morning!
(Also, according to the Official Vegan MoFo Daily Themes and Blogging Prompts, it's a good idea to post a picture of a cat. Here's Tim's cat, Floyd, who is very happy April is home - )

RESTAURANT REVIEW - Satay, Austin, TX

Satay
3202 W Anderson Ln #205, Austin, TX 78757
(512) 467-6731
Sun-Thurs: 11am-10pm / Fri & Sat: 11am to 11pm

I was very impressed to see quite a few dishes on the menu with a symbol meaning "Can Be Prepared Vegetarian", but some of the symbols seemed to be next to dishes that couldn't possibly be veg, and there were no symbols next to seemingly naturally veg dishes. I ended up ordering the Laksa Noodle Soup which the American waiter told me confidently was vegan. Veggie dumplings were lovely and the Asian hostess explained that the lack of "Can Be Prepared Vegetarian" labels by some of the dishes was due to lots of menu reprints instead of actual presence of meat. The soup, which came in a *huge* bowl, was very flavorful and had a spiciness that built up. I had the chocolate pie with fruits for desert. It was clearly marked vegan, as was the dark chocolate pudding. However, the pie came out topped with something that looked suspiciously like whipped cream. My omnivorous dining partner scraped it off, remarking that it might be something else, since it tasted a bit odd for whipped cream. The pie and fruit were very tasty, though.





Overall, a really tasty meal, and I'll definitely be back to try the vegan corn cakes and vegan yam cakes. I just wish they would fix their menu. Vegans will need to check with the wait person to ascertain the exact ingredients in any given dish.

Pros
Many vegan options, including items not normally available vegan
Delicious food

Cons
Symbols designating vegetarian menu options not all by correct dishes