A Week in Canada

I've neglected this blog lately because I've been so busy. I went home for Easter. My family spent part of the day together. For brunch, my aunt made me tofu quiches (no idea where the recipe is from) and blueberry chocolate chip blondies (based on the raspberry recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance). I spent some time with my family and with Jennie during the few days that I was home. We went out to lunch at Genghis Grill (build your own stir-fry) one day. Then, I went for an interview in Nashville. I had dinner with some members of the group at Tin Angel. I could only order the pasta with fresh veggies, minus parmesan, so I wish I had checked the revised itinerary prior to the trip to suggest a different restaurant. The original restaurant had a veggie burger at least. I don't think the group is a good match for me. I packed my bags for Canada next. I spent all of the last week in Canada, specifically Whistler and Vancouver. The food was expensive! Whistler is where the 2010 Olympics were held, so that might be why my boss commented that it was more expensive than he remembered (the 2008 conference was in Whistler too). After finally making it to the hotel on Sunday, I went to the nearby Milestones grill for a veggie burger and fries. The burger's texture reminded me of Gardein. For the conference, here's a breakdown of the meals:
Day 1 - Lunch provided: veggie rolls in rice paper, pasta salad (with olives, red pepper, and pesto), and salad. Dinner at Three Below: ordered a veggie quesadilla, no cheese, add guacamole to try to hold things together. Nothing exciting about these meals. No photos either.

Day 2 - Lunch at Chinese Bistro: Tofu and sauteed veggies (no picture, it wasn't that good anyways). Dinner at the hotel: Tofu stirfry, kimchi fried rice, cold soba noodle salad, and mixed vegetables.


Day 3 - Lunch at Tandoori Grill: vegetable samosas topped with chana masala. Best meal I had in Whistler. Dinner at the hotel: Quinoa with spinach, squash, and mushrooms. This was a special request, since the buffet's only vegan option was salad.

Day 4 - Lunch at Mongolie Grill: build your own stir-fry, charged by weight. I had tofu and vegetables with the spicy teriyaki sauce. Dinner at the hotel: Tofu noodle dish. The tofu was incredible with its grill marks. This was a special request, since the buffet was loaded with cheese.

Day 5 - Conference over, so I went into Vancouver with one of my labmates. We had lunch at Urban Fare, it's similar to Whole Foods. I got the prepackaged chickpea curry with rice, a vegetable samosa, and a banana. We walked all over the city, including Chinatown and the waterfront. Chinatown was awful - it stunk like urine in several places and was rather ugly. The downtown smelled like weed, because it was 4/20 and the area around the art gallery was closed down for a pot-smoking festival. At the waterfront, we walked around Canada Place. We ended up by Cooper's Park where we watched people rowing along the river. We had dinner at the Hurricane Grill, where I ordered the Dragon Glaze tofu dish.