Super size me

I think I have a problem with sizes when I'm baking. Seriously, I love bake big cupcakes. Govinda's restaurant have my biggest ones and they are the ones I like more. Maybe everybody loves most the mini cupcakes (yes, they're so cute), but I still prefer the super size!

Yesterday I decide to bake some vegan strawberries muffins for the very first time. I like muffins but my heart is all about cupcakes. But I decided to give them one chance and I didn't regret! They look great and they are delicious! I used the recipe of the amazing book Vegan Brunch. So, today, Govinda's has also vegan muffins available ;-) And the sfihas are a great success! Everybody loves them.


For last Saturday I got some orders and the one I enjoyed most making it was the chocolate with caramel birthday cake (beside the fact that I got burnt making the caramel)!


As I told you, I'm having no free time this month to cook, so my husband is helping a lot. For the weekend he made an amazing zucchini lasagna and I ate a lot (super size me!). I won't post the recipe of the lasagna here because there is no secret, is all about layers (we had zucchini, ragu, soy cream and cheese), but I wan to say one thing: always cook the pasta before starting to make the layers. Even when it is pre-cooked, do it. It will be so much better in the end!



Last thing for today: my dear Brazilian friend Raquel (I wrote about her before!) has a new passion: graffiti! And she did a cupcake and sent to me yesterday and I want to share with you because I loved it:

Hope she'll have a lot more to show us in the near future! Keep going sweet ;-)

PS. I just realized how many times I wrote the word "love" today. Well, love is always in the air and it's great, isn't it?!

More than sweet

Life is (almost) always sweet.
Being vegan is sweet.
But sometimes we need salty flavors!

Today, for the very first time, Govinda's (Abbey St) is selling our vegan sfihas. Originally from Iraq, this snack is very popular in Brazil and Argentina and, of course, we have a vegan version for it! I said "our" because this wouldn't be possible without the big help of my lovely husband that is helping me these days as much as he can and cooked the sfihas yesterday for me ;-) So, today Govinda's has two options available: soy sfiha and broccoli + tofu sfiha!



Hope Irish people like them!

And as usual, some sweet cupcakes. For today I made double vanilla with raspberry jam filling ones:


Well, Sweet is becoming more than sweet. Should I change the name or create a salty brand too?!

In my time... i've seen a lot of ways! *

I'm still working hard (12/15 hours a day) but I miss writing here a lot. I miss cooking more and trying more recipes. I miss going out. But this job is worth it and I'll be free again in September.

But today I remembered about a salty pie that I love to cook and that it's great when you don't have much time. It's easy, fast and delicious! I never took a good pic of it so don't believe just in your eyes, the pie is really good.

Recipe

Dough:
2 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspon salt

Just put everything on the blender and mix. The dough should be homogeneous and creamy (if it's too much liquid, add more flour, and if it's too thick, add more water).



Filling: you can make many different sauces to fill it, but I usually make a tomato and soy one - like a vegan Italian ragu. I usually add some vegetables too, like mushroom, zucchini, eggplant, potato. Make a good quantity, half medium pan. I always think that it is better have more than less.

Pre-heat the oven (200 degrees). In a glass pan, start to make the layers. The first one will be a sauce one, the second one a dough one. Do alternate layers like that until cover the pan.


The last layer should be a sauce one or the top can be very dry. Sometimes I use vegan parmezano or grated vegan mozzarella as a final touch. Put in the oven for 35/40 minutes.



(* Ignite - In My Time)

Go vegan!

Another great illustration by Danilo Lucas!
Being vegan is sweet ;-)

Check out my Sweet Flickr too!

PS. I'm involved in a super cool project from Germany and yesterday I received another amazing invitation from the same people! Hope I can share the news soon ;-)

Sweet Myspace

Yes, I'm still busy as f...! But I'd like to share you the new Sweet Myspace layout because I'm loving it. My Brazilian cousin Danilo is an amazing illustrator (check his work here) and he made some awesome illustratons for Sweet (I will be using them to make postcards and other publicity)!


And if you have a Myspace profile, add Sweet ;-)

Live for better days *

I will be so busy this August that I have no idea about when and how often I will be able to write here! But this is great! I got an amazing project to do in my professional area (journalism) and I'm also baking more vegan cupcakes (this will be the second week with the vegan cupcakes being sold at the other Govinda's branch and I'm really excited!). And in the end of the month we're going to Ieper Fest, my favorite hardcore festival ever. Hope I can find some free time to cook and post here, but if I don't, I have good reasons, haven't I?!

Last week I decided to try a recipe of the Brazil Nut blog. Andrea has always great vegan recipes (in Portuguese) there. I wanted to use things I had at home, so my choice was the potatoes + mushrooms fried balls. I changed her recipe a little bit, so I decided to post it here. It's easy, fast and delicious!


Ingredients:

* 450 grams of potatoes cut into cubes (I used 5 medium potatoes)
* 2 tablespoons vegan margarine
* 170g of mushrooms, chopped
* 4 garlic cloves, crushed (we love garlic too, so I also used 4, but you can use less if you want)
* Wheat flour
* Salt, pepper and other herbs that you like

Place the sliced potatoes in a pan with boiling water and a little salt and let them cook for 10 minutes, until they are soft. Drain well the potatoes and mash them, in the same way to make smashed potatoes (or potatoes puree).


Meanwhile, melt the margarine in a frying pan. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and the garlic at the smashed potatoes (I used the liquid sauce instead of water to mix everything).

Make the balls (or small burgers) with your hands. Roll the balls/burgers in wheat flour and into bread crumbs to get a thick coating. I fried them in a non-stick frying pan without no oil for 5/7 minutes. You can also roast them instead of frying.



(* Ignite – Our Darkest Days)

Hey, we got that PMA *

I'm super late to write about it, but I don't care, this place deserves a post. In my last visit to Brazil, we went there during the 3 days we were in São Paulo and we'd do the same if we stayed 30 days. This amazing place is a vegan restaurant called Vegacy. Of course São Paulo has other vegetarian options, but I'll write just about it today (even because it's the best one).

Last June Vegacy completed 4 years. The restaurant is an idea of my friend and tattooer Tete (Fernando Franceschi), a vegan straight edge guy that has a tattoo studio called PMA and decided that was time to offer a vegan place to everybody in São Paulo. During the first 3 years, Vegacy was located in a small and nice gallery in one of the most famous streets of São Paulo (Rua Augusta). This gallery used to have some restaurants and a common area for people to eat. Vegacy always had an “all you can eat” system. The food is amazing, the people who work (and had worked) are the coolest people ever and it's a vegan place. There is nothing better than going out to eat without having to ask about what you can or can't eat. And because Tete and everybody that helps keep the restaurant going on are involved in hardcore, they always helped us with the international tours we did with Hurry Up!, making special prices and many times feeding our bands for free the days we were in town.

Tete at Vegacy "new home"

In June of 2008, while we were there with the US band Bane, a surprise came for the guys: the gallery was sold and they had just a few days to close the restaurant. It was a big shock for everybody. But, those guys know how to keep the “positive mental attitude” (PMA) and they started to think about a new place. They wanted a place in the same area because they had built a great number of loyal customers (vegan and vegetarian people and also people that worked around and liked the food – and the price). The good news came after some months: they found a place in the same street, even better, in the same block. But they had a lot of work to do, reforming the entire place. Vegacy was closed for some time and in the beginning of 2009 they reopened at the new place.


I'm always in touch with the guys there and I knew the place was great before even going, but I was so curious! Some of my friends were saying a lot of good things too and I was happy to know that Vegacy was back, “stronger than ever”. In a Monday of June, after the Have Heart show on Sunday, we all (me, Matteo and the band) went to the new Vegacy.

My first impression was “wow it's big and so beautiful!” and I could see with my eyes that all effort that my friends had put in it was worth it. The new Vegacy is the best place to eat in São Paulo. It's big, comfortable, beautiful. Everybody that works there is nice and you can stay there for hours, just chilling after eating. They kept the “all you can eat” system and the food is always good, with a big variation too (they have 10 hot dishes and a big table with 10 different salads and also 2 options of juice of the day – that is included in the price). The place has 2 floors and the food is served on the second one (but you can choose eating in the first one too). And they have amazing dessert options, including vegan cupcakes!

And when I thought that nothing could be better, it could: they're open until 9 pm and have sandwiches, snacks, desserts and juices. Of course we went there at night to try the sandwiches. We got a lentils burger and a chickpeas burger and they're are so delicious! And of course we ate some snacks (and took some to eat at the hotel too).


What I can say to end this long post is: if you go to São Paulo, you MUST go to Vegacy! It's a vegan paradise in the big city.

And more people agree with me:

"A trip to Sao Paulo is not complete to me if I don't go to Vegacy. It has a rich menu, including snacks, sandwiches and desserts. Besides having a great location, close to several other points that I love in the city, the atmosphere is very nice and you can spend some time there chatting and seeing friends."
Fabiano Aguiar, Belo Horizonte, MG)

"Vegacy has some additional good points for being a 100% vegetarian/vegan restaurant and because of its location. I love the variety of the menu, that always includes roasted food or sufles and also some Italian dishes. Talking about dessert, my tip is to have the cupcake, made by the restaurant, which, to me, is the best of São Paulo. Another cool thing is that from Wednesday to Saturday they serve “a la carte” options and also pizza. My favourite pizza is the one with tofu and broccoli, the best vegan pizza I ever ate. The restaurant is also different from the others in the city because all of its cook staff is vegetarian, something very difficult to find here in São Paulo."
(Athos, São Paulo, São Paulo)

"The first, and only time, that I ate at Vegacy was when I was on tour with my band. We just arrived in São Paulo and we needed to get lunch before going to the venue of the show and the suggestion was Vegacy, which, by the way, has a great location. I have heard very great things about their food and was excited with the idea to prove it and to know the place. We were very well attended and the food exceeded all my expectations, it's really delicious! Vegacy was in a kind of gallery, which offered a nice and airy environment. Next time I go back to São Paulo, Vegacy will be a stop for sure."
(Roberto "beto" Martyres, Curitiba, Paraná)

“First of all, I want to congratulate Vegacy for the excellent atmosphere and the great menu. Besides the place being pretty nice, the food is spectacular, with a lot of different flavors, where the pleasure increases bite after bite, and any kind of over-eating-guilt disappears, the health thanks and all for a good price. The service, the drinks, the staff attention, kindness and concern with everybody make this place wonderful. Today it is difficult to find places with all these qualities together! Thanks, Vegacy. I'll be back soon!”
Mariana Ramos, Brasilia, DF)

"As far as Vegacy. I know for a fack that we all enjoyed our meal when we ate at the new location. I personally enjoyed the traditional feel that came along with the restaurants all around atmosphere. Have Heart is not a 100% vegan or even vegetarian band and we all thought the food was delicious. It should also be noted that the service was amazing and quite friendly. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a decent meal!"
Ryan Briggs - Have Heart bass player - Boston - US)

Let me know what you think about Vegacy too, let your comment!!




Vegacy
Rua Augusta, 2061
Monday to Saturday
11am – 9h30pm


(* Bad Brains – Attitude)