GreeNoodle Moroheiya Rice Pasta

Today we wrapped up three days of exhibiting at Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore. The show was, as usual, filled with awesome vegan products, but one of the most unexpectedly awesome things that I tried was these Moroheiya Rice Noodles from GreeNoodle! I hadn't heard of Moroheiya before, but it was apparently used in ancient Egyptian cooking, is also referred to as "Egyptian Spinach," and has multiple health benefits. I happen to love rice noodles and these were especially delicious cooked right out of the package. After eating one small sample, I could have eaten a whole bowl (my partner said the same thing). These are not available in stores until December, but I was informed that the company's other products can be found at Japanese markets like Mitsuwa, which has a location where I live in Chicago! I left the show with a sample of the Wheat Moroheiya Noodles which are quick-cooking similar to ramen and I am really looking forward to trying them, as well! I will definitely be at Mitsuwa in December looking for the rice version either way. Highly recommended!!

Miso

Just like my previous post about pineapples, I am also no expert on miso's various types and forms, but I do know that it is a Thing I Like. The only other thing I know is that it is sitting in a plastic package in my fridge in a goo-form and that it is delicious. Oh, also, if you add too much of it to food, it becomes inedible. I am not a very adventurous cook and am pretty much seasoning-knowledge deficient, so miso is a pretty good thing to have around. You can add it to water and make a broth that is tasty and only required one simple step. On Monday, I put some miso in water, heated it up, added some dehydrated tofu and seaweed (both purchased at the Mitsua Market in Arlington Heights), with fresh bok choy, broccoli, and sprouts and voila! Chunky miso-flavored soup for dinner!

In March when we visited Japan, my partner geniusly crafted a noodley miso soup with ingredients from a local convenience store right in our hotel room rice cooker. Seriously, brilliant! All 24-hour stores should carry miso, rice noodles, and tofu!

Cafe 8

In March we travelled to Tokyo, Japan where we found ourselves in a slightly more chaotic situation than anticipated when a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the country just after our arrival (literally, our plane had just landed - you can read about the experience a little bit here). At any rate, once we arrived at our hotel, we were beyond blessed to find a vegan cafe located just around the block in our little neighborhood of Nakameguro.

Cafe 8 was to become our "home base" outside of the hotel. We had two meals a day there, every day after we found it. Even when all businesses were closed because of the threat of nuclear rain, they opened up and let us inside to eat. At the end of our trip they worried about us getting out of the country safely as much as we worried about leaving them behind (and they sent us off to the airport with muffins for breakfast).

And let's NOT forget the food! It was great! Despite not being strictly Japanese, the flavors were still a major change from any vegan food I have eaten in the US. We tried a number of dishes while we were there from a tofu sandwich, vegetable soup, crusty fresh-made bread with tofu spread and plump raisins, curry, vegetables cooked in a staub, and more. And the desserts! They were incredible in that they were flavorful, but not as sweet as you'd find in the US. One of my favorites there was a bitter hot chocolate, though I also ate my fair share of banana bread pudding with a sweet cream on the side.

I could write a really long entry about the role that Cafe 8 and it's awesome employees played in making us feel at home in Japan, but I'll save it for another forum. Rest assured that I will be back someday under more pleasant circumstances and I can't wait!