Smooth, creamy West African Peanut Soup, topped with red bell pepper flakes, sunflower seeds and a touch of maple syrup.

Sesame Kale over vermicelli rice noodles with sweet and sour carrots.

5-Spice peanut tempeh over 5-spice stir fried brown rice.

Fried seitan over Indonesian coconut rice noodles and lemongrass.

Pesto quinoa with heirloom tomatoes, Cambodian cucumber soup, Coconut curried chickpeas, Sesame rice noodles with tamarind-thyme sauce…

The above menu was only part of the magic that was Saturday night’s buffet at The Honey Underground, the newest gastronomical venture of Vegan Chef Wendy Landiak, proprietor of Balasia – Green World Cafe.  Remember, that adorable little cafe in the victorian house on Chestnut Street in Emmaus?  Well, it moved about 6 miles down the road.  Still under the umbrella of Balasia, The Honey Underground is a vegan supper club located in Hereford, PA and open select Friday and Saturday evenings – you can check Balasia’s website for the weekly schedule or The Honey Underground’s facebook page  for more detailed updates about the menu, the hours, and who will be there ;P  I had the unforgettable experience of dining there last night at the most recent buffet (there have been several since The Honey Underground’s opening) and all I can say is “wow.”  It was everything I remember about Balasia, only better.  The flavor pairings have somehow become even more creative, if that’s even possible.  Every element to every single dish (and you know I tried them all!) went perfectly with everything else.  I was so disappointed when I started to get that annoying “full” feeling a plate and a half into the meal.  But enough of me gushing, I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

(Please excuse the highly mediocre phone quality of these pics)

papadams, asian slaw and sesame noodles

quinoa salad

salad + a frothy delicious drink

the hot bar station

cucumber salad

one delicious meal

The price for the buffet is $25, which for unlimited organic/local cuisine is pretty darn good.  There is also a dessert bar (unphotographed, sadly!) for an additional $5.  Iced teas and organic sodas are also available for an additional $2.

The Honey Underground is located at 1153 Gravel Pike in Hereford, PA.  You’ll miss it while driving by if you’re not careful, it’s in the very unassuming Hereford Fire Company building, with limited signage.  Call 484-330-6405 to make reservations, or if you have any questions about the food (the chef will accommodate most diets if you give her notice).

And, as listed on the website, if you can’t make it out to Hereford (though you really should try), you can find Balasia at the following farmers markets May through November:

Steelstacks Farmers Market
Southside Bethlehem
3pm – 7pm Tuesdays

Allentown Growers Market
at the PPL Plaza
11:30am – 1:30pm Wednesdays

Coopersburg at Bee Natural
21 North Main Street, Village Center
3:30pm – 7pm Thursdays

Macungie Farmers Market at Macungie Memorial Park
50 Poplar Street (along Walnut St side of the park)
4pm – 7pm Thursdays

There’s talk of these buffet nights becoming a monthly event… which might be the most exciting thing I’ve ever heard.  Disclaimer time: since I’ve been working with Wendy at some of the farmers markets she’s been doing this summer, this review might seem a little biased.  But I would never recommend a restaurant so highly if I didn’t really, truly, unconditionally love the food.  I’m just trying to spread the love :)

Just some of the spices I used. Clockwise: cumin, hungarian paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, chili powder, ginger, fenugreek, cardamom pods, nutmeg, poultry seasoning, cloves, allspice. Not pictured: yellow curry powder, Hana Jeera (a special spice blend my Indian friend’s mom made, and shipped over from India. I try to use it sparingly, as I don’t want to become too dependent on it. It’s really, really good.), garlic, salt and pepper.

I started making 2 kinds of dal, Miser Wat and Kik Alicha.

First I sauteed some onions and garlic, and threw in the cardamom pods (bruised) and cloves. After a few minutes I added all of the remaining above mentioned spices, in varying quantities which I really didn’t measure.

Once the onions were nicely caramelized, I removed the cardamom and cloves. Sometimes I find those flavors overwhelming. Plus, lately I’ve been having weird experiences grinding my own spices. They’ve been tasting bitter, I’m not sure if that’s from my coffee (spice) grinder or what, but it’s been a horribly disappointing situation that I didn’t want to risk replicating today.

I pureed the spicy onions, kind of like Niter Kibbeh but I didn’t want to strain anything through cheesecloth, so I pureed it. It worked phenomenally; I think I’ll be pureeing onions like this every time I make dal from now on. It made the finished product so creamy and flavorful.

The dal cooking away. The above Yellow Split Peas, or the Kik Alicha, I wanted to keep a little on the mild side, just nice savory and warm flavors. So I added a good amount of poultry seasoning, cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as a couple teaspoons of the Hana Jeera. The Miser Wat, the Spicy Red Lentils, I wanted to be really tomato-y and acidic, so I added 3/4 a can of fire roasted tomatoes, a little tomato paste and lots of fresh ginger. When both dals were about done cooking, I added in the pureed onions and let all the flavors blend together on low heat for about 20 mins or so. That was Day 1.

And this is what my counter looked like after Day 1.

The teff flour after 2.5 days of fermentation. Not as bubbly as it should look, but then again I really didn’t know what I was doing. Looks pretty appetizing, huh???

I tested the batter out, making one tiny injera. It was quite delicious.

So on Day 2 I guess I completely forgot about taking pics of the dishes in progress, but that’s probably because people were over and I get distracted easily. But I made some collard greens and a cabbage, carrot, potato stew, with the list of above mentioned spices. I kept the collards and veggies moist and steamy by continually adding shots of vegetable stock to the skillets. If you’ve never made long-cooking veggies that way, try it immediately. Even if you’re just cooking down onions, the veg stock adds a ton of flavor. Then I made some regular-sized injera and piled it high with the food I’d spent 2 days slaving over (exaggeration, this meal was not hard to make). I also made a chili oil with hungarian paprika, chili powder, lime juice and some tomato water from that can I used earlier.

You must eat with your hands when eating Ethiopian food. You must!

Actually it’s customary to feed your friends in Ethiopia, as you see Jeff (the US Mobilization Director for the Global Hope Network, that humanitarian group with which I volunteered over the summer) engaged in with our friends Alex and Kimfe.

And since I’m breaking out the Africa pics now here is one more of me with some of the super awesome kids from the village of Hruso, where we helped build a school. Discovering my love for Ethiopian food while over there was merely a nice little take-away from the experience, but it doesn’t even compare with the affect the Hruso people had on me. But I can’t get into that without getting all emotional and nostalgic, so back to the food: if you don’t want to go through all the trouble of making your own Spectacular Ethiopian Feast, try going here, here or here. All amazing restaurants. A bit of a hike from the LV, but think of it as an adventure.

Whether or not all of the produce is locally grown I’m not sure, but the market itself was a lot more diverse than I expected. Imported gourmet and specialty foods, Amish pies and pastries (baked, apparently on premise), spices, flowers, Mediterranean food, and the reason I was there: organic, exotic vegan food!

I was helping out my friend Wendy in her stand for the day. Not to be biased, but the smells wafting out of her stand put all the other vendors to shame.

She had some side dishes ready to go, including Teriyaki Tofu, Masala Potatoes, Coconut Cashew Rice, Indian Samosas, Curried Cabbage, and Garlic & Sage Carrots with Balsamic Vinegar. As usual, Wendy was also selling Vegan Treats, from the shop in Bethlehem.

Yeah, if you’ve never tried a Vegan Treats Pumpkin Whoopie pie, you need to go ahead and do that. Their Peanut Butter Brownies are pretty amazing too.

The Cowboy Cookie. EVERYONE LOVES THIS COOKIE. I never knew what all the hoopla was about until I tried one.

Entrees are also made to order. Above, the “Taste of India” platter: karachi dahl, crisp indian crackers, samosa and organic brown basmati rice served over organic greens, finished with red curry dressing, mango chutney and coconut flakes. Wendy was also offering up Chipotle Chili, West African Peanut soup and my all-time-favorite, the Bombay Burrito. The priciest item on her menu ($14.95) but so worth it. Plus, I was eating mine for like three days afterwards, it’s simply huge!

One of our hottie patrons enjoying some vegan chili.

And many other happenings at the market:

In closing, the goofy rickshaw slightly weird clown ferris wheel.

video art!

EDIT: I really feel I should add that the above video art featured a girl in an 80s prom dress getting pelted, usually in the face, with tomatoes. She broke her “Ta-da!” pose just long enough to wipe the pulp out of her eyes, the trooper.

What’s lacking in this post will be any details whatsoever on the galleries or artists. I have all of the press releases upstairs somewhere, but seriously this trip was like 3 months ago so they’re not particularly handy right now. These exhibitions are all over by now anyway. Next time I’ll be more on top of things.

Oh, just a random collage glued onto the wall of a building, picturing a T-Rex moments from devouring a little girl who happens to be dreaming of cats. Who even knows what’s under that black smudge.

We also stopped by the Guggenheim for a Frank Lloyd Wright Exhibit. No pictures allowed once you begin ascension up that big crazy spiral. Sorry.

Perhaps the most fulfilling part of the day, we stopped by the famous Tom’s Restaurant, or better known as Monk’s Cafe from Seinfeld. As a hardcore fan, it’s kind of been a dream of mine to get this picture taken. One more thing checked off that list. Now all I have to do is backpack across a few more continents and most of my life goals will be complete! The inside of this cafe was charming; Seinfeld paraphernalia everywhere. We spilt a vanilla pistachio milkshake, which was pretty freaking delicious, though I eat dairy very, very rarely so it kind of made me want to throw up everywhere. Oh and the cutest thing about this cafe, Scotty told me in the men’s bathroom someone had scrawled “NEWMAN” in tiny letters on the mirror. I’m not sure why but I love that.

Cabbage, shallots, shiitake mushrooms, grated carrots, garlic and lots of ginger, frying away in the saute pan. I added the garlic near the end of the cooking process, after the veggies had cooked down for 10-15 minutes, then I added the grated ginger all the way at the end, after I turned the heat off. I wanted the ginger to retain most of it’s flavor and kick, since not a whole lot of other spice went into this filling.

The sauteed veggies and a little bowl of dal. I won’t lie, dal is not the prettiest food in the world, so I’ll spare you the close up. I mean I think it looks delicious, but I think all brown goopey Indian food looks delicious.

Some of the pictures were taken on an iphone, with the ShakeItPhoto application giving the pics an old-fashioned polaroid look. The rest were taken on my rickshaw wannabe camera. Hopefully the lack of consistency here won’t give anyone a headache.

I didn’t time anything, or follow any precise steps. I just tossed the dumplings into a pan with a little oil, let them cook for a couple minutes on medium high heat until the bottoms began to turn brown, then I dumped a glassful of water into the pan, covered it and let them steam until they felt right. This haphazard method worked beautifully.

I guess these are technically pot-stickers, but I like the word dumpling so much better. It’s an adorable word.

Old fashioned polaroid dumplings.

Veggie/shrimp dumplings on the left, dal dumplings on the right. Deliciousness all over the place. And please, use a high quality Tamari, not some crappy American soy sauce.

I’ll post my dal recipe sometime, but it does contain some top secret spice blend I got from an Indian friend’s mother. She ships over (from India) boxes of homemade jarred spice blends and chutneys and things to my friend. I don’t even know what’s in my jar and I don’t care, it’s freaking good!

And because it was about 30 seconds down the road from where I was, I had to stop in Vegan Treats to purchase the most adorable little Pumpkin Pie I’ve ever seen:

Though honestly I was so bummed that they didn’t have any pumpkin whoopie pies that day; that was the true reason behind my visit. If you’ve never experienced the glory that is the Vegan Treats Pumpkin Whoopie Pie, well then you just don’t know what you’re missing.

I wanted big fat huge high-rise muffins, so I filled the tins up dangerously full. I just figured on a few extra minutes of baking time.

25 30 45 minutes later at 350 degrees, they were finally done and looking tasty.

WELL THEY WEREN’T.  These were horrible. What you can’t see in the above picture is the completely raw bottom half of the muffins. The top developed a nice little crust to it (though borderline overdone) while the bottom developed into an unpleasant pumpkin flan. There was just no getting these things cooked all the way through. I’m not sure if it was the obscene amount of pumpkin puree I used, or the brown rice flour or what, but I do know these muffins were NOT good eats. Normally I have plenty of obstacles to overcome when baking since I don’t use eggs, milk, butter, or any dairy product for that matter, but this was just ridiculous. It’s pretty ironic that every time I make delicious muffins I think to myself “Oh shoot, I should post this recipe, it’s delicious” and the one time I actually remember to whip out the camera is the one time I have an epic muffin failure.

Here are two soup recipes without which I’d never make it through the cold, dreary, bone-chilling months ahead. They keep me warm and happy, and almost make me forget my disdain for cold weather… almost.

The above smooth and creamy, peanut-buttery soup is made from pureed sweet potatoes, carrots, onions and red pepper, topped with a drizzle of maple syrup, sesame seeds and roasted sunflower seeds. I adapted my version from this Ellie Krieger recipe, my goal being to come as close as possible to the super popular West African Peanut Soup featured at Balasia. And let me tell you, I came pretty freaking close. So at the risk of accidentally sharing any of the Balasia chef’s secrets, I’ll just leave you with the above linked recipe, and let you go crazy with your own adaptations. I will say the crunchy seed toppings were a no-brainer for me, since there’s something about scallions that I just can’t get behind.

This Curried Split Pea soup is spicy, flavorful and extremely hearty. Now when I hear the words “spilt pea soup” I don’t exactly pair them with adjectives like “delicious,” “exciting,” or “bursting with flavor.” However, I can assure you the following split pea soup recipe is indeed delicious, exciting, and positively bursting with flavor. I made this for a boyfriend for our anniversary (we decided to cook for each other instead of buying each other stuff). So I took a risky shot in the dark and attempted to make a pear and cheese ravioli from scratch, reminiscent of something we ate in Italy over the summer. The dessert was a no brainer – crazy ice cream. I scoured the internet for some recipes and decided on corn ice cream, and Parmigiano Regianno ice cream with a balsamic strawberry glaze. Those were a hit. The ravioli was quite good though my method could have used a little work; it was my first time rolling pasta so I had no clue what I was doing. But the split pea soup was the highlight of the evening! Who would have known. Now as with most recipes, here I tripled (sometimes quadrupled) the amount of spices called for. I just wasn’t going to get the kind of flavor I was looking for using 1/4 teaspoon of cardamon powder, so I threw in several teaspoons (ok that’s a lot more than quadrupled… svettupled perhaps?). Red pepper flakes and a good amount of salt (at the end of the cooking process, mind you) gave this soup an extra kick. The grated carrot garnish added a wonderful little burst of freshness. The cilantro was nonexistent since there’s nothing that grosses me out more than raw cilantro. I followed this Isa Chandra recipe almost exactly, aside from adding more spices than called for, and some extra heat with red pepper flakes.

Now, please excuse me as I go burrow under the covers and wait for spring.

People really enter some funny stuff into search engines. If you have a Google toolbar on your browser somewhere, just start typing in some generalized, open-ended statements and you’ll see what I mean. Ok, here’s an example:

Fun right? Ok, one more:

Anyway, one of the most entertaining activities surrounding this blog in my opinion is reading the terms that people search for, ending them up here. It’s usually stuff like “Sette Luna menu” or “Petra downtown Bethlehem” but often enough I end up with some pretty unreserved, precisely worded searches. Sometimes, these searches require further comment, in which case my thoughts are in italics.

love eggplant
we sure do!

eggplant funny feeling in my mouth

eggplant volcano recipes
I’m really not sure what this person was hoping to find ?

reasons to love eggplant
there are so many <3

crazy sushi pictures
I literally get this one multiple times each week, people are seriously interested in crazy sushi pictures.

sushi pile

cream cheese sushi is gross
TELL ME ABOUT IT

lasagna sandwich
that sounds starchy and weird, and to the best of my knowledge I’ve never mentioned one, but ok.

ethiopian food good nasty
it’s good!

why does a banana included in an ethiopi
:)

ethiopia bleh

ethiopian food is so gross
I don’t know who you people are, but you need to repent and step into the light. Ethiopian food is God’s gift to the palate.

hawkshaw hawkins

bland gross vegetarian food
well that’s certainly the last thing you’ll find here!!!!!!!

plastic flower hair pins
I mentioned a plastic flower hair pin once, parenthetically, months ago.

I promise there are food-related posts coming very soon. One (big surprise) Ethiopian restaurant, some Manhattan things and some Lehigh Valley things. Thanks for reading, and enjoy those crazy sushi pictures.

Doesn’t this look like a good time?! It was fun, the food was awesome (in our stand anyway, I didn’t try anyone else’s food) and the biodegradable utensils were made out of corn. Which I thought was pretty cool.

I spent yesterday in NYC, getting my art fix and much-needed Ethiopian food fix.

James Cohan Gallery

Jaume Plensa’s “In the Midst of Dreams” at Galerie Lelong

Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery

this isn’t art, it’s a cool iphone application that makes pictures look like polaroids. But I guess some would call this graffiti art. I’d call it an interesting backdrop.

We stopped in Chelsea Market on our way to dinner

and I attempted to spoil my appetite with a caramel Fat Witch brownie. My appetite, however, refused to be spoiled (it was a really good brownie though)

After a loooong walk and one short cab ride, we finally made it to the restaurant.  Meskerem is located at 124 MacDougal St in Greenwich Village; it’s a cute little hole in the wall (or I guess in this case, ground) tucked down below eye-level. It seats maybe 30 people, and if you’re going as a party of two, be prepared to get intimately aquatinted with the people sitting next to you, as the tables literally sit mere inches from each other.

We both ordered the Vegetarian Combo.  The food was fantastic; I found the portions a bit small, but at the same time, our entrees came out to only about $14 each. The vegetables were cooked to a tender perfection (still with a bit of bite though), and the bean purees were spicy and comforting.  The yellow split peas remain my favorite dish, with the sauteed cabbage coming in at a close second. It all tasted very traditional, but I have yet to see a freaking mesob anywhere in any American Ethiopian restaurants. Anyway, Meskerem was a fantastic experience, delicious food, no wait at all, and cheap!