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A few days ago I saw a cafe that was supposed to serve vegan cakes according to a picture of their menu posted on google map, which was not too far from our place.

We were a bit skeptical because there was only one review posted, and the menu picture was posted four years ago.

But we told ourselves that the only way to find out is to go and check it out.

So we went.

The cafe was there.

But not vegan cakes…

I was already imagining myself eating delicious vegan sweets, so I went home and made a tart.

This was my first time making a crust with oreo cookies.

It’s hard to see in the pictures but I spread some strawberry jam on the tart before adding the mousse.

This chocolate mousse was made with soft tofu.

Good news – it doesn’t taste like tofu.

Not good news – I wouldn’t call this a “healthy” food. 🙂

I simply decorated with fresh strawberries.

I wanted to post this picture to show how well the crust turned out.

I was worried that it might collapse, and I was relieved when it didn’t happen.

This tart is not overly sweet, but very chocolaty (of course in a good way!).

So you don’t need a big piece.

I served the tart with this coconut whipped cream.

This is not sweetened.

You can sweeten it yourself, but we liked it unsweetened on the tart.

So creamy!

After making it, I realized that Valentine’s Day is approaching, and I thought I should have made this for that!

This will be a perfect dessert if you want to impress your loved one on Valentine’s Day. 🙂

For the chocolate mousse I used this recipe.

For the crust I used this recipe (Note 1).

This was not planned.

We had a lovely Christmas meal yesterday, and today we were going to go back to our regular schedule.

I was actually planning to check out a Ramen restaurant that I recently found out serves a few vegan ramen options.

But then when I was mindlessly scrolling through pages on social media I ran into this information that Kynd Kulture, one of our favorite plant-based restaurants, was offering a Christmas menu.

It was available until December 30th, but we wanted to have it today, on the 25th, of course, and luckily they still had openings tonight.

The big red bow made the building so festive!

It was decorated with lights inside the building too.

They had a course menu, but we decided to choose items from their à la carte menu.

Berry Christmatcha.

It was so good!

There was berry jam at the bottom, and the combination of matcha and berry was amazing.

There were several kinds of plant-based cheese served on this plate, and it was exceptional!

We really enjoyed it.

Chickpea Edamame Falafel.

Swedish Meatballs.

Warm Broccoli Salad.

It was served over Tzatziki sauce, and I really enjoyed eating the creamy sauce and the chunky vegetables/nuts together.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi.

This was excellent!

The gnocchi were perfectly prepared, and the tomato sauce was delicious.

This was another main dish we ordered, Beetroot Gnocchi Pesto.

This was also amazing!

The color of the beetroot gnocchi was strikingly bright and created such a photogenic dish.

I really liked these gnocchi dishes, and I am hoping they keep them on their regular menu.

Our table was inside, but I wanted to show you that there is an option to dine outdoors on a swing if you like. 🙂

This restaurant is pet-friendly, and they have a lovely yard, where your pet can run around and play.

X’mas Tree Brownie.

You could tell they use quality chocolate.

My husband loved this brownie.

There was a little surprise inside the frosting (🍓).

It was a wonderful meal.

I should also mention that the service and hospitality here are always great, and tonight was not an exception.

There was a little surprise tonight.

Live music!

Ms. Nana had a great voice.

Since it was early for dinner and the dining room was pretty quiet, so we got to have some nice chat.

She kindly asked us what kinds of music we liked, and we requested jazz.

The songs she picked were all our favorites, and her lovely performance made our tonight’s dinner super special.

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Check out this post to learn more about Kynd Kulture.

The madeleine is so simple yet so delicious.

One of my favorite sweets.

You probably guessed.

Yes, I brought this pan from Minnesota as well.

It’s one of my favorite pans.

There are different madeleine pans, but I find this shape elegant.

With the recipe I use, I can make five.

As usual they disappeared quickly.

This time I didn’t perfectly follow my usual recipe and replaced some ingredients with what I happened to have in my kitchen at that time (e.g., all purpose flour for cake flour, etc.).

They still turned out fine, but I will go get cake flour next time to achieve a little more delicate texture I like in my madeleines.

To celebrate Mother’s Day we made a plan to have lunch at my mother-in-law’s house.

The five of us, me, my husband, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, and his wife, were going to be there.

To make things easy, we decided to bring food to share so that we would have something to eat (vegan) and my mother-in-law did not have to cook.

I brought panini sandwiches, salad, and soup for lunch.

The panini was made with homemade vegan “cheese” spread, onion jam (or fig jam), two kinds of vegan meat, and arugula/spinach.

My brother-in-law and his wife brought burgers, corn, and potato salad.

It turned out to be a beautiful day, and we had lunch outside.

I also brought a cake for desert.

I wanted it to taste fresh, so I decided to serve it in the “build-your-own” style.

So an almond cake, cream, and berries were served separately, and everyone made their own cake plate.

I made the cream by combining Cocojune vanilla yogurt, coconut cream, and sugar, and it turned out delicious!

I loved it because it was light and so refreshing.

If you want something different from traditional frosting, try this.

My mother-in-law liked it too.

By the way, the Cocojune yogurt is so good, and I think it is probably the best plant-based yogurt I’ve ever tried.

Sorry for the long absence.

We just got back last evening from our winter vacation in Spain and Portugal.

Our neighbor kept an eye on our place while we were gone, and when we came home, we found some care package, curry and rice in the fridge, a loaf of bread in the freezer, and banana bread on the kitchen counter.

So thankful to have a neighbor like this!

(They are not vegan, but they made everything vegan.)

We had the curry last night, and this morning we enjoyed the banana bread.

Everything was so delicious.

*If you are interested in what we did and ate during our vacation, check out my Instagram page. I have several posts from the vacation, and I am planning to leave many more pictures and videos as highlights in a few days.

I also post pictures on Instagram not seen here on the blog. So, follow me on Instagram if interested!

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/