But the absolute crowning glory of the trip was the Great Wall of China. The wall that seems to stretch farther than the naked eye can see is yet another amazing paradox. As the stone at the start of the monument says, “Once intended to ward off enemy attacks, today it brings together the peoples of the world. May it continue to act as a symbol of friendship for future generations.”

On the food front, being vegetarian in China- not easy! We struggled and unfortunately settled for Pizza day after day. But with that much to see and do and experience, who’s thinking about food anyway!

If you’re in the Bay Area and in the mood for good Pizza, try the Spicy Veggie at Cicero’s. The spicy toppings combined with the fresh out of the oven piping hot temperature is sure to awaken your senses and leave you craving for more! Check out the rest of their menu at:

http://www.cicerospizza.com/CicerosFaxMenu.pdf

I hope to add some pictures soon!

A beautiful spring day in Portland- perfect to hit the food carts! Portland has thriving food carts that specialize in everything from Lemonade and Indian to Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Mexican. Today we decided to get lunch at Bombay Chaat House. Bombay Chaat House sits right next to India Chaat House and there is a big story of rivalry between the two cart owner (or ex-owner of one of the carts) that has received a lot of local press. In my opinion and apparently a lot of others (telling by the relative crowds), Bombay Chaat House seems to have better lunch plates and more authentic tasting food. In addition to the lunch plate which is a mere $5.00 and is accompanied by free Chai, their Chaat items (which are spicy and somewhat elaborate snacks) are unbeatable. My greed got the better of me today and I was able to talk my husband into splitting Papdi Chaat and a whole lunch plate- both large portions of yummy, spicy food. If you’re ever in Portland, hit the Indian food carts on 11^th and Yamhill. What I love most though is the fact that both carts serve 100% vegetarian food- which means I can eat anything on the menu!

One of my most amazing vacations was about 7 years ago. It was our first trip to Europe and an ambitious one. We tried to cover Paris, Rome, and Venice with a brief stop over in Pisa in about a week. We managed to do all that we had intended albeit a bit rushed. Our first stop was Paris- as exotic and gorgeous as I had imagined it to be.

I have to admit that the first day of cold baguettes put me off a bit but we quickly discovered that the real way to enjoy food as vegetarians in Paris was to make French Pastries our main course! Not very healthy I know but delicious all the same! There are two restaurants however that we sought out for vegetarian food.

The first one was a little vegetarian specialty restaurant called “La Petite Legume”. A tiny home run restaurant serving vegetarian/ vegan food. Not a very wide variety but good enough and not very expensive (which was not easy to come by in Paris!). Their mainstay however was a store the family managed rather than the restaurant, so don’t expect very prompt service. There was a little pastry store down the street though that was pretty amazing (Sadly do not recall the name)

 The second one was a Indian restaurant “Gandhi”. The Manager was extremely friendly and hospitable and more than made up for the food which was as good as Indian food can get in Paris I guess. Jokes apart, the food was a welcome break from the otherwise bland sandwiches we had been living on. The food was spicy but not in the flavorful way that authentic Indian food is, but I would blame that on the ingredients and not the cooks who really had done a good job with what they had. The same spices tend to taste different in different parts of the world because of their different origins. The one thing that I remember well from the conversation with the manager was that he was a Pakistani who really enjoyed cricket- nothing unusual there since almost everyone from the Indian sub continent lives and breathes cricket; but he said he played on the French cricket team!! Now who knew France had a cricket team!!

It must take a lot of effort to get people to take a second look at side walk stores in Vegas. There’s a lot that goes into dressing up these stores to attract customers. Here are some pics from my trip to vegas last year.

Given that we were a large group, we had a semi fixed menu- a few choices to take care of multiple palettes. After the Caesar Salad minus the anchovies, I asked for the Vegetarian Risotto. Delicious! The highlight for me was the generous portion of Broccoli which is one of my favored vegetables. The veggies and rice were cooked to perfection, with some kind of lentil sprinkled on the cheese. The best part of dinner however was desert. Mango Sorbet. The sorbet was creamy and rich, topped with luscious berries.

We talked about the Mango being the world’s most popular fruit, and joked about the fact that it might have got that title purely because it is a favorite in India and the population of India alone should ensure the Mango’s win in a fruit popularity contest J (There are over 20 million metric tons of mangos grown throughout the tropical and sub-tropical world. The leading mango producer is India, with very little export as most are consumed within the country.) Also, the Mango, supposedly has more fiber than any other fruit and is very high in Vitamin A and Vitamin C.

Unfortunately a lot of wonderful vacations have gone unrepresented in the collage due to the lack of a digital camera some 8 years ago. I hope to scan some in and post them as I go along.

When I talk to my friends about travelling the world on a vegetarian diet a lot of them think that’s takes half the charm out. I think not!

Sure you can’t sample every type of cuisine. However you can still enjoy delicious vegetarian food and variety too all over the world!

In my blog I hope to share information about some wonderful meals I have had the good fortune of enjoying during my travels to many parts of the world.