Happy New Year!

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Happy 2011!  It's a balmy 53 degrees here at the Jersey Shore.  Plows and front end loaders scooped up most of the snow that was blocking the roads, and now the sun is doing the rest.  Yay!  I could almost feel spring and longer days around the corner!

It's time for resolutions, so here are some of mine.  I like to think of them more as wishes or goals because some of them are pretty out there and it's really not a huge deal if they don't happen in 2011.

1.  Go to Southeast Asia. Eat Thai curries in Thailand, scuba dive, see ruins in Cambodia.
2.  Surf.  Anywhere really, but preferably in warm water with waves that are challenging but not completely terror-inducing. A trip to Hawaii, perhaps?  Maybe Puerto Rico or Costa Rica?  I don't know!  I might end up just buying a wetsuit and surfing New Jersey.
3.  Scuba dive.  Somewhere warm, clear, and tropical.
4.  Visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida.  I've read all the books over and over, so to have the book come to life would be amazing!  Is butterbeer vegan?  I don't know, but I'd like to find out!
5.  Use less sugar.  This is coming straight from the sugar-heavy holiday season, I've had too many cookies.  Maybe use brown rice syrup and agave in place of it in baked goods.
6.  Run a 5K.  There's an annual Harbor Seal 5K in Seaside that raises money for the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.  That sound like a good fit for me!
7.  Get crafty.  I want to learn how to make cool stuff like here and here.  I have a glue gun, now I want to use it!

Warm Vegan Travel Wishes, Still Stuck in the Snow

The Jersey Shore/NYC snow situation is still totally crazy!  My car has been completely snowed in for days because of the intensity of the snow.  Major highways have only now began to open one lane.  There's about three feet of snow everywhere!  My snowbound brain has led me to websites that show warm beaches.  My restless feet just want to go to the beach and take pictures.  It seems that other snowbound people have made some footpaths through the snow, so hopefully I can get up there today.  

I've been on a tight budget lately, so upcoming travel is going to be tricky.  I'm determined to make it work though, and dreaming is free!  I have miles saved up on a few airlines, so not including airfare, these options might actually work.  Since I'm surrounded by snow right now and really love the beach life, I want scuba, snorkel, and surfing experiences.  Delicious vegan food and good coffee are sort of a necessity, though I have been known to do without while traveling to really cool places.  Here is a random list of places I've been thinking about lately.

Puerto Rico

Kayaking in a bioluminescent bay, surfing waist to chest high waves, sipping pina coladas after scuba diving...sounds pretty good to me!  There's a bunch of vegetarian listings for PR on Happy Cow.

Costa Rica

Surfing, diving, hiking, I've always wanted to go to Costa Rica!

Miami

Flights from the NJ/NYC/Philly area to Miami are pretty cheap, and I remember finding a hotel bargain in a really good area smack dab in the middle of South Beach.  

Hawaii (remember, this is not including airfare)

I've been to Kauai, and to this day it's one of the best places I've ever been.  Now I'd like to try out Oahu or Maui.   There's gotta be some budget hotels there, right?  I'll find out and keep you posted!

Vegan French Toast and Raw Ice Cream in Key West

 

While visiting the southernmost part of the continental USA, I had breakfast at a little  place called Help Yourself. 

I ordered the vegan version of their French toast and ate it outside at one of the picnic tables set up in the Florida sunshine.

Later, after walking around the quaint streets of Key West, I treated myself to Help Yourself's raw, vegan ice cream.  

If and when I return to Key West, I'll be sure to go to this place again.

Vegan Key West

Key West, affectionately called The Conch Republic, is a warm and easy place that is quite vegan and eco-friendly. Surrounded by turquoise water and snaky mangroves, the streets of Key West are lined with Victorian architecture, art galleries, quirky shops, rowdy bars, and mellow restaurants. We had a reservation for a sunset kayak tour, and after checking into our hotel in the old part of town we had just enough time to walk down the warm, Victorian-lined streets to The Cafe, a delicious vegetarian restaurant at 509 Southard Street. After traveling for a few hours in the car through slow Keys traffic (there is only one road that connects the Keys), I couldn't wait to relax with a delicious vegan meal. Appetizers included spring rolls with sweet chili sauce and Un-wing Dings, which was fried BBQ tofu with a side of a tahini dressing (it normally comes with un-vegan blue cheese dressing, but our waitress subbed it with the vegan tahini).

The main course consisted of a coconut tofu dish with roasted red peppers and bok choy. It was smoky, creamy, and super filling. Good thing we had a fridge and a microwave in the room we were staying in!

One thing I really wanted to try while in the Keys was vegan Key Lime Pie, and it was here that I got my chance. Tangy, sweet, and creamy, the filling and raspberry sauce contrasted nicely with the crunch of the graham cracker crust. Stuffed and satiated, we soon had to head back to our hotel, where our ride from Blue Planet Kayak Tours was waiting. We headed to a dock on a bay, and hopped into a kayak along with the rest of the tour. We paddled our way through mangroves while the sun set, spotting all sorts of creatures along the way. We saw a GIANT, red hermit crab with eerie green eyes that made it's home in a huge conch shell, southern sting rays, three different kinds of sea stars, a sea hare, sea cucumbers, and whelks.
As the sun fell into the horizon, and the water went from clear to black, we put on headlamps (flashlights that you put on your head!), and continued to paddle through the mangroves, which started to take on a spooky appearance. The grand finale of the kayak tour was on the way back to the dock, when the sky and water were completely black, and our paddles stirred up some bioluminescent plankton that sparkled through the water like twinkling stars. The sound of the paddles through the water was only punctuated by occasional laughter when our kayaks got stuck in the flat, shallow bay and the occasional splash of an unidentified fish jumping out of the water. It was an unforgettable experience.

Vegan Key Largo

Key Largo is the diving capital of the world, or so they say in Key Largo. After flying into Miami, renting a car, and stocking up in Whole Foods, we slightly settled ourselves into our condo/hotel that was set among the mangroves and faced the Atlantic. Most of the meals we ate while in Key Largo were in our condo. However, we did venture out to Cheng Garden, a Chinese place that served a few options with tofu. The Sesame Tofu and Szechuan Vegetable Tofu were pleasant, but not spectacular. It's worth noting that there is a small health food store and a Thai place that also serves tofu in Key Largo. Generally, everything is clustered in a mini mall on the Overseas Highway.

We didn't go to Key Largo for the food, we went for the diving, and the diving was excellent. Not having much experience, I hired a guide that started calling me the turtle whisperer after I spotted two juvenile Hawksbill sea turtles! While I heard mention of a fin popping out of the water from some of the snorkelers near the boat, I didn't see any sharks or dolphins. The scariest thing was a school of about 15 shiny and gigantic barracuda hovering above the reef. Yikes! There were tons of fish including French Angelfish, surgeonfish ganging up on territorial seargant majors, and many different kinds of parrotfish and triggerfish. I saw brain coral, the biggest lobster I've ever seen in my life, and I made a silent vow underwater to never dive without my camera again.

After two nights in Key Largo, we headed to Key West, but before we did, we stopped at the Key Largo Conch House. While not a very vegan sounding name, I couldn't resist checking out this restaurant/cafe set inside a cute peachy/pink house. I had a fried potato breakfast and we got an iced coffee with soy milk and a strawberry banana smoothie to go. Both were delicious, by far the best tasting thing we had in Key Largo.

Fueled by sugar and caffeine, we headed west. The incredible shallow blue water that looked warm surrounded the road practically the whole way. We had a reservation for a sunset kayak tour so we didn't stop for much on the way...

More about Key West next! I had a long absence from this blog due to computer issues that seemed to be somewhat resolved. I also have two trips planned for the near future, one is fulfilling a lifetime travel wish, but more on that next time!