We stayed in Little Osaka, or Japan Town, depending on who you ask, so we were within walking distance of everything we cared about, including this great little grocery store/cafe, Harvest Urban Market, near 8th & Mission. Coffee in the morning, Tofutti cream cheese for our bagels, savory scones from Black China Bakery, and these:

Oh, yes. The bakery where these lovelies were born is People’s Donuts, bringer of vegan donuts to the Bay Area and beyond. The icings were so light and clean, perfectly balancing the rich and creamy, almost buttery cake. The strawberry tasted like strawberry and the lemon tasted like lemon—it’s as if they use real, organic ingredients. (They do! Check out the ingredients on their website.)

The other delightful surprise came from Amici’s. Our last night there we were so tired that we couldn’t bring ourselves to walk the 1.5 miles (and who knows how much in elevation) to Herbivore. I said, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could have a vegan pizza delivered?” So I searched “vegan pizza San Francisco” and found some. They are now using Daiya on their pizzas and deliver all the hell over. I got two smalls so we could try ‘em out and have leftovers for breakfast: The Asanté has a Daiya base (no tomato sauce), spinach, broccoli, red onion, tomatoes, and basil. And the build-your-own base pizza is just tomato sauce and cheese (no extra charge to swap with Daiya). It’s “New York-style”  thin crust, which I’ve never been a huge fan of, but I didn’t care. I wanted pizza, I made a phone call, and a half hour later a guy showed up at the door with pizza. Nice.

Before I take off (see you tomorrow for part 2), I’m saying “Happy birthday, Vegtastic Voyage.” It’s 2 years old today. It’s also the birthday of my sister-in-law and a boy named Tony who only went to school with me for 3rd grade and I only remember because he had a crush on me and gave me his school photo.

Oh, and may you all avoid the smell of corned beef on this St. Patrick’s Day and all to follow.

Why is it that we now have at least four locations in our wee city where I can go pick up a fresh vegan doughnut (in addition to almost-as-fresh-from-Seattle Mighty-Os at Whole Foods)? Sweetpea’s got ‘em on Saturday, Voodoo (SW and NE) has a bunch of flavors available ’round the clock, and now Acme on SE Powell has joined the club.

Food Fight! had mentioned it on their Facebook page so I checked it out the next day, whilst running errands, and talked with the owner, I guess. He’d just teased it on his website and hadn’t started yet. He said one day he realized that most of the fillings and glazes were vegan anyway, so why not just make the doughnuts vegan too? Is it really that simple? Why don’t other places do this? Really! If you run a doughnut shop (or bakery or whatever), if you offer even one vegan option every day, word will spread and you’ll be that cool shop with the vegan doughnuts. Market them as “dairy free” or “cholesterol free” if you need to–omnis have dietary restrictions too. Yes, I know my audience and am well aware of the fact that none of you run a doughnut shop (or bakery or whatever) with no vegan options. Just spoutin’ off to the ether again, putting it out there to the hive mind.

Acme had three yeasty, risen vegan varieties (as opposed to cakey) when I stopped in a couple of weeks later, dragging my not-really-awake-yet friend with me on my fact-finding mission. What was a girl to do but try them all? Pictured are a plain glazed, maple glazed, and a berrylicious jelly. The consistency isn’t as feathery as an omni doughnut—I do still remember that superfluff feeling of the doughnuts of my youth—but it wasn’t too chewy, either. And they’re rather spicy—a little too much cinnamon for my friend, but I dug ‘em. And the berry filling was not a straight jelly but light and fluffy and, yes, berrylicious.

So thanks yet again, Portland. And to the rest of this doughnut-makin’ country, what the hell are you waiting for?

I just found out, via Get Sconed!, that Voodoo has expanded its vegan line to include yeasty, risey doughnuts. So guess where I got breakfast today. I went for the dozen, which has its pros and cons: It was only $8.50, the same price as the omni dozen (as opposed to double or thereabouts, like the single doughnuts) • UPDATE: There’s a sign in there now that says vegan dozens are $10.50 • but it’s staff-pick, so you can end up with something like this:

Now, I’m never going to eat cereal or candy or cookies on top of my doughnut. I may pick off the cereal or candy or cookies and eat them first, followed by the doughnut, but sprinkles are hard enough for me to stomach—it’s just too much straight, simple, white-sugar sweet. And I think I just don’t care for the white icing Voodoo uses. It’s supersweet and thick.

So which ones have I tried this morning? The sprinkly one at the top was breakfast, and with the weight of the icing and sprinkles, it was a little rough. Very heavy and chewy. Then for second breakfast I had the maple-iced long john. Better. Much better. It was lighter and fluffier, and the icing wasn’t as sweet.

I still prefer Sweetpea, but if it’s not Saturday and I want a doughnut (which, after polishing off this dozen, probably won’t happen for a while), it’s awesome that Voodoo is there for me. And the very fact that they’ve chosen to expand the vegan line points to a growing demand. Nobody wants to invest an extra dollar these days unless they are guaranteed a return, so either the Portland vegan plague is spreading or omni folks are looking for more cholesterol-free treats. Either way, it’s win-win-win.

If you see this can of coffee, think twice before picking it up, unless you sleep on a mattress filled with money.

Tom usually combines three types of coffee (different roasts) with cocoa nibs and cassia chips for a lovely, full-bodied brew. This weekend, his normal medium-roast wasn’t at Trader Joe’s. I pointed this one out, he put it in the basket, and we headed on over to check-out. The cashier paused when she picked up this can: “Have you had this before? It’s so good. It’s our most expensive coffee.” Considering most of the ones we buy are around $7 each, I thought maybe this was $10. Whatever, we deserve it. I just got a new job.

Out in the car, Tom looked at the receipt… It’s 19-fricken-99. That’s right. $20 for 13 ounces of coffee beans. Oops.

We had to taste this stuff uncut, so we made a pure Kona pot. You know what? It’s good. It’s complex. I just can’t say it’s three times as good as what we normally make.

You know what goes incredibly well with any coffee? Mighty-O Donuts Cocoloco Minis. They’re like Donette Gems but good. (Do you know what Donette Gems are—is Hostess national?) And these babies are stamped proudly with that fat little “V,” not as pretty as the Vegan Society flower but a welcome little packaging shortcut nonetheless.

After one day, I’m pretty sure I hate these shoes. It was either find a pair of brown shoes really fast or recycle my black pants again and again and again this week. So I found these Mudd shoes. I don’t know that the adhesive is vegan, but the uppers are all man-made material. I went on their site to find some more information, but apparently the only reason anyone goes on there is to find out about fighting cancer and loving the Jonas Brothers. Well, two days after wearing these beasts and my toes still feel like they’re broken. The shoes aren’t too small; the heel was just pinched so it forced my foot forward. More than a mile later they got a little more flexible but I was in such pain. Toughest break-in ever.

So, yes, I disappeared from these parts for my first week of work. I’ll have way better flow even this week, I’m sure, but the last week was all about pushing myself all day then collapsing at night. No new recipes or restaurants to speak of.

I survived the first lunch with the new coworkers. I didn’t say anything about my crazy special needs until it came up in conversation during the walk to the restaurant. It ended up being an Italian joint, and I asked if there was egg in the pasta. I was given a confident “No,” as if she’d been asked that question before. So there was pomodoro to see me through the day, no panic required.

My office is the old federal court building that’s now a post office plus some other law-y stuff, so there are all these cool architectural elements, but there’s also the part where I face rather frightening photos of Bush and Cheney as I wait for the elevator. Pretty rough at 8:30 a.m. Oh, and there’s a friendly reminder of what the current terror level is (yellow).

This morning we slept in a bit, late enough that we could get breakfast treats from Sweetpea. We got extra scones for tomorrow, just in case they’re doing brunch. I saw what I thought were chocolate glazed doughnuts on their prep table, but the guy told me they were Boston creme. I’ve never had a Boston creme anything, as custard has historically creeped me out, but the Sweetpea guy gave me a little nod, which I took to mean they were yummy and I should get one. So I did. After cutting it in half I tried it out…and put the other half in the fridge. It was pretty creepy at room temperature. Cold was so, so, so, so much better. I don’t know if Sweetpea was worried about losing doughnut customers to the new Voodoo, but they definitely shouldn’t. I really wish they did doughnuts more often. I thought they made them on Wednesdays too, but I called once and was told Saturdays only. They’re still sort of new, so there’s hope for the future.

I swear I’m in the middle of, like, three posts, but I had to throw this up here. This morning, Tom needed to bring doughnuts to work, and apparently to answer the question “How do you even make a vegan doughnut?” he decided to bring in vegan doughnuts.

So Voodoo supplied him with this “vegan bucket” for five bucks. It’s a bucket. Of vegan doughnuts. For five dollars.

Update from the office: Especially given the novelty of the bucket, it was a hit with the omnis. There are even reports of some going in for seconds.

Back to the building. There was a quiet air of activity about it. And it built. And built. Then I saw the sign: coming soon voodoo doughnuts too. I found them on Myspace and wrote about it here. The very next day we heard the drums. Could it be the high school band practicing? It got closer and closer, louder and louder, until we had to run to the window to see what it was. This, my friends, is what it was. (There are more clips on Youtube.)

After a bit of ceremony, the throngs filed in for their doughnuts (standing patiently and orderly in line as I’ve noticed happens here—even at a bar). Without ever having sampled the wares, I was in love. Anyone who can have this much fun with a doughnut joint would surely put some of that love into their doughnuts. Not wanting to join the mob, however, I waited it out for normal business hours, which someone in my building was kind enough to clue the rest of us in on (taken in a dark hall on my phone).

So Monday night, I hightailed it down there to pick up a few. Yes, it was after my food curfew, but this was a special occasion. The girl behind the counter listed off the vegan varieties, and I noticed they were all yellow cake doughnuts. I’d read about chocolate cake ones on Stumptown Vegans, so I asked about them. She said the chocolate ones were “never really vegan.” What’s all that then? I’m hoping she was ill-informed or just crazy, because the alternative is that somebody’s lyin’. So what did we get?

We got a glazed, a frosted with sprinkles, a frosted with toasted coconut, and a chocolate frosted with peanuts. Split over two sittings, we tried them all. The Best of Plate honor goes to the peanut one. Not too sweet, the peanuts balance it all out and play off the mildly banana flavor of the doughnut. The sprinkles doughnut was almost inedibly sweet—even with a hair-on-yer-chest-strong cup of coffee; I think the white frosting is just too sugary. They had others, but I think the chocolate-peanut’s got me covered.

It’s not an everyday sort of doughnut (not that anyone should eat doughnuts every day), but the next time I get a hankerin’, it’s good to know there’s one waiting just around the corner. One that can get this many people excited about a sugary fried circle of dough.

See this here? This is what trouble looks like from your bedroom window. This is the new location of Voodoo Doughnut. They think they’re keepin’ it all secret, but I see all!

I’ve managed to keep away from the one just west of the bridge since I got here, but this is pretty much in my backyard. One night, around 10 or so*, I asked Tom if he wanted to walk over (It’s just over a mile away) and he shrugged it off: “We can go in the morning if you want.” Well, what happens when it’s right there?! It’s either I go out the front and walk around the corner or cut through the back and jump the fence.

Or…how about this? I talk them into letting me run a pulley system from their window to mine, then I send them money and my order and they give me my doughnut(s)—without all that exercise standing in my way.

Honestly, I’ve gotten mixed reviews on the vegan doughnuts anyway. While Stumptown Vegans give them a thumbs-up, a friend of mine (one of the very few I have in this new city of mine) said they’re way too sweet. I agree that doughnuts don’t have to be super sweet—I got a toasted coconut/chocolate covered one from Sweetpea not too long ago and it may have been perfect, and the sweetness was kept to a minimum. But I can handle me some sugar too. That’s where a good, strong coffee comes in handy.

So I guess we’ll see what happens. Apparently they’re trying to open by the end of May. Tick tock, fellas.

*I’m normally not allowed to eat after 8:00 p.m. because then I can’t sleep and it’s like I’m possessed by a crazy panda god or something and suddenly I’m all fists and elbows…and poor Tom suffers.