BonusMoFo! A Quickie in Portland

MoFo Bonus post! That's right, folks, we're in Vegan Mecca - aka: Portland, Oregon!

Since I had to fly in and out of Portland on my way to visit my great aunt Tashie, I arranged for a quick, but wonderful, visit with my PDX friends Kittee and Sandy. See our happy faces glowing with friend-love??

You gotta make the most of these visits, so we met up at Back to Eden bakery. Back to Eden is an all-vegan, largely gluten-free bakery that also has candies, vegan cookbooks, soft serve, tea and coffee. It is a magical place. I love it so much. Even though I wish I lived right next door, it is probably just as well that I don't. Seriously the stuff here is a-mazing. Here's Kittee noshing on a gluten free Chocolate-Toffee Bar.

Kittee and Sandy have been telling me, for months now, about the glory of BtE's cheezecakes. I have to admit, I was skeptical. I've had some pretty lame-o vegan cheezecakes, and I had pretty much written them off for good. But Kittee and Sandy pretty much know what they're talking about, so I was interested. When we arrived, it was still morning, and I was more in a muffin mood than a cheezecake mood, but luckily for me, my loving friends talked some sense into me. Sandy and I each got a piece of marionberry cheezecake. OH EM GEE. Amazement! Amazeballs! This cheezecake is totally freaking incredible. It has that perfect tartness that a cheesecake should have... it's light and fluffy and just about heaven on a plate. Plus, they change their flavor every day, and I was very stoked to arrive on Marionberry day. I pretty much LOVE all things blackberry. This cheezecake alone is pretty much worth the cost of your plane ticket to Portland.

But, since I'm no dummy, I also stocked up on goodies to share with Tashie over the long weekend. A lemon custard turnover, a marionberry-spice muffin, and a cherry-almond scone. I don't really need to tell you again how delicious these all were, do I?

Plus, my excellent friends showered me with culinary goodies from Portland. Sandy brought along not-one-but-two loaves of Dave's Killer Bread, lovingly wrapped and decorated! Kittee brought me a Mondo Bag of bulk Soy Curls and a package of Freddy Guy's Roasted Hazelnuts (which we are still enjoying). Thank you Kittee & Sandy!!!!

After all that noshing, we went for a little neighborhood stroll. Of course, Mr. Vee came along too.

Then, on my way back into Portland, there was time for a quick visit with some Portland cousins before heading to the airport. My cousin Eliza runs a very nice B&B up in Victoria BC, and she was saying that it has been hard to make good gluten-free baked goodies. Well! I insisted (selflessly), that we drop by Back to Eden once more, so that she could see just how incredible vegan + gluten-free really can be. We picked up a Chocolate-Toffee Bar, a Lemon Lime Cupcake, and a Maple Pecan Muffin to share for our family visit. Incredible!!!