What a fun weekend! After six weeks of no air travel – a time in which my body may have gone into shock – I was back at it this weekend to kick off the Vegan Pressure Cooking book tour. Arizona was a great place to begin! 
Upon arriving I rented a car and used Happy Cow to find a place to eat. My car magically transported me to Green New American Vegetarian (a 100% vegan restaurant). I stood in line, ordered my food and grabbed a table. This was at about 6:30 p.m. 
Within 15 minutes the line was out the door. Whew!
I had a tofu and noodle bowl with egg rolls. Wonderful!
When I checked in, rolling my show kit (affectionately named Big Bertha) filled with a pressure cooker, recipe ingredients, etc., I was thrilled to see my books arrived from the publisher! Whew! I stay at Courtyard Marriott hotels because they are affordable and almost always have a refrigerator and microwave in the room. I got some Anasazi beans soaking right away. 
I got up early on Saturday and headed over to the Scottsdale Civic Center for the first-ever Arizona Vegetarian Food Festival. 
I had such a blast talking to the crowd about easy ways to add more plants to their diet. Then I hit the Eat Vegan Food food truck up for a tempeh salad wrap and this Frito pie.
While hanging out with my girl, Joni Marie Newman. Such a wonderful time! Then I was off to Whole Foods to shop for a private vegan pressure cooking 101 class that I was teaching at my friend Patti’s home.
I prepared Umami Anasazi Beans and Mushroom Rice, from the cookbook, and a kale salad (massaged with ripe avocado, lime juice and tossed with hemp seeds). There were six in the class and it was the perfect size for lots of Q&A and personalized attention. 
When I was at the store grabbing ingredients I really wanted to make something for dessert. So I bought a few pink lady apples and a pint of almond milk vanilla ice cream. While the participants were eating up the beans, rice, and kale, I made a simple pressure cooker dessert: I chopped the apples and added them to the pressure cooker. I added ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and a pinch of sugar and about half a cup of water. I cooked at high pressure for three minutes, quick release and then quickly mashed them before serving over the ice cream.
YUMMY! Sunday I spent most of the day in my hotel room working (no rest for the weary!) and then met my pal Sam for a very late lunch at True Food Kitchen.
We started with this ridiculously beautiful bowl of vegetable crudites. 
And the Anasazi bean tacos, hold the meat/cheese/sour cream, add roasted vegetables. 
So good! This morning I was up early. I had tofu lettuce wraps for breakfast (I ordered them on the way out of True Food Kitchen) in my hotel room.
I gassed up the rental car, checked Big Bertha, got to my gate, boarded the plane….and was delayed. So delayed that I missed my connection in Denver. I hopped the train from terminal B to terminal C to enjoy a long lunch at Root Down DIA. I ordered a veganized Banh Mi with country fried tofu.
And it was perfect.
Now I sit here in the United Club, writing to you, because my new connecting flight was just postponed by 2 hours. So, a seven hour layover in a city that is an hour and a half drive from my home.
It’s all good. I’m making lemonade out of lemons! Yummy, yummy lemons wine!
2 thoughts on “A weekend in Arizona”
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Oh man, sorry about that crappy layover! But at least the airport had some good vegan food!! The one time I got laid over overnight (due to a very rare snowstorm happening in Memphis), I was in SLC airport, and that’s a VERY vegan-friendly airport. So that made it better. But still, one can only eat and drink so much. Good luck! The cooking class looks fun!
Thanks for the head’s up re: SLC, Bianca!