Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Greek and Curry (seperately, I assure you...)


I knew that making the Spanakopita from VWAV for my family could be a little risky because I remember my mother making the non-vegan version of this dish when I was little and I knew that this would have to live up to her recipe. This got mixed reviews from my family- my mom and I thought that it was pretty good, my sister wasn't fond of the filling but loved the crunchy phyllo on the outside, my dad wasn't crazy about the dish altogether but ate it anyway without much complaining, and my little brother refused to even touch the spanakopita. Oh well...I kinda saw this coming, but at least I tried! I'm sure that these would have been a much bigger hit in my house if my family really liked Greek food, but I think my mom is the only big Greek food fan in my household. I can't say that I will be making this dish again any time in the near future, but I can say that this recipe is really good and tasted exactly like I remember the traditional spanakopita tasting.



My brother was away to camp for a week (his longest time away from home!) and returned last week, so to spend some time with him and sort of welcome him home I took him to downtown Evanston for the day. We had a great time walking around, doing some shopping (my brother decided to take some pictures of some places that we went to, but I can't seem to get them onto my computer...) and, of course, eating. I took my brother to some pizza place and I decided to try Wild Tree Cafe down the street for lunch. I can't believe that I've been to Evanston so many times and hadn't tried this place until now- I love it! Wild Tree Cafe is a great, casual spot that uses local ingredients and they have a different soup everyday that is always vegan, so even though it was over 80 degrees out, I got their Thai red lentil soup (I can't remember the exact name- it was something really cute). The soup had a really nice and mellow curry flavor and was filled with lentils and potatoes- it was so delicious! My little brother insisted that I take a picture of him with my cup of soup, so here he is!







11 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I used to love Spanakopita before I became a vegan - I'd try that recipe that you tried, if I wasn't so afraid of working with phyllo dough ;0)

That restaurant sounds great!

Anonymous said...

I loved that spanakopita. I made it in one big pot though because it was too much of a PITA to make the individual servings. I'm sorry to hear your whole family didn't like it that much. More leftovers for you I guess!

Anonymous said...

Spanakopita is some good stuff. I am thinking I need to go the the Greek restaurant and soon!

Anonymous said...

On the bright side, at least your family tried the spanakopita! And it still looks delicious to me anyways. :)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Aw, your brother's a cutie :o).

Thank you so much for your amazingly wonderful comment on my blog. You are truly a sweetheart!

The Voracious Vegan said...

Your spanikopita looks delicious, just like the soup!

jessy said...

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh! i think the spanikopita looks super good! and the thai soup looks divine! i would have eaten that on a summer day, too - it looks so good not to!

Rural Vegan said...

I've never had Spanakopita before, but it certainly looks good! And if I'm ever in Evanston, now I know that there's a place to eat!

Anonymous said...

I have been meaning to make that spanakopita for forever it seems! That stinks that the fam didn't like it...I've definitely been there :)

Your bro is cute, he reminds me of my own bother who is 10...

Erin said...

I actually really like that spanakopia recipe, even though the phyllo is kind of a pain. I made it in prebaked mini phyllo cups for appetizers and that went over really well. At least your family tried it I guess!

Vegan_Noodle said...

I think it's so cool that you even tried the recipe!! Phyllo can be a bit scary....

Isn't it fun to discover new restaurants in places you've been to so many times?