Another week passes, creeping closer to the winter holidays, which makes me simultaneously excited and nervous! How has 2018 flown by so fast? Even though it is now officially autumn, the weather in NYC is still warm and I’m hanging onto summer as long as possible.
So, on Monday, which is one of my days off from work, I spent a good chunk of the day in Central Park – just sitting, reading, and strolling. After leaving the park, I stopped by Van Leeuwen’s Ice Cream on the Upper West Side to try another one of their vegan ice creams. (Last time, I had the Vanilla Almond Chip.) This time, I decided on the Peanut Butter Candy Crunch. It was not bad, but perhaps not my favorite. There were rather large chunks of peanuts in it (I guess that’s why it’s “crunch”), so the proportion of peanuts to chocolate/candy (whatever the “candy” is) was not what I expected. But it was still good, and I’m always glad to have vegan ice cream!
Vegan Peanut Candy Crunch Ice Cream from Van Leeuwen’s Ice Cream on the UWS
On Sunday, I visited Peacefood Cafe as I normally often do to get their gluten-free veggie biscuit. And the flavor of the day was Cheddar Bacon Jalapeno. I admit that I love the vegan bacon that they use in their biscuits, and it’s not because it tastes like bacon (because it sort of doesn’t?). It’s slightly chewy and slightly salty. It’s a nice texture! And the outer crust of the biscuit was a lot crispier than the biscuit usually is, which was delightful!
Gluten-Free Cheddar Bacon Jalapeno Biscuit from Peacefood Cafe 
Gluten-Free Cheddar Bacon Jalapeno Biscuit from Peacefood Cafe
Both Perelandra Natural Foods and Green Symphony have a lovely hot and cold food bar, and this week, I went to both at least a couple of times each this week. I love buffet style food bars because I can portion out as little or as much of a particular food that I like. For example, I love tofu and tempeh, and what I get from places like this is a substantial source of protein for me, so I get a good heaping portion of them. Potatoes and corn are also great whole-food carbohydrates that I like to include in my meals for balance, so I love being able to get a small portion of them.
Tofu Scramble, Tempeh Sausage, Broccoli, Potatoes, and Chickpeas from Perelandra Natural Foods 
Tofu and Chickpeas, Kale, and Roasted Corn from Green Symphony
Perelandra also has a case with vegan baked goods, many of which are gluten-free (like I shared last week). I tried their gluten-free peanut butter blondie, which is OMG SO GOOD! Definitely very rich, and I could only eat half of it that day, and I had to eat the rest of it the next day. But I LOVE peanut butter and I love blondies, so this was right up my alley!
Gluten-Free Vegan Peanut Butter Blondie from Perelandra Natural Foods
Singapore-Style Noodles are one of my favorite dishes to get at Chinese or Asian Fusion restaurants (which is where I typically find them), because they often can be made vegan/vegetarian and are usually naturally gluten-free. They’re most likely not originally from Singapore, though.
Anyway, when I went to eat a Spice Saigon, a Vietnamese Restaurant on the Upper East Side, there were a handful of dishes I probably could have gotten. But because today, Saturday, October 6 is National Noodle Day in the United States, I wanted noodles and the Singapore-Style Noodles were pretty much the only noodle option I could get. (Their pho is only chicken- or beef-based broth.) Initially, I forgot to ask for no egg, so they had to remake my dish without the egg, but when I finally got to eat it, it was SO GOOD! Yum!
Singapore-Style Noodles from Spice Saigon
Stay tuned in upcoming weeks for more vegan eats from around New York City!