​My recent trip home to Philly and NYC was jam-packed with new and delicious vegan food options, from the carrot lox at Orchard Grocer to Philly's amazing new joints Wiz Kid and Goldie. Add in all the incredible new finds at Trader Joe's and I was almost overwhelmed with vegan options, especially considering my dearth of options this past summer in Central Asia! With vegan treats coming at me from all sides, you'd think it would be hard to choose a favorite, but that was the easy part. The new (at least in my book, come on I've been gone forever) outpost of Juice Merchant, an all-vegan 100% organic cafe, on Montgomery Avenue in Narberth wins that honor. (There's also one in Manayunk.) The food, while not Landau-levels of otherworldly perfection, is solidly good, sometimes great; the menu is the exact perfect size for offering tons of options but not being overwhelming (us vegans aren't used to having such choice!); the drinks menu is flawless; the staff is insanely nice; and the desserts - guys - the desserts are from Vegan Treats. Finally a place on the Main Line with a constant supply of that peanut butter mousse! 
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During my latest trip home to Philadelphia, PA (how far are theyyyy), I had just enough time to try two of the city's newest and best lunch-time offerings. Rich Landau's most informal restaurant yet, Wiz Kid, specializes in a few stellar sandwiches in the grand old greasy Philly cheesesteak tradition, but veganized (and so much better). Goldie highlights the street food of another big city, Tel Aviv, with an Israeli-style falafel shop selling, well, just a falafel sandwich or salad, fries (with optional shwarma flavoring!), and the greatest single and singular item in the city right now, which we'll talk about. At the end, I'll share my pretty accurate recipe for that magical item so let's get to it. 
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​My eating in Moscow started off dire but ended up in strong contention for my favorite food of the trip, thanks (and no thanks) to a wildly uneven list. Due to some HappyCow reviewers whom I no longer trust, I decided my first stop would be at Prime Cafe because they had juices, salads, and wraps. Sure they did, but it ended up being 100% a copy of Pret a Manger. And the old-style Pret, not the newfangled wave of super vegan-friendliness that Pret’s doing in London now. First of all, it was so hard to find because it wasn’t actually called Prime Cafe on HappyCow; it was just listed as its address, which Google maps didn’t want to find. When we finally found the address and saw it was a Prime Cafe, we realized we had seen this chain all over the city and for no good reason had been heading to this not-super-close location. We learned that night that there was one 10 yards from our hostel.
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​Not only have I just written the most honest blog post title yet, but I've also somehow made absolute MAGIC in the kitchen. And because I'm super generous (sui generis?), I'm sharing the recipe with you today. I really can't get over how delicious these cashew butter cups are. Like I said, they have no business being so amazing, and while they also have no business being called 'cashew butter cups', it sounds a lot better and is easier to say that than 'random protein powders and sneaky bean cups' ewww I knowww but stay with me. 
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Hello friends!! Today we have a guest post! How exciting is that! Did you even know we could HAVE guest blogs on Laughfrodisiac? Because I didn't! But I like this idea - I do very little work - so if you are interested in writing a guest piece, please email me at the link at the top right corner. I do still get to write the headlines as you can see. The W stands for WIN. Anyway, today's amazing piece comes from Cara W., a dear friend of mine who is also the best short story writer you'll probably ever read in your entire life, so I'm a little hesitant to post this because you'll prob be like 'damn she is much better she should take over the site.' And no her real name is not Alice Munro but I can see why you'd think that! 
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Happy Valentines Day, everyone! Oh, Valentines Day is over, you say? Counter: Valentines Day is about love and chocolate, therefore every day is VDay. To celebrate (the actual one) (well not the actual day (it was a school night!) but close enough to it that it was undeniably for VDay) relatively recently, Husband took me to out to a fancy dinner in London's main drag of Soho. Now I hear your doubts, because I had them too: What, Soho?! Soho is only good for 1) bros barfing in the streets before it's even 6pm because alcoholism is a huge and underacknowledged problem in the UK  in large part due to the ingrained nature of pub culture and also the lack of sunshine and b) sad sack vegetarian options at chain restaurants (cough *Pret a Manger* cough). Although there is some decent food to be found in Soho, I never heard of a fancy restaurant there that could make a fancy meal for a vegan that was actually impressive or at least better than what I cook at home. Luckily, Husband has read the entire internet and so he discovered the vegan-friendliness of Gauthier, a restaurant that was awarded a Michelin star a few years back. ​
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​In the days leading up to our exciting reservations at Club Mexicana's residency at Pamela bar in Dalston, we were making our fair share of "PaMELah" jokes in the style of Borat, cultural guide in all situations. Oh Pamela we are now married! Agreement not necessary! Little did we know that that was indeed the Pamela that Pamela Bar is talking bout! The walls above our seats at the bar were covered with pictures of Pamela Anderson! I was very surprised, but it was kind of nice because she is vegan and a pretty strong advocate for animals, so it made sense that she would be watching over the current kitchen residents, vegan Mexican wonder Club Mexicana. Pamela's kitchen residents change often, as that is what residencies usually mean. However, the Club Mexicana residency is open-ended! That means I can go again and you have even more time to try to go, and you should, because the food was sooo good. 
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  Going into dinner at Crossroads, my first ever meal in Los Angeles, I was wary. I knew of Tal Ronnen, famous celebrity chef behind Oprah's 21-day vegan challenge and Ellen's wedding, and I was super psyched to finally eat at his fancy well-known restaurant on Melrose (so I could say "We're going to Melrose" in Ambular's voice). But I had heard from several people whose opinions I trust, and none of them agreed on whether the food was disappointing or BRE (best restaurant ever). Either the consistency at Crossroads is just nonexistent or some of my friends have the Sookie-preggers-tastebud-crazytimes, but luckily I guess I went on a good night. No, a great night. A freaking fantastic, fabulous night because this dinner was off the chizzz, people, and despite an absolutely stellar week of eating in L.A. (which will be my next like bajillion posts), Crossroads was the highlight among all highlights.
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