Doubles are street food from Trinidad. A double is two puffy, spongy, deep-fried breads, filled with a savory chickpea curry and condiments (red pepper sauce and mango chutney). A double is not particularly healthy, but oh so very delicious.

Doubles were last night’s dinner, thanks to the old standby Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. I had two, which might mean quadruples.

Summer heat is here to stay! At least for a few more months. Boston has definitely been warm as of late, and a trip to the beach this morning to enjoy the weather inspired tonight’s dinner. Idlewild whipped up a cool-yet-spicy mango cucumber salad, and I baked a loaf of traditional Moroccan bread flavored with anise as a side. Combined with a fruity rum drink, it was just the meal to cap off a hot weekend.

It was Dr. Apricot’s birthday yesterday and I celebrated by making samosas from scratch, using the recipe from 660 curries. The recipe has a number of parts, include a yellow pea stew and a cold tamarind sauce, to which I added some mint-cilantro chutney. The overall effect was amazing, worth the hours of work. Perhaps not on a weeknight, though.

The yellow peas required some pressure cooking as well, and I’m proud of myself for finally using it. I’ve been irrationally afraid of pressure cooking, but no longer!

The Pulse Cafe, Somerville MA

This is a relatively new restaurant, and the successor to Vej Naturals in Malden. It’s all vegan, and the chefs know their stuff. I had the rancheros, which was a cold red quinoa and lentil salad and some fantastic grilled tofu topped with a thick ranchero sauce.

Dr. Apricot had a full BBQ platter with seitan, cornbread, collards, and coleslaw.

Not pictured were the vegan nachos which didn’t last long enough to get photographed. I was impressed by The Pulse, and am very happy to have a place that really caters to vegans in the area. I look froward to going back and sinking my teeth into the deserts.

Tastiness rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Vegan-friendly rating: 5 stars

Not Your Average Joe’s, Watertown MA

Speaking of places that don’t cater to vegans: I heard that Not Your Average Joe’s had reformulated their menu and since I enjoyed eating there when I was a vegetarian back in the day decided to see what they had on offer. The answer, unfortunately, was the “salad without cheese & fries” option, which is the bare minimum effort. There were a ton of vegetarian options (good for them!) but most of them featured cheese or pesto so prominently that when they were removed the dish was supremely unbalanced. And their not vegan veggie burgers were served on brioche! Come on, NYAJ, step up your game. Your offerings were embarrassing. A little tweaking and many of your vegetarian options would knock my socks off.

Tastiness rating: inconclusive (out of 5)
Vegan-friendly rating: 0.5 stars

Trivia time! It’s a little known fact about Vegan Man, but I am a classically-trained musician – it’s what I went to school for the first time around. I still make music with frequency and every now and then write up a piece of electronic music or two.

I recently put some of these together and using the powers of Mixing and Mastering produced my new album, Ten Directions. Some kind person said that it “sits at the intersection of dreamily intuitive and intellectually engaging.” If you might want to hang out at that intersection (there’s definitely a good coffee shop there, and probably tapas), you can get check it out on iTunes, Amazon.com, or CD Baby.

Whole wheat couscous with grilled veggies is the current “It Dinner.” Couscous takes absolutely no time to make, and when you combine veggies and some lemon juice you end up with a very flavorful and healthy meal. This version featured sweet corn, heirloom tomatoes, broccolini, garlic, and kalamata olives.

The raw ingredients:

And the finished product. So classy!

Lots of eating this week. Eating out, even! Friday night was the Tamarind Bay Bistro & Bar in Harvard Square. There aren’t a lot of vegan choices there, but what they had was astoundingly good. Try the potatoes and the chickpeas. The waitress was very helpful when we mentioned the “vegan” word, but I could have stood to have some more vegetable choices on the menu that didn’t revolve around dairy.

Tamarind Bay Bistro & Bar
Tastiness rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Vegan-friendly rating: 3 stars

Last night was dinner at a favorite of mine, the Elephant Walk in Cambridge. This is French-Cambodian food, and it’s a great place to go if you’re taking a non-vegan out for a great meal, but also want to have a lot of choices as well (the vegan choices do lean heavily on the Cambodian side of things). There’s even a gluten-free menu! Everything vegan on the menu is clearly labeled, and all but two of their vegetarian dishes are vegan. Imagine that!

Last night I had the 4-course fixed price menu with vegan rouleaux, salade cambodgienne, tofu amrita, and a raspberry sorbet for desert. I’ve heard that if you come when it’s really busy the food isn’t at maximum deliciousness, but I’ve never personally had a bad meal. If you have to just get one thing, get the rouleaux and you’ll leave full and happy.

The Elephant Walk in Cambridge
Tastiness rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Vegan-friendly rating: 5 stars

Have you had chickpea pizza? No? Well, you should. There’s a recipe in Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian for chickpea pizza, which is made with chickpea flour, salt, and water. It’s cooked on the stove top and then broiled, and produces an amazing thin pizza which would be delicious without any toppings whatsoever. Tonight’s version was topped with sun-dried tomatoes and some of Dr. Apricot’s special seitan sausage. Holy cow was it good.

To go with the pizza I whipped up some whole wheat couscous (seriously, this is the easiest thing in the world to cook!) and stirred in some tomato, basil, mint, cilantro, and lemon juice. A bit of salt and pepper and the result is a plate full of deliciousness.

My newest obsession is Trader Joe’s Thai Vegetable Gyoza. Steam a bunch of them up and serve with some dipping sauce. They’re so delicate and flavorful, I believe I could eat a metric ton of them.

I’ve made dumplings before, and I’m inspired to make another batch and steam them this time.

Well hello there! I haven’t run off to a cabin in Iceland or to a missile silo in the midwest. Vegan Man has been neglecting this site, however, as the pressures of life mounted over the months. But the cold of winter has subsided, and I’m back to clear out the cobwebs and provide some more quality content.

What have I been up to since September? The answer: school. I’m back in classes full-time, increasing my macho street cred in a massage therapy program. I’m about 3 months out from having my license, after which I’ll be a massage therapist/software developer. I believe I will need two business cards.

Being in class 4 days a week as well as working has taken a toll on the cooking, as any busy vegan knows. It’s hard enough sometimes to get a nutritious and square meal when you’re busy, but add in the whole vegan thing and you’re in a different place. I’ve relied fairly heavily on Chipotle in months past to get me through – the veggie fajita burrito with black beans, lots of salsa, guacamole and lettuce is a whole cylinder of deliciousness. I’ve been there so often recently that I’m started to get comped now and then. Thanks Chipotle!

My second survival device has been the crock pot. Throwing a bunch of veggies in the morning and come dinnertime there’s a whole mess of goodness. In addition to my own awesome red lentils, I’ve been experimenting with recipes from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

The third has been cooking the quick and easy dishes I know like the back of my hand. Pesto, grilled tofu, chili, and soft tacos, over and over.

The great thing is that after this long being vegan isn’t a chore at all, it’s just how it goes. Those who are just getting started, rest assured, it gets easier. After a while it’s just as normal as your pants.