Ma and Pa's Blog

Dad & I finally got to Akron’s one and only vegan restaurant, VegiTerranean, conceived and owned by Chryssie Hynde. In a NYC rant that pissed off many locals, Hynde told an interviewer that she felt she had to open a restaurant where she could dine while she was visiting her home town, since Akron was such a backwater that the locals were rubes who didn’t even know what “vegan” meant. (I read the comments that were posted in response to the article on ohio.com and damned if the moronic commenters didn’t prove her right. Sigh.)

Anyway. As an antidote to the meat and egg fest that is Easter, we decided to try it out for lunch today.

The restaurant was upscale, sleek and industrial and the menu was appealing. We started with a black bean hummus over arugula and sundried tomatoes with crispy flatbread. To die for. Dad had a “steak” panini with mixed green salad and I had whole wheat penne with wild mushrooms, asparagus and cashew cream sauce. Both were very tasty, though I would’ve spiced up the cashew cream with some garlic and hot pepper flakes. We split an apricot/pistachio dessert–very good and I’m glad we split one dessert instead of trying two of them. All in all, it was a great lunch, and it is a great place for delicious vegan fare. I just wish the dinner menu didn’t rely as heavily on “fake” meat items; most of the entrees relied on chicken and beef wannabe food. Maybe as the restaurant comes into its own, it will replace some of those items with other vegan main dishes…I know there are lots of great foods that don’t require fake chicken nuggets and steaks. Still, I’ll be looking forward to a return trip soon!

Oh–as a northeast Ohio tease, the staff at the restaurant were preparing the outdoor patio seating. Soon. Warm weather can’t be too far away…

Spring arrived this week, and tomorrow is Easter. What a great time of year. While those living in the south may chide us for sticking around a place that can be pretty cold and gloomy for a few months in the winter, spring’s arrival makes up for all that. Who better appreciates the spring warmth and sunshine, the sounds of birds in the morning, the trees and flowers bursting forth, than someone who’s experienced a few months of the cold, monochrome prison that is winter?

And this year, we get extra bonuses as winter turns to spring . . . turns to winter . . . turns to spring . . . turns to winter . . . s h i t !

OK, we’re having a spring “winter storm”!

 In my opinion, a grand insult to our troops –

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14893.html

The Lima Steidls are in town for a wedding this weekend. Lucky it wasn’t during the blizzard a week earlier. Spring is beginning to show despite a few remaining mountains of snow. It’s good to hear the birds in the morning.

I stumbled onto this on the web. It seems to work (significantly speeds Firefox).  To be honest, I’ve only had an hour or so using it — however, if it causes problems, it’s easily undone.

>> THE TWEAK IS HERE <<

Well, the snow has ceased.   The headline in today’s paper says we got 15 total inches in two days.   Here’s a picture of our “unofficial” snow gauge.

This is from 7AM this morning. We got about 10 inches overnight, and another 5 to 10 is predicted for today. Yes, Spring IS just around the corner — hope we can make it!

Photos updated at 12:50PM. Also, see here for video.