Vegan on the Go! Gloucester, MA

I've been in a bit of a funk lately, feeling defeated and grumpy and not very inspired to write. And of course, after a few days of not writing, the guilt of not writing started piling up. I was avoiding it like it was an obligation, rather than appreciating it as a creative and fun project.

I came out of my crabbiness with the support of my amazing partner and my own resolve to shift my negative perceptions to positive or at least neutral. Too often, I forget that I can actively make a choice on how I want to let things affect me. So here I am, trying to jump back into this project and not let all the insecurities take over.
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Ketch and I are on a desperately-needed mini vacation, in part to kick off my 30th Birthday celebrations.

We just spent the past two nights at Inn Magnolia, a sweet Victorian B&B in Cape Ann, Mass., just a twenty minute drive from Salem. We stayed here after we got married, in Octobert 2011, and just loved it. It's quiet, chill, beautiful, and immediately inspires us to dream up schemes of one day owning our vegan B&B....

Gloucester is a charming town, where things look old and beautiful and clean, but still very real. It's no Disney-ified tourist trap. The people are friendly, there is creativity everywhere, and the sea is all around you.

Our favorite restaurant in Gloucester is Alchemy, located just off the cute olden-timey main drag. Despite being in a small town, Alchemy would be right at home with New York's finest casual high quality restaurants. They have an insane selection of rare, artisanal liquors and will make you a delicious cocktail if you just tell them flavors you usually enjoy. They made me some super yummy dream drink with a juniper-y gin, champagne, and I think bitters but seriously I don't even know. I just know it was light pink, bubbly, and very enjoyable to consume.

The menu is fairly vegan friendly, with a red quinoa timbale in coconut pistachio sauce as the only vegan entree. The small plates, salads, and appetizers all have vegan or vegan friendly options marked.

Over the two nights in a row that we ate there, we had such intensely yummy food. The highlights include: roasted radishes with fresh chives, roasted Brussels sprouts in a maple orange glaze, watermelon red cress salad, spinach sweet potato salad with pepitas, fried potatoes with truffle oil, the above-mentioned timbale, and coconut panko breaded tofu in a creamy coconut curry sauce.

When we were here in 2011, we also came back two nights in a row because everything was so scrumptious. During that trip, the compressed watermelon, yellow roasted beets, and watercress salad was my jam and I've been pining for it ever since. The watermelon redcress number was lovely, but no substitute for my first love.

Seriously, I wish this place was near us in the city. Also, being located NOT in manhattan the prices were reasonable considering the quality of the meal. The staff were super friendly and we even ended up sharing pet photos and email addresses with one of our servers.

We are definitely going to make these trips up to Gloucester/Salem something we do regularly... We've found do much peace, romance, magic, and healing here. And if we are to continue living in Manhattan without going totally bonkers, we'll need adventures like this at least somewhat regularly.

Watermelon Red Cress Salad, with Toasted Almond Slivers. HEeeEEeeEey!

Vegan Timbale!!

What's up, maple-citrus brussel sprouts? You are no doubt tasty, but next time you could do with less syrup. You were kind of like a sweet brussel sprout soup after a while...

Coconut curry tofu, you were a dream come true.

Yea, so we're wearing coordinating nautical-themed outfits. Gay!