Burrito Bonanza

The Chef: El Burrito Express

The Menu: Freshly made, perfectly wrapped burritos filled with black beans, guacamole, rice, and veggies stuffed into slightly warm whole wheat tortillas. Did we also snack on a delicious side of chips and salsa? That would be a "heck yes."

The Goods: After many months of writing, editing, designing, and then editing some more, we've come to the final step before sending out July+August Anniversary issue to press: proofs day! And while we rarely outsource lunch here at the VNHQ, it is tradition to order El Burrito Express on proof day to minimize stress and maximize burrito eating in the office. We love these hearty, hit-the-spot burritos from our favorite local taqueria, and our appetites for burritos skyrocketed after hearing yesterday that Chipotle have expanded its vegan garden blend meat alternative in Southern California. We're thrilled to see people embracing the burrito chain's vegan option. In addition to a day full of editing and eating, we're also excited to choose two winners at 5pm PST for our latest Twitter giveaway—five pounds of Daiya cheese! Haven't entered yet? It's as simple as retweeting VN before 5pm! In the meantime, if you need us, we'll be editing proofs, pretending to wait patiently for garden blend to arrive in San Francisco, and trying not to keep all this Daiya cheese to ourselves.

Seaside Sandwiches

The Chef: Java Beach

The Menu: Sandwiches! Some of the ciabatta variety, some of the bagel variety. All had hummus, avocado, and veggies.

The Goods: Today was what we call in the biz "proof day." Proof day is when we read the proofs of the magazine from the printer, and scrutinize them to the nth degree to catch any last-minute edits. It can be what therapists refer to as "stressful." Actually, this round went extremely well, though we didn't quite have enough time to make ourselves lunch. So, we hightailed it to our local café, Java Beach. They made us lunch, we paid them, the end.

Burrito Day!

The Chefs: El Burrito Express and Joseph

The Menu: Burr-freakin-itos. We love these. Whole-wheat tortillas wrapped around perfectly flavored rice, yummy refried beans, and tons of guacamole make these the preferred proof-day food. With a side of roasted veggies from Joseph and a hearty helping of chips and salsa, these fantastic foil-wrapped goodies made a mean meal.

The Goods: As you may have guessed, today is proof day, which means that we have the proofs of the March+April issue back from the printer, and need to exhaustively go over them to catch any last-minute edits. Consider this thing edited. Also, we might have gotten a delivery that had us jumping up and down with glee. One word: Vita-Mix.

Burritos!

The Chef: El Burrito Express

The Menu: Well, what's it look like? Oh, that's right, burritos! Yep, our black-bean and guacamole-filled staples served us well today, alongside their trusty chips and salsas.

The Goods: Today, we got in the proofs of the January+February 2010 issue, and since we had a breakneck editing schedule once they arrived, we thought it best to conserve precious editing energy by having lunch catered. By "catered" we mean that Joseph picked up burritos from our favorite local joint, and we demolished them. The end. Love, VN.

Super-Protein Burritos

The Chefs: Joseph and Abby

The Menu: Big, bold, beany burritos. Joseph whipped up a blend of black, pinto, and kidney beans, which he mixed with corn, red peppers, tofu, Daiya, and one secret ingredient that he likes to sneak into any meal possible. Curious? The answer is veggie bacon bits, which are not just for your baked potato anymore! Joseph served this mighty mixture over brown rice on rice tortillas, and topped it with vegan sour cream, chopped tomatoes, and salsa. Abby contributed a highly delicious salad that featured kale, green olives, tomatoes, and chopped onions.

The Goods: Today we edited the proofs of our November+December issue, aka The Veggie Awards issue. That's right, the winners are all set in print, and we're pretty freaking thrilled with them. Usually on proof day we order in burritos, since there isn't generally time to make a fantastic lunch with the intense editing demands of the day. This time, though, Joseph and Abby split up the cooking duty, and the results were totally delicious.

Burrito Blitz

The Chef: El Burrito Express

The Menu: You guessed it: burritos! And chips, naturally. Today we enjoyed either black-bean or refried-bean burritos with salsa, guacamole, rice, and lettuce, which basically means we enjoyed the perfect meal. An element of crunch came from the chips, and the sides of salsa supplied a splash of spice.

The Goods: Today is proof day, otherwise known as our very last chance to make edits to the September+October issue. Yes, we can sometimes be a little bit more frenzied on proof day than our normal calm composure might lead you to believe. Since we were long on work and short on time, having burritos was the perfect way to feed our frenetic selves. Oh, does it just so happen that tonight is SF Vegan Drinks, and maybe we could use a martini or seven? Yes. Is tomorrow your very last chance (really, no joke) to vote in the Veggie Awards Survey? Yes. Should you go vote now, and then imbibe the aforementioned martinis? Yes.