Stupendous Celebration Brunch

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: An absolutely stellar brunch! It's difficult to decide where to begin when describing the awesomeness that is the plate you see before you, since everything was outrageously delicious. Up at the top there, we had an out-of-this-world tofu scramble, with cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, spinach, and a special blend of spices. Moving clockwise, we gobbled up garlic-roasted white and purple potatoes, which were crisp on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside. Even today's salad boasted something special, with slices of strawberries drizzled in a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Finally, oven-fresh blueberry scones finished off our heaving plates. Oh, and was there sparkling white wine and orange juice for mimosas and toasting? Yes, yes there was.

The Goods: So, as we're sure you all know already because you follow us on Twitter, VegNews is officially the recipient of not only Best Lifestyle Magazine in the 2009 Maggie Awards, but also of Best Website!! Yes, we're utterly freaking thrilled. To help us celebrate, Aimee and Allison of Vertebrae, the design firm that did our major website redesign in October last year, joined us for today's special lunch. And, just because she happened to be in town on this celebratory day, Yvonne Smith, aka The Traveling Vegetarian, also shared in the fun. And by fun we mean food and booze. And yes, we could totally deal with every Monday going exactly like this. Want to help us keep the celebration going? Then don't miss SF Vegan Drinks this Thursday!

Soup du Joer

The Chef: Joseph

The Menu: A lovely, hearty soup, perfectly baked sweet potato fries, and a lightly lavender-flavored scone. Joseph was inspired to come into the office and treat us to a yummy soup of blended potatoes, brown rice, fresh tomatoes, spinach, and a blend of curry and other spices. The sweet potato fries were smothered in garlic, which made them extra delicious. Oh, did we mention that extra garlic makes everything extra delicious? Yeah, it does. The scone was actually brought in this morning by Ms. Elizabeth, but who's to say that scones can't be enjoyed just as much at lunch as they are at breakfast?

The Goods: Are you wondering about the other purpose of putting more garlic than any office should consume during a single day into all of our meals recently? It's to keep away the vampires, naturally. With the recent surge in vamp-mania—thanks to the number one box office movie, and a popular HBO show—one can never be too careful.

Breakfast Bonanza

The Chef: Abby

The Menu: An utterly stellar breakfast. First of all, let's just be clear that Abby actually made breakfast for all of us today as well. That's right, that big, lovely chocolate-chip scone you see at the bottom right of the plate was one of the batch that she brought in and warmed up. Yes, we were met with warm scones this morning. If there's anything better than that, we don't even want to know about it. Oh, well, maybe with the possible exception of lunch, which was also incredible. Savory sides of red- and yellow-bell-pepper-infused tofu scramble and spinach-pilaf salad were the perfect balance to the sweet scones, and for those of us who were feeling French today, a little baguette and jam finished off the plate.

The Goods: We just pretty much can't say enough how much we like eating breakfast at lunch, especially when the food is this good. For a little visualization to illustrate the point, imagine a happily fed person with their arms completely outstretched to the side. Yes, we like it this much.

Breakout Brunch

The Chef: Abby

The Menu: Brunch! Yay! Today's excellent meal consisted of the biggest, fluffiest pancakes we've ever seen, a fresh fruit salad of nectarines, apples, strawberries, and plums, scrumptious carob-chip scones, oh, and up at the top there is a little something we like to call tofu scramble with zucchini and red bell peppers. Yes, she really made all these dishes. Yes, they really were all outstanding.

The Goods: Today officially marked Ms. Abby's entrance to the VNHQ kitchen, and her debut effort blew us away. Seriously, this was one auspicious beginning. Maybe you already know that we have a little thing for brunch, as we may have mentioned it one or two times in the past. Basically, if we could eat pancakes and sit in the sun all day while somehow miraculously promoting veganism and saving animals, we would be a very happy bunch. Speaking of the pancakes—did we mention the fluffiness?!—Abby took a little help with those from Cherrybrook Kitchen's classic pancake mix. Oh, so not only can she cook up a storm, but she's totally savvy on time-saving moves in the kitchen. That's our kind of editorial assistant!