Monday, November 15, 2010

Spotlight: Ethos Vegan Kitchen

Ethos Vegan Kitchen: Creating Options for the Vegan community
By now, many Orlando foodies have been to Ethos Vegan Kitchen once or twice, or like many, it may be your favorite “go-to” restaurant. Whether you’ve been there a lot or not at all, Ethos Vegan Kitchen has been dishing up lunch, dinner and Sunday Brunch since 2007.
What does Ethos mean? According to its web site, by definition, it means, "the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution."
Ethos Vegan Kitchen is located on N. Orange Avenue near Lake Ivanhoe; a hip, evolving area in downtown Orlando. Owners Laina and Kelly Shockley have created an inviting, fresh, compassionate environment and approach to dining in the constantly evolving food service world of Orlando. Here are a few things that you might not know…

Did you know…that 90% of all the products are prepared daily at Ethos?
Did you know…Ethos is 100% Vegan?
Did you know…that up to 50% of their products are organic?
Did you know…they use Seitan (say-tahn)?
Did you know…they are working on a kids menu? (think Mac & Cheese, PB & J)
Did you know…they offer free WiFi ?(inside only)
Did you know…Laina does all the design and development on the web site?
Did you know…Kelly’s favorite at Ethos is the Vegan Pepperoni Pizza?

To find out more about its menu, Laina, Kelly and the incredibly talented staff at Ethos Vegan Kitchen, check it out yourself and let us know something about Ethos that you know. Open seven days.

Ethos Vegan Kitchen; 1235 N. Orange Avenue #101 Orlando 32804; 407.228.3898; http://www.ethosvegankitchen.com/

Post by Maureen Cavanaugh Berry
Photo courtesy of Ethos Vegan Kitchen

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Lettuce; bolting, flowering and a few things I learned this week.



I harvested my lettuce today. Well, some of it. I couldn't bring myself to pull all those beautiful red and green leaf lettuces out of the rich, dark soil. So I left a few for Saturday.

If you're anything like me (which is a loaded statement, I know) then you're probably new to gardening, planting, watering, maintaining and nurturing your new fall crops. I thought I would have lettuce all winter long, or at least through the end of the year. Not so. I've been watching my lettuce grow with fascination, awe and surprise. My lettuce grew as if I gave it a triple dose of hair tonic.

Last week, I learned that my lettuce were growing so fast they were bolting! What the heck does that mean, anyway? If you're growing green leaf lettuce, it means they will be shooting towards the sun and baby flowers will appear in the top center of the plant. Go ahead and pull the whole plant out of the ground. Harvest the leaves and replant something else (broccoli, cabbage, etc).

If the lettuce is left in the ground too long, the leaves get bitter. Well who knew? So, harvest your lettuce and share your wealth. They're be salad on my table for a few more days.

Enjoy.
MCB