On the radio, in Chicago, and on a playing card!

Hello!
Last week I was sick as a D-O-G & in Chicago for the Chicago Zine Fest, where I debuted a new, raspy rendition of Sk8er Boi at Karaoke.
Here are some photos from my trip:

I had the weirdest breakfast at a placed called Flying Saucer in Chicago. It was called a sweet potato kale & tofu hash, which technically I guess it was, but let me tell you the weird part- the ingredients were each going it solo, not blending with each-other. It was tiny pieces of half-done sweet potato, half-cooked unspiced kale, and strangest of all, strips of plain Age tofu. Age tofu is that spongey tofu you get from the asian market or in a Vietnamese restaurant. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, all of those things, but each on its own and each bland in its own way. Very weird breakfast.
The best part of my breakfast? Spiced apples! It felt very old fashioned to get a side of warm, soft, cinnamon-y apples alongside my savories.
I tell you what, I did not speak up or send this breakfast back from whence it came. I was so Cold-begotten by this point in the trip that I felt bad enough sitting in public as a walking Contagion. I didn't want to then croak out some polite but awkward directives to the kitchen, so I used some ketchup and let it lay. I even took it home, fully intending on heating everything up with a few spices or a dash of Braggs.

I'd also like to note that the service was really great.
The waiter was attentive and completely competent and efficient. My coffee cup never wanted for more, as he zipped through and topped it off every few minutes. I love people who are good at their jobs. Any job. Love it. Also, the orange juice was nice. Oh- and we got a vegan brownie that was delightful.

As I was sick this week, I ordered mostly the weirdest things whilst in Chicago. Primarily, plain vegetable soup from every Asian restaurant we visited. Thai, Chinese, Sushi Fusion, all of them.

Here is my table, which was kindly by a window. You may notice I am not in the photo. This is because I am SO independent that I couldn't even ask anyone to take my photo, I had to do it myself. I am also so independent that I didn't think to ask anyone to come and staff my booth so I could walk around the Zine Fest. In fact, I stayed anchored to my table the entire day, straying only to get coffee, do a workshop, and visit a food cart. Speaking of...

Something special about the Chicago Zine Fest (besides everything happening inside the building) was a food cart they coordinated with to pull up out front & sell vegan lunch to everybody. It was not any food cart, it was a SOUL VEG food truck!

Soul Vegetarian is outrageous. OUTRAGEOUS! It is delicious and healthy and I was happy to spend my meager fortune on some macaroni & cheese & wings. They are famous for creating fake chicken wings atop a sugar cane "bone". When you're done eating your wing, you can chew on the bone and it is delicious. Very dog-like, this bone chewing. Okay.
This is the part that you don't care about, but I'm on a roll- I was excited to find that my table neighbor from the Kentucky anarchist table strongly disliked the coconut water she'd purchased from Soul Veg, and gave it to me! Small victories. I had two giant coconut waters, which was a highlight to my trip and yes I'm writing this in lieu of telling you about great zines, performances and human beings or anything related to comics.
Two Coconut waters! Wow! Thanks, table neighbor!

Other things that happened: I ran into Dave Roche, whom I toured with in 2005 when the first Invincible Summer book came out. He has a fantastic travel zine about visiting Australia & Malaysia.

I reunited with my dear friend Cristy Road,

and I got my photo taken in front of "Steak & Egger" with Marissa Falco, who I heard received high honors at the Zinester Olympics the night before.

SPEAKING OF THE ZINESTER OLYMPICS....
I accepted the Long Armed Stapler Award in the place of Dylan Williams and Sparkplug Comics. I was honored to do so.

Dylan was a champion of independent comics, and while his passing has left a huge hole in our hearts, his publishing company Sparkplug is kept alive in the capable hands of Emily Nilsson, Virginia Paine, and Tom Neely.
Which is nice.

Dylan taught with me at the Independent Publishing Resource Center, where I have worked, volunteered & taught for the past twelve years. The IPRC is moving, and Blue from Stumptown Underground held a nice going away party on the last night we still had the space. I'm going to miss climbing the stairs of 917 SW Oak, the smell of Thai food that permeates the space, and the ritual of touching the door before the door handle so I don't get shocked from the carpeted halls of the second floor. Hmm.

Here's a photo from our last night in the space, including the elusive CLUTCH, aka Greg , whom I am standing back to back with in an Amazing Race Team Photo style.

The IPRC has been searching for a larger space for years (like seven?) and found a very grand & massive one in inner Southeast. Come check it out when they reopen.

I was on OPB the other week. Right before I got sick.
I was on Think Out Loud with Sarah Mirk and a lovely lady from the Oregon Historical Society, talking about historical comics.
Here is the link to listen to our talk:Think Out Loud .

I got a free mug out of the deal.



Oh Jeez- here are two more things.

The Bad Roommate Zine is out now. You can get it through my Etsy page, and if you live in Portland and put in the code PORTLANDPRICE at checkout, you can get free shipping because you are going to pick it up somewhere in Portland of my choosing.
This first batch has some typos, for which I apologize.

AND!!!! I have been turned into a playing card by comic genius Liz Prince!
She got to choose a musician for a deck of Feminist Playing Cards that is being created, and she chose me, which was such a nice thing for her to do.

You may not remember this far back, dear reader, but I have been in a couple of bands. I have not played music lately, as I have been gills deep in my book, but I am HONORED to have been chosen for this deck.
If you'd like to support the project and see who else is in there, check out the kickstarter page.

Okay, I think that's it for real.
I will see you soon at CAKE in Chicago, and at Stumptown Comics Festin the meantime.

Take Care!

n.g.

Homemade Dog Food Comic

From Muttley Crue.

True story.

Breaking News: Formerly landlocked Kansan leaves the continent, blogs about it

Hello from Portland,
city of giant tomato plants, cabbage-eating-aphids, and two geriatric dogs, one of whom sits in the kitchen while I am away and the other, the basement.

Before I left on my trip abroad, I posted a photo of Beija on Facebook and wrote "Au Revoir Beija
". The lesson I learned in this is: If your dogs is 14 years old and you make any mention of the word "goodbye" (or get a tattoo of her name for that matter), everyone will assume your dog is dead and start freaking out.
I had to tell everyone Beija was not dead, and that I was just bidding audieu online. Okay.

So after years of being landlocked and only crossing the border to see Canada and Mexico, I traveled to Europe (in particular Italy and England) to visit Jeb (who was on tour in Italy with YACHT) and Beth (who is staying in London).

I wanted to show you some comics & food highlights from my trip.

1. Sketchbook pages about the 24 hour trip there (click to enlarge):

I landed in Milan and at my first show of the tour found this:

2. Italian Food Highlights and lowlights

COFFEE: even from a machine in the hotel lobby you have delicious espresso with crema. It is what you get anytime you ask for coffee. I was in hog heaven.

ROADSIDE FOOD: When you stop at a "My Chef" or "Autogrill" in Italy, you will be treated to DELICIOUS olive bread sticks, pasta, some vegetables, possibly focaccia, and always olive oil with balsalmic vinegar in the dining area. This was a food highlight for me after years of touring in the U.S. where ketchup packets and the smell of Subway are the hallmarks of our road food.

PEOPLE FEED YOU. When you are touring Italy, it is customary for your hosts to both house and feed you.
Highlights of this: many courses of delicious food and wine, always finished with espresso.

Lowlight:a delicious but dubious pesto which, after a little post-dinner detective work, appeared to include "fromaggio".

LOWLIGHT: Getting charged $11.00 for two espressos when Jeb & I were set free in Milan with our unwieldy Italian. Damn you, service charge for sitting!

HIGHLIGHT: Eating redemptive gelato (senza latte) for $2.50 and taking a photo with my filthy Food Fight tote bag in front of the Prada store.

HIGHLIGHT: Swimming in the Adriatic Sea

NOW ON TO LONDON

ENGLISH BREAKFAST: Often including vegan sausages. Shown here is breakfast from a hotel with butter-soaked mushrooms but otherwise vegan fare (I hate the word fare).

HIGHLIGHT: BANGERS AND MASH AT THE S&M CAFE.
Kind of like long , sausage-shaped veggie burgers. Delicious ones.

MIXED BAG: SAF RESTAURANT
I went to Saf in London for a late dinner with six people.
If you ever go there, I recommend coming early (our top three choices from the menu were sold out). I enjoyed their drinks (including quinoa vodka) , appetizers (Ex:Caviar Blinis- Beetroot and fresh herb caviars served on sourcream, sweet potato blinis with chives and shallots), and my dessert (chocolate orange torte). Here are some entree details:

BEAUTIFUL, BUT WEIRD, TACOS
This taco trio arrived soggy, with each shell heaped full of a salsa or bland guacamole only. The side salad was delicious.

BLACKENED TOFU
This was the stand out dish from our table. The plating was lovely, and the tofu had all the flavor that I was missing from my sad risotto. Speaking of the risotto....

It's main selling point (from the waiter) was that it was "filling". That feature was missing from the very dainty tofu dish, but when you are fine-ish dining, do you really need it to be a giant hearty vat?

Anyway, the risotto was missing something. Most definitely salt. When we received some salt it was locked inside a hellish and non-functional grinder, maddening each risotto-haver at the table as we ground and ground the salt to no avail.

The longer the risotto sat around, the more oatmealish it became. It was a large, heavy portion that, though complex on it's own, could have benefited from some flavor diversity and something to lighten it up.
I think this risotto deserves to be a strong side, and not a weak main course.

My last meal abroad was this strict vegetarian snack provided by Delta, with it's own sterile grape holder and totally not vegan gelato (first ingredient: skimmed milk). In case you're wondering, there is a very decent mini baguette with vegetables and vegan pesto shrouded in that foil.


I leave you with this buck toothed fellow from the Natural History Museum in London.

Over and out,
n.g.

p.s. Here is a video of Italian highlights.

p.p.s. Here is an interview I did with Radar Productions about my upcoming writer's retreat in Mexico.

Food My Dog Family Eats

Hello! Stay tuned as I post new bits & pieces I found in my comic artist/hoarder spring cleaning today!

*Note: Beija does not eat as many kale stalks as she used to, as Jeb pointed out a certain gastrointestinal issue they were causing. Ahem. BUT! she still comes running for broccoli stalks.

In Case You're a Vegan Addicted* To Nutella Like I Am...

THIS WILL DO.

*I'm a dry Nutella-holic

A Food Tour of Maui

Shown: Pina Colada at the South Shore Tiki Lounge in honor of my Birthday. We'll visit them again later.

Mele Kalikimaka and Hello!

I recently turned THIRTY (30) and was taken to Hawaii as a giant gift from friends, family & my sweetheart, "Jeb".

I have many beach photos, but wanted to share with you my food diary !
We were able to eat like kings ( or like Oprah, if you will ) whilst there.

Try not to turn off your computer in a jealous rage, but I also went to Hawaii in June on vacation.

I was totally blindsided by the food costs my first trip, and so offer you this advice from my second:

1. BUY WHAT GROWS IN HAWAII

Nevermind if you eat kale every day in the Northwest. Once you're on the Island and you see $5 imported bunches of kale, you'll understand the need to look local.
Also, consider how much gas it takes to jet all your produce over there from the mainland. Forget it! There are so many things growing on the Island on groovy sustainable farms, it's worth it.

2. BRING SOME STAPLES WITH YOU

Have I been accused of food hoarding by tour mates in the past? Perhaps.
BUT, the money you save on buying something stupid, imported & and overpriced like granola in Maui can be spent on awesome fresh local foods like avocados or PINEAPPLES! Pack some brown rice, peanut butter & granola in your luggage and get ready to party!

3. BUY SAUCES TO CART AROUND WITH YOU

I got a small bottle of Braggs, some garlic chili sauce, and oil at the beginning of our trip and did not regret it for a second as we traveled from place to place whipping up salad dressings and peanut sauce wherever we went.

If you want to get miserly (like myself), get some Ziploc bags at the end of your trip and bring the sauces home with you in your checked luggage (insert Michelle Tea calling me crazy here). Leave the oil in Hawaii, though.

4. WHERE TO SHOP

Mana Foods in Paia : The best natural food store on the Island, in my opinion. Giant selection, amazing hot bar and live food deli, fresh squeezed juices and groovy baked goods.

Longs Drugs: Not food, per se, but a great place to get cheap macadamia nuts for your family before you split town. Seriously half the price of Safeway's nuts. Beware the slippery slope of purchasing too much from their giant selection of Made-In-China souveniers. There's a whole Island full of souveniers that directly benefit the island, local shops, or artisans, so please don't waste all of your money here on plastic leis.

Whole Foods in Kahalui: If you're so hungry after getting off the plane and you can't make it until you get to Mana Foods, totally stop here and keep your eyes alert for LOCAL produce. Hana Farms lettuce, avocados, local pineapple and apple bananas. I like getting staples at Whole Foods, because their store brand beans and milks are organic and inexpensive.

People's Front Yards - Hana
Don't blow your avocado wad in the city, because once you get out into the country you will find many front yards with wood boxes of avocados for 50 cents, limes for 25 cents, and tiny coffee cans in which to put your money. You will also find roadside leis handmade by families for a billion dollars less than the stupid ones at Safeway.

Safeway - I did get sauces and some weird staples here.

Controversial: I was NOT a huge fan of Down To Earth, the other natural grocery store here. They have a decent hot bar, but in general if you're looking for groceries, get out your scalpel and bathtub of ice, because you're going to have to trade some vital organs in order to afford their groceries.


On to the food!

As luck may have it, we ate mostly raw and gluten free whilst on this vacation. This was sort of unintentional, as we are neither raw nor gluten free at home. It just happened that the most delicious options were usually one or the other.

First off- Joy's Place Live Nut Burger.
$10.50 , a blend of nuts and other mysterious live ingredients wrapped in a leaf.
This was moist, delicious and deceptively filling.
I got something called the Indo Crunch Wrap here, also, which was pan fried tempeh with sprouts and raw veggies smothered in peanut sauce and wrapped in a rice paper skin. This was delicious, filling, and totally portable.


We went to Joy's Place not once, not twice, but THREE times, and maybe I spent my future children's college tuition on the food, but it was worth it as I had several once-in-a-lifetime meals, in addition to their Chaifee (pronounce Chai-Fay, even though the root words are chai and coffee... go figure), which is an iced drink with cold pressed coffee and chai.

P.S. If you enjoy people watching and want to see The Most uptight, anal retentive and possibly eating disordered raw, soy free, gluten free, etc etc people, sit at the bar at Joy's Place and just cast an ear as well tanned ladies come in and harangle the friendly counter staff for up to twenty minutes at a sitting inquiring about the garlic/soy/live content of any given food item before either giving up entirely and going outside to eat paper towels, OR ordering sauce free pieces of chicken wrapped in leaves for twenty dollars. Yum!

P.P.S. The staff here are knowledgeable, friendly, kind and endlessly patient.

P.P.S.S. For these reasons, I could never work there.





Next Up: Day to day eating!
We got a pomegranite, Jeb brought some granola from Portland (what can I say, we're thrifty), and we jammed on granola & fresh fruit (with soy milk) every single morning before attacking the ocean with snorkels in hand.




BEST FOODS TO MAKE WHILST VACATIONING IN HAWAII:

1. SALAD ROLLS -
These are great to eat on the beach, in the car, in the hotel room. Many of the ingredients are interchangeable for other recipes. Toss the lettuce around, use peanut sauce as a dressing for future salads, whatever. You'll also feel somehow superior when you see people pay $8 for their own single salad rolls as you freely chomp on a dozen.

2. TACOS / BURRITOS
Portable ingredients that need only some local fresh avocados , salsa & limes to blow your mind. Avocados & limes can be found for 50 cents / 4 for a dollar (respectively) in front of people's homes in Hana. The avocados here are giant, often green with thin skins, and amazingly buttery.

3. SALAD
Duh.
We brought brown rice over in our suit case both times, like the hoarders we are, and had awesome salads with beans or nuts, brown rice, pomegranite seeds, and dressing made from fresh limes, pineapple juice, local garlic and some Braggs. Kazam. Again, Highly Portable,and a great way to jam as many local produce items into one bowl at the same time as possible.



With my excellent luck at talking trash, I'm sure he'll find this, but I have to tell you about our night at the hostel in Hana.

We were totally prepared and making this giant feast of salad & tacos, when a weary bike traveler who'd just bicycled from Wailuku to Hana (a full day trip, like 20 miles of winding roads and hills with traffic over a cliff!) rolled in with the weirdest groceries ever, including frozen vegetables and dried mung beans procured at Hana's mini- mart. Never having mung beans, we oohed and ahhed, wondering how one would prepare them. He was starving the ride (or so I imagine), and cooked them only a little while before adding them to his dinner of warmed frozen vegetables, which he bravely ate in their entirety.

We offered him some guacamole, a good deed which didn't go unpunished as he forced on us tasted of the mysterious mung beans.
"Have a bite"
I took a bite.
"Take a bigger bite than that!"
he commanded, and then to Jeb-
"TAKE A MOUTHFUL".

Our previously mellow Canadian friend became aggressive as he encouraged us to join in his culinary misery. The mung beans were terrible, hard and undercooked, and we got out of there as soon as possible, retreating to the living room to watch National Lampoon's Summer Vacation after our long day of hiking, swimming and cooking.



Now, Friends, you get to enjoy photos of the Coffee Stand I was crowing about in issue 17 of Invincible Summer!


Here are some quotes from theThe Laulima Farm Fruit Stand Yelp Page :Trippiest GMO-FREE ZONE on the Planet
and
Just dig the vibe and soak up the mana. This is the real fantasy island with a critical spooky core.

Granted, this is one reviewer's take, but these two sentences are pretty accurate.

The Laulima Farm is an organic farm off the Hana Highway (but past Hana), and they operate a little fruit and coffee stand with a deep hippie vibe. If you want to work here, you just show up and see if they need anybody, then see if you fit in. That's it.

This is the home of the amazing and delicious Chiller, the drink made of coffee, cane juice, and coconut milk all grown within a mile of the stand and blended together with a bicycle powered blender! Yum!

I had the second most delicious beverage of my life here (the first being The Chiller), which was a Ginger Blast made of ginger, cane juice, and coconut milk.
It was a real WTF moment. Something that sounds so weird but was so delicious and warmed my actual, physical (grinch sized) heart.





We met many trippy people at this fruit stand as I encouraged Jeb to visit it three times (that's THRICE to you) on our journey.

We met hippie guys and gals, pasty tourists like ourselves, and laid back Maui-dwelling millionaires who were just chilling out and having some freshly cut salads at their bar.


Another Quote from Yelp:
This place is very calm, peaceful, beautiful and defines the word "Zen". You can walk along the paths in the garden to see where your food is coming from.


If you are the egg-eating sort, you will be happy to know that though many of their baked goods are vegan, the ones that do include eggs are "from Happy Chickens". This may be one of the only places in the world where I'd actually believe it.




Lastly, back in Kihei the tourist area, we began re-acclimating ourselves to the foods we know best- those processed and fried with the evil friends wheat and soy.



This brings us to the previously mentioned Tiki Bar,
which boasts a powerful vegan menu!
(Well, powerful considering you are at a tourist bar in the middle of a strip mall).
Check out this little piece of their manifesto (not included: info about their free range cows and freshly caught Maui fish) :
Our oil “Whole Harvest Smart Fry” is 100% cold expeller pressed soybean oil used only for cooking our French fries. It contains no harsh chemicals, no solvents, no trans fatty acids, no hydrogenation and no cholesterol. Our veggie dogs and burgers are made from soybean and wheat protein. They are low carb, low calorie and low fat. Our vegan chili is made with 3 types of beans, 3 types of chili, 3 types of onions, corn, tomatoes, herbs and generous portions of our veggie burger patty.


Shown here: Veggie Dog , fully loaded from the self service garnish bar, and french fries with the addition of veggie chili (which harkens back to the days of Ottos Malt Shop in Kansas City, where I lived off of free Veggie Chili Fries as a teen vegan ages 16-19).



And with that as our final meal, Shaka Santa and I bid you farewell, and Mele Kalikimaka. Take Care!

xoxo
n.g.