Something is going to happen. Something wonderful. Something delicious. Something sure to be amazing.

Something that can only be…A WHEELER’S TASTING IN DC. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you obviously haven’t been keeping up on your vegan blogs for the past few months. Wheeler’s Black Label Vegan Ice Cream is pretty much the talk of the town. It’s vegan ice cream that (word on the street has it) blows every other vegan ice cream on the market away. And it’s about time, isn’t it? I prefer Tofutti to the other brands available, but it’s not sensational. Still, I’m withholding judgment until I taste this upstart myself.

And it’s a big deal for DC that we’ll be able to. Toward the end of January, Wheeler’s had a big tasting weekend that included Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. Snubbed for Philly? I was not pleased. I mean, we are the capital of the United States. But our day has come, so let me tell all you Washingtonians (and suburbonians) exactly what day it is. Here’s the information—hope I’ll see you there!

WHAT, PRECISELY: “A fun-filled COK (Compassion Over Killing) benefit bash! We’ll be serving free samples of premium vegan ice cream, courtesy of Wheeler’s Black Label Vegan Ice Cream, plus ten percent of sales from Asylum’s vegan menu will be donated to COK.”
WHEN: This Saturday, March 22, 2 - 4 p.m.
WHERE: Asylum Lounge at 2471 18th St., N.W., Washington, D.C.
METRO: Adams Morgan Metro station on the red line
RSVP: info@cok.net or 301-891-2458

Yes, these would be Beverage-Themed Cupcakes #4. And there are still more I want to make (Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes, Margarita Cupcakes). Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World has not yet failed me. I made these for last weekend’s dinner party and they went fast. Even the leftover Cappuccino Creme filling went fast. For the record: my agar-agar flakes mysteriously disappeared, but the filling worked just fine without them (I increased the arrowroot powder to make sure it got firm enough). Here’s the cupcake-filling saga; it begins with the unadorned cupcakes above.

First you stick your (clean) finger in the cupcakes, hollowing out a little reservoir by pushing around the sides of the hole. In my first attempts, the holes weren’t big enough—that means less Cappuccino Creme. No. You want lots of Cappuccino Creme. Make a big hole.

Then you use a pastry bag (or, in my case, a Ziploc-knockoff resealable bag, the poor man’s pastry bag) and fill those cupcakes. This part is a lot of fun. You’d be surprised how much creme can fit in those nice holes you’ve made.

Et voila! Your filled cupcakes, dinner party-ready. If you like you can spread more of the creme on top—I had plenty left over. Or you can let your cupcake eaters spread their own. Either way, you are sure to win friends and influence people with these cute caffeinated cupcakes.

Oh yeah. An all-vegan dinner party. Whose chefs, with the exception of me, are not vegan. Aren’t my friends great?

What was most impressive about this dinner party was not its veganness, however—that accomplishment may have impressed my lacto-ovo and omni friends, but most of you know that’s no problem. The feat lay in cooking all our dishes in a tiny, dirty dorm kitchen with a stove that only has the strength to heat two burners at a time, a considerable shortage of pots and utensils, an oversensitive fire alarm, and a handful of neighbors trying to make their own dinners. Sure, I broke my blender. Sure, we had to waft smoke out the windows with plastic bags. But the food was excellent. And for managing as successfully as we did despite the circumstances, I am particularly proud of us.

On to the fare. What you see above is a vegetable stir fry with fried tofu and a most delectable peanut sauce (not pictured). I’m not responsible for any of that, although I did graciously offer my taste-testing services to its cooks.

At first I was just going to make dessert (more on that later), but we thought we might not have enough food (ha!), so I decided to make a double recipe of my easy-delicious staple, Mac and Cheese from FatFree Vegan Kitchen:

Good as always. Below you see a full plate, which has both of the above dishes plus “Mullatkes”: potato-sweet potato latkes, loosely based on the Potato Latke recipe in Veganomicon. There were about ten gazillion of these, the majority of which we ate while we cooked. I think they might have been the best latkes I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a lotta latkes in my day. (Sorry, I just can’t resist the opportunity to make latke puns.) And we even had vegan sour cream on the side! It was practically Channukah.

Not pictured are the tasty but unphotogenic Tom Yum Soup, Amy Winehouse, eighty-three dirty dishes, and Cappuccino Cupcakes. The cupcakes are my babies and thus get their own post. So stay tuned…and throw a dinner party this weekend.