Vegan for a day!

No not me, I've now been vegan for many days.  Almost 6 months worth of days at this point. But I'm here to talk about my brother and sister.  My family is somewhat spread out.  There aren't many of us, and we also don't live that close to each other.  Fortunately (depending on your perspective), my work has taken me to Milwaukee for the last 6 weeks, and for the next few as well.  My brother and sister live in Madison (which I will be blogging about next week, as I'm sure I can find a vegan place there).  Last night, they decided to make the trek to awesome @Bay_View.  We went to one of my favorite places, @PalominoBar.  Suffice it to say, I dont get to see them very often, so it was quite a treat to hang with my brother and sister. Now before I get all blubbery, this blog is not about that, so wait for the Xmas card to hear me gush.

First, big props to my sis, who didn't forget what my all time favorite football club is.  And if you think you know me, then you know damn well that I am a die hard fanatic of the one an only, Tottenham Hotspur.  She brought me a hat, knowing full well, that Cincinnati was short of Hotspur merchandise.  Come on Cincy! (@numberonehotspurobsessedinthenati)

I thought the evening could not have started out better, as my sister proceeded to "serve" my brother legal papers.  I wont go into any more details than that, again, this blog is about me, and I wont have them steal my thunder.  (I only mention that because of I do a little amateur lawyering on the side. Its kind of a side hobby)  But never-the-less, when you see your brother and sister for the first time in a year, your brother gets served (by your sister), before the first pint is drained, you know its going to be a good night. (Chill the Jaeger)

Lets get to dinner.  First off, this place is good old fashioned southern fried goodness.  Its not, (nor are any of these place in Milwaukee) entirely vegan, but they have a variety of nice options.  One of my favorites are the Toffalo (got the spelling right this time) wings, which are a combination of either seitan, or soy, battered, deep fried, and covered in hot sauce.  They make a yummy vegan ranch, and this dish is big enough to feed a rather large family of eastern european immigrants.  Or any immigrants for that matter.  I don't think eastern europeans are any more or less partial to vegan buffalo wing like food stuffs.  My brother and sister were good sports.  Dining with non-vegans (I was one not that long ago, but I dont judge) is the norm for me.  When I go out to work when on the road, I'm used to getting a salad and a potato, and my coworker asks for a large platter of puppies and kittens, or something similar.... Lets just say I'm a good ex-carnivore.

So I figured these two would dine as they probably normally do, but they decided to go all in, and go vegan for the evening.  My brother went as far as to inquire about how the fries were cooked.  Kind of defeats the purpose if you have deep fried tofu, only to find out it was cooked in animal fat (puppies and kittens no doubt)... but of course, the Palomino maintains a vegan fryer (they are awesome)... So to make a long story short, we ate like vegan kings and queens.  This place will not let you leave hungry (or sober for that matter.... just kidding dad, we drank sweet tea).  We were stuffed, and all kidding aside, it was awesome to see them.  It was pretty cool that they went vegan for the night, (not that it was remotely healthy mind you),... but we can rest assured that no animals were killed in the making of our evening.  Makes it all the better!