Last weekend I ran into Valerie of
City Life Eats, Katie of
Quick Cook Rice and Gena of
Choosing Raw in the parking lot of a vegan restaurant in the DC area. Seeing them together inspired me to revive my blog! I'm going to spend some time getting you up to speed and then I promise to be much better about posting here.
The most exciting thing I did while I was gone? Jesse and I took a trip out to San Francisco and Sonoma County in California for a few days in late May. Here are some of the highlights:
"Tree Hugging Dirt Worshipper". Welcome to California. We first spent time in Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Sonoma, visiting friends of ours from college and their adorable little boy, taking winery tours and enjoying the beautiful scenery.
A leisurely walk around Muir Woods. Those redwoods are breathtaking!
A tour and tasting at Benziger winery. This sauvignon blanc was amazing.
Sonoma is so pretty!
The Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park. So serene.
Like a postcard.
The very overwhelming Chinatown.
We rode one and decided once was enough. Still cool, though!
A definite dinner to remember at Millennium. So gluttonous and so worth it. Sadly, the pictures taken inside came out far too dark to see the food. I'm still thinking about the cornmeal-crusted oyster mushrooms!
Gorgeous. I love it here.
A trip to the Moma that ended with their Mondrian cake. Art you can eat!
The Castro
Murals everywhere! This is the outside of the Women's Building.
Purple house? Yes, please.
Ended our trip with quite possibly the best vegan meal I've ever had at Gracias Madre in the Mission.
Sweet potato quesadilla
Zucchini-filled enchilada "mojado style"
Summer Lovin' Curried Corn and Veggie Chowder from Appetite for Reduction. Veggie-filled, easy to make and delicious. This will definitely make a repeat appearance in our summer menu rotation. I can't recommend this cookbook highly enough and I tell everyone I know to go get it NOW, NOW, NOW! Isa, feel free to hire me as your publicist. You can pay me in scrumptious vegan eats.
Lemon Bars from The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Perfectly tart. These are the best lemon bars I've ever had, vegan or not. This is a great book for learning to veganize all of the classics. Please forgive the presentation. The recipe says to sift powdered sugar over the bars just before serving. I don't own a sifter and the organic powdered sugar I had was a little clumpy. I tried sprinkling it onto the bars and well, you can see the results. I promise they taste way better than they look!
