ON THE ROAD!

Hey folks,

As I mentioned in the last post, JJ and I had a road trip over the weekend to Northern Virginia to my parents' house. We left on Saturday morning a little after 8:00 and headed out for our 10 hour trip. We drove because I had some stuff that I had left in storage at their house when I moved down from NYC. JJ has the stamina of steel as he worked an overnight shift and drove the entire way without having to stop for a nap! He so graciously took over the drive knowing how I don't like highway driving. I return the favor by staying up the entire time to keep him company, a very small price to pay I must say! :-) I packed us lunch so that we wouldn't have to stop since there are few choices along the roads that would accommodate our vegan requirements. I made some veggie and hummus wraps and brought some Garden of Eatin' chips and apples to snack on as well.

STAMINA OF STEEL IN ACTION!

IT'S A WRAP!

I did nod off a few times UNITENTIONALLY on the way up there in the time span of about an hour or so, but I pulled it together and fought my way through it. JJ didn't even call me out on this until we got back from the entire trip jokingly. He's such a good sport. Like I said though, I made it through awake the rest of the time. We ended up taking a more scenic route on the way up there (thanks to Mapquest) that took us through the Shenendoah Valley and even though it was raining it was so beautiful! Check it out!

The weather up in VA wasn't the best. It was chilly and rainy, but as always it was great to see the fam! We spent some time with my sister, brother-in-law and my nephews on Sunday evening over dinner. JJ and I took the easy route this weekend and just got take out the entire time. Saturday night we got Mexican from Baja Fresh and on Sunday we got some Veggie Burgers, rice and broccoli from Uno's. There was no need for a picture of either of these meals. The veggie burger was quite good though! We caught a rented flick with my parents on Sunday night and then on Monday it was on the road again!

On the way back we decided to take our time with the drive since neither of us had to work on Tuesday morning. We ended up stopping at Subway along the way for veggie sandwiches for lunch. We also stopped in Gaffney, South Carolina at an outlet mall and loaded up on some great deals!! We decided on the way back, that we would make a trip up to South Carolina again on the weekend to get out of the city and spend more time at the outlets and see what else is going on since we were only 3 hours away from Atlanta at that point. I'm just glad that summer is approaching and can't wait for our weekend excursions to pick up!

It looks as though the warm weather may finally be here to stay and I LOVE it! We went out and played another round of tennis yesterday in the beautiful sunshine. What really topped off the trip was that JJ surpised me yesterday evening with a muffin baking tin for the baked goods I'm going to start making from Sur la table and the wrappers to put inside for baking. It was SO sweet and SO unexpected!!

Well, that about sums up the weekend. I know there aren't a lot of culinary courses to gawk at this week, but we'll be back to our regularly scheduled program soon enough!

I'll leave you with a one more shot that I took on the way back down to the A-T-L; the sunset peaking through the trees! GORGEOUS!

BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

Hey Folks!

This weekend I celebrated my 32 birthday!! Well, my actual birthday was on Monday the 14th but we sort of celebrated the entire weekend. I'm BIG on birthdays!

On Friday, I came into a very nice birthday surprise from Lauryn! She got me a vegan cookbook!!! This will make numero dos (number two)! I was SO excited about it! In addition, she also got me a couple of other items for pampering as well! Thanks L! Also, at the office there is a day that is designated to celebrate the birthdays of the month and it fell on Friday as well. Lauryn got some cupcakes for everyone and for me (the vegan in the bunch), she got me three vegan cookies and a vegan cranberry muffin! She said that should be enough treats to take me through the weekend. They didn't last the entire weekend at all! I was very thankful. She and another office mate who I'll call S-man, tried the vegan cookies and really liked them! Lauryn even said that she like them better than her dairy filled cupcakes!! Hmmm..do I see a conversion happening? Highly doubtful according to Lauryn. She may dig the vegan sweets but she's not saying no to her meat!

L-Diggin' in- couldn't resist a taste!



S-Man giving them a try!

My Second Vegan Cookbook!!

On Saturday, JJ and I went out to eat for dinner. I hadn't yet found a Thai place down here that really floats my boat until now! Malaya is the bomb! They don't have their website up currently so I can't give you the information, but if you type the name in a search engine, you can find the details and it's worth it! We just went in to scope out the menu and the owner boasted that it was the best food in town so we decided to investigate his claim and so far he is right!

My favorite Thai dish is Pad See Ew and I have not found anyone to make it just how I like it outside of some spots in NY and L.A. and now I've found it! I got the vegetable pad see ew and JJ got the veggie fried rice. For appetizers we got spring rolls. The portions were monstrous and the prices were very reasonable. We both left feeling very satisfied in our tummies and wallets with doggie bags to boot! Not bad, not bad at all! I didn't have my camera with me so I have no photos of the feast, but I'm sure we will be back and I'll be sure to snap a photo or two!

On Saturday evening, we attempted to go out dancing but we came up short. We rode around in the car for about two hours and ended up back at JJ's. All dressed up and nowhere to go! Ah well, you can't win 'em all! We went back to JJ's and I ate my leftover Thai food!

We have to constantly resort to snapping our own photos of the two of us here lately! Next time I will just knock on one of the doors of JJ's neighbors!

On Sunday, we finally made it out to the tennis courts! JJ got me the tennis essentials for Christmas and I've been itching to get out there ever since the weather has started warming up. JJ finally went to get his racket and we took it to the courts Sunday afternoon. We are both beginners (the last time I played was about seven years ago and JJ has never played) so we will be learning and growing together in this sport. We had a good time and got in a good workout!

For my pre-birthday dinner, JJ made another one of my favorites. He made homemade vegan pizza! We started with a grilled portabello mushroom salad (another missed photo-op) which was SO delicious and then came the homemade pizza! I'm telling you, it's better than delivery, Digornio and all the rest.

FEAST YOUR EYES! MMMMMMMMM!!!!

On Monday, JJ got me just what I asked for which is now my third cookbook; Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World! He also gave me something unexpected which was my favorite flower (plant)-the orchid! I was so happy and each time I looked at it I just smiled.

Her name is Charlotte Lamont- don't ask!

And yes, I name my plants, they are living creatures as well!


All in all, it was a very nice birthday weekend and I am very grateful for all the love that surrounds me. I don't ever mind getting older because I believe seeing another year is truly a blessing so I will always celebrate as I hope all of you reading do as well!

This weekend we have a road trip up to Northern Virginia to my parents' house which is about a nine-ten hour drive. I will be filling you in on that adventure and the culinary delights that come out of it next week!

Peace!

C

SAVORY AND SWEET

Hey Folks!

I hope you had a great weekend! As promised, I will start off this post with the pictures from last weekend's culinary treats:

SPINACH, MUSHROOM AND ONION PASTA SAUTEED IN GARLIC AND OIL (Made last Friday- see last week's post for more details)

INDIAN BUFFET (Last Sunday's meal at a vegetarian Indian restaurant we love- name of the place still forthcoming)! Below is lentils over rice, naan bread, couscous with veggies and nuts(this had a different name, but that was what was in it), and vegetable curry.

So, now on to this past weekend. On Saturday, I ventured into making homemade hummus and Falafel for the first time! To go along with the falafel, I made some whole wheat couscous with earth balance, brown sugar and dried cranberries. I decided to make the couscous sweet to balance out the savory taste of the falafel. I made the hummus early in the day so that I could give it time to chill in the refrigerator. The hummus was very easy to make, all I used was a can of garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chickpeas), olive oil, a garlic clove, some fresh lemon juice and sea salt to taste. I also used a little of the liquid in the can of the beans as well. It came out very well, however next time I will use a little less liquid to make the consistency a little thicker.

As for the Falafel, I used a mix. Now, I know you're probably thinking I should have made this homemade as well, but let's take baby steps folks! The mix has all the ingredients and spices already in the box for you AND I'm also still building up my kitchen as far as supplies and spices so, I am using all the help I can get for now! So, now that I have validated myself, I will move on. The mix made making the Falafel balls super easy. I added water to the desired amount of mix and let it stand for ten minutes. While the mix was "standing", I made the couscous with the ingredients mentioned above. After the falafel was ready to go, I coated a pan with a shallow pool of olive oil to fry the falafel. I formed the falafel into small balls and with the help of JJ, fried the falafel. This process took a total of about ten minutes. When the falafel balls were finished frying, they were placed on a paper towel to drain.

When all the mix was gone and the falafel balls were finished, it was time to assemble them. Inside some whole wheat pita bread, JJ and I slathered some hummus all over the inside of the pita, placed the desired amount of falafel inside the pita, topped with romaine lettuce, diced tomatoes and some more hummus on the top and that was it! They came out FANTASTIC! JJ and I tried a falafel from a restaurant a few weeks ago and we were very disappointed, so these more than made up for it!

IN THE MIX

INSTANT GOODNESS

THE MIX IS STANDIN'

FALAFEL ALL FRIED UP AND READY TO GO!

COUSCOUS SHOWING IT'S SWEET SIDE


MAGNIFICENT MEDITTERANEAN MEAL!

A LITTLE UNEVENTFUL

Hey folks!

Unfortunately this posting will be void of pictures. :-( I did take a couple, but I didn't have time to download them to my computer at home this morning and I can't do it at the j-o-b. I know, I know, I'm just as disappointed as you are, but I will add them to the posting next week!

Last weekend was a little on the uneventful side for cuisine. I had big plans for something I was looking forward to making on Saturday, but things came up that needed to be handled and we had a late dinner on Saturday night.

Last Friday was the first one since November (give or take a few that I took off) that I had off from the restaurant (if you're familiar with my other blog you know that I am a hostess part-time in the evenings). So, I was looking forward to going home and making dinner. I had orginally planned to make a taco salad with homemade guacomole but my taste buds changed mid-afternoon and I decided to make use of the pasta noodles that have been sitting in my cupboard for far too long.

I made pasta with mushrooms (can't get enough), spinach and grilled onions, tossed in olive oil, garlic and a touch of earth balance and sea salt and pepper to taste. It was very delish. I cheated and used garlic powder instead of using a garlic clove (hate chopping garlic) however, next time I will bite the bullet and use the real thing instead. I also think I may have added a bit too much olive oil, earth balance and garlic powder. So, next time, I will just adjust the recipe just a bit and it will be just right. It was still very enjoyable.

As I said on Saturday, JJ got out to my crib a little later than expected so instead of me venturing into making what we had discussed previously, we opted to just have the leftover pasta I made on Friday. However, I decided to add Marinara sauce since the flavors I mentioned above were a little strong in order to balance the pasta out a bit. It seemed to work well enough.

I had been having a craving for some Indian food all week, so we ventured to an Indian Restaurant near my house on Sunday. I will provide the restaurant information next week as well. JJ and I have now been there numerous times and I don't know the name of the place!! Well the food and service are great and they have a wonderful buffet that is very delicious and economical. I did take a picture of JJ's plate, so check that out next week.

So, as I said, it was a little unadventurous last weekend but next week will make up for it!!

I just can't bring myself to leave without some visual stimulation, so here it is..

Fruit: Nature's candy! Indulge often and shamelessly. Your body will thank you!

Until next time!!

C