Indy

I learned that "Indy" is the city of Indianapolis, not the whole state of Indiana!
Jason showed me the city--here's a bad pic of us on New Jersey Street, and a poorly doctored version--you decide which is better! We took a walk at night and saw one of the many war memorials and the canal. We also went to the nature park in Greencastle, IN. (The pic that looks like just rocks on the ground is a little toad). We did some home cooking too--a potato-onion-vegan sausage hash (La Dolce Vegan) with chips and guac. My first trip to Indiana gets an A!

Milwaukee & Chicago, Vegan Style!

Jason met me in Milwaukee and I decided to do everything vegan that there was! We went out to breakfast at the Riverwest Co-op Cafe--french toast, biscuits & gravy, and shortbread. The french toast was the best, followed by the biscuits and then the shortbread--I kinda want to make a good version of vegan short bread now, but I think I'll put that project on hold.
This huge breakfast enabled us to not really overbuy at Vegan Essentials, an awesome online store based out of Wisconsin (near Milwaukee) that has a warehouse that they open to the public--it was pretty awesome!
We then headed to Chicago to meet up with some vegan friends. Unfortunately, I somehow forgot to photograph our faux chicken parm, mac and cheeze and amazing pb-chocolate chip cookie dough shake (all from the Chicago Diner). I was distracted by all the fun we were having! One of our friends had a pedi-cab--he rode us to the lake on it and it was quite an experience!!

Door County, Wisconsin

For most of this week, we're in Sturgeon Bay, on the peninsula of Wisconsin. It is a really nice place! A woman we're working with here was nice enough to take us around today and we were able to see the water. It's beautiful, and it's nice being out of the Jersey humidity for a little while.
The food has been decent; I've had some nice veggie wraps and salads so I can't complain. We also went to a famous Door County bakery today and got breaksticks--delish! Good thing there was a farmer's market right outside the hotel today--I picked up some snap peas and some raspberries for the road tomorrow (to Milwaukee).

NJ Vegan Prom!

We had a prom--just an excuse to dress up, hang out with other vegans, eat some good food, drink some beers, and tear up the dance floor!

lazy Indian dinner

I had some chopped up veggies so I stir-fried them up with some packaged tava masala fry (spice mix). I also made some rice in the cooker with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, salt, and pepper. It was an easy meal, and tasty!

She's a rainbow

I saw a rainbow yesterday and I took a picture with my cell phone and it actually came out!

I made something that wasn't a one-pot meal

And it rocked! I made a curry, cumin-spiced rice, and parathas from scratch! All of these recipes can be found in "La Dolce Vegan!" by Sarah Kramer. I had two dinner guests and all of us were quite satisfied. That's Amy flipping the parathas.

I just really love tofu!

There's nothing to be done about it! Here's my dinner tonight (and my lunch for the next couple days). It's pretty much this recipe from vegweb.com: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=23087.0
I don't know why I can't hyperlink these days!!
One thing I changed was garnishing with scallions, just cuz I had them around! Anyway, you can't go wrong with peanut sauce, so this recipe was a yes!
Check out the chopsticks. :)
Oh, and I don't believe I've posted this pic of the adorable ones. Sadie is licking Sammy (usually it's the other way around).

Girls weekend and cooking!

Note: These two topics are wholly unrelated, aside from the fact that they both happened this weekend and I'm very excited about them!
I went down to DC and Annapolis this weekend with my EB girls. It was a blast, from the car ride there all the way to the car ride home. Highlights were seeing fireworks from the rooftop of the EPA building and going on a boat ride--on the same sailboat that was used in the movie "Wedding Crashers." Other highlights were just laughing, eating, drinking, and catching up! We still know how to have a great time together.
Before I left, I got back into cooking and made sushi (recipe loosely based on theppk.com), which was not difficult at all. When I came home, I didn't have much in the house so I pan-fried some tofu (recipe from "Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan!") and served it over some udon noodles, tossed with some sesame oil and soy sauce and sprinked with gomasio--so yum!
And yes, cat hair is a main ingredient in all my dishes!

Cleveland rocks!

Last week, I got to go to Cleveland on my own. I'm definitely a fan of traveling alone--I don't think I'd ever really done it before. OK, it did help that I had a buddy for the second half of the week! :) But in the first half, I took myself to the Botanical Gardens and to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (most of my work took place at night). I picked the most gorgeous day to see the gardens. My one regret is that I didn't give myself enough time at the Hall of Fame--there is a lot to see there and I kept getting sucked in to the movies they show--it was like I was watching VH1 circa 2004, but better! I also took myself to see "You Don't Mess with the Zohan." In Ohio, I think I was the only one laughing at all the Jewish and Israeli stuff! Food worked out to be pretty good also--I found a vegan place called Web of Life. After I went there once, I kept going back--vegan chicken sandwich, vegan BBQ chicken pizza, vegan donuts! So yummy. I also found a veg-friendly place called Tommy's, which was in the Haight-Ashbury of Cleveland, as I call it. I had a tofu scramble there, which wasn't amazing, but I was happy to be able to go out to breakfast.
I'm off to DC/Annapolis now. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!