life-affirming hippie mumbo-jumbo (and a menu)

It's easy to get bogged down in the everyday nonsense that can follow us around.  It's even easy to allow pointless and uncontrollable stress to follow you around in your dreams (there's no better way to greet Saturday morning than waking up from a nightmare about your boss and his boss bullying you in a TV-Drama-sinister kind of way).  Sometimes, I know I need to take a step back and find some simple joy.  How about you?

It seems like every time I look in the mirror (all these lines in my face getting clearer) I just see more and more non-black hair.  It's becoming inescapable and though I know I've earned it, I'm just not ready to admit I'm old enough to have this darn much silver hair.  Some of my friends, looking at their own non-colored hair, choose to accept and even appreciate it.  These friends are in much more fulfilling moments of their lives than I - one is living her dream as an Assistant DA in Wisconsin, another is an amazing working mom of a beautiful, intelligent, and well-behaved daughter, in addition to putting up with her husband, my friend.  When I see my silver hairs, all I see is time that got away from me and wasted potential (which has always been one of my biggest peeves).

But hey, wait!  Let's turn this around.  When I was younger and browner, I made a decision about what I would do when my hair stopped being brown (this was also before I started dying it every color under the sun).  I said that if my hair came in gray, I would dye it until my final day on earth; if it came in white, I would make my decision when the appropriate time came.  If it came in silver, I decided, I would allow myself to "age gracefully."  See, even as a naive youth, I regarded sparkly silver hair as a thing of beauty.  Imagine my surprise when I realized today that 1/3 of my hair is not gray.  It is not white.  It is silver.  It is beautiful.

It is still going to be dyed for a few more years, though.  I'm too young for this.

Just before this great revelation, though, I had another moment of joy.  Strangely enough, it happened in the dressing room of a clothing boutique.  Many women love shopping and most of those women think I should love shopping, too, since I have such a terrific and apparently enviable figure.  I have not seen it that way - I hate shopping the way men hate shopping, maybe even more.  I go to stores and have either a crisis of conscience (can I really justify purchasing something made in Myanmar or China? Can I ignore the human suffering that allows me such a low price?) or a crisis of body image, but either way, the dressing room is normally not a pleasant place for me.

Regardless, I needed a new dress, one that was professional yet flattering, appropriate but showing my personality (and not my tattoos).  It is nearly impossible to find a size 4 in most grown-up clothing stores and there are not many work-appropriate dresses in the juniors stores, so my method of shopping was something like this:

• is there at least SOME black on it?
• is it a size 4?
• is it made of "real" fabric and tailored-looking?

It feels really good to slip on a non-stretchy size 4 dress and have it fit so well that it could probably even be taken in an inch for a "perfect" fit.

I feel pretty confident that I can pull that off because of how invested I am in making good choices about food.  They aren't always "healthy" choices, but they are balanced and I feel good about the way I eat (most of the time).  Once upon a time, I didn't take so much care of myself and I was 25 lbs heavier than I am now, wearing a tight size 8 (I'm only 5'4").

Speaking of eating....

The newest issue of VegNews showed up in my mailbox yesterday with Portia de Rossi smiling back at me from the cover.  I'm only a few pages in (it's fortunate that VegNews only sends out bi-monthly issues - it takes me about that long to thoroughly read through each issue), but I'm feeling peaceful and inspired by the good others are doing in this world.  It evokes a certain longing in me to also do something that makes a difference, but it takes all kinds of people to make this world turn, and I am not an innovator.  Something special, though, that caught my eye is an amazing thing going on at the Jersey Shore (the real one).

Papa Ganache is a vegan, allergen-sensitive bakery in New Jersey.  Hey!  I can read your minds - you're thinking "Whoop-de-do, another 'special needs' bakery selling $5 cupcakes made of faeriedust and angelwings."  Wait - there's more, though I think faeriedust should be enough.  In addition to making delicious and beautiful baked goods from faceless ingredients, the owner/founder of Papa Ganache is a licensed psychotherapist who has turned her bakery into a social service outreach of sorts.  She gathers up some young folks in need of quality time with quality adults and allows them to work in the bakery, learning about nutrition and veganism, as well as job skills for the future.  If the mentored kids want to, once the program is over, they can remain part-time employees or volunteer their assistance.

If you're in the area, I encourage you to check it out - I know one stop Mister and I will make the next time we head down to Wildwood for some K Family fun.  If you live somewhere really far away from New Jersey, though, at least check out the feature in VegNews - it should make you proud to see what one human can do when she bothers to care.

Another surprising part of the day was falling upon a website that says "happy birthday" to vegan and vegetarian celebrities, including (to my surprise):

• Joan Jett
• Brigitte Bardot
• Kate Winslet
• Weird Al Yankovic (who is also featured in the new VegNews)
• Vanilla Ice
• Anthony Kiedis
• Katie Holmes (wonder about Tom?)
• Vanna White (I think that is so awesome...and probably how she keeps her Evening-Gown-Figure for Wheel of Fortune)
• Steve Jobs
• Michael Bolton
• Bernadette Peters
• Ke$ha (but she's still gross)
• Olivia Wilde
• Carrie Underwood
• Leona Lewis
• Colbie Caillat
• Ghostface Killah (I'll admit, that surprised the heck out of me)
• LaToya Jackson

In other news, Mister seems to be a bit sick, so he didn't want dinner.  I was completely okay with just heating up the leftover po'boy mix and stuffing it into a warmed up roll, so no big fun dinner news, but I do have the new menu.  I didn't get through all of the meals on last week's menu, especially since it was 7 items long, so I'm going to list the items I still have to make, along with our new items.

1. Lentil, Spinach, and [To]Feta Salad from The Low GI Cookbook.  Since it's not very substantial and we didn't have a dinner tonight, it will probably end up as an accompaniment to a more homogenous dinner in need of some green.

2. Vegetable Chili Bowl, also from The Low GI Cookbook.  I probably should have picked up tortilla chips at Superfresh today.  It's been too long since I made chili - I'm out of practice.  We'll see what the selection is like at Trader Joe's (yes, Trader Joe's - story in a minute).

3. Chickpeas and Dumplings from Peas and Thank You.  It's times like these I really wish I'd convinced Mister to move to the Pacific Northwest or at least California/Nevada/Tahoe, because it's just too darn hot in Philadelphia right now for me to get the motivation to make this no matter how incredibly tasty I expect it to be.  And yes, we do have our A/C on, but I haven't turned it cold enough to make this yet.

4. Soy Chorizo Veggie Wrap from Philly Broadcaster.  Honestly, a blog about What's Happening in Philadelphia was the last place I expected to find our dinner recipe, but there it was, along with a specific location for the vegan chorizo I've scoped out the whole city to find.  Well...the whole city except the place that has it: Trader Joe's.  So I'm planning to take a bus across town to get at least the chorizo, but as long as I'm all the way over on 21st and Market, I may as well see if they have anything else I need.  It will lessen the load I have to carry on my back from Whole Foods, as well as the price tag - TJs tends to be a little less expensive than WF, which is helpful right now (weekend before paycheck day).

5. Jerk Seitan on Coconut Rice, both from Vegan With a Vengeance.

6. Lemony Garlic Chickpea Patties from Vegan on the Cheap with Middle Eastern Chopped Salad from Vegan Express.

7. Pasta Puttanesca from Vegan Express, possibly with the lentil salad, but probably with a roasted green veggie (broccoli/asparagus - cost will decide).

I'll leave you with the pretty and amusing image that left work with me last night.  The weight loss counselors do funny little things from time to time for no reason other than to raise/maintain morale among the employees.  This Friday was Mocktail Day - they made alcohol-free Bay Breezes, Mimosas, Fuzzy Navels, Shirley Temples and a few other things.  Because I actually started my career with the company as a counselor myself, they hold a special little place in their hearts for me, so when I came out of the training room, located in their wing of the building, no doubt looking haggard and worn, they stopped me so they could make me a mocktail.

So, there is my Shirley Temple in a coffee cup, complete with two maraschino cherries and a paper parasol.  It was a sweet thought and a nice "appetizer" to whet my appetite for the Tempranillo-Merlot that would accompany dinner...ah, Friday.

captain multi-tasking

If Catherine Zeta-Jones can be Commander of the British Empire, I can be some kind of home-making superhero, can't I?  I feel quite accomplished even if I didn't get everything on my [always excessive] to-do list done.  My secret?  Slow-simmered food.

I slept a little later than I had planned, but once I had two cups of Chocolate Cappuccino coffee in me, I was in and out of the shower and painting my face in preparation for my exciting trips to Essene and CVS.  After loading up on apples and razors (yes, I know I'm early/late for Halloween, but Easter is on its way), I headed home and got to work on my first two projects.

I've never had Muhammara before but I've heard of it and thought it was fascinating.  It kind of looks like red pepper hummus but it's all hopped up with spiciness.  Today, I tested a recipe for UV2, despite my hatred for onions.

Honestly, although the red peppers and onions look very pretty together, this image made my blood run cold.  When I read the recipe, it called for one small onion, so I thought, "How bad can it be? I can handle one little onion."  I didn't realize how big onions got when you diced them - all of a sudden, my little bitty onion was all over the place.

Anyway, part of the charming parts of the recipe and one of the reasons I made it today is that the longer it cooks, the better it is, or so Dynise said in her introduction to the recipe.  While the peppers and onion were sauteing, I was unpacking one of the last boxes and setting up my bathroom.

After about 40 minutes, the onions were finally that magical state of translucent that I've always heard of but never seen since I don't commonly cook onions.  It was pretty neat to see, actually.  Meanwhile, I was industriously emptying a box full of makeup and bandaids and sunscreen and cottonballs and figuring out how to put together the puzzle of my strangely shaped and possibly smaller bathroom.

one of the most esoteric and fabulous ingredients in my cupboard: pomegranate molasses

  

After letting the peppers and onions swim together in boiling oil for about an hour, I poured the melange into my food processor and covered it with walnuts and pomegranate molasses and a few other things (you need to buy this book!).  I was really looking forward to seeing how a dip that didn't involve beans or anything else I could see holding it together was going to look.

It came out looking exactly like it was supposed to - kind of like red pepper hummus, or maybe Martha's sweet potato hummus, and it didn't taste all too different.  I look at it as a slightly healthier and much spicier hummus.  It had a definite kick to it, thanks to one of the things I sauteed with the peppers and onion being more red pepper flakes than I've ever used in a recipe. 

It was a great accompaniment to our dinner: Bulgur and Red Lentil Pilaf with Kale and Olives from The Complete Vegan Cookbook.  When I was at Whole Foods, I was pleased to find red kale, which is a fun color - dark, hunter green with wine-red edges and veins.  I make this dish as often as I remember to because I absolutely love it and the flavors in it, so the way I introduce a little variety is by using different kinds of kale - the first time, I just used regular ol' kale 'cause I didn't know any better (and plain ol' kale is delicious).  The last time I made it, I used lacinto (dinosaur) kale because it's easier to chop, being all not-curly and whatnot.  Also, I think the red kale was a fun addition to the deep purple kalamatas and the creamy red lentils and beige bulgur.  I wish this cookbook had more recipes I enjoyed making, but honestly, this recipe alone is worth the price of the book.

Well, time to clean up and get ready for bed so I can dream of all the fun that awaits me tomorrow through Friday...

green beer goggles

I don't actually like beer.  I think that is both a blessing and a curse.  On the one hand, beer is normally pretty cheap and easy to come by (although it takes way more beer than can fit in my belly to have any effect on me).  On the other hand, it doesn't taste very good, and by avoiding it I am also avoiding pointless calorie use and involving myself directly in scenes like this:

Apparently, shortly before I arrived home from work, there was a huge Irish band across the street, complete with a bagpipe choir and a marching band drumline.  Mister said the drums were making the apartment shake, which did not make our wee kitty happy.  They started up again while I was cooking dinner.  Mister started moaning but honestly, they weren't that bad - I kind of got a kick out them, as long as they kept it brief.  They did.

I never had the traditional corned beef and cabbage before I stopped eating animals, mainly because my family is not Irish and we didn't eat cabbage.  I don't even know what you do to beef to corn it, but it sounds kind of gross.  Nevertheless, I did feel the need to do something Irish and cabbagey for dinner tonight, so I made my own version of vegan corned beef and cabbage (with a little help from my friends).

That's some pretty purple cabbage just steam-simmering away with some garlic and caraway seeds right there.  While it was cooking, I reflected on a memory I might have made up, but I think I remember my mother telling me about the time my sister, as an adult, wanted to make some traditional German meal that involved cabbage and how it stunk up the whole house.  As I inhaled the sweet scent of my cabbage, I wondered just what a person has to do to cabbage to make it smell as bad as other people think it does.  I think the answer is: boil it.  I think as long as you refrain from boiling it for hours, it is just fine.

In place of the corned beef, I sliced a package of Tofurky kielbasa on the bias and then did a quick saute in a bit of olive oil.  Once it was lightly browned, I turned off the heat and finished cooking the cabbage.  Finally, I artfully arranged the "beef" over a bed of Red Cabbage with Caraway Seeds from The Urban Vegan.  

It was a delightful combination of sweet and savory, a little crunchy and a little chewy.  We happily finished it all up while discussing how some famous people manage to have long, fruitful, and relevant careers (think Madonna, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Steven Tyler) while other celebs enjoyed a phenomenal career until the had some kind of major meltdown and never quite make it back to normal (for example, Mel Gibson, Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, Mariah Carey).

I love Mister's and my dinner conversations.

luck of the iri....southern?

So today was my first day back at work after 10 beautiful days off.  When I sat down at my computer, I found over 600 emails awaiting my attention, including one from my boss requesting my presence more or less immediately in the training room.  Welcome back, Natalie!

I felt pretty lucky by the end of the day.  Like last year, the company is providing food for the staff for the first two weeks of the year, in order to ensure we have adequate staffing at all times to handle the influx of busyness we're still waiting on.  We're in a new building with a new dining/catering staff, so this year the food is presented buffet style, rather than being hand-delivered by the CEO himself.  They sent a menu around and although I still think it's a kind gesture to feed us and whatnot, it appears tomorrow is the only day there will actually be food I can eat.  Last year, I had the great fortune of a contrite Vice President bringing me my special veggie lunches; today I made the most of some sad, white iceberg lettuce, wilting cucumber slices, and dried out shredded carrot... tomorrow there will be pasta.

Fortunately, I have a fridge full of vacation leftovers!  I finished off the tabbouleh today while listening to my boss tell me of the praise conveyed to him by the aforementioned VP and the Director of our department, regarding my recent [insane] efforts, in his absence.  The most skilled table-side violinist couldn't have played a sweeter song than the words my boss weaved: "Exceeded all their expectations" are probably my favorite words in this language.

Despite the many lucky turns today took (even though I really didn't want to go back to work, I'll be honest), I felt like I needed to share all that good fortune with my mister...

I feel like it's truly 2011, now that we've had the fortune-bringing Hottie Black-Eyed Peas and Greens from Appetite for Reduction.   It was good - in place of the 1 Tbsp of hot sauce, I used a generous, tablespoon-sized dollop of harissa.  All of our hot sauce terrifies me - if it's spicy enough that Mister uses it sparingly, a whole tablespoon of it has no business near my mouth.  It packed just the right amount of heat to keep Mister happy and prevent my mouth from flaming.

So, here's to a lucky, fortunate, and fruitful new year!

Mister said something else at the conclusion of dinner.
"Fergie is a hot Black-Eyed Pea."

I don't know what he's talking about...

better get this party started (picture parade)

you can hear the soundtrack to today's post here.

I guess I'll start at the beginning, a very good place to start (please pardon what will probably be a plethora of lyrical puns).  Like I mentioned in my first mini-post, we spent pretty well all of day 1 traveling from Philadelphia to Los Angeles by way of St. Louis, flying Southwest Airlines.  In case you've never had the pleasure (I hadn't), it's a different experience than any I've had on other airlines.  They do this first-come-first-served seating thing, where you're assigned a queue when you check in.  The earlier you check in, the better place you get in "line," which means you have an advantage in the melee that occurs during boarding.  We missed that on the flight out, boarding just about dead last since we checked in at the airport, so we had to sweet-talk a young man into giving me his seat so I could sit with Mister.

Southwest flight attendants are quite friendly and on our flight from Philly to St Louis, we had a whole crew of flamboyantly gay men, one of whom donned a bedazzled apron when he served drinks and snacks.  That's right - snacks.  I don't know how Southwest stays in business - two free checked bags per passenger, free drinks, low fares, and free snacks, which were passed around by a smiling man saying to take as many as you want.  Unless, of course, the established airlines are just taking us all for a ride...

I had no expectations for the veg-friendliness of the St. Louis airport, but Mister was pleased to find a Dunkin' Donuts (his happy place) and I was happy to find the requisite Starbucks.  There were two things that really surprised me, though, upon landing at Los Angeles:
1. the airport was much smaller than I expected it to be.  Of course, we only saw the Southwest area.
2. there was very little in the way of vegetarian fare at the airport and nothing vegan.  I thought this was odd, considering how veg-friendly California is supposed to be.

After sleeping like a couple of rocks, Mister and I beat our alarm to waking up for our first full day in the Golden State.  We took advantage of the hotel-provided breakfast and were on our way to Anaheim.  Mister and Brother(in-law) went to Blizzcon; Sister, Nephew, and I went to Disneyland:

Pumpkin Mickey Mouse on Main St

We went to Tomorrowland first, I think.  I've never been to Disneyland, but I've been to Disney World several times and my favorites places were always Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, and Frontierland, so we hit them up almost in that order.  We couldn't really go on any rides because Nephew is just a little guy and I'm not huge on rides anyway, but we did tour the House of Tomorrow, which was supposed to be all full of exciting innovations but ended up being a living infomercial for ABC (tv), Honda, Microsoft, and a few other companies.  Regardless, I saw the kitchen of my dreams...

We stopped by Frontierland next because Sister thought I would enjoy a cajun restaurant in Disney's version of New Orleans.  I had a delicious veggie po'boy with baked beans (sans pork) and a fruit salad.  It was delicious and inspired one of the items on my short menu (to follow) for what remains of this week.

After lunch we traveled to the Haunted Mansion, which was all decked out for Halloween in the style of "The Nightmare Before Christmas," one of my favorite holiday movies.

After saying hello to Jack Skellington, we made our way to Fantasyland via Cinderella's Castle.  It's far more colorful and Victorian in style than the one in Disney World, but it is also undeniably smaller and less faerie-tale-esque.  I'd still be pretty darn happy to live in it, though (with that kitchen, of course)!

prettiest darn drinking fountain I've ever seen

Me and Sister-dear

my two favorite Disney Villains of all time - Cruella DeVil and Maleficent

 After seeing all of the Lands of Disney, Sister directed me toward Downtown Disney, which is apparently a little shopping/eating area between Disneyland and California Disney Adventure (we didn't go there).  We were dazzled by stores full of sparkly princess dresses and I tried to convince Sister that Nephew was entirely too young to be defined by silly things like gender roles, but she wasn't buying.  We did agree, though, that the next baby should be a little girl.

While Nephew was eating some lemon gelato, I popped into a Sephora store on the strip and came out with these two treasures:

also, my new zebra-print scarf!

After Disney, we went to a little place in San Clemente for dinner called Carbonara.  The food was delightful and their bread was amazing. Even more amazing than my Butternut Ravioli and our glasses of SuperTuscan was the dessert tray.  Sister and I couldn't resist these little bits of heaven - Strawberries on Chocolate Mousse in candied almond shells with dark chocolate coating inside.  I think it would be safe to say there was nothing vegan about this dessert, but it was my vacation and sometimes, you have to break the "rules."

Day 3 of our California Dream saw Mister and Brother off to Blizzcon again, while Sister, Nephew, and I flexed our shopping muscles at an outdoor mall, The Spectrum.  This place was incredible - a carousel, ferris wheel, and a train for little ones, as well as multiple fountains and sidewalk cafes, both of which I love.

We lunched at Veggie Grill, which was incredible and a little overwhelming.  It is a completely vegan restaurant, right down to their delectable chocolate pudding and chipotle ranch dipping sauce.  I'm not ashamed to say I was literally salivating while pondering the menu.

My lunch included the All Hail Kale salad with candied walnuts and a citrusy vinaigrette, accompanied by the to-die-for sweet potato fries and chipotle dipping sauce.

Sister indulged in the Baja Fiesta Salad with crispy tortilla strips on top of papaya and mango.

Nephew's lunch consisted of "chicken" nuggets and sweet potato fries.  It also came with chocolate pudding that Sister gave me because she doesn't want the little one developing a taste for sweets.

After a filling but not terribly bloating lunch, we headed over to Urban Outfitters.  For my wedding, three years ago today, a friend gave us a generous gift card to Urban Outfitters.  Unfortunately, the one in Philadelphia sucks, so all I've successfully purchased there was a pair of socks.  I was happy to see many more things in this one that I would be willing to put on my body.  I ended up with a pair of fingerless gloves and the adorable owl book I used to keep track of my adventures.

We also stopped into a few other stores where I could go broke (White House Black Market, I'm looking at you), I got two fun sweaters from Wet Seal, we played on the carousel and got coffee at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and did a little people watching at the outdoor cafe.  I have to admit, I felt like a rockstar and I was completely amused by how dolled up everyone was - the teenagers are so good at emulating their favorite celebrities, Sister and I made multiple sightings of Mylie Cyrus and Taylor Swift.  The moms were pretty high fashion, too.  Moms on the East Coast generally relegate themselves to jeans and sneakers.  These moms?  Stilettos, skinny jeans, big bug sunglasses, styled hair, dripping with jewelry but not in a trashy way... it was pretty impressive.

We stopped into Trader Joe's for some provisions, including "Two Buck Chuck," which Sister insisted that I had to try.  I was still adjusting to the idea of buying wine at a grocery store.  We also got a Shiraz-Cabernet blend as back-up.

San Clemente beach

more San Clemente Beach - not a bad picture for an out-dated cellphone

adorable little gate in Sister's white picket fence

Back "home," Sister played SuperMom, baking our spaghetti squash while ordering pizza and putting the little one to sleep.  I'd never had spaghetti squash before, so while the Misters chomped on spinach pizza, Sister and I had Spaghetti Squash Marinara with our Two Buck Chuck (which was actually pretty drinkable!).

The next day, all five of us packed into the 1992 Camry sedan and headed to Blizzard Entertainment to see where Brother spends most of his waking hours.  On the way, we passed the Gingerbread House, which is the most photographed house in the area and has apparently managed to do wonders for upping property values.

scary ork on a beasty outside of Blizzard

glamour shot of the ork

Afterwards, we lunched at another sidewalk cafe "inside" another outdoor mall.  This time, Native Foods tempted our palates.  

doesn't everyone have an outdoor fireplace in their outdoor mall?  I mean, it has to get cold sometime, doesn't it?

fountain view from cafe

Mister's Gyro Bowl with a toasted pita, seitan standing in for the standard lamb, and vegan tzatziki sauce saturating the seitan and veggies

Sister's Soul Bowl with veggies, beans and rice, BBQ sauce over Ranch Dressing and a hunk of cornbread

My Hollywood Bowl - grilled tofu on skewers, painted with peanut sauce and laid atop broccoli, kale, cauliflower, and carrots, as well as brown rice and more peanut sauce, with a side of sweet potato fries

We decided to walk off lunch and Sister and I happened upon a little koi pond.  This "little" fella wanted to say, "hello!"

me and Mister

 We finished lunchtime with a trip to Peet's Coffee, where I got a caramel soy latte.  That night, we dined at a cute little Italian place which has earned a place in our California Family's heart, Fratello's.  The food was good and the atmosphere appropriate for a family.  Something I noticed at the Coffee Bean (of all places) and was confirmed by our dinner at Fratello's is that the menu doesn't always mean anything.  I ordered Angelhair Pomodoro, which was defined as being tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and basil.  I ordered this because it sounded delicious and because sometimes they sneak parmesan cheese into the ubiquitous marinara sauce, so I thought I'd played it safe...until my pomodoro sauce came spiked with parmesan.  I also had two "Americanos" from the Coffee Bean which appeared to be spiked with milk, even though an Americano is just espresso with water.

After dinner, we retired to Sister/Brother's house to watch Star Trek XI and drink some wine.  The next morning, our last full day in Sunny San Clemente, the family picked us up and we had brunch by the Pacific Ocean at the Beach Garden Cafe.  Ironically, I could not get enough fresh fruit during this vacation, so I was thrilled by the size of my fruit salad - mostly cantelope and pineapple, which was fine by me.

view from our sidewalk table

After brunch, we strolled the Avenida del Mar, including a fruitful stop into Oliver's Olive Oil which resulted in three delightful herb-n-spice blends finding their way into my bag (after I paid for them!).  That place is amazing and I will happily stop in each time I visit Sister in the future.  They have dozens of olive oils and balsamic vinegars that you can taste before you buy.  There are also artisan salts in glass jars or samplers and special home-made pastas.  This store is a foodie's heaven.

After a filling brunch and an afternoon in the sun, we were feeling a little drowsy, so we stopped by the Coffee Bean for a pick-me-up.  Amazingly, even though I specifically said to the young barista, "No Milk," my Americano was still not black.  I'm hoping that the hazelnut flavoring is an opaque, Bailey's color, but for now, Starbucks and their the-same-every-time Americanos are winning in my heart.

sunset at our hotel the last night

 After a brief recess to the hotel so Mister and I could start packing up for our departure the following day, the Family picked us up for a final dinner at Thai This in Dana Point.  It was adorable and the wait staff loved Nephew, so they didn't mind him dumping rice all over the table after Mom and Dad put some on his little plate.  The names and descriptions for the entrees were hilarious; my favorite description included this: "Yippee Ki-Yay, Mother Father!"


After some Family Pictures the next day, Brother drove us to LAX for the return home, whereupon I got detained by security, keeping my record of never making it home easily intact.  They felt the need to keep the Huckleberry jam I had purchased during our layover at St. Louis, and I was free to go...so I went directly to Starbucks for a nice, black-as-night, Hazelnut Americano and a banana.  On the long way home, I went through the Vegetarian Times and Real Simple magazines I had with me and constructed a short menu, which I'm going to shop for in a few moments.  The menu is:

1. Hot Dogs with Sauerkraut and Baked Beans, inspired by the simplicity of the baked beans at Disneyland reminding me that I've become so caught up in putting some new gourmet feast on the table every night, I've forgotten how fun it is just to have "normal" food.

2. Moroccan Lentil Stew with Raisins Cranberries from the October 2010 issue of Vegetarian Times.

3. Buckwheat-Black Bean Soup, also from the October 2010 issue of Veg. Times.  I may sub out bulgur for the buckwheat...we'll see.

I'll leave you with some final pictures of the haul I brought home:

my spiffy 1980s-inspired sweater with the more sedate black v-neck beside it and my new black fingerless gloves on top

my three seasoning blends from Oliver's, plus two jars of my beloved McCormicks Garam Masala which I finally found at Albertson's.  It took a lot of self-control to only buy two.

I love Snickerdoodle coffee and apparently, only people in California agree with me.

This is a baby Murloc, a mythical sea creature from the World Of Warcraft.  Mister made the mistake of showing me how adorable they are when he was playing one day, so he made up for it by standing in line for 30 minutes at Blizzcon to get me my very own little Murloc.  His name is Gurky.