Maui baby! part 3

ok, this post is all due to Andrea. She got me to check out River's blog (which is even more cool than normal because this month is Halloweegan) and now here I am posting something. Andrea is tricky :).

Before I blab about Maui (a trip I took way back in the spring), I need to give a shout out to the bake sale I'm organizing.

Vegan Bake Sale
October 23rd & 24th
Sidecar in Seattle

I can attest from doing this bake sale 5 times before this that there is something for everybody. delicious! Here's how I recommend planning your trip to the bake sale: have a great breakfast / lunch at Wayward, then head across the street to the bake sale. Should I also mention that Sidecar has a bunch of new stuff?

If you'd like to bake, please email seattlebakesale [at] hotmail [dot isn't is annoying that spammers force me to chop up an email addy?] com

Now onto Maui... and believe me I could use me some Maui today. It's gloomy here.

For me these are the bfasts of fantasy - perfect fruit including maui mangoes, toasted bagels and most imporant, we ate them out on the balcony overlooking the water.

bfast view. the inlet that you see in this pic doesn't have the clearest water for snorkeling, though not murky water shark death either. The reason to snorkel here is that every day, there are at least 6 GIANT turtles. This tiny inlet is directly south (and adjacent) to Napili bay. Btw, if you go to Maui, check out Napili bay beach. It has a steep slope, so you can lay on the sand and the surf will shoot you up the beach and back down. it's really fun, but be prepared for a bathing suit filled w/ sand. Miso mayo on a bagel, hell yeah! the purple fruit is some strange HI thing that was pretty but didn't taste like much. cleanup duty by a very brazen vixen or dude. not sure which.bonus of banana bread from mana foods that I put in the toaster. it's hard not getting pb on your english muffin when Andy is working the toaster.
This wasn't bfast, just a random fruit snack
Joy's Place
I love going to Joy's place because you can get both raw and cooked food that tastes great after getting slammed around by the waves.

joy roll (fresh roll wrap around nori, sprouts, carrot, avocado, and more)
indo crunch wrap (my fave). I forget what the crunch part is, but it's all good.

hummus wrap

smoothies and a coffeechai drink

raw chocolate pudding & raw macaroons

The Scary Ride To The Airport

On our way home, the main road to the airport was closed due to a brush fire. Typically rental companies forbid their cars being driven on the road that is on the NW tip of the island, but the fire left them w/ no choice but to allow it. There is good reason because it's really narrow and winding. It is different than the road to hana because there road really doesn't fit 2 cars and there aren't many places to pull over. Luckily for us, we only met up w/ 1 car going the other direction.

not only narrow, but if you go off the edge, you're going for a death ride.

keeping some distance from the motorcycle (that passed us on this road) and freaky mini van driver dude that had a need for speed.

Whole Foods

After the "fun" narrow road, we ate lunch and bought food for the plane. They have a great food bar that has lots of vegan options. Even a station that had more than 1 made to order vegan sandwich.

Fresh rolls covered w/ a tasty sauce. you can see my brother's fingers patiently waiting as I take some pics.

Pizza w/ Daiya. I really got to snacking before I remembered to take a pic. Excellent whole wheat crust :)

Phew! That's my Maui trip. Next time I go to Maui, I'm staying in a hotel (vs. a condo) because Maui is vegan friendly enough that you don't need your own kitchen.

If I remember I will update this post w/ the 1 place that sells vegan choc covered macadamia nuts. personally I find them to be gross because the chocolate doesn't have a high enough cacao % for me. I prefer my macs roasted & salted. The store is either the KMart or Walmart in the airport town.

Faline aka Lady Cat hanging out in the cat cage. Please note the well kept grass. ha!

Just a quick one - bake sale, trivia night FUN

Hey all! I'm finally over my cold. started working out last week, getting back in the groove of things and BAM! I woke up to massive shoulder/arm pain this past Sunday. will it ever end? I'm sure it will, but right now, I'm taking drugs at night, icing throughout the day and whining like a baby to Andy. It does feel slightly better, so I'm hoping I'm good for this weekend.

side note: I had to turn off anonymous commenting because some stupidheads are making lame-o viagra/spammy type comments. I tried comment moderation, but it's not worth wading through all that junk.

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Here is a calendar of some of the things I'll be up to, that y'all could be up to too.

Vegfest shift: Sunday, April 11th: volunteering at Vegfest for their AM shift w/ Andrea. Then in the afternoon at the NARN table for an hour or so. vegfest is also on Saturday. if you go, stop by the NARN table and check it out!

In prep for the NARN table, I put a ton of Why Vegans inside seattle vegan restaurant guides. How, w/ my shoulder issue? By very carefully laying down in my la-z-y boy only using my left hand. w/ my right arm imobilized.

Chocolate Shoe Box: Saturday, April 17th from 11 am - 2 pm. The grand opening of one of my awesome friend's vegan shoe and chocolate store in Seattle, The Chocolate Shoe Box. Woohoo!

Vegan Bake Sale: Saturday April 24th: I'm coordinating another vegan bake sale at Sidecar for the Pigs Peace Sanctuary. If you want to bake (I'll send good karma your way - well even if you don't, I will send it), please email me: seattlebakesale [at] hotmail [dot] com.

This is part of the worldwide vegan bake sale. If you're not in Seattle, check out their site, and see if there is a sale near you.

Sidecar

5270 B University Way NE, Seattle
Both Sat & Sun 1 - 8 PM

Here's the poster I designed. And yes, the food pics are things I've made ;).

NARN Trivia Night: Saturday May 22nd: I'm coordinating a Trivia Night fundraiser for NARN. Should be a blast! I'll even be reading a round of trivia :). In case you didn't already know it, NARN is Seattle's animal rights org and they do awesome things like vegan outreach, protesting, and many other things to support the animals/raise awareness. Trivia night starts at 8 PM. Click here for more info & to RSVP.

Another one of my creations. Somehow my posters have a certain vibe to them.
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There are many more fun NARN fundraising events that I'll be working on this year. stay tuned. I'll also be doing other events w/ them. Come check them out, you'll be glad you did. Their event calendar has tons of things on it, something for everyone. If you're shy and want a buddy to hang w/ let me know and we can go together.

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I have no idea why I waited so long to try Vegan w/ a Vengeance's Phad Thai recipe. It's spot on! And fast! Since it's just the 2 of us, I prep for a full batch, cook 1/2 one night, then the other 1/2 the second night. they are not kidding when they say you have to make a full batch in 2 wok sessions. It makes a mountain of phad thai deliciousness.

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Here's the obligatory cat pic section. Yeah, I know some of you skip all the blathering and scroll straight to the cat/Kobie pix. feelings not hurt :).

Who is more demented? The groomer, the groomees or the photographer? Tubs is styling because he can groom both worms (Peepa, The Judge) at once. Yes, part of his grooming is to "nibble" on their dirty ears (pic 2 & 3).

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PS. I've had all the typing my shoulder can take tonight. I'll be a checking your blogs out tomorrow and Friday. gotta limit myself, sadly.

VeganMoFo day #17 - Bake Sale for Giving Campaign

I made some stuff for the bake sale at Andy's work.

First up: Ginger gems cookies from Vegetarian Times. They are really tasty because they have walnuts (chopped really fine), crystalized ginger and a lime glaze. Typically I drizzle it and make cool designs, but not today. I press them very flat before baking. They keep their shape well, so would be good w/ cutters. A very good holiday cookie.

I used 1/2 whole wheat flour instead of all whole wheat. I also burned 1/2 of them --- woohoo!


I also made mini blueberry scones using the Classic Currant Scones recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I made a thick glaze made of powdered sugar and lemon juice. They needed it because the blueberries weren't sweet enough. Next time I will use some dried sweetened blueberries so I won't need glaze.


Bringing vegan items to the sale would have been pseudo successful if the vegans out there didn't know they were vegan, so I made tags for them that had the ingredients listed. I had Andy send an email to the veg alias letting them know about the jack-o-lantern secret code on the tag so they could easily spot them.