Support the Arts! (Support the hippies making art!)

Hey everyone! So, I'm not a big fan of Kickstarter, which I totally make a fuss about on Twitter every now and then (or at the bar, while rolling my eyes). However, every once in a while a project will come along by people who inspire me, who I like to contribute my hard-earned dollars for. My pal Alex Eaves is one of them. He's the creator of Stay Vocal, a brand which I admire and actually have a few items (my fave tote bag) from. Alex is trying to fund a documentary and a quick post seemed like the right avenue to get the word out. Unfortunately the words are not coming out of me; I'm so out of practice lately with the writing, JEEZ.


It'd be awesome if you could help him out. The minimum pledge is a dollar!  Learn more here, at his official Kickstarter site. 

"Crab" Tacos!

Remember how much I love Sophie's Kitchen Vegan Crab Cakes? Last week I made crab tacos! Delicious!

First I baked the crab cakes, then I heated up the tortillas while melting strips of the Daiya Monterey jack wedge in them, and I added a mix of cilantro, lime, white onion, salt and green onion! Oh yes, and Tapatio - always Tapatio. I like to think of these as fish tacos, street style! (The cheese was a little bit overpowering for the mildness of the crab cakes, so I'll forget that next time.)

My Cat Likes to Eat Kale

Have I introduced you to Indie Rock Bradley before? She is the love of my life, and we've been together  about 10.5 years (since she was a wee little baby). We like many of the same things, including eating, sleeping, sunshine and watching TV in bed. We also love our leafy greens! I don't know what it is about this cat, but when I bring home groceries, she finds the spinach and/or kale and starts munching away. It's preeeetttty cute, but I also need to remember to hide my groceries from her when I get home and immediately put them away (no snacks, no drinks, no turning my back on the situation).

Sometimes she even helps me out with my blogging and email-checking! 

Texts My Friends Send Me: Pressed Juicery is Now Open!

I'm so excited! I will definitely be heading over there sometime this week. Tomorrow however, I have plans to hit up Sow. My energy levels for the past few weeks have been at an all time low, and I think some healthy green juice is just the medicine I need! 

Text and photo via Britney Roque. 

Eggless Tofu Salad!

Do you miss egg salad sandwiches? I sure did, until I came up with this recipe! Basically I like anything that requires a lot of Vegenaise, because I'm disgusting. Enjoy Pee-Wee Herman's "favorite" sandwich, veganized!

VEGGIE GRILL!

Yes, they may have opened a new Veggie Grill in San Jose, but why would I go there when I could fly down to LA, and eat at their location on the Sunset Strip, like the star that I am?

I kid, I kid. I went down to LA to see No Doubt perform during their seven show residency at the Gibson Amphitheater (December 2nd was MY NIGHT). That trip was the time of my life - not only did I get to see the band I've been obsessed with since I was 14, I ate like a QUEEN. I mean, I ate EVERYTHING! I could actually barely move by the end of my trip, I was so uncomfortable, BUT WHATEVER, that's the gym is for right? To burn off the millions upon millions of calories consumed on vacation?! Yes, that's what I thought.

My friends Jensen and Andrea are a couple of my favorite people in this world (oh, they are just SO MUCH FUN!), and they very generously open up their home to me every time I visit LA! They're totally omnivores, but Jensen was like "Jenny, you gotta try this place called Veggie Grill, it's phenomenal!" He was so enthusiastic for me to eat there, and believe me, I was excited too! So, my childhood friend Gabby and I met up, after not having seen each other since high school, and went there for lunch. The No Doubt show was also that night - I'm sure you can imagine that I was all kinds of stoked.

This is me, on my parent's drive-way in '96 or '97. I'm pretty sure I'm a sophomore in high school here, and I'm imitating Gwen Stefani. You can see I'm also wearing track pants, which were kind of a staple in my wardrobe, since Stefani also wore them frequently. My parent's wouldn't let me bleach my hair back then, so instead I dyed it brown. It's slightly darker than my natural color, in this picture. 

This is me now (well, right before Christmas), with platinum and pink hair, wearing the over-priced concert tee I bought at the show. 

Veggie Grill on the Sunset Strip!

Gabby and I split the Buffalo 'chicken' salad!

We also split the "cheeseburger" with a side of kale salad! 

Everything was scrumptious! I can't wait to go to the location in San Jose - WHO CAN TAKE ME? I'm fun! 

Me and Gabby, post-lunch, at a bar where I called my future husband, Joe, pretending to be a stalker. My other friends Sam and Dan thought it would be JUST HILARIOUS, if I called a dude I never met before in my life, pretending to be a stalker and I pulled it off flawlessly. I terrified not only Joe, but  also myself to be honest!  

The Best of 2012!

I never got a chance to do a 2012 round-up of all my fave vegan finds of the year, so I'm doing it now! I got to try out some really spectacular stuff this last year, which I want to share with you. I would love if you then shared your favorites with me, so we can try all sorts of new things in 2013! Alright, here goes:

Pura Vida 
Flaco's
Hella Vegan Eats
Donut Farm
Pressed Juicery
Sow Juice Bar
Healthy Surprise Snack Box
Cookin' Crunk by Bianca Phillips
Wholesome Chow Gluten-Free Baking Mixes
Occadite Skin Care 

And here's why:

Pura Vida
We did a round-up of our favorite meals of 2012 on Vegansaurus (because I really wanted to do a list, and I LOVE eating), that you can read here. Not only did I want to make a list, I also wanted another chance to praise Pura Vida in Vegas! My breakfast burrito was out of this world, plus Sarah, Britney and I got the opportunity to meet Chef Mayra! She was awesome - very friendly and such the spitfire! I can't wait to go back - another trip to Vegas can't come soon enough.

Latin'tude Breakfast burrito! 

Sarah, myself and Chef Mayra! 

Flaco's, Donut Farm and  Hella Vegan Eats
My honorable mentions in this category include Flaco's and Donut Farm. I also really enjoyed Hella Vegan Eats and am excited for their next night at Dear Mom!

Tofu "fish" tacos from Hella Vegan Eats!

Pressed Juicery in LA! Word on the street is that they may be coming to SF!

Sow

I also thoroughly enjoyed the juice pop-up Sow, located at Pause Wine Bar on in San Francisco!

Green juice is my jam!

Healthy Surprise
The Healthy Surprise snack box has also been a favorite of mine! It's like a CSA box for snackers, filled with all kinds of nutritious, tasty, gluten-free, mostly sugar-free, soy-free and vegan treats. I actually received a three-month subscription as a gift from my parent's recently, and I couldn't be more stoked! (The kale chips are always the first to get demolished.)

This company fills their boxes TO THE BRIM! It's an incredible deal!

Cookin' Crunk
Bianca Phillips' cookbook, Cookin' Crunk has been so much fun to cook and bake out of! I've really enjoyed every recipe I've made out of it - they are big on flavor, easy to follow, entertaining to read, and the ingredients are easily accessible. I don't want to give too much away, because I still owe her a review on Vegansaurus, but you WANT this cookbook - TRUST.

Country-fried Tempeh Steak, with soy milk gravy and the Mess'O Greens! (I changed the mess'o greens up by using kale and sweet potatoes instead of turnips and collard greens. Kind of blasphemous, I know, but I love the cooking method, yet the original recipe is too bitter for me!)

Old-fashioned coconut pie - I've made this baby about five times because I JUST LOVE IT. 

Wholesome Chow baking mixes are an incredible product, which take a lot of the hassle out of gluten-free and vegan baking! You can read my glowing reviews over at Vegansaurus. I made a wedding cake with the chocolate mixes, and I was told it went over beautifully!

Chocolate Wholesome Chow cake, with homemade espresso frosting! (Not the wedding cake, btw.)

Ocadite
Ocadite skin care is another product that I bought after receiving a Discovery Kit to review for Vegansaurus (which I still need to do!). It's all-natural and cruelty free line, made out of mostly raw ingredients. Yes, it's very expensive, but the quality of this line is phenomenal. After using the products for a few days, my skin looked great! I was also drinking a lot of green juice at the time, so I think both of those factors had to do with my glowing complexion over the summer! I just bought the Discovery Kit for my sister to try out, as she's had some issues with her skin lately. I've been using Clinique for years, but recently I've been wanting to switch to an entirely vegan and chemical-free company, as my esthetician friend told me down the line, Clinique is actually causing more harm than good to my skin because of the chemicals it's made with. SCARY. Anyway, totally into Ocadite - I now have their toner, hydrating masque and exfoliant!

That wraps up my fave vegan finds of 2012! Now tell me yours! 

Hangin' in the East Bay, Eating Brunch at Donut Farm!

One of the best parts of the holiday season is the holiday parties, right?! I hate getting dressed up when it's cold outside, but I do love a good party, and in the grand scheme of things, San Francisco isn't that cold -- CHICAGO IS COLD! More than I dislike getting dressed up in a chilly apartment, I used to hate getting dressed up in my Chicago apartment with the heater blasting. I don't know why it didn't work for me; probably because I knew outside the temperature was about 15 DEGREES OR LOWER, and pardon me for repeating myself, it felt weirdly artificial. ANYWAY, let's talk brunch.

I live in San Francisco, and I try to avoid going across the Bay Bridge (I am sans car, yo) as much as possible. But, I will go across, on BART, for food and parties. And so, I went across the bridge to attend Laura's holiday party, fooling myself into thinking I would make the last BART train home. Needless to say, I slept on a couch in my party dress, SURPRISE SURPRISE. I did have a toothbrush on me, THANK GAWD, I can't not brush my teeth in the morning - it makes me completely insane. (I also like to brush my teeth at the gym after I work out, so that toothbrush is in my purse, always. I can and will sleep almost anywhere, knowing that.) Again, I digress.

The best part about crashing (or having guests crash at my place) after a party is the post-party PARTY! The wrap-up party, if you will. Ours included a trip to Donut Farm for Sunday brunch! I had never been and I was so excited! And it was delicious -- totally worth the wait!

I felt like the coolest lady in all the land, rolling in with Laura, Jonas and Meave. Never mind the bed-head and slept-in party dress.

The owner and chef Josh generously gave us a couple of items on the house, including this decadent double-dipped donut! 

I ordered the biscuits and mushroom gravy, which came with hash browns and I added the southern greens (one of the best food decisions I've ever made). I loved it. I'm not usually into carb-loading, but I had been hitting the gym real hard, so I splurged. I couldn't be more stoked that I treated myself to this breakfast because it was SCRUMPTIOUS. 

Let me assure you, the next time I have visitors in town, we are spending the day in the East Bay, as both Donut Farm and Flaco's are absolute musts, and two of my favorite Bay Area restaurants! 

Donut Farm is located at 6037 San Pablo Ave in Oakland, and only serves brunch on the weekends, so plan accordingly!

BStar in the Inner Richmond Beckons You

One afternoon, months ago, my girl Britney and I met up in the Inner Richmond for Happy Hour. Out of everywhere in SF, why on Earth would we go to the Inner Richmond? Because for some reason I decided to go to my bank's branch out there and Britney lives close-ish by. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon that we both happened to have off, so we decided to get tanked at 4pm. We headed to The Buckshot for some skee-ball, but ended up talking about our never-ending problems (boys) while trying out the home-made watermelon infused vodka (or maybe that was just me?) instead. Inevitably, the time came for a change of scenery, first with a different bar and then for dinner.

BStar for grub it was! Not to be confused with the insanely popular Burma Superstar down the street, but eerily similar (cause they're sister restaurants!), BStar is also an incredibly busy Asian fusion restaurant. When asked if we had reservations, Britney and I were like, "NO, WE DON'T NEED NO RESERVATIONS", and then were seated. Actually we nervously said "no", and then were grudgingly lead to a table anyway, cause SF VIP doesn't need rsvps, yo.

We ordered off the living-frugal-happy-hour-menu (seriously, why go out at night anymore?) and we got some tasty delights to go with our soju cocktails. Every time I look at these pictures, I miss our food. There are  three words describe our dinner - fresh, vibrant and delicious.

Portobello Veggie Fresh Spring Rolls

Grilled Asparagus

Mango Tacos

BStar - into it, can't wait to get back! It's located at 127 Clement Street in the Inner Richmond.