LA Vegan Beer Fest
In case you hadn’t seen all the photos from the LA Vegan Beer Fest over on Quarrygirl, I have a few more to add to the lot. It was the quintessential summer event here in Los Angeles as the weather just decided to finally warm up. We didn’t get as crazy as last year but it was tons of fun. There were lots of superb beers and good times.
I started out with a bbq “pulled pork” sandwich from Seabirds made with jackfruit. We also had to have their infamous beer battered avocado tacos. Have I mentioned how much I love Seabirds? Love them so much.
So possibly my favorite beer of the day was the Brother Thelonius from North Coast Brewing Co. It is rich with a full flavor and just my style. (more…)
rehearsing
Triple Trapeze Group Performance from Sarah Muehlbauer on Vimeo.
I have so many things to blog about and haven’t had a second to sit down at a computer and write them. This weekend was full of summer fun including the LA Vegan Beer Fest and cool movie screenings. I’ll have some recaps to share up here on the blog this week.
I had a really rewarding aerial class on Sunday as I completed all the tricks I’ve learned thus far successfully. I’ve been struggling with a few basic moves on aerial silk that I’ve been able to do, but not gracefully. This week I was able to pull them off with ease. It feels awesome to know that I’m improving.
We’re half way through the summer session which means I’m half way there to the little performance we’ll be doing. I’m excited to put together an act, but haven’t yet decided whether I’ll be doing aerial silk or single trapeze.
The video above is from a friend’s triple trapeze performance that I’m loving right now (and hopefully she won’t mind that I’ve linked to here). The choreography is so fluid and I am really into how each trick turns into the next thing without pausing. There is always something to catch your eye. I will try to keep this style in mind when I’m putting together my own little demo.
p.s. if you’re viewing this in a reader, make sure to jump out and watch the video.
the wedding: part 2
This is the end of the wedding posts, with more photos than ever. While I’ve kept quiet for what I’ve shared before, I have a bit to say this time around. Mostly though, there are tons and tons of photos.
When we first started planning our wedding, looking for locations, choosing vendors, we found ourselves coming up against all these restrictions. In particular with venues, there were a lot of rules: from which caterer you could use, to how loud you could play music. One would think at a public institution such as The Natural History Museum, which really only does weddings on the side, there would be a great deal of restrictions, especially considering the historical artifacts they have throughout. Instead, they were the most open of any place we contacted. We were allowed to roam the museum, nearly all night. This completely shaped our wedding, as we were surrounded by history and our guests were transported out of Los Angeles into another world.
We encouraged our guests to wear vintage attire and many not only obliged, but were enthusiastic. We didn’t specify a particular time period which gave us a range of styles. It was so great to see what everyone came up with. It was as if all the ages of guests to the museum from times passed we converging again.
The one aspect of the wedding that we did not plan at all were the decorations and flowers. The whole time we imagined that the museum would be such a stunning backdrop that the details like centerpieces could be simple and still work. So we didn’t put too much thought into it. Or should I say, any thought.
About a month before the wedding, when we realized that we would actually have to come up with something, we turned to our friend Suki. We knew her from the events she had put together for The Cinefamily and as she had recently started her own event company, we thought she would be a perfect match to not only make our wedding run smoothly, but also to design a good deal of the decor.
Suki and her co-conspirator, Patsy, were able to take the minimal direction we gave them (moss & glass jars) and come up with stunning designs and arrangement. They were even able to incorporate the various pieces we had come up with along the way.
Instead of a typical guestbook, I wanted to make a quilt out of the fabric signed by our guests. I found a selection of bird themed fabrics and the ladies from the happening were able to reflect this by incorporating little nests into the decor.
Being that we live in Los Angeles, one of the most vegan friendly cities in the country, one would think finding a vegan caterer would be easy. For a number of reasons, it became the most complicated part of our planning. Luckily we found Jennie Cook, who was amazingly helpful all around and made amazing food for us. These beanie pops were delightful.
We were really happy to be able to include so many children at our wedding as we imagined they would be able to explore the museum with their families…and just look adorable.
Do you remember those stuffed animals I made? They were much loved by our guests, which made me endlessly happy.
The reception was held in the recently restored rotunda, a beautiful room from the original museum, made almost entirely of marble. (You should definitely click on that photo to see it in all of it’s glory.)
Oh and it is a tragedy that I don’t have more photos of food. We had the most amazing tomato soup. So good that it may have been a figment of my imagination. There were vegan sliders, fantastic cashew cream potatoes and a special fig and rice celebration roast from Field Roast. I ate all of these things. We took leftovers home. It was wonderful.
Kyle gave an epic speech from the mezzanine of the rotunda.
There were touching speeches and long speeches made by our dear friends.
…epically long speeches.
All those cakes I slaved over were devoured.
There was dancing.
It was glorious.
And things got a little crazy, but that’s for another day.
All photos by Photo Pink
except the final photo by Shawn Bannon
So, in case you missed it, here is the wedding roundup:
get invited with our handmade book invitations
come to the rehearsal party
experience the nervous preparations of getting ready
and the main event…part one: the ceremony
the wedding: part 1
So this is it. Here is our wedding. Smashed down into two blog posts (that means there is only one more).
Photos by Liesl of Photo Pink
(except no. 10, by Shawn Bannon)
makeup by Jennifer Luna
hair by Tina Lasker
dress made by Rebecca Dominguez
suit jacket by Denver Bespoke
officiant Elysia Skye
location Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
next…details, food, decor and dancing…
and in case you missed it…getting ready for the wedding
easter brunch
Well, we managed to pull everything together and put together a lovely Easter brunch. We even managed to snag an amazing dining set, including a beautiful hutch and a buffet, from Craigslist and pick it up on Saturday. There was a lot of cooking and moving of furniture and cleaning (as we still haven’t quite moved in 100%) but I’m proud to say it went off without a hitch.
We reused the wonderful moss centerpieces from our rehearsal party along with a few pieces we have in our china collection. I am totally in love with this bunny.
We also used the cloth napkins that we got for our wedding (which you’ll be seeing in action, in the next few days). Clearly I have a thing for bunnies. While we do have a lovely set of spring themed dishes, we were one setting short. This mismatched mushroom plate fit in nicely though.
I even tried my hand at flower arranging for the occasion. I obviously chose a vase that was much too large, for my flower selection, but I was really happy with the extra color.
I had to get a little fancy and make these french toasts with asparagus and orange beurre blanc that I found on Martha Stewart. Of course, with a few simple substitutions, I was able to veganize the entire recipe. They were a lovely addition to the brunch, slightly decadent, but not too sweet or overwhelming of the other dishes.
I’ve never had a beurre blanc sauce before so I’m not sure if I made it quite right but it was extremely tasty.
Cooking in our new kitchen is a dream. For the first time, I have sunlight in the kitchen. It’s an amazing thing.
Shawn’s one request was a deep dish quiche filled vegan bacon and daiya cheese. I used the broccoli quiche recipe as the base from Vegan Brunch
Alicia brought some delicious roasted Brussels sprouts and a carrot ginger soup with cashew pesto. So good. I also made some roasted spring vegetables but forgot to photograph them. Oops!
My mom made an orange quinoa salad. Definitely an orange theme this year.
Nine of us fit at our new table! I still can’t believe we found it.
With so many different dishes, we had to fill our plates many times with small servings. Here’s round one with the french toast, quiche, soup and veggies.
Mochi really wanted to be part of the party.
I made some molasses candies as a treat. Having never made them before, I’m pretty pleased with how they came out. I think I could take another crack at it though. I used blackstrap molasses so they were particularly strong. Ideally I’d prefer them to be a bit more subtle and less chewy. Of course, they should also be coated in chocolate. Making candy is like making magic.
Luckily my mom brought an assortment of chocolates from Xan confectioners.
It was a wonderful day filled with family and friends. It definitely showed me how much it takes to host a good party. Thank goodness I had help with the dishes. Now I’m just glad I have the rest of my Sunday to relax.
