LA Vegan Beer Fest

la vegan beer fest 2011

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.

la vegan beer fest 2011

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.

la vegan beer fest 2011

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…)

the last days of Pure Luck

tofu pesto sandwich & soup
What do you do when your favorite restaurant and eternal hang out decides to up and close on you? You eat there as many times as humanly possible before they shut the doors for good.

Pure Luck has been a staple in Shawn and my life together since we started dating. Not only do we eat there at least once a week, it’s always the spot we pick when meeting friends. We had birthday celebrations there. We shot part of our movie there. Every time we go we run into people we know. Totally integral place in our life. And it’s closing. Ugh.

To commemorate, here are some of our last meals in all the glory. (more…)

memorial day weekend in photos

buffalo chicken salad
Hope everyone had a lovely long weekend. It was nice to have an extra day for things. We had zero plans for the holidays but still went to a few bbqs and watched a few movies which was nice. And I did a lot of laundry. Yep.

In keeping with the theme of the weekend of not doing too much, I didn’t quite finish the posts I had planned, but I do have a bunch of lovely photos to make up for it.
leaf
portobellos
preparing tomatoes
corn & avocado salad
portobello burger
important camera discussion
mamiya
ipad games
flowers
dandies
grahams
graham+chocolate+dandie
s'mores
kid approved

cats & cookies

cookies

More free time around here means more treats. Like cookies. Big fat cookies to celebrate a new camera in our household. Happiest of days. That means there will be more photos here on the blog. Hooray!

But let’s get back to the cookies…

malted chocolate chip cookies

I couldn’t decided what sort of chocolate chip cookie to make, and the votes on twitter were split, so I went with something all together different. I had seen this recipe for Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies over on C’est la Vegan and thought they’d be a perfect use for some malted barley syrup that has been hanging out in my fridge.

They’re very much like traditional chocolate chip cookies in texture and flavor, but they have an extra kick of malt. Not an everyday dessert, but highly recommended.

Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted slightly from the original recipe found on Bittersweet

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1⁄2 tsp salt
  • 1⁄3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1⁄3 cup malted barley syrup
  • 1⁄4 cup Earth Balance
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1⁄2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together the brown sugar and Earth Balance. Add in the malted barley syrup and vanilla and mix until combined. Gently mix in the chocolate chips.

Spoon out the dough onto the baking sheet. I used a standard ice cream scoop to make larger than normal cookies. With the small batch I ended up with 6 baseball sized cookies, but you could definitely go smaller and make more.

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Gobble them up!

meeme

The other cool thing about having a camera I can use at any time is taking photos of these little darlings whenever I feel like it.

mochi

More Meeme & Mochi on the blog too!

instagram

I thought I’d post some of the instagram photos I’d taken over the past few weeks in honor of the fact that I now have my own camera to use, and won’t have to rely on my phone (which is about to bite the dust anyway) or borrowing Shawn’s camera for quick snapshots. Not to mention, they’re fun and show what I’ve been up to recently. (more…)