Animal friends

Every year, Best Friends Animal Society puts on a huge adoption event at the La Brea Tar Pits. They fill the whole park with tents and bring as many adoptable pets out to find homes. We’ve been going for the past few years just to check it out and it’s really hard not to leave with one of these sweet animals.

Actually two years ago, before we had Meeme and Mochi, we tried to adopt a few cats from the event, but they were adopted before we made up our minds. It was very sad for me, but I’m so happy they found a home.

This year we had the extra incentive of visiting the C’est la V Bakeshop booth which was set up with a ton of vegan goodies.

So I totally fell for this cat Zara. She was rescued from a hoarder’s house who had 200 cats and 100 dogs. Insane. She was so quiet and calm. She shared her cage with two kittens who were rambunctiously jumping around, all over, even on top of her, but she just hung out. Gosh I hope she found a home; she deserves a home.

Shawn liked these sweet little kittens, Zoey and Zelda.

I thought these white brother and sister cats were so pretty.

They had lots of darling dogs as well. Like this adorable Pomeranian. I didn’t get as many photos of dogs because they were a lot more wiggly than the cats and hard to photograph.

As I may have mentioned before, I’m kind of obsessed with animals who are a little weird. Which is why I loved the little wheelie guy up top. He was just carting around, happy as a clam.

They also had a few bunnies and some ducks visiting from a duck sanctuary.

This is Kingsley. I love Kingsley. I wish I could have brought him home. I don’t think it would have gone over so well. I wish we had a bigger place! He was so curious and friendly and adorable. Bunnies need homes too!

Anyway, if any of you are considering bringing a furry (or feathered, or scaled) friend into your home, please adopt. There are so many animals that desperately need homes and deserve happy lives. These aren’t damaged goods, they are just animals who were dealt a bad hand in life. They’re just looking for someone to look out and care for them. Check out your local animal shelter or one of the many adoption sites like Petfinder.

Go save a life!

LA Vegan Beer Fest

This past Saturday was the first LA Vegan Beer Fest. We went with our dear friends Jannatha & Kyle. They’re beer fest pros.

Check out their beer mug beads! They also have some pretzel necklaces (which didn’t make it to this fest) for snacking while you drink.

Alicia and Baxter came along too. They were there to keep us in line. You might call them the law.

We got these handy little mugs for sampling the beers. At about 4 oz each, they were the perfect size to get to try all the beers while still getting to enjoy each one for a little bit.

My top picks of the day were the Duvel Green, the Solace from Firestone Walker and a special edition coffee beer from Speakeasy Brewery. I was totally in love with the coffee beer actually.

While I enjoy beer, I was even more excited about the food. With a ton of trucks, serving exclusively vegan snacks, I was ready to get my grub on.

We started with the lemongrass tofu bahn mi from Mandoline Grill. You can’t go wrong with a ban mi really, but Mandoline grills up their tofu just right. Super tasty.

We drank some more beer. We got hungry again. This event went on for a few hours, so you have to try everything possible.

Next up was the jackfruit tofu taquitos and the beer battered avocado taco from Seabirds Truck. Holy crap. I’m still in awe that there’s a completely vegan food truck, let alone one that is better than half the restaurants in Los Angeles. Beer Battered Avocado Taco. Do I have to say more? Every word is delicious!

We also got a few things from Doomie’s, which we learned is finally back in action and opening a new location in Hollywood. Stoked!

I tried their sushi, which was amazing. Who knew Doomie’s made sushi? Anyway, it was fantastic: faux tuna and faux shrimp with cream cheese, all topped with that awesome sauce.

Shawn hung out with his buddies at the Frankenstand. We had a lot of franken dogs. My favorite is the witch.

When you drink a lot of tiny cups of beer, sometimes your pictures get a little silly.

When you run out of beer and have to go home it is very sad. All good things must come to an end though.

Off we rode into the sunset with Kyle & Jannatha on their sweet tandem bike.

If you want to see more, Shawn has tons more photos over at Shawn’s flickr. Check ’em out.

Autumn fun

Let’s pretend, just for a moment, that it’s not nearly 100° here in Los Angeles. Let’s pretend this city actually has seasons and we’re in the midst of a cool, beautiful fall. It’s a perfect autumn day and we’re going on an adventure to the corn maze.

Here we are, excited about the pumpkins and fall squash a plenty.

Gorgeous pumpkins and gourds of all colors.

Squash bigger than I’ve ever seen. You could feed a whole family with one of those banana squash.

But we’re here for the corn maze, so let’s enter, shall we?

Let’s enjoy the afternoon and take some photos.

We’re surrounded by lovely lush corn. It’s an adventure for sure. Who knows where we’re going…

In fact, we might be lost and the GPS isn’t helping.

And you have to be careful of masked men in the corn.

The sun is moving lower in the sky and the corn is so tall we can’t tell which direction we’re going.

But we escaped!

Getting lost has never been so fun.

Making my wedding dress

With less than four months till our wedding, I’ve been in a state of complete indecision about my dress. It’s kind of a big deal. The dress I mean.

The problem is that I know exactly what I want and it’s not like anything I could buy. I kept searching for something that would maybe distract me from my idea but to no avail.

I just wanted to make it myself so it would look how I imagined, but I had some serious doubts that I could construct a dress without a pattern. While I’m quite adept at sewing, I’ve never learned proper construction. Nor do I have a dress form.

Luckily, I was introduced to a lovely seamstress who is going to take on the task of making my dream dress.

We’ve even picked out the fabric. I love all the combination of all the different laces. The hardest part was choosing the fabric that goes underneath all these laces. We found a gorgeous one, but of course it was silk so I had to pick something else.

It would be cool to say I got these at some fancy fabric store, or special ordered them from France, but they’re just from Joann’s. I probably shouldn’t admit that. It doesn’t matter though, they’re lovely and inexpensive and the dress is going to be awesome.

So these are the humble beginnings of my dress. Just some fabric and sketches and measurements and ideas. I’m so excited. I’m going to my first fitting in just a few weeks. It will just be a rough muslin thing but I can’t wait.

Now I just have to pick out some shoes.

Dia de los Muertos cookies

I wanted to make a few special cookies to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. I searched for a skull cookie cutter but to no avail. The closest I could come up with was a skull and cross bones. Not quite the same.

I went ahead and just drew the skulls on larger cookies with some royal icing. I’m still working on my technique, although I think these came out nicer than my Star Wars cookies.  I would have liked to draw on some roses and other decorations but I don’t think I couldn’t have managed the detail. Thinking maybe next time I can paint food coloring on for more delicate lines.

Most importantly, they tasted awesome and were still pretty cute.

Cookie recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar

Icing recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking