bjorkedoff

Hi.Peanut Butter S'mores Bars.Yeah.

2009-07-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

peanut butter s'mores bars.
peanut butter blondie
mini chocolate chips
dandies marshmallows.

i am having a lot of fun with this vegan marshmallow thing.

these rule the school.
i gave one to robert who works at jj bean and got a free soy macchiato.

then i ran into ppker fishelle and happened to have one to spare for her.

(it's in the tofutti container!)

then i brought these to an earthsave potluck and won 1st prize for best dessert.

oh,and if yr in the area,these will be appearing at the next bake sale!

"Blim Monthly Community Market and Market 1886 day ( craft event )

Blim will be presenting a monthly Main Street Community Market this month on Sunday July 19th to take place at outside on main street between 12-16th ave. from 12–5 PM, and will be in conjunction with Market 1886 Day.

This Months market will include over 50 vendors, live music, hot food, beverages, and entertainment. Vendors will include food, fashion, accessories, supplies, fine art, vintage items and records, and not be limited to crafts, and there will be a focus on nurturing and promoting creative production in our community. We want to appeal to young, old, hip, plain, babies, animals, men, women, everyone.

We are very excited about this event and what it can contribute to Main Street’s artistic vitality, and how it can help support and encourage the local creative community.

July Market will feature:

Exclusive @ BLIM:

basement sweet ( jewellery) www.basementsweet.com
Darwin Meyers ( vintage vinyl )
Angelu Novus (modern and vintage jewellery )
Noel Macul and Daniel Giantomaso (vintage toys and comics)
Blim (clothing and accessories) www.blim.ca
Evan McGraw (delicious vegan pastries)
Coco Cake (designer cupcakes)
Open Sesame (homemade gourmet japanese cuisine)(inside BLIM Lounge)"

S'mores Danishes!Portland;Let Live,Peanut Butter,Chocolate,Mangoes,Figs,a lot of Espresso and Espresso Drinks,Birthday Cake,and a bunch of Crazy Stuff

2009-07-05T21:43:00.001-07:00

so last weekend i went to portland,or for the Let Live animal rights conference.
my friend glenn gaetz from liberation bc was one of the speakers,so a car full of us drove down.

glenn being really attractive when we ran into each other at whole foods the night before leaving.

and knowing how people are,i knew that i should make something not only for the car pool,but for friends in portland,too.so i made S'mores Dansihes.

i used both Dandies Vegan Marshmallows and Sweet and Sara Vegan Marshmallows.

straight from the oven,they puffed up like crazy.

but as you know,some people are haters and think s'mores danishes sounds like 'too much' or something,i made fig and raspberry danishes,too.

some homeless lady at the food carts at 12th and hawthorne wouldn't leave us alone,so i gave her a raspberry one.

speaking of portland,and the food carts at 12th and hawthorne...

Peanut Butter Truffle and Caramels by Missionary Chocolates.
the truffle was super awesome,so rich.
but the caramels were unbelieveable.oh and only $0.50!

the next day after the conference,jess and i went to Barista.

Soy Latte from Barista.
like drinking a cloud.amazing.
we opted for ecco cafe espresso over stumptown and 49th parallel(no intelligentsia that day)

and while i'm at it...

ALMOND/HEMP MILK Latte at Sweetpea Baking Company.
so i was kind of amazed by audra's latte art skills with almond/hemp milk(there's 1 place in vancouver that offers both of these milks for coffee,and they don't even try to do latte art with them...)and so when we saw her at the bye and bye on saturday night i was going on about how i'm a huge fan of hers through flickr,and the next day she made me this drink.and the taste was fantastic.a little hint of almond,and a lot sweeter than soy,but really really creamy.

loose trousers at the bye and bye.

soy macchiato at albina press.
that morning i had an espresso and an espresso macchiato with soymilk.
and i had 2 really wonderful baristas.
the blonde girl told me about how soymilk is sometimes easier to work with,especially now with the barista series soymilks which contain canola oil,and the brunette gu talked to me about how he studied sound art at smfa and how i'm going to cooper union in the fall.

and it's kind of a given how the coffee was.

soy macchiato at coffee plant.

moments after having incredible espresso at spella coffee cart with maeve and jess.

something like latte art...

i was planning to only be in portland for the weekend,but i stayed until wednesday and helped isa pack.oh,and i had to go to new seasons a lot.AND change the cat litter.it's like i never left home...
and i guess a few more to wrap up pdx eats...

Multigrain Apple Cranberry Bran Muffin from Black Sheep Bakery.
moist and really big and delicious.
I love bran muffins.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bar from Laughing Planet on Mississippi.
ummm,WHY have i never heard anybody mention these before until isa asked me to get one when i picked up dinner?!

tried tay berries for the first time at new seasons.nothing too special.

and ate a lot of fresh figs.zomg.
the huge one is turkish brown,smaller ones and black mission.

speaking of fresh figs...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Bliss with Fresh Figs,Raspberries,Mango,and Banana.
so,yeah.i love peanut butter and mangoes,okay?and on monday after noon i went to the store to get chocolate ice cream and ended up getting this:

i've tried a few other flavours,and really liked the vanilla,but this was better.BUT there wasn't enough peanut butter.please work on that.also at the store i picked up:

isa really liked this one a lot.it did have really good texture,but i think chocolate ice cream is kinna lame,so i wish it had more fudge swirl.great texture though.isa said she liked it more than the coconut milk ones,but i haven't tried enough of those to be a good judge.

okay.end of portland.but not the end of peanut butter and mangoes...

Mango Peanut Butter Chocolate Parfait.
i made these a few days before i left.
it is layers of:
fresh mango
peanut butter mousse
chocolate mousse
banana
and topped with peanut butter granola

peanut butter mousse.

chocolate mousse.

Chocolate Mousse Birthday Cake.

i got a really immediate order for a birthday cake earlier in the week,so i utilized the mousse in a different way to make a cake.

chocolate cake
chocolate mousse filling
two layers chocolate ganache
more ganache and mousse ontop

same day i had an order for brownies...

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies.

and i'll end with the oldest stuff i've put off posting...

Go Max Go Candy Bars-Buccaneer and Jokerz.
i have to say,these candy bars and phenomenal.especially the Jokerz.(peanuts,duuh)especially from the freezer.dissolving in yr mouth,except is cold and hard and can only dissolve so much and then you bite into it and the frozen caramel and peanut butter and chocolate is so thick and chewy and rich...zedohmygod.
and i never even though about 3 musketeers bars since going vegan,but the whipped nougat in these is just like it,and again,so darn tasty.these are awesome.
at let live my friend joanne bought me a Mahalo,which i really liked,but not as much as these two.i did share it with somebody else though,so maybe i didn't get to fully appreciate it.whatevs,these things rule.

and post bake sale,pre portland...

the day after my last bake sale,sarah wanted more of the muffins i had made,so took me to whole foods to pay for the ingredients to make more Mixed Berry Muffins.

and i also made some Banana-Oatmeal-Coconut-Almond Muffins,just cause they're really good.

besides lots of muffins,i've been baking a lot of East Coast Coffee Cake from Vegan Brunch.

plain.

chocolate chip.

raisin.

one was for my dad who visited a few weeks ago from california.we went to gibsons,too.

and on the ferry ride i ate this:

and kind of like a ferry,but not,i took james,my brother's boyfriend on the sea bus for the first time.and i know that's not important,but i think he's like the best person ever and just want an excuse to post his picture.

soy latte at jj bean on main street in vancouver.

My Big Fat Vegan Bake Sale v.3.0-Chocolate Hazelnut Layer Cake,Fig Danishes,More Muffins,that Mint Chocolate Oreo Cake,Cherries,etc...

2009-06-15T23:08:00.001-07:00

Chocolate Hazelnut Layer Cake.
two layers of chocolate cake with organic hazelnut extract
chocolate ganache in the middle and a layer of vegan nutella
chocolate ganache on sides and top and toasted hazelnuts.

HI.
Yesterday was my third vegan bake sale at the BLIM monthly community markets.
This one was also part of the Main Street Car-Free Festival,so that was really fun!
Suuuper busy,though.It took me almost an hour and 45 minutes to completely peel a mango!Anyways,the sale was fantastic,and i'm excited for next month!I need to find a lackey or something-I didn't get to see any of the other vendors,which is fine because i'm selling stuff,but there seemed to be a lot of neat stuff going on-especially yesterday.Though,that would mean i'd probably look through Darwin's(not Damien,p.s) records,buy some,and then be annyoed about how I can't buy useless crap(okay records aren't useless crap)that I can't take with me when I move.
As well as the car-free festival,this was a part of the super-awesome(SERIOUSLY) World Wide Vegan Bake Sale,which is one of the greatest ideas since,i dunno,not eating dairy and eggs?
Thanks Gary for the help with this!
ANYWHOO,here's some stuff I made:

the spread...

Danish Assortment.

Fig Danish.

Raspberry Danish.

Grape Danish.

Mango Coconut Danish.

Strawberry Danish.

Chocolate Hazelnut Raspberry Danish.

Cherry Cheese Danish.

Mint Chocolate Oreo Cake.

Cinnamon Rolls.

Cherry Hazelnut Muffins.

Mixed Berry Muffins.

Peanut Butter Cups.

the internets came!

rude customers.

thanks for the ride,mimsicle.

sup?

oh,and here's some better pictures of the ballpoint pen drawings i did for my table's sign this time:

hope to see some of you next month!

Becoming a Ginger

2009-06-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

Blueberry Ginger Spelt Muffin
(and a blueberry spelt cardamom muffin)

p.s don't forget Sunday!

BEST Brownies Ever,BIG Muffins,BRIDAL Shower Cake

2009-06-08T00:49:00.000-07:00

peanut butter swirl brownies.
the BEST brownies ever.
so for testing for the cookie book isa posted a recipe for 'deluxe cocoa brownies' which are the best-dense,chewy,fudgy,the whole deal.they're also the base for the 'chocolate chip cheesecake topped brownies'.
i didn't think that they could be improved upon,but i was wrong.peanut butter is basically,as in is,the best thing ever,so i made a peanut butter topping and turned them into peanut butter swirl brownies,and i think they're like the best thing i've ever baked.okay,maybe not,but they're up there.best brownies,ever.

bridal shower cake.
chocolate cake,coconut milk chocolate mousse in the center,chocolate cake,covered in vaniller buttercream,and more coconut milk chocolate mousse on top.and white and dark chips.

some lady ordered this for her friend's birdal shower.she needed an eggless cake.i won't get into it,but apparently i effed up and didn't write 'congrats pavan' on it,even though i was told i could "maybe" write it,and i the lady haggled me down $20 on the price.whatevs.

bleuberry and almond creme danishes.
i made these for last weekend's earthsave canada potluck,which was at jericho beach,and really nice and sunny and lots of great people were there.

this was my prize.

here's some more pictures from the potluck:

raw mousse
basically a smoothie.well,it was just blended fruit...

raw daikon.

he only ate it because it looked weird.

orange chocolate sconed.

banana.

banana oatmeal coconut almond muffins.

orange.

orange cranberry nut muffins.

from Vegan Brunch.duh.

i got a makeover.

these muffins are ridiculously good.fresh orange juice,juicy crans,pecans...super soft and moist.and i love the crispy edge on the top.another winner.

maple peanut butter.
because y'know,cranberry,pecans,maple...all those warming,wintery flavours,really coagulate well.especially in this heat.

i should also mention that since last tuesday i've been listening to the cranberries almost exclusively.see,i was at my mom's boyfriend's house just visiting,and i wanted to draw,so i go onto his computer and look at his itunes,and randomly out them on.'to the faithful departed' was the 3rd cd i ever bought,but i hadn't actually listened to them in forever.the songs played continuously for like 2 hours,and then that night i couldn't get 'linger' out of my head,and i felt really silly,but i looked for my cds,and i found them,along with a ton of old no doubt cds.
POINT of the story is,i felt really silly/funny/serendipitous buying and using cranberries since y'know,i was probably listening to them when i made these.seriously.

fresh-squeezed orange juice.

watermelon juice.
huh?

and i'll leave you with this:

watermelon and juice leftover from cutting one up,a mango,banana,and bluebs.all juicy in the sun.zedohmygod.

actually i'll leave you with this:
SUNDAY JUNE 14TH is the next BLIM Monthly Community Market.
And,like at the previous markets,I will be selling vegan baked goods!Last month there was mint chocolate oreo cake,9 varieties of danishes,and more!so it's DEFINITELY worth it to come out!
please note that I will be selling inside of BLIM(half a block west of main,on 17th)with the other food vendors.

here are the details:

"Sunday June 14 | 12 – 6 PM | Free
@ Outside on Main and 17th

Blim will be presenting a monthly Main Street Community Market this month to take place at outside on Main street and 17th from 12–6 PM, and will be in conjunction with Main Street Car-Free Day.

This Months market will include over 50 vendors, live music, hot food, beverages, and entertainment. Vendors will include food, fashion, accessories, supplies, fine art, vintage items and records, and not be limited to crafts, and there will be a focus on nurturing and promoting creative production in our community. We want to appeal to young, old, hip, plain, babies, animals, men, women, everyone.

We are very excited about this event and what it can contribute to Main Street’s artistic vitality, and how it can help support and encourage the local creative community.

Exclusive at BLIM:
basement sweet (jewellery)
Blim (clothing and accessories)
darwin meyers (used vinyl)
Evan McGraw (delicious vegan pastries)(inside BLIM Lounge)
Gldnmilitia (modern and vintage jewellery)
Julia Lemieux (tasty vegan baked goods)(inside BLIM Lounge)
Noel Macul and Daniel Giantomaso (vintage toys and comics)
Open Sesame (homemade gourmet Japanese cuisine)(inside BLIM Lounge)"

also,this will be part of the increbile World Wide Vegan Bakesale(thanks gary)so check it out!

My Big Fat Vegan Bake Sale v2.0-Mint Chocolate Oreo Cake,9 Varieties of Danishes(fig!),Lots of Muffins,and a lot more...PLUS East Van Barista Jam

2009-05-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hey.So this past sunday was the second BLIM Monthly Community Market,and again i was selling vegan baked goods.oh,and that's the poster i made for my table.it's ballpoint pen and coloured pencils.

Mint Chocolate Oreo Cake.
so i wasn't actually gonna make this,or any cake,rather i was going to only bake what sold really well last time and lots of it and stick to that.BUT,everytime my mom visits she says "you should make a cake for yr next bake sale and sell slices,and have them in little pieces of wax paper for people.but in the shape of a cake still.that would sell.you should do that.people like cakes.make one that looks nice.and put the slices in little pieces of wax paper.i see people do that all the time.that would sell."
but i still wasn't going to.then last week she said it again,and even said that if it didn't sell then she would buy it from me.i wouldn't have taken her money(maybe...)but i decided to do it to make her happy.so,since i still have some Trader Joes Peppermint Jo Jo's left, i decided to do a mint chocolate oreo cake.it was chocolate cake,mint buttercream frosting,more chocolate cake,and A LOT of thick chocolate ganache.and extra mint frosting on top and bottom,and quite a few of the peppermint jo jo's.and well,it sold.i sold a slice before i had even taken my stuff out of mimi's car to set up the table.so i guess my mom was right.
i still have some jojo's,and the boxes say they're good until july,so there miiiight be another cake at the one next month on june 14th...

Danishes!9 Varieties!
From left to right,top to bottom:
fig,blueberry,chocolate hazelnut raspberry,coconut mango,nutella,grape,raspberry,strawberry,and cherry cheese.

oh,hey,this is freaking Rose Melberg with a chocolate hazelnut raspberry danish.i was kind of blown away.
joanna said this on flickr

"it's too bad that you decided at the last minute not to make some peanut butter pillows and call them "the softies.""

and it made me really happy.

Nutella Danish.

Blueberry Danish.

Fig Danish.

studio from the ppk and her fig danish.

Coconut Mango Danish.

Raspberry Danish.

Grape Danish.

Cherry Cheese Danish.

okay,sick of danishes yet?!
moving on...

Cinnamon Rolls.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk muffins.

Mixed Berry Muffins.

Peanut Butter Cups.

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chip Cookies.
i.e the best cookies EVER.a few ppkers,daniel's boyfriend,and myself agree.

and some dough.maybe better than the cookies?

the spread.

denyce has really great taste in music.

leila and becca even brought me coffee.and i didn't know they were coming!it was from the le faux bourgeoise cafe that opened.not bad,but...

lorrie.

mimsicle is the best.

and the internet came!

and their children.

and there you have it.whoo.

pre-bake sale black cat espresso at wicked cafe.i had to go that morning to get 20% off beans so...

speaking of coffee,last week i went to the east van barista jam.which was awesome.i think i'm really becoming a coffee connoisseur now.or nerd.whatevs.thanks so much michelle,who works at radio station cafe,for letting me know about this and being so nice and friendly that day.

it was at radio station cafe,i met a lot of friendly people,there was a lot of fancy cameras,and umm it was really exciting watching baristas,and some non-baristas,pull shots for 3.5 hours.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chunk Bread.

peanut buttered.

9 free organic bananas from whole foods.
the one furthest to the right was already mine,and i was just eating it.
see,i just asked if there was overripe bananas.the guy said probably not,but that's he'd look in the back,came back with a box,and said to tell the cashier they were courtesy of brayden in produce.
and honestly,look at those bananas,they're totally sellable!

i guess you could say that the bread was partly inspired by the coffee-filled events earlier in the day...

free poured soy cappuccino at jj bean in yaletown.
dan and i went on a date.
ordering this was a hassle though-the girl told me they scoop the cappuccinos and made it seem like they wouldn't be able to do otherwise,and i didn't want a latte really,so i was taking forever and then they asked what exactly was it that i wanted,because i hadn't
specifically said before "i want a free poured soy cappuccino" and so then the barista was like yeah,i can do that,and the problem was solved.was it even a problem?

and i'm just not gonna shut up about coffee...

soy macchicato at jj bean on commercial drive

last thursday,brian,or,hoveringdog from the ppk(internet fame,f'reals)was here in vancouver and i showed him around for about 3.5 hours,wish it could have been longer,but we saw a lot,and had coffee attwo of the best cafes in vancouver for good espresso

but i don't think he even knew

we met at wicked cafe downtown and he actually brought me some sweet & sara marshies.yes.

okay,and here's a big mango:

see ya.

Vegan Brunch is Here!Raspberries!Victoria!Danishes!Etc...

2009-05-13T02:03:00.000-07:00

OHMYGOD YOU GUYS!DID YOU KNOW THAT VEGAN BRUNCH IS FINALLY HERE?!
to celebrate,these are the Bakery-Style Mixed Berry Muffins.They're pretty much going to be the new 'Best Pumpkin Muffins'.Does that make sense?They're really big,fluffy,perfectly moist,sweet,and well,muffin-y in the best way possible.For this batch I used whole wheat pastry flour,will no-less awesome results.

and speaking of bother berries and isa,here is the Raspberry Blackout Cake from Vegan with a Vengeance.
I'm instantly reminded of why I will always love that book.
This was for Mimi's 30th birthday.I was all fancy and used organic raspberry preserves and even bought fresh raspberries at the new Whole Foods to decorate it.And they cost a small fortune.But some made their way into the muffs.

and speaking of raspberries...

Raspberry Blackout Danish.Danish with a chocolate hazelnut raspberry filling.

mini Zebra Pastry.
Just cuz.

Oh and last week I went with my good friends Joanne and Glenn of Liberation BC fame to Victoria,where Joanne,who is working at HSI currently was organizing a bear trophy hunting demonstration at the Parliament building.We built a teddy bear monument.It was really fun.Though,it started pouring at about 10 to 2,right when it started.Fun.
It went really well though.

soya.

Oh,and I should mention that Denyce,a fellow ppker had been in contact with me about mail ordering some danishes and cinnamon rolls the week previous.How serendipitous that I would be going to Victoria,so we met up and I sold her some goods.Also,I provided nourishment for the 5 of us who drove over:

very professional.

sick of seeing danishes yet?

green cuisine.

mango.

honeydew.

bird watching.

...and of course there was coffees.
But really fantastic coffee from 2% Jazz.

soy macchiato #1.

soy macchiato #2.for FREE!

the first one was good,but this one was ambrosial.f'reals.
and prettier.
apparently it was a shorter pull.
can i mention that they use Soy Dream soymilk?
yeah,the guy and i were talking and i was like "well,if you can make the macchiato really pretty,that's a bonus.."and he was all "well,latte art with soymilk is easy,but it's just generally harder in a macchiato" and so i had the first one and then he just looked at me and was like "do you want another?"
how great is that?

oh and i'll also mention that soy dream french vanilla ice cream is amazing.people don't really seem to like it!
wtf is with all these companies making vanilla bean,when french vanilla,all off-white/manilla coloured,is the best?!and they don't even sell it here anymore.laaame.

done.

and more coffee:

free-pour soy cappuccino at wicked cafe.
it's nice to get intelligentsia coffees in vancouver,especially since all anywhere else seems to serve is 49th parallel.diversity is good and nice.

I finally used my free coffee stamp card at wicked cafe last week.i had to make an event of it so i brought dan,his boyfriend james,and maria.

My Big Fat Vegan Bake Sale V 1.0-7 Danish Varieties,Cinnamon Rolls Squared,Myriad of Cookies,Peanut Butter Cups,etc...

2009-05-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

Regular Cinnamon Rolls.

Wheat-Free Peanut Butter Cinnamon Rolls

Hi.So last Sunday I participated in the BLIM Monthly Community Market.I was selling vegan baked goods.I did this back in December,but that was the big winter market,and back then they were only once a season.Now they're monthly!

"Blim community market will be on last Sunday of every month from 11–6 PM. It will include 30 vendors, live music, hot food, beverages, and entertainment. Vendors will include food, fashion, accessories, supplies, fine art, vintage items and records, and not be limited to crafts, and there will be a focus on nurturing and promoting creative production in our community. We want to appeal to young, old, hip, plain, babies, animals, men, women, everyone.

We are very excited about this event and what it can contribute to Main Street’s artistic vitality, and how it can help support and encourage the local creative community."

next one is may 24th-and i'll be selling again!

it went really really well!it was a lot of work,but i sold a lot of stuff,made some money,and had a good time!i made A LOT of stuff,though...

Me and the spread before the sale started.There's Lisa,to my right!

so,there was 7 different types of danishes...

Peach Melba Danish.

Concord Grape Danish.

Apple Pie Danish.

Blueberry Danish.

Toasted Coconut Mango Danish.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish.

and that's the epic variety of danishes i made.i made about 60 in total.they sold.

and here's some more stuff i had...

Magic Bars.

the best cookies EVER.
made with White Chocolate Wonderful Peanut Butter and vegan white chocolate chips.

the internet will agree.they came twice!

self-explanatory.

there was lots of cookies!
the ones on the right and left of the platter are oatmeal raisin,oatmeal chocolate chunk,or oatmeal with coconut,pecans and cranberries.

babes.

i hadn't seen ashley since september and she surprised me by coming!she had no other plans,so i made her work at the table with me so i could use the bathroom and not get my hands sticky and stuff.

some crazy woman was being all gross and wouldn't leave me alone

but check out the vendor behing her.ha.

and i'll leave you with a picture of darwin,who was eating mango,too.well,mango on something...i dunno.
thanks to darwin for encouraging me to do this-i ran into him at gene 6 days before,and because of that phoned yuriko that night and took a spot from somebody who cancelled!
big thanks to BLIM for putting this one-it's really great to get so many artists and designers attention/ exposure to customers/interested people that they normally wouldn't get.
and it was really a success,so i'm going to be doing them the rest of the summer,so if yr in vancouver,definitley come!!!

Earth Day Action:Over 500 Vegan Mini-Cupcakes!

2009-04-24T01:41:00.000-07:00

my friend glenn gaetz from liberation bc and i baked about 600 vegan mini cupcakes to handout on earth day to raise awareness of veganism and the effects that eating a plant-based diet and cutting out animal products has on the environment.
i made vanilla,glenn made chocolate.
i used sprinkles,glenn had little green 'vegan' flags.
glenn wanted something tangible to handout for earthday besides just leaflets,so i suggested cupcakes,and then went on about how i made 538 in one day when isa was here for taste of health and how easy it was.i didn't think we'd actually end up doing it,but we did!
frosting mini cupcakes is so much fun!i could do it all day.
it wasn't just glenn and i,though!we made the cakes,but there was lots of volunteers and liberation bc members at the "event" doing stuff and helping which was really great,too.
and we even got fellow non-vegan related blog mentions!

whatever could be going on?

oh,well of course!duh.

here,take one,please!

a swarm of school children,swarming!

but they all said "thank you" in unison as they left!

...vegan....?what are those?

friends love cupcakes!

this is Glenn's friend Paul,and he made cupcakes,too!48 red velvets.

CARROTS:Cookie Cream Cheese Sammiches,Big Top Muffins,

2009-04-14T00:18:00.000-07:00

Carrot Cake Cream Cheese Sammich Cookies

Hi.So it was Easter,and I baked a lot of stuff.I thought carrot things would be appropriate,since y'know,bunnies.No chocolate though.BUT my dad was visiting and bought me some Purely Decadent Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Creams.
The cookie sammiches are/were testers for isa and terry,though it's an old tester(i also made these in september)
so good.like...why have i not made these since then?!
festive!

Big Top Carrot Muffs

leftover frosting:

makes cuppers!

Easter Coffee-Free-Pour Traditional Soy Cappuccino from JJ Bean on Main Street

Soy Latte at PRADO

Magic Bars(cookie book testers)
I posted about these before.Everyone loves them.Maybe Bryan Adams did,too?I made them 3 times last week.Sian bought some to bring to her office.Ha.Karl said they're "outrageous".

Abate Fetel

the guy at capers gave me a free pear when i asked what an abate fetel,which i'd never had,tasted like.awesome.
oh,and mango.can't go without mango.god i love them.
oh,and the pear was superb,too.
thanks,mike.

...and because peanut butter on pears is my third current food obsession...

and I guess I can't make a post with just one mention of peanut butter...

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies.
what more can I say?

well,I guess I could say that.

...and that these my favourite cookie,my favourite cookie dough.i've been making these for like 3.5 years now and every time i do i make a big ball of the dough and wrap it in saran wrap and stick it in the fridge and then later take a huge bite and zedohmygod,so satisfying.yumzxorz.

AND because this seems to be the new way I end all of my entries...

Soy Cappuccino at Gene.
and I was kind of reminded of why I went there every single day in December.

see ya

Apple Danishes,Cookie Testing,Incredible Muffins,Bryan Adams,Chocolate Cake,Figs,and Of Course,Peanut Butter.Oh,and a Few Pretty Coffees

2009-04-03T00:22:00.000-07:00

Organic Apple Danishes.

braeburn,jonagold,aurora golden gala,mutsu,pinsi.

so i was at drive organics and kinna curious about the apples since there was like 3 i had never even heard of,and the produce lady started telling me about them and then was like "you can try them".i say "sure".then i wait for her to cut one/some up...but she says i can just pick em up and bite into them...so i do.and then there's 5 apples with a bite or two missing,and i've tried em,made up my mind,and there is 5 apples still with one bite missing.nobody else is gonna sample them.so i go find the lady,thank her,and say "umm,but what are you guys gonna do with those apples missing a bite or two?" kind of perplexed.she said i can bring em to the back or just take em.seriously.so i got 5 almost-whole organic BC apples for free!
she said they hardly ever do samples,so it's no biggie.not that they don't want to do samples,it's just a lot of effort she said,so she had no problem letting me try the apples.
and this is how the apple danishes began.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish.
I made these the same night,but with frozen strawberries from a u-pick from Mimi from last summer.I have a great story about that too,but that is neither here nor there.

and I know i'm getting ahead of myself,because i'm gonna get to an entire segment of this blog post all about (tester) cookies,but...

Soft Whole Wheat Fig Bars.

These get a special mention because over the past few months,my love for dried figs are re-birthed and has since become stronger than it ever was before.I eat them at least once a day.I love them.And these bars,were freaking phenomenal.
I love fig newtons,and i love the "fig-not-ins" from 'vegan with a vengeance',but these are like all that figgy goodness bundled up in the biggest,warmest,softest comforter you have,offering you a fig bar that feels like you're being given more.something extra.

oh,and they're healthy.and perfect for being dipped in milk.or...

and since I started on the peanut butter...

Maranatha Calcium Fortified Peanut Butter!
now,as you may recall,Maranatha is my favourite brand of peanut butter.Yeah,it's more expensive here,but there's just that little thing to it-it's like really good coffee-you can just taste that little difference.
ANYWAYS,I bought this at New Season's when I was in Portland,finished the jar,and bought another one when I was in Orange County at Mothers.I was super excited that it has so much calcium in it,and peanut butter already being my favourite food,this was perfect.I highly recommend it if you want or need to add more calcium to yr diet,like I do.
Geeze,you'd think Maranatha was giving me free stuff for this...(nudge nudge,wink wink...)

I enjoyed it with some of this crazy white chocolate swirl hazelnut spread Melissa gave me,and on an orange once,too:

and a current obsession...

peanut butter and pears.
oh my god.
i also love how this looks like a christmas tree.especially in that lighting.
it's best to use salted peanut butter and ripe and juicy pears.
oh my god.so in love.
i've enjoyed this combo for a while,mainly back in january with comice,my faves,but a nice,ripe bosc....dear god.

other things i love spread with peanut butter...

Banana-Chocolate-Coconut-Almond-Oatmeal Muffins.
I've made these twice in the past 5 or 6 days.

with chips and mini chips,and a singular chunk pressed into the top:

with chunks:

chocolatiest Chocolate Cake.

I got an email for a birthday cake order on Tuesday and this was it.It was 2 layers of chocolate cake,chocolate buttercream in the middle,a layer of chocolate ganache,i let that set and then did another layer of chocolate ganache so it's be super thick and fudgey,and decorated the top with left over buttercream and ganache mixed togeth and piped,which was covered with chocolate sprinkles,mini chocolate chips,and exrta dark chocolate chunks.

this isn't a tester cookie.but it represents
a)canada
b)cookies
perfectly,which i'm about to mention.you can get this type of cookie anywhere in vancouver,usually vegan,but US vegans are flipping out over how amazing the new Trader Joe's ones are because they(well..i dunno about Vermontians)don't have an over abundance of souvenir-y,pride-y,maple-y things everywhere.
these specific ones are the shopper's drug mart organics ones.

oh,and since being back in Vancouver i've been testing a lot for Isa and Terry's upcoming cookie book.
I know,after staying with Isa and having stupid cookies be the reason for my existence I thought i'd never make one again.wrong.

Peanut Butter Pillows.

Caramel Pecan Bars.

Lazy Samoans.
Like the girl scout cookies.handsdown EVERYONE'S favourite.well,not be,but still.i'm biased.

Big Fat Rice Krispy Square.Just like the "real thing".

Fruity Oaty Bars.

mini chips.

Cheesecake Chip Topped Brownies.
Yeah,they're as good as they look.Even better,probably.Super rich.And I even got mini chips to make these.
Part of the batch of these I made went to the Bryan Adams thing.Yes...Bryan Adams.

Cinnamon Rolls.

well,Bryan Adams is canadian,AND vegan,AND was in vancouver for the juno awards,so i was supposed to help this guy Alan out anyways who i sometimes work for who makes vegan cheesecakes,who had been in touch with Bryan Adams' 'people' and they asked for samples of his product for Bryan Adams to try.so last thursday night i got a message asking if i could bake a bunch of stuff for Bryan Adams to recieve with the vegan cheesecake today and bring it with me when i go to work.so i baked cinnamon rolls,2 types of blondies,brownies,and magic bars(cookie tester) and then got to go to Bryan Adams' studio to drop the stuff off.but..he wasn't in Vancouver until the next day,so i didn't get to meet him.but i got paid!though the guy who does the cheesecakes didn't because he was the one giving Bryan Adams samples hoping that he'll become a customer when in vancouver...but i think it's pretty awesome that Bryan Adams is gonna eat a cheesecake brownie and cinnamon roll that i baked!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondie.

Chocolate Chip Blondies.

Peanut Butter Blondies.
y'know,those tester ones that are my favourite thing ever?

Magic Bars.
also posted about these before.
though this particular batch was made with carob.

...and I think that's it for the bakings as of late!
So,like last time,i'll end with some pretty coffees.

FREE 5 oz latte at Caffe Artigiano.
i was bitching soo much about how i wanted a pretty cappuccino(they only scoop-no free pour-wtf?!)and then a pretty soy latte if i had to settle,and the cashier was like "well,we'll see what we can do,but i don't want you to be disappointed,so it's on me."
and it was stunning.

Soy Macchiato at JJ Bean,on Main Street.
I probably only got off because it was 10:43pm when i got this and they close at 11:00pm,but there's literally 1 oz of milk in a macchiato,and still charging $0.50 because it's soy isn't even ridiculous,it's just stupid.

Cutest Soy Macchiato.
i say cutest because it was pretty,but the guy(i think his name was david?)put it in a to-go cup,which was way too big for it,so it looked like a cute little number of a drink.
from JJ Bean on main street.again.

Insane Brownie-Chunk Mint-Cookie N Cream Layer Cake!!!

2009-03-28T00:34:00.000-07:00

Brownie-Chunk Mint-Cookies N Cream Layer Cake.

My little brother Tubb had his birthday on March 15th.So to celebrate,I made him this cake.

-2 layers of chocolate cake
-mint cookies n cream buttercream made with peppermint joe joe's
-a pile of mint fudge bronwies ontop
-lots of gooey fudgey ganache
more peppermint joe joes.

You see,last year I made him this "Insane S'mores Cake with lots of Marshmallows",which earned me free marshies from Sweet & Sara(thanks again!!!) and felt I had to,if not out-do myself,at least attempt birthday cake greatness/over-the-top deliciousness.

a very happy birthday boy!

Lots of Ice Cream in LA;Peanut Butter Parfait;Kind-of-Amazing Coffees;&&& More

2009-03-15T01:37:00.000-07:00

Peanut Butter Chocolate,Vanilla Crumb,and Hazelnut Oreo Ice Cream at Scoops in LA.
So after getting a $45 plane ticket to Southern California instead of driving and waiting at the airport for 4 hours to get picked up by my best friend who had been there for 4 hours too and was just waiting at the wrong terminal,we went to Scoops.The ice cream was kind of amazing.But not the best ever.I still think that Lula's Sweet Apothecary in NYC has had the best vegan ice cream i've ever had,but this was much better than Maggie Mudd in San Francisco,and I thought Maggie Mudd was great.

Guava Sorbet and Vanilla-Chocolate Ice Cream

Two days later I went back to Scoops with my friend Ashley and Desiree and had Coffee-Molasses Ice Cream.

it was soo good.
A LOT like the starbucks coffee ice cream i used to eat from bristol farms in like 1999.but also kind of like an uncle eddies molasses cookie.zedomg.

that is a vegan peanut butter chip.
they had peanut butter chip ice cream,but by the time i got there,there was only enough for a sample-not even a scoop.
:(

I know,sacrelige,but here's some "real" food. I love the Kale Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce at M Cafe on Melrose. I mentioned how much I love kabocha squash before,and next to that is a Kabocha Cous Cous Salad. It was mostly mashed squash,but with a nice textural bite/clump of cous cous every once in a while. Together,the two salads were even better.

Ashley had the Club Sammich,which I had there about 2 years ago the first time I ever went,and Liz had last year,sans tomatoes.

Desiree had some crazy huge sammich that wasn't as good as the club,and I thought it tasted like pizza,but she liked it.

yum.

LACMA

Green Tea Ice Cream with Fried Bananas at Wheel Of Life in Irvine.
The fried bananas were sooooo good.I kinna wish it was peanut butter ice cream,but green tea was nice.Not too sweet,but not grossly unsweet.I had no idea that Wheel had desserts,which I think I would have since I first went there when I was 12(!) and had been vegetarian for less than a year.I used to really like the orange chicken,but I can't stand fake meat anymore.And i've tried it since.

'Better than Cheesecake'.
Apparently it's their most popular dessert.I didn't like it after the first bite,but then it grew on me,and I finished it,so it was good.I'm just not huge on cheesecake,but if you are,then I think you'd like it.

alan voo,desiree and ashley's cat,is the best.

Did you know that they opened a Native Foods in Aliso Viejo?
This is only kinna a big deal because I used to hangout in front of those movie theatres every Friday night in middle school,when I attended Aliso Viejo Middle School.So I used to go to the Native in Costa Mesa,I started going there when I was 13 and go to that one with Orange County friends whenever I visit,but now there's one 5 minutes away instead of 20 minutes away,so we just went to the AV one,kinna a lot.Well,Chris and I went there twice and the CM one twice during my 5 day trip,so...

Native Caesar.

some posole soup.part of the bail-out special.

Seitan Peppersteak Sandwich.
It had a suuuper yummy broth to dip into.I had this last April at the Costa Mesa location,but we got it because it was the special that day-though not the bail-out special like Chris thought.

just steamed vegetables.
NOT grilled.and with kale.thanks greg.

Oh,this is Greg.He's Chris and my new BFF.He works at the Aliso Native AND at the Laguna Woods Mother's Market.
how freaking vegan is he?!

"gregarious".ha!

Enough messing around.Here's the most important thing about Native

PEANUT BUTTER PARFAITS!!!

SO good.Chris and I had these every night for 3 consecutive nights.Well,Chris had one for breakfast once instead,but still.

Boogie Bars.
Yes,there's chunks of the boogie bars in the parfaits,but you really need to buy a separate chunk of boogie to go along with the parfait.

what can I say?

3 nights,3 moustaches.

raw chocolate pudding 'stache at Aliso Native Foods.

Oh,and I met Tanya,the owner/mastermind behind Native.She's on the cover of the cookbook.Well,her cookbook.Ummm uhhh yeah anyways,it was awesome,we just started talking and I ended up showing her my sketchbook and her,Chris,and I ended up talking for like half an hour!She has a lot of energy and ideas,and really liked to talk.awesome.

In LA there's an awesome 7-11 type convenience store that is all eco-friendly and what-have-you and it's really awesome.It's called LOCALI.They have an agave-sweetened slurpee machine,hot pretzels,fresh vegan baked goods,a large freezer with raw ice cream,coconut milk ice cream and more,vegan truffle tarts in the fridge,pre-packed sammiches from M Cafe,vegan condoms,tons of books and chocolates and other stuff.The two staff working were suuuuper nice,too!

This Michelle's Vegan Peanut Butter Apricot Cookie was actually really good.I wasn't expecting much since it's whole wheat and fruit juice sweetened,but it has a crunchy exterior with a chewy,sweet,peanut buttery inside.Though it was a bit crumbly.BUt the apricot chunks were fantastic!It's such a crazy combination,like it's not a "thing" or anything,and I just happen to maybe like both of them.

soy macchiato at Intelligentsia in Silverlake.

Of course I HAD to go there.And I did.And I would go back in an instant,because it was really fantastic coffee.I've had Intelligentsia espresso before at Raging Bean and Wicked in Vancouver,so I knew the taste,and I knew that it would be good,but the baristas here actually knew wtf they were doing with soymilk(West Soy,apparently)and when I asked him to make my drink all pretty he said "that's how we do them".In a pretty snarky tone,too!It made me soooo happy.Though,I've never been to a more expensive coffee shop,so if you plan on going,plan on spending like at least $10 for 2 drinks.

Well,I guess that's my Southern California post!I did a bunch more stuff there,but it wasn't related to veganism and baking and stuff,so I won't mention it.

Vegan FroYo in Palo Alto!Maggie Mudd, and Chocolates!

2009-03-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Fraiche in Palo Alto.

Plain soy frozen yogurt with dried figs(!!!),toasted coconut,and granola.
melissa took me to fraiche in palo alto today after dropping strummer off at her parent's place.we weren't gonna go maybe because i thought i wouldn't like it.WRONG.
so freaking good.not even like sweet,it's plain frozen yogurt.very tangy.amazing.
i could totally eat this every single day.too bad it's in palo alto.i wasn't expecting to like it either...

toppings:

i got really excited that they had blue bottle coffee,which i keep going to,and is by far the best coffee i've had in san francisco,and basically trumps anything i had over the course of those 3.5 weeks in portland.

and melissa didn't want her photo taken,but there's this:

and keeping with the cool treats theme,how about some Peanut Butter Palooka ice cream?
bought in the carton,by Maggie Mudd.

it's pretty amazing.peanut butter ice cream,with peanut butter swirls and chocolate covered peanuts.
though i must say,i'm a bit spoiled,and it doesn't have anything on the peanut butter fudge ice cream i had at Lula's Sweet Apothecary a few months ago.THAT is the best ice cream i've ever had.

and more ice cream,melissa kept going on and on and on and on about Double Rainbow Soy Cream.So we tried that as well.Cinnamon Caramel flavour.It was awesome.Like,I wasn't expecting it to be amazing,just good.But it was very soft,and sooo creamy,and cinnamon-y,and there was HUGE streaks,and globs,of caramel-like half melted caramel chews almost.If you have this brand available to you,you MUST try it.So yummy.

melissa finished it off.well,about 3/4 of all of it.she REALLY loves this stuff.

before trying the peanut butter palooka at home,we actually went to Maggie Mudd!

i had a 24oz milkshake made with tarmack(chocolate,peanut butter,and cookies!),banana rum brownie,and the 'dubliner' which consisted of whiskey,coffee,and chocolate.those were the ice creams,which were made into the shake with peanut butter,peanut butter cookies,and oreos.it took an hour to finish.

melissa got 'froot loops':

okay,i think that's all of the cool treats.
so here's some coffee:

soy latte at four barrel.

and to mention melissa once more,when I got to San Francisco,she had gotten me these Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates!

they were all good-cranberry ginger,coconut...but i'll leave you with the most amazing one:

TURTLES!!!

i'm so glad that there was most of this flavour.
from their site:
"The VEGAN turtles are made with rich, dark 65% chocolate, rich vegan caramel, crunchy rice crispies and organic cashews. A dark chocolate version of a classic! 100% organic, fair trade. The vegan turtles are soy lecithin free too! Creamy, crunchy, caramel - the kid in every one will love this treat!"

order some online here.
it doesn't have to be for you-it could be for me!please?

Speculoos Danishes!plus apple,lemon and white chocolate!

2009-02-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

hi,in san francisco today i made danishes at melissa's house!thanks to melissa who gave me a jar of this incredible speculoos cookie spread-which tastes like those thin spicy cookies they sell at ikea,and well smells like ikea and wonderful and amazing and kinna pizelle like,there is speculoos danishes!also thanks to melissa i got to make them because it was at her house and she supplied all the ingredients!zedomg.

apple danish

white chocolate macadamia nut danish

lemon danish
melissa made the lemon curd for some cupcakes,so the leftover was used for danishes!it's great!

a canadian enjoying a danish!

vegan white chocolate bar

believe the hype-this stuff is amazing!
i mean,it's a spread,like a nut butter,made from cookies!!!

eating higher education

2009-02-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

i found out on tuesday afternoon that i was accepted early decision to the cooper union school of art.since i'm staying in portland at jess's house and wednesday is 'lost' night when everyone comes over and watches 'lost'(not a fan)we kinna celebrated my acceptance too.except pharrel,because she hates my guts.

it's a peanut butter mousse pie with a peanut butter chocolate crust.the crust is actually gluten-free,but sharin didn't come.the writing is with chocolate ganache.there isn't really a recipe for the pie,but there's agar,a lot of peanut butter,semi sweet chocolate,brown rice syrup,fancy vanilla powder and some other stuff in it.

A lot of Cookies.Quite a few danishes.And other things.

2009-01-25T20:43:00.000-08:00

Nutter Butters.

I've been testing cookies for Isa and Terry's upcoming cookie book.Here is some highlights.I'll start with peanut butter ones first.

Peanut Butter Blondies.
best thing ever.or,second best.so damn good.my favourites.

they're so good that I made them again this week.I made Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies too,to compare them.No,I don't have a winner.yet.

Peanut Butter Cactus Cookies.

with chocolate chips.

moving on...

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies.
One of my faves.Really healthy and hearty,too.Like really awesome banana bread,in a cookie.

outside SOMA-ish...

"Call Me Blondies".

one of the best yet.With white and dark chocolate chips.Sooo gooey,and fudgy,chewy and dense.Whoa.

Magic Coconut Cookie Bars.
Coconut caramel,chocolate,nuts,coconut,graham crackers....these killed.

Spiced Sweet Potato Blondies.
I love the spices in these,especially the ginger.Ben said they're one of the best things i've ever made.And he's tried a lot of stuff I make.

See,he really liked them.

Roasted Almond Cookies with Fleur de Sel.
Very fancy.Very nice.

Rainbow Danishes.Thanks for the chips,Sara Chan.

bluebs.

homemade blueberry filling.

Mini Danishes!!!

raspberry,too.

Perfect Bakery Style Banana Muffins.Zedomg.

best way to eat.

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins.
Jeanieinabottle from the ppk asked had to make her some stuff when she was in Vancouver earlier this month,including these awesome muffins.

Vanilla Cranberry Peanut Butter White Chocolate Mousse.

a la Jess,who did the same here.
and i just MIGHT have hung out with her today.I am NOT in portland or anything.Just sayin'.

last year all the stores had them for months and months after christmas.this year though,there's none to be seen.the last 2 from choices on cambie.and i had a coupon.

PB&F.

Sarah and I went to Starbucks and had "new tea lattes".

she bad black tea.

i had green tea.so green!

4 shot americano at the elysian room.thanks sian.

I bought a $1.50 pineapple at pike place market last friday.i was really excited,even thought i hadn't had fresh pineapple for 1.5 years because it cuts up my mouth and turned my tongue white and bumby.Did the same thing after a while,but I still broiled it.

and had to pick it out of here.

speaking of fruit salad,here's new years eve.

fin.

Beta Carotene + Cream Cheese Frosting=Heaven...

2009-01-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

Chewy Sweet Potato Cremewhiches

Beta Carotene + Cream Cheese Frosting + Chocolate=VIP Room in Heaven.

Punkin Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls.
Recipe from Don't Eat Off the Sidewalk.If you have the zine,i'm mentioned,and it's about adding chocolate to these amazing rolls.
Oh,and that's a glass of peppermint chocolate soymilk in the background.Dipping the rolls in it was sooo good.zedomg.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
for Ben's dad's bridge game.

and without the frosting...

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies

Sweet Potato Pie with Three Nut Topping

Pumpkin Pie with Candied Pecans

and in the coffee adventures...

soy cappuccino at re-entry espresso,vancouver.
BUT it doesn't count because the guy who poured didn't actually work there-he was the australian girl's friend!

on new years eve.at salt spring coffee,because ben hates re-entry,but there was sprinkles on the bar!

and umm i got an espresso maker.awesome!

pudding.trifle.bread.bananas.pumpkin.ginger.

2008-12-22T02:11:00.000-08:00

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Peanut Butter Caramel and Vanilla Ice Cream.

ginger.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle.
Pumpkin pudding + vanilla cream + gingerbread.

Oh Yeah,Forgot to Mention,I Had a Birthday-and a Cake..with 4 Different Peanut Butter Frostings and Stuff...

2008-12-20T01:11:00.001-08:00

My birthday cake was 4 layers of cake-brownie,peanut butter blondie,brownie,peanut butter blondie.
and since I had all of these flavoured peanut butters,I had 4 layers of peanut butter frosting,too-vanilla cranberry peanut butter frosting,white chocolate peanut butter frosting,cinnamon raisin peanut butter frosting,and plain ol' peanut butter frosting.

it was decorated with peanut butter covered pretzels,peanut butter cups,thick chocolate ganache,melted chocolate,and more frosting.yump.

zedomg

NEW YORK CITY:A LOT OF ICE CREAM,PEANUT BUTTER,AND COFFEE-The Epic Post

2008-12-10T00:42:00.000-08:00

Okay,so I was in NYC from November 5 for 2 weeks and ate a lot of ice cream,drank a lot of coffee,walked a lot,did a lot of drawing,talking,talking about drawing,subway riding,and meeting lots of people.INcluding Thurston Moore.
Anyways,here's lots of pictures and reviews about stuffs.

First things first is Lula's Sweet Apothecary.
The all vegan old fashioned ice cream parlour in the East Village which opened about 2 months ago now.
I already had plans to meet up with friends there and then a big PPK meet up on the 15th before I got to New York.But then I ended up going there almost every single day they were open.And then I kind of became BFF with Blythe and Derek,the wonderful proprietors.And one night I ended up hanging out there after a school open house for like 6 hours and met this amazing man named Hippie Lou and we talked for hours and he let me get whatever I wanted on him.And he was serious.And I had already eaten ice cream so I wasn't going to get anymore.But then Blythe's sister was like "Hippe Lou is totally serious.You have to take advantage of this-it's a New York moment" and no matter how cheesy that sounds it totally changed my mind and I realized that later is never and I needed to take advantage of being in an all vegan ice cream parlour and being able to get whatever I wanted for free,and so I did.I got a banana split with every topping.Over 19 toppings.All over a banana and a Sweet and Sara Peanut Butter S'mores Pie that Blythe threw in.

There was 4 different types of Newman Os,non pareils,vegan almond joy bar thingies,graham crackers,gummy worms,gummy bears,sour gummy bears,all sorts of nuts,candied pecans,white chocolate chips,all sorts of jimmies,and even carob chips,which I like,and I wanted EVERY topping.And some more stuff topped off with hot fudge,caramel,whip cream,and a cherry.
Best thing I ate in New York by a long shot.
Here's the first night I went there,with Sarah Chans for the first of many encounters with her,

house made ice creams

ginger cookie sundae

s'mores sundae

peanut butter cookie flurry

cake batter ice cream(!!!!!!!) to go

and on other occasions:

vanilla softserve

softserve twist,and my beautiful hand

pink bubblegum(!!!!) and cake batter.on another visit to lula's with sarchies.she went there a lot,too.

the best ice cream i've ever had,ever.peanut butter with this unbelieveable fudge it it-like frozen hot fudge texture almost.god.

mini scoops of every flavour.

"i don't like whip cream because i actually hate everything"

and then we had a big PPK meet up there on one Saturday night.and I FINALLY got to meet Melisser.awesome.We hung out the next day,too,and talked a lot and went to the Bean which had no seating(ugh) and tried to find non gross bread at Whole Foods and went inside Yonah Shimmel,but Melissa hates everyone and decided the lady working the counter was a freak.
I made Blythe and Derek Peanut Butter Cinnamon Rolls,which were shared.

Sara brought amazing chewy peanut butter banana cookies with peanut chews and coconut almond joy bar things in them.

oh,and she had to get a scoop of strawberry with a scoop of peanut butter because of harry potter...

Terry can testify to this...

MALT SHOTS!!!there was vanilla,peanut butter,and pumpkin.gummy bears on the bottom of everything from this moment on?

there was this pumpkin pie ice cream which i can still remember exactly what is tasted like and it was kind of hard to stop eating before i left the store sunday morning at like 2:25am.

punkin sundae

MOVING ON...

I also had really incredible coffee in Brooklyn at Gorilla Coffee.I went there in the summer with Isa and Terry about 1.5 years ago,but didn't drink coffee then.I think that this was the best espresso i've ever had.Jet Fuel would probably be second best.I went here 3 times,and on the last bought a travel mug and got a free drink,so i got something I usually wouldn't and got the real Vermont maple syrup latte pictured above.best latte i've had ever,hands down.but c'mon,real maple syrup.

Pumpkin Muffin from s'nice in Brooklyn.They have good coffee(and other things) too.I went to the Manhattan one the first day I got in.

Vox Pop in Brooklyn.

One day,a Thursday,I met Sara at Earth Tonez(won't get into it,but the lady saw and tried the cookies I brought Sara and gave me their info to see if i'd sell baked goods there...haha) and after getting Gorilla Coffees and going to Vox Pop Sara decided she really wanted the Red Mango Peanut Butter Cheesecake I kept yapping about.
I had some at The Bean on 6th Avenue earlier that week,and it was incredible.Really.Like,such thick and sugary peanut butter frosting,but ontop of plain cheesecake,then a peanut butter layer,then a chocolate cookie crust.Oh,and there's really thick ganache.I like how the cheesecake was plain,it was interesting,and nice considering there was 2 other peanut butter parts and that was unexpected.Also,the cheesecake was awesome-light,didn't taste chemically and too tofutti-esque,and didn't tatse like eating sweet cream cheese with a spoon.Good.
Sarah and I got her slice at the Bean on 2nd Avenue.
I ended up getting coffee at the Bean a lot-I filled up TWO free drink cards.yikes.Though the one on 6 Avnue had awesome staff and there was this girl named Mel and she was listening to Sleater-Kinney the whole time and started telling me about how Carrie Brownstein came in there a couple weeks before and I told her all about my Sleater-Kinney experiences,etc and it was really great.Also,I went in just to get a coffee to go once and 'Jungle Land' by Bruce Springsteen came on the stereo and that's one of my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs,so i decided to sit down and stay,for at least the 9.5 minutes of whatever.

my slice

These Red Mango Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars were awesome,too.Everyone egrees.I got mine at Cakeshop though,which was a really cool cafe and bar,but unfotunately not a record store anymore.
So peanutty and rich...

Speaking of peanut butter,I also went to the Peanut Butter & Co. sammich store.I'd been before,so I just got sample sizes(25 cents each,for a good few tablespoons)because i'm not gonna spend $8 on a sammich on mediocre bread and potato chips,and I hate potatoes.

Babycakes.
Unlike last summer,they had frosting shots!and of course the frosting is the very best part,especially Babycakes frosting.How dooooes she do it?!

heck yes!

Thanks Paula for always going on on the boards about how amazing Whole Foods' spelt brownie is.Probably the best vegan brownies i've ever had that wasn't home made.Well,friend made,too.

PEANUT BUTTER VARIATION!!!

secretly composed of 98% Earth Balance?

what's a vegan?
actually,this particular Friday on the way to the Union Square Whole Foods I was at Cooper Square and some guy called me Chelsea Clinton.wtf?

I went to Food Swings with Sarah,who's awesome and lots of other stuff who I was staying with in Bed Stuy,John and a couple of their friends at 1:30am to get milkshakes after I went to see Zeena Parker and Thurston Moore at Glasslands.

I had cookie dough.I love cookie dough,so much.

John had 'the seymour' which was pisatchio ice cream,peanut butter,and cookies.as good as it sounds.

Keeping with the ice cream theme(HEY THAT RHYMES!)I also went to Penny Lick's.
I liked it because it's really cute,despite some of the Temptation ice cream being only okay,the cookie dough is really good,and you can get a $1 cone!How cute is that?

The place is basically Vegan Treats baked goods and Temptation ice cream and the like twice as much non vegan ice cream and a lot of non vegan desserts,BUT the girl working there was really nice and we were talking about my camera and she asked if it was the same one her friend just bought(yashica t4,which it wasn't) and then her friend actually came in and we started talking and then i was there for a long while and then she gave me free stuff!it was so sweet(hah,literally)of her,and i didn't even want an insane white chocolate brownie!oh well.

can you believe she did this for me?!

Last of the ice cream,I swear,but not least,this is Kabocha Squash Softserve from Kyotofu.I had this the very first night I got there,and the guy gave me 2 huge free samples and told me not to worry about buying any after the 'samples' when I said I would(!)so that was awesome,but besides that,this stuff was sooo good.SO creamy.And it was kobocha squash-my all time favourite squash.My number 4 all time favourite food.I eat plain kabocha squash almost everynight,tonight included(though I was sick and was told not to,I think it will be okay) and to have it in a sweet,creamy,softserve ice cream?Heavenly.
They switch flavours every Tuesday,so I went in a week later for Chestnut and Black Soybean Chocolate softserves.

chestnut was great,super sweet,but no kabocha.

and maybe I'll never be able to have a Vegan Treats dessert again(pssh yeah right) I enjoyed(most of) the Peanut Butter Bomb at Atlas
and the S'mores Cheesecake which the girl working the counter insisted I get.

I actually got to meet Danielle of Vegan Treats at Lula's the night of the insane banana split for like 2.5 seconds.
and there was the Sarah Kramer book release party(another Sara Chan experience) at Moo Shoes which surprisingly and unexpectedly had free Vegan Treats treats!The best ones i've ever had,actually.My favourite were the ones with the crunchy peanut butter topping.mmm.oh,and the pumpkin cheesecake was incredible.

caramel filled!!!

gold-flecked buttercream filled.

i didn't have a cupcake,but that's
okay,I mean,it's just a cupcake.

free huge oatmeal cookies from Birdbath Build a Green Bakery.
Free because they're supposed to be open till 10 and I was there at 9:40 and they were closed but the guy was inside talking to a friend so he went to the back,gave me a bag of vegan cookies,and that was it.Neat.Oh,and they're really good.There's coconut in em.

and my first Peanut Chews.Sarah(y'know,the awesome one with the even awesome cat who I was staying with) told me it was the first thing I had to eat when I was there,and so it was.They're super healthy,and all natural,dontchya know.

At Tillie's,In Brooklyn(near Pratt)

they had very good espresso.though the lady told me the wrong price and we started arguing and she was like "well it's cheaper than starbucks" and i pointed out that $3.50 for a double espresso was in fact not,and then she realized that she was naming the price for a wrong drink.Then we were nice.

and so that's basically the eating part of my NYC trip,which actually only took up a small fraction of it,and I have like 200 more pictures from a film camera,but most of those aren't developed.BUT here is Thurston Moore and I...

cuties,huh?

p.s not done with the ice creams

The Last Of Toronto and a Lot of Fudge

2008-12-01T11:54:00.000-08:00

Okay,so I'm back in Vancouver now,at least for a bit,but after Montreal,I went back to Toronto.I really like Toronto.

but before I yammer on more about Toronto,here's some Almond Butter Chocolate Cranberry Fudge.
Same recipe for the peanut butter fudge I posted last week,but with almond butter,and dried cranberries mixed in,and a chocolate drizzle.AHHHH.

not to betray peanut butter,I made some Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Fudge,too.

Speaking of fudge,I brought alex,who messaged me on the ppk after realizing I was in Toronto,some PB fudge when we met up at MoonBean Coffee.
He brought 2 friends,and they were all really great,but I can't remember their names,but I swear to god,she was definitely Swedish or something and even had an accent,but wouldn't admit to it.

Before meeting Alex,I actually went to Ezra's Pound,because I heard it was really good coffee.I know,it was out of my way and I was meeting 2 different people for coffee that day,but still.

their espresso was actually fantastic.and the girl's working behind the counter were really really nice and informative about school stuff and we ended up talking for like 10 or 15 minutes.and the place was really kitschy and fun,but also really well to do seeming.

Y'see,meeting Alex was kind of impromptu,so I already had plans to meet Brandy that day at Tango Palace,so I did,and umm,drank more coffees.

the double espresso was way too long,and it was good,but nothing special.excited that brandy will be here later this week,though.

espresso from Orange Alert.The man tried to convince me that it was the best coffee in the world.It was fine,I mean,but...

I'll save my crazy and disgusting story about going to Jet Fuel that night and spending 2 hours in the bathroom and having to take a taxi home because i'm sure nobody wants to hear it,and instead post about the Target chocolate peanut butter.

how amazing are dried strawberries?!ahhh.

yeah,it's really really good.My uncle mike really liked it.But angie wasn't thrilled that he eats stuff straight from the jar.
It's better than the peanut butter and co dark chocolate,which yeah,is my least favourite,and the molasses in this i think makes it really nice.and probably adds the calcium that the side of the jar says is in it.mmm.calcium.
sarah,who i was staying with in brooklyn got this for me.thanks so much!yr the best.

and this just because i love bananas and a bunch of people on the ppk were posting about how they had never even seen a fair trade banana.

Montreal-You've Redeemed Yourself,Even Though You Didn't HAVE To...

2008-11-25T23:50:00.000-08:00

but you didn't have very great vegan baked goods.
let's start with the best.

Yesterday morning(yesterday b/c it's 3am now) my cousin took me to Le Cagibi,and it was cute,wonderful,cozy and warm,and I wish I had known about it before I was supposed to leave in two hours.It's actually a vegetarian restaurant(I didn't know until I just went to the website)and they had great espresso.Triple espresso for $2.50!And I wasn't expecting it,but I asked if any of the baked goods were vegan and the counter attendant girl said yes.Then she said "that one is,the peanut butter chocolate square." So I bought 2.I brought one with me to Toronto,and they're awesome.A chewy,dense,moist oatmeal chocolate chip base with super sugary peanut butter frosting and chocolate swirl in it.Nothing totally mind blowing,but I'd say it's better than the amazing Red Mango peanut butter chocolate bars I had it NYC which were awesome(and everyone else thinks/thought so too).
Also,I was super excited becasue the vegan sweets department of Montreal seemed to be lacking.AND IT WAS PEANUT BUTTER!!!I hadn't had a peanut butter dessert yet in Montreal,and this really made up for it.Yay Le Cagibi!

Also,I drank a lot of coffee in Montreal.I also met my Uncle Ben who I'd never met,and he's around 90 years old,but has amazing hearing,walks a lot,stayed out past 10pm,and wanted to take me to Le Commensal,but I said Aux Voivres would be better(even though I had gone 2 nights before with Priam,my cousin) because Le Commensal is bleh food.So we met there at 6,I was earlier than him,and freaked out b/c they aren't open Mondays.Who isn't open Mondays?Jerks.So when Ben got there,I apalogized,and we walked on Mount Royal to Artjava.Glad we did.

that's a soy chai latte.holy crap,i used to love soy chai lattes and need to drink them more often.well,i probably won't,it's better when they're special n stuff,but still.
we were there for almost 3 1/2 hours.We both had 2 lattes.Glad we did.

i usually just get espresso or drip coffees,but I guess if i'm being treated...

The first night I got to Montreal my cousin took me to Aux Vivres,an all vegan,busy,happening,casual,'fast food but healthy and also sit down' restaurnt.Brandy told me that I HAD to try the carrot cake and that it was the best carrot cake she'd ever had and that she'd had a lot of vegan carrot cakes,and at the tiem I said the Native Foods one was my favourite,and she said I really had to try Aux Voivres carrot cake.

It was very good cake.Yes,the cake,I would say,was awesome.Superb.BUT that's the cake.The frosting was a let down.Too tangy and citrus-y.Trying to replicate cream cheese?No wonder,I heard their cheesecake is tofu-y.Anyways,It was still delicious,but the frosting failed and therefore made it not the greatest.
I tried a lot of other stuff there,though.

a truffle.good.nothing crazy.

Banana Chocolate Pie.It was very good.Though tasted a lot like cherries.Very very sweet.and rich.Oh,and they gave us a tiny serving.wtf?

our server said "like James Bond"

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie.Great cookie.I mean,it's pretty heard to screw up an oatmeal cookie,but it was above expectations.Yummy.Soft and chewy,with crunchy edges.Mmmm.

Ginger Cookie.I got it for free and the man sang a little song and did a on-spot jog to show me what he meant by 'little man' which was,in fact,referring to the gingerbread man.Then he gave me the cookie for free because it was the last of things in the 'to-go' section.It was too cake-y.But the flavour was alright.I didn't finish it,though.

coffee beans in the sugar?

they give you coconut milk to put in it.
weird.
and it was just espresso-who puts anything in a little espresso?!
anyways,the coconut overpowered the little bit of espresso.

after Aux Voicres(we went there Saturday and Sunday evenings)we went to Casa del Popolo (Saturday) and I liked it a lot b/c they were playing a really good mix of Kate Bush,not just 'Hounds of Love'.Also,an Americano was cheap,and after and hour I didn't finish mine,but I got free steamed soymilk(vanilla!) to add to the rest of my cold coffee.Then we went to see No Age
,which I was really excited about,and got to meet some of Priam's buddies.

found this at the health food store.never seen it before,and looked french.it was delicious!

found this there,too.SO NASTY.gross.tasted like rancid mango.yeah.

cute,huh?
Ben told me I had to go to Cafe Rico,and that they ahd great fair-trade coffe.They had fair-trade everything,and very good coffee.Surprisingly really cheap too.I whole heartedly approved,and tried to go again yesterday morning,but they opened at 10 which was later than when I went by.

this is like a 'bread' made from peanut butter,sesame seeds and sugar.It's like a big candy tortilla.Priam showed them to me and gave me some as a parting gift.They're soo good.

One night I stayed there from midinight until 8:05 am doing a scratchboard etching.The next day was crazy.But eff them,because they don't have soymilk!Neither did the place across the street!Ugggh.AND my internet wouldn't work there.

cafeo.

viarail.nasty.

Okay,Montreal was beautiful,people rude,it was freezing,and going into the subway(which is expensive!) is crazy because yr all bundled up b/c it's so cold outside but there it's BOILING in there.and I had a great time and really really like it there.Great city!

So I might as well post some tester cookies I made at Priam's parent's huse(aunt marg and michael) before going to Montreal...

Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints
so these are testers from isa and terry's forthcoming cookie book.
okay,when i think of thrumbrpints i think of 'simple treats' and healthy,granola-y,but still nummy,just more nourishing cookies,that might as well be a muffin.but terry told me that these are decadent holiday cookies.
and yeah,they are.
1)the doough is cinnamony and soft,with a fantastic chew.
2)toasted walnuts make anything good,not that these needed to be 'made good';i made some without walnuts.
3)cranberry sauce is awesome.i guess daniel didn't really ruin it when we were younger.

so basically here we have a sweet,cinnaom-maple-y or i guess wintery is what i'm looking for,soft,chewy cookie base,filled with slightly tart but sweet cranberry sauce and rolled in walnuts which get all toasty and delicious after baking.5 stars.

oh and my aunt marg loooved them.
and she had never heard of putting jam in a cookie.she thought i was a real innovator.and she's not dumb!
she kept calling them lovely.

though,michael burned the second pan of them b/c he didn't know they were in the oven and turned it to 450 degrees to make pizza.then he over cooked his pizza and marg said it was too hard to chew.oy.

and with the cranberry love and carrot cake talk,here's a carrot cake I never posted about from mid-October which I made for Ben'd dad's birthday...

decorated with cranberries,white chocolate,and walnuts.

Ben said this in the e-mail about it "My parents said it was the best carrot cake they'd ever eaten. My dad even ate 2 pieces (something he would never ever do). "

okay,that's all.I'm back in Toronto now,but will be in Vancouver again as of Friday.I went to Jet Fuel again today in the hour I had between arriving and meeting my uncle.Dreamy.

Vegan in Ontario;Nutella,Coffees,Peanut Butter Fudge(recipe!!!)and more...

2008-11-20T21:58:00.000-08:00

Hi,
So since October 23rd I haven't been in Vancouver.I flew to Toronto,went to Brantford,back to Toronto,then to NYC,back to Toronto,and now i'm in some little village near Kirksfield which is about an hour away from Peterborough which is about an hour and a half from Toronto.North East.My dad's family lives all over Ontario and I'm doing important school stuffs so I'll leave it at that why i'm here.Besides,Ben says he hates when food blogs get all personal and 'twitter-y' and that they should be about food and why should he care about yr life.Okay,well when he said this I thought that when he said "twitter-y"" he was just using some silly word/variant of "chit chat" or "chittery",y'know all chatty and stuff,but as it turns out 'Twitter' is an actual thing where people can read about yr life and know what yr doing every 5 minutes,and that you just ate an ice cream sammich,yr on yr way to get yr hair cut,or that yr cat is spewing battery acid from it's stomach and not even have to really know you.Well,I scould care less if a food blog is personal or not,as long as it's interesting.And I show great stories.
Anywhoo...

So Brantford.The backwater town where my Grandama lives,where my dad grew up,and where I was staying for about 6 days,with my Grandma who just broke her hip.Eating was slim pickings there,and I didn't want to cook anything really because I didn't want to stress my Grandma out at all or make any mess or be in the way and all these points were proven to be correct assumptions when I decided to make cookies on the last night and she freaked out that the oven was preheating because it was on but nothing was in it and she thought the house was gonna burn down....
so thank god for vegan nutella!

only $2.99!

only 7 ingredients and none of them are weird/gross/hydrogenated/artificial!

you make me feel...

like a natural woman...
i mean,of course there was peanut butter around,too.mmm.

though my favourite way to eat it was mixed with peanut butter in medjool dates.mmmm.

European chocolate was abound,too...

I will also mention that,strangely enough,Brantford had a fair-trade organic coffee house.It's called Blue Dog.Even weirder is that it's like 2 blocks from my grandma's and the only things near it are a corner store and a bunch of pharmacies.Weird,huh?
Anyways,they had really good coffee!Their espresso wasn't too strong,but it was super smooth.Not too short,and not too tall either,which seems like a problem at quite a few coffee places.I went there everyday and really enjoyed it.
So much that I bought some of their beans to make at my Grandma's.

though,she freaked out and looked like she might have a heart attack when I told her they were $8 a bag and that they came in a bag,and not in a tin.and weren't $3.50.But I explained to her what fair-trade was and she kind of understood.

Then I went back to Toronto.
Two days after Halloween my uncles,his fiancee,ava and I went to a punkin patch/park/farm thingy.
I saw a lot of goats,we rode a train,and bought squash.And pickles and jam!

who DOESN'T like pickles and peanut butter?!

red currant.

Uncle Mike is really into music.He took me to see the Smashing Pumpkins.Ain't nuttin' w/o d'arcy.

though i had a great seat.

Speaking of Ben,I found this glazed nut mix at the Cabbagetown Organic grocery store.Of course I had to buy it,it's PB&J!!!
Well,peanut butter and jam straight from the jar is A LOT better.Sorry.Oh,and i'm supposed to be boycotting Sahale anyways because they were jerks to Ben and wouldn't have anything to do with Taste of Health and when I saw them at the Naturall Living Fair they acted like they never even heard of TOH.Whatever,I don't need to spend $5.49 on a back of processed nuts and dried fruit.Jerks.

with some work,you could really be a star...

Speaking of a little but of work and becoming a star,I'm madly in love with the man who works as barista at Jet Fuel coffee in Toronto.
He's kind of goofy,and he smokes,and he's probably a big stoner,and he's really cute and he has a great smile,and my coat was stuck and i looked all ridiculous and he was silly and was like "nice parka" and then like 6 people tried to help me fix my zipper and it was like an episode of Seinfeld,and eventually,after getting my second coffee,I broke one of the zippers off and felt like the Hulk.
Anyways,Jet Fuel had,probably the second best coffee i've ever had.I haven't been a coffee drinker for long,but I try out a lot of places,and drink a lot of coffee.Made up for lost time.
I had their espresso before,and when I got it Tuesday night,it was perfect.Perfect amount,too for a double espresso.Sweet,smooth,no tricks.Very dark.Also,there's no menu at Jet Fuel which apparently pisses people off,but so what,why are you ordering a decaf-skinny-sugar-free-caramel-toasted-marshamllow-latte-macchiato anyways?
It's simple.Espresso=$1,double=$2 etc small latte=$2 and a big latte=$3!!!And no extra for soymilk!
So for $5 on Tuesday I had a double espresso and a huge soy latte.And did I mention the latte was awesome?It was sooo light and fluffy,the foam was killing me.Seriously,I had never had foam like this.Yes,I have tasted a tastier latte(though there'll be A LOT more on that place in a seperate post)it was still delicious and had amazing foam.Hooray.And then when I was leaving,the barista guy,who was singing along to 'Sleep the Clock Around' when I came in,and continued to belt out songs from "The Boy with the Arab Strap" was howling the lyrics to 'This Must Be the Place'.I left him a present.

big latte-great foam!

Toronto has a lot of great coffee places.Way more than Vancouver.Yeah,Vancouver has some good coffee,but not as many cafes as Toronto,not as much personality,not as much diversity.Sorry.
I also had good coffee at Manic.Thye were also selling vegan cookies.

I usually don't drink lattes,but I heard the ones at Manic are special,and theat their baristas are very talented in the latte art department,and as you can see,they sure are.
I didn't have a vegan cookies from Manic,though I had a fabulous peanut butter cookie from the coffee stand inside Blue Banana,which actually comes from Cora Bakery,Brandy and I discovered the next day.

pretty,huh?
I usually wouldn't have boughten the cookie,but it was peanut butter.And I ended up buying them on 2 different occasions.They're really sweet and the middle is really dense and chewy.No,not a 'classic' or 'traditional' peanut butter cookie,but obviously good enough to have me buy it on two seperate occasions.

This is espresso at Tequila Bookworm which was good,with some nasty vegan truffle I bought at this coffee place two doors down from Cherry Bomb.Cherry Bomb had great coffee,too,but maybe it's best I didn't remember the company/bakery that makes these truffles.Gross.And the woman was like " there's tofu in them" all snottily.Jerk.

Spotted in Peterborough yesterday:

And let's end on a sweet note.Well,not that we haven't continually been on one...

Peanut Butter Fudge!
Though what you see above is a failure.It was yummy,but too hard and crumbly.I wanted to make more to bring to Sarah in Brooklyn,but it failed even more,but I remedied it by making a base of caramel,sprinkling failed fudge crumbs a top,a layer of peanut butter,and a coating of dark chocolate.Yeah,I really doctored that up.Anyways,in a quest to conquer peanut butter fudge,I kept tinkering and a my uncle's,first full day back in Toronto,did it!

softer,has chew to the bite,not crumbly.

look at those smooth insides!

here's the recipe:

Perfected Peanut Butter Fudge.
2 c sugar
1 c non-dairy milk
1/4 t salt
2 TB non hydrogenated margarine or shortening
2 t vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter

over medium heat,boil the milk,sugar,and salt,stirring constantly for about 7-10 minutes.
add the earth balance and stir until gone,then let boil until it reaches soft ball stage,236 degrees F.
please use a large pot,the boiling mixture will rise and over flow if you don't.also,candy thermometers are great and cheap.an essential!
when at soft ball stage,remove from heat immediately and stir in peanut butter and vanilla,mixture will start to set,pour it into a greased pan.
voila!

free-form-fudge;setting.

so,that ain't all,like I had great homemade vegan ice cream at Hibiscus,black sesame(!!!) and pistachio(!!) and plan on going back,and really,I drank a lot of coffee.
I also enjoyed coffees at:
i deal
green avi
dark horse

oh and i bought a lot of cheap kate bush records.
toronto is nice!

I Know,I Know,I Just Posted Chocolate Chip Cookies,BUT...

2008-11-13T23:34:00.000-08:00

hi,we're isa's new chocolate chip cookies and we're the best cookies ever.swear to god.and we're easy.
no,not in that way,perv.
no margarine.really.
already the girl at earth tonez said they were beautiful and gave me their info to see if i'd sell them there and then i brought some to the couple at Lula's Sweet Apothecary who i got the white chips from and she loved them and told me to move here and bake for them and sarchan loved them and so does sarah who's house i made them at and so did her friend john,and y'know what?i love them too.yay!
they have white chips and rainbow candy lentils!
they're all the rage.errbody's doing it.

it's like a birthday party!or easter.or something.

things are old fashioned at lula's.get with the times!

p.s i'm in nyc right now,actually i've been here since November 5th,but anywhoo it's really super awesome,and i've done a lot of neat stuff like meet Thurston Moore and do important things like go to interviews and portfolio review things,BUT there this place here called Lula's Sweet Apothecary and it's an all vegan ice cream parlour and I went there for the 5th time since being here today and I have had the best ice cream of my life there.Seriously.A whole big post on that later,though.