i went to vegan treats today. oh, vegan treats, is there anything you can't do?

i got my requisite coconut cream donut. this is probably one of the best things i have ever put in my mouth. that and the boston cream, but the coconut cream wins out of the boston cream anyday. seriously, people, forget the mighty-o, forget voodoo, forget everything you now about the vegan donut. eat one of these and you'll know what i mean. there are donuts in the perfect sense of the word. dough-y, erm nut-y?, coconut-y, creamy. all of it. in here.
::swoon::



i also got a mini pumpkin cheesecake which was fantastic. like a pumpkin pie mousse. really really tasty stuff.



and i also got a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake. a little too sweet for my tastes, but still very VERY good.



so, i know this post isn't very long and maybe that's cheating, but i wanted to just leave you with the food porn today.

for breakfast today, i had some leftover squash that i had made for halloween.


Stuffed Acorn Squash
makes 8 servings

2 acorn squash
medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. tamari
1 c whole wheat couscous, dry
1 1/4 c broth
1/2 t. of each of the following: rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram, oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 c. dried cranberries
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1/4 c. chopped dried apricots
pomegranate molasses
hoisin sauce

preheat oven to 400. cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. place, cut side down on a parchement lined baking sheet and place in the oven
saute onion and garlic in a small amount of oil until softened. add the tamari and stire for 30 seconds. add the couscous and stir for 1 minute. add the broth, spices, and salt and pepper, bring to a boil (this should happen quickly), stir couscous, cover, and take off heat.
let stand for 5 minutes. add the dried fruit and walnuts to the pot and re-cover for another 5 minutes.
uncover and stir to incorporate everything.
remove squash from the oven. they should be done by now, but if they're not, cook until they are tender.
when squash is finished, take it out of the oven and let it cool for a few minutes, flip them over (be careful not to rip holes in them - they will be soft). fill with the couscous mixture. drizzle pomegranate molasses and hoisin sauce over top. cut each squash in half carefully and serve.
this is especially awesome with sauteed greens on the side. on halloween, i made kale with the tahini sauce from vegan with a vengeance

i had some leftover mexican tacos from yesterday for lunch.

dinner was another attempt at raw. this was my third raw meal and this is the first one that didnt go well. i think i just wasn't in the right frame of mind for it. it's solidly autumn in new jersey and it's been chilly all day. i started eating tonight and i realized that i really wanted something warm. it wasn't that i disliked the meal, i just wasn't into it tonight. anyway, tonight's raw meal was "pasta" alfredo. the pasta consisted of zucchini noodles mixed with red pepper, mushrooms, shallots, tarragon, onion, garlic, jalapeno, and ginger. the alfredo was cashews and macadamia nuts processed with lemon juice and nama shoyu. my food processor is super small and not very strong, so instead of getting a creamy sauce from the nuts, i got more of a pasta. no biggie.

i know. i know. it's been a long time. too long actually. and it's not like michael and i haven't been traveling, we just haven't been writing.

well, some of the people over on The Post Punk Kitchen decided to do a month of vegan food writing (VeganMoFo) coinciding with NaNoWriMo. so here i am. i'm going to try to blog at least once a day about food. it could be what i've made for dinner (like tonight's entry). it could be some of the stuff i've been selling lately (apple cider cookies anyone?), it could be someplace i've eaten, could be cookbook reviews. whatever. it will be food related. i'm pretty excited about this as i really need to get back into writing and i've been bad about it.

anyway, thanks to katie over at don't eat off the sidewalk for the cool banner. onto the food!

dinner tonight came out of Everyday Vegan by Dreena Burton. It's the Mexican Tofu Tacos with Creamy Dill Dressing and Mexican Nacho Cheese. i got this cookook last year for christmas and after a year of testing a crapload of vegan cookbooks, i'm just now getting around to making some things out of here. i'm not the world's biggest fan of vegan cheese. it's just not right. it's ok melted, but it still kind of squicks me out. the dish as a whole was ok. certainly not bad. i ate it. i will eat what is leftover. i'm just not sure i would make it again. so out of a scale of 0 to 4 mofo's. i'd give it a 1.

I finally finished putting all of our photos in chronological order and got them all labelled.

You can find the First 2 Weeks here

The Final 2 Weeks here

And The Videos here

ok so it's been a couple of months since either of us have posted, but i think that we're (or at least i am) ready to start writing about some other stuff that has gone on this summer.
first off, the end of the road trip. we were exhausted, but totally giddy with the thought of everything we had seen. we took over 2,000 pictures between the two of us. even after deleting blurry ones or repeats, we still had close to 2,000. i have been putting them in chronological order and as soon as i finish that, i will post a link to them. i was getting through them at a fairly decent pace and then just started getting tired of photobucket taking FOREVER to do stuff. so, anyway, that's that.

i have taken a few trips to the jersey shore this summer. one of my absolute favorite places to go is ocean city, nj. i've been going every year for the last 9 years and i went for a few years when i was much younger, but there were a couple of years where my family tried some other places around jersey and eventually, we wound up back in OC. they have, by far, the best mini golf choices in new jersey. here are some of the places i love:

pirate golf:






monster golf:






and the haunted option at congo golf:






ocean city also has some really great vegan food options. the bashful banana is probably my favorite place. they have tofu scramble burritos and vegan muffins in the morning, veggie burgers and sandwiches for lunch and dinner, and vegan baked goods and banana "ice cream" for dessert. it's really a lovely place. one morning, i had the tofu scramble burrito and an apple cinnamon muffin:



there are also scads of chinese restuarants around. but my favorite is the szechwan garden on 9th street. If you like mock meats, they have some really great stuff. There is also a middle eastern restuarant (also on 9th) called Katina's that has some amazing hummus and falafel. just make sure to ask them to leave off the "special sauce" which has yogurt and cheese in it.
here's a picture of the hummus. i would have gotten a picture of the falafel, but, well, i ate it.


there's also the lunasea market on 10th and West. It's a small place, but they have always been really well stocked with anything you would find at a larger health food store.

a couple of weeks ago, i was in lavalette, nj. not a whole lot of vegan options in the area, but there are plenty of pizzerias where you can get some pasta. boring, i know. but it's better than nothing. or you could just go to the supermarket and make your own food. i don't mind.
anyway, the moon was really great my first night there:


the second day there, the bay side of the island flooded. there was an amazing storm that came through and it just poured and thundered for hours. for some reason, the beach was totally calm, though. i think because the wind never really picked up.





i spent last weekend hanging out with michael up in providence. i got to play around with the fireworks setting on my camera. fun!






on saturday, michael made homefries and blueberry/blackberry pancakes for breakfast.



on sunday, michael took me to the garden in the woods in framingham, ma. so.many.turtles!! and lots of fun. except for when we saw the snake. snakes squick me out pretty badly, so i had to run away screaming like a little kid. oh well, we saw lots of neat stuff. including caterpillars of the cecropia moth. which is the largest moth in north america, apparently. the caterpillars are HUGE and green and have knobby little yellow and orange... um... knobs... on their bodies. at the garden, they are kept protected in cloth bag-things until they cocoon.








on monday, i spent the morning walking around michael's yard taking pictures of all of the pretty flowers in the garden.







monday night, we made pizza and lolo tester green bean salad.


so that's pretty much where we're at right now. i'm heading back up to providence next weekend, so hopefully, i will have something to update from there.

in the meantime, you can see some of the pictures from the trip in my etsy store. while you're at it, feel free to buy some cookies or a picture or something.

providence!

we made it back today around 4ish, stopped at whole foods for some pizza making supplies (and also stuffed french toast supplies for the morning!!!!) and we headed to my place.

a.b. my cat was meowing at me for about 2 hours before she would let me touch her but then she finally caved in and let me pet her. she was so needing to be brushed! i think i brushed at least a cat and a half off her and there is still more to go.

we are now probably going to bed soon and not drive anywhere tomorrow! yay!