I spent this past weekend with my prettie/vegan best friend, Erin. Every year we try to see each other at *least* twice. She came down to visit this past weekend and we had loads of fun trying some vegan treats in the Bay Area! Of course we’re both really into food- so we did some damage at a few places…..

I started off by making Penne with Pesto, Asparagus & Roasted Pine-nuts (all vegan) for dinner on Thursday:

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons Earth Balance Margarine
• 2 heaping tablespoons Better Than Cream Cheese
• 2 bunches asparagus cut into little pieces
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• juice of 1 lemon
• handful of pine nuts
• handful of walnuts
• a large batch of the pesto from the link below for recipe & ingredients
• 1 1lb package penne

To make the pesto part of this dish- follow my pesto recipe but omit the parmesan. I added more pine nuts and a handful of walnuts in this batch!

After you cut the asparagus, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a frying pan and cook the asparagus in the pan on medium heat. (It’s really good if you brown them a bit but do not over cook!) It should take about 5-7 minutes. Splash a teaspoon or two of the garlic powder in with the asparagus.

Once finished, set aside the asparagus and add the pine nuts to the pan. Toast them in the pan for about 5-8 minutes until they turn brown. Be sure to not over cook them as you don’t want nuts that look like coffee beans in your pasta! ack!

Once the pasta is cooked, drain into a strainer and reserve a little bit of the pasta water. Put the pasta back in the pot and drop the remaining 2 tablespoons of the margarine in. Mix until pasta is coated.

Add the Better Than Cream cheese to the penne and stir. The penne mixture might get really thick…so start adding a bit of the reserved pasta water. Now add your pesto (the more the merrier!!!!) Then add the asparagus and pine nuts. I saved a bit of each to garnish on top of the served pasta. Stir it up and add some fresh lemon juice!

***This pasta was excellent the second day! I even had some a few days later. Just add some more lemon juice to freshen it up! It’s sooo tasty. This recipe serves about 4-5 people. There were 3 of us who had second helpings and there was tons left over! It would be a great dish to make on a Sunday night and continue to eat for the next few days. ***

It’s really good if you add Parmesan on it….I’m just saying….

Back to the visit….

We spent the day shopping in the city on Friday with another good friend and had sushi at a place called Cha-Ya in the Mission.

Here’s our table & the sea vegetable salad I ordered:

next we had edamame & the best miso soup I’ve ever had:

we devoured avocado rolls/avocado tempura rolls & eggplant nigiri:

fell in love with veggie tempura & the vegan roll:

On Saturday, we went to Fraiche in Palo Alto to get some soy frozen yogurt:

And for the big blow out, we went to Millennium in SF on Saturday night with my parents for a fab meal!

here’s our table & the menu:

we HAD to order the mushroom flatbread pizza & garlic fries:

scarfed down some fried mushrooms & avocado grapefruit salad

I ordered wild cherry & chard roulade & Erin picked the smoked tempeh with sweet potato mash

Casey got the edamame & shiitake cakes & I drank a sparkling grape soda with mint

For dessert…

coconut rosewater panna cotta with strawberry sorbet & pecan orange cake with mint julep sorbet

And of course…the sweet indulgence plate & a ginger lemon digestive drink to end!

Also during the weekend we:

- binged on the first season of Carnivale (love!)

- stayed up til 3am chatting

- went to Target, Sephora, H&M, & GAP

- ate our weight in bagel chips

-snacked on some ginger almond cookies

-tried to do pedicures…but gave them the cold shoulder

-had a drink with a friend

-shared home ideas over coffee & vegan pastries

-found out our good friend is having a baby girl!

-met an illustrator who had a high strung dog that bit my finger

It was such a good weekend. Thank you woot! I love you!

JUICE!  I bought a juicer a few weeks ago- remember?  I’ve juiced every day since!  Honestly!  I love it.  There’s actually been several days where I’ve juiced in the morning & in the evening.  It’s the perfect toy for me to play with in the kitchen, as I am the type of person who likes to experiment!  (sometimes a little too much)

On Saturday morning I made a tangerine, beet, celery, ginger & carrot juice.  Tasty! Refreshing!

SOYRIZO!  I love soyrizo.  I’m pretty sure you will too.   It has wonderful flavors and it’s especially good when you burn it in a skillet. (at least I think so)

It will add great flavor to your eggs. It would be great mixed in with homestyle potatoes….  In short, it has a LOT less fat than regular chorizo and there’s also odd/nasty pig parts in the mix… The meat & potatoes eating husband approves- which is golden.  (just make sure you take it out of the casing before cooking!)

here’s Casey’s breakfast:  an omelette with soyrizo on top and cheddar inside:

Did you check out that biscuit up there?? mmmm…

I put mine in a tortilla and ate it like a quesadilla:

Soy Frozen Yogurt:

I met up with Melisser & her hubs for some at Fraîche in Palo Alto:

I tried the soy fro-yo and had them add sliced bananas, raspberry sauce & granola:

Melisser got soy fro-yo with peaches & bananas:

Her hubby got soy fro-yo with pomegranate &  raspberry sauce.

It was sooo good! The toppings are so wonderful & fresh.  The yogurt is creamy & light.  It makes you feel like you are being sinful…but you KNOW you aren’t.  I love that feeling.   I’m craving some right now.  I will go again this week…maybe twice?

I hope you all had a great weekend!  We are battling a lot of rain right now in the Bay Area.  Today was the first time I got to see the sun in a week!  (I know, I know- I shouldn’t really complain)  The nice thing about the crappy weather is that it’s nice to snuggle with the kitties & watch movies under blankets.  That’s pretty much how we spent the weekend….

I also organized my closet & got rid of some clothes.  Such a good feeling!

the weekend started off with a BANG!

Drinks & fries with friends on Friday:

My new juicer was waiting for me the second I got home on friday night! Of course I tried it the second busted it free of the box!  Nothing like making Apple, Carrot, Ginger & Celery Juice. *mmmmm*

I woke up the Saturday morning and made this lovely concoction of cucumbers, beets, carrots & celery:

We went out to Sushi with a group of people for my friend Becky’s birthday on Saturday night. Happy B-day BDogg!

Sunday we went and saw Freaks & Geeks Speak! (in the city).

Good times…Good times…

And then on the way home we went to Bittersweet Chocolate Cafe on Fillmore. I crave their hot chocolate like you wouldn’t BELIEVE!

Here’s Casey’s Spicy Hot Chocolate (nice and thick with such a good kick!)

I got a Chai hot chocolate with a homemade marshmallow on top:

And then we walked around briefly because it was SOOO cold.

The sky was gorgeous last night:

and then I saw Ryan’s name. Hope you are doing well Ryan.

And today, it’s Monday. I didn’t have to work today. So I’ve been running errands and catching up on all the stuff I have to do.

Happy Monday!

hello! On Saturday August 18th, I turned a year older. Whooppeeee. Another year closer to 30!

Casey took me to Jack Falstaff in San Francisco for my birthday dinner! It was SOOOO GOOOD! We decided to get the Farmer’s Market Menu- Tomato was the theme. Get ‘em while you can!

Followed by Happy Birthday Donuts at Krispy Kreme in Daly City:

oh YUM. Do they not give free donuts out when you go to Krispy Kreme anymore? The past 3 times they didn’t hand me one while in line. I’m just wondering….It’s not like I NEED that extra donut…. My camera ran out of juice when we sat down. Hence-No pictures of the donuts we ate. This is probably a good thing.

this weekend was busy! Lots of stuff to do…and I randomly got a case of the lazies and spent a few hours doing ABSOLUTELY nothing (well, laying on my bed staring at my backyard is SOMETHING- I suppose).

the productive activities included:

-trip to Daiso (found EXCELLENT hair thinner comb) Here’s part of my loot:

-spent the early part of saturday on a caffiene high- i drank an iced coffee after downing this one:

-container store trip (containers for craft room/travel) I made it out of there in record time!

-trip to hillsdale mall to meet up with a friend (got a cellphone dangle from the Sanrio store)

-i finally found a pair of shoes @ DSW to match my dress-it only took 3 months!:

-had lunch at Falafel’s Drive-In (gyros salad=yum!)

-made my special popcorn & had neighbors over to watch Uncle Buck. (i love that movie!)

-setup my tripod and took a picture of our dining room in progress:

-went out to breakfast at Stacks & had a *somewhat* healthy meal:

-dreamt of getting a new camera for my birthday….

-grilled veggies, while Casey DESTROYED two wasps nests in our backyard

-started the whole laundry process….

-watched John from Cincinnati (what the heck is going on with that show???!!!)

-the end.