Where the wild things are

Thanks, good friend, for the suggestion. I look forward to seeing this too. (also appears to be having some awe+some soundtrackage)

Aspirations

some day.

wacky wednesdays

Did you ever notice how everything is extra awesome on Wednesdays? Dollar cone day at maggie m's. 1/2 price rental at lost weekend? Add some nachos and K^2 and you've got yourself a mighty fine night.

skater boys

As some people may know, I have a terrible, undeniable crush on 17-year old skateboarders. They don't neccesarily need the wild tassled hair in their face, or oversized extremely comfortable shoes, or the smallest ass in the world...all that's really required is the ability to skate at least 15 feet and land scraped up on the pavement with some disfigured part of their body. I can't be positive as to why I still have this mini-obsession -- all I know is that over the past couple of weeks it has rapidly been in decline.

Now that I live in a completely flat neighborhood, I can't seem to take a single walk without some punk skating right up in front of Preston who has by now began foaming at the mouth and removing chunks of sidewalk. I've developed a keen ear to those 65-90 mm wheels approaching, and now instead of putting on my biggest battiest eyes, my muscles stiffen and back hunches and I get real squinty and start to move towards the closest wall. Now that I've developed this reaction even when walking around sans Preston, I have had no interest in these overclothed pubescent trainwrecks. sigh.

I'm an idiot

So I never really got in to the Ferry Building farmer's market -- mostly because it's super touristy and I've been to much greater ones (eg, Temescal's is way cooler) and didn't think I was missing out on much. But this rad girl told me about these incense from a super awesome company that happens to sell them at the farmer's market, and so with roommate in tow, we made our way over this morning. And for some reason I never seemed to notice the entire rest of the market behind the building. Wha? Well, of course this was the one saturday they decided not to show, but we did manage to find these amazing beer battered asparagus and raviolis instead. The asparagus was obviously not from the market because it was insanely gmo huge but that didn't stop us from eating two orders of them. mmm.

My sister

Probably my most favorite person in the world is my sister. She is just so goddamn cool and sweet and sensitive and creative and inspiring and beautiful. Right now she should be on her way back from Indiana for the [insert official competition name], a prestigious shenanigan that selected the pit of her band to come because they are so friggin awesome. I haven't gotten all the news but did hear that they received two standing ovations at their performance.

Besides being musically hot, she also has the awesome ability of using her guts. Such as when she wanted to cut off all her hair. No hesitation, just the chop. God I wish I could do that. But I just don't think I'd look as sexy as she does:



Best of all, she's going to be visiting me in a few weeks! She's arriving just in time for the easter big wheel race and for free day at the academy of science and for endless snuggling in my bed. Hooray!

Hair

There is hair all over my entire body. I've been thinking of freshening up the hair most people think of when you mention hair, but oh there's so much other hair that could use some maintenance. And by that I'm of course talking about the hair on my legs and that wedged under my arms. Can you believe that I haven't shaved my armpits since last summer or my legs for the past two years?? I could go either way with my pits -- I don't really care how long they get, but up until recently I've always gotten a little sentimental about my leg hair. It's been with me through so much. Just hanging out, feeling the wind against its face, the changing of the seasons, the smoothness of Preston's tongue. How do you say goodbye to such a dear friend?

So besides the big shaving shilly-shally, I do have plans for a masterful haircolorist straight outta Albuquerque to color my head hair a shade of revenous red. I went to rainbow the other day to check out some possible colors -- here they are, what do you think? Try not to be swayed by who is hotter.

Preston and Roman

Yesterday Preston took his boyfriend to one of his favorite most romantic places, Fort Funston. Together they held paws, frolicked amongst the crabs and rolled shamelessly through the sand; the waves washing over their bodies as they stared deep into their cute little doggie souls.

Who could have known it would be love at first snaggletooth? That he'd fall so hard and fast and not even look back at that dingo from the park last week? And who knew this adorable ball of fur who does handstands while it pees would have such an awesomely cool mommers? Yah for new friends!

Boo I thought I had taken some snapshots of them on my phone but I can't seem to find them! If you're having trouble envisioning their tenderness feel free to revisit them in this video.

Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese frosting

Wow, these past few days have been so jam packed there just hasn't been anytime until now to tell you about this super delicious cake I made the other day. I've been crazy busy playing with my new cellphone, drinking german beer out of beastly-sized pitchers and boots, watching bad take offs of sex and the city, cleaning up tennis ball vomit at 4am, going to a rad restaurant opening and feasting on endless shortbread and chocolate pudding and blood orange margaritas, and last but not least, making a pretty darn delicious chocolate cake!

This recipe (and frosting) comes from the Joy of Vegan Baking:

1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cups veg oil (i used 1/3 cup of applesauce instead)
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
1 cup cold water

Preheat to 350 degrees and lightly oil either a bundt pan, some 9inch form of a pan, or muffin tins.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cocoa in large bowl until thoroughly combined. In separate small bowl, combine vanilla, oil, vinegar and water. Add to dry bowl and mix only until just combined. Pour into your pan and bake for approx. 30 minutes -- if you're making cupcakes it would be closer to 15 minutes. Either way, when you insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean then you are ready to go! Make sure to cool it completely before icing it with:

Cream Cheese Brandy frosting:

Combine until creamy:

8 ounces of tofutti cream cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup of confectioner's sugar, sifted
at least 2 teaspoons of brandy (ok maybe at least four)

I made mine in a boring 9"x9" pan, and there was a LOT of frosting. Not complaining, but if you're only going to be covering the top you could get away with making 3/4 of the recipe. Otherwise slobber it on there. A bit of confectionery sugar sprinkled on also looks nice, as does some fresh fruit. I opted to serve it with some raspberry sorbet and preston's favorite mexican sprinkle cookies.

Enjoy!

This is another fun and straight forward recipe so I've included some musica you can bop around to:


rolling stones - she's a rainbow


all girls summer fun band - later operator


headlights - cherry tulips


j church - she's so mean


camera obscura - razzle dazzle rose

not the best decorations but I was tired and wanted to eat it.

Cookbooks!

One of my thousands of readers left me a message the other day asking about vegan cookbook suggestions and I thought it'd make a delightful blog topic. I can't claim to be an expert but do think I've used enough vegan cookbooks to tell about ones that really shine. (While most if not all these cookbooks could be found on amazon or borders, I'm going to try and include an independent resource for each book, should your local bookstore be out and you need to get your drooling hands on it asap)

One of my first vegan cookbooks, which has since come out with a few more in it's series, and become extremely popular is How it All Vegan. It was a great introduction to common substitutions and how to use them properly and when. It has a lot of veganized basics for those recently turned vegans who miss things like pancakes and chocolate chip cookies, as well as some simple yet tasty dinner ideas for those used to eating veggie burgers and smac and cheese.


I then progressed to a marvelously cool cookbook called Vegan with a Vengeance! Not only does it have super helpful tips (like how to cut up a butternut squash) and sexy recipes, it also has some great links and thoughts behind veganism and more importantly activism. Which is another awesome thing about ALL vegan cookbooks I've ever seen, which are the stories, explanations and fight behind being vegan and why you can feel morally and healthfully good about not consuming animal products. (cue song:) Isa also came out with two other amazingly reviewed books, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and Veganomicon. I haven't had the chance to peek into the latter, but you can check out all these books along with awesome recipes from her kickass website. Her cooking shows should also not be missed.

If you want the best book just for baking, you have to try out The Joy of Vegan Baking. I was a little boredified when I first saw it, but after trying the chocolate chip scones, apple pecan muffins, chocolate cake, strudels, oatmeal bars and pies, and I can whole-heartily say that Colleen is right on the money. While a few recipes call for going the extra mile it has always been more than worth it to make these extremely well-developed delectables.

Of course there's also the amazing Lickin' the Beaters I recently got that I've posted two recipes from -- you can find out more about that here. Another book that I was lucky enough to get my hands on for a little while, full of tasty tasty recipes is The Savory Way. I think it's vegetarian but has a lot of vegan or easily transferable recipes.

And then there's also the internet. Two websites I really like are VeganYumYum and a blog all about vegan ice cream recipes. Another trick I like to do when I know a recipe from a book that I can't get a hold of right away is to look up the book on amazon and if it should be so lucky to have the "Look Inside" feature, do a search for the name or page number. It's also a good way to share recipes when you're too lazy to type it all up yourself.

I hope this was at least a teensy step in the right direction on your vegan cookbook hunt (should you be on one). Please share any other suggestions/recommendations you may have, and if you hear/see/smell a recipe you're curious about but are too lazy, scared or carnivorous to try it, let me know and I'd be happy to try and blog about it! <3

My buddy and me

I'm pretty sure preston was humming this song all day, so it's only appropriate that you listen to it while you read this post:



After the quick walk to the bank and library in which preston oh so amazingly avoided putting half a chicken skeleton in his mouth (unlike yesterday), I stuck him in my bag and off we rode, all the way to duboce park! And what a park it is! I've really only stuck around there a few times and didn't realize what great energy it has. Preston made so many friends and ran and ran and peed and ran and just when I thought my life as a sunny dog owner couldn't get any grander, preston spotted a skateboarder and ran across the entire park, through the street RIGHT in front of a car and landed his teeth into the poor boy's ankle. Bolting after him and narrowly escaping a car myself, I managed to swallow my heart back into my chest and get him to come over from the kid who was actually apologizing to me for skateboarding near the dog park. whaaaa? I could have given that scout a medal but instead awarded him with my twitching eye and mumble of a thanks. christ.

so off we went to visit one of preston's favorite human friends, emily, where who could have guessed he'd meet his BFFAE!! Joanna brought over her dog Roman and it was instant love. I've never seen preston hump, roll, knaw on legs, chomp on necks, snuggle, and have downright hearts in his eyes like this. After the lot of us sat around staring for two hours I decided to film it so preston could add it to his hidden tape collection. Ok actually now that I just watched it I think it's a little too soft c for those unexperienced viewers. Here's the cuter one of them playing.

Finally it was time for everyone at emily's to go work at the same restaurant and I had the bright idea of going food shopping. Just a few things I thought. Some sugar and maybe a mushroom. But after stepping into rainbow, my favorite place that I haven't been to in months and swore off because it's too expensive for my new rice and beans budget, my eyes glazed over and I quickly filled my basket with FORTY DOLLARS worth of food. christ.

I trot outside, confident that I can shove preston on my back and balance two enormously heavy bags on my handle bars while riding the nine blocks home. I only made it the homeless guy laughing at me in the parking lot before I decided to get off and just walk. Do you know how hard it is to walk a bike, a dog, have a giant 25 lb bag on your back, balance another grocery bag with your other hand, and then pick up poop without stepping or rolling your bananas in it? Or to tackle your dog and cover his eyes whilst manuevering a bike and bags as a skateboarder dashes by inches away? christ.

orange alley

Last night I stopped by this little garage space that has random things from time to time and saw some bands/musicians that were pretty rad. Here's a few videos -- the first is some gals singing opera [they were H-O-T] and the second is a semi-local band called crash plastic. I liked them too.

Hardy muffins

Welp, the mood struck me again, and with two sad sorry bananas sitting around birthing fruit flies, I poured through cook books to see what I could make with what I had. Ok that's not totally true. Mostly I just wanted to use my new cookbook again and had to really fudge it with only two bananas.

Here's the recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins, followed by another not-really-related-to-baking-playlist (I was kinda tired so it's a little mellow of a mix):

3 cups whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp each of: cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom
3/4 cups choc chips
1 cup maple syrup (instead I used 1/2 cup sucanat and 3/4 cup brown sugar)
3 super ripe bananas (i used two)
1/2 cup applesauce (i used 1 cup since i only had 2 bananas)
approx. 1/4 cup water (i prob used at least a cup, partly due to using sugar as the maple syrup substitute)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and choc chips in large bowl.
3. Mix syrup (or sugar), mashed bananas, applesauce and water in medium bowl.
4. Add wet to dry and add more applesauce/water as needed to make a batter that's thicker than pancake but a little thinner than cookie batter. (I had a kettle of water nearby that I kept gradually adding from -- you get the idea of what the consistency is supposed to be pretty quickly)
5. put into greased muffin tins and bake for 25-30 minutes.



Hall & Oates - I can't go for that


Rolling Stones - let it loose


Smokey Robinson - going to a go-go


Joanna Newsom - inflammatory writ



Billy Bragg & Wilco - blood of the lamb


Okay, I made a ton of substitutions and also made muffins instead of the bread that the recipe was originally made for. SO based on that, I actually think they turned out pretty good. I freaked out right before I was done because before adding the last 1/4 cup of brown sugar I thought it was too bland and then after dumping the sugar in thought it was way too sweet. So I added a dash more flour and a few pinches of salt. Not sure if it was necessary because some of the sweetness seemed to be baked away -- but the hint of banana and choc chips were really nice. Otherwise, these muffins are pretty hardy due to the whole wheat flour, so I think if you're looking for something a little lighter I might go with reg flour. It might also be nice to add a dash of vanilla into the wet mixture. I also would have preferred to use maple syrup but I didn't want to use the last of mine up what with french toast weekend coming up and all. Whatever you do, be sure to let me know how they turn out!!

Oh, so another thing is that this made a good amount of batter. I only have one 8-slotted muffin tin, so I decided to make the rest into a tiny loaf (roughly 3" x 7"). That ended up baking for about 10 minutes longer. Here's some pictures of the final yummers:

my favorite part about this cookbook: watch the top right corner of the book -- they almost kiss.

hooray!

I got some very cool news today -- the pet store called and offered me the job! eep I'm excited. They said they were glad to have me join their family and then I got all warm inside and we hugged over the phone. I start in a couple saturdays from now at the soma store! They're going to teach me all about how to keep your aminals super healthy and I'll get to carry big fish carcasses around and give out free dog treats to all who enter the store! and besides getting an amazing employee discount, I get to bring preston to work with me! yah for weekend jobs.

in )) = (( out

Many things look the same on the way out as they did when you first ate them. I'm constantly reminded of this blissful phenomenon by picking up poop with my hand multiple times a day. Everyone already knows about corn, but did you know about tin foil, panty hose and chunks of mud? yesh!

tsk tsk

This is a funny and oddly empowering site. Thanks Kerstin. <3

Crunchy Vegan Cookies!

One of the big ideas I had for this site was the posting of delicious amazing vegan recipes!! Along with the recipe and tantalizing photos, I thought it would be fun to have a mini soundtrack to listen to should you too choose to make such a delicious thing. So tonight is my first try -- and the first try for these super yummy Crunchy Cookies from a rad new cookbook I got:

2/3 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup coconut
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. mix flour, sugar, coconut, pecans, baking powder and salt in medium size bowl
3. mix applesauce and vanilla in tiny bowl and then mix into dry ingredients to form a nice dough. give it a second -- don't go running off for the soy milk
4. add chocolate chips!!
5. put dough balls onto greased cookie sheet (hint: i lazied out and used pam and i think it made the bottoms crunchy in a weird way. i might opt for smothering it in soy butter) and press down flat.
6. back 10-15 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

My batch made about 20 small cookies.

I'd say these came out pretty well. In fact, besides the crunchy bottom I think they were super tasty (if they do come out with a super crisp bottom I'd recommend eating them upside down). Roommate Sara gave agreed that they could have been more crunchy throughout but overall said they were chewy and scrumptious. Although maybe next time I might double the recipe -- it's nice to have cookies all your house for the rest of the week. I'm thinking these will be gone manana.

and here's those jams to accompany your skilled bakemanship. (still trying to figure out how to get them all into one file so you don't have to keep hitting play)


gathering of ingredients, the painful reach for the mixing bowls (fruit bats - magic hour)


measuring, pouring, your eyes wide with anticipation (chairlift - bruises)


chop those nuts (gorillaz - DARE)


into the oven (hem - all that I'm good for)


waiting, peaking, poking (chad vangaalen - willow tree)

best new cookbook

ingredients

before

rabid


cookie freak out!


tada!!

Hall of Fame

Mostly this is just a test to try and find a way to embed mp3's right into a blog post (any other suggestions welcome) and it seems to be working. I stumbled through my itunes back to this instant classic...an evening of impromptu music making at its finest. You can hear Katie tap dancing, me on the harmonica and asshole shitface steve f'ing up the beat with his ridiculously sloppy clapping.

Some time ago

There's many-a-things one recalls when they let their mind wander back to their early teens...braces, hair in new places, hoping your new boobs will gain you all that attention your glasses have scared off...and then there were all those priceless weekends at dad's. After watching 4 hours of Law & Order (back when it still had the genious of Steven Hill), and hitting up the local computer shows, my dad would suggest a nice sunday drive -- one that mysteriously always ended up at some traveling car show.

Okay okay, maybe looking back there was a chance I did enjoy it a little bit...after all, I did get to meet biker billy and see some miniature soap box races. But the one thing that really got me wild was my very own sky blue t-shirt of my dog maggie. At the far end of Horseshoe Lake, past the designer hogs and chili dogs was a giant airstream where you could flip through pages of minny mouse or surfing cats and then with a sparkle in your eye, watch as the heavily tattooed bearded giant of a man carefully pealed your picture and steamed it onto your shirt with a giant waffle iron. Voila! Now everyone can tell that you are the proud owner of an Old English Sheep Dog and properly understand why you're always talking about it bumping into walls.

I had thought back to this fond memory of that pit-stained shirt I had once owned when I was brainstorming t-shirt ideas for my sister this past xmas. This is what I had come up with and hopefully someday soon I'll actually silk screen it for her and the legacy of proud dog ownership can live on.

the next

Someday when I have some money again I'm going to get my next tattoo. I've been thinking about it for awhile and recently contacted the amazing Rocio to see what she thought and get my ideas down on paper. After throwing a bunch of print outs, words and twirling finger motions, she sent me this as a first draft. Pretty close I'd say! Not too hot on the leaf, but I suggested perhaps a few smaller leaves with a bit of a stem. What do you think?

Not sure when it's going to happen for sure but I think I might get it done in a few steps since she thinks it will take about 3 hours. So maybe just the outline first till I can save up for the rest!

A weekend

A snoring dog on your lap can only mean one thing -- it was a great weekend. Boo for the lost hour, but hi-fives for fort funston, maggie m's and a boogalicious breakfast!!

Do I have anything interesting to talk about? Of course not. Instead here are some pictures I took on a walk around my new neighborhood Saturday morning. The rain was at last drying up and you could finally venture out undie-free in that favorite skirt without feeling the draft.

A view of Bernal Hill



A disgustingly awesome storefront carpet.


yes.

How I got my period on Bernal Heights

One day soon I'll charge my camera so I can take more pictures. One of those pictures will for sure be of the most beautifully charming view from atop the hill that stands between me and maggie mudds. I've taken preston up there a few times this week. It's a slow, silent slope of a walk and when we finally do reach the top and our eyes huff and puff just over the edge and we wind a bit further up over tripping rocks, we become surrounded with an entire festival of lights that is right at our fingertips and we can do nothing but stare and breathe and remember how tiny we are.

It's been a bit scary this past week. Being alone and indecisive and responsible and worried. Constantly showering and cleaning thrown up tennis balls and burning broccoli. Getting stuck under the bed while something humps your leg. Trying to get a deal on fenders. The sad farewell to organic foods, to eating out, bars and movies, clothes and too many earrings. Looking for part time jobs. Going on a kick-ass pet store interview. Burning string beans. Wondering what the hell I'm going to do with all this free time.

So many things beating and bumping through my mind and chest - over and under whelming and ultimately leaving me back to where I was when I woke up in the morning. But there, up on top of bernal hill, it didn't matter that I had just gotten my period. Up there you're only watching. You've left that other whiny damsel way down over there. When you're up on bernal hill you're too numb to think. and that's the way I like it.

Like I said, I'll post a picture as soon as I take one. But for now here is one of preston being adorable (photo by donald).

the best is yet to come

The start of something fresh. I suppose a lot of things have been fresh as of late...but what has brought upon the urge to finally start this blog I've been contemplating for almost 2 years? was it the sun that's at last bleating through? the fact that my sister received the Last Sixteen Year Old to Get a Cellphone Award today? that someone told me my dog looked like a sheep? or perhaps it's that I can't stop narrating every single move I make and am tired of being the only one who knows the number of clean underwear left in my drawer or about what kind of wet grass I just wiped my hand in.

Nevertheless, here it is! I won't promise that it's going to be interesting or inspiring or even get updated on a regular basis...but I hope that in the very least it can serve to keep some very far and near beauties in touch with a tiny glimpse of the most boring parts of my life. Enjoy!