Vegan MoFo day 17/Better late than never

Not much in the way of food today.  We went on a new hike, Farmers Market, than picked up our dinner at Santa Ynez Burrito.  They have really good burritos, I had the grilled veggie burrito. The food is all organic which makes it even better.

So this vacation post is really long over due.  I mean it's November and we took our vacation at the end of August.  We traveled up to the Giant Redwoods in Northern California.  It was so beautiful!  Instead of posting about some of the first places we ate on our way up north I'm going to start with the best meal of our trip and the most exciting one.  Just so you know this was one vacation that there was plenty of vegan options all over the place.  A vegans dream!  Just how it should be everywhere you go.

My husband's friend's daughter(did you get that?) and her husband, bought this Japanese sushi restaurant a few years back in Eureka, CA.  When he found out we were going to vacation up that way he told us to go have dinner at their restaurant. It's called Kyoto Japanese Restaruant.  We heard that  it's best to make reservations because they are always crazy crowded.  I'm glad we did.  It's not a very big place but they are in the process of expanding...again.  So we get there and let Jenni know, the owner who is so nice, that Keaton and I are vegan.  She said it was no problem and that almost everything on the menu could be made vegan.  Keaton and I smiled.   Yippy jump for joy!

This is the miso soup for starters. Yum!

When you walk into the restaurant there is this big white board with the daily specials.  It was amazing how many daily specials there were on top of what was listed on the menu.

Mushroom Veggie Stuffed Squash Blossoms

  Jenni's recommendation was the stuffed squashed blossoms on the daily menu that were filled with crab but she spoke with the chef and he stuffed them with mushrooms and veggies and the batter was rice flour instead of egg.  I have to tell you these were absolutely exquisite!  I can't say enough about them or describe them any more but let me tell you at just one bite,  my mouth was very happy!  Seriously I could of eaten a whole plate full and would have been satisfied but I still had more food to eat.

This was a cold apple salad with a light veganaise dressing and almonds. Keaton didn't really care for it but Dave and I did.






Avocado Rolls and Tofu Tempura Rolls






Keaton ordered the tofu dinner and he said it was really good.  It came with tempura tofu rectangles(front right), rice, a savory cake like rice cake thingy(sorry I forget what it was but it's in the top right corner),  ginger salad(top left), carrot slaw and sliced ginger.

Dave had a non-vegan dinner so I didn't take a picture of that.

If you are ever up on the coast of Northern California you  must stop and eat at Kyoto Japanese Restaurant!

More vacation posts with vegan food to come.   





Happy Birthday Merlin kitty! Yummy 4th of July food!

Happy July!  It's Wednesday and things are getting back to normal from 4th.  It's been a bit cooler in the mornings here the last few days but I can't complain, I know that everyone back east is dealing with record breaking temps.  Sorry for all of you that live in those states, try to do your best to keep somewhat cool.  Just think about about those states that deal with 110-120 temps every summer.  My brother lives in Arizona and a few days ago it was around 115 that day.  I'll stick to living here on the central coast of California.

It's our cat Merlin's 15th birthday this month! 

He joined us for dinner one night.

 

I was washing dishes one evening when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.  Merlin was just sitting up there watching me.  It was really funny!

 

I couldn't leave Cleo out!  This was on the houseboat. 

We grilled pizza's last Saturday night for the first time for my in-laws.  It was also the first time

I've used Daiya(dairy free cheese).  I know... but better late than never.  We usually make cheeseless pizza's but I figured since my father-in-law was here I'd try out the Daiya.  I must say I was very pleasantly surprised!  It is so far the best non-dairy cheese I have ever tasted.  Everyone really liked it too! In the future though, I think we'll stick to cheeseless pizza's, just because I'm not used to having any type of cheese product and putting the cheese on all 3 different types of pizza's were a bit too much for me.  I didn't get a chance to take a pic of all 3 pizza's but this one was a tomato, onion, mushroom, vegan sausage with daiya cheese.  Yum! 

Our favorite black bean burgers with a grilled corn and tomato salsa.  This salsa is so good you can use it to top off tortilla chips!  Just grill up a few corn on the cobs, then cut the corn off the cob.  Chop up a couple of ripe tomatoes, cilantro, scallions/red onion, lime juice, jalepeno(to taste), s & p. 

So my plan for dessert on the 4th was to make berry hand pies but the Pate Brisee was so fragile I only got to making 4 little ones and they were falling apart at that.  Soooo....I opted to use all the berries I had, mix them together and make a Triple Berry Crumble Pie!  The berries were blackberry, blueberries and strawberries.  I mixed in some arrowroot and sugar, then poured into the pie crust.  

For the crumble top I used, flour, brown sugar and Earth Balance.

This doesn't look so great,  but I had wax paper covering the top so it kind of softened the crumble topping.

I must admit this was one very delicious tasting Triple Berry Crumble Pie!  This is the first time I've used strawberries in a baked pie.  It's also the first time I've used a crumble top on a berry pie.   Since I didn't use much sugar with the berries the crumble top sweetened it nicely.

  

Last week I had a visit from 2 of my best friends.  We have been hooked on succulents lately and there is a great place in Los Olivos with amazing arrangements and succulents.  One of my girlfriends made me this cute arrangement from some of her succulents.  When the girls come out we've been exchanging propegated plants and succulents from our cuttings.  It's a nice way to add to our collection of plants and make for nice little gifts.  It's alot of fun too!

This is an arrangement I made using a Corona pail.  I just made some holes in the bottom of the pail, added rock for drainage, filled with cactus/succulent soil mix and then the succulents.  There is some Irish Moss in the middle.  The nice things about succulents are that they grow pretty quickly, easy to care for and don't require much watering.

Upcoming reviews: POM

My Halloween Birthday apple pie and decorations....

My mother-in-law used to make my cake but since we moved and we are vegan I'm making my own birthday desserts. That's okay cuz I like baking anyways. This year I decided to make an apple pie instead of a cake. We have so many apples left on the tree and I don't like wasting fruit. Also I didn't have to go out and buy any ingredients. I couldn't have been happier with the results. My husband ate all of his portion and said how good it was and he's not a fruit pie eater. He's the type that takes out the filling and adds a scoop of ice cream to the crust! So I took his comment as a big compliment.

Yes my birthday is on Halloween ! Some fun facts about me: 1) I love scary movies, not to much on the gore, just scary ones. When I was little I remember my older brother getting home from work late at night and my younger sister and I used to get out bed and watch old black and white monster movies with him. 2) My grandmother, my dad's mom(whom I was never able to meet because she passed away before I was born) was born in Transylvania, seriously, no joke! I was thinking this weekend that if I start believing I am a vampire maybe my mind will have an affect on my body and I will stop ageing. Just a thought. But the only problem is I love the sun. 3) Clowns scare me. I know I love to be scared but clowns aren't my thing.

I know I just said I don't like clowns and here we have a clown! My son just loves doing this to scare me.

Here are some Halloween pic's. I love to decorate for Halloween, well I do have a kid I have to for him! lol! I made this Halloween garland a few years ago and it's still holding up. I really like vintage halloween decorations. Below is a closer view of it.

My dining table.

Outside the house. We are already planning more fun stuff for the outside next year.

My husband is the one who does the carving of the pumpkins. This year and last I had to because he was too busy with work. I was ready to smash it while I was carving it because I was getting so frustrated and it was taking me forever and it's really not my job! Okay I'm settled down now. So the many compliments I received throughout the night on this pumpkin made me me verry happy. It did look even better in person.

My birthday was a pretty quiet one. This is our second Halloween up here and my family couldn't make it. My son went Trick or Treating with his 3 friends and my husband and I handed out candy. When trick or treating was over we took my son and his friends to the awesome haunted house in town. The people who put the Haunted House together are all volunteers and the $6 a person is worth every penny. They really go all out and they do a great job at scaring people. BOO!