Spring rolls...so easy!

Our laptop is back and working wonderfully! 

How's everyone's summer going?  We are really having a nice one.

My son, Keaton, left last week to spend time with his grandparents.  He comes back home on Thursday. 

Oh how we miss him!  In the mean time with him being gone Dave and I have been able to hang out together which is really nice.  We spent one day at Avila Beach.  Saturday I spent the day with a friend at the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice...everyone was so nice and check this out...One of the food vendors there was Strictly Vegan Jamaican Cuisine.  They were very busy which was great to see.  I had the wrap with Jerk Gardein strips.  The wraps are loaded with vegetables and not too much gardein which I really liked. They top it off with a mango type salsa and serve with chunks of plantain. Yum!  It was fun people watching too.  Sat. night Dave and I went out to the brewery in town, listened to good music and ate the best sweet potato fries..ever!  They were crispy and crunchy, due to just enough sea salt.  Oh and of course we had us some beer!  Good times.

Now that we are having warm weather I've been cooking alot lighter. 

I finally made spring rolls.  I don't know why it took me so long because they are so easy to make.

Softened rice paper wraps are filled with marinated and grilled tofu, a mixture of julienned vegetables...red bell pepper, carrots, scallions, daikon, cucumber, cilantro and pea shoots.  These vegetables were first julienned, put in a bowl,  then mixed with a lime marinade.The marinade consists of lime juice, liquid aminos(coconut aminos, soy sauce or tamari), ginger, agave, sesame oil. 

These are served with a side of peanut sauce.  In a blender add organic peanut butter, ginger, garlic, braggs liquid aminos,  cilantro, red onion, lime juice, sesame oil, a dash of sriracha hot sauce and water to thin out.   With the leftover sauce you can use on noodles and such.

Have you made spring rolls before?  If so what do you like to put in them?\

Enjoy your sunny day!

Saturday night outing and marble cake..

Happy Monday and first day of March.  Day light savings is coming upon us.  I can't wait!!!  It's been off and on rain over the weekend. Friday evening it started raining non stop through Saturday morning. Then Saturday night it was so flippen cold....burrrrr! More rain tonight or tomorrow.  Bring it on!

  Saturday night Dave and I went out.  Dave works most weekends, only gets one day off a week,so when he gets home early from work it's really nice.  Saturday night Keaton was staying the night at a friends house and Dave got home a bit early so we took advantage of the night and went out.  There's not a whole lot to do out here, there is a casino but we only go there to visit our friend who bartends at the nice restaurant .  We do have some really nice restaurants and some with cozy bars so we decided to start the night out at Mattei's Tavern, Los Olivos.

The tavern was built in 1886 as you can see in the above description.  Right now there are no rooms available to stay in but the most recent owners, want to add on and make it into an inn as well.  

Since we have company often it's nice to go and experience first hand all of the restaurants and bars in the area... you know so we can recommend places to go to... right? lol!    So here we have the bar area.  I found this pic online so that's why there are no people in it.  The place was packed when we were there!  We sat at this bar, had a drink and an amazing appetizer of the most awesome tasting spring rolls that were filled with crunchy veggies, layered on top of a fresh cabbage, bell pepper, mushroom salad/slaw with a spicy plum sauce.  I didn't take a pic but we keep talking about these spring rolls. 

Here is the picture of the Lobby.  Again not the night we went but to the right is where the bar is and there is another fireplace with a couple of couches and a coffee table in between that you can eat at if you wish.

After our drink and appetizer we moved on to one of our favorite places to eat, the Los Olivos Cafe.   We were seated  right by the fire. Very warm and toasty.  I enjoyed a nice glass of wine, salad and a tapenade, pesto, sundried tomato pizza.  What a nice night we had.

Okay now on to some yummy dessert.  Since we are only a family of three, unless I'm having company over, I will use my small bundt pan and it makes the perfect size cake.  Marble cake has been on my mind as of late so that's what I made.  The recipe I chose was by Mihl from Seitan is My Motor .   This cake is extremely moist and it's just so so good.  This is a keeper and one I will be making again for guests.  Since I used the small bundt pan I halved the recipe.  I think I will also use more chocolate in the mix.  I also topped it off with a chocolate ganache. 

Enjoy your Monday!