Merry Belated Christmas!

And a very belated happy Hanukkah!

I don't like blogging without pictures, which is the reason I'll blame for the long stretch of time with no posts. Though I bought a new memory card to replace mine back in the beginning of December, so really my excuses don't hold strong.

What's happened since I last posted? Well, I went to Seattle with Jess Scone. She had to go for work purposes, so I was ecstatic to tag along for a free hotel and gas money. I had been wanting to go for another visit and it's fun to go with another (vegan) food enthusiast. It was also nice to meet a couple new vegans/fellow PPKers while there.

I also went to the penis of America. AKA Florida. My hometown is Sarasota and I spent a week there, hanging out with mom, some with dad and some with friends. Unfortunately, the 80 degree weather that my mom was bragging about when I bought my ticket disappeared while I was there. Dang cold front. I'm happy to report that though it got warmer after I left, the last week has been cold again. (I'm happy because at least I have the comfort of knowing it wasn't warm during Christmas when my mom would've had me come.) The vegan scene in my hometown is definitely wanting, but it's getting better each visit. Though most of it leans towards the raw foods.

I did have a soup and salad at Simon's Coffeehouse. This is a place that's been in Sarasota for a long time, but for some reason I've never really gone. I mean, I went once several years ago, but not since. I heard they use vegan sausage and have tofu scrambles for breakfast. Unfortunately, I went with my mom for lunch. Fewer options, which is weird, no?

I got the soup simply called Green. It was a slightly salty soup of spinach and some other pureed greens. I quite liked it, actually.

The salad was the Thai Tofu special salad of the day. i had to get it with a balsamic vinaigrette instead of the creamy (nonvegan) thai dressing that went with it. The sprouts were a little odd with that mix, but all in all, not bad. The seedy bread that came with it was an end piece and pretty tough. I had a little salad left over. This was $9.95. I would've thought $8.95 would be more reasonable.

While at home my mom made some cinnamon rolls for me. She always has bread starter (or so it seems) and makes cinnamon swirl bread often. She made cinnamon rolls using the Earth Balance she bought for me and then also didn't butter the tops of the cinnamon bread she made.

Time to rise!

The middle piece was mine, all mine!

I would have to say that this is the first time (that I recall, anyways) my mom has offered to make me something vegan. I really appreciated it. This trip my mom was very awesome about going to places that had vegan options, as well.

We went to the Saturday Farmer's Market.

My mom in the crowd.

I was happy to see such a bustling farmer's market. I guess it was probably more bustling since it was so close to Christmas.

After walking around the market, we stopped at the nearby Whole Foods for lunch. Which is where I got this donut:

It wasn't the best donut ever, it was a little dry/old, but I'm sure that if I didn't have the likes of Sweetpea Baking or Voodoo Donuts I would be ever so happy to have these at my grasp.

I did try going to the beach on the warmest day, but it was a no-go. I was there for 10 minutes and was cold in my shorts and hoodie, my towel draped over my legs.

Sad face.

As always, I'm excited to come home to Florida, but always ready to come back to the Pacific Northwest, my new home.

Favorite Bars

I'm currently in Sarasota, Florida, my home town. The time here is 4:30am, but that's 1:30am Portland time and I'm still on Portland time...I just got here this morning (Friday morning) and I took a nap after arriving here on a red eye flight. But, yeah, kind of wide awake.

Note: LAX is one of the worst airports I've been to. I expected more since celebrities use it quite a bit. It's dumpy looking (ok, it's under construction, I think, so hopefully improvements are on their way) and the food choices suck. My sister and I shared a cheeseless veggie pizza at a California Pizza Kitchen Express. It was so blah. 

Today I have eaten: hashbrowns with green peppers and onions, french fries, more french fries (mmm...Chick-Fil-A waffle fries), some white rice w/veggies that my mom got at a mall food place, pretzels, mom's homemade handheld cherry pies, Tempt ice cream, a piece of mom's cinnamon bread....and some Dr. Pepper and beer. Yeah, a real good healthy day...

Only 9 days left...

But back to the subject, me and Jess planned on doing this post during Vegan MoFo, but never finished it before the end of October. Well, correction, I finished it, someone else didn't finish it. ahem. Well, she posted it on her page, so I'm just going to link it. Please let us know what your favorite bars are and what's vegan there that you like! (this includes out-of-Portlanders!)