San Francisco has the most breaktaking street art

Trinidad, CA

So we sold $500 dollars worth of vegan cupcakes and drove to Texas. Our first stop? Trinidad, California. We stayed with Carol, a witty school teacher who lives in this amazing town with a population of 300. I found her on couchsurfing (Couchsurfing is the best thing about the internet. I'm not kidding). Carol was on Day 1 of an Eat Local Challenge, so she prepared all of the food in her refrigerator that wasn't local and made us eat it. It was great to feast on pesto potatoes, rice pudding, mozarella stuffed chili peppers, and a green salad after a long day in the car. Carol showed us the virgin Redwoods in her backyard and talked to us about her life as a teacher. We sat around the table for a couple hours and then Carol went to bed. She gave us directions to the beach, a short walk away. We sat on a log and watched the tide come in. Here's a photo of the beach in the morning...


And below is the GREATEST coffee shop that I have ever been to, The Beachcomber Cafe. If you look carefully, you'll see that the words above the counter read: We have no paper cups. The Beachcomber appears to be the only coffee shop in downtown Trinidad, so they can probably get away with this without losing any business. I wish there were more coffee shops following their lead. Everyone who came into the shop had their own mug, and a couple people used the cafe's cups. This place felt like how you would want home to feel. Everyone knew everyone else, and they were extremely friendly to us tourists. We met a woman sitting on a couch in the back of the cafe who was happy to put down her book and chat with us about the best spots to see in The Redwoods. Little kids ran around with pear scones up to their mouths while their moms invited each other to birthday parties and potlucks. On top of the fact that there is no waste coming out of this cafe and everyone there was so nice, they make amazing coffee and delicious vegan goods. We kept going back to the counter for more scones.


And just to illustrate how small (and charming) Trinidad is, here is a photo of their police department...


More highlights of the trip will be coming soon.

street treats

I just got back from my very first road trip. Three friends and I took two weeks to drive to Austin, TX and back. Where did we find the money for gas? We sold vegan cupcakes outside of bars in downtown Bellingham for the month leading up to our departure!

I wish I had photos of the fabulous outfits we wore while selling cupcakes, or of the Birthday Boys and Girls who were excited to find that we were carrying candles on us. But it's normal to forget to take pictures during some of the best nights of your life, right?

I did do a little bit of documenting, though. Here is Forrest decorating his Marbled Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes using the Professional Frosting Decorating Shot that I picked up at a thrift store recently. I feel like a cupcake doctor every time I use it, and it makes frosting look fabulous.



We carted the cupcakes downtown on our bikes. This proved to be difficult at times, but was really fun and quite a crowd-pleaser.



And here is my favorite of the cupcakes that we sold. Chocolate with Oreo Frosting! I based the recipe off of the one that I found here.


We made about $500 off of cupcakes in Bellingham, and sold some in Austin as well, which brought our grand total to $550.

This kind of success will definitely make one think about going into the cupcake business.

I finally learned how to sew!

Last month, Jill taught Annie how to make an apron. Earlier this week, Annie passed the skill on to me. Since Annie is also a beginner, we ran into a few road blocks. It's nice to run into those with friends, because had I been alone I might have given up. I went to sleep at 3am that night, rather exhausted, but I had a new apron by my side!

I had never touched a sewing machine, even though I'd been eying them for years. I was so happy to discover how naturally it came once I'd figured out some of the basics (and gotten past those road blocks). I've spent a lot of time this week thinking about what I want my next sewing project to be...

Here's I am showing off my apron:


I brought the apron to our annual family beach trip this week. My mom really liked it, so I gave it to her. Here she is, excited to have a daughter who can sew:

Smile for awhile

This summer I have been fortunate enough to see The Olympia Free Choir perform two times. The first time was at What the Heck Fest, and the second time was at The Stretch Pants Summer Party that Kimya Dawson hosted in her backyard earlier this month. The Olympia Free Choir meets on Tuesdays in a gazebo in Olympia. Everyone's welcome and they sing the cutest songs. Here's a video of them practicing one of my new favorite songs:



This song has been the backbone of my summer. It's encouraged me to step out of my skin and reminded me the importance of checking in with myself. It's really been a mantra of sorts. 10 Things was written by Paul Baribeau and I strongly recommend listening to his version in the morning. Especially if you've got a sun-drenched kitchen and a cup of tea.

When you ask someone to make a list of ten things they want to do before you die, you're getting personal. After The Stretch Pants Summer Party, I went to QB with my mom, sister, boyfriend, and one of my close friends. We ate sweet potato fries with cilantro lime aioli and each wrote down our ten things before sharing them with the table. It's definitely my new favorite thing to do with a group of people. You see the nicest part of a person when they talk sincerely about what they want to do with their lives. I learned a lot about all of them and I think we all realized that the things we want to do the most are totally reasonable and attainable. And that's a really good feeling.

My list:
1. write a book of my very own recipes
2. learn how to play an instrument
3. become fluent in spanish
3. go on a cross-county biking trip
4. learn how to decorate a cake
5. sell something that i've made
6. grow the biggest garden on the block
7. brew my own wine
8. make my own marshmallows
9. take a picture every day for a year
10. perfect the art of cutting hair

You should try it too.

summer BBQ parties

Joel won a free bbq from Trader Joe's earlier this summer (and he's showing it off with Emily in this picture). Since Joel doesn't have a backyard, it's been hanging out in mine all summer. I've never really been one for bbq's. I've thought of them as a steak-eating dad's toy, not a couple of vegan twenty-somethings. Turns out I was missing out. Veggies are delicious when bbq'ed. Which brings me to my new favorite food...

PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM BURGERS. OMG. For some reason I always thought portobellos cost something outrageous, like 5 bucks a shroom. Turns out they're cheap, and all you have to do is brush them in olive oil and minced garlic and then put them on a grill for 15 minutes or so.

SO, SO, SO GOOD.

Tofu Omelets!

Joel and I made them twice last weekend, and when I woke up this morning I was craving them again. Did you know that black salt has a sulfuric taste that is reminiscent of egg yolks? I am quite excited about the discovery. This recipe is from Vegan Brunch, but you can find it online here.