What I Ate Wednesday posts have always been some of my most popular, so I thought it would be fun to pop in and do one of those. A sort of “day in the life” thing, to serve as both mealtime inspiration, as WIAW always seems to do, as well as to give you guys a little look into what I’m currently up to. Which is: A LOT.

These days are busy, some of the busiest I’ve ever had, I think. And I find that the key to sustained intensity like this (no end in sight) is consistent and directed self care. Now more than ever, I’m making sure to put nutritious and delicious foods into my body, and I’m using media that makes me feel happy and stimulated, and I’m surrounding myself with the people who nourish and inspire me, and I’m trying to pause and notice the beauty around me, and of course, as often as possible, I’m finding some time to rest.

Okay so actually I’m still working on that last part. But hey, 4 out of 5 ain’t bad! Here’s how my day unfolded, on a recent Friday:

Yes, plural.

Time to start this day.

I spend about an hour in the classroom, helping the children with art and writing, and then joining in circle time for show-and-tell and appreciations. Then, it’s time to feast!





It’s a beautiful winter day, with that special kind of slicing sunlight that always comes this time of year. Unfortunately I have a meeting scheduled right at noon, so I can’t stay long, but I’m grateful to be able to be part of such a lovely little feast. At 11:30 I’m kissing the kiddo goodbye and hopping into the car to head out to UCSB.

Thomas and I are currently working on writing up some field research — predator-prey dynamics in freshwater river systems — which we’re getting ready to submit for publication. It’s pretty cool stuff, and we hope to have it in peer-review by early next year.

While we work, I eat:




Today’s meal-sized salad is local mesclun mix and carrots from my CSA farm box, red onion, garbanzo beans, and a whole half of a large avocado, covered in my favorite tahini sauce.

We work on our manuscript for 2 solid hours and make some great headway. But soon, it’s time for me to take off, to pick the kiddo up from school!

Waits has kindergarten during normal school hours, and then he goes to an after school program which is a nature-based outdoor day care. It’s the best.

I bring him a little after-school treat:

But now, I have an appointment downtown. I park at our barware shop Still and pop in to give Jeremy a kiss. Then I’m off walking, just a few short blocks, to a beautiful place called The Temple.




This is Terence, and he co-founded The Temple (a center for holistic health coaching) with a friend of mine. Terence is a really interesting guy, and also . . . *cue dramatic music* . . . he’s an ex-vegan!!

So much so, that now he’s asking me to consult with him for his vegan and vegetarian clients. He feels like he wants to be able to support them in their desire to be veg, but he needs an expert on vegan and vegetarian nutrition. And he thinks that expert could be me!

It’s pretty cool stuff, and an exciting potential opportunity. I think we have tons to learn from each other, and I’m really, really looking forward to this budding relationship. ♥

Our meeting lasts from 3 until 4, and then I have to hit the road (again) to get home and get ready for work at the wine bar. We open at 5:15 and I still have to pick Waits up from outdoor school.




But first a quick pit stop into the raw/vegan cafe in front of The Temple, where I pick up a pair of superfood cold-brew coffee smoothies. Because we have a loooong night ahead of us, and we need coffee.

I walk back down to where my car is parked at Still, drop the smoothie off with Jeremy around the corner at the wine bar, and then head home to get changed.

I really try to “look the part” when I’m at our vegan wine bar, Five & 1/4, so it can take me a little time to get ready. But today I’m feeling rushed and I keep things pretty minimal: change into all black clothing, refresh my makeup, and put my hair up. Done.

I head back out to pick up Waits, which is a bit of a drive up into the foothills. By the time I retrieve him and get us back home, it’s after dark, and after 5 o’clock.




This is Erica. She’s our housemate, and aside from being an awesome vegan, kitten auntie, and Grey’s Anatomy marathon co-conspirator, she also just so happens to be a professional nanny.

Hello serendipity!!

So Erica and Waits get along great, and she watches the kiddo on the nights when I have him but I need to work the wine bar (so, every other weekend). It’s such a great arrangement and I feel so dang lucky.

I leave them happily playing together with the kitties:




And I’m off to work.

So we’re about three months into this whole opening a vegan wine bar thing, and it’s actually going pretty swimmingly. Other than the long, late hours and the grind of restaurant work, and you know, both of us having other full-time gigs . . . but I can’t complain. We opened a wine bar three months ago and people really dig it and we get rave reviews and it’s already profitable which is AMAZING. So yeah, I can’t complain.

Tonight is a little weird because it’s the annual Christmas parade down our main street, which is just one block away from the wine bar. So walking to work (it’s only a few blocks from home), the streets are packed and there’s festivity everywhere, but I’m not sure what to expect when I get there. Tonight will either be really slow, or totally slammed.




Upon arrival, it’s preeeeetty slow. But that’s okay — I need a moment to transition, and to get some food in me.




This is Jerome, our first hire at Five & 1/4! I met Jerome through a mutual friend this past summer, right as he was moving out to Santa Barbara from California’s central valley, where he’d spent the past few years helping to build community gardens. Jerome is actually a photographer and documentarian by trade, but he was forced to flee his home country of Sri Lanka for doing that very work. He is now a refugee, here on political asylum.

Jerome is an awesome guy with an incredible story, and we’re so happy to have him at Five & 1/4. He also just so happens to make a killer mango curry.

Also, pudla!




We serve pudlas in the bar, and we usually ask Jerome to fire a couple of them as soon as we get going. We leave them in the back and that way Jeremy and I can snatch bites throughout the night. That’s dinner on work nights — a pudla, plus our house made rosemary cayenne cashews at the end of the night, and probably a few of the leftover dolmas, too. But first, pudla. Always have the pudla on hand. We learned the hard way that busy busy nights can quickly lead to hungry –> hANGRY us. Whoops.

So now we take preventative measures, and it’s a good thing too. As soon as the parade is over, the wine bar begins to fill up.

As it turns out, it’s a really great night, super busy and full of happy, celebratory folks. It’s everything I love about this project – good food, great wine, and an accessible, easy-going atmosphere. The kind of place that’s always up for a trombone solo.

Jerome takes off to catch his bus around 9, and the night winds down around 10 pm when we close the doors. But there’s still so much work to do. We dream of the day when we can hire staff to break down the bar and clean up at the end of the night. But for now, it’s all on the two of us.




It’s 11:02 pm, and we’re finally making our way home. Quiet streets reflection selfie! This is actually one of my very favorite parts of the entire day. That walk home, late night, body aching, head spinning, but feeling so good. That physical feeling of good, hard work. And cold night air. I just love it.

We get home and check in with Erica. I check on Waits. We snuggle the kitties. It’s been a long day and we’re soooo tired, but neither of us can go straight to sleep when we get home. We always need wind-down time.

When we open a new bottle at the wine bar, we always take a taste to make sure it’s good. So over the course of this particular night, I’ve sip-sampled a Croation white, a French Vouvray, and reds from Italy, Lebanon, and Greece. I also tried a German Kuemmerling digestivo.

But when I get home, I want a real glass of wine. I want to put my yoga pants on, throw my hair up in a messy top knot, and pour myself a real glass of wine.

Côtes du Rhône tonight.




At the end of another long, long day. And a *cheers*, to that.

♥ ♥ ♥


Oh yeah! And also, this blog post comes with a bonus track. Seems appropriate.

Luckily my bias is irrelevant, because this is a fantastic book! Truly, this is by far my favorite of Dreena’s books, with a wide array of amazing recipes, plus a great section of tips and troubleshooting for parents who are raising vegan kiddos. It’s a valuable book, and one that I think all vegan families should own.

Waits and I have been baking out of this book (<-- that's a Periscope video of "baker Waits Rebhal", by the way) for the past few weeks. We've made most of the muffin recipes, but hadn't ventured into savory territory . . . until this past Saturday. So, since it's been so very long since we've done one, I thought it would be fun to do a full WIAW along with this review.

So here's our Saturday: all of our our eats for this rambunctious vegan 5 1/4 year old, and his busy vegan mama.

This is basically what my mornings look like . . .

On this particular Saturday morning, I sat down with Waits first thing, to thumb through Plant-Powered Families and pick out a recipe to make for dinner.

Oat milk all the way.

Waits had “butter bread” for breakfast, which is whole-grain bread with Earth Balance and raspberry jam. It’s a favorite these days.

I drank a mug of Earl Grey that’s roughly the size of my head.

And we broke out an old set of Star Wars Monopoly I’d picked up at the second hand kid’s store a few months ago. Waits is juuuust now old enough and patient enough to venture into board game land, and I am SO EXCITED about it. Because I love board games. Love them.

My breakfast: avocado toast with heirloom tomato and red onion, plus sea salt and lemon pepper. On my favorite gluten-free oat bread, which we buy in bulk in LA and keep stockpiled in our freezer. Huzzah!

After breakfast we got dressed, and I loaded Waits up in the little red wagon. It was Farmer’s Market day, and I was excited to get out into the fresh air and surround myself with beautiful veggies, vibrant flowers, happy people, street performers, and the generally delightful vibe of the Saturday Farmer’s Market.

Pictured above, you can see Waits eating a fig that we Urban Foraged in an alley behind our house.

Always gotta stop for an ounce of green goodness from my wheatgrass lady!

With a shot of fresh pressed orange juice for the kiddo.

From the market we walked up to Still, to visit Jeremy and to drop off fresh flowers for the shop.

Then it was home for lunch. We just discovered that Bill Nye the Science Guy is on Netflix streaming, so Waits watched that (it was the episode on Magnetism, I think – so cool!) while I put together our lunches. For him:

A platter of (starting in upper left) seaweed strips, wild rice with a homemade sauce (it was something I had improvised a few days earlier, similar to this but with raw carrots instead of squash), magic beans, and raw Farmer’s market veggies. With coconut water for sippin’.

And for me:

A big salad with green leaf lettuce, tomato, shredded carrots, avocado, chickpeas, green onions, and fenugreek sprouts, served with one of my all-time favorite dressings, the Green Goddess Dressing from the Choosing Raw cookbook (recipe here).

This salad was sort of amazing.

After lunch we had some quiet time, and actually, Waits even conked out for a rare afternoon nap. I got to sit down and put my feet up and watch an episode of one of my shows (current obsession: Friday Night Lights) and boy howdy, was that a lovely and unexpected little interlude.

Once the kiddo woke up, we set out to run some errands.

Oat milk for my sleepy-faced guy.

And a tall, iced green tea for me. (also, Waits took this picture! Not bad right?)

On Saturdays I like to try and hit estate sales, since I run the vintage program at Still. I’ve become quite adept at sleuthing out old, rare bar/cocktail/glassware-related treasures, and I’m actually really good at it! Who knew? But it’s so fun, and as an avid lover of all things vintage, it’s a pretty cool way for me to be able to help Jeremy build his business.

Anyway, we didn’t find anything special for the store on this day, but we did find some awesome stuff for us! A certain board game I’ve been searching for, an amazing vintage 1000-piece puzzle of the USA, and a cool little science kit (not pictured because he was playing with it in the back).

And as we were leaving the last sale, I realized that we were in the same neighborhood as my favorite local tea and spice shop.

My mother used to take me to this shop when I was Waits’s age – it’s where she would buy her bulk tea and coffee. And she would always let me get a few of the bulk candies, as a special treat.

I have such vivid memories of that. So long ago.

Bulk Earl Grey and Pu-Erh for me, and for the kid . . . Swedish Fish are vegan!

By then it was time to get back home so I could get to making dinner. We had decided on 2 recipes from Plant-Powered Families: the Sneaky Chickpea Burgers and the Home Fries.

Burger-making.

Home fries, featuring Farmer’s Market butter potatoes, and fresh rosemary straight from our garden.

Oh man, these were both SO GOOD.

Waits can be pretty picky with his burgers, but he gobbled this recipe right up. Jeremy and I both loved them too, and the patties were great on a salad for lunch the next day. These burgers will definitely go into the rotation . . . well, at least after I’ve made and tried the other burgers from the book!



All in all, a pretty perfect summer day, I’d say.

♥ ♥ ♥

It all started with his fascination with the inner workings of the human body (still his favorite), and then came an interest in outer space, and nowadays he’s exploring the dinosaurs. Plus he loves it when I tell him about the labs I teach at school, and I take him into the field with me whenever I can. So yeah, science family – who’da thunk?!

In support of my little blossoming scientist, we recently took a trip to Los Angeles, to visit the LA Science Center (amongst other galavanting around the town).

This is how it went, and what we ate:




Breakfast was blueberry-flavored coconut yogurt with raspberries (the ones we picked and froze this summer) and chia seeds.




And of course, oat milk!

While Waits ate breakfast, I packed up our lunches and made a big batch of fresh juice.




For Waits: cilantro-kale-celery-apple with fresh turmeric root. After I portioned his out I added lots more turmeric and fresh ginger, plus lemon, for Jeremy and I.

After cleanup I got us both dressed and out the door, with just a few errands to run before we could get on the freeway. First stop? Dropping off green juice and the Harley dog at Still.




With boyfriend and dog both taken care of, we were ready to hit the raod.

On to the freeway!




. . . Wheeeere traffic was creeping along at a snails pace. Oh, California drivers in the rain.

After about an hour or so we were both hungry. I had planned and packed a picnic lunch complete with blankie and beach plans, but, well, the rain sorta spoiled that. Whoops!

Oh well, we ate while crawling through traffic on the 101.




Magic Beans for my boy (kidney beans + hemp seeds + nutritional yeast + tamari + olive oil).




And a super salad for me: baby spinach, lentils, tomato, avocado, kalamata olives, and green onions, with a noochy-dijon vinaigrette. So good.




Quick pit stop for gas and potty. Waits was excited to wash my windows, haha. And also we used an alarmingly nasty bathroom. Welcome to LA!




Back on the road, we headed for our first real destination: Rising Hearts Bakery, home of the (literally) best gluten-free vegan breads and pastries I’ve ever eaten. And I mean best by a LONG shot.




Waits is such a charmer.




We always buy LOTS. Sandwich loaves, hamburger buns, brioche, scones, and focaccia. Usually pumpernickel too, but they were out.

It all comes frozen and will stay that way in our insulated bag. We don’t eat tons of bread at home, so this stash will last us a couple of months.




But of course we had to get treats, too. Chocolate chocolate cupcake for the kid.




And a carrot cake whoopie pie for moi.

From there we were finally on our way to the main event – the LA Science Center! This place is massive, and so SO cool. We were so excited!

There’s so much to see and do, like:




Learning about Endosymbiotic Theory, one of the foundational principles of biology.





And looking at giant model neurons, to see how nerve functioning works.




And his absolute, absolute FAVORITE, Tess the 50-foot robot with glowing organs who teaches kids about how homeostasis is maintained in the human body. You should see his face light up when he talks about Tess. Pure joy!

And of course there’s more – there’s flight and physics and lunar landing and optics and all sorts of other fun exhibits. But I was too busy exploring to take photos, for the most part.

It was a pretty incredible afternoon.




Totally tuckered out, he fell asleep during the 1/2-hour drive from the Science Center to Native Foods for dinner.




Mmm Native Foods, how I miss you so! For him: mac n cheese, steamed broccoli, and fries. For me: Scorpion Burger (tempeh patty with avocado and cheddar), kale style to make it gluten-free, with sweet potato fries. YUM!

He insisted on sleeping with “Vipey”, his souvenir rubber snake from the Science Center. “Mama, do you know how to tell it’s poisonous? Triangle head! VENOM glands!!”




This little boy, I tell you. He just bursts my heart wide open.


It was a good day. It’s a good life, ya know?

♥ ♥ ♥

This week/weekend was finals and round-the-clock grading madness in order to get everything submitted on time, so I wasn’t able to respond to every comment (yet!). But I did read them all, of course, and they all meant so much to me. And Jeremy too! Thank you so much, from the both of us. ♥

And now, it’s been a loooong time since our last What We Ate Wednesday!




A late start. My little alarm clock – one mister Waits Rebhal – slept until the inconceivable time of 8:40. Which means I did too! And normally that would have been fine, amazing even, except today was a very special day. See, preschool is out on winter break, which means the moms and I are doing a sort of “childcare round robin”. A different house each day.

And today, Tuesday, was my day.



Sleepiest face.



Perking up a little. Breakfast was a blueberry-flavored coconut yoghurt while practicing his letters.



And a vegan breath bone for our vegan pooch, who will be celebrating his 1-year veganniversary on new year’s day! Just today one of the moms commented, “He’s so happy and spry for such an old guy.” Why yes he is!



I was still waiting for the coffee to kick in. “Moooom, I’m gonna get some oat milk!” This kid has gotten so, well, KID. What happened to my baby?



Oh, my baby stole the camera. Stinker. (and hello, messing morning hair!) (and my boyfriend is giving me upside-down bunny ears. stinker.)

And then, the kiddos begin to arrive.



That’s Ellington with Waits, and Miss Orion in the background.



Backyard –> Bedroom –> Backyard –> Bedroom

That’s pretty much how the whole day went.



Snack attack! Lara Bars.



And then Salem arrived, which brought our Tiny Person count up to 4.



And PIZZA!



A pizza party picnic on the living room floor. The baby is Miriam, Salem’s little sister, who snagged a few vegan seitan sausages before her and her mommy took off for the day.

While the kiddos ate I scarfed down a big bowl of super easy salad:



Just torn red lettuce and lentils with the tahini sauce that done stoled my heart, topped with avocado and kimchi.

YUM.

So easy, so delicious, and so healthy. 5 ingredients, SO MUCH flavor. Which reminds me, if you’re interested, I wrote a post about the science of salads and I think it’s probably one of my favorite posts ever.



More playing! And then of course . . .



Snack attack! Organic unsulfured/unsweetened dried mangoes.



Definitely a fan favorite.

Now keep in mind, this was all still before noon. Noon!

So around noon, Miss Orion’s mom joined back up with us, and we decided to venture out.



The [older] boys on their bikes, the [younger] girls in the wagon.





And not so long a walk from my house, we find . . .



Jeremy! We popped in for a little visit . . .



And Waits insisted that his friends get to sample the cocktail cherries (which are always available for anyone to sample:



Luxardo maraschino cherries and Fabrri Amarena wild cherries.



Not a hard sell.

I also promised them each they could have a ginger beer . . .


. . . which every single one of them declared “too spicy!” and promptly gave back. Whoops. Sorry Jeremy.

So from there Miss Orion and her mama bid us adieu, and we made our way over to Jeremy’s house for a movie and some quiet time (he has a TV – I don’t).

After the movie we were back to my house, and Ellington’s mom picked him up around 3:30. Salem and Waits were happy to play out in the yard, some sort of target practice game inspired by the adventures of Mr Robin Hood.



Waits and Salem are kindred spirits, both whip-thin, headstrong, spirited souls.

And they were mostly content to play on their own for the rest of the afternoon, which was nice for me, and even gave me a chance to do some work for Still – cataloguing and cleaning my most recent vintage haul. Frosted mugs and ice buckets and punch bowls, oh my!



Snack attack! Mama Chia.

Salem’s mom picked her up around 5, and Waits and I didn’t even pause to take a breath. We were off! Some last minute Christmas Eve-Eve shopping. This may or may not have been the first Christmas shopping of the season for me . . . oi. I can’t even believe that it’s Christmas already. Where has December gone??! WHERE DID NOVEMBER GO???



While out and about, I picked up a coffee for Jeremy (he can drink coffee after 5! not me, no way Jose). Waits got a soy milk steamer.




A few hours later the shopping was accomplished, but I was sort of a wreck. I’d planned to hit Trader Joe’s on the way home and pick up fixins for Taco Tuesday, but it was late, creeping up on 8, and, well . . .

Vietnamese takeout happened instead.




Ginger broth soup with steamed tofu and broccoli, topped with fresh basil and cilantro. Jeremy likes his with jalapeños and lime juice.



And I like mine with lots of chili oil.


By the time dinner was done it after 9, and time for bed for wee mister Rebhal. A quick bath and a tooth scrub, jammies and a kiss goodnight. Such a good day.

And then, for me, here on the couch. To write this post.



DONE!

Happy Holidays to all of you!

♥ ♥ ♥

And thusly I present to you: What I Ate Wednesday (it’s been a long time!), the western Maryland addition. Featuring Jeremy, his family, and autumn on the very eastern edge of the Appalachian mountains.

In honor of my ailing body, and to appease my sweet boyfriend who thinks I should be resting instead of working (bah!), this will be a post of many pictures and few words. Here we go . . .




Breakfast! Sorry for the crappy cell pic and bad lighting. Jeremy and I split a gluten-free english muffin with melted Daiya cheddar, fresh garden tomato slices and avocado with salt and pepper.

Also coffee. Lots of coffee.

After breakfasting and showering and all that jazz, we set out on an adventure.




Jeremy took me to Dan’s Rock, this amazing spot at the top of the mountain that overlooks the house that he grew up in. I have mad respect for graffiti artists, but I don’t usually like seeing graffiti in nature. This place, however . . . this place was so over the top, so completely bursting with color and so strangely juxtaposed against the gorgeous landscape.

It was eerie and brilliant all at once – like Rainbow Bright meets Mad Max.

Which we found.




Lunch:




The last of a wheel of homemade vegan brie, a salad with mixed baby greens and steamed beets, two kinds of hummus, and fancy olives (my weakness!). Kombucha to wash it all down.

It was so beautiful there.

And after lunch, I promptly sprang into biology mode, because I literally cannot help myself. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you, but the whole reason I went back to college (the first time) was because of an epiphany I had during a 9-month stint of living in a van and traveling around America. I was 20 years old, and found myself in Massachusetts in early fall. And it had just rained, and there were these vernal pools that had sprung up all over the forest, and my epiphany came when I realized that I had been sitting at the edge of one of these little ponds for almost an hour, just . . . peering into the depths, looking for creatures. Frogs mostly. I’ve always had a love connection with amphibians. And it was this lightbulb moment of epiphany that flashed bright ~

BIOLOGY!

And that’s how a once-upon-a-time high school dropout decided to go back to college and become a scientist. And now it’s over a decade later, and I am in grad school, and nothing has changed. Because if I am in any sort of close proximity with any body of fresh water, I am drawn like a moth to the flame. Compelled to peer into that water, looking for creatures. Always was, always will be. I just can’t help myself.




See?

But you guys!! Look what I found!!!




A beautiful, sweet little newt! Isn’t he precious? And look at him just showing off for the camera. He was a good sport, and so pretty.




Buh-bye little friend!

It was an amazing afternoon, but by early evening we were due back at Jeremy’s mom’s house. We had a soccer game to get to! Jeremy’s niece, star goalie, had a game, and the whole family would be there to cheer her on.





There have been multiple generations that have gone to this same high school, which is why we were able to dig up this vintage cap – “Go Big Blue!” – stuffed in an old box. Jeremy’s mom poked fun of me for wearing it, but I think it was freaking awesome!




The boring life of a soccer goalie.




Bundled up and hollerin’ loud! Alas, our team was defeated that night. Still a good game though!

Afterwards, we all came back to the house for a late night family-style dinner, all around the big kitchen table, and featuring more of my very favorite Maryland food: CORN!







Clockwise from top left: cheezy lentils, skillet potatoes, fresh tomatoes, corn on the cob, boiled green beans (a new love affair I never expected), and steamed brussels sprouts. Now THAT is a country dinner!

After dinner everybody was pretty beat. It was late, but not too late for Jeremy to challenge his nephew to a board game duel. I have to admit, I can’t remember who won. Don’t tell him!





♥ ♥ ♥

This August 1st I was traveling with my son and my partner, and to be honest, I completely forgot about the celebration. I literally lost track of dates on this trip, so August 1st came and went without me even realizing it.

But you know what? I just so happened to decide to take a whole day of photos for a WIAW post on our last day in Tahoe. And can you even believe it? That day just happened to be August 1st. Serendipity.

So here it is, a day of photos from my 6th Veganniversary:




We find ourselves in a casino, at 8 am.

Waits woke up early – WAY early – on this day. And I wanted to let Jeremy catch up on some sleep, so I pulled on my jeans, grabbed my purse, grabbed my Waits as he grabbed his Junior Ranger hat, and slipped out the door. I figured we’d go for a walk or something. Find a Starbucks, stretch our legs, and give Jeremy an extra hour or so.

So I mapped a Starbucks on my phone, and we set out. And that Starbucks ended up being just a short walk away . . . inside a hotel/casino. Haha, okay!

Three shots of espresso over ice, please, with a splash of soy milk, and one for Jeremy as well. This drink is my JAM. And a 12 oz cold soy milk for Waits – his “latte”.

I also grabbed us an Evolution green juice to split later.




Dude they had an arcade!!! Waits rode this car (over and over), and played his first driving game, and I won us a handful of rubber duckies with a grab claw game (I’m such a sucker for grab claws!)

Also, Waits and I got to do our first photobooth:




We spent a few hours there, and Jeremy got some much needed extra zzzs. Such a strange (and surreal!) way to start the day.

Back at the hotel room, green juice for three:




And oatmeal for Waits:




And leftover Thai food for Jeremy and I . . . except Waits ate most of it! (and we ate his oatmeal)




After breakfast and freshening up, we set out on a walk to explore South Lake Tahoe. It’s such a strange little town, reminiscent of a SoCal surf town but all elevated and airy, surrounded by towering pines. And right on the border – on one side of the crosswalk, California and no gambling. Just across the street, Nevada and casino after casino after casino.

We made our way down the California side, aimed at a veg-friendly lunch spot a few miles away. We took our time, enjoying the walk and the weather. A few miles with a 4-year-old is quite an adventure.




Finally we made it to the Blue Angel Cafe, and settled into a beautiful outside dining area.

Afterwards we were pretty eager to hit the lake, and skipped the walk home in favor of public transit. I’m pretty sure that was Waits’s first time on the bus!

Back at our hotel we changed into our swimwear, packed up our beach bag, and hit the road. The lake was just another short walk away . . .




Beach reading. I’m loving – LOVING – this book. Bill Bryson – A Short History Of Nearly Everything. Bryson is a really great writer, and of course I love the subject matter. A few days later I was reading this book in the car and Waits asked me to read it aloud. So I did – I read the chapter on the origin of our Universe out loud to my 4-year-old. And he loved it, and Jeremy did too. I love sharing science.

And I love this writing:

It is natural but wrong to visualize the singularity as a kind of pregnant dot hanging in a dark, boundless void. But there is no space, no darkness. The singularity has no “around” around it. There is no space for it to occupy, no place for it to be. We can’t even ask how long it has been there-whether it has just lately popped into being, like a good idea, or whether it has been there forever, quietly awaiting the right moment. Time doesn’t exist. There is no past for it to emerge from.

And so, from nothing, our universe begins.

Incidentally, disturbance from cosmic background radiation is something we have all experienced. Tune your television to any channel it doesn’t receive, and about 1 percent of the dancing static you see is accounted for by this ancient remnant of the Big Bang. The next time you complain that there is nothing on, remember that you can always watch the birth of the universe.

Lake!

Once the sun began to fade, we packed up our bag and hoofed it back to the hotel. We got ourselves cleaned up, and turned around to head back out in search of dinner.




We found Simple Bliss, a small organic, high-raw, all-vegan cafe. YES!

Waits had breakfast for dinner:

Okay, so maybe I didn’t get to consciously celebrate my Veganniversary in the moment, as it was happening. BUt even so, it was a long and lovely day filled with grand adventure, great food, and good times spent with the ones I love. And by the end we were all pretty exhausted. Satisfied, and exhausted.

Thank you all for being a part of this incredible journey!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

I squealed of course (I blame the redeye) because Gena, and her blog Choosing Raw, are two of my favorite forces in the vegan community. We talked a bit about what she was hoping to do with the book, as we finished our brunch that day. And we talked about the project some more when we caught up with each other again a few months later, at Vida Vegan Con. But Gena waited a long time to announce it on her blog, and many many months went by, and I have to admit . . . I kind of forgot about it!

That is, until I got an email a few weeks ago, announcing the release.




You guys. I’m not going to lie: this book is fucking AMAZING. I know, I know. She’s my friend and you think I have to say that. But seriously, this book is A – MAZ – ING.

It brings together everything I love about Gena and the work she does over at Choosing Raw. It’s smart and sensible and thorough and thoughtful and practical and did I mention smart? And it’s gorgeous, full of vibrant photography (thank you to the incomparable Hannah Kaminsky for that). And it’s more than just a cookbook. Gena is a certified clinical nutritionist, and operating on many years of personal experience in the vegan and raw communities. Which is why the first 95 pages of the book are devoted to words and words alone – advice, nutritional information, raw food FAQs, health myths and misconceptions (my favorite part, everything from protein to soy, oil to supplements, and so much more), and a complete 21-day meal plan. For reals, this book isn’t messing around. It WILL become my standard new-to-vegan/new-to-raw recommendation.

But okay, enough of my gushing. You want to see the food, right?? Well, last weekend Jeremy and I spent an entire day eating directly from these pages, and taking many pictures along the way. Here’s what that day looked like:




Oh hello! Good morning!

Jeremy and I enjoyed our lazy morning coffee in the back yard, flipping through the pages of the cookbook, deciding exactly what deliciousness we’d be [un]cooking up that day. Not a bad way to start the morning, I’d say.

For breakfast we decided on the Mocha Maca Chia Pudding, an incredible blend of energizing coffee, raw cacao, and tonifying maca. Mixing it up:




And served pretty, parfait-style:

This was one of those weekend days that drifted along. No plans except to putter about the house, which is exactly what we did. I was in my pajamas until well after noon. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon cleaning my kitchen from top to bottom – and I mean *really* cleaning. Like, polishing up the cabinet faces, on hands and knees at the baseboard lip, taking everything off the shelves, that kind of cleaning. It felt great but unfortunately, that sort of day doesn’t make for many pictures.

Jeremy ventured out for a haircut, and to pick up a few odd ingredients at the market. And when he returned, it was lunch time. Creamy Basil and Ginger Noodles.




I must admit, I was a bit hesitant to try this recipe. For one, I have a love-hate relationship with kelp noodles that often leans more towards the “hate” side of things . . . but then, I had multiple bags of them just sitting there, taking up prime real estate in my fridge. And two, my brain has trouble putting “basil” and “ginger” together in a sauce.

However, I trust Gena, and so this strange flavor profile definitely intrigued me. Thus, Creamy Basil and Ginger Noodles it was.

These were so good! I sun-dried the kelp noodles after soaking them in a solution of water, salt, and apple cider vinegar (lemon juice works as well) to try and loosen them up. If you’ve never eaten kelp noodles before, they have this strange sort of “popping” texture which can be a bit off-putting (on the other hand Waits loves them, but then again he’s uncannily attracted to foods which have almost no calories, oof, so that makes sense). But after laying them out to dry in the sun (half an hour or so), I was beyond thrilled with how they turned out. For the first time ever, they were wonderfully relaxed and delightfully non-”poppy”. And of course the sauce turned out to be delicious and Jeremy and I devoured the entire batch.

Oh also, I’m me so I added white beans because PROTEIN.

Right after lunch I whipped up the dressing that we were going to eat with dinner, and if you think I’ve been raving too much already, then I’m sorry but it’s about to get worse. Much worse.




You guys. This dressing!

This dressing tastes like summer. Like tangy summer! Herby and savory and amazing with umami but also that lightness and freshness of flavorful herbs. We had it for dinner that night and I literally woke up craving it the next day. So do you know what I did? I ate salad for breakfast. And then I ate salad for lunch. And then I ate salad for dinner I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING THREE MEALS STRAIGHT.

This is my new favorite dressing, which is why I made a double batch of it again just today. And why I begged Gena to share the recipe with all of you! And you lucky ducks – she obliged:


Green Herb Dressing

Makes 1 1/4 Cups Dressing 


1 cup packed fresh parsley

1⁄4 cup fresh dill

1⁄2 cup packed fresh basil

1⁄4 cup tahini

1⁄2 teaspoon Herbamare (a very delicious and healthy seasoned salt and herb mix) or sea salt

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1⁄4 cup olive oil

1 green onion, green part only, chopped



Blend all the ingredients, along with 1⁄2 cup of water, in a blender until smooth.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Dressing will keep for 5 days.



From Choosing Raw by Gena Hamshaw. Reprinted with permission from Da Capo Lifelong, © 2014.


Make this dressing, k? You won’t regret it!

But we weren’t done yet! For dessert I’d made the Raw Key Lime Pie.




Jeremy said this was the best dessert – okay maybe the best thing – I’ve ever made. And since then it’s been approved by both wee Waits Rebhal, and Jeremy’s roommate.

This is good pie.

And thus concludes our day of eats, and this cookbook review. I do hope you’ve enjoyed both, and I hope you’ll check out Gena’s book, Choosing Raw. And if you’re not already doing so, for goodness sake go read her blog!

Cheers!

♥ ♥ ♥

It’s done. The finals I had to take, are taken. The finals I had to grade, are graded. Assignments turned in. Wrap-up meetings wrapped. And just like that, my first year of graduate school is finished. Whoa.

And what better way to celebrate, than an impromptu trip to LA for a very special vegan pop-up dinner, thrown by one of my very favorite vegans?? Not many better ways, I’d say!

Here’s how the whole thing went – the very last day of my very first year of grad school:




It always starts the same . . . they all start the same. Black tea for me to drink while I’m getting ready, black tea for me to take when I go, and breakfast porridge for my baby boy.




Simple oats with strawberry preserves and fresh-picked blueberries.

I pack up our lunches while he eats.




A greens + protein smoothie is a major component of his lunch every day. Well, maybe not specifically at lunch per se, but he drinks one every day ad libitum. And me? I get to drink the leftovers for breakfast.

First stop was preschool to drop him off, with a long goodbye because it was a daddy night. Then out to UCSB for me, and into my last class of the quarter. Macroevolution.

We watched a documentary about how Creationists repackaged Intelligent Design and tried to sneak it into the science curriculum, which was infuriating but fascinating, and not a bad way to end the year.

Afterwards, lunch in the UCEN.




A ginormous salad with shredded carrots and shredded beets, kalamata olives and green onions, mixed beans and mesclun. YUM.




And after lunch and some wrap-up work, I grabbed an iced coffee in my travel cup on my way off campus.

By then it was mid-afternoon and I was headed home to change. Jeremy and I had a quick business meeting (his, not mine) at a local winery, which timed up perfectly with our SB –> LA traffic-avoiding departure time. We stopped in at the winery on our way out of town, and that was that. Road trip!




We were bound for Venice Beach, where the pop-up dinner would be held at the G2 gallery, which specializes in nature and wildlife photography. The show that was up that night featured rare and endangered animals, and it was so beautiful. A perfect venue for this event.

The dining area:



And they had a photo booth for pre-dinner shenanigans! I am physically unable to resist a photo booth. True fact.





Finally, it was time for the main event. The overall meal was modeled in a sort of “surf n turf” theme, but it began, of course, with Ayinde’s super-famous, top secret family recipe (which is not in the book, unfortunately) . . . Mac & Yease.




This was, no lie, the best from-scratch vegan mac I think I’ve ever had – and that’s saying a LOT.

While we settled into the meal, Ayinde and Zoe introduced themselves and talked a little bit about their collaboration.




Zoe Eisenberg writes about love and lust, dating and mating, sex advice and veganism, over on her blog Sexy Tofu. I’ve been following along there for a little over a year now, so I was happy to finally meet her in person. Check it out – it’s a whoooole other kind of vegan blog!

Ayinde is a chef and entrepreneur, but to me he is a precious unicorn . . . because he’s been vegan since the day he was born! Vegan since birth, vegan for life. And such an inspiration for us mamas! You can catch up with Ayinde and all his many projects over at I Eat Grass.

And of course, together Zoe and Ayinde have penned The Lusty Vegan: A Cookbook and Relationship Manifesto for Vegans and Those Who Love Them (that link is for pre-order; the book is slated for release this October). With the forces of these two combined, I seriously can’t wait to get my hands on this book. Ooh, also, shout out to my pal Geoff who did all the photography – he is amazing!

Okay okay, now I know you want to see the meal!




Second course was a citrus and salt pickled fennel salad, you can kind of see it here as Geoff was shooting.




Next up was a hearts of Baltimore crab cake served with garlic dill aioli, and this made Jeremy exceptionally happy. He’s a Maryland boy and this dish hit his nostalgia button like whoa.




And finally, a “fillet de soy” with blood orange and nappa cabbage slaw.

There was also a delightful dessert of fresh-made biscuit strawberry shortcakes with vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream, but I somehow managed to not get a picture of that. Maybe because it looked irresistible and I dove right in!

All in all, an amazing meal from start to finish, eaten slowly and savored, among friends old and new. By the time it was over we were due to hit the road back to Santa Barbara, which we did with full bellies and happy hearts.





Have I told you lately how much I love this dude? Summer summer, here we come!

♥ ♥ ♥

And it just so happened that his very favorite band, from way back in college, who had been broken up for like, over 15 years, had just announced out of the blue a few months ago that they were back together, and releasing a new album, and oh by the way they’de be playing a show in Portland on his birthday weekend.

I knew I was saving those airline miles for a good reason. Serendipity!

So on his birthday, on April 11th, we flew to Portland for a long weekend. And I’ll share the majority of what we did ate there coming up real soon, but today, let’s just focus on the important stuff. My honey had a birthday!

Here’s how it went:

Jeremy and I both had haircuts scheduled for that morning . . . it seems to be becoming a birthday tradition with us. His was at 9 and mine was at 10:30. So he was out of the house by 8:45, which gave me just enough time to drop Waits off at preschool and then set up Jeremy’s surprise birthday present at his house, where he would find it after his hair cut.

So seriously, what do you do when you love someone like mad but you don’t have very much money, so you can’t buy them something grand that might reflect the magnitude of your adoration? (like, say, an electric sports car . . . sorry babe.)

Well, I tried to go with “grand gesture.” And I think it turned out pretty neat.





I hand-folded an origami sphere for each year of his life, and hid a little treasure inside each one.

And friends, let me tell you something: if you’re going for maximum impact, I think this is an excellent approach. Jeremy was pretty gobsmacked. But be warned! My man turned 42 years old, which for me meant nearly 20 solid hours just for folding paper. Literally. I just want you to know what you’re getting into, if you’re ever inspired to attempt something similar. I started ~8 weeks out to make sure I had enough time. And it was so incredibly worth it, of course! I hope that goes without saying. I loved doing this for him and I LOVED that it made him feel so loved. That was the whole point.




Aren’t they pretty? If you want to give it a go, there’s a great tutorial here. It’s the octahedron and uses standard sonobe units.




With both of us sporting new haircuts, and with our bags finally packed, our houses all cleaned, and our clean-out-the-crisper juice securely stowed in a glass to-go cup, we could kiss the Harley dog goodbye and finally hit the road. By then it was almost 2 pm, whoops!

But don’t let the fancy juice fool you – I had been snacking on Snap Pea Crisps all morning to stave off the hunger pangs. Man, those things are addictive like crack! The juice, much healthier and addictive in its own right, was a beautiful blend of beet, carrot, kale, parsley, orange, apple, and ginger. And golly it was good.

But juice and crisps does not a full belly make. So we stopped in LA for some emergency Veggie Grill, eaten in the car on the way to the airport, because of course by this point we were somehow totally running late.




I got the B-Wing Salad, sub buffalo-style tempeh for the buffalo chickin’ which makes it gluten free, add extra buffalo sauce, because buffalo. That salad is my JAM.

Jeremy got the Savory Kale Caesar, add buffalo chickin’, because BUFFALO.

Oh yeah, and we totally made it to our flight on time. Crisis averted.

Obviously, I lived in Portland for 5 years so I had lots of amazing people and lots of delicious things and lots of wonderful places that I just couldn’t wait to show Jeremy. But for our first night? My sissy of course! My dearest sister (well, step sister, but whatever) picked us up from the airport and whisked us away to one of my favorite places of all: the Bye and Bye, an all-vegan bar with a most excellent late night menu.




My sister is unlike anyone I’ve ever met. She is basically the embodiment of pure magic.





Like I said, the Bye and Bye has an awesome menu, so along with our voluminous libations, we grabbed some dinner grub.




For me, the Eastern Bowl with nooch-breaded tofu, steamed broccoli, brown rice, and spicy peanut ginger sauce. Add avocado, duh.

I always get this dish when I come to the Bye and Bye. I know, I know, I need to branch out. But it’s sooo perfect!




With lots of sriracha.

Jeremy got the meatball sub (not gluten-free) and a side of brussels sprouts. I can vouch for the brussels, and he said the sammie was AWESOME.




We ate, we drank, we were very very merry. It was the perfect start to our Portlanstravaganza vegan vacation. And of course, a very happy birthday!





I love you baby! I’m so very glad you were born!

♥ ♥ ♥

And man o man, my life has changed a lot over the years! These days are overflowing, bursting at the seams, rushing and stretching and never quite managing to fit it all in. But it’s good. So good.

This is what it looks like, on a typical Wednesday:




We wake up. I put on a kettle to boil for tea, and fix Waits a bowl of chia pudding – almost always chia pudding these days. That up there is the chia, beginning its soak.




While the kettle heats and the chia gels, I fix the kid his lunch. A large “share snack” for all his classmates to partake in, plus one or two grounding foods just for him. On this day I packed a homemade trail mix for the kiddos to share, and for him a small bowl of leftover pasta and a small bowl of kidney beans + olive oil + nutritional yeast.




The chia, post soak.




Waits eats his breakfast – chia pudding and a glass of oat milk – while Jeremy reads to him. He’s super into The Magic School Bus series right now, which I love because they’re all about science! His favorites are the ones where they go inside the human body. Ask him where food goes when you eat it, he’ll tell you the entire progression, teeth to poop. And oh boy, don’t even get him started on the white blood cells!




While they do that I’m continuing my kitchen work: making my lunch, and Jeremy’s too. And drinking black tea, oh yes. Lots and lots of black tea.




Left: my lunch, an enormous simple salad with shredded romaine, lentils, quinoa, grated carrot, and red onion. With my famous homemade tahini dressing on the side. The giant (that’s a 30 ouncer) mason jar is full of iced nettle infusion tea, which I’ll have with lunch.

Jeremy’s lunch is leftovers from the night before: lentils, quinoa, and steamed broccoli, topped with my godfather’s homemade purple sauerkraut. Accompanied by the same amazing tahini sauce on the side.




And finally, my morning kitchen mission ends with a big blenderfull of green smoothie, which we share. Getting us back on green smoothies is one of the best things I’ve done for our diet recently! It’s funny how the smoothie cycle ebbs and flows.

These days our smoothie recipe is pretty standard: 2+ cups plant milk, a few handfuls spinach, kale, collards, or some combo of these, 2 large scoops protein powder, 1 ripe banana, about a cup of some other frozen fruit, a tablet of zinc, a capsule of K2, and a capsule of probiotics. Sometimes I’ll add a scoop of peanut putter . . . because peanut butter.

(If you want to read about why I supplement the way I do, see here)

Once the smoothie is portioned and poured, my kitchen work is done. I’m chasing Waits around, wrestling as we get dressed, trying to make a game out of getting ready. Scrambling. And finally, somehow, we’re out the door – draped in book bags and lunch bags and tea-to-go and a kiddo in my arms, kissing Jeremy goodbye and heading out to school, the both of us.




I drop Waits off at preschool, and then head out to UCSB for my first class. Parasites!

After class, I haul my books, computer, and food over to the UCEN, where there’s comfy seating and blessed wifi. That’s where I’ll park for the next few hours, working on my computer and at some point in there, eating lunch.




This is a Wednesday, and on Wednesday’s we have a small Farmer’s Market that comes to campus. So before my 1 o’clock class, I make my way to the far end of UCSB, to bask in the sun and the pretty winter produce:






On this particular day, I splurged and grabbed some locally-made nut butter and some artisan local jelly, both of which were adorably packaged and completely delicious.

I have classes all afternoon, but managed to fit an iced black tea in there:




My last class ends around 3:30, and I’m off to pick Waits up from school. On the way I snack – today it was one of the Taste Of Nature bars that the company had sent me for review:




This is a newish Canadian company that makes all-organic, vegan, gluten-free whole foods snack bars (and as an aside, their website is gorgeous. Like, seriously gorgeous!). What really caught my attention with the Taste Of Nature bars is that they’re made exclusively from fruit, nuts, seeds, and natural sweeteners. That’s it. They’re a lot like Lara Bars, but unlike Lara Bars, they’re completely organic! Which is ace in my book. They’re also made in Canada and the company uses green manufacturing, packing, and shipping practices. Basically they’re all-around awesome and they get two big thumbs up from me.

Which is why, at the end of this post, I’ll be giving away 3 boxes of them! So keep reading . . .




On Wednesdays I pick up Waits just before dusk. And on this Wednesday, we met with some friends down by the beach, for a sunset cruise – the boys both tooling around on their little vehicles, the mamas walking and talking a few paces behind them. It was a gorgeous evening, rolling and strolling past the harbor, the breakwater, the pier, and finally down to the skate park.





We hung out a bit by the skate park, watching in awe as the big kids flipped and flew through the air. Some day, kiddo. Some day.




At sundown the temperature plummeted, and it was time to head home. Earlier that day Jeremy had mentioned he was craving a TLT, so that’s exactly what I made for dinner. Baked “bacon”-style tofu, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches with plenty of Vegenaise, plus a side of baked sweet potato with nutritional yeast and coconut oil.



Epic.

Waits had a vegan cheese and olive pizza on whole wheat crust, with a side of kidney beans and carrot sticks, but I totally forgot to take a picture of that. Whoops!




After bath time and getting-ready-for-bed time, all it took was a single book and a single song and he was asleep, allowing me to work until Jeremy got home around 10:00. Late nights are for my man, chatting about our days while he eats – this time on his much-desired TLT and baked sweet potato.

It was a long day. Another crazy day in Cali, in this crazy crazy life. But undoubtedly, a very good day.

And here’s the deal. I think “like-gating” / “fan-gating” is weird and insincere and it squicks me out and I’m just not down for it. So I’m not going to make you do it.

That said, the truth is that social media stats are pretty important these days, in blogging as well as in business. So no, I’m not going to require you to “like” me all over the Internet just to enter this giveaway. But, if you do like my blog and enjoy the work I do here – and this goes for any blog really – then liking my Facebook page, or following me on Instagram or on Twitter is a great, easy way to help me out. Those numbers actually really do count.

And the same goes for Taste Of Nature. No, I won’t manipulate you into following them as a way to get more entries in this contest. But if you’d like to support an awesome organic vegan gluten-free company, a great way would be to like them on Facebook, or follow them on Instagram or on Twitter.

But you don’t have to! No coercion. Fair?

Now, if you want to enter, what you DO have to do is just to leave a comment here, on this post. And let’s see, how about . . . tell me your favorite nut!

Okay, go. Good luck y’all!

Edited to add: giveaway will end Thursday 6 March at midnight PST, and winners will be announced Monday!