Bits and pieces.

Currently reading:

• VegNews: The Music Issue
• Sunset: Best Places to Camp
• Tough Sh*t by Kevin Smith

Reads!

Shameless Self-Promotion:

• Our Kickstarter project is still up and running!  Head on over and check it out!  
• A few weeks ago I started a blog with my friend Alexis!  I live on the west coast of the United States and she lives on the east coast of Canada.  Follow Sound to Shore for a look into the life of two gals living on opposite sides of a continent and opposite sides of a border!

One of the Best Things I’ve EVER consumed:

The Cubano from South in Leavenworth, Washington.  Holiday rice, black beans, fried banana, avocado slices and lettuce in a flour tortilla served with cabbage salad, corn chips and a salsa bar!  Tasty goodness for my mouth!

The Cubano.

See you soon!

-Sarah

 

Food, finds and some PA DIY!

I managed to snap a few shots of some of the food I ate while in PA.  In central PA, where I was staying, there aren’t many options for vegans/vegetarians if you want to go out to eat.  Luckily there’s the college town of Lewisburg that has a cafe with two vegan lunch options.  Cherry Alley Cafe used to have some amazing burritos!  Vegan and all!  I was really disappointed to find that they did away with awesome-burrito.  They did have some vegan cookies though.  I used to always get their iced chai tea with soy milk too.  The barista there was actually kind enough to tell me that the chai mix isn’t vegan.  Boo!!  I’m assuming there’s dry milk in it.  Make your own chai mix, Cherry Alley!  Some spices and some grinding and BAM!…chai tea.

My mom did take me to a grocery store to stock up on some avocados, tofu and refried beans though!  I usually live on bean burritos when I travel!

Travel food. Beans, avocado and hot sauce.

Root beer Italian ice! Rita’s is an east coast thing. I miss it!

Cherry Alley does have fun tables. I made that same face when I found out the chai tea mix isn’t vegan.

Tofu wrap!

And a grilled vegetable panini. The so kindly put cheese on this even though I asked for no cheese. They made me another one, but Cherry Alley kind of let me down! The birch beer in the background did not though!

More Italian ice! This time it was lemonade.

My aunt usually makes me something vegan when I’m in Pennsylvania visiting. This time she made me chocolate chip blondies and a chocolate cake with chocolate icing! I DID NOT eat all of that by myself. Although I could have.

After Eric picked me up from the airport we went to Bamboo Garden. We always go to Bamboo Garden after he picks me up or we pick someone up from the airport. It’s a nice little tradition.

Bamboo Garden!

There’s an antique mall/flea market that I love in Lewisburg, PA called, The Street of Shops. I squealed inside when I saw these lamps there! You might remember that I found a similar turtle lamp in a thrift store a few months ago. I wanted to take all of them home, but I knew I couldn’t. I snagged that little dinosaur lamp in the back. I didn’t have room to take him on the plane with me so I packaged him up as well as I could and my sister shipped him back to me. The package should arrive early this week and I’m hoping his little glass back didn’t break!

Remember my turtle lamp?

My dad and I had some time to work on a project for the wedding! I wanted to make some glass Ball jar cups so the wedding guests can take them home with them. I found bright yellow and white straws to put in these guys.

Dad punched a hole in the lid.

And I drilled the hole out! We then fished rubber grommets through the hole that the straws will later be placed in.

We made 36 Ball jar cups in about 45 minutes! Fun PA DIY!

Donuts, more food, and walking off that food!

This chubby little thing greeted us after getting out of the car for some Saturday morning donuts at Mighty O.

One donut for each hand. I don’t mess around. Peanut butter and orange blossom! I’m on level 2 of Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred…I deserve donuts!

I spotted this gem after leaving the donut shop. I saw it, stopped the car and put it in reverse. There are a ton of these Little Free Libraries popping up all over Seattle AND the states! Look them up to find a Little Free Library near you!

The Little Free Libraries are free, of course, or a leave one take one deal. I’m going to start carrying some books in my car so I can trade books if I find something I like!

In Fremont there’s a vintage shop we like to check out once in a while. We usually find some interesting items, but I’m also usually too cheap. We picked up a bag of groceries and since we didn’t have enough food already, we went to Bamboo Garden for some lunch! I always seem to get their creamy corn chowder.

Mongolian beef! 100% vegan too!

After stuffing our faces we needed a walk. We ventured around Discovery Park for about an hour. I was sleepy, but I kept on truckin’.

Fort Lawton is in Discovery Park and used to be a missile base. There are some houses that are still lived in by Army personnel. That big ‘ol white thing in the background is a radar tower.

Discovery Park is huge. Five hundred thirty four acres huge! The park is in decent condition, but it could use some loving. Parts of the park are paved paths and some are just dirt. There’s a lighthouse that you can walk to which we did not do this time. I think we it gets a little sunnier and warmer we’ll take the long walk to the beach and lighthouse!

That tree wasn’t messing around!

We’re getting more sun an blue skies! I can’t wait until I don’t have to wear a jacket and socks. I hate socks.

These are old parts of the base that aren’t lived in or used any more. I wish you could walk through the buildings. I get that you can’t leave them open all the time, but having them open at certain times would be nice!

This fun building was the gymnasium!

And a church on the base was poking through the trees.

If you’re in Seattle and haven’t been to Discovery Park, you should definitely check it out! But be cautious…tiny plants grow by the inch BUT die by the foot! What a zinger!

Pier and Market Day.

It was supposed to be sunny on Saturday. If the fog and clouds weren’t hanging on I bet it would have been sunny! We do know how to make the most of a sunless day though.

I rode the Ferris Wheel this past summer when it was sunny. You could see Mt. Rainier, the Space Needle and the Cascades. I can’t imagine a Ferris Wheel ride on a cloudy day would be super fun.

Here’s the real reason for a trip to the Pier!

Under the Ferris Wheel on Pier 57 there is a wonderful carousel! I do love me some carousels. My favorite one is the Grand Carousel at Knoebel’s Amusement Park in Pennsylvania. They have gorgeous hand-carved wooden horses, that I think are 100 years old. Even though the carousel horses in Seattle are fiberglass, they are gorgeous just the same.

I recently backed a project on Kickstarter to help restore the world’s only Cowboy and Indian Carousel.  The carousel is in Buffalo, Wyoming.  The project WAS funded!  Eric and I are planning to visit the carousel this summer on our drive back to Pennsylvania.

We watched the carousel for a bit before deciding that we should ride it too.

Giddy up!

I love how gaudy the horses always are.

There is a horse with similar armour at the Knoebel’s carousel. When I was a youngin’ I thought it looked like a seahorse. No seahorse…just some armour.

Eric’s horse.

My horse. Hello, Beautiful!

I think Eric and I were the only adults on the carousel. I have no shame!

I picked a wild horse for the ride!

It actually wasn’t too busy around the Pier so we decided to head up to the market.

And up through Post Alley.

Post Alley is famous for this.

Nasty wall.

The market was oddly not busy. We were able to snap some film shots too! And…no people were in the shots. Sometimes you just want a humanless shot.

I like the naked Trick or Treat kitty ladies.

Market time.

Cinnamon Works sells massive vegan cookies. Look how big they are! They also sell vegan muffins aaaaaannnd vegan cinnamon rolls! We couldn’t say no to a cinnamon roll.

On the way back to the car, look who we saw walking down the tracks.

Oh my goodness look at that cute little guy! You usually don’t see raccoons out during the day, but he really seemed like he knew what he was doing. He quickly and safely crossed the road and hopped in the water. I have a feeling he comes out during the day because he gets many sweets and goods from tourists. Pier and Market success for everyone!

Out in the city.

Today was an exploration day in Seattle!  I took so many photos today.  I’m going to split the day up into a few blog posts because I know you don’t want to sit through a million photos in one post!

We had brunch at Wayward to start our day of fun!  I had my Diana Mini with me today for some black and white film experiments.  The Diana has not been functioning properly for a long time.  Eric examined it last night because I thought a part on the inside was broken or stuck.  No it was was not broken or stuck, but he thinks that I haven’t been advancing the film properly.  Sigh Diana, sigh.  I’m giving it one more shot!  Treat me well, Diana!

Other stops today included Pier 57, the carousel!, Post Alley, Pike Market and Carkeek Park.

The new Ferris Wheel near Pier 57.

Cinnamon Works at Pike Market sells cookies as big as dinner plates and huge cinnamon buns. We of course couldn’t say no to a cinnamon bun!

This is the biggest shell I’ve ever found at Carkeek Park! No one was living in it so I brought it home with me. I think I might put a small plant in it. Good finds and a good day!

Bits and bites.

I finished reading “There’s a Seal in my Sleeping Bag,” and I started reading “Is Everyone Hanging out Without me?” this week. I loved Mindy Kaling before I started to read her book and I love her even more now!

I’ve been making peanut butter, banana and almond milk smoothies this week. I used to make fun of the powdered peanut stuff I’ve seen popping up in the grocery stores lately. “Who the hell would buy this stuff?!” I would. I would buy this stuff!

I found a little brown jackalope that matches my little blue jackalope in the background.

The co-op near our house started carrying these veggie burgers. We gave them a try this weekend and had mixed results. Eric really liked them. He said they might be the best veggie burgers he’s ever had. I didn’t like them as much though. They are kind of grainy and that was a deal breaker for me.

Yesterday we make our usual trip to Seattle. Bamboo Garden was of course on the menu, as were the pot stickers!

Curry with rice! The waiters at the restaurant always get excited when I try something new. They also like to say “You eat everything. Good job!”

Foggy days and weekly reads.

It’s been super foggy here the past few days.  I went to a craft store last night in search of supplies and it was even hard to drive in the parking lot.  We made the best of the winter weather yesterday and went out to eat and then paid a visit to our favorite beach park.

I almost always get the Creamy Corn Chowder from Bamboo Garden.

He was trying to break into my car.  Don’t trust the birds at Carkeek Park!

If it were a clear day you would be able to see the Olympic Mountains. Now all you can see are birds and fog. I like the birds.

Eric spotted this piece of shell from a broken conch shell. I hoarded things from the beach lately so I brought home this shell, a smaller conch shell, some sea glass and a bright orange stone.

Eric was prepared for trains with Polaroid Land Camera in hand. Sadly no trains showed up. Sad little guy.

Before we ate lunch today we stopped by Silver Platters for some record and book browsing. They actually have a decent used book section. They also have new books so I picked up the new book from John Taylor of Duran Duran. He’s my favorite band member. I thought he deserved a place on my longhorn altar.

 

Fun reading from around the web this week:

1. Don’t these Chinese factory workers just look so happy to be making all of that plastic stuff America craves?
2. Super cute alert!!  Mama kitten adopts a baby squirrel.  Not cute enough for you?  Well baby squirrel now purrs too!
3. I found this tutorial on how to screen print on pottery.  While pottery isn’t my thing, I do appreciate different ways to screen print!
4. This is probably my favorite find of the week!  DIY scratch off tickets!  Eric and I are trying to think of a way to use this technique for the wedding.  I have a feeling this won’t be a wedding project, but one day it WILL be a project.

Friday night. As told by my cell phone.

Last night was a Seattle night!  I didn’t feel like hauling around my cameras though.  My cell phone will tell the tale of the evening!

I had a dentist appointment last night.  I really don’t mind going to the dentist, but I was nervous this time!  I woke up early in the morning on Friday and I was thinking about going.  I’m always kind of paranoid that the dentist is going to tell me that he needs to pull all of my teeth or something scary like that.  I had my very first cavity last year and now I’m freaked out!  When I get to the dentist though I’m completely fine.  Last time I was there for a cleaning I started to fall asleep.  The dentist had to tap me and tell me to open my mouth.  ZZZZZZZZ.

I go to Creation Dentistry in the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle.  I highly recommend my dentist!  He’s super gentle and knows what he’s doing.  He complimented me on my teeth yesterday and said I take such good care of them!  Yay for not having to have all of my teeth pulled!  He even gave me a discount since I was so easy to work on.  Brush and floss them teeth!!

This made in the USA toothbrush was my reward for having clean teeth!

Eric and I have a ritual of going to Bamboo Garden after dentist appointments. I had some corn chowder.

Shanghai style rice pasta. #109.

After our vegan noms we went to Easy Street Music and Silver Platters for some record shopping. Easy Street has two stores in Seattle and they are closing the location we went to at the end of the month. That was probably the last time we’ll ever be there. Kind of sad. Silver Platters also sells new and used books. I was looking through the travel books and I found two gems. A book by David Byrne from Talking Heads and a book by John Muir!

I found some organic and Fair Trade chocolate at the grocery store. I was in need of chocolate. Theo is a Seattle-based company too.

We spotted the Space Needle poking up behind Silver Platters. The 12th Man flag was flying atop the needle. The Seahawks play tomorrow so Seattleites seem to be excited. Good Friday in Seattle!

We ended 2012 on a wonderful note!

The past two or three years have been quite meh for me. 2011 was the worst. Ever. 2012 made up for that and then some!  We traveled so much.  Camped more than we ever have.  Cooked more, and different, meals at home, and just had a great year together in general.  Yesterday we drove north to Bellingham, WA for a final day of photo taking and food in 2012.  Ok, so we mostly drove an hour north to get a tofu sandwich at the best co-op I’ve ever been to, but we still had fun along the way!

This little turnout is on Chuckanut Drive. The narrow road winds along the sound with fun views of the water. It was along this road that we walked to the beach where we saw the purple starfish earlier this year.

A winter day near Puget Sound.

We pulled over here to snap a photo of something across the road, but we noticed a plaque on the rock.

Dedicated to the memory of Governor Lister by the Ladies Improvement Club of Edison, Washington.

Western Washington University is located in Bellingham, WA. We were there before to check out their sculpture park. Eric found out that they also have an arboretum you can drive through. This canopy of trees greeted us as we started on the drive!

There was a parking lot at the top of the hill. There was also a tunnel and an observation tower. Both sounded like fun so even though it was cold and flurrying and went for the short hike.

I love the moss on the trees in Washington.

The tunnel was originally made for cars!

Made in 1923.

Eric is document the location of the photos he took with his Polaroid Land Camera.

And there’s our observation tower!

The view from the top wasn’t all that spectacular. It was cloudy and foggy, but I’m sure in the summer there’s a much better view!

On our way back to the car we walked through the tunnel. This was the other side. Note the clearance sign at the top of the tunnel.

There’s some of that lush moss I was talking about.

And the reason…one of the reasons…for driving to Bellingham! I know it doesn’t look like much, but this is one of the best things I’ve ever consumed! I think we need to try to make these at home. They soak their tofu in tamari and ginger. There’s also lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and vegenaise on there. SO GOOD!

The co-op also makes these massive vegan truffles. We bought four of them so we could eat them today too! I found a pretty good recipe for truffles that I want to try very soon!

We drove around the city taking photos for a bit while the sun was out…a rare sighting this time of year! There’s an antique shop that we always stop at in Bellingham too. I found this goofy little wall hanging with a real photo background and two plastic deer with a tree. I loved it so it came home with me.

In Seattle, at midnight on New Years Eve, fireworks are set off from the Space Needle. About 8 minutes worth of fireworks are strapped to the needle and they are synchronised with music. One of the local news stations airs the fireworks so you can actually watch them from the comfort of your own couch. We popped open a bottle of sparking apple-grape cider around 7pm and we were in bed by 9pm. BUT we set our alarms for 11:50pm so we could get up and watch the fireworks. We had our kiss at midnight and promptly went back to our warm bed!

Happy New Year to you!  How did you celebrate the new year?

Friday to Saturday.

Friday is my favorite day to go to the thrift store!  I guess I just like going out after work to start my weekend by sorting through old junk.

I found this little crewel gem yesterday! I kill most house plants so now I have a collection of plants that I can’t kill!

Purrito even approves!

Today we went to Seattle for major noms! We ate lunch at Wayward and then did some shopping. But then we stopped at Mighty O before heading home! I oinked it up and had two donuts! The vegetables I bought for juicing are glaring at me from the top shelf of the refrigerator.