Thanksgiving Feast at Poplar Springs

Today was a gorgeous day filled with food, friends and adorable animals. I'm sooo glad I found out about Poplar Springs in time to make it to the vegan Thanksgiving potluck. I've started volunteering there with my brother and while our job consists of scooping up poop and distributing fresh hay it does allow us some play time with the animals.

After a few little hiccups (Pang got repremanded for calling it a farm and not a sanctuary which is actually my fault because I call it "the farm" because it's shorter than "the sanctuary") we settled into a cozy picnic on the grass and flat out stuffed ourselves. Some of our favorites were the curry samosas, the spicy asian noodles, the veggie lasagna, some amazing mashed potatoes, yummy sauteed kale and of course the cashew mac and cheese. We piled out plates high with dessert as well and I must say, I think my chocolate beet cake went over pretty well! Can't wait for next year!

Somewhere New: Boston

So last month I decided to travel more. Everyone says this I guess but I wanted to be serious. So I made myself a little rule: Every month I will go somewhere new. Granted - some months I wont have the funds or the time to go away for a weekend but even if all I can manage is a day trip I'm going to keep to this idea. So for the month of October I chose to run away to Boston. Or Somerville to be more accurate.














Since I was here over the Halloween weekend there was lots of spooky things being offered. The Armory was offered a viewing of of the 1922 black and white silent movie Nosferatu with a live orchestra playing the accompanying music. This was my first time seeing the film and I loved it (although I was reading the book Dracula over the weekend and my brain kept doing that annoying thing where it picks out differences between the two).


The highlight of my second day was walking around taking pictures and going to the dia de los muertos festival at the Taza chocolate factory.

I really wanted to take this weekend to explore things on my own and work on my street photography a little. I ended up having the perfect weekend, eating amazing food and getting to know my old high school friend Colleen again. I can't wait to share where I go next month!

Roasted Sherry Portobellos

Portobellos are a wonderful thing. They can also be an annoying thing because they seem to have made it on the list of "what vegetarians/vegans eat" along with hummus and oreos. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with any of those. It's just that..one gets tired of eating the same few staples at every party, bbq and restaurant.

Nevertheless, I still love a good roasted shroom. This week I bought the caps with the intention of experimenting a bit. Thanksgiving is right around the corner it seems and this year I was thinking of adding a portobello to my list of things I will slave over and probably be the only one to eat (Little do they know I'm ok with that! All the treats for me!) during the feast.

Pre vegetarian/vegan Lacey was a nut for meat. Especially turkey. I've been contemplating what to cook that will satisfy all my taste cravings. My family has a tradition of making Drunk Turkey. Every year we buy bottles of sherry and baste and baste and baste the poor turkey until the house is full of the sweet smell of syrupy alcohol.

So here it is - Test One of Sherry Shrooms

1/2 cup sherry
2 tbsp each of Tamari, olive oil and balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
the juice of half a lemon

Whisk all the ingredients together.

Place the 3 to 4 cleaned caps in a casserole facing up, gills exposed, and spoon half of the sherry mixture into the caps and pour the rest into the bottom of the dish so both sides of the mushrooms get coated. Marinate for half an hour.

Heat the oven to 400. Roast, covered with a lid or aluminum foil for half an hour. Flip the caps over and roast for another 15 minutes or so, uncovered. Serve hot or let them cool and slice them.

These portobellos turned out well but more work must be done. The sherry was actually a bit overpowering. I will be trying them again soon but they worked wonderfully in the sandwich I had for lunch.


Sherry Portobello Sammy with Lemony Spinach and Basil Pesto

Vegan Mofo: Apple Picking

Saturday this week I joined some friends for a little ol' fashioned apple picking. It was one of the first crisp fall days we've had and the air was full of cinnamon aroma and to our surprise the sun peeked out from the rain-clouds just as we got there.

Living in a city, our grocery stores are often stuffed with a vast array of top-dollar produce, but sometimes you need to get out of the smog and spend a day in the woods...or orchard I suppose.

We drove out to Stribling Orchard in Markham Virginia. For my fellow DC folks it's about an hour or so out of the city - sans traffic - so count on a little longer. At the moment you can pick Golden Delicious, McIntosh, Jonathan, Rome and Stayman apples. Of course we sampled all 5!

Picking your own apples is great because it gets you out on the farm and you don't have to worry about apples that were shipped across the continent or that yucky wax coating that gets put on grocery store apples! There are tons of options for pick-your-own places. Check here for farms near you.

I haven't decided what to make just yet. My go to is usually Love Soup's Apple Crumble. Any suggestions for me?






Also, check out these fellow MoFo-ers recipes!

Sour Cream and Onion Kale Chips at Cupcakes and Kale

Smokey Mushroom Slowcooker Soup at Vegan Yack Attack

Herbivore Cheese Scones at Vegan Chicks Rock -I can't wait to make these! Reminds me of the only reason I loved Red Lobster, the cheese biscuits!

Vegan Candy Apples done seven ways for each dwarf (she makes her food on movie themes!) at Vegan Cine Grub

Velvety Collard Soup at In My Vegan Life

Vegan Mofo: Black Bean Zucchini Patties

Hey everyone, it's MOFO time! As I mentioned in a previous post I will only be blogging about vegan food this month so all my Buddhism, relationship, yoga talk will have to be put on hold. But for now, let's talk about food!



These patties are an adaptation from a Whole Living recipe. The patties were meant to be a twist on falafel I believe but I chose to make them more Mexican inspired by switching out the beans, adding spices and changing the topping and of course I veganized it.


1 zucchini
half of a red onion
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs*
2 tbsp ground flax seed whisked with 3 tbsp warm water
salt and cracked pepper to taste
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
fresh spinach
pita bread cut into halves
several tbsp roasted corn salsa



To make the patties:

1. Throw the black beans in a large bowl and with a potato masher or sturdy fork mash the black beans down until it forms a paste. Having some whole or partially uncrushed black beans is just fine.

2. In a food processor (or by hand if you want to go all natural!) shred the zucchini and red onion.

3. Add the shredded veggies, cup of breadcrumbs, whisked flaxseeds and spices to the black bean bowl. Use your hands to mix everything together well and then form the mixture into 8 patties.

4. Heat enough oil to coat the bottom of your skillet (cast iron! I can't tell you enough how awesome cast iron is for this kind of stuff) over medium heat. Fry each patty until its brown and crisp on both sides then remove them to a plate.

5. Stuff each pita with fresh spinach or green of your choice. Place a patty on top of the spinach and serve with salsa.

To take the patties to go I found it better to slice them in half and then wrap them in a whole wheat wrap with the spinach, reserving the salsa on the side until you're ready to eat the sandwich.

* To make breadcrumbs place several slices of stale whole grain bread in the food processor and then pulse until the bread is reduced to crumbs. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toasted, at 400 degrees.

Exploring Home: Part 2

Everyone who goes to DC ends up on the Mall at some point. In fact until more recently that's all I really could think of to do when I though of DC which is sad because I've lived in the DC area all my life. Until moving to Alexandria and having metro access to DC I found it to be an intimidating and terribly boring kind of city to approach. Wrong.

DC has tons to offer in the realm of food, drinks, dancing, art and festivals. The international mixing of cultures here offers a wide array of activities and events and I am only now just beginning to appreciate that. The DC Shorts Film Festival is coming up soon and next spring the Environmental Film Festival will be going on, both of which I plan to take advantage of. Then there's the "yoga buffet" as Katie likes to call it of all the different studios and styles of meditation and yoga. And you know what ya'll? I even signed up for pole dancing classes. It's for my health....

Recently I've been on a walking kick where after taking the metro somewhere I'll just start walking. I know at some point I'll hit another metro stop somewhere and I'll get home but it's been such a great way to actually see the city.

Last week a few of my girlfriends came out to DC and we did a little daytrip that I wanted to share. Inevitably we did start our day out on the Mall but wait! There's a new face on the Mall! The Martin Luther King Jr memorial is finally done and open to the public so we went there first to check it out.



We spent probably 20 minutes or so taking pictures and walking around to read the MLK quotes that are on the walls behind his statue. During our stay we witnessed, by accident, a really cool interaction between two people. An older black man was standing next to a quote from Alabama and he was having a stranger take his photograph. While she was photographing he was explaining that he was 10 years old when the riots broke out in Alabama and that this particular quote had significance from his childhood. A white woman of perhaps the same age was walking by as this man was telling his story and she stopped and listened and then walked up to him and asked if she could shake his hand. She told him that she had been there too and they shared this memory. Rachel and I just looked at each other and said "ugh...someone should be capturing this." So look out in the future for a post about this project idea!



After the monument we went to Teaism for lunch and then headed over to The National Museum of Women in the Arts. This was my first time at this museum and we had the place to ourselves. I get the feeling that it's probably usually pretty empty since it's not right on the Mall. I would reccommend this gallery though - some cool photography and a really cool exhibit on the Gorilla Girls right now! Here's a few pictures of some photos I really liked.


Imogen Cunningham, Jesse Dorr Luca


Ann Hamilton, Untitled #8


Berenice Abbott, Eva Le Gallienne


Anna Gaskell, Override #26

To close out the evening we went to Busboys and Poets for some vegan nachos and a brownie sunday. Day well spent.

Where to Eat: Flagstaff

During my stay in Flagstaff my friend Rachel was on the hunt for the best coffee in town. She had read about Macy's coffee and as luck would have it I had also read about Macy's delicious vegan offerings. Their full title is Macy's European Coffeehouse, Bakery and Vegetarian Restaurant, but I'm sure we're all fine with just Macy's right?

Tim Macy, a California boy originally, opened Macy's in 1980 and was the first commercial coffee roaster in Flagstaff. It's obviously earned it's name around town because the place was full of what seemed like a mix of locals and foreign tourists when we went in for breakfast.



Unfortunately their menu doesn't seem to be online but from what I remember of the vegan offerings there was the waffles, tofu scramble, an avocado BLT and some baked goods. Reviewers on Happy Cow raved about the BLT but as I went at breakfast I can't offer my personal endorsement. The waffles with Earth Balance and fresh fruit was just what I was looking for though.

Spring Weens

My family is ween crazy. I am as well.

Heather and Josh

I had the privilege of shooting Heather and Josh's wedding reception back in the beginning of November. I had a blast - everyone else had a blast - and I just wanted to share a few pictures from the event. Enjoy!