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

Arizona

I recently took a trip to Arizona. My first trip to the southwest as an adult and while I expected beauty and an inspiring landscape I don't think I was prepared for how much the city of Flagstaff and the crisp dry air rising out of the canyons would effect me.

Our trip included a three day yoga festival, a visit to the Indian Condos in Walnut Canyon, a trip to Sedona, a day of exploring the beginnings of the Bright Angel Trail of the Grand Canyon, Gallery Walk in downtown Flagstaff, a Navajo festival, several delicious restaurants and plenty of time playing dominoes and cooking with my wonderful family.



Out of this trip Rachel and I have decided to come back in the fall of 2013 to spend a few days in the Grand Canyon. We plan to walk down Bright Angel Trail and camp at the bottom to spend some time seeing the Ribbon Falls and exploring before we come back up the Kaibab Trail. We have also discussed the possibility of MOVING out to the area! I would be interested in teaching on a reservation and Rachel would be interested in possibly working with the different tribes and their crafts.

Also from this trip I may have found a possible career path! The Flagstaff Yoga Festival was a lot of fun! We took Thai Massage, Bellydancing, Yoga Philosophy and then there was this class called In the House of Ganesha. Taught by Candice Garrett, it was a shorter version of a workshop she does on the pelvic floor combined with the root chakra and Ganesha. This was by far my favorite class and I found the subject really inspirational. Candice and her teacher Leslie Howard are working on the west coast to help men and women connect with their pelvic floor muscles to correct and prevent injuries and pain. Candice is the director and founder of Nine Moons Prenatal Yoga. Together they will be doing a teacher training in February that I hope to attend to learn more about how I could blend yoga and therapy to help women with pelvic inflammation and chronic pain.





The big outdoor store downtown. We checked out sleeping bags and shoes for our furture canyon adventure.


Flagstaff neons




Walnut Canyon where we got to visit the Indian Condos. The cliff dwelling people of the Anasazi tribe are thought to have inhabited this area from around 600 to 1400 AD. There were still black charred smoke marks on the ceilings of some of the condos and fingerprints from the construction of the rooms! No one knows what happened to the people here. There was no evidence of war or famine.


I couldn't have asked for a better travel companion :)


You can stamp your passport at the National Parks! I wish I had brought mine.




We met these three lovely photographers who are a part of The Visual Collective. They were doing impromptu portraits in an alley of the main drag of downtown Flagstaff. They asked to take our picture so we in turn took theirs! If I moved to Flagstaff these are the kinds of people and groups I would want to get in with!



One of the most interesting things about Flagstaff is the Native American influence and local population. During our walk downtown we saw this group carrying their banners and passing out flyers to encourage people to stop the expansion of a ski resort on sacred land. The San Francisco Peaks are sacred to 13 tribes of Native Americans and as the ski resorts and shops expand the Native population is protesting.

This site explains that "The Peaks have particular spiritual and resource significance to the Hopi and Navajo. Both of these nations claim ancestral religious rights to the mountain. In the Hopi worldview, Katsinas (spiritual beings responsible for bringing rain and maintaining social and ceremonial order) live on the mountain, to which select tribe members make periodic pilgrimages for visiting sacred shrines. To the Navajo, the mountain is a physical manifestation of sacred forces and also a home to spiritual beings. Both tribes approach the mountain with the utmost respect, and only for ceremony or collection of medicinal plants. To the Native Americans of the Colorado Plateau, the San Francisco Peaks should not be used for personal enjoyment, economic pursuits or even scientific study, as these land uses betray and contaminate this sacred place."

I would be really interested in learning more about the Native American tribes in Arizona. We did get to go to a Navajo Festival and eat some delicious fry bread and watch the Ribbon Dance ceremony and we bought some crafts. At this festival was also a photography exhibit that really kinda blew my mind. Kenji Kawano, Japanese native, has been photographing the Navajo people since 1974 and has been the Navajo Nation's official photographer since 1980. He had a series on display at the festival of the Navajo Code Talkers and the depth of the portraits and his obvious relationship with these people were really inspiring. Check out his portfolio please!

In all I would say our trip was a huge success. I was in love with the weather - no humidity, no mosquitos, cool in the evening and warm during the day. I got tons of inspiration and nature enthusiasm and it was so nice to spend time with family that I don't often get to see. My aunt and uncle are just as fun and youthful as I remember and my two little cousins were surprisingly mature and grown up for such a young age.

I've got two Arizona food posts coming soon!

Exploring Home: Part 1

So I moved to Old Town Alexandria in the beginning of May and since then the works (yes more than one work) have been driving me into the ground with some insane schedules. I haven't had a proper introduction to my own town so now I'm determined to take some time to do so.

Tonight I took Trike out on the drawbridge of 495 and as luck would have it, the bridge was going up! I watched this cute little pirate ship come under the bridge while airplanes from DCA flew over us and the sun set in the distance. It was a really nice way to end and already pleasant evening.

More trike adventures to come in the future.

Spring Weens

My family is ween crazy. I am as well.

Philadelphia

The other weekend a few of my girlfriends and I went to Philadelphia to do some neighborhood scouting and just to get out of Shepherdstown! We decided to ditch the Liberty Bell and other tourist attractions and really just explore different parts of the city and eat tons of great food.

I'm a big dummy and instead of documenting said food so I could write a blog about what Philly has to offer it's vegan patrons, I just stuffed my face instead. I can give you a short - sans photo - rundown of what was good though.
Blackbird Pizzeria had a pretty kick ass cheesesteak, loads of tasty pizza options (though I found the Yukon Pizza to be a bit heavy on the rosemary for my taste) and delicious desserts!
Memphis Taproom was next. We waited a good hour (after a ridiculous cab ride in which the cabbie pulled over and asked US to look up directions on our iphone to direct HIM to our destination) but found it to be well worth it! This place isn't all veggie but they do have some cool stuff like the Old Bay Jackfruit Cakes (which we forgot to order! but then we were too stuffed later to try them) and the Smoked Coconut Club (which we did try, and it was great!).
Sketch was the last place we went. We heard about their awesome burgers and shakes and yes, they were awesome. I was craving some avocado and asked for some on my burger and they gave me a whole half of an avocado!

Aside from eating we also did a ton of walking around and general exploring of shopping areas and possible future hang-outs. Here are a few pictures I did manage to take while I wasnt busy eating. The top two are from an antique store we spent a good half hour in taking pictures. The bottom picture is Pee Pang - my once and hopefully future room-mate. We went the wrong way on the train and had to get off, walk over the pretty turquoise overpass, and then wait for the next train to take us in the right direction. We are so dumb.







This Sunday I'm going to DC with the same bunch of girls to check out possible neighborhoods, restaurants and hang-outs there! Stay tooned - and hopefully I will take a few pictures before I chow down.