Where to Eat DC: Sticky Fingers

This Sunday a few of my girlfriends and I spent the day in DC. First stop - Sticky Fingers Bakery!. This sweet sweet piece of sweet shop isn't just about goodies - they have sandwiches, soups, and best of all - weekend brunch! French toast, pancakes, breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy - and everything is gloriously vegan. And after you have stuffed yourself with yummy food, don't forget your dessert. Ever heard of a little thing called Cupcake Wars? Sticky Fingers is competing this year!



The only problem with this place - seating is seriously limited. This wouldn't be such a bummer if dummies didn't sit around with empty plates in front of them playing on their iphones or chit chatting. But, that's what happens. They sit, ignoring the "hey if you're done, move on and make room for others" sign. They sit, ignoring me pointedly staring at them with my plate full of chili and grilled bacon and cheese sammy. Ok - mini rant over. But be prepared to eat standing up or take it out.



Despite this place being smack across the street from a Target and a Giant, stepping into Sticky Fingers is like stepping back into a 50's style cafe. The decor and retro kitchen appliances definitely add to the charm of this place.



Sticky Fingers is at 1370 Park Rd NW, Washington DC 20010. Hop the green line and get off at the Columbia Heights metro stop. Open 7 days a week.

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.

MB de Monvel

I have a little obsession with antique books. People hate to help me move. But it goes perfectly with one of my favorite places to hang out - book stores. Wonderbook in particular is awesome for their mix of antique as well as new books. Over the summer I bought this book - Nos Enfants (our children) because I just fell in love with the illustrations by MB de Monvel. If I were brave enough to devote large swatches of my skin to it, I would get a whole page of this tattooed somewhere. As it is, I'm considering one of the little girls and some birds. Maybe.







Love the back cover too.

Vegan Pecan Pumpkin Muffins

Mama Lori was kind enough to make these little treats for me the other morning. USUALLY I'm not a big fan of having bumps in my muffins unless its of the chocolate variety. But, to my surprise and delight (I get excited about my tastes maturing) I really enjoyed these. And I enjoyed them even more the next day when they had developed that slightly tacky texture on top. You know the texture I'm talking about? No?



She presented the muffins to me in this delightful and very familiar little tin. I picked this tin of cookies or biscuits as they are called out for Lori while we were in Paris. I've talked about La Cure Gourmande in previous posts. Love their design work.

Makes 12
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs (egg replacer plus water)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 to 1 tsp cloves
1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/3 cup water
chopped pecans

1. Prepare the vegan egg replacer according to the package. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Mix together the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and spices in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl beat together the sugar, oil and eggs. Add the water. Add the dry mix.
4. Fold in the chopped pecans and pour into muffin tins.
5. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Serve with pumpkin butter or a bit of maple syrup!

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!

Coast to Cote Week 35 plus extras

Pang: A great little place called the Source just recently opened up in our town. It's a place in town to recycle, buy locally made goods and organic foods. Lacey came over during her break the other day and we went over to check it out. This little honey bottle and the logo caught both of our eyes. I couldn't get over how cute it was so I ended up making the purchase. It's a local honey from the next town over. We were both wondering why the color was much lighter than the other bottle sitting next to it. I finally Google'd it this morning and found out that it must have been harvested in the Spring time when bees collect nectar from flowers. Now I know why it was also in a smaller bottle. I love how Google can help in answer my life's questions. Thanks!

Lacey: So about a month ago I started volunteering at the animal shelter in Frederick and I would send pictures of the dogs to my dad. He kept giving me a hard time - saying I shouldn't send pictures because he is weak and will want one (duh, that's why I sent them) - but I really got his attention with the two weenie dogs that came into the shelter. I sent him links from Petfinder so he could read up about the dogs and even though those two weenies got adopted before Dad could make a move, it set off a craze in him to find one and before I knew it he was sending me links of dogs from Petfinder too. This dog - who was named Miss Sugar - was one I saw when we first started browsing Petfinder but then she dissapeared. She popped up again this week and when Dad found out she would be in the area he just had to go see her. And now she is ours! She has had a sad little life but we plan to change that. Miss Sugar - now Pocahontas (keeping with the Disney princess theme - we had an Ariel and a Jasmine previously) was a puppy mill mom. Before she had even reached the age of two she had already had 4 litters of puppies (incredible because she is soooo tiny). Once she got rescued from that unhappy situation she bounced from foster to foster and then was adopted by a family who brought her back. They had a hamster in the house that ran loose and Miss Sugar liked to terrorize it. Luckily for Miss Sugar my dad is a sucker for weenie dogs and now she's ours. She's super sweet and hopefully she will warm up to us all soon. She looks a little nervy huh?

Coast to Cote Week 34

Pang: I had another photo shoot with the Slough's for their fall family portraits over the weekend. The weather couldn't have been more perfect really. In between shots, Haiden stretched out his hands towards me as i snapped a quick photo. Kids are so cute!

Lacey: This past weekend I went to New York for the weekend with my old room-mate Brittney. We've done a bit of a traveling together and I feel like maybe we are getting better at balancing each other's moods and itineraries. Our activities for the weekend centered mostly around museums and food. The first day we went to the MET and checked out the Roman statues and the Egyptian exhibit. We ate at Candle 79 that night (which you must check out!) and were rewarded with amazing food, free drinks and Alicia Silverstone in the building! The second day we went to the Natural History Museum to see the butterfly exhibit (they were flying so close to my head, I was a little creeped out) and then that evening before jumping (or rather pushing and shoving our way) back onto the bus we stopped at Babycakes - an all vegan bakery around the corner from the bustop in Chinatown. Alicia Silverstone's book had tipped me off to this place as well and we were not at all dissapointed. The treats were great, Morrissey was playing and the girls were dressed as pin up 50's girls with their hair up in scarves and their lips painted red.