...Annnnd VeganMOFO Begins!

Pumpkin Pancakes, from Vegan Brunch

So it begins!  This is my 5th (?!) year participating in VeganMOFO, and I'm psyched! For the month of October, I'll be joining hundreds of other bloggers to blog about vegan noms. I'm combining illustration + food for my theme (which I guess is always my theme, really), because that's just what I do!  Last year I raised a butt-load of money for For the Animals Sanctuary, and that was super-fun, but a whollle lot of work that I realistically just don't have this year. So! I'm just going for simple this year. Keeping it fun!

And can I get a big "Of course" for starting off the month with something Pumpkin?! Hello Fall, you're the best!

Happy Father's Day!

Pancakes (from Vegan Brunch) and some homemade Strawberry-rhubarb jam

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and Grand-Dads out there!

VeganMoFo: Happy Halloween!

Super-happy about this charity project this month!  I've raised $310 so far for the sanctuary!  Thank you SO MUCH for all the kind words, comments, enthusiasm, and to everyone that has helped out this month.  All the remaining painting will remain in my shop and I will donate the money as they are sold still.  Cupcakes for everyone! 

Happy Autumn is for sale here

Medium: Watercolor on Arches paper
Size: Approximately 5"x7" (image size is 4"x6")
Will fit in 5"x7" frame! Signed on back.

Note: I am doing a painting-a-day challenge for VeganMoFo, and will be creating a new painting of rescue animals or vegan food throughout the month of October, and placing them for sale. All proceeds (minus shipping) will be donated to For the Animals Sanctuary, because they are a pretty super-great non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary, in Blairstown NJ, and are vegan owned and operated. Feeding, housing, and taking care of these animals costs a lot of money, and as a non-profit organization, they rely entirely on donations. Hopefully (with your help!), I'll be able to make a size-able donation at the end of the month!  You can check out all the paintings I have created so far that are still for sale here! 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

 So the end of MoFo is here, with sadness of course, so I decided to go all out with super-orange and pumpkin goodness.  Oh, and Happy Halloween!  I didn't dress up or really do much, as we had a freak snowstorm here (seriously, we have so much strange weather here this year...earthquake, hurricane, heat wave, snowstorm in October...).  Nik and I hibernated all weekend, watching scary movies, carving pumpkins, and baking up lots of pumpkin goodness.  Perfect!

Pumpkin Pancakes, from Vegan Brunch

I was going for a cute bear, on the left, but the bottom line kinda looks like a mouth instead of the bear's muzzle. Oh well!  Nik made a super-scary one!

It looked like this outside on Friday...

...And like this on Saturday!

Miles was confused too.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of july USA-ers! I'm having a lazy stay-in kind of 4th of july. I guess I celebrated last night anyways, at a friend's BBQ (TOTALLY jealous of her backyard.) Also, the stars are aligned I guess, because I got so many blueberries and cherries in my CSA yesterday that I HAD to make some red, white, and blue food. :)

I made an army of mini cupcakes to bring to the BBQ last night, vanilla with raspberry jam, a dab of icing, and a blueberry to top. Yummers! This morning, you KNOW I was busting out the blueberry pancakes right??

Happy long-weekend friends!

Chocolate-chip pancakes with Cherry Sauce and the South Street Seaport

Decadent brunch today with some chocolate-chip pancakes and a cherry sauce. That's a plum hiding in the background that I got in my CSA this morning. So pretty and fruity! Pancakes from VWAV and local cherries from my CSA. Lots of cherries! I'm going to make a cherry pie with them sometime this weekend!

Last night, we went to the South Street Seaport to check out Black Moth Super Rainbow. I was pretty impressed with the opener Dan Friel (Blank Dogs were eh), and Black Moth Super Rainbow was fun (although doesn't sound as good live as on album). They had fun video and costumes though. Afterwards, we went to see (500) Days of Summer, which was super-cute, but not as good as the trailer looks. Heading to Candle 79 tonight...mmm.

Italian Ice!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Today was a great day for the new year. Nik and I went out to dinner last night and stayed local at a bar nearby to ring in the new year. So much fun! I slept in superrrrr late today and made a fabulous brunch of chocolate chip pancakes and a tasty smoothie (1 frozen banana + 9 frozen strawberries + 1 orange + 2 tbs. of pineapple juice concentrate + a couple tsp. of flax seed + enough soy milk and cold water to fill 3/4 of the mixture in the blender=the PERFECT amount for two people. mmm). I spent most of the day making Isa Pizza, from VWAV. I made my own dough, pesto, cashew ricotta, and pizza sauce ALL in the new vita-mix. Fantastic! I like how it keeps dishes to a minimum too. And I've never had a good enough blender to make pizza before! So exciting! And it makes it in like 2 seconds! Okay, I'll stop talking about it now. I'm sure the novelty of it will wear off soon (no it won't.) I used the new pizza stone and it made some to-die for pizza. Nik proclaimed this "the best pizza ever." nom nom.





I've been painting most of the night, so I shall have some new goodies to scan in and share with everyone tomorrow! Happy night!

Sister!

So my sis left yesterday, and I must say, we had a rockin' time. Stomp was awesome on friday night and I had the most AMAAAZING ice cream sundae afterwards at Lulu's Sweet Apothecary, the new all-vegan sweet shop in the East Village. Seriously, a scoop of homemade Cinnamon Pecan and a scoop of Chocolate Toasted Coconut, topped with hot fudge, rainbow sprinkles, whipped cream, and a Cherry. Sorry for the lack of picture on that, but just trust me on its deliciousness. I was daydreaming about it the next day! Must go back soon; so much to try (aaand they sell vegan white choc. chips there!?!)

I took her to Enid's, near my apt (they make the best veggie burgers ever, Curly's Vegetarian on friday night, and Taco Chulo on saturday night. Yeah!

Saturday we were tourists for the day, walking down 5th ave and looking at the fancy holiday window displays. We peeked in St. Patrick's Cathedral for a bit to warm up (cold!!) We went up on Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center right before sunset, to get the best of the day/night views.









I haven't food porned in awhile! I made polenta tonight, with broccoli, carrots, turnips, and collards in it, and topped it with Newman's Fire-roasted Tomato sauce. MMmmm. I always forget about making polenta; and it's so easy!



Pancakes with cranberries! The tartness of the cranberries is pretty awesome paired with some pure maple syrup.

Knishes! Potato + onion, and Potato + Spinach (from VWAV)